Machine learning-based analysis of human functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) patterns has enabled the visualization of perceptual content. However, it has been limited to the reconstruction with low-level image bases (Miyawaki et al., 2008; Wen et al., 2016) or to the matching to exemplars (Naselaris et al., 2009; Nishimoto et al., 2011). Recent work showed that visual cortical activity can be decoded (translated) into hierarchical features of a deep neural network (DNN) for the same input image, providing a way to make use of the information from hierarchical visual features (Horikawa & Kamitani, 2017). Here, we present a novel image reconstruction method, in which the pixel values of an image are optimized to make its DNN features similar to those decoded from human brain activity at multiple layers. We found that the generated images resembled the stimulus images (both natural images and artificial shapes) and the subjective visual content during imagery. While our model was solely trained with natural images, our method successfully generalized the reconstruction to artificial shapes, indicating that our model indeed 'reconstructs' or 'generates' images from brain activity, not simply matches to exemplars. A natural image prior introduced by another deep neural network effectively rendered semantically meaningful details to reconstructions by constraining reconstructed images to be similar to natural images. Furthermore, human judgment of reconstructions suggests the effectiveness of combining multiple DNN layers to enhance visual quality of generated images. The results suggest that hierarchical visual information in the brain can be effectively combined to reconstruct perceptual and subjective images.


The performance of sub-slab-ventilation (SSV) systems has been parametrically studied with a numerical model that was earlier compared successfully with experiment (Bonnefous et al., 1992). The model distinguishes between the sub-slab gravel and the underlying soil. It is used w examine system performance for the following system parameters: the permeability of the soil and of the sub-slab gravel, the magnitude of pressurization (or depressurization) applied by the SSV system, and the mode of SSV application (i.e. pressurization (SSP) or depressurization (SSD)). The mechanisms contributing to the successful performance of SSP and SSD systems are identified. For SSD systems, the mechanisms are (1) the inversion of the pressure gradient across the basement slab, and (2) the reduction of the radon concentration in the soil. For SSP systems, the mechanisms are (1) the elimination of convective flow of soil-gas from the soil into the sub-slab gravel by pressurization of the sub-slab region, (2) the reduction of the radon concentration in the soil, and (3) the suppression of diffusion of soil-gas from the soil into the sub-slab gravel by advective flow of air from the gravel bed into the subgravel soil. Numerical modeling demonstrates that placement of a sub-slab gravel layer substantially improves the SSV system performance. Except in the case of highly permeable soils, SSD systems are predicted to perform better than SSP systems. This prediction is consistent with reported field experience. The numerical model is used to elucidate the reasons for this difference in performance.


Although trademark is a property right, the conventional wisdom among modern commentators and prominent judges is that it is only a regulatory entitlement that promotes consumer welfare. This essay fills a lacuna in modern trademark theory by identifying why nineteenth-century courts first defined trademark as a property right, and how this explains the structure of trademark doctrines today. The key insight is that a trademark is a use-right that is derived from and logically appurtenant to a separate and broader property right owned by a commercial enterprise — goodwill. Trademark thus shares many conceptual and doctrinal similarities to other use-right-based property rights that are appurtenant to larger estates, such as easements and riparian interests. This thesis is important, because it explains the nature and limits of this property right, such as, among other doctrines, why trademarks must be used in the marketplace, why trademarks cannot be separated from a commercial enterprise's goodwill, and, perhaps most importantly, why trademarks are not full, independent property rights like a fee simple in land or title in a patent. The usufructuary nature of the property interest in a trademark thus clarifies what many scholars and judges view as its alleged doctrinal peculiarities. It is only because they have unmoored trademark rights from their original definition and justification as use-right property interests that they are themselves confused about trademark rights and the nature of the doctrines that define and limit its use in the marketplace.


The question of who benefits from economic growth is most commonly assessed by using anonymous data from comparable cross sections to calculate changes in income inequality. An alternative is to utilize longitudinal data and assess the pattern of panel income changes. In this paper, we derive precise theoretical conditions reconciling various measures of rising/falling inequality together with various measures of convergent/divergent panel income changes. We have four main findings: i) for a large number of inequality indices, as well as for Lorenz curves, we derive precise conditions for rising inequality and convergent panel income changes to coexist, ii) we demonstrate that in order to observe both rising inequality and panel convergence, income changes in the panel have to be "large" (and in the right direction), where the meaning of "large" varies depending on the particular regression under analysis, iii) for a large number of inequality indices, as well as for Lorenz curves, we show that it is impossible to have both falling inequality together with divergent panel income changes in shares or in proportions, iv) we find a precise relationship between convergence/divergence of panel income changes in dollars on the one hand and the coefficient of variation, the correlation coefficient between initial and final incomes, and the aggregate economic growth rate on the other.


Brachytherapy is a complex treatment procedure where radioactive sources are inserted in or close to the tumours to destroy the cancerous cells. Due to the unique properties of scintillation plastic detectors, this study was aimed to characterise an innovative fibre optic dosimetry system as a quality assurance tool during HDR Brachytherapy. Scintillating plastic fibres with different scintillation lengths were prepared and then optically coupled to non-scintillating fibres for light transmission. A transimpedance photodiode amplifier was used to detect positional sensitivities of different fibre probes placed within a solid-water phantom at varying distances above an 192-Ir brachytherapy source located within the catheter. Monte Carlo simulation has validated the expected response of the scintillating plastic fibres for multiple dwell positions with demonstrating the variance of detector response with source location. It showed the ability of shorter scintillating fibre lengths to distinguish between varying source locations when the SNR maintained high. However, fully scintillating plastic fibre showed flat response for most dwell positions. The proposed system proved to be appropriate for further clinical investigations, such as simultaneous dose measurement, and providing 3D position reconstruction through in-vivo source tracking.


'They're Not Pets, Susan,' says a stern father who has just shot a bumblebee, its wings sparkling in the evening sunlight; a lone office worker, less than an inch high, looks out over the river in his lunch break, 'Dreaming of Packing it all In'; and a tiny couple share a 'Last Kiss' against the soft neon lights of the city at midnight. Mixing sharp humour with a delicious edge of melancholy, "Little People in the City" brings together the collected photographs of Slinkachu, a street-artist who for several years has been leaving little hand-painted people in the bustling city to fend for themselves, waiting to be discovered...' Oddly enough, even when you know they are just hand-painted figurines, you can't help but feel that their plights convey something of our own fears about being lost and vulnerable in a big, bad city.' - "The Times".


As more datasets, tools, workflows, APIs, and other digital resources are produced by the research community, it is becoming increasingly difficult to harmonize and organize these efforts for maximal synergistic integrated utilization. The Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) guiding principles have prompted many stakeholders to consider strategies for tackling this challenge by making these digital resources follow common standards and best practices so that they can become more integrated and organized. Faced with the question of how to make digital resources more FAIR, it has become imperative to measure what it means to be FAIR. The diversity of resources, communities, and stakeholders have different goals and use cases and this makes assessment of FAIRness particularly challenging. To begin resolving this challenge, the FAIRshake toolkit was developed to enable the establishment of community-driven FAIR metrics and rubrics paired with manual, semi- and fully-automated FAIR assessment capabilities. The FAIRshake toolkit contains a database that lists registered digital resources, with their associated metrics, rubrics, and assessments. The FAIRshake toolkit also has a browser extension and a bookmarklet that enables viewing and submitting assessments from any website. The FAIR assessment results are visualized as an insignia that can be viewed on the FAIRshake website, or embedded within hosting websites. Using FAIRshake, a variety of bioinformatics tools, datasets listed on dbGaP, APIs registered in SmartAPI, workflows in Dockstore, and other biomedical digital resources were manually and automatically assessed for FAIRness. In each case, the assessments revealed room for improvement, which prompted enhancements that significantly upgraded FAIRness scores of several digital resources.


The combination of hemorrhagic pneumonitis and rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis is a characteristic feature of Goodpasture's syndrome (GPS), an autoimmune disease resulting from the interaction of pathogenic anti-collagen type IV (C-IV) antibodies with alveolar and glomerular basement membranes. Lack of a suitable animal model for this fatal disease has hampered both a basic understanding of its etiology and the development of therapeutic strategies. We now report a novel model for GPS using mice deficient in a central regulatory receptor for immunoglobulin (Ig)G antibody expression and function, the type IIB Fc receptor for IgG (FcgammaRIIB). Mutant mice immunized with bovine C-IV reproducibly develop massive pulmonary hemorrhage with neutrophil and macrophage infiltration and crescentic glomerulonephritis. The distinctive linear, ribbon-like deposition of IgG immune complex seen in GPS was observed along the glomerular and tubulointerstitial membranes of diseased animals. These results highlight the role of FcgammaRIIB in maintaining tolerance and suggest that it may play a role in the pathogenesis of human GPS.


