This eclectic collection of papers on aspects of coaching and sport has its origins in an international conference titled Sports and Coaching: Pasts and Futures hosted by Manchester Metropolitan University's Institute for Performance Research in June 2011. The contributors come from different disciplines and include some of Britain's leading scholars together with a number of early career researchers. The work opens with two chapters from teams working in the field of coaching. Robyn Jones and his colleagues explore who it is that is actually coaching and this is followed by a commentary by Don Vinson, Simon Padley and Mark Jeffreys on ethical practice within sport coaching. The methods used in exploring sports history are then discussed in chapter three by Samantha-Jayne Oldfield while the subsequent section by Dave Day on the nineteenth-century athlete and trainer Harry Andrews provides a case study which demonstrates how some of these methods can be employed in practice. The following chapters by Tegan Carpenter and Sevket Akyildiz explore the role of sport in the Soviet Republic and how this impacted at a regional level by using the example of Uzbekistan. The final two chapters are written by sports development researchers John Daniels, who analyses the use of evaluation methods in the field, and Jamie Gold, who considers government policy on physical education over the course of the last quarter of a century. Taken together these eight papers highlight the richness and diversity of ongoing studies into sport and coaching.


The kinetics of the conjugation of glutathione (GSH) with anti-7beta, 8alpha-dihydroxy-9alpha,10alpha-oxy-7,8,9, 10-tetrahydrobenzo(a)pyrene (anti-BPDE) catalyzed by GSH S-transferase (GST) isoenzymes purified from the liver and forestomach of female A/J mouse has been investigated. The GST isoenzymes studied included an alpha class isoenzyme of forestomach (GST 9.5), alpha class hepatic isoenzymes mGSTA3-3 and mGSTA4-4, pi class hepatic isoenzyme mGSTP1-1, and mu class hepatic isoenzyme mGSTM1-1. When the concentration of (+)-anti-BPDE was varied (5-120 microM) at a fixed GSH concentration (2 mM), linear Lineweaver-Burk plots were observed for each isoenzyme. The kcat values for GST 9.5, mGSTA3-3, mGSTP1-1, mGSTM1-1, and mGSTA4-4 were 2.0, 0.02, 0.40, 0. 05, and 0.01 s-1, respectively, with corresponding Km values of 16, 12, 29, 27, and 49 microM. The catalytic efficiency (kcat/Km) of GST 9.5 in the conjugation of GSH with (+)-anti-BPDE, which is believed to be the ultimate carcinogenic metabolite of benzo(a)pyrene, was about 9-625-fold higher as compared with other mouse GST isoenzymes. These results indicate that GST 9.5 of forestomach is different among mammalian alpha class GSTs because (+)-anti-BPDE has been shown to be a poor substrate for alpha class rat or human GST isoenzymes. The catalytic efficiency of GST 9.5 was approximately 4.5-fold higher than that of pi class human isoenzyme (hGSTP1-1), which among human GSTs is reported to be most efficient in the detoxification of (+)-anti-BPDE. Unlike rat GST isoenzymes, linear Lineweaver-Burk plots were observed for mouse GSTs when GSH was used as a variable substrate. The catalytic efficiencies of the mouse GSTs toward (+)-anti-BPDE were about 2-20-fold higher as compared with the (-)-enantiomer of anti-BPDE. The results of the present study suggest that GST 9.5 may play an important role in the detoxification of (+)-anti-BPDE.


Based on cellular automata, a model of simulating grain growth is established to study the effects of the second phase particle's size and volume fraction on grain growth. The simulation results show that the smaller is the volume fraction of second phase particle, the finer is the grain of pinned matrix, and the pinning force of bigger second phase particle is stronger than that of smaller one. The correlative laws obtained from the simulation is in accordance with the theoretical models.


&NA; Date Presented 3/31/2017 Parkinson's disease (PD) is a complex chronic condition that requires daily self‐management to maintain health, function, and quality of life. This study investigated a generic self‐management program with people with PD. Results will inform the development of a PD‐specific self‐management program. Primary Author and Speaker: Erin Foster Contributing Authors: Tess Greene, Courtney Waugh, Ryan Porritt


In sea urchin embryos, Notch signaling is required to segregate non-skeletogenic mesoderm from early endomesoderm, and is involved in endoderm development. To further investigate the role of Notch signaling in the endoderm cell lineage, we cloned a cDNA for the Hemicentrotus pulcherrimus ortholog of Suppressor of Hairless (HpSu(H)), which is a major mediator of the Notch signaling pathway, examined the expression during development and performed a functional analysis. HpSu(H) mRNA was ubiquitously expressed up to the unhatched blastula stage, and expression was exclusively detected in the vegetal plate region from the hatched blastula stage and then in the archenteron at the gastrula stage. Perturbation of HpSu(H) by injection of the dominant negative form of HpSu(H) (dn-HpSu(H)) mRNA into fertilized eggs led to the disappearance of secondary mesenchyme cells at the tip of the archenteron in the gastrula and pigment cells in the pluteus larva, confirming that Notch signaling is required for non-skeletogenic mesoderm specification. In addition, injection of relatively high amounts of dn-HpSu(H) mRNA caused a defect or atrophy of the foregut in the archenteron at the pluteus stage. This result strongly suggests that Notch signaling is involved in foregut development during sea urchin development.


Particle morphology is a parameter which deserves great attention in industrial processes. This parameter affect some processes and products like medicines production and cosmetics which are developed by the compaction process, toner cartridges, behavior of aerosol flow of and also the filter cakes formation, among others. Although, the influence of the particle morphology on gas filtration is not well known yet. Because of that, this study aimed to evaluate the influence of particles shape on filter cake formation in gas filtration. Three types of particulate materials were used, all organic, with size distributions very close, similar densities and with different shapes. The materials used were: cassava starch of Yoki brand (volumetric average diameter equal to 14.79 μm), corn starch of the brand Maizena (volumetric average diameter equal to 15.70 μm) and wheat flour of the brand Rosa Branca (volumetric diameter average equal to 27.32 μm). The particle morphology study was done by the analysis of microscopy images on the software Image Pro Plus from Media Cybernetics. The particles shape of cassava starch are very close to the spherical shape with average value for the circularity equal to 0.97, the particles of corn starch have polyhedral shape and circularity equal to 0.85 and the particles of wheat flour have circular flake shape with circularity equal to 0.95. Two types of filter fabric were used as a filter medium, the polypropylene and treated polyester. The filtrations were performed with superficial velocity of 10 cm/s and the cleaning process of the filter medium was done with superficial velocity of 15 cm/s. The time of the filtration experiments was 885 seconds for each one and the cleaning process time was 60 seconds. The results have shown that the filter cake formed by the wheat flour in polyester fabric got the higher specific resistance (k2) of all experiments, with average value of 3.41 x10 s and the lowest porosity. The results using corn starch in polypropylene tissue pointed out the lowest value of specific resistance, with average value equal to 1.21x10 s, and also presented a higher porosity of the filter cake. The results have shown that the particle morphology is a very important parameter for the right choosing of the fabric filter, because, for both filter medium tested large differences in pressure drop and also in the efficiency of the cleaning process were observed on the results of the experiments.


We explore the architecture of on-chip hard crossbars in FPGAs and show that the area efficiency of such FPGAs can be improved when combined with shadow clusters (which are soft-logic LUT-based clusters that are architected to sit "behind" the multiplier), as an exemplar of an application circuit that appears less commonly in the designs targeting FPGAs. The metric that we seek to improve is the "frequency" that the need for hard crossbars must appear in the FPGA's target application suite for the inclusion of the hard crossbar to appear to be area-neutral. For example, we show that this break-even point for a hard 32 full-way crossbar changes from 32% of benchmarks needing to require crossbars to 9% for FPGAs with shadow clusters.


Aim Single-site cross-sectional evaluation of a specialist paediatric hospital electronic clinical systems designed to support the medication process. This included simulation testing and evaluation of three electronic systems: PICS an electronic prescribing system designed in an adult hospital and being adapted for paediatric use; BDD an in-development electronic drug dictionary database that will serve as a clinical decision support tool; and Ascribe the existing pharmacy dispensing and management system (used to provide target levels). Simulation testing is used to assess the utility of the systems in the local (paediatric hospital) setting and gauge readiness for use in the live environment. Methods Unique drug regimens from consecutive hand written outpatient pharmacy prescriptions and the hepatology ward paper drug charts were harvested and used as the simulation test. Each regimen was therefore in current use at the study site. The test prescriptions were used to identify each systems' ability to accommodate that regimen, such that: PICS (electronic prescribing system) – can the regimens be prescribed on PICS? BDD (drug dosing database) – are these regimens held within the database? Ascribe (hospital pharmacy system) – can the regimens be recorded on Ascribe to facilitate medication supply? The system tests were undertaken in early July 2015 following suitable training on how to use each of the three systems. Trained researchers attempted to enter the regimens into PICs and Ascribe; and to identify if the regimens were available within the BDD database. Approval was granted by the study site, and Aston University Ethics Committee. Results Outpatients (89 unique regimens) PICS: 74% (66/89) of drug regimens could be completely reproduced electronically, with 34% (30/89) matching default dosing regimens. BDD: 40% (36/89) of drug regimens were found in the database (drug name, indication, route and dose in relation to the age of patient) Ascribe: 77.5% (69/89) of drug regimens were reproducible and had labelling templates that existed on the system, a further 17% (15/89) drug regimens were available but required some amendment to existing templates. Hepatology ward – (126 unique regimens) PICS: 71% (90/126) could be prescribed as written on the drug charts. BDD: 58% (73/126) of drug regimens were found in the database (drug name, route and dose in relation to the age of patient) Ascribe: 94% (118/126) of drug regimens were reproducible and had labelling templates that existed on the ascribe system, a further 18% (23/126) drug regimens were available but required some amendment to existing templates. Conclusion Overall, at the time of testing, the electronic prescribing system (PICS) could accommodate approximately 72% of drug regimens, the BDD database could accommodate approximately 51% – compared to the Ascribe (target figure) of 87%. The findings suggest that further work is required to ensure the systems in development (PICS and BDD) are ready for use.


