We demonstrate here that CD59, an inhibitor of the membrane attack complex (MAC) of the complement system, is present in cell-free seminal plasma (SP) at a concentration of at least 20 micrograms/ml. Analyses by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, Western blotting, and Edman degradation indicated that this protein, SP CD59, was similar, if not identical, to CD59 isolated from erythrocyte (E) membranes (E CD59). Like purified E CD59, SP CD59 also possesses a glycosyl phosphatidyl inositol (GPI) anchor and incorporates into the membranes of heterologous cells where it inhibits lysis by the human MAC. This phenomenon could be demonstrated not only if cells were incubated with purified SP CD59 but also if unfractionated SP were used. Further, CD59 in unfractionated SP bound to washed spermatozoa, increasing their membrane content of the protein. The mechanism by which this protein retains its GPI anchor while apparently present in the fluid phase is of interest and was further investigated. Using the techniques of high-speed centrifugation, fast performance liquid chromatography fractionation, and electron microscopy, we found that all detectable SP CD59 was associated with vesicular extracellular organelles. These organelles, named "prostasomes," were previously known to be present in SP and to interact with spermatozoa, although their function was uncertain. Interaction of heterologous E with prostasomes rendered the cells more resistant to lysis by human MACs. We propose that these organelles represent a pool of CD59 from which protein lost from spermatozoa, perhaps as a result of low level complement attack or of normal membrane turnover, can be replenished.


Information Era and globalization have created new needs for skilled workers in science and technology sector. The government hopes more students especially those entering higher education institute, will learn science and technology. Statistic have shown that the number of science students decrease every year. Studies also have shown that students and teachers have problems in learning and teaching science, which started from schools especially in lower secondary school students that is sitting for the Peperiksaan Menengah Rendah (PMR) examination. A study conducted with help from the Lembaga Peperiksaan Malaysia on PMR examination questions and answers (1993-1999) have shown that students have difficulties answering certain topics during examination. These topics were identified and an interactive multimedia modul with the title 'Sistem Pencernaan' (Digestive System) was built using latest multimedia technology softwares. Teaching and learning concepts were carefully implemented to make sure an effective and user friendly module was produced. To test the module's effectiveness in secondary school, 90 form 2 students from 3 classrooms were selected using randomized block method and they were divided into 3 groups X, Y and Z (control). Each group were given different treatment, either learning using multimedia modul or learning with the help of a science teacher. Test result (correct answers) from each student in the Ujian Pencapaian 1 (Pre-test) and Ujian Pencapaian 2 (Post-test) have been compared statistically using ANOVA method. Statistic test results from Ujian Pencapaian 1 have shown that students using moduls without any help from teachers have significantly (p<0.05) obtained better grades compared to students that have been thaught by teachers. Test results from Ujian Pencapaian 2 shows that students using moduls as revision tools obtained significantly (p<0.05) better gades compared to control students, who did not use the modul at all. The experiment clearly shows that an effective interactive multimedia modul can be used as an important tool for self-learning and revision in schools. Moduls that were produced with good instructional design and teaching techniques are capable to make student learn more and understand problematic topics in science


Background School reforms requiring collaborations spanning multiple sectors are increasing in prevalence, but extant research has primarily focused only upon cross-sector partnerships involving education and social services. College and career readiness (CCR) reforms, such as the one highlighted in this study, are also often intrinsically cross-sectoral in nature. It is necessary to understand how such complex collaborations are developed and maintained. Purpose: This study examined how cross-sector collaboration has shaped the development and implementation of district-wide high school career academies in a large urban school district. Research Design We applied case-study methodology to examine a mature cross-sector collaboration that guides and supports the district's career academy reforms. A meta-framework concerning cross-sector collaboration—developed by Bryson, Crosby, and Stone—supported our design, data collection, and analysis. Conclusions Findings disclose a complex system of structures and processes to support reform implementation and illuminate the role and nature of cross-sector collaborations. This study provides an initial step toward understanding the elements, processes, and leadership required to develop and sustain cross-sector CCR reforms. The findings hold relevance for practitioners (e.g., how to develop and strengthen such complex reforms), community partners, and researchers (e.g., theory-building regarding reform-supporting elements and their interactions).


We use two-dimensional and three-dimensional hybrid (kinetic ions–fluid electrons) simulations to investigate particle acceleration and magnetic field amplification at non-relativistic astrophysical shocks. We show that diffusive shock acceleration operates for quasi-parallel configurations (i.e., when the background magnetic field is almost aligned with the shock normal) and, for large sonic and Alfvénic Mach numbers, produces universal power-law spectra ∝p−4, where p is the particle momentum. The maximum energy of accelerated ions increases with time, and it is only limited by finite box size and run time. Acceleration is mainly efficient for parallel and quasi-parallel strong shocks, where 10%–20% of the bulk kinetic energy can be converted to energetic particles and becomes ineffective for quasi-perpendicular shocks. Also, the generation of magnetic turbulence correlates with efficient ion acceleration and vanishes for quasi-perpendicular configurations. At very oblique shocks, ions can be accelerated via shock drift acceleration, but they only gain a factor of a few in momentum and their maximum energy does not increase with time. These findings are consistent with the degree of polarization and the morphology of the radio and X-ray synchrotron emission observed, for instance, in the remnant of SN 1006. We also discuss the transition from thermal to non-thermal particles in the ion spectrum (supra-thermal region) and we identify two dynamical signatures peculiar of efficient particle acceleration, namely, the formation of an upstream precursor and the alteration of standard shock jump conditions.


Formal calculi of record structures have recently been a focus of active research. However, scarcely anyone has studied formally the dual notion—i.e., argument-passing to functions by keywords, and its harmonization with currying. We have. Recently, we introduced the label-selective -calculus, a conservative extension of -calculus that uses a labeling of abstractions and applications to perform unordered currying. In other words, it enables some form of commutation between arguments. This improves program legibility, thanks to the presence of labels, and efficiency, thanks to argument commuting. In this paper, we propose a simply typed version of the calculus, then extend it to one with ML-like polymorphic types. For the latter calculus, we establish the existence of principal types and we give an algorithm to compute them. Thanks to the fact that label-selective -calculus is a conservative extension of -calculus by adding numeric labels to stand for argument positions, its polymorphic typing provides us with a keyword argument-passing extension of ML obviating the need of records. In this context, conventional ML syntax can be seen as a restriction of the more general keyword-oriented syntax limited to using only implicit positions instead of keywords.


This paper applies a new class of dynamic credit loss rate models to the pricing of benchmark synthetic Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs). Our approach builds directly on the static, industry-standard, pricing approach to credit structured products based on Vasicek (1991). We generalize the Vasicek model by allowing risk factors to be driven by arbitrarily complex autoregressive processes. We show how to benchmark our model using CDX prices, and demonstrate that it can consistently and accurately flt the prices of multiple tranches with difierent subordination levels and tenors. Among other interesting results, we flnd that changes in tranche spreads are driven less by alterations in the market's estimate of default correlation (which is stable over time) and more by ∞uctuations in market perceptions of the persistence of credit shocks, i.e., the persistence of the credit cycle.


"Speaking Soviet with an Accent" presents the first English-language study of Soviet culture clubs in Kyrgyzstan. These clubs profoundly influenced the future of Kyrgyz cultural identity and fostered the work of many artists, such as famed novelist Chingiz Aitmatov. Based on extensive oral history and archival research, Ali Igmen follows the rise of culture clubs beginning in the 1920s, when they were established to inculcate Soviet ideology and create a sedentary lifestyle among the historically nomadic Kyrgyz people. These Red clubs are fondly remembered by locals as one of the few places where lively activities and socialization with other members of their ail (village or tribal unit) could be found. Through lectures, readings, books, plays, concerts, operas, visual arts, and cultural Olympiads, locals were exposed to Soviet notions of modernization. But these programs also encouraged the creation of a newfound Kyrgyzness that preserved aspects of local traditions and celebrated the achievements of Kyrgyz citizens in the building of a new state. These ideals proved appealing to many Kyrgyz, who, for centuries, had seen riches and power in the hands of a few tribal chieftains and Russian imperialists. This book offers new insights into the formation of modern cultural identity in Central Asia. Here, like their imperial predecessors, the Soviets sought to extend their physical borders and political influence. But Igmen also reveals the remarkable agency of the Kyrgyz people, who employed available resources to meld their own heritage with Soviet and Russian ideologies and form artistic expressions that continue to influence Kyrgyzstan today. "


A magnetic swallowing-detection system that can detect swallowing sounds and measure the distance between two magnetic coils was developed to detect the swallowing function non-invasively. The coils were set on both sides of the thyroid cartilage, and the distance between them changes in accordance with the movement of the thyroid cartilage. Swallowing sounds were detected by a piezoelectric microphone attached to the neck. The coils and microphone were installed in a holding unit that can be positioned at the front of the neck. The system was simultaneously used with videofluorography (VF) to measure nine healthy subjects while they swallowed liquid barium. To evaluate the correlation between the swallowing event detected by the magnetic swallowing-detection system and the swallowing event obtained from VF, two-dimensional positions of the hyoid bone in each VF image were detected. Based on the detection results, the swallowing starting time that was detected by the magnetic swallowing-detection system coincided with that determined from VF, namely, 38±172 ms. The coincidence among the peak time point of VF, that of the distance between the magnetic coils, and that of the swallowing sound appeared to have an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.9. Correlation between the peak time points of the VF tracking waveforms, the peak time points of distance between the magnetic coils, and the peak timing of the swallowing sound had an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.9. It can be concluded that the magnetic swallowing-detection system can detect swallowing movements simply and non-invasively without x-ray exposure.


