The process of autologous cell regeneration (ACR) is a facet of cell therapy and regenerative medicine. It is initiated when activated autologous platelet rich plasma alone (PRP), containing cytokines or growth factors, is injected into the dermis or other structure in order to initiate a regenerative or antiaging process. The recipients resident cells at the target zone are activated by biologically active growth factors, derived from the activated platelets in the PRP through a paracrine effect. The platelet gel that contains the fibrin and clumped platelets, releases growth factors that influences activation of macrophages and stem cells in the recipient site. Tissue regeneration is facilitated by stem cell proliferation and differentiation. The PRP that has sealant and wound healing properties, may shift the wound healing cascade to the left, thereby speeding up tissue regeneration and remodelling by the use of the recipients own plasma. Both the fibroblast and myofibroblast play key roles in the wound healing cascade. The fibroblast, of mesenchymal origin, plays a pivotal role in the formation of the extracellular matrix and deposition of collagen. A failure of organised fibroblast function results in important and disabling disease processes and conditions such as chronic ischaemic heart disease and remodelling of the heart, lung fibrosis, fibromatosis, solar aged-face, keloids, hypertrophic scar formation, nodular fasciitis, inguinal hernia, Dupuytren's disease and scleroderma. More recent additions include frozen shoulder and the captured shoulder. In aesthetic medicine, one of the prime functions of fractional photothermolysis with lasers, intense pulsed light and radiofrequency devices, is to stimulate dermal fibroblast proliferation, by thermal energy thereby increasing collagen deposition which enhances facial rejuvenation. Platelet -rich plasma (REGENLAB PRP, REGENLAB-ACR) possesses unique growth factors that stimulate, fibroblast, keratinocyte and myoblasts ex vivo in tissue culture, allowing three-dimensional cell proliferation within the fibrin gel. PRP can be used as a cell carrier (i.e., keratinocytes, fibroblasts), may enhance cell retention at the point of treatment. REGENKIT is authorized for human use, ISO and CE marked. In this overview fibroblast morphology, tissue culture and cell biology relevant to the shoulder surgeon is reviewed.


SUMMARY: The state of exploitation of the Nephrops norvegicus fisheries in different areas in the Mediterranean Sea is examined for the first time. Length cohort analysis (LCA) by sex has been applied for each area, and Y/R curves are presented to show the current status of the stocks under the steady-state assumption. A simulation of short and long-term effects of changes in fishing effort levels is presented. Norway lobster populations in the Mediterranean share the same biological features, but different exploitation patterns have been observed in several areas. Considering current exploitation levels, certain of the stocks analysed appear to be slightly growth-overexploited, while others seem to be placed near the optimum level of exploitation. For comparison purposes, the study areas can be classified as follows: fully exploited: Catalan Sea (Spain), Adriatic Sea and Tyrrhenian Sea (Italy); moderately exploited: Ligurian Sea (Italy) and Euboikos Gulf (Greece); and lightly exploited: Atlantic (Portugal). The stock in the Alboran Sea (Spain) is a special case and is therefore discussed separately.


While the use of health IT applications has increased rapidly over past decades, this does not compare strongly with other business sectors. Both reluctance to invest in, and lack of demand to use IT systems may in part be due to lack of robust evidence as to proven benefits. At the same time, the health IT sector has lagged behind other health technology areas in working to, and being expected to work to, robust evidence standards showing benefit and also avoidance of harm. Exacerbating this, limited availability of evidence has perpetuated this misplaced comfort in use of aspiration and expectation rather than evidence in driving investment in health IT applications. Reference back to the core principles drawn from influential thinkers shows the essential centrality of the need for evidence of safety and effectiveness, and for its use relevantly related to context.


This paper investigates the informational value of USDA crop progress and condition information by analyzing reactions of corn and soybean futures markets from 1986 to 2012. Results show significant differences between close-to-open return variabilities on report-release trading days and pre- and postreport days. Additionally, market prices tend to react rapidly and rationally to new crop-condition information. Strongest reactions are found for July and August, when weather conditions are most critical for the crop, and reactions have increased over time. Overall, these results suggest that reports have substantial informational value.


