COVID-19 mitigation strategies have led to widespread school closures around the world. Initially, these were undertaken based on data from influenza outbreaks in which children were highly susceptible and important in community-wide transmission. An argument was made that school closures were necessary to prevent harm to vulnerable adults, especially the elderly. Although data are still accumulating, the recently described complication, pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome, is extremely rare and children remain remarkably unaffected by COVID-19. We also do not have evidence that children are epidemiologically important in community-wide viral spread. Previous studies have shown long-term educational, social, and medical harms from school exclusion, with very young children and those from marginalized groups such as immigrants and racialized minorities most affected. The policy and ethical implications of ongoing mandatory school closures, in order to protect others, need urgent reassessment in light of the very limited data of public health benefit.


Title of Document: A GROUNDED THEORY OF DEAF MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS' REVISION OF THEIR OWN WRITING Christina Marie Yuknis, Doctor of Philosophy, 2010 Directed By: Professor Francine Hultgren, Department of Education Policy Studies This study used a grounded theory methodology to examine the experiences of deaf middle school students attending a program for deaf children in a public school to answer the following question: How do deaf children in middle school construct meaningful texts? The students were in one of two self-contained classes taught by a teacher of the deaf. The eight students and two teachers were each interviewed at least once. Classroom observations of the students engaged in writing an essay were conducted, and writing samples from each student were provided by the teachers. All of the data were analyzed, and a grounded theory that describes the experiences of the deaf students emerged. The theory consists of one core category and four key categories, which encompass three parts of writing: Knowing, Experiencing, and Doing. The core category, which captures the essence of what revision is to the students, is Living in Language and is the sole category in Knowing. Three key categories fall under the Experiencing heading: Interacting with the Text, Interacting with Instruction, and Interacting with Self as Reviser. The final key category is the sole category in Doing: Fixing Wrongs. This research contributes to the literature by illustrating how deaf students who are in one middle school understand, experience, and approach revision tasks. A significant understanding is that the students in this study are not given many opportunities to construct meaningful texts independently in their classes. Despite the lack of control over their own texts, the students have developed strategies to successfully "play the game" of writing in school. In addition, recommendations for future research and ways to improve instruction are offered. The greatest implication for instruction is that teachers need to step back and consider how instruction impacts the students. Students especially need to be empowered to control their own writing and develop metacognition of their own work. Future research can be done to test the theory using a broader scope of participants in other settings. It could also examine the writing process from the teachers' perspectives to provide information about what informs their instruction of writing and revising. A GROUNDED THEORY OF DEAF MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS' REVISION OF THEIR OWN WRITING


The main purpose of the present study was to develop matrix type transdermal patches of glimepiride with Ficus benghalensis fruit mucilage and to study the permeability patterns. Transdermal patches were prepared by solvent evaporation technique. The prepared patches were evaluated for physicochemical characteristics viz. thickness, mass and drug content, which were uniform in prepared batches. The study proved that glimepiride can be developed as a transdermal patch with Ficus benghalensis fruit mucilage. In vitro permeation studies were performed using rat abdominal skin as the permeating membrane in Keshary-Chien cell


Each year millions of people vacation aboard cruise ships, some carrying thousands of passengers and crew members. These ships are small, floating cities that offer many options for food and entertainment. However, just as in life ashore, cruise passengers can be exposed to dangerous situations involving food-borne illnesses and noroviruses. Cruise ship operators have the obligation to protect all passengers onboard, this paper examine passengers on an Eastern Caribbean cruise demographics and health perceptions. The results of this study show that the majority of the respondents were from the USA (62.4%) and Canada (11.2 %). A one-way ANOVA was used to test for preference differences among the four means for first time cruisers, second time cruisers, third time cruisers and more than 3 time cruisers. The results revealed significant differences between means among the groups with number of cruise traveler experience.


I have two aims in this article. The first is to set the practice of historical archaeology within its southern African context. This is important in order to show possibilities, and to illustrate the sort of relationship that can develop between historical questions and archaeological answers. The second aim is to descriptionbe current research (still at an early stage) which is concerned with the archaeology of colonial expansion in the Cape: a topic which is presumably of specific interest to this issue of KRONOS.


Mission Bay Park is a major aquatic facility located in, and operated by, the City of San Diego. In response to sewer related pollution problems, the City of San Diego has embarked on a capital improvement program that will construct over $92.5 million in sewer system improvements in the bays tributary basins by the year 1992. This effort, known as the Mission Bay Sewage Interceptor System (MBSIS), involves a four phase program for the design and construction of low flow diversion systems for all storm drains entering Mission Bay by mid 1993. The phases were prioritized by pollution potential allowing the most critical drains to be controlled first. The City constructed 8 diversion systems on 2 major creeks and 6 smaller storm drains on the east side of Mission Bay. These projects were known as the East Bay Sewage Interceptor System (EBSIS). The purpose of the MBSIS Phase I project is to construct improvements that will provide sewage interception capability during dry weather conditions on selected storm drain outlets to Mission Bay. In addition, these projects will provide a telemetry system to operate and control both the new diversions and the EBSIS facilities to eliminate continual inflows of non-contaminated rainfall runoff into the sanitary sewers during wet weather periods.


Behavioral synthesis of synchronous systems is a well established and researched area. The transformation of behavioral description into a datapath and control graph, and hence, to a structural realization usually requires three fundamental steps: 1) scheduling (the mapping of behavioral operations onto time slots); 2) allocation (the mapping of the behavioral operations onto abstract functional units); and 3) binding (the mapping of the functional units onto physical cells). Optimization is usually achieved by intelligent manipulation of these three steps in some way. Key to the operation of such a system is the (automatically generated) control graph, which is effectively a complex sequence generator controlling the passage of data through the system in time to some synchronizing clock. The maximum clock speed is dictated by the slowest time slot. (This is the timeslot containing the longest combinational logic delay.) Timeslots containing quicker (less) logic will effectively waste time: the output of the combinational logic in the state will have settled long before the registers reading the data are enabled. If we allow the state to change as soon as the data is ready, by introducing the concepts of "ready" and "acknowledge," the control graph becomes a disjoint set of single-state machines-it effectively disappears, with the consequence that the timeslot-timeslot transitions become self controlling. Having removed the necessity for the timeslots to be of equal duration the system becomes selftiming: asynchronous. This paper describes a behavioral asynchronous synthesis system based on this concept that takes as input an algorithmic description of a design and produces an asynchronous structural implementation. Several example systems are synthesized both synchronously and asynchronously (with no modification to the high level description). In keeping with the well-established observation that asynchronous systems operate at average case time complexity rather than worse case, the asynchronous structures usually operate some 30% faster than their synchronous counterparts, although interesting counterexamples are observed.


Solar Advisor Model (SAM) is a free software package made available by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Sandia National Laboratory, and the US Department of Energy. SAM contains hourly system performance and economic models for concentrating solar power (CSP) systems, photovoltaic, solar hot-water, and generic fuel-use technologies. Versions of SAM prior to 2010 included only the parabolic trough model based on Excelergy. This model uses top-level empirical performance curves to characterize plant behavior, and thus is limited in predictive capability for new technologies or component configurations. To address this and other functionality challenges, a new trough model; derived from physical first principles was commissioned to supplement the Excelergy-based empirical model. This new 'physical model' approaches the task of characterizing the performance of the whole parabolic trough plant by replacing empirical curve-fit relationships with more detailed calculations where practical. The resulting model matches the annual performance of the SAM empirical model (which has been previously verified with plant data) while maintaining run-times compatible with parametric analysis, adding additional flexibility in modeled system configurations, and providing more detailed performance calculations in the solar field, power block, piping, and storage subsystems.


Aims: the purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of aquatic exercises on inflammatory markers of cardiovascular (homocysteine, C-reactive protein [CRP], and fibrinogen) in obese women. Materials and Methods: It was a semi-experimental with pre- and posttest design. Thirty-seven obese women volunteered to participate in the research, of which 28 had inclusive criteria for research. The age of participants ranged from 35 to 40 years and their body fat percentage was above 30%. The exercise protocol included a combination of resistance, stretching, and balance exercises that were carried out three sessions a week for 10 weeks. Statistical Analysis Used: Paired t-test and independent test were used to analyze the data. Results: The results suggested that homocysteine, CRP, and fibrinogen indices of obese women were significantly improved following combined aquatic exercises (P ≤ 0.05). Furthermore, a significant decrease in body fat percentage with improvement of cholesterol and systolic blood pressure were found in experimental group (P ≤ 0.05). Conclusions: The overall result was that combined aquatic exercises would not only attenuate cardiovascular risk factors such as homocysteine, fibrinogen, and CRP but also improve the other cardiovascular disease risk factors such as obesity, cholesterol, and blood pressure.


Over the past hundred years, there has been a series of metaethical views according to which we ought to deepen our understanding of normative terms by inquiring after the states of mind they express. This is the class of views, sometimes identified as forms of noncognitivism, that Allan Gibbard has dubbed "expressivist." It includes the emotivism of A. J. Ayer and Charles Stevenson as well as, on some readings, the prescriptivism of R. M. Hare. More recently, Simon Blackburn's "quasirealist" projectivism is a sophisticated form of expressivism, and Gibbard has also developed and defended an expressivist theory of his own. What these views share is the thought that normative terms are intimately linked to emotions or actions in a way that cannot be captured in a purely descriptive analysis. They also share a set of common objections. For instance, all expressivists must confront the so-called Frege-Geach problem, according to which an expressivist analysis of normative terms will be unable to account for the many ways in which such terms can be embedded in otherwise descriptive sentences. Expressivists also face objections, raised most prominently by Ronald Dworkin, according to


The article aims at showing the similarities between the outbreak of the First and the Second World War, discussing the famous definition of «Thirty-Year European civil war». The outbreaks of the two world wars are examined through four interpretative keys: hegemony, alliance system, war-proneness, and clash of civilization. This approach helps understanding also the Cold War and the present geopolitical situation, in particular the role of Germany. Germany was indeed the country that contributed most to the outbreak of the two world wars and as well as the core of the conflict between the US and the USSR. Moreover Germany, being the main European economic power, plays a key role in the current international crisis.


