1 Long‐distance dispersal (LDD) is important in plants of dynamic and ephemeral habitats. For plants of dynamic wetland habitats, waterfowl are generally considered to be important LDD vectors. However, in comparison to the internal (endozoochorous) dispersal of terrestrial plants by birds, endozoochorous dispersal of wetland plants by waterfowl has received little attention. We quantified the capacity for endozoochorous dispersal of wetland plants by waterfowl and identified the mechanisms underlying successful dispersal, by comparing the dispersal capacities of a large number of wetland plant species. 2 We selected 23 common plant species from dynamic wetland habitats and measured their seed characteristics. We fed seeds of all species to mallards (Anas platyrhynchos), a common and highly omnivorous duck species, and quantified seed gut survival, gut passage speed and subsequent germination. We then used a simple model to calculate seed dispersal distances. 3 In total 21 of the 23 species can be dispersed by mallards, with intact seed retrieval and subsequent successful germination of up to 32% of the ingested seeds. The species that pass fastest through the digestive tract of the mallards are retrieved in the greatest numbers (up to 54%) and germinate best (up to 87%). These are the species with the smallest seeds. Seed coat thickness plays only a minor role in determining intact passage through the mallard gut, but determines if ingestion enhances or reduces germination in comparison to control seeds. 4 Model calculations estimate that whereas the largest seeds can hardly be dispersed by mallards, most seeds can be dispersed up to 780 km, and the smallest seeds up to 3000 km, by mallards during migration. 5 Synthesis. This study demonstrates the mechanism underlying successful endozoochorous dispersal of wetland plant seeds by mallards: small seed size promotes rapid, and hence intact and viable, passage through the mallard gut. Mallards can disperse wetland plant seeds of all but the largest‐seeded species successfully in relatively large numbers (up to 32% of ingested seeds) over long distances (up to thousands of kilometres) and are therefore important dispersal vectors.


Background & objectives: Yersiniosis is created by Yersinia enterocolitica O:8 and causes problems in the world especialy in cold and mild countries. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the immunogenicity of Yersinia enterocolitica O:8 oligopolysaccaride (OPS) conjugate to diphtheria toxoid (DT) as a vaccine candidate. Methods: After cultivation of bacteria, the LPS were isolated by modified hot phenol method. Then dialysis and concentration were done and the OPS were extracted by acetic acid 2%. To conjugate with diphtheria toxoid, ADH was used as a spacer molecule and EDAC as a linker. Conjugate was purified by gel filtration. Then 4 groups of female BALB/c mice were selected (15 mice in each group). Injection was performed intraperitoneally in three doses with two weeks interval. Then serum samples were collected and antibody response against OPS was measured by indirect ELISA method for detection of total IgG, IgA, IgM, IgG1, IgG2a, IgG2b and IgG3. Results: After second and third doses, OPS-DT recieved group showed significant increase in all types of antibodies titer in anti-OPS in comparison to group that recived nonconjugated OPS. The increase in titer of antibodies was as: OPS-DT>OPS>DT. A remarkable increase was shown in total IgG and IgM titers (with total amount of 3204 and 670, respectively). In IgG1 subclass the amount was 920 and in other subclasses of IgG (IgG3, IgG2a and IgG2b) the amounts were 910, 110, and 99, respectively. Conclusion: The results shows that OPS of Yersinia enterocolitica O:8 increases the antiOPS antibodies in the form of conjugate with diphtheria toxoid and could be considered as an appropriate vaccine candidate.


Abstract Age-associated neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and the polyglutamine (polyQ) diseases, are becoming prevalent as a consequence of elongation of the human lifespan. Although various rodent models have been developed to study and overcome these diseases, they have limitations in their translational research utility owing to differences from humans in brain structure and function and in drug metabolism. Here, we generated a transgenic marmoset model of the polyQ diseases, showing progressive neurological symptoms including motor impairment. Seven transgenic marmosets were produced by lentiviral introduction of the human ataxin 3 gene with 120 CAG repeats encoding an expanded polyQ stretch. Although all offspring showed no neurological symptoms at birth, three marmosets with higher transgene expression developed neurological symptoms of varying degrees at 3–4 months after birth, followed by gradual decreases in body weight gain, spontaneous activity, and grip strength, indicating time-dependent disease progression. Pathological examinations revealed neurodegeneration and intranuclear polyQ protein inclusions accompanied by gliosis, which recapitulate the neuropathological features of polyQ disease patients. Consistent with neuronal loss in the cerebellum, brain MRI analyses in one living symptomatic marmoset detected enlargement of the fourth ventricle, which suggests cerebellar atrophy. Notably, successful germline transgene transmission was confirmed in the second-generation offspring derived from the symptomatic transgenic marmoset gamete. Because the accumulation of abnormal proteins is a shared pathomechanism among various neurodegenerative diseases, we suggest that this new marmoset model will contribute toward elucidating the pathomechanisms of and developing clinically applicable therapies for neurodegenerative diseases.


Kish graphite, a waste (called dust) from a steelmaking process, can be simultaneously purified and functionalized by mechanochemical ball‐milling in the presence of iodine. The resultant iodinated Kish graphite (I‐Kish‐G) contains low content of impurities and high iodine content (1.83 at%, 16.17 wt%, energy dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy) with high crystallinity. It has high specific surface area (924.3 m2 g−1), indicating that I‐Kish‐G is significantly purified, functionalized, and exfoliated into a few graphitic layers. More importantly, I‐Kish‐G displays outstanding electrocatalytic activity for oxygen reduction reaction with long‐term durability and robustness against methanol crossover and CO poisoning effects in alkaline media.


Performance evaluation of venture-capital (VC) payoffs is challenging because payoffs are infrequent, skewed, realized over endogenously varying time horizons, and cross- sectionally dependent. We show that standard stochastic discount factor (SDF) methods can be adapted to handle these issues. Our approach generalizes the Public Market Equivalent (PME) measure commonly used in the private-equity literature. We find that the abnormal returns from both VC funds and VC start-up investments are robust to relaxing the strong distributional assumptions and implicit SDF restrictions from the prior literature: VC start-up investments earn substantial positive abnormal returns, and VC fund abnormal returns are close to zero. We further show that the systematic component of start-up company and VC fund payoffs resembles the negatively skewed payoffs from selling index put options, which contrasts with the call option-like positive skewness of the idiosyncratic payoffs. Motivated by this finding, we explore an SDF that includes index put option returns. This results in negative abnormal returns to VC funds, while the abnormal returns to start-up investments remain large and positive.


This paper proposes an Energy Adaptive Feedforward Neural Network (EANN). It uses multiple approximation techniques in the hardware implementation of the neuron unit. The used techniques are precision scaling, approximate multiplier, computation skipping, neuron skipping, activation function approximation and truncated accumulation. The proposed EANN system applies the partial dynamic reconfiguration (PDR) feature supported by the FPGA platform to reconfigure the hardware elements of the neural network based on the energy budget. The PDR technique enables the EANN system to remain functioning when the available energy budget is reduced by factors of 46.2% to 79.8% of the total energy of the unapproximated neural network. Unlike the conventional operation that only uses certain amount of energy and cannot function properly if the energy budget falls below that energy level, the EANN system remains functioning for longer time after energy drop at the expense of less accuracy. The proposed EANN system is highly recommended in limited-energy applications as it adapts the hardware units to the degraded energy at the expense of some accuracy loss.


This study was carried out to investigate the effect of thyroidectomy on the histology of rat sublingual gland. Twenty‐eight male Wistar albino rats, aged 4 weeks and weighing between 45–55 g, were used. The rats were divided into two experimental groups (control and thyroidectomy), each containing 14 animals. Total thyroidectomy of rats was performed under ether anesthesia in thyroidectomy group. The rats in the control group were sham operated without having the thyroidectomy. Seven rats randomly selected from both groups were fixed using the perfusion fixation technique 2 and 6 weeks after thyroidectomy, and their sublingual glands were harvested for histological investigation. No histological difference was observed between the two groups 2 weeks after thyroidectomy. However, 6 weeks after thyroidectomy considerable cytoplasmic vacuolization of the epithelial cells of the mucous tubules was seen in the thyroidectomy group compared to the controls. Enlargement of mucous tubules was also observed, and the lumina in most of the tubules was quite dilated. In the stroma surrounding the parenchymal tissues, increased lipid tissue mass was observed. In addition, increased connective tissue mass and mononuclear cell infiltrations were evident. Furthermore, the number of mast cells was significantly higher in the thyroidectomy group than in the controls 6 weeks after thyroidectomy. It was concluded that the thyroid gland and hormones might have an influence on the histology of the sublingual gland.


Objectives Home health aides (HHAs) work in a high-risk industry and experience high rates of work-related injury that have been significantly associated with reduction in workers and organisational productivity, quality and performance. The main objective of the study was to examine how worker environment and ergonomic factors affect HHA risk for reporting occupational injuries. Method We used cross-sectional analysis of data from the 2007 National Home Health and Hospice Aide Survey (NHHAS). The study sample consisted of a nationally represented sample of home health aides (n=3.377) with a 76.6% response rate. We used two scales 1 : a Work Environment Scale and 2 an Ergonomic Scale. Univariate and bivariate analyses were conducted to describe HHA work-related injury across individual, job and organisational factors. To measure scale reliability, Cronbach's alphas were calculated. Multivariable logistic regression was used to determine predictors of reported occupational injury. Results In terms of Work Environment Scale, the injury risk was decreased in HHAs who did not consistently care for the same patients (OR=0.96, 95% CI: 0.53 to 1.73). In terms of Ergonomic Scale, the injury risk was decreased only in HHAs who reported not needing any other devices for job safety (OR=0.30, 95% (CI): 0.15 to 0.61). No other Work Environment or Ergonomic Scale factors were associated with HHAs' risk of injury. Conclusion This study has great implications on a subcategory of the workforce that has a limited amount of published work and studies, as of today, as well as an anticipated large demand for them.


