In this thesis is described the testing and installation of a
Spectracon image tube at the focus of the Coude spectrograph associated
with the University of Tasmania's 16 inch (40 em) reflecting telescope
at Canopus Hill Observatory. The tube's performance is described in
terms of its limiting resolution and its speed relative to direct
photography with Kodak IIa-0 emulsion. On both counts the tube was
below expectation. In addition measurements of the linearity of
response are presented and a qualitative assessment is made of photo-cathode
uniformity. A stellar spectrum taken with the Spectracon is
also presented.
Ancillary equipment is discussed and a simple film-handling technique
is analysed in terms of dimensional stability in the film.
The description of tube testing and installation is preceded by
sections based on reading research. The thesis opens with a review
of the development of image tubes for astronomy which covers electronographic,
phosphor-output and signal-generating (TV-type) tubes. This
is followed by a discussion of the process of electronography and the
properties of electron-sensitive emulsions that are of particular
interest to astronomers. A third chapter presents a detailed description
of the Spectracon image tube and gives an account of its expected
performance.
The thesis concludes with the recommendations that another
Spectracon be acquired to fulfil the role envisaged for the tube
described in the thesis, and that an electronographic image tube facility
be developed to fully exploit the advantages of electronography in the
area of field photometry.


The Puerto Rican frog, Eleutherodactylus coqui, has invaded Hawaii and has negatively impacted the state's multimillion dollar floriculture, nursery and tourist industries; however, little is known about the ecological consequences of the invasion. Using data from Puerto Rico and Hawaii, the authors summarize the potential consequences of the invasion and describe future research needs. It could be predicted that the coqui would reduce the abundance of Hawaii's endemic invertebrates. However, data suggest that coquis are mostly consuming non‐native invertebrates, and not invertebrate pests, such as mosquitoes and termites. Endemic invertebrates are likely to represent a portion of the coqui diet, but it remains uncertain which endemic invertebrates are most threatened by coqui predation and whether there will be indirect effects that benefit or harm them. It could be predicted that coquis would compete with endemic birds for invertebrate prey, but there is presently little overlap in the habitats used by coquis and endemic birds. Although, coquis may make bird re‐invasion into lowland ecosystems more difficult; alternatively, coquis could serve as an additional food source for some endemic birds. Finally, it could be predicted that coquis serve as a food source for endemic‐bird predators, such as rats and mongoose, and bolster their abundance. Preliminary data suggest that coquis will not bolster rat or mongoose populations. Managing coqui populations in Hawaii has been a challenge. A population has not yet been eradicated using citric acid, the only federally approved pesticide for coquis. It is unlikely that coquis will ever be eradicated from the islands of Hawaii and Maui, where there are now hundreds of populations. Quick and severe responses to new introductions may be the only effective means of containing the spread of the coqui.


Aim The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of celiac disease in Iranian patients suffering from chronic depression or schizophrenia. Background Psychiatric disorders are common in untreated celiac disease. Patients and methods Two hundred Iranian inpatient men with in chronic phase of depressive disorders or schizophrenia, and 200 age-matched healthy male subjects were screened for celiac disease by anti-tissue transglutaminase IgA antibodies. The mean age of the study patients was 37 years. Results One (1%) schizophrenic and two (2%) depressive patients were positive for anti-tissue transglutaminase IgA antibodies; duodenal biopsy was not possible in these subjects. In the control group one (0.5%) individual was positive for anti-tissue transglutaminase IgA antibodies, but had normal duodenal histology. The difference between patients and controls was not statistically significant. Conclusion The frequency of celiac disease serology in schizophrenic and depressive inpatients was not significantly higher than that in the general population. We would therefore not advocate systematic serologic screening in these patients, but alertness to celiac disease should be kept in mind.


Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks continue to plague the Internet. Defense against these attacks is complicated by spoofed source IP addresses, which make it difficult to determine a packet's true origin. We propose Pi (short for path identifier), a new packet marking approach in which a path fingerprint is embedded in each packet, enabling a victim to identify packets traversing the same paths through the Internet on a per packet basis, regardless of source IP address spoofing. Pi features many unique properties. It is a per-packet deterministic mechanism: each packet traveling along the same path carries the same identifier This allows the victim to take a proactive role in defending against a DDoS attack by using the Pi mark to filter out packets matching the attackers' identifiers on a per packet basis. The Pi scheme performs well under large-scale DDoS attacks consisting of thousands of attackers, and is effective even when only half the routers in the Internet participate in packet marking. Pi marking and filtering are both extremely lightweight and require negligible state. We use traceroute maps of real Internet topologies (e.g. CAIDA's Skitter (2000) and Burch and Cheswick's Internet Map (1999, 2002)) to simulate DDoS attacks and validate our design.


Cognitive radio is a transforming and revolutionary technology that represents a paradigm shift in the design of wireless systems, as it allows agile and efficient utilization of the radio spectrum by offering the ability of radio sensing, self-adaptation, and dynamic spectrum sharing. In this paper the use of cooperative spectrum sensing in cognitive radio systems to enhance the reliability of detecting primary users is discussed and also cooperative communications for spectrum sharing in a cognitive wireless relay network is investigated. To exploit the maximum spectrum opportunity, a cognitive space- time-frequency coding technique is presented that can opportunistically adjust its coding structure by adapting itself to the dynamic spectrum environment.


It is an interesting time in human history. Being outdoors generally costs nothing and
can be extremely pleasurable. Yet outdoor opportunities that were once taken for granted
are diminishing (Bhosale, Duncan, & Schofield, 2017; Milteer, Ginsburg, & Mulligan,
2012; Woolley & Griffin, 2015). Rhee (2016) noted that in many Asian regions, preference
for more academically oriented activities in early childhood education settings has led to
both indoor and outdoor play being sidelined. Outdoors is considered to be riskier and there
is still a strong image of real learning occurring indoors. While the value of outdoor play
and learning is often acknowledged, many questions remain regarding pedagogies, research
approaches, benefits, and even basic definitions. This special issue of Asia-Pacific Journal
of Research in Early Childhood Education contributes to current debate, empirical findings,
and recommendations for policy and pedagogy regarding the outdoors.


,and An effective definition of a bird strike is the basis for quantifying the scale of bird hazard problems. Here we present a working definition of a bird strike, which in turn forms the basis of an analysis of 32 years' data collected at Dublin Airport, Ireland. A variety of datasets are analysed including the number of bird strikes per ten thousand aircraft movements, the mass of the bird species being struck, the time of year at which bird strikes occur and the dimensions of the aircraft utilising the airfield. In addition, we have analysed the mean number of strikes per year and the mean number of birds struck per bird strike. Following a very serious incident involving a Boeing 737-200 which struck a flock of gulls in the mid -1980's, a new regime of control measures was put in place. Therefore our study permits us to evaluate the effectiveness of this management pro-gramme. The results suggest that the most significant impact of control measures is to re-duce the number of birds being struck per bird strike.


In many regions of the world soils are contaminated with heavy metals and therefore restricted in their use. For instance, the absorption of nickel (Ni) in the tissue of plants increase fungi are known to enhance the tolerance of host plants to abiotic and biotic stress. Thus, we investigated the potential of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi Glomus intraradices to mitigate deleterious effects of Ni in wheat. The experiment was conducted using four levels of Ni (0, 60, 120 and 180 mg per kg of soil) and two levels of mycorrhizal fungi application (with and without Glomus intraradices). Nickel stress significantly decreased seed number per spike, thousand-seed weight, seed yield per plant, concentration of chlorophyll a and b. At the same time, we found increased catalase (CAT) enzyme activity and dityrosine (DT) treatments. Mycorrhizal fungi application attenuated Ni effects, i.e. fungal presence increased seed number per spike, thousandseed weight, chlorophyll a and b. Furthermore mycorrhizal fungi application reduce CAT enzyme activity and DT. In general, our results suggest that mycorrhizal fungi application reduces harmful effects of Ni stress in wheat.


A temperature controlled product shipper includes a phase change material bladder which can be filled at the point of packaging. The shipper includes an internal product box and an outer box where the product box is received within the outer box. The phase change material bladder is received within a cavity defined between the outer surface of the product box and the inner surface of the outer box. The shipper may also include an insulated liner which is received between the product box and the bladder.


The regulation of Swedish municipal accounting has undergone fundamental changes over recent decades. Municipal accounting became regulated by law the 1st of January, 1998 after having been merely voluntarily regulated in the past. In accordance with the legislation, a standard-setting body was formed, with responsibility for development and interpretation of generally accepted accounting principles for municipal accounting. Important aims of the legislation and reform were to suppress 'creative' accounting and to increase the level of harmonization and comparability. Using the lens of positive accounting theory as well as institutional theory, this paper describes and explains the impact of the legislation and standard setting in the Swedish municipal sector. We have used a triangulation approach, collecting data through a survey, documentary study and interviews. The overall results show that the reform has had a very limited impact on accounting practice. Compliance with accounting standards was in general poor. This result is in line with the assumptions of positive accounting theory. However, the study also shows that there are differences among the preparers which can be explained by institutional theory. Large municipalities produce better accounting information (i.e. more in line with generally accepted accounting principles) than the municipalities in general. Weak audit quality seems to be another important factor that explains the poor compliance with accounting standards.


PURPOSE
White matter damage of immaturity may affect visual, motor and cognitive functions. This multiple-case study presents standardized perimetry results in six teenagers and young adults born prematurely with visual dysfunction due to white matter damage of immaturity of pre- or perinatal origin.

METHODS
Six subjects, aged 13-25 years, born at a gestational age of 28-34 weeks, with white matter damage of immaturity documented by MRI, and optic disc appearances documented by fundus photography, were examined with manual and computerized quantitative perimetry.

