Purpose To gain insight into the experience of family caregivers of demented people with the decision-making regarding institutionalisation, and to develop a guideline for professional caregivers how to ease the transition from home to nursing-home. Theory The (possible) institutionalisation of a relative with dementia has high impact on both the person with dementia and his relatives. As far as we know, there are no evidence-based guidelines for professionals involved in this difficult time. Methods Qualitative interviews were held with 15 family caregivers (eight children, six partners and one other relative) of a person with dementia. Interviews focused on their expectations and needs regarding decision-making and institutionalisation. The audio-recorded interview transcripts were analysed using Atlas-ti. Results Preliminary analyses reveal practical and emotional problems. Before institutionalisation, the decision-making may be hindered by a negative view of nursing-home care, reluctant relatives, or feelings of guilt. Family caregivers often experience mixed feelings and more or less lack support from relatives and friends or from health care professionals throughout the process. Difficulty communicating the institutionalisation to their relative with dementia is another problem. Some relatives totally deny the possibility of institutionalisation. After institutionalisation, family caregivers have to cope with aversive and aggressive behaviours of their relative, loneliness, taking on a new social role, and discussing their concerns about nursing-home care with nursing-home staff. Conclusions A transition programme for people with dementia and their relatives should include timely discussion of the possibility of moving into a nursing-home or a small-scale living facility. Professionals should discuss the choices and support the decision-making of people with dementia and their relatives. After institutionalisation, the client-relative dyad should be supported to give new meaning to their lives, both as a couple and individually.


Progress in the neurosciences is profoundly changing our conception of ourselves. Contrary to time-honored intuition, the mind turns out to be a complex of brain functions. And contrary to the wishful thinking of some philosophers, there is no stemming the revolutionary impact that brain research will have on our understanding of how the mind works. Brain-Wise is the sequel to Patricia Smith Churchland's Neurophilosophy, the book that launched a subfield. In a clear, conversational manner, this book examines old questions about the nature of the mind within the new framework of the brain sciences. What, it asks, is the neurobiological basis of consciousness, the self, and free choice? How does the brain learn about the external world and about its own introspective world? What can neurophilosophy tell us about the basis and significance of religious and moral experiences? Drawing on results from research at the neuronal, neurochemical, system, and whole-brain levels, the book gives an up-to-date perspective on the state of neurophilosophy -- what we know, what we do not know, and where things may go from here.


This work addresses feature size effects (the lag-effect and roughness development) in chemically assisted ion beam etching (CAIBE) etching of InP based photonic crystals. Photonic crystal fields with varying hole size and periods were etched with different etching times. The slope of the etch depth versus diameter curves (lag-curves) reveals a hole size dependence, with a critical aspect ratio higher than 25. A model for the etch rate specific to Ar/Cl2 CAIBE is proposed. We calculate the etch rate using a physico-chemical model which takes in to account the effect of Ar-ion sputtering and surface chemical reactions. In addition, it combines the aspect ratio dependence of the gas conductance of the etched holes. The origin and evolution of the bottom roughness of the etched holes is examined. The impact of the feature size dependence of the etching on the photonic crystal optical properties is then assessed by measuring the quality-factor of one dimensional Fabry Perot cavities using the Internal Light Source method, and discussed in terms of hole shape and depth. A systematic trend between the determined quality factor (Q) and the lag-effect is evidenced: Q decreases from about 250 to 60 when the hole depth drops from 5 μm to 2 μm.


We evaluate the effects of the 2020 student debt moratorium that paused payments for student loan borrowers. Using administrative credit panel data, we show that the payment pause led to a sharp drop in student loan payments and delinquencies for borrowers subject to the debt moratorium, as well as an increase in credit scores. We find a large stimulus effect, as borrowers substitute increased private debt for paused public debt. Comparing borrowers whose loans were frozen with borrowers whose loans were not frozen due to differences in whether the government owned the loans, we show that borrowers used the new liquidity to increase borrowing on credit cards, mortgages, and auto loans rather than avoid delinquencies. The effects are concentrated among borrowers without prior delin-quencies, who saw no change in credit scores, and we see little effects following student loan forgiveness announcements. The results highlight an important complementarity be-tween liquidity and credit, as liquidity increases the demand for credit even as the supply of credit is fixed.


Abstract. Investigation of software projects has shown that requirements analysis is one of the most problematic activities in software development. Textual requirements specifications are difficult to develop, understand, review, and maintain. Graphical modeling is widely recognized as a more effective analysis tool. Software industry has adopted UML (Unified Modeling Language) as de facto standard in software modeling. UML defines a powerful, but also difficult to learn, modeling toolkit: 13 types of diagrams, more than 100 inter-related metaclasses used as modeling concepts, and possibility to define custom extensions. Since UML doesn't define modeling method, practitioners lack guidance on how to apply it efficiently to modeling software requirements, and apply it only fragmentally loosing many benefits that UML provides. In this paper, we present the analysis of modern requirements modeling techniques. Based on analysis results, we discuss how various domain and requirements analysis elements – semantic map of business concepts, lifecycles of business objects, business processes, business rules, system context diagram, use cases and their scenarios, constraints, and user interface prototypes – can be modeled using UML. We propose UML extensions and a practical UML-intensive framework necessary for concise requirements modeling. The application of this framework is demonstrated by modeling a case study – software system for library management – using customized MagicDraw UML environment. Our work is important for practitioners trying to adopt UML for requirements analysis and for scientists working on creating more detailed requirements analysis methods based on UML.


Pulse regulation, a fixed frequency control technique, is introduced and applied to flyback converter operating in discontinuous conduction mode (DCM). The control parameters are designed in a way that the converter operates as close as possible to the critical conduction mode. In contrast to the conventional pulsewidth modulation control scheme, the principal idea of pulse regulation is to achieve output voltage regulation using high and low-power pulses. Pulse regulation is simple, cost effective, and enjoys a fast dynamic response. The proposed technique is applicable to any converter operating in DCM. However, this work mainly focuses on flyback topology. In this paper, the main mathematical concept of the new control algorithm is introduced and simulations as well as experimental results are presented.


16 Published By: Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication © Copyright: All rights reserved. Retrieval Number: K10270741120/2020©BEIESP DOI: 10.35940/ijmh.K1027.0741120 Journal Website: www.ijmh.org Abstract: According to the UN State of the World Population 2007 report, by 2030, 40.76% of India's population is expected to reside in urban areas. This urbanization causing for demands of new housing, industries, commercial establishment and civic infrastructure is putting high pressure on the existing inner-city areas. To solve these issues apart from good planning and design, good governance system, public engagement and empowering citizens play an important role for better city management. To understand the city level issues information about the urban systems to information at a lower scale need to be propelled to the citizens where technology and innovations are the strings linking different sectors. We planners and urban designers are utilizing technology to address the daily works and needs of the people to effectively predict and respond to chronic urban issues to create liveable communities and improving the overall quality of life. Not only provision of good infrastructure and continuous energy supply can make a city liveable but people need to be aware of the facts and the conditions and engage themselves in governance system by giving inputs, ideas and feedback during all the stages of the planning process. The paper will discuss different attributes and components of technology and innovations around the world that has empowered citizens in various sectors for making of better liveable place. This paper is based on the information available in the secondary sources about the application of various citizen engagement platforms such as mobile applications, online mapping tools, tech-enabled solutions, online services, websites, telecommunication system, location-based services and information, etc to enhance urban governance. Through a review of the current relevant literature, observational investigation of publicly opened web portals, applications and tools, this paper systematically highlights some significant findings. The present study suggests technology innovations empowers citizens that enables the entire urban planning process in a more straightforward way for attaining future liveable cities.


The EU Competition Law and its central and so uniform enforcement by the EU Commission and the ECJ have taken the important part in the expansion of the number of companies, business, economic growth, and in the effective functioning of the other EU policies, including the formation of the European Internal Market. With changes of the EC Competition policy and so giving the greater importance to the economic efficiency in assessing the potential breach of the EC Competition Law and, at the same time, the decision of the EU Commission to focus primarily on the hard-core cartels have lead to the, so called, modernization of the EC Competition Law. By enabling national competition authorities and national courts to judge upon actions preventing, restricting or distorting the EC Competition Law, without at the same time considering that the EC Competition policy is not merely a policy of promoting competitiveness and consumer welfare, without considering that the Member States have different attitudes towards which policies should be preserved in the greater extent, without considering that the law regulating the enforcement procedure in the Member States varies, that there is not established the fully cooperation between national courts and national competition authorities in this matter, and that there is not preserved the uniform level of legal certainty and protection of those being injured by anticompetitive practices, the questions that rise up are the following. Where, i.e. in which country, the party injured could sue for damages? Is there possible to bring the tort action on the basis of the principle of the most convenient forum? Is it possible to avoid the situation in which the injuring undertaking could be the party in the proceedings going on in more than one Member State at the same time? How the party claiming damages could efficiently prove the anticompetitive action if the part of it is taking place within another jurisdiction or the evidence of anticompetitive effect is located within the territory of the other Member State(s)? How to solve the situation in which the outcome of the case could differ depending on the country where the proceeding is taking place? How to enforce the final decision in the case where injuring undertaking is performing anticompetitive actions outside the jurisdiction of adjudicative authority causing anticompetitive effects within it? How to enforce the final decision if undertaking's assets are located within the other Member States' jurisdiction or even outside the EU? Without analyzing these issues it is hard to predict if the modernization of the EC Competition Law, in the way proposed by the EU Commission, is such that would contribute to the greater efficiency of its enforcement or would it cause that injuring undertakings would be tempted to move their activities to the jurisdiction with less strict competition policy and its laws not guaranteeing fully efficient private enforcement.


