Most of current ultra-miniaturized devices are obtained by the top-down approach, in which nanoscale components are fabricated by cutting down larger precursors. Since this physical-engineering method is reaching its limits, especially for components below 30 nm in size, alternative strategies are necessary. Of particular appeal to chemists is the supramolecular bottom-up approach to nanotechnology, a methodology that utilizes the principles of molecular recognition to build materials and devices from molecular components. The subject of this thesis is the photophysical and electrochemical investigation of nanodevices obtained harnessing the principles of supramolecular chemistry. These systems operate in solution-based environments and are investigated at the ensemble level.
The majority of the chemical systems discussed here are based on pseudorotaxanes and catenanes. Such supramolecular systems represent prototypes of molecular machines since they are capable of performing simple controlled mechanical movements. Their properties and operation are strictly related to the supramolecular interactions between molecular components (generally photoactive or electroactive molecules) and to the possibility of modulating such interactions by means of external stimuli.
The main issues addressed throughout the thesis are: (i) the analysis of the factors that can affect the architecture and perturb the stability of supramolecular systems; (ii) the possibility of controlling the direction of supramolecular motions exploiting the molecular information content; (iii) the development of switchable supramolecular polymers starting from simple host-guest complexes; (iv) the capability of some molecular machines to process information at molecular level, thus behaving as logic devices; (v) the behaviour of molecular machine components in a biological-type environment; (vi) the study of chemically functionalized metal nanoparticles by second harmonic generation spectroscopy.


All football clubs have them - scouts. Men (for they are almost always men) who watch teams to check how they play, who watch players to see how good they are. Even in these high tech days of video analysis and Prozone (a system which tells how far each player has run in a game, how many passes and how successful they were etc.) football clubs could not operate without the human element of scouting. Les Padfield, though, is not your typical scout. Not many are published poets! A Londoner, he was a schoolboy footballer of great promise - as he writes, Harry Redknapp, the Spurs manager, used to provide the crosses for him to score when they were schoolboys. He chose though to become a teacher of Physical Education, English and other subjects. He became a scout when, having been persuaded to attend a match at Millwall he meets an old friend, John Sainty, the chief scout at Preston North End. Sainty tells Les that the club's manager, David Moyes, is looking for a London-based scout. And even though Les moved on to Bolton Wanderers in the Premier League, the title 'Scouting for Moyes' was too good to resist. Les tells of the frustrations of the job, the perks - a trip to Nigeria to watch a teenage prodigy who revealed he preferred to study medicine - and the precarious nature of football life. Gary Megson, Bolton's manager who had also employed Les when he was in charge at West Bromwich Albion and Nottingham Forest, is sacked at the end of 2009. Les also offers the insight of a professional into the world,of football. Surprisingly his views are very often those of an outright fan. His royalties from the book will be donated to Cancer Research.


We present a generalization of the granocentric model proposed in [Clusel et al., Nature, 2009, 460, 611615] that is capable of describing the local fluctuations inside not only polydisperse but also monodisperse packings of spheres. This minimal model does not take into account the relative particle positions, yet it captures positional disorder through local stochastic processes sampled by efficient Monte Carlo methods. The disorder is characterized by the distributions of local parameters, such as the number of neighbors and contacts, filled solid angle around a central particle and the cell volumes. The model predictions are in good agreement with our experimental data on monodisperse random close packings of PMMA particles. Moreover, the model can be used to predict the distributions of local fluctuations in any packing, as long as the average number of neighbors, contacts and the packing fraction are known. These distributions give a microscopic foundation to the statistical mechanics framework for jammed matter and allow us to calculate thermodynamic quantities such as the compactivity in the phase space of possible jammed configurations.


Abstract : Commercial markets abound with examples of competitive forces providing reduced costs and increased innovation. However, the defense market is materially different from commercial markets in many ways, and thus does not respond in the same way to competition. This analysis examines a series of outcomes in both competitive and sole-source acquisition programs, using a statistical model that builds on a game theory framework developed by Todd Harrison, Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment. The results show that the Department of Defense may actually incur increased costs from competition. Competition in defense acquisition may not reduce costs, but may like a placebo create a powerful perception of cost control.


While there is an extensive literature on intergenerational class mobility in Britain there is less work on the impact of these different forms of missing data on the observed transitions between parent's class and child's class. It may be particularly pertinent to consider the impact of missing data when evaluating ethnic group differences in intergenerational mobility, since unemployment is known to differ systematically with ethnicity, as do survey and census response. Research into intergenerational class transitions as they differ by ethnic group in Britain is the subject of only a small number of studies, and there has not been any detailed examination of the impact of missing data in studying ethnic group differences in intergenerational social mobility. The contribution of this paper is to highlight the issue of missing data in studying social mobility, to outline its potential implications, and to offer some preliminary analysis of the impact of missing data on our understanding of intergenerational social mobility as it varies by ethnic group.

The paper examines three forms of missing data that we might expect to effect the measurement of ethnic group differences in intergenerational social mobility. First, where measured origins or destinations are not accommodated by class categories – e.g. the unemployed; second, those whose origins are measured but who do not survive in the study sample, because of non-response or emigration; and third, those for whom information on variables of interest that are, or might be, associated with achieved social class is missing. These three forms of missing data are explored by (a) examining the impact of operating different assumptions in relation to non-class outcomes, particularly unemployment but also 'other' outcomes; (b) investigating non-response at the point of measurement of destinations, by exploring and comparing the characteristics of those for whom we know the reason for non-response (emigration, recorded through embarkations data) and those for whom we do not know the cause of their non-response. This section of the paper goes on to look at whether there are selection effects in observed patterns of origins and destinations. In the following section, the paper examines (c) whether the treatment of missing values on variables included in models of emigration, attrition and social class outcomes affect the results obtained. Here just two of the potential treatments of missing data, listwise deletion and using dummy variables for missing values are contrasted.

The paper concludes that, despite big differences between ethnic groups in levels of non-class outcomes, emigration and non-response, the impact of these on results as far as it was investigated here was modest. Nevertheless, missing data remains an issue potentially highly pertinent for ethnically differentiated mobility research, and thus, it is argued, being selfconscious about how missing data are treated is important in itself.


facies terrain of SW Norway show an extreme form of poikiloblastic texture: a group of at least three sections of the same mineral, general) y orthopyroxene and clinoamphibole with the same optic orientation and separated by a fabric consisting of other minerals. The nucleation energy for this texture seems to be relatively high, but once a nucleus was forrned, it must have grown very rapidly. High temperature and low pressure seem to favour this extreme type of poikiloblastic tex ture. Similar textures are found in the contact metamorphosed Biwabik and Gunflint lron Formation of Minnesota, U.S.A.


Medical Image: A 20-year-old female with unremarkable medical history reported a 6 month history of intermittent temporomandibular joint pain radiating to neck. Especially upon swallowing and yawning. Physical examination revealed normal temporomandibular joint, however during palpation of the tonsillar fossa, an exacerbation of the pain was noted. A computed tomography showed elongation of the styloid processes: 42.7 mm long on the right side and 40.5 mm on the left side (Figure 1). Eagle's syndrome was diagnosed and patient underwent transoral surgical approach to remove both styloid processes (Figure 2) with clinical regression of the symptoms.
Eagle's syndrome is a rare disease characterized by the symptomatic elongation of the styloid process or calcification of the stylohyoid ligament. It is an unusual cause of head and neck pain. It can be confused with maxillofacial disorders but with appropriate clinical history, degree of suspicion and radiologic confirmation, Eagle's syndrome can easily be identified and treated. Surgical treatment is highly effective.


The motivation for one's organisation to adopt any new technologies might differ across size, fields and countries. The adoption of any technologies has been largely influenced by managerial decision making capability. Realizing the importance of having sound and agile decision making and its effects towards one's organisation when deciding to adopt any new technology, the exploration of managerial decision making capability (e.g skills, attitude, behavior etc) has become a main concern of the researcher, especially within the context of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the Malaysian construction industry. This paper aims to describe the research methodology in developing a conceptual framework related to managers' decision making capability factors that could help them understanding the influencial factors that affects their behavioural decision making. Thus, to achieve this, this study need to fulfil the following objectives (i) to examine an appropriate research methodology that suits with this research context (ii) to critically justify the flow of research methodology as summarized in the methodological framework. The development of the framework adopts a qualitative methodology to gain better information from managers using a case study research design from multiple SMEs specifically within the Malaysian construction industry. The research techniques adopted will be further elaborated, including the process of triangulating the research findings with other various sources of evidences.This paper also describes the process in reviewing the data via cross case analysis before validating the framework that have been theorised based on technological innovation and managerial-based researches. It is hoped that the development of this framework would lead managers to understand their level of adoption capability with respect to technological innovation, so that they can improve their capability adoption decision by planning an appropriate strategy.


