Many contaminant releases to the terrestrial environment are of small areal extent. Thus, rather than evaluating the ecological impact on species in the immediate vicinity of the release, it may be more ecologically meaningful to determine if population impacts occur at the landscape level. In order to do this, the cumulative impact of all releases in the landscape under consideration must be evaluated. If the release sites are viewed as localized areas that are no longer available for use by ecological receptors (i.e., no longer part of the habitat), this can be thought of as a form of habitat fragmentation. Habitat fragmentation is typically viewed as the loss of large areas of habitat within a landscape, leaving small isolated patches of intact habitat within a hostile matrix. Small‐scale contaminant releases, on the other hand, result in small uninhabitable areas within a primarily intact habitat. With this consideration in mind, we analyzed the wildlife and conservation biology literature to determine if information on habitat size requirements such as home‐range or critical patch size could inform us about the potential for impact at the landscape level from release sites based on the size of the release alone. We determined that evaluating the impact of release size had to be conducted within a contextual basis (considering the existing state of the landscape). Therefore, we also reviewed the population modeling literature to determine if models could be developed to further evaluate the impact of the spatial extent of chemical releases on the landscape. We identified individual‐based models linked to geographic information systems to have the greatest potential in investigating the role of release size with respect to population impacts at the landscape level.


Summary The evolutionarily conserved transcriptional cofactor Jab1 plays critical roles in cell differentiation, proliferation, and apoptosis by modulating the activity of diverse factors and regulating the output of various signaling pathways. Although Jab1 can interact with the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) downstream effector Smad5 to repress BMP signaling in vitro, the role of Jab1 in BMP-mediated skeletogenesis in vivo is still poorly understood. As a key regulator of skeletogenesis, BMP signaling regulates the critical Ihh-Pthrp feedback loop to promote chondrocyte hypertrophy. In this study, we utilized the loxP/Cre system to delineate the specific role of Jab1 in cartilage formation. Strikingly, Jab1 chondrocyte-specific knockout Jab1flox/flox; Col2a1-Cre (cKO) mutants exhibited neonatal lethal chondrodysplasia with severe dwarfism. In the mutant embryos, all the skeletal elements developed via endochondral ossification were extremely small with severely disorganized chondrocyte columns. Jab1 cKO chondrocytes exhibited increased apoptosis, G2 phase cell cycle arrest, and increased expression of hypertrophic chondrocyte markers Col10a1 and Runx2. Jab1 can also inhibit the transcriptional activity of Runx2, a key regulator of chondrocyte hypertrophy. Notably, our study reveals that Jab1 is likely a novel inhibitor of BMP signaling in chondrocytes in vivo. In Jab1 cKO chondrocytes, there was heightened expression of BMP signaling components including Gdf10/Bmp3b and of BMP targets during chondrocyte hypertrophy such as Ihh. Furthermore, Jab1 cKO chondrocytes exhibited an enhanced response to exogenous BMP treatment. Together, our study demonstrates that Jab1 represses chondrocyte hypertrophy in vivo, likely in part by downregulating BMP signaling and Runx2 activity.


Researchers, program administrators, and practicing clinicians explain the most recent developments in using psychedelic substances to treat psychological, physiological, and social problems.
 More than a decade ago, the U.S. government lifted its ban on all testing of psychedelic substances. Winkelman and Sessa now provide updated scientific research and applications of these substances, now moving into approved categories of medicine. The text is an up-to-date assessment of the latest advances in the field of psychedelic medicine, covering the use of LSD, psilocybin, MDMA, ayahuasca, and other substances to augment psychotherapies for a range of disorders. It discusses medical and psychiatric concerns, clinical efficacy and safety, ethical considerations, and neuroscience findings regarding the psychedelic compounds.
 Topics covered include an overview of psychiatric applications of psychedelics; treatments for addictions and depressive disorders; effects of psychedelics on inflammation and neuroplasticity; evidence for clinical applications of DMT, ayahuasca, and cannabidiol; psychedelic treatment of sociopathic disorders; microdosing psychedelics; training psychedelic therapists; and community-based harm reduction approaches to managing psychedelic crises.


Much of the complexity in today's superscalar microprocessors stems from the need to maintain the speculatively produced results within the on-chip storage components until these results can be safely discarded without endangering the reconstruction of the precise state or impeding the recovery from possible branch misspeculations. For this, modern designs use large, heavily-ported physical register files (RFs) to increase the instruction throughput. The high complexity and power dissipation of such RFs mainly stem from the need to maintain each and every result for a large number of cycles after the result generation. We observed that a significant fraction (about 45%) of the result values are delivered to their consumers via the bypass network (consumed ldquoon-the-flyrdquo) and are never read out from the destination registers. In this paper, we first formulate conditions for identifying such transient values and describe their microarchitectural implementation; then we propose a technique to avoid the writeback of such transient values into the RF. With 64-entry integer and floating point register files, our technique achieves an 11% performance improvement and 29% reduction in the RF energy consumption compared to the baseline machine with the same number of registers. Furthermore, for the same performance target, the selective writeback scheme results in a 38% reduction in the energy consumption of the RF compared to the baseline machine.


Introduction Social class is a key determinant of inequalities in working conditions and health. We analysed, for the first time, the association between social class, working conditions and occupational health outcomes in Argentina. Methods Data come from the first Argentinian working conditions survey (2010) conducted on non-agricultural formal private-sector workers in registered enterprises. Subjects (n = 7,195) were classified into services class, intermediate and working class according to an adapted Erikson-Golthorpe social class scheme for Argentina. Working conditions and self-reported occupational injuries and occupational disease are compared across social class (Chi2). Poisson regression models to estimate adjusted (by age, sex, and tenure) prevalence proportion ratios (PRR) of each outcome by social class and poor working conditions. Results Prevalence of exposure to hygienic risks in the working class is more than twice than in the services and intermediate classes; ergonomic risks follow a steep gradient where the working class doubles the risk of the services class. Working time autonomy is highest in the intermediate class and lowest in the working class; psychological demands and social support from superiors follow a slight gradient being highest in the service class, while social support from colleagues is lowest in intermediate classes. PRR of occupational injuries was 1.96 (95% CI: 1.5–2.6) in the working class, and highest for exposure to toxic and biologic risks, and for lack of social support from superiors and colleagues. PRR of occupational disease exhibited no social-class differences, but strong associations with working conditions, including psychosocial risks. Conclusions Working class workers have the highest exposure to poor working conditions, and highest prevalence of occupational injuries. The absence of social-class differences in occupational disease may be related to differences across classes in the outcomes contained in the self-report, requiring further studies. Results also highlight the relevance of work organisation for occupational health, beyond psychological health.


Paleobotanic, sedimentologic, and lithologic analyses of 34 core samples of underclay from the New River and Kanawha Formations of the proposed Pennsylvanian System stratotype, West Virginia, and 14 samples from strip mines in the Llewellyn Formation from the anthracite fields, Pennsylvania, indicate that more than half of the coal beds studied began forming in response to changing sedimentation and edaphic conditions that were facies independent. Peak formation was a consequence of factors that favored increased organic accumulation in swamps previously dominated by clastic deposition (clastic swamps). The underclay beds grade upward from gray mudstone that is intensely rooted, but otherwise free of plant fossils, to fissile, vitrain-rich, rooted, black shale containing bundant plant fossils, to coal. The black shale flora consists of lycopod, pteridosperm, and calamite branches and large trunks. Foliage is absent because it was destroyed by rooting and decay. The trunks are lying in situ. They are unidirectionally oriented in places, and usually associated with Stigmaria rooted hummocks. Trunk accumulations are never associated with flood-transported or lacustrine sediments. Trunks were preserved when a rising water table led to a reduced oxidation potential in the underlying mud. The change from clastic sedimentation to peat formation was rapid in most swamps, as evidenced by a transition zone only a few millimeters thick. However, evidence of longer transition stages is present for some swamps where as much as 0.5 m of black shale was deposited. Occa ionally, several cycles of underclay-black shale formation were repeated before peat accumulation began. The transitional process could have been arrested at any time before ideal peat-forming conditions were attained. The gradual transitions from clastic to organic sedimentation suggest that swamp types form a continuum between clastic and peat swamp end members. End_of_Article - Last_Page 1452------------


Severe cardiac hypertrophy has been produced experimentally in rats by long-term, low-dose treatment with tri-iodothyroacetic acid. The dose used was insufficient to cause any apparent systemic or metabolic effect. It is suggested that similar iodinated substances in the blood in man, resulting from normal or abnormal thyroid hormone catabolism, may be causally related to some forms of cardiomyopathy.


Fault and fracture interpretation is a fundamental but essential tool for subsurface structure mapping and modelling from 3D seismic data. The existing methods for semi‐automatic/automatic fault picking are primarily based on seismic discontinuity analysis that evaluates the lateral changes in seismic waveform and/or amplitude, which is limited by its low resolution on subtle faults and fractures without apparent vertical displacements in seismic images. This study presents an innovative workflow for computer‐aided fault/fracture interpretation based on seismic geometry analysis. First, the seismic curvature and flexure attributes are estimated for highlighting both the major faults and the subtle fractures in a seismic volume. Then, fault probability is estimated from the curvature and flexure volumes for differentiation between the potential faults and non‐faulting features in the geometric attributes. Finally, the seeded fault picking is implemented for interpreting the target faults and fractures guided by the knowledge of interpreters to avoid misinterpretation and artefacts in the presence of faulting complexities as well as coherent seismic noises. Applications to two 3D seismic volumes from the Netherlands North Sea and the offshore New Zealand demonstrate the added values of the proposed method in imaging and picking the subtle faults and fractures that are often overlooked in the conventional seismic discontinuity analysis and the following fault‐interpretation procedures.


