Preface. List of Contributors. Polymer Brushes: On the Way to Tailor-Made Surfaces (Jurgen Ruhe). 1 Growth of Polymer Molecules at Surfaces: Introductory Remarks. 2 Coatings: From First Principles to High-Tech Applications. 3 Surface-Coating Techniques. 4 Surface-Attached Polymers. 5 Polymer Brushes: General Features. 6 Theory of Polymer Brushes. 7 Synthesis of Polymer Brushes. 8 Polymer Brushes as Functional Materials. 9 Microstructured Polymer Brushes. 10 Surface-Initiated Polymerization: The Overall Picture. Part I Synthesis. 1 Recent Advances in Polymer Brush Synthesis (Anthony M. Granville and William J. Brittain). 1.1 Introduction. 1.2 "Grafting To" Synthesis Technique. 1.3 "Grafting From" Synthesis Technique. 2 Polymer Brushes by Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization (Jeffrey Pyun, Tomasz Kowalewski, and Krzysztof Matyjaszewski). 2.1 Introduction. 2.2 Polymer Brushes on Flat Surfaces. 2.3 Polymer Brushes from Particles. 2.4 Molecular Brushes. 3 Polymer Brushes by Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization Initiated from Macroinitiator Synthesized on the Surface (Viktor Klep, Bogdan Zdyrko, Yong Liu, and Igor Luzinov). 3.1 Introduction. 3.2 Experimental. 3.3 Results and Discussion. 4 Synthesis of Polypeptide Brushes (Henning Menzel and Peter Witte). 4.1 Introduction. 4.2 Preparation of Peptide Brushes by "Grafting To". 4.3 Preparation of Peptide Brushes by Grafting From Polymerization. 4.4 Preparation of Peptide Brushes by Living Grafting From Polymerization. 5 Bottle Brush Brushes: Ring-Opening Polymerization of Lactide from Poly(hydroxyethyl methacrylate) Surfaces (Jong-Bum Kim, Wenxi Huang, Chun Wang, Merlin Bruening, and Gregory L. Baker). 5.1 Introduction. 5.2 Synthesis of PHEMA-g-PLA. 5.3 Conclusions and Implications for Future Studies. 5.4 Experimental Section. 6 Preparation of Well-Defined Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Nanostructures using Living Cationic Surface-Initiated Polymerization from Silica Nanoparticles (Il-Jin Kim, Su Chen, and Rudolf Faust). 6.1 Introduction. 6.2 Experimental Section. 6.3 Results and Discussion. 7 Photoinitiated Polymerization from Self-Assembled Monolayers (Daniel J. Dyer, Jianxin Feng, Charles Fivelson, Rituparna Paul, Rolf Schmidt, and Tongfeng Zhao). 7.1 Introduction. 7.2 Substrates. 7.3 Photoinitiated Radical Polymerization Mechanisms. 7.4 Polymerization from AIBN-type SAMs. 7.5 Conclusions and Future Studies. 7.6 Experimental. 8 Recent Advances in the Synthesis and Rearrangement of Block Copolymer Brushes (Stephen G. Boyes, Anthony M. Granville, Marina Baum, Bulent Akgun, Brian K. Mirous, and William J. Brittain). 8.1 Introduction and Background. 8.2 Controlled/"Living" Free Radical Polymerization. 8.3 Synthesis of Block Copolymer Brushes. 8.4 Rearrangement of Block Copolymer Brushes. 9 Surface-Grafted Hyperbranched Polymers (Hideharu Mori and Axel H. E. Muller). 9.1 Introduction. 9.2 "Grafting To" Approach. 9.3 Multi-Step Grafting Approach. 9.4 "Grafting From" Approach. Part II Characterization. 10 The Analysis and Characterization of Polymer Brushes: From Flat Surfaces to Nanoparticles (Rigoberto C. Advincula). 10.1 Introduction. 10.2 Characterization of Ultrathin Polymer Films and Polymer Brushes. 10.3 Investigating Polymer Brush Systems. 10.4 The Importance of Characterizing Particles and Nanoparticles. 10.5 Characterization and Analysis Methods for Polymer Brushes on Particles. 11 Characterization of Polymer Brushes on Nanoparticle Surfaces (Thomas A. P. Seery, Mark Jordi, Rosette Guino, and Dale Huber). 11.1 Introduction. 11.2 Experimental. 11.3 Results and Discussion. 12 Spherical Polyelectrolyte Brushes (Matthias Ballauff). 12.1 Introduction. 12.2 Synthesis and Characterization. 12.3 Experimental Verification of Theoretical Predictions. 12.4 Flow Behavior. 12.5 Applications. 13 Weak Polyelectrolyte Brushes: Complex Formation and Multilayer Build-up with Oppositely Charged Polyelectrolytes (Rupert Konradi, Haining Zhang, Markus Biesalski, and Jurgen Ruhe) 13.1 Introduction. 13.2 Synthesis and Data Evaluation. 13.3 Swelling Behavior of Weak Polyelectrolyte Brushes in Aqueous Environments. 13.4 Interaction Between Polyelectrolyte Brushes and Oppositely Charged Polyelectrolytes in Solution. 14 Structure and Properties of High-Density Polymer Brushes (Yoshinobu Tsujii, Muhammad Ejaz, Shinpei Yamamoto, Kohji Ohno, Kenji Urayama, and Takeshi Fukuda). 14.1 Introduction. 14.2 Controlled Synthesis of High-Density Polymer Brush by ATRP. 14.3 Structure and Properties of High-Density PMMA Brushes. 14.4 Application of High-Density Polymer Brushes. 15 Behavior of Surface-Anchored Poly(acrylic acid) Brushes with Grafting Density Gradients on Solid Substrates (Tao Wu, Jan Genzer, Peng Gong, Igal Szleifer, Petr Vlcek, and Vladimir Subr) Glossary. 15.1 Introduction. 15.2 Experimental Section. 15.3 Theory Section. 15.4 Experimental Results. 15.5 Discussion. 16 Kinetics of Polymer Brush Formation With and Without Segmental Adsorption (Lynn S. Penn, Heqing Huang, Roderic P. Quirk, and Tae H. Cheong). 16.1 Introduction. 16.2 Experimental. 16.3 Results and Discussion. Part III Applications. 17 Applications of Polymer Brushes and Other Surface-Attached Polymers (Kenneth C. Caster). 17.1 Introduction. 17.2 Surface Modification and Functionalization. 17.3 Applications. 17.4 Future Prospects. Appendix. 18 Polymer Brushes: Towards Applications (Gregory L. Whiting, Tamer Farhan, and Wilhelm T. S. Huck). 18.1 Introduction. 18.2 Experimental. 18.3 Results and Discussion. 19 Polymerization, Nanopatterning and Characterization of Surface-Confined, Stimulus-Responsive Polymer Brushes (Marian Kaholek, Woo-Kyung Lee, Bruce LaMattina, Kenneth C. Caster, and Stefan Zauscher). 19.1 Introduction. 19.2 Experimental. 19.3 Results and Discussion. 20 Mixed Polymer Brushes: Switching of Surface Behavior and Chemical Patterning at the Nanoscale (Sergiy Minko, Marcus Muller, Valeriy Luchnikov, Mikhail Motornov, Denys Usov, Leonid Ionov, and Manfred Stamm). 20.1 Introduction. 20.2 Theory of Mixed Polymer Brushes. 20.3 Synthesis of Mixed Brushes. 20.4 Experimental Study of Phase Segregation in Mixed Brushes. 20.5 Adaptive Responsive Behavior: Regulation of Wetting and Adhesion. 20.6 Patterning of Mixed Brushes. 21 Local Chain Organization of Switchable Binary Polymer Brushes in Selective Solvents (Melbs C. LeMieux, Denys Usov, Sergiy Minko, Manfred Stamm, and Vladimir V. Tsukruk). 21.1 Introduction. 21.2 Experimental. 21.3 Results and Discussion. 22 Motion of Nano-Objects Induced by a Switchable Polymer Carpet (Svetlana Prokhorova, Alexey Kopyshev, Ayothi Ramakrishnan, and Jurgen Ruhe). 22.1 Introduction. 22.2 Materials. 22.3 Results and Discussion. 23 Photochemical Strategies for the Preparation and Microstructuring of Densely Grafted Polymer Brushes on Planar Surfaces (Oswald Prucker, Rupert Konradi, Martin Schimmel, Jorg Habicht, In-Jun Park, and Jurgen Ruhe). 23.1 Introduction. 23.2 General Features of Surface-Initiated Polymerization from Monolayers of Azo Initiators. 23.3 Photolithographic Procedures for the Generation of Microstructured Polymer Brushes on Planar Surfaces. 23.4 Multifunctional Patterns. 23.5 Applications of Photostructured Polymer Brushes. Index.


The Internet can be used as an instrument to serve the market for management education. Depending on the educational demands of customers, the usage of the Internet varies. In the segment of continuing education programs it serves to provide complete degree programs—such as an MBA— which are combined with residential modules. A higher degree of Internet usage can be found in the segment of short education modules, which provide the highest degree of special and temporal flexibility and are geared towards fulltime working managers. Three possible business models for offering Internet-based programs are presented: in the "integrated model" content specialists deliver all the value-creating functions, in the "packaging model" technology specialists source educational content from external suppliers which they then package and distribute, in the "broker model" educational portals on the Internet source turn-key educational products from a number of external suppliers and distribute and market these products to end customers.


The recognition of the political rights of women in Mexico can be identified as the first exercise of citizenship of women in the public space. From then to date, is need to defend other rights as full citizens of the country. The aim of this paper is to document an experience of institutional violence by omission -or explicit decision- of the municipal public authority, it given that its responsibilities is to seek the advancement of women in the field of gender equality. This experience reflects the limitations or barriers still exist for the citizenship of women in Mexico. The case analysis is presented in a border town in northern Mexico. The case confirms the findings of other studies in Mexico, where it has been shown that larger deficits are women's participation in decision-making processes. It is clear that within the political sphere, dominated by men, it is not understood that the exercise of citizenship of women and men is an essential requirement of law, and not an act of defiance to the power scheme in the public sphere.


