This thesis aimed at investigating the role of genetic and nutritional factors that affect the immune response to malaria in Tanzanian children. The introductory chapter (Chapter 1) reviews the importance of nutritional deficiencies, particularly of zinc, and presents the hypothesis that such deficiencies lead to impaired immunity and contribute to the burden of malaria. The chapter also describes current efforts to prevent malaria through intermittent preventive treatment, both in infants (IPTi) and pregnant women (IPTp). Sulfadoxinepyrimethamine is still used for first-line treatment of uncomplicated malaria, or, in many countries, to prevent malaria and anaemia in pregnancy. In malaria endemic areas, development of resistance to previously valuable antimalarial drugs has been continuously reported for decades. Thus our initial longitudinal study aimed at measuring the prevalence of resistance-associated mutations on dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) and dihydropteroate synthase (DHPS) genes (dhfr and dhps) that confer parasite resistance to sulphadoxinepyrimethamine (SP) that was used as an interim antimalarial drug after chloroquine resistance. Although SP resistance-associated point mutations were highly prevalent, we observed an adequate parasite response to SP (Chapter 2). We speculated that the impact of the dhfr and dhps mutations on SP resistance may be dependent at least in part on the protective immunity that has developed in response to frequent exposure to infection and may be weighed down by host immunity in endemic areas and thus impacts in the continued use of the drug for treatment of malaria. The impact of other drugs with similar mechanisms of action used as antibiotics in selecting mutations responsible for SP resistance needs therefore to be studied for their modulating activity of the immune response. These findings underscore the relevance to further study the crucial involvement of the immune system in the development of protection against malaria but also affecting the efficacy of treatment modalities of malaria in various African conditions. In the subsequent cross-sectional studies, we assessed the effect of deficiencies of zinc and magnesium as well as iron deficiency anaemia on malaria-specific cytokine responses indicative of innate immunity to Plasmodium falciparum (Chapter 3). In this study, we used Plasmodium falciparum-parasitised red blood cells (pRBCs) as antigens for in vitro stimulation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Cytokines were measured in the supernatant of cultured PBMCs after 24 hours of stimulation. Zinc deficiency was associated with a marked increase in monocyte-derived TNF-α concentration in children with malarial infection but not in their uninfected peers. In children with malarial infection, iron deficiency anaemia was associated with elevated concentrations of TNF-α, whereas magnesium deficiency in children without malaria seemed to be associated with increased concentrations of IL-10. Our findings reflected plasticity in cytokine profiles of monocytes reacting to malaria infection under conditions of different nutrient deficiencies. Following the observation of the variable impact of micronutrients on innate cytokines, we evaluated the profile of both type I and type II cytokines and whether they were influenced by nutritional and malaria status (Chapter 4). The cytokine measurements were performed at day 7 of stimulation anticipating that this timing was optimal for measuring effects on these cytokines mainly derived from activated T-cells. The results indicated a variable influence of nutrient deficiencies on increased cytokine response with zinc deficiency and iron deficiency anemia having greater impact on type I and magnesium deficiency on type II cytokines. The subsequent study evaluated the plasma levels of naturally acquired antimalarial antibodies of variousIgG subclasses plus the total IgG and IgM levels and whether they were associated with zinc deficiency based on preceding chapters (Chapter 5). The results indicated a high variability in antibody levels with zinc deficiency, varying with age of the affected child. IgG3 appeared to be predominant across all age subgroups within < 5 yrs aged children providing clues that IgG3 might confer immune protection to malaria under conditions of zinc deficiency. Chapter 6 explored the association between CD36 deficiency, P. falciparum in vitro adherence on purified CD36 and anemia in children. CD36 is a receptor that occurs on the surface of activated immune cells and vascular endothelial cells and participates in phagocytosis and lipid metabolism. We hypothesized that it could play a fundamental role in cytoadherence of erythrocytes that are parasitized by Plasmodium. Our results showed that CD36 deficiency was associated with protection against the development of malarial anemia in children and that it may be mediated through reduced cytoadherence of infected red blood cells to vascular endothelium. These studies demonstrate that despite antimalarial drug resistance, there is a potential for optimizing the immunological protective capacity in the population to confer parasite clearance that can be variably influenced by micronutrient status. Improving nutritional status in this population could be rewarding not only to increase protection to malaria but possibly also to other infections.


In the mouse, Mus musculus , local (ultradian) serial correlation (LSC) within the sleep and wakefulness states varies significantly as a function of circadian phase. The amplitude of the correlation function is greatest during the active phase of the mouse's diurnal cycle. Additionally, mean LSC (averaged across circadian phase) is significantly positive and monotonically decreasing for a broad range of short lags (1 23 minutes Thus there is no evidence of positive, periodically occurring peaks in the correlation function separated by patches of small or negative correlations that is characteristic of a rhytlimic process of fixed period. These findings challenge the concept that an ultradian oscillator plays a significant role in the temporal control of sleep-wake state.


This paper describes a video surveillance system capable of recognizing human postures from video sequences. The system comprises of two key modules: human detection and posture classification. In the module of human detection, human blobs are extracted by the technique of background subtraction. An adaptive background model is employed to characterize the dynamics and complexity of outdoor scenes based on the mixture of Gaussians. In order to formulate the variations of human postures, pseudo 2D hidden Markov models (P2DHMM) is employed for representing and recognizing human postures based on its '2-D elastic matching' property. It is trained to differentiate human postures and tolerate the variations of the same human posture using embedded Viterbi and segmental K means algorithms. In the classification of human postures, observation sequence is extracted from current image frame. The probabilities of observation sequence corresponding to each P2DHMM model are computed by doubly embedded Viterbi optimization, and human blob is classified as the human posture with the highest likelihood.


The psychological component of immigration in the Netherlands was studied by comparing views on multiculturalism and acculturation orientation of Turkish migrants between Dutch majority (N=1565) and Turkish-Dutch minority (N=185) members. Multiculturalism was measured with an adaptation of the Multicultural Ideology Scale (Berry & Kalin, 1995); acculturation orientation was investigated in different domains of life. The results revealed that Dutch on average had a neutral attitude towards multiculturalism in the Netherlands while Turkish-Dutch showed a more positive attitude. Regarding the acculturation strategies, Dutch adults preferred assimilation above integration of Turkish migrants in all life domains. Turkish-Dutch adults made a distinction in public and private domains: integration was preferred in public domains, and separation in private domains. In public domains both cultural groups agreed that Turkish migrants should adapt to the Dutch culture. In private domains there was no agreement at all in the views of Dutch and Turkish-Dutch. These results suggest that the views on acculturation and multiculturalism differ substantially for majority and minority group members. Implications are discussed.


A central tool of nonlinear anelasticity is the multiplicative decomposition of the deformation tensor that assumes that the deformation gradient can be decomposed as a product of an elastic and an anelastic tensor. It is usually justified by the existence of an intermediate configuration. Yet, this configuration cannot exist in Euclidean space, in general, and the mathematical basis for this assumption is on unsatisfactory ground. Here, we derive a sufficient condition for the existence of global intermediate configurations, starting from a multiplicative decomposition of the deformation gradient. We show that these global configurations are unique up to isometry. We examine the result of isometrically embedding these configurations in higher-dimensional Euclidean space, and construct multiplicative decompositions of the deformation gradient reflecting these embeddings. As an example, for a family of radially symmetric deformations, we construct isometric embeddings of the resulting intermediate configurations, and compute the residual stress fields explicitly.


We present the results of an investigation into the zero-field microwave absorption in for frequencies ranging from 2 to 35 GHz. The temperature dependence of the microwave loss at zero applied field displays two peaks for frequencies less than 15 GHz. These peaks can be ascribed to temperature tuning of the internal anisotropy field to satisfy the conditions for ferromagnetic resonance.


Fishing ground condition is usually affected by oceanographic parameters. One of the oceanographic parameter that had been used in forecasting the availability of pelagic species such as skipjack is sea surface temperature (SST). Skipjack fish is the main target for boat seine net fishery in Palabuhanratu Bay from June to October 2007. Information on skipjack fishing ground availability is very important in order to optimize fishing operation. The purposes of the study are: to determine the SST distribution, to analyze the catch composition of skipjack, to determine the relationship between SST and skipjack catch, and to forecast the skipjack fishing ground in Palabuhanratu Bay from August to October 2007. The research consist of two stages. The first stage was conducted in Palabuhanratu Bay waters in August-October 2007, using survey method, with ten samples of boat seine net (payang). The second stage conducted on December 2007 to collect the SST data, which downloaded from the internet. The range of SST in Palabuhanratu Bay waters ranged from 22oC - 29oC in August 2007, 21oC - 27oC in September 2007 and 20oC - 31oC in October 2007. The SST had no significant effect on catch volume of skipjack in Palabuhanratu Bay during August until October 2007, but gave effect to the size distribution. The big skipjack distributed at the wide range of SST, but the small skipjack distributed at the narrow range of SST. The potential fishing ground of skipjack in Palabuhanratu Bay during September 2007 was found at Teluk Ciletuh, Ujung Karangbentang, Cimaja, Teluk Cikepuh, Ujung Genteng, and Gedogan waters.


Over one-third of the population of Pontiac, Michigan lives below the poverty line, so as could be expected, access to healthcare is limited for many of Pontiac's community members. After years of anticipation and eventually many months of diligent planning, the Family Medicine Interest Group leadership of the Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, in conjunction with the Gary Burnstein Community Health Clinic, designed and implemented the school's first organized student-run free clinic in 2015. Currently, the students of Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine operate the clinic one evening per month to provide free care to an average of eight patients each clinic date. A growing group of student leadership has been assembled with the primary goal of providing ethical, high-quality, and cost-free healthcare to our community members in need, while simultaneously working to improve the efficiency of the clinic, enhance student interest in community service and health promotion, and increase community awareness and support of the Gary Burnstein Community Health Clinic. As the student-run free clinic continues to grow and see improved operations, there is hope to open additional days of clinical services and begin offering new student-run health education services.