RESULTS
All subjects had subnormal visual field (VF) function, although the depth and extension of the VF defects differed between subjects. The inferior VF function was more deviant than the superior in all cases. The concordance between the VF defects detected with the different techniques was good, although the static computerized techniques revealed slightly more abnormality.

CONCLUSION
White matter damage of immaturity may affect the VF. The lower VF is often more affected than the upper. The abnormalities can be demonstrated by both manual and computerized perimetry.


We estimate the contents of services value-added incorporated in goods exports in different countries in Latin America, exploring the local dimension of the results. We use inter-regional input-output analysis to trace and map domestic value-added embedded in those countries' exports. We add to the discussion of global value chains the internal, withincountry geography of trade in value-added, since the set of locational preferences that help understanding the spatial patterns of natural resource-intensive activities differ dramatically from that for services. The decoupling of the patterns of value-added in non-services and services activities reveals a potential new form of "geography of discontents" in the region.


Turkey is rich in terms of triterpenes and sterols flora. Triterpenes and sterols hold out for medicinal advances and new drugs. This paper describes a simple, precise, sensitive and specific method for the simultaneous determination of α-amyrin and β-sitosterol in Centranthus longiflorus and Iris taochia by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method. The retention times of α-amyrin and β-sitosterol were found 16.1 and 15.1 min, respectively. The linear ranges in this developed method were 1-100 and 5-750 µg/mL for α-amyrin and β-sitosterol, respectively. The intra- and inter-day precisions, expressed as the relative standard deviation (RSD), were less than 4.97 and 4.99%, determined from quality control samples for α-amyrin and β-sitosterol, and accuracy was within 2.00 and 4.60% in terms of relative error, respectively. The percentage recovery obtained for α-amyrin and β-sitosterol were 99.7 and 99.8%, respectively. Limit of detection and quantification for α-amyrin were 5 and 15 ng/mL, for β-sitosterol 50 and 150 ng/mL, respectively. The developed method can be used for routine quality control analysis of α-amyrin and β-sitosterol in dried whole plant of Centranthus longiflorus and Iris taochia.


A new distributed cooperative routing protocol that realizes minimum power transmission for each composed cooperative link, given the link BER (Bit Error Rate) constrained at a certain target level. The key contribution of the proposed scheme is to bring the performance gain of cooperative diversity from the physical layer up to the networking layer. Specifically, the proposed algorithm selects the best relays with minimum power consumption in distributed manner, and then forms cooperative links for establishing a route with appropriate error performance from a source to a destination node. Analytical results are developed to show that our cooperative transmission strategy achieves average energy saving of 82.43% compared to direct transmission, and of 21.22% compared to the existing minimum power cooperation strategy. The upper bound of the capacity of the protocol, and analyze the end-to-end robustness of the protocol to data-packet loss, along with the tradeoff between energy consumption and error rate. The analysis results are used to compare the energy savings and the end-to-end robustness of our protocol with two non-cooperative schemes. The distributed and power efficient cooperative routing algorithm, which constructs the minimum power route with a small number of hop.


The development of terminology features heavily in language planning, and here the differences between planned and ethnic languages are much less pronounced. This is especially the case in languages with smaller numbers of speakers, or in indigenous and endangered languages such as Te Reo Māori of Aotearoa New Zealand that rely on language planning for their survival, and where conscious terminology planning is therefore commonplace. The present article compares the terminological principles that are applied in the creation of new terms in Te Reo Māori and the planned language Esperanto. Different preferences for endogenous versus exogenous ways of developing new words generate conflict in both language communities as they adapt to the demands of functioning in modern and international arenas. Long-term success in terminological planning can only be achieved by more comprehensive application of principles from terminological science to maximize the adequacy of the generated terms and their acceptance within the speech communities.


This paper addresses the optimum design of reverse-flow gas cyclones through the solution of 2 numerical nonlinear optimization problems that respectively maximize cyclone collection and an efficiency/cost ratio. The simulation model was based on the predictive properties of the 1998 finite diffusivity model of Mothes and Löffler, in which the particle turbulent dispersion coefficient is estimated through an empirical correlation between the radial Peclet and Reynolds numbers. The optimizations were formulated with constraints on pressure drop, saltation velocity, and geometrical considerations such that feasible cyclones could always be obtained. The two geometries, named RS_VHE and RS_K, are different from available high-efficiency designs and represent reverse-flow cyclones with a predicted, significantly improved performance. The geometry RS_VHE was built and tested on a laboratory scale, providing experimental evidence of a significantly improved design.


In this paper, the performances of electric vehicle (EV) in-wheel (hub) nonoverlap-winding permanent-magnet motors with different stator and rotor topologies are compared. The calculation of the frequency losses in the design optimization of the hub motors is specifically considered. Also, the effect of the slot and pole number choice that determines the winding factor of the machine is investigated. It is shown that the torque-per-copper-loss performance of the machine cannot be judged solely on the winding factor of the machine. Wide open stator slot machines with rectangular preformed coils and, hence, low manufacturing costs are found to perform better than expected. The design detail and test results of a prototype 10-kW water-cooled EV hub drive are presented. The test results confirm the finite-element-calculated results, specifically in the high-speed region of the drive where the rotor topology affects the constant power speed range.


We report femtosecond optical signal processing by using second-order spectral holography. Enhanced second-order diffraction from a thermoplastic plate makes possible new signal-processing operations not possible with first-order holography. Experiments resulting in output waveforms equal to the autoconvolution function of the input waveform are described, and the possibility of implementing a simple associative memory for ultrafast optical signals is discussed.


This book addresses issues in the current literature on corporate finance using historical evidence. In particular it looks at the role of universal banks in relaxing the credit constraints of firms, supervising managers and stabilizing share prices. The key issues is whether the Anglo-American asset based financing is more efective than the main-bank approach used in Germany and Japan. Earlier studies have found that firms with a close relationship with a major bank have high market value compared to book value, although it is difficult to determine whether this is cause or effect.


Worldwide, the need for designing and constructing more sustainable buildings is constantly growing. Although the most critical time to make decisions on a building's sustainable features is during the early stages of design, building performance analysis is usually performed after the design and construction documents are produced. This practice results in lost opportunities to maximise the use of energy efficient building design and technology options. Along with that, it is widely documented that productivity in the AEC/FM industry has been hampered by fragmentation, low innovation, adversarial relationships and slow adoption of Information Communication Technologies. Building Information Modelling (BIM) can promote integration among building professionals and improve design goals by allowing multi-disciplinary information to be integrated within one model. This creates an opportunity to conduct the analysis throughout the design process, concurrently with the production of the design documents. Despite the expected benefits of BIM and sustainable performance analysis, their practices have not been widely embedded within the UK AEC/FM industry. In order to achieve the change in current processes for optimal results, there is a need to define a number of aspects. These include the drivers, actions, good practices, impacts and benefits of sustainability analysis integration in the BIM-collaborative processes on one hand, and the barriers, limitations and deficiencies of current practice on the other. This paper is an early contribution to this ongoing research to improve the way of conducting BIM-based sustainability analysis and communicating the results among the various AEC participants. This can be achieved by automating and standarising the decision making process at the pre-construction stage. The findings indicate that there is no single tool that can be utilised to assess the full range of criteria required for achieving sustainability. It is also demonstrated how the capabilities of BIM-related sustainability software can be used to predict a number of the BREEAM rating system categories criteria.


OBJECTIVE: To uncover potential genes and biological processes that contribute to breast cancer development.

STUDY DESIGN: We studied gene expression profiles, which are publicly available from the Gene Expression Omnibus database, for the 2 most prevailing subtypes of breast cancer: lobular and ductal invasive breast carcinomas.

RESULTS: We identified a total of 98 genes that shared regulation pattern in both subtypes of breast carcinoma. Further functional annotations indicated that 124 biological processes and 8 Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways were over-represented, such as cell surface receptor signaling pathway. We also identified unique gene expression profiles in each subtype of breast cancer. A total of 460 genes were solely differentially expressed between ductal cancer cells and normal cells, and 75 biological processes and 10 KEGG pathways were enriched by these 460 differential genes, including cell proliferation and regulation of cell death. Meanwhile, 308 genes were found to be differentially expressed between lobular cancer cells and normal cells. Intriguingly, only 11 biological processes and 8 KEGG pathways showed overrepresentation among these 308 genes, such as collagen metabolic process.

CONCLUSION: Cumulatively, our results indicate that the invasive lobular and ductal carcinomas share a similar profile of gene expression and pathway alteration but also harbor subtype-specific mechanisms of tumorigenesis.


