The initial step of tryptophan biosynthesis is catalyzed by the enzyme anthranilate synthase, which in most microorganisms is subject to feedback inhibition by the end product of the pathway. We have characterized the TRP2 gene from a mutant Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain coding for an anthranilate synthase that is unresponsive to tryptophan. Sequence analysis of this TRP2(Fbr) (feedback-resistant) allele revealed numerous differences from a previously published TRP2 sequence. However, TRP2(Fbr) was found to differ in only one single-point mutation from its own parent wild type, a C-to-T transition resulting in a serine 76-to-leucine 76 amino acid substitution. Therefore, serine 76 is a crucial amino acid for proper regulation of the yeast enzyme. We constructed additional feedback-resistant enzyme forms of the yeast anthranilate synthase by site-directed mutagenesis of the conserved LLES sequence in the TRP2 gene. From analysis of these variants, we propose an extended sequence, LLESX10S, as the regulatory element in tryptophan-responsive anthranilate synthases from prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms.


Most Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries are net-emigration countries, in contrast to Western and Southern European countries, which usually represent net-immigration areas. The economic, demographic and legal outcomes of the 2004 and 2007 EU eastwards enlargements reshaped the migratory context in CEE in many ways. The article demonstrates, however, that in the decade (and more) that has passed since these enlargements, the changes in volumes and patterns of immigration to CEE have not been particularly substantial. This can be linked to the still relatively low economic attractiveness of the CEE region within the EU, and also to the importance of ethnic-based and local movements (but frequently from outside the EU after enlargements) in immigration to this region. These create a basis for, first of all, temporary and circular inflow. The article also acknowledges the diversity in developments in immigration within the CEE region. key words Central and Eastern Europe – EU enlargements – migration transition – immigra-


The operculum is a large flap consisting of several flat bones found on the side of the head of bony fish. During development, the opercular bones form within the second pharyngeal arch, which expands posteriorly and comes to cover the gill-bearing arches. With the evolution of the tetrapods and the assumption of a terrestrial lifestyle, it was believed that the operculum was lost. Here, we demonstrate that an embryonic operculum persists in amniotes and that its early development is homologous with that of teleosts. As in zebrafish, the second pharyngeal arch of the chick embryo grows disproportionately and comes to cover the posterior arches. We show that the developing second pharyngeal arch in both chick and zebrafish embryos express orthologous genes and require shh signalling for caudal expansion. In amniotes, however, the caudal edge of the expanded second arch fuses to the surface of the neck. We have detailed how this process occurs and also demonstrated a requirement for thyroid signalling here. Our results thus demonstrate the persistence of an embryonic opercular flap in amniotes, that its fusion mirrors aspects of amphibian metamorphosis and gives insights into the origin of branchial cleft anomalies in humans.


In this work, we develop a novel approximation strategy for building almost periodic sequences in the theory of almost periodic functions. Here, we create a different perspective for the argument of Dirichlet in the theory of numbers and design an integer approximation strategy in this regard. The idea behind the strategy comes from Kronecker's theorem and it is proven that for given an almost periodic function, it is possible to design its corresponding almost periodic sequence. Moreover, we provide two population models in both continuous and discrete cases where almost periodic sequence solutions are designed under suitable circumstances.


The objectives of this study are to analyze the factors causing an increase in wheat imports from Canada and to estimate the effect of increased wheat imports on U.S. prices and farm income. An econometric model is developed and estimated to determine these factors and effects. Canadian exports to the United States are estimated as a function of U.S. price, the U.S. - Canada exchange rate, and other variables, while U.S. price is estimated as a function of imports from Canada, U.S. domestic supply and consumption, and exports. The two equations are estimated simultaneously. Results from this model are used to estimate the effect of imports from Canada on U.S. farm prices and income. Results indicate that imports from Canada have a significant negative effect on U.S. hard red spring and durum wheat prices and consequently decrease farm income for U.S. producers. However, while the effect is significant, it is still only a small portion of the total decrease in price in recent years. Some portion of the increased wheat imports is due to the elimination of import restrictions under the Canada - U.S. Free Trade Agreement, but other factors such as the exchange rate are also important.


BACKGROUND
The Brazilian Health System is organized on a regional and hierarchical form with three levels of complexity of health care. The Primary Care represents the first element of a continuing health care process, complemented by specialized actions. However, the centrality of the specialized care is still a problem in Brazil, especially in the private sector. Studies on the distribution of professionals in the health system allowing the formulation of appropriate policies are needed.

OBJECTIVES
To investigate the distribution of physical therapists in the levels of complexity of health care and between public and private establishments, according to data from the National Register of Health Service Providers (NRHSP).

METHOD
A descriptive cross-sectional study was performed considering NRHSP-national bank data collected in March 2010 and demographic census 2010 data. Data were analyzed through descriptive statistics techniques.

RESULTS
We identified 53,181 registries of physical therapists, 60% linked to the private sector. Only 13% of all entries were linked to primary care. The predominance in specialized care occurred in the public sector (65%) and private sector (100%). The specialized establishments of private sector linked to the southeast region (16,043) were the main sites of physical therapists. Only the public sector in the south had a majority in the Primary Care. When considering the sizes of the cities, there is focus on specialist care in bigger cities.

CONCLUSIONS
This study identified the concentration of physical therapists in the specialized care, mostly in metropolis and big cities and in the private sector, with restricted to participation in the primary care.


'Watching what you eat' has been proposed as an activity distinct from dieting(Nichter
et al. 1995), although the two are often conflated in nutritional surveys. This study examined the validity of 'watching' by relating it to the psychological
trait of dietary restraint, which is defined as concern for dieting and weight fluctuation,using the restraint scale from the Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire
(DEBQ) (van Strien et al. 1986). Subjects were 153 female undergraduate students who were asked four questions to assess 'watching' and 'dieting' behaviours and completed the DEBQ which has three separate scales measuring emotional, external and restrained eating behaviour. The majority of the sample reported sometimes watching what they ate, and this was more common than dieting. Non-watchers had the lowest restraint scores, followed by watchers and dieters who had the highestrestraint scores. It is concluded that 'watching what you eat' is a normal form of restrained eating distinct from dieting and that the method of asking four simple questions about dietary behaviour can assess level of restrained eating. This distinction may clarify the difference between 'healthy' and 'unhealthy' dieting.


Contagious caprine pleuro-pneumonia (CCPP) is an important, devastating disease of goats and sheep, caused by Mycoplasma capricolum subspecies capripneumoniae ( Mccp). In Uganda the disease occurs mainly in the Karamoja region and the surrounding districts. It is a devastating disease of goats, caused by Mycoplasma capricolum subspecies capripneumoniae (Mccp). The present cross sectional study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of antibodies against CCPP by Competitive ELISA in goats in Karamoja region, Uganda. A total of 320 sera samples were collected from goats with both vaccination and no vaccination history in four districts of Karamoja region, namely: Kotido, Kabong, Abim and Amudat. Among the unvaccinated goats on Competitive ELISA, the seroprevalence was found to be 33.18% (73/220) and 62% (62/100) among the vaccinated ones. Among the various age groups, higher sero-positivity of (73%) was seen in 1-2 years old goats. Comparing the percentage seroprevalence for the districts; it was highest for Kotido (57%), followed by Kabong (51.25%), Abim (38.75%) and lastly Amudat (32.5%). The results of the study indicate that CCPP is endemic in Karamoja region. Furthermore, even among the vaccinated goats, 38% did not have antibodies against Mccp, indicating that not all the vaccinated goats could be collected. It is therefore recommended that more elaborate and long term studies be undertaken to isolate more Mccp strains from the region for more in-depth epidemiological studies of the disease. It is also important to identify causes of the low sero-conversion among vaccinated goats and come up with corrective measures to improve the protection of goats against CCPP in this region. Keywords : CCPP, Karamoja region, Sero-prevalence, Vaccination, Mccp, Uganda, cELISA,


The paper presents a fault-tolerant circuit design using a time-redundancy method for a serial-parallel multiplier, which is useful in DSP applications with serial data transmission. It utilises the (RECO recomputing with circularly shifted operands) technique to detect errors concurrently. A simple OR-gate based circuit is used as the location table to identify faulty bit-slice pairs. The reconfiguration technique is then introduced to bypass the potential faulty bit-slices. This design can have the maximum detectable error region ( equivalent to n/2 bits), without appending extra computing elements. The latency from error detection to location is only about two clock cycles, i.e. almost real-time detecting can be achieved. Pipe-lined timing for two computations is illustrated. The analyses of performance and complexity are described. The results that this is an efficient design methodology for fault-tolerant multiplication with serial data.


We use Choquet's analytic capacitability theorem and the Kestelman-Borwein-Ditor theorem (on the inclusion of null sequences by translation) to derive results on `analytic automaticity' - for instance, a stronger common generalization of the Jones/Kominek theorems that an additive function whose restriction is continuous/bounded on an analytic set $ T$ spanning $ \mathbb{R}$ (e.g., containing a Hamel basis) is continuous on $ \mathbb{R}$. We obtain results on `compact spannability' - the ability of compact sets to span $ \mathbb{R}$. From this, we derive Jones' Theorem from Kominek's. We cite several applications, including the Uniform Convergence Theorem of regular variation.


This paper reports the leakage current characteristics of Conductivity Modulated Thin Film Transistor (CMTFT) fabricated using polycrystalline silicon. The transistor uses the idea of conductivity modulation in the offset region to obtain a significant reduction in on-state resistance. Experimental on-state and off-state current-voltage characteristics of the CMTFT have been compared with those of the conventional offset drain device. The devices were fabricated using a low temperature process (620/spl deg/C) which is highly desirable for large area electronic applications.