A very green catalytic method has been introduced for the synthesis of alkylaromatic ketones by solvent-free benzylic oxidation of alkylaromatics with molecular oxygen (O2) over hexagonally mesostructured MnSBA-15 catalysts synthesized with a variety of manganese (Mn) contents using a pH-adjusting direct hydrothermal (pH-aDH) method. For example, the solvent-free oxidation of ethylbenzene (EB) over different mesoporous MnSBA-15 catalysts and uniform pore sized MnMCM-41(31) prepared by an alkaline hydrothermal method has been systematically evaluated. Washed MnSBA-15(4) (W-MnSBA-15(4)) or green mesoporous MnSBA-15(4) obtained after the removal of the non-framework octahedral Mn2O3 species deposited on the active surface of MnSBA-15(4) using a promising chemical treatment method is used for this reaction to evaluate its catalytic activity. Meanwhile the recyclability and hot-filtration experiments for this reaction have been also studied. The catalytic activities obtained from the above catalytic results prove that the W-MnSBA-15(4) has higher EB conversion and AP[double bond, length as m-dash]O selectivity than the other mesoporous catalysts used in this reaction. Therefore, in order to find the optimal reaction parameters for this reaction, various reaction parameters with W-MnSBA-15(4) have been thoroughly evaluated. Using W-MnSBA-15(4), the catalytic results obtained with different oxidants used in this reaction have also been discussed clearly. The catalytic results of solvent-free benzylic oxidations with W-MnSBA-15(4) conducted with different alkylaromatic molecules have been obviously discussed. All the mesoporous catalysts used in this reaction have been characterized using several instrumental techniques to confirm them as the standard mesoporous catalysts. The plausible reaction mechanism for the solvent-free oxidation of EB has been successfully reported based on the characterization results of the catalyst and catalytic results. The ESR and UV-vis DRS results of the W-MnSBA-15 catalyst used in these reactions corroborate that the disordered octahedral divalent (Mn2+) and tetrahedral trivalent (Mn3+)-species have been successfully incorporated on the silica surface of the catalysts. Based on the catalytic results, it is noteworthy to observe that mesoporous W-MnSBA-15(4) is a highly active, green and promising heterogeneous catalyst for the selective synthesis of alkylaromatic ketones, since the catalyst produces the best catalytic activity among the other mesoporous Mn silicate catalysts.


Makerspaces are situated in diverse settings and engage in differing projects. Consequently, it appears that there is variation in what activities are engaged in and how time is spent in makerspaces. To date, the time-use of these activities within makerspaces has yet to be explored. The present paper identifies seven primary activity categories and discusses how time is devoted to these activities across three maker camps.


INTRODUCTION The United States Constitution provides that the federal judicial power "shall extend . . . to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction."(1) Despite this grant, the federal courts have never had exclusive jurisdiction of maritime cases.(2) State and federal courts have concurrent jurisdiction of some maritime claims.(3) In particular, state and federal courts have concurrent jurisdiction of maritime actions brought under the "saving to suitors" clause(4) or the Jones Act.(5) The ability of state courts to exercise jurisdiction of maritime cases is significant to maritime litigation. State courts exercising personal jurisdiction of maritime claims may supplement federal maritime law with their own rules and remedies as long as the additions do not substantively alter that law.(6) A state remedy or rule impermissibly alters the substantive maritime law when it "works material prejudice to the characteristic features of the general maritime law or interferes with the proper harmony and uniformity of that law in its international or interstate relations."(7) A controversy recently existed as to whether state courts exercising jurisdiction over maritime claims could deny defendants the defense of forum non conveniens, which allows a court to dismiss or transfer a case to a more appropriate forum, if one exists.(8) State rules prohibiting forum non conveniens dismissals in state court maritime actions sparked this controversy, in part, because such dismissals would be allowed if the same cases had been filed in federal court.(9) The issue was whether such rules were preempted by the federal rule.(10) Until American Dredging Co. v. Miller,(11) courts were divided on this issue.(12) In American Dredging, the Supreme Court resolved this dispute by holding that federal law does not preempt state forum non conveniens rules in maritime cases filed in state courts.(13) Applying the Jensen test,(14) the Court reasoned that forum non conveniens is neither characteristic of admiralty law(15) nor essential for maintaining the uniformity of the general maritime law.(16) As a result, the Court concluded that state rules, which prohibit forum non conveniens dismissals in maritime cases, are permissible and do not alter the substantive maritime law.(17) This Note examines American Dredging and scrutinizes the Court's rationale for holding that state laws which prohibit forum non conveniens are permissible. Part I of this Note summarizes the facts, procedural posture, and the Supreme Court's holding in American Dredging.(18) Part II analyzes the Court's holding(19) and, in particular, discusses how forum non conveniens is a characteristic feature of the general maritime law,(20) and how state rules that prohibit forum non conveniens hinder the uniformity of maritime law.(21) Part II further explores the impact that American Dredging will have on maritime litigation.(22) This Note concludes that the Court reached an erroneous conclusion in American Dredging which will negatively impact maritime litigation. I. AMERICAN DREDGING: THE COURT TRIES TO CLEAR THE WATER A. Factual and Procedural Background In 1987, William Miller, a Mississippi resident, traveled to Pennsylvania to find a job.(23) American Dredging Company (American Dredging), a Pennsylvania corporation with its principal place of business in New Jersey, hired Miller to work aboard a tug on the Delaware River.(24) Shortly after being hired, Miller was injured while working aboard the tug.(25) In 1989, after having returned to Mississippi, Miller sued American Dredging in Louisiana state court pursuant to the "saving to suitors" clause, the Jones Act, and general maritime law.(26) Based on the tenuous connection between Louisiana, the parties, and the facts of the case, American Dredging made a motion to dismiss the action under the doctrine of forum non conveniens. …


The development of a modified animal model for the administration of drugs via the vertebral arteries (v.a) of the cat is the subject of the present study. It has been demonstrated that drugs infused via the left v.a. (the "classical" model) accumulate mainly within the left part of the medulla oblongata and pons. This unilateral, leftsided distribution is different from that after intravenous application, since equal drug concentrations are measured at both sides after peripheral administration. Moreover, the results demonstrate that equihypotensive doses of the depressor agent isoarecaidine propyl ester (IAPE) infused either i.v. or via the left v.a. give rise to much higher drug concentrations in the lower brain stem when the latter route of administration is applied. This discrepancy is attributed to the unsymmetrical distribution pattern within the pontomedullary region when the drug is administered via the left and right v.a. Therefore drugs were simultaneously infused via the left and right v.a. Then the aforementioned discrepancy is not observed. Moreover, drug concentrations in the left and right sides are of the same order of magnitude and correspond with those obtained after the equihypotensive dose given i.v. Bilateral infusion of clonidine, arecoline and IAPE into the v.a. results in a significant increase in potency when compared with the administration via the left v.a. Conclusively, the modified vertebral artery model can be considered to be a more appropriate method to test possible central actions of drugs upon the pontomedullary region. The presented administration technique imitates the i.v. route with respect to drug concentrations in this brain region and the corresponding pharmacological effects. However, the dose to be administered is only a fraction of i.v. dose.


An improved terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferasemediated dUTP-biotin nick end labeling method for the quantification of DNA damage in tissues and cultured cells was developed. Many reports have revealed that histochemistry of DNA damage can be visualized using immunohistochemistry for the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase reaction in tissue sections. However, few reports have described quantification of DNA damage in tissues or cells. In this study, to estimate the degree of DNA damage, the confirmed method for histochemistry using biotinylated dUTP and deoxynucleotidyl transferase was applied to label the cleaved DNA ends caused by DNA damage in tissues or cells. After end-labeling, avidin-conjugated peroxidase was reacted. A significant correlation was observed between numbers of cleaved DNA ends and peroxidase activity after the reaction. The obtained signals for presented method showed higher than those for ordinary method, and correlate with degree of DNA damage caused by serum deprivation and chemical dose. In addition, DNA damage caused by apoptosis in cells treated with 6-hydroxydopamine or Cu and in the tissues of rats administered a diet containing no Zn could be evaluated quantitatively using the present method.


To evaluate the effects of tetrandrine citrate, a novel tetrandrine salt with high water solubility, on the growth of imatinib (IM)-resistant chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in vitro and in vivo, and reveal action molecular mechanisms. Cell viability in vitro was measured using methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay. CML cell growth in vivo was assessed using a xenograft model in nude mice. Bcr-Abl and β-catenin protein levels were determined using Western blotting. Bcr-Abl messenger RNA (mRNA) was measured by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Flow cytometry (FCM) was used to determine cell cycle status. Tetrandrine citrate inhibited the growth of IM-resistant K562 cells, primary leukemia cells, and primitive CD34+ leukemia cells, and their inhibition concentration that inhibited 50% of target cells (IC50) ranged from 1.20 to 2.97 μg/ml. In contrast, tetrandrine citrate did not affect normal blood cells under the same conditions, and IC50 values were about 10.12–13.11 μg/ml. Oral administration of tetrandrine citrate caused complete regression of IM-resistant K562 xenografts in nude mice without overt toxicity. Western blot results revealed that treatment of IM-resistant K562 cells with tetrandrine citrate resulted in a significant decrease of both p210Bcr-Abl and β-catenin proteins, but IM did not affect the Bcr-Abl protein levels. Proteasome inhibitor, MG132, did not prevent tetrandrine-mediated decrease of the p210Bcr-Abl protein. RT-PCR results showed that tetrandrine treatment caused a decrease of Bcr-Abl mRNA. FCM analysis indicated that tetrandrine induced gap 1 (G1) arrest in CML cells. Tetrandrine citrate is a novel orally active tetrandrine salt with potent anti-tumor activity against IM-resistant K562 cells and CML cells. Tetrandrine citrate-induced growth inhibition of leukemia cells may be involved in the depletion of p210Bcr-Abl mRNA and β-catenin protein.