We investigate the application of the Shapley value to quantifying the
contribution of a tuple to a query answer. The Shapley value is a widely known
numerical measure in cooperative game theory and in many applications of game
theory for assessing the contribution of a player to a coalition game. It has
been established already in the 1950s, and is theoretically justified by being
the very single wealth-distribution measure that satisfies some natural axioms.
While this value has been investigated in several areas, it received little
attention in data management. We study this measure in the context of
conjunctive and aggregate queries by defining corresponding coalition games. We
provide algorithmic and complexity-theoretic results on the computation of
Shapley-based contributions to query answers; and for the hard cases we present
approximation algorithms.


BHK-21 fibroblasts contain type III vimentin/desmin intermediate filament (IF) proteins that typically co-isolate and co-cycle in in vitro experiments with certain high molecular weight proteins. Here, we report purification of one of these and demonstrate that it is in fact the type VI IF protein nestin. Nestin is expressed in several fibroblastic but not epithelioid cell lines. We show that nestin forms homodimers and homotetramers but does not form IF by itself in vitro. In mixtures, nestin preferentially co-assembles with purified vimentin or the type IV IF protein alpha-internexin to form heterodimer coiled-coil molecules. These molecules may co-assemble into 10 nm IF provided that the total amount of nestin does not exceed about 25%. However, nestin does not dimerize with types I/II keratin IF chains. The bulk of the nestin protein consists of a long carboxyl-terminal tail composed of various highly charged peptide repeats. By analogy with the larger neurofilament chains, we postulate that these sequences serve as cross-bridgers or spacers between IF and/or other cytoskeletal constituents. In this way, we propose that direct incorporation of modest amounts of nestin into the backbone of cytoplasmic types III and IV IFs affords a simple yet flexible method for the regulation of their dynamic supramolecular organization and function in cells.


This paper looks at empirical data from economics regarding wealth, earnings and income, alongside a flow model for an economy based on the general Lotka-Volterra models of Levy & Solomon. The data and modelling suggest that a simple economic system might provide a tractable model for giving an exact statistical mechanical solution for an 'out of equilibrium' flow model. This might also include an exact mathematical definition of a 'dissipative structure' derived from maximum entropy considerations. This paper is primarily a qualitative discussion of how such a mathematical proof might be achieved.


We review major developments in national environmental policy during the Clinton Administration, defining environmental policy to include not only the statutes, regulations, and policies associated with reducing pollution, but also major issues of public lands management and species preservation. We adopt economic criteria for policy assessment — principally efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and distributional equity. While the paper is primarily descriptive, we highlight a set of five themes that emerge in the economics of national environmental policy over the past decade. First, over the course of the decade, national environmental targets were made more stringent, and environmental quality improved. Most important among the new targets were the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ambient ozone and particulate matter, issued by EPA in July 1997, which could turn out to be one of the Clinton Administration's most enduring environmental legacies. Also, natural resource policy during the Clinton years was heavily weighted toward environmental protection. Environmental quality improved overall during the decade, continuing a trend that began in the 1970s, although improvements were much less than during the previous two decades. Second, the use of benefit-cost analysis for assessing environmental regulation was controversial in the Clinton Administration, while economic efficiency emerged as a central goal of the regulatory reform movement in the Congress during the 1990s. When attention was given to increased efficiency, the locus of that attention during the Clinton years was the Congress in the case of environmental policies and the Administration in the case of natural resource policies. Ironically, the increased attention given to benefit-cost analysis may not have had a marked effect on the economic efficiency of environmental regulations. Third, cost-effectiveness achieved a much more prominent position in public discourse regarding environmental policy during the 1990s. From the Bush Administration through the Clinton Administration, interest and activity regarding market-based instruments for environmental protection — particularly tradeable permit systems — continued to increase. Fourth, the Clinton Administration put much greater emphasis than previous administrations on expanding the role of environmental information disclosure and voluntary programs. While such programs can provide cost-effective ways of reaching environmental policy goals, little is known about their actual costs or effectiveness. Fifth and finally, the Environmental Protection Agency placed much less emphasis on economic analysis during the 1990s. EPA leadership was more hostile to economic analysis than it had been under the prior Bush Administration, and it made organizational changes to reflect this change in priorities.


Recent efforts to assess whether or not the trial is vanishing from the civil justice system, have thus far not drawn distinctions between cases in which the market efficiency function of the legal system is in play and those in which democratic and political functions are in play. As Marc Galanter famously set out thirty years ago in his seminal work on why the haves come out ahead and as current studies of the legal profession confirm, however, we should expect that there are significant differences in how corporations, organizations, governments and private individuals fare in our legal system: these different entities bring different resources to bear and they face different repeat versus one-shot incentives. Normatively, the issues at stake in our understanding of what is happening to civil cases and the efforts to craft alternatives to traditional civil litigation require that we differentiate between litigants, between legal functions, and between the different goals of our legal system. It may be that the disappearance of public civil trials to resolve commercial contract disputes is of no consequence; indeed it may be an efficient response to the increasing cost of the public system. The same cannot be said of the disappearance - if it is a real phenomenon - of public adjudication of civil rights or the claims of individuals about the misconduct of public or corporate actors. Private and confidential dispute resolution may be perfectly appropriate and something to be promoted in the resolution of family disputes, whereas it may be inappropriate in the resolution of patent disputes in which two corporations may bargain over the division of monopoly rents or in the resolution of disputes between the state and citizens about how electoral districts are determined. If judicial resources are strained by caseloads, which litigants are flooding in - corporate or individual? And if rationing is required, if an attempt to reduce the number of cases to which judges and courts devote their efforts is required, which cases should be diverted into private dispute resolution and which should be retained for public adjudication? In this paper I present preliminary data on the differences between individual and organizational litigants in the disposition of federal civil cases. This paper follows on an earlier paper in which I developed a methodology for increasing the value of the database created by the Administrative Office of the US Courts. Here I endeavor to show the differences between individual and organizational litigants in the rate at which cases are abandoned, defaulted, adjudicated without a trial, adjudicated with a trial, or settled. The results show substantial differences in cases based, primarily, on plaintiff rather than defendant type. I find individual plaintiff cases are substantially more likely to be determined by an adjudication - especially a non-trial adjudication - than are organizational plaintiff cases. I also find evidence that organizational plaintiffs - against either individual or organizational defendants - are substantially more likely to settle their cases rather than to have them decided either by trial or non-trial adjudication.


Abstract. Climate evolution of the Mediterranean region during the Holocene exhibits strong spatial and temporal variability, which is notoriously difficult for models to reproduce. We propose here a new proxy-based climate synthesis synthesis and its comparison – at a regional (∼ 100 km) level – with a regional climate model to examine (i) opposing northern and southern precipitation regimes and (ii) an east-to-west precipitation dipole during the Holocene across the Mediterranean basin. Using precipitation estimates inferred from marine and terrestrial pollen archives, we focus on the early to mid-Holocene (8000 to 6000 cal yr BP) and the late Holocene (4000 to 2000 cal yr BP), to test these hypotheses on a Mediterranean-wide scale. Special attention was given to the reconstruction of season-specific climate information, notably summer and winter precipitation. The reconstructed climatic trends corroborate the north–south partition of precipitation regimes during the Holocene. During the early Holocene, relatively wet conditions occurred in the south–central and eastern Mediterranean regions, while drier conditions prevailed from 45° N northwards. These patterns then reverse during the late Holocene. With regard to the existence of a west–east precipitation dipole during the Holocene, our results show that the strength of this dipole is strongly linked to the reconstructed seasonal parameter; early-Holocene summers show a clear east–west division, with summer precipitation having been highest in Greece and the eastern Mediterranean and lowest over Italy and the western Mediterranean. Summer precipitation in the east remained above modern values, even during the late-Holocene interval. In contrast, winter precipitation signals are less spatially coherent during the early Holocene but low precipitation is evidenced during the late Holocene. A general drying trend occurred from the early to late Holocene, particularly in the central and eastern Mediterranean. For the same time intervals, pollen-inferred precipitation estimates were compared with model outputs, based on a regional-scale downscaling (HadRM3) of a set of global climate-model simulations (HadAM3). The high-resolution detail achieved through the downscaling is intended to enable a better comparison between site-based paleo-reconstructions and gridded model data in the complex terrain of the Mediterranean; the model outputs and pollen-inferred precipitation estimates show some overall correspondence, though modeled changes are small and at the absolute margins of statistical significance. There are suggestions that the eastern Mediterranean experienced wetter summer conditions than present during the early and late Holocene; the drying trend in winter from the early to the late Holocene also appears to be simulated. The use of this high-resolution regional climate model highlights how the inherently patchy nature of climate signals and paleo-records in the Mediterranean basin may lead to local signals that are much stronger than the large-scale pattern would suggest. Nevertheless, the east-to-west division in summer precipitation seems more marked in the pollen reconstruction than in the model outputs. The footprint of the anomalies (like today, or dry winters and wet summers) has some similarities to modern analogue atmospheric circulation patterns associated with a strong westerly circulation in winter (positive Arctic Oscillation–North Atlantic Oscillation (AO–NAO)) and a weak westerly circulation in summer associated with anticyclonic blocking; however, there also remain important differences between the paleo-simulations and these analogues. The regional climate model, consistent with other global models, does not suggest an extension of the African summer monsoon into the Mediterranean. Therefore, the extent to which summer monsoonal precipitation may have existed in the southern and eastern Mediterranean during the mid-Holocene remains an outstanding question.


