A cathode active and selective pesticide electrochemical sensor based on Langmuir–Blodgett (LB) film of cobalt phthalocyanine-anthraquinone hybrid (CoPc-AQ) was constructed for the first time in this study. Cobalt-based, Pc ring-based, and anthraquinone-based reduction processes of CoPc-AQ indicated suitability of the complex as a possible electrochemical catalyst and sensor for detection of target species. LB film of CoPc-AQ on ITO (ITO/CoPc-AQ electrode) was titrated with eserine and carbofuran pesticides and interaction of the electrode with these pesticides was tested with square wave voltammetry (SWV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and double potential step chronocoulometry (DPSCC) techniques. ITO/CoPc-AQ electrode selectively sensed carbofuran and eserine pesticides. While ITO/CoPc-AQ electrode senses carbofuran with the voltammetric responses recorded at anodic potentials (1.20 V), eserine sensing affected antraquinone based reduction peaks recorded at cathodic potentials (-0.80 V). Modification of ITO/CoPc-AQ electrode with nano-platinum and nano-gold particles (ITO/CoPc-AQ-nPt and ITO/CoPc-AQ-nAu) increased the sensitivity of the electrode. All basic sensor parameters of modified electrodes were derived with different measurement techniques and compared with each other. The lowest detection limit (2.30 × 10-9 M) was recorded with EIS techniques on ITO/CoPc-AQ-nPt electrode for sensing of eserine.


THE GLOBAL GOVERNANCE OF KNOWLEDGE: PATENT OFFICES AND THEIR CLIENTS covers the results of an in-depth, interview-based study of 45 patent offices, their operations and policies, and how they fit into the larger global patent network. Drahos includes a diverse cross section of large, small, emerging economy and other kinds of offices, tying them together in a novel and eye-opening construct that sheds important new light on a system which may, by Drahos's account, be anything but benign. Drahos provides a timely account of the origins of the global patent machine in operation today, tracing the history and development of individual patent offices with the enduring remnants of colonization providing a constant echo. He intertwines these strands in a narrative that describes a system divorced, in some cases, from the public and societal interest that justifies it. What emerges is a troubling picture of a global regime that exists to facilitate MNC collection of private taxes in the form of patent rents, populated by patent office employees who in many cases lack a clear concept of the larger societal ramifications of their actions. Drahos provocative enquiry is an intriguing and enlightening explanation of "why our [patent] world is the way it is" and what we might do to change it. The book is thought-provoking, well-researched, engaging, and highly recommended.


about Ashkenazi women in the 19th and 20thcentury (generally pre-war) Europe, Russia, Israel and the U.S., as they struggle to live within and beyond the confines of a sexist and antiSemitic world. Some accept and assimilate in marriage, or rebel and become freethinkers or midwives with hidden agendas, or use their cunning and wits, their class or other privileges, to survive and thrive. Each story includes a brief bio of the author and each has different translators, providing a unique resonance. While some reviews and publicity for the work have focused on the more "famous" (and male) authors—such as Sholem Aleichem or Issac Bashevis Singer, the delight of the anthology is the range of stories from those authors less known, many who made some of the same audacious creative choices as the protagonists.


[© Health Affairs] Assessing the New Federalism (ANF) is a large multiyear research project of the Urban Institute that examines a broad spectrum of social policies, including health policy. The project is based on two premises. The first is that states are at the forefront of redesigning U.S. safety-net policy today, and, therefore, state variations are important to document and understand. The second premise of ANF is that the recent state and federal social policy changes are significant and will affect all low-income Americans and not just welfare or Medicaid recipients.


Purpose - The internationalisation of business and the process of globalisation raise many ethical issues about acceptable norms of conduct on the part of corporations. This article aims to evaluate whether there is progress in establishing standards for international business ethics. Design/methodology/approach - The paper explores whether the case for a global standard of business conduct can be grounded and justified in rational argument. Findings - As a moral minimum, corporate ethical codes need to rule out what the management believes to be clearly unacceptable behaviour. The distinction between thick and thin moral rules is particularly important in wrestling with the rights and wrongs of international business ethics. A good deal of room needs to exist for the local interpretation of these codes, but there are a number of situations where universal standards have to be enforced in the host country. Originality/value - This paper summarises the progress made in establishing the field of international business ethics. And it identifies and discusses the evidence on the effectiveness of ethical codes in improving international business practice.


AIMS
Oral glucose-lowering medications are associated with excess risk of heart failure (HF). Given the absence of comparative data among drug classes, we performed a retrospective study in 32 Health Services of 16 Italian regions accounting for a population of 18 million individuals, to assess the association between HF risk and use of sulphonylureas, DPP-4i, and glitazones.

METHODS AND RESULTS
We extracted data on patients with type 2 diabetes who initiated treatment with DPP-4i, thiazolidinediones, or sulphonylureas alone or in combination with metformin during an accrual time of 2 years. The endpoint was hospitalization for HF (HHF) occurring after the first 6 months of therapy, and the observation was extended for up to 4 years. A total of 127 555 patients were included, of whom 14.3% were on DPP-4i, 72.5% on sulphonylurea, 13.2% on thiazolidinediones, with average 70.7% being on metformin as combination therapy. Patients in the three groups differed significantly for baseline characteristics: age, sex, Charlson index, concurrent medications, and previous cardiovascular events. During an average 2.6-year follow-up, after adjusting for measured confounders, use of DPP-4i was associated with a reduced risk of HHF compared with sulphonylureas [hazard ratio (HR) 0.78; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.62-0.97; P = 0.026]. After propensity matching, the analysis was restricted to 39 465 patients, and the use of DPP-4i was still associated with a lower risk of HHF (HR 0.70; 95% CI 0.52-0.94; P = 0.018).

CONCLUSION
In a very large observational study, the use of DPP-4i was associated with a reduced risk of HHF when compared with sulphonylureas.


A new stability approach is developed for a wide class of strongly non-parallel axisymmetric flows of a viscous incompressible fluid. This approach encompasses all conical flows, and all steady and weakly unsteady disturbances, while prior studies were limited to specific flows and particular disturbances. A specially derived form of the Navier–Stokes equations allows the exact reduction of the linear stability problem to a system of ordinary differential equations. We found that disturbances originating at the boundaries of a similarity region cause a variety of steady bifurcations. Consideration of the still fluid allows disturbances to be classified into inner, outer and global modes, depending on the boundary conditions perturbed. Then we identify and study modes which cause bifurcation as the Reynolds number increases. The study provides improved understanding of (a) azimuthal symmetry breaking, (b) genesis of swirl, (c) onset of heat convection, (d) hydromagnetic dynamo, (e) hysteretic transitions, and (f) jump flow separation. We also discover and analyse two new bifurcations: (g) fold catastrophes and (h) appearance of radial oscillations in swirl-free jets. The stability analysis reveals that bifurcations (a), (c) and (f) are caused by inner perturbations, bifurcations (b), (d), (e) and (g) by outer perturbations, and bifurcation (h) by global perturbations. We deduce amplitude equations to describe the nonlinear spatiotemporal development of disturbances near the critical Reynolds numbers for (b) and (g). Disturbances switching between the basic and secondary steady states are found to grow monotonically with time.


In this paper, new schemes are presented in which the spare nodes of a permanent-fault-tolerant processing array are utilized in their idling state to aid in an online transient-error recovery process. Though spares-based methods are well-known solutions to permanent-fault tolerance, the cost of these solutions and the idling spare capacity during normal operation have limited their widespread use. Manufacturers must be offered fault tolerance solutions which provide useful work at all times. We propose the enhanced utility of spares-based methods by commissioning idling spares (those spares remaining after fabrication and subsequent replacement of faulty units) to perform transient-error recovery tasks. Our scheme will commission idling spares to perform periodic on-line testing (verifying whether system is functioning correctly), and recovery point validation during normal operation. When an error occurs, the spare will perform additional testing to select recovery points. Transient-error recovery is required in harsh environments, such as high radiation, where frequent transient errors are unavoidable. In these environments, the cost of job completion can be extremely high without some form of error recovery. Successful job completion can be attained in environments frequented by error bursts by identifying reliable data through the process of periodic on-line testing. We apply our scheme to a mesh array architecture that has applications in digital signal processing. Simulations highlight the overhead of our schemes in terms of job completion time in environments burdened with frequent transient random errors and burst errors. The proposed strategies for recovery are limited to systems of regular structure. There are many applications in signal and image processing that require array processing in which the various nodes perform similar operations with different data sets. Therefore, it is not necessary to switch the application algorithms for the spares when they perform redundant computation in a staggered mode. While this is a significant feature, there is a small cost associated with presenting the same data to a node as well as a spare. With built-in hardware and reconfiguration switches in the fault tolerant arrays, we believe this cost will be insignificant. Extension of our work to more general systems requires consideration of many issues including system timing, and sub-unit communication & dependence. This is a problem for future research.


In this work, we developed an ontological tool, based on the scientific realism of Mario Bunge, for the analysis of the presentation of natural processes in science textbooks. This tool was applied to analyze the presentation of the concept of osmosis in 16 chemistry and biology books at different educational levels. The results showed that more than 50% of the books present the process of osmosis connected just with concentration properties associated with the hydrodynamic state of the osmotic process, forgetting the properties of osmotic pressure to define the state of osmotic equilibrium. This omission creates confusion between the state of osmotic equilibrium with the isotonic state by reducing the entire osmosis process to a mere process of diffusion by differences in concentrations. Moreover, in 4 of the biology textbooks, the presentation of the osmosis concept and osmotic equilibrium in cell system illustrations generates confusion between hydrostatic pressure generated by gravity vs. hydrostatic pressure generated by membrane tension or turgor pressure. Our results show that in most of the texts, the osmotic process is not connected with the non-equilibrium state, macroscopic dynamic state or equilibrium state, whereas in other textbooks, equivalence between these states and hypo–hyper and isotonic states is incorrectly presented.