In this paper we consider the composite self-concordant (CSC) minimization problem, which minimizes the sum of a self-concordant function $f$ and a (possibly nonsmooth) proper closed convex function $g$. The CSC minimization is the cornerstone of the path-following interior point methods for solving a broad class of convex optimization problems. It has also found numerous applications in machine learning. The proximal damped Newton (PDN) methods have been well studied in the literature for solving this problem that enjoy a nice iteration complexity. Given that at each iteration these methods typically require evaluating or accessing the Hessian of $f$ and also need to solve a proximal Newton subproblem, the cost per iteration can be prohibitively high when applied to large-scale problems. Inspired by the recent success of block coordinate descent methods, we propose a randomized block proximal damped Newton (RBPDN) method for solving the CSC minimization. Compared to the PDN methods, the computational cost per iteration of RBPDN is usually significantly lower. The computational experiment on a class of regularized logistic regression problems demonstrate that RBPDN is indeed promising in solving large-scale CSC minimization problems. The convergence of RBPDN is also analyzed in the paper. In particular, we show that RBPDN is globally convergent when $g$ is Lipschitz continuous. It is also shown that RBPDN enjoys a local linear convergence. Moreover, we show that for a class of $g$ including the case where $g$ is Lipschitz differentiable, RBPDN enjoys a global linear convergence. As a striking consequence, it shows that the classical damped Newton methods [22,40] and the PDN [31] for such $g$ are globally linearly convergent, which was previously unknown in the literature. Moreover, this result can be used to sharpen the existing iteration complexity of these methods.


In previous work (Schipper, Unander & Lilliu 1999), we summarized a new method for comparing energy use and carbon emissions among various countries. We call this the ''Mine/Yours'' comparison. In this paper, we provide details of the comparisons methodology, and carry out the comparison on a number of IEA countries. We calculate the average energy intensities I for a sample of countries (''yours'') and multiply them by structural parameters S for a particular country (''mine''). Comparing the results with the actual energy use of the country in question gives us an estimate of how much energy that country would use with average intensities but with its own structural conditions. The converse can be calculated as well, that is, average structure and own intensities. Emissions can be introduced through the F (fuel mix) term. These calculations show where differences in the components of emissions lead to large gaps among countries, and where those differences are not important. We show which components cause the largest variance in emissions by sector. In households, home size, average winter climate, and energy intensity appear to be the most important differentiating characteristics for space heating. For other residential energy uses the mix of fuels used tomore » generate electricity (utility mix) is most important. Because some of the differences are ''built in'' - geography, climate, natural resources endowment - we conclude by questioning whether uniform emissions reductions targets make sense. Indeed, the ''Mine/Yours'' tool provides a valuable guide to important ways in which emissions may or may not be flexible.« less


Leading international financial firms are applying multi-stage stochastic programs for managing asset-liability risk over extended time periods. Prominent examples include: Towers Perrin, State Farm Insurance, Falcon Asset Management, Frank Russell and Unilever. The asset-liability management systems assist pension plan investors, banks, insurance companies and other leveraged institutions. Wealthy individuals can benefit by developing careful risk management strategies. The advantages of integrating assets and liabilities are discussed along with a brief comparison of alternative modeling frameworks. We describe the advantages of high-performance computers for solving these difficult nonlinear robust optimization problems.


A method is presented to determine the energy absorbed by aerosols overlying clouds, using passive remote sensing by satellites. In passive remote sensing techniques, determination of the optical thickness of aerosols is severely hampered by the brightness of clouds in a scene. This makes the study of the various direct and indirect aerosol effects on clouds difficult and passive satellite observations of these effects are often limited to aerosols in the vicinity of clouds. Very valuable information has become available from active space-based sensors and some dedicated field campaigns on aerosol indirect effects have been performed in the past. This new method will exploit the wealth of information from the passive, space-based spectrometer SCIAMACHY that has been obtained over the last 9 years. Cloud scattering is large in the entire solar spectral range and cloud optical thickness is generally much larger than aerosol optical thickness. Therefore, scattering aerosols cannot, at present, be distinguished from scattering cloud droplets. Cloud absorption, on the other hand, is negligible below about 1 micron, whereas aerosol absorption is largest in the UV wavelength range, and increases with decreasing wavelength. A frequently used satellite tool to detect absorbing aerosols, which uses this aerosol UV-absorption, is the Absorbing Aerosol Index (AAI), which can indicate absorbing aerosols overlying clouds. The AAI is available from SCIAMACHY and used to find aerosol-polluted cloud scenes. A quantitative measure of absorption by aerosols, like e.g. aerosol optical thickness and aerosol scattering albedo, has been proved hard to derive from the AAI, which is a radiation property and not an aerosol property. Therefore, in the method presented here, the radiation, or reflectance as measured by SCIAMACHY, is used directly to derive the absorbed energy by the aerosols in the UV and visible spectral range, without making any assumptions on the aerosol microphysical properties. A LookUp Table (LUT) of cloud reflectances was created, simulating the spectral reflectances in the UV and visible range of aerosol-free cloud scenes. From an actual, measured aerosol-polluted cloud scene the cloud optical thickness and cloud droplet size are determined at wavelengths above 1 micron, to minimise any aerosol effect on the cloud properties. These cloud properties are then used with the predetermined LUT to get the simulated aerosol-free cloud reflectance in the UV and visible spectral range for the measured scene. The simulated aerosol-free and measured aerosol-polluted spectral reflectances can be compared directly to determine the absorbed energy by aerosols in the scene.


We measure the size of the fiscal multiplier using a heterogeneous-agent model with incomplete markets, capital and rigid prices and wages. The environment encompasses the essential elements necessary for a quantitative analysis of fiscal policy. First, output is partially demand-determined due to pricing frictions in product and labor markets, so that a fiscal stimulus increases aggregate demand. Second, incomplete markets deliver a realistic distribution of dynamic consumption and investment responses to stimulus policies across the population. These elements give rise to the standard textbook Keynesian-cross logic which, and unlike conventional wisdom would suggest, is significantly reinforced in our dynamic forward looking model. We find that market incompleteness is key to determining the size of the fiscal multiplier, which is uniquely determined in our model for any combination of fiscal and monetary policies of interest. The multiplier is 1.34 if deficit-financed and 0.61 if contemporaneously tax-financed for a pegged nominal interest rate, with similar values in a liquidity trap. If monetary policy follows a Taylor rule, the numbers drop to 0.66 and 0.54, respectively. We elucidate the importance of market incompleteness for our results and contrast them to models featuring complete markets or hand-to-mouth consumers.


Glycoproteins are typically expressed in nature with heterogeneous glycan components; understanding glycoprotein structure–function relationships is therefore challenging. This has been the driving force for increasing investigation for glycoconjugation techniques, in order to access homogenous natural glycoproteins and analogues thereof. These tools will be invaluable in efforts to unveil the precise role of each glycan structure. This mini-review provides a critical survey of glycoconjugation methodologies, with an emphasis on more recent progress in the field. Chemical and chemo-enzymatic glycoconjugation methods will be described, along with illustrations of typical applications.


Real-time path planning can efficiently relieve traffic congestion in urban scenarios. However, how to design an efficient path-planning algorithm to achieve a globally optimal vehicle traffic control still remains a challenging problem, particularly when we take drivers' individual preferences into consideration. In this paper, we first establish a hybrid intelligent transportation system (ITS), i.e., a hybrid-VANET-enhanced ITS, which utilizes both vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) and cellular systems of the public transportation system to enable realtime communications among vehicles, roadside units (RSUs), and a vehicle-traffic server in an efficient way. Then, we propose a real-time path-planning algorithm, which not only improves the overall spatial utilization of a road network but reduces average vehicle travel cost for avoiding vehicles from getting stuck in congestion as well. A stochastic Lyapunov optimization technique is exploited to address the globally optimal path-planning problem. Finally, the transmission delay of the hybrid-VANETenhanced ITS is evaluated in VISSIM to show the timeliness of the proposed communication framework. Moreover, system-level simulations conducted in Java demonstrate that the proposed path-planning algorithm outperforms the traditional distributed path planning in terms of balancing the spatial utilization and drivers' travel cost. Keywords— Road-side units, Vehicular ad-hoc network, Vehicle – to Vehicle, and Vehicle – road side units


This paper analyses changes occurring in visa politics during the rule of the JDP government with respect to EU visa policies. The author takes note of the positive steps taken since 2002, while also drawing attention to existing shortcomings. While Turkish nationals would like to enjoy visa-free travel rights despite stalling accession negotiations, some member states' strong resistance has spurred resentment among the Turkish public. The JDP government's resort to confrontational discourse with the EU and pragmatic moves towards a liberal visa policy with countries on the EU's blacklist signals a drift away from the EU's agenda. Turkey's fragmented passport regime also raises concerns. Visa policy has immense potential for the resolution of the current deadlock as well as calling into question the credibility of EU's policy of conditionality. While providing a thorough analysis relying on policy developments and empirical research, this paper will offer recommendations to policymakers for future prospects.