A particle tracer methodology based on the use of Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) to detect concentrations of rare earth elements sorbed to porous silica particles appears to be a promising technique for studying the transport of aerosols and resuspended particulates and the consequent effects on air and water quality and human health. Following an investigation of alternative techniques for labeling, deploying, and recovering the tracer, the feasibility of the NAA methodology was investigated in field experiments designed to measure the resuspension of particles by wind and the resulting deposition on downwind surfaces. All of the basic components of the NAA tracer performed as expected, including the ability of the technique to distinguish between the transport of silica of different sizes labeled with different rare earths. Measured particle resuspension was characterized by rapid initial loss of tracer when first exposed to wind, by a persistent level of tracer sequestered from resuspension, and by almost no dependence on meteorological conditions. The detection of deposited tracer material diluted during transport in the air was severely limited by the level of rare earth labeling achieved in the silica and by higher than expected background levels of rare earth concentrations in silica, sample vials, and natural particulates. The result of this study suggest that the NAA tracer technique can be applied quantitatively at reasonable cost per sample in field scale studies, but that the method is primarily useful in studying particle resuspension from surfaces. The results of the study also indicate that resuspension of particles in the size range used in this study (10 ~ 60 μm) is significant relative to rates of redeposition and that such particles are highly mobile.


Recently, researchers have proposed penalized maximum likelihood to identify network topology underlying a dynamical system modeled by multivariate time series. The time series of interest are assumed to be stationary, but this restriction is never taken into consideration by existing estimation methods. Moreover, practical problems of interest may have ultra-high dimensionality and obvious node collinearity. In addition, none of the available algorithms provides a probabilistic measure of the uncertainty for the obtained network topology which is informative in reliable network identification. The main purpose of this paper is to tackle these challenging issues. We propose the S2 learning framework, which stands for stationary-sparse network learning. We propose a novel algorithm referred to as the Berhu iterative sparsity pursuit with stationarity (BISPS), where the Berhu regularization can improve the Lasso in detection and estimation. The algorithm is extremely easy to implement, efficient in computation and has a theoretical guarantee to converge to a global optimum. We also incorporate a screening technique into BISPS to tackle ultra-high dimensional problems and enhance computational efficiency. Furthermore, a stationary bootstrap technique is applied to provide connection occurring frequency for reliable topology learning. Experiments show that our method can achieve stationary and sparse causality network learning and is scalable for high-dimensional problems.


This paper presents the development of design strategies to increase the number of blood donations at Regional Blood Center in Santa Maria. To accomplish it was done some theorical research, for the Design and blood donation, an interview with the residents of Santa Maria, to try to know the society, to find out why the number of donation is so low, and the main reasons for grant or no donation, and also the survey data with the Blood Center. Through analysis it is clear that an important target audience, which can be encouraged to donate blood, is composed by college students because they fit the requirements for donation and they represent a large portion of society. It was conceived through actions aimed at more permanent awareness campaigns, usually ephemeral and punctual, starting by developing a visual identity needed to recognize the theme.


We propose several multivariate variance ratio statistics. We derive the asymptotic distribution of the statistics and scalar functions thereof under the null hypothesis that returns are unpredictable after a constant mean adjustment (i.e., under the Efficient Market Hypothesis). We do not impose the no leverage assumption of Lo and MacKinlay (1988) but our asymptotic standard errors are relatively simple and in particular do not require the selection of a bandwidth parameter. We extend the framework to allow for a smoothly varying risk premium in calendar time, and show that the limiting distribution is the same as in the constant mean adjustment case. We show the limiting behaviour of the statistic under a multivariate fads model and under a moderately explosive bubble process: these alternative hypotheses give opposite predictions with regards to the long run value of the statistics. We apply the methodology to three weekly size-sorted CRSP portfolio returns from 1962 to 2013 in three subperiods. We find evidence of a reduction of linear predictability in the most recent period, for small and medium cap stocks. We find similar results for the main UK stock indexes. The main findings are not substantially affected by allowing for a slowly varying risk premium.


Rationale: Pressure overload cardiac hypertrophy, a risk factor for heart failure, is associated with reduced mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation (FAO) and oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) proteins that correlate in rodents with reduced PGC-1&agr; expression. Objective: To determine the role of PGC-1&bgr; in maintaining mitochondrial energy metabolism and contractile function in pressure overload hypertrophy. Methods and Results: PGC-1&bgr; deficient (KO) mice and wildtype (WT) controls were subjected to transverse aortic constriction (TAC). Although LV function was modestly reduced in young KO hearts, there was no further decline with age so that LV function was similar between KO and WT when TAC was performed. WT-TAC mice developed relatively compensated LVH, despite reduced mitochondrial function and repression of OXPHOS and FAO genes. In nonstressed KO hearts, OXPHOS gene expression and palmitoyl-carnitine-supported mitochondrial function were reduced to the same extent as banded WT, but FAO gene expression was normal. Following TAC, KO mice progressed more rapidly to heart failure and developed more severe mitochondrial dysfunction, despite a similar overall pattern of repression of OXPHOS and FAO genes as WT-TAC. However, in relation to WT-TAC, PGC-1&bgr; deficient mice exhibited greater degrees of oxidative stress, decreased cardiac efficiency, lower rates of glucose metabolism, and repression of hexokinase II protein. Conclusions: PGC-1&bgr; plays an important role in maintaining baseline mitochondrial function and cardiac contractile function following pressure overload hypertrophy by preserving glucose metabolism and preventing oxidative stress.


We study how the existence of cutoffs in credit scores affects the behavior of homebuyers. Borrowers are more likely to purchase houses after their credit scores cross over a cutoff to qualify them for a higher credit score bin. However, the credit accounts of these individuals (crossover group) are more likely to become delinquent within four years following home purchases than the accounts of those who had stayed in the same bin (non-crossover group). The effect is not only concentrated in subprime bins, but in other bins as well. It is neither limited to pre-crisis period nor curtailed by post-bust reforms. Using recent house price growth to proxy for the incentives for home purchases, we find that the gap in the delinquency rates between crossover and non-crossover groups is larger for areas with higher recent house price growth. Overall, our results indicate that the credit score at the time of home purchase may not be sufficiently informative because of individuals' strategic behavior, and suggest the importance of using the longer history of credit scores rather than just the latest draw in making lending decisions.


The thesis has investigated if cultural factors influence economic growth differences among countries. It was motivated by the intriguing question as to whether the gap between developed and developing countries is widening. Technically speaking, some countries which were regarded as underdeveloped three or four decades ago are now regarded as developed as articulated in the introduction to chapter 1. On the other hand, Sub-Saharan African region has failed to register convincing economic development (Seguino and Were, 2014, p. 1).
The mixed methods design used in this thesis engaged distinct frameworks of both quantitative and qualitative paradigms to answer the research questions within this thesis. Implementing mixed research design in this thesis enables the investigation of how each variable in the study, environments, and institutions interact with each other in different contexts to produce measured effects. For instance, the study examined two sub-samples of developed and developing countries, 6 countries in each sub-sample. Further, the study also examined 18 representative Sub-Saharan countries to answer the research question. Lastly, a multi-case study of Malawi and Botswana was undertaken. The first two contexts of study used secondary data analysis. The multi-case study was used to drill down deeper than secondary data analysis allowed.
This thesis focussed on the interaction between culture and economic growth. The literature review indicated that the impact of culture on growth is not particularly well articulated at present, and therefore this thesis seeks to make a contribution to this aspect of theory and practice. In addition, to the extent that culture has a significant impact on growth potential and its realisation, culture is not homogenous in Sub-Saharan Africa. This will have potentially significant impact upon different countries, and should be taken into consideration by governments and development agencies seeking to promote economic growth and sustainable development across the African continent.


The paper examines the relationship between the allocation of human capital among different activities and economic growth in the context of the European regions. A proxy of the allocation of the labor force to technical activities is constructed using data about occupations at the regional level and included in cross section growth regressions together with various educational variables (primary, secondary and higher education years and shares). The main results of the paper are the following - the educational variables become insignificant when country dummies are included in the regressions suggesting that, due to differences in the national education systems, they capture the effects of some omitted country specific variable; on the other hand a robust correlation emerges between the allocational variable and the regional rate of growth in the period 1981-91.


Though libraries have long formed important relationships with academic departments via liaison librarians, the time has come to "sell" library services through non-academic departments via mutually beneficial partnerships. Partnerships with non-academic departments can be instrumental in reaching students who do not seek assistance from the library but who need it. By forming a win-win partnership with departments such as Career Services, Student Affairs, Counseling Services and others, use of library resources and the number of students served increases. The partnerships can also result in an improved standing of the library in the campus community. This paper provides examples of successful partnerships with measured outcomes that demonstrate the win-win of such partnerships.


We have developed novel optoelectronic packages and optical transmission system using an optical connector with an external optical waveguide to achieve low-loss chip-to-chip optical interconnections for computer systems. In order to connect the package and the connector, we have also proposed a socket as a coupling structure to realize an all passive alignment and high coupling efficiency. We have demonstrated high-speed and error-free signal transmission with four channels at 10-Gb/s/ch and up to 12-Gb/s/ch. Optical input and output (I/O) interfaces, including optical devices and controller integrated circuits (ICs), have been constructed onto the package surface by conventional flip-chip mounting. The optoelectronic package has optical waveguide holes (OWGHs) to pass optical signal vertically from a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) and to a photodiode (PD). The OWGHs consist of core and cladding material to enhance optical confinement. The optical connector that is just set underneath the package with two guide pins contains the thin-film polymer waveguide with 45°-ended mirrors to bend the optical signal. Therefore, the shorter optical coupling distance has achieved low-loss optical link without microlenses between packages. We have also proposed an alignment structure to easily enable passive alignment, which is based on existing land grid array (LGA) packages and sockets clamping structures to simultaneously improve cost-competitiveness and usability.