Sport and sport events provide a significant source of volunteering opportunities for a wide range of individuals and especially for young people. Organisers of major sport events often target the youth market to source volunteers due to the apparent high level of interest in sport by this group. Consequently, it is suggested that sport may act as a nursery for volunteering and therefore the experiences afforded to young people in sport may be critical for their future volunteer involvement, not only in sport but the broader third sector. However, little is known about youth volunteer behaviour. This study sought to identify the characteristics and volunteer behaviour of a cohort of tertiary students, reasons for those behaviours and the implications for sport event managers. A total of 208 self-administered questionnaires were completed in an in-class convenience sample from three universities in Brisbane.The results indicated that although many reasons that influence the decision to initially volunteer or to subsequently cease volunteering are personal in nature and cannot be directly controlled by organisations, there are a number of factors that can be influenced by management. These factors are generally concerned with the way that volunteers are trained and managed and are particularly focused on the nature of the work, quality of supervision and perceived outcomes such as gaining employment related skills. These factors should influence the way volunteer experiences are planned and delivered to the youth market.


Electronic versions of textbooks (eTextbooks) have recently become a hot topic in the educational community. The advent of tablet form PCs has further secured eTextbooks as one of the most frequently discussed issues among educators. How can they be compared to printed textbooks? On their web pages one of the leading publishers states: "An eTextbook is the complete contents of a printed textbook, delivered in electronic form over the Internet. … An eTextbook has the same content as a printed textbook, the same chapter divisions, and the same page numbering. …" We claim this is not the right way to go. A good eTextbook should be quite different from a printed textbook. What are the main characteristics of a good eTextbook, then? It should provide much more besides the obvious additions and improvements such as interactivity, usage of multimedia, and ease of navigation. As the need for individual approach towards each student is becoming more and more emphasized, one of the crucial changes we should expect and require is that an eTextbook should allow for customization and personalization. The customization should be achieved on different levels: be it technical (adaptation to different output devices where the eTextbook is to be used, tools used in examples and so on) or (more importantly) be it the adaptation of its content. But where should this customization occur? Should the publishers provide all the possible variations? Should the learners decide for themselves what is the most appropriate for them? We think that customization will be one of the most important parts of a teacher's duties in the future. It is the teacher who is capable of making the proper combination of the teaching resources available, making it suitable for the particular pedagogical situation. Who if not the teacher is the most capable of assessing what is the preferred learning style of a specific learner, or which approach works best for each of his students. The teacher knows what tools are available, which technological skills his students possess … The personal characteristics of each teacher should not be neglected either; namely the way of teaching, personal beliefs, opinions regarding motivational approaches, etc. Therefore eTextbooks should be designed to be adaptable to the pedagogical situation and to the user, be it a learner or a teacher. Consequently, eTextbooks should be quite different from the printed editions. It should be a given that an eTextbook allows and enables uncomplicated customization and personalization. The talk will show some actual examples where some of the proposed ideas have already been implemented as well as a description of more practical ways showing what other concepts should look like.


Intravenous injection of Tc-99m-labeled radionuclides permits angioscintigraphic and blood pool visualization of both supra- and infradiaphragmatic organs. By adding this procedure to routine bone scans an improvement in the diagnostic yield of incidentally observed renal abnormalities was achieved. Several illustrative cases involving hyper- and hypovascular lesions are presented. The authors recommended increased use of immediate postinjection blood pool studies in all routine brain and bone scans as a means of renal screening at negligible cost.


Negative social experiences such as social stressors and isolation influence mental and physical illnesses, including affective disorders and heart disease. Studies focused on socially monogamous prairie voles can provide insight into neurobiological systems that underlie the consequences of negative social interactions. Female prairie voles were exposed to 28 days of social isolation or pairing with a female sibling (control). Voles were administered daily oxytocin [20 μg/50μl, subcutaneous (sc)] or saline vehicle (50 μl, sc) for 14 days and exposed to two behavioral stressors [elevated plus maze (EPM) and resident–intruder test]. Brain tissue was collected for analysis of central peptide levels in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN). Isolation produced autonomic changes [increased heart rate (HR) and decreased HR variability) during both acute stressors and increased anxiety behaviors in the EPM. Oxytocin injection prevented the autonomic consequences of the acute stressors in isolated prairie voles, but did not affect the behaviors tested under the present conditions. Oxytocin had no effect on the behavioral or autonomic responsiveness in paired prairie voles. Oxytocin injection may exert a beneficial effect on autonomic responses to stressors in isolated animals through increasing the number of oxytocin-containing neurons and decreasing the number of corticotropin-releasing hormone-containing neurons in the PVN. Oxytocinergic mechanisms may serve to compensate for autonomic responses associated with chronic isolation and exposure to both social and non-social acute stressors.


While significant progress has been made in garment transfer, one of the most applicable directions of human-centric image generation, existing works overlook the in-the-wild imagery, presenting severe garment-person mis-alignment as well as noticeable degradation in fine texture details. This paper, therefore, attends to virtual try-on in real-world scenes and brings essential improvements in authenticity and naturalness especially for loose garment (e.g., skirts, formal dresses), challenging poses (e.g., cross arms, bent legs), and cluttered backgrounds. Specifically, we find that the pixel flow excels at handling loose gar-ments whereas the vertex flow is preferred for hard poses, and by combining their advantages we propose a novel generative network called wFlow that can effectively push up garment transfer to in-the-wild context. Moreover, former approaches require paired images for training. Instead, we cut down the laboriousness by working on a newly constructed large-scale video dataset named Dance50k with self-supervised cross-frame training and an online cycle op-timization. The proposed Dance50k can boost real-world virtual dressing by covering a wide variety of garments under dancing poses. Extensive experiments demonstrate the superiority of our w Flow in generating realistic garment transfer results for in-the-wild images without resorting to expensive paired datasets. 11Xiaodan Liang is the corresponding author. The project page of wFlow is https://awesome-wflow.github.io.


. Many applications require information about the geolocation of users, which is not always available. Among the users of Twitter only about 26% indicate the name of the city in their profiles, about 30% of users of VKontakte leave this field blank. So there is the problem of determining the place of residence of social network users. We investigate approaches to geolocation of social network users using their mutual bidirectional ties — social graph. At first, we present a brief overview of the work in the field of geolocating users of social networks. Then we propose an approach that relies on graph nodes' embeddings and supervised machine learning techniques. Series of experiments were conducted with proposed and baseline approaches. Experiments show that proposed approach is comparable with others. The results of experiments allow us to conclude that the proposed approach based on vector representation can be effectively used to determine the user's place of residence by itself, or in combination with classifiers based on user data It is worth noting that the proposed approach has no any specifics related to the geolocation. It can also be used to assess any other demographic attributes that influence the formation of relationships in society. Thus, a similar approach was used in Perozzi and Skiena to determine the age of the users.


Virtue at Work is about good organizations, good managers, and good people, and how these can contribute to good communities. It provides an integrated and philosophically-grounded framework that enables a coherent approach to organizations and organizational ethics from the perspective of practitioners in the workplace, from the perspective of managers in organizations, as well as from the perspective of organizations themselves.

The philosophical grounding comes from the work of the moral philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre. In line with MacIntyre's own commitments, Virtue at Work makes philosophy down-to-earth and practical. It provides a new way of understanding ethics and organizations that is both realistic and attractive, but also challenging. And it also provides tough but realistic suggestions in order to put this approach into practice.

Virtue at Work not only applies theory in a readable and compelling manner, but also shows how this has been applied to a wide variety of organizations and occupations. Examples are drawn from Architecture, Accounting, Human Resource Management, Banking, Investment Advising, Open Source Software, Pharmaceuticals, Fair Trade, the UK's National Health Service, Churches, and Journalism, among many others.


The author proposes to treat varicose veins by electrocoagulation using the needles of different diameter connected with the device EC 500 M. The method was used in treatment of 91 patients mostly with the 2nd and 3rd stages of chronic venous insufficiency. Ligation of the opening of the great subcutaneous vein and coagulation of it was simultaneously fulfilled in 56 patients. The treatment was performed in the out-patient clinic. In most of the patients (97.9%) good clinical and cosmetic results were noted. The method is sufficiently radical and allows the complications characteristic of sclerotherapy to be avoided.


Spotlight Switzerland – Digital Transformation at School is part of the HundrED Spotlight collection. It aims to highlight emerging best practices and supports inspiring teachers who actively tackle digital change in the classroom together with their students. The call for projects was open to all teachers working in Switzerland at kindergarten, primary and secondary levels.


This paper is to investigate the wear behaviors of two type ceramics, Al₂O₃ and TiO₂, by coated plasma thermal spray method under the lubricative environment. The lubricative environments are grease fluids, a general hydraulic fluids, and bearing fluids. The wear testing machine used a pin on disk type. Wear characteristics, which were friction force, friction coefficient and the specific wear rate, according to the lubricative environments were obtained at the four kinds of load and sliding velocity is 0.2 m/sec. After the wear experiments, the wear surfaces of the each test specimen were observed by a scanning electronic microscope.


A remarkable number of reactions between neutral free radicals and neutral molecules have been shown to remain rapid down to temperatures as low as 20 kelvin. The rate coefficients generally increase as the temperature is lowered. We examined the reasons for this temperature dependence through a combined experimental and theoretical study of the reactions of O(3P) atoms with a range of alkenes. The factors that control the rate coefficients were shown to be rather subtle, but excellent agreement was obtained between the experimental results and microcanonical transition state theory calculations based on ab initio representations of the potential energy surfaces describing the interaction between the reactants.


