Interactions amongst invertebrates, epiphytes, and seagrasses were studied in intertidal meadows near Townsville, Australia. Data were collected to test the assumptions of the prevailing model of seagrass-epiphyte-grazer interactions. That model assumes that epiphytes have the potential to limit seagrass standing crop, but that invertebrate grazers limit epiphytes, and therefore indirectly benefit the seagrass. Furthermore, it is generally assumed that the community of epifaunal invertebrates is largely composed of epiphyte grazers, especially small gastropods and peracardian crustaceans, and that direct consumption of the seagrass is of minor importance.

One intertidal plot, 100 m2 was established in each of three meadows; Shelly Beach, Cockle Bay and Picnic Bay. Samples of seagrass, invertebrates and epiphytic materials were taken at one to two month intervals over two years. Leaf samples were taken to estimate epifaunal invertebrate densities and epiphytic loads from the same leaves. The percent coverage of the leaves by epiphytic material was estimated, and the material was scraped from the leaves to estimate its ash-free dry weight (AFDW). The seagrass leaf area index (LAI), below ground dry weight (BGDW), and shoot or leaf density in each plot were estimated from core samples.

In June 2002, a sudden migration of the sea hare Bursatella leachii into the plot established at Shelly Beach was associated with a rapid reduction in epiphytic loads on Halophila ovalis, but not Halodule uninervis. Unexpectedly, the LAI of H. ovalis declined by two-thirds, while that of H. uninervis remained unchanged. It was hypothesised that the reduction in H. ovalis LAI was due to the sudden exposure of the leaves to high levels of irradiance, resulting in photodamage and photoinhibition. To test that hypothesis, a shading experiment was performed. Plots, 0.5 m2, were shaded with 70% shade cloth over 29 days, to adapt the seagrass to low light conditions, and were then exposed to ambient light. Chlorophyll concentrations increased significantly under shade, then fell to control levels in 4-10 days of exposure in both H. ovalis and H. uninervis. However, the former species did not show any significant increase in chlorophyll per area of substrate under shading, but appeared to trade-off increased chlorophyll production with a decrease in LAI and leaf density. There were no significant differences directly related to the treatments other than the changes in chlorophyll concentrations and an increase in leaf length due to shading of H. uninervis.

During two years of sampling, occasions of high epiphytic loads, AFDW >2.0 mg/cm2, on Halodule uninervis were followed by declines in shoot densities, BGDW, and LAI in the plots at Shelly Beach and Cockle Bay. However, within plots there were positive correlations between epiphytic cover and LAI. Those relationships suggested that H. uninervis benefited from epiphytic cover, up to a threshold, possibly because of protective effects against high irradiance. There may also have been reciprocal effects, such that increases in the seagrass canopy promoted development of epiphytic cover, which may have acted as a density-dependent limiter of H. uninervis production.

The litiopid gastropod Alaba virgata was the commonest epifaunal epiphyte-grazer, especially at Shelly Beach. Its densities were negatively correlated with epiphytic cover. The positive relationship between epiphytic cover and H. uninervis LAI suggested that A. virgata was likely to have an indirect negative impact on the seagrass, contrary to the prevailing model of seagrass-epiphyte-grazer interactions. Likewise, the commonest amphipod, Ericthonius, had densities that were negatively correlated with epiphytic cover at Cockle Bay and Picnic Bay, but appeared most likely to have a negative impact on the seagrass.

The epifaunal communities were numerically dominated by suspension feeders; including the amphipods Ericthonius and Podocerus; the bivalve Electroma, and Anemones. Total epifaunal abundance was negatively correlated with seagrass LAI in each plot. Those relationships likely reflected a negative impact of the seagrass canopy on water flow, and thus food resources for suspension feeders. Therefore, epifaunal abundance and epiphytic cover had inverse relationships to seagrass LAI. A path analysis showed that a bottom-up model with separate effects from seagrass LAI to total epifaunal abundance and to epiphytic cover fit the data well. That analysis used data from all plots in a multigroup design, and suggested that the same processes were occurring in each of the plots despite other major differences among them.

There was conspicuous evidence of damage by invertebrate herbivores to the leaves of Halophila ovalis. The areas damaged were measured using image analysis techniques on leaf samples. Those animals found to be consuming seagrass included; a nerite gastropod, Smaragdia souverbiana; an undescribed species of sacoglossa; an amphithoid amphipod, Cymadusa sp.; and the sphaeromatid isopods Cymodoce spp. H. ovalis declined at Shelly Beach during the course of the study, and Halodule uninervis became more abundant, in a pattern suggesting successional change. However, changes in H. ovalis LAI and BGDW were correlated with measures of damage that were most likely caused by crustacean feeding.

The prevailing model of seagrass-epiphyte-grazer interactions does not provide a suitable description of those interactions in the intertidal meadows studied near Townsville. There was little evidence that epiphyte grazers would benefit the seagrass by removing epiphytic cover. On the contrary, there was evidence of negative impacts by exposing the leaves to high levels of irradiance, which are commonly experienced in tropical intertidal habitats. Suspension feeders, not epiphyte grazers, dominated the epifaunal community, which therefore had a very different relationship to the seagrass and its epiphytic cover from that anticipated in the current literature. Also unanticipated, consumption of seagrass appeared to play an important role in successional development. From this study, new models are proposed that will hopefully provide a better understanding from which to test and analyse interactions amongst invertebrates, epiphytes and seagrasses in tropical intertidal meadows.


Gameplay has recently unfolded as playfulness in various cultural forms using mobile technologies. The rapid affordability paired with the latest technology improvements enabled the diffusion of mobile devices among tourists, who are among the most avid users of mobile technologies. The advent of mobile devices has initiated a significant change in the way we perceive and connect with our environment and paved the way for location-based, mobile augmented reality (AR) games that provide new forms of experiences for travel and tourism. With the recent developments like Pokemon Go and a prediction of 420 million downloads per year by 2019, the mobile game market is one of the fastest growing fields in the sector. Location-based AR games for mobile devices make use of players" physical location via the GPS sensor, accelerometer and compass to project virtual 2D and 3D objects with the build-in camera in real time onto the mobile game user interface (GUI) in order to facilitate gameplay activities. Players interact with the virtual and physical game world and overcome artificial challenges while moving around in the real environment. Where current mobile games withdraw players from reality, location-based AR games aim to engage players with the physical world by combining virtual and physical game mechanics in an enhanced way that increases the level of interactive educative and entertaining engagement. Despite some recent research on location-based AR games, game designers do not know much about how to address tourism requirements and the development of mediated playful experiences for urban tourism environments. This study explores the use of location-based AR games to create engaging and meaningful experiences with the tourism urban environment by combining interdisciplinary research of social sciences, (mobile) game design and mobile game user research (mGUR) to contribute to experience design in the context of travel and tourism. Objectives of the study are to identify the influence of key game elements and contextual gameplay parameters on the individual game experience (GX). To achieve the aim, the study has taken a pragmatic interpretivist approach to understand the player"s individual GX in an evolving gameplay process in order to inform location-based game design. The project explores the interaction between the player, the game and the tourism context, which is assessed by a sequential triangulation of qualitative mixed methods. Two games were identified to be relevant for the tourism application that fulfilled the attributes of a location-based AR game. The first game is a role-playing adventure game, set in the time and place of the Cold War, called Berlin Wall 1989. The second game, Ingress, is a fictive, large area, massively multiplayer role-playing game that uses the real world as the battleground between two game fractions. A conceptual framework has been developed that presents the player engagement process with location-based AR games in urban tourism environments. The findings of the study indicate that gameplay is a moment-by-moment experience that is influenced by multiple aspects. The creation of engaging experiences between players, the game and the tourism context is related to six identified engagement characteristics; emotional engagement, ludic engagement, narrative engagement, spatial engagement, social engagement and mixed reality engagement. The study identified that the main motivations of playing a location-based AR game are the exploration of and learning about the visited destination, curiosity about the new playful activity and socialising with other players. Emotions underlie the creation of engagement stimulated by the alteration of playful interactions. The findings revealed that storytelling and simple game mechanics such as walking, feedback and goal orientation are essential elements in the creation of engaging experiences. Augmented reality, as a feature to connect the real with the virtual world, needs to create real added value for the gameplay in order to be perceived as engaging for players. The study proposes serious location-based AR games as an alternative form for tourism interpretation and has showed opportunities to enhance the tourist experience through self-directed, physical and mental interaction between players, the environment and the location-based AR game. The findings of the research illustrate the complexity of designing location-based game experiences. The developed conceptual framework can be used to inform future location-based AR game design for travel and tourism.


We present a novel de-homogenization approach for efficient design of high-resolution load-bearing structures. The proposed approach builds upon a streamline-based parametrization of the design domain, using a set of space-filling and evenly-spaced streamlines in the two mutually orthogonal direction fields that are obtained from homogenization-based topology optimization. Streamlines in these fields are converted into a graph, which is then used to construct a quad-dominant mesh whose edges follow the direction fields. In addition, the edge width is adjusted according to the density and anisotropy of the optimized orthotropic cells. In a number of numerical examples, we demonstrate the mechanical performance and regular appearance of the resulting structural designs, and compare them with those from classic and contemporary approaches.