Retinopathy of prematurity is a pathophysiological condition that occurs in relation to abnormal proliferation in the retinal vessels in premature babies. Its exact pathogenesis is not known. In Turkey, the increased chance of survival in premature babies with much younger gestational age and much lower birth weight in parallel with the developments in neonatal care causes retinopathy of prematurity, which has led to vision problems and blindness to emerge as a more frequent problem. Early diagnosis and timely and appropriate treatment of retinopathy of prematurity contributes to the developmental process and increases the quality of life by preventing vision loss. It should be kept in mind that retinopathy of prematurity may also lead to serious medicolegal problems.


Beginning July 1, 2012, Subsidized Stafford Loans will be available exclusively to undergraduate students. The federal government "subsidizes" these loans by relieving the borrower of the requirement to pay the interest that accrues while the borrower is in school and during other authorized periods. In the 112th Congress, proposals have been made to reduce the interest rate applicable to Subsidized Stafford Loans that will be made to undergraduate students during AY2012-2013 from 6.8% to 3.4%. Proposals include the Interest Rate Reduction Act and the Stop the Student Loan Interest Rate Hike Act of 2012. It is estimated that a reduction in the interest rate would benefit approximately 7.4 million students who are likely to borrow Subsidized Stafford Loans during the upcoming award year.


Major global problems, manifested by climate change and social inequality, reinforce the need for a societal shift towards sustainable practices. This transition requires new approaches in the future design of society. The current energy system, based on fossil fuels and centralized infrastructure is a key contributor to many of the socio-ecological issues related to the sustainability challenge. The intent of this research is to examine renewable energy cooperatives as an alternative to minimize the negative impacts of the current energy system. Using a Strategic Sustainable Development (SSD) approach with a Resilience Attribute Framework, this research explored the presence of resilience attributes (Trust, Diversity, Learning and Self-organization) and sustainability behavior in renewable energy cooperatives. The research then explored, through interview and surveys, the perceived impacts that these cooperatives had on the resilience and sustainability behavior of the wider community. Findings showed that energy cooperatives displayed high levels of the resilience through the attributes of: - Trust: due to non-profit status, ownership structure, localisation and shared values - Diversity: due to member and service diversity - Learning: through collaboration, diverse member knowledge and participation - Self-organization: due to cooperative development, leadership and outcomes (infrastructure and energy knowledge). This study showed that renewable energy cooperatives have numerous impacts on their community however; there were no significant evidence to suggest energy cooperatives transferred their high levels of social resilience to the community.


The revolving door between jobs in the public and private sector supposedly incentivizes government regulators to regulate on behalf of the industry interests for whom they will eventually work. It is a critical building block of the critique of government solutions to modern problems, and has, in the last two years, been the subject of one of the Obama administration's first executive orders, made an appearance in financial regulatory reform legislation, and been blamed for the government's failure to prevent the Gulf oil spill.But the revolving door's explanatory power is remarkably overstated, especially when the subject is law enforcement. Most government officials have plenty of reasons to do a good job, and sometimes a successful stint in the public sector enhances private sector earning potential, to say nothing of more immediate civil service prospects. The revolving door may also foster citizen participation in government. A study of the careers of a tranche of elite Manhattan prosecutors does not reveal any evidence of those who leave doing the bidding of those they regulate while in public service.Moreover, as a legal matter, eliminating the revolving door would raise serious legal and even constitutional questions. The revolving door has become an overused shorthand for – at its worst – a toxic cynicism about government. It is time to deeply qualify the critique.


Abstract The purpose of the study was to examine adolescent perceptions of the terms abstinence and sexual activity and also to determine if age, gender, virginity status, attendance at religious services, and perceived religiosity were associated with any particular perception of these terms. Current federal efforts to prevent teen pregnancy have emphasized abstinence education. The legislation that authorizes funding for these programs requires that educators teach students that they should abstain from sexual activity until marriage. The terms abstinence and sexual activity, however, are not defined. Participants in this study (311 students in grades 7–12 in a southern, rural school district) completed a questionnaire that included two open-ended questions asking them to define the terms abstinence and sexual activity. The most frequent definition of sexual activity (34.4%) identified it as "having," "participating," or "engaging" in "sex." Thus, the definitions given by students were not more precise than the terms they were asked to define. Analyses (chi-square) that examined the independence of age, gender, virginity status, attendance at religious services, and perceived religiosity with perceptions of abstinence or sexual activity found only age and perception of abstinence to be statistically significant. These findings have implications for programs that encourage young people to abstain from sexual activity.


Abstract Not Available – First paragraph follows:
OVER FOUR MILLION FAMILIES in California enjoy fresh evergreen trees in their homes every Christmas. Few people realize what efforts have gone into producing a tree that will maintain a vigorous, healthy appearance over the long Christmas holidays. Thousands of acres of trees are thinned, pruned, sheared and fertilized before harvest. Approximately a million of these trees are thinned annually from the high elevation forests of California. Large timber companies and other forest landowners have given long-term management and harvesting leases to Christmas tree operators to insure an annual income from their forest lands. Many forest landowners also manage and harvest trees from their lands on a sustained yield basis. The success of the Christmas tree industry and its $20 million payroll depends on the high quality of properly harvested trees. The date a Christmas tree operator selects to start harvesting, plays an important role in determining freshness.


In this paper, the detailed design of the 1.8 GHz band Y-junction stripline circulator with the low pass filter circuit in the center conductor in order to higher attenuations below value of -30 dB at 3rd order harmonics is proposed and presented. The HFSS is used to simulate designed 1.8GHz band circulator to check the non-reciprocal characteristics at operating frequency range and the results are compared with the experiment data. From these measurement results, We confirm that the proposed Y-junction stripline circulator using center conductor with filter circuit is effective in achieving very high attenuations below of 30 dB at 3rd order harmonics.


This paper analysis the energy efficiency of an unlicensed wireless network in which retransmission is possible if the transmitted message is decoded in outage. A wireless sensor network is considered in which the sensor nodes are unlicensed users of a wireless network which transmit its data in the uplink channel used by the licensed users. Poisson point process is used to model the distributions of the nodes and the interference caused by the licensed users for the sensor nodes. After finding the optimal throughput in the presence of retransmissions, we focus on analyzing the total power consumption and energy efficiency of the network and how retransmissions, network density and outage threshold affects the energy efficiency of the network.


The Late Triassic to Early Jurassic Molteno, Elliot and Clarens formations of the uppermost part of the Karoo Supergroup in the main Karoo Basin of South Africa form a distinct tectono-sedimentary sequence. A major problem with the modeling of this part of the Karoo basinal fill is that the nature of the Molteno-Elliot contact is poorly understood. Previously the contact has been defined on a mix of lithological and palaeontological criteria, and has been considered to be gradational or transitional in nature, with the Elliot considered the distal equivalent of the upper Molteno Formation. Recent field investigations demonstrate that the boundary can be defined on lithologic changes, including the gross and internal geometries of the sandstone units and contained lithofacies associations, the presence/absence of coal seams and paleosols, and on palaeocurrent patterns, sandstone composition and grain-size variations. This boundary represents a regional unconformity throughout the basin and the recognition of this cryptic second order sequence boundary invalidates previous interpretations of an interfingering stratigraphic relationship between the two formations. Stacking patterns in the upper Karoo Supergroup, and the tectonic framework of their development, suggest that the southern margin of the Kaapvaal Craton acted as a regional control on sequence development during Late Triassic - Early Jurassic times.