This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of Salmonella species in slaughtered animals and abattoir sewage from Zakho Abattoir, Kurdistan Region, Iraq. A total of 500 samples were collected including 200 from healthy sheep (100 rectal swabs and 100 gallbladder contents), 100 from healthy goats (50 rectal swabs and 50 gallbladder contents), 100 from cattle (50 rectal swabs and 50 gallbladder contents), and 100 sewage samples from the abattoir drains. From the total of 400 animals examined, 9 (2.25%) were positive for Salmonella spp., in which 5 (2.5%) were from sheep [ 2 (2%) from rectal swabs and 3 (3%) from gallbladder], 2 (2%) were from rectal swabs of goats, and 2 (2%) were from cattle [1 (2%) from rectal swabs and 1 (2%) from gallbladder]. Whereas, only 3 (3%) were positive for Salmonella spp., obtained from 100 sewage samples. Only three serotypes of Salmonella were detected in 12 (2.4%) samples from the total 500 samples. The isolated Salmonella serotypes were Salmonella hato 8 (66.66%), Salmonella anatum 3 (25%), and Salmonella enteritidis 1 (8.33%). The antimicrobial sensitivity test of all 12 isolates against 13 antibiotics was studied. Results revealed that all isolates were 100% sensitive to amoxicillin, amikacin, gentamicin, and ciprofloxacin, and 100% resistant to clindamycin, rifampin, vancomycin, cephalothin, lincomycin, and trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole, chloramphinicol, doxycycline and tetracycline except S. hato.


: In ascites tumor cells, phosphoinositide metabolism can be activated by short-term treatment with exogenously added 1-oleoyl-2-acetyl-sn-glycerol (OAG), which is the membrane-permeable analog of diacylglycerides (DAG). Quiescent cells prelabeled with D-myo-2-[3H]inositol and then stimulated with OAG (20 micrograms/ml of medium) reveal transient increases in the liberation of inositol 1,4-bis- and inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate with peaks at 30 min, and a sustained accumulation of inositol phosphate 30 min after stimulation. The labeling patterns of the corresponding inositol lipids show transient activity profiles for phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate (PtdIns(4)P) and phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PtdIns(4,5)P2), and a sustained high activity level for PtdIns 30 min after OAG treatment. These data demonstrate a temporal relationship between synthesis and phospholipase C (PLC)-induced hydrolysis of these lipids. Simultaneous labeling of the cellular inositol phospholipids with [1-14C]arachidonic acid reveals modest accumulations after OAG stimulation. The relative 3H radioactivity distribution between the lipids and their inositol metabolites show that about 10% of the polyphosphoinositide pools are metabolically active. Long-term culturing of the cells (> 24 h) under OAG supplementation produces significant reductions in the catalytic activities of PLC and the PtdIns and PtdIns(4)P-specific kinases which is paralleled by a reduced radioactive labeling of PtdIns(4)P and PtdIns(4,5)P2 under these conditions. These data suggest that diglycerides affect the phosphoinositide metabolism by controlling PLC and phosphoinositide kinase activities probably via modification of membrane properties, and by functioning as modulator of other events.


Objective: To assess the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemics on the prevention and care for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections at a major reference centre providing preventive and clinical services in Catalonia, Spain. Design: We retrospectively compared anonymized clinical and laboratory data from March to December 2020 vs. 2019. Methods: Monthly clinical data on HIV preexposure and postexposure prophylaxis users and on adults with HIV infection were retrieved from the administrative hospital database. Monthly tests for HIV, hepatitis B and C, Treponema pallidum, Neisseria gonorrhoeae,and Chlamydia trachomatis, and plasma lipids and glucose were recovered from the laboratory database. Results: There were less (↓28%, P = 0.003) but more advanced (mean CD4+ cells/μl 305 vs. 370, P < 0.001) HIV infections and more gonorrhoea (↑39%, P < 0.001) and chlamydia (↑37%, P < 0.001) infections in 2020 vs. 2019. In people with HIV, rates of HIV RNA less than 50 copies/ml remained stable (11 vs. 11%, P = 0.147) despite less scheduled visits (↓25%, P < 0.001). However, they had less antiretroviral prescription changes (↓10%, P = 0.018), worse plasma lipids [mean total cholesterol 190 vs. 185 mg/dl, P < 0.001;mean low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol 114 vs. 110 mg/dl, P < 0.001; mean triglycerides 136 vs. 125 mg/dl, P < 0.001; mean high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol 47 vs. 48 mg/dl, P = 006], and an excess of mortality (↑264%, P = 0.006) due in great part not only to COVID-19 but also to other causes. Conclusion: In our setting, COVID-19 epidemics was associated with an increase in some prevalent sexually transmitted infections, with less but more advanced HIV infections, and with worse nonvirologic healthcare outcomes and higher mortality in people living with HIV.


Background
Blepharitis caused by Demodex infestation is very common in clinical practice.There are various methods mentioned in the study of Demodex infestation in China, but a unified introduction and evaluation of the operating procedures is lacked.A quick and accurate clinical diagnostic method for Demodex infestation needs to be further studied.

Objective
This study aimed to establish operation procedures for the clinical examination of eyelid Demodex infestation, which were applied to evaluate the conditions of eyelid Demodex infestation in ocular patients with discomfort.

Methods
One thousand and fifty-two patients with eye dryness, eye itchiness or other symptoms were selected for slit lamp examination and photographing of the eyelid margin area.Three eyelashes with associated scurf from each superior eyelid were plucked out for examination of Demodex under the microscope.Positive findings included observation of Demodex mites or eggs.Their amounts were recorded individually for all eyelash samples.

Results
A procedure for observing, recording and reporting eyelid Demodex infestations in patients was successfully established.By using this procedure, 1 052 patients were investigated for the examination of Demodex infestations.Demodex mites or eggs were found in 582 cases (55.3%). The positive rate of Demodex infestation increased with age, and the population over 60 years group had the highest positive rate, showing a significant difference among the different age groups (χ2=10.547, P=0.001). There was no significant difference in positive rate between male patients and female patients (P=0.352). The test turnaround time (TAT) for one examination was (11.4±5.2) seconds.

Conclusions
The operational procedure for examining the palpebral margin Demodex infestation by the slit-lamp, optical microscope, photographing and laboratory reports is established.It is simple and quick in the appliation for the clinical diagnosis of eyelid Demodex infestation.

Key words:
Eyelid; Demodex; Infestation; Diagnosis/methology


—This paper focuses on the development of an advanced fault classifier for monitoring reciprocating compressors (RC) based on vibration signals. Many feature parameters can be used for fault diagnosis, here the classifier is developed based on a relevance vector machine (RVM) which is optimized with genetic algorithms (GA) so determining a more effective subset of the parameters. Both a one-against-one scheme based RVM and a multiclass multi-kernel relevance vector machine (mRVM) have been evaluated to identify a more effective method for implementing the multiclass fault classification for the compressor. The accuracy of both techniques is discussed correspondingly to determine an optimal fault classifier which can correlate with the physical mechanisms underlying the features. The results show that the models perform well, the classification accuracy rate being up to 97% for both algorithms.


Urban population growth has demonstrated synergetic relationship with the growth of informal settlements and disasters, especially in developing countries. The increase in the density of people in informal settlements in Tanzania has accelerated their vulnerability to disaster risks. This study employs Community Participatory Disaster Risk and Vulnerability Assessment (PDRVA) to analyse vulnerability to disasters in informal settlements in Arusha city, Tanzania. The results show that a plethora of factors—human, physical, social, and economic—interact in a complex non-linear way to shape vulnerability to disasters in informal settlements in the city. Indigenous and western knowledge in the settlements used to cope with environmental hazards hold a great potential in shifting community responses to long-term considerations. The study recommends that measures and strategies aimed at reducing disaster risks should address the whole set of issues leading to poverty and disparities within the community. Keywords: risk, vulnerability, disaster, informal settlements, Arusha, Tanzania.


The concept of e-learning is increasingly being used to describe the deployment of information and communication technologies (ICT) to support educational activities in various spheres of life. As a result, ICT is being heralded as a catalyst for innovations in teaching and learning. For developers of educational technology, this perspective highlights the need to produce computer-based tools that are pedagogically adept and functionally relevant to the context and purpose of use. In practice, this entails exploiting the connectivity of psychological and pedagogical concerns whilst taking into consideration technology capabilities. These design challenges highlight the need for well-harnessed methods and techniques for incorporating pedagogy into systems design. The paper outlines methods and techniques used to abstract pedagogically and contextually adept design requirements for an e-learning environment for supporting teaching and learning in European high schools.


Pharmacotherapy in frail elderly is complicated and driven by multiple issues. As a result, physicians are faced with a complex task when prescribing to frail elderly patients. In this study, initiated by the Expertise Centre Pharmacotherapy for Older Persons (Ephor), a validated set of 23 criteria concerning effectiveness, safety, experience and convenience was developed to assist in the selection of the most appropriate drug within a drug class for the treatment of frail elderly patients. This method, using the 23 criteria, provides a complete overview of the relevant evidence for each individual drug. Evidence-based recommendations can be formulated for each individual drug within a drug class based on the pros and cons for frail elderly patients. Meanwhile, Ephor has formulated evidence-based recommendations for the antipsychotics, NSAIDs, ACE-inhibitors, opioids, hypnotics, anxiolytics, tricyclic antidepressants and second generation antidepressants. The complete reports are available at www.ephor.eu. As an example, a summary of the reports of the tricyclic antidepressants and second generation antidepressants is given.


