Impact of TI Programmes Intervention under National AIDS Control Programme among Female Sex Workers in India: Evidence from Integrated Biological and Behavioural Survey, 2014-15

Background: A better understanding of the impact of Targeted Interventions (TI) services on Female Sex Worker (FSW) behaviours can help in informing and strengthening future TI efforts under National AIDS Control Programme (NACP). Methods: National Integrated Biological and Behavioural Survey (IBBS) 2014-15 has been analysed in the paper. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis were used to understand factors affecting condom use. Propensity score matching (PSM) was done to understand the impact of the TI services on condom use at the last act and consistent condom use in the last three months among FSWs. Results: Younger FSWs aged 15 - 25 years were 1.4 times (95% CI: 1.04 - 1.77) more likely to use consistent condoms in the last three months compared to older over 45 years after controlling for other socio-economic and programme variables. The matched samples estimate ATET i.e. the average treatment effect on treated for consistent condom use in the last three months shows that a 6.0% (CI: 4.7 - 7.3) increase in consistent condom use in the last three months in the FSWs who received information on STI/HIV from peer educator and outreach worker. There is also a 6.0% (4.7 - 7.2) increase in condom use in the last act for FSWs who received the referral services at STI clinics, HIV testing, and detox centres. Conclusions: It is evident that the TI programme has a positive impact on behavior change among FSWs which can prove beneficial to curtail the spread of HIV to the partners and onward transmission to the general population.

Mapping the clinical practice of traditional,complementary and integrative medicine in oncology in Western countries:A multinational cross-sectional survey

Background Many cancer patients seek adjunctive therapies to biomedical cancer treatments at some point of their disease trajectory.While acupuncture is increasingly recommended by leading oncological associations,limited evidence exists concerning the evidence-informed practice and adherence to current guidelines of traditional complementary and integrative medicine(TCIM)practitioners treating cancer patients.Methods An international online-survey assessed the demographical data,clinical practice,and sources of information used by TCIM practitioners in Austria,Germany,United States of America,Australia,and New Zealand.Results In total,404 respondents completed the survey,of which 254(62.9%)treated cancer patients.Most practitioners were acupuncturists and herbalists(57.1%),had(16.8±9.9)years of clinical experience and see a median of 2(1,4)cancer patients per week.Breast cancer(61.8%)is the most common cancer type seen in TCIM clinics.Adjunctive TCIM treatments are frequently concurrent with the patient’s cancer specific treatment(39.9%),which is also reflected by the main goal of a TCIM treatment to alleviate side effects(52.4%).However,only 28.0%of the respondents are in contact with the treating oncologist.According to the respondents,pain is most effectively treated using acupuncture,while herbal medicine is best for cancer-related fatigue.TCIM practitioners mostly use certified courses(33.1%)or online databases(28.3%)but often believe that experts are more reliable to inform their practice(37.0%)than research publications(32.7%).Conclusion Acupuncturists and herbalists commonly treat cancer patients.Most practitioners use TCIM as an adjunct to biomedicine as supportive care and use it largely in accordance with current oncological guidelines.

Short-term displacement prediction for newly established monitoring slopes based on transfer learning

This study makes a significant progress in addressing the challenges of short-term slope displacement prediction in the Universal Landslide Monitoring Program,an unprecedented disaster mitigation program in China,where lots of newly established monitoring slopes lack sufficient historical deformation data,making it difficult to extract deformation patterns and provide effective predictions which plays a crucial role in the early warning and forecasting of landslide hazards.A slope displacement prediction method based on transfer learning is therefore proposed.Initially,the method transfers the deformation patterns learned from slopes with relatively rich deformation data by a pre-trained model based on a multi-slope integrated dataset to newly established monitoring slopes with limited or even no useful data,thus enabling rapid and efficient predictions for these slopes.Subsequently,as time goes on and monitoring data accumulates,fine-tuning of the pre-trained model for individual slopes can further improve prediction accuracy,enabling continuous optimization of prediction results.A case study indicates that,after being trained on a multi-slope integrated dataset,the TCN-Transformer model can efficiently serve as a pretrained model for displacement prediction at newly established monitoring slopes.The three-day average RMSE is significantly reduced by 34.6%compared to models trained only on individual slope data,and it also successfully predicts the majority of deformation peaks.The fine-tuned model based on accumulated data on the target newly established monitoring slope further reduced the three-day RMSE by 37.2%,demonstrating a considerable predictive accuracy.In conclusion,taking advantage of transfer learning,the proposed slope displacement prediction method effectively utilizes the available data,which enables the rapid deployment and continual refinement of displacement predictions on newly established monitoring slopes.