Since the widespread adoption of peer-to-peer (P2P) networking during the late '90s, P2P applications have multiplied. Their diffusion and adoption are witnessed by the fact that P2P traffic accounts for a significant fraction of Internet traffic. Further, there are concerns regarding the use of these applications, for instance when they are employed to share copyright protected material. Hence, in many situations there would be many reasons to detect P2P traffic. In the late '90s, P2P traffic was easily recognizable since P2P protocols used application-specific TCP or UDP port numbers. However, P2P applications were quickly empowered with the ability to use arbitrary ports in an attempt to go undetected. Nowadays, P2P applications explicitly try to camouflage the originated traffic in an attempt to go undetected. Despite the presence of rules to detect P2P traffic, no methodology exists to extract them from applications without the use of reverse engineering. In this paper we develop a methodology to detect P2P traffic. It is based on the analysis of the protocol used by a P2P application, extraction of specific patterns unique to the protocol, coding of such a pattern in rules to be fed to an intrusion detection system (IDS), and validation of the pattern via network traffic monitoring with SNORT (an open source IDS) fed with the devised rules. In particular, we present a characterization of P2P traffic originated by the OpenNap and WPN protocols (implemented in the WinMx application) and FastTrack protocol (used by KaZaA) obtained using our methodology, that shows the viability of our proposal. Finally, we conclude the paper exposing our undergoing efforts in the extension of the methodology to exploit differences between centralized and decentralized P2P protocols, as well as the characterization of encrypted traffic, and highlight a new research direction in the identification of P2P traffic.


Abstract Novel complexes of Ru (III), Cu (II) and Au (III) (2–4) were prepared using 6-phenyl-2-thioxo-4-(trifluoromethyl)-1,2-dihydropyridine-3-carbonitrile (HL, 1) adopting either electrochemical or traditional chemical methods. The electrochemical method is preferred in the synthesis of the complexes than the chemical one because it affords pure products with higher yields in shorter reaction time. The novel thiopyridine complexes were characterized by elemental analyses, IR, 1H, 19F-NMR, TGA and DTA measurements. The antimicrobial activity evaluation revealed that the complex bearing copper metal 3 has nearly the same activity as the reference drug ciprofloxacin. Anti-inflammatory activity evaluation showed that complex 4 containing gold displayed anti-inflammatory activity higher than the reference drug celecoxib upon using carrageenan rat hind paw edema method.


In this study, three new exergy parameters, namely total exergy destruction ratio, component exergy destruction ratio and dimensionless exergy destruction are introduced in addition to energetic renewability ratio, exergetic renewability ratio, energetic reinjection ratio and exergetic reinjection ratio, and compared for Edremit and Bigadic Geothermal District Heating Systems (GDHSs) based on their actual data. The respective daily graphs of these parameters are presented. Also, regression analyses using the actual data are performed to obtain some correlations for practical use. In brief, these parameters help us to identify the degree of renewability and other aspects and provide some insights.


A 16-year-old girl was admitted to the emergency department because of acute changes in mental state such as paranoid and nihilistic delusions, confabulations, and distortions of body schema perception. Her history was compatible with anorexia nervosa in that she had lost more than 17 kg in weight over one and a half years. Her body mass index was 14. She was diagnosed with Wernicke Korsakoff's syndrome and was given intravenous thiamine at 250 mg/day. Response was dramatic for nystagmus and gait incoordination but not for other symptoms. After dosage was increased to 750 mg/day all symptoms including psychosis improved. With her increase in food consumption, secondary deterioration was observed and diagnosed as refeeding syndrome. After proper replacements she was completely normal in the 9th month, and her weight was 55 kg. This patient was interesting for the presenting symptoms (psychosis), and improvement by high doses of thiamine replacement, and also for refeeding syndrome during this period.


Do investors making complementary investments face the correct incentives, especially when they cannot contract with each other prior to their decisions? We present a two-sided matching model in which buyers and sellers make investments prior to matching. Once matched, buyer and seller bargain over the price, taking into account outside options. Efficient decisions can always be sustained in equilibrium. We characterize the inefficiencies that can arise in equilibrium, and show that equilibria will be constrained efficient. We also show that the degree of diversity in a large market has implications for the extent of any inefficiency.


Supramolecular fluorescent nanoparticles (SFNs), a combination of hydrogen-bonded supramolecular macromers and fluorescent pyrene dyes, can spontaneously self-assemble into thermosensitive micelles in an aqueous environment; the resulting micelles exhibit unique thermo-responsiveness and tunable phase transition behavior, making them highly attractive for the development of next-generation biomedical imaging tools and smart drug delivery applications. Herein, we developed a low-molecular-weight supramolecular polymer, adenine end-capped difunctional polypropylene glycol (BA-PPG), containing an adenine multiple hydrogen bonding moiety that effectively encapsulates pyrene molecules to generate the desired nanoparticle size, pyrene-loading content, and fluorescence properties in aqueous solution. Importantly, pyrene-loaded BA-PPG micelles act as a stable nanocarrier to greatly improve the pyrene-entrapment stability and generate high green-colored excimer emission under physiological conditions. Increasing the temperature above the lower critical solution temperature (45 °C) triggered a rapid release of the encapsulated pyrene from the loaded micelles due to the dissociation of the dynamic hydrogen bonds between adenine moieties, leading to the release of pyrene into aqueous solution and a gradual decrease in pyrene excimer emission. Given its simplicity of fabrication, low cost, high efficiency and multi-functionality, this newly-developed temperature-responsive micelle offers a new pathway for the development of high-efficiency SFNs.


After this article was published, similarities were noted between this article and submissions by other research groups which call into question the validity and provenance of the reported results, and the adherence of this article to the PLOS Authorship policy. Further editorial assessment identified concerns regarding the integrity of the peer review process. In light of these issues, the PLOS ONE Editors retract this article [1]. FW did not agree with the retraction. All other authors either did not respond directly or could not be reached.


The security of long-term CO2 storage following geologic carbon sequestration may be impacted by biogeochemical reactions in the formation; yet little understanding exists about the impact of CO2 gradients on microorganisms that drive biogeochemistry in the deep subsurface. The effect of CO2 gradients on the microbial community from a brine aquifer was examined at reservoir pressure (14 MPa) and temperature (40 °C). The community was exposed to pCO2 at 0, 0.1, 1.4 and 14 MPa for up to 56 days and was examined using 16S rRNA gene clone libraries and qPCR. Diversity indices (equitability) were also determined. In addition, the effect of lowered pH without CO2 exposure was examined. Exposure to CO2 resulted in a decrease in microbial diversity and a decrease in 16S rRNA gene concentrations. After 56 days, no 16S genes were recovered following exposure to 1.4 MPa pCO2 or greater. Exposure to 0.1 MPa pCO2 resulted in 16S gene concentrations an order of magnitude less than 0 MPa pCO2. The equitability of 0 MPa exposure (0.54) decreased with 0.1 MPa exposure to 0.29. Microbial community with the lowered pH (pH = 4.4) and 0 MPa pCO2 resulted in 5 orders of magnitude increased 16S gene concentration than reactors with CO2 exposure, indicating that CO2 was detrimental independent of pH. This suggests that even buffered reservoirs may have a decreased microbial population due to injected CO2. Halotolerant strains Halomonas and Marinobacter appeared to be the most tolerant to CO2 exposure and decreased pH. This is the first study to examine the initial microbial community response to a gradient of CO2 that would follow geologic carbon sequestration.


The kinematic control of a redundant arm based on multiple tasks assigned to different locations of the manipulator is presented. This is equivalent to decomposing a redundant arm into two (or more) nonredundant local arms, the basearm and the forearm, at an intermediate arm location or task point called the elbow. A redundant arm is transformed into a serially cooperating dual-arm system, with the cooperation between the local arms being carried out at the elbow. Then, a manipulator end-effector motion specified by a given task is decomposed into motions of individual local arms as well as an end-effector free motion based on achieving maximum efficiency in task execution. To consider global optimization, elbow control is applied to reshaping and reorientation of a manipulability ellipsoid at the end effector during task execution. The resolved rate control of elbow in the end-effector null and free motion space is used to maximize arm homogeneity and to match the forearm motion space with the task space. Simulation results are shown.<<ETX>>


Background In 2004, Ireland became the first country to institute a comprehensive workplace smoking ban. Previous research has found that comprehensive smoking bans are associated with public health benefits. However, given the relative recency of smoking bans and the long latency of the effect of cigarette smoke on lung cancer, the effect of smoking bans on lung cancer has not been well explored. Methods An appropriate lag time for the smoking ban was calculated (2010 for lung cancer incidence, 2006 for lung cancer mortality). Using these breakpoints, a one-sample, Poisson-based, interrupted time series analysis was used to compare lung cancer incidence and mortality before and after the modelled interruptions. An identical analysis was applied to brain cancer, a cancer with no known link to smoking or second-hand smoke exposure, as a validity check. Results Each year following the modelled interruptions, lung cancer incidence and mortality in Ireland decreased 2% (95%CI 1–3, p<0.01) and 1% (95%CI 0–2, p=0.02) relative to the modelled counterfactual. In absolute terms, the smoking ban was associated with 32 (95%CI 14–52) fewer lung cancer incident cases per year and 113 (95%CI 96–131) fewer lung cancer deaths per year, equivalent to 1.36% of the post-interruption lung cancer incident cases and 6.03% of the post-interruption lung cancer deaths. Discussion The 2004 Irish Workplace Smoking Ban avoided approximately 195 incident lung cancer cases and 1,125 lung cancer deaths to by 2015. This is among the first quasi-experimental studies to examine the effect of a comprehensive smoke-free policy on lung cancer.