Background: Obesity in pregnancy, and excessive gestational weight gain, are associated with short and long-term adverse health outcomes for mothers and their offspring, including childhood obesity. The Healthy Eating and Lifestyle in Pregnancy (HELP) cluster randomised controlled trial compared the effectiveness of a group-based weight management intervention, delivered during pregnancy and postpartum, with National Health Service routine maternity care. In total, 598 pregnant women, aged 18 years and over, with a BMI of ≥30 kg/m2, and between 12 and 20 weeks gestation, were recruited across 20 study centres in England and Wales, United Kingdom. The aim of the HELP trial was to improve health outcomes in these women with obesity. The present study followed up these women and their children at 24 months postpartum and aimed to assess longer-term maternal and child outcomes. It also aimed to explore the experiences of these women. Methods: A sequential mixed methods approach was used. The first, quantitative phase, examined the effectiveness of the HELP intervention on primary outcomes, maternal BMI and child BMI-for-age z-scores, and secondary outcomes, including weight, diet, and physical activity behaviours of mothers and children. Outcomes were analysed using multilevel linear, logistic and ordinal regression models. The second, qualitative phase, used telephone interviews to explore women's experiences. Thematic analysis was used to organise and interpret the interview data. Findings from the two approaches were triangulated for discussion. Results: The 24 months postpartum follow-up included 241 women and children, across 19 clusters. The analyses found no evidence of between groups differences in the primary outcomes, maternal BMI at 24 months postpartum (adjusted percentage difference: -0.01, 95% CI -0.04 to 0.02; ICC <0.001; p= 0.664) and child BMI-for-age z-scores (adjusted difference in means: 0.24, 95% CI -0.17 to 0.64; ICC <0.001; p=0.250), or the secondary outcomes. Subsequently, 18 of these women completed a telephone interview. Maternal attitudes towards their own and their child's weight and health behaviours, before, during and after pregnancy, were described in three themes: 1) pregnancy specific attitudes and behaviours; 2) wider weight control attitudes and experiences; and, 3) maternal perceptions and influences on children's weight, diet and activity. Discussion: The HELP intervention did not improve outcomes for women and their children at 24 months postpartum. Women have a strong desire to be healthy for their unborn babies during pregnancy. Non-judgmental support may help them adopt healthier behaviours to achieve short-term goals. However, more support would be needed to help women achieve better long-term outcomes. Women's lived experiences of obesity are complex, and it is important to incorporate their beliefs and motivations into interventions. Rather than viewing pregnancy as a short window of opportunity for initiating behaviour change, it should be used as a unique motivator which could give women a purpose for change over a longer term. Exploring options for intervening in the preconception period to address attitudes and weight loss before pregnancy, supporting women during pregnancy to be healthy for their babies, and building on this postpartum to help women shift their goals to weight loss, self-regulation of weight management, being a positive role model for their children and health-promoting feeding practices; may be more effective for improving maternal and child outcomes.


Young Chinese Entrepreneurs in Australia: Migrant Networks in a New Land By: Mr. Daniel W. Lund, Peter Woods, Raymond Hibbins, Michelle C. Barker The study explores the phenomenon of young migrant Chinese entrepreneurs in Brisbane, Australia and the various ways in which they use networks to advance their business interests. While the concept of networking is an integral component of the Chinese way of doing business for Chinese entrepreneurs in Asian countries, the highly regulated business environment in Australia poses many challenges and restrictions to Chinese network reliance. The notions of 'entrepreneur', 'network' and 'entrepreneurial networks' are discussed before examining these concepts in the Chinese in Asia context. The study utilised personal interviews and questionnaires with a group of six migrant Chinese entrepreneurs in Australia, all below 40 years of age. It was found that the three entrepreneurs who did not have any networks in Brisbane before their arrival found it relatively easy to purchase franchises and begin business operations immediately, without the need for pre-existing networks. The three participants who did have pre-existing network contacts in Brisbane started up private businesses with the extensive assistance of their Chinese community networks. The implications of this study on business migration issues are discussed.


With the advent of autonomous vehicles, LiDAR and cameras have become an indispensable combination of sensors. They both provide rich and complementary data which can be used by various algorithms and machine learning to sense and make vital inferences about the surroundings. We propose a novel pipeline and experimental setup to find accurate rigid-body transformation for extrinsically calibrating a LiDAR and a camera. The pipeling uses 3D-3D point correspondences in LiDAR and camera frame and gives a closed form solution. We further show the accuracy of the estimate by fusing point clouds from two stereo cameras which align perfectly with the rotation and translation estimated by our method, confirming the accuracy of our method's estimates both mathematically and visually. Taking our idea of extrinsic LiDAR-camera calibration forward, we demonstrate how two cameras with no overlapping field-of-view can also be calibrated extrinsically using 3D point correspondences. The code has been made available as open-source software in the form of a ROS package, more information about which can be sought here: this https URL .


Growing Up in Ireland – 'Influences on 9-Year-Olds' Learning: Home, School and Community' examines the ways in which children's recreation outside school can influence their educational achievement. It places children's activities in the context of their home, school and neighbourhood, highlighting important issues for policy development.

The findings are based on data from the first round of interviews with 8,500 nine-year-old children as well as interviews with their parents, teachers and principals. Interviewing took place from September 2007 to June 2008. As part of the study the children took the Drumcondra assessment test in reading and maths, a test widely used in primary schools. Now that they have turned 13 years of age these children, and their families, are currently taking part in a follow-up interview. (A full download of the report and the executive summary can be found by clicking here)

Key findings include:
• Nine-year-old children fall into five distinct groups on the basis of their activities outside school:
1. Cultural Activities (25%): Those who are very involved in cultural activities, such as music and drama lessons/clubs and reading for pleasure
2. Sports & Computer Games (20%): Those who spend a lot of time playing sports and computer games
3. Social Networkers (18%): Those who use computers a lot, especially for keeping in touch with friends
4. Busy Lives (15%): Those who spend time on a very wide range of structured activities, leading 'busy lives'
5. TV & Sports (23%): Those who spend their spare time in mainly unstructured activities, such as watching TV and spending time with friends, and rarely use ICT.

• The main difference in children's out-of-school activities centres on ICT use. The majority (73%) of nine-year-olds use computers for fun/games, 42% use them for learning (outside school), 22% for music/movies and 17% for social networking.
• This contrasts with computer use in school. The vast majority of nine year olds have access to computers in school - access was higher among those in single-sex and Gaeltacht schools, and among those being taught in multi-grade settings or by a male teacher.
• Over 40% of nine-year-olds do not have internet access at school and over a fifth hardly ever use ICT in class. The use of ICT in classroom learning was greater in private schools, designated disadvantaged schools and Gaeltacht schools, and in urban areas.
• There are clear differences in school performance according to the types of activities in which children engage. Children who take part in cultural activities and in social networking have higher levels of reading and mathematics performance than others. However, being involved in too many activities cancels out some of the educational benefits.
• The lowest levels of educational achievement are found among those who mainly engage in unstructured activities (such as watching TV) and who do not use ICT.
• There are clear gender differences in children's recreation. Girls are more likely to be involved in cultural activities and to use social media to keep in touch with friends. Boys are more involved in playing sports and computer games.
• Out-of-school activities are also influenced by the schools children attend. Nine year olds attending gaelscoileanna are more likely to be involved in cultural activities and watch less TV than other children. Children who use the internet in school are more likely to use computers outside school.
• Children from middle-class and highly educated families are more involved in cultural activities than those from the most disadvantaged families (one-in-three compared to less than one in 10). Because many of these activities need to be paid for, low income may be an obstacle to participation for some children. This is a significant finding since these activities have been found to enhance school engagement and academic performance.
• Children's activities vary depending on the neighbourhood they live in. Nine out of 10 mothers feel it is safe for their child to play outside during the day while over half (57%) say there are recreational facilities appropriate to a 9 year old in their local area. Children are more involved in structured cultural activities where there are local recreational facilities. (Parents who feel there are no safe places to play locally are also more likely to send their children to structured cultural activities.


Transplantation of hepatocytes or bone marrow-derived cells has been shown to ameliorate liver fibrosis in animal models, but no direct comparison of relative efficiency has been made. The aim of this study was to compare the efficiency of a bone marrow-derived clonal mesenchymal stem cell line established by us (rBM25/S3) with that of its adipogenic or hepatogenic differentiation derivative for suppression of rat liver fibrosis. After induction of differentiation of rBM25/S3 cells into adipogenic or hepatogenic cells in culture, we intrasplenically transplanted the three types of cells into rats (3 × 107 cells/rat) before and 4 weeks after initiation of carbon tetrachloride treatment (1 ml/kg body weight twice a week for 8 weeks) to induce liver fibrosis. Undifferentiated rBM25/S3 cells were the most effective for suppression of liver fibrosis, followed by the adipogenic cells and hepatogenic cells. Expression levels of MMP-2 and MMP-9 were also highest in undifferentiated rBM25/S3 cells. These results indicate that bone marrow-derived clonal mesenchymal stem cell lines are useful for further mechanistic studies on cell-mediated suppression of liver fibrosis and that such cell lines will provide information on an appropriate cell source for transplantation therapy for cirrhosis.


Aluminum has gathered toxicological attention based on relevant human exposure and its suspected hazardous potential. Nanoparticles from food supplements or food contact materials may reach the human gastrointestinal tract. Here, we monitored the physicochemical fate of aluminum-containing nanoparticles and aluminum ions when passaging an in vitro model of the human gastrointestinal tract. Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), ion beam microscopy (IBM), secondary ion beam mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS), and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) in the single-particle mode were employed to characterize two aluminum-containing nanomaterials with different particle core materials (Al0, γAl2O3) and soluble AlCl3. Particle size and shape remained unchanged in saliva, whereas strong agglomeration of both aluminum nanoparticle species was observed at low pH in gastric fluid together with an increased ion release. The levels of free aluminum ions decreased in intestinal fluid and the particles deagglomerated, thus liberating primary particles again. Dissolution of nanoparticles was limited and substantial changes of their shape and size were not detected. The amounts of particle-associated phosphorus, chlorine, potassium, and calcium increased in intestinal fluid, as compared to nanoparticles in standard dispersion. Interestingly, nanoparticles were found in the intestinal fluid after addition of ionic aluminum. We provide a comprehensive characterization of the fate of aluminum nanoparticles in simulated gastrointestinal fluids, demonstrating that orally ingested nanoparticles probably reach the intestinal epithelium. The balance between dissolution and de novo complex formation should be considered when evaluating nanotoxicological experiments.