This research is a case study of the way students at a Further Education College are making use of computer technology, in particular their use of the Internet, both at home and at college. The research used a multi-method approach that involved the collection of data by use of questionnaire and interviews. The questionnaire was completed by two hundred students drawn from a range of courses offered at the college. The students invited to complete the questionnaire represented both full time and part time students. From the students who completed the questionnaire twenty were invited to take part in individual interviews.
From the data collected the researcher has been able to establish a link between a student's cultural background and their use of computers and the Internet. The researcher has been able to gather data to support the theory that for students from some cultural backgrounds there is a likelihood that they will use Infonnation
Technology for certain tasks more than students with a different cultural background.
As a means of identifying groups of students who could be described as having the same cultural background the data gathered was analysed by comparing students by gender, ethnic group and religion. This research has shown that the use of computers and the Internet has become part of everyday life and as such part of our society's
culture. However the research has shown that different cultural groups within our
society are using the Internet in different ways and for different purposes.
The data showed that male students had a more positive attitude towards computers than female students; it was also found that male students made more use of email at college than female students.
The researcher has found two significant differences regarding students' use of the
Internet, namely that males use the Internet more than females for entertainment and that students from a Pakistani ethnic origin use the Internet more than white students for private use. Students from Pakistani ethnic origins were also found to use email at home more than students from other ethnic backgrounds.
Part of the questionnaire was used as a student self-assessment of Infonnation Technology (IT) skills and the training they had received. Analysis of this section of data showed that whilst the amount of training of students in the use of IT is independent of gender, religion and ethnicity the level of skills claimed was not.
Male students claimed a higher level of IT skills than female students and the level of
skill in IT claimed by Christians is significantly less than that claimed by both
Muslims and those of no religion.
The questionnaire results led the researcher to believe that students from different cultural backgrounds were using computers and the Internet differently. The interviews were used to probe the implications of these differences with students from particular ethnic groups. The results showed that, at the college where the study took place there were Muslim Pakistani females students who were using the Internet as
their main means of social interaction, when not at college. For these students this level of social interaction would not have been available to them they did not have access to the Internet. These students were making extensive use of chat rooms on the Internet. They prearranged to talk on line to people they knew, and they did this on a regular basis. This is in contrast to female students from other cultural groups who did
not use chat rooms to the same extent, and when they did it was to talk to people they did not know.
The research also found that some computer use was independent of a student's cultural background. One such area related to students having difficulties or problems when using the Internet. From the students interviewed the researcher believes that for many of the students the instruction they are receiving, particularly with reference to using the Internet, is inadequate to meet their needs.
In addition to the lack of IT training, some students saw the monitoring of computer use as problematic. Parental monitoring students' use of computers at home was mainly done by having the home computer located in a family room. Few of the
students said that content monitoring software was being used on these machines. All students accepted this monitoring within the home environment but many were unhappy with the monitoring arrangements that the college had put in place.
This research project has shown that it is not sufficient for future education researchers to investigate computer use in terms of type of use alone, as has been the case in many previous studies. This research has shown that how students choose to use computers needs to be interpreted in terms of their gender and cultural
background.


We cloned the dbl-1 gene, a C. elegans homolog of Drosophila decapentaplegic and vertebrate BMP genes. Loss-of-function mutations in dbl-1 cause markedly reduced body size and defective male copulatory structures. Conversely, dbl-1 overexpression causes markedly increased body size and partly complementary male tail phenotypes, indicating that DBL-1 acts as a dose-dependent regulator of these processes. Evidence from genetic interactions indicates that these effects are mediated by a Smad signaling pathway, for which DBL-1 is a previously unidentified ligand. Our study of the dbl-1 expression pattern suggests a role for neuronal cells in global size regulation as well as male tail patterning.


A comprehensive fractionation technique was applied to a set of water samples obtained along a real drinking water treatment plant with ozonation and granular activated carbon (GAC) treatment to obtain detailed profiles of dissolved organic matter (DOM) and to evaluate the haloacetic acid (HAA) formation potentials of these DOM fractions. The results indicated that ozonation and GAC treatment showed limited ability to remove hydrophilic fractions (23%), while removal of hydrophobic fractions was 72%. The contribution of hydrophilic fractions to HAA formation increased from 30 to 61% along the treatment train because of better removal for hydrophobic fractions both in concentration and reactivity. Similar trends were also found for trihalomethanes.


It is necessary to distinguish new and old gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar (L.), egg masses when conducting gypsy moth population surveys. Egg masses within reach from the ground are touched to determine if they contain unhatched eggs and thus are considered new. The following 2 methods are used for egg masses not within reach: (1) visual discrimination between new and old egg masses or (2) by calculating the percentage of new egg masses at ground level and using this value to adjust counts of all egg masses not within reach. To evaluate these methods, egg-mass persistence and color between generations, the percentage of new and old egg masses at ground level and in the canopy, the ability of observers to visually distinguish new and old egg masses, and the effect of errors on the accuracy of estimates of the percentage of new egg masses was examined. Fifty-five percent of exposed new egg masses studied were still at least 25% intact at the time of the following year's egg-mass survey. However, the color of the egg masses was markedly lighter, providing a mechanism for visually distinguishing new and old egg masses. When egg masses are visually distinguished as new or old with an error rate >0, the resulting estimate of the percent new egg masses is usually biased. The magnitude of the bias varies with the rate of error and the actual percentage of new egg masses in the population, and can result in serious reductions in the accuracy of these estimates. In a field evaluation, new egg masses were incorrectly classified as old 16% of the time and old egg masses were incorrectly classified as new 16% of the time. Because it is unbiased, use of the ratio method to estimate the percentage of new egg masses is recommended whenever 10 or more egg masses are within reach from the ground.


Education is often seen as a route to full participation in society, and widening participation in education and lifelong learning as a way of including those who are currently excluded from many of the benefits of society. The use of learning technology (e-learning) is perceived by national governments, the European Union (EU), and academic institutions as a means of widening participation in higher education by enabling participation by nontraditional students. E-learning is perceived as lowering barriers of time and place to enable nontraditional students to attend campus-based education while accessing resources at a time and place of their choosing. Yet, there is dissonance between the espoused belief of governments the EU and academic institutions, in e-learning as a means of widening participation, and the reality of e-learning implementation. The digital divide refers to the gap between those who have access to the information technology, and those who do not. This research finds that the digital divide is not adequately addressed by higher education institutions, with some students financially unable to afford technology and broadband access, others lack the skills to engage with learning technology, and some are culturally less able to benefit from technological enrichment. It also finds gender and generational differences disenfranchising some students. In order to address this situation it will be necessary to first acknowledge that the problem exists.


The adhesion of Candida albicans to polystyrene and the effect of three monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) reactive with C. albicans cell wall surface antigens on this process was assessed in vitro with several C. albicans strains. In the absence of mAbs, adhesion of C. albicans to polystyrene increased in parallel with germ-tube formation. However, the growth of the strains in the yeast phase at 25 degrees C or the use of an agerminative mutant inhibited adhesion to polystyrene. Serotype A and B strains showed similar kinetics of adhesion to polystyrene and no statistically significant differences in germination or adhesion were observed when strains from the two serotypes were compared. The three mAbs had different effects on both germination and adhesion of C. albicans. mAbs 3D9 showed no influence on either germination or adhesion to polystyrene in two C. albicans strains. mAb B9E decreased both adhesion (45.6%) and filamentation (52.6%), and mAb 21E6 decreased filamentation (34.0%) but enhanced adhesion by 23.3%. This enhancement was also observed with the agerminative mutant and it was dose-dependent. It was not related to the binding capacity of the MAb to polystyrene nor to an increase in cell surface hydrophobicity of the antibody-treated cells. In conclusion, both growth phases of C. albicans can adhere to polystyrene, although the conditions for this process seem to be different in each phase. The two types of adhesion of C. albicans to polystyrene might have a role in the colonization of medical implants. The disparate effects shown by mAbs directed against cell wall mannoproteins of C. albicans on the adhesion of the fungus to polystyrene should be taken into consideration when designing strategies to block the adhesion of C. albicans to plastic materials with mAbs.


The efficiency in which high-density food patches are found is determined by the way foragers move between patches. In this study we explore the effect of social interactions on the foraging path, in particular the distance moved between patches. We studied Bewick?s Swans Cygnus columbianus bewickii that foraged on belowground tubers of Fennel Pondweed Potamogeton pectinatus. We accurately mapped the foraging path of individual swans and determined the distances between visited patches. 24% of inter-patch movements are associated with social interactions. When a swan retreats from a patch because it is chased away by another swan, it moves a significantly larger distance to a patch than if the movement is not associated with a social interaction. Such longer movements are thought to reduce the rate at which high-density patches are encountered, and thus the energy gain rate a swan can achieve. We observed a strong social hierarchy in which families are dominant over pairs and singletons, and pairs are dominant over singletons, which represents a producer?scrounger model. Singletons were most frequently observed to retreat from patches and are consequently thought to achieve the lowest gain rates, and also as a result exhibit the slowest speed of movement between patches. However singletons might partly compensate for more frequent retreats from patches by moving larger distances to arrive at the front edge of a flock where they encounter unexploited resources.


Recently, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement has been seizing domain names as part of its "Operation: In Our Sites" initiative to combat online piracy. The procedure allows seizure based on a warrant asserting probable cause that copyright infringement is facilitated on these sites. The sites may be administratively forfeited if the domain owner does not contest the seizure. If the domain owner does contest the seizure, the government must file a judicial forfeiture action. Recently, Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren has proposed a reevaluation of the procedures used in seizing domain names. While the First Amendment and Due Process implications of civil forfeiture procedures have been thoroughly debated, the specific topic this paper addresses is whether the government can sufficiently allege a cause of action justifying forfeiture of domain names of linking websites under the copyright infringement statutes, 17 U.S.C. § 506 and 18 U.S.C. § 2319. Particularly, this paper looks at the case of Rojadirecta, one of the rare cases of a domain owner filing a petition for the release of its seized domain name. Rojadirecta was a linking website, meaning that it does not directly infringe upon copyrights but merely serves as a place where direct infringers can post links to their sites. Eventually, the government voluntarily dismissed its case and returned the domain to Rojadirecta, but this paper argues that, under applicable copyright law, the government could not have succeeded in using civil forfeiture to take down linking websites. This paper concludes by looking at proposed copyright law reform and suggesting how new laws could affect the merits of a civil forfeiture action.


