I was an indifferent high school student at the alternative Miquon School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania—a bit lazy, suspicious of authority, with the wrong type of friends; but with an analytical and curious mind. Although I didn't know it at the time, these were good attributes for a future academic scientist. At Beloit College in Wisconsin, I was still a bit lazy but had great, interactive professors who stimulated me to think for myself and to realize that hard work and knowledge had their own rewards. While I found chemistry to be boring, in my junior year I started reading on my own about the cloning revolution that was occurring in the late '70s and got really excited about the possibilities. After graduation, I worked at the United States Patent and Trademark Office as a patent examiner for two years, but found the law and bureaucracy not to my liking and, therefore, joined a biophysics/molecular PhD program at Penn State. The only laboratory that I was interested in working in that had openings (for a largely untrained person with a weak undergraduate record) was that of Ron Porter, a new Assistant Professor who was studying homologous recombination processes in Escherichia coli. While I failed miserably in my research project for the first 18 months, I found it exciting and challenging, and I learned more in that time than in any other period of my scientific life. It was in graduate school that I began the life-long process of learning how to be a scientist. A seminar by my future postdoctoral advisor, Maggie So, on the initial description of the Neisseria gonorrhoeae pilus phase and antigenic variation system, grabbed my attention. It was so cool. After Maggie's seminar, I asked if she had any openings for postdocs, and when she found out that my research focus was on homologous recombination, she recruited me to the Research Institute of Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, California, for postdoctoral training. There, I learned a lot from Maggie, my collaborator Fred Heffron, many other postdocs, and from the stream of senior researchers who liked to visit La Jolla in the winter. I was hired by Pat Spear at Northwestern University Medical School to start my own research program into N. gonorrhoeae pathogenesis. As a faculty member, I had to learn more about microbial pathogenesis (for research and teaching); immunology (because it's important and interesting); how to teach effectively; how to manage a laboratory; how to mentor students, postdocs, and other faculty; and most importantly, how to communicate effectively. I have found this life as an academic researcher to be challenging and extremely fulfilling. I interact daily with a smart, dedicated cadre of younger scientists; have great colleagues; and am part of an international community of dedicated, nice people.

I have been studying the pathogenic Neisseria, N. gonorrhoeae and N. meningitidis, for over 30 years. These two pathogens—the gonococcus (Gc) or the meningococcus (Mc)—are closely related organisms that colonize distinct physiologic sites within people and cause very different diseases. Gc is the sole causative agent of gonorrhea, which is a sexually transmitted infection. Mc is one of many causative agents of meningitis, but is the main bacterium causing meningitis in teenagers and young adults. These organisms are only found within humans and have evolved from human-specific commensal bacteria. They most often colonize people without causing disease symptoms, but each has gained the ability to cause disease in otherwise healthy individuals. Gc and Mc are important examples of organisms that have crossed the line between a non–disease-causing commensal organism and a true pathogen. The bacterial factors that allow colonization are largely shared between the commensal Neisseria and the pathogens, but the pathogens have developed interactions with their host that cause damage. For Gc, it is accepted that the ability to elicit a massive inflammatory response made up primarily of neutrophils in the genital tract has allowed this organism to become a successful pathogen by, presumably, increasing transmission between hosts. This inflammatory response, unfortunately, has the ability to damage cells and tissues in the female reproductive tract. We are interested in understanding how Gc modulates neutrophils to promote pathogenesis. This involvement of neutrophil inflammation in the pathogenesis of Mc meningitis may also be important to disease, but this relationship is not as well established. Another distinguishing characteristic of Gc and Mc is their ability to undergo phase and antigenic variation of important surface structures. They each express at least three diversity generation systems to provide variant subpopulations that can be selected for by functional differences or to escape immune surveillance. Our work on the pilus system investigates how high-frequency variation occurs and how variation can alter or maintain pilus functions. Our research attempts to define specific mechanisms behind the pathogenesis of gonorrhea and meningococcal meningitis, but is not translational in the strict sense of the term. While the mechanisms we uncover could have clinical implications, we not trying to create cures or diagnostics. We are driven by the concept that we need to understand the relationship between us and the microbial world before the knowledge can be applied to improve our health and world.

Image 1

Hank Seifert.


ABSTRACT The aim of the present study was to model student trajectories of behavioral, affective, and cognitive engagement from Grade 3 to Grade 6. The authors also examined whether teachers perceptions could predict student trajectory membership. The authors collected data from a sample of 831 students and 152 teachers. Using multiple-process growth mixture modeling, they identified 5 distinct trajectories of student engagement. Although a large majority of children presented a stable and high level of engagement on the three dimensions over time, more than one third of them showed a lower or changing level of engagement as the years progressed. These students were more likely to be boys and to be perceived by teachers as being less engaged. They also present more learning or behavioral problems and share less positive relationships with teachers. The results support the need to consider group-based differences when designing and adapting prevention and intervention strategies to favor student engagement.


Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) is a childhood form of motor neuron disease that
causes a progressive paralysis that, in its most severe form, results in death before
two years of age. There is currently no cure or treatment for SMA. SMA is caused
by a reduction in levels of Survival Motor Neuron (SMN) protein, which results in
the degeneration of lower motor neurons. This degeneration is first observed at the
neuromuscular junction (NMJ), where pre-synaptic nerve terminals belonging to the
motor neuron become dysfunctional and degenerate during the early stages of
disease. Several previous studies have shown that the some populations of motor
neurons appear to have a resistance to SMA pathology, while other neighbouring
populations are vulnerable. In this study, we attempted to elucidate the cause of this
vulnerability spectrum. Initially, we characterised the relative vulnerability of ten
different motor unit pools in an established mouse model of severe SMA and
attempted to correlate these vulnerabilities with quantified aspects of motor unit
morphology. From this study, no significant correlation could be found with any
aspect of motor unit morphology examined, suggesting that morphological
parameters of motor neurons do no influence their relative susceptibility. We then
attempted to identify changes in basal gene expression between protected and
vulnerable pools of motor units using microarray analysis. Motor unit pools were
labelled using a retrograde tracer injected into muscles that had previously been
identified as having highly vulnerable or resistant motor units. Labelled motor
neuron cell bodies were then isolated from the spinal cord using laser capture micro-dissection
and RNA was extracted for microarray analysis. From this study, we
identified several molecular pathways and individual genes whose expression levels
compared the gene expression profiles of vulnerable and resistant motor units. Thus,
molecular differences between motor neuron pools likely underlie their relative
vulnerability to degeneration in SMA. Lastly, we attempted to identify a novel
peptide that could be used to label synapses, including neuromuscular junctions, in
vivo. This would allow us to non-invasively visualise degenerating NMJs and other
synapses in human patients without the need for a biopsy. Such a tool would be
extremely valuable in assessing the effectiveness of drug trials, both in human
patients and animal models, and may also contribute to earlier diagnosis of motor
neuron disorders. To identify a potentially suitable peptide, we used a phage display
library and panned for peptides that specifically bound to the outer surface of
synapses using synaptosome preparations. From this panning we successfully
enriched two peptides, the sequences of which were used to manufacture
fluorescently tagged peptides.


When large Multi Agent Systems operate over open platforms such as the Internet, there is the possibility that some agents will endeavor to disrupt the MAS with the aim of achieving their own agendas at the cost of the others. For the protection of the agents in it's domain, each society of agents should make available certain services that allow agents to detect and avoid such attempts by malicious third parties. One of these is a rigorous method of identifying agents, so that each agent's actions can be referred to, recorded and evaluated. A robust identi cation mechanism can allow the construction of higher level-functions such as authentication, non-repudiation and secure communication. Agents can then use these basic functions provided by the MAS infrastructure along with their beliefs, current state of the MAS and the current goals to make decisions about trust. In this paper we present one architecture that allows agents to be named robustly, even in open environments, and build upon this scheme to provide MAS services that can allow agents to authenticate each other, digitally sign communication tokens and encrypt messages and data that is exchanged. We explore possible scenarios of the agent life in an open agent society and give an implementation independent architecture to secure agents and their environment.


The present study is regarding, Glimepiride is one derivatives of sulfonyl urea used in the treatment of Type II DM which classified as class-II (BCS) of high permeability and low degree of solubility. The endeavor is to improve its solubility by solvent vaporization method to enhance the rate of dissolution of glimepiride. Soluplus (Polyvinyl caprolactampolyvinyl acetate-polyethylene glycol graft co-polymer) , PVP k40 (Polyvinylpyrrolidone) and PEG k5 are blended with the drug in various proportions (1:1,1:3) and prepared Soluplus1, Soluplus2, PEG1, PEG2, PVP1 and PVP2 as solid dispersion. The optimized formula of solid dispersion PVP1 is added to sodium starch glycolate and cross-carmellose. The disintegration profile will appear diminished in the drug release from the dosage form at a determined period of time. Differential scanning calorimetry appeared to a reduction in its crystallinity in solid dispersions. Scanning electron microscope and particle size analysis show a reduction in the drug particle size as solid dispersions. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy does not show an interaction between them. Hence, that PVP1 batch will be considered from nine oral dissolving tablets dosage form. Finally, orally disintegrating tablets are estimated for various parameters; for instance, disintegration time, the content of the drug, wetting time, and in vitro release profile show a conventional result. The selected formula F6 shows a good result in disintegration time during 13-second and in-vitro drug release profile achieves 96% at the end of 40 minutes.


