Diet has long been suspected to be the primary cause of Tamanduas inability to thrive in some Brazilian zoos. It is known that free ranging animals consume diets consisting of termites and ants. Unfortunately, little is known about the nutrient requirements of insectivorous species. In addition, incomplete data exist on the nutrient content of many prey species. An assessment of the diet offered tamandua at the Sao Paulo Zoo appeared to indicate a relationship between poor nutrient levels in the diet and malnutrition, poor skin and coat problems, and anemia seen in their collection. A survey of diets fed tamandua in other Brazilian zoos also was conducted. Utilizing products available to Brazilian zoos, a new diet was recommended and has resulted in increased survivability of tamandua in the Sao Paulo Zoo.


An experiment was carried out using an upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) cv. NIAB-78 to investigate the physiological and biochemical aspects of seed deterioration during accelerated ageing. The seeds were subjected to 40-44°C and 90-95% relative humidity for 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, 15 and 20 days for artificial ageing. Controlled ageing linearly decreased the germination capacity. There was a complete loss of germination at 20 days of accelerated ageing. The decline in seed germination during accelerated ageing was accompanied with the increase in mean emergence time (MET), days to 50% germination (T 50 ), electrical conductivity (EC) of solute leakage, free fat acidity and lipid peroxidation. Accelerated ageing not only affected emergence percentage and time but also decreased the seedling vigour, as is indicated by reduction in root weight, shoot weight and hypocotyl length. The cottonseed deterioration by accelerated ageing might be due to membrane disintegration and inactivation of enzymatic systems due to lipid peroxidation and increase in free fat acidity.


Welcome to this special edition of Unity focusing on the Wollongong Women's Information Centre (WWIC) and feminism in Wollongong. This year the WWIC will have achieved 23 years of commitment to feminist activity within this community. At a forum on the early history of the Wollongong Women's Information Centre in October, members of the Illawarra Branch of the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History enjoyed lively presentations by Irene Arrowsmith and Val Dolan (Newsham), who were both passionately involved with the Women's Centre in its formative years. By request this issue of Illawarra Unity reproduces Irene and Val's speeches and an edited version of the ensuing conversation. Also reproduced is a speech, given by Lenore Armour in 1982. Lenore's speech is dedicated to the memory of Ruby Makula, whose dedication to feminism is fondly remembered by many of the women involved with WWIC and its early history. The edition also includes some information on resources for those interested in researching the WWIC and comments by the editor of this edition. This journal article is available in Illawarra Unity Journal of the Illawarra Branch of the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History: http://ro.uow.edu.au/unity/vol2/iss5/1


Crowdsourcing is a popular tool for conducting subjective evaluations in uncontrolled environments and at low cost. In this paper, a crowdsourcing study is conducted to investigate the impact of High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging on subjective face recognition accuracy. For that purpose, a dataset of HDR images of people depicted in high-contrast lighting conditions was created and their faces were manually cropped to construct a probe set of faces. Crowdsourcing-based face recognition was conducted for five differently tone-mapped versions of HDR faces and were compared to face recognition in a typical Low Dynamic Range alternative. A similar experiment was also conducted using three automatic face recognition algorithms. The comparative analysis results of face recognition by human subjects through crowdsourcing and machine vision face recognition show that HDR imaging affects the recognition results of human and computer vision approaches differently.


Handwritten digits are recognized using prototypes created by a training algorithm based on the Euclidean distance. The subsequent classification of a handwritten digit is based on criteria considering the Euclidean distance to the prototypes. A training set of 2361 patterns is used to create the prototypes and a separate set of 1320 patterns is used to test the proposed method. The system performance is compared to two other known classification algorithms: a MLP (multilayer perceptron network), and SOM (self-organizing map) plus LVQ1 (a linear vector quantization algorithm). The proposed method reached a recognition rate of 93.5% when using the nearest-prototype criterion, and raised to 94.8% when using a nearest-prototype-voting criterion. It compared favorably with the MLP (91.8%) and SOM+LVQ1 (91.5%).


Aldo Rossi, a practicing architect and leader of the Italian architectural movement La Tendenza, is also one of the most influential theorists writing today. The Architecture of the City is his major work of architectural and urban theory. In part a protest against functionalism and the Modern Movement, in part an attempt to restore the craft of architecture to its position as the only valid object of architectural study, and in part an analysis of the rules and forms of the city's construction, the book has become immensely popular among architects and design students.


Abstract : OSEK is an abbreviation for a German term that translates to 'open systems and the corresponding interfaces for automotive electronics.' OSEK OS is the operating system specification and OSEK COM is the communication specification. Both are application program interface (API) standards for automotive real-time application development. They are complemented by OSEK Implementation Language (OIL), a modeling language for describing the configuration of an OSEK application and operating system. This paper covers the SEI evaluation of these standards from the perspective of real-time application development. The SEI identified shortcomings in the description and semantics of certain services offered by the OSEK API. These shortcomings introduce unnecessary complexity to application developers and limit application portability. The SEI also identified the potential of OIL as an architectural modeling language to support design-time analyses, such as schedulability analysis. OIL's potential as a basis for generating both real-time OS data tables and an application runtime executive was examined. Utilizing OIL in this way simplifies application component development. Correct use of OSEK API functionality is then relegated to a generation tool that operates on OIL. Such improvements would facilitate practitioners' adoption of OSEK by reducing its perceived complexity.


The purpose of this paper is to apply the Box‐Jenkins methodology to ARIMA models and determine the reasons why in empirical tests it is found that the post-sample forecasting the accuracy of such models is generally worse than much simpler time series methods. The paper concludes that the major problem is the way of making the series stationary in its mean (i.e. the method of diAerencing) that has been proposed by Box and Jenkins. If alternative approaches are utilized to remove and extrapolate the trend in the data, ARMA models outperform the models selected through Box‐Jenkins methodology. In addition, it is shown that using ARMA models to seasonally adjusted data slightly improves post-sample accuracies while simplifying the use of ARMA models. It is also confirmed that transformations slightly improve post-sample forecasting accuracy, particularly for long forecasting horizons. Finally, it is demonstrated that AR(1), AR(2) and ARMA(1,1) models can produce more accurate post-sample forecasts than those found through the application of Box‐ Jenkins methodology. #1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


We detected a novel vasoconstrictor in an arginine esterase fraction separated from fractions containing tonin and other esterases that were obtained from a rat submandibular gland extract. When tested on isolated rabbit aorta rings, the substance caused dose-related contractions that were slow in onset, long-lasting, and difficult to reverse by rinsing. The substance acts directly on vascular smooth muscle, since preincubation with plasma or intact endothelium is not required. The fact that the constrictor was destroyed by heat and incubation with pronase suggests that it is a protein. Molecular sieving indicates an estimated molecular weight of 24,000 Da. It has a neutral isoelectric point that is higher than the pI of tonin, from which it can be separated by anion exchange chromatography. A small amount of the vasoconstrictor was obtained by gel filtration and eluted from isoelectric focusing polyacrylamide gels. The purified substance showed a single band on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. It was a potent vasoconstrictor; an estimated concentration of 2.5 nM induced contraction of isolated rabbit aorta rings ranging from 15% to 40% of the maximum contraction obtained by 60 mM KCl. Contraction was completely blocked by 1 mM (p-amidinophenyl)methanesulfonyl fluoride, a serine protease inhibitor. Contractile activity was not affected by hirudin, a thrombin inhibitor, but was completely inhibited by soybean trypsin inhibitor and blunted by aprotinin; thus it may be a trypsin-like serine protease. Purified vasoconstrictor preparation showed hydrolyzing activity on Pro-Phe-Arg-methyl-coumarin amide, a kallikrein substrate. We conclude that a novel vasoconstrictor serine protease is present in the rat submandibular gland.


Introduction: Primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) is characterized by the loss of retinal ganglion cells secondary to optic neuropathy; increased intraocular pressure (IOP) may or may not be present. Many treatment options focus on decreasing IOP measurements to attempt to prevent progression of glaucoma. Our literature review addressed a relatively common question; if cannabis is effective for treating elevated IOP in patients with glaucoma. Objective: To evaluate the current evidence for the use of cannabis for reducing IOP in glaucoma. Methods: PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Database were searched along with references drawn from full text articles published before January 2018 for the best available evidence that met the inclusion criteria.Three authors independently evaluated and selected the articles that represented the best available evidence.The selected articles were chosen based on study methodology and the type of cannabis used for the treatment of glaucoma. Randomized Control Trials were preferred, although lacking. No studies directly compared cannabis to the current standard of care medications for lowering IOP. Results: Five randomized controlled trials were included as best available evidence although they used different routes of administration. All studies included compared cannabis to placebo. The studies evaluated showed a range of IOP lowering effects and side effects.Topical administration has shown conflicting results for the treatment of glaucoma.Conclusion:The many forms of cannabinoid administration have demonstrated variable levels of effectiveness. The variability of the studies indicates the need for more research. Specifically, larger sample sizes, and comparison of standardized cannabis to current standards of care instead of placebo are strongly encouraged.


