During the last 20 years ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library) has been evolving with the latest version published in 2007. Incident Management and Problem Management are two main activities of ITIL service operation framework which handles incidents and their root causes respectively. Service Desk systems are software tools that help IT organizations in handling incidents and problems. On the other hand since Knowledge Management emerged, many corporates adopted Knowledge Management. By adding a Knowledge Management structure to the ITIL framework in 2007 the path of utilization Knowledge Management in Service Desk system is smoothed, however, the number of Service Desk systems that have adopted a Knowledge Management structure is few and the adoption is not practical in many cases. In this paper we try to address this issue and focus on Knowledge Management structure utilization in Service Desk systems by integrating Case-based Reasoning and Service Desk structure.


Polarization mode dispersion (PMD), especially in "old" fibers, is considered harmful for installation and upgrading of trunk lines. An optical PMD equalizer should have several or many differential group delay (DGD) sections with polarization transformers in between which can endlessly transform any input polarization into a principal state of the following DGD section. The sections must practically have fixed DGDs unless there is only one section. The small-signal baseband transfer function for PMD, higher order PMD, and the necessary number of sections as well as their control by the output signals of an electrical filter bank in the receiver are also discussed in this context. Several PMD equalizers have been realized and successfully tested in transmission systems with bit rates of 10, 20, and 40 Gb/s. The systems operated stably with well-opened eye diagrams for DGDs ranging between 0 and 1.7 bit durations. Best performance is obtained from a distributed PMD equalizer with one piece of polarization-maintaining fiber twisted by 64 stepper motors. The principle can also be realized in LiNbO/sub 3/.


BACKGROUND: The process of metastasis is complex, involving many interrelated stages, including proteolysis. Proteolysis occurs in both normal and pathological processes and involves the breakdown of the extracellular matrix and/or basement membrane by proteolytic enzymes. Normally, proteolysis is tightly controlled by specific endogenous proteinase inhibitors. However, in certain disease processes, including cancer, controlled but abnormal proteolysis seems to occur. Proteinases involved in tumour invasion and metastasis include the matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and the serine proteinases. AIMS: To gain a greater understanding of the proteolytic process occurring in colorectal cancer and to determine which, if any, proteinases are upregulated. METHODS: The synthesis of proteinases and their inhibitors was compared in paired tumour and normal tissue samples from patients with colorectal cancer (n = 24). Substrate zymography was used to determine the synthesis of MMPs (MMP-2, MMP-9, and MMP-3) and the plasminogen activators (urokinase and tissue-type plasminogen activators); enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) were used to determine the concentrations of MMP-1 and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 1 (TIMP-1); and the technique of quenched fluorescence substrate hydrolysis was performed to determine the total MMP activity of each sample. RESULTS: In general, both proteinase and inhibitor expression was greater in the tumour tissue when compared with the corresponding normal colorectal tissue. The amount of active MMPs was greater in the tumour tissue. CONCLUSIONS: The increased extracellular proteinase concentrations and activity may encourage tumour invasion and metastasis. This study points to MMP-9 as being of potential major importance in the development of this form of cancer.


Deepwater fisheries for orange roughy (Hoplostethus atlanticus) and oreos (Pseudocyttus maculatus) in New Zealand waters have been established for 20–30 years. Over time the fisheries have become more focused on seamounts, where aggregations of the fish can occur for spawning or feeding. The catch of orange roughy in particular from these features has increased from about 30% of the total catch in 1985 to 80% by 1995, and has since stabilized at 60–70%. There has been active searching for seamount habitat, and by 2000 about 80% of known seamounts in the appropriate depth range had been fished. In New Zealand there are widespread concerns that seamount habitat needs to be managed carefully. In May 2001, 19 seamounts were given some protection through a ban on bottom trawling. Heavy bottom trawl gear is known to have a direct physical effect on the seabed. Seamounts are often small in size, and trawling can rapidly become concentrated in a very localized area. Seamount habitat is thought to be productive, but may also be fragile, and there is growing concern about the effects of fishing on biodiversity and ecosystem productivity. In this paper we report on ongoing research to examine the extent of impact on seamount habitat. Detailed fisheries data were analysed to determine the numbers and distribution of individual trawls on seamounts to measure how intensive trawling has been. Photographic surveys of the seafloor and mapping the distribution of benthic fauna have also been carried out to quantify the area of seamounts impacted by trawl gear. Comparisons have been made between heavily-fished and unfished seamounts.


Electrostatic effects which take place in group-III nitrides in their wurtzite crystallographic phase have important consequences on the optical properties of (Al,Ga)N/GaN multiple quantum wells. A low-temperature photoluminescence study shows that the behavior of the transition energy versus the barrier width is the opposite of that currently obtained for more usual III-V semiconductor compounds like arsenides: when decreasing the barrier thickness, a blueshift is observed. This behavior is attributed to a redistribution across the samples of the huge built-in electric field (several hundreds kV/cm) induced by the polarization difference between wells and barriers. The trend of the barrier-width dependence of the electric field is reproduced by using simple electrostatic arguments. However, the field magnitude is higher than that predicted taking account only piezoelectric effects. This result points out the role of the spontaneous polarization in wurtzite nitrides.


For micro aerial vehicles (MAVs) involved in search and rescue missions, the ability to locate the source of a distress sound signal is significantly important and allows fast localization of victims and rescuers during nighttime, through foliage and in dust, fog, and smoke. Most emergency sound sources, such as safety whistles and personal alarms, generate a narrowband signal that is difficult to localize by human listeners or with the common localization methods suitable for broadband sounds. In this paper, we present three methods for MAV‐based emergency sound localization system. The first method involves designing a new emergency source for immediate localization by the MAV using a common localization method. The other two novel methods allow localizing the currently available emergency sources, or other narrowband sounds in general, that are difficult to localize due to the periodicity in the sequence of sound samples. The second method exploits the Doppler shift in the sound frequency, caused due to the motion of the MAV and the dynamics of the MAV to assist with the localization. The third method involves active control of the robot's attitude and fusing acoustic and attitude measurements for achieving accurate and robust estimates. We evaluate our methods in real‐world experiments with real flying robots.


Eighty-seven strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa were typed by random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) of macrorestriction fragments. Stains were clustered on the basis of interpretative criteria as presented previously for the PFGE analysis. Clusters of strains were also defined on the basis of epidemiological data and subsequently reanalyzed by RAPD. It was found that in an RAPD assay employing the enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus sequence ERIC2 as a primer, single band differences can be ignored; in this case, clonally related strains could be grouped as effectively and reliably as with PFGE. These data could be corroborated by the use of other primer species. However, some primers either showed reduced resolution or, in contrast, identified DNA polymorphisms beyond epidemiologically and PFGE-defined limits. Apparently, different primers define different windows of genetic variation. It is suggested that criteria for interpretation of the ERIC2 PCR fingerprints can be simple and straightforward: when single band differences are ignored, RAPD-determined grouping of P. aeruginosa is congruent with that obtained by PFGE. Consequently, this implies that RAPD can be used with trust as a first screen in epidemiological characterization of P. aeruginosa. The ability to measure the rate of molecular evolution of the P. aeruginosa genome clearly depends on the choice of restriction enzyme or primer when RAPD or PFGE, respectively, is applied for the detection of DNA polymorphisms.


One of the hallmarks of human reaching behavior is the ability to think and generate plans for movements in complex environments. In this paper we model planning to reach for targets in space using a self-organized process of mental rehearsals of movements, and simulate the process using a redundant robot arm that is capable of learning to reach for targets in space while avoiding obstacles. The learning process is inspired by infant motor babbling, and provides self-generated movement commands that activate correlated visual, spatial and motor/proprioceptive information, which are employed to learn forward and inverse kinematic models while moving in obstacle free space. To control the arm in complex environments with obstacles, the inverse model is constrained by the visual influence of the location of obstacles to generate a purely reactive obstacle avoidance controller; while the forward model is utilized in visually planning movements when reactive obstacle avoidance is insufficient. Reach planning utilizes the forward model to recall information in order to mentally rehearse reaches that escape local minima situations that exist in the solution landscape for the purely reactive obstacle avoidance controller and achieve a path around obstacles. Perceptual information, in the form of via-points that are extracted from visual attentional shrouds around obstacles, triggers the recall of corresponding spatial regions from the forward model that were learned during motor babbling. Postures which place the end effector in each region are subsequently recalled from the many-to-one associative maps learned for the forward model, and are evaluated for comfort and distance from the planned via-point locations around the obstacles. The postures are then used by the controller to mentally rehearse arm movements from the initial configuration to the target. Simulations show that the proposed novel controller is successful in planning reaches while avoiding obstacles in environments with complex obstacle configurations. This proposed model is fault tolerant and can handle a wide range of perturbations such as joint locking and the use of tools without experiencing them during learning. The simulation results of our biologically plausible approach highlights its practical utility in applications where the environment is full of obstacles and the robot needs to possess the intelligence to avoid them while performing reaching tasks thereby ensuring safety and reliability.


A monitoring method is introduced that creates, in near real-time, two-dimensional (2D) maps of the soil gas distribution. The method combines linear gas sensing technology for in-situ monitoring of gases in soil with the mapping capabilities of Computed Tomography (CT) to reconstruct spatial and temporal resolved gas distribution maps. A weighted iterative algebraic reconstruction method based on Maximum Likelihood with Expectation Maximization (MLEM) in combination with a source-by-source reconstruction approach is introduced that works with a sparse setup of orthogonally-aligned linear gas sensors. The reconstruction method successfully reduces artifact production, especially when multiple gas sources are present, allowing the discrimination between true and non-existing socalled ghost source locations. A first experimental test indicates the high potential of the proposed method for, e. g., rapid gas leak localization.