The common pastures in arid Rajasthan, India though are critically important for sustaining livestock dominant smallholder rural livelihoods and ecosystems services, but have been severely degraded due to several factors. Among others, the stakeholders' perception of low returns on any investment of time or other resources for restoring these degraded common property resources (CPRs) is resulting into their continuous neglect. Generating sufficient on-farm evidence of enhanced biomass productivity and returns from CPRs employing integrated natural resource management and appropriate governance mechanisms are suggested strategies for enhancing community participation and influencing policies for their sustainable development. The present study aims to understand the key drivers of CPRs management and assess the potential of sustainable intensification of community silvo-pastoral systems for increased biomass production and returns in arid western Rajasthan, India. The study was undertaken in Jodhpur, Barmer and Jaisalmer districts across the annual rainfall gradient from 170 mm to 280 mm. The case-study analyses and the group-discussions were used as a starting point for facilitated community elaborations on how to adopt appropriate by-laws and identify opportunities and challenges of sustainable intensification of community pastures. Action-sites of 10 ha degraded common pastures were identified in each of the three communities to test silvo-pastoral rehabilitation options. Participatory Mozer-framework matrix accounted for local preferences and climate in selecting the plant species. The community was involved in in-situ and ex-situ water and soil conservation, species selection and monitoring, fencing, cut and carry systems and output sharing. The biomass assessment with respect to yield, species diversity, share of edible and non-edible species was carried out in pasture and control plots. The integrated ecosystems approach for rehabilitation of severely degraded community silvo-pastoral systems under arid region resulted in many-fold increase in biomass yield from 0.25-0.40 t/ha to 1.6–4.6 t/ha in the second year. The proportion of edible species increased from 15 -24% to 55 – 73%. The ex-ante analysis for a 10 year time horizon indicates payback period of about three years and over 30% IRR. Paper explores the potential to upscale the approach to at least one quarter of the common lands in west Rajasthan (1 m ha) producing about 2.5 million tons additional biomass. The study highlights the role of the structure and functions of the production system as well as social ecological system in designing appropriate NRM interventions, species selection, grazing system, market integration and institutional mechanisms.


OBJECTIVE: We investigated atypical and malignant meningiomas based on the Modified World Health Organization (WHO) histological criteria of malignance. METHOD: We present 45 surgical cases ( 26 atypical and 19 malignant) of total 504 meningiomas operated in Social Security Ankara Education and Research Hospital between 1990-2002. Atypical and malignant meningiomas were diagnosed based on the modified WHO criteria. RESULTS: Median age of atypical meningiomas was 45.8 with female dominance and of malignant meningiomas was 49.2 years with male predominance. Median survival time of atypical meningiomas for Simpson Grade I was 7.5 years; Grade II was 7.3 years; and Grade III was 7.2 years; while for malignant meningiomas was 7.3, 6.2, 5.6 years, respectively. Median recurrence free interval time was 6.6 years for atypical and 6.5 years for malignant meningiomas. Radiotherapy was performed on two recurred atypical meningiomas and 11 malignant meningiomas. CONCLUSION: Although malignant meningiomas were accepted to be more aggressive than atypical meningiomas, survival time showed no difference between two groups in our series. Decision making about atypical meningiomas close to malignant forms and radical surgery greatly improved the results in both groups. We also experienced that radiotherapy was beneficial in malignant meningiomas.


This article aims at researching the evolution of J-Z640 using an interdisciplinary approach in order to clarify the leading historical and anthropological events that shaped this particular branch of the human Y chromosome. We compiled a STR (short tandem repeat) and SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) dataset of 145 known or predicted J-Z640 samples among the customers of Family Tree DNA and Full Genomes Corporation, as well as publicly available samples. Amongst these, we analyzed the results of 41 samples that had undergone Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) and 32 samples that had undergone SNP testing using Sanger Sequencing. From this data, we constructed a J-Z640 phylogenetic tree that was dated using the method. Our data revealed that Haplogroup J-Z640 is a Y chromosome lineage found most notably, in several minority groups within the Near East such as the Samaritans, Druze, Armenians and Jews. J-Z640 originated during the Bronze Age, most likely in the Levant. During the Bronze Age the haplogroup rapidly expanded with multiple ancient branches surviving to the present, evidencing population growth. Further population expansion, and contraction, was also observed in later periods. Based on its geographic dispersal and age of the haplogroup and its subclades, the founder population most likely belonged to Canaanites found in the Levant. Following the collapse of the late Bronze age system, from the Iron Age onwards there followed a period of "differentiation by culture", with many of the ancient branches surviving to the present separated along ethno-religious lines.


Since the time of Galileo (1564–1642), Western civilization has increasingly fallen under the spell of science. Despite this fact, anthropological and psychological research has shown that magical beliefs are present in both children and adults in modern industrial cultures. How can a belief in magic coexist with a belief in science in the mind of a rational, educated adult? A possible explanation is that magical beliefs survive in the rational mind by going into the subconscious. The following hypothesis is considered in the series of studies presented in this paper: in modern industrial cultures, magical beliefs appear in preschool children as a legitimate, conscious form of belief that coexists with children's belief in physical causality and is supported by social environment. In older children and adults, under the pressure of scientific and religious education, magical beliefs descend into the domain of the subconscious. Experiments examining this hypothesis will be reviewed; theoretical and practical implications of the existence of subconscious magical beliefs in modern rational adults will be analyzed.


This study analyses the internet banking channels and service preferences of educated banking consumers in the UAE and examines the factors influencing the intention to adopt or to continue the use of internet banking among both users and non users of internet banking. It is shown that although the banking sector in the UAE is a regional leader, internet banking in the UAE is yet to be properly utilized as a real added value tool to improve customer relationship and to attain cost advantages. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was used to identify factors influencing the intention to adopt and continued use of internet banking customers. Data was collected from internet banking users and potential users in the United Arab Emirates and factor analyses and multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the data. Relative usefulness is introduced as one of the factors and is defined as the degree to which a new technology is better than exiting ones. There is a significant difference between users and non-users on six of the seven factors identified. Further, it was revealed that relative usefulness, perceived risk, computer efficacy and image had a significant impact on continued usage of internet banking for IB Users, while relative usefulness and result demonstrability were the only ones significant for Non-users of internet banking. The effects of age, gender, income, and e-commerce users also explored. Result demonstrability is significant for all categories of non-users except for those with income below AED 7,000. Implications of results were discussed, and future research directions outlined.


TOWARDS AGGREGATING TIME-DISCOUNTED INFORMATION IN SENSOR NETWORKS Xianping Wang Old Dominion University, 2016 Director: Dr. Stephan Olariu Sensor networks are deployed to monitor a seemingly endless list of events in a multitude of application domains. Through data collection and aggregation enhanced with data mining and machine learning techniques, many static and dynamic patterns can be found by sensor networks. The aggregation problem is complicated by the fact that the perceived value of the data collected by the sensors is affected by many factors such as time, location and user valuation. In addition, the value of information deteriorates often dramatically over time. Through our research, we already achieved some results: • A formal algebraic analysis of information discounting, especially affected by time. A general model and two specific models are developed for information discounting. The two specific models formalize exponetial time-discount and linear timediscount. • An algebraic analysis of aggregation of values that decay with time exponentially. Three types of aggregators that offset discounting effects are formalized and analyzed. A natural synthesis of these three aggregators is discovered and modeled. • We apply our theoretical models to emergency response with thresholding and confirm with extensive simulation. • For long-term monitoring tasks, we laid out a theoretical foundation for discovering an emergency through generations of sensors, analysed the achievability of a longterm task and found an optimum way to distribute sensors in a monitored area to maximize the achievability. • We proposed an implementation for our alert system with state-of-art wireless microcontrollers, sensors, real-time operating systems and embedded internet protocols. By allowing aggregation of time-discounted information to proceed in an arbitrary, not necessarily pairwise manner, our results are also applicable to other similar homeland security and military application domains where there is a strong need to model not only timely aggregation of data collected by individual sensors, but also the dynamics of this aggregation. Our research can be applied to many real-world scenarios. A typical scenario is monitoring wildfire in the forest: A batch of first-generation sensors are deployed by UAVs to monitor a forest for possible wildfire. They monitor various weather quantities and recognize the area with the highest possibility of producing a fire — the so-called area of interest (AoI). Since the environment changes dynamically, so after a certain time, the sensors re-identify the AoI. The value of the knowledge they learned about the previous AoI decays with time quickly, our methods of aggregation of time-discounted information can be applied to get update knowledge. Close to depletion of their energy of the current generation of sensors, a new generation of sensors are deployed and inherit the knowledge from the current generation. Through this way, monitoring long-term tasks becomes feasible. At the end of this thesis, we propose some extensions and directions from our current research: • Generalize and extend the special classes of Type 1 and Type 2 aggregation operators; • Analyze aggregation operator of Type 3 and Type 4, find some special applicable candidates; • Data aggregation across consecutive generations of sensors in order to learn about events with discounting that take a long time to manifest themselves; • Network implications of various aggregation strategies; • Algorithms for implementation of some special classes of aggregators. • Implement wireless sensor network that can autonomously learn and recognize patterns of emergencies, predict incidents and trigger alarms through machine learning.