Many have offered theories that attempt to identify the causes of the present financial crisis. Some blame deregulation and a culture of greed on Wall Street. Others argue that lawmakers and Presidents promoted homeownership too aggressively, sending mortgage credit to low-income communities to serve borrowers with poor credit and little likelihood of paying back their mortgage. Too often, these charges enjoy little empirical support. Taking a hard look at some of the economic indicators present in the buildup to the crisis, one fact stands out; prior to the crisis, the U.S. experienced a stunning increase in income inequality. This increase was reminiscent of a time when the U.S. experienced a similar increase in income inequality: the years leading up to the Great Depression. Given this phenomenon, this article explores empirically whether income inequality itself may have an impact on financial markets: asking whether such inequality can exacerbate, or even lead to, financial crises.There are several possible explanations for the potential connection between rising income inequality and the great strains on the economy it causes. Did rising income for certain sectors lead to an ability to use that income to influence policymaking in such a way that favored those sectors? Did such income inequality pressure politicians to promote policies that favored easy access to credit as a way to mollify lower income constituents who might otherwise grow frustrated with their own stagnating wages in the face of such inequality? These are the types of explanations that some have offered to try to explain the link between income inequality and the Great Recession. In this work, I both analyze these explanations, but also offer a third: that both income inequality and racial inequality created greater social distance and this social distance, in turn, led to greater predatory conduct. That predatory conduct turned a mortgage market into an economic killing field.The review of the empirical information presented here uncovers critical information that may reveal new insights into the potential causes of the financial crisis. First, differences in economic inequality within states correspond to differences in mortgage delinquency rates: i.e., the greater the income inequality in a state, on average, the greater the delinquency rate in that state. Second, the greater the generalized trust in a state, the lower that state's delinquency rate. Third, the higher the social capital in a state, and the higher the level of volunteerism in a state, the lower its delinquency rate. Fourth, the higher the median income in a state, the higher the delinquency rate in that state. Fifth, an index of a series of indicators - income inequality within a state, the size of the African-American population in a state and the median income of the African-American population in that state - reveals a strong correlation between these indicators and delinquency rates. This correlation suggests not that low-income African-Americans are to blame for the foreclosure crisis, but, rather, that middle-class African-Americans were targeted for, and steered towards, loans on unfair terms, precipitating the foreclosures that are now concentrated disproportionately in communities of color.After a discussion of the empirical data that supports these conclusions, this article assesses the legislative and market forces presently at work that are attempting to rein in risky practices on Wall Street. First, I review the recently enacted Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation, analyzing to what extent it addresses social inequality. Second, I turn then to reform efforts with respect to modernization of the Community Reinvestment Act. Last, I look to market-driven and consumer-oriented efforts to reform financial institutions, including the Move Your Money campaign, a consumer-led boycott designed to convince consumers and investors to utilize community-based financial institutions.


Roughness predominantly alters the near-wall region of turbulent flow while the outer layer remains similar with respect to the wall shear stress. This makes it a prime candidate for the minimal-span channel, which only captures the near-wall flow by restricting the spanwise channel width to be of the order of a few hundred viscous units. Recently, Chung et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 773, 2015, pp. 418–431) showed that a minimal-span channel can accurately characterise the hydraulic behaviour of roughness. Following this, we aim to investigate the fundamental dynamics of the minimal-span channel framework with an eye towards further improving performance. The streamwise domain length of the channel is investigated with the minimum length found to be three times the spanwise width or 1000 viscous units, whichever is longer. The outer layer of the minimal channel is inherently unphysical and as such alterations to it can be performed so long as the near-wall flow, which is the same as in a full-span channel, remains unchanged. Firstly, a half-height (open) channel with slip wall is shown to reproduce the near-wall behaviour seen in a standard channel, but with half the number of grid points. Next, a forcing model is introduced into the outer layer of a half-height channel. This reduces the high streamwise velocity associated with the minimal channel and allows for a larger computational time step. Finally, an investigation is conducted to see if varying the roughness Reynolds number with time is a feasible method for obtaining the full hydraulic behaviour of a rough surface. Currently, multiple steady simulations at fixed roughness Reynolds numbers are needed to obtain this behaviour. The results indicate that the non-dimensional pressure gradient parameter must be kept below 0.03–0.07 to ensure that pressure gradient effects do not lead to an inaccurate roughness function. An empirical costing argument is developed to determine the cost in terms of CPU hours of minimal-span channel simulations a priori. This argument involves counting the number of eddy lifespans in the channel, which is then related to the statistical uncertainty of the streamwise velocity. For a given statistical uncertainty in the roughness function, this can then be used to determine the simulation run time. Following this, a finite-volume code with a body-fitted grid is used to determine the roughness function for square-based pyramids using the above insights. Comparisons to experimental studies for the same roughness geometry are made and good agreement is observed.


In this article, I move beyond prior efforts to explore the relationship between the risk of a coup and international conflict by considering alternatives that leaders can utilize to strengthen their regimes. I offer two theoretical expectations. First, I theorize that leaders lose the incentive and ability to use diversion when the structural coup-proofing apparatus is strengthened. Second, I expect military finances to lead to disparate behavior when considering regime type. Autocrats are expected to use military funds to provide private incentives to the armed forces, largely in the form of allowances. Democracies, in contrast, will be required to use expenditures to promote the public good of national security due to the transparency of their regimes. Autocrats are expected to lose the incentive to use diversion as the financial endowment of their militaries increase, while democracies will continue to show a diversionary trend due to their increased military capabilities. The theory is tested using global data from 1962 to 2000, with the findings strongly supporting the theory.


This research project investigates the determinants of ethnic homogamy among adolescents and young adults with an immigrant background in Germany. First, we analyze in how far ethnic homogamy preferences are defined by conservative and traditional orientations as well as ethnicity. Second, we are interested in the role of these personal preferences and parents' indirect and active involvement for the partner choice process. Parents can indirectly influence the ethnic partner choice through the intergenerational transmission of homogamy preferences and can actively get involved through different measures, such as social pressure, and the strength of this direct involvement might differ between groups from more collectivistic or individualistic societies. We use the recently collected fourth wave of the German sample of the "The Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries" (CILS4EU) as well as the previous waves to give a descriptive overview of these interrelations and investigate them by means of multivariate regression models. We find, first, that conservative as well as traditional orientation, ethnic identification, and the importance to maintain the cultural heritage shape personal homogamy preferences. Second, these preferences have a strong significant effect on ethnic partner choice. Third, the same is the case for parental preferences, which mostly seem to be mediated through adolescents' preferences but also show an independent effect. Fourth, we find no proof of differences in active parental involvement when comparing more collectivistic and individualistic immigrant groups. Our results thus give an insight in how determinants discussed in the literature are related to actual homogamy preferences and how parental preferences shape both adolescents' preferences and their dating behavior.


Large-conductance Ca2+- and voltage-activated K+ (BKCa) channels play diverse and critical roles in a number of neuronal functions and provide a link between membrane potential and intracellular calcium. Previous studies suggested a tight functional coupling between BK channels and certain classes of voltage-gated Ca2+ channels in neurons. However, the molecular basis for such coupling has been unclear. Berkefeld et al. now confirm that BKCa channels form bimolecular complexes with voltage-gated Ca2+ channels. This bimolecular complex formation provides the basis for the fast and localized Ca2+-activated K+ signaling that controls neuronal firing patterns and release of hormones and transmitters in the central nervous system. H. Berkefeld, C. A. Sailer, W. Bildl, V. Rohde, J.-O. Thumfart, S. Eble, N. Klugbauer, E. Reisinger, J. Bischofberger, D. Oliver, H.-G. Knaus, U. Schulte, B. Fakler, BKCa-Cav channel complexes mediate rapid and localized Ca2+-activated K+ signaling. Science 314, 615-620 (2006). [Abstract] [Full Text]


✩The same technology that brought pregnancy test kits home is now being used to help identify larvae of the screwworm, Cochliomyia hominivorax, in the field. The test can differentiate them from those of a related screwworm, C. macellaria, which is not harmful to cattle. A new test developed by ARS scientists at the Midwest Livestock Insects Research Laboratory in Lincoln, Nebraska, makes quick work of a complex identification process to distinguish screwworm larvae from close relatives in the fly family. The test is expected to be used at airport terminals and other ports of entry to identify suspicious insects found on dogs, horses, and other animals which can carry screwworm larvae. Currently, specimens must be viewed in a lab under microscopes by trained entomologists. Called an ELISA, for enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay, the test will make it easier for scientists and agricultural officials in developing countries to identify and track screwworm infestations and accidental re-introductions and to positively identify laboratory populations quickly and easily. Little or no training is required to use the kit. Just crush a suspect larva in a small container and add a few drops of the kit's enzyme. If the sample turns a distinctive blue color, the larva was a screwworm. "This test is important because the screwworm larva and its close relatives can be easily confused in the primary larval stages," says ARS entomologist Steve R. Skoda. "This test allows anyone to make a positive identification so steps can be taken to prevent an accidental infestation." Before its eradication in the 1970s, screwworm was one of the most serious insect pests of the domestic livestock industry. It devastated livestock populations across the southern United States and in Mexico, costing cattle producers hundreds of millions of dollars each year. The adult female lays her eggs in living tissue, and the larvae hatch and feed on the wound, creating an opportunity for bacterial infections. Other females lay more eggs in the infected wounds and continue the cycle. Many screwworm-infested animals die. The screwworm has been eradicated from the United States, Mexico, and part of Central America to Nicaragua. It still persists in Costa Rica and Panama.—By Dawn Lyons-Johnson, ARS.


