The native intellectual who takes up arms to defend his nation's legitimacy and who wants to bring proofs to bear out that legitimacy, who is willing to strip himself naked to study the history of his body, is obliged to dissect the heart of his people. (Frantz Fanon) My thoughts here will follow three lines implied in a phrase from one of Baraka's titles: "raze/race/raise." What and who is to be razed and how? What and who is to be raised and how? At center are historic contradictions of the black liberation movement and the tension in avant-garde aesthetics between negation (Dada) and affirmation (Constructivism), between demolition and the work of building: 1/ raze: Dada. For Dada, the Adornian negation (blast) of bourgeois Western rationality. For Baraka, the Western demolition mission. 2/ raze: jazz: raise. Baraka once noted that one way to make white institutions "crumble and its apologizers break and run even faster than they are now would be to turn crazy, to bring out a little American Dada, Ornette Coleman style" ("Philistinism" 53). Like Coltrane shattering, splintering dead Western forms (e.g., Rodgers and Hammerstein tunes) into sheets of sound. But in later Baraka, jazz becomes a method for raising the race. In a jazz poetics, he finds an anti-Adornian, anti-bohemian affirmative--an avant-garde praxis connected to the culture of the black masses. 3/ raise: race: idiom. African American vernacular--its traditions are crucial to Baraka's most advanced poetics. The long tradition of battling in words--signifyin(g)--has been fused with a jazz poetics. 1/ raze: Dada If I cry out: Ideal, ideal, ideal Knowledge, knowledge, knowledge Boomboom, boomboom, boomboom, I have given a pretty faithful version of progress, law, morality and all other fine qualities that various highly intelligent men have discussed in so many books, only to conclude that after all everyone dances to his own personal boomboom, and that the writer is entitled to his boomboom (Tristan Tzara, "Dada Manifesto 1918") If you ever find yourself, some where lost and surrounded by enemies who won't let you speak in your own language who destroy your statues & instruments, who ban your omm bomm ba boom then you are in trouble deep trouble they ban your own boom ba boom you in deep deep trouble (Amiri Baraka, "Wise 1") The boomboom that is vital in the two Dadaist passages above is a human vitality each poet sees under threat. In the first, it is the vitality of the Dada subject threatened by deadening bourgeois subjectivity and society. In the second it is the Afrikan subject threatened with enslavement into gray Western subjectivity. Comparison of these two poetics under the rubric of Dada is not new. Baraka criticism has consistently noted the continuities between Baraka's poetics and those of the historical avant-gardes, Surrealism and Dadaism (see especially Benston and Sollors). Dada's relentless word play and disruption--radical punctuation & spacing, parataxis, non sequitur, idiosyncratic spellings, punning--was aimed at destroying the degraded language logic of bourgeois Western rationality. In Baraka's work, Dada's linguistic method is appropriated into black nationalist aesthetics and deployed against the deathliness of all Western/white language and culture. Similarly, Surrealism's destabilization of bourgeois reality is redirected by Baraka to attack not only bourgeois lived reality (dead, reified) but the living death--a constant theme--in all White/Western society. Baraka's most self-conscious use of Dada poetics occurs in Black Dada Nihilismus." (1) One of Baraka's most anthologized poems, "Black Dada Nihilismus" has a pivotal place in Baraka criticism. Much in the way Negritude was important to the Surrealists, white avant-gardists value the poem for its legitimizing linkage (homage) to white avant-gardism. (2) Scholars of the Black Arts Movement read the poem as the first definitive sign of Baraka's emerging black nationalist aesthetic. …


ABSTRACT In this study, an ertapenem-nonsusceptible Escherichia coli isolate was investigated to determine the genetic basis for its carbapenem resistance phenotype. This clinical strain was recovered from a patient that received, 1 year previously, ertapenem to treat a cholangitis due to a carbapenem-susceptible extended-spectrum-β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing E. coli isolate. Whole-genome sequencing of these strains was performed using Illumina and single-molecule real-time sequencing technologies. It revealed that they belonged to the ST131 clonal group, had the predicted O25b:H4 serotype, and produced the CTX-M-15 and TEM-1 β-lactamases. One nucleotide substitution was identified between these strains. It affected the ompR gene, which codes for a regulatory protein involved in the control of OmpC/OmpF porin expression, creating a Gly-63-Val substitution. The role of OmpR alteration was confirmed by a complementation experiment that fully restored the susceptibility to ertapenem of the clinical isolate. A modeling study showed that the Gly-63-Val change displaced the histidine-kinase phosphorylation site. SDS-PAGE analysis revealed that the ertapenem-nonsusceptible E. coli strain had a decreased expression of OmpC/OmpF porins. No significant defect in the growth rate or in the resistance to Dictyostelium discoideum amoeba phagocytosis was found in the ertapenem-nonsusceptible E. coli isolate compared to its susceptible parental strain. Our report demonstrates for the first time that ertapenem resistance may emerge clinically from ESBL-producing E. coli due to mutations that modulate the OmpR activity.


A construction management game in which the market demands are predetermined is presented. The game is programmed for computers to simulate the competition for the market by five general contractors who are required to make managerial decisions at 12 successive time periods for a total simulated time of 3 yr. The decisions include the evaluation of available information, choice of jobs to bid, selection of subcontractors, the determination of profit level, and the expansion and contraction of capital. At the beginning of each period, jobs available for bidding will be generated by the computer, and at the end of each time period, each company will submit its decisions as input to the computer. After the decisions are processed according to the programmed game model, the computer will output the contract awards, the cost of performing work, and a statement of earnings for each general contractor. The company which shows the largest relative gain at the end of 3 yr will be the winner.


The pregnane X receptor (PXR) is a master regulator of xenobiotic clearance and is implicated in deleterious drug interactions (e.g., acetaminophen hepatotoxicity) and cancer drug resistance. However, small-molecule targeting of this receptor has been difficult; to date, directed synthesis of a relatively specific PXR inhibitor has remained elusive. Here we report the development and characterization of a first-in-class novel azole analog [1-(4-(4-(((2R,4S)-2-(2,4-difluorophenyl)-2-methyl-1,3-dioxolan-4-yl)methoxy)phenyl)piperazin-1-yl)ethanone (FLB-12)] that antagonizes the activated state of PXR with limited effects on other related nuclear receptors (i.e., liver X receptor, farnesoid X receptor, estrogen receptor α, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ, and mouse constitutive androstane receptor). We investigated the toxicity and PXR antagonist effect of FLB-12 in vivo. Compared with ketoconazole, a prototypical PXR antagonist, FLB-12 is significantly less toxic to hepatocytes. FLB-12 significantly inhibits the PXR-activated loss of righting reflex to 2,2,2-tribromoethanol (Avertin) in vivo, abrogates PXR-mediated resistance to 7-ethyl-10-hydroxycamptothecin (SN-38) in colon cancer cells in vitro, and attenuates PXR-mediated acetaminophen hepatotoxicity in vivo. Thus, relatively selective targeting of PXR by antagonists is feasible and warrants further investigation. This class of agents is suitable for development as chemical probes of PXR function as well as potential PXR-directed therapeutics.


Alkali-silica reaction (ASR) is a significant durability problem that has resulted in premature deterioration of various types of concrete structures in the United States and throughout the world. Although several viable methods exist to prevent ASR-induced damage in new concrete structures, very few methods mitigate further damage in structures already affected by ASR-induced expansion and cracking. Lithium compounds have been recognized for more than 50 years as effectively preventing expansion caused by ASR, and there has been renewed interest in recent years in using lithium compounds as either an admixture in new concrete or as a treatment of existing structures. This report is intended to provide practitioners with the necessary information and guidance to test, specify, and use lithium compounds in new concrete construction, as well as its use in repair and service life extension applications. This report replaces the previous report ("Guidelines for the Use of Lithium to Mitigate or Prevent ASR," Folliard, et al., 2003) and includes significant changes, especially those related to recommendations for testing and specifying lithium compounds. This report provides a basic overview of ASR, including information on mechanisms, symptoms of ASR damage in field structures, mitigation approaches, test methods, and specifications. A comprehensive summary of lithium compounds is provided, including information on their production, availability, and use in laboratory concrete studies and field applications (including a range of case studies). Guidelines for using lithium compounds as an admixture in new concrete and for treating existing structures suffering from ASR-induced damage are presented, including information on how to assess the efficacy of lithium compounds in laboratory tests. Some basic information also is provided on the economics of using lithium both in new concrete and as a treatment for existing structures. A summary of conclusions is included and identifies several technical and practical issues that should be considered for future laboratory studies and field applications.


