In this paper, we study two important transmission strategies in full-duplex two-way relaying in the presence of channel estimation errors. In analog network coding (ANC), the relay transmits the combined signals that were received from both sources, with the aim of achieving better spectral efficiency. However, due to imperfect channel-state information (CSI), sources cannot perfectly cancel their own data in the relayed signal. We derive an achievable information rate for ANC in imperfect-CSI conditions and show how the ANC performance can significantly be degraded as a result. Moreover, we derive cut-set bounds with channel estimation errors for traditional routing (TR), in which time sharing is used at the relay. Although it has been previously shown that ANC outperforms TR when the CSI is perfect, we find that it may not maintain its superiority in imperfect-CSI case at low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) conditions. Next, we propose practical power allocation techniques that can be used in the sources and relay for both ANC and TR. The proposed power allocation schemes are relatively simple to compute and rely only on long-term channel statistics. Nevertheless, they are shown to be effective and close to optimal solutions for a wide range of SNRs, to different positions of the relay, and for both perfect- and imperfect-CSI conditions. By using the proposed power allocation techniques, it is possible to bring back advantages of ANC over TR for a wide range of SNRs in imperfect-CSI conditions.


Streptococcus pneumoniae ( S. pneumoniae ) has a multifaceted bond with its human host and causing several diseases in children and adults when host flexible immunity and bacterial acquisition factors allow them to invade essentially sterile spots, such as the middle ear spaces (causes otitis media), lungs (causes pneumo-nia), bloodstream (causes sepsis) and meninges (causes meningitis). In the early 1940s, management of pneumococcal infections used to be somewhat straightfor-ward, and penicillin commonly was the antibiotic of choice. Soon after mainstreaming antibiotic usage, worldwide emergence of antibiotic resistance among S. pneumoniae isolates has changed this approach. Multiple factors, like prior antibiotic use, inappropriate usage of antibiotics especially in young age, and day care attendance are the most commonly identified risk features for the spread of penicillin resistance and other multiple-antibiotic resistance. Basic fundamental mechanisms of most pneumococcal resistances have been identified, several orga-nizations like WHO, CDC, BSAC, EUCAST started campaigns for appropriate antibiotic use and also the introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines have been recommended to limit the further emergence and spread of pneumococcal resistant.


This thesis is mainly focused on the new technique of X-ray Birefringence Imaging (XBI). It reports applications of XBI in different research areas and also presents some developments of the fundamental theory of XBI analysis. At the end of the thesis, work on crystal structure determination directly from powder X-ray diffraction data is also included.
Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 provide the theoretical background of XBI and introduce the other techniques used in this thesis. As XBI is analogous to Polarizing Optical Microscopy (POM), the introduction begins with a discussion of general optics, which is then expanded to specific case of polarized X-rays. The methodology for structure determination directly from powder X-ray diffraction data is also described.
Chapter 3 demonstrates the application of XBI to study liquid crystalline materials, representing the first investigation of liquid-state samples by XBI. The experimental results show that the XBI technique is successful to elucidate the molecular orientational ordering in different liquid crystalline phases, demonstrating that characterization of molecular orientations by XBI is not limited to the solid-state.
Chapter 4 explores a novel type of material – bending crystals. As an effective technique to investigate molecular orientations, XBI is shown to provide clear information on the crystal curvature. Both plastic and elastic types of bending crystal are analysed in both static and dynamic experiments. A theoretical analysis of XBI behaviour of a material containing multiple molecular orientations is also established.
In Chapter 5, XBI is used to study composite organic materials. The experimental results vindicate the ability of XBI to characterize spatial distribution of molecules in composite samples.
Chapter 6 reports XBI behaviour for the novel case in which two different crystals with independent orientations are present in the X-ray beam. The development of an experimental set-up for recording XBI data using a transmission-based polarization analyzer is also reported for the first time.
Chapter 7 is focused on structure determination directly from powder X-ray diffraction. Three crystal structures are determined – two different urea co-crystals and one poly-aromatic compound.
Chapter 8 summarises the work in this thesis, gives an appraisal of the strengths and limitations of the XBI technique, and proposes some potential research directions for the future.


Family violence is a critical development challenge in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), carrying high health, social, and economic costs and increasing the risk of perpetuating the cycle of violence across generations. Parenting programs have improved parenting practices in high-income countries. However, evidence for LMICs is sparse. This study evaluates an intervention to reduce coercive parenting implemented by the Ministry of National Security of Jamaica, which targeted caregivers of children aged 6 to 15 in vulnerable communities in the country. Treated caregivers were visited by a parental trainer for six months and invited to three sessions of a group training workshop during that period. We conducted a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate the interventions impact. Using data from a follow-up survey completed six months after the intervention, we find robust evidence of reduced coercive parenting practices among treated caregivers compared to the control group. The improvement is due to a reduction in the reported likelihood of caregivers yelling and beating their children for misbehaving. The effect is greater for caregivers with higher pre-intervention levels of coercive parenting. The results provide evidence that parenting interventions can effectively reduce coercive parenting among caregivers of school-aged children in highly violent middle-income settings.


4,2′:6′,4′′-Terpyridine (4,2′:6′,4′′-tpy) and 3,2′:6′,3′′-terpyridine (3,2′:6′,3′′-tpy) typically coordinate through the outer pyridine rings, leaving the central ring non-coordinated. They therefore present divergent sets of N,N′-donor atoms and are ideal linkers for connecting metal nodes in coordination polymers and networks. This Highlight illustrates the strategies that are currently used to encourage the formation of 2- and 3-dimensional architectures as opposed to 1-dimensional chains. Functionalization in the tpy 4′-position with substituents such as pyridyl or carboxylate that can bind metal ions is one strategy. The second is to increase the coordination number of the metal centre. The third is to design ligands that contain multiple 4,2′:6′,4′′-tpy or 3,2′:6′,3′′-tpy domains.


The image of the model minority dominates scholarly and public discourse on Asian American children and adolescents. However, recent research has shown that despite their high levels of educational achievement Asian American students report poor psychological and social adjustment. Using an ecological framework, this article sought to explore the family and peer experiences of Chinese American adolescents as these are the two most critical contexts influencing adolescents' psychological and social adjustment. Drawing on longitudinal data collected from two studies conducted in Boston and New York on 120 first- and second-generation Chinese American students, our analyses suggested that many Chinese American adolescents feel alienated from their parents and peers. The alienation from parents was due to factors such as language barriers, parenting work schedules, and high parental educational expectations. Alienation from peers was due to ongoing peer discrimination from both Chinese and non-Chinese peers. Implications and future research are also discussed.


Abstract : Aluminum panels were prepared to simulate the process an aircraft undergoes for repainting. This process consisted of stripping the original paint down to the anodized aluminum by bead blasting with polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), cleaning the surface, corrosion removal, followed by a chemical conversion coating. The chemical conversion coating was applied on panels from 0 to 15 minutes. The surface analysis was performed using a Surface Science Instrument Model 501 ESCA. The surface analysis has shown several interesting phenomena that occurred on the panels. The phenomena includes non uniformity of the surfaces, changes in the atomic concentrations, and changes in the organic layers. Changes in the chemical states of the elements vs. the chemical conversion coating times were also detected. The non uniformities were present in both the elemental surveys and the high resolution scans. The elemental surveys showed that the atomic percent of the elements (especially Cr) changed with the chemical conversion coating time. The high resolution scan of carbon showed that a layer of PMMA was left on the surface after bead blasting. After cleaning and applying the chemical conversion coating compound, the organic layer consisted of mainly hydrocarbons and alcohols/ethers, however, areas with slight amounts of PMMA were also detected. The high resolution scans of the aluminum peaks showed that the chemical states of aluminum changed with the chemical conversion coating time. That is, the surface aluminum changed from an unoxidized aluminum to a mixture of an oxide and a possible complex oxyfluoride surface at longer coating times.


Burn injury is a major cause of death and disability worldwide. Healing of burn wounds still remains a challenge to modern medicine. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) on a second-degree burn wounds and compare it with that of silver sulfadiazine (SSD) 1% cream in dogs. A standard deep second-degree burn wound was produced, five dogs, each dog have three groups, DMSO, SSD and control (untreated). The efficacy of treatment was assessed based on the healing percentage of the wound, time to complete wound healing and the degree of inflammation. Wound contraction was higher in the DMSO group than both SSD and the control group. It was significantly higher in the DMSO group than the control group on days 21 and 24 (P 0.05). Clinically, inflammatory reaction was less in DMSO group than the control group. Topical application of DMSO has significant positive effects on the healing of burn wounds in a dog model.


Abstract This paper evaluates how obvious the concepts of internal, external, planned and emergent change were within a UK based manufacturing company. It tracks multiple change programmes over several years across two company sites. The implementation of change programmes based upon common constructs as defined by management writers and consultants formed the foundation for the research. It is argued that an interpretation of the change process has to take into account multiple and varied forces and that specific influences do come into play. How these forces interact over time has a direct impact on perceived success. The intent of this paper is to reveal the underlying rationales that drove the change programmes, through an analysis of whether initiatives were internal, external, planned or emergent. Moreover, it identifies the principal influences upon organizational change for the case sites.