Structural ringing can be caused by non-linear hydrodynamic loads in steep waves, by wave slamming, or by breaking waves. This thesis deals with the first category: non-linear wave loads on bottom-fixed offshore wind turbines in storm condition. Two higher order forcing models are investigated. The FNV (Faltinsen, Newman, Vinje) model accounts for wave loads on a surface piercing column of up to third order of the incident wave field. It is derived by a perturbation of the non-dimensional wave steepness, and requires the column radius to be of the same order of magnitude as the wave amplitude. The higher order FNV forces have their maximum at the free surface, and are decaying exponentially with the water depth. Rainey's slender body forces are not derived using a perturbation approach, but rather by conservation of energy principles. It will be shown that there is agreement between the first and second order forces from FNV and Rainey for regular waves in deep water, while the third order component deviates. Both force models are derived in this thesis. A popular software for dynamic analysis of wind turbines is the open source FAST (Fatigue, Aerodynamics, Structures and Turbulence) code from NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory). FAST is capable of producing a time marching simulation of an offshore wind turbine subjected to various environmental loads. However, FAST only supports linear hydrodynamic loads natively. Thus, the force model of interest have to be implemented in the code. An explanation of the theoretical foundation and architecture of FAST is given, as well as details of the force model implementation. A test case in regular waves comparing the individual force components is conducted, where agreement between the first and second order components was shown, as previously stated. Dynamic analysis of a wind turbine model based on the NREL reference turbine is performed for different environmental condition, operational states and turbine configurations. The first natural frequency of the tower is held fixed for all the configurations, to not coincide with the rotor and blade passing frequencies. The magnitude of the top displacement of the turbine was shown to be relatively independent of different tower configurations and forcing models near the natural frequency. No instances of significant structural response due to higher order effects was observed. The effect was however higher for the examined configurations with a non-stiff foundation and flexible tower. It is recommended that future work should investigate the effect of including non-linear wave motion for better modeling of steep waves, as well as the effect of non-linear structural response of the wind turbine.


Union membership and density in Britain has experienced substantial decline since 1979. The fall in private sector membership and density has been much greater than in the public sector. The size of the union sector, measured by employer recognition, has shrunk. Membership decline has been accompanied by financial decline. Much of the decline occurred before 1997, under Conservative governments. Since 1997 and the return of a Labour government, the position has in some respects stabilized. Currently, unions have a substantially reduced economic impact, but a continued, if limited, role in workplace communication and grievance handling, often as part of a voice regime including non union elements.


Circularity, pluralistic values and communicative co-operation are of special importance to reach the goal of sustainability. In this book the authors argue that a new economics must be based upon an organic world view where economy, nature and culture are interconnected. The economic challenges of tomorrow will only to a limited extent lend themselves to being managed by the neoclassical and mainstream economic paradigm. It is necessary to make changes on both structural and individual levels and to modify individual habits and values concerning consumption and lifestyle. Each chapter in the book is illustrated with practical examples written by practitioners and academics and is built upon a progressive Scandinavian experience.


The system for field measurement of texture, stress and related material properties such as formability parameters using ultrasonic velocity measurements through crystalline plate or sheet. Electromagnetic acoustic transducers are utilized to generate, transmit, and receive ultrasonic bursts through the plate at different angular orientations with respect to the plane of the plate. Two of the transducers are driven in series when generating the ultrasonic bursts. Time measurements between transmission and reception of the bursts are precisely derived and converted into velocities. Information regarding stress, texture, and other related material properties such as formability parameters can be derived from these velocity measurements. The system is adjustable to be used for both ferrous and nonferrous crystalline plate. Alteration of the types of ultrasonic waves utilized, and the methods of generating the waves allows different properties such as texture and stress to be derived.


Background Leucine supplementation has been reported to improve lipid metabolism. However, lipid metabolism in adipose tissues and liver has not been extensively studied for leucine supplementation in mice fed with a high-fat/cholesterol diet (HFCD). Design C57BL/6J mice were fed a chow diet, HFCD, HFCD supplemented with 1.5% leucine (HFCD+1.5% Leu group) or 3% leucine (HFCD+3% Leu group) for 24 weeks. The body weight, peritoneal adipose weight, total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride in serum and liver, and serum adipokines were analyzed. In addition, expression levels of proteins associated with hepatic lipogenesis, adipocyte lipolysis, and white adipose tissue (WAT) browning were determined. Results Mice in the HFCD group developed obesity and deteriorated lipid metabolism. Compared with HFCD, leucine supplementation lowered weight gain and TC levels in circulation and the liver without changing energy intake. The decrease in body fat was supported by histological examination in the WAT and liver. Furthermore, serum levels of proinflammatory adipokines, such as leptin, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha, were significantly decreased by supplemented leucine. At the protein level, leucine potently decreased the hepatic lipogenic enzymes (fatty acid synthase and acetyl-coenzyme A carboxylase) and corresponding upstream proteins. In epididymal WAT, the reduced expression levels of two major lipases by HFCD, namely phosphorylated hormone-sensitive lipase and adipose triglyceride lipase, were reversed when leucine was supplemented. Uncoupling protein 1, β3 adrenergic receptors, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor g coactivator-1α, and fibroblast growth factor 21 were involved in the thermogenic program and WAT browning. Leucine additionally upregulated their protein expression in both WAT and interscapular brown adipose tissue. Conclusion This study demonstrated that chronic leucine supplementation reduced the body weight and improved the lipid profile of mice fed with a HFCD. This beneficial effect was ascribed to hepatic lipogenesis, adipocyte lipolysis, and WAT browning.


We present an inverse modeling procedure for the estimation of model parameters of sedimentary basins subject to compaction driven by mechanical and geochemical processes. We consider a sandstone basin whose dynamics are governed by a set of unknown key quantities. These include geophysical and geochemical system attributes as well as pressure and temperature boundary conditions. We derive a reduced (or surrogate) model of the system behavior based on generalized Polynomial Chaos Expansion (gPCE) approximations, which are directly linked to the variance‐based Sobol indices associated with the selected uncertain model parameters. Parameter estimation is then performed within a Maximum Likelihood (ML) framework. We then study the way the ML inversion procedure can benefit from the adoption of anisotropic polynomial approximations (a‐gPCE) in which the surrogate model is refined only with respect to selected parameters according to an analysis of the nonlinearity of the input‐output mapping, as quantified through the Sobol sensitivity indices. Results are illustrated for a one‐dimensional setting involving quartz cementation and mechanical compaction in sandstones. The reliability of gPCE and a‐gPCE approximations in the context of the inverse modeling framework is assessed. The effects of (a) the strategy employed to build the surrogate model, leading either to a gPCE or a‐gPCE representation, and (b) the type and quality of calibration data on the goodness of the parameter estimates is then explored.


Purpose: To introduce and assess the results of a long-term follow-up of a one-snip punctoplasty with monocanalicular stent (Mini Monoka) for acquired external punctal stenosis (AEPS) with and without associated internal punctal and canalicular stenosis. Design: Prospective non-comparative interventional case series. Methods: Thirty-five eligible patients (53 eyes) with AEPS underwent a horizontal one-snip punctoplasty and Mini Monoka tube insertion by or under supervision of a consultant Oculoplastic surgeon from June 1999 to May 2002. Diagnostic probing and irrigation were performed before operation and after operation at the last follow-up. Patients with canalicular obstruction, nasolacrimal duct stenosis and obstruction, and those with less than 6 months' follow-up were excluded. The Chi-square (X2), Fisher's exact, Pearson correlation, and multiple logistic regression analysis tests, with 95% confidence interval when appropriate, were used for statistical analysis. Results: The age range was 39 to 90 years (mean: 67.2, SD: 11.8, SE: 2). Twenty-seven patients (77.1%) were female. There was a normal canalicular system in 21 (39.6%), lower canalicular stenosis in 10 (18.8%), and internal punctal stenosis in 22 (41.5%) eyes. Postoperative follow-up was from 6 to 41 months (mean: 18.5, SD: 9.2, SE: 1.2). There was a 77.4% complete functional success, 7.5% partial functional success, and 96.2% anatomical success at the last follow-up. The success rate was not significantly different between the eyes with and without preoperative internal punctal and canalicular stenosis (p = 0.4). The lower success rate was significantly correlated with a final abnormal probing and irrigation (p < 0.01). Conclusion: The use of a monocanalicular Mini Monoka stent together with a one-snip punctoplasty is helpful to prevent the recurrence of punctal stenosis in the healing phase and addresses the associated internal punctal and canalicular stenosis.


BACKGROUND
Current treatments for acne rosacea are often associated with unsatisfactory outcomes and adverse effects.

OBJECTIVE
To determine the efficacy and tolerability of a new moisturizing lotion for improving the clinical signs and symptoms of mild-to-moderate acne rosacea.

METHODS
In a 12-week, open-label study, a moisturizing lotion containing furfuryl tetrahydropyranyladenine as PRK124 (0.125%, Pyratine-XR, Senetek PLC, Napa, CA) was applied twice daily to subjects with mild-to-moderate rosacea. Improvement in the appearances of erythema and papules were assessed by the treating physician. Skin barrier function was measured by transepidmal water loss after treatment. Tolerability and cosmetic outcome were evaluated by patients.

RESULTS
Twenty-one participants completed the study. Overall clinical improvement was observed in 80% of subjects, with most showing mild-to-moderate improvement. Erythema, papule counts, and telangiectasia were reduced. The reduction in TEWL was significant at weeks 4 (p = 0.01), 8 (p < 005), and 12 (p < 0.001). Rosacea symptoms (burning, stinging, dryness) were progressively reduced, with reduction in dryness achieving statistical significance at weeks 4 (p = 0.035), 8 (p = 0.037) and 12 (p = 0.016). Treatments were well tolerated and cosmetic outcomes were acceptable. Treatment-induced irritation was not observed.

CONCLUSION
The new moisturizing lotion containing furfuryl tetrahydropyranyladenine as PRK124 shows a continued trend toward improvement of skin barrier function and the appearances of erythema and papules associated with mild-to-moderate rosacea during 12 weeks of treatment.


