BACKGROUND
Assessment of early childhood development programme effectiveness in South Africa is hampered by a lack of suitable measures that account for variations in cultural and socio-economic backgrounds and can be administered by non-professionals. This contribution reports the standardisation of the South African Early Learning Outcomes Measure (ELOM), an instrument designed for population level monitoring of the developmental status of children aged 50-69 months and for evaluation of early learning programmes.

METHODS
The development of the ELOM was informed by South Africa's National Curriculum Framework from Birth to Four and its National Early Learning and Development Standards. ELOM items were drawn from reliable and valid instruments, particularly those used in Africa and other developing regions and were clustered in five domains: gross motor development, fine motor coordination and visual motor integration, emergent numeracy and mathematics, cognition and executive functioning, emergent literacy and language. The ELOM was standardised on a sample of 1,331 children aged 50-69 months, from five South African official languages and five socio-economic strata. Item Response Theory techniques were used to establish reliability, validity, and differential item functioning.

RESULTS
Confirmatory Factor Analysis established that ELOM domains are unidimensional and internally consistent. Items discriminate reliably between more and less able children and do not discriminate unfairly between children of the same ability from different language backgrounds. Socio-economic gradients were evident in children's performance. South African Early Learning Development Standards (ELDS) based on standard scores were developed and set at the 60th percentile of the sample standard score distribution.

CONCLUSIONS
This research produced the first South African, age-validated population-level standardised instrument that can be administered relatively cheaply by trained non-professionals. This will facilitate the assessment of the efficacy of early learning programmes in enabling children to reach ELDS prior to entering Grade R and track progress toward Sustainable Development Goal 4.2.


Robot local path planning in an unknown and changing environment with uncertainties is
one of the most challenging problems in robotics which involves the integration of many
different bodies of knowledge. This makes mobile robotics a challenge worldwide which
for many years has been investigated by researchers.
Therefore in this thesis, a new fuzzy logic control system is developed for reactive
navigation of a behavior-based mobile robot. The motion of a Pioneer 3TM mobile robot
was simulated to show the algorithm performance. The robot perceives its environment
through an array of eight sonar range finders and self positioning-localization sensors.
The robot environment consists of walls and dead end traps from any size and shape, as
well as other stationary obstacles and it is assumed to be fully unknown. Robot behaviors consist of obstacle avoidance, target seeking, speed control, barrier
following and local minimum avoidance. While the fuzzy logic body of the algorithm
performs the main tasks of obstacle avoidance, target seeking, and speed adjustment, an
actual-virtual target switch strategy integrated with the fuzzy logic algorithm enables the
robot to show wall following behavior when needed. This combinational approach which
uses a new kind of target shift, significantly results in resolving the problem of multiple
minimum in local navigation which is an advantage beyond the pure fuzzy logic
approach and the common virtual target switch techniques.
In this work, multiple traps may have any type of shape or arrangement from barriers
forming simple corners and U-shape dead ends to loops, maze, snail shape, and many
others. Under the control of the algorithm, the mobile robot makes logical trajectories
toward the target, finds best ways out of dead ends, avoids any types of obstacles, and
adjusts its speed efficiently for better obstacle avoidance and according to power
considerations and actual limits.
From TRAINER Software and Colbert Program which were used in the simulation work,
the system managed to solve all the problems in sample environments and the results
were compared with results from other related methods to show the effectiveness and
robustness of the proposed approach.


Tundra ecosystems are especially sensitive to climate change, which is particularly rapid in high northern latitudes resulting in significant alterations in temperature and soil moisture. Numerous studies have demonstrated that soil drying increases the respiration loss from wet Arctic tundra. And, warming and drying of tundra soils are assumed to increase CO2 emissions from the Arctic. However, in this water table manipulation experiment (i.e., flooding experiment), we show that flooding of wet tundra can also lead to increased CO2 loss. Standing water increased heat conduction into the soil, leading to higher soil temperature, deeper thaw and, surprisingly, to higher CO2 loss in the most anaerobic of the experimental areas. The study site is located in a drained lake basin, and the soils are characterized by wetter conditions than upland tundra. In experimentally flooded areas, high wind speeds (greater than ∼4 m s−1) increased CO2 emission rates, sometimes overwhelming the photosynthetic uptake, even during daytime. This suggests that CO2 efflux from C rich soils and surface waters can be limited by surface exchange processes. The comparison of the CO2 and CH4 emission in an anaerobic soil incubation experiment showed that in this ecosystem, CO2 production is an order of magnitude higher than CH4 production. Future increases in surface water ponding, linked to surface subsidence and thermokarst erosion, and concomitant increases in soil warming, can increase net C efflux from these arctic ecosystems.


The results of this study demonstrate the existence of molecular heterogeneity (polymorphism) within DR β-chains isolated from a single serologically defined DR phenotype, DR4. The data are consistent with the possibility that this polymorphism is related to the Dw/LD phenotype as defined with the cellular reagents, homozygous typing cells.


A nucleoside kinase has been purified about 1680-fold from L1210 leukemia cells with deoxyadenosine as the phosphate acceptor and with adenosine triphosphate as phosphate donor. The molecular weight of the enzyme, determined by Sephadex G-200 column chromatography, was found to be about 100,000. Purified enzyme, after the final step of purification and also after disc gel electrophoresis (Rf 0.66), catalyzed the phosphorylation of 2'-deoxyadenosine, 2'-deoxyguanosine, 2'deoxycytidine, 9-/S-D-arabinofuranosyladenine, 9-/S-D-arabinofuranosyl-2-fluoroadenine, 1-/ß-o-arabinofuranosylcytosine, and cytidine. The enzyme exhibited a broad pH optimum ranging from 7.8 to 8.7. Magnesium ion and nucleoside triphosphates were essential for activity. The addition of Ni2+, Zn2+, or Co2+ to the reaction mixture containing 2 HIM MgCI2 produced 90 to 100% inhibition of the enzyme activity. The kinase had broad speci ficity for phosphate donors; adenosine triphosphate, guanosine triphosphate, uridine triphosphate, inosine triphosphate, deoxyuridine triphosphate, and deoxythymidine triphosphate ac tively donated phosphate to deoxyadenosine as did several nucleoside triphosphate analogs. The Michaelis constant for deoxyadenosine varied with the phosphate donor; the apparent Kmvalues with adenosine triphosphate and uridine triphosphate as donor were 1.25 and 0.13 mM, respectively. Apparent Km values (0.25 mw) with deoxyuridine triphosphate and deoxy thymidine triphosphate also were lower than those obtained with adenosine triphosphate as donor, but guanosine triphos phate and inosine triphosphate gave the same constant as adenosine triphosphate. The apparent Vmaxfor phosphorylation of deoxyadenosine was severalfold higher with adenosine tri phosphate than with uridine triphosphate. The apparent Mi chaelis constants for deoxyguanosine, deoxycytidine, and cy tidine with adenosine triphosphate as phosphate donor were 1.37, 8.0, and 33 mw, respectively. Since deoxyadenosine and deoxyguanosine were the best substrates, this enzyme may be regarded as a purine deoxyribonucleoside kinase.


This is a response to Seth Barrett Tillman's piece in Northwestern Law Review's Colloquy entitled Senate Termination of Presidential Recess Appointments. In that piece, Tillman argues that the Senate can terminate a presidential recess appointment by terminating its session. This brief response argues three main points: (1) Tillman misreads the Constitution in asserting that the Senate has the ability to end a bicameral congressional session without the House of Representatives' concurrence. (2) Tillman underestimates the power that the President has over Senate sessions and adjournments. Moreover, during any Tillman adjournment, the President could simply redo any recess appointment that is being terminated. There is precedent for such presidential action. (3) If the Senate wishes to hem in the President's recess appointment power, it has other options besides this ineffectual and needlessly provocative one.


SUMMARY Conducting farmers participatory field trials at 40 sites for 3 consecutive years in four rice-wheat system dominated districts of Haryana state of India, this paper tested the hypothesis that zero tillage (ZT) based crop production emits less greenhouse gases and yet provide adequate economic benefits to farmers compared to the conventional tillage (CT). In each farmer's field, ZT and CT based wheat production were compared side by side for three consecutive years from 2009–10 to 2011–12. In assessing the mitigation potential of ZT, we examined the differences in input use and crop management, especially those contributing to GHGs emissions, between ZT wheat and CT wheat. We employed Cool Farm Tool (CFT) to estimate emission of GHGs from various wheat production activities. In order to assess economic benefits, we examined the difference in input costs, net returns and cost-benefit analysis of wheat production under CT and ZT. Results show that farmers can save approximately USD 79 ha−1 in terms of total production costs and increase net revenue of about USD 97.5 ha−1 under ZT compared to CT. Similarly, benefit-cost ratio under ZT is 1.43 against 1.31 under CT. Our estimate shows that shifting from CT to ZT based wheat production reduces GHG emission by 1.5 Mg CO2-eq ha−1 season−1. Overall, ZT has both climate change mitigation and economic benefits, implying the win-win outcome of better agricultural practices.


How costly would it be in terms of lost output and jobs to lower the inflation rate to zero? One can answer this counterfactual question only in the context of a model that allows us to estimate the effects of pursuing counterfactual monetary policies. The answer to the question can vary widely depending upon the characteristics of the model used to address it.> This article argues that one cannot answer the above question accurately without using a model that properly captures an important feature of the real world: the persistence of inflation. This persistence and the cost of disinflating may arise for several reasons, including the inertia that wage and price contracts impart to the inflation rate, the inertia that slowly adjusting expectations may impart to inflation, or the inertia that imperfect credibility may impart to inflation. The author examines the question using the results of both stylized and fully articulated models. Social Security Reform: Links to Saving, Investment, and Growth. This article reviews the presentations at the conference and the themes that developed from the discussions.