The temporal dynamics of hydrological model performance gives insights into errors that cannot be obtained from global performance measures assigning a single number to the fit of a simulated time series to an observed reference series. These errors can include errors in data, model parameters, or model structure. Dealing with a set of performance measures evaluated at a high temporal resolution implies analyzing and interpreting a high dimensional data set. This paper presents a method for such a hydrological model performance assessment with a high temporal resolution and illustrates its application for two very different rainfall-runoff modeling case studies. The first is the Wilde Weisseritz case study, a headwater catchment in the eastern Ore Mountains, simulated with the conceptual model WaSiM-ETH. The second is the Malalcahuello case study, a headwater catchment in the Chilean Andes, simulated with the physics-based model Catflow. The proposed time-resolved performance assessment starts with the computation of a large set of classically used performance measures for a moving window. The key of the developed approach is a data-reduction method based on self-organizing maps (SOMs) and cluster analysis to classify the high-dimensional performance matrix. Synthetic peak errors are used to interpret the resulting error classes. The final outcome of the proposed method is a time series of the occurrence of dominant error types. For the two case studies analyzed here, 6 such error types have been identified. They show clear temporal patterns, which can lead to the identification of model structural errors


1 More than any other author, Bret Harte was responsible for literary representation of the Gold Rush and for putting California on the world's literary map. The challenge he faced was how to represent a lawless and uncivilized phase of American history in a way that would not only capture the imagination of the middle-class, magazine-buying public, but also be socially acceptable. His solution was to import romantic situations and plot structures into a hitherto unmapped fictional landscape. His Californian mythology was founded on symbols and emplotments taken from the Bible, from Greek legend, from Cervantes, Washington Irving, Walter Scott, Cooper, Dumas, and Dickens. The combination was one of enormous rhetorical power. From the very first, then, Harte was writing historical romance. We see this most clearly when we contrast his short stories with contemporary documents, such as Dame Shirley's "Letters from the California Mines," which also functioned as source material for Harte the local historian. Although there would continue to be goldminers and mining camps, the Gold Rush was over when Harte first arrived in California in 1854, and the days of the "Argonauts of '49" were numbered when he began to write stories for the Overland Monthly in 1868. Of this Harte was acutely conscious, writing in the preface to his landmark collection The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Sketches (1870), that he fears he "cannot claim ... any higher motive than to illustrate an era of which Californian history has preserved the incidents more often than the character of the actors...." The first of Harte's Californian short stories to achieve nationwide and worldwide circulation was "The Luck of Roaring Camp," published in August 1868 in the newly started Overland Monthly, of which Harte was the editor. One modern reader has described the story as "a parable where Christ-like Tommy Luck converts several picturesque miners to a facsimile of Victorian civilization--before raw, savage, anarchistic wilderness wipes them all out" (Morrow 128). As Patrick Morrow correctly observes, in "The Luck of Roaring Camp" Harte incorporates elements from one of the most familiar and beloved stories in Western culture--the birth of Christ. With this starting point, the story sets out to describe the effect of the introduction of a child in to an all-male community. The major part of the narrative is taken up with the relation of how the men raise this child, son of an Indian prostitute and an unknown father. The modern reader may wonder at how the author dared to confront a postbellum audience with both prostitution and miscegenation. Harte, of course, ran a calculated risk. Yet in the early years of the Gilded Age, no author would prove more adept at walking the tightrope between novelty and convention, between piquancy and propriety, than Bret Harte. As it turned out, the time was ripe for an expansion of American fiction's field imaginary. Even the Iron Madonna might under certain conditions press a fictive fallen sister to her chilly bosom, not to mention her sister's child. The success of Harte's experiment can be no better demonstrated than by quotations from two representative reviews of Harte's first collection of short stories, which included "The Luck of Roaring Camp" and others equally bold. A Chicago Times reviewer wrote on 4 May 4 1870 that Harte "has taken even the lowest phases of this life, and, with a human sympathy and artistic directness that do him equal credit, he has proved that the best of poetry can be made of rude slang, and that the purest human motives and affectations can be found in the most repulsive exteriors" ("The First Appearance"). On the other side of the Atlantic, a Spectator commentary stated on 31 December of that same year: "No reader, however innocent, however sensitive, need fear any harm from this book" ("Sketches" 1587). The timing was right and Harte's textual strategy was even righter. …


Abstract The importance of NTS has been realised in many safety critical industries. Recently the maritime domain has also embraced the idea and implemented an NTS training course for both merchant marine deck and engineering officers. NTS encompass both interpersonal and cognitive skills such as situational awareness, teamwork, decision making, leadership, managerial skills, communication and language skills. Well-developed NTS training allow ship's officers to recognise quickly when a problem is developing and manage the situation safely and efficiently with the available team members. As a result, the evaluation and grading of deck officers' NTS is necessary to assure safety at sea, reduce the effects of human error on-board ships, and allow ship board operations to be performed safely. This paper identifies the skills necessary for deck officers to effectively perform their duties on the bridge of a ship. To achieve this, initially, a taxonomy of deck officers' NTS is developed through a review of relevant literature and the conducting of semi-structured interviews with experienced seafarers. Subsequently, NTS weighting data is collected from experienced seafarers to allow the weight of each element of the taxonomy to be established by the use of the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP).


Never before has it been so important for policymakers to balance regional and global forms of peacekeeping. Although the United Nations Security Council retains primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security and is the single largest source of peacekeepers, some regional organizations, particularly in Africa and Europe, are playing increasingly important roles. This article analyzes the relationship between UN peace operations and those conducted by regional organizations. After summarizing recent trends in regional-global collaboration it analyzes the opportunities and risks of increasing the regionalization of peace operations. Current policy challenges are daunting, not least because better-resourced missions alone will not bring peace to contemporary warzones. Rather, policymakers should clarify the nature and limits of UN peace operations; ensure partnerships between the UN and regional organizations can deliver effective peace operations in the field; and embed peace operations within a viable conflict resolution strategy to end the war or crisis in question.


In recent years, the number of surveys of access to and use of financial services has multiplied, but little is known about whether the data generated are comparable across countries, or within the same country over time. This paper reports results from a randomized experiment in Ghana to test whether the identity of the respondent and the inclusion of product-specific cues in questions affect the reported rates of household usage of financial services. The analysis shows that rates of household usage are almost identical when the head reports on behalf of the household and when the rate is tabulated from a full enumeration of household use. Randomly selected informants (i.e., non-heads of the household) provide a less complete summary of household use of financial services than the other two methods. The findings also show that for credit from formal institutions, informal sources of savings, and insurance, usage rates are higher when questions are asked about specific financial products rather than about the respondent's dealings with types of financial institutions. In short, who is asked the questions and the form in which they are asked both matter.


We determined previously that astroglia cultured from newborn rat brain contain both guanylyl cyclase-coupled and atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP)-C natriuretic peptide receptors. Here, we investigated the effects of the protein kinase C (PKC) activator phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) on these receptor subtypes in cultured astroglia to understand the intracellular processes involved in the modulation of natriuretic peptide receptors in these cells. PMA (10 nM to 1 microM; 15 min to 24 h) treatment elicited a time- and concentration-dependent decrease in the numbers of 125I-labeled ANP specific binding sites, which was inhibited by the PKC antagonist staurosporine (500 nM). Furthermore, PMA (100 nM, 2 or 24 h) treatment elicited a significant decrease in the specific binding of 125I-des-Cys-Cys-ANP, an ANP-C receptor selective ligand. PMA (10 nM to 1 microM; 30 min) treatment also significantly decreased ANP (100 nM)-stimulated guanosine 3', 5'-cyclic monophosphate levels in cultured astroglia, an effect unmodified by phosphodiesterase inhibition. These data indicate that PKC modulates both guanylyl cyclase-coupled and ANP-C natriuretic peptide receptors in cultured astroglia.


Neuropilin-1 (NP-1) is a receptor for vascular endothelial growth factor-165 (VEGF165) and acts as a coreceptor that enhances the function of VEGF165 through VEGF receptor-2 (VEGFR-2). Studies using transgenic and knock-out mice of NP-1 indicated that this molecule is important for vascular development as well as neuronal development. We recently reported that clustered soluble NP-1 phosphorylates VEGFR-2 on endothelial cells with a low dose of VEGF165 and rescues the defective vascularity of the NP-1-/- embryo in vitro and in vivo. Here we show that NP-1 is expressed by CD45+ hematopoietic cells in the fetal liver, can bind VEGF165, and phosphorylates VEGFR-2 on endothelial cells. CD45+NP-1+ cells rescued the defective vasculogenesis and angiogenesis in the NP-1-/- P-Sp (para-aortic splanchnopleural mesodermal region) culture, although CD45+NP-1- cells did not. Moreover, CD45+NP-1+ cells together with VEGF165 induced angiogenesis in an in vivo Matrigel assay and cornea neovascularization assay. The extracellular domain of NP-1 consists of "a," "b," and "c" domains, and it is known that the "a" and "c" domains are necessary for dimerization of NP-1. We found that both the "a" and "c" domains are essential for such rescue of defective vascularities in the NP-1 mutant. These results suggest that NP-1 enhances vasculogenesis and angiogenesis exogenously and that dimerization of NP-1 is important for enhancing vascular development. In NP-1-/- embryos, vascular sprouting is impaired at the central nervous system (CNS) and pericardium where VEGF is not abundant, indicating that NP-1-expressing cells are required for normal vascular development.


Market segmentation practice has been one of the central issues in marketing
research over the past thirty years. However, the results of many segmentation
studies have been unworkable from a business stand-point. This research was
concerned with understanding what makes some market segmentation projects
more successful than others. The purpose was to examine the relationship
between possible success factors and the success of a segmentation project. The
processes of the research included: identifying a range of factors which may
impact on the success of market segmentation; hypothesising and testing
relationships between these factors and market segmentation success; developing
the plan, fieldwork, action (PFA) model for assessing market segmentation
success; and generating recommendations for relevant modifications that will
improve the odds of market segmentation success.
The research proceeded in a series of three interrelated phases: qualitative
first, quantitative next, and then qualitative again. In the first phase, an initial list
of the critical factors for segmentation success was generated through a review of
the literature. The list was then validated and expanded by pilot interviews with
marketing managers. In the second phase, a questionnaire was developed for
gathering the necessary empirical data. 600 questionnaires were handed out at the
Birmingham National Exhibition Centre at eight different trade shows. 221 usable
responses were returned. Using the SPSS package, univariate, bivariate as well as
multivariate statistics were employed to analyse the data. Lastly, validating
interviews were conducted in an attempt to explain the research findings.
Ten factors believed to impact upon segmentation success were extracted.
Seven of them were found to be critical to segmentation success and were termed
critical success factors (CSFs). In addition, the research also identified the plan,
fieldwork and action (PFA) stages in the segmentation process which led to the
development of the PFA model. The model can be used to explain why some
segmentation projects are successful while others are not. It was found that the
plan and action stages were those most likely to impact upon segmentation
success. The managerial implications of the research findings were discussed and
suggestions for further research were proposed.