Faciocardiorenal syndrome (FCRS), also named Eastman-Bixler syndrome, is an apparent autosomal recessive entity, characterized by endocardial fibroelastosis, unusual facial appearance, renal defects and mental retardation. We report a 7 months male patient, with the diagnosis of endocardial fibroelastosis, an abnormal facial appearance (arched eyebrows, broad nasal root, long philtrum and microretrognathia) and psychomotor delay. Associated anomalies were: plagiocephaly, broad halluces, nail hypoplasia, cryptorchidism, diastasis recti, and adducted thumbs. Focal seizures in the mouth were also observed. The radiographs revealed advanced bone age and metaphyseal widening of femur and tibia. FCRS has an unknown etiology with only three reported cases so far (since 1977). We report a patient with the main features of FCRS but without the renal component, suggesting that this entity can present a wide clinical spectrum. Based on these findings and on the few previously reported cases with a highly variable phenotype when compared with the original report, we suggest that FCRS should be further clinical delineated according to the following leading anomalies: endocardial fibroelastosis, unusual facial appearance and mental retardation, in order to find more cases that allow a wider clinical description and the identification of the genetic defect(s).


: The antibacterial activity of four local anaesthetics (LAs), amethocaine and procaine (esters), and cinchocain and lignocaine (amides), has been studied. All four LAs inhibited cell growth but only amethocaine and cinchocain had significant effects on cell viability and on the leakage of cellular constituents. Effects on growth inhibition were reversible. Concentrations causing marked loss in viability also caused the leakage of cellular constituents. Uptake isotherms for all four LAs by E. coli are presented and an attempt made to relate derived intracellular LA levels with effects on growth inhibition. Cultures of E. coli grown in the presence of low levels of LAs effects reflecting the relative hydrophilic-lipophilic nature of the individual LAs.


Mirror modes (MMs) are ubiquitous in space plasma and grow from pressure anisotropy. Together with other instabilities, they play a fundamental role in constraining the free energy contained in the plasma. This study focuses on MMs observed in the solar wind by Solar Orbiter (SolO) for heliocentric distances between 0.5 and 1 AU. Typically, MMs have timescales from several to tens of seconds and are considered quasi‐MHD structures. In the solar wind, they also generally appear as isolated structures. However, in certain conditions, prolonged and bursty trains of higher frequency MMs are measured, which have been labeled previously as MM storms. At present, only a handful of existing studies have focused on MM storms, meaning that many open questions remain. In this study, SolO has been used to investigate several key aspects of MM storms: their dependence on heliocentric distance, association with local plasma properties, temporal/spatial scale, amplitude, and connections with larger‐scale solar wind transients. The main results are that MM storms often approach local ion scales and can no longer be treated as quasi‐magnetohydrodynamic, thus breaking the commonly used long‐wavelength assumption. They are typically observed close to current sheets and downstream of interplanetary shocks. The events were observed during slow solar wind speeds and there was a tendency for higher occurrence closer to the Sun. The occurrence is low, so they do not play a fundamental role in regulating ambient solar wind but may play a larger role inside transients.


Mechanical alloying technique was used to produce an intermetallic based composite powder. Mechanical activation of aluminum and nickel oxide powder mixture using a high energy ball mill resulted in a self-propagating high temperature synthesis through which nickel oxide was reduced by metallic aluminum and produced nickel aluminide and alumina composite powder. Effect of milling time on crystallite sizes of the product phases was investigated. The synthesized product was characterized by scanning electron microscope and X-ray diffraction. It was shown that increased milling time resulted in crystallite size reduction and peak broadening in XRD patterns. Calculation of the mean crystallite sizes of the product phases indicated that they are in nano scale. The results were further confirmed by transmission electron microscopy.


Minimizing a convex risk function is the main step in many basic learning algorithms. We study protocols for convex optimization which provably leak very little about the individual data points that constitute the loss function. Specifically, we consider differentially private algorithms that operate in the local model, where each data record is stored on a separate user device and randomization is performed locally by those devices. We give new protocols for \emph{noninteractive} LDP convex optimization---i.e., protocols that require only a single randomized report from each user to an untrusted aggregator.
We study our algorithms' performance with respect to expected loss---either over the data set at hand (empirical risk) or a larger population from which our data set is assumed to be drawn. Our error bounds depend on the form of individuals' contribution to the expected loss. For the case of \emph{generalized linear losses} (such as hinge and logistic losses), we give an LDP algorithm whose sample complexity is only linear in the dimensionality $p$ and quasipolynomial in other terms (the privacy parameters $\epsilon$ and $\delta$, and the desired excess risk $\alpha$). This is the first algorithm for nonsmooth losses with sub-exponential dependence on $p$.
For the Euclidean median problem, where the loss is given by the Euclidean distance to a given data point, we give a protocol whose sample complexity grows quasipolynomially in $p$. This is the first protocol with sub-exponential dependence on $p$ for a loss that is not a generalized linear loss .
Our result for the hinge loss is based on a technique, dubbed polynomial of inner product approximation, which may be applicable to other problems. Our results for generalized linear losses and the Euclidean median are based on new reductions to the case of hinge loss.


Abstract A plasmid containing promoter-deleted inactive β-galactosidase gene [1] was used to select promoters of the pEP121 plasmid [2]. Colonies of cells harboring reactivated β-galactosidase gene were identified by their red color on McConkey plates. The quantitative amounts of β-galactosidase produced in each clone were estimated by assaying enzyme activity and by measuring the specific β-galactosidase protein following fractionation of total cells′ proteins on polyacrylamide gel. A wide range of enzyme activities was observed. The most active promoter isolated was shown to promote β-galactosidase production more efficiently, compared with the original β-galactosidase promoter, amounting to 20% of all cell proteins. Such highly active promoters may be utilized in the future, to promote expression of cloned genes in bacteria.


Using polyaluminium chloride (PAC) and chitosan as the main coagulant and coagulant-aid respectively, the high algae-laden water was treated by coagulation/flocculation/dissolved air flotation (C/F/DAF). When the doses of PAC and chitosan were both moderate (7.0~8.4 mg Al2O3/L of PAC and 0.6~1.0 mg/L of chitosan), the removal rates of turbidity, algae cells and TOC were all increased apparently compared with adding PAC alone. Especially, the residual aluminum concentration reduced significantly in treated water with the aid of chitosan. The structrue and strength of flocs formed by coagulation aid of chitosan were improved obviously, which proved that addition of chitosan could enhance the flocculation performance of PAC. So, in C/F/DAF process for removing algae, using chitosan as coagulant-aid can improve the flotation performance and reduce residual aluminum concentration in treated water.


Many studies have revealed that therapeutic homework is beneficial for the efficacy of therapies. Interestingly, the latter have been less supported by IT systems so far and, hence, therapeutic opportunities have been neglected. For example, mobile devices can be used to notify patients about assigned homework and help them to accomplish it in a timely manner. In general, the use of mobile devices as well as their sensors seem to be promising for the support of remote therapeutic interventions. In the Albatros project, we have been developing a framework that enables domain experts to flexibly define the homework required in the context of a remote therapeutic intervention. More precisely, the various tasks of a homework can be specified as a mobile process, which is then run on the mobile device of the respective patient. To realize this vision, a configurator component using a model-driven approach was developed. In particular, the Albatros configurator shall relieve domain experts from complex technical issues when defining a homework. The study presented in this paper investigates whether domain experts are actually able to use the configurator component. In particular, the study revealed three insights. First, basic interventions can be easily defined with an acceptable number of errors. Second, for defining complex interventions (e.g., using a sensor when performing an exercise) several issues could be identified that will contribute to improve the Albatros configurator. Third, additional studies are needed to evaluate the overall mental effort of domain experts when using the configurator. Altogether, the Albatros framework may be a reasonable alley to empower domain experts in creating homework in the context of remote therapeutic interventions.


The pursuit flights of six species of surface feeding ducks were compared. These aerial chases can be classified as Three-bird Flights or Attempted Rape Flights. Pursuit flights result in dispersion of the six species considered. Although there are important similarities in form and function, the characteristics of pursuit flights, the participants involved, raping tendencies and territorial behaviour differ considerably from one species to another. Based upon these criteria an alignment of the six species appears possible; from the strongly territorial Blue-winged Teal Anas discors and Shoveler A. clypeata through Gadwall A. strepera to Black Duck A. rubripes and Mallard A. platyrhynchos, with Pintail A. acuta exhibiting weak site attachment and a raping strategy at the opposite extreme.


Despite better control of early-stage disease and improved overall survival of patients with breast cancer, the incidence of life-threatening brain metastases continues to increase in some of these patients. Unfortunately, other than palliative treatments there is no effective therapy for this condition. In this study, we reveal a critical role for Src activation in promoting brain metastasis in a preclinical model of breast cancer and we show how Src-targeting combinatorial regimens can treat HER2(+) brain metastases in this model. We found that Src was hyperactivated in brain-seeking breast cancer cells derived from human cell lines or from patients' brain metastases. Mechanistically, Src activation promoted tumor cell extravasation into the brain parenchyma via permeabilization of the blood-brain barrier. When combined with the EGFR/HER2 dual-targeting drug lapatinib, an Src-targeting combinatorial regimen prevented outgrowth of disseminated breast cancer cells through the induction of cell-cycle arrest. More importantly, this combinatorial regimen inhibited the outgrowth of established experimental brain metastases, prolonging the survival of metastases-bearing mice. Our results provide a rationale for clinical evaluation of Src-targeting regimens to treat patients with breast cancer suffering from brain metastasis.