Worldwide, unprecedented numbers of people are being imprisoned and in many countries incarceration is on the increase (Walmsley, 2009); indeed 'more parents than ever are behind bars' (Murray et al., 2012) and each year, an estimated 800,000 children within the newly-expanded European Union are separated from an incarcerated parent. Despite this, the psychosocial impact on children is little known and rarely considered in sentencing even though the evidence to date suggests that children whose parents are imprisoned are exposed to triple jeopardy through break-up of the family, financial hardship, stigma and secrecy, leading to adverse social and educational repercussions. The rationale for the study of the impact of parental imprisonment is underscored by the findings of a recent meta-analysis of studies of children of prisoners (Murray et al. 2012). This systematic review synthesized empirical evidence on the associations between parental incarceration and children's later behavioural, educational and health outcomes from 40 studies involving a total of over 7,000 children of prisoners.


Abstract. Experiments were conducted to investigate light absorption of organic aerosol (OA) in fresh and photo-chemically aged biomass-burning emissions. The experiments considered residential hardwood fuel (oak) and fuels commonly consumed in wild-land and prescribed fires in the United States (pocosin pine and gallberry). Photo-chemical aging was performed in an environmental chamber. We constrained the effective light-absorption properties of the OA using conservative limiting assumptions, and found that both primary organic aerosol (POA) in the fresh emissions and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) produced by photo-chemical aging contain brown carbon, and absorb light to a significant extent. This work presents the first direct evidence that SOA produced in aged biomass-burning emissions is absorptive. For the investigated fuels, SOA is less absorptive than POA in the long visible, but exhibits stronger wavelength-dependence and is more absorptive in the short visible and near-UV. Light absorption by SOA in biomass-burning emissions might be an important contributor to the global radiative forcing budget.


This Themed Section aims to increase understanding of how the idea of climate change, and the policies and actions that spring from it, travel beyond their origins in natural sciences to meet different political arenas in the developing world. It takes a discursive approach whereby climate change is not just a set of physical processes but also a series of messages, narratives and policy prescriptions. The articles are mostly case study-based and focus on sub-Saharan Africa and Small Island Developing
States (SIDS). They are organised around three interlinked themes. The first theme concerns the processes of rapid technicalisation and professionalisation of the climate change 'industry', which have sustantially narrowed the boundaries of what can be viewed as a legitimate social
response to the problem of global warming. The second theme deals with the ideological effects of the climate change industry, which is 'depoliticisation', in this case the deflection of attention away from underlying political conditions of vulnerability and exploitation towards the
nature of the physical hazard itself. The third theme concerns the institutional effects of an insufficiently socialised idea of climate change, which is the maintenance of existing relations of power or their reconfiguration in favour of the already powerful. Overall, the articles
suggest that greater scrutiny of the discursive and political dimensions of mitigation and adaptation activities is required. In particular, greater
attention should be directed towards the policy consequences that governments and donors construct as a result of their framing and rendition of climate change issues.


Agents learning how to act in new environments can benefit from input from more experienced agents or humans. This paper studies interactive teaching strategies for identifying when a student can benefit from teacher-advice in a reinforcement learning framework. In student-teacher learning, a teacher agent can advise the student on which action to take. Prior work has considered heuristics for the teacher to choose advising opportunities. While these approaches effectively accelerate agent training, they assume that the teacher constantly monitors the student. This assumption may not be satisfied with human teachers, as people incur cognitive costs of monitoring and might not always pay attention. We propose strategies for a teacher and a student to jointly identify advising opportunities so that the teacher is not required to constantly monitor the student. Experimental results show that these approaches reduce the amount of attention required from the teacher compared to teacher-initiated strategies, while maintaining similar learning gains. The empirical evaluation also investigates the effect of the information communicated to the teacher and the quality of the student's initial policy on teaching outcomes.


OBJECTIVE
Mechanical thrombectomy (MT) is now the standard of care for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) secondary to large-vessel occlusion, but there remains a question of whether elderly patients benefit from this procedure to the same degree as the younger populations enrolled in the seminal trials on MT. The authors compared outcomes after MT of patients 80–89 and ≥ 90 years old with AIS to those of younger patients.

METHODS
The authors retrospectively analyzed records of patients undergoing MT at their institution to examine stroke severity, comorbid conditions, medical management, recanalization results, and clinical outcomes. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis were used to compare patients < 80 years, 80–89 years, and ≥ 90 years old.

RESULTS
All groups had similar rates of comorbid disease and tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) administration, and stroke severity did not differ significantly between groups. Elderly patients had equivalent recanalization outcomes, with similar rates of readmission, 30-day mortality, and hospital-associated complications. These patients were more likely to have poor clinical outcome on discharge, as defined by a modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score of 3–6, but this difference was not significant when controlled for stroke severity, tPA administration, and recanalization results.

CONCLUSIONS
Octogenarians, nonagenarians, and centenarians with AIS have similar rates of mortality, hospital readmission, and hospital-associated complications as younger patients after MT. Elderly patients also have the capacity to achieve good functional outcome after MT, but this potential is moderated by stroke severity and success of treatment.


Near-Earth asteroid 99942 Apophis provides a typical example for the evolution of asteroid orbits that lead to Earth-impacts after a close Earth-encounter that results in a resonant return. Apophis will have a close Earth-encounter in 2029 with potential very close subsequent Earth-encounters (or even an impact) in 2036 or later, depending on whether it passes through one of several so-called gravitational keyholes during its 2029encounter. Several pre-2029-deflection scenarios to prevent Apophis from doing this have been investigated so far. Because the keyholes are less than 1 km in size, a pre-2029 kinetic impact is clearly the best option because it requires only a small change in Apophis' orbit to nudge it out of a keyhole. A single solar sail Kinetic Energy Impactor (KEI) spacecraft that impacts Apophis from a retrograde trajectory with a very high relative velocity (7580 km/s) during one of its perihelion passages at about 0.75 AU would be a feasible option to do this. The spacecraft consists of a 160 m ◊ 160 m, 168 kg solar sail assembly and a 150 kg impactor. Although conventional spacecraft can also achieve the required minimum deflection of 1 km for this approx. 320 m-sized object from a prograde trajectory, our solar sail KEI concept also allows the deflection of larger objects. In this paper, we also show that, even after Apophis has flown through one of the gravitational keyholes in 2029, solar sail Kinetic Energy Impactor (KEI) spacecraft are still a feasible option to prevent Apophis from impacting the Earth, but many KEIs would be required for consecutive impacts to increase the total Earth-miss distance to a safe value. In this paper, we elaborate potential pre- and post-2029 KEI impact scenarios for a launch in 2020, and investigate tradeos between dierent mission parameters.


The purpose of this study was to establish a measurement scale for "stress recognition in receiving treatment" in patients with diabetes. A self-completed questionnaire was distributed to 149 type-2 diabetes outpatients in March-May 2015 after authorization from Okayama Prefectural University and the ethics committee of the hospital.
 The "stress recognition in receiving treatment" scale was designed as a second-order factor model consisting of 14 items and the following four factors : the respondent's sense of (1) the burden of being sick, (2) the burden on interpersonal relationships, (3) the burden of treatment, and (4) the burden of medical expenses.
 Stress recognition in treatment means recognition of being stressed in the burdens related to the illness, interpersonal relationships, treatment and medical expenses.
 The suitability of the questionnaire data was then evaluated with a structural equation model. The suitability of the factor model to the data satisfied the statistically acceptable standards as Comparative Fit Index (CFI) =0.931, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) =0.096, Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI) =0.946.
 As the construct validity was not examined by the scale created in this study or by existing scale, it was verified by using the degrees of mental healthiness and HbA1c that were proved to be associated with the sense of burden.
 In addition, the construct validity of the questionnaire was supported by a significant correlation between the Japanese version of the WHO-Five Well-being Index (S-WHO-5-J) and the patients' HbA1c levels. The use of this measure is expected to contribute to the early detection of a decline in a diabetic patient's activities of daily living and to the early confirmation of patients' support status.


The vast majority of studies in conservation biology focus on a single species at a time. However, many of the anthropogenic threats that species face occur via disrupted or enhanced interactions with other organisms. According to one recent analysis, interactions with introduced species, such as predators, parasites, and pathogens, are the eighth leading cause of species endangerment worldwide; they are the primary cause of endangerment in Hawaii and Puerto Rico (Czech and Krausman 1997). Altering interactions not only has ecological effects, but also it can generate selective pressures and evolutionary responses, which may either favor or disfavor the evolutionary persistence of species and interactions. An increased focus on interspecific interactions will thus enlighten our efforts to conserve species and, more pointedly, our ability to understand when species will and will not respond evolutionarily to conservation threats. Such a focus is also critical for efforts to conserve communities as units, because interactions are the crucial and poorly understood link between threatened species and threatened species assemblages.

Different types of interspecific interactions are subject to, and generate, some-what different ecological and evolutionary threats. Predator and pathogen introductions can lead to reduction, local exclusion, or extinction of native species (Savidge 1987; Schofield 1989; Kinzie 1992; Steadman 1995; Louda et al. 1997). Rapid evolution in the enemies and/or the victims may also result (Dwyer et al. 1990; Singer and Thomas 1996; Carroll et al. 1998).