Systemin, an octadeca-peptide isolated from tomato, is a signalling molecule involved in local and systemic wound response. It regulates the activation of more than twenty defensive genes in tomato plants in response to herbivore attacks. Systemin derives from the C-terminal region of a precursor of 200 amino acids, known as prosystemin. Prosystemin homologues have been found in other Solanaceae species such as potato (Solanum tuberosum), black nightshade (Solanum nigrum) and bell pepper (Capsicum annum), all members of the Solaneae subtribe, whereas they were not identified in tobacco, which belongs to the Nicotianae subtribe. Tobacco possesses two hydroxyproline-rich peptides released from the same precursor (preproTobHypSys) that show systemin-like activity. However, those peptides and their precursors are not similar in sequence to the tomato prosystemin. Even if it was previously showed that tobacco does not respond to tomato systemin when externally applied, it has been recently found that wild type tobacco cells are sensitive to systemin. Furthermore, a recent finding indicate that the constitutive expression of the tomato prosystemin in tobacco plants increases the expression of a number of proteins involved in plant defence against pathogens and oxidative stress. The aim of this project was to increase the understanding of the possible biotechnological role of the tomato prosystemin, with a particular emphasis to the exploitation of this precursor to increase the endogenous resistance against biotic stress. To this goal, the tomato prosystemin cDNA was expressed in tobacco and potato. Moreover, a mutated prosystemin cDNA lacking the 3' terminal systemin encoding exon was also expressed to understand the possible function of the N-terminal region prosystemin precursor in the activation of the defence response. Transgenic tobacco plants expressing either of the prosystemin genes were already available. Transgenic potato plants were obtained after an Agrobacterium-mediated plant transformation. Tobacco and potato transformants were characterized and a group of genes involved in plant response against biotic stress was analysed by Real Time PCR. The modification in gene expression registered in MZ transgenic plants (expressing the tomato prosystemin cDNA) and PRO8 plants (expressing the deleted prosystemin) showed that HSP, GST, Pin II and TobHypSys, all related to plant response to stress, are over-expressed in tobacco transformants. Among the gene tested, GST gene was over-expressed only in MZ transgenic plants. Furthermore, in tobacco, the over-expression level induced by prosystemin of HSP and Pin II is similar to the effect of wounding. A bioassay with the pathogenic fungus Botrytis cinerea showed a moderate increase in resistance in the PRO8 tobacco plants. The expression of prosystemin gene in potato does not affect pathogen-related genes as GluB2 and PR1b nor the defence-related potato endogenous systemins, PotProsys and prePotHypSys genes. A effect was observed for Lox3 that was over-expressed in potato in both MZ and PRO8 transgenic plants. These data imply that the modification in gene expression in tobacco and potato is not only due to the Sys sequence and that the N-terminus is also involved.


Background/Aims: Accumulating evidence demonstrates the superior osteoinductivity of tantalum (Ta) to that of titanium (Ti); however, the mechanisms underlying these differences are unclear. Thus, the objective of the present study was to examine the effects of Ta and Ti surfaces on osteogenesis using rat bone mesenchymal stromal cells (rBMSCs) as a model. Methods: Ta and Ti substrates were polished to a mirror finish to minimize the influences of structural factors, and the intrinsic surface effects of the two materials on the integrin α5β1/mitogen-activated protein kinases 3 and 1 (ERK1/2) cascade-mediated osteogenesis of rBMSCs were evaluated. Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, Alizarin Red staining, real-time polymerase chain reaction, and western blot assays of critical osteogenic markers were conducted to evaluate the effects of the two substrates on cell osteogenesis. Moreover, the role of the integrin α5β1/ERK1/2 pathway on the osteoinductive performance of Ta and Ti was assessed by up- and down-regulation of integrin α5 and β1 with RNA interference, as well as through ERK1/2 inhibition with U0126. Results: Osteogenesis of rBMSCs seeded on the Ta surface was superior to that of cells seeded on the Ti surface in terms of ALP activity, extracellular matrix calcification, and the expression of integrin α5, integrin β1, ERK1/2, Runt-related transcription factor 2, osteocalcin, collagen type I, and ALP at both the mRNA and protein levels. Moreover, down-regulation of integrin α5 or integrin β1, or ERK1/2 inhibition severely impaired the osteoblastic differentiation on the Ta surface. By contrast, over-expression of integrin α5 or integrin β1 improved osteogenesis on the Ti substrates, while subsequent ERK1/2 inhibition abrogated this effect. Conclusion: The integrin α5β1/ERK1/2 pathway plays a crucial role in regulating rBMSCs osteogenic differentiation; thus, the greater ability of a Ta surface to trigger integrin α5β1/ERK1/2 signaling may explain its better osteoinductivity. The different effects of Ta and Ti surfaces on rBMSC osteogenesis are considered to be related to the conductive behaviors between integrin α5β1 and the oxides spontaneously formed on the two metals. These results should facilitate the development of engineering strategies with Ta and Ti surfaces for improved osteogenesis in endosteal implants.


Coral reef ecosystems, often referred to as "marine rainforests," concentrate the most diverse life in the oceans. Red Sea reef dwellers are adapted in a very warm environment, fact that makes them vulnerable to further and rapid warming. The detection and understanding of abrupt temperature changes is an important task, as ecosystems have more chances to adapt in a slowly rather than in a rapid changing environment. Using satellite derived sea surface and ground based air temperatures, it is shown that the Red Sea is going through an intense warming initiated in the mid‐90s, with evidence for an abrupt increase after 1994 (0.7°C difference pre and post the shift). The air temperature is found to be a key parameter that influences the Red Sea marine temperature. The comparisons with Northern Hemisphere temperatures revealed that the observed warming is part of global climate change trends. The hitherto results also raise additional questions regarding other broader climatic impacts over the area.


It is desirable to reduce leaching of copper from home plumbing because of environmental concerns and to comply with stringent regulation of copper in wastewater and drinking water. The solubility of the scale (oxidized copper rust layer) on the copper pipe wall, which directly contacts drinking water, is a key factor controlling the maximum soluble copper release. Gradual replacement of soluble Cu(OH)2 scale to less soluble scale is desirable and occurs through a process known as "aging." The presence of sulfate, bicarbonate and orthophosphate in water can quickly convert Cu(OH)2 to less soluble solids. In some cases, this produces a desirable short-term reduction in copper solubility, but over longer time periods formation of these solids can be detrimental because they interfere with formation of very low solubility tenorite (CuO)or malachite phases. Likewise, silica present in water can sorb to Cu(OH)2 and hinder aging to low solubility tenorite, while the presence of chlorine can hasten aging by a chemical reaction with cupric species that has never been previously observed in the drinking water field. Mild chemical treatments that might be used to accelerate aging, and which could be applied to reduce environmental impacts of newly installed copper pipe, were successfully tested. Chemical pretreatments using lime, caustic, soda ash or chlorine reduced copper release by as much as 84% compared to new pipes without pretreatment.


Plants compete with neighbouring vegetation for limited resources. In competition for light, plants adjust their architecture to bring the leaves higher in the vegetation where more light is available than in the lower strata. These architectural responses include accelerated elongation of the hypocotyl, internodes and petioles, upward leaf movement (hyponasty), and reduced shoot branching and are collectively referred to as the shade avoidance syndrome. This review discusses various cues that plants use to detect the presence and proximity of neighbouring competitors and respond to with the shade avoidance syndrome. These cues include light quality and quantity signals, mechanical stimulation, and plant-emitted volatile chemicals. We will outline current knowledge about each of these signals individually and discuss their possible interactions. In conclusion, we will make a case for a whole-plant, ecophysiology approach to identify the relative importance of the various neighbour detection cues and their possible interactions in determining plant performance during competition.


In this work we analysed the spatio-temporal variability of discards in the fishery of the deep-sea red shrimp Aristeus antennatus in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea. We sampled fishery discards in the fishing grounds of Palamos (the main harbour for this fishery on the Catalan margin), which are located in several areas of a submarine canyon. We found that the discard ratio in this fishery showed a marked seasonal variability, with a maximum in spring and a minimum in summer. Most of the discarded biomass (almost 96%) were of species with no commercial interest. Within these, the most represented group was elasmobranchs, making up to more than 50% of total discarded biomass. Our findings show that the landing obligation established by the EU will have a low impact in mitigating discards in this fishery, as the vast majority of discards are non-commercial species that are not specified in the regulation. Alternative management strategies, such as a temporary fishery closure in spring (when the discard ratio reaches its maximum), should be considered in order to preserve the vulnerable ecosystem hosted by the submarine canyon.


Programming efficient asynchronous systems is challenging because it can often be hard to express the design declaratively, or to defend against data races and interleaving-dependent assertion violations. Previous work has only addressed these challenges in isolation, by either designing a new declarative language, a new data race detection tool or a new testing technique. We present P#, a language for high-reliability asynchronous programming co-designed with a static data race analysis and systematic concurrency testing infrastructure. We describe our experience using P# to write several distributed protocols and port an industrial-scale system internal to Microsoft, showing that the combined techniques, by leveraging the design of P#, are effective in finding bugs.


More than thirty years have passed since Congress enacted Title IX, the statute prohibiting sex discrimination by schools, colleges, and universities that receive federal funding. In that time, Congress has confirmed -and reconfirmed- the statute's application to college athletic programs, and the Supreme Court has strengthened the statute's enforcement by construing a private right of action for both injunctive relief and, in certain cases, money damages. Bolstered by these measures, Title IX is duly credited for increasing the number of athletic opportunities for women and girls. But at the college level, female athletes still have far fewer opportunities to participate in athletics relative to their male peers. At most colleges and universities, the percentage of student athletes who are female is lower than the percentage of female college students. One reason for this is that Title IX and its implementing regulations do not mandate that universities attain substantial proportionality. In fact, the regulatory compliance policy that the Office for Civil Rights ("OCR") has administered since 1979 allows for three separate and alternative measures (or "prongs") for complying with Title IX. Universities' efforts to attain compliance under the proportionality prong are often stymied by budget constraints, perceived or otherwise, that prevent universities from achieving proportionality by simply adding opportunities for women. And while universities could alternatively attain proportionality by capping or reducing athletic opportunities for men, this approach is unpopular among male athletes, their coaches, and their supporters. The Author discusses the current state of the law and presents proposals for reform.


We investigate limits of the confocal microscope when applied to imaging through scattering layers and compare its performance with that of a correlation (heterodyne) microscope. Confocal laser scanning microscopy is shown to make possible imaging through scattering media owing to the spatial filtering of the signal back-reflected from the sample. Its performance is limited by the noise of the detection system and/or insufficient rejection of scattered light, depending on the sample under investigation. Correlation microscopy with narrow or broad bandwidth light can extend these limits by selective, optical amplification of the image information.


This important book, prepared under the direction of Nobel Laureate Lawrence R. Klein, shows how economic forecasts are made. It explains how modern developments in information technology have made it possible to forecast frequently – at least monthly but also weekly or bi-weekly – depending upon the perceived needs of potential forecast users and also on the availability of updated material.


