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The University of California, Berkeley (UCB) is performing thermal hydraulics safety analysis to develop the technical basis for design and licensing of fluoride-salt-cooled, high-temperature reactors (FHRs). FHR designs investigated by UCB use natural circulation for emergency, passive decay heat removal when normal decay heat removal systems fail. The FHR advanced natural circulation analysis (FANCY) code has been developed for assessment of passive decay heat removal capability and safety analysis of these innovative system designs. The FANCY code uses a one-dimensional, semi-implicit scheme to solve for pressure-linked mass, momentum and energy conservation equations. Graph theory is used to automatically generate a staggered mesh for complicated pipe network systems. Heat structure models have been implemented for three types of boundary conditions (Dirichlet, Neumann and Robin boundary conditions). Heat structures can be composed of several layers of different materials, and are used for simulation of heat structure temperature distribution and heat transfer rate. Control models are used to simulate sequences of events or trips of safety systems. A proportional-integral controller is also used to automatically make thermal hydraulic systems reach desired steady state conditions. A point kinetics model is used to model reactor kinetics behavior with temperature reactivity feedback. The underlying large sparse linear systems in these models are efficiently solved by using direct and iterative solvers provided by the SuperLU code on high performance machines. Input interfaces are designed to increase the flexibility of simulation for complicated thermal hydraulic systems. This paper mainly focuses on the methodology used to develop the FANCY code, and safety analysis of the Mark 1 pebble-bed FHR under development at UCB is performed. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

This paper addresses the problem of finding credible sources among Twitter social network users to detect and prevent various malicious activities, such as spreading false information on a potentially inflammatory topic, forging accounts for false identities, etc. Existing research works related to source credibility are graph-based, considering the relationships among users to predict the spread information; human-based, using human perspectives to determine reliable sources; or machine learning-based, relying on training classifiers to predict users' credibility. Very few of these approaches consider a user's sentimentality when analyzing his/her credibility as a source. In this paper, we propose a novel approach that combines analysis of the user's reputation on a given topic within the social network, as well as a measure of the user's sentiment to identify topically relevant and credible sources of information. In particular, we propose a new reputation metric that introduces several new features into the existing models. We evaluated the performance of the proposed metric in comparison with two machine learning techniques, determining that the accuracy of the proposed approach satisfies the stated purpose of identifying credible Twitter users. Copyright (C) 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Background and aimsBarriers linked to drug control systems are considered to contribute to inequitable access to controlled medicines, leaving millions of people in pain and suffering. Most studies focus on access to opioids for the treatment of severe (cancer) pain. This study aims to identify specific access barriers for patients with opioid dependence in legislation and regulations of 11 central and eastern European countries. MethodsThis study builds on a previous analysis of legislation and regulations as part of the EU 7th Framework Access To Opioid Medication in Europe (ATOME) project. An in-depth analysis was undertaken to determine specific barriers for patients with opioid dependence in need of opioid analgesics or opioid agonist therapy (OAT). For each country, the number and nature of specific potential barriers for these patients were assessed according to eight categories: prescribing; dispensing; manufacturing; usage; trade and distribution; affordability; penalties; and other. An additional keyword search was conducted to minimize the omission of barriers. Barriers in an additional category, language, were recorded qualitatively. Countries included Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Turkey. ResultsTen of the 11 countries (all except Estonia) showed specific potential barriers in their legislation and regulations. The total number of barriers varied from two (Slovenia) to 46 (Lithuania); the number of categories varied from one (Slovenia) to five (Lithuania). Most specific potential barriers were shown in the categories prescribing', usage' and other'. The total number in a single category varied from one to 18 (Lithuania, prescribing). Individual differences between countries in the same specific potential barrier were shown; for example, variation in minimum age criteria for admission to OAT ranging from 15 (Lithuania, in special cases) to 20years (Greece). All countries had stigmatizing language in their legislation. ConclusionsPatients with opioid dependence are likely to experience specific barriers to accessing opioids in addition to those experienced by other non-dependent patients.

Agricultural expansion and intensification are main drivers of land-use change in Brazil. Soybean is the major crop under expansion in the area. Soybean production involves large amounts of water and fertiliser that act as sources of contamination with potentially negative impacts on adjacent water bodies. These impacts might be intensified by projected climate change in tropical areas. A Water Footprint Assessment (WFA) serves as a tool to assess environmental impacts of water and fertiliser use. The aim of this study was to understand potential impacts on environmental sustainability of agricultural intensification close to a protected forest area of the Amazon under climate change. We carried out a WFA to calculate the water footprint (WF) related to soybean production, Glycine max, to understand the sustainability of the WF in the Tapajos river basin, a region in the Brazilian Amazon with large expansion and intensification of soybean. Based on global datasets, environmental hotspots potentially unsustainable WF areas were identified and spatially plotted in both baseline scenario (2010) and projection into 2050 through the use of a land-use change scenario that includes climate change effects. Results show green and grey WF values in 2050 increased by 304%, and 268%, respectively. More than one-third of the watersheds doubled their grey WF in 2050. Soybean production in 2010 lies within sustainability I imits. However, current soybean expansion and intensification trends lead to large impacts in relation to water pollution and water use, affecting protected areas. Areas not impacted in terms of water pollution dropped by 20.6% in 2050 for the whole catchment, while unsustainability increased 8.1%. Management practices such as water consumption regulations to stimulate efficient water use, reduction of crop water use and evapotranspiration, and optimal fertiliser application control could be key factors in achieving sustainability wiLhin a river basin. (C) 2016 Elsevier BM. All rights reserved.

Objective: Recent studies have suggested that autoimmune diseases and immune activation play a part in the pathogenesis of different neurodevelopmental disorders. This study investigated the association between a personal history and a family history of autoimmune disease and the risk of developing attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Method: A cohort was formed of all singletons born in Denmark from 1990 to 2007, resulting in a study population of 983,680 individuals followed from 1995 to 2012. Information on autoimmune diseases was obtained from the Danish National Hospital Register. Individuals with ADHD were identified through the Danish National Hospital Register and the Danish Psychiatric Central Register. Results: In total, 23,645 children were diagnosed with ADHD during the study period. Autoimmune disease in the individual was associated with an increased risk of ADHD by an incidence rate ratio of 1.24 (95% CI 1.10-1.40). The primary analyses associated maternal autoimmune disease with ADHD in the offspring (incidence rate ratio 1.12, 95% CI 1.06-1.19), whereas a paternal history of autoimmune diseases was not significantly associated with ADHD in the offspring. In exploratory analyses, an increased risk of ADHD was observed for children with a family history of thyrotoxicosis, type 1 diabetes, autoimmune hepatitis, psoriasis, and ankylosing spondylitis. Conclusion: A personal history and a maternal history of autoimmune disease were associated with an increased risk of ADHD. The previously reported association between type 1 diabetes and ADHD was confirmed. In addition, specific parental autoimmune diseases were associated with ADHD in offspring.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of anxiety, depression and PTSD-related symptoms reported by spouses and close relatives of adult burn survivors. Potential associations between these symptoms and variables such as the severity of the burn were also explored. Method: Participants were spouses (n=31) and close relatives (n=25) of hospitalized patients with acute bums. Anxiety and depression symptoms were assessed by the Hospital Distress Anxiety and Depression Scale and PTSD-related symptoms by the Modified PTSD Symptom Scale at both admission to and discharge from the burn unit. Results: At admission, 77% of spouses and 56% of close relatives of burn patients reported anxiety, depression or PTSD-related symptoms in the clinical range. While spouses had higher scores than close relatives on symptom measures, significant differences were only established for anxiety symptoms (p<.02). A significant effect was found for gender, with women reporting more anxiety (p=.01) and depression (p=.02) symptoms than men. Results also showed a main effect for time, with anxiety (p <.0001), depression (p <.0001) and PTSD-related (p <.0001) symptoms being higher at admission than at discharge. Variables associated with the index patient, such as total body surface area burned, length of stay, number of ventilated days, facial burns, or level of care at admission, were not associated with outcome measures. Conclusions: Spouses and close relatives of burn survivors showed high levels of psychological distress in the first few days following admission, and more than a quarter still reported symptoms in the clinical range at discharge. Our analysis points to the need to offer psychological support and guidance to family members so that they can in turn provide effective support to the burn survivor. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd and ISBI. All rights reserved.

The objective of this study was to reveal the molecular mechanism involved in carbapenem resistance and virulence of a K2 Klebsiella pneumoniae clinical isolate 24835. The virulence of the strain was determined by in vitro and in vivo methods. The de novo whole-genome sequencing technology and molecular biology methods were used to analyze the genomic features associated with the carbapenem resistance and virulence of K. pneumoniae 24835. Strain 24835 was highly resistant to carbapenems and belonged to ST14, exhibited hypermucoviscous and unique K2-aerobactin-kfu-rmpA positive phenotype. As the only carbapenemase gene in strain 24835, bla(NDM -5) was located on a 46-kb IncX3 self-transmissible plasmid, which is a very close relation of pNDM-MGR194 from India. Genetic context of blaNDM 5 in strain 24835 was closely related to those on IncX3 plasmids in various Enterobacteriaceae species in China. The combination of multiple virulence genes may work together to confer the relative higher virulence in K. pneumoniae 24835. Significantly increased resistance to serum killing and mice mortality were found in the virulent New Delhi metallo-beta -lactamase ( NDM)-producing K. pneumoniae strain compared to the other NDM-producing K. pneumoniae strain. Our study provides basic information of phenotypic and genomic features of K. pneumoniae 24835, a strain displaying carbapenem resistance and relatively high level of virulence. These findings are concerning for the potential of NDM-like genes to disseminate among virulent K. pneumoniae isolates.

Modern smart environments are equipped with a multitude of devices and sensors aimed at intelligent services. The presence of these diverse devices has raised a major problem of managing complex environments. A rising solution to the problem is the modeling of user goals and intentions, and then interacting with the respective smart environments using user defined goals. Generally, the solution advocates that the user goal(s) can be represented by combining devices (smart appliances and sensor/actuators) in particular states. 'Domotic Effects' is a high level modeling approach, which provides Ambient Intelligence (AmI) designers and integrators with a high level abstract layer that enables the definition of user goals in a smart environment, in a declarative way, which can be used to design and develop intelligent applications. This paper describes an approach for the automatic evaluation of domotic effects combined through Boolean expressions, that can provide efficient and intelligent monitoring of the domotic structure of the environment. Effects Evaluation addresses the problem of finding the new values of all the domotic effects defined for the environment when one or more devices change their state or one or more sensor value is recorded in the environment, hence determining a new overall state of the environment. The paper also presents an architecture to implement the evaluation of domotic effects. Results obtained from carried out experiments prove the feasibility of the approach and highlight responsiveness of the implemented effect evaluation.

Recent smartphone platforms based on new operating systems, such as iOS, Android, or Windows Phone, have been a huge success in recent years and open up many new opportunities. Unfortunately, 2011 also showed us that the new technologies and the privacy-related data on smartphones are also increasingly interesting for attackers. Especially, the Android platform has been the favorite target for malware, mainly because of the openness of the platform, the ability to install applications from other sources than the Android Market, and the significant gains in market share. Although the processes of detecting and analyzing malware are well known from the PC world, where the arms race between attackers and defenders has continued for the past 15years, they cannot be directly applied to smartphone platforms because of differences in the hardware and software architectures. In this paper, we first give an overview of the current malware situation on smartphone platforms with a special focus on Android and explain relevant malware detection and analysis methods. It turns out that most of the current malware relies on the installation by the user, who represents the last line of defense in malware detection. With these conclusions, we then present a new malware detection method that focuses on the information that the user is able to see prior to the installation of an applicationthe metadata within the platform's software market. Depending on the platform, this includes the application's description, its permissions, the ratings, or information about the developer. To analyze these data, we use sophisticated knowledge discovery processes and lean statistical methods. By presenting a wide range of examples based on real application metadata extracted from the Android Market, we show the possibilities of the new method. With the possibilities, we argue that it should be an essential part of a complete malware analysis/detection chain that includes other well-known methods such as network traffic analysis, or static, or dynamic code inspection. Copyright (c) 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Tunneling nanotubes (TNTs) are membranous conduits for direct cell-to-cell communication. Until the past decade, little had been known about their composite structure, function, and mechanisms of action in both normal physiologic conditions as well as in disease states. Now TNTs are attracting increasing interest for their key role(s) in the pathogenesis of disease, including neurodegenerative disorders, inflammatory and infectious diseases, and cancer. The field of TNT biology is still in its infancy, but inroads have been made in determining potential mechanisms and function of these remarkable structures. For example, TNTs function as critical conduits for cellular exchange of information; thus, in cancer, they may play an important role in critical pathophysiologic features of the disease, including cellular invasion, metastasis, and emergence of chemotherapy drug resistance. Although the TNT field is still in a nascent stage, we propose that TNTs can be investigated as novel targets for drug-based treatment of cancer and other diseases.

This study compares the degree of creativity of forty-two conceptual designs proposed as solutions to two innovative design problems developed in face-to-face and virtual collaborative environments. The solutions obtained were evaluated by three experts applying the Moss metric, which considers the level of usefulness and the level of unusualness. The average values and the trends of the data were obtained, and an analysis of the variance was also performed to determine whether the environment influences the degree of creativity. The results show that it cannot be proved that the level of creativity is influenced by working face-to-face or virtually, that is, whether information and communication technologies are used or not has no effect on the final result.

