Tailings are a fine-grained waste product produced during the metal recovery process. Tailings consist mostly of different silicates but also sulfides (e.g. pyrite), since 100 % metal recovery is not possible. Freshly processed tailings are deposited in large impoundments. If the mine tailings in the impoundments are exposed to water and oxygen, the sulfides will oxidize and release acidity and metals such as Fe, Cu, Zn, and Pb. The sulfide mineral oxidation reactions are catalyzed by sulfur and iron oxidizing bacteria (principally Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans) that oxidize ferrous iron to ferric iron, which then oxidizes pyrite. When the leachate produced by this process discharges from the impoundment, it is called acid mine drainage, which may lead to the pollution of adjacent streams and lakes.The intention with this thesis is to investigate and quantify mineral weathering processes and element release rates occurring in water-saturated and soil-covered sulfidic mine tailings. The study was performed in different batch and column experiments in room temperature and in the laboratory. The batch experiments were conducted for ca. three months and investigated: a) microbial and abiotic sulfide oxidation in freshly processed tailings under oxic conditions at pH 2-3 and pH 8, b) microbial oxidation of pure pyrite grains at pH 2-3 under different oxygen concentrations ranging from anoxic to oxic conditions. The column experiments, consisting of unoxidized tailings in water-saturated columns, were conducted for up to three years. In these experiments, an oxygen-saturated solution was continually pumped into the column inlet, and investigated: a) differences in oxidation rates between tailings of two different grain sizes, b) factors affecting element discharge rates, acid neutralization, and sulfide oxidation, c) the effect of ions released in a soil cover on release rates in the tailings.Sulfide oxidation processes within the batch experiments were limited by surface kinetics. The microbial oxidation of pure pyrite at atmospheric conditions produced the most rapid rate, while the microbial oxidation of pure pyrite at anoxic conditions was slower by 1.8 orders of magnitude. Microbial and abiotic oxidation of pyrite in freshly-processed tailings resulted in pyrite oxidation rates that were intermediate between these two extremes. The results from the microbial experiments with pure pyrite indicated a positive correlation between the concentration of dissolved oxygen, ferric iron and bacterial cells (at a total cell concentration > 106 cells/mL and a dissolved oxygen concentration ≥ 13.2 µM), which implies an interdependence of these factors. The results from these batch experiments support the indirect mechanism for microbial oxidation by the ferric oxidation pathway. Pyrite oxidation rates estimated from the batch experiments may be comparable with oxidation rates in the unsaturated zone and at the groundwater table in a tailings impoundment.Acid neutralization reactions in the column experiments resulted in the release of base cations to the column leachate. Calcite was the most important neutralizing mineral despite that it was only present in minor amounts in the tailings. It was confirmed that acidity forced the calcite dissolution. Element release rates in the column experiments were controlled by the availability of dissolved oxygen, which was a function of the water flow rate into the column. These column experiments also showed that the results are comparable with results from field studies, justifying the use of column experiments to study processes within tailings impoundments.


Immune checkpoint blockade with monoclonal antibodies directed at the inhibitory immune receptors CTLA-4, PD-1, and PD-L1 has emerged as a successful treatment approach for patients with advanced melanoma. Ipilimumab is the first agent associated with a documented improved overall survival benefit in this patient population. A striking attribute of CTLA-4 blockade is the durability of objective responses, leading to speculation of a possible cure for some patients. Many tumor responses achieved with PD-1 and PD-L1 inhibition were durable in the phase I trials and were seen in a higher proportion of patients with melanoma than typically observed with ipilimumab. Biomarker development to identify the subset of patients with melanoma who will achieve durable clinical benefit with checkpoint blockade is critical; tumor PD-L1 expression has been promising in early studies. The contrast between unprecedented response rates but limited durability of responses achieved with BRAF and MEK inhibition in BRAFV600-mutated melanoma and the impressive durability but relatively low rate of response achieved with immune checkpoint blockade is striking. Preclinical data on potential synergies between CTLA-4/PD-1/PD-L1 inhibition and MAPK-targeted therapy is emerging, and combined immune checkpoint blockade and MAPK inhibition are being explored in clinical trials. Other promising approaches to increase the number of patients with melanoma who benefit from durable responses with immune checkpoint blockade include concurrent or sequenced CTLA-4 and PD-1/PD-L1 inhibition and combination with other immunotherapeutic strategies. Clin Cancer Res; 19(19); 5300–9. ©2013 AACR.


Teachers and students need some time to adapt to the fast and constant advancement of new technologies and the new educational methodologies that arise from these. Hence, it is difficult to make the most of all the possibilities of the technological resources available today that can improve the teaching and learning process.
This is the case of Moodle, an
open source learning management system. Generally, the main use of a virtual campus based on Moodle is as a repository. However, another type of interactive learning
activities (such as quizzes, forums or lessons) can be performed.
In order to explore how to harness the interactivity of Moodle, in 2012 a master's thesis was carried out for the Master's Degree in Teacher Training of the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (UPC-
BarcelonaTech). The main goal of the thesis was the implementation of quizzes aimed at secondary education students, the main results of which are shown in the present work.


BACKGROUND
Bacterial beta-glucuronidase causes deconjugation of bilirubin diglucuronide resulting in the precipitation of calcium bilirubinate, which contributes to biliary sludge and stone formation. This process is attributed to enzyme activity produced by the aerobic enterobacteriaceae such as Escherichia coli and Klebsiella sp. The presence of Clostridium sp. was detected in 48 of 56 intrahepatic stones by using polymerase chain reaction techniques and cultured Clostridium perfringens from 14 of 18 unblocked biliary stents. Such bacteria are reported to produce beta-glucuronidase activity. The aim of this study was to determine the proportion of biliary bacteria isolated from pigment stones and stents that produce beta-glucuronidase and to compare the enzyme activity expressed by the different bacteria in human bile.

METHODS
A total of 202 bacteria were isolated from blocked and unblocked biliary stents and pigment ductal stones recovered from patients. Of these, 61 bacteria expressed beta-glucuronidase activity in brain heart infusion broth. These 61 bacteria were subsequently grown in human bile under aerobic or anaerobic conditions to the early stationary phase and assayed for beta-glucuronidase activity by using rho-nitrophenyl beta-D glucuronide as substrate. Results were normalized and reported as units of enzyme activity per milligram protein of the bacteria.

RESULTS
C. perfringens produced beta-glucuronidase enzyme activity that was 34-fold higher than that for E coli, Staphylococcus, Corynebacterium sp., Bacillus sp., Enterococcus sp., Acinetobacter sp., Streptococcus sp., and Klebsiella sp.

CONCLUSION
C. perfringens with its higher enzyme activity is more important in the deconjugation of bilirubin diglucuronide than E coli and Klebsiella sp.


Mechanical power and work reveal the important aspects of muscle interactions in performance. Leg joint power patterns during ground-contact have been documented in sprinters during acceleration (Johnson & Buckley, 2001: Journal of Sports Sciences, 19, 263 – 272) and distance runners at maximum velocity (Belli et al., 2002: International Journal of Sports Medicine, 23, 136 – 141), but not in sprinters at maximum velocity. The aim of this study was to quantify the joint power and work patterns of an elite sprinter during a ground-contact phase at maximum velocity to improve our understanding of the muscular control of the movement. Synchronized sagittal plane video (200 Hz) and ground reaction force (1000 Hz) data were obtained from one world-class male sprinter, who had given written informed consent, at 45 m of two 60-m maximal sprints (at velocities of 10.37 and 10.14 m s71). Metatarsophalangeal, ankle, knee, hip, and shoulder joint centres were manually digitized on the side of the ground leg and reconstructed using the two-dimensional direct linear transformation. All raw data were digitally filtered after residual analysis and joint power and work were calculated at the leg joints using conventional inverse dynamics equations. The hip extensors performed positive work early in stance (82 and 131 J). Positive work at the ankle (82 and 52 J) began in both trials approximately 0.015 s before it ceased at the hip. Positive work occurred at the knee (11 and 15 J) soon after touchdown, but was negligible for the remainder of stance. The timings of knee power phases were inconsistent between trials. Ankle and hip patterns mostly supported previous findings, but the lack of major positive knee extensor work in late stance did not (Belli et al., 2002; Johnson & Buckley, 2001). Johnson and Buckley (2001) suggested the powerful knee extension propelled the body forwards rather than upwards, but it has been suggested that, at maximum velocity, vertical not horizontal force production is crucial (Mann, 1985: In The elite athlete, edited by N. Butts, T. Gushiken, & B. Zarins. Jamaica, NY: Spectrum Publications). The generally low power measured at the knee suggests a stabilizing and compensatory, rather than power-producing, role for the joint, which may be linked to the specific demands of maximum velocity sprinting, presented by Mann (1985). Future studies will determine whether these characteristics are specific to the athlete studied, or are typical of all elite sprinters at maximum velocity.


This research note reflects on the gaps and limitations confronting the development of ethical principles regarding the accessibility of large-scale data for civil society organizations (CSOs). Drawing upon a systematic scoping study on the use of data in the United Kingdom (UK) civil society, it finds that there are twin needs to conceptualize accessibility as more than mere availability of data, as well as examine the use of data among CSOs more generally. In order to deal with the apparent "digital divide" in UK civil society – where, despite extensive government rhetoric about data openness, organizations face not only the barriers of limited time, funds, and expertise to harness data but also the lack of representation within existing data – we present a working model in which ethical concerns accompanying data utilization by civil society may be better accounted. This suggests there is a need for further research into the nexus of civil society and data upon which interdisciplinary discussion about the ethical dimensions of engagement with data, particularly informed by insight from the social sciences, can be predicated.