Patients with primary aldosteronism (PA) are more susceptible to cardiovascular disease and mortality than patients with primary hypertension. This is mostly attributed to excess production of aldosterone and its effects on the development of vascular injury. A novel functional test (T50) measures serum calcification propensity. Lower T50-values predict higher cardiovascular risk. We investigated serum calcification propensity and vascular calcification in PA and resistant hypertension (RH). T50 measurement was performed in patients with PA (n = 66) and RH (n = 28) at baseline and after 403 (279–640) and 389 (277–527) days of treatment. No significant differences in T50-values were observed between the groups (371 ± 65 and 382 ± 44 min, in PA and RH group, respectively, p > 0.05). However, higher aldosterone-to-renin ratios were associated with lower T50-values in PA-patients (r −0.282, p < 0.05). Furthermore, lower T50-values were associated with increased abdominal aortic calcification measured by Agatston score in PA (r −0.534, p < 0.05). In both, PA and RH, higher atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ACSVD) scores (r −0.403, p < 0.05) and lower HDL (r 0.469, p < 0.05) was related to lower T50-values in a linear regression model. Adrenalectomy or medical treatment did not increase T50-values. In comparison to patients with stable T50-values, PA patients with a decrease in T50 after intervention had higher serum calcium concentrations at baseline (2.24 ± 0.11 vs. 2.37 ± 0.10 mmol/l, p < 0.05). This decline of T50-values at follow-up was also associated with a decrease in serum magnesium (−0.03 ± 0.03 mmol/l, p < 0.05) and an increase in phosphate concentrations (0.11 ± 0.11 mmol/l, p < 0.05). Resistant hypertension patients with a decrease in T50-values at follow-up had a significantly lower eGFR at baseline. In summary, these data demonstrate an association between a high aldosterone-to-renin ratio and low T50-values in PA. Moreover, lower T50-values are associated with higher ACSVD scores and more pronounced vascular calcification in PA. Thus, serum calcification propensity may be a novel modifiable risk factor in PA.


In this collection of papers we first analyze the evolution of the Italian food industry and the retail trade sector during the past decade (Chapters 1 and 2). Chapter 3 describes the structure of large retailers and buying groups in Italy. Chapter 4 proposes alternative measures of the degree of concentration of retail trade at the local level. Chapter 5 summarizes the main features of national and local regulations governing retail trade and proposes a set of indicators of regional liberalization. We then examine the relationship between large retailers and small firms in the Italian food industry, with a brief account of possible effects on the industry's structure and on prices (Chapter 6), and the effects of local retail trade concentration on product variety and price rigidity (Chapter 7).


We demonstrate high power ultrashort pulse delivery through a commercially available multicore fiber (MCF) and a multimode graded-index fiber (GRINF) for imaging and laser ablation. Lensless focusing and digital scanning of ultrashort pulses through the optical fibers is realized using wavefront shaping. We compare the performance of the two systems in terms of focusing efficiency and peak power delivery. Furthermore, we investigate the limitations that nonlinearities induce when high peak power ultrashort pulses are launched in MCFs and GRIN fibers. Proximally-only controlled two-photon fluorescence imaging and laser ablation are demonstrated through both investigated systems.


Throughout Australian school education we have invested in areas that we know do not have a strong association with student learning. Education expenditure in Australia has increased substantially for more than a decade, but results have either stagnated or declined (at least on international assessments such as the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)). This indicates that we are investing in the areas that don't have the greatest impact on student learning. Comparisons with high-performing systems and schools show that this begins with ineffective strategies that do not adequately target student learning. This impacts resource allocation decisions in schools and across education systems. Nevertheless, there is considerable evidence about what works. Stronger targeting of resources on 'what works' can have a substantial impact on student learning in schools and throughout our education systems.


We investigate the origin and components of network server latency under various loads and find that filesystem-related kernel queues exhibit head-of-line blocking, which leads to bursty behavior in event delivery and process scheduling. In turn, these problems degrade the existing fairness and scheduling policies in the operating system, causing requests that could have been served in memory, with low latency, to unnecessarily wait on disk-bound requests. While this batching behavior only mildly affects throughput, it severely degrades latency. This problem manifests itself in fairness and service quality degradation, a phenomenon we call service inversion.

We show a portable solution that avoids these problems without kernel or filesystem modifications, We modify two different Web servers to use this approach, and demonstrate a qualitatively different change in their latency profiles, generating more than an order of magnitude reduction in latency. The resulting systems are able to serve most requests without being tied to disk performance, and they scale better with improvements in processor speed. These results are not dependent on server software architecture, and can be profitably applied to experimental and production servers.


In this paper the low cycle fatigue behaviour of an AISI 304L stainless steel is analysed on the basis of energy concepts. In particular during the fatigue tests different forms of energy in a unit volume of material per cycle involved in the fatigue process were measured: the mechanical energy expended was evaluated from the area of the hysteresis loops, while the energy released as heat by the specimen to the surroundings was estimated from surface temperature measurements by means of an infrared camera. By subtracting the mechanical input energy and that released as heat, the energy stored in a unit volume of material at fracture was calculated for each tested specimen. The mean value obtained from different specimens is in agreement with the energy absorbed by the material in a static test.


The universal, selective and indicated forms of prevention classification scheme has been recommended and largely adopted as an improvement on previous notions of primary and secondary prevention. However, there is no consensus or clarity about the placing of environmental, community-based or mass media preventive interventions within this scheme. It is suggested that a new dimension of functional types of prevention, namely environmental, developmental and informational prevention should be specified alongside the forms of prevention in a taxonomy matrix, and that this is an improvement on the current one-dimensional universal, selective and indicated scheme. Moreover, it is argued that a reappraisal of mainstream prevention theories leads to a prediction of the relative effectiveness of these functional types of prevention. This prediction specifies that environmental prevention is generally more effective than developmental prevention which, in turn, is generally more effective than informational prevention.


Background: Neuropathic pain, a chronic debilitating painful condition, is frequently difficult to manage with the conventional analgesics. Emerging evidence indicates potential role of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-γ, a subfamily of nuclear receptors, in regulating inflammation and oxidative stress at transcription level. Therefore, we investigated whether activation of PPAR-γ attenuate established neuropathic pain and to delineate underlying mechanisms. Methods: Neuropathy was induced by chronic constriction injury of sciatic nerve in rats. Behavioral tests were performed to assess pain hypersensitivity and the markers of inflammation and nitroso-oxidative stress were estimated in sciatic nerve. Results: Chronic administration of pioglitazone (10 and 30 mg/kg, i.p.) for 2 weeks starting 14 days after nerve injury did not induce hypoalgesia in contralateral paws and had no effect on locomotor activity. However, pioglitazone significantly mitigated cold allodynia and thermal hyperalgesia in ipsilateral paws after nerve injury. In addition, pioglitazone reduced plasma extravasation and pro-inflammatory cytokines, TNF-α and IL-1β, following nerve injury. These effects of pioglitazone are parallel with the significant reduction in lipid peroxidation, protein carbonyls, nitrite levels as well as marked improvement in GSH and activities of SOD, catalase in injured nerves. BADGE, a PPAR-γ antagonist (30 mg/kg, i.p.) reversed the effects of pioglitazone in chronic constriction injury (CCI) rats. Conclusion: Together, the present results demonstrate that activation of PPAR-γ receptor-dependently exerted antiallodynic and antihyperalgesic effects through inhibition of inflammation and nitroso-oxidative stress in mononeuropathic rats and supporting a key role of PPAR-γ activation in extenuating existing neuropathic pain.


INTRODUCTION
Critical limb ischemia (CLI) is a leading cause of lower extremity amputation. When CLI is identified, revascularization should be performed if possible. When options for revascularization do not exist, use of a noninvasive intermittent pneumatic compression device (NPCD) can be considered.

OBJECTIVE
Presented here are 2 cases of patients with nonreconstructable CLI at risk for limb loss who were serially assessed with indocyanine green fluorescence angiography (ICGFA) to determine the effects of NPCD use on local tissue perfusion.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Both patients were treated with the NPCD for 1 hour, 3 times per day, for 4 weeks. Serial ICGFA utilizing a ICGFA device was performed at various time points to monitor the effects of NPCD use on tissue perfusion.

RESULTS
The treatment of both patients with serial ICGFA provided limited objective evidence of increased local tissue perfusion which expedited wound resolution.

CONCLUSIONS
Larger randomized control trials of this modality of perfusion assessment and NPCD use are recommended.


Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have been used to investigate the interlayer structure of water saturated organoclays. The basal spacing values of cetyltrimethylammonium (CTMA) intercalated montmorillonite (CTMA-Mont) in dry and water saturated states were detected using XRD. Then the results were compared with simulation results of dry CTMA-Mont. The MD simulations show that the CTMA cations form layer structures on siloxane surface and aggregate in the interlayer space. Water molecules can access part of the siloxane surface and form H-bonds with surface oxygen atoms by donating one or two of the hydrogen atoms. Thus, the water molecules close to the surface have a preferred orientation with the dipole pointing towards the surface, while in the interlayer space, the water molecules aggregate to form large clusters. The H-bonds between surface oxygen and water molecules are shown to be slightly weaker than those between water molecules. Although water molecules within interlayer space can form strong H-bonds as in bulk water the number of H-bond for each water molecule is reduced. Our results indicate that MD simulations represent a useful tool for exploring the microstructure of water saturated organoclays.


In this essay, I argue that the current international human rights discourse is by its nature an exclusionary and selective one. By privileging certain types of human rights over others, current international human rights law alleviates state responsibility to ensure human dignity at the most basic levels, such as adequate and meaningful access to food, water and shelter for all. Moreover, human rights rhetoric has been corrupted, coopted and poisoned by its utilization to justify neo-imperialist projects that use military force to ensure easy access to Middle Eastern natural resources, specifically oil and water. Current rhetoric of human rights is simply inadequate to address the realities on the ground, as it focuses on a specific set of rights, while rendering other fundamental points of human dignity as of secondary or of no importance.