Hybrid structures of nanomaterials (e.g. tubes, scrolls, threads, cages) and biomaterials (e.g. proteins) hold tremendous potential for applications as drug carriers, biosensors, tissue scaffolds, cancer therapeutic agents, etc. However, in many cases, the interacting forces at the nano-bio interfaces and their roles in controlling the structures and dynamics of nano-bio-hybrid systems are very complicated but poorly understood. In this study, we investigate the structure and mechanical behavior of a protein-based hybrid structure, i.e., a carbon nanoscroll (CNS)-silk crystallite with a hydration level controllable by an interlayer interaction in CNS. Our findings demonstrate that CNS with a reduced core size not only shields the crystallite from a weakening effect of water, but also markedly strengthens the crystallite. Besides water shielding, the enhanced strength arises from an enhanced interaction between the crystallite and CNS due to the enhanced interlayer interaction in CNS. In addition, the interfacial strength for pulling the crystallite out of the CNS-silk structure is found to be dependent on both the interlayer interaction energy in CNS as well as the sequence of protein at the CNS-silk interface. The present study is of significant value in designing drugs or protein delivery vehicles for biomedical applications, and serves as a general guide in designing novel devices based on rolled-up configurations of two-dimensional (2D) materials.


This is a study of the management problems experienced by selected metropolitan cities in South and East Asia and of the approaches adopted in resolving them. Although the region contains many of the world's developing countries, it is not an exception to the universal trends in urbanization, which have had a massive impact on its metropolitan cities. Apart from Tokyo, the cities concerned tend to dominate the economic and political scene in their respective countries, but for the purposes of this discussion it is not inappropriate to refer to them and the problems they face as being broadly metropolitan. Urban geographers and planners now tend to use the term 'metropolitan' to refer to a large identifiable area of continuous urbanization consisting of several administrative jurisdictions. Demographers today often classify cities with populations of more than one million people as metropolitan, and in common usage the term is widely employed to symbolize social, economic, and political status. All of these characteristics apply to the cities studied here.


Urban planning has been focusing its attention on urban rooftop agriculture as an innovative way to produce local and reliable food in unused spaces in cities. However, there is a lack of quantitative data on soilless urban home gardens and their contribution to self-sufficiency. The aim of the present study is to provide quantitative agronomic and environmental data on an actual soilless urban garden to estimate its degree of self-sufficiency and sustainability. For this purpose, an 18 m2 soilless polyculture rooftop urban home garden in the city center of Barcelona was analyzed. From 2015 to 2017, 22 different crops were grown to feed 2 people in an open-air soilless system, and a life cycle assessment was performed. A total productivity of 10.6 kg/m2/year was achieved, meaning that 5.3 m2 would be needed to fulfill the yearly vegetable requirements of an average citizen (in terms of weight). Considering the vegetable market basket of Catalonia, an 8.2 m2 soilless garden would be needed to cover 62% of the market basket for one person. The top 5 most productive crops were tomato, chard, lettuce, pepper and eggplant, accounting for 85.5% of the total production. The water consumption was 3.7 L/m2/day, and 3.3 kg/year/m2 of waste was generated. A high degree of self-sufficiency was achieved, although adjustments could be made to adapt the production to the market basket. The environmental assessment showed that the fertilizers and their associated leachates accounted for the highest environmental impacts in all the studied impact categories. Overall, 0.6 kg CO2 eq. was generated per kg of vegetables produced. The quantitative data provided by the present study offer a reference from which urban planners and researchers can project future implementations of rooftop urban agriculture (UA) on a large scale.


Learning sequential actions is an essential ability, for most daily activities are sequential. We modify the trajectory serial reaction time (SRT) task, used to teach people a consistent sequence of mouse movements by cueing them with the next target response. We introduce a reinforcement learning (RL) version of the paradigm in which no cue appears. Instead, learners must explore response alternatives, receiving penalties when incorrect and rewards when correct. Learners are not told that they will learn a single deterministic sequence of responses, nor that it will repeat (nor how often), nor how long it is. Performance was bimodal: half performed poorly, and yet half performed remarkably well, acquiring the full 10-item sequence within 10 repetitions. We compare these groups' detailed results in this RL task with a cued trajectory SRT task, finding both similarities and discrepancies. Human learners outperform three standard RL models and have different patterns of errors.


We review the development of virtual tests for high-temperature ceramic matrix composites with textile reinforcement. Success hinges on understanding the relationship between the microstructure of continuous-fiber composites, including its stochastic variability, and the evolution of damage events leading to failure. The virtual tests combine advanced experiments and theories to address physical, mathematical, and engineering aspects of material definition and failure prediction. Key new experiments include surface image correlation methods and synchrotron-based, micrometer-resolution 3D imaging, both executed at temperatures exceeding 1,500°C. Computational methods include new probabilistic algorithms for generating stochastic virtual specimens, as well as a new augmented finite element method that deals efficiently with arbitrary systems of crack initiation, bifurcation, and coalescence in heterogeneous materials. Conceptual advances include the use of topology to characterize stochastic microstructures. We discuss the challenge of predicting the probability of an extreme failure event in a computationally tractable manner while retaining the necessary physical detail.


There is a large, but yet growing debate about the need to complement the European monetary union with a stronger fiscal union. This paper reviews the potential trade-offs between effectiveness, moral hazard problems, and permanent redistribution. In particular, we contribute to the question of how member states may be willing to enter into a stronger fiscal union if the evolution of this union may imply large redistribution under incomplete contracting. We discuss clawback mechanisms that have been suggested in the literature, but conclude that clawbacks are undesirable, as they would essentially destroy the insurance value of a fiscal union. Instead, we propose that a clearly defined exit option as a guarantee against involuntary redistribution can make entry into a stronger fiscal union less risky and hence more attractive for member states.


This report updates and supersedes previous recommendations (MMWR 1991;40[No. RR-5]:27-33) for the use of anergy skin testing in conjunction with purified protein derivative (PPD)-tuberculin skin testing of persons infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). In February 1997, CDC convened a meeting of consultants to discuss current information regarding anergy skin testing, PPD skin testing, and tuberculosis (TB) preventive therapy for HIV-infected persons. In formulating these recommendations, CDC considered the results of this meeting, as well as a review of published studies pertaining to PPD and anergy skin testing of persons who are infected with HIV. Isoniazid preventive therapy is effective in reducing the incidence of active TB among persons who have HIV infection and latent TB. Because of the complications associated with TB disease in HIV-infected persons, these persons must be screened for tuberculin infection. HIV-infected persons who have positive reactions to skin testing with PPD tuberculin should be evaluated to exclude active TB and offered preventive therapy with isoniazid if indicated. However, HIV-infected persons may have compromised ability to react to PPD-tuberculin skin testing, because HIV infection is associated with an elevated risk for cutaneous anergy. Anergy testing is a diagnostic procedure used to obtain information regarding the competence of the cellular immune system. When a clinician elects to use anergy testing as part of a multifactorial assessment of a person's risk for TB, the two Food and Drug Administration-approved Mantoux-method tests (mumps and Candida), used together, with cut-off diameters of 5 mm of induration, are recommended. Efforts to apply the results of anergy testing to preventive therapy decisions must be supplemented with information concerning the person's risk for infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Factors limiting the usefulness of anergy skin testing include problems with standardization and reproducibility, the low risk for TB associated with a diagnosis of anergy, and the lack of apparent benefit of preventive therapy for groups of anergic HIV-infected persons. Therefore, the use of anergy testing in conjunction with PPD testing is no longer recommended routinely for screening programs for M. tuberculosis infection conducted among HIV-infected persons in the United States.


[ 1 ] Quantifying isoprene emissions using satellite observations of the formaldehyde (HCHO) columns is subject to errors involving the column retrieval and the assumed relationship between HCHO columns and isoprene emissions, taken here from the GEOS-CHEM chemical transport model. Here we use a 6-year (1996–2001) HCHO column data set from the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME) satellite instrument to (1) quantify these errors, (2) evaluate GOME-derived isoprene emissions with in situ flux measurements and a process-based emission inventory (Model of Emissions of Gases and Aerosols from Nature, MEGAN), and (3) investigate the factors driving the seasonal and interannual variability of North American isoprene emissions. The error in the GOME HCHO column retrieval is estimated to be 40%. We use the Master Chemical Mechanism (MCM) to quantify the time-dependent HCHO production from isoprene, a and b -pinenes, and methylbutenol and show that only emissions of isoprene are detectable by GOME. The time-dependent HCHO yield from isoprene oxidation calculated by MCM is 20–30% larger than in GEOS-CHEM. GOME-derived isoprene fluxes track the observed seasonal variation of in situ measurements at a Michigan forest site with a (cid:1) 30% bias. The seasonal variation of North American isoprene emissions during 2001 inferred from GOME is similar to MEGAN, with GOME emissions typically 25% higher (lower) at the beginning (end) of the growing season. GOME and MEGAN both show a maximum over the southeastern United States, but they differ in the precise location. The observed interannual variability of this maximum is 20–30%, depending on month. The MEGAN isoprene emission dependence on surface air temperature explains 75% of the month-to-month variability in GOME-derived isoprene emissions over the southeastern United States during May–September 1996–2001.


