Our perception of the world is so dominated by our sense of vision that we have been reluctant to accept the fact that the vertebrate eye mediates another, quite separate photosensory task—the detection of light for the regulation of biological time. In this short article, we outline some of the recent experimental findings that show that the absence of rod and cone photoreceptors does not block the effects of light on the circadian system. Furthermore, we review the progress to date in identifying the photopigments that may mediate the effects of light on the mammalian biological clock. Most organisms do not merely respond to their environment but have the capacity to adjust physiology and behavior in anticipation of changing environmental conditions. Anticipation is required because it takes considerable time to bring about the complex realignment of physiological systems that permit an optimal response. For example, the full transition from sleep to wakefulness cannot be accomplished instantly but takes hours. Before we wake, our bodies are already preparing for activity: Our temperature begins to rise, glucose is released into the blood, and the neural and hormonal systems needed for activity are stimulated. By advance fine-tuning of physiological processes, we are already prepared for predictable changes in the environment by the time they occur. This capability requires some form of 24-hour circadian clock, and in mammals the master clock resides within the suprachiasmatic nuclei or SCN, a pair of small nuclei in the hypothalamus just above the optic nerve chiasma. In short, the function of the circadian system is to coordinate the phase of a biological event to a specific feature (or phase) of the 24-hour environmental cycle and to ensure that the phase of multiple rhythmic events within the organism are appropriately coupled. To achieve this timing, the circadian system must remain synchronized or entrained to the solar day, and most organisms have evolved to use the changes in the light environment at twilight as their primary zeitgeber (time giver) to bring about a change in circadian phase. In humans, the most well-characterized markers of circadian phase are core body temperature and the nocturnal melatonin secretion by the pineal gland. If a person should be exposed to light during the night, pineal melatonin secretion is acutely suppressed. It remains unclear whether these photic responses are mediated by the same or different mechanisms. Until recently, all the experimental evidence suggested that the biological clock of mammals was entrained by photoreceptors within the eye. However, a recent report suggested that bright light applied to the skin behind the knee (popliteal illumination) of humans could shift circadian rhythms of body temperature and rhythms of the hormone melatonin. These results were widely reported in the press but remain highly controversial. No instances of circadian entrainment in humans who have undergone ocular enucleation have been reported, and popliteal illumination produces no effect whatsoever on the suppression of nocturnal levels of pineal melatonin (which may or may not be mediated by the same photoreceptors). Until and unless other experiments show that popliteal illumination can shift the human clock, this form of extraocular photoreception in humans and other mammals remains uncertain. In addition, the vertebrate retina contains a circadian clock of its own. This oscillator is able to maintain the circadian rhythms in outer segment disc shedding and retinal melatonin synthesis, even in the absence of a cue from the SCN (reviewed in Reference 5). The presence of an auxiliary oscillator may be important for the retina's function as a photoentrainment organ. The retinal clock is not, however, thought to have any direct impact on other tissues. In mammals, light information from the eye reaches the SCN through the retinohypothalamic tract (RHT). This tract arises from a small subset of retinal ganglion cells and consists of a relatively small fraction of the optic nerve's axons. For example, in the mouse retina, only 0.1% of all retinal ganglion cells project to the SCN. Although the ganglion cells that form the retinohypothalamic projection have been identified, the photoreceptors that communicate with the SCN through these cells have not. Part of the problem is that the photoentrainment pathway is obscured by the large number of photoreceptors and retinal neurons devoted to image formation. Disentangling which retinal cells mediate photoentrainment from the mass of neurons dedicated to image detection has been a major problem. The initial and natural assumption was that the only known mammalian photoreceptors, rods and cones and their well-characterized photopigments, were responsible for collecting information for the circadian axis as well as for the visual cortex. Testing this hypothesis has been a complex From the School of Biological Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, United Kingdom; the Department of Anatomy, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland; and the Department of Integrative and Molecular Neuroscience, Division of Neuroscience and Psychological Medicine, Imperial College School of Medicine, Charing Cross Hospital, London, United Kingdom. Supported by grants from the BBSRC and EU BIOMED3 (RGF, MvS); by National Science Foundation Grant IBN-9809916; and U. S. Public Health Service Grant RO7049. Submitted for publication February 1, 2000; revised March 17, 2000; accepted March 17, 2000. Commercial relationships policy: N. Corresponding author: Malcolm von Schantz, School of Biological Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, UK. email@example.com


The distribution of mass in galaxy-scale strong gravitational lenses is often modelled as an elliptical power law plus `external shear', which notionally accounts for neighbouring galaxies and cosmic shear. We show that it does not. Except in a handful of rare systems, the best-fit values of external shear do not correlate with independent measurements of shear: from weak lensing in 45 Hubble Space Telescope images, or in 50 mock images of lenses with complex distributions of mass. Instead, the best-fit shear is aligned with the major or minor axis of 88% of lens galaxies; and the amplitude of the external shear increases if that galaxy is disky. We conclude that `external shear' attached to a power law model is not physically meaningful, but a fudge to compensate for lack of model complexity. Since it biases other model parameters that are interpreted as physically meaningful in several science analyses (e.g. measuring galaxy evolution, dark matter physics or cosmological parameters), we recommend that future studies of galaxy-scale strong lensing should employ more flexible mass models.


The researches on Tang Zeng's thoughts have gradually refined deepened in domestically academic circle in breadth and depth since reform and open.Many scholars have made a deep study on his thoughts of philosophy,politic,economy,ethics,military,literature,education,legal,management,tourism and etc.,which not only makes the research reach a new height of objectivity,academy and subject but also lays a clear theoretical foundation for the further study.But surveying all the existing researches,there are four points specially.First,the research methods are to be further enriched;second the research perspectives further widened;third,the research team further strengthened;fourth,the research documents further excavated.


The hyperlink is the core of the science and technology of internet.Without the hyperlink,the performance of internet would be reduced sharply.However,the utilization of hyperlink might produce unfair competition.The unfair competition of business activities conducted on internet is not permitted by competition law.With the reference of German hyperlink judgment,this paper discusses the types and specific causes of possible violation related to hypelink.


Neural machine translation has been widely concerned in recent years. The traditional sequential neural network framework of English translation has obvious disadvantages because of its poor ability to capture long-distance information, and the current improved framework, such as the recurrent neural network, still cannot solve this problem very well. In this paper, we propose a hybrid neural network that combines the convolutional neural network (CNN) and long short-term memory (LSTM) and introduce the attention mechanism based on the encoder-decoder structure to improve the translation accuracy, especially for long sentences. In the experiment, this model is implemented based on TensorFlow, and the results show that the BLEU value of the proposed method is obviously improved compared with the traditional machine learning model, which proves the effectiveness of our method in English-Chinese translation.


THE SIZE and the location of the corpus callosum and anterior commissure suggest an important role in propagation of seizures from one side of the brain to the other. In 1940, Van Wagenen and Herren1cut the corpus callosum to various extent in two dozen patients; only one had complete section of both corpus callosum and anterior commissure. The subsequent report by Akelaitis2on these patients indicates that a number of them were improved. Complete section of corpus callosum and anterior commissure was therefore offered to an apparently hopeless epileptic having one to three generalized convulsions per week, with best medical control.3He has not had a generalized convulsion since that operation (Feb 6, 1962). Furthermore, although deficits in interhemispheric integration could be demonstrated under specialized testing conditions,4the patient's well-being and general behavior were improved. Because of his excellent response, five more patients underwent this


The United Evening Paper, which started its publication in 1946, was a mass-oriented unofficial newspaper under the leadership of the Communist party. Its management strategies were to seize Shanghai as a stronghold, and make the newspaper enjoy a nationwide circulation, to publish exhaustive reports on the major social issues at home, to speak for the masses of people and to take an unyielding stand on the matters of principle. The United Evening Paper succeeded in arousing the fighting will of the broad masses and became a very influential newspaper in Shanghai.


ML strongly supports functional programming; its programmers tend to avoid operations with side effects. Thus, for example, instead of mutable arrays, ML programmers usually use lists. These lists behave much like those in Lisp, with the added requirement that all elements have the same type.1 ML lists are not themselves mutable, although the individual elements can be of a (uniform) mutable type. In Lisp terms, ML lists can optionally support RPLACA but not REPLACD. Although it is possible to define a type in ML that would support REPLACD as well, ML programmers usually don't do this unless they need it.


Supplementary Information Part 1: Preparation of the starting amides 3c–j and 3m; method used for the analysis, by NMR spectroscopy, of the crude products of the intramolecular Kulinkovich-de Meijere reactions, as well as the crude oxidation products obtained from the bicyclic aminocyclopropanes; mechanistic considerations; additional results.


We developed and tested a model in which transformational leadership affects sports performance indirectly, through the mediating effects of intrinsic motivation. During the season. 168 university athletes provided data on their perceptions of their coach's transformational leadership and their own intrinsic motivation. At the end of the season, their coaches assessed the performance of the athletes. Using LISREL '4111, three models were estimated following the sequence of mediator tests outlined by Kelloway (1996, 1998). The proposed model received considerable support. The results isolate intrinsic motivation as a mediator of the relationship between transformational leadership and sports performance, suggesting that transformational leadership may enhance intrinsic interest in the task.


The auxin content of club-root (Plasmodiophora brassicae Wor.) is 50–100 times higher than that of normal cabbage root. The importance of this difference in the disease development is discussed. Both normal root and club-root of cabbage contain allosteric IAA oxidase and IAA oxidase with ordinary kinetic properties. In normal cabbage root the allosteric one is associated with cell fractions sedimenting at 20,000 × g and 105,000 × g, in club-root it remains in the supernatant after 105,000 × g centrifugation. IAA oxidase with conventional kinetic properties is present in both these tissues in the cell fraction sedimenting at 10,000 × g, which contains mainly cell wall fragments. It is concluded that IAA oxidase is not primarily involved in regulation of the endogenous IAA level.