DHT-based peer-to-peer (P2P) overlays significantly reduce the overlay traffic that is needed to locate a random object on the overlay network. However, DHT-based overlays are often largely oblivious to the underlying physical network and only assign second-rate effort to the exploitation of physical proximity. Hence, a single overlay hop often amounts to an unnecessarily large number of physical hops. While this might at best be considered inefficient in stationary networks, it could prove disastrous in mobile (and wireless) networks, thus, effectively limiting the deployability of P2P overlays on top of mobile and wireless networks. We present an approach that forms clusters in DHT-based P2P overlays based on physical proximity. By grouping physically close nodes into common overlay clusters, we can decrease the number of physical hops per overlay hop. Thus, the amount of physical traffic generated by overlays deployed on top of mobile and wireless ad-hoc networks can be reduced significantly.


Richard McGregor's "The Party" has been established as the book on China and its political leadership. It is indispensable to understanding what may soon become the most powerful country on earth, and here is it is newly updated to include material on the once-in-a-decade leadership changes taking place in November 2012. Newly updated version including analysis of the once-in-a-decade leadership changes taking place in November 2012 China's Communist Party is the largest, most powerful political machine in the world. Here, Richard McGregor delves deeply into its inner sanctum, revealing how this secretive cabal keeps control of every aspect of the country - its military and media, legal system and businesses, even its religious organizations. How has the Party merged Marx, Mao and the market to create a global superpower? And what does this mean for the world? "Extraordinary". ("Sunday Times"). "Masterful...entertaining and insightful". ("Economist"). "Superb...an essential, riveting guide to how the rising power really works". (Jonathan Fenby). "If you read only one book about China this year, it should be this one. And if you do not read this book, you probably do not understand China today". (Arthur Kroeber, China Economic Quarterly). "A compelling exploration of the world's largest and most successful political machine". ("New Statesman"). "A book that is as informative as it is entertaining...China has been transformed. The system that takes the credit is brilliantly described by McGregor". (Chris Patten, "Financial Times"). Having joined the "Financial Times" in 2000 in Shanghai and being appointed China bureau chief in 2005, Richard McGregor is now Washington Bureau Chief for the FT. McGregor has won numerous awards throughout his nearly two decades of reporting from north Asia, including a 2010 Society of Publishers in Asia Editorial Excellence Award for his coverage on the Xinjiang Riots and 2008 SOPA Awards for Editorial Intelligence. He has spent twenty years in north Asia, starting in Taiwan, and then in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Beijing, where he established offices for "The Australian" newspaper. He has also contributed articles and reports to the BBC, the "International Herald Tribune" and the "Far Eastern Economic Review".


Delving into the close relationship between sense and emotion mingled with language can be of utmost importance in studies related to management of emotions. In this regard, the current study qualitatively attempted to examine to what extent sense-induced emotions can be recognized, labelled, and managed by individuals. To this end, 36 Iranian males and females were asked to participate in interviews on color-emotion associations. Their responses to colors were categorized into positive, negative, and no emotion. The overall results revealed that 10 major themes can account for idiosyncratic variations in expressing color emotions. Culture, age, and education were found to impact individuals' emo-sensory expressions. In the end, based on the findings of this study, a three-set model of emotion expression was proposed to show the bond between sense, emotion, and language. As a result, a new concept called emo-sensory intelligence was introduced which transcends emotional intelligence (EQ) and sensory intelligence (SQ) by shifting its focus to sense-induced emotions.


The project studied the on-time behavior of 35 students with intellectual disabilities (ID) or traumatic brain injury (TBI) under three conditions – times and tasks list, paper planner, and two different personal data assistants (PDAs). Students participated for two 4-week periods, receiving one morning reminder during Period 1 and no reminders during Period 2. Students were on time more often using a PDA compared to a list (p < .024) or a planner (p < .002). Students were on time 50% more often in Period 1 with a single daily morning reminder as compared to no reminder across all conditions. When applying results, clinicians and researchers should note that only the alarm function prompting on-time behavior was studied, and the influence of the small sample size and short time frame. Future researchers will find a framework for studying PDAs and cell phones with larger samples, over longer time periods, and with a wider range of functions. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


Understanding the genetics of lifetime fitness is crucial to understand a species' ecological preferences and ultimately predict its ability to cope with novel environmental conditions. Yet, there is a dearth of information regarding the impact of the ecological variance experienced by natural populations on expressed phenotypic and fitness differences. Here, we follow the natural dynamics of experimental A. thaliana populations over 5 successive plantings whose timing was determined by the natural progression of the plant's life cycle and disentangle the environmental and genetic factors that drive plant ecological performance at a given locality. We show that, at the intermediate latitude where the experiment was conducted, a given genotype can experience different life cycles across successive seasons. Lifetime fitness across these seasons varied strongly, with a fall planting yielding 36-fold higher fitness compared to a spring planting. In addition, the actual life-stage at which plant overwinter oscillated across years, depending on the timing of the end of the summer season. We observed a rare but severe fitness differential after inadequate early flowering in one of the five planting. Substrate variation played a comparatively minor role, but also contributed to modulate the magnitude of fitness differentials between genotypes. Finally, reciprocal introgressions on chromosome 4 demonstrated that the fitness effect of a specific chromosomal region is strongly contingent on micro-geographic and seasonal fluctuations. Our study contributes to emphasize the extent to which the fitness impact of phenotypic traits and the genes that encode them in the genome can fluctuate. Experiments aiming at dissecting the molecular basis of local adaptation must apprehend the complexity introduced by temporal fluctuations because they massively affect the expression of phenotype and fitness differences.


Human health is a broad category that encompasses the entirety of the food produc‐ tion system. Livestock production practices have important effects on human health because livestock not only are a primary food source but also can be the source of pathogenic bacteria that may enter the food chain indirectly. As government regula‐ tion and public scrutiny restrict the prophylactic use of antibiotic and antimicrobial interventions, other techniques must be used to reduce the burden of animal‐borne pathogenic bacteria entering the food system. Prebiotics (isolated compounds that enhance natural microflora and thereby decrease pathogens) and probiotics (live microbes that are administered to livestock to enhance microbial diversity and crowd out pathogens) represent two unique opportunities for alternative measures in pathogen reduction. This review addresses the link between animal production and human health, the agricultural sources of pathogenic organisms, and the probiotic and prebiotic approaches that have been evaluated in an effort to reduce carriage of foodborne pathogenic bacteria by livestock.


Background: A change in the pattern of movement of her unborn baby could be indicative that the baby might die. Aim: To study mothers' experiences during the time prior to receiving news that their baby has died. Method: Interviews with 26 mothers. Results: Premonition that something had happened to their baby, a sense based on a lack of movements were experienced. Six categories describe the mother's insight that the baby's life was threatened: not feeling in touch with their baby; worry' feeling something is wrong; not understanding the unbelievable; wanting information; and being certain that their baby had died. The overarching theme "There is something wrong" was formulated. Conclusion: The mother could not understand the unbelievable: that the baby had died in utero. Implications: Mother's should be cautioned to trust their insights and seek medical advice if they are concerned over the lack of movement from the unborn baby.


A study is presented into the reverse-short-channel effect (RSCE) for Sb S/D ion implantation at 10 keV. A high impurity concentration is found to reduce interstitial movement in the channel, which restricts the level RSCE at short-channel lengths. The interstitials can be healed by thermal treatment at 850°C directly after ion implantation, resulting in the suppression of the RSCE.


Wavelength reuse in a bidirectional UWB over fiber system using a polarization modulator (PolM) and an electro-absorption modulator (EAM) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. Since the PolM functions as a special phase modulator that supports phase modulation along the two principal axes with opposite modulation indices and the EAM is a polarization-independent component, the signals due to the phase-modulation to intensity-modulation (PM-IM) conversion along the two orthogonal directions in the upstream link will be complementary and cancelled out, thus the impact of the downstream signal to the upstream transmission due to the PM-IM conversion is fully eliminated. Error-free bidirectional transmission of a 1.25-Gbps UWB signal over 17 km single-mode fiber (SMF) is demonstrated. A power penalty due to the wavelength reuse for upstream transmission is measured to be as low as 0.2 dB.


This paper talks about the body in a movement of extreme body modification called Body Hacktivism. The aspiration of this movement is to unite hacking, body modification and activism. The Body Hacktivism is a current whose enthusiasts are found in different places in Europe, the United States, and South-America, and are connected through a network. Alongside the fieldwork, it is noticeable that many times the body hacktivists' accounts do not converge into a single version of what the movement is. Beyond that, their accounts about the body vary consistently, interfering directly in their body-related practices. The interviews presented partially here are the fruit of ethnographic research with body hacktivists from Europe and Brazil. In their speech about Body Hacktivism and the body this paper will try to shed light on the way they manage the complexity of their speech associated with body transformation, by paying more attention to the details of social life. Diverse questions can be raised regarding the appropriateness of various body enactments in the actors' speeches. Starting from the assumption that "nature/body" and "culture/modification" are not two completely distinct domains, this research is built by incorporating the issues of the ontological border set between these two concepts. By trying to trace interactions involved in this wide phenomenon, I expect to have unique insights into how ideas such as nature, culture, body modification, and technology are intertwined regarding Body Hacktivism in contemporary society.