Context. Detached white dwarf + main sequence (WD+MS) systems represent the simplest population of post-common envelope binaries (PCEBs). Since the ensemble properties of this population carries important information about the characteristics of the common-envelope (CE) phase, it deserves close scrutiny. However, most population synthesis studies do not fully consider the effects of the observational selection biases of the samples used to compare with the theoretical simulations. Aims. Here we present the results of a set of detailed Monte Carlo simulations of the population of WD+MS binaries in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7. Methods. We used up-to-date stellar evolutionary models, a complete treatment of the Roche lobe overflow episode, and a full implementation of the orbital evolution of the binary systems. Moreover, in our treatment we took the selection criteria and all the known observational biases into account. Results. Our population synthesis study allowed us to make a meaningful comparison with the available observational data. In particular, we examined the CE efficiency, the possible contribution of internal energy, and the initial mass ratio distribution (IMRD) of the binary systems. We find that our simulations correctly reproduce the properties of the observed distribution of WD+MS PCEBs. In particular, we find that once the observational biases are carefully considered, the distribution of orbital periods and of masses of the WD and MS stars can be correctly reproduced for several choices of the free parameters and different IMRDs, although models in which a moderate fraction (≤10%) of the internal energy is used to eject the CE and in which a low value of CE efficiency is used (≤0.3) seem to fit the observational data better. We also find that systems with He-core WDs are over-represented in the observed sample, because of selection effects. Conclusions. Although our study represents an important step forward in modeling the population of WD+MS PCEBs, the still scarce observational data preclude deriving a precise value of the several free parameters used to compute the CE phase without ambiguity or ascertaining which the correct IMRD might be.


Reading, Writing, and Face Recognition Reading, not to mention writing and texting, is a relatively recent invention, and hence it is believed that a preliterate brain must adapt on the fly, so to speak, in learning how to process written words, rather than being able to rely upon evolutionarily ancient modifications of the visual system pathways. Dehaene et al. (p. 1359, published online 11 November) examined the neural response to a range of visual stimuli in three groups: illiterate adults, adults who learned to read as children, and adults who learned to read as adults. Reading induced a greater facility in processing horizontally oriented stimuli at early stages in the visual pathway and was also associated with the appearance of an area specialized for words. This gain of function appeared to occur at a cost—the area in the temporal cortex devoted to face processing shrank. Reading changes the mind. Does literacy improve brain function? Does it also entail losses? Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we measured brain responses to spoken and written language, visual faces, houses, tools, and checkers in adults of variable literacy (10 were illiterate, 22 became literate as adults, and 31 were literate in childhood). As literacy enhanced the left fusiform activation evoked by writing, it induced a small competition with faces at this location, but also broadly enhanced visual responses in fusiform and occipital cortex, extending to area V1. Literacy also enhanced phonological activation to speech in the planum temporale and afforded a top-down activation of orthography from spoken inputs. Most changes occurred even when literacy was acquired in adulthood, emphasizing that both childhood and adult education can profoundly refine cortical organization.


From the very start, the European Monetary Union (EMU) was set up to fail. The host of problems we are now witnessing, from the solvency crises on the periphery to the bank runs in Spain, Greece, and Italy, were built into the very structure of the EMU and its banking system. Policymakers have admittedly responded to these various emergencies with an uninspiring mix of delaying tactics and self-destructive policy blunders, but the most fundamental mistake of all occurred well before the buildup to the current crisis. What we are witnessing today are the results of a design flaw. When individual nations like Greece or Italy joined the EMU, they essentially adopted a foreign currency—the euro—but retained responsibility for their nation's fiscal policy. This attempted separation of fiscal policy from a sovereign currency is the fatal defect that is tearing the eurozone apart.


The research field of patient learning and patient education is growing due to the high prevalence of people living with lifelong disease and illness. The aim of the present article is to argue for and describe the building of a Nordic Network for Patient Education and Learning. The article describes the Network and the activities, theoretical framework and ongoing research within the Network. If patients' voices are to be heard within healthcare settings, patient learning and patient education are of the utmost importance. Furthermore, it is essential to share experiences from the research we have conducted and are currently carrying out with nurses in Nordic countries as well as around the world.


We investigated the effect of irrigation scheduling and tree shelters on survival and growth of nine tree species during first- year establishment in three naturalized Utah landscapes with divergent soil and climate. Seedlings of nine species were planted at h igh mountain [MTN; 2180 m (7150 ft)], mountain foothills [FTH; 1350 m (4430 ft)], and alkali desert [DES; 1320 m (4330 ft)] sites. Half the trees at each site were enclosed with transluscent plastic shelters after planting, and all trees were irrigated when water loss, estimated from local evapotranspiration, depleted plant-available soil water. Tree condition was rated through the growing seas on, water potential was measured once in late season to assess plant water status, and the number of surviving trees were counted. Despite irrigation, tree condition at the DES and FTH sites declined through the growing season but remained high at the MTN site, resu lting in final survival of 35%, 25% and 80%, respectively. The effect of shelters on survival was minimal at all three sites. At the MTN site, however, sheltered trees were less water stressed despite receiving 60% less water than those without shelters. Protective shel ters and irrigation scheduling can benefit tree establishment in a naturalized landscape by reducing water stress provided soil and clim ate conditions do not inherently limit tree growth.


ABSTRACT Sirtuin1 (SIRT1) deacetylase delays and improves many obesity-related diseases, including nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and diabetes, and has received great attention as a drug target. SIRT1 function is aberrantly low in obesity, so understanding the underlying mechanisms is important for drug development. Here, we show that obesity-linked phosphorylation of SIRT1 inhibits its function and promotes pathological symptoms of NAFLD. In proteomic analysis, Ser-164 was identified as a major serine phosphorylation site in SIRT1 in obese, but not lean, mice, and this phosphorylation was catalyzed by casein kinase 2 (CK2), the levels of which were dramatically elevated in obesity. Mechanistically, phosphorylation of SIRT1 at Ser-164 substantially inhibited its nuclear localization and modestly affected its deacetylase activity. Adenovirus-mediated liver-specific expression of SIRT1 or a phosphor-defective S164A-SIRT1 mutant promoted fatty acid oxidation and ameliorated liver steatosis and glucose intolerance in diet-induced obese mice, but these beneficial effects were not observed in mice expressing a phosphor-mimic S164D-SIRT1 mutant. Remarkably, phosphorylated S164-SIRT1 and CK2 levels were also highly elevated in liver samples of NAFLD patients and correlated with disease severity. Thus, inhibition of phosphorylation of SIRT1 by CK2 may serve as a new therapeutic approach for treatment of NAFLD and other obesity-related diseases.


CASE DESCRIPTION The primary subject matter of this case concerns a salary increase and the internal and external compensation alignment of a university. The equity-theory helps explain the conflict that exists between the faculty members. To assist in their analysis, students are provided with a timeline of the critical events of the case and comparison compensation tables. Students are asked to answer four questions that include solutions to management issues and a recommended long-term solution. This case has a difficulty level of four. The case is designed to be taught in two class hours and is expected to require approximately three hours of outside preparation time by students. CASE SYNOPSIS The case depicts a business school dean's attempt to raise the salaries of seven School of Business faculty members to the 25th percentile salary level of AACSB accredited institutions. This was an important step to retain valuable employees and ensure reaccredidation in 2007. The salary proposal created an uproar among the non-business faculty at the university. They felt the School of Business professors were already among the highest paid employees at the university. To make matters worse, this situation occurred during a financial crisis as many other employees were denied raises and several employees were laid off due to budget constraints. The problem is exacerbated by the lack of a clear pay policy and by serious constraints posed by the institution budget and state funding. This case illustrates the importance of internal and external compensation alignment within an organization. The President of the university and the Board of Directors are faced with the enormous challenge of creating cohesiveness among the faculty despite their irreconcilable differences. Their actions and decisions will shape the fate of the School of Business and the overall university INSTRUCTORS' NOTES Recommendation for a General Teaching Approach This case encourages students to critically analyze several management principles including conflict management, decision-making skills, and the equity theory in an applicable, real-world situation. This case is structured for senior level management students and should take approximately two in-class hours to complete. Questions should be graded for the specificity of the answers provided. The instructor may choose to lead an in-class discussion after the assignments are completed so that different views can be observed. The instructor can then follow the discussion with appropriate answers. Answers to Case Study Questions: Based on your knowledge of the Pay Equity Theory and provided appendices, evaluate the Board's decision relative to the proposed salary increases for the seven School of Business faculty and administrators by answering the following four questions: 1. Using the equity theory, discuss and rationalize the non-business faculty members' and the School of Business "Non-Greedy Seven" professors' actions toward the salary adjustments for "The Greedy Seven". J. Stacy Adam's equity theory helps us understand why there was a controversial concern over the salary increases for the School of Business. Equity theory is based on employees' perceptions of fairness relating to their job. Using the equity theory, several non-business faculty members compared his/her input (effort, experience, education, and competence) and output (salary, recognition, rewards) to those of the business faculty members. Since they perceived the ratio was unequal, an equity tension existed. Therefore, the non-business faculty members could either choose to reduce his/her effort or strive to increase his/her output to make the relationship ratio balance. In this case, two main points can be noted to help illustrate the perceived work ratio imbalance. First, the non-business faculty members felt that the business faculty members were already overcompensated. …


Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the response of glycemic index and liver tissue damage to aerobic training along with coriander seed extract in Streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Materials and Methods: diabetic male Wistar rats (n=40, average age: 12 weeks; weight: 130±10 g) were randomly divided into four groups: Control, Extract, Exercise and Exercise+Extract. The diabetes model in rats was induced with a single injection of Streptozotocin-(60 mg/kg) dissolved in citrate buffer (0.05 mole). The high glucose level of 250 mg/dl is defined as the diabetic criterion. The extract was administered orally (150 mg/kg/day). The exercise program was six weeks of aerobic exercise, 5 times a week with 50-55 of maximal oxygen consumption. Results: The application of aerobic training followed by coriander seed extract in diabetic rats had a significant effect on total serum glucose (P=0.002), AST (P=0.001), ALT (P=0.005) and ALP (P=0.033); however, it had no significant effect on insulin level (P=0.656) and insulin-resistance (P=0.458). Conclusion: It seems that the combination of a regular aerobic exercise and coriander seed extract in diabetic rats had beneficial effects on liver tissue damage and possibly can prevent and improve liver tissue damage via the reduction of the of some liver tissue damage markers.