Theology seemingly does not have a major impact on society anymore. However, Christianity did not only change and form the western world over the past 2000 thousand years, it still has a substantial role to play in society. This could be done through the development of theologies, the recognition that religious topics are still major segments in the publishing industry and the transforming potential of the Christian message on people. Although theological training finds itself in a difficult position, technology offers support to teaching and learning, cuts costs and offers solutions to a number of current problems concerning the effective formation of ministers. It is no longer necessary to provide theological training through a one-size-fits-all approach – a style that kept the pre-network society boxed. The aim is to motivate educators in theology to embrace the opportunities provided by the network society in aiding with the training of ministers by utilising current and future trends of development in technology.


Objective To improve tackling and blocking techniques to reduce concussion in high school American football players, and to evaluate the program's feasibility and acceptance. Design Clustered quasi-experimental study. Setting High schools. Participants Varsity American high school football players on three teams (two intervention; one control).
Interventions
 All players wore in-helmet head impact accelerometers. "High-risk" intervention team players were selected and attended clinician-coach-player mentoring sessions designed to change playing technique. Accelerometer data were used for "high-risk" selection and during mentoring sessions to reinforce the technique-driven intervention. Outcome measures The change in top-of-head impacts and impacts with peak linear acceleration>60 g was compared between intervention and control subjects using linear risk models. Coaches and players completed post-season exit surveys. Main results Ninety-seven players (70 intervention; 27 control) participated. Thirteen (19%) intervention players were identified as "high risk" and received mentoring. The mentored players' high magnitude impacts (percent>60 g) in practices dropped 1.9 percent from pre-intervention to post-intervention. There was no change in non-mentored players. In post-season surveys, mentored players "strongly agreed" (56%) or "agreed" (44%) that the study improved their playing behaviours. Among intervention team coaches, three (43%) thought the study was "very effective" in changing football player behaviours about safe play, and the remaining four (57%) thought it was "effective." Conclusions There is growing concern head impact frequency and severity may result in neurological issues for some athletes later in life. If head impact frequency and severity can be reduced through behavioural intervention, this can have a great public health impact. Competing interests This study is funded by a grant from the National Centre for Injury Prevention and Control (Grant #R49CE002479).


We report on the ongoing commissioning of the Double ElectroStatic Ion Ring ExpEriment, DESIREE, at Stockholm University. Beams of atomic carbon anions (C−) and smaller carbon anion molecules (C−2, C−3, C−4 etc.) have been produced in a sputter ion source, accelerated to 10 keV or 20 keV, and stored successfully in the two electrostatic rings. The rings are enclosed in a common vacuum chamber cooled to below 13 Kelvin. The DESIREE facility allows for studies of internally relaxed single isolated atomic, molecular and cluster ions and for collision experiments between cat- and anions down to very low center-of-mass collision energies (meV scale). The total thermal load of the vacuum chamber at this temperature is measured to be 32 W. The decay rates of stored ion beams have two components: a non-exponential component caused by the space charge of the beam itself which dominates at early times and an exponential term from the neutralization of the beam in collisions with residual gas at later times. The residual gas limited storage lifetime of carbon anions in the symmetric ring is over seven minutes while the 1/e lifetime in the asymmetric ring is measured to be about 30 seconds. Although we aim to improve the storage in the second ring, the number of stored ions are now sufficient for many merged beams experiments with positive and negative ions requiring milliseconds to seconds ion storage.


The first mega-scale hydro project to be built in the sub-Arctic, capable of generating as much electricity as fifteen nuclear power plants, its impact includes disruption of vast areas in an extremely fragile ecosystem as well as displacement of native peoples and the introduction of dangerous levels of mercury into their food supply. The debate over these complex environmental issues has been further complicated by political issues stemming from the importance of the project to the economic development of Quebec and the sale of at least ten percent of the electricity generated the United States. The contributors examine core issues of the controversy both in relation to James Bay and to other large hydroelectric projects, such as the Aswan dam in Egypt and the Three Gorges dam in China. Providing insights from an unusual variety of disciplines, the authors offer important considerations that must be taken into account as Quebec assesses additional phases of hydroelectric development of the watershed east of Hudson Bay. Contributors include Raymond B. Coppinger (Hampshire College), Bill Dale Roebuck (Dartmouth Medical School), Will Ryan (Hampshire College), Adrian Tanner (Memorial University), Stanley L. Warner (Hampshire College), Kessler E. Woodward (University of Alaska), and Oran R. Young (Dartmouth College).


Recent efforts in Dialogue State Tracking (DST) for task-oriented dialogues have progressed toward open-vocabulary or generation-based approaches where the models can generate slot value candidates from the dialogue history itself. These approaches have shown good performance gain, especially in complicated dialogue domains with dynamic slot values. However, they fall short in two aspects: (1) they do not allow models to explicitly learn signals across domains and slots to detect potential dependencies among (domain, slot) pairs; and (2) existing models follow auto-regressive approaches which incur high time cost when the dialogue evolves over multiple domains and multiple turns. In this paper, we propose a novel framework of Non-Autoregressive Dialog State Tracking (NADST) which can factor in potential dependencies among domains and slots to optimize the models towards better prediction of dialogue states as a complete set rather than separate slots. In particular, the non-autoregressive nature of our method not only enables decoding in parallel to significantly reduce the latency of DST for real-time dialogue response generation, but also detect dependencies among slots at token level in addition to slot and domain level. Our empirical results show that our model achieves the state-of-the-art joint accuracy across all domains on the MultiWOZ 2.1 corpus, and the latency of our model is an order of magnitude lower than the previous state of the art as the dialogue history extends over time.


Organ allografts have been shown to provide a syngeneic microenvironment for organ-based donor hematopoietic stem cells to maintain long-lasting chimerism after transplantation. We hypothesized that organ allografts would also support engraftment and hematopoiesis of adjunctively infused donor marrow stem cells, syngeneic to organ grafts, in nonmyeloablated recipients. In BN-to-LEW and GFP-to-ACI rat combinations, donor bone marrow (BM) infusion together with small intestine transplantation (SITx) under short-course tacrolimus immunosuppression resulted in persistent macrochimerism (more than 5%) for 150 days. In contrast, after BM infusion or SITx alone, chimerism was temporary and disappeared by day 100. Y-chromosome polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in sex-mismatched male BM plus female intestine or female BM plus male intestine transplantation into female recipients suggested that persistent macrochimerism was derived from infused BM. BM infusion together with lymphoid-depleted intestine grafts also supported macrochimerism development; however, third-party intestine grafts did not. After GFP-positive BM plus wild-type (WT) SITx into ACI, large numbers of GFP-positive leukocytes were found in WT intestine grafts. Isolated cells from WT intestine grafts developed GFP-positive CFU-Cs and propagated multilineage GFP-positive leukocytes when adoptively transferred into lethally irradiated WT recipients. These findings suggest that intestine allograft supports simultaneously infused donor (syngeneic to organ grafts) marrow stem cell engraftment, differentiation, and persistence of chimerism.


Background: Sickle erythrocyte adhesion and membrane fragility contribute to vaso-occlusion and downstream tissue and organ ischemia in sickle cell disease (SCD). Vepoloxamer is an amphipathic triblock copolymer with multi-mechanistic properties believed to improve these pathophysiologic consequences, by sealing damaged cell membranes and inhibiting hydrophobic cellular adhesive interactions. Vepoloxamer reduced both acute vaso-occlusive crisis duration and total opioid analgesic requirements in previous clinical studies. A phase 3 clinical trial of vepoloxamer in acute vaso-occlusive crises is ongoing. Currently, there are no standardized clinical assays to assess membrane properties such as adhesion and fragility that vepoloxamer is believed to target. We evaluated if and to what extent vepoloxamer affected adhesion, thrombosis, and membrane fragility in individual patient samples in our standardized microfluidic flow-based whole blood assays.

Methods: Blood was obtained from pediatric homozygous sickle cell patients at steady state (n=12). Patients were first characterized by measuring the extent of whole bloodadhesion to vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM-1) in a standardized microfluidic flow-based assay. Dynamic adhesive interactions (rolling or sliding) of whole blood and isolated leukocytes to P-selectin were assessed by measuring absolute rolling cell number, cell rolling flux (number of rolling cells per total number of flowing cells), and cell rolling velocity at 0.3dyn/cm2. Detachment assays were performed by exposing adherent cells to vepoloxamer (10 mg/mL) under physiological flow conditions. Erythrocyte membrane fragility was evaluated based on mechanical stress-induced hemolysis at 3 min (Hem3min, %).

Results: Vepoloxamer reduced whole blood adhesion to VCAM-1 at 0.1 mg/mL by 18% ( p = 0.0015), at 1.0 mg/mL by 69% and at 10.0 mg/mL by 79% (in both cases, p 50% 0.1mg/mL (p=0.003, n=10). Vepoloxamer (10mg/mL) did not significantly affect cell-rolling flux in dynamic adhesion assays to P-selectin ( p = 0.51 and 0.94, isolated leukocytes and whole blood, respectively). Vepoloxamer reversed established cell adhesion by > 30% in 3 or 10 patient samples tested, although the total average difference in percent detachment did not reach statistical significance (16.3%vs 29.6%, p=0.42, n=10). Finally, vepoloxamer reduced shear-induced hemolysis compared to untreated blood samples (35.2 % vs. 44.6% control, p =0.033).

Conclusion: Vepoloxamer can significantly reduce firm cell adhesion to both VCAM-1 and HUVECS under physiologic flow conditions. Shear-induced hemolysis is also reduced in a statistically significant manner, consistent with the proposed membrane protecting effects of vepoloxamer. Interestingly, P-selectin mediated rolling adhesion was not significantly affected. This may suggest that vepoloxamer may have distinct inhibitory effects to VCAM-1 vs. P-selectin. The current findings suggest that combinatory assessment of the response of adhesive properties and membrane fragility to vepoloxamer treatment may facilitate selection of patients most likely to benefit from vepoloxamer therapy. The microfluidic flow-based platform presented in this study may have the potential to predict and monitor individual patient response to anti-adhesive therapies such as vepoloxamer. There are few reliable biomarkers that objectively predict and assess vaso-occlusive potential, thus further clinical study of this microfluidic flow-based platform are warranted.