The way we behave. The way we think. The way we react and interact. When you study psychology, you'll begin to understand the science behind human behaviour – and how we can use this science to solve practical problems in all sorts of situations.


With antiangiogenic agents, tumor shrinkage may be absent, despite survival benefit. The present study assessed the predictive value of molecular imaging for the identification of survival benefit during antiangiogenic treatment with bevacizumab and erlotinib in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer. Methods: Patients were evaluated using an imaging protocol including CT, 18F-FDG PET, H215O PET, and dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI to derive measurements on tumor size, glucose metabolism, perfusion, and microvascular permeability. The percentage change in imaging parameters after 3 wk of treatment as compared with baseline was calculated and correlated with progression-free survival (PFS). Results: Forty-four patients were included, and 40 underwent CT and 18F-FDG PET at both time points. Complete datasets, containing all imaging modalities, were available for 14 patients. Bevacizumab and erlotinib treatment resulted in decreased metabolism, perfusion, and tumor size. A decrease in standardized uptake value or tumor perfusion of more than 20% at week 3 was associated with longer PFS (9.7 vs. 2.8 mo, P = 0.01, and 12.5 vs. 2.9 mo, P = 0.009, respectively). Whole-tumor Ktrans (the endothelial transfer constant) was not associated with PFS, but patients with an increase of more than 15% in the SD of tumor Ktrans values—that is, an increase in regions with low or high Ktrans values—after 3 wk had shorter PFS (2.3 vs. 7.0 mo, P = 0.008). A partial response, according to the response evaluation criteria in solid tumors (RECIST), at week 3 was also associated with prolonged PFS (4.6 vs. 2.9 mo, P = 0.017). However, 40% of patients with a partial response as their best RECIST response still had stable disease at week 3. In these cases tumor perfusion was already decreased and Ktrans heterogeneity showed no increase, indicating that the latter parameters seem to be more discriminative than RECIST at the 3-wk time point. Conclusion: PET and dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI were able to identify patients who benefit from bevacizumab and erlotinib treatment. Molecular imaging seems to allow earlier response evaluation than CT.


The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was established to deal with the history and future prevention of the abuse of human rights in South Africa. It aimed to restore relationships between the state and/or other perpetrators and victims of violence. Nevertheless, the process has highlighted the alarming prevalence of psychological trauma in our society. This paper reports on a study of individuals and/or families who presented their testimonies to the TRC in the Kwa Zulu-Natal and Free State Provinces of South Africa. The participants were asked to complete a semi-structured questionnaire designed by the author and a Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist. Most witnesses had recognisable psychiatric disorders. The most common was post-traumatic stress disorder (chronic), followed by either anxiety and mood disorders. The results from this study point to the pervasiveness and seriousness of the sequelae of trauma experienced by individuals and communities (both victims and perpetrators) in South Africa. Health professionals in South Africa have the mammoth task and responsibility to assist in the process of healing and reparation.


We examined the clinical effect of Meropenem (MEPM) on severe pneumonia. We administered 3g of Meropenem daily to 20 patients with severe pneumonia: 8 communityacquired pneumonia patients, 9 nursing and healthcare-associated pneumonia patients, and 3 hospital-acquired pneumonia patients. It was effective in 15 of the 20 patients (75%): 8 of 8 community-acquired pneumonia patients (100%), 6 of 9 nursing and healthcare-associated pneumonia patients (66.6%), and 1 of 3 hospital-acquired pneumonia patients (33.3%). Bacteriologically, 9 of a total of 10 strains (90%) were eradicated: 4 of 4 Streptococcus pneumoniae strains, 2 of 2 methicillin-sensitive Staphlococcus aureus strains, 1 of 2 Enterococcus faecalis strains, 1 of 1 Klebsiella pneumoniae strain, and 1 of 1 Escherichia coli strain. Hepatic dysfunction was observed as a side effect in 8 patients (40%). Based on the above, administration of MEPM daily 3 g is extremely effective for community-acquired pneumonia, while it appears ineffective in many cases of nursing and healthcare-associated pneumonia or hospital-acquired pneumonia, and results in hepatic dysfunction at a high frequency. (Accepted on January 8, 2013)


BACKGROUND
We aimed to review clinical characteristics, treatment results and outcome of pediatric patients with primary pleuropulmonary neoplasms.

METHODS
Medical records of 14 cases diagnosed between 1972-2009 were reviewed retrospectively.

RESULTS
The male/female ratio was 5/9 and the mean age at diagnosis was 9.1 years (2-16). All but one were symptomatic, presenting with fever, coughing, dyspnea, or weight loss. One patient presented with hemoptysis, and another with digital clubbing. One mesothelioma was diagnosed incidentally. Some 8/14 patients were initially diagnosed as having pneumonia (median delay in diagnosis of 2.5 months). Diagnoses included pleuropulmonary blastoma (PPB, n = 5), inflammatory pseudotumor (n = 3), mesothelioma (n = 2), mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC, n = 2), and carcinoid tumor (n = 2). Patients with PPB underwent surgery and received chemotherapy with or without radiotherapy. Two carcinoid tumor cases underwent surgery, one further received chemotherapy. Patients with mesothelioma were treated with chemotherapy. Inflammatory pseudotumors were all resected. Two cases with MEC received chemotherapy, one after surgery. 2/5 PPB patients survived without recurrence, 3 died; all carcinoid tumors and inflammatory pseudotumors were alive; 1/2 MEC patients was alive after 252 months, the other one was lost without disease; 1/2 mesothelioma patients was alive without disease, the other was died. For all cases, median follow-up was 30.5 months (0.6-252).

CONCLUSIONS
Primary pleuropulmonary tumors are rare but clinical presentation can be varied and delay in diagnosis is common. Children with persistent coughs, recurrent pneumonia or hemoptysis should be considered as indicators for early diagnosis, very important because the prognosis of these tumors varies with histology and stage.


This paper reviews and extends questions of the scope of an interactive musical instrument and mapping strategies for expressive performance. We apply notions of embodiment and affordance to characterize gestural instruments. We note that the democratization of sensor technology in consumer devices has extended the cultural contexts for interaction. We revisit questions of mapping drawing upon the theory of affordances to consider mapping and instrument together.

This is applied to recent work by the author and his collaborators in the development of instruments based on mobile devices designed for specific performance situations.


Background Little is known about the political views of doctors in the UK despite doctors' importance in the functioning of the National Health Service (NHS). Methods This is a survey-based, cross-sectional study in which we asked questions about voting behaviour in 2015 and 2017 UK general elections and 2016 referendum on leaving the European Union (EU) (Brexit), and questions relating to recent health policies. Results 1172 doctors (45.1% women) from 1295 responded to an online survey. 60.5% described their political views as 'left-wing' and 62.2% described themselves as 'liberal'. 79.4% of respondents voted to remain in the EU in the 2016 referendum compared with 48.1% of voters as a whole (χ2=819.8, p<0.001). 98.6% of respondents agreed that EU nationals working in the NHS should be able to remain in the UK after Brexit. The median score for the impact of Brexit on the NHS on a scale of 0 (worst impact) to 10 (best impact) was 2 (IQR=1–4). Most respondents agreed with the introduction of minimum alcohol pricing in the UK (73.9%), charging patients who are not eligible for NHS treatment for non-urgent care (70.6%) and protecting a portion of national spending for the NHS (87.1%). 65.8% thought there was too much use of NHS-funded private sector provision in their medical practice. Specialty, income and grade were associated with divergent opinions. Conclusions UK doctors are left-leaning and liberal in general, which is reflected in their opinions on topical health policy issues. Doctors in the UK voted differently from the general electorate in recent polls.


Evaporation of magma oceans exposed to space may have played a role in the chemical and isotopic compositions of rocky planets in our Solar System (e.g., Earth, Moon, Mars) and their protoplanetary antecedents. Chemical depletion of moderately volatile elements and the enrichment of these elements' heavier isotopes in the Moon and Vesta relative to chondrites are clear examples. Evaporation is also thought to be an important process in some exoplanetary systems. Identification of evaporation signatures among the rock-forming elements could elucidate important reactions between melts and vapors during planet formation in general, but the process is more complicated than is often assumed.


This article describes a case of a Peripheral Giant Cell Granuloma (PGCG) in a girl.

 PGCG is a relatively infrequent benign reactive lesion of the gingiva or alveolar ridge that develops in response to local irritation. Clinical appearance consists of a firm or soft smooth surface nodule in dissimilar colors of varying size with sessile or pedunculated implantation base. Radiographic features are generally nonspecific, thereby definitive diagnosis depends on microscopic examination to confirm the entity of PGCG.

 A 6-year-old female patient was referred to the outpatient clinic of an Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Department with the chief complaint of an intraoral swelling. The intraoral examination showed a painless sessile mass with exophytic growth similar to a tumorous lesion located on the mandibular alveolar ridge extending from distal aspect of right mandibular primary canine to mesial aspect of first permanent molar of the same side.

 Peripheral giant cell granuloma is a relatively uncommon lesion in children and potential for collaboration with the treatment in young patients should be considered for a successful therapeutic approach.