In bioinformatics, as well as other computationally-intensive research fields, there is a need for workflows that can reliably produce consistent output, independent of the software environment or configuration settings of the machine on which they are executed. Indeed, this is essential for controlled comparison between different observations or for the wider dissemination of workflows. Providing this type of reproducibility, however, is often complicated by the need to accommodate the myriad dependencies included in a larger body of software, each of which generally come in various versions. Moreover, in many fields (bioinformatics being a prime example), these versions are subject to continual change due to rapidly evolving technologies, further complicating problems related to reproducibility. Here, we propose a principled approach for building analysis pipelines and managing their dependencies. As a case study to demonstrate the utility of our approach, we present a set of highly reproducible pipelines for the analysis of RNA-seq, ChIP-seq, Bisulfite-seq, and single-cell RNA-seq. All pipelines process raw experimental data, and generate reports containing publication-ready plots and figures, with interactive report elements and standard observables. Users may install these highly reproducible packages and apply them to their own datasets without any special computational expertise beyond the use of the command line. We hope such a toolkit will provide immediate benefit to laboratory workers wishing to process their own data sets or bioinformaticians seeking to automate all, or parts of, their analyses. In the long term, we hope our approach to reproducibility will serve as a blueprint for reproducible workflows in other areas. Our pipelines, along with their corresponding documentation and sample reports, are available at http://bioinformatics.mdc-berlin.de/pigx


Problems relating to the design of a far infrared spectrograph are discussed. The design of a spectrograph which was constructed is described. A platinum strip coated with thorium-oxide is used as a source. Discrimination against short-wave radiation is provided by quartz, paraffin, turpentine soot, a compensated potassium bromide chopper, reststrahlen plates, and a grating (used as a reflection filter) with groove separation somewhat less than the wavelength being investigated. As a dispersing device, an echelette grating ruled with 180 lines per inch is used. The detector is a Golay pneumatic cell. A low noise vacuum-tube amplifier renders the signal from the detector suitable for operation of a strip-chart recorder. The spectrograph is evacuable.Spectral operating characteristics of the instrument are shown in ammonia and atmospheric water vapor spectra in the region between 45 and 150 microns. Absorption lines separated by less than 1 cm−1 are well resolved throughout this spectral region.


The emerging Variable Valve Timing (VVT) technology complicates the estimation of air flow rate because both intake and exhaust valve timings significantly affect engine's gas exchange and air flow rate. In this paper, we propose to use Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) to model the air flow rate through a 2.4 liter VVT engine with independent intake and exhaust camshaft phasers. The procedure for selecting the network architecture and size is combined with the appropriate training methodology to maximize accuracy and prevent overfitting. After completing the ANN training based on a large set of dynamometer test data, the multi-layer feedforward network demonstrates the ability to represent air flow rate accurately over a wide range of operating conditions. The ANN model is implemented in a vehicle with the same 2.4 L engine using a Rapid Prototype Controller. Comparison between a mass air flow (MAF) sensor and the ANN model during a typical dynamic maneuver shows a very good agreement and superior behavior of the network during the transient. Practical recommendations regarding the production implementation of the ANN are provided as well.


This paper critically examines the European Commission's commitment to employing a more "effects-based" approach to enforcing Article 101 TFEU. It finds that, while the Commission has developed an impressive theoretical framework for assessing the effects of agreements on competition, there has in fact been very little effects analysis in its decisional practice since 2005. In the overwhelming majority of cases, the anticompetitive effects of prohibited agreements have instead been presumed on the basis of the "object rule". This paper explores possible reasons for this development, and examines whether alternative forms of enforcement are addressing the void that the focus on object restrictions has left. It concludes that Article 101 is currently not being enforced effectively against restrictions of competition by effect.


In animal production in Mali, food appears to be the major constraint. In fact, mycotoxin contamination of animal feed is common and widely spread in West Africa. Due to their ubiquity, mycotoxin producing moulds are capable of reducing the nutritional value of animal feed by elaborating several mycotoxins. Animal feed contaminated with mycotoxins has adverse effects on animal health and productivity. Also, mycotoxins may be carried over into meat and milk when animals are fed with contaminated feed. Samples of feed used for animal nutrition in Urban and Peri-urban Zones of Bamako were randomly collected and analyzed for fungal flora and natural incidence of mycotoxins. Ten mould genera were recovered, six of them known to be mycotoxigenic. More than 11 species were determined. Fumonisins, deoxynivalenol and zearalenone were detected in all the samples, while Aflatoxins were not detected in samples from Massala. Thirty-six out of 36 samples were contaminated with zearalenone, 34 out of 36 were contaminated with Fumonisins and 26 out of 36 were contaminated with deoxynivalenol. Also, 7 out of 36 samples were contaminated with aflatoxins. This study indicates the need for continuous assessment of the mycological status of animal feed production, in order to ensure food safety. Accepted: 30 October 2017 Available Online: 06 November 2017


Abstract Island biotas emerge from the interplay between colonisation, speciation and extinction and are often the scene of spectacular adaptive radiations. A common assumption is that insular diversity is at a dynamic equilibrium, but for remote islands, such as Hawaii or Galápagos, this idea remains untested. Here, we reconstruct the temporal accumulation of terrestrial bird species of the Galápagos using a novel phylogenetic method that estimates rates of biota assembly for an entire community. We show that species richness on the archipelago is in an ascending phase and does not tend towards equilibrium. The majority of the avifauna diversifies at a slow rate, without detectable ecological limits. However, Darwin's finches form an exception: they rapidly reach a carrying capacity and subsequently follow a coalescent‐like diversification process. Together, these results suggest that avian diversity of remote islands is rising, and challenge the mutual exclusivity of the non‐equilibrium and equilibrium ecological paradigms.


We discuss two possible definitions for Sobolev spaces associated with ultraspherical expansions. These definitions depend on the notion of higher order derivative. We show that in order to have an isomorphism between Sobolev and potential spaces, the higher order derivatives to be considered are not the iteration of the first order derivatives. Some discussions about higher order Riesz transforms are involved. Also we prove that the maximal operator for the Poisson integral in the ultraspherical setting is bounded on the Sobolev spaces.


When i was growing up in New York City during the 1940s, people (ordinary people anyway) assumed responsibility for their own actions. That was back when falling on an icy sidewalk meant being careless and not that the City had failed in its duty of care; when you could go fishing in the local park without first climbing a chain link fence designed to stop kids from falling into the water and their parents suing the County for negligence; or, when you could ride a bicycle without a helmet and there were see-saws in the park alongside slippery-dips higher than the shoulders of a five year old. I am sure it was the same in Australia. Maybe some of the changes in social attitudes and the proliferation of rules and regulations are good things. Maybe it is good to wear a helmet when riding a bike; it certainly makes sense to use the seat belt when driving in a car and maybe kids should not be allowed to risk life and limb sliding down a 2.5 metre high slippery-dip. What is not good is the increasing refusal to assume responsibility, to be litigious, and the growth of the Nanny State where individuals are denied responsibility for their own actions and we are all dumbed down by the expectation of authorities that we will all behave and respond like the least intelligent, least educated, most anti-social and most physically inept member of society. I find this trend to state control of my freedom to choose what I do, how I do it and when I do it frustrating and annoying; for example, I am not allowed to carry a pocket knife so I can eat an apple for lunch or open a bag of crisps because of an irrational fear of youth violence in Sydney and politicians needing to appear ?tough? on crime. But not wanting to assign or assume responsibility for individual actions has more serious implications; ones that impact significantly on the future of global biodiversity and human survival.


Minimally invasive treatment modalities allow for the preservation of sound tooth substance. However, by limiting the preparation to the extent of a defect, the transition between restoration and natural tooth may be moved to more visible areas. The materials available for the restoration of a limited defect in the anterior area are either resin composite materials or porcelain. A patient was presented who asked for the replacement of a discolored filling on the maxillary right central incisor. Tooth preparation was limited to the extent of the old filling, and a porcelain partial veneer restoration was fabricated. Despite the horizontal finish line in the middle of the clinical crown, a result could be achieved that was regarded as a success by the patient. This type of restoration proves to be a suitable alternative to direct composite restorations in the anterior area for the reconstruction of a limited defect, eg, due to a dental trauma.


The book is devoted to the development of Einstein's theory of gravitation, based on the relativity of space-time and projectively invariant equations of gravitation. It eliminates contradiction of the theory with the modern field theory, because both descriptions of gravity - as a curvature of the Riemannian space-time and as a field in the Minkowski space - are not mutually exclusive. On this basis, some of the fundamental problems of the theory and relativistic astrophysics are revised. It is shown, in particular, that the spherically symmetric field does not have a singularity, the energy of the gravitational field of a point mass is finite, and the accelerated expansion of the Universe is a consequence of gravity properties. The book is intended for physicists and astrophysicists. However, it is also apprehensible for senior students.


