The ppGpp molecule is part of a highly conserved regulatory system for mediating the growth response to various environmental conditions. This mechanism may represent a common strategy whereby pathogens such as Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of plague, regulate the virulence gene programs required for invasion, survival and persistence within host cells to match the capacity for growth. The products of the relA and spoT genes carry out ppGpp synthesis. To investigate the role of ppGpp on growth, protein synthesis, gene expression and virulence, we constructed a ΔrelA ΔspoT Y. pestis mutant. The mutant was no longer able to synthesize ppGpp in response to amino acid or carbon starvation, as expected. We also found that it exhibited several novel phenotypes, including a reduced growth rate and autoaggregation at 26°C. In addition, there was a reduction in the level of secretion of key virulence proteins and the mutant was>1,000-fold less virulent than its wild-type parent strain. Mice vaccinated subcutaneously (s.c.) with 2.5×104 CFU of the ΔrelA ΔspoT mutant developed high anti-Y. pestis serum IgG titers, were completely protected against s.c. challenge with 1.5×105 CFU of virulent Y. pestis and partially protected (60% survival) against pulmonary challenge with 2.0×104 CFU of virulent Y. pestis. Our results indicate that ppGpp represents an important virulence determinant in Y. pestis and the ΔrelA ΔspoT mutant strain is a promising vaccine candidate to provide protection against plague.


The support vector machine (SVM) has provided higher performance than traditional learning machines and has been widely applied in real-world classification problems and nonlinear function estimation problems. Unfortunately, the training process of the SVM is sensitive to the outliers or noises in the training set. In this paper, a common misunderstanding of Gaussian-function-based kernel fuzzy clustering is corrected, and a kernel fuzzy c-means clustering-based fuzzy SVM algorithm (KFCM-FSVM) is developed to deal with the classification problems with outliers or noises. In the KFCM-FSVM algorithm, we first use the FCM clustering to cluster each of two classes from the training set in the high-dimensional feature space. The farthest pair of clusters, where one cluster comes from the positive class and the other from the negative class, is then searched and forms one new training set with membership degrees. Finally, we adopt FSVM to induce the final classification results on this new training set. The computational complexity of the KFCM-FSVM algorithm is analyzed. A set of experiments is conducted on six benchmarking datasets and four artificial datasets for testing the generalization performance of the KFCM-FSVM algorithm. The results indicate that the KFCM-FSVM algorithm is robust for classification problems with outliers or noises.


The Millennium Development Goals have ended and the Sustainable Development Goals have begun, marking a shift in the global health landscape. The frame of reference has changed from a focus on 8 development priorities to an expansive set of 17 interrelated goals intended to improve the well-being of all people. In this time of change, several groups, including the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery, have brought a critical problem to the fore: 5 billion people lack access to safe, affordable surgical and anaesthesia care when needed. The magnitude of this problem and the world's new focus on strengthening health systems mandate reimagined roles for and renewed commitments from high income country actors in global surgery. To discuss the way forward, on 6 May 2015, the Commission held its North American launch event in Boston, Massachusetts. Panels of experts outlined the current state of knowledge and agreed on the roles of surgical colleges and academic medical centres; trainees and training programmes; academia; global health funders; the biomedical devices industry, and news media and advocacy organisations in building sustainable, resilient surgical systems. This paper summarises these discussions and serves as a consensus statement providing practical advice to these groups. It traces a common policy agenda between major actors and provides a roadmap for maximising benefit to surgical patients worldwide. To close the access gap by 2030, individuals and organisations must work collectively, interprofessionally and globally. High income country actors must abandon colonial narratives and work alongside low and middle income country partners to build the surgical systems of the future.


Since the early 80's, the sea-surface microlayer (SML) has been hypothesized as being a gelatinous film. Recent studies have confirmed this characteristic, which confers properties that mediate mass and energy fluxes between ocean and atmosphere, including the emission of primary organic aerosols from marine systems. We investigated SML thickness and composition in five replicate indoor experiments between September and December 2010. During each experiment, the SML and underlying seawater were sampled from four seawater tanks: one served as control, and three were inoculated with Thalassiosira weissflogii grown in chemostats at 180, 380 and 780 ppm pCO2. We examined organic material enrichment factors in each tank, paying particular attention to gel particles accumulation such as polysaccharidic Transparent Exopolymer Particles (TEP) and the proteinaceous Coomassie Stainable Particles (CSP). While previous studies have observed carbohydrates and TEP enrichment in the microlayer, little is yet known about proteinaceous gel particles in the SML. Our experiments show that CSP dominate the gelatinous composition of the SML. We believe that the enrichment in CSP points to the importance of bacterial activity in the microlayer. Bacteria may play a pivotal role in mediating processes at the air-sea interface thanks to their exudates and protein content that can be released through cell disruption.


Luoghi e attori della "pietas hispanica" nella Roma del Seicento - Places and actors of "pietas hispanica" in baroque Rome Along all the 17th century Rome represented for the Spanish monarchy an ideal scenario where to show the signs of a piety, which first aim, behind the religious purpose, was the affirmation of Spanish primacy within the Catholicism. All the iconographies prepared in Rome to celebrate some major events of Spanish monarchy, as the canonizations of Spanish saints or the deaths of Spanish kings, were part of a strategy to assert in the site of pontifical power the image of the Spanish monarchy as an advocate of Catholicism. In this way Rome became the space to play strategies, among holy and profane, in which had a relevant role a number of works of art, permanent or ephemeral, marks of the Spanish presence in the town.


Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a chronic functional disorder of the gastrointestinal system with prevalence in adults of 10-20%. IBS is characterised by a number of troublesome symptoms including abdominal bloating, pain and excess gas, and has substantial impact on quality of life in addition to wider economic implications. Conventional medical treatment can be problematic however, due to the lack of established aetiology and the number of symptoms reported. Concurrently, use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) to relieve IBS symptoms is reported to be as high as 50%, although the benefits and impact of such treatments are not fully substantiated by primary research data. However, evidence has shown that people affected may benefit from psychological interventions in terms of reduced use of health care services and reported symptoms.

This thesis has examined psychological factors that influence the use of CAM and quality of life in individuals affected by IBS. These factors were explored within the theoretical framework of an extended common-sense model of illness representations (CSM), which incorporated treatment beliefs. The main aim of the thesis was twofold: to examine the illness perceptions and treatment beliefs that influence CAM use and to explore pathways from illness and treatment representation to quality of life in CAM-users and those not using CAM (non-users).

A web-based cross-sectional study and minimum six month time-period follow-up study were conducted. Participants were primarily recruited from an IBS self-help network in the UK and other online message boards. The cross-sectional study (n=63) considered illness perceptions and treatment beliefs associated with CAM use and how these factors differed in influencing coping strategies and quality of life in CAM-users and non-users. The follow-up study (n=197) focused on exploration of the influence of illness perceptions and treatment beliefs at study time one, on coping strategies and quality of life at study time two.

The findings demonstrated that components of illness perceptions influenced CAM use, coping strategies and quality of life. Treatment beliefs were more strongly implicated in influencing the use of CAM. At the cross-sectional stage, stronger perceptions of illness consequences and emotional representations were major influences on reduced reported quality of life measures and poorer emotional outcomes in both survey groups, where similar strength effects were observed. There were many observed instances of of partial mediation of maladaptive and dysfunctional coping strategies such as self-blame and behavioural disengagement. In addition, follow up data demonstrated a reduction of the influence of illness perceptions (time one) on quality of life (time two)compared to the cross-sectional data. Moreover, evidence of mediation effects was only detected in CAM-users in the follow-up study.

These results highlight the importance of psychological factors, in particular illness perceptions, and to an extent, treatment beliefs in influencing coping strategies, quality of life and emotional outcome in those affected by IBS. Practical and theoretical implications of the findings are considered and future applications discussed. This thesis concludes with the proposal of a novel conceptual model to utilise a mulitconvergent approach to enhance the quality of life and emotional outcomes in those affected bt IBS.


A company that wants to compete in the market must operate deploying flexibility, minimising production costs, speeding up processes and assuring a high-quality level of output. For these reasons it is necessary to apply innovative and structured methodologies able to suggest techniques and methods to design, organise and manage industrial processes. Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) represents one of the most effective methods to attain increases in business performance and customer satisfaction using a smart problem-solving method (DMADV). This paper shows an implementation of a DFSS project in a SME to improve the performance level of the extrusion process. The authors demonstrate an effective approach that is able to design and reach Six Sigma level process, by applying project management, brainstorming and statistical (ANOVA, DOE) tools. The economical analysis justifies the application of this method in order to improve the performance level of a manufacturing process.


Resolving issues of tourism development needed to be supporting and resolved with the help of local government. Currently, the problem of regional tourism development did not base on the development of environment and ecosystem. National economic development is neither regional nor local. Nevertheless, the role of community involvement in tourism activities is necessary. In addition, it needed to develop of transportation infrastructure related to regional activities. Coastal ecotourism has proven to be the largest foreign exchange contributor to a region or country. For that reason, applying this concept, it could improve coastal tourism performance. In the long term, this tourism sector can defeat the mining, oil and gas sectors. Furthermore, the Ministry of Tourism states that Indonesia's tourism potential is prospective. This one-year quantitative and qualitative study conducted on the coast of Ora, Maluku, Indonesia. Randomly data obtained and distributed over questionnaires among stakeholders. The data has tabulated by using content analysis. The results of this study indicate that three of the six sub-concept's attributes are the main priorities. The rest of the attributes show that there are some culinary, fishery, cultural and marine ism potentials. They can contribute economically to local communities and local governments.