Background and Study Aim: In the past decade, several studies have convincingly demonstrated that the identification of characteristics in young children can form a solid basis to identify those subjects with the most chance to excel at the international competition level. The present study aims to predict the performance of young male judo athletes with linear and non-linear predictive statistical models. It is hypothesized that a non-sport specific test battery will allocate athletes to their best achievement level at least three years past baseline.
Material and Methods: In this retrospective cross-sectional study, 22 trained male Belgian judo athletes U14 (12.675 +/- 0.910 years) were tested in 2009-2011 using a generic test battery consisting of five anthropometrical, seven physical performance and three motor coordination tests. In 2016 they were allocated to one of three groups depending on their achievement level between 2013-2015. First, Kruskal-Wallis was used to discover indicators that significantly differ across the three groups sampled by achievements. Second, linear discriminant analysis (LDA) was applied to discriminate the participants and allocate them to their respective achievement level.
Results: The Kruskal-Wallis test showed significant differences for three indicators (sitting height, weight, Body Mass Index). Using all indicators, discriminant analysis correctly classified 95.5% of the participants. Only 36.4% of cross-validated grouped cases were correctly classified based on all indicators. Therefore, a sequential discriminant analysis, containing the significant tests (three indicators) was applied to improve the cross-validated model from 36.4% to 59.1%. Using all indicators makes the model stronger but using a limited number of indicators makes it easier to assign athletes to the right group.
Conclusions: Generic talent characteristics (anthropometry) included in the present study allow for a successful discrimination between drop out, sub-elite and elite judo athletes. In addition to the trainer's opinion and the individual screening of judo specific performance characteristics, this generic test battery provides opportunities for predicting judo performance of young athletes.


Corona Virus Syndrome (COVID-19) is a contagious disease and it is considered one of the deadliest viruses ever known to humanity. In this work, the transmission dynamics of the COVID- 19 has been studied using an enhanced SEIR epidemic compartmental model with a vaccination compartment. This model divides the whole population into five categories: susceptible (S), exposed (E), infectious (I), recovered (R), and vaccinated (V). Firstly, Positivity, Existence and Uniqueness of solution are illustrated. Secondly, a mathematical analysis is done to study the equilibrium points of the model and the basic reproduction number has been computed using Next Generation Matrix method. Thirdly, by using analytical computation the Stability of disease free equilibrium (DFE) point of the model is discussed and the Existence, and uniqueness of the endemic equilibrium are proved. Finally, Bifurcation coefficient is computed using the available data and Simulations are made to illustrate the effect of the transmission rate and vaccination rate on the value of the basic reproduction number.


A preprocessing algorithm is presented, integrating the computation of biomolecular surfaces, the calculation of geometrical and chemical features on each surface point, and a complex segmentation into characteristic surface regions. Calculated regions cover the whole computed protein surface and are a feature of shape, roughness and hydrophobicity on the appropriate surface area. Such regions can be paired in complementary parts, used to predict possible docking sites of proteins. The segmentation algorithm of docking sites proceeds in two steps: first, surface points are classified with a vector quantizer. Second, connected areas of surface points are computed by a complex region growing technique. The detected regions were compared to the real docking sites calculated from complexes with known 3D structures with good results of approximation.


Preface, Tanja A. Borzel, Free University of Berlin Mind the Gap, Ben Rosamond, University of Warwick The Uniting of Europe and the Foundation of EU Studies: Revisiting the Neofunctionalism of Ernst B. Haas, Philippe Schmitter, European University Institute Ernst B. Hass and the Legacy of Neofunctionalism, Henry Farrell, George Washington University, and Adrienne Heritier, European University Institute A Rationalist-Institutionalist Explanation of Endogenous Regional Integration, Thomas Risse, Free University of Berlin Neo-Functionalism, European Identity, and the Puzzles of European Integration, Grainne de Burca, European University Institute Rethinking Law in Neofunctionalist Theory , Walter Mattli, Oxford University Ernst Haas' Evolving Thinking on Comparative Regional Integration: Of Virtues and Infelicities , Andrew Moravcsik, Princeton University The European Constitutional Compromise and the Legacy of Neo-Functionalism, Andrew Moravcsik


'Delicious', 'Newtown' and 'Granny Smith' apples (Malus domestica Borkh.) maintained acceptable flesh firmness and high levels of titratable acids and soluble solids after 9 months of storage in 1% 02 at either 0°C or 3.3°C. Low-02-stored 'Delicious' were kept at 0°C for 6 wk without developing physiological disorders before or after 8 days of ripening at 20°C. Storage at 3.3°C caused 'Delicious' to soften faster during 6 wk of post-storage holding plus 8 days of ripening. 'Newtown' apples developed flesh browning and alcohol flavor after 9 months of low 02 storage at 0°C. 'Newtown' fruit stored at 3.3°C developed only minimal incidence of flesh browning and alcohol flavor. 'Granny Smith' fruit were free from scald, core flush, flesh browning and alcohol flavor after low 02 storage, regardless of storage temperature. However, core flush and flesh browning appeared when 'Granny Smith' were kept for 6 wk at 0°C plus 8 days at 20°C.


Lethal infections with Vlbno salmonicida result in a significant reduction in liver concentrations of iron, copper, and selenium expressed as mg kg' wet wt liver. Infections also increase liver weight as the hepatic sonla t~c index (HSI) is higher in dead and moribund fish than in survivors and non-infected fish. The net result is that total liver content of these minerals is not significantly d~fferent between healthy and diseased, experimentally Infected fish. Hitra Disease is a significant disease problem in Norwegian fish farming. While some authors suggest this is a complex multifactorial disease syndrome resembling vitamin E/selenium deficiency in domesticate animals (Fjdstad & Heyeraas 1985, Poppe et al. 1985, 1986), others (Egidius et al. 1981, 1984) emphasize the importance of a Vibrio sp. frequently isolated from fish suffering from Hitra Disease. This Vibrio sp. can produce the clinical signs of Hitra Disease in challenge tests (Hjeltnes et al. 1987) and has been proposed as a new species, Vibrio salmonicida (Egidius et al. 1986). Hapatic levels of iron, copper, zinc, and selenium have been reported to be much lower in farmed Norwegian salmon than in wild salmon, and fish suffering from Hitra Disease have levels that are even further reduced (Poppe et al. 1986). Several authors have viewed this as support for the hypothesis that nutritional and/or metabolic disorders are important components of Hitra Disease. The data suggest 2 opposing hypotheses: infection of fish with Vibrio salmonicida may be secondary to tissue deficiency of these rninerals, the deficiency actually enhancing susceptibility to the bacterium; or, reduced tissue levels of trace elements may be a result of infection with the bacterium. This study was undertaken to investigate the latter


The objective of this study was to examine the current trend in price of staples and the possible effect on income. Price volatility is explained by changes in the trend itself, and to a lesser extent by variation around its mean (historical volatility approach), which is based on observed past prices. This measure was adopted to gauge the variation in commodity price around the mean. The results show that although prices increased steadily over the years, volatility was relatively minimal between 2002 and 2006 as compared to the period after. Unlike the cereals, more than 50% of vegetables traded on the markets are imported from neighbouring countries. The price range for vegetables was thus much wider than cereals. Supply shortfalls and transportation cost were cited as the two most significant factors contributing to rising prices on the markets. The findings confirm theoretical evidence that unexpected increase in prices erode the purchasing power of consumers, especially the poor who spend much of their incomes on food. A consumer receiving the current minimum wage and spending everything on the respective commodities within one month lost substantially in terms of volumes purchased between 2006 and 2013. For instance, the quantity of tomatoes and maize purchased declined by 74% and 65% respectively between 2006 and 2007. The trend suggests that uncontrolled volatility in prices has serious effects on income and for that matter food security. Stakeholders need to target production increase and improved distribution systems as means to reduce price volatility, which will protect poor consumers against the challenge of coping with wide price variations. Keywords : Price trend, volatility, income, coefficient of variation, standard deviation


and to promote the exercise of stewardship by all people. In the past we have seen increased giving to and participation in groups which try to deal with worldwide poverty. We now need more education in international economic relationships so that we may responsibly attack the root causes of, as well as address the results of, injustice. Until we can see that injustice exists and that we have been called by our Lord to deal with injustices between nations as well as within our own nations, we will not be motivated to act.


In this letter, a framework of punctured rate-compatible multi-edge-type LDPC (RC-MET-LDPC) codes with short block length is presented. The simple form of traditional puncturing algorithms based on grouping and sorting (GS) algorithm can be applied for obtaining rate compatibility because of the structure advantage of MET-LDPC codes over conventional LDPC Codes. The simulation results show that RC-MET-LDPC codes not only outperform rate-compatible irregular LDPC codes and efficiently-encodable rate-compatible (E2RC) LDPC codes in a large rate range over AWGN channel, but also achieve high throughput in HARQ scheme at a wide range of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regions. The proposed codes are considered as the good candidate for future communication systems requiring rate compatibility.


We present a means for forming images using micromirror arrays. Using an array of 2D tilt mirrors it is possible to create an image whose resolution is much higher than the number of mirrors. We present several types of simulations, including images produced by graphical ray tracing for linear MEMS array of containing 1 and 2 mirrors, and general NxN configurations.


In the year 2010, an industrial round wood consumption in the Asian region is estimated at 560 million m3 with its share of 21% in the worldwide industrial round wood consumption. Due to its sizable consumption, a shortage of supply is anticipated to occur for the first time in Asia in 2010.A majority of the forest resources in Asia is located in the tropical forests of the Southeast Asian region, having an 18% share in the total tropical forests in the world.A deforestation rate in the Tropical Asian and Pacific region is 1.2% per annum, the highest as compared with other areas. Planned conservation and sustainable management of the tropical forests in this region can be an important issue in view of the global environmental preservation.This report covers the following three items :Firstly, analyses are made on, (1) the present and future forest resources in the Tropical Asian and Pacific region, and (2) the trend of wood consumption in Asia with a forecast of the year 2010.Secondly, together with an introduction of contemporary scholastic theories, an analysis in made on the present situation of the forest management and the wood industry in Southeast Asian countries.Thirdly, the forestry policy and the wood industry of three countries, Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea, are introduced, with which Japan has close forestry and wood business relations.