We examined the effects of light intensity on the metabolism, antioxidant enzymes, and expression of related genes in Haliotis discus hannai Ino, to determine the optimal lighting conditions for aquaculture of these animals. Succinate dehydrogenase activity was significantly lower after 48 h in animals exposed to light intensities of 30 and 60 mu mol/m(2)/s, while lactate dehydrogenase activity and lactic acid content at 96 h were significantly higher compared with animals in the dark or exposed to 5 or 15 mu mol/m(2)/s (both P0.05) throughout the experiment. However, ROS contents under light intensities of 30 and 60 mu mol/m(2)/s peaked at 12 h, when expression levels of genes encoding catalase (CAT), thioredoxin peroxidase (TPX), sigma-glutathione-s-transferase (GST(S)), and mu-glutathione-s-transferase (GST(m)) also began to increase, and CAT and glutathione peroxidase (GP(X)) activities were significantly higher than in animals in the dark or exposed to 5 or 15 mu mol/m(2)/s (P < 0.05). After a further 12 h, the ROS content at 30 mu mol/m(2)/s began to decrease, and GPX activity and malondialdehyde (MDA) content also gradually decreased, followed by increases in ROS and MDA 48 h later, to reach respective peaks at 96 h. Gene expression levels of TPX, GST(S), GST(m), heat shock protein 70 (HSP70), and CAT began to decrease 72 h later, suggesting that excessive accumulation of ROS may have caused oxidative damage to the tissues. At a light intensity of 60 mu mol/m(2)/s, expression levels of TPX, GST(S), GST(m), and HSP70 genes, total antioxidant capacity, and GP(X) activity peaked at 48 h, and the ROS content was significantly higher than in any other group 48 h later (P < 0.05). However, gene expression levels of TPX, GST(S), GST(m), HSP70, HSP90, and CAT, and reduced glutathione content began to decrease, indicating that the antioxidant system had been unable to perform its normal physiological functions to withstand the long-term stress of adverse environmental factors. These results suggest that the light intensity should be controlled at 5-15 mu mol/m(2)/s during H. discus hannai aquaculture, to maintain the organism's normal physiological metabolism. Statement of relevance: The disc abalone Haliotis discus hannai is an economically important shellfish in China, with demand growing for this high-protein and low-fat seafood. In 2014, 11,5397 tons of H. discus hannai were harvested from aquacultural sources, but supply cannot currently meet consumer demand. In recent years, the natural habitat of H. discus hannai has declined as a result of overfishing, marine reclamation, water pollution, among others, leading to a sharp decrease in the numbers of H. discus hannai in the wild. Thus, the development of an aquacultural system for farming H. discus hannai, as well as for its protection in the wild, are a focus of current research. Light, including photoperiod, quality and intensity, is one of the key environmental factors influencing the growth, culture and survival of aquatic organisms. Over evolutionary time, organisms have evolved both physiological and behavioral mechanisms that enable them to adapt to diurnal fluctuations in light. In Chinese traditional abalone aquaculture, a sunshade net is usually used because of the photophobic nature of abalone. In particular, the aquaculturist usually provides a darkened setting for adult abalones to increase their food intake rate, facilitate their growth and promote gonadal development. For abalones in their natural environment, the light intensity in the water area is relatively stable, suggesting that there is a key regulative effect of light intensity on their growth and development. Gao et al. (2016a, b) found that a dark environment not only adversely affected the daily aquaculture production, but was also associated with a lower growth rate compared with animals reared under higher light intensities, because of lower food conversion efficiency and greater energy losses through excretion and feces. Physiological metabolism and antioxidant defense systems may therefore be key indicators for measuring the suitability of light intensity for aquaculture production. We therefore examined the effects of light intensity on the metabolism and antioxidant defense system, and on the expression of related genes, in H. discus hannai using a light-emitting diode (LED) to replace the conventional fluorescent light source. The results of this study will improve our understanding of the physiological tolerance and antioxidant defense characteristics of abalone under different light intensities, and enable the optimization of environmental light conditions in abalone aquaculture. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V.

The contribution of remote sensing and geographical information system (GIS) techniques to estimate the surface level seismic hazard was investigated using topographic gradient maps in the states of Tripura and Mizoram. This paper addresses a vital issue on the estimation of the seismic hazards of Northeast (NE) India, where the hazards are high and the risk is also high. In developing site response maps or seismic hazard (surface acceleration) maps, it is difficult to obtain near-surface soil data (site-specific data) through geophysical/geotechnical field investigations at a smaller resolution scale (a state/region or country level). The topographic slope provides a reliable proxy because the rocky materials maintain a steep gradient/slope compared to soft soil deposits. In this paper, peak ground acceleration (PGA) at the bedrock for the states of Tripura and Mizoram in NE India has been estimated using probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA), which considers linear sources and events (from 1731 to 2010) with appropriate ground motion prediction equations applicable for NE India. Further, the authors have adopted the square root impedance model to estimate the spectral amplification of the study area to bring the hazard from bedrock level to surface. Authors have classified the entire study area as site classes B, C, and D categories and thereafter estimated spectral amplifications for the site periods (0.40, 0.21, 0.11, and 0.01s). The surface level PGA (g) and amplification maps have been developed using a probabilistic approach considering PGA at the bedrock level. The results indicate that this area is highly sensitive to spectral responses, such as spectral acceleration or spectral amplification rather than PGA. (C) 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.

The anterolateral group of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNSTALG) is a critical modulator of a variety of rodent and primate behaviors spanning anxiety behavior and drug addiction. Three distinct neuronal cell types have been previously defined in the rat BNSTALG based on differences in the voltage-response to hyperpolarizing and depolarizing current injection. Differences in genetic expression profile between these three cell types suggest electrophysiological cell type may be an indicator for functional differences in the circuit of the rat BNSTALG. Although the behavioral role of the BNST is conserved across species, it is unknown if the same electrophysiological cell types exist in the BNSTALG of the mouse and nonhuman primate. Here, we used whole-cell patch clamp electrophysiology and neuronal reconstructions of biocytin-filled neurons to compare and contrast the electrophysiological and morphological properties of neurons in the BNSTALG from the mouse, rat, and rhesus macaque. We provide evidence that the BNSTALG of all three species contains neurons that match the three defined cell types found in the rat; however, there are intriguing differences in the relative frequency of these cell types as well as electrophysiological and morphological properties of the BNSTALG neurons across species. This study suggests that the overall landscape of the BNSTALG in the primate and mouse may be similar to that of the rat in some aspects but perhaps significantly different in others.

Purpose - The resistance, capacitance and inductance of anisotropic conductive film (ACF) connections determine their high frequency electrical characteristics. The presence of capacitance and inductance in the ACF joint contributes to time delays and cross-talk noise as well as simultaneous switching noise within the circuit. The purpose of this paper is to establish an experimental method for estimating the capacitance and inductance of a typical ACF connection. This can help to provide a more detailed understanding of the high frequency performance of ACF assemblies. Design/methodology/approach - Experiments on the transient response of an ACF joint were performed using a digital oscilloscope capable of achieving the required ns resolution. An equivalent circuit model is proposed in order to quantify the capacitance (C) and inductance (L) of a typical ACF connection and this model is fitted to the experimental data. The full model consisted of two resistors, an inductor, and a capacitor. Findings - The capacitance and inductance of a typical ACF connection were estimated from the measured transient response using Kirchhoff's voltage law. The method for estimation of R, L, and C from the transient response is discussed, as are the RLC effects on the high frequency electrical characteristics of the ACF connection. Research limitations/implications - There was decay time deviation between the calculation and the experiment. It may have resulted from the skin effect in the high frequency response and the adhesive surrounding joint as well. The main reason may be the capacitance zctric lost. Further research work will be done to determine more accurately the dielectric losses in anisotropic conductive adhesive (ACA) joint. Originality/value - This paper presents a new method to characterise the high frequency properties of ACA interconnections and will be of use to engineers evaluating the performance of ACF materials in high frequency applications.

As a powerful nonparametric Bayesian model, the infinite mixture model has been successfully used in machine learning and computer vision. The success of the in fi nite mixture model owes to the capability clustering and density estimation. In this paper, we propose a nonparametric Bayesian model for single-image super-resolution. Specifically, we combine the Dirichlet process and Gaussian process regression for estimating the distribution of the training patches and modeling the relationship between the low-resolution and high-resolution patches: 1) the proposed method groups the training patches by utilizing the clustering property of Dirichlet process; 2) the proposed method relates the low-resolution and highresolution patches by predicting the property of Gaussian process; and 3) the mentioned two points are not independent but jointly learned. Hence, the proposed method can make full use of the nonparametric Bayesian model. First, the Dirichlet process mixture model is used to obtain more accurate clusters for training patches. Second, Gaussian process regression is established on each cluster, and this directly reduces the computational complexity. Finally, the two procedures are learned simultaneously to gain the suitable clusters with the ability of prediction. The parameters can be inferred simply via the Gibbs sampling technique. Thorough super-resolution experiments on various images demonstrate that the proposed method is superior to some state-of-the-art methods.

We propose that many giver-recipient discrepancies in the gift-giving literature can be explained, at least partially, by the notion that when evaluating the quality of a gift, givers primarily focus on the moment of exchange, whereas recipients primarily focus on how valuable a gift will be once owned. In this review, we summarize the variety of errors givers make and, more critically, position these errors within our newly developed framework. We hope this framework will provide a single point of reference for those interested in gift giving and spur novel predictions about the causes and consequences of miscalibrated gift choice.

Drawing on basic physics, Kummel [24] and Beaudreau [4,5] attributed the productivity slowdown to the OPEC price-hike-led decrease in the rate of growth of energy consumption in the mid-1970s. The high post-WWII energy use growth rates observed in most OECD countries fell drastically, decreasing productivity and GDP growth. However since, considerable doubt has been cast on this view. For example, why did the rate of growth of energy use in manufacturing, specifically electricity use, fall when and where the price of electricity was either unaffected or increased slightly afterwards? Second, why did it fall instantaneously that is, without the usual lag? Third, why did energy consumption growth rates not return to their pre-1973 level once real energy prices had returned to their pre-1973 levels. Drawing from kinetics, this paper presents an alternative hypothesis, namely that energy demand-related factors, notably the physical limits to energy-based speed-ups, not energy supply-related factors, may have been behind this sudden decrease in productivity growth and hence behind the productivity slowdown. Specifically, in many industries and sectors, maximum machine speed/velocity may have been or was near to being reached in the late 1960s/early 1970s, making further increases physically impossible or not economically viable. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

This study is part of a longer-term project to provide embodied conversational agents (ECAs) with behaviors that enable them to build and maintain rapport with their human partners. We focus on paralinguistic behaviors, and especially nonverbal behaviors, and their role in communicating rapport. Using an ECA that guides its players through a speech-controlled game, we attempt to measure the familiarity built between humans and ECAs across several interactions based on paralinguistic behaviors. In particular, we studied the effect of differences in the amplitude of nonverbal behaviors by an ECA interacting with a human across two conversational sessions. Our results suggest that increasing amplitude of nonverbal paralinguistic behaviors may lead to an increased perception of physical connectedness between humans and ECAs.

Resource consumption accounting (RCA) is a major innovation in manufacturing management accounting. It combines activity-based costing and marginal cost elasticity of Germany. RCA can be used to the analysis and management of E / I production, the basis for budget of project, and provide evidence for sub-projects and sub-contract.

Rainwater harvesting in small dams has good potential to provide supplementary agricultural irrigation during critical crop growth stages. Field experiments were conducted to evaluate cropping patterns: fallow-wheat (FW), mash-wheat (MaW), sorghum-wheat (SW), maize (grain)-wheat (MW), maize (grain)-gram (MG) and mung-canola (MuC); under two conditions: irrigated (Command area of Pira Fatehial small dam) and rainfed (Un-command area) on sandy loam soil during three years (2009 to 2011). Treatments were arranged in a randomized complete block design, three factor factorial (cropping patterns, irrigated/non-irrigated conditions and years) using four replications. The highest grain yield of wheat (5.6Mgha(-1)) was obtained from the MaW cropping pattern as compared to those from MW, FW and SW cropping patterns. Summer crops (sorghum fodder, maize grain and mash) performed excellent under irrigated conditions. Water use efficiency of wheat (14.3kgha(-1)mm(-1)) following mash under both the conditions exhibited higher values than when compared with those from SW, FW and MW cropping patterns. However, nutrient use efficiency in SW cropping pattern surpassed the others. Performance of all crops remained better under the irrigated condition during both all seasons and years, as rainfall deficiency was compensated by supplementary irrigations. Hence, this study concluded that farmers having water resources for supplemental irrigation should adopt the MW cropping pattern, based on grain yield, efficient utilization of available supplemental water and better utilization of nutrients. Similarly, based on improved nutrient utilization and monitory outputs, the MaW sequence should be followed in rain-fed areas for better resource management. Copyright (c) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This paper compares the field response of two test embankments constructed on similar soft soil deposits. The un-strengthened foundation had vertical drains underneath the embankment and the strengthened foundation had geotextile-encased granular columns, both provided with basal geogrid reinforcement. The effectiveness of the encased granular columns was assessed by comparing the settlement below the embankments, the horizontal displacement of the soft foundation and the excess pore pressures in the middle of the soft clay layer. The results showed that the granular encased columns significantly reduced the maximum settlement occurring below the embankment as well as the maximum horizontal displacement in the clayey foundation. At the same settlement level, the load-carrying capacity of the strengthened foundation was found to increase by as much as around 2.5 times that of the un-strengthened one. It was also observed that the geotextile-encased granular columns caused a noticeable reduction in the maximum excess pore pressure following load application. Furthermore, the degree of consolidation achieved at the end of embankment construction was quite high when encased granular columns were used.