In order to evaluate the reduction in the cost of testing for antibodies against hepatitis C (EIA) by the pool method, we tested serum samples from a rural population and from patients in a hemodialysis program. Two thirds of the high risk groups were positive. Pooling reduced the reagent use by 80% in the rural population and by 13% in the hemodialysis patients. We conclude that pool testing reduces the cost of anti-HCV detection in low-risk groups.


Hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn (HDFN) is the result of immune-mediated destruction of fetal or newborn red blood cells when such cells contain antigens that are not present in the maternal blood. HDFN is now the preferred term that replaces the historic term erythroblastosis fetalis. Sensitization of the mother to fetal-newborn red blood cells requires fetomaternal hemorrhage in most cases except in ABO incompatibility where naturally occurring antibodies against A and B antigens are present in mothers with O blood type. The most common antigen involved in HDFN is Rhesus D. Kell 1 HDFN is rare but commonly associated with severe anemia and lower titers of anti-Kell antibodies in maternal serum in severely affected infants. Prevention of Rhesus D HDFN with anti-D immunoglobulin during pregnancy, delivery, and fetal-maternal events that predispose to fetomaternal hemorrhage, have markedly decreased the incidence of the disorder but may not be available in low-income countries. An algorithm is available to manage affected pregnancies by using antibody titers, fetal middle cerebral artery velocities, intrauterine transfusions, and timed delivery. Infants who have mild to moderate anemia may tolerate normal labor, but severely affected infants may require transfusion or exchange transfusions at birth, and the delivery team needs to be prepared. Delayed anemia in the transfused infants is still a concern, and the infants need to be closely followed after delivery. Phototherapy has largely replaced exchange transfusion in the management of hyperbilirubinemia. With appropriate early detection and multidisciplinary planning, infants who have HDFN can be delivered in a timely manner with appropriate planning for postnatal resuscitation and postnatal therapy resulting in good neonatal outcomes.


With the common law method, rules are constructed amidst fictions and myths. These legal inventions are not simply falsehoods, and indeed it is misleading to think of them in this way. Rather, the fictions and myths of the common law are legal stories known to be false, but deemed to be true, in order to achieve certain legal purposes. They are fairly and appropriately deployed only when their inventive nature is recognised and their purposes acknowledged. Our aim is to demonstrate the proper and improper uses of myths and fictions in common law reasoning by means of a close analysis of a single case, PGA v The Queen (2012) 245 CLR 355, which made extensive use of both. PGA is an important case in its own right. It arose from the first common law jurisdiction in the world in which marital rape was recognised as a crime, and the High Court in PGA declared this crime to have existed for many more decades than was ever thought to be the case. Here, a majority of the High Court asserted that marital rape was a crime known to the common law of Australia as far back as the early twentieth century. This startling judgment fundamentally challenged the established legal view, held for most of the twentieth century, that husbands were immune from prosecution for the rape of their wives. So secure was this understanding of rape law right across the Anglo-Australian legal world that there was hardly any prosecution of marital rape and precious little case law. In PGA, the High Court relied on both myths and fictions to achieve this common law reconstruction.


In the last decades, the applied approach for the use of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) on clinical and health psychology has grown exponentially. These technologies have been used to treat several mental disorders, for example, phobias, stress-related disorders, depression, eating disorders, and chronic pain. The importance of VR/AR for the mental health field comes from three main concepts: (1) VR/AR as an imaginal technology, people can feel "as if they are" in a reality that does not exist in external world; (2) VR/AR as an embodied technology, the experience to feel user's body inside the virtual environment; and (3) VR/AR as connectivity technology, the "end of geography'. In this chapter, we explore the opportunities provided by VR/AR as technologies to improve people's quality of life and to discuss new frontiers for their application in mental health and psychological well-being promotion.


The aim of this study was to determine whether the Escherichia coli (EPEC) attached to cells by the TLR4. A fusion between gene encoding fluoresce-enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) and Toll like receptor 4 (TLR4) was constructed and expressed in Escherichia coli. Then the pEGFP-N1-TLR4 fusion expression vector was transfected into HT-29 cells. The green fluoresce was observed at the plasma membrane of HT-29 cells under inverted fluorescent microscopes. In addition, the FITC stained EPEC was also observed adherence to the TLR4 of HT-29 cells.The results indicated that the EPEC adhered to cells by bonding to TLR4 protein. It is the first time that the TLR4 has been explained as an adhesion receptor.


We present an analysis of line-of-sight extinction measurements obtained using data from the Magellanic Clouds Photometric Survey (Zaritsky, Harris, & Thompson), which provides four-filter photometry for millions of stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud. We find that visual extinctions are typically larger by several tenths of a magnitude for stars with effective temperatures greater than 12,000 K than for stars with effective temperatures between 5500 and 6500 K. Several repercussions of this population-dependent extinction are discussed. In particular, LMC distance measurements that utilize old stellar populations, but use extinctions derived from OB stars, may be biased low. As a specific example, we show that the LMC distance modulus derived from field red clump stars is revised upward relative to published measurements by ∼0.2 mag if one uses the extinction measured for a matched stellar population. Conversely, measurements that utilize the youngest stars are subject to greater, and more variable, extinction leading preferentially to results that may be biased high. Population-dependent extinction affects the interpretation of color-magnitude diagrams and results in an effective absorption law that is steeper than that intrinsic to the dust for unresolved stellar systems. We further explore the relation between the stellar populations and dust by comparing our extinction map to the 100 μm image of the region and identifying potential heating sources of the dust. We find that although regions of high 100 μm flux are associated with young stars, young stars are not necessarily associated with regions of high 100 μm flux and that ∼50% of the 100 μm flux is emitted beyond the immediate regions of high OB stellar density. We conclude that 100 μm flux should be used with caution as a star formation tracer, particularly for studies of star formation within galaxies. Finally, we reproduce the observed extinction variation between the hot and cold stellar populations with a simple model of the distribution of the stars and dust in which the scale height of the cooler stars is much greater than that of the dust (which is twice that of the OB stars; Harris, Zaritsky, & Thompson).


In a cell-free system derived from Escherichia coli, we investigated the inhibition of peptide bond formation by blasticidin S at 100 mM NH4+ and 5 degrees C or at 50 mM NH4+ and 25 degrees C. At both conditions, a transient phase of competitive inhibition is observed, followed by a mixed noncompetitive phase. The two phases of inhibition are compatible with a model in which a slow isomerization of the ribosome-drug complex occurs, as a result of ribosomal conformational changes. After this step, the mutually exclusive binding between acceptor substrate and antibiotic is converted to simultaneous binding. In comparison with a previous study carried out at 100 mM NH4+ and 25 degrees C, the present results demonstrate that the ribosomal conformational changes induced by blasticidin S can occur irrespectively of the reaction temperature and the ionic conditions.


Belgium's national history has been characterized by linguistic issues. As soon as Belgium gained independence in 1830, French was promoted as the nation's first and most important language, despite the fact that a large majority of its people spoke Flemish. Constitutionally, the choice of which language to use was free, but the legal world easily adopted French. Flemish was only able to loosen the yoke of French during the final quarter of the nineteenth century, after a few sensational court cases. Jurists played a primordial role in the use of Flemish as a full-fledged legal professional language and one of their instruments were legal periodicals. Editors and authors used their position to offer colleagues translations of legal terminology, and gave guidelines as to how Flemish could and should be used in the Flanders court rooms (in Wallonia, French was used exclusively). This article examines the works that promoted the idea of Flemish as a professional legal language and the methods that were seen as the best way to reach the goal of a unilingual legal world in Flanders


Ecological impacts of three weed species of similar life form, Asparagus scandens, Plectranthus ciliatus and Tradescantia fluminensis, were investigated in six lowland forest remnants in New Zealand. All three species form dense, ground-covering mats of vegetation, and are tolerant of a broad range of light environments. Relationships between canopy openness, weed volume, native plant abundance and native species richness were investigated. Volume of all three weed species increased as canopy openness increased. Tradescantia fluminensis appeared to be most detrimental to native vegetation, with both native abundance and native species richness decreasing sharply as weed volume increased. Plectranthus ciliatus and Asparagus scandens were also associated with declines in native abundance and native species richness, but the correlations were less pronounced and were inconsistent across sites. Regression tree analyses on data from individual sites suggested a potential threshold of weed volume for Tradescantia fluminensis, beyond which both native abundance and native species richness declined abruptly. A threshold was also evident when data from all sites were analysed together. Where native species richness did decline in association with increasing weed volume, there did not appear to be any particular native species that were more likely to be excluded than others. All three ground cover weed species are associated with declines in native plant abundance and native species richness, particularly under high light conditions where the weeds are most abundant.


Amino acid transport in the renal tubules of 21-day fetal offspring of protein-deprived (4% casein diet) and adequately fed (24% casein diet) rats was studied by measuring the in vitro accumulation of glycine and the amino acid analog, alpha-aminoisobutyric acid (AIB). The prenatally protein-deprived (PPD) fetuses were smaller than the controls with a mean weight of 3.8 g compared to 5.5 g, and their kidneys were 0.4% of body weight, compared to 0.5% of body weight in the control group. Assessment of the renal proximal tubule transport mechanisms indicated that they were capable of transporting glycine and AIB at day 21 of gestation. There were no differences between the two groups in total water content or extracellular fluid content of the renal cortical tissue slices. The samples from PPD fetuses were able to accumulate concentrations of amino acids equal to or greater than those of control fetuses. The accumulation of AIB per gram of tissue was almost twice as great in the PPD tissue slices as in the control slices, whereas the accumulation of glycine per gram of tissue was equal in the two groups. Comparison of the fluid content and extracellular space of the PPD and control tissues suggests that this difference in uptake was not due to changes in the fluid distribution. It is proposed that the increase in AIB absorption by PPD renal tissue is related to retardation in maturation of the tissue. Transport of glycine, which matures later in development, may be immature in both groups. The greater amino acid uptake may conserve amino acids and thus have survival value in PPD young.