The Bayesian classifier is a simple approach to classification that produces results that are easy for people to interpret. In many cases, the Bayesian classifier is at least as accurate as much more sophisticated learning algorithms that produce results that are more difficult for people to interpret. To use numeric attributes with Bayesian classifier often requires the attribute values to be discretized into a number of intervals. We show that the discretization of numeric attributes is critical to successful application of the Bayesian classifier and propose a new method based on iterative improvement search. We compare this method to previous approaches and show that it results in significant reductions in misclassification error and costs on an industrial problem of troubleshooting the local loop in a telephone network. The approach can take prior knowledge into account by improving upon a user-provided set of boundary points, or can operate autonomously.


Background: Adults with mental retardation (MR) have been identified as being more sedentary than those without disabilities based on (a) proxy reports of physical activity (PA) and (b) physiological measures such as body composition or cardiovascular fitness. However, there exist no objective, direct comparisons of PA levels between adults with and without MR. The purpose of this study was to compare physical activity (PA) levels between adults with and without MR using accelerometry. Methods: Twenty-two adults with MR (11 men, 11 women; age = 34.9 ± 9.0 y), 17 sedentary controls without MR (SC; 8 men, 9 women; age = 35.8 ± 7.6 y), and 9 active controls without MR (AC; 5 men, 4 women; age = 34.1 ± 5.8 y) wore a Manufacturing Technology Inc (model 7164) accelerometer for 7 d. Data were collected in 1-min epochs and categorized according to light, moderate, hard, and very hard PA. Differences between groups on dependent measures were examined using a 1-way ANOVA. Results: Both MR and SC groups were less active (F2,47 = 12.17, P = 0.00, ηp 2 = 0.35), engaged in less moderate-hard PA (F2,47 = 11.28, P = 0.00, ηp 2 = 0.33), and engaged in fewer bouts of moderate-hard, continuous PA (F2,47 = 11.71, P = 0.00, ηp 2 = 0.34) than AC subjects. There were no differences between MR and SC subjects on the variables measured. Conclusions: The results suggest that adults with MR exhibit PA patterns similar to sedentary adults without MR. Interventions for this population should target participation in continuous, moderate PA.


Many real-world control problems involve both discrete decision variables - such as the choice of control modes, gear switching or digital outputs - as well as continuous decision variables - such as velocity setpoints, control gains or analogue outputs. However, when defining the corresponding optimal control or reinforcement learning problem, it is commonly approximated with fully continuous or fully discrete action spaces. These simplifications aim at tailoring the problem to a particular algorithm or solver which may only support one type of action space. Alternatively, expert heuristics are used to remove discrete actions from an otherwise continuous space. In contrast, we propose to treat hybrid problems in their 'native' form by solving them with hybrid reinforcement learning, which optimizes for discrete and continuous actions simultaneously. In our experiments, we first demonstrate that the proposed approach efficiently solves such natively hybrid reinforcement learning problems. We then show, both in simulation and on robotic hardware, the benefits of removing possibly imperfect expert-designed heuristics. Lastly, hybrid reinforcement learning encourages us to rethink problem definitions. We propose reformulating control problems, e.g. by adding meta actions, to improve exploration or reduce mechanical wear and tear.


Introduction Anogenital herpes (AH), associated with significant physical and psychological morbidity, is the second most commonly diagnosed viral sexually transmitted infection (STI) in England and is caused by infection with Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) Type-1 or Type-2. We investigated the epidemiological and serotype characteristics of AH diagnoses in England and changes over time. Methods We performed a descriptive analysis of socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of AH using data from the national surveillance system for STIs (GUMCADv2), and calculated the proportion of new episodes by serotype using data from the national laboratory surveillance system in England from 2006–2015. Results There were 31,312 first and 25,356 recurrent AH episodes in 2015, and diagnosis rates of first episode AH increased 55% from 38 to 59 per 100,000 population since 2006. In 2015, diagnosis rates were highest among women (73.5), people aged 20-24 (243.1), those of Black Caribbean ethnicity (176.3), and London residents (93.8). Although MSM only accounted for 4.6% (n=1430) of diagnoses in 2015, there was an 18% increase in diagnoses since 2011; overall 28% of MSM diagnosed with AH were HIV-positive. The distribution of HSV-1/HSV-2 has remained stable since 2006: in 2015, 48% of women and 36% of men with AH were diagnosed with HSV-1 infection. Discussion Increased diagnoses of AH may be due to changes in sexual practices or improved test sensitivity. Differences by socio-demographic characteristics can be used to inform prevention strategies, while those by serotype are essential for guiding vaccine development.


Drawing on more than thirty novels by nineteen writers, "Fables of Subversion" is both a survey of mid-twentieth century American fiction and a study of how these novels challenged the conventions of satire. Steven Weisenburger focuses on the rise of a radically subversive mode of satire from 1930 to 1980. This postmodern satire, says Weisenburger, stands in crucial opposition to corrective, normative satire, which has served a legitimizing function by generating, through ridicule, a consensus on values. Weisenburger argues that satire in this generative mode does not participate in the oppositional, subversive work of much twentieth-century art. Chapters focus on theories of satire, early subversions of satiric conventions by Nathanael West, Flannery O'Connor, and John Hawkes, the flowering of "Black Humor" fictions of the sixties, and the forms of political and encyclopedic satire prominent throughout the period. Many of the writers included here, such as Vladimir Nabokov, William Gaddis, Kurt Vonnegut, Robert Coover, and Thomas Pynchon, are acknowledged masters of contemporary humor. Others, such as Mary McCarthy, Chester Himes, James Purdy, Charles Wright, and Ishmael Reed, have not previously been considered in this context. Posing a seminal challenge to existing theories of satire, "Fables of Subversion" explores the iconoclastic energies of the new satires as a driving force in late modern and post-modern novel writing.


An efficient parallel LU algorithm that is suitable for a local-memory MIMD (multiple input multiple data) computer, such as an array of transputers, is described. A graphical approach is used to elucidate the algorithm. The results of a theoretical timing analysis are given. Some methods for reducing the communication load, by intelligent exploitation of the capabilities of certain parallel hardware, are described. Timing results for a code implementing the algorithm on a transputer array are given and compared to results for a parallel conjugate-gradient algorithm. The stability of LU decomposition is discussed. Pivoting is briefly reviewed, although the algorithm described does not implement this, at present. PARNEC, a parallel version of NEC2, is described. The parallel generation of the matrix elements is discussed, and a solution for NEC2 presented. Results for a preliminary test of the accuracy of PARNEC are given. The choice of a CG or LU solver for the solution of the system of linear equations generated by method-of-moment formulation and new parallel hardware are discussed.<<ETX>>


James Cook's expeditions to the Pacific were unprecedented in late eighteenth-century Britain, and in the years following the expeditions, extraordinary images of the region were presented to the public. The drawings and paintings made by the artists during the expeditions became the basis for dozens of artworks, which brought to life areas of the world that had previously been little known to Europeans. While these were available to a limited public, tens of thousands of British consumers encountered images of the Pacific through magazine illustrations that were subsequently based on those art works. Published in several leading British magazines in the 1770s and 1780s, these illustrations circulated widely and reached people across Britain and in the American colonies, integrating the Pacific into consumer culture in a way that no other product could. They constituted a rich discourse about the Pacific which was informed by the written accounts and ambitious post-voyage art works, but ultimately separated from them: they were a unique set of representations, the production of which was determined above all by the magazine industry. The magazines presented their readers with the most exotic and spectacular glimpses of the Pacific that they could possibly offer, and they achieved this primarily through a focus on indigenous peoples' bodies and dress; accuracy, context, and nuance were often diminished as images were adapted and edited for magazine production. Ultimately, these engravings played a critical role in the construction of the idea of the Pacific, at a time when British colonial activity in that region was just beginning.


The utilization of flexible manufacturing workcells (FMCs) to produce families of parts in many possible orders of operations and choices of different machines is advantageous. The modeling and control of such discrete-event systems (DESs) have generally been performed in a hierarchical structure. Despite intensive research on the theoretical control of DESs, however, current techniques such as controlled automata can still primarily be used for the supervisory control of simple cells. In the paper, a modeling and control synthesis technique is presented for FMCs that allow part-routing flexibility. The proposed methodology combines extended Moore automata (EMA) and controlled-automata theories to synthesize supervisors for such FMCs. EMA-based supervisors have the capability to read (receive) multiple pieces of information regarding the behavior of the FMC. Based on this information they can explicitly generate control commands issued to cell devices. In order to significantly reduce the state-space of EMA-based supervisors without affecting the behavior enforced on the (controlled) FMC, a minimization procedure is also outlined.


This work uses a direct tensile test approach, developed in-house, to measure the bond strength of brick-mortar interfaces. The thesis postulates that direct tensile bond strength values can be used as a means of assessing compatibility of brick and mortar properties which directly influence the structural and durability performance of brickwork. The work identifies that direct forms of tensile testing are suited for comparative research more readily than flexural testing techniques, which induce inherent variability to the test system due to sample format and by application of the associated flexural bending theory. It is maintained that flexural bending tests reflect parameters which influence disproportionately the compressive strength of the mortar and the joint periphery. The work uses traditional volume ratios for mortars, proportioned to a constant mass of sand, to identify the effect that discrete changes in cement and lime content have upon bond strength performance of the mortar. The results show that cement content of mortar has no significant influence on bond strength, provided that the combined proportion of cement and lime maintain a 1:3 ratio by volume with the sand. Furthermore, it has been shown that the volume of the mix water should match the volume of cementitious material, in order to achieve suitable workability. The work produces a bond strength development curve for samples aged between 5-minutes and 2-years of age and concludes that bond strength does not develop in the same manner to compressive strength and that bond strength may decline post 28-days. Samples up to 2-years in age can demonstrate up to 40-percent loss of bond due to the effects of sustained drying shrinkage. Consequently the work questions the value of using 28-day strength tests as a means of predicting future bond strength performance. It is identified that the controlling parameter which effects bond strength development is the removal of the excess mix water from the mortar by brick suction forces. The work examines unit water absorption characteristics and identifies that the initial rate of suction test is not sufficiently representative of a unit's ability to remove water from a retentive mortar bed. In response a unique method, which measures the continuous water uptake of the brick bed-face is presented. The resulting water absorption profile identifies the rate of change of flow and the resulting force function, with which water is potentially extracted from the retentive mortar bed. Results show that a good correlation between a unit's suction force and bond strength can be attained. It is presented that initial bond strength is developed by volumetric plastic shrinkage of the mortar bed, induced by rapid removal of the excess mix water by brick background suction, which generates a mechanical lateral gripping action to the undulations of the brick bed-face.