A device based on an adaptation of the Christopherson tube is investigated for the lubrication and other effects of employing a polymer melt as the lubricant during the wire drawing process. The device is heated to convert the polymer feed into a viscous melt and the pressure required is generated by a hydrodynamic action produced by the motion of the wire. On the basis of experimental evidence, it is apparent that deformation commences before the wire reaches the die, in the Christopherson tube itself, with the die effectively acting only as a seal. Under these conditions, the die geometry becomes of. secondary importance and the deformation actually takes place as if an effective die of continuously changing die angle is being used. To take this aspect of the process into account, a mathematically described effective die shape is used in the present analysis. The plastic strain hardening properties and the strain rate sensitivity of the wire material are also incorporated into the analysis. The study utilises an empirical expression relating shear stress and rate of shear together with an experimentally derived pressure coefficient of viscosity, in determining the coat thickness possible on the wire. The theory contains the effect of a limiting value to the shear stress, which exhibits itself as slip in the polymer. An alternative theory is also presented which assumes that shear stress is zero at the polymer/tube interface. This much simplified analysis allows the length of the deformation zone to be determined. An extensive series of experimental studies have shown that the coat thickness reduces both as speed increases and as the wire material strength increases. Predictions of coat thickness from the analysis tend to be lower than those obtained experimentally. At low drawing speeds a coat defect was observed which gave the coated wire a "bamboo" shape. It is probable that this defect is caused by the slip-stick nature of the polymer melt in the Christopherson tube. The assumed die shape and predicted pressure distributions are verified by experiment.


SummaryThe present study reports for the first time on the helminth species occurring in the gastro-intestinal system of fat dormice (Glis glis) in Croatia. Out of 55 dormice, 63.7 % harboured helminths belonging to two species, the nematode Paraheligmonina gracilis (syn. Longistriata elpatievskii) (Heligmonellidae, Trichostrogyloidea) in the prevalence of 52.7 %, and the cestode Hymenolepis sulcata (Hymenolepididae, Cyclophyllidea) in the prevalence of 32.7 %. Concurrent infections of both parasites were found in 12 fat dormice, P. gracilis alone was detected in 17 hosts and H. sulcata alone in 6 samples. No influence of parasitic infestation on animal weight was observed. Glirid helminths do not represent zoonotic pathogens despite the fact that dormice occasionally inhabit cottages and village houses, and are used in human nutrition.


This article examines the thermo-physical behaviour of an inorganic-based intumescent coating, tested with bench-scale cone calorimetry, in order to promote the understanding of its intumescence and to contribute to the optimisation of its thermal insulation performance. In the test, the specimen underwent the following phenomena simultaneously: (1) thermo-kinetic endothermic water vaporisation; (2) formation of micro-scale pores in its internal volume; (3) expansion of its volume; (4) variations in thermal boundaries. These simultaneous phenomena cause several changes in internal–external conditions given to the test sample: (1) loss of mass (water molecules); (2) reduction of effective thermal conductivity owing to its porous structure; (3) increase in length of the conductive heat transfer path across its expanding volume; (4) irradiance intensification and additional heat transfer generation on its moving boundaries, exposed to the heat source and surroundings. This interacting thermo-physical behaviour impedes the heat transfer to the underlying substrate. It is therefore comprehensively explained by finite element analysis, associated with the experimental data obtained from a thermogravimetric analyser, differential scanning calorimetry, electric furnace and cone calorimeter tests. The numerical predictions agreed with the physical measurements with consistent accuracy, in terms of both histories of substrate temperature and coating-thickness expansion. This combined numerical–experimental approach enables clear interpretation on the process of intumescence, the impediment mechanism of heat transfer and the critical factors of the material's behaviour.


Microbial biogeography is the study of the distribution of microbial diversity on large scales of space and time. This science aims at understanding biodiversity regulation and its link with ecosystem biological functioning, goods and services such as maintenance of productivity, of soil and atmospheric quality, and of soil health. Although the initial concept dates from the early 20th century (Beijerinck (1913) De infusies en de ontdekking der backterien, in: Jaarboek van de Knoniklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen, Muller, Amsterdam), only recently have an increasing number of studies have investigated the biogeographical patterns of soil microbial diversity. A such delay is due to the constraints of the microbial models, the need to develop relevant molecular and bioinformatic tools to assess microbial diversity, and the non-availability of an adequate sampling strategy. Consequently, the conclusions from microbial ecology studies have rarely been generally applicable and even the fundamental power-laws differ because the taxa-area relationship and the influence of global and distal parameters on the spatial distribution of microbial communities have not been examined. In this article we define and discuss the scientific, technical and operational limits and outcomes resulting from soil microbial biogeography together with the technical and logistical feasibility. The main results are that microbial communities are not stochastically distributed on a wide scale and that biogeographical patterns are more influenced by local parameters such as soil type and land use than by distal ones, e.g. climate and geomorphology, contrary to plants and animals. We then present the European soil biological survey network, focusing on the French national initiative and the "ECOMIC-RMQS" project. The objective of the ECOMIC-RMQS project is to characterise the density and diversity of bacterial communities in all soils in the RMQS library in order to assess, for the first time, not only microbial biogeography across the whole of France but also the impact of land use on soil biodiversity (Réseau de Mesures de la Qualité des Sols = French Soil Quality Monitoring Network, 2200 soils covering all the French territory with a systematic grid of sampling). The scientific, technical and logistical outputs are examined with a view to the future prospects needed to develop this scientific domain and its applications in sustainable land use.


Pyrolysis is an attractive alternative for the conversion of solid fuels to valuable chemicals and bio-fuels. In order to obtain more H2 and syngas from pyrolysis of coal and biomass, microwave has been adopted to enhance the co-pyrolysis of coal and biomass, which has been investigated systematically in this study.

Firstly, conventional pyrolysis of coal and biomass was carried out using a vertical tube furnace. Characterizations of pyrolytic gas, liquid and solid products were conducted to study the different properties of products from the pyrolysis of coal and biomass. More gas products were produced at higher temperatures and biomass samples produced more H2 and syngas than coals. Bio-oils produced from conventional pyrolysis of biomass samples have relatively simpler compositions compared with those produced from conventional pyrolysis of coals. Char samples produced from conventional pyrolysis of coal and biomass samples show different morphologies due to the different nature of original coal and biomass.

Secondly, microwave-induced pyrolysis of coal and biomass was carried out and compared with the results of conventional pyrolysis. Microwave-induced pyrolysis was found to produce pyrolytic gas products with higher contents of H2 and syngas than conventional pyrolysis. The bio-oils produced from microwave-induced pyrolysis were not as complicated as those from conventional pyrolysis. The reason for this is believed to be that both microwave irradiation and the longer residence time favour more complete decomposition of large hydrocarbon molecules in coal and biomass, which subsequently results in less complicated composition compared with bio-oil produced via conventional pyrolysis. Char samples from microwave-induced pyrolysis undergo more complete pyrolysis than char samples from conventional pyrolysis, and results in less volatiles remaining. Because of the thermal annealing process by microwave at the later stage of pyrolysis, char samples produced by microwave-induced pyrolysis have higher peak temperatures and burnout temperatures than those produced by conventional pyrolysis. In char samples prepared via microwave-induced pyrolysis of coal and biomass, special structures are found, such as nano-scale fibers in char samples from gumwood and pine, spheres in char samples from coals as well as coal and biomass blends. Based on the analysis of energy balance, it is evident that microwave-induced pyrolysis is a cost-effective and energy saving method for solid fuel conversion.


A system can be defined as complex if it is not equal to the sum of its parts. Even without defining the meaning of the concept "sum", it is generally understood that most natural or man-made systems are complex. But complex is not the same as complicated. The latter can be defined and quantified, but complexity needs first a concrete qualitative characterization. There exist various approaches but the minimal ones are not widely applicable. Since complexity, whatever its definition is employed, is nearly always associated with uncertainty and probabilistic quantities, it is natural to consider quantities inherently related to information.


Subjective measures of company performance are widely used in research and typically are interpreted as equivalent to objective measures. Yet, the assumption of equivalence is open to challenge. We compared the use of both types of measure in 3 separate samples. Findings were consistent in showing that: (a) subjective and objective measures of company performance were positively associated (convergent validity); (b) those relationships were stronger than those between measures of differing aspects of performance using the same method (discriminant validity); and (c) the relationships of subjective and objective company performance measures with a range of independent variables were equivalent (construct validity).


Background Fetoscopic laser coagulation (FLC) has been shown to improve survival and reduce neurological morbidity in twin to twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS). Varying techniques for ablation exist with "Solomonisation" being a selective laser coagulation of placental vessels (SLCPV) with the addition of a subsequent surface coagulation of the placenta between the ablated vessels. The hypothesis is that the Solomon technique reduces the recurrence of TTTS (TOPS) and twin anaemia-polycythaemia sequence (TAPS), both highly morbid complications. Methods Protocol according to PICOS criteria. Electronic searches of MEDLINE, Embase, Cinahl, Cochrane and grey literature. Inclusion criteria were a pregnancy undergoing FLC for TTTS, intervention sequential laser compared to Solomon technique. Primary outcomes were perinatal survival, incidence of recurrent TTTS and/or TAPS. Secondary outcomes included maternal and neonatal morbidity outcomes. Included studies could be randomised controlled trials (RCT) or observational. Quality assessment was performed using the appropriate assessment criteria (CASP, STROBE). Results are reported as odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals. Results There were 3 studies, one RCT and two observational, including 523 monochroionic twin pregnancies. Meta-analysis could not be performed for perinatal survival due to different outcome measures being used thus data from each of the studies will be presented. For recurrence of TTTS with Solomon technique there was a significant reduction, OR 0.30 (95% CI 0.11–0.81) p = 0.02. For TAPS there was also a significant reduction, OR 0.22 (95% CI 0.09–0.53) p = 0.001. Conclusion The Solomon technique significantly reduces the complications of FLC of TOPS and TAPS.