The effective long-term curation of digital content requires expert analysis, policy setting, and decision making, and a robust technical infrastructure that can effect and enforce curation policies and implement appropriate curation activities. Since the number, size, and diversity of content under curation management will undoubtedly continue to grow over time, and the state of curation understanding and best practices relative to that content will undergo a similar constant evolution, one of the overarching design goals of a sustainable curation infrastructure is flexibility. In order to provide the necessary flexibility of deployment and configuration in the face of potentially disruptive changes in technology, institutional mission, and user expectation, a useful design metaphor is provided by the Unix pipeline, in which complex behavior is an emergent property of the coordinated action of a number of simple independent components. The decomposition of repository function into a highly granular and orthogonal set of independent but interoperable micro-services is consistent with the principles of prudent engineering practice. Since each micro-service is small and self-contained, they are individually more robust and collectively easier to implement and maintain. By being freely interoperable in various strategic combinations, any number of micro-services-based repositories can be easily constructed to meet specific administrative or technical needs. Importantly, since these repositories are purposefully built from policy neutral and protocol and platform independent components to provide the function minimally necessary for a specific context, they are not constrained to conform to an infrastructural monoculture of prepackaged repository solutions. The University of California Curation Center has developed an open source micro-services infrastructure that is being used to manage the diverse digital collections of the ten campus University system and a number of non-university content partners. This paper provides a review of the conceptual design and technical implementation of this micro-services environment, a case study of initial deployment, and a look at ongoing micro-services developments.


PURPOSE
To develop an on-board 4D-CBCT(OB-4D-CBCT) reconstruction technique using prior information and limited-angle projections for 4D inter/intra-fractional target verificationMethods: The OB-4D-CBCT at each phase is considered as a deformation of planning 4D-CT at one selected phase (prior image). The MM-FD technique solves the deformation field maps(DFMs) with a two-step approach: 1. MM: a principal component analysis-based method is applied to the planning 4D-CT to extract a motion model. Coarse estimation of DFMs are obtained by optimizing motion model parameters to meet data-fidelity constraint for limited-angle on-board projections. 2. FD: the coarse DFMs are further fine-tuned by free-form deformation based on data-fidelity constraint and deformation-energy minimization, using constrained-optimization algorithm ASD-POCS. OB-4D-CBCT is then reconstructed by deforming prior volume based on final DFMs. The 4D Digital Extended-cardiac-torso(XCAT) Phantom was used to evaluate MM-FD. A lung patient with 3-cm diameter lesion was simulated to have various anatomical and respirational changes from 4D-CT to OB-4D-CBCT including respiration amplitude change, lesion size change, lesion average-position change, and phase shift between lesion and body respiratory cycle. The lesions were contoured in both the reconstructed and 'ground-truth' OB-4D-CBCT for comparison. 3D volume percentage-difference (VD) and center-of-mass shifts(COMS) were calculated for evaluation. The MM-FD technique was compared with MM-only and FD-only techniques.

RESULTS
For all patient scenarios, the mean original VD/COMS between prior volume and true OB-4D-CBCT were 137.65%/15.5mm. Using orthogonal-15-degree scan angle, the mean VD/COMS between reconstructed and true OB-4D-CBCT for MM-only, FD-only and MM-FD techniques were 64.67%/4.9mm, 98.80%/12.1mm and 20.90%/1.3mm, respectively. For orthogonal-30-degree scan angle, the corresponding results were 63.87%/4.9mm, 79.92%/9.9mm and 15.23%/0.5mm. For single-view 30-and 60-degree projections, the mean VD/COMS for MM-FD technique were 32.67%/2.9mm and 19.67%/1.1mm, respectively.

CONCLUSION
The MM-FD technique substantially improves the reconstruction accuracy for OB-4D-CBCT using limited-angle projections. It can potentially improve the inter/intra-fractional 4D-localization accuracy for lung SBRT. Research partially supported by grant from Varian Medical Systems.


Effective communication of activities and progress in the workplace is crucial for the success of many modern organizations. In this paper, we extend current research on workplace communication and uncover opportunities for technology to support effective work activity reporting. We report on three studies: With a survey of 68 knowledge workers followed by 14 in-depth interviews, we investigated the perceived benefits of different types of progress reports and an array of challenges at three stages: Collection, Composition, and Delivery. We show an important interplay between written and face-to-face reporting, and highlight the importance of tailoring a report to its audience. We then present results from an analysis of 722 reports composed by 361 U.S.-based knowledge workers, looking at the influence of the audience on a report's language. We conclude by discussing opportunities for future technologies to assist both employees and managers in collecting, interpreting, and reporting progress in the workplace.


Negri celebrates a conception of democracy in which the concrete powers of individual humans are not alienated away, but rather are added together: this is a democracy of the multitude. But how can the multitude act without alienating anyone's power? To answer this difficulty, Negri explicitly appeals to Spinoza. Nonetheless, in this paper, I argue that Spinoza's philosophy does not support Negri's project. I argue that the Spinozist multitude avoids internal hierarchy through the mediation of political institutions and not in spite of them; nor do these institutions merely emanate from the multitude as it is, but rather they structure, restrain and channel its passions. In particular, the required institutions are not those of a simple direct democracy. There may be other non-Spinozist arguments on which Negri can ground his theory, but he cannot legitimately defend his conception of the democratic multitude by appeal to Spinoza.


The EU is currently struggling to implement coherent coexistence regulations on genetically modified (GM) and non-GM crops in all member states. While it stresses that any approach needs to be "proportionate to the aim of achieving coexistence", very few studies have actually attempted to assess whether the proposed spatial ex ante coexistence regulations (SEACERs) satisfy this proportionality condition. In this article, we define proportionality as a functional relationship which is weakly increasing in the incentives for coexistence. We propose a spatial framework based on an existing landscape and introduce the new concept of shadow factor as a measure for the opportunity costs induced by SEACERs. This enables comparing the proportionality of (i) rigid SEACERs which are based on large isolation distances imposed on GM farmers versus (ii) flexible SEACERs based on pollen barrier agreements between neighboring farmers. Our theoretical and empirical findings argue for flexibility as rigid SEACERs violate the proportionality condition and, hence, are not consistent with the objectives of the EU.


As an inevitable step during ultrasonic bonding of aluminum or copper materials, the removal of oxides that prevent the bond formation is essential for obtaining high quality. Nevertheless, the oxides removal process is still unclear after tens of years' application of ultrasonic bonding. In this project, the removal mechanism was investigated via the analysis of an artificially coated oxide layer. The oxide removal process was observed in real-time by a high-speed observation system and the oxides distribution after the bonding process was observed under an electron microscope. The results show that during the bonding process, the detached oxides first agglomerate into larger particles and were then pressed outside of the contact area. The areas of the particles were counted and fit to a lognormal distribution.


The break-even inflation rate (BEIR) is calculated by comparing the yields on conventional and Real Return Bonds. Defined as the average rate of inflation that equates the expected returns on these two bonds, the BEIR has the potential to contain useful information about long-run inflation expectations. Yet the BEIR has been higher, on average, and more variable than survey measures of inflation expectations, which may be explained by the effects of premiums and distortions embedded in the BEIR. Because of the difficulty in accounting for these distortions, the BEIR should not be given a large weight as a measure of long-run inflation expectations at this time. However, as the Real Return Bond market continues to develop, the BEIR should become a more useful indicator of inflation expectations. At present, it demonstrates no clear advantage over survey measures and even past inflation rates in forecasting near-term inflation.


This dissertation examines the consumption of crime narratives in America, from seventeenth century execution sermons to the contemporary genre of true crime. These crime narratives serve to encourage orientation of the community toward the figures involved, including criminal and victim, and adapt with changing cultural and social norms. In responding to situations that have disrupted communal order, the crime narrative functions as a restoration ritual that aids members of the community responding to and recovering from the presented threat: a crime or transgression of taboo. While early religious texts focused on the figure of the criminal, a community member that has been misplaced or given power that he should not possess, secular texts began to incorporate and establish the role of the victim within the crime narratives. These texts present us with the genesis of putting the victims' innocence on trial along with the question of the criminal's guilt. It relies on interpretative formats of the victims' biographies to support the criminal's actions and even earn them acquittals in court. Every aspect of the victim – from body to biography and including race, class, and gender – functions as clues and evidence to both identify the criminal and label the victim as complicit in his/her own demise. The ritual thus functions to reinforce preestablished notions of guilt, innocence, and justice. The contemporary true crime genre, often thought to have originated in the twentieth century, instead draws on these historical texts, their orientations toward criminal and victim, and their function as restoration ritual, creating the true crime genre as the contemporary reenactment or response to communal upheaval. The attitudes present within contemporary true crime reflect the long history of the consumption of crime narratives on American soil. Best-selling true crime books such as In Cold Blood (1966), Helter Skelter (1974), and The Stranger Beside Me (1980) support this established communal orientation toward criminals and victims. The more recent Green River, Running Red (2004) serves as an example of how embedded these beliefs and orientations have become, proving their adherence to the ritual and reinforcing its role of affirming cultural beliefs in justice, guilt, and redemption, regardless of the criminal's or victim's individual identity or relative situation.