The operation of a vibrating body field effect transistor (VB-FET) near pull-in is exploited to experimentally demonstrate a self-oscillating device. The positive feedback mechanism is triggered at the onset of inversion in a depleted VB-FET channel, near mechanical pull-in. This is probably the first known demonstration of inherent oscillation capability in a MEM resonator, expected to provide a significant contribution towards the study of low power, high stability reference source design for compact timing and communications applications. We report self-sustained VB-FET oscillators that generate 3 to 4 MHz AC signals when powered by a steady DC source with power consumption levels between 70 ¿W an 1 mW when VD is varied from 0.4 V to 2 V. A detailed study of the drain and gate influences on self-oscillations and noise filtering is proposed. Further scaling of such devices is expected to offer practical solutions for sub-1 ¿W integrated oscillators.


Majority of communities in Nigeria are rural dwellers and agrarian by occupation. Development strategy for a country whose rural population are mainly farmers cannot be achieved without first sustained growth in rural income and standard of living primarily from agriculture. It was based on this that the state wide Agricultural Development Project (ADP) was established to raise productivity, income and standard of living of rural farmers in Nigeria. This study assesses the effect of the ADP activities on the wellbeing of the rural farmers in Adamawa State, Nigeria. Data for this study were collect on annual crop output, annual income, farm size, use of improved technology, access to credit among farmers, farmers' training and rural infrastructure development. The data were sourced using structured questionnaire and personal interviews. The statistical analysis used to determine the effect to the project on the participating farmers include, descriptive statistics and comparability test for difference (T-test) analysis. The results indicates that Adamawa ADP had positive and significant impact on rural farmers productivity, income, access to credit, standard of living as measured by assets ownership. However, the project did not have significant impact on the rural infrastructure, adoption of improved technologies and farm sizes, even though the change from before and after ADP activities was positive. The study recommends that much attention should be paid to the provision of rural infrastructure and the needed improved technologies. The study also recommends that the two tiers of government in Nigeria should adequately fund the project to efficiently cope with its responsibility of developing the rural sector.


In this paper, a piecewise polynomial function is proposed as a generalized model for the nonlinear transfer characteristic of the transmitter for optical wireless communications (OWC). The two general multicarrier modulation formats for OWC based on orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM), direct-current-biased optical OFDM (DCO-OFDM) and asymmetrically clipped optical OFDM (ACO-OFDM), are studied. The nonlinear distortion of the electrical signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the receiver is derived in closed form, and it is verified by means of a Monte Carlo simulation. This flexible and accurate model allows for the application of pre-distortion and linearization of the dynamic range of the transmitter between points of minimum and maximum radiated optical power. Through scaling and DC-biasing the transmitted signal is optimally conditioned in accord with the optical power constraints of the transmitter front-end, i.e., minimum, average and maximum radiated optical power. The mutual information of the optimized optical OFDM (O-OFDM) schemes is presented as a measure of the capacity of these OWC systems under an average electrical power constraint. When the additional DC bias power is neglected, DCO-OFDM is shown to achieve the Shannon capacity when the optimization is employed, while ACO-OFDM exhibits a 3-dB gap which grows with higher information rate targets. When the DC bias power is counted towards the signal power, DCO-OFDM outperforms ACO-OFDM for the majority of average optical power levels with the increase of the information rate target or the dynamic range. The results can be considered as a lower bound on the O-OFDM system capacity.


NACHEVA, I., D. MITEVA, Y. TODOROV, K. LOGINOVSKA and Tsv. TSVETKOV, 2012. Modern high technology solutions for quality and long-term vegetable preservation. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 18: 161-165 In the publication the authors present the results of the applying of two modern technologies for long term and safe vegetable preservation – freeze-drying and gamma sterilization. The freeze-dried vegetables feature minimum moisture – from 2 – 5% and taste-aroma complex preserved to the highest degree. The carried out gamma sterilization ensures a high microbial purity of the vegetables and guarantees for their long term preservation (up to 5 years) in polymer packing, under usual conditions.


During the last 30 years, the Republicans have become an interesting assortment of
economic, international, and social conservatism, with each leg of the triad having more
prominence at distinct times. Examining key votes throughout this period, we assess how the
most recent converts to the party, those from Southern states, align with Republicans from other
regions on each of these three dimensions. We also estimate the relative importance of each of
the three dimensions annually during this period. Finally, we examine whether the unstable
equilibrium that haunted the Congressional Democrats through the first half of the Cold War era
has merely found a new resting place in the Republican Party. In order to analyze these issues,
we analyze House roll call votes from 1975 - 2000 to determine how closely Southern and non-
Southern Republicans are aligned. Next, we examine various issue dimensions, determining
how party cohesion is affected when different sets of issues take on greater legislative
importance. Our findings confirm that issue dimensions affect party cohesion and that regional
differences are an important distinction when analyzing House Republicans in a modern context.


Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a powerful greenhouse gas. The UK government is committed to reducing all greenhouse gas emissions and is required to make an inventory of the sources and emissions of these gases. Here, we extend work from a pilot study at the catchment scale reported in an earlier paper. This paper reports on the upscaling measurements of emissions to derive annual emission rates for specific combinations of soil type, land management and fertiliser practices to the national scale. Digital soil, climate and land use maps were combined within Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software. Upscaling of field emissions measurements involves adjusting measured annual N2O emissions to fit combinations of crop growth cycles, soil wetness and the amount and timing of fertiliser applications. We have also taken account of the differences in emission rates from grazed pasture land due to differences in land management between land utilised for dairy production and land utilised for beef production. Calculated annual emission rates were then spatially scaled to derive national figures through the use of a GIS modelling framework, termed NitOx. The annual emission of N2O from Scotland was determined as approximately 6 000 000 kg N yr−1 (2.8 Mt carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalents) and compares favourably with other national scale estimates such as the IPCC (1997) . The combination of animal grazing, high N inputs, climatic warmth and poorly drained soils means that the south west contributes significantly to the national total N2O emissions. Localised areas of high emission can also be identified, but identification could be improved by applying this modelling approach at a larger scale. It would be beneficial to target these areas with mitigation strategies.


A large body of literature points to the large cost-effective energy conservation potentials in the countries that joined the European Union in April 2004, but the present understanding of the size and details of this potential is limited. Therefore, the European Commission has started a project, managed by DG-Joint Research Center (JRC), with the declared aim to develop a bottom-up end-use electricity consumption database for the building sector in the new EU member states (NMS), candidate countries (CC) and in the Western Balkans (WB). This database will contain reference data concerning electricity consumption and savings potential in buildings (both residential and commercial), a sector which is using a large amount of energy and is considered by the European Commission to be a priority sector for energy conservation policy measures. The paper presents the preliminary results of the first survey of electricity consumption and saving potential in buildings in the NMS and the CC. The paper provides the first results of JRC project on electricity end-use efficiency in buildings in NMS, CC and WB comprising an analysis of data on the installed end-use technologies (penetration rate, usage pattern, specific energy consumption, etc.), an evaluation of the corresponding electricity use and an estimate of the electricity savings potential. The key barriers and incentives to end-use electricity efficiency in buildings will be presented, together with an inventory of current polices. Based on the preliminary results of the study, the paper will present a first set of policy recommendations on how to unlock the electricity saving potential in the buildings sector of NMS and CC. Beyond summarising the present state of understanding in the area of electricity end-use data and conservation potentials in MNS and CC buildings, the paper will identify the status and potential key areas for further research which is needed for policy-making at both the EU and the NMS level for the most efficient unlocking of the sizable energy saving potential.


Providing welfare status for personnel of industrial plants is necessary and also emphasized in all standards. Preparing fresh, cool and clean air especially in warm seasons is one of the most important duties of plant owners to keep workers safe and healthy. Although in many workshops some cooling and air-conditioning systems (commonly mixing ventilation systems) were installed, most of them have economical problems and may not be energy efficient as the entire room volume gets cooled. The purpose of this article is presenting an executive improved solution in architecture to upgrade existing Mixing Ventilation Systems (MVS) by intervening in architectural variables. The new solution is compared with a traditional MVS taking into account technical and economic performances. The study was carried out resorting to experimental measurements on a single-diffuser pilot installation of the existing MVS in an actual industrial facility. The research method is experimental: the thermometry tests and interviews with workers which were carried out after initial observations and the case study selection. After that some interventions in architecture were impelled and the testes were repeated. To confirm the results, after interventions, a questionnaire was given to the operators, and their answers were registered. A comparison was fulfilled with respect to energy consumption and also the consumed power was checked before and after the interventions. The results demonstrate that architectural alterations based on this research can improve the quality of existing MVS (Satisfactions of the workers approved the interventions) and reduce the energy consumptions. It could be generalized.


Entry into a market seems to necessitate some investment into "marketing capital" (or distribution capital: advertising, dealerships etc ... ). This form of investment has the property that, if it is unused for some time, it quickly becomes worthless. When entry into a market requires marketing investment, firms which are currently out of this market tend to delay entry until price vs cost conditions have become extremely favorable. Conversely, firms which are in the market tend to delay exit until they can no longer bear large operating losses. This is because they know that, if they do exit, and if price vs cost conditions later become favorable again, they will have to incur afresh the investment in marketing capital. The purpose of the present paper is to produce a general-equilibrium model of capital formation in an economy subject to random shocks, when marketing capital (with the above properties) is used in distribution, in addition to the "normal" capital used in production. We exhibit an analytical solution to the dynamic program representing the welfare optimum problem, along with the shadow prices corresponding to this program. These are also the prices which would support the general equilibrium of a decentralized market economy. Our results pertain to the effect of entry costs, risk, risk aversion and productivity on the balance between marketing and productive capital, to the nature of growth paths in this economy and to the level of prices (such as the price of shares in the stock market, or the price of final goods) as well as the extent to which productivity shocks are passed through into these prices.