Hydrogen is widely regarded as a future sustainable and clean energy feedstock. Formic acid is considered as one of the most promising hydrogen carriers. However, efficient and selective dehydrogenation from formic acid under mild conditions constitutes a major challenge because of the ease poisoning of catalysts with CO formed as an intermediate during formic acid decomposition. Here, we develop a new heterogeneous catalyst composed of bimetallic AgPd and MnOx nanoparticles immobilized on biomass-derived carbon nanospheres with well-controlled nano-morphologies. In this catalytic system, MnOx nanoparticles could act as a CO-sponge and enhance both the catalytic activity and CO-resistivity of AgPd nanoparticles. The prepared catalyst exhibits 100% H2 selectivity and excellent catalytic activity, greatly facilitating the hydrogen generation from formic acid with the turnover frequency of 3558 h−1 at 50 °C. Moreover, this new catalytic system shows very high stability, which makes it reusable. The exceptional performance of the new catalytic system presents itself as an excellent contender for efficient hydrogen production from formic acid. This work opens up a new way for the development of high-performance metal nanocatalysts.


A multi-secret sharing scheme (MSS) allows a dealer to share multiple secrets among a set of participants. In such a way a multi-secret sharing scheme (MSS) allows a dealer to share multiple secrets among a set of participants, such that any authorized subset of participants can reconstruct the secrets. Up to now, existing MSSs either require too long shares for participants to be perfect secure, or do not have a formal security analysis/proof. In 2013, Herranz et al. provided the first formal definition of computational security for multi-stage secret sharing scheme (MSSS) in the standard model and proposed a practical and secure scheme. As far as we know, their scheme is the only computationally secureMSSin the standard model, and there is no formal definition of the computational security for other categories of MSSs. Based on this motivation, in this paper, we define the first formal model of in distinguishability against the chosen secret attacks (CSA) for other types of MSSs in the standard model. Furthermore, we present two practical CSA-secure MSSs, belonging to different types of MSSs and enjoying the advantage of short shares. They are also provably secure in the standard model. Based on the semantic security of the underlying encryption schemes, we prove the security of our schemes.


This article argues that understanding "wild" land as terra nullius ("land belonging to no one") emerged during historical colonialism, entered international law, and became entrenched in national constitutions and cultural mores around the world. This has perpetuated an unsustainable and unjust human relationship to land no longer tenable in the post-Lockean era of land scarcity and ecological degradation. Environmental conservation, by valuing wild lands, challenges the terra nullius assumption of the vulnerability of unused lands to encroachment, while indigenous groups reasserting their rights to communal territories likewise contest individual property rights. South American case studies illustrate routinized terra nullius prejudices.


Given the video of a still background occluded by a fluid dynamic texture (FDT), this paper addresses the problem of separating the video sequence into its two constituent layers. One layer corresponds to the video of the unoccluded background, and the other to that of the dynamic texture, as it would appear if viewed against a black background. The model of the dynamic texture is unknown except that it represents fluid flow. We present an approach that uses the image motion information to simultaneously obtain a model of the dynamic texture and separate it from the background which is required to be still. Previous methods have considered occluding layers whose dynamics follows simple motion models (e.g. periodic or 2D parametric motion). FDTs considered in this paper exhibit complex stochastic motion. We consider videos showing an FDT layer (e.g. pummeling smoke or heavy rain) in front of a static background layer (e.g. brick building). We propose a novel method for simultaneously separating these two layers and learning a model for the FDT. Due to the fluid nature of the DT, we are required to learn a model for both the spatial appearance and the temporal variations (due to changes in density) of the FDT, along with a valid estimate of the background. We model the frames of a sequence as being produced by a continuous HMM, characterized by transition probabilities based on the Navier-Stokes equations for fluid dynamics, and by generation probabilities based on the convex matting of the FDT with the background. We learn the FDT appearance, the FDT temporal variations, and the background by maximizing their joint probability using interactive conditional modes (ICM). Since the learned model is generative, it can be used to synthesize new videos with different backgrounds and density variations. Experiments on videos that we compiled demonstrate the performance of our method.


Glioblastoma is a brain cancer caused by the presence of a fast-growing, malignant tumor in the brain. As of now, this cancer is universally lethal due to lack of efficacious treatment options. C-C chemokine receptor 1 (CCR1) is a G-protein coupled receptor that controls chemotaxis, the movement of cells in response to chemical stimuli. Inhibiting these receptors could retard the growth of the malignant tumor by inhibiting chemotaxis. This research aims to synthesize potential CCR1 antagonists by coupling carboxylic acids with a triazole core. We synthesized these compounds using a simple carboxylic acid coupling and confirmed the identity of the final compounds using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Further testing of these compounds in inhibition bioassays is planned to be done when lab space becomes accessible again.


Introduction: Intestinal parasitic infections are of a major public health problem in many societies. Enterobius vermicularis (E. vermicularis) is particularly more persistent in places such as kindergartens, dormitories, and barracks, where people live and work together. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of infection with E. vermicularis in the kindergartens of Dezful City, 2013. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, a total number of 254 children aged 3-7 years, were randomly selected from private kindergartens from different parts of the city based on population density. Data collection tool was a questionnaire including demographic characteristics. The children were examined using Graham method (Scotch tape) to determine the prevalence rate of E. vermicularis infection. Non-parametric statistical χ2 test was used to evaluate the objectives. All statistical tests were done at a confidence level of 95% and a p-value<0.05. Results: A total of 254 children were examined for the prevalence of E. vermicularis, of whom 127 cases (50%) were males and 127 (50%) were female. Out of the total number of examined children, 20 cases (7.8%) were observed to be infected with E. vermicularis. Of these patients, 11 (4.3%) were female and 9 (3.5%) were male. The highest rate of infection was observed in children aged 5-6 years. The highest prevalence of E. vermicularis infection (19 cases, 7.5%) was observed in children of parents with preliminary education. However, one positive case (0.3%) was documented for a family with parents having higher education level. In general, this study showed 19 out of 20 E. vermicularis positive cases were from Dezful's kindergartens located in poor socio-economic areas. Another factor for the prevalence of E. vermicularis was presence of health trainers in the kindergartens. A considerable number of E. vermicularis cases (95%) were recorded for kindergartens with no health trainer. Conclusion: With respect to the obtained p-value of 0.6 for age and gender of children, as well as having equal gender distribution and according to the findings of this study, the age and gender did not have significant effects on the prevalence of E. vermicularis infection in kindergartens. In addition, the infection rate was recorded to be 5.8% for the age group of 5-6 years. In fact, the prevalence of E. vermicularis infection was increased with increasing age, probably due to increased social communication in this age. J Med Microbiol Infec Dis, 2014, 2 (2): 4 pages.


Many neurons transduce synaptic inputs into action potentials (APs) according to rules that reflect their intrinsic membrane properties. Voltage-gated potassium channels, being numerous and diverse constituents of neuronal membrane, are important participants in neuronal excitability and thus in synaptic integration. Here we address the role of dendrotoxin-sensitive "D-type" potassium channels in the excitability of large pyramidal neurons in layer 5 of the rat neocortex. Low concentrations of 4-aminopyridine or α-dendrotoxin (α-DTX) dramatically increased excitability: the firing threshold for action potentials was hyperpolarized by 4–8 mV, and the firing frequency during a 1-sec-long 500 pA somatic current step was doubled. In nucleated outside-out patches pulled from the soma, α-DTX reversibly blocked a slowly inactivating potassium current that comprised ∼6% of the total. This current first turned on at voltages just hyperpolarized to the threshold for spiking and activated steeply with depolarization. By assaying α-DTX-sensitive current in outside-out patches pulled from the axon and primary apical dendrite, it was found that this current was concentrated near the soma. We conclude that α-DTX-sensitive channels are present on large layer 5 pyramidal neurons at relatively low density, but their strategic location close to the site of action potential initiation in the axon may ensure that they have a disproportionate effect on neuronal excitability. Modulation of this class of channel would generate a powerful upregulation or downregulation of neuronal output after the integration of synaptic inputs.


OBJECTIVES
1) Describe the genetic alterations discovered in a series of sporadic vestibular schwannomas (VS). 2) Identify if more clinically aggressive variants possess different genetic alterations compared to more indolent-behaving VS.

METHODS
Fresh frozen tumor and matched peripheral blood leukocytes from 23 individuals with sporadic VS were analyzed using whole-exome sequencing, tumor whole transcriptome expression profiling (mRNA-Seq), and tumor mate-pair analysis. Source cases included tumors with fast preoperative growth, giant tumors in young patients, tumors with macrocystic change, recurrent tumors following radiation or microsurgery, and indolent small tumors with minimal or no growth before surgery. Somatic and germ-line alterations of the NF2 gene and beyond the NF2 locus were identified and analyzed using complementing analyses.