We present herein a novel design and the efficient synthesis towards a "homogeneous" starburst fluorene system based on the novel 2,3,7,8,12,13-hexaaryltruxene scaffold. Controlled microwave heating provides a facile and powerful approach for each step in the synthesis of these bulky materials with large steric hindrance, suggesting an avenue to access structurally well-defined complex organic semiconductors (OSCs) rapidly and conveniently with high yield and purity. The resulting materials exhibited good thermal stability and an excellent glassy structure as revealed by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) as well as wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) studies. Moreover, compared with their corresponding three-arm-substituted counterparts T1-T4, the introduction of the ortho substituents around the truxene core in Tr1-Tr4 results in significant blueshifts (of 7-24 nm) of the absorption maxima lambda(max) and higher energy optical gaps (E(g)). Comparative studies with corresponding linear, rod-shaped oligofluorene counterparts (OFX) have revealed that the longest para-conjugated segment in the TrX (X=1-4) structures plays the dominant role in determining their electronic properties. UV/Vis data and cyclic voltammetry (CV) investigations have indicated that there is little electronic interaction between the arms, even for the shortest armed oligomer Tr1. A clear linear relationship of both 1/lambda(max) and E(g) with the inverse of (n+1) for these branched systems was found. Our findings highlight a novel molecular design comprising an ortho-substituted, multiarmed architecture that would allow the introduction of isotropic physical and/or mechanical properties, while at the same time maintaining most of the important electronic properties of the rod-shaped constituents of a fully conjugated system.


This article provides a literature review of dental care models in Brazil, with a specific focus on the Incremental System. Other models that appeared in the research were the Inversion of Care, Early Dental Care, and Family Health Programs. The various authors analyzed the pros and cons, origins, program principles, and evolution of the different dental care models. Finally, the authors observed a common deficiency that impeded access to dental care services: exclusion of the clientele.


Interest rates behaved highly atypically from 2004 to 2006. While the US central bank raised its policy rate at every meeting, long-term interest rates remained so remarkably stable that former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan described their behaviour as a "conundrum". Comparing long-term rates to their theoretical level based on fundamental valuation models, we show that the anomaly was on average 40 bps. Various explanations have been put forward for this, including investors' changed attitude to risk, and the rise in US Treasury purchases by different categories of buyers. We show that, while these variables could theoretically be responsible for the decline in bond risk premiums, they explain less than half of the anomaly when incorporated into a fundamental model of bond yields. However, their recent changing influence could justify their being used for a prospective analysis of bond yields.


The effects of tree roots on soil suction and ground settlement are investigated. This paper highlights the inter-related parameters contributing to the development of a conceptual evapo-transpiration and root water uptake equilibrium model that is then incorporated in a comprehensive numerical model. The developed numerical model based on the finite element analysis (ABAQUS) considers fully coupled flowdeformation behaviour of soil. Field measurements obtained by the authors from a field site in western Victoria and from past literature are used to validate the model. The predicted results show acceptable agreement with the field data in spite of the assumptions made for simplifying the effects of soil heterogeneity and anisotropy. The numerical analysis proves that the proposed root water uptake model can reliably predict the region of maximum matric suction away from the tree axis. The paper also compares the natural favourable effect of tree roots with the stabilising mechanisms of geosynthetic vertical drains subjected to vacuum pressure. Although this analogy is only justified for shallow vertical drains, the comparison still emphasises the obvious economical advantages of native vegetation.


The study was on the influence of unemployment on youth gambling in Nairobi, Kenya and the objectives of the study were to; explore the extent to which the youth engage in gambling, determine whether youth unemployment contributes to gambling, establish whether the youth engage in gambling as a source of income and to determine the social-economic characteristics of youth engaging in gambling. The design of the study was a descriptive survey and was undertaken in the casinos in Nairobi County. The study targeted two groups of respondents; 60 respondents who were involved in gambling and 60 respondents who never gambled. Data was collected through a questionnaire and was analyzed using both descriptive statistics and relationship statistics. The type of descriptive statistics used was frequency distribution tables, while the relationship statistics type used was the Chi-square. The researcher formulated a hypothesis and tested it by use of both null hypothesis and alternative hypothesis. The null hypothesis (HO) was, Youth unemployment does not contribute to youth gambling while the alternative hypothesis (H1) was Youth unemployment contributes to youth gambling. The study revealed that majority of the respondents visited the casinos twice per week which depict that youths deeply involved in gambling as over 70% of them visited casinos 2-3 times per week. They engage in gambling to try their luck and win money, thus the majority of the youths engage in gambling to generate income. Most of the respondents involved in gambling had been gambling for 1-5 years and that they went to the casinos both during daytime and at night which depicts that the youths had been gambling for many years and that gambling was part of their lifestyle. The study found out that most youth were involved in gambling, however youth unemployment had no influence to their gambling, hence the null hypothesis was accepted and the alternative hypothesis rejected, meaning that there are other factors that contribute to gambling by the youth. The study recommends that the government, non-governmental organizations and other stakeholders should come up with policies and strategies to govern gambling business in Kenya to protect the youths from engaging into gambling prematurely and also to sensitize the youths on the effect of gambling and its negative effects. The researcher recommends other studies should be carried on, factors contributing to youth gambling in Kenya and also on the social and economic impact of gaming in Kenya. http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/handle/11295/8070 [8] Source URL: https://a-sociology.uonbi.ac.ke/node/4487 Links: [1] http://facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://a-sociology.uonbi.ac.ke/node/4487&t=INFLUENCE +OF+UNEMPLOYMENT+ON+YOUTH+GAMBLING+IN+NAIROBI%2C+KENYA [2] http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=INFLUENCE+OF+UNEMPLOYMENT+ON+YOUTH+GAMBLING +IN+NAIROBI%2C+KENYA&url=https://a-sociology.uonbi.ac.ke/node/4487 [3] https://plus.google.com/share?url=https://a-sociology.uonbi.ac.ke/node/4487 [4] http://bookmarks.yahoo.com/toolbar/savebm?opener=tb&u=https://a-sociology.uonbi.ac.ke/


The sport of rock climbing has evolved drastically since its conception, nearly 150 years ago. Recently, climbing has experienced a surge in popularity and has begun to leave noticeable impacts on fragile cliffside ecosystems. These cliffsides are not only home to rare nesting birds, but also support specialized biotas, like bryophytes, lichen and fragile trees that can grow to be 1,000 years old (Kelly & Larson 1997). Because of this, conflicts have surfaced between the objectives of conserving natural land and the acceptance of climbing in these areas. Though climbing has been proven to have many physical and mental health benefits (Luttenberger, 2015), some argue that the negative effects of climbing outweigh its benefits. Through a short fundraiser film, I aim to resolve this debate by portraying the strengths of the Vermont climbing community and how the Local Climbing Organization (LCO), CRAG-VT, has been extremely successful at conserving cliffside ecosystems and providing access to cliffs through land acquisitions and land easements. The film explores the ways in which CRAG-VT works with national climbing organizations and collaborates with the community to open cliffs such as Bolton Dome with a strong focus on land conservation and protection against development. The films second aim is to help CRAG-VT raise $65,000 to pay for the Bolton Dome property by sharing the fundraiser on a national level through popular media organizations. Finally, the film is meant to portray how important and welcoming the Vermont climbing community is to the growing outdoor recreational community in the greater Burlington area and to show the excitement of climbing outside.


In a multifaceted investigation combining local soft X-ray and vibrational spectroscopic probes with ab initio molecular dynamics simulations, hydrogen-bonding interactions of two key principal amine compounds in aqueous solution, ammonia (NH3) and ammonium ion (NH4+), are quantitatively assessed in terms of electronic structure, solvation structure, and dynamics. From the X-ray measurements and complementary determination of the IR-active hydrogen stretching and bending modes of NH3 and NH4+ in aqueous solution, the picture emerges of a comparatively strongly hydrogen-bonded NH4+ ion via N-H donating interactions, whereas NH3 has a strongly accepting hydrogen bond with one water molecule at the nitrogen lone pair but only weakly N-H donating hydrogen bonds. In contrast to the case of hydrogen bonding among solvent water molecules, we find that energy mismatch between occupied orbitals of both the solutes NH3 and NH4+ and the surrounding water prevents strong mixing between orbitals upon hydrogen bonding and, thus, inhibits substantial charge transfer between solute and solvent. A close inspection of the calculated unoccupied molecular orbitals, in conjunction with experimentally measured N K-edge absorption spectra, reveals the different nature of the electronic structural effects of these two key principal amine compounds imposed by hydrogen bonding to water, where a pH-dependent excitation energy appears to be an intrinsic property. These results provide a benchmark for hydrogen bonding of other nitrogen-containing acids and bases.


We study theoretically the polarization dynamics of a new type of quantum oscillator that is based on the two-photon stimulated emission process in the presence of a magnetic field of arbitrary orientation. Both cases of cascade (small intermediate-state atomic detuning) and two-photon (large atomic detuning) lasers are considered. The primary goal of this work is to investigate the origin of recently observed polarization instabilities in a two-photon laser (Pfister et al 2001 Phys. Rev. Lett. 86 4512) using a highly simplified model. It is found that the two-photon laser can emit linearly polarized radiation with its plane of polarization orthogonal to the direction of the magnetic field at small magnetic field strengths. It can also emit elliptically polarized radiation over a large range of magnetic field strengths and orientations. When the magnetic field deviates from a direction perpendicular to the laser cavity axis periodic instabilities can appear through a Hopf bifurcation. This dynamic regime could have contributed to the polarization instabilities observed in the experiment.


Many European countries have reached the stage of demographic development called a third demographic transition — when low birth rates cannot ensure the replacement of generations, immigration is a major factor of the maintenance of demographic balance or it leads to a slow population growth. Due to the large immigration flows, the ethnic composition of western societies is changing — the number of foreign-born population and persons with mixed ancestry is increasing, and these processes are projected to gain speed in the future. In theoretical literature the presence of people from different cultures in a certain geographical space is defined using the concept of "multiculturalism" (J. M. Andre, 2007). This phenomenon is now becoming one of the major topics of public and scientific discourse. The article aims to assess the likelihood of ethnic changes in Lithuania, basing on the examination of the demographic situation in a country, to discuss public attitudes towards immigrants (as the "others"/"strangers"/the "strange") and to dispute the theoretical interpretations of reactions against ethnic diversity and multiculturalism. Perception of possible reactions to the "other" can determine whether multiculturalism (as a phenomenon) will be a precondition of further cultural and economic progress, or, on the opposite, will be a cause of social conflicts. In order to achieve these objectives, the primary Eurostat and national statistical data, as well as secondary sources, are analysed, the outcomes of sociological surveys performed by international companies (Gallup) and Lithuanian researchers are presented and theoretical discourse of multiculturalism is discussed, focusing on the interpretations of the natural and the political responses to the human non-homogeneity. Taking into account the demographic situation in Lithuania, it is necessary to speak about the possible increase of immigration flows in the future. This might become a serious challenge for the country, considering the negative attitudes of the Lithuanian population towards immigrants, as are revealed by the data of international and national sociological research. It can be suggested that prerequisites for the harmonious coexistence of multiple ethnic and cultural groups are formed along with the development of democracy in society.