— This paper deals with extreme-value index estimation of a heavy-tailed distribution of a spatial dependent process. We are particularly interested in spatial rare events of a β -mixing process. Given a stationary real-valued multidimensional spatial process


Background: Discs large-associated protein 5 (DLGAP5), a kinetochore fibers-binding protein, has been found to function as a oncoprotein in many cancers. However, its expression patterns in normal and cancer tissues across pan-cancer, as well as the cell lines, are far from clear. Methods: Data from genotype-tissue expression (GTEx) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) was used to analyze the DLGAP5 expression in normal tissues and cancer cell lines, respectively. The analysis of DLGAP5 expression in cancer tissues and adjacent tissues was based on data from a combined TCGA and GTEx. The associations between the expression, prognosis and cancer immune infiltrates in pan-cancer were also investigated based on TCGA and Tumor Immune Estimation Resource (TIMER), respectively. Furthermore, the analysis results of ccRCC was verified using cell lines via RNAi, western blotting, and the cytological analysis.Results: The low expression levels of DLGAP5 were observed in 31 types of common human tissues, including kidney tissue. However, its expression displayed upregulation in all the 21 tested cancer cell lines, of which kidney cancer cell lines showed a minimal upregulation. As predicted, the significant overexpression of DLGAP5 occurred in at least 26 types of common cancer tissues compared with the adjacent normal tissues. Surprisingly, in three types of kidney cancer (KICH, KIRC/ccRCC, KIRP), DLGAP5 exhibited a statistically significant, but minor, overexpression among 26 types of tested cancers. Furthermore, the survival probability of some tested cancers, including kidney cancer, were significantly related to the upregulated expression of DLGAP5. In addition, among 33 types of tested cancers, KIRC/ccRCC, LGG and LIHC showed a significant positive correlation between DLGAP5 expression and immune infiltration levels. DLGAP5 expression level was also significantly positive correlated with clinical TNM stage of ccRCC patients. Regarding ccRCC tissues and the cell lines, upregulation expression of DLGAP5 was also detected. Its knockdown inhibited the cells viability and proliferation, and compromised the cells migration and invasion. Conclusions: DLGAP5 overexpression occurred in common human cancers, including the kidney cancers. Notably, ccRCC, seemed to be particularly sensitive to the expression. DLGAP5, therefore, may be as a robust independent prognostic biomarker in ccRCC diagnosis.


SUMMARY In the present lecture, I will briefly address the basic principles of passive and active drug targeting to tumors. In addition, I will describe how non-invasive imaging techniques can be used to individualize and improve nanomedicine treatments. Furthermore, recent advances in the use of theranostic materials and methods for drug delivery to inflammatory lesions and to the brain will be summarized, as well as their suitability for tissue engineering purposes. INTRODUCTION Nanomedicines are 1-100(0) nm-sized carrier materials designed to improve the biodistribution and the target site accumulation of poorly soluble or poorly stable drugs. Many different nanomedicines have been developed over the years, including e.g. liposomes, polymers and micelles. By delivering drugs more efficiently to pathological sites, and by at the same time attenuating their localization in potentially endangered healthy tissues, nanomedicines aim to improve the balance between the efficacy and the toxicity of systemic (chemo-) therapeutic interventions. Both preclinically and clinically, nanomedicines have been primarily used for drug targeting to tumors. Nanomedicines can be targeted to tumors via several different mechanisms, including passive drug targeting (based on the Enhanced Permeability and Retention (EPR) effect), as well as via active targeting to cancer cells and to tumor endothelial cells. Moreover, stimuli-responsive nanomedicines can be triggered to release their contents within tumors, as exemplified by the recent use of thermosensitive liposomes in combination with Magnetic Resonance-guided High-intensity Focused Ultrasound (MR-HIFU). The vast majority of nanomedicines, in particular the ones which are currently being used clinically, rely on EPR-mediated passive drug targeting. It is important to take into account in this regard, however, that EPR is a highly variable phenomenon [1], with large differences between different patients and different types of tumors. Consequently, there seems to be a clear need to incorporate imaging moieties into nanomedicine formulations, to enable the pre-selection of patients presenting with sufficiently high levels of EPR. Besides for drug targeting to tumors, combining diagnostic and therapeutic properties within a single (nanomedicine) formulation also holds significant potential for facilitating drug delivery to inflammatory lesions, as well as to the brain. And furthermore, by incorporating imaging agents in scaffold materials routinely used for tissue engineering purposes, such as collagen matrices or vascular grafts, important information can be obtained on their localization, resorption, remodeling and function. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Using findings obtained both in our and in other laboratories, I will put forward concepts to overcome the high heterogeneity typically associated with EPR. These will include efforts to enhance EPR, to combine EPR, to avoid EPR and to image EPR. The latter of these strategies arguably is the most straightforward from a clinical point of view, enabling the pre-selection of patients already very early on during nanomedicine treatment [2]. Regarding active tumor targeting, findings will be presented showing that active tumor targeting does work, but only under certain circumstances, and that it generally does not lead to an increase in tumor concentration [3,4]. A head-to-head comparison of corticosteroid-containing liposomes, polymers, and micelles in rats suffering from rheumatoid arthritis is presented to highlight the importance of carefully controlling drug release kinetics [5]. USPIO-loaded microbubbles are shown to be useful for simultaneously mediating and monitoring drug delivery across the BBB [6]. And finally, USPIO-labeled collagen scaffolds and vascular grafts are shown to be suitable materials for theranostic tissue engineering purposes [7]. CONCLUSION Based on these insights, it can be concluded that more intensively combining drug targeting and imaging holds significant potential for facilitating the clinical translation of tumortargeted nanomedicines, as well as for enabling individualized and improved treatments. Imageguided materials and methods might furthermore be highly useful for enabling safe and more efficient drug delivery across the BBB, and for furthering the tissue engineering field. REFERENCES 1. Lammers et al, J Control Release 2012 2. Lammers et al, Clin Cancer Res 2012 3. Talelli et al, Biomaterials 2013 4. Kunjachan et al, Nano Lett 2014 5. Quan et al, ACS Nano 2014 6. Lammers et al, Angew Chem 2014 7. Mertens et al, Adv Funct Mater 2014 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work is supported by the European Research Council (ERC Starting Grant 309495: NeoNaNo), by the European Commission (COST Action TD1004) and by the German Research Foundation (DFG: La2937/1-2). Figure 1: Exemplary efforts showing the use of non-invasive imaging techniques for discriminating tumors with low versus high EPR (A), for monitoring the anti-arthritic efficacy of four different antiinflammatory nanomedicines (B), and for enabling theranostic drug delivery across the BBB (C).


This paper calls for flexibility in the design and use of CAL in Mathematics; to avoid conflict between extreme ideologies and interests and to promote the teaching and learning opportunities identified in 'Mathematics Counts' and required by initiatives such as GCSE. The important question is 'do computers enhance learning and, if so, how should they be used to ensure this?' This is made up from many more specific questions. It is suggested that by using a new CAL classification model, based on roles, control and learning processes, profiles could be constructed which would identify pertinent questions. These would prompt a re-examination of computer use in classrooms and encourage the necessary flexibility. A brief description is given of the experiences of the authors in using the inherent philosophy of the new model to produce and evaluate mathematical software.


Objective: Investigate the relationship between internationalization and corporate sustainability in companies listed in Brazil, Bolsa, Balcao (B3 S.A.). Method: The sample gathers 95 of the 100 companies listed in B3 S.A. with the highest market value, according to data extracted from Economatica®. Data refer to the fiscal year 2017, being collected in November 2018, using the test of differences between means and logistic regression for quantitative analysis. Main results: The result of the test of differences between averages revealed that only companies internationalized through physical presence in other countries showed statistically significant differences regarding corporate sustainability, which was also ratified with the application of logistic regression, noting that internationalization through social capital and revenues has not shown a relationship with corporate sustainability. Thus, the research hypothesis that there is a positive relationship between internationalization and corporate sustainability in Brazil is rejected. Relevance/originality: The synergy between the two constructs - Internationalization and Business Sustainability -, evidenced in foreign research, has demonstrated the relevance of this debate. At the national level, in turn, no empirical evidence was found that dealt with the relationship between the variables studied. Theoretical/Methodological Contributions: The study of internationalization and corporate sustainability provides reflections on the pursuit of long-term value, thus allowing us to visualize the Stakeholder Theory, which holds that companies, in order to ensure long-term value, need to reconcile their interests. of the various stakeholders involved.


Aim of this paper is to problematize the importance of epidemiological studies in the process of planning a strategy for mental health promotion and prevention, especially for promotion of socio-emotional competencies in schools. Epidemiology provides basic information that can be used to identify where and what kind of prevention is needed and to monitor the impact of preventive interventions. In order to be of use in the prevention of mental, emotional and behavioral problems, epidemiology must provide information about which individuals are at risk for emotional or behavioral problems. Recent publications on socio-emotional competencies in children emphasize that promotion of social development reduces risks for mental problems and for poor school achievement. This paper will present results from the study of numerous risk indicators and symptoms in the cohort of primary school children. Within the project "Implementation of evidence-based prevention program of socio-emotional learning through science evaluation and its application into Croatian kindergartens and primary schools (PATHS-RASTEM)" which was conducted from 2010 to 2012, sample of 600 children was assessed with the battery of measures for evaluation of wellbeing and mental health. Appraisal of children's status included symptoms of hyperactivity, inattention, conduct problems, emotional problems, relationship with peers, symptoms of aggression and oppositional behavior, adaptation towards the school and learning demands as well as the level of social skills and emotional regulation. Since research of prevalence studies in Croatia are rare, the importance of the research lays in the fact that epidemiological background and data should be considered as an important guide for mental health promotion and prevention field. Since children are easily reachable within school context, such research should provide information about the risks in the population and assure direction for interventions which could reduce prevalence of these symptoms. Going from Croatian to international context, such studies assure evidence-based positioning of programs for socio- emotional development of children, should be used for the advocacy of the socio-emotional competencies and inclusion of socio-emotional learning within regular school curricula.