The years 1976 to 1982 were traumatic for most South Africans. In June 1976, serious riots broke out in the sprawling Soweto township, and spread to other areas in the country. While some whites then, more than ever before, challenged the apartheid policy, others moved further to the right and believed that only the more rigorous application of that policy would safeguard the future of white people in the country. The National Party government clamped down on black opposition groups, individuals and the media, which in turn led to the country being isolated internationally even more than ever before. The vicious cycle of fear was fed by violence and boycotts, which led to more fear, violence and isolation, and gave impetus to the idea of a "total onslaught". Right-wing white voters found a new (and apparently very dynamic) home in the Conservative Party, which was founded in 1982. In the meantime, the establishment of Zimbabwe under the rule of Robert Mugabe in 1980, increased external pressure on the beleaguered South African government. In this study, fear as a factor in right-wing white politics in the years 1976 to 1982 is analysed by referring to the above-mentioned and related matters.


BACKGROUND
This study evaluated the maternal, embryotoxic, and teratogenic effects of the aqueous extract of Casearia sylvestris (AECS), a species listed in the Unique Health System of Brazil, and widely used for treating several conditions, such as diarrhea, wounds, pain, and ulcers.

METHODS
Pregnant rats were daily treated orally with 0, 175, 350, or 700 mg/kg/body weight of AECS, from gestational day (GD) 6 to 15 (organogenesis period). On GD 20, the pregnant rats were euthanized, and the litters submitted to an assessment of fetal development.

RESULTS
No clinical signs of toxicity were observed in the dams during the treatment. In the embryo-fetal development study, a significant increase in the basal zone height of the placenta was observed in the intermediate dose group. Furthermore, there was a significant increase in the relative anogenital distance measurement of female fetuses in the lowest and intermediate dose groups. Although no visceral abnormalities were observed in the treated-fetuses, skeletal anomalies evidenced by changes in the ossification of the sternum and the presence of supernumerary ribs were found in the intermediate and high dose groups.

CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the treatment with AECS during organogenesis at this dose level had detrimental effects on the normal development of fetuses.


This study assessed the anti-biofouling performance of an experimental adhesive system containing a naturally occurring essential vegetable oil and examined the following physical and mechanical properties: water sorption (WS) and solubility (SL), microtensile bond strength to dentin (μTBS), and degree of conversion. The following six groups were tested: a self-etching experimental adhesive containing refined essential oil from the seeds of the Butia capitata tree (EAO); an oil-free version of the experimental adhesive (EANO); one group without adhesive as the control (C); and the three following commercial self-etching adhesives: Clearfil Protect Bond (CPB), Clearfil SE Bond, and Adper SE Plus. The antibacterial effect was estimated by microbiological culture on selective/non-selective media, and the results expressed as colony-forming units per unit weight of dry biofilm (CFU mg−1). The data were submitted to ANOVA and Tukey's post hoc test (α = 0.05). After 24 h, pH changes were similar in the storage medium of all tested adhesive systems. EAO showed similar levels of antimicrobial activity in a model biofilm microcosm as the commercial self-etching adhesive CPB. Both were effective against total microorganisms, aciduric bacteria, lactobacilli, and Streptococcus mutans. WS and SL were not affected by the presence of the essential oil; the values of EAO were similar to or less than those of commercial equivalents. The incorporation of an essential oil into an experimental adhesive did not influence its monomer conversion result. Immediate μTBS values of EAO and EANO were similar and were greater than those of commercial equivalents. After storage for 6 months, the μTBS of the EAO decreased significantly and became similar to the values of commercial equivalents, while the strength of the EANO was not affected.


Interactions between men and machines increasingly tend towards interactive, or even collaborative, experiences. We explore the emergence of creativity in man-machine musical interaction. Participants in collaborative musical ensembles should exhibit their own unique musical individuality. We propose a system that acquires musical individuality by listening to rhythmic interaction between human performers and learns bidirectional rhythm association. This association mechanism allows the system to not only generate a suitable rhythm that compliments a performer's rhythm, but also suggest to the performer an alternative rhythm that it deems preferential. The system's musical individuality originates from its listening experience and is generally different to that of the performer's. In this manner, creative and harmonious rhythms can emerge from musical interactions between the performer and the system. The system was implemented so as to interact with a human partner using typical percussion instruments, in real time. Experimentation shows that the system can identify rhythm, play along with human performers, and inject dynamic rhythm changes such that musical creativity emerges.


Viruses in the Eubenangee, Wallal and Warrego serogroups of orbiviruses have been isolated primarily in Australia. Several isolates in these three serogroups were examined by gel electrophoresis and blot hybridization of genomic RNA. Conserved and variant genes were identified by the degree of hybridization between cognate genes. The dsRNA profiles of isolates within a serogroup exhibited heterogeneity in polyacrylamide gels, but they were indistinguishable in agarose gels. Isolates within a serogroup generally showed a high level of cross-hybridization in eight segments with cognate segments 2 and 6 exhibiting hybridization signal variants. Although Pata virus has been classified in the Eubenangee serogroup, it was not closely related to other Eubenangee isolates by hybridization. Similarly, Mitchell River virus was not closely related to other members of the Warrego serogroup. The taxonomic status of Pata and Mitchell River viruses should be reviewed, and in the interim they should be placed in the ungrouped set of orbiviruses. Inter-serogroup relatedness was also examined by blot hybridization. Representatives from the Eubenangee, Wallal, Warrego, bluetongue, epizootic haemorrhagic disease and Corriparta serogroups were examined. Several of the serogroups were distantly related, and the low level of relatedness was suggestive of a common ancestry. While many of these serogroups may co-circulate in nature, these data suggest that each serogroup represents a distinct gene pool. The taxonomic significance of these data is discussed.


Strong evidence is reported on risk factors from the indoor and outdoor environment on respiratory health in children.

The European Commission, funded the study on Schools Indoor Pollution and Health (SINPHONIE) carried out in 25 different European countries in winter season 2011/2012, during the heating season.

The aim of the study was to measure indoors and outdoors air-quality and level of pollutants and to correlate it with respiratory health. Since children spend a large part of their time at school, the initiatives to evaluate such indoor air quality (IAQ) were developed.

The study protocol included:questionnaire on school characteristics and IAQ policy; questionnaires derived from the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood, one filled in by the pupils and the other by their parents; school environmental assessments; and noninvasive clinical tests on a subsample of pupils.

Noninvasive clinical tests - spirometry, break-up time and tear film analysis, exhaled nitrogen oxide were performed. The selected schools were in urban and rural area.

Results: The pupils exposed to an elevated level of indoor pollutants showed higher prevalence of nonspecific respiratory symptoms. The exacerbation of asthma definitely correlates with higher levels of indoor pollution particularly during the winter season unrelated to school location, characteristics.

Conclusion: The indoor air quality directly affects the respiratory health of pupils in general while in asthmatic children may be a risk factor for the exacerbations and asthma attacks in school.

Brunekref B. Indoor environment. In:Annesi-Maesano I, Gulsvik A, Viegi G, eds. Respiratory Epidemiology in Europe. Eur Respir Mon 2000; 5: 384–399.


Despite educational efforts, Tennessee human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination rates are 43%, among the lowest in the United States. This study examined how adolescents think about the HPV vaccine to identify patterns and misconceptions to enhance educational efforts. Adolescents (ages 11–12) (N = 168) responded to open-ended questions regarding their thinking about the HPV vaccine. Data were analyzed and interpreted using qualitative thematic analysis. Three domains of themes emerged from responses: (1) characteristics of HPV vaccination, (2) knowledge-related themes, and (3) beliefs-related themes. Prevention of HPV and cancer was the most referenced characteristic of HPV vaccination followed by HPV vaccine rates and HPV vaccine efficacy. Student inquiries were mostly centered on HPV vaccine composition, administration, duration and how the vaccine interacts with the body. Some responses indicated a desire for more information about HPV not specific to the HPV vaccine. Overall, adolescent attitudes were positive towards the HPV vaccine. This study highlights specific questions adolescents have about the vaccine that can be used to tailor future HPV educational efforts, empowering adolescents with the knowledge to be more active students in the decision-making process. In addition, the potential for adolescents to serve as community advocates for the vaccine should be considered for future interventions.


The genome of bacteria is classically separated into the essential, stable and slow evolving chromosomes and the accessory, mobile and rapidly evolving plasmids. This paradigm is being questioned since the discovery of extra-chromosomal essential replicons (EER), be they called "megaplasmids", "secondary chromosomes" or "chromids". These genomic elements are thought to be indispensable based on their having a GC content identical to that of the chromosome and harboring essential genes, but plasmidic in origin because of the structure of their replication origin. However, none of these criteria are universally applicable and the true nature of these replicons is yet to be formally determined. Here, we explore the relationships of chromosomes and plasmids with reference to their genetic information inheritance systems (GIIS), under the assumption that the inheritance of EERs is integrated to the cell cycle and highly constrained in contrast to that of standard plasmids. We performed a global comparative genomic analysis including all bacterial complete genome sequences available in NCBI RefSeq. Using ACLAME and KEGG GIIS-related proteins as input, we first identified GIIS functional homologs from all bacterial genomes. These homologs were then clustered according to function and sequences homology. The relationships between all bacterial replicons were then investigated using the GIIS clusters as parameters and unsupervised analyses (projections and graphs, and clustering. Finally, identification of putative EERs and of trends in GIIS usage were performed using supervised analyses (classification, regression). This strategy clearly discriminated between chromosomes and plasmids with respect to their GIIS usage, and revealed another class of genomic elements that corresponds to EER-annotated replicons. They are characterized by a specific GIIS usage that testifies of the continuity of the genomic material in bacteria. Furthermore, whereas some are plasmidic in origin, others derive from the cleavage of an ancestral chromosome. Our study provides insights into the formation of "neo-chromosomes" and the emergence of multipartite genomes in bacteria, as well as clues about the forces shaping the genome.