This research work has originated from the observation that the importance given, in recent times, in Italy and Brazil to the promotion of the "entrepreneurial culture" among college students, has become a crucial point to provide the new generations with the necessary tools to face with increased awareness their future educational and professional choices. This importance is also explained, in both countries, mainly because of the existing economic and financial crisis that, in large part, hit the working world, determining, in addition to increasing rates of youth unemployment, a thorough revision of the very concept of "employment", with a more and more important trend towards the so-called "self-employment".
In this perspective, therefore, it is essential to clarify what should be understood by the term "entrepreneurship", underlining - through a critical analysis of the current legislation, of the literature on the subject, of the projects and practices - the implications on the training plan: in particular it is the concept of "competence" in its many forms, to allow a theoretical reflection about "entrepreneurship education".
The debate, in this regard, is problematic, because it points out the oscillation between two requests where conciliation is anything but straightforward: on the one hand, strong demands for professionalization immediately spendable in the labour market and, therefore, often corresponding to utilitarian training and, on the other hand, although less strong in terms of policy, requests for "humanization" of the training, that is turned to the education of the whole person so that he can be a leader aware of the change and not only better provided to conform to the pressures of the contingencies.
The comparison, on these issues, between Italy and Brazil was conducted both on a strictly theoretical level, through the recognition of the legislation, literature and documentation about practices, and on an experimental one, collecting and processing information about the perception and personal experiences of university students of both countries. To this end, a questionnaire was prepared and administered to two representative samples of italian and brazilian university students, together with a qualitative interview aimed to ten selected witnesses working at the promotion of education for entrepreneurship among young people. The results of the research, in terms of interpretation, has allowed to point out the differences and similarities of the approaches to the entrepreneurial world between the two sampled realities, as well as allowed to highlight motivations, goals, methods, strategies and tools for entrepreneurship education.
The work is completed with the pointing out at the strengths and weaknesses of the two approaches - that, in Italy as well as in Brazil, are still under development and experimentation - and with the formulation of some proposals relative to the meaning of education as part of a lifelong learning of the individual and social person.


Recently there has been renewed interest in bidirectional heuristic search. New algorithms, e.g., MM, MMe, and NBS, have been introduced which seem much closer to refuting the accepted wisdom that "any front-to-end bidirectional heuristic search algorithm will likely be dominated by unidirectional heuristic search or bidirectional brute-force search". However, MM and MMe can still be dominated by their bidirectional brute-force versions, i.e., they can show a "hump-in-the-middle". We introduce a novel general breadth-first heuristic search algorithm, GBFHS, that unifies both unidirectional and bidirectional search into a single algorithm. It uses knowledge of the edge cost in unit cost domains to stop on first-collision in unidirectional search and in bidirectional search, unlike MM, MMe, and NBS. With no heuristic it expands fewer nodes bidirectionally than Nicholson's blind bidirectional search algorithm. GBFHS expands substantially fewer nodes than MM0, MM, MMe, and NBS. Additionally, GBFHS does not show a "hump-in-the-middle". GBFHS run bidirectionally is not dominated by bidirectional brute-force search, likewise, GBFHS run unidirectionally is not dominated by A*.


Diffractive optical elements (DOEs) are strictly related to the design wavelength due to the fact that they must introduce particular phase delay of the wavefront propagating through the structure. Mostly the attenuation of the material is not taken into account. In this article we propose to optimize thickness of the DOE by reducing introduced phase retardation but also attenuation. The efficiency of DOEs is determined by the method of coding phase distribution and can be easily measured by using diffraction orders of corresponding diffraction grating. Here, we analyze binary phase diffraction gratings with assumed attenuation. Full Text: PDF ReferencesJ.-L. Coutaz, Optoélectronique térahertz (Les Ulis CEDEX A, France, EDP Sciences 2012). DirectLink D. Headland, Y. Monnai, D. Abbott, C. Fumeaux,and W. Withayachumnankul, "Tutorial: Terahertz beamforming, from concepts to realizations", APL Photonics 3, 5 (2018). CrossRef S. F. Busch, M. Weidenbach, M. Frey, F. Schäfer, T. Probst, nd M. Koch, "A 3D-Printable Polymer-Metal Soft-Magnetic Functional Composite—Development and Characterization", Journal of Infrared, Millimeter, and Terahertz Waves 35, 12 (2014) CrossRef A. Siemion, P. Kostrowiecki-Lopata, A. Pindur, P. Zagrajek, M. Sypek, "Paper on Designing Costless THz Paper Optics", Advances in Materials Science and Engineering 2016, 9615698 (2016). CrossRef A. Siemion, A. Siemion, M. Makowski, J. Suszek, J. Bomba, A. Czerwinski, F. Garet, J.-L. Coutaz, and M. Sypek, "Diffractive paper lens for terahertz optics", Opt. Lett. 37, 4320–4322 (2012). CrossRef J.-L. Coutaz, F. Garet, E. Bonnet, A. V. Tishchenko, O. Parriaux, and M. Nazarov, "Grating Diffraction Effects in the THz Domain", Acta Phys. Pol. A 107, 26-37 (2005). CrossRef M. S. Heimbeck, P. J. Reardon, J. Callahan, and H. O. Everitt, "Transmissive quasi-optical Ronchi phase grating for terahertz frequencies", Opt. Lett. 35, 21 (2010). CrossRef D. Li, S. Shu, F. Li, G. Ma, Y. Dai, and H. Ma, "Anomalous transmission of terahertz wave through one-dimensional lamellar metallic grating", Opt. Commun. 284, 10-11 (2011). CrossRef X. Li, and S. F. Yu, "Diffraction Characteristics of Concentric Circular Metal Grating Operating at Terahertz Regime", IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics 46, 6 (2010). CrossRef B. Nöhammer, C. David, J. Gobrecht, and H. P. Herzig, "Optimized staircase profiles for diffractive optical devices made from absorbing materials", Opt. Lett. 28(13), 1087-1089 (2003). CrossRef V. Deuter, M. Grochowicz, S. Brose, J. Biller, S. Danylyuk, T. Taubner, D. Grutzmacher, and L. Juschkin, "Holographic masks for computational proximity lithography with EUV radiation", International Conference on Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography 2018 10809, 108091A (2018). CrossRef J. W. Goodman, Introduction to Fourier optics (Greenwood Village, USA, Roberts & Company Publishers 2005). DirectLink W. B. Veldkamp, "Optimized staircase profiles for diffractive optical devices made from absorbing materials", Appl. Opt. 21(17), 3209-3212W (1982). CrossRef W. B. Veldkamp, and C. J. Kastner, "Beam profile shaping for laser radars that use detector arrays", Appl. Opt. 21(2), 345-356 (1982). CrossRef https://www.mcortechnologies.com/de/3d-drucker/mcor-iris/ DirectLinkM. Sypek, M. Makowski, E. Hérault, A. Siemion, A. Siemion, J. Suszek, F. Garet, and J.-L. Coutaz, "Highly efficient broadband double-sided Fresnel lens for THz range", Opt. Lett. 37, 12 (2012). CrossRef


The trade-off capacity region of a quantum channel characterizes the optimal net rates at which a sender can communicate classical, quantum, and entangled bits to a receiver by exploiting many independent uses of the channel, along with the help of the same resources. Similarly, one can consider a trade-off capacity region when the noiseless resources are public, private, and secret key bits. In [Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 140501 (2012)], we identified these trade-off rate regions for the pure-loss bosonic channel and proved that they are optimal provided that a longstanding minimum output entropy conjecture is true. Additionally, we showed that the performance gains of a trade-off coding strategy when compared to a time-sharing strategy can be quite significant. In the present paper, we provide detailed derivations of the results announced there, and we extend the application of these ideas to thermalizing and amplifying bosonic channels. We also derive a "rule of thumb" for trade-off coding, which determines how to allocate photons in a coding strategy if a large mean photon number is available at the channel input. Our results on the amplifying bosonic channel also apply to the "Unruh channel" considered in the context of relativistic quantum information theory.


The modes of speciation that are thought to have contributed most to the generation of biodiversity require population differentiation as the initial stage in the speciation process. Consequently, a complete understanding of the mechanisms of speciation requires that the process be examined not just after speciation is complete, or nearly so, but also much earlier. Because reproductive isolation defines biological species, and it evolves slowly, study of the process may require a prohibitive span of time. Even if speciation could be observed directly, selection of populations in the process of speciation is typically difficult or impossible, because those that will ultimately undergo speciation cannot be distinguished from those that will differentiate but never assume the status of new biological species. One means of circumventing this problem is to study speciation in taxa comprising several sibling species, at least one of which exhibits extensive population differentiation. We illustrate this approach by exploring patterns of population variation in the post–glacial radiation of the threespine stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus . We focus on lacustrine populations and species within this complex, demonstrating parallel axes of divergence within populations, among populations and among species. The pattern that emerges is one of parallel relationships between phenotype and fitness at all three hierarchical levels, a pattern that facilitates exploration of the causes and consequences of speciation and secondary contact. A second outcome of this exploration is the observation that speciation can be the consequence of a cascade of effects, beginning with selection on trophic or other characteristics that in turn force the evolution of other population characteristics that precipitate speciation. Neither of these conclusions could have been reached without comparative studies of wild populations at several hierarchical levels, a conclusion reinforced by a brief survey of similar efforts to elucidate the process of speciation. We address the issues most likely to be resolved using this approach, and suggest that comparisons of natural variation within taxa at several hierarchical levels may substantially increase our understanding of the speciation process.


The hyperlink is a fundamental feature of the web. This paper investigates how hyperlinks have been used as research objects in social sciences. Reviewing a body of literature belonging to sociology, political sciences, information sciences, geography or media studies, it particularly reflects on the study of hyperlinks as indicators of other social phenomena. Why are links counted and hyperlink networks measured? How are links interpreted? The paper then focuses on barriers and limitations to the study of links. It addresses the issue of unobtrusiveness, the importance of interpreting links in context, and the possibilities of large-scale, automatic link studies. We finally argue that beyond the apparent diversity and ad hoc methodologies that the reviewed studies propose, a unified framework exists. It combines quantitative link counts, qualitative inquiries and valuation of field expertise to support link interpretation.


Actual dairy cow herd enterprise records from Kansas Farm Management Association farms over the past 4 years have shown an increase in returns over variable costs from $17,900 to $23,300 per farm for a 100-cow dairy herd in favor of herds with higher milk-producing cows. Cost per hundred weight of milk produced per cow decreased for the higher-producing herds compared with lower-producing herds, even though total cost per cow increased. In 1992, for every extra $1.00 spent on feed and other variable costs, the higher producing herds earned $1.71. This was a 71% return per dollar invested.