Disclosures White: Functional Fluidics: Employment, Equity Ownership. Hines: Functional Fluidics: Equity Ownership. Liu: Functional Fluidics: Employment, Equity Ownership. Benjamin: Mast Therapeutics: Consultancy. Gao: Functional Fluidics: Employment, Equity Ownership. Emanuele: Mast Therapeutics: Employment.


As elsewhere, the Colombian private sector has been accused of promoting or profiting from violence in the country. However, the private sector's role in the armed conflict and the impact of conflict on entrepreneurial activity vary, as reflected by differences in political activism, in peacebuilding strategies and in costs endured according to company size, sector, and region of operations. At the same time, accounts of regional variation in conflict intensity suggest that an understanding of the Colombian confrontation requires a subnational approach. This paper explores whether and how differences in regional armed...../


The increasing deployment of distributed generation systems based on renewables in the residential sector, the development of information and communication technologies and the expected evolution of traditional power systems towards smart grids are inducing changes in the passive role of end-users, namely with stimuli to change residential demand patterns. The residential user should be able to make decisions and efficiently manage his energy resources by taking advantages from his flexibility in load usage with the aim to minimize the electricity bill without depreciating the quality of energy services provided. The aim of this paper is characterizing electricity consumption in the residential sector and categorizing the different loads according to their typical usage, working cycles, technical constraints and possible degree of control. This categorization of end-use loads contributes to ascertain the availability of controllable loads to be managed as well as the different direct management actions that can be implemented. The ability to implement different management actions over diverse end-use load will increase the responsiveness of demand and potentially raises the willingness of end-users to accept such activities. The impacts on the aggregated national demand of large-scale dissemination of management systems that would help the end-user to make decisions regarding electricity consumption are predicted using a simulator that generates the aggregated residential sector electricity consumption under variable prices.


Two-dimensional (2D) soft materials have attracted much attention recently due to their unique carbon-rich structure and extensive potential applications for energy storage. Although the specific surface areas (SSAs) of 2D soft materials are theoretically high, practically maintaining both the uniform 2D morphology and high SSA of a single 2D soft material is still challenging. Herein, graphene-coupled covalent triazine-based frameworks (G-CTFs) with typical 2D features, large aspect ratio, and ultrahigh SSA of up to 1584 m2 g−1 were synthesized through polymerization of p-benzenedinitrile in molten salt in the presence of p-benzonitrile-functionalized reduced graphene oxide. After their direct pyrolysis, nitrogen-enriched porous carbon nanosheets (G-PCs) can be easily obtained, which had the frameworks' 2D morphology and exhibited a high nitrogen content and even higher SSA of up to 1982/3021 m2 g−1, as calculated using the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller and Langmuir methods, respectively. Benefiting from these features, the G-PCs exhibited excellent energy storage performance as electrode materials in both a Li-ion battery (235 mA h g−1 at 5 A g−1 for 3000 cycles), Na-ion battery (138 mA h g−1 at 1 A g−1 for 500 cycles), and supercapacitor (340 F g−1 at 0.1 A g−1 and 10 000 stable charge–discharge cycles at 5 A g−1). All these results indicate that the 2D sandwich-like porous carbon materials could be promising candidates for high-performance energy storage devices.


Compliance monitoring under a performance-based measurement systems (PBMS) is an on-going process at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal (RMA) in Commerce City, CO. RMA is a Superfund site where disposal of industrial and military chemical wastes in unlined basins over a period of approximately 10 years during and following World War II resulted in widespread contamination of soil and both surface and ground waters. The United States Army, along with Shell Oil Company and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, are in the process of remediating RMA. The remediation effort involves the analysis of various matrices for a wide variety of analytes, some of which are unique to RMA, and standard analytical methodologies are either not available or are not adequate to fulfill regulatory requirements in certain instances. Hence the requirement to develop methods which are specific to the RMA and are performance-based. In response to these site specific requirements and utilizing the Army Environmental Agency Guidelines, RMA developed the RMA Chemical Quality Assurance Plan (CQAP), which addresses all activities from planning to data verification related to the remediation of RMA. Compliance with the CQAP ensures that data produced are legally defensible, cost effective, and scientifically sound. A strict proficiency demonstration process for methods is prescribed by the CQAP to validate both standard and new or unproven methods. Recently the Environmental Laboratory Advisory Board (ELAB) defined five critical elements for PBMS implementation. As recommended by ELAB, the data produced by laboratories should be legally defensible, cost effective, scientifically sound, demonstrate good performance criteria, and achieve regulatory compliance monitoring r equirements. Historically, analogous criteria have been applied to the analytical work performed by laboratories supporting the RMA remediation effort. ELAB has also recommended essential elements for PBMS implementation. This presentation discusses the analytical program at RMA, under the Comprehensive Analytical Laboratory Services (CALS) contract (CALS contractor URS Greiner Woodward Clyde), in the context of these elements. Utilizing the performance criteria, regulatory development, and analytical methods specific to RMA, the remediation of RMA has progressed at an accelerated rate.


In the past two decades emerging and re-emerging plant pathogens have caused new threats to the
production of several economically important crops, one among them is P. syringae pv. actinidiae
(PSA) which causes canker or leaf spot on kiwifruit plants. PSA enters plant through wounds and
remains dormant in cortex tissue of the branches, and spreads in the tissue to cause severe
symptoms from winter to early spring. The disease can be visualized by brown discoloration of
buds, dark brown angular spots surrounded by yellow haloes on leaves, cankers with white to
reddish (oxydation) exudate on twigs and trunks, fruit collapse, wilting and eventually plant
mortality. Current control methods have their own significance in disease control, however there
is considerable lack of clear understanding of PSA pathogenicity. Virulence of plant pathogens
often relies on the synchronized/coordinated expression of pathogenicity factors via quorum
sensing (QS). Therefore, investigations on QS in PSA may lead to develop novel disease control
strategies and reliable methods to curb the disease. It is currently unknown whether PSA produces
a QS signal molecule thus the aim of this thesis is to investigate whether PSA possesses a QS
system. As genome mining did not reveal the presence of any currently known QS system, this
study initially by metabolomics was aimed at identifying potentially low molecular weight
secondary metabolite QS molecules produced by PSA. Azelaic acid was discovered to be produced
by PSA, this is the first report of azelaic acid production by bacteria. The characterization and
possible role of azelaic acid in QS is presented. Since azelaic acid is ubiquitous in nature, in
addition to determining its biological role, the catabolism of azelaic acid in bacteria using the
efficient degrader Pseudomonas nitroreducens DSM 9128 was also studied.


In recent years there has been unprecedented international attention on the issue of teacher quality. This has resulted in a focus by policy makers on initial teacher education, with many systems opting to articulate standards to define the competences that newly qualified teachers should possess. Central to all programmes of initial teacher education is school placement, a key period of significant learning for student teachers and a time when their competence is assessed. A small proportion of student teachers experience failure or struggle during these placements, however little research into their experiences is evident. This qualitative study explores the perceptions and experiences of members of 'triadic learning to teach partnerships,' who have had experience of the phenomenon. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were used to capture data from student teachers, cooperating teachers, placement tutors and directors of school placement on their perspectives regarding the causes of student teacher failure, the impacts of its occurrence and the effectiveness of any support mechanisms provided. The findings revealed the complexity and uniqueness of each occurrence, and the significant impacts on all involved, most particularly the student teachers. Six typologies of student teachers who struggle or experience failure and five pillars for the provision of support emerged as new contributions to aid teacher educators to understand and adequately support these student teachers. Conclusions are also drawn regarding the need for a standards-led approach to the formulation of assessment judgements on student teachers' competence and the need in the Irish context for cooperating teachers to be enabled to play a greater and more central role.


This study was conducted to determine the wastewater characteristics as well as the treatment alternatives for the Tafkopru Pulp and Paper Mill in Turkey. The physico-chemical treatability study was conducted by standard Jar-test equipment. The highest COD removal efficiency obtained was 96% for the paper machine, 50% for the alkali extraction and 20% for the bleaching effluents by using alum as coagulant. The colour removal efficiency was around 80% for the alkali extraction effluents.


We examined changes in the physiological responses of gray mullet Mugil cephalus exposed to acidic seawater (pH 6.0, 6.5, 7.0) and normal seawater (pH 8.0, control) for 15 days. As pH decreased, survival rate and body weight also decreased. Levels of aminotransferase, total protein and triglycerides also differed significantly with changes in pH, presumably due to stress caused by exposure to acidic water. The level of osmotic pressure was significantly higher in the pH 6.0 group than in other groups. Superoxide dismutase was significantly higher in the pH 6.5 and 7.0 groups than in the pH 8.0 group, and glutathione level was lowest in the pH 6.0 group. We conclude that decreasing the pH level of seawater induces a stress response in fish, damaging their ability to control their hematological and osmotic pressure. Antioxidant enzymes are generally sensitive to osmotic stress; in this study, antioxidant activity signifi cantly changed with pH level. These results indicate that physiological stress induced by exposure to acidification reduces survival rates and inhibits growth in M. cephalus.


Extreme multi-label classification (XMC) is the problem of finding the relevant labels for an input, from a very large universe of possible labels. We consider XMC in the setting where labels are available only for groups of samples - but not for individual ones. Current XMC approaches are not built for such multi-instance multi-label (MIML) training data, and MIML approaches do not scale to XMC sizes. We develop a new and scalable algorithm to impute individual-sample labels from the group labels; this can be paired with any existing XMC method to solve the aggregated label problem. We characterize the statistical properties of our algorithm under mild assumptions, and provide a new end-to-end framework for MIML as an extension. Experiments on both aggregated label XMC and MIML tasks show the advantages over existing approaches.