Facility location problem involves locating a facility to optimise some performance measure. Location of a public facility significantly affects its service quality. Therefore, it is essential to give special consideration in selecting a proper location for a facility that will be used to meet the community needs in metropolitan areas. Locating a fire station is an example for a service facility location for a community. The main objective in locating a fire station is to minimise the response time, which is the time duration between receiving a call and reaching the place of incident. In metropolitan areas, fire vehicles need to cross highways and other traffic obstacles through some obstacle-overcoming points which delay the response time. Therefore, in the analysis of fire station locations, obstacles have to be taken into consideration. In this paper, fire station location problem is analysed. Models are developed for the fire station location problems, which involve obstacles and obstacle-overcoming points. Particular case problems are analysed and the results are presented.


The fully automated design of optimal or near-optimal feedback controllers is considered for least-pth and minimax cost functions. Solutions are obtained by approximating to the desired optimal output by a rational function. Optimal results for a 2nd-order model and suboptimal responses for the corresponding 7th-order linear system are used to illustrate the method.


Employee relations strategy is an integral element of organizational strategic blue print. Employee relations strategy is the employee-employer relationship which govern the rules of employment. In today's competitive business environment organizations are faced with the challenge of employee retention caused by high employee turnover and inadequacy in human resource talents and skills in the market, therefore most organizations are implementing policies to ensure that they become the employer of choice thereby enabling them to compete for the limited human resource talents and skills in the market. Employee is a major asset valued greatly by the organization. This study was set out to verify how true the statement is. The study established how employee relations strategies influence operations of an enterprise. This research study established the employee relations strategies implemented by banking institutions in order to improve their overall organizational performance and to enhance the achievement of organizational goals. The research study was also set to come up with new ways o f improving employee relations in banking institutions and other forms of organization. The study established the relationship between employee relations strategies and organizational performance and ways of building up an employer of choice model to maximize organizational performance. The research study reviewed literature on the topic of study based on five components of employee relations strategies namely; staffing and promotions, employee training and development, performance appraisal, job analysis and job description and finally employee reward system. The study analyzed Human relations theory constructed by Elton Mayo in 1933 as theoretical framework guiding the study which formed the basis for perceived conceptual framework in the study. The research study was carried out at Kenya Commercial Bank Ltd; Kisumu Branch targeting all their employees at all levels of the organizational structure. The sample population of the study included all the sixty of the branch's staff population and the research design was descriptive with instrumentation of questionnaires and in-depth interview of top level management, sampling design was used in the research study, data collection was stratified using random sampling since the research was not dealing with homogenous respondents. Data collected was analyzed using SPSS version 12 and presented in tables to allow for cross comparison according to the objective o f the study. The study found that staffing and promotions, employee training and development, performance appraisal, job analysis and job description and finally employee reward system as components of employee relations strategies significantly influence organizational performance and therefore various strategies to strengthen these components of employee relations strategies should be put in place. The study recommended that a similar study should be carried out in various organizations in other sectors of the economy to complement the findings.


I. Introduction Much has been written about the exception rocks of the Ardennes, but the petrographical work has been treated, in some memoirs, apart from the field-evidence. This, indeed, owing to the limited occurrence of the most peculiar specimens, is not easy to obtain. It seemed then that a detailed study of a few interesting examples of the rocks, and of their relations in the field, might be worth a brief record. Further, eminent authorities have expresses different opinions as to the cause of the alterations. André Dumont in his famous monograph2 described numerous observations, and inclined to the view that the structures were the result of contact-action, Prof. Barrois,3 from comparison of specimens with those of Britanny, supported this theory. A. von Lasaulx4 added the important evidence that a granite occurs in the Hohe Venn. Other authorities, however, have described the folding, contortion, and faulting of the rocks, and attribute the changes to mechanical influences. This opinion is advocated by Prof. Renard in a valuable petrographical paper,5 and by Prof. Gosselet in his exhaustive memoir on the district.6 Thus I became interested in the question, and, at the desire of Prof. Bnney (as he was unable at that time to undertake the investigation) I visited the district in 1898, and collected many specimens. After careful study of these, I made a second expedition in the summer of 1899, and gained observations over a wider area of country. In the course of this investigation I have received much valuable help


Multi-view data has become ubiquitous, especially with multi-sensor systems like self-driving cars or medical patient-side monitors. We propose two methods to approach robust multi-view representation learning with the aim of leveraging local relationships between views.The first is an extension of Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA) where we consider multiple one-vs-rest CCA problems, one for each view. We use a group-sparsity penalty to encourage finding local relationships. The second method is a straightforward extension of a multi-view AutoEncoder with view-level drop-out.We demonstrate the effectiveness of these methods in simple synthetic experiments. We also describe heuristics and extensions to improve and/or expand on these methods.


In this paper I amplify Habermas's eclecticism, and draw on a variety of pedagogic, psychologic, philosophic, and feminist literature to explore and critique the Habermasian Ideal Speech Situation (ISS). I believe that ISS, as the intersection of various ontological positions, has implications for our daily practices, and I illustrate how these might be transformed. Thus, I am proclaiming ISS as an catalyst for reflexive considerations of our ontological positions, and for instigating transformative processes.


BACKGROUND
The National Immunization Survey demonstrates that national immunization coverage in 2002 remained near the all-time highs achieved in 2000. However, that survey cannot detect whether coverage is uniformly high within relatively small areas or populations. The measles resurgence in the early 1990s revealed that coverage was low in some areas, particularly among inner-city children from racial and ethnic minority groups. Today, identifying areas with low childhood-vaccination coverage remains important, particularly if these areas are at risk for the introduction of disease. In 1995, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched a congressionally mandated demonstrated project now called the Childhood Immunization Demonstration project of Community Health Networks. This mandate specified an assessment to determine whether a network of primary care providers affiliated with university teaching hospitals could assume a public health responsibility for raising immunization levels among preschoolers in medically underserved communities. Communities with federally designated health professional shortage areas were invited to submit proposals, and 4 were selected: Detroit, MI, New York, NY, San Diego, CA, and rural Colorado.

OBJECTIVES
To measure immunization coverage among preschool children in the 4 selected medically underserved areas and determine predictors of coverage levels.

DESIGN AND SETTING
Surveys in the 4 areas were based on stratified cluster probability sample designs in which clusters of dwelling units were selected and all households in selected clusters were screened for the presence of children aged 12 to 35 months. Immunization histories were obtained from parents and providers for these children. For each age-eligible child, the information collected on utilization of immunization health services included a listing of all clinics or offices ever used for the child's well-child care and/or for obtaining immunizations. Information was also collected on whether the child currently had health insurance (public and/or private) and whether the child had a medical home. A child was classified as having a medical home if the survey respondent reported a source of well care that was the same as the source of sick care and that this place was not an emergency department.

PARTICIPANTS
Children 12 to 35 months of age in Detroit, New York, San Diego, and rural Colorado.

OUTCOME MEASURE
Community-wide up-to-date (UTD) immunization coverage levels at 19 to 35 months of age, defined as receipt of 4 doses of diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and pertussis vaccine, 3 doses of poliovirus vaccine, 1 dose of measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine, 3 doses of Haemophilus influenzae type B vaccine, and 3 doses of hepatitis B vaccine (the 4:3:1:3:3 series).

ANALYSIS
We examined the association between coverage level and independent variables and performed chi2 and t tests to determine whether differences observed within and between groups and sites were significant.

RESULTS
The overall response rate for eligible children ranged from 79.4% to 88.1%. Coverage levels for most individual vaccines were >90% in all sites except Detroit. Coverage for the 4:3:1:3:3 series was significantly higher for children in New York (84%) and San Diego (86%) than for children in Detroit (66%) and rural Colorado (75%). Demographic risk factors related to UTD immunization status varied by site. Although differences in coverage levels by ethnicity varied by site, differences were not significant. In Colorado and New York, coverage was slightly lower among Hispanic than white children (71% vs 76% and 83% vs 91%, respectively). In San Diego, coverage was lower among whites, compared with Hispanics (76% vs 85%). Coverage was also lower for African American than white children only in New York (75% vs 91%). However, in San Diego and Colorado, children receiving their vaccinations from private providers had lower coverage levels than children receiving their vaccinations from other providers (78% vs 91% and 71% vs 57%, respectively). Ictively). In all 4 sites, children for whom respondents reported having an immunization card at the time of the interview were more likely to have higher series coverage levels than children for whom a parent-held card was not available. Also, children who were UTD at 3 months of age had significantly higher vaccination-series coverage levels than children who were not UTD at 3 months of age. In addition, the vaccination coverage was lower for children in Detroit whose parents reported problems accessing the health care system because lack of transportation (46%), compared with those who did not report such problems (65%); however, this difference did not reach significance (chi2 = 6.0). In Colorado, the small proportion of children in families without a phone had a lower vaccination coverage level (58%) than those in households with a phone (75%) (chi2 = 6.3). In all sites, children who were UTD at 3 months of age and had a parent-held vaccination card were more likely to be UTD at 19 to 35 months of age.

CONCLUSIONS
Preschoolers in these medically underserved areas were not at uniform risk for underimmunization. Because they were designated as health professional shortage areas, the 4 sites in this study were expected to have low immunization-coverage rates. However, this was not the case. In fact, coverage in 3 of the 4 areas was quite high compared with US national figures (73%); only Detroit had a much lower UTD rate (66%). Efforts are needed to improve methods to identify areas with low immunization coverage so that resources can be directed to places where interventions are needed. Our results reveal that an area's need for childhood immunization interventions is not well predicted by a low number of providers per capita. Other criteria must be developed to predict areas or populations with low immunization coverage. Understanding more about the characteristics of children/provider pairs for children who are UTD at 3 months and more about the role of parental hand-held cards, along with finding strategies to improve immunization delivery by providers in Vaccines for Children Program facilities, suggest potentially productive avenues for increasing and sustaining high coverage levels.