Qualitative research has often been criticised for its lack of rigour. In order to overcome this, measures of trustworthiness, dependability and reliability have been suggested. A study of how pastoralists learn to incorporate sustainable farming systems in the tropical savannas of Australia employed multiple-researchers, working in three States and from a variety of disciplines. To ensure rigour a framework for the study was developed by the researchers prior to commencing interviews. This was followed by regular teleconferences to ensure that the framework was valid and to adjust for any problems encountered along the way. Every interview was analysed independently by all researchers before a workshop was conducted to bring the ideas together. Categories and ideas within the data were synthesised to create an overall understanding of the learning process within the confines of "landcare" in the Tropical Savannas. These processes were undertaken in consultation with the pastoralists and the process has been explicitly documented to enable readers to follow the research process easily. The rigour in this project is shown in the clear documentation of the research process carried out by individual researchers and by the team when it met. The understanding of pastoralists' learning processes is our interpretation; it is up to the reader to decide whether s/he agrees with that interpretation, but from the description of the process it is easy for the reader to see where and why her/his interpretation differs.


We study long run carbon emissions-income relationships for advanced countries grouped in policy relevant groups: North America and Oceania, South Europe, North Europe. By relying on recent advances on Generalized Additive Mixed Models (GAMMs) and adopting interaction models, we handle simultaneously three main econometric issues, named here as functional form bias, heterogeneity bias and omitted time related factors bias, which have been proved to be relevant but have been addressed separately in previous papers. The model incorporates nonlinear effects, eventually heterogeneous across countries, for both income and time. We also handle serial correlation by using autoregressive moving average (ARMA) processes. We find that country-specific time-related factors weight more than income in driving the northern EU Environmental Kuznets. Overall, the countries differ more on their carbon-time relation than on the carbon-income relation which is in almost all cases monotonic positive. Once serial correlation and (heterogeneous) time effects have been accounted for, only three Scandinavian countries - Denmark, Finland and Sweden - present some threshold effect on the CO2-development relation.


Global mean sea level is an integral of changes occurring in the climate system in response to unforced climate variability as well as natural and anthropogenic forcing factors. Its temporal evolution allows detecting changes (e.g., acceleration) in one or more components. Study of the sea level budget provides constraints on missing or poorly known contributions, such as the unsurveyed deep ocean or the still uncertain land water component. In the context of the World Climate Research Programme Grand Challenge entitled "Regional Sea Level and Coastal Impacts", an international effort involving the sea level community worldwide has been recently initiated with the objective of assessing the various data sets used to estimate components of the sea level budget during the altimetry era (1993 to present). These data sets are based on the combination of a broad range of space-based and in situ observations, model estimates and algorithms. Evaluating their quality, quantifying uncertainties and identifying sources of discrepancies between component estimates is extremely useful for various applications in climate research. This effort involves several tens of scientists from about sixty research teams/institutions worldwide (www.wcrp-climate.org/grand-challenges/gc-sea-level). The results presented in this paper are a synthesis of the first assessment performed during 2017-2018. We present estimates of the altimetry-based global mean sea level (average rate of 3.1 +/- 0.3 mm/yr and acceleration of 0.1 mm/yr2 over 1993-present), as well as of the different components of the sea level budget. We further examine closure of the sea level budget, comparing the observed global mean sea level with the sum of components. Ocean thermal expansion, glaciers, Greenland and Antarctica contribute by 42%, 21%, 15% and 8% to the global mean sea level over the 1993-present. We also study the sea level budget over 2005-present, using GRACE-based ocean mass estimates instead of sum of individual mass components. Results show closure of the sea level budget within 0.3 mm/yr. Substantial uncertainty remains for the land water storage component, as shown in examining individual mass contributions to sea level.


Abstract A record number of eight African countries competed at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea despite Africa being regarded as one of the hottest continents in the world. The continent's almost complete lack of snow or ice weather conditions is the most obvious hurdle to African winter Olympic hopefuls. Although athletes from this continent compete successfully at the summer Olympics, very few African countries send teams of athletes to compete at the winter Olympics on a consistent basis. By 2014 less than a quarter of the fifty-four countries in Africa had ever competed at the winter Olympics, yet the history of African countries participating at the winter Olympics dates back almost six decades. The first appearance of an African country at the winter Olympics was at the 1960 games in Squaw Valley, USA, when South Africa participated for the first time. Since 1984, at least one African nation has competed at each subsequent winter Olympics. The lack of climate for winter sports, such as bobsleigh, skiing and snowboarding, limits the level of participation in winter sports. However, globalization and the relatively limited access to tertiary institutions in Africa have brought young African athletes in contact with many forms of winter sport while studying or working abroad, predominantly in the northern hemisphere.


Our perception of life at Monticello has changed dramatically over the past quarter century. The image of an estate presided over by a benevolent Thomas Jefferson has given way to a more complex view of Monticello as a working plantation, the success of which was made possible by the work of slaves. At the center of this transition has been the work of Lucia """"Cinder"""" Stanton, recognized as the leading interpreter of Jefferson's life as a planter and master and of the lives of his slaves and their descendants. This volume represents the first attempt to pull together Stanton's most important writings on slavery at Monticello and beyond. Stanton's pioneering work revealed Jefferson's psychology in crucial ways, deepening our understanding of him without demonizing him. Perhaps even more important is the light her writings have shed on the lives of the slaves at Monticello. Her detailed reconstruction for modern readers of the life of the slave is more than vivid; it reveals an active role in the creation of Monticello and a dynamic community previously unimagined. The essays collected here address Jefferson and the lives of his slaves from a rich variety of perspectives, from family histories (including the Hemingses) to the temporary slave community at Jefferson's White House to stories of former slaves' lives after Monticello. Each piece is characterized by Stanton's deep knowledge of her subject and by her determination to do justice to both Jefferson and his slaves. Preparation of this volume has been supported by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation.


Shelling of groundnut pods using manual decorticators in Kenya is characterized by high kernel breakages and low shelling efficiencies. As a result, farmers get low income due to low cost of broken kernels and a lot of time is lost in the tedious shelling operation. To overcome this problem, pertinent parameters that influence shelling efficiency of manually operated groundnut decorticators were identified. Two manually operated decorticators were tested and modifications done on one of the decorticators to optimize its technical performance. Results of machine performance tests showed that for WBS (Wooden beater sheller) at a feed rate of 30 kg/hr and 22.6 mm clearance, shelling efficiency increased with decrease in moisture content for all the groundnut varieties. The highest shelling efficiency was 55.3% for ICGV 99568, 39.2% for ICRISAT Groundnut Variety (ICGV) 90704 and 29% for ICGV 12991 at moisture content of 5.92% wb. For RBS (Rod beater sheller) at a feed rate of 30 kg/hr and 22.6 mm clearance, the highest shelling efficiency was 58.3% for ICGV 99568, 42.7% for ICGV 90704 and 35% for ICGV 12991 at moisture content of 7% wb. Identification of the pertinent parameters showed that pod moisture content, clearance and sieve size influence performance of manually operated groundnut. Theoretical predictive models developed were optimized which showed that a maximum shelling efficiency of 88.73% can be achieved with percent damage of 4% when the sieve size is 11 mm and clearance is 16 mm with a regression coefficient of over 85%. With the modifications done on the WBS decorticator, the highest shelling efficiency of 87% was obtained at a clearance of 10 mm for ICGV 99568 which is the largest in size from the three varieties. The shelling efficiency of the modified decorticator is far above those of the RBS and WBS because the sieve sizes and clearances of the later were not optimized. The results of the theoretical optimization of the manually operated groundnut decorticator implies that farmers who shell for seeds can now obtain more seeds shelled with low breakage and therefore will get more income.


This article presents a three‐factor anatomical model of human idea generation and creative drive, focusing on interactions between the temporal lobes, frontal lobes, and limbic system. Evidence is drawn from functional imaging, drug studies, and lesion analysis. Temporal lobe changes, as in hypergraphia, often increase idea generation, sometimes at the expense of quality. Frontal lobe deficits may decrease idea generation, in part because of rigid judgments about an idea's worth. These phenomena are clearest in verbal creativity, and roughly parallel the pressured communication of temporal lobe epilepsy, mania, and Wernicke's aphasia—compared to the sparse speech and cognitive inflexibility of depression, Broca's aphasia, and other frontal lobe lesions. The phenomena also shape non‐linguistic creativity, as in that of frontotemporal dementia. The appropriate balance between frontal and temporal activity is mediated by mutually inhibitory corticocortical interactions. Mesolimbic dopamine influences novelty seeking and creative drive. Dopamine agonists and antagonists have opposite effects on goal‐directed behavior and hallucinations. Creative drive is not identical to skill—the latter depends more on neocortical association areas. However, drive correlates better with successful creative output than skill does. Traditional neuroscientific models of creativity, such as the left brain – right brain hemispheric model, emphasize skills primarily, and stress art and musical skill at the expense of language and mathematics. The three‐factor model proposed here predicts findings in a broad range of normal and pathological states and can be tested in many experimental paradigms. J. Comp. Neurol. 493:147–153, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


The present study, although conducted some years ago, still maintains the validity of a contribution towards the methodical discussion of biblical exegesis of that time and today (the debate remains invariably vivacious).The assumption, from which the author departs, is that the biblical text should not be read only in the «classical» way, separating the textual material from its literary identity, but also with a new exegetic approach. This latter approach consists in having a preferential consideration for the literary nature of the biblical text and, consequently, in studying it starting from the criteria offered by modern linguistic-literary sciences. A specimen of such test is the booklet of Osea. Such prophetical work, over and above the many problems foreseen and presented by the historical-critical analysis, offers its own unified editorial configuration, adequately accessible through linguistic criteria, and, particularly, through poetics of the generative processes of a literary text. The historical-critical exegesis is not at all eliminated, but rather receives a lively complement.