This paper presents the design and construction of a simple Zeolite-water solar adsorption refrigeration system which has been fabricated and tested in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria at a geographical location of latitude 11o11''NE. The theory on which this design is based is on the use of Zeolite-water adsorbent/ adsorbate pair to produce refrigeration. The energy source is a parabolic trough solar concentrator that collects and radiates solar thermal energy onto an air tight black coated absorber (generator) charged with Zeolite and water placed at the trough's focal point. The absorber adsorbs and desorbs the adsorbate and produces refrigeration as vapor is released through a condenser and an evaporator. Constructional details of the system show the systems height at 1.2 m, parabolic trough dimensions of 0.6m by 0.45m, the cold chamber, has a capacity of 36 liters. The system was evaluated by leaving it outside under solar radiation and monitoring temperatures at various points inside the collector, the generator, and the evaporator through the use of thermocouple sensors. The highest and lowest temperatures of the absorber were 60.1°C and 25°C respectively. The lowest refrigeration temperature of 9.8°C was attained with 179J of cooling.


In the decade since the signing of the Ottawa Treaty, which banned the production and use of anti-personnel mines, governments have spent over $3 billion on clearing up and mitigating the security threat of mines, cluster munitions and other unexploded ordnance in the world's current and former war zones. However, this flow of cash into regions dominated by violent social structures raises numerous political issues. Through detailed archival and field research, this book explores the politics behind the allocation and implementation of foreign aid by the US and Norway for demining in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Sudan. It is an essential resource for practitioners and policymakers working in the field of landmine clearance and for students and researchers of development studies and post-war reconstruction. (This is an extract from the book)


Patient care always starts with an encounter Being a doctor is essentially a moral enterprise and all kinds of care begin with the encounter with the patient. This encounter occurs at the intersection of the patient's need for assistance and the doctor's professional knowledge. The meeting can be characterised by paternalism, autonomy or participation. It is important to regard the patient as a person and explore his or her perceptions, apprehensions and expectations early in the meeting. All decisions in medicine rely on both facts and values. It is, therefore, important that both the doctor's and the patient's values and preferences are out in the open. The medical encounter is always asymmetrical, which necessitates that the power perspective be acknowledged.


This paper presents a maximum power point tracking(MPPT) of photovoltaic system with duty ratio of DC-DC converter considered load. A variation of solar irradiation is roost important factor in the MPPT of PV system. That is nonlinear, aperiodic and complicated. NN was widely used due to easily solving a complex math problem. The paper consists of solar radiation source, DC-DC converter, DC motor and load(cf, pump). NN algorithm apply to DC-DC converter through an adaptive control of neural network, calculates converter-duty ratio using an adaptive control of NN. The results of an adaptive control of NN compared with the results of converter-duty ratio which are calculated mathematical modeling and evaluate the proposed algorithm. The experimental data show that an adequacy of the algorithm was established through the compared data.


1. Iron, acid phosphatase and N-acetyl-beta-glucosaminidase were assayed in liver biopsies from control subjects and patients with primary and secondary haemochromatosis. 2. The activities of the lysosomal enzymes were significantly higher in liver biopsies from patients with iron overload than in those from other patient groups. 3. Lysosomes from the livers of patients with iron overload were strikingly more fragile than those of control subjects as demonstrated by assays of latent and sedimentable N-acetyl-beta-glucosaminidase. 4. Lysosomal integrity was essentially normal in biopsies from patients with a wide variety of chronic liver diseases. 5. It is suggested that iron accumulation damages lysosomal membrane, releasing acid hydrolases into the cytoplasm and thus initiating cell damage.


We estimate the impacts that alternative national and sub-national economic incentive structures for reducing emissions from deforestation (REDD+) in Indonesia would have had on greenhouse gas emissions and national and local revenue if they had been in place from 2000-2005. The impact of carbon payments on deforestation is calibrated econometrically from the pattern of observed deforestation and spatial variation in the benefits and costs of converting land to agriculture over that time period. We estimate that at an international carbon price of $10/tCO2e, a "basic voluntary incentive structure" modeled after a traditional payment-for-ecosystem-services (PES) program would have reduced emissions nationally by 62 MtCO2e/yr, or 8% below the without-REDD+ reference scenario (95% CI: 45-76 MtCO2e/yr; 6-9%), while generating a programmatic budget shortfall. By making four policy improvements—paying for net emission reductions at the scale of an entire district rather than site-by-site, paying for reductions relative to estimated business-as-usual levels rather than historical levels, sharing a portion of district-level revenues with the national government, and sharing a portion of the national government's responsibility for costs with districts—an "improved voluntary incentive structure" would have reduced emissions by 175 MtCO2e/yr, or 22% below the reference scenario (95% CI: 136-207 MtCO2e/yr; 17-26%), while generating a programmatic budget surplus. A "regulatory incentive structure" such as a cap-and-trade or symmetric tax-and-subsidy program would have reduced emissions by 211/yr, or 26% below the reference scenario (95% CI: 163-247 MtCO2e/yr; 20-31%), and would not have required accurate predictions of business-as-usual emissions to guarantee a programmatic budget surplus.


Cultured human fetal lung Fbs was first used to study the relationship between wound age and the change of cFn synthesized by Fbs in Vitro. A sterilized injector was applied to scrap the cultured confluent Fbs and a "wound" was obtained. Fbs around the wound was seen to change from a stationary stage to an active stage. Using the method of immunochemistry and image analysis system (IAS), cFn synthesized by Fbs around the wound was observed at once, 30 min, 1 h, 3 h and 6 h after injury. It was found that cFn began to change 1 h after injury and increased continually within 6 h. It suggests that the change of cFn synthesized by Fbs is time-dependent after injury and this approach breaks a new path in the study on estimation of wound age.


Author(s): Basagaoglu, Hakan; Marino, Miguel A; Shumway, Robert H | Abstract: Two management models are developed to determine the optimal operating policies for hydraulically connected time-variant surface and ground water supplies in a hypothetical system. The system involves a multipurpose reservoir, a hydraulically connected stream and aquifer, agricultural plot, water supply and observation wells, and an artificial recharge zone so as to address various hydrologic components experienced in Yolo County in the management models. The first model minimizes deviations from a set of rule curves defined for storage in the reservoir and along stream course so as to consider possibilities for storage excess water in wet periods and its distribution in subsequent dry periods. The second model, in addition to the objective of the first model, minimizes total operational costs of surface and subsurface water storages (pricing) while meeting the target storage levels in the surface water supplies. The first model is formulated as a linear programming model whereas the second one is formulated as a nonlinear programming model and a []-form approximating model is employed in the solution phase.The hypothetical system is divided into components which are subsequently integrated using numerically-generated response functions that relate the system's behavior to various system excitations. The management model is formulated and solved for monthly time steps, which include both dry and wet conditions, to determine reservoir release, pumpage rate from supply wells, artificial recharge rate, water diversion from reservoir and stream to the demand area, and storage both in the reservoir and along the stream course at an optimal level in each time step over a six-month planning horizon. Sensitivity analysis of the first management plan with respect to potential use of groundwater supplies is performed to analyze the latter's impact on the operating policies. Furthermore, the performance of the []-form approximating model for conjunctive management models applied to the hypothetical system is found to be promising.


 Abstract—The web search engines are used to extract query specific information from this massive pool of WWW. A large number of different search engines are available to the user to satisfy their needs. Every search engine uses its own specific algorithm to rank the list of web pages returned by the search engine for the users query, so that the most relevant page appears first in the list. Users think which search engine should be selected for searching corresponding to any query topic for efficient search. For decision making on the basis of search result users want to know, whether they are significantly different or not. In this regard, a study of three popular different search engines (i.e. Google, Yahoo and Altavista) on twenty-four different query topics in terms of the quality of most relevant web page is done. The three parameters of the quality of the most relevant web page taken into consideration are: 'in depth coverage', 'ideation and clarity', and 'number of links of related articles to query topic'. For each query topic, the first web page returned by these three search engines were evaluated and graded by the experts of that specific area. Based on these grades, a table is maintained showing the relative performance of selected three search engines in terms of three parameters of quality of first returned web page and thus comparing the ranking algorithms used by them. We analyzed the result using analysis of variance and F test. By this analysis we found grade for first return page result corresponding to each and every topic through all these three search engines (Google, Yahoo and Altavista) does not vary significantly. Thus they are equivalent. So users can treat these three poular search engines as equivalent search engine for the first return page result on the basis of these three parameters.


In this paper we study different notions of entropy of measure-preserving dynamical systems defined on noncompact spaces. We see that some classical results for compact spaces remain partially valid in this setting. We define a new kind of entropy for dynamical systems defined on noncompact Riemannian manifolds, which satisfies similar properties to the classical ones. As an application, we prove Ruelle's inequality for the geodesic flow in manifolds with pinched negative curvature. We discuss the case of equality and we give some corollaries.