Abstract dialectical frameworks (ADFs) are a powerful generalization of Dung's abstract argumentation frameworks. ADFs allow to model argumentation scenarios such that ADF semantics then provide interpretations of the scenarios. Among the considerable number of ADF semantics, the naive-based ones are built upon the fundamental concept of conflict-freeness. Intuitively, a three-valued interpretation of an ADF's statements is conflict-free iff all true statements can possibly be accepted, and all false statements cannot possibly be accepted. In this paper, we perform an exhaustive analysis of the computational complexity of naive-based semantics. The results are quite interesting, for some of them involve little-known classes of the so-called Boolean hierarchy (another hierarchy in between classes of the polynomial hierarchy). Furthermore in credulous and sceptical entailment, the complexity can be different depending on whether we check for truth or falsity of a specific statement.


A deficit in glucose uptake and a deposition of amyloid β-peptide (Aβ) each occur in vulnerable brain regions in Alzheimer's disease (AD). It is not known whether mechanistic links exist between Aβ deposition and impaired glucose transport. We now report that Aβ impairs glucose transport in cultured rat hippocampal and cortical neurons by a mechanism involving membrane lipid peroxidation. Aβ impaired 3H-deoxy-glucose transport in a concentration-dependent manner and with a time course preceding neurodegeneration. The decrease in glucose transport was followed by a decrease in cellular ATP levels. Impairment of glucose transport, ATP depletion, and cell death were each prevented in cultures pretreated with antioxidants. Exposure to FeSO4, an established inducer of lipid peroxidation, also impaired glucose transport. Immunoprecipitation and Western blot analyses showed that exposure of cultures to Aβ induced conjugation of 4-hydroxynonenal (HNE), an aldehydic product of lipid peroxidation, to the neuronal glucose transport protein GLUT3. HNE induced a concentration-dependent impairment of glucose transport and subsequent ATP depletion. Impaired glucose transport was not caused by a decreased energy demand in the neurons, because ouabain, which inhibits Na+/K+-ATPase activity and thereby reduces neuronal ATP hydrolysis rate, had little or no effect on glucose transport. Collectively, the data demonstrate that lipid peroxidation mediates Aβ-induced impairment of glucose transport in neurons and suggest that this action of Aβ may contribute to decreased glucose uptake and neuronal degeneration in AD.


Estrogens and progestins play important roles in regulating growth and differentiation of a wide range of cell types, in both reproductive and nonreproductive tissues. Not surprisingly, therefore, endocrine active substances that mimic the actions of these steroid hormones have been demonstrated to have untoward effects on the reproductive function of a variety of animals. Although direct links between exposure to endocrine active substances of this class and reproductive abnormalities in humans have been difficult to establish, the potential for harm by this class of chemicals warrants further investigation. This chapter summarizes our current understanding of the molecular pharmacology of the estrogen and progesterone receptors, ER and PR, beginning with a historical perspective of ER pharmacology and ending with a comparison of these receptors to the vitamin D receptor (VDR), a nonsteroid hormone nuclear receptor involved in regulating growth and development in nonreproductive tissues. Major topics discussed include receptor subtypes (or isoforms), receptor functional domains, ligand-binding characteristics, receptor structure, cofactor binding, effects of phosphorylation, and nonclassical modes of action. This discussion will demonstrate the need for developing novel screens for potential endocrine disruptors that incorporate our current understanding of nuclear receptor pharmacology.


:ABSTRACT: The COVID-19 pandemic has posed heightened threats to worker well-being. We know that different jobs pose different levels of risk to employees. Physical proximity and exposure to disease/illness are job characteristics that present threats to employee physical health. Based on cognitive theories of stress, we hypothesized that these job characteristics also pose a threat to employees' emotional well-being. Our sample of 177 participants was made up of working students coming from the University of Central Florida, Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, and healthcare professionals recruited using a snowball sampling method. These participants consisted primarily of healthcare workers, food service workers, teachers/ childcare workers, retail workers/ sales associates, amusement/ recreation workers, office assistants, interns, or customer service workers and grocery workers. We found that there is a significant positive association between risk-enhancing job characteristics and emotional exhaustion, but that anticipated workload change does not moderate these relationships. These findings suggest that risk-enhancing job characteristics do negatively affect employees. We suggest that managers act preventatively to limit employee strain by following CDC guidelines and/or offering remote work to reduce risk. Future research could examine other potential anticipated workplace stressors as a function of risk-enhancing job characteristics and employee well-being.


The use of finite‐element and boundary‐element computer modeling for the design and optimization of loudspeaker cones is demonstrated. First, the specifics of the analytical model and theory are summarized. The experimental setup, which utilizes laser vibrometry is described, and the correlation of analytical FEM and BEM models to experimental models and anechoic measurements for a test case are reviewed. Three case histories are then illustrated: (1) correlation of a high‐frequency model, (2) a design case for maintaining a current loudspeaker packaging size with improved frequency response and distortion over the current performance, and (3) a design case for evaluating a new material for a loudspeaker's diaphragm.


The finite spatial coherence width of sunlight at the Earth imposes restrictions on the production of scattering phenomena based on the interference of light waves. With the spatial coherence properties of sunlight taken into account, the visibility of the supernumerary rainbow sequence adjacent to the primary rainbow and the radii of the water droplets that produce the optimum glory intensity were calculated. A substantial reduction was found in the contrast of all the supernumeraries beyond the first few, and the peak observability of the glory occurred for water droplets with radii between 10 and 20 μm.


The separation and reutilization of rare-earth metals are flourishing in numerous advanced technologies, yet the development of a sustainable method to conveniently adsorb rare-earth metal ions remains a challenge waiting for a breakthrough. Chitosan, as a natural and biodegradable material, has been frequently studied to synthesize adsorbents for adsorption of rare-earth metals. In this study, a magnetic bio-adsorbent Fe3O4-C18-chitosan-DETA (FCCD) composite was first prepared via a simple "surface deposition-stepwise grafting" method. The results show that the adsorption capacity of Dy3+, Nd3+, and Er3+ to the as-obtained FCCD is about 28.3, 27.1, and 30.6 mg g−1, respectively, at 25 °C and optimal pH (7.0). The kinetics data followed a pseudo-second-order equation, and the Langmuir equation fitted well to the adsorption isotherms. Subsequently, the as-synthesized adsorbent (FCCD) can be successfully regenerated and recycled for 5 cycles using hydrochloric acid as the eluent. This study develops a promising candidate for practical application in the recovery of rare-earth metal ions owing to its magnetic separation, good acid-resistance, and excellent adsorption capacity.


A field experiment was conducted during kharif 2008 on rainfed red sandy loam soil to determine the effect of seed size on yield and also its role in reducing the cost of cultivation. The treatments consisted of four varieties viz, TMV 2, K6, Narayani and ICGV 91114 with three categories of seed i.e., bold, medium and small and tested in RBD with three replications. The germination was quick in medium and small sized seeds compared to bold seed. Yield attributes such as number of filled seeds per plant, 100-kernel weight did not differ significantly among treatments. In Pod yield, there was no significant difference among seed size in all tested varieties. Among the varieties, Narayani recorded highest yield (1557 kg ha−1) , which was on par with K6 (except small seed), and superior to TMV2 and ICGV 91114 (except bold seed). Highest net returns and benefit cost ratio were recorded with medium category seed of Narayani variety. In different categories of seed of tested cultivars, seed alone contributed from 14.6 (small seed) to 44.8 (bold seed) per cent in total cost of cultivation. Small and medium sized seeds germinated better and required less weight of seeds per unit area.


In this article, evidence is reviewed suggesting that the outcome of cancer immunotherapy depends on pre-treatment immune parameters of a patient. The results described in the article show that immunotherapy may prolong survival in certain subgroups of cancer patients, while in other subgroups a cancer-promoting effect of this treatment modality cannot be excluded.


A 51 year-old female patient, under anticoagulant therapy due to thrombophebitis and pulmonary embolism, developped sudden paraplegia. Emergency myelogram showed a total block at L2 level and an epidural hematoma was removed at surgery, but the motor deficit remained unchanged postoperatively. The pertinent literature is reviewed, etiological considerations are made and emphasis is placed on early diagnosis and prompt treatment.


Considering that limiting global warming to below 2°C implies a CO2 budget not to be exceeded and near-zero emissions by 21OO (IPCC), we can assess global 2030 greenhouse gas emissions implied by INDCs in comparison to long-term trajectories. Ahead of the COP21, we estimate that submitted INDCs would bring global greenhouse gas emissions in the range of 55 to 64 GtC02eq in 2030. Under this assumption,global emissions in 2030 are thus higher than the level of 51GtC0 2eq for the year 2012. However, this is not in contradiction with a peaking of global emissions that can only be expected after 2020, given in particular the projected dynamics of emissions in China and other developing countries. The published INDCs represent a significant step towards trajectories compatible with the 2°C goal,but remain insufficient to join trajectories presenting a reasonable probability of success. ln order to increase the chance of meeting the 2°C objective, the ambition of the short-term contributions needs to be strengthened in future negotiations. ln order to sustain a high pace in emissions reductions after 2030,structural measures are also needed, which, in order to have a rapi impact, should be prepared as early as possible. Continued efforts are needed to accelerate the development of low carbon solutions on the one hand,and demonstrate the feasibility of negative emissions on the other hand.