Background: Subjective parameters such as quality of life or patient satisfaction gain importance as outcome parameters and benchmarks in health care. In many countries hospitals are now undergoing accreditation as mandatory or voluntary measures. It is believed but unproven that accreditations positively influence quality of care and patient satisfaction. The present study aims to assess in a defined specialty (cardiology) the relationship between patient satisfaction (as measured by the recommendation rate) and accreditation status. Methods: Consecutive patients discharged from 25 cardiology units received a validated patient satisfaction questionnaire. Data from 3,037 patients (response rate > 55%) became available for analysis. Recommendation rate was used as primary endpoint. Different control variables such as staffing level were considered. Results: The 15 accredited units did not differ significantly from the 10 non-accredited units regarding main hospital (i.e. staffing levels, no. of beds) and patient (age, gender) characteristics. The primary endpoint "recommendation rate of a given hospital" for accredited hospitals (65.6%, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 63.4 - 67.8%) and hospitals without accreditation (65.8%, 95% CI 63.1 - 68.5%) was not significantly different. Conclusion: Our results support the notion that - at least in the field of cardiology - successful accreditation is not linked with measurable better quality of care as perceived by the patient and reflected by the recommendation rate of a given institution. Hospital accreditation may represent a step


This gorgeously illustrated volume began as notes on the collection of cookbooks and culinary images gathered by renowned cookbook author Anne Willan and her husband Mark Cherniavsky. From the spiced sauces of medieval times to the massive roasts and ragouts of Louis XIV's court to elegant eighteenth-century chilled desserts, "The Cookbook Library" draws from renowned cookbook author Anne Willan's and her husband Mark Cherniavsky's antiquarian cookbook library to guide readers through four centuries of European and early American cuisine. As the authors taste their way through the centuries, describing how each cookbook reflects its time, Willan illuminates culinary crosscurrents among the cuisines of England, France, Italy, Germany, and Spain. A deeply personal labor of love, "The Cookbook Library" traces the history of the recipe and includes some of their favorites.


This study was conducted at Egerton University, Njoro, Kenya for 2 growing seasons, 2001 and 2002. A diallel cross, without reciprocal crossings, involving 7 maize S1 lines: KSTP001, KSTP003, KSTP004, KSTP005, KSTP008, E2 and E3 was used to study the heterosis and inheritance of days to 50% flowering, plant height, ear height, leaf angle, number of leaves per plant, leaf area index, cob length, cob diameter, number of lines per cob, number of seeds per line, 100-grain weight and grain yield. A randomised complete block design with 3 replicates was used. Analysis of variance was conducted on the data generated at 0.05 significant level using MSTAT. The results showed that general combining ability (GCA) and specific combining ability (SCA) was significant (P 1 for all traits except cob diameter and 100 seed weight, indicating preponderance of additive gene effects for inheritance of these traits. The study identified KSTP003 as the best combiner for most of the traits, while KSTP001 and E3 was the best combination for most traits. KSTP004 and E3 was good combiner for grain yield. Hybrid KSTP005 × E3 was the best cross for grain yield. KSTP003 × E2 was the best cross for reduction of leaf angle thus good source for erectophile canopies in a hybridisation program. Heterosis estimates showed that heterosis was more important in grain yield, yield components, plant height, number of leaves per plant and, leaf area index than other traits studied. Most of traits studied had a positive and significant (P≤0.01), while all traits studied except days to 50% flowering had a positive and significant (P≤0.01) genotypic correlations. It is recommended that based on their combining ability the lines be recombined to form synthetic maize varieties which can be released both as a variety or used for further improvement using recurrent selection. The lines which combine well for reduction in leaf angle from vertical should be utilised to develop erective maize varieties.


Swedish Shipping, Neutrality, and the First League of Armed Neutrality, 1780–1783. The purpose of this article is to follow two contradictory perceptions of neutrality in the political discourses of the mid-eighteenth century. One perception drew on the philosophy of natural law and the beneficial view of trade and sociability; here neutrality was perceived as a good and moral basis for peaceful inter-state relations. The second perception derived from the mercantilist view of international trade as an alternative means of warfare; here neutrality was perceived as a shameless exploitation of warfare. It is argued that the concept of neutrality went through an important development in the period between the Seven Years' War and the American War of Independence, and that the Danish writer Martin Hubner played an important role in this development. Hubner's view of neutrality, drawing on both discourses, became embodied indirectly in the declaration of the First League of Armed Neutrality in 1780, composed during the American War of Independence. The League was the joint action of three neutral countries, Russia, Sweden, and Denmark, intended to stop the British harassment of neutral trade and shipping. When Sweden joined the League, it acknowledged this new concept of neutrality as part of its foreign policy.


Heart and breathing rates were measured at 0.1 and 4.5 km before, during, and after Nembutal anesthesia in Phyllotis darwini chilensis, P. d. rupestris, P. osilae, P. pictus, Akodon amoenus, A. berlepschii, A. jelskii, and A. boliviensis; in Mus musculus rates were measured at 3.9-4.5 km, and in P. d. limatus, M. musculus , and the white mouse at 0.1 km. None of the high-altitude mice and only the native Phyllotis (+25%) of the low-altitude mice showed a circulatory response to altitude. All the low-altitude mice but only Akodon (+22%) of the high-altitude mice showed a respiratory response to altitude. The native mountain species had higher resting heart and breathing rates than did the lowland forms.

Submitted on October 25, 1961


Current scientific evidence indicates that dietary fat plays a role in weight loss and maintenance. Meta-analyses of intervention trials find that fat-reduced diets cause a 3-4-kg larger weight loss than normal-fat diets. A 10% reduction in dietary fat can cause a 4-5-kg weight loss in individuals with initial body mass index of 30 kg m (-2). Short-term trials show that nonfat dietary components are equally important. Sugar-sweetened beverages promote weight gain, and replacement of energy from fat by sugar-sweetened beverages is counterproductive in diets aimed at weight loss. Protein has been shown to be more satiating than carbohydrate, and fat-reduced diets with a high protein content (20-25% of energy) may increase weight loss significantly. There is little evidence that low-glycemic index foods facilitate weight control. Evidence linking certain fatty acids to body fatness is weak. Monounsaturated fatty acids may even be more fattening than polyunsaturated and saturated fats. No ad libitum dietary intervention study has shown that a normal-fat, high-monounsaturated fatty acid diet is comparable to a low-fat diet in preventing weight gain. Current evidence indicates that the best diet for prevention of weight gain, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease is low in fat and sugar-rich beverages and high in carbohydrates, fiber, grains, and protein.


Abstract Tonsillectomy is one of the most common procedures that otorhinolaryngologists perform. Hemorrhages are the principal complication. Some cases of hemorrhage can have delayed onset and these are related to formation of pseudoaneurysms. While this complication is rare, it is serious and can be fatal if it is not treated correctly. In cases with significant bleeding, surgical reintervention is needed and the 3 most common methods are suture, cauterization and endovascular treatment. The objective of this article is to report on the case of a 28-year-old female patient with massive post-tonsillectomy bleeding 31 days after the operation. An endovascular approach was taken and an injury to a left facial artery was diagnosed. Definitive treatment was achieved by selective embolization of the facial artery with microcoils and 500 μm particles of polyvinyl alcohol (P.V.A.), in that sequence, in order to avoid distal embolization. The endovascular method proved to be safe, selective and definitive.


Lobbying in the U.S. today grows out of a historical legal and, eventually, Constitutional right to petition the government for redress of grievances. English kings, the English Parliament, and American colonial legislatures had incentives for not only recognizing the right but treating it fulsomely, as a means for communicating extensively with the widest possible range of those over whom kings, Parliament, and legislatures had or sought to have power. Because of drastic changes in circumstance, today's officials do not have this incentive. Financial and structural forces tend to narrow the range of people legislators and elected executives hear from. In other words, there is a systematic tendency for representatives and other elected officials to be lobbied only by a subset of people they govern. Those lobbied under these conditions have, I will argue, affirmative obligations to ensure that they communicate with those who lack the means, financial or otherwise to engage in lobbying and even with those who may lack present motivation to lobby because of relative unawareness of the need to communicate with those in political office.This paper identifies and elaborates the ethical importance attached of representatives and elected executives hearing from the widest range of the populace possible. Such ethical significance attaches regardless of one's theory of representation in a republican democracy. The paper argues that legislators and executives have affirmative obligations to engage in meaningful communication even with people who cannot or ordinarily do not initiate efforts to reach them. It concludes by making some specific, concrete recommendations about measures elected representatives and executives could take to fulfill these ethical obligations.