This report describes an empirical study comparing three defect detection techniques: a) code reading by stepwise abstraction, b) functional testing using equivalence partitioning and boundary value analysis, and c) structural testing using branch coverage. It is a replication of a study that has been carried out at least four times previously over the last 20 years. This study used 47 student subjects to apply the techniques to small C programs in a fractional factorial experimental design. The major findings of the study are: a) that the individual techniques are of broadly similar effectiveness in terms of observing failures and finding faults, b) that the relative effectiveness of the techniques depends on the nature of the program and its faults, c) these techniques are consistently much more effective when used in combination with each other. These results contribute to a growing body of empirical evidence that supports generally held beliefs about the effectiveness of defect detection techniques in software engineering.


Abstract : This catalog is a compilation of data on subsonic, transonic, supersonic, and hypersonic wind tunnels used for aeronautical testing in Europe and Asia. The countries represented in this catalog include Belgium, China, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, the Republic of Korea (ROK, South Korea), Singapore, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The catalog profiles a total of 155 wind tunnels. A distribution chart and bar charts immediately following this preface depict the number and types of tunnels operating in each country. The bulk of the catalog is made up of data sheets for each facility describing its name; the name of the installation where it is located; technical parameters such as size, speed range, temperature range, pressure, operational status, and Reynolds number; replacement cost and operation cost; testing capabilities; current programs; planned improvements; contact information; and schematics, when available. The report is divided into five sections, one for each speed (subsonic, transonic, supersonic, and hypersonic) as well as a section for those tunnels for which the speed is unknown. A table of contents heads each of these sections. In addition, cross-reference indexes with page numbers based on location, company name, facility name, and schematics are included at the end of the catalog as quick look-up tools. A bibliography is also included. Sources consulted include wind tunnel installation Web sites (in English and other languages), technical reports on wind tunnels published by Sverdrup Technology, RAND, NASA and in various technical journals as well as information provided by installation managers in response to direct inquiries. All web sites are current as of the publication date. If a Web site is no longer active, we recommend searching on the wind tunnel name or owner organization name to obtain the current Web address.


The parvovirus Minute virus of mice (MVM) is a small DNA virus that replicates in the nucleus of its host cells. However, very little is known about the mechanisms underlying parvovirus' nuclear import. Recently, it was found that microinjection of MVM into the cytoplasm of Xenopus oocytes causes damage to the nuclear envelope (NE), suggesting that the nuclear-import mechanism of MVM involves disruption of the NE and import through the resulting breaks. Here, fluorescence microscopy and electron microscopy were used to examine the effect of MVM on host-cell nuclear structure during infection of mouse fibroblast cells. It was found that MVM caused dramatic changes in nuclear shape and morphology, alterations of nuclear lamin immunostaining and breaks in the NE of infected cells. Thus, it seems that the unusual nuclear-import mechanism observed in Xenopus oocytes is in fact used by MVM during infection of host cells.


BACKGROUND & AIMS
Nitric oxide controls lower esophageal sphincter (LES) relaxation and esophageal peristalsis in opossums, but its role in the control of esophageal motility in humans is not defined. Hemoglobin inactivates NO by binding it. Recombinant human hemoglobin (rHb1.1) was used to test the hypothesis that NO mediates esophageal motor functions in humans.

METHODS
rHb1.1 or human serum albumin was administered intravenously to fasting male volunteers. Esophageal manometric studies were performed before, during, and up to 6 hours after the infusion.

RESULTS
rHb1.1 increased the velocities of peristaltic contractions to produce simultaneous contractions in 6 of 9 subjects. It increased the amplitude and duration of contractile waves in the esophagus. There was no consistent effect on the resting tone of the LES, but LES relaxation was inhibited. Spontaneous, simultaneous high-pressure contractions occurred in 8 of 9 subjects. Lower retrosternal chest pain during swallowing was observed in 4 subjects.

CONCLUSIONS
rHb1.1 interfered with esophageal peristalsis and LES relaxation. It precipitated esophageal spasm in some subjects. These data support the hypothesis that the timing of smooth muscle esophageal peristalsis and LES relaxation are mediated by NO. They suggest that some disorders of esophageal motor function may result from defects in NO neuromuscular communication.


The research and development of a unique combustion engine is presented. The engine converts the thrust from ramjet modules located on the rim of a disk into shaft torque, which in turn can be used for electrical power generation or mechanical drive applications. A test program was undertaken that included evaluation of the pre-prototype engine and incorporation of improvements to the thrust modules and supporting systems. Fuel mixing studies with vortex generators and bluff body flame holders demonstrated the importance of increasing the shear-layer area and spreading angle to augment flame volume. Evaluation of flame-holding configurations (with variable fuel injection methods) concluded that the heat release zone, and therefore combustion efficiency, could be manipulated by judicious selection of bluff body geometry, and is less influenced by fuel injection distribution. Finally, successful operation of novel fuel and cooling air delivery systems have resolved issues of gas (fuel and air) delivery to the individual rotor segments. The lessons learned from the pre-prototype engine are currently being applied to the development of a 2.8MW engine.Copyright © 2002 by ASME


The supposed Laurentian margin in western Ireland is separated from an Ordovician arc-related basin by the Clew Bay Complex and two Silurian successions, informally termed the Croagh Patrick Silurian and the Louisburgh Silurian, whose relationships are enigmatic. Palynomorphs, tubular structures and sheets of cuticle from turbidites within the Clew Bay Complex indicate a Silurian (Wenlock) age. In the light of these new data and reappraisal of contacts, the Croagh Patrick Silurian is now considered to be in tectonic contact with the Clew Bay Complex. The Louisburgh Silurian may also be in tectonic contact with parts of the Clew Bay Complex and unconformable on other parts, but is probably younger than previously thought. The Silurian age of elements of the Clew Bay Complex, and the relationship of the complex with other Silurian successions in western Ireland, indicate that significant deformation occurred in this part of the Caledonides during mid to end Silurian times, and imply that significant Silurian-Devonian terrane movement took place.


Like in the real world, perceptions of risk can influence the behavior and decisions that people make in online platforms. Users of Social Network Sites (SNSs) like Facebook make continuous decisions about their privacy since these are spaces designed to share private information with large and diverse audiences. In particular, deciding whether or not to disclose such information will depend largely on each individual's ability to assess the corresponding privacy risks. However, SNSs often lack awareness instruments that inform users about the consequences of unrestrained self-disclosure practices. Such an absence of risk information can lead to poor assessments and, consequently, undermine users' privacy behavior. This work elaborates on the use of risk scenarios as a strategy for promoting safer privacy decisions in SNSs. In particular, we investigate, through an online survey, the effects of communicating those risks associated with online self-disclosure. Furthermore, we analyze the users' perceived severity of privacy threats and its importance for the definition of personalized risk awareness mechanisms. Based on our findings, we introduce the design of preventative nudges as an approach for providing individual privacy support and guidance in SNSs.


On the demand side, consumer's decision choice for rockmelon is often compounded by a number of factors including quality, which is often not related to the visual characteristics observed in fruits such as bananas or mangoes. On the supply side, there is a general lack of understanding of consumer response towards rockmelon attributes in Australia and consequently, great fluctuations of demand and hence supply of the fruit. Thus, objectives of this study were to evaluate and compare analytical measures by instruments and sensory assessments by consumers based on sweetness levels (8–13 oBrix) of rockmelons. Results indicated that there was a large variation in texture, juiciness and flavour for each oBrix level. A significant correlation coefficient (r = 0.829) was obtained between analytical and sensory measures for sweetness. High organoleptic scores for flavour were noted among the higher sweetness levels. It is recommended that due to the change in consumer acceptability, marketing of rockmelons should not be solely based on oBrix levels; other attributes such as flavour, texture and juiciness should be utilized.


The term 'montmorillonite' encompasses a wide range of chemical compositions and structures. Comprehensive and reliable characterization is essential for unambiguous classification. Twenty eight purified, Na-exchanged smectites (<0.2 µm) were characterized by layer-charge measurement using the alkylammonium method, by cation exchange capacity (CEC) measurement with Cu-triethylenetetramine, by determination of the chemical composition using X-ray fluorescence analysis, by calculation of the structural formula following determination of the octahedral structure (trans-vacant vs. cis-vacant) by simultaneous thermal analysis, and by X-ray diffraction analysis. Mössbauer spectroscopy was applied to determine the oxidation state and coordination of Fe and changes thereof during purification of the source materials.The charge derived from chemical composition was considerably greater (by up to 30%) than the measured layer charge. The independently measured layer charge was used to calculate the structural formula. The measured CEC values, comprising the permanent charges and the pH-dependent edge charges, were consistent with measured layer charge but not with layer charge derived from the chemical composition. Therefore, the structural formula of smectites should be calculated using the measured layer charge.The dehydroxylation temperature, which conveys information about the structure of the octahedral sheet, was correlated to the amount of Mg and Fe3+ and the location of charges. No relationship was found among the dehydroxylation temperature and the mean layer charge or the Mg content. In contrast, a clear relationship was observed between the Fe content and the dehydroxylation temperature. Montmorillonites with an Fe content <0.3/f.u. are cis-vacant and those containing Fe3+ > 0.3 mol/f.u. are trans-vacant, mostly with additional cis-vacancies. Tetrahedral substitution also appeared to be a function of the number of trans-vacancies.The parameters analyzed provide the basis for a new descriptive classification system.