The interaction of the waterborne protozoan parasite, Giardia lamblia, with polymeric materials was investigated by microarray screening of 652 polymers. Polymers were identified which either bound G. lamblia cysts or prevented their binding. Correlation of material properties such as wettability and surface roughness with cyst attachment revealed no influence of these factors upon Giardia adhesion. However, the study of polymer composition allowed the correlation of binding and generation of polymer structure function relationships; glycol and aromatic functionalities appeared to prevent adhesion, whereas secondary amine groups promoted adhesion, in agreement with previous literature. A significant reduction in attachment was observed following both cyst treatments with proteinase K and performing experiments at extremes of pH (2 and 12). It is suggested that proteinase K removes the proteins needed for specific surface interactions, whereas extremes of pH influence either protonation of the polymer or the surface charge of the cysts. The mechanism by which the protozoa attach to polymeric surfaces is proposed to be through ion-pair interactions. Improved understanding of G. lamblia surface interactions could assist in predicting transport and fate behavior in the environment and contribute to better design of water treatment processes, while the polymers identified in this work could find use in sensor applications and membrane filtration.


If market 'selection' works, and if innovation leads to greater efficiency (higher quality and/or lower costs), then one should expect to find a relationship between innovation and firm growth. Yet the empirical evidence for the impact of innovation on firm growth is rather mixed. The paper looks at the relationship between innovation and firm growth, and the effects of this relationship on market structure for the pharmaceutical industry (firms quoted on the US stock market between 1950-2003 and sub-periods). We find that innovation (proxied via R&D spending, patents and citations) affects growth rates only for firms with particular characteristics. These are firms that are persistent innovators, have biotechnology alliances, and are small. This suggests that market selection operates on a mix of firm characteristics. Furthermore, it is precisely firms with these characteristics which shape the 'complex' patterns in industry structure which have recently caused many industrial economists to puzzle over the non-gaussian properties of firm size and growth (e.g. bimodality of firm size distributions and fat tails in the growth distributions).


This Libguide was created to help you find information on effective resume writing and interview skills, the required qualifications for and working conditions in a career, career description, and information to actual job listings.


Several theories, including Experiential Learning Theory, describe the importance of reflection for learning, and a host of articles have called for additional research on reflection in engineering education. Ambrose has called for engineering curricula with "opportunities for reflection to connect thinking and doing," since students learn by doing but only when they reflect on the doing too. Regular reflection plays a critical role in the construction of metacognitive knowledge and self-regulatory skills, which includes monitoring and evaluating one's own learning, knowledge, and skills. Unfortunately, the development of metacognitive skills is often not formally included within curriculums. However, simple in-class active learning exercises, such as think-pair-share or minute papers, as well as post-exam analysis by students, can promote reflection and metacognition. In a microelectronics course, we recently incorporated post-exam reflective exercises using SPICE simulation tools to guide students' reflections on errors made and strategies to improve future performance. The instructor was inspired to use this approach after learning of its use in an introductory circuits course. In the circuits course, the instructors had used a reflective approach known as Exam Analysis and Reflection (EAR), which had previously been developed for mechanical engineering courses. In the microelectronics course, we preliminarily incorporated reflective exercises after two exams and applied the EAR with the second. After the first exam, students used the simulator to correct any errors, which introduced them to using simulation for reflection. With the second exam, which was a small quiz, a similar procedure was followed, in which students used the simulator to reconstruct the amplifier circuit on the exam. Thus, students used the simulator to "re-do" the quiz to determine the simulated values, with the goal of having students recognize and question any differences, which could have resulted from calculation errors or natural differences between simulation and hand calculations, among other reasons. Students were then asked to reflect on the following questions from the EAR approach: "How is my exam result different from the simulated result?", "What went wrong with my solution?", and "How can I use this to improve my performance in the future?" To assess the impact of using simulation to reflect on their exams, we interviewed students as well as directly assessed their performance. Students were given a final exam problem that was very similar to the quiz problem where they applied the EAR approach. We compared the results from this final exam problem to those from the prior year (without reflection), in which the final exam was the same. We also determined the correlation between the quality of students' reflections and their performance on this final exam problem. We assessed the quality and depth of the reflections using a four-category rubric from the published literature. The preliminary results have been promising, showing evidence of students' appreciation of the reflective approach in their interviews and depth in their EAR responses. The interview data also highlighted lessons on improving our initial implementation of simulation for this type of reflection and comparison.


This paper details a project undertaken by staff at Charles Sturt University (Bathurst), that involved two State Public Schools, in the central west of New South Wales. The project ran for more than two years. It was designed to enhance literacy development of primary aged children, who were considered to be at risk in regards to their literacy and literacy development. In addition, it aimed to develop skills and competencies in the university students majoring in special education, specifically in relation to developing their ability to plan and implement a literacy program for children with challenging needs. A key issue in establishing such a program was collaboration between the schools and the university, as well as the explicit links between the theory and practice in a non-practicum subject. Overall, the results indicate that such an exercise, although time-consuming to set up, put into place and monitor, is a worthwhile and valuable experience for university students. It has also enhanced connections between the university and local schools. The program promoted collaboration between university students, with an overall goal of developing a positive environment for reading, spelling and writing for the children involved in the program. A similar project is now being undertaken at Griffith University in Brisbane, with special education students undertaking a literacy program with school-aged secondary children with special needs.


ABSTRACT Agility has long been recognised as a key determinant of organisational performance. The pursuit of agility within business units (BUs) is challenging as IT executives in multi-business organisations (MBOs) are tasked with balancing a need for organisation-wide IT synergies against a desire among BUs for local IT solutions that enable agility in their end markets. MBOs are increasingly turning to corporate IT platforms to respond to their BUs' IT needs but doing so presents a challenge to BU IT autonomy and, in turn, to BU agility. In this paper, we posit that BU agility is determined by resource synergies based on the interplay between corporate IT platforms and local, BU-controlled, IT applications. These applications lead to greater BU process digitisation and, in turn, to expanded BU agility. We evaluate our model using data from an international survey of IT executives in MBOs. Our findings provide support for our model and, in so doing, identify different paths that MBOs can take to enhance BU agility. Our contribution affirms the value of corporate IT platforms for BU agility but suggests that MBOs should tread carefully when developing corporate IT platforms that coincide with mandatory use of shared IT applications.


Benefit–cost analysis (BCA) evaluates policy choices by summing unweighted monetary equivalents, and is insensitive to distributional considerations. An established scholarly tradition proposes to use distributional weights in BCA—multiplying monetary equivalents by weighting factors that are inversely proportional to individuals' incomes. This article provides an accessible overview of the topic of distributional weights, with a special focus on environmental policy. The intellectual foundation for weights is the concept of a social welfare function (SWF). Two are considered: a utilitarian SWF and an isoelastic/Atkinson SWF, which incorporates an extra degree of inequality aversion. The article explains the concept of an SWF, discusses in detail how to specify utilitarian and isoelastic/Atkinson weights so as to mimic the corresponding SWFs, and uses the value of statistical life (VSL) to provide an example of weighting. The article then considers two important objections to distributional weighting: that interpersonal well-being comparisons (and thus weights) are undermined by preference heterogeneity, and that distributional considerations are best handled through the tax system.


Abstract:This essay probes our scholarly commitment to Shakespeare at a time when contemporary racial politics continues to test our resolve in mobilizing our scholarship in the cause of a just society. An intense public debate over the deaths of unarmed black persons has emerged at a time when the thesis of a post-racial, colorblind America had inserted itself into mainstream thinking as evidence of the growing sentiment to move beyond race and to erase its explicit and violent history. Among the most striking findings arising from the documentation of these killings is the split in the public reaction along distinctly racial lines. Othello's dying speech raises related concerns insofar as he is anxiously aware of the possible outcome of having a white narrator tell his story. Such a narrator, the essay argues, is a prototype for the modern scholar in a majority white field like Shakespeare studies who must confront new data pertaining to white privilege and bias in the United States. Hazlitt and subsequent critics appear to have little difficulty affirming that "it is we who are Hamlet," but the same has not been true of black Othello. By contrast, the essay's appeal, "We are Othello," is meant to disrupt the silence around whiteness in order to make visible and productively politicize the subject identities of critical practitioners in the field.