Shipping contributes to around 3% of global CO2 emissions and this is expected to increase to around 20 – 25% of global CO2 emissions by 2050 as other sectors under national inventories decarbonise to avoid dangerous climate change. Improving energy efficiency has a key role as one of the strategies to address the challenges of climate change and this research investigates the barriers to energy efficiency in shipping, which is motivated by the increasing attention given to this subject from shipping regulators, both regional (e.g. UK and EU) and international (e.g. UN and IMO). The few studies that analyse the shipping sector for barriers to energy efficiency lack clear barriers taxonomy, are not rigorous methodologically and theoretically and can benefit from empirical examination of barriers in other sectors. The aim of this research therefore is to thoroughly understand the energy efficiency gap in shipping by examining the level of implementation of energy efficient operational measures and the barriers that may be affecting implementation of these measures. To do this, the research establishes a novel framework for empirically analysing the barriers to energy efficiency. The framework utilises agency theory for comparing perceptions of barriers using the survey method to observed level of barriers using the content analysis method and actual operational data. The survey results show that operational energy efficiency measures are not fully implemented and their implementation varies by sector of operation, size of the firm and chartering level of the firm. More specifically, the survey results show that on average more operational measures are being implemented by firms which have a majority of their fleet on time charter in comparison to firms that have a majority of their fleet on voyage charter and that more measures are being implemented by firms in the drybulk sector than in the wetbulk sector. This supports the findings from fixtures analysis that shows the wetbulk sector has the majority of its fleet on voyage charter, and the content analysis findings show that the voyage charter is more prone to the principal agent usage problem, which affects the implementation of operational measures more than technical measures. The survey results also show that the respondents perceive more market failures in comparison to non-market failures as barriers to implementation of operational measures. This perception of barriers differs amongst the implementation of operational measures, with more technical operational measures being affected by informational problems and speed related measures being affected by split incentives. These findings suggest that the principal agent problem can be a plausible explanation for some of the energy efficiency gap in the implementation of operational measures in the shipping charter markets.


The Dementia Rating Scale-2 is used to measure cognitive status of adults with cognitive impairment, especially of the degenerative type, by assessing five cognitive functions, namely attention, initiation/perseveration, construction, conceptualization, and memory. The present study aimed to establish normative data for this test in the elderly French-Quebec population. A total of 432 French-speaking elders from the province of Quebec (Canada), aged 50 to 85 years, were administered the Dementia Rating Scale-2. Age and education were found to be associated with the total score on the test, while gender was not. Percentile ranks were then calculated for age- and education-stratified groups. Previous studies have shown that cultural background can affect performance on the DRS and the development of culture-specific norms for French-speaking Quebecers could be very useful to clinicians and researchers working with this population.


OBJECTIVE To identify distinct developmental patterns of diabetic retinopathy (DR) and assess the risk factor levels of patients in these clusters. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A cohort of 3,343 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) monitored and treated in the Diabetes Care System West-Friesland, the Netherlands, was followed from 2 to 6 years. Risk factors were measured, and two-field fundus photographs were taken annually and graded according to the EURODIAB study group. Latent class growth modeling was used to identify distinct developmental patterns of DR over time. RESULTS Five clusters of patients with distinct developmental patterns of DR were identified: A, patients without any signs of DR (88.9%); B, patients with a slow regression from minimal background to no DR (4.9%); C, patients with a slow progression from minimal background to moderate nonproliferative DR (4.0%); D, patients with a fast progression from minimal or moderate nonproliferative to (pre)proliferative or treated DR (1.4%); and E, patients with persistent proliferative DR (0.8%). Patients in clusters A and B were characterized by lower risk factor levels, such as diabetes duration, HbA1c, and systolic blood pressure compared with patients in progressive clusters (C–E). CONCLUSIONS Clusters of patients with T2DM with markedly different patterns of DR development were identified, including a cluster with regression of DR. These clusters enable a more detailed examination of the influence of various risk factors on DR.


A dynamics-based posture-balancing control strategy for a new one-wheel pendulum robot (OWPR) is proposed and verified. The OWPR model includes a rolling wheel, a robot body with a steering axis, and a pendulum for lateral balancing. In constructing the dynamic model, three elements are generalized in comparison with existing robotic systems: the mass and inertia of the robot body, the "I"-type pendulum, and the steering motion. The dynamics of the robot are derived using a Lagrangian formulation to represent the torques of the wheel during the rolling, yawing, and pitching of the robot body, in terms of the control inputs. The OWPR dynamics are decomposed into state-space models for lateral balancing and steering, and the corresponding controller is designed to be adaptive to changes in the state variables. Simulations and experimental studies are presented that demonstrate and verify the efficiency of the proposed models and the control algorithm.


We present the discovery of two new X-ray transients in archival Chandra data. The first transient, XRT110103, occurred in January 2011 and shows a sharp rise of at least three orders of magnitude in count rate in less than 10 s, a flat peak for about 20 s and decays by two orders of magnitude in the next 60 s. We find no optical or infrared counterpart to this event in preexisting survey data or in an observation taken by the SIRIUS instrument at the Infrared Survey Facility ∼ 2.1 yr after the transient, providing limiting magnitudes of J > 18.1, H > 17.6 and Ks > 16.3. This event shows similarities to the transient previously reported in Jonker et al. which was interpreted as the possible tidal disruption of a white dwarf by an intermediate mass black hole. We discuss the possibility that these transients originate from the same type of event. If we assume these events are related a rough estimate of the rates gives 1.4×10 per year over the whole sky with a peak 0.3 7 keV X-ray flux greater than 2×10−10 erg cm−2 s−1. The second transient, XRT120830, occurred in August 2012 and shows a rise of at least three orders of magnitude in count rate and a subsequent decay of around one order of magnitude all within 10 s, followed by a slower quasi-exponential decay over the remaining 30 ks of the observation. We detect a likely infrared counterpart with magnitudes J = 16.70 ± 0.06, H = 15.92 ± 0.04 and Ks = 15.37 ± 0.06 which shows an average proper motion of 74 ± 19 milliarcsec per year compared to archival 2MASS observations. The JHKs magnitudes, proper motion and X-ray flux of XRT 120830 are consistent with a bright flare from a nearby late M or early L dwarf.


We present a case history of a woman who developed dermatomyositis following the diagnosis of stage IV ovarian cancer. Dermatomyositis is a rare paraneoplastic syndrome that usually precedes the diagnosis of ovarian cancer by several months or years. Ours is the fifth reported case of dermatomyositis after an established diagnosis of ovarian cancer in the literature.


We present a theoretical study of momentum-resolved tunneling between parallel two-dimensional conductors whose charge carriers have a (pseudo-)spin-1/2 degree of freedom that is strongly coupled to their linear orbital momentum. Specific examples are single and bilayer graphene as well as single-layer molybdenum disulphide. Resonant behavior of the differential tunneling conductance exhibited as a function of an in-plane magnetic field and bias voltage is found to be strongly affected by the (pseudo-)spin structure of the tunneling matrix. We discuss ramifications for the direct measurement of electronic properties such as Fermi surfaces and the dispersion curves. Furthermore, using a graphene double-layer structure as an example, we show how magneto-tunneling transport can be used to measure the pseudo-spin structure of tunnel matrix elements, thus enabling electronic characterization of the barrier material.


Abstract The research work examined the evaluation of the damage and reinforcement of the foundation in a ten-storey building in Rivers State. The following tests: deep boring test, standard penetration test, boreholes sampling, and crack monitoring by Demec gauge have been carried out to check all kinds of damages related to a strong connection with the ground since the behaviour of the ground determines the stability of the building foundation and the long-term performance of the building. Foundation failures have a major impact on the performance of the building structure. If the base is not stable and moves easily, distortion and deflection will occur. It causes damage to the structure, such as cracks in walls, beams, and floors, and becomes a problem for residents. This problem needs to be fixed and corrective work is the option to fix the error. The following recommendations were considered as follows; maintenance of the building and subsoil to avoid deformation and damage to the building structure at least every six months. Periodic on-site inspection is very important to determine if there is any damage to the building structure. The inspection can be carried out at least once every six months or once a year.


Abstract This study aimed to examine body composition using dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) in male and female NCAA Division I collegiate basketball athletes. Two-hundred ten (male [M]/female [F]=88/122) basketball athletes' total and regional fat mass, lean mass, bone mineral density, and visceral adipose tissue were measured. Athletes were classified as: point guards (M/F=27/34), shooting guards (M/F=18/27), small forwards (M/F=13/18), power forwards (M/F=21/27), and centers (M/F=9/16). ANOVA and Tukey's HSD assessed positional differences by sex. In males, centers and power forwards had greater total fat mass (p<0.025), lean mass (p≤0.001), and visceral adipose tissue (p<0.001) than other positions. Male centers had greater arm and leg fat mass and lean mass than point guards, shooting guards, and small forwards (p≤0.049), and greater arm bone mineral density than point guards (p=0.015). In females, centers had greater total fat mass (p<0.001) vs. other positions and greater total lean mass, arm fat and lean masses, arm and leg bone mineral density, and visceral adipose tissue vs. point guards and shooting guards (p≤0.005). Female point guards had lower total bone mineral density than power forwards (p=0.008). In conclusion, these sex- and position-specific total and regional body composition measurements in collegiate basketball players provide population-specific normative data.