The relatively low capacity and poor rate performance of cathodes restrict the development of rechargeable batteries and must be settled urgently due to the ever-growing need of energy storage. Here, we report a new cathode system that produces polyoxometalates (POMs)/ionic liquid (IL)/reduced graphene oxide (RGO) composites, denoted as PIG, by a self-assembly method in which IL plays the role of "killing two birds with one stone". IL not only facilitates the formation of heterogeneous nanocrystalline composites but also acts as the template reagent to feature the morphology of homogeneous nanobelts on the RGO. The PIG system provides us with a theoretical model at the molecular level to give a detailed comparison of a three-dimensional open skeleton formed by different transition metal linkers and a vanadium cage, on the performance of the cathode in batteries. Finally, the targeted composite Mn3V19-HIL/RGO-1 shows good cycling stability and the best ultrafast rate capabilities (121 mA h g−1 at 5000 mA g−1 and 73 mA h g−1 at 2000 mA g−1 for lithium and sodium ion batteries) of POMs-based composites. Furthermore, the PIG system provides a platform for the design of POMs, and even anionic clusters-based composites in the energy conversion and storage, thus giving access to their versatile architectural design and applications.


In this study, we propose a novel computational system called WoodWeaver for fabricating curved surfaces from conventional materials without using moulds. We use a cutting-based material bending method called Dukta. Our system enables a user to design a single free-form curved surface and to fabricate it based on the bending deformation characteristics of the material. The system also indicates an invalid shape; that is, one that will break upon bending deformation. The user can then design a valid shape with this information. We also develop an optimal Dukta pattern that is the smallest-sized gap pattern necessary to represent a user-designed shape. Given a valid shape, the system generates the optimal pattern and a machine cuts four modules with this pattern. Finally, the user assembles these modules to obtain the desired shape.


The research project reported in this chapter consists of three studies in which syntactic complexity, lexical variation and fluency appear as dependent variables. The independent variables are task complexity and proficiency level, as the three studies investigate the effect of task complexity on the written and oral performance of L2 learners of different levels of linguistic proficiency. Task complexity was defined according to Robinson's Triadic Componential Framework in terms of the number of elements to be dealt with (Robinson 2001a, b, 2003, 2005, 2007). Linguistic performance was assessed by means of both general and specific measures of syntactic complexity, lexical variation and accuracy. In the final section of the paper, the results of the three studies, which seem to contradict Robinson's predictions, are compared and discussed, both with respect to the Triadic Componential Framework and the proficiency measures used.


We study the diversification effects from introducing hedge funds into a traditional portfolio of stocks and bonds. Our results make it clear that in terms of skewness and kurtosis equity and hedge funds do not combine very well. Although the inclusion of hedge funds may significantly improve a portfolio's mean-variance characteristics, it can also be expected to lead to significantly lower skewness as well as higher kurtosis. This means that the case for hedge funds includes a definite trade-off between profit and loss potential. Our results also emphasize that to have at least some impact on the overall portfolio, investors will have to make an allocation to hedge funds which by far exceeds the typical 1-5% that many institutions are currently considering.


We demonstrate on-chip gas/liquid sensing by using the chemotaxis of live bacteria (Euglena gracilis) confined in an isolated micro-aquarium, and gas/liquid permeation through porous polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). The sensing chip consisted of one closed micro-aquarium and two separated bypass microchannels along the perimeter of the micro-aquarium. Test gas/liquid and reference samples were introduced into the two individual microchannels separately, and the gas/liquid permeated through the PDMS walls and dissolved in the micro-aquarium water, resulting in a chemical concentration gradient in the micro-aquarium. By employing the closed micro-aquarium isolated from sample flows, we succeeded in measuring the chemotaxis of Euglena for a gas substance quantitatively, which cannot be achieved with the conventional flow-type or hydro-gel-type microfluidic devices. We found positive (negative) chemotaxis for CO2 concentrations below (above) 15%, with 64 ppm as the minimum concentration affecting the cells. We also observed chemotaxis for ethanol and H2O2. By supplying culture medium via the microchannels, the Euglena culture remained alive for more than 2 months. The sensing chip is thus useful for culturing cells and using them for environmental toxicity/nutrition studies by monitoring their motion.


Since European settlement, woodlands have undergone significant structural and compositional changes in semiarid SE Australia. With logging, introduced grazing and declines in fire frequency, fire-sensitive Callitris glaucophylla has regenerated densely in woodlands dominated by C. glaucophylla and fire-tolerant Eucalyptus species. Since little is known about long-term competitive interactions between sapling regeneration and canopy trees, we examined: (1) how established Eucalyptus and Callitris canopy trees influence survival, growth and reproduction of Callitris saplings; (2) whether dense Callitris regeneration affects canopy tree health during drought; and (3) whether these patterns differ along a rainfall gradient (363–621 mm year–1). Callitris saplings beneath tree canopies were less dense, smaller, and less likely to fruit than isolated saplings in gaps along the rainfall gradient. Callitris trees surrounded by Callitris regeneration had greater mortality than those without surrounding regeneration; Eucalyptus trees were more likely to be drought stressed at the lower end of the rainfall gradient, where canopy trees were at higher densities. The results suggest that canopy trees reduce the density rather than exclude Callitris regeneration, and that the regeneration contributes to mortality of Callitris canopy trees during drought. The trend towards increasing Callitris dominance is expected to continue over time, owing to the paucity of Eucalyptus recruitment.


A description is given of Fugue, a language that lets composers express signal processing algorithms for sound synthesis, musical scores, and higher level musical procedures all in one language. Fugue provides functions to create and manipulate sounds as abstract, immutable objects. The interactive language supports behavioral abstraction, so composers can manage complex musical structures. Fugue's capabilities and an example of a score it generated are examined. The implementation of Fugue in a combination of C and XLisp, to run on Unix workstations, is discussed. An example of how Fugue's implementation of lazy evaluation works is given. Future extensions and applications of Fugue are indicated.<<ETX>>


Abstract. To assess the primary and secondary sources of fine organic aerosols after the aggressive implementation of air pollution controls during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, 12 h PM2.5 values were measured at an urban site at Peking University (PKU) and an upwind rural site at Yufa during the CAREBEIJING-2008 (Campaigns of Air quality REsearch in BEIJING and surrounding region) summer field campaign. The average PM2.5 concentrations were 72.5 ± 43.6 μg m−3 and 64.3 ± 36.2 μg m−3 (average ± standard deviation, below as the same) at PKU and Yufa, respectively, showing the lowest concentrations in recent years. Combining the results from a CMB (chemical mass balance) model and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) tracer-yield model, five primary and four secondary fine organic aerosol sources were compared with the results from previous studies in Beijing. The relative contribution of mobile sources to PM2.5 concentrations was increased in 2008, with diesel engines contributing 16.2 ± 5.9% and 14.5 ± 4.1% and gasoline vehicles contributing 10.3 ± 8.7% and 7.9 ± 6.2% to organic carbon (OC) at PKU and Yufa, respectively. Due to the implementation of emission controls, the absolute OC concentrations from primary sources were reduced during the Olympics, and the contributions from secondary formation of OC represented a larger relative source of fine organic aerosols. Compared with the non-controlled period prior to the Olympics, primary vehicle contributions were reduced by 30% at the urban site and 24% at the rural site. The reductions in coal combustion contributions were 57% at PKU and 7% at Yufa. Our results demonstrate that the emission control measures implemented in 2008 significantly alleviated the primary organic particle pollution in and around Beijing. However, additional studies are needed to provide a more comprehensive assessment of the emission control effectiveness on SOA formation.


Incentive awards to representative plaintiffs in class action cases have been the focus of recent law reform efforts and generated inconsistent case law. But little is known about such awards. This study of 374 opinions from 1993 to 2002 finds that awards were granted in about 28% of settled class actions. Rate of awards varied by case category as follows: consumer credit actions 59%, employment discrimination cases 46%, antitrust cases 35%, securities cases 24% (before the PSLRA limited awards), corporate and mass tort actions, less than 10%. The decision to grant an incentive award was associated with increased awards of attorney costs and expenses (our proxy for representative plaintiff costs) in relation to median class member recoveries and with the case being in federal court. When given, incentive awards constituted, on average, 0.16% of the class recovery, with a median of 0.02%. Award levels varied by case category. Employment discrimination cases had large incentive awards compared to other categories. Award size was associated with the case's costs and expenses, the class recovery amount, the median recovery per class member, the case's risk, and the presence of objection to the settlement. Awards exhibited a scaling effect; their percentage of the class recovery decreased as the class recovery increased. We examine the data in light of four hypotheses about the function of incentive awards: (1) reimbursing class representatives for non-pecuniary litigation costs; (2) rewarding class representatives for superior service; (3) facilitating self-interested behavior by class counsel; and (4) achieving proportionality between awards and other outcomes in the case. We find support for the reimbursement and proportionality hypotheses and weaker support for the attorney self-interest and reward-for-service hypotheses. We find little evidence of systematic abuse in incentive awards. Given the modest frequency and size of awards, and their possible benefits, case-by-case adjudication may be more appropriate than fixed legislative or judicial rules banning awards.