Traditionally, integration problems between IT systems were solved by point-to-point
connections. These point-to-point connections pose issues with scalability, reliability, and
flexibility. To overcome these issues, companies typically invest in Enterprise Application
Integration (EAI) using an Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) to integrate the IT systems
through a central middleware infrastructure. EAI promises improvement of scalability,
reliability, and flexibility by implementing loosely coupled integration solutions to realise
loosely coupled IT systems.
By wrongly implementing EAI on an ESB IT systems may still be tightly coupled and the
issues with point-to-point connections could be recreated on the ESB. Currently there is
no out-of-the-box solution to identify the integration solution where tight coupling causes
these issues. The goal of this research is to investigate an approach to identify the coupling
state in an Enterprise Service Bus and identify the integration solutions on an ESB which
have a negative impact on the quality attributes due to tight coupling.
The first step in the approach is applying a set of properties on the integration solutions
to identify their coupling state. Manually identifying the coupling state is labour intensive,
so it is automated by implementing a prototype with the Eclipse MoDisco framework. The
second step in the approach is evaluating a trade-off between the risk of being in a certain
coupling state and the efficiency loss of migrating to a less risky coupling state. With the
outcome of the trade-off it can be ascertained whether or not it is beneficial to migrate to
a different coupling state.
The result of the approach is a list of integration solutions for which it would be beneficial
to migrate to a different coupling state. This gives a concrete measure to be able to
determine which integration solutions need to be improved to strive for the optimal
balance between quality and the effort needed to realise quality. The approach was
validated using the ESB implementation of a large European airport as a case study.


This paper explores hybrid ARQ policies based on fountain codes for the transmission of multicast messages in underwater channels. These rateless codes are considered because of two nice properties, namely, they are computationally lightweight and do not require to know the channel erasure probabilities at the receivers prior to transmission. In this paper, these codes are used together with a Stop and Wait ARQ to enhance the performance of broadcast communications. First, we present a dynamic programming model for the characterization of optimal broadcasting policies. The derived broadcasting rules are then compared against plain ARQ schemes via Monte-Carlo simulation. Our results show that digital fountain codes are a promising technique for the transmission over underwater channels as their performance, in terms of delay, reliability and energy efficiency, clearly dominates that of plain ARQ solutions. This paper is a preliminary study on the topic and encourages us towards the design of practical HARQ protocols for the underwater medium.


Large language models have recently been shown to attain reasonable zero-shot generalization on a diverse set of tasks (Brown et al., 2020). It has been hypothesized that this is a consequence of implicit multitask learning in language models' pretraining (Radford et al., 2019). Can zero-shot generalization instead be directly induced by explicit multitask learning? To test this question at scale, we develop a system for easily mapping any natural language tasks into a human-readable prompted form. We convert a large set of supervised datasets, each with multiple prompts with diverse wording. These prompted datasets allow for benchmarking the ability of a model to perform completely held-out tasks. We fine-tune a pretrained encoder-decoder model (Raffel et al., 2020; Lester et al., 2021) on this multitask mixture covering a wide variety of tasks. The model attains strong zero-shot performance on several standard datasets, often outperforming models up to 16x its size. Further, our approach attains strong performance on a subset of tasks from the BIG-bench benchmark, outperforming models up to 6x its size. All trained models are available at https://github.com/bigscience-workshop/t-zero and all prompts are available at https://github.com/bigscience-workshop/promptsource.


As the world's energy use continues to grow, the development of clean distributed generation becomes increasingly important. Fuel cells are an environmentally friendly renewable energy source that can be used in a wide range of applications and are ideal for distributed power applications. In this study, the power conversion element of a dual single-phase, 10 kW stand-alone fuel cell system is analyzed. The modular converter consists of a DC-DC front-end cascaded with a half-bridge inverter. The entire system is accurately modeled, to help determine any interactions that may arise. Control strategies based on simplicity, performance, and cost are evaluated. A simple voltage loop, with careful consideration to avoid transformer saturation, is employed for the phase-shifted DC-DC converter. Several experimental transfer functions were measured to confirm the modeling assumptions and verify the control design of the DC-DC converter. Two control options for the inverter are explored in detail, and experimental results confirm that the modulation index must be controlled to regulate the output voltage during various load conditions. The final system is implemented without the use of current sensors, thus keeping the inverter cost down. Experimental results using a power supply are given for resistive, inductive, and nonlinear loads and the performance is acceptable. Fuel cell test results, including transient response, are also displayed and analyzed.


Cemented carbide is today the most frequently used drawing die material in steel wire drawing applications. This is mainly due to the possibility to obtain a broad combination of hardness and toughness thus meeting the requirements concerning strength, crack resistance and wear resistance set by the wire drawing process. However, the increasing cost of cemented carbide in combination with the possibility to increase the wear resistance of steel through the deposition of wear resistant CVD and PVD coatings have increased the interest for steel wire drawing dies during the last years. In the present study, the possibility to replace cemented carbide wire drawing dies with CVD and PVD coated steel drawing dies have been investigated by i) tribological testing, i.e. pin-on-disc and scratch testing, in combination with post-test observations of the tribo surfaces using scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and 3D surface profilometry and ii) steel wire drawing under full scale industrial conditions. In the tests a sodium stearate based soap was used as a lubricant. Of the CVD and PVD coatings evaluated in the tribological tests, a CVD TiC and a PVD CrC/C coating displayed the most promising results, i.e. a combination of high wear resistance and low friction in contact with the steel wire material and consequently these coatings were selected for the steel wire drawing tests. Post-test examination of the worn drawing dies showed that the CrC/C coating displayed a high wear rate while the TiC coating showed a low wear rate but also signs of local cracking and chipping. However, the overall best performance was displayed by a TiC – CrC/C dual layer coating which displayed a limited cracking and chipping tendency although the top CrC/C coating showed a high wear rate. Based on the results obtained, CVD and PVD coatings aimed to provide improved tribological performance of steel wire drawing dies should display a smooth surface topography, a high wear resistance, a high fracture toughness (i.e. a high cracking and chipping resistance) and intrinsic low friction properties in contact with the wire material. Also, the steel substrate used must display a sufficient load carrying capacity and resistance to thermal softening.


This study uses mixed methods to closely investigate how journalistic role conceptions and perceived attributes of new technologies, among other external forces, shape broadcast journalists' intention and actual use of new media technologies. An integrated model developed from extant technology adoption and role conception theories was used to examine individual journalists' subjective beliefs about new technologies and normative roles. A hundred and forty nine (149) broadcast journalists were drawn from 18 FM radio stations in four southwest states of Nigeria using multi-stage purposive and snowballing techniques. Another set of 18 broadcast journalists of varied background were interviewed in-situ. Factorial analyses confirm the significance of perceived technological attributes in technology adoption. Role conception correlates with technology adoption. Together, they predict broadcast journalists' intention and actual use of new media technologies, with 32% total variance (R2). Multiple regression (stepwise) models also show that a combination of perceived technological attributes (utilitarian, communication and hedonic values), perceived organisational support and agenda, and perceived institutional policy control accounted for between 8-10% of the total variance in broadcast journalists' intention and actual use of new digital technologies. Role conceptions also made significant contribution of between 12-13% of the total variance. Disseminator and civic roles emerged as positive predictors of radio journalists' intention and actual use of new digital technologies. While interpreter role approached significance, adversarial surfaced as a negative predictor. Perceived communication value (PCV) and perceived institutional policy control (PIPC) both emerged as significant predictors of technology use behaviour among Nigerian radio journalists, significant at p ≤ .001. Thematic analyses further substantiate the centrality of perceived attributes of technology such as utilitarian and communication (interactivity) values. Overwhelming impacts of facilitating conditions on adopting new media technologies were recorded. "Gate-watching" and "agenda enhancement" surfaced as neo-normative roles driven by the use of text-based quasi-synchronous social media platforms. Ultimately, the wider social-political and economic conditions in which Nigerian broadcast journalists work shape and constrain their adoption of new digital technologies and journalistic roles, with traces of market-driven approach rather than professional value-creation.


In this paper we study the generalization capabilities of fully-connected neural networks trained in the context of time series forecasting. Time series do not satisfy the typical assumption in statistical learning theory of the data being i.i.d. samples from some data-generating distribution. We use the input and weight Hessians, that is the smoothness of the learned function with respect to the input and the width of the minimum in weight space, to quantify a network's ability to generalize to unseen data. While such generalization metrics have been studied extensively in the i.i.d. setting of for example image recognition, here we empirically validate their use in the task of time series forecasting. Furthermore we discuss how one can control the generalization capability of the network by means of the training process using the learning rate, batch size and the number of training iterations as controls. Using these hyperparameters one can efficiently control the complexity of the output function without imposing explicit constraints.