Ultrasound (US) is one of the most common medical imaging modalities since it is radiation-free, low-cost, and real-time. In freehand US examinations, sonographers often navigate a US probe to visualize standard examination planes with rich diagnostic information. However, reproducibility and stability of the resulting images often suffer from intra- and inter-operator variation. Reinforcement learning (RL), as an interaction-based learning method, has demonstrated its effectiveness in visual navigating tasks; however, RL is limited in terms of generalization. To address this challenge, we propose a simulation-based RL framework for real-world navigation of US probes towards the standard longitudinal views of vessels. A UNet is used to provide binary masks from US images; thereby, the RL agent trained on simulated binary vessel images can be applied in real scenarios without further training. To accurately characterize actual states, a multi-modality state representation structure is introduced to facilitate the understanding of environments. Moreover, considering the characteristics of vessels, a novel standard view recognition approach based on the minimum bounding rectangle is proposed to terminate the searching process. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed method, the trained policy is validated virtually on 3D volumes of a volunteer's in-vivo carotid artery, and physically on custom-designed gel phantoms using robotic US. The results demonstrate that proposed approach can effectively and accurately navigate the probe towards the longitudinal view of vessels.


OBJECTIVE To describe the epidemiology and costs of the acute care of peripheral vascular disease, infection, neuropathy, and ulceration in a U.K. population with special consideration of those patients with diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Routine data describing inpatient care for a 4-year period were analyzed (financial years 1991/1992 to 1994/1995). These data had undergone record-linkage to draw together records from the same patients, and records of patients with diabetes were flagged. Cost estimates were determined by attributing a diagnosis-related group cost-weight to each record. RESULTS A total of 4,245 admissions (1.2% of all admissions) had a primary diagnosis of peripheral vascular disease, infection, neuropathy, or ulceration, and 7,379 (2.1%) admissions had these categories recorded in any one of six diagnostic fields. These figures were generated by 3,159 and 4,751 patients, respectively. This represented a range of crude annual incidence of admission of between 1.9 and 2.9 per 1,000 people. Patients with diabetes accounted for 625 (15.4%) of primary admissions, a crude annual incidence of admission of 18.8 per 1,000. The age-standardized relative risk of admission for patients with diabetes to the nondiabetic population was 7.61 for men and 6.85 for women. The length of stay for patients with diabetes was almost twice that of the nondiabetic population (15.5 vs. 8.7 days). The relative risk of hospital mortality (diabetes vs. non-diabetes) was 2.83. Surgical procedures were carried out on 857 patients, 272 (31.2%) with diabetes. This represented an age-standardized relative risk of 31.19. The estimated cost of admissions for primary diagnoses in these categories over 4 years was 6,128,211 pounds ($9,743,855). Patients with diabetes accounted for 1,236,623 pounds ($1,966,230), an excess of 87% attributable to the diabetic state. CONCLUSIONS Diabetes is confirmed as a significant risk factor for peripheral vascular disease, infection, neuropathy, and ulceration. The severity of these disorders in terms of increased risk of hospital mortality, length of stay, and risk of surgical procedure is also demonstrated for those patients with diabetes.


Objective To report the 5-year risk and to identify risk factors for the development of a seminal acute or progressive clinical event in a multi-national cohort of asymptomatic subjects meeting 2009 RIS Criteria. Methods Retrospectively identified RIS subjects from 22 databases within 5 countries were evaluated. Time to the first clinical event related to demyelination (acute or 12-month progression of neurological deficits) was compared across different groups by univariate and multivariate analyses utilizing a Cox regression model. Results Data were available in 451 RIS subjects (F: 354 (78.5%)). The mean age at from the time of the first brain MRI revealing anomalies suggestive of MS was 37.2 years (y) (median: 37.1 y, range: 11–74 y) with mean clinical follow-up time of 4.4 y (median: 2.8 y, range: 0.01–21.1 y). Clinical events were identified in 34% (standard error = 3%) of individuals within a 5-year period from the first brain MRI study. Of those who developed symptoms, 9.6% fulfilled criteria for primary progressive MS. In the multivariate model, age [hazard ratio (HR): 0.98 (95% CI: 0.96–0.99); p = 0.03], sex (male) [HR: 1.93 (1.24–2.99); p = 0.004], and lesions within the cervical or thoracic spinal cord [HR: 3.08 (2.06–4.62); p = <0.001] were identified as significant predictors for the development of a first clinical event. Interpretation These data provide supportive evidence that a meaningful number of RIS subjects evolve to a first clinical symptom. An age <37 y, male sex, and spinal cord involvement appear to be the most important independent predictors of symptom onset.


Abstract This paper describes a series of experiments set out to explore the strength of bending loaded impacted monolithic composite panels with different thicknesses. Two laminate thicknesses are tested, both exposed to the same impact event in a drop tower with 35 J using a spherical tup with a radius of 8 mm. Accompanying tests in compression are performed and reported to allow evaluation of the full effects of bending. A limited fractographic analysis is also performed to study damage distribution after impact as well as after mechanical tests. It has been demonstrated that damage distribution through the thickness affects the bending properties of the laminate as the failure load was lower when the side with the largest delamination was loaded in compression. As expected it has also been demonstrated that the far field failure strain is higher at bending compared to compression loading.


The Malaysian government's ruling that Malaysian schools use English as the medium for teaching Science and Mathematics (henceforth TSME) starting January 2003 had engendered various reactions (the switch back to Malay took place in 2010). These reactions, supportive or otherwise, cut across the boundaries of the racial groups: Malays, Chinese and Indians. After independence, English schools became national schools, using Malay as the medium of instruction, with English as a compulsory language, even for the Chinese and Tamil schools. Malay opposition to TSME in English has a nationalistic and historical basis. Chinese opposition finds a basis in cognitive concerns while the Indians seem to be neutral for various reasons. This chapter discusses the perception of TSME in English among Malaysians in the light of national language policy and planning and the government's intent in achieving Vision 2020.


An approach for developing a tire suitable for performing small scale vehicle dynamics research is discussed. This will allow for physical verification of vehicle dynamics modelling and controls in environments where a full scale prototype is either not feasible or too large an investment. Currently, scale vehicle research is limited by the availability of tires on the desired scale, which are typically sourced from the radio controlled (RC) vehicle industry. Use of these tires, however, results in poor similitude between the representative scale vehicle and the full scale vehicle. This is due to variations in the behaviour of the scale tire to the full scale tire. An existing analytical tire model known as the cornering force self-aligning torque model (CF/SAT), is analyzed and modifications to the model are proposed to allow it to be used for non-dimensional tire parameterization. The model is then non-dimensionalized, using Buckingham Pi theory, to allow for comparison of small scale tire performance to large scale tire performance. A static load-deflection tire testing apparatus named the Windsor Automotive Tire Tester (WATT) is also developed. This machine is used to analyze if it is possible to determine the CF/SAT parameters for a given tire without the use of full scale tire dynamic studies and regression analysis. A DUBRO 5.00 T.V. RC airplane tire is then parameterized and modelled using relationships derived from the static tire data. The results of the tire model are compared with experimental data of the DUBRO 5.00 T.V. tire in order to analyze the effectiveness of the approach. It was found that it was possible to estimate some tire parameters using this method, however, more research is required to fully parameterize the tire using static load-deflection data.


The history of man-made flight for children growing in reading confidence. From Da Vinci to the Wright Brothers, find out how people dreamed of taking to the sky in complex "flying machines", before inventions such as hot-air balloons, airships, helicopters and of course aeroplanes made it all possible. Usborne Young Reading has been developed with reading experts from Roehampton University.


