A fundamental goal in ecology is to identify the appropriate scales at which to
observe trends in ecosystem behavior. Researchers often rely on intuition to
choose a sampling scale, which if too large or too small potentially obscures the
real system trends. A characteristic length scale (CLS) is a natural scale of a
system at which the underlying deterministic dynamics are most clearly observed
over stochasticity. The overarching aim of this research was to develop, examine
and apply a robust technique to detect CLSs of real ecological systems.
In this thesis, I first compared the robustness of two CLS methods, both of which
account for complex oscillatory dynamics of ecological systems using attractor
reconstruction from long time series of data. I applied these techniques to estimate
CLSs of spatial multispecies systems of varying complexity, showing that for
more complex models, the prediction r2 metric of Pascual and Levin (1999) is a
robust method. I then used an alternative method of CLS estimation, based on
prediction r2 but where repetition in space is largely substituted for repetition in
time in attractor reconstruction, to determine the CLS of a natural marine fouling
system. The new technique, requiring only a short temporal sequence of as few as
three highly resolved spatial maps, enabled unambiguous length scales to be
estimated for this system. Importantly, the estimated CLS was similarly based on
analysis of several species representing a spectrum of phyla and life history
patterns, indicating the adequacy of this method for objectively determining
optimal scales of observation for real systems. Moreover, the CLS estimates of
this system remained surprisingly consistent despite changes in time intervals
between the spatial maps, changes in the number of maps used in the temporal
sequence, and varying start dates of map sequences.
When the field results were compared to those derived from a spatially explicit
individual-based model of a similar marine community nearby, the average CLSs
of the two communities were strikingly similar (~ 0.35 m), suggesting that
dynamical trends of like systems may be best observed on similar scales.
I also considered whether the approach could be extended to identify trends based
on the dynamics of interactions among habitat types as opposed to interactions
among species groups. Analysis of maps produced from remote sensing data at
the habitat level successfully revealed unambiguous characteristic length scales of
a coral reef. Habitats distinct in their species assemblages, abundances and
morphologies provided similar length scales (~ 300 m), suggesting that the
system-level CLS detected is independent of the habitat type used for its
estimation.
Different species within the same system indicated dissimilar CLSs in some
spatial model communities where species were only weakly connected, either due
to the topology of network interactions or through spatial isolation as a result of
spatial self-organization and patchiness. I finally evaluated the sensitivity of CLS
estimates to varying levels of species connectivity and found that when species
were weakly connected in terms of their network topology, the estimates of scale
were likely to be dissimilar.
The results contained within this thesis illustrate that the new method developed
to detect natural scales of complex systems (1) can be applied to natural
dynamical systems with a reasonable quantity of data, (2) is robust to changes in
parameters that should not affect the scale of observation (e.g. initial
configuration of the landscape), but (3) is sensitive to variations that would likely
affect the spatial scale at which trends can be observed (e.g. connectivity).
Species or habitat level data can be used to estimate CLSs, which will be critical
for choosing the scale at which to sample real ecosystems to distinguish trends
from random variation. Characteristic length scales can now be implemented to
objectively guide the choice of observation scale, and I expect that in the future,
they will become a part of every assiduous ecologist's toolbox.


Dendritic cells (DC) are potent APCs. In this study, murine bone marrow-derived DC were transfected with RNA encoding the MUC1 Ag that is aberrantly overexpressed in human breast and other carcinomas. The MUC1 RNA-transfected DC exhibited cell surface expression of MUC1 and costimulatory molecules. After injection at the base of the tail, the transfected DC were detectable in inguinal lymph nodes by dual immunochemical staining. Vaccination of wild-type mice with MUC1 RNA-transfected DC induced anti-MUC1 immune responses against MUC1-positive MC38/MUC1, but not MUC1-negative, tumor cells. Mice immunized with the transfected DC were protected against challenge with MC38/MUC1 tumor cells. Furthermore, mice with established MC38/MUC1 tumors were eliminated after receiving the vaccination. CTLs isolated from mice immunized with the transfected DC exhibited specific cytolytic activity against MC38/MUC1 tumor cells. In contrast to these findings, there was little if any anti-MUC1 immunity induced with the transfected DC in MUC1 transgenic (MUC1.Tg) mice. However, coadministration of the transfected DC and IL-12 reversed the unresponsiveness to MUC1 Ag in MUC1.Tg mice and induced MUC1-specific immune responses. These findings demonstrate that vaccination of DC transfected with MUC1 RNA and IL-12 reverses tolerance to MUC1 and induces immunity against MUC1-positive tumors.


This project focuses on the way that new graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) in English develop both their professional identity as teachers and their view of Composition as a field. Drawing on social theories of disciplines (Prior, 1998; Hyland, 2004; Carter, 2007), disciplinary enculturation (Hasrati, 2005; Bazerman and Prior, 2005; Thaiss and Zawacki, 2006), and legitimate peripheral participation (Lave and Wenger, 1991; Wenger 1998), this dissertation examines the transition that composition GTAs undergo during their first year of graduate school. Many of these GTAs move from little or no knowledge of Composition as a discipline to teaching their own writing courses. I focus on GTAs from MA and MFA programs at a large research university in their first year of teaching composition. Using multiple types of data, including indepth interviews, observations of practicum and mentoring sessions, and teaching genres written by the GTAs, I construct a narrative that shows the role that teaching composition plays in the overall identity construction of graduate students as professionals. This wide data set has allowed me to see the various ways (and various genres) in which Composition is constructed in the lives of new GTAs. Teacher preparation programs offer a variety of assistance, including experience shadowing current teachers, practicum courses and individual or group mentoring. I study the ways these activities help GTAs in one first-year writing program move toward a fuller understanding of and participation in Composition, and how these experiences relate to the overall graduate student experience. Each of these experiences helps move GTAs toward participation as composition teachers. However, the degree to which these GTAs participate in Composition as a discipline has to do with their relationships with mentors and the connections they make between the multiple communities of practice that they must continually navigate.


The new Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Lithuania (came into force on May 1, 2003) introduces newly formulated norms, that regulate obtaining and evaluation of data significant for investigation and evaluation of a criminal offence. The purpose of this article is to analyse status of one kind of such data (evidence), i.e. – material objects. The analysis is presented on the concept of material objects that have paramount importance for investigation of a criminal offence and examination of a case. The article looks into the means of obtaining material objects during preliminary investigation, recording material objects, their inspection, conditions of storage and terms for their restitution in case of dissolving the process. The article also offers an overview on the norms regulating the status of material objects in criminal procedure acts of foreign countries. The evaluation of conception of material objects is based on historical and comparative aspects. The first section of chapter VI of Criminal Procedure Code is devoted to legal regulation on material objects. The law gives the definition of material things that have significance for investigation of a criminal offence and examination of a case in criminal procedure: they are material objects as tools or means of a criminal offence; or traces of a criminal offence remained on them; or they were objects of a perpetrator's criminal action; or all other objects that might be means for uncovering a criminal offence and establishing perpetrator's guilt or deny accusations and reduce responsibility. The article presents and analyses means of finding and obtaining material evidence inevitable for investigation of a criminal offence and examination of a case: property and people searche, seizures, verification of evidence at a crime scene, research and inspection of objects. Material objects can be also presented by process parties and other persons on their own initiative. The criminal procedure code provides for the system of means that have to be applied at the end of a process. The article analyses the mechanism of material objects restitution in different stages of criminal procedure, offers overview on the practice of other countries and presents suggestions for the Criminal Procedure Code amendments on legal regulation of material objects restitution.


The writers of the UNESCO document, Rethinking education: Towards a global common good? challenge educators to address their efforts to meet the current threats to sustainable life for all who share this planet. One way that higher education has been attempting to do this is through campus-community partnerships working to solve social problems locally or further afield. In this exploratory study, answers were sought to the question of why faculty members and administrators participate in these service partnerships, both in terms of what motivates them to do so and what they hope to accomplish, and how cultural context may influence their answers. Answers to these questions may have implications for faculty recruitment and support and for curriculum design and student preparation for serving the common good as well as for the larger vision of how institutions might fulfill their social responsibility. Using one-on-one semi-structured interviews in a number of different countries, some trends could be identified. Responding to a sense of duty was found across all cultural contexts as a primary motivator for faculty members and administrators, but how duty was interpreted and legitimized depended on their various religious and political grounds. Cultural context also influenced whether participants saw their impact as empowering their service partners or establishing social justice.