Implementation of integrated cow system with biogas technology approach is one of efficient technology for cow waste treatment. The technology is using available natural microorganism to compose and process various organic matters on anaerobe condition. This will produce methane gas (CH 4 ) and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and qualified liquid and solid organic manure. The methane gas (CH 4 ) can be use as gas fuel (BBG). Biogas production may contribute to sustainable agriculture as renewable resources and environmental friendly. The research was aimed to analyze feasibility of biogas as alternative energy sources on farmer's individual and group basis. Particularly, the research's objectives are : (a) to study waste treatment performance with biogas installation at research's site; (b) to analyze feasibility of biogas development as alternative energy sources on farmer's individual and group basis; (c) to analyze sensitivity of biogas development on cost component and the benefit to treat waste at four different sites; (d) to identify intern and extern affecting that affect of biogas installation; and (e) to determine appropriate alternative strategy in the biogas installation development for farmer. The biogas reactor can be constructed both by cement and fiberglass. Biogas reactor from fiberglass is more effective and produces higher and better gas. Study at the four locations both on individual and group basis by using liquid and solid organic manure are contribute to increase farmer's income. Result of financial feasibility analysis with biogas digester capacity 5 m 3 and 17 m3 and interest rate 17% shows that biogas installation project is feasible to be implemented and developed. Investment cost to construct biogas installation is Rp 19.800.000. Financial feasibility criteria for NPV individual biogas and 30 years project life are Rp 35.173.048, B/C ratio (2,018) and IRR (31%). Feasibility criteria for NPV group biogas and 30 years project life is Rp 259.882.871, B/C ratio (3,787) and IRR (60%). According to the calculation of switching value, the project is sensitive on variable cost and selling price changing in the revenue.


Although the historical function of criminal courts tasked with adjudicating episodes of mass violence is well-established, the precise purpose behind narrating history within atrocity trials remains a matter of contestation. This article examines how certain domestic atrocity trials have constructed narratives of the past aligned with the nation-building aspirations of the States in which they were convened. Rather than framing justice primarily in terms of upholding standards of fairness to the accused or responding to the needs of victims and local communities, the domestic atrocity trials examined in this article reflect a notion of 'justice as identity' whereby the criminal courtroom becomes a didactic mechanism of nation-building. The article examines two domestic atrocity trials in particular – the German trial of Auschwitz guards and the French trial of Paul Touvier, a former regional chief of the Vichy Milice. By revealing how these trials prioritised competing conceptions of the rule of law – the Auschwitz trial relying on a conservative conception of the rule of law underpinned by a strict legality conception of the principle of legality, and the Touvier trial relying on a more transformative conception of the rule of law underpinned by a substantive justice conception of the principle of legality – this article reveals an important dimension of the mechanics by which domestic atrocity trials have been able to legitimate particular conceptions of national identity out of specific interpretations of a nation's past.


M13 probe was used in combination with the restriction enzymes Msp I and Bam HI to produce DNA profiles of captive and free-range Queensland koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus). The Msp I-M13 combination resulted in profiles with an average of 22 clearly resolvable bands in the 1.5-7.6-kb range. When seven koalas (part of a 40-animal free-range population) were analysed, they exhibited 8-29% band polymorphism (average variation of 17%). The Bam HI-MI3 combination produced 28 resolvable bands with an average of 9% band polymorphism. The Msp I-M13 profiling system was also used to successfully determine paternity in two family groups. Of the 66 total bands produced when mother, father and offspring were profiled, 11 were common to all three family members, nine were unique to the mother and four were unique to the father. However, two maternal-specific and eight paternalspecific bands were inherited by the offspring. DNA profiling of koalas (at least of those from Queensland) should prove useful for assessing the degree of inbreeding in captive populations, solving disputed paternity cases in wildlife poaching, determining the social organisation of free-range koalas, identifying individual koalas and studying the genetics of the koala throughout its range.


The prismless excitation of guided waves in a Bragg reflection waveguide is investigated. We show that the guided modes can be directly excited by a plane wave that is incident from the air. An excellent agreement between the effective index of the guided mode in an ideal Bragg reflection waveguide and the minimum of the reflection curve has been found for two different semiconductor multilayer compositions. With the optimization of the width of the coupling region, an almost complete transfer of the incident wave to the guided mode was accomplished. This novel guided-wave device is predicted to match well with active multilayer heterostructure devices.


A quantitative spectrographic method has been developed for the determination of eight impurity elements in indium within the range 0 0005–0 1%. The elements chosen are those considered to be of most probable occurrence and importance and are as follows; copper, gallium, iron, lead, nickel, silver, tin and zinc. The analytical method utilizes a high-voltage a.c arc excitation on a platform-centerpost electrode coated with dried sample salts. The method is versatile in that it can be extended to include higher, lower or other impurity element concentrations of interest. An over-all accuracy of approximately ±15% of the amount found can be expected.


This essay will discuss how the state in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 (1953) uses new media as a tool to create passive, surveilled subjects, entertained by programs engineered to embed state ideology into the viewer. In the 1950s, television—a machine for reproducing state and corporate ideology—threatened to replace the written cultural archive with a presentist modality. The written cultural archive of Fahrenheit 451 is constituted by works Bradbury posits can overcome institutionalized prejudices of race, class, and gender. The inaccessibility of this written cultural archive, the isolation, and loss of individuality the populace experiences reflect how much denizens of Bradbury's world are willing to sacrifice to gain access to gain access to a media archive of momentary pleasures. By turning the car into a measure of class and success, corporations have also succeeded in splintering a sense of community that might otherwise encourage intelligent discourse in public spaces. The written word once carried arguments formulated in the public sphere to private spaces, but now wall-to-wall screens dominate private spaces, reinforcing state ideology in homes as if they were public spaces. Fahrenheit 451 maps both the shift from reliance on the written word to the emergence of the televisual archive as the primary site of a society's archive and that archive's relationship to corporate and state powers seeking maximum control over the population. Though modern technology evolves by the day, Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 remains a touchstone in discussions of social anxieties and replaced cultural archives in science fiction.


This how-to and reference manual is guaranteed to put users on the fast track to mastering MICROSTATION! Cleverly engineered project and lab exercises harness the power of V8i functionality, guiding users to increased productivity. Loaded with screen shots and menu illustrations, this edition features expanded discussion of element modification, reference file usage and manipulation, new Internet utilities, plus leading-edge 3D design and rendering techniques. Detailed instructions for seamless access to compatible file formats, dimensioning styles, and sophisticated system-level data are also included, making this the ultimate guide for novices as well as users upgrading to V8i or migrating to MICROSTATION from other CAD applications.


This dissertation examines the interconnections between migration, madness, and femininity through a case study of the women committed to Seaview Lunatic Asylum on New Zealand's West Coast from 1872 to 1916. Psychiatric histories that include discussions of the effects that migrating to the goldfields can have on migrant's mental health have been a recent development, although a number of these studies tend to focus on men. Moreover, while there have been studies of the connections between migration and insanity on nineteenthcentury goldfields in Otago and Victoria, this has never been attempted for the West Coast. In order to bridge this gap, I examine women's migration and mobility patterns during the West Coast rushes in addition to demographics within the asylum and the West Coast population to locate the Seaview women with the framework of broader cultural and societal trends. I then consider the ways which 'social stressors' and dominant attitudes towards femininity and ethnicity on the goldfields are reflected in women's experiences of madness. The Seaview women were highly mobile, both nationally and internationally, and were part of strong Trans-Tasman migration patterns. Like many other nineteenth-century asylums, diagnoses of insanity became highly gendered because of the influence of colonial views of femininity, making perceptions and experiences of women's madness different from men's. Asylum records also mirror the blurred ethnic boundaries that characterised the West Coast in this period, and 'social stressors' such as the harsh environmental conditions on the goldfields, domestic concerns and working conditions greatly influenced the deterioration of women's mental health and committal to Seaview.


One of the central questions in statistical learning theory is to determine the conditions under which agents can learn from experience. This includes the necessary and sufficient conditions for generalization from a given finite training set to new observations. In this paper, we prove that algorithmic stability in the inference process is equivalent to uniform generalization across all parametric loss functions. We provide various interpretations of this result. For instance, a relationship is proved between stability and data processing, which reveals that algorithmic stability can be improved by post-processing the inferred hypothesis or by augmenting training examples with artificial noise prior to learning. In addition, we establish a relationship between algorithmic stability and the size of the observation space, which provides a formal justification for dimensionality reduction methods. Finally, we connect algorithmic stability to the size of the hypothesis space, which recovers the classical PAC result that the size (complexity) of the hypothesis space should be controlled in order to improve algorithmic stability and improve generalization.


The outstanding economic performance of East Asian countries has been investigated in numerous studies. However, most comparative studies analyze macro-level productivity. In this book, the productivity performance of China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan and the United States are compared at industry level. The work is a result of an international collaborative research project by RIETI (Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry), Japan. The total factor productivity growth and level amongst these five countries sheds new light on the industrial competitiveness of growing Asian economies compared to Japan and the United States. In addition, this book provides detailed information on productivity datasets for these five countries.


Background: The genus Eucalyptus (family Myrtaceae) comprises well-known plants of over 600 species of trees. Although most of the plants are native to Australia, numerous species have been introduced to other parts of the world, including Iran, as economic and ornamental trees in forest trial provenances, where the plants have become source of important fast-growing hardwood trees and Eucalyptus oils. Objective: Aim of this studu is to determine chemical composition in essential oils of Eucalyptus for medicinal uses. Methods: The essential oils isolated by hydrodistillation from the leaves of two Eucalyptus viridis R. Baker and Eucalyptus oleosa F. Muell. were analysed by GC and GC/MS. Results: The main components identified in E. viridis oil were 1,8-cineole (84.7%), α pinene (4.4%), trans-pinocarveol (2.2%) and in E. oleosa were 1,8-cineole (89.4%), βpinene (1.2%) and α - pinene (1%). Conclusion: The chemical composition of the oils with high content of 1,8-cineole (84.7 and 89.4%) are classified as a "eucalyptol or medicinal" type.