We previously reported results from a case-control study nested in a large hospital-based cohort of men identified over a 12-year period (1990-2002) that gene promoter hypermethylation in histopathologically benign prostate specimens is a marker of prostate cancer risk (Tang et al. J Urol 2013). Whether methylation in pre-diagnostic benign prostate tissue can also predict subsequent disease prognosis has not been studied. Therefore, we estimated hazard ratios (HRs) for biochemical recurrence (BCR), defined as two successive prostate-specific antigen increases after definitive treatment, associated with methylation status of the two genes we found associated with prostate cancer risk: retinoic acid receptor-β (RARB) and adenomatosis polyposis coli (APC). Follow-up data were from a subset of the cases (n=394) that were part of our aforementioned nested prostate cancer case-control study of gene promoter methylation status of five genes measured in pre-diagnostic benign biopsy specimens. Overall, after adjusting for known clinical risk factors for prostate cancer progression (advanced grade, advanced stage, high prostate-specific antigen (PSA)), neither methylation of the APC or the RARB genes was associated with a significantly increased risk of BCR, but risk associated with RARB methylation was elevated (HR=1.30; 95% CI= 0.93-1.83). This risk was higher in Whites (HR=1.44; 95% CI= 0.92-2.25) compared with African Americans (HR=1.22; 95% CI= 0.71-2.12), but differences by race were not significant. In additional stratified analyses, we found that while associations with APC methylation did not differ between strata, RARB methylation showed significantly increased risk of BCR in specific substrata; specifically men with high PSA at time of diagnosis (HR=1.73; 95% CI=1.13–2.64) and men in whom methylation did not occur in the four other genes under study (HR=1.82; 95% CI=1.14–2.93). In conclusion, we show for the first time that methylation events occurring before onset of prostate cancer may predict the course of subsequent cancer in defined patient groups. These findings may have important clinical decision making implications in terms of both identifying aggressive prostate cancer at its earliest stages and also avoiding unnecessary additional diagnostic biopsies. Citation Format: Benjamin Rybicki, Michelle Jankowski, Kieu Do, Dhananjay Chitale, Sheri Trudeau, Andrew Rundle, Steven Belinsky, Deliang Tang. Methylation of RARB in prediagnosis benign tissue and risk of disease progression in men subsequently diagnosed with prostate cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirteenth Annual AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research; 2014 Sep 27-Oct 1; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Can Prev Res 2015;8(10 Suppl): Abstract nr A07.


This paper argues that Don DeLillo's 2007 novel, Falling Man, engages with abject art to disrupt the pre-existing systems of signi�cation and dualistic rhetoric that characterized state and media responses to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The novel engages with one of the most controversial areas of 9/11 discourse: claims that the attacks were an artistic spectacle. Falling Man posits that if art is to continue to grapple with the meanings of 9/11, it must depart from familiar discourses of tragedy and triumph and embrace radical artistic responses. The novel ful�lls this through its engagement with abject art, which poses necessary questions pertaining to the aesthetic, ethical, and political. Such an art form inspires terror and requires a particular aesthetic. Through its assessment of abject art and terrorism, Falling Man destabilizes conventional interpretive frameworks to provide a new artistic and ethical response to 9/11.


The idea that culture comprises resources that are used has become a popular means to re-conceptualize the culture—agency antinomy. However, the theorization of using resources is fragmented. The present article reviews several attempts to theorize resources, arguing that there has been too much focus upon the resources themselves, while the notion of use has been neglected. Focusing upon mode of use, as opposed to the resources used, the article underscores the importance of distinguishing between tools, which are used to act upon the world, and signs, which are used to act upon the mind. The article also argues for a distinction between non-reflective use, or mediation, and reflective use of resources. Future research should focus upon the transformation of tools into signs and the transformation of mediation into reflective use. The article concludes by discussing problematic issues that remain in conceptualizing the use of resources.


At present, whether structural remodeling and functional adjustment of arterial vasculature might occur during weightlessness has not yet been fully recognized. Hence, a serial work using tail-suspension rat model aimed at elucidating the nature, time course and reversibility of changes in structure, function and perivascular innervation of arterial vasculature in different body parts during and after simulated weightlessness was started several years ago in this laboratory. Our results have demonstrated the differentiated effects of simulated weightlessness on arterial vasculature in different body parts: (1) in the hindquarter arteries and arterioles, it leads to atrophic remodeling changes, diminished vasoconstrictor responsiveness and perivascular hypoinnervation; (2) in the fore body part, it leads to hypertrophic changes, enhanced responsiveness and hyperinnervation in the arteries. The results suggest that microgravity-induced changes in cardiovascular effector apparatus, e. g., the structural remodeling and functional adjustment in vascular smooth muscle, might play an important role in the genesis of postflight orthostatic intolerance.


The review considers the history of evolution and the present state of the problem of postoperative radiotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer. The randomized trials and meta-analyses given in recent publications provide evidence that it should be used in radically operated patients with morphologically verified regional metastases. The paper also shows promises of hypofractionation and a postoperative radiation/chemotherapy ratio for non-small cell lung cancer.


: Chronic liver diseases mainly due to schistosomiasis is a common clinical feature in Egypt. On the other hand, Toxoplasma latent infection is another common feature. In this paper, it was aimed to study the role of Toxoplasma latent infection in patients with chronic liver diseases mainly due to schistosomiasis. The latent Toxoplasma infection was measured by the positivity of IgG to ELISA and the negativity of IgM to DS-ELISA. The cellular immunity was assessed by the dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB) skin test. The clinical and the laboratory studies showed that latent Toxoplasma infection had no marked effect on the progression of the chronic liver diseases.


The optimal site to administer opioids e.g. morphine is as close as possible to the opiate receptor site (spinal cord) by the intrathecal route, as it is the place of effectiveness. To improve the clinical effectiveness of intrathecal morphine two strategies
 are proposed: 1. to lower the intrathecal dose of morphine and thereby reduce the supraspinal adverse effects while maintaining
 the analgesic effects; 2. further research to synthesize highly selective endorphin mimetic drugs with a minimum of side effects.
 We hypothesized that low doses of intrathecal morphine might probably result in similar pain relief scores but might minimize
 the incidence of adverse effects. The first study was designed to determine the optimal intrathecal dose of morphine in total hip
 surgery. The optimal intrathecal dose was defined as the dose, which provides effective analgesia with minimal side effects
 during 24 h after total hip surgery. Patients (n=143) scheduled for total hip surgery were randomized to four double-blinded
 groups with a standardized bupivacaine dose but different doses of intrathecal morphine: group I, 0.025 mg; group II, 0.05 mg;
 group III, 0.1 mg; and, group IV, 0.2 mg. Pain scores, intravenous morphine intake {patient controlled analgesia (PCA)} and
 morphine related side effects (respiratory depression, postoperative nausea and vomiting, itching, urinary retention) were
 recorded for 24 h after surgery. Excellent postoperative pain relief was present in all groups. The highest pain scores were found
 in group I. The mean use of systemic morphine administered by PCA infusion pump was: 23.7 mg, 17.8 mg, 10.9 mg and 9.9 mg,
 in group I, II, III, and IV, respectively (p<0.01, group III and IV versus group I). We conclude that 0.1 mg intrathecal morphine is
 the optimal dose for pain relief after hip surgery with minimal side effects. A second study evaluated the questions: firstly, to
 what extent do spinal opiates contribute to PONV (post operative nausea and vomiting); and, secondly, how effectively can
 metoclopramide reduce the incidence of PONV after intrathecal administration of morphine. All patients were scheduled to
 undergo major joint surgery of the lower limb. The patients were allocated to three groups. Group I (n=200): intrathecal
 anesthesia was induced by administration of 20 mg bupivacaine and 0.2 mg morphine. Group II (n=100): intrathecal anesthesia
 was induced using the same dosages and drugs for intrathecal anesthesia, but in addition systemic metoclopramide was
 injected in two doses of 20 mg. Finally, for patients in group III (n=100) intrathecal anesthesia was induced by the
 administration of 20 mg bupivacaine only. The maximum PONV percentages were 41.1%, 32.7% and 37% in group I, II and III
 respectively. The consumption of antiemetics was similar in all groups. The number of patients who needed one or more
 additional antiemetics during the first 24 hours after surgery was 112 (56.6%), 57 (58%) and 60 (60%) in group I, II and III,
 respectively. Administration of metoclopramide did not reduce the overall incidence of PONV. Our study shows no relationship
 between the use of 0.2 mg intrathecal morphine and the incidence of PONV during 24 hours postoperatively. The third study
 was designed to determine whether low doses of intrathecal morphine still result in itching and it evaluates the outcome of
 using standardized treatment with promethazine and - for intractable itch - naloxon. Patients (n=143) scheduled for total hip
 surgery were randomized to four double-blinded groups with a standardized bupivacaine dose but different doses of intrathecal
 morphine: group I, 0.025 mg; group II, 0.05 mg; group III, 0.1 mg; and, group IV, 0.2 mg (same patients as Chapter 3). The
 presence or absence of itching was noted every three hours for a twenty-four hour period. When requested by the patient, the
 standard procedure for treatment was initiated. The incidence of itching was: Group I: 14.3%; Group II: 21.6%; Group III: 48.6%;
 and, Group IV: 61.7%. Itch was treated by administering promethazine intramuscularly in 2,9% (Group I); 8,1% (Group II); 10.8%
 (Group III); and, 8.9% (Group IV) respectively. Only in group IV there was 1 patient who needed naloxon to treat itching. The
 incidence and severity of itching is a dose related side effect in the dose range of 0.025 – 0.2 mg of intrathecal morphine. Itching
 even occurs after the low doses of intrathecal morphine, but symptoms vanish after promethazine 25 mg intramuscularly.