Aim The purpose of this study was to describe how nurses apply the components of family nursing conversations in their home healthcare practice. Method A qualitative content analysis with a deductive approach was conducted. Home healthcare nurses conducted family nursing conversations with families from their practice. Families were selected based on three nursing diagnoses: risk of caregiver role strain, caregiver role strain or interrupted family processes. Nurses audio‐recorded each conversation and completed a written reflection form afterwards. Transcripts of the audio‐recorded conversations were analysed in Atlas.ti 8.0 to come to descriptions of how nurses applied each component. Nurses' reflections on their application were integrated in the descriptions. Results A total of 17 conversations were audio‐recorded. The application of each component was described as well as nurses' reflections on their application. Nurses altered or omitted components due to their clinical judgment of families' needs in specific situations, due to needs for adjustment of components in the transfer from theory to practice or due to limited skill or self‐confidence. Conclusion All of the components were applied in a cohesive manner. Nurses' application of the components demonstrates that clinical judgment is important in applying them. Further training or experience may be required to optimise nurses' skill and self‐confidence in applying the components. This study demonstrates the applicability of the family nursing conversations components in home health care, allowing exploration of the working mechanisms and benefits of family nursing conversations for families involved in long‐term caregiving in future studies.


Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) maturity at the time of harvest greatly influences forage quality. The objective of this research was to determine if observed quality differences between high quality and other alfalfa cultivars were due to differences in morphological development. Two high-quality cultivars ('WL 252HQ', WL 322HQ') and two check cultivars (5262', 5454') with similar fall dormancy ratings were established on a Murrill silt loam (fine-loamy, mixed, mesic Typic Hapludult) in the spring of 1996. During 1997, 1998, and 1999, each cultivar was hand-sampled weekly for 4 consecutive wk during the spring growth period and for 3 consecutive wk during the three subsequent growth periods. Morphological development and forage quality were determined for each alfalfa cultivar at each sampling. There were no interactions between growth period or sampling times and alfalfa cultivars for either alfalfa maturity or forage quality. Morphological development of the cultivars was not different at any of the sampling times. Averaged across all growth periods and sampling times, crude protein (CP) concentrations and in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) were 14 and 13 g kg - 1 , respectively, higher for the high-quality cultivars (ADF) and neutral-detergent fiber (NDF) concentrations were 16 and 15 g kg -1 , respectively, lower. The data from this research indicates that the difference in quality between the high quality and traditional alfalfa cultivars is not due to differences in morphological development. Selecting for higher-quality alfalfa was successful and is not an artifact of inadvertently selecting for delayed development.


Venous thromboembolism that cause blood clotting in blood vessels, prevent blood circulation, depending on changes in one or more of the coagulation factors II, VII, IX and X. Patients who have had a blood clot or cardiovascular diseases are treated with oral anti-vitamin K (Warfarin®) to reducing and prevent relapse. Warfarin is also used as a preventive treatment before the disease. An overdose of Warfarin® may cause bleeding-complications and low dose cause blood clotting. The dosage of the drug is controlled by measuring prothrombin in plasma. The aim of this study was to investigate if prothrombin-complex value changes due to re-spinning and re-analysis after six hours. Fitty whole blood samples from warfarin-treated patients were divided into three subgroups, those with protrombinkomplex-values of 2-4 (n=20), >4 (n=15) and <2 (n=15). The samples were centrifugated and measured (Method A), re-centrifugated and measured (Method B) or re-analysed after six hours (Method C). All results were compared in a Bland-Altman plot as follows: Method B vs. Method A and Method C vs. Method A. The scatter graph yielded a strong correlation between Method A and Method B (R2=0.9984) and Method A and Methods C (R2=0.9977). The results from t-test showed a significance level (p<0.001) for both analyses (statistical significance=p<0.05). In this study we showed that prothrombin complex value ware stable after re-centrifugation and re-measurement after six hours. Statistical calculations yielded a strong correlation between the methods (A, B, C), and there was no significance difference between the methods.


Emotion is characterised by two-dimensions: emotional valence
describes the extent to which an emotion is positive or negative, and
arousal represents its intensity. Emotional content of verbal material
affects cognitive processing, although research on word recognition has
only recently taken emotion into account, primarily focusing on valence,
while neglecting arousal.

The present work aimed to disentangle the effects of valence and
arousal during a lexical decision task, using reaction times (RTs), event-related
potentials (ERPs) and BOLD responses in an event-related fMRI
design. These methods were chosen to determine when affective
features have an effect, and which neural systems are involved.

The material for three experiments was based on a word corpus
created by collecting ratings for emotional and lexico-semantic
features. A first and novel finding was that arousal interacted with
valence. Specifically, lexical decision times were slower for high-arousal
positive stimuli (PH) and low-arousal negative ones (NL) compared to
low-arousal positive (PL) and high arousal negative (NH) stimuli.

ERPs also showed an interaction between 200-300 ms on the early
posterior negativity (EPN), a component which is sensitive to emotional
stimuli. At this processing stage people access their mental lexicon. Its
amplitude was greater for PH and NL words, suggesting a higher
processing load for conflicting stimuli. Positive valence and low arousal
elicit an approach schema, whereas negative valence and high arousal
elicit an avoidance schema (Robinson, Storbeck, Meier & Kirkeby, 2004).

BOLD responses showed a similar interaction in the insula
bilaterally, with increased activation for PH and NL words. This region is
associated with integration of information on visceral states with
higher-order cognitive and emotional processing, suggesting higher
difficulty in integrating conflicting stimuli.

Taken together, these studies indicate that emotion affects word
processing during lexical access, and models of word recognition need
to take into account both valence and arousal.


Background: Nutritional anaemia is one of Nigeria's major public health problems. One of the major causes of anaemia is poor diet arising from poor socioeconomic conditions and corruption. Objective: The objective of this study is to assess the effect of type of diet on weight and some haematologic parameters of pregnant women. Methods: A random sampling method was used to enlist the pregnant women prospectively and consecutively. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to solicit information on diet, social status and anthropometric details. The hospital folders of the respondents were reviewed and laboratory tests carried out by standard methods. Results: The investigations showed that majority of the pregnant women (56.89%) were of lower social class, poorly-educated, maintained on considerable carbohydrate and protein diet, and were in the weight bracket of 50-75 kg. 168 (95.5%) of the women were not anaemic, with Packed Cell Volume (PCV) of 0.34 ± 0.6, Haemoglobin concentration (Hb) of 11.46 ± 1.2 and Red Blood Cell (RBC) count of 3.82 ± 0.6. the anaemic women were 8 (4.5%) and had PCV of 0.28 ± 0.3, Hb of 9.33 ± 1.1, and RBC count of 3.13 ± 0.4. The differences in the haematological results between the anaemic and non-anaemic pregnant women were statistically significant, p<0.05, except for the red cell count. Conclusion: In conclusion, micronutrient supplementation and absence of under nutrition ensured the good pattern of weight gain and haematological results in most of the women. The anaemic are recommended to be investigated for other possible causal factors of anaemia.


Objective In contradiction to current neurobiological concepts of Tourette syndrome (TS) there is a small dental literature suggesting abnormalities of temporomandibular joint alignment cause tics via reflexes of the spinal trigeminal nucleus, without involvement of the brain. Treatments to correct this model of pathophysiology by using implants are being offered by dentists and are becoming well publicised in the patient population. No controlled clinical trial data are currently available. We conducted a pilot survey of patients and dentists in the UK to assess the current situation. Method Members of the national charity Tourettes Action were contacted to find out whether they had tried or were considering dental therapies, and what the effects had been. A modified self-report version of the Yale Global Tic Severity Score impairment subscale was used. Dentists known to offer the treatment were also asked to complete a questionnaire about their work. Results Nine people who have had the therapy (or their parents) completed the survey. The majority of respondents were male and aged under 15 years old and had been treated in the previous year. Five had pure TS whereas the other four also had co-morbidities. All had received a formal diagnosis from a specialist and four were taking medication. Four people reported that their dentists offered a complete cure although none of the three out of four dentists who responded made this claim. On average between 2 and 3 visits to the dentist were required, although one case required 24. None of the dentists discussed the treatment with the person's doctor. Two patients were reasonably happy with the implant (most of the tics disappeared but some remained), one person was satisfied (approximately half of the tics disappeared but the other half remained), two people were completely dissatisfied (all of the tics remained) and the other four reported that it was too early to tell whether the splint was effective due to complications. None of the participants were completely cured or tic-free. The cost ranged from £3600 to over £10 000. Conclusion There is not a sound theoretical basis for dental intervention for TS and furthermore good clinical evidence to support use has not been presented. Our small survey suggests the treatment is less successful than sometimes claimed. A rigorous clinical trial is now being planned by the Tourette Syndrome Association, USA.


Abstract  We present a new technique for the visual exploration of origins (O) and destinations (D) arranged in geographic space. Previous attempts to map the flows between origins and destinations have suffered from problems of occlusion usually requiring some form of generalisation, such as aggregation or flow density estimation before they can be visualized. This can lead to loss of detail or the introduction of arbitrary artefacts in the visual representation. Here, we propose mapping OD vectors as cells rather than lines, comparable with the process of constructing OD matrices, but unlike the OD matrix, we preserve the spatial layout of all origin and destination locations by constructing a gridded two-level spatial treemap. The result is a set of spatially ordered small multiples upon which any arbitrary geographic data may be projected. Using a hash grid spatial data structure, we explore the characteristics of the technique through a software prototype that allows interactive query and visualisation of 105-106 simulated and recorded OD vectors. The technique is illustrated using US county to county migration and commuting statistics.