Company profiling is an analytical process to build an in-depth understanding of company's fundamental characteristics. It serves as an effective way to gain vital information of the target company and acquire business intelligence. Traditional approaches for company profiling rely heavily on the availability of rich finance information about the company, such as finance reports and SEC filings, which may not be readily available for many private companies. However, the rapid prevalence of online employment services enables a new paradigm — to obtain the variety of company's information from their employees' online ratings and comments. This, in turn, raises the challenge to develop company profiles from an employee's perspective. To this end, in this paper, we propose a method named Company Profiling based Collaborative Topic Regression (CPCTR), for learning the latent structural patterns of companies. By formulating a joint optimization framework, CPCTR has the ability in collaboratively modeling both textual (e.g., reviews) and numerical information (e.g., salaries and ratings). Indeed, with the identified patterns, including the positive/negative opinions and the latent variable that influences salary, we can effectively carry out opinion analysis and salary prediction. Extensive experiments were conducted on a real-world data set to validate the effectiveness of CPCTR. The results show that our method provides a comprehensive understanding of company characteristics and delivers a more effective prediction of salaries than other baselines.


This thesis analyses and compares two monetary models - the cash-in-advance (CIA) model and the real-resource-cost (RRC) model - using a Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) framework, with perfectly competitive markets and flexible prices. The CIA model is built on the quantitative assessment developed by Cooley and Hansen (1989, 1995), while the RRC model is an implementation of the analytical work by Feenstra (1986) and Wang and Yip (1992) on transaction costs. In order to inspect the mechanisms implicit in the monetary models at hand, this thesis analyses also some extensions, building on the seminal contributions by Stockman (1981) and Abel (1985).
 The main results emerging from the impulse-response functions are that the CIA and the RRC models respond in the same way to a shock in total factor productivity, while they differ in the propagation mechanism of the monetary shock, where the differences depend on the mix between cash- and credit-goods in the model economies. Instead, the impact of a transaction cost shock, in the case of the RRC model, remains weak.
 When compared with the stylised facts characterising the U.S. business cycle data, the CIA and RRC approaches exhibit the 'dichotomy' typical of the standard RBC literature: the volatility of real expenditure and working hours (and the respective correlation with output) are essentially driven by the technology shock, while nominal variables are mainly affected by the monetary shock. However, when it comes to the correlations of the endogenous variables with money growth, the CIA and the RRC models fail along many dimensions, when only consumption is linked with money (Chapter 3). By contrast, when transaction technologies are extended to investment and the money supply process is modified (Chapters 4 and 5), the empirical performance of the extended CIA model is superior with respect to the extended RRC model.


We propose a novel prediction interval (PI) method for uncertainty quantification, which addresses three major issues with the state-of-the-art PI methods. First, existing PI methods require retraining of neural networks (NNs) for every given confidence level and suffer from the crossing issue in calculating multiple PIs. Second, they usually rely on customized loss functions with extra sensitive hyperparameters for which fine tuning is required to achieve a well-calibrated PI. Third, they usually underestimate uncertainties of out-of-distribution (OOD) samples leading to over-confident PIs. Our PI3NN method calculates PIs from linear combinations of three NNs, each of which is independently trained using the standard mean squared error loss. The coefficients of the linear combinations are computed using root-finding algorithms to ensure tight PIs for a given confidence level. We theoretically prove that PI3NN can calculate PIs for a series of confidence levels without retraining NNs and it completely avoids the crossing issue. Additionally, PI3NN does not introduce any unusual hyperparameters resulting in a stable performance. Furthermore, we address OOD identification challenge by introducing an initialization scheme which provides reasonably larger PIs of the OOD samples than those of the in-distribution samples. Benchmark and real-world experiments show that our method outperforms several state-of-the-art approaches with respect to predictive uncertainty quality, robustness, and OOD samples identification.


Although much has been written about organizational-level learning, there is a dearth of empirical studies that explore the role of changes in the nature of firm-centred learning mechanisms in affecting inter-firm differences and similarities in the accumulation of innovation capabilities, especially among firms from emerging economies, known as latecomers. By examining the relationships between these issues based on fieldwork evidence from 13 natural resource-processing firms in Brazil (1950-2000s), this study found that: (1) firms that combined the use of external and internal learning mechanisms with increased intensity and quality achieved higher innovation capability levels than firms that used these learning mechanisms with limited frequency and unchanged quality over time; (2) the relative importance of both external and internal learning mechanisms changed as firms' capabilities approached world-leading levels; (3) some combinations of external and internal learning mechanisms were associated with the attainment of particular innovation capability levels. Therefore, if latecomer firms expend limited efforts in using and deliberately changing the intensity and, mainly, the quality of both external and internal learning mechanisms over time, they will deepen their innovation capabilities slowly and will remain innovation 'followers' rather than becoming world-leading innovators. Using a novel approach that explores the relationship between latecomer firms' innovation capability-building and the extent of changes in the underlying learning mechanisms, this paper furthers our understanding of the nature and dynamics of learning and its role as a primary source of firms' international innovation performance. It also challenges recent approaches that seem to over emphasize open learning processes and post-Chandlerian forms of learning as the leading sources of firms' innovation capabilities.


Solar power systems have been growing globally to replace fossil fuel-based energy and reduce greenhouse gases (GHG). In addition to panel efficiency deterioration and contamination, the produced power of photovoltaic (PV) systems is intermittent due to the dependency on weather conditions, causing reliability and resiliency issues. Monitoring system parameters can help in predicting faults in time for corrective action to be taken or preventive maintenance to be applied. However, classical monitoring approaches have two main problems: neither local nor centralized monitoring support distributed PV power systems nor provide remote access capability. Therefore, this paper presents an appraisal of a remote monitoring system of PV power generation stations by utilizing the Internet of Things (IoT) and a state-of-the-art tool for virtual supervision. The proposed system allows real-time measurements of all PV system parameters, including surrounding weather conditions, which are then available at the remote control center to check and track the PV power system. The proposed technique is composed of a set of cost-effective devices and algorithms, including a PV power conditioning unit (PCU); a sensor board for measuring the variables that influence PV energy production such as irradiance and temperature, using a communication module based on Wi-Fi for data transmission; and a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) controller for enhancing the efficiency of the PV system. For validating the proposed system, different common scenarios of PV panel conditions including different shading circumstances were considered. The results show that accurate, real-time monitoring with remote access capabilities can provide timely information for predicting and diagnosing the system condition to ensure continued stable power generation and management.


Interpretations of texts on Sarı Saltuk may serve as a central example of the entanglement of Muslim and Christian contexts in (south-)eastern Europe and the Near East. Analyzing the fifteenth-century Saltuk-nâme and reports by Evliya Çelebi from the seventeenth century, a wide extension of the area concerned, as far as Poland-Lithuania, Muscovy and Sweden, can be observed. With the change of the contents of reports from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, an increasing interest in Christians participating in the veneration of sites connected to Sarı Saltuk can be remarked. Yet descriptions of a veneration of Sarı S altuk in a non-Muslim setting r emain firmly embedded in Christian contexts, complicating a transreligious interpretation of them. In today's Turkish perspective, though, Sarı Saltuk is no longer contextualized in a manner encompassing Russia and Poland, too, but much more in a context focusing on and affirming national Turkish Anatolian or nationalized post-Ottoman contents in the Balkans.


Safeguarding for healthcare involves working together to protect adults, children, and young people at risk of harm. Despite global research and national guidance outlining health professionals' roles in this regard, there is limited knowledge about the type of strategies used to mobilise safeguarding research to practitioners in England. Our critical interpretive synthesis (CIS) sought to explore how safeguarding knowledge is mobilised to enable practitioners to use research effectively. This synthesis aimed to bridge the theory-practice gap in mobilising safeguarding knowledge to practitioners. Knowledge mobilisation (KMb) is an emerging discipline concerned with moving knowledge across communities to catalyse change. This review aimed to build understanding about how safeguarding knowledge is mobilised for healthcare in England and to synthesise the type of approaches undertaken to protect adults and children from harms, including abuse. A critical interpretive synthesis was undertaken using KMb theory and computer-assisted modelling technologies for secondary thematic analysis of complex literature of relevance, including qualitative research, reviews, and reports. Few papers informed how safeguarding knowledge is mobilised for healthcare in England. Learning from experience dominated the literature in three ways: (i) crisis response, (ii) practice engagement, and (iii) influencing actions (for "best" practice). Embedding safeguarding knowledge and skills in healthcare settings usually followed a crisis response. Learning from experience showed movement between practice engagement and influencing actions for adult and/or child protection. KMb might be useful in supporting the implementation of evidence-based safeguarding for practice. CIS identified a gap in how safeguarding research is mobilised to practitioners for healthcare. KMb theory provided an analytical bridge to computer-assisted modelling of factors associated with moving learning from experience to learning in practice. Future research could build on hybrid synthesising of safeguarding functions and impacts for healthcare, to enable practitioners to protect adults and children from multiple harms, including violence and abuse.


A 3-km-long gap in the dextral surficial rupture of the 1992 Mw = 7.3 Landers earthquake occurs at the north end of a major fault stepover between the Johnson Valley and Homestead Valley faults. This gap is situated along a segment of the Landers rupture that has been modeled geophysically as having a deficit in average slip at depth. To better evaluate the nature of the slip gap, we document in detail the character and distribution of surficial rupture within it. Along the gap, is a northwest trending thrust fault rupture with an average of less than 1 rn of northeast directed reverse-slip and nearly no oblique right slip. We interpret this rupture to be limited to the shallow crust of the northern end of the stepover and to have been the secondary result of dextral shear, rather than a mechanism of rigid-block slip-transfer from the Landers-Kickapoo fault. A zone of en echelon extensional ruptures also occurs along the slip gap, which we interpret as the secondary result of diffuse dextral shear that accommodated less than 0.5 rn of west-northwest extension. These secondary ruptures represent a discontinuity in the surficial dextral rupture of the Landers earthquake, which we propose resulted from the lack of a mature fault connection between the Johnson Valley and Homestead Valley faults. The rupture pattern of the slip gap implies a significant deficit in net surficial slip, which compares favorably with some geophysical models. Aspects of this rupture pattern also suggest a temporal sequence of rupture that compares favorably with geophysical interpretations of the dynamic rupture propagation.