The 3D rough surface modeling and contact analysis is a difficult problem in the study of rough surface contact. In this paper, a new method for reconstruction and contact analysis of asperities on 3D rough surfaces is proposed based on real rough surfaces. Watershed algorithm is used to segment and determine the area of asperities on the rough surface. According to the principle of minimum mean square error, ellipsoid fitting is carried out on asperities. Based on the elastic-plastic contact model of a single ellipsoidal asperity, a stable and efficient method for 3D rough surface contact analysis and calculation is proposed. Compared with existing calculating methods, the present method has the following characteristics: (1) the constructed surface asperity is closer to the real asperity in contact, and the calculation of asperity parameters has better stability under different sampling intervals and (2) the contact pressure, contact area, and other contact parameters of the 3D rough surface are calculated with high accuracy and efficiency, and the calculation convergence is desirable. The reconstruction and contact analysis method of the 3D rough surface asperity proposed in this paper provides a more accurate reconstruction and calculation method for the study of contact fatigue life and wear failure of rough surfaces.


The spread of the parasitic mite, Varroa destructor (and the RNA viruses that it transmits between honeybees) is closely linked to increased overwintering losses and declining honeybee health. Deformed wing virus (DWV; Iflaviridae) a picorna-like single-stranded, positive-sense, RNA virus, is widespread in honeybees and usually present as a low level, asymptomatic infection. However, the transmission of DWV by Varroa to developing pupae causes markedly elevated virus levels and characteristic developmental abnormalities.

This work aims to further the understanding of DWV virulence and pathogenicity and reveal how this is linked to Varroa parasitism. Molecular techniques and a novel in vitro larval rearing system have been used to study how transmission route influences DWV accumulation and localisation in honeybee tissues. Additionally, the impact of Varroa on DWV levels and diversity on both a colony and a landscape level have been investigated, testing the hypothesis that a single virulent strain has a selective advantage when transmitted by Varroa.

The route of transmission does influence DWV infection and tissue location in developing honeybees, as shown by RNA-FISH. Injection of a dose of 10-4ng of viral RNA was sufficient to produce a pronounced DWV infection in the majority of individuals, whereas 300ng/larvae of DWV RNA needed to be mixed with larval food before any high viral load individuals were found. I also present novel work in which the relative expression levels of key developmental genes from the Homeobox and Ecdysone families are examined in honeybee larvae challenged by injection with DWV. In addition to this, a long-term study of viral diversity in the Ardnamurchan Peninsula, Scotland, illustrates how the viral landscape is affected by the introduction of the Varroa mite. Varroa colonisation led to a shift from a mixed population of viruses, predominantly VDV-like or VDV/DWV recombinants, towards a mainly DWV-like virus population.


Abstract. Magnetosphere-ionosphere interactions involve electric currents that circulate between the two regions; the associated Lorentz forces, existing in both regions as matched opposite pairs, are generally viewed as the primary mechanism by which linear momentum, derived ultimately from solar wind flow, is transferred from the magnetosphere to the ionosphere, where it is further transferred by collisions to the neutral atmosphere. For a given total amount of current, however, the total force is proportional to ℒB and in general, since ℒ2B~ constant by flux conservation, is much larger in the ionosphere than in the magnetosphere (ℒ = effective length, B = magnetic field). The magnetosphere may be described as possesing a mechanical advantage: the Lorentz force in it is coupled with a Lorentz force in the ionosphere that has been amplified by a factor given approximately by the square root of magnetic field magnitude ratio (~20 to 40 on field lines connected to the outer magnetosphere). The linear momentum transferred to the ionosphere (and thence to the atmosphere) as the result of magnetic stresses applied by the magnetosphere can thus be much larger than the momentum supplied by the solar wind through tangential stress. The added linear momentum comes from within the Earth, extracted by the Lorentz force on currents that arise as a consequence of magnetic perturbation fields from the ionosphere (specifically, the shielding currents within the Earth that keep out the time-varying external fields). This implies at once that Fukushima's theorem on the vanishing of ground-level magnetic perturbations cannot be fully applicable, a conclusion confirmed by re-examining the assumptions from which the theorem is derived. To balance the inferred Lorentz force within the Earth's interior, there must exist an antisunward mechanical stress there, only a small part of which is the acceleration of the entire Earth system by the net force exerted on it by the solar wind. The solar-wind interaction can thus give rise to internal forces, significantly larger than the force exerted by the solar wind itself, between the ionosphere and the neutral atmosphere as well as within the current-carrying regions of the Earth's interior.


Previously found oxidized III-V semiconductor surfaces have been generally structurally disordered and useless for applications. We disclose a family of well-ordered oxidized InAs, InGaAs, InP, and InSb surfaces found by experiments. The found epitaxial oxide-III-V interface is insulating and free of defects related to the harmful Fermi-level pinning, which opens up new possibilities to develop long-sought III-V metal-oxide-semiconductor transistors. Calculations reveal that the early stages in the oxidation process include only O-III bonds due to the geometry of the III-V(100)c(8 x 2) substrate, which is responsible for the formation of the ordered interface. The found surfaces provide a different platform to study the oxidation and properties of oxides, e. g., the origins of the photoemission shifts and electronic structures, using surface science methods.


The paper investigates the optimal scope of trade secrets law. In the model, one innovative firm invests resources first to produce knowledge, and then to protect it from unwanted disclosure. A rival firm invests to ferret out this knowledge. Trade secrets law affects this "secrecy contest" by reducing the probability of unwanted disclosure given the efforts of the parties. We show how optimal trade secrets policy depends on structural market features and cost parameters. In the final section, we consider the limit case in which the innovation lies on the face of the product, and derive the optimal scope of legal provisions preventing copycat imitation of products (unfair competition, passing off).


A woman alleges that she was raped by a police officer while in police custody. The police officer acknowledges that he had sexual intercourse with the woman, but argues that she consented to the interaction. Despite the obvious power imbalance and troubling context of the sexual activity, in a majority of U.S. states, if the police officer convinces even one member of a jury that their activity was consensual, it is not illegal. Consent is an affirmative defense to allegations of sexual assault— even when the alleged assault occurs while the victim is in the custody of the perpetrator.

Allegations of sexual assault committed by police officers while on duty, known as police sexual violence (PSV), are shockingly prevalent and surprisingly underanalyzed. PSV is situated at the intersection of two vital national conversations about police brutality and sexual violence and harassment. This Article is the first to fully address PSV as the product of both issues and to recommend systemic solutions sounding in both debates.

The superficial problem presented by PSV is that it is not made clearly illegal by state law and police department regulation. The deeper problem is that PSV is a symptom of broader cultural problems within police departments that can be helpfully parsed through the lens of masculinities theories. PSV is a problem springing both from issues with how police officers relate to the communities they patrol, especially men in those communities, and with how police officers and police culture treat women. These issues are magnified by the famous "blue wall of silence" ensuring loyalty even among police officers who commit misconduct. Any attempt to meaningfully address PSV must take all of these factors into account to work both a legal and a cultural change. This Article offers such solutions, addressing substantive and procedural prohibitions of PSV and broader cultural changes to police departments to combat PSV at its root.


The concentration of hemoglobin and the number of red cells in the blood are normally kept fairly constant as the result of two opposing forces: blood formation in the bone marrow and blood destruction, presumably in the reticuloendothelial system. The degree of red cell formation can be fairly well judged not only by the erythrocyte count but by such factors as polychromatophilia and the reticulocyte count or more directly by biopsy of bone marrow. The degree of blood destruction may be estimated by determination of the various hemoglobin derivatives, such as bilirubin in the blood and urobilinogen in the urine and the feces. The output of the latter pigment, which is formed directly from bilirubin in the intestines, has been shown to be useful as an index of hemoglobin destruction. On its formation in the intestines urobilinogen may be said to undergo one of three processes: (1) absorption by the


Reaching the physical boundaries of the electronics-based communication approach has enabled photonic-based systems, which promise high-bandwidth and low power consumption, especially in multiprocessor systems, to be an alternative to electronic systems on chips. Real-time systems are specialized systems where tasks that cannot be completed in time cause high costs, and particularly communication with sensors and actuators have high importance. In this study, a sensor data distribution model is presented for multi-processor real-time systems that communicate with the photonic network on the chip. The study provides the distribution of the sensor data to the processors on the chip with the photonic infrastructure, and the results show that the proposed model is an effective approach for real-time systems.


This paper seeks to argue that creativity is not limited to only innovations and new discoveries. It encompasses other dominant and significant aspects of human intervention in the form of cognitions which are highlighted in our discussion. Further, it argues that there are two sorts of creativity: historical creativity and psychological creativity. Psychological creativity differs logically and ontologically from historical creativity. The differences are elucidated in detail. The paper further analyzes how all cognitions can be treated as creative acts. It also argues "re-cognition" can be considered a creative act. While suggesting that all cognition is a creative act, it supports Davidson's arguments about "anomalous monism" and Buddhists' theory of "impermanence" which enunciates nothing is permanent in this world and, hence, everything is in a state of constant flux.


As airborne spores of toxic Aspergillus species cause mild symptoms to invasive fungal infections, their indoor concentration should be controlled through real-time management. Aptamer-based biosensors could provide economical and simple solutions for point-of-care. In this study, we isolated aptamers binding to the spores of three representative toxic Aspergillus species (A. fumigatus, A. flavus, and A. niger) for the first time, using cell-SELEX (systematic evolution of ligands through exponential enrichment). Among the aptamer candidates, Asp-3 showed a broad and high binding affinity for the Aspergillus spores. Considering the low binding affinity with proteinase-treated spores, we speculated that the Asp-3 binding sites could be possibly associated with cell surface proteins. The high Asp-3 specificity was confirmed by comparing the binding affinity between the Aspergillus target species and other common indoor fungal species. Moreover, we also established quantitative linear relationships between Asp-3 and the spore concentration of each Aspergillus species. Therefore, the selected Asp-3 aptamer, conjugated with detection sensors, could be an effective biorecognition element for the spores of three toxic Aspergillus species.