This article describes how a futures methodology, Causal Layered Analysis (CLA), is put into practice in a workshop to develop a human resources response to the problem of ageing workforce. Used at the beginning of the policy development process, CLA successfully facilitated a broader and deeper collective understanding of the problem than would have been otherwise possible, given the homogeneity of the workshop group. Broader framing of a problem leads to a more holistic and balanced policy response.


Improved knowledge of the gravity field in the Arctic is a key to the utilization of satellite altimetry to determine sea-ice thickness and mean dynamic topography (MDT). In the paper we outline the construction of a new gravity field of the Arctic Ocean region, combining new GRACE and ICESat observations with earlier compilations of airborne, surface, and submarine gravity data from the Arctic Gravity Project. We compare the corresponding geoid model to a mean sea surface (MSS) model derived from ICESat lowest-level filtered laser altimetry and retracked radar altimetry, to allow for a consistent estimate of the Arctic Ocean MDT. Results are compared to oceanographic models, and show an overall absolute consistency is achieved at the decimeter-level. Arctic Ocean sea ice freeboard heights (and thus ice thickness) are an integral part of these investigations, and ICESatderived freeboard heights show a good correlation to multi-year ice distribution as determined from Quikscat. The investigations represent the core of the ongoing ESA project "ArcGICE". One of its major objectives is to provide a practical algorithm for the estimation of sea surface heights including the associated errors. These parameters can further be used for example as a reference for Cryosat-2 measurements of sea ice freeboard. The ArcGICE study includes detailed error estimates and covariance studies, and it is clear that the inclusion of GOCE data will significantly enhance ice thickness and MDT mapping from e.g. CryoSat-2.


This Article proceeds as follows. Part I briefly surveys prevailing ideas about the social costs of complexity and identifies additional costs that have escaped the attention of earlier commentators. The aim is to demonstrate why reducing the complexity of the commercial law system matters. Part II describes three legislative responses-two already enacted �and one proposed- representing efforts to mediate the tension between the need for precise regulation and the generation of overly complex rules that often results. Part III provides a closer examination of these legislative responses and demonstrates that, taken together, they create an opportunity for the implementation of two strategies that may help to simplify the law by reconceptualizing its structure in a way that can be termed "minimalist." Part IV illustrates the application of these strategies by concrete examples demonstrating the benefits to be realized by their adoption.


Toward a Sacred Topography of Central Asia: Shrines, Pilgrimage, and Gender in Kyrgyzstan Jennifer Rose Webster Co-Chairs of the Supervisory Committee: Glennys J. Young, Professor Joel T. Walker, Associate Professor History Department This dissertation explores the complex relationship that people have with shrines in southern Kyrgyzstan from the 1950s to the present. In particular, I look at how people, especially women, identify themselves as Muslims and how their religious beliefs and practices associated with shrines and pilgrimage have evolved in response to political, social, and cultural influences in the dynamic region of Central Asia. During both the Soviet and postSoviet eras, there has been ongoing change in how different members of Kyrgyz society have sought to demarcate Islam. Through an interdisciplinary approach that combines ethnographic and historic methodologies, I examine these contested negotiations and definitions of religious identities. The integration of a diverse range of sources—interviews, observations, administrative reports, newspaper articles, travel accounts, legends, and photographs—brings to light both individual and group perceptions of the central role of shrines to Islam as it is practiced in Kyrgyzstan. My analysis reveals how seventy years of Soviet rule did, and did not, disrupt rhythms of shrine veneration through attempts to redefine the cultural and economic functions of shrines. Through a series of four case studies, I investigate key themes associated with shrines: ethnicity, legends, gender, and health. The shrines of southern Kyrgyzstan are places that invite a multi-national and multi-ethnic base of pilgrims; however, recent attempts to limit pilgrims and visitors to those who regard themselves as Kyrgyz have had significant effects on certain shrines, like Sulaiman Too in Osh. Legends allow people to negotiate their community's relationship with the historic and imagined past, thereby allowing them to transform the mundane, such as through the legends of Arslanbob Ata. Shrines are key sites for women to express themselves as Muslims through ritual and requests. Many shrines, such as Safed Bulan in Jalalabad oblast, have spaces that are directly intended for female pilgrims. Health and healing are vital aspects of shrines in Central Asia both in terms of the miracles associated with shrines and the power that is believed to transfer between shrines and indigenous healers. The shrine of Hazrati Ayub, which is located on the grounds of the Jalalabad sanatorium, represents a shrine that is both well-known for its healing capacity and for its appeal to non-indigenous biomedical practitioners. By drawing comparisons between these shrines and other shrines from neighboring regions, I illustrate the intricacies of shrine practices in southern Kyrgyzstan and their pivotal role in ongoing debates about the proper place and definition of Islam in Central Asia. Furthermore, I demonstrate the connection between contemporary practices of Islam and those during the Soviet, and more distant, pasts.


With the increasing economic accessibility of 3D printers, the lessons learned and the logics cultivated on digital Web 2.0 now seems applicable to the world of material things. Released in early 2012 by the artist groups F.A.T. and Sy-lab, the Free Universal Construction Kit is a set of 3D drawings that, when printed, enable everyone with access to a 3D printer to make connectors, "the missing links", between intellectual property restricted toy concepts like LEGO, Tinkertoys, and Fischertechnik. However, when describing this project as "reverse engineering as a civic activity", it seems obvious that F.A.T.'s greater agenda is not just to enable cross-over playing but rather to problematize and ultimately open up closed formats through critical appropriation. But how does that, for instance, conform with the fact that the connectors are parasitically attached to these toys, whose logic it is simultaneously defying?


The GDP growth pattern of Ghana from 1960 to 2000 shows a rollercoaster behavior. Because of this, the Ghanaian population today is almost as poor as it was then. This phenomenon has been studies by several researches all of whom have created important but atomistic insights about this issue. We want to offer a richer explanation. The paper develops an economic growth model to explain the GDP growth pattern in the relevant time frame. We are (1) able to replicate the historical GDP growth, (2) use the model to estimate the contribution of factors of production and labor productivity to economic growth, (3) offer a consistent causal explanation about the growth pattern, and (4) conduct a counterfactual policy analysis offering insights about what could have been possible if different policies would have been executed. In conclusion, the main cause of slow growth in Ghana from 1960-2000 was the declining labor productivity and low physical capital stock. The low physical capital base and lack of innovative production processes of the workforce, is responsible for the poor growth performance. The counterfactual policy analysis puts forth that a policy to encourage investment through increasing propensity to save is most successful.


Nevelot (Eagles) is an Israeli miniseries about two elderly men who, in their youth, fought for a Jewish Zionist underground movement in Palestine, and who in the present-day, embark upon an all-out, killing spree across the city of Tel Aviv, targeting exclusively the young. Whilst it does not directly address television (TV) per se, key scenes and paratexts convey that Nevelot is by no means 'regular TV', and that watching it constitutes a viewing experience which differs altogether from 'regular TV viewing'; a practice often associated with passivity, femininity and victimhood. Employing terms from Zionist, gender and cultural discursive fields, Nevelot offers a fascinating commentary on contemporary Israeli society and the TV content it produces.


The requirements of real-world data mining problems vary extensively. It is plausible to assume that some of these requirements can be expressed as application-specific performance metrics. An algorithm that is designed to maximize performance given a certain learning metric may not produce the best possible result according to these applicationspecific metrics. We have implemented A Metric-based One Rule Inducer (AMORI), for which it is possible to select the learning metric. We have compared the performance of this algorithm by embedding three different learning metrics (classification accuracy, the F-measure, and the area under the ROC curve), on 19 UCI data sets. In addition, we have compared the results of AMORI with those obtained using an existing rule learning algorithm of similar complexity (One Rule) and a state-of-the-art rule learner (Ripper). The experiments show that a performance gain is achieved, for all included metrics, when using identical metrics for learning and evaluation. We also show that each AMORI/metric combination outperforms One Rule when using identical learning and evaluation metrics. The performance of AMORI is acceptable when compared with Ripper. Overall, the results suggest that metric-based learning is a


Developmental changes in pharmacokinetics of recombinant human insulin-like growth factor-I (rhIGF-I) were investigated after i.v. administration to rats aged 4 and 7 weeks, as young growing rats and adult rats, respectively. rhIGF-I in the plasma declined multi-exponentially in both groups of rats. Plasma concentrations of rhIGF-I were lower at almost all the time points examined in 4 weeks old rats than 7 weeks old rats. The values of total body clearance (CL[total]) and mean residence time (MRT) indicated that rhIGF-I disappeared more rapidly in 4 weeks old rats than 7 weeks old rats at any dosage. Dose-dependent pharmacokinetics was observed in 7 weeks old rats: the higher the dosage was, the larger the value of CL(total) came to be, but not in 4 weeks old rats. The amounts of IGF-binding proteins (IGFBPs) in the plasma were assessed by determining the endogenous IGF-I, and the levels of the 150 kDa complex, a ternary complex of IGF-I with IGFPB-3 and an acid labile-subunit, were found to be lower in 4 weeks old rats than in 7 weeks old rats. In rats at 4 weeks of age, the elimination of rhIGF-I was significantly faster than for the 7 week old rats, which would be due to the lower plasma levels of IGFBP-3 in young growing rats.