Viewers of The Thick of It will know of special advisers as spin doctors and political careerists. Several well-known ministers have been special advisers, among them David Cameron, Ed Miliband, Jack Straw and Vince Cable. People also know about the public relations disasters involving Jo Moore, Damian McBride and Adam Smith. But what is the reality? What do special advisers actually do in government? Who are they, where do they come from, and why are they needed?
This book is the most detailed study yet carried out of special advisers. The Constitution Unit's research team, led by Dr Ben Yong and Professor Robert Hazell, assembled a comprehensive database of over 600 special advisers since 1979. They conducted written surveys, and interviewed over 100 special advisers, ministers and officials from the past thirty years. They conclude that special advisers are now a permanent and indispensable part of Whitehall, but are still treated as transient and temporary. The book concludes with practical recommendations for increasing the effectiveness of special advisers through improvements to their recruitment, induction and training, support and supervision, and strengthening their accountability.


Context Maritime Surveillance (MS) has received increased attention from a civilian perspective in recent years. Anomaly detection (AD) is one of the many techniques available for improving the safety and security in the MS domain. Maritime authorities utilize various confidential data sources for monitoring the maritime activities; however, a paradigm shift on the Internet has created new sources of data for MS. These newly identified data sources, which provide publicly accessible data, are the open data sources. Taking advantage of the open data sources in addition to the traditional sources of data in the AD process will increase the accuracy of the MS systems. Objectives The goal is to investigate the potential open data as a complementary resource for AD in the MS domain. To achieve this goal, the first step is to identify the applicable open data sources for AD. Then, a framework for AD based on the integration of open and closed data sources is proposed. Finally, according to the proposed framework, an AD system with the ability of using open data sources is developed and the accuracy of the system and the validity of its results are evaluated. Methods In order to measure the system accuracy, an experiment is performed by means of a two stage random sampling on the vessel traffic data and the number of true/false positive and negative alarms in the system is verified. To evaluate the validity of the system results, the system is used for a period of time by the subject matter experts from the Swedish Coastguard. The experts check the detected anomalies against the available data at the Coastguard in order to obtain the number of true and false alarms. Results The experimental outcomes indicate that the accuracy of the system is 99%. In addition, the Coastguard validation results show that among the evaluated anomalies, 64.47% are true alarms, 26.32% are false and 9.21% belong to the vessels that remain unchecked due to the lack of corresponding data in the Coastguard data sources. Conclusions This thesis concludes that using open data as a complementary resource for detecting anomalous behavior in the MS domain is not only feasible but also will improve the efficiency of the surveillance systems by increasing the accuracy and covering some unseen aspects of maritime activities. Acknowledgment First and foremost, we would like to thank our supervisors Dr. Niklas Lavesson and Dr. Henric Johnson for their patient …


The early life of Iannis Xenakis, a modern day Renaissance scholar who would come to redefine the limits of musical composition and sound-driven spatial design in the 21st century, was overshadowed by adversity, conflict and alienation. Fleeing from his home country in 1947 after a nearly fatal wound to the face during the Greek Revolution, Xenakis' newfound life and career in the atelier of French architect Le Corbusier allowed for the budding engineer to explore a collective passion for music and mathematics within his work. Nevertheless, just as a giant facial scar would stand as a permanent physical symbol for the brutality Xenakis experienced, one can easily detect similar memories of a chaotic past embedded in the compositional framework of the avant-garde designer/composer, tormented by tension and estranged symbols of war. By analyzing these immersive elements of conflict and duality which characterized Xenakis' creative methodologies, one may begin to formulate an innovative discourse in the development towards new experiential musically influenced performance spaces.


A study has been undertaken to supplement design methods and develop innovative approaches for the effective management of rivers and floodplains to reduce flood risk. The focus has been on enhancing the understanding and representation of the hydrodynamic processes of a variety of flow conditions and the associated hydraulic interaction with selected obstruction types, such as mangroves and vehicles for the representative river basins of the Merbok and Klang, on the West Coast of Peninsular Malaysia, and the Valency, near Boscastle, in the UK. For the study of the hydrodynamic processes of natural floodplains, a numerical model has been refined to investigate the effects of mangroves on tsunamis, with the inclusion of modelling idealised test cases. A similar model has then been applied to a mangrove fringed floodplain for the Merbok river basin. In recognising the importance of mangroves as natural defences against flooding disasters, a novel innovative and environmentally friendly approach, namely the Artificial Mangrove Shelter (AMS), has been first initiated and modelled, for the sustainable restoration and rehabilitation of mangroves along floodplains. In studying the hydrodynamic processes of urban floodplains, a series of experimental investigations has been undertaken on stationary scaled model vehicles in laboratory flumes, to study the effects of vehicles on flood flow propagation and, the influence of the flood flows on the stability of the vehicles. In order to develop a useful innovative approach to evaluate the degree of hydraulic stability for vehicles, a novel three colour zone envelope curve has been first introduced and developed, herein known as the Traffic Light of Hydraulic Stability (TLHS), to identify the likelihood of vehicle movement. The study was then extended to investigate the consequential hydraulic impact of flooded vehicles on blocked bridges, through a physical modelling study in a laboratory flume, with the purpose being to replicate a typical section of prototype floodplain conditions for the Boscastle and Klang. In this study, eventually natural and urban environments along the rivers and floodplains have consideration the hydrodynamic processes and interaction between hydraulic obstructions and flood flows, with novel and practical approaches being developed for effective management of rivers and floodplains.


Cleavage induced rows of linear vacancy structures on $p$-doped ZnTe (110) surface are studied at room temperature by using cross-sectional scanning tunneling microscopy (X-STM). The oscillating contrast superimposed on the Te-driven occupied states neighboring to the vacancy cores are characterized at the atomic scale in order to determine the type of the missing component on the ZnTe surface matrix. We identify three major intensity distributions associated with different vacancy states. The X-STM images of three possible configurations comprising Zn only, Te only, and ZnTe binary vacancy structures on the ZnTe surface are modeled by using ab initio density functional theory calculations. The comparison of the X-STM measurements of each individual vacancy state to the corresponding theoretical simulation showed that unlike the Te vacancy, which leads to a local depression, the absence of Zn only or ZnTe binary gives rise to hillock features on the neighboring Te states of the ZnTe (110) cleaved surface. The theoretical STM images calculated for an undoped ZnTe crystal imply that possible doping-related effects on vacancy-induced features can be disregarded for interpreting the experimentally observed vacancy structures in our samples.


Empirical antibiotic treatment with a first‐generation cephalosporin plus gentamicin for peritoneal dialysis (PD)‐associated peritonitis before culture results are available is still wildly used due to concerns regarding the economic burden and antibiotic‐resistant bacterial infections. The aim of this study is to define the factors that predict the outcome of empirical antibiotic therapy for PD peritonitis. This is a retrospective study of patients with PD peritonitis over the last 10 years. Patients who had been treated empirically with intermittent intraperitoneal first‐generation cephalosporin and gentamicin were enrolled. Eighty‐three patients had 192 episodes of PD peritonitis. In total, 159 peritonitis episodes were treated with intraperitoneal antibiotics combined with first‐generation cephalosporin and gentamicin empirically. Twenty‐five peritonitis episodes had no pathogens identified by dialysate culture. In total, 122 (122/159, 76.7%) PD peritonitis episodes were caused by bacteria, 9 (9/159, 5.7%) were fungal, and 3 (3/159, 1.9%) were Mycobacterium tuberculosis peritonitis. Sixty‐four (64/159, 40.3%) peritonitis episodes were successfully cured by empirical intraperitoneal antibiotic therapy. Empirical antibiotic treatment failed in 95 episodes (95/159, 59.7%). The positive rates of dialysate Gram stain in the empirical treatment success and failure groups were 15.6% and 40.0%, respectively (P = 0.001). The odds ratio of empirical treatment failure with a positive bacteria Gram stain was 3.60 (95% CI: 1.65–7.82). The dialysate Gram staining result was a significant predictor of empirical antibiotics treatment outcome for PD‐associated peritonitis. Therefore, using an empirical antibiotic regimen for patients with an initial positive bacterial Gram stain of the dialysate should be introduced cautiously.


Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) aim to increase the wealth of shareholders of the acquiring company, in particular by creating synergies. It is often assumed that relatedness is a source of synergies. Our study distinguishes between business, cultural, technological, and size relatedness. It discusses the reasons why these different forms of relatedness can lead to an acquisition success and we conduct a meta-analysis of 67 prior M&A studies. Results indicate that positive effects can be expected under specific conditions only and have a limited overall impact on acquisition success. A moderator analysis finds that synergies stemming from relatedness depend on industry-, country-, and investor-characteristics.


Objectives Data on decompressive craniectomy (DC) after intra-arterial thrombolysis (IAT) for treatment of malignant middle cerebral artery (MCA) stroke are lacking. Methods The authors compared consecutive patients with middle cerebral artery (MCA) strokes who underwent decompressive craniectomy (DC) after IAT with DC patients without prior thrombolysis. Results Thirty of 2395 consecutive patients with acute ischaemic stroke or transient ischaemic attack were treated with DC because of space-occupying oedema 12–72 h after symptom onset. Fifteen patients underwent intra-arterial thrombolysis (IAT) prior to DC. Baseline characteristics did not differ between thrombolysed and non-thrombolysed patients except for lower National Institute of Health Stroke Scale score in non-thrombolysed patients (median National Institute of Health Stroke Scale 17 vs 14, p=0.033). The outcome at 3 months was favourable (modified Rankin scale 0–3) in seven (47%) thrombolysed patients and in four (27%) non-thrombolysed patients (p=0.45). Mortality and major complications after DC did not differ between the two groups (p>0.05). Older age (p=0.037) and previous hypertension (p=0.047) independently predicted unfavourable outcome in DC patients, but not IAT prior DC. Conclusions There was no difference of outcome of patients with DC with or without prior IAT. DC after IAT did not cause any more complications than DC without prior thrombolysis.


Cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1R) regulates neurite outgrowth, has important functions in central nervous system development, and is a drug target for several diseases. Bromberg et al. used a combination of transcriptional profiling on DNA arrays with graph theory analysis of known signaling networks to explore the effects of signaling by the CB1R. Unexpectedly, the analysis predicted that the product of the breast cancer susceptibility gene BRCA1 was likely to regulate transcription factors activated during CB1R-stimulated neurite outgrowth. Furthermore, depletion of BRCA1 did indeed inhibit CB1R-stimulated neurite outgrowth. The transcription factor PAX6 was also regulated in response to cannabinoid signaling. This type of network analysis is useful to define the logic of complex signaling decision processes. K. D. Bromberg, A. Ma'ayan, S. R. Neves, R. Iyengar, Design logic of a cannabinoid receptor signaling network that triggers neurite outgrowth. Science 320, 903-909 (2008). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Biodegradable polymer has been the subject of interest for its use as a polymeric drug carrier material in dosage form design due to its appealing properties such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, low toxicity and relatively low production cost from abundant natural sources. The greatest advantage of these degradable polymers is that they are broken down into biologically acceptable molecules that are metabolized and removed from the body via normal metabolic pathways, for example, polylactides, polyglycolides, and their copolymers—the polymers will eventually break down to lactic acid and glycolic acid, enter the Kreb's cycle, and be further broken down into carbon dioxide and water and excreted through normal processes. Many biodegradable polymers are used as binder such as acacia, gelatin, whereas some used to coat tablets such as hydroxypropyl cellulose, polyethylene glycol, povidone and sodium carboxymethyl-cellulose., and to thicken suspensions and in ophthalmic solution as a protective colloid ,to stabilize emulsions and suspensions. . Sustained-release dosage forms employ polymers as shells for microencapsulated drugs, as erodible and non-erodible matrices, as barrier membranes to regulate the release of drugs by diffusion. The biodegradable polymer used in medical devices and controlled-drug-release applications are sterilizable and capable of controlled stability or degradation in response to biological conditions. These all play a very crucial role in enhancing the bioavailability of drug. This review covers all the aspects of biodegradable polymers in enhancing bioavailability of the drug.


Wireless sensor networks (WSN) will witness a huge growth in the near future and both the academia and industry have commenced intensive research. Routing protocol design in WSN is one of the most important areas of active research due to the open issues and its importance. WSNs usually contain a large number of nodes typically with highly correlated collected data. These networks can be categorized according to the network structure and their protocol operations. Network structure based categorization of WSN can be flat or hierarchical. In flat networks, all the nodes in the networks take the same responsibility, while in hierarchical networks the cluster-heads perform several special functions such as maintaining the clusters and aggregation. To support large-scale wireless sensor network management and local data aggregation, hierarchical routing techniques can be regarded as superior to flat routing approaches. Low power consumption as well as smart way of distributing the load is crucial to the routing protocol design in order to attain elongated WSN lifetime. We have already proposed a distributed routing algorithm; optimized forwarding by fuzzy inference systems (OFFIS) for the flat networks, where the decision is based on the distance power and link uses. In addition, we have proposed a two-layer OFFIS (2L-OFFIS) for environmental data collection in cluster-based sensor networks. In this talk, major routing protocols for the WSNs will be presented and the results will be compared with those that are achievable by the OFFIS and 2L-OFFIS techniques. Simulation results show that the network lifetime can be significantly elongated by utilizing the new protocol in hierarchical sensor networks.


Otolith chemistry of young-of-year (YOY) yellowfin tuna Thunnus albacares was examined to determine whether chemical signatures are distinct across major spawning areas in the Atlantic Ocean. YOY yellowfin tuna otoliths were collected from 4 locations in the Atlantic Ocean (Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, Cape Verde, and Gulf of Guinea) from 2013−2015, and trace element (Li, Mg, Mn, Sr, Zn, and Ba) and stable isotope (δ13C and δ18O) analyses were conducted to investigate regional variation in otolith chemical composition. Results indicated that significant regional differences in chemical signatures existed for each cohort of YOY yellowfin tuna investigated. Quadratic discriminant function analysis showed that nursery assignment accuracies based on otolith trace elements and stable isotopes were 64−85% for each cohort, justifying the use of these natural tracers as regional discriminators for yellowfin tuna. Significant interannual variability in regional signatures was also detected, highlighting the importance of age-class matching when using the baseline of nursery signatures to estimate the origin of sub-adult and adult yellowfin tuna. This study clearly demonstrates that baseline chemical signatures in the otoliths of YOY yellowfin tuna are distinct and can therefore serve as an effective tool for assigning older individuals to their nursery of origin, ultimately providing a way to improve our understanding of the population connectivity and mixing rates of this species in the Atlantic Ocean.


During the Cenozoic Era (the last 65 Ma), Antarctica's climate has evolved from ice free conditions of the 'Greenhouse world', which at its peak (~ 55 Ma) supported near-tropical forests, to the 'Icehouse' climate of today with permanent ice sheets, and a very sparse macroflora. This long-term cooling trend is punctuated by a number of major, abrupt, and in some cases, irreversible climate transitions. Reconstructing past changes in vegetation, sea surface temperature, hydroclimate and the carbon cycle require robust geological proxies that in turn can provide insights into climatic thresholds and feedbacks that drove major transitions in the evolution of Antarctica's ice sheets. Biomarkers allow climate and environmental proxy reconstructions for this region, where other more traditional paleoclimate methods are less suitable. This study has two aims. Firstly to assess the suitability and applicability of biomarkers in Antarctic sediments across a range of depositional settings and ages, and secondly to apply biomarker-based climate proxies to reconstruct environmental and climate conditions during key periods in the development of the Antarctic Ice Sheets.  The distribution and abundances of n-alkanes are assessed in Oligocene and Miocene sediments from a terrestrial outcrop locality in the Transantarctic Mountains, and two glaciomarine sediment cores and an ice-distal deep marine core from the western Ross Sea. Comparisons are made with n-alkane distributions in Eocene glacial erratics and sedimentary rocks of the Mesozoic Beacon Supergroup, both likely sources of reworked material. A shift in dominant chain length from n-C₂₉ to n-C₂₇ occurs between the Late Eocene and Early Oligocene, considered a response to a significant climate cooling. Samples from glaciofluvial environments onshore, and subglacial and ice-proximal environments offshore display a reworked n-alkane distribution, characterised by low carbon preference index (CPI), high average chain length (ACL) and high n-C₂₉/n-C₂₇ values. Whereas, samples from lower-energy, more benign lacustrine and ice-distal marine environments predominantly contained contemporary material.  Palynomorphs and biomarker proxies based on n-alkanes and glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs) are applied to a Late Oligocene and Early Miocene glaciomarine succession spanning the large transient excursion of the Mi-1 glaciation (~23 Ma) in DSDP Site 270 drill core from the central Ross Sea. While the Late Oligocene is marked by relatively warm conditions, regional cooling initiated a transition into Mi-1. This was likely driven by a combination of decreasing atmospheric CO₂ and an orbital geometry favouring low seasonality and cool summers, leading to an intensification of proto-Antarctic bottom water production as the Ross Sea deepened and cooled. Mi-1 manifests as a regionally cool period, with minimum subsurface temperatures of ~4°C and onshore mean summer temperatures of ~8°C. A negative n-alkane δ¹³C excursion of up to 4.8‰ is interpreted as a vegetation response to cold, restricted growing seasons, with plants driven to lower altitudes and more stunted growth forms. However, ocean temperatures remained too warm for marine-based ice sheets to advance onto the outer continental shelf and over-ride the drill site. The large increase in ice volume associated with this event, implied by global δ¹⁸O records, was probably held on a higher, terrestrial West Antarctica of greater extent than present day. The relative lack of ice rafted debris during Mi-1, suggests the presence of a marginal marine-terminating ice sheet with fringing ice shelves to the south of DSDP site 270, calving icebergs lacking a basal debris layer, similar to those calving from the Ross Ice Shelf today. This extensive ice cover may explain a large decrease in marine n-alkanes at this time restricting marine productivity on the continental shelf. The biomarker data for the Early Miocene in DSDP 270 indicates a relative warming in both terrestrial and marine temperatures following the transient Mi-1 glacial expansion, but an overall baseline cooling of climate between Late Oligocene and the Early Miocene in the Ross Sea embayment.  Isoprenoid GDGTs are used to reconstruct a Cenozoic subsurface ocean temperature compilation for the Ross Sea, a key source region of ocean deep water. The ocean temperature TEXL86 calibration and BAYSPAR in standard subsurface mode were considered, through comparison with independent microfossil and sedimentological data, the most appropriate for use in this region. Ocean temperatures cool prior to the Eocene/Oligocene transition and remain cool for the rest of the Cenozoic, with the exception of short periods of relative warmth in the Late Oligocene and Mid-Miocene Climate Optimum, and long-term trends broadly mirror that of the foraminiferal δ¹⁸O record from the deep Pacific. The Δ Ring Index is used to assess non-thermal influences on GDGT distributions, and displays a long term shift from more positive to more negative deviations. This correlates with %GDGT-0, and also relates to a declining trend in the Methane Index, which reflect the contribution of methanogenic and methanotrophic archaea. These changes suggest that these archaea contributed more to the archaeal community in the early to mid Cenozoic, potentially indicating a more anoxic depositional environment in the Ross Sea. The Branched to Isoprenoid Tetraether index (BIT) steadily declines over the Cenozoic, reflecting increasingly hyper-arid conditions onshore, with less active glaciofluvial systems, limited soil development and less ice-free land.