All children who reach the legal age of required school attendance are entitled to an appropriate education in the least restrictive environment.1'2 Most communities offer some form of "school readiness testing" to screen for children with special educational needs, and most schools do this appropriately. However, readiness testing can vary greatly in its sophistication, and can easily be incorrectly applied and interpreted. When instruments and procedures designed for screening are used for diagnostic purposes,3 or when tests are administered by individuals who have a limited perspective on the variations of normal development, or when staff with little formal training in test administration perform the screening, children can be wrongly identified and their education jeopardized. For these reasons, the use of readiness testing that is designed for screening should not be used to make placement decisions. No child should be excluded from school, placed in a special education setting, or provided with special educational services on the basis of such testing. The decision that a child will require special educational services for developmental problems should be based upon the analysis of data obtained from individually administered, standardized developmental tests completed by qualified professionals with experience working with children of this age.4 Such professionals include child psychologists, speech and language pathologists, special education diagnosticians, and pediatricians who have expertise in early childhood development. Special educational placement or services for developmental problems in the preschool and kindergarten years should be recommended only when appropriately administered developmental assessments clearly document significant developmental delays or serious emotional or behavioral problems.5 Because normal development is highly variable during the kindergarten and 1st grade years, school programs should be flexible and adaptable to each child's individual characteristics.69 The following principles are important:


This paper proposes a closed-form method to evaluate wind turbine system reliability and associated failure consequences. Monte Carlo simulation, a widely used approach for system reliability assessment, usually requires large numbers of computational experiments, while existing analytical methods are limited to simple system event configurations with a focus on average values of reliability metrics. By analyzing a wind turbine system and its components in a combinatorial yet computationally efficient form, the proposed approach provides an entire probability distribution of system failure that contains all possible configurations of component failure and survival events. The approach is also capable of handling unique component attributes such as downtime and repair cost needed for risk estimations, and enables sensitivity analysis for quantifying the criticality of individual components to wind turbine system reliability. Applications of the technique are illustrated by assessing the reliability of a 12-subassembly turbine system. In addition, component downtimes and repair costs of components are embedded in the formulation to compute expected annual wind turbine unavailability and repair cost probabilities, and component importance metrics useful for maintenance planning and research prioritization. Furthermore, this paper introduces a recursive solution to closed-form method and applies this to a 45-component turbine system. The proposed approach proves to be computationally efficient and yields vital reliability information that could be readily used by wind farm stakeholders for decision making and risk management.


As the International Law Association highlights "[power] entails accountability, that is the duty to account for its exercise." Against this background, the article focuses on the question of accountability of the European Union (EU) border agency Frontex for potential human rights violations that may occur in the course of its operations. The article aims to challenge the Frontex' stance that solely states would bear responsibility for any wrongful act. Rather, it is argued here, Frontex may incur responsibility, alongside a wrongdoing state. Shared responsibility or responsibility for complicity that may arise in such circumstances would reflect intertwined acts and powers of various actors involved in Frontex' operations.


Internet intermediaries - service providers, Web hosting companies, Internet backbone providers, online marketplaces, and search engines - process hundreds of millions of data transfers every day, and host or link to literally tens of billions of items of third party content. Some of this content is illegal. In the last 12 years, both Congress and the courts have concluded that Internet intermediaries should not be liable for a wide range of content posted or sent through their systems by another. The reasoning behind these immunities is impeccable: if Internet intermediaries were liable every time someone posted problematic content on the Internet, the resulting threat of liability and effort at rights clearance would debilitate the Internet.While the logic of some sort of safe harbor for Internet intermediaries is clear, the actual content of those safe harbors is not. Rather, the safe harbors actually in place are a confusing and illogical patchwork. For some claims, the safe harbors are absolute. For others, they preclude damages liability but not injunctive relief. For still others they are dependent on the implementation of a "notice and takedown" system. And for at least a few types of claims, there is no safe harbor at all. This patchwork makes no sense. In this article, I suggest that it be replaced with a uniform safe harbor rule. A single, rationally designed safe harbor based on the trademark model would not only permit plaintiffs the relief they need while protecting Internet intermediaries from unreasonable liability, but would also serve as a much needed model for the rest of the world, which has yet to understand the importance of intermediaries to a vibrant Internet.


ABSTRACT
 Eastern cicada killer wasps (Sphecius speciosus Drury) mass-provision underground nest burrows with cicadas they capture and paralyze in nearby trees. We studied provisioning by female cicada killers at 2 aggregations in north Florida where a variety of cicada species, with a large range in body size, are used as prey. We captured and measured samples of male and female wasps and we uniquely marked samples of females. We measured and identified paralyzed cicadas that we retrieved from females as they were provisioning their nests. We compared the body sizes of male and female wasps, and cicada prey, between locations. The mean body sizes of male wasps, female wasps, and cicadas from the St. Johns site were much larger than those from the Newberry site. We determined the relationship between the size of individual female wasps and the size of their prey at both locations. Previous studies had concluded that cicada killer hunting is opportunistic, with females provisioning their nests with cicadas of different sex, species, and size in proportion to their relative abundance in the environment. However, we found that individual female cicada killers at these locations exhibited prey specificity by size. Small wasps brought only small cicadas to their nests, as they are likely constrained from carrying large cicadas in flight. Large wasps, not similarly constrained, rarely provisioned with small cicadas. The wasps appear to selectively hunt the largest prey they can carry in flight. Evidence suggests that the cicadas retrieved from wasps at the Newberry site were smaller because small female wasps predominate there, and not because there is a difference in the body size distributions of the cicadas between the 2 local environments.


We study how bundling affects competition between two asymmetric multi-product firms. One firm dominates the other in that it produces better products more efficiently. For low (high) levels of dominance, bundling intensifies (relaxes) price competition and lowers (raises) both firms' profits. For intermediate dominance levels, bundling increases the dominant firm's market share substantially, thereby raising its profit while reducing its rival's profit. Hence, the threat to bundle is then a credible foreclosure strategy. We also identify circumstances in which a firm that dominates only in some markets can profitably leverage its dominance to other markets by tying all its products. (JEL D43, K21, L13, L41)


Ethylene promotes root hair development in many higher plants. Recently the role of ethylene has been investigated in Arabidopsis because of the range of genetic resources available in this species. Root hairs in the Arabidopsis root form on specialized epidermal cells (trichoblasts) located in the cleft between underlying cortical cells. Hairless epidermal cells develop from atrichoblasts that are located over single cortical cells. Ethylene not only promotes root hair outgrowth but also causes cells that are normally hairless to form root hairs. This suggests that ethylene may play a dual function in the formation of root hairs. Firstly it may play a role in hair initiation and secondly may be required for the elongation of hairs. Alternatively it may suggest that these are two parts of the same process.


Bioenergy is new and renewable alternative energy which is currently developed enthusiastically. Bioenergy could be produced by catalytic cracking method, which is cracking carbon chain to raise energy fraction. This paper observes potential non-food bioenergy of cashew nut shell liquid as an alternative bioenergy source using catalytic cracking method. The effect of impregnated-metals Nikel and Molibdenum catalyst used in hydrocracking of Cashew Nut Shell Liquid (CNSL) into bioenergy was investigated. It focused specifically on two type of natural activated zeolite catalysts: NiO and NiOMoO at temperature reaction of 450 o C and ratio feed catalyst of 2 and 4. Catalysts characterization was conducted according to a gravimetric method to determine acidity of catalyst; Spectroscopy FT-IR analysis to get distribution of active site catalyst; X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis to observe crystalinity of catalyst; and Gas Sorption Analyzer (GSA) to measure surface area, porosity and total of pore volume. Bioenergy of CNSL in the liquid-phase, which were predominantly by gasoline, diesel oil, and heavy oil, was further analyzed using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) to determine the compound energy fraction qualitatively and quantitatively. The result showed that the NiOMoO (natural activated zeolite) provided an optimal performance with liquid product conversion was about 65-75%, and selectivity gasoline as well as diesel fraction was about 37-47% and 22-31%, respectively.


Lucian's Alexander the False Prophet is the only literary testimony to a highly influential cult of the 'New Asclepios Glycon' which, as archaeological evidence continues to document, spread all over the eastern Mediterranean basin throughout the second and third centuries AD. This book offers an analysis of the complete manuscript tradition, a newly constituted text and a German translation. The extensive introduction deals with (1) the archaeological evidence, (2) the question of Lucian's historical reliability, (3) the reasons for Lucian's opposition to the oracle of Abonuteichos, (4) the institutions and the teaching of the cult at Abonuteichos. Furthermore, there is a commentary on all philological and historical questions and on those issues relevant to the history of religions. Lucian's Alexander is not one of his satirical bravuras, but a strikingly successful attempt at writing a work of contemporary history - a practical example of what the author himself has theoretically discussed in his work, How to Write History.


Decades of research have provided the scientific foundation for understanding the role of the environment in disease. For many pollutants, scientists know with some certainty that exposure to these pollutants, at sufficiently high concentrations; can cause a variety of health effects. For other pollutants, where scientific evidence is less conclusive, scientists can only establish an "association" between exposure and health problems. Some effects on health may be short-term and reversible, such as irritated eyes from smog. Other effects, such as emphysema, heart disease, and cancer are chronic or even fatal. Some effects may appear shortly after exposure. Others, such as cancer, may require a long lead time before the disease appears. In many cases, pollution likely is just one of several factors—including diet, exercise, alcohol consumption, and genetic make-up—that influence whether an exposed person will ever become sick. Further complicating the picture is the fact that several segments of the population may be at higher risk for damage or disease from environmental pollutants. Potentially sensitive groups include children; older Americans; people with existing health problems such as diabetes, respiratory disease, or heart disease; and persons with compromised immune systems, including those who have HIV/AIDS or are undergoing cancer chemotherapy. Many studies in people have demonstrated an association between environmental exposure and certain diseases or other health problems. Examples include radon and lung cancer; and cancer arsenic in several organs; lead and nervous system disorders; disease-causing bacteria such as E. coli O157: H7 (e.g., in contaminated meat and water) and gastrointestinal illness and death; and particulate matter and aggravation of heart and respiratory diseases. The effect of some pollutants is suggested to study their effects on the environment of Erbil City.


Using data from the European Central Bank's Survey of Professional Forecasters, we analyze the role of ex-ante conditioning variables for macroeconomic forecasts. In particular, we test to which extent the heterogeneity, updating and ex-post performance of predictions for inflation, real GDP growth and the unemployment rate are related to assumptions about future oil prices, exchange rates, interest rates and wage growth. Our findings indicate that inflation forecasts are closely associated with oil price expectations, whereas expected interest rates are used primarily to predict output growth and unemployment. Expectations about exchange rates and wage growth also matter for macroeconomic forecasts, albeit less so than oil prices and interest rates. We show that survey participants can considerably improve forecast accuracy for macroeconomic outcomes by reducing prediction errors for external conditions. Our results contribute to a better understanding of the expectation formation process of experts.