This dissertation is a study of heterogeneity and social negotiation during the first period of regional political centralization in the in the lower Rio Verde valley of Pacific coastal Oaxaca, Mexico. Like most other regions of Mesoamerica, the Precolumbian culture history of the lower Verde entailed increasing sociopolitical complexity throughout the Formative Period, resulting in a centralized regional polity by the Terminal Formative Period (150 B.C.--A.D. 250). Looking at heterogeneity and negotiation within this early polity, I argue that negotiation of local community, elite status, and regional political identities was a significant process in creating the specific political formation that developed during the Terminal Formative in the lower Verde. I further argue that the Terminal Formative polity was much more decentralized than traditional approaches to sociopolitical complexity would predict. Maintaining a centralized regional polity required the active consent and participation of local elites living away from the polity center. Local elites, in turn, maintained strong ties to their communities. The evidence suggests that social and political mandates came from below more often than they came from above.


The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has been funding transitional housing, permanent supportive housing, and related supportive services projects for homeless people since 1988, under the authority granted by the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act of 1987 and its subsequent modifications. When HUD began funding these projects under its Supportive Housing Program (SHP) as competitive grants, and later (starting in 1996) through the Continuum of Care (CoC) process, it gave applicants discretion to use HUD homeless funds for whatever mix of eligible activities they preferred. As a result, by 2000, nearly 60 percent of HUD homeless funds were being used by communities for services such as daycare and drug treatment, while the remaining funds were used for housing.


Pitchblende occurs locally along early Tertiary gold-, silver-, and sulfide-bearing quartz veins in the Central City district, Colorado, within the mineral belt of the Front Range. The veins cut a complex mass of Precambrian metamorphic and igneous rocks and early Tertiary intrusive porphyritic rocks.The veins are fissure fillings that formed at intermediate temperatures and pressures. They consist mainly of pyrite, sphalerite, and galena in a quartz gangue, but also contain tennantite, chalcopyrite, enargite, and pitchblende. The veins differ in quantitative mineralogy, and they can be classified as pyrite-type and galena-sphalerite-type veins. Vein filling took place during three stages of mineralization, from oldest to youngest: a uranium stage, a pyrite stage, and a base-metal stage. Major periods of fracturing and vein reopening took place between the vein-forming stages.The pyrite and base-metal stages of mineralization were of broad areal extent and produced a concentric zonal arrangement of the ores in the district. In contrast, the uranium stage of mineralization was local in extent and resulted in scattered clusters of uranium deposits, which show no definite spatial relation to the district-wide zoning pattern.Pitchblende is present in only a few veins. The ore bodies are localized in structurally controlled open spaces along faults. They occur locally along four of the six vein sets of the district, in the form of ore shoots or small lenses and pods that are separated by vein material essentially devoid of uranium. The shoots are small and measure at most a few tens of feet in height and length, and average less than a foot in width; few contain more than 50 tons of ore. Some of the shoots are systematically arranged within the veins but others are erratically distributed.


The presence of male sterile plants in the wild gained the attention of breeders to utilize the trait for hybrid seed production in economically important crops. For scientists, cytoplasmic male sterile (CMS) plants are regarded as an excellent tool to study the genetic interactions between mitochondria and nucleus in flower development. CMS plants can be obtained after sexual crosses between different species of the same family or by somatic hybridisations between unrelated species. The Brassica napus CMS lines investigated in this thesis were obtained after protoplast fusion between B. napus cv. Hanna and Arabidopsis thaliana var. Landsberg erecta. After several backcrosses using B. napus as the male parent, the cells of the CMS lines contain the nucleus and the plastids from B. napus while the mitochondria have a rearranged mitochondrial (mt) DNA between the two species. The vegetative and flower development of the two CMS lines was compared with B. napus. The CMS plants showed a reduced seedling growth. This slower growth rate was present throughout the vegetative development of the CMS plants. They also bolted later than B. napus. However, when fully matured they were of the same size as B. napus. The reduced number of stem cells and its smaller size during the first six weeks of growth seems to be the reason for the shorter stature of the CMS plants. Metabolic studies revealed that the CMS plants had an abnormal starch accumulation with a concomitant reduction of sucrose levels when compared to B. napus. The CMS plants are mainly characterized by the presence of carpelloid structures in the third whorl of the flower, replacing the stamens of B. napus, and by petals reduced in size. Histological and ultrastructural studies made of young flower buds showed that the cell division pattern in the putative whorls two and three was altered. Cells in the CMS lines had divided in several directions instead of the typical anticlinal cell division present in the two first layers of the B. napus young flower bud. The same alterations in cell division patterning were also observed in the vegetative meristem of the CMS lines. In both these two meristematic tissues (vegetative and floral), two mitochondrial populations were found in the CMS lines. One population of mitochondria resembled the B. napus ones at the ultrastructural level but were always smaller in size. The other population showed disrupted inner-membrane systems and the density of the matrix was strongly reduced. In accordance with the disrupted mitochondria, flower tissues from the CMS plants displayed reduced levels of ATP in comparison to B. napus. All the homeotic genes and their upstream genes showed the same expression pattern in young flower buds between the three lines until third whorl organs had differentiated. Even though the pattern was similar, the expression levels of the same genes showed differences between the two CMS lines and B. napus. By the time third whorl organs started to differentiate, BnAP3 and BnPI expression levels were strongly reduced while the upstream genes like BnUFO and BnLFY were up-regulated. This up-regulation suggest that the action of BnUFO and BnLFY is interrupted when activating BnAP3 and BnPI that in turn, seems to reflect a feedback up-regulation mechanism by the nucleus. This feedback regulation can be explained by the fact that the nuclear genes in the CMS cells are not mutated. The transcription of nuclear genes coding for non-functional proteins will then be up-regulated. The hypothesis developed in this study relates the reduced levels of ATP in the flower tissues of the CMS lines with the protein degradation of key proteins necessary for correct flower development and cell division.


This paper investigates the accuracy of rainfall estimates from Cand X-band weather radars and their application for stream flow simulation. Different adjustment procedures are applied to raw radar estimates using gauge readings from a network of 12 raingauges. The stream flow is simulated for the 48.17 km Molenbeek/Parkbeek catchment located in the Flemish region of Belgium based on a lumped conceptual model. Results showed that raw radar estimates can be greatly improved using adjustment procedures. The gauge-radar residuals however, remain large even after adjustments. The adjusted X-band radar estimates are observed to be better estimates than corresponding C-band estimates. Their application for stream flow simulation showed that raingauges and radars can simulate spatially more uniform winter storms with almost the same accuracy, whereas differences are more evident on summer events. doi: 10.2166/hydro.2012.120 s://iwaponline.com/jh/article-pdf/15/4/1121/387101/1121.pdf N. K. Shrestha (corresponding author) T. Goormans P. Willems Hydraulics Laboratory, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com N. K. Shrestha P. Willems Department of Hydrology & Hydraulic Engineering, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium


Often papers are published where the underlying data supporting the research are not made available because of the limitations of making such large data sets publicly and permanently accessible. Even if the raw data are deposited in public archives, the essential analysis intermediaries, scripts or software are frequently not made available, meaning the science is not reproducible. The GigaScience journal is attempting to address this issue with the associated data storage and dissemination portal, the GigaScience database (GigaDB). Here we present the current version of GigaDB and reveal plans for the next generation of improvements. However, most importantly, we are soliciting responses from you, the users, to ensure that future developments are focused on the data storage and dissemination issues that still need resolving. Database URL: http://www.gigadb.org


Rapid urbanisation that is not accompanied by socio-economic development strains the capacity of local and national governments to provide even basic services such as shelter. Informal settlements i.e. settlements not built or developed according to the formal regulations have become a solution to many urban dwellers in developing countries. In Tanzania informal settlements accommodate people from low, middle and high income groups. The study explores the nature of potentials and challenges posed by the existence of mixed socio-economic groups in informal settlements, including an assessment of what can be done to optimise utilisation of potentials and mitigation of conflicts. Using a case study strategy, the study was conducted in Dar es Salaam city focusing on Makongo mixed informal settlement.

The results show that mixed informal settlements are as a result of several factors including uncoordinated energies of people. The urban development forces that bring change in the development of the city are stronger than the public states capacity to coordinate and manage them. Informal settlements also offer user-friendly land tenure, flexibility in house construction and proximity to livelihoods. Other factors include the nature of socio-economic living patterns and extension of urban boundaries. Community members operate using social norms. Advantages of mixed informal settlements include availability of plots according to needs and affordability while a disadvantage is, people of different socio-economic groups perceive problems differently.

For policies to be effective, their formulation should be derived from what is happening on the ground i.e. addressing informal settlements according to their heterogeneity. Moreover, empowered local authorities can assist in implementing national development plans; also actors in land development including government institutions, non-governmental institutions, financial institutions, private sector, professionals, political leaders, research institutions, policy-makers and training institutions need to recognise, understand and respect each other's roles, and pull resources together to minimise problems related to informality in land development; utilise potentials and minimise challenges in mixed informal settlements in Dar es Salaam.