A Digital representation of Euryalus fortress: a historical interpretive studyIt is clear that concepts and cognitive processes aimed at putting forward fortified systems in their relation with the territory and with the surrounding landscape, establish inextricably interwoven "interests" and a consequent osmotic hysteresis between their emergence and disappearance into the deepest part of the earth. The logic behind the defensive structures of Euryalus fortress is particularly interesting. The fortress designed during the Greek period and located on the top of Epipolae hill, represented a strategic fortification for the city's defence. Therefore, it is reasonable to think about a sequence of emerging or disappearing empty spaces; a semantic vacuum to be filled with logical-subjective interpretations pertaining to those who visit the place. The conceptual framework provides knowledge and documentation meant as indispensable supporting instruments to understand Dionysius I and Archimedes' thoughts where the integration of people and environment forms the basis of the close iterative connection among nature, artifice and landscape. The research takes this direction implementing innovative technological systems trying to go beyond in order to achieve virtual reconstruction processes, even if partial, of the fortress. Survey, thus, can be applied as an instrument for the knowledge of historical heritage which once converted into digital heritage is a support for the reconstruction of lost ancient scenarios. Actually, the implementation of innovative systems allows an easy-to-use data viewing which supports the interpretive phase, the archiving, consultation and dissemination of survey products. In particular, the survey of the fortress with integrated methodologies (both instrumental and photogrammetric) provides not only a fundamental basis for the documentation of the fortress conditions but also provides a basis for the collection of reconstructive hypotheses formulated by researchers who have been involved with the structure so far. Interactions among archaeology, history, geomorphology and technology make history and a past renowned glory come alive with the common spirit of coming up to a strong synergy between the past and the future destiny of the place.


Historically, sexual morality and criminal law overlapped, and churches and states enforced sundry sex crimes. Today, new constitutional liberties and new reforms to family law and criminal law have dramatically reduced the roll of sex crimes and the roles of churches in maintaining sexuality morality. But sexual misconduct remains a perennial reality in modern societies, including notably within churches, and sex crimes inflict some of the deepest scars on their victims. Modern liberal states must thus maintain a basic standard of sexual morality in its criminal law as a restraint on harmful behavior and as a bulwark against a sexual state of nature where life is often "brutish, nasty, and short" for the most vulnerable. And liberal societies should encourage its citizens and churches to pursue a higher morality of aspiration that views sex and the sexual body as a special gift for oneself and others.


ProPublica (2015) completed a study looking at three decades of federal data on fatal police shootings and found that Black males are 21 times more likely to be shot dead by police than White males the same age. The deaths of unarmed Black males by armed White males and police officers has moved America into a tense racial divide in many areas of the United States. With this data in mind, the author makes a call for art educators to assume an educational framework that guides the destabilization of institutional power and places equity at the forefront of art teaching. By advocating for a Critical Multiculturalism to help teachers develop a pedagogy that critiques power and supports various cultural voices and lived experiences, the author makes two primary suggestions that can potentially guide art educators in their investment in critical multicultural priorities.


The emergence of paid sex markets is a product of various locational economies. By this it is meant that coherent paid sex markets are intimately linked with various economies of agglomeration, synergy, complementarity and 'laddering' whereby an entrant to paid sex consumption may progress from low intimacy/low value added products to those of higher intimacy/higher value added. Physical clustering of traded sex commodities can also enhance the progression of the consumer's ladder by heightening the stimulus to enter such markets for the first time. This paper discusses the above factors in the context of the economic theory of clubs with particular reference to the use of zoning ordinances to control the location of adult entertainment providers.


Demonstrating Collegiality: A Co-Constructed Narrative Inquiry" seeks to define a collegial relationship through the experiences of two first year doctoral students at a large statesupported university. The techniques used to develop the co-constructed narrative parallel the authors' development of a collaborative relationship. Using autoethnographic essays and interactive interviews, the authors co-construct several narratives that describe the process of moving from a friendly, social relationship to a scholarly, collaborative relationship, as well as the process of moving from peer reviewers to co-authors. An introductory narrative frames the paper; each of the "interior" narratives is accompanied by an extensive analytic introduction and the interpretation section is presented as a co-constructed narrative of the interpretive process. The authors attempt to categorize shared characteristics and values that were important to their development of a collegial relationship.


Background Most clinical trials for SLE allow various background immune suppressants to which investigational agents are added (1). The impact of these standard-of-care (SOC) treatments or clinical variables on placebo group response rates remains uncertain (2). Objectives To compare effects of background treatments and disease variables on outcome in SLE trials of patients on mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), azathioprine (AZA) methotrexate (MTX) and high dose cyclophosphamide (IVCY). Methods Data were merged from 933 SLE patients randomized to placebo plus SOC in 3 nephritis and 3 non-nephritis trials. Response and flare rates were based on available data using the BILAG Index (3). Results In nephritis trials baseline occurrence of ≥ BILAG A was almost universal (94% MMF, 96% IVCY). In other trials 64% of MMF patients had ≥1 A vs only 53% AZA, 52% MTX, 58% other (p=0.06). Total baseline BILAG scores were MMF: 26.2 vs others: 22.1 p=0.01. Early in trials steroid doses were higher in MMF patients (wk 12: MMF 27.6 mg vs AZA 24.3, MTX 23.6) but decreased by wk 52 (MMF 12.6, AZA 13.3, MTX 7.2). BILAG response (1 grade improvement in baseline A or B scores without ≥1 new A or 2 new B) rates did not differ in nephritis trials at 24 wks (MMF 33% vs IVCY 31%, adjusted for steroids, p=0.63). In non-nephritis trials improvement at wk 52 was MMF 41%, AZA 35% MTX 28% (p=0.07 adjusted for steroids). Mucocutaneous (MC)-specific BILAG improvement was AZA 54% vs MMF 46%, MTX 47%. Musculoskeletal (MS) improvement was MMF 59%, AZA 54%, MTX 28%. Flare rates (rate/pt yrs) were lower in MMF vs IVCY patients in nephritis trials: all flares: (≥2 new B) 1.22 vs 1.34 (p=0.23), severe flares: (≥1 A) 1.02 vs 1.23 (p=0.03). In non-nephritis, flare rates were highest in MMF and lowest with AZA (all flares: AZA 1.24 vs MMF 1.87 (p=0.04) and MTX 1.42 (p=0.53), severe rates: AZA 0.66, MMF 1.29 (p=0.01), MTX 1.20 (p=0.02). Only 11.6% of MMF patients had both flare and improvement. Patients with ≥1A at baseline had more flares compared to moderate patients: rate/pt yr=2.39 vs 1.03 for MMF (p=0.01), 1.40 vs 0.91 for all others (p=0.02), severe flare rates: 1.87 vs 0.34 MMF (p=0.0013), 1.15 vs 0.43 others (p=0.0001). Severe flare rates in the MC system: AZA 0.16 vs MMF 0.45 (p=0.09) and MTX 0.5 (p=0.07) and MS: AZA 0.23 vs MMF 0.54 (p=0.08) and MTX 0.87 (p=0.004). Conclusions In nephritis trials, placebo patients treated with MMF had equal response and fewer flares than IVCY. In non-nephritis trials, MMF patients had high response driven by MS system, but also high flare rates. Those who flared were more active at baseline and unlikely to improve at week 52, potentially defining two MMF outcome subpopulations. AZA-treated patients in non-nephritis trials had high response rates (not organ-specific) and lowest flare rates. Assuming the likelihood of treatment selection bias, these data do not illuminate treatment efficacy, but provide insight for trial designs by distinguishing factors, definable at entry, predictive of high placebo group responses. References Bruce IN et al., Rheumatol (Oxford). 2010;49:1025. Steinman L et al., Nature Med 2012;18:59. Kalunian KC et al., Arthritis Rheum 2013:S. Disclosure of Interest None declared DOI 10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-eular.5895


What would the criminal law look like if we took retributivist principles very seriously? In their book, Crime and Culpability: A Theory of Criminal Law, the authors - Larry Alexander and Kimberly Kessler Ferzan, with contributions by Stephen J. Morse - provide a controversial set of answers. Whether a criminal act does or does not result in harm should not affect the actor's punishment. Only the last act of risk creation should suffice for liability. Conscious awareness of risk should always be necessary. And all of criminal law, each and every category of mens rea and actus reus, should be reduced to a single idea: "Do not be reckless; do not knowingly take risks that are clearly unjustifiable in light of your reasons for taking those risks." Few scholars and even fewer legislators will be persuaded. Nevertheless, the authors have written an engaging, lively, philosophically astute book of remarkable breadth, depth, and originality. In this book review, I first point out that, to some extent, the authors are consequentialists in retributivist clothing. Turning to the authors' analysis of recklessness, I investigate two critical questions: Can recklessness really suffice as the sole criterion of culpability? (The answer, alas, is no.) And, is their requirement of "conscious awareness" of risk too demanding? (Indeed it is.) In the last section, I address a surprising phenomenon, the reappearance of the reasonable person as a central requirement of their culpability criterion, notwithstanding their unequivocal rejection of the reasonable person as part of a criterion of liability for culpable inadvertence to risk. I then critique that reincarnation.