Abstract. This paper presents a model of factors influencing levels of human losses from natural hazards at the global scale, for the period 1980–2000. This model was designed for the United Nations Development Programme as a building stone of the Disaster Risk Index (DRI), which aims at monitoring the evolution of risk. Assessing what countries are most at risk requires considering various types of hazards, such as droughts, floods, cyclones and earthquakes. Before assessing risk, these four hazards were modelled using GIS and overlaid with a model of population distribution in order to extract human exposure. Human vulnerability was measured by crossing exposure with selected socio-economic parameters. The model evaluates to what extent observed past losses are related to population exposure and vulnerability. Results reveal that human vulnerability is mostly linked with country development level and environmental quality. A classification of countries is provided, as well as recommendations on data improvement for future use of the model.


Hematopoietic stem cell activity in inbred NZB and NZC mice has been determined by transplantation and endogenous spleen colony assays. Whereas NZB mice show normal colony-forming unit (CFU) activity in the transplantation assay, they show markedly elevated endogenous CFU. NZC mice also show this markedly elevated endogenous CFU activity, but in the transplantation assay show only about 5–10% of normal CFU counts. When NZC stem cells are tested for CFU activity in irradiated recipients of the H-2d type, almost normal colony numbers occur. NZB stem cells however also cannot form colonies in NZC mice. These results suggest that NZC mice have a defect in the micro-environment of the spleen which renders them incapable of allowing transplanted CFU to form colonies. Genetic analysis of both the NZC defect as a CFU recipient, and the elevated endogenous count in NZB and NZC, shows that both are controlled by single recessive genes which are not linked to either coat color, agouti, H-2 or Ig loci. Of even more relevance is the finding that these hematopoietic abnormalities are not linked to the genes involved in controlling autoantibody formation to red cells in the NZB mice. These mice therefore appear to show two distinct hematopoietic abnormalities, the analysis of which may be of considerable value in understanding the detailed events of hematopoietic stem cell differentiation.


Short-crested waves are three-dimensional waves that may be generated through a reflection of a two-dimensional Stokes wave on a seawall. Thus, they are more likely to be observed near ports or any consequent marine structure. Two numerical methods are used to compute three-dimensional surface gravity short-crested waves on deepwater. The first method is an asymptotic procedure and the second computes a direct numerical solution. One of the main properties is the four-wave resonance. Such resonance introduces nonu- niqueness with several solution branches connected through a turning point. We show that both computational methods are reliable for nonresonant waves, but that the direct numerical method converges faster. For resonant waves, the direct method is more appropriate because all solution branches can be obtained. The asymptotic method computes only one branch of solutions for any given parameter values, and is uncertain around and past any turning point. Stability analysis of the branches shows that, although sporadic, an instability associated with harmonic resonance is more likely to appear for one branch in the vicinity of the turning point. Consequently this could amplify the unstable resonant mode. The nonuniqueness of the solution requires careful attention in every study on the impact of surface waves on marine structures. It is shown here that the wave force exerted on a seawall may change drastically from one branch of solution to another.


This paper proposes a block-wise fragile watermarking scheme based on k-medoids clustering approach. Proposed scheme is effective enough to reconstruct the tampered extensive content of an image. According to the suggested algorithm, first of all image is divided into the blocks and forty eight bits are calculated for each block, which consist of forty five Recovery bits and three Authentication bits namely Union bit, Affiliation bit and Spectrum bit. Authentication bits for a particular block are calculated by extracting five MSBs from each pixel of that block and apply them, on some predefined hash functions. Forty five Recovery bits are calculated using the means of derived clusters and its corresponding mapping bits. These Forty eight bits for each block are pseudo- randomly mapped with some other block using secret key. At the receiver end by comparing extracted and further calculated Authentication bits , one can be acquainted with the tampered block and extracted Recovery bits from mapping blocks gives adequate information to recover extensive content of host image.


Recently, teleoperated robots have been researched for working in ultimate environment actively. Developing performance of teleoperated robots, it will be possible for human to work in such a ultimate environment with safety. However, in the actual case, as gears are used for amplifying output, stiffness of connection part reduces and vibration occurs. Moreover, communication delay causes vibration, too. In addition, in the worst case, the system becomes unstable. Therefore, in this paper, for suppression of the vibration, vibration control using wave compensator is proposed. In the proposal, there are two important control structures. Firstly, reflected wave in the resonant system is eliminated by reflected wave rejection. Transfer function of wave equation without reflected wave is composed of a time delay. Therefore, resonant system can be regarded as time delay system. Next, vibrations from flexible mechanism and communication delay are simultaneously suppressed by wave compensator. Finally, the validity of the proposal is verified by experimental results.


†‡ Summary In May 2006, the Choices Programme was launched in The Netherlands – products can qualify for a health stamp by meeting pre-set nutritional criteria. Currently, more than 120 partners in food manufacturing, retail and catering have joined the initiative. There is an increasing recognition and appreciation of the health stamp by consumers. Moreover, the initiative has given a clear incentive to participating companies to reformulate products to give them a healthier profile. The objective of the present study is to assess the potential effect on nutrient intakes in the Dutch population after replacing normally consumed foods in diets with foods that are eligible to carry a Choices stamp. Usual nutrient intakes were calculated using deterministic modelling with the Monte Carlo risk assessment model. Inputs for the modelling were food intakes (Dutch Food Consumption Survey 2003) and composition of foods from the Dutch food composition database. For a selection of nutrients, three scenarios were calculated and compared: (1) nutrient intakes 'as measured', based on the original Dutch Food Consumption Survey data; (2) replacement of all non-complying foods, where possible, with a food complying with the Choices criteria; and, because this could lead to a decreased energy intake, (3) same as (2) but nutrient intakes corrected for the difference in energy content between the original and the replacement food. Calculations of usual intake distributions showed that energy intakes were reduced by 15% by replacing normally consumed foods with foods carrying the Choices stamp. Intakes of nutrients with a maximal intake limit were also reduced (between -23% for sodium and -63% for trans fatty acids). Intakes of nutrients with a minimal intake limit increased (between +5% for folic acid and +28% for fibre), except for carbohydrate (-16%) and unsaturated fatty acids (polyunsaturated fatty acids -1% and monounsaturated fatty acids -28%). When the data were corrected for energy intake, the difference was still apparent, but smaller for the nutrients with maximal intake limits and larger for most of the nutrients with minimal intake limits, except for carbohydrate and unsaturated fatty acids. From the results, it can be concluded, based on data from the Dutch Food Consumption Survey 2003, that replacing normally consumed foods in the diet with foods that carry the Choices health stamp can potentially lead to substantial


Over the last few decades, dynamic focusing based on digital receive beamforming (DRBF) has led to significant improvements in image quality. However, it is computationally very demanding due to its requirement for multiple lowpass filters (e.g., a complex filter for each receive channel in quadrature demodulation-based phase rotation beamform- ers (QD-PRBF)). We recently developed a novel phase rotation beamformer with reduced complexity, which can lower: 1) the number of lowpass filters using 2-stage demodulation (TSD) and 2) the number of beamforming points using adap tive field-of-view (AFOV) imaging. In TSD, dynamic focusing is performed on the mixed signals, while sampling frequency of the beamformed signal (i.e., beamforming frequency) is adjusted based on the displayed field-of-view (FOV) size in AFOV imaging. In this paper, the image quality of the developed beamformer (i.e., TSD-AFOV-PRBF) has been quantitatively evaluated using phantom and in vivo data. From the phantom study, it was found that TSD-AFOV-PRBF with only 1024 beamforming points provides comparable image quality to QD-PRBF. We obtained a median contrast resolution (CR) degradation of 7.6% for the FOV size of 160 mm. Image quality steadily improves with FOV size reduction (e.g., 2.3% CR degradation at 85 mm). Similar results were also obtained from an in vivo study. Thus, TSD-AFOV-PRBF could provide comparable image quality to conventional beamformers at considerably reduced computational cost.


Julius Caesar first invaded Britain on 23 August 55 BC. Within a month, he was gone, and although his army – fewer than 10,000 strong – did not campaign beyond east Kent, the invasion caused a sensation back home. By crossing the sea, Caesar had ventured beyond the world known to Romans – what they called the orbis terrarum – and he had brought Britain under the authority of Rome. In less than a year, he would return – and now, Andrew Fitzpatrick reports, the location of his landing point may have been revealed.