Key words: Informal settlements, land development, urbanisation


These conversion kits are designed for a 245437 Briggs And Stratton Generator to enable the engine to run on gasoline, natural gas or propane.


ABSTRACT A rabies virus was detected in a common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus) in French Guiana. Its genomic sequence was obtained and found to be closely related to other hematophagous bat-related viruses that widely circulate in the northern Amazon region. This virus is named AT6.


Significance Gay men have, on average, a greater number of older brothers than do heterosexual men, a well-known finding within sexual science. This finding has been termed the fraternal birth order effect. Strong scientific interest in sexual orientation exists because it is a fundamental human characteristic, and because its origins are often the focal point of considerable social controversy. Our study is a major advance in understanding the origins of sexual orientation in men by providing support for a theorized but previously unexamined biological mechanism—a maternal immune response to a protein important in male fetal brain development—and by beginning to explain one of the most reliable correlates of male homosexuality: older brothers. We conducted a direct test of an immunological explanation of the finding that gay men have a greater number of older brothers than do heterosexual men. This explanation posits that some mothers develop antibodies against a Y-linked protein important in male brain development, and that this effect becomes increasingly likely with each male gestation, altering brain structures underlying sexual orientation in their later-born sons. Immune assays targeting two Y-linked proteins important in brain development—protocadherin 11 Y-linked (PCDH11Y) and neuroligin 4 Y-linked (NLGN4Y; isoforms 1 and 2)—were developed. Plasma from mothers of sons, about half of whom had a gay son, along with additional controls (women with no sons, men) was analyzed for male protein-specific antibodies. Results indicated women had significantly higher anti-NLGN4Y levels than men. In addition, after statistically controlling for number of pregnancies, mothers of gay sons, particularly those with older brothers, had significantly higher anti-NLGN4Y levels than did the control samples of women, including mothers of heterosexual sons. The results suggest an association between a maternal immune response to NLGN4Y and subsequent sexual orientation in male offspring.


The 2017 Digestive Disease Institute Week (DDI Week) organized by the Cleveland Clinic was held successfully in Boca Raton, Florida, from Feb 14 th to 18 th .


Abstract The claim that human culture evolves through the differential adoption of cultural variants, in a manner analogous to the evolution of biological species, has been greeted with much resistance and confusion. Here we demonstrate that as compelling a case can now be made that cultural evolution has key Darwinian properties, as Darwin himself presented for biological evolution in The Origin of Species. Culture is shown to exhibit variation, competition, inheritance, and the accumulation of successive cultural modifications over time. Adaptation, convergence, and the loss or change of function can also be identified in culture. Just as Darwin knew nothing of genes or particulate inheritance, a case for Darwinian cultural evolution can be made irrespective of whether unitary cultural replicators exist or whether cultural transmission mechanisms are well understood.


This paper discusses selection in a dairy goat population for improved performance by conceptualizing it for a population in Tanzania. Seven strategies (5, 10, 20, 30, 50, 70, 100 test bucks) were simulated. A progeny test based selection breeding program fitting Mgeta (Morogoro, Tanzania) situation was optimized. The selection intensity, accuracy of prediction, and genetic gain of milk yield (kg) per day at heritability 0.1 and 0.2 are discussed. Use of natural mating for 1000 goats, in cooperating villages, were assumed. Three elite bucks were selected for breeding with 12% of the best females. Outlines of essential elements for a local sustainable dairy goat breeding program in Tanzania are included with a schematic figure showing selection steps for dairy goat breeding scheme fitting in Mgeta area. This study found that selection intensity gained when testing many bucks is more important for daily milk yield (DMY) (kg) genetic gain than the extra accuracy gained when testing fewer bucks. Mgeta has a mountainous terrain, small herd sizes per farmer and long distance from one cooperating village to another. Testing 30 bucks is practical for Mgeta. That gives relatively high (42% or 53%) accuracy of selection and genetic gain (2% or 2.6% for 0.1 or 0.2 heritability). The current results of estimated genetic gain are close to reported findings under other environments. Based on dairy goats of Norwegian breed in Tanzania, milked once daily, if 210 days of milking and an average of 1 litre milk yield is considered, the possible genetic gain per year in this program is equivalent to an increase of 4.2kg for 0.1 heritability and 5.5kg of milk per doe for 0.2 heritability of the trait. Such an increase in amount of milk due to a breeding program under the considered environment is promising. Collaborative efforts from farmers to consumers along the dairy goat market chain remain important elements to realize a sustainable high gain. The proposed breeding program may not be perfect in future because of practical options and accessibility to new knowledge. Thus, it becomes indispensable to revise breeding programs.


This paper investigates the short-run effects of the uncertainties brought along with the Brexit referendum on the bilateral trade between Belgium and its main trading partners. I find that import and export markets have specific dynamics and react differently to changes in political uncertainty and economic variables. While import flows are more rigid and do not react to the uncertainties related to the Brexit referendum, export flows are more sensitive to this event. Consequently, I find that the instable environment created by the Brexit referendum leads to lower intensive margin of Belgian exports to the UK in comparison to Belgium's' main neighboring countries. The impact of uncertainties is more pronounced in larger Belgian exporting firms in the period preceding the Brexit referendum, since these firms are better able to absorb the associated costs of postponing or diverting exports. The results for Belgian manufacturing firms, which are more responsive to changes in competitiveness, also suggest more intense reaction to the Brexit uncertainties than commodities' producers but are not conclusive.


Abstract: Purpose: The goals of this project are 1) to document the patterns of opposition to the death penalty promoted by victims' families following the ascendency of the retribution and closure arguments in support of capital punishment, and 2) to assess the scope and primacy of newspaper coverage of death penalty cases with anti-capital punishment covictims. Methods: Content analysis of nationwide newspaper reports on capital offense trials from 1992-2009 is used to assess patterns of victim resistance to the death penalty over time, the reasons given for support or resistance to the death penalty, and the scope and primacy of the newspaper coverage of the capital case. Results: The analysis reveals a significant increase in covictim clemency movements across the study time period. Further, articles representing pro-death penalty covictims received both significantly higher primacy of media coverage in section and page number and word count than did their anti-death penalty counterparts. Lastly, a qualitative assessment of covictims' statements reveals several reasons for co-victim support or resistance to the death penalty. Conclusions: Covictim opposition to the death penalty in reaction to the ascendancy of retribution and closure justifications for capital punishment must be integrated into ongoing debates about the death penalty. Keywords: covictims, death penalty, clemency, closure INTRODUCTION Criminologists have documented that the traditional justifications for capital punishment are not verified by research (Bailey and Peterson 1997; Christie 1977; Ehrlich 1975; Radelet and Akers 1996; Radelet and Borg 2000), and the public is becoming increasingly aware that there is little deterrent, incapacitative, or cost savings impact with the death penalty (Gallup 2009; Gross 1998; Jones 2006; Sandys and McGarrell, 1994). Rather than abandoning support for capital punishment, however, the public has shifted the reasons for support away from the traditional justifications to retribution and victim closure. As Bandes (2008) points out, with this shift in justification in support of capital punishment, emotional catharsis for the covictims has become the goal of the criminal justice system (Bandes 2008). The onus of capital punishment, therefore, is increasingly placed on the victims' family. The primary aim of the current study is to document the reactions of covictims in response to the shifting public sentiments shown through newspaper coverage of death penalty cases. The second goal of the current study is to investigate the scope and primacy of media coverage of death penalty cases in which the covictims express opposition to capital punishment. Lastly, the third goal is to examine the contextual factors governing covictim attitudes and opinions. Public Perception and Media Public opinion is defined as "a collection of views regarding an issue that affect many" (Hoffman et al. 2007:292), and the process by which the media and public opinion interact is multifaceted and reciprocal (Kudlac 2007). Research has found that the way in which the media influences individual opinion is a multi-level and universally constant process (Crespi 1997; Hoffman et al. 2007; Price and Roberts 1987). Succinctly put, information disseminated through media outlets (i.e. newspapers) becomes integrated with old information as public sentiment evolves. At the individual level, new information which coincides with the individuals' established opinion becomes incorporated with older cognitions (Price and Roberts 1987). This process illustrates that the individual controls which new information to incorporate into their views and which information to reject. To examine this process further, Crespi (1997, as cited by Hoffman et al. 2007) found public opinion occurs through "interactions among predispositions and perceptions on the external world at the intrapersonal level... …


The nature of domestic violence service provision has been changing in recent years as a result of the shift towards criminalisation and multi-agency responses. Tasmania introduced criminal justice legislation and an associated policy framework to address intimate partner violence in 2004 which was recognised as best practice. This thesis provides an Australian context to the international debate on the criminalisation of intimate partner violence. The research demonstrates that professional ideologies and organisational discourses influence the implementation of multi-agency responses to intimate partner violence. Using a grounded theory approach with semi-structured interviews and field observations, I explore the discourses employed by police, the legal fraternity and victim advocates to identify three major categories. These are the 'justice' discourse; the 'risk management' discourse; and the 'genuine victim' discourse. This research introduces the work of Hajer into sociology and criminology via an exploration of Hajer's concepts of discourse institutionalisation and discourse coalitions. The contribution of this thesis to the literature is the demonstration that discursive and material practices around justice, risk management and victimisation both converge and diverge to a degree between the government agencies involved in a particular discourse coalition; providing insights on the way in which agents construct the cultural conditions that support or countervail an attempt to manifest widespread social change through legislation. While both the justice discourse and the risk management discourse satisfy the conditions for discourse institutionalisation, the power of the genuine victim is more subtle and rhizomatic and it achieves significant influence through its insinuation into the other two discourses, effectively providing a gatekeeping mechanism for access to justice. In addition to the findings around discourse, the research has also highlighted issues relating to the implementation of Tasmania's Safe at Home policy. The results suggest that the risk framework as practiced by Tasmania police is not universally accepted by all members of the policy network around intimate partner violence. Furthermore, the way in which victims are constructed by police and legal professionals in combination with additional ideological discourses around evidence and legal processes may in fact compromise victim safety.