Telescopic bicycle carrier, installed on a vehicle 1, so that it is a bicycle outside of the vehicle 1 can be charged, comprising a guide rail 100 which is arranged in the interior of a bumper 20 of the vehicle 1 and is fixed to one end of a body of the vehicle 1, a guide frame 200, which is installed in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle 1 slidably mounted on the guide rail 100, a pair of extension brackets 310, 320 which are installed on lateral sides of the guide frame 200 and the guide frames 200 therethrough in the width direction of the vehicle relative to the guide frame 200 toward and are away from one another, Fahrradradbefestigungen 400 which are pivotally installed on the pair of extension brackets to fix the wheels of the loaded bicycle, and the bicycle frame fasteners 500 which are pivotally installed on the pair of extension brackets to fix a frame of the loaded bicycle, wherein the pair of expansion holders within the bumper together with the guide frame 200 is receivable in a retraction state in which the extension holder can be sequentially shifted in the guide frame inside, and wherein said extension holder can be pulled out together with the guide frame, if necessary from the bumper.


In this work we studied experimentally the effect of an applied magnetic field and shear rate on the viscosity of a liquid GaInSn alloy. The experimental investigations were performed at room temperature in a homebuilt shear stress controlled rheometer. To consider the magnetohydrodynamical effects occurring in the melt numerical simulation of the flow field in the melt have been made. The results show a remarkable increase of the viscosity with increasing magnetic field strength. With increasing shear rate applied to the liquid GaInSn alloy a reduction of the change of viscosity is found. As first assumption this rheological behavior of GaInSn can be accounted to the presence of solid oxide fractions in the melt. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


PurposeRadiotherapy is an important modality in the management of meningioma. We aimed to asses if imaging using 68Ga‐DOTA‐Octreotate PET‐CT before and after therapeuticradiotherapy, could show an early treatment response at the level of tumoursurface receptors. Method and Materials A patient with a recurrent right sphenoid wing meningioma (WHO grade 1) was referred for therapeuticradiotherapy. 50Gy/30♯ was delivered over 6 weeks, and pre and post treatmentimaging (6weeks) with 68Ga‐DOTA‐Octreotate PET‐CT. SUV calculations were performed to asses the impact of the radiotherapydelivered on the volume of PET tracer uptake, and the maximum and average SUV values. Results: The patient tolerated the treatment and imaging procedures well. The pre‐treatment image showed that the meningioma was identified well using 68Ga‐DOTA‐Octreotate. Using a 'Volume of Interest' SUV growth limit of 1.8, it had a Max SUV of 6.8, an Ave SUV of 3.1 and a volume of 4.2cc. 6 weeks following radiotherapy, the lesion showed a response, with reduction in the Max SUV to 4.0, Ave SUV to 2.4 and volume to 3.9cc. Conclusion In this case, all parameters measured (Max SUV, Ave SUV, volume) using 68Ga‐DOTA‐Octreotate PET‐CT were reduced 6 weeks following a therapeutic course of radiotherapy. The use of a tracer targeted to a tumour specific receptor improved our identification of the lesion for treatment planning, and was able to demonstrate a response to treatment at a molecular level, much earlier than can be achieved with standard MRI and CT based radiology. Further investigation of this technique may improve our understanding of the mechanism of radiotherapy effect in meningioma, and establish the clinical significance of early PET response on long term outcome. Conflict of interest: Research sponsored by Siemens Medical Solutions and The Cambridge University Health Foundation Trust.


This work aimed to determine the predatory behavior of nymphs and adults of Podisus nigrispinus (Dallas) and its reproduction preying upon Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) under open sided greenhouse (30±5oC, 61±23% RH and natural photophase) and laboratory (28±1°C, 53±5% RH and 14 hours of photophase) conditions. Second to later instars and adults of P. nigrispinus were caged on processing tomato var. IPA5 leaves infested with ten T. absoluta third or fourth instars. P. nigrispinus from second to fifth instar preyed on 9.1, 11.1, 8.7 and 12.9 caterpillars in the laboratory and 6.2, 6.6, 8.6 and 15.5 caterpillars in the open sided greenhouse. Thus, P. nigrispinus fed on similar number of T. absoluta caterpillars under laboratory (43.1±2.19) and open sided greenhouse (38.2±1.78) conditions, preying on 2.5 and 2.3 caterpillars per day, respectively, in these environments. Average P. nigrispinus female predation was 50.8±6.1 and 50.3±10.6 caterpillars in laboratory and open sided greenhouse, respectively. Food conversion per P. nigrispinus female was similar between environments with production of 0.31 eggs per consumed caterpillar in open sided greenhouse, and 0.41 eggs in laboratory.


The involvement of enkephalins in the immune response was investigated in rats injected intravenously with interleukin‐1β (2 μg/kg). In situ hybridization with a riboprobe complementary to intron A of the preproenkephalin (ppENK) gene showed distinct transcriptional activation within several brain regions known to be activated by immune stimuli, including the nucleus of the solitary tract, the area postrema, the paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus, and the oval nucleus of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, and dual labeling confirmed that a large proportion of the intron expressing neurons co‐expressed c‐fos mRNA. Rats injected with saline (controls) showed little or no heteronuclear transcript in these structures. The induced signal was strongest after 1 hour but was present in some structures 30 minutes after interleukin‐1β injection. At 3 hours, transcriptional activity returned to basal levels. High basal expression of the heteronuclear transcript that appeared unchanged by the immune stimulus was seen in regions not primarily involved in the immune response, such as the striatum, the olfactory tubercle, and the islands of Calleja and in the immune activated central nucleus of the amygdala. The heteronuclear transcript colocalized with ppENK mRNA, demonstrating that it occurred in enkephalinergic neurons and was not the result of alternative transcription from the ppENK gene in other cells. These results demonstrated that enkephalin transcription is induced in central autonomic neurons during immune challenge, suggesting that enkephalins are involved in the centrally orchestrated response to such stimuli. J. Comp. Neurol. 462:450–461, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


The newly functional polymeric semiconductor materials, mesoporous graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4), have been synthesized by using a general and efficient sol–gel synthetic approach. By means of transmission electron microscopy (TEM), we accomplished a systematic analysis on the morphology changes and the final formation of the mesoporous g-C3N4 product during the whole synthesis process. Our results indicate that the sol–gel synthetic method is a simple, efficient and viable technique to the large-scale production of mesoporous polymeric materials. This proposed technique also allows controlled development and tailored design of the pore structures, which is of crucial importance for the application of mesoporous polymeric g-C3N4. In order to effectively improve the photocatalytic activity of the g-C3N4, the uniform size of the AgBr nanoparticles (NPs) were successfully loaded into the holes of the carbon nitride by a simple adsorption–deposition method, which exhibits excellent visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity for degradation of Methyl Orange dye (MO).


The balance between immunity and tolerance in the endometrium is governed by dynamic interactions of UEC and immune cells including DC. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that soluble immune mediators secreted by UEC modulate the differentiation and functions of human DC. We found that DC differentiated with CM from polarized UEC (i.e., CM‐DC) expressed significantly lower surface CD86. Upon activation with LPS or PIC, the expression of CD80, CD86, and CD83 was decreased significantly on CM‐DC relative to Con‐DC. Further, mRNA for TLR3, TLR4, and TLR5 was decreased significantly in CM‐DC relative to Con‐DC. As a functional read‐out of the effect of CM on DC, we determined the following parameters: First, analysis of cytokine production showed that when compared with Con‐DC, CM‐DC responded to LPS or PIC stimulation with enhanced IL‐10 production but undetectable IL‐12p70 secretion. Second, RT‐PCR analysis showed that CM‐DC significantly expressed higher mRNA for IDO, an immune tolerance‐promoting enzyme. Lastly, in a MLR assay, CM‐DC induced significantly lower allogeneic proliferative responses compared with Con‐DC. These findings indicate collectively that epithelial cells confer a tolerogenic phenotype to DC in the endometrium. Our results suggest novel cellular and molecular mechanisms for the regulation of adaptive immunity within the FRT.


Network structures, such as social networks, web graphs and networks from systems biology, play important roles in many areas of science and our everyday lives. In order to study the networks one needs to first collect reliable large scale network data. While the social and information networks have become ubiquitous, the challenge of collecting complete network data still persists. Many times the collected network data is incomplete with nodes and edges missing. Commonly, only a part of the network can be observed and we would like to infer the unobserved part of the network. We address this issue by studying the Network Completion Problem: Given a network with missing nodes and edges, can we complete the missing part? We cast the problem in the Expectation Maximization (EM) framework where we use the observed part of the network to fit a model of network structure, and then we estimate the missing part of the network using the model, re-estimate the parameters and so on. We combine the EM with the Kronecker graphs model and design a scalable Metropolized Gibbs sampling approach that allows for the estimation of the model parameters as well as the inference about missing nodes and edges of the network. Experiments on synthetic and several real-world networks show that our approach can effectively recover the network even when about half of the nodes in the network are missing. Our algorithm outperforms not only classical link-prediction approaches but also the state of the art Stochastic block modeling approach. Furthermore, our algorithm easily scales to networks with tens of thousands of nodes.


Cellulose nanofiber-apatite nuclei composites were fabricated by mixing apatite nuclei with cellulose nanofiber slurry and air-drying. Then apatite-forming ability could be imparted to cellulose nanofiber-apatite nuclei composites. In order to investigate significance of mixed apatite nuclei, cellulose nanofiber-hydroxyapatite composites were fabricated by mixing commercially obtained stoichiometric hydroxyapatite particles with cellulose nanofiber slurry, and the bioactivity was evaluated by using simulated body fluid.