MANETs are well known for their flexibility and ease of communication. The communication is purely based on trust, without any need of authentication. This often leads to insecure communication, causing information tampering. The traditional means of security are not sufficient to safeguard against the inherent dangers of MANET. Researchers around the world are working in this issue. The preferred mode of securing data is through encryption. The process of encryption however is complex enough to increase the computational overhead. This paper proposes a secure encryption strategy using Chinese Remainder Theorem for shielding data from unauthorized access. The paper also includes a comparison of proposed method with existing methods General Terms CRT based key generation and secure route detection for secure communication.


The decentralisation of production by various means has been a major feature of Australian labour law and relations since the 1980s. Since the recession of the early 1980s, many businesses have pursued financial savings through outsourcing of labour. Many companies did so firstly as a means of focusing on their core business activities and shifting to program-based accounting systems. More recently it has been part of the process of continuous cost-cutting and downsizing, associated with the preoccupation with shareholder value. Decentralisation is usually accompanied by reduction of the internal workforce and intensification of work remaining within the business. These trends are not surprising given the high degree of foreign ownership and control of large business in Australia, and the exposure of the Australian economy to diversification, deregulation and global competition in the last two decades. Decentralisation was in fact championed by conservative governments which began outsourcing ("contracting out") or privatising government businesses and services from the late 1980s. This paper examines recent Australian Law concerning productive decentralisation. The paper was prepared as a national report for the XVIII World Congress of Labour and Social Security Law, Paris, 5-8 September 2006, on behalf of the Australian Labour Law Association, with contributions by Mr Toby Borgeest.


V. NAYDENOVA, V., S. VASSILEV, M. KANEVA and G. KOSTOV, 2013. Encapsulation of brewing yeast in alginate/ chitosan matrix: comparative study of beer fermentation with immobilized and free cells. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., Supplement 2, 19: 123–127 In the present study, the possibilities for beer production with lager brewing yeasts, encapsulated in alginate/chitosan matrix with a liquid core, were investigated. The yeast cells – free and immobilized – were used for batch fermentations at 15°C. The dynamics of the fermentation parameters – yeast growth, real extract and alcohol – were studied at different original wort gravity – 9 to 17°P. Simultaneously, the dynamics of fl avor-active yeast by-products (esters, aldehydes and higher alcohols) were investigated. The immobilized cells showed higher real degree of fermentation and produced slightly higher levels of total fusel alcohols and esters. On the other hand, the free cells produced slightly higher levels of aldehydes. Fermentation kinetics was described using Monod equation. The immobilized cells showed higher specifi c growth rate and higher specifi c ethanol production rate for most of the studied variants. The results showed that cell immobilization did not affect the fermentation process and yeast by-products formation. The obtained data about the fermentation dynamics will be used for the development of a continuous system for beer production with immobilized cells.


Background Treatment of chronic, refractory biceps tendinitis remains controversial. The authors sought to evaluate clinical and functional outcomes of arthroscopic release of the long head of the biceps tendon. Hypothesis In specific cases of refractory biceps tendinitis, site-specific release of the long head of the biceps tendon may yield relief of pain and symptoms. Study Design Case series; Level of evidence, 4. Methods Fifty-four patients diagnosed with biceps tendinitis underwent arthroscopic release of the long head of the biceps tendon as an isolated procedure or as part of a concomitant shoulder procedure over a 2-year period. Patients were not excluded for concomitant shoulder abnormality, including degenerative joint disease, rotator cuff tears, Bankart lesions, or instability. Nine of 40 patients had an isolated arthroscopic release of the biceps tendon. At a minimum of 2 years, the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons; the University of California, Los Angeles; and the L'Insalata shoulder questionnaires as well as ipsilateral and contralateral metrics were used for evaluation. Results The L'Insalata; University of California, Los Angeles; and American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons scores were 77.6, 27.6, and 75.6, respectively. Seventy percent had a Popeye sign at rest or during active elbow flexion; 82.7% of men and 36.5% of women had a positive Popeye sign (P <. 05); 68% were rated as good, very good, or excellent. No patient reported arm pain at rest distally or proximally; 38% of patients complained of fatigue discomfort (soreness) isolated to the biceps muscle after resisted elbow flexion. Conclusion Arthroscopic release of the long head of the biceps tendon is an appropriate and reliable intervention for patients with chronic, refractory biceps tendinitis. Cosmetic deformity presenting as a positive Popeye sign and fatigue discomfort were the primary complaints. Clinical Relevance Although tenotomy is not the ideal intervention for patients of all ages with various shoulder abnormalities, data suggest that it may be an acceptable surgical intervention for a specifically selected cohort of individuals.


This Country Program Evaluation (CPE) is the third independent evaluation of the Bank's program with the country. It examines the Bank's relationship with The Bahamas from an independent and comprehensive perspective, and serves the dual purpose of strengthening accountability and sharing lessons learned for future Bank support and for the next Country Strategy. The CPE looks in depth at the design, implementation, and results of operations approved or active between January 2010 and June 2017, considering the country context and the applicable strategic documents.


Drug therapy is the most commonly used method of any disease treatment in general practice. However, the patterns of drug prescription are often inappropriate and the need for registration and evaluation of these patterns is essential in an effort to improve prescription standards. Cross sectional retrospective study was used. Prescriptions were selected by using simple random sampling technique from accumulated prescriptions over a period of six months (May 2013 to October 2013). The Data was evaluated using standardized World Health Organization prescription indicators for studies of rational drug use. Data was collected from prescriptions by using pre-prepared data collection tool. The average number of drugs per encounter was 1.83; with 97.4% drugs prescribed by generic names. 38% & 10.8% of the prescriptions contained encounters with antibiotics and injections use respectively. 100% of drugs prescribed were from the essential drugs list of Ethiopia. It is concluded from the study that the number of drugs prescribed per encounter, prescribing practices for injections, generic prescribing and prescribing from essential drug list are encouraging, whereas prescribing practices for antibiotic need to be regulated closely since study shows deviation from the standard recommended by World Health Organization guideline.


From high schools and colleges to technical and graduate schools, research involves making sense of information: learning the basics of planning, winnowing, and evaluating the quality of sources. As information proliferates, it's tempting to use the handiest tool rather than working to identify the best one. But there's a better way! Updated for today's ever-expanding world of electronic information, Teaching Information Literacy: 50 Standards-Based Exercises for College Students, Second Edition is the best single resource for fundamental information literacy instruction. Covering the basics of planning, collecting, and evaluating, the exercises in this book . Address one of more of the ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education.Promote conceptual and applied skills via active learning, problem-based learning, and resource-based learning.Are ready for use by reference and instruction librarians at colleges and community colleges, as well as others responsible for teaching students how to conduct research.These 50 lessons can be used as a full semester course or as a single focused seminar or workshop, and show how to engage with electronic and print information resources alike.


The second full annual inventory of Nebraska's forests reports more than 1.5 million acres of forest land and 39 tree species. Forest land is dominated by the elm/ash/cottonwood and oak/hickory forest types, which occupy nearly half of the total forest land area. The volume of growing stock on timberland currently totals 1.1 billion cubic feet. The average annual net growth of growing stock from 2005 to 2010 is nearly 22 million cubic feet per year. This report includes additional information on forest attributes, land use change, carbon, timber products, and forest health. A DVD included in this report contains (1) descriptive information on statistics and quality assurance of data collection, (2) a glossary of terms, (3) tables that summarize quality assurance, (4) a core set of tabular estimates for a variety of forest resources, and (5) a Microsoft Access database that represents an archive of data used in this report, with tools that allow users to produce customized estimates.


Background A recent meta-analysis by Ravani and colleagues (Ravani, P., et al., Am J Kidney Dis, 2016. 67(3): p. 446-60.) studied the effect of pre-emptive correction of arterio-venous dialysis vascular access versus deferred care, based on data from 11 trials. The authors reported a non-significant protective treatment effect of pre-emptive correction on access loss, while showing a significant protective effect on thrombosis rates conferred by pre-emptive correction. We revisit this analysis, including data extraction and effects of a heterogenous study population. Methods We repeated data extraction from all referenced publications in the meta-analysis by Ravani et al. and corrected event counts where applicable. We repeated the meta-analyses with access loss as the outcome for studies that recruited patients with arterio-venous fistulae (AVF) and grafts (AVG), respectively, using a random effects model with relative risk (RR) and risk difference (RD) of access loss as the outcomes of interest. We repeated data extraction from all referenced publications, and corrected event counts where applicable. Results Our conclusions differ from the original findings in two ways. First, after some amendment of the event counts extracted from Mayer et al. (Vascular and Endovascular Surgery 1993), we find a significant overall positive effect of pre-emptive correction on arterio-venous access loss in the overall study population [RR 0.80 (95% CI 0.64 to 0.99), RD −0.07 (95% CI −0.12 to −0.02); Figure 1]. Secondly, we highlight the impact of heterogeneous study populations on the meta-analysis. Whereas the data do not conclusively show a benefit of pre-emptive correction for arteriovenous grafts (AVG; RR = 0.87, 95% CI: 0.69 – 1.11), they show a strong protective effect for arteriovenous fistulae (AVF; RR = 0.5, 95% CI: 0.29 to 0.86). Figure 1: Meta-analysis of access loss, overall and by access type using risk ratio (RR) as the measure of association. Discussion and Conclusion These findings corroborate clinical arguments such as superior long-term patency of AVF and the nature of AVG failure that often involve infectious causes. The available data indicate mild or no benefit of pre-emptive correction for AVG, but strongly support tight monitoring of dialysis accesses and preemptive intervention and correction upon the slightest suspicion of access stenosis for AVF.