Abstract. Sea surface height derived from the multiple ocean satellite altimeter missions (TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1, ERS, Envisat et al.) and sea surface temperature from National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) over 1993–2008 are analyzed to investigate the coherent patterns between the interannual variability of the sea surface and subsurface in the Tropical Indian Ocean, by jointly adopting Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) and Extended Associate Pattern Analysis (EAPA) methods. Results show that there are two dominant coherent modes with the nearly same main period of about 3–5 yr, accounting for 86 % of the total covariance in all, but 90° phase difference between them. The primary pattern is characterized by a east-west dipole mode associated with the mature phase of ENSO, and the second presents a sandwich mode having one sign anomalies along Sumatra-Java coast and northeast of Madagascar, whilst an opposite sign between the two regions. The robust correlations of the sea surface height anomaly (SSHA) with sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA) in the leading modes indicate a strong interaction between them, though the highest correlation coefficient appears with a time lag. And there may be some physical significance with respect to ocean dynamics implied in SSHA variability. Analyzing results show that the features of oceanic waves with basin scale, of which the Rossby wave is prominent, are apparent in the dominant modes. It is further demonstrated from the EAPA that the equatorial eastward Kelvin wave and off-equatorial westward Rossby wave as well as their reflection in the east and west boundary, respectively, are important dynamic mechanisms in the evolution of the two leading coherent patterns. Results of the present study suggest that the upper ocean thermal variations on the timescale of interannual coherent with the ocean dynamics in spatial structure and temporal evolution are mainly attributed to the ocean waves.


This study investigated recent trends in the mean surface minimum and maximum air temperatures over eastern Africa by use of both graphical and statistical techniques. Daily records for 71 stations for the period 1939-92 were used. Attempts were also made to associate the temperature characteristics with the anomalies in the major systems that control the climate of the region including the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the quasi-biennial oscillation, and the prevailing convective processes represented by the outgoing longwave radiation. The northern part of the study region generally indicated nighttime warming and daytime cooling in recent years. The trend patterns were, however, reversed at coastal and lake areas. The Mozambique channel region showed cooling during both nighttime and daytime. There were thus large geographical and temporal variations in the observed trends, with some neighboring locations at times indicating opposite trends. A significant feature in the temperature variability patterns was the recurrence of extreme values. Such recurrences were significantly correlated with the patterns of convective activities, especially ENSO, cloudiness, and above/below normal rainfall. Although some of the variations in the trend patterns could be attributed to urbanization and land use patterns, such effects were not delineated in the current study.


Neural network (NN) based channel estimation method has been proposed for identifying the parameters of a nonlinear time varying satellite channel. A multipath time-varying Ricean-fading channel has been considered in the analysis for a down link scenario. To study the flexibility and performance of the proposed method, the channel has been varied over a reasonable range of Doppler frequencies, and the estimation for each case has been made by employing 16-quadrature amplitude modulation (16-QAM) technique. Back propagation (BP) and natural gradient (NG) algorithms have been studied for the channel identification technique. Based on different learning rates and normalized Doppler frequencies, a comparative analysis between the algorithms has been provided. Finally, a NN maximum likelihood sequence estimator (NN-MLSE) based receiver has been studied for the addressed system. Simulation results show that the NN-MLSE receiver performs close to that of the ideal MLSE receiver in terms of symbol error rate (SER).


This thesis provides a constructivist grounded theoretical perspective of supervision for three of the larger UK-registered allied health professions (AHPs): occupational therapy, physiotherapy and speech and language therapy. The third largest workforce in the UK NHS, AHPs are regulated by The Health and Care Professions' Council whose Standards of Proficiency for Practice encourage supervision. There is a lack of agreement about supervision across health and social care professions' literature and limited focus on AHP supervision.

Nineteen therapists were interviewed. They spoke about career-long practice uncertainties. Some uncertainties arise because of practice demands and others, conceptualised as 'platform for practice' uncertainties, relate to therapists' knowledge, skills, experiences and preferences. Socio-professional uncertainties may arise when a therapist compares herself with others. Uncertainties prompt therapists to share concerns, explore alternatives and adjust practice; activities regarded as practitioner recalibration.

A therapist's readiness for recalibration hinges on a constellation of behaviours and characteristics conceptualised as practitioner permeability; awareness, awareness-sharing, feedback-seeking, critical awareness, openness to alternatives and willingness to change. Supervision may be a place for recalibration, offering sanctuary for awareness-sharing and meta-practice opportunities to support learning and practice adjustments.

From Dewey (1910) to Webster-Wright (2010), there is established interest in the relationship between uncertainty and learning. Through integration with this literature, practitioner uncertainties are conceptualised as opportunities for professional learning. In common with other 21st century researchers, including Dall'Alba (2009), a phenomenological being-in-the-world perspective is also considered, recognising that epistemological practice uncertainties of knowing-that and knowing-how are interwoven with ontological knowing-how-to-be. It follows that a practitioner values supervision which supports the resolution of both epistemological and ontological dimensions of her uncertainties.

Having heard that therapists tend to develop supervision skills vicariously, there is scope for a stronger focus on the development of practitioner permeability and on recognising practice uncertainties as an opportunity for professional learning.


B lymphocytes migrate among varied microenvironmental niches during diversification, selection, and conversion to memory or Ab-secreting plasma cells. Aspects of the nutrient milieu differ within these lymphoid microenvironments and can influence signaling molecules such as the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR). However, much remains to be elucidated as to the B cell–intrinsic functions of nutrient-sensing signal transducers that modulate B cell differentiation or Ab affinity. We now show that the amino acid–sensing mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1) is vital for induction of Bcl6—a key transcriptional regulator of the germinal center (GC) fate—in activated B lymphocytes. Accordingly, disruption of mTORC1 after B cell development and activation led to reduced populations of Ag-specific memory B cells as well as plasma cells and GC B cells. In addition, induction of the germ line transcript that guides activation-induced deaminase in selection of the IgG1 H chain region during class switching required mTORC1. Expression of the somatic mutator activation-induced deaminase was reduced by a lack of mTORC1 in B cells, whereas point mutation frequencies in Ag-specific GC-phenotype B cells were only halved. These effects culminated in a B cell–intrinsic defect that impacted an antiviral Ab response and drastically impaired generation of high-affinity IgG1. Collectively, these data establish that mTORC1 governs critical B cell–intrinsic mechanisms essential for establishment of GC differentiation and effective Ab production.


St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, is known as a white suburb of New Orleans. It also has a well-known history as a health resort for wealthy New Orleanians during the summer months, particularly during yellow fever outbreaks in the late nineteenthand early twentieth centuries. This research investigates the historical geography of this parish in terms of race and attempts to answer the question of how St. Tammany became an attractive place for the development of white subdivisions in the 1950s. I uncover the connections between race, labor, the environment, and political culture of the parish from 1878—the year Reconstruction ended—to 1956, the year of the construction of the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway. Using archival materials, local government documents, and federal census schedules, I show that until the 1940s, St. Tammany Parish had a significant Black population comprising one-third of the total population and concentrated in the southern wards of the parish. After 1878, agriculture became closely tied with a white racial identity within the parish; the lumber, brick manufacturing, and shipbuilding industries became associated with Black racial identities. Perceptions of the environment as healthful and restorative helped establish a health and resort industry on the North Shore, the benefits of which were reserved for whites. These economic and environmental connections to racial identity depended on the legal and political definitions of people of African descent as "Black," and whites enforced racial divisions with political maneuvers, violence, and access to educational opportunities.


Background: Measurement of hand hygiene (HH), crucial for patient safety, has acknowledged flaws stemming from methods available. Even direct observation, the World Health Organization gold standard, may lead to behaviour changes which can affect outcome validity. However, it remains important to understand current levels of HH to allow targeted interventions to be developed. This has resulted in wider adoption of auditing processes. Aim: This study addressed how healthcare professionals perceive data generated by HH auditing processes. Methods: Qualitative study involving participatory observation and semi-structured interviews with 30 healthcare professionals recruited from a large National Health Service (NHS) two-hospital site in England. Findings: Healthcare professionals perceived two main problems with HH measurement, both associated with feedback: (1) lack of clarity with regard to feedback; and (2) lack of association between training and measurement. In addition, concerns about data accuracy led the majority of participants (22/30) to conclude audit feedback is often 'meaningless'. Conclusion: Healthcare professionals require meaningful data on compliance with HH to engender change, as part of a multimodal strategy. Currently healthcare professionals perceive that data lack meaning, and are not seen as drivers to improve HH performance. Potential opportunities to change practice and improve HH are being missed.


Dynamic parallelization and optimization of a loop is a crucial issue for enhancing the performance of sequential programs as loops account for a large fraction of execution time. Loop level parallelism can also be extracted efficiently due to its regular structure. Based on the observation that only a limited number of paths are executed frequently in hot loops, we propose a hardware hot loop path detector to specify such hot loops and their hot paths accurately so that the dynamic optimizer may utilize the detected information effectively. The detector consists of a stack structured bit-tracing unit that identifies loop paths at a subroutine level, a hot loop detector that detects hot loops by utilizing loop path information and a hot path accumulator of loop paths.