Joint Radar and Communication: A Survey

Joint radar and communication(JRC)technology has become important for civil and military applications for decades.This paper introduces the concepts,characteristics and advantages of JRC technology,presenting the typical applications that have benefited from JRC technology currently and in the future.This paper explores the state-of-the-art of JRC in the levels of coexistence,cooperation,co-design and collaboration.Compared to previous surveys,this paper reviews the entire trends that drive the development of radar sensing and wireless communication using JRC.Specifically,we explore an open research issue on radar and communication operating with mutual benefits based on collaboration,which represents the fourth stage of JRC evolution.This paper provides useful perspectives for future researches of JRC technology.

Regional gravity survey and application in oil and gas exploration in China

Ground gravity survey for regional structure unit delineation and oil and gas exploration in China is addressed in this paper with examples. Gravity survey scales, coverage, technical regulations and achievements at the national level are introduced, including data processing and anomaly interpretation techniques. Bouguer anomalies of terrestrial territories of China and classification of anomalous feature zones are also described;they are well correlated with lithotectonical boundaries, fault zones, and unexposed igneous plutons. Recent study results of petroliferous sedimentary basins are presented as well, including concealed boundaries and major structures of large basins. It is concluded that gravity survey is the most effective and economic method in unveiling unexposed and deep-seated structures, targeting and delineating oil and gas-bearing sedimentary basins, and locating main trap structures within prolific basins in early stage of exploration in China. Suggestions for improving exploration of both conventional and unconventional oil and gas reservoirs in China are also given in the paper.

A GIS Pre and Post Processing Contribution to a Multi Techniques Test Survey for an Ancient Railway Restoration in the Brembana Valley

Stemming from the renewed desire to requalify the former Brembana Valley railway route (inside one of the valleys of the Province of Bergamo and close to the important city of Milan), from Bergamo to Villa d’Almè, in 2017, the Bergamo Transport Company and other partners have signed a memorandum of understanding. They have also entrusted a project company to develop a technical and economic viability study, which would be an update of a preliminary one presented in 2009. A private proposal for the realization of a test survey, useful for the required engineering project, has been submitted to the project company and accepted. For this reason, a team, comprising different companies, and among them also the Geomatics group at the University of Bergamo, was formed so as to perform this task and develop it in a degree thesis. The aim of the test survey is to evaluate a joint use of the new available technologies, so as to possibly get faster, more economic and thorough results, by performing a 3D metric analysis over two sub-areas selected along the route. The paper describes this experience and the achieved results. In particular, the areas of interest in the test project have been analyzed first thing with a GIS software and then surveyed with a multi-sensor approach, i.e. terrestrial laser scanner, GNSS techniques and UAV. The final integrated results allowed providing a metric model of the morphological and urban aspect for the territorial layout, useful also for further advanced GIS analyses. The analysis of the reached precisions has provided satisfactory results which agree with the metric requirements of the project. Further meaningful considerations can be derived from this test survey: the implementation of different techniques has helped to overcome problems due to hidden parts in complex objects, it has allowed to provide a faster survey and to test different technologies and software packages. The results have been quite satisfactory.

Vertical Integration by Means of Profinet

This paper discusses some aspects of interdisciplinary problems of industrial automation curriculum in Virumaa College of Tallinn University of Technology at engineering level. The problems being faced by engineers are increasingly interdisciplinary and complicated because the development of new products and processes depends upon the integration of many different technologies. Expansion of possibilities of already existing fieldbus systems is carried out by means of integration them into Profinet （PROcess Field NET） communications. The lab set-model of vertical integration-for data gathering from smart Profibus PA sensor, data transmission, controllers configuration for Profinet IO direct interfacing of distributed field devices on the Ethernet is discussed in this paper.