ObjectiveTo find out clinic characteristics of communicative disorders in children.Methods613 children with communicative disorders were evaluated by the illness history, audition and language examining, intellectuality testing and treated by the mode of out patient language training combining with family language training.ResultsIn 613 children, there were 375 language retardation cases (60.20%) and 193 articulation disorders cases (31.48%). 58 children got expected clinical effect by out patient language training.ConclusionLanguage retardation and articulation disorders are the main diseases of communicative disorders in out patients. Childhood is the good period of language development and the key period of treatment of communicative disorders.


The research analysed the behaviour of visitors to protected natural sites on the island of Tenerife and described the main characteristics of visitors to these areas. Visitors completed anonymous research questionnaires based on a model that combines the Theory of Planned Behaviour with other elements of behavioural analysis, and using this research tool, the factors influencing visitors' resulting pro-environmental behaviour were analysed. Visitors were also asked how they perceived the situation regarding litter management in the natural sites and how they were influenced by the education provided by the management of the natural park. The research results confirm the importance of the influence of environmental education on people's environmental awareness. It was found that awareness of the consequences of behaviour significantly influences personal norms and attitudes, and these in turn have the greatest impact on the resulting pro-environmental behaviour of visitors. A protected natural area can have an educational role, but it is also important to enable visitors to behave in an environmentally conscious manner, for which the provision of appropriate conditions (sufficient bins, the ability to sort waste, etc.) is needed. The research results also indicated that pro-environmental behaviour is influenced by perceived behavioural control, i.e. how difficult it is for visitors to behave in a certain way in a given environment.


The equilibrium configuration consists of a uniform particle beam of circular cross section and infinite extent streaming at highly relativistic velocity through a uniform, dense background plasma. The plasma is characterized by a scalar conductivity, and the beam is described by a collisionless Boltzmann equation in which a two mass approximation to the relativistic dynamics has been made. The stability problem for this configuration is formulated as a set of three linear, coupled integral equations for three field variables (certain Hankel transforms of the perturbed electric field), and a formal solution of the equations is obtained by iteration. The dispersion relation appears as a solvability condition. The treatment gives a full account of the betatron orbits of the beam particles. Asymptotic results are obtained for low‐frequency, long‐wavelength disturbances and for high‐frequency, highly localized disturbances.


where t 5 time; (x, y, z) 5 variables of the Cartesian coordinate system; c 5 contaminant concentration; R 5 retardation factor; l 5 first-order reaction coefficient; v5 ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi vx 1 vy 2 1 vz p in which vx, vy, and vz are the components of the groundwater velocity v in the x, y, and z directions, respectively; Dd 5 molecular diffusion coefficient of the formation; al and at 5 longitudinal and transverse dispersivities, respectively; and the matrix defines the components of the dispersion coefficient tensor. The authors assumed that al=at 5 1 (i.e., al 5at) and the flow velocity is steady and uniform; therefore, Eq. (1) reduces to


[Objective]To investigate the pollution status of high level water tank in order to suggest the prevention method.[Methods] Seventy seven samples from 31 enterprises were analyzed based on the Health Standard of Drinking Water. [Results]There were 63.6% of the 77 samples in accordance with the standard for all indices,but 36.4% of the total were not in accordance with the standard for turbidity or residue chlorine.[Conclusion]The general status of the high level water tanks was good.The main problem existed in turbidity and residue chlorine.It was very hnportant for pollution control to prevent the waterborne infectious diseases.


Aquion Energy received a $5.179 million cooperative research agreement under the Department of Energy's Smart Grid Demonstration Program – Demonstration of Promising Energy Storage Technologies (Program Area 2.5) of FOA DE-FOE-0000036. The main objective of this project was to demonstrate Aquion's low cost, grid-scale, ambient temperature sodium ion energy storage device. The centerpiece of the technology is a novel hybrid energy storage chemistry that has been proven in a laboratory environment. The objective was to translate these groundbreaking results from the small-batch, small-cell test environment to the pilot scale to enable significant numbers of multiple ampere-hour cells to be manufactured and assembled into test batteries. Aquion developed a proof of concept demonstration unit that showed similar performance and major cost improvement over existing technologies. Beyond minimizing cell and system cost, Aquion built a technology that is safe, environmentally benign and durable over many thousands of cycles as used in a variety of grid support roles. As outlined in the Program documents, the original goals of the project were to demonstrate a unit that: 1. Has a projected capital cost of less than $250/kWh at the pack level 2. A deep discharge cycle life of > 10,000 cycles 3. A volumetric energy density of >20 kWh/m3 4. Projected calendar life of over 10 years 5. A device that contains no hazardous materials and retains best in class safety characteristics. Through the course of this project Aquion developed its aqueous electrolyte electrochemical energy storage device to the point where large demonstration units (> 10 kWh) were able to function in grid-supporting functions detailed by their collaborators. Aquion's final deliverable was an ~15 kWh system that has the ability to perform medium to long duration (> 2 hours) charge and discharge functions approaching 95% DC-DC efficiency. The system has functioned, and continues to function as predicted with no indication that it will not tolerate well beyond 10 calendar years and 10,000 cycles. It has been in continuous operation for more than 1 year with 1,000 cycles (of varying depth of discharge, including 100% depth of discharge) and no identifiable degradation to the system. The final thick electrode cell structure has shown an energy density of 25 kWh/m3 at a five hour (or greater) discharge time. The primary chemistry has remained non-toxic, containing no acids or other corrosive chemicals, and the battery units have passed numerous safety tests, including flame resistance testing. These tests have verified the claim that the device is safe to use and contains no hazardous materials. Current projections show costs at the pack level to offer best in class value and are competitive with lead-acid batteries, factoring in LCOE.


Summary: a completed debate or an emerging one? aim of the comparative report dependency the welfare mix present characteristics of the European care system debate for change towards long-term care insurance conclusions need for basic data collection. Introduction: scope of the project and research procedure research methodology. Part 1 Definition of dependency and the need for social protection: definition of dependency risks some theoretical concepts relating to the organization of care macro-assessment of the risk of old age dependency in theory macro-assessement of the risk of old age dependency in practice. Part 2 Some macro-observations regarding social protection of dependent older persons: income protection health expenditures and services for the elderly - macro-information summary of the macro-characteristics of the social protection systems. Part 3 The variety, scope and coverage of health and social services for the elderly - the welfare pluralism: variety availability affordability the fading borderline between housing provision and services other elements of social protection summary overview of the existing services. Part 4 Differences in treatment of similar categories of need: methodology the choice of case studies defining the dimensions of the case studies social protection of different categories of dependent elderly people in Austria social protection of different categories of dependent elderly people in Denmark social protection of different categories of dependent elderly people in Germany social protection of different categories of dependent elderly people in Spain social protection of different categories of dependent elderly people in Finland social protection of different categories of dependent elderly people in France social protection of different categories of dependent elderly people in Ireland. (Part contents.)


This paper describes a new dental material based on a hybrid of a Ca-aluminate material (the biomineral Marokite) and a glass ionomer cement (GIC). The intention with this hybrid is to combine early strength development in the glass ionomer system with improved long-term properties of the Ca-aluminate based material. Results of the setting time, the pH development, strength properties and the dimensional stability of the system are presented. The investigation shows that it is feasible to produce a hybrid material by mixing of a biomineral-water system and a GIC-system. The short term mechanical properties are improved compared to those of the pure systems and the transition from acidic to alkaline pH indicates that dual hardening actually occurs. More work is needed, especially regarding the long-term strength, proof of the bioactivity and the chemical stability of the hybrid material.


Abstract Most of the inland lakes do not have up-to-datebathymetry. However, a significant progress in surveyingtechnologies creates a possibility to quickly and accuratelydescribe the underwater environment. Modern geodeticand global positioning techniques integrated with hydroacousticsystems provide a great opportunity to study thebottom shape with high resolution. Our study presentsa reliable methodology for investigation of bathymetryand morphometric parameters with the use of GNSS positioningtechniques and single beam echosounder. Theresearch was implemented on the deepest, glacial reservoirin the central part of European Depression - LakeHancza. Direct hydroacoustic and geodetic measurementscompleted by sediment study were conducted by the authorsin 2010-2013. After performing a field survey the DigitalElevation Model was constructed and the new bathymetricmap and morphometric card were elaborated. Themaximum depth was confirmed to be 105.55 m. The finalconclusions show that the available bathymetric data andmorphometric parameters of lakes are highly dependenton the research methodology used, the precision and accuracyof measurement techniques, proper water level determination,digital elevation model and bathymetric mapelaboration processes.


Some aspects of the present disclosure provide a system and a method for operating a driver circuit for a light emitting element in a runtime (TOF) camera ready. A DC-DC converter is configured to output a constant current, and coupled in parallel with a first modulation switch which is configured to connect the drive circuit to ground. The first modulation switch is further configured to alternate connections between the power source and ground to a frequency in a desired operating range, to generate an alternating current. In some embodiments, an RC circuit element is coupled to an output electrode of the light-emitting element and configured to apply a reverse voltage, to reduce the Abschaltezeit the light emitting element. In some embodiments, a second modulating switch coupled to the output electrode and configured to apply the reverse voltage to the light emitting element. Other systems and methods are also disclosed.


The need and importance of automatically recognizing emotions from human speech has grown with the increasing role of human-computer interaction applications. This paper explores the detection of domain-specific emotions using a fuzzy inference system to detect two emotion categories, negative and non-negative emotions. The input features are a combination of seg-mental and suprasegmental acoustic information; feature sets are selected from a 21-dimensional feature set and applied to the fuzzy classifier. Our fuzzy inference system is designed through a data-driven approach. The design of the fuzzy inference system has two phases: one for initialization for which fuzzy c-means method is used, and the other is fine-tuning of parameters of the fuzzy model. For fine-tuning, a well known neuro-fuzzy method are used. Results from on spoken dialog data from a call center application show that the optimized FIS with two rules (FIS-2) improves emotion classification by 63.0% for male data and 73.7% for female over previous results obtained using linear discriminant classifier.