Although actions often appear in the visual periphery, little is known about action recognition outside of the fovea. Our previous results have shown that action recognition of moving life-size human stick figures is surprisingly accurate even in far periphery and declines non-linearly with eccentricity. Here, our aim was (1) to investigate the influence of motion information on action recognition in the periphery by comparing static and dynamic stimuli recognition and (2) to assess whether the observed non-linearity in our previous study was caused by the presence of motion because a linear decline of recognition performance with increasing eccentricity was reported with static presentations of objects and animals (Jebara et al. 2009; Thorpe et al. 2001). In our study, 16 participants saw life-size stick figure avatars that carried out six different social actions (three different greetings and three different aggressive actions). The avatars were shown dynamically and statically on a large screen at different positions in the visual field. In a 2AFC paradigm, participants performed 3 tasks with all actions: (a) They assessed their emotional valence; (b) they categorized each of them as greeting or attack and (c) they identified each of the six actions. We found better recognition performance for dynamic stimuli at all eccentricities. Thus motion information helps recognition in the fovea as well as in far periphery. (2) We observed a non-linear decrease of recognition performance for both static and dynamic stimuli. Power law functions with an exponent of 3.4 and 2.9 described the non-linearity observed for dynamic and static actions respectively. These non-linear functions describe the data significantly better (p=.002) than linear functions and suggest that human actions are processed differently from objects or animals. Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2015.


The optimal response of monetary policy to financial instability is a long standing question whose policy relevance is now emphasized by the increase in available liquidity and in firms' financial exposure. Bernanke, Gertler and Gilchrist (1998) build a model in which credit frictions occur on the demand for capital investment and induce demand driven fluctuations which exacerbate shock transmission. In this context the policy maker does not face any trade-off as output stabilization is achieved through inflation targeting. I build a sticky price DSGE model in which the demand for working capital is affected both by a cost channel and an external finance premium. In this context the policy instrument affects the cost of collateralizable loans which in turn affects firms' marginal cost and inflation dynamics (supply side driven fluctuations). The optimal monetary policy design is based upon both constrained and global Ramsey policies. Results show that: a) the optimal inflation level lies between zero and the one prescribed by the Friedman rule, b) the optimal dynamic path features deviations from price stability, c) the optimal rule features asset price targeting.


Human commuting activity plays a significant role in understanding urban transport systems. This paper proposes a novel approach to modelling commuting distance distribution in a concise way. Having studied a small number of training data in New Zealand, it is found that the human commuting distance distribution can be quantified as a simple CDF exponential function with only one parameter to be determined, and the parameter is mainly dependent on the average distance to employment catchment. Besides its good predictability for test data, a Monte Carlo method to calculate the commuting VKT was introduced in the course of validation with considerable approximation to the real VKT observation. Two case studies on how to apply this model are presented to manifest its strength in exploring low carbon potentials in urban transport system, assuming that commuters could cycle to their workplaces in short distance, and an efficient commuting bus line was developed to replace the car driving in long distance. This model is convenient in simulating and predicting commuting distance distribution with limited data availability, and provides a quantitative foundation for analyzing urban transport resilience and emission mitigation.


Symbol When you know Multiply by To find Symbol mi miles 1.61 kilometers km km kilometers 0.621 miles mi v This study assesses a range of public transit markets for Florida and the U.S. as a whole. Data from the 2009 National Household Travel Survey are used. The public transit markets are defined with trip purpose and seven personal, household, and travel characteristics of persons in these transit markets, including driver status, immigration status, existence of medical conditions that make it difficult to travel out of the home, household income, vehicle availability, race and ethnicity, and monthly frequency of transit use. Based on an approach of cross tabulations, this study assesses these transit markets from five perspectives: 1. Market Size-how the overall transit market is distributed across these transit sub-markets. 2. Modal Share-how people within each transit market travel using various modes, including transit. 3. Attitudes-how people within each transit market feel about a set of transportation issues. 4. Socio-Demographics-personal, household, location, and travel characteristics of transit markets. 5. Trip Characteristics-transit-specific and general trip characteristics of transit markets. The assessment for Florida is limited to the first three perspectives due to sample size issues. The results presented are useful to operating agencies for strategic planning and to other government bodies for developing policies and funding programs for improving mobility of those who are transportation and economically disadvantaged and for improving the transportation system in general.


Few studies have focused specifically on the role that language plays in learning chemistry. We report here an investigation into the ability of language comprehension measures to predict performance in university introductory chemistry courses. This work is informed by theories of language comprehension, which posit that high-skilled comprehenders hold a cognitive advantage over the low-skilled because of a heightened ability to inhibit contextually irrelevant details and utilize prior knowledge to effectively bridge conceptual gaps when comprehending new information. Over a two-year period, data on comprehension ability, math ability, prior chemistry knowledge, and course performance were obtained in multiple general chemistry courses. Regression analyses and hierarchical linear models (HLMs) were utilized to establish relationships between predictor variables and course performance and to determine if comprehension ability could potentially compensate for low prior knowledge, a phenomenon predicted by theories of comprehension ability. Results indicate that comprehension ability correlates with general chemistry performance; it also contributes comparable information about course performance when compared to math ability and prior knowledge. In addition, we found that comprehension skill partially compensates for deficits in prior knowledge. Therefore, efforts to prepare students for success in general chemistry should include both content and the development of language comprehension skill.


A unified approach to the design and development of distributed control software is presented. This method is the result of a 'tight' integration between a formal method for concurrent systems (CSP) and a structured method for distributed control system (DARTS). The work presented in this thesis does not seek to extend the semantic model of CSP nor to design a specific control algorithm, rather, efforts are made to apply the existing specification and verification techniques to enhance the formality of the well established and case-proven structured counterparts that benefits are captured from both methods. As a methodology is the central aim, the suggested approach is a first step towards a complete unified software development environment, which engineers can follow from organising design ideas to system implementation with proven correctness. The thesis develops a set of parameterised CSP predicates for expressing concurrency and communication together with a corresponding set of generic processes to reflect these specified behaviours. These generic processes are formal building blocks for generating system implementations at different levels of abstraction. Utilisation of DARTS criteria and the parameterised CSP objects frame the refinement strategies. Also, mappings of generic processes to pictorial representations are suggested which enable easy assimilation of the evolving designs. Applicability of the approach is demonstrated through a high level software design of a highperformance robot control system where its suitability is shown via requirement specifications, properties verification and implementation of salient behaviours using generic building blocks. Although verification often means rigorous mathematical reasoning, the thesis presents a proof assistant the Causality Diagram Evaluation Tool to automate the manipulation of CSP processes according to the defined algebraic laws. It is shown to be of value in reasoning with designs and implementations of the robot system. It is found that the analysis facility and the graphical interpretation of communication provided by the tool allow effective analysis and manipulation of early designs. The results derived from specifying essential design details, from transforming highly abstracted implementation models, and from investigation of system behaviours through formal reasoning and simulation conclude that formal methods, in particular CSP, has a niche value in enhancing software reliability at the sub-system level as well as providing a better underpinning to the structured method DARTS. The end product is a method to generate a correct and unambiguous document of the system concerned that is amenable to a direct implementation.


As the 587 colorful images in this magnificent volume reveal, animals were a constant - and delightful - presence in illuminated manuscripts throughout the Middle Ages. Many proto-zoological illustrations, of great charm but variable accuracy, are found in the bestiaries, or compendiums of animal lore, that were exceedingly popular in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. But animals are depicted in every other sort of illuminated manuscript as well, from the eighth-century Echternach Gospels, with its geometrically schematized symbols of the Evangelists, to the early fifteenth-century Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, with its famously naturalistic scenes of peasant and aristocratic life. In his insightful opening chapters, the noted art historian Christian Heck explains that the prevalence of animals in illuminated manuscripts reflects their importance in medieval thought, an importance due in part to the agricultural society of that age, in which a variety of species-and not just docile pets-were the daily companions of man. Animals also had a greater symbolic significance than they do today: in popular fables, such as those of Reynard the Fox, they held up a mirror to the follies of mankind, and on the religious plane, they were understood as an integral part of God's creation, whose attributes and behaviors could be taken as clues to His plan of salvation. The main part of the book explores the complex and fascinating iconography of the individual creatures most frequently depicted by medieval miniaturists. It is arranged in the manner of a proper bestiary, with essays on one hundred animals alphabetized by their Latin names, from the alauda, or lark, whose morning song was thought to be a hymn to Creation, to the vultur, which enjoyed a certain respect due to its impressive appearance, but whose taste for carrion also made it a symbol of the sinner who indulges in worldly pleasures. The selection includes a number of creatures that would now be considered fantastic, including the griffin, the manticore, and of course the fabled unicorn, tamable only by a gentle maiden. Not merely a study of art history, The Grand Medieval Bestiary uses a theme of timeless interest to present a panorama of medieval life and thought that will captivate even the most sophisticated modern reader.