Gambier is a significant Indonesian export commodity contributing more than US$ 55 million to the economy. Production of gambier is centered in the province of West Sumatra, specifically Lima Puluh Kota Regency. This research aims to analyze the structure, conduct, and market performance of gambier commodity in West Sumatra. Fifty-two gambier farmers and twelve gambier traders were interviewed with data that were analyzed descriptively to determine the market structure, market conduct, and market performance.  Based on the number of end buyers (exporters) in West Sumatra, which are relatively small, only 16 companies compared to the number of sellers (farmers Gambier), this study concluded Gambier market structure tends to be monopsony. The majority of gambier exports from West Sumatra went to India. The market concentration analysis obtained a CR4 value of ≥ 0.8, which means low competition in the gambier commodity market. The market entry barriers analysis obtained an average value of MES of 35%, indicating the existence of barriers to market entry for new competitors. Four institutions were involved in marketing; collecting traders I, collecting traders II, interregional traders, and exporters. Of the four marketing channels, farmers-traders II-interregional traders (PAD)-exporters, was the most widely used, amounting to 51.92% of gambier trade. The research shows how different marketing channels benefit different institutions and provides suggestions to move towards a marketing system that provides more benefits to producers. The highest total marketing margin is on channel 1; Farmers-Merchants Merchants Gatherer I-II- Traders Inter (PAD) - Exporters. It occurs because channel 1 provides more marketing agencies. The highest of sharing farmers is the channel 4, i.e. farmers- interregional traders -exporters by 63.15%, and the lowest is in channel 2 (farmers-collecting traders II - interregional traders (PAD)-exporters) of 57.2 %.


Macrocycles by design Macrocyclic peptides have diverse properties, including antibiotic and anticancer activities. This makes them good therapeutic leads, but screening libraries only cover a fraction of the sequence space available to peptides comprising D and L amino acids. Hosseinzadeh et al. achieved near-complete coverage in sampling the sequence space for 7- to 10-residue cyclic peptides and identified more than 200 designs predicted to fold into stable structures. Of 12 structures determined, nine were close to the computational models. They also sampled and designed 11- to 14-residue macrocycles, but without complete coverage. The designed macrocycles provide a path forward for engineering new therapeutics. Science, this issue p. 1461 Heterochiral peptide macrocycles have been designed de novo with high accuracy. Mixed-chirality peptide macrocycles such as cyclosporine are among the most potent therapeutics identified to date, but there is currently no way to systematically search the structural space spanned by such compounds. Natural proteins do not provide a useful guide: Peptide macrocycles lack regular secondary structures and hydrophobic cores, and can contain local structures not accessible with l-amino acids. Here, we enumerate the stable structures that can be adopted by macrocyclic peptides composed of l- and d-amino acids by near-exhaustive backbone sampling followed by sequence design and energy landscape calculations. We identify more than 200 designs predicted to fold into single stable structures, many times more than the number of currently available unbound peptide macrocycle structures. Nuclear magnetic resonance structures of 9 of 12 designed 7- to 10-residue macrocycles, and three 11- to 14-residue bicyclic designs, are close to the computational models. Our results provide a nearly complete coverage of the rich space of structures possible for short peptide macrocycles and vastly increase the available starting scaffolds for both rational drug design and library selection methods.


Southern corroboree frogs (Pseudophryne corroboree) have been driven to functional extinction in the wild after the emergence of the amphibian fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) in southeastern Australia in the 1980s. This species is currently maintained in a captive assurance colony and is managed to preserve the genetic diversity of the founding populations. However, it is unlikely that self-sustaining wild populations can be re-established unless Bd resistance increases. We performed a Bd-challenge study to investigate the association between genetic variants of the major histocompatibility complex class IA (MHC) and genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). We also investigated differences in Bd susceptibility among individuals and populations, and the genetic diversity and population genetic structure of four natural P. corroboree populations. We found several MHC alleles and SNPs associated with Bd infection load and survival, provide evidence of significant structure among populations, and identified population-level differences in the frequency of influential variants. We also detected evidence of positive selection acting on the MHC and a subset of SNPs as well as evidence of high genetic diversity in P. corroboree populations. We suggest that low interbreeding rates may have contributed to the demise of this species by limiting the spread of Bd resistance genes. However, our findings demonstrate that despite dramatic declines there is potential to restore high levels of genetic diversity in P. corroboree. Additionally, we show that there are immunogenetic differences among captive southern corroboree frogs, which could be manipulated to increase disease resistance and mitigate the key threatening process, chytridiomycosis.


Mammalian neocortical neurons span one of the most diverse cell type spectra of any tissue. The regulatory strategies that neurons use during progressive development and maturation remain unclear. We present an integrated single-cell epigenomic and transcriptional analysis of individual classes of neurons from both mouse and marmoset neocortex, sampled during both early postmitotic stages of identity acquisition and later stages of neuronal plasticity and circuit integration. We find that in both species, the regulatory strategies controlling these early and late stages diverge: early postmitotic neurons use molecular regulatory programs with broader tissue distribution and greater evolutionary conservation, while programs active during later neuronal maturation implement more brain- and neuron-specific mechanisms showing greater evolutionary divergence. The data uncovers a temporally-regulated shift in regulatory choices, likely reflecting unique evolutionary constraints on distinct events of neuronal development in the neocortex.


Launching a new product is important to improve the company's competitiveness and revenue. White Blue is expanding its business by producing finished product for international market. Mentoring activities are conducted for developing product. There are seven stages for product development. The Handmade product concept is selected from the idea generation stage. Web based marketing will be applied for the marketing strategy. Mentoring activities are continued to attain the concept of product development. Training in production processes is providing for handmade methods according to the concept of selected product. Procurement of handmade production equipment is made to support production processes. Marketing training for web based marketing methods is given to support marketing so that the product of SMEs can be exported. The result of mentoring and training activities are: 1) SME's has the concept of product development, namely handmade product, 2) SME's has resources to produce handmade product, there are human resources, machinery and equipment, 3) The existence of online marketing the export market for SME's is increasing.


ABSTRACT Sediments deposited in transitional settings between shoreface and offshore lacustrine environments in the Pliocene Glenns Ferry Formation of the southwestern Snake River Plain include extensive nearshore oolitic sequences similar to wave-built terraces along Lake Bonneville described by Gilbert (1885). These sequences record both constructional and destructional phases. Constructional units formed during basinward progradation and avalanching of oolitic sediment from a shallow bench platform down a steeply-dipping bench slope. Reversed grading seen in proximal foresets and normal grading seen in distal foresets may have resulted from sediment transport by grain flow on the upper reaches of the slope and fluidized sediment flow on the lower slope surface. Foreset beds dip basinward to the northeast at 26 degrees, and foreset units attain thicknesses of 18 meters. Destructional episodes are recorded by missing sections within the tops of constructional units. Massive beds of thickly coated ooids overlie constructional units and record ooid formation on the bench platform during transgressions which preceded progradation of subsequent foresets. The interpretation of these lacustrine bench sequences in terms of water depths during their formation demonstrates that rates of subsidence and absolute positions of lake level fluctuated greatly during their deposition. Such instability. probably related to tectonic movements, has had a significant influence on patterns of sedimentation in this area and may be characteristic of many rift-valley lacustrine systems.


Abstract. According to a widespread interpretation of Berkeley's philosophy, advocated, for example, by Kant and Reid, Berkeley's main claim in the Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge is that there are no material, but only mental entities. In the following essay, it is argued that this reading of Berkeley's idealism is mistaken. Berkeley does not hold ontological idealism, that is, the view that there is not a material world, to be true, but only counterfactual idealism, that is, the claim that material entities counterfactually depend upon mental substances for their existence. While defending this interpretation of Berkeley's philosophy, I examine in some detail his theory of ideas and his account of corporeal substances. I conclude by discussing several objections to the reading of Berkeley's idealism advanced in this essay.


Deep neural networks (DNNs) usually fail to generalize well to outside of distribution (OOD) data, especially in the extreme case of single domain generalization (single-DG) that transfers DNNs from single domain to multiple unseen domains. Existing single-DG techniques commonly devise various data-augmentation algorithms, and remould the multi-source domain generalization methodology to learn domain-generalized (semantic) features. Nevertheless, these methods are typically modality-specific, thereby being only applicable to one single modality (e.g., image). In contrast, we target a versatile Modality-Agnostic Debiasing (MAD) framework for single-DG, that enables generalization for different modalities. Technically, MAD introduces a novel two-branch classifier: a biased-branch encourages the classifier to identify the domain-specific (superficial) features, and a general-branch captures domain-generalized features based on the knowledge from biased-branch. Our MAD is appealing in view that it is pluggable to most single-DG models. We validate the superiority of our MAD in a variety of single-DG scenarios with different modalities, including recognition on 1D texts, 2D images, 3D point clouds, and semantic segmentation on 2D images. More remarkably, for recognition on 3D point clouds and semantic segmentation on 2D images, MAD improves DSU by 2.82% and 1.5% in accuracy and mIOU.


Present study aimed to assess and compare the ground water quality with WHO standards and its related diseases in Bahawalpur city. Three sample areas Satellite town, Shahdrah and Islamic colony were chosen and two water samples have been taken from each area. Data collection based on the questionnaire and laboratory analysis of water samples. Certain physical and chemical parameters like total dissolved solids (TDS), electrical conductivity (EC), pH, hardness, alkalinity (Alk) etc. was examined to find out quality of ground water. Findings reveal that groundwater quality in Bahawalpur is deteriorating. Situation was much worse in Islamic colony where 48%, 55% and 41% residents have diluted, brackish and water with slight smell respectively. Laboratory analysis of water parameters also disclosed the fact of significant contamination in ground water. EC, TDS, hardness, pH etc. were considerably high from WHO permissible limits. Such poor quality of water reasoned severe waterborne diseases like diarrhea, cholera etc. In Islamic colony, about 36% residents have been facing serious diseases. To save local residents study suggests; regular monitoring of water quality should be practiced; more water filtration plants should be installed by local govt. to provide safe drinking water etc.