Vitamin D is present in natural foods such as milk, fish, fish-liver oils, egg yolks and dairy products. Human body, in addition, produces vitamin D in response to the exposure to sunlight. Vitamin D deficiency, however, is common in children and adults. Rickets appears if an individual suffers from vitamin D deficiency. The inadequacy of vitamin D, further, retards physical growth with a risk in fracture of hip bone as individual's age advances. Clinicians, therefore, consider vitamin D deficiency as serious health-problem and estimate its plasma concentration to determine the status as under-deficiency or over-nutrition. The estimation is crucial as deficiency of vitamin D is worldwide, being prevalent in stages ranging from degree of newborn to infancy, childhood and adult. However, the status of vitamin D was unknown among people in eastern Nepal. We, therefore, determined circulating levels of vitamin D in local population. The vitamin D insufficiency was prevalent in approximately 57 % people. By contrast, the inadequacy prevailed in 41 % individuals who were 41-60 years-old and women in same age-group had predominated the case. The state of vitamin D insufficiency was, therefore, a serious health-problem in locality.


This roundtable discussion draws together researchers with an interest of overcoming purely juridical treatment of piracy in their work. Christopher Kelty and Gabriella Coleman consider the aspects of cyberculture, which conflictually engage with intellectual property rights, through various communities of technology practice, including hackers. Patricia Aufderheide and Peter Jaszi's work on fair use addresses the growing opportunities for creators in the United States to utilize the tradition in their creative fields. Jonas Andersson Schwarz and Patrick Burkart, co-editors of this special issue, have researched user motivations and political activism around copyright and software patent reforms, partially explaining the emergence of dozens of European Pirate Parties, beginning with the Swedish Pirates in 2006.


The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) protein LMP1 is considered to be a functional homologue of the CD40 receptor. However, in contrast to the latter, LMP1 is a constitutively active signaling molecule. To compare B cell-specific LMP1 and CD40 signaling in an unambiguous manner, we generated transgenic mice conditionally expressing a CD40/LMP1 fusion protein, which retained the LMP1 cytoplasmic tail but has lost the constitutive activity of LMP1 and needs to be activated by the CD40 ligand. We show that LMP1 signaling can completely substitute CD40 signaling in B cells, leading to normal B-cell development, activation, and immune responses including class-switch recombination, germinal center formation, and somatic hypermutation. In addition, the LMP1-signaling domain has a unique property in that it can induce class-switch recombination to IgG1 independent of cytokines. Thus, our data indicate that LMP1 has evolved to imitate T-helper cell function allowing activation, proliferation, and differentiation of EBV-infected B cells independent of T cells.


Agrobacterium-like colonies were recovered onto Roy-Sasser's medium from a young tumor (4 cm in diameter) on the stem of weeping fig (Ficus benjamina L.), 10 cm from the crown. The galled plant was collected in 1999 from a garden center in Valencia, Spain. After colony purification and tomato and weeping fig plant inoculations, one nonpathogenic and five Agrobacterium isolates that were tumorigenic in both plant species were characterized. On the basis of biovar classification tests, the nonpathogenic isolate was identified as belonging to biovar 1 of Agrobacterium (now called A. tumefaciens), whereas the tumorigenic isolates could not be assigned to any of the known Agrobacterium biovars. The isolates were positive for oxidase, growth in 2% NaCl, production of alkali from l-tartaric acid, and production of acid from mannitol-CaCO3 and negative for 3-ketolactose production, growth and pigmentation in ferric ammonium citrate, growth at 35°C, citrate utilization, acid production from sucrose and melezitose, and alkali production from malonic acid. Nopaline was the unique opine found in galls induced in weeping fig plants inoculated with the pathogenic isolates. Moreover, all isolates utilize the opine nopaline, but not octopine, manopine, agropine, chrysopine, cucumopine, or mikimopine. They were susceptible to agrocin 84 produced by strain K84. Heat-treated bacterial suspensions of these isolates yielded the expected amplification product using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with the FGPtmr530/FGPtmr701' primers pair from the tmr gene (3). Aerial gall disease was first reported on F. benjamina in Florida (1), and the isolated agrobacteria belongs to a new species named A. larrymoorei (2). Later, tumorigenic agrobacteria from weeping fig galls were isolated in Italy and the Netherlands (4). Our data suggest that the tumorigenic strains isolated in Spain differ greatly from those first described in the United States (1) on the basis of alkali production from l-tartaric acid, chrysopine detection on tumors, susceptibility to agrocin 84, and tmr amplification, but they might be similar to some of the Italian isolates (4). To our knowledge, this is the first report of isolation of tumorigenic Agrobacterium sp. from F. benjamina L. in Spain. References: (1) H. Bouzar et al. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 61:65, 1995. (2) H. Bouzar and J. B. Jones. Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 51:1023. 2001. (3) X. Nesme et al. Pages 47-50 in: Endocytobiology IV. P. Nardon et al. eds. INRA, France, 1989. (4) A. Zoina et al. Plant Pathol. 50:620, 2001.


A digestibility trial was conducted to examine the effect of feeding rate on dry matter, gross energy, crude protein and phosphorus digestibility in Atlantic salmon
(Salmo salar). Duplicate groups of fish were fed 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1.0, 1.25 and 1.9% BW/day. The faeces were collected by Guelph-type collectors for five successive days. Dry matter, protein and phosphorus digestibilities were all significantly (P<0.05) affected by feeding rate. Dry matter digestibility was significantly lower in fish fed 0.25% BW day in comparison with fish fed 0.5, 0.75 and 1% BW day. Protein digestibility was significantly lower in fish fed 0.25% BW/day in comparison with
1.25% BW day. Phosphorus digestibility was significantly lower in fish fed 0.25%
BW/day in comparison with all other treatments except for 1% BW day. There were no
significant differences for energy digestibility between fish fed with different amount of
feed. The main effect was reduced digestibility at the lowest level of intake with no
obvious relationship between feeding rate and digestibility above this amount. This was
explained by a relatively higher loss of endogenous faecal nitrogen and phosphorus at
sub-maintenance feeding.


Object: To compare the molecular activity of curcumin and resveratrol on selected breast cancer protein receptors and to investigate their combination for synergism against human breast cancer MCF-7 cell line. Method: Curcumin and resveratrol were subjected to insilico docking studies using glide to investigate the drug activity against HER2, human oestrogen receptor, ERBB2, epidermal growth factor tyrosine protein kinase C-SRC, and HSP90 proteins. MTT assay was used to assess cell viability of curcumin and resveratrol individually and in combination at 1:1,1:3 and 3:1 ratio respectively. Results: The insilico study revealed good glide score and glide energy for these drugs against breast cancer protein. Curcumin and resveratrol has more binding affinity for proteins with varying amino acid interaction sites. IC50 for curcumin and resveratrol was observed to be 21.29 and 38.30 μg/ml respectively. IC50 for the combined treatment with curcumin and resveratrol at the ratio of 1:1,1:3 and 3:1 were observed to be 28.06, 15.20 and 8.29 μg/ml respectively. Combined treatment of curcumin and resveratrol at equal ratio exhibited additive effects while at the ratio of 1:3 and 3:1 exhibited a strong synergistic effect on the cytotoxicity of MCF-7 cell line. Conclusion: Insilico docking analysis helped in identifying and organizing the structural similarity/diversity at the molecular level activity of curcumin and resveratrol. In vitro cell line study provides an insight into the potential application of curcumin and resveratrol codelivery for the chemoprevention and treatment of breast cancer. Key words: Combinatorial effect, Curcumin, Resveratrol, Human breast cancer MCF -7 cells, Insilico anticancer screening, Synergism.


Osteoarthritis (OA) refers to a heterogeneous group of distinct diseases which express a
common radiographic and clinical phenotype at diarthrodial joints.It is the leading cause of
pain and disability in the elderly with a prevalence of 75 percent in the population aged 70
years. There is a substantial genetic component in the etiology of osteoarthritis. It is
expected that genetic heterogeneity, the extent of which is unknown yet, contributes to a
spectrum of osteoarthritis related phenotypes. Linkage as well as candidate gene studies are
being performed to identify the genes involved.The overall aim of our research project is
to identify genes that contribute to osteoarthritis. The aim of the present thesis was to
understand the relation between hemochromatosis and osteoarthritis. As a part of this project,
candidate osteoarthritis genes were analysed. These include the gene encoding the alpha
domain of collagen type IX (COL9A1) and the HFE gene involved in hereditary
hemochromatosis, a disorder that coincides with arthropathy. This thesis, therefore, brings
together two related complex diseases, that share related phenotypes and possibly some of the
underlying genetic components.


Concentrated poverty in public schools continues to be a leading determinate of the educational opportunities that minority students receive. Since the effective end of mandatory desegregation, advocates have lacked legal tools to address it. As an alternative, some advocates and scholars have attempted to incorporate the concerns of concentrated poverty and racial segregation into educational litigation under state constitutions, but these efforts have been slow to take hold. Thus, all that has remained for students in poor and minority schools is the hope that school finance litigation could direct sufficient resources to mitigate their plight. This Article offers another solution. Rather than simply importing concepts from federal desegregation into school finance, this Article articulates a unique theory of equal access to middle income peers that is solidly grounded in state constitutional and school finance principles. In particular, it conceptualizes middle income students as one of the education resources that school districts allocate. As such, school finance principles of strategic and equitable distribution of resources apply. This theory is narrower than others and would not directly challenge segregation that exists between districts, but its narrowness is it doctrinal strength. Moreover, an empirical study of district level practices reveals that conventional wisdom may have underestimated the level of inequality that occurs within districts. The racial inequality in access to middle income peers within districts is vast and corresponds with dramatic shifts in achievement gaps, a core indicator of constitutional violations in school finance litigation.