The Application of Curriculum Ideological and Political Cases in the Teaching of Road Survey and Design

Ideological and political construction of curriculum is the key link to implement the fundamental task of moral education.Focusing on the training objectives of civil engineering professionals in the new era,combined with the teaching concepts of moral education and student-centered education,the teaching objectives for the course of road survey and design have been re-set.The implementation plan of ideological and political education has been put into practice by involving excellent engineering cases,stories of outstanding figures in this field,traffic accidents,design concepts and technological innovation to explore the methods of integrating ideological and political cases into curriculum teaching for a continuous improvement of the promotion of curriculum ideological and political education to the teaching quality of professional courses.

A survey of public needs for digital information service in libraries and museums

Purpose:The purpose of the research is to investigate public needs for digital information service in the Chinese libraries and museums and seek ways to help these public service institutions improve their service to meet user needs.Design/methodology/approach:An online questionnaire survey was used to study the publicneeds for digital information service provided by libraries and museums.A total of 474 valid questionnaires were retrieved for analysis.Findings:The primary purpose of using the digital library and museum service was for knowledge acquisition,followed by work or class assignment and leisure and entertainment.Users need one-stop information service that provides information and service in a more integrated form and allows cross-database searching as well.Research limitations:A majority of the respondents were young and middle-aged people who often use the Internet.We would need to increase our sample size and include different groups of users such as children and retirees to make the sample more representative.Practical implications:Libraries and museums should collaborate to provide the users with one-stop digital information service.Meanwhile,the research can serve as a reference source for the future studies of digital library and museum service.Originality/value:Few studies were published on the public needs for digital library and museum service in China.This study bridges the gap and contributes to our understanding of the Chinese users’ needs for digital information service in libraries and museums.

A modern survey method for determining live loads based on multi-source and open-access data on the Internet

Sufficient survey data are required to describe the stochastic behaviors of live loads.However,due to manual and on-site operation required by traditional survey methods,traditional surveys face challenges like occupant resistance,high costs,and long implementation periods.This study proposes a new survey method to access live load data online and automatically.Required samples are acquired from multi-source,open-access and dynamically updated data on the Internet.The change intervals,geometrical dimensions and object quantities are obtained from transaction information,building attributes and virtual reality models on real estate websites,respectively.The object weights are collected from commodity information on e-commerce websites.The integration of the aforementioned data allows for the extraction of necessary statistics to describe a live load process.The proposed method is applied to a live load survey in China,covering 20040 m^(2),with around 90000 samples acquired for object weights and load changes.The survey results reveal that about 70%−80%of the amplitude statistics are attributable to 1/6 of the total object types.

Investigation of a landslide in the new site of Badong County by integrated geophysical survey

An integrated geophysical survey which combines vertical seismicprofile method, shallow reflection seismic method, electric sounding, soil temperature measurement and radioactive gas measurement was used to investigate Zhaoshuling landslide in the new site of Badong County and to assess the stability of the landslide. By rational use of these methods together with borehole geological profile and other geological information, the spatial distribution of the landslide body, the formations and structures within and without the landslide body were determined and the stability of the landslide was also assessed, thus making great contribution to the successful and rational investigation and assessment of the landslide.

Situation of Integrative Medicine in China:Results from a National Survey in 2004

Integrative medicine （ IM）, usually called integrated traditional and Western medicine in China, which came into being in the 1950s as a new form of medicine, although is now developing quickly, little is known about its status and existing problems. So a national survey in China was conducted through questionnaire in 2004 by Chinese Association of Integrative Medicine with the support of State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine （SATCM）. The results show that, of all the medical professionals investigated in this survey, 91.21% and 93.52% respondents respectively favored IM as the best diagnostic and therapeutic method. Of all the patients who once went through TCM, Western medicine （WM） and IM therapies, 68.85%, 65.45% and 71.2% respondents respectively most appreciated IM, IM hospitals and IM therapeutic treatments. Most of the 6 595 respondents held that the optimal scientific research strategy in TOM should be integrating modern medical research method （ n = 2 380） or modern scientific method （ n = 2 920）. However, many hospitals exposed the problems in the aspects of governmental supports and funding supports, human resources, and domestic or international academic activities. These results indicated that IM is the patients＇ social needs and doctors＇ aspiration in China. For further development of IM, the enhancement of scientific research construction and assistance by policies and finance from the government and other institutions are urgently needed in China.