The C-X-C motif chemokine receptor type 4 (CXCR4) and the atypical chemokine receptor 3 (ACKR3/CXCR7) are class A G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). Accumulating evidence indicates that GPCR subcellular localization, trafficking, transduction properties, and ultimately their pathophysiological functions are regulated by both interacting proteins and post-translational modifications. This has encouraged the development of novel techniques to characterize the GPCR interactome and to identify residues subjected to post-translational modifications, with a special focus on phosphorylation. This review first describes state-of-the-art methods for the identification of GPCR-interacting proteins and GPCR phosphorylated sites. In addition, we provide an overview of the current knowledge of CXCR4 and ACKR3 post-translational modifications and an exhaustive list of previously identified CXCR4- or ACKR3-interacting proteins. We then describe studies highlighting the importance of the reciprocal influence of CXCR4/ACKR3 interactomes and phosphorylation states. We also discuss their impact on the functional status of each receptor. These studies suggest that deeper knowledge of the CXCR4/ACKR3 interactomes along with their phosphorylation and ubiquitination status would shed new light on their regulation and pathophysiological functions.


The unique materials properties of GaN-based semiconductors have stimulated a great deal of interest in research and development regarding nitride materials growth and optoelectronic and nitride-based electronic devices. High electron mobility and saturation velocity, high sheet carrier concentration at heterojunction interfaces, high breakdown field, and low thermal impedance of GaN-based films grown over SiC or bulk AIN substrates make nitride-based electronic devices very promising. The chemical inertness of nitrides is another key property. This volume, written by experts on different aspects of nitride technology, addresses the entire spectrum of issues related to nitride materials and devices, and it will be useful for technologists, scientists, engineers, and graduate students who are working on wide bandgap materials and devices. The book can also be used as a supplementary text for graduate courses on wide bandgap semiconductor technology.


In this study, two local strains of Penicillium chrysogenum named EGEK458 and EGEK469 were selected for enhancement of Penicillin G (PenG) production under solid state fermentation (SSF) conditions. These two strains were selected among seven strains according to their fermentation yields for PenG production during previous tests under submerged fermentation conditions. Sugar beet pulp, an agro-industrial residue of the sugar industry, was used as an inert support for the first time in PenG production under SSF. In order to enhance the production of PenG, two points of moisture level and three concentration values of nutrients (impregnated in solid support), which are the key parameters in production of PenG, were compared. As the yields from solid and submerged fermentation were compared, 570U/g of PenG – almost 15 times higher quantities of its production vs. submerged conditions – were obtained under SSF conditions in 50 hours by the strain EGEK458. The conditions for the enhanced production of PenG were 65% moisture content with a four-fold concentrated nutrients impregnated solid support.


Stane is a hand-held interaction device controlled by tactile input: scratching or rubbing textured surfaces and tapping. The system has a range of sensors, including contact microphones, capacitive sensing and inertial sensing, and provides audio and vibrotactile feedback. The surface textures vary around the device, providing perceivably different textures to the user. We demonstrate that the vibration signals generated by stroking and scratching these surfaces can be reliably classified, and can be used as a very cheaply manufacturable way to control different aspects of interaction. The system is demonstrated as a control for a music player.


Summary
1. Scaling relationships linking photosynthesis (A) to leaf traits are important for predicting vegetation patterns and plant-atmosphere carbon fluxes. Here, we investigated the impact of growth temperature on such scaling relationships.

2. We assessed whether changes in growth temperature systematically altered the slope and/or intercepts of log–log plots of A vs leaf mass per unit leaf area (LMA), nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations for 19 contrasting plant species grown hydroponically at four temperatures (7, 14, 21 and 28 °C) in controlled environment cabinets. Responses of 21 °C-grown pre-existing (PE) leaves experiencing a 10 day growth temperature (7, 14, 21 and 28 °C) treatment, and newly-developed (ND) leaves formed at each of the four new growth temperatures, were quantified. Irrespective of the growth temperature treatment, rates of light-saturated photosynthesis (A) were measured at 21 °C.

3. Changes in growth temperature altered the scaling between A and leaf traits in pre-existing (PE) leaves, with thermal history accounting for up to 17% and 31% of the variation on a mass and area basis, respectively. However, growth temperature played almost no role in accounting for scatter when comparisons were made of newly-developed (ND) leaves that form at each growth temperature.

4. Photosynthetic nitrogen and phosphorus use efficiency (PNUE and PPUE, respectively) decreased with increasing LMA. No systematic differences in temperature-mediated reductions in PNUE or PPUE of PE leaves were found among species.

5. Overall, these results highlight the importance of leaf development in determining the effects of sustained changes in growth temperature on scaling relationships linking photosynthesis to other leaf traits.


During the past few years there have been many changes in financial reporting rules in EU countries. One significant change from the real estate point of view has taken place in balance sheet, where property investment account is switched to the asset side of the balance sheet, separate from the property, plant and equipment. Since 2005, all companies listed in the stock market, have the obligation to apply International Accounting Standards/International Financial Reporting Standards (IAS/IFRS) in their everyday practice. At the same time, more and more researchers have pointed to the problem of valuation accuracy and to the uncertainty of the valuation product. Since the behavioural finance theory has came along, the researches about the influence of the behaviour of appraisers to their valuation estimation has emerged to the field. Although plenty of work has been done in this area, it is still unclear what factors play the most significant role in making the valuation uncertain. The aim of the paper is two-sided n firstly, to point out the practical problems in implementing the income approach in valuation for financial reporting purposes in Estonia and secondly, to bring out behavioural aspects in valuation process within the Estonian appraisers. There is an intention to conduct an experimental valuation case study among all 42 certified general appraisers in Estonia to achieve the aim of the paper. The main research question is, how and to what extent does the appraisers' behaviour influence their implementation of income approach in estimating the market value of commercial real estate for financial reporting purposes?


The ability of dendritic cells (DCs) to cross-present protein tumor antigens to cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) underpins the success of therapeutic cancer vaccines. We studied cross-presentation of the cancer/testis antigen, NY-ESO-1, and the melanoma differentiation antigen, Melan-A by human DC subsets. Monocyte-derived DCs (MoDCs) efficiently cross-presented human leukocyte associated (HLA)-A2-restricted epitopes from either a formulated NY-ESO-1/ISCOMATRIX vaccine or when either antigen was mixed with ISCOMATRIX adjuvant. HLA-A2 epitope generation required endosomal acidification and was proteasome-independent for NY-ESO-1 and proteasome-dependent for Melan-A. Both MoDCs and CD1c(+) blood DCs cross-presented NY-ESO-1-specific HLA-A2(157-165)-, HLA-B7(60-72)-, and HLA-Cw3(92-100)-restricted epitopes when formulated as an NY-ESO-1/ISCOMATRIX vaccine, but this was limited when NY-ESO-1 and ISCOMATRIX adjuvant were added separately to the DC cultures. Finally, cross-presentation of NY-ESO-1(157-165)/HLA-A2, NY-ESO-1(60-72)/HLA-B7, and NY-ESO-1(92-100)/HLA-Cw3 epitopes was proteasome-dependent when formulated as immune complexes (ICs) but only proteasome-dependent for NY-ESO-1(60-72)/HLA-B7-restricted cross-presentation facilitated by ISCOMATRIX adjuvant. We demonstrate, for the first time, proteasome-dependent and independent cross-presentation of HLA-A-, B-, and C-restricted epitopes within the same full-length tumor antigen by human DCs. Our findings identify important differences in the capacities of human DC subsets to cross-present clinically relevant, full-length tumor antigens and how vaccine formulation impacts CTL responses in vivo.


Donald Trump's surprise election shifted expectations: corporate taxes would be lower and trade policies more restrictive. Relative stock prices responded appropriately. High-tax firms and those with large deferred tax liabilities (DTLs) gained; those with significant deferred tax assets from net operating loss carryforwards (NOL DTAs) lost. Domestically focused companies fared better than internationally oriented firms. A price contribution analysis shows that easily assessed consequences (DTLs, NOL DTAs, tax rates) were priced faster than more complex issues (net DTLs, foreign exposure). In sum, the analysis demonstrates that expectations about tax rates greatly impact firm values.


This anthology brings together classic perspectives on violence, putting into productive conversation the thought of well-known theorists and activists, including Hannah Arendt, Karl Marx, G. W. F. Hegel, Osama bin Laden, Sigmund Freud, Frantz Fanon, Thomas Hobbes, and Pierre Bourdieu. The volume proceeds from the editors' contention that violence is always historically contingent; it must be contextualized to be understood. They argue that violence is a process rather than a discrete product. It is intrinsic to the human condition, an inescapable fact of life that can be channeled and reckoned with but never completely suppressed. Above all, they seek to illuminate the relationship between action and knowledge about violence, and to examine how one might speak about violence without replicating or perpetuating it.

On Violence is divided into five sections. Underscoring the connection between violence and economic world orders, the first section explores the dialectical relationship between domination and subordination. The second section brings together pieces by political actors who spoke about the tension between violence and nonviolence—Gandhi, Hitler, and Malcolm X—and by critics who have commented on that tension. The third grouping examines institutional faces of violence—familial, legal, and religious—while the fourth reflects on state violence. With a focus on issues of representation, the final section includes pieces on the relationship between violence and art, stories, and the media. The editors' introduction to each section highlights the significant theoretical points raised and the interconnections between the essays. Brief introductions to individual selections provide information about the authors and their particular contributions to theories of violence.