NK cells are known to respond in vitro to P. falciparum-infected red blood cells (iRBCs),
although responses are highly heterogeneous between donors. Although their role during
malaria infection is not fully understood, they may play a role in cytokine production during
early infection, and furthermore may interact with and kill iRBCs. The work described in
this thesis examines the role of NK cell receptors in determining the functional outcomes
of NK cell activation by iRBCs, focusing on NK cell responses to exogenous cytokines
and the phenotypic and functional profiles of NK cells from malaria naive (LSHTM) and
malaria exposed (Ugandan) subjects.
In a model of early activation of NK cells by accessory cell-derived cytokines, I have shown
a key role for IL-18 in mediating NK cell responses during both primary and secondary
immune responses as IL-18 synergises with cytokines from the common gamma chain family.
NK cells from LSHTM donors showed low background expression of IFN- and CD25, but
responded to iRBCs by secretion of IFN-, which was potentiated by exogenous IL-15.
By contrast, NK cells from Ugandan donors showed higher background CD25 expression
and signs of in vivo/ex vivo preactivation and enhanced responsiveness to IL-15, but did
not make any appreciable response to iRBCs. Potential explanations for these findings are
explored and discussed. KIR genotype and KIR expression also varied between LSHTM
and Ugandan donors. Specifically, expansions of KIR2DL1+ CD57+ NKG2C+ NK cell
populations (possibly driven by human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection) were observed
in the Ugandan donors. Conversely, percentages of KIR2DL3+ and 2DS4+ NK cells were
higher among LSHTM donors, indicating that HLA genotype or allelic KIR polymorphisms
may influence KIR expression.
Finally, the formation of NK-iRBC conjugates, which may be a precursor to NK cellmediated
killing of iRBCs, was observed in cells from nearly all donors, but did not correlate
with other functional responses. Analysis of KIR expression and NK cell functional
responses indicated that donors expressing inhibitory KIR2DL5 had reduced numbers of
conjugates. Further experiments indicated that KIR2DL5 might be specifically upregulated
after incubation with iRBCs, and that individuals carrying a normally non-expressed
KIR2DL5 gene may be able to express this gene under certain circumstances. This tentatively
suggests a role for KIR2DL5 during NK cell responses to malaria infection, and
suggests a possible function for a common but frequently non-expressed gene.
In summary, my work suggests that NK cell responses are strongly influenced by cytokine
receptor and KIR expression, which in turn depend on NK cell maturation status. KIR expression
patterns may in part explain differential NK responses to iRBCs between LSHTM
and Ugandan donors. I also propose a possible role for KIR2DL5 in malaria infection, and
a reason for the low expression of this gene in African populations.


The stimulation of the modern transformation processes by the church and the opportunity this presents to industrial mission The church had reacted to both political and industrial change. Localised theology was the answer to a restricted political dispensation, and the final result was the application of liberation theology. The Kairos Document , the Evangelical Witness , the Belhar Confession and Church and Society express the different churches' viewpoints about the apartheid regime. This contextual focus on the same political dispensation unleashed church influence during the establishment of a national democratic dispensation. The different efforts to deal with industrial change by means of church renewal have finally paved the way for the development of a new industrial mission, vision and approach. This has resulted in the forming of an interchurch industrial organisation, and far-reaching possibilities within the industrial environment.


We have measured experimentally the adsorption kinetics of ethanol on pitch-based activated carbon fibers (ACFs) of type (A-20) at different adsorption temperatures ranging from 27 to 60 °C, which are suitable for adsorption chiller design. These data are unavailable in the literature. The mass uptake of ethanol adsorbed on ACF is measured by a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) under a controlled pressure and temperature environment. The uptake mass and temperature measurements are logged with a time interval of 0.5 s making a continuous change of ethanol mass uptake with time. System pressure is kept constant during the adsorption experiments and the adsorption rate of the ACF (A-20)/ethanol pair is estimated within the concentration range of 0.1 and 0.5 kg of adsorbate/kg of ACF. A comparison between the experimentally measured data and the predicted results of adsorption rate shows a good agreement, demonstrating the adsorption rate is mainly controlled by surface diffusion.