Climate change is expected to exacerbate drought for many plants, making drought tolerance a key driver of species and ecosystem responses. Plant drought tolerance is determined by multiple traits, but the relationships among traits, either within individual plants or across species, have not been evaluated for general patterns across plant diversity. We synthesized the published data for stomatal closure, wilting, declines in hydraulic conductivity in the leaves, stems, and roots, and plant mortality for 262 woody angiosperm and 48 gymnosperm species. We evaluated the correlations among the drought tolerance traits across species, and the general sequence of water potential thresholds for these traits within individual plants. The trait correlations across species provide a framework for predicting plant responses to a wide range of water stress from one or two sampled traits, increasing the ability to rapidly characterize drought tolerance across diverse species. Analyzing these correlations also identified correlations among the leaf and stem hydraulic traits and the wilting point, or turgor loss point, beyond those expected from shared ancestry or independent associations with water stress alone. Further, on average, the angiosperm species generally exhibited a sequence of drought tolerance traits that is expected to limit severe tissue damage during drought, such as wilting and substantial stem embolism. This synthesis of the relationships among the drought tolerance traits provides crucial, empirically supported insight into representing variation in multiple traits in models of plant and ecosystem responses to drought.

TreeWatch.net is an initiative that has been developed to watch trees grow and function in real-time. It is a water- and carbon-monitoring and modeling network, in which high quality measurements of sap flow and stem diameter variation are collected on individual trees. Automated data processing using a cloud service enables instant visualization of water movement and radial stem growth. This can be used to demonstrate the sensitivity of trees to changing weather conditions, such as drought, heat waves, or heavy rain showers. But TreeWatch.net's true innovation lies in its use of these high precision harmonized data to also parameterize process-based tree models in real-time, which makes displaying the much needed mechanisms underlying tree responses to climate change possible. Continuous simulation of turgor to describe growth processes and long-term time series of hydraulic resistance to assess drought-vulnerability in real-time are only a few of the opportunities our approach offers. TreeWatch.net has been developed with the view to be complementary to existing forest monitoring networks and with the aim to contribute to existing dynamic global vegetation models. It provides high-quality data and real-time simulations in order to advance research on the impact of climate change on the biological response of trees and forests. Besides its application in natural forests to answer climate-change related scientific and political questions, we also envision a broader societal application of TreeWatch.net by selecting trees in nature reserves, public areas, cities, university areas, schoolyards, and parks to teach youngsters and create public awareness on the effects of changing weather conditions on trees and forests in this era of climate change.

Pine pollen dispersal has been well-studied over a century due to its ubiquity, robust shape and unusual longevity; this knowledge can be brought to bear on forest population genetics applications and gene conservation programs for pines and other high-latitude wind-pollinated species. Dispersal models are shifting towards meso-scale transport processes so I assert here that this shift in transport scale is important to population genetics assumptions inherent to gene conservation decision-making. Support comes from the following: (1) aerodynamic properties for pollen is more akin to spores than seeds. (2) Gradient-free dispersal is typical of pollen transported at meso-scale distances. (3) Importance of vertically uplifted pollen on meso-scale transport has been overlooked and its interaction with atmospheric processes is not yet understood. (4) A fraction of pine pollen retains its capacity for germination and seed fertilization after meso-scale transport. These findings raise the question of whether forest fragmentation aligns with genetics theory of small populations; this question shapes ex situ and in situ collections. The shift to meso-scale transport of pine pollen can re-shape forest gene conservation decision-making about ex situ and in situ collection strategies.

This study examined whether approach-avoidance related behaviour elicited by facial affect is moderated by the presence of an observer-irrelevant trigger that may influence the observer's attributions of the actor's emotion. Participants were shown happy, disgusted, and neutral facial expressions. Half of these were presented with a plausible trigger of the expression (a drink). Approach-avoidance related behaviour was indexed explicitly through a questionnaire (measuring intentions) and implicitly through a manikin version of the affective Simon task (measuring automatic behavioural tendencies). In the absence of an observer-irrelevant trigger, participants expressed the intention to avoid disgusted and approach happy facial expressions. Participants also showed a stronger approach tendency towards happy than towards disgusted facial expressions. The presence of the observer-irrelevant trigger had a moderating effect, decreasing the intention to approach happy and to avoid disgusted expressions. The trigger had no moderating effect on the approach-avoidance tendencies. Thus the influence of an observer-irrelevant trigger appears to reflect more of a controlled than automatic process.

The current study measured adults' P350 and N170 ERPs while they interacted with a character in a virtual reality paradigm. Some participants believed the character was controlled by a human (avatar condition, n=19); others believed it was controlled by a computer program (agent condition, n=19). In each trial, participants initiated joint attention in order to direct the character's gaze toward a target. In 50% of trials, the character gazed toward the target (congruent responses), and in 50% of trials the character gazed to a different location (incongruent response). In the avatar condition, the character's incongruent gaze responses generated significantly larger P350 peaks at centro-parietal sites than congruent gaze responses. In the agent condition, the P350 effect was strikingly absent. Left occipitotemporal N170 responses were significantly smaller in the agent condition compared to the avatar condition for both congruent and incongruent gaze shifts. These data suggest that beliefs about human agency may recruit mechanisms that discriminate the social outcome of a gaze shift after approximately 350ms, and that these mechanisms may modulate the early perceptual processing of gaze. These findings also suggest that the ecologically valid measurement of social cognition may depend upon paradigms that simulate genuine social interactions.

Flow vectoring by a pair of synthetic jets is suitable for modification of the global flow characteristics with practical applications in active flow control and adaptive heat convection. The interaction of a pair of synthetic jets, with a separation distance s =3.3D, stroke length L-0 = 29D, and Reynolds number Re = 300, are investigated numerically using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and experimentally using particle image velocimetry (PIV). To achieve the most realistic calculation- of the flow induced by synthetic jets, a full unsteady RANS simulation is performed of the internal flow in two cavities as well as the external jet flow using a dynamic mesh technique. The results for the intricate flow vectoring phenomenon show a reasonable quantitative agreement with PIV measurements, with a maximum deviation from PIV measurements of 14% for stream -wise centreline velocity in 10 < y/D < 20. The effect of phase difference between the pair of jets on the vectoring of the merged jet is investigated for delta phi = 0 degrees, 60 degrees and 130 degrees. The merged jet is vectored in the direction of the cavity that is leading in phase, with a similar trend shown by the experimental and numerical results of instantaneous and time -averaged vortical structures. This leads to a better physical understanding of the fluid mechanics of adjacent synthetic jets, and will enhance the theoretical basis needed to promote their practical application. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Commodity operating system kernels are vulnerable to a wide range of attacks due to the large code base and broad attack surface. Mitigation mechanisms such as code signing, W circle plus X, and code integrity protection have raised the bar for kernel security. In turn, attack mechanisms have also become increasingly advanced. They have evolved from simple injection of malicious code into more sophisticated code-reuse attacks [e.g. return-oriented programming (ROP)]. In this study, the authors describe exception-oriented programming (EOP), a novel code-reuse method to construct kernel malware. Unlike previous ROP that can only reuse a limited part of existing code (gadgets), EOP is able to reuse any instruction in existing code and chain the instructions in any order to generate malicious programmes. As a result, EOP can provide the attackers with more powerful capabilities and less complexity for building kernel malware.

A digital predictive peak current control (PPCC) employing the adaptive slope compensation is proposed in this paper. The PPCC precisely predicts the peak current reference with the adaptive slope compensation according to operation regions and load conditions. Thereby, the PPCC can control the peak inductor current, and it significantly reduces the total harmonic distortion compared to that of the conventional digital average current control with duty ratio feed-forward which is widely used. In addition, parts of the PPCC are implemented by utilizing the internal high-resolution ramp generator and comparator of a digital signal processor without external components. The principle and analysis of the PPCC are presented, and the performance and feasibility are verified by experimental results with universal input (90 V-rms similar to 260 V-rms) and 750 W - 400 V output laboratory prototype.

Recent demographic changes in the forest-owner structure are suspected to have led to the increasing number of owners with no specific objectives for their forests. In addition, the continuous fragmentation of the forest holdings has increased the threat of the passiveness related to forest management. To decrease the tendency towards passiveness, new policy tools and initiatives have been suggested. In the Finnish context, the idea of an investor-based jointly owned forest has been introduced as facilitating the effective utilization of the forest resource. However, collective ownership has faced prejudice and scepticism among private forest owners. In order to expand, the forest owners need to see the idea of jointly owned forests as a socially legitimate. Thus, by adopting Van Leeuwen's framework for analyzing the legitimation of new social practices, we examine how Finnish forest owners legitimate their participation in jointly owned forests. The qualitative data of the study consist of 20 in-depth interviews with private forest owners who have joined a jointly owned forest. Our study contributes to the recent discussion on jointly owned forests. We show how a change in the type of ownership results in moral, authoritative and rational justifications over the decision while simultaneously renewing the identity of the forest owner. Accordingly, we suggest that forest ownership is not only driven by rational prospects, but the moral and emotional nature of ownership should be better taken into account at the policy level and in structural designs when discussing the promotion of new types of forest ownership.

This paper presents an optimal bid submission in a day-ahead electricity market for the problem of joint operation of wind with photovoltaic power systems having an energy storage device. Uncertainty not only due to the electricity market price, but also due to wind and photovoltaic powers is one of the main characteristics of this submission. The problem is formulated as a two-stage stochastic programming problem. The optimal bids and the energy flow in the batteries are the first-stage variables and the energy deviation is the second stage variable of the problem. Energy storage is a way to harness renewable energy conversion, allowing the store and discharge of energy at conveniently market prices. A case study with data from the Iberian day-ahead electricity market is presented and a comparison between joint and disjoint operations is discussed. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Background: The ability to recognize emotional expression is essential for social interactions, adapting to the environment, and quality of life. Emotion recognition is impaired in people with Alzheimer's disease (AD), thus rehabilitation of these skills has the potential to elicit significant benefits. Objective: This study sought to establish whether emotion recognition capacity could be rehabilitated in people with AD. Methods: Thirty-six participants with AD were assigned to one of three conditions: an experimental group (EG) that received 20 sessions of rehabilitation of emotion recognition and 20 sessions of cognitive stimulation therapy (CST), a control group (CG) that received 40 sessions of CST, and a treatment as usual group (TAU). Results: A positive treatment effect favoring the EG was found; participants were better able to correctly identify emotions (p = 0.021), made fewer errors of commission (p = 0.002), had greater precision of processing (p = 0.021), and faster processing speed (p = 0.001). Specifically, the EG were better able to identify sadness (p = 0.016), disgust (p = 0.005), and the neutral expression (p = 0.014), with quicker processing speed for disgust (p = 0.002). These gains were maintained at one month follow-up with the exception of processing speed for surprise, which improved. Conclusion: Capacity to recognize facial expressions of emotions can be improved through specific rehabilitation in people with AD, and gains are still present at a one month follow up. These findings have implications for the design of rehabilitation techniques for people with AD that may lead to improved quality of life and social interactions for this population.

Past research has established clear support for the prosocial function of gratitude in improving the well-being of others. The present research provides evidence for another hypothesized function of gratitude: the social alignment function, which enhances the tendency of grateful individuals to follow social norms. We tested the social alignment hypothesis of gratitude in 2 studies with large samples. Using 2 different conformity paradigms, participants were subjected to a color judgment task (Experiment 1) and a material consumption task (Experiment 2). They were provided with information showing choices allegedly made by others, but were allowed to state their responses in private. Supporting the social alignment hypothesis, the results showed that induced gratitude increased private conformity. Specifically, participants induced to feel gratitude were more likely to conform to the purportedly popular choice, even if the option was factually incorrect (Experiment 1). This effect appears to be specific to gratitude; induction of joy produced significantly less conformity than gratitude (Experiment 2). We discuss whether the social alignment function provides a behavioral pathway in the role of gratitude in building social relationships.

In this paper we describe ENSEMBLE-ROLLER, a learning-based automated planner that uses a bagging approach to enhance existing techniques for learning planning policies. Previous policy-style planning and learning systems sort state successors based on action predictions from a relational classifier. However, these learning-based planners can produce several plans of bad quality, since it is very difficult to encode in a single classifier all possible situations occurring in a planning domain. We propose to use ensembles of relational classifiers to generate more robust policies. As in other applications of machine learning, the idea of the ensembles of classifiers consists of providing accuracy for particular scenarios and diversity to cover a wide range of situations. In particular, ENSEMBLE-ROLLER learns ensembles of relational decision trees for each planning domain. The control knowledge from different sets of trees is aggregated as a single prediction or applied separately in a multiple-queue search algorithm. Experimental results show that both ways of using new policies produce on average plans of better quality.

With the evolution of the research on network moving target defense (MTD), the selection of optimal strategy has become one of the key problems in current research. Directed to the problem of the improper defensive strategy selection caused by inaccurately characterizing the attack and defense game in MTD, optimal strategy selection for MTD based on Markov game (MG) is proposed to balance the hopping defensive revenue and network service quality. On the one hand, traditional matrix game structure often fails to describe MTD confrontation accurately. To deal with this inaccuracy, MTD based on MG is constructed. Markov decision process is used to characterize the transition among network multi-states. Dynamic game is used to characterize the multi-phases of attack and defense inMTDcircumstances. Besides, it converts all the attack and defense actions into the changes in attack surface or the ones in exploration surface, thus improving the universality of the proposed model. On the other hand, traditional models care little about defense cost in the process of optimal strategy selection. After comprehensively analyzing the impact of defense cost and defense benefit on the strategy selection, an optimal strategy selection algorithm is designed to prevent the deviation of the selected strategies from actual network conditions, thus ensuring the correctness of optimal strategy selection. Finally, the simulation and the deduction of the proposed approach are given in case study so as to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed strategy optimal selection approach.