With selections by : Hannah Arendt, Walter Benjamin, Osama bin Laden, Pierre Bourdieu, Andre Breton, James Cone, Robert M. Cover, Gilles Deleuze, Friedrich Engels, Frantz Fanon, Michel Foucault, Sigmund Freud, Mohandas Gandhi, Rene Girard, Linda Gordon, Antonio Gramsci, Felix Guattari, G. W. F. Hegel, Adolf Hitler, Thomas Hobbes, Bruce B. Lawrence, Elliott Leyton, Catharine MacKinnon, Malcolm X, Dorothy Martin, Karl Marx, Chandra Muzaffar, James C. Scott, Kristine Stiles, Michael Taussig, Leon Trotsky, Simone Weil, Sharon Welch, Raymond Williams


Australias coal exports in 2008 totaled 252 million tons, accounting for 26.9% of global coal trade (in terms of exports) at 938 million tons. Although Indonesia has expanded its coal exports over recent years and reported exports in 2008 at 203 million tons, Australia has remained unshaken as the worlds largest coal exporter. Coal demand in Japan and European industrial countries has plunged on the global financial/economic crisis since the autumn of 2008. Their coal imports have thus declined. But China has expanded coal demand on the strength of high economic growth and increased coal imports more rapidly than earlier due to high domestic coal prices. Australias coal exports have maintained an upward trend even amid the global recession. In response to growing coal demand, new coalfield development and other projects are planned to expand production in Australia. This report considers the past results and future projections of Australias coal production and exports and its future coal supply capacity including estimated output under new coalmine development projects. It also covers the realities of a sharp increase in Australias coal exports to China in 2009.


We address the problem of transferring grasp knowledge across objects and tasks. This means dealing with two important issues: 1) the induction of possible transfers, i.e., whether a given object affords a given task, and 2) the planning of a grasp that will allow the robot to fulfill the task. The induction of object affordances is approached by abstracting the sensory input of an object as a set of attributes that the agent can reason about through similarity and proximity. For grasp execution, we combine a part-based grasp planner with a model of task constraints. The task constraint model indicates areas of the object that the robot can grasp to execute the task. Within these areas, the part-based planner finds a hand placement that is compatible with the object shape. The key contribution is the ability to transfer task parameters across objects while the part-based grasp planner allows for transferring grasp information across tasks. As a result, the robot is able to synthesize plans for previously unobserved task/object combinations. We illustrate our approach with experiments conducted on a real robot.


This article presents a development of Category Theory in Isabelle. A Category is defined using records and locales in Isabelle/HOL. Functors and Natural Transformations are also defined. The main result that has been formalized is that the Yoneda functor is a full and faithful embedding. We also formalize the completeness of many sorted monadic equational logic. Extensive use is made of the HOLZF theory in both cases. For an informal description see [1].


Highly textured FeSb2 films were produced on quartz wafers by a sputtering method. Their resistivity and Seebeck coefficient (S) were measured and a maximum absolute value of S∼160 μV K−1 at 50 K was obtained. Hall measurements were employed to study the charge carrier concentrations and Hall mobilities of the FeSb2 films. By comparing with the transport properties of FeSb2 single crystals and an extrinsically doped FeSb1.98Te0.02 single crystal, the thermoelectric properties of the FeSb2 films are demonstrated to be dominated by the intrinsic properties of FeSb2 at a high charge carrier concentration.


Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) is a branch of spectroscopy that is based on the fact that many atomic nuclei may be oriented by a strong magnetic field and will absorb radiofrequency radiation at characteristic frequencies. The parameters that can be measured on the resulting spectral lines (line positions, intensities, line widths, multiplicities and transients in time-dependent experi-ments) can be interpreted in terms of molecular structure, conformation, molecular motion and other rate processes. In this way, high resolution (HR) NMR allows performing qualitative and quantitative analysis of samples in solution, in order to determine the structure of molecules in solution and not only. In the past, high-field NMR spectroscopy has mainly concerned with the elucidation of chemical structure in solution, but today is emerging as a powerful exploratory tool for probing biochemical and physical processes. It represents a versatile tool for the analysis of foods. In literature many NMR studies have been reported on different type of food such as wine, olive oil, coffee, fruit juices, milk, meat, egg, starch granules, flour, etc using different NMR techniques.
Traditionally, univariate analytical methods have been used to ex-plore spectroscopic data. This method is useful to measure or to se-lect a single descriptive variable from the whole spectrum and , at the end, only this variable is analyzed. This univariate methods ap-proach, applied to HR-NMR data, lead to different problems due especially to the complexity of an NMR spectrum. In fact, the lat-ter is composed of different signals belonging to different mole-cules, but it is also true that the same molecules can be represented by different signals, generally strongly correlated. The univariate methods, in this case, takes in account only one or a few variables, causing a loss of information.
Thus, when dealing with complex samples like foodstuff, univariate analysis of spectra data results not enough powerful. Spectra need to be considered in their wholeness and, for analysing them, it must be taken in consideration the whole data matrix: chemometric methods are designed to treat such multivariate data.
Multivariate data analysis is used for a number of distinct, differ-ent purposes and the aims can be divided into three main groups:
• data description (explorative data structure modelling of any ge-neric n-dimensional data matrix, PCA for example);
• regression and prediction (PLS);
• classification and prediction of class belongings for new samples (LDA and PLS-DA and ECVA).
The aim of this PhD thesis was to verify the possibility of identify-ing and classifying plants or foodstuffs, in different classes, based on the concerted variation in metabolite levels, detected by NMR spectra and using the multivariate data analysis as a tool to inter-pret NMR information.
It is important to underline that the results obtained are useful to point out the metabolic consequences of a specific modification on foodstuffs, avoiding the use of a targeted analysis for the different metabolites. The data analysis is performed by applying chemomet-ric multivariate techniques to the NMR dataset of spectra acquired. The research work presented in this thesis is the result of a three years PhD study. This thesis reports the main results obtained from these two main activities:
A1) Evaluation of a data pre-processing system in order to mini-mize unwanted sources of variations, due to different instrumental set up, manual spectra processing and to sample preparations arte-facts;
A2) Application of multivariate chemiometric models in data analy-sis.


Hybrid van der Waals heterostructures comprising ultrathin layers of different materials and offering the possibility of novel properties and unusual charge transport characteristics have become a reality in recent years. Here, we vertically stack graphene, a transition metal dichalcogenide and a III–VI semiconductor together and report a novel self-driven photodetector based on a graphene/InSe/MoS2 heterostructure. The device shows rectifying and bipolar behavior. In the self-driven mode it exhibits high photoresponsivity (110 mA W−1), fast photo-response (less than 1 ms) and high detectivity (over 1010 Jones). It also shows ambient operational stability over one month of operation and nearly uniform photocurrent distribution because of the efficient electron–hole pair separation arising from the large built-in potential at the interface of MoS2 and InSe. Our graphene/InSe/MoS2 heterostructure holds promise for novel self-driven optoelectronics based on III–VI/transition metal dichalcogenide heterojunctions.


In the official records, copper mines in the southwest of the Qing empire seem to suddenly appear in the late 1730s. In part, this impression is an effect of government attention. Copper, which was the most important metal for casting cash coins, became a pressing concern when imports of Japanese copper dwindled. The government responded by developing domestic resources. Seemingly overnight, Yunnan mines reached impressive levels of productivity and replaced imports. For several decades, the Tangdan mines in northeastern Yunnan supplied most of the copper consumed by the centrally important metropolitan mints. The sudden boom is remarkable and not entirely plausible. This article reassesses the history of Qing-period mining by examining a particular case study. It explores an essay about the Dongchuan earthquake of 1733 that provides a glimpse at the empire's leading copper mines on the eve of the recorded boom. A close analysis of figures, mining technology, and organizational structures reveals that the mines had been developed by mining entrepreneurs and migrant workers for a considerable period of time outside government attention, operating in a gray zone of unlicensed exploitation. The studied case permits a new assessment of the role of the state and of nonstate players in the industry. Moreover, it throws a new light on the image of Qing society and economy created by the official emphasis on agriculture and the actual role of the nonagrarian sector.


Vector field topology has been successfully applied to represent the structure of steady vector fields. Critical points, one of the essential components of vector field topology, play an important role in describing the complexity of the extracted structure. Simplifying vector fields via critical point cancellation has practical merit for interpreting the behaviors of complex vector fields such as turbulence. However, there is no effective technique that allows direct cancellation of critical points in 3D. This work fills this gap and introduces the first framework to directly cancel pairs or groups of 3D critical points in a hierarchical manner with a guaranteed minimum amount of perturbation based on their robustness, a quantitative measure of their stability. In addition, our framework does not require the extraction of the entire 3D topology, which contains non-trivial separation structures, and thus is computationally effective. Furthermore, our algorithm can remove critical points in any subregion of the domain whose degree is zero and handle complex boundary configurations, making it capable of addressing challenging scenarios that may not be resolved otherwise. We apply our method to synthetic and simulation datasets to demonstrate its effectiveness.


This thesis appears in three parts: Modules I, II, & III. The purpose of these units was to argue that Generation 1.5 (G1.5) learners are a distinct group of English language learners with unique ways of representing themselves in academic writing, and to identify those salient linguistic differences among G1.5, traditional ESL, and NS student writers. Using multiple methodologies, the text explores the discourse patterns of G1.5 students in their academic writing. Elements in each section include: Module I: o A discussion and literature review of research on Generation 1.5 students and design criteria for an extended corpus study. Module II: o A pilot study of early results from a corpus study comparing G1.5, ESL, and NES student academic writing, with a focus of pronoun and modal use. Module III: o A study involving surveys and interviews to evaluate what both students and instructors consider good academic writing and expect of student essays. o Corpus data from G1.5, ESL, and NS student corpora to determine lexicogrammatical and syntactic patterns in G1.5 student writers and how they differ from both ESL and NS students. Salient features are analyzed using a framework where features are mapped onto an adapted version of Halliday's (2004) three macrofunctions of language, allowing for an analysis of semantic and lexico-grammatical features in terms of ideational, interpersonal, and textual positioning. o Case studies of three essays to test corpus results and a framework of selfrepresentation against individual performance. The resulting text concludes that G1.5 students' self-representation in writing is distinct from other student writers, and manifests in their semantic choices, narrative style, and elements of a hybrid of academic and personal/interpersonal writing.