In 2006 an international standard, ISO 14025, was published on the principles and procedures of environmental product declarations (EPD). The standard gives requirements to the development of EPDs and PCRs and is used as a basis of EPD development within many EPD programmes globally. Despite an international standard, published EPDs today have different contents and format depending on who published the EPD. The main goal of EPDs is to provide objective, comparable and credible information about the environmental impacts of a product throughout its life cycle. These objectives can be diminished by the variations seen in EPDs and PCRs today. Through the mapping of six different international EPD programmes and the analysis of published PCRs and EPDs, this thesis shows that there is a need for communication between and harmonisation of EPD programmes at a global level. The main objective of this thesis is to contribute in the harmonisation of standards and guidelines for communication of environmental performance products and services in Norway. The thesis results in a recommendation to the Norwegian EPD Foundation within five areas; o format and layout of EPD o front page of EPD o environmental impact categories o user guide o online database


We have developed a micromachined flow cell consisting of a flow channel integrated with micropipettes. The flow cell is used in combination with an optical trap set-up (optical tweezers) to study mechanical and structural properties of /spl lambda/-DNA molecules. The flow cell was realised using silicon micromachining including the so-called buried channel technology to fabricate the micropipettes, the wet etching of glass to create the flow channel, and the powder blasting of glass to make the fluid connections. The volume of the flow cell is 2 /spl mu/l. The pipettes have a length of 130 /spl mu/m, a width of 5-10 /spl mu/m, a round opening of 1 /spl mu/m and can be processed with different shapes. Using this flow cell we stretched single molecules (/spl lambda/-DNA) showing typical force-extension curves also found with conventional techniques. These pipettes can be also used for drug delivery, for injection of small gas bubbles into a liquid flow to monitor the streamlines, and for the mixing of two liquids to study diffusion effects. The paper describes the design, the fabrication and testing of the flow cell.


Insulin-stimulated glucose uptake is a vital physiological process, which requires the translocation and fusion of insulin sensitive glucose transporter (GLUT4) vesicles from intracellular pools to the plasma membrane. Previous studies have implicated cortical actin reorganization in proper GLUT4-mediated glucose uptake. However, not much is known about how cortical actin is reorganized to allow GLUT4 vesicle fusion to the plasma membrane. A recent study found that myosin II is necessary in insulin-stimulated glucose uptake and implicated myosin II as a possible mechanism for cortical actin reorganization. Our study further examined the role of myosin II in insulin-stimulated glucose uptake. We found that myosin II associates with GLUT4 vesicles upon insulin stimulation. This study also found that myosin II is necessary for proper GLUT4 vesicle fusion and activation. The findings in this study are the first to demonstrate the dual role myosin II plays in GLUT4 vesicle fusion and activation during insulin-stimulated glucose uptake. Our results provide further understanding into cellular and molecular mechanisms necessary for proper glucose uptake.


Background: Food animals such as different rearing birds can transmit zoonotic enteropathogenic bacteria, which exist in their intestinal microbiota. This research was designed in order to molecular identification of Campylobacter, Arcobacter, as well as Salmonella in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) reared in farms of Northern Iran. Methods: Total of 100 cloacal samples were collected from 20 different quail farms. After extraction of total DNA, the samples subjected to molecular detection of the Campylobacter, Arcobacter, and Salmonella using polymerase chain reaction. By Chi-squared, all statistical analyses were performed by SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL (v. 18.0). Results: Totally, the prevalence rates of Campylobacter, Salmonella, and Arcobacter in samples were 95, 65, and 0%, respectively. The prevalence of Salmonella spp. in rural farms was significantly (p<0.05) higher than semi-industrial farms. Conclusion: High occurrence of Campylobacter spp. and Salmonella spp. were found in rearing quail populations of Mazandaran province, Northern Iran. These enteropathogens can contaminate food products obtained from the birds indicating their public health importance.


BACKGROUND
Depressive illness is common in old age. Prevalence in the community of case level depression is around 15% and milder forms of depression are more common. It causes significant distress and disability. The number of people over the age of 60 years is expected to double by 2050 and so interventions for this often long-term and recurrent condition are increasingly important. The causes of late-life depression differ from depression in younger adults and so it is appropriate to study it separately.This is an update of a Cochrane review first published in 2012.

OBJECTIVES
To examine the efficacy of antidepressants and psychological therapies in preventing the relapse and recurrence of depression in older people.

SEARCH METHODS
We performed a search of the Cochrane Common Mental Disorders Group's specialised register (the CCMDCTR) to 13 July 2015. The CCMDCTR includes relevant randomised controlled trials (RCTs) from the following bibliographic databases: The Cochrane Library (all years), MEDLINE (1950 to date), EMBASE (1974 to date), and PsycINFO (1967 to date). We also conducted a cited reference search on 13 July 2015 of the Web of Science for citations of primary reports of included studies.

SELECTION CRITERIA
Both review authors independently selected studies. We included RCTs involving people aged 60 years and over successfully treated for an episode of depression and randomised to receive continuation and maintenance treatment with antidepressants, psychological therapies, or a combination.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Two review authors independently extracted data. The primary outcome for benefit was recurrence rate of depression (reaching a cut-off on any depression rating scale) at 12 months and the primary outcome for harm was drop-outs at 12 months. Secondary outcomes included relapse/recurrence rates at other time points, global impression of change, social functioning, and deaths. We performed meta-analysis using risk ratio (RR) for dichotomous outcomes and mean difference (MD) for continuous outcomes, with 95% confidence intervals (CI).

MAIN RESULTS
This update identified no further trials. Seven studies from the previous review met the inclusion criteria (803 participants). Six compared antidepressant medication with placebo; two involved psychological therapies. There was marked heterogeneity between the studies.Comparing antidepressants with placebo on the primary outcome for benefit, there was a statistically significant difference favouring antidepressants in reducing recurrence compared with placebo at 12 months with a GRADE rating of low for quality of evidence (three RCTs, n = 247, RR 0.67, 95% CI 0.54 to 0.82; number needed to treat for an additional beneficial outcome (NNTB) 5). Comparing antidepressants with placebo on the primary outcome for harms, there was no difference in drop-out rates at 12 months' follow-up, with a GRADE rating of low.There was no significant difference between psychological treatment and antidepressant in recurrence rates at 12 months (one RCT, n = 53) or between combination treatment and antidepressant alone at 12 months.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
This updated Cochrane review supports the findings of the original 2012 review. The long-term benefits and harm of continuing antidepressant medication in the prevention of recurrence of depression in older people are not clear and no firm treatment recommendations can be made on the basis of this review. Continuing antidepressant medication for 12 months appears to be helpful with no increased harms; however, this was based on only three small studies, relatively few participants, use of a range of antidepressant classes, and clinically heterogeneous populations. Comparisons at other time points did not reach statistical significance.Data on psychological therapies and combined treatments were too limited to draw any conclusions on benefits and harms.The quality of the evidence used in reaching these conclusions was low and the review does not, therefore, offer clear guidance to clinicians and patients on best practice and matching interventions to particular patient characteristics.Of note, we identified no new studies that evaluated pharmacological or psychological interventions in the continuation and maintenance treatment of depression in older people. We are aware of studies conducted since the previous review that included both older people and adults under the age of 65 years, but these fall outside of the remit of this review. We believe that there remains a need for studies solely recruiting older people, particularly the 'older old' with comorbid medical problems. However, these studies are likely to be challenging to conduct and may not, so far, have been prioritised by funders.


Ibadi Islam is a distinct sect of Islam, neither Sunni nor Shi'ite, that emerged in the early Islamic period and remains active today in small pockets of North Africa and as the dominant sect of Oman. Despite its antiquity, it has often been misunderstood and remains little known. Seeking to redress this gap and to introduce this influential Islamic school to the non-Arabic-speaking world, Hoffman offers the first book-length overview of Ibadi theology published in English. Beginning with a concise overview of Ibadi history, Hoffman delineates the sectarian movement's role in the development of Islamic thought, tracing its distinctive teachings and literary history. In the second section, she provides annotated translations of two complementary modern Ibadi theological texts. This unique volume elucidates the religious and political thought by allowing the Ibadi tradition to speak for itself. The Essentials of Ibadi Islam gives readers, specialists and nonspecialists alike, a rare opportunity to understand the major teachings of Ibadi Islam.


Although countless journal articles and numerous books have described Legal Realism, The Forgotten Jurisprudential Debate: Catholic Legal Thought's Response to Legal Realism, is the first to describe the widespread and thoughtful critique of Realism by an organized jurisprudential movement of Catholic legal scholars during the 1930s-1940s.In this Article, we accomplish three goals. First, we describe the standard historical narrative in which the contributions by Catholic legal scholars are ignored or marginalized. This gap is surprising because the critique offered by Catholic legal scholars constituted the single largest body of criticism aimed at Realists. This gap is doubly surprising because the arguments offered by Catholic legal scholars were generally thoughtful and nuanced, in large measure because they built on the world-wide Neo-Scholastic revival then taking place. Second, we detail the neglected Catholic legal scholars' critique of Legal Realism. We describe the major Catholic legal scholars and how their movement drew upon, reflected, and facilitated the world-wide revival of Thomistic philosophy. Like other intellectual movements, Catholic legal scholars sought to institutionalize their movement in various ways. Third, we explore the oddness of historians' neglect and marginalization of Catholic legal scholar contributions. We end by suggesting causes for the poverty of extant historical accounts.