The Amundsen Sea sector of Antarctica has long been considered the most vulnerable part of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) because of the great water depth at the grounding line and the absence of substantial ice shelves. Glaciers in this configuration are thought to be susceptible to rapid or runaway retreat. Ice flowing into the Amundsen Sea Embayment is undergoing the most rapid changes of any sector of the Antarctic Ice Sheet outside the Antarctic Peninsula, including changes caused by substantial grounding-line retreat over recent decades, as observed from satellite data. Recent models suggest that a threshold leading to the collapse of WAIS in this sector may have been already crossed and that much of the ice sheet could be lost even under relatively moderate greenhouse gas emission scenarios. Drill cores from the Amundsen Sea provide tests of several key questions about controls on ice sheet stability. The cores offer a direct record of glacial history offshore from a drainage basin that receives ice exclusively from the WAIS, which allows clear comparisons between the WAIS history and low-latitude climate records. Today, warm Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) is impinging onto the Amundsen Sea shelf and causing melting of the underside of the WAIS in most places. Reconstructions of past CDW intrusions can assess the ties between warm water upwelling and large-scale changes in past grounding-line positions. Carrying out these reconstructions offshore from the drainage basin that currently has the most substantial negative mass balance of ice anywhere in Antarctica is thus of prime interest to future predictions. The scientific objectives for this expedition are built on hypotheses about WAIS dynamics and related paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic conditions. The main objectives are 1. To test the hypothesis that WAIS collapses occurred during the Neogene and Quaternary and, if so, when and under which environmental conditions; 2. To obtain ice-proximal records of ice sheet dynamics in the Amundsen Sea that correlate with global records of ice-volume changes and proxy records for atmospheric and ocean temperatures; 3. To study the stability of a marine-based WAIS margin and how warm deep-water incursions control its position on the shelf; 4. To find evidence for earliest major grounded WAIS advances onto the middle and outer shelf; 5. To test the hypothesis that the first major WAIS growth was related to the uplift of the Marie Byrd Land dome. International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 379 completed two very successful drill sites on the continental rise of the Amundsen Sea. Site U1532 is located on a large sediment drift, now called Resolution Drift, and penetrated to 794 m with 90% recovery. We collected almost-continuous cores from the Pleistocene through the Pliocene and into the late Miocene. At Site U1533, we drilled 383 m (70% recovery) into the more condensed sequence at the lower flank of the same sediment drift. The cores of both sites contain unique records that will enable study of the cyclicity of ice sheet advance and retreat processes as well as bottom-water circulation and water mass changes. In particular, Site U1532 revealed a sequence of Pliocene sediments with an excellent paleomagnetic record for high-resolution climate change studies of the previously sparsely sampled Pacific sector of the West Antarctic margin. Despite the drilling success at these sites, the overall expedition experienced three unexpected difficulties that affected many of the scientific objectives: 1. The extensive sea ice on the continental shelf prevented us from drilling any of the proposed shelf sites. 2. The drill sites on the continental rise were in the path of numerous icebergs of various sizes that frequently forced us to pause drilling or leave the hole entirely as they approached the ship. The overall downtime caused by approaching icebergs was 50% of our time spent on site. 3. An unfortunate injury to a member of the ship's crew cut the expedition short by one week. Recovery of core on the continental rise at Sites U1532 and U1533 cannot be used to precisely indicate the position of ice or retreat of the ice sheet on the shelf. However, these sediments contained in the cores offer a range of clues about past WAIS extent and retreat. At Sites U1532 and U1533, coarse-grained sediments interpreted to be ice-rafted debris (IRD) were identified throughout all recovered time periods. A dominant feature of the cores is recorded by lithofacies cyclicity, which is interpreted to represent relatively warmer periods variably characterized by higher microfossil abundance, greater bioturbation, and higher counts of IRD alternating with colder periods characterized by dominantly gray laminated terrigenous muds. Initial comparison of these cycles to published records from the region suggests that the units interpreted as records of warmer time intervals in the core tie to interglacial periods and the units interpreted as deposits of colder periods tie to glacial periods. The cores from the two drill sites recovered sediments of purely terrigenous origin intercalated or mixed with pelagic or hemipelagic deposits. In particular, Site U1533, which is located near a deep-sea channel originating from the continental slope, contains graded sands and gravel transported downslope from the shelf to the abyssal plain. The channel is likely the path of such sediments transported downslope by turbidity currents or other sedimentgravity flows. The association of lithologic facies at both sites predominantly reflects the interplay of downslope and contouritic sediment supply with occasional input of more pelagic sediment. Despite the lack of cores from the shelf, our records from the continental rise reveal the timing of glacial advances across the shelf and thus the existence of a continent-wide ice sheet in West Antarctica at least during longer time periods since the late Miocene. Cores from both sites contain abundant coarse-grained sediments and clasts of plutonic origin transported either by downslope processes or by ice rafting. If detailed provenance studies confirm our preliminary assessment that the origin of these samples is from the plutonic bedrock of Marie Byrd Land, their thermochronological record will potentially reveal timing and rates of denudation and erosion linked to crustal uplift. The chronostratigraphy of both sites enables the generation of a seismic sequence stratigraphy not only for the Amundsen Sea rise but also for the western Amundsen Sea along the Marie Byrd Land margin through a connecting network of seismic lines.


True video understanding requires making sense of non-lambertian scenes where the color of light arriving at the camera sensor encodes information about not just the last object it collided with, but about multiple mediums -- colored windows, dirty mirrors, smoke or rain. Layered video representations have the potential of accurately modelling realistic scenes but have so far required stringent assumptions on motion, lighting and shape. Here we propose a learning-based approach for multi-layered video representation: we introduce novel uncertainty-capturing 3D convolutional architectures and train them to separate blended videos. We show that these models then generalize to single videos, where they exhibit interesting abilities: color constancy, factoring out shadows and separating reflections. We present quantitative and qualitative results on real world videos.


ABSTRACT The number of reported cases of abuse of older persons living in domestic (noninstitutional) settings in the United States has increased dramatically in the past two decades. A frequent form of elder abuse is financial exploitation (also known as financial abuse), which can occur through the misuse of powers of attorney and guardianships, illegal transfers of property, and outright fraud and theft. Financial crimes against older persons are particularly difficult to examine because they are often unreported by victims and professionals. Congress addressed concerns about financial exploitation in its 2000 reauthorization of the Older Americans Act, which required that the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) conduct a study of financial exploitation of older persons. This article reports the results of the DHHS study.


Abstract In circumstances that are substantially different from the norm, new ways of thinking about those alternative contexts are necessary. In the context of corporate governance and corporate social investment (CSI) the relationship between corporate donors and community organisations is regarded as important, but the indicators used to describe this relationship need revisiting. The argument in this article is that context-specific indicators are needed to bring the true nature of the corporate–community relationship to the fore. In addition, a suggestion is made that such indicators be both rigorous and relevant in describing the relationship. In an interpretative, qualitative exploration of data from individual interviews it was revealed that well-known relationship indicators were inadequate to describe the relationship between corporate donors and community organisations accurately. The article could serve as the first step in reviewing stakeholder relationship indicators from organisational communication research and adapting these indicators to a specific context.


Hormone-refractory prostate cancer (HRCaP) is both heterogeneous and lethal. Multiple treatment options exist, including secondary hormonal manipulations, chemotherapy, experimental options, and best supportive care. Choosing the appropriate therapy for an individual patient depends on several important clinical factors such as the presence or absence of symptomatic metastatic disease, age and comorbidities, and prostate-specific antigen velocity. While only docetaxel (Taxotere)-based chemotherapy has been proven to improve survival in this setting, a wide range of therapies may be effective for any individual. Palliative maneuvers, such as external-beam radiation, bisphosphonate therapy, radiopharmaceuticals, and pain management are critical for appropriate patient management. Several promising novel therapies are in late-stage testing and will hopefully provide more treatment options for these patients.


Systems development seems to be taught in a very traditional way in the Swedish unversities. It is supposed that an inhouse development starting from scratch will be at hand. This is shown using an investigation of current books in the area, of contemporary educations in systems deveopment. But the needs from the business word are different and this is shown in an investigation of job advertisments in Sweden. The conclusion is that informatics as subject is at a deep crise: We educate students for a work that was at hand in the 80's and not for the 21 century!


This report builds on a review of international experience with high-speed rail projects to develop recommendations for a High-speed rail policy framework for the United States (US). The international review looked at the experience of Korea, Taiwan, China, and several countries in Europe. Countries in Asia and Europe have pursued high-speed rail (HSR) to achieve various goals, which include relieving congestion on highway networks, freeing up capacity on rail network for freight train operations, and reducing travel time for travelers. Some of the key rationales do not work well in the US context. As an example, in the US, freight companies own most of the rail network and, hence, do not need government intervention to free up capacity for their operations. The project concluded that the potential to reduce travel times, coupled with improved travel time reliability and safety, will be the strongest selling points for HSR in the US. HSR lines work best in high-density, economically active corridors. Given that there are a limited number of such corridors in the US, this study recommends that the US HSR project funding mix be skewed heavily toward state bonds guaranteed by the federal government. This will ensure that the states that benefit directly from the projects pay most of the costs, making it more palatable to states that may not have HSR projects. For the projects that span multiple states, member states may have to negotiate the level of financial responsibility they will bear, and this will require detailed negotiations and financial setups that are not addressed in this report. Other measures that the federal government needs to put in place include designating a key agency and dedicated funding source, and developing regulations and specifications for HSR design and construction. States that embark on HSR projects should start with formal legislation and put in place structures to ensure sustained political support throughout the planning and construction of the project. The federal government also needs to move quickly to foster educational and training centers to build up the HSR workforce in the country.


Amidst a rapidly expanding population, Indian cities are unable to keep pace with the growing demand for efficient and adequate urban services especially in the sectors of water, waste and energy. This practice note looks at the WRI India approach of developing a powerful value accelerator platform to scale innovative solutions for gaps in service delivery in collaboration with the quadruple helix stakeholders of government, private sector, academia and citizens. This note summarizes the impact, experiences, and lessons learned from the TheCityFix Labs India held between September 2018 and September 2019, which was supported by the Citi Foundation. This note also assesses the existing innovation ecosystem and the potential for on-the-ground demonstrations and pilot projects to mobilise investment and spark policy reform for the successful delivery of sustainable urban services. This note also sheds light on some of the enabling conditions needed to deliver sustainable infrastructure, and issues that must be addressed to enable innovative small players and new entrants to participate.


Diffraction efficiency of volume Bragg grating, whose period is in the same order as the incident wavelength, is related to the polarization direction of the incident linear polarized beam. When two linearly polarized recording beams with the same polarization direction are used for recording volume Bragg gratings in a photopolymer with diffusion amplification, the azimuth of polarization of the reconstruction beam influences the diffraction efficiency of the grating. When the probe beam is linearly polarized and oriented orthogonally to the grating vectors, the ?-order diffraction beams are also linearly polarized with polarization direction parallel to that of the probe beam. According to the results, a two-dimensional nonspatial optical filter consisting of the volume Bragg gratings would achieve significantly higher efficiency.


