The current insipid economy has created many an occasion for recent case law to draw out important connections between the CVA and administration procedures, and to investigate how these operate in the shadow of the liquidation regime. It is more or less axiomatic that a CVA does not bind all creditors. Some creditors are outside its ambit by legislative default, not by judicial design. Oakley-Smith v Greenberg sheds some light on that legislative default, provides an insight into the relationship between CVA, administration and liquidation, and highlights the danger of judicial approach overly enraptured by the liquidation regime. It also provides a case study of the malign influence of the pari passu myth. In Part I of this paper, Mokal and Ho argue that in Greenberg v Oakley-Smith, Pumfrey J at first instance and the Court of Appeal, (a), violated the clear statutory implication that creditors not allowed to vote at the meeting to approve a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) are not bound by it, (b), were wrong to hold that since the Greenbergs would have consented to the CVA if allowed to do so, that they would not be prejudiced if later, in effect, forced to participate in it, and, (c), that the Court of Appeal was wrong to hold that the parameters of what the Greenbergs could recover should be set by what they would have received either as parties to the CVA or in an immediate liquidation. In the concluding Part, Mokal continues the argument by suggesting that the two courts also shared a fundamental misunderstanding about the structure of the liquidation regime, i.e. that it is based on the pari passu principle. The malign influence of this misunderstanding caused the courts to hold that there was no relevant difference between the CVA creditors on the one hand, and the Greenbergs on the other. Mokal argues that, properly understood, the several substantive relevant differences between the two should have figured prominently, as factors additional to those discussed in Part I, in the courts' exercise of their discretion as to what the Greenbergs should recover.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the diagnostic utility of different spinal inflammatory lesions assessed by whole-body magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) or with recent-onset inflammatory back pain (IBP) compared with healthy controls.

METHODS
We scanned 35 consecutive patients with AS fulfilling the modified New York criteria, 25 patients with IBP of <24 months' duration (both groups were age < or =45 years and had a Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index score > or =4), and 35 healthy age- and sex-matched volunteers using whole-body MRI STIR sequences of the spine. MRIs were independently assessed in random order by 3 readers blinded to patient identity. Inflammatory spinal lesions were recorded consistent with definitions proposed by the Canada/Denmark International MRI Working Group: vertebral corner inflammatory lesions (CIL) and noncorner inflammatory lesions in central sagittal slices and lateral inflammatory lesions (LIL) in lateral slices. Concordantly scored lesions for the 3 possible reader pairs were used in the analysis of sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratios (LRs), and areas under the curve for the entire spine and by spinal segment.

RESULTS
Diagnostic utility was optimal when > or =2 CIL were recorded (for patients with AS, values for sensitivity, specificity, and positive LR were 69%, 94%, and 12, respectively, and for patients with IBP were 32%, 96%, and 8, respectively). LIL had high specificity (97%) but low sensitivity (31%). Nine controls had > or =1 CIL, but only 2 controls had >2 CIL.

CONCLUSION
Diagnostic utility of STIR MRI for AS is optimal when > or =2 CIL are present. A single CIL can be found in up to 26% of healthy individuals.


Background. Little is known about how continuation and maintenance cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) influences important psychological constructs that may be associated with long-term outcome of major depressive disorder. The goal of this study was to examine whether CBT would help maintain attributional style changes experienced by patients during acute phase fluoxetine treatment. Method. Three hundred and ninety-one patients with major depressive disorder were enrolled in an open, fixed-dose 8 week fluoxetine trial. Remitters to this acute phase treatment (N=132) were randomized to receive either fixed-dose fluoxetine (meds only) or fixed-dose fluoxetine plus cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT+meds) during a 6-month continuation treatment phase. The Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ) was completed by patients at three time points – acute phase baseline, continuation phase baseline and continuation phase endpoint. Analysis of covariance was used to compare continuation phase ASQ composite score changes between groups. Results. Patients in both treatment groups experienced significant gains in positive attributional style during the acute phase of treatment. Continuation phase ASQ composite change scores differed significantly between treatment groups, with the CBT+meds group maintaining acute phase positive attributional style changes, and the meds only group exhibiting a worsening of attributional style. The two treatment groups did not significantly differ in rates of relapse and final continuation phase visit HAMD-17 scores. Conclusions. In this sample, the addition of CBT to continuation psychopharmacological treatment was associated with maintenance of acute treatment phase attributional style gains. Further research is needed to evaluate the role of such gains in the long-term course of depressive illness.


With the advancements in mobile technology, smartphones have become ubiquitous in people's daily lives and have greatly facilitated users in many aspects. For a smartphone user, power saving and privacy protection are two important issues that matter and draw serious attentions from research communities. In this dissertation, we present our studies on some specific issues of power saving and privacy protection on a smartphone. Although IEEE 802.11 standards provide Power Save Mode (PSM) to help mobile devices conserve energy, PSM fails to bring expected benefits in many real scenarios. We define an energy conserving model to describe the general PSM traffic contention problem, and propose a solution called HPSM to address one specific case, in which multiple PSM clients associate to a single AP. In HPSM, we first use a basic sociological concept to define the richness of a PSM client based on the link resource it consumes. Then we separate these poor PSM clients from rich PSM clients in terms of link resource consumption, and favor the former to save power when they face PSM transmission contention. Our evaluations show that HPSM can help the poor PSM clients effectively save power while only slightly degrading the rich's performance in comparison to the existing PSM solutions. Traditional user authentication methods using passcode or finger movement on smartphones are vulnerable to shoulder surfing attack, smudge attack, and keylogger attack. These attacks are able to infer a passcode based on the information collection of user's finger movement or tapping input. As an alternative user authentication approach, eye tracking can reduce the risk of suffering those attacks effectively because no hand input is required. We propose a new eye tracking method for user authentication on a smartphone. It utilizes the smartphone's front camera to capture a user's eye movement trajectories which are used as the input of user authentication. No special hardware or calibration process is needed. We develop a prototype and evaluate its effectiveness on an Android smartphone. Our evaluation results show that the proposed eye tracking technique achieves very high accuracy in user authentication. While LBS-based apps facilitate users in many application scenarios, they raise concerns on the breach of privacy related to location access. We perform the first measurement of this background action on the Google app market. Our investigation demonstrates that many popular apps conduct location access in background within short intervals. This enables these apps to collect a user's location trace, from which the important personal information, Points of Interest (PoIs), can be recognized. We further extract a user's movement pattern from the PoIs, and utilize it to measure the potential privacy breach. The measurement results also show that using the combination of movement pattern related metrics and the other PoI related metrics can help detect the privacy breach in an earlier manner than using either one of them alone. We then propose a preliminary solution to properly handle these location requests from background.


BACKGROUND
Cost effectiveness has become an important factor in the health care system, requiring surgeons to improve efficacy of procedures while reducing costs. An awake craniotomy (AC) with direct cortical stimulation (DCS) presents one method to resect eloquent region tumors; however, some authors assert that this procedure is an expensive alternative to surgery under general anesthesia (GA) with neuromonitoring.

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the cost effectiveness and clinical outcomes between AC and GA patients.

METHODS
Retrospective analysis of a cohort of 17 patients with perirolandic gliomas who underwent an AC with DCS were case-control matched with 23 patients with perirolandic gliomas who underwent surgery under GA with neuromonitoring (ie, motor-evoked potentials, somatosensory-evoked potentials, phase reversal). Inpatient costs, quality-adjusted life years (QALY), extent of resection, and neurological outcome were compared between the groups.

RESULTS
Total inpatient expense per patient was $34 804 in the AC group and $46 798 in the GA group ( P = .046). QALY score for the AC group was 0.97 and 0.47 for the GA group ( P = .041). The incremental cost per QALY for the AC group was $82 720 less than the GA group. Postoperative Karnofsky performance status was 91.8 in the AC group and 81.3 in the GA group (P = .047). Length of hospitalization was 4.12 days in the AC group and 7.61 days in the GA group ( P = .049).

CONCLUSION
The total inpatient costs for awake craniotomies were lower than surgery under GA. This study suggests better cost effectiveness and neurological outcome with awake craniotomies for perirolandic gliomas.


This book contends that in Love's Labour's Lost Shakespeare sought to discover the ways in which the imagination uses and abuses language. The author's critical reading shows that the characters are endowed with a wide variety of rhetorical disguises. Each assumes that his verbal and social point of view is correct, and the limitations and virtues of each viewpoint are explored as the drama unfolds. In an elegant examination of theme and style, Professor Carroll heightens the reader's awareness of Shakespeare's marvellously inventive use of language. The author analyzes the different kinds of style, the characters' attitudes toward language, the play's theatrical modes, the frequent metamorphoses, and the debates. The term "debate"-justified by Shakespeare's use of the medieval conflictus-relates to both theme and structure. The author finds that the conflicting theories about the proper relation of language and imagination are resolved stylistically and thematically only in the final Debate between Spring and Winter, where the playwright reasserts the nature and value of good art. Originally published in 1976. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.