Quantum cascade lasers are the most promising optical source for emission in the mid- infrared and THz region, and they are already used in a large number of applications such as free-space communications, absorption spectroscopy, sensing and so on. In all these applications, the noise properties of the optical sources are critical for the system performance. In this work, the authors present a theoretical study on the intensity noise characteristics of quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) under external non-coherent optical injection. The injection locking has been proven in the past beneficial for noise proper - ties of bipolar lasers, and thus this technique is utilized here in quantum cascade lasers. With the help of various analytical and numerical models, it is shown that intensity noise reduction can be achieved in the operation of the so-called locked slave laser compared to its free-running values. The detailed analysis reveals the contribution of the various noise sources to the intensity noise of the laser and how they affect the injection locking process. Using different numerical models, two distinct schemes are investigated, anal - ysed and discussed, injection on the lasing mode or on non-lasing residual modes of the slave laser cavity.


Although the majority of animals and plants, including humans, are dominated by the diploid phase of their life cycle, extensive diversity in ploidy level exists among eukaryotes, with some groups being primarily haploid whereas others alternate between haploid and diploid phases. Previous theory has illuminated conditions that favor the evolution of increased or decreased ploidy but has shed little light on which species should be primarily haploid and which primarily diploid. Here, we report a discovery that emerged from host-parasite models in which ploidy levels were allowed to evolve: selection is more likely to favor diploidy in host species and haploidy in parasite species. Essentially, when parasites must evade a host's immune system or defense response, selection favors parasitic individuals that express a narrow array of antigens and elicitors, thus favoring haploid parasites over diploid parasites. Conversely, when hosts must recognize a parasite before mounting a defensive response, selection favors hosts with a broader arsenal of recognition molecules, thus favoring diploid hosts over haploid hosts. These results are consistent with the predominance of haploidy among parasitic protists.


Heterocyclic compounds constitute the largest and most varied family of organic compounds. Today there are a lot of heterocyclic compounds are known, day by day the number is increasing rapidly due to the enormous synthetic research and also their synthetic utility. Heterocyclic compounds have a role in most fields of sciences such as medicinal chemistry, biochemistry also another area of sciences. In this review, we cover most biological active heterocyclic compounds that it's recently synthesized or extracted from the plants such as antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antioxidants, anticonvulsant, antiallergic, herbicidal and anticancer.


Determination of the copy number of the survival motor neuron (SMN) gene is important for detecting spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) carriers and compound heterozygous patients. Multiplex ligationdependent probe amplification (MLPA) assay is a simple and efficient technique used for detecting variations in the copy numbers of different genes. Race- and ethnicity-based variation in the SMA carrier frequency and the '2+0' genotype of SMN1 are important factors that should be considered when estimating the risk of being an SMA carrier. Since SMN2 plays a disease-modifying role, accurate determination of SMN2 copy numbers in SMA patients can serve as a useful prognostic tool. Therefore, information on the SMN2 genotype distributions in normal populations will be helpful in selecting appropriate reference samples for MLPA analysis. To determine SMA carrier frequencies and SMN genotype distribution, we determined the copy numbers of SMN1 and SMN2 genes using the MLPA assay in 100 unrelated Korean individuals with no family history of SMA. The frequency of SMA carriers in the Korean population appears to be 1 in 50, which indicates that the prevalence of SMA among Koreans is the same as that among individuals in the Western countries. Two of the 100 normal individuals enrolled in this study showed 3 copies of the SMN1 gene. Therefore, 1.0% of the 198 normal alleles in this population was estimated to be 2-copy alleles ('2+0' genotype). SMN2 copy numbers showed a high degree of individual variation. Our results showed that 64% of the individuals had 2 copies of SMN2, but 36% individuals had between 0, 1, or 3 copies of the gene.