Multi-contrast magnetic particle imaging (MPI) enables the determination of different contrasts in addition to the particle concentration. For instance it is possible to discriminate multiple tracer types that differ e.g. in the particle core size. One challenge of multi-contrast MPI is that the reconstruction problem is severely ill-posed such that in practice a perfect separation of different tracer types is not achieved. In this work, we develop a method for improving the channel separation and in turn prevent leakage from one channel into the other. Our approach exploits sparsity in both the spatial and the channel dimension. By developing a tailor regularization approach for improved multi-contrast reconstruction, we show that it is possible to significantly reduce signal leakage.

Int. J. Mag. Part. Imag. 6(2), Suppl. 1, 2020, Article ID: 2009052, DOI: 10.18416/IJMPI.2020.2009052


Web syndication has become a popular means of delivering relevant information to people online but the complexity of standards, algorithms and applications pose considerable challenges to engineers. This paper describes the design and development of a novel Web-based syndication intermediary called InterSynd and a simple Web client as a proof of concept. We developed format-neutral middleware that sits between content sources and the user. Additional objectives were to add feed discovery and recommendation components to the intermediary. A search-based feed discovery module helps users find relevant feed sources. Implicit collaborative recommendations of new feeds are also made to the user. The syndication software built uses open standard XML technologies and the free open source libraries. Extensibility and re-configurability were explicit goals. The experience shows that a modular architecture can combine open source modules to build state-of-the-art syndication middleware and applications. The data produced by software metrics indicate the high degree of modularity retained.


INTRODUCTION: In the present study, we aimed to outline the overall practice profile of plastic surgeons in the state of Parana. It represents an initial project that aimed not to provide generalizations but to understand how plastic surgeons think and their professional aspirations, goals, and performance. METHODS: A survey was conducted using a questionnaire consisting of 37 multiple-choice questions, mostly focusing on the current job market for plastic surgeons. The link to the online questionnaire was e-mailed to 263 members of the Brazilian Society of Plastic Surgery-Regional Parana (SBCP-PR), which was also accessible via the SBCP-PR website, through a banner on its home page. The overall time to complete the questionnaire ranged from 3 to 5 minutes. RESULTS: The response rate was 40.5%. Most interviewees operated only in one city, and more than half provided services only through health-care insurance plans and private practice. Half of the participants considered the market as extremely competitive and searched for several alternatives for self-maintenance, including increasing installment payment terms, lowering prices, and working at other locations. A significant proportion of the respondents believed that they lost more than 30 patients owing to pricing in the previous year and performed 10-20 surgeries per month on average. Most of the surgeons did not operate with an auxiliary plastic surgeon because this would increase their operational cost or because technologists could perform this function. Most participants believe that the number of trained residents in the state of Parana is excessive. CONCLUSIONS: In Parana, plastic surgeons are concerned about the job market and therefore search for alternatives to remain competitive.


Mill's discussion of 'the internal sanction' in chapter III of Utilitarianism does not do justice to his understanding of internal sanctions; it omits some important points and obscures others. I offer an account of this portion of his moral psychology of motivation which brings out its subtleties and complexities. I show that he recognizes the importance of internal sanctions as sources of motives to develop and perfect our characters, as well as of motives to do our duty, and I examine in some detail the various ways in which these sanctions give rise to motivating desires and aversions.


We introduce a novel method for computing the earth mover's distance (EMD) between probability distributions on a discrete surface. Rather than using a large linear program with a quadratic number of variables, we apply the theory of optimal transportation and pass to a dual differential formulation with linear scaling. After discretization using finite elements (FEM) and development of an accompanying optimization method, we apply our new EMD to problems in graphics and geometry processing. In particular, we uncover a class of smooth distances on a surface transitioning from a purely spectral distance to the geodesic distance between points; these distances also can be extended to the volume inside and outside the surface. A number of additional applications of our machinery to geometry problems in graphics are presented.


In this paper we present our research on the optimisation of a deep neural network for 3D object detection in a point cloud. Techniques like quantisation and pruning available in the Brevitas and PyTorch tools were used. We performed the experiments for the PointPillars network, which offers a reasonable compromise between detection accuracy and calculation complexity. The aim of this work was to propose a variant of the network which we will ultimately implement in an FPGA device. This will allow for real-time LiDAR data processing with low energy consumption. The obtained results indicate that even a significant quantisation from 32-bit floating point to 2-bit integer in the main part of the algorithm, results in 5%-9% decrease of the detection accuracy, while allowing for almost a 16-fold reduction in size of the model.


Intermediate filament proteins have been used to diagnose the origin of specific cells. Classically, vimentin is found in mesenchymal cells, and keratins are present in epithelial cells. However, recent evidence suggests that the coexpression of these phenotype-specific proteins augments tumor cell motility, and hence, metastasis. In the present study, we used the mouse L-cell model to determine if a direct correlation exists between the expression of additional keratins in these cells, which normally express only vimentin, and their migratory ability. Mouse L cells were transfected with human keratins 8, 18, and both 8 and 18. The results indicate that the cells expressing complete keratin filaments have a higher migratory and invasive ability (through extracellular matrix-coated filters) compared with the parental and control-transfected clones. Furthermore, there is an enrichment of keratin-positive cells from a heterogeneous population of L clones selected over serial migrations. This migratory activity was directly correlated with the spreading ability of the cells on Matrigel matrix, in which the keratin-positive transfectants maintain a round morphology for a longer duration, compared with the other L-cell populations. Collectively, these data suggest that keratins may play an important role(s) in migration, through a special interaction with the extracellular environment, thereby influencing cell shape.


Physical Activity Behaviors of Prehypertensive and Stage I Hypertensive African American Women Hope Jackson University of Nebraska Medical Center, 2015 Advisor: Bernice C. Yates, PhD The purpose of this study was to describe the physical activity (PA) behaviors and PA biomarkers of prehypertensive and stage I hypertensive African American women (AAW) and to examine the relationships between PA and personal factors and selected behavior-specific influences (perceived barriers to and interpersonal support for PA). Pender's Health Promotion Model was the conceptual framework for the study. A cross sectional design and convenience sample were used. Personal factors examined were: systolic and diastolic blood pressure [BP], body mass index [BMI], and waist circumference. Other variables measured were: International Physical Activity Questionnaire, 400 meter walk test, Borg perceived exertion rating, Exercise Barriers scales, and Family and Friend Positive and Negative Support for PA. Women (n=47) were, on average, 49 (+14; 23-71) years of age, single, not working or retired, had some college education, annual incomes < $20,000, obese, and had a waist circumference of 39 inches. Spearman correlations were used to examine relationships among the variables; and effect sizes were used to interpret the correlations obtained (small = 0.10, medium = 0.30, and large = 0.50). The activity domain where the greatest amount of effort (MET min/week) was spent was in work-related activity (M=1791+3042.6), household activity (M=588.4+180), leisure-time activity (M=583.3+198), and transportation activity (487.6+882). BP was not consistently related to PA behaviors or biomarkers. Greater BMI was related to greater work and leisure time activity, less transportation and household activity, more time to complete the 400-meter walk test, and a greater perceived exertion. Greater waist circumference was related to less


Niall Shanks, the Curtis D. Gridley Distinguished Professor in the History and Philosophy of Science at Wichita State University, held a joint appointment with the departments of History and Philosophy. He died July 13, 2011, after a long illness. Shanks was the first Gridley Distinguished professor at WSU, and taught courses on science and technology for the History Department. Born in England, Professor Shanks received a B.A. (Hons.) in Philosophy from the University of Leeds in 1979, an M. Phil. in Philosophy from the University of Liverpool in 1981, and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Alberta in 1987. Shanks authored several books and numerous articles on the history and philosophy of science, including "God, the Devil, and Darwin: A Critique of Intelligent Design Theory." Shanks' most recent book (co-authored with Ray Greek, MD) was "Animal Models in the Light of Evolution." He was also in demand as an authoritative public lecturer on topics regarding biological science and history, and was lauded for his wit as well as his expertise. At the time of his death, Shanks' research interests were focused on evolutionary biology and its implications for medical theory and practice from the standpoint of history of science and of research methodology. Shanks was the Vice-President of the Americans for Medical Advancement and a former president of the Southwest and Rocky Mountain Division of the American Association for the Advancement of Science ("Remembering Niall Shanks" , Department of History)


Typical neuroleptic drugs elicit their antipsychotic effects mainly by acting as antagonists at dopamine D2 receptors. Much of this activity is thought to occur in the cerebral cortex, where D2 receptors are found largely in inhibitory GABAergic neurons. Here we confirm this localization at the electron microscopic level, but additionally show that a subset of cortical interneurons with low or undetectable expression of D2 receptor isoforms are surrounded by astrocytic processes that strongly express D2 receptors. Ligand binding of isolated astrocyte preparations indicate that cortical astroglia account for approximately one-third of the total D2 receptor binding sites in the cortex, a proportion that we found conserved among rodent, monkey, and human tissues. Further, we show that the D2 receptor-specific agonist, quinpirole, can induce Ca(2+) elevation in isolated cortical astrocytes in a pharmacologically reversible manner, thus implicating this receptor in the signaling mechanisms by which astrocytes communicate with each other as well as with neurons. The discovery of D2 receptors in astrocytes with a selective anatomical relationship to interneurons represents a neuron/glia substrate for cortical dopamine action in the adult cerebral cortex and a previously unrecognized site of action for antipsychotic drugs with affinities at the D2 receptor.