Inspired by Heidegger's concept of the clearing of being, and by Wittgenstein's ideas on human practice, Theodore Schatzki offers a novel approach to understanding the constitution and transformation of social life. Key to the account he develops here is the context in which social life unfolds-the "site of the social"-as a contingent and constantly metamorphosing mesh of practices and material orders. Schatzki's analysis reveals the advantages of this site ontology over the traditional individualist, holistic, and structuralist accounts that have dominated social theory since the mid-nineteenth century. A special feature of the book is its development of the theoretical argument by sustained reference to two historical examples: the medicinal herb business of a Shaker village in the 1850s and contemporary day trading on the Nasdaq market. First focusing on the relative simplicity of Shaker life to illuminate basic ontological characteristics of the social site, Schatzki then uses the sharp contrast with the complex and dynamic practice of day trading to reveal what makes this approach useful as a general account of social existence. Along the way he provides new insights into many major issues in social theory, including the nature of social order, the significance of agency, the distinction between society and nature, the forms of social change, and how the social present affects its future.


Abstract
 Two species of moss, Grimmia plagiopodia Hedw. (Grimmiaceae) and Hennediella antarctica (Ångstr.) Ochyra et Matteri (Pottiaceae), are recorded for the first time from the Schirmacher Oasis in continental Antarctica. The latter species has so far been known only from Enderby Land and its geographical range is now extended to Dronning Maud Land. Both species are briefly characterised and their Antarctic distribution is mapped. Accordingly, the moss flora of Dronning Maud Sector of Antarctica consists of 13 species, 12 of which are known to occur in the Schirmacher Oasis. One species, Pohlia wilsonii (Mitt.) Ochyra, found in a lake in the Schirmacher Oasis has yet to be confirmed.


The condensation reaction between S-benzyldithiocarbazate (SBDTC) and
S-methyldithiocarbazate (SMDTC) and acetylthiophene isomers (2-
acetytthiophene and 3-acetytthiophene) to produce benzyl N-[I-(thiophen-2-
yl)ethylidene] hydrazine carbodithioate (SBZATP), benzyl N-[I-(thiophen-3-
yl)ethylidene] hydrazine carbodithioate (SB3ATP), methyl N-[1-(thiophen-2-
yl)ethylidene] hydrazine carbodithioate (SMZATP) and methyl N-[1-(thiophen-
3-yl)ethylidene] hydrazine carbodithioate (SMZATP) has been carried out.
Cobalt (II), nickel (II), copper (II), zinc (11) and cadmium (11) complexes of the
synthesized Schiff bases were prepared. AH the compounds were
characterized by standard physico-chemical techniques and in addition,
single crystal x-ray analyses were done where possible. Antimicrobial activity
and cytotoxic assays were carried out using the synthesized Schiff bases and
their metal complexes. Four target microbes and four fungi were used in the
antimicrobial adivtty studies and five target cancer cell lines were used for
the cytotoxic assays. The SBZATP, SB3ATP, SMZATP and SM3ATP
coordinate to Co(ll), Ni(l I), Cu(ll), Zn(1l) and Cd(1 I) ion as uninegatively charged bidentate ligands. All complexes are non-electrolytes in DMSO.
Magnetic moments and electronic spectra show that the Cu(ll) complexes
are paramagnetic compounds with distorted square planar structures while
the Ni(SB2ATP)2 are diamagnetic with distorted square planar environments.
The structure of SB2ATP was solved in a tridinic crystal class with a P -1
space group while the SMZATP was solved in a monoclinic crystal class and
with a P 2,Ic space group. The Ni(SB2ATP)2 (monoclinic, P 2/c ) contains
four-coordinated nickel(l1) in non-planar environment as a distorted square
planar monomeric entity. The crystal system of Ni(SMZATP)2 is monoclinic of
space group P 2&. This asymmetric unit consists of 2 molecules. The two
bidentate ligands are coordinated to the nickel atom through an azomethine
nitrogen and thiolo sulfur in a distorted tetrahedral environment around the
nickel atom. In general, it is clearly seen that the thiophene Schiff bases and
their metal complexes do not inhibit the growth of fungi except for SB2ATP
and its Cu(ll) complex, which showed antifungal activity towards Candida
lypolytica (2075) only. With the exception of CU(SM~ATP)w~h, ich is active
against Methicillin resistant staphylococcus (MRSA), Bacillus subtilis-wild
type (B29) and S. Typhimurium (S.T.), the thiophene Schiff bases and their
metal complexes are inactive. It can be concluded that chelation of Cu(ll) ion
increases the antifungal activity of the Schiff bases towards the target
microbes. The compounds synthesized were particularly active against
human breast carcinoma with positive estrogen receptor (MCF-7). However,
there was only slight activlty towards the human myeloid leukemia (HL-60)
cell line. The remainder of the cell lines are not responsive to the
compounds.


Stages of floral development were described for Eucalyptus ficifolia and Metrosideros collina 'Tahiti' flowers (Myrtaceae) attached and detached from plants. Vase solution treatments were applied to promote bud opening of cut flowers and to prevent postharvest stamen wilting and abscission in both species. Water uptake and mass of harvested flowers in both species declined rapidly when the pedicels were placed in water (control). Some flower buds did not open after harvest. The decline in water uptake and flower mass was greatly reduced by a vase solution treatment containing 2% sucrose, and 200 ppm hydroxyquinoline citrate (HQC) adjusted to pH 4 using citrate buffer. Vase solutions containing higher sucrose concentrations (more than 6%) and of greater acidity (pH <4) were not beneficial for vase life of both species. Cut flowers of both species held in the standard solution (2% sucrose, 200 ppm HQC adjusted to pH 4 using citrate buffer) were treated with ethephon (0-10,000 ppm) following pre-treatment with silver thiosulphate (STS) (0-2.0 mM). Ethephon treatments significantly induced stamen wilting, but had no effect on stamen or petal abscission in both species. Pre-treatment with 2 mM STS had no effect on the rate of stamen wilting, but significantly reduced stamen or petal abscission in both species. -Cut flowers of M. collina 'Tahiti' held in the standard solution were treated with ethylene (0-5 ppm). Exogenous ethylene significantly promoted abscission of stamens and petals in M. collina 'Tahiti'. Treatment with 0.5 and 5 ppm ethylene also induced flower abscission. Ethylene emanation from untreated cut flowers from plants grown in two environments (greenhouse and outside) was also measured. Untreated cut flowers harvested from plants grown outside produced more endogenous ethylene than those from plants grown in the greenhouse. The abscission of M. collina 'Tahiti' probably results from a relatively high sensitivity to ethylene.


Synthetic environments, particularly those that are built upon video games engines, offer impressive photo-realistic rendering of 3D environments. In parallel, human behaviour representations are becoming increasingly rich, building upon results from the cognitive and affective sciences. This paper reports on the integration of the cognitive architecture, CoJACK™ with the 3D training environment, VBS2™. CoJACK is a BDI (Beliefs/Desire/ Intentions) cognitive architecture that has a tightly integrated moderator layer, supporting the investigation of the effects of affect on decision making. A suicide bomber scenario is described in which "fear" and "morale" moderators significantly influence the behaviour of the virtual actors. The resulting behaviour is compellingly realistic and human observers readily attribute and believe in an account of the motivational underpinnings of the actors' actions. The integration of CoJACK with VBS2 offers the prospect of much richer training environments where virtual actors behave in a variable though repeatable fashion, providing trainees with a truly challenging situation.


The effect of ion mass and charge state on plasma transport through a 90/spl deg/-curved magnetic filter is experimentally investigated using a pulsed cathodic arc source. Graphite, copper, and tungsten were selected as test materials. The filter was a bent copper coil biased via the voltage drop across a low-ohm, "self-bias" resistor. Ion transport is accomplished via a guiding electric field, whose potential forms a "trough" shaped by the magnetic guiding field of the filter coil. Evaluation was done by measuring the filtered ion current and determination of the particle system coefficient, which can be defined as the ratio of filtered ion current, divided by the mean ion charge state, to the arc current. It was found that the ion current and particle system coefficient decreased as the mass-to-charge ratio of ions increased. This result can be qualitatively interpreted by a very simple model of ion transport that is based on compensation of the centrifugal force by the electric force associated with the guiding potential trough.


The measurement of sucrose content of sugar cane is usually carried out by using polarimeter and Brix Wager scale. These two apparatus are operated manually so that the accuracy of the measurement results is depended on the operator skill. To overcome this problem we have developed an alternative method that can measure the sucrose content more quickly and accurately than the conventional methods. This new method was carried out by using ultrasonic waves whose velocity depends on the sucrose content. Firstly, the electronic apparatus used was calibrated with 37 samples of sugar cane with various sucrose content from 4.46 % to 7.29 %. The result of this calibration was an empirical equation between the ultrasonic wave velocity V and the sucrose content R, i.e. R = 2.65 V2 - 11,95 V + 17,65 where R in % and V in km/s. Then this equation was stored as database in a computer program that will be used to calculate the sucrose content. Finally, this sucrose content measurement system was tested by using 30 samples of sugar cane. The maximum error of the measurement result was 6.4 %.


Wireless sensor network (WSN) brings a new paradigm of real-time embedded systems with limited computation, communication, memory, and energy resources that are being used for huge range of applications where the traditional infrastructure-based network is mostly infeasible. The sensor nodes are densely deployed in a hostile environment to monitor, detect, and analyze the physical phenomenon and consume considerable amount of energy while transmitting the information. It is impractical and sometimes impossible to replace the battery and to maintain longer network life time. So, there is a limitation on the lifetime of the battery power and energy conservation is a challenging issue. Appropriate cluster head (CH) election is one such issue, which can reduce the energy consumption dramatically. Low energy adaptive clustering hierarchy (LEACH) is the most famous hierarchical routing protocol, where the CH is elected in rotation basis based on a probabilistic threshold value and only CHs are allowed to send the information to the base station (BS). But in this approach, a super-CH (SCH) is elected among the CHs who can only send the information to the mobile BS by choosing suitable fuzzy descriptors, such as remaining battery power, mobility of BS, and centrality of the clusters. Fuzzy inference engine (Mamdani's rule) is used to elect the chance to be the SCH. The results have been derived from NS-2 simulator and show that the proposed protocol performs better than the LEACH protocol in terms of the first node dies, half node alive, better stability, and better lifetime.