Abstract. Although linkages between solar activity and the earth's climate have been suggested and the 11-year cycle in solar activity evident in sunspot numbers is the most examined example of periodicity in previous studies, no quantitative evidence indicating a relationship for tropospheric phenomena has been found for a short period. Based on FFT analysis for OLR (Outgoing Longwave Radiation) compared with the F10.7 index, we clearly demonstrate a 27-day variation in the cloud amount in the region of the Western Pacific warm pool, which is only seen in the maximum years of 11-year solar activity. The average spectrum in such years also shows an enhancement in the range of the MJO (Madden-Julian Oscillation) period. Although there exist some explanations for possible mechanisms, the exact cause is unknown. Therefore, the proposed connection between 27-day cloud variation and solar cycle in the WPWP region is still a hypothesis and various kinds of varification based on other meteorological and solar parameters are strongly required.


Characterization of biodynamic responses of seated body exposed to whole-body vibration forms an essential basis for understanding of mechanical-equivalent properties of the body and potential injury mechanisms, and developments in frequency-weightings and enhanced design tools for the coupled human-seat system. Such responses are strongly dependent upon human anthropometric, gender, sitting posture and vibration condition in a highly complex and coupled manner, while only limited knowledge exists on effects of these factors. Furthermore, such responses are mostly evaluated for body on a rigid seat due to complexities associated with measurement of forces developed at an elastic human-seat interface under vibration. An elastic seat greatly alters human-seat interface contact force and contact area. The biodynamic responses with an elastic seat are thus expected to differ. This dissertation research concerns with development of a methodology for measurement of apparent mass (APMS) responses of human body seated on an elastic seat and exposed to vertical vibration. A force-sensing resistive pressure measurement system was initially used to capture responses of 58 human subjects (31 male and 27 female) seated on a rigid seat with and without a vertical back support, and exposed to three different magnitudes of broad band random vibration in the 0.5 to 20 Hz range (overall rms acceleration = 0.25, 0.50 and 0.75 m/s2). The APMS responses were also obtained using the conventional force plate. The responses acquired from the force plate were thoroughly analyzed to study effects of gender, and mass-related (body mass, body mass index, body fat, lean body mass), stature-related (standing height, sitting height, C7-height) and build-related (buttock circumference, contact area) anthropometric dimensions. The results showed strong coupling between the gender and the body mass, while a strong correlation of the peak APMS was evident with body mass, body mass index, body fat and hip circumference. The data were subsequently grouped within three different body mass ranges in order to decouple the effect. The gender effect was observed in the vicinity of secondary peak where female subjects revealed higher APMS magnitude, while the male subjects showed relatively higher primary peak frequency than females. Comparisons of APMS responses with those derived from the pressure sensing mat revealed large differences. APMS magnitudes derived from the pressure sensing mat were considerably lower than those obtained from the conventionally used force plate in the entire frequency range. The differences were attributed to low resolution of the sensor and limited acquisition rate of the hardware. A correction function was subsequently derived from the ratio of response functions obtained from the two measurement systems, which revealed nearly linear decreasing trend with frequency. The application of correction functions resulted in comparable responses from the two measurement systems. It was then hypothesized that the proposed correction function, mostly attributed to limited acquisition rate, would be equally applicable for cushion seats. Subsequent measurements were performed to derive APMS of subjects seated on a cushion seat. Comparisons of APMS magnitudes obtained for the cushion seat with those obtained with the rigid seat revealed that response magnitudes and the primary resonance frequency of subjects when seated on a cushion seat are generally lower. The effects of selected anthropometric factors, sitting posture and vibration magnitudes, however, were very similar to those observed for the rigid seat.


K-flats is a model-based linear manifold clustering algorithm which has been successfully applied in many real-world scenarios. Though some previous works have shown that K-flats doesn't always provide good performance, little effort has been devoted to analyze its inherent deficiency. In this paper, we address this challenge by showing that the deteriorative performance of K-flats can be attributed to the usual reconstruction error measure and the infinitely extending representations of linear models. Then we propose Localized K-flats algorithm (LKF), which introduces localized representations of linear models and a new distortion measure, to remove confusion among different clusters. Experiments on both synthetic and real-world data sets demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed algorithm. Moreover, preliminary experiments show that LKF has the potential to group manifolds with nonlinear structure.


Inter-linkages between suppliers and customers are a channel by which shocks can spread between firms. When firms buy and sell intermediate goods from one another, they may rely on each other for the supply of input goods or for cash-flow from sales. This is a problem because financially distressed suppliers can pose significant risk to the economic activity of customers that rely on them for goods and services. A case in point is the heavy loss suffered by General Motors when its equipment and parts supplier Delphi went on strike in 1998. Vice-versa, distressed customers can negatively impact suppliers' business operations. Real economic activities are highly related to major stock pricing factors. The main hypothesis of this thesis is that shocks to a firm's direct and indirect suppliers and customers influence its stock price. There is a large amount of research addressing how shocks spread between international financial markets and asset classes influence stock prices during financial crises (financial contagion). Past research has identified the macroeconomic conditions and the types of linkages between markets and assets that make a country or market vulnerable to financial contagion. Little is known, however, about how shocks spread via economic linkages influence firm-level stock returns. Studies find that significant movements in a firm's stock price forecast subsequent movements in the stock price of its major suppliers. Several questions remain open, however, regarding how shocks spread via economic linkages influence stock returns, such as: how shocks spread via economic linkages influence return volatility and correlation; what characteristics of economic linkages (e.g. the degree or the concentration of linkage) are most important in the process of contagion; and whether the spread of shocks via economic linkages increases during recessions. The main objective of this thesis is to increase knowledge of how economic linkages between firms influence stock returns. My approach is to examine how a firm's economic linkages influence three dimensions of its stock returns: volatility, pairwise correlation between linked firms' returns and the cross-sectional distribution of average returns. The research questions addressed are: 1. How does the structure of a firm's economic linkages influence the volatility of its stock returns? 2. How do shocks transmitted via economic linkages increase correlation between linked firms' returns? 3. How do shocks transmitted via economic linkages affect average returns, cross-sectionally and over time? For each dimension of stock returns (volatility, pairwise correlation and average returns) I examine what characteristics of economic linkages are most influential, and whether the influence of economic linkages increases in recessions. I develop a theoretical model explaining how the spread of cash-flow shocks via economic linkages between firms influences the volatility, pairwise correlation and average level of stock returns. The reduced form of the theoretical model corresponds to a factor model of stock returns (based on Arbitrage Pricing Theory), with an additional factor added to allow for non-diversifiable risk created by economic linkages. This model describes the relationship between economic linkages and return volatility, pairwise correlation and average returns. To answer the first research question, I apply the Lindeberg-Feller theorem to derive an explicit relationship between a firm's stock return volatility and the structure of its linkages to other firms. I prove that when the distribution a firm's economic linkages is heavy-tailed (such that it has an extremely high degree of economic linkage to a few firms and a far lower degree of economic linkage to all others), shocks to the firm's key suppliers and/or customers can significantly influence its return volatility. Intuitively, shocks to the most connected suppliers and/or customers are not offset by shocks to less connected suppliers and/or customers, so they can significantly influence a firm's cash-flow and therefore stock returns. Monte Carlo simulations confirm that shocks transmitted via economic linkages are diversified away at rate much slower than the 1 √ N rate implied by the law of large numbers in many common supply chain structures. In these 'concentrated' supply chain structures, shocks transmitted via economic linkages can create portfolio return volatility in excess of that explained by systematic risk factors, even in large portfolios. To answer the second and third research questions, I use monthly stock return data and annual accounting data on the major customers of all listed US firms between 1990 and 2010 from the CRSP/Compustat database. To investigate how shocks transmitted via economic linkages influence correlation between linked firms' returns, I test the hypothesis that an increase in the degree of linkage between two firms increases the pairwise correlation between their stock returns. First, I adapt correlation-based tests of contagion to test whether pairwise return correlation is higher when two firms are linked than when they are not linked. Second, I develop measures of the strength of pairwise linkage between firms (using principles from network theory and economic input-output modeling). I then estimate regressions of firm-pairs' return correlation against the strength of their linkage and a number of controls (such as industry-pair fixed-effects and credit usage along the supply chain). The regression results show that an increase in the economic linkage between two firms is associated with increased correlation between their stock returns. Linked firms' returns are more correlated when credit is involved in the supplier-customer relationship and in recessions, implying that it is harder to replace a supplier or customer in these situations. Finally, I test whether shocks spread via economic linkages influence average stock returns over and above other factors that have been shown to influence stock returns. My method is to develop measures of the degree and concentration of a firm's supplier and customer linkages. I include these measures in a factor model of stock returns alongside a number of other factors that have been shown to explain stock returns. Cross-sectional regressions show that, in a given time-period, firms with more concentrated supplier bases have higher average returns than firms with less concentrated supplier bases. Second, time-series regressions showed that an increase in the concentration of a firm's supplier-base lowered realized returns in the following period. These results suggest that investors demand a positive risk premium (higher expected return) for holding the stock of firms whose supplier-base is concentrated. This places downward pressure on prices following an increase in supplier-base concentration. While concentration of a firm's supplier and customer linkages has a significant influence on stock returns, the magnitude of this effect is small compared to the influence of systematic risk factors. The influence of economic linkages on stock returns, however, increases in recessions. Together the results in this thesis provide solid evidence that shocks spread via economic linkages can affect the volatility, correlation and average level of stock returns. The thesis establishes a robust framework for modeling the returns of portfolios in which the underlying securities or firms are linked via economic relationships. This is an important extension to existing models that ignore the potential impact of shocks spread via linkages between firms on stock prices. The model can be used for pricing securities with concentrated supply chain exposures or to identify stock portfolios that are susceptible to contagion.