In this theoretical article I propose that cultural theory (Douglas, 1987; Thompson et al., 1999; Verweij, 1999; Verweij, 2006) can help us understand the non-intentional effects of accounting. In cultural theory three different ways of organising (hierarchism, individualism and egalitarianism) are supposed to underpin all different cultures and organisations. These different principles complement each other and an organisation that lacks one of the principles is unlikely to sustain. From the background of cultural theory I discuss how different forms of accounting crowd-out or crowd-in different ways of organising. Through the article I make references to one example on organisation in order to illustrate the theoretical discussion.


In Machine Learning, value prediction and decision making are implemented in classical models of reinforcement learning evaluating state and action values. Considering limitations of these models, inspiration from neuroscience can be seen as a valuable way to revisit these algorithms. But a thorough study of the literature in neuroscience indicates diverging interpretations about the roles of the main regions of the orbital and medial frontal cortex, collectively reported to play a central role in extracting and representing these values. A reason for these divergences is that reported experiments were not associated to the same kind of behaviors and most of the time in non ecological conditions. We report here about a large scale model that has been designed to associate different frontal regions (and not to focus on a specific one) and to implement an ecological behavior associating foraging and decision making when an interesting place has been detected. This global model allows to re-interpret several observations and is consistent with a wide series of behavioral experiments. Particularly, it reveals an interesting dynamics between the lateral and medial regions of the orbitofrontal cortex, respectively representing the sensory and the rewarding values of outcomes. This dynamics can be also exploited in a purely Machine Learning perspective to design an artificial agent able to autonomously identify goals and to exploit them in various perspectives.


Disobeying the classical wisdom of statistical learning theory, modern deep neural networks generalize well even though they typically contain millions of parameters. Recently, it has been shown that the trajectories of iterative optimization algorithms can possess fractal structures, and their generalization error can be formally linked to the complexity of such fractals. This complexity is measured by the fractal's intrinsic dimension, a quantity usually much smaller than the number of parameters in the network. Even though this perspective provides an explanation for why overparametrized networks would not overfit, computing the intrinsic dimension (e.g., for monitoring generalization during training) is a notoriously difficult task, where existing methods typically fail even in moderate ambient dimensions. In this study, we consider this problem from the lens of topological data analysis (TDA) and develop a generic computational tool that is built on rigorous mathematical foundations. By making a novel connection between learning theory and TDA, we first illustrate that the generalization error can be equivalently bounded in terms of a notion called the 'persistent homology dimension' (PHD), where, compared with prior work, our approach does not require any additional geometrical or statistical assumptions on the training dynamics. Then, by utilizing recently established theoretical results and TDA tools, we develop an efficient algorithm to estimate PHD in the scale of modern deep neural networks and further provide visualization tools to help understand generalization in deep learning. Our experiments show that the proposed approach can efficiently compute a network's intrinsic dimension in a variety of settings, which is predictive of the generalization error.


Pharmaceutical waste water contain a variety of organic and inorganic constituents including spent solvents, catalysts, additives, reactants and small amounts of intermediates and products, and may therefore be high in chemical oxygen demand. The present study has been conducted to evaluate the efficiency of UASB reactor for the treatment of pharmaceutical waste water in terms of COD reduction under different feed concentration/ organic loading rate (OLR) and hydraulic retention time (HRT). Performance of a lab-scale up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor, treating pharmaceutical wastewater, was evaluated under different operating conditions. Reactor was run in batch mode. After 10 weeks about 80% reduction in COD was observed. This shows that the reactor was properly acclimatized. The reactor was operated in 3 phases with different OLR and HRT. The UASB reactor was fed with different concentration of pharmaceutical effluent i.e. 10% of waste water at HRT of 24 hours and 20 hours and 50% of waste water at HRT of 20 hours. This study shows COD reduction of 97 % , 91 % and 89 % in phase I, II and III respectively. Other parameters were also reduced in all three phases. This regular reduction reveals the proper working of the UASB reactor.


Background: Consumer research was last conducted among South African patients with mental health problems in 1997/8 by GAMAIN (The Global Alliance of Mental Health and Advocacy Networks). Respondents at the time suffered primarily from anxiety and/or unipolar depression.1 Updated consumer research was conducted between February 2004 and April 2005 by Linda Trump of Cat Communications to find out how mental health patients were faring in the current South African environment and to determine which factors were mitigating most against their recovery. The study was funded by Cat Communications and partial grants from AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly and Solvay Pharma. Method: The survey questionnaire was developed by Linda Trump and checked by Charmaine Hugo of the Mental Health Information Centre (MHIC), Dr. Colinda Linde of SADAG, and Dr. Eugene Allers of the SA Society of Psychiatrists. It was distributed and posted with a self-addressed envelope and freepost address to leaders and members of SADAG, the SA Bipolar Association, Central Gauteng Mental Health, the Schizophrenic & Bipolar Disorder Alliance (SABDA) and the OCD Association. The questionnaire was also e-mailed to the Schizophrenia Foundation, some members of SADAG and members of the Johannesburg Bipolar Support Group. In addition, it was hosted on the Health 24 and SA Bipolar Association websites. Results: The sample comprised 331 respondents. 75% had a single diagnosis, with 25% having dual or multiple diagnoses. Diagnoses included unipolar depression (30%), bipolar mood disorder (40%) and schizophrenia / schizoaffective disorder (13%). 49% of respondents suffered from one or more types of anxiety. The median age of symptom onset for respondents was 26.5, with the median respondent waiting two years before seeking help. 69% of the cohort experienced a comorbid physical ailment, entailing chronic pain. 72% of the respondents saw two or more caregivers before receiving a correct diagnosis and it took more than a year for 55% of respondents to get a correct diagnosis. 74% of respondents received the correct diagnosis from a psychiatrist, with GPs, psychologists and social workers playing a minimal role in confirming diagnoses. 68% of respondents discontinued medication at some stage of their illness and only 46% of respondents ended psychotherapy because it had served its purpose. 40% of respondents did not know what type of psychotherapy they had. Only 20% of respondents could work adequately while ill and 19% of respondents became unemployed during the course of their illness. 26% (of 304 respondents) eventually separated or divorced as a direct result of their illness. Conclusions: Ongoing education is needed to inform the public about the hazards of delaying treatment for psychiatric symptoms. Doctors need to be more forthcoming about potential side-effects and how to manage them. GPs, psychologists and social workers may need additional psychiatric education. Psychologists need to tell patients what methodology they are using and they need to be more upfront in setting objectives and discussing the desired outcomes of therapy. Ideally, psychotherapy should include the patient's partner or family when there are significant domestic tensions. Stigma needs to be reduced in the workplace. South African Psychiatry Review Vol. 9(4) 2006: 249-260


One of the major weakness of Wireless Sensor Networks is the energy consumption because of limited battery resource and battery replacement or recharging difficulty. The research presented in this paper aims to reduce the energy consumption in the physical layer because most the energy consumption occurred in this layer. This reduction will be achieved via the use of ZigBee transceiver standard at the physical layer under 2.4 GHz frequency band with the reduced complexity and lower power consumption than other techniques used in Wireless Sensor Network. Furthermore, such use will also enhance energy efficiency, bit error rate, and throughput of the wireless sensor network. In this paper, three different systems have been proposed according to the type of transceiver technique used in wireless sensor network. System1 uses ZigBee transceiver standard over the wireless sensor network without any additional technique whereas system2 uses ZigBee transceiver with Convolutional Coding over the WSNs model. On the other hand, system3 uses the ZigBee transceiver with both diversity techniques Virtual Multi-Input Multi-Output and with Convolutional Coding over the wireless sensor network model. The simulation of matlab results show that system3 achieves the best energy efficiency performance compared with the other two systems at lower quality of channel. System2 achieves the best energy efficiency performance at medium quality of channel, and system1 achieves better energy efficiency at high quality of channel.


The study was carried out to investigate the psychological defense mechanisms and the coping behavior of parents raising children with psychological developmental disorders. 190 parents of children under the age of 3 with psychological developmental disorders participated in the study. Developmental and psychomotor retardation levels in children was confirmed by the result of psycho diagnostic examination which made it possible to determine features of motor, speech, cognitive, socio- emotional spheres and every day adaptation. To investigate the defense mechanism of parents of children with developmental retardation, the following techniques where use: Psychological diagnostics of lifestyle index; Diagnostic methodology of coping behavior in stressful situations; Strategic diagnostics of impunity behavior in conflict situations. The analysis of the results showed that the most typical was the mechanism of psychological defense such as projection for all parents regardless of their children's degree of mental retardation. A comparative analysis made it possible to establish that the parents of children with a high degree of mental retardation were significantly more inherent to use unconsciously such mechanisms of psychological protection like denial, displacement and reaction formation. Parents whose children have a high level of mental retardation were more likely to use coping behavior that reflects orientation towards avoidance.


The objective of this study was to determine the effect of time spent in a feedlot on the size of the various fat depots and the distribution of the main tissues (muscle, bone, and fat) of three common South African sheep breeds. Lambs were supplied with a balanced diet (16% protein, 10 MJ ME/kg feed) ad libitum and had free access to water. Lambs from each breed were divided into six groups, which were slaughtered at 21-day intervals until a production period of 105 days had been reached. During carcass dressing, visceral and renal fat was removed and expressed as a percentage of carcass weight. The subcutaneous fat (SCF) depth was measured on the longissimus lumborum at the 13th rib position using an electronic calliper. The proportion of muscle, bone and fat was determined by dissecting a three-rib cut made on the prime rib between the 9th and 11th ribs. The percentage of visceral and renal fat increased throughout the production period for all breeds. The percentage of renal fat was up to 2.9% higher than the percentage visceral fat in both SAMM production groups. Dorper lambs tended to have high SCF levels (5.6 mm fat after 42 days) due to the early maturing nature of the breed. They reached a maximum fat depth of 20.4 mm fat after 105 days. The SAMM lambs tended to deposit SCF at a slower rate and the late maturing Merino breed was found to be much leaner, and did not reach the high fat levels of the SAMM or Dorper lambs. The percentage of muscle and bone in all carcasses decreased with an increase in the number of days in the feedlot, while the percentage of carcass fat increased during this period. The increase in late maturing adipose tissue in all breeds as they become older is amplified by the restricted movement in the feedlot and high energy diet that the lambs receive.