Voltage-gated Na+ channels are critical components in the generation of action potentials in excitable cells, but despite numerous structure-function studies on these proteins, their gating mechanism remains unclear. Peptide toxins often modify channel gating, thereby providing a great deal of information about these channels. ProTx-II is a 30-amino acid peptide toxin from the venom of the tarantula, Thrixopelma pruriens, that conforms to the inhibitory cystine knot motif and which modifies activation kinetics of Nav and Cav, but not Kv, channels. ProTx-II inhibits current by shifting the voltage dependence of activation to more depolarized potentials and, therefore, differs from the classic site 4 toxins that shift voltage dependence of activation in the opposite direction. Despite this difference in functional effects, ProTx-II has been proposed to bind to neurotoxin site 4 because it modifies activation. Here, we investigate the bioactive surface of ProTx-II by alanine-scanning the toxin and analyzing the interactions of each mutant with the cardiac isoform, Nav1.5. The active face of the toxin is largely composed of hydrophobic and cationic residues, joining a growing group of predominantly Kv channel gating modifier toxins that are thought to interact with the lipid environment. In addition, we performed extensive mutagenesis of Nav1.5 to locate the receptor site with which ProTx-II interacts. Our data establish that, contrary to prior assumptions, ProTx-II does not bind to the previously characterized neurotoxin site 4, thus making it a novel probe of activation gating in Nav channels with potential to shed new light on this process.


The development of therapies which are selective for tumor tissues is one of the most important goals in anticancer research. Within this framework photochemotherapy can be considered a very promising approach. Its therapeutic effectiveness depends on two connected factors: drug and light. The drug (photosensitizer) is able to exert an antiproliferative effect only after interaction with suitable light. Both the photosensitizing drug and light alone are ineffective at doses used for these treatments. Nowadays, photochemotherapy is used in the treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma and cavitary tumors. In the first case the photosensitizer is a psoralen derivative (P) and long-wavelength ultraviolet radiation (UVA) is used (PUVA therapy). In the second case, the treatment with porphyrins, porphyrin-based and non porphyrin-based photosensitizers is followed by irradiation with 600-1000 nm light (photodynamic therapy, PDT). This review is concerned with PUVA and PDT treatments of cancer. The molecular mechanisms considered accountable for the photochemotherapeutic effects are discussed, the development of new chemical structures aimed at improving the effectiveness and/or overcoming some undesired side effects will also be reported. Moreover, some clinical applications will be described.


Background : Teratomas are tumors consisting of tissues derived from more than one germ cell line. Teratomas arise, most commonly in anterior mediastinum. Intrapulmonary Teratoma are among the rarest tumors encountered in pathology, in other words they are exceedingly uncommon, with only less than 100 cases documented by 1939 . Case presentation : We describe a 19 -year-old woman with a short history of retrosternal chest pain and non-productive cough due to a benign intrapulmonary mature teratoma originating from the right upper and middle lobes. The clinical, imagings and pathological features of this rare tumor are presented and the relevant literatures are discussed. Conclusions: Intrapulmonary teratomas are rare tumors. They originate from the third pharyngeal pouch and present as cystic lesions in the majority of cases. Histologically, benign teratomas comprise of two or three primordial layers. Patients present with chest pain, dyspnea, cough, hemoptysis and trichoptysis. Any Intrapulmonary teratoma should be resected due to its potential for malignancy and rupture. Abstract


The quintessential image of the television audience is of the family viewing at home—sitting together comfortably in front of the lively set. Accompanying this happy image is its negative—a child viewing alone while real life goes on elsewhere. This article reviews evidence over five decades regarding the changing place of television in children's lives. It argues that, notwithstanding postwar trends that have significantly changed adolescence, the family home, and wider consumer society, there was time for the 1950s family experiment to spawn the 1960s and 1970s family television experiment, thereby shaping normative expectations—academic, policy, and popular—regarding television audiences for years to come. At the turn of the twenty-first century, we must recognize that it was the underlying long-term trend of individualization, and its associated trends of consumerism, globalization, and democratization, that, historically and now, more profoundly frame the place of television in the family.


The objective of this thesis is to compare the suitability of FPGAs, GPUs and DSPs for digital image processing applications. Normalized cross-correlation is used as a benchmark, because this algorithm includes convolution, a common operation in image processing and elsewhere. Normalized cross-correlation is a template matching algorithm that is used to locate predefined objects in a scene image. Because the throughput of DSPs is low for efficient calculation of normalized cross-correlation, the focus is on FPGAs and GPUs. An efficient FPGA implementation of direct normalized cross-correlation is created and compared against a GPU implementation from the OpenCV library. Performance, cost, development time and power consumption are evaluated for the two platforms. The performance of the GPU implementation is slightly better than the FPGA implementation, and less time is spent developing a working solution. However, the power consumption of the GPU is higher. Both solutions are viable, so the most suitable platform will depend on the specific project requirements for image size, throughput, latency, power consumption, cost and development time.


The structure and microwave properties of composites consisting of paraffin as a dielectric host matrix and Fe particles as inclusions have been studied. The composites were prepared by the mechanochemical synthesis and contain 7.7% vol. concentration of the inclusions. The microwave properties were studied in 0.1 to 6 GHz frequency range. The microwave properties of the composites are shown to depend mostly on the size and shape of the inclusions, with the phase composition of the inclusions exerting only a slight effect. With decreasing the inclusions size, the low-frequency peak (300−400 MHz) attributed to the domain wall motion diminishes.


Semi-field and field experiments with commercially used bumblebees (e.g. Bombus terrestris) gain more and
more importance for both ecological studies and trials on potential side effects of plant protection products.
However, standardized, replicable experimental methods are lacking so far and need further development. For
example, initial strength of bumblebee colonies may vary across experiments but may be a key factor in
successful colony development under field conditions. Trial duration and termination may impact results on
total reproductive output (e.g. number of newly produced queens). In this study commercially reared
bumblebee colonies of different initial strengths (number of worker bees) were placed along the field margin
of each of six field sites. Each site was nested within one of two seasons and planted with one of two arable
crops (Brassica napus and Phacelia tanacetifolia). Each colony was spaced approx. 50 m apart from the next colony, and its development was monitored once a week. While the development of half of the colonies was
terminated at the first sighting of newly emerging queens within the nesting area, the other half of the
colonies was left to develop further until the end of their natural colony cycle. Newly emerging queens were
kept within the colonies using queen excluders. Colonies of different initial strengths showed very similar
developmental patterns with medium and large colonies peaking slightly earlier than small colonies. Results
may help to develop optimal parameters for standardized field tests.


Due to movement of the specimen, vasodilation, and intense clutter, the intravital location of a vessel boundary from video microscopy is a difficult but necessary task in analyzing the mechanics of inflammation and the structure of the microvasculature. This paper details an active contour model for vessel boundary detection and tracking. In developing the method, two innovations are introduced. First, the B-spline model is combined with the gradient vector flow (GVF) external force. Second, a multiscale gradient vector flow (MSGVF) is employed to elude clutter and to reliably localize the vessel boundaries. Using synthetic experiments and video microscopy obtained via transillumination of the mouse cremaster muscle, we demonstrate that the MSGVF approach is superior to the fixed-scale GVF approach in terms of boundary localization. In each experiment, the fixed scale approach yielded at least a 50% increase in root mean squared error over the multiscale approach. In addition to delineating the vessel boundary so that cells can be detected and tracked, we demonstrate the boundary location technique enables automatic blood flow velocity computation in vivo.


Reinforcement learning has shown its relevance in designing search heuristics for backtracking algorithms dedicated to solving decision problems under constraints. Recently, an efficient heuristic, called Conflict History Search (CHS), based on the history of search failures was introduced for the Constraint Satisfaction Problem (CSP). The Exponential Recency Weighted Average (ERWA) is used to estimate the hardness of constraints and CHS favors the variables that often appear in recent failures. The step parameter is important in CHS since it controls the estimation of the hardness of constraints and its refinement may lead to notable improvements. The current research aims to achieve this objective. Indeed, a Multi-Armed Bandits (MAB) framework can select an appropriate value of this parameter during the restarts performed by the search algorithm. Each arm represents a CHS with a given value for the step parameter and it is rewarded by its ability to improve the search. A training phase is introduced earlier in the search to help MAB choose a relevant arm. The experimental evaluation shows that this approach leads to significant improvements regarding CHS and other state-ofthe-art heuristics.


In the presence of a relatively high concentration of sodium azide N-nitrosodiphenylamine undergoes irreversible denitrosation in aqueous acidic media to give diphenylamine. The reaction is catalysed by both H(^+) (with k(_o)oc h(_o)) and various nucleophiles, and for which, at low nucleophile concentrations, a solvent-isotope effect of (^k)D/k(_H)= 2.0 is observed. These facts are consistent with rate-determining attack by the nucleophile upon the protonated form of the nitrosamine. At high bromide concentrations k(_o) becomes independent of [Br(^-)] and the solvent-isotope effect changes to(^k)D/k(_H)= 0.8. This suggests that the initial protonation of the nitrosamine then becomes rate-determining. Direct catalysis by aniline and its ring-substituted derivatives is also observed and has been interpreted in terms of π - complex formation between Ph(_2)NH.NO and ArNH(_3). The applicability of such a mechanism to the Fischer-Hepp rearrangement and related reactions is also discussed. In general k(_o) oc 1/[Ph(_2)NH] and a study of this effect has revealed a reactivity sequence for some 'nitrite-traps' toward reaction with free nitrosating species such as NOBr. The diazotization of several substituted anilines has been carried out in aqueous acidic media under conditions such that the active nitrosating agents are NOCL and NOBr. The variation of the observed rate constant (k(_o)) with [Halide] suggests that the process is reversible, particularly at high [Halide] and for those anilines for which pK(_BH)+<4.0, and that this accounts for the earlier observation of an apparently large substituent selectivity for reaction at high [HCI]. This large selectivity was originally taken as evidence against diffusion-control but an analysis of k(_o) in terms of a reversible steady-state scheme has yielded values for the true bimolecular rate constants for encounter between NOX and ArNH(_2) which do indeed approach the diffusion-controlled limit. For those amines carrying electron-withdrawing groups a second relaxation can be observed and it is suggested that this corresponds to the tautomerisation of the intermediate primary nitrosamine carrying electron-withdrawing groups a second relaxation can be observed and it is suggested that this corresponds to the tautomerisation of the intermediate primary nitrosamine.