Our personal data is everywhere and anywhere, moving across national borders in ways that defy normal expectations of how things and people travel from Point A to Point B. Yet, whereas data transits the globe without any intrinsic ties to territory, the governments that seek to access or regulate this data operate with territorial-based limits. This Article tackles the inherent tension between how governments and data operate, the jurisdictional conflicts that have emerged, and the power that has been delegated to the multinational corporations that manage our data across borders as a result. It does so through the lens of the highly contested and often conflicting approaches to the jurisdictional reach of law enforcement over data, the so-called right to be forgotten, and a range of other privacy regulations—engaging in an in-depth analysis as to how these issues are playing out across both Europe and the United States.
In so doing, the Article highlights the flaws with the straightforward application of old jurisdictional rules onto the new medium of data—taking on recent scholarship on this issue. And it shines a spotlight on the unilateral rulemaking by powerful states and the powerful multinational companies that manage our data, which in turn puts private, multinational companies increasingly in control of whose rules govern and thus the substance of both privacy and speech rights on a global, or near-global, basis.


Farnesol is a key intermediate in the sterol biosynthesis pathway in eukaryotic cells that has exhibited significant anti-cancer and antimicrobial activity. We have shown that farnesol triggers apoptosis in oral squamous carcinoma cells (OSCCs) and in the fungal pathogen Candida albicans via a classical apoptotic process. However, the exact mechanism of farnesol cytotoxicity in eukaryotic cells has not been fully elucidated. In the cell, hydrophobic xenobiotics conjugate with glutathione, an antioxidant crucial for cellular detoxification against damaging compounds. This process results in the formation of glutathione S-conjugates which act as substrates for export by ATP-binding cassette transporters (ABC transporter) and are extruded from the cell. This study was undertaken to validate the hypothesis that farnesol conjugation with intracellular glutathione coupled with multidrug resistance-associated protein 1 (MRP1)-mediated extrusion of glutathione-farnesol conjugates and oxidized glutathione results in total glutathione depletion, oxidative stress and ultimately cell death. The combined findings demonstrated that farnesol exposure resulted in significant decrease in intracellular glutathione levels concomitant with intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation and decrease in cell viability. However, addition of exogenous glutathione maintained intracellular levels and enhanced cell viability. Furthermore, gene and protein expression studies demonstrated significant up-regulation of MRP1 in cells treated with farnesol. However, MRP1 blocking and monoclonal antibody specific inhibition of MRP1 enhanced cell tolerance to farnesol. This is the first study describing the involvement of MRP1-mediated glutathione efflux as a mechanism for farnesol-induced apoptosis in OSCCs. Understanding of the mechanisms underlying farnesol-cytotoxicity in eukaryotic cells may lead to the development of this redox-cycling agent as an alternative che-motherapeutic target.


A minimalist stochastic model of primary soil salinity is proposed, in which the rate of soil salinization is determined by the balance between dry and wet salt deposition and the intermittent leaching events caused by rainfall events. The long term probability density functions of salt mass and concentration are found by reducing the coupled soil moisture and salt mass balance equation to a single stochastic differential equation driven by multiplicative Poisson noise. The novel analytical solutions provide insight on the interplay of the main soil, plant and climate parameters responsible for long‐term soil salinization. In particular, they show the existence of two distinct regimes, one where the mean salt mass remains nearly constant (or decreases) with increasing rainfall frequency, and another where mean salt content increases markedly with increasing rainfall frequency. As a result, relatively small reductions of rainfall in drier climates may entail dramatic shifts in long‐term soil salinization trends, with significant consequences e.g. for climate change impacts on rain‐fed agriculture.


The analysis of John Fowles's the Collector explores the meaning of obsessive activities––doing something as a neurotic patient forgetting every other thing–– of central male character Clegg. Clegg has obsession with Miranda, photography and pornography because of which he involves in entrapping Miranda, and taking different photos of her. His surrender towards art reveals his repressed desires. Because of the constant conflict of id and ego in service of super-ego, the mind of Clegg is inflicted from obsession and acts like a neurotic patient.


The objective of this work was to estimate the genetic parameters and variability among accessions (half-sib families) of physic nut (Jatropha curcas) during the early stages of development. For this study, 110 accessions in the first year of development of the physic nut germplasm bank, maintained at Embrapa Cerrados, DF, Brazil, were evaluated in situ. The experiment was established in a randomized complete block design, with two replicates and five plants per plot arranged in rows at 4x2 m spacing. Grain yield, total number of branches per plant, plant height, stem diameter, canopy projection on the row, canopy projection between rows, canopy volume, number of days until first flowering and height of the first inflorescence were evaluated. Estimates of vegetative genetic parameters showed the existence of genetic variability in the physic nut germplasm bank. Physic nut accessions of the germplasm bank were grouped into five similarity groups based on character divergence. Although preliminary, the obtained results are promising for showing potential for Jatropha improvement with selective efficiency.


Computerized Dynamic Posturography has recently provided a means of objectively measuring balance and postural stability. Using this technology to compare pre-injured data with post-injury data can aid athletic trainers in monitoring the assessment of balance while determining when to return an athlete to participation. The purpose of this research is to determine if balance measurements are influenced by injury and the rate at which balance is restored as the athlete is returned to play. A qualitative design was conducted using a case study format. Seven female Division I soccer athletes served as subjects. All subjects experienced lower extremity injuries during the competitive season and were returned to play during that same season. Subjects' balance, postural sway, and stability were measured in spring using the Neurocom® Smart Balance Master. These measurements included Sensory Organization Test, Motor Control Test (MCT), and Adaptation Test (ADT). Once injured the subjects were measured: (1) as soon as they were able to bear weight on the affected leg; (2) once they were cleared to return to play; and (3) 2 weeks after they had returned to play. The measurements were compared to the baseline testing and also to each other in order to determine changes in balance throughout the rehabilitation and return to play process. Compared to the athlete's baseline data, post-injury data showed weight symmetry changes (unloading involved limb), increased latency scores during the ADT, and ankle/hip dominance shifting toward hip preference. As the rehabilitation process continued, most of the variables that had been disrupted migrated toward a return to pre-injury baseline. Two weeks after the subjects had been cleared to return to participation the majority of balance variables were either equal to or greater than baseline. Athletic trainers need to consider many factors when determining when an athlete should be cleared to participate following an injury. Balance and postural stability are important factors in decreasing re-injury as well as improving overall performance. Utilizing new technologies that provide more objective information on balance gives the clinicians more information to help them make return-to-play decisions.


Featuring prominently in the last four sets of Supreme Court confirmation hearings, the judge-as-umpire analogy has become the dominant frame for understanding the role of the Justice and may also now act as a significant constraint on judicial behavior. Strong criticisms from legal academics and journalists attacking the realism of the analogy have had little destabilizing effect. This Essay argues that the best hope for shifting the public conception of the work of a Justice is to offer a counter analogy that draws from an equally intuitive and familiar context, while also capturing the core essence of Supreme Court adjudication - the particular process of creative interpretation and explanation. The metaphor of the Justice as color commentator in the press box not only meets these criteria, but also makes explicit that judges are not robotic, objective arbiters. Moreover, in exposing the myth of judicial rationality and neutrality bolstered by the umpire analogy, the commentator alternative provides the possibility of helping Justices to better control for their biases and reducing damaging episodes of cognitive illiberalism. As further evidence of the appropriateness and robustness of the commentator analogy, the Essay concludes by demonstrating how sports commentating can be critiqued employing the precise implements developed by legal scholars to analyze judicial decision making.


This thesis concerns the statistical characterisation of neuroimaging data; namely the detection of statistically surprising (significant) responses in measured brain activity that is continuous in space and time. It illustrates the application of these precedures developed using functional magnetic resonance time series of blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signals.
The spatio-temporal dynamics of BOLD reflects brain metabolism via the neurovascular coupling, and is therefore of interest to neuroscience. This coupling ensures that local use of oxygen relates to local supply, largely via the inflow of blood. As a physical measure of these fluid dynamics, BOLD unfolds in continuous space-time. In practice however, assessing experimental effects on BOLD requires statistical inference, which is not practical for continuous four-dimensional representations. This thesis contributes four ideas for statistical inference on the neuronal causes of BOLD. Each retains some reduced notion of continuity (in either space or time).
The first three Chapters consider 'spatial' and 'topological' inference on atemporal transformations of the original four-dimensional data. Here, we assume measurements have already been collapsed over time at each sampled point of space via inversion of a General Linear Model; the resulting 'SPM' estimates the true field of parameters governing experimentally-induced BOLD. Chapters 2-3 concern topological inference on this true underlying field. The aim is to decide on the occurrence of discrete topological features (e.g. the existence of local maxima) using procedures whose error-rate is known/controlled. Chapter 4 aims to infer experimentally induced patterning in the spatial organisation of topological events (clusters or peaks) in an SPM. Chapter 5 then revisits the temporal dynamics between neuronal populations, whose spatial locations have been determined in advance, and attempts to understand their structure. Chapter 6 concludes this thesis. It summarizes the limitations of our proposed methods and explores their future extension and generalisation.