This article is devoted to analyze the current condition of elaboration of regional investment projects at the present-day stage of economic reforms being led in Uzbekistan. Article sets forward proposals on working out prospective and presentday programs on inviting international financial institutions, foreign financial and insurance organizations and donor countries in order to implement with them investment projects of high importance for Uzbekistan. Practical recommendations on working out the mechanisms for implementation and efficiency assessment of investment projects, investment projects portfolio revolving to choose high priority investments were also suggested.


The design and integration of multiple active materials into hierarchical nanoarchitectures are essential for the creation of photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction systems. Here uniform Ag nanoparticles (NPs)/polyaniline (Ag/PANI) heterostructured nanosheets modified by g-C3N4 NPs are fabricated through a "green" liquid probe sonication route and hydrothermal synthesis for the first time. The results of photocatalytic experiments demonstrate that the g-C3N4–Ag/PANI hierarchical photocatalysts exhibit significantly enhanced photocatalytic activity for water splitting H2 production under visible light irradiation. The amounts and size of g-C3N4 NPs in the composites have a remarkable effect on their photocatalytic activity. The optimal hydrogen evolution rate over g-C3N4–Ag/PANI with an apparent quantum efficiency (AQE) of 14.6% is 210.73 μmol h−1 mg−1, which is 96.7 times higher than that of Ag/PANI composites and 4.62 times better than that of g-C3N4 NPs. The nanoarchitectured nanosheets have significant structural advantages and can provide a large amount of reaction active sites and outstanding visible light utilization. In addition, the band structure difference and the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) of Ag NPs in ternary heterostructures can promote the spatial separation and transport efficiency of photogenerated charge carriers. These positive factors ultimately contribute to the superior photocatalytic activity for hydrogen production. Meanwhile, the photocatalyst exhibits high stability and reusability. This idea of composite design will be useful for the development of both hydrogen generation and multifunctional composite materials.


There have been many magnetic field models for geophysical and astrophysicM bodies. These theoretical or empirical models represent the reality very well in some cases, but in other cases they may be far from reality. We argue that these models will become more reasonable if they are modified by some coordinate transformations. In order to demonstrate the transformation, we use this method to resolve the "pressure-balance inconsistency" problem that occurs when plasma transports from the outer plasma sheet of the Earth into the inner plasma sheet.


Abstract– Europium-doped strontium iodide (SrI 2 :Eu) crystals are reported to be high light yield scintillator materials with good energy resolution, the best energy resolution of SrI 2 :Eu at 662 keV having reached 2.6%. To improve the crystals growth quality and to protect the crystals from hydration, it is practical to distinguish the pure crystals from impurity and structural defects by Raman spectroscopy. In this report, SrI 2 :Eu crystals grown from the vertical Bridgman method have been characterized with the polarized Raman spectroscopy. Orientations of the crystals were determined with the spectroscopy assisted with the polarized optical microscopy. The crystals are highly hygroscopic, the intensity of new peak at 87 cm -1 associated with SrI 3- anions continues to increase with time even the samples are kept in mineral oil or encapsulated in parylene. Micro-Raman mapping on the distributions of SrI 3- anions in SrI 2 crystals stored in mineral oil are reported. I. I NTRODUCTION


Mathematical and numerical aspects of viscoelastic flows are investigated here. Two simplified mathematical models are considered. They are motivated by a splitting algorithm for solving viscoelastic flows with free surfaces. The first model is a simplified Oldroyd-B model. Existence on a fixed time interval is proved in several Banach spaces provided the data are small enough. Short time existence is also proved for arbitrarily large data in Holder spaces for the time variable. These results are based on the maximal regularity property of the Stokes operator and on the analycity behavior of the corresponding semi-group. A finite element discretization in space is then proposed. Existence of the numerical solution is proved for small data, as well as a priori error estimates, using an implicit function theorem framework. Then, the extension of these results to a stochastic simplified Hookean dumbbells model is discussed. Because of the presence of the Brownian motion, existence in a fixed time interval, provided the data are small enough, is proved only in some of the Banach spaces considered previously. The dumbbells' elongation is split in two parts, one satisfying a standart stochastic differential equation, the other satisfying a partial differential equation with a stochastic source term. A finite element discretization in space is also proposed. Existence of the numerical solution is proved for small data, as well as a priori error estimates. A numerical algorithm for solving viscoelastic flows with free surfaces is also described. This algorithm is based on a splitting method in time and two different meshes are used for the space discretization. Convergence of the numerical model is checked for the pure extensional flow and the filling of a pipe. Then, numerical results are reported for the stretching of a filament and for jet buckling.


Sol-gel Ru(0.3)Sn(0.7)O(2) electrode coatings with crack-free and mud-crack surface morphology deposited onto a Ti-substrate are prepared for a comparative investigation of the microstructural effect on the electrochemical activity for Cl(2) production and the Cl(2) bubble evolution behaviour. For comparison, a state-of-the-art mud-crack commercial Ru(0.3)Ti(0.7)O(2) coating is used. The compact coating is potentially durable over a long term compared to the mud-crack coating due to the reduced penetration of the electrolyte. Ti L-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy confirms that a TiO(x) interlayer is formed between the mud-crack Ru(0.3)Sn(0.7)O(2) coating and the underlying Ti-substrate due to the attack of the electrolyte. Meanwhile, the compact coating shows enhanced activity in comparison to the commercial coating, benefiting from the nanoparticle-nanoporosity architecture. The dependence of the overall electrode polarization behaviour on the local activity and the bubble evolution behaviour for the Ru(0.3)Sn(0.7)O(2) coatings with different surface microstructure are evaluated by means of scanning electrochemical microscopy and microscopic bubble imaging.


Listing has recently extended results of Kozameh, Newman, and Tod for four-dimensional space–times and presented a set of necessary and sufficient conditions for a metric to be locally conformally equivalent to an Einstein metric in all semi-Riemannian spaces of dimension n⩾4—subject to a nondegeneracy restriction on the Weyl tensor. By exploiting dimensionally dependent identities we demonstrate how to construct two alternative versions of these necessary and sufficient conditions which we believe will be useful in applications. The four-dimensional case is discussed in detail and examples are also given in five and six dimensions.


As the pharmacokinetics after a slow infusion had not previously been evaluated in the doses used in this study, it was decided to measure the plasma concentration/time curve after a twelve-hour intravenous infusion of 2·0 g of erythromycin lactobionate in 2 litres of 0·9% normal saline. Six healthy medical students with no past history of cardiovascular, renal, hepatic, metabolic or gastrointestinal disease and no past drug allergy participated. The concentration of erythromycin base in venous blood was measured by small plate microbiological assay. Venous blood was taken at zero, 15, 30, 45, 60 min and at 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, 20 and 24 hr after starting the infusions. Duplicate assays were performed on all plasma samples at Guy's and at the manufacturer's laboratories. A full haematological and biochemical screening profile was performed before and after the study. The mean ± s.e. plasma erythromycin base concentration rose from 0·7 ± 0·2 μg/ml at 15 min to 6·06 ± 1·6 μg/ml at 1 hr. The peak plasma concentration was between 1·48 ± 0·25 μg/ml at 30 min and 7·21 ± 0·93 μg/ml at 4 hr. The plasma concentration at 12 hr was 6·17 ± 0·33 μg/ml, and fell to 0·37 ± 0·05 μg/ml at 24 hr. These findings suggest that therapeutically effective plasma concentrations follow a slow intravenous infusion of erythromycin lactobionate. There was no evidence of adverse haematological or biochemical function in the tests of blood, hepatic or renal function, apart from two volunteers who vomited after the infusions were discontinued.


Although athletes routinely perform warm-up and stretching exercises, it has been suggested that prolonged stretching immediately before an activity might negatively affect the force production. Sixteen male pubescent soccer players participated in the study to examine whether a routine duration of acute static stretching is responsible for losses in isokinetic peak torque production. All participants performed two static stretching protocols in nonconsecutive training sessions. The first stretching protocol was performed three times for 15 s (volume 45) and the second 20 times for 15 s (volume 300). Range of motion (ROM) was determined during knee flexion with the use of a goniometer. The peak torque of the dominant leg extensors was measured on a Cybex NORM dynamometer at various angular velocities. The statistical analysis showed that peak torque did not change following the static stretching for 45 s in all angular velocities, while it decreased (p < .001) in all angular velocities following the stati...