This research has evaluated the rules, guidelines and regulations related to ship vibrations. A historical failure data analysis is carried out to identify associated components, equipment and the areas of defects related to ship vibration problems. Ship Hull Vibration (SHV) is recognised as a major problem onboard ships and the propulsion system is identified as the major contributor to SHV. The current status of ship vibrations is reviewed and possible sources which create SHV are recognised. The major problems identified in this research are associated with risk modelling under circumstances where high levels of uncertainty exist. Following the identification of research needs, this PhD thesis has developed several analytical models for the application of Formal Safety Assessment (FSA). Such mode quently demonstrated by their corresponding case sti vith regard to application of FSA for SHV modelling. Firstly, in this research a generic SHV model is constructed for the purpose of risk estimation based on the identified hazards. The hazards include the SHV effects induced by ship design criteria, failure of components, and different patterns associated with the ship propulsion system (propeller system and machinery) as the major contributors to SHV. Then risk estimation bn is carried out utilising Evidential Reasoning (ER) and a fuzzy rule base.Secondly, ship selection (decision making) is investigated to to select the best ship design based on the risk estimation results of SHV. The risk estimation is carried out using ER, a fuzzy rule base and continuous fuzzy sets. The best ship design is selected by taking into account an ER-based utility ranking approach. Thirdly, combining discrete fuzzy sets and an Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) risk estimation is conducted in terms of four risk parameters to select the major causes of component failure and then SHV.


Government computers are generating enormous volumes of e-records such as e-mails, word processed documents and databases. The immediate challenge of the public sector is therefore to preserve these digital records and make them accessible to future generations. The present study was conducted to investigate the management of e-records in the public sector in Lesotho. The objectives of the study guided the researcher to find out what IT infrastructure and resources existed. The study looked at which records were currently being created and strategies and policies used in managing those records. The archjval legislation was reviewed to assess how it affected e-records. An e-records model suitable for managing e-records in Lesotho was suggested. The study adopted the descriptive research by utilizing the case study approach. Interview schedules were employed for data gathering, together with observations. The literature review guided the content of the interview schedule. Data was analyzed according to the objectives of the study. The overall findings revealed that the public sector in Lesotho was not managing its e records satisfactorily. The public sector did not have legislation that specifically dealt with managing e-records, there were no written policies, strategies and guidelines were non-existent. The study also revealed that there were no qualified personnel with expertise and skills in the management of e-records in the public sector. The study's conclusions and recommendations were that the public sector be allocated more resources and IT infrastructure. Staff should be trained, policies should be formulated, legislation should be amended to accommodate e-records and, lastly, the study recommended that the public sector in Lesotho should adopt the South African e records management model .


: One of the key components of critical geography is praxis—defined here as the melding of theory/reflection and practice/action as part of a conscious struggle to transform the world. Put simply, praxis is giving life to ideas about the way the world is—and could be—by acting on one's convictions in daily (work and home) life. Praxis can thus take many forms, and can occur both within and outside the academy. This paper examines how research and practice can be co-constituted by examining the "food movement" (ie the mobilization of disparate social actors in resistance to various aspects of the dominant corporate–industrial food system) in Canada as a case study. Through this lens, different forms of praxis are interrogated, not to identify a uniform "best praxis", but rather to highlight the benefits and drawbacks of particular approaches in this one specific context. In so doing, the paper explores how critical geographers might contribute, through praxis, to the recognition and restructuring of social relations as part of the broader emancipatory project that is central to critical theory.


Recently, many kinds of soft actuators composed of flexible materials, such as silicon rubber, have been studied in the mechatronics field with increasing attention on the artificial muscle in welfare, medical care and biotechnology. Particularly, pneumatic-driven soft actuator moves flexibly and works safely because of not electrical but pneumatic input, so that the actuator could perform effectively in the medical operations. A miniature pneumatic bending rubber actuator is a tiny pneumatic-driven soft actuator which has some chambers connected to only one tube providing compressed air and the chamber has bellows. This actuator can bend circularly in two directions and grab delicate objects such as fish eggs, by inputting pressure into its chambers. The actuator, however, has nonlinear property derived from elastomer in input-output relation. The actuator, therefore, sacrifices some degree of control performance instead of obtaining the passive flexibility to delicate objects. To solve the above problem, previous studies have shown, by the experiments, that the effectiveness of designing the nonlinear feedback control system using robust right coprime factorization based on the operator theory for control of the output angle of the actuator. However, the mathematical model used for designing the system caused modelling error because the bellows were not considered in deriving the model. The mathematical model should fit experimental value as well as possible for system design and there has been no example modelling of the micro hand having bellows. In this research, a new model of the micro hand considering its bellows with elastomer property is proposed. Moreover, a control system using the robust right coprime factorization based on the operator theory is designed for the new model. Finally, the effectiveness is shown in the experiment.


Objective To investigate whether a dog's superior olfactory sensitivity can be used to detect Clostridium difficile in stool samples and hospital patients. Design Proof of principle study, using a case-control design. Setting Two large Dutch teaching hospitals. Participants A 2 year old beagle trained to identify the smell of C difficile and tested on 300 patients (30 with C difficile infection and 270 controls). Intervention The dog was guided along the wards by its trainer, who was blinded to the participants' infection status. Each detection round concerned 10 patients (one case and nine controls). The dog was trained to sit or lie down when C difficile was detected. Main outcome measures Sensitivity and specificity for detection of C difficile in stool samples and in patients. Results The dog's sensitivity and specificity for identifying C difficile in stool samples were both 100% (95% confidence interval 91% to 100%). During the detection rounds, the dog correctly identified 25 of the 30 cases (sensitivity 83%, 65% to 94%) and 265 of the 270 controls (specificity 98%, 95% to 99%). Conclusion A trained dog was able to detect C difficile with high estimated sensitivity and specificity, both in stool samples and in hospital patients infected with C difficile.


The journey towards completion of a PhD is a bumpy one for many. One of the major factors that influence successful and on-time thesis completion is the relationship that the PhD candidate has with her or his supervisor. This paper presents results from research undertaken using a 12-item survey to collect data from a purposive sample: PhD candidates and their supervisors, regarding expectations related to the programme of doctoral study. Results indicate that candidates and supervisors both agree that the relationship is a vital component of the journey, and both have equally high expectations that the relationship needs to be warm and supportive. The doctoral journey is a shared one. To make the journey as positive as possible, supervisors and candidates need to articulate their expectations clearly, which can be achieved via the use of a simple set of statements that both complete as used in this research or by dialogue. However it is done, it needs to occur early in the candidature so that both parties know what the other expects.


Hardware non-idealities in wireless transmitter electronics cause distortion that is not captured by conventional linear channel models; in fact, error-vector magnitude (EVM) measurements in conformance testing conceptually reduce their collective effect to an additive noise component at each subcarrier. Motivated by the EVM, the present paper considers a `binoisy' multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channel model where the additional non-idealities manifest themselves as an additive distortion noise term at the transmit side. Through this extended MIMO relation, the effects of hardware impairments on the achievable rates of different digital modulation schemes are studied via large system analysis. The numerical results illustrate how tolerable EVM levels depend non-trivially on various factors, including the signal-to-noise ratio, modulation order and the level of asymmetry in antenna array configurations.


Abstract Including vulnerable groups of students such as students with learning disabilities in mainstream school research, require ethical considerations and questionnaire adaptation. These students are often excluded, due to low understanding or methodologies generating inadequate data. Students with disability need be studied as a separate group and provided accessible questionnaires. This pilot study aims at developing and evaluating student self-reported measures, rating aspects of student experiences of school-based Physical Education (PE). Instrument design, reliability and validity were examined in Swedish secondary school students (n = 47) including students, aged 13, with intellectual disability (n = 5) and without impairment and test–retested on 28 of these students. Psychometric results from the small pilot-study sample were confirmed in analyses based on replies from the first wave of data collection in the main study (n = 450). Results show adequate internal consistency, factor structure and relations between measures. In conclusion, reliability and validity were satisfactory in scales to measure self-efficacy in general, in PE, and aptitude to participate. Adapting proxy ratings for functioning into self-reports indicated problems. Adequacy of adjustments made were confirmed and a dichotomous scale for typical/atypical function is suggested for further analyses.