Objective To define the cardiovascular effects of lowering blood pressure in people with chronic kidney disease. Design Collaborative prospective meta-analysis of randomised trials. Data sources and eligibility Participating randomised trials of drugs to lower blood pressure compared with placebo or each other or that compare different blood pressure targets, with at least 1000 patient years of follow-up per arm. Main outcome measures Major cardiovascular events (stroke, myocardial infarction, heart failure, or cardiovascular death) in composite and individually and all cause death. Participants 26 trials (152 290 participants), including 30 295 individuals with reduced estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), which was defined as eGFR <60 mL/min/1.73m2. Data extraction Individual participant data were available for 23 trials, with summary data from another three. Meta-analysis according to baseline kidney function was performed. Pooled hazard ratios per 5 mm Hg lower blood pressure were estimated with a random effects model. Results Compared with placebo, blood pressure lowering regimens reduced the risk of major cardiovascular events by about a sixth per 5 mm Hg reduction in systolic blood pressure in individuals with (hazard ratio 0.83, 95% confidence interval 0.76 to 0.90) and without reduced eGFR (0.83, 0.79 to 0.88), with no evidence for any difference in effect (P=1.00 for homogeneity). The results were similar irrespective of whether blood pressure was reduced by regimens based on angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors, calcium antagonists, or diuretics/β blockers. There was no evidence that the effects of different drug classes on major cardiovascular events varied between patients with different eGFR (all P>0.60 for homogeneity). Conclusions Blood pressure lowering is an effective strategy for preventing cardiovascular events among people with moderately reduced eGFR. There is little evidence from these overviews to support the preferential choice of particular drug classes for the prevention of cardiovascular events in chronic kidney disease.


The collective nature of legislating forces legislators to rely on one another for information and support. This collaborative activity requires a choice about partnerships in an environment of uncertainty. The basic size and organization of a legislature amplifies this uncertainty in relational choices. Analysis of collaborative patterns between all the U.S. state legislators in 2007 corroborates this expectation, indicating that large legislatures have highly partisan collaborative networks with generally low density, while larger legislative committees mitigate these effects. Thus, even when the attributes of legislators do not change, the organizational size of the legislature can shape how those legislators interact.


Online learning with delayed feedback has received increasing attention recently due to its several applications in distributed, web-based learning problems. In this paper we provide a systematic study of the topic, and analyze the effect of delay on the regret of online learning algorithms. Somewhat surprisingly, it turns out that delay increases the regret in a multiplicative way in adversarial problems, and in an additive way in stochastic problems. We give meta-algorithms that transform, in a black-box fashion, algorithms developed for the non-delayed case into ones that can handle the presence of delays in the feedback loop. Modifications of the well-known UCB algorithm are also developed for the bandit problem with delayed feedback, with the advantage over the meta-algorithms that they can be implemented with lower complexity.


It is important to determine the binding pathways and mechanisms of ligand molecules to target proteins to effectively design therapeutic drugs. Molecular dynamics (MD) is a promising computational tool that allows us to simulate protein-drug binding at an atomistic level. However, the gap between the time scales of current simulations and those of many drug binding processes has limited the usage of conventional MD, which has been reflected in studies of the HIV protease. Here, we have applied a robust enhanced simulation method, Gaussian accelerated molecular dynamics (GaMD), to sample binding pathways of the XK263 ligand and associated protein conformational changes in the HIV protease. During two of 10 independent GaMD simulations performed over 500-2500 ns, the ligand was observed to successfully bind to the protein active site. Although GaMD-derived free energy profiles were not fully converged because of insufficient sampling of the complex system, the simulations still allowed us to identify relatively low-energy intermediate conformational states during binding of the ligand to the HIV protease. Relative to the X-ray crystal structure, the XK263 ligand reached a minimum root-mean-square deviation (RMSD) of 2.26 Å during 2.5 μs of GaMD simulation. In comparison, the ligand RMSD reached a minimum of only ∼5.73 Å during an earlier 14 μs conventional MD simulation. This work highlights the enhanced sampling power of the GaMD approach and demonstrates its wide applicability to studies of drug-receptor interactions for the HIV protease and by extension many other target proteins.


Methods which allow for construction of flow feature aligned meshes in two- and three-dimensions have been developed in this thesis to investigate their potential for
improvements in the numerical solution relative to globally refining the mesh. Of particular interest in the work is the generation of high-quality quadrilateral and hexahedral elements aligned with the dominant flow features. The two-dimensional techniques are applied on unstructured quad-dominant meshes, whilst the three-dimensional problems involve embedding high-quality hex-dominant mesh blocks into a hybrid volume mesh to improve their ability to capture anisotropic flow features such as shock waves, trailing shear layers/wakes and wing tip vortices.
A method involving the medial axis has been studied to provide a geometric representation of two-dimensional flow features to allow feature-aligned meshes to be generated. Due to the flexibility of the approach, a range of complex features can be represented as simple geometric entities. These curves are embedded into the domain as virtual geometries to force alignment of unstructured quad-dominant surface mesh elements. The mesh locally mimics the attributes of a structured grid and provides high quality numerical solutions due to the alignment of the cell interfaces with the flow features.
To improve the capability of hybrid meshes to resolve anisotropic flow physics, a method involving the extrusion of quad-dominant surface meshes has been developed. Surface meshes are extruded in the direction of extracted flow features, yielding feature-aligned semi-structured hex-dominant mesh blocks which can be embedded into the hybrid volume mesh. The presence of feature-aligned hexahedra has been shown to greatly enhance the resolution of anisotropic flow features compared with both isotropic and anisotropic tetrahedral elements, due to a significant reduction in numerical diffusion. Furthermore, improvements in the numerical solution have been also been obtained in a more efficient manner than isotropically refining the hybrid mesh. The results indicate that the type, orientation and size of the elements are significant contributing factors in the resolution of the dominant flow features.


Sexually transmissible infections (STIs) occupy a unique position in medicine. Like other infections, they are caused by micro-organisms specially adapted to their environment—in their case, to environments involved in human sexual behaviour (the urogenital tract, the oropharynx and the rectum). However, unlike most other infections, they may also be interpreted as evidence of infidelity, immorality or serious criminal offending.

The implications of STIs make disease surveillance difficult, even among adults engaged in consenting sex. Reading et al 1 extend surveillance into the most sensitive area of all—childhood. The article follows previous work on genital herpes and attempts to define a population-based incidence for the most common non-viral STI in children.

The validity of the incidence they describe is built on serial assumptions. Children with genital symptoms were brought for healthcare. Their symptoms were adequately assessed. Samples were taken and processed correctly. Positive results were notified to a paediatrician and to the Paediatric Surveillance Unit. All these assumptions are open to challenge. Children may not discuss genital symptoms. Adults may not notice those symptoms or seek treatment. Girls with dysuria may be treated for urine infection with no examination to exclude vulvitis. Routine swabs will not detect chlamydia or trichomonas and will not facilitate survival of gonorrhoea. Syphilis serology will not be performed on a child unless they present with symptoms of primary or secondary disease. If infection is found, the chain of communication may involve microbiology, a primary provider, a sexual health physician and a paediatrician. …


Preface In the context of the wider debate on reduction of carbon emissions from tropical deforestation and forest degradation, this report reviews current tools and methodologies for the planning of emissions reductions projects across all land uses in a REALU (Reducing Emissions from All Land Uses) value chain. This work supports Phase II of the REALU project, a joint effort of the ASB Partnership and several partner organizations. The overarching goal of this project is to develop, through action research, a set of approaches, methodologies and national capacity to implement effective landscape-based strategies for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD+), within a context of sustainable rural development, national sovereignty, respect for indigenous rights, and integrity of a global Greenhouse Gas (GHG) accounting system. Phase I of this project was based on research and reviews of key areas to enhance understanding of landscape approaches to REDD+ and the implications for ongoing UNFCCC negotiations. Phase II emphasizes demonstration landscapes, national level backstopping through UN-REDD and FCPF (Forest Carbon Partnership Facility) processes and the generation of comparative action research on global landscape approaches to reducing emissions, including but not limited to REDD+. The project is occurring in four countries: Cameroon, Indonesia, Peru and Vietnam. This report summarizes the results of a workshop conducted to review mainly current ICRAF tools developed to support REDD+ and REALU projects. The workshop took place in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on the 19th and 20th of April, 2011 at the Vrije Universiteit (IVM), with the generous support of the Government of Norway. The workshop was organized within Project Objective 1: backstop country level planning and implementation of whole-landscape approaches to REDD+ through the provision of methods, tools and relevant training at multiple levels within the framework of multilateral initiatives such as the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) and UN-REDD. Beyond the scope of this workshop, we acknowledge that there exists a variety of other resources and tools which can both complement and bridge gaps inherent in the current set of ICRAF tools. In this regard, this report also outlines other existing tools available to support the REDD+ and REALU project cycle. We would like to acknowledge all Participants of the workshop (see Appendix 3) for their valuable inputs and review of this report. A special thanks as well to Jeremy McDaniels, IISD-ASB intern for his valuable contributions to the report.