Standard methods for the detection of enteroviruses in environmental samples involve the use of cell culture, which is expensive and time-consuming. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is an attractive method for the detection of enteroviruses in water because primary cell culture is not needed and the increased sensitivity of PCR allows detection of the low numbers of target DNAs and RNAs usually found in environmental samples. However, environmental samples often contain substances that inhibit PCR amplification of target DNA and RNA. Procedures that remove substances that interfere with the amplification process need to be developed if PCR is to be successfully applied to environmental samples. An RNA-PCR assay for the detection of enteroviruses in water was developed and used to test a variety of groundwater concentrates and humic acid solutions seeded with poliovirus type 1. The groundwater samples and humic acid solutions were treated with Sephadex G-50, Sephadex G-100, Sephadex G-200, Chelex-100 resin, and a mixed bed resin to remove PCR-inhibitory material from the samples. Sephadex G-100 in combination with Chelex-100 was found to be very effective in removing inhibitory factors for the detection of enteroviruses in groundwater concentrates by PCR. Viruses were detected in two of the groundwater concentrates by the RNA-PCR assay after treatment with Sephadex G-100 plus Chelex-100. This was confirmed by tissue culture, suggesting that the treatment protocol and, subsequently, the RNA-PCR assay are applicable for the detection of enteroviruses in environmental samples.


The atmosphere and climate of Mars is a crucial factor, both for understanding the planet's past and appreciating the possibilities of its future. Given the high level of current interest in Mars, and the major advances afforded by recent space exploration, this book seeks to examine and review our knowledge and understanding of the meteorology and climate of Mars in its present state. This is based not only upon direct observations, but also on the newer techniques of modelling: numerical simulation and data assimilation. This authoritative discussion of Mars' atmosphere and climate gives a balanced review of some of the hottest issues concerning Mars' environments, its present and past climate and potential to support life, and its possible future following manned exploration.


This study attempts to observe and record early embryonic developments of the orange mud crab, Scylla olivacea. The period taken by the eggs to hatch was 8 days and the colour of the eggs gradually changed from yellow to brown, gray and dark gray. During the embryonic development, the developing embryos reached the blastula stage within 24 hours with a mean egg diameter of 329.91±6.62 μm. The embryo developed into the gastrula stage on the 2 nd day with a mean egg diameter of 337.10±8.37 μm. Eyes were consequently observed on the 3 rd day and there was a further increase in the yolk-free portion with a mean egg diameter of 338.16±6.57 μm. On the 4 th day, the eye-spot became crescent and there was a clearer tissue formation with a mean egg diameter of 358.45±14.80 μm. Meanwhile, on the 7 th day prior hatching, there were many chromatophores present, mostly dark in colour and the yolk granules had further reduced in size. The heart beats faster than previous days before and the embryo occupied most of the available egg volume with a mean egg diameter of 377.26±11.50 μm.


The importance of ICT in empowering teachers and learners, and enhancing teaching and students' achievement has been highlighted in several studies. Similarly, the digital divide between the developed and developing nations had been of a serious concern to educators. The paucity of studies on ICT integration in the developing nations needs to be addressed so as to ensure total integration of ICT in the school curriculum. This study examined empirically student-teachers' competence and attitude towards information and communication technology. Gender influence on their competence and attitude were also examined. Participants were 382 student-teachers (181 males and 201 females) from the Faculty of Education, University of Ilorin, Nigeria. The data collected through a questionnaire were analysed using percentages, means, and chi-square statistics. Findings revealed that majority of the student-teachers have positive attitude towards the use of ICT and they are competent in the use of few basic ICT tools. Overall, no significant difference was established between male and female student-teachers' attitudes and use of ICT. The implication is that the student-teachers lacked the necessary competence in the full integration of ICT in the curriculum. This underscores the need to improve the ICT contents of teacher education programs in universities in developing nations.


Computer-assisted interventions represent an innovative approach to adolescent smoking cessation that may offer advantages over traditional smoking interventions in their potential to provide adolescents with a variety of appropriate cessation-related activities, as well as interactive feedback tailored to their developmental, psychosocial, behavioral, and biological needs. As part of a larger project to evaluate the effectiveness of an Internet-based approach to smoking cessation among adolescents, this paper will describe the intervention development process. Stomp Out Smokes (S.O.S.), an Internet-based information and support system, was created to address the specific needs and experiences of adolescents who want to quit smoking. The development of S.O.S. involved an iterative process with five distinct yet often overlapping phases: Phase 1: review of the adolescent development, smoking cessation, and health literature; Phase 2: development and implementation of a needs assessment; Phase 3: construction of a site development strategy; Phase 4: development, review, and revision of content; and Phase 5: development of the website architecture and graphic design.


Thanks to Paul Lancaster's informative account published last year in the Sydney Alumni Magazine, we already know a great deal about the arrangements made for the music festival which celebrated the opening of Sydney University's Great Hall in 1859. My paper focuses on the significance of this event, by placing it in the context of contemporary criticism of the University, of contemporary musical culture, and of paternalist ideas about the importance of fostering high culture in New South Wales. This leads to some consideration of the festival's significance in the light of developing national feeling and of ideas about the kind of colonial nation New South Wales ought to be. The Great Hall celebration also had implications for communal feeling within the University itself, and I close by exploring briefly the reaction of the undergraduates to the festival experience. The Sydney University Music Festival of 1859 was indeed a grand performance, but much more than musical talent was on display.

Dr Anne Coote has a PhD in History from the University of New England and is a regular attendee at the History of University of Life seminars.


Arthropod-mediated dispersal of pathogens is known in many cropping systems but has never been demonstrated for grapevine trunk disease pathogens. Arthropods from vineyards were screened for the presence of pathogens associated with Petri disease and esca using cultural and molecular techniques. The ability of the most abundant pathogen-carrying species to inoculate healthy grapevine vascular tissues was also determined. Millipedes and ants were allowed to associate with a DsRed- Express-transformed Phaeomoniella chlamydospora, after which they were exposed to freshly pruned healthy grapevines under controlled conditions and wounds were monitored for subsequent infection. In addition, the possibility of millipede excreta, commonly found on pruning wounds in the field, to act as inoculum source was determined. A diverse arthropod fauna was associated with declining grapevines and many of these carried trunk disease pathogens. However, spiders, the ant Crematogaster peringueyi, and the millipede Ommattoiulus moreleti were the most abundant pathogen carriers. The ant and millipede species fed on pruning wound sap and effectively transmitted trunk disease pathogens. Millipede excreta contained viable spores of Phaeomoniella chlamydospora and may serve as an inoculum source. Numerous arthropods, including beneficial predators, are potential vectors of grapevine trunk disease pathogens. Our results highlight the need for an integrated approach, including targeted management of ants and millipedes at the time of pruning, to limit the spread of grapevine trunk diseases.


The study of ECG signal is extensively used for analysis of heart diseases. There are many companies in the market which has developed ECG devices to acquire the ECG signal and print them on the paper, but doesn't have access to store the ECG data of the patent in digital format. Our project aim is to develop the ECG acquisition board to get the digitized ECG which can be used for diagnosis as well as for research. We have developed two ECG acquisition boards and other two development boards to classify the ECG signals, the first Board is developed to store the ECG data in digitized format in SD card. We have used ADS1198(8 channel ADC) and microcontroller LPC1769 to collect the ECG data from body electrodes. ECG Analog data is converted to digital using ADS1198. Data is stored in .bin format in SD card using LPC1769, we are able to store the data accurately. To see the data in .txt or in graphical format we need to transfer the data to the computer manually on each and every trial.
There are few issues in working with the first board, since at each and every record we need to remove the SD card from the acquisition board and need to insert in the computer to view the waveforms. To avoid this and to have more convenient and seamless transmission we have developed the second acquisition board which is having a Bluetooth module RN4020 instead of SD card, this board allows the user to directly send the digitized data to the paired Bluetooth device like computer or mobile phone wirelessly to view the ECG waveforms.
In next board, we have applied Feature Extraction (FE) and rule engine algorithm on the ECG data acquired in the computer to see ECG signal is healthy or unhealthy. Here, we used RS-232 driver to transfer ECG data from computer to processor using cyclone IV FPGA(EP4CE55_F484), this serves as our third board to classify the ECG signal. The processor used is developed by the DRDO ( ANUCIA). We have implemented the algorithms on ANUCIA using their own instruction set, registers and control logic and we are able to differentiate between healthy and unhealthy ECG signals.
vii
Fourth development board is to test the functionality of IoT (Internet-of-Things) chip which is designed in-house. For this board we have used ADS1192 to take one lead analog ECG data and convert it to digital. The data is then being transferred to IoT chip using LPC1769.The IoT chip takes one lead ECG data where each sample is of 16 bit, these samples are fed as input to the 16 input pins of the IoT chip.The processing modules in the IoT chip classifies the ECG signal as normal or abnormal.
We can develop an ECG acquisition board using Wi-Fi module and directly connect it to the cloud. The data can be accessed by any doctor having internet connection and authority to access that cloud data, this could be the future work of my project.