The major factors that control the performance of reinforced soil structures is the interaction between the soil and the reinforcement. Thus it is necessary to obtain the accurate bond parameters to be used in the design of these structures. To evaluate the behavior of flyash + clay soil reinforced with a woven geotextile, 36 Unconsolidated-Undrained (UU) and 12 reinforced Consolidated-Undrainrained (CU) triaxial compression tests were conducted. The moisture content of soil during remolding, confining pressures and arrangement of geotextile layers were all varied so that the behavior of the sample could be examined. The stress strain patterns, drainage, modulus of deformation, effect of confinement pressures, effects of moisture content have been evaluated. The impact of moisture content in flyash + clay backfills on critical shear parameters was also studied to recommend placement moisture for compaction to MDD. The results indicate that geotextile reinforced flyash + clay backfill might be a viable alternative in reinforced soil structures if good-quality granular backfill material is not readily available.

The commonality of antibiotic usage in medicine means that understanding the resulting consequences to the host is vital. Antibiotics often decrease host microbiome community diversity and alter the microbial community composition. Many diseases such as antibiotic-associated enterocolitis, inflammatory bowel disease, and metabolic disorders have been linked to a disrupted microbiota. The complex interplay between host, microbiome, and antibiotics needs a tractable model for studying host-microbiome interactions. Our freshwater vertebrate fish serves as a useful model for investigating the universal aspects of mucosal microbiome structure and function as well as analyzing consequential host effects from altering the microbial community. Methods include host challenges such as infection by a known fish pathogen, exposure to fecal or soil microbes, osmotic stress, nitrate toxicity, growth analysis, and measurement of gut motility. These techniques demonstrate a flexible and useful model system for rapid determination of host phenotypes.

In this paper, a novel digital predistortion assisted supply modulator is presented. The proposed modulator is suitable for envelope tracking power amplifiers. In this topology, a digitally controlled linear power amplifier is used to compensate the switching noise ripples of the switching modulator. The proposed structure is evaluated with a 0.18 mu m CMOS process technology. The results show up to 9% static efficiency improvement in comparison with previous one-phase and two-phase architectures. It is shown that for a 5 MHz WiMAX signal with a 6.7 dB PAPR at 26.8 dBm output power, a maximum average efficiency of 73.5% is achieved in the proposed design. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

We routinely observe others' choices and use them to guide our own. Whose choices influence us more, and why? Prior work has focused on the effect of perceived similarity between two individuals (self and others), such as the degree of overlap in past choices or explicitly recognizable group affiliations. In the real world, however, any dyadic relationship is part of a more complex social structure involving multiple social groups that are not directly observable. Here we suggest that human learners go beyond dyadic similarities in choice behaviors or explicit group memberships; they infer the structure of social influence by grouping individuals (including themselves) based on choices, and they use these groups to decide whose choices to follow. We propose a computational model that formalizes this idea, and we test the model predictions in a series of behavioral experiments. In Experiment 1, we reproduce a well-established finding that people's choices are more likely to be influenced by someone whose past choices are more similar to their own past choices, as predicted by our model as well as dyadic similarity models. In Experiments 2-5, we test a set of unique predictions of our model by looking at cases where the degree of choice overlap between individuals is equated, but their choices indicate a latent group structure. We then apply our model to prior empirical results on infants' understanding of others' preferences, presenting an alternative account of developmental changes. Finally, we discuss how our model relates to classical findings in the social influence literature and the theoretical implications of our model. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that structure learning is a powerful framework for explaining the influence of social information on decision making in a variety of contexts.

Purpose. To review the outcome of total hip arthroplasty (THA) using a short femoral stem in 33 hips. Methods. Records of 33 hips in 20 men and 10 women aged 25 to 40 (mean, 30) years who underwent cementless THA using a short femoral stem by a single senior surgeon were reviewed. The diagnosis included avascular necrosis (n=9), ankylosing spondylitis (n=12), rheumatoid arthritis (n=7), post traumatic arthritis (n=4), and Hurler syndrome (n=1). Clinical outcome was assessed using the Harris Hip Score. Radiological outcome was assessed according to a modified Gruen zoning system. Stem positioning (neutral, varus, valgus) and bone contact were evaluated, as were fixation and early host response as well as subsidence and changes in the calcar region (zone 5). Trabecular response (trabecular attachment), spot welds, cortical hypertrophy, and pedestal formation were determined. Heterotopic ossification was graded by the Brooker classification. Results. The mean follow-up period was 6.5 years. The mean Harris Hip Score improved from 40 to 90. All hips achieved immediate postoperative stability. No patient had thigh pain.. Four hips had varus placement (5-7) of the stem; all were asymptomatic and remained stable without any migration. Evidence of proximal load transfer (endosteal spot welds) between the endosteum and the stem in zones 2 and/or 4 was noted in 12 hips on both sides and in 8 hips on the lateral side only. At one year, all stems showed evidence of osseointegration. None had subsidence or progressive varus migration. There was no radiolucent line or osteolysis around the stem, pedestal formation or buttressing at the prosthesis tip, or cortical hypertrophy. One patient had grade I heterotopic ossification that was not clinically significant. One patient had a 1.5 cm leg lengthening. One patient had a discharging sinus, a loosened acetabular component, and intrapelvic migration at 2 years and underwent implant removal and debridement. One patient developed a crack in the proximal femur even with the smallest stem. The stem was fixed with cerclage wiring and remained stable with no migration. Conclusion. A short femoral stem design that transfers load proximally through a prominent lateral flare achieved good short-term outcome in younger patients. Nonetheless, the ease of removal and preservation of bone at the time of revision should guide the choice of the design of the short stem.

Objective. To compare baseline disease activity and treatment effectiveness in biologic-naive patients with nonradiographic axial spondyloarthritis (nr-axSpA) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) who initiate tumor necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi) treatment and to study the role of potential confounders (e.g., HLA-B27 status). Methods. Observational cohort study based on prospectively registered data in the nationwide DANBIO registry. We used Kaplan-Meier plots, Cox, and logistic regression analyses to study the effect of diagnosis (nr-axSpA vs AS) and potential confounders (sex/age/start yr/HLA-B27/disease duration/TNFi-type/smoking/baseline disease activity) on TNFi adherence and response [e.g., Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Activity Index (BASDAI) 50%/20 mm]. Results. The study included 1250 TNFi-naive patients with axSpA (29% nr-axSpA, 50% AS, 21% lacked radiographs of sacroiliac joints). Patients with nr-axSpA were more frequently women (50%/27%) and HLA-B27-negative (85/338 = 25%), compared to AS (81/476 = 17%; p < 0.01). At TNFi start patients with nr-axSpA had higher visual analog scale scores [median (quartiles)] for pain: 72 mm (55-84)/65 mm (48-77); global: 76 mm (62-88)/68 mm (50-80); fatigue: 74 mm (55-85)/67 mm (50-80); and BASDAI: 64 (54-77)/59 (46-71); all p < 0.01. However, patients with nr-axSpA had lower C-reactive protein: 7 mg/l (3-17)/11 mg/l (5-22); and BAS Metrology Index: 20 (10-40)/40 (20-50); all p0.05). HLA-B27 negativity was associated with poorer treatment adherence [HLA-B27 negative/positive, nr-axSpA: HR 1.74 (1.29-2.36), AS: HR 2.04 (1.53-2.71), both p < 0.0001]; and lower response rates (nr-axSpA: 18/61 = 30% vs 93/168 = 55%; AS: 17/59 = 29% vs 157/291 = 54%, both p < 0.05). Conclusion. In this nationwide cohort, patients with nr-axSpA had higher subjective disease activity at start of first TNFi treatment, but similar outcomes to patients with AS after confounder adjustment. HLA-B27 positivity was associated with better outcomes irrespective of axSpA subdiagnosis.

This paper is a reflective exploration of the emotional encounter between social workers and Irish Travellers in child safeguarding cases in the UK, the unconscious defences that may be triggered for social workers, unfamiliar with Travellers, and how these can impact on the relationship and outcomes. It raises concern about how pervasive societal disapproval towards Travellers may be absorbed by social workers, at the expense of a curiosity about historic marginalisation, the contemporary cultural and social context and a recognition of the strengths of the community. Drawing on psychoanalytical insights into race', it comprises a literature review which highlights themes of marginalisation in research on Irish Travellers in the UK. It also includes a narrative interview with a Traveller woman who reflects on the fear that social workers invoke in Travellers, and sets up the key question: what might the emotional state of the social worker be in this scenario.

The number of elderly and chronically ill patients has grown significantly over the past few decades as life expectancy has increased worldwide, leading to increased demands on the health care system and significantly taxing traditional health care practices. Consequently, there is an urgent need to use technology to innovate and more constantly and intensely monitor, report and analyze critical patient physiological parameters beyond conventional clinical settings in a more efficient and cost effective manner. This paper presents a technological platform called PlaIMoS which consists of wearable sensors, a fixed measurement station, a network infrastructure that employs IEEE 802.15.4 and IEEE 802.11 to transmit data with security mechanisms, a server to analyze all information collected and apps for iOS, Android and Windows 10 mobile operating systems to provide real-time measurements. The developed architecture, designed primarily to record and report electrocardiogram and heart rate data, also monitors parameters associated with chronic respiratory illnesses, including patient blood oxygen saturation and respiration rate, body temperature, fall detection and galvanic resistance.

The metabolism of haloperidol (HP) to the potentially neurotoxic pyridinium species, HPP+ and RHPP+, has been demonstrated in humans. In vitro studies in microsomes harvested from various animal species indicate that the tetrahydropyridines, HPTP and RHPTP, could be intermediates in this pathway. However, this has not yet been demonstrated in vivo in humans. In this study, plasma and urine collected from eight critically ill patients treated with high doses of intravenous HP were analyzed for HPTP and RHPTP using HPLC with electrochemical detection. However, neither HPTP nor RHPTP were detected despite plasma concentrations of HP and RHP higher than any previously reported. HPP+ and RHPP+ were both present in the urine in high concentrations and accounted for 1.1 +/- 0.5% and 5.3 +/- 3.6%, respectively, of the administered dose of HP. The apparent elimination half-lives of HPP+ and RHPP+ were 67.3 +/- 11.0 hr and 63.3 +/- 11.6 hr, respectively. The absence of HPTP and RHPTP in plasma and urine suggests that in humans these tetrahydropyridines either are insignificant intermediates in the metabolism of HP in vivo or are present only transiently at their site of formation and are not released into the circulation.

This paper presents an intelligent multi-agent system that is aimed at improving healthcare and assistance to elderly and dependent people in geriatric residences and at their homes. The system is based on the PANGEA multi-agent architecture, which provides a high-level framework for intelligent information fusion and management. The system makes use of wireless sensor networks and a real-time locating system to obtain heterogeneous data, and is able to provide autonomous responses according to the environment status. The high-level development of the system that extracts and stores information plays an essential role to deal with the avalanche of context data. In our case, the multi-agent system approach results satisfactorily because each agent that represents an autonomous entity with different capabilities and offers different services works collaboratively with each other. Several tests have been performed on this platform to evaluate/demonstrate its validity.

Heterocyclic aromatic amines (HAAs) are potent bacterial mutagens and potential human carcinogens formed in heat processed proteins. The Ames test (strain TA98) is a useful mutagenicity test system to screen food products for these compounds. HAAs require activation to their genotoxic forms, and in the Ames test, a rat liver S-9 preparation is normally used. In order to better understand the mechanisms of mutagen activation with respect to human metabolism, new bacterial strains containing human cytochrome P450s and other metabolic enzymes have recently been developed. We have investigated the capacity of one of these strains, DJ4309 [Josephy et al., Chem. Res. Toxicol. 11 (1998) 70-74] as a screening tool for mutagens in food products. DJ4309 expresses the human P450 1A2, human NADPH cytochrome reductase and the bacterial acetyl CoA:arylamine N-acetyltransferase. This strain is as sensitive as the Ames system to the mutagenic effects of the heterocyclic aromatic amines 2-amino-3-methylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoline, 2-amino-3,4-dimethylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoline and 2-amino-3,8-dimethylimidazo[4,5 f]quinoxaline, but less sensitive to 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine. However, the mutagenicity of the arylamine 2-aminofluorene is considerably higher in DJ4309 than in the Ames test system. Meat extracts with a total HAA content ranging from less than 2 ng/g to 20 ng/g are efficiently detected by the Ames TA98 strain with rat liver S-9 activation. DJ4309 is less sensitive, with fewer revertants induced over the same dose range. Unknown compounds present in the meat extracts appear to inhibit the activity of the P450 1A2 enzyme in the DJ4309 strain. We have therefore demonstrated that although DJ4309 is a useful tool for mechanistic studies in chemical carcinogenesis, the screening of complex food matrices for HAAs by this bacterial strain must be conducted with caution. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Aims Genetic polymorphisms may contribute to platelet reactivity in diabetic patients; however, the information on their influence on long-term antiplatelet therapy is lacking. Our aim was to evaluate the role of previously described genetic variants and platelet reactivity on risk of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular events. Methods Blood samples were obtained from 303 Caucasian patients. Genome-wide genotyping was performed using Illumina Human Omni 2.5-Quad microarrays, and individual genotyping of selected SNPs was performed using a custom Sequenom iPLEX assay in conjunction with the Mass ARRAY platform. Platelet reactivity was measured with VerifyNow Aspirin Assay and PFA-100 Assay. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were performed to determine the impact of genetic variants and platelets reactivity on risk of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular events. Results Among the 237 patients included in the follow-up, death from any cause occurred in 34 (14.3%) patients and cardiovascular events occurred in 51 (21.5%) patients within a median observation time of 71 months (5.9 years). In univariate analyses, significant association in the presence of minor alleles in TXBA2R (rs1131882) with primary (HR 2.54, 95% CI 1.15-5.60, p = 0.021) and secondary endpoint (HR 2.06, 95% CI 1.06-4.04, p = 0.034) was observed. In addition, multivariate analyses revealed the impact of this polymorphism on primary (HR 2.34, 95% CI 1.09-5.00, p = 0.029) and secondary endpoint (HR 1.89, 95% CI 1.00-3.57, p = 0.048). Conclusions Results of the study demonstrate for the first time an association between genetic polymorphism within TXBA2R gene encoding platelet's surface receptor and long-term survival of diabetic patients treated with ASA.