The aim of this dissertation is to examine the practices of local officials serving in the Chu and Qin centralized governments during the late Warring States period, with particular interest in relevant excavated texts. The recent discoveries of Warring States slips have provided scholars with new information about how local offices operated and functioned as a crucial organ of the centralized state. Among the many excavated texts, I mainly focus on those found in Baoshan, Shuihudi, Fangmatan, Liye, and the one held by the Yuelu Academy. Much attention is given to the function of districts and their officials in the Chu and Qin governments as they supervised and operated as a base unit: deciding judicial matters, managing governmental materials and products, and controlling the population, who were the source of military and labor service. Administrative law was the main device for managing officials, but Qin daybooks suggest that mantic texts were used as a political device to support governmental daily activities. Additionally, I argue that the Qin government systematically required its officials to internalize certain values that restricted and guided their mindset and activities on behalf of the government. By focusing on excavated materials, I demonstrate that local offices, especially the district, served as a core organ in sustaining the entire local government and channeling the central authority. I conclude that only in understanding the role of local government are we are able to draw the entire picture of the ruler-centered state that emerged and developed during the Warring States period. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group East Asian Languages & Civilizations First Advisor Paul R. Goldin


The paper describes bit rate control for a one-pass MPEG-4 video encoding algorithm in order to make it suitable for real-time applications. The proposed control method is of low computational complexity and more accurate than previous approaches. In result, the rate-control buffer size which highly influences the latency between a video sender and receiver can be decreased significantly. Additionally, a solution is proposed for increasing the perceived quality by introducing an advanced bit allocation scheme and by exploiting activity masking. The proposed algorithm has been implemented in the XVID codec, a representative of the MPEG-4 standard. Experiments prove that the proposed algorithm is highly accurate and provides improved perceived visual quality. Moreover, the implementation outperforms other up-to-now bit rate control algorithms.


Abstract: We present the results of a search for anomalous resonant production of tau lepton pairs with large invariant mass, the first such search using the CDF II Detector in Run II of the Tevatron p{bar p} collider. Such anomalous production could arise from various new physics processes. In a data sample corresponding to 195 pb{sup -1} of integrated luminosity we predict 2.8 {+-} 0.5 events from Standard Model background processes and observe 4. We use this result to set limits on the production of heavy scalar and vector particles decaying to tau lepton pairs.


Much mainstream analytic epistemology is built around a sceptical treatment of modality which descends from Hume. The roots of this scepticism are argued to lie in Hume's (nominalist) theory of perception, which is excavated, studied and compared with the very different (realist) theory of perception developed by Peirce. It is argued that Peirce's theory not only enables a considerably more nuanced and effective epistemology, it also (unlike Hume's theory) does justice to what happens when we appreciate a proof in mathematics.


School is one of the areas where social pedagogy has taken on an increasingly important function. Supported by available literature, the aim of this literature review is to describe and analyse how the work of social pedagogues in schools can be manifested. The literature review shows that social pedagogical work in schools is common in many countries and emerging in others. The study shows a wide variation both between and within countries with regard to the mission and goals, status, role and function, tasks and activities of social pedagogues. The primary mission is inclusion of pupil groups or individuals with various types of psychosocial problems or school-related difficulties, followed by preventive work aimed at all pupils to counteract social exclusion in school, disciplining groups of pupils who are in various ways disrupting or breaking school norms, a consciousness-raising and mobilising mission and a more general teaching mission aimed at citizenship and democratic upbringing. The literature review shows that social pedagogy as a profession enjoys high currency and relevance in schools with a view to preventing the segregation and exclusion of pupils.


Norton examines the enactment of liberal ideas in popular culture; in the possessions of ordinary people and the habits of everyday life. She sees liberalism as the common sense of the American people: a set of conventions unconsciously adhered to, a set of principles silently taken for granted. The author ranges over a wide expanse of popular activities (e.g. wrestling, roller derby, lotteries, shopping sprees, and dining out), as well as conventional political topics (e.g., the Constitution, presidency, news media, and centrality of law). Yet the argument is pointed and probling, never shallow or superficial. Fred and Wilma Flintstone are as vital to the republic as Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. "In discussions that range from the Constitution and the presidency to money and shopping, voting, lotteries, and survey research, Norton discerns and imaginatively invents possibilities that exceed recognized actualities and already approved opportunities."-Richard E. Flathman, "American Political Science Review" "[S]timulating and stylish exploration of political theory, language, culture, and shopping at the mall . . . popular culture at its best, informed by history and theory, serious in purpose, yet witty and modest in tone."-Bernard Mergen, "American Studies International"


Time Delay Spectrometry (TDS) is a technique used to measure both frequency and time responses of acoustic and electrical systems. TDS theory is presented in both intuitive and mathematical terms. The theoretical limitations of current TDS technology are described. A new extension to TDS theory is introduced which has the potential to signiicantly improve TDS measurements. Implementation issues are addressed and expressions for the system error are derived. The results of computer simulation are presented.


demonstrated in small amounts. Liver function tests on that day were as follows: Total bilirubin 1.1 mg./100 ml.; conjugated bilirubin 0-6 mg./ 100 ml.; alanine transaminase 60 I.U.; alkaline phosphatase 10 K.A. units; thymol turbidity 1; thymol flocculation 0; colloidal gold 0. Iprindole was withdrawn, and the patient made a complete recovery within a few days and remains well physically. The liver function tests, when repeated on 16 January showed: Total bilirubin 0 5 mg./100 ml.; conjugated bilirubin 0-3 mg./ 100 ml.; alanine transaminase 4; alkaline phosphates, thymol turbity, thymol flocculation, and colloidal gold were all within normal limits. The second case was a 49-year-old man who was seen on 1 October 1969 with a moderately severe endogenous depression and iprindole 2 tablets t.d.s. were prescribed, together with nitrazepam 10 mg. at night. This was his first surgery attendance for five months. By 10 October his depression had improved and the iprindole was repeated. He was next seen at home on 14 October, having taken to bed on 11 October with fever and malaise. Minimal icterus was apparent when he was seen, but the urine gave a negative response to Ictotest. Iprindole was discontinued and when he was seen on 17 October no jaundice was apparent. However liver function tests done on 19 October were as follows: Total bilirubin 1.8 mg./100 ml.; conjugated bilirubin 1.2 mg./100.; alanine transaminase 17 I.U.; alkaline phosphatase 19 K.A. units; thymol turbidity 1; thymol flocculation 0; colloidal gold 0. At this stage he was prescribed amitriptyline and he continued to recover. These cases show that hepatotoxic reactions can occur in response to this drug which rapidly resolve when it is withdrawn. Perhaps it is significant that in both cases the drug had been administered for one week before the reactions appeared. We should like to thank Dr. G. A. Faux of the medical department of John Wyeth and Bro. Ltd. for his help with the presentation of these cases. -We are, etc., J. C. NEWELL PRICE. J. A. COLLINGS-WELLS. Fleet, near Aldershot, Hants.


Dynamic memory allocators (malloc/free) rely on mutual exclusion locks for protecting the consistency of their shared data structures under multithreading. The use of locking has many disadvantages with respect to performance, availability, robustness, and programming flexibility. A lock-free memory allocator guarantees progress regardless of whether some threads are delayed or even killed and regardless of scheduling policies. This paper presents a completely lock-free memory allocator. It uses only widely-available operating system support and hardware atomic instructions. It offers guaranteed availability even under arbitrary thread termination and crash-failure, and it is immune to deadlock regardless of scheduling policies, and hence it can be used even in interrupt handlers and real-time applications without requiring special scheduler support. Also, by leveraging some high-level structures from Hoard, our allocator is highly scalable, limits space blowup to a constant factor, and is capable of avoiding false sharing. In addition, our allocator allows finer concurrency and much lower latency than Hoard. We use PowerPC shared memory multiprocessor systems to compare the performance of our allocator with the default AIX 5.1 libc malloc, and two widely-used multithread allocators, Hoard and Ptmalloc. Our allocator outperforms the other allocators in virtually all cases and often by substantial margins, under various levels of parallelism and allocation patterns. Furthermore, our allocator also offers the lowest contention-free latency among the allocators by significant margins.


. This team description paper describes the approaches that will be taken by the UvA@Home team to compete in Standard Platform League with the Softbank Robotics Pepper. The research challenges con-cern person recognition, object recognition, natural language processing and navigation. Modules implemented so far include face recognition, speech recognition and natural language processing. The remaining challenges will be solved using the previous research and achievements of the UvA teams in the RoboCup.


This article has been written by a student participant of the 'Legal Research Methodologies in European Union and International Law' workshop series as detailed in the three Research Notes - 'Legal Research Methodologies in European Union and International Law', by Tamara Hervey, Rob Cryer, Bal Sokhi-Bulley .  The article introduces the student's PhD project and details some of the methodological research issues which the AHRC funded workshops have helped the student to address.


A general procedure for the analysis of curved or flat, thin two dimensional gas cavities such as thin compressor or engine manifolds or so-called thin shell type muffler elements, which can efficiently utilize the limited space of hermetically sealed compressors or small engine compartments, has been developed by the authors (1996a and 1996b), as long as the thickness of the cavities is substantially small compared to the shortest wavelength of interest. However, for an acoustic system which consists of two different thin gas cavities sharing a common line like boundary, some modifications of this general procedure are required. In this study, a simplified refrigeration compressor manifold model, whose geometry is similar to a circular disk box attached to a cylindrical cavity, is investigated. In order to use the general formulations to solve for the forced responses, the natural frequencies and natural modes of this compressor model have to be first determined by a line impedance method proposed by the authors (1996c). Line impedances are formulated, in analogy to line receptances in structural analysis, from the pressure responses of the cylinder and disk cavities to the line volume flow rate inputs which are distributed harmonically along the circular interface of the two subsystems. The frequency characteristic equation is derived and then solved for the natural frequencies and mode shapes of the compressor model. The acoustic four poles and transfer function are finally obtained by substituting the natural frequencies and mode shapes into the general formulations.


This report is the outcome of an Organizational and Training Need Assessment (TNA) of
Tangail Pourashava. The TNA was carried out over a period of 6 months in 1998/99 and is
an initiative of the Support for Implementation of National Plans of Action (SINPA) Project.
Rehabilitation and Development Organization for Landless (RADOL) – a Bangladeshi NGO -
is the executing agency of the project, with technical assistance from Institute for Housing
and Urban Development Studies (IHS) of the Netherlands. The Netherlands' Government
funds the project. Tangail Pourashava is the local government body responsible for the
administration of Tangail in terms of a mandate provided by statutory legislation.
The SINPA Project started in November 1997 and ends on December 31, 2000. In each of
three countries the focus is on one secondary city and replicability of project interventions in
other cities is part of the SINPA approach. The focus cities are:
Bangladesh Tangail
Bolivia Santa Cruz
Zambia Kitwe
The SINPA project aims to support the Tangail Pourashava, in the co-ordination and
provision of high quality and relevant training to:
a) the elected representatives, and
b) key officials of the Pourashava.
There is a steering committee set up to link the project to central and local bodies and capacity
building institutions.