We introduce GaN∕InGaN light emitting diodes with a dielectric photonic crystal embedded in the epitaxial layer by lateral epitaxial overgrowth on a patterned GaN template. Overgrowth, coalescence, and epitaxial growth of the pn junction within a thickness of 500nm is obtained using metal-organic chemical vapor deposition. This design strongly modifies the distribution of guided modes, as confirmed by angle-resolved measurements. The regime of operation and potential efficiency of such structures are discussed.


Age-dependent dynamics is an important characteristic of many infectious diseases. Age-group epidemic models describe the infection dynamics in different age-groups by allowing to set distinct parameter values for each. However, such models are highly nonlinear and may have a large number of unknown parameters. Thus, parameter estimation of age-group models, while becoming a fundamental issue for both the scientific study and policy making in infectious diseases, is not a trivial task in practice. In this paper, we examine the estimation of the so-called next-generation matrix using incidence data of a single entire outbreak, and extend the approach to deal with recurring outbreaks. Unlike previous studies, we do not assume any constraints regarding the structure of the matrix. A novel two-stage approach is developed, which allows for efficient parameter estimation from both statistical and computational perspectives. Simulation studies corroborate the ability to estimate accurately the parameters of the model for several realistic scenarios. The model and estimation method are applied to real data of influenza-like-illness in Israel. The parameter estimates of the key relevant epidemiological parameters and the recovered structure of the estimated next-generation matrix are in line with results obtained in previous studies.


The costs to either mechanically remove or mechanically treat forest fuels are examined for various Colorado sites. In the ponderosa pine and mixed conifer zones, no ideal treatment system exists yet for forest restoration through fuel reduction. Each site requires its own ecological analysis. Costs for forest restoration varies by ecological prescription, forest and terrain conditions, and market availability for potential products. In most cases, it may cost too much to remove material or treat areas. Logging may be the most economical method if markets for products exist and processing facilities are nearby.


Phototaxis is movement induced by light; this phenomenon has been detected in several solitary green algae species and generally works as a balancing force against gravitaxis, creating a system for optimum vertical placing in relation to irradiance, (energy -demands/restrictions). We study phototaxis in the mesophilic green algae, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and C. raudensis SAG 49.72, relative to phototaxis in the from Antarctica newly isolated obligate psychrophilic strain of C. Raudensis (UWO 241) (henceforth called UWO 241). This species has some unusual movement patterns (Pocock et. al 2004) which function is yet to be revealed. Phototactic movement has not earlier been monitored in the normal conditions (high salinity, low temperature) for this strain, though when exposed to extreme temperatures (25C) the organism displays movement patterns interpreted as positive phototaxis. (Pocock et. al 2004). This behaviour should lead to a more rapid destruction of the organism due to the damaging high light (high energy input). The study shows that the three species responds different to light stimuli, when temperature is set to 12 C (culturing temperature) or the respective optimum culture temperatures. Light response curves of phototaxis in the range of 0,5 to 3000 μmol quanta m-2 s-1, shows that C. raudensis SAG 49.72 produce positive phototaxis over the entire range while C. reinhardtii mainly shows negative reactions. UWO 241 seem to be unaffected by irradiance, thus showing only nondirectional behaviour. In a second set of experiments the cells were kept in Petri dishes and exposed to 3000 μmol quanta m-2 s-1 under 40 min, in a temperature range of 5C to 25C for each sample. The results show that C. reinhardtii was negatively phototactic at 5C, switching to positive phototaxis at 25C.


After analysis of 1146 psoriasis patients, high incidence of asymptomatic hyperuricemia (18.8%) and elevated average levels of uric acid in these patients' blood were confirmed (346.8 +/- 2.4 mumol/l). More severe forms of uric acid disbolism lead to aggravated skin affections (psoriatic erythrodermia, exudative psoriasis), arthritis, occur in familial predisposition to psoriasis. Advanced psoriasis patients are at risk to develop apparent gout.


The most challenging step of implementing particle filtering is the resampling step which replicates particles with large weights and discards those with small weights. In this paper, we propose a generic architecture for resampling which uses double multipliers to avoid normalization divisions and make the architecture equally efficient for non-powers-of-two number of particles. Furthermore, the complexity of resampling is greatly affected by the size of memories used to store weights. We illustrate that by storing the original weights instead of their cumulative sum and calculating them online reduces the total complexity, in terms of area, ranging from 21% to 45%, while giving up to 50% reduction in memory usage.


The fracture toughness values of nanosized Cu and Ni single crystals with an edge nanocrack were determined under quasi-static loading conditions. Molecular statics (MS) simulations that can essentially capture the discreteness and the nonlinearity of materials were used in the present study. Different crack lengths were used to evaluate the effects of crack size on the fracture toughness. Based on MS simulations, the energy release rate was calculated using the energies obtained from two models with neighboring crack lengths under the same loading conditions. Furthermore, continuum counterparts of the atomistic models were used to calculate the toughness by the finite element method for linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM). The reasons behind the discrepancies between the toughness values obtained using different methods were discussed, and the applicable ranges of the toughness and the LEFM were indicated in terms of the lattice constants.


Goteborg University Library has signed a contract with netLibrary providing users on the University's network access to 500 copyrighted electronic books. These electronic books represent "the third wave" at our Digital Librarythe earlier "waves" of resource networking were bibliographic databases and electronic journals. The project is funded by the university board and was started in 2001 after testing and preparations during the fall of 2000. The only realistic alternative for the library was found to be netLibrary. The process started with a collection evaluation resulting in the creation of a list of titles appropriate for acquisition. Negotiations with netlibrary followed and a contract was signed in February 2001. The service was launched over the University's network in March 2001. After the local introduction of the netLibrary electronic books at the library the project work will continue with forming a eBook consortium. A study of other ebook alternatives will also be carried through. The current project will be evaluated on the basis of end-user experience.


We provide a filterbank precoding framework (FBP) for frequency selective channels using the minimum mean squared error (MMSE) criterion. The design obviates the need for introducing a guard interval between successive blocks, and hence can achieve the maximum possible bandwidth efficiency. This is especially useful in cases where the channel is of a high order. We treat both the presence and the absence of channel knowledge at the transmitter. In the former case, we obtain the jointly optimal precoder-equalizer pair of the specified order. In the latter case, we use a zero padding precoder, and obtain the MMSE equalizer. No restriction on the dimension or nature of the channel matrix is imposed. Simulation results indicate that the filterbank approach outperforms block based methods like OFDM and eigenmode precoding.


Magmatic titanite in Proterozoic granitic rocks from southeastern Sweden has been subjected to hydrothermal dissolution and replacement by finely crystalline Fe-dominant chlorite and TiO 2 (± quartz ± calcite). These alteration patterns require the redistribution of the highly immobile Ti and Al on the thin-section scale. The chloritization of titanite involved the formation of an intermediate Al–Fe-rich phase probably comprising intimately intergrown, submicroscopic chlorite and titanite. The creation of microporosity by the hydrothermal alteration of titanite may enhance the diffusive flux of matter, and hence the rate of reactions in granitic rocks. The alteration of titanite is most pronounced in red-stained granitic rock zones enriched in partly dissolved biotite and magnetite, which could have acted as local source of Al, Fe and Mg needed for chlorite formation.


During the last years the applications of Computer Vision have increased greatly in many different contexts, owing to the availability of more and more powerful hardware. However, in some situations, the problem of algorithms with a high computational time still continues to limit their growth. One of the causes is that the progress from the point of view of software was much lower, despite very efficient algorithms have been discovered. This paper is focused on a way to accelerate some computer vision algorithms. In particular, they will be described and tested the benefits of running on a Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) the Feature Group Matching (FGM) algorithm, a novel approach to local feature matching to select stable features and obtain a more reliable similarity value between two images. Being FGM based on the state of the art algorithms Scale-Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) and Speeded Up Robust Features (SURF), also the performances of these algorithms on a GPU implementation using the Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) will be described.


Electrified urban railway systems
are large consumers of energy in urban areas and thus, there is a need for
energy saving measures in this transportation sector. Recuperation of train's
regenerative braking energy (RBE) is one of the best ways for attaining high
levels of energy efficiency in this area. Energy Storage Systems (ESSs) prove
to be the most practical and viable solution for maximizing the RBE utilization
in urban railway systems. In the existing related reviews of ESSs, few papers covered
the review of ESS technologies or converter interface. However, a comprehensive
review is needed in this regard. This paper discusses an overview of urban
railway electrification, and detail review for the three ESS components – ESS Technologies,
Bidirectional DC-DC Converters (BDCs), and Controller Unit. This study
concludes that among the storage technologies, supercapacitor ESS appears to be
the most suitable followed by Lithium-ion batteries and flywheels. For BDC,
cascaded BDC is the most suitable followed by dual active bridge. For control
methods, fuzzy logic and artificial intelligent are recommended among other
control strategies. Thus, the key contribution of this paper is the
comprehensive review and analyses of the ESS's components in the recovery of RBE
in urban railways.