Childhood overweight and obesity in both girls and boys is reaching epidemic proportions over the world, Italy included. Childhood obesity has been linked to deleterious health consequences. There is a need to develop theory based and cost-effective interventions to promote healthy eating and physical activity with the aim to reduce obesity. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a long-term theory-based intervention to promote healthy lifestyles in underserved school-aged children. A quasi experimental design was adopted, in order to  evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention, considering information from their parents. Parents were asked to rate their children attitude, motivation and behavior regarding two energy balance-related behaviors. Results indicate that pupils involved in the intervention were more likely to do physical activity in leisure time and have more positive attitudes toward exercise compared to the control group. About eating habits, children involved in the intervention were more likely to choose healthy foods and less likely to choose fat foods compare to the control group. Changes in attitude and motivation between the baseline and the follow up and the two groups are also shown, even if not significant. Despite several limitations in the design, this study provided further support to the argument that Self-determination theory-based interventions could result in meaningful health-behavior changes.


Received : 03/07/2020 Accepted : 01/03/2021 Obesity and related diseases among children, adolescents and adults has increased. The decrease in physical activity and the increase in consumption of high energy products containing high amounts of fat and sugar are among the most important factors causing the spread of obesity. Accordingly, the demand for low energy products is also increasing. The use of non-nutritive natural and artificial sweeteners instead of sugar is one of the most used methods in the production of low energy products. The consumption of dairy products, such as ice cream, flavored milk and yogurt, and dairy desserts, is common in all societies. The sugar in these products is responsible for many properties of foods such as texture, color, flavor. Milk and dairy products contain nutritional components that are very beneficial for human health. Using sweetener instead of sugar is very important for preventing excessive sugar intake while increasing the consumption of milk and dairy products. The aim of this review is to examine natural and artificial sweeteners and their use in dairy products, approved by organizations recognized worldwide.


Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a leading cause of blindness in the elderly. The extent to which epigenetic changes regulate AMD progression is unclear. Here we globally profiled chromatin accessibility in the retina and retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) from AMD patients and controls. Global decreases in chromatin accessibility occurr in RPE in early AMD, and in the retina with advanced disease, suggesting that dysfunction in RPE cells drives disease progression. Footprints of photoreceptor and RPE-specific transcription factors are enriched in differentially accessible regions (DARs). Genes associated with DARs show altered expression in AMD. Cigarette smoke treatment of RPE cells recapitulates epigenomic changes seen in AMD, providing an epigenetic link between the known risk factors for AMD and AMD pathology. Finally, overexpression of HDAC11 is partially responsible for the reduction in chromatin accessibility, identifying potential new targets for treatment of AMD.


A 150 mg levamisole tablet once in every fortnight along with specific antileprosy drugs were administered to ten patients each in BL and LL groups of leprosy. A similar number of patients in each group receiving only specific antileprosy treatment served as controls. After 11/2 years of study a more significant improvement was noted in the bacteriological status in the levamisole-treated group. Thus, levamisole can be used as an effective adjunct for quicker recovery in lepromatous patients.


The past two decades have seen significant improvements in optimization modeling and software solvers for large-scale optimization problems, especially discrete problems. We feel that a critical feature of many of these systems is being overlooked. That is, the process control engineer adjusts process parameters while only considering the local efficiency or not considering process efficiency at all. Production control engineers, while optimizing the global system performance, consider process parameters as given and fixed, i.e., unchangeable. Combining the optimization of the process parameters with a global system view can significantly improve the overall system performance. In practice, "hot jobs" are treated in this ad hoc manner, making sure that all resources are available and operate at peak efficiency (minimum production time) for these critical products. This phenomenon occurs not only in manufacturing but also in many other industries. This modeling part of the optimization problem can be even more important than "optimal versus heuristic"-based solution decisions made. In this paper, we present an aggregative high-fidelity modeling approach and illustrate the formulation of parameter variability in three different domains: manufacturing, air travel, and food processing.


A contemporary of Shakespeare and Monteverdi, and a colleague of Galileo and Artemisia Gentileschi at the Medici court, Francesca Caccini was a dominant figure of musical life there for thirty years. Dazzling listeners with the transformative power of her performances and the sparkling wit of the music she composed for more than a dozen court theatricals, Caccini is best remembered today as the first woman to have composed opera. "Francesca Caccini at the Medici Court" reveals, for the first time, how this multitalented composer established a fully professional musical career at a time when virtually no other women were able to achieve comparable success.Suzanne G. Cusick argues that Caccini's career depended on the usefulness of her talents to the political agenda of Grand Duchess Christine de Lorraine, Tuscany's de facto regent from 1606 to 1636. Drawing on classical and feminist theory, Cusick shows how the music Caccini made for the Medici court sustained the culture that enabled Christine's power, thereby also supporting the sexual and political aims of its women. A compact disc of rare recorded samples of Caccini's oeuvre, specially prepared for this volume, further enhances this long-awaited study.In bringing Caccini's surprising story so vividly to life, Cusick ultimately illuminates how music making functioned in early modern Italy as a significant medium for the circulation of power.


In Mexico, conflicts between drug-trafficking organisations result in a high number of deaths and immense suffering among both victims and non-victims every year. Little scientific research exists which identifies and quantifies the monetary and nonmonetary consequences of ongoing violent conflicts on individuals. Using the Mexican Family Life Survey for 2002 and 2005, the causal effect of mental health (symptoms of depression / anxiety) on the extensive and intensive margin of labour supply for working-aged men and women is estimated. Measures of the ongoing drug-related violent conflicts both at the macro level using intentional homicide rates by region, and at the micro level indicated by the presence of armed groups in the neighbourhood, serve as instruments for mental health. The results show a signifi cant adverse impact of the conflicts on anxiety for men and women. Based on IV-Tobit model results, a worse mental health state decreases individual labour supply strongly and significantly for men. The findings demonstrate that Mexico's population not only suffers from the violent conflicts between drug-trafficking organisations by anxiety or even depression but also indirectly from less household income through less work which in turn has consequences for Mexico's social development and economic growth.


The article is aimed at verifying the state of a real workplace using virtual reality. In analyzing the readiness of virtual reality applications, augmented reality was selected for the following work. The most significant advantage of augmented reality is the implementation of a virtual model and the ability to deal with the analysis in a real environment, which is particularly beneficial in the case of production plants. In the first phase of the work, an analysis of the current state of the workplace was carried out, where the requirements for the design of the new workplace were specified. This was followed by the phase of design preparation in 3D modeller. At this very stage it appeared to be advantageous to use virtual reality applications; in the design process, regular approval procedures are required as for an expert team (management, design, quality, ...), which puts high qualification requirements on the readiness of this team. In this phase, the 3D design of the new workplace was inserted into the application supported by augmented reality and some options were indicated to deal with the ergonomic and risk analysis. The result of this work is, in particular, an extension of options in designing and analyzing production workplaces and machinery in multidisciplinary teams.


The drive towards sustainable energy has seen rapid development of marine renewable energy devices (MREDs). The NERC/Defra collaboration FLOw, Water column and Benthic ECology 4-D (FLOWBEC-4D) is investigating the environmental and ecological effects of installing and operating wave and tidal energy devices. The FLOWBEC sonar platform combines several instruments to record information at a range of physical and multitrophic levels for durations of two weeks to capture an entire spring-neap tidal cycle. An upward-facing multifrequency Simrad EK60 echosounder is synchronized with an upward-facing Imagenex Delta T multibeam sonar. An acoustic Doppler velocimeter (ADV) provides local current measurements and a fluorometer measures chlorophyll (as a proxy for phytoplankton) and turbidity. The platform is self-contained, facilitating rapid deployment and recovery in high-energy sites and flexibility in gathering baseline data. Five 2-week deployments were completed in 2012 and 2013 at wave and tidal energy sites, both in the presence and absence of renewable energy structures at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC), Orkney, U.K. Algorithms for target tracking have been designed and compared with concurrent, shore-based seabird observations used to ground truth the acoustic data. The depth preference and interactions of birds, fish schools and marine mammals with MREDs can be tracked to assess whether individual animals face collision risks with tidal stream turbines, and how animals generally interact with MREDs. These results can be used to guide marine spatial planning, device design, licensing and operation, as different device types are tested, as individual devices are scaled up to arrays, and as new sites are considered.


Combinatorial testing can help detect problems like this early in the testing life cycle. The key insight underlying t-way combinatorial testing is that not every parameter contributes to every fault and most faults are caused by interactions between a relatively small number of parameters. This publication provides a self-contained tutorial on using combinatorial testing for real-world software, including how to use it effectively for system and software assurance. It introduces the key concepts and methods, explains use of software tools for generating combinatorial tests (freely available on the NIST web site csrc.nist.gov/acts), and discusses advanced topics such as the use of formal models of software to determine the expected results for each set of test inputs. With each topic, a section on costs and practical considerations explains tradeoffs and limitations that may impact resources or funding. The material is accessible to an undergraduate student of computer science or engineering, and includes an extensive set of references to papers that provide more depth on each topic.


