Stem cell-based cell therapy has emerged as a potentially therapeutic option for patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and heart failure. With the completion of a number of trials using bone marrow (BM)-derived adult stem cells, critical examination of the overall clinical benefits, limitations and potential side effects of this revolutionary treatment will pave the way for future clinical research. At present, clinical trials have been conducted almost exclusively using BM stem cells. The primary endpoints of these trials are mainly safety and feasibility, with secondary endpoints in the efficacy of post-myocardial infarction (MI) cardiac repair. Intervention with BM-derived cells was mainly carried out by endogenously-mobilised BM cells with granulocyte-colony stimulating factor, and more frequently, by intracoronary infusion or direct intramyocardial injection of autologous BM cells. While these studies have been proven safe and feasible without notable side effects, mixed outcomes in terms of clinical benefits have been reported. The major clinical benefits observed are improved cardiac contractile function and suppressed left ventricular negative remodelling, including reduced infarct size and improved cardiac perfusion of infarct zone. Moderate and transient clinical benefits have been mostly observed in studies with intracoronary infusion or direct intramyocardial injection of BM cells. These effects are widely considered to be indirect effects of implanted cells in association with paracrine factors, cell fusion, passive ventricular remodelling, or the responses of endogenous cardiac stem cells. In contrast, evidence of cardiac regeneration characterised by differentiation of implanted stem cells into cardiomyocytes and other cardiac cell lineages, is weak or lacking. To elucidate a clear risk-benefit of this exciting therapy, future studies on the mechanisms of cardiac cell therapy will need to focus on confirming the ideal cell types in relation to dosage and timing for post-MI cardiac repair, developing more effective cell delivery techniques, and devising innovative cell tracking modalities that could unveil the fates of implanted cells such as survival, engraftment and functionality.


A precise oxygen method was used to measure primary production, community respiration and to determine the importance of exogenous organic carbon as an energy source to planktonic communities in the epilimnion of 12 oligotrophic to mesotrophic Shield lakes. Median photosynthetic parameters observed with the oxygen method were up to twice as high as those measured with 14C in other oligotrophic Shield lakes. Gross photosynthesis was almost always larger than community respiration, with a median P:R ratio of 1.7. We observed strong relationships between respiration and gross photosynthesis, but could not detect any significant trend between respiration or the P:R ratio and the concentration of dissolved organic carbon (DOC). DOC appeared to depress both photosynthesis and respiration. These results argue against the importance of exogenous organic carbon supply as a significant energy source to freshwater planktonic communities. Previously low P:R ratios reported for oligotrophic fresh waters may be due to the uncertain meaning of 14C production data.


The purpose of this study was to examine interrelationship and causal linkages between socioeconomic and environmental variables in OECD countries. To aid this study, a LISREL modelling tool was implemented. The findings of the study indicated that gross public debt increases with deterioration in air quality in North America, Asia and the Pacific, Central, Eastern and Atlantic regions of Western Europe. Energy consumption contributes to deterioration of air quality in all regions. Economic growth, measured by growth in GDP, accelerates deterioration of air quality in all regions except in Southern and Eastern regions of Western Europe. Increases in energy consumption and economic growth contribute to declines in gross public debt in most OECD countries. Spending for environmental protection contributes to reduced emission of CO2 in all regions of Europe except Asia/Pacific and North America. Expenditure for environmental protection causes increases in public debt in all regions. However, environmental expenditure exerts positive impact on economic growth in Asia/Pacific and Central Europe. Spending in environmental protection is associated with reduction in emissions of most pollutants except in North America and Asia/Pacific and Southern regions of Western Europe. The findings also indicated that in regions where emission of SO2 is the greatest, harvesting of forests increased while fish catches declined. Emission of NOx is associated with increases in agricultural production in most regions, except in Southern and Atlantic regions of Western Europe and North America. Emission of VOCs contributed to reduction in agricultural production in most regions except in Central regions of Western Europe. In summary, economic growth tends to significantly contribute to energy consumption and deterioration of air quality. However, the later can be improved through aggressive spending in environmental protection. Therefore, it is imperative to identify a strategy that would balance economic growth and energy consumption with improved environmental quality


A series of simple metal-free organic dyes MS1–MS3 have been designed and synthesized, and their optical, electrochemical, and photovoltaic properties were investigated. The molecular structures are based on a push–pull framework with a triphenylamine, naphthyldiphenylamine, or anthracenyl diphenylamine as the donor connected to a carboxyphenyl acceptor via a CC bond. The speciality of this new dye design is to obtain higher device open-circuit potentials. The dye-sensitized solar cells using this new sensitizer in combination with I−/I3− exhibited exceptionally high VOC values of 810, 844, and 866 mV for MS1, MS2, and MS3, respectively. The absorption bands of the anthracene-bridged dye MS3 showed remarkable peak broadening and red shifts due to the strong electronic coupling between the donor and bridge facilitated by the C–C triple bond, significantly promoting the light-harvesting capability. The resulting devices of MS3 showed large IPCE values of 75–80% in the region 370–590 nm, giving JSC/mA cm−2 = 8.16, VOC/mV = 866, FF = 0.76, and η = 5.44% under standard AM 1.5G one sun irradiation.


Cetacean-habitat modeling, although still in the early stages of development, represents a potentially powerful tool for predicting cetacean distributions and understanding the ecological processes determining these distributions. Marine ecosystems vary temporally on diel to decadal scales and spatially on scales from several meters to 1000s of kilometers. Many cetacean species are wide- ranging and respond to this variability by changes in distribution patterns. Cetacean-habitat models have already been used to incorporate this variability into management applications, including im- provement of abundance estimates, development of marine protected areas, and understanding cetacean-fisheries interactions. We present a review of the development of cetacean-habitat models, organized according to the primary steps involved in the modeling process. Topics covered include purposes for which cetacean-habitat models are developed, scale issues in marine ecosystems, cetacean and habitat data collection, descriptive and statistical modeling techniques, model selection, and model evaluation. To date, descriptive statistical techniques have been used to explore cetacean-habitat relationships for selected species in specific areas; the numbers of species and geographic areas exam- ined using computationally intensive statistic modeling techniques are considerably less, and the de- velopment of models to test specific hypotheses about the ecological processes determining cetacean distributions has just begun. Future directions in cetacean-habitat modeling span a wide range of possibilities, from development of basic modeling techniques to addressing important ecological questions.


There is currently, no ideal system for studying nasal drug delivery in vitro. The existing techniques such as the Ussing chamber and cell culture all have major disadvantages. Most importantly, none of the existing techniques accurately represent the interior of the nasal cavity, with its airflow and humidity; neither do they allow the investigation of solid dosage forms.The work in this thesis represents the development of an in vitro model system in which the interior characteristics of the nasal cavity are closely represented, and solid or minimal volume dosage forms can be investigated. The complete nasal chamber consists of two sections: a lower tissue, viability chamber and an upper nasal chamber. The lower tissue viability chamber has been shown, using existing tissue viability monitoring techniques, to maintain the viability of a number of epithelial tissues, including porcine and rabbit nasal tissue, and rat ileal and Payers' patch tissue. The complete chamber including the upper nasal chamber has been shown to provide tissue viability for porcine and rabbit nasal tissue above that available using the existing Ussing chamber techniques. Adaptation of the complete system, and the development of the necessary experimental protocols that allow aerosol particle-sizing, together with videography, has shown that the new factors investigated, humidity and airflow, have a measurable effect on the delivered dose from a typical nasal pump. Similarly, adaptation of the chamber to fit under a confocal microscope, and the development of the necessary protocols has shown the effect of surface and size on the penetration of microparticulate materials into nasal epithelial tissues. The system developed in this thesis has been shown to be flexible, in allowing the development of the confocal and particle-sizing systems. For future nasal drug delivery studies, the ability to measure such factors as the size of the delivered system in the nasal cavity, the depth of penetration of the formulation into the tissue are essential. Additionally, to have access to other data such as that obtained from drug transport in the same system, and to have the tissue available for histological examination represents a significant advance in the usefulness of such an in vitro technique for nasal delivery.


The genes of the spalt (sal) family play fundamental roles during animal development. The two members of this family in Drosophila, spalt (sal) and spalt-related (salr) encode Zn-finger transcription factors that link the Decapentaplegic (Dpp)/BMP signalling pathway to the patterning of the wing. They are regulated by the Dpp pathway in the wing disc, and they were shown to mediate some of the morphogenetic activities of the Dpp/BMP4 secreted ligand. The sal genes were initially found by virtue of mutations that produce homeotic transformations in the head and tail of the Drosophila embryo. Since then, a number of other requirements have been associated to these genes in Drosophila, including morphogenesis of the respiratory system, cell fate specification of sensory organs and the differentiation of several photoreceptor cells, among others. Vertebrate sal orthologues (spalt-like/sall) have also important developmental roles during neural development and organogenesis, and at least two human sall genes are linked to the genetic diseases Townes Brocks Syndrome (TBS; SALL1 ) and Okihiro Syndrome (OS; SALL4 ). In this review, we will summarize the main characteristics of the sall genes and proteins, pointing out to the similarities in their developmental roles during Drosophila and vertebrate development.


BACKGROUND
The purpose of this study was to determine patterns of spinal injury and clinical outcomes resulting from motorcycle crashes.

METHODS
We analyzed data collected on 1,121 motorcyclists involved in road traffic accidents (from 1993-2000) and identified those who had sustained a spinal injury.