Carrier phase multipath is currently the limiting error source for high precision Global Positioning System (GPS) applications such as attitude determination and short baseline surveying. Multipath is the corruption of the direct GPS signal by one or more signals reflected from the local surroundings. Multipath reflections affect both the carrier phase measured by the receiver and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). A technique is described which uses the SNR information to correct multipath errors in differential phase observations. The potential of the technique to reduce multipath to almost the level of receiver noise was demonstrated in simulations. The effectiveness on real data was demonstrated with controlled static experiments. Small errors remained, predominantly from high frequency multipath. The low frequency multipath was virtually eliminated. The remaining high frequency receiver noise can be easily removed by smoothing or Kalman filtering.


UAV Modeling and Simulation at Normal and Abnormal Conditions Mofetoluwa Fagbemi The main objective of this thesis is to develop new capabilities within the West Virginia University (WVU) unmanned aerial systems (UAS) simulation environment for the design and analysis of fault tolerant control laws on small sized unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). An aerodynamic model for an electric powered UAV is developed using a vortex lattice method implemented within the computational design package Tornado. One-dimensional look-up tables are developed for the main stability and control derivatives, which are then used to calculate linear aerodynamic forces and moments for the nonlinear aircraft equations of motion. Flight data are used for model verification and tuning. The characteristics under normal and abnormal operation of various types of sensors typically used for UAV control are classified under nine functional categories. A general and comprehensive framework for sensor modeling is defined as a sequential alteration of the exact value of the measurand corresponding to each functional category. Simple mathematical and logical algorithms are formulated and used in this process. Each functional category is characterized by several parameters, which may be maintained constant or may vary during simulation. The user has maximum flexibility in selecting values for the parameters within and outside sensor design ranges. These values can be set to change at pre-defined moments, such that permanent and intermittent scenarios can be simulated. The aircraft and sensor models are then integrated with the WVU UAS simulation environment, which is created using MATLAB/Simulink for the computational part and FlightGear for the visualization of the aircraft and scenery. A simple user-friendly graphical interface is designed to allow for detailed simulation scenario setup. The functionality of the developed models is illustrated through a limited analysis of the effects of sensor abnormal operation on the trajectory tracking performance of autonomous UAV. A composite metric is used for aircraft performance assessment based on both trajectory tracking errors and control activity. The targeted sensors are the gyroscopes providing angular rate measurements and the global positioning system providing position and velocity information. These sensors are instrumental in the inner and outer control loops, respectively, which characterize the typical control architecture for autonomous trajectory tracking. Due to its generality and flexibility, the proposed sensor model provides detailed insight into the dynamic implications of sensor functionality on the performance of control algorithms. It facilitates the investigation of the synergistic interactions between sensors and control systems and may lead to improvements in both areas.


This article investigates the tidal accelerations exerted by planets on orbiting moons. The tidal acceleration was calculated, in terms of the acceleration due to gravity at the planet's surface, for several planetary systems in the solar system. A plot was created which showed that for most planetary systems, the tidal acceleration varied inversely as the cube of the semi-major axis, as theory predicted for the Earth and Moon.


The DNA fragment d(GCGAAGC), occurring in the initial replication stage of the phage ФX174, in herpes simplex virus, in the promoter region of the heat-shock gene of E. coli and in rRNA genes is still in the focus of biological and biochemical research. This shortest hairpin guided us to study the relationship between the structure and function of other heptamers with changing triplet sequence in the center of the ODN molecule (AAA, GGG, CCC). Replacement of the central part of ODN was chosen because it was initially expected that the double peak of the G oxidation signal is due to the difference in the positions of G in the stem and a loop of the initially investigated d(GCGAAGC) fragment. The experiments, however, did not confirm this assumption. In this work, we have focused on the study of the interaction of selected heptamers with the surface of the mercury in order to answer the question to what extent the A + C reduction peaks and double-peak G oxidation signals are able to reflect the structures of heptamers affected by different central trinucleotide sequences. Guanine residues d(GCGGGGC) in the structure of the quadruplex are resistant to structural changes and the voltammetric responses are therefore minimized. The interactions of quadruplexes with the surface of the electrode are also weaker than interactions of hairpin structures d(GCGAAGC), d(GCAAAGC) and the duplex structure d(GCCCCGC). The presented research has shown that a small change in the central sequence not only can alter the structure (tetramolecular quadruplex, hairpin, bimolecular duplex) but also influences the electrochemical and adsorption properties of these molecules on the charged interface. Although electrochemistry is able to detect the various structural layout of the studied heptamers, it is desirable to support the electrochemical conclusions with other methods, e.g., UV-VIS absorption spectra reflecting chiroptic properties of ODNs and separation methods, such as gel electrophoresis (PAGE).


A systemic vitamin K analog, compound 5 (Cpd 5), possesses the ability to inhibit cell growth of tumor cells. Therefore, we investigated the effect of Cpd 5 in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell lines and evaluated its role in apoptosis. Human HCC cell lines were cultured and treated with Cpd 5. Apoptosis was assessed using DAPI staining and Annexin-V membrane staining. The expression of caspases, XIAP and Bcl-xL was also investigated. Cpd 5 decreased cell viability in a dose-dependent manner in two HCC cells (HLE and SK-Hep1) containing mutant p53, but not in the HepG2 cell line, which contained wild-type p53. Cpd 5-treated HLE and SK-Hep1 cells showed typical apoptotic features, nuclear condensation and nuclear fragmentation upon DAPI staining. Positive membranous staining for Annexin-V was also seen in these cells. Both caspase-8 and caspase-3 activities were up-regulated slightly. Pro-caspase-8 protein levels decreased slightly in both cells. Although the expression of Bcl-xL was not influenced by Cpd 5, that of XIAP decreased in HLE cells. However, the pan-caspase inhibitor, zVAD, could not significantly prevent Cpd 5-induced apoptosis and Cpd 5 could not augment TRAIL-induced apoptosis. These results demonstrate that Cpd 5 induced apoptosis in human HCC cell lines, mainly independently of caspase activities. This may contribute to its highly potent cytotoxicity toward HCC cells.


SUMMARY: Spontaneous intracranial hypotension is a condition characterized by low CSF volume secondary to leakage through a dural defect with no identifiable cause. Patients classically present with orthostatic headaches, but this symptom is not specific to spontaneous intracranial hypotension, and initial misdiagnosis is common. The most prominent features of spontaneous intracranial hypotension on intracranial MR imaging include "brain sag" and diffuse pachymeningeal enhancement, but these characteristics can be seen in several other conditions. Understanding the clinical and imaging features of spontaneous intracranial hypotension and its mimickers will lead to more prompt and accurate diagnoses. Here we discuss conditions that mimic the radiologic and clinical presentation of spontaneous intracranial hypotension as well as other disorders that CSF leaks can imitate.


The postembryonic acquisition of behavior requires alterations in neuronal circuitry, which ultimately must be understood as specific changes in neuronal structure, membrane properties, and synaptic connectivity. This study addresses this goal by describing the postembryonic remodeling of the excitability and dendritic morphology of an identified motoneuron, MN5, which during the metamorphosis ofManduca sexta (L.) changes from a slow motoneuron that is involved in larval-crawling behavior into a fast adult flight motoneuron. A fivefold lower input resistance, a higher firing threshold, and an increase in voltage-activated K+current contribute to a lower excitability of the adult MN5, which is a prerequisite for its newly acquired behavioral role. In addition, the adult MN5 displays larger Ca2+ currents. The dendrites of MN5 undergo extensive remodeling. Drastic regression of larval dendrites during early pupal stages is followed by rapid growth of new dendrites. Critical changes in excitability take place during the onset of adult dendrite formation. Larval Ca2+currents are absent when dendritic remodeling is most dramatic but increase markedly during later development. Changes in Ca2+ and K+ currents follow different time courses, allowing the transient occurrence of Ca2+ spikes during pupal stages when new dendritic branching ceases. The adult MN5 can produce prolonged Ca2+ spikes after K+ currents are reduced. We suggest that alterations in Ca2+ and K+ currents are necessary for the participation of MN5 in flight behavior and that the transient production of Ca2+ spikes may influence postembryonic dendritic remodeling.


To explore the protective effect of cordyceps sinensis (CS) on cyclosporine A nephro-toxicity (CsA-Nx) and the possible mechanism, we studied the kidney changes induced by CsA in rats by light microscopy (LM), electronic microscopy (EM) and morphometrical analysis. At the 15th day after receiving CsA, prominent vacuolation and necrosis were noted microscopically in proximal tubular cells and mitochondria swelling electronmicroscopically. Morphometrical study showed that the epithelial areas of both proximal and distal tubules in the CS group were larger than those of the control group. There were obvious vacuolation (90%) and necrosis in proximal tubular cells at different stages of chronic CsA-Nx. Interstitial edema with mild fibrosis was observed. Mitochondria abnormality was seen electronmicroscopically. Morphometrical analysis showed that the epithelial cell areas of tubules and glomeruli were smaller in the CsA group than those in the CS group. Both acute and chronic experiments showed that CS could protect the kidney from CsA-Nx and ameliorate the glomerular and interstitial injuries.


Erosion along high-latitude coasts has been accelerating in recent decades, resulting in land loss and infrastructure damage, threatening the wellbeing of local communities, and forcing undesired community relocations. This review paper evaluates the state of practice of current coastal stabilization measures across several coastal communities in northern high latitudes. After considering global practices and those in northern high latitude and arctic settings, this paper then explores new and potential coastal stabilization measures to address erosion specific to northern high-latitude coastlines. The challenges in constructing the current erosion control measures and the cost of the measures over the last four decades in northern high-latitude regions are presented through case histories. The synthesis shows that among the current erosion controls being used at high latitudes, revetments built with rocks have the least reported failures and are the most common measures applied along northern high-latitude coastlines including permafrost coasts, while riprap is the most common material used. For seawalls, bulkheads, and groin systems, reported failures are common and mostly associated with displacement, deflection, settlement, vandalism, and material ruptures. Revetments have been successfully implemented at sites with a wide range of mean annual erosion rates (0.3–2.4 m/year) and episodic erosion (6.0–22.9 m) due to the low costs and easy construction, inspection, and decommissioning. No successful case history has been reported for the non-engineered expedient measures that are constructed in the event of an emergency, except for the expedient vegetation measure using root-wads and willows. Soft erosion prevention measures, which include both beach nourishment and dynamically stable beaches, have been considered in this review. The effectiveness of beach nourishment in Utqiaġvik, Alaska, which is affected by permafrost, is inconclusive. Dynamically stable beaches are effective in preventing erosion, and observations show that they experience only minor damages after single storm events. The analysis also shows that more measures have been constructed on a spit (relative to bluffs, islands, barrier islands, and river mouths), which is a landform where many Alaskan coastal communities reside. The emerging erosion control measures that can potentially be adapted to mitigate coastal erosion in high-latitude regions include geosynthetics, static bay beach concept, refrigerating techniques, and biogeochemical applications. However, this review shows that there is a lack of case studies that evaluated the performance of these new measures in high-latitude environments. This paper identifies research gaps so that these emerging measures can be upscaled for full-scale applications on permafrost coasts.