In this paper, the effect of the coupling strength to the complex network synchronizability is investigated. For a given network with identical node dynamics, it is shown that the coupling strength among the nodes is one of key factors influencing the network synchronizability besides the network inner linking matrix and the eigenvalues of the network topological matrix. It is point that if the synchronized region is an unbounded sector, for achieving synchronizability, the coupling strength must be greater than or equal to the minimum coupling strength, and with the increasing of the coupling strength, network synchronizability is improved; if is a bounded sector, for achieving network synchronizability, the coupling strength must be in a certain range, and the larger coupling strength does not necessarily indicate better synchronizability.


Aggregation of Amyloid β (Aβ) peptide is a crucial feature of Alzheimer disease (AD) pathogenesis. In fact, Aβ peptides are misfolded and aggregated to frame amyloid fibrils, that is considered as one of the major contributing events in the onset of AD. All these observations have prompted the researchers to design therapeutic molecules with robust anti-Aβ aggregation potential. Interestingly, in the last few decades, drug repurposing has turned into a fruitful and savvy approach for the treatment of several diseases. Bexarotene is an anticancer drug that has been under consideration for its ability to suppress Aβ-peptide aggregation. However, the exact mechanistic aspect of suppression of Aβ-peptide accumulation has not yet been completely revealed. In the present study, we have attempted to decipher the mechanistic aspects of anti-aggregation potential of bexarotene by using the computational biology approach. We have observed the effect of 'Aβ-bexarotene' interaction on the aggregation ability of the Aβ-peptide and decoded the involvement of receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) and beta-secretase (BACE-1). Deep structural analysis of Aβ upon binding with bexarotene revealed critical binding sites and structural twists involved in Aβ aggregation. It is evident from the present that bexarotene could significantly restrain the process of primary nucleation of Aβ. In addition, bexarotene showed a strong interaction with RAGE and BACE-1, suggesting them as plausible targets for the neuro-therapeutic action of bexarotene. Hence, we could safely suggest that bexarotene is a potent drug candidate that could reduce Aβ-peptide aggregation via applying different mechanistic pathways. These results might boost the portfolio of pharmaceutical companies looking for the development of new chemical entity against AD.


Whether having children improves our well-being is a long-standing topic of debate. Demographic and sociological research has investigated changes in individuals' overall well-being and partnership satisfaction when they become parents. However, little is known about how becoming parent may produce vulnerability—observable as an enduring decrease in well-being—in life domains that are strongly interdependent with the family domain, such as work and leisure. Linking life-course and personality psychology perspectives, the authors examine the trajectories of subjective well-being—measured as satisfaction with life, work, and leisure—3 years before and 3 years after the transition to parenthood. The authors particularly focus on the moderating effects of gender and personality. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (1984–2013) and multilevel growth curve modeling, the authors show strong gender-based vulnerability in how people react to parenthood. Although men display a nonlinear pathway of decreasing life satisfaction and a stable trajectory of job satisfaction, women experience more changes in their satisfaction with work and more dramatic decreases in leisure satisfaction. Contrary to most of our expectations, the moderating effects of personality were modest. Extraversion influenced the trajectories of work satisfaction, whereas neuroticism and conscientiousness affected the pathway of leisure satisfaction for women only. This article shows that the transition to parenthood influences well-being trajectories in specific domains, and this influence differs between women and men.


This conference presentation was concerned with the substrate and how the print process can affect the visual aesthetic. There is a difference between the user who requires a general consistency of image on any paper substrate and the user who has a more subjective approach to the visual appearance of ink on paper. With the introduction of photo enhanced papers and non impact printing processes, there are some implications for the user, which are: the overall visual impact, quality of the image, the relation of ink and paper, surface quality of the paper and the surface quality of ink and paper. Whilst users who require a high turnover print production require a consistency of image, this does not necessarily mean that the image has a high subjective visual quality. By quality we mean, colour resolution, parity to the image on the screen, contrast, colour range, subtlety of tone, continuous tone, good light tone, how it interacts with the paper.
The subjective user requires choice beyond the high volume impositions; we aimed to demonstrate how the choice of process and paper can create a quality of image, which may more closely represent the creator's intention in the original artwork.
Paper given at the Ninth Color Imaging Conference: Color Science and Engineering: Systems, Technologies, and Applications, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA November 2001.


Nanofibers were isolated from rice straw pulp using ultrahigh friction grinding and high-pressure homogenization. Chitosan nanocomposites were prepared using the isolated nanofibers at fiber loading from 2.5 to 20% by solution casting and evaporation technique. The effect of nanofiber loading on dry and wet tensile strength, dynamic mechanical thermal properties, and cyrstallinity of chitosan were studied using tensile testing, thermogra- vimetric analysis, dynamic mechanical thermal analysis, and X-ray diffraction. Addition of rice straw nanofibers (RSNF) to chitosan resulted in significant improvement in wet and dry tensile strength, and shift of glass transition temperature (Tg) of chitosan matrix to higher values. Chi- tosan nanocomposites prepared using RSNF (CRSNF) had remarkable wet and dry tensile strength, which could be attributed to presence of both nanofibers and nanosilica particles originally present in rice straw fibers. Addition of RSNF to chitosan did not affect its onset thermal degrada- tion temperature. V C 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 125: E216-E222, 2012


Today, many uses for geospatial mapping products require current planimetric feature data. Analysis and design from geospatial data sets generally require a known positional accuracy of features. The collection and updating of planimetric features in a data set can be costly. Many end users are also not accustomed to viewing and analyzing vector-based mapping data sets. They prefer to view planimetric features as a photo image. An orthophoto map would show the arch as an easily identifiable unique image feature. The cost to collect and update planimetric features can be significant. Costs can sometimes be minimized by the production of a photo-based digital map set that is spatially accurate throughout. Many GIS data sets make use of photo-based image data for these purposes. The Internet offers orthophotograph tutorials which may aid managers interested in the basic study of the subject.


Abstract Background: Health behavior is considered as one of the major determinants of health and self-efficacy is an influencing factor in behavior. Self-efficacy is a person`s belief over one's abilities for doing a certain behavior. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the self-efficacy of academic staff at Guilan University of Medical Science and its relation with demographic factors. Methods: A total of 203 faculty members at Guilan University of Medical Science participated in this descriptive study in 2008. Data were collected by a two-part questionnaire completed by the study population, and analyzed using independent t-test and one way ANOVA. Findings: The faculty members obtained an overall self-efficacy score of 84/1%. There was a significant relationship between the self-efficacy and both the number of children in family (P=0.05) and the monthly income (P=0.025). Conclusion: The self-efficacy rate of faculty members was desirable. Regarding the modeling role of academic staff for students, self-efficacy must be considered as an influential factor in health-promoting programs.


Microorganisms are typically introduced to poultry meat through cross-contamination during processing, visible matters, including residual blood can further affect levels of contamination and deterioration of the meat. This study is aimed to investigate effects of chicken blood that may be left from slaughtering process or methods typically at retail environments (fresh markets) on microbiological quality of minced chicken during refrigerated storage. Medium broth with chicken blood added at 1, 2.5 and 5 μmol/g showed no difference in the growth of Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella Typhimurium, Campylobacter jejuni and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, compared with the no blood-added broth at 48 h of incubation. After 2 days of storage at 4°C, mesophilic and psychrophilic bacteria increased rapidly in both the minced chicken with and without blood. At 8 days of storage, minced chicken without blood showed lower counts of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella Typhimurium, and Campylobacter jejuni (P < 0.05), except for Listeria monocytogenes. Comparison of microbial growth in minced chicken obtained from the Islamic slaughtering method (IM) and conventional neck cut method (CM) showed that only Campylobacter jejuni had higher growth in the CM-minced chicken than those found in the IM-minced chicken during 8 days of refrigerated storage. Our study suggests that chicken blood can promote bacterial growth. The conventional slaughtering process may allow for the presence of more blood residual in poultry meat or environments which could allow for higher counts of Campylobacter jejuni than in minced chicken from the Islamic method. Minimizing residual blood in chicken meat or partial tissues and in preparing or retailing environments is important to prevent an increase of some pathogenic and spoilage bacteria.


Coverage plays a major role in energy consumption model of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN). Energy efficient coverage of the targets becomes one of the challenging problems in WSN, because of low-energy, low processing of the nodes. In this paper target coverage had been addressed; monitoring the specific target with the set of sensors. In order to have an energy efficient coverage, it is necessary to select the node which detects target within a particular accuracy gain value. In this paper, we first randomly deployed the nodes and select the nodes which are eligible to cover the target with desired information gain value. Energy conservation is achieved through activating only the eligible nodes.


Central nervous system (CNS) of adult mammalian and, in particular of people, is a typical example of organs that are not restored. However, the growing interest in the development of innovative treatments that are aimed at the regeneration damaged tissue CNS is based on the latest research in the field of stem cells and neurology. The recapitulation of normal neural development has become a vital strategy for CNS regeneration. Normal CNS development is initiated by the induction of stem cells in the CNS, i.e., neural stem cells (NSCs). Thus, the introduction or mobilization of NSCs could be expected to lead to CNS regeneration by recapitulating normal CNS development, in terms of the activation of the endogenous regenerative capacity and cell transplantation therapy. In this review we summarized the recent progress in study of basic stem cell biology, on the prospective identification of NSCs, the elucidation of the mechanisms of ontogenic changes, potential differentiation, and their therapeutic applications.