This article aims at exploring whether and how brand extensions are a suitable strategy for branding commodities. The extant literature has focused on line and brand extensions for differentiated products, without providing rewarding results on the use of brand extensions for commodities. The results of two empirical studies, conducted in the context of agricultural products, show that the creation of new brands is preferable in case of scarce category fit between the parent brand and the commodity product, and that brand extensions are appropriate to differentiate commodities only if the parent brand is originally from a commodity, distant product category.


This needs assessment has been completed to assist with the implementation of the Government's recently published policy document, Palliative Care for Children with Life-Limiting Conditions – a National Policy (Department of Health & Children, 2010), and in particular, that document's recommendation that a comprehensive children's palliative care service needs to operate within a cooperative model, with close liaison between all stakeholders and relevant service providers. Another key recommendation is the establishment of a National Development Committee for Children's Palliative Care. It is envisaged that the development and monitoring of an implementation plan to carry the findings of this needs assessment forward will be led by this committee.


Today's scholars will find it incredible that only sixty years ago no serious historical work on Galen (b. 129 CE) was being done: like the weather, everyone talked about him but nobody did anythin...


A method for shape comparison is presented using shape deformation. Unlike many other approaches to shape similarity which use local characteristics such as curvature, our approach captures global features of the shapes being compared and is less sensitive to uneven noise. The problem is cast into polygon-to-polygon deformation (i.e., homotopic deformation) and a new shape signature is introduced based on deformation. A polygon deformation algorithm is presented which runs in O(nk+n logn) time, where n is the number of vertices in the polygonal shapes and k is an index to indicate how the target shape is convoluted. Experimental results are included to demonstrate the feasibility of our approach.


Alternating treatments designs wereusedtocompare theeffects oftrial repetition (one response within five trials perword) versus response repetition (five response repetitions within onetrial perword) onsight-word acquisition for 3elementary students diagnosed with specific learning disabilities inreading. Although bothinterventions occasioned thesamenumber ofaccurate responses perword during training, thetrial-repetition condition, which involved complete antecedent-response-feedback sequences, resulted inmore words mastered forall 3students. DESCRIPTORS: learning disabled, response distribution, academic behavior Berliner (1984) reviewed research which showed that theamount ofacademic learning time(time spent engaged inhigh rates of correct responding) positively correlates with learning. Greenwood, Delquadri, andHall(1984) found that increases inthenumber ofopportunities torespond (complete three-term contingencies involving anantecedent, response, andconsequences) resulted in increases inlearning levels. Academic learning time differs fromopportunities torespond inthat theformer focuses onindependent practice toincrease accurate responding, whereas thelatter includes antecedents andconsequences. Thisresearch suggests that one waytoremedy andprevent learning deficits istoprovide students withmorelearning opportunities. Increasing therate oflearning trials hasbeenshown tobefunctionally related toincreases incorrect mathresponding, suggesting that thelearning trial isastrong predictor ofeffective instruction (Albers & Greer, 1991). Alternatively, procedures like positive practice overcorrection (Foxx & Jones, 1978) have shown that increasing thenumber ofaccurate responses, without increasing thenumber oflearning trials, canresult in increases inlearning. Regardless ofthevariables targeted formanipulation, onegoal ofeducation hasbeentomaximize learning by increasing response opportunities. Inthis study weused analternating treatments design toevaluate bothtrial repetition andresponse repetition. METHOD:Participants, setting, andmaterials. Lou(age 12), Carl (age 12), andHal(age 9),all diagnosed with aspecific learning disability inreading, participated inthis study. Allassessment probes andtraining sessions were conducted ineach student's classroom. Grade-level reading series andtheBrigance Inventory ofBasic Skills (Brigance, 1977) wereused toobtain apool ofpotential unknown words foreach student. Dependent measure andexperimental design. Thedependent measure wasthecumulative number ofsight words mastered during daily noninstructional assessments. A mastered sight wordwasdefined asanywordthat wasspoken correctly onthree consecutive noninstructional assessments. During baseline assessment, apool ofunknown words wasdeveloped. Tocreate this pool, awordwas added whenthestudent (a)pronounced thewordincorrectly or(b)didnotrespond tothewordwithin 3sforthree consecutive assessment sessions. Thispool ofunknown words wasassessed across all phases ofthestudy inbaseline assessment, noninstructional assessment, andmaintenance probes. Analternating treatments design wasused tocompare theeffects oftheresponse-repetition and


The present paper gives an overview on the development and current status of photoelectronic imaging devices in China. Particular emphasis is given to devices aimed at image intensification and image conversion, e.g., image intensifiers, low light level pick-up devices, electronographic tubes, high speed photographic converter tubes, intensified CCDs, infrared detectors, as well as basic theory and design, and components and methods of testing for the photoelectronic imaging systems in China.


Natalizumab is an a-4 integrin antagonist that decreases lymphocyte trafficking into the central nervous system. Randomized controlled clinical trials have found that natalizumab treatment reduces relapse rate, progression of disability and accumulation of brain magnetic resonance image (MRI) lesions [1] and is approved throughout the world to treat relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS). In 2005, natalizumab was recognized to be associated with progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), which is an opportunistic viral infection of the brain that often leads to death or severe disability. Prior exposure to immunosuppressant medication, seropositivity for JC virus antibodies and longer exposure to natalizumab are now known to confer increased risk of developing this infection [2]. As of August 2011, there have been 150 cases of PML worldwide in patients treated with natalizumab, including 29 deaths [2]. The current estimated overall risk of developing PML is 1.6 per 1000 patients. However, the estimated risk increased up to 7.80 per 1000 (95% CI 5.20–11.30) in anti-JC virus-positive patients with previous immunosuppressant use and natalizumab exposure over 25 months [3]. The only intervention with demonstrated efficacy against PML is immune reconstitution. Treatment interruptions have been hypothesized as a means of allowing immune reconstitution, thus decreasing the cumulative risk of developing PML [4]. However, case series have found treatment interruption may risk an aggressive return of MS disease activity [5,6]. In contrast, a post hoc analysis of pivotal natalizumab trial subjects following the 2005 natalizumab treatment suspension reported that the annualized relapse rate did not increase above the baseline, pre-trial relapse rate [7]. This study found no evidence of a rebound phenomenon amongst the group average disease activity, although it does not exclude rebound disease activity above pre-natalizumab levels amongst individual patients. With the concern for return of disease activity, some have suggested that when natalizumab dosage is interrupted for more than 2 months, another diseasemodifying therapy be started [8]. The optimal alternative MS therapy is not currently known and is complicated by many natalizumab-treated patients having either poorly tolerated or sub-optimally responded to first-line MS therapies such as interferon (IFN) and glatiramer acetate (GA). Another alternative for helping to mitigate the return of disease activity following natalizumab cessation could be pulsed intravenous (IV) corticosteroids. In this issue, Borriello [9] report an open-label observational study of pulsed IV methylprednisolone in 23 patients with MS over a 90to 150-day elective interruption of natalizumab treatment. One gram of monthly IV methylprednisolone was given throughout the interruption period. They found that despite methylprednisolone treatment, 30% (n = 7) of patients still showed active inflammation on brain MRI and 17% (n = 4) experienced a clinical relapse during a mean time of 105 days off medication (range 60– 143 days). In line with prior reports of a possible rebound effect, they also reported that approximately 9% (n = 2) of patients had a dramatic return of disease activity as evidenced by 7–11 contrast-enhancing lesions on MRI. Importantly, this type of study is unable to address whether this natalizumab interruption is effective in reducing the risk of PML. Another small study evaluated a shorter, 3-month treatment with pulse IV methylprednisolone followed by GA therapy. That regimen also did not appear to prevent return of disease activity [10]: 55.5% (n = 10) of patients showed contrast-enhancing lesions on brain MRI at 6 months, with 16.6% (n = 3) of patients experiencing a clinical relapse. Together, these natalizumab interruption studies suggest that there is a high risk of recurrent MS disease activity during a natalizumab holiday . Given the unknown efficacy in reducing the risk of PML and the high risk of recurrent inflammatory activity, natalizumab interruptions simply to reduce the risk of PML appear unwise. If PML is a significant concern for a particular patient, then alternative treatments should be considered. Despite relatively clear indications to start natalizumab therapy, the Borriello study highlights that a reliable means of safely discontinuing natalizumab continues to be elusive. With 30–50% of patients suffering a return of disease activity within 6 months of discontinuation, it seems intuitive to start another treatment as soon as possible, but which medication? Patients who previously failed IFN and/or GA would be unlikely to benefit from them after natalizumab treatment. Corticosteroids do not appear to mitigate a return of disease activity [9]. Fingolimod is another potential treatment option, but little is known about its safety following natalizumab therapy. Because fingoli-


Nb3Sn superconducting wires are successfully fabricated by a newly developed method named the clad‐chip extrusion (CCE) process. It is characterized by extruding the thin chips of Nb‐Sn clad sheets in which the thickness ratio of Nb layer to Sn‐layer corresponds to Nb3Sn. The CCE‐processed Nb3Sn wire heat treated under the optimum condition of 950 °C for 4 min followed by 700 °C for 96 h shows the critical transition temperature, Tc of 17.8 K and the critical current density, Jc of 1.2×104 A/cm2 at 20 T and 4.2 K. The upper critical field, Bc2* is extrapolated to 23.4 T at 4.2 K from Kramer plot of Jc1/2B1/4 vs B.


Based on Foucault's order (2002) this paper intends to debate the relationships between Linguistics and Epistemology from the modern autonomy of their fields at the end of the 20th century to the assumption of the exterior as part of knowledge, in order to indicate the conditions of emergence of Discourse Analysis (DA) in the discourse of the post-modern episteme .