Circular RNAs have been observed in a large number of species and tissues and are now recognized as a clear component of the transcriptome. Our study takes advantage of functional datasets produced within the FAANG consortium to investigate the pervasiveness of circular RNA transcription in farm animals. We describe here the circular transcriptional landscape in pig, sheep and bovine testicular, muscular and liver tissues using total 66 RNA-seq datasets. After an exhaustive detection of circular RNAs, we propose an annotation of exonic, intronic and sub-exonic circRNAs and comparative analyses of circRNA content to evaluate the variability between individuals, tissues and species. Despite technical bias due to the various origins of the datasets, we were able to characterize some features (i) (ruminant) liver contains more exonic circRNAs than muscle (ii) in testis, the number of exonic circRNAs seems associated with the sexual maturity of the animal. (iii) a particular class of circRNAs, sub-exonic circRNAs, are produced by a large variety of multi-exonic genes (protein-coding genes, long non-coding RNAs and pseudogenes) and mono-exonic genes (protein-coding genes from mitochondrial genome and small non-coding genes). Moreover, for multi-exonic genes there seems to be a relationship between the sub-exonic circRNAs transcription level and the linear transcription level. Finally, sub-exonic circRNAs produced by mono-exonic genes (mitochondrial protein-coding genes, ribozyme, and sno) exhibit a particular behavior. Caution has to be taken regarding the interpretation of the unannotated circRNA proportion in a given tissue/species: clusters of circRNAs without annotation were characterized in genomic regions with annotation and/or assembly problems of the respective animal genomes. This study highlights the importance of improving genome annotation to better consider candidate circRNAs and to better understand the circular transcriptome. Furthermore, it emphasizes the need for considering the relative "weight" of circRNAs/parent genes for comparative analyses of several circular transcriptomes. Although there are points of agreement in the circular transcriptome of the same tissue in two species, it will be not possible to do without the characterization of it in both species.


In this research we try to provide an architecture
that allows the orchestration of objects that are part of the
Internet of things creating business processes. Internet of Things
is still in full development; this implies that there is a lack of
standards for its proper implementation. Among these gaps is for
example the technology used to allow objects to connect to the
network, since there are several options but none seems to end
imposed that is why this work try to provide architecture that
imposes an alternative solution to this problem. However, it is
difficult to provide a common solution to all the objects used in
everyday life because of its great diversity, it requires us to
classify them and thus create an appropriate architecture for each
of the types These architectures are designed to facilitate the
devices orchestration in a similar way as is currently done with
web services enabling business process modeling.


Children with autism jeopardize themselves and others when the Mountain Brook Fire Department performed fire drills. The purpose of this research was to develop an educational program to assist children with autism respond to fire alarm activations. The action research method was used however, it was determined that the Mountain Brook Fire Department could not develop an educational program for children with autism. The research examined the causes of behavioral issues for children with autism and how they respond to external stimuli. How children with autism responded to fire alarms, and the behaviors they exhibited that endangered themselves or others was studied. The techniques used to educate children with autism as well as those used to educate them about fire drills was also part of the research. Parents of children with autism, special education teachers and fire marshals were surveyed for their knowledge and experiences relating to children with autism, their behaviors and responses to external stimuli as well as fire alarms. The most significant issue for children with autism is the loud noise. Children with autism typically suffer from hyperacusis, or sensitivity to sounds. The research points to desensitization as the treatment of choice, along with a variety of educational methodologies to help the children respond correctly to fire alarm activations. These methodologies require individualized planning and implementation by qualified special education teachers or other educational specialists. The Mountain Brook Fire Department will take a more proactive approach to fire drills in the schools, become more familiar with the needs of the students and assist the special education faculty with any fire drill issues that may arise. Further research needs to be conducted to determine the effectiveness of desensitizing in regards to fire alarms and fire drills. Autism and Fire Drills 4


The broad spectrum of problems caused by caring for a patient with mental illness imposes a high burden on family caregivers. This can affect how they cope with their mentally ill family members. Identifying caregivers' experiences of barriers to coping is necessary to develop a program to help them overcome these challenges. This qualitative content analysis study explored barriers impeding family caregivers' ability to cope with their relatives diagnosed with severe mental illness (defined here as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorders, and bipolar affective disorders). Sixteen family caregivers were recruited using purposive sampling and interviewed using a semi-structured in-depth interview method. Data were analyzed by a conventional content analytic approach. Findings consisted of four major categories: the patient's isolation from everyday life, incomplete recovery, lack of support by the mental health care system, and stigmatization. Findings highlight the necessity of providing support for caregivers by the mental health care delivery service system.


Description The Bible is both the inspired word of God for his people, whether in biblical times or for the church today, and a fully human book, written in a variety of cultural settings. The Apollos Old Testament Commentary aims to take with equal seriousness the divine and human aspects of Scripture. This volume by Daniel J. Estes and Daniel C. Fredericks expounds the books of Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs in a scholarly manner, and it shows the relevance of these important books to today's readers. Edited by David W. Baker and Gordon J. Wenham, these commentaries are intended primarily to serve the needs of those who preach from the Old Testament, but is equally suitable for use by scholars and all serious students of the Bible.


Objective: Randomised clinical trials have demonstrated that rofecoxib has a better gastrointestinal tolerability profile than conventional nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in osteoarthritis, which results in a reduced utilisation of gastroprotective agents (GPA). The aim of this study was to estimate, from the national healthcare system perspective, the total drug costs in patients switched from NSAIDs plus GPAs to rofecoxib. Design: In this longitudinal, observational study, drug prescriptions for symptomatic treatment of osteoarthritis were recorded. A decision tree was used to compare the mean daily drug cost of the following therapeutic options for ostheoarthritis: conventional NSAIDs and rofecoxib/conventional NSAIDs. Setting: Azienda Unita Sanitaria Locale 110, Ravenna, Italy. Patients: 56,827 patients affected by osteoarthritis were monitored from January 1997 to December 1999. Of this group, we considered the first 2,935 patients who were examined by 21 General Practitioners in the period July 2000-October 2000, in order to point out changes in GPAs co-prescription after the introduction of rofecoxib in the Italian market. Interventions: Alternative treatments compared were: NSAIDs either alone or combined with GPAs (NSAIDs option), and just after the introduction of rofecoxib, NSAIDs or rofecoxib alone and NSAIDs or rofecoxib combined with GPAs (rofecoxib/NSAIDs option). Main outcome measures and results: 27,511 out of 56,827 patients (48.4%; IC 95%: 48.0-48.8%) treated with NSAIDs also received a GPA co-medication. In the aforementioned subgroup of 2,935 patients, 1,814 (62%) received multiple prescriptions of NSAIDs or rofecoxib. In this subgroup, rofecoxib was associated with a statistically significant reduction of GPAs utilisation of 58.8% (IC 95%: 30.7-80.1; p = 0.012) compared with what was recorded during treatment with NSAIDs. In fact, the mean daily cost per patient of the NSAIDs option was € 1.66 versus € 1.55 of the rofecoxib/NSAIDs option (6.6% lower). Conclusions: Our preliminary results suggest that the use of rofecoxib is associated with cost savings in terms of total drug costs compared with conventional NSAIDs.


Domain adaptation framework of GANs has achieved great progress in recent years as a main successful approach of training contemporary GANs in the case of very limited training data. In this work, we significantly improve this framework by proposing an extremely compact parameter space for fine-tuning the generator. We introduce a novel domain-modulation technique that allows to optimize only 6 thousand-dimensional vector instead of 30 million weights of StyleGAN2 to adapt to a target domain. We apply this parameterization to the state-of-art domain adaptation methods and show that it has almost the same expressiveness as the full parameter space. Additionally, we propose a new regularization loss that considerably enhances the diversity of the fine-tuned generator. Inspired by the reduction in the size of the optimizing parameter space we consider the problem of multi-domain adaptation of GANs, i.e. setting when the same model can adapt to several domains depending on the input query. We propose the HyperDomainNet that is a hypernetwork that predicts our parameterization given the target domain. We empirically confirm that it can successfully learn a number of domains at once and may even generalize to unseen domains. Source code can be found at https://github.com/MACderRu/HyperDomainNet


BACKGROUND
The multidrug transporter P-glycoprotein (PGP) is expressed in the human placenta. In particular the C3435T ABCB1 polymorphism was associated with altered tissue expression of PGP in the human placenta. However, the potential functional impact of this polymorphism on the offspring is unknown so far.

METHODS
We analyzed the impact of the ABCB1/C3435T polymorphism on fetal growth in 262 mother/child pairs. Fetal growth was assessed by differential ultrasound examination of the fetal body prior to birth and by measuring birth weight.

RESULTS
The maternal ABCB1/C3435T polymorphism showed no trend for an association with birth weight or any ultrasound parameter describing late gestational fetal body shape. Genotyping the newborns, however, demonstrated that newborns carrying two copies of the T allele had a birth weight of 3176.39 g, whereas CT and CC newborns had a birth weight of 3345.04 g (p = 0.022). Adjusting for gestational age at delivery, child's gender, maternal BMI, maternal age and body weight at delivery confirmed this finding (p = 0.009). Considering gestational day of late ultrasound examination, gestational age at delivery, child's gender, maternal BMI, maternal age and maternal body weight at delivery, the fetal ABCB1/C3435T genotype revealed likewise a significant negative correlation with abdominal diameter and abdominal circumference (R2 = 0.538, p = 0.010 and R2 = 0.534, p = 0.005, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS
Low birth weight may be a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases in later life. The fetal ABCB1/C3435T gene polymorphism may contribute to this risk. Since PGP controls transport of various biological agents, we suggest that PGP is involved in the transport of biological agents to the fetus that are important for normal fetal growth.