This paper describes early studies and results about the design of a system for supporting domain experts in managing data streams coming from a set of sensors and services at the base of ambient intelligence (AmI) environments. Domain experts can use the proposed system to creatively elaborate their needs and ideas about the type of data-flow to be generated for monitoring emergency situations and combining physical and social sensors. Moreover, they can conduct different analysis by considering their contextual information (space, time, thematic).

The rate of drainage of a viscous liquid from initially full cylindrical tubes inclined at various angles to the vertical (0 degrees, 30 degrees, 45 degrees and 60 degrees) was studied in glass and polymethylmethacrylate (Perspex (TM)) tubes of various lengths and diameters using three food materials: honey (Newtonian) and two variants of Marmite (TM) spread (both exhibiting complex rheological behaviour, including shear-thinning and thixotropy). The behaviour was marked by an initially steady rate of drainage in which an air slug descended the tube, followed by slower drainage from an annular film remaining on the wall. Eventually the liquid stopped draining as a filament and entered a dripping regime. Drainage was insensitive to the tube material, whereas the stages of drainage were influenced by the geometry and angle of inclination. Quantitative models are presented for the rate and extent of the initial drainage stage, the rate in a second linear stage (where it existed), and the rate of drainage in the third, falling rate stage. The fourth and final stage, characterised by drop formation, was not modelled. The initial rate can be predicted with reasonable accuracy, allowing the time to remove approximately 50% of the material in a short waiting phase to be calculated, e.g. t=8vL/R(2)g for a Newtonian liquid with kinematic viscosity v in a vertical pipe of radius R and length L. The agreement with the other models is less exact but they capture the general trends reasonably. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) are caused by the accumulation of the abnormal prion protein scrapie (PrPSc). Prion protein aggregation, misfolding, and cytotoxicity in the brain are the major causes of neuronal dysfunction and ultimate neurodegeneration in all TSEs. Parkin, an E3 ubiquitin ligase, has been studied extensively in all major protein misfolding aggregating diseases, especially Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease, but the role of parkin in TSEs remains unknown. Here we investigated the role of parkin in a prion disease cell model in which neuroblastoma2a (N2a) cells were treated with prion peptide PrP106-126. We observed a gradual decrease in the soluble parkin level upon treatment with PrP106-126 in a time-dependent manner. Furthermore, endogenous parkin colocalized with FITC-tagged prion fragment106-126. Overexpression of parkin in N2a cells via transfection repressed apoptosis by enhancing autophagy. Parkin-overexpressing cells also showed reductions in apoptotic BAX translocation to the mitochondria and cytochrome c release to the cytosol, which ultimately inhibited activation of proapoptotic caspases. Taken together, our findings reveal a parkin-mediated cytoprotective mechanism against PrP106-126 toxicity, which is a novel potential therapeutic target for treating prion diseases.

The use of the internet among adolescents is an opportunity for personal development, but also a potential source of problems and risks. Social and cultural aspects related to gender could, a priori, determine patterns of internet and social networks usage, as well as the resulting consequences. The aim of the present study was to explore the possible gender differences regarding internet usage habits, reasons for its use, online risky behaviors, problematic internet use (PIU) and parental role. To achieve this goal, a sample of 40,955 Spanish Compulsory Secondary School students aged 12-17 was analyzed. The results obtained confirmed relevant gender differences in the reasons for using it, in social networks, mobile phone and instant messaging use. Differences in prevalence of PIU, in risky practices such as cyberbullying and in parental role were also detected. These findings allow for discussing some interpretative keys from a gender perspective.

The diffusion equationof suspended sediment concentration in a wide sediment-laden stream flow is dependent on the vertical gradient of streamwise velocity and the sediment diffusivity. This study aims at investigating the influence of the streamwise velocity laws on the suspended sediment concentration distributions, resulting from the solution of the diffusion equation. Firstly, the sediment concentration distributions are obtained numerically from the solution of the diffusion equationusing different velocity laws and compared with the experimental data. It is found that the power-law approximation produces good computational results for the concentration distributions. The accuracy of using a power-law velocity model is comparable with the results obtained from other classical velocity laws, namely log-law, log wake-law and stratified log-law. Secondly, a novel analytical solution is proposed for the determination of sediment concentration distribution, where a power-law, wall-concentration profile is coupled with a concentration wake function. The power-law model (for velocity and concentration) is calibrated using the experimental data, and then a generalized wake function is obtained by choosing a suitable law. The developed power-law model involving the wake function adjusted by an exponent predicts the sediment concentration distributions quite satisfactorily. Finally, a new explicit formula for the suspended-load transport rate is derived from the proposed theory, where numerical computation of integrals, as needed in the Einstein theory, is avoided.

Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, manufacturing industries have primarily been responsible for adverse effects on the environment caused by pollutants such as carbon dioxide. Therefore, there has been tremendous pressure for these industries to be globally competitive within the range of environmental regulations and laws, which has been greatly increased and reinforced these days. In addition, manufacturing industries have been confronted with new challenges owing to the depletion of energy and natural resources, economic stagnation, and increasing human needs that become very diverse. Thus, low-carbon green growth, cleaner production, and eco-friendly products are main issues, and sustainable manufacturing is the driving direction in the future manufacturing industry. PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) is one of the innovative manufacturing paradigms that leverage e-business technologies in order to allow a company's product content to be developed and integrated with all company business processes through an extended enterprise. In this paper, we designed a new information model and a PLM system for sustainable manufacturing using UML methodology. We performed thoughtful analyses of existing PLM and sustainable indicator, basic schema and information model for supporting sustainable manufacturing engineering are developed. This paper also presents apractical case study showing information model and sustainable engineering by using commercial PDM software.

ObjectivesHigh-level emergency medical care requires transfer of evidence-based knowledge into practice. Our study is the first to investigate the feasibility of checklists in improving prehospital emergency care.Materials and methodsThree checklists based on standard operating procedures were introduced: General principles of prehospital care, acute coronary syndrome and acute asthma/acutely exacerbated chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Subsequent to prehospital care and immediately before transport, information on medical history, diagnostic and therapeutic procedures was obtained. Data of 740 emergency missions were recorded prospectively before (control group) and after implementation of checklists and compared using the (2)-test (significance level P<0.05).ResultsDocumentation on patients' history (pre-existing diseases: 69.1 vs. 74.3%; medication: 55.8 vs. 68.0%; allergies: 6.2 vs. 27.7%) and diagnostic measures (oxygen saturation: 93.2 vs. 98.1%; auscultation: 11.1 vs. 19.9%) as well as basic treatment procedures (application of oxygen: 73.2 vs. 85.3%; intravenous access: 84.6 vs. 92.2%) increased significantly. Subanalysis of acute coronary syndrome cases showed a significant increase of 12-lead ECG use (74.3 vs. 92.4%), administration of oxygen (84.2 vs. 98.6%), ASA (71.7 vs. 81.9%), heparin (71.1 vs. 84.0%), blockers (39.5 vs. 57.1%) and morphine (26.8 vs. 44.6%). In the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease subgroup, oxygen supply (78.8 vs. 98.5%) and application of inhalative and intravenous 2-mimetics (42.4 vs. 66.7% and 12.1 vs. 37.9%) increased significantly.ConclusionIntroduction of checklists for prehospital emergency care may help to improve adherence to treatment guidelines. Additional efforts (e.g. team trainings) have to be made to increase quality of care.

Water resources, previously considered as free and abundant, are now becoming scarce, which will potentially affect human welfare. Urban areas experience increased water demands directly proportional to the rate of urbanisation, causing a stress on water sources. Rooftop rainwater harvesting in cities and towns is an effective tool for recharging depleting aquifers and for meeting the demand for water. Indian national and state governments have framed rules and policies supporting installation of rainwater harvesting structures, but implementation of these requires the acceptance and willingness of people. The present study explores the awareness about rooftop rainwater harvesting systems, attitudes towards them and their acceptance among the people of Dehradun, India. The results indicate that rooftop rainwater harvesting is acceptable to the people but the government needs to provide supportive implementation plans.

Increased enterococcal infections in hospitals and multidrug-resistant and vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) isolated from humans, animals, and food sources raised public health concern on the presence of VRE in multiple sources. We performed a comparative analysis of the antimicrobial resistance and genetics of VRE isolates derived from fresh produce and human fecal samples. Of 389 Enterococcus isolates, 8 fecal and 3 produce isolates were resistant to vancomycin and teicoplanin; all harbored vanA gene. The VRE isolates showed multidrug-resistant properties. The isolates from fresh produce in this study showed to have the common shared characteristics with the isolates from humans by the results of antimicrobial resistance, multilocus sequence typing, and Tn 1546 transposon analysis. Therefore, VRE isolates from fresh produce are likely related to VRE derived from humans. The results suggested that VRE may contaminate vegetables through the environment, and the contaminated vegetables could then act as a vehicle for human infections. Ongoing nationwide surveillance of antibiotic resistance and the promotion of the proper use of antibiotics are necessary.

Isogeometric Analysis (IGA) is a new analysis method for unification of Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Computer Aided Engineering (CAE). With the use of NURBS basis functions for both modelling and analysis, the bottleneck of meshing is avoided and a seamless integration is achieved. The CAD and computational geometry concepts in IGA are new to the analysis community. Though, there is a steady growth of literature, details of calculations, explanations and examples are not reported. The content of the paper is complimentary to the existing literature and addresses the gaps. It includes summary of the literature, overview of the methodology, step-by-step calculations and Matlab codes for example problems in static structural and modal analysis in 1-D and 2-D. At appropriate places, comparison with the Finite Element Analysis (FEM) is also included, so that those familiar with FEM can appreciate IGA better.

One of the existing problems of information management is an information security. In this aspects one of possible solution is divide information between a group of persons authorized to manage this information. Information sharing processes allow to protect the information from disclosure. In this paper, the process of division of the information has been enhanced by biometric identification stage. Secure information processes with biometric identification are used to manage very important and strategic data. This paper presents the questions of personal cryptography understood as a combination of the tasks of classifying information and biometric techniques used for this kind of tasks. The techniques of biometric data marking are present on the examples of data division and sharing protocols, expanded by the stages of personal identification and verification. This kind of solutions is presented for the tasks of dividing appropriately the shared secret information. Moreover, we shall present the management process of shadow sets, i.e., of parts of the divided, secret information. The processes of secret data management are refer to tasks of cognitive management, understood as management executed on the basis of understanding the meaning of the processed data.

A subtropical watershed and wetland covering nearly 47,000 km(2) in the southeastern United States, the Florida Everglades is a degraded, human-dominated environment. As a unique and important ecosystem, the Everglades provide a variety of important environmental services for society and nature. Over the past century and a half, anthropogenic actions have severely impacted the Everglades by disrupting the natural water flow and causing water pollution. As a result, the native flora and fauna have been displaced, important habitats have been lost, invasive species have become prevalent, and water contaminant concentrations have increased. Accelerating efforts are being made towards preserving the Everglades ecosystem by restoring water flow and improving water quality. To explore this complex and important aquatic ecosystem, we critically review the relevant environmental history, major terrestrial and aquatic characteristics and dynamics, engineered changes to water flow, major sources and impacts of nutrient pollution, trends in system response to pollution and mitigation actions, and recent regulatory efforts driving restoration.

The objective of this study is to create computer vision algorithms for autonomous multiclass identification of amber nuggets by their colour. By applying the proposed methods an automated production sorting system has been developed. This system can be used, for example in combination with conveyor systems, and in any other case that requires distinguishing objects of many classes in a high-rate flow of objects. In order to achieve this, the proposed system operates with colour features selection, algorithm for classifier training, grouping, and voting with reject option have been developed. The developed system has been used in an automated amber sorting line to increase the quantities of sorted amber nuggets. The applied algorithms gave 88.21% as the highest accuracy for the amber nugget expert database consisting of 30 classes.

The aim of this study was to examine changes in sexist attitudes and beliefs in a group of Spanish adolescents over a period of three consecutive years, with specific attention being paid to gender differences. Participants were 279 students (mean age at first assessment of 12.10years) who, in each of the three years, completed the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory and the Questionnaire on Attitudes towards Diversity and Violence. Longitudinal analysis showed that hostile sexism did not vary over time, whereas scores on benevolent sexism and on sexist beliefs and justification of violence all fell between the ages of 12 and 14, there being an equivalent decrease in boys and girls. Boys scored significantly higher than girls on hostile sexism, as well as on sexist beliefs. These results illustrate how sexist attitudes and beliefs change during adolescence and provide further confirmation that these variables show gender differences from an early age.