The technological progress in the social field in a sudden way, specifically in the pedagogical field due to the spread of COVID-19, has had to force and use new teaching and learning strategies. As one of these many teaching processes is the method known as e-learning, which has become more valuable and very important in these times due to the rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The research method applied is descriptive, correlational, cross-sectional and predictive. The sample applied in this research is 608 students of the 5th grade of secondary education in the province of Sullana, Piura region of Peru. The results reveal the existence of a very significant influence in almost all the dimensions of the study. The dimensions with the highest association values are participation-autonomy, outcome resolution, decision concepts and decision outcomes. The dimensions with the lowest strength of association are undoubtedly the motivation rating, which can be interpreted as meaning that motivation does not have a strong influence on the results. It can be concluded that the application of the e-learning method in the teaching of 5th grade high school students in the area of mathematics is positively valued, although a strong incidence of the method on the grades is not observed, due to the fact that a lower percentage of students were unaware of the application of information and communication technologies for online learning. In addition, women tend to rate autonomy and participation more positively than men when the aforementioned teaching method is applied.


The article examines the letters of Kleofas Jurgelionis (1886–1963; Kleopas Jurgelionis, USA – Ray Jurgen), who was a moderniser of Lithuanian poetry, a literary critic, a translator, an editor of periodicals, publicist and lawyer, to Valerija Tysliavienė (1914–1984), who from 1938 to 1940 was a secretary of his newspaper "Tėvynė", preserved at the Klaipėda University Library (KUB RSS). These letters (1949–1961) are very rich in content, in them the subject themes are abundantly weaved with courtship. This article discusses the topics of Jurgelionis's letters to Tysliavienė. Taking into account the reasearch into Jurgelionis's life and creative works and the KUB RSS archive and publications, this article sets out a twofold purpose: to discuss the content of Jurgelionis's letters to Tysliaviene and to discuss poetry manuscripts and their publications with a textological lens.First of all, this article discusses the general features of the letters, then the article touches upon the dominant topics in the letters. Another, co-stored material is used for interpreting the letters: dozens of letters from the poet to other people; a letter from Henrietta Jurgen, his third wife, to Tysliavienė; several poetry poems; manuscripts of articles revealing new details about his life and the origins of his creative work, his relationship with the Lithuanians in the USA, the activities of the Lithuanian Writers' Society (USA), the behind the scenes look at the operations at the newspaper "Vienybė", the cultural and social life of the emigrants, etc.; as well as a bundle of the American Lithuanian periodicals from the archive of "Vienybė". KEY WORDS: Kleopas / Kleofas Jurgelionis, Ray Jurgen, Valerija Tysliavienė, Juozas Tysliava, letters, periodicals, emigrants, immigrants, poetry, theater. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.15181/rh.v24i0.1914


Continuous-time Bayesian networks (CTBNs) (Nodelman, Shelton, & Koller 2002; 2003), are an elegant modeling language for structured stochastic processes that evolve over continuous time. The CTBN framework is based on homogeneous Markov processes, and defines two distributions with respect to each local variable in the system, given its parents: an exponential distribution over when the variable transitions, and a multinomial over what is the next value. In this paper, we present two extensions to the framework that make it more useful in modeling practical applications. The first extension models arbitrary transition time distributions using Erlang-Coxian approximations, while maintaining tractable learning. We show how the censored data problem arises in learning the distribution, and present a solution based on expectation-maximization initialized by the Kaplan-Meier estimate. The second extension is a general method for reasoning about negative evidence, by introducing updates that assert no observable events occur over an interval of time. Such updates were not defined in the original CTBN framework, and we show that their inclusion can significantly improve the accuracy of filtering and prediction. We illustrate and evaluate these extensions in two real-world domains, email use and GPS traces of a person traveling about a city.


The paper studies the practices of monks in the Pochaiv Basilian monastery printing house in the 18th century. It was one of the typical Ukrainian monastery typographies of the premodern time. Monks-professional, together with other non-monks' staff (engravers, foundries, etc.), ensured the functioning of the mentioned printing house. Research on the visitation descriptions of the 1730s and 1770s has found that up to seven monks worked in the typography. The cited archival sources traced the dynamics of monks' practices in the printing house of that time. In the 1730s, young 20 years old Basilians operated the Pochaiv typography under the chief elder hieromonk called prefect. They all worked without any payment because of some obedience within the monastery community life. In the 1770s, learners of the local monastery printing house still provided most of its activities. These Basilians started their monastery life in Pochaiv and learned printing crafts there. Because the type of monastery printing house strictly regulated its activities without non-monastic practices, monks had to learn printing affairs and be effective in typography without breaking clausura rules. That was impossible if they left monasteries (disobeyed clausura) and had lessons in craftsman, for instance, in Lviv. If Basilians with local primary schooling carried out almost all technical issues in the typography, then more educated and skilled monks censored and corrected editions there. They also started monks' life in the local Pochaiv monastery but later graduated from philosophical and theological studies within Ruthenian Basilian province or, less often, in Rome. The paper concludes that monks-professionals fixed out a successful Pochaiv printing house that was approved not only by high-quality editions but by a simple fact – 40% of all monastery incomes in some decades from the typography.
Keywords: Pochaiv monastery, Basilians, monastery printing house, prefect of typography


On the one hand, several developments make the operation of the distribution grids more and more complex. On the other hand developments in energy storage and the availability of loads which are not time critical bring up possibilities to provide more flexibility in the grid and to use the available system more efficiently. In this paper, these and other advantages of as well distributed energy storage as load management of not time critical loads are discussed. An approach is described to analyse the available capacity in the grids, to investigate how this capacity can be used by applying storage or load management and to compare the benefits of storage and load management. This approach is illustrated using a real medium voltage network and measured data. It shows the part of the capacity in the distribution grids which is now unused, but can be made available by applying storage or load management of non-critical loads. The size of the storage and the non-critical loads which are needed to use this capacity are determined. The characteristics of future loads, the need to support integration of distributed generation and the desired level of reliability of supply are factors that determine the size of the storage and how storage or load management can be applied best.


The contribution of increased gluconeogenesis (GNG) to the excessive rate of endogenous glucose production (EGP) in type 2 diabetes (T2DM) is well established. However, the separate effects of obesity (total body fat), visceral adiposity, and T2DM have not been investigated. We measured GNG (by the (2)H(2)O technique) and EGP (with 3-(3)H-glucose) after an overnight fast in 44 type 2 diabetic and 29 gender/ethnic-matched controls. Subjects were classified as obese (body mass index 30 kg/m(2) or greater) or nonobese (body mass index < 30 kg/m(2)); diabetic subjects were further subdivided according to the severity of fasting hyperglycemia [fasting plasma glucose (FPG) < 9 mm or >or= 9 mm]. EGP was similar in nondiabetic controls and T2DM with FPG less than 9 mm but was increased in T2DM with FPG >or= 9 mm (P < 0.001). Within the diabetic groups, obesity had an independent effect to further increase basal EGP (P < 0.01). In both nonobese diabetic groups, both the percent GNG and gluconeogenic flux were increased, compared with nonobese nondiabetic controls. In both diabetic groups, obesity further increased both percent GNG and gluconeogenic flux. In obese and nonobese T2DM, the increase in gluconeogenic flux was not accompanied by a reciprocal decrease in glycogenolysis, indicating a loss of hepatic autoregulation. By multivariate analysis, gluconeogenic flux was positively correlated with percent body fat, visceral fat, and the fasting plasma free fatty acid and glucose concentrations (all P <or= 0.02). We conclude that obesity per se, and visceral fat accumulation in particular, as well as poorly controlled diabetes are potent stimuli to augment gluconeogenic flux.


Abstract Stevensite has been found at Dean Quarry, The Lizard, Cornwall, associated intimately with the disordered, hydrated variety of talc known as kerolite. Both minerals occur as pseudomorphs after pectolite and as microcrystalline anhedral masses filling cavities and veins in gabbro. Associated minerals include calcite and prehnite. The XRD data show that stevensite occurs as a physical mixture with kerolite, rather than as mixed-layer stevensite-kerolite. Kerolite is unaffected by glycerol treatment whilst stevensite readily expands: this test provides the only reliable distinction between the two minerals. Differences in IR and chemical data for stevensite and kerolite are subtle; data are broadly similar to those in the literature. Both minerals are readily decomposed to amorphous silica by hot concentrated HCl. Stevensite dehydroxylated at 400°C for 1.5 h is virtually indistinguishable from kerolite. The Dean Quarry occurrence is similar to many others worldwide. Stevensite and kerolite formed after prehnite, calcite, analcime, pectolite and natrolite during a phase of decomposition and alteration of these earlier minerals. 'Stevensite' from the first British occurrence in the Whin Sill, North Tyne, has been re-examined and appears to be kerolite or ' hydrated -talc'.


Manning Elliott, acting on behalf of their client Lowther Manelli, commissioned Oxford Archaeology North (OA North) to undertake a programme of archaeological assessment at the former Sunlight Laundry Premises, Princes Street, Penrith, Cumbria (NGR NY 5161 3001) in advance of a proposed mixed use retail and residential redevelopment at the site. A planning application has been submitted (planning
reference 3/05/0957) to demolish the former laundry premises as part of a wider redevelopment scheme at Southend Road (planning reference 3/05/0954). This main scheme includes a superstore and associated car parking as the central feature, together with housing and other retail units. By demolishing the former laundry premises this would aim to provide the main pedestrian access and link between the
proposed scheme and Penrith's retail core. However, the laundry premises lie within Penrith's Conservation Area and a previous desk-based assessment undertaken for the whole of the proposed development (OA North 2005) showed at least three of the buildings, the whitewashed or rendered buildings (numbers 9-11 Princes Street), to possibly date back to the late medieval or early post-medieval period. Consequently, Cumbria County Council's Historic Environment Service (CCCHES) requested that a supplementary desk-based assessment and a standing building assessment be
undertaken. The work was carried out in February and March 2006.