Several factors will have effect dental restorative materials in the oral environment that can affect the longevity of the material. Today dental composite resin-based materials (CRM) used to a major extent. The monomer mixture is of importance in CRMs and efforts are made to improve the materials by changing the monomer content. The present study investigated the effect of an increasing amount of Ethoxylated BisphenolA-Dimethacrylate (Bis-EMA) in experimental composite resin-based materials for dental use on the sorption and solubility behavior. Four different polymer mixtures containing Urethane dimethacrylate (UEDMA), Triethyleneglycol dimethacrylate (TEGDMA), Bis-glycidyl-dimethacrylate (Bis-GMA) Bis-EMA were used. The amount of UEDMA and TEGDMA were stable, while the content of Bis-EMA and BisGMA varied. For each group, 6 samples of each material were made for the 3 different storage periods (24 H, 7 and 30 days). The procedure was made according to ISO standard (4049:2009). Water sorption and solubility were calculated and statistically analyzed using ANOVA test and Tukey as post hoc (p<0.05). The results showed that water sorption increases with increasing content of Bis-GMA and decreasing content of Bis-EMA. The material containing less Bis-EMA, showed the lowest weight gain after the drying period. That may have a clinical effect on the degradation of the material.


Channel expansions are common in both natural and engineered open channels. They connect a relatively narrow upstream section of channel with a large downstream section of channel. Due to increasing cross-sectional dimensions in an expansion, the flow decelerates. Under steady flow conditions flow deceleration results in an increase in water pressure and hence an adverse pressure gradient. This often triggers flow separation and turbulent eddy motion, and causes energy losses in the flow. When conservation of flow energy is required, the issue of energy losses becomes important, a consideration which has motivated this study. The focus of this study is on subcritical flow, a typical flow seen under a wide range of flow conditions. This study aims to quantify the energy losses in a lateral expansion and to further investigate how effective a hump fitted on the channel-bed of the expansion is at reducing energy losses.
This study adopted the experimental approach. Using a recirculating laboratory flume, experiments of flow in expansions with or without a hump were performed to measure flow depth, pressure, and cross-sectional mean velocities. These measurements were analysed using the energy concept for direct estimates of the energy loss coefficient. Without the hump, measured water pressures showed adverse gradient in the expansion, opposing the approaching flow. Estimates of the energy loss coefficients ranged from 0.46 to 0.62. These results would be useful for the design of channel expansions, and for calibrating and validating numerical hydrodynamics models. The presence of the hump has been shown to accelerate the flow, convert adverse to favourable pressure gradient, and lower the energy loss coefficients by more than 50% when compared with the corresponding values without the hump.
So far no satisfactory theory has been established for determining the energy loss coefficient for a given expansion. In this study, the momentum concept is combined with the energy concept in order to derive a theoretical expression for the energy loss coefficient. When applying the momentum concept to flow in an expansion, the pressure forces may be evaluated using the hydrostatic approximation, as supported by experimental evidence from this study. The theoretical expression involves extra parameters whose values are obtained based on the experimental data. It has been shown that the theoretical and experimental values for the energy loss coefficient are in good agreement. This theoretical expression can easily be extended to study channel expansions of different configurations.


In 1998, the various monthly Batman titles published by DC Comics depicted the fictional Gotham City as being rocked by an Earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale. The eighteen-issue storyline explored all the dramatic potential of this event, but a primary reason why this story was included in DC's output was to have an excuse to no longer make the comic book Gotham look like the city as portrayed in the 1990s Batman movies. On-screen, thanks to the work of set designer Anton Furst who had worked on Tim Burton's first Batman in 1989, the city was depicted as a retrofitted sixteenth-century urban nightmare, with gargoyles and buttresses jostling space for neon lights and advertising hoardings. While Batman in the comics had always been seen as a modernist urban hero, Burton's influences came from the tradition of European fairytales and horror films, so his collaboration with Furst – who had previously designed the film of Angela Carter's The Company of Wolves (1984) – was apt in bringing a very different sensibility to his vision of the superhero film. This was then represented in the pages of 1990s Batman comics, with the city redesigned to match its image on film. This article looks at representations of the Gothic aesthetic in the pages of Batman: Destroyer and other visions of the caped vigilante that highlight the Gothic potential of the character and his city, and whether a more Gothic Gotham suits a darker Dark Knight.


Interest in localized and early stage treatment technologies for joint conditions such as osteoarthritis is growing rapidly. It has therefore become important to develop objective measures capable of characterizing the earliest (non-visible) changes associated with degeneration to aid treatment procedures. In addition to assessing tissue before treatment, it is further important to develop an effective, non-destructive means of monitoring post-treatment tissue healing, and of providing the high-quality data needed for trials of developing treatment methods. To investigate its ability to detect the early stages of degeneration in cartilage-on-bone, diffuse reflectance near infrared spectroscopy was applied to normal and osteoarthritic joints. A discriminating function was developed to relate absorbance peaks of interest and track degradation around focal osteoarthritic defects. The function could distinguish between normal and degraded tissue (100% separation of normal tissue from that within 25 mm of a defect) and between different stages of osteoarthritic progression (p < 0.05). This technique allows simple, practical and non-destructive assessment of component-level properties over the full depth of the tissue. It has the potential to increase our understanding of the underlying etiologic and pathogenic processes in early stage degeneration, to assist classification and the development of new treatment methods.


In view of exterior ballistics and flight principle, a full six degree-of-freedom rigid-projectile model is employed. The computational flight analysis takes into consideration the Earth's rotation, Magnus and the wind effect. Moreover, the standard atmospheric model that simulates the air density and sound speed is presented. During the trajectory computation, the aerodynamics variations are calculated by means of variable aerodynamic coefficients. The RUNGE-KUTTA method is obtained for the numerical integration. The simulation results show some differences in the projectile flight trajectory after taking into consideration both of the wind and Earth's rotation effect. The wind mainly affects the cross range and the Earth's rotation mainly on the deflection angle, making the flight trajectory simulation more accurate. In addition, an investigation on the range extension capability using the rocket assist is presented.


Linguistics is the science of language learners. In this aspect, linguistic competence means the acquisition of knowledge by language material (vocabulary, phonetics and grammar) and skills by the type of speech activity (listening, speaking, reading and writing). However, we have identified the requirements for the level of preparedness of undergraduate graduates of non-language higher educational institutions in the field of professional activity, including the linguistic competences, such as linguistic competence, discourse competence, sociolinguistic competence and pragmatic competence. Moreover, modular learning, being a student-centered learning technology, is best adapted to the use of competence-based and integrative approaches on which modern foreign language teaching is based. Though, each integrative module is focused on the student's mastering of a certain competence or several competencies.


Organizations use social media to leverage knowledge contributions by individual employees, which also foster social interactions – activity in blogs, forums, wikis etc. is critical to ensuring a thriving online community. Prior studies have examined contributions to such media at the level of the individual, focusing on drivers of participation, whereas we investigate three different dimensions of dyadic interactions. Our setting is an online forum in an enterprise, where employees both exchange knowledge by query-response and interact socially. Using a networks approach to query-response behavior, we characterize each interaction as a directed tie, and view the entire set of online forum interactions as a social network. We evaluate network constructs including Simmelian embeddedness and content of relationships (expressive or instrumental), to understand the mechanisms underlying online social interactions. We find that content and embedded nature of the relationship strongly influence responses: Simmelian ties formed in an expressive setting have the highest positive impact on response propensity, i.e. both content and embeddedness are impactful and reinforce each other. Our results have implications for designing online social communities, specifically that practitioners ought to consider the benefits of purely social interactions through the forum that may serve to lubricate future instrumental interactions.


In present study, the phytomedicinal and agrochemical potentials of ethanolic extracts obtained from selected plants of Pakistan including Trichodesma indicum (whole plant), Aconitum laeve (roots), Paeonia emodi (aerial parts) and Sauromatum guttatum (corms, leaves and berries) were analyzed through measuring their various in vitro biological and pharmacological activities. The standard parameters of investigation used in this study are antifungal, antibacterial, herbicidal, insecticidal, heamagglutination, spasmogenic/spasmolytic activities, cytotoxcity against brine-shripm, enzyme inhibition activities against urease Oack bean and Bacillus pasteuril), I±-chymotrypsin and lipoxygenase and radical scavenging activities. During this research work the extracts of all plants mentioned earlier were also subjected to total phenolic contents determination and elemental analysis separately.

The crude extract of P. emodi showed excellent results during this investigation, therefore, it was fractionated into n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, n-butanol and water soluble fractions. All these subsequent fractions were also examined for enzyme inhibition against urease and I±-chymotrypsin, free radical scavenging activity and total phenolic contents. These fractions were also tested for spasmogenic and spasmolytic activities.

Out of the tested extracts, only the extract from corm of S. guttatum displayed antimicrobial activities exhibiting remarkable (75%) antifungal activity against Microsporum canis and good (-65%) antibacterial activity against S. pyogenes, moderate (-51 %) inhibition against P. aeruginosa while a weak inhibitory activity was observed against P. mirabilis, S. typhi, and S. boydii. All the extracts exhibited excellent herbicide activity against Lemna minor and except A. laeve, completely inhibited the plant growth at 500 µg/mL. These extracts also showed good insecticidal activity with the highest mortality (80% each) being observed with S. guttatum berries extract against the Bruchus pisorum and with T. indicum against R. dominica. Trichodesma indicum displayed a strong agglutination activity while P. emodi displayed a moderate and S. guttatum (corms) a weak agglutination activity in human RBCs. In cytotoxicity bioassay, the extracts derived from the corm and berries of S. guttatum exhibited significant toxicity against brine shrimps. They are having LD50 values lesser than 1000 µg /mL while other extracts exhibited LD50values higher than 1000 µg /mL . Therefore, it can be concluded that they possess a low general toxicity.