Characteristically, in infections that are caused by the zoonotic pathogen Bartonella naturally infected reservoir hosts are asymptomatic, where infected incidental, non-natural, hosts develop symptomatic disease. Cat-scratch disease (CSD) is a well known example. Bartonella infections in humans may be self-limiting or fulminant and affect different organ systems. The objectives of the present thesis were to (1) identify and characterise Bartonella infection cases in Sweden, (2) to investigate certain human populations regarding Bartonella infections, and (3) compare natural populations of different Bartonella species. Cases with typical and atypical CSD were recognised by using a combination of PCR and serology. Gene sequence comparisons of different genes in B. henselae isolates from the United States and Europe showed that ftsZ gene variation is a useful tool for Bartonella genotyping. Myocarditis was a common finding among Swedish elite orienteers succumbing to sudden unexpected cardiac death (SUCD). The natural cycle of Bartonella spp., the life style of orienteers, elevated antibody titres to Bartonella antigens, Bartonella DNA amplified from myocardium and the lack of another feasible explanation make Bartonella a plausible aetiological factor. The first reported case of Bartonella endocarditis (B. quintana) was identified in an immunocompromised patient who underwent heart valve replacement. The patient had been body louse-infested during his childhood. It is hypothesised that a chronic B. quintana infection was activated by the immunosuppression. There was no evidence of an ongoing trench fever (TF) epidemic in a Swedish homeless population, although an increased risk for exposure to Bartonella antigens was demonstrated. The lack of louse infestation might explain the absence of B. quintana bacteremia and low B. quintana antibody titres. Comparisons of genetic loci and the whole genomes of environmental B. grahamii isolates from the Uppsala region, Sweden displayed variants that were not related to specific host species but to geographic locality. Natural boundaries seemed to restrict gene flow.


This study analyses job-creation determinants at the firm level for a panel of Swedish micro firms across four industry sectors, using the GMM (Generalized Method of Moments) system to analyse a database consisting of 12532 Swedish micro firms during 2007. It was found that the firms' size and age, the importance of debt financing and increased availability of liquidity are positively related to job creation as well as industry affiliation. Finally, the results suggest that a resource-based approach is at work in explaining job creation in micro firms. Unlike the majority of previous studies, this study is characterized by being based on a large and cross-sectoral firm-level dataset, testing a number of hypotheses driven from the resource-based approach. The present study contributes to the literature on the determinants of employment at the firm level as it investigates the importance of liquidity and financial leverage to firm labour demand dynamics in Sweden.


The endosperm is an ephemeral tissue serving as nutrient source for the developing embryo, similarly to the placenta in mammals. It is derived after fertilization of the central cell in the female gametophyte. In most angiosperms the endosperm starts to develop as syncytium, where nuclear divisions are not followed by cytokinesis. The timing of endosperm cellularization largely varies between species and the event triggering this transition remains unknown. Here we show that increased auxin biosynthesis in the endosperm prevents endosperm cellularization, leading to seed arrest. Auxin overproducing seeds phenotypically resemble paternal excess triploid seeds derived from hybridizations of diploid maternal plants with tetraploid pollen donors. We demonstrate that auxin biosynthesis and signaling genes are strongly overexpressed in triploid seeds, correlating with increased auxin activity. Reduced auxin biosynthesis and signaling can restore endosperm cellularization in triploid seeds and restore triploid seed viability, highlighting a causal role of increased auxin levels in preventing endosperm cellularization. We propose that auxin levels determine the time of endosperm cellularization and uncovered a central role of auxin in establishing hybridization barriers by changing the timing of endosperm cellularization.


The complicated relationship between politics and law has long been a central concern among international lawyers. The project of international law has, for more than a century, sought to construct a zone for autonomous legal decision-making, immune from political considerations, to solve international disputes. Yet the context of international adjudication is, almost by definition, an intensely political one, and the efficacy of international law requires some consideration of that context. International disputes frequently involve high stakes, and so the dream of autonomous law providing technically correct solutions to resolve problems has always confronted the hard realities of international politics.


Delay of gratification (DoG), the ability to reject immediately available smaller rewards in favor of later larger rewards, has been a topic of continuous research interest for almost 60 years. Although numerous studies have explored this construct and its effects on wellbeing, social behavior, cognitive abilities, and academic success in children, DoG studies in adulthood and old age are scarce. Instead, delay discounting (DD), that is, the degree to which individuals devalue delayed rewards, has been used in samples of adults and older individuals, and is of particular interest in clinical studies. Findings from DD research suggest that the preference for delayed rewards increases from childhood to early adulthood, and then decreases from middle age to old age. The main aim of this review is to elucidate the importance of DoG in adulthood and old age. First, the review explores the theoretical status of DoG by specifying the relationships and distinctions between DoG and related constructs. Second, it provides an overview of DoG measurements, from traditional to novel. Third, the effects of DoG on development and wellbeing are explored. Fourth, age-related differences in DoG are summarized. Lastly, the review closes with conclusions, clinical implications, and the outlook for possible further research directions.


The term enterprise modeling, synonymous with enterprise engineering, often refers to methodologies, developed for modeling activities, states, time, and cost within an enterprise architecture. They serve as a vehicle for evaluating and modeling activities resources and so on. CIM OSA (Computer Integrated Manufacturing Open Systems Architecture) is a methodology for modeling computer integrated environments, and its major objective is the appropriate integration of enterprise operations by means of efficient information exchange within the enterprise. Although there are other methodologies in the industry that serve the same purpose, most of them concentrate on the internal aspect of an enterprise. The paper is concerned with the modeling of the links between enterprises. The aim is to examine these relationships or links in detail and suggest a method for modeling enterprise networks drawing on the methodologies currently used in the industry and extending with the method proposed here.


Background: COPD is a globally significant public health problem and is the second leading cause of mortality. This study presents the health burden of COPD in Nepal using the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study 2016 dataset. Methods: This study used the data from the GBD repository presenting morbidity and mortality attributed to COPD, by sex and age. In GBD 2016, due to a lack of the primary source of data in Nepal, estimations on morbidity and mortality of COPD were based on its predictive covariates. Years of life lost (YLLs) were calculated based on the cause of death estimations, applying GBD's Cause of Death Ensemble modeling. Likewise, years lived with disability (YLDs) were calculated by multiplying the prevalence of each sequela by the disability weight. Disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) were derived as the sum of YLLs and YLDs. Results: Between 1990 and 2016, the estimated age-standardized mortality rate due to COPD was decreasing for both genders, but the decline was much higher among males. Unlike the high rate of incidence among males, the age-standardized DALYs were found to be high among females (2,274.9 [95% UI: 1,702.0–2,881.5] per 100,000). YLLs contributed around 80% of DALYs due to COPD in 2016. Age-standardized YLLs rate was higher among females, with a value of 1,860 (95% uncertainty interval (UI): 1,282.8–2,472.8) vs 1,547.6 (95% UI: 992.1– 2,018.5) among the males per 100,000 population. Conclusion: The prevalence and incidence of COPD remained almost stationary over the years, but still very high. Though the incidence and prevalence of disease were high among males, the death rate and DALYs were more significant among females throughout the years. If the current situation prevails, the burden of COPD will continue to increase in the country. Hence, comprehensive social, environmental, and behavioral approaches to curtail the risk factors along with early identification, treatment, and management of COPD is of utmost importance.


Constitutive activation of FGFR1, through rearrangement with various dimerization domains, leads to atypical myeloproliferative disorders where, although T cell lymphoma are common, the BCR-FGFR1 chimeric kinase results in CML-like leukemia. As with the human disease, mouse bone marrow transduction/transplantation with BCR-FGFR1 leads to CML-like myeloproliferation as well as B-cell leukemia/lymphoma. The murine disease described in this report is virtually identical to the human disease in that both showed bi-lineage involvement of myeloid and B-cells, splenomegaly, leukocytosis and bone marrow hypercellularity. A CD19+ IgM− CD43+ immunophenotype was seen both in primary tumors and two cell lines derived from these tumors. In all primary tumors, subpopulations of these CD19+ IgM− CD43+ were also either B220+ or B220−, suggesting a block in differentiation at the pro-B cell stage. The B220− phenotype was retained in one of the cell lines while the other was B220+. When the two cell lines were transplanted into syngeneic mice, all animals developed the same B-lymphoblastic leukemia within 2-weeks. Thus, the murine model described here closely mimics the human disease with bilineage myeloid and B-cell leukemia/lymphoma which provides a representative model to investigate therapeutic intervention and a better understanding of the etiology of the disease.