Abstract Early federal government policies for American indigenous people alternated between extermination and assimilation. Imposing the colonists' and immigrants' language on indigenous people was important for achieving the latter. In the 1970-90's, federally funded grants for bilingual education for indigenous schools were offered to accommodate Native American pressures to reverse the tragic results of those former policies. The stated bilingual goals were to teach them Standard English and to revitalize indigenous languages. Many of these Native American students speak "Indian English" (W. Leap, 1993), a dialect resulting from sociolinguistic interference (see theory, D. Hymes, 1971). Few know any of their Native language. The "Indian English" dialect is ignored, even denigrated as a substandard communication form in these programs. This paper's purpose is to trace the evolution of bilingual education programs and their impact on Native American bilingualism and language revitalization for selected communities in the Northern Plains. Thirty years of evaluating these programs with ethnographic methods have resulted in these conclusions: 1) the local English dialect must be recognized as viable for Standard English to be acquired, 2) indigenous language revitalization requires infinitely more effort than what was provided, and 3) the government's covert goal remained assimilationist, not truly bilingual. Introduction Unlike the immigrant to a new country who faces learning the dominant language of that country and potentially becoming bilingual, the indigenous people (1) of America have faced the imposition of the language of the initial immigrants to their lands. Throughout the early centuries of the immigrant expansion there was a vacillation in the federal government policies between assimilation and extermination of indigenous peoples. In the 1970's-1990's there was a feeble U. S. government attempt to accommodate pressures from indigenous people to reverse the tragic results of those former policies and to revitalize their traditional cultures and languages. This accommodation was manifested in federally funded grants for bilingual education programs for indigenous community schools. The purpose of this paper is to trace the evolution of the "bilingual education" programs and their impact on Native American bilingualism and Native language revitalization for selected Native American communities in the Northern Plains. This examination is limited to those Native American communities where the researcher has conducted evaluation research for the past thirty and more years. Relationships between the U. S. Government and Native Americans The relationship between the European-influenced U. S. Federal Government and the indigenous people of America has always been and remains unique. From the initial colonization and immigration, Europeans regarded the indigenous people as less than human, their cultures less than civilized, and at best, their many oral languages as simplistic. The federal government policies toward them began oppressively by removing them farther and farther westward or when they resisted this removal, the policy favored removal from the face of the earth, extermination. In the later part of the 19th century, the federal government offered the remaining indigenous people treaties that included tracts of land (reservations), educational inducements/requirements, and some health provisions. These treaties and the fact that in 1924 the U. S. Congress conveyed U. S. citizenship on Native Americans (Reyhner, J. and J. Eder, 2004, p. 84) constitute a perpetual paradox for Native American status and identity. On the one hand, they are members of sovereign nations recognized by treaty, and they are also U. S. citizens with all rights and privileges. Unfortunately, there have been many and unrelenting U.S. government attempts and successes through time at abrogating all or parts of some of those treaties. …


The purpose of the study was to compare vocational trainees participating and not participating in a supervised work experience on the acquisition of employability skills. The population of the study was vocational trainees who had completed vocational programmes in various fields. They were compared on the basis of whether they had participated in a supervised work experience on the acquisition of employability skills. An equal-sized groups stratified sampling was administered as it was considered useful if one wants to compare the performance of different subgroups, besides, Cohen (1988) prescribed the desirability of equal-sized samples as it can be demonstrated that equal division yields greater power than unequal division does. The process of power analysis determined the sample size. The number of sample was 138. Items comprising the translated version of SCANS foundation skills and work competencies measured acquisition of employability. The consent to use the translated version in the Malay language was officially given by the Planning and Research Unit of the Technical Department, Ministry of Education of Malaysia. The researcher developed items comprising the background characteristics of respondents based on appropriate literature. The dimensions of self-concept and achievement motivation were adopted from a study by Ab. Rahim (2001). The result showed that participating students achieved a moderately higher level of employability skills compared to students not participating in the supervised work experience. A significant difference in the acquisition of employability skills between participants and non-participants of the supervised work experience was observed at (t = 2.3, p < .05), although the magnitude of the differences in the means was moderately small (eta squared = .04). This result could be regarded as material with the said magnitude as it has the potential of changing the way others think about the phenomenon of having a supervised work experience as a feasible mode in nurturing such skills. Study indicated there were also other factors attributing to the acquisition of employability skills, and these include gender, age, previous work experience, self concept and achievement motivation. However, achievement motivation was found to be significantly related to the acquisition of employability skills. This psychological variable is also a well-known contributor in the development of entrepreneurial skills leading towards the development of successful entrepreneur. In addition, type of school to work transition was found to be significantly related to previous work experience and gender. Therefore, participation of vocational trainees in a supervised work experience influences the acquisition of employability skills, an important psychosocial construct. Evidently, employability skills also identified as career success skills could facilitate youth in negotiating from school to work transition as employers seek potential employees nurtured with such skills.


Summary: Adhesive interactions play important roles in coordinating T‐cell migration and activation, specifically in the formation of the immunological synapse (IS), a specialized cell‐cell junction. Recent demonstrations show several molecules implicated in T‐cell signaling, including Vav, ADAP, and Rap‐1, have major roles in integrin regulation and place adhesion molecules at center stage in addressing the question: what are the signals involved in the formation of the IS and full T‐cell activation? This review focuses on the role of integrins as an essential system for both physical adhesion and signaling in T‐cell activation. The role of integrins appears to be quite distinct from classical costimulation and has been largely overlooked due to the ubiquitous use of serum in lymphocyte functional assays. Each major signal transduction pathway has branches leading to the nucleus and others that feed back on cytoskeletal and membrane regulation at the IS.


A 92 Library Branch system that services Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island, plus anyone who lives, works or goes to school in New York State.


The artificial intelligence (A.I.) era is booming. More than twice as many papers mentioning A.I. were published in medical journals in 2018 than in 2017. The way machine and deep learning algorithms can contribute to diagnosing medical conditions or tailoring therapies have been explored in major studies (1). However, the medical community is concerned and has expressed doubts about the challenges A.I. poses to healthcare (2,3). While the potential of artificial narrow intelligence in assisting medical professionals in their daily work is exceptionally high, there is one aspect of the journey towards A.I. that often gets forgotten: the importance of data annotators.


The effect of the preparation method was examined with regards to the physical and chemical characteristics of the propolis tincture, namely the extraction time and the ethanol content of the extraction solvent to the dry matter, polyphenol, flavonoid, phosphorus, calcium and copper concentration, respectively. The dry matter, the polyphenol and the flavonoid content were the lowest in the water extract of the propolis; however, significant increase was noticed depending on the extraction time. Significantly higher concentrations were found in 50 V/V% tinctures. The highest dry matter and flavonoid contents were analysed in 100 V/V% tinctures, whereas highest polyphenol content was found in 80 V/V% tinctures. However, the differences were not significant in several cases between latter tinctures. Moreover, the increase was not determined in some cases depending on the extraction time. Phosphorus and calcium concentrations were decreased depending on the increasing ethanol content, whereas copper concentration was increased up to 80 V/V%. Higher increase was found in the case of 0 and 50 V/V% extracts than in 80 and 100 V/V% tinctures. Moreover, in latter cases, no significant differences were found on several occasions, depending on the extraction time. There was no connection between the flavonoids and the calcium as well as the phosphorus content, whereas flavonoids may be made complex with copper. However, the amount of the possible complex was negligible.


Aging generates four important changes in the structure and function of the respiratory system. There is a reduction in the elastic recoil of the lung causing "senile emphysema", a condition characterized by reduction in the alveolar surface area without alveolar destruction, which is associated with hyperinflation, increased lung compliance and reduction in alveolar-capillary diffusing capacity. There is a decrease in the compliance of the chest watt, due to calcification of its articulations, dorsal kyphosis and "barrel chest". There is a decrease in the strength of respiratory muscles which correlates with cardiac Index, nutritional status and hyperinflation, and there is a reduction in the ventilatory response to hypoxia and hypercapnia as well as in the perception of increased airway resistance. The increased static lung compliance combined with the decreased chest watt compliance leads to an increase in the functional residual capacity with aging. On the other hand, the loss of alveolar and airways elastic recoil combined with the reduction in the strength of the expiratory muscles, leads to an increase in residual volume and decreased maximal expiratory airflow rates and vital capacity. Despite these changes, the respiratory system maintains an adequate gas exchange at rest and during exercise during the whole life span, showing a normal PaCO2 and a slight decline in PaO2 (-0,3 mmHg per year) which is attenuated to become almost undetectable over the age of 70.


Biphasic electrode systems are studied for the case of the oxidation of the water-insoluble liquid N,N-didodecyl-N',N'-diethylphenylenediamine (DDPD) neat and dissolved in bis(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate (HDOP) and immersed in aqueous electrolyte media. The oxidation process in the absence of HDOP is accompanied by transfer of the anion (perchlorate or phosphate) from the water into the organic phase. However, in the presence of HDOP, oxidation is accompanied by proton exchange instead. This electrochemically driven proton exchange process occurs over a wide pH range. Organic microdroplet deposits of DDPD in HDOP at basal plane pyrolytic graphite electrodes are studied by voltammetric techniques and compared in their behavior to organic microphase deposits in mesoporous TiO2 thin films. The mesoporous TiO2 thin film acts as a host for the organic liquid and provides an alternative biphasic electrode system compared to the random microdroplet/graphite system. Two types of mesoporous TiO2 thin-film electrodes, (i) a 300-400-nm film on ITO and (ii) a 300-400-nm film on ITO sputter-coated with a 20-nm porous gold layer, are investigated.