Based on Science, Technology & Innovation (ST&I) indicators, Brazil is a competitive and interesting country from the point of view of technological foreign investment. However, it is still incipient with regard to national investments, production of technological knowledge, inbound mobility of scientists and technology transfer to the productive sector. Among many other factors, global patent production is considered as an important indicator of innovation. Likewise, the balance between revenue and expenses obtained through royalties and licensing fees of technologies is also critical in mapping the diffusion and absorption of knowledge. The understanding of intellectual property and its strategic management brings a significant advantage to the economic and technological development of nations, especially in the field of chemistry, which greatly contributes to biotechnology, new materials and microelectronics - three fundamental areas for innovation in developed countries. Therefore, this article aims to map out competencies in chemistry in Brazil and evaluate science, technology and innovation indicators in the country, comparing this dynamic to the one of other BRIC members (Russia, India and China). Chemistry is the fourth biggest field of interest in Brazil based on the number of researchers registered at the governmental platform for researchers, Plataforma Lattes/CNPq, and is preceded by education, medicine and agronomy. The majority of research groups are registered in the area of materials, followed by macromolecules and polymers, pharmaceutical products and basic materials chemistry. These groups represent approximately 77% of research groups analyzed, therefore, indicating a tendency in the country. The analyses of patents in different sub-areas of chemistry reveal that non-residents file most deposits in the country, a probable reflection of the low internal intellectual property culture. Pharmaceutics and Fine Chemistry are prominent areas in the country, in line with the global trend. Among BRIC countries, China has the highest number of patents and of requests for protection in international offices. On the other hand, Brazil has the lowest number of chemical patents published at USPTO, EPO and JPO. An analysis of the transfer of technology data indicates an increase in this activity in various sub-areas of chemistry in the country. Despite the great efforts made by the country to consolidate its national innovation system, more needs to be done to put Brazil in a competitive position. In a globalized world dominated by large players, Brazil needs a lot of progress on ownership and generation of chemistry technologies to strengthen its national sovereignty. It is essential to strengthen chemical research at all levels, from elementary school to university, as an inexhaustible source of knowledge and technology that, when properly protected, may generate real public achievement and social return.


In this paper we aim at investigating whether introducing more transparency may help reducing embezzlement. This is done by running a series of laboratory experiments based on a modified dictator game with intermediaries who have the opportunity to embezzle money between the donor and the final receiver. Precisely our design is a 2x2 design. We vary both the number of intermediaries (from no intermediary, short chain with one intermediary to a long chain with two intermediaries) as well as the degree of information of the final receiver about the initial amount sent by the sender (no information or full information). We ran our experiment in Tanzania, considered as one of the most corrupted countries in the world according to Transparency International. Our subject pool consists of 1080 participants from two locations in Tanzania : Dar el Salaam and Mazimbu. Our main findings indicate that reducing the number of intermediaries increases significantly the average amount received by the final receiver. This is due to the combination of two effects i) the fact that there are mechanically less potential embezzlers and ii) the fact that the senders are significantly more generous when the number of intermediaries is low. Regarding the effect of information, this effect is less clear cut. Indeed we find no evidence of an information effect on the amount received by the final receiver. Furthermore, while information disciplines the intermediaries, this is only the case when the chain is short (i.e. with one intermediary).


Patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS), or pain in the area of the kneecap, has been diagnosed in as many as one in four patients seen at a sports medicine clinic, yet its etiology and risk factors are surprisingly not well understood (Devereaux & Lachmann, 1984). Lack of consensus in the literature suggests that the cause of PFPS is multifactorial, and in fact the etiology may be dependent on individual patients. One of the commonly studied risk factors for developing patellofemoral pain syndrome is overpronation at the subtalar joint. Patients with PFPS have been observed to have less dorsiflexion range of motion as compared to healthy individuals, though the topic has not been thoroughly investigated (Piva, Goodnite, & Childs, 2005; Witrouw, Lysens, & Bellemans, 2000). Compensatory pronation due to tightness of the plantar flexors may translate proximally into movement at the knee as the body continues to absorb the shock of landing, especially during running. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine how dorsiflexion range of motion (DFROM) is related to movement at the knee in the transverse, sagittal, and frontal planes. DFROM was measured during a weight-bearing lunge. Initial, peak, and excursion values for the ankle, knee and hip was calculated during the initial phase of a drop jump landing, as well as maximum joint moments, stiffness, and energy absorption for extensors of the lower extremity. Pearson product-moment correlations determined relationships between DFROM and ankle, knee, and hip kinetics and kinematics. Results showed positive correlations between dorsiflexion range of motion and peak ankle and knee flexion (Ankle: r = .637, p = .003; Knee: r = .604, p =.006), as well as knee flexion and hip flexion excursion (Knee: r = .634, p=.004; Hip: r = .461, p = .047) No significant correlations were seen in any other planes. No correlations were seen with joint moments or stiffness values, but there was a significant correlation between DFROM and knee and hip energy absorption (Knee: r = -.456, p = .049; Hip: r = -.524 p = .021). These results support the idea that ankle dorsiflexion range of motion is related to proximal biomechanics, however the effects are limited to the sagittal plane. Those with lower values of dorsiflexion range of motion appear to have a propensity toward a "harsher" landing, which may increase their risk for sustaining both overuse and acute injuries.


TiO2/CuxOy nanotube (NT) arrays were synthesized using the anodization method in the presence of ethylene glycol and different parameters applied. The presence, morphology, and chemical character of the obtained structures was characterized using a variety of methods—SEM (scanning electron microscopy), XPS (X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy), XRD (X-ray crystallography), PL (photoluminescence), and EDX (energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy). A p-n mixed oxide heterojunction of Ti-Cu was created with a proved response to the visible light range and the stable form that were in contact with Ti. TiO2/CuxOy NTs presented the appearance of both Cu2O (mainly) and CuO components influencing the dimensions of the NTs (1.1–1.3 µm). Additionally, changes in voltage have been proven to affect the NTs' length, which reached a value of 3.5 µm for Ti90Cu10_50V. Degradation of phenol in the aqueous phase was observed in 16% of Ti85Cu15_30V after 1 h of visible light irradiation (λ > 420 nm). Scavenger tests for phenol degradation process in presence of NT samples exposed the responsibility of superoxide radicals for degradation of organic compounds in Vis light region. Inactivation of bacteria strains Escherichia coli (E. coli), Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis), and Clostridium sp. in presence of obtained TiO2/CuxOy NT photocatalysts, and Vis light has been studied showing a great improvement in inactivation efficiency with a response rate of 97% inactivation for E. coli and 98% for Clostridium sp. in 60 min. Evidently, TEM (transmission electron microscopy) images confirmed the bacteria cells' damage.


Several fastidious bacteria have been associated with bacterial vaginosis (BV), but their role in lactobacilli recolonization failure is unknown. This study examined the effect of seven BV-associated bacterial species and two Lactobacillus species on vaginal colonization with L. crispatus CTV-05 (LACTIN-V). Twenty four women with BV were treated with metronidazole vaginal gel and then randomized 3:1 to receive either LACTIN-V or placebo. Vaginal swabs for L. crispatus CTV-05 culture and 9-bacterium specific 16S rRNA gene quantitative PCR assays were analyzed on several study visits for the 18 women receiving LACTIN-V. Vaginal colonization with CTV-05 was achieved in 61% of the participants receiving LACTIN-V at either the day 10 or the 28 visit and 44% at day 28. Participants not colonized with CTV-05 had generally higher median concentrations of BV-associated bacteria compared to those who colonized. Between enrollment and day 28, the median concentration of Gardnerella vaginalis minimally reduced from 104.5 to 104.3 16S rRNA gene copies per swab in women who colonized with CTV-05 but increased from 105.7 to 107.3 in those who failed to colonize (p=0.19). Similarly, the median concentration of Atopobium spp. reduced from 102.7 16S rRNA gene copies per swab to below limit of detection (375 rRNA gene copies per swab) in women who colonized with CTV-05 but increased from 102.7 to 106.6 in those who failed to colonize (p=0.04). The presence of endogenous L. crispatus at enrollment was found to be significantly associated with a reduced odds of colonization with CTV-05 on day 28 (p=0.003) and vaginal intercourse during the study significantly impaired successful CTV-05 colonization (p=0.018). These results suggest that vaginal concentration of certain BV-associated bacteria, vaginal intercourse duringtreatment and presence of endogenous L. crispatus at enrollment predict failure of colonization with probiotic lactobacilli.


This Article analyzes the politics, implementation, and influence of Infant Safe Haven laws. These laws, enacted across the states in the early 2000s in response to much-publicized discoveries of dead and abandoned infants, provide for the legal abandonment of newborns. They offer new mothers immunity and anonymity in exchange for leaving their babies at designated Safe Havens. Yet despite widespread enactment, the laws have had relatively little impact on the phenomenon of infant abandonment. This Article explains why this is so, focusing particularly on a disconnect between the legislative scheme and the characteristics of neonaticidal mothers that makes the use of Safe Havens less likely. The heart of the argument, however, focuses not on what Safe Haven laws fail to accomplish, but on what they achieve. This Article argues that these laws are properly understood within a larger political culture, one increasingly organized around the protection of unborn life, and that identifies itself as the culture of life. By connecting infant life to unborn life and infanticide to abortion, Safe Haven laws work subtly to promote the political goal of the culture of life: the reversal of Roe v. Wade. The laws' primary achievements may therefore be less criminological than cultural. Through an investigation of state legislative histories, this Article suggests that the rhetoric and politics of abortion set the stage for the quick enactment of Safe Haven laws nationwide. It also examines the legislative and social mechanisms by which unwed pregnancy and abortion have been taken off the table, creating a psychological crisis that leads some young women to fatally abandon their newborns.