RESULTS
Biallelic somatic events involving the NF2 gene were discovered in every analyzed tumor specimen with no concurrent NF2 variants identified in matching peripheral blood specimens. Thirteen tumors showed loss of one chromosome 22 (ch22), 4 tumors showed copy-neutral 22q loss of heterozygosity, and 31 unique small variants in the NF2 gene were discovered. Of the latter, 10 were essential splice site, 11 frame shift, 7 stop gain, 2 missense, and 1 in-frame mutation. No other common or recurring NF2 mutations were identified. However, several other notable large chromosomal aberrations were discovered including 2 tumors with loss of a chromosome 21, 3 with loss of an X or Y chromosome, 1 with copy-neutral loss of heterozygosity in chromosome 15, and 1 with loss of 18p and 16q. All of these other major chromosomal abnormalities only occurred in tumors demonstrating a more aggressive phenotype.

CONCLUSIONS
To date, few studies have used whole-exome sequencing, mate-pair analysis, and RNA-seq to profile genome-wide alterations in sporadic VS. Using high-throughput deep sequencing, "two-hit" alterations in the NF2 gene were identified in every tumor and were not present in peripheral blood supporting that all events were somatic. Type of NF2 gene alteration and accessory mutations outside the NF2 locus may predict phenotypic expression and clinical course.


ABSTRACT High-mobility group A (HMGA) proteins are major transcription regulators which are abundantly and ubiquitously expressed in undifferentiated cells but present at a low level in somatic cells of adult organisms. Up-regulation of HMGA expression is a frequent finding in cancer, either via direct stimulation of expression by constitutively expressed proto-oncogenic factors such as MYC and JUN or by rearrangements rendering the expression of the HMGA proteins not suppressible by inhibitory factors such as miRNAs. Rearrangements of the HMGA genomic loci resulting in disabling of the control mechanisms of their expression are often seen in tumours of various origin. A direct relationship between the level of expression of HMGA in mitochondria and the level of accumulation of oxidative damage in cancer cells has been recently noted. On the other hand, mammalian cells deficient in HMGA1 expression are also deficient in utilization of glucose and show the impairment in expression of the insulin receptor and the high levels of oxidative damage of DNA characteristic of diabetes type 2 and the related condition metabolic syndrome. Insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome could be viewed as a premalignant state in which DNA damage is slowly accumulating until the repair machinery of the cell cannot withstand the constant oxidative barrage and surrenders to neoplastic transformation.


BACKGROUND
Brugada syndrome (BS) is an electrical cardiac disorder with a right bundle branch block and ST segment elevation in leads V1 to V3 on surface electrocardiograms (ECGs), and is a syndrome that may lead to sudden cardiac death.

PURPOSE
The aim of the present study was to screen for mutations in the SCN5A gene in a family with BS, and to characterize the consequences of the mutation on channel function.

RESULTS
A heterozygous nonsense SCN5A mutation (W822X) was identified in the index patient. The mutation was confirmed in the patient's asymptomatic 16-year-old brother and 48-year-old father. The mutation was absent in the index patient's sister and mother. The ECG of the index patient showed a BS type 2 ECG phenotype, which converted into a type 1 ECG phenotype in the presence of flecainide. The ECG of the patient's brother was not typical for BS, but ajmaline treatment unmasked a type 1 ECG phenotype. The ECG of the asymptomatic father was normal at baseline and in the presence of ajmaline. No Na+ currents could be measured in tsA201 cells transfected with W822X mutant channels. Heterozygote expression showed a nearly 50% reduction in Na+ current amplitude with no significant alterations of biophysical properties, indicating a loss of functional Na+ channels, obviously without any dominant-negative activity on wild type channels.

CONCLUSIONS
The haploinsufficiency of the Nav1.5 protein is the plausible explanation for the clinical BS phenotype in this family. Because the heterozygous W822X mutation theoretically leads to channel expression at one-half of the normal level, the authors suggest that a modifier gene may influence or rescue the phenotype in the asymptomatic family members.


This paper reports on a procedure for selective extraction of the venlafaxine (VEN) drug from biological samples before its sensitive spectrofluorometric determination. In this regard, a layer of VEN-imprinted polymer was coated onto the surface of magnetite nanoparticles. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized using FT-IR, VSM, XRD and TEM measurements. Various factors that could potentially affect the extraction efficiency of VEN (i.e. solution pH, nanoparticle dosage and contact time) have been optimized using a one-at-a-time method. The prepared magnetic adsorbent could disperse well in water medium and could be easily separated magnetically from the medium after loading with the adsorbate. The loaded VEN could be easily desorbed with a mixture of methanol and HCl and determined spectrofluorometrically at 598 nm. The results showed that using the proposed method VEN can be determined spectrofluorometrically in the linear concentration range of 2.0–400.0 ng mL−1 with a limit of detection as low as 1.2 ng mL−1. The results of human urine and blood serum analysis showed that the method is a good candidate for biological sample analysis purposes.


Every social group has their own sociolect which represent their specific intention. In order to understand its intention, whether or not it can really represent a particular social class, this research therefore purposed to explain the sociolect used by college students who is practising prostitution in their site and also in their college. The descriptions and analyses intended to discover the intention of respondents' sociolect as a mean of representation of their social status. The research data are obtained from the usage of sosiolect by female college students who are practising prostitution at the prostitution sites and at their college. Data collection techniques are using observations, recordings, and interview. Data analyses utilize qualitative methods. According to data analyses, respondents has their specific, unique and particular sosiolect at their prostitution sites and at their college. It is intended to make their communication easier with another prostitutes and their customer. In addition, their particular sociolect is used to protect their privation, the prostitutes and their customer, when they are out site. They employ both verbal and nonverbal sociolects. As the conclusion, their specific and unique sociolect is indeed a way to represent their social status and have specific intention understandable from their own standpoint.


Technologies for learning are considered as key enablers of educational innovation. However, their full potential is not being realised in formal education settings and major questions are being asked about the sustainability, systemic impact and mainstreaming of ICT-enabled learning innovations (ICT-ELI) in Europe. This report presents 60 recommendations for immediate strategies and actions to be undertaken by policy-makers at local, regional, national, and EU level to further develop and mainstream ICT-ELI with systemic impact, contributing to the modernisation of Education and Training systems in Europe. The recommendations were developed in the context of the 'Up scaling Creative Classrooms in Europe (SCALE CCR) project, carried out by JRC-IPTS on behalf of the European Commission, DG Education and Culture, based on desk research; case reports from Europe and Asia; continuous stakeholders consultations; and in-depth expert interviews. The final set of recommendations was further validated and prioritised through an online consultation with 149 educational stakeholders. The recommendations were clustered into seven areas presenting a holistic agenda to guide the further development and mainstreaming of ICT-ELI: Content and Curricula; Assessment; School Staff Professional Development; Research; Organisation and Leadership; Connectedness; and Infrastructure. The number and variety of the recommendations provided depict the complexity of ICT-ELI and the systemic approach needed for their mainstreaming across Education and Training systems in Europe.


Federal and state governments are searching for programs and/or policies to deal with the risks linked with uncertainty in water supplies and demands. Within the United States, competition among agricultural, urban, and environmental concerns for water is increasing. Drought conditions and water use restrictions have, at times, limited water supplies for these varied uses. The federal government stands in a unique position as both a major supplier and demander of water. As such, the federal government has put forward several programs for water conservation, information, and usage. One area in which the federal government has not made significant progress is the issue of risk management and compensation for water reallocations. When natural forces or government policies trigger water use restrictions, the restricted water users may or may not be compensated by current programs. This paper explores how current policies may or may not cover agricultural losses due to water use restrictions and outlines several government policy proposals and market-based methods to mitigate the risks from water restrictions. Given the diversity of the agents involved and the watersheds covered, it is likely that no one program will be the "best" program to address the issue. The "best" program for a given combination of agents in a watershed will depend upon the types of agents and the possible uses of the water.


The hard turning process has been attracting interest in different industrial sectors for finishing operations of hard materials at its hardened state.Surface roughness is investigated in hard turning of AISI D3 and AISI H13 steels of same hardness 62HRC. In this paper, an attempt has been made to model and predict the surface roughness in hard turning of AISI D3 and AISI H13 hardened steels using Response Surface Methodology (RSM). The combined effects of three machining parameters such as cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut are investigated for main performance characteristic that is surface roughness. RSM based Central Composite Design (CCD) is applied as an experimental design. Al 2O3/TiC mixed ceramic tool with corner radius 0.8 mm is employed to accomplish 20 tests with six center points. The acceptability of the developed models is checked using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA).The combined effects of cutting speed; feed rate and depth of cut are investigated using surface plots.