The status quo and prospect of geothermal resources exploration and development in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in China

The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region boasts rich geothermal resources and new achievements have been made in the exploration and development of geothermal resources in this region based on previous regional investigation.In detail,geothermal reservoirs of Gaoyuzhuang Formation of Jixian System and Changcheng System in Xiongan New Area have been recently discovered,opening up the second space of geothermal resources;the calculation method of the recoverable resources of geothermal fluid with reinjection being considered has been improved in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region,and uniform comprehensive assessment of shallow geothermal energy,hydrothermal geothermal resources,and hot dry rocks(HDR)geothermal resources in the whole Beijing-Tianjin-Shijiazhuang region has been completed.The scientific research base for cascade development and utilization of geothermal resources in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region has applied hydraulic fracturing technology to the geothermal reservoirs in Gaoyuzhuang Formation.As a result,the production capacity doubled and two-stage cascade utilization composed of geothermal power generation and geothermal heating were realized,with the first-phase installed capacity of 280 kW and the geothermal heating is 30000 m2.In this way,a model of the exploration,development,and utilization of geothermal resources formed.Large-scale utilization has become the future trend of geothermal resource development in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region,and great efforts shall be made to achieve breakthroughs in reinjection technology,geothermal reservoir reconstruction technology,thermoelectric technology and underground heat exchange technology.

Architectural quality of the productive facades integrating photovoltaic and vertical farming systems: Survey among experts in Singapore

Buildings could play a critical role in energy and food production while making highdensity cities more resilient.Productive facades(PFs),as flexible and multi-functional systems integrating photovoltaic(PV)and vertical farming(VF)systems,could contribute to transforming buildings and communities from consumers to producers.This study analyses the architectural quality of the developed PF concept drawing on the findings of a web-survey conducted among experts e building professionals in Singapore.The developed design variants are compared with regards to key design aspects such as facade aesthetics,view from the inside,materialisation,ease of operation,functionality and overall architectural quality.The study also compares and discusses the results of the web-survey with the results of a previously conducted door-to-door survey among the potential users-residents of the Housing&Development Board(HDB)blocks.The findings confirm an overall acceptance of the PF concept and reveal a need for synergetic collaboration between architects/designers and other building professionals.Based on the defined PF design framework and the results of the two surveys,a series of recommendations and improved PF prototypes are proposed for further assessment and implementation in order to foster their scalability from buildings into communities and cities.

Role of ESR Pathway Genes in Breast Cancer: A Review

Breast cancer is the leading cause of death in women. Prognosis of breast cancer is often pessimistic because the tumors are prone to metastasizing to the bone, brain, and lung. The estrogen signaling receptor (ESR) pathway contains 39 main genes and proteins which makes it one of the larger signaling pathways. Predominately this pathway and the proteins within are involved in breast growth and development, making it a prospective area of study for breast cancer. While the healthy ESR pathway has been constructed and is well established, a mechanistic model of mutated genes of ESR pathway has not been delved upon. Such mutated models could be utilized for selecting combinational targets for drug therapies, as well as elucidating crosstalk between other pathways and feedback mechanisms. To construct the mutated models of the ESR pathway it is imperative to assess what is currently understood in the literature and what inconsistencies exist in order to resolve them. Without this information, a model of the ESR pathway will be unreliable and likely unproductive. This review is the detailed literature survey of the biological studies performed on ESR pathways genes, and their respective roles in breast cancer. Furthermore, the details mentioned in the review can be beneficial for the integrated study of the ESR pathway genes, which includes, structural and dynamics study of the genes products, to have a holistic understanding of the cancer mechanism.

A PATH ANALYTICAL ANALYSIS OF ORGANIZATIONAL INTEGRATION PRACTICES'EFFECTS ON MANUFACTURING FLEXIBILITY AND COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGF

To cope with an increasingly turbulent environment, manufacturing firms increasingly implement integration practices to enhance flexibility in the production process. This research develops a framework to explore the relationships among organizational integration practices, manufacturing flexibility, and competitive advantage. The study develops valid and reliable instruments to measure these constructs, and it applies structural equation modeling to test relationships among these variables using a large sample. The results indicate strong, positive, and direct relationships between organizational integration practices and manufacturing flexibility, and between manufacturing flexibility and competitive advantage. The results also indicate that organizational integration practices enhance competitive advantage directly as well as indirectly by facilitating manufacturing flexibility.