Three novel macromonomer systems have been synthesised, characterised and free-radically polymerised. Both copolymerisations and homopolymerisations have been studied. The macromonomers are vinylbenzyl-terminated poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), vinylbenzylterminated poly(butyl methacrylate) (PBMA) and vinylbenzoyl-terminated poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO). The PMMA (number average molar mass 1.4 x l03g!mol) and PBMA (number average molar mass 1.8 x 103 g!mol) macromonomers were synthesised by the same method. This involved the solution free-radical polymerisation of MMA or BMA in the presence of matched initiator and chain transfer agent (4,4' -azobis( 4-cyanovaleric acid) (ACV A) and thiogycollic acid (TGA), respectively). This produced monofunctional carboxyl-terminated prepolymers which were subsequently converted to acyl chloride-terminated prepolymers using oxalyl chloride. This was then combined with pre-synthesised vinylbenzylamine in the presence of triethylamine, to produce vinylbenzyl~terminated macromonomer. The PEO macromonomer (number average molar mass 2.1 x 103 g!mol) was produced by combining commercially available hydroxyl-terminated PEO with pre-synthesised 4-vinylbenzoyl chloride in the presence of triethylamine. All three macromonomers were each free-radically homopolymerised using 2,2' -azobis(isobutyronitrile) (AIBN) as the initiator. The PMMA and PEO macromonomers were studied in more detail in order to establish their solution polymerisation behaviours. This was achieved by carrying out several polymerisations using different initial macromonomer and initiator concentrations. Solution copolymerisations of all three macromonomers with maleic anhydride were also attempted in order to produce altemating single graft copolymers. Maleic anhydride was chosen as the comonomer on the understanding that stYrene produces altemating copolymers with it. The vinylbenzyl-terminated PBMA and PMMA macromonomers were shown to produce graft copolymers containing approximately a 0.5 : 0.5 molar ratio of macromonomer : maleic anhydride, regardless of the initial feed concentrations of the two. All polymers were characterised by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and IH nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy eH NMR). Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy (FT-IR) was used to characterise the carboxyl-terminated and acyl chloride-tenninated PMMA and PBMA prepolymers, as well as all three macromonomers. A selection ofPMMA graft copolymers were further characterised by solution viscometry and 13CNMR.


Purpose Isorhamnetin is a natural flavonoid with both antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties, but its effect on fungal keratitis (FK) remains unknown. The current study aims to investigate the antifungal and anti-inflammatory effects of isorhamnetin against mouse Aspergillus fumigatus keratitis. Methods In vitro, the lowest effective concentration of isorhamnetin was assessed by minimum inhibitory concentration and cytotoxicity tests in human corneal epithelial cells (HCECs) and RAW264.7 cells. The antifungal property was investigated by scanning electron microscopy and propidium iodide uptake test. The anti-inflammatory effect of isorhamnetin in HCECs and RAW264.7 cells was observed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). In the eyes of mice with A. fumigatus keratitis, FK severity was evaluated using clinical score, plate counting, histological staining and periodic acid Schiff staining. In vivo, the anti-inflammatory effect of isorhamnetin was examined by immunofluorescence staining, myeloperoxidase assay, Western blot, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and qRT-PCR. Results In HCECs and RAW264.7 cells, isorhamnetin significantly inhibited A. fumigatus conidia growth and hyphae viability at 80 µg/mL without affecting cell viability. In vitro, isorhamnetin altered A. fumigatus hyphal morphology and membrane integrity. In A. fumigatus keratitis mouse model, isorhamnetin treatment alleviated the severity of FK by reducing corneal fungal load and inhibiting neutrophil recruitment. In addition, the mRNA and protein expression levels of TLR-2, TLR-4, Dectin-1, IL-1β, and tumor necrosis factor-α were significantly decreased in isorhamnetin-treated groups in vivo and in vitro. Conclusions Isorhamnetin improves the prognosis of A. fumigatus keratitis in mice by inhibiting the growth of A. fumigatus, reducing the recruitment of neutrophils and downregulating inflammatory factors.


A series of [FePt(4min)/Fe(tFe)]10 multilayers were prepared by RF magnetron sputtering and post annealing. The structures, morphology, composition, and magnetic properties were measured by XRD, SEM, EDX and VSM. X-ray diffraction showed that lattice constants of FePt phase changed with Fe layer thickness and annealing temperature. Both a and c are smaller than the standard values and a decreases as the deposition time of Fe layer increases. The grain sizes of samples annealed at 500°C increase slightly, while those at 600°C increase sharply as Fe layer decreases. The coercivities decrease with the deposition time of Fe layer, and the energy product (BH)max reaches a maximum at Fe layer deposition time of 3 minutes.


Despite good thermal and chemical properties, the use of ceramic materials in structural applications is limited by their inherently brittle nature. Efforts have been made to improve the toughness of ceramics through composite design, but recent developments in net shape processing such as additive manufacturing have significantly expanded this design space. Where composite topologies and morphologies were previously limited by material composition and thermodynamics, tools like 3D printing now allow for the design of composite structures of nearly any shape or arrangement. This work seeks to understand how these processing advances might be utilized to improve the toughness of brittle composites by exploring how previously inaccessible anisotropic inclusion structures might influence fracture behavior. The study begins with the evaluation of printed photopolymer structures as model brittle materials. First, printed structures are used to explore how elastic contrast between inclusions and matrix can affect crack propagation and improve toughness. Here, anisotropy presents an opportunity to achieve similar toughness to isotropic structures at smaller volume fractions by virtue of topologies that only exhibit toughening only in a singular direction, but require significantly less material to do so. Next, the effect of anisotropic voids is explored as a means of controlling crack nucleation and growth. With consideration of both compliance and directional propagation, a "fracture diode" that exhibits controlled, predictable fracture 100% of the time can be realized. After exploring brittle polymers, ceramics systems with similar toughness and higher stiffness are considered. First, a model layered system of mica is explored, where wedge splitting can be used achieve stable crack growth. This allows for the evaluation of how changes in compliance can improve the interlayer toughness without directly interacting with the crack. Finally, this study extends further into ceramics by exploring silicon oxycarbide (SiOC) truss structures and truss elements produced from 3D printed preceramic polymers. In addition to considering the material itself, changes in truss structure are explored as a means of changing deformation mode, and by consequence, failure strength. These model experiments suggest that if trusses are compatible, they can be interchanged to control failure of the bulk structure. This study demonstrates how designed heterogeneities with anisotropic structure can be used to both enhance the toughness of brittle composites as well achieve a greater degree of control over both crack nucleation and propagation in brittle systems where predicting failure is otherwise difficult. Looking forward, new processing tools like additive manufacturing present major opportunities for expanding the design space of brittle composites to achieve higher toughness and better fracture control than previously available. These new techniques may be able to expand the mechanical viability of ceramics, and make them better suited to mechanically demanding applications in the future.


Inverse variational principles proved their importance in shape optimization of structures. In this paper they are applied to searching for the optimal shape of fibers in a composite structure. As the boundary element method seems to be more promising than other modern numerical methods applied to the search for optimal shape, in the submitting paper the boundary element method is redefined to enable one to use such an approach, which leads to possibility for the optimal interfacial energies and, hence, to the optimal bearing capacity of the composite structure. Necessary discretization of the domain, which occurs in the finite elements, is suppressed in our case. Standard procedure in the finite elements leads to dependence of the stiffness matrix on the shape of the fibers. In this case, following a basic idea for homogenization and localization, concentration factors have to be calculated in terms of the boundary element method instead. These terms are dependent on the shape of the fibers. It appears that the procedure is still not convergent (we solve a strongly nonlinear problem) and additional constraint has to be involved in the formulation. In order to formulate and solve this problem, the idea of Inverse variational principles is applied here for expressing necessary quantities. The paper concentrates on the calculation of quantities, which are necessary to formulate the optimization problem. The main attention is focused on calculation of concentration factors, which play the most important role in the approach proposed.


Base on the practical experience of reinforcing engineering and the application of new type of cement based grouting material in recent years, a new type of cement-based concrete for strengthening engineering with high-bonding, low-shrinking, self-compacted was developed in this paper. Fast-speed strengthening and repairing of structures can be realized by combining this new strengthening material with the traditional method of increasing section area for strengthening, and by the adoption of the technology of perfusion pumped on-site. This new strengthening concrete can be applied to both reinforced concrete structures strengthening and masonry structures strengthening. Compared with the traditional strengthening method of increasing section area, due to smaller section needed, the construction speed is quicker, and the quality can be more easily guaranteed. Therefore, this new type of material possesses a wide application prospect. And a series of experimental researches on the mechanical properties of this new strengthening concrete is conducted in this paper.


The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in significant delays and cost overrun in construction projects. The implementation of health and safety (H&S) technologies is one of the most important strategies to alleviate the adverse impacts of COVID-19 on the construction industry and help the industry adapt to the new normal. This study aims to evaluate the adoption of H&S technologies for pandemic management in the construction sector under the COVID-19 pandemic. Semi-structured interviews with eighteen practitioners engaged from construction companies and technology firms were conducted to collect their views on the driving forces and issues of the adoption of H&S technologies for pandemic management in Chinese construction projects. The results reveal that the major H&S technologies used included the health quick response (QR) code system, artificial intelligence (AI)-powered fever monitoring, and site access control system. These technologies were reported to be effective in preventing the spread of the pandemic in workplaces. The findings of the study amplify that the pandemic may serve as an acceleration of the adoption of H&S technologies in the construction sector. Other technologies, such as building information modeling, drones, AI-based safety monitoring, and robotics, however, were seldom used in the studied projects. The interviewees addressed several problems regarding the implementation of these technologies. High costs of technologies, a lack of client support, and disruptions to the normal work process were the main hurdles of the adoption of these technologies. The results indicated that the external influence factor—the COVID-19 pandemic—could considerably drive the use of H&S technologies, whereas the internal influence factors—cost and compatibility of technology—might be the major barriers to technology adoption. To encourage the wider use of H&S technologies in construction, the government is recommended to support the technology transformation by granting financial subsidies for costs involved in innovation adoption. Project owners may consider investing substantially in H&S technologies that can strengthen their resilient and innovative ability to adapt to the post-COVID-19 landscape. The present results will be useful to industry stakeholders and researchers interested in developing H&S technologies for combating the COVID-19 pandemic and future crises.