RESULTS
Spinal injury occurred in 126 (11.2%) riders (112 male riders [88.9%] and 14 female riders [11.1%]), with a mean age of 30.2 years (range, 16-61 years) and Injury Severity Score of 18.8 (range, 4-66). Isolated injuries to the spine occurred in 30 (23.8%) riders. The thoracic spine was injured in 69 (54.8%), the lumbar spine in 37 (29.4%), and the cervical spine in 34 (27.0%) cases. Multiple vertebral levels were affected in 54 (42.9%). Neurologic injury occurred in 25 riders (19.8%), with complete distal neurologic injury in 14 (4 cervical, 9 thoracic, and 1 lumbar). Eleven (8.7%) patients required spinal surgery. There were 13 (10.3%) deaths.

CONCLUSION
The thoracic spine is the most commonly injured spinal region in motorcycle crashes. Multiple level injuries are common. Protocols concentrating on the radiographic clearance of the cervical region may miss a significant number of spinal injuries. Vigilance is required in assessing these patients, who often have multiple injuries.


We performed food web manipulation experiments in three eutrophic Daphnia‐dominated ponds, to compare the predation impact on planktonic bacteria exerted by metazoan and protozoan bacterial consumers. We analyzed the bacterial morphological composition by image analysis and the taxonomic composition by fluorescent in situ hybridization with group‐specific oligonucleotide probes. The removal of Daphnia always resulted in a microbial succession in which first free‐living bacteria and then heterotrophic nanoflagellates (HNFs) increased. Distinct stages of bacterial grazing either exclusively by Daphnia or by HNFs allowed a quantitative and qualitative comparison of their predation impact on the bacterial assemblage. Both bacterial consumers showed a strong size‐selective impact that shifted the free‐living bacterial community structure toward small cells. Suppression of bacterial biomass below the carrying capacity was similar with Daphnia or HNFs in one experiment and was significantly stronger with Daphnia as bacterial consumer in two experiments. This was due to the fact that bacteria that were resistant to protozoan predation partially compensated grazing mortality. Bacteria attached to aggregates and detrital particles were more important as grazing‐resistant forms than bacterial filaments and constituted up to 50% of total bacterial biomass at the end of the experiments. Changes in predation pressure were also associated with shifts in bacterial community composition. Bacteria belonging to the beta subclass of the class Proteobacteria and to the Cytophaga/Flavobacterium group dominated originally. The latter were most strongly reduced by HNF grazing, whereas other groups, in two experiments the alpha sublass (ALF) of Proteobacteria and in one experiment bacteria hybridizing with the probe for Archaea, even increased during HNF grazing. The composition also differed between bacteria associated with aggregates and freely suspended bacteria, the most obvious being the dominance of ALF growing on detrital aggregates. The experiments demonstrated that predation is a major structuring force for planktonic bacterial communities and that changes in predation regime probably have a much stronger impact on the structure of the bacterial community than on bacterial abundance and biomass.


Who chooses what type of pay? The costs and benefits of "flexible" and "cafeteria-style" benefit plans have been discussed for some time. Additionally, many papers have considered the potential costs and benefits of certain types of pay plans (e.g. salaries versus piece rates). In this paper, we use detailed data from a specific firm that annually set the total compensation level for each of its employees but then did something extremely unusual. At the start of each pay year, the firm set an exchange rate for the dollar trade-off between cash pay and stock option pay. It then gave every employee nearly complete choice over the fraction of their pay that was contingent (stock options, bonus) versus guaranteed (salary). There are several empirical findings. There is substantial variation in the choice of contingent pay with some workers choosing almost all base pay and others choosing almost entirely stock options. Younger employees, more experienced employees, higher paid employees, and male employees are more likely to allocate a larger fraction of their total compensation to atrisk alternatives. The robustness of these results varies somewhat depending on the empirical specification and set of covariates used.


This study provides a close reading and a critical analysis of four novels by contemporary Canadian women writing in English: Joy Kogawa's Obasan (1983), Sky Lee's Disappearing Moon Cafe (1990), Kristjana Gunnars's The Prowler (1989), and Aritha van Herk's No Fixed Address (1987). The analysis draws on a combination of post-structuralist, post-colonial and feminist working concepts and perspectives. It is predicated on the assumption of the fundamental interconnectedness of all aspects of human knowledge, and partakes of the process of intertextuality affecting our own contemporary experience of the world. Recent fiction by women, but also feminist and postcolonial theories of meaning and textuality, have had an important share in changing our views of the world/text from a closed structure to a constant process of cultural/textual interaction between two or more cultures/texts. The novels examined here provide rich sites for the exploration of these changing paradigms and their exegesis will offer alternative ways of dealing with language, history, gender, fiction, text and reality in Canada and elsewhere.


A new microscopy technique may open new vistas for researchers who want to peer into living cells. On page 530, a research team from Cornell University describes how they used the additive energies of multiple photons to excite fluorescence from molecules that previously couldn't be observed with damaging or killing cells. In the current work, the researchers measured serotonin concentrations in living cells, but the technique should have a much broader application than that.


Azobenzene-containing smart materials are able to transform the energy of light into directional mechanical stress. We develop a theory of time-dependent light-induced ordering and deformation in azobenzene materials starting from the kinetic equations of photoisomerization. The liquid crystalline (LC) interactions between rod-like trans-isomers are taken into account. Angular selectivity of the photoisomerization known as an "angular hole burning" or the Weigert effect leads to the light-induced ordering and deformation of the azobenzene materials. The time evolution of ordering and deformation is found as a function of intensity of light depending on the opto-mechanical characteristics of the materials, such as probabilities of the optical excitation of trans- and cis-isomers, angular jump during the single isomerization event, viscosity of the materials, strength of the LC interactions in both the isotropic and LC materials, and the angular distribution of chromophores in polymer chains. Established structural-property relationships are in agreement with a number of experiments and can be used for the construction of light-controllable smart materials for practical applications.


Glass with a thickness of less than 2.0 mm can be defined as a thin glass or with a thickness of less than 0.5 mm even as ultra-light. Thin glass requires for curved surfaces in order to gain structural stiffness in static use. The geometry is based on the known theory of developable surfaces. Such FaA§ades may therefore be created from cold bent or curved laminated thin glass layers. In the past semester a seminar with architectural students were held and three projects of this seminar are worth to be presented to the public for demonstration of possibilities for use of thin glass. The definition of a seminar project for students was a connection of a big housing area with the nearby stop of the local tram which is separated by a railway line. Two possibilities for the pedestrian are given to pass the railroad. The first one is a passage underground below the railroad and the second one is a bridge above the railway line. This paper contents a study of architectural design made by students. Two projects which will be presented in this paper focuses on the design of the entrance building of a passage underground and the third project is a design of a pedestrian bridge above the railroad. Beside the architectural design a structural analysis was done to support the design process such as with ranges of possible bending radii for the curved thin glass elements and to guarantee the feasibility of the design


Suspended-membrane 19-missing-hole microcavities in triangular lattice photonic crystals are numerically modeled by a three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain method. The resonance frequencies and the quality factors are calculated by interpolation of the discrete Fourier transformation series of the field with a Pade polynomial. The numerical results are compared with the photoluminescent spectra measured on the cavity of a nearly identical dimension. The symmetry properties of the defect modes are analyzed with the group theory, and resonance modes in the photonic-crystal cavities are identified as irreducible representations of the C_6v point group. The far-field radiations of the identified modes in the free space are also calculated by use of a vector Green's function. It is found that the numerical results agree very well with the experimental measurement in various aspects.


Purpose: The article presents, in a multidimensional perspective, the instruments applied in EU member states to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the tourism sector. Design/Methodology/Approach: Research conducted in the article was based on secondary data. Research methods applied in the paper include critical review of literature, method of comparative analysis and secondary data analysis. Findings: The outcome of the article is the identification of actions undertaken in EU member states to support the tourism sector and original elaboration on the scheme of instruments used by EU authorities and countries in order to limit the epidemic risk in tourism. Practical Implications: The analysis and evaluation carried out in the article demonstrated that risk management in EU member states' tourist sectors at the time of pandemic requires integrated protective measures. The results may be used to develop a long-term strategy for the EU's tourism sector and programmes for prevention of crisis outcomes in other sectors of the economy as well. Originality/value: In the perspective presented herein, issues related to the epidemic risk in the tourism sector, discussed in the article, have not been the subject of scientific analyses in domestic or foreign literature.


BACKGROUND. The regulation of intestinal growth and development in human neonates is incompletely understood, which hinders the provision of nutrients enterally. The "hindgut" hormones glucagon-like peptides 1 and 2 have been shown to play an important role in the regulation of nutrient assimilation, intestinal growth, and function. OBJECTIVE. Our goal was to investigate the production of glucagon-like peptides 1 and 2 in premature human infants and examine the effects of prematurity and feeding on hormone release. PATIENTS AND METHODS. With informed consent, premature infants who were admitted to a tertiary neonatal intensive care nursery (gestational age: 28–32 weeks) were monitored with weekly determinations of postprandial glucagon-like peptide 1 and 2 levels. Comparison studies with groups of normal infants and adults were performed. Hormone levels were obtained by using specific radioimmunoassay for glucagon-like peptide 1 (1–36) and glucagon-like peptide 2 (1–33), modified for small sample volumes; accurate monitoring of enteral intake was performed at all of the sampling time points. RESULTS. Forty-five infants with a mean gestational age of 29.6 ± 1.9 weeks were studied; fasting levels of both glucagon-like peptides 1 and 2 were elevated. There was no correlation between gestational age and glucagon-like peptide 2 output. However, both glucagon-like peptide 1 and 2 levels were correlated with the caloric value of feeds. CONCLUSIONS. The premature human neonate has significantly higher fasting levels of glucagon-like peptides 1 and 2 compared with adults; feeding increases these levels further. These findings suggest that the proglucagon-derived peptides may have a role in normal intestinal development and nutrient handling.