A lichen survey at South Sister, northeastern Tasmania, has yielded 234 taxa. The following 16 are recorded from Tasmania for the first time:
Acarospora veronensis A. Massal., Arthothelium macounii (G. Merr.) WJ. Noble, Austrolecia antarctica Hertel, Bacidia wellingtonii (Stirt.)
D.J. Galloway, Buellia griseovirens (Turner & Borrer ex Sm.) Almb., Coccocarpia pellita (Ach.) Mull. Arg., Hafellia subcrassata Pusswald, H
xanthonica Elix, Hypocenomyce scalaris (Ach.) M. Choisy, Illosporium carneum Fr., Lecidella pruinosula (Mull. Arg.) Kantvilas & Elix comb.
nov., Lecidella sublapicida (Knight) Hertel, Lepraria eburnea J .R. Laundon, Micarea denigrata (Fr.) Hedl., Mycoblastus campbellianus (Nyl.)
Zahlbr. and Mycoporum antecellens (Nyl.) R.C. Harris. The survey represents the first of its kind for any dolerite peak in Tasmania, and
serves as a benchmark for future studies. Aspects of the distribution and ecology of the flora, the occurrence of rare, threatened or otherwise
unusual species, and significant range extensions are discussed. The effect of metal-rich run-off from galvanised structures is identified as
a potential threat to the flora values of the site.


The spectral properties of blazars seem to follow a phenomenological sequence according to the source luminosity. By inferring the source physical parameters through (necessarily) modeling of the blazar spectra, we have previously proposed that the sequence arises because the particles responsible for most of the emission suer increasing radiative losses as the luminosity increases. Here we extend those results by considering the widest possible range of blazar spectral properties. We nd a new important ingredient for shaping the spectra of the lowest power objects, namely the role of a nite timescale for the injection of relativistic particles. Only high energy particles radiatively cool over such a timescale leading to a break in the particle distribution: particles with this break energy are those emitting most of the power, and this gives rise to a link between blazar spectra and total energy density inside the source, which controls the cooling timescale. The emerging picture requires two phases for the particle acceleration: a rst pre{heating phase in which particles reach a characteristic energy as the result of balancing heating and radiative cooling, and a more rapid acceleration phase which further accelerate these particles to form a power law distribution. While in agreement with standard shock theory, this scenario also agrees with the idea that the luminosity of blazars is produced through internal shocks, which naturally lead to shocks lasting for a nite time.


In general diagnostic problems multiple disorders can occur simultaneously. AI systems have traditionally handled the potential combinatorial explosion of possible hypotheses in such problems by focusing attention on a few "most plausible" ones. This raises the issue of establishing what makes one hypothesis more plausible than others. Typically a hypothesis (a set of disorders) must not only account for the given manifestations, but it must also satisfy some notion of simplicity (or coherency, or parsimony, etc) to be considered. While various criteria for simplicity have been proposed in the past, these have been based on intuitive and subjective grounds. In this paper, we address the issue of if and when several previously-proposed criteria of parsimony are reasonable in the sense that they are guaranteed to at least identify the most probable hypothesis. Hypothesis likelihood is calculated using a recent extension of Bayesian classification theory for multimembership classification in causal diagnostic domains. The significance of this result is that it is now possible to decide objectively a priori the appropriateness of different criteria for simplicity in developing an inference method for certain classes of general diagnostic problems.


A central processing units (CPU) calculation speed is limited by the heat it produces. As the number of transistors and the clock speed of CPUs increase they become more powerful, but they also generate more heat which must be removed or the chip will over heat and fail. CPUs in laptops and some desktop computers are currently cooled using heat pipe heat sinks. However, as CPUs increase in power, greater heat transfer capacity will be required, and the capabilities of current heat pipe designs will be exceeded. Thus it is necessary to develop an innovative cooling device that is capable removing a higher heat flux. Oscillating heat pipes (OHP) are a viable option, however, the current design is too large for incorporation into electronics packages. The compact OHP is proposed as a solution. The current investigation is designed to produce a compact OHP as a replacement of current cooling technologies. Electroforming was chosen as the method for fabricating the OHPs because of its cost effectiveness, and the maturity of the technology which lends itself well to prototyping. The electroforming technology was studied and an electroforming bath was constructed. In order to create an OHP in an electroforming bath, several techniques of masking the substrate for electroforming were studied and the preliminary process design of using photo lithography as a masking technique was completed. During testing of the electroforming system a new wicking structure was created, which is a form of dendritic growth. The wicking structure was analyzed using a light microscope and a three vapor chambers were fabricated and tested to characterize the capillary performance of the wick structure and heat transport capability.


Garbage will always ultimately be the government's problem. Evolving environmental standards and state and federal policies will continue to require reasoned responses from local governments and municipal solid waste flow control is a vital cog in many jurisdictions' solid waste management solutions. Without flow control of some form, governments' ability to plan and provide for the most environmentally sound and economically acceptable solutions will wane, leaving the public vulnerable to the vagaries of a private market that does not have a duty to protect the public health and safety. The Carbone decision has blunted one of the local governments chief weapons-legislative flow control-and it appears Congress will not supply an adequate answer for many solid waste systems. More than ever, alternatives to legislative flow control will be needed to enable municipalities to fulfill their solid waste duties, to comply with federal and state mandates, and to provide workable, environmentally-sound, long-term solid waste programs serving the interests of the public health and safety. Local governments must act soon by examining these options and deciding which will best serve the public.


This dissertation examines the relationship between African American literature and performance during the modern Civil Rights Movement. It traces the ways in which the movement was acted out on the theatrical stage as creatively as it was at those sites of embodied activism that have survived in intellectual and popular memories: lunch counters and buses, schools and courtrooms, streets and prisons. Whereas television and photography have served as primary ways of knowing the movement, this project turns to African American literature, and the live performances it inspired, to provide a more complex framework for analyzing the movement's cultural arm. Focusing in particular on African American drama and poetry, I argue that critically analyzing the intersections of literature and performance uncovers conceptual and epistemological frameworks that productively reorient traditional accounts of the modern Civil Rights Movement. In this vein, I examine the works of relatively well-known artists, such as Lorraine Hansberry, James Baldwin, Alice Childress, Langston Hughes, Margaret Walker, Amiri Baraka, and Gil Scott-Heron, and lesser known artists and performance collectives, such as Paul Carter Harrison, Pearl Cleage, the Free Southern Theater, and the Broadside Press Poets. Building upon this archival intervention, I argue that black writers and performers develop what I term acts of black performative revealing , in which they use their bodies, the stage, and literature to play with and challenge iconographies of race, gender, sexuality, nation, and modernity that circulated in U.S. public discourse and international media. Despite preoccupations with "making it new" in the realm of art, science, and technology, there was a troubling, diametrical desire to constrict people of African descent to antiquated modes of being in the domain of rights, equality, and justice. Yet, from the revered stages of Broadway to community theater performances that were produced in the cotton fields of Mississippi, blacks crafted innovative performance and aesthetic techniques that creatively challenged and repurposed the very lexicon of scientific and technological innovation. Utilizing these practices to reimagine race, gender, sexuality, nation, and U.S. modernity, the artists studied here invite more nuanced conceptions of the movement's "classical" phase, which has, of late, fallen out of critical vogue because of a "dominant" narrative that the intersection of literature and performance fruitfully unsettles. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group English First Advisor Thadious M. Davis This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1276


A finite element method to solve the Reduced Navier‐Stokes/Prandtl (RNS/P) equations is described. These equations are an asymptotic simplification of the full Navier‐Stokes equations, obtained when one dimension of the domain is of one order smaller than the others. These are therefore of particular interest to describe flows in channels or pipes of small diameter. A low order finite element discretization, based on a piecewise constant approximation of the pressure, is proposed and analyzed. Numerical experiments which consist in fluid flow simulations within a constricted pipe are provided. Comparisons with Navier‐Stokes simulations allow to evaluate the performance of prediction of the finite element method, and of the model itself.


In this paper, the author proposes a game-theoretical model of trust among reciprocal agents. Our model, a trust game, is a non-cooperative game in extensive form. By considering about this game, we can define clearly the concept of trust behavior in general games in extensive form. But just using ordinary equilibrium concept (e.g. subgame perfect equilibrium), we cannot explain the trust behavior in some situations. This result contradicts with some observations in real world. So, we have to adopt another solution concept, sequential reciprocity equilibrium (SRE), which is suggested by Dufwenwerg. Adopting this SRE concept, we analyze repeated trust game (RTG). As a result of analysis, I find the condition of reciprocity to trust others, and reciprocal agents can get higher payoff than non-reciprocal agents when the length of game is enough long.


A chemical gas sensor based on a silicon carbide field effect transistor with a catalytic gate metal has been under development for a number of years. The choice of silicon carbide as the semiconductor material allows the sensor to operate at high temperatures, for more than 6 months in flue gases at 300degreesC and for at least three days at 700degreesC. The chemical inertness of silicon carbide and a buried gate design makes it a suitable sensor technology for applications in corrosive environments such as exhaust gases and flue gases from boilers. The selectivity of the sensor devices is established through the choice of type and structure of the gate metal as well as the operation temperature. In this way NH3 sensors with low cross sensitivity to NOx have been demonstrated as potential sensors for control of selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NOx by urea injection into diesel exhausts. Here we show that sensors with a porous platinum or iridium gate show different temperature ranges for NH3 detection. The hardness of the silicon carbide makes it for example more resistant to water splash at cold start of a petrol engine than existing technologies, and a sensor which can control the air to fuel ratio, before the exhaust gases are heated, has been demonstrated. Silicon carbide sensors are also tested in flue gases from boilers. Efficient regulation of the combustion in a boiler will decrease fuel consumption and reduce emissions.