Mixtures of expanded polystyrene (EPS) wastes and gypsum, characterization and uses in construction.Francisco Javier González MadariagaThe expanded polystyrene (EPS) recycling technique exposed here consists in the formation of EPS wastes and gypsum-water mixtures with different proportions and under different conditions. One of the objectives for this thesis is to determine the components proportions for the gypsum-EPS wastes mixtures to be used as plasterboards and panels in construction also the work done here includes the determination of some of the new plasterboards and panels main properties. The experimental work at the new materials is the main part in this thesis. In the latest experimental section 14 physical and mechanical resistance tests have been done to 290 specimens. Among 68 different mixtures tested only 8 were selected and applied in 2 construction materials: one with similar uses to gypsum plasterboards and the other one with similar uses to a thermal insulating panel. The plasterboard mixtures have been produced with a main gypsum proportion and a reduced percentage of EPS wastes. From the plasterboard tests we know that plasterboards made of gypsum-EPS wastes are more prone to total water absorption (14% more) and the new material is 23,1% lighter than the standard laminated gypsum plasterboards (10 kg/m2) available in the market, both materials 12,5 mm thick. The flexure resistance for the new plasterboards with EPS wastes complies the UNE 102035-1M: 2001 Spanish Norm by more than 24 N. The fire reaction test developed here allows the research team to propose a Euroclasses level of B, s2, d0 for the new plasterboard materials because they show under a punctual fire attack a very limited combustion and a slow and limited smoke production with no ignited dropping particles. The impact resistance test of the new plasterboards shows that they exceed the limits by more than 2, 29 mm of the Spanish Norm mentioned before where the maximum impact mark diameter accepted is 20 mm.The mixture selected to by used in a thermal insulation panel has a high EPS waste percentage and a little of gypsum-water. From the insulation panel tests: they show a 20.7% mean of water absorption which is higher than the percentage accepted by the Spanish Norm UNE-EN 12087. The new panel has a density of 193 kg/m3 which is superior to a brand new EPS panel's density (Type III 15 kg/m3) this result is similar or superior to others researcher's publications who work on construction materials made of alike components. The EPS wastes-gypsum panel could be classified to flexure resistance as a BS 350 material (349,9 kPa) according the European Norm UNE-EN 13163:2002 which is a higher level to a new EPS panel type III (15 kg/m3) with a flexure resistance of 124 kPa, level BS 115 . The thermal conductivity index for the selected EPS wastes- gypsum mixture was 0,065 W/mK which is 12, 3% higher than a new EPS Type I (0,057 W/mK) and 66% higher than a type III EPS panel ( 0,039 W/mK).This is an original work which has produced several optimized mixtures of EPS wastes and gypsum-water. The new materials developed here are useful for manufacturing of construction elements with similar applications like gypsum plasterboard and EPS panels which in one hand cooperate to recycle EPS wastes and in the other hand they save the gypsum quantities required for its production.


Venous stasis retinopathy and ischemic oculopathy are ocular manifestations of ischemia in the distribution of the carotid artery. While not as common as transient monocular blindness or retinal arterial emboli, they are readily recognizable and indicate the presence of severe, often bilateral, carotid occlusive disease. Patterns of occlusion vary but usually include complete occlusion of at least one common or internal carotid artery, often accompanied by occlusion or narrowing in the opposite carotid system. The ocular findings in venous stasis retinopathy and ischemic oculopathy indicate ongoing ocular ischemia and may progress to intractable neovascular glaucoma. Therapy, individualized for the specific pattern of occlusive changes, may be directed toward prevention of stroke or may be indicated primarily for the reversal of ocular ischemia and prevention of blindness secondary to neovascular glaucoma.


Natural vegetation in urban environments is greatly impacted by human activities and it is in constant threat of degradation and destruction as a result of urbanisation. This vegetation, although fragmented, serves an important ecological function and needs to be properly managed and conserved. Studies on urban vegetation are lacking in South Africa, with only a handful having been carried out since the end of the last century. This study was initiated to identify, classify and describe the grassland communities of the urban open spaces in Bloemfontein. Releves were compiled in 61 sample plots, where species present and habitat information were recorded. Care was taken to restrict sample plots to vegetation in pristine condition, wherever possible, and severely degraded stands were avoided. A two-way indicator species analysis (TWINSPAN) classification, refined by Braun-Blanquet procedures, revealed two distinct major communities, seven communities and four sub-communities. Both detrended and canonical correspondence analyses indicated the vegetation units to be associated with soil texture and pH, although biotic factors such as overgrazing, burning and mowing also influence the composition of the vegetation. The proper management and conservation of urban open spaces requires in-depth knowledge of the spatial distribution, floristic, structural and functional compositions within the major vegetation types in this environment. The present study further contributed towards formulating ways for the proper management, utilisation and functioning of the open spaces within the Bloemfontein area. Conservation implications: The Grassland Biome of South Africa is poorly conserved, mainly because of its status as an agricultural hub of the country. The preservation of natural and semi-natural forms of urban vegetation is important because such vegetation, although often disturbed and degraded, could form dispersal corridors between peri-urban and rural vegetation.


Familial predisposition to leukemia has been known for decades. In some families, this condition is also associated with thrombocytopenia and history of bleeding. Germline mutations in the RUNX1 gene have been proven to cause familial platelet disorder with predisposition to myeloid malignancies (FDPMM). The disease typically presents with mild-to-moderate thrombocytopenia with normal-size platelets, functional platelet defects leading to prolonged bleeding, and an increased risk to develop myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), acute myeloid leukemia (AML), or T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL). In recent years, molecular defects in other genes, such as ANKRD26 and ETV6, have been associated with thrombocytopenia and susceptibility to hematological malignancy as well. In our chapter, we will present a review of up-to-date knowledge on this topic along with several case studies demonstrating the diagnostic process and management of the affected families.


In this paper we define Baer BL-algebras as BL-algebras with the property that co-annihilator filters are generated by central elements. We use sheaf-theoretic techniques to construct a Baer extension of any BLalgebra, that is to embed any nontrivial BL-algebra A into a Baer BLalgebra A∗. The embedding turns to be an isomorphism if A is itself a Baer BL-algebra. 2000 MSC: 08A72, 03G25, 54B40, 06F99


Introduction: Respiratory Syncytial Virus is the major viral cause of lower respiratory tract disease in young children worldwide, with the greatest burden of disease in infants aged 1-3 months. Consequently, vaccine development has centered on a vaccine to directly protect the infants in this age group. The fundamental problem is that these young infants are poor responders to candidate RSV vaccines. This thesis focuses on the use of mathematical models to explore the merits of vaccination.
Methods: Following development and analysis of a simple non-age-structured ODE model, we elaborate this to a Realistic Age Structured model (RAS) capturing the key epidemiological characteristics of RSV and incorporating age-specific vaccination options. The compartmental ODE model was calibrated using agespecific and time series hospitalization data from a rural coastal Kenyan population. The determination of Who Acquires Infection From Whom (WAIFW) matrix was done using social contact data from 1) a synthetic mixing matrix generated from primarily household occupancy data and 2) a diary study that we conducted in the Kilifi Health and Demographic Surveillance System (KHDSS). The vaccine was assumed to elicit partial immunity equivalent to wild type infection and its impact was measured by the ratio of hospitalized RSV cases after to before introduction. of vaccination. Uncertainty and sensitivity analysis were undertaken using Latin Hypercube Sampling (LHS) and partial rank correlation respectively. Given the importance of households in the transmission of respiratory infections, an exploratory household model was developed to capture the transmission dynamics of RSV A and B in a population of households.
Results: From the analytical work of the simple ODE model, we have demonstrated that the model has the potential to exhibit a backward bifurcation curve within realistic parameter ranges. Both the diary and the synthetic mixing matrices had similar characteristics i.e. strong assortative mixing in individuals less than 30 years old and strong mixing between children less than 5 years and adults between 20 and 50 years old. When the two matrices were jointly linearly regressed, their elements were well correlated with an R2 ~ 0.6. The RAS model was capable of capturing the age-specific disease and the temporal epidemic nature of RSV in the specified location. Introduction of routine universal vaccination at ages varying from the first month of life to the 10th year of life resulted in optimal long-term benefit at 7 months (for the diary contact model) and 5 months (for the synthetic contact model). The greatest benefit arose under the assumption of age-related mixing with the contact diary data with no great deal of effectiveness lost when the vaccine is delayed between 5 and 12 months of age from birth. Vaccination was also shown to change the temporal dynamics of RSV hospitalizations and also to increase the average age at primary infection. From the sensitivity analysis, we identified the duration of RSV specific maternal antibodies, duration of primary and tertiary infections as the most important parameters in explaining the imprecision observed in predicting both the age specific hospitalizations and the optimal month at vaccination. Results from the household model have demonstrated that the household epidemic profile may be different from the general population with strong interaction of the viruses in the household that do not necessarily reflect at the population level.
Conclusion: The synthetic matrix method would be a preferable alternative route in estimating mixing patterns in populations with the required socio-demographic data. Retrospectively, the synthetic mixing data can be used to reconstruct contact patterns in the past and therefore beneficial in assessing the effect of demographic transition in disease transmission. Universal infant vaccination has the potential to significantly reduce the burden of RSV associated disease, even with delayed vaccination between 5 and 12 months. This age class represents the group that is being targeted by vaccines that are currently under development. More accurate data measuring the duration of RSV specific maternal antibodies and the duration of infections are required to reduce the uncertainty in the model predictions.