This paper presents the chemical changes in various nutrients in rice plant under sodic soil. The nutrients were applied on soil test recommendation basis. The sodic soil was low in several nutrients like available nitrogen, available phosphorus (P2O5,), sulphur, zinc, manganese, carbon and available potassium (K2O) was medium. pH and EC of soil was 9.0 and 0.29 dSm -1 , respectively. The uptake values of all nutrients were the lowest in control and highest in NPKS+Zn+Mn treatment during both the years. Sequential additions of different nutrients also gave significant increase in uptake. For obtaining the highest yields of dry matter 87.60 and 90.60 Qha 1 were required first and second years. The mean total uptake of N, P, K, S, Zn and Mn was 66.92 Kg, 25.04 Kg, 79.70 Kg, and 16.30 Kg, 232.90 g and 337.70 g ha -1 respectively was taken up by the plant. The uptake value of the above mentioned nutrients were calculated on the basis biological yield and concentration of the nutrients. The sodic soil of experimental field was found deficient in almost all the nutrients tested under missing nutrient technique precisely in a site specific management trial, satisfactory yield could be obtained with the addition of N, P, K, S, Zn and Mn on soil test recommendation basis.


The antimicrobial activity of hot water and ethanolic extracts of six plant extracts, utilized in Pakistan for the cure of liver damage, were studied. The extracts ofAcacia arabica, Nymphaea lotus, Sphareranthus hirtus, Emblica officinalis, Cinchorium intybus and Cardus marianum were tested in vitro against seven bacterial species and two fungal species by well-diffusion method and micro-dilution methods. The patterns of inhibition varied with the plant extracts, the solvent used for extraction and the organisms tested. Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, Pseudomonas aeroginosa were the most inhibited microorganisms. The extract of Sphareranthu hirtus was the most active against multi-drug resistantPseudomonas aeruginosa and enterohemorrhagic E. coli 0157 EHEC. The ethanolic extract of S. hirtus exhibited a higher effect than the hot water extract. These plants extracts were analyzed for elemental composition.

 Key words: Antimicrobial agents, plant extracts, enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli 0157 EHEC, multi-drug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salm


The increased presence of technologies collectively referred to as Web 2.0 mean the entire process of new media production and dissemination has moved away from an
authorcentric approach. Casual web users and browsers are increasingly able to play a more active role in the information creation process. This means that the traditional ways in which information sources may be validated and scored must adapt accordingly.
In this thesis we propose a new way in which to look at a user's contributions to the network in which they are present, using these interactions to provide a measure of
authority and centrality to the user. This measure is then used to attribute an query-independent interest score to each of the contributions the author makes, enabling us
to provide other users with relevant information which has been of greatest interest to a community of like-minded users. This is done through the development of two
algorithms; AuthorRank and MessageRank.
We present two real-world user experiments which focussed around multimedia annotation and browsing systems that we built; these systems were novel in themselves, bringing together video and text browsing, as well as free-text annotation. Using these systems as examples of real-world applications for our approaches, we then look at a
larger-scale experiment based on the author and citation networks of a ten year period of the ACM SIGIR conference on information retrieval between 1997-2007. We use the
citation context of SIGIR publications as a proxy for annotations, constructing large social networks between authors. Against these networks we show the effectiveness of
incorporating user generated content, or annotations, to improve information retrieval.


Estimating personalized effects of treatments is a complex, yet pervasive problem. To tackle it, recent developments in the machine learning (ML) literature on heterogeneous treatment effect estimation gave rise to many sophisticated, but opaque, tools: due to their flexibility, modularity and ability to learn constrained representations, neural networks in particular have become central to this literature. Unfortunately, the assets of such black boxes come at a cost: models typically involve countless nontrivial operations, making it difficult to understand what they have learned. Yet, understanding these models can be crucial -- in a medical context, for example, discovered knowledge on treatment effect heterogeneity could inform treatment prescription in clinical practice. In this work, we therefore use post-hoc feature importance methods to identify features that influence the model's predictions. This allows us to evaluate treatment effect estimators along a new and important dimension that has been overlooked in previous work: We construct a benchmarking environment to empirically investigate the ability of personalized treatment effect models to identify predictive covariates -- covariates that determine differential responses to treatment. Our benchmarking environment then enables us to provide new insight into the strengths and weaknesses of different types of treatment effects models as we modulate different challenges specific to treatment effect estimation -- e.g. the ratio of prognostic to predictive information, the possible nonlinearity of potential outcomes and the presence and type of confounding.


This thesis is concerned with the development of a computer-based, real-time monitoring scheme which is a prerequisite of any form of on-line control. A new concept, in the field of water distribution systems, of water system state estimation is introduced. Its function is to process redundant, noise-corrupted telemeasurements in order to supply a real-time data base with reliable estimates of the current state and structure of the network. The information provided by the estimator can then be used in a number of on-line programs. In view of the strong nonlinearity of the network equations, two methods of state estimation, which have enhanced numerical stability, are examined in this thesis. The first method uses an augmented matrix formulation of a classical least-squares problem, and the second is based on a least absolute value solution of an over determined set of equations. Two water systems, one of which is a realistic 34-node network, are used to evaluate the performance of the proposed methods .The problem of bad data processing and its extension to the validation of network topology and leakage detection is also examined. It is shown that the method based on least absolute values estimation provides a more immediate indication of erroneous measurements. In addition, this method demonstrates the useful feature of eliminating the effects of gross errors on the final state estimate. The important question of water system observability is then studied. Two original combinatorial methods are proposed to check topological observability. The first one is an indirect technique which searches for a maximum measurement-to-branch matching and then attempts to build a spanning tree of the network graph using only the branches with measurement assignment. The second method is a direct search for an observable spanning tree. A number of systems are used to test both techniques, including a 34-node water supply network and an IEEE 118-bus power system. The problem of minimisation of distributed leakages is solved efficiently using a state estimation technique. Comparison of the head profile achieved for the calculated optimal valve controls with the standard operating conditions for a 25-node network indicates a major reduction of the volume of leakages. In the final part of this thesis a software package, which simulates the real-time operation of a water distribution system, is described. The programs are designed in such a way that by replacing simulated measurements with live telemetry data they can be directly used for. water network monitoring and control.


It has generally been accepted that concrete corrosion is caused by bacterial oxidation of hydrogen sulphide in sewage systems. Costs related to sewer replacement and remediation are quite high, but there is limited knowledge and documentation on the relationship between hydrogen sulphide levels and corrosion rates. This is necessary information in order to select the appropriate means of hydrogen sulphide control and to conduct cost-benefit evaluations. This pilot scale study shows that the concrete corrosion rate can be modeled by a Monod type function with K s = 2 ppm H 2 S in gas and a maximum concrete corrosion rate at 25°C of 16 mm/year. Complete hydrogen sulphide control with 0 ppm H 2 S in water and gas is required to prevent concrete corrosion. This can be achieved by controlled treatment with nitrate using the Nutriox® Concept where the nitrate dose is based on flow, temperature, sewer design, and sewage concentration. The local conditions will be important for the cost-benefit evaluations, but in general terms, one can say that the longer the hydraulic retention time is the more cost effective will a controlled treatment with nitrate be for corrosion control.


The Electric Power Transmission Line Security Monitor System Operational Test is a project funded by the Technical Support Working Group (TSWG). TSWG operates under the Combating Terrorism Technical Support Office that functions under the Department of Defense. The Transmission Line Security Monitor System is based on technology developed by Idaho National Laboratory. The technology provides a means for real-time monitoring of physical threats and/or damage to electrical transmission line towers and conductors as well as providing operational parameters to transmission line operators to optimize transmission line operation. The end use is for monitoring long stretches of transmission lines that deliver electrical power from remote generating stations to cities and industry. These transmission lines are generally located in remote transmission line corridors where security infrastructure may not exist. Security and operational sensors in the sensor platform on the conductors take power from the transmission line and relay security and operational information to operations personnel hundreds of miles away without relying on existing infrastructure. Initiated on May 25, 2007, this project resulted in pre-production units tested in realistic operational environments during 2010. A technology licensee, Lindsey Manufacturing of Azusa California, is assisting in design, testing, and ultimately production. The platform was originallymore » designed for a security monitoring mission, but it has been enhanced to include important operational features desired by electrical utilities.« less


This empirical study employs a different methodology to examine the change in wealth associated with mergers and acquisitions (M&As) for US firms. Specifically, we employ the standard CAPM, the Fama-French three-factor model and the Carhart four-factor models within the OLS and GJR-GARCH estimation methods to test the behaviour of the cumulative abnormal returns (CARs). Whilst the standard CAPM captures the variability of stock returns with the overall market, the Fama-French factors capture the risk factors that are important to investors. Additionally, augmenting the Fama-French three-factor model with the Carhart momentum factor to generate the four-factor captures additional pricing elements that may affect stock returns. Traditionally, estimates of abnormal returns (ARs) in M&As situations rely on the standard OLS estimation method. However, the standard OLS will provide inefficient estimates of the ARs if the data contain ARCH and asymmetric effects. To minimise this problem of estimation efficiency we re-estimated the ARs using GJR-GARCH estimation method. We find that there is variation in the results both as regards the choice models and estimation methods. Besides these variations in the estimated models and the choice of estimation methods, we also tested whether the ARs are affected by the degree of liquidity of the stocks and the size of the firm. We document significant positive post-announcement cumulative ARs (CARs) for target firm shareholders under both the OLS and GJR-GARCH methods across all three methodologies. However, post-event CARs for acquiring firm shareholders were insignificant for both sets of estimation methods under the three methodologies. The GJR-GARCH method seems to generate larger CARs than those of the OLS method. Using both market capitalization and trading volume as a measure of liquidity and the size of the firm, we observed strong return continuations in the medium firms relative to small and large firms for target shareholders. We consistently observed market efficiency in small and large firm. This implies that target firms for small and large firms overreact to new information resulting in a more efficient market. For acquirer firms, our measure of liquidity captures strong return continuations for small firms under the OLS estimates for both CAPM and Fama-French three-factor models, whilst under the GJR-GARCH estimates only for Carhart model. Post-announcement bootstrapping simulated CARs confirmed our earlier results.