For this study, curriculum was defined as a holistic set of perspectives that
interact to create the educational environment. The Goodlad et al. (1979)
domain concept was used as the theoretical structure for the examination of
content in three elementary physical education programs. Two of the programs
used a movement education curriculum (Logsdon et d., 1984) while
the third was structured based on a traditional activity or sport and games
approach. Data collection consisted of an examination of documents (ideological
and formal domains), interviews with teachers and students (perceived
and experiential domains), and observation (operational domain). Data were
analyzed using constant comparison. The ideological domain was found to
be the most influential curriculum perspective in these programs. Major differences
were detected in the use of shared decision-making and in the students'
cognitive involvement with the content.


Abstract Changes in particle organization and pore-spaces with applied mechanical and hydraulic stresses were followed using TEM, SAXS mercury porosimetry and gas adsorption for two Na-smectites, Laponite and hectorite, with similar structural formulae but different particle sizes. The TEM images show that hectorite has particles larger and more anisotropic than those of Laponite. The particles order perpendicularly to the direction of axial mechanical stress and become disoriented under hydraulic stress. According to the SAXS results, Laponite is composed of 1 3 small layers and hectorite of more compact (10 80 layers) particles. In Laponite, mechanical stress strongly reduces the amount of macropores but does not affect micropores and mesopores; hydraulic stress increases the macropores. In hectorite, the pore-volume is lower than in Laponite. The different techniques used yield complementary results and show the considerable effect of layer dimension on the behaviour and microtexture parameters of smectite submitted to hydromechanical stresses.


Two regression techniques, a multivariate technique and a subtracted component technique, were applied to two-wavelength response functions of mixtures of terbium (III) dipicolinate and insoluble bacterial particles. Two wavelength pairs were analyzed: a pair of neighboring wavelengths (450/490 nm) and a pair of widely spaced wavelengths (490/622 nm). The analysis shows that two emission-wavelength spectra from terbium-treated endospores can be distinguished from the vegetative bacteria spectrum above a limit of detection for endospores, which depends on the regression algorithm used to analyze the spectra. The subtracted component method for the neighboring wavelength pair had far lower limits of detection than the other methods.


Experiments were designed to determine the endothelium-dependent and endothelium-independent responses to aggregating platelets in porcine pulmonary arteries. Isolated rings with and without endothelium from large (5-7-mm-diameter) and small (2-3-mm-diameter) pulmonary arteries were suspended in modified Krebs-Ringer bicarbonate solution bubbled with 95% O2-5% CO2 in the presence of indomethacin. Aggregating platelets caused relaxations in rings with endothelium but contractions in rings without endothelium, both of which were significantly larger in small versus large pulmonary artery rings. Serotonin and ADP caused concentration-dependent endothelium-augmented relaxations that were unaffected by ketanserin. Methiothepin, but not apyrase, significantly decreased the platelet-induced endothelium-dependent relaxations; the residual relaxation was abolished when rings were incubated with methiothepin, apyrase, and theophylline but was unaffected if apyrase was absent, indicating that ADP is responsible for the residual relaxation caused by aggregating platelets. Quiescent rings, with and without endothelium, contracted in a dose-dependent manner to norepinephrine and histamine but not to serotonin or vasopressin. The contraction to aggregating platelets was blocked by methiothepin, pyrilamine, and diphenhydramine but was unaffected by phentolamine, ketanserin, or incubation of the platelets with dazoxiben. These data indicate that, in large and small porcine pulmonary arteries, serotonin and ADP are the major contributors to the endothelium-dependent relaxation caused by aggregating platelets, while histamine appears to be responsible for the contraction that platelets cause in rings without endothelium.


Event detection is an important application of wireless sensor networks. When the event signature is sparse in a known domain, mechanisms from the emerging area of Compressed Sensing (CS) can be applied for estimation with average measurement rates far lower than the Nyquist requirement. A recently proposed algorithm called IDEA uses knowledge of where the signal is sparse combined with a greedy search procedure called Orthogonal Matching Pursuit (OMP) to demonstrate that detection can be performed in the sparse domain with even fewer measurements. A different approach called Basis Pursuit (BP), which uses `1 norm minimization, provides better performance in reconstruction but suffers from a larger sampling cost since it tries to estimate the signal completely. In this paper, we introduce a mechanism that uses a modified BP approach for detection of sparse signals with known signature. The modification is inspired from a novel development that uses an adaptively weighted version of BP. We show, through simulation and experiments on MicaZ motes, that by appropriately weighting the coefficients during `1 norm minimization, detection performance exceeds that of an unweighted approach at comparable sampling rates.


Embryonic Cell Sorting and Movement Differential cell adhesion has long been thought to drive cell sorting. Maître et al. (p. 253, published online 23 August) show that cell sorting in zebrafish gastrulation is triggered by differences in the ability of cells to modulate cortex tension at cell-cell contacts, thereby controlling contact expansion. Cell adhesion functions in this process by mechanically coupling the cortices of adhering cells at their contacts, allowing cortex tension to control contact expansion. In zebrafish epiboly the enveloping cell layer (EVL)—a surface epithelium formed at the animal pole of the gastrula—gradually spreads over the entire yolk cell to engulf it at the end of gastrulation. Behrndt et al. (p. 257) show that an actomyosin ring connected to the epithelial margin triggers EVL spreading both by contracting around its circumference and by generating a pulling force through resistance against retrograde actomyosin flow. Contraction of an actomyosin ring drives epithelial morphogenesis during embryonic development. Contractile actomyosin rings drive various fundamental morphogenetic processes ranging from cytokinesis to wound healing. Actomyosin rings are generally thought to function by circumferential contraction. Here, we show that the spreading of the enveloping cell layer (EVL) over the yolk cell during zebrafish gastrulation is driven by a contractile actomyosin ring. In contrast to previous suggestions, we find that this ring functions not only by circumferential contraction but also by a flow-friction mechanism. This generates a pulling force through resistance against retrograde actomyosin flow. EVL spreading proceeds normally in situations where circumferential contraction is unproductive, indicating that the flow-friction mechanism is sufficient. Thus, actomyosin rings can function in epithelial morphogenesis through a combination of cable-constriction and flow-friction mechanisms.


'Children are travellers newly arrived in a strange country, of which they know nothing'. This article considers the current problematic status of very young offenders in the English youth justice system. There has been much debate about the impact of the James Bulger case on youth justice, but this frequently centres on legal discussion about the age of criminal responsibility, or the more punitive societal and media calls for retribution. This paper seeks to move the debate forward by approaching it from the perspective of the child, and by considering the ramifications of current policy for the majority of very young offenders, who have generally committed very minor offences. In the first part, the paper contrasts the English approach to very serious cases involving very young offenders with those in other jurisdictions. In the second part, the paper examines empirical findings from the author's research observing offender panels and interviewing very young offenders.


1.	Coastal salt marshes are threatened by erosion from storminess and sea level rise, with resulting losses in flood protection, wildlife and recreational space. Although more than $1 billion has been spent to reconcile losses, restoration has had varying success because of poor survival of planted patches in challenging wave and current conditions. Marsh expansion after colonization or replanting is regulated by positive and negative feedbacks between vegetation density and sediment capture. Dense vegetation stimulates sediment capture and vertical patch growth, but negatively constrains patch expansion by concentrating hydrological energy into erosion gullies along patch edges. Conversely, low‐density vegetation may not simulate enough sediment capture, which increases plant dislodgement mortality. The strengths of positive and negative feedbacks will vary with wave exposure, but this has never been tested in natural conditions.2.	We observed density‐dependent sediment feedbacks, survival and lateral expansion by Sporobolus anglicus patches (0.8 × 0.8 m) planted at three levels of vegetation density, at each of three levels of wave forcing (three sites). 3.	We found interactive effects of plant density and forcing on the strength of positive and negative feedbacks. Density‐dependent feedbacks only emerged in moderate and exposed conditions: classic marsh tussock patch shapes, which arise due to combined positive (vertical growth) and negative (gullies) feedbacks, were only associated with high density vegetation under exposed conditions. At high exposure, survival was enhanced by dense planting, which diverted energy away from the vegetation. In sheltered conditions, expansion was the greatest at medium density, while dense patches had high mortality and erosion.4.	Synthesis and applications. Success of wetland restoration clearly hinges on considering interactions between environmental stress and planting density. In challenging high‐exposure settings, dense planting in large patches should maximize success, as plant facilitation boosts sediment capture and negative edge effects (gullies) will represent a diminished proportion of larger patches. Yet, benefits of dense planting will switch from positive (facilitation) to negative (competition) with reduced environmental stress, when moderate‐density planting might be optimal. Switches along stress gradients between positive and negative feedbacks are common across ecosystems. We call for wider integration of facilitation and stress–gradient principles into restoration design to safeguard restoration successes.