During the antispasmodic activity in the isolated rabbit jejunum, all the plant extracts caused reduction both in the normal and acetylcholine-induced contractions. The extract from A. laeve displayed excellent spasmolytic activity in dose dependant manner and almost diminished (-95%) the normal contraction of the isolated rabbit jejunum at the 0.25 mg/mL final bath concentration. The extract of T. indicum inhibited the spontaneous contractions of the jejunum in dose dependant fashion and caused 78% inhibition at the highest tested dose Le., 5.0 mg/mL. The results showed that S. guttatum (corms) extract possess reasonable antispasmodic activity and inhibited the spontaneous contractions of the isolated jejunum by 69% in the highest tested dose Le., 2 mg/mL. The extract of P. emodi displayed a significant spasmolytic activity on the isolated rabbit jejunum in a dose dependant manner and inhibited the normal of jejunum contractions by 76% when the final bath concentration was 5 mg/mL. During screening of the subsequent fractions of crude extract of P. emodi, interesting results were obtained with water soluble fraction because unlike its native crude extract it displayed an overall spasmogenic activity which increased drastically with the increase in the dose level at first but with further increase in dose a declining trend was observed. The n-butanol fraction of P. emodi exhibited a very low spasmolytic activity as compared to the native crude extract. On the other hand, a tremendous spasmolytic activity was exhibited by this ethyl acetate fraction of the crude extract of P. emodi and was found more potent than the native crude extract and at 1.0 mg/mL dose level the jejunum contractile activity ceased completely. Similarly, the chloroform fraction also displayed a reasonable spasmolytic activity and inhibited the spontaneous contractions of the isolated rabbit's jejunum by 70.289% at the maximum tested dose i.e., 2 mg/mL. All the crude extracts reduced the acetylcholine induced contractions in the isolate rabbit jejunum to various levels. The most potent extracts in this regards were found to be those derived from the A. laeve and P. emodi.

The crude extracts obtained from T. indicum, A. laeve and all three parts of S. guttatum (corms, leaves and berries) displayed no inhibitory activity against urease from both jack bean and B. pasteurii. The crude extract obtained from P. emodi, however, displayed a significant urease inhibitory activity causing 74 and 80% inhibition of jack bean and B. pasteur;; urease respectively. On examining the subsequent fractions of the crude extract from P. emodi for enzyme inhibition against urease from both sources, the highest urease inhibitory activity was contained in n-butanol fraction with 86 and 91% inhibition against the jack bean and B. pasteurii urease, respectively.

The extracts derived from T. indicum exhibited good enzyme inhibitory activity against lipoxygenase and caused the inhibition of the said enzyme by 64.5 %. In case of A. laeve, the weakest (37.7 %) inhibitory activity was observed against the lipoxygenase. The extract derived from P. emodi and leaves of S. guttatum demonstrated excellent lipoxygenase inhibitory activities and each inhibited the tested enzyme by 90 %. The extracts obtained from berries of S. gullatum also showed good inhibitory activity against lipoxygenase and caused 65 % inhibition of this enzyme.

The extracts obtained from T. indicum, A. laeve and various parts (corms, leaves and berries) of S. guttatum afforded only a weak radical scavenging activity (RSA). The crude ethanolic extract from P. emodi afforded a promising RSA and caused 83% scavenging of the tested free radical. Although, all the subsequent fractions of P. emodi crude extract possessed good to significant antioxidant activity but have lower antioxidant activities than the native crude extract except chloroform fraction which exhibited 85 % inhibition in this bioassay.

The data obtained in the current study for the RSA and total phenol contents for the selected plants' crude extracts and subsequent fractions in case of P. emodi was, when analyzed for any possible correlation between the antioxidant activity and total phenol contents, then a relationship between the two parameters was observed in majority of cases.

For the elemental analysis, SEM-EDX technique was first time applied to the crude extracts evaluation during this study. As expected, Carbon and Oxygen were the major elements roughly in equal ratios in majority of cases. Chlorine and Potasium were also detected in all plants. The Chlorine is most abundant in S. guttatum (berries) out of the tested plants while Potassium was found in highest concentration in various parts of S. guttatum. Aluminum was only present in A. laeve and P. emodi. Sulphur was detected only in S. guttatum (corms and leaves) and T. indicum. Uniquely in the tested plants, S. guttatum (corms) also contained Magnesium and Phosphorous.


This paper examines whether satisfaction mediates the relationship between service quality and attachment in a tourism context? It also examines whether attachment mediates the relationships between service quality and satisfaction on loyalty? To answer these questions we tested five models that pose fourteen hypotheses. Our model indicates that satisfaction mediates service quality and that attachment mediates service quality on loyalty. The proposed model exhibits acceptable levels of construct validity and reliability. Thus, we believe the models have important implications for theory and practice in the tourism field.


Long‐term dynamics of amino acids (AAs), from a bare fallow soil experiment (established in 1928 at INRA‐Versailles, France), were examined in unamended control (Con) plots and plots treated with ammonium sulphate (Amsul), ammonium nitrate (Amnit), sodium nitrate (Nanit) or with animal manure (Man). Topsoil (0–25 cm) from 1929, 1963 and 1997 was analysed for C, N and 15N content and distribution of 18 amino acids recovered after acid hydrolysis with 6 m HCl. With time, soil N, C and AA content were reduced in Con, Amsul, Amnit and Nanit, but increased in Man. However, the absolute N loss was 3–11 times larger in Man than Nanit, Amsul, Amnit and Con, due to the much higher N annual inputs applied to Man. From 1929 to 1997 in Con, Amsul, Amnit and Nanit the whole soil and non‐hydrolysable‐N pool δ15N increased associated with the loss of N (indicative of Rayleigh 15N/14N fractionation). No δ15N change from 1929 to 1997 was found in the hydrolysable AA‐N (HAN) pool. Fertilizer N inputs aided stabilization of soil AA‐N, as AA half‐life in the mineral N fertilizer treatments increased from 34 years in 1963 to 50 years in 1997. The δ15N values of alanine and leucine reflected both source input and 15N/14N fractionation effects in soils. The δ15N increase of ornithine (∼6‰) was similar to the whole soil. The δ15N change of phenylalanine in Con (decrease of 7‰) was related to its proportional loss since 1929, whereas for Amsul, Amnit, Nanit and Man it was associated with isotope effects caused by the fertilizer inputs. However, the soil δ15N value of most individual amino acids (IAAs) did not significantly change over nearly 70 years, even with mineral or organic N inputs. We conclude for these bare fallow systems that: (i) δ15N changes in the whole soil and non‐hydrolysable AA pool were solely driven by microbial processes and not by the nature of fertilizer inputs, and (ii) without plant inputs, the δ15N of the HAN pool and (most) IAAs may reflect the influence of plant–soil interactions from the previous (arable cropping) rather than present (fallow) land use on these soil δ15N values.


From the flights of the Wright brothers through the mass journeys of the jet age, airplanes inspired Americans to reimagine their nation's place within the world. Now, Jenifer Van Vleck reveals the central role commercial aviation played in the United States' rise to global preeminence in the twentieth century. As U.S. military and economic influence grew, the federal government partnered with the aviation industry to carry and deliver American power across the globe and to sell the very idea of the "American Century" to the public at home and abroad.Invented on American soil and widely viewed as a symbol of national greatness, the airplane promised to extend the frontiers of the United States "to infinity," as Pan American World Airways president Juan Trippe said. As it accelerated the global circulation of U.S. capital, consumer goods, technologies, weapons, popular culture, and expertise, few places remained distant from the influence of Wall Street and Washington. Aviation promised to secure a new type of empire--an empire of the air instead of the land, which emphasized access to markets rather than the conquest of territory and made the entire world America's sphere of influence.By the late 1960s, however, foreign airlines and governments were challenging America's control of global airways, and the domestic aviation industry hit turbulent times. Just as the history of commercial aviation helps to explain the ascendance of American power, its subsequent challenges reflect the limits and contradictions of the American Century.


Background While mammalian heart size maintains constant proportion to whole body size, scaling of left ventricular (LV) function parameters shows a more complex scaling pattern. We used 2-D speckle tracking strain imaging to determine whether LV myocardial strains and strain rates scale to heart size. Methods We studied 18 mice, 15 rats, 6 rabbits, 12 dogs and 20 human volunteers by 2-D echocardiography. Relationship between longitudinal or circumferential strains/strain rates (SLong/SRLong, SCirc/SRCirc), and LV end-diastolic volume (EDV) or mass were assessed by the allometric (power-law) equation Y = kMβ. Results Mean LV mass in individual species varied from 0.038 to 134 g, LV EDV varied from 0.015 to 102 ml, while RR interval varied from 81 to 1090 ms. While SLong increased with increasing LV EDV or mass (β values 0.047±0.006 and 0.051±0.005, p<0.0001 vs. 0 for both) SCirc was unchanged (p = NS for both LV EDV or mass). Systolic and diastolic SRLong and SRCirc showed inverse correlations to LV EDV or mass (p<0.0001 vs. 0 for all comparisons). The ratio between SLong and SCirc increased with increasing values of LV EDV or mass (β values 0.039±0.010 and 0.040±0.011, p>0.0003 for both). Conclusions While SCirc is unchanged, SLong increases with increasing heart size, indicating that large mammals rely more on long axis contribution to systolic function. SRLong and SRCirc, both diastolic and systolic, show an expected decrease with increasing heart size.


PURPOSE
In patients undergoing percutaneous liver perfusion with melphalan (M-PHP), the presence of variant hepatic arteries (HAs) may require catheter repositioning and thus prolong procedure time. Coil-embolization of variant HAs may enable M-PHP with a single catheter position as occlusion of variant HAs results in redistribution of flow through preexisting intrahepatic arterial collaterals. Aim of this study was to evaluate whether redistribution of flow has any negative effect on therapeutic response in ocular melanoma patients undergoing M-PHP.

METHODS
We retrospectively analyzed pretreatment angiograms in all 32 patients that underwent M-PHP between January 2014 and March 2017 for unresectable liver metastases from ocular melanoma. Patients that underwent embolization of a variant left HA (LHA) or middle HA (MHA) during pretreatment angiography followed by at least one technically successful M-PHP, were included for further analysis. Redistribution of arterial flow was evaluated on angiography and cone-beam CT (CBCT) images. In each patient, tumor response in liver segments with redistributed blood flow was evaluated using RECIST 1.1 and mRECIST, and then compared to tumor response in segments without flow redistribution. Follow-up scans were reviewed to evaluate progression of liver metastases.