"The survey of commercial job opportunities in the City of McAllen, Texas, was undertaken for the purpose of determining: 1. The numerical importance of training for the different kinds of local commercial positions. 2. The desired age, sex, training, and experience for employees in the different commercial positions of the City. 3. Information to be used in the revision of the commercial curriculum of the McAllen Senior High School and in the vocational guidance of students, and in the placement of graduates. 4. The importance and kinds of office equipment in general use locally. 5. The means by which employers of the City of McAllen, Texas, obtain commercial employees. A local survey seemed desirable in order to understand the local situation and needs in regard to commercial courses offered in the high school, and to revise the commercial curriculum intelligently."--leaf 1.


In response to three articles on managed care by Allen Buchanan, David Mechanic, and Ezekiel Emanual and Lee Goldman (this issue), I discuss doctor-patient and organization-member trust and the moral obligations of those relationships. Trust in managed care organizations (providers of and payers for health care) stands in stark contrast to the current contractual model of health insurance purchase, but is more coherent with consumer expectations and with the provider role of such organizations. Such trust is likely to differ from that between doctors and patients. Financial reimbursement systems for physicians, one example of organizational change in our health system, can be evaluated for their impact on both kinds of trust according to their intrusiveness, openness, and goals. Although involving managed care enrollees in value-laden decisions that affect them is commendable, restrictions on or regulation of physician incentive systems may be better accomplished on a national level.


Hyperthermia has been shown to be a potentially effective therapeutic modality in cancer treatment as it intensifies the efficacy of chemotherapy. The hyperthermia has a good synergic effect with chemotherapy. Their sensitivity to chemotherapy after hyperthermia treatment is increased. Therefore, a simultaneous hyperthermia and chemotherapy can be a new approach for cancer treatment. Multifunctional magnetic nanoparticles with thermoresponsive polymer allowed the simultaneous cancer therapy because the functions of thermo triggered drug release and heating for hyperthermia can be performed simultaneously by applied magnetic field. In our study, magnetic nanoparticles loaded thermoresponsive micelles were synthesized for the simultaneous magnetic hyperthermia and chemotherapy. The micelles made of amphiphilic block copolymer of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-acrylamide)-block-poly(e-caprolaction), P(NIPAAm-co-AAm)-b-PCL, were combined with magnetic nanoparticles and drug which are self-assembled at the hydrophobic core. We synthesized iron oxide nanoparticles having a narrow size distribution of 6 nm by the high-temperature diol reduction in benzyl ether. The amphiphilic block copolymer, P(NIPAAm-co-AAm)-b-PCL was synthesized by radical polymerization for copolymer and ring opening polymerization for block copolymer, respectively. Iron oxide loaded thermoresponsive micelles were formed by solvent-evaporation method. Simultaneous heating and drug release was demonstrated with the anticancer drug doxorubicin.


The risk premium in the US stock market has fallen far below its historic level, which Shiller (2000) attributes to a bubble driven by psychological factors. As an alternative explanation, we point out that the observed risk premium may be reduced by one-sided intervention policy on the part of the Federal Reserve which leads investors into the erroneous belief that they are insured against downside risk. By allowing for partial credibility and state dependent risk aversion, we show that this 'insurance' – referred to as the Greenspan put – is consistent with the observation that implied volatility rises as the market falls. Our bubble, like Shiller's, involves market psychology: but what we describe is not so much 'irrational exuberance' as exaggerated faith in the stabilising power of Mr. Greenspan.


Despite decades of research on the treatment of mental illness, providing services to the public remains a significant concern. According to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a large number of individuals suffer from psychiatric conditions, yet few receive the necessary treatment. Among ethnic minority populations, there is a larger gap in the lack of service use. Help-seeking for professional help has been linked to a variety of variables including education level, stigma towards services, ethnic background, and cultural variables. Research on improving mental health outcomes in primary care settings has been prioritized over the years. However, ethnic minorities are often underrepresented in outpatient mental health care settings. The purpose of this paper is to overview factors that contribute to and hinder ethnic minorities' use of outpatient psychiatric treatment. The paper will review the current literature on help-seeking among African Americans, Asian Americans, American Indians, and Latino Americans; and explore implications for improving care.


The Religious Identity of Young Muslim Women in Berlin offers an in-depth ethnographic account of Muslim youth's religious identity formation and their everyday life engagement with Islam. It deals with the reconstruction of selfhood and the collective content of identity formation in an urban and transnational setting.


This paper proposes a data layout method for reducing the rotation delay of read access in Modern hard disk drive. TPL (Track Partition Layout) is a data layout that mainly bases on the detailed knowledge of the hard disk's physicalgeometry. By dividing one disk track into a set of partitions of sectors and duplicating data in these partitions, the rotational latency would be greatly reduced. And the method also contribute to minimizing the response time of disk request. We have implemented this layout method in the widely used disk simulator - DiskSim by slightly revising the code in disk controller module, and have chosen four different types of disk to run the experiment. As the simulationshows, with a typical workload trace, the average rotational latency decreased to 70% when dividing a track into only two partitions. This number further drops to 42% when the number of partition reaches 32. Also, the averageoverall I/O system response time drops correspondingly from 83% to 65%.


Thirty-three state legislatures have introduced (and five have enacted) "blocking" initiatives that prohibit the use of foreign or international law in state judicial decisions. Some states, such as Oklahoma, extend this ban to religious tenets, notably Sharia law. Scholarly discourse to date has focused principally upon how such legislation discriminates against minority religious groups. The academic community has yet to consider the serious collateral (and apparently unintended) impact of such laws on the American legal profession, which is the subject of this article.Blocking laws make it all but impossible for practicing lawyers to fulfill their ethical obligations in legal matters abroad, which forces them either to decline legal work overseas or to risk violating foreign laws. Blocking initiatives also create uncertainty about ethical duties at home whenever domestic legal work includes a transnational dimension. Such laws resurrect the "double deontology" problem (where inconsistent ethical duties apply simultaneously) that the revised ABA Model Rules intended to solve. They also eviscerate the Rules' safe harbor protection on difficult choice of law questions.Blocking measures also interfere with wider regulatory structures. They infringe unconstitutionally on the power of state judiciaries to prescribe substantive ethical rules and to regulate lawyer conduct abroad. They also disrupt reciprocal discipline between American states and relationships between state judiciaries and federal courts. This confluence of negative outcomes is completely unnecessary because judges have sufficient tools already to guard against potential abuses in the application of foreign or international law. Apart from invalidating existing laws as unconstitutional, there should be a concerted effort by American lawyers, state judiciaries, and bar organizations to oppose such initiatives becoming law in the first place. There certainly is room for spirited disagreement over the proper role of foreign and international law in American courts. But this requires a genuine debate, not legislative ultimatums that foreclose all further consideration. Blocking laws essentially require American lawyers (not to mention judges — members of co-equal branches of state government) to pretend that foreign and international law do not exist. Such proposals are neither workable nor wise, and they amount to little more than misguided hope that certain global legal realities — if sufficiently ignored — might simply go away.


Objectives To evaluate innate immunity responses, lung function and symptoms in volunteers acutely exposed to organic dust in swine buildings after installing particle separators aimed to reduce particulate matter exposure. Methods 11 healthy participants were exposed in 2 different facilities, with and without installed particle separators, in a cross-over design including 2–3 weeks wash-out between the 2 exposures. Size, distribution and composition of particulate matter and endotoxins in the air were measured. Lung function (spirometry), bronchial responsiveness, symptoms questionnaire and markers of innate immunity in blood and nasal lavage were measured before and after the 3-hour exposures. Results The number of particles, in particular fine particles sized 0.3–0.5 µm, was reduced in the particle-separated swine building environment (PSE) compared with that in the conventional building (CE). In the PSE, headache (p=0.03) and increased body temperature (p=0.016) were less pronounced than in the CE. The expression of toll-like receptors (TLR)2 and TLR4 on blood monocytes significantly increased (p=0.016 and 0.017, respectively) while cluster of differentiation (CD)14 on neutrophils decreased (p=0.05) after exposure in the CE, yet with no difference between the 2 exposures. Compared with the conventional environment, exposure to the PSE yielded lower interleukin (IL)-6 (p=0.02) and IL-8 (p=0.04) levels in the upper respiratory tract, as assessed by nasal lavage. Conclusions Particulate matter and organic dust in the swine building were reduced after installing particle separators, which, in naïve never exposed volunteers, in turn reduced adverse health effects caused by acute exposure in swine buildings compared with exposure to the conventional swine building environment.


In the origin detection problem an algorithm is given a set S of documents, ordered by creation time, and a query document D. It needs to output for every consecutive sequence of k alphanumeric terms in D the earliest document in $S$ in which the sequence appeared (if such a document exists). Algorithms for the origin detection problem can, for example, be used to detect the "origin" of text segments in D and thus to detect novel content in D. They can also find the document from which the author of D has copied the most (or show that D is mostly original.) We concentrate on solutions that use only a fixed amount of memory. We propose novel algorithms for this problem and evaluate them together with a large number of previously published algorithms. Our results show that (1) detecting the origin of text segments efficiently can be done with very high accuracy even when the space used is less than 1% of the size of the documents in $S$, (2) the precision degrades smoothly with the amount of available space, (3) various estimation techniques can be used to increase the performance of the algorithms.