We refine the mass and environment dependent spherical collapse model of chameleon f(R) gravity by calibrating a phenomenological correction inspired by the parameterized post-Friedmann framework against high-resolution N -body simulations. We employ our method to predict the corresponding modified halo mass function, and provide fitting formulas to calculate the fractional enhancement of the f(R) halo abundance with respect to that of General Relativity (GR) within a precision of . 5% from the results obtained in the simulations. Similar accuracy can be achieved for the full f(R) mass function on the condition that the modeling of the reference GR abundance of halos is accurate at the percent level. We use our fits to forecast constraints on the additional scalar degree of freedom of the theory, finding that upper bounds competitive with current Solar System tests are within reach of cluster number count analyses from ongoing and upcoming surveys at much larger scales. Importantly, the flexibility of our method allows also for this to be applied to other scalar-tensor theories characterized by a mass and environment dependent spherical collapse. ar X iv :1 60 7. 08 78 8v 1 [ as tr oph .C O ] 2 9 Ju l 2 01 6


A number of unsolved problems in atmospheric radiative transfer are presented, including the light scattering and absorption by aerosols, the effect of mountains on radiation fields, and radiative transfer in the atmosphere–ocean system, with a specific application to the Asia–Pacific region. We discuss the issues of two nonspherical and inhomogeneous aerosol types, dust and black carbon, regarding climate radiative forcings. Reduction in uncertainties of their radiative forcings must begin with improvement of the knowledge and understanding of the fundamental scattering and absorption properties associated with their composition and size/shape. The effects of intensive topography, such as that in the Tibetan Plateau, on surface radiation and the radiation field above, are significant and the solution requires a three-dimensional radiative transfer program. We show that in a clear atmosphere, surface net solar flux averaged over a mesoscale domain can differ by 5–20 W/m between a slope and a flat surface. Accurate calculations and parametrizations of both solar and thermal infrared radiative transfer in mountains must be developed for effective incorporation in regional and global models. The wind-driven air–sea interface is complex and affects the transfer of solar flux from the atmosphere into the ocean and the heating in the ocean mixed layer. We point out the requirement of reliable and efficient parametrizations of the ocean surface roughness associated with surface winds. The scattering and absorption properties of irregular phytoplankton and other species in the ocean must also be determined on the basis of the rigorous theoretical and experimental approaches for application to remote sensing and climate research.


Moisture sorption properties of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fiber has been investigated. Sorption isotherm at 25°C and heat of wetting for PAN fiber were compared with those for acrylic fibers with known chemical compositions. The moisture regain at 65% r. h. was 1.37% (w/w) and heat of wetting for the dried PAN fiber was 0.6 cal/g, which were comparable values to those for the acrylic fibers. Diffusion of moisture into PAN fiber was observed using a gravimetric method at 25°C. The sorption/desorption curve below 70% r. h. was nearly identical, which indicated that interaction between water molecules and nitrile group in polymer chain was not significant. The results obtained in this study suggest that the averaged interaction between water and nitrile group is very weak. On the other hand, the exothermic property for heat of wetting and IR spectrum pattern for OH stretching indicated the possibility of the strong interaction between the sorbed water molecules and a very few nitrile groups.


www.villanova.edu/ncfs For the fi rst installment of this new dialogic series, the journal asked David F. Bell (Duke University) and Catherine Witt (Reed College) to refl ect on where the fi eld is now, where it is going, and what is likely to be meaningful in nineteenthcentury French studies ten years from now. Th e authors composed their initial essays without knowing the identity of their interlocutor; the ensuing conversation took place in person. Unless indicated otherwise, all material in footnotes comes from the author of the related passage.


We are developing a CAD system to assist radiologists in detecting microcalcification clusters (MCs) in digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT). In this study, we investigated the feasibility of using as input to the CAD system an enhanced DBT volume that was reconstructed with the iterative simultaneous algebraic reconstruction technique (SART) regularized by a new multiscale bilateral filtering (MBiF) method. The MBiF method utilizes the multiscale structures of the breast to selectively enhance MCs and preserve mass spiculations while smoothing noise in the DBT images. The CAD system first extracted the enhancement-modulated calcification response (EMCR) in the DBT volume. Detection of the seed points for MCs and individual calcifications were guided by the EMCR. MC candidates were formed by dynamic clustering. FPs were further reduced by analysis of the feature characteristics of the MCs. With IRB approval, two-view DBT of 91 subjects with biopsy-proven MCs were collected. Seventy-eight views from 39 subjects with MCs were used for training and the remaining 52 cases were used for independent testing. For view-based detection, a sensitivity of 85% was achieved at 3.23 FPs/volume. For case-based detection, the same sensitivity was obtained at 1.63 FPs/volume. The results indicate that the new MBiF method is useful in improving the detection accuracy of clustered microcalcifications. An effective CAD system for microcalcification detection in DBT has the potential to eliminate the need for additional mammograms, thereby reducing patient dose and reading time.


In Salamanca in November and December 1535, Francisco de Vitoria perused the 62nd question of the »Iustitia treatise« from Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica. This 62nd article discusses restitution. It is correspondingly aligned to the first four questions in which the fundamental principles of law, rights, and justice are explained. In the commentaries presented here in the following volumes Vitoria reflects on the retributive justice explored in the 61st question. The particular aspect that is considered traditionally originates in a line from St Augustine, cited by Thomas Aquinas: »Peccatum non dimittitur, nisi ablatum restituatur« (»Unless a man restores what he has purloined, his sin is not forgiven«). The expositors of Petrus Lombard provide the opportunity in the fifteenth distinction in the Fourth Book of the Sentences to approach the question of restitution from moral-theological perspectives. In doing this they extend the relevance of restitution to current issues. The basic principle applies: giving and taking loses its equivalence when a justified expectation from one side is weakened. This is the starting point for the treatise De restitutione within the Summa Theologica commentary by Francisco de Vitoria and is the focus of the following edition with translation. Particularly appealing are the fundamental considerations of the implications of restitution with regards to property rights and their history as explored by Vitoria in the first two articles. Vitoria distinctly distances himself from the framing of an exegesis based on wording in order to scrutinize the late scholastic tradition beyond Thomas Aquinas, represented by Johannes Duns Scotus and John Major among others. Simultaneously, Vitoria manages to apply the terms right and laws to his systematic, which he previously, and in other works (i.e. the lex-treatise), established and developed, to concrete problem areas. Included in this are the much-contemplated issues of the political position of the indigenous peoples and the legitimacy of the Reconquista. Furthermore the bequest of donations to pious causes (ad pias causas), the bond between private property and serving the public interest, the validity of contracts in both external and internal areas of the law or subsidiary redress are also considered by Vitoria. In doing this he consults not only theologians but also canonists such as Nicholas de Tudeschis and legists such as Batolus de


Objective To investigate the best synthesis condition of quercetin-La complex.Methods The experiment was made by the orthogonal design to study the reaction temperature,pH and the reaction time.The structure of the quercetin-La complex was characterized by IR spectra and UV-Vis spectra.Results Reaction temperature had most significant effect on the yield,pH had less effect on the yield,and reaction time had lest effect on the yield.Conclusion The best synthesis condition was:the reaction temperature was 80 ℃,the pH of the solution was 9 and the reaction time was 5 hours.


This paper presents a simple analytical model of the market for hard drugs. The key assumptions are (i) a distinction between new users and existing addicts, (ii) imperfect competition, (iii) selective marketing efforts towards potential users, and (iv) the existence of policy effects on consumer loyalty as well as on the static price elasticity of demand facing individual suppliers at any given moment. It is shown that the long-run effects of stricter enforcement may be an increase in both the number of addicts and total consumption.


High-speed train in the running time to produce transient overvoltage, may cause the train group safety accident, resulting in the body of the body of the potential rise, to the safety of the vehicle electrical equipment to bring threats, so it is necessary to high-speed train transient over voltage analysis. Based on the circuit structure of a certain type of train group, this paper analyzes the production mechanism and distribution characteristics of transient overvoltage, and operates the field test of overvoltage. The results show that the pre-inductive transient overvoltage amplitude of the high-speed motor vehicle group can be as high as 207.5kv, and the body potential 11.5kv. The vehicle overvoltage caused by the temporary overvoltage on both sides of the ground resistor can be effectively reduced by the direct grounding and parallel capacitor on both sides of the ground resistor. The above conclusions can provide a theoretical basis for further study of the transient overvoltage of high-speed trains.


Abstract Background Juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM) is the most common type of juvenile idiopathic inflammatory myopathy mainly affecting the skin and proximal muscles. To date, there are no Egyptian nationally agreed, evidence-based guidelines concerning the diagnosis and management of JDM in children and treatment is often based on clinical expertise. These facts prompted us to develop clinical practice guidance for JDM suitable for patients in Egypt. This work was an initiative by the Egyptian College of Pediatric Rheumatology aiming at optimizing the management approaches for children and young adults with JDM. Objective To provide evidence-based consensus recommendations for diagnosis and management of JDM. Methods This study was carried out to achieve an Egyptian expert consensus on a management strategy for JDM using Delphi technique. A multistep process strategy was adopted, which started by developing 16 key clinical questions by scientific committee according to the Patient/Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcomes and Time (PICOT) approach. The core leadership team identified clinicians and researchers with expertise in pediatric rheumatology all over Egypt. An evidence-based, systematic, literature review was conducted to compile evidence for the JDM management. Delphi process was implemented (3-rounds) to reach a consensus. Results Twenty-five expert panel participated in the 3 rounds with response rate 100%. A total of 22 recommendations, categorized into 15 domains (Targeted population, diagnostic criteria, high risk patients, diagnostic criteria, definition of disease activity status, differences between JDM and DM in adults, lab tests, treatment targets, treatment, monitoring, resisted cases, drug tapering, comorbidities, prognosis, vaccination and transition program. The Agreement with the recommendations (rank 7–9) ranged from 85.2–95.2%. The Consensus was reached (i.e. ≥75% of respondents strongly agreed or agreed) on all the clinical standards. Algorithm for management has also been developed. Conclusion This work provided an updated management approach for JDM patients. This evidence-based informed consensus process is expected to support uniform, high quality standards of care for children with JDM in Egypt The implication to policy, practice, research and advocacy to provide updated recommendations for better management of JDM.