This paper foregrounds corporeal co-presence in social work and provides a detailed discussion of the value of face-to-face practices. Informed by an inter-disciplinary body of literature, the paper argues that the concept of co-presence has much to offer the community of social work practitioners and academics in England and Wales as we strive to reconfigure professional practice beyond the VDU (virtual display unit). Moreover, discussion is of broader relevance given international debates about the need to ensure an effective balance between face-to-face and other forms of mediated communication, particularly where practice deals with highly sensitive matters. First, a body of literature from a range of academic disciplines is reviewed that illustrates how and why co-present activity continues to feature centrally in social life. Attention focuses on the rich contextual detail afforded by corporeal co-presence, which is difficult to restore through mediated proximities. Second, the relevance of this body of work for social work practice is detailed. Theoretical arguments are then illustrated through three case examples drawn from ethnographic work. In grounding theoretical propositions through illustrative examples, our intention is to render explicit knowledge that inheres in our being, but is often out of view. The paper recommends that social work needs to reclaim its interactional expertise and foreground embodied ways of knowing.


In recent years, methadone has been the treatment of choice for heroin dependency. This approach has had considerable success, but as a result other treatment options have been neglected. This book draws on the author's direct clinical experience and makes use of international research findings to provide a comprehensive and detailed guide to service provision and treatment for drug misuse, including methadone and alternative opiate substitutes, detoxification methods, naltrexone and relapse prevention, and possible approaches with non-opiate users. Coverage places emphasis on social factors in drug misuse and dependency, and the consequent treatment issues and practical difficulties. Illustrative case studies are featured throughout the text. Combining a highly practical approach with a strong research base, this book will be an essential resource for psychiatrists and other professionals involved in the management of drug misuse.


The Al+3 effects on the morphology and on the phenolics accumulation were evaluated in two sorghum cultivars exhibiting differential tolerance to Al+3. The plants were kept in nutrient solution, for ten days, in the presence (185 mM) or Al+3 absence. The root apexes were colored with ferric hematoxylin, and because the intensity of color development is very similar among evaluated cultivars, the use of this method as a selection parameter for Al+3-tolerance is not indicated. Analyses of superficial and internal morphology from tissues treated with Al+3 also expressed very similar alterations among the two cultivars, not allowing its use for selection between sensitive and Al+3-tolerant genotype. The higher lignin accumulation and, mainly, the lower phenolics production in roots of the BR006R cultivar in Al+3's presence, demonstrated the existence of differential tolerance among cultivars.


Recent trends in food quality and safety promote an increasing search for trace compounds that can affect human health. Biogenic amines belong to this group of substances. They can cause distinctive pharmacological, physiological and toxic effects in organisms. Their amounts are usually increasing as a consequence of the use of poor quality raw materials, during controlled or spontaneous microbial fermentation or in the course of food spoilage. The origin of biogenic amines makes them suitable as chemical indicators of the hygienic quality and freshness of some foods being associated to the degree of food fermentation or degradation. The development of appropriate manufacturing technologies to obtain products free or nearly free from biogenic amines is a challenge for the meat industry. This review briefly summarises current knowledge on the biological implications of biogenic amines on human health and collects data on the factors affecting their formation in meat and fermented meat products.


A novel approach for energy-aware management of sensor networks that maximizes the life of the sensors while maintaining desired quality of service attributes related to sensed data delivery is presented. This approach is to dynamically set routes and arbitrate medium access to minimize energy consumption and maximize sensor life. It presents a brief overview of the dynamic source routing and describes a TDMA based medium access control protocol (MAC).Hence the proposed APCRP-MAC Protocol improves the reliability and increases the life time of the sensor networks by reducing its power consumption. The new clustering and routing algorithm's scale well and converge fast for large scale dynamic sensors as shown by our extensive results using the Network Simulator (NS2).


Gold production from the northern Pataz district in the eastern Andean Cordillera of Peru has been sourced mainly from mesothermal quartz-carbonate-sulfide veins hosted by the Mississippian Pataz batholith. Gold is also found in basement-hosted veins underlying the batholith, in the Vijus-Santa Filomena area of the district. Both are located within a central horst; similar vein mineralogy and proximal phengitic white mica alteration are common to both. However, comb-textured quartz, the chemical compositions of bulk ore and sulfide minerals, and the presence of barite and siderite veins suggest that the basement-hosted veins formed at a shallower crustal level. Similar expressions of hydrothermal alteration associated with anomalous gold, As, Sb, and Tl are also present in the adjacent Lavasen graben, where alteration is intimately associated with volcanic processes that deposited the Mississippian Lavasen Volcanics. K-Ar and 40 Ar- 39 Ar ages for hydrothermal illite from all three locations range between Mississippian and Late Triassic but are consistent with a single Mississippian hydrothermal event, if the data record a minimum age for original illite formation. The geologic setting, mineralization styles, and chemical data suggest a range of crustal depths, ranging from mesothermal batholith-hosted veins through shallow to intermediate depths for the Vijus-Santa Filomena area to a near-surface epithermal setting for the Misquichilca area. Telescoping of this 10- to 13-km crustal range into a 3-km topographic section of the Andes is attributed to syn- and postmineralization uplift and erosion. Sulfide-rich high-grade ore shoots and moderately saline fluid inclusions in the batholith-hosted veins are inconsistent with the original orogenic gold model and suggest a magmatic source component for the ore fluid, consistent with stable isotope (O, H, C, and S) compositions of quartz, illite, carbonates, and sulfides. The isotopic data suggest a mixed magmatic-meteoric ore fluid in the basement-hosted deposits of the Vijus-Santa Filomena area and the volcanic-hosted Misquichilca area. Both the Pataz batholith and the Esperanza Subvolcanic Complex are of the same Mississippian age as the hydrothermal alteration and mineralization. The Esperanza Subvolcanic Complex, comagmatic with the Lavasen Volcanics, contains cognate mineral clots from which a subjacent magma chamber can be inferred. It exhibits potassic, calc-silicate, and argillic alteration, and evidence for the evolution of an Fe-rich volatile phase. The Lavasen-Esperanza magma suite is ferroan and weakly alkaline, with A-type affinities. These features provide a conceptual genetic link with hydrothermal alteration associated with gold mineralization, including Fe (±As) sulfides, phengitic white mica, celadonite, Fe-rich carbonates, and less common Fe oxides. An oxidized intrusion-related model is proposed for gold and hydrothermal alteration in the northern Pataz district.


The Asian monsoon plays a major role in the variability of seasonal temperature and precipitation and the sub-seasonal statistics of these and other climate variables. Due to its considerable impact on the quality and quantity of agricultural output, there is an essential need for greater understanding of the historical risk associated with the Asian monsoon, with the ultimate goal being better climate risk analysis to support agricultural decision-making in South and South East Asia. In response to partner demand expressed by the CCAFS South Asia Regional Program, CCAFS worked with the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) to develop a suite of online "Maproom" tools for analyzing agriculturally important aspects of climate variability, based on gridded historical daily precipitation and temperature data. This report documents the rationale, development of, and use of the Monsoon Asia Historical Precipitation and Temperature Monitoring Maprooms. These tools aim to provide enough flexibility to support a demanding range of analysis and decision support needs. The weather factors that impact agriculture, and the analyses that are needed to support agricultural decision-making, vary considerably by location, production system and time of year. These Maprooms serve as the precursors to the later developed of the Daily Climate Analysis Maprooms.


Block copolymers have attracted considerable attention due to their ability to self-assemble into highly regular structures, spanning length scales from several nanometers to over 100 nm. Block copolymers confined in thin films have been extensively utilized as soft templates for nanofabrication, but most applications have been restricted to single-layer templates with smectic and hexagonal symmetries. Here we show that a multi-step approach that includes shear alignment, thin film lift-off, and stacking can access novel three-dimensional block copolymer structures with long-range order and mixed symmetries. This technique allows control over the long-range order and also expands the range of nanolithographic templates accessible through guided self-assembly.


Finiteness in adult Dutch is expressed by use of formal means of morpho-syntax, i.e. with both inflectional morphology and word order (verb-second). These formal means are linked to a projection of the functional category FIN as in:FINSpecFIN FINFIN VPSpecVP VPAt the initial stage of acquisition, there is no productive use of functional elements nor do learner languages have verb-second. This is due to the fact that initially learner languages are systems in which the functional category FIN is absent. Properties of validation and anchoring are expressed by lexical means: Expression of illocutionary force occurs with modal predicates, contextual anchoring is expressed with deictic elements. Instantiation of the functional projection FIN is caused by the acquisition of the auxiliary verb heb/heeft (have/has). As a functional category, AUX provides a position for functional elements to express modal or – in the default case – non-modal illocutionary force. With the instantiation of AUX, the initial, i.e. specifier position serves as a position for elements with topic function, i.e. for elements used to establish contextual anchoring of the utterance. The acquisition of AUX is the driving force in the development from the lexical to the functional stage. However, the acquisition of AUX does not come as a deus ex machina. Structures with AUX are learned for reasons of information processing. Utterances with an auxiliary are typically used as a topicalisation device. Due to the fact that structures with AUX are learned as a topicalisation device, it seems possible (1) to provide a functional explanation for why auxiliaries, inversion and subject pronouns are learned simultaneously and (2) to account for the fact that the acquisition process occurs similarly in both L1- and L2-learner languages.