Firms typically present a mixed picture of corporate social performance (CSP), with positive and negative indicators exhibited by the same firm. Thus, stakeholders' judgements of corporate social responsibility (CSR) typically evaluate positives in the context of negatives, and vice versa. We present two alternative accounts of how stakeholders respond to such complexity, which provide differing implications for the financial effects of CSP: reciprocal dampening and rewarding uniformity. Our US panel study finds a U-shaped relationship – firms that exhibit solely positive or solely negative indicators outperform firms that exhibit both – which supports the notion that stakeholders' judgements of CSR reward uniformity.


ANAEROBIC CO-DIGESTION PLANNING AND RESEARCH FOR THE GREEN BAY METROPOLITAN SEWERAGE DISTRICT Jonathan Kusowski Marquette University, 2013 The aspiration to find an alternative sustainable fuel source is an ever growing concern. Anaerobic digestion might hold the answer to finding an alternative sustainable energy source. Anaerobic digestion does not only provide a renewable resource in the form of biogas, but also stabilizes wastes, preventing large amounts from being landfilled or incinerated. Anaerobic digestion of municipal wastewater sludges can often be improved by the addition of high strength industrial wastes, in a process called codigestion. High strength industrial wastes provide an additional carbon source for the microbes to utilize and convert into usable biogas. Co-digestion also offers the opportunity for the high strength wastes to be converted to renewable energy (biogas) rather than being landfilled of incinerated. During co-digestion, the three possible outcomes are synergistic, neutral or antagonistic with respect to gas production. This study was designed to test the effects of co-digesting various high strength industrial wastes in addition to actual municipal sludge from a wastewater treatment plant. Preliminary screening of 20 industrial wastes was completed to narrow the list down to four of the most promising wastes to be used during the bench-scale study. The most promising wastes were characterized by haul distance, chemical oxygen demand (COD), Volatile Solids (VS):Total Solids (TS) and biochemical methane potential (BMP) results. A long term bench-scale study was designed to test the effect of anaerobic digestion as well as co-digestion. The bench-scale digesters were run for 275 days over four different phases. The first phase tested the effect of digesting actual municipal sludge at an organic loading rate (OLR) range of 3 to 6 gCOD/L-day. The second, third and fourth phases tested co-digestion of a consistent mix of the four co-digestates with municipal wastewater sludge at increasing organic loading rates. The OLRs increased during each phase: Phase 2 OLR (4 to 7 gCOD/L-day), Phase 3 OLR (4 to 9 gCOD/L-day) and Phase 4 OLR (6 to 10 gCOD/L-day). Phase 3 and Phase 4 tested the effect of increasing the volume of co-digestate added in an attempt to achieve the maximum OLR of the benchscale digesters. Co-digestion during Phase 2 and Phase 3 proved to be very beneficial. Phase 2 compared to Phase 1 resulted in an increase in CH4 production ranging from 18% to 31% as well as an increase in VSR of 6.7% to 13%. Phase 3 compared to Phase 1 saw an increase in CH4 production ranging from 34% to 45% as well as an increase in VSR ranging from 9.4% to 23%. Phase 4 digestion proved to be near or above the maximum OLR for the bench-scale digesters, resulting in operational issues and digester failure. Co-digestion could prove to be a solution to finding an improved renewable energy, but testing on the different high strength wastes that could be used to improve this technology.


Existing global land use/land cover (LULC) raster maps have limited spatial and thematic resolution relative to the strong heterogeneity of agricultural landscapes. One promising approach to derive more informative maps is using fractional cover instead of hard classification. Here, we evaluate the effect of three key data processing options on the performance of random forest (RF) fractional cover models for moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) data in a heterogeneous agricultural landscape in a monsoon region: 1) selection of spectral predictor sets [normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), enhanced vegetation index (EVI), surface reflectance (SR), and all combined (Full)]; 2) time interval (8-day vs. 16-day); and 3) smoothing (no smoothing versus Savitzky-Golay (SG) filter). Model performance was assessed with spatially stratified rootmean-square error (RMSE), Spearman's rank correlation, and R2, per LULC type and averaged over all types. We found adequate performance of the best model (avg. ρ = 0.62) that used all predictors, 8-day interval and no smoothing. Among the different alternatives, the choice of predictors accounted for 36.3% of the variation, smoothing for 19.0%, and time interval for 17.9%. The intrinsic dimensionalities of the spectral predictors were investigated to complement the variable importance analyses. Although predicting LULC fractions for minor types remained difficult, our results suggest that existing satellite products can be a useful source of information about LULC at subpixel level provided the data-processing options are properly chosen.


The authors survey arguments that family firms should behave more like nonfamily firms and "professionalize." Despite the apparent advantages of this transition, many family firms fail to do so or do so only partially. The authors reflect on why this might be so, and the range of possible modes of professionalization. They derive six ideal types: (a) minimally professional family firms; (b) wealth dispensing, private family firms; (c) entrepreneurially operated family firms; (d) entrepreneurial family business groups; (e) pseudoprofessional, public family firms; and (f) hybrid professional family firms. The authors conclude with suggestions for further research that is attentive to such variation.


1. Several methods of quantifying muscle capillary basement membrane width have been evaluated with the aim of determining whether variations in technic may influence the sensitivity of detecting significant capillary basement membrane thickening in diabetic subjects. 2. The results demonstrate that fixation of tissue in osmic acid followed by determination of mean basement membrane thickness reveals significant basement membrane thickening in over 90 per cent of diabetic subjects. 3. The error in estimation of mean basement membrane width due to oblique sectioning of diabetic capillaries is shown to be small, i.e. approximately 10 per cent. By contrast, measuring only the minimum basement membrane thickness of a capillary may underestimate diabetic basement membrane hypertrophy by from 20 to 40 per cent. 4. As compared to osmic acid fixation, glutaraldehyde leads to a very significant increase in the basement membrane width affecting normal capillaries relatively more than diabetic capillaries. 5. As a result, either fixation in glutaraldehyde or measurement of minimum basement membrane thickness may lead to a marked decrease in the sensitivity of the quantitative basement membrane technic. A procedure that employs both glutaraldehyde fixation and measurement of only minimum basement membrane width would appear to detect microangiopathy in only 45 per cent of diabetic subjects.


In this paper, we evaluate a novel contention-aware channel selection algorithm that focuses on energy efficiency improvement of a secondary network (SN) in a scenario where other non-cooperating SNs are also using the primary resources. We present a detailed energy efficiency analysis and we study how the time between two consecutive sensing periods affects the energy efficiency. Our analysis proves that a categorization of the idle channels based on their contention level and the selection of the less contended ones can result in up to 70% gain in energy efficiency. The model is further evaluated through simulations.


This text examines the interaction between the disciplines of law, computer science and artificial intelligence. The authors' hypothesis is that in years to come law will have a severe impact on computer science (via data protection and copyright); that computers will have an effect on law (via legal databases and electronic presentation of evidence); that law will impact on AI (via liability of intelligent software writers and codes of conduct); and that AI will have an impact on law (via models of legal reasoning and implementations of various statutes). The chapters are grouped into theory, implications and applications sections, in an attempt to identify separate, but interrelated methodological stances.


Although there has been a growing interest in policy and among scholars to consider culture as an aspect of sustainable development, the understanding of culture within the framework of sustainable development has remained vague. This study sought to discover what influence culture may have on the practical application of the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD). The research focused on the approaches FSSD practitioners take in their application of the framework within different cultural contexts in an attempt both to uncover patterns and to develop guidelines for applying the framework in those contexts with cultural sensitivity. A qualitative research approach was selected, and a literature review and semistructured interviews were used to elicit the approaches of thirteen FSSD practitioners with experience applying the framework outside of Europe and North America. The results revealed four main cultural factors FSSD practitioners account for when applying the framework in different cultural contexts and four practical strategies used to account for those cultural factors. Based on these discoveries, strategic guidelines were created to complement the FSSD so that it can be more easily applied in different cultural contexts, thereby contributing to the framework's ultimate goal of accelerating the global transition toward a sustainable society.


Confocal optical microscopy is a technique for increasing the contrast of microscope images, particularly in thick specimens. By restricting the observed volume, the technique keeps overlying or nearby scatterers from contributing to the detected signal. The price for this is that the instrument must observe only one point at a time (in the scanning laser version) or a group of separated points with very little light (in the disc version). This paper describes how the confocal advantage comes about and how it is implemented in actual instruments.