Background: Although, many efforts have been carried out regarding infant's health in recent years, consistent infections such as diarrhea is a cause of pathogenecity or even death among infants under 2 years old according to not have done which is attributed to inadequate nutrition and health care. Objective: To compare mother's health behaviors in hospitalized infants with diarrhea or without it, in pediatric department of Ali- Ebn- Abitaleb hospital. Design: This was a descriptive study. For gathering information, check lists were used. Sample: 434 mothers of infants which were under the age of two contributed in this study. Result: There was just a significant difference between infants nutritional status and the cause of admission (P=0.0002), in that, breast fed babies had the lower occurrence of diarrhea, in comparison with those who were not. No significant relationship was found between sex and the cause of admission, but the number of boys suffering from diarrhea was more than the girls. Conclusion: Regarding the findings, as breast feeding, in comparison to animal or industrial milk, decrease the risks of diarrhea, it is recommended to breast fed babies till the end of age two. Which will inhibit the risk of diarrhea and it's complications. on


Habitat selection is a process in which organisms decide to choose a suitable site for nesting, roosting or foraging. The question where the organisms are, and when they will leave are two of the fundamental questions frequently asked by ecologists. Habitat selection is affected by various abiotic and biotic determinants, varying over different spatial and temporal scales. In addition, an animal's body size, determining its daily demands and its digestion capacity, plays an important role in foraging and habitat selection. This is because forage quality often decreases with increasing forage quantity. Therefore, herbivores often face a trade-off between forage quality and quantity. Although studies on habitat selection have offered substantial insights into the effect of various ecological factors, myriad effects of habitat and its' surrounding are still not clearly understood, as former studies concerning this topic normally focus on a single species or a single spatial scale. Migrating goose species are herbivorous with more or less similar habitat requirements and hence often mix in the field. Studying habitat selection of different goose species is attractive as they are from the same guild but differ in body size. In this thesis, I study the effects of various variables on habitat selection of different Anatidae species over different spatial scales, answering the question how ecological and anthropogenic variables affect Anatidae species habitat selection and population sizes and if these effects vary over different spatial scales. First, I studied the habitat selection of Anatidae species under the condition with and without interference competition using an experimental approach in Chapter 2. To do this, I offered geese and ducks foraging patches with various swards heights. My results showed that all three species acquired the highest nitrogen intake at relatively tall swards (on 6 or 9 cm, but not on 3 cm) when foraging in single species flocks in the functional response experiment. When they were offered foraging patches differing in sward height with and without competitors, their mean percentage of feeding time did not change, whereas all species increased their percentage of time being vigilant except for the dominant swan goose. All species utilized strategies that increased their peck rate on patches across different sward heights when foraging together with other species, resulting in the same instantaneous and nitrogen intake rate than when foraging in a single species flocks. My results suggest that variation in peck rate over different swards height permits Anatidae herbivores to increase nitrogen intake under competition to compensate for the loss of intake, illustrating the importance of behavioural plasticity in heterogeneous environments when competing with other species for resources. In Chapter 3, using a correlative field study, I analysed the habitat selection of two differently sized grazing goose species at site level. I found that both species selected lower lying area where the swards became recently exposed, due to receding water levels. However, the smaller species was more sensitive to this elevation gradient. Moreover, sward height negatively affected both species habitat selection with a stronger effect on the smaller species. This result highlighted the importance of body size on facilitating species coexistence and habitat segregation. Not in agreement with the results from most experimental studies, I found that nitrogen content did not influence habitat selection of both species. This conflicting result suggests that additional factors should be carefully considered when applying outcomes from experimental studies to field situations. In Chapter 4, I studied habitat selection of the two goose species at a lake level by analysing the effect of ecological and anthropogenic variables. My results supported the individual-area relationship as only patch area had a significant effect on both species habitat selection, and other variables that were related to food availability and disturbance, were not significant. In addition, a facilitation effect of grazing livestock on geese habitat selection was detected, indicating that larger grazing herbivores can facilitate geese foraging by removing the taller and lower quality food from the top. As patch area size in wetlands is directly linked to water levels fluctuations, this result demonstrated that modifying hydrological regimes can enlarge the capacity of wetlands for migratory birds. In Chapter 5, I further expanded my study area to the flood plain level of the Yangtze, testing for the effect of various abiotic and biotic variables on several Anatidae species habitat selection and population trends. I showed that slope and climate factors were the most important ones affecting habitat selection and distribution of Anatidae species. Furthermore, I demonstrated that the current protection policies may not stop the declining population trends but might buffer to some extent against a rapid decline in numbers in wetlands with a higher level protection status. This result points out that the conservation effectiveness is still low and larger conservation efforts are urgently needed to maintain the Anatidae populations, especially in wetlands with a lower level protection status. I recommend several protection measures to stop the decline of Anatidae species in wetlands of the Yangtze River flood plain and I called for more research efforts in this area in particularly, but also at a larger scale, the entire East Asian-Australasian Flyway. In Chapter 6, I synthesized these results and draw conclusions from the preceding chapters, and highlighted the importance of spatial scales when studying the effect of abiotic and biotic variables on animals' habitat selection. I also propose to modify hydrological regimes, aimed at creating enhanced habitat and improved forage accessibility conditions over the entire wintering period for herbivorous birds species in the Yangtze River flood plain. In summary, this thesis offers a framework for the effects of various variables on habitat selection and population sizes of herbivorous Anatidae species over different spatial scales, and a scientific basis for policy-makers and managers to enhance the efficiency of conservation actions in wetlands along the Yangtze River flood plain and also for similar ecological systems.


The activation of the toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)/nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) signaling pathway has been found to play a critical role in many inflammatory diseases by controlling the expression of many cytokines. However, this pathway's role in the pathological process of intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) has not been reported to date. In the present study, we found universal activation of the TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway and elevated levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines in IDD patients. The in vitro analyses in human nucleus pulposus cells (hNPC) and annulus fibrosus cells (hAFC) also indicated that Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) treatment could activate TLR4/NF-κB signaling and induce pro-inflammatory cytokine levels. By comparing the results of two microRNA (miRNA)-based microarrays, we identified 15 miRNAs that were dysregulated in both IDD tissues and LPS-treated cells. Of these miRNAs, the most prominently up-regulated was miR-625-5p, which was predicted to bind to the three prime untranslated region (3'-UTR) of collagen type I alpha 1 (COL1A1). In vitro overexpression or down-regulation of miR-625-5p was able to repress or induce the expression of COL1A1, respectively. The in vitro analyses showed that treatment with LPS, recombinant IL-6 or TNF-α could induce miR-625-5p levels but decrease COL1A1 expression. In contrast, the treatments with their corresponding inhibitors, CLI095, siltuximab and D2E7, respectively, resulted in the exact opposite effects. Taken together, our results suggest that activation of the TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway induces pro-inflammatory cytokines, which further up-regulates the expression of miR-625-5p, resulting in the down-regulation of COL1A1 and eventually contributing to the pathological process of IDD.


Previous research shows that, despite its popularity, Facebook is less frequently used to share academic content. In order to investigate this discrepancy we set out to explore engagement numbers through their Graph API by querying the Facebook API with multiple URLs for a random set of 103,539 articles from the Web of Science. We identified two major challenge areas: mapping articles to URLs and the mapping URLs to objects inside Facebook. We then explored three problem cases within our dataset: (1) identifying a landing page for any given URL, (2) instances where equivalent URLs are mapped to different Facebook objects, and (3) instances of different articles being mapped onto the same Facebook object. We found that the engagement numbers for 11.8% of all articles that have been shared on Facebook at least once are not reliable because of these problems. Moreover, we were unable to identify the URL for 11.6% of the articles in our data. Taken together, the three problem cases constitute 12.3% of the 103,539 tested articles for which engagement numbers cannot be relied upon. Given that we only tested a small number of problem cases and URL variants, our results point to large challenges facing those wishing to collect Facebook metrics programatically through the available API.


Background The average nitrogen-to-phosphorus ratio (N∶P) of insect herbivores is less than that of leaves, suggesting that P may mediate plant-insect interactions more often than appreciated. We investigated whether succession-related heterogeneity in N and P stoichiometry influences herbivore performance on N-fixing lupin (Lupinus lepidus) colonizing primary successional volcanic surfaces, where the abundances of several specialist lepidopteran herbivores are inversely related to lupin density and are known to alter lupin colonization dynamics. We examined larval performance in response to leaf nutritional characteristics using gelechiid and pyralid leaf-tiers, and a noctuid leaf-cutter. Methodology/Principal Findings We conducted four studies. First, growth of larvae raised on wild-collected leaves responded positively to leaf %P and negatively to leaf carbon (%C), but there was no effect of %N or quinolizidine alkaloids (QAs). Noctuid survival was also positively related to %P. Second, we raised gelechiid larvae on greenhouse-grown lupins with factorial manipulation of competitors and soil N and P. In the presence of competition, larval mass was highest at intermediate leaf N∶P and high %P. Third, survival of gelechiid larvae placed on lupins in high-density patches was greater when plant competitors were removed than on controls. Fourth, surveys of field-collected leaves in 2000, 2002, and 2003 indicated that both %P and %N were generally greater in plants from low-density areas. QAs in plants from low-density areas were equal to or higher than QAs in high-density areas. Conclusions/Significance Our results demonstrate that declines in lupin P content under competitive conditions are associated with decreased larval growth and survival sufficient to cause the observed negative relationship between herbivore abundance and host density. The results support the theoretical finding that declines in stoichiometric resource quality (caused here by succession) have the potential to cause a decrease in consumer abundance despite very dense quantities of the resource.