Admitting to the explosion of transmedia storytelling based on Korean webtoons and Japanese manga/anime, this Special Section focuses on the emergence of East Asian transmedia storytelling, which is rapidly growing. As the outcomes of the June 2018 Vancouver conference, the papers included in this section commonly attempt to investigate the recent surge of webtoons and manga/anime as the sources of transmedia storytelling for East Asian popular culture. The primary purpose of this Special Section is to explore whether cultural products utilizing transmedia storytelling take a major role as the primary local cultural product in the Asian cultural market in the 21st century. Some of them also historicize the evolution of regional popular culture according to the surrounding digital media ecology, driving the change and continuity of the manhwa industry, now focusing on webtoons, over the past 15 years.


A brief history of the phrase "Die Techie Scum," which has been appeared as graffiti on San Francisco walls, handed out on postcards, printed on shirts, and yelled at commuters to Silicon Valley. The die [fill in the blank] scum construction has been used frequently in the past thirty years, most often when issues of gentrification are at play, such as "Die Yuppie Scum," used in protests in New York City in the 1980s.


Cost and complexity associated with OPC and masks are rapidly increasing to the point that they could limit technology scaling in the future. This paper focuses on demonstrating the advantages of regular design fabrics for OPC simplification to enable scaling and minimize costs for technologies currently in volume production. The application of such a simplified OPC flow results in much smaller mask data volumes due to significantly fewer edges compared to the conventional designs and OPC flows. Moreover, the proposed approach enables reduced mask write times, hence lower mask costs. We compare OPC performance and complexity on standard cell designs to that of layouts on a regular design fabric. We first demonstrate advantages and limitations within an industrial model-based OPC solution. Then, a simplified rulebased OPC solution is discussed for the Metal 1 layer. This simplified OPC solution demonstrates a 70X run time improvement and an order of magnitude reduction in both the output edge count per unit shape and shot count per unit shape while maintaining the printabalility advantages of regular design fabrics. The simplified OPC also demonstrates a 50% reduction in mask-write time. Finally, the benefit of regular design fabrics for OPC simplification and mask cost reduction at a 32nm node is discussed.


© Touch MEdical MEdia 2013 Abstract What is quality of life? clinical trials have long been dominated by clinically based endpoints, but research has proved that health-related quality of life (hRQol) can only be captured accurately by patients themselves using patient reported outcomes (PRos). The united States Food and drug administration defines PRos as the measurement of any aspect of a patient's health status that comes directly from the patient, that is, a measurement taken without interpretation of the patient's responses by a physician or anyone else. The EoRTc QlQ-c30 is the most widely cancer specific hRQol questionnaire used for PRos in the world. developed in 1991 by the EoRTc Quality of life Group, it has been translated into more than 60 languages and has over 40 developed or under development cancer specific modules. one of the key challenges faced is pooling data and performing meta-analyses of the results of closed trials. The EoRTc Patient Reported outcomes and Behavioural Evidence (PRoBE) team is dedicated to the meta-analysis of EoRTc randomised clinical trial quality of life results. during the last five years, pooled data have revealed important results, such as prognostic indicators of survival, which have informed clinical practice. This research shows how the patient perspective in palliative and curative EoRTc trials has been considered of major importance. The inclusion of patient perspective in drug development shows that a more comprehensive hRQol assessment has taken place over time as better instruments have become available. as clinicians, regulatory bodies and industry acknowledge the value of the patient perspective, we expect that EoRTc will continue including hRQol endpoints where appropriate.


Black pepper (Piper nigrum L.) is considered to be the king among the spices. The State of Kerala alone contributes about 97% to the total pepper production in India. Seventy-five pepper varieties are cultivated in different parts of the country. Pungency and aroma are the most important qualities o fpepper, which is attributed to oleoresin and volatile oil respedively. The quality of pepper is very much dependent on the post-harvest methods. An extensive survey on the occurrence of the black pepper and drying methods were conducted in this investigation. Only conventional open sun drying is practised in the State of Kerala. Pepper samples colleded from different locations were dried in an imported tunnel dryer (Germany) and quality of the tunnel-dried spice was compared with commercial samples. Blanching was done before each drying. ASTA (American Spice Trade Association) and Agmark quality standards were tested on the tunnel dried and commercial samples. Significant variations of pepper quality between sampling stations were noticed. Approximately 6 days were taken for the drying of
commercial samples whereas in solar tunnel dryer it took only 8 hours. Piperine content in commercial samples
was only 4% l7y weight while in dryer samples it was 4.5% l7y weight. Tunnel dried samples had better physical
quality than the commercial samples as specified l7y ASTA. Quality improvement and redudion in drying time
were evident for the solar tunnel dried samples. Solar tunnel dryer imported from Germany is highly suitable for
black pepper drying. optimum conditions required for the drying of this spice could be defined. Physico-chemical
quality analyses proved that the dryer tested for the pepper drying is efficient enough to produce pepper of export quality.


This project has delivered outcomes that address major agronomic and crop protection issues closely linked to the profitability and sustainability of cotton production enterprises in CQ. From an agronomic perspective, the CQ environment was always though to support economically viable cotton production in a wide sowing window from the middle of September to early January prior to this research. The ideal positioning of Bollgard II varieties in the CQ planting window was, therefore, critical to the future of the local cotton industry because growers needed baseline information to determine how best to take advantage of the higher yield potential offered by the Bt cotton technology, optimise irrigation water use and fibre characteristics. The project's outputs include a number of key agronomic findings. Over three growing seasons, Bollgard II crop planted in the traditional sowing window from the middle of September to the end of October consistently produced the highest yields. The project delivers a clear and quantitative assessment of the impacts of planting outside the traditional cropping window - a yield penalty of between 1-4 bales/ha for November and December planted cotton. Whilst yield penalties associated with December-planted crops are clearly linked to declining heat units in the second half of the crop and a cool finish, those associated with November-planted cotton are not consistent with the theoretical yield potential for this sowing date. Further research to understand and minimize the physiological constraints on November-planted cotton would give CQ cotton growers far greater flexibility to develop mixed/double/rotation cropping farming systems that are relevant to the rapidly evolving nature of Agricultural production in Australia. The equivalence of cultivar types with clearly distinguishable, genetically based growth habits, demonstrated in this project, gives growers important information for making varietal choices. The entomological outcomes of this project represent strategic and tactical tools that are highly relevant to the viability and profitability of the cotton industry in Australia. The future of the cotton industry is inextricably linked to the survival and efficacy of GM cotton. Research done in the Callide irrigation area demonstrates the unquestionable potential for development of alternative and highly effective resistance management strategies for Bollgard II using novel technologies and strategies based on products such as Magnet®. Magnet® and similar technologies will be increasingly important in strategies to preserve the shelf life and efficacy of current and future generations of GM technology. However, more research will be required to address logistical and operational issues related to these new technologies before they can be fully exploited in commercial production systems. From an economic perspective, SLW is the sleeping giant in terms of insect nemeses of cotton, particularly from the standpoint of climate change and an increasingly warmer production environment. An effective sampling and management strategy for SLW which has been delivered by this project will go a long way towards minimising production costs in an environment characterised by rapidly rising input costs. SLW has the potential to permanently debilitate the national cotton industry by influencing market sentiment and quality perceptions. Field validation of the SLW population sampling models and management options in the Dawson irrigation area cotton and southern Queensland during 2006-07 documents the robustness of the entomological research outcomes achieved through this project.


Using a human myeloma cell line selected for resistance to doxorubicin (8226/DOX), which expresses the multidrug resistance phenotype, we studied the effects of drug accumulation on DNA damage and cytotoxicity in multidrug-resistant cells. The resistant 8226 subline showed a decrease in [14C]doxorubicin accumulation as compared to the sensitive (8226/S) subline at all time points investigated. DNA alkaline elution techniques were used to examine the formation of single and double strand breaks and DNA-protein cross-links following exposure to doxorubicin in both sensitive and resistant sublines. When 8226/S and 8226/DOX40 cells were exposed to the same extracellular concentration of doxorubicin there was a difference in the quantity of DNA lesions occurring, with the 8226/DOX40 line exhibiting less DNA damage. However, when the extracellular concentration of drug was adjusted to yield equivalent intracellular concentrations these differences were removed and both lines exhibited the same degree of damage for all three DNA lesions. The same DNA lesions were also studied in isolated nuclei from sensitive and resistant cells. Such a model removes any confounding factors due to drug accumulation such as altered cytosolic distribution and/or metabolism of drug. We observed no difference in the formation of single or double strand breaks, or DNA-protein cross-links when the nuclei were exposed to the same concentration of doxorubicin. Results from colony-forming assays have shown that when resistant and sensitive 8226 cells were exposed to high concentrations of doxorubicin, there was a good correlation between DNA damage, drug accumulation, and cytotoxicity. This relationship did not hold for lower concentrations of doxorubicin, for which there was a lack of correlation between drug accumulation and cytotoxicity. Such findings may possibly be due to a prolonged retention of drug by the sensitive cell line as compared to the resistant cells. Further studies are under way to examine this possibility.


Crowdsourcing opens the door to solving a wide variety of problems that previously were unfeasible in the field of machine learning, allowing us to obtain relatively low cost labeled data in a small amount of time. However, due to the uncertain quality of labelers, the data to deal with are sometimes unreliable, forcing practitioners to collect information redundantly, which poses new challenges in the field. Despite these difficulties, many applications of machine learning using crowdsourced data have recently been published that achieved state of the art results in relevant problems. We have analyzed these applications following a systematic methodology, classifying them into different fields of study, highlighting several of their characteristics and showing the recent interest in the use of crowdsourcing for machine learning. We also identify several exciting research lines based on the problems that remain unsolved to foster future research in this field.