Most common machine learning (ML) algorithms usually work well on balanced training sets, that is, datasets in which all classes are approximately represented equally. Otherwise, the accuracy estimates may be unreliable and classes with only a few values are often misclassified or neglected. This is known as a class imbalance problem in machine learning and datasets that do not meet this criterion are referred to as imbalanced data. Most datasets of soil classes are, therefore, imbalanced data. One of our main objectives is to compare eight resampling strategies that have been developed to counteract the imbalanced data problem. We compared the performance of five of the most common ML algorithms with the resampling approaches. The highest increase in prediction accuracy was achieved with SMOTE (the synthetic minority oversampling technique). In comparison to the baseline prediction on the original dataset, we achieved an increase of about 10, 20 and 10% in the overall accuracy, kappa index and F‐score, respectively. Regarding the ML approaches, random forest (RF) showed the best performance with an overall accuracy, kappa index and F‐score of 66, 60 and 57%, respectively. Moreover, the combination of RF and SMOTE improved the accuracy of the individual soil classes, compared to RF trained on the original dataset and allowed better prediction of soil classes with a low number of samples in the corresponding soil profile database, in our case for Chernozems. Our results show that balancing existing soil legacy data using synthetic sampling strategies can significantly improve the prediction accuracy in digital soil mapping (DSM).


This thesis examines the impact of writers, producers and directors on programming
and production in several periods of US television drama history. I address the role
authorship plays in shaping US television drama aesthetics and how creativity functions
within its production cultures. I also address the personalisation of programmes through
media and textual visibility and the place of authorship within the commercial and industrial
contexts of US network television. My methodology involves textual analysis of a large
viewing sample of programmes and a combination of archival research into original
production documentation and analysis of US TV coverage in newspapers, magazines and
trade journals. The thesis is divided into four case studies, each looking at the spaces for
authorship, creativity and personalisation in key historical moments of US TV drama
production and programming: early 1950s anthology writers, producers and directors (e.g.
Paddy Chayefsky, Fred Coe, Delbert Mann); anthology producer-hosts of the late 1950s (e.g.
Rod Serling, Alfred Hitchcock); executive producers of the 1980s-2000s (e.g. Steven
Bochco, Jerry Bruckheimer); and guest writers and secondary producers in the 1980s-2000s
(e.g. David Mamet, David Chase). The thesis aims to debunk the critical notion that
authorship is present only in boutique quality television or that authorship is purely an
invention of branding strategies and suggests new formulations of US TV authorship specific
to historical production contexts. The thesis extends the author paradigm to include multiple
authorship and a range of production roles and also revises several historiographical
assumptions about authorship, programming and production.
The thesis offers a model of authorship studies in television studies which frees
authorship from quality prescription. It addresses the issue of industrial collaboration and
incorporates it into our understanding of TV authorship. I relocate authorship studies from
cultural mythology to aesthetics and production analysis, and provide more medium and
industrial specificity.


Catalytically inactive, exchange-inert Co(III)-carboxypeptidase A has been prepared by reaction of Co(II)-carboxypeptidase A with the active-site-directed oxidizing agent m-chloroperbenzoic acid. Co(III)-carboxypeptidase A, isolated by affinity gel filtration chromatography, has the same amino acid composition and molecular weight as the starting material and contains 0.95 g-atom/mol of cobalt and 0.01 g-atom/mol of zinc. Its electron paramagnetic resonance, circular dichroic, magnetic circular dichroic, and visible absorption spectra are consistent with those of octahedral Co(III) model complexes. Co(III)-caboxypeptidase A is essentially devoid of catalytic activity toward both peptide and ester substrates of the native enzyme, and stopped-flow fluorescence studies with dansylated substrates show that it binds peptides, but not esters. Furthermore, the protein does not react with either type of substrate to yield a single turnover. The implications of these findings to the mechanism of action of carboxypeptidase A are discussed in the light of the "metal-carbonyl" and "metal-hydroxide" hypotheses. Since Co(III)-carboxypeptidase A does not bind esters, inner-sphere coordination to the metal appears to be necessary for ester binding. All attempts to prepare Co(III)-carboxypeptidase A by treatment of Co(II)-carboxypeptidase A with hydrogen peroxide according to previously published procedures (Kang, E.P., Storm, C.B., & Carson, F.W. (1975) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 97, 6723) have been unsuccessful, and the present results do not confirm earlier reports that Co(III)-carboxypeptidase A exhibits esterase activity or that its activity is dependent on the method of preparation of the precursor Co(II)-carboxypeptidase A (Jones, M.M., Hunt, J.B., Storm, C.B., Evans, P.S., Carson, F.W. & Pauli, W.J. (1977) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 75, 253). These findings call for a reexamination of mechanistic conclusions based on the assumption that Co(III)-carboxypeptidase A is an active esterase.


Brain catecholamines have been implicated in the regulation of gonadotrophin release. It has been recently reported that noradrenaline (NA), applied within the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus, suppresses the pulsatile release of LH in the rat through a corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH)-dependent mechanism. Prolactin (PRL) is also able to suppress hypothalamic GnRH release following activation of the CRH-releasing neurone. Given that PRL stimulates the release of NA from hypothalamic explants and that NA stimulates the release of hypothalamic CRH, we hypothesized that this neurotransmitter may be involved in the intrahypothalamic neuroendocrine circuit mediating the inhibitory effects of PRL on GnRH release. To test this hypothesis, we evaluated the effects of PRL on GnRH release in the presence of alpha- or beta-adrenergic receptor antagonists using a static hypothalamic organ culture system which enabled us to evaluate immunoreactive GnRH (iGnRH) release from individually incubated, longitudinally halved hypothalami. As previously shown, PRL at a concentration of 100 nM inhibited basal iGnRH release by about 35%. Phentolamine, a non-selective alpha-adrenergic receptor antagonist, prazosin, an alpha 1-receptor antagonist, and yohimbine, an alpha 2-receptor antagonist, overcame the inhibitory effect of PRL on iGnRH release in a concentration-dependent fashion. In contrast, propranolol, a non-selective beta-adrenergic receptor antagonist, atenolol, a beta 1-receptor antagonist, and ICI-118,551, a beta 2-receptor antagonist, had no effect. None of these compounds had any effect on basal iGnRH release. These findings suggested that an alpha-adrenergic mechanism is involved in the suppressive effects of PRL on GnRH release. Since the activation of alpha-adrenergic receptors increases hypothalamic CRH release, we evaluated whether PRL stimulates CRH release via an alpha-adrenergic mechanism. PRL stimulated basal CRH release by about twofold and this effect was inhibited by phentolamine in a concentration-dependent fashion. In conclusion, alpha-, but not beta-, adrenergic receptors mediate the inhibitory effects of PRL on GnRH release in vitro. We speculate that, at least under these experimental conditions, PRL inhibits GnRH release through an alpha-adrenergic mechanism which activates the CRH-secreting neurone.


The purpose of this study was to examine social worker's experiences of the relationship between education and work. This was done by analyzing how social work students during a trainee program meet job-specific tasks. To answer the study's purpose, we have set up four issues: "What skills will be visible in the transition from education to working life?", "What experiences are characterized in the social worker's practical work?", "How do the social workers adjust their knowledge from education to work" and "Which support for learning does the trainee program give?". The study is based on qualitative semi-structured interviews. We interviewed five social workers who are participating or have participated the trainee program. The material has been analyzed based on our chosen theories of situated learning. The results show that what social workers have done within the framework of the trainee program forms a distinct relationship between education and work. What the social workers have experienced as important in the trainee program is talking with others at the workplace, observation of experienced colleagues and participation in practical sessions.


Parametric complexity is a central concept in MDL model selection. In practice it often turns out to be infinite, even for quite simple models such as the Poisson and Geometric families. In such cases, MDL model selection as based on NML and Bayesian inference based on Jeffreys' prior can not be used. Several ways to resolve this problem have been proposed. We conduct experiments to compare and evaluate their behaviour on small sample sizes. We find interestingly poor behaviour for the plug-in predictive code; a restricted NML model performs quite well but it is questionable if the results validate its theoretical motivation. The Bayesian model with the improper Jeffreys' prior is the most dependable.


The pressures driving the need for an expanded practice scope in community pharmacy have been building for the past 2 decades. Many pharmacists have chosen to embrace the pharmaceutical care model in their practice sites to meet patient and healthcare system needs. The potential for medication therapy management (MTM) services provide an additional career opportunity for pharmacy graduates. Colleges of pharmacy offer advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPEs) in the community setting that are designed to prepare students for these opportunities. These sites provide students with the opportunity to observe the integration of pharmaceutical care activities into community practice. Although developing an APPE site is challenging, serving as a preceptor benefits the students, the site, and the patients served. Therefore, colleges of pharmacy and community pharmacists are collaborating to increase the number of APPE sites to prepare pharmacy students for practice today and tomorrow.


Using a case study approach focusing on Bulacan, Philippines, we examined three types of social capital (i.e. bonding, bridging, and linking) accessed by small scale aquaculture producers through fish farmers associations. The aim was to determine whether and how types of social capital contribute to promoting human agency among small scale aquaculture producers in the context of their livelihoods. Here, agency is considered an important part of sustainable livelihoods and is defined as people's ability to choose in ways that align with their values and goals, and to act to realise their goals. Agency was analysed in relation to livelihood preconditions, processes, power, and possibilities. The premise of this paper is that types of social capital from fish farmers' associations distinctly contribute to expanding and strengthening the agency of small scale aquaculture producers. The study found that all three types of social capital contributed to enhancing the resources that producers draw on for their livelihoods. The bonding and bridging types helped producers cope with various livelihood challenges by enabling access to mutual assistance and collective efforts for problem solving. The types of social capital were less effective in addressing issues of asymmetrical power relations which adversely affected livelihoods. All three types and particularly linking social capital contributed to expanding livelihood possibilities and enabling producers to explore new avenues for improving livelihoods, enhancing agency. The findings point to the distinct contributions and complementarity of different types of social capital to the exercise of agency in livelihoods. Attending to the different types of social capital and understanding how they are most beneficial in specific contexts as well as where they are insufficent, can improve priority-setting, targeting, and design for initiatives that seek to work with fish farmers organisations and other types of community-based organisations for livelihood improvements.