Although patients may raise new concerns during any time of the medical visit, the closing phase of the consultation is a critical locus for the negotiation of the topicalization of additional concerns. Using conversation analysis as the primary method of analysis, this study provides an analysis of the structure of consultation closings in Korean primary-care encounters and the way in which the organization of closings in this context discourages patients' presentation of additional concerns. Data are drawn from 60 videotaped primary-care encounters collected from Korea, between 2007 and 2008. The rare occasions in which last-minute concerns are raised are closely analyzed to reveal that the organization of gaze and body orientation play an important role in foreclosing the presentation of additional concerns. The results contribute to our understanding of closings in the primary-care interview by investigating a non-western setting that includes an investigation of an understudied subject - that of embodied resources - and shows how these closings serve the doctor's purpose of bringing closure in the face of last-minute concerns broached by the patient. The cultural meaning of gaze in the Korean medical care context is also discussed. The findings have implications for research on nonverbal communication, cultural differences, and interactions in medical care. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The article deals with the place of electronic kits of didactic system of science and technical subjects. Briefly summarizes measurements with the support of computer kit at laboratory measurement or demonstration wiring electrical circuits. Within general and didactics electro-technical kits among didactic material resources. The term didactic tool is a very range-wide and rich in content. The default term for this issue. Educational resources are an important didactic categories.

BACKGROUND: Many studies have investigated the impact of pediatric Cognitive Rehabilitation Therapy (CRT) upon intellectual functioning after traumatic brain injury; however, relatively few have identified efficacious treatment in a school setting. OBJECTIVE: The purpose is to present a variety of CRT strategies that would be useful to a teacher or therapist working with students who are learning disabled or who have who have had a traumatic brain injury (TBI). METHODS: This article investigates the particular challenges in learning which result from impaired cognition, and suggests techniques for improving memory and executive functioning. RESULTS: Students who are learning disabled or who have TBI face social and emotional issues that impact their learning. Special therapeutic interventions are necessary to assist with orienting to their setting, integrating with peers, and coping with distressing emotions. CONCLUSIONS: Students with TBI can adapt and flourish in a school based setting provided that therapies and learned strategies are targeted to their specific needs.

Permeable pavements are increasingly being used as urban stormwater management systems. Permeable pavement systems enable stormwater to infiltrate through the pavement surface and into the filter layer. Three common recycled construction and demolition (C&D) materials; crushed brick (CB), recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) and reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) were investigated in combination with nonwoven geotextile to assess their suitability as filter materials in permeable pavements. A series of laboratory tests was undertaken to assess the geotechnical and hydraulic characteristics of the C&D materials in permeable pavement applications. As a worst case scenario, stormwater mixtures were prepared in the laboratory with a slightly higher than the average pollutant concentrations in stormwater runoff events occurring in urban areas. Constant head permeability tests were carried out to investigate the stormwater filtration capacity and clogging behaviour of C&D materials. A series of hydraulic conductivity tests was also conducted to investigate the effect of variations in the properties of filter media, sediment particle sizes, density of the filter media and clogging effects over time. This research found that the geotextile layer increases pollutant removal efficiency of the C&D materials; however has potential to cause more clogging due to continuous accumulations of sediments in a long period. In terms of usage in permeable pavement filter layer, C&D materials were found to have geotechnical and hydraulic properties equivalent or superior to that of typical quarry granular materials. The Model for Urban Stormwater Improvement Conceptualisation (MUSIC) was furthermore employed to predict the pollutant removal efficiency of the C&D materials and the predicted results were validated with the laboratory experiments. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

In recent years, large amounts of fire accidents happened in countryside due to the problems of electric circuits, which adversely affect rural people's daily lives. It becomes increasingly important to solve the problems of rural electrical fire. The southwest rural area of China, where fire situation is severe and fire accidents occur frequently, is chosen to be surveyed. The situation of rural electric circuits and the strength of fire rescue in southwest countryside of China are investigated, and the fire fatalness of wood houses and the potential perils of electrical fire in rural area are presented. Finally, some suggestions on electrical fire prevention in rural area are put forward. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

In this paper, a unified averaged modeling method is proposed to investigate the fast-scale period-doubling bifurcation of a full-bridge integrated buck-boost inverter with peak current control. In order to increase the resolution of the conventional classic averaged model to half the switching frequency, sample-and-hold effect of inductor current is absorbed into the averaged model, i.e. the proposed unified averaged model can capture the high-frequency dynamical characteristics of the buck-boost inverter, which is both an extension and a modification of conventional averaged model. Based on the unified mode, fast-scale bifurcation is identified, and the corresponding bifurcation point is predicted with the help of the locus movement of all the poles, and their underlying mechanisms are revealed. Detailed analysis shows that the occurrence of high-frequency oscillation means fast-scale bifurcation, while the occurrence of low-frequency oscillation leads to slow-scale bifurcation. Finally, it is demonstrated that the unified averaged model can provide not only a general method to investigate both the slow-and fast-scale bifurcations in a unified framework but also a quite straightforward design-oriented method which can be directly applicable.

The soil-structure interface between structures and frozen soil ground is an important element to the structure safety in permafrost regions. This interface is usually subjected to a constant normal stress and cyclic shear loadings such as seismic, wind, and wave loadings. Hence, the cyclic direct shear behaviors of this interface have critical impacts on the safety and durability of the structure. This paper investigated the cyclic direct shear behaviors of an artificial frozen soil-structure interface under four constant normal stresses and four sub-zero temperatures by using a large-scalemulti-functional direct shear apparatus. Cyclic shear stress and normal displacement were measured under normal stresses of 100, 300, 500, and 700 kPa and at sub-zero temperatures of -2, -6, -10, and -14 degrees C, respectively. These measurements revealed the following mechanical properties of this artificial interface: (1) The maximum shear stress is always observed in the initial stage of the first cycle. This maximum shear stress is linearly related to the normal stress. (2) Both the internal friction angle and the cohesion of this interface at the maximum shear stress decrease with the increase of sub-zero temperature. (3) The internal friction angle decreases with further cycles. This angle becomes significantly smaller in the stabilized cycles than that in the first cycle. (4) The maximum dilation measured by normal displacement is always observed in the first cycle. This dilation is decreasing with higher normal stress and at lower sub-zero temperature. However, the final normal displacement always contracts and its magnitude increases with the increase of normal stress or the decrease of sub-zero temperature. Finally, a simple damage model is proposed to describe these behaviors of this artificial interface and its performance is checked through its prediction for experimental data. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Determining optimal forest management to provide multiple goods and services, also referred to as Ecosystem Services (ESs), requires operational-scale information on the suitability of the forest for the provisioning of various ESs. Remote sensing allows wall-to-wall assessments and provides pixel data for a flexible composition of the management units. The purpose of this study was to incorporate models of ES provisioning potential in a spatial prioritization framework and to assess the pixel-level allocation of the land use. We tessellated the forested area in a landscape of altogether 7500 ha to 27,595 pixels of 48 x 48 m(2) and modeled the potential of each pixel to provide biodiversity, timber, carbon storage, and recreational amenities as indicators of supporting, provisioning, regulating, and cultural ESs, respectively. We analyzed spatial overlaps between the individual ESs, the potential to provide multiple ESs, and tradeoffs due to production constraints in a fraction of the landscape. The pixels considered most important for the individual ESs overlapped as much as 78% between carbon storage and timber production and up to 52.5% between the other ESs. The potential for multiple ESs could be largely explained in terms of forest structure as being emphasized to sparsely populated, spruce-dominated old forests with large average tree size. Constraining the production of the ESs in the landscape based on the priority maps, however, resulted in sub-optimal choices compared to an optimized production. Even though the land-use planning cannot be completed without involving the stakeholders' preferences, we conclude that the workflow described in this paper produced valuable information on the overlaps and tradeoffs of the ESs for the related decision support. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Due to the proliferation of Web 2.0 technology, e-commerce has evolved into social commerce. In this social commerce era, consumers are increasingly dependent on each other and look for social support (informational and emotional) online even before making purchases. This study examines the content of consumer reviews, a fundamental construct of social commerce. Topics expressed in consumer reviews (collected from Amazon.com) are explored using a machine learning technique (i.e. latent semantic analysis). This study documents the thematic differences between positive and negative reviews and finds that negative reviews report service-related failures while positive reviews relate more to the product, among other things. Next, the informational support aspect of social commerce is explored by identifying the topics expressed in reviews that are helpful in purchase decisions. The findings demonstrate that potential customers (i.e. those who would like to purchase a product in the near future and currently are reading reviews with the intention to decide whether or not to buy that product) find the negative reviews containing service failure information and the positive reviews containing information on core functionalities, technical aspects, and aesthetics to be more helpful. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

alpha 1-antitrypsin (AAT), a circulating glycoprotein that rises during acute phase responses and healthy pregnancies, exhibits immunomodulatory properties in several T-cell-dependent immune pathologies. However, AAT does not directly interfere with T-cell responses; instead, it facilitates polarization of macrophages and dendritic cells towards M2-like and tolerogenic cells, respectively. AAT also allows NK cell responses against tumor cells, while attenuating DC-dependent induction of autoimmune NK cell activities. Since AAT-treated macrophages bear resemblance to cancer-promoting tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs), it became imperative to examine the possible induction of tumor permissive conditions by AAT. Here, AAT treatment is examined for its effect on tumor development, metastatic spread, and tumor immunology. Systemic AAT treatment of mice inoculated with B16-F10 melanoma cells resulted in significant inhibition of tumor growth and metastatic spread. Using NK cell-resistant RMA cells, we show that AAT interferes with tumor development in a CD8(+) T-cell-dependent manner. Unexpectedly, upon analysis of tumor cellular composition, we identified functional tumor-infiltrating CD8(+) T-cells alongside M1-like TAMs in AAT-treated mice. Based on the ability of AAT to undergo chemical modifications, we emulated conditions of elevated reactive nitrogen and oxygen species. Indeed, macrophages were stimulated by treatment with nitrosylated AAT, and IFN gamma transcripts were significantly elevated in tumors extracted soon after ischemia-reperfusion challenge. These context-specific changes may explain the differential effects of AAT on immune responses towards tumor cells versus benign antigenic targets. These data suggest that systemically elevated levels of AAT may accommodate its physiological function in inflammatory resolution, without compromising tumor-targeting immune responses.

Researchers interested in psychological factors affecting writers in higher-education institutions, or academic writers, are concerned with internal variables affecting writing productivity; however few empirical studies explore these factors with samples of students who are in the process of earning master's or doctoral degrees (i.e., graduate students). In this study, we examined writing anxiety, self-efficacy and emotional intelligence (EI) in a sample of graduate students at a large, research-intensive university in the United States. Using a survey, we collected measures on these variables in addition to demographic information from the participants. We then used the measures to descriptively compare groups of students with similar characteristics and to run three regression models to identify which variables best predicted writing anxiety. Our findings indicate self-efficacy is a statistically significant and large predictor of writing anxiety while EI is not, though descriptive data showed moderate effects between EI and first language (i.e., whether or not a student reported English as a first language). In the presence of self-efficacy, gender remained a significant predictor of writing anxiety, while first language did not. We discuss implications for future research and practice focused on helping graduate student academic writers succeed.

Absorption and metabolism of [C-13]9-cis-beta-carotene ([C-13]9c beta C) was studied in three subjects after a single oral dose. Subjects given 1.0 mg [C-13]beta-carotene (mean: 99.4% 9-cis-beta-carotene, 0.6% all-trans-beta-carotene; dose A) had substantial concentrations of [C-13]all-trans-beta-carotene ([C-13]tr beta C) and [C-13]all-trans retinol ([C-13]retinol) but very low concentrations of [C-13]cis-beta-carotene ([C-13]cis beta C) in saponified plasma 5 h after dosing, as determined by HPLC and isotope-ratio mass spectrometry. There was no evidence of appreciable absorption of [C-13]9-cis retinol. To determine the proportion of [C-13]tr beta C and [C-13]retinol derived from [C-13]9c beta C, a second set of studies in the same subjects was performed with the same isomeric composition except with C-13 labeling only in all-trans-beta-carotene (dose B). The results indicated that >95% of plasma [C-13]tr beta C and [C-13]retinol observed after dose A was derived from [C-13]9c beta C. The concentrations of [C-13]tr beta C observed, in excess of that derived from the trace amounts of [C-13]tr beta C in the dose, indicated that a significant proportion of the [C-13]9c beta C dose was isomerized to [C-13]tr beta C before entering the bloodstream. Although precise quantitative estimates of the extent of isomerization of 9-cis-beta-carotene could not be made, it is apparent that cis-trans isomerization of 9-cis-beta-carotene to all-trans-beta-carotene contributed to the near absence of postprandial plasma 9-cis-beta-carotene after its oral administration in humans. The observation of different ratios of beta-carotene to retinol between the two dosing protocols suggests that isomerization did not occur exclusively before uptake by the intestinal mucosa. These results indicate that isomerization of ingested 9-cis-beta-carotene before its secretion into the bloodstream limits the potential supply of 9-cis retinoids to tissues, and increases the vitamin A value of 9-cis-beta-carotene.