Objective Weight-bearing asymmetry is one of the main causes of balance disturbances in patients with hemiparesis and could cause standing problems and gait abnormalities for them. The purpose of this study was to investigate the immediate effects of wearing unilateral textured insoles on the symmetry of weight bearing during standing and gait parameters of patients with chronic stroke. Materials & Methods In this quasi-experimental study, 16 patients with hemiparesis were selected by simple non-probability sampling method. These patients had an average age(SD) of 52.12(6.94) years and their average(SD) post-injury duration was 33.12(16.4) months. Symmetry index during standing position (by using 2 equal weighting scales), step length symmetry, step length, and walking velocity (by using NeuroCom Balance Master Device) was measured in 3 conditions: without insole (barefoot), wearing textured insole with shore A-80 hardness, and textured insole with shore A-60 hardness. Results In this study, we conducted the multivariate analysis of variance for comparing 3 test conditions and Bonferroni test for paired comparing. The symmetry of step length showed a significant difference between no insole condition and using insole with A-80 hardness (P=0.004), as well as using A-80 hardness insole with A-60 hardness insole (P=0.011). However, there was no significant difference between using no insole and using insole with A-60 hardness (P=0.325). The results of symmetry index likened the step length results. This means that there was a significant difference between not using insole and wearing insole with A-80 hardness (P=0.022), also between the results of wearing 2 different insoles (P=0.019). However, no significant difference was observed between using no insole and using insole with A-60 hardness in spite of improvement in step length (P=0.325). Velocity of walking and step length was not meaningfully improved in any of the conditions. Conclusion The current study showed that obligatory use of affected limb side could improve symmetry of weight bearing in walking and standing position of patients with chronic stroke by overcoming the phenomenon of learned lack of using and correcting the failure of sending sensory signals to centers of movement controls. The results of this study showed that unilateral use of textured insole with shore A-80 in the unaffected side could immediately improve weight bearing symmetry and step length symmetry in patients with hemiparesis, but it has no effect on their walking speed and step length. Using insole with A-60 hardness did not significantly change any variables of tests. Considering the results …


One of the most commonly asked patient-driven questions about Parkinson's disease (PD) therapy has been whether to use glutathione. Glutathione acts as an antioxidant and has been found reduced by as much as 50% in the brains of patients with PD, other parkinsonian disorders and even incidental Lewy body disease and thus is not specific for PD. A small group of physicians have been promoting this therapy and charging a fee for infusion of glutathione service in their office practices. Despite the lack of evidence for efficacy, the lack of data that glutathione crosses the blood brain barrier, the requirement for the placement of an intravenous line, and the need for patients to pay out of pocket, many medical practices have persisted in offering the therapy. Hauser and colleagues presented the long-awaited, first randomized, double blind placebo-controlled trial of intravenous glutathione therapy in PD in the May 15th, 2009 edition of Movement Disorders. Twenty-one patients in the trial were randomly assigned to glutathione therapy or placebo (one withdrew). Glutathione proved safe and well tolerated; however, there was no improvement evidenced in any outcome variable. The authors mention in the abstract the change in UPDRS units when combining two Parkinson subscales, however in the study, they report a P-value of 0.66 for the comparison. This P-value fails to meet a significant level or a trend level for improvement. In fact, no outcome variable in this study met even a trend level of improvement. The clinical global impression scales for the patients were similar for the two groups especially when considering the sample size was small. Given the small nonsignificant changes, we are, therefore, perplexed about why the authors included the following statement in the abstract ''preliminary efficacy data suggest the possibility of a mild symptomatic effect.'' and how the reviewers permitted these conclusions to be emphasized in the only part of the article that most people coming across the article will ever read. In the discussion, the authors stated that ''we did not observe a significant improvement in parkinsonian signs and symptoms in the glutathione group when compared to placebo,'' and we completely agree with this conclusion. We do not however agree that combining two subscales and using change of UPDRS points for a comparison would lead one to conclude that there is a ''possibility that glutathione may provide a symptomatic benefit.'' We agree that this trial did not assess the potential for glutathione as a neuroprotective agent or the potential efficacy of other treatment schedules. In the end, we must consider our patients and their overall well being as the most important issues when assessing the risks versus benefits of any new therapy. Thus, there is only one conclusion; this glutathione study failed to meet a minimum clinical efficacy criteria that would allow doctors to offer, promote, and charge for the therapy in their office practices. On the basis of these results, patients with PD should be encouraged to say no to an IV placed in their arm for the false hope of a symptomatic glutathione treatment.


The philopatric behaviour of albatrosses has intrigued biologists due to the high mobility of these seabirds. It is unknown how albatrosses maintain a system of fragmented populations without frequent dispersal movements, in spite of the long‐term temporal heterogeneity in resource distribution at sea. We used both genetic (amplified fragment length polymorphism) and capture–mark–recapture (CMR) data to identify explicitly which among several models of population dynamics best applies to the wandering albatross (Diomedea exulans) and to test for migration–drift equilibrium. We previously documented an extremely low genetic diversity in this species. Here, we show that populations exhibit little genetic differentiation across the species' range (ΘB < 0.05, where ΘB is an FST analogue). Furthermore, there was no evidence of hierarchical structure or isolation‐by‐distance. Wright's FST between pairs of colonies were low in general and the pattern was consistent with a nonequilibrium genetic model. In contrast, CMR data collected over the last decades indicated that about one bird per cohort has dispersed among islands. Overall, FST values were not indicative of contemporary dispersal as inferred from CMR data. Moreover, all genotypes grouped together in a cluster analysis, indicating that current colonies may have derived from one ancestral source that had a low genetic diversity. A metapopulation dynamics model including a recent (postglacial) colonization of several islands seems consistent with both the very low levels of genetic diversity and structure within the wandering albatross. Yet, our data suggest that several other factors including ongoing gene flow, recurrent long‐distance dispersal and source‐sink dynamics have contributed to different extent in shaping the genetic signature observed in this species. Our results show that an absence of genetic structuring may in itself reveal little about the true population dynamics in seabirds, but can provide insights into important processes when a comparison with other information, such as demographic data, is possible.


Nothing beats a good story. We understand our own lives through story. Whether relating the story of our day to friends or family, or reflecting on a lifetime spanning many years, humans use stories to help understand and make sense of our experiences of living in the world. In the legal arena, the best accepted theory explaining how jurors decide a case is the Story Model, which identifies story construction as the cognitive process central to juror decision making. And of course, we know that good lawyers have to be good storytellers (words are our tools, and our craft involves becoming master wordsmiths). What's true in life, and in law, is also true in learning. Learning the law through the case method involves what James Boyd White describes as an "imaginative reconstruction of the process by which the text was made," a process of reading a story and imagining oneself participating in its telling and re-telling.4 The process of teaching and learning statutory law (such as the Federal Rules of Evidence) in particular requires the use of stories. A skeletal outline of a hearsay exception only acquires meaning in the context of a story.When I teach the dying declarations hearsay exception in my Evidence course, I always show the opening scene from Mel Brooks' darkly comedic film, The Twelve Chairs. A film clip is a particularly dense piece of storytelling, in that it presents story information in a visually and aurally rich manner (including such varied aspects as images, colors, tone, soundtracks, special effects, edits, montage, etc.). Yet, we are able to take in and process a whole series of nuanced and complex messages in a film clip in a relatively efficient manner. Simply put, we are good at "reading" visual stories from television and film. Further, showing the excerpt from The Twelve Chairs not only is fun, it's good learning pedagogy. This short scene enhances class discussion in three principal ways. First, the scene serves as an engaging mini-review of the elements of the hearsay exception for dying declarations. Second, it serves as a springboard for the class to think critically and articulate some unspoken assumptions underpinning the rationale for the rule (the short scene raises issues about our assumptions governing family dynamics, gender, class, politics, and religion, among other matters) and consider the possibility of drafting a different (and perhaps better) rule. Third, the nature of the example (a film clip, and a comedic one at that), surprises and delights the students who are used to the usually bleak and violent fact patterns in many evidence casebooks. Thus, their attention level is high and they are very engaged in the analysis. A more full discussion of each of these three aspects follows.


Highly parallel computing architectures such as graphics processing units (GPUs) pose several new challenges for scientific computing, which have been absent on single core CPUs. However, a transition from existing serial code to parallel code for GPUs often requires a considerable amount of effort. The Vienna Computing Library (ViennaCL) presented in the beginning of this work is based on OpenCL to support a wide range of hardware and aims at providing a high-level C++ interface that is mostly compatible with the existing CPU linear algebra library uBLAS shipped with the Boost libraries. As a general purpose linear algebra library, ViennaCL runs on a variety of GPU boards from different vendors pursuing different hardware architectures. As a consequence, the optimal number of threads working on a problem in parallel depends on the available hardware and the algorithm executed thereon.
 We present an optimization framework, which extracts suitable thread numbers and allows ViennaCL to automatically optimize itself to the underlying hardware. The performance enhancement of individually tuned kernels over default parameter choices range up to 25 percent for the kernels considered on high-end hardware, and up to a factor of seven on low-end hardware.