The objective of the present study was to determine whether the alterations of cancer predisposition genes were different between radiosensitive and radioresistant patients with Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma (NPC). A total of 21 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma were included in this study. All patients were treated with standardized radiotherapy. Sixteen of the tumors were clinically radiosensitive and 5 were radioresistant. Genomic DNA, extracted from Formalin-Fixed Paraffin-Embedded (FFPE) tumor specimens obtained prior to treatment, was subjected to amplicon-based Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) with primer sets targeting 50 critical human tumor suppressor genes and oncogenes. We identified 18 nonsynonymous mutations, 1 nonframeshift deletion and 1 frameshift mutation distributed across 15 genes, including 11 mutations have been reported in COSMIC (the Catalogue of Somatic Mutations in Cancer) or dbSNP database (database of single nucleotide polymorphisms), and 9 novel mutations. Most of these mutations have not been reported in NPC. More importantly, 5 radiosensitivespecific mutations targeting AKT1, PIK3CA, MET, TP53 and STK11 were observed, suggesting the genetic alterations of PI3K/AKT and p53 pathways were involved in the response to radiotherapy. Collectively, genetic mutations may differentiate tumor radiosensitivity and radioresistance, although validation of such mutations using a large sample size cohort is necessary before a solid conclusion can be reached.


Over the last four decades, the aquaculture sector especially in developing countries has experienced dramatic growth. The increase in aquaculture production is a combination of area expansion and technological change (enhanced strains, input of feed and fertilizer, and improved management). One example of such technological change is the selective breeding efforts on tilapia that were initiated in 1988 by the WorldFish Center (then ICLARM) together with (inter-)national partners. The outcome of the selective breeding effort was a tilapia strain called "GIFT" (genetically improved farmed tilapia) which was first made available in 1993 and which showed significantly higher growth rates in on-farm trials. The strain was first adopted in the Philippines but has since been disseminated in 11 Asian countries. Ex-ante studies had shown the potential of the GIFT strain and concluded that substantial impact from GIFT and GIFT-derived strains can be expected. Our study is an ex-post assessment of the farm-level impact of GIFT and the way the technology has been disseminated and taken up. The study is based on a survey of 780 tilapia producers conducted in 2006/2007 in three different regions in Luzon, the Philippines. We analyze adoption rates of the GIFT strain and compare the performance of GIFT vs. nonGIFT strains and the impact of different factors on tilapia yields. Lastly, we evaluate the profitability of the production of GIFT vs. non-GIFT strains. Our major findings are that based on farmers' reporting the adoption of pure GIFT strains is very low (6%), while almost half of the farmers reported to use GIFTderived strains. There is uncertainty about the genetic origin of the strains in at least 27% of the cases, and even for the GIFT and GIFT-derived strains questions remain with regard to the purity of the breed. Based on farmers' ratings and the reported production information, the GIFT and GIFT-derived strains did not perform any better compared to other strains. This is likely to be a result of the poor management of improved strains over the last 15 years rather than a shortcoming of the original GIFT technology.


Abstract. According to the Polish Geological and Mining Law, the Polish Geological Institute – National Research Institute (PGI-NRI) acts as the Polish Geological Survey and as such (i.a.) "coordinates and performs works in the field of geological mapping (…)" as well as "collects, provides, processes and stores geological information."It is to be noted that not only has the PGI-NRI been a main provider of geological maps in Poland but it has also held a leader position in introducing GIS based solutions to the map production chain. All of the geological cartographic compilations realized by the PGI-NRI's Geological Mapping and Regional Geology Programme use dedicated GIS applications or advanced cartographic tools provided by ESRI. Digital geological map data is stored in the Central Geological Database, where it is divided into appropriate Spatial Database Engine (SDE) layers according to its scale, geometry and nature.Nevertheless, because the currently applied production solutions are designed for printed maps specifically, some of the serial maps are originally divided into the paper sheets. Therefore the consistency of the GIS layers needs to be verified in order to develop a harmonized digital map. The issue is clearly visible e.g. in case of the Detailed Geological Map of Poland 1:50k which is a fundamental product of the Polish geological cartography published by the PGI-NRI since 1954. The whole edition of the Detailed Geological Map of Poland consists of 1069 map sheets. Consecutive map sheets compiled in the previous years are being gradually updated to reflect the current state of the geological structure recognition, what results in the necessity to extend the list of geological units.In case of other compilations, such as e.g. the Detailed Geological Map of the Tatra Mountains 1:10k or Lithogenetic Map of Poland 1:50k, that base on the available map sheets of the Detailed Geological Map of Poland, it has been possible to prepare closed vocabularies in advance and so they are unified for the entire series.All the same, the cartographic product that stands out here is the Geological Map of Poland 1:1M – developed as a Polish contribution to the OneGeology initiative – the international initiative of geological surveys and organizations. A new concept of a global GeoSciML (Geoscience Markup Language) exchange language has been tested in OneGeology-Europe and OneGeology-Global. The resulted approach has led to the establishment of harmonization procedures for geological maps in Europe and worldwide in a distributed network. The Geological Map of Poland 1:1M has been the first Polish geological map adjusted and translated (almost 10 years ago) into the GeoSciML language (prototype version of a standard). The map uses the GeoSciML vocabularies and GeoSciMLite data model. GeoSciML is a GML (Geographic Markup Language) specification for geological data description and since 2017 an official OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium) standard that comprises both – a full GeoSciML model (GeoSciML Basic and GeoSciML Extension) as well as the simplified one – so called GeoSciMLite. The GeoSciML vocabularies are maintained and managed externally by the IUGS-CGI (Commission for the Management and Application of Geoscience Information – a subcommittee of the International Union of Geological Sciences).The Geological Map of Poland 1:1M was originally compiled in 2008 and followed by the other maps to a scale of 1:1M (Glaciotectonic Map of Poland, Bedrock Horizontal Cutting Map of Poland with 6 levels of horizontal cutting and Bedrock Geological Map of Poland) in the years 2011-2013. The PGI-NRI plans to update all of the maps 1:1M according to the current geological knowledge and upgrade them to the newest version of GeoSciML in the years 2019-2020.Simultaneously, in light of the European INSPIRE directive that obliges the EU member countries to transform their spatial data into the one unified (in case of geological data – GeoSciML based) model, the PGI-NRI plans to apply the OneGeology experience and best practices to make geological data from other cartographic projects semantically and technically interoperable on the European and global level.Both GeoSciML and INSPIRE vocabularies are being introduced to the currently compiled cartographic products such as the Polish part of the International Quaternary Map of Europe 1:2,5M (IQUAME) and a new edition of Geological Maps of Poland 1:500k. Depending on the purpose and character of the product (realized on a domestic ground or within the international cooperation etc.) they are to be used exclusively or along with the traditional terms and/or Polish translation. The GeoSciML terminology will also be gradually incorporated into continued serial compilations such as e.g. the Detailed Geological Map of Poland 1:50k. Mapping national dictionaries regarding i.a.: lithology, stratigraphy, genesis of the deposits etc. to the GeoSciML/INSPIRE vocabularies is a complex task. Although it can be partially based on the outcomes of the OneGeology initiative, the technology is still in the test phase and requires a close cooperation between technical experts and scientists.In fact, the preliminary results of the works on the Polish contribution to the IQUAME project have already revealed some problematic issues concerning description of the Quaternary (especially glacial) deposits. Apart from the substantial inadequacies and gaps in the existing terminology, there are also discrepancies in case of its hierarchy. What is more, the INSPIRE hierarchy limited to the parent-child relations appears to be insufficient, especially in case of larger-scale compilations. That is why the PGI-NRI considers applying the hierarchical structure of the GeoSciML terminology based on the one developed in the frame of the OneGeology initiative. In case of the serial cartographic products whose legends were originally designed for the purposes of the printed versions, the parallel works should encompass unification of the vocabularies from different map sheets.In order to apply the GeoSciML and INSPRE exchange formats, the structure of the GIS databases have to be redesigned. The currently compiled products (IQUAME and Geological Maps of Poland 1:500k) remain flat but at the same time they include main elements of the destined GeoSciML model. This solution follows the one applied in OneGeology and will facilitate easier transition to the proper GeoSciML files in the next steps. To transform the data from the spatial database to the GeoSciML and INSPIRE GML format the PGI-NRI plans to use the available ETL ("extract, transform, load") tools (hale studio or FME – Feature Manipulation Engine).