RESULTS
A total of 12 patients were included. Replaced LHA embolization resulted in redistribution of flow to segment(s) 2 (n=3), 2 and 3 (n=6), and 2, 3 and 4 (n=1). MHA embolization resulted in redistribution of flow to segment 4 (n=2). Successful redistribution was confirmed by angiography and/or CBCT in all patients. Tumor response was similar for redistributed and non-redistributed liver segments in 8 out of 9 patients (88.9%) according to RECIST 1.1, and in 8 out of 8 patients (100.0%) according to mRECIST. In three patients, tumor response was not evaluable according to RECIST 1.1 or mRECIST as metastases were too small to be categorized as target lesions (n=1), or target lesions were confined to non-redistributed segments (n=2). In one patient, tumor response was not evaluable according to mRECIST as target lesions in the redistributed segments were hypovascular. After a median follow-up time of 17.1 months (range 9.1-38.5), hepatic progression was seen in 9 out of 12 patients with a median time to progression of 9.9 months (range 2.5-17.7). Progression of liver metastases was never seen in the redistributed liver segments only.

CONCLUSION
Flow redistribution in liver segments by coil-embolization of variant HAs is a feasible technique that does not seem to compromise tumor response in patients undergoing M-PHP.


In previous work we proposed a multi-objective traffic engineering scheme (MHDB-S model) using different distribution trees to multicast several flows. In this paper, we propose a heuristic algorithm to create multiple point-to-multipoint (p2mp) LSPs based on the optimum sub-flow values obtained with our MHDB-S model. Moreover, a general problem for supporting multicasting in MPLS networks is the lack of labels. To reduce the number of labels used, a label space reduction algorithm solution is also considered.


Monarchs throughout the ages have commissioned official histories that cast their reigns in a favorable light for future generations. These accounts, sanctioned and supported by the ruling government, often gloss over the more controversial aspects of a king's or queen's time on the throne. Instead, they present highly selective and positive readings of a monarch's contribution to national identity and global affairs. In Clio and the Crown, Richard L. Kagan examines the official histories of Spanish monarchs from medieval times to the middle of the 18th century. He expertly guides readers through the different kinds of official histories commissioned: those whose primary focus was the monarch; those that centered on the Spanish kingdom as a whole; and those that celebrated Spain's conquest of the New World. In doing so, Kagan also documents the life and work of individual court chroniclers, examines changes in the practice of official history, and highlights the political machinations that influenced the redaction of such histories. Just as world leaders today rely on fast-talking press officers to explain their sometimes questionable actions to the public, so too did the kings and queens of medieval and early modern Spain. Monarchs often went to great lengths to exert complete control over the official history of their reign, physically intimidating historians, destroying and seizing manuscripts and books, rewriting past histories, and restricting history writing to authorized persons. Still, the larger practice of history writing-as conducted by nonroyalist historians, various scholars and writers, and even church historians-provided a corrective to official histories. Kagan concludes that despite its blemishes, the writing of official histories contributed, however imperfectly, to the practice of historiography itself.


Americans' attitudes about the environment are highly polarized, but it is unclear why this is the case. We conducted five studies to examine this issue. Studies 1a and 1b demonstrated that liberals, but not conservatives, view the environment in moral terms and that this tendency partially explains the relation between political ideology and environmental attitudes. Content analyses of newspaper op-eds (Study 2a) and public-service announcements (Study 2b) found that contemporary environmental discourse is based largely on moral concerns related to harm and care, which are more deeply held by liberals than by conservatives. However, we found that reframing proenvironmental rhetoric in terms of purity, a moral value resonating primarily among conservatives, largely eliminated the difference between liberals' and conservatives' environmental attitudes (Study 3). These results establish the importance of moralization as a cause of polarization on environmental attitudes and suggest that reframing environmental discourse in different moral terms can reduce the gap between liberals and conservatives in environmental concern.


Abstract A new component of the Early Palaeozoic arthropod fauna is described from a monospecific accumulate of carapaces in a Late Ordovician (Katian) hemipelagic mudstone from the Cardigan district of southwest Wales (UK). Its non-biomineralized carapace is preserved as a carbonaceous residue, as is more labile anatomy (soft-parts) including the inner lamella and sub-ovate structures near its antero-dorsal margin, which we interpret to be putative eyes. The depositional context and associated fauna indicate that the arthropods inhabited an area of deep water and high primary productivity above a pronounced submarine topography. The preserved density of carapaces suggests the arthropods may have congregated into shoals or been transported post-mortem into depressions which acted as detritus traps. The accumulate provides a rare example of soft-part preservation in hemipelagic mudstones and highlights the role of organic material as a locus for authigenic mineralization during metamorphism.


The influences of the L-asparagine and glycerol initial concentrations in Sauton medium on the productivities of biomass and colony forming units were studied. The submerged batch cultivations of Mycobacterium bovis were carried out in a 20 L bioreactor. The L-asparagine and glycerol initial concentrations of 4.54 g/L and 25 mL/L, respectively, corresponded to the best biomass productivity, namely 2.5 g/L.day. On the other hand, the concentrations of 2.27 g/L and 25 mL/L, respectively, led to the highest productivity in terms of colony forming units, namely 2.7·106 colonies/mg.day. In addition, by means of the relative consumption analysis of L-asparagine and glycerol (50 and 26% respectively), it was concluded that the concentrations of such components could be reduced, with respect to the original Sauton medium composition, aiming the obtainment of an optimal BCG vaccine production in the bioreactor.


In this study, ambient atmospheric particulate matter samples were collected using a size-resolved impactor sampler from three urban sites. The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of transformations of aerosol-bound iron as it is processed in the atmosphere. Thus, the aerosol samples were artificially aged to represent long-term transport (10 to 40 days) or short-term transport (1 to 10 days) and were measured for iron at several time points. At each time point, iron was measured in each size fraction using three different techniques; 1) inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICPMS) for total iron, 2) x-ray absorbance near edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy for the measurement of total Fe(II) and Fe(III), and 3) a wet-chemical method to measure soluble Fe(II) and Fe(III). Prior to aging, the XANES spectroscopy results show that a majority (>60% for each size fraction) of the total iron in the PM is in the form of Fe(III). Fe(III) was shown to be a significant fraction of the soluble iron (sometimes >50%), but the relative significance of Fe(III) was found to vary depending on the site. Overall, the total soluble iron depended on the sampling site, but values ranged from less than 1% up to about 20% of the total iron. Over the course of the 40 day aging period, we found moderate changes in the relative Fe(II)/Fe(III) content. A slight increase was noted in the coarse (>2.5 µm) fraction and a slight decrease in the 0.25 to 0.5 µm fraction. The soluble fraction generally showed (excepting one day) a decrease of soluble Fe(II) prior to 10 days of aging, followed by a relatively constant concentration. In the short-term transport condition, we found that the sub-micron fraction of soluble Fe(II) spikes at 1 to 3 days of aging, then decreases to near the initial value at around 6 to 10 days. Very little change in soluble Fe(II) was observed in the super-micron fraction.


The new information technologies (NIT), especially the Internet, have created opportunities for companies. NIT can be used as a tool to execute marketing activities on three levels: (1) a firm can convey information about its products and services, using various communications tools, (2) conduct transactions by means of e-commerce and deliver its products/services online or (3) by the help of the conventional delivering way. In the tourism market, which is an information-oriented phenomenon, the NIT has had strong influence because people use the Internet to search for information to better plan their trips. In the hotel business, for example, the customers search for the company's core service and support services, which can fulfill their basic and secondary needs. In this perspective, this study analyzed how hotels presented their services, prices, and communicated with their customers on the Internet. The main objective was to analyze the presentation of the marketing mix strategies in the hotels' websites. The methodology used was first an exploratory research and then a descriptive study. The method was a qualitative and the population was hotels from three countries, Ghana, Sweden and Brazil. The results showed that the information aired in the hotels' web pages were clearly directed to their respective target audience. To promote their services, the companies studied used, as their main communication tools, advertising, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and public relations. It can be inferred that the companies uniformly used marketing and communication tools in their websites. Thus, to market their services, no difference was found among the three firms' use of those tools.


Breeding mango is a long-term commitment, and from time of pollination to release of a new variety can take at least 20 years. Currently, in Australia, hand-pollination is used to target traits of known parents. Field assessment of hybrid progeny currently occurs without confirmation that the progeny are from the desired selected parents. Open pollination is a more cost-effective alternative to hand pollination; however, ensuring the desired parentage and, therefore, the inheritance of targeted traits is problematic. The use of molecular markers can confirm the parentage of the hybrids, with rogues eliminated at an early stage of the assessment. In this study, 12 microsatellite markers were used to determine parentage in hand- and open-pollinated mango hybrid progeny. Over 80% of hand-pollinated hybrid individuals were successfully identified for the most likely candidate father using a strict (95%) confidence level. In open-pollinated individuals, parentage was assigned with 95% confidence to 15 samples and to almost half the population with 80% confidence or more, assuming 75% of the candidate pollen donor population had been sampled. The result indicates that simple sequence repeat (SSR) analysis is an efficient method for cultivar identification. Although marker selection will not shorten the time to evaluate hybrid progeny, it can improve breeding efficiency by allowing the culling of unwanted hybrids prior to field evaluation. Development of additional molecular markers directly associated with traits of interest will allow further selection of hybrid populations for desirable traits prior to field planting.