This dissertation identifies and assesses three criteria that are often used to evaluate consequentialist theories of morality and rationality. After introducing a distinction between straightforwardly maximizing consequentialist theories (such as act consequentialism and egoism) and indirectly maximizing consequentialist theories (such as rule consequentialism, rule egoism, Gauthier's theory of constrained maximization, and McClennen's theory of resolute choice), it addresses criteria associated with the concepts of self-defeat, the publicity condition, and incoherence. It argues that (1) the thesis that the self-defeat of a normative theory is a good reason for rejecting it has several surprising and intolerable implications, (2) the publicity condition is an unreasonably demanding requirement to impose on normative theories, and (3) unlike self-defeat and publicity, the issue of incoherence is crucial to the viability of a normative theory; consequently, the incoherence of indirectly maximizing theories renders them unacceptable as accounts of moral or rational action. Although each of these conclusions is of independent interest, they are of further interest when considered together. For cumulatively they constitute a vigorous defense of straightforwardly maximizing theories and a sharp indictment of their indirectly maximizing rivals. As a result, the dissertation has direct implications for debates in both normative ethics and rational-choice theory.


Large literatures have shown important links between the quantity of completed education and health outcomes on one hand and the quality of schooling on a host of adult outcomes, such as wages, on the other hand. However, little research has been targeted to producing evidence of the link between school quality and health. The paper presents the first evidence in the literature on the potential short and intermediate term effects of attending a selective college on health behaviors during and following college attendance. Using a variety of empirical methods, this paper shows strong evidence that college quality reduces tobacco and marijuana use but has small and possibly positive effects on binge drinking. The effects on weight behaviors are suggestive of reduced weight, potentially through diet but not exercise change.


ABSTRACT Affordable therapeutic strategies that induce sustained control of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) replication and are tailored to the developing world are urgently needed. Since CD8+ and CD4+ T cells are crucial to HIV-1 control, stimulation of potent cellular responses by therapeutic vaccination might be exploited to reduce antiretroviral drug exposure. However, therapeutic vaccines tested to date have shown modest immunogenicity. In this study, we performed a comprehensive analysis of the changes in virus-specific CD8+ and CD4+ T-cell responses occurring after vaccination of 16 HIV-1-infected individuals with a recombinant modified vaccinia virus Ankara-vectored vaccine expressing the consensus HIV-1 clade A Gag p24/p17 sequences and multiple CD8+ T-cell epitopes during highly active antiretroviral therapy. We observed significant amplification and broadening of CD8+ and CD4+ gamma interferon responses to vaccine-derived epitopes in the vaccinees, without rebound viremia, but not in two unvaccinated controls followed simultaneously. Vaccine-driven CD8+ T-cell expansions were also detected by tetramer reactivity, predominantly in the CD45RA− CCR7+ or CD45RA− CCR7− compartments, and persisted for at least 1 year. Expansion was associated with a marked but transient up-regulation of CD38 and perforin within days of vaccination. Gag-specific CD8+ and CD4+ T-cell proliferation also increased postvaccination. These data suggest that immunization with MVA.HIVA is a feasible strategy to enhance potentially protective T-cell responses in individuals with chronic HIV-1 infection.


Featuring an extensive collection of full-color photographs, "150 Best Eco House Ideas" features eco-friendly house designs created by internationally renowned architects and designers who have achieved practical, innovative, and stunning solutions adapted to the specific needs and tastes of their clients. Included here are the latest innovations in sustainable home design, including solar paneling, wind energy systems, environmentally-friendly heating and cooling solutions, thermal glazing, and trombe walls. "150 Best Eco House Ideas" is both the perfect resource for designers, interior decorators, and architects, as well as an inspirational sourcebook for all homeowners interested in creating warm and inviting homes that cause only a fraction of the environmental impact of those created using conventional building methods.


Rolling circle amplification is a simple approach of enriching populations of single-stranded DNA plant begomovirus genomes (genus, Begomovirus; family, Geminiviridae). This is an innovative approach that utilizes the robustness of the bacteriophage phi29 DNA polymerase used in circle amplification, together with deep sequencing using Illumina Miseq and bioinformatics to assess population diversity of begomoviruses in naturally infected cassava. The approach is suitable for detecting rare members in a population in begomoviral populations in situation where mixtures of isolates, strains, and multiple species occur. The main objectives were to increase the sensitivity of detection of next generation sequencing by enriching it using rolling circle amplification then determination of the diversity of the cassava mosaic geminivirus. This was done by total nucleic acids isolated from sy mptomatic, field cassava infected plants, then using rolling circle amplification to multiply the less abundant viral sequences. Enriched and non-enriched virus-libraries were subjected to deep sequencing using Illumina Miseq. Using  bioinformatic CLC Genomics 5.5.1 software programs the quality assessment of reads and contig assembly of viral sequences. This was done through de novo and reference-guided assembly. The identity and diversities of the begomoviral  sequences were compared with sequences in Sanger sequencing of viral  components deposited in the NCBI Gene Bank. In this study we have demonstrated that RCA increases the chances of detecting the virus by approximately 10 to 1000 fold and wide genome diversity of cassava mosaic geminivirus in various cassava growing zones in Kenya were detected. In conclusion, this approach described herein is simple and will enhance the exploration of begomovirus diversities from cassava infected plants, irrespective of their viral abundance. This will make it possible for routine screening of field samples as the cost of deep sequencing NGS is decreasing and the advances of bioinformatic software development become enhanced. This is the first report of the RCA-Illumina-NGS approach to explore cassava infected with begomoviruses under field conditions and their diversities. Key words : Illumina Miseq sequencing, geminivirus, ssDNA viruses, viral sequence enrichment, de novo genome assembly, rolling cycle amplification (RCA).


Aim: To describe an approach for the diagnosis and management of patients presenting with crooked nose. Background: Patients with crooked nose suffer from functional ailments, most significant nasal obstruction, as well as esthetic concerns which may impact their self-image as well as others' perception of them. As such, management of the crooked nose is an especially challenging task in that it demands careful attention to both nasal function and appearance. There are a plethora of surgical techniques which may be utilized, and the surgeon's approach must be tailored to each individual patient's presentation. Technique: Accurate diagnosis is imperative for a successful outcome and relies on a thorough history and careful physical examination. Surgical intervention may be addressed by either an endonasal or open approach based on the location and severity of the deformity. It is helpful to break down the nose in vertical thirds when planning your surgical approach. Different techniques are used to address the upper third comprising the nasal bones, middle third composed of the upper lateral cartilages and septum, and the lower third composed of the lower lateral cartilages and caudal septum. Conclusion: Management of the crooked nose is a technically challenging endeavor that highlights the need to address both form and function for a successful outcome. Effective treatment can significantly improve a patient's quality of life leading to a high level of satisfaction for both the patient and the surgeon.


The colossal challenges facing international finance pertain to both its governance system and its dual utility and speculative functions, which have become ever more intertwined with the advent of financial innovation. In the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), a number of significant reforms are under way to address the second issue, including additional capital and liquidity requirements for banks, measures to battle interconnectedness in the financial sector, new resolution regimes that would allow banks to fail more easily, and stricter frameworks for bank supervision and monitoring of systemic risk. Yet limited progress has been made with respect to governance structures, which, thus, will be the main focus of present analysis. In this Article, I provide an outline of a proposal for a new model of governance for global financial markets to address most of the above challenges in a way that would be more effective than the preexisting regime or the architecture emerging as a result of the GFC.


The objective of this research is to immediate an efficient strategy, in order to engage in the progression process of Iraqi higher education. The majority of the existing efforts that applied to enhance it, were restricted with the elderly methods of teaching and learning, and did not change the aged traditional framework and methods. The leading objective is to develop our learning methods and reduce the gap with worldwide universities that are progressed and developed learning and education. Executing the MOOCs system, which symbolizes a different appearance by having the qualities of e-learning and lifelong learning, will improve the learning process at the college of Arts at the first university in Iraq, which is the University of Baghdad, and the most significant role is to change it from the procedure of the old traditional learning systems. The plan is to design and perform a complete MOOCs system that competently helps and covers all Iraqi higher education necessities and the UNIVERSITY OF BAGHDAD (COLLEGE of ART), by using the most productive software and methods that minister to our foremost objective. Elameer-Idrus orbital e-education framework was used in the MOOCs designs.


All living cells possess adaptive responses to environmental stress that are essential to ensuring cell survival. For motile organisms, this can culminate in avoidance or attractile behavior, but for sessile organisms such as plants, stress adaptation is a process of success or failure within the confines of a given environment. Nearly all bacterial species possess a highly evolved system for stress adaptation, known as the "stringent response." This ancient and ubiquitous regulatory response is mediated by production of a second messenger of general stress, the nucleotide guanosine-3′,5′-(bis)pyrophosphate (ppGpp), which mediates reprogramming of the global transcriptional output of the cell. Accumulation of ppGpp is stress-induced through the enzymatic activation of the well known bacterial ppGpp synthetases, RelA and SpoT. We have recently discovered homologues of bacterial relA/spoT genes in the model plant Nicotiana tabacum. We hypothesize that these homologues (designated RSH genes for RelA/SpoT homologues) serve a stress-adaptive function in plants analogous with their function in bacteria. In support of this hypothesis, we find 1) inducibility of tobacco RSH gene expression following treatment with jasmonic acid; 2) bona fide ppGpp synthesis activity of purified recombinant Nt-RSH2 protein, and 3) a wide spread distribution of RSH gene expression in the plant kingdom. Phylogenetic analyses identifies a distinct phylogenetic branch for the plant RSH proteins with two subgroups and supports ancient symbiosis and nuclear gene transfer as a possible origin for these stress response genes in plants. In addition, we find that Nt-RSH2 protein co-purifies with chloroplasts in subcellular fractionation experiments. Taken together, our findings implicate a direct mode of action of these ppGpp synthetases with regard to plant physiology, namely regulation of chloroplast gene expression in response to plant defense signals.