Last year I faced yet again an ethical dilemma similar to those you probably face. I had a good student who stopped coming to class and writing the assignments. Eventually, I heard through the advising office that his mother was near the end of a long struggle with cancer. It could have been some other tragedy: a rape, car accident, home fire. Near the end of the semester, the student returned and tried to make up the work; he managed to get a "C," and I thought a sad incident was closed. But it wasn't. He was soon back again, telling me he had lost his scholarship. Because of the enormous medical bills, his family could not afford to give him any more money for school; his scholarship was essential to his continued education. And yes, you guessed it. He was so close that he needed only one grade changed to get his scholarship back. He offered to do any work I requested to get a higher grade. I checked his story, and every word was true. What would you have done? Would you have given him extra work, an opportunity no longer available to other students in the class? Would your answer change if he were one of several students in your class in the same situation? Would it matter that most, if not all, of your "C" students could probably bring their work up a grade notch with similar special consideration? These questions, of course, are ethics questions. And for me, they seem to be occurring more and more frequently. Many of us now teach ethics, but we also need to think about our own ethics. I think we do not ordinarily do this. Wendy Wassyng Roworth (2002), chair of the American Association of University Professors' (AAUP's) Committee on Professional Ethics, says Most of us don't give much thought to professional ethics as we carry out our day to day [sic] duties as teachers.... Faculty who have no problem expressing views on teaching strategies, research methods, or university politics hesitate to question a colleague's conduct in the classroom, the space in which each professor reigns supreme. Human nature seems to give us a tendency to see the ethics problems in our students' choices, but we sometimes overlook the ethics problems in our own choices. When we think about ethics, we generally mean teaching ethics to students, not examining our own ethics. Our own professional organization seems to reflect this tendency. Judging from the program titles and descriptions of the November ABC national conference on ethics, 59 sessions appeared to involve teaching ethics or examining business ethics, yet only 5 sessions appeared to involve ethics for teachers. Similarly, judging from the titles in the Journal of Business Communication and Business Communication Quarterly/Bulletin from 1990 to summer 2003, 53 articles appear to involve teaching ethics or examining business ethics, but only 2 articles seem to involve ethics for teachers. Why should we consider our own ethics as teachers? For me, the concept of "ethical teacher" overlaps the concept of what Stephen Brookfield (1990) calls the "skillful teacher." Of course, the overlap is not complete. Weak teachers who try hard may be untalented, not unethical. Still, the overlap is significant. Ethical and skillful teachers care about students. They try to be inclusive, to hear all voices. Ethical and skillful teachers try to help all students learn as much as possible and to use that learning. Ethical and skillful teachers construct an environment that enables students to learn as easily as possible. They help bring the subject alive for their students by finding engaging examples and sharing their own passion for their subject. Ethical and skillful teachers help students connect with and internalize the course content. They help students learn to judge the content, issues, and skills pertinent to their academic discipline and connect that content and skills set with those of other disciplines. Ethical and skillful teachers enable students to recognize and appreciate excellence in their discipline. …


We investigated productivity at the basal trophic level in 15 unproductive lakes in a gradient ranging from clear‐water to brown‐water (humic) lakes in northern Sweden. Primary production and bacterial production in benthic and pelagic habitats were measured to estimate the variation in energy mobilization from external energy sources (primary production plus bacterial production on allochthonous organic carbon) along the gradient. Clear‐water lakes were dominated by autotrophic energy mobilization in the benthic habitat, whereas humic lakes were dominated by heterotrophic energy mobilization in the pelagic habitat. Whole‐lake (benthic + pelagic) energy mobilization was negatively correlated to the light‐extinction coefficient, which was determined by colored terrestrial organic matter in the lake water. Thus, variation in the concentration of terrestrial organic matter and its light‐absorbing characteristics exerts strong control on the magnitude, as well as on the processes and pathways, of energy mobilization in unproductive lakes. We suggest that unproductive lakes in general are sensitive to input of terrestrial organic matter because of its effects on basal energy mobilization in both benthic and pelagic habitats.


Increasingly, it seems, there are crimes so appalling that they challenge our resolve not to sink to the level of their perpetrators as we punish them. In cases where several victims have not only been murdered, but also raped, tortured, mutilated, dismembered, or eaten, it is understandable why some members of the public are prepared to have the state inflict a little of the same treatment on the perpetrators. This is especially true when the victims are children. Like most others who ponder the limits to legal punishment, I think that we should resist the impulse to inflict inhumane or degrading punishments on the worst offenders. Unlike many of them, however, I am not always persuaded by claims to the effect that the inherent dignity of offenders is the ground of an absolute moral prohibition on such forms of treatment.(1) At times I am attracted to such a firm prohibition. But at other times I understand the impulse to question it, to ask whether some crimes are so despicable that their perpetrators forfeit or otherwise lose any claim they have to minimally decent treatment by their fellow human beings. Alternatively, and I suspect more interestingly, I wonder whether the claim to be treated in minimally decent fashion, though very stringent, can be outweighed by more stringent moral claims. If we could gain something very important by brutal treatment of the worst criminal offenders, should we not at least consider seriously the arguments for doing so? We should see what follows if we are prepared to relax the rigid prohibition on inhumane or degrading punishments just a bit. If, as I shall attempt to show, doing so would gain us very little of moral significance, then it would be useful to be able to explain to ourselves and others how and why this is so. The suggestion that we should weigh a prohibition on inhumane and degrading punishment against the attainment of other moral goods or the avoidance of other moral evils will immediately raise the hackles of some moral theorists. Such theorists believe that any defensible theory of punishment must include certain inflexible moral constraints. If we are willing to weigh such constraints--in this case, one that strictly limits the kinds of legal sanctions we impose on offenders--against the achievement of other aims, then perhaps the best we will be able to do is make a contingent case for them. For many theorists this will be an unsatisfactory outcome, especially when it comes to prohibitions on punishment of the innocent or on disproportional punishment.(2) Lurking in the background, here, is a formidable and long-standing dispute in moral theory, one that I do not pretend to address adequately in the discussion that follows. Brief consideration is given to the question of whether the approach I develop can account for the prohibition on punishment of the innocent. Also, the question is raised whether the proportionality requirement, by itself, rules out inhumane and degrading punishments. I suggest that it does not and, thus, that other arguments must be employed against the use of inhumane and degrading punishments. Though these arguments have a contingent character, they are contingent in an unusual way. They treat some interests that individuals have as morally more important than others of their interests. Specifically, the interests individuals have in being treated neither inhumanely nor degradingly are taken to be crucial ones that cannot be outweighed by considerations of mere utility. Some of the arguments discussed will be familiar because, in slightly different forms, they are central to scholarly debate over the death penalty. But the moral prohibition on inhumane and degrading punishments is more general. Short of killing offenders, there is a range of deprivations or kinds of suffering that we might, and sometimes do, impose on those found guilty of serious crimes. These include denials of decent food and medical care, adequate space, sufficient heat, fresh air, exercise, religious or political expression, conjugal or parental visitations, and access to entertainment or culture. …


The absence of federal greenhouse gas (GHG) regulation in the United States has not diminished the importance of businesses assessing their impact on global climate change. Growing concern among shareholder and investor groups has motivated many organizations to quantify their greenhouse (GHG) emissions and commit to GHG reductions. Accurate quantification and detailed documentation of GHG emissions data enables a company to demonstrate transparency and enhance the credibility of its corporate climate change strategy. Establishing a comprehensive corporate GHG inventory is an important first step in developing a climate change strategy. However, conducting a baseline corporate GHG inventory can be a challenging process, particularly with respect to data gathering and data validation. This paper will present a general approach for preparing the inventory with case study in conducting a baseline GHG inventory using Environmental Management Information Systems (EMIS). The paper will present best practices in establishing the organizational and operational boundaries of a corporate GHG emissions inventory, conducting data collection and data validation process using an EMIS, completing the calculation procedures, and establishing appropriate performance metrics. In addition, methods for improving data quality and integrating the GHG inventory with energy management systems will be presented. Finally, the paper provides guidance on continuous improvement and maintenance of the GHG inventory.


Until this day, e-learning scenarios have not been able to meet the great expectations that have been put on them. From a psychological point of view, one of the reasons for previously disappointing results is the high degree of freedom that e-learning scenarios confront individuals with. The concept of self-regulated learning (SRL) provides a framework for improving the quality of learning in environments of high self-determination. Following the assumption that the deployment of SRL processes during learning is an indicator for a learning process of high quality, which in turn entails a learning outcome of high quality, scientists have created a variety of SRL interventions. In line with this research, the main goal of this dissertation was to improve the quality of e-learning, applying learning on the World Wide Web (WWW) as a specific scenario, by enhancing individuals' deployment of SRL processes. As a first study, synthesizing past SRL research, a meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate the relevance of SRL for the quality of learning, and to quantify the impact of SRL interventions on academic achievement. Another aim was to provide guidance for future SRL research by identifying features of SRL interventions that have proven to be effective as well as features that have lacked effectiveness and escaped attention in the past. Putting special effort into identifying unpublished dissertations in order to avoid a publication bias, a pool of 39 studies that reported 44 independent treatments was established. Applying a random effects model, a weighted mean effect of SRL interventions on academic performance of ΔˉGlass = .45 was determined. One-way moderator analyses identified peer-review status, research design, instance of delivery, and age of participants as influential variables. In further analyses, when combining heterogeneous categories of moderators to establish homogeneous subgroups, it was found that treatments focusing on the metacognitive and cognitive layers, strategy instructions, and interventions within a mathematical domain were most effective for young learners between the ages of 9 and 14. With regard to computer-based interventions, nonsignificant effects on performance were revealed. Aiming to improve the quality of e-learning, the author simultaneously developed a concept for providing SRL support. Following an indirect approach of assistance, the core of the concept was to optimize the learning environment by providing learners with scaffolds that served as tools that could be used to complete a learning task and that simultaneously induced the deployment of six metacognitive processes in the three cyclical phases of learning. Aiming to provide learners with more intensive guidance, an extended concept also included administering additional prompts. The sketched scaffolding concept was realized by implementing the Firefox extension E-Learning knoWledge Management System (ELWMS). The second study of this dissertation served to evaluate whether working with ELWMS enhanced the quality of the learning process and the learning outcome. Randomly assigned to four conditions, N = 64 participants learned on Wikipedia about Classical Antiquity for 45 min. The two experimental groups were equipped with the standard version of ELWMS, and were either free to apply the scaffolds of their own accord or received two additional prompts, whereas the two control groups worked with the standard version of Firefox. The quality of the learning process was evaluated by a self-developed context-specific SRL self-report questionnaire. In addition, participants' overt actions were assessed by generating log data and by conducting qualitative analyses of screen recordings. The quality of the learning outcome was evaluated by a self-developed achievement test, applied as a pretest and a posttest, and by determining the quality of the created structure. Results revealed positive effects of the scaffolding concept on the quality of the learning process, and ambiguous effects of additional prompting. The third study of this dissertation served to provide further insight into the effectiveness of the sketched scaffolding concept with an elaborated study design. Equipped with the second generation of ELWMS, learners of experimental groups were either free to apply the scaffolds of their own accord or received additional intensive prompting of six processes that were considered to enhance achievement. To be able to generate comparable log data for all conditions, the control group worked with a downgraded version of ELWMS that did not provide metacognitive support. Before learning on Wikipedia about Classical Antiquity for 45 min, all N = 108 participants had to complete a web-based training on ELWMS. The quality of the learning process was evaluated by applying a revised context-specific SRL self-report questionnaire that was synchronized with an advanced and optimized method of collecting log data. In further qualitative analyses, logged overt actions were assigned a rating of relevance. The quality of the learning outcome was evaluated by a revised achievement test, applied as a pretest and a posttest, and by determining the quality of the created structure. In line with the second study, results revealed positive effects of the scaffolding concept on the quality of the learning process. This effect was enhanced by additional intensive prompting. In whole, this dissertation presents evidence that enhancing SRL improves the quality of learning and provides a path for creating effective SRL interventions. By applying a complex multimethod approach, it further proposes a promising concept for inducing SRL processes in e-learning.


Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of acupuncture and moxibustion as an adjuvant treatment in women undergoing in vitro fertilisation (IVF) when embryo implantation has failed. Methods A prospective, randomised controlled clinical trial was conducted with 84 infertile patients who had had at least two unsuccessful attempts of IVF. The patients were randomised in three groups: control (n=28), sham (n=28) and acupuncture (n=28). The sample size was calculated by assuming a pregnancy rate of 10% when embryo implantation had failed. The pregnancy rates of the current IVF cycle were evaluated by measurement of blood β human chorionic gonadotrophin (βhCG) and subsequent transvaginal ultrasound. Acupuncture was performed on the first and seventh day of ovulation induction, on the day before ovarian puncture and on the day after embryo transfer. In the acupuncture group, patients were treated with moxibustion at nine acupuncture points (BL18, BL22, BL23, BL52, CV3, CV4, CV5, CV7, GV4) and needling at 12 points. In the sham group needles were inserted in eight areas that did not correspond to known acupuncture points. Results The clinical pregnancy rate in the acupuncture group was significantly higher than that in the control and sham groups (35.7% vs 7.1% vs 10.7%; p=0.0169). Conclusions In this study, acupuncture and moxibustion increased pregnancy rates when used as an adjuvant treatment in women undergoing IVF, when embryo implantation had failed.


Extracellular vesicles (EVs) play a pivotal role in cell to cell signalling in both physiological and pathological conditions. Based on their biogenesis, three main classes of EVs are recognized: exosomes, microvesicles and apoptotic bodies. Exosomes are cell-derived vesicles (EVs) present in many body fluids (blood, urine, milk, cerebrospinal fluid) ranging in size from 30 to 150 nm. Due to their involvement in numerous physiological and pathological events, cell derived exosomes in bodily fluids represent a unique source of clinically relevant and non-invasive biomarkers. Since biomolecule content present in exosomes reflects the state of the parent cell, exosome analysis and characterization may provide valuable information about the presence of aberrant processes in the cells from which they originated. Because of the large and heterogeneous scientific community working with exosomes, several purification strategies have been applied so far, which yield EV fractions largely differing for quantity and quality. Most of the present exosome isolation approaches based on ultracentrifugation (UC), ultrafiltration (UF) or precipitation, are inefficient and hard to standardize, thereby creating low reproducibility in sample quality and potentially misleading results because highly sensitivity downstream analytical techniques, such as mass spectrometry, can detect even minute traces of co-isolated contaminants. Furthermore, loss of certain exosomal fractions during purification process or damage of exosomal membrane integrity can also alter final protein and RNA profiles. As a consequence, there is a strong interest in consensus principles for the exosome purification and the search for reliable methods for selective isolation of EV sub-populations. In the present manuscript, we critically overview the most commonly used techniques used for exosome preparation such as ultra-centrifugation, size-based isolation methods, precipitation and immunoaffinity (IA) and their respective applicability for purification of exosomes from clinically relevant samples.


Footwear, carpet, automotive interiors, and multilayer packaging are examples of products manufactured from several types of polymers whose inextricability poses substantial challenges for recycling at the end of life. Here, we show that chemical circularity in mixed-polymer recycling becomes possible by controlling the rates of depolymerization of polydiketoenamines (PDK) over several orders of magnitude through molecular engineering. Stepwise deconstruction of mixed-PDK composites, laminates, and assemblies is chemospecific, allowing a prescribed subset of monomers, fillers, and additives to be recovered under pristine condition at each stage of the recycling process. We provide a theoretical framework to understand PDK depolymerization via acid-catalyzed hydrolysis and experimentally validate trends predicted for the rate-limiting step. The control achieved by PDK resins in managing chemical and material entropy points to wide-ranging opportunities for pairing circular design with sustainable manufacturing.


Complex information-processing systems, for example, quantum circuits, cryptographic protocols, or multi-player games, are naturally described as networks composed of more basic information-processing systems. A modular analysis of such systems requires a mathematical model of systems that is closed under composition, i.e., a network of these objects is again an object of the same type. We propose such a model and call the corresponding systems <italic>causal boxes</italic>. Causal boxes capture superpositions of causal structures, e.g., messages sent by a causal box <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$A$ </tex-math></inline-formula> can be in a superposition of different orders or in a superposition of being sent to box <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$B$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and box <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$C$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. Furthermore, causal boxes can model systems whose behavior depends on time. By instantiating the abstract cryptography framework with causal boxes, we obtain the first composable security framework that can handle arbitrary quantum protocols and relativistic protocols.


Lorke's method was used to study the acute toxicity effect of aqueous extracts from the stem bark of Terminalia avicennioides (ATA) on white albino rats. The study involved intraperitoneal administration of different doses of the extract to groups of male rats. Signs accompanying toxicity and possible death of animals were monitored for two weeks to ascertain the median lethal dose (LD50) of the extract. At the end of the two week study, all the animals in all the dose groups were sacrificed and the mean internal organ-body weight ratios (OBR) were determined and compared with values from those of the control group. The LD50 was found to be > 5000 mg/Kg body weight. There was no significant weight decrease (P>0.05) among dose groups up to 1000 mg/Kg body weight. Liver congestion was observed with 100 mg/kg body weight dose group. The OBR mean values for Kidney, liver and heart were not significantly (P>0.05) different from that of the control group. The safety usage of extracts from this plant in traditional medicine vis-à-vis phytochemical consideration is discussed.


This is a story about what happens when a state education department partners with city school districts in an attempt to close the achievement gap between poor, minority city students and their counterparts in the predominantly white and more affluent suburban districts. It is set in New Jersey, but the lessons apply in any American city that has concentrations of poor children in failing school districts. What sets New Jersey apart is the generous level of court-mandated funding available, and the fact that preschool in the state begins at age three. A preliminary look at the results of New Jersey's expensive efforts resulting from the landmark New Jersey Supreme Court case Abbott v. Burke suggests an unsurprising conclusion: when additional funds are concentrated on supporting and enhancing teachers' efforts to assess the needs of their students and tailor their instruction to those needs, dramatically better results are possible. If no coherent plan for improved classroom instruction is implemented, more money makes no difference, and can, instead, produce confusion and declining performance. New Jersey has demonstrated remarkable success in improving children's educational attainment-for example, only in Massachusetts did fourth graders score higher than those in New Jersey, a much more diverse state, on the 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading test. And, remarkably, New Jersey was the only state in which scores in all ethnic categories improved over 2005. It is Gordon MacInnes' contention that New Jersey's fairly dramatic improvement is a product of a focused effort by many of the state's poorest school districts to introduce effective early literacy practices. No one is better equipped to tell the story of New Jersey's success in closing the achievement gap than MacInnes, and his remarkably frank and comprehensive examination of those districts where poor, minority students demonstrated continued academic improvement provides invaluable lessons for improving the academic prospects for all.