Behavioral responses of Drunella coloradensis nymphs were examined in outdoor experimental stream channels after pH reductions of 1 and 2 pH units below ambient. The severity of pH decline below the ambient of 7.8 influenced the behavior patterns displayed by nymphs. At pH 7.01 (an intermediate pH decline) nymphs sat less frequently and burrowed more than controls. Burrowing behavior frequency returned to control levels and drifting and crawling behaviors increased relative to controls at pH 6.02. Ventilatory behaviors increased with pH decline, but were independent of the severity of acidity increases. These results suggest that individual behaviors may offer a more sensitive indicator of sub-acute stress in aquatic insect communities than population or community monitoring. Behaviors leading to increased activity levels in stream insects may have community-level effects via changes in predator–prey encounter rates or increased susceptibility to passive drift. These potential changes are discussed in ref...


The pharmacokinetics of propranolol vary according to the route and duration of administration. After i.v. administration, the decline in drug concentrations is biphasic and the drug is cleared very efficiently by the liver, so that its elimination is dependent largely on liver blood flow. Although the drug is some 90-95% bound to plasma, hepatic removal is so avid that both bound and free forms are extracted. Consequently, hepatic elimination is unaffected by drug binding in blood, In contrast, the distribution of drug into the tissues is reduced by plasma binding, so that drug half-life (T 1/2), which varies from 11/2-3 hours among individuals is more prolonged in people with relatively low plasma binding. Recent evidence shows that at all times after i.v. administration the beta-blocking effects of propranolol are related to its plasma concentrations according to the receptor theory. In addition individual differences in the response due to a given total concentration are largely due to variations in plasma binding, the drug's effects being a function of free (unbound) drug in plasma water. After the administration of single oral doses, hepatic extraction remains high and much of the dose is eliminated from hepatic portal blood during transfer from the gut, so that little drug reaches the systemic circulation. In addition, significant amounts of an active metabolite, 4-OH propranolol, are produced so that 2 hours after dosing, propranolol appears more potent that its plasma levels would suggest. With continued administration, the avid removal process becomes saturated, extraction ratio falls and propranolol accumulates some 2-fold. Drug T 1/2 is prolonged to 3-6 hours under these conditions, the ratio of propranolol to its active metabolite increases so that most of its effects can be attributed to the parent drug. Perhaps the most important kinetic fact to emerge is the 20-fold variation in plasma levels found after chronic administration of the same oral dose to different patients. This accounts for most of the individual variation in dosage requirements. Concerning propranolol withdrawal, there is no evidence that the effects of the drug last longer than appropriate for its T 1/2, so that larger doses last longer. Nonetheless, 24-48 hours is more that sufficient for the effects of the drug to dissipate. In view of the rebound angina, arrhythmias and infarction that may occur, abrupt withdrawal should be avoided if possible.


Constructive discharge is a long-standing phenomenon. The doctrine emerged in the 1930s in the context of alleged unfair labor practices under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Constructive discharge occurs when the working conditions are so intolerable that a reasonable employee feels that she no choice but to quit her job. The Supreme Court brought the discussion of constructive discharge to light in Pennsylvania State Police v. Suders where it discussed this principle in a hostile work environment context. Over the years, there has been much debate over the time period when a constructive discharge claim should begin. Since constructive discharge can occur without a discrete act – such as a firing or a demotion – the majority circuits have held that starting the statute of limitations period from the date of the employee's resignation better serves the aggrieved employee and is a more reasonable measure. On the contrary, a few minority circuits hold that the time period should begin from the date the employee learns of the employer's discriminatory conduct. Recently, this issue came before the Tenth Circuit in Green v. Donahoe, where it held that a constructive discharge claim accrues on the date of the discriminatory employment action that forces the worker to quit, not when he or she resigns. This decision has deepened the split between the circuits, and the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Green on April 27, 2015. With the end of this debate in sight, this paper examines the split between the circuits, analyzes the existing conflicting periods, and proposes the measure that should be adopted by the Supreme Court. 1 A third year law student at the American University Washington College of Law, graduating in May 2015. 2 Pa. State Police v. Suders, 542 U.S. 129 (2004). 3 Green v. Donahoe, 760 F.3d 1135 (10th Cir. 2014).


Tretinoin chemically is all-trans retinoic acid associated with retinol groups. It is yellow to light orange crystalline powder that urges the cytodifferentiation and diminish proliferation of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) cells in culture and in vivo. The accurate mechanism operation of tretinoin is uncharted. Researchers have shown that tretinoin has potentially teratogenic and toxic side influences in mice, rats, hamster rabbits and patients. The most frequent adverse events in kidney were renal insufficiency, dysuria, acute renal failure, micturition recurrence and renal tubular necrosis and also it causes enlargement of prostate . There were no adequate and well-controlled studies in animal models. So, monitoring of kidney functions with its texture had to be done. In recent years herbal extract treatment showed capability of ameliorative role for the disturbance of organs functions with toxic and injuries in different tissues especially kidney tissue. Current research was conducted in 28 days and 49 rats were included and they were divided into seven groups each group containing 7 rats: the first was negative control group gavageed with olive oil at dose (2ml/kg/bw) , while the second and third were positive control groups administrated at dose (15&30 mg/kg/bw) respectively with ATRA ,indeed the others treated groups combinations between the two ATRA concentrations with curcumin oil at dose (50 mg /kg/bw) were included the fourth and fifth groups respectively, and the last two groups administrated grape oil at dose (50 mg /kg/bw) were included the sixth and seventh group respectively . From this study, we discovered that treating the rats by extracted grapeseed oil with ATRA recovered the damaged kidney architecture near to normal as well as improved their renal functions.


S-acylation, the reversible lipidation of free cysteine residues with long-chain fatty acids, is a highly dynamic post-translational protein modification that has recently emerged as an important regulator of the T cell function. The reversible nature of S-acylation sets this modification apart from other forms of protein lipidation and allows it to play a unique role in intracellular signal transduction. In recent years, a significant number of T cell proteins, including receptors, enzymes, ion channels, and adaptor proteins, were identified as S-acylated. It has been shown that S-acylation critically contributes to their function by regulating protein localization, stability and protein-protein interactions. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that zDHHC protein acyltransferases, the family of enzymes mediating this modification, also play a prominent role in T cell activation and differentiation. In this review, we aim to highlight the diversity of proteins undergoing S-acylation in T cells, elucidate the mechanisms by which reversible lipidation can impact protein function, and introduce protein acyltransferases as a novel class of regulatory T cell proteins.


Since the introduction of CFTR modulator therapies, longitudinal real-life data of lung clearance index (LCI) during treatment is scarce. In this single-centre, post-approval setting, we report data of 51 patients with different stages of lung disease, age 2–52 years with repeated measurements of forced expiratory volume as a percentage of the predicted value (ppFEV₁) and LCI after 2, 4, and 16 weeks of CFTR modulator treatment and at baseline. In 25 patients during elexacaftor/tezacaftor/ivacaftor (ELX/TEZ/IVA) treatment, significant improvements of LCI (median −1.4) and ppFEV₁ (median +8.3%) were observed after only 2 weeks, and were maintained after 4 and 16 weeks of treatment (LCI: -2.0, −2.2; ppFEV₁: +7.2%, +11.8%). We observed a significant correlation between LCI improvement at week 16 and lower baseline LCI. In 26 younger and healthier patients receiving lumacaftor/ivacaftor (LUM/IVA) treatment, no significant changes of LCI and ppFEV₁ occured. With ELX/TEZ/IVA, our data shows rapid, significant improvements of LCI and ppFEV₁ already after 2 weeks. Early LCI measurements can help to assess the patient's response to this high-cost therapy.


GST will be an independent revolutionary opportunity for 70 years in the field of Indirect Tax Reform in India. By consolidating multiple central and national taxes into a single entity, we will alleviate the coupling or double tax effects in important ways and pave the way for a common, uniform national market. "GST will benefit both consumers and domestic productivity as the GST's maximum tax rate is predetermined and it will also help to avoid multiple taxation, procedures and tax avoidance." GST affects all sectors regardless of sector, and will affect the entire value chain of operations, such as purchasing, production, distribution, warehousing, sales and pricing, and is expected to participate in the market of harmonized goods and services, and it will be the female name of the assessment and friendly tax administration system, which will include most national rates at central and state level and taxes, making the country a single national market, GST will offer India the dirtiest surplus of indirect taxes, fees, surcharges and tax revenues in one tax.


A region of the UL24 gene of six Australian field isolates of Bovine herpesvirus 2 (BHV-2) was sequenced after a passage in Madin-Darby bovine kidney (MDBK) cells by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). While the PCR product covered the first half of the UL24 gene, a particular interest was focused on the 274-297 nucleotide (nt) region in which a two nt deletion had previously been detected in the BHM-1 strain of BHV-2. Most isolates tested did not generate any defective UL24 genes during the passage. However, a third of the UL24 genes of BHM-1 strain contained the two nts deletion, but only when a high multiplicity of infection (MOI) was used. Also in the isolate 554 at least a half of the UL24 genes were found to be altered independently of the MOT used. These UL24 genes had an insertion of four nts within the 274-297 nt region. The predicted truncation of the UL24 protein of both viruses occurred at the same stop codon. The region of the gene in which these mutations of the UL24 gene occurred is common to all herpesviruses.