Fertilization, as agro-technical step, is irreplaceable in the process of achieving high yields. However, in the aim of sustainable agriculture and rural settlements, it is necessary to establish which systems of fertilization in the function of protecting biodiversity could be implemented in maize production. That is why an experiment was established with different systems and ways of fertilization and during this test hybrid ZP 704 was grown. There was implemented dressing with mineral nitrogen with two doses (125 and 270 kg N/ha), to ploughed maize (in amount of 8 000 kg/ha) as an organic matter and mix of mineral nitrogen (both of dose) and ploughed maize. Also, in the part of the test in which inoculation seeds before sewing was implements, as liquid inoculums there are composite of effective race next class: Azotobacter chroococcum, Azospirillum lipoferum, Klebsiella planticola, Beijerinckia Derx. They diagnosed that search parameters (amount of organic substance, the level transformation of organic substance in the organic substance of the soil, index of total nitrogen and yield seed of maize, were increase quite in the different combination ploughed maize and mineral nitrogen). In process of inoculation of seeds, searched elements of the essential mineral elements of soil (total amount of micro-organisms, bacterium scale from period cycle nitrogenous) in minimum and middle dose application mineral nitrogenous had maximum values. It is concluded that for protection of biodiversity and economical organic food production, application mineral dressing could be correct with plough organic substance or with implement diazotrof-a, and in that occasion the amount of mineral nitrogen could be reduce for 40 kg/ha.


To whom correspondence and reprint requests should be addressed. Freshwater Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar L.) smolts were abruptly transferred to sea water in May and over 3 days blood plasma ion concentrations were determined together with atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and plasma renin activity (PRA) using antibodies raised against human ANP and angiotensin I. Blood plasma Na + and Cl − levels in smolts increased and, between 24 and 72 h, PRA increased significantly to 0.9 ng ml −1 h −1 , while there was a gradual rise in ANP levels to 10 pmol l −1 at 72 h. Similar measurements were made on parr transferred to sea water in September; in these fish Na + and Cl − levels increased as in smolts, PRA remained unchanged at about 0.6 ng ml −1 h −1 and ANP levels increased significantly to about 20pmoll −1 at 24 and 72 h. After 2h in sea water parr showed wide variability in ANP levels, in keeping with circulatory stress, hypoxia and increased atrial stretching. Parr transferred to sea water in December showed low drinking rates of 1.95 ml kg −1 h −1 , even after 20 days, compared to a high drinking rate of about 7 ml kg −1 h −1 reported for smolts transferred in May. Rainbow trout acclimated to sea water for 3 weeks showed elevated levels of both ANP and PRA, similar to values reported for marine species. Freshwater rainbow trout fed a high-salt diet (12% NaCl) showed significantly elevated levels of ANP compared to fish fed a normal diet (1.5 % NaCl), while PRA levels were depressed, though not significantly.


Cholinergic (ACh) basal forebrain (BF) neurons are active during wakefulness and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and are involved in sleep homeostasis. We have previously shown in adult animals that cortical neurons that express neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) and the receptor for Substance P (NK1R) are activated during non-REM (NREM) sleep in proportion to homeostatic sleep drive. Here, we show that BF neurons modulate cortical nNOS/NK1R cells. In vitro optogenetic stimulation of BF terminals both activated and inhibited nNOS/NK1R neurons. Pharmacological studies revealed cholinergic responses mediated by postsynaptic activation of muscarinic receptors (mAChRs; M3R > M2/4R > M1R) and that presynaptic M3R and M2R activation reduced glutamatergic input onto nNOS/NK1R neurons whereas nicotinic receptor (nAChR)-mediated responses of nNOS/NK1R neurons were mixed. Cholinergic responses of nNOS/NK1R neurons were largely unaffected by prolonged wakefulness. ACh release, including from BF cells, appears to largely excite cortical nNOS/NK1R cells while reducing glutamatergic inputs onto these neurons. We propose that cholinergic signaling onto cortical nNOS/NK1R neurons may contribute to the regulation of cortical activity across arousal states, but that this response is likely independent of the role of these neurons in sleep homeostasis.


Proceedings: AACR 106th Annual Meeting 2015; April 18-22, 2015; Philadelphia, PA

Pro-angiogenic vascular stem cells and angiogenesis are key events in the process of glioma formation. Vascular lesions that arise from a focal budding of endothelial cells have been associated with a poor prognosis in glioblastoma multiforme. Hyper-proliferative endothelial lesions are common in patients with severe brain tumors, however, little is known about the relevance of vascular stem cells in the development of these lesions. We tested the hypothesis that the overexpression of the inhibitor of DNA binding and differentiation protein 3 (ID3) reprograms the molecular signature of endothelial cells to stem-like cells; and we hypothesize that these stem-like cells participate in the development of vascular lesion formation in glioma. We generated ID3 overexpressing cells using the human cerebral microvascular endothelial cell line, hCMEC/D3; and determined the effect of ID3 on molecular stem-like signature and vascular lesion formation. ID3 overexpressing cells resided more in the G0/G1 phase and showed a significantly higher level of stem cell markers CD34, CD133, Oct-4, and Sox-2 than wild-type cells. ID3 overexpressing cells also showed a significant increase in VEGFR3, an endothelial growth factor receptor that has been previously reported to correlate with tumor grade of malignant gliomas. In addition, ID3 overexpressing cells showed increased levels of Pyk2, a kinase that has been shown to control glioma cell migration. In the 3-D culture model, we observed that ID3 was essential for the growth of endothelial spheroids. Our findings demonstrate that ID3 generated vascular stem-like cells have the capacity to participate in vascular lesion formation and that vascular stem-like molecular signatures are regulated in part by ID3. Furthermore, the correlation of ID3 overexpression with an increase in VEGFR3 and Pyk2 suggests the importance of ID3 in malignant glioma endothelium. Assessing ID3 in malignant gliomas on a functional level may enable a better understanding for how the microvascular niche contributes to the development of glioma. A better understanding of how microvascular lesions depend on ID3 may open new avenues for the prevention and treatment of glioma.

Citation Format: Jayanta Das, Quentin H. Felty. Id3 generated cancer stem-like cells: A microvascular niche for the development of glioma. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 4179. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-4179


Classical novae go through a phase of constant bolometric luminosity as any remaining hydrogen in the accreted layers on the white dwarf is converted to helium. The length of this phase is dependent on many factors, including the amount of mass left on the white dwarf after the explosive phase of the outburst, the white dwarf's mass, and the efficiency of any secondary mass-loss mechanisms, such as radiation pressure–driven winds. Observations show that the end of nuclear burning is accompanied by a decline (or "turnoff") in the X-ray output of the novae, but this turnoff has been directly observed in the X-ray light curves of only two novae, GQ Mus and V1974 Cygni. In 1996, Shore, Starrfield, & Sonneborn showed that for V1974 Cyg the nuclear turnoff can also be indirectly obtained from the evolution of the ultraviolet emission lines. In this study, we analyze the IUE archive for novae that displayed a UV-line evolution like that of V1974 Cyg. We determine UV decline times and estimate nuclear turnoff times for the following novae: V693 Corona Austrinae 1981, QU Vul 1984, LMC 1990 No. 1, V838 Herculis 1991, and V351 Puppis 1991. The turnoff times of these novae, all of which occurred on ONeMg white dwarfs, were very rapid. Finally, the turnoff times are correlated with speed class such that the fastest novae show the shortest turnoff times.


A multi-resolution technique for matching a stereo pair of images based on translation invariant discrete multi-wavelet transform is presented. The technique uses the well known coarse to fine strategy, involving the calculation of matching points at the coarsest level with consequent refinement up to the finest level. Vector coefficients of the wavelet transform modulus are used as matching features, where modulus maxima defines the shift invariant high-level features (multiscale edges) with phase pointing to the normal of the feature surface. The technique addresses the estimation of optimal corresponding points and the corresponding 2D disparity maps. Illuminative variation that can exist between the perspective views of the same scene is controlled using scale normalization at each decomposition level by dividing the details space coefficients with approximation space and then using normalized correlation. The problem of ambiguity, explicitly, and occlusion, implicitly, is addressed by using a geometric topological refinement procedure and symbolic tagging


In Switzerland domestic cattle (Bos primigenius f. taurus resp. Bos taurus L.) first appear with the earliest Neolithic settlements (approximately 5000 BC). With the gradual deforestation of the landscape caused by human exploitation of the environment, cattle were used more intensive and in many ways. There is evidence that cattle were used as draught animal since ca. 3400 BC, probably even earlier milk was regularly used. The size of domestic cattle gradually decreased from Early Neolithic until Iron Age. Only with Roman influence larger animals are found. However, after the withdrawal of Romans the average size of cattle decreased again. Archaeogenetic studies will have to show, whether this is due to novel breeding strategies or the import of breeding stock. First genetic results showed that a female genetic type, which is rare in European breeds, is present in Swiss Evolène cattle and in one animal of Roman time cattle from Augusta Raurica. Is this a sign for influence of Roman cattle on today's Swiss breeds?