Purpose

This paper aims to present findings from an EU-funded international student-led energy saving competition (SAVES) on a scale previously unseen. There are multiple accounts of short-term projects and energy saving competitions encouraging pro-environmental behaviour change amongst students in university dormitories, but the purpose of this research is to provide evidence of consistent and sustained energy savings from student-led energy savings competitions, underpinned by practical action.

Design/methodology/approach

A mixed-methods approach (pre- and post-intervention surveys, focus groups and analysis of energy meter data) was used to determine the level of energy savings and quantifiable behaviour change delivered by students across participating university dormitories.

Findings

This research has provided further insight into the potential for savings and behaviour change in university dormitories through relatively simple actions. Whilst other interventions have shown greater savings, this project provided consistent savings over two years of 7 per cent across a large number of university dormitories in five countries through simple behaviour changes.

Research limitations/implications

An energy dashboard displaying near a real-time leaderboard was added to the engagement in the second year of the project. Whilst students were optimistic about the role that energy dashboards could play, the evidence is not here to quantify the impact of dashboards. Further research is required to understand the potential of dashboards to contribute to behavioural change savings and in constructing competitions between people and dormitories that are known to each other.

Social implications

SAVES provided engagement with students, enabling, empowering and motivating them to save energy – focusing specifically on the last stage of the "Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action" framework. Automated meter reading data was used in the majority of participating dormitories to run near real-time energy challenges through an energy dashboard that informed students how much energy they saved compared to a target, and encouraged peer-to-peer learning and international cooperation through a virtual twinning scheme.

Originality/value

Findings from energy saving competitions in universities are typically from small-scale and short-term interventions. SAVES was an energy-saving competition in university dormitories facilitated by the UK National Union of Students in five countries reaching over 50,000 students over two academic years (incorporating dormitories at 17 universities). As such it provides clear and important evidence of the real-world long-term potential efficiency savings of such interventions.


In this article, I assess an existing language acquisition architecture, which was deployed in linguistically unconstrained human–robot interaction, together with experimental design decisions with regard to their enactivist credentials. Despite initial scepticism with respect to enactivism's applicability to the social domain, the introduction of the notion of participatory sense-making in the more recent enactive literature extends the framework's reach to encompass this domain. With some exceptions, both our architecture and form of experimentation appear to be largely compatible with enactivist tenets. I analyse the architecture and design decisions along the five enactivist core themes of autonomy, embodiment, emergence, sense-making, and experience, and discuss the role of affect due to its central role within our acquisition experiments. In conclusion, I join some enactivists in demanding that interaction is taken seriously as an irreducible and independent subject of scientific investigation, and go further by hypothesising its potential value to machine learning.


An all-optical refractive index switch is proposed based on coherent control of a doped double-negative metamaterial slab. By embedding the three-level atoms through the left-handed slab, the effective permittivity of the slab becomes a function of the doped atom's susceptibility. Absorption properties manipulation of the doped atoms leads to active control over the total loss of the metamaterial slab. This way the refractive index of the slab can be switched between negative and positive by the change of the relative phase of the applied fields. This may offer active control over the transmission in a wide range from 0 to 0.58.


The book presents the biography of Maria, daughter of Christopher Lekapenos (the eldest son of emperor Romanos I). For about 35 years, she was the tsaritsa of the Bulgarians at the side of her husband, tsar Peter (927–969). Her character is but dimly visible in the sources; interestingly, the few sources that do mention her are almost exclusively of Byzantine provenance. Most scholars who have dealt with her life – usually, we may add, as a side note to their studies on Peter's reign – saw in her a representative of the interests of Constantinople and a propagator of Byzantine culture. Some have gone so far as to call her a Byzantine agent at the Bulgarian court. Through their meticulous analysis of the primary sources and profound knowledge of the literature on the subject, the authors of the book – the first monograph on Maria ever to have been written – are able to construct a balanced narrative of the tsaritsa's life and her role in 10th century Bulgaria, putting aside biases and negative emotions. The publication is supplemented by a translation of the fragments of the Hellenic and Roman Chronicle of the second redaction devoted to Maria and Peter. Zofia A. Brzozowska and Mirosław J. Leszka treat the protagonist of their book with undeniable sympathy (as signaled already in the title). Following the footprints of Maria Lekapene, the authors paint a vivid picture of Byzantium in the first half of the 10th century, as well as present the history of its neighbor – the Bulgarian state; for it is there that the grand political game of the Constantinople court 'cast' Maria, daughter of Romanos Lekapenos. The biography of Maria Lekapene (...) is an eagerly awaited publication in the international Byzantinological and Slavicist community; I predict that it will be a scholarly success. (...) The authors of the book (...) are eminent experts in the field of Byzantine history, which guarantees the factual accuracy and high scholarly level of the work (...). Prof. Ireneusz Milewski University of Gdansk


By the end of the nineteenth century, Florence was a key destination for cultured travelers from Europe and America. Writers such as Wilde, Rilke, and Mann; painters such as Degas and Klee; and not least, the young art historian Aby Warburg and his wife, Mary, flocked to Florence to escape the encroachments of modern life at home and to revel in the city's rich artistic and cultural past. This beguiling book fuses narrative and ideas to consider how the encounter between modernism and Renaissance culture was experienced by both visitors to Florence and its inhabitants. Based on Aby Warburg's letters, diaries, and notebooks; on Italian and German archives; and on conversations with E. H. Gombrich (director of the famous Institute that Warburg founded), the book is an intimate guide to life in Florence and the theaters, restaurants, galleries, and salons frequented by visiting cultural exiles. At the same time, the book paints an evocative picture of a city at the cusp of the modern age, adjusting to electricity and the motor car on one hand and to social unrest and a clash of cultures on the other.


The EXTRAP T2R is a large aspect ratio Reversed Field Pinch device. The main focus of interest for the experiments is the active feedback control of resistive wall modes [1]. With feedback it has been possible to prolong plasma discharges in T2R from about 20 ms to nearly 100 ms. In a series of experiments in T2R, in H- and D- plasmas with and without feedback, quantitative spectroscopy and passive collector probes have been used to study the flux of metal impurities. Time resolved spectroscopic measurements of Cr and Mo lines showed large metal release towards discharge termination without feedback. Discharge integrated fluxes of Cr, Fe, Ni and Mo were also measured with collector probes at wall position. Reasonable quantitative agreement was found between the spectroscopic and collector probe measurements. The roles of sputtering, thermal evaporation and arcing in impurity production are evaluated based on the composition of the measured impurity flux.


The first part of this article gives a brief overview of the main problems facing the developing countries in the present international trading system, and reviews the debate on import substitution vs. export promotion. Towards this background the main part of the article discusses South-South co-operation as an alternative or complementary development strategy. Global South-South co-operation and collective self-reliance is largely dismissed as an ideologically motivated policy recommendation, overlooking the large number of conflicting interests among developing countries. The areas of joint interest are greater at regional or subregional levels, and a number of South-South integration schemes have been signed during the last decade. There are several potential gains associated with these integration processes, but substantial economic and political barriers have to be overcome. When geographically and politically possible, North-South integration schemes may have larger advantages than pure South-South arrangements.


Abstract The Tacipi Formation of Sulawesi was deposited during the late middle Miocene to early Pliocene in a large area of shallow water, marine carbonate production with deeper water sediments deposited to the north. A detailed biostratigraphical study of 580 samples from 58 measured outcrop sections has led to an understanding of sequence stratigraphic and facies relationships of Cenozoic carbonates in Sulawesi, their importance as the product and record of climatic/oceanic conditions and interchange in tropical/subtropical inner shelf environments, and their role as hydrocarbon reservoirs. Fifteen larger benthic foraminifera species are described and illustrated with one newly proposed taxon: Lepidocyclina pillaria. Analysis of the larger benthic foraminifera in relationship to the planktonic foraminifera allows correlation of the larger foraminiferal assemblage zones ("letter stages") of the Far East with the N zones of the Neogene based on planktonic foraminiferal evolution patterns. The co-occurrence and recognition of planktonic foraminifera and larger benthic foraminifera species in the same thin sections is a rare opportunity for correlating the biostratigraphic frameworks based on these two groups and is of regional stratigraphic importance. This has resulted in the refinement of the biostratigraphic ranges of the larger benthic foraminifera Katacyclocypeus and Flosculinella, and enlargement of our knowledge about the Tg and Th "letter stages".


Because in military situations, as well as for self-driving cars, information must be processed faster than humans can achieve, determination of context computationally, also known as situational assessment, is increasingly important. In this article, we introduce the topic of context, and we discuss what is known about the heretofore intractable research problem on the effects of interdependence, present in the best of human teams; we close by proposing that interdependence must be mastered mathematically to operate human-machine teams efficiently, to advance theory, and to make the machine actions directed by AI explainable to team members and society. The special topic articles in this issue and a subsequent issue of AI Magazine review ongoing mature research and operational programs that address context for human-machine teams.


Motivated by the computational and storage challenges that dense embeddings pose, we introduce the problem of latent network summarization that aims to learn a compact, latent representation of the graph structure with dimensionality that is independent of the input graph size (\i.e., #nodes and #edges), while retaining the ability to derive node representations on the fly. We propose Multi-LENS, an inductive multi-level latent network summarization approach that leverages a set of relational operators and relational functions (compositions of operators) to capture the structure of egonets and higher-order subgraphs, respectively. The structure is stored in low-rank, size-independent structural feature matrices, which along with the relational functions comprise our latent network summary. Multi-LENS is general and naturally supports both homogeneous and heterogeneous graphs with or without directionality, weights, attributes or labels. Extensive experiments on real graphs show 3.5-34.3% improvement in AUC for link prediction, while requiring 80-2152x less output storage space than baseline embedding methods on large datasets. As application areas, we show the effectiveness of Multi-LENS in detecting anomalies and events in the Enron email communication graph and Twitter co-mention graph.