Experiments using SPEC CINT2000 show that loop paths occupy a small fraction (14.46%) of Ball-Larus paths but are detected frequently (64.45% of Ball-Larus paths). A combined small scale hot loop detector and hot path accumulator (32 entries each) attain a detection accuracy of 97.10% for the hottest loop path and 93.83% for the top 2 hottest loop paths and their order within hot loops.


A* search is a fundamental topic in artificial intelligence. Recently, the general purpose computation on graphics processing units (GPGPU) has been widely used to accelerate numerous computational tasks. In this paper, we propose the first parallel variant of the A* search algorithm such that the search process of an agent can be accelerated by a single GPU processor in a massively parallel fashion. Our experiments have demonstrated that the GPU-accelerated A* search is efficient in solving multiple real-world search tasks, including combinatorial optimization problems, pathfinding and game solving. Compared to the traditional sequential CPU-based A* implementation, our GPU-based A* algorithm can achieve a significant speedup by up to 45x on large-scale search problems.


Uganda's health care sector is choking with various challenges, such as poor physical infrastructure, inadequate professionals to run the few existing health centers, poor culture of adherence to professional ethical standards by some health care practitioners, shortages of medicines in most government hospitals/health centers, and corruption. Most of the challenges are more endemic in rural areas. It is on the above premise that this article discusses some of the challenges that health centers face in provision of care to the increasing number of HIV/AIDS patients in hard-to-reach rural communities in northern Uganda and the implications of such challenges on the economy. Uganda's success in the fight against HIV/AIDS in the early 1990s was globally applauded because of its aggressive grassroots behavioral change crusades aimed at reducing the number of sexual partners. The success inspired a wave of financial aid programs from the US government to fight the disease across the developing world. However, the success was short-lived as the rate of HIV/AIDS infection in Uganda is currently rising, with the health care system struggling to provide care for the ballooning number of patients. To contribute to the curtailing cases of new infections, this article discuses the integration of the traditional authority and knowledge system in the national HIV/AIDS care and prevention program along with the biomedical approach currently being used.


We revisit the phase diagram of strong-interaction matter for the two-flavor quark-meson model using the Functional Renormalization Group. In contrast to standard mean-field calculations, an unusual phase structure is encountered at low temperatures and large quark chemical potentials. In particular, we identify a regime where the pressure decreases with increasing temperature and discuss possible reasons for this unphysical behavior.


Rock masses are distinguished from other engineering materials by the existence of joints. When a wave propagates through a rock mass, it is significantly attenuated due to the reflection and dissipation at joints. Great efforts have been made to study the effects of joints on wave propagation in the past. However, there still exist remaining problems. For example, limitation exists in previous methods in studying wave propagation across multiple joints; few studies have been conducted for wave propagation across filled joints and across multiple intersecting joint sets. Focused on the remaining problems, wave propagation in jointed rock masses is theoretically and numerically studied in this thesis. In order to study the effects of multiple joints on wave propagation, one method termed the virtual wave source method (VWSM) is introduced, and the existing recursive method (RM) is modified. Both of the newly introduced method and the modified method overcome the limitations of previous methods. The displacement and stress discontinuity model (DSDM) is introduced to approximately describe the physical properties of viscoelastic filled joints as boundary conditions in the wave equations. Other than the displacement discontinuity model (DDM), the DSDM is more appropriate in studying the effects of filled joints on wave propagation. With the VWSM, wave propagation across a non-filled joint set is theoretically studied. For normally incident wave across joints, an interesting phenomenon that the amplitude of transmitted wave increases with increasing number of joints is observed and explained. The complete solutions for obliquely incident wave propagation across a single non-filled joint described by the DDM are derived through plane wave analysis. Parametric studies are also performed for obliquely incident wave propagation across a single joint and multiple parallel non-filled joints. In addition to non-filled joints, the effects of filled joints on wave propagation are also studied. The filled joint can be modeled by the accurate yet complicated continuous model, i.e., the layered medium model (LMM), and the simple yet approximated discontinuous model, i.e., the DSDM. With the modified recursive method (MRM), wave propagation across a single joint and multiple parallel joints filled with viscoelastic medium is studied based on the continuous model. The results are compared with wave propagation across joints filled with elastic medium. With the DSDM, the complete solutions for obliquely incident wave across a single viscoelastic filled joint are derived and verified with experimental data. Parametric studies on wave propagation across a single filled joint and multiple parallel filled joints are also conducted. Universal distinct element code (UDEC) is used to study wave propagation across multiple intersecting joint sets in rock masses. The capability of UDEC on modeling wave propagation across joints is verified through comparison with theoretical solutions. Extensive parametric studies on wave propagation across multiple joint sets are subsequently performed.


We confirm and characterize a close-in ( P orb -->?> = 5.425 days), super-Neptune sized ( 5.04 − 0.37 + 0.34 -->?> R ⊕ -->?> ) planet transiting K2-33 (2MASS J16101473-1919095), a late-type (M3) pre-main-sequence (11 Myr old) star in the Upper Scorpius subgroup of the Scorpius–Centaurus OB association. The host star has the kinematics of a member of the Upper Scorpius OB association, and its spectrum contains lithium absorption, an unambiguous sign of youth ( < 20 -->?> Myr) in late-type dwarfs. We combine photometry from K2 and the ground-based MEarth project to refine the planet's properties and constrain the host star's density. We determine K2-33's bolometric flux and effective temperature from moderate-resolution spectra. By utilizing isochrones that include the effects of magnetic fields, we derive a precise radius (6%–7%) and mass (16%) for the host star, and a stellar age consistent with the established value for Upper Scorpius. Follow-up high-resolution imaging and Doppler spectroscopy confirm that the transiting object is not a stellar companion or a background eclipsing binary blended with the target. The shape of the transit, the constancy of the transit depth and periodicity over 1.5 yr, and the independence with wavelength rule out stellar variability or a dust cloud or debris disk partially occulting the star as the source of the signal; we conclude that it must instead be planetary in origin. The existence of K2-33b suggests that close-in planets can form in situ or migrate within ∼10 Myr, e.g., via interactions with a disk, and that long-timescale dynamical migration such as by Lidov–Kozai or planet–planet scattering is not responsible for all short-period planets.


Despite the omnipresence of hydrofoil-assisted racing monohulls and the inherent development phases to refine their designs, very little scientific data has reached the public domain. Moreover, following the trend set by racing yachts, the cruising industry is now looking at the implementation of foils onto leisure vessels, with several already built. This paper therefore presents a hydrodynamic comparison of three contemporary options, namely a Dynamic Stability System, a Dali-Moustache and a Chistera foil, that have been towing tank tested on a 1:10 scale model of a 50 ft racer-cruiser hull. The analysis presented focuses on the resistance, side force, heave and trim, as well as the induced drag factor and effective draft of each design, eventually resulting in a conclusion on the most suitable configuration for leisure craft applications, and providing experimental data relative to hydrofoils. At this stage, the interest is purely hydrodynamic, and does not yet account for the additional righting moment provided by the foils and the impact on sailing performance.


The QT interval has well-documented shortcomings as a predictor of Torsades de Pointes (TdP) and recent studies have shown that T-wave morphology might provide insight into drug effects on ventricular repolarisation. In this paper, we investigate the underlying mechanisms of the effects of sotalol, a known anti-arrhythmic drug, on T-wave morphology as seen in the surface electrocardiogram (ECG). Analysis of clinical ECG data from a controlled study shows that sotalol alters T-wave morphology, resulting in particular in a decrease in T-wave amplitude. Our multi-scale modelling approach uses a Markov formulation to represent sotalolpsilas interaction with the rapid delayed rectifier potassium channel current (IKr), validated using experimental data. The ion channel model is then incorporated into a human ventricular cell model, which is then used in a 1D fibre model with transmural heterogeneities to simulate a pseudo-ECG. The simulation results show sotalol-induced changes in IKr cause rate and dose-dependent increase in action potential duration (APD) and in transmural APD heterogeneities, which result in a decrease of T-wave amplitude and an increase in T-wave dispersion in the pseudo-ECG signal. Thus, our modelling study is able to explain the ionic mechanisms underlying the main sotalol-induced changes in clinical T-wave morphology.


CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) exert potent antiviral activity after HIV/SIV infection. However, efforts to harness the antiviral efficacy of CTLs for HIV/SIV prophylaxis and therapy have been severely hindered by two major problems: viral escape and exhaustion. By contrast, CTLs directed against human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), a ubiquitous chronic herpesvirus, seldom select for escape mutations and remain functional and refractory to exhaustion during chronic HCMV and HIV infection. Recently, attempts have been made to retarget HCMV-specific CTLs for cancer immunotherapy. We speculate that such a strategy may also be beneficial in the context of HIV/SIV infection, facilitating CTL-mediated control of HIV/SIV replication. As a preliminary assessment of the validity of this approach, we investigated the phenotypes and functionality of rhesus CMV (RhCMV)-specific CTLs in SIVmac239-infected Indian rhesus macaques (RMs), a crucial HIV animal model system. We recently identified two immunodominant, Mamu-A∗02-restricted CTL epitopes derived from RhCMV proteins and sought to evaluate the phenotypic and functional characteristics of these CTL populations in chronic SIVmac239 infection. We analyzed and directly compared RhCMV- and SIVmac239-specific CTLs during SIVmac239 infection in a cohort of Mamu-A∗01+ and Mamu-A∗02+ RMs. CTL populations specific for at least one of the RhCMV-derived CTL epitopes were detected in ten of eleven Mamu-A∗02+ animals tested, and both populations were detected in five of these animals. Neither RhCMV-specific CTL population exhibited significant changes in frequency, memory phenotype, granzyme B expression, exhaustion marker (PD-1 and CTLA-4) expression, or polyfunctionality between pre- and chronic SIVmac239 infection timepoints. In chronic SIVmac239 infection, RhCMV-specific CTLs exhibited higher levels of granzyme B expression and polyfunctionality, and lower levels of exhaustion marker expression, than SIVmac239-specific CTLs. Additionally, compared to SIVmac239-specific CTLs, greater proportions of RhCMV-specific CTLs were of the terminally differentiated effector memory phenotype (CD28– CCR7–) during chronic SIVmac239 infection. These results suggest that, in contrast to SIVmac239-specific CTLs, RhCMV-specific CTLs maintain their phenotypes and cytolytic effector functions during chronic SIVmac239 infection, and that retargeting RhCMV-specific CTLs might be a promising SIV immunotherapeutic strategy.


Background— Ischemia/reperfusion injury is a major factor in graft quality and subsequent function in the transplantation setting. We hypothesize that the process of RNA interference may be used to "engineer" a graft to suppress expression of genes associated with inflammation, apoptosis, and complement, which are believed to cause ischemia/reperfusion injury. Such manipulation of pathological gene expression may be performed by treatment of the graft ex vivo with small interfering RNA (siRNA) as part of the preservation procedure. Methods and Results— Heart grafts from BALB/c mice were preserved in UW solution (control) or UW solution containing siRNAs targeting tumor necrosis factor-&agr;, C3, and Fas genes (siRNA solution) at 4°C for 48 hours and subsequently transplanted into syngeneic recipients. Tumor necrosis factor-&agr;, C3, and Fas genes were elevated by ischemia/reperfusion injury after 48 hours of preservation in UW solution. Preservation in siRNA solution knocked down gene expression at the level of messenger RNA and protein in the grafts after transplantation. All grafts preserved in siRNA solution showed strong contraction, whereas grafts preserved in control solution demonstrated no detectable contraction by high-frequency ultrasound scanning. siRNA solution–treated organs exhibited improved histology and diminished neutrophil and lymphocyte infiltration compared with control solution–treated organs. Furthermore, the treated heart grafts retained strong beating up to the end of the observation period (>100 days), whereas all control grafts lost function within 8 days. Conclusion— Incorporation of siRNA into organ storage solution is a feasible and effective method of attenuating ischemia/reperfusion injury, protecting cardiac function, and prolonging graft survival.


Feed represents a substantial proportion of the variable costs of pig production. Feed efficiency is traditionally expressed as the feed conversion ratio (FCR) and more recently as residual feed intake (RFI). Although feed efficiency can be generally improved indirectly by selection for increased growth rate and decreased adipose tissue, a higher genetic response could be achieved through direct selection of feed intake traits. The aim of this study was to provide a pilot analysis of feed intake data of 281 Czech Large White boars. Data were recorded individually using the Feed Intake Recording Equipment in field performance testing from 2018 to 2020. The analysed feed intake traits were average daily feed intake (ADFI), FCR and RFI. RFI was calculated as the deviation of observed ADFI and average population ADFI predicted on the basis of the model, with mid-test metabolic weight and average daily gain as regressors. The heritability estimates were 0.35 and 0.34 for ADFI and FCR, respectively, and the estimate was slightly higher (0.43) for RFI. The genetic standard deviations ranged from 100 to 110 g of feed per day and 103 g of feed per kg of weight gain. The amounts of explained variability by environmental effects of jointly tested animals were from 0.20 to 0.46. The sufficient amount of genetic variability and moderate heritability estimates give the possibility for selection of feed intake traits, although a larger number of animals will be essential to estimate more precise breeding values.


In this letter, we propose a new auditory distance rendering (ADR) algorithm based on the interchannel phase difference (ICPD) control. In the conventional ICPD control, distance perception of the sound image is nonlinearly controlled, and directional localization of the sound image can be biased by changes of the interaural cues. These problems are caused by applying the frequency-independent ICPD without considering the acoustic transfer paths of the system setup. To solve these problems, first, the interaural cues of ear signals are analyzed by binaural auditory simulations. Then, stereophonic ADR filters are designed that produce ear signals with a linearly controlled interaural cross-correlation (IACC) and a consistent interaural level difference (IALD) for sophisticated distance perception under the given stereo setup. Subjective test results show that the proposed algorithm can provide better distance controllability than the conventional method with reduced lateralization blur of the sound image.


This study demonstrated the initial feasibility of using nondestructive inspection (NDI) penetrant-based methods for detecting fatigue cracks and similar breaches of integrity in chemical protective clothing and shelter materials. Such a technique could provide a simple but direct means of determining remaining life in chemical protective suits and shelters. Chemical protective materials range from coated fabrics to highly engineered multi-layer, multi-film composites. Selected materials were tested using off-the-shelf penetrant systems normally used for inspecting metallic surfaces. Microscopy, biopenetration, and chemical permeation were used to verify the results of penetrant NDI testing. The selected materials were fatigued using a "Gelbo flex tester" to simulate wear and repeated flexing. Controlled diameter and depth punctures were also used to induce material defects. Fluorescent penetrants applied to Teflon/Nomex or fiberglass/Teflon composite laminates formed large florescent halos around defects which had breached the top layer of Teflon. These easily observed halos show through the translucent coating and were the result of penetrant wicking into the fibrous center layer. The detection success for defects which breached the outer Teflon layer was virtually 100%. Halo indications were typically 7 mm in diameter for a 0.12 mm puncture defect-representing an amplification factor of over 50. When a fatigued sample failed biopenetration, the same fatigue level sample produced positive penetrant testing results. Penetrant NDI results also correlated well with chemical permeation results. Fluorescent indications were observed for controlled punctures which were half as deep as the material thickness. Other types of chemical protective suit and shelter materials were tested, including PVC and butyl coated fabrics. While halos occurred in some of these materials, background coloring of other materials caused interference with the technique.


At 50 years from May '68 and 150 years from the moment when Marx's Capital was published, revisiting the Situationist International appears to be one of the most urgent tasks that any attentive observer of the effects of the French "intellectual revolution" must fulfil in order to explain the cultural synchronicities and mutual interdependencies between the European (Leftist) cultural revolutions of the 20 th century. On the one hand, the S.I. explicitly aimed to overcome the collapse of May '68, considered an aborted and failed revolution, by engaging a radical agenda for the reformation of the so-called "society of the spectacle", ideologically framed by Debord. On the other hand, in the light of the Thesis and the multiple manifestos that the S.I. movement developed as a cultural program, the ex-partisans of Lettrism conceived their social and political measures, supported by artistic productions, as an intended and necessary radicalization of capitalist detours , at the end of which society emerges from "constructed lived situations" through which individuals can resist to alienation and to the consequences of commodity fetishism that expresses the mediation of social relations through consumption objects. There through, in the first part of my article I will explain the manner in which the S.I. ideologically puzzled a set of objectives, concepts and methods inspired by the Marxist thought and the May '68 program, as main coordinates that prepare the axiological radicalization developed by Situationism as a two folded-process of political and artistic radicalism. The second part of this research endeavours to reframe the cultural and artistic coordinates of Situationism in order to explain it as one of the last and, arguably, most politicized, avant-gardes of the 20 th century.


In this study, we report on the ability of four one‐dimensional lake models to simulate the water temperature profiles of Lake Geneva, the largest water body in Western Europe, over a 10‐yr period from 1996 to 2005, using lake models driven by a common atmospheric forcing. These lake models have already demonstrated their capability of reproducing the temperature distribution in smaller lakes and include one eddy‐diffusive lake model, the Hostetler model; a Lagrangian model, the one‐dimensional Dynamic Reservoir Simulation Model "DYRESM" a к ‐ ε turbulence model, "SIMSTRAT"; and one based on the concept of self‐similarity (assumed shape) of the temperature‐depth curve, the Freshwater Lake model "FLake." Only DYRESM and SIMSTRAT reproduce the variability of the water temperature profiles and seasonal thermocline satisfactorily. In layers in which thermocline variability is greatest, the temperature root mean square error is ≪2°C and 3°C (at the time of highest stratification) for these models, respectively. It is possible to apply certain one‐dimensional lake models that simulate the behavior of temperature to investigate the potential future warming of the water column in Lake Geneva. Importantly, the metalimnion boundary is successfully modeled, which represents an encouraging step toward demonstrating the feasibility of coupling biogeochemical modules, such as, for example, a phytoplanktonic model, to assess the possible biological responses within lakes to climate change.


Introduction. Part I: Getting to Know Google Earth. Chapter 1: The Earth According to Google. Chapter 2: Finding Businesses, Places, and Things. Chapter 3: Adjusting Your View on the World. Part II: Personalizing Google Earth. Chapter 4: Fine-Tuning the Program. Chapter 5: Adding Layers and Points of Interest (POIs). Chapter 6: Pinning Down Placemarks. Part III: Becoming a Cybertourist. Chapter 7: Going on Tour. Chapter 8: Mingling with the Community. Chapter 9: Importing Data and Images. Chapter 10: KML: It's Sorta Like HTML. Part IV: Advanced Features. Chapter 11: Designing with Google SketchUp. Chapter 12: Designing with Google SketchUp, Part 2. Chapter 13: Creating Polygons and Other Complex Structures. Chapter 14: Digging Deeper with Google SketchUp. Part V: The Part of Tens. Chapter 15: Ten Great Places to Get Coordinates. Chapter 16: Ten Reliable Sources for Data Files. Chapter 17: Ten Cool Tools. Part VI: Appendixes. Appendix A: Glossary. Appendix B: Default Content of the All Layers Pane. Appendix C: Latitudes and Longitudes of Major Landmarks. Index.