The apolipoprotein E4 (E4) allele is present worldwide, despite its associations with higher risk of cardiovascular morbidity, accelerated cognitive decline during aging, and Alzheimer's disease (AD). The E4 allele is especially prevalent in some tropical regions with a high parasite burden. Equatorial populations also face a potential dual burden of high E4 prevalence combined with parasitic infections that can also reduce cognitive performance. We examined the interactions of E4, parasite burden, and cognitive performance in a traditional, nonindustrialized population of Amazonian forager-horticulturalists (N = 372) to test whether E4 protects against cognitive decline in environments with a heavy pathogen burden. Contrary to observations in industrial populations, older adult E4 carriers with high parasite burdens either maintained or showed slight improvements in cognitive performance, whereas non-E4 carriers with a high parasite burden showed reduced cognitive performance. Being an E4 carrier is the strongest risk factor to date of AD and cognitive decline in industrial populations; it is associated with greater cognitive performance in individuals facing a high parasite and pathogen load, suggesting advantages to the E4 allele under certain environmental conditions. The current mismatch between postindustrial hygienic lifestyles and active parasite-rich environs may be critical for understanding genetic risk for cognitive aging.-Trumble, B. C., Stieglitz, J., Blackwell, A. D., Allayee, H., Beheim, B., Finch, C. E., Gurven, M., Kaplan, H. Apolipoprotein E4 is associated with improved cognitive function in Amazonian forager-horticulturalists with a high parasite burden. FASEB J. 31, 1508-1515 (2017). www.fasebj.org

Prolonged Internet video game play may have multiple and complex effects on human cognition and brain development in both negative and positive ways. There is not currently a consensus on the principle effects of video game play neither on brain development nor on the relationship to psychiatric comorbidity. In this study, 78 adolescents with Internet gaming disorder (IGD) and 73 comparison subjects without IGD, including subgroups with no other psychiatric comorbid disease, with major depressive disorder and with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), were included in a 3 T resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging analysis. The severity of Internet gaming disorder, depression, anxiety and ADHD symptoms were assessed with the Young Internet Addiction Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory, the Beck Anxiety Inventory and the Korean ADHD rating scales, respectively. Patients with IGD showed an increased functional correlation between seven pairs of regions, all satisfying q < 0.05 False discovery rates in light of multiple statistical tests: left frontal eye field to dorsal anterior cingulate, left frontal eye field to right anterior insula, left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) to left temporoparietal junction (TPJ), right DLPFC to right TPJ, right auditory cortex to right motor cortex, right auditory cortex to supplementary motor area and right auditory cortex to dorsal anterior cingulate. These findings may represent a training effect of extended game play and suggest a risk or predisposition in game players for over-connectivity of the default mode and executive control networks that may relate to psychiatric comorbidity.

This paper discusses the design process of permanent-magnet-free ac machine-based actuators working in elevated-temperature environments for high-dynamic applications. Both demands given by the application with respect to maximum volume, torque-over-speed performance, and the thermal limits of the insulation materials, which limit the maximal loss that may occur, have to be considered. Starting from the geometry, semianalytic modeling approaches are used within an optimization algorithm to obtain a machine design suitable for this application.

Onsite rainwater harvesting is an inexpensive water source for indoor use; it is also a sustainable water management practice, since it may contribute to the reduction of runoff volume and peaks, and to the control of non-point source pollution. The aim of this paper is to provide a method for sizing rainwater harvesting tanks based on the local daily rainfall record, the served family size, the roof collection area, the roof type, the in-house water uses, and other factors. Various methods used worldwide are presented and compared. The comparative application of these methods is made using a daily rainfall record from a meteorological station near Kimmeria Village in Xanthi, Northeast Greece. Based on the proposed method here, the optimum tank size is computed by allowing excess water to overflow and setting to zero the use of the public water supply; the method may result in reduced tank sizes compared to other methods tested.

Back pain and upper extremities injuries due to overexertion account for over twenty percent of leave days from work in the US. This explains why a vast amount of initiatives have been, to this date, carried out aiming at reducing the occurrence of such type of injuries. However, although such type of lesions are among the most studied in occupational medicine, no automatic detection and prevention technologies are pervasively available, to this date, at workplaces. Such deficiency is ascribable to the absence of any flexible and cost-effective tectaphnology that may play such role. This work aims at filling such gap: the contribution of this paper is the design and implementation of a movement-posture computervision based system that, performing as a sensor, can detect overexertion movements, helping avoid the most common injuries that these cause. Such tasks are carried out with the use of a simple webcam, thus not requiring any expensive or specialized (e.g., Microsoft Kinect) hardware device. The proposed technology is, hence, easily affordable by any type of company and production plant throughout the world and easy adaptable to recognize and detect a wide set of movements and postures. The validity of such approach is demonstrated in realistic settings through a wide set of experiments.

In this paper, an area competent field-programmable gate array (FPGA) execution scheme of elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) is depicted. There are numerous limitations in traditional encryption algorithms such us Rivest Shamir Adleman (RSA), Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) in respect of security, power, and resources at the real-time performance. The ECC is mounting as an imperative cryptography, and gives you an idea about a promise to be the substitute of RSA. In this paper, ECC processor architecture over Galois Fields (GFs) with the multitalented bit serial multiplier is depicted which accomplishes the greatest area and power performance over traditional digit-serial multiplier. In addition, the vigilant scheduling operation was employed to diminish the involvedness of logic unit operations in ECC processor. The anticipated architecture is executed on vertex4 FPGA expertise in Xilinx software. We demonstrate that results perk up the performance of the enhanced design by contrasting with the traditional design.

The use of drugs with intrinsic anticholinergic properties is widespread among old age persons. A growing body of evidences suggest that a high anticholinergic burden is associated with physical and cognitive impairment. However, the association between anticholinergic drug use and functional status is still poorly investigated, particularly among subjects with initial cognitive impairment. Cross-sectional study examining the association between drug-related anticholinergic burden and functional status in cognitively healthy (CH) (n=691), mild cognitive impairment (MCI) (n=541) or mild Alzheimer's diseases (AD) (n=1127) subjects. Data were gathered from the ReGAl project (Rete Geriatrica Alzheimer-Geriatric Network on Alzheimer's disease), a large longitudinal Italian multicentric clinical-based study, promoted by the Italian Society of Gerontology and Geriatrics (SIGG). 2359 outpatients, older than 65 years, admitted to memory clinics. The total sample size, estimated according to a global effect size of 25% with type I error of 0.05 and a power of 95% is 2010 subjects. Functional status was evaluated by the Katz Index of Independence in Activities of Daily Living (ADL) and the Lawton-Brody Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) scales. The drug-related anticholinergic burden was estimated by the Anticholinergic Risk Scale (ARS). The 15.9 % (n=375) of total population used at least one drug with anticholinergic properties. Such a drug use was associated with partially dependence in ADL (OR:1.42, CI95%: 1.10-1.83; p=0.006), independently of gender, number of drugs, comorbidity index, presence of clinically relevant neuropsychiatric symptoms and adjusted MMSE. Anticholinergic drug use was associated with un-ability at each IADL task only in male MCI subjects, with significant impairment in shopping (p=0.011), and drug management (p=0.05). The use of medications with anticholinergic properties is common among older persons cognitively health as well as with cognitive impairment. Our results suggest that the use of anticholinergic drugs is associated with functional impairment, especially in old age subjects with initial cognitive impairment. Minimizing anticholinergic burden should result in maintaining daily functioning, especially in a vulnerable population, such as MCI and mild AD.

This study explores the factors that moderate first-person perception of socially desirable messages and the behavioral consequences of the perceived self-other perceptual disparity. A total of 255 participants watched An Inconvenient Truth and completed a survey thereafter. The participants acknowledged themselves to be more receptive to the film than others and acted on this perceived difference by supporting the distribution of the film. The message desirability, perceived message quality and sensation value, sensation-seeking tendency, and issue knowledge not only affected assessments of the perceived effect on the self and others differently but also increased the willingness to take action and stop global warming.

Despite high activity for photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes from water, nanoscale Ag3PO4 photocatalyst particles are difficult to synthesize. As reported in literature, Ag3PO4 particle sizes for photocatalytic degradation of water pollutants are normally larger than 100 nm. This research reports a facile and reproducible method for the synthesis of the ultrafine and uniform Ag3PO4 nanoparticles loaded on the oxygen vacated TiO2 (TiO2-OV) with average particle size as small as 2.6nm. All obtained Ag3PO4 particles can be completely loaded onto TiO2-OV support to form Ag3PO4/TiO2-OV composite photo catalysts. The prepared Ag3PO4/TiO2-OV photocatalyst exhibits much higher visible light photocatalytic activity than those of pure Ag3PO4 or Ag3PO4/TiO2 photocatalysts for the degradation of rhodamine b (Rh B) and phenol in water. After depositing thin layers of Agl on Ag3PO4 ultrafine Ag3PO4 nanoparticles, the new AgI-Ag3PO4/TiO2-OV composite photocatalysts not only show much higher photocatalytic activity, but they are also more stable than pure Ag3PO4 catalyst. This new synthesis method will provide guidelines for the preparation of ultrafine nanoparticles and highly active photocatalysts for treatment of water pollution or production of hydrogen from water splitting/reducing. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

In this second part of results presentation of investigations of aerodynamics of the flow in the action space of needle valves in configurations characterised by rounding of the sensitive sharp details present in earlier investigations there are results of pressure measurements on the action space walls. There are two sections. In the first one the attention is focused on the flows approaching from outside the entrance into the exit channel, partly blocked in various degrees by the insertion of the needle tip. The second section presents data of the pressure measured at the tip of the needle at various lifts, various Reynolds numbers, and various configurations of the rounded and sharp part of the valve components. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V.

There is relatively little research considering motivations of passive Facebook use. However, research regarding motivations of general Facebook use indicates that people use Facebook to escape and that escapism may motivate passive Facebook use. Research also suggests that using Facebook to escape is associated with Facebook addiction. Using an experimental vignette design, the present research investigated whether passive Facebook use is motivated by escapism and whether this escape motivation is associated with passive Facebook addiction. A within-participant experimental design using vignettes was used to explore the effect of positivity and, in addition, socialness on passive Facebook use. Addiction to passive Facebook use and perceived effect of passive Facebook use on mood were also assessed. Participants (n = 69) responded to 16 vignettes describing daily life events, as well as responding to a question about passive Facebook use on mood and completing the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale. Results suggested that individuals did not use Facebook to escape. There was no association between escapism in passive Facebook use and passive Facebook addiction. Social contact had a positive effect on passive Facebook use, and participants perceived passive Facebook use to have no effect on mood. Findings suggest that passive Facebook use is a less effective method of escape than general Facebook use, and reducing individuals' likelihood of experiencing Facebook addiction symptoms. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Magnesium (Mg) is naturally found in bone tissue and is essential to human metabolism. It is well known that Mg ion improved bone-like apatite nucleation and growth. In this study, Mg ions were ion exchanged onto poly acrylic acid (PAA) thin film containing the carboxyl groups deposited on the commercially pure titanium (CP-Ti) surface using a plasma polymerization at discharge power 50 W for 5 min. Surface morphology and chemical composition of all samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Bioactivity of the Mg ion exchanged CP-Ti samples was evaluated by immersing in simulated body fluid (SBF) and MC3T3-E1 cell proliferation. The bone-like apatite forming ability was significantly influenced by Mg ion concentrations. Mg ion promotes bone-like apatite nucleation and growth on CP-Ti surface in SBF solution and improves MC3T3-E1 cell proliferation. It is therefore expected that CP-Ti and Ti alloys having a high biocompatibility can be obtained by ion exchanging the Mg ion after PAA plasma modified Ti surface. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Due to lack of ditch maintenance, many ditches in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River are strongly affected by nutrient over-enrichment. Accordingly, we conducted surveys of nutrient concentrations in ditchwater and sediment in the hilly area of the central Sichuan Basin to investigate the spatiotemporal variations of nutrient concentrations and to promote the restoration of ditches for ecological functions. The results showed that the mean total nitrogen, particulate nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, ammonia nitrogen, and total phosphorus values in ditchwater were 4.80, 1.09, 0.94, 1.09, and 0.18 mg/L, respectively. The mean concentrations of total nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, ammonia nitrogen, and total phosphorus in ditch sediment were 1.58 g/kg, 2.62 mg/kg, 1.54 mg/kg, and 6.95 g/kg, respectively. Higher total nitrogen concentrations in ditchwater occurred in western areas, while higher total phosphorus concentrations occurred in central areas. Seasonally, we measured higher nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations in ditchwater close to agricultural areas during the rainy season, while the opposite effect was true for residential areas. Although nutrient concentrations in ditchwater could be affected by both surrounding land uses and ditch water levels, land use was critical. Moreover, nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations were significantly higher in the ditchwater near residential areas when compared to paddy or sloping cropland ditches. However, we found no significant differences between the nutrient contents of sediments in ditches surrounded by different land uses. Our results indicate that water pollution control initiatives in residential areas would be the most critical factor in combating ditchwater and sediment pollution in this region. Therefore, efforts to restore the ecological functions of drainage ditches should take into account rural township sewage management, fertilizer reduction, and especially ditch vegetation restoration.

The consumption of fish and shellfish is a major route of human exposure to arsenic (As), because they contain relatively large concentrations of organoarsenicals, in particular arsenobetaine (AB). AB is considered non-toxic because of its rapid excretion from the human body. However, previous studies on human metabolism and excretion of AB have used the compound in solution rather than considering the effects that occur during the digestion of food in the gastrointestinal tract. In this preliminary study, we used microcosms inoculated with human faecal matter to investigate the aerobic and anaerobic degradation of AB by microorganisms associated with the large intestine. Samples were recovered over 30 days, centrifuged, filtered and the supernatant analysed for total As content and As speciation, using ICP-MS and HPLC-ICP-MS respectively. After 7 days the total As in the supernatants from the aerobic experiment fell to a minimum of 65% of the total added, recovering to 15% less than added after 30 days. By using anion and cation exchange chromatography coupled to ICP-MS detection, arsenobetaine (AB), dimethylarsinic acid (DMA), dimethylarsinoylacetic acid (DMAA) and trimethylarsine oxide (TMAO) were identified as degradation products. Results from the aerobic system showed that after 7 days incubation the AB had been degraded to DMA, DMAA and TMAO and after 30 days the degraded AB reappeared in the samples. The results for the anaerobic system showed no degradation of AB over the 30 day course of the experiment. These findings demonstrate for the first time that biocatalytic capability for AB degradation exists within the human gastrointestinal tract.