We analyze the Hukou system of permanent registration in China which many believe has supported growing relative inequality over the last 20 years by restraining labour migration both between the countryside and urban areas and between regions and cities. Our aim is to inject economic modelling into the debate on sources of inequality in China which thus far has been largely statistical. We first use a model with homogeneous labour in which wage inequality across various geographical divides in China is supported solely by quantity based migration restrictions (urban -- rural areas, rich -- poor regions, eastern coastal -- central and western (noncoastal) zones, eastern and central -- western development zones, eastern -- central -- western zones, more disaggregated 6 regional classifications, and an all 31 provincal classification). We calibrate this model to base case data and when we remove migration restrictions all wage and most income inequality disappears. Results from this model structure point to a significant role for Hukou restrictions in supporting inequality in China, and show how economic rather than statistical modelling can be used to decompose inequality change. We then modify the model to capture labour efficiency differences across regions, calibrating the modified model to estimates of both national and regional Gini coefficients. Removal of migration barriers is again inequality improving but now less so. Finally, we present a further model extension in which urban house price rises retard rural - urban migration. The impacts of removing of migration restrictions on inequality are smaller, but are still significant.


The presence of elevated total dissolved gas (TDG) downstream of a spillway may result in an increased incidence of gas bubble disease in fish. Supersaturated TDG is transported and dissipated more slowly in reservoirs than in natural rivers because of a higher water depth and lower turbulence and thus endangers fish. This paper presents the operational regulations concerning the mitigation of the TDG supersaturation impact on fish in the Bala Reservoir on the Zumuzu River. The paper includes the joint operations of the upstream and downstream power stations. A laterally averaged two-dimensional model is employed to simulate the TDG transportation and dissipation in the Bala Reservoir in addition to the hydrodynamics and water temperature. According to a comparison of the simulation results of different operational scenarios, this paper suggests a regulation scheme. With respect to the upstream power station, the adoption of an interval-discharge pattern instead of a continuous-discharge pattern is recommended to minimize the negative effect on the reservoir caused by supersaturated TDG. With respect to the downstream power station, the adoption of a surface tunnel rather than a bottom tunnel is recommended as a release structure. This paper is a reference for the eco-environmentally friendly operation of large and deep reservoirs.


Reconfigurable impedance matching networks are an integral part of multiband radiofrequency (RF) transceivers. They are used to compensate for the input/output impedance variations between the different blocks caused by switching the frequency band of operation or by adjusting the output power level. Various tuning techniques have been developed to construct tunable impedance matching networks employing solid-state p-i-n diodes and varactors. At millimeter-wave frequencies, the increased loss due to the low quality factor of the solid-state devices becomes an important issue. Another drawback of the solid-state tuning elements is the increased nonlinearity and noise at higher RF power levels. The objective of the research described in this thesis is to investigate the feasibility of using RF microelectromechanical systems (RF-MEMS) technology to develop reconfigurable impedance matching networks. Different types of tunable impedance matching networks with improved impedance tuning range, power handling capability, and lower insertion loss have been developed. Another objective is to investigate the realization of a fully integrated one-chip solution by integrating MEMS devices in standard processes used for RF integrated circuits (RFICs). A new CMOS-MEMS post-processing technique has been developed that allows the integration of tunable RF MEMS devices with vertical actuation within a CMOS chip. Various types of CMOS-MEMS components used as tuning elements in reconfigurable RF transceivers have been developed. These include tunable parallel-plate capacitors that outperform the available CMOS solid-state varactors in terms of quality factor and linearity. A tunable microwave band-pass filter has been demonstrated by employing the proposed RF MEMS tunable capacitors. For the first time, CMOS-MEMS capacitive type switches for microwave and millimeter-wave applications have been developed using TSMC 0.35-μm CMOS process employing the proposed CMOS-MEMS integration technique. The switch demonstrates an excellent RF performance from 10-20 GHz. iii Novel MEMS-based reconfigurable impedance matching networks integrated in standard CMOS technologies are also presented. An 8-bit reconfigurable impedance matching network based on the distributed MEMS transmission line (DMTL) concept operating at 13-24 GHz is presented. The network is implemented using standard 0.35-μm CMOS technology and employs a novel suspended slow-wave structure on a silicon substrate. To our knowledge, this is the first implementation of a DMTL tunable MEMS impedance matching network using a standard CMOS technology. A reconfigurable amplifier chip for WLAN applications operating at 5.2 GHz is also designed and implemented. The amplifier achieves maximum power gain under variable load and source impedance conditions by using the integrated RF-MEMS impedance matching networks. This is the first single-chip implementation of a reconfigurable amplifier using high-Q MEMS impedance matching networks. The monolithic CMOS implementation of the proposed RF MEMS impedance matching networks enables the development of future low-cost single-chip RF multiband transceivers with improved performance and functionality.


We performed phase relaxation-time measurements of the accumulated photon echo for normal and cancerous tissue samples of human liver, that were stained with several kinds of dye. Each dye interacted selectively with a specific kind of biomolecule in the tissues, for example, DNA, proteins, or lipids. The cancerous tissues showed a tendency to have shorter relaxation times than the normal tissues had. The difference of relaxation time observed between the normal and the cancerous tissues depended on the dyes that were used for staining, and the difference became most clear when the tissues were stained with a cyanine dye derivative, i.e., YO-PRO3 Iodide, which has a high selectivity for DNA. We performed the relaxation-time mapping of the accumulated photon echo (photon-echo imaging) for a liver tissue sample stained by YO-PRO3 Iodide. The photon-echo imaging was successful in showing a region of a highly differentiated hepatocellular carcinoma in the tissue sample, while fluorescence-intensity mapping could not identify the cancerous region in the same tissue sample. These results indicated a possibility that the reduction of accumulated photon-echo relaxation time observed in the cancerous tissues was caused by a change of microscopic dynamics of DNA.


Your Facebook feed says "Recommended for you" and "Sponsored". Your online magazine says "Paid Content", another in Buzzfeed (2014) says "Promoted Content" and lists "12 Backpacking Hacks That Are Vital For Business Trips" in an article paid for by Holiday Inn Express. Buzzfeed may also list KFC as "Brand Publisher" for an article, "11 Things All Busy Families Should Make Time For", including KFC's Popcorn Nuggets (Buzzfeed, 2015). You read a powerful series of articles on hunger in America, but it is labelled "paid programme", produced by the Wall Street Journal 's Custom Studios in collaboration with Mini, and includes such branded wisdom as "Mini owners are all different. There's no one person that Mini drivers look like. It's the same with food insecurity. It's all walks of life".  From television product placement to mobile news feeds, brands are burrowing into media content. Exploring that merging of media and marketing was a key impetus behind the Branded Content Research Network, launched in late 2016. It aims to facilitate collaboration between academics, industry professionals and civil society to explore branded content practices and their media policy implications. Here are my reflections on some of the research tasks and policy issues arising from this collective endeavour.


We derive and study a reformulation technique for general 0–1 quadratic programs (QP) that uses diagonal as well as nondiagonal perturbation of the objective function. The technique is an extension of the Quadratic Convex Reformulation (QCR) method developed by Billionnet and co-workers, adding nondiagonal perturbations, whereas QCR is in a sense diagonal. In this work a set of redundant reformulation-linearization technique (RLT) inequalities are included in the problem. The redundant inequalities are used to induce nondiagonal perturbations of the objective function that improve the bounding characteristics of the continuous relaxation. The optimal convexification is obtained from the solution of a semidefinite program. We apply the nondiagonal QCR (NDQCR) technique to four different types of problems and compare the bounding properties and solution times with the original QCR method. The proposed method outperforms the original QCR method on all four types of test problems.


There are some suitable methods for ultra-short solitary electromagnetic pulses (EMP) measurement. The EMPs are generated by high power microwave generators. The characteristic of EMPs is high power level (Pmax = 250 MW) and very short time duration (tp I ns). Special requirements for measurement methods are placed because of the specific EMPs properties.Two suitable methods for this application are presented in the paper. The first – calorimetric method, utilizes the thermal impacts of microwave absorption. The second method presented – magneto-optic method, use the Faraday's magneto-optic effect as a sensor principle. It was realized combined calorimetric sensor and there were made some experimental EMP measurements with good results. The sensor utilizing magneto-optic method is in development.


Herein we present a continuous flow reactor printed from stainless steel by selective laser melting. The reactor was specifically designed for a fast difluoromethylation reaction with nBuLi as base and fluoroform as atom-economic and inexpensive reagent. The reactor features four inlets to allow introduction of substrate, nBuLi, fluoroform, and a final quench solution. The reaction was completed within less than 2 min at −65 °C. The utilization of stainless steel as reactor material is critical to accomplish the heat transfer as well as the chemical and mechanical resistance that is required for this transformation.


Internet mail suffers from the fact that much unwanted mail is sent
using spoofed addresses -- "spoofed" in this case means that the
address is used without the permission of the domain owner. This
document describes a family of tests by which SMTP servers can
determine whether an e-mail address in a received message was used
with the permission of the owner of the domain contained in that
e-mail address. This memo defines an Experimental Protocol for the
Internet community.


This paper combines data from a government programme providing broadband access to primary schools in Ireland with anonymised survey microdata on schools', teachers' and pupils use of the internet to examine the links between public subsidies, classroom use of the internet and educational performance. The microdata are drawn from the 9-year-old cohort of the Growing Up in Ireland Study. We estimate regression models to identify the factors associated with internet use in the classroom and students' scores on standardised reading and mathematics tests, and we check whether internet use is endogenous in the test score models. We find that provision of broadband service under the government scheme is associated with more than a doubling of teachers' use of the internet in class after about a two year lag. Better computing facilities in schools are also associated with higher internet use, but advertised download speed is not statistically significant. Internet use in class is associated with significantly higher average mathematics and reading scores on standardised tests. A set of confounding factors is included, with results broadly in line with previous literature.