Description This item was digitized as part of the Million Books Project led by Carnegie Mellon University and supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Cornell University coordinated the participation of land-grant and agricultural libraries in providing historical agricultural information for the digitization project; the University of Arizona Libraries, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and the Office of Arid Lands Studies collaborated in the selection and provision of material for the digitization project.


Translucent pink opals from Mexico (states of Mapimi and Michoacan) and Peru (Acari area, near Arequipa) are opal- CT, containing from 10 to 40 % palygorskite, as demonstrated by XRD, infrared absorption and specific gravity measurements. Their nanostructure is unusual, with bunches of fibres 20 to 30 nm in minimum diameter, related to the fibrous nature of paly- gorskite crystals, as demonstrated by electron microscopy. A complex absorption centred at about 500 nm is the cause of the pink colour. It is proposed that the absorption is due to quinone fossil products associated with the phyllosilicate fibres. The Raman spectrum of monoclinic palygorskite is deduced from that of its mixture with opal. The opal-CT-palygorskite-quinone associa- tion is a geological marker of a specific environment, presumably of a fossil lake environment in a volcanic region.


Chemical reduction of graphene oxide is one of the main routes of preparation for large quantities of graphenes. A wide range of reducing agents was described for this task, such as hydroquinone, ascorbic acid, saccharides, proteins, hydrazine, or sodium borohydride. With exception of sodium borohydride and hydrazine, no "standard" organic chemistry agents have been described for reduction of graphene oxides. Lithium aluminum hydride (LAH) is a very powerful reducing agent frequently used in organic synthetic methodologies to convert several types of oxygen containing carbon moieties with a well-known reduction mechanism. Here, we describe, for the first time, the use of LAH toward the reduction of graphene oxide and compare its reduction strength to that of hydrazine and sodium borohydride, which are generally adopted in such application. We show that LAH is far more efficient in reducing oxygen functionalities present on graphene oxide. This is a step forward toward applicability of "standard" organic c...


Gene conversion is a nonreciprocal recombination process; the term originally referred to distorted segregation of alleles in gametocytes. In evolutionary studies, however, gene conversion often means 'the transfer of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequence information from one locus to another'. In evolutionary processes, gene conversion is frequently observed between tandemly duplicated sequences or between homologous sequences on the same or on different chromosome(s). Gene conversion between functional loci has three significant roles: (1) Gene conversion generally works to maintain sequence and functional similarity in the 'coevolution' of interacting molecules. (2) Gene conversion often takes place between a functional gene and a pseudogene, and such events mainly cause diseases, especially in humans. Rarely, such conversions may confer a novel function to a converted gene. (3) Gene conversion erases advantageous sequence divergence between genes. In these cases, negative selection against for conversion maintains the advantageous divergence, and the converted genes are eliminated from a population.

Key Concepts:

Concerted evolution is one of evolutionary mechanisms acting on multigene families, and it maintains homogeneity among members of the family within a species.

Coevolution at the molecular level means that two or more molecules that interact with each other evolve in a harmonious way.

A nonprocessed pseudogene is a functionless gene caused by detrimental mutations such as nonsense mutations, frameshift mutations (causing a premature stop codon) or mutations in the regulatory region (silencing the expression).

A processed pseudogene is a retrotransposed mRNA of a particular gene. They are randomly inserted into the genome and do not have regulatory elements; therefore, they usually are not expressed.

Paralogues are homologous genes within a species that originate from gene duplication.

Orthologues are homologous genes found in different species that are transmitted to daughter species during speciation.

Gametologues are homologous genes on a pair of sex chromosomes, for example, the X and Y chromosomes in mammals or the Z and W chromosomes in birds.

Keywords:

diseases-causing gene conversion;
concerted evolution;
gene duplication;
paired receptors;
pseudogenes


Sphere decoding (SD) is widely considered as one of the most promising detection schemes for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication systems. The recently proposed list sphere-decoding (LSD) algorithm is an extension of the original SD algorithm that improves the error rate performance of wireless communication systems considerably by providing soft-outputs instead of binary decisions. This paper addresses the VLSI implementation of the LSD algorithm. To this end, algorithm optimizations suitable for efficient hardware implementations are developed. The implemented circuits achieve a gain of up to 3 dB in SNR compared to hard output SDs and a throughput of up to 272 Mbps at 20 dB SNR in a 0.25 mum technology for 4times4 MIMO systems with 16-QAM modulation


Sampling and analytical procedures used to determine total mercury content in crude oils were examined. Three analytical methods were compared with respect to accuracy, precision, and detection limit. The combustion method (U.S. EPA 7473 hybrid) and a commercial extraction method (non-standard) were found adequate to provide a good combination of sensitivity and accuracy, while instrumental neutron activation analysis was found to suffer from interferences from elements other than mercury (Ni, Se) that are typically found in crude oil. Aliquot removal and processing steps were found to be important to accuracy and precision of the combustion method. Potential errors caused by incomplete homogenization and loss of volatile mercury were investigated in detail. Homogenization of oils that contain suspended mercury compounds was found important to allow retrieval of representative aliquots for analysis. Ultrasonication at slightly elevated temperature yielded the more reproducible and higher magnitude results. It was discovered that volatile mercury can be lost from sample containers when they are opened to remove aliquots. Alternative sample containers and aliquot removal techniques were developed that minimized loss of volatile mercury. Speciation experiments were utilized to determine the identity of volatile species and the rates at which they are lost from containers. Both elemental mercury and dimethylmercury were identified as volatile mercury components of one freshly sampled crude oil.


Comparing a latent fingerprint minutiae set against a ten print fingerprint minutiae set using an automated fingerprint identification system is a challenging problem. This is mainly because latent fingerprints obtained from crime scenes are mostly partial fingerprints, and most automated systems expect approximately the same number of minutiae between query and the reference fingerprint under comparison for good performance. In this work, we propose a methodology to reduce the minutiae set of ten print with respect to that of query latent minutiae set by registering the orientation field of latent fingerprint with the ten print orientation field. By reducing the search space of minutiae from the ten print, we can improve the performance of automated identification systems for latent fingerprints. We report the performance of our registration algorithm on the NIST-SD27 database as well as the improvement in the Rank Identification accuracy of a standard minutiae-based automated system.


Wooden shipbuilding represented a very important economic activity in Greece during the nineteenth century, and it was strictly related to the growth of the Greek-owned merchant marine. Particularly in Hermoupolis of Syros, a major commercial and shipping center of the same period, wooden shipbuilding experienced unprecedented rates of growth, helping it to become one of the major shipbuilding centers of the Mediterranean. The article examines whether this activity can be characterized as the first industry of Modern Greece before the introduction of the factory system. The analysis includes an overview of the level of industrialization during the period 1830–70, the conditions of the establishment and growth of wooden shipbuilding in Hermoupolis, its occurrence at a national and international level, its contribution to the local and national economy, and last but not least, the specific aspects that may perhaps be seen as factors in the "industrialization" of a craft-based activity.


here is a vibrant regional civil society in Asia with numerous civil society organizations (CSOs) advancing a range of economic, political and social causes using three key strategies, namely regional advocacy, civil society parallel summits, and civil society partnerships with states and regional institutions. Although regional institutions have become more willing to engage with non-elite or grassroots civil society and labor groups, business networks are still privileged in institutional processes. Consequently, regional institutions fail to tap the information and knowledge resources of CSOs to enhance the quality of regional institutional governance, defined as the effectiveness of governance institutions as well as their accountability to stakeholders. The paper outlines three interrelated strategies to correct this deficit. First, regional institutions should provide and safeguard a regional ―public sphere‖ in which officials and a variety of CSOs, not just those sharing official views, can engage each other in reasoned discussion. Second, regional institutions should develop more formalized or regularized mechanisms (as opposed to ad hoc or informal measures) through which CSOs can submit research reports, position papers, and comments on the various items on the regional institutional agenda, particularly on new agreements. The Asian Development Bank's NGO and Civil Society Center offers one institutional model. Third, regional institutions should establish formal accountability mechanisms such as a formal complaints procedure through which stakeholders and their CSO representatives can bring claims against regional institutions as well as internal and independent evaluation mechanisms.


Abstract Objective: To find out the efficacy of zinc supplementation in decreasing the levels of serum calprotectin and inflammatory cytokines with improvement in outcome in neonatal sepsis. Methods: Neonates with clinical signs suggestive of sepsis and at least two screening tests positive were randomized into two groups – zinc group and control group. The zinc group received 3 mg/kg of zinc sulfate monohydrate twice a day orally for 10 days along with antibiotics. The control group received antibiotics and supportive care. Serum zinc, calprotectin, TNF-α and IL-6 were estimated in serum at recruitment and 10 days later after completion of antibiotics. The babies were monitored daily till discharge and mortality rate was compared between the groups. Results: Baseline characteristics were similar between the groups. Serum zinc levels were considerably increased in the zinc group after supplementation. There was significant decline in concentrations of serum calprotectin, TNF-α and IL-6 (p < 0.05) in the zinc group. In the control group also, serum calprotectin and IL-6 levels were found to be decreased significantly after antibiotic treatment (p < 0.05), while TNF-α showed insignificant reduction. Kaplan–Meier analysis was performed to assess the survival time between the groups. The mortality was lower in the zinc group compared to the control group 5 versus 11, p= 0.12. Conclusion: Neonates with sepsis who received zinc in addition to antibiotics showed significant reduction in serum calprotectin and inflammatory cytokines. Although mortality was lower in zinc group, it was not statistically significant.