Motivation One major goal of single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq) experiments is to identify novel cell types. With increasingly large scRNAseq datasets, unsupervised clustering methods can now produce detailed catalogues of transcriptionally distinct groups of cells in a sample. However, the interpretation of these clusters is challenging for both technical and biological reasons. Popular clustering algorithms are sensitive to parameter choices, and can produce different clustering solutions with even small changes in the number of principal components used, the k nearest neighbor, and the resolution parameters, among others. Results Here, we present a set of tools to evaluate cluster stability by subsampling, which can guide parameter choice and aid in biological interpretation. The R package scclusteval and the accompanying Snakemake workflow implement all steps of the pipeline: subsampling the cells, repeating the clustering with Seurat, and estimation of cluster stability using the Jaccard similarity index. The Snakemake workflow takes advantage of high-performance computing clusters and dispatches jobs in parallel to available CPUs to speed up the analysis. The scclusteval package provides functions to facilitate the analysis of the output, including a series of rich visualizations. Availability R package scclusteval: https://github.com/crazyhottommy/scclusteval Snakemake workflow: https://github.com/crazyhottommy/pyflow_seuratv3_parameter Contact email@example.com, firstname.lastname@example.com Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.


We distinguish between situations of risk, where all options, consequences, and probabilities are known, and situations of uncertainty, where they are not. Probability theory and statistics are the best tools for deciding under risk but not under uncertainty, which characterizes most relevant problems that humans have to solve. Uncertainty requires simple heuristics that are robust rather than optimal. We propose to think of the mind as an adaptive toolbox and introduce the descriptive study of heuristics, their building blocks, and the core capacities they exploit. The question of which heuristic to select for which class of problems is the topic of the normative study of ecological rationality. We discuss earlier views on the nature of heuristics that maintained that heuristics are always less accurate because they ignore information and demand less effort. Contrary to this accuracy–effort trade-off view, heuristics can lead to more accurate inferences—under uncertainty—than strategies that use more information and computation. The study of heuristics opens up a new perspective on the nature of both cognition and rationality. In a world of uncertainty, Homo sapiens might well be called Homo heuristicus.

Keywords:

accuracy–effort trade-off;
adaptive toolbox;
ecological rationality;
heuristics;
satisficing;
Herbert A. Simon;
uncertainty


Aims The aim of the present study was to estimate the accuracy of a novel non-invasive epicardial and endocardial electrophysiology system (NEEES) for mapping ectopic ventricular depolarizations. Methods and results The study enrolled 20 patients with monomorphic premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) or ventricular tachycardia (VT). All patients underwent pre-procedural computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging of the heart and torso. Radiographic data were semi-automatically processed by the NEEES to reconstruct a realistic 3D model of the heart and torso. In the electrophysiology laboratory, body-surface electrodes were connected to the NEEES followed by unipolar EKG recordings during episodes of PVC/VT. The body-surface EKG data were processed by the NEEES using its inverse-problem solution software in combination with anatomical data from the heart and torso. The earliest site of activation as denoted on the NEEES 3D heart model was compared with the PVC/VT origin using a 3D electroanatomical mapping system. The site of successful catheter ablation served as final confirmation. A total of 21 PVC/VT morphologies were analysed and ablated. The chamber of interest was correctly diagnosed non-invasively in 20 of 21 (95%) PVC/VT cases. In 18 of the 21 (86%) cases, the correct ventricular segment was diagnosed. Catheter ablation resulted in acute success in 19 of the 20 (95%) patients, whereas 1 patient underwent successful surgical ablation. During 6 months of follow-up, 19 of the 20 (95%) patients were free from recurrence off antiarrhythmic drugs. Conclusion The NEEES accurately identified the site of PVC/VT origin. Knowledge of the potential site of the PVC/VT origin may aid the physician in planning a successful ablation strategy.


The focus in this thesis is to investigate how smartphones on the market today can be used in the context of home networks. The latest generation of these devices has powerful hardware and software which makes them useful for a large number of new applications. The task is to design and implement a home gateway running on a smartphone. Android is chosen as the platform to develop the prototype because of the strengths this system has compared to other systems like iPhone OS, Symbian and Windows Mobile. Technologies related to home networks, Internet connectivity and smartphones are discussed. Based on this discussion, the design for a home gateway running on Android is proposed. A prototype offering most of the functionality found in a regular home gateway such as DHCP, DNS, NAT, firewall and encryption is then implemented. New functionality such as a Web interface, hostname configuration and port forwarding is added compared to the related applications. The prototype is put through different tests to see how it performs in real life. These tests show that it is possible to use a smartphone as a home gateway, but with some limitations when it comes to battery life, bandwidth and network drivers. The implemented prototype proves the potential of combining technologies in today's smartphones to support more functionality on top of basic voice calls/ SMS / MMS and Web browsing. It is therefore expected that during the next years a large number of products in this category will probably be available in the market.


The coupling of the fast wave antenna to short wavelength waves is analysed by taking into account the imperfect alignment of the antenna screens along the magnetic field lines of a Tokamak plasma. Analytical and numerical estimates for the fraction of the power going into the short wavelength modes are given for various edge plasma parameters and their profiles. The functional dependence of this fraction on the screen angle and the excited spectrum of the short wavelength waves are computed. According to the results a nonnegligible amount of power could be radiated from the present ICRF antennas in the form of ion Bernstein waves or slow waves for realistic edge density profiles. For edge plasmas extending to the screen, the excited electrostatic wave spectrum is peaked for large parallel refractive indices nz and the electrostatic wave coupling is due to the parallel electric field along the magnetic field lines which therefore requires some misalignment of the screens. When the density near the screens is sufficiently low to allow the presence of the slow mode resonance, the excited electrostatic wave spectrum is peaked for mod nz mod <1 and the coupling is mainly due to the confluence between the fast wave and slow wave and does not necessarily require any misalignment. Possible connections of these phenomena to the deleterious edge modification and enhanced impurity influx from the antennae, observed in the heating experiments of JET, are discussed.


This study was conducted to evaluate the diversity of rhodacaroid mites in litter and soil samples from "Mata Atlântica" and "Cerrado", e ecosystems of the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. A total of 969 adult rhodacaroids were collected, 913 in the Mata Atlântica and 56 in the Cerrado. Representatives of three rhodacaroid families were from: Ologamasidae, Rhodacaridae and Digamasellidae. Most numerous groups were ologamasids in the Mata Atlântica and rhodacarids in the Cerrado. Mites from both ecosystems represented 12 genera of Ologamasidae, two of Rhodacaridae and one of Digamasellidae. A total of 13 genera were found in litter samples and seven in soil samples of Mata Atlântica. The most common genera in this ecosystem were Neogamasellevans Loots & Ryke and Ologamasus Berlese in litter, and Rhodacarus Oudemans in soil samples. Thirty-one morphospecies were recovered, the most abundant being Rhodacarus sp.1, Neogamasellevans sp.1 and Neogamasellevans sp.6. Three rhodacaroid genera were found in each substrate of Cerrado, the most abundant being Rhodacarus and Rhodacarellus Willman. Of the five morphospecies found in this ecosystem, the most abundant was Rhodacarus sp.1. Morphospecies collected in Mata Atlântica displayed a higher equitability in frequency of occurrence than those of Cerrado, especially in litter samples. The plant species sampled in Mata Atlântica comprised two distinct groups in terms of the rhodacaroid morphospecies associated with them: 1) Astrocaryum aculeatissimum (Schott), Bactris setosa Mart. and Attalea dubia (Mart.); and 2) Syagrus romanzoffiana (Cham.) and Euterpe edulis Mart.


Online advertising campaigns often consist of multiple ads, each with different creative content. We propose a model that evaluates the effectiveness of each creative in a campaign given the targeted individual's ad impression history, as characterized by the timing and mix of previously seen ad creatives. We examine the impact that each ad impression has on both visitation and conversion behavior at the advertised brand's website. Our model is constructed at the individual level and takes into account correlations among the rates of ad impressions, website visits and conversions. We also allow for the accumulation and decay of advertising effects, as well as ad wear-out and restoration effects. Our results highlight the importance of accommodating both the existence of multiple ad creatives in an ad campaign as well as the impact of an individual's ad impression history. We demonstrate with a simulation how this modeling approach can be used for online ad targeting. Specifically, our results suggest that, using our model, online advertisers can increase the number of website visits and conversions by varying the creative content shown to an individual according to that individual's history of previous ad impressions. For our data, we show a 12.7% increase in the expected number of visits and a 13.8% increase in the expected number of conversions.


Crohn's disease (CD), a form of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), provides a complex model of host–microbe interactions underpinning disease pathogenesis. Although there is not widespread agreement on the etiology of CD, there is evidence that microorganisms lead to the often severe inflammatory response characteristic of the disease. Despite several microbial candidates, no specific microbe has been considered pathogenic. Instead, the concept of the 'pathogenic community' has emerged from the evidence, whereby the stability of the microbial ecosystem of the healthy human gut is disrupted in response to host genetics and destabilized immunity, perhaps through changing public health practices leading to altered microbial exposures over time. We discuss the complex microbial ecosystem of the mammalian gut, the underlying genetic factors that predispose to CD, and how these gene variants may alter host–microbe interactions and propagate inflammation. Over the next 5 years, the increased understanding of genes involved in CD and the way in which individuals with variants of these genes respond differently to nutrients and drugs will enable the rational development of personalized therapies, using pharmacogenomic and nutrigenomic approaches.


Summary In crop genetics and breeding research, phenotypic data are collected for each plant genotype, often in multiple locations and field conditions, in search of the genomic regions that confer improved traits. But what is happening to all of these phenotypic data? Currently, virtually none of the data generated from the hundreds of phenotypic studies conducted each year are being made publically available as raw data; thus there is little we can learn from past experience when making decisions about how to breed better crops for the future. This ongoing loss of phenotypic information, particularly about crop productivity, must be stopped if we are to meet the considerable challenge of increasing food production sufficiently to meet the needs of a growing world population. Here I present a road map for developing and implementing an information network to share data on crop plant phenotypes.