The impact of off-road equipment on flexible and granular pavements was evaluated through a combination of field testing program and theoretical modeling. The pavement damage caused by Terragators, grain carts, scrapers, and tracked tractors was evaluated relative to the damage caused by 18,000-lb single axle truck. Field test sections were constructed and instrumented to measure strain, pressure, and deflection caused by the loading of off-road equipment on thin and thick flexible pavements, gravel, and blotter roads. The pavement responses were measured during the fall, spring, and summer seasons. The field collected data were used to assess the impact of the various off-road equipment and to validate the 3D-MOVE theoretical model. The validated model was then used to expand the study over the range of typical pavement structures and soil types in South Dakota. Both the field testing program and the theoretical analyses showed that loaded Terragators and loaded grain carts are more damaging than the 18,000-lb single axle truck and the legal limit of 20,000-lb single axle; the empty scraper is significantly more damaging than the 18,000-lb single axle truck and the legal limit of 20,000-lb single axle; while the tracked tractor is less damaging than the 18,000-lb single axle truck. Based on the findings of this research, it was recommended that the loaded Terragators and grain carts should be regulated while the empty scraper should be prohibited from driving over highway pavements.


Abstract. Borderknots is a drawing-performances project that I began in 2013 and through which I "graphically connect" borders of different nature with the help of a rudimentary drawing machine I developed: Inside a wooden box, a tracer produced a line on a paper sheet according to the movements, the accelerations, the vibrations, the shocks which it undergoes. Worn straight from the body or fixed to the door-luggage of a bicycle (Fig. 1), the instrument works as a seismograph recording graphically my journey, including the consequences of meeting the route, a harshness on the ground, a muscular fatigue or a fall. The routes so traveled and fixed on paper are always bound to the crossing of an obstacle or a frontier, real and concrete, political or symbolic, a limiting border physical or invisible, in charge, harmless. At the same time every paper of the project being carved of simple forms linked to the performance to come (in the obstacle to be exceeded), the pen meets then an obstacle in the irregular surface of the sheet of paper itself, too. The way it reacts response to the constraints that impede the flow of movement and reorient impulses of the Borderknots-performances and the border-behaviour in general. The drawing is the capture of an effort, a cartography of a more or less difficult and risky crossing. In its cash demonstration – cross 101 times a barrier (Borderknots - Crossing urban barriers, 2013); cross 28 times the French-German border as fast as possible (Borderknots - Europe round trip, 2013 / Fig. 2); or the relation between the unlimitedness of the obstacle and the simplicity of the obtained drawing (Borderknots - Crossing the Alps 1 and 2, 2014) – this effort sometimes lends to laughter: a certain irony participates unmistakably in the project. The political dimension takes however a more dominant aspect, particularly with the performances consisting in a penetrating into the representations of various countries present in the same city (consulates of Strasbourg / embassies in Brussels, 2013 / Fig. 3). The application of the stamp of every country straight on the drawing being made, is not only a proof of my path, but also outcomes of the negotiations (often difficult) begun in every stage with the various hierarchical authorities of the administrations around the artistic project. The maps thus produced and authenticated by seals, are at first glance abstract, but definitively very official drawings: like generalized visas for freedom of movement. Instead of a borderline, the title "Borderknots" propose making knots. It is to be said a tie, a link, but also a scrawl difficult to undo and representative of the complexity of certain limits. The lines marked by these machines during performances are in this way maps of the experiences of territories: straying, hesitating, starting over, jumping straight, crossing, turning backwards.


This study investigates export pricing decisions and market power for soybeans using a duopoly model. The results from the pricing-to-market approach and residual demand elasticity approach show the soybean export markets are competitive. The continuous increase in world demand results in a positive relationship between export prices and volumes. Replaced with new version of paper 2/13/07.


Electronic communication has caused a substantial change in the way people communicate worldwide. This, in turn, has had a strong impact on the classic approach of law, particularly international law, to various procedures, standards and institutes that were standard for decades with regard to precedents and legal documents. The role and impact of varying global and regional approaches on regulation of the electronic communication in international law is discussed in this article. This article discusses what aspects of electronic communication are currently the focus of global international organisations like the United Nations (UN) and its specialised organisations and regional international organisations such as the European Union (EU) all from the point of view of international law. The situation with the UN has been presented through a Convention that regulates the use of electronic communication in international contracts, while a number of EU regulations that relate to frameworks, networks, services and access to electronic communication are reviewed.


Abstract Significant hormonal changes occur at the time of menopause and this has an impact on all oestrogen-sensitive tissue. The female lower urinary tract (LUT) is no exception. Decreasing levels of oestrogen characteristic of the menopause produce symptomatic, histological and functional changes of the vulva, vagina and lower urinary tract together. Examples of specific urogenital problems include urgency, urinary incontinence and susceptibility to urinary tract infection. Oestrogen therapy works by preventing or reversing urogenital atrophy and provides symptomatic improvement although it may need to be combined with other treatments for certain conditions such as incontinence. Oestrogen therapy requires time to become effective with vaginal preparations probably superior to systemic therapy. Prophylactic oestrogen therapy has not been shown to be clearly of benefit for specific types of urinary incontinence.


Tanzanite is the blue vanadium-bearing variety of zoisite. The only known source of gem-quality tanzanite, to date, is the Merelani area of northeastern Tanzania, a structurally complex region consisting of granulite facies metacarbonate and metasilicate rocks overprinted by amphibolite to greenschist facies retrogression. Gem-quality green grossular garnets, known as tsavorite, are also found in the area, as well as a variety of other rare minerals and gemstones (such as axinite, dravite, fluorapatite, prehnite and tremolite).

The δ18O values of tanzanite, tremolite, tsavorite and kyanite from the Merelani area are all high (average of 19.1, 19.5, 18.5 and 18.7‰, respectively) and are consistent with high-T O-isotope equilibrium, and the minimal involvement of externally derived fluids. The whole-rock δ18O values of graphite-bearing gneisses that host the tanzanite range from 16.8 to 21.6‰, whereas the marbles have somewhat higher values (24.0 and 25.0‰). Graphite-free garnet-bearing gneisses from the Telele Hills, ~33 km south of the mining area, have much lower δ18O values (~7 to 10‰). The high loss on ignition (LOI) values, ~8 weight % and ~10 weight %, of the graphite-bearing gneisses from the mining area do not correlate with CaO or MgO content, which is consistent with the presence of up to 10% graphite with minimal carbonate being present. The average δ13C value of the graphite from the garnet-kyanite gneiss in the mining area is −23.8‰, whereas most of the associated carbonate rocks have δ13C values close to zero. This lack of C-isotope equilibration between the adjacent carbonate and silicate rocks, together with the lack of change in bulk-rock δ18O values at the contact between carbonate and silicate units suggests that the high δ18O value of the graphite-bearing gneiss reflects that of its protolith.

The average δD value of the tanzanite and tremolite is −77 and −27‰, respectively, which is consistent with their formation at in equilibrium with fluids having δD values of −36 and −11‰, respectively, assuming a temperature of formation of ~630°C. High δ18O values calculated for the fluids in equilibrium with tanzanite are consistent with a strongly rock-buffered system and hence a 'metamorphic origin'. Calculated fluid δD values are close to zero, and suggest that the fluid is formation water, ultimately of marine or meteoric origin. The negative δ13C of the graphite and the high δ18O values of the rocks and minerals are consistent with previous suggestions that the protolith of the graphite-bearing gneisses was black shale. The major and trace element compositions of the rocks and minerals are consistent with this hypothesis


Sheared toroidal rotation is found to increase the ideal external kink stability limit, thought to be the ultimate performance limit in fusion tokamaks. However, at rotation speeds approaching a significant fraction of the Alfvén speed, the toroidal rotation shear drives a Kelvin–Helmholtz-like global plasma instability. Optimizing the rotation profile to maximize the pressure before encountering external kink modes, but simultaneously avoiding flow-driven instabilities, can lead to a window of stability that might be attractive for operating future high-performance fusion devices such as a spherical tokamak component test facility.


General SU(2)xSU(2)xU(1) models represent a well-motivated intermediate step towards the unification of the Standard Model gauge groups. Based on a recent global analysis of low-energy and LEP constraints of these models, we perform numerical scans of their various signals at the LHC. We show that total cross sections for lepton and third-generation quark pairs, while experimentally easily accessible, provide individually only partial information about the model realized in Nature. In contrast, correlations of these cross sections in the neutral and charged current channels may well lead to a unique identification.