The study involves an investigation of the problems that commuters in Dublin face everyday, and attempts to shed further light on our understanding of how individual differences (e.g., gender & perceived control) mode rate the effects of commuting in terms of the individual's stress and mood outcomes. Four modes of transport were investigated; those who commuted to work by car, bu s train, and walking. The survey sample was 187 worker-commuters employed in a numbe r of banks located in Dublin's IFSC. The study indicates that nearly 80% of respondents reported their daily commute as a stressful experience, those who travelled by train-Dart experienced highest levels of stress and most negat iv moods on reaching their workplace. They were followed by car and bus commut ers with walkers reporting least stress and most positive moods. The level of xperienced impedance impacted on levels of stress with commuters who had experien ced a high impedance commute recording higher stress and more negative moods tha n those who had a less eventful commute. Some gender differences were also recorded .


In this paper I propose an analysis of the music of Brazilian composer Heitor Villa Lobos under the perspective of musical Rhetoric and the theory of musical topics. I argue that this point of view makes it possible to understand a characteristic of his musical style that was not well discussed so far, which led some critics to claim that Villa Lobos' music is excessively chaotic or formally disoriented. In fact, I claim he is using topics of Brazilian music in a special way. The paper starts by addressing the theoretical adaptation of the theory of musical topoi in the context of National musical styles. I discuss the pertinence of topics theory in this case, departing from several authors who wrote about topics, including Raymond Monelle, and I also use some concepts of the Group Mμ. I draw upon a concept of musical topics that is more interested in the forms of use of music figures than in their fixed structures itself, which can vary among several possibilities inside the universes of topics. Then I argue that Brazilian topics started to appear in the first decades of the XXth-century in parallel to the modernist movement in the Arts, also a time when key popular music styles were in consolidation and were especially important to the agenda of the intellectuals involved with the construction of Brazilian national music. After this I present the universes of Brazilian topics and discuss excerpts of works of Villa Lobos in order to show how they appear there and to argue that rhetoricity and density of topical meaning are important characteristics of his style.


Within the DARIAH research infrastructure the need to collect, disseminate and monitor the contributions offered to the infrastructure has always been present. Work package 5 of the DARIAH Humanities at Scale (HaS) project has explored and described the activities and structure required to sustain these needs, resulting in the DARIAH contributions concept and procedure including a supporting online tool.The contributions to the DARIAH infrastructure consist either of services, being repeatable actions, or activities, which have a more unique/ one-time character. They are collected for several reasons. First of all, dissemination to the Arts & Humanities (AH contributions offered to the infrastructure need to be visible to the users within the community, so they can be found and used. Secondly the compatibility of the contributions to the infrastructure; how compatible are the contributions to the infrastructure, how easily can they be (re)used and/or combined with other services and last but not least monitoring of the variety and maturity of contributions as it is essential for the strategic planning and future development of the infrastructure.The HaS project has developed an online tool that supports the collection of the contribution so they can be disseminated to the community. The contributions will be visible in the online tool, which in time will feed into the 'marketplace' that DARIAH is developing. Next to the contributions, the DARIAH marketplace will give access to a wide range of information relevant to the A&H community.Furthermore, the tool enables contributors to self-assess their contribution according to criteria provided by DARIAH in order to see how compatible their contribution is to the infrastructure. These self-assessments are then peer-reviewed, on the basis of trust, by reviewers appointed by the infrastructure, which – when approved - are given a score that results in one of three tiers of compatibility to the infrastructure.Finally, the tool can produce real time reports to monitor the diversity and capability of offered contributions, which subsequently can be utilised in outlining next steps for the infrastructure and its evolution.


Events with at least two high transverse momentum leptons (electrons or muons) are studied using the H1 and ZEUS detectors at HERA with an integrated luminosity of 0.94 fb(-1). The observed numbers of events are in general agreement with the Standard Model predictions. Seven di- and tri-lepton events are observed in e(+)p collision data with a scalar sum of the lepton transverse momenta above 100 GeV while 1.94 +/- 0.17 events are expected. Such events are not observed in e(-)p collisions for which 1.19 +/- 0.12 are predicted. Total visible and differential di-electron and di-muon photoproduction cross sections are extracted in a restricted phase space dominated by photon-photon collisions.


Premature death from cardiovascular disease is common amongst adult patients with chronic renal failure (CRF). The implication for paediatric patients, the majority of whom now survive into adulthood, is that they maybe similarly affected but at an earlier age. Children with CRF already show signs of arterial disease in the absence of classical risk factors. The aim of this research was to develop ways of improving the outcome for children with CRF by investigating the effect of interventions on vascular function. Vascular endothelial function, which is dependent on nitric oxide (NO) (an antiatherogenic substance) can be measured using a non-invasive technique of high resolution ultrasound. Abnormal responses represent the earliest change in the pathogenesis of vascular disease and may be reversible. Bioavailability of NO may be reduced in CRF due to low levels of precursors, increased levels of inhibitors and increased oxidant stresses. The hypotheses examined were: 1) Dietary supplementation with L-arginine (the substrate for NO synthetase) improves large vessel endothelium-dependent vasodilatation and NO bioavailability. 2) Dietary supplementation with folic acid reduces homocysteine levels and improves large vessel endothelium-dependent dilatation. 3) Haemodialysis improves large vessel endothelium-dependent dilatation by lowering homocysteine levels, removing inhibitors of NO synthesis, reducing oxidative stress and/or removing free radicals. Methodology was double blinded, randomized and placebo controlled in children with stable CRF in the absence of classical risk factors for atherosclerosis. Endothelial function was measured in the brachial artery. Biochemical measures of NO activity and oxidant stress were also measured, along with the acute effect of haemodialysis on endothelial function. We demonstrated that L-arginine was not beneficial as a therapeutic agent. Folic acid improved vascular function and is now used routinely in all children with CRF at Gt Ormond St Hospital. Haemodialysis had an adverse effect on vascular function-an observation that needs further study as the process in itself may contribute to the development of atherosclerosis.


In the search for solutions to make software development more predictable and controllable, one often looks for parallels in other disciplines such as architecture, bridge construction, and so on. The article looks at software development from the perspective of the electrical industry. Inspired by their management tradition, ATH techniek b.v. has learned to apply proven management techniques to software development. Simple and commonsense principles yield excellent results; for instance, developers reduced risk by estimating project effort using two different measures and by controlling execution. Comparing the software development processes with what goes on in the rest of the company or another application domain can be instructive.


The purpose of this action research project was to improve student vocabulary acquisition through a multisensory, direct instructional approach. The study involved three teachers and a target population of 73 students in second and seventh grade classrooms. The intervention was implemented from September through December of 2006 and analyzed in January of 2007. The goal was to gather evidence of a marked improvement in the number of vocabulary words that students recognize, understand, and use. Pre and posttests gathered data on student knowledge of fifty key content area vocabulary words. Three interventions based on brain research were implemented: specially designed graphic organizers, classical music, and Brain Gym® exercises. The gathered data indicates that students clearly understood and could define over five times as many words after this intervention (from 378 words to 1,941 words). The project results show that a multisensory, direct instructional approach improves student vocabulary acquisition. Educators need to increase their knowledge of brain research and implement direct instruction of vocabulary through the use of multisensory methods. (Contains 10 figures, 34 references, and 11 appendices)


INTRODUCTION: Unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) is effective for alleviating symptoms of arthritis in a single knee compartment; however, errors in alignment and instability may predispose to failure. Robotic technology has improved precision, but its impact on functional recovery after UKA remains unknown. The purpose of this study was to compare early functional recovery, pain, and radiographic alignment in UKA performed with either robotic assistance or conventional methods. METHODS: All consecutive patients undergoing UKA by a single physician from January 2015 to March 2018 were retrospectively reviewed. Lower Extremity Functional Scale (LEFS), KOOS Jr, and VAS (0-10) outcomes scores were collected preoperatively, 1, 6, and 12 weeks postoperatively. Radiographic alignment was assessed at the initial postoperative visit. RESULTS: There were 161 patients, 65 conventional and 96 robotic. At baseline, there was no difference in average age, BMI, or outcomes scores between the two groups. Average preoperative pain was significantly higher in conventional patients (6.1 vs. 5.4; p=0.04). At 3 weeks post-op, conventional UKA patients still had significantly higher pain levels (3.9 vs. 3.1; p=.02). Both groups showed significant improvement in LEF (p<.0001) scores over time (p<.0001). Significant improvement in KOOS Jr. scores from pre-op (52.3) to 6 and 12-weeks postoperatively (67.6, 69.8; p<0.001). When comparing PCS of the VR/SF-12, the robotic-assisted group had significantly higher improvement compared to the conventional group at 6-weeks (40.6 vs. 35.6; p=0.02). CONCLUSION: Robotic assisted UKA resulted in fewer radiographic outliers, and more rapid recovery with less early postoperative pain although functional differences tended to equilibrate by 3 months postoperatively. Health Sciences EPiC Series in Health Sciences Volume 3, 2019, Pages 84–89 CAOS 2019. The 19th Annual Meeting of the International Society for Computer Assisted Orthopaedic Surgery P. Meere and F. Rodriguez Y Baena (eds.), CAOS 2019 (EPiC Series in Health Sciences, vol. 3), pp. 84–89


Exercise imagery can be beneficial for insufficiently active people as a means to promote physical activity (PA) engagement and positive psychological states. The present study explored imagery use in physically active and insufficiently active older adults. The revised applied model of deliberate imagery use (RAMDIU) was used as a framework to explain When, Where, Why, What, and How older adults image and explored whether the Who component of the model (older adults/PA status) interacts with these different components; 37 (Mage = 64, SD = 5.2; 17 females) participants representing a range of PA levels took part in one of seven focus groups. Thematic analysis provided support for RAMDIU, with motivation, memory, and planning identified as the most common imagery functions, and scenery and reward images as the most commonly reported imagery content. Although some similarities exist, older adults tend to use imagery for unique functions compared with younger counterparts (e.g., to improve memory). Understanding the use of imagery in older adults will help to tailor PA interventions for promoting healthy aging in this population.