A novel micro-grooved structure of lightguides and a sequential driving scheme of light sources were demonstrated in achieving comparable image qualities of 3-D displays to that of 2-D displays. The modified distribution of micro-grooves not only locates viewing cones for respective eyes but also suppresses the moire pattern, which might occur when a periodic micro-grooved structure and a color filter are superimposed. The configuration of lightguides for a 1.8-in liquid crystal display (LCD) panel can yield acceptable 3-D perceptions at the viewing distance of 7-23 cm and the brightness uniformity of greater than 83%. In addition, the driving scheme of light sources in synchronization with parallax images can project images to the viewer's respective eyes sequentially. With the refreshing sub-frame rate of 190 Hz and double displaying parallax images, the image crosstalk of 3-D perceptions can be efficiently reduced for an LC response time of 7.0 ms.


Jules Cheret (1836 - 1932) is considered the father of modern posters. Through the use of colour lithography he developed commercial posters into an independent art form and contributed to the transformation of the urban image of the art metropolis Paris with his enormous production of colour posters and advertising art. The effect of his work wasn't only noticeable in public spaces, but artists like Henri Toulouse-Lautrec also consequently adopted the medium and developed its visual language further. As a lithographer, printer, designer, painter, decorator and illustrator, Jules Cheret was a prominent figure in Parisian art and literary circles at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. This publication focuses on his pioneering poster art, which covers a wide range of subjects from circuses, concerts and exhibitions to ready-made fashion, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and press products, thanks to the increased demand brought about by the liberalisation of the media, the development of the rail network and the upturn in economy and trade. Jules Cheret developed a striking individual style in the neo-rococo tradition, but that also displayed the first modern elements which were to fascinate impressionists like Georges Seurat.


Body-Centric Wireless Communication (BCWC) is a central point in the development of fourth generation mobile communications. The continuous miniaturisation of sensors, in addition to the advancement in wearable electronics, embedded software, digital signal processing and biomedical technologies, have led to a new concept of usercentric networks, where devices can be carried in the user's pockets, attached to the user's body or even implanted. Body-centric wireless networks take their place within the personal area networks, body area networks and body sensor networks which are all emerging technologies that have a broad range of applications such as healthcare and personal entertainment. The major difference between BCWC and conventional wireless systems is the radio channel over which the communication takes place. The human body is a hostile environment from radio propagation perspective and it is therefore important to understand and characterise the effect of the human body on the antenna elements, the radio channel parameters and hence the system performance. This is presented and highlighted in the thesis through a combination of experimental and electromagnetic numerical investigations, with a particular emphasis to the numerical analysis based on the finite-difference time-domain technique. The presented research work encapsulates the characteristics of the narrowband (2.4 GHz) and ultra wide-band (3-10 GHz) on-body radio channels with respect to different digital phantoms, body postures, and antenna types hence highlighting the effect of subject-specific modelling, static and dynamic environments and antenna performance on the overall body-centric network. The investigations covered extend further to include in-body communications where the radio channel for telemetry with medical implants is also analysed by considering the effect of different digital phantoms on the radio channel characteristics. The study supports the significance of developing powerful and reliable numerical modelling to be used in conjunction with


Abstract Drawing on qualitative case study research in four small schools, this paper explores the relationship between the professional contexts of schools—specifically supports for 1) collaboration focused on improving instruction, 2) professional development and teacher learning opportunities, and 3) the degree to which teachers have authority and leadership in shaping curriculum and school practice—and teachers' delivery of high-quality instruction. Looking across multiple sources of data from four schools, we found clear differences in terms of the extent to which we saw teacher collaboration with a culture of reflection and inquiry, professional development aligned with teachers' emergent needs, and shared leadership that encourages teacher authority.


Resulting from his reflections on education and shaped by the idea of pansophism, the phenomenon of Comenius' pedagogical thought for centuries not only had an impact on the development of the subsequent philosophical trends forming the (perennial) educational exemplar but also it indicated the direction of the essential educational reforms. One of the inheri-tors of Comenius' pedagogical visionary was the author of Poêles à tricoter - John Frederic Oberlin. In his archetype of kindergarten, a reflection of Comenius' idea related to the early education can be found, which was included in Informatorium scholae maternae ('On early education'), which Oberlin puts into a language of pedagogical praxis. Comenius' ideas of religious-ethical education, child's multisided development and education leading to child's readiness to be a pupil were given not only an application character but also an institutional form by Oberlin. Initiated by Oberlin in Ban de la Roche in 1769 on the pages of Poêles à tricoter and referring directly to Comenius' reflections, the educational solutions commenced the new era in the history of education.


This research explores the reformed UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS) as an institution addressing a changed world, and as an illustration of evolving global food security governance. The research sets out to answer the extent to which the CFS is realising its reform objectives and how it is positioning itself within a changing architecture of global food security governance.

Informed by literature on global governance and embedded neoliberalism, the inquiry centres around three case studies – Civil Society Mechanism, Voluntary Guidelines for the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests, and the Global Strategic Framework – which serve to highlight the operationalization of key reform objectives while simultaneously providing insight into broader policy processes and dynamics. Data was collected through document analysis, participant observation, and interviews. The resulting analysis provides clear evidence of the impact of enhanced participation on policy outcomes and concludes that the policy recommendations emerging from the CFS are amongst the most comprehensive and useful in terms of applicability and uptake at the national and regional level. The analysis also reveals that despite its methods, outcomes and mandate, the CFS is being systematically undermined by other actors seeking to maintain influence and sustain neoliberal hegemony across food security policies at the global level.

The research contributes to global governance theory by describing the functioning of a mechanisms that can address democratic deficits in global governance while elucidating related opportunities and challenges. The research also contributes to scholarship on global food security policy by challenging the application of previous analyses to the contemporary reality. The research addresses limitations in global governance literature by mapping the complexity of social and political relations across sites of negotiation, contestation and compromise between actors. The policy implications derived from this thesis focus on the need to further problematize food security and for policies to target structural causes of food insecurity. Building on the experiences of the CFS, this thesis concludes that transparent, participatory mechanisms need to be created which acknowledge, and seek to rectify, existing imbalances in power relations in policy-making processes.


Work in our laboratory has shown that in addition to previously characterized changes in the level of neuropeptides in SDAT brain, the activity of degradative enzymes responsible for peptide metabolism is also affected. In addition to other reported alterations in peptide metabolism, we have observed that SS-28 degradation is increased in Brodmann area 22 whereas substance P degradation is increased in temporal cortex. Changes in the degradation of these neuropeptides known to be affected in SDAT correlate well with alterations in the activity of specific neuropeptidases. Trypsin-like serine protease activity is increased in SDAT Brodmann area 22 which parallels the increased degradation of SS-28. The activity of MEP 24.15 is decreased in temporal cortex which corresponds to the decreased degradation of substance P. Changes in the activity of these degradative enzymes in SDAT brain can potentially affect the action of other neuropeptide substrates because the neuropeptidases discussed here terminate the action of several neuropeptides. As more neuropeptide and degradative peptidase alterations are discovered in SDAT, greater emphasis may be placed on the role that peptides and neuropeptidases play in the progression of SDAT.


Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore trust initiation and development in collaborations between universities and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the implications for enabling engaged scholarship (ES).

Design/methodology/approach
Adopting a qualitative inductive approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive maximum variation sample comprising 14 SMEs and 12 university stakeholders.

Findings
The authors highlight the role of calculus-based trust in the initiation of collaborations emphasising the key roles of networking and referrals. As collaborations develop, reciprocal insights regarding stakeholders' competencies and integrity and the development of knowledge-based trust can support engagement, in particular, knowledge application. Although relationships have a common sense of purpose, a fully engaged campus remains absent.

Research limitations/implications
This study is based on a collaborative research between eight SMEs and one university business school and does not reflect ES fully as conceptualised. It provides few insights into the role of trust (or distrust) in such collaborations where things go wrong.

Practical implications
Universities looking to enable ES collaborations with SMEs need to develop and enact strategies which support ongoing engagement and enable identification-based trust (IBT). Recommendations for universities and human resource development regarding interventions to support trust initiation and development to enable knowledge application ES are outlined and suggestions are offered for future research.

Social implications
University strategies to support the development of trust and, in particular, IBT are likely to benefit longer-term relationships and the development of ES between SMEs and universities.

Originality/value
Little research has been undertaken on trust initiation and development between academic and SME stakeholders or the associated implications for ES.


Rheumatoid arthritis has multi factorial pathogenesis synovial hyperplasia and joint deformation is a striking characteristic of RA patients. The synovium thickens, and the joint becomes swollen and painful. In arthritis, macrophages accumulate in the synovial membrane and at the cartilage-pannus junction. Macrophages can be activated by several factors expressed in arthritic joint. Neutrophil normally function as a first line of defence against invading pathogens. In a joint affected by RA, neutrophils are the most abundant cellular infiltrators constituting about 90% of the cells found in synovial fluid. Cytokines are small, short-lived proteins that have a key role in integrating responses to a variety of stimuli in immune and inflammatory processes. Binding of their cognate receptors on target cells is followed by activation of enzymes involved in a variety of intracellular signalling cascades that ultimately modulate the genetic cellular response to the particular ligand.


Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is perhaps the most ubiquitous and successful human pathogen, since it colonizes the stomach of more than half of humankind. Infection with this bacterium is commonly acquired during childhood. Once infected, people carry the bacteria for decades or even for life, if not treated. Persistent infection with this pathogen causes gastritis, peptic ulcer disease and is also strongly associated with the development of gastric cancer. Despite induction of innate and adaptive immune responses in the infected individual, the host is unable to clear the bacteria. One widely accepted hallmark of H. pylori is that it successfully and stealthily evades host defense mechanisms. Though the gastric mucosa is well protected against infection, H. pylori is able to reside under the mucus, attach to gastric epithelial cells and cause persistent infection by evading immune responses mediated by host. In this review, we discuss how H. pylori avoids innate and acquired immune response elements, uses gastric epithelial cells as mediators to manipulate host T cell responses and uses virulence factors to avoid adaptive immune responses by T cells to establish a persistent infection. We also discuss in this review how the genetic diversity of this pathogen helps for its survival.


We construct examples of nonnegative harmonic functions on certain graded graphs: the Young lattice and its generalizations. Such functions first emerged in harmonic analysis on the infinite symmetric group. Our method relies on multivariate interpolation polynomials associated with Schur's S and P functions and with Jack symmetric functions. As a by–product, we compute certain Selberg–type integrals.


Gene therapy: The power of persistence Nearly 50 years after the concept was first proposed, gene therapy is now considered a promising treatment option for several human diseases. The path to success has been long and tortuous. Serious adverse effects were encountered in early clinical studies, but this fueled basic research that led to safer and more efficient gene transfer vectors. Gene therapy in various forms has produced clinical benefits in patients with blindness, neuromuscular disease, hemophilia, immunodeficiencies, and cancer. Dunbar et al. review the pioneering work that led the gene therapy field to its current state, describe gene-editing technologies that are expected to play a major role in the field's future, and discuss practical challenges in getting these therapies to patients who need them. Science, this issue p. eaan4672 BACKGROUND Nearly five decades ago, visionary scientists hypothesized that genetic modification by exogenous DNA might be an effective treatment for inherited human diseases. This "gene therapy" strategy offered the theoretical advantage that a durable and possibly curative clinical benefit would be achieved by a single treatment. Although the journey from concept to clinical application has been long and tortuous, gene therapy is now bringing new treatment options to multiple fields of medicine. We review critical discoveries leading to the development of successful gene therapies, focusing on direct in vivo administration of viral vectors, adoptive transfer of genetically engineered T cells or hematopoietic stem cells, and emerging genome editing technologies. ADVANCES The development of gene delivery vectors such as replication-defective retro viruses and adeno-associated virus (AAV), coupled with encouraging results in preclinical disease models, led to the initiation of clinical trials in the early 1990s. Unfortunately, these early trials exposed serious therapy-related toxicities, including inflammatory responses to the vectors and malignancies caused by vector-mediated insertional activation of proto-oncogenes. These setbacks fueled more basic research in virology, immunology, cell biology, model development, and target disease, which ultimately led to successful clinical translation of gene therapies in the 2000s. Lentiviral vectors improved efficiency of gene transfer to nondividing cells. In early-phase clinical trials, these safer and more efficient vectors were used for transduction of autologous hematopoietic stem cells, leading to clinical benefit in patients with immunodeficiencies, hemoglobinopathies, and metabolic and storage disorders. T cells engineered to express CD19-specific chimeric antigen receptors were shown to have potent antitumor activity in patients with lymphoid malignancies. In vivo delivery of therapeutic AAV vectors to the retina, liver, and nervous system resulted in clinical improvement in patients with congenital blindness, hemophilia B, and spinal muscular atrophy, respectively. In the United States, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approvals of the first gene therapy products occurred in 2017, including chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)–T cells to treat B cell malignancies and AAV vectors for in vivo treatment of congenital blindness. Promising clinical trial results in neuromuscular diseases and hemophilia will likely result in additional approvals in the near future. In recent years, genome editing technologies have been developed that are based on engineered or bacterial nucleases. In contrast to viral vectors, which can mediate only gene addition, genome editing approaches offer a precise scalpel for gene addition, gene ablation, and gene "correction." Genome editing can be performed on cells ex vivo or the editing machinery can be delivered in vivo to effect in situ genome editing. Translation of these technologies to patient care is in its infancy in comparison to viral gene addition therapies, but multiple clinical genome editing trials are expected to open over the next decade. OUTLOOK Building on decades of scientific, clinical, and manufacturing advances, gene therapies have begun to improve the lives of patients with cancer and a variety of inherited genetic diseases. Partnerships with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies with expertise in manufacturing and scale-up will be required for these therapies to have a broad impact on human disease. Many challenges remain, including understanding and preventing genotoxicity from integrating vectors or off-target genome editing, improving gene transfer or editing efficiency to levels necessary for treatment of many target diseases, preventing immune responses that limit in vivo administration of vectors or genome editing complexes, and overcoming manufacturing and regulatory hurdles. Importantly, a societal consensus must be reached on the ethics of germline genome editing in light of rapid scientific advances that have made this a real, rather than hypothetical, issue. Finally, payers and gene therapy clinicians and companies will need to work together to design and test new payment models to facilitate delivery of expensive but potentially curative therapies to patients in need. The ability of gene therapies to provide durable benefits to human health, exemplified by the scientific advances and clinical successes over the past several years, justifies continued optimism and increasing efforts toward making these therapies part of our standard treatment armamentarium for human disease. Three essential tools for human gene therapy. AAV and lentiviral vectors are the basis of several recently approved gene therapies. Gene editing technologies are in their translational and clinical infancy but are expected to play an increasing role in the field. After almost 30 years of promise tempered by setbacks, gene therapies are rapidly becoming a critical component of the therapeutic armamentarium for a variety of inherited and acquired human diseases. Gene therapies for inherited immune disorders, hemophilia, eye and neurodegenerative disorders, and lymphoid cancers recently progressed to approved drug status in the United States and Europe, or are anticipated to receive approval in the near future. In this Review, we discuss milestones in the development of gene therapies, focusing on direct in vivo administration of viral vectors and adoptive transfer of genetically engineered T cells or hematopoietic stem cells. We also discuss emerging genome editing technologies that should further advance the scope and efficacy of gene therapy approaches.


Two prospective longitudinal surveys based on New York State high school students indicate well-defined steps underlying adolescent progression and regression in drug use. At least four stages of involvement with drugs can be identified: (1) beer or wine; (2) cigarettes or hard liquor; (3) marijuana; and (4) other illcit drugs. Two stages of legal drugs are necessary intermediates between nonuse and marijuana. Very few youths progress to other illicit drugs without prior experience with marijuana. This sequence is found in each year of high school in the year following graduation. Progression to a higher-ranked drug is directly related to intensity of use at the prior stage. The identification of stages in drug behavior has implications regarding the optimum strategy for studying factors that predict, differentiate, or result from drug use.


This paper describes the cost-benefit analysis of digital long-term preservation (LTP) that was carried out in the context of the Finnish National Digital Library Project (NDL) in 2010. The analysis was based on the assumption that as many as 200 archives, libraries, and museums will share an LTP system. The term 'system' shall be understood as encompassing not only information technology, but also human resources, organizational structures, policies and funding mechanisms. The cost analysis shows that an LTP system will incur, over the first 12 years, cumulative costs of €42 million, i.e. an average of €3.5 million per annum. Human resources and investments in information technology are the major cost factors. After the initial stages, the analysis predicts annual costs of circa €4 million. The analysis compared scenarios with and without a shared LTP system. The results indicate that a shared system will have remarkable benefits. At the development and implementation stages, a shared system shows an advantage of €30 million against the alternative scenario consisting of five independent LTP solutions. During the later stages, the advantage is estimated at €10 million per annum. The cumulative cost benefit over the first 12 years would amount to circa €100 million.


Emigration and the Age Profile of Retirement among Immigrants This paper analyzes the relationship between immigrants' retirement status and the prevalence of return migration from the host country to their country of origin. We develop a simple theoretical model to illustrate that under reasonable conditions the probability of return migration is maximized at retirement. Reduced-form models of retirement status which control for the rate of return migration are then estimated using unique data on emigration rates matched to individual-level data for Australia. We find that immigrants, particularly immigrant women, are more likely to be retired than are native-born men and women with the same demographic, human capital, and family characteristics. Moreover, within the immigrant population, there is a negative relationship between the propensity to be retired and the return migration rate of one's fellow countrymen, particularly amongst men. This link is strongest for those individuals who are at (or near) retirement age and among those with the highest cost of return migration. These results suggest that the fiscal pressures associated with aging immigrant populations vary substantially across origin countries. JEL Classification: J26, J01, J08


This paper discusses the problems of simulating systems in which some random behavior exists. The title refers to "discrete-event simulation," but this remains undefined and unemphasized throughout most of the paper. (The expression refers to svstems in which events, such as customer arrivals, occur at a countable set of points on the continuous time axis–this as opposed to a continuous-event simulation in which important properties of the system must be accounted for over a continuum in a given time interval.) The authors trace the elements of a typical experiment and identify the statistical problems along with a discussion of their possible solutions. They isolate a number of frequently overlooked considerations in the random input process, particularly the independence of adjacent samples. Similarly, in estimating system performance, the problem of correlated outputs must be solved. In short, in any simulation, the input data and the system structure must be understood and examined carefully.