This commentary is on a paper published in 2010. Few would wish to roll the markets back to where they were eight years ago, but have the issues that were debated then been adequately resolved? Are today's markets acceptably efficient? Can we relax about market quality? My answer to each of these is "no." What I wrote in 2010, I stand by now. Along with revisiting my previous discussion on dark pools, fragmentation, price discovery, and liquidity, this commentary presents my newer thoughts concerning the definition of the term "liquidity," and the existence of an illiquidity premium.


This Applied Optics feature issue is dedicated to the 12th topical meeting on Optical Interference Coatings held on 16–21 June 2013 in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. The conference, taking place in a three-year rotation with conferences in Europe and Asia, is a focal point for global technical interchange in the field of optical interference coatings and provides premier opportunities for people in the field to present their new advances in research and development. Papers presented at the conference cover a broad range of topics, from thin film deposition processes, designs and modeling, materials, and metrologies to a wide array of thin film applications.


One popular hypothesis of neural network generalization is that the flat local minima of loss surface in parameter space leads to good generalization. However, we demonstrate that loss surface in parameter space has no obvious relationship with generalization, especially under adversarial settings. Through visualizing decision surfaces in both parameter space and input space, we instead show that the geometry property of decision surface in input space correlates well with the adversarial robustness. We then propose an adversarial robustness indicator, which can evaluate a neural network's intrinsic robustness property without testing its accuracy under adversarial attacks. Guided by it, we further propose our robust training method. Without involving adversarial training, our method could enhance network's intrinsic adversarial robustness against various adversarial attacks.


The questions related to the mental violence are very actual both in theory of criminal law and in practice of justice. The author of the article tries to determine the place of the mental violence in the net of related notions of criminal law such as threat, frightening, terrorizing, blackmail and other, also deals with the main ways of prohibition of the mental violence by Criminal code. In this aspect, the author distinguishes the mental violence as a separate crime (delicta sui generis) and as means of compulsion. As delictum sui generis only the most dangerous kinds of threat are prohibited by criminal law, while the punishability of mental violence as means of compulsion depends on the aims seeking by the user of coercion. These aims are very important criteria solving the problem of danger and need to criminalize certain kinds of mental influence upon a victim. Trying to expose the conception of mental violence, the author offers to regard it as the unity of outside and inside elements of criminal conduct. He also gives his own definition of mental violence as intentional dangerous mental influence upon a victim trying to frighten him at the negative consequences that will be caused by subsequent action or inaction of the violator. The main aspects of outside part of mental violence are the frightening influence upon a victim, danger and diversity of the ways it can be manifested. The inside part of mental violence must be expressed by intent to frighten a victim. This is the most important criteria to identify some kind of action as mental violence. The special notice is taken in the article to the essential aspects of legal appraisal of mental violence. This process always manifests itself by necessity to answer if the threat was real and what kind of threat it was. The author throws light on various theories of "reality of threat" and comes to the conclusion that the dominating method of appraisal of the threat from the position of the victim's comprehension cannot be regarded as optimum theoretical decision. This method contradicts with the principle of incrimination based on the inside (subjective) part of a criminal act. The author upholds the position that the questions, if the threat is real and what kind of threat it is, can be properly solved only from the content of intent of the violator. To substantiate the given proposals the author refers to both the theoretical literature and the materials of criminal cases including the sentences of courts in force.


On Yom Kippur, Jews of antiquity would sacrifice two goats: one killed as an offering to a harsh and judging god, the other taken to the wilderness and turned loose, a carrier of the sins of the group. Throughout history, argues brilliant feminist critic Andrea Dworkin, women and Jews have been stigmatized as society's scapegoats. In this stunning and provocative book, Dworkin brings her rigorous intellect to bear on the dynamics of scapegoating. Drawing upon history, philosophy, literature, and politics, she creates a terrifying picture of the workings of misogyny and anti-Semitism in the last millennium. With examples that range from the Inquisition, when women were targeted as witches and Jews as heretics, to the terror of the Nazis, whose aggression was both race- and gender-motivated, Dworkin illustrates how and why women and Jews have been scapegoated and compares the civil inequality, prejudices, and stereotypes that have framed identity for both groups. Taking the state of Israel as a paradigm, Dworkin traces the growth of male dominance in societies both old and new -- resulting in the subordination of women and a racial or ethnic "other." In Israel today, Palestinians and prostitutes are the new scapegoats: degraded, inferior, abject. Although the gentle Jewish martyrs of old have become modern Israeli warriors, women retain the stigmatized status of "weak Jews" who, when attacked, never fight back. This leads Dworkin to imagine a world in which women betray men of their own kind in order to develop and defend their own sovereignty. Ultimately, her book forces us to ask profound questions: Why do women continue to value their own lives less than those of themen they love? Where is the line between justifiable self-defense and violence? Both an impassioned plea for women to challenge and destroy the author- ity of the men in their own group and a startling work of history, "Scapegoat" will forever change how we think about the patterns of behavior and belief that give rise to domination and oppression.


"Alice laughed." "There's no use trying," she said; "one can't believe impossible things." "I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." (1) I. INTRODUCTION Philip Howard believes. Howard believes that "[d]octors, teachers, ministers, even [L]ittle [L]eague coaches, find their daily decisions hampered by legal fear." (2) "Legal fear" exists when "[f]ear of litigation ... undermine[s] our freedom to make sensible decisions." (3) Howard has advanced this claim in a best-selling book, in numerous op-eds and speeches, and through his disarmingly-named public-interest organization, Our Common Good. (4) Howard has many allies. The list of co-sponsors and supporters of Our Common Good is a "Who's Who" of business and politics, public intellectuals, organized medicine, and health policy scholars. (5) Belief is one thing; proof is quite another. Testing Howard's beliefs requires framing them as empirically falsifiable propositions and then assessing them in light of the data. Howard's recent Washington Post op-ed on medical malpractice separates his global claim ("[f]ear of litigation [is] undermin[ing] our freedom to make sensible decisions" (6)) into more manageable and concrete sub-claims--and data is available to test each sub-claim. (7) Howard's op-ed indicates he believes at least six things about medical malpractice: 1. The tort system causes physicians and other health care providers to hide their mistakes. 2. Physicians and other health care providers once dealt with mistakes more openly. 3. Liability encourages substantial defensive medicine. 4. Liability undermines access to needed medical services. 5. Liability creates an "extortion lottery." 6. A specialized medical court would be an improvement. These individual sub-claims are at best unproven and at worst flatly wrong. This is not to suggest that the medical malpractice system is operating optimally, or that alternative institutional arrangements might not outperform it. As we have detailed elsewhere, the medical malpractice system (like the health care delivery system) has a whole series of pathologies. (8) Nonetheless, it does not follow that reform (whether that advocated by Howard or by anyone else) will necessarily make things better. Institutional imperfection is an unfortunate reality of public policy. (9) It is foolish to choose Policy A over Policy B by listing the deficiencies of Policy B and the virtues of Policy A; one must also consider the virtues of Policy B and the deficiencies of Policy A if the decision is to be informed by anything other than faith in one's own belief system. II. BELIEF AND REALITY Medical malpractice is the best-studied area of the tort system. (10) Over thirty years of empirical studies and extensive historical inquiry have made it possible to assess the performance of the system based on empirical data, not anecdotes. This Part goes through each of Howard's sub-claims regarding medical malpractice and considers how well the sub-claims correspond to what is actually known about the performance of the medical malpractice system. Assertion 1: The tort system causes physicians and other health care providers to hide their mistakes. Howard claims that "[t]ragic human errors occur, for example, in prescription dosage, because people fearful of legal consequences are reluctant to speak up." (11) In other words, fear of liability is encouraging a culture of silence: the higher the risk of liability, the lower the probability of voluntary error reporting. Howard is not alone in making this claim; the Institute of Medicine asserted in a famous 1999 report that "[p]atient safety is [] hindered through the liability system and the threat of malpractice, which discourages the disclosure of errors. …


Emulation plays an important role in engineering design. However, most emulators such as Gaussian processes (GPs) are exclusively developed for interpolation/regression and their performance significantly deteriorates in extrapolation. To address this shortcoming, we introduce evolutionary Gaussian processes (EGPs) that aim to increase the extrapolation capabilities of GPs. An EGP differs from a GP in that its training involves automatic discovery of some free-form symbolic bases that explain the data reasonably well. In our approach, this automatic discovery is achieved via evolutionary programming (EP) which is integrated with GP modeling via maximum likelihood estimation, bootstrap sampling, and singular value decomposition. As we demonstrate via examples that include a host of analytical functions as well as an engineering problem on materials modeling, EGP can improve the performance of ordinary GPs in terms of not only extrapolation, but also interpolation/regression and numerical stability.


Seriousness is achieved when a speaker effectively moves the audience according to his or her intentions. But seriousness is fragile and subject to countless vicissitudes, as illustrated in an encounter with the television evangelist Oral Roberts. I interrogate one of the means used to counter such vicissitudes-hyperbole. Hyperbole may include exaggeration and amplification of all kinds, and may be manifest in deeds as well as words. I first follow hyperbole through 9/11 and the competing ideologies of Salafi jihadists and the Bush administration to show how 'absolute metaphors' are enlisted hyperbolically. I examine too how epic narratives are created as a similar form of hyperbole. Finally, I show how sacredness, another allied form of hyperbole, is attributed to the Holocaust in present-day Germany. Throughout I argue, and illustrate, how anthropological writing is of necessity ironic, such that irony is better than 'cultural relativism' as an understanding of the anthropological enterprise.