Summary Separating male and female sex organs is one of the main strategies used to maintain genetic diversity within a species. However, the genetic determinants and their regulatory mechanisms have been identified in only a few species. In dioecious persimmons, the homeodomain transcription factor, MeGI, which is the target of a Y chromosome‐encoded small‐RNA,OGI, can determine floral sexuality. The basic features of this system are conserved in the monoecious hexaploid Oriental persimmon, in which an additional epigenetic regulation of MeGI determines floral sexuality. The downstream regulatory pathways of MeGI remain uncharacterized. In this study, we examined transcriptomic data for male and female flowers from monoecious persimmon cultivars to unveil the gene networks orchestrated by MeGI. A network visualization and cistrome assessment suggested that class‐1 KNOTTED‐like homeobox (KNOX)/ovate family protein (OFP)/growth regulating factors (GRFs) and short vegetative phase (SVP) genes mediate the differences in gynoecium and androecium development between male and female flowers, respectively. The expression of these genes is directly controlled by MeGI. The gene networks also suggested that some cytokinin, auxin, and gibberellin signaling genes function cooperatively in the KNOX/OFP/GRF pathway during gynoecium differentiation. Meanwhile, SVP may repress PI expression in developing androecia. Overall, our results suggest that MeGI evolved the ability to promote gynoecium development and suppress androecium development by regulating KNOX/OFP/GRF and SVP expression levels, respectively. These insights may help to clarify the molecular mechanism underlying the production of unisexual flowers, while also elucidating the physiological background enabling a single‐factor system to establish dioecy in plants.


The works reported in this article is an account of wastes generated in two air jet weaving mills producing mills producing 100% cotton fabrics for the export market. Mainly two types of wastes were categorized e.g. (i) wastes related to only warp e.g. gara cones, knotting waste, gaiting/tying-in, loom setting, as beam residue after sizing and weaving, warping, in the sizing zone and the polyester yarns in the auxiliary selvedge etc. and (ii) wastes related only weft e.g. cut fringe, faulty cones, waste due to loom setting etc. The study involved collection of data about various wastes (both warp and weft) of 8 different qualities (construction wise) from the two air jet weaving mills. The amounts of respective wastes were then expressed as percentages of the total quantity of warp and weft. The wastes related to warp and weft were left in the two factories was found to be in the range of 2.59% to 3.96% and 2.43% to 3.51% respectively. It was also observed that the warp wastes in knotting, gaiting/tying-in, loom setting and as beam residue after weaving were insignificant whereas warp wastes in warping and sizing zone were significant. It was also found that finer warp yarns and higher warp thread density were responsible for more waste.Higher waste. Higher set length and greater length of warp in the weaver's beam generated lesser waste.On the other hand,Inwaste. In case of weft, wastes due to cut fringe and faulty cones were found to be significant, but weft waste due to loom setting was found to be insignificant. The waste due to cut fringe may be reduced if the width of the fabric in increased. The polyester filament (ply) yarns are used as warp in the auxiliary selvedge of fabric seems not very significant. , however due to their high strength; these yarns are being reused again and again for long period of timeIt was found in one of the factory that the cleanersseparate the cut fringes manually leaving only the selvedge warp yarns which are then wound on to any suitable packagefor further use in leno selvedge. Another factory sells their dummy selvedge as scrap at a very low cost.


This paper analyses the changing economic value of higher education in the major O.E.C.D. countries. The first part of the study examines data on earnings by education or earnings in occupations composed of per- sons with different educational attainments. A second part looks at un- employment rates and the occupations attained by college graduates. Both the relative earnings data and the unemployment and occupational attainment data suggest that the heralded decline in the economic value of higher education in the U.S. is not a unique North American phenomenon, but rather, a general development throughout the developed world. On the basis of evidence on elasticities of substitution and the observed growth in the supply of college graduates the paper suggests that the decline in the premium to the educated reflects movement along a reasonably well-defined demand for graduates schedule due to the growth of the college and university systems of the various countries.


There currently exists a diverse array of molecular probes for the in situ localization of polysaccharides, nucleic acids, and proteins in plant cells, including reporter enzyme strategies (e.g. protein-glucuronidase fusions). In contrast, however, there is a paucity of methods for the direct analysis of endogenous glycoside hydrolases and transglycosidases responsible for cell wall remodeling. To exemplify the potential of fluorogenic resorufin glycosides to address this issue, a resorufin β-glycoside of a xylogluco-oligosaccharide (XXXG-β-Res) was synthesized as a specific substrate for in planta analysis of XEH activity. The resorufin aglycone is particularly distinguished for high sensitivity in muro assays due to a low pKa (5.8) and large extinction coefficient (ϵ 62,000 m−1cm−1), long-wavelength fluorescence (excitation 571 nm/emission 585 nm), and high quantum yield (0.74) of the corresponding anion. In vitro analyses demonstrated that XXXG-β-Res is hydrolyzed by the archetypal plant XEH, nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus) NXG1, with classical Michaelis-Menten substrate saturation kinetics and a linear dependence on both enzyme concentration and incubation time. Further, XEH activity could be visualized in real time by observing the localized increase in fluorescence in germinating nasturtium seeds and Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) inflorescent stems by confocal microscopy. Importantly, this new in situ XEH assay provides an essential complement to the in situ xyloglucan endotransglycosylase assay, thus allowing delineation of the disparate activities encoded by xyloglucan endotransglycosylase/hydrolase genes directly in plant tissues. The observation that XXXG-β-Res is also hydrolyzed by diverse microbial XEHs indicates that this substrate, and resorufin glycosides in general, may find broad applicability for the analysis of wall restructuring by polysaccharide hydrolases during morphogenesis and plant-microbe interactions.


The Meloland Road Overcrossing (MRO) is a two-span reinforced concrete bridge structure located east of El Centro, California, 0.3 mi from the Imperial Fault. The Imperial Valley Earthquake triggered 26 strong motion accelerometers previously deployed at the MRO. This paper describes two investigations of the seismic and dynamic response of the MRO. The first involved a system identification study of the MRO using the above strong-motion records. The second investigation is a recently-initiated study of soil-structure interaction effects at the MRO using full-scale dynamic testing of the bridge, system identification methods for developing finite element models of the MRO, and detailed seismic analysis.


In The Cutting Edge of the Poet's Sword Osman Latiff assesses anti-Frankish Muslim poetry during the crusades, specifically the topic of faḍāʾil al-Quds ('merits of Jerusalem') and jihād as they relate to the occupation and reconquest of Jerusalem.


The F-22A Raptor is a next-generation fighter/attack aircraft that features the latest stealth technology to reduce detection by radar. Using more advanced engines and avionics than the current F-15 Eagle, the F-22A is intended to maintain U.S. Air Force capabilities against more sophisticated enemy aircraft and air defenses in the 21st century. This report examines the Air Force's F-22A Raptor program, including costs and schedule; considers several key issues, and concludes with a synopsis of recent legislative activity on the program.


State invocations of God are common in the United States; indeed, the national motto is "In God We Trust." Yet the Establishment Clause forbids the state from favoring some religions over others. Nonetheless, courts have found the national motto and other examples of what is termed ceremonial deism constitutional on the ground that the practices are longstanding, have de minimis and nonsectarian religious content, and achieve a secular goal. Therefore, they conclude, a reasonable person would not think that the state was endorsing religion. But would all reasonable people reach this conclusion? This Article examines the "reasonable person" at the heart of the Establishment Clause's endorsement analysis. The starting point is the feminist critique of early sexual harassment decisions, which often held that a reasonable person would not find that the alleged harassment created a hostile work environment. Feminists argued that the supposedly objective reasonable person was actually a reasonable man, that men and women often have different perspectives on what amounts to sexual harassment due to structural inequalities, and that reliance on this unstated norm perpetuates male privilege rather than remedies it. This Article argues that the same insights apply to the reasonable person used to evaluate ceremonial deism. The supposedly objective reasonable person too often equates to a reasonable Christian. Furthermore, just as men might find harmless comments that women would find offensive, certain invocations of God may seem acceptable to Christians that non-Christians would find alienating because of their status as religious outsiders. Finally, reliance on this norm perpetuates Christian privilege rather than ensures religious liberty and equality for all. Consequently, the constitutionally of ceremonial deism should be evaluated from the perspective of a reasonable religious outsider.


We report the experimental observation of bistability and hysteresis phenomena of the polarization signal in a telecommunication optical fiber. This process occurs in a counterpropagating configuration in which the optical beam nonlinearly interacts with its own Bragg-reflected replica at the fiber output. The proof of principle of optical flip–flop memory and 10  Gbit/s routing operation is also reported based on this polarization bistability. Finally, we also provide a general physical understanding of this behavior on the basis of a geometrical analysis of an effective model of the dynamics. Good quantitative agreement between theory and experiment is obtained.


Problem statement: Wireless communication systems are required for many applications. There are different standards for these systems. IEEE 802.15.4 defines the communication system standard for zigbee. This study discussed designing one of the blocks of zigbee transceiver which is the Phase Locked Loop (PLL). A major target for any communication systems is saving battery power, especially for zigbee as it is meant to be a low cost communication system. Phase Locked Loop is responsible on carrier frequency selection in a communication system. It is the most power consumer block in the transceiver as well. The objective of this study was designing a low power fully integrated integer-N PLL frequency synthesizer targeting the 2.4 GHz band IEEE 802.15.4 Std zigbee. Approach: Minimizing total power consumption of PLL was achieved by introducing a novel design of Phase Frequency Detector (PFD) and modifying the rest of the PLL blocks. The proposed PFD used only 12 transistors and it preserved the main characteristics of the conventional PFD with a simple architecture. The Charge Pump (CP) was single-ended source switch to save power and minimize mismatches. The Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO) spans from 4.737-4.977 GHz band using LC resonator. The VCO worked at double the frequency band to avoid local oscillator leakage and feed through. The integer N divider used a 15/16 dual modulus. Results: The proposed PLL was designed using Silterra 0.18 um CMOS process. It consumed 3.2 mW with 1.8 voltage supply. Phase noise is-113.4 dBc Hz-1 at 1 MHz. The proposed PFD works up to 2.5 GHz with free dead zone. The Charge Pump (CP) works with 20 uA, lock-in time is 27 us and total die area is 1×2 mm. All results were taken from extracted layout simulations. Conclusion: The results of this study indicated that a PLL can work with less power consumption and save the transceiver battery. The proposed PFD was suitable for high speed applications.