The next steps in academic integrity-education,awareness,norms,duty and law

We conducted and analyzed several internet surveys in order to understand the profile of global research integrity and ethical awareness,encompassing global population distribution.These were(1)the global distribution of Committee of Publishing Ethics(COPE)membership;(2)the global distribution of“Integrity”or“Ethics”journals;(3)the level of academic integrity awareness in European higher education institutions and(4)awareness of academic integrity in the top universities of Asia and Africa.The results of this survey series highlight seriously imbalanced awareness of research integrity and publishing ethics across the world,especially in developing areas with the highest population density.We therefore propose a new index,the“Academic Integrity Awareness Index”for future discussions across the linked spheres of publishing and research.

Integration of RFID and Wireless Sensor Networks

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) are two important wireless technologies that have wide variety of applications and provide limitless future potentials. However,RFID and sensor networks almost are under development in parallel way. Integration of RFID and wireless sensor networks attracts little attention from research community. This paper first presents a brief introduction on RFID,and then investigates recent research works,new products/patents and applications that integrate RFID with sensor networks. Four types of integration are discussed. They are integrating tags with sensors,integrating tags with wireless sensor nodes,integrating readers with wireless sensor nodes and wire-less devices,and mix of RFID and sensors. New challenges and future works are discussed in the end.

Patient Feedback for Acupuncture Practice Improvement:A Survey from Mayo Clinic

Objective： To understand patient satisfaction with acupuncture appointment duration for the first and subsequent appointments in the plan of care, time spent with the acupuncture provider, willingness to pay for longer duration appointments, and lack of insurance coverage. Methods： Patients who were referred for an acupuncture consult to the Center for Integrative Medicine at Mayo Clinic were asked to participate in the survey in August 2014. Patients were given paper survey at time of appointment check-in and entered into Research Electronic Data Capture Survey database tool to reveal patient-reported outcomes. Results： In total, 104 of 329 patients receiving acupuncture treatment responded to the survey with a 32% response rate. Insight and recommended changes to the duration of the initial and subsequent appointments were obtained. Most patients reported that time spent with the provider（76 cases, 74%） and appointment length（74 cases, 68%） were ＂just right＂. Seventy cases（70%） of respondents indicated that they wanted longer treatment. Patients reported return appointments with duration of 30 min was not enough. Fifty-three patients（62%） were willing to pay for additional costs not covered by insurance. Conclusions： We used patient feedback to assess the acupuncture practice in a complementary and integrative medicine program. Most patients referred for the acupuncture consult appeared to be satisfied with the current level of practice. These findings were used to establish a quality improvement plan that may be implemented to improve patient satisfaction with the acupuncture practice.

Perceived damage and areas of needed research for wildlife pests of California agriculture

Many wildife species cause extensive damage to a variety of agricultural commodities in California,with es-timates of damage in the hundreds of millions annually.Given the limited availability of resources to solve all human-wildlife conficts,we should focus management efforts on issues that provide the greatest benefit to ag-ricultural commodities in California.This survey provides quantitative data on research needs to better guide future efforts in developing more effective,practical and appropriate methods for managing these species.We found that ground squirels,pocket gophers,birds,wild pigs,coyotes and voles were the most common agricul-tural wildlife pest species in California.The damage caused by these species could be quite high,but varied by agricultural commodity.For most species,common forms of damage included loss of crop production and di-rect death of the plant,although livestock depredation was the greatest concern for coyotes.Control methods used most frequently and those deemed most effective varied by pest species,although greater advancements in control methods were listed as a top research priority for all species.Collectively,the use of toxicants,biocon-trol and trapping were the most preferred methods for control,but this varied by species.In general,integrated pest management practices were used to control wildlife pests,with a special preference for those approaches that were efficacious and quick and inexpensive to apply.This information and survey design should be useful in establishing research and management priorities for wildlife pest species in California and other similar re-gions.