Background Micro-crystals of calcium phosphate have been detected on the aortic valve of patients with aortic stenosis using scanning electron microscopy. It is not known whether crystalisation is specific to heart valve tissue or a general blood-derived process. Methods To this end we modified the method to determine whether calcium phosphate micro-crystals were present in the blood of patients with aortic stenosis. The method was first validated by adding synthetic calcium phosphate hydroxyapatite micro-crystals to healthy volunteer blood samples and determining the lower limit of detection. Then the method was used to examine the blood of 63 patients with echocardiographically confirmed aortic stenosis and 69 unaffected controls undergoing echocardiography for other reasons. Serum calcium and phosphate were measured and the calcium phosphate product compared in cases and controls. Results In the validation study, synthetic hydroxyapatite micro-crystals were identified down to a lower concentration limit of 0.008mg/mL. In the experimental study no particles were identified in any patient, with or without aortic stenosis, even though serum calcium phosphate was higher in cases compared with controls 2.6mmol/L (2.58–2.77) versus 2.47mmol/L (2.36–2.57), p = 0.005 for the difference. Conclusion The results of our study confirm a positive association between serum calcium phosphate and aortic stenosis, but indicate that the calcium phosphate particles found in valve tissue do not precipitate freely in the blood.


Aim and Objective : The aim of this study was to describe clinically the prevalence of postsurgical complications in a group of patients treated with autologous bone grafts obtained from the mandibular ramus. Materials and Methods: Data were obtained from a sample of 76 adults, who were subjected to a surgical procedure of horizontal bone augmentation through autologous onlay bone grafts obtained from the oblique line of mandible. A total of 113 onlay grafts were removed and placed in 152 recipients' area, previously fitted to the receptor site and stabilized through two fixation screws. All complications were recorded in relation to the recipient and donor sites, and the follow-up time of the sample was of 2 years. Results: Of the entire sample studied, 69.7% did not show any type of postsurgical complication; however, 30.3% of them exhibited a type of complication, with temporary paresthesia being the most prevalent (7.9%). Conclusion: More than 30% of the patients that received horizontal bone augmentation through autologous onlay bone grafts obtained from the oblique line according to the conventional technique showed some type of postsurgical complication.


The oviposition aggregation pheromone of six species or forms of the Simulium damnosum Theobald complex (Diptera: Simuliidae) from different sites in West Africa, was investigated by gas chromatographic analysis of hexane extracts of the ovaries from wild-caught flies, bloodfed and maintained until gravid in the laboratory. The two compounds previously shown to be released from fresh eggs and associated with mediation of oviposition aggregation were found in S. leonense Boakye, Post & Mosha (Sierra Leone), S. yahense Vajime & Dunbar (Ghana), S. sanctipauli Vajime & Dunbar (Ghana), S. sqnamosum; Enderlein (Cameroon), S. sirbanum Vajime & Dunbar (Ghana) and the Bioko form (island of Bioko, Equatorial Guinea). Coupled gas chromatography–mass spectrometry of the S. leonense, S. sanctipauli and the Bioko form extracts showed the two compounds to be identical in all three. Volatile emissions from freshly laid eggs of S. sanctipauli were similar to those previously described from S. leonense , and identical in chemical composition to gravid ovaries. No new compounds were detected in any ovary extracts or volatile emissions examined, demonstrating that the composition of the aggregation pheromone is similar throughout the S. damnosum species complex. Analysis of S. leonense adults of different age groups and physiological states showed that the compounds are detectable only in gravid ovaries at 2 or more days following the bloodmeal, suggesting that production of the pheromone occurs during egg development. Demonstration of an oviposition aggregation pheromone common throughout the species complex raises the possibility of developing an odour-baited trapping system for blackflies, which could be employed across the large area of Africa where they are the vectors of onchocerciasis.


This research investigates consumer acceptance of mobile payments. Mobile payments offer an alternative payment method for consumers, and allow consumers to make point-of-sales payments through mobile devices, such as mobile phones and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). It aims to present a better understanding of mobile payments, developing a consumer acceptance model for mobile payments. Moreover, it offers a reference and a source of literature for the industry and academic researchers in this new information systems research domain. This thesis focuses on consumer acceptance of mobile payments, and explores and investigates the factors that influence consumer acceptance of mobile payments.

The lack of literature and empirical research in the field of mobile payments encouraged the development of a research framework to elucidate the acceptance of mobile payments by consumers. The present research has been conducted in order to offer a more in-depth understanding of consumers' perspectives on mobile payments. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Innovation Diffusion Theory (IDT) have been introduced into this research, offering a solid foundation for this research and the development of a research model.

A mixed methods approach was adopted for the research in this thesis. The research started with a qualitative method, using a focus group to investigate potential mobile payment users concerning usage, issues and adoption via open-ended questions. This process was followed by an example of mobile payment being identified and explored to understand mobile payments: a closed-ended questionnaire was used in this part of the research study. Study two is a case study, the selected case being ZOOP mobile payments. At the time of this research, ZOOP was a successful commercial infraredbased mobile payments system. These two studies offer rich information regarding the attitude and behaviour of mobile payments users toward mobile payments, and the expectations and concerns of potential users. The data and results from study one and study two were important as background material and for reference, and they also offer a context for the interpretation of the data from study three. Therefore, through these processes, a solid foundation for this research has been established. The proposed research model has been used in study three to address the research question in conjunction with evaluating the research model. The relationships between the potential factors in the research model have also been identified. The conceptual framework presented in this research is based on two well-known theories, IDT and TAM. Study three obtained two sets of data. The first survey was for all mobile payments users around the globe, and the second survey focused on one particular mobile payments service in the UK. The second set of data is designed to confirm the result from the first set of data. This rigorous process provides a solid model of consumer acceptance of mobile payments. The data has been analysed through Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) via Linear Structural RELationships (LISREL) computer application software. The study has successfully evaluated the research model and obtained results. Moreover, the survey instruments used have also been validated in this study.

This empirical research is used to improve the understanding of the phenomenon of mobile payments. Moreover, it offers insight into the attitudes and behaviour of consumers towards using mobile payments. In study one, focus group studies identified the reasons for adopting mobile payment systems, for example, a convenient service. Concerns about using the services, for instance, security, have also been identified. Furthermore, the second study surveyed ZOOP mobile payment users in South Korea: it also identified that convenience, ease of use, and a safe service would attract consumers to use the service. Both studies have provided valuable information for academics and the industry to understand why consumers would like to use mobile payments and also their concerns. The results of the study have confirmed the importance of the identified factors for consumer acceptance of mobile payments. Apart from TAM and IDT, respondents note that perceived costs, perceived trust, perceived system quality, and social influence are important to them.

The results of this research study should be of interest to both academic and business communities. The research in this thesis expands the usage of the TAM model in Information Systems (IS) research, validates and extends the TAM model within the mobile payments domain, and develops a new model of mobile payment adoption. Moreover, the results are of value to the business communities interested in developing and implementing mobile payment systems. Potential service providers would benefit from an improved understanding of these aspects. The identification of important factors concerning mobile payments in this study will assist them to develop and implement their systems to ensure the full acceptance and continuous use of the systems. The research framework can also be used for future research related to mobile payments or mobile commerce.


Twenty-nine field isolates of porcine Pasteurella multocida were characterized for their capsular and somatic types and were evaluated for their susceptibility to 10 antimicrobial agents. Plasmid DNA-screening experiments were conducted to determine whether a relationship existed between the presence of plasmids and antibiotic resistance. Field isolates of P multocida were susceptible to most of the antimicrobials tested, but all isolates were resistant to clindamycin. Eleven isolates of serogroup D were resistant to 1 or 2 antimicrobial agents. Resistance to sulfonamides and streptomycin was observed in 7 isolates. These isolates contained R plasmids conferring resistance to streptomycin and sulfonamides. The R plasmids belonged to 2 groups, one of 5.6 kilobase and the other of 5.9 kilobase. Restriction endonuclease mapping and DNA hybridization revealed that these R plasmids were related to RSF1010 from Salmonella panama, which also confers resistance to streptomycin and sulfonamides.


Rapid development of local area network (LAN) technology demands new media and the graded-index polymer optical fibers (GI-POFs) are considered to be a perfect one. The co-extrusion process would be a main approach to prepare GI-POFs whose primary stuff is poly-methyl methacrylate (PMMA). However the process to polymerize MMA for PMMA requires tens of hours currently. In this paper, the heat transfer in polymerization was analyzed and calculated, according to which the polymerization speed could be enhanced by removing part of the heat produced in the polymerization timely through a method of decompression of the reactant, which was validated by the experiments, also the optimum parameters of the reaction were obtained. Therefore the polymerization of the MMA could be completed within hours, and the polymer had a smaller polydispersity with a higher glass transition temperature. By means of decompression of the reaction mixture, not only could MMA be polymerized quickly and stably, but also its product properties would be improved.


The ability of chaotic advection under microscale confinement to direct chemical processes along accelerated kinetic pathways has been recognized for some time. However, practical applications have been slow to emerge because optimal results are often counterintuitively achieved in flows that appear to possess undesirably high disorder. Here we present a 3D time-resolved analysis of polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-mediated DNA replication across a broad ensemble of geometric states. The resulting parametric map reveals an unexpectedly wide operating regime where reaction rates remain constant over 2 orders of magnitude of the Rayleigh number, encompassing virtually any realistic PCR condition (temperature, volume, gravitational alignment), a level of robustness previously thought unattainable in the convective format.