The flavonoid genistein and the benzo[c]quinolizinium MPB-07 have been shown to activate the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR), the protein that is defective in cystic fibrosis. Lead-based combinatorial and parallel synthesis yielded 223 flavonoid, quinolizinium, and related heterocyclic compounds. The compounds were screened for their ability to activate CFTR at 50 μmconcentration by measurement of the kinetics of iodide influx in Fisher rat thyroid cells expressing wild-type or G551D CFTR together with the green fluorescent protein-based halide indicator YFP-H148Q. Duplicate screenings revealed that 204 compounds did not significantly affect CFTR function. Compounds of the 7,8-benzoflavone class, which are structurally intermediate between flavones and benzo[c]quinoliziniums, were effective CFTR activators with the most potent being 2-(4-pyridinium)benzo[h]4H-chromen-4-one bisulfate (UCcf-029). Compounds of the novel structural class of fused pyrazolo heterocycles were also strong CFTR activators with the most potent being 3-(3-butynyl)-5-methoxy-1-phenylpyrazole-4-carbaldehyde (UCcf-180). A CFTR inhibitor was also identified. The active compounds did not induce iodide influx in null cells deficient in CFTR. Short-circuit current measurements showed that the CFTR activators identified by screening induced strong anion currents in the transfected cell monolayers grown on porous supports. Compared with genistein, the most active compounds had up to 10 times greater potency in activating wild-type and/or G551D-CFTR. The activators had low cellular toxicity and did not elevate cellular cAMP concentration or inhibit phosphatase activity, suggesting that CFTR activation may involve a direct interaction. These results establish an efficient screening procedure to identify CFTR activators and inhibitors and have identified 7,8-benzoflavones and pyrazolo derivatives as novel classes of CFTR activators.


Some probability problems are so difficult that they stump the smartest mathematicians. But even the hardest of these problems can often be solved with a computer and a Monte Carlo simulation, in which a random-number generator simulates a physical process, such as a million rolls of a pair of dice. This is what Digital Dice is all about: how to get numerical answers to difficult probability problems without having to solve complicated mathematical equations. Popular-math writer Paul Nahin challenges readers to solve twenty-one difficult but fun problems, from determining the odds of coin-flipping games to figuring out the behavior of elevators. Problems build from relatively easy (deciding whether a dishwasher who breaks most of the dishes at a restaurant during a given week is clumsy or just the victim of randomness) to the very difficult (tackling branching processes of the kind that had to be solved by Manhattan Project mathematician Stanislaw Ulam). In his characteristic style, Nahin brings the problems to life with interesting and odd historical anecdotes. Readers learn, for example, not just how to determine the optimal stopping point in any selection process but that astronomer Johannes Kepler selected his second wife by interviewing eleven women. The book shows readers how to write elementary computer codes using any common programming language, and provides solutions and line-by-line walk-throughs of a MATLAB code for each problem. Digital Dice will appeal to anyone who enjoys popular math or computer science. In a new preface, Nahin wittily addresses some of the responses he received to the first edition.... Download ebook, read file pdf Computational Solutions to Practical Probability Problems


1 Overview 1 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Basic Concepts 1.3 Basic Structures of Feedback Systems 1.4 About This Book 1.5 Problems 1.6 Notes and References 2 Modeling and Simulation 15 2.1 Modeling Based on First Principles 2.1.1 Electrical systems 2.1.2 Mechanical systems 2.1.3 Electromechanical systems 2.2 State Space Model and Linearization 2.3 Transfer Functions and Impulse Responses 2.4 Simplifying Block Diagrams 2.5 Transfer FunctionModeling 2.6 MATLAB Manipulation of LTI Systems 2.7 Simulation and Implementation of Systems 2.7.1 Hardware simulation and implementation 2.7.2 Software simulation and implementation 2.8 MISO and SIMO Systems 2.9 Modeling of Closed-Loop Systems 2.10 Case Studies 2.10.1 Ball and beam system 2.10.2 Inverted pendulum system 2.11 Problems 2.12 Notes and References 3 Stability and Stabilization 3.1 Concept of Stability 3.2 Routh Criterion 3.3 Other Stability Criteria 3.4 Robust Stability 3.5 Stability of Closed-Loop Systems 3.6 Pole PlacementDesign 3.7 All Stabilizing Controllers* 3.8 All Stabilizing 2DOF Controllers* 3.9 Case Studies 3.9.1 Ball and beamsystem 3.9.2 Inverted pendulum system 3.10 Problems 3.11 Notes and References 4 Time Domain Analysis 4.1 Responses to Typical Input Signals 4.2 Step Response Analysis 4.3 Dominant Poles and Zeros 4.4 Steady-State Response and System Type 4.5 InternalModel Principle 4.6 Undershoot 4.7 Overshoot 4.8 Time-Domain Signal and System Norms 4.9 Computation of the Time Domain 2-Norm 4.10 Problems 4.11 Notes and References 5 Root Locus Method 5.1 Root Locus Techniques 5.2 Derivations of Root Locus Rules* 5.3 Effects of Adding Poles and Zeros 5.4 Phase-Lag Controller 5.5 PI Controller 5.6 Phase-Lead Controller 5.7 PD Controller 5.8 Lead-Lag or PID Controller 5.9 2DOF Controllers 5.10 General Guidelines in Root Locus Design 5.11 Complementary Root Locus 5.12 Strong Stabilization 5.13 Case Study - Ball and Beam System 5.14 Problems 5.15 Notes and References 6 Frequency Domain Analysis 6.1 Frequency Response 6.2 Bode Diagrams 6.3 Nyquist Stability Criterion 6.4 Gain Margin and Phase Margin 6.5 Closed-loop Frequency Response 6.6 Nichols Chart 6.7 Riemann Plot 6.8 Problems 6.9 Notes and References 7 Classical Design in Frequency Domain 7.1 Phase-Lag Controller 7.2 PI Controller 7.3 Phase-Lead Controller 7.4 PD Controller 7.5 Lead-Lag or PID Controller 7.6 Ziegler and Nichols Tuning Rules 7.7 Derivative Control 7.8 Alternative PID Implementation 7.9 Integral Control and Antiwindup 7.10 Design by Loopshaping 7.11 Bode's Gain and Phase Relation 7.12 Bode's Sensitivity Integral 7.13 Problems 7.14 Notes and References 8 Performance and Robustness 8.1 Frequency Domain 2-Norm of Signals and Systems 8.2 Frequency Domain 8-Normof Systems 8.3 Model Uncertainties and Robust Stability 8.4 Chordal and Spherical Distances 8.5 Distance between Systems 8.6 Uncertainty and Robustness 8.7 Problems 8.8 Notes and References 9 Optimal and Robust Control 9.1 Controller with Optimal Transient 9.2 Controller with Weighted Optimal Transient 9.3 Minimum Energy Stabilization 9.4 Derivation of the Optimal Controller* 9.5 Optimal Robust Stabilization 9.6 Stabilization with Guaranteed Robustness 9.7 Problems 9.8 Notes and References Bibliography A Laplace Transform A.1 Definition A.2 Properties A.3 Inverse Laplace Transform A.4 Problems A.5 Notes and References B Matrices and Polynomials B.1 Matrices B.2 Polynomials B.3 Problems B.4 Notes and References


In the 1920s and 1930s, Chinese adapted scouting, which had originally been developed to masculinize British youth as future colonial troops. While Chinese families and teachers valued scouting as a form of outdoor recreation, Chiang Kai-shek and the Guomindang after 1927 connected scouting to preparation for military training. In addition to fostering masculinity among boys, the Chinese Scouting Association also directed Girl Scouts with new models of patriotic girlhood. The Guomindang promoted the distinct femininity of the Girl Scouts and channeled girls' patriotism into nursing. As China entered World War II, Girl Scouts became significant symbols of patriotism in an increasingly militarized children's culture. The Guomindang showcased Yang Huimin, a Girl Scout and heroine in the Battle of Sihang Warehouse, as a spokesperson for the Nationalist cause, but it could not fully control her public image.


In the concept of gender theology, gender inequality is attributable to divine creation; all belongs to God. Pesantren (Islamic boarding school) is an educational institution with Islamic religion as a specific academic course, still assumed to have a biased concept of gender. Hence, the aim of the research investigates the discourse of women santri about politics. Secondly, this research examines santri's perception about women in politics as a description the processes of political learning in Islamic boarding school. By using Foucault's and feminist theory, the study has been done at pesantren in Jombang, East Java, Indonesia. This research has been conducted as qualitative study, using phenomenology approach. The data collection has been conducted observation and in-depth interview. The results of research are: firstly, there are many varieties of women santri's discourse and response about politics. Some of women santri state that politics is horrible, repressive, violence and still influenced by masculine domination. However some of santri stress that politics are the rules of games that depend on the political actors. The differences about politics discourse are influenced by knowledge, experience and social setting of participant, political reality in Indonesia, social construction, patriarchal culture, and hegemony of religion that have interpreting misogyny religion texts. Secondly, woman's participation in politics sphere is considered as woman's right and choice to develop equal opportunity in public area. According to Woman santri, the dominant obstacles faced by woman when they develop career in politics area are family and how to balance their roles in public and domestic. Besides, another problems woman in politics are religion, culture (patriarchy), law and woman herself can be barrier for women as political. Finally, woman movement in pesantren can be categorized as apologetic, reformative and transformative.


BACKGROUND
The prevalence of medication errors associated with chemotherapy administration is not precisely known. Little evidence exists concerning the extent or nature of errors; however, some evidence demonstrates that errors are related to prescribing. This article demonstrates how the review of chemotherapy orders by a designated nurse known as a verification nurse (VN) at a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center helps to identify prescribing errors that may prevent chemotherapy administration mistakes and improve patient safety in outpatient infusion units.

OBJECTIVES
This article will describe the role of the VN and details of the verification process.