Often economists are asked to value business. Many times the information provided is minimal and of questionable value. Data may be provided by parties wishing to bias the valuation. The financial statements typically provided are balance sheets and income statements. These sources can be fraught with errors, omissions and even fraud. The cash flow statements derived from these statements can be misleading and any analysis from these spurious statements is sure to be questioned. A set of tools exists that can use to establish the reliability of these financial statements. Reliability is usually taken for granted in basic accounting and finance and reality is often not as assumed. The tool kit uses basic accounting and mathematical logic. This logic, teamed with basic accounting definitions and conventions, allows the economist some comfort that the statements provided for use in the business valuation are free of obvious misinformation. These tools can also help uncover some less detectable fraud. For the analysis to proceed there must be two balance sheets and the intervening income statement. By applying the accounting conventions and definitions, real, probable and possible solutions are developed and explained. After examining the relationship between the financial statements one is better able to value the business and be confident of the analysis.


Nuclear localization of the transcriptional activator NF-κB (nuclear factor κB) is controlled in mammalian cells by three isoforms of NF-κB inhibitor protein: IκBα, -β, and -ɛ. Based on simplifying reductions of the IκB–NF-κB signaling module in knockout cell lines, we present a computational model that describes the temporal control of NF-κB activation by the coordinated degradation and synthesis of IκB proteins. The model demonstrates that IκBα is responsible for strong negative feedback that allows for a fast turn-off of the NF-κB response, whereas IκBβ and -ɛ function to reduce the system's oscillatory potential and stabilize NF-κB responses during longer stimulations. Bimodal signal-processing characteristics with respect to stimulus duration are revealed by the model and are shown to generate specificity in gene expression.


The EKC/KEOPS complex is universally conserved in Archaea and Eukarya and has been implicated in several cellular processes, including transcription, telomere homeostasis and genomic instability. However, the molecular function of the complex has remained elusive so far. We analyzed the transcriptome of EKC/KEOPS mutants and observed a specific profile that is highly enriched in targets of the Gcn4p transcriptional activator. GCN4 expression was found to be activated at the translational level in mutants via the defective recognition of the inhibitory upstream ORFs (uORFs) present in its leader. We show that EKC/KEOPS mutants are defective for the N6-threonylcarbamoyl adenosine modification at position 37 (t6A37) of tRNAs decoding ANN codons, which affects initiation at the inhibitory uORFs and provokes Gcn4 de-repression. Structural modeling reveals similarities between Kae1 and bacterial enzymes involved in carbamoylation reactions analogous to t6A37 formation, supporting a direct role for the EKC in tRNA modification. These findings are further supported by strong genetic interactions of EKC mutants with a translation initiation factor and with threonine biosynthesis genes. Overall, our data provide a novel twist to understanding the primary function of the EKC/KEOPS and its impact on several essential cellular functions like transcription and telomere homeostasis.


Building on recent research in musical creativity and the composition process, this paper presents a specific practical application of our theory and software to sound design. The BigBang rubette module that brings gestural music composition methods to the Rubato Composer software was recently generalized in order to work with any kinds of musical and non-musical objects. Here, we focus on time-independent sound objects to illustrate several levels of metacreativity. On the one hand, we show a sample process of designing the sound objects themselves by defining appropriate datatypes, which can be done at runtime. On the other hand, we demonstrate how the creative process itself, recorded by the software once the composer starts working with these sound objects, can be used for both improvisation with and automation of any defined operations and transformations.


Pulse production in India is characterised by diversity of crops and their regional specificity based on adaptation to prevailing agroclimatic conditions. Pulses as a group can utilise limited soil moisture and nutrients more efficiently than cereal crops and for that reason farmers have chosen them to grow under highly adverse conditions. The process of differential resource allocation to pulse crops operates at agro-ecological niche allocation and at individual farmers level, out of necessity, and not out of choice or preference. At present more than 92 per cent of the area under pulses is confined to unirrigated areas, and in future the bulk of pulse production will continue to come from unirrigated areas. Therefore, any plan for increasing pulse production in the country should be based on a long-term approach for improved productivity of these crops under rainfed farming conditions rather than on the use of high inputs. Crop productivity comparisons made under unirrigated conditions between pulses and cereals do not support the general belief that pulses suffer from inherent low productivity. Rather the low productivity of pulses is due to the low input conditions associated with the complex socio-economic and agroclimatic problems of rainfed agriculture. Long neglect of rainfed areas has resulted in poor institutional development and, therefore, there is considerable lag in developing strong traditions of scientific thinking and research, and training of scientists to work in these areas. This para deals in detail with agroclimatic, socio-economic and biological constraints of pulse production and gaps in transfer of technology in rainfed areas


16 17 Breeding for improved reproductive frost tolerance could allow greater yield and economic 18 benefits to be achieved by (i) reducing direct frost damage and (ii) allowing earlier sowing to 19 reduce risks of late-season drought and/or heat stresses. We integrated APSIM-Wheat 20 simulations with economic modelling to evaluate economic benefits of virtual genotypes with 21 different levels of frost tolerance for the Australian wheatbelt. 22 Results highlighted substantial potential national economic benefits, with estimated industry 23 profit increasing by (i) more than 55% for virtual genotypes with improved frost tolerance in 24 silico, by (ii) 115% when sowing date was optimised for virtual frost-tolerant genotypes, and 25 by (iii) an extra 35% (i.e. 150% in total) when using optimal nitrogen application. The total 26 benefit potential was estimated at AUD 1,890 million per annum if all these improvements 27 could be combined. Regional benefits varied. In the West, the main benefits arose from 28 improved frost tolerance reducing losses due to direct frost damage and applying additional 29 nitrogen. In the East, earlier sowing allowed by tolerant genotypes resulted in large economic 30


Abstract. The global organic aerosol (OA) budget is highly uncertain and past studies suggest that models substantially underestimate observed concentrations. Few of these studies have examined the vertical distribution of OA. Furthermore, many model-measurement comparisons have been performed with different models for single field campaigns. We synthesize organic aerosol measurements from 17 aircraft campaigns from 2001–2009 and use these observations to consistently evaluate a GEOS-Chem model simulation. Remote, polluted and fire-influenced conditions are all represented in this extensive dataset. Mean observed OA concentrations range from 0.2–8.2 μg sm−3 and make up 15 to 70% of non-refractory aerosol. The standard GEOS-Chem simulation reproduces the observed vertical profile, although observations are underestimated in 13 of the 17 field campaigns (the median observed to simulated ratio ranges from 0.4 to 4.2), with the largest model bias in anthropogenic regions. However, the model is best able to capture the observed variability in these anthropogenically-influenced regions (R2=0.18−0.57), but has little skill in remote or fire-influenced regions. The model bias increases as a function of relative humidity for 11 of the campaigns, possibly indicative of missing aqueous phase SOA production. However, model simulations of aqueous phase SOA suggest a pronounced signature in the mid-troposphere (2–6 km) which is not supported in the observations examined here. Spracklen et al. (2011) suggest adding ~100 Tg yr−1 source of anthropogenically-controlled SOA to close the measurement-model gap, which we add as anthropogenic SOA. This eliminates the model underestimate near source, but leads to overestimates aloft in a few regions and in remote regions, suggesting either additional sinks of OA or higher volatility aerosol at colder temperatures. Sensitivity simulations indicate that fragmentation of organics upon either heterogeneous or gas-phase oxidation could be an important (missing) sink of OA in models, reducing the global SOA burden by 15% and 47% respectively. The best agreement with observations is obtained when the simulated anthropogenically-controlled SOA is increased to ~100 Tg yr−1 accompanied by either a gas-phase fragmentation process or a reduction in the temperature dependence of the organic aerosol partitioning (by decreasing the enthalpy of vaporization from 42 kJ mol−1 to 25 kJ mol−1). These results illustrate that models may require both additional sources and additional sinks to capture the observed concentrations of organic aerosol.


Quercus cerris is an important species in the forests of Kosovo with a potential high economic value, although there is little information on the stem quality for the saw-milling industry. This study brings data on wood properties, particularly on heartwood, sapwood and bark development within Q. cerris trees grown in two sites in Kosovo, where mature trees were felled, and discs taken at different stem height levels. The average radial growth rate was 1.21 and 1.76 mm yr -1 for both sites. Heartwood decreased from the tree base upwards with a proportion of 53% and 43% until 5 m of height in the two sites. The radial width of sapwood was higher at the stem base (on average 44 mm) and afterwards approximately constant at 32 mm. The taper was low at an average 3.3 mm m-1 between 3.3 and 7.3 m of height. Bark represented on average 16.4% of the total stem cross-section and contained a substantial proportion of rhytidome (51% of the total bark area proportion at stem base and 41% at 9.3 m). Q. cerris in Kosovo showed good potential as a timber species for the supply of stem wood to the saw-milling industry, allowing good yields of heartwood-only sawn wood components. The bark should also be considered for complementary valorization.