This project examined the development of ambient water quality criteria (AWQC) for the protection of wildlife for mercury. Mercury is considered a serious risk to wildlife in many areas. As a result, the Great Lakes Water Quality Initiative and others have developed AWQC. These AWQC have been controversial, however, because (1) the AWQC were single values that did not account for site-specific conditions; (2) derivation of the AWQC relied on a single NOAEL, and (3) the AWQC had an unknown level of conservatism because of reliance on both average and conservative assumptions and uncertainty factors. Rather than develop a single value AWQC for total mercury, we derive an AWQC model that explicitly incorporates factors controlling bioavailability, methylation rates and bioaccumulation in the aquatic environment (e.g., pH, DOC, sulfate). To derive our AWQC model, field data was collected including numerous water quality parameters and total mercury and methylmercury concentrations in whole body fish tissue from 31 lakes in Ontario and an additional 10 lakes in Nova Scotia. An independent dataset consisting of 51 water bodies in the United States was then used to confirm the validity and robustness of the AWQC model.

Next we combined the results of chronic-feeding studies with similar protocols and endpoints, in a meta-analysis to derive a dose-response curve for mink exposed to mercury in the diet. Using this approach, one can derive an LD5 or other similar endpoint that can then be used as the basis for deriving -wildlife AWQC. In the final step, we used a probabilistic risk model to estimate the concentrations of methylmercury in water that would lead to levels in fish sufficient for there to be a 10% probability of exceeding the mink LD5. This analysis was repeated for various combinations of pH and DOC. The result is an AWQC model for mercury for the protection of wildlife that can be used for a variety of site-specific conditions.

This title belongs to WERF Research Report Series

ISBN: 9781843396376 (Print)

ISBN: 9781780404028 (eBook)


Background. Different studies have analysed a wide range of use cases and scenarios for using IT-based services in homecare settings for elderly people. In most instances, the impact of such services has been studied using a one-dimensional approach, either focusing on the benefits for the patient or health service provider. Purpose. The objective of this contribution is to explore a model for identifying and understanding outcomes of IT-based homecare services from a multi-actor perspective. Methods. In order to better understand the state of the art in homecare informatics, we conducted a literature review. We use experiences from previous research in the area of informatics to develop the proposed model. Results. The proposed model consists of four core activities 'identify involved actors', 'understand consequences', 'clarify contingencies', 'take corrective actions', and one additional activity 'brainstorming IT use'. Conclusion. The primary goal of innovating organisations, processes and services in homecare informatics today, is to offer continued care, better decision support both to practitioners and patients, as well as effective distribution of resources. A multi-actor analysis perspective is needed to understand utility determination for the involved stakeholders.


The main aim of this research was to develop a nanorod based biosensor for biomedical applications. In this project I use zinc oxide nanorods as the bio-material for biosensor. I fabricated these nanorods using a solution-based technique. Initially I coated a zinc oxide seed layer as the base. This seed layer was then annealed at 350 degrees for almost 1 hour. As a next step, interdigitated electrodes were fabricated on the top of the seed layer using a lift off process. The zinc oxide nanorods were then grown at 90 degrees for almost 4 hours along the electrodes. In this project I have concentrated on making a biosensor for cancer applications, specifically for colon and lung cancer. Cancer specific antibodies, namely Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) were immobilized on the top of the nanorods whose effect was identified by measuring the IV characteristics across the electrodes. In this project, I made use the concept of covalent bonding, for which I had a cross linking layer before the immobilization of the antibodies. Nanorods, along with the antibodies, completed the fabrication of the whole sensor. In order to test the sensor, CEA antigens containing the target cells were passed over the device containing the nanorods and antibodies. The capturing of the target cells by the antibodies was confirmed by measuring the IV characteristics across the electrodes. This thesis is approved for recommendation to the Graduate Council.


We present a unified framework for dealing with exact point-of-interest (POI) queries in dynamic continental road networks within interactive applications. We show that partition-based algorithms developed for point-to-point shortest path computations can be naturally extended to handle augmented queries such as finding the closest restaurant or the best post office to stop on the way home, always ranking POIs according to a user-defined cost function. Our solution allows different trade-offs between indexing effort (time and space) and query time. Our most flexible variant allows the road network to change frequently (to account for traffic information or personalized cost functions) and the set of POIs to be specified at query time. Even in this fully dynamic scenario, our solution is fast enough for interactive applications on continental road networks.


Understanding transcription regulation is a key issue in biology. There is much non-coding sequence upstream of the human gene, a small proportion of which is regulatory. The aim of this project is to gain a better understanding of organisation, structure and function of this region via large-scale sequence studies.

The 10Kb 5' upstream sequence has been analysed for changes at different positional sections along this stretch. There are four main categories of investigation:
1. Dinucleotide composition and representation.
2. Distance from randomness by comparing real and randomised sequences.
3. Sequence similarity using a pattern analysis.
4. Distribution and representation of regulatory motifs.

DNA generally avoids flexible dinucleotide steps. In the upstream sequence the DNA becomes even less flexible towards the start site of transcription. In contrast there is an increase in bistable steps in this direction. It is concluded that these structural changes including enhanced stiff and bistable steps are likely important in transcription regulatory regions.

The weak/strong (W/S) and purine/pyrimidine (R/Y) properties in the upstream sequence are different to each other and even opposing at times. For instance, the R/Y sequence becomes more distant from the random model towards the start site whereas the W/S becomes closer to it. Opposing sequence similarity trends are observed across the upstream sequence for R/Y and W/S. Also, the regulatory motif distribution and representation are very different depending on whether the sequence is viewed as R/Y or alternatively as W/S nucleotides. This is likely due to the different roles of these nucleotide properties within the upstream DNA and more specifically within regulatory regions. These results may have important implications for the process of direct and indirect readout in protein-DNA binding. It is suggested that the R/Y sequence generally has a greater influence over indirect readout whereas the W/S sequence has more impact on direct readout. Furthermore it is proposed that avoidance of inappropriate (or promiscuous) regulatory protein binding to DNA occurs primarily via the R/Y sequence of the regulatory elements, i.e. via avoidance of indirect readout and the docking step of protein-DNA binding. Therefore this study of DNA sequence has revealed changes in specific properties across the upstream region of the human gene from which have been drawn conclusions about its role in transcription regulation.


We propose an approach for the dynamic adaptation of multimedia documents modeled by an over-constrained constraint satisfaction problem (OCSP). In addition the solutions that it provides for the problem of determining the relations that do not comply with the user profile and the problem of the combinatorial explosion when searching for alternative relations, it insures a certain quality of service to the presentation of the adapted document: (i) If the required constraints are not satisfied, no document is generated, unlike other approaches that generates even if the presentation of the adapted document is completely different from the initial one, (ii) The definition of the constraints hierarchy (strong constraints and medium constraints) maintains as much as possible of the initial document relations in the adapted one. As result, the adapted presentations are consistent and close to those of the initial ones.


Since the fall 2008 all B.Eng. study programs at the Technical University of Denmark have been based on the CDIO concept. The adoption of the CDIO standards and principles resulted in new or significantly revised study programs. As part of this effort design-build projects have been introduced on each of the first 4 semesters, and each semester-project spans several courses. The aim of this paper is to describe the four CDIO semester projects in the B.Eng. in IT study, and – along with similar papers describing the other six B.Eng. programs – to provide documentation to accompany an exposition with stands providing additional information and with students demonstrating their projects. The paper is narrowly focused on the IT-study program. At the time of writing this paper the students enrolled in 2008 have completed all four semesters in the new CDIO-based study plan, and the students enrolled in 2009 are currently in the process of finishing the 4 th semester. Consequently, the paper is reporting on curriculum development which has been implemented, and for which experiences have gained.


In the aftermath of World War II, Belgium was facing a serious housing shortage. The Christian-Democrats, who dominated the political landscape, answered the housing need by the encouragement of detached single family houses. The social-democrats on the other hand, championed high-rise buildings and large housing complexes in urban areas. In Antwerp, where the social-democrats were in power since the interwar-period, the modernist apartment block was not only seen as a good solution, but also as a promotional instrument for their enlightened policy. In a belt around the city, mixed development settlements with high-rises were developed. In the North of Antwerp, the Luchtbal-estate of Hugo Van Kuyck (1954-1962) emerged, in the West, Europark designed by Aelbrecht, Bruynswijck, Moureau and Wathelet (1968-1972), and in the South, the Kiel-estate designed by Renaat Braem (1953). Although all the three complexes are modernist, they completely differ in concept, architectural quality, degree of detailing, etcetera. While the oldest estate, the Kiel-estate is appreciated as a very prestigious, avant-garde social housing project, the youngest one, Europark, is rather seen as a watered down version of modernist housing. Whereas Renaat Braem was inspired by the Russian Constructivists and Le Corbusier, Hugo Van Kuyck was influenced by American modernism. This article aims to show the diversity of modernist high rise buildings in the fringe of Antwerp by means of a comparative analysis of the two housing projects, Luchtbal and Kiel.


This study reconceptualizes and tests liberation and economic marginality hypotheses as complementary explanations for female offending patterns. Both explanations are relevant in explaining female crime, but need to be reframed as interacting forces not opposing theories. It is suggested that economic marginality is in part a consequence of liberation, where the expectation of women's independence may not be consistent with their actual social circumstances. This study also assesses the explanatory power of this model for both male and female conviction rates. Results from a pooled time series, least squares with dummy variables, cross-national analysis supports this reformulated model. Although this model is a good predictor of female conviction rates, it does not appear to be good a predictor of male conviction rates. Female conviction rates are significantly affected by male employment status, indicating that social conditions that are linked to female crime are a function of the economic and social position of both sexes.