Following a 1986 decision by Montgomery County in Maryland to construct a municipal waste resource recovery facility near the town of Dickerson, the local community expressed concern regarding the potential human health effects from air emissions of dioxins and trace metals released through the stack of the proposed facility. To address this concern, the County conducted health risk studies and ambient monitoring programs before and after the facility became operational. The purpose of the health risk studies was to determine potential cancer and non-cancer risks to the nearby residents from the operations of the facility. The purpose of the ambient monitoring programs was to determine if any changes would occur in the ambient levels of certain target chemicals in the environmental media, and if such changes can be attributed to the operations of the facility. Accordingly, the County conducted a multiple pathway health risk assessment in 1989 prior to the construction of the facility. The pre-operational health risk assessment was based on estimated stack engineering parameters and available stack emissions data from municipal waste resource recovery facilities that were operating in the United States, Canada and Europe during the 1980's. The health risk assessment used established procedures that were accepted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) and many state agencies at that time. The Montgomery County Resource Recovery Facility (RRF) became operational in the spring of 1995. The facility is equipped with the state-of-the-art air pollution control (APC) equipment including a dry scrubber-fabric filter baghouse system to control organics and trace metals, ammonia injection system to control nitrogen oxides, and activated carbon injection system to control mercury. In 2003, the County retained ENSR International to update the 1989 health risk assessment study. In the 2003 operational-phase update, as-built engineering data and measured stack emissions data from a total of eighteen quarterly stack emissions tests were used. The study was conducted in accordance with the U.S. EPA's Human Health Risk Assessment Protocol for Hazardous Waste Combustion Facilities published in 1998 [1], and an Errata, published in 1999 [2]. Both the 1989 study and the 2003 study demonstrated that there is a very low chance (less than one chance in a million) for occurrence of cancer and no adverse non-cancer health effects to the nearby community as a result of exposure to facility-related emissions. The multi-media ambient monitoring programs were conducted in abiotic and biotic environmental media. These programs included an air-monitoring component and a non-air monitoring component. The pre-operational phase of the air media and non-air media monitoring was conducted in 1994–1995. The pre-operational program was designed to produce baseline data for target chemicals in both air and non-air media. The operational-phase air media monitoring was conducted in 1997 and 2003. The operational-phase non-air media monitoring was conducted in 1997 and 2001. Target chemicals monitored in both air and non-air media included polychlorinated dioxins and furans (PCDDs/PCDFs) and selected toxic metals (arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, and nickel). The non-air media included crops, farm pond surface water and fish tissue, and cow's milk. The ambient levels of target chemicals monitored in the operational phase of the facility (1997, 2001 and 2003) demonstrated no measurable difference from the ambient levels of these chemicals monitored in the pre-operational phase (1994–95) of the facility, in both the air media and non-air media. The results of the health risk studies and ambient monitoring programs demonstrate that municipal waste combustion facilities that are equipped with the state-of-the-art air pollution control equipment pose no significant health risk to the population.Copyright © 2004 by ASME


In this paper we investigate new approaches to enhance recovery of valuable materials during the recycling of crystalline Si (cSi) PV modules. The recycling of out-of-specs, damaged or end-of-life cSi PV modules will gradually become more important for PV suppliers and recyclers. Also recycling can help to further reduce carbon and environmental footprint of cSi PV. We tested two approaches to enhance recyclability of frame, glass, and silicon. The research was based on ECN's conductive back-contact module technology. First, alternative edge sealants, easy to release from the module, were tested on their protection against air and moisture ingress into the module. Several alternatives were established which show comparable protection as the state-of-the-art silicone-based or double-sided adhesive tape edge sealants, but are much more easy to remove. Second, thermoplastic encapsulant was investigated as a method to improve recyclability of PV modules. The thermoplastic encapsulant used in this study results in PV modules with improved resistance to damp heat (DH) conditions, compared to EVA-based modules. The separation of the components (cells, glass, backsheet) in PV laminates with this thermoplastic encapsulant, using a wire saw device at temperatures around 200 degrees C, was demonstrated. This method may allow recovering of intact solar cells out of end-of-life, out-of-specs or damaged PV modules.


In the shallow Northern Adriatic, marine mollusks are affected by bottom trawling and seafood disturbance. Seasonal oscillations of oceanographic factors additionally influence their physiology, stress responses and survival. Tissue responses to seasonal variations in green ormer (Haliotis tuberculata L.) and Mediterranean scallop (Pecten jacobaeus L.) in the Northern Adriatic have not been reported. Hence, their biochemical and antioxidant defense properties over seasons were studied and the microanatomical structure of their tissue was correlated with function. Histological analysis of gonads revealed two peaks of gonadal maturation and spawning during the spring/summer period and winter season for scallops, and one peak during the fall for ormers. The gonadal maturation of both species was correlated with their seasonal variations of metabolic demands and antioxidant capacity. The lipid vacuoles of tubuloacinar terminations in the digestive gland differed between the two species; in scallop they are several-fold larger in size and number. Low temperatures in winter contributed to a decline in enzymatic antioxidant defense in scallop tissues, having lower superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity, and higher concentrations of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and total antioxidant status (TAS). In ormers, winter induced lower TAS, TBARS, SOD and GPx concentrations. The significant difference of winter TAS and TBARS levels between ormers and scallops was correlated with variations in their reproductive cycles, as well as in antioxidant defense systems. The most important factor for stress-related parameters for both species in this work was found to be the season-induced temperature change.


Medical physics is experiencing profound changes, including some with an unpredictable impact on the professional, educational, and scientific aspects of the profession. Impending requirements for professional certification, increased sub‐specialization, and greater emphasis on the monetary benefits of a clinical career are among the changes that place future medical physics research in jeopardy, with a potential diminution in the innovation and creativity that have been the hallmark of progress leading to improvements in patient care over the past 50 years. The President's Symposium focuses on the research challenges and opportunities confronting the medical physics profession. A historical review shows how research has been a key factor in the evolution, expansion, and enhanced stature of medical physics in health care delivery. For young investigators contemplating a research career, challenges include the increasingly competitive environment for research funding, difficulties in balancing research versus clinical training in order to be eligible for professional certification, the lure of more stable employment with higher remuneration in the clinical setting, and an uncertain market for medical physicists desiring research careers. Research opportunities in medical physics are presented as a desirable component of medical physicseducational programs. The balance of research, didactic education and clinical training in a medical physicist's education needs careful delineation. The assimilation of Ph.D. graduate and post‐doctoral students into educational programs and the practice of medical physics are explored in terms of possible pathways, such as combined clinical and research degree programs and residencies. Finally, the challenge of sustaining research amidst the challenges of clinical and professional duties is discussed. Brief presentations by the speakers will be followed by audience discussion.


The Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. These values are common to the Member States in a society in which pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality between women and men prevail.


The Discoidin, CUB and LCCL domain-containing protein 2 (DCBLD2/ESDN/CLCP1) is a type-I, transmembrane receptor that mediates diverse cellular processes such as angiogenesis, vascular remodeling, cellular migration and proliferation. Identification of DCBLD2 in a proteomics screen to identify substrates of Src family tyrosine kinases that bind the Src homology 2 domain of CT10 regulator of kinase-Like (CrkL), a critical scaffolding protein for neuronal development, led to a need for further characterization of the protein. To elucidate the role of this interaction and potential novel function of DCBLD2, an in vivo approach utilizing Danio rerio (zebrafish) was conducted. dcbld2 was found localized in neuronal tissues during development, with strong expression in the retina. Knockdown of the protein led to a deficiency of retinal ganglion cells and the optic tracts, or nerve bundles, they project to innervate the brain. Serial sections revealed malformation of the normally discrete layering of retinal cell types, and smaller eye area overall. These findings suggest a role for dcbld2 in developing nervous tissue, specifically neuronal migration during interkinetic nuclear migration. While it is has been shown that dcbld2 has a role in the developmental patterning of intersegmental vessels in the tail of zebrafish, the protein has not been investigated in the context of neurogenesis. The loss of RGCs and lamination defects observed in the eye, along with its association with the CrkL-SH2 domain, implicate it in processes that allow for the proper differentiation of neurons. This study has brought us further down the path to understanding the multiple functions of the receptor; however, further studies are required to delineate the exact mechanistic function of the dcbld2 receptor.


Studies in hotel management can be divided into two broad areas: the first is theory and the second is practice. Theory is discussed during lectures and practice takes place in the areas where the industry exists. The aim of this paper is to present the various methods of learning and teaching with emphasis on the way the students define and perceive various experiences during studying. The 4Es model of Pine and Gilmore (1999) is taken into consideration for the categorisation of the students' experiences during studying. The method used is qualitative and in particular focus groups with the final sample to be 100 students studying Hotel Management in Cyprus. The results revealed the incorporation of various methods of students interrelated their experiences with the personality and style of the educator, the notes content along with extra curricula activities, industrial placement and the cohort of their classmates in each class.