The era of precision medicine for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has arrived, and it is extremely important to detect actionable mutations relevant to treatment-related decision-making. However, the percentage of actionable mutations found in AML is approximately 50% at present, and therapeutic development is also needed for AML patients without such mutations. Nevertheless, recently approved drugs for AML treatment are less toxic than conventional intensive chemotherapy and can be combined with low-intensity treatments. Such combination therapies can improve prognosis, especially for elderly AML patients, who account for more than half of all AML cases. Thus, the treatment strategy for leukemia is changing drastically and showing rapid progress. In this review, we present novel mitochondria-associated molecular target therapies for AML, such as the use of BCL-2 and IDH inhibitors.


The
fallacy of race as a product of the categorization of the cognitive systems of human
beings is well documented (Feagin & Ducey, 2019; Higginbotham, 2013;
Hirschfeld, 1938; Miles & Brown, 2003).
Recently, the calls to dismantle racism is reaching crescendo catalyzed
by the movement ignited by the murder of George Floyd. In fact, a Google search of
"dismantling racism" produces 13,600,000 results (June 7, 2020). But what are the criteria, or system of ideas,
to determine if racism is, or is not, 'dismantled'? Are we aware and in agreement as to "what"
racism is individually, let alone collectively?
And when we know, will we then know "how" to dismantle it individually
and collectively?

Toward
establishing and developing a mechanism for addressing questions of this nature,
the semeiotic theory of Charles Sanders Peirce (Houser
& Kloesel, 1992; Houser & colleaugues, 1998) and an explanation for
the thinking process argued by John Dewey (1991), this developing hypothesis
for this work is to provide guidance for answering these questions by first
establishing a method aimed at discovering the reasoning criteria that
determine meaning of 'racism' for each of us.
These logicians, and others including Burke and Stets (2009) and Ryan
and Deci (2017), for example, make it clear that the reasoning process,
including how one perceives, interprets, and reasons, sheds some light on the influencing
criteria of these phenomena. So, what
happens cognitively as a person makes meaning of entities, phenomenon, and
events through the reasoning process including subprocesses of perceiving and interpreting
associations to race.


The goals of this study were to test whether exercise-related stimuli can elicit automatic evaluative responses and whether automatic evaluations reflect exercise setting preference in highly active exercisers. An adapted version of the Affect Misattribution Procedure was employed. Seventy-two highly active exercisers (26 years ± 9.03; 43% female) were subliminally primed (7 ms) with pictures depicting typical fitness center scenarios or gray rectangles (control primes). After each prime, participants consciously evaluated the "pleasantness" of a Chinese symbol. Controlled evaluations were measured with a questionnaire and were more positive in participants who regularly visited fitness centers than in those who reported avoiding this exercise setting. Only center exercisers gave automatic positive evaluations of the fitness center setting (partial eta squared = .08). It is proposed that a subliminal Affect Misattribution Procedure paradigm can elicit automatic evaluations to exercising and that, in highly active exercisers, these evaluations play a role in decisions about the exercise setting rather than the amounts of physical exercise. Findings are interpreted in terms of a dual systems theory of social information processing and behavior.


The number of runs in local experiments used in the online improvement of a process need to be small and yet be able to consider as many process parameters as possible. Hence, it would be desirable to perform two-level fractional factorial experiments that involve more factors than just two or three factors at a time recommended in evolutionary operation. In this paper, a case is presented for a careful selection of experimental points that, despite the experiments' being two-level ones, are robust (in their inferences) to nonlinearities in the true response. In order to reduce the chances of obtaining incorrect directions of improvement from fractional factorial local experiments, we incorporate robustness considerations to develop a minimax design procedure for the experiments. The minimax design reduces to the optimal design (under linearity assumptions), if a certain 'nonlinearity-to-noise ratio' is below a threshold.<<ETX>>


The last decades have seen a growing interest in hash functions that allow some sort of tolerance, e.g. for the purpose of biometric authentication. Among these, the syndrome fuzzy hashing construction allows to securely store biometric data and to perform user authentication without the need of sharing any secret key. This paper analyzes such a model, showing that it offers a suitable protection against information leakage and several advantages with respect to similar solutions, like the fuzzy commitment scheme. The design and characterization of LDPC codes to be used for this purpose is also addressed.


In Kate Chopin's first two critical essays, both written in 1894, the same year her first collection of short fiction, Bayou Folk, was published, the St. Louis-born walter--who was best known for her Louisiana fictions--demonstrates the ambivalence with which many nineteenth-century American authors approached terms like regionalism and local color. The essays are brief but incisive accounts of the strengths and weaknesses of regional writing and offer a quick glance at the literary conflicts at the end of the century. The first reports on the Western Association of Writers, a mostly Indiana group that Chopin chides for "clinging to past and conventional standards, [for] an almost Creolean sensitiveness to criticism and a singular ignorance of, or disregard for, the value of the highest art forms."(1) The group's provincialism, Chopin suggests, prevents it from realizing that "there is a very, very big world lying not wholly in northern Indiana." But to ensure that her criticism of local writing here is not itself read provincially, Chopin continues to describe the world good fiction must attempt to configure: "nor does it lie at the antipodes, either. It is human existence in its subtle, complex, true meaning, stripped of the veil with which ethical and conventional standards have draped it" (691). The second is a more measured piece, a mixed review of Crumbling Idols, Hamlin Garland's collection of essays championing the use of regional and local color elements in the service of a literary realism. By Chopin's estimation, when Garland advocates breaking free of "the hold of conventionalism," he ends up undervaluing "the importance of the past in art and exaggerates the significance of the present," especially as the present makes itself visible through the meticulous detailing of local life. Though she herself was a writer of regional fiction that was enthusiastically promoted for its artistic and faithful rendering of local life, Chopin here warns that "social problems, social environments, local color and the rest of it are not of themselves motives to insure the survival of a writer who employs them" (693). Chopin's curious aversion to the efforts of her fellow regional writers in these essays seems to come from a suspicion of any ethical motive or naturalist principle and favor a strict formalism or aestheticism. The critiques also show Chopin to be reluctant to throw in with any aesthetic ideology that blindly attacks the powers that support it or the artistic forms that enable it. Thus she characterizes the Western Association's eschewing of high art as naive and childish, and she takes Garland to task for his impolitic criticism of the East as a tyrannous literary center. "There can no good come of abusing Boston and New York," Chopin cautions: "On the contrary, as `literary centers' they have rendered incalculable service ... by bringing to light whatever ... has been produced of force and originality in the West and South since the war" (694). Such a position is coincidentally (and perhaps ironically) in step with much of the early twentieth-century literary criticism of regional fiction that kept Chopin an admired but minor figure until the rediscovery of her second novel, The Awakening. At first glance, much of Chopin's own fiction seems to discount her critique of Garland's "veritism" and of regional writing in general, but a closer inspection, particularly of the short fiction, tells a different story. Chopin delivers her criticism with authority and conviction, with the authenticity of one who speaks from within a region and tradition, suggesting not that Chopin is simply inconsistent in her criticism and practice, but rather that Chopin's understanding of regional writing includes a sophisticated and indeed implicitly ethical knowledge of the dangers inherent in claiming to offer an authentic or enduring relation of another person or community. Published six months before her review of Garland's manifesto, Chopin's Bayou Folk contains two stories that explicitly challenge the impulse of local color to provide an authentic vision of a region. …


In the first two years of its float, the Australian-U.S. dollar exchange rate has substantially depreciated and oscillated. This paper tests to see whether this exchange rate has, at least, followed a random walk with drift. Having established this benchmark, structural monetary models are constructed to see whether one can obtain better within-sample and/or out-of-sample results. Rational forecasts of exogenous variables are obtained using Muth's (1961) decomposition; interpolation is used to obtain weekly forecasts when the observation period is greater. It appears that the random walk can be beaten.


Although the vital role of the androgen receptor (AR) has been well demonstrated in primary prostate cancers, its role in the androgen-insensitive prostate cancers still remains unclear. Here, we used a small hairpin RNA approach to directly assess AR activity in prostate cancer cells. Reduction of AR expression in the two androgen-sensitive prostate cancer cell lines, LNCaP and LAPC4, significantly decreased AR-mediated transcription and cell growth. Intriguingly, in two androgen-insensitive prostate cell lines, LNCaP-C42B4 and CWR22Rv1, knockdown of AR expression showed a more pronounced effect on AR-induced transcription and cell growth than androgen depletion. Using cDNA microarrays, we also compared the transcriptional profiles induced by either androgen depletion or AR knockdown. Although a significant number of transcripts appear to be regulated by both androgen depletion and AR knockdown, we observed a subset of transcripts affected only by androgen depletion but not by AR knockdown, and vice versa. Finally, we demonstrated a direct role for AR in promoting tumor formation and growth in a xenograft model. Taken together, our results elucidate an important role for the AR in androgen-insensitive prostate cancer cells, and suggest that AR can be used as a therapeutic target for androgen-insensitive prostate cancers.