This work aims to study the distribution of luminous and dark matter in Coma early-type galaxies. Dynamical masses obtained under the assumption that mass follows light do not match with the masses of strong gravitational lens systems of similar velocity dispersions. Instead, dynamical fits with dark matter halos are in good agreement with lensing results. We derive mass-to-light ratios of the stellar populations from Lick absorption line indices, reproducing well the observed galaxy colours. Even in dynamical models with dark matter halos the amount of mass that follows the light increases more rapidly with galaxy velocity dispersion than expected for a constant stellar initial mass function (IMF). While galaxies around sigma ~ 200 km/s are consistent with a Kroupa IMF, the same IMF underpredicts luminous dynamical masses of galaxies with sigma ~ 300 km/s by a factor of two and more. A systematic variation of the stellar IMF with galaxy velocity dispersion could explain this trend with a Salpeter IMF for the most massive galaxies. If the IMF is instead constant, then some of the dark matter in high velocity dispersion galaxies must follow a spatial distribution very similar to that of the light. A combination of both, a varying IMF and a component of dark matter that follows the light is possible as well. For a subsample of galaxies with old stellar populations we show that the tilt in the fundamental plane can be explained by systematic variations of the total (stellar + dark) mass inside the effective radius. We tested commonly used mass estimator formulae, finding them accurate at the 20-30% level.


The paper provides new data on molecular sequences of 10 millipede species of the family Paradoxosomatidae Daday, 1889 from Vietnam. A 680 bp fragment of the mitochondrial gene COI was sequenced, and registered in GenBank with accession numbers. Similarity matrix and genetic distance (p-distance) were calculated using the computer software MEGA 6.0. The aligned dataset of the gene COI consists of 571 bp from 14 samples of 11 species including an outgroup, Polydesmus denticulatus (C.L. Koch, 1847). Genetic distance and similarity matrix clearly show the separation between the family Polydesmidae and members of the family Paradoxosomatidae. P-distance values among paradoxosomatid species range from 0.063 to 0.236. Almost all p-distance values of Polydesmus denticulatus with other paradoxosomatid species are higher than 0.2. Among same species, p-distance values are also variable from 0.047 for Sellanucheza grandis , 0.063 for Tonkinosoma flexipes , and relatively high (0.102) for Tonkinosoma jeekeli . The phylogenetic trees were reconstructed using two methods: Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian Inference. Both ML and BI trees support the separation of the tribe Chamberlinini from other species. The relationship among other taxa, Tonkinosomatini, Sulciferini and Orthomorphini is unsolved due to limitations of molecular data and samples. In addition, the taxonomic position of the species Tonkinosoma jeekeli is recommended to revise.


The study sought to clarify the comparative effect of outsourcing in relation to alternative manufacturing practices. A representative sample of 267 Swedish manufacturing plants was subjected to multiple regression analysis. Results show that in comparison to outsourcing manufacturing, the other practices related to the enhancement of manufacturing capability had a much stronger ability to predict improvements in operating performance. While investments in higher manufacturing capability have only positive effects, outsourcing may entail negative as well as positive effects on operating performance. For the most part, outsourcing leads to negative effects when used as the main strategy to improve performance, but is more likely to cause positive effects if concurrent initiatives are taken to develop manufacturing capabilities. Thus it is argued that there is a far greater performance improvement potential in investing in, rather than divesting, the manufacturing function. Outsourcing is mainly beneficial when used to free resources in order to invest in higher manufacturing capability.


In this paper we tackle the problem of recommendation in the scenarios with binary relevance data, when only a few (k) items are recommended to individual users. Past work on Collaborative Filtering (CF) has either not addressed the ranking problem for binary relevance datasets, or not specifically focused on improving top-k recommendations. To solve the problem we propose a new CF approach, Collaborative Less-is-More Filtering (CLiMF). In CLiMF the model parameters are learned by directly maximizing the Mean Reciprocal Rank (MRR), which is a well-known information retrieval metric for measuring the performance of top-k recommendations. We achieve linear computational complexity by introducing a lower bound of the smoothed reciprocal rank metric. Experiments on two social network datasets demonstrate the effectiveness and the scalability of CLiMF, and show that CLiMF significantly outperforms a naive baseline and two state-of-the-art CF methods.


Point sources of wastewater pollution, including effluent from municipal sewage treatment plants and intensive livestock and processing industries, can contribute significantly to the degradation of receiving waters (Chambers et al. 1997; Productivity Commission 2004). This has led to increasingly stringent local wastewater discharge quotas (particularly regarding Nitrogen, Phosphorous and suspended solids), and many municipal authorities and industry managers are now faced with upgrading their existing treatment facilities in order to comply. However, with high construction, energy and maintenance expenses and increasing labour costs, traditional wastewater treatment systems are becoming an escalating financial burden for the communities and industries that operate them.

This report was generated, in the first instance, for the Burdekin Shire Council to provide information on design aspects and parameters critical for developing duckweed-based wastewater treatment (DWT) in the Burdekin region. However, the information will be relevant to a range of wastewater sources throughout Queensland. This information has been collated from published literature and both overseas and local studies of pilot and full-scale DWT systems. This report also considers options to generate revenue from duckweed production (a significant feature of DWT), and provides specifications and component cost information (current at the time of publication) for a large-scale demonstration of an integrated DWT and fish production system.


At present, data centers consume a considerable percentage of the worldwide produced electrical energy, equivalent to the electrical production of 26 nuclear power plants, and such energy demand is growing at fast pace due to the ever increasing data volumes to be processed, stored and accessed every day in the modern grid and cloud infrastructures. Such energy consumption growth scenario is clearly not sustainable and it is necessary to limit the data center power budget by controlling the absorbed energy while keeping the desired level of service. In this paper, we describe Energy Farm, a data center energy manager that exploits load fluctuations to save as much energy as possible while satisfying quality of service requirements. Energy Farm achieves energy savings by aggregating traffic during low load periods and temporary turning off a subset of computing resources. Energy Farm respects the logical and physical dependencies of the interconnected devices in the data center and performs automatic shut down even in emergency cases such as temperature peaks and power leakages. Results show that high resource utilization efficiency is possible in data center infrastructures and that huge savings in terms of energy (MWh), emissions (tons of CO2) and costs (k€) are achievable.


The upstream migration of juvenile amphidromous shrimps has been proposed as a source of marine or estuarine-derived nutrients into fresh water. Little is known about the size and ecological importance of any such subsidy as there have been few observational or empirical studies on the topic.
We investigated the upstream migration of the amphidromous shrimp, Macrobrachium spinipes (Palaemonidae) in the Daly River, of tropical northern Australia, to determine migration phenology, estimate migration biomass and determine whether migrating shrimps transport marine-derived energy and nutrients upstream.
Field observations over 2 years revealed that juvenile M. spinipes migrate upstream en masse during extended periods of declining discharge over a period of 4–6 weeks during the wet season (March–May). In addition, juvenile atyid shrimps from the genus Caridina were also observed migrating upstream during the same period.
Fine-scale sampling using fyke nets over 2 years (2013 and 2014) consistently found discharge to be the strongest predictor of M. spinipes and Caridina spp. biomass, while moon illumination and cloud cover were also important predictors. An estimated 10–20 million shrimps migrated upstream during each wet season, transporting c. 100 kg of carbon and c. 28 kg of nitrogen per year.
Muscle sulphur stable isotopes (δ34S) and exoskeleton strontium isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr) were used to establish if marine carbon was transported upstream by the juvenile M. spinipes. Isotope data from migratory M. spinipes were compared to the non-migratory freshwater Macrobrachium bullatum. No evidence of a marine signature in body tissue or exoskeleton was found using either technique, suggesting very rapid turnover of body tissues
This study provides key insights into the migration phenology of amphidromous shrimps and, importantly, suggests that migrating M. spinipes do not transport significant amounts of marine-derived energy and nutrients across the marine/freshwater ecotone.