"Territorial Presence As A Ground For Claims: Some Reflections" returns to political theory to assess the moral and legal position of those individuals who are inside the territory of liberal democratic states, but whose very presence has been unauthorised by the state. The author asks the question as to what their bodily presence means and does from a political perspective. The paper is part of a broader political phenomenology of territoriality in liberal national thought and puts emphasis on the idea that it is migrants' bodily presence within the state's territory that lies at the analytical heart of the conversation about irregular immigrants. What is paradoxical about territorial presence of unauthorised migrants is that such presence is simultaneously (1) the source of the offence states invoke as a justification for making them 'illegal'; (2) the basis for protections the migrants may claim against the state for basic fair treatment while present; and (3) the ground for claims they make (or are made on their behalf) to remain present – i.e., to stay in the territory. Territorial presence is thus a fertile ground for the analysis of arbitrary law-making in migration. The author sets out to analyse some recent legal developments pertaining to the governance of irregular non-citizen immigrants in the United States. These developments bear on the project of theorising "immigrant justice" as resistance to the growing illiberalization of migration policy. In her view, the very existence of a class of people designated as irregular migrants within state polities presupposes that such polities maintain formal exclusionary border regimes and that in such regimes, some persons are predesignated as ineligible for entry. And even though those exclusion rules do not function to fully preclude entry and presence of such persons, states do not treat their arrival as an automatic basis for full membership either. Hence, irregular immigrants are territorially present in a state that purports to eschew that presence. The author then explores how the idea of "sanctuary" relates to the kinds of claims that both liberal humanitarians and immigrant justice advocates have been making over the last few years. These are claims which ground protection in what exponents cite as the overriding ethical significance of immigrants' territorial presence – their already-hereness – as the basis for recognition and rights. In particular, the author makes the case that even though "sanctuary" provides a logic of safe harbour, it fails to end the predicament of constitutive based in border exclusionism. For her, the political, social, but also philosophical, struggle for the idea of border abolitionism requires a figurative sword that must go beyond sanctuary so that borders are not just mitigated, but radically deconstructed and even destroyed. The author takes this to be the vital imperative that confronts all legal and political theorists who must engage the normative challenge of rethinking arbitrary law-making in view of the new inequalities that a global political order grounded on sovereign borders produces.


The major advances in hepatitis C virus (HCV) diagnosis and treatment now make hepatitis C infection a curable disease over a short period of time and thus, theoretically, an eliminable disease. In its viral hepatitis elimination plan, the WHO aims, by 2030, to scale-up HCV treatment coverage to 80% and reduce HCV incidence and related mortality by 90% and 65%, respectively.1 This plan is ambitious and requires new strategies for the identification of hepatitis C cases especially in resource-limited countries which bear the highest burden of disease. The WHO estimates that only 20% of the 71 million individuals infected with HCV globally have been diagnosed and <10% have been treated.2 These figures are even lower in resource-limited countries. This poor intervention coverage is not only related to limited access to direct antiviral agents at low cost but also to the high cost and complexity of the conventional HCV RNA tests required for the identification of patients with viraemia. As a result, inexpensive and simple alternatives to conventional HCV nucleic acid tests (NAT) are urgently needed not only for low-income and middle-income countries but also high-income countries where healthcare resources are not infinite and HCV mainly affects difficult to reach populations.

In Gut , Llibre et al report high diagnostic accuracy of a new point-of-care (POC) test for qualitative detection of HCV (Genedrive, Epistem, Manchester, UK). From a large case–control study including samples from HCV-infected -treatment naive- and uninfected patients identified in 2 European (France and UK) and 10 African countries, the authors assessed the performance of the new test for the detection of HCV RNA using the Abbott real-time PCR assay as a reference. …


A new experimental setup achieved by the CEP-Paris is presented. A hollow fiber membrane (Poly-3-OP) was used as gas-liquid contactors for CO2 removal from CO2N2 feed gas stream. CO2 is transferred from gas phase through the hollow fiber membrane contactor into a liquid phase under condition of high or low pressure. CO2 concentration is measured inlet and outlet the module by gas chromatograph. CO2 removal efficiency was given for chemical solvents monoethanolamine (MEA), Nmethyldiethanolamine (MDEA) and promising blend of methyldiethanolamine and triethylene tetramine (MDEA+TETA) will be tested. The results show that an increase of solvent's flow lead to an increase of CO 2 removal efficiency which is appreciably the same as well in the case of MEA as in that of MDEA+TETA when gas flow is lower than 20L/h. Effect of CO2 inlet mass percentage on removal efficiency depends on the solvents used. An important increase of CO2 removal efficiency is reached by using MDEA+TETA solutions as solvents, as well as MEA under specific operating parameters.


Ecosystem-based management (EBM) represents a comprehensive approach to better govern the environment that also illustrates the collaborative trend in policy and public administration. The need for stakeholder involvement and collaboration is strongly articulated, yet how and for what purposes collaboration would be effective remains largely untested. We address this gap by developing and evaluating a set of hypotheses specifying how certain patterns of collaborations among actors affect their joint ability to accomplish EBM. Content analyses of management plans drawn from five EBM planning processes in Sweden are combined with analyses of the collaborative networks through which these plans have been developed. Our results indicate that system thinking and the ability to integrate across different management phases are favored by collaborations between different kinds of actors, and by project leaders being centrally located in the networks. We also find that dense substructures of collaboration increase the level of specificity in the plans in regards to explicating constraints on human activities. Having many collaborative ties does however not enhance the overall level of specificity. Our results also show that different network characteristics can give rise to similar EBM outcomes. This observed equifinality suggests there is no single blueprint for well-performing collaborative networks.


Abstract Objectives The aim of this study was to investigate whether electrical auditory brainstem responses (eABRs) obtained during cochlear implantation (CI) can predict CI outcomes. We also aimed to assess whether eABR can be used to select patients for auditory brainstem implantation (ABI). Methods This was a retrospective study. The latencies and quality of the eABR waveforms from adult patients implanted with CI in Uppsala from 2011 to 2013 (n = 74) and four children with severe cochlear abnormalities were analyzed. Speech perception was assessed through postoperative monosyllabic word (MS-word) recognition. A score was constructed for each patient based on wave II, III, and V patency. Results eABR latencies increased towards base stimulation of the cochlea. Wave V for the mid- and low-frequency regions was the most robust. Significant latency shifts occurred in wave V from the low- to high-frequency regions (**P < 0.01) and from the mid- to high-frequency regions (**P < 0.01). No correlations were found between waveform score, wave V–III interval, wave V latency, and MS-word scores. A negative eABR always predicted a negative outcome. Among the patients with negative outcomes, 75% had eABRs. Discussion Implant electrical stimulation and brain stem recordings can be used (eABRs wave V) to predict a negative functional outcome. Low-frequency waves V were observed in all patients with successful CI outcomes. Patients for whom eABR waveforms were completely absent had unsuccessful CI outcomes.


Detonation nanodiamonds (DND) with different surface chemical and structural features were characterized using multiwavelength Raman analysis, from deep UV to more conventional visible wavelengths. In particular, effects of DND surface modifications induced by annealing (air or vacuum) or by hydrogen microwave plasma on the line shape of their corresponding Raman spectra were investigated. Indeed, the different surface treatments led to specific surface terminations and/or different shell structures or surface reconstructions. In addition, annealing treatments in air or hydrogen have also been performed along with in situ Raman spectroscopy measurements. This original combination allows a better understanding of the corresponding surface modifications. The effects of the different surface terminations on the line shape of the spectra as well as the choice of the Raman experimental conditions are discussed. The line shape of the Raman spectrum of DND is also discussed in detail.


Social media marketing has been widely adopted by florists with the use of the Facebook brand page. However, many florists fail to achieve their expected success in that realm because of not being fully conversant in posting on social media. To address this deficiency, this study aims to 1) develop a taxonomy of florists' Facebook posts to clarify florists' message strategies on Facebook brand page and 2) investigate the effect of posted messages and media formats on the marketing performance of florists' Facebook brand pages by evaluating users' engagement based on the number of likes, comments, and shares from users for each post. Using data derived from 1646 empirical Facebook posts initiated by florists, it was found that florists' Facebook posts could be classified into four broad message types covering 12 categories. The statistical results for analysis of variance (ANOVA) and post hoc tests revealed that the posted message and media format had significant effects in terms of causing users to like, comment on, or share florists' posts. Compared with other message categories, posts in the message categories of product information, gratitude to customers, and holiday greetings had more favorable effects in terms of causing users to like, comment on, or share florists' posts. As for the effect of media format, it was the posts in the photo media format that attracted more likes, comments, and shares from users compared with those in other media formats. Florists who operate brand pages on Facebook can be guided by our research when making decisions regarding the post characteristics in message orientations and media formats for attracting favorable responses from users.


Modifications have been made to a 400 kV side‐entry transmission electron microscope fitted with a low‐field objective pole piece, in order to position apertures close to the back focal plane of the objective lens, as there is no direct access to the required position in the column. The modifications have facilitated developments in the imaging of magnetic domain structure in magnetic materials using the Foucault technique, for which the correct positioning of the objective aperture is crucial. All usual transmission electron microscopy facilities are retained, allowing a full range of specimen holders and imaging modes to be used along with TV recording and electron energy loss spectroscopy. Some initial results are presented from Fe/Cr and Co/Pt multilayer films, for which the Lorentz deflection angle is very small, and for which the Fresnel imaging mode is of limited use as the grain structure contrast masks the magnetic contrast. Initial results are also presented from NdFeB permanent magnet material ...


: Paediatric admissions to Auckland Hospital were examined for 1970 to 1980. The number of individual patients admitted for asthma each year increased significantly over the study period. The rate was higher in the 0-4 year age group than in the 5-14 year age group and was higher in Maori and Pacific Islander children than in Europeans. The male to female ratio was 1.4:1 over the period. The readmission rate increased between 1972 and 1980 and was higher for Polynesians than Europeans although there was no difference in the readmission rates of the 0-4 year age group compared to that of the 5-14 year age group. The mean length of hospital stay decreased significantly, but was longer in Polynesians than in Europeans.


Zambia has in the recent past witnessed an increase in economic activities which has led to an increased energy demand. This increased demand for energy has overshot the hydroelectric power generating capacity. Consequently, the national power utility company, the Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation (ZESCO) instituted nationwide load shedding schedules that last up to 12 hours daily. This development has potentially far reaching social and economic effects on the lives and operations of poor urban residents and small scale business enterprises (SMEs) that routinely depend on stable access to electricity. With a focus on two low income residential areas, namely Ng'ombe and Kalingalinga residential areas, this study explored how residents and SMEs of the capital city, Lusaka have been affected by the recent spate of load shedding in the city. A total of 200 households and 14 SMEs from Ng'ombe and Kalingalinga were interviewed. Results show that load shedding, which occurs daily in the two study sites has caused massive disruptions to the daily lives and operations of the households and small businesses respectively. Over time, the load shedding phenomena has gotten worse and become a major political issue, reflecting the hardships for households and businesses in Zambia. On this basis, this study recommends that the government provides subsidies on alternative energy appliances such as portable diesel solar generators for small business enterprises and more favourable electric tariff rates for business that shift their manufacturing activities to night time so as to reduce demand for electricity during peak periods.