Detailed biogeographical and biofacies analyses of the Late Ordovician brachiopod faunas with 160 genera, grouped into 94 faunas from individual lithotectonic units within the Kazakh Orogen strongly support an archipelago model for that time in that area. The Kazakh island arcs and microcontinents within several separate clusters were located in the tropics on both sides of the Equator. Key units, from which the Late Ordovician faunas are now well known, include the Boshchekul, Chingiz-Tarbagatai, and Chu-Ili terranes. The development of brachiopod biogeography within the nearly ten million year time span of the Late Ordovician from about 458 to 443 Ma (Sandbian, Katian, and Hirnantian), is supported by much new data, including our revised identifications from the Kazakh Orogen and elsewhere. The Kazakh archipelago was west of the Australasian segment of the Gondwana Supercontinent, and relatively near the Tarim, South China and North China continents, apart from the Atashu-Zhamshi Microcontinent, which probably occupied a relatively isolated position on the south-western margin of the archipelago. Distinct faunal signatures indicate that the Kazakh terranes were far away from Baltica and Siberia throughout the Ordovician. Although some earlier terranes had joined each other before the Middle Ordovician, the amalgamation of Kazakh terranes into the single continent of Kazakhstania by the end of the Ordovician is very unlikely. The Late Ordovician brachiopods from the other continents are also compared with the Kazakh faunas and global provincialisation statistically determined.


Photonic crystal (PC) cavities enable localization of light into volumes (V) below a cubic optical wavelength (smaller than any other types of optical resonators) with high quality (Q) factors. This permits a strong interaction of light and matter, which is relevant for construction of classical light sources with improved properties (e.g., low threshold lasers) and of nonclassical light sources (such as single and entangled photon sources), which are crucial pieces of hardware of quantum information processing systems. This talk will cover some of our recent experimental results on quantum and classical devices enabled by such interaction, as well as our work on designing such devices and circuits efficiently. We have demonstrated a spontaneous emission rate enhancement by a factor of 8 and suppression by a factor of 5 for a single self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dot (QD) embedded in a GaAs photonic crystal cavity and on- and off-resonance with the cavity mode, respectively. A strong localization of optical field in such a nanocavity (experimental Q-factor of 5000 and mode volume below a cubic optical wavelength) with a quantum dot embedded inside is of importance for building single photon sources with improved efficiency, photon indistinguishability, and repetition rate. We have demonstrated a single photon source on demand based on the pulsed excitation of a single quantum dot in such a nanocavity, with pulse duration between 200 ps and 8 ns and with a small multi-photon probability (as small as 5% compared to an attenuated laser of the same intensity). In addition, we have shown that colloidal PbS quantum dots coupled to AlGaAs photonic crystal cavities can be used as an alternative to self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots for construction of cheap and reusable quantum and classical light emitters. We have also demonstrated an improved classical light source-laser, based on coupling of a large number (81) of photonic crystal nanocavities inside a two dimensional array. Such a laser exhibits a low lasing threshold (~2.5 mW), operates in a single mode, produces large output powers (greater than 12 muW, which two orders of magnitude larger than a single nanocavity laser), and can be directly modulated as speeds greater than 100 GHz. An inverse problem approach to designing photonic crystal cavities that we have developed enables their rapid optimization in a single step, thereby reducing the cavity optimization time from weeks to hours. We are also pursuing theoretical and experimental work on integration of a number of photonic crystal components (cavities and waveguides) into functional circuits for classical and quantum information processing, including nontrivial two-qubit quantum gates


Prior to the EU's Eastern enlargement in 2004 there was much academic speculation about its repercussions for EU foreign policy. Although scholars agreed that the eight newcomers from Central and Eastern Europe would have an impact on the EU's foreign policy, it remained unclear how and to what extent they would do so.
This thesis identifies and evaluates the impact of the CEECs on the substance of EU foreign policy in three areas including development cooperation, neighbourhood policy and energy security. It analyses why the CEECs have sometimes succeeded in having an impact and at other times not. It differentiates between three categories of the CEECs' impact (defensive, divisive and innovative) as well as three aspects of policy substance (regional coverage, policy objectives and principles and policy instruments). The CEECs' impact varies along the three areas and the different stages of the policymaking process. In long-standing traditional areas such as development cooperation, it has been largely defensive and limited to soft law instruments while in regional or emerging areas such as neighbourhood policy and energy
security the CEECs' impact has been higher as well as innovative and/or divisive. To analyse why the CEECs' impact varies from case to case, the thesis draws on insights from the literature on EU (foreign) policy-making and on small
states in EU foreign policy. Three sources of impact (material, institutional and ideational) are systematically applied to selected in-depth case studies in each of the three EU foreign policy areas. The thesis concludes that ideational and/or institutional factors are crucial for member states' impact at the agenda setting stage whereas at the decision-making stage material sources of impact prevail. In order to have impact at the decision-making stage the CEECs need the support of at least two large 'old' EU member states.


Non-stationarity in an actual wave field restricts the application of the existing methods of estimating spectra. Despite the enormous amount of research work in the past, an analyst today is still faced with the lack of a unique procedure capable of providing a spectrum estimate which can be considered as the most accurate for the wave data collected under conditions where the stationarity assumption is in doubt. In this paper a generalized method is presented for estimating one dimensional frequency spectrum considering the non-stationarity. The generalized method and the associated design relations provide an effective measure for assessing the statistical quality of spectrum estimates, and a natural criterion as to how to select an optimal sample size. Concepts are illustrated by actual wave data analysis* and the validity of the procedure is demonstrated by simulation. In a simple manner, all concepts and methods developed for the non-stationary frequency spectrum apply to the wave number spectrum with spatial inhomogeneity. For simplicity, the presentation here will be primarily directed to the frequency spectrum.


The RNetLogo package delivers an interface to embed the agent-based modeling platform NetLogo into the R environment with headless (no graphical user interface) or interactive GUI mode. It provides functions to load models, execute commands, push values, and to get values from NetLogo reporters. Such a seamless integration of a widely used agent-based modeling platform with a well-known statistical computing and graphics environment opens up various possibilities. For example, it enables the modeler to design simulation experiments, store simulation results, and analyze simulation output in a more systematic way. It can therefore help close the gaps in agent-based modeling regarding standards of description and analysis. After a short overview of the agent-based modeling approach and the software used here, the paper delivers a step-by-step introduction to the usage of the RNetLogo package by examples.


Evidence for systematic relationships and evolutionary processes in the New Zealand Inuleae (Compositae) is examined, by investigating the stem anatomy and flowering phenology of selected, representative species. The stem anatomy of 51 species of Inuleae from New Zealand and Tasmania is described using transverse sections of the primary stem near the apex, mature primary stem, and mature secondary stem. Results from the stem anatomy provide a number of features which are available for systematic interpretation, including the occurrence of anomalous secondary growth in three species of Raoulia, the presence of resin canals in Haastia, and the occurrence of a Casparian strip. The groupings suggested by phenetic and cladistic analyses of the stem data support affinities that have already been identified in the literature, but also suggest new groupings which should be investigated. II The flowering phenology of 16 species which occur in the Cass District are described at the association, population, individual, capitulum, and floret levels. Patterns are discussed with reference to observations on floral visitors, breeding systems and habitat. It is suggested that a highly staggered flowering pattern observed in the species growing on the riverbed may have resulted from selection imposed by the occurrence and timing of floods and pollinator competition via interspecific pollen transfer. Hypotheses as to the functional significance of the phenology patterns are presented, including adaptations to avoid geitonogamy and interference between male and female functions, adaptations to specific pollinators, and opportunistic life styles. It is hypothesised that the short life span of trinucleate pollen creates a hereto unrecognised phylogenetic constraint on the evolution of the Compo sitae capitulum.


This thesis seeks to explore, identify and describe the information needs and the preferences and priorities for information of chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. The premise of the research being that CKD patients will have preferred key information needs, which are of a priority to them, at different times during the progression of their disease.

Attention will focus on three areas:
• The theory and methodology underpinning information need research in health and information science, exploring key concepts to establish working definitions
• What information patients' want and the contextual factors that influence the manifestation of an information need
• The development and testing of a CKD Information Needs Questionnaire (INQ) that profiles and prioritises information topics to facilitate, demographic and disease progression sub-group analysis

Chapters one and two, set the scene and focus of the study, identifying the context of CKD, aetiology, prevalence, current NHS policy and service provision building a clear study rationale. The national political agenda advocates the need to develop patient-led services alongside encouraging self-management skills for CKD patients to meet the future demands on renal services. For this to be achieved understanding the information needs of CKD patients is important.

Chapters three to six, consider the theory and methodology underpinning existing research in the field of information need, drawing on expertise from both Information Science and Health. The meaning of information and information need are explored and the contextual factors that influence the need for information extrapolated. Existing evidence on information topics important to CKD patients are drawn from a systematic literature review. The study adopts a mixed method approach combining qualitative in-depth semi-structured interviews and a paired comparison INQ to identify, understand and measure information need.

The study findings are presented sequentially in chapter's seven to nine. The first two chapters scrutinise the qualitative data to elicit core information needs and explore the context in which information needs arise. Information topics from the literature are compared and contrasted with data extracted from the in-depth interviews and nine core information needs identified. These include information on what is CKD and what to expect in the future; physical affect and symptoms of CKD; complications and side effects; different treatment options, practical aspects of treatment; self-management information regarding diet, fluids, medication and blood results; impact of CKD on daily life and social activities; information on how to cope and adapt with CKD and information from other patients about their experiences. Findings indicate that CKD patients have preferences for information that emerge to satisfy an underlying goal. Information needs are hierarchical in nature and influenced by the context of the individual, factors include the relevance of topic, personal circumstances, coping styles, current events and lifestyle.