An emerging theme in the analysis of the gait of people with Parkinson's disease (PD) is that the kinetic features such as joint power generated during the events of ankle push-off and hip pull-off required for propulsion and progression of the lower limb is diminished inspite of PD medication. However, there is lack of sufficient evidence from the proponents of these PD gait deficiencies. Furthermore, it was thought in the present study that the cause of reduced joint power (if observed) could be attributed to their preferred slow walking speed Therefore, the research presented in this thesis investigated the pull and push-off events at usual walking speed (in healthy and people with PD) and at fast walking speed (in PD) to examine and substantiate what the other studies suggested. The first part of the investigation into pull and push-off was to characterise and describe these gait events in healthy people whilst the second part was carried out on people affected with PD. A laboratory protocol/setup was designed for the first part of the study that was modified for use in the second part. Fourteen healthy adults (mean age 63.6 ±7 years) participated in the first (laboratory based) study. Their gait was measured using a camera based motion analysis system (Coda mpx30) and a force platform that was situated on an 8m walkway. A gait laboratory test session was conducted per subject and the result of gait components of pull and push-off powers, ankle and hip joint angular excursion and corresponding gait velocity, stride length and cadence were recorded. Similar laboratory sessions with modification to the protocol/set up were also conducted (after an initial home clinical assessment and screening) for people with PD (n=11, mean age 66.4 ±5.07 years, disease duration 6±3.1 years, motor UPDRS score 24.3±9.98) walking at their usual and fast speeds during their on phase of PD medication. The results showed that the gait of healthy subjects and subjects with PD was not significantly different from each other. Some PD subjects had greater pull-off and push-off powers than healthy subjects whilst a relationship between hip pull-off power and ankle plantarflexion suggests a compensatory strategy being used by PD subjects. PD subjects were able to significantly walk fast when asked to do so, with increments in the gait components. The results suggests that reduced pull and push-off powers are not applicable to all cases of PD and inspite of any diminished gait features their capacity to walk fast was still preserved.


In research on and programming aimed at them, children and youth are usually treated as passive subjects and beneficiaries rather than as partners. In an effort to address this gap in its own research, the United Nations University Centre for Policy Research (UNU-CPR) partnered with War Child UK to design and pilot a participatory research approach. The goal behind this effort was to examine the needs and goals of children who are exiting armed groups and reintegrating back into society after conflict involvement as well as those of the communities they settle in. This policy memo examines this challenge, details the UNU-CPR/War Child approach, provides an overview of the process, and substantive findings from the pilots, and lays out several policy and programming recommendations for consideration. A costing table and session plan of the UNU-CPR/War Child activity in the Central African Republic is also provided, to enable others to run similar sessions.


In recent years, translation and localization studies have
 started to include accessibility, and web accessibility in particular, as one of
 the key aspects to take into consideration when adapting a web product to
 another language and culture (web localization). This paper provides a
 comprehensive insight of the connections between these two fields and concepts
 and, above all, it discusses the possibility of transferring accessibility
 throughout the localization process. In particular, we analyze how the use of
 current localization and internationalization data exchange standards is
 connected to this notion of transfer, and how those standards may be capable of
 transferring accessibility qualities or information, or supporting localizers in
 their task. Finally, we present an analytical and pragmatic approach to explore
 this transferability challenge, which includes the study of the techniques
 proposed by the W3C to help web developers fulfil a set of success criteria that
 are included in the latest Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, in
 relation to their possible integration in localization and internationalization
 standards.


A two-dimensional finite element model was used to simulate the groundwater recovery process under various surface mining situations. The simulation results were used to predict the rate at which soil settlement takes place. It was found that the groundwater recovery process is very fast immediately after mine closure and cessation of dewatering programmes; a significant part of mine land settlement can be measured at such times. This paper presents a method for deriving the relationship between the re-establishment of the natural groundwater regime to its equilibrium position as existed prior to the commencement of mining operations and mine spoil settlement.


This paper focuses on the optimal utilization of grid-connected microgrids for providing frequency regulation services to the bulk systems they are connected to. We consider microgrids comprised of several distributed energy resources (DER) interconnected via an electrical network. We then formulate a joint DER scheduling and power-flow optimization problem in order to determine the DER setpoints so that the cost of failing to follow some regulation signal is minimized in each regulation contract; this problem is nonconvex. We propose a convex relaxation for this problem, and propose a family of continuous-time control laws, the trajectories of which can be computed in a distributed way. We prove that these converge to an optimal solution of the relaxed problem, and that they result in feasible power flows for the system at each time instant. The proposed continuous-time control laws have to be implemented in a discrete-time fashion over some communication network. We propose a discrete-time approximation of our control laws, and show that the resulting discrete-time control laws converge to an optimal solution of the relaxed problem.


Here we demonstrate the combination of electrospinning and hollow cathode plasma-assisted atomic layer deposition (HCPA-ALD) processes by fabricating flexible polymer–GaN organic–inorganic core–shell nanofibers at a processing temperature much lower than that needed for the preparation of conventional GaN ceramic nanofibers. Polymer–GaN organic–inorganic core–shell nanofibers fabricated by the HCPA-ALD of GaN on electrospun polymeric (nylon 6,6) nanofibers at 200 °C were characterized in detail using electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray analysis, selected area electron diffraction, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, photoluminescence measurements, and dynamic mechanical analysis. Although transmission electron microscopy studies indicated that the process parameters should be further optimized for obtaining ultimate uniformity and conformality on these high surface area 3D substrates, the HCPA-ALD process resulted in a ∼28 nm thick polycrystalline wurtzite GaN layer on polymeric nanofibers of an average fiber diameter of ∼70 nm. Having a flexible polymeric core and low processing temperature, these core–shell semiconducting nanofibers might have the potential to substitute brittle ceramic GaN nanofibers, which have already been shown to be high performance materials for various electronic and optoelectronic applications.


The corollary of the humanist project for human enhancement is transhumanism, which considers post-human modes of existence to be desirable, and aspires to overcome our vulnerability by incorporating available technology into our nature. One of its manifestations is the queer theory, which calls for actively redefining the "self", starting with the sexed body and its functioning. This article analyses the transhumanist impulse and the queer theory from the concepts of emancipation and progress, asking the following questions: a) What do both terms mean when we refer to human beings? and b) Are transhumanism and the queer theory examples of true emancipation and progress, or conversely, a relapse into to our primitive state of nature that orders praxis to the subjugation of nature and the imperative of self-preservation?


An accurate and noise-robust voice activity detection (VAD) system can be widely used for emerging speech technologies in the fields of audio forensics, wireless communication, and speech recognition. However, in real-life application, the sufficient amount of data or human-annotated data to train such a system may not be available. Therefore, a supervised system for VAD cannot be used in such situations. In this paper, an unsupervised method for VAD is proposed to label the segments of speech-presence and speech-absence in an audio. To make the proposed method efficient and computationally fast, it is implemented by using long-term features that are computed by using the Katz algorithm of fractal dimension estimation. Two databases of different languages are used to evaluate the performance of the proposed method. The first is Texas Instruments Massachusetts Institute of Technology (TIMIT) database, and the second is the King Saud University (KSU) Arabic speech database. The language of TIMIT is English, while the language of the KSU speech database is Arabic. TIMIT is recorded in only one environment, whereas the KSU speech database is recorded in distinct environments using various recording systems that contain sound cards of different qualities and models. The evaluation of the proposed method suggested that it labels voiced and unvoiced segments reliably in both clean and noisy audio.


Abstract. The Irish Meteorological Service, Met Eireann, has carried out a 35-year very high resolution (2.5 km horizontal grid) regional climate reanalysis for Ireland using the ALADIN-HIRLAM numerical weather prediction system. This article provides an overview of the reanalysis, called MERA, as well as a preliminary analysis of surface parameters including screen level temperature, 10 m wind speeds, mean sea-level pressure (MSLP), soil temperatures, soil moisture and 24 h rainfall accumulations. The quality of the 3-D variational data assimilation used in the reanalysis is also assessed. Preliminary analysis shows that it takes almost 12 months to spin up the deep soil in terms of moisture, justifying the choice of running year-long spin up periods. Overall, the model performed consistently over the time period. Small biases were found in screen-level temperatures (less than −0.5 °C), MSLP (within 0.5 hPa) and 10 m wind speed (up to 0.5 m s−1) Soil temperatures are well represented by the model. 24 h accumulations of precipitation generally exhibit a small positive bias of  ∼ 1 mm per day and negative biases over mountains due to a mismatch between the model orography and the geography of the region. MERA outperforms the ERA-Interim reanalysis, particularly in terms of standard deviations in screen-level temperatures and surface winds. This dataset is the first of its kind for Ireland that will be made publically available during spring 2017.