We elucidate relations between different approaches to describing the nonassociative deformations of geometry that arise in non-geometric string theory. We demonstrate how to derive configuration space triproducts exactly from nonassociative phase space star products and extend the relationship in various directions. By foliating phase space with leaves of constant momentum we obtain families of Moyal-Weyl type deformations of triproducts, and we generalize them to new triproducts of differential forms and of tensor fields. We prove that nonassociativity disappears on-shell in all instances. We also extend our considerations to the differential geometry of nonassociative phase space, and study the induced deformations of configuration space diffeomorphisms. We further develop general prescriptions for deforming configuration space geometry from the nonassociative geometry of phase space, thus paving the way to a nonassociative theory of gravity in non-geometric flux compactifications of string theory.


The P50 of whole blood [30 degrees C, PCO2=2.08 kPa (15.6 mmHg)] decreases during embryonic development from approximately 6.7 kPa (50 mmHg) at 15 days to about half this value at hatching (86 days), paralleling a decrease in ATP from 100 to 5-10 micromole g-1 Hb. There is also a progressive changeover from embryonic to adult haemoglobin (HbA). A pulse of 2,3- diphosphoglycerate (2,3-DPG) (18 micromole g-1 Hb) occurs late in embryonic life. It has no effect on whole-blood oxygen-affinity and falls rapidly at hatching to values typical of post-hatchling crocodilians in general (<1.0 micromole g-1 Hb). ATP has a marked effect on the oxygen affinity of embryonic haemoglobin (HbE) but not on HbA. 2,3-DPG has only very small effects on the oxygen affinities of HbE and HbA. CO2 has a small effect on the oxygen affinity of HbE but a marked effect on that of HbA. Values of PO2 measured in the chorio-allantoic artery [2.9 kPa (22 mmHg)] and vein [5.9 kPa (52 mmHg)] imply an increase in saturation from approximately 30 % to more than 80 %. Neither whole-blood oxygen-affinity nor ATP level was altered in response to an experimental 7-day exposure to low ambient oxygen levels [10.7 kPa (80 mmHg)]. The results do not lend themselves easily to the pan-selectionist paradigm in which all physiological traits are viewed as being adaptive.


. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has long recognized stormwater runoff as one of the leading causes of impairment of streams, and as a result, developed Phase I stormwater requirements in 1990, which resulted in the first NPDES Stormwater Discharge Associated with Construction Activity General Permit ("General Permit"). In 2003, Georgia adopted a second issuance of its General Permit. Partnering with other riverkeeper groups and watershed protection groups throughout Georgia, the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper (UCR) is tackling contamination of our waterways from polluted sediment runoff from construction activities. Through an innovative project called "Get the Dirt Out" , the implementation and effectiveness of the General Permit are being monitored. By creating educational materials about the Georgia General Permit for citizens, local governments and developers, the Get the Dirt Out project will target one of Georgia's leading water quality problems associated with runoff from construction sites.


Nodding syndrome (NS) is a neurological disorder primarily characterized by paroxysmal head nodding seizures, affecting previously healthy children at the age between 3–18 years (1,2). Growing numbers of patients with NS were documented since the early 2000s in three distinct areas in the southern Sudan (3,4), southern Tanzania (1) and northern Uganda (5,6). In retrospect, NS was also found in western Uganda (7,8) and suspected cases were reported from Liberia (9) and Cameroon (10). In many NS patients, initial head seizure are followed by other seizures types, progressing physical and cognitive deterioration, and death (6,8). To date, the exact causation of NS is not clarified, but epidemiological and case-control studies have shown a consistent correlation between NS and infection with Onchocerca volvulus ( O. volvulus ), a parasite known as the cause of river blindness in large parts of tropical Africa (2,4,11,12). Because imaging studies and analysis of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) failed to demonstrate the parasite in the central nervous system (CNS) of NS patients (1,4-6,13) it was suggested that an immunological process related to O. volvulus could play a role in the origination of NS (14,15).


The decision to refinance existing debt is a significant one made increasingly by public financial managers. Since state and local governments are somewhat limited by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in their ability to refinance debt, the decision to refund bonds is critical due to the potentially large economic benefits associated with refinancing bonds in the future at lower interest rates. Because of these potential benefits, it would be instructive for policy makers to know some of the covariates associated with this important debt management decision. To that end, this study analyzes refinancing bonds sold by California state and local government issuers between 2000 and 2007. The authors attempt to understand and record a list of issue-specific characteristics, market dynamics, and issuer-related data that are more likely to be related to likelihood to refinance. The authors then discuss the policy implications from these empirical findings.


Based on such research methods as study of literature, qualitative analysis, interdisciplinary research and systematic study, this article focused on the cultivation of collaborative innovation among application-orientated talents of big data analysis. The purpose is to make big data play a large role in industrial development of the future, cultivate talents of big data analysis the government and enterprises need, and improve the social development. On the basis of analyzing the opportunities and challenges that may appear in talentsÂ' cultivation, this article concluded that the collaborative innovation cultivation of application-orientated talents of big data analysis consisted of 6 parts, including the main bodies, internal operation mechanisms, the relationship between the main bodies, innovation policies, domestic environment and international environment. Then, countermeasures were proposed as follows: first, establish a university-leading collaborative innovation mechanism of application-oriented talents of big data analysis; second, build a platform for this purpose; finally, establish practice bases for the talents. The purpose is to train application-orientated talents into having the abilities of big data analysis and technological innovation and to meet the needs of economic and social development in an era of big data.


Embedded networked sensing systems have been successfully applied to environmental monitoring in a wide range of applications. These first results have demonstrated a potential for advancing fundamental environmental science methods and environmental management capability as well as for providing future methods for safeguarding public health. While substantial progress in sensor network performance has appeared, new challenges have also emerged. Specifically, the inevitable and unpredictable time evolution of environmental phenomena introduces sensing uncertainty and degrades the performance of event detection, environment characterization, and sensor fusion. Many of the physical obstacles encountered by static sensors may be circumvented by a new method, Networked Infomechanical Systems (NIMS). NIMS integrates distributed, embedded sensing and computing systems with infrastructure-supported mobility to enable direct uncertainty characterization, autonomous adjustment of spatiotemporal sampling rate, and active sensor fusion. NIMS actuation is also being applied to advancing sensor network performance through methods based on control of distributed, directional antenna systems. In addition to advances in fundamental research objectives, this presentation will describe the architecture, implementation, and application of NIMS now deployed and continuously operating in the field.


Background and Purpose— Diabetes is a well-recognized risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. Evidence suggests a linear relationship between blood glucose and myocardial infarction, even at blood glucose concentrations below the threshold for diabetes. The relationship between blood glucose concentration and stroke in people without established diabetes has been studied less extensively. Methods— We examined the prospective relationship between usual blood glucose level measured by glycohemoglobin (HbA1c) concentrations and incident stroke risk in a general population without diabetes and stroke at baseline assessment in the European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer (EPIC)–Norfolk. Results— A total of 10 489 men and women aged 40 to 79 years at baseline were followed up (mean=8.5 years). Mean age, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, body mass index, total cholesterol, triglycerides, and proportion of current smokers increased and mean high-density lipoprotein cholesterol decreased with increasing HbA1c concentrations. There were 164 incident strokes identified over 88 652 person-years. After adjustment for age, sex, and cardiovascular risk factors, the relative risks (95% CI) for stroke for participants with HbA1c concentrations 5% to 5.4%, 5.5% to 6.9%, and ≥7% were 0.78 (0.50 to 1.22), 0.83 (0.54 to 1.27), and 2.83 (1.40 to 5.74), respectively, compared with those with HbA1c <5%. Conclusions— In contrast to the continuous linear relationship observed between blood glucose level and coronary heart disease risk, the association between blood glucose level and stroke risk appears to be more consistent with a threshold relationship. These observations may give insights into the differing pathogenesis of different vascular diseases.


Digital design and fabrication of complex geometries in architecture stimulated a significant amount of research most of which involves optimization. We present the main optimization methods with a focus on our preferred techniques. There, we discuss initialization, the formulation of constraints and their simplification through geometric considerations, and key concepts for regularization. This is illustrated at hand of a very recent type of discrete surfaces which are expressed via the pair of diagonal meshes in a quad mesh.


We determine the number counts to second order in cosmological perturbation theory in the Poisson gauge and allowing for anisotropic stress. The calculation is performed using an innovative approach based on the recently proposed ``geodesic light-cone" gauge. This allows us to determine the number counts in a purely geometric way, without using Einstein's equation. The result is valid for general dark energy models and (most) modified gravity models. We then evaluate numerically some relevant contributions to the number counts bispectrum. In particular we consider the terms involving the density, redshift space distortion and lensing.