The core information needs were used to ground the development of the INQ, followed by the testing of the tool and subsequent statistical analysis, in chapter nine. The information topics considered highest priority are concerned with information about self-management, complications and physical symptoms. Middle range items included information regarding practical aspects of RRT, how it affects daily life, the cause of CKD, treatment options. Information topics considered less important were how to cope and adapt to life with CKD and information from other patients about their experiences. Differences between information priorities were observed across demographic groups influenced by age, treatment modality and time since diagnosis.

Chapter ten draws together the evidence and discusses the findings in context with the wider literature highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the research strategy. An innovative patient-led information strategy is proposed based on the construction of meaning and making sense of information, alongside practical changes to improve the quality of information provision to meet the needs of CKD patients.

Chapter eleven concludes the study and denotes recommendations for future information need research, information provision in practice and policy. These include the application of the nine core information needs (as a topic guide) in clinical practice to initiate patient discussion and draw out specific individual information need. The evidence base developed from this in-depth study will inform and support the current and future content of patient education programmes. Developing healthcare documentation that records the preferences and priorities for information of a CKD patient as they emerge and captures the patient's temporal goals of information, information purpose and the influencing contextual factors, is essential to effectively communicate patient information needs within the multi-professional team. Finally the introduction of a patient-led information service is recommended that would facilitate and encourage self-management skills and effective information provision in clinical practice. Such a proactive approach implemented from diagnosis throughout the disease trajectory would meet the continuous information needs of CKD patients.


Even though spinal cord research has expanded enormously during the past decades, we still lack a precise understanding of how spinal interneuron networks perfectly integrate sensory feedback with motor control, and how these neuron circuits give rise to specific functions. The present study thus has three basic aims: (1) to investigate propriospinal interneurons connecting rostral and caudal lumbar spinal cord in the rat; (2) to investigate input properties of identified spinal interneurons interposed in different pathways; (3) to investigate cholinergic terminals in the ventral horn of adult rat and cat.

To realize the first aim, the B-subunit of cholera toxin (CTb) was injected into the motor nuclei at the L1 or L3 segmental level to retrogradely label propriospinal interneurons in the L5 segment of rat spinal cord. These cells had a clear distribution pattern which showed that they were located mainly in ipsilateral dorsal horn and contralateral lamina VIII. A series triple-labelling experiments revealed that about 1/4 of the CTb-positive cells were immunoreactive for calbindin and/or calretinin. It was also found that a small population of CTb labelled cells were cholinergic and were observed mainly in three locations: lamina X, the medial part of intermediate zone and lamina VIII. In addition, injection of CTb also anterogradely labelled axon terminals, which arose from the commissural interneurons (CINs) within the site of injection, crossed the midline and aroborized in the contralateral lateral motor nuclei of the L5 segment. The neurotransmitter systems in labelled axon terminals of CINs were investigated by using antibodies raised against specific transmitter-related proteins. The results showed that approximately 3/4 terminals were excitatory and among those excitatory terminals about 3/4 forming contacts with motoneurons.

To achieve the second aim, 21 interneurons located in the intermediate zone and lamina VIII from 7 adult cats were characterised electrophysiologically and labelled intracellularly with Neurobiotin. Seventeen of these cells were activated monosynaptically from primary muscle afferents but the remaining four cells received monosynaptic inputs from the medial longitudinal fasciculus (MLF). Quantitative analysis revealed that cells in the first group received many contacts from excitatory terminals that were immunoreactive for the vesicular glutamate transporter 1 (VGLUT1) but those cells from the second group received few contacts of this type and were predominantly contacted by terminals immunoreactive for vesicular glutamate transporter 2 (VGLUT2). This result was as predicted because VGLUT1 is found principally in the terminals of myelinated primary afferent axons whereas VGLUT2 is located in the terminals of interneurons in the spinal cord. Interneurons in the first group were then characterised as excitatory and inhibitory on the basis of the transmitter content contained within their axon terminals. Although there was a greater density of VGLUT1 contacts on excitatory rather than inhibitory cells, the difference was not statistically significant. GABAergic terminals formed close appositions with VGLUT1 contacts on both excitatory and inhibitory cells. These appositions were likely to be axoaxonic synapses which mediate presynaptic inhibition. In addition, the densities of VGLUT1 and VGLUT2 contacts on 30 dorsal horn CINs and 60 lamina VIII CINs that were retrogradely labelled with CTb from 3 adult rats were compared. The results showed that VGLUT2 terminals formed the majority of excitatory inputs to both dorsal horn and lamina VIII CINs but dorsal horn CINs received a significantly greater density of VGLUT1/2 inputs than lamina VIII CINs.

In order to achieve the third aim, i.e. whether glutamate is a cotransmitter at motoneuron axon collateral terminals in the ventral horn, a series of anatomical experiments were performed on axon collaterals obtained from motoneurons from an adult cat and retrogradely labelled by CTb in adult rats. There was no evidence to support the presence of vesicular glutamate transporters in motoneuron axon terminals of either species. In addition, there was no obvious relationship between motoneuron terminals and R2 subunit of the AMPA receptor (GluR2). However, a population of cholinergic terminals in lamina VII, which did not originate from motoneurons, was found to be immunoreactive for VGLUT2 and formed appositions with GluR2 subunits. These terminals were smaller than motoneuron terminals and, unlike them, formed no relationship with Renshaw cells. The evidence suggests that glutamate does not act as a cotransmitter with acetylcholine at central synapses of motoneurons in the adult cat and rat. However, glutamate is present in a population of cholinergic terminals which probably originate from interneurons where its action is via an AMPA receptor.

In conclusion, the present studies add to the understanding of the organization of neuronal networks involved in sensorimotor integration. Propriospinal interneurons located within the lumbar segments have extensive intra-segmental projections to motor nuclei. First order interneurons interposed in reflex pathways and descending pathways receive a significantly different pattern of inputs. A similar proportion of monosynaptic excitatory input from primary afferents has been found in both excitatory and inhibitory interneurons and these two types of cells are subject to presynaptic inhibitory control of this input.


Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in wealthy countries, and rapidly replicating that status for the rest of the world. The WHO predicts that on current trends cigarette smoking will kill a billion people this century. Yet these deaths are almost exclusively caused by the inhalation of smoke rather than from the nicotine these consumers primarily seek. Cigarettes are an incredibly dirty, and particularly addictive, delivery system. It has been known in scientific circles for decades that people smoke for the nicotine but die from the tar, but it is through creative legal measures that we could ultimately prevent the current public health catastrophe. Consumer acceptable ways to deliver nicotine without the inhalation of the products of combustion already exist, giving robust proof-of-concept for the dramatic role alternative delivery systems could play in fundamentally altering rates of disease and death. Legal measures such as replicating the constitutional challenges that have removed barriers to life saving harm reduction efforts for users of illicit drugs, and well-crafted regulatory reform that seeks the best risk-benefit tradeoff for products designed to make cigarettes obsolete have enormous potential to rapidly transform the market. As Canada, like other countries, already has to adapt laws due to new nicotine products the opportunity to target health gains is clear. Legal reform measures aimed at replacing the current unscientific abstinence-only approach to nicotine with a pragmatic policy aimed at reducing harm would continue a very long line of public health successes on such products as foods, pharmaceuticals and automobiles where regulations facilitating risk reduction initiatives have dramatically reduced deaths, injuries and disease. Intelligent regulatory oversight, including differentiating taxation based on relative risks, could also enable harm reduction initiatives to act synergistically with current policies aimed at preventing smoking onset, encouraging cessation and protecting third parties from environmental tobacco smoke. Given the political, social, genetic and neuroscientific challenges in continuing an abstinence-only approach to nicotine use, legal interventions facilitating harm reduction measures would appear to have the greatest potential for a global breakthrough in reducing cigarette-related mortality and morbidity. Through such legal interventions Canada could lead the world in tobacco/nicotine policy, much as the country did in past decades on a wide range of other anti-smoking initiatives. Using legal measures to apply harm reduction principles to public health policies on tobacco/nicotine is more than simply a rational and humane policy. It is more than a pragmatic response to a market that is, anyway, already in the process of undergoing significant changes. It has the potential to lead to one of the greatest public health breakthroughs in human history by fundamentally changing the forecast of a billion cigarette-caused deaths this century.


The purpose of this paper is to study shear locking-free parametric earthquake analysis of thick and thin plates resting on Winkler foundation using Mindlin's theory, to determine the effects of the thickness/span ratio, the aspect ratio and the boundary conditions on the linear responses of thick and thin plates subjected to earthquake excitations. In the analysis, finite element method is used for spatial integration and the Newmark-β method is used for the time integration. Finite element formulation of the equations of the thick plate theory is derived by using higher order displacement shape functions. A computer program using finite element method is coded in C++ to analyze the plates clamped or simply supported along all four edges. In the analysis, 8-noded finite element is used. Graphs are presented that should help engineers in the design of thick plates subjected to earthquake excitations. It is concluded that 8-noded finite element can be effectively used in the earthquake analysis of thick plates. It is also concluded that, in general, the changes in the thickness/span ratio are more effective on the maximum responses considered in this study than the changes in the aspect ratio. A R T I C L E I N F O Article history: Received 22 December 2017 Revised 24 January 2018 Accepted 1 February 2018


Silurian bentonites from Sweden and the eastern Baltic are correlated using XRD analysis of sanidine composition. Identifying the same bentonite in different sections has constrained correlations between the conodont, graptolite and chitinozoan zonations. Three bentonites correlate the Cyrtograptus murchisoni Zone with the upper part of the Pterospathodus amorphognathoides Zone and both the Lower and the Upper Pseudooneotodus bicornis conodont biozones at their type locality. Thus the base of the Llandovery–Wenlock boundary stratotype can be correlated with a level in the upper part of the Cyrtograptus murchisoni graptolite Biozone. Identifying the Y Bentonite (Gotland, Sweden) in eastern Baltic drill-cores shows that the base of the Eisenackitina lagena chitinozoan Biozone is close to the base of the K. patula conodont Biozone, which is coeval with an upper part of the C. rigidus graptolite Zone. Sanidine data from the Grötlingbo Bentonite fit well with previous correlations. Some bentonites from Gotland with distinct sanidine compositions and bulk geochemistries have not yet been identified elsewhere.