Title of dissertation: THE SEARCH FOR SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE BINARIES IN THE TIME DOMAIN Tingting Liu Doctor of Philosophy, 2018 Dissertation directed by: Professor Suvi Gezari Department of Astronomy Supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs) are expected due to galaxy mergers and the ubiquity of central supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in galaxies, but direct evidence for close-separation SMBHBs has been elusive. This thesis presents my search for SMBHBs in the optical time domain, i.e. by searching for their optical variability signatures. It is a novel approach that can potentially yield SMBHBs in close, sub-pc orbits, a population of SMBH pairs or binaries that can not be directly imaged or resolved by current telescopes or techniques. Further, searches in the optical time domain are sensitive to SMBHBs in the low-frequency gravitational wave-emitting regime, opening up the possibility of studying them in the era of multi-messenger astronomy. I developed a custom pipeline to systematically search in the Pan-STARRS1 Medium Deep Survey (PS1 MDS) for periodically varying quasars, which have been predicted as the manifestations of SMBHBs at close separations. I constructed a spectroscopically-complete sample of SMBHB candidates using observations with the Gemini Telescope or the Discovery Channel Telescope and measured their black hole masses and redshifts. I also followed up the candidates with a dedicated monitoring program on the Las Cumbres Observatory telescopes, in order to put their periodicity to the test and identify false positives that are due to the stochastic variability of regular quasars that do not host SMBHBs. I set up the expectations for a true periodic signal by modeling normal quasar variability and showed that evidence for a true signal should strengthen over a longer temporal baseline. I then used the expectations as a guide and applied a range of statistical criteria to select more robust candidates from PS1 MDS. From this down-selected sample, I was able to determine an upper limit on the SMBHB rate. I also discussed the search for SMBHBs in the era of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope and SMBHB candidates as possible gravitational wave sources for the pulsar timing arrays. THE SEARCH FOR SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE BINARIES IN THE TIME DOMAIN


The brief's key findings are: *Today's workers face a brewing retirement crisis due to: *a growing need for income driven by longer lifespans, rising health costs, and low interest rates; and *reduced support from Social Security and defined benefit pension plans. *Fortunately, the solutions are at hand: *Policymakers should shore up Social Security with more revenue, make 401(k)s fully automatic, and ensure everyone has access to a savings plan. *Individuals should work longer – to age 70 if possible – and consider tapping their home equity in retirement to support day-to-day needs. *Any delay in responding to the challenge will only make adjustments more painful down the road.


V1 interneurons are inhibitory neurons that play an essential role in vertebrate locomotion. The molecular mechanisms underlying their genesis remain, however, largely undefined. Here, we show that the transcription factor Prdm12 is selectively expressed in p1 progenitors of the hindbrain and spinal cord in the frog embryo, and that a similar restricted expression profile is observed in the nerve cord of other vertebrates as well as of the cephalochordate amphioxus. Using frog, chick and mice, we analyzed the regulation of Prdm12 and found that its expression in the caudal neural tube is dependent on retinoic acid and Pax6, and that it is restricted to p1 progenitors, due to the repressive action of Dbx1 and Nkx6-1/2 expressed in the adjacent p0 and p2 domains. Functional studies in the frog, including genomewide identification of its targets byRNA-seq andChIP-Seq, reveal that vertebrate Prdm12 proteins act as a general determinant of V1 cell fate, at least in part, by directly repressingDbx1 andNkx6 genes. This probably occurs by recruiting the methyltransferase G9a, an activity that is not displayed by the amphioxus Prdm12 protein. Together, these findings indicate that Prdm12 promotes V1 interneurons through cross-repressive interactions with Dbx1 and Nkx6 genes, and suggest that this function might have only been acquired after the split of the vertebrate and cephalochordate lineages.


This paper tests the impact of risk and competition on efficiency in the Chinese banking industry over the period 2003–2013. Comprehensive types of risk-taking behaviour are considered including credit risk, liquidity risk, capital risk, and insolvency risk. Competition is measured by the Lerner index. The results are cross-checked using an alternative econometric technique as well as an alternative competition indicator. The findings show that the technical and pure technical efficiencies of Chinese commercial banks are significantly and negatively affected by liquidity risk. They further show that greater competition precedes declines in technical and pure technical efficiencies of Chinese commercial banks. The results suggest that Chinese bank efficiency is significantly affected by bank diversification, banking sector development, stock market development, inflation and GDP growth rate. The findings also indicate that, compared to state-owned commercial banks, joint-stock commercial banks and city commercial banks have lower technical and pure technical efficiencies.


Background Cognition and the ability to take care of daily activities and oneself gradually declines among people with dementia. Studies are scarce, especially regarding how people with young-onset dementia (YOD) (<65 years) experience the quality of their lives with the progression of dementia. People with dementia living alone face special challenges. Aim To examine the experience of the quality of life with YOD as a single person. Method The study presents a longitudinal case study with in-depth interviews exploring the experiences of a person with YOD. Individual interviews were conducted seven times over a period of three years from 2014 to 2017. Findings We examined if and how seven themes concerning the quality of life and well-being were fruitful for understanding the experiences of dementia in the everyday life of a single individual. The study explored needs and challenges during the development of dementia, and how the person reacted over time, set in context. The themes significant for well-being are: identity, connectedness, security, autonomy, meaning, growth and joy. Conclusion The study shows how treatment, support, and services must be individualized when dementia develops in order to support identity, resources and mastering capacity, and promote well-being.


This paper examines the relationship between perceptions of organisational culture, academics' social embeddedness and their creative paper project output. It argues that the extent to which researchers working on paper projects are socially embedded throu gh social ties with colleagues inside and outside their academic department (but within the same university) is a causal step linking organisational values and norms to creative outputs. This study does not, however, find support for the proposed mediating effects. Instead, results indicate that three organisational culture dimensions – i.e. performance orientation, environmental orientation and innovation support – affect employees' creative project output through their social embeddedness outside the depa rtment (but within their own university). As the organisational culture and social embeddedness of employees outside the department are both contextual factors that matter (either indirectly or directly) for the generation of creative project outputs by re searchers, this study concludes that "no creative person and no project is an island".


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Abstract Background: The β1-adrenergic receptor (ADRB1) plays a pivotal role in mediating signal transduction of the sympathetic-adrenal system, which is involved in the regulation of cardiac output and peripheral resistance. Our goal was to determine whether the polymorphisms Arg389Gly (rs1801253) and Ser49Gly (rs1801252) of the ADRB1 gene were associated with essential hypertension in Chinese. Methods: We tested our hypothesis in two independent case-control studies, one comprised 481 patients with hypertension and 529 control subjects, and the other study comprised 212 patients and 325 control subjects. All subjects were genotyped for Arg389Gly and Ser49Gly polymorphisms. Results: The first study showed that the Arg389Arg genotype of the ADRB1 gene was associated with risk of hypertension [odds ratio (OR) 1.77, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.09–2.98; p=0.008], and the association was replicated in the second independent population (OR 1.65, 95% CI 1.07–2.89, p=0.01). The patients with the Arg389Arg genotype had significantly higher diastolic blood pressure (DBP) than did those with Arg389Gly genotype as well as those with Gly389Gly genotype (100.29±11.01 mm Hg vs. 95.33±13.10 mm Hg and vs. 96.17±12.18 mm Hg, respectively, p=0.01, p=0.02). The association was replicated in the second study (103.7±13.3 mm Hg vs. 97.31±12.9 mm Hg and vs. 96.29±13.4 mm Hg, respectively, p=0.03, p=0.02). Heart rate also showed an association (in first study: 79.43±9.90 bpm vs. 74.87±8.96 bpm, vs. 73.92±8.18 bpm, respectively, p=0.02, p=0.014; in the second study: 81.12±8.99 bpm vs. 74.85±7.97 bpm and vs. 73.89±9.12 bpm, p=0.007, p=0.006, respectively). No association was seen between systolic blood pressure (SBP) and any of the three genotypes at amino acid position 389 in hypertensive patients, neither between the Ser49Gly polymorphisms and hypertension, nor between the Ser49Gly genotypes and DBP and heart rate. Conclusions: The polymorphisms of the ADRB1 gene were associated with essential hypertension. The Arg389Gly polymorphism of the ADRB1 gene confers higher risk for hypertension. Clin Chem Lab Med 2009;47:1227–31.


Purpose: The purposes of the current study were to examine the differences during the time course of changes in neuromuscular responses and pretest versus posttest measurements and to differentiate the information provided by these two methods (time course vs. pretest and posttest) regarding the motor unit activation strategies used to control force production during the process of fatigue. Methods: Twelve men performed concentric-only dynamic constant external resistance leg extensions to failure at 70% 1 repetition maximum (1-RM) and 1-RM measurements were taken before and after the fatiguing workbout. Results: The results indicated decreases in pretest versus posttest 1-RM strength and electromyographic (EMG) frequency, but no changes in EMG amplitude, mechanomyographic (MMG) amplitude, or MMG frequency. The time course of changes in neuromuscular responses during the 70% 1-RM protocol indicated 4 unique phases (1 to 20, 20-60, 60-80, and 80-100% of the repetitions to failure) that generally exhibited increases in EMG amplitude and MMG amplitude, but decreases in EMG frequency and MMG frequency. Discussion: These findings indicated that maximal pretest versus posttest measurements and the time course of changes in neuromuscular responses provide different information regarding the process of fatigue which may explain the reduction in maximal and submaximal force production. Journal of Nature and Science (JNSCI), 3(10):e456, 2017


The population of Latin America is now largely urban. By 1990, 72 percent of the people of the region were living in cities. By 2020, the urban population could reach 83 percent. With increasing urbanization, the region faces problems of poverty, nutrition, and health that are somewhat different from those when the population was more rural. By paying special attention to the interactions of malnutrition with health and involving individuals and the community in development of new local-level networks for provision of care, Latin American cities can make significant progress toward eradicating malnutrition and food insecurity by the year 2020.