Artificial intelligence has also helped us do things faster and better, in many areas. This also applies to photography. As many of the functions of professional digital cameras, such as the functions of automatic adjustment of exposure and focus, rely on artificial intelligence. And smart phones have become equipped with cameras that work with artificial intelligence technology, and therefore the user of the camera will have more time devoted to the creative aspects, instead of wasting time on solutions to repeated problems. Artificial intelligence has also affected the development of sophisticated algorithms that gradually replace traditional methods of processing digital photographs. This allows immediate processing of images, fixing their faults, and improving them automatically that does not require any effort. To reach amazing results, obtaining them requires the photographer to spend long hours working on traditional software. And it came to getting a photo without a photographer, as is the case with the Google Clips smart camera, as well as obtaining a photo without a photographer or camera, as is the case with images generated by artificial intelligence algorithms like StyleGan. The research problem lies in the fact that lack of familiarity with the multiple capabilities of artificial intelligence, and trying to employ them effectively in all stages of the production of the photo, will lead to consuming a lot of time and effort in solving traditional problems, which artificial intelligence can accomplish quickly, easily and efficiently, such as automatic control of exposure and focus, And improve the image and fix its faults and add effects, in less time and effort. Therefore, the research aims to identify the huge potential granted by applications of artificial intelligence in photography, and the extent of its rapid development, and how to maximize the use of them to obtain better photographs in less time and effort. Either in the shooting stage, or in the stage of processing and improving images and fixing their faults, as well as in generating and creating photographs of subjects that do not exist in reality.


Prospective readers can quickly determine whether a document is relevant to their information need if the significant phrases (or keyphrases) in this document are provided. Although keyphrases are useful, not many documents have keyphrases assigned to them, and manually assigning keyphrases to existing documents is costly. Therefore, there is a need for automatic keyphrase extraction. This report introduces a new domain independent keyphrase extraction algorithm. The algorithm approaches the problem of keyphrase extraction as a classification task, and uses a combination of statistical and computational linguistics techniques, a new set of attributes, and a new machine learning method to distinguish keyphrases from non-keyphrases. The experiments indicate that this algorithm performs at least as well as other keyphrase extraction tools and that it significantly outperforms Microsoft Word 2000's AutoSummarize feature.


Solvation free energies can be advantageously estimated by cluster-continuum approaches. They proved useful especially for systems with high charge density. However, the clusters are assumed to be single minimum rigid species. It is an invalid condition for larger clusters and it complicates the assessment of convergence with the system size. We present a new variant of the cluster-continuum approach, "Ensemble Cluster-Continuum" scheme, where the single minima problem is circumvented by a thermodynamic cycle based on vertical quantities (ionization energies, electron affinities). Solvation free energies are calculated for a charged-neutralized system and solvation correction for the vertical quantities is estimated for an ensemble of structures from molecular dynamics simulation. We test the scheme on a set of various types of anions and cations, we study the convergence of the cluster-continuum model and assess various types of errors. The quantitative data depend on the applied continuum solvation model yet the convergence is analogous. We argue that the assessment of convergence provides a measure of the reliability of the calculated solvation energies.


Microsatellites are short tandem repeats that are widely dispersed among eukaryotic genomes. Many of them are highly polymorphic; they have been used widely in genetic studies. Statistical properties of all measures of genetic variation at microsatellites critically depend upon the composite parameter θ = 4Nμ, where N is the effective population size and μ is mutation rate per locus per generation. Since mutation leads to expansion or contraction of a repeat number in a stepwise fashion, the stepwise mutation model has been widely used to study the dynamics of these loci. We developed an estimator of θ, θ ^ F , on the basis of sample homozygosity under the single-step stepwise mutation model. The estimator is unbiased and is much more efficient than the variance-based estimator under the single-step stepwise mutation model. It also has smaller bias and mean square error (MSE) than the variance-based estimator when the mutation follows the multistep generalized stepwise mutation model. Compared with the maximum-likelihood estimator θ ^ L by Nielsen (1997), θ ^ F has less bias and smaller MSE in general. θ ^ L has a slight advantage when θ is small, but in such a situation the bias in θ ^ L may be more of a concern.


PURPOSE
The phenotype of vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs) is altered in several arterial pathologies, including the neointima formed after acute arterial injury. This study examined the time course of this phenotypic change in relation to changes in the amount and distribution of matrix glycosaminoglycans.

METHODS
The immunochemical staining of heparan sulphates (HS) and chondroitin sulphates (CS) in the extracellular matrix of the arterial wall was examined at early points after balloon catheter injury of the rabbit carotid artery. SMC phenotype was assessed by means of ultrastructural morphometry of the cytoplasmic volume fraction of myofilaments. The proportions of cell and matrix components in the media were analyzed with similar morphometric techniques.

RESULTS
HS and CS were shown in close association with SMCs of the uninjured arterial media as well as being more widespread within the matrix. Within 6 hours after arterial injury, there was loss of the regular pericellular distribution of both HS and CS, which was associated with a significant expansion in the extracellular space. This preceded the change in ultrastructural phenotype of the SMCs. The glycosaminoglycan loss was most exaggerated at 4 days, after which time the HS and CS reappeared around the medial SMCs. SMCs of the recovering media were able to rapidly replace their glycosaminoglycans, whereas SMCs of the developing neointima failed to produce HS as readily as they produced CS.

CONCLUSIONS
These studies indicate that changes in glycosaminoglycans of the extracellular matrix precede changes in SMC phenotype after acute arterial injury. In the recovering arterial media, SMCs replace their matrix glycosaminoglycans rapidly, whereas the newly established neointima fails to produce similar amounts of heparan sulphates.


GPUs are more and more used as low cost high performance computing platforms. While new parallel computing architectures and languages such as OpenCL and CUDA, as well as some new libraries ease up their programming, it is still relatively difficult to design code for them in an efficient way and it gives us a taste of what pioneers experimented in the 50's when programming the first computers. Also most of the current implementations suppose the co-existence of CPUs and GPUs, making the communication between those a real bottleneck in the proposed architectures. However, while new generations of GPU and architectures arise, a set of open questions that the Panel will attempt to address are still pending: — GPU and energy-efficiency: friend or foe? — Can GPU accelerate applications which are not 'embarrassingly' parallel? — Non-proprietary alternatives to GPU? — Programming support for GPU. Are we limited to imperative languages? — GPU clusters? — Security risks related to GPU? The Panel will also discuss the current state-of-the art and the opportunities and challenges ahead.


Introduction: The Cervical cancer is a cancer that causes most deaths especially in developing countries. The management for most cancer is chemotherapy. Chemotherapy has many impacts in many areas of life, among others, the impact lays on the physical and psychological. Lack of information about the side effects of chemotherapy treatments cause the quality of life of patients continued to decline. The Objective of the research: It: is to develop the concept of responses and coping physically of the cervical cancer patients who received the chemotherapy. Methods: The study design was designed using qualitative methods. The approach used was qualitative research of the Phenomenology Study. The subjects of the research were the women with cervical cancer treated by chemotherapy in Hospital of Dr. Moewardi of Surakarta. The sampling technique was the purposive sampling. The research instruments were interview guidelines, observation guidelines, stationery and recording devices, and fi eld notes. The data analysis would be conducted by using qualitative analysis.Result: The physical response of cervical cancer patients on chemotherapy include nausea, vomiting, constipation, peripheral neuropathy, fatigue, weight loss, alopecia, skin toxicity, decreased appetite, pain, change in taste on the tongue. The coping of the patients generally use traditional ways or leave it, and very few pharmacological were used to resolve the problem.Conclusion: Chemotherapy give real effect to the physical. Patients in general were coping by traditional and non-pharmacological means. Suggestion: the results of the research can be used as evidence-based research in the treatment of cervical cancer patients with chemotherapy and used as the basis for the development of interventions to improve the life quality of the patients.


Stance detection entails ascertaining the position of a user towards a target, such as an entity, topic, or claim. Recent work that employs unsupervised classification has shown that performing stance detection on vocal Twitter users, who have many tweets on a target, can yield very high accuracy (+98%). However, such methods perform poorly or fail completely for less vocal users, who may have authored only a few tweets about a target. In this paper, we tackle stance detection for such users using two approaches. In the first approach, we improve user-level stance detection by representing tweets using contextualized embeddings, which capture latent meanings of words in context. We show that this approach outperforms two strong baselines and achieves 89.6% accuracy and 91.3% macro F-measure on eight controversial topics. In the second approach, we expand the tweets of a given user using their Twitter timeline tweets, and then we perform unsupervised classification of the user, which entails clustering a user with other users in the training set. This approach achieves 95.6% accuracy and 93.1% macro F-measure.


This paper proposes a highly stretchable strain sensor using viscous conductive materials as resistive element and introduces a simple and economic fabrication process by encapsulating the conductive materials between two layers of silicone rubbers Ecoflex 00-30. The fabrication process of the strain sensor is presented, and the properties of the viscous conductive materials are studied. Characterization shows that the sensor with conductive gels, toothpastes, carbon paint, and carbon grease can sustain a maximum tensile strain of 200% and retain good repeatability, with a strain gauge factor of 2.0, 1.75, 3.0, and 7.5, respectively. Furthermore, strain sensors with graphite and carbon nanotubes mixed with conductive gels are fabricated to explore how to improve the gauge factor. With a focus on the most promising material, conductive carbon grease, cyclic stretching tests are conducted and show good repeatability at 100% strain for 100 cycles. Lastly, it is demonstrated that the stretchable strain sensor made of carbon grease is capable of measuring finger bending. With its easy and low-cost fabrication process, large strain detection range and good gauge factor, the conductive materials-based strain sensors are promising for future biomedical, wearable electronics and rehabilitation applications.


Phytochemical investigation on the anti-inflammatory fraction extracted from the whole plant of Euphorbia helioscopia L. led to the isolation of three new ent-atisane diterpenoids (1-3) and five known analogues (4-8). The structures and absolute configurations of the new compounds were elucidated by comprehensive analysis of the NMR, MS, IR, ECD, and X-ray crystallography. It is worth mentioning that compound 3 belongs to a rare class of ent-atisane diterpenoid featuring a hydroxyl group at C-9. Bioactivity investigation showed that compounds 4, 7, and 8 exhibited significant inhibitory effects on LPS-induced NO production in a dose-dependent manner, which indicates their anti-inflammatory potential.