Between the morning of October 19, 1987 and the closing bell of October 20, 1987, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 25%. Shunning the drastic remedy of closing the markets (akin to FDR's "bank holiday" of March 1933), the regulatory response ultimately took the form of 'circuit breakers,' crudely fashioned, limited trading halts that some critics described as "throwing sand in the gears." The calibration of the decline prompting a trading halt remained constant from the time of the implementation of the circuit breaker in April 1989 until April 1998. At that time, the trigger point was changed from an absolute number to a percentage of the average closing values of the prior month. That percentage calculation was not altered until December 31, 2008. Consequentially, between October 2007 and February 2009 – as an inflated DJIA gradually declined over 40% - the breakers were not triggered once, raising questions concerning their purpose and effect.The Paper thus examines the efficaciousness of artificial obstacles to panic selling, in general, and of efforts to arrest intra-day market freefalls like NYSE Rule 80B, in particular.Ultimately, the Paper seeks an answer to the question of why stock exchanges like the NYSE have acted as steadfast spectators to a disastrous downturn that the public has been reminded of on a daily basis.


What was once a contested body of principles applied peripherally to the international settlement of expropriation disputes has been transformed and in its place now stands an important area of international disputes practice. International Investment Law and Arbitration offers a comprehensive introduction to the subject. Presenting the facts of daily legal practice and the largely unaltered aims of the subject alongside a broad selection of key awards and original materials, historical developments are discussed in the context of the changing directions in the arbitral jurisprudence and current treaty and arbitration reform debate. Key features: accessible and engaging commentary integrated throughout, end of chapter questions test reader understanding, further reading lists support and encourage exploration of the subject. Suitable for postgraduate law students studying modules on international investment arbitration, International Investment Law and Arbitration offers an indispensable introduction to the subject.


Often mistakenly seen as a game, the online 3D immersive virtual world Second Life (SL) is itself a huge and sophisticated simulator of an entire Earthlike world. Differently from other metaverses where physical laws are not seriously taken into account, objects created in SL are automatically controlled by a powerful physics engine software. Despite that, it has been used mostly as a mere place for exploration and inquiry, with emphasis on group interaction. This article reports on a study conducted to evaluate the SL environment as a platform for physical simulations and microworlds. It begins by discussing a few relevant features of SL and a few differences found between it and traditional simulators e.g. Modellus. Finally, the SL environment as a platform for physical simulations and microworlds is evaluated. Some concrete examples of simulations in SL, including two of our own authorship, will be presented briefly in order to clarify and enrich both discussion and analysis. However, implementation of simulations in SL is not without drawbacks like the lack of experience many teachers have with programming and the differences found between SL Physics and Newtonian Physics. Despite of that, findings suggest it may possible for teachers to overcome these obstacles.


Deborah Shamoon, Chris McMorran, and Kam Thiam Huat organised a 'Teaching Japanese Popular Culture' international conference that was held at the National University of Singapore in 2012, with the support of the Japan Foundation. The book, however, more than a printed upshot of that athenaeum is a production of the Association for Asian Studies, which has its headquarters in the United States. In this sense, Teaching Japanese Popular Culture is to be framed as a US-American book, edited and produced in the United States by the Aas. I will get back to this detail in the final remarks of this review.
Now, anybody who ever edited a book formed of contributions by various and diverse authors perfectly knows about all the issues that may come along. One of the most frequent is to find an organic trajectory, a path, an overall meaningful structure out of what often is, at first, a discontinuous group of writings that not necessarily have much in common with each other.
If the editors are not inspired, or the materials selected or available aren't mutually matching enough, there is [...]


Curriculum materials and knowledge about curricular purposes and structures are valuable tools that teachers often draw upon to organize instruction and facilitate student learning. Careful analysis of teachers' curriculum implementation and the decision-making that undergirds their curriculum use is critical for fully understanding enactment. This paper compares how integrity analyses of implementation of curriculum materials and actor-oriented analysis of teachers' curriculum use can help researchers, teacher educators, and curriculum designers interpret teachers' decisions about what aspects of new materials to use and how to use such materials. Drawing on evidence from teacher interviews and observations, we compare two teachers' enactments of a new elementary-level environmental biology unit. Our analyses of integrity point to differences in teachers' adaptations with respect to their consistency with the purposes and structures of curriculum materials as construed by designers. By contrast, our actor-oriented analysis explain how the teachers' different approaches to interpreting the goals and structures of the curriculum unit partly account for patterns in their enactment in ways that can inform refinements to materials and the design of professional development supports for teachers. In so doing, we show how implementation integrity and actor-oriented analyses offer complementary perspectives to inform curriculum research and development.


Aims We aimed to evaluate the safety and long-term efficacy of the magnetic navigation system (MNS) in a large number of patients. The MNS has the potential for improving safety and efficacy based on atraumatic catheter design and superior navigation capabilities. Methods and results In this study, 610 consecutive patients underwent ablation. Patients were divided into two age- and sex-matched groups. Ablations were performed either using MNS (group MNS, 292) or conventional manual ablation [group manual navigation (MAN), 318]. The following parameters were analysed: acute success rate, fluoroscopy time, procedure time, complications [major: pericardial tamponade, permanent atrioventricular (AV) block, major bleeding, and death; minor: minor bleeding and temporary AV block]. Recurrence rate was assessed during follow-up (15 ± 9.5 months). Subgroup analysis was performed for the following groups: atrial fibrillation, isthmus dependent and atypical atrial flutter, atrial tachycardia, AV nodal re-entrant tachycardia, circus movement tachycardia, and ventricular tachycardia (VT). Magnetic navigation system was associated with less major complications (0.34 vs. 3.2%, P = 0.01). The total numbers of complications were lower in group MNS (4.5 vs. 10%, P = 0.005). Magnetic navigation system was equally effective as MAN in acute success rate for overall groups (92 vs. 94%, P = ns). Magnetic navigation system was more successful for VTs (93 vs. 72%, P < 0.05). Less fluoroscopy was used in group MNS (30 ± 20 vs. 35 ± 25 min, P < 0.01). There were no differences in procedure times and recurrence rates for the overall groups (168 ± 67 vs. 159 ± 75 min, P = ns; 14 vs. 11%, P = ns; respectively). Conclusions Our data suggest that the use of MNS improves safety without compromising efficiency of ablations. Magnetic navigation system is more effective than manual ablation for VTs.


This paper describes a design variation of the CBT loudspeaker line array that is intended to operate very close to a planar reflecting surface. The original free-standing CBT array is halved lengthwise and then positioned close to a flat surface so that acoustic reflections essentially recreate the missing half of the array. This halved array can then be doubled in size which forms an array which is double the height of the original array. When compared to the original free-standing array, the ground-plane CBT array provides several advantages including: 1. elimination of detrimental floor reflections, 2. doubles array height, 3. doubles array sensitivity, 4. doubles array maximum SPL capability, 5. extends vertical beamwidth control down an octave, and 6. minimizes near-far variation of SPL. This paper explores these characteristics through sound-field simulations and over-the-ground-plane measurements of three systems: 1. a conventional two-way compact monitor, 2. an experimental un-shaded straight-line array, and 3. an experimental CBT Legendre-shaded circular-arc curved-line array.


The bacterium Xylella fastidiosa (Xf) is a worldwide distributed invasive insect-borne plant pathogen, which causes lethal diseases to many economically-important crops including olives, citrus, almonds and grapes as well as numerous forest, ornamental, and uncultivated plants. The Mediterranean basin is the top supplier of olive oil with 93% of the world production and is consequently highly concerned about the recent invasion of Xf in Europe. Recently, bioeconomic models estimated putative losses induced by the spread of Xf across the European olive-producing area ranging from 1.9 to 5.2 billion euros over 50 years; however, such models did not take into account the insect vectors, which constitute a key driver of Xf spread. In the present study, we used bioclimatic species distribution models to predict the current and future climate suitability of the Mediterranean area for the main efficient or putative transmitters of Xf to olive (i.e. Philaenus spumarius, Neophilaenus campestris and Aphrophora alni). An important part of the total extent of the Mediterranean olive-producing area, mainly situated in southern Spain, Turkey and Greece, is predicted as currently poorly suitable for these vector species. Moreover, models forecast that nearly the totality of the Mediterranean olive-producing regions will likely become climatically little suitable for these vectors by 2050 due to climate change. In Europe, Xf outbreaks have occurred so far only in localities predicted as climatically suitable for these main vector species (e.g. the Apulia region of Italy) while the areas predicted as poorly suitable are still apparently Xf-free, which suggests that climate tolerances of vectors might play a main role in shaping Xf outbreaks patterns. This pattern highlights the crucial necessity of accounting for vectors when assessing risk of Xf outbreaks, and when considering vector-borne diseases in general. The risk maps presented here will have important practical application for the optimization of current and future strategies to control Xf in the Mediterranean region.