Attention mechanism in graph neural networks is designed to assign larger weights to important neighbor nodes for better representation. However, what graph attention learns is not understood well, particularly when graphs are noisy. In this paper, we propose a self-supervised graph attention network (SuperGAT), an improved graph attention model for noisy graphs. Specifically, we exploit two attention forms compatible with a self-supervised task to predict edges, whose presence and absence contain the inherent information about the importance of the relationships between nodes. By encoding edges, SuperGAT learns more expressive attention in distinguishing mislinked neighbors. We find two graph characteristics influence the effectiveness of attention forms and self-supervision: homophily and average degree. Thus, our recipe provides guidance on which attention design to use when those two graph characteristics are known. Our experiment on 17 real-world datasets demonstrates that our recipe generalizes across 15 datasets of them, and our models designed by recipe show improved performance over baselines.


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Multimedia learning environments commonly comprise different sources of information such as various linguistic as well as static and dynamic pictorial representations. In this context, it is frequently assumed that the (simultaneous) presentation of different and possibly complementary sources of information improves learning. During the last 10 years, however, psychological and educational research have collected extensive evidence that the presentation of different sources of information in multimedia learning environments might not improve and even impede learning. If multimedia learning is to be successful, different sources of information need to be integrated into coherent mental representations. In many cases, however, the presentation and use of different sources of information does not result in the construction of appropriate mental representations. Starting from various potentials and problems of multimedia learning, the theory of structure mapping is proposed as a framework that can be used to design multimedia learning environments that systematically encourage and support the mental integration of multiple sources of information. A multimedia learning environment for statistics is described which has been implemented according to the design principles proposed. (Contains 10 references.) (AEF) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.


The purpose of the work is to study the possibilities and priorities of cluster development of innovational entrepreneurship in the conditions of innovational economy development by the example of modern Russia. Information and analytical basis of the research include the materials of the INSEAD on the Global innovational index from 2011 to 2016. The authors also used the Global Competitiveness Report from 2008-2008 to 2016-2017, presented at the annual World Economic Forum, which contains information on the state of cluster development. To substantiate the offered scientific hypothesis, the authors determine the presence and level of dependence of cluster development of entrepreneurship on the level of Russia's economy innovativeness with the help of the method of regression and correlation analysis. Because of the research, the authors conclude that an important place among the market tools of stimulation of development of innovational entrepreneurship in Russia should belong to clustering, as it provides expansion of the resource base and quick diffusion of innovations, which is very important for development of innovational entrepreneurship. The authors offer the concept of cluster development of innovational entrepreneurship in the conditions of creation of innovational economy.


Carbon-based materials have been attracting intense interest for electrocatalysis due to their various merits, such as abundance, low cost, high conductivity and tunable molecular structures. However, to date, the electrochemical activities of these electrocatalysts are mainly attributed to different active dopants (e.g. N, B, P or S), leading to a common concept that heteroatom doping is essential for carbonbased electrocatalysts. Recently, we presented a new concept where the specific topological defects could activate the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and developed a facile method to create such unique defects. Subsequent research has extended this new mechanism to other reactions, such as the hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions (HER and OER) and confirmed that heteroatom doping is not essential but that these defects can serve as actives sites for electrochemical reactions. This new theory then creates a new research direction in electrocatalysis. In this short review, we summarise the origin and presentation of the defect mechanism concept, the possible topological defect structures that are effective for electrochemical reactions, the formation of desirable defects, the challenges in the synthesis and characterization of typical defects and future research directions on the electrochemical defect mechanism. Disciplines Engineering | Physical Sciences and Mathematics Publication Details Jia, Y., Chen, J. & Yao, X. (2018). Defect electrocatalytic mechanism: concept, topological structure and perspective. Materials Chemistry Frontiers, 2 (7), 1250-1268. This journal article is available at Research Online: https://ro.uow.edu.au/aiimpapers/3185 Volume 2 | Number 7 | July 2018


The liver performed many physiological functions essential for life. Despite of its strong regenerative capability, the liver cannot fully restore its physiological functions when it is exposed to chronic liver injuries. Since most of liver functions depend on hepatocytes, it is crucial to compensate the lost functions by supplying functional cells for treatment of liver diseases ( Figure 1 ). Liver transplantation is an effective therapy for patients suffering from severe liver diseases, though the number of donor is absolutely limited. Alternatively, cell transplantation has been considered as a therapeutic treatment. Therefore, researchers have been working to find a good source for generating hepatocytes ex vivo and establish protocols inducing hepatic functions comparable to mature hepatocytes (MHs).


The formation of inhomogeneities within fluidized beds, both in terms of the particle configurations and flow structures, have a pronounced effect on the interaction force between the fluid and particles. While recent numerical studies have begun to probe the effects of inhomogeneities on the drag force at the particle scale, the applicability of prior microscale constitutive drag relations is still limited to random, homogeneous distributions of particles. Since an accurate model for the drag force is needed to predict the fluidization behaviour, the current study utilizes the lessons of prior inhomogeneity studies in order to derive a robust drag relation that is both able to account for the effect of inhomogeneities and applicable as a constitutive closure to larger-scale fluidization simulations. Using fully resolved lattice Boltzmann simulations of systems composed of fluid and monodisperse spherical particles in the low-Reynolds-number (Re) regime, the fluid–particle drag force, normalized by the ideal Stokes drag force, is found to significantly decrease, over a range of length scales, as the extent of inhomogeneities increases. The extent of inhomogeneities is found to most effectively be quantified through one of two subgrid-scale quantities: the scalar variance of the particle volume fraction or the drift flux, which is the correlation between the particle volume fraction and slip velocity. Scale-similar models are developed to estimate these two subgrid measures over a wide range of system properties. Two new drag constitutive models are proposed that are not only functions of the particle volume fraction and the Stokes number ( $St$ ), but also dependent on one of these subgrid measures for the extent of inhomogeneities. Based on the observed, appreciable effect of inhomogeneities on drag, these new low-Re drag models represent a significant advancement over prior constitutive relations.


This paper builds a new dataset on bank ownership and bank performance covering approximately 50,000 observations for 119 countries over the 1995-2002 period. The paper then uses the dataset to reassess the relationship between bank ownership and bank performance, providing separated estimations for developing and industrial countries. It is found that, while ownership is strongly correlated with performance in developing countries, that ownership is not correlated with performance in industrial countries. In particular, the paper suggests that state-owned banks operating in developing countries tend to have lower profitability and higher costs than their private counterparts, and that the opposite is true for foreign-owned banks (which tend to be characterized by higher profitability and lower costs). We also find that, in developing countries, the entry of foreign banks plays a useful role by making domestic banks more efficient in terms of overhead cost and spreads, although we do not find any effect on profitability of domestic banks.


In the present investigation, γ-alumina nanoparticles with high specific surface area (351 m2/g) and relatively narrow pore size distribution was prepared using sol-gel method in the presence of aluminum isopropoxide as an aluminum precursor, distilled water, acetic acid as hydrolysis rate controller and tert-butanol as solvent. The calcined γ-alumina nanoparticles were characterized using X-ray diffractometer (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and nitrogen adsorption-desorption techniques. Prepared γ-alumina was tested for the adsorption of Pb2+ from aqueous solution at toxic metal concentrations, and isotherms were determined. The Pb2+ adsorption performance of the as-prepared samples was studied by atomic adsorption spectroscopy (AAS) method. According to the results, the prepared γ-aluminashowed the great adsorption performance of Pb2+with a high adsorption rate and adsorption capacity of 1150 mg/g when the adsorption reached to equilibrium for 5 min at room temperature and pH=5.5. The adsorbed amount increased rapidly with pH variation from pH 3 to 9. The optimum contact time, initial concentration of adsorbate, adsorbent mass and pH were determined and Langmuir, Freundlich and Tempkin adsorption models were obtained using metal ions concentrations in ranging from 100 to 400 mg/L. Correlation coefficients (R2) of Langmuir, Freundlich and Tempkin adsorption isotherms were 0.9994, 0.9975 and 0.9982, respectively, and Langmuir isotherm was more suitable for adsorption on γ-alumina than others. Also presence of Pb2+ ions has been confirmed by infrared spectroscopy. Efficient synthesis strategy, exceptionally high specific surface area and high adsorption efficiency of these mesoporous γ-alumina nanoparticles showed an excellent ability to remove Pb2+ heavy metal ions from aqueous solution that could find potential utility in the purification of polluted water.