TaqIA is a polymorphism associated with addictions and dopamine-related traits. It is located in the ankyrin repeat and kinase domain containing 1 gene (ANKK1) nearby the gene for the dopamine D2 receptor (D2R). Since ANKK1 function is unknown, TaqIA-associated traits have been explained only by differences in D2R. Here we report ANKK1 studies in mouse and human brain using quantitative real-time PCR, Western blot, immunohistochemistry, and flow cytometry. ANKK1 mRNA and protein isoforms vary along neurodevelopment in the human and mouse brain. In mouse adult brain ANKK1 is located in astrocytes, nuclei of postmitotic neurons and neural precursors from neurogenic niches. In both embryos and adults, nuclei of neural precursors show significant variation of ANKK1 intensity. We demonstrate a correlation between ANKK1 and the cell cycle. Cell synchronization experiments showed a significant increment of ANKK1-kinase in mitotic cells while ANKK1-kinase overexpression affects G1 and M phase that were found to be modulated by ANKK1 alleles and apomorphine treatment. Furthermore, during embryonic neurogenesis ANKK1 was expressed in slow-dividing neuroblasts and rapidly dividing precursors which are mitotic cells. These results suggest a role of ANKK1 during the cell cycle in neural precursors thus providing biological support to brain structure involvement in the TaqIA-associated phenotypes.

The battery state of charge (SOC) is an important parameter of the battery capacity state. It can only be indirectly estimated through measurable variables such as voltage, current and temperature. Accurate estimation of SOC is one of the key problems in a battery management system. A battery model based on equivalent electrical circuits has been used to describe the battery dynamics. The model has been experimentally validated using a laboratory test. The battery SOC has been estimated in real time by means of two methods: Luenberger observer and Kalman Filter. This paper presents a comparison between the two model based SOC estimation algorithms.

The optimal use of biomass from a global warming mitigation perspective depends upon numerous factors, including competition for land and other constraints. The goal of this study is identifying optimal uses of domestic biomass resources for the case of Denmark, with the objectives of minimizing global warming contribution and fossil energy resource consumption. For this purpose, consequential life cycle assessment of the different options for biomass was performed. Optimal solutions were identified, given specific national environmental targets, using linear programming. Results highlighted that utilizing the energy potential of manure and straw represents the primary opportunity for further global warming mitigation. For this purpose, co-digestion (for manure) and combustion with heat-and-power production (for straw) appear as the most promising technologies. The utilization of biomass (or biogas) for electricity/heat is generally preferred, as long as coal/oil is still used within the energy system. Yet, to fulfill environmental targets for renewable energy in the transport sector, the diversion of a significant share of biogas (and/or other biofuels) from these more beneficial uses is necessary. To completely phase out coal/oil, additional biomass (to current domestic resources) must be included, either through domestic energy crops cultivation or biomass/biofuel import; alternatively, natural gas could be used. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

This paper analyzes the electromechanics of the spherical metal particles in AC gas-insulated lines (GIL) with a pragmatic test rig comprising coaxial cylindrical electrodes. Analysis on fluid resistance during the particle moving process is presented based on fluid mechanics as well as the kinetic parameters of the SF6/N-2 mixture. The interactive impacts between the particle and the conductor or the shell are also proposed based on collision theory of elastic mechanics considering random effects caused by the metal surface roughness. With the above aspects being included, a dynamic motion model for the spherical metal particles within AC GIL is established accordingly, and experimental studies are carried out to validate effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed model. Meanwhile, simulations are done regarding a real 220 kV AC GIL for further governance and verifications. The research observations indicate that, the applied voltage exerts an incremental effect on the maximum height of the moving particle, but won't affect the spread angle of the particle motion. Both the height and the spread angle of the particle's motion show inflection points with increased particle radius. On the contrary, the maximum height of the moving particle decreases with the increase of SF6 ratio and the gas pressure.

Emotions and sensory perceptions are closely intertwined. Of the five senses, sight has been by far the most extensively studied sense in emotion research. Relatively less is known about how emotions influence the other four senses. Touch is essential for nonverbal communication in both humans and other animals. The current investigation tested competing hypotheses about the effect of fear on tactile perception. One hypothesis based on evolutionary considerations predicts that fear enhances sensory perception, including tactile sensitivity. A competing hypothesis based on research on peripheral psychophysiology predicts that fear should decrease tactile sensitivity. Two experiments that induced negative emotional states and measured two-point discrimination ability at the fingertip found that fear reduces tactile sensitivity relative to anger or a neutral control condition (Studies 1 and 2). These findings did not appear to be driven by participants' naive beliefs about the influence of emotions on touch (Study 3). The results represent the first evidence of the causal impact of emotional states on tactile sensitivity, are consistent with prior evidence for the peripheral physiological effects of fear, and offer novel empirical grounds for developing and advancing theories of emotional influences on sensory perception.

Thermal hydraulics in air cooled finned heat transfer tube banks are analyzed with the ANSYS FLUENT CFD code, by assuming a periodic boundary condition for the region of interest. The Re-normalization Group (RNG) theory based k-epsilon model is used as a reference turbulence model. Two other turbulence models are used to compare results. They are standard k-epsilon model and realizable k-epsilon model. The loss coefficients of the finned heat transfer tube as a function of the Reynolds number are calculated using the RNG k-epsilon model and the standard k-epsilon model. Both results are in the band of the measured data in the case of the one pass model. Six-pass finned heat transfer tube banks are calculated using a whole pass model as well as a one-pass model which transfers the calculated outlet conditions to the next pass calculation. Air temperature distribution along the six passes is compared with the result calculated by a one-dimensional system code. Both results agree each other. However, the evaluated Nu number for each pass is slightly higher than the measured data. The evaluated pressure loss coefficient is in the measured data scattering band. (C) 2016 Elseviet Ltd. All rights reserved.

Theories of neuroaesthetics assume, that looking at traces of actions used in creating artwork (e.g. brush marks) is associated with a simulation of these actions in the observer's sensorimotor-cortex. The aim of the current study is to dissociate the activation of the sensorimotor-cortex by the observation of action traces from associated visual processes. Twenty-eight participants observed handmade graphics (acrylic paint on paper) of different complexity (line, triangle, shape of a house) and computer-generated counterparts. Central mu-activity, as an index of sensorimotor-cortex activity, and occipital alpha-activity, as an index of visual cortex activity were recorded in the 8-13 Hz EEG-band. In line with the hyp5hesis, mu-activity at electrode C4 is sensitive for the complexity of handmade (p = 0.001), but not computer-generated graphics (p >0.500). In contrast, occipital alpha-activity is sensitive for the complexity of both handmade and computer-generated graphics (p <0.001). Furthermore, the more empathic the participants rated themselves, the stronger mu-suppression was induced by handmade graphics compared to computer-generated graphics (electrode C4; r=0.612, p = 0.001). These results support the involvement of the sensorimotor-cortex in the recognition of action traces and strengthen evidence that individuals scoring high in emotional empathy feature a particularly responsive mirror neuron system. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Spatial information of the dominant species of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) is essential for restoration projects in eutrophic lakes, especially eutrophic Taihu Lake, China. Mapping the distribution of SAV species is very challenging and difficult using only multispectral satellite remote sensing. In this study, we proposed an approach to map the distribution of seven dominant species of SAV in Taihu Lake. Our approach involved information on the life histories of the seven SAV species and eight distribution maps of SAV from February to October. The life history information of the dominant SAV species was summarized from the literature and field surveys. Eight distribution maps of the SAV were extracted from eight 30 m HJ-CCD images from February to October in 2013 based on the classification tree models, and the overall classification accuracies for the SAV were greater than 80%. Finally, the spatial distribution of the SAV species in Taihu in 2013 was mapped using multilayer erasing approach. Based on validation, the overall classification accuracy for the seven species was 68.4%, and kappa was 0.6306, which suggests that larger differences in life histories between species can produce higher identification accuracies. The classification results show that Potamogeton malaianus was the most widely distributed species in Taihu Lake, followed by Myriophyllum spicatum, Potamogeton maackianus, Potamogeton crispus, Elodea nuttallii, Ceratophyllum demersum and Vallisneria spiralis. The information is useful for planning shallow-water habitat restoration projects. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Objective: Since reconstruction of composite defects in the head and neck region is a challenging and demanding problem for head and neck surgeons, surgical aids have been sought for decades. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of prefabricated surgical resection templates used in mandibular segmental resections in comparison to the virtual surgical plan. Materials and methods: A prospective study was performed in 11 consecutive patients, with a primary T4 oral squamous cell carcinoma or osteoradionecrosis of the mandible. Preoperatively, a CBCT scan was acquired to delineate the size and extension of tumor invasion; a virtual patient-specific resection template was designed based on this information. Intraoperatively, the resection template was positioned on the mandible and secured using four fixation screws. Postoperatively, a CBCT scan was acquired. This scan was superimposed on the preoperative scan. Positioning of the resection template and inclination of the resection planes were evaluated on the virtual head model. In order to test the interobserver reliability of these new measurement methods, two different observers executed all measurements. Results: The mean shift of the proximal resection templates was 3.76 mm (standard deviation [SD] 3.10 mm). For the distal resection templates, the mean shift was 3.06 mm (SD 1.57 mm) with no significant interobserver difference (ICC = 0.99). An absolute mean deviation of 8.5 degrees (SD 5.3 degrees) was found for the proximal resection angle and 10.4 degrees (SD 5.0 degrees) for the distal resection angle. Again, no significant interobserver differences were found (ICC = 0.98). Conclusion: The resection templates used in this study proved reasonably accurate. Although the concept of virtual surgical planning aids significantly in mandibular reconstruction with microvascular free flaps, further improvement of resection accuracy is necessary for further improvement of reconstruction accuracy. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of European Association for Cranio-Maxillo-Facial Surgery.

Mexico has entered in an important dynamic of structural changes in the energy area, proof of this, it is the Energy Reform 2013 and the Energy Transition Law published the last December 24th, 2015, thus it is important to carry out studies of the impacts of future politics in the consumption of the population, so this study estimate an energy demand system using microdata collected from 97,817 households in a National Households Income and Expenditure Survey (ENIGH acronyms in Spanish, Encuesta Nacional de Ingresos y Gastos de los Hogares) in the 20-years period from 1994 to 2014. The magnitudes of all the fuels are smaller than one indicating that electricity, LPG, gasoline and public transport are normal goods, while LPG is the most inelastic energy source. The geographic factor shows that households in the north of Mexico tend to consume more gasoline, whereas in the south of the country, the lowest share of LPG expenditure is reported. The rigorous evaluation of energy demanded in households will help policy makers to put forward more efficient reforms.

Objective:Perceived injustice has been defined as an appraisal regarding the severity and irreparability of loss associated with pain, blame, and a sense of unfairness. Recent findings suggest that perceived injustice is an important risk factor for elevated disability associated with chronic pain. However, the mechanisms by which this perception leads to disability are not well understood. Therefore, the current study aimed to examine the mediating role of pain acceptance on the relation between perceived injustice and chronic pain outcomes (pain intensity, pain-related disability, and psychological distress).Method:This cross-sectional study used a sample of 475 individuals from the community who report chronic pain. Participants completed the Injustice Experience Questionnaire, the Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire, a pain rating intensity scale, the Modified Brief Pain Inventory, and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale.Results:Results revealed significant direct links from perceived injustice to pain intensity (c=0.416, P<0.001), disability (c=0.891, P<0.001), and distress (c=0.261, P<0.001), as well as indirect links from perceived injustice through acceptance of pain to pain disability (ab=0.512, P<0.001, confidence interval, 0.390-0.635) and psychological distress (ab=0.106, P<0.001, confidence interval, 0.077-0.136).Discussion:Clinical and theoretical implications are discussed along with future research directions.

The purpose of this study was to determine the environmental impacts associated with a deep energy efficiency refurbishment using life cycle assessment. A prototypical refurbished model of an office building located in Auckland, New Zealand was used as a case study. The refurbishment included major changes to the building envelope with additional insulation, modified wall-window ratio, solar shading as well as technical replacement of the lighting and HVAC system. The study included identification of environmental hot spots of a deep energy refurbishment, and consideration of the effect of different electricity mixes in New Zealand on the total environmental impact of the refurbished building when compared to the un-refurbished existing building over different operation periods. An environmental payback period was calculated for each impact category. The results of this study indicate that deep energy refurbishment is associated with significant environmental impacts mainly due to the use of energy-intensive construction materials. However, the refurbishment yields net reductions in most impact categories if the building has a longer operational period. The environmental impacts of a building's operation are mainly associated New Zealand's electricity generated from coal. As future scenarios of New Zealand's electricity mix have a reduced share of electricity generated from coal, the environmental benefits of avoided electricity consumption are also reduced. The study concludes that measures to promote energy efficiency refurbishment in office buildings where a significant proportion of the operational energy is provided from renewable energy sources, should be carefully considered because they may not reduce overall environmental impacts. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.