This article presents a portrait of how the owners of two informal microenterprises in a poor urban neighborhood integrate several digital devices into their businesses. We explore how they learned to use diverse technologies, transformed their production processes, and developed new products and services. We contend that while ICTs did not lead to expansion for the businesses, ICTs were vital to staying in business.


Migration was a key tool for building the social, cultural, and economic infrastructures of the "British Dominions" throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Between 1840 and 1940, an estimated 15 million people left the British Isles for overseas destinations. Such displacement of people contributed both to what scholars term the "imperial diaspora" and the "labor diaspora" driven by economic necessity between 1840 and 1914. Print culture (and its practitioners) was crucial to these diasporas. And members of a highly skilled, mobile "printing diaspora" who could help construct and promote political and cultural identities through the agency of print were, from the outset, high on the preferred occupation list.
 Scottish printers were key players in such printing diaspora networks, both locally and internationally: individuals circulated between regional and overseas sites, acting as transmitters of print values and trade skills and becoming central to the expansion of labor interests in new territories. Such international circulation of highly skilled workers played its part in the development of 19th-century Anglophone print economies. Over the course of the long 19th century, either through their own initiative or supported by emigration and removal grant schemes, Scottish printers circulated across the English-speaking colonial world, setting up businesses, engaging in labor and union politics, and creating the print culture infrastructures that sustained social, communal, and national communication and identity.
 Sample data drawn from UK typographical union records offer some insight into the extraordinarily high levels of local, regional, and international mobility of skilled Scottish print trade workers during the 19th century. Such peregrinations were common. Indeed, the tramping tradition among skilled artisanal workers was one that dated back several centuries. Part of the so-called tramping system, which organized trade guilds and print trade unions in Britain used throughout the 19th century, it was a means of organizing and controlling labor activity in local and regional areas. The typographical unions in Ireland and Britain (England, Scotland, and Wales) that developed from the midcentury onward encouraged such mobility among union members as a means of monitoring and controlling supply and demand for labor. Tramping typographers also acted as union missionaries, starting up unions in unserved towns along these regional networks and playing key roles as informants, cultural transmitters, and social networkers.
 Tramping, though, was only a part of the picture of worker mobility in the 19th-century Scottish printing trade diaspora. Printers participated in a communication and trade network that encompassed and supported skills transfer and personal mobility between printing centers locally, regionally, and internationally. They also were responsible for supporting cultural identities that linked overseas communities back to Scotland. Through them, trade, labor, and cultural practices and values were exported overseas and integrated into indigenous settings. Such migration also facilitated insertion of trade skills into local and general spaces and the transfer of knowledge and skills between incomer and indigenous workers. The various forms in which such identities were effectively supported and monitored shaped regional, national, and transnational flows of Scottish skills and labor traditions throughout the English-speaking world in the 19th and early 20th centuries.


Scholars of organisational behaviour have opined that the culture of a work organisation is nothing but a mere derivative or microcosm of the wider national culture. Nevertheless, in this present article, an anti-thesis of the current thinking has been provided by the development of a conceptual model of cultural change for African indigenous organisations. Based on the application of the modernisation theory of cultural change; the model presented a justification for the import of the current spate of globalisation which necessitates that for indigenous work organisations (especially business enterprises) resident in Africa to become globally competitive they must disengage from traditional beliefs and values that are inimical to business performance. This revolutionary shift would help them proactively evoke cultures that are completely different from those of the nations in which they are domestically domiciled; and possibly change the beliefs and values of organisational workers from those that constitute the various cultures of their respective African states. Consequently, a displacement of the existing paradigm in the literature of organisational/national culture interface which refutes the possibility of organisational culture transcending the boundaries of national culture becomes inevitable.


Nanotechnology is an emerging interdisciplinary technology that has been booming in many areas during the recent decade. Nanostructures are capable of enhancing the physical properties of conventional textiles, in areas such as antimicrobial properties, water repellence, soil resistance, antistatic, anti-infrared and flame retardant properties, dyeability, color fastness and strength of textile materials. Studies have been carried out in the present work to fine-tune the properties of zinc oxide nanoparticles for special applications. Soluble starch (stabilizing agent), zinc nitrate and sodium hydroxide (precursors) were used for the preparation of zinc oxide nanoparticles by the wet chemical method. Cotton fabric (honeycomb-weave) was coated with the synthesized nanoparticles and the antibacterial property of the coated fabric was determined. Techniques such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and physical and chemical characterization were employed to determine the phase and morphology of the final nanoparticles coated fabric. The results indicate that coated fabric with 2% zinc oxide nanoparticles have high antibacterial efficiency (up to 99.9%). The nanoparticles synthesized in this work have an average size of 50 nm and the physical and chemical properties of the treated fabric are markedly different from those of the untreated fabric.

Keywords: Nanotechnology, nanoparticles, coated fabric, zinc oxide


Today's IP network layer provides little to no protection against misconfiguration or malice. Despite some progress in improving the robustness and security of the IP layer, misconfigurations and attacks still occur frequently. We show how a network layer that provides accountability, i.e., the ability to associate each action with the responsible entity, provides a firm foundation for defenses against misconfiguration and malice. We present the design of a network layer that incorporates accountability called AIP (Accountable Internet Protocol) and show how its features—notably, its use of self-certifying addresses— can improve both source accountability (the ability to trace actions to a particular end host and stop that host from misbehaving) and control-plane accountability (the ability to pinpoint and prevent attacks on routing).


The Climate Change debate has drawn attention to the problem of greenhouse gases emissions into the atmosphere. One of the most important issues in the policy debate is the role that should be played by developing countries in joining the commitment of developed countries to reduce GHG emissions, and particularly CO2 emissions. This debate calls into play the relationship between energy consumption, CO2 emissions and economic development. In this paper we use a panel data model for 110 world countries to estimate the relationship between CO2 emissions and GDP and to produce emission forecast. The paper contains three major results: (i) the empirical relationship between carbon dioxide and income is well described by non linear Gamma and Weibull specifications as opposed to more usual linear and log-linear functional forms; (ii) our single equation reduced form model is comparable in terms of forecasted emissions with other more complex, less data driven models; (iii) despite the decreasing marginal propensity to pollute, our forecasts show that future global emissions will rise. The average world growth of CO2 emissions between 2000 and 2020 is about 2.2% per year, while that of Non Annex 1 countries is posted at 3.3% per year.


In 20 years of activism I frequently found the quality of interpersonal relations to be so poor, and the damage to myself and others so profound, that I wondered whether struggles for social change were counterproductive. It seemed to me that projects for social change could benefit from some research into both the philosophies and techniques that had the capacity to create more ethical and productive social relations. I use the narratives of personal experience as the map for this thesis. In using my own experience as a guide I hope to show how the socially created and sustained self can use moral reflection and mutual recognition in a social context to pursue political and social change in a way that creates, sustains and repairs ethical and productive social relations. The schemes I suggest do not replace or surpass other ways of relating, but rather offer a guide for those who wish to see greater and more serious attention given to what constitutes good social relations in situations of conflict. I begin by sharing a narrative about how I decided on my approach. I then explore the idea of mutual recognition as a response to the problem of domination. In particular I explore the work of Jessica Benjamin, who anchors her work in an exploration of infant identity development. Next, I explain the approach to conflict of the Alternatives to Violence Project in New South Wales, focusing on Restorative Practices as a mechanism for the application of mutual recognition in conflict situations. The work of Benjamin and the AVP (NSW) processes are critiqued and situated in the wider context of their relevant literatures. Through this process a methodology for the project emerges. Using my own experiences, I demonstrate the self-recognition component of the mutual recognition process by giving detailed narratives of events in which I was involved. These episodes become case studies for demonstrating the techniques I have described, thereby showing that overlooked possibilities for social change exist within the narratives that construct and sustain the self. The thesis proceeds on the understanding that both social change and ethical conduct revolve around the ability of individuals to have a malleable, social and inter-subjectively realised self, and thus extends itself to the effort of expansively detailing how this may be done. Using the Restorative Practices as a guide, I then exhaustively reconstruct the events portrayed with a view to demonstrating the possible way events could unfold if I had used the processes of AVP as a means to attempt mutually recognitive relations in the situations described. Finally, I discuss some of the limitations and implications of the model I have explicated. In particular I note some limitations in using ideas of rights and justice — two ideas often central to the work of social activists — and suggest an alternative, grounded in an appreciation of the contextual nature of ethics and actualised through greater skills in moral reflection and communication.


Background: Approximately one-fifth of paediatric intracranial tumors result in hypertension. The condition is difficult to treat in this population, particularly if it is refractory, since there is little guidance on patient management beyond first-line therapy with IV labetalol. Methods: A 20-month-old patient was hospitalized with cerebral herniation-induced loss of consciousness and a posterior fossa mass was found. Although several first-line treatments including IV labetalol, furosemide, amlodipine, clonidine, and atenolol were administered, the patient's hypertension persisted. With few options left, positive findings from previously published case reports led the team to administer cyproheptadine. Results: Cyproheptadine resulted in improved blood pressure and allowed for a dose reduction in other antihypertensives, but elevated liver transaminases and suspected hepatotoxicity several weeks later resulted in the discontinuation of this treatment. Conclusions: Despite the safety concerns associated with using cyproheptadine to treat paediatric central hypertension, this treatment holds promise for persistent refractory hypertension as a last-line agent when all other treatment options are exhausted. Clinical use of this agent should be investigated in future studies, under careful supervision.