We have investigated the electronic structures and chemical bonding of four tungsten borides, including two WB2 compounds with different crystal structures, α-W2B5 and ε-WB2.5, by ab initio calculations based on density function theory (DFT). The calculated density of state (DOS) shows that all compounds are metallic. The DOS at Fermi level is mainly contributed from 5d states of W atoms. The strong covalent bonds of boron atoms make these compounds stable. Due to a lack of electrons in boron sublattices, weak ionic bonds are generated. The charge density distributions indicate the solid B layers or B polyhedrons are interleaved by the W layers.


Vertically aligned carbon nanotube (VACNT) films were synthesized and investigated in vitro for their potential use as a neural stimulation electrode. Materials and electrochemical (EC) characterization (cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and high-rate potential transient measurements) were performed before and after flash oxidation in O2 at various temperatures and over a wide frequency range. The results showed distinct EC behavior within three ranges of treatment temperature. Oxidative thermal treatments that did not visibly etch the VACNT film caused a significant improvement in electrode performance compared to the as-deposited electrode. Surprisingly, flash oxidation within a narrow temperature range (400 < T ≤ 450 °C) selectively increased capacitance/charge injection at high frequencies (102–104 Hz). A phenomenological model is proposed to explain the temperature-dependent behavior and indicates the importance of modifying a porous coating to increase the charging rate rat...


Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a concept used by firms to obtain competitiveness. Although the focus of academic research has been on identifying the link between financial and social performance, the causal evidence of this relationship remains unclear. Our research attempts to fill this gap by validating hypotheses indicating that the effect of CSR on business competitiveness requires integrating other variables. The literature review shows limited research conducted on CSR and professional sports in emerging countries. Our article fills these gaps by investigating the effect of CSR on competitiveness of football teams. Our results will expand the applicability of CSR to other organizations, while at the same time offering recommendations to a sector with economic and sociological global repercussions.


Research has identified several transcription factors that regulate activity-dependent plasticity and memory, with cAMP-response element binding protein (CREB) being the most well-studied. In neurons, CREB activation is influenced by the transcription factor nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), considered central to immunity but more recently implicated in memory. The transcription factor early growth response-2 (Egr-2), an NF-κB gene target, is also associated with learning and memory. Nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2 (Nrf2), an antioxidant transcription factor linked to NF-κB in pathological conditions, has not been studied in normal memory. Given that numerous transcription factors implicated in activity-dependent plasticity demonstrate connections to NF-κB, this study simultaneously evaluated protein levels of NF-κB, CREB, Egr-2, Nrf2, and actin in hippocampi from young (1 month-old) weanling CD1 mice after training in the Morris water maze, a hippocampal-dependent spatial memory task. After a 6-day acquisition period, time to locate the hidden platform decreased in the Morris water maze. Mice spent more time in the target vs. non-target quadrants of the maze, suggestive of recall of the platform location. Western blot data revealed a decrease in NF-κB p50 protein after training relative to controls, whereas NF-κB p65, Nrf2 and actin increased. Nrf2 levels were correlated with platform crosses in nearly all tested animals. These data demonstrate that training in a spatial memory task results in alterations in and associations with particular transcription factors in the hippocampus, including upregulation of NF-κB p65 and Nrf2. Training-induced increases in actin protein levels caution against its use as a loading control in immunoblot studies examining activity-dependent plasticity, learning, and memory.


Ceuta and Melilla are two 'enclaves' on the northern coast of Africa that have been Spanish for centuries but that are claimed by the Kingdom of Morocco. As an integral part of Spain the towns have also been part of the territory of the European Union since 1986. Their unique situation has created considerable tension in the relationship (both political and economic) between Spain and Morocco. As well as looking at this relationship, the book explains how the anomalous situation of the enclaves impinges on issues such as immigration from North and sub-Saharan Africa into the EU, defence, trade and the Spanish political scene in general.


Water Tree is a corrosion phenomenon in cross-link polyethylene (XLPE) insulation. It is commonly found in underground cables. Water tree induced fault is difficult to detect due to its high impedance and difficult to model due to its random nature. In recent years, underground cables have become more popular in the power industry. They are resistant to environmental damage and has reduced space requirement. They are suitable to areas with high environment hazard or heavily populated areas where space is a constraining factor. As a result, studying and modeling the structure and effect of water tree become increasingly important. Since majority of the fault inducing water trees are vented trees which originated from the surface of the cable insulation, the mathematical model focuses on this particular type of water tree. To reduce the complexity of the model, the shape of the water tree afflicted region of the insulation is assumed to be ellipsoidal and the permittivity of the region is assumed to be linearly changing. Finite element analysis is used to analyze the water tree affected region. The resultant capacitance is calculated and compared with a physical model from Comsol. The result obtained using the proposed mathematical model and the result obtained using physical simulation through Comsol package agrees with each other. Hence, this method can be used to analyze the effect of water tree fault in large power systems.


The marine brown alga Fucus serratus represents one of the few multicellular plant species in which the process of fertilization can be studied relatively easily. Fertilization marks the onset of a cascade of events associated with egg activation. Fertilization in Fucus serratus bears several superficial similarities to fertilization in several animal systems. The essential features of Fucus serratus egg activation are compared with those of protostome and deuterostome animal systems. Ca2+ is required for egg activation in Fucus serratus and cytosolic [Ca2+] changes can be observed in fertilizing eggs. However, these are small and variable in comparison with those occurring in deuterostomes, and fertilization can proceed normally in the absence of any global cytosolic Ca2+ transients. A model for egg activation in Fucus serratus is presented, invoking a role for both Ca2+ influx and localized propagation of the sperm signal around the plasma membrane by an as yet unidentified mechanism. Polarity in Fucus serratus is acquired a considerable time after fertilization and the role of cytosolic Ca2+ gradients in the acquisition and expression of polarity is discussed. The problem of the signals associated with the onset of the cell cycle in the fertilized Fucus serratus egg is also addressed.


Background/Aim: Increasing evidence indicates a relevance of the vitamin D endocrine system for pathogenesis of malignant melanoma. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to update previous reports that investigated the association between vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene polymorphisms and melanoma risk. Materials and Methods: A comprehensive literature search (PubMed, ISI Web of Science) identified a total of 14 studies that were eligible for inclusion in our meta-analysis. In the statistical analysis, the ORs and the 95% CIs were calculated for the dominant and recessive models for seven VDR gene polymorphisms, namely rs2228570 (FokI), rs731236 (TaqI), rs1544410 (BsmI), rs4516035 (A-1012G), rs11568820 (Cdx2), rs7975232 (ApaI) and rs739837 (BglI). Results were illustrated in Forest Plots. Publication bias was tested using Funnel Plots and the Egger's test. Results: Our meta-analysis showed in the dominant model (Bb + BB vs. bb) a significant association of a 15% risk reduction in malignant melanoma incidence for carriers of the rarer allele B of rs1544410 (Bsml). Notably, the dominant model (Ff + ff vs. FF) of rs2228570 (FokI) demonstrates that carriers of the rarer allele f are 22% more likely to develop malignant melanoma. For rs7975232 (ApaI), there is a 20% higher risk of melanoma for carriers of the rarer a allele (Aa + aa vs. AA). The results of the meta-analysis revealed no significant association between melanoma risk and the other investigated VDR polymorphisms. Conclusion: The VDR variants FokI, ApaI and BsmI may influence the susceptibility to developing melanoma. These findings support the concept, that the vitamin D endocrine system is of importance for pathogenesis of malignant melanoma.


In this study, some physical and mechanical performances of arti cial aggregated lightweight concretes were compared. Special empirical models were developed to estimate the elasticity modulus of lightweight aggregate concrete (LWAC). Five di erent natural aggregates and one arti cial lightweight aggregate material were used throughout the research. Mixture proportions were kept as constant values in all concrete mixtures. All mixtures were cast into cubic, prismatic and cylindrical concrete standard moulds and they were cured at the same curing conditions. A series of physical and mechanical properties, such as density, compressive strength and elasticity modulus for LWAC were experimentally determined. According to the research ndings a few empirical models were statistically developed for estimating the elasticity modulus and Poisson's ratio of LWAC and a new diagram practically to be used for estimating the Poisson's ratio of LWAC was also proposed.


Nowadays different Cloud services enable enterprises to migrate applications to the Cloud. An application can be partially migrated by replacing some of its components with Cloud services, or by migrating one or multiple of its layers to the Cloud. As a result, accessing application data stored off-premise requires mechanisms to mitigate the negative impact on Quality of Service (QoS), e.g. due to network latency. In this work, we propose and realize an approach for transparently accessing data migrated to the Cloud using a multi-tenant open source Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) as the basis. Furthermore, we enhance the ESB with QoS awareness by integrating it with an open source caching solution. For evaluation purposes we generate a representative application workload using data from the TPC-H benchmark. Based on this workload, we then evaluate the optimal caching strategy among multiple eviction algorithms when accessing relational databases located at different Cloud providers.


A case of immunoblastic lymphadenopathy which underwent transformation into immunoblastic sarcoma is reported. A 64-year-old man presented with a rash, generalised lymphadenopathy, and hepatosplenomegaly. A cervical lymph node removed at biopsy showed the features of immunoblastic lymphadenopathy with the presence of heavy chain classes IgG, IgM, and IgA and both kappa and lambda light chain types in the cytoplasm of the immunoblasts. No such immunoglobulins could be demonstrated in the lymph nodes obtained at necropsy when the patient died of widespread immunoblastic sarcoma. The biological evolution and histogenesis of the disease are discussed and the current literature is reviewed.