The ethical and legal aspects of suicide and assisted suicide have been the subject of vigorous debate in the recent past but the controversy is not new. This paper, loosely based on an invited lecture to the 2010 summer meeting of the British Thoracic Society, seeks to explore the dilemma by tracing the attitude of English law to medical involvement in death and dying over the last 75 years.

The Society for the Legalisation of Voluntary Euthanasia was founded in 1935 by a group of eminent medical and clerical practitioners and held its first meeting in BMA House. These origins seem improbable in the light of the current attitude of both professions to assisted dying, but the new Society was enthusiastic and introduced its first Private Member's Bill in the House of Lords in 1936. It was defeated, one of those voting against being Lord Dawson of Penn, then Physician to the Royal Household. He defended his opposition on the grounds that legislation to permit intervention intended to hasten death is unnecessary because as soon as a medical practitioner is satisfied a patient's death is inevitable, there is a duty to minimise distress and act accordingly. This opinion was expressed in his management of the death of King George V in January of that year.1 The King suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and had developed an exacerbation shortly before Christmas 1935. His condition deteriorated until he was bed-bound, comatose and had developed pleurisy. By the end of the third week in January, Lord Dawson was satisfied the King would not recover and, late one evening, administered a large dose of morphine followed by cocaine. About an hour later the King fell into a deep sleep and thereafter died peacefully at ten to midnight without regaining consciousness. Two reasons …


There is increasing interest in restoring native predators in order to regulate ecosystems and maintain biodiversity, but predator reintroductions are still controversial for complex social and ecological reasons. Few studies have examined predator restoration on islands or in ecosanctuaries, where highly endemic faunas have typically undergone precipitous declines and extinctions due to novel invasive predators, and translocations are used to restore species. Currently in New Zealand, discussions regarding predators typically focus on introduced mammalian pests, and the importance of native predators is frequently overlooked. We present a case study of the mesopredatory New Zealand weka (Gallirallus australis), a threatened flightless rail that provokes controversy among restoration practitioners due to concerns that it may decrease populations of other threatened species. We (1) review studies of weka diet and impacts on native and exotic fauna; (2) contrast prehistoric and contemporary predation webs focused on weka; and (3) consider the role of biocultural approaches in the management and restoration of socio-ecological systems with weka. Weka are opportunistic omnivores that can include vertebrates in their diet, and on small islands where weka can reach high densities there is some evidence that they may limit some prey populations. However, very few manipulative experimental studies measuring effects of weka on native species have been carried out, and such studies would be extremely valuable. Weka also consume invasive rodents and, if they obtain a sufficiently high density, may provide benefits in ecosanctuaries by limiting invasive mice populations. Māori historically harvested weka, and such harvest may now valuably limit weka numbers at certain island or ecosanctuary sites, perhaps replacing the effect of extinct avian competitors and apex predators. How weka and other native predators should be managed on islands depends on the value placed on ecosystem restoration, species-focused conservation, or biocultural enrichment.


In a new and updated edition of this classic textbook, Henry William Spiegel brings his discussion and analysis of economic thought into the 1990s. A new introductory chapter offering an overall view of the history of economics and a bibliographic survey of the economic literature of the 1980s and early 1990s have been added. Maintaining the link between economics and the humanities, Spiegel's text will continue to introduce students to a wide range of topics in the history of economic thought. From reviews of previous editions: "The history of economic thought to end all histories of economic thought."-Robert D. Patton, Journal of Economic Literature "The book is in the grand tradition of the history of doctrines. It is a history of economic thought broadly conceived-and superbly written to boot. It is not to much to say that Spiegel's book will become and remain a leading text in the field."-Warren J. Samuels, Social Science The author conveys the essence of an idea simply and clearly, yet in a graceful style."-William F. Kennedy, Journal of Economic Literature


Economic evaluation of climate policy is notoriously dependent on assumptions about time and risk preferences, since reducing greenhouse gas emissions today has a highly uncertain payoff, far into the future. These assumptions have always been much debated. Rather than occupy a position in this debate, we take a non-parametric approach here, based on the concept of Time-Stochastic Dominance. Using an integrated assessment model, we apply Time-Stochastic Dominance analysis to climate change, asking are there global emissions abatement targets that everyone who shares a broad class of time and risk preferences would agree to prefer? Overall we find that even tough emissions targets would be chosen by almost everyone, barring those with arguably `extreme' preferences.


Abstract It is widely acknowledged that function symbols are an important feature in answer set programming, as they make modelling easier, increase the expressive power, and allow us to deal with infinite domains. The main issue with their introduction is that the evaluation of a program might not terminate and checking whether it terminates or not is undecidable. To cope with this problem, several classes of logic programs have been proposed where the use of function symbols is restricted but the program evaluation termination is guaranteed. Despite the significant body of work in this area, current approaches do not include many simple practical programs whose evaluation terminates. In this paper, we present the novel classes of rule-bounded and cycle-bounded programs, which overcome different limitations of current approaches by performing a more global analysis of how terms are propagated from the body to the head of rules. Results on the correctness, the complexity, and the expressivity of the proposed approach are provided.


Mango is an important fruit hence plays an important role in the economy of Pakistan via export. Mango can suffer from serious losses by mango pre and post-harvest diseases. Environmental factors i.e. temperature, rainfall, and humidity have serious effect on the onset of these diseases. Mango pre harvest diseases included mango malformation, blossom blight, anthracnose and twig blight. Mongo post-harvest diseases include anthracnose, stem end rot, Aspergillus rot and Alternaria rot. A survey has been conducted in 37 orchards i.e. Muzafargarh (15), Multan (12) and Khaniwal (10) for the assessment of mango preharvest diseases by using severity scale of 1-5. Post-harvest disease assessment was done on collected mango fruits of respective study areas. Objective of the present study is to assess prevalence, incidence and severity of pre and post-harvest mango diseases with respect to prevalent environmental conditions in study area. Samples for pre and post-harvest diseases were collected from three study sites for the sake of causal fungal isolation. All pre and post-harvest diseases were present in all three study areas. Pre harvest disease incidence was lied in the range of 0-100%, 80100%, 40-100%, 0-100% for blossom blight, anthracnose, mango malformation and twig blight respectively. Mango post-harvest disease incidence was found in range of 40-90%, 16-86.6%, 16-76.6% and 3.33-53.3% for anthracnose, stem end rot, Alternaria rot and Aspergillus rot respectively. * Corresponding Author: Anam Rasool  email@example.com International Journal of Agronomy and Agricultural Research (IJAAR) ISSN: 2223-7054 (Print) 2225-3610 (Online) http://www.innspub.net Vol. 8, No. 4, p. 101-110, 2016 International Journal of Agronomy and Agricultural Research (IJAAR) ISSN: 2223-7054 (Print) 2225-3610 (Online) http://www.innspub.net Vol. 5, No. 1, p. 14-22, 2014


Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is increasingly seen as a promising approach to feed the growing world population under climate change. The review explored how institutional perspectives are reflected in the CSA literature. In total, 137 publications were analyzed using institutional analysis framework, of which 55.5% make specific reference to institutional dimensions. While the CSA concept encompasses three pillars (productivity, adaptation, and mitigation), the literature has hardly addressed them in an integrated way. The development status of study sites also seems to influence which pillars are promoted. Mitigation was predominantly addressed in high-income countries, while productivity and adaptation were priorities for middle and low-income countries. Interest in institutional aspects has been gradual in the CSA literature. It has largely focused on knowledge infrastructure, market structure, and hard institutional aspects. There has been less attention to understand whether investments in physical infrastructure and actors' interaction, or how historical, political, and social context may influence the uptake of CSA options. Rethinking the approach to promoting CSA technologies by integrating technology packages and institutional enabling factors can provide potential opportunities for effective scaling of CSA options.


The goal of this thesis was to gain a better understanding as to how beta-catenin controls FOXO4 signalling. Although beta-catenin was initially recognised for its role in cell proliferation upon Wnt signalling it is now beginning to be appreciated for its regulatory role in other pathways as well. Depending on the signal received beta-catenin can divert its interaction between different binding partners. Important for this mechanism to be relevant is the fact that only a limited pool of free beta-catenin is present. As there is basically no excess of free beta-catenin, shifting of beta-catenin between binding partners becomes an efficient mechanism to rapidly adapt to diverse and possible opposing stimuli. In this way beta -catenin activates specific genes to appropriately respond to the needs of the cell. As beta-catenin interacts with a diverse range of proteins we discuss in this thesis how changes in the oxidative state of the cell diverts beta-catenin between its interaction partners. When cells encounter stress such as hypoxia or abnormal changes in ROS they need to respond in a proper way to ensure cell survival or, in case of severe non-repairable damage, apoptosis. Thus, the cellular response towards stress requires an intricate and balanced adaptive response to ensure that the proper choice of cell fate will be made. Our lab has studied in particular the role of FOXO in the cellular stress response. Recently beta-catenin was identified as an important regulator of the FOXO-mediated stress control. Upon an increase in cellular ROS levels, FOXO interacts with beta-catenin whereby FOXO activity is enhanced. Our main focus was to understand how beta-catenin shifts interaction between different binding partners. ROS signalling overrules Wnt signalling preventing cell proliferation under unfavourable conditions. We revealed the necessity in changes of PTMs on FOXO4 for the interaction with beta-catenin to occur. We describe FOXO4-S258 dephosphorylation by PP2A as an initial step in clearing the road for FOXO4 and beta-catenin to interact. Methylation within the consensus PKB motif of FOXO4 by PRMT1 prevents PKB to rephosphorylate FOXO4 thereby enhancing beta-catenin to interact. Finally, we describe PRMT6 to be a new regulator of FOXO4 and TCF activity through inhibiting beta-catenin interaction. For cells to function properly it is important that the interaction between the proteins described above is tightly balanced. Through modulation of PTMs in reponse to growth factors or ROS protein-protein interactions can be regulated. Furthermore the interaction of one protein can influence the binding of other proteins to the same substrate. All these interactions and PTMs play a role in shifting the activation or inactivation of downstream pathways. It will be a challenge to understand in full and in detail the many aspects that play a role in balancing the outcome of these pathways.