Autonomous vehicles and research pertaining to them have been an important topicin academia and industry in recent years. Developing controllers that enable vehiclesto performpath and trajectory following is a diverse topic where many differentcontrol strategies are available. In this thesis, we focus on lateral and longitudinalcontrol of autonomous vehicles and two different control strategies are considered:a standard decoupled control and a new suggested coupled control.In the decoupled control, the lateral controller consists of a linear time-varying modelpredictive controller (LTV-MPC) together with a PI-controller for the longitudinalcontrol. The coupled controller is a more complex LTV-MPC which handles bothlateral and longitudinal control. The objective is to develop both control strategiesand evaluate their design and performance through path following simulations in aMATLAB environment.When designing the LTV-MPC, two vehicle models are considered: a kinematic modelwithout tyre dynamics and a dynamic bicycle model with tyre forces derived froma linear Pacejka model. A research on how model complexity affects tracking performanceand solver times is also performed. In the end, the thesis presents thefindings of the different control strategies and evaluate them in terms of trackingperformance, solver time, and ease of implementation.


Background : Comminuted subtrochanteric fractures have been a challenge for orthopedic surgeons in terms of appropriate reduction and stable fixation. Numerous methods have been used for the fixation of comminuted subtrochanteric fractures among which some are accompanied with technical difficulties and complications of their own. Regarding the results of previous studies, we decided to evaluate the biological fixation method in comminuted subtrochanteric fractures. Methods : In this prospective study, we evaluated 20 men with comminuted subtrochanteric femoral fractures. The patients underwent indirect reduction with dynamic hip screw (DHS) or dynamic condylar screw (DCS) fixation within one week of injury. The patients were evaluated clinically for pain, hip and knee range of motion, leg-length discrepancy and angular and rotational deformities, in addition the radiographic assessment of the union. Results : According to Seinsheimer's classification of subtrochanteric fractures, four patients had type III, nine had type IV and seven had type V fractures. Fracture fixation was performed by DCS in eight and by DHS in 12 cases. The average time of the operations was 79.4 (ranging from 60-125) minutes. Mean blood loss was 634 (ranging from 340-1160) milliliters. Uneventfully, union occurred in all patients with no clinical pain or dysfunction. Conclusion : Submuscular plating with either DCS or DHS is a viable option to treat comminuted subtrochanteric fractures. The results of this study highly suggest use of submuscular plating in the treatment of comminuted subtrochanteric fractures, especially in the third world countries.


Joseph Welsh was the British Vice Consul in the port of Veracruz at the time of the uprising of 1832 by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna against the government of Anastasio Bustamante. Contravening the orders of his superiors, who reiterated the view that it was his obligation to observe the strictest neutrality in the conflict and not interfere in Mexican politics, Welsh found himself supporting Santa Anna and the rebels. As a result, at the end of March, Bustamante's administration demanded that he be removed from office. The British Minister Plenipotentiary, Richard Pakenham, acquiesced. This article provides a narrative of the events that led to Welsh's forced resignation and explores what they tell us about British diplomacy in Mexico during the early national period. It also analyses Welsh's understanding of the revolt and his views on Santa Anna, providing some insights, from a generally ignored British perspective, into Santa Anna's notorious appeal and politico-military measures.


The report presents the development of the time-boundary element methodology and a description of the related software based on a stepped method of numerical inversion of the integral Laplace transform in combination with a family of Runge-Kutta methods for analyzing 3-D mixed initial boundary-value problems of the dynamics of poroelastic bodies. The results of the numerical investigation are presented. The investigation methodology is based on direct-approach boundary integral equations of 3-D isotropic linear theory of poroelasticity in Laplace transforms. Poroelastic media are described using Biot models with four functions. With the help of the boundary-element method, solutions in time are obtained, using the stepped method of numerically inverting Laplace transform on the nodes of RungeKutta methods.


This interview study investigates the shortand long-term implications of incidental findings detected through brain imaging on research participants' lives and their surroundings. For this study, nine participants of the Rotterdam Scan Study with an incidental findingwere approached and interviewed.When examining research participants' narratives on the impact of the disclosure of incidental findings, the authors identified five sets of tensions with regard to motivations for and expectations of research participation, preferences regarding disclosure, shortand long-term impacts and impacts on self and others. The paper shows: (1) that the impact of incidental findings may be greater than participants at first let on; (2) incidental findings can have significant effects on participants' social environment; and (3) participants may not feel prepared for disclosure even if incidental findings have been discussed during the informed consent process. The authors call for investigators to be aware of research participants' experiences and these shortand long-term impacts when designing suitable courses of action for the detection and management of incidental findings in research settings.


Historically, different aspects of the configuration of an airborne instrumentation system were specified in a variety of different software applications. Instrumentation setup software handled the definition of measurements and PCM Formats while separate applications handled pre-flight checkout, calibration and post-flight data analysis. This led to the manual entry of the same data multiple times. Industry standards such as TMATS strive to address this problem by creating a data-interchange format for passing setup information from one application to another. However, a better alternative is to input all of the relevant setup information about the sensor and the measurement when it is initially created in the instrumentation vendor's software. Furthermore, an additional performance enhancement can be achieved by adding the ability to perform sensor calibration and engineering unit conversions to pre-flight data visualization software that is tightly coupled with the instrumentation setup software. All of the setup information can then be transferred to the ground station for post-flight processing and data reduction. Detailed reports can also be generated for each measurement. This paper describes the flow of data through an integrated airborne instrumentation setup application that allows sensors and measurements to be defined, acquired, calibrated and converted from raw counts to engineering units. The process of performing a sensor calibration, configuring engineering unit conversions, and importing calibration and transducer data sheets will also be discussed.


Linear variable differential transformers (LVDTs) and inclinometers are widely used in many industrial establishments, particularly in the metrology area. These sensors are used by many engineering disciplines because of their high-precision characteristics. In addition, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers and total stations are widely used in geodesy. Using GNSS receivers is very popular, particularly for navigational purposes. In this paper, a new railway track geometry surveying system, which is designed by integrating the LVDT, inclinometer, GNSS receiver, and total station, is introduced. This new surveying system is an alternative to classical geodetic measurement methods that are often used for controlling the railway track geometry. Track gauge, super-elevation, gradient, and track axis coordinates, which are railway geometrical parameters, can be instantly determined while making measurements by using the new surveying system.


Gulls are prevalent in beach environments and can be a major source of fecal contamination. Gulls have been shown to harbor a high abundance of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB), such as E. coli and enterococci, which can be detected readily as part of routine beach monitoring. Despite the ubiquitous presence of gull fecal material in beach environments, the associated microbial community is relatively poorly characterized. We generated comprehensive microbial community profiles of gull fecal samples using Roche 454 and Illumina MiSeq platforms to investigate the composition and variability of the gull fecal microbial community and to measure the proportion of FIB. Enterococcaceae and Enterobacteriaceae were the two most abundant families in our gull samples. Sequence comparisons between short-read data and near full-length 16S rRNA gene clones generated from the same samples revealed Catellicoccus marimammalium as the most numerous taxon among all samples. The identification of bacteria from gull fecal pellets cultured on membrane-Enterococcus indoxyl-β-Dglucoside (mEI) plates showed that the dominant sequences recovered in our sequence libraries did not represent organisms culturable on mEI. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing of gull fecal isolates cultured on mEI plates, 98.8% were identified as Enterococcus spp., 1.2% Streptococcus spp.; and none were identified as C. marimammalium. Illumina deep sequencing indicated that gull fecal samples harbor significantly higher proportions of C. marimammalium 16S rRNA gene sequences (>50fold), relative to typical mEI culturable Enterococcus spp. C. marimammalium therefore can be confidently utilized as a genetic marker to identify gull fecal pollution in the beach environment.


Human beta-defensin 3 (hBD3) is a highly basic 45-amino-acid protein that acts both as an antimicrobial agent and as a chemoattractant molecule. Although the nature of its antimicrobial activity is largely electrostatic, the importance of the molecular structure on this activity is poorly understood. Two isoforms of hBD3 were synthesized: the first with native disulfide linkages and the second with nonnative linkages. In a third synthetic peptide, all cysteine residues were replaced with alpha-aminobutyric acid, creating a completely linear peptide. A series of six small, linear peptides corresponding to regions of hBD3 with net charges ranging from +4 to +8 (at pH 7) and lengths ranging from 9 to 20 amino acids were also synthesized. The linear full-length peptide showed the highest microbicidal activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, while all three full-length forms showed equal activity against Candida albicans. The linear peptide also showed high activity against Enterococcus faecium and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Peptides corresponding to the C terminus showed higher activities when tested against E. coli, with the most active peptides being the most basic. However, only the peptide corresponding to the N terminus of hBD3 showed any activity against S. aureus and C. albicans. Further, N-terminal deletion mutants of native hBD3 showed diminished activities against S. aureus. Thus, the antimicrobial properties of hBD3 derivatives are determined by both charge and structure.


The purpose of this paper is to examine economic significance as a fourth measure of significance. In addition to describing and operationalising the concept of economic significance, a typology of economic significance indices is presented, including an example of how to compute these measures, as well as how to utilise them in applied research. We demonstrate how interventions that yield no statistical, practical or clinical effects may be economically significant. Economic significance is not only relevant in the majority of educational research studies, but also is more readily understood by policy makers and stakeholders than are the other three measures of significance, thereby facilitating the accountability of educational quality as a shared responsibility.