Oasis soils result from the combined action of natural and anthropic processes, and thus constitute valuable systems for the understanding of human–environment trajectories over the millennia. The present research aims to develop the study of ancient oasis soils by identifying proxies to detect past agricultural practices. Ten reference pits were dug in Masafi, in both cultivated plots (irrigated plots with palm trees/fruit trees/cereals; manure/ashes/carbonates) and abandoned ones. Bulk sediment samples were analysed for geochemistry/pedo‐sedimentary studies: inductively coupled plasma‐optical emission spectrometry, loss on ignition, pH, electrical conductivity, grain size and magnetic susceptibility. This multiproxy approach enabled the creation of a soil typology of oasis agricultural modes. Irrigation and liming lead to salinisation, particularly in a B‐horizon. Manure creates a hortic horizon, enriched in P and Zn. Ashes can be detected with a simultaneous increase of magnetic and salinity values. Soils in plots with fruit trees/cereals are not distinguishable from those with palm monoculture. Weathering was identified on the basis of the enrichment in Al, Ti, K Na, Ni, Cr and Fe, whereas proxies of ancient practices seem to be preserved after 15 years of abandonment. As leaching processes appear to be limited to the first 50 cm, the durability of soil signatures depends on how they were buried.


ABSTRACT Based on urgent needs for food security compounded by a changing climate which impacts and is impacted by agricultural land-use and food distribution practices, we explore the processes of action in implementing agroecological food systems. We identified the following characteristics for an agroecological food system: 1. Minimizing use of external inputs, 2. Extent of internal resource recycling, 3. Resilience, 4. Multifunctionality, 5. Building on complexity and incorporating greater systems integration, 6. Contextuality, 7. Equity and, 8. Nourishment. We focus on the city-region food systems context, concluding with practical drivers for realizing more agroecological food systems in city-region contexts. Agroecological food systems are widely diverse, shaped by context, and achieved through multi-actor planning in rural, peri-urban and urban areas. Application of agroecological food systems in rural–urban contexts emphasize the necessity of diversification, zoning rural–urban landscapes, planning for seasonality in a food systems context, and producing at scale. Rural–urban food systems are a relevant and challenging entry point that provides opportunities for learning how food systems can be shaped for significant positive change. Social organization, community building, common learning, and knowledge creation are crucial for agroecological contextualized food systems, as are the supports from appropriate governing and institutional structures.


The objective of reconfiguration is to re-route power during failure or compromised conditions to improve fight through capability and survivability. Rapid algorithms for the task may serve the dual purpose of managing power flow under dynamic load change. Among the critical constraints of power redirection is the line current rating. Reconfiguration algorithms serve an equally useful task in system grid design. An exhaustive search optimization routine can be used to specify grid layout necessary to guarantee 100% performance in the face of single and multiple line loss. A genetic optimization routine is employed to determine required line rating and switch configuration during generator loss to satisfy critical load demands. The combination of these tests results in line current rating and switch locations necessary for reliable ship operation for the least cost.


This paper describes the phenomenon of flow-induced vibration in a shell & tube type heat exchanger. This type heat exchanger has often been used in the LPG gas carrier ship and has sometimes caused a fretting and finally comes to a fatigue failure. In flow-induced vibration, there are vortex-induced vibrations, fluid elastic instability and buffeting. Experiments are carried out by use of an actual heat exchanger in order to clarify the cause of tube vibration. The vibration of a lot of tubes is measured for various flow rates and the natural frequency and its damping ratio are also measured. As a result, the cause of the vibration of tubes is not the fluid elastic instability and the vortex-induced vibration but the buffeting due to the turbulence of upstream flow. The main reason is that these tubes are supported by many baffle plates with clearance and then the vibration system becomes the nonlinear.


Traditional instruction in the social studies has been content rather than process oriented, concentrating on the lower level thinking skills. With coverage of the culture and history of the fifty United States, Reading the Fifty States offers librarians and teachers the tools to encourage higher order thinking skills. Students read novels set in each of the states and participate in targeted reader-response activities that are process oriented, develop higher cognitive skills, and spark creativity. Helpful tools include 200 booktalks (4 for each state), lists of other recommended titles for each state, a fact sheet, a listing of the national standards covered, and a plethora of reproducible, reader-response activities directly linked to national standards in language arts and social studies. Grades 3-6


The transmission system operators (TSOs) are responsible to provide secure and efficient access to the transmission system for all stakeholders. This task is gradually getting challenging due to the demand growth, demand uncertainty, rapid changes in generation mix, and market policies. Traditionally, the TSOs try to maximize the technical performance of the transmission network via building new overhead lines or physical hardening. However, obtaining public acceptance for building new lines is not an easy step in this procedure. For this reason, the TSOs try to capture the capabilities of existing assets. This paper investigates the use of modular FACTS devices (to alter the line characteristics) for improving the capability of transmission network in serving the uncertain demand without the need for building new overhead lines. The proposed OPF based method considers the uncertainty of demands and controls the utilization of existing transmission assets. The mathematical results obtained are validated with a complete non-linear simulation model of two transmission networks..


Molecular recognition is fundamental to biological signaling. A central question is how individual interactions between molecular moieties affect the thermodynamics of ligand binding to proteins and how these effects might propagate beyond the immediate neighborhood of the binding site. Here, we investigate this question by introducing minor changes in ligand structure and characterizing the effects of these on ligand affinity to the carbohydrate recognition domain of galectin-3, using a combination of isothermal titration calorimetry, X-ray crystallography, NMR relaxation, and computational approaches including molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and grid inhomogeneous solvation theory (GIST). We studied a congeneric series of ligands with a fluorophenyl-triazole moiety, where the fluorine substituent varies between the ortho, meta, and para positions (denoted O, M, and P). The M and P ligands have similar affinities, whereas the O ligand has 3-fold lower affinity, reflecting differences in binding enthalpy and entropy. The results reveal surprising differences in conformational and solvation entropy among the three complexes. NMR backbone order parameters show that the O-bound protein has reduced conformational entropy compared to the M and P complexes. By contrast, the bound ligand is more flexible in the O complex, as determined by 19F NMR relaxation, ensemble-refined X-ray diffraction data, and MD simulations. Furthermore, GIST calculations indicate that the O-bound complex has less unfavorable solvation entropy compared to the other two complexes. Thus, the results indicate compensatory effects from ligand conformational entropy and water entropy, on the one hand, and protein conformational entropy, on the other hand. Taken together, these different contributions amount to entropy–entropy compensation among the system components involved in ligand binding to a target protein.


We examine the issues of combining multiple query representations in a single IR engine. Differing query representations are used to retrieve different documents. Thus, when combining their results, improvements are observed in effectiveness. We use multiple TREC query representations (title, description and narrative) as a basis for experimentation. We examine several combination approaches presented in the literature (vector addition, CombSUM and CombMNZ) and present a new combination approach using query vector length normalization. We examine two query representation combination approaches (title + description and title + narrative) for 150 queries from TREC 6, 7 and 8 topics. Our QLN (Query Length Normalization) technique outperformed vector addition and data fusion approaches by as much as 32% and was on average 24% better. Additionally, QLN always outperformed the single best query representation in terms of effectiveness.


We study the Solid Isotropic Material Penalisation (SIMP) method with a density field generated by a fully-connected neural network, taking the coordinates as inputs. In the large width limit, we show that the use of DNNs leads to a filtering effect similar to traditional filtering techniques for SIMP, with a filter described by the Neural Tangent Kernel (NTK). This filter is however not invariant under translation, leading to visual artifacts and non-optimal shapes. We propose two embeddings of the input coordinates, which lead to (approximate) spatial invariance of the NTK and of the filter. We empirically confirm our theoretical observations and study how the filter size is affected by the architecture of the network. Our solution can easily be applied to any other coordinates-based generation method.


PICO question
In horses with osteoarthritis, is mesenchymal stem cell therapy more effective at managing lameness than intra-articular corticosteroids?

Clinical bottom line
Category of research question
Treatment
The number and type of study designs reviewed
Nine papers were critically reviewed; seven experimental trials and two randomised controlled double-blinded trials.
Strength of evidence
Weak to moderate
Outcomes reported
There is moderate evidence to suggest that chondrogenically induced mesenchymal stem cells combined with equine allogenic plasma have a good efficacy at reducing lameness in the short-term, in horses with mild to moderate lameness associated with osteoarthritis. However, there is no definitive evidence directly comparing mesenchymal stem cell therapy and corticosteroids, to identify if mesenchymal stem cell therapy is more effective than intra-articular corticosteroids.
Conclusion
In horses with mild to moderate lameness associated with osteoarthritis, there is moderate evidence to suggest that mesenchymal stem cell therapies are effective at managing lameness. However, it is undetermined whether they are more effacious than intra-articular corticosteroids.

How to apply this evidence in practice
The application of evidence into practice should take into account multiple factors, not limited to: individual clinical expertise, patient's circumstances and owners' values, country, location or clinic where you work, the individual case in front of you, the availability of therapies and resources.
Knowledge Summaries are a resource to help reinforce or inform decision-making. They do not override the responsibility or judgement of the practitioner to do what is best for the animal in their care.


The expert authors in this timely volume offer diverse perspectives on how corruption distorts state and market relations, while drawing from insights in political science, economics, and law. This book represents a new wave of research in political economy, relying on methodological rigor to address topics ranging from corruption in taxation and trade to crony capitalism and false anticorruption reforms. Key chapters provide a thorough review of the literature on links between political connections and democratic institutions. Special attention is paid to the OECD Anti Bribery Convention, the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, China's anti-corruption drive, and language used to discuss tax evasion. Case studies from various regions—such as China, Paraguay, South Africa, and New York City— anchor the analysis with real world situations. Greed, Corruption, and the Modern State is a critical resource for students, researchers, and practitioners interested in development, economics, governance, and corruption.