The narrative structure of the story of Musa in the Qur'ân is constructed by a plausible and rapid plot. Further-more, this story has a constant narrative structure that is narrator-creator-sender (Allah) as the one who sends the message, the first receiver (the Prophet Muhammad) as the messenger of God's message to be transmitted to mankind, and the second receiver is all mankind. Other than that, the narrative structure of the story of Musa in the Qur'ân has an ethical function. It brings spiritual-eschatological vision to mankind. Through interpersonal relation structure and the representation concept of time and place, the story of Musa gives theological and moral values. The one that distinguishes the narrative function of the story of Musa in the Qur'ân from the other stories created by people is the rhetoric clarity (al-bu'd al-bayâni). The Qur'ân always uses simple and meaningful rhetoric. Thus, in presenting the story of Musa, the Qur'ân only exposes important events that conform to religious purposes (al-ghard al-dini).


Habitat quality and metapopulation effects are the main hypotheses that currently explain the disproportionate decline of insects in cultivated Holarctic landscapes. The former assumes a degradation in habitat quality for insects within surviving ecosystems, the latter that too few, small or isolated islands of ecosystem remain in landscapes for populations to persist. These hypotheses are often treated as alternatives, and this can lead to serious conflict in the interpretations of conservationists. We present the first empirical demonstration that habitat quality and site isolation are both important determinants of where populations persist in modern landscapes. We described the precise habitat requirements of Melitaea cinxia, Polyommatus bellargus and Thymelicus acteon, and quantified the variation in carrying capacity within each butterfly's niche. We then made detailed surveys to compare the distribution and density of every population of each species with the size, distance apart and quality of their specific habitats in all their potential habitat patches in three UK landscapes. In each case, within–site variation in habitat quality explained which patches supported a species' population two to three times better than site isolation. Site area and occupancy were not correlated in any species. Instead of representing alternative paradigms, habitat quality and spatial effects operate at different hierarchical levels within the same process: habitat quality is the missing third parameter in metapopulation dynamics, contributing more to species persistence, on the basis of these results, than site area or isolation. A reorientation in conservation priorities is recommended.


Background Accumulating reports indicate that statins widely prescribed for hypercholesteromia have antineoplastic activity. We hypothesized that because statins inhibit farnesylation of Ras that is often mutated in multiple myeloma (MM), as well as the production of interleukin (IL)-6, a key cytokine in MM, they may have antiproliferative and/or proapoptotic effects in this malignancy. Methods U266, RPMI 8226, and ARH77 were treated with simvastatin (0-30 μM) for 5 days. The following aspects were evaluated: viability (IC50), cell cycle, cell death, cytoplasmic calcium ion levels, supernatant IL-6 levels, and tyrosine kinase activity. Results Exposure of all cell lines to simvastatin resulted in reduced viability with IC50s of 4.5 μM for ARH77, 8 μM for RPMI 8226, and 13 μM for U266. The decreased viability is attributed to cell-cycle arrest (U266, G1; RPMI 8226, G2M) and cell death. ARH77 underwent apoptosis, whereas U266 and RPMI 8226 displayed a more necrotic form of death. Cytoplasmic calcium levels decreased significantly in all treated cell lines. IL-6 secretion from U266 cells was abrogated on treatment with simvastatin, whereas total tyrosine phosphorylation was unaffected. Conclusions Simvastatin displays significant antimyeloma activity in vitro. Further research is warranted for elucidation of the modulated molecular pathways and clinical relevance.


{\em Differential privacy} describes a promise, made by a data curator to a data subject: you will not be affected, adversely or otherwise, by allowing your data to be used in any study, no matter what other studies, data sets, or information from other sources is available. At their best, differentially private database mechanisms can make confidential data widely available for accurate data analysis, without resorting to data clean rooms, institutional review boards, data usage agreements, restricted views, or data protection plans. To enjoy the fruits of the research described in this tutorial, the data analyst must accept that raw data can never be accessed directly and that eventually data utility is consumed: overly accurate answers to too many questions will destroy privacy. The goal of algorithmic research on differential privacy is to postpone this inevitability as long as possible.


This article examines the efficiency of wind energy production. We quantify production losses in four wind parks across Germany for 19 wind turbines with non-convex efficiency analysis. In a second stage regression, we adapt the linear regression results of Kneip, Simar, Wilson (2014) to explain electricity losses by means of a bias-corrected truncated regression. Our results show that electricity losses amount to 27% of the maximal producible electricity. These losses can be mainly traced back to changing wind conditions while only 6 % are caused by turbine errors.


Throughout American history, religion and entertainment have influenced each other and have intersected in fascinating ways. Native American rituals and games entertained and inspired. Early white settlers like the Puritans, though defining their faith over and against profane pastimes, engaged in sport, play, and elaborate storytelling. Still, stark contrasts appeared in the 17th and 18th centuries when it came to how Catholics and Protestants in the New World thought of the theater, music, and performance. The evangelical surge in the 18th century brought with it a lively and riveting preaching style—represented by celebrity ministers like George Whitfield and Gilbert Tennent—that faced the ire of their more traditional foes for using "vulgar" methods to reach the masses. In the 19th century, African Americans, in slavery and freedom, expressed their faith in ways that combined religious systems, dancing, and music traditions from Africa and the Americas. Evangelical churches and prominent figures used entertainment to proselytize, illustrate the drama of salvation and damnation, and to enliven services. Temperance, anti-slavery, and other reformist groups employed music, novels, and theater to spread their earnest message. Pentecostals and other evangelicals took up new forms in the 20th century. They eagerly made use of radio, film, and later, television. The well-known evangelist Billy Graham was a skillful pioneer of new media. In the 20th century, Hollywood films drew on Jewish and Catholic themes, as Jewish and Catholic writers, directors, and actors put their stamp on the silver screen. Late 20th and early 21st century combinations of religion and entertainment included Muslim rap music, Christian rock, Jewish folk music, and much more. A great deal of this innovation coincided with the rise of the performance-driven megachurch and the proliferation of religious organizations that catered to athletes and drew on sports imagery and symbols for the cause. In the long sweep of American history, the devout have found new, elaborate ways to draw on popular culture and to entertain as well as enlighten the faithful.


Unplanned and unwanted pregnancies are a national concern in the United States. In addition, many people exist who would like to become parents, but cannot or do not reproduce biologically. While adoption could offer a solution to this problem, the actual number of adoptions that take place is very small. This study examined what adoption agencies in the New Orleans area are doing to promote themselves to women with unwanted pregnancies. In-depth interviews were conducted with five adoption agencies. Three of the five agencies reported using various methods of targeting women with unwanted pregnancies. These methods included public posters, flyers distributed in various public places, feature stories in newspapers, radio spots, and television commercials. Two agencies did not target women at all because they did not have a need to do so. In addition to providing information on their methods of targeting, the respondents were also able to provide useful ideas and information on aspects such as competition among adoption agencies, demographics of birth and adoptive parents, adoption and the media, limitations agencies face, and ethical considerations in adoption. The majority of the adoption agencies did engage in methods of targeting. Yet, they felt that more could be done if the financial resources were available.


This contribution to this special edition focuses on United States practice in relation to marine protected areas (MPAs) particularly in relation to the protection of large marine ecosystems. The article describes how MPAs are designated under the National Marine Sanctuaries Act, the Antiquities Act, and the Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Act. The article also identifies interactions between state and federal government in the management of MPAs as well as among nations. The article concludes with a discussion of the vulnerability of MPAs in the United States to resource development focused political forces.


We describe what we believe to be a novel use of spectral-domain optical coherence reflectometry (SD-OCR) for highly sensitive molecular detection in real time. The SD-OCR sensor allows identification of a sensor surface of interest in an OCR depth scan and monitoring the phase alteration due to molecular interaction at that surface with subnanometer optical thickness sensitivity. We present subfemtomole detection sensitivity for etching of SiO(2) molecules and demonstrate its application as a biosensor by measuring biotin-streptavidin binding in a microfluidic device.


filesstrings is an R package providing convenient functions for moving files, deleting directories, and a variety of string operations that facilitate manipulating file names and extracting information from strings. For example, R has no file.move(), just file.copy() and file.rename(), so the best way to move a file was to unintuitively rename it. filesstrings provides file.move(). The package's string operations mostly pertain to dealing with numbers contained within strings. It has a function NiceFileNums() for fixing file names such that their numbering is consistent with alphabetical order. For example, 'file10.txt' comes before 'file9.txt' in alphabetical order, so NiceFileNums() recognises this and renames them to 'file10.txt' and 'file09.txt' respectively. See documentation at https://cran.r-project.org/package=filesstrings.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) is implementing a new laboratory management system (LMS) common to the 12 hospital groups. First step to this process was to acquire a biological analysis dictionary. This dictionary is interfaced with the international nomenclature LOINC, and has been developed in collaboration with experts from all biological disciplines. In this paper we describe in three steps (modeling, data migration and integration/verification) the implementation of a platform for publishing and maintaining the AP-HP laboratory data dictionary (AnaBio).

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Due to data complexity and volume, setting up a platform dedicated to the terminology management was a key requirement. This is an enhancement tackling identified weaknesses of previous spreadsheet tool. Our core model allows interoperability regarding data exchange standards and dictionary evolution.