This thesis develops theoretical and methodological approaches to the investigation of deflated surface stone artefact distributions beyond those that emphasise synchronic behavioural interpretations. The study was undertaken on Pine Point and Langwell Stations, two adjoining pastoral leases in the foothills of the Barrier Range south of Broken Hill in arid Western New South Wales. The main objective was to investigate long-term accumulated patterns in stone artefact assemblage composition from four archaeological deposits adjacent to the Pine Creek - Rantyga Creek confluence. These locations were selected for investigation because they contain extensive distributions of stone artefacts and heat retainer hearths in similar geomorphic settings. Occupational chronologies were established through the dating of charcoal from heat retainer hearths. These chronologies demonstrated that the Pine Point-Langwell assemblages represent multiple episodes of accumulation over the last 2,000 years. Therefore, the formation of the Pine Point-Langwell assemblages meant that they are ideal for the investigation of long-term accumulated patterns. The composition of the assemblages was investigated through an analysis of artefact use life, curation, the intensity of raw material utilisation and occupation intensity. These permitted consideration of assemblage accumulation as a temporal process. Assemblages are not thought of as synchronic functional sets, but rather as the consequence of repeated and discontinuous discard episodes overtime. As occupation intensity increases, so does the intensity of raw material utilisation. Cores and tools will be worked more intensively and assemblages will be dominated by local raw material, as access to distant sources becomes restricted. Results indicate both consistencies and inconsistencies in the reduction and utilisation of lithic raw materials. Some of the consistencies are argued to reflect the character of the wider lithic landscape. In general, there is a distance decay relationship in the reduction of silcrete, however this relationship is not evident in all measures of reduction intensity. Variation in measures of core reduction is interpreted to reflect the variable nature of occupation through time at each of the locations in both duration and frequency. Over the time span represented in the Pine Point-Langwell occupational chronology, multiple behavioural patterns result in internal assemblage variability. Environmental variation may also contribute to the formation of variable assemblage patterns. There is evidence from south western New South Wales for environmental oscillation over the period represented by the occupational chronologies in the Pine Point-Langwell study area. This is interpreted as a possible impulse for the punctuated record of human occupation in the area during the last 2000 years. Hiatuses in the occupational chronology provide further evidence of the variability associated with the formation of the assemblages. Finally, notions of continuity and discontinuity in assemblage formation were explored across the wider region of Western New South Wales with the comparison of late Holocene assemblages from Fowlers Gap and Burkes Cave to the Pine Point-Langwell assemblages. It is concluded that the approaches to reconstructing past settlement systems in the Australian arid zone are based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the formation of deflated archaeological deposits. This in turn leads to the use of inappropriate interpretive frameworks for the archaeological record. These frameworks often ignore chronological patterns at individual locations and assume both contemporaniety and consistency in behaviour through time. This denies the opportunity to investigate the diachronic aspects of deflated deposits, both in terms of occupational chronologies and discontinuities in the raw material management and reduction. Â


Abstract Funding for research and education needs to be increased relative to the existing plans. This is difficult, given the state of the public finances. We propose three measures to solve the problem. 1. Industrial subsidies that do not support innovation activity should be reduced and the savings should be channelled to Tekes, the Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation. 2. The government should sell shares in state-owned companies or transfer such shares to universities in order to rapidly strengthen universities' capacity to improve research activity and education. 3. The universities and other higher education establishments should be allowed to charge moderate tuition fees to increase their resources on a permanent basis. The decisions on Tekes funding and transfer of resources to the universities should be taken by the government in its mid-term policy review in April. On the introduction of tuition fees the government should start preparatory work to allow a well-thought-through decision to be taken later.


In the present study, the orientation of a poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB)/poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) blend was monitored during uniaxial elongation by rheo-optical Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and analyzed by generalized two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2D-COS). The dichroism of the δ(CH2) absorption bands of PHB and PCL was employed to determine the polymer chain orientation in the PHB/PCL blend during the elongation up to 267% strain. From the PHB and PCL specific orientation functions it was derived that the PCL chains orient into the drawing direction while the PHB chains orient predominantly perpendicular to the applied strain. To extract more detailed information about the polymer orientation during uniaxial elongation, 2D-COS analysis was employed for the dichroic difference of the polarization spectra recorded during the drawing process. In the corresponding synchronous and asynchronous 2D correlation plots, absorption bands characteristic of the crystalline and amorphous regions of PHB and PCL were separated. Furthermore, the 2D-COS analysis revealed that during the mechanical treatment the PCL domains orient before the PHB domains.


When an emergency strikes, is your cultural institution prepared to protect the people on-site, as well as the premises and its collections? This workbook, originally published in English and now available in French and in Spanish, offers guidance to institutions seeking to develop their own emergency preparedness and response strategies. Divided into three parts, the book addresses the groups generally responsible for developing and implementing emergency procedures: institution directors, emergency preparedness managers, and departmental team leaders. Several chapters detail the practical aspects of communication, training, and team formation to handle the safety of staff and visitors, collections, buildings, and records. Emergencies covered include natural, as well as human-caused, events.


Medieval literature contains many figures caught at the interface between life and death – the dead return to place demands on the living, while the living foresee, organize or desire their own deaths. Jane Gilbert's original study examines the ways in which certain medieval literary texts, both English and French, use these 'living dead' to think about existential, ethical and political issues. In doing so, she shows powerful connections between works otherwise seen as quite disparate, including Chaucer's Book of the Duchess and Legend of Good Women, the Chanson de Roland and the poems of François Villon. Written for researchers and advanced students of medieval French and English literature, this book provides original, provocative interpretations of canonical medieval texts in the light of influential modern theories, especially Lacanian psychoanalysis, presented in an accessible and lively way.


Recent work has shown that self-attention can serve as a basic building block for image recognition models. We explore variations of self-attention and assess their effectiveness for image recognition. We consider two forms of self-attention. One is pairwise self-attention, which generalizes standard dot-product attention and is fundamentally a set operator. The other is patchwise self-attention, which is strictly more powerful than convolution. Our pairwise self-attention networks match or outperform their convolutional counterparts, and the patchwise models substantially outperform the convolutional baselines. We also conduct experiments that probe the robustness of learned representations and conclude that self-attention networks may have significant benefits in terms of robustness and generalization.


During herpes simplex virus infection, expression of the viral DNA polymerase (pol) gene is regulated temporally as an early (beta) gene and is additionally down-regulated at late times at the level of translation (D. R. Yager, A. I. Marcy, and D. M. Coen, J. Virol. 64:2217-2225, 1990). To examine the role of viral DNA synthesis in pol regulation, we studied pol expression during infections in which viral DNA synthesis was blocked, either by using drugs that inhibit Pol or ribonucleotide reductase or by using viral mutants with lesions in either the pol or a primase-helicase subunit gene. Under any of these conditions, the level of cytoplasmic pol mRNA was reduced. This reduction was first seen at approximately the time DNA synthesis begins and, when normalized to levels of other early mRNAs, became as great as 20-fold late in infection. The reduction was also observed in the absence of the adjacent origin of replication, oriL. Thus, although pol mRNA accumulated as expected for an early gene in terms of temporal regulation, it behaved more like that of a late (gamma) gene in its response to DNA synthesis inhibition. Surprisingly, despite the marked decrease in pol mRNA in the absence of DNA synthesis, the accumulation of Pol polypeptide was unaffected. This was accompanied by loss of the normal down-regulation of translation of pol mRNA at late times. We suggest a model to explain these findings.


The brilliant family memoir of the much-beloved poet and political campaigner

In this hilarious, moving memoir, much-loved children's poet and political campaigner Michael Rosen recalls the first twenty-three years of his life. He was born in the North London suburbs, and his parents, Harold and Connie, both teachers, first met as teenage Communists in the Jewish East End of the 1930s. The family home was filled with stories of relatives in London, the United States and France and of those who had disappeared in Europe.

Different from other children, Rosen and his brother, Brian, grew up dreaming of a socialist revolution. Party meetings were held in the front room. Summers were for communist camping holidays. But it all changed after a trip to East Germany when, in 1957, his parents decided to leave 'the Party'.

From that point, Michael followed his own journey of radical self-discovery: running away to Aldermaston to march against the bomb; writing and performing in experimental political theatre at Oxford; getting arrested during the 1968 movements. The book ends with a letter to his father, and the revelation of a heartbreaking family secret.


During the formation of the enteric nervous system (ENS) of the moth Manduca sexta, identified populations of neurons and glial cells participate in precisely timed waves of migration. The cell adhesion receptor fasciclin II is expressed in the developing ENS and is required for normal migration. Previously, we identified two isoforms of Manduca fasciclin II (MFas II), a glycosyl phosphatidylinositol-linked isoform (GPI-MFas II) and a transmembrane isoform (TM-MFas II). Using RNA and antibody probes, we found that these two isoforms were expressed in cell type-specific patterns: GPI-MFas II was expressed by glial cells and newly generated neurons, while TM-MFas II was confined to differentiating neurons. The expression of each isoform also corresponded to the motile state of the different cell types: GPI-MFas II was detected on tightly adherent or slowly spreading cells, while TM-MFas II was expressed by actively migrating neurons and was localized to their most motile regions. Manipulations of each isoform in embryo culture showed that they played distinct roles: whereas GPI-MFas II acted strictly as an adhesion molecule, TM-MFas II promoted the motility of the EP cells as well as maintaining fasciculation with their pathways. These results indicate that precisely regulated patterns of isoform expression govern the functions of fasciclin II within the developing nervous system.