Huntington's disease (HD) is an autosomal neurodegenerative disorder, caused by expansion of a glutamine repeat in the Huntingtin protein. Pathogenesis in HD includes the cytoplasmic cleavage of Huntingtin and release of an amino-terminal fragment capable of nuclear localization, where expanded-Huntingtin (Exp-Htt) might lead to aberrant transcriptional regulation, neuronal dysfunction and degeneration. Recent evidence, from hippocampal cell lines, also implicates altered interaction of Exp-Htt with components of the c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) cascade. However, there is yet no proven implication of the JNK/c-Jun module in degeneration of striatal neurons, the more vulnerable cell population, in HD. In the present study, we used primary striatal neurons in culture to analyze c-Jun activation by Exp-Htt. Green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged exon 1 of human Huntingtin either in its normal (25Q, normal-Htt) or expanded (103Q, Exp-Htt) version was transiently transfected in these cells. We first set out, in our conditions, the time course of striatal degeneration produced by Exp-Htt, and found it occurred rapidly. At 48 h post-transfection, 60% of striatal neurons expressing Exp-Htt had apoptotic characteristics including DNA fragmentation and neuritic retraction. Most of these neurons also showed nuclear aggregates of GFP-Exp Htt. Kinetics of c-Jun activation were tested in transfected cells using immunocytochemical detection of phospho-c-Jun. We found a significant activation and induction of c-Jun in Exp-Htt but not normal-Htt-transfected neurons. Of interest, these events occurred prior to nuclear translocation of Exp-Htt. Finally, overexpression of a dominant negative version of c-Jun, as well as pharmacological inhibition of JNK strongly protected against DNA fragmentation and neuritic retraction induced by Exp-Htt. Thus our data suggest that c-Jun activation and induction, is an early event in the pathogenesis of HD, occurring prior to formation of nuclear aggregates of Exp-Htt.


Research Findings: The present study used a longitudinal design to identify how sleep habits and learning-related behaviors impact the development of cognitive skills in preschoolers (ages 3–5). Sixty- seven children with parental report and cognitive skill assessment data were included. Scores on the Differential Ability Scales (C. Elliott, 1990) were obtained at ages 3, 4, and 5. A Sleep Questionnaire (D. Gozal, 1998) with 12 items from the Child Behavior Checklist (T. M. Achenbach & L. A. Rescorla, 2000) related to children's attention and activity levels was administered at age 3. Growth curve changes in cognitive scores were estimated using hierarchical linear modeling. Parental reports of nighttime sleep duration predicted level of cognitive skills at 3 years. The effect of sleep duration on cognitive scores was constant across age. Practice or Policy: Sleep and learning-related behaviors distinguish the cognitive skills children bring to preschool programs and impact gains made in skills while in preschool.


The Souls of W. E .B. Du Bois: New Essays and Reflections, by Edward J. Blum & Jason R Young (Eds.). Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2009, 279 pp., $45.00, hardcover. Echoing the title of the work discussed, The Souls of W. E. B. Du Bois: New Essays and Reflections is a collection of soul-stirring, position essays presented to examine the varying relationship of religion that exists between W. E. B. Du Bois and his writings. Editors, Edward J. Blum and Jason R Young, set the premise for a rigorous debate between different scholars' perceptions of Du Bois and the theme of reUgion. Discussions range from commentary on Du Bois's own personal views and value of reUgion and extend to the examination of the concept of "souls" and the "soul-life" as a prominent theme of Du Bois's writings. This work is rounded out by discussions on the utility and application of specific reUgious metaphors and rhetoric and finaUy, Ulustrations of Du Bois's inclusion of global reUgious ideals, traditions, and beUefs are highlighted. Du Bois's life experiences and written work are threaded together as supportive evidence for each of the writers' positions. This collection of essays proves to be a valuable contribution to a series of works that aims to "present the development of the intellectual tradition of the African Diaspora," (Blum & Young, 2009, Book Jacket) by voices of the African Diaspora. It presents a highly, philosophical and theological discussion which includes numerous references to work of major scholars that have written on Du Bois. The book is divided into four sections, whh three chapters per section. Each essay discusses some element of the broad topic of the relationship of reUgion and Du Bois's work. The consistency of the content of the essays does not necessarily correspond in each section. Some sections present essays that represent opposing views and aim to counter the argument of another. In other sections, the debate is sUenced, as different aspects of the sub-topic are individually discussed. The preface, completed by the editors, highUghts the existing debate of whether Du Bois is religious or irreligious. Without clearly endorsing the position that he is reUgious, the emphasis is placed on the need for more scholars to examine Du Bois' reUgious experiences in a "non-traditional" manner. A brief biological sketch is provided offering some context and background information for the reader. The rationale for this collection is endorsed by the editors' insertion that Du Bois's "spiritual power" is being "underestimated" if left to simple debates about being religious or irreligious. This work fills the inferred gap in scholarly writings that aim to understand Du Bois and his relationship with religion. Part I, for example, asks the question, "Was W. E. B. Du Bois Religious?" Each chapter presents a different perspective to this complex question. Chapter 1, written by Phil Zuckerman, is a convincing stance on Du Bois's reUgious convictions. Zuckerman acknowledges that Du Bois could likely be defined as deeply reUgious at one point in his Ufe. Despite this, he characterizes Du Bois's religious experiences as dynamic; a progression of knowledge and understanding of reUgion and religious things. His argument provides a clear sequence of Du Bois's religious development. Zuckerman notes Du Bois's lifestyle, the caliber of his associates and the contradicting values between things he affiliated with and the concept of religion. He inserts that it is unlikely that Du Bois maintained strong reUgious beUefs in Ught of, the literal statements he made and the overall shift in his ideals demonstrated toward the end of his life. Chapter 2, "W. E. B. Du Bois on God and Jesus, " presented by Dwight N. Hopkins argues that although Du Bois rejected the western ideals of religion that were rooted in ritualistic traditions, he held a consistent acknowledgment of God and His connection to people, specifically people of African descent. …


Fetal exposure to high doses of glucocorticoids, as used to aid lung maturation in the therapy of Respiratory Distress Syndrome, causes growth retardation and interference with development of beta-adrenergic receptor-mediated cell signalling. The current study examined whether lower levels of steroids might instead play a positive trophic role in receptor transduction. Pregnant rats were given dexamethasone at or below the threshold for growth impairment (0.05-0.2 mg/kg) on gestational days 17, 18 and 19, and the beta-receptor-mediated stimulation of adenylate cyclase was evaluated in membrane preparations from heart and kidney. The enzymatic response to isoproterenol was compared with effects on: (1) basal (unstimulated) adenylate cyclase, (2) adenylate cyclase stimulation mediated by forskolin, which bypasses the beta-receptor, and (3) development of beta-receptor binding capabilities, assessed with [125I]pindolol. In the heart, prenatal exposure to dexamethasone produced a dose-dependent enhancement of beta-receptor-mediated stimulation of adenylate cyclase activity; however, both basal and forskolin-stimulated activity were also increased and beta-receptor binding was relatively unaffected. These results suggest that enhanced responsiveness was occurring at the level of the cyclase itself, rather than by effects on receptors on their G-protein coupling to enzyme activity. Promotional effects on adenylate cyclase were detectable at the low dose of dexamethasone, without any evidence of growth impairment.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Everyone recognizes that federal habeas doctrine is a mess. Broad change is necessary, but to be effective, such change must be animated by an overarching theory that explains when federal courts should exercise habeas jurisdiction. In their recent book, "Habeas for the Twenty-First Century: Uses, Abuses, and the Future of the Great Writ," Professors Nancy King and Joseph Hoffmann offer such a theory. Drawing on history, current practice, and empirical data, Professors King and Hoffmann find unifying themes that not only explain our past use of the Great Writ but also give guidance regarding how we should interpret the writ going forward. Habeas for the Twenty-First Century is nuanced while still being thorough, and it explains fairly technical material in an engaging and interesting way. Its breadth, however, is also the source of one of its problems. Professors King and Hoffmann want both to identify the overarching themes that can explain habeas in all of its diverse forms and to make concrete proposals for reform that have a reasonable chance of being adopted. These two goals, however, are often in tension. What is politically feasible is not always consistent with their interpretive approach. Rather than admit this tension and explain why they choose one goal over the other, Professors King and Hoffmann sometimes stretch their definition of what constitutes a crisis worthy of habeas intervention in an attempt to make it fit their reform proposals. This is particularly true in the context of their approach to federal review of state criminal convictions. In that context, King and Hoffmann use history to argue that habeas's primary role is to intervene whenever a federalism crisis places the balance of power between the federal and state governments in jeopardy. Such a federalism crisis exists, they say, only when a state rejects federal law because it is federal. Nonetheless, King and Hoffmann's own proposal for reform contains provisions that would allow state prisoners to file habeas claims, such as claims alleging actual innocence, even when there is no evidence that the states are hostile to these claims because of their federal nature. So if King and Hoffmann's proposals for reform are sound, their statement of the circumstances in which federal habeas review is appropriate is too restrictive. In this Review, I will argue that King and Hoffmann should expand their concept of what constitutes a crisis worthy of federal habeas intervention to include situations in which a state systematically violates criminal defendants' federal rights or systematically fails to provide defendants with adequate opportunities to vindicate those rights. A state's entitlement to autonomy and respect is at its nadir when the state routinely flouts federal law, whereas the federal interest in using habeas review to catalyze structural reform in such a case is at its zenith.


DOi ng MOr e with Le S S In the context of the economic recovery and public budget cuts, policy silos and fragmented short-term policy interventions have become luxuries that our economies can no longer afford. Government intervenes in a myriad of ways at the local level, and rarely are these interventions co-ordinated effectively. Most of us are familiar with policy "silos". Such divisions are often taken for g ranted, blamed on historical working relationships ("it has always been like that") and organisational cultures ("they don't work like we do"). However these divisions come at a cost. The i ssues and challenges facing local communities are often complex, and require a holistic approach to be resolved. This book provides concrete advice to policy makers at both national and local levels on how to better align policies, reduce duplication and waste, and "do more with less". It is based on comparative analysis of 11 countries in Australisia, Europe and North America and combines rankings on where countries stand in terms of the integration of employment, skills and economic development policies, with concrete examples of successful policy integration on the ground.