Corneal cross‐linking (CXL) using ultraviolet‐A (UVA) irradiation with a riboflavin photosensitizer has grown from an interesting concept to a practical clinical treatment for corneal ectatic diseases globally, such as keratoconus. To characterize the corneal structural changes, existing methods such as X‐ray microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, histology and optical coherence tomography (OCT) have been used. However, these methods have various drawbacks such as invasive detection, the impossibility for in vivo measurement, or limited resolution and sensitivity to structural alterations. Here, we report the application of oversampling nanosensitive OCT for probing the corneal structural alterations. The results indicate that the spatial period increases slightly after 30 minutes riboflavin instillation but decreases significantly after 30 minutes UVA irradiation following the Dresden protocol. The proposed noninvasive method can be implemented using existing OCT systems, without any additional components, for detecting nanoscale changes with the potential to assist diagnostic assessment during CXL treatment, and possibly to be a real‐time monitoring tool in clinics.


This research was conducted in the mangrove forest of Popongan beach at Baluran National Park, East Java. The aim of this research was to determine the relationship between mangrove density and Portunidae diversity in mangrove forest at Popongan beach. Line transect method was used in this research. There are three transects consist of 17 plots, each plot sized 20m x 20m. The data analysis were done by using Person correlation and linear regression R Program. The results showed p-value 0,003, it means there is relationship between Portunidae diversity and the mangrove density. The temperature and tide showed p-value < 0,005, that means the abiotic factors affect Portunidae diversity in mangrove. The Portunidae diversity at mangrove forest of Popongan beach is relatively low (H'value 0,152). There were five species was found, there were Charybdis (Charybdis) miles, Podhopthalmus vigil, Portunus pelagicus, Scylla serrata, and Thalamita crenata. The dominant species in this mangrove forest is Thalamita crenata. The composition of mangrove forest vegetation were Rhizophora apiculata, Ceriops tagal, Lumnitzera racemosa, Rhizophora stylosa, Sonneratia alba, Bruguiera gymnorrhiza, Pemphis acidula, dan Xylocarpus moluccensis. The dominant vegetation in this mangrove forest is Rhizophora apiculata.


We address the problem of modeling study populations in research studies in a declarative manner. Research studies often have a great degree of variability in the reporting of population descriptions. To make study populations easily accessible for decision making related to study applicability, we will show the usage of our ontology-enabled prototype system in different applications. Our system leverages our Study Cohort Ontology and the related cohort Knowledge Graph (as described in our accepted resource track paper). We aim to address three retrospective population analysis scenarios, designed to specifically determine the study match, study limitations, and evaluate the study quality. We also provide visualizations of a patient (or patient population) to a treatment arm. In addition, for each guideline recommendation that depends upon a study, we provide a summary of the relevant study's cohort description. We describe some of our applications and their potential impacts. Resource Website: https://tetherless-world.github.io/study-cohort-ontology/


Rajeev Thakur: Challenges in Scaling MPI to Exascale This talk will discuss challenges in using MPI effectively at exascale. I will describe ongoing research at Argonne aimed at addressing these challenges. I will also give an update on recent activities of the MPI Forum and what new features are being considered for inclusion in MPI-3. Robert Ross: Storage Architectures and Abstractions for Exascale Systems The complexity and scale of upcoming systems, applications, and analysis workflows motivate dramatic change in future HPC storage systems. This talk will outline three areas where R&D activities now can better prepare us for the development and deployment of these future systems: understanding I/O behavior, tools for exploring the HPC storage design space, and abstractions and data model support in the storage system. For each area, related ongoing activities will be discussed. Paul Hovland: An Overview of Applied Math Activities at Argonne. We provide a survey of applied mathematics research at Argonne National Laboratory. We present the philosophy behind software development and the primary capabilities of our software libraries. We argue for the use of the highest possible abstraction in scientific computation and point toward the use of high level scientific computing libraries. George Bosilca: Enabling Software Fault Tolerance in MPI The International Exascale Software Project roadmaps predicts, as soon as 2014, billion way parallel machines encompassing not only millions of cores, but also tens of thousands of nodes. Even considering extremely optimistic advances in hardware reliability, probabilistic amplification entails that failures will be unavoidable. Consequently, software fault tolerance is of paramount importance to maintain future scientific productivity. Major problems hinder ubiquitous adoption of fault tolerance techniques: 1) traditional checkpoint based approaches incur a steep overhead on failure free operations and 2) the dominant programming paradigm for parallel applications (the MPI standard and its implementations) offers extremely limited support of software-level fault tolerance approaches. In this talk, I will present and evaluate an approach that relies exclusively on the current MPI standard definition of a high quality implementation and enables algorithmic based recovery to complete the computation despite failures without incurring the overhead of customary periodic checkpointing. Ana Gainaru: Signal Analysis for Modeling the Normal and Faulty Behavior of Large-scale HPC Systems This talk will present a novel way of characterizing the normal and faulty behavior of the system by using signal analysis concepts. All analysis modules create ELSA (Event Log Signal Analyzer), a toolkit that has the purpose of modeling the normal flow of each state event during a HPC system lifetime, and how it is affected when a failure hits the system. Current event mining approaches do not take into consideration the specific behavior of each type of events and as a consequence, fail to analyze them according to their characteristics. We will show that our models provide an accurate view of the system output, which improves the effectiveness of proactive fault tolerance algorithms. Specifically, we implemented a filtering algorithm and short-term fault prediction methodology based on the extracted model and test it against real failure traces from a large-scale system. We show that by analyzing each event according to its specific behavior, we get a more realistic overview of the entire system. Thomas Ropars: On Distributed Recovery for Send-Deterministic-Aware MPI Applications The send-deterministic execution model states that in any correct execution of an application, the processes send the same sequence of messages for a given set of input parameters. Many large scale MPI HPC applications comply with this model. Send-determinism allows to design new rollback-recovery protocols that: i) can rely on uncoordinated checkpointing without suffering from the domino effect; ii) can provide failure containment with a limited performance overhead. One major challenge remains: how to make recovery efficient and scalable ? In this talk, we first give a brief overview of the principles and the performances of HydEE, our hybrid rollback-recovery protocol based on senddeterminism. Then we discuss the problems related to performance on recovery, and we show how recovery could be made fully distributed in such a protocol if the application was able to express its send-determinism. Olivier Gluck: Reducing energy consumption of fault tolerance algorithms Over the past few years, energy consumption of supercomputers has become a major issue. In order to be able to meet the important needs in terms of performance that express scientists in various fields, supercomputers are growing too fast. In fact, they involve more and more computing nodes, which consequently increase both their total energy consumption and their probability to experience a failure. Especially, in order to ensure the transition to the exascale era by 2018 which will involve millions of cores, we need to address these two challenges by providing efficient fault tolerance mechanisms while reducing the total energy consumption. In this talk, we first present some techniques used to reduce the energy consumptions of large scale distributed systems and particularly in future supercomputers. Then, we present our current research works for reducing energy consumption costs of fault tolerance algorithms in exascale supercomputers. Yves Robert: Linear algebra kernels on petascale/exascale platforms: scheduling issues Future exascale machines will likely be massively parallel architectures, with 100K to 1000K processors, each processor itself being equipped with 1K to 10Kcores. At the node level, the architecture is a shared-memory machine, running many parallel threads on the cores. At the machine level, the architecture is a distributed-memory machine. This additional level of hierarchy, together with massive parallelism at the node level, dramatically complicates the design of new versions of the standard numerical linear algebra algorithms that are at the heart of many scientific applications. On exascale platforms, resilience is a key challenge. Failures are much more likely to occur during the execution of parallel jobs that enroll increasingly larger numbers of processors. The design of efficient fault-tolerant scheduling strategies will be key to high performance. Such strategies can involve either checkpointing, or task replication, or dynamic task re-execution, or any combination. But they all incur big overheads in terms of performance, and of energy-consumption. The main goal of the talk is to survey the challenges faced to design linear algebra algorithm on exascale architectures, and to provide a few examples of algorithms and scheduling techniques that constitute a first step to solving these challenges. Joint work with Marin Bougeret, Henri Casanova, Jack Dongarra, Thoma Hérault, Julien Langou, Mathieu Faverge, and Frédéric Vivien. Gabriel Antoniu and Matthieu Dorier: Update on Damaris: How CM1 Scales Linearly up to (Almost) 10K Cores And What Comes Next With exascale computing on the horizon, the performance variability of I/O systems represents a key challenge in sustaining high performance, as it significantly impacts the overall application performance. In previous work we introduced Damaris, an I/O library which leverages dedicated I/O cores on each multicore SMP node to efficiently perform asynchronous data processing and I/O. We present new results for Damaris through large-scale experiments (up to over 9K cores) performed on the Kraken Cray XT5 supercomputer with the CM1 atmospheric model, one of the target HPC applications for the Blue Waters project. We increase the sustained write throughput by a factor of almost 15 and we provide almost 70 % overall application speedup while fully hiding the I/O costs. We then present possible future directions for achieving efficient in-situ visualization without disturbing the simulation and we discuss the possible benefits of the BlobSeer approach to concurrency-optimized metadata management in this context. Luc Giraud: Towards robust numerical linear solvers for large scale simulation In this talk we will review numerical schemes that are natrually resilient to core faults. We will show how other might be adapted to enjoy similar properties. Laura Grigori: Hybrid scheduling and communication avoiding for CALU We present the use of a hybrid static/dynamic scheduling strategy of the task dependency graph for direct methods used in dense numerical linear algebra. This strategy provides a balance of data locality, load balance, and low dequeue overhead. We show that the usage of this scheduling in communication avoiding dense factorization leads to significant performance gains. On a 48 core AMD Opteron NUMA machine, our experiments show that we can achieve up to 64% improvement over a version of CALU that uses fully dynamic scheduling and 30% improvement over the version of CALU that uses fully static scheduling. On a 16-core Intel Xeon machine, our hybrid static/dynamic scheduling approach is up to 8% faster than the version of CALU that uses a fully static scheduling or fully dynamic scheduling. Our algorithm leads to important speedups over the corresponding routines for computing LU factorization in well known libraries. On the 48 core AMD NUMA machine, our best implementation is up to 110% faster than MKL, while on the 16 core Intel Xeon machine, it is 82% faster than MKL. Our approach also shows significant speedups compared with PLASMA on both of these systems. Sebastien, Fourestier: Last improvements in Scotch and ongoing collaborations. Scotch is a software package for sequential and parallel graph partitioning, static mapping, sparse matrix block ordering, and sequential mesh


The consumption of large quantities of fossil fuels on a yearly basis for energy purposes has led to the release of vast quantities of carbon dioxide into the Earth s atmosphere leading to global warming. In order to decrease the amount of carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere, procedures such as carbon dioxide capture and storage are currently being implemented, although this process is successful in decreasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration it results in the mindless storage of an otherwise synthetically useful reagent. The development of a viable method to capture carbon dioxide, followed by synthetic utilisation often referred to as CCU is currently gaining much attention. The main challenges in the development of a suitable utilisation reaction are energy and cost efficiency as well as the use of environmentally friendly conditions.