BACKGROUND: Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) is a hematological stem cell disorder that associates with mutations in BCR-ABL. Although mutations identified in more than 30 different amino acids, the highest degree of resistance was associated with single-point mutation T315I of the ABL gene. OBJECTIVES: This study aims to identify the prevalence of T315I mutation among CML patients who lost their Major molecular response to second-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) at the time of the study and its relation to failure response. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A prospective cross-sectional study included 50 adult patients diagnosed with CML. We have used the Sanger sequencing polymerase chain reaction based methods for detection of T315I mutation. RESULTS: Out of 50 patients, 28 were female (56%). Patients' age was ranged between 23 and 63 years with a mean age of 42.8 ± 11.46 years. There was no expression of T315I mutation in any of 50 CML patients, however, there was another mutation have been detected which is rs2070997 (response to drug) and was positive in 18 patients. There were 8 (16%) patients that have rs2070997 mutation have primary failure on first-generation TKIs, while the other 10 (20%) patients were those who started second-generation TKIs directly. CONCLUSIONS: T315I mutation was not common in patients with CML-chronic phase. Other (BCR-ABL dependent or independent) mechanism could be responsible of TKIs resistance.


Background Migraine without aura (MoA) is a painful syndrome, particularly in childhood; it is often accompanied by severe impairments, including emotional dysfunction, absenteeism from school, and poor academic performance, as well as issues relating to poor cognitive function, sleep habits, and motor coordination. Materials and methods The study population consisted of 71 patients affected by MoA (32 females, 39 males) (mean age: 9.13±1.94 years); the control group consisted of 93 normally developing children (44 females, 49 males) (mean age: 8.97±2.03 years) recruited in the Campania school region. The entire population underwent a clinical evaluation to assess total intelligence quotient level, visual-motor integration (VMI) skills, and motor coordination performance, the later using the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (M-ABC). Children underwent training using the Wii-balance board and Nintendo Wii Fit Plus™ software (Nintendo Co, Ltd, Kyoto, Japan); training lasted for 12 weeks and consisted of three 30-minute sessions per week at their home. Results The two starting populations (MoA and controls) were not significantly different for age (P=0.899) and sex (P=0.611). M-ABC and VMI performances at baseline (T0) were significantly different in dexterity, balance, and total score for M-ABC (P<0.001) and visual (P=0.003) and motor (P<0.001) tasks for VMI. After 3 months of Wii training (T1), MoA children showed a significant improvement in M-ABC global performance (P<0.001), M-ABC dexterity (P<0.001), M-ABC balance (P<0.001), and VMI motor task (P<0.001). Conclusion Our study reported the positive effects of the Nintendo Wii Fit Plus™ system as a rehabilitative device for the visuomotor and balance skills impairments among children affected by MoA, even if further research and longer follow-up are needed.


Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) can be diagnosed noninvasively on multiphasic CT and MRI based on its distinctive imaging findings. These features include arterial phase hyperenhancement and washout on portal or delayed phase images. However, radiologists face significant diagnostic challenges because some HCCs exhibit atypical imaging characteristics. In addition to many HCC-mimicking lesions, such as arterioportal shunts, combined HCC-cholangiocarcinoma, intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, and hemangioma present a challenge for radiologists in actual clinical practice. The ability to distinguish HCCs from mimickers on initial imaging examinations is crucial for appropriate management and treatment decisions. Therefore, this pictorial review presents the imaging findings of atypical HCCs and HCCs mimicking malignant and benign lesions and discusses important clues that may help narrow down the differential diagnosis.


The information and industrial revolutions are so different and yet similar. Both enjoyed the emergence of accounting measurement and management techniques which privileged the efficient allocation of resources as the principal imperative to a firm's participation in a free market economy. MetaCapitalism is one such corporate change strategy which promised untold wealth and unprecedented growth, and under that guise a predatory Darwinistic corporate strategy was implemented. Fundamentally, it promotes extreme outsourcing and downsizing of human capital, de-capitalisation of all non-core capital assets and the diminished role of the State in the global free market economy. Yet the most disturbing aspect is its complete and total disregard for even the slightest social or public policy implications. Essentially then, its most salient danger is an unmistakable endorsement of a fundamentalist brand of value free, reckless capitalism that is ultimately detrimental not only to the long-term business interest, but human as well. One of the main findings of evaluating the Fortune 100 companies' performance in implementing MetaCapitalism was the resulting monopolies. Lenin described monopolies as essential to imperialism which is the highest stage of capitalism. The parallels between the resulting monopolies under MetaCapitalism, and what Lenin described as the final stage of Capitalism are poignant. I would like to draw upon those parallels in the hope that earlier work might enlighten our understanding and inform our critique of MetaCapiatlism.


Aspects of Engaging Problem Contexts from Students' Perspectives Tamara Kay Gandolph Stark Department of Mathematics Education, BYU Master of Arts Too many students have negative feelings towards mathematics which is causing them to disengage in their classrooms. This has led to student under-achievement. This study attempts to better understand how teachers can help students to reengage with mathematics by using more engaging contexts to develop mathematical content. The study began with the characteristics realistic, worthwhile, enjoyable or motivating as a framework for posing engaging problem contexts, which were synthesized from the current research literature. As students discussed what made contexts engaging, my understanding of what engaging problem contexts looked like expanded. The characteristics realistic and worthwhile were combined. Students felt contexts were more realistic and worthwhile when the contexts were authentic, purposeful and related to their everyday lives or a potential career situation. Furthermore, students felt context was enjoyable when it was interactive or included a good story. Finally, students discussed their frustration with repetition within problem contexts. Even if certain types of problems were engaging at first, if they saw them over and over again, they became unengaged. Students wanted to see a variety of new ideas and different kinds of contexts. This study better informs teachers and curriculum writers on what to include/exclude to make contexts more engaging for students.


For reducing the machining difficulty and increasing the conjunction precision, an automatic sorting system is presented. The system combines the backpressure pneumatic measurement with a pneumatic-electric transfer technology. A semiconductor pressure sensor is used for the pneumatic-electric transfer. The air chamber pressure is converted to an electrical signal. The merits of the semiconductor pressure sensor include high conversion precision, high frequency response, and small volume. But it has a relatively big temperature drift if no compensation is provided. The sensor can compensate temperature drift. But the null shift and sensitivity shift still exist. Reducing supply voltage using an electric bridge or reducing supply current using a constant current source can reduce the shift. The null shift and sensitivity shift can be further reduced by auto-compensation using a calibrated gauge. The automatic sorting system can automatically sort injector valves and orifices quickly with a resolution of 0.2µm. The sorting accuracy is 0.5µm and the speed is approximately thirty pieces per minute. The system has the function of auto-control and error auto-compensation and has a high measuring efficiency and high precision.


A Japanese male with no family history of neurological disease or dementia showed behavioral abnormalities including egocentric and antisocial behavior at the age of 80. Over the next few years, other psychiatric symptoms such as allotriophagy and stereotypical behavior were also observed and his abnormal behavior became a social problem. Neurological examination revealed no apparent motor abnormalities, pyramidal and extrapyramidal signs, or ataxia. Aphasia, including semantic dementia was not apparent. The severity of memory disturbance was relatively milder than his psychiatric symptoms. Daily living activities and conversational ability were relatively maintained until shortly before his death at the age of 86. The clinical diagnosis was Alzheimer disease. Autopsy revealed that the brain weighed 950 g; frontotemporal atrophy with lateral ventricular dilatation was apparent. Neuron loss, gliosis, and tissue rarefaction were recognized in the frontotemporal cortex, subiculum, transentorhinal cortex, amygdala, and insular cortex and were particularly noticeable in the superficial layer of the cortex. Many ubiquitin-positive/TDP-43 positive but tau-negative dystrophic neurites with a few neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions were widely observed. Neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions were also observed in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus. Although the spinal cord was not investigated, there was no apparent involvement of the motor neuron system. Small numbers of neurofibrillary tangles and senile plaques were observed, corresponding to Braak stage II and CERAD stage B, respectively. Argyrophilic grains, Lewy bodies and Pick bodies were not observed. The patient was pathologically diagnosed with frontotemporal lobar degeneration with ubiquitin-positive/TDP-43-positive inclusions (FTLD-TDP) and without motor neuron disease. No mutation was found in the TDP-43 gene. We considered the psychiatric symptoms and head CT findings of the present patient to be important observations for helping to discriminate between Alzheimer disease or other neurodegenerative diseases with dementia, and FTLD-TDP.


China is the second largest economy in the world. It has become the world's largest exporter and manufacturer. As a system of self determination, it is a part of an integrated perspective, involving the values of nationalism, social justice and people's welfare. A significant aspect of China is its long cultural and national history. The Chinese people have shared a common culture longer than any other group on earth. Urban development and urban renewal are linked to the growth of China's large and fast growing economy. It plays an important role in nuclear energy technological development .China is the world's third largest Ethanol producer. The population of China enjoys a fairly low mortality rate and long life expectancy. China has stepped up its development aid and business activities with Asia, Africa and Latin America. It always needs a peaceful and stable international environment. The Chinese are now at the cutting edge of science and technology in many areas. Chinese annual spending on research and development in universities and other institutions exceeds that of Japan. To the world, China development is an opportunity rather than a threat.


Religious individuality is not restricted to modernity. This book offers a new reading of the ancient sources in order to find indications for the spectrum of religious practices and intensified forms of such practices only occasionally denounced as 'superstition'. Authors from Cicero in the first century BC to the law codes of the fourth century AD share the assumption that authentic and binding communication between individuals and gods is possible and widespread, even if problematic in the case of divination or the confrontation with images of the divine. A change in practices and assumptions throughout the imperial period becomes visible. It might be characterised as 'individualisation' and informed the Roman law of religions. The basic constellation - to give freedom of religion and to regulate religion at the same time - resonates even into modern bodies of law and is important for juridical conflicts today.