RESULTS
We completed our goals within one year. In addition, structuring data representation has lead to a significant data quality improvement (impacting more than 10% of data). The platform is active in the 21 hospitals of the institution spread into 165 laboratories.


Background: The effective care and support of community healthcare nurses (CHNs) contribute greatly to the healthy aging of older adults living at home. Integrating innovative technologies into CHNs' daily practice offers new opportunities and perspectives for early detection of health issues and interventions among home-dwelling older adults. Aim: To explore the perception of acceptability among CHNs of an intelligent wireless sensor system (IWSS) for use in daily practice for the detection of health issues in home-dwelling older adults receiving home healthcare. Method: Descriptive and qualitative data were sourced from a pilot randomized controlled trial involving 17 CHNs using an IWSS in their daily practice to rapidly detect falls and other health issues in patients' homes. IWSS alerts indicating behavior changes were sent to CHNs. Their perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEOU) were assessed. The acceptability of IWSS technology was explored using a questionnaire and focus group discussions. Results: The PU and PEOU of the IWSS technology were low to moderate. A majority of the CHNs were dissatisfied with its performance and intrusiveness; they reported multiple obstacles in the usefulness and ease of use of the IWSS technology in daily practice. Conclusion: To improve the IWSS technology's low to moderate acceptability among CHNs, we recommend a more user-centered implementation strategy and an embedded model of nursing care.


Abstract This study focused on mediating and moderating processes underlying the relationship between work hours and well-being. Questionnaire data from 292 female employees in two UK public sector organizations were analysed. Drawing on effort-recovery theory and published empirical findings, it was hypothesized that work–family interference (WIF) would mediate the relationship between work hours and measures of well-being (psychological distress and family satisfaction), and that work-time control would moderate the association between work hours and WIF. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that, after controlling for demographic variables, neuroticism, and job demands, WIF mediated the effect of work hours on family satisfaction, although no evidence of mediation was found for the psychological distress outcome measure. Work-time control moderated the relationship between work hours and WIF; higher control buffered the effect of longer hours on WIF. These findings add to the literature on the role of WIF in the effort-recovery process by showing that longer work hours are not necessarily associated with higher work–family interference, and hence with poor recovery and impaired well-being. Instead, having a degree of control over work hours moderates the first link in this process. Thus, the provision by employers of some flexibility and control over work hours may help to reduce the potential negative impact of long work hours on employees.


The Limits of Ferocity is a powerful critique of the culture of extremity represented in the works of D. H. Lawrence, Georges Bataille, Henry Miller, and Norman Mailer. Daniel Fuchs provides close readings of their literary and intellectual texts, which convey a loathing of middle-class culture or, as the case may be, society itself, in favor of a rebellion often expressed as an aggressive, even apocalyptic, sexuality. The Marquis de Sade is the precursor of this literature, which idealizes the self that violates taboos and laws in the search for erotic transcendence. Fuchs shows as well how these writers reflected and contributed to a broader cultural assault on liberal moderation and Freudian humanism. He explains Freud's theories of culture and sexual aggression and describes how they were rejected or reworked, sometimes in favor of a liberating violence, by theorists including Wilhelm Reich, Norman O. Brown, and Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari. Fuchs concludes with a reflection on books by William Burroughs, Bret Easton Ellis, and the sociologist Philip Rieff. This absorbing study illuminates the utopianism and narcissism in works of intellectual and artistic "ferocity" that characterized the turn in American consciousness from the period after the Second World War to the late 1960s and 1970s.


Limited research has examined the decay of destination image (DI) using longitudinal repeated measures. This study used a tripartite attitude perspective to examine the structural stability of DI among sport tourists after returning home. Two online survey waves were conducted to monitor the DI change held by 234 nonlocal participants in an international marathon event over a 9-month interval. The results revealed that the DI decayed over time and this decay was dimensionally specific. Affective and conative components of DI were more susceptible to change while cognitive DI was more stable. However, the pattern of decay was moderated by the strength of a tourist's psychological connection to the destination. Relevant theoretical and managerial implications are discussed to provide insights for both researchers and practitioners.


Chemistry has improved quality of life making thousands of products possible. Unfortunately, this achievement has come at a price: collective human health and the global environment are threatened. Green chemistry can be defined as the use of chemistry for pollution prevention by use of alternative and renewable materials including the use of agricultural waste or biomass and non-food-related bioproducts. It also focused on prevention of waste, less hazardous chemical synthesis, and designing safer chemicals including safer solvents and design of chemical products to safely degrade in the environment and efficiency and simplicity in chemical processes. This study describes the principles and progress of green chemistry and its industrial applications.


In this paper, we propose the application of standard decomposition approaches to find local correlations in multimodal data. In a test scenario, we apply these methods to correlate the local shape of turbine blades with their associated aerodynamic flow fields. We compare several decomposition algorithms, i.e., k-Means, Principal Component Analysis, Non-negative Matrix Factorization and Uni-orthogonal Non-negative Matrix Factorization, with regards to their efficiency at finding local, relevant correlations and their ability to predict one modality from another.


Introduction In the 1970s, U.S. research universities began a heavy commitment to the transfer of technology to industry. Events of the 1980s, from the "promise of biotechnology" to the promulgation of new patent law and increased federal involvement, further influenced university policies. The distinction between knowledge transfer and technology transfer, as well as increasing interest in commercializing research, is chronicled by Gary W. Matkin in Technology Transfer and the University (1990). Matkin's highly readable study is commended to the reader who seeks a broader understanding of this controversial and timely issue. For evidence of controversy, one need only look at the August 4, 1993, issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education, which includes an article entitled "Struggle over a patent brings prison term for former U. of South Florida student." The timeliness of this issue is supported by the fact that 75% of the 65 patent policies reviewed here were revised since 1980, 20% in 1990-93 alone. Columbia University's patent policy directs that the policy is to be "reexamined at least once every five years." A comparative review of 65 current patent policies was undertaken in the summer of 1993. The differences and similarities of the key features of the policies are discussed below. These key features can serve as a primer for those who need only a cursory understanding of the issues related to patent policies. Consideration of the observed differences among the policies should be of interest to those who require a greater understanding of patent policies. Copies of the policies reviewed here were available in the authors' files in 1993, when this article was written. The authors managed a competitive grants program that supported research for the Superconducting Super Collider. The grant conditions for that program required that funded institutions submit a copy of their patent policy. The institutions described herein represent all of the institutions with faculty who were funded by the state of Texas for SSC-related research and educational programs in the summer of 1993. These institutions can be assumed to be representative of institutions with programs in high-energy physics. Why Have a Patent Policy? The debate over the appropriateness of the mercialization of research versus creation of knowledge for its own sake began before 1924, when the first university patent policies were adopted by Lehigh University and Columbia University, in that order. There are those who contend that scientists should publish and dedicate their discoveries to the public and that the prospect of patents and commercialization corrupts the purposes of the university. In 1948, the patent policies of the University of Chicago and Yale University did not allow the staff of the university to profit monetarily from research by means of patents, royalties, or licensing agreements. By contrast, a survey of university patent policies published in 1948 by Archie Palmer included this quote by Elihu Thomson in his address to the 1920 graduating class of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology: Publish an invention freely, and it will almost surely die from lack of interest in its development. It will not be developed and the world will not be benefitted. Patent it, and if valuable, it will be taken up and developed into a business. How many of the patent policies reviewed here acknowledge the existence of this historical debate about the university's role? Eighteen percent include a preamble or rationale that recognizes this issue. Sixty-six percent of the policies reviewed cite maximizing the benefits to the public as the rationale for instituting the policy. After public good, the most frequently cited reasons are to protect the interests of the inventor, the university, and external sponsors, in that order. All of the reasons cited in the patent policies are listed in Table 2. Eighteen percent of the policies include neither introductory statements nor any objectives for the policy. …


In the June 2005 issue of People and Place Tony Recsei wrote a critique of the fashionable planning doctrine of urban consolidation. In the September issue Peter Newman wrote a response defending urban consolidation and arguing that Recsei's position was based on fear rather than reason. In the present article Recsei replies.


Passive samplers for polar organic compounds often use a polyethersulfone (PES) membrane to retain the particulate sorbent material (e.g., in a POCIS; polar organic chemical integrative sampler) or to reduce the sampling rate and thus extend the kinetic regime (e.g., in a Chemcatcher). The transport kinetics over the PES membrane are evaluated here in a short-term (6 days) and a long-term (32 days) experiment with POCIS and Chemcatchers. Passive samplers were placed in a channel with flowing river water that was spiked with 22 organic chemicals including pharmaceuticals, pesticides and biocides; with logK(ow) (logarithmic octanol-water partitioning coefficient) values between -2.6 and 3.8. Samplers were removed at intervals and membranes and sorbent material were extracted and analyzed with LC-MS/MS. Uptake kinetics of the compounds fell between two extremes: (1) charged chemicals and chemicals of low hydrophobicity did not accumulate in PES and rapidly transferred to the sorbent (e.g., diclofenac) and (2) more hydrophobic chemicals accumulated strongly in the PES and appeared in the sorbent after a lag-phase (e.g., diazinon and diuron). Sorption kinetics were modeled with a three-compartment first-order kinetic model to determine uptake and elimination rate constants and partitioning coefficients. Water PES partitioning coefficients fitted with the model correlated well with experimentally determined values and logK(ow). Sampling rates of Chemcatcher (0.02-0.10 L/d) and POCIS (0.02-0.30 L/d) showed similar patterns and correlated well. Thus the samplers are interchangeable in practical applications. Longer lag-phases may pose problems when calculating time-weighted average aqueous concentrations for short passive sampling windows and for a correct integrative sampling of fluctuating concentrations.