Includes segments from Esquire, Legal Times, Texas Monthly, and Confessions of a Criminal Lawyer, as well as stimulating cases and law review articles. The order roughly tracks the ABA Model Rules. The casebook teaches students to think critically about the legal profession, yet avoids the cynicism that so often accompanies discussions of the profession. Includes introduction to the legal profession; the lawyer-client relationship; confidentiality and the attorney-client privilege; conflicts of interest; lawyer advocacy and its limits; business problems in the practice of law; provision of legal services; and judges.


The research presented in this thesis is centered around one question: What can we learn from the study of psychiatric phenotypes related to structural genomic abnormalities? In this thesis this subject is examined, with most studies focused on the clinical and genetic aspects of the 22q11.2 deletion syndrome. In chapter 1 a review of all published case-reports on individuals with autism and a concurrent structural genetic abnormality is presented. In chapter 2 findings are presented of a study on the psychiatric phenotype of 22q11DS. In a sample of 60 Dutch children aged with 22q11DS, 50% were diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, 12% were diagnosed with a psychotic disorder and 8% were found to have a mood disorder. In chapter 3 the test characteristics of a novel method for the detection of copy number changes, Multiplex Ligation-dependent Probe Amplification (MLPA), are reported. The results demonstrate that MLPA reliably identifies typical and atypical 22q11.2 copy number changes. The sensitivity and specificity of MLPA were 0.99 and 0.97, respectively. However, there were still rare structural genomic abnormalities that would not have been detected by the available MLPA kit,therefore, an effort was made to develop a new MLPA set with an increased density of probes across the 22q11.2 region. The results of this effort are reported in chapter 4. In chapter 5 the MLPA method was used to screen a sample of 311 Dutch patients with schizophrenia for the presence of 22q11.2 deletions. The sample included 146 patients with prominent negative symptoms (deficit schizophrenia). The hypothesis of an increased prevalence of 22q11.2 deletions in this subgroup was not confirmed; indeed none of the 311 patients was found to have a deletion at 22q11.2. In chapter 6 a significant interaction between high plasma proline and the COMTmet allele on a neurophysiologic test paradigm; Smooth Pursuit of the Eye Movement is demonstrated in a sample of children with 22q11DS, In chapter 7 a significant interaction is presented between a previously reported schizophrenia-risk allele of the gene PIK4CA and schizophrenia. The PIK4CA risk allele was significantly more present in a group of adult 22q11DS patients with schizophrenia in comparison to adult 22q11DS patients without schizophrenia. In chapter 8 the clinical and molecular genetic findings are reported concerning a normally intelligent proband with autism who was found to carry a maternally inherited large deletion (~10Mb) of chromosome 13q. Because his mother was not affected with autism, it was hypothesized that the proband could have a functional mutation in a remaining allele of one of the genes located in the deleted region. The results from the sequencing studies confirmed this "double hit" hypothesis; the proband carried a paternally inherited non-synonymous point mutation in DIAPH3, one of the genes in the region affected by the maternally inherited deletion. In conclusion, results of the presented research favor the view that studying psychiatric phenotypes associated with structural genomic abnormalities may generate valuable information about the genetic, and thus the biological factors that lead to psychiatric disorders, such as autism and schizophrenia.


The purpose of this research was to investigate relationships between the attitudinal and cognitive components of career maturity as assessed by the Career Development Inventory (CDI) and interest score differentiation, consistency, and elevation as assessed by the Strong Interest Inventory (SII). 252 undergraduate students enrolled in a career/life planning course at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 101 males and 151 females, comprised the sample. Multiple regression analyses were conducted, with the CDI scales as predictor variables and the interest measures as dependent variables. The regression coefficients associated with corresponding career maturity measures for males and females did not differ significantly, making it unnecessary to examine separate regression equations for males and females. Gender differences in means for differentiation and consistency were found. Interest consistency was weakly predicted by Knowledge of One's Preferred Occupation (PO scale), and score elevation was weakly predicted by the Career Exploration (CE scale) and the PO scales. Differentiation was not predicted by any of the career maturity variables.


Globalization and translation go hand in hand because translation functions as a mechanism to enable global communication in an increasingly interconnected world. Within the technological trend set by Web 2.0 and its user-centeredness, translation practices began to incorporate an alternative scenario based on translation by self-selected volunteers. Under the framework of critical theory of technology, this article scrutinizes the development of translation as a mass, open, and collaborative task that I call massively open translation . Critical theory of technology is used to unpack the way in which technology is effecting a transformation of translation toward higher translator autonomy, uncovering the nature of the relationship between technology and translation.


International courts and tribunals have by now become well-established institutions. Many books and articles have been published on the law and practice of, for example, the International Criminal Court, various international criminal tribunals - notably those for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda - the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization, international administrative tribunals (dealing with complaints of staff of international organizations), regional courts in Europe, Africa and America (such as the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR)). At the same time, significantly less research has been done into the law and practice of those international organs ('governance institutions') that carry out the necessary governance functions over all these international courts and tribunals. Examples of such organs are the Assembly of States Parties (the governance institution for the ICC), the Meeting of States Parties to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea ('SPLOS', for ITLOS), the Dispute Settlement Body of the WTO (for the WTO Appellate Body), the Committee of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (for the ECtHR). These governance institutions elect the judges of international courts and tribunals, adopt their budgets, supervise the implementation of judgments and take other decisions that are of fundamental importance for the way in which international courts and tribunals can carry out their judicial tasks independently. This paper is an appeal for more research into the law and practice of what I will call international judicial governance institutions (injugovins).


Summary

Relationships between river flow characteristics and fish community/population dynamics (i.e. flow–ecology relationships) underpin methods to determine and monitor environmental water allocations. Quantifying these relationships can be difficult, and consequently, most environmental flow strategies for fish conservation in Australian rivers are based on general flow–ecology relationships as opposed to statistical predictions.
Of those studies that have investigated relationships between flow and fish, most have not accounted for incomplete and variable detection of fish by the sampling methods, thus making the implicit assumption that sampling efficiency is invariant. This important assumption is rarely met, leading to inconsistent research findings and spurious results, and a reliance on generic flow–ecology principles for defining flow management strategies.
We illustrate how and when detection probability varies when sampling freshwater fish and the consequences to scientific inference about fish–flow relationships. Methods for accounting for imperfect detection of fish are identified and tools to increase the efficiency of experimental designs while reducing sampling cost are discussed. These tools include methods for borrowing information among experimental components and simulation techniques to optimise sampling designs.
We argue that, due to the very nature of sampling designs to quantify flow–ecology relationships (e.g. sampling at different flow magnitudes/regimes), the challenge of imperfect detectability is particularly relevant to environmental flow science. We encourage the broader adoption of methods that account for imperfect detection to improve inference about fish–flow relationships and increase the successful application of environmental flows for managing fish communities.


The paper introduces a dynamic, flexible partial-adjustment model and uses it to analyze the diffusion of Internet connectivity. It specifies and estimates desired levels of Internet diffusion and the speed at which countries achieve the target levels. The target levels and speed of adjustment are both country and time specific. Factors affecting Internet diffusion across countries are identified, and, using nonlinear least squares, the Gompertz growth model is generalized and estimated using data on Internet users for 59 countries observed over the years 1995 to 2002. The empirical results show that infrastructure variables such as personal computer ownership and telephone service increase the equilibrium level of internet diffusion. The speed of adjustment toward a target level decreases over time. Regarding model performance, the generalized dynamic Gompertz model that accounts for unobserved country heterogeneity effects outperforms other, simpler and static model specifications.


Despite the impressive amount of financial resources invested in carrying out large-scale brain simulations, it is controversial what the payoffs are of pursuing this project. The present paper argues that in some cases, from designing, building, and running a large-scale neural simulation, scientists acquire useful knowledge about the computational performance of the simulating system, rather than about the neurobiological system represented in the simulation. What this means, why it is not a trivial lesson, and how it advances the literature on the epistemology of computer simulation are the three preoccupations addressed by the paper.


Unbeknownst to many, Lethal Autonomous Weapons (LAWS) have existed for decades, but they have largely been defensive and anti-material. However, as increasingly advanced defensive LAWS, such as complex swarming systems, become more prominent, states will assuredly develop ways to counter, including offensive LAWS. Certainly, the near-term developmental focus of such systems will be on operational environments in which there are relatively low risk of injury or death to civilians or untoward incidents in general, but it is a matter of when, not if, these systems will be widely used in direct combat situations. As such, LAWS are a frequent topic of debate among states and human rights organizations with many viewing LAWS as killer robots that should be banned indefinitely. But as autonomy increases in civil society, particularly through applications with life or death consequences, like driverless cars and robotic surgery, the public's perception of risk and human/machine interaction will likely change. Whether that attitude change will translate to widespread acceptance, or indifference, of LAWS is yet to be known. Ultimately, this article explores the developmental history and trajectory of defensive and offensive LAWS in all areas of the military, and seeks to explain why an outright ban is unlikely.