METHODS
To identify benefits of the VN role, a retrospective review and analysis of chemotherapy near-miss events from 2009-2014 was performed.

FINDINGS
A total of 4,282 events related to chemotherapy were entered into the Reporting to Improve Safety and Quality system. A majority of the events were categorized as near-miss events, or those that, because of chance, did not result in patient injury, and were identified at the point of prescribing.


textabstractIn Dutch law there is no overall criminal offence on corruption. In Dutch criminal law corruption is divided in specific criminal offences which all have their own specific definition. Most corruption can be qualified as a criminal offence but it is sometimes difficult to qualify them as such. Qualifying in general as an offence is easy (forgery for example) but proving that the act specifically qualifies as corruption is harder. Given this general observation, a specific form of active corruption in the Dutch Criminal Code (DCC) seems relevant regarding to art. 2, par. 1, section a of the Framework Decision 2003/568/JHA of 22 July 2003 on combatting corruption in the private sector. Art. 328ter par. 2 of the DCC deals with bribery of a private person: punishable is the private person that gives or offers someone other than a civil servant, working in employement or acting as an agent, in exchange for something he has done or not done or will do or refrain from doing in the performance of his burden, a gift or promise, or a service of that nature or under such circumstances that he should reasonable assume that such a gift or promise will be withheld from his employer or principal contrary to good faith. This provision covers active corruption on the initiative of all private persons, including employees, managers and directors of private entities. However, this provision is limited to the bribery of employees and managers and seems to exclude the bribery of a director of a private entity. This means that this provision does not fully cover the obligation under art. 2, par. 1, section a of the Framework Decision 2003/568/JHA. In addition to art. 328ter DCC more general provisions can be used, especcially when the active corruption involves bribery of a director of a private entity. Dependant upon the circumstances of the case the provisions on forgery, falsifying of documents and cheating could be relevant. These circumstances should then involve: the forgery of a written statement with the intention to use this statement as genuine (art. 225 DCC), the falsification of stock certificates or other official certificates or documents, (art. 226 DCC) or the elements of cheating. In art. 326 of the DCC cheating is described as: the person who intentionally favours himself or another person in a unlawfull way, by using a false name, a false capacity, cunning manouvres or fabrications, moving another person to hand over a good, a service, information or a debt.


In the UK and internationally, a plethora of voluntary and mandatory energy efficiency standards for new buildings exist, with the common aim of mitigating the impact of new buildings on climate change. However, the take-up of voluntary schemes has been limited and, as a result, many governments have seen the need to introduce mandatory schemes through legislation; from 2016 all new build homes in England and Wales will be required to achieve zero carbon in regulated energy consumption. The international context of voluntary and mandatory building energy efficiency standards is examined through a review of the literature. The review is expanded by a series of semi-structured interviews with construction professionals involved in the delivery of low and zero carbon homes in the UK. In order to establish why zero carbon homes are not being developed, themes of drivers and barriers and challenges in relation to the delivery of zero carbon homes are explored. The drivers which emerged are categorised into four groups: legislative; economic; social responsibility and individual; and the barriers and challenges into a further four groups: skills and knowledge; legislative and governmental; economic and industry. Skills shortages and knowledge gaps for all involved in the delivery of zero carbon homes were seen as the primary barriers and a gap in the literature also exists in this area. Gaining a greater understanding of the skills and knowledge required for the delivery of zero carbon homes is therefore confirmed as the focus for further research.


Recently, path norm was proposed as a new capacity measure for neural networks with Rectified Linear Unit (ReLU) activation function, which takes the rescaling-invariant property of ReLU into account. It has been shown that the generalization error bound in terms of the path norm explains the empirical generalization behaviors of the ReLU neural networks better than that of other capacity measures. Moreover, optimization algorithms which take path norm as the regularization term to the loss function, like Path-SGD, have been shown to achieve better generalization performance. However, the path norm counts the values of all paths, and hence the capacity measure based on path norm could be improperly influenced by the dependency among different paths. It is also known that each path of a ReLU network can be represented by a small group of linearly independent basis paths with multiplication and division operation, which indicates that the generalization behavior of the network only depends on only a few basis paths. Motivated by this, we propose a new norm Basis-path Norm based on a group of linearly independent paths to measure the capacity of neural networks more accurately. We establish a generalization error bound based on this basis path norm, and show it explains the generalization behaviors of ReLU networks more accurately than previous capacity measures via extensive experiments. In addition, we develop optimization algorithms which minimize the empirical risk regularized by the basis-path norm. Our experiments on benchmark datasets demonstrate that the proposed regularization method achieves clearly better performance on the test set than the previous regularization approaches.


Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) is a potent growth factor that regulates and promotes growth in many types of cells and tissues, including skeletal muscle. The igf1 gene encodes mature IGF-I and a carboxyterminal extension called the E-peptide. In rodents, alternative splicing and post-translational processing produce two E-peptides (EA and EB). The mature IGF-I produced by both isoforms is identical, while EA and EB share less than 50% homology. EB has been studied extensively and has been reported to promote cell proliferation and migration independently of IGF-I and its receptor (IGF-IR) in culture, but the mechanism by which EB causes these actions has not been identified. Further, the properties of EA have not been evaluated. Therefore, the goals of this thesis were to determine if EA and EB possessed similar activity in cultured myoblasts and in vivo, and if these actions are IGF-IR independent. In culture, we utilized synthetic peptides for EA, EB, and a scrambled control to examine cellular responses. For an in vivo study, we injected recombinant self-complementary Adeno-associated virus (AAVsc) vectors that express the IGF-I isoforms mutated at Valine 44 to Methionine into mouse skeletal muscles. This mutation renders the IGF-I nonfunctional, but the E-peptides are not affected. Both E-peptides increased MAPK signaling in culture and in vivo, which was blocked by pharmacologic IGF-IR inhibition. Although the E-peptides did not directly induce IGF-IR phosphorylation, the presence of either E-peptide increased IGF-IR activation by IGF-I, and this was achieved in part through enhanced cell surface bioavailability of the receptor. EB increased myoblast proliferation and migration and induced myofiber hypertrophy specifically in MHC2B fibers. Strangely, expression of either E-peptide decreased the number of satellite cells. The proliferation and migration effects were inhibited by IGF-IR signaling blockade and EB expression did not cause hypertrophy in MKR mice, which do not express functional IGF-IR. Thus, in contrast to previous studies, we find that E-peptide signaling, mitogenic, motogenic, and myogenic effects are dependent upon IGF-IR. We propose that the Epeptides have little independent activity, but instead affect growth via modulating IGF-I signaling, thereby increasing the complexity of IGF-I biological activity and regulation. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Cell & Molecular Biology First Advisor Elisabeth Barton


T number of private nonfarm jobs in the Louisville metro area increased by 0.2 percent—or just 1,200—between october 2005 and october 2006, according to estimates from the Bureau of Labor statistics. This was a significant slowing of job growth compared to the previous 12-month period, when nearly three times as many jobs were added. The metro area has underperformed the country as a whole, too: Between october 2005 and october 2006, private nonfarm employment in the united states rose by 1.6 percent. on the other hand, in the 2006 calendar year through october, the number of private-sector jobs in the Louisville area rose by 0.7 percent at an annualized rate, indicating that job growth has been accelerating somewhat. As is usually the case, the employment numbers for the metro area as a whole mask significant differences in performance across sectors. For example, in contrast with trends in total employment, the two largest sectors in Louisville—trade, transportation and utilities; and education and health— have been generating more jobs than previously. Also, the rate of job loss in manufacturing has been accelerating, while jobs have continued to be added in all other sectors. The pattern across industries is detailed by the figure. six of the eight private sectors contributed positively to the employment growth since october 2005. Trade, transportation and utilities— the largest sector in Louisville—grew by 1.6 percent since october 2005. That percentage was larger than the previous year's growth rate and outpaced the 0.5 percent national-level growth for the sector. Louisville's second-largest sector, education and health services, continued to have slight positive employment growth since october 2004; the most recent year-over-year growth rate (0.4 percent) was unchanged from the previous 12-month period. This sector lagged significantly behind the rest of the country, which saw 2.6 percent growth from october 2005 to october 2006. Manufacturing employment fell by 5.2 percent from october 2005 to october 2006, or more than 4,000 jobs, a sharp worsening over the previous year's 2.4 percent decrease. in contrast, employment in the u.s. manufacturing sector experienced a decrease of only 0.1 percent over the same period. Professional and business services, the area's fourth-largest sector, has been one of the strongest sectors since october 2004. From october 2004 to october 2005, the number of jobs rose by 3.8 percent. For the next 12 months, employment in this sector grew by 1.6 percent. in comparison, the u.s. sector grew by 2.7 percent from october 2005 to october 2006; this growth was the largest across all of the u.s. sectors. The fifth-largest sector in Louisville, leisure and hospitality, continued to have gains in employment but at a much slower pace. The year-overyear growth rate in october 2006 was 1 percent, which was half of the previous year-over-year rate. The u.s. sector grew by 2.6 percent since october 2005. The financial activities sector had a similar experience. The most recent year-over-year rate was 0.8 percent, less than one-third of the previous year-over-year rate. For the country, the rate was 1.9 percent for the period from october 2005 until october 2006. Natural resources, mining and construction had larger growth than any other sector in Louisville since october 2005. it is also the only sector to have continuous upward growth since october 2004. The year-overyear growth rate for october 2006 was 3.6 percent, and the pace for the first 10 months of 2006 was 6.3 percent. The u.s. sector had 2.4 percent growth since october 2005. Louisville's smallest sector, information, experienced no change in employment since october 2005. employment in the u.s. information sector rose 0.1 percent from october 2005 to october 2006.