Background The influence of marijuana use on human fertility has not been well studied. We evaluated the association between female and male use of marijuana and fecundability in Pregnancy Study Online, a prospective cohort of North American couples. Methods Female participants completed a baseline questionnaire on which they reported lifestyle and behavioural factors, including frequency of marijuana use within the previous 2 months. Male partners completed an optional baseline questionnaire on similar factors, including marijuana use. Women completed follow-up questionnaires every 8 weeks for 12 months or until pregnancy, initiation of fertility treatment or loss to follow-up, whichever came first. The analysis was restricted to 4194 women (1125 couples) with ≤6 cycles of pregnancy attempt time at study enrolment (2013–2017). Fecundability ratios (FR) and 95% CIs were estimated using proportional probabilities regression models, with adjustment for potential confounders. Results Men (14.2%) were more likely than women (11.6%) to be marijuana users. FRs for female marijuana use <1 and ≥1 time/week relative to non-use were 0.99 (95% CI 0.85 to 1.16) and 0.98 (95% CI 0.80 to 1.20), respectively. FRs for male marijuana use <1 and ≥1 time/week relative to non-use were 0.87 (95% CI 0.66 to 1.15) and 1.24 (95% CI 0.90 to 1.70), respectively. Associations for frequent marijuana use (≥1 time/week) were attenuated among non-smoking men (FR=1.21, 95% CI 0.84 to 1.74), but stronger among men reporting intercourse ≥4 times/week (FR=1.35, 95% CI 0.72 to 2.53). Conclusions In this preconception cohort study, there was little overall association between female or male marijuana use and fecundability.


Ideological beliefs have long attracted the attention of social psychologists, who have investigated their genesis as well as their influence on a host of social phenomena. Conservatism, from the Motivated Social Cognition framework, stems from epistemic and existential needs of the individual, and notably the fear of death. However, Terror Management Theory proposes a view of conservatism and its contrary, liberalism, as equivalent cultural worldviews, equally fit to fulfill such needs. In the present contribution, results are presented from five studies, which test the contrasting hypotheses derived from these two perspectives. A new perspective is considered that accounts for these and previous findings.


In recent years, there has been renewed public discussion regarding the relationship between women's equality and their traditional responsibility for carework. In this essay, we analyze the structures of choice and constraint that continue to produce the gender division of family labor and thus women's unequal participation in the public sphere. We conceptualize this as a problem of democratic freedom, one that requires building institutional pathways to sustain women's participation. Drawing on Nancy Hirschmann's arguments about processes of social construction and their relation to freedom, we argue that gender inequality in the public sphere means that women are unfree, in the sense that they are not participating as peers in the material and discursive processes of social construction that then help to shape their own desires and decisions. We use that framework to analyze the current landscape in which different subgroups of women make decisions about paid labor and care work. Our goal is to bring into view the way the social construction of desire interacts with the material context to underwrite inequality between women and men and across different groups of women. Gender equality and the project of democracy require participatory parity between women and men in the public sphere. We therefore turn in our last section to an effort to imagine how public policies could construct pathways that can help interrupt and undo the gender division of labor, and thus better support democratic freedom.


The generic affiliation of the Andean species Caesalpinia trichocarpa, C. mimosifolia, and their close relatives has remained uncertain in all recent studies of Caesalpinia s.l. (Leguminosae, subfamily Caesalpinioideae). A new densely sampled phylogeny based on four DNA sequence regions (rps16, trn D-trnT, ycf6- psbM, ITS) strongly supports the monophyly of an Andean clade. We propose that despite the lack of obvious diagnostic morphological synapomorphies, this Andean group should be considered as a distinct genus, here described as the new genus Arquita. Phylogenetic analyses also suggest a problem with species delimitation in this group. Within C. trichocarpa, accessions from disjunct geographic areas in Argentina, Bolivia and Peru each form a robustly supported, unresolved clade that includes C. mimosifolia. The morphological and genetic cohesiveness of the C. trichocarpa complex is investigated using morphometric phenetic analyses of qualitative and quantitative flower and leaf traits, and reconstruction of a densely sampled phylogeny using three plastid and one nuclear ribosomal DNA sequence loci. Our results suggest that the most geographically isolated of these clades, narrowly endemic to two inter-Andean valleys in central-north Peru and separated by ∼1350 km, and extensive high Andean cordilleras above 4000 m, from the nearest populations in Bolivia, represents a genetically highly distinct and morphologically cryptic lineage here described as a new species (Arquita grandiflora). A full taxonomic account of the new genus Arquita and its component species is provided, with a distribution map and a key to the species.


PART I. Innervation Patterns of Crustacean Limbs.

In contrast to the vertebrates where the skeletal muscle is built up of large numbers of motor units, the limb muscles of decapod Crustacea are innervated by a small number of motor and inhibitory axons. It is possible to determine the details of the innervation and of the muscular response elicited by each of the several axons by isolating them in the nerve trunk. By such techniques, the previously determined innervation patterns of the walking legs in the four tribes of the Decapoda Reptantia have been confirmed and extended. Incomplete innervation patterns for the Decapoda Natantia and Stomatopoda have also been determined. Many characteristic features of innervation and associated motor and inhibitory effects were found to be common to all the Decapoda and the Stomatopoda. These physiologically derived anatomical data support the classification of the Decapoda into Reptantia and Natantia with division of the former into four tribes. A tentative evolutionary hypothesis is presented to explain the divergence of the different innervation patterns.

PART II. The Effect of Spaced Stimulation of Excitatory and Inhibitory Axons of the Cray-fish.

If a single motor axon to one of the limb muscles of a crustacean is stimulated with pairs of shocks repeated at regular intervals, the resulting contraction is greater than that elicited by the same number of regularly repeated single shocks. This effect was previously studied in the fast and slow contractions of muscles in various decapod Crustacea. The authors concluded that the effect was much more pronounced in the fast than in the slow system. In order to extend these observations and to determine whether or not it is a true myo-neural junctional phenomenon, the effect of unequally spaced stimulation of both the excitatory and inhibitory axons in the abductor of the dactylopodite was studied. The contractions resulting from such stimulation of the excitatory axon were more difficult to inhibit than were the normal contractions. Stimulation of the inhibitory axon with unequally spaced shocks resulted in a much greater reduction of the contraction than when it was stimulated with the same number of regularly recurring single shocks. It is concluded therefore, that the spacing effect occurs at the myo-neural junction and that it is not a mechanical effect at the level of the contraction.

PART III. Neuromuscular Mechanisms in the Grasshopper, Romalea microptera (Beauv.).

Insect myo-neural physiology has not been extensively studied but recently the existence of single and double innervation and of fast and slow contractions has been reported. The occurrence of peripheral inhibition has been claimed but the observations cannot be considered conclusive. In view of the phylogenetic relationship between the Crustacea and Insecta it might be expected that the two sub-phyla would have many characteristics of the myo-neural system in common. Both histological and physiological observations of the limb muscles of Romalea have confirmed this expectation. With one exception, these muscles are innervated by about six axons, each of which gives rise to a characteristic contraction. The majority of these contractions are of the fast type. True slow contractions have not been observed. There is no marked facilitation of either the contractions or the action potentials. The large 'jump' muscles of the third limb are specialized and exhibit only a single fast contraction type. No evidence for peripheral inhibition has been obtained.


The risk of digestive cancer in each country is analyzed in cancer registries for Incidence and Mortality. Survival is estimated from registries with a correct follow-up. Estimated values of Incidence and Mortality, expressed as an age standardized rate (ASR) for 100 000 persons, for all the population of a country are also found in the WHO-IARC database Globocan, recently edited for the year 2008. At each site of digestive tumors, the variations between countries, in cancer incidence, mortality and survival, depend on the resources and the global health status of the country. Indeed environmental causal factors linked to lifestyle may have an increasing or decreasing impact on the risk of cancer. Such factors are classified on 3 categories: 1- nutrition plays a determinant role in colorectal cancer with a higher risk in countries with more resources and more calories in the diet. 2- Toxic agents like alcohol and tobacco increase the risk at all sites of digestive cancer; their role is preponderant in esophageal cancer. Aflatoxin, a food contaminant in tropical, less developed countries, increases the risk of liver cancer. 3 – Infectious agents play a major role with the Bacteria H.pylori for stomach cancer over the world, and the Hepatitis virus B and C for liver cancer in less developed countries of Africa and Asia. The control of carcinogenic causal environmental factors is included in the primary prevention of digestive cancer.


Freeze (1992) argued on the basis of data from several different la nguages that there is a close relationship between existential sentences (stating the existence of an entity) and locative sentences (stating the location of an entity). Freeze (1992) proposes that they are both derived from the s am base structure and that the surface differences are rather due to the d istinct information structures.This paper argues against this position with the data from Serbian existentials, which show clear syntactic differences from th e locatives. Thus, the close relationship between existential and locative se ntences that Freeze (1992) observes is conceptual, but not (necess arily) part of the syntax of the language. In order to account for the data, we prop ose that existential sentences originate from a different syntactic predication structure than the locative ones. The existential meaning arises, as we will show, from the interaction of this predication structure with the structure and meaning of the noun phrase.