In connection with the development of transforming the economy, the need for forecasting and analyzing the consequences of managerial decisions becomes more pressing. To substantiate and evaluate such decisions, a tool for prospective analysis of financial statements of companies is used. In recent years, the content and structure of a company's financial statements have undergone significant changes. With the development of economic relations, the principles of organization and methodology of accounting and reporting are also dynamically changing. The issues of reforming financial statements of a company are constantly discussed at international congresses of accountants and other professional forums.The purpose of the study is to improve the concept of preparing financial statements of a company as an information base for taking decisions in a transforming economy.As a result of the research, the economic essence of company's financial statements is substantiated from the point of view of an integrated approach; the importance of financial statements of an organization for effective management is determined; the main financial and non-financial indicators are systematized; it is proposed to introduce a mandatory requirement for disclosure of non-financial indicators in the corporate reporting system; proposals have been elaborated to improve the methods for analyzing financial statements as a tool for managing a company.


Ocean acidification will likely have negative impacts on invertebrates producing skeletons composed of calcium carbonate. Skeletal solubility is partly controlled by the incorporation of "foreign" ions (e.g. magnesium) into the crystal lattice of these skeletal structures, a process that is sensitive to a variety of biological and environmental factors. Here we explore effects of life stage, oceanographic region of origin, and changes in the partial pressure of carbon dioxide in seawater ( p CO 2 ) on trace elemental composition in the purple sea urchin ( Strongylocentrotus purpuratus ). We show that, similar to other urchin taxa, adult purple sea urchins have the ability to precipitate skeleton composed of a range of biominerals spanning low- to high-Mg calcites. Mg / Ca and Sr / Ca ratios were substantially lower in adult spines compared to adult tests. On the other hand, trace elemental composition was invariant among adults collected from four oceanographically distinct regions spanning a range of carbonate chemistry conditions (Oregon, Northern California, Central California, and Southern California). Skeletons of newly settled juvenile urchins that originated from adults from the four regions exhibited intermediate Mg / Ca and Sr / Ca between adult spine and test endmembers, indicating that skeleton precipitated during early life stages is more soluble than adult spines and less soluble than adult tests. Mean skeletal Mg / Ca or Sr / Ca of juvenile skeleton did not vary with source region when larvae were reared under present-day, global-average seawater carbonate conditions (400 μatm; pH T = 8.02 ± 0.03 1 SD; Ω calcite = 3.3 ± 0.2 1 SD). However, when reared under elevated p CO 2 (900 μatm; pH T = 7.73 ± 0.03; Ω calcite = 1.8 ± 0.1), skeletal Sr / Ca in juveniles exhibited increased variance across the four regions. Although larvae from the northern populations (Oregon, Northern California, Central California) did not exhibit differences in Mg or Sr incorporation under elevated p CO 2 (Sr / Ca = 2.10 ± 0.06 mmol mol −1 ; Mg / Ca = 67.4 ± 3.9 mmol mol −1 ), juveniles of Southern California origin partitioned ~8% more Sr into their skeletons when exposed to higher p CO 2 (Sr / Ca = 2.26 ± 0.08 vs. 2.09 ± 0.005 mmol mol −1 1 SD). Together these results suggest that the diversity of carbonate minerologies present across different skeletal structures and life stages in purple sea urchins does not translate into an equivalent geochemical plasticity of response associated with geographic variation or temporal shifts in seawater properties. Rather, composition of S. purpuratus skeleton precipitated during both early and adult life history stages appears relatively robust to spatial gradients and predicted future changes in carbonate chemistry. An exception to this trend may arise during early life stages, where certain populations of purple sea urchins may alter skeletal mineral precipitation rates and composition beyond a given p CO 2 threshold. This potential for geochemical plasticity during early development in contrast to adult stage geochemical resilience adds to the growing body of evidence that ocean acidification can have differing effects across organismal life stages.


Global wireless networks have opened the way to a ubiquitous Internet computing environment in which a variety of portable devices remain connected to the Internet fabric - even as their locations change continuously - and access to data and services is independent of both device type and location. In this environment, applications must be able to change the location of their execution. In addition, they must allow heterogeneous and resource-limited portable devices to download only the device-specific software components needed for execution. Code mobility enables dynamic customization and configuration of ubiquitous Internet applications. Mobility complicates application programming by requiring developers to define when and where to move which components under varying operating conditions. A policy-based implementation framework supports high-level reconfiguration strategies that separate mobility concerns from application functionality.


THE HUACAS OF MACHU PICCHU: INCA STATIONS FOR THE COMMUNION BETWEEN HUMANITY AND NATURE By Lee Anne Hurt, Ph.D. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2006 Major Director: Dr. James D. Farmer, Associate Professor, Department of Art History Sacred stones, or huacas, at the ancient Inca city of Machu Picchu integrated human ritual with the surrounding landscape. I argue that huacas defined the relationship between nature and ritual practice by forcing an esoteric choreography which involved specific postures of the participant in order to visually orient humans to significant natural features of the surrounding environment. Inca stonemasons refined the natural form of the huacas so that they mimic the contours of prominent landscape features such as mountain peaks. This dissertation documents 122 huacas at Machu Picchu using maps of the site to record the exact location of each stone. Every huaca is described in detail, including notation of the specific cardinal orientation; lines of sight established by reference points to prominent landscape features; and the specific posture required to view these lines of sight. The extensive number of huacas at Machu Picchu suggests a highly ritualistic city in which stones and caves were almost certainly considered metaphysical conduits between humans and the divine.


Magnetic resonance image (MRI) scanning is a new method for imaging and quantifying joint inflammation and damage in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Over the past 4 years, the OMERACT MR Imaging Group has been developing and testing the RA-MRI scoring system (RAMRIS) for use in RA. The OMERACT filter demands that an ideal outcome measure satisfy the elements of truth, discrimination, and feasibility. The RAMRIS as it currently stands incorporates measures of joint inflammation and damage including bone erosion, edema, and synovitis. Tendonitis has not been scored because of feasibility issues; joint space narrowing, reflecting cartilage damage, has also been excluded as reliability was low at the small joints of the hands. Anatomical coverage of the score is currently restricted to the wrists and hands but can provide a basis for a more comprehensive score. The MR measurement of synovitis correlates closely with histological evidence and work continues on validating MR erosions with reference to radiographic techniques. The RAMRIS has demonstrated good reliability for bone erosion and synovitis at the wrists and metacarpophalangeal joints subject to reader training, with slightly lower levels of reader agreement for bone edema. Reliability was less satisfactory in discriminating between 2 time points, and further work is required if the score is to be used to monitor change. Feasibility also needs to be considered for the practical application of the score, including the time taken for scanning and scoring, as well as cost and safety issues. The OMERACT RAMRIS provides a framework for scoring inflammation and damage in RA upon which further modifications can be built. It has been endorsed by the MRI working group and OMERACT 6 participants as useful for inclusion as an outcome measure in clinical trials.


We report the use of polyterthiophenes (PTTh) as a rare, combined light-harvester and catalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction at high pH. Illuminated PTTh in combination with a MnOx anode in a two-electrode setup exhibited stable water-splitting at a bias-potential of only 0.3 V at pH 12. This confirms that PTTh used as photocathode can produce photovoltages of at least 900 mV for the hydrogen evolution reaction at high pH and is therefore a suitable match for traditional water-oxidation catalysts such as MnOx, CoOx, and RuOx. Films of PTTh were fabricated using a novel, metal-free method where iodine vapor is used as oxidant; thus, previously observed interference from metal residuals was omitted and thereby a gravimetric photo electrocatalytic conversion rate of 330 mmol(H2) h−1 g−1 was achieved in phosphate buffer (pH 7) at 0 V vs. RHE. A striking property of this new strand of polythiophene was an "inverse" correlation (compared to that predicted using the Nernstian relationship) between the onset potential for the light-assisted water reduction reaction and pH: the potential (vs. RHE) required for a given current was more positive at higher pH, which is not observed for other (photo-) electrocatalytic materials, and indicates that the charge neutralization of PTTh (rather than the pH) guides the onset potential.


As coherent reception technology continues to move downstream the optical telecommunication infrastructure, the complexity of the involved transceiver technology can quickly introduce a techno-economic roadblock. Under this umbrella, we experimentally demonstrate a conceptually simple, single-polarization and analogue coherent homodyne receiver that builds on no more than an optically locked externally modulated laser. We evaluate this coherent homodyne receiver in the context of analogue radio-over-fiber transmission – a demanding application setting, where a small degradation in signal integrity is leading to large reception penalties. We conduct a continuous-mode characterization of the locking methodology, which enables homodyne detection and hence the transparent translation of electrical signals from the optical to the electrical domain during the coherent reception process. Furthermore, the locking dynamics are being investigated for packet-level reception at a 1 MHz frame rate and two time division multiplexed channels, which are sourced by two optical emitters with free-running laser sources. The radio-over-fiber transmission performance is evaluated for 64-ary quadrature amplitude modulated, orthogonal frequency division multiplexed radio with a short guard interval of 2.7 μs between the packet radio signals. A data rate of 0.5 Gb/s over 100 MHz radio bandwidth is obtained at an optical loss budget of >35 dB between transmitter and receiver, without resorting to digital signal processing resources for the purpose of signal recovery. Moreover, a small ∼0.3% penalty in error vector magnitude between continuous- and packet-mode confirms the compatibility of the analogue coherent receiver in networks with fast locking requirements.