Six Modernist Moments in Poetry. David Young. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2006. xiv + 175 pp. $29.95 (cloth). "These are six rooms," David Young tells us by way of introduction, "in my gallery of modernist poetry" (ix). Young's latest book, Six Modernist Moments in Poetry, offers readers a stimulating tour of his gallery, featuring the poems of six modernist poets: Rainer Maria Rilke's "The Bowl of Roses," William Butler Yeats's "Among School Children," Wallace Stevens's "Sunday Morning," William Carlos Williams's "January Morning," Marianne Moore's "An Octopus," and Eugenio Montale's "Mediterranean." Young's experience and skills as a poet, translator, and teacher result in an engaging and accessible reading experience for general readers, as well as a thought-provoking analysis for scholars. Young provides a personal rationale for why he selected these six poets and why these six poems. The book, he states, is the "outcome" of an encounter with modern poetry that began for him as a freshman at college when he pulled Stevens's The Auroras of Autumn off a library book shelf. Consequently, the book is the culmination, what Young describes as "composite portrait," of many years of studying, teaching, translating, composing, and loving poetry. His conclusion is this: "the modernist narrative is really many narratives at once and that modernist poetic practice as I understand and value it can best be demonstrated through close attention to six exemplary poems" (ix). He presents each poem in its entirety at the opening of a chapter devoted to its exploration. The inclusion of these poems should be a valued introduction for some readers and a welcomed reentry point for others. Following the poem, Young offers his readers a thorough, clearly written close reading. For the chapters devoted to Rilke and Montale's poems, he provides his own lucid translations which, given his extensive experience in translating their works, further aid the ensuing explications. In his introduction, Young states, "It's my hope that grouping them together and examining them in the company of someone who has spent a lot of time with them will prove a helpful experience for the reader" (x). By reading this book, one undoubtedly will be helped to see the interpretive nuances of each poem. It is as though a master poetic guide leads you through the textual ambiguity helping you to both see and understand the modernist aesthetic. A case in point is his presentation of the final section of Yeats's "Among School Children." He patiently guides readers to the conclusion that contains the "most inconclusive images and its slipperiest language" (38). He convincingly points out: The reader can, for example, decide that the final lines introduce a resounding unity or that they open up a gulf that reveals a crisis of meaning and signification. However, the articulation of such resolutions and chasms is a choice that a reader makes, not a conclusion so firmly built into the poem that no one can argue it or mistake its meaning. (42) Such a comment reminds me of the best teachers I had as a student. In Young's case, he aims to open up interpretive possibilities for his readers, while not foregoing an appreciation and understanding of the language and structure created by the poet. It is not about reducing the poem to a single interpretation, rather it is about illustrating to his readers how the poem plays with language and offers us the possibility to engage it imaginatively. Of the six modernists in Young's book, three of them-Williams, Moore, and Stevens-are Americans who stayed at home to write rather than travel to Europe. Their selection indicates part of Young's purpose for this study. "[l]f modernist art was to be truly valid, applicable to every place and every culture," he argues, "then it could and should be naturalized and practiced on American soil" (xii). Young admits in his introduction that his appreciation for Williams came later, for it took him longer to "hear" the "music. …


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Poor growth is a consequence of CKD, but can often be partially or fully prevented or corrected with the use of a number of medications. The extent of nonadherence with medications used to treat or mitigate growth failure in CKD has not been examined prospectively in children with CKD.

DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS
The prevalence of both prescription of and nonadherence to recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH), phosphate binders, alkali, active vitamin D, nutritional vitamin D, iron, and erythrocyte-stimulating agents was summarized over the first seven visits of the Chronic Kidney Disease in Children cohort study. The association between self-reported nonadherence to each medication group and the mean annual change in age- and sex-specific height z score was quantified using seven separate linear regression models with generalized estimating equations.

RESULTS
Of 834 participants, 597 reported use of at least one of these medication groups and had adherence data available. Nonadherence ranged from 4% over all visits for erythrocyte-stimulating agents to 22% over all visits for nutritional vitamin D. Of the study participants, 451 contributed data to at least one of the analyses of adherence and changes in height z score. Children nonadherent to rhGH had no change in height z score, whereas those adherent to rhGH had a significant improvement of 0.16 SDs (95% confidence interval, 0.05 to 0.27); the effect size was slightly larger and remained significant after adjustment. Among participants with height≤3rd percentile and after adjustment, adherence to rhGH was associated with a 0.33 SD (95% confidence interval, 0.10 to 0.56) greater change in height z score. Nonadherence with other medication groups was not significantly associated with a change in height z score.

CONCLUSIONS
Self-reported nonadherence to rhGH was associated with poorer growth velocity in children with CKD, suggesting an opportunity for intervention and improved patient outcome.


The high performance computing (HPC) scheduling landscape is changing. Increasingly, there are large scientific computations that include high-throughput, data-intensive, and stream-processing compute models. These jobs increase the workload heterogeneity, which presents challenges for classical tightly coupled MPI job oriented HPC schedulers. Thus, it is important to define new analyses methods to understand the heterogeneity of the workload, and its possible effect on the performance of current systems. In this paper, we present a methodology to assess the job heterogeneity in workloads and scheduling queues. We apply the method on the workloads of three current National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) systems in 2014. Finally, we present the results of such analysis, with an observation that heterogeneity might reduce predictability in the jobs' wait time.


The use of well-nested linear context-free rewriting systems has been empirically motivated for modeling of the syntax of languages with discontinuous constituents or relatively free word order. We present a chart-based parsing algorithm that asymptotically improves the known running time upper bound for this class of rewriting systems. Our result is obtained through a linear space construction of a binary normal form for the grammar at hand.


This paper deals with the geographical distribution and habitat preferences of B. trapezoidea , the third most widespread species of the 14 species of Burnupia currently on record in the database of the National Freshwater Snail Collection (NFSC) of South Africa. Although the 121 loci ( 1 / 16 square degrees) from which the 445 samples of B. trapezoidea were collected are much fewer than the number reported for B. capensis , the range of its geographical distribution is almost as widespread as that of B. capensis . The limited distribution of B. trapezoidea in the Limpopo, Northern Cape and Western Cape Provinces can most probably be attributed to the paucity of perennial water bodies in these areas and the fact that Burnupia spp. in general have poor abilities to overcome conditions of desiccation prevalent in these areas. It is therefore not surprising that the majority of samples were collected in perennial rivers and streams. A Random Forest statistical analysis selected water bodies, the presence or absence of marginal and aquatic vegetation, and type of substratum as the most important variables that played a significant role in determining the presence and numbers of specimens of B. trapezoidea in a specific area. In this respect, temperature and turbidity, respectively, played a moderate and minor role. Little is known regarding the conservation status of Burnupia spp, in general, but habitat degradation and climatic warming could be reasons for concern. However, in extensive on-going biodiversity surveys in two rivers and selected tributaries in the North-West Province, many new distribution records of B. trapezoidea are still being created and therefore this species could probably be considered for listing as not endangered. In view of its wide distribution, largely sessile, benthic lifestyle, and ability to bioaccumulate various substances, the feasibility to utilise it as indicator of river ecosystem health in South Africa should be explored. Keywords: Mollusca, Ancylidae, Burnupia trapezoidea , geographical distribution, habitat preferences, conservation status, South Africa


Despite the high cost and meager benefits of United States (US) military bases to the Philippines, some argue that the facilities should not be dismantled. According to this view, the Clark and Subic bases may not be necessary to protect the Philippines, but they do enable the United States, with its vast military power, to protect peace and freedom in other lands. Thus, Filipinos should be willing to host the US bases for the greater good. This paper argues that there are a number of problems with this argument. First, there are very few nations that welcome US military bases, because of the high cost of keeping these bases. Second, the US government refuses to give the Philippine government veto powers over the bases' operations. Third, these bases have been used to provide logistic support in battles against movements that fight for peace and freedom, the very principles that the US supposedly seeks to protect. The US intervention in the conflicts located in the Persian Gulf are supposed to show that US bases on foreign soil are necessary to prevent Third World conflicts from escalating into worldwide catastrophe. However, the intervention of the United States military in what became the Gulf War did not lead to the resolution of the war's underlying causes. Instead, the United States aggravated the human costs of the conflict. Withdrawing the US bases from the Philippines would limit the capacity of the US to intervene in the conflicts in the Persian Gulf, which in turn would enhance peace and justice throughout the world.


This thesis relates to the work of building a mathematical model of the impact of Rabbit Calicivirus Disease (RCD) on the European Rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus, in Australia. After introducing the general biology of rabbits and the immunology of RCD, we build a time-dependent single site model. We construct a single-site population dynamic model with age structure, seasonal birth rate, density dependent regulation of the population size and climatic variability for various regions of Australia. After investigating suitable parameter ranges, we incorporate the disease dynamics through an indirect transmission model based on two different hypotheses which we call the Strong Juvenile hypothesis and the Weak Juvenile hypothesis. These differ in their assumption about Juvenile immunity to the disease. The ecological impact of both hypotheses is tested for both the single site and multiple site (spatial) models. The disease impact is investigated by varying the disease virulence, i.e. a parameter measuring the "strength" of the virus. Subsequently, a multiple site (spatial) model for the Riverina region is built by using the single-site model as building block. Data from Lake Urana is used to parameterize a seasonal emigration rate from each site. Density dependent immigration is added together with a hazard coefficient which rabbits face when leaving one site and trying to become established in another. Acceptance in a new site is regulated by the population density at the entry site. Several spatial configurations of sites are tested and the spatial dynamics of the disease is investigated. Finally, we construct a model to investigate the long term evolution of the disease virus. We postulate the existence of several strains of the disease and trade-offs between disease characteristics. We allow for mutation of the virus and run the model for two contrasting geographical regions of Australia. We compare the results for the different regions and the different hypotheses regarding Juvenile immunity (the Strong Juvenile hypothesis and the Weak Juvenile hypothesis). It is shown, unexpectedly, that intermediate levels of disease virulence are not selected.