Abstract External referencing of assessment and students' achievement standards is a growing priority area within higher education, which is being pressured by government requirements to evidence outcome attainment. External referencing benefits stakeholders connected to higher education by helping to assure that assessments and standards within courses are appropriate and comparable among institutions. External referencing takes many forms, which have different resourcing requirements, outcomes, and operational strengths and challenges. This paper describes the External Referencing of Standards (ERoS) approach developed, tested and adopted by a university consortium. ERoS draws on the strengths of existing methodologies to produce an evolved model that is effective, efficient, transparent and open, capability building and sustainable. The model enables participants to communicate directly and construct peer relationships, and findings suggest this is a significant design strength. The process facilitates capability building, such that participants garnered insights valuable to enact quality assurance and enhancement of existing courses, and fosters connections that facilitate collaboration and peer-learning. ERoS successfully used open source collaborative tools to review work samples, which can be used to benchmark costed systems.


Driving behavior after take-over requests (TORs) is one of the most popular subjects in human factors re-search on highly automated driving. Many studies utilized one-step TOR procedures to prompt drivers to resume vehicle control. The present paper examines driver behavior when experiencing a two-step TOR procedure in different modalities. A two-step TOR gives drivers a choice to resume vehicle controls be-tween a warning (first step) and an alarm (second step). Our findings indicate that a substantial number of drivers resumes vehicle controls after the second step, resulting in a higher number of crashes. More generally, criticality of the driving situation increases with increasing reaction times. Driving and interview data suggest that step two of the TOR should be presented earlier. Alternatively, a multi-step TOR could be used to increase drivers' situational awareness. Auditory TORs are associated with shorter reaction times than visual-auditory TORs. Implications on TOR design are discussed.


This paper discusses the development of a new methodology for creating effective websites, especially those used for marketing. It was found that existing methodologies were often missing, or under-utilizing, some key aspect, including user participation and "real interaction" (i.e. monitoring of user interaction with a prototype site). This has led to users being frustrated and lacking loyalty to the website. There is a great potential for combining aspects of methodologies from different disciplines; however, these need to be integrated in a coherent way. After studying relevant methodologies and integration techniques, the strongest aspects of the various methodologies were combined into a new methodology. This new methodology was assessed by two research phases; interview and questionnaire. This led to revision of the new methodology. An overview of the contingent methodology is provided together with proposals for further research.


Increasing numbers of stormwater management ponds are being included in the design of urban and rural drainage projects. This is in part due to the environmental outcry to clean up our nations waters, and mandates set fourth by the Clean Water Act. State and local policies directed at controlling stormwater runoff from urbanizing areas is also an important factor in the proliferation of the number of ponds being constructed. Ponds, once only designed to reduce peak outflows, today are being designed to perform multiple functions, including flood control, erosion and sediment control, and pollutant removal. State and local agencies are searching for efficient, cost-effective, standardized designs that can easily be adapted to many different projects.


With the advent of sophisticated spectral imaging the development of proximal and remote-sensing high-throughput field phenotyping platforms has become progressively feasible. Such platforms, combined with new innovative image-analysis and machine-learning tools, will likely become the benchmark in high-throughput plant phenotyping frameworks for determining plant responses at the leaf, plant and canopy level. At the University of Queensland, we have developed a cost-effective high-throughput phenotyping pipeline that harvests sensing data from plants utilising proximal sensors. Here, we describe the application of this software pipeline to analyse crop growth dynamics from (i) proximal sensors on-board a tractor-based phenotyping platform and (ii) cameras attached to small unmanned aerial vehicles. Specifically, we discuss the use of high-resolution characterization of time-sequence red-edge data obtained from both sensing platforms to derive estimates for dynamic growth parameters in sorghum breeding trials. Although some temporal bias existed between the two platforms the relationships at spatial peak canopy (R2 = 0.71) and plot level (R2 = 0.89) were strong. Application of these technologies across breeding plots will enhance phenotyping capabilities and hence the ability to discriminate among responses of genotypes across different environments.


Choline is a small molecule that occupies a key position in the biochemistry of all living organisms. Recent studies have strongly implicated choline metabolites in cancer, atherosclerosis and nervous system development. To detect choline and its metabolites, existing physical methods such as magnetic resonance spectroscopy and positron emission tomography are often limited by the poor spatial resolution and substantial radiation dose. Fluorescence imaging, although with submicrometer resolution, requires introduction of bulky fluorophores and thus is difficult in labeling the small choline molecule. By combining the emerging bond-selective stimulated Raman scattering microscopy with metabolic incorporation of deuterated choline, herein we have achieved high resolution imaging of choline-containing metabolites in living mammalian cell lines, primary hippocampal neurons and the multicellular organism C. elegans. Different subcellular distributions of choline metabolites are observed between cancer cells and non-cancer cells, which may reveal a functional difference in the choline metabolism and lipid-mediated signaling events. In neurons, choline incorporation is visualized within both soma and neurites, where choline metabolites are more evenly distributed compared to proteins. Furthermore, choline localization is also observed in the pharynx region of C. elegans larvae, consistent with its organogenesis mechanism. These applications demonstrate the potential of isotope-based stimulated Raman scattering microscopy for future choline-related disease detection and development monitoring in vivo.


Resolving inconsistencies in data is a problem of critical practical importance. Inconsistent data arises whenever an attribute takes on multiple, inconsistent, values. This may occur when a particular entity is stored multiple times in one database, or in multiple databases that are combined.
We investigate Attribute Value Inconsistency Resolution (AVIR), the problem of semi-automatically resolving data inconsistencies among multiple database records that describe the same person or thing.
Our survey of the area shows that existing solutions are either limited in scope or impose a significant burden on their users. Either they do not cover all types of inconsistencies and attributes, or they require users to write or choose attribute resolution functions for each potentially conflicting attribute.
Our ML based approach applies to all types of inconsistencies and attributes, and automatically selects appropriate resolution functions based on the conflicting data. We have invented and developed a system, called DataMerger, that uses a set of binary features that detect data properties and relationships and resolution functions that merge data. Many such features and resolution functions have been written. The system uses supervised learning with maximum likelihood estimation to determine which function(s) to apply, based on which feature(s) fire.
We have validated our system by comparing its error rate, precision and recall on a test data set to baseline values determined by a clairvoyant application of a standard approach where each potentially conflicting attribute is resolved by the best resolution function for the attribute.


Benjamin Franklin, founding father of the United States of America, once proclaimed: "All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move." While widely regarded as describing what Benjamin Franklin believed were the three types of people in this world (that is, those who are stagnant and do nothing about their circumstances, those who are moved and composed to do something about it but don't know how, and those who are involved in changing their circumstances), a group of unlawful occupiers recently provided a more literal interpretation to this famous line.


The selection of the sewage sludge dumping site in the Firth of Clyde off Garroch Head is compared with the selection of sites near Bell Rock and St. Abbs Head off the Forth Estuary, Scotland, almost three-quarters of a century later. Details are given of the special shore facilities which are required to dispatch sewage sludge to sea, and specific features of purpose built sludge ships are described. Reference is then made to the factors involved when discharging sludge at the sea dumping site. The emphasis in the paper is on the engineering aspects of the facilities required and operations involved in the sea disposal of sewage sludge.


The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on the relationship between Shari'ah Supervisory Board (SSB) and Zakat disclosure in the financial statement of Islamic banks in Malaysia. It is based on the hypothesis that SSB relates positively to Zakat disclosure.The design of the paper is based on stakeholder theory and
agency theory.Both of the theories discussed the need on the part of Islamic banks as the agent to stakeholders to provide sufficient information about the operation of the banks.The information which is communicated through the financial statements will assist the stakeholders in their decision making processes. Discussion in this paper attempts to shed lights on the importance of SSB in enhancing disclosure on Zakat.For SSB to be able to do that, we review literature on the education background of members (Islamic and non-Islamic) and size (number of members) of SSB. This paper is a conceptual paper with the aim of contributing towards a better understanding of the local reporting framework for Zakat and the paper also attempts to clarify that the Zakat structure in Malaysia is unique therefore foreign standard may not be appropriate for local adoption.


A novel gene encoding an aminoglycoside 2'-N-acetyltransferase (AAC) was cloned from Mycobacterium fortuitum. DNA sequencing results identified an open reading frame that we have called aac(2')-Ib encoding a putative protein with a predicted molecular mass of 24,800 Da. The deduced AAC(2')-Ib protein showed homology to the AAC(2')-Ia from Providencia stuartii. This is the second member of a subfamily of AAC(2')-I enzymes to be identified. No homology was found with other acetyltransferases, including all of the AAC(3) and AAC(6') proteins. The aac(2')-Ib gene cloned in a mycobacterial plasmid and introduced in Mycobacterium smegmatis conferred resistance to gentamicin, tobramycin, dibekacin, netilmicin, and 6'-N-ethylnetilmicin. DNA hybridization with an intragenic probe of aac(2')-Ib showed that this gene was present in all 34 strains of M. fortuitum tested. The universal presence of the aac(2')-Ib gene in M. fortuitum was not correlated with any aminoglycoside resistance phenotype, suggesting that this gene may play a role in the secondary metabolism of the bacterium.


The Public Knowledge Project (PKP) is a collective of academics, librarians, has been, since 1998, building open source software (free) publishing platforms that create an alternative path to commercial and subscription-based routes to scholarly communication. It sets out how its various website platforms, including Open Journal Systems, Open Conference Systems, and, recently, Open Monograph Press, provide a guided path through the editorial workflow of submission, review, editing, publishing and indexing. Thousands of faculty members around the world are now using the software to publish independent journals on a peer-reviewed and Open Access basis, greatly increasing the public and global contribution of research and scholarship. Informatics Institute Postgraduate Studies Journal (IIPSJ) publishes research and scholarly contributions that inform the development, implementation, and evaluation of research,