Previous reports on utilisation include the catalytic incorporation of carbon dioxide into epoxides under electrochemical conditions, however this process had several drawbacks. In this project the shortcomings of this reported procedure have been addressed in order to develop a potentially viable utilisation process. The catalyst free electrocarboxylation of mono-substituted epoxides, using a magnesium anode/copper cathode electrode couple and tetrabutylammonium bromide supporting electrolyte in a sealed single compartment cell, was achieved under mild reaction conditions (1 atmosphere carbon dioxide pressure, 60 milliamperes constant current and 50 degree celsius heating), producing the corresponding 5-membered cyclic carbonate product in excellent yields (65-96%). Interestingly the use of sono-electrolysis allowed the reduction of para-substituted aromatic epoxides. The stoichiometric addition of tetrabutylammonium bromide was key for the effective activation of carbon dioxide and the epoxide. Similar carbon dioxide incorporation into analogous mono-substituted aziridines, synthesised using a modified Wenker synthesis allowed the formation of the corresponding cyclic carbamates in moderate to excellent yields (32-90%). The selective synthesis of 6-membered cyclic carbonates from oxetane substrates was also achieved in good yields (60-70%) as well the non-selective synthesis of polytrimethylene oxide. The electrochemical process also allowed the tandem formation of magnesium carbonate in quantitative yield (85%). Furthermore substrate free electrocarboxylation allowed the synthesis of alternative iron and zinc carbonates in excellent yield (83-85%) as well as the selective synthesis of aluminium oxalate (99%). Coupled with the high recovery of the supporting electrolyte (90%), this work has demonstrated the economical synthesis of industrially useful chemical feed-stocks under green conditions.


First-order Marcum <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$Q$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-function is observed in various problem formulations. However, it is not an easy-to-handle function. For this reason, in this article, we first present a semi-linear approximation of the Marcum <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$Q$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-function. Our proposed approximation is useful because it simplifies, e.g., various integral calculations including Marcum <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$Q$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-function as well as different operations such as parameter optimization. Then, as an example of interest, we apply our proposed approximation approach to the performance analysis of predictor antenna (PA) systems. Here, the PA system is referred to as a system with two sets of antennas on the roof of a vehicle. Then, the PA positioned in the front of the vehicle can be used to improve the channel state estimation for data transmission of the receive antenna that is aligned behind the PA. Considering spatial mismatch due to the mobility, we derive closed-form expressions for the instantaneous and average throughput as well as the throughput-optimized rate allocation. As we show, our proposed approximation scheme enables us to analyze PA systems with high accuracy. Moreover, our results show that rate adaptation can improve the performance of PA systems with different levels of spatial mismatch.


The human ankle plays a major role in locomotion as it the first major joint to transfer the ground reaction torques to the rest of the body while providing power for locomotion and stability. One of the main causes of the ankle impedance modulation is muscle activation [1, 2], which can tune the ankle's stiffness and damping during the stance phase of gait. The ankle's time-varying impedance is also task dependent, meaning that different activities such as walking at different speeds, turning, and climbing/descending stairs would impose different profiles of time-varying impedance modulation. The impedance control is commonly used in the control of powered ankle-foot prostheses; however, the information on time-varying impedance of the ankle during the stance phase is limited in the literature. The only previous study during the stance phase, to the best of the authors knowledge, reported the human ankle impedance at four points of the stance phase in dorsiflexion-plantarflexion (DP) [1] during walking. To expand previous work and estimate the impedance in inversion-eversion (IE), a vibrating platform was fabricated (Fig. 1) [3]. The platform allows the ankle impedance to be estimated at 250 Hz in both DP and IE, including combined rotations in both degrees of freedom (DOF) simultaneously. The results can be used in a 2-DOF powered ankle-foot prosthesis developed by the authors, which is capable of mimicking the ankle kinetics and kinematics in the frontal and sagittal planes [4]. The vibrating platform can also be used to tune the prosthesis to assure it properly mimics the human ankle dynamics. This paper describes the results of the preliminary experiments using the vibrating platform on 4 male subjects. For the first time, the time-varying impedance of the human ankle in both DP and IE during walking in a straight line are reported.


One way to limit global warming, in addition to reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, is geoengineering—altering the climate through approaches such as injecting sunlight-reflecting sulfur particles into Earth's stratosphere. Once started, however, an abrupt end to stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) could be catastrophic for biodiversity, suggests new research led by Christopher H. Trisos of the University of Maryland (Nat. Ecol. Evol. 2018, DOI: 10.1038/s41559-017-0431-0). Trisos and colleagues computationally modeled what would happen if SAI began in 2020 by injecting 5 teragrams of SO2 per year, then maintained at that level until abruptly cutting off in 2070, perhaps because of a change in political will. The researchers observed mixed effects on biodiversity with implementation. Abrupt termination, however, would mean far faster climate change than most species would be able to adapt to. "Thus the adverse impacts of unsustained climate counteraction through SAI are likely to be around three time...


Purpose. This paper aims to examine how the knowledge of biomechanics, specifically of mechanics principles used in teaching aikido techniques, affects the precision of aikido movements execution. It also aims to answer the question whether secondary school teaching of solid-state mechanics, using examples from aikido and other sports, improves the learning outcomes. Basic procedures. The experiment involved 60 second- and third-form secondary-school students, divided into two groups: F (n = 27) and E (n = 33). The research on the understanding of mechanics principles was based on the results of a written test. Group F (experimental group) had been taught the principles of rotation mechanics, using examples from aikido and other sports, as opposed to group E (control group). Surprise tests were applied to assess the understanding of mechanics rather than retrieving of definitions learned by heart. The experimental group took a written test to assess their understanding of aikido mechanics. Over the period of one month the students in this group had been taught four selected aikido techniques. Using a ten-point grading scale the precision of execution of aikido techniques was evaluated. Main findings. Student's t-test and regression analysis were used for statistical analysis. A statistically significant difference was found between the aikido-enhanced and the conventional ways of teaching solid state mechanics: the experimental group attained much higher test results than the control group. There was a strong correlation between understanding aikido mechanics and the performance of aikido techniques. Conclusions. Understanding aikido mechanics improves the performance of aikido techniques. Teaching solid-state mechanics, using examples from aikido and other sports, is more effective than teaching physics in the conventional way.


Objectives This study explored the pattern of associations between socioeconomic status (SES) and atherosclerosis progression (as indicated by carotid intima media thickness, CIMT) across gender. Design Cross-sectional analysis of a sample of 5474 older persons (mean age 73 years) recruited between 1999 and 2001 in the 3C study (France). We fitted linear regression models including neighborhood SES, individual SES and cardiovascular risk factors. Results CIMT was on average 24 µm higher in men (95% CI: 17 to 31). Neighborhood SES was inversely associated with CIMT in women only (highest versus lowest tertiles: −12.2 µm, 95%CI −22 to −2.4). This association persisted when individual SES and risk factors were accounted for. High individual education was associated with lower CIMT in men (−21.4 µm 95%CI −37.5 to −5.3) whereas high professional status was linked to lower CIMT among women (−15.7 µm 95%CI: −29.2 to −2.2). Adjustment for cardiovascular risk factors resulted in a slightly more pronounced reduction of the individual SES-CIMT association observed in men than in women. Conclusion In this sample, neighborhood and individual SES displayed different patterns of associations with subclinical atherosclerosis across gender. This suggests that the causal pathways leading to SES variations in atherosclerosis may differ among men and women.


Late Mesozoic palaeobiogeography has been characterized by a distinction between the northern territories of Laurasia and the southern landmasses of Gondwana. The repeated discovery of Gondwanan lineages in Laurasia has led to the proposal of alternative scenarios to explain these anomalous occurrences. A new biogeographical model for late Mesozoic terrestrial ecosystems is here proposed in which Europe and "Gondwanan" territories possessed a common Eurogondwanan fauna during the earliest Cretaceous. Subsequently, following the Hauterivian, the European territories severed from Africa and then connected to Asiamerica resulting in a faunal interchange. This model explains the presence of Gondwanan taxa in Laurasia and the absence of Laurasian forms in the southern territories during the Cretaceous. In order to test this new palaeobiogeographical model, tree reconciliation analyses (TRAs) were performed based on biogeographical signals provided by a supertree of late Mesozoic archosaurs. The TRAs found significant evidence for the presence of an earliest Cretaceous Eurogondwanan fauna followed by a relatively short-term Gondwana-Laurasia dichotomy. The analysis recovered evidence for a biogeographical reconnection of the European territories with Africa and South America-Antarctica during the Campanian to Maastrichtian time-slice. This biogeographical scenario appears to continue through the early Tertiary and sheds light on the trans-Atlantic disjunct distributions of several extant plant and animal groups.