The Corona Virus (COVID-19) epidemic represents a major challenge for the world economy. While a detailed longer-term diffusion path of the new virus cannot be anticipated for individual countries, with the possible exception of China, which was the starting point of the international epidemic, one should expect falling asset prices in Asia, the United States and the European Union plus the United Kingdom Ð except for the price of risk-free government bonds. In the course of 2020/21 the US, the EU and the UK, as well as other countries, will face both an increasing number of infected patients as well as a higher case fatality ratio. Health care expenditures in the US will increase more than in the Eurozone and the EU in the medium term, a development that undermines the international competitiveness of the United States. In the US, the spread of the COVID-19 could raise the ratio of health expenditures relative to GDP beyond the current 18% while the health care expenditure of Western EU countries will not rise much beyond the current 10% (12% in France, 11% in Germany in 2018). To the extent that morbidity and mortality in industrialized countries is a positive function of age, higher health expenditures for patients above 65 years of age should be anticipated; in the US with considerable higher government health expenditures. Hence, the US deficit-GDP ratio will remain high. A rising health care-GDP ratio in the US is equivalent to a rising US export tariff; already in the current situation - prior to 2020 - the transatlantic differential in health care-GDP ratios implies that Western European countries will face a relative cost advantage in the context of the Corona virus epidemic so that the trade balance surplus of the Eurozone could rise unless supply-side shocks in the EU exceed those of the US. The COVID-19 challenge for the US Trump Administration is a serious one, since the lack of experts in the Administration will become more apparent in such a systemic stress situation - and this might well affect the November 2020 US presidential election which, in turn, would itself have considerable impacts on the UK and the EU27 as well as EU-UK trade negotiations.


The total cost of cybercrime has been estimated to exceed US$388 billion annually. The availability of crimeware toolkits has lowered the bar for entry to the world of cybercrime. With very little technical knowledge required, cybercriminals can create, deploy and harvest financial data using banking trojans though a point and click graphical user interface that can cost less than US$1000. Technical support is also available for a fee, including technical infrastructure and servers to store harvested data. Fraudsters employing crimeware toolkits have been reported to have stolen US$3.2 million dollars in as little as six months. This paper presents preliminary research that has been conducted to forensically recover and analyse artefacts from the process of using crimeware toolkits from the file system and memory of systems that have been potentially engaged in such banking trojan authoring activities. Construction of a banking trojan using a crimeware toolkit follows a process that typically requires a set of configuration files and a small suite of program tools within the toolkit. Artefacts can be recovered from the process that could potentially be presented for admission as evidence in a court of law. Artefacts from the toolkits vary, as does the versions and variants of available toolkits. This paper proposes further research to construct a library of baseline artefacts to assist in the reconstruction of events to assist the forensic analyst in determining the provenance of any particular banking trojan.


Human U1 small nuclear (sn)RNA, required for splicing of pre-mRNA, is encoded by genes on chromosome 1 (1p36). Imperfect copies of these U1 snRNA genes, also located on chromosome 1 (1q12-21), were thought to be pseudogenes. However, many of these "variant" (v)U1 snRNA genes produce fully processed transcripts. Using antisense oligonucleotides to block the activity of a specific vU1 snRNA in HeLa cells, we have identified global transcriptome changes following interrogation of the Affymetrix Human Exon ST 1.0 array. Our results indicate that this vU1 snRNA regulates expression of a subset of target genes at the level of pre-mRNA processing. This is the first indication that variant U1 snRNAs have a biological function in vivo. Furthermore, some vU1 snRNAs are packaged into unique ribonucleoproteins (RNPs), and many vU1 snRNA genes are differentially expressed in human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and HeLa cells, suggesting developmental control of RNA processing through expression of different sets of vU1 snRNPs.


Is atmospheric dispersion forecasting an important asset of the early-phase nuclear emergency response management? Is there a 'perfect atmospheric dispersion model'? Is there a way to make the results of dispersion models more reliable and trustworthy? While seeking to answer these questions the multi-model ensemble dispersion forecast system ENSEMBLE will be presented.


Building multidimensional systems requires gathering data from heterogeneous sources throughout time. Then, data is integrated in multidimensional structures organized around several axes of analysis, or dimensions. But these analysis structures are likely to vary over time and the existing multidimensional models do not (or only partially) take these evolutions into account. Hence, a dilemma appears for the designer of data warehouses: either keeping trace of evolutions therefore limiting the capability of comparison for analysts, or mapping all data in a given version of the structure that entails alteration (or even loss) of data. We propose a novel approach that offers another alternative, allowing to track history but also to compare data, mapped into static structures. We define a conceptual model and provide possible logical adaptations to implement it on current commercial OLAP systems. At last, we present the global architecture that we used for our prototype.


BACKGROUND
Accurate and real-time information is critical for decision making, especially in medical applications, where any delay in diagnosis due to collection, transport and storage of biofluids can have substantial ramifications for disease management.

RESULTS
We present a facile method for point-of-care biofluid diagnostics based on the spectroscopic analysis of cotton-swab contents using a Raman probe. A PCA algorithm was developed in order to understand the clustering behavior of different off-the-shelf pharmaceutical formulations based on the recorded spectral data. Furthermore, we employed the Raman probe to detect antibiotics in a human urine sample. Our observations suggest that it is possible to provide quantitative concentration determination of Raman-active analytes by using cotton swabs as a sampling probe, which offers a wealth of possibility for real-time measurement in clinical situations.

CONCLUSION
We envision that the intrinsic simplicity of the proposed approach in conjunction with its capability for accurate analyte determination in biofluids will lead to its clinical translation and application in point-of-care settings in the near future.


The survival of enteric pathogens in sewage sludge could lead to their transferral into the soil environment and subsequent contamination of crops and water courses. This, in turn, could increase the potential spread of gastrointestinal disease. This work aimed to determine the persistence of several microorganisms, co-introduced with sewage sludge, when exposed to varying proportions of sewage sludge to soil. Three microcosm-based studies were established, inoculated with Salmonella Dublin or an environmentally-persistent strain of Escherichia coli (quantified periodically over a period of 42 days), or indigenous sewage sludge E. coli (quantified over a period of 56 days). Treatments consisted of a mixture containing: 0, 15, 25, 50, 75 and 100% soil or sludge, depending upon the experiment. Each introduced microorganism declined significantly over time, with greater quantities of soil generally instigating greater die-off particularly in the cases of environmentally-persistent E. coli and S. Dublin. However, this relationship was not proportionally related as sludge/soil mixtures showed greater declines than pure soil treatments. In contrast, indigenous sewage sludge E. coli had a more consistent decline across all treatments. This may indicate that indigenous strains are more resilient and may be indicative of natural behaviour. Moreover, the effects of soil-borne factors on pathogen attenuation were context dependent and non-linear, possibly arising from the relative spatial distribution of introduced sludge and attendant microbes in soil.


Introduction: Inclusion of absorption-enhancing agents in dosage forms is one approach to improve the bioavailability of active pharmaceutical ingredients with low membrane permeability. Tight junctions are dynamic protein structures that form a regulated barrier for movement of molecules through the intercellular spaces across the intestinal epithelium. Some drug absorption enhancers are capable of loosening tight junctions and thereby facilitate paracellular absorption of drug molecules. Areas covered: The physiology of tight junctions as well as the mechanisms through which tight junctions can be modulated is discussed. Selected tight junction modulators are specifically described including chelating agents (e.g., ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid), cationic polymers (e.g., chitosan and derivatives), toxins (e.g., zonula occludens toxin), and plant-derived materials (e.g., Aloe vera gel). Expert opinion: As more and more drugs are developed with low membrane permeability, new interest is generated in finding ways to enhance their absorption. The progress made in comprehending the function and structure of tight junctions has contributed to advances in terms of enhanced drug delivery through the paracellular pathway. Although tight junction modulation holds great potential for effective oral delivery of poorly absorbable drugs, many challenges still need to be overcome before more clinically successful formulations could be produced.


Clinical faculty and externship supervisors often desire for students to hit the ground running in their field placement experiences in order to make maximum use of the limited time available for learning. This article proposes a solution to a chronic dilemma in clinical legal education: how to use a classroom component to prepare students effectively for concurrent work in an externship or clinic. Pre-semester orientation periods - or what I term boot camps - can infuse skills and knowledge into students to enable them to start their externship or clinic experience with immediate, practical skills and knowledge. This empowers them to make effective use of their first few weeks in the course. A boot camp can be as simple as a one- or two-hour orientation to the clinic office. It could also be a week-long seminar on skills development. Boot camps are, in effect, a way of front-loading instruction in a course. This provides a number of benefits to students and instructors alike. There are, however, costs associated with front-loading portions of a course. On balance, I believe the benefits far exceed the costs in most situations. In Part I of this article, I discuss my own boot camp experiences, both as a law student and later as a law professor. In Part II, I layout the challenges as I see them in structuring a classroom component for a clinical or externship course. In Part III, I turn to the specifics of frontloaded instruction, discussing different types of boot camps and the advantages and disadvantages of each model. In Part IV, I discuss two areas of possible, future direction for boot camps.


The global sperm whale Physeter macrocephalus population has been protected from large-scale commercial whaling for >25 yr, yet there is no clear evidence of recovery in any heavily exploited stock. This may indicate that whaling has long-term demographic effects on this species or that other endogenous or exogenous processes are inhibiting population growth. This study investigates the status of mature sperm bulls off Albany, Western Australia, a population reduced through whaling by 74% between 1955 and 1978. We conducted an aerial survey designed as far as possible to provide an index of abundance comparable with that derived from the whale 'spotter' planes employed by the Albany whaling company from 1968 to 1978, using the number of sperm bulls seen on each morning flight as a comparative index between bulls seen historically and in 2009. The mean number of sperm bulls seen on transect in 2009 was 2.43 (95% percentile interval (0.96, 6.08)); this increased to 3.38 (95% percentile interval (1.30, 7.60)) when sightings off transect were included. Both 2009 point estimates were lower than the mean (±SE) number seen in any of the years between 1968 and 1978, which ranged from 6.30 (±1.18) in 1976 to 12.45 (±1.83) in 1968. The lack of recovery in the population of bull sperm whales off Albany, despite full protection, is of concern and adds weight to the growing body of evidence that sug- gests that sperm whales may not be recovering effectively from past exploitation.