Abstract. The CopterSonde is an uncrewed aircraft system developed in-house by a team of engineers and meteorologists at the University of Oklahoma. The CopterSonde is an ambitious attempt by the Center for Autonomous Sensing and Sampling to address the challenge of filling the observational gap present in the lower atmosphere among the currently used meteorological instruments such as towers and radiosondes. The CopterSonde is a unique and highly flexible platform for in situ atmospheric boundary layer measurements with high spatial and temporal resolution, suitable for meteorological applications and research. Custom autopilot algorithms and hardware features were developed as solutions to problems identified throughout several field experiments carried out since 2017. In these field experiments, the CopterSonde has been proved capable of safely operating at wind speeds up to 22 m s-1, flying at 3050 m above mean sea level, and operating in extreme temperatures: nearly −20 °C in Finland and 40 °C in Oklahoma, United States. Leveraging the open-source ArduPilot autopilot code has allowed for seamless integration of custom functions and protocols for the acquisition, storage, and distribution of atmospheric data along with the flight control data. This led to the creation of features such as the "wind vane mode" algorithm which commands the CopterSonde to always face into the wind. It also allowed for the design of an asymmetric airframe for the CopterSonde, which is shown to have more convenient locations for weather sensor placement, in addition to allowing for improvements in the overall aerodynamic characteristics of the CopterSonde. Moreover, it has also allowed the team to design and create a modular shell where the sensor package is attached and which can run independently of the CopterSonde's main body. The CopterSonde is on the trend towards a smart UAS tool with a wide possibility of creating new adaptive and optimized atmospheric sampling strategies.


The present study offers a descriptive picture of the transition suffered by the Chilean university sector from a state-regulated regime to a market-driven one, complemented by demand-side subsidies facilitating market access to lower income segments of the local population. The process started three decades back and it was originally enforced under the expectation that markets and competition could bring about a socially optimal long term transformation of the university industry, without much government intervention being required. Our enquiry shows the complex way in which economic and institutional forces have co-evolved in the transition from one policy regime to the next. The de-regulation of tertiary education markets induced a rapid process of entry of new service providers. The simultaneous introduction of demand-side subsidies extended market access to new segments of the population inducing a very rapid increase in the enrolment rate to universities, especially so in the lower two quintiles of the distribution. A major overhaul of the financial model and institutions supporting the provision of university services induced the university industry to move into a new environment in which fiscal block grants where gradually replaced by an alternative regime in which student fees, contractual income, competitive funds for R&D activities, performance-based contracts for infrastructure upgrading and philanthropic donations provide – alongside with block grants – the resources upon which the  ́university industry ́ presently operates. The transition resulted in a self-reinforcing virtuous circle of sectoral expansion and institutional transformation. Many observers believe (Pilar Aranet, 2007) that Chile is today in the midst of a  ́growth crisis ́ as it further proceeds into a more  ́mature ́ institutional and market structure scenario. Many problems of access, affordability, quality, accountability and production of public goods have remained unresolved from the past and require serious reconsideration in the years to come. Some of the forces that motorized the process of expansion in the 1990 ́s seem to be wearing out, with the economy now expanding at a considerable slower pace than in the period 1984-1998 and with the university sector showing increasing signs of oversupply. The number of vacancies left unused seems to be increasing and the signs of a growing imbalance between supply and demand, as well as between academic disciplines, are getting increasingly evident. How much this is a structural issue – resulting from an economy which in recent years has slowed down its rate of expansion or a cyclical issue, reflecting ́teething pains ́ normally associated to growth and maturity, are questions of major importance in the near and medium term domestic policy debate. Briefly summarizing our more outstanding findings we notice that : First, reflecting a pattern which can be seen in other countries – Australia, UK, US, for example – Chile exhibits a long term structural transformation of the financial model underlying the provision of university services. Fiscal block grants are gradually diminishing as a fraction of total university revenue and student fees, contractual services, competitive funds for R&D activities and for infrastructure building up efforts are gaining ground as sources of income. Fiscal block grants – AFD ( ́Aporte Fiscal Directo ́) and AFI ( ́Aporte Fiscal Indirecto ́) – only represent today between 1/3 and 50% of total university revenue (there is a significant variance in this respect among CRUCH universities), while revenue coming from the above mentioned alternative sources account for around 2/3 of total university revenue, again with a large variance among universities. Second, a major achievement in terms of equity can be found in the fact that the proportion of youngsters between 18 and 24 accessing superior education increased from 15% in 1990 to 38% in 2006. The reason for celebration is even stronger when we notice that tertiary education access has increased well above average in the lower two quintiles of the income distribution. The proportion of low income families sending their first member ever to university has increased considerably during the 1990 ́s, suggesting that a significant process of upward mobility is on the making. However, comparing with similar indicators for developed countries within the OECD, or for nations such as Korea, Ireland, or Estonia, where 2/3 of the youngsters between 18 and 24 years attain tertiary education, we notice that Chile has still a long way to go if the goal is to move from 38% to 60 or 70% of tertiary education attendance in the 1824 years segment of the population. Third, international comparisons indicate that Chile is behind world standards in terms of R&D expenditure, innovation activities and productivity growth. It is presently spending around 0.7% of GDP in R&D and although plans are that such expenditure is to be increased to around 1.2% of GDP in the course of a decade (CNI, 2008), it is presently lagging behind in terms of skilled man power creation needed to secure an adequate use of the fiscal resources in technology-generation activities. Local universities should be expected considerably to expand their rate of graduation of PhDs if doubling the R&D/GDP ratio is to be attainable. As the University of Chile Commission argues in its recent report on  ́Policies for the scientific and technological development of Chile ́  ̈The country has to set itself the goal of graduating 100 doctors per million inhabitants in 2020, this meaning 1.700 new doctors annually ̈ Furthermore, much remains to be done in terms of quality of educational services. The quality of education has a considerable impact upon the long term behaviour of the economy as well as upon the social, political and cultural functioning of society. Market processes have not done particularly well in relation to enhancing the quality of education. A frail accreditation mechanism and an over expansion of  ́low end ́ new universities entering the market during the early 1990 ́s have negatively affected quality of services. Although this seems to be in the process of improving, with small and low quality universities abandoning the market, or being taken-over by stronger ones which will re-structure them and upgrade their functioning, quality and consumer protection through a more solid accreditation system still remain as a promise for local university markets. The  ́Consejo Nacional de Innovacion para la Competitividad ́ (CNIC) is at the centre of the current debate on innovation, both in terms of setting the agenda and monitoring the gradual building up of institutions and domestic technological capabilities, particularly with respect to the commercialization end of the R&D spectrum, strongly related to international competitiveness. It is easy to understand how recent confrontation with university scientists and professors could develop, as much of the academic community feels that innovation and knowledge generation activities should address a broader spectrum of issues than those specifically related to upgrading the international competitiveness of the local economy. Issues related to energy, environmental protection, desertification, health care, aging and stress, urban development and more should be set up as part of the Chilean future knowledge-generation agenda, beyond international competitiveness. Such tension can be creative and in many respects welcome. But it comes at a time in which university markets and public policy for the  ́industry ́ should be carefully examined if quality aspects and the balance between supply and demand for university services are adequately to be handled. This seems to be a time for reflection, design and collaboration. Natural-resource based production and exports prospects remain good. Further economic diversification is needed, however, if the country is to increase its rate of economic growth. It seems likely that further government leadership, as has previously happened with the salmon industry, will be needed to attain the required pace of economic diversification. Such process needs to be closely accompanied by the development of the portfolio of innovation funding, incentive and support measures. Fiscal resources for stepping up both quantity and quality of R&D activities and tertiary education seem to be available. No doubt this is an enviable position, strengthened by the fact that the ́base line ́ of departure is already very good. Quality improvements in universities have been pursued over the past decade through various different performance-based mechanisms (FDI and MECESUP) and lessons learned. The same is true as far as R&D activities is concerned, where the Millennium Initiative, Financiamiento Basal and other competitive funds have significantly upgraded the institutional modus operandi of the local innovation system. It looks quite possible to have a significantly innovation-led agenda and the needed quantity and quality expansion of tertiary education and of R&D efforts. Institutional culture changes slowly, but it does change. Chile seems to be proceeding in the right direction as far as developing a strong National Innovation System in the years ahead. This report argues for further policy development and action in some specific areas, so that access, affordability, quality, accountability of university services and the timely production of public goods could be successfully tackled by Chile in the years to come. The very short term global and national economic outlook is flat and rocky. The sense of this Report is that this is a good moment to move ahead on the design of further restructuring and improvements to the national innovation system and to the tertiary education and research sector and a particularly bad time for conflicts to impede getting on with it. Other important enquiries are under


: This paper presents the results of a pilot study in which 11 triads comprising a pre-service teacher, a supervising teacher and a university supervisor used a video platform for pre-service teacher self-reflection and for the provision of feedback. Pre-service teachers made video recordings of one lesson each week during a four-week professional experience placement. They annotated the videos using time-stamped comments and shared them with their supervisors who added comments to provide feedback. The annotations were investigated through questionnaires and interviews that were analysed for their depth of reflection and participants' views about the video reflection process. Results indicate that the video process only marginally supported the provision of targeted feedback and pre-service teacher reflection. Factors which contributed to these outcomes are discussed.