Reverse osmosis (RO) membrane fouling is not a static state but a dynamic phenomenon. The investigation of fouling kinetics and dynamics of change in the composition of the foulant mass is essential to elucidate the mechanism of fouling and foulant-foulant interactions. The aim of this work was to study at a lab scale the fouling process with an emphasis on the changes in the relative composition of foulant material as a function of operating time. Fouled membrane samples were collected at 8 h, and 1, 2, and 4 weeks on a lab-scale RO unit operated in recirculation mode. Foulant characterization was performed by CLSM, AFM, ATR-FTIR, pyrolysis GC-MS, and ICP-MS techniques. Moreover, measurement of active biomass and analysis of microbial diversity were performed by ATP analysis and DNA extraction, followed by pyro-sequencing, respectively. A progressive increase in the abundance of almost all the foulant species was observed, but their relative proportion changed over the age of the fouling layer. Microbial population in all the membrane samples was dominated by specific groups/species belonging to Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria phyla; however, similar to abiotic foulant, their relative abundance also changed with the biofilm age.


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In this paper we extend previous research by combining network structural and network process approaches. Specifically, in a six-year, three-wave study of 41 firms in two strategic networks, we found that the interaction between generalized reciprocity among a focal firm's partners and network tie intensity and betweenness centrality improved firm performance. No influences were observed for the interaction involving degree centrality and generalized reciprocity. Our research suggests that managers in strategic networks may need to consider the balance between relationship-extensive and relationship-intensive strategies.


Routing overlays have become a viable approach to working around slow BGP convergence and sub-optimal path selection, as well as to deploy novel forwarding architectures. A common sub-component of a routing overlay is a routing mesh: the route-selection algorithm considers only those virtual links inter-node links in an overlay-in the routing mesh rather than all N 2 virtual links connecting an N-node overlay. Doing so reduces routing overhead, thereby improving the scalability of the overlay, as long as the process of constructing the mesh doesn't itself introduce overhead. This paper proposes and evaluates a low-cost approach to building a topology-aware routing mesh that eliminates virtual links that contain duplicate physical segments in the underlying network. An evaluation of our method on PlanetLab shows that a conservative link pruning algorithm reduces routing overhead by a factor of two without negatively impacting route selection. Additional analysis quanti es the impact on route selection of defining an even sparser mesh on top of the topology-aware routing mesh, documenting the cost/benefit tradeoff that is intrinsic to routing. It also shows that constructing a sparser routing mesh on the topology-aware routing mesh-rather than directly on the Internetitself benefits from having the reduced number of duplicate physical segments in the underlying network, which improves the resilience of the resulting routing mesh.


The present study provides evidence that abnormal patterns of global histone modification are present in the skeletal muscle nuclei of mdx mice and Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) patients. A combination of specific histone H3 modifications, including Ser‐10 phosphorylation, acetylation of Lys 9 and 14, and Lys 79 methylation, were found enriched in muscle biopsies from human patients affected by DMD and in lateterm fetuses, early postnatal pups, or adult mdx mice. In this context, chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments showed an enrichment of these modifications at the loci of genes involved in proliferation or inflammation, suggesting a regulatory effect on gene expression. Remarkably, the reexpression of dystrophin induced by gentamicin treatment or the administration of nitric oxide (NO) donors reversed the abnormal pattern of H3 histone modifications. These findings suggest an unanticipated link between the dystrophin‐activated NO signaling and the remodeling of chromatin. In this context, the regulation of class Ila histone deacetylases (HDACs) 4 and 5 was found altered as a consequence of the reduced NOdependent protein phosphatase 2A activity, indicating that both NO and class IIa HDACs are important for satellite cell differentiation and gene expression in mdx mice. In conclusion, this work provides the first evidence of a role for NO as an epigenetic regulator in DMD.—Colussi, C.,Gurtner, A., Rosati, J., Illi, B., Ragone, G., Piaggio, G., Moggio, M., Lamperti, C., D'Angelo, G.,Clementi, E., Minetti, G., Mozzetta, C., Antonini, A., Capogrossi, M. C., Puri, P. L., Gaetano, C. Nitric oxide deficiency determines global chromatin changes in Duchenne muscular dystrophy. FASEBJ. 23, 2131–2141 (2009)


Wilson's disease is an autosomal recessive disorder resulting from copper excess. Some patients with clinical Wilson's disease symptoms exhibit no or only heterozygous pathogenic variants in the coding region of the disease‐causing ATP7B gene. Therefore, the ATP7B promoter region is of special interest. Metal‐responsive elements (MREs) located in the ATP7B promoter are promising motifs in modulating the ATP7B expression. We studied protein interaction of MREe, MREc, and MREd by electrophoretic mobility shift assays and revealed specific interactions for all MREs. We further narrowed down the specific binding site. Proteins potentially binding to the three MREs were identified by MatInspector analyses. Metal regulatory transcription factor 1 (MTF1) could be validated to bind to MREe by electrophoretic mobility shift assays. ATP7B promoter‐driven reporter gene expression was significantly increased because of this interaction. MTF1 is a strong candidate in regulating the ATP7B expression through MREe binding.


In case of a detected partial discharge (PD) in new power transformer during the delivery test in the high voltage laboratory, the most important question arises from both the customer as well as from the manufacturer: where is the PD source? In such a situation, additionally to the measurement of apparent charge with a conventional PD-system, detection of acoustical PD signals can be used to localize the PD source. In many cases, especially for hidden PD sources in the solid insulation, or in the main insulation, there are no acoustical PD-signals detectable. To open a transformer for visual inspection without a clear indication about the position of the PD source is not only time consuming but also in many cases without any findings. In this contribution a successful procedure for reliable identification and localization of dangerous PD-sources is described.


Numerous research efforts have produced a large number of algorithms and mechanisms for web proxy caches. In order to build powerful web proxies and understand their performance, one must be able to appreciate the impact and significance of earlier contributions and how they can be integrated To do this we employ a cache replacement algorithm, 'CSP, which integrates key knowledge from previous work. CSP utilizes the communication Cost to fetch web objects, the objects' Sizes, their Popularifies, an auxiliary cache and a cache admission control algorithm. We study the impact of these components with respect to hit ratio, latency, and bandwidth requirements. Our results show that there are clear performance gains when utilizing the communication cost, the popularity of objects, and the auxiliary cache. In contrast, the size of objects and the admission controller have a negligible performance impact. Our major conclusions going against those in related work are that (i) LRU is preferable to CSP for important parameter values, (ii) accounting for the objects' sizes does not improve latency and/or bandwidth requirements, and (iii) the collaboration of nearby proxies is not very beneficial. Based on these results, we chart the problem solution space, identifying which algorithm is preferable and under which conditions. Finally, we develop a dynamic replacement algorithm that continuously utilizes the best algorithm as the problem-parameter values (e.g., the access distributions) change with time.


In this paper, we introduce an automated reasoning system for learning object behaviors and interactions through the observation of event sequences. We use an existing system to learn the models of objects and further extend it to model more complex behaviors. Furthermore, we propose a spatio-temporal reasoning based learning method for reasoning about interactions among objects. Experience gained through learning is to be used for achieving goals by these objects. We take The Incredible Machine game (TIM) as the main testbed to analyze our system. Tutorials of the game are used to train the system. We analyze the results of our reasoning system on four different input types: a knowledge base of relations; spatial information; temporal information; and spatio-temporal information from the environment. Our analysis reveals that if a knowledge base about relations is provided, most of the interactions can be learned. We have also demonstrated that our learning method which incorporates both spatial and temporal information gives close results to that of the knowledge-based approach. This is promising as gathering spatio-temporal information does not require prior knowledge about relations. Our second analysis of the spatio-temporal reasoning method in the Electric Box computer game domain verifies the success of our approach.


Abstract The OECD/NRC boiling water reactor (BWR) turbine trip benchmark has been calculated by the coupled thermal-hydraulic neutronics system code ATHLET-QUABOX/CUBBOX developed by Gesellschaft für Anlagen- und Reaktorsicherheit. The results obtained for all three exercises and for the additional four hypothetical cases are presented. The physical phenomena determining the BWR pressure transient are studied and explained. The sensitivity of results to variations of the initial steady-state conditions and of parameters of the two-phase flow model is discussed. A comparison is also performed for exercise 2 between the reactor core model with 33 thermal-hydraulic channels (THCs) as specified and a reactor core model with 764 THCs using a 1:1 mapping scheme.


Results of 13 sales of Angus (n=185) and Simmental (n=544) bulls at central bull tests in Kansas from 1988 through 1992 were analyzed to determine the relationship between performance and the price received. The Kansas bull test index (based 50% on weight-per-day-of-age and 50% on test ADG) was the most significant single factor determining price in both Angus and Simmental bulls. Birth weight, final weight, and frame score were other major contributors to price in Angus bulls, whereas weaning weight ratio, birth weight, and being polled were important in Simmental bulls. Expected progeny differences made small but significant (P<.05) contributions in Angus bulls but not in Simmental bulls.


Topological entanglement is a ubiquitous feature of many biological as well as artificial polymers and fibers. While the equilibrium properties of entangled chains have been the subject of several studies, little is known about their out-of-equilibrium behavior. Here, we address the problem of a stretched knotted fiber driven by a periodic force applied to one of its termini. We show that the onset of standing waves kinetically traps the knot in spatially localized states where the amplitude of the oscillations is maximal, while the knot normal diffusive dynamics is replaced by a discrete jump dynamics.