The paper deals with the problem scope of ethanol (as biologically decomposable compound) adding into petrol and diesel fuel on the final lubricity of motor fuels. It analyses the subject of tribology and automobile fuels in connection with modern technologies in construction of automobile engines. The mentioned properties and characteristics were measured by commonly used laboratory method on Plint TE 82 (PLINT & PARTNERS LTD). Measured data show, that diesel fuel with ethanol has better lubricity parameters and lubricity persists longer, than in case of petrol fuel with ethanol. One problem occurred, when diesel fuel was mixed with ethanol, which contained more then 0,5 % of water. This problem was solved by eliminating of the water from ethanol, eventually the suitable solubility additive is recommended.


Having established the context of mockery and shame in Ancient Mediterranean cultures, Dietmar Neufeld shows how Mark presented Jesus as a person with a sense of honour and with a sense of shame, willing to accept the danger of being visible and the mockery it attracted. Neufeld also considers the social functions of ridicule/mockery more broadly as strategies of social sanction, leading to a better understanding of how social, religious, and political practices and discourse variously succeeded or failed in Mark. Finally, Neufeld investigates the author of Mark's preoccupation with 'secrecy', showing that the author of Mark's disposition to secrecy in his narrative heightened when the dangers of scorn and ridicule from crowds or persons became pressing concerns. In a fiercely competitive literary environment where mocking and being mocked were ever present dangers, Mark, in his pursuit of authority gains it by establishing a reputation of possessing authentic, secret knowledge. In short, the so-called secrecy motif is shown to be deployed for specific, strategic reasons that differ from those that have been traditionally advanced.


EISCAT VHF radar data are used for observing, monitoring, and understanding Earth's upper atmosphere. This paper presents an approach to segment Polar Mesospheric Summer Echoes (PMSE) from datasets obtained from EISCAT VHF radar data. The data consist of 30 observations days, corresponding to 56,250 data samples. We manually labeled the data into three different categories: PMSE, Ionospheric background, and Background noise. For segmentation, we employed random forests on a set of simple features. These features include: altitude derivative, time derivative, mean, median, standard deviation, minimum, and maximum values corresponding to neighborhood sizes ranging from 3 by 3 to 11 by 11 pixels. Next, in order to reduce the model bias and variance, we employed a method that decreases the weight applied to pixel labels with large uncertainty. Our results indicate that, first, it is possible to segment PMSE from the data using random forests. Second, the weighted-down labels technique improves the performance of the random forests method.


This paper presents an enhanced fuzzy sliding mode controller (EF-SMC) for improving the tracking performance of robotic manipulators, in which the fuzzy logic system is adopted as the adaptation mechanism to tune the gain of the sliding mode controller. The EFSMC can drive the state variables of robotic manipulators to hit a user-defined sliding surface quickly and slide along it. The sliding and global stability conditions are formulated and analyzed in terms of Lyapunov full quadratic form. To satisfy the real-time requirement of the robot system, the region-wise linear technology is introduced to reduce the fuzzy rules of the EFSMC. The simulation results have shown that the proposed controller can achieve a higher performance with minimum reaching time and smooth control actions. In addition, it shows that the controller is effective and robust to the parametric variation and external disturbance.


Abstract: Social networks, such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn have been becoming very popular during the last few years. Facebook is currently the world's most populous "country" with more than 1.3 billion "inhabitants". According to the statistical data, the users share their impressions daily in the form of statuses about upcoming events and present state of affairs, their problems, plans, novel experiences about the products, political stances, and alike. Having the possibility to extract the information of interest from a huge amount of hand-created data about the users' personal affinities and their usage within logistics system, it is facilitated to meet the customers' needs. In this paper we present a procedure for finding and analyzing valuable information related to the specific products, and its effect on logistics system decision-making. Filtering is being done by already developed software for neurolinguistics social network analysis "Symbols". This software offers graphical representation of statistical data for selected brands based on the social network statuses, its implications, as well as target group demographic and territorial structure. The results obtained point out possible increasing/decreasing demands among separate user groups, therefore giving a factual basis for logistics changes.


In the context of superintelligent AI systems, the term "oracle" has two meanings. One refers to modular systems queried for domain-specific tasks. Another usage, referring to a class of systems which may be useful for addressing the value alignment and AI control problems, is a superintelligent AI system that only answers questions. The aim of this manuscript is to survey contemporary research problems related to oracles which align with long-term research goals of AI safety. We examine existing question answering systems and argue that their high degree of architectural heterogeneity makes them poor candidates for rigorous analysis as oracles. On the other hand, we identify computer algebra systems (CASs) as being primitive examples of domain-specific oracles for mathematics and argue that e orts to integrate computer algebra systems with theorem provers, systems which have largely been developed independent of one another, provide a concrete set of problems related to the notion of provable safety that has emerged in the AI safety community. We review approaches to interfacing CASs with theorem provers, describe well-defined architectural deficiencies that have been identified with CASs, and suggest possible lines of research and practical software projects for scientists interested in AI safety.


Min hash is a probabilistic method for estimating the similarity of two sets in terms of their Jaccard index, defined as the ration of the size of their intersection to their union. We demonstrate that this method performs best when the sets under consideration are of similar size and the performance degrades considerably when the sets are of very different size. We introduce a new and efficient approach, called the containment min hash approach, that is more suitable for estimating the Jaccard index of sets of very different size. We accomplish this by leveraging another probabilistic method (in particular, Bloom filters) for fast membership queries. We derive bounds on the probability of estimate errors for the containment min hash approach and show it significantly improves upon the classical min hash approach. We also show significant improvements in terms of time and space complexity. As an application, we use this method to detect the presence/absence of organisms in a metagenomic data set, showing that it can detect the presence of very small, low abundance microorganisms.


By putting together a relatively large data set on bilateral remittances of emigrants, this paper is able to shed light on the important hypothesis of smoothing. The smoothing hypothesis is that remittances are countercyclical with respect to income in the worker"s country of origin (the recipient of the remittance), while procyclical with respect to income in the migrant"s host country (the sender of the remittance). The econometric results confirm the hypothesis. This affirmation of smoothing is important for two reasons. First, it suggests that remittances should be placed on the list of criteria for an optimum currency area. Second, it brings into doubt plans by governments in some developing countries to harness remittances for their own use, in that government spending in these countries generally fails the test of countercyclicality which remittances pass.


Front projection is an economical method to produce large displays. However, the twin problems of occlusions, which create shadows on the screen, and light projected onto users near the screen, potentially blinding them, makes front projection a poor fit for large upright interactive surfaces. Virtual Rear Projection (VRP) uses multiple redundant front projectors to provide the user experience of using a rear projected display. By using a projector-camera system to mitigate shadows and blinding light, a virtual rear projected display significantly improves upon the user experience of a traditional front projected display, allowing it to replace a rear projected display. In this thesis we characterize the problems caused by shadows and occlusions and develop projection technologies that mitigate shadows and blinding light. We also present a laboratory performance evaluation, and a user evaluation of the technology showing that VRP improves the user experience with respect to traditional front projection.


High-intensity eccentric contractions induce performance decrements and delayed onset muscle soreness. The purpose of this investigation was to study the magnitude and time course of such decrements and their interrelationships in 26 young women of mean(s.d.) age 21.4(3.3) years. Subjects performed 70 maximal eccentric contractions of the elbow flexors on a pulley system, specially designed for the study. The non-exercised arm acted as the control. Measures of soreness, tenderness, swelling (SW), relaxed elbow joint angle (RANG) and isometric strength (STR) were taken before exercise, immediately after exercise (AE), analysis of variance and at 24-h intervals for 11 days. There were significant (P < 0.01, analysis of variance) changes in all factors. Peak effects were observed between 24 and 96 h AE. With the exception of STR, which remained lower (P < 0.01), all variables returned to baseline levels by day 11. A non-significant correlation between pain and STR indicated that pain was not a major factor in strength loss. Also, although no pain was evident, RANG was decreased immediately AE. There was no relationship between SW, RANG and pain. The prolonged nature of these symptoms indicates that repair to damaged soft tissue is a slow process. Strength loss is considered particularly important as it continues when protective pain and tenderness have disappeared. This has implications for the therapeutic management of patients with myopathologies and those receiving eccentric exercise for rehabilitation.


BACKGROUND
Men who have sex with men (MSM) experience significant inequalities in health and well-being. They are the group in the UK at the highest risk of acquiring a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Guidance relating to both HIV infection prevention, in general, and individual-level behaviour change interventions, in particular, is very limited.

OBJECTIVES
To conduct an evidence synthesis of the clinical effectiveness of behaviour change interventions to reduce risky sexual behaviour among MSM after a negative HIV infection test. To identify effective components within interventions in reducing HIV risk-related behaviours and develop a candidate intervention. To host expert events addressing the implementation and optimisation of a candidate intervention.

DATA SOURCES
All major electronic databases (British Education Index, BioMed Central, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, EMBASE, Educational Resource Index and Abstracts, Health and Medical Complete, MEDLINE, PsycARTICLES, PsycINFO, PubMed and Social Science Citation Index) were searched between January 2000 and December 2014.