Importance Antibiotic use during infancy alters gut microbiota and immune development, and is associated with an increased risk of childhood asthma. The impact of prenatal antibiotic exposure is unclear. Objective To determine and characterise the associa-tion of prenatal antibiotic exposure and childhood asth-ma. Design Population-based cohort study using admin-istrative healthcare data. Antibiotic use was determined from prescription records. Asthma was defined using hospitalisation records, physician billing claims, and pre-scription records. Associations were determined using Cox regression and expressed as hazard ratios (HR) and 95%confidence intervals (CI). Setting General population in Manitoba, Canada. Participants 2 13 661 mother-child dyads born from 1996–2012. Exposure Maternal antibiotic use. Outcome Child asthma, defined as meeting any of the following criteria after 5 years of age: any hospitalisation for asthma; or ≥2 physician diagnoses of asthma, at least 3 months apart and within a 1 year period; or ≥2 prescrip-tions for asthma medications within a 1 year period. Results In our study population, 10.1% of children met the case definition for asthma, and 36.8% were prena-tally exposed to antibiotics. Prenatal antibiotic exposure was associated with an increased risk of asthma (crude HR 1.29; 95% CI 1.26–1.33). This association persisted af-ter controlling for maternal asthma, sex, location of resi-dence, gestational age, number of siblings, and postna-tal antibiotic exposure during infancy (adjusted HR 1.23; 1.20–1.27). However, maternal antibiotic use during the 9 months before pregnancy (adjusted HR 1.28, 1.24–1.31) and 9 months postpartum (adjusted HR 1.32, 1.29–1.36) were similarly associated with childhood asthma. Conclusions and Relevance Maternal antibiotic use before, during and after pregnancy was associated with a modest, dose-dependent increase in asthma risk among offspring. While our study does not support a pregnan-cy-specific causal relationship between maternal antibi-otic use and childhood asthma, it remains important to prescribe and use antibiotics judiciously.


This study examined the cross-racial comparability of maternal quality of assistance and supportive presence coded from a video protocol using data from the Infant Health and Development Program for low-birth-weight, premature 30month-olds and their mothers. Evidence of equivalence of measures is necessary before comparisons can be made across groups. Multiple-group mean and covariance structures analysis was used to demonstrate the invariance of the measures and make comparisons for Anglo American and African American treatment and comparison groups of dyads. Comparisons across groups indicated similar variances and correlation between child and maternal behavior. Differences were found between the mean scores, with Anglo American treatment families scoring the highest. Key Words: cross-cultural, measurement comparability, mother-child interaction. Social scientists are showing a growing awareness of the need to examine cross-cultural (including racial and ethnic) generalizability of family processes and interactions (Berry, 1989; Harkness & Super, 1995; Rohner & Cournoyer, 1994). In particular, developmentally oriented researchers are interested in investigating the universal aspects of the relation between developmental outcomes and specific parenting practices. To conduct this work, quantitative investigation must rely on the use of instruments known to be comparable across populations. There is a serious gap in the understanding of the equivalence of parenting measures among subgroups, however (Holden & Edwards, 1989; McGuire & Earls, 1993). There are several reasons researchers and practitioners working with populations in the United States are interested in the impact of cultural differences on family processes such as parenting behavior and parent-child interactions. First, aspects of parenting are thought to have direct impact on children's growth and development (Barnard, Bee, & Hammond, 1984; Bradley, Mundfrom, Whiteside, Casey, & Barrett, 1989). Second, for intervention programs to effectively support families, it is imperative that programs be structured to consider the influence of the families' culture on parenting behavior and interactions with children. Finally, the growing ethnic and racial diversity in the United States means that programs directed toward improving family processes will increasingly encounter families of diverse cultural backgrounds. Minority mothers in U.S. populations frequently score lower than White mothers on measures of parenting behavior, which has led some researchers to question the comparability of these measures across cultural groups (e.g. Berlin, Brooks-Gunn, Spiker, & Zaslow; 1995; Bradley et al., 1994; Sugland et al., 1995). In their examination of maternal behavior, Berlin and her colleagues questioned the differences found between African American and Anglo American families in the prediction of child language and behavior from constructs. For example, maternal supportive presence was predictive of children's receptive language abilities for African American children but not for Anglo American children. Because the comparability of the meaning of the observational coding system between African American and Anglo American samples is not known, Berlin and her colleagues concluded that it was "possible that the measures of parenting ... are not equivalent across the two racial groups" (p. 681). Sugland et al., in their investigation of the comparability of a measure of parenting behavior, found that "dimensions of parenting are not equally important in explaining child outcomes for different racial/ethnic subgroups" (p. 632). Although concerns about the comparability of the measurement of parenting behavior prompted their investigation, the techniques they used are not thought to provide sufficient evidence of comparability (Meredith, 1993). Again, the possibility that the measures of parenting across the racial groups were not equivalent cannot be ruled out. …


Musical formalism, which strictly limits the type of thing any description of the music can tell us, is ill-equipped to account for contemporary performance practice. If performative interpretations are in a position to tell us something about musical works—that is if performance is a kind of description, as Peter Kivy argues—then we have to loosen the restrictions on notions of musical relevance to make sense of performance. I argue that musical formalism, which strictly limits the type of thing any description of the music can tell us, is inconsistent with Kivy's quite compelling account of performance. This shows the difficulty that actual performances pose to overly rigid conceptions of music. Daniel Barenboim's unannounced performance of Wagner in Israel in 2001 shows that the problem of the boundaries of musical relevance is no mere philosophical puzzle. It is a pressing problem in the musical public sphere.


The global marine fishing industry is undergoing major restructuring driven by fisheries management and policy responses to ecological problems in key stocks. Many commentators and policy makers refer to a "crisis" in fisheries with key stocks in serious decline and the livelihoods of fishers, especially those in smaller fishing communities, are threatened as never before.

This conference aims to bring together researchers and practitioners from across the globe to explore the social and cultural aspects of sustainable marine fisheries management. In Europe, the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy, and in the UK, the new Marine and Coastal Access Act (2009), have focused much attention on the marine and coastal environment and resources. Further afield, countries are seeking ways to balance protecting the sustainability of key stocks with the livelihoods of fishermen and coastal communities. "It's not just about fish" will seek to assess the relationships between fishing, fishing communities and the broader community (residential and business) to assess the barriers and opportunities for the future sustainability and prosperity of these communities.


Rationale: Gut microbiota plays a crucial role in cancer development and treatment. Studies show that although the gut microbiota is able to promote tumor growth, its presence also improves the efficacy of cancer treatment such as immunotherapy. To date, understanding of the potential impact of the gut microbiota on other treatment modalities such as cancer nanomedicine is still limited. In this study, we aimed to establish the relationship between gut microbiota and cancer nanomedicine, which can potentially open a new path in cancer treatment that combines gut microbiota modulation along with nanotherapeutics. Methods: Mice bearing 4T1 triple-negative breast cancer cells were subjected to gut microbiota modulation by antibiotics (ABX) treatment in the drinking water. Mice given normal water was used for control. The effects of ABX treatment towards gut bacteria was studied by RT-qPCR and 16S next generation sequencing of fecal samples. The mice were then subjected to liposomal doxorubicin (LipoDox) treatment and the amount of nanotherapeutics that accumulated in the tumors was quantified. For therapeutic efficacy, the mice were subjected to ABX treatment and given three injections of LipoDox or saline, while the tumor growth was monitored throughout. Results: Analysis of fecal bacterial content showed that ABX treatment resulted in depletion of gut microbiota. Quantification of LipoDox content revealed significantly increased accumulation in ABX tumor compared to control. Compared to LipoDox treatment alone, we found that combined gut microbiota depletion and LipoDox treatment resulted in augmented long-term anti-tumor efficacy and significantly improved median survival compared to LipoDox only (control vs ABX = 58.5 vs 74 days, p = 0.0002, n = 10 for both groups), with two mice surviving until the end of the experimental end point without experiencing relapse. We also identified the increase in vascular permeability of ABX-treated tumors correlated to for improved therapeutic efficacy and outcome. Conclusion: We showed that gut microbiota depletion led to enhanced tumor vascular permeability, which allowed a larger amount of LipoDox nanoparticles to accumulate in the tumor, leading to better long-term effects. Our results suggest that gut microbiota modulation may be exploited in combination with available nanomedicine-based therapeutics to improve cancer diagnosis, therapeutic efficacy and outcome.


OBJECTIVES
The aim of study was to evaluate the importance of induced abortions for reproduction medicine in Czech Republic.

DESIGN
Demographic analysis of data published by EUROSTAT and Czech statistical office.

SETTING
Department of Demography and Geodemography Faculty of Science, Charles University Prague.

RESULTS
Widespread use of the liberal abortion law in socialist countries contributed to the decline of fertility rates only to the replacement level. In the Czech Republic total fertility rate dropped below 1.3 in 1995 and it did not increase above 1.5 children per woman till 2007. The increased use of modern contraceptive methods that results in a sharp decline in fertility and in a significant decrease of induced abortions can be documented. The total abortion rate fell from 1.54 abortions per a woman in 1990 to 0.34 in 2007. The proportion of women aged 15-49 years who were prescribed oral contraception increased from 4 percent in 1990 to 48 percent in 2007. An induced abortion is still used largely as a way to avoid birth of additional children by women who already have the number of children they want. This is in sharp contrast with the situation in the majority of Western European countries in which abortion is used mainly by teen-age girls whose attempts to avoid pregnancy have failed.

CONCLUSION
In contrast to other demographic characteristics which classify the Czech Republic to Eastern Europe, the level of induced abortion rate is comparable with the levels observed in some Western European countries.