"In 1949 Munari designs for the first time a series of "libri illeggibili" (illegible books), which abandon textual communication in behalf of aesthetic function only. Paper is no longer the support of the text only, but it also communicates a message through the format, the colour, the cuts and their successions. The elements that usually set up a book (like the colophon and the title-page) are kept off, and the reading seems the execution of a melody, with always different tones during the sequence of the pages. Dominated by visual rarefaction and materials' experimentation, the production of the "libri illeggibili" has been carried on by Munari all life long. In 1955 some of them have been on display at the MoMA; in its Design Collection are still to see 9 "libri illeggibili". The Libro illeggibile MN 1 was designed by Bruno Munari for our publishing house in the 1984. In the immediate depth of its colours, it has come to its seventh edition." -- Publisher's website.


The industrial solvent N, N-dimethylformamide (DMF) causes liver damage in humans. The hepatotoxicity of N-alkylformamides seems to be linked to their metabolism to N-alkylcarbamic acid thioesters. To clarify the role of metabolism in DMF hepatotoxicity, the metabolic fate of DMF was investigated in rodents. DMF was rapidly metabolised and excreted in the urine as N-hydroxymethyl-N-methyl-formamide (HMMF), N-acetyl-S-(N-methylcarbamoyl) cysteine (AMCC) and a metabolite measured as formamide by GLC. At high doses (0.7 and 7.0mmo1/kg) a small proportion of the dose was excreted unchanged. AMCC, measured by GLC after derivatisation to ethyl N-methylcarbamate, was a minor metabolite. Only 5.2% of the dose (0.1mmo1/kg) in rats or 1.2% in mice was excreted as AMCC. The minor extent of this metabolic pathway in rodents might account for the marginal liver damage induced by DMF in these species. In a collaborative study, volunteers were shown to metabolise DMF to AMCC to a greater extent than rodents. Nearly 15% of the inhaled dose (0.049mmo1/kg) was excreted as AMCC. This result suggests that the metabolic pathway leading to AMCC is more important in humans than in rodents. Consequently the risk associated with exposure to DMF might be higher in humans than in rodents. The metabolism of formamides to S-(N-alkylcarbamoyl) glutathione, the metabolic precursor of the thioester mercapturates, was studied using mouse, rat and human hepatic microsomes. The metabolism of NMF (10mM) to S-(N-methylcarbanoyl)glutathione (SMG) required the presence of GSH, NADPH and air. Generation of S-(N-methyl-carbamoyl)glutathione (SMG) was inhibited when incubations were conducted in an atmosphere of CO:air (1:1) or when SKF 525-A (3.0mM) was included in the incubations. Pre-treatment of mice with phenobarbitone (PB, 80mg/kg for 4 days) or beta-naphthoflavone (BNF, 50mg/kg for 4 days) failed to increase the microsomal formation of SMG from NMF. This result suggests that the oxidation of NMF is catalysed by a cytochrome P-450 isozyme which is unaffected by PB or BNF. Microsomal incubations with DMF (5 or 10mM) failed to generate measurable amounts of SMG although DMF was metabolised to HMMF. Incubations of microsomes with HMMF resulted in the generation of a small amount of SMG which was affected by inhibitors of microsomal enzymes in the same way as in the case of NMF. HMMF was metabolised to AMCC by rodents in vivo. This result suggests that HMMF is a major intermediate in the metabolic activation of DMF.


Recent advances in computational technologies have spurred anxiety about a shift of power from human to machine decision-makers. From prison sentences to loan approvals to college applications, corporate and state actors increasingly lean on machine learning tools (a subset of artificial intelligence) to allocate goods and to assign coercion. Machine-learning tools are perceived to be eclipsing, even extinguishing, human agency in ways that sacrifice important individual interests. An emerging legal response to such worries is a right to a human decision. European law has already embraced the idea in the General Data Protection Regulation. American law, especially in the criminal justice domain, is already moving in the same direction. But no jurisdiction has defined with precision what that right entails, or furnished a clear justification for its creation.

This Article investigates the legal possibilities of a right to a human decision. I first define the conditions of technological plausibility for that right as applied against state action. To understand its technological predicates, I specify the margins along which machine decisions are distinct from human ones. Such technological contextualization enables a nuanced exploration of why, or indeed whether, the gaps that do separate human and machine decisions might have normative import. Based on this technological accounting, I then analyze the normative stakes of a right to a human decision. I consider three potential normative justifications: (a) an appeal to individual interests to participation and reason-giving; (b) worries about the insufficiently reasoned or individuated quality of state action; and (c) arguments based on negative externalities. A careful analysis of these three grounds suggests that there is no general justification for adopting a right to a human decision by the state. Normative concerns about insufficiently reasoned or accurate decisions, which have a particularly powerful hold on the legal imagination, are best addressed in other ways. Similarly, concerns about the ways that algorithmic tools create asymmetries of social power are not parried by a right to a human decision. Indeed, rather than firmly supporting a right to a human decision, available evidence tentatively points toward a countervailing 'right to a well-calibrated machine decision' as ultimately more normatively well- grounded.


This document describes methodologies that have been designed to
improve and facilitate IETF document flow processing. It specifies a
set of procedures under which a working group chair or secretary
serves as the primary Document Shepherd for a document that has been
submitted to the IESG for publication. Before this, the Area Director
responsible for the working group has traditionally filled the
shepherding role. This memo provides information for the Internet
community.


One of the primary differences between humans and other animals is our capacity for high level cognition and the use of language. Historically, AI has understandably focused on duplicating these aspects of human behavior, and selected its architectures accordingly. However, humans are nevertheless social mammals and share a large part of the mammalian behavior repertoire, such as fight, flight, and feed, as well as social behaviors, such as attachment, affiliation, territoriality, and the formation of dominance hierarchies. In this paper, I will argue that for all our unique capabilities, the mammalian behavior hardware (whatever it may be) is still active in humans, and that for applications such as virtual characters for interactive drama, we should begin from architectures based on our commonalities with other social mammals, rather than from our unique capabilities.


OBJECTIVE
To achieve induction and maintenance of remission in ankylosing spondylitis (AS) refractory to nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs with "step-down bridge combination" of 5 immunosuppressants, as an alternative to costly biologic DMARD. Primary endpoints were the percentage of patients achieving ASAS 20 at the end of Year 6; secondary endpoints were patients achieving ASAS 50 and ASAS 70, induction and maintenance of clinical and radiological remission, and the side effects of this combination of immunosuppressive drugs.

METHODS
In a 6-year uncontrolled international open-label prospective study, 54 men and 25 women with AS were enrolled after exclusion criteria were applied. Included patients were treated with individualized combinations of low-dose intravenous methylprednisolone + cyclophosphamide + methotrexate (for the first 6 mo). When erythrocyte sedimentation rate dropped to < or = 20 mm (men < or = 10 mm), low-dose oral mycophenolate mofetil and cyclosporine were prescribed for at least 2 years. Assessments were executed at baseline, Weeks 1 and 2; Months 1, 2, 4, and 6; and Years 1, 2, 4, and 6.

RESULTS
After 15/79 dropouts were accounted for, 64/79 patients achieved ASAS 20, ASAS 50, and ASAS 70. Disease remission occurred in 60/79 at 6 months when IV drugs were tapered. Gastrointestinal side effects were observed in 20/79 patients; no liver, renal, cardiovascular, and hematologic adverse effects were observed.

CONCLUSION
Step-down bridge combination of 5 immunosuppressants achieved ASAS 20, ASAS 50, and ASAS 70 in 64/79 patients, and remission in 60/79 patients with NSAID-refractory AS. Controlled studies are needed to confirm this method, and to study the role of these different drugs in developing countries in Asia, where the majority of patients with NSAID-refractory AS are unable to obtain treatment with tumor necrosis factor-alpha blockers.


Abstract. During the last decade a new field of atmospheric modelling – the chemical weather forecasting (CWF) – is quickly developing and growing. However, in the most of the current studies and publications, this field is considered in a simplified concept of the off-line running chemical transport models with operational numerical weather prediction (NWP) data as a driver. A new concept and methodology considering the chemical weather as two-way interacting meteorological weather and chemical composition of the atmosphere is suggested and discussed. The on-line integration of mesometeorological models and atmospheric aerosol and chemical transport models gives a possibility to utilize all meteorological 3-D fields in the chemical transport model at each time step and to consider feedbacks of air pollution (e.g. urban aerosols) on meteorological processes/climate forcing and then on the atmospheric chemical composition. This very promising way for future atmospheric simulation systems (as a part of and a step to Earth System Modelling) will lead to a new generation of models for meteorological, environmental and chemical weather forecasting. The methodology how to realise the suggested integrated CWF concept is demonstrated on the example of the European Enviro-HIRLAM integrated system. The importance of different feedback mechanisms for CWF is also discussed in the paper.


EACS 2016 Paper No. 157The design of building structures that is capable of providing prescribed seismic performances is the fundamental objective of the Performance-Based Seismic Design (PBSD) approach. Matching a particular seismic response requires additional design freedom that the conventional structural elements (beam/column) fail to provide. Here, it is worth to highlight the role of innovative lateral resisting systems such as base isolation and dissipative systems, which can add flexibility to the design and help to achieve prefixed seismic performance objectives. Among different solutions, the seismic design of a two-storey reinforced concrete building equipped with a novel hysteretic device, namely Crescent-Shaped Brace (CSB), is presented. CSBs are characterised by a unique geometrical configuration, leading to an optimized nonlinear force-displacement behaviour that allows the structure to achieve prescribed multiple seismic performances. In this paper, we propose a procedure for the seismic design of the CSB devices within the framework of PBSD. The global behaviour of the devices is studied and verified for a multi-storey shear-type building structure by means of numerical analyses. The results obtained confirm the validity of the proposed design method and the effectiveness of the new hysteretic device. The force-displacement curve of the building matches the objectives curve (i.e. the one corresponding to the predefined performance objectives), thus ensuring the fulfilment of the prescribed multi-seismic performances.