ABSTRACT This paper asks what predicts having access to and using social support networks that might help an individual in using the Internet. Following the course taken by the digital divide or digital inclusion research, this paper uses socio-cultural, socio-economic, social, and digital indicators to predict access to and the type of potential and actual social support networks that might help an individual in using the Internet. In addition, the paper examines the quality of the support received which is neglected in most investigations that mainly focus on quantitative indicators of support. The study draws on a representative survey conducted in the Netherlands; 1149 responses were obtained. The results show that while there are no real inequalities in access to and use of support, the quality of the support that people access is unequally distributed replicating existing patterns of disadvantage. Thus, access to support is another level at which the digital divide manifests and strengthens itself. Those who experience most problems online also seem to have the most difficulty obtaining high-quality support even when it is available, creating an even larger 'gap' between those who do and do not need support.


Abstract
Background: This research is a field study dealing with practical aspects of speech with children who were diagnosed as having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In the study speech patterns of children with ADHD were compared when they were under the influence of short-acting Methylphenidate to the time they were without short-acting Methylphenidate.
Methods: Neutral observers observed 26 children in the 3nd to 5th grade, mean age 10.34 years old, who were diagnosed as having ADHD. None of the participants had a history of speech-language deficits. The study was conducted in a randomized cross over design procedure. A 0.3 to 0.5 mg/kg of short-acting Methylphenidate was administered to all the participants. Their speech patterns were observed while they were under the influence of short-acting Methylphenidate and compared to the time when they were not under the influence of the medication.
Results: The results of the questionnaire, Conners\' Teacher Rating Scale Revised-Long, showed the participants were assessed as having above the norm symptoms of ADHD by the questionnaire completed by their teacher. The observations showed less problematic speech behavior in the following three speech patterns pursuant to using short-acting Methylphenidate: voice intensity, rate of speaking, and interruption of someone else\'s speech. Pauses during the speech increased while the participants were under the influence of short-acting Methylphenidate. Improvement in the combination of three speech variables may make the difference between loud, fast, blurred, unclear, interrupting speech patterns that children with ADHD sometimes have without short-acting Methylphenidate as compared with the time when they behave appropriately in the classroom while they were administered a short-acting Methylphenidate.
Conclusion: The information that short-acting Methylphenidate had a positive influence on speech patterns of children with ADHD should be taken into account when considering prescribing short-acting Methylphenidate to children who were diagnosed as having ADHD.


Three hundred and fifty miles overhead, the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope silently glides through space. From this serene vantage point, the satellite's instruments watch the fiercest processes in the universe unfold. Pulsars spin up to 700 times a second, sweeping powerful beams of gamma-ray light through the cosmos. The hyperactive cores of distant galaxies spew bright jets of plasma. Far beyond, something mysterious explodes with unfathomable power, sending energy waves crashing through the universe. Stanford professor and KIPAC member Roger W. Romani talks about this orbiting telescope, the most advanced ever to view the sky in gamma rays, a form of light at the highest end of the energy spectrum that's created in the hottest regions of the universe.


In this paper, we transform the age-old wisdom that societies change through generational replacement into a formalized model that allows for quantitative forecasts of s uch societal changes for decades into the future. Using the term "Demographic Metabolism" wh ich was introduced by Norman Ryder 50 years ago, we show how the blend of this concept with the methods of multi -dimensional population dynamics results in a sophisticated model with strong predictive power, particularly for such characteristic s that once established tend to be stic ky along cohort lines. We evaluate this model empirically and give a comprehensive summary of recent applications to the reconstruction and projec tion of educational attainment distributions by age and sex for all countries of the worl d that already resulted in major new assessments of the societal level returns to educati on. We revisit the past application of the model for forecasting the future spread of the preva l nc of European identity in the EU and show that despite of the recent European crisis, the Demographic Metabolism continued to work as projected. Finally, we apply the model t o the changing attitudes towards homosexuality in Japan, Spain and the USA and produce projections of the average tolerance levels in those countries up to 2040.


DNA topoisomerase I (TOP1) levels of several human neoplasms are higher than those of normal tissues. TOP1 inhibitors are widely used in treating conventional therapy-resistant ovarian cancers. However, patients may develop resistance to TOP1 inhibitors, hampering chemotherapy success. In this study, we examined the mechanisms associated with the development of camptothecin (CPT) resistance in ovarian cancers and identified evodiamine (EVO), a natural product with TOP1 inhibiting activity that overcomes the resistance. The correlations among TOP1 levels, cancer staging, and overall survival (OS) were analyzed. The effect of EVO on CPT-resistant ovarian cancer was evaluated in vitro and in vivo. TOP1 was associated with poor prognosis in ovarian cancers (p = 0.024). EVO induced apoptosis that was detected using flow cytometry and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay. The tumor size decreased significantly in the EVO treatment group compared with the control group (p < 0.01) in a xenograft mouse model. Effects of drugs targeting TOP1 for prognosis and therapy in CPT-resistant ovarian cancer are anticipated. EVO with TOP1 can be developed as an antiproliferative agent for overcoming CPT resistance in ovarian cancers.


Development projects ultimately create places in the
built environment. As such, the developer should be concerned with
the quality of spaces they create for those in the community to
interact within. For this reason, a structural framework should be
established to allow developers to understand the needs of the
various communities in which they develop. The focus of this thesis
is not upon traditional notions of community engagement, which is
primarily focused on short-term decisions and development
implications. Rather the structural framework proposed in this
thesis takes a long-term approach to development and views
community involvement as a win-win situation in which all parties
involved are better off. In order for this framework to be
implemented, a large-scale embrace of strategic planning that
facilitates and guides development is needed. This requires that
community engagement be addressed at the onset of the development
process, more specifically, the land optioning and assembly
process. This thesis combines parametric design theory and
community engagement in the ideal state of Singapore, with the goal
of establishing a stakeholder framework that could be applied to
the land optioning and assembly process for the Eco-Town
development of Punggol. The intent of this thesis is to establish a
stakeholder framework that provides an opportunity for the land
optioning and assembly process to be more systematically
understood. Using parametric design thinking theoretically allows
each stakeholder to have control over various aspects of the land
optioning process. Realistically, the developer could observe the
impacts that occur when different stakeholders engage in this
process. Ultimately, this framework provides the developer with a
better methodology to understand stakeholder engagement as a
component of their development projects. The hope is to generate
ideal development and planning process ideals that can allow
individuals to have a greater impact in the communities in which
they reside.


Members of the transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta superfamily have been shown to play a variety of important roles in embryogenesis, including dorsal and ventral mesoderm induction. The tumor suppressor SMAD4, also known as DPC4, is believed to be an essential factor that mediates TGF-beta signals. To explore functions of SMAD4 in development, we have mutated it by truncating its functional C-domain. We show that Smad4 is expressed ubiquitously during murine embryogenesis. Mice heterozygous for the Smad4(ex8/+) mutation are developmentally normal, whereas homozygotes die between embryonic day 6.5 (E6.5) and 8.5. All Smad4(ex8/ex8) mutants are developmentally delayed at E6 and show little or no elongation in the extraembryonic portion of late egg cylinder stage embryos. Consistent with this, cultured Smad4(ex8/ex8) blastocyst outgrowths suffer cellular proliferation defects and fail to undergo endoderm differentiation. Although a portion of mutant embryos at E8.5 show an increase in the embryonic ectoderm and endoderm, morphological and molecular analyses indicate that they do not form mesoderm. Altogether, these data demonstrate that SMAD4-mediated signals are required for epiblast proliferation, egg cylinder formation, and mesoderm induction.


High-intensity ultrasound offers an alternative to traditional methods of food preservation and is regarded as a green, versatile, popular, and promising emerging technology. Ultrasound generates acoustic cavitation in a liquid medium, developing physical forces that are considered the main mechanism responsible for the observed changes in exposed materials. In meat, ultrasound has been successfully used to improve processes such as mass transfer and marination, tenderization of meat ,and inactivation of microorganisms. It is also an alternative to traditional meat aging methods for improving the quality properties of meat. Moreover, the combination of ultrasonic energy with a sanitizing agent can improve the effect of microbial reduction in foods. This review describes recent potential applications of ultrasound in meat systems, as well as physical and chemical effects of ultrasound treatments on the conservation and modification of processed meat foods.


This paper analyses the role of social capital on immigrants' labour market outcomes. We use the "principal component analysis" (PCA) to build an index of social networks and explore its impact on the probability of getting a job and on wage levels using the Households Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) longitudinal survey data. We find a positive effect of social capital on migrants' employment outcomes and wages, especially for women. Distinguishing employment into blue and white-collar jobs, we find that social capital only affects the probability of getting a white-collar job. These results suggest that promoting opportunities to create social capital has a beneficial effect on migrants' integration in the host country.


Problem statement: exploring the press is a big step toward documentation and portraying the mental interpretation of textual data. Qualitative analysis of the content of these texts displays the cultural approaches and policies and provides an opportunity for formulating the situation. During the 1330s/ 1950s and 1340s/ 1960s , when modern art in Iran was engaged in establishing and redefining itself, those press specialized in art and culture started to teach the ways of observing works of art. Simultaneous with these changes they were investigating the meaning of art. In exploring the atmosphere of that period, two models of nationalist and modernist were presupposed and were studied as two paradigms concerning traditionmodernity duality. This paper aims to explain these two paradigms through probing into the press archive in 20 years and elaborate the most vivid instance of each of them and finally put forward a new formulation of circumstances of that era. Research objective: The main aim of this paper is to categorize and finally represent press policy. In the pursuit of this purpose, the intentions and policies were not posited as premises for understanding content and results and effects, but through analysis of content, it was intended to study policies and finally present a portrait of objective results of their execution. Research method: Documentary research methods and library-based methods of research were applied for collecting of materials and analysis of content. The research methodology of this investigation is to study the recorded communication of human beings. Conclusion: Iranian Press in the 1330s/ 1950s and 1340s/ 1960s formulated important issues such as the idea of liberation of art, the relation of Iranian art with modernism, the task of art and artist, etc. under the guidelines of three paradigms of progressivist, teaching-oriented and national art.