Late blight is the most devastating potato disease worldwide caused by the oomycete Phytophthora infestans. Lots of breeding efforts are devoted to improve the field resistance to late blight of potato cultivars. Appearance of new pathotypes of P. infestans and the quantitative phenotype of field resistance make the conventional breeding process difficult. The genetics of inheritance of quantitative resistance is not yet fully understood. Marker assisted selection could help to solve the problem to reliably discriminate resistant from susceptible cultivars. The first part of the thesis was focused on identifying genomic regions responsible for resistance to late blight in two new, independent, tetraploid F1 families �SaKa-Ragis� and �BNA�. DNA markers known from previous studies to be linked to resistance loci in the potato genome were tested in the two families, which had been field evaluated in years 2001 and 2002 for late blight resistance and showed normal distribution of the resistance phenotype, indicating polygenic inheritance in both populations. A �cases� and �controls� study was performed. The �cases� were 23 highly resistant and the �controls� were 23 highly susceptible individuals selected from each F1 family. Both populations were genotyped using SNP, CAPS, SSCP and SCAR markers. Markers significantly linked to QTL (quantitative trait locus) for resistance to P. infestans were found on chromosomes II, IV and V in the �BNA� population and on chromosome X in the �SaKa-Ragis� population. The QTL on chromosome X was further characterized by increasing the marker coverage and SNP haplotype construction for CP105, the most significant marker locus. The second part of the thesis was focused on the most significant and reproducible known QTL for resistance to P. infestans on potato chromosome V. This QTL is part of a hot spot for resistance to pathogens in the potato genome (Gebhardt and Valkonen 2001). A major QTL for plant maturity maps to the same genomic region. A genomic region of about 400 kbp including the R1 gene for resistance to P. infestans has been sequenced to identify positional candidate genes besides the R1 gene family (Ballvora et al. 2002). Two contigs have been assembled, one for the �resistant� homologous chromosome with an introgression from the wild potato species Solanum demissum and the other from the �susceptible� allele (Ballvora et al., in preparation). The two contigs were subjected to Gene Mark- gene prediction software resulting in the annotation of 49 ORFs (open reading frames). Based on putative function assignment, 24 of 49 ORFs were selected for further characterization. The expression of the 24 selected ORFs was analyzed by RT-PCR in cDNAs from leaves uninfected and infected with P. infestans, of two diploid potato genotypes, which were the parents of a population showing a major QTL effect on chromosome V but lacked the R1-gene. For 8 ORFs expression was undetectable in leaves. Four genes were up-regulated upon P. infestans infection. The remaining 12 genes were equally expressed in both infected and uninfected leaves, in different intensities. Furthermore, a genetic approach was pursued for the same QTL on chromosome V in order to narrow down genetically the genomic region in which the gene/genes for resistance to P. infestans and maturity are localized. For this objective, 32 highly resistant and late maturing tetraploid cultivars and 33 highly susceptible and early maturing cultivars were selected. The amplicons at six loci on potato chromosome V were sequenced in the 65 cultivars and analyzed for SNPs. At least one SNP in all six loci were significantly associated with maturity and resistance to P. infestans, suggesting extended linkage disequilibrium in a genetic region of about 8 cM on potato chromosome V.


The study explores the community's understanding of the condition of their welfare and the experiences associated with the ups and downs of welfare. this report was written based on various reports generated in the two studies of moving out of poverty carried out by smeru. the main focus of the study is on the movers group, the group of people who managed to improve their welfare, both those who managed to move out of poverty and those who have not yet been able to do so. this report compares movers in three regions, namely East Java, north Maluku, and west timor, to investigate the characteristics of movers and how the process of welfare improvement takes place.
five research communities were selected for each region, including those located in rural areas and those located in (semi) urban areas. data collection was conducted by combining the quantitative (household surveys) and qualitative (focus group discussions, life history interviews of men and women, interviews with community leaders/figures, and observation) methods.
the study found several patterns of processes of improving welfare and moving out of poverty, namely retaining the same work/livelihood but obtaining better returns; shifting to another occupation or livelihood that is larger or more stable in its returns; developing several sources of income; and having a fixed salary (by becoming a civil servant or an employee). welfare improvement is affected by the capacity of the individual or household, the capacity of the community, and the local and regional contexts. therefore, these three elements must be used as entry points in the making of policies and development programs to increase community welfare.
keywords: poverty dynamics, welfare mobility, East Java, north Maluku, west timor


Childhood polyarteritis nodosa (PAN) is a necrotizing vasculitis, affecting small and medium size blood vessels. This condition was first described by Kussmaul and Maier in 1866. Although comparatively rare in childhood, it is the most common form of systemic vasculitis in children. PAN includes two different subtypes, the classical systemic form presenting with a wide range of clinical manifestations including dermatologic, musculoskeletal, nervous, renal, and gastrointestinal systems and the more frequent cutaneous form (CPAN) that involves only the skin. The main clinical features of PAN are malaise, fever, weight loss, skin rash, myalgia, abdominal pain and arthropathy. Systemic involvement is variable, but the skin, the musculoskeletal system, the kidneys and the gastrointestinal tract are most prominently affected, with cardiac, neurological and respiratory manifestations occurring less frequently. However, clinical manifestations can be very confusing, with absence of conclusive diagnostic evidence in the early phase and sometimes in the late phase of the illness. The etiology of PAN remains unclear, but there are data to support roles for hepatitis B and reports of a higher frequency of exposure to parvovirus B19 and cytomegalovirus in PAN patients compared with control populations. However, in childhood, associations between PAN and these infections or other conditions are rare. Evidence has emerged suggesting that bacterial superantigens may play a role in some cases. Here we report the clinico-pathological findings of a 21-month-old child affected with PAN, with particular emphasis on the severity of renal pathological lesions.


The wireless
communication is the fastest-growing field of studies to enable humans to
communicate with each other. Introducing a new blockchain architecture with big
data analytics can be an enticing platform towards increasing connectivity
performance throughout the smart cities. Blockchains can build a convenient
mechanism allowing two devices to effectively transmit currency as well as data,
to each other with a secure and reliable agreement. Smart cities provide an opportunity
to connect people and places that use emerging technologies that help to
improve urban planning and development. Smart cities can enhance public infrastructure
and people's living experience. Presently, high-speed, intelligent, effective
with several innovations, like low energy consumption, etc., seem to be
accessible to interact together in the modern environment. By using the blockchain-based
big data approach the physical devices are allowed to communicate securely with
other physical devices in heterogeneous environments. This approach builds a
new blockchain-based computing structure throughout the IoT technology
configuration. This approach can examine blockchain technology to the
underlying technology or maintains the IoT authentication reliable. This
strengthens blockchain and cloud to develop an enabling IoT pervasive
environment for secure communication among the physical objects.


Abstract A method is presented for the digital reconstruction of weakly calcified fossils within the Nama Group, Namibia. These recently described fossils (Grotzinger et al. 2000) are preserved as calcitic void-fill in a calcite matrix, and individual specimens cannot be freed by conventional techniques. The technique presented here has several integrated steps: (1) the analysis of cross-sections of fossil specimens, (2) the construction of a three-dimensional "tomographic" model that is assembled from the cross-sections, (3) the development of an idealized mathematical model based upon geometric parameters measured from the tomographic model, and (4) the visualization of randomly oriented cross-sections through the mathematical model, which can be compared with fossil cross-sections in outcrop. In this procedure, rocks containing the fossils are ground and digitally photographed at thickness intervals of 25 μm. A battery of image-processing techniques is used to obtain the contour outlines of the fossils in serial cross-sections. A Delaunay triangulation method is then used to reconstruct the morphology from tetrahedrons which connect the contours in adjacent layers. We found that most of the fossils represent a single morphology with some well-defined characters that vary slightly among individual specimens. This fossil morphology was described by Grotzinger et al. (2000) as Namacalathus hermanastes. A mathematical description of the morphology is used to obtain a database of randomly oriented synthetic cross-sections. This database reproduces the vast majority of cross-sections observed in outcrop.


Techniques for maximizing the extraction of protein from the neem seed (Indica azadirachta A. Juss) were investigated. Extractants used were sodium chloride and sodium sulphate solutions of varying concentration and pH. Maximum extractions of 17.86 g of extractable protein was obtained from 1 kg of crude protein, using 0.5 M NaCl solution at pH of 7.5. All the extracts were devoid of the usual neem smell and its bitter taste. As the pH increased from 7.0 to 7.5 there was steady increase in the quantity of extractable protein by sodium chloride solutions. However a decrease in the quantities of extractable proteins was observed at pH of 8.0 to 10 with sodium chloride solution. As the pH increased from 7.0 to 7.5 on the other hand, the quantities of the extract with sodium sulphate solutions decreased. While at pH of 8.0 to 9.5 the quantity of extractable protein increased, and the least quantity was obtained at pH of 10. 0.5 M NaCl at pH of 7.5 was found to be a better extractant for neem seed protein.


Biological invasions rank amongst the most deleterious components of global change inducing alterations from genes to ecosystems. The genetic characteristics of introduced pools of individuals greatly influence the capacity of introduced species to establish and expand. The recently demonstrated heritability of microbial communities associated to individual genotypes of primary producers makes them a potentially essential element of the evolution and adaptability of their hosts. Here, we characterized the bacterial communities associated to native and non-native populations of the marine green macroalga Caulerpa racemosa through pyrosequencing, and explored their potential role on the strikingly invasive trajectory of their host in the Mediterranean. The similarity of endophytic bacterial communities from the native Australian range and several Mediterranean locations confirmed the origin of invasion and revealed distinct communities associated to a second Mediterranean variety of C . racemosa long reported in the Mediterranean. Comparative analysis of these two groups demonstrated the stability of the composition of bacterial communities through the successive steps of introduction and invasion and suggested the vertical transmission of some major bacterial OTUs. Indirect inferences on the taxonomic identity and associated metabolism of bacterial lineages showed a striking consistency with sediment upheaval conditions associated to the expansion of their invasive host and to the decline of native species. These results demonstrate that bacterial communities can be an effective tracer of the origin of invasion and support their potential role in their eukaryotic host's adaptation to new environments. They put forward the critical need to consider the 'meta-organism' encompassing both the host and associated micro-organisms, to unravel the origins, causes and mechanisms underlying biological invasions.