Previously, we demonstrated that spontaneous TNF-α production by macrophages in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) synovial tissue is largely driven by contact-dependent activation with T cells in that tissue. Whereas abundant IL-10 is present in these RA synovial cultures, it does not adequately control the production of TNF-α. In this study, we have compared the mechanisms involved in IL-10–mediated TNF-α regulation in LPS-stimulated macrophages with macrophages stimulated with activated T cells. We confirm that in LPS-stimulated macrophages the 3′ enhancer region of tnf is essential for tnf transcription, and its regulation by IL-10 is dominated by a STAT3-dependent pathway. However, in contrast, we have found that tnf transcription in macrophages stimulated by activated T cells or by RA synovial T cells does not require the 3′ enhancer region of tnf, and that its regulation by IL-10 is subsequently altered and clearly is not mediated by a dominant STAT3 pathway. These observations have very important implications for our understanding as to how IL-10 regulates TNF-α production at sites of chronic inflammation, such as the synovial tissue of patients with RA. Furthermore, these distinct IL-10 mechanisms will have bearing upon the identification of potential therapeutic targets in RA synovial macrophages where the activation stimulus is clearly not LPS.


In this paper, sliding mode controlled Buck-Boost DC/DC converter powered by Photovoltaic (PV) module for battery charge system is given. The general design of the system is simulated using the Matlab/Simulink software and performed experimentally using Digital Signal Processing (DSP) and necessary circuits. The sliding mode control is realized based on the inductance current and the output voltage of the converter as variables. The performance analysis has been analyzed in detail for different operating conditions of the converter system. The converter has been simulated using different parameters used for controllers and the PV module. The effects of different parameters have been observed with comparison the obtained results. The experimental results are seen similar with simulation results as expected.


A great challenge for the agricultural sector is to produce more food from less water, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions which suffer from water scarcity. Utilization of magnetic water technology is considered as a promising technique to improve water use efficiency and crop productivity. Two field trials using wheat (Var. sakha-93), faba bean (var., nubaria-1 ), chick-pea (var. giza-3) , lentil (var. Giza-9), canola (var. sero-6) and flax (var. sakha-1) were conducted at Research and Production Station, National Research Centre, Alemam Malek village, Al Nubaria district, Al Behaira Governorate, Egypt in 2009/10 and 2010/11 winter seasons to study and evaluate the effects of magnetizing irrigation water on growth, yield and yield components of mentioned winter crops. The results showed significant positive effect of magnetic treatment on all studied parameters. The percent of increase in economic yield (ton ha -1 ) in response to magnetized water application reached to 13.71% at wheat, 8.25% at faba bean, 21.8% at chick pea, 29.53% at lentil, 36.02% at canola, 22.37% at flax and 19.05% at sugar beet crop as compared with normal water application. Similar trend was obtained for water use efficiency was. It appears that utilization of magnetized water can led to improve yield and water productivity of tested crops under newly reclaimed sand soil. So, using magnetic water treatment could be a promising technique for agricultural improvements but we need extensive research in this field.


Bowen's disease (BD) is a non-melanoma skin cancer with several histological subtypes. Herein we describe a case of a 35-year-old woman with a 4-cm diameter crusted plaque on the parietal scalp region. She had the lesion for 2 years. It had previously been histologically diagnosed as pemphigus vulgaris and only treated with a topical cream. The lesion progressively became thicker and larger. A new biopsy showed atypical cell proliferation through the whole thickness of the epidermis and follicular epithelium, with dermal microinvasion along with acantholysis and clear cell formation. The patient underwent total lesion excision (1 cm margin) with the diagnosis of both acantholytic and pagetoid subtypes of BD and dermal microinvasion. We describe a rare case of a young female patient with both subtypes of BD present in one lesion on an area not exposed to the sunlight. The lesion was initially misdiagnosed as pemphigus vulgaris.


Zinc chloride is an important pharmaceutical/nutraceutical mineral for the prevention and treatment of several diseases. The objective of the current study was to investigate the impact of The Trivedi Effect®-Energy of Consciousness Healing Treatment (Biofield Energy Treatment) on physical, structural, thermal, and behavioral properties of zinc chloride using PXRD, PSD, FT-IR, UV-vis, and DSC analysis. Zinc chloride was divided into two parts – one part was control, while another part was treated with The Trivedi Effect® remotely by seven renowned Biofield Energy Healers and defined as The Trivedi Effect® treated sample. A significant alteration of the crystallite size and relative intensities of the PXRD peaks were observed in The Trivedi Effect® treated sample with respect to the control sample. A sharp peak at 2θ equal to 51.45°, which was observed in the control sample was disappeared in the treated sample. The average crystallite size of the treated sample was decreased by 2.13% compared with the control sample. The size of the particles at d10, d50, and d90 was decreased by 3.36%, 7.97%, and 11.51%, respectively in the treated sample compared with the control sample. The surface area of the treated sample was significantly increased by 5.69% compared with the control sample. The FT-IR spectroscopic analysis revealed that Zn-Cl stretching in the control was 646 cm-1, whereas it was significantly shifted downward to 505 cm-1 in the treated sample. The UV-vis analysis exhibited that wavelength of the maximum absorbance (λmax) of both the control and treated samples was at 196.4 nm. The DSC analysis exhibited that the melting and decomposition temperature were increased by 0.93% and 0.56%, respectively in the treated zinc chloride compared to the control sample. The enthalpy of fusion of the treated sample (338.27 J/g) was increased significantly by 33.84% compared with the control sample (252.75 J/g). The enthalpy of decomposition of the treated sample was increased by 3.78% compared with the control sample. The current study anticipated that The Trivedi Effect®-Energy of Consciousness Healing Treatment might lead to produce a new polymorphic form of zinc chloride, which would be more soluble, bioavailable, and thermally stable compared with the untreated compound. The treated sample could be more stable during manufacturing, delivery or storage conditions than the untreated sample. Hence, the treated zinc chloride would be very useful to design better nutraceutical/pharmaceutical formulations that might offer better therapeutic response against inflammatory diseases, immunological disorders, aging, stress, cancer, etc.


The influence of air contamination on the VUV scintillation yield in gaseous argon at atmospheric pressure is investigated. We determine with a radioactive α-source the photon yield for various partial air pressures and different reflectors and wavelength shifters. We find that the time constant of the slow scintillation component depends on gas purity and is a good indicator for the total VUV light yield, while the fast component is not affected. This dependence is attributed to impurities destroying the long-lived triplet argon excimer state. The population ratio between the slow and the fast decaying excimer states is determined for α-particles to be 5.5 ± 0.6 in argon gas at 1100 mbar and room temperature. The measured decay time constant of the slow component is 3.140 ± 0.067 μs at a partial air pressure of 2 × 10−6 mbar.


The demand for animal products has increased in the last decades, especially for poultry and pork. Pork production has increased drastically globally, and also in Uganda. Thirty-one percent of Uganda´s population lives in poverty. Pig production is believed to play a crucial role in poverty alleviation, because of the ability to convert low quality feed into high quality protein together with high reproductive potential.

African swine fever (ASF) is a lethal disease of domestic pigs often characterized by haemorrhagic fever and with mortality rates up to 100%. The disease is endemic in most sub-Saharan countries and since 2007 in the Russian Federation and Caucasus area. ASF is associated with severe sanitary and socio-economic consequences, in countries where it is endemic as well as in areas where it has recently been introduced. The epidemiology, involving a domestic and a sylvatic cycle, is complex. This, together with the absence of vaccine and the marked virus resistance in contaminated animal products, make ASF one of the most feared and therefore important diseases in swine. ASF poses a serious constraint on pig production in Africa, where control is made difficult by several factors, including lack of basic biosecurity measures, traditional free-ranging husbandry system and movements of pigs.

The aim of this study was to collect information from the past year´s outbreaks of ASF in Gulu district to better understand the spatial and temporal dynamics of the disease and to clarify modes of transmission.
Sixteen villages with history of confirmed outbreaks of ASF were visited and 135 interviews were performed. The average mortality during these outbreaks was estimated at 84.5%. Thirteen blood samples were collected from clinically affected pigs. Out of these, five were PCR-positive. Out of the six blood samples from pigs that survived outbreaks, three were ELISA-positive.

The main transmission routes were trade of live pigs and pig products, especially at onset of an outbreak (introduction into a village). When the virus had been introduced into a village, it was probably spread through swill/waste and direct contact between domestic pigs, both of which are facilitated through the traditional free range pig husbandry system and lack of biosecurity. The involvement of wild reservoirs and subclinical carriers was not investigated but is assumed to be less important.