The paper discusses the role of the dictionary in standardizing the spelling of Swahili. The discussion begins by defining key terms in this paper: spelling and standardization of spelling. It surveys lexicons written in Swahili between 1811–1990 and records the efforts made to establish spelling conventions for Swahili words in Roman characters, pointing out variant spellings of words written by different authors. The paper focuses on the role played by different lexicons in setting orthography for Swahili words, viz. Steere (1870), Krapf (1882), Nettelbladt (1891), Madan (1903), Sacleux (1939), etc. It observes how the lexicons established norms for words of a language which was hitherto not written in Roman characters. It also shows how lexicons helped to standardize the spelling of words to its current form especially after a standard dialect had been selected, pointing out lexicons which exclusively recorded words of the standard language with minimal variants. Finally the paper emphasizes the significance of the dictionary to adhere to the standard orthography. Keywords: standardization of spelling; spelling conventions; standard orthography; swahili alphabet; dialectical variations; catchwords; phonetic transcriptions; standard language; spelling system; nonstandard orthography; standardization process; word-list; lexicon and dictionary


This paper presents an iterative receiver for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems over time-variant wireless channels. The receiver performs joint decoding, channel estimation, and multiuser detection, with soft information iteratively provided by the single-user decoders. Time-variance is effectively taken into account exploiting the properties of the discrete prolate spheroidal (DPS) sequences, being the bandlimited sequences with maximum energy concentration in time. Turbo codes are used for each transmit antenna, thus the receiver presents an iterative structure also in the single-user case. Simulation results for the performance are presented in terms of bit error rate (BER) and normalized mean square error (NMSE) vs signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The effects of the number of external and internal iterations as well as the number of pilots on the performance of the system are investigated.


Exploratory programming is a software development style in which code is a medium for prototyping ideas and solutions, and in which even the end-goal can evolve over time. Exploratory programming is valuable in various contexts such as programming education, data science, and end-user programming. However, there is a lack of appropriate tooling and language design principles to support exploratory programming. This paper presents a host language- and object language-independent protocol for exploratory programming akin to the Language Server Protocol. The protocol serves as a basis to develop novel (or extend existing) programming environments for exploratory programming such as computational notebooks and command-line REPLs. An architecture is presented on top of which prototype environments can be developed with relative ease, because existing (language) components can be reused. Our prototypes demonstrate that the proposed protocol is sufficiently expressive to support exploratory programming scenarios as encountered in literature within the software engineering, human-computer interaction and data science domains.


Objective: We investigated the incidence of falls and functional impairments in breast cancer patients with chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). Additionally, we examined whether taxane-induced peripheral neuropathy was associated with the patients' falls and functional impairments. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study including 88 patients with breast cancer who received taxane-based chemotherapy and were recognized as having peripheral neuropathy symptoms (Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events Grade ≥1). Patients completed the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Gynecologic Oncology Group-Neurotoxicity questionnaire for neuropathy and described falls from the onset of the taxane-based chemotherapy to the time of the survey. Functional impairments were defined using the Activities of Daily Living subsection of the Vulnerable Elder's Scale. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression. Results: Of the participants, 40.9% experienced falls and 38.4% reported functional impairments. Most falls occurred on flat ground. Bone fracture due to falls was observed in 11.4% of the participants. Logistic regression revealed that CIPN was not significantly associated with the reported incidence of falls. However, it was significantly associated with functional impairments (odds ratio, 6.415; 95% confidence interval: 1.271–32.379; P = 0.024). Conclusions: CIPN was associated with functional impairments, but not with the incidence of falls. Patients should be informed prior to the onset of anticancer therapy that CIPN is a risk factor for functional impairments.


Here we research the univariate quantitative approximation, ordinary and fractional, of Banach space valued continuous
functions on a compact interval or all the real line by quasi-interpolation Banach space valued neural network operators. These
approximations are derived by establishing Jackson type inequalities involving the modulus of continuity of the engaged function or
its Banach space valued high order derivative of fractional derivatives. Our operators are defined by using a density function generated
by an algebraic sigmoid function. The approximations are pointwise and of the uniform norm. The related Banach space valued
feed-forward neural networks are with one hidden layer.


The objective of this study was to determine the nutrient composition of selected commercial biscuits in Malaysia. A total of six brands from each type of biscuit (chocolate chip, corn, cracker with sugar, vegetable flavoured cracker, cream filled, oatmeal, shortbread and fully coated chocolate wafer) and five brands of wholemeal crackers were sampled from local supermarkets in the Klang Valley. The total energy content in commercial biscuits was ranging from 453.30 to 499.25 kcal/100 g. Carbohydrate was the major macronutrient in commercial biscuits ranging from 56.86 to 66.07 g/100 g. The highest protein content was found in the wholemeal crackers (9.92 g/100 g) and the lowest protein content was found in the cream filled biscuits (5.65 g/100 g). Fat content lay in the range of 16.89 to 25.75 g/100 g. The major minerals detected in biscuits were sodium, followed by calcium and magnesium. The vitamin content in A and E of the biscuits examined was almost comparable. Small quantities of trans fatty acids were detected in all biscuits in the range of 0.02 to 0.68 g/100 g. These findings indicate that Malaysian commercial biscuits are a good source of carbohydrate (34.12-39.64 g per serving), calcium (26.09-384.67 g per serving), magnesium (10.42-37.24 g per serving) and contain low proportion of trans fatty acids (0.01-0.41 g per serving).


During the administration of President George W. Bush, the Antitrust Division was not enthusiastic about use of §2 of the Sherman Act to pursue anticompetitive single-firm conduct. Indeed, its most prominent contribution on the issue was the Antitrust Division's §2 Report, which the Obama Antitrust Division withdrew only eight months after it was issued. This withdrawal was entirely in keeping with candidate Obama's repeated promises to reinvigorate antitrust enforcement. This essay analyzes the current state of antitrust and makes recommendations concerning structures and practices where increased §2 enforcement is warranted and those where it is not. Wise use of enforcement dollars suggests greater enforcement in areas where private enforcement is unlikely to be effective. The migration of tying and exclusive dealing law toward greater use of §2 is an important development trend that ought to be encouraged. However, this essay disputes the view that tying arrangements imposed by dominant firms are inherently harmful to consumers and should be pursued more aggressively. These arguments are mistaken about the type of price discrimination that variable proportion tying arrangements involve, and as a consequence exaggerate their potential for harm. On the other hand, some room for expansion of the §2 law of refusal to deal is appropriate, at least in narrowly defined circumstances involving networks. In such cases something that is formally a refusal to deal operates more like a tying arrangement. The law of exclusionary pricing has become somewhat too lenient. The recoupment requirement in predatory pricing cases should be abandoned if prices are clearly below average variable cost or short run marginal cost. However, it does not seem appropriate to jettison cost-based pricing rules, even for loyalty discounts, bundled discounts and other discounting practices. At the same time, some adjustment of cost tests is appropriate for "leveraged" discounts, which are situations in which a dominant firm blends the discount over one grouping of sales in which it faces little competition and another grouping that is more competitive, causing competitive harm in the latter group. Finally, this essay argues for increased antitrust enforcement against anticompetitive restraints on innovation, an area in which private enforcement is likely to falter because of antitrust's strict causation and injury requirements.


In State Accountability for Space Debris Peter Stubbe examines the legal consequences of space debris pollution ― which he argues is a global environmental concern ― under the two distinct accountability regimes of responsibility and liability.


Data annotation is a time-consuming process posing major limitations to the development of Human Activity Recognition (HAR) systems. The availability of a large amount of labeled data is required for supervised Machine Learning (ML) approaches, especially in the case of online and personalized approaches requiring user specific datasets to be labeled. The availability of such datasets has the potential to help address common problems of smartphone-based HAR, such as inter-person variability. In this work, we present (i) an automatic labeling method facilitating the collection of labeled datasets in free-living conditions using the smartphone, and (ii) we investigate the robustness of common supervised classification approaches under instances of noisy data. We evaluated the results with a dataset consisting of 38 days of manually labeled data collected in free living. The comparison between the manually and the automatically labeled ground truth demonstrated that it was possible to obtain labels automatically with an 80–85% average precision rate. Results obtained also show how a supervised approach trained using automatically generated labels achieved an 84% f-score (using Neural Networks and Random Forests); however, results also demonstrated how the presence of label noise could lower the f-score up to 64–74% depending on the classification approach (Nearest Centroid and Multi-Class Support Vector Machine).


Finite element analyzes are used to determine the dynamic behavior of major engineering structures such as bridges under varying loads. However, based on the finite element analysis, the analytical framework considers the structures as they have been built and installed at the same time. This type of solution methods may not always give reliable results. Because, construction of engineering structures such as bridges take a long time and they are exposed to changing loads during construction. Therefore, construction phases and time-dependent deformations of the material must be taken into account during the analyzes. In this study, the effect of construction steps and the time-dependent deformation of the material on the structural behavior of suspension bridges are tried to be determined. Within this study, linking the continents of Asia and Europe in Istanbul, Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge was chosen as an example. A two-dimensional finite element model of the bridge was created by SAP2000. To understand the effect of construction phases, analyses have been repeated for the case in which construction stages are not taken into account. Deck length and displacements obtained during the height of the tower are investigated in comparison with the cross-sectional effects. At the end of the study, the structural behavior of suspension bridges in determining the stages of production and time-dependent deformation of the material is determined to be taken into account.


In this paper we study the semisimplicity problem for group rings of linear groups. We prove the linear group analog of a result which constitutes part of the solution of the semisimplicity problem for solvable groups. Since all of the necessary group ring lemmas have appeared elsewhere, the work here is strictly group theoretic. We consider the possibility of a linear group being covered by a finite union of root sets of centralizer subgroups.