The objective of this study was to understand pilots' proclivity toward automation usage by identifying the relationship among pilot training, aircraft and systems understanding, safety culture, manual flight behavior, and aviation passion. A survey instrument titled Manual Flight Inventory (MFI) was designed to gather and assess self-reported variables of manual flight behavior, aviation passion, safety culture perception, pilot training, and pilot understanding. Demographic data and automation opinion-based questions were also asked to fully understand pilots' thoughts on automation, safety culture, policies, procedures, training methodologies and assessment measures, levels of understanding, and study techniques. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was utilized to identify underlying factors from the data, followed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to confirm the factor structure. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was utilized to test the relationships between the variables. All hypotheses were significant; however, four of the thirteen hypotheses were not supported due to a negative relationship. The significant predictors of manual flight were identified to be pilot understanding, pilot training, aviation passion, and safety culture. Pilots' understanding of the aircraft operating systems was determined to have the greatest influence over a pilot's decision to manually fly. Aviation passion was identified as the second largest influencing factor. Pilot training had the greatest influence over pilot understanding, and safety culture presented the greatest influence over pilot training. Results identified that safety culture was negatively impacting pilot training, and pilot training had a negative influence over pilots' decision to manually fly. The contributions of this research have identified the significance of safety culture as associated with Safety Management Systems (SMS) as an influencing factor over pilot training and resultant operational performance. Pilot understanding is a direct result of pilot training, and current training practices are negatively influencing the decision for manual flight. Therefore, a solution to the industry problem—operational confusion (understanding), as well as guidance versus control (Abbott, 2015), and the lack of hand flying skills and monitoring ability (OIG, 2016)—can now be addressed by improving training practices. Future research and recommendations were provided.


Sepiapterin reductase (SPR) catalyzes the final step of tetrahydrobiopterin (H(4)B) biosynthesis and the first step of H(4)B regeneration from an exogenous precursor sepiapterin. Despite the potential significance of SPR in regulating H(4)B-dependent nitric oxide (NO(*)) production, the endothelium-specific sequence and functions of SPR remain elusive. We first cloned endothelial SPR cDNA from bovine aortic endothelial cells (Genebank: DQ978331). In cells transiently transfected with SPR gene, SPR activity (HPLC) was dramatically increased by 19-fold, corresponding to a significant increase in endothelial H(4)B content (HPLC) and NO(*) production (electron spin resonance). In vivo delivery of SPR gene significantly increased vascular SPR protein expression (mouse vs. bovine antibodies to differentiate endogenous vs. exogenous), activity, H(4)B content, and NO(*) production, as well as NO(*)-dependent vasorelaxation. In endothelial cells transfected with small interfering RNA specific for SPR, approximately 87% of mRNA were attenuated (real-time quantitative RT-PCR), corresponding to a significant reduction in SPR protein expression and activity, which was associated with decreases in both intracellular H(4)B content and NO(*) level. Exogenous administration of sepiapterin to endothelial cells significantly upregulated H(4)B and NO(*) levels, which were attenuated by SPR RNA interference (RNAi). H(4)B-stimulated increase in NO(*) production, however, was SPR RNAi independent. GTP cyclohydrolase 1 expression and activity, as well as dihydrofolate reductase expression, were not affected by SPR RNAi, whereas dihydrofolate reductase activity was significantly downregulated. These data represent the first to study endothelial SPR functionally and clearly demonstrate an important role of endothelial SPR in modulating H(4)B and NO(*) bioavailability.


This paper introduces a new class of self-reconfigurable robot: the variable topology truss (VTT), which is an extension of an existing class of robots: the variable geometry truss (VGT). Variable topology trusses have the additional capability to change the topology of the truss through self-reconfiguration by merging and splitting the nodes of the truss. We first introduce a hardware platform that enables this reconfigurability. We give a procedure to compute all possible distinct reconfiguration actions for a given robot topology. We show that 18 members are required for a minimal reconfigurable VTT, and we exhaustively enumerate all possible reconfigurable topologies for VTTs up to 29 members. Lastly, we introduce the topology network, which describes the relationship between these reconfigurable topologies. The topology network concept enables some high-level planning and provides insights into the design of truss topologies.


EFFECTS OF NON-NATIVE SPECIES ON TWO LIFE STAGES OF THE OLYMPIA OYSTER, OSTREA LURIDA, IN THE ELKHORN SLOUGH ESTUARY by Pamela Ann Neeb Wade Master of Science in Marine Science California State University Monterey Bay, 2016 Marine and estuarine systems worldwide have been altered due to introductions of nonnative species. A common mode of non-native species transport is in ship ballast water that, when released, deposits larvae in new locations. Once established, non-native species compete for resources, reduce native species populations and alter ecosystem services. Some non-native species have been found to be ecosystem engineers, encouraging additional non-native species settlement. Many studies have looked at the competitive interaction between non-native and native species, but few have examined the possibility of a facilitative effect or how additional environmental stressors, such as desiccation, may modify species interactions. This study examined the effect of non-native species on two life stages (adult and juvenile) of the Olympia oyster, Ostrea lurida, a species in decline at two different tidal heights in a central California estuary. In separate experiments, adult and juvenile O. lurida were outplanted on settlement plates in Elkhorn Slough, and two treatments were maintained: (1) manual removal of non-natives every two weeks from half the plates or (2) control treatments that allowed non-native species to colonize and persist. Every two weeks, photographs were taken of each plate in order to calculate changes in percent cover of non-native species and to measure growth of O. lurida in response to the experimental treatment conditions. Results indicated that in the presence of the Australian tubeworm, Ficopomatus enigmaticus, and other non-native species, adult O. lurida exhibited an ~50% increase in area (cm) on average across the plates. The presence of non-natives consistently resulted in a neutral or positive facilitative effect on oyster growth at two different life stages. The results of this study show that adult O. lurida are able to survive and even benefit from the presence of other species currently found in Elkhorn Slough both above and below MLLW. Juvenile O. lurida demonstrated high initial growth regardless of treatment, with increased growth below MLLW. With this increased understanding, there is much that is unknown about the long-term affect of introduced species on ecosystems and it is important to continue to study their impacts. In particular, the effect of nonnatives on oyster recruitment requires further investigation because the earliest life stages are most likely to be adversely affects by a rapid growing non-native that can monopolize available bare space for settlement. If O. lurida recruitment and juvenile survivorship is further reduced, the local Elkhorn Slough population may be lost.


Mobile applications are not only integral to the functioning of smart mobile devices (SMD) but also one of the most commonly used technological interfaces within smart networks of connected devices. In order to market these value propositions, companies have to understand how consumers perceive apps in order to present an interface that is well received and allows for the highest benefits for companies and customers alike. From a technical perspective, apps are complex software products, but consumers do not seem to perceive them as such, because they see apps through the "lens" of context. Thus, the context in which apps and associated services are purchased and used considerably influences the way consumers interpret apps and derive value from them. Therefore, this article sheds light on consumers' perception of apps and the role of context in shaping this perception. Based on Yoo's (2010) framework of experiential computing, we develop a framework in which context is structured into four dimensions: personal, technical, functional and social. The framework can be used to get a better understanding of consumers' app perception and related experience and to successfully develop and market apps, provide smart services based on adequate information systems, design app stores, or regulate the legal environment. Moreover, the framework can be applied to other mobile or digital offerings and serve for a better understanding of the perception of value propositions like smart services and devices.


This paper investigates which measures are effective in promoting the take-up of welfare support by needy individuals, considering both financial incentives and policies intended to lower claiming costs. The analysis uses an exogenous policy change, the introduction of the Pension Credit in the United Kingdom in 2003, that reformed the income support scheme available to pensioners. While increasing the entitlement amount for a subgroup of eligible pensioners, the Pension Credit introduction was accompanied by other complementary measures, including an advertisement campaign, reformed `light touch' administration and a more claimant-friendly application procedure. The behavioural response to such exogenous changes is identified using parametric and non parametric analysis of repeated cross sections of Family Resources Survey data. Results consistently show the efficacy of increased financial incentives as take-up triggers, while no effect is found for the `lowering barriers' policies when unaccompanied by concurrent raised monetary rewards.


Spiracular and cutaneous water loss through the cuticle and spiracles of Periplaneta americana was measured in animals of differing initial water contents under controlled temperature, humidity and airflow conditions, by continuous weighing (resolution ±10μg). Stable water loss rates (2.09×10 −8 to 3.47×10 −8 gh −1 cm −2 Pa −1 ) were as much as an order of magnitude less than those reported in earlier studies employing intermittent weighing techniques. We suggest that increased water loss caused by substantial increases in ventilatory water loss during the episodic disturbances required by intermittent weighing is the principal contributor to this discrepancy. Water losses, as well as the interval between spiracular ventilations, decreased with water content. However, greater variation was primarily due to interruptions of the regular cyclic pattern of ventilation by highly variable, activity-related bouts of increased ventilatory loss. Variations in water loss appear to be too large and too rapid to be convincingly explained in terms of cuticular conductance. Our results suggest that previous experiments using 5% CO 2 anaesthesia, linking changes in total water loss to the conducting properties of the cuticle, were not valid. There seems to be no adaptive value for the proposed voluntary increases in cuticular permeability in an animal where ventilatory water losses can be so high.