Hydro carbon releases are the main contributor to the major accident risk on oil and gas platforms, and the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA) has thus set a target for reducing such releases. Traditionally topside equipment has been the main focus of study in risk analysis, but to obtain the reduction goals it is important to focus on drilling and well intervention as well. This is due to the complexity of the systems, and the lessons learned from several accidents during such operations. To improve the reliability of offshore operations it is essential to focus on safety barriers installed to prevent hydrocarbon releases, and find methods to control and monitor such barriers. The system hazard identification, prediction and prevention (SHIPP) methodology is a new process accident model proposed by S. Rathnayaka, F. Kahn and P. Amyotte in 2011, with properties to analyze safety barriers and predict their performance. The main objective of this report is to give recommendation related to the applicability of the SHIPP methodology on a workover operation to improve management of risk during such operations. This report is based on a literature study on the SHIPP methodology and related methods, and a study of a workover procedure, previous workover accidents and related articles and standards. The SHIPP method is studied to obtain a good understanding of the approach to perform a critical assessment and apply it on a complex operation. The study of workover operations/systems are mainly executed to obtain input to the SHIPP method. Applying the SHIPP method on a complex workover operation proved to be a challengedue to the constantly changing barrier picture and lack of data. To only include one barrier configuration the sub-operation tubing retrieval is considered in the case study,and are chosen due to the related high. The first part of the SHIPP analysis was to identify potential hazards and accident scenarios. The main identified contributors to the risk during the operation are swabbing or trapped gas resulting in a kick when the tubing is pulled out of the well, operational challenges related to the amount of equipment and interfaces with other systems/operators, BOP failures and loss of hydrostatic head. The philosophy of the SHIPP methodology is that accidents often are a result of a sequence of failures occurring during a short period of time, and propose a generic accident sequence model with performance barriers to control and mitigate theescalation of abnormal events. An accident sequence with performance barriers are constructed for the workover operation based on the initial hazard analysis, and the safety barriers included in the rig-up for the heavy workover operation are allocated to the different performance barriers. Further the SHIPP method use fault trees and event trees to predict the system performance based on the hazard analysis and observed abnormal events in the system. In the case study fault trees are constructed for the first performance barriers in the accident sequence (release prevention and dispersion prevention barriers) based on the literature study and hazard analysis. The result includes human and operation factors, mechanical factors and latent conditions. Asimilar hazard study is performed for the remaining performance barriers, but fault trees are not constructed due to lack of detailed information on the top side systems. The hazard identification analysis identifies the BOP and kill mud as the most influentialcomponent with regards to controlling upsets in the well. A deep set plug functioning asthe primary barrier is also a critical component, but has a lower probability of failure duethe low complexity. The BOP is especially important since it is responsible for several functions, and is the only component in place with a shear function to cut the tubing.Thus the BOP is studied in more detail, and the results identify the BOP control system as the main contributor to BOP failures. The control system is an essential part in avoiding accidents, and should be paid special attention with regards to testing, maintenance and monitoring during operations. The objective of the SHIPP method is to predict a system's performance by studying accident precursors, and prevent incidents rather than relying on control and mitigation.This is obtained by predictive calculations and updating mechanisms based on fault and event trees and recorded observation from the system. In the case study the predictive calculations are performed based on recorded incidents collected by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in the UK due to lack of specific observations on the studied operation. The results can thus not indicate the performance of the system in the case study, but are included as an example on how the calculations are performed. Further updating was not accomplished. The results of this report cannot give a definite conclusion on the application of the SHIPP method, but is a critical assessment of the method, and creates a foundation for further studies. It does however indicate that the SHIPP method could have a positive effect on the safety during workover operations, though some drawbacks are identified.The main concerns being: lack of coverage on occupational and external hazards, lack of data on workover systems in general and the complex and changing barrier picture. The method does however evaluate a wide range of potential hazards, and cover a whole accident scenario from the initiating event to damage control and emergency response. Another advantage is the structure of the barrier model which provides a goodperspective of the barriers, though the split between performance barriers may cause interfaces between the barriers to be overlooked. The predictive ability is the main new aspect in the SHIPP method, and improves the focus on accident precursors and recording of abnormal events. The clear definitions of abnormal events and the concrete use of the recordings improve the surveillance of the safety systems, and ensure better follow-up of the identified accident precursors. In relation to workover operations the focus on barrier performance and collection of data could be beneficial, and though the method is not fully applicable on such operations, the mind-set could have a positive effect on the reliability by better monitoring of the safetylevels in the operational phase and a better overview over the safety functions and possible hazards. It is however better fit to assess complex systems working continuously than assessing a complex and continuously changing operation. The main outputs from the case study are identified potential hazards during the operation and the framework to continue the SHIPP process, which could be useful input to other analysis, or a foundation for further work on the SHIPP method.The focus further should be on collecting and estimating data to utilize the method as intended. This is not only beneficial for application of the SHIPP method, but is necessary to be able to improve the reliability during workovers in general.


Electrons in a crystal lattice have properties that may
 differ from those of a free electron in vacuum. The effective mass can be
 different from the bare electron mass, and it may even vanish, so that the electron behaves in some respects as a relativistic massless
 particle such as a photon. The magnetic moment of the intrinsic angular
 momentum, the electron spin, may be also different from that of an elementary particle. Spin-like degrees
 of freedom, referred to as "pseudospin" or "valley
 isospin", can also arise in the effective low-energy description of electrons in the lattice fields.
 These various degrees of freedom are of interest as ways to store and
 transport information: one speaks of "spintronics" and
 "valleytronics" as alternatives to "electronics".
 For these purposes it is of interest to study the interplay between the
 orbital motion of electrons and their spin (spin-like) degrees of freedom, the so-called "spin-orbit coupling". In some systems where this interaction is strong, it causes the electron spin
 to be tied to the direction of motion.
 This thesis contains results about the effects of this "spin-momentum
 locking" on two classes of materials, oxide interfaces
 and Weyl semimetals, with a focus on their electrical transport properties.


Mueller Brass Alloy C34500 is a copper-zinc-lead (leaded brass) alloy that is suitable for applications requiring extensive machining before cold-forming operations such as swaging, flaring, severe knurling, or thread rolling. Melting temperature values corrected December 2020. This datasheet provides information on composition, physical properties, hardness, elasticity, and tensile properties. It also includes information on high temperature performance as well as forming, heat treating, machining, and joining. Filing Code: Cu-908a. Producer or source: Mueller Brass Company. original 05/20, revised 12/20.


ABSTRACT The Gambler Limestone is one of several extensive, shallow-water shelf carbonates of Eocene to Miocene age exposed along the southern margin of Australia. It is a muddy to grainy bryozoan calcarenite, with accessory benthonic foraminifers and echinoids. The sediments, originally composed almost entirely of calcite or Mg-calcite, have been in vadose and phreatic environments for over 10 Ma, yet are virtually unlithified. The only cements of any consequence are epitaxial on echinoids. Numerous karst features, dolines, caves, speleothems and surface karren attest to prolonged residence in the meteoric zone. The Gambler Limestone is presently one of the best fresh water aquuifers in Australia. Most flow occurs through intergranular pores in sediments with over 30% porosity. Cementation is by minor intergranular pressure solution which has developed under overburden of less than 100 m. The overlying Naracoorte Limestone (Miocene), a calcarenite of warmer water aspect, contains numerous aragonite molds and is well-cemented. We propose that such cool water limestones are a better model for the meteoric diagenesis of calcite sediments of all ages than are aragonite-rich tropical sediments. It is probable that many similar early and middle Paleozoic calcite limestones may have been in the meteoric zone for prolonged periods yet contain little or no petrographic or geochemical record of such exposure.


Numbness in an arm or hand is a common presenting or secondary patient complaint. Carpal tunnel syndrome poses a familiar mechanism and is frequently cited as the cause of the patient's symptoms. While it may be the most common upper-extremity peripheral nerve entrapment neuropathy, a myriad of other nerve entrapment sites and pathologies are capable of producing upper-limb symptoms. In this article, an algorithmic approach by topographical region is utilized to narrow or expand the diagnostic focus.


Naturally occurring variations in oxygen availability in germinal centers regulate antibody class switching in B cells. As B cells pass through the different parts of lymph nodes, they experience different cytokine conditions and, as Cho et al. reported, different oxygen conditions. In the lymph node germinal center (GC), B cells proliferate, undergo class switching of their antibodies, and differentiate. GCs are not uniform but have distinct zones—called light zones and dark zones—and the B cells repeatedly encounter each type of zone as they develop and tune their antibodies. Cho et al. found that GC light zones were hypoxic and had increased abundance of the hypoxia-induced transcription factors (HIFs). Experiments with B cells cultured ex vivo under conditions that promote IgG class switching or IgA class switching revealed that hypoxia selectively reduced IgG class switching, which was associated with a reduction in the mRNA of the transcription factor T-bet and its target Iγ2c GLT, and in the mRNA and protein abundance of activation-induced cytosine deaminase (AID), an enzyme critical for the DNA rearrangements necessary for class switching. Hypoxia also reduced B cell proliferation (BrdU incorporation) and increased caspase activation, indicating an increase in apoptosis. Adoptive transfer of mature B cells with forced stabilization of HIF (pVHL-deficient) had similar IgA production as mice receiving wild-type cells but resulted in decreased production of IgG2c antibodies and fewer antigen-binding GC-derived B cells and fewer cells producing antigen-specific IgG2c, thus confirming that the HIF pathway was acting within the B cells to regulate class switching. B cells cultured under hypoxic conditions or in the presence of an inhibitor of PHD, an enzyme necessary for HIF destabilization, exhibited less activity of the pathway mediated by the kinase complex mTORC1 in response to stimulation of the B cell receptor. Selective reduction in mTORC1 by haploinsufficiency of the complex-encoding gene Raptor resulted in similar impairment of IgG class switching in culture and high-affinity IgG antibody production in vivo. These results may explain the reduced IgG in the circulation of patients with hypoxic lung disease and their increased susceptibility to infection. S. H. Cho, A. L. Raybuck, K. Stengel, M. Wei, T. C. Beck, E. Volanakis, J. W. Thomas, S. Hiebert, V. H. Haase, M. R. Boothby, Germinal centre hypoxia and regulation of antibody qualities by a hypoxia response system. Nature 537, 234–238 (2016). [PubMed]


Caffeic acid phenyl ester (CAPE) has been identified as an active component of propolis, a substance that confers a variety of cellular activities in cells of different origins. However, the molecular basis of CAPE-mediated cellular activity remains to be clarified. Here, we show that CAPE preferentially induced Sand G2/Mphase cell cycle arrests and initiated apoptosis in human cervical cancer lines. The effect was found to be associated with increased expression of E2F-1 in cervical cancer cells as there is no CAPE-mediated induction of E2F-1 in the precancerous cervical Z172 cells. CAPE also upregulated the E2F-1 target genes cyclin A, cyclin E, and apoptotic protease activation of factor 1 (Apaf-1) but A cc ep te d A rt ic le © 2013 The Authors Journal compilation © 2013 FEBS down regulated cyclin B and myeloid leukemia cell differentiation protein (Mcl-1). These results suggested the involvement of E2F-1 in CAPE-mediated growth inhibition and cell cycle arrest. Transient transfection studies with luciferase reporters revealed that CAPE altered transcriptional activity of the apaf-1 and mcl-1 promoters. Further studies using chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays demonstrated that in CAPE-treated cells, E2F-1 binding to the apaf-1 and cyclin B promoters was increased and decreased, respectively. Furthermore, E2F-1 silencing abolished CAPE-mediated effects on cell cycle arrest, apoptosis, and related gene expression. Taken together, these results indicate a crucial role for E2F-1 in CAPE-mediated cellular activities in cervical cancer cells.