In terms of buoyancy flux, winter mixed layer depth, and mode water thickness in summer, we explore the causes why reemergence does not occur in the formation areas of the North Pacific eastern subtropical mode water (NPESTMW) and the North Atlantic Madeira mode water (NAMMW). It is found that as season goes by, the thicknesses of these mode waters become quickly thinner due to vigorous salt‐finger type convection throughout the water column in contrast to those of the other mode waters. Correspondingly, mode waters lying under the shallow summer mixed layer quickly lose their water properties. In addition, it is found that in these areas, net buoyancy flux integrated through a year is almost zero, while in the other mode water areas where reemergence occurs, net buoyancy flux is negative (the ocean's loss) to some degree. Based on these facts, we can conclude that the formation areas of NPESTMW and NAMMW are the regions having unfavorable conditions for an occurrence of reemergence.


Cutaneous leishmaniasis is still a big health problem around the world and drug resistance has emerged as a major problem in treatment. The purpose of the study was to generate Amphotericin B resistant strainand evaluate the crude extract of Melia azedarach against wild and lab generated resistant strain of Leishmania tropica . The result obtained revealed that the continuous increase of drug pressure for 60 days cause resistance in L. tropica by 09 fold compared to wild type. The LC 50 value recorded for wild and resistant type strain was 0.024 and 0.224µg/ml, respectively against Amp B drug. The antileishmanial activity of crude extract against wild and resistant type strain was 0.57 and 123.3 µg/ml for green fruit and 1220.8 and 4010.1µg/ml for ripe fruit, respectively. A significant difference (P<0.05) in activitieswere observed between green and ripe fruit against wild and resistant type of strain. Based on the results obtained, it can be concluded that green fruit show promising results against resistant type of L. tropica and could be a novel candidate for anti-protozoal activity.


Fitri Nurlailasari. 1410130249: "Reading Comprehension Errors of Narrative Text at 8th
Grade Students of MTs Nurul Ulum Ciparay Majalengka
(Qualitative Research)"
Reading is part of language skills that must be mastered by the students especially in
level Junior High School. While reading comprehension is students' way to get knowledge
from the written texts, cause the students can grasp more knowledge in written text, and also
the information in written text is more easy to be rememberred. In fact, reading
comprehension is not easy, especially when students are asked to comprehend English
narrative texts. Whereas narrative is one of difficult texts for students in Junior High School,
so the students often make reading comprehension errors.
Significantly, this research is aimed to find out kinds of reading comprehension errors.
This research is made to find out the causes of reading comprehension errors too. Moreover,
the handle from teacher to overcome students' error and the causes of error is needed to look
for here.
To take the data, the writer applied descriptive-qualitative method. Descriptivequalitative
method is a method that explain the phenomenon in the field clearly.in addition,
the data is presented through pie chart and description. It is aimed in order that the reader can
understand easier about the result of the research. In addition, the writer used observation,
interview and questionnaire to collect the data of this research. The writer used observation to
find out the teacher's strategies to overcome reading comprehension error and find out kinds
of reading comprehension errors. Also, the interview was used to find out the other strategies
and function of the strategies that was used by teacher, while questionnaire was used to find
out the causes of students' reading comprehension errors.
The writer analysed the data by classifying the data that had been collected by some
techniques of collecting data. After the writer classfied the data, the writer describe and
interpret the data. Also, the writer find out the theories to support the data that had been
collected and written it to support research finding.
From the data that had been taken from field, there are two kinds of error, and 69%
students made reading comprehension error in inferential comprehension questions. In
addition, there are 8 causes of reading comprehension errors. The result is, there are 73%
students who difficult to recall the information. Besides, 85% students get difficulty in
fluency and there are 69% students difficult to process the information. Relating to the
phenomenon, the teacher have had strategies to overcome the phenomenon, such as,
brainstorming, translating the texts directly, finding the difficult words, asking the students to
discuss with their partner and making group.
Keywords: Reading comprehension error, narrative texts, causes of reading comprehension
errors, teacher's strategies


As the high-speed data communications such as xDSL using the existing copper cable come into wide use, the electromagnetic coupling characteristics of telecommunication cables become more significant. In order to describe the screening performance of telecommunication cable, the transfer impedance of cable shield is required. This paper describes the transfer impedance for telecommunication cables using the line injection method of IEC 96-1. Results are analyzed to show how the positioning of the injection line and of the inner conductor of the cable under test (CUT) affect the value of transfer impedance and how the transfer impedance is changed with the frequency.


We present an approach to variable-strength conditional preferences for matchmaking and ranking objects in description logics. In detail, we introduce conditional preference bases, which consist of a description logic knowledge base and a finite set of variable-strength conditional preferences, and which are associated with a formal semantics based on ranking functions. We then define the notions of consistency and preferential entailment for conditional preference bases, which strictly generalize e-consistency and entailment in System Z+ in default reasoning from conditional knowledge bases, respectively. We also describe some semantic properties of preferential entailment. We then show how preferential entailment can be used to define a distance measure between two conditional preference bases. We also define functions for ranking objects relative to a conditional preference base, and we describe an application in the area of literature search. Finally, we provide algorithms for solving the main computational tasks related to conditional preference bases.


Aiming at the problem of low recognition rate and easy affected by environment during the process of robot target recognition in complex environments, the target recognition method combining support vector machine (SVM) with D-S evidence theory was proposed. Taking citrus recognition as an example, SVM was used by the method to local classification according to citrus color and geometry feature information respectively, and the results of SVM were transformed to probability outputs through Platt model, and treated them as the basic probability assignment (BPA) of D-S evidence theory to reason and fuse local recognition results, and then realized the combination of SVM and D-S evidence theory in citrus recognition, finally improved the recognition rate. The experimental results showed that: the recognition rate of the method combining SVM with D-S evidence theory and integrating color features and geometry features was higher than SVM method with only color or geometry features.


Te size of body parts often co-vary through exponential scaling, this is known as allometry. Allometric changes are important to the generation of morphological diversity. To make inferences regarding the evolved responses in allometry to artifciial selection in the genus Equus, we compared allometric parameters (slope and intercept) among 18 domestic breeds (11 for horses and 6 for donkeys) and 7 wild species, attempting to interpret the dfferences in allometric parameters (body length, withers height and head length). Te allometric values were not different among domestic equids. Breeds of similar sizes have similar head lengths. The elongation of head length is related to overall body size, indicating that allometry was invariant and did not change under specific selection in the breed formation.Head elongation (dolicocephaly) is probably focused on the preorbital region (dolicoprosopial) rather than on basicranial region. A remarkably higher correlation among donkey breeds can be explained by its strong similar morphological evolution. These findings provide evidence that changes in the allometry pattern point to modifications of ontogenetic processes derived from breeds differentiation and evolution. Further analysis should focus on the relationship between ancestral ontogeny and adult morphology in equids.


Narrative content in sustainability reports can affect readers' impressions of a company, but there are no clear guidelines for companies on how to construct this content. This study examines narratives in sustainability reports to clarify factors that influence corporate disclosure strategies. We investigate chief executive officer (CEO) statements and environmental and social information sections in sustainability reports of Japanese companies over a two-year period. The results show that CEO statements tend to use an optimistic and ambiguous tone when social and environmental performance is poor, that stakeholders can influence the narrative tone of reporting, and that sustainability reporting approaches differ by industry. This is a novel approach to quantitative analyses on sustainability reporting narratives because it uniquely discusses the authenticity of textual expressions in sustainability reports. The results further an understanding of narratives' credibility issues. This study demonstrates the importance of textual expressions to encourage correct interpretations of performance information.


The energy available for a sailing ship is a combination of wind energy and the energy in the water. The wind energy propels the ship blowing into the sail and in this way generates the thrust. The energy in the water can be transformed into electrical energy by means of a hydrokinetic turbine. The electrical energy can be stored in a battery or it can be converted into hydrogen by means of an electrolyzer. In such a combination the ship is called an energy ship.
 In this work a new extended design method for the hydrokinetic turbine of the energy ship is presented and three different design variations based on Betz theory have been developed and verified with computational fluid dynamics CFD. The first Betz Standard (BS) design is based on the optimum turbine design according to Betz which is based on linear momentum theory. The second Betz Extended (BE) and third Propeller Like (PL) designs are also based on the theory of Betz but with an optimized extended airfoil length.
 The theory and the design methods for each turbine are presented. The setup and the results of the numerical simulations are shown in detail and the advantages and disadvantages of each design method are discussed. Especially the different turbine characteristics, i.e. the axial force acting on the turbine, the torque and power including their dimensionless coefficients are analyzed and compared.
 As an example, in a first analytical ideal design calculation according to the Betz theory, assuming a diameter of 890 mm and a ship velocity of 5.2 m/s, a power output of 25.8 kW was predicted for the BS design. With tip and profile losses the expected output is 21.9 kW. The results of the numerical calculation of the hydrokinetic turbine characteristics show that it has a typical behaviour as also found in wind turbines. The BS and BE design have its maximum power output near the design point at the design tip speed ratio λDBS = λDBE = 7. For the PL design λDPL is not known a priori but by means of the CFD results it is shown to be in the range of 4 < λDPL < 5. The BS design shows a maximum power output of about 17 kW with a power coefficient of cp = 0.4 at λOBS = 6.5. The BE and the PL designs show approximately the same maximum power output of about 21 kW with a power coefficient of cp ≈ 0.5 and hence are close to the predicted design output with losses. The BE and PL turbines show their maximum power output at λOBE = 5 respectively at λOPL = 4.2. However, the BE design has a much flatter power characteristics delivering the 21 kW over a much larger range of tip speed ratio, showing the advantage of this new design method. The extended airfoil surface of the BE design and the BS turbine design leads to a higher hydrodynamic resistance but also to a higher torque and power output. With those two designs, a power coefficient of almost 50% was achieved, quite close to the maximum theoretical possible power coefficient of Betz cp,Betz = 16/27 = 59.3%. Hence this is in the range achieved by wind turbines.