Snake (Thamnophis spp.) proximal renal tubules were perfused and bathed in vitro either with medium containing sodium or with medium in which the sodium was replaced with choline. Net fluid absorption was measured by changes in volume marker concentration, and cell volumes and cell membrane surface areas were measured by ultrastructural morphometric methods. Net fluid absorption did not differ significantly in the presence or absence of sodium. However, during the 20-25-min perfusion in the absence of sodium, significant morphological changes took place. The volume of the cells, doubled and the volume of the intercellular spaces nearly quintupled. The areas of the lateral and apical cell membranes approximately doubled, but their surface densities remained essentially constant. Therefore the larger cells in the absence of sodium had proportionally enlarged surface areas, so that the volume-to-surface area ratio remained constant. These morphological changes occurred concomitantly with the maintenance of net fluid absorption and might play a permissive role in such maintenance in the absence of sodium.


In face of the burgeoning interest in
'ontology' in science studies, Michael
Lynch (2008) called for a move toward
'ontography', to talking about
ontologies by way of studies in which
ontologies (or at least, an ontology) are
of demonstrable relevance to the
doings of those being studied.
This paper provides an ontography, or
some part of one, in that it reports on
work in ontology development being
done by a group of researchers in
bioinformatics, drawing its examples
largely from a workshop in which
some members of that group were
participant and which was organised
by a research network to which they
belonged. Methodologies for building
'good' ontologies were part of the
interests of this wider research group
and were a motivation for the work
undertaken. What is evident from our
study is the fact that methods to be
applied, avenues to be explored and
even fundamental purposes were all in
the event 'up for grabs' and formed a
closely interlinked and mutually
explicating part of the 'logic in
practice' deployed.
We will show how this research work
was undertaken with reference to an
existing body of knowledge, yet
requiring distinctive courses of
'discovering work', concerning both
method and substantive content. How
were its results examined and reexamined
in the light of ongoing,
evolving and unanticipated
considerations? Describing how the
involved participants go about their
work is, then, 'an ontography' in
precisely the sense that Lynch
proposes.


The organization of mental disorders by clinicians can be viewed as a type of folk taxonomy. If this is true, the organizations of clinicians should exhibit certain properties; specifically, they should be hierarchical. This hierarchical nature is implicit in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – Fourth Edition (DSM-IV), which is the current organizational standard in the field of mental health. This study examined the organizations of three samples of clinicians: two expert samples (N = 7 and 21, respectively) and one novice sample (N = 13). The results indicate that clinicians do organize mental disorders in a hierarchical fashion, but not to the degree found in the DSM-IV. Remarkably, clinicians of varying experience and geographic location tested under separate methodological conditions produced the same hierarchical pattern. Files Name: KEELEY_JARED_29.pdf.txt  Size: 91.28Kb Name: KEELEY_JARED_29.pdf  Size: 421.1Kb Analysis of the Hierarchical Nature of Clinicians' Organization of Mental Disorders


Generalizing the concept of a Reeb graph, the Reeb space of a multivariate continuous mapping identifies points of the domain that belong to a common component of the preimage of a point in the range. We study the local and global structure of this space for generic, piecewise linear mappings on a combinatorial manifold.


Background and Aims
Root architecture is a primary determinant of soil resource acquisition. We hypothesized that root architectural phenes will display both positive and negative interactions with each other for soil resource capture because of competition for internal resources and functional trade-offs in soil exploration.

Methods
We employed the functional-structural plant model SimRoot to explore how interactions among architectural phenes in common bean determine the acquisition of phosphate and nitrate, two key soil resources contrasting in mobility. We evaluated the utility of basal root whorl number (BRWN) when basal root growth angle, hypocotyl-borne roots and lateral root branching density (LRBD) were varied, under varying availability of phosphate and nitrate.

Key Results
Three basal root whorls were optimal in most phenotypes. This optimum shifted towards greater values when LRBD decreased and to smaller numbers when LRBD increased. The maximum biomass accumulated for a given BRWN phenotype in a given limiting nutrient scenario depended upon root growth angle. Under phosphorus stress shallow phenotypes grew best, whereas under nitrate stress fanned phenotypes grew best. The effect of increased hypocotyl-borne roots depended upon BRWN as well as the limiting nutrient. Greater production of axial roots due to BRWN or hypocotyl-borne roots reduced rooting depth, leading to reduced biomass under nitrate-limiting conditions. Increased BRWN as well as greater LRBD increased root carbon consumption, resulting in reduced shoot biomass.

Conclusions
We conclude that the utility of a root architectural phenotype is determined by whether the constituent phenes are synergistic or antagonistic. Competition for internal resources and trade-offs for external resources result in multiple phenotypes being optimal under a given nutrient regime. We also find that no single phenotype is optimal across contrasting environments. These results have implications for understanding plant evolution and also for the breeding of more stress-tolerant crop phenotypes.


Up to now chemical adhesives based on polyurethane are used for the assembling of timber planks to large-scale structural elements, in particular cross-laminated timber panels (CLT), which opened new possibilities for architects and engineers in timber construction. The use of these adhesives still implicates, beside others, concerns about their impact on health and environment during application as well for later disposal. In order to overcome the geometrical limitations of timber by maintaining its physical and ecologic properties, adhesive-free friction welded bonds are a promising alternative to glued connections. The presented research focuses on the structural behaviour of the welded joint, its longevity and the numerical prediction of its load bearing capacity.


MD simulation reveals the nature of water transport inside the 1D and 3D nanochannels of self-assembled ionic liquid crystal. Self-assembled ionic liquid crystals can transport water and ions via the periodic nanochannels, and these materials are promising candidates as water treatment membranes. Molecular insights on the water transport process are, however, less investigated because of computational difficulties of ionic soft matters and the self-assembly. Here we report specific behavior of water molecules in the nanochannels by using the self-consistent modeling combining density functional theory and molecular dynamics and the large-scale molecular dynamics calculation. The simulations clearly provide the one-dimensional (1D) and 3D-interconnected nanochannels of self-assembled columnar and bicontinuous structures, respectively, with the precise mesoscale order observed by x-ray diffraction measurement. Water molecules are then confined inside the nanochannels with the formation of hydrogen bonding network. The quantitative analyses of free energetics and anisotropic diffusivity reveal that, the mesoscale geometry of 1D nanodomain profits the nature of water transport via advantages of dissolution and diffusion mechanisms inside the ionic nanochannels.


In contrast to other countries where official odometer readings are collected when cars are being inspected or whenever there is a change in the registration data, no such information is available in Germany. The published annual figures on mileage of German vehicles result from model calculations, based on different data sources. The last two large surveys on car use were carried out in 1993 and 2002. These data are analyzed to find determinants of car mileage traveled and to check if there was a significant change of average mileage within 10 years. The method used to find determinants of car mileage is a log-linear analysis of variance. In general, average annual mileage for a German passenger car was 13,500 km in 2002, about 5 % less than in 1993 (14,200 km per car). When both privately and business owned cars are included in the models, only car-specific characteristics can be used as explanatory variables. In these models there is a high effect of the survey year on the car mileage even if other variables - as car size, car age, and type of engine - are controlled for. However, if we consider private cars only, additional variables of individual users can be included in the models. In addition to engine type, age of car, horsepower, the age and gender of the driver are central variables explaining car mileage. The dummy variable for the year is significant as well, but its effect on average mileage is lower, although, e.g., fuel prices did rise by 50 % between 1993 and 2002. Obviously the demographic changes in motorization are dominant, while an effect of fuel price increase is not evident - apart from the trend towards diesel cars. These observations confirm research results, stating that individual preference for car use is a high-level inelastic demand.


Juvenile hormone (JH) is one of the principal hormones that regulate insect development and reproduction. Accumulating evidence suggests that Methoprene-tolerant (Met) protein is a nuclear receptor of JH. Work by others has shown that Met is capable of binding JH at physiological concentration. An RNAi knockdown of Met causes down-regulated expression of JH-responsive genes and a phenotype similar to that observed in JH-deficient insects, suggesting that Met is required for mediating physiological and molecular responses to JH. The work in this report aims to understand the mechanisms underlying gene regulation by JH via Met. Met is a bHLH-PAS (basic-helix-loop-helix Per-ARNT-Sim) family protein. Many proteins in this family function as heterodimers formed with other proteins of this family. In a yeast two-hybrid screening, we discovered that another bHLH-PAS family protein, FISC, interacts with Met in the presence of JH. FISC is also required for JH functions as an RNAi knockdown of FISC down-regulated JH-responsive genes. To elucidate how Met and FISC mediate JH functions in gene regulation, we employed molecular biology techniques and characterized the formation of a JH-Met-FISC complex and its actions in activating gene expression using mosquito Aedes aegypti as a model. My results demonstrated that Met and FISC forms a complex when JH is present via their conserved N-terminal domains. The complex then binds to E box-like sequences presented in the promoter of JH-responsive genes to activate gene expression. This mechanism also applies to the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, suggesting that it is a conserved action of JH in insects. Further studies showed that DNA-


ABSTRACT Two heavy water upgraders have been developed and operated in the Fugen Nuclear Power Station to keep the isotopic purity of the moderator around 99.7 wt% and to recover tritium from the degraded heavy water. One of the upgraders is a combined electrolysis catalyst exchange (CECE) process that consists of 90 stages of catalytic water-hydrogen isotopic separation units. This upgrader treats 10 m3/y of degraded heavy water, produces reactor grade heavy water, and lowers the tritium and heavy water in the waste to <3700 Bq/cm3 and <0.1wt%, respectively. The other one is simple electrolysis system and terminated its operation in 1999. Heavy water recycle is completed with these two upgraders in the Fugen. A filter-separation-type tritium monitor was developed. Daughter species of Rn-Tn are separated from sampled gas with hollow fiber filters made of perfluorosulfuric-acid resin before introducing to an ionization chamber. The detection limit of the monitor is 7.4E-03 Bq/cm3-air. The upgraders and monitor contributed to control airborne and liquid tritium releases from the Fugen lower than 18 TBq/y and 11 TBq/y, respectively.