This Article seeks to develop a frame of reference for comprehending legitimacy structures in emerging global economic governance regimes. To that end, it provides, in contradistinction from positivist and pragmatist approaches, an alternative normative justificatory framework for soft law. As its very name suggests, soft law is a law-like phenomenon, distinct from classical notions of law, yet no less significant, and hence worthy of receiving systematic moral analysis. It is therefore reasonable to draw upon philosophy of law as an intellectual resource for undertaking such a conceptual endeavor. Accordingly, this Article examines philosophical justifications for evolving soft law syndicates that profess to impose obligations on business enterprises and other participants dealing with human rights and sustainability matters. The Article concludes that a naturalistic cosmopolitan jurisprudence that embraces the intrinsic value of rule of law and human rights provides a vital intellectual pathway for surmounting legitimacy gaps in global economic governance.


Mergers and Productivity offers probing analyses of high-profile mergers in a variety of industries. Focusing on specific acquisitions, it illustrates the remarkable range of contingencies involved in any merger attempt. The authors clearly establish each merger's presumed objectives and the potential costs and benefits of the acquisition, and place it within the context of the broader industry. Striking conclusions that emerge from these case studies are that merger and acquisition activities were associated with technological or regulatory shocks, and that a merger's success or failure was dependent upon the acquirer's thorough understanding of the target, its corporate culture, and its workforce and wage structures prior to acquisition. Sifting through a wealth of carefully gathered evidence, these papers capture the richness, the complexity, and the economic intangibles inherent in contemporary merger activity in a way that large-scale studies of mergers cannot.


The late Pliocene (early Villafranchian, MN 16a) locality of Milia (Grevena, Greece) has yielded numerous remains of mammals, such as zygodons, mastodons, rhinocerotids, hipparions, bovids, cervids, suids, carnivorans and tapirs. Several specimens of chelonians have also been discovered and comprise a small testudinid, a geoemydid and a giant tortoise. The presence of a giant tortoise and the presence of a geoemydid with large dimensions are further examples of the trend towards gigantism evidenced by the diverse fauna of Milia. In terms of taxonomic abundance of extinct turtles, this is the richest locality in Greece. The small testudinid is of particular importance because it preserves a posteriorly flared carapace, as in the extant Testudo marginata, but the posterior carapace is much taller and anteroposteriorly shorter. These characters allow us to erect a new species, Testudo brevitesta sp. nov., and to discuss the presence of the marginated tortoise and closely related forms in Greece. The new taxon is analysed in a phylogenetic context within other extant and extinct testudinids, providing new information on the clade Testudona.


The capstone requirement for all kindergarten to grade 12 teacher candidates is the student-teaching experience, and teacher educators must prepare prospective student teachers well for this event. An awareness of characteristics and concerns expressed by prospective student teachers may support teacher educators' efforts to prepare teacher candidates to be effective in the classroom and to learn from the student-teaching experience. Using Q methodology, data from 54 prospective student teachers were collected and analyzed regarding their concerns specifically related to this experience. Four discrete student types emerged, each with distinctive subjective concerns: (a) managing students, (b) managing instruction, (c) making the grade, and (d) managing difference. The authors believe that Q methodology was uniquely beneficial in providing a nuanced and thus potentially valuable picture of teacher- candidates' concerns regarding the student-teaching experience.


When learning a complex task our nervous system self-organizes large groups of neurons into coherent dynamic activity patterns. During this, a cell assembly network with multiple, simultaneously active, and computationally powerful assemblies is formed; a process which is so far not understood. Here we show that the combination of synaptic plasticity with the slower process of synaptic scaling achieves formation of such assembly networks. This type of self-organization allows executing a difficult, six degrees of freedom, manipulation task with a robot where assemblies need to learn computing complex non-linear transforms and – for execution – must cooperate with each other without interference. This mechanism, thus, permits for the first time the guided self-organization of computationally powerful sub-structures in dynamic networks for behavior control.


"An understanding of the desirable and undesirable conditions found in horses, together with a knowledge of their relative values, will enable the purchaser to select a better animal with a considerable saving of time, inconvenience, and expense. A thorough examination for the various forms of blemish, vice, faulty conformation, and unsoundness in a horse is absolutely essential if serviceableness is to be secured, and a definite method of procedure should be adhered to in making the examination, which should correspond to the order in which the various steps most conveniently present themselves." -- title page


The inability of current machines to expose biases induced by programmers and data scientists is leading towards the creation of a new religion, where machines are mystic oracles whose pronouncements have to be believed, and computer users are their servants. This has to change. In this paper we discuss the issues that can raise from biases introduced in autonomous systems, with specific care of the case of machine learning systems, and their impact on our society. In the light of the (current and future) exploitation of autonomous systems for law enforcement and war-fighting, we emphasise the importance of issues related to discrimination and safety. We also support the bold claim that artificial intelligence can help artificial intelligence in overcoming those issues: by enabling artificial intelligence to record every single step that lead to a given inference, and to argue with humans, we can unveil the mystic oracle and trust its services.


Research has consistently demonstrated the benefits of using ePortfolios in higher education and the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) added ePortfolios to its High-Impact Practices list (Watson, Kuh, Rhodes, Light, & Chen, 2016). The majority of studies on college students' ePortfolio use have focused on implementation within a specific course or from a faculty perspective. Given the important benefit of ePortfolios for lifelong student learning, it is important to assess factors which impact intrinsic motivation from a student-centered perspective. This paper details a study of college students' motivation and confidence to use an ePortfolio system as part of a university-wide quality enhancement plan that included high-impact, experiential learning activities. This study also explored college students' personal values and their perceived advantages and disadvantages of ePortfolio use within the context of experiential learning and reflection. Data were analyzed from 339 student responses from a survey constructed based on motivational interviewing. Overall, students reported low levels of motivation and moderate levels of confidence to use ePortfolios. In addition, students who had participated in an experiential learning activity through the university's QEP reported higher confidence than those who had not. Factors identified as potentially impacting students' motivation and confidence to use ePortfolios are discussed in terms of how they can support strategies to implement ePortfolio and experiential learning programs in large, 4-year college institutions.


Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia, leading to memory loss progressive cognitive decline over the course of what can be many years. Mutations in the catalytically active component of the γ-secretase complex, presenilin 1 (PS1), are the most common cause of familial Alzheimer's disease (fAD), a less-prevalent but earlier-onset form of AD. PS1 mutation is associated with more severe lysosomal and autophagic pathologies than are found in sporadic AD; these pathologies may be a result of lysosomal pH dysregulation. The goal of this dissertation was to confirm a role for elevated lysosomal pH in cells from PS1-fAD patients, to investigate the repercussions of this lysosomal dysfunction, and to identify a therapeutic approach by which to restore both pH and lysosomal pathology to normal. Using human skin fibroblasts containing the PS1-fAD mutation A246E, the present work identified a small but significant increase in lysosomal pH in PS1-fAD mutant cells when compared to control fibroblasts. The pH data were supported by a reduction in mature cathepsin D (Cat D) and Cat D active site availability in PS1-fAD cells, as well as by substantial accumulation of autophagic substrates and up-regulation of components of the lysosomal and autophagic degradative systems, both at the mRNA and protein levels. Treatment with cAMP proved restorative, bringing lysosomal pH in PS1-fAD cells back to baseline while having minimal effect on control cells. cAMP increased Cat D active site availability, reduced autophagic backlog, and led both to mTOR phosphorylation and to down-regulation of genes involved in lysosomal function. Interestingly, cAMPinduced pH restoration, as well as Cat D increase and mTOR phosphorylation, was found to be PKAdependent, suggesting a signaling pathway that may serve as a useful target for future treatment, and implicating PKA in the immediate, upstream response to cAMP treatment, and mTOR and gene expression modulation in the downstream response. This treatment proved effective in compromised lysosomes from primary neuronal cultures, as well, supporting the general utility of a cAMP-based approach. Together, these results identify lysosomal pH elevation as an important factor in AD pathology, and suggest several possible targets for future therapeutic investigation. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Neuroscience First Advisor Claire H. Mitchell


We quantified the distribution, abundance and assemblage structure of macrofauna at 22 stations in Gorgan bay, seasonally in 2012-2013. Also, depth, temperature, salinity, DO, TOM and sediment particle size were measured in each station. The highest concentration of TOM was measured near the western littoral zone (10.22) while the mouth part and north-eastern area was characterized by the lowest values (2.65 % and 4.69). A total of 31658 individuals belonging to 12 families and 14 species were identified. Polychaeta with 3 species was the most dominant group in terms of abundance. The four most abundant taxa making up 85% of all specimens were Streblospio gynobranchiata, Tubificidae, Hediste diversicolor and Abra segmentum. The maximum density (7,893 ind/m) was obtained at station 1 while the minimum (1,777 ind/m) was observed at station 16. The western area was characterized by the highest species diversity (H', 1.94) and the stations 10, 8 and 7 were characterized by the lowest diversity indices (H', 0.72, 0.77 and 0.87, respectively). The PCA showed that water parameters with more temporary variations had a greater significance in explaining the system variability, and a not marked but evident difference between the two parts of Gorgan Bay was observed and supported by nmMDS test. So Gorgan Bay presents transitional macrobenthic assemblages that are spatially distributed along substrate gradients but it seems that the coastal ecosystem of the south Caspian Sea and mouth-eastern part of Gorgan Bay is very dynamic and some species are forming a metapopulation toward western sites.