REVIEW METHODS
A systematic review of the clinical effectiveness of individual behaviour change interventions was conducted. Interventions were examined using the behaviour change technique (BCT) taxonomy, theory coding assessment, mode of delivery and proximity to HIV infection testing. Data were summarised in narrative review and, when appropriate, meta-analysis was carried out. Supplemental analyses for the development of the candidate intervention focused on post hoc realist review method, the assessment of the sequential delivery and content of intervention components, and the social and historical context of primary studies. Expert panels reviewed the candidate intervention for issues of implementation and optimisation.

RESULTS
Overall, trials included in this review (n = 10) demonstrated that individual-level behaviour change interventions are effective in reducing key HIV infection risk-related behaviours. However, there was considerable clinical and methodological heterogeneity among the trials. Exploratory meta-analysis showed a statistically significant reduction in behaviours associated with high risk of HIV transmission (risk ratio 0.75, 95% confidence interval 0.62 to 0.91). Additional stratified analyses suggested that effectiveness may be enhanced through face-to-face contact immediately after testing, and that theory-based content and BCTs drawn from 'goals and planning' and 'identity' groups are important. All evidence collated in the review was synthesised to develop a candidate intervention. Experts highlighted overall acceptability of the intervention and outlined key ways that the candidate intervention could be optimised to enhance UK implementation.

LIMITATIONS
There was a limited number of primary studies. All were from outside the UK and were subject to considerable clinical, methodological and statistical heterogeneity. The findings of the meta-analysis must therefore be treated with caution. The lack of detailed intervention manuals limited the assessment of intervention content, delivery and fidelity.

CONCLUSIONS
Evidence regarding the effectiveness of behaviour change interventions suggests that they are effective in changing behaviour associated with HIV transmission. Exploratory stratified meta-analyses suggested that interventions should be delivered face to face and immediately after testing. There are uncertainties around the generalisability of these findings to the UK setting. However, UK experts found the intervention acceptable and provided ways of optimising the candidate intervention.

FUTURE WORK
There is a need for well-designed, UK-based trials of individual behaviour change interventions that clearly articulate intervention content and demonstrate intervention fidelity.

STUDY REGISTRATION
The study is registered as PROSPERO CRD42014009500.

FUNDING
The National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment programme.


Abstract The 'liberal peace' is undergoing a crisis of legitimacy at the level of the everyday in post-conflict environments. In many such environments; different groups often locally constituted perceive it to be ethically bankrupt, subject to double standards, coercive and conditional, acultural, unconcerned with social welfare, and unfeeling and insensitive towards its subjects. It is tied to Western and liberal conceptions of the state, to institutions, and not to the local. Its post-Cold War moral capital, based upon its more emancipatory rather than conservative claims, has been squandered as a result, and its basic goal of a liberal social contract undermined. Certainly, since 9/11, attention has been diverted into other areas and many, perhaps promising peace processes have regressed. This has diverted attention away from a search for refinements, alternatives, for hybrid forms of peace, or for empathetic strategies through which the liberal blueprint for peace might coexist with alternatives. Yet from these strategies a post-liberal peace might emerge via critical research agendas for peacebuilding and for policymaking, termed here, eirenist. This opens up a discussion of an everyday 'post-liberal peace' and critical policies for peacebuilding.


Current global mortality from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) remains unacceptably high and is increasing. A major reduction in the burden of NCDs should come from population-wide interventions, including the promotion of a healthy diet through the provision of adequate nutrition information on food labels. However, in order for this type of intervention to be successful, it is important to have a better understanding of the consumer. This review focuses on the need for food and nutrition labelling (the section of information on a food label that specifically declares nutrient content) within the context of NCDs, as well as consumer nutrition label use, and understanding and the impact of nutrition labelling on purchasing behaviour. It provides a summary of the latest global nutrition labelling trends, the current situation in South Africa and the way forward. Consumer knowledge, use and understanding of nutrition labelling has been investigated extensively in the international literature. However, the majority of these investigations were conducted in developed countries. Therefore, additional research on the impact of nutrition labelling in developing countries is necessary, and should be a priority. There have been many developments in South Africa in terms of food and nutrition labelling in the last decade. Although the food industry, health professionals and consumers face many changes, challenges and opportunities with regard to food, and specifically to nutrition labelling, this is also the ideal time to promote the use and understanding of nutrition information on labels by health professionals to consumers.


HER2/Neu/ERBB2 is a receptor tyrosine kinase overexpressed in approximately 20% of human breast tumors. Truncated or mutant isoforms that show increased oncogenicity compared with the wild-type receptor are found in many breast tumors. Here, we report that constitutively active ERBB2 sensitizes human breast epithelial cells to agents that induce endoplasmic reticulum stress, altering the unfolded protein response (UPR) of these cells. Deregulation of the ERK, AKT, and mTOR activities elicited by mutant ERBB2 was involved in mediating this differential UPR response, elevating the response to endoplasmic reticulum stress, and apoptotic cell death. Mechanistic investigations revealed that the increased sensitivity of mutant ERBB2-expressing cells to endoplasmic reticulum stress relied upon a UPR effector signaling involving the PERK-ATF4-CHOP pathway, upregulation of the proapoptotic cell surface receptor TRAIL-R2, and activation of proapoptotic caspase-8. Collectively, our results offer a rationale for the therapeutic exploration of treatments inducing endoplasmic reticulum stress against mutant ERBB2-expressing breast tumor cells.


. This work presents an active learning methodology called Project-based learning (PBL) for developing artificial intelligence (AI) in a computer vision course of an undergraduate engineering degree. The objective of the course was to develop image recognition capabilities using Deep Learning (DL)/Machine Learning (ML) technics in real-world problems. The PBL learning methodology helped students search for real-world problems, develop complex solutions, and generate synergy among team members. The main role of the professor was to advise, guide and motivate the students throughout the course. The pedagogic innovation with active learning methodologies offered the professor the opportunity to create a dynamic motivating learning environment based on experiences. Each undergraduate engineering student had the opportunity to develop the skills and techniques of their profession: teamwork, proactivity, innovation, and leadership. The results obtained by the student teams showed problem-solving, including the use of automatic navigation equipment with AI, detection of the malaria parasite, recognition of non-human individuals to control vehicular traffic.


Abstract
The antimalarial activity of RC-12 (1,2 dimethoxy-4-(bis-diethyl-aminoethyl)-amino-5-bromobenzene) and WR 14,997 (1-aminocyclopentane-carboxylic acid) against gametocytes and sporogony of Plasmodium cynomolgi was studied using Macaca mulatta monkeys and Anopheles maculatus mosquitoes. The effect of the drugs on the mosquito stages of the parasite was assessed both after treatment by gavage of infected monkeys and direct administration in sugar solutions to plasmodial-infected mosquitoes. Single- or multiple-dose treatments of RC-12 (25 mg/kg a day) were equally effective against gametocytes and sporogony of the parasite. Mosquito infection was interrupted within 8 to 24 hours following initial treatment. Feeding of RC-12 directly to infected mosquitoes resulted in no discernible effects on oocyst development and/or sporozoite formation in the mosquito. The salivary glands of drug-treated mosquitoes displayed marked morpho-pathological alterations as a result of drug ingestion. Repeated daily doses of WR 14,997 (60 mg/kg or 100 mg/kg) had no significant gametocytocidal, sporontocidal, or causal prophylactic activity against P. cynomolgi infections after being administered to the monkey host. In contrast, WR 14,997 exhibited a marked sporontocidal action against the parasite when the drug was administered with the mosquito diet. These results failed to support the assumption that there is a correlation in drug response between the sporogonic cycle of the malaria parasite in the invertebrate host and the tissue stages of the same parasite in the vertebrate host, when the drug was fed directly to the mosquito. However, there appears to be a direct relationship between the effect of the drug on the gametocytes and tissue stages when the drug is administered to the vertebrate host prior to mosquito feeding.


This paper examines the interaction between form and meaning in creole word-formation, drawing on evidence from Kriyol, a Portuguese-based creole spoken in Guine-Bissau. The goal will be to illustrate how full reduplication interacts in complex ways with other morphological operations such as conversion, derivation and inflection. A formal morphological analysis of the layering between form and meaning will be sketched, within Construction Morphology, which treats full reduplication as a genuine lexeme-formation process. Within this word-based theory, the interaction between morphological operations is captured through the unification of construction schemas.


A study on cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) seed formation and
development was undertaken at the Universiti Pertanian
Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. The plant materials
used comprised of five dissimilar crossings of Sabah Mixed
Hybrid. Freshly opened flowers were hand-pollinated and
tagged to ascertain the date of pollination. The tagged
flowers were then covered with plastic-net bags to protect
them from insects and other hazards. Samples were taken at
weekly intervals. Changes in the histology and germinability
of seed, as well as size, weight and moisture content of both
fruit and seed were determined. In addition, the effects of
air drying on seed germinabi1ity was also studied.
Progressive development of the endosperm and embryo
started to occur eight weeks after pollination and it
continued to do so until complete development was attained
11 weeks later (19th week). Physical development of the fruit
and seed followed a three-phase sigmoidal pattern. The first
phase was characterised by very slow growth rate of both the
fruit and seed during the first eight weeks after pollination.
This was fol lowed by a period of rapid increases in
dimensions and weights until maximum values were reached 18
weeks after pollination. The final developmental phase
(beyond the 18th week) was a period of minimal physical
changes. Maximum seed dry weight was attained 22 weeks after
pollination at which seeds are regarded as physiologically
mature. Seed moisture content was high (above 90 percent)
during the initial stages of development. It then declined
steadily reaching a fairly stable value of about 40 percent
approximately 25 weeks after pollination. Fruit moisture
content on the other hand , remained relatively high (above 70
percent) throughout the developmental period.