Abstractexcavators are quite expensive vehicles. therefore, there may be huge losses for decision makers if a wrong decision is made during the purchasing process. A good evaluation of excavator alternatives both reduces costs and increases the benefits the excavator for the purchaser. The aim of this study is to prioritise excavator technologies to help decision makers during the purchasing process and to apply three different "data fusion methods" instead of the "theory of dominance" of the original MULTIMOORA method. the MULTIMOORA method is composed of three methods, namely: the ratio analysis as a part of MOORA, reference Point theory (the reference point approach as a part of MOORA) and the Full Multiplicative Form. it is used to prioritise excavator technologies in this study. the MULTIMOORA method combines three results obtained from these three methods using the theory of dominance. Dominance directed graph, rank position method and Borda count method as data fusion methods are also used to combi...


17 Background: Recent data and National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines suggest that high-risk prostate cancer (cT3-4, Gleason score ≥ 8, or prostate-specific antigen [PSA] > 20 ng/mL) is a heterogenous group in terms of long-term patient outcomes. We sought to determine whether sub-classification of high-risk prostate cancer based on clinical factors correlates with genomic markers of risk. Methods: We identified 3,220 patients with NCCN unfavorable intermediate-risk (n=2,000) or high-risk (n=1,220) prostate cancer. We defined the following sub-classification of high-risk prostate cancer based on previously published data: favorable high-risk (cT1c, Gleason 6, and PSA > 20 ng/mL or cT1c, Gleason 4+4=8, PSA < 10 ng/mL); very high-risk (cT3b-T4 or primary Gleason pattern 5); and standard high-risk (all others with cT3a, Gleason score ≥ 8, or PSA > 20 ng/mL). We used a set of 37 previously published genomic classifiers, including the 22-gene Decipher assay, to determine whether high-risk genomic features correlated with the clinical sub-classification of high-risk prostate cancer. Results: Among those with favorable high-risk, standard high-risk, and very high-risk prostate cancer, 50.4%, 64.2%, 81.6% had a high-risk Decipher score, respectively (p < 0.001). Among 36 other genomic signatures, 33 had a similar increasing trend across the three sub-classes of high-risk (p < 0.05 after correction for multiple hypothesis testing). Patients in the three sub-classes of high-risk disease were positive for a median number of 5, 7, and 14 high-risk signatures. Under a novel clinical-genomic risk group classification (Spratt et al., 2017), 27.5%, 19.7%, and 7.0% of patients with favorable, standard, or very high-risk disease would be re-classified as intermediate-risk, respectively. In comparison, among those with unfavorable intermediate-risk prostate cancer, 38.2% had a high-risk Decipher score and would be re-classified as clinical-genomic high-risk. Conclusions: Genomic markers of risk correlate with the clinical sub-classification of high-risk prostate cancer into favorable high-risk, standard high-risk, and very high-risk disease, validating the prognostic utility of this stratification.


Contents Preamble 1 Introduction 2 Notation 4 Chapter 1. Measure theory 7 1.1. Algebras, σ-algebras, etc 8 1.2. Measure on a σ-algebra 14 1.3. The Lebesgue measure 20 1.4. Borel measures and regularity properties 22 Chapter 2. Integration with respect to a measure 24 2.1. Integrating step functions 24 2.2. Integration of non-negative functions 26 2.3. Integrable functions 33 2.4. Integrating with respect to the Lebesgue measure 41 Chapter 3. First applications of the integral 46 3.1. Functions defined by an integral 46 3.2. An example: the Fourier transform 49 3.3. L p-spaces 52 3.4. Probabilistic examples: the Borel-Cantelli lemma and the law of large numbers 65 Chapter 4. Measure and integration on product spaces 75 4.


At the end of World War II, German educational administrators in the Soviet occupied zone of their nation decided to implement coeducation; that is, the schooling of girls and boys in the same classroom. This policy represented a radical break with German educational traditions, as well as with the western German zones' continued practice of gender-segregated schools. The reason for this move was as simple as it was ambitious: educational reformers of the Soviet zone were committed to a new kind of school, one that would offer all children the same education in order to permit active and equal participation of all citizens, male and female, in the "new Germany." Educators estimated that over 90 percent of school-aged children attended school in the postwar years, approximately 15 percent of the entire population. Major change in young people's education could thus potentially bring about major social reform. Yet coeducation did not resolve the so-called "woman's question" of structural inequality, a theory elaborated by the nineteenth-century socialist August Bebel and of grave concern to the "antifascist democratic, educators of the postwar years. The implementation of the coeducational classroom, although an important move towards erasing gross disparities in educational opportunities for girls, still allowed for and even perpetuated gender-specific educational lessons and experiences.


pressed on the cell surface of B cells and accessory cells such as macrophages. These cells are capable of taking up, processing, and presenting soluble antigens mainly to CD4+ T cells. But not all of the MHC class ‡U+ cells can always activate T cells ; it is known that resting, but not LPS-activated B cells, fail to serve as antigen-presenting cells. The a polypeptide chain of IA molecule has two, and the ƒÀ polypeptide possesses a single N-linked oligosaccharide. Several reports have suggested that theƒ¿and ƒÀ chains expressed on different cell types or cell lines exhibit different glycosylation patterns, and that this heterogeneity of oligosaccharide components is related to differences in the capacity of the antigen-presenting-cells to activate T cells. But currently, a conflicting result has been reported in the study where the antigen presenting capacity of purified IAd molecules from various B cell sources have been assayed in a planar membrane system, and it has been indicated that IA' isolated from resting B cells can stimulate T lymphoma as much as IAd of activated B cells or B lymphomas. In this study , the functional role of the N-linked oligosaccharides of MHC class II molecules has been evaluated using the affinity-purified murine IAS molecules deglycosylated with NV glycanase (pH 8.0). IAS molecules were prepared and purified from SJL/J mouse splenocytes, and N-linked sugar residues were enzymatically removed from IAS in the presence of SDS and 2-mercaptoethanol. Denatured IAS molecules were exposed to the detergent buffer containing 1 % N-octy1-ƒÀ-D-


Various means of negation category representation in press are under consideration, as well as its role in conveying a concept of contrast. Reciprocal influence of negation category and intensity category of different language levels is analysed.


The absorption and fluorescence characteristics of two biologically active flavone derivatives 6-hydroxy-7,3',4',5'-tetramethoxyflavone (6HTMF) and 7-hydroxy-6,3',4',5'-tetramethoxyflavone (7HTMF) were studied as a function of acidity (pH/H0) of the solution. Dissociation constants were determined for ground and first excited singlet states and the results were compared with those obtained from Forster-Weller calculations. The acidity constants for these two compounds (6HTMF and 7HTMF) obtained from fluorimetric titrations are in poor agreement with those obtained from Forster-Weller data but are in good agreement with ground state pKa values indicated the deactivation of excited state (S1) before the prototropic equilibrium is complete. The broad band emission of both the flavones in acidic aqueous solution suggests their use as tuneable dye lasers. 6-Hydroxy-7,3',4',5'-tetramethoxyflavone undergoes adiabatic photo-dissociation in the singlet excited state indicating the formation of an exciplex or a photo-tautomer. The stability of photo-tautomer was confirmed by calculated value of enthalpy of formation using AM1 method.


1. Introduction to Optical Tweezers: Background, System Designs, and Commercial Solutions Joost van Mameren, Gijs J. L. Wuite, and Iddo Heller 2. Optical Trapping and Unfolding of RNA Katherine H. White and Koen Visscher 3. DNA Unzipping and Force Measurements with a Dual Optical Trap Ismail Cisse, Pierre Mangeol, and Ulrich Bockelmann 4. Probing the Force Generation and Stepping Behavior of Cytoplasmic Dynein Arne Gennerich and Samara L. Reck-Peterson 5. A Brief Introduction to Single-molecule Fluorescence Methods Siet M.J.L. van den Wildenberg, Bram Prevo, and Erwin J.G. Peterman 6. Fluorescent Labeling of Proteins Mauro Modesti 7. Fluorescence Imaging of Single Kinesin Motors on Immobilized Microtubules Till Korten, Bert Nitzsche, Chris Gell, Felix Ruhnow, Cecile Leduc, and Stefan Diez 8. Exploring Protein Superstructures and Dynamics in Live Bacterial Cells using Single-molecule and Superresolution Imaging Julie S. Biteen, Lucy Shapiro, and W. E. Moerner 9. Fluorescence Microscopy of Nanochannel-confined DNA Fredrik Persson, Fredrik Westerlund, and Jonas O. Tegenfeldt 10. Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy Patrick Ferrand, Jerome Wenger, and Herve Rigneault 11. Introduction to Atomic Force Microscopy Pedro J. de Pablo 12. Sample Preparation for SFM Imaging of DNA, Proteins, and DNA-protein Complexes Dejan Ristic, Humberto Sanchez, and Claire Wyman 13. Single Molecule Protein Unfolding and Refolding using Atomic Force Microscopy Thomas Bornschlogl and Matthias Rief 14. How to Perform a Nanoindentation Experiment on a Virus Wouter H. Roos 15. Magnetic Tweezers for Single-molecule Manipulation Yeonee Seol and Keir C. Neuman 16. Probing DNA topology using Tethered Particle Motion David Dunlap, Chiara Zurla, Carlo Manzo, and Laura Finzi


In the chemistry teaching, to use divergent questions sufficiently and put them to students, exert ourselves to develop their seeking difference thinking and show the process of thinking activities, it is the effective way to cultivate the students creative thinking ability and guide the students to participate in the study vigorously and initiatively.


There are a variety of satellite applications that require application intelligence at intermediate devices for their proper functioning e.g. satellite networks using (Performance Enhancing Proxies, PEPs), real time streaming applications like SIP, H.323 and peer-to-peer applications. Interworking between PEPs and security system has been researched in the past. Multi-layer IPSec (ML-IPSec) resolves the conflict between end-to-end security in standard IPSec and working of PEPs. This paper presents the concept and detailed design of ML-IPSec by breaking the IP datagram into three zones while enabling the intermediate nodes to access the TCP header and HTTP header information. The paper also presents an efficient interworking scheme between ML-IPSec and secure IP multicast using the Logical Key Hierarchy for key distribution.