Cite this article: Nigam V, Vanisha N. Evaluation of Antioxidant Profile of Wild and Cultivated Varieties of Aegle marmelos (L) Correa Leaves Used as Anti-Diabetic Agent. Free Radicals and Antioxidants. 2018;8(1):62-9. ABSTRACT Background: Aegle marmelos (L.) Correa (AM) leaf has been used as a remedy for lowering blood sugar level in traditional system of medicine in India due to the presence of various constituents such as flavonoids, tannins and alkaloids like Aegelin, Marmelosin and Luvangetin. Aim: The objective of the present study was to evaluate the total antioxidant activity of the wild variety of AM leaves from forest of Gir Somnath, Gujarat, India and cultivated variety from Central Horticultural Experiment Station, Vejalpur, Panchmahals, Gujarat to assess the role of this plant in ethanomedicine in India. Methods: The methanolic extracts of the leaves were screened for total antioxidant capacity through Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Potential (FRAP) and 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging assay; Total Phenol content (TPC) through spectrophotometric technique based on Folin Ciocalteau assay and for qualitative estimation of phenols, High performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) was used. Results: TPC of wild and cultivated variety was 7.6% and 6.5% respectively. FRAP values and IC50 value (DPPH) for wild and cultivated variety were found to be 14.65 μmol/l and 11.80μmol/l; 437 μg/ml and 620μg/ml respectively. Wild variety was found to be superior to the cultivated one. Conclusion: This study proved that the leaves of AM leaves have high antioxidant component. AM could be used as a potential preventive intervention for free radical mediated diseases such as diabetes and as neutraceutical in medicinal formulation. Further intervention trials are needed to prove the therapeutic potential of these leaves.


"Analogical Thinking "argues that sometime around the turn of the twentieth century, a new mode of comprehension arose, supplementing received Enlightenment ideas concerning the nature of understanding and explanation. Focusing on the innovations of structural linguistics and its poststructural legacy, the individualism of Enlightenment knowledge and the collaborations of post-Enlightenment information, and practices of reading and interpretation across the arts and sciences, "Analogical Thinking" examines the ways in which analogical presentations of similarities respond to the experiences of twentieth-century culture.The book traces this mode of thinking in linguistics, collaborative intellectual work in the arts and sciences, and interpretations of literary and sacred texts, concluding with a reading of the concept of Enlightenment in a comparison of Descartes and Foucault. The book examines the poststructuralism of Derrida; the collaborations of information theory and modern science as opposed to the individualism of Adam Smith and others, and analogical interpretations of Yeats, Dinesen, the Bible, Dreiser, and Mailer. Its overall aim is to present an interdisciplinary examination of a particular kind of understanding that responds to the experiences of our time.Ronald Schleifer is Professor of English, University of Oklahoma. His books include "Rhetoric and Death: The Language of Modernism and Postmodern Discourse Theory, Criticism and Culture;" and "Culture and Cognition: The Boundaries of Literary and Scientific Inquiry."


The purpose of this article is to investigate the involvement of Information and Learning Services staff in the delivery of the Research Training Programme at the University of Worcester, UK with a focus on researcher receptivity. I believe that by constantly reflecting on the development of that part of the programme delivered by ILS and by examining feedback from the sessions, it is possible to improve and increase the level of researcher receptivity. It is hoped that such examination and reflection will be of value and relevance to the IL community since by reflecting on success and failure in a local context and by mapping this reflection to existing research enables librarians to improve the support provided to researchers within their institutions. This article outlines the support given to research students at the University of Worcester in the past, examines the changes leading to present programme delivery and reflects on considerations for future support. The article is underpinned by reference to current research undertaken in international (albeit Western-centric) contexts. I note that the rationale behind changes is embedded in current adult learning and teaching theory. In an increasingly competitive research environment where funding is dependent on a statistically monitored research output, the aim of such support is to integrate any IL contribution into the wider research training programme. Thus resource discovery becomes part of the reflexive research cycle. Implicit in this investigative reflection is the desire of the IL community to constantly strive towards the positive reception of IL into research support programmes which are perceived by researchers as highly valuable to the process and progress of their work.


38 Published By: Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering & Sciences Publication Pvt. Ltd. Abstract-Leadership is believed to be important to project success despite a limited number of studies on the topic. Servant leadership, for example, has never been studied in the context of the project environment or project success. Servant leadership does, however, include a number of skills that have been found to be important to the management of projects such as: Listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people and community building. For that reason, the research herein will contribute new knowledge to the study of leadership in project management. The study investigated the relationship between servant leadership and project outcomes. The project management profession is undergoing tremendous growth worldwide as officials of corporations, governments, academia and other organizations recognize the value of common approaches and educated employees for the execution of projects (Ives, 2005). Ives (2005) acknowledged that implementation of strategic change has been a business problem for decades and still is a problem. The discipline of project management is a key strategy to manage change in organizations (Kloppenborg & Opfer, 2002). Project management techniques may be a partial solution to the problem of implementing of strategic change. Construction projects globally have often failed to achieve expected results. In Kenya, for instance we have been experiencing cost and time overruns on projects which are further compounded with quality issues. This even when professors are involved in projects execution (Muchungu, 2012). Even when teams are disassembled and reassembled with a different team leader and or project manager results have varied. Since the latter years of the 1980s, the links between the implementation of change and project management has been strengthened (Ives, 2005). Organizational systems are open, complex, and political, creating a greater level of uncertainty and contributing to an unstable and changing project environment (Ives, 2005; Thomas & Bendoly, 2009). The high level of uncertainty and change challenges traditional systematic approaches to project management. The emphasis of the traditional approach was more on project processes, tools and techniques and less on the leadership of projects. This study determines to what extent servant leadership can contribute to project success. The outcome of this study indicates that servantleadership is present in a majority of successful projects. The results from this study could benefit project management practitioners by providing specific constructs that can be applied towards improving the current approaches to project management leadership. The study will add to the body of knowledge on leadership in project management.


Description Facilities for constructing variance dispersion graphs, fraction-of-design-space plots and similar graphics for exploring the properties of experimental designs. The design region is explored via random sampling, which allows for more flexibility than traditional variance dispersion graphs. A formula interface is leveraged to provide access to complex model formulae. Graphics can be constructed simultaneously for multiple experimental designs and/or multiple model formulae. Instead of using pointwise optimization to find the minimum and maximum scaled prediction variance curves, which can be inaccurate and time consuming, this package uses quantile regression as an alternative.


The institutional roles of libraries evolved from that of local resource repositories to global gateways for access by the new millennium. Twenty-first century library users demand access to electronic materials. Library school students and employers articulate expectations for entry-level cataloger positions that include understandings and familiarities with a theoretical basis for cataloging e-resources. Therefore, entry-level catalog librarian position announcements provide insight into requirements regarding graduate education, expertise, and preferred preparations for these positions. This empirical research study explores 266 entry-level cataloger position announcements published during a five-year period in order to determine the importance of cataloging e-resources as articulated by employers. A rigorous content analysis methodology enabled the researcher to identify employers' expectations and requirements among public, special, and academic libraries. Recommendations include the expansion of cataloging courses, addition of metadata schema to LIS course offerings, and the need for increased numbers of faculty teaching in these areas. Introduction Much of the future relevance for libraries will be derived from the services they provide, especially those functions of identifying, organizing, and providing access to information resources with no distinction made regarding ownership or delivery method.1 During the closing decades of the last century, the institutional roles of libraries evolved from that of local resource repositories to global gateways for access.2 In her discussion of the continual change and updating of electronic resources (e-resources) and their impact on libraries, Younger states that "there is no escaping the fact that technology has moved us into a transition from a print-based world to an era in which scholarly discourse will be conducted largely within a globally networked electronic environment."3 Consequently, library users challenge librarians to provide immediate access from anywhere.4 To meet these challenges, Atkinson encouraged librarians to study the changing needs of the academic community and to design services that will meet those needs more effectively than services offered by other agencies inside or outside of academe.5 The symbiotic relationships among reference, acquisitions, and cataloging functions establish a foundation and foster an inevitable fusion of these operations. Librarians have had to rethink assumptions about which materials to hold locally, new resource sharing relationships, consortial partnerships and document delivery packages from commercial sources.6 Twenty-first century library users demand access to electronic materials. They use computers to search and receive information, create documents, and communicate with others. Libraries are increasingly spending collection development funds for current online access in lieu of purchasing print materials.7 In addition, librarians handle manifestations in an increasing array of physical formats, depend on adynamic diversity among technologies to access materials, and face the implications of providing information support in an environment in which physical remoteness becomes the rule rather than the exception.8 Expanding access beyond the resources in local and regional collections to libraries worldwide have presented significant and unique issues to librarians. E-resources have already overtaken print resources in their importance to research library collections. Scholars want broad access to digitally reformatted materials and use and prefer information that can be accessed from desktops, especially finding aids, catalogs, abstract and indexing services, and online journals. Gray literature is available with a few keystrokes.9 Librarians have to determine how best to provide access, incorporating e-resources (particularly e-journals) into traditional collection development policies and determining how electronic materials should be indexed and cataloged. …


. This paper is about the relationship between culture and human-computer interaction. Cultures are live, open and in continuous change. Computer and information technology, as external factors for non-Western-industrialized societies, may trigger transformations, that sometimes, could be considered as negative or unwanted. For example, the usage of Western word-processors modified the Japanese writing sys-tem when Japanese people faced a number of unfamiliar concepts introduced in those computer tools [8]. At the same time, minority societies around the world are in danger of extinction. The Nasa people, our target population, struggle to revitalize their mother tongue and cultural traditions. This text presents an experience about developing or adapting computer tools to help the revitalization efforts. The use of the computer could lead to positive effects, or at least, to effects aligned with the policies of the society.