Pathogenic Acanthamoeba species often cause infection known as Acanthamoeba keratitis among people who use contact lenses. It is a type of infection that can result in corneal ulceration, visual loss or even blindness, if not treated. There are various therapeutic options available in the treatment of Acanthamoeba infections but they are usually tough treatments with limited efficacy. For instance, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is a commonly used contact lens disinfectant which is effective against Acanthamoeba but it is toxic to the cornea. For these reasons, new and more efficacious treatment options are required for Acanthamoeba infections. In this context, plants are considered natural resources for the discovery of new drugs. Laurocerasus officinalis Roem. (cherry laurel) (Rosaceae) grows in Black Sea region; and it is known as "Taflan", "Laz kirazı" or "Karayemis". Local people are using the seeds against diabetes, while the fruits are consuming as food, and used fordiuretic and passing kidney stones. It has also been reported that the seeds of the cherry laurel are used as an antiparasitic agent in this area. The aim of the study was to confirm the traditionally use of antiparasitic activity of this fruit and to increase the potential effect by means of organic-inorganic hybrid synthesis. Total phenol contents of methanol extracts prepared from endocarp, mesocarp and seeds of the fruit were calculated. The effects of methanol extracts and nano flower (NFs) plants synthesized from these extracts on the proliferation of Acanthamoeba castellanii were investigated. Thus, for the first time, novel organic-inorganic nanobio-antiparasitic agents called NFs were produced from cherry laurel and the increase in the amoebicidal activity of the NFs was elucidated. The characterization of NFs were determined with Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer (FT-IR) and Energy-Dispersive X-ray (EDX) techniques. In addition, the catalytic activity of the fruit extracts and the NFs were measured against guaiacol in the presence of H2O2. The viability testing of A.castellanii cysts used for amoebicidal activity was performed using 4% trypan blue. Methanol extracts and nano-flowers were prepared at concentrations of 32, 16, 8, 4, 2 and 1 mg/ml in 0.9% saline and distributed 200 μl each in tubes and incubated in the room temperature with the addition of 200 μl of 98% viable A.castellani parasites. The results were evaluated using the SPSS V.22.0 program and it was determined that there was a significant increase in the amoebicidal activity of NFs compared with the other extracts according to variance analysis (p≤ 0.05). In the study, it was determined that samples killed parasites or reduced parasite proliferation at certain times. As a result, NFs synthesized from fruit extracts were demonstrated about three times more effective than the non hybrid extracts for amoebicidal activity. This situation can be explained as high proliferative effect of a new nano-bio-antiparasitic agent known as nanoflower against A.castellanii.


Explicit-state model checking which is conducted by state space search has difficulty in exploring satisfactory state space because of its memory requirements. Though bitstate hashing achieves memory efficiency, it cannot guarantee complete verification. Thus, it is desirable to provide a reliability indicator such as a coverage estimate. However, the existing approaches for coverage estimation are not very accurate when a verification run covers a small portion of state space. This mainly stems from the lack of information that reflects characteristics of models. Therefore, we propose coverage estimation methods using a growth curve that approximates an increase in reached states by enlarging a bloom filter. Our approaches improve estimation accuracy by leveraging the statistics from multiple verification runs. Coverage is estimated by fitting the growth curve to these statistics. Experimental results confirm the validity of the proposed growth curve and the applicability of our approaches to practical models. In fact, for practical models, our approaches outperformed the conventional ones when the actual coverage is relatively low.


Sequential quadratic programming (SQP) methods form a class of highly efficient algorithms for solving nonlinearly constrained optimization problems. Although second derivative information may often be calculated, there is little practical theory that justifies exact-Hessian SQP methods. In particular, the resulting quadratic programming (QP) subproblems are often nonconvex, and thus finding their global solutions may be computationally nonviable. This paper presents a second-derivative Sl1QP method based on quadratic subproblems that are either convex, and thus may be solved efficiently, or need not be solved globally. Additionally, an explicit descent constraint is imposed on certain QP subproblems, which "guides" the iterates through areas in which nonconvexity is a concern. Global convergence of the resulting algorithm is established.


"Handy writes with the eloquence of simplicity and his gift to us is an enjoyable, profound, and reliable guide toward meaning and direction."--Max De Pree, author of "Leading without Power" and chairman emeritus, Herman Miller Inc. Charles Handy's reflections on work and life have earned him legions of fans throughout the world. His previous books have together sold over a million copies. And his "Thought for the Day" series on BBC radio is celebrated throughout the U.K. Now present and future fans in America can sample what his BBC listeners have enjoyed for so long. "Waiting for the Mountain to Move" includes the gifted commentator's best essays, culled from ten years of radio broadcasts. These succinct writings draw poignant lessons from everyday occurrences and cause us to examine our lives, our institutions, and our society in a different and revealing light. NOT FOR SALE OUTSIDE NORTH AMERICA


The Chagos Archipelago is a series of atolls situated in the centre of the Indian Ocean close to the equator. The area experiences small tides and periods of strong winds. The combined effects of these is to cause relatively high energy conditions to exist in the shallow waters around the reefs, therefore the bottom sediments are coarse grained and mobile. Although the coral faunas are diverse, seagrasses are rare. The total benthic foraminiferal assemblages have low to high species diversity and are dominated by hyaline taxa. On the oceanic side of the atoll reefs, the dominant foraminiferan is Amphistegina lessonii, with subsidiary miliolids. Planklonic tests form up to 20% of the combined benthic and planktonic component. In the lagoon, the assemblages are dominated by Calcarina calcar, with subsidiary miliolids. Planktonic tests are relatively uncommon. Some post-mortem transport and damage to tests has taken place but the distribution patterns are believed to be representative of the original living ones.


Abstract Pathological conditions caused by reduced dosage of a gene, such as gene haploinsufficiency, can potentially be reverted by enhancing the expression of the functional allele. In practice, low specificity of therapeutic agents, or their toxicity reduces their clinical applicability. Here, we have used a high throughput screening (HTS) approach to identify molecules capable of increasing the expression of the gene Tbx1, which is involved in one of the most common gene haploinsufficiency syndromes, the 22q11.2 deletion syndrome. Surprisingly, we found that one of the two compounds identified by the HTS is the vitamin B12. Validation in a mouse model demonstrated that vitamin B12 treatment enhances Tbx1 gene expression and partially rescues the haploinsufficiency phenotype. These results lay the basis for preclinical and clinical studies to establish the effectiveness of this drug in the human syndrome.


[Purpose] To examine the effects of intervention combining individualized and group rhythm (To-balance) exercises on the mental and physical functions of the elderly requiring low level care. [Subjects] A total of 29 elderly persons requiring level 2 assistance to level 2 who were and using outpatient care services participated in this study. [Methods] The participants were randomly allocated to 2 groups: To-balance, and Sitting. The former group performed individualized and To-balance group exercises, while the latter group performed individualized exercise, as well as group exercise while sitting on a chair. The effects were evaluated through somatometric, physical fitness, and mental function measurements before and 3, 6, and 9 months after the initiation of the intervention. [Results] The lower-limb muscle strength and mental function significantly improved in both groups. Particularly, in the To-balance group, early improvement in balance and gait ability were observed. [Conclusion] The To-balance exercise may be useful for quickly improving the elderly's static balance ability.


In this study we investigated the effect of exogenous ethylene treatment on ethylene production, 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) oxidase activity and expression of an ACC oxidase (PP-ACO1) gene previously cloned (Mathooko et al., 2001) in peach ( Prunus persica L.) fruit. We also investigated the mode of action of CO 2 and 1-methycyclopropene (1-MCP) in the regulation of ethylene biosynthesis during peach fruit ripening. Fruits were treated with various concentrations of ethylene (0.1, 1, 10, 100, 500, 1000 ppm) and also with CO 2 and 1-MCP in the presence or absence of 500 ppm ethylene. Ethylene stimulated ethylene production at concentrations of 100 ppm and above while ACC oxidase activity was stimulated in a concentration-dependent manner. PP-ACO1 was slightly constitutively expressed and exogenous ethylene stimulated accumulation of its mRNA transcript in a concentration-dependent manner up to 100 ppm after which the level remained constant. CO 2 and 1-MCP inhibited the ethylene-stimulated ethylene production, ACC oxidase activity and accumulation of PP-ACO1 transcripts by about 50%. These results indicate that ethylene plays a key role in the regulation of ethylene production and ACC oxidase activity and its gene expression in peach fruit. Further the results indicate that CO 2 and 1-MCP regulate ethylene biosynthesis in peach fruit during ripening, at least in part, by antagonizing ethylene action. Key Words: ACC oxidase, carbon dioxide, ehylene, 1-methylcyclopropene, peach, Prunus persica . African Journal of Biotechnology Vol.3(10) 2004: 497-502


Received on: 24.09.2018 Revised on: 16.12.2018 Accepted on: 19.12.2018 Medicinal plants from the marine ecosystem are a rich source of medicinal plants having a potential for miracle drugs. It is clear from the observation that the local inhabitants of Pichavaram mangrove forest have excellent knowledge about the phytomedicine. Thus they have developed their traditional system of utilizing these mangroves for medicinal purposes. Cancer is the name given to a collection of related and multistep disease. In all types of cancer, a few of the body's cells begin to divide without stopping and spread into the surrounding. It is developed by environmental, physical, chemical, metabolic and genetic factors. In this study, methanol was used to prepare an extract from A. marina leaves and screened for anticancer activity. The phytoconstituents like alkaloids, flavonoids, saponin and tannin present in the extract were quantified, and anticancer activity of the same was identified. Further, the apoptotic cell death effect of methanol extract on the Hela cell line was determined. The flavonoids of A. marina showed higher anti-cancer activity on Hela cells followed by tannin, alkaloids and saponin. The result of the apoptotic cell death effect of A. marina may provide an effective therapeutic strategy against cervical cancer. Finally, it is concluded that the extract of A. marina exhibited anticancer activity.