142 ABSTRACT Background: The clinical course of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) dysfunction syndrome was studied among 100 patients between the age of 20 and 50 years. Clicking and pre auricular pain appeared to be the predominant symptom in all age groups. The findings of the study revealed that most of all the patients had a generalized attrition, generalized stains, and the occurrence of pain dysfunction syndrome (PDS). The chewing habit of betel nut in this place is different from the rest of India. In this place, people chew the hardest form of betel nut. Aims: The aim of this study is to create awareness among people regarding betel nut chewing and its associated TMJ problems. Materials and methods: This study was conducted at the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery of Dr. H Gordon Roberts Hospital, East Khasi Hills, Shillong, Meghalaya, India. The study consisted of 100 patients. All the patients were subjected to a clinical examination. Results: Prolonged duration of betel nut chewing will cause the masticatory forces to be transmitted to the TMJ and subsequently causes temporomandibular joint dysfunction syndrome. Conclusion: Prolonged betel nut chewing may give rise to TMJ dysfunction syndrome. The consistency of the betel nut also plays a major role in temporomandibular joint dysfunction syndrome. Clicking and preauricular pain appeared to be the predominant symptoms for all age groups. The incidence was higher in females than in males.


In this experiment, strategies of pitch encoding in the processing of melodies were investigated. Twenty-six students who were highly trained in music and twenty-six who were less well trained were instructed to make recognition judgments concerning melodies after a 12-sec retention interval. During each retention interval, subjects were exposed to one of four conditions (pause, listening to an interfering melody, shadowing nonsense syllables, and shadowing note names). Both the standard and the comparison melodies were six-tone series that had either a high- tonality structure ("tonal melody") or a low-tonality structure ("atonal melody"). The results (obtained by Newman-Keuls method) showed that recognition performance for the musically highly trained group was severely disrupted by the note names for the tonal melodies, while it was disrupted by the interfering melody for the atonal melodies. On the other hand, for the musically less well trained group, whose recognition performance was significantly worse than that of the highly trained group even in the Pause condition, there were no significant differences in disruptive effects between the different types of interfering materials. These findings suggest that the highly trained group could use a verbal (note name) encoding strategy for the pitches in the tonal melodies, and also rehearsal strategies (such as humming and whistling) for the atonal melodies, but that subjects in the less well trained group were unable to use any effective strategies to encode the melodies.


We have determined the major element composition, δ18O and δD values, and water content of impact-related granophyre, and pseudotachylite, from various Vredefort Dome localities, aiming to constrain the mechanism of melt formation and the relationship between pseudotachylite and granophyre. The granitoid gneisses and the pseudotachylites they host have almost identical average δD and δ18O values (−67 and 8.6‰, and −67 and 8.4‰, respectively). The water contents of the pseudotachylites are extremely low, consistent with the isolation of the pseudotachylites from free water during and since their formation. There is a bimodal distribution of water content in pseudotachylites, with one group averaging 0.28 ± 0.03 weight % (n = 9) and the other 0.59 ± 0.06 weight % (n = 9). The Vredefort granophyre, which has been interpreted as the pooled product of impact melting, has average δD and δ18O values of −69‰ and 7.6‰, respectively (n = 2) and also has a very low water content (0.23 weight %). Differences in major element and O-isotope composition between the granophyre and the pseudotachylites are not consistent with a simple relationship, but can be explained by a higher component of greenstone in the granophyre. A strong correlation between host and pseudotachylite δ18O values is consistent with a system where the melt composition is controlled by the immediate surroundings. The pseudotachylites with higher water content have slightly higher δ18O values (9.1 compared to 8.1‰). This is opposite to the relationship predicted if water content is related to the proportion of biotite entering the melt. It is possible, instead, that this relates to the incorporation of higher proportions of material altered at low temperature in the high-water group.


Abstract. Monitoring tropospheric ozone from space is of critical importance in order to gain more thorough knowledge on phenomena affecting air quality and the greenhouse effect. Deriving information on tropospheric ozone from UV/VIS nadir satellite spectrometers is difficult owing to the weak sensitivity of the measured radiance spectra to variations of ozone in the troposphere. Here we propose an alternative method of analysis to retrieve tropospheric ozone columns from Ozone Monitoring Instrument radiances by means of a neural network algorithm. An extended set of ozone sonde measurements at northern mid-latitudes for the years 2004–2008 has been considered as the training and test data set. The design of the algorithm is extensively discussed. Our retrievals are compared to both tropospheric ozone residuals and optimal estimation retrievals over a similar independent test data set. Results show that our algorithm has comparable accuracy with respect to both correlative methods and its performance is slightly better over a subset containing only European ozone sonde stations. Possible sources of errors are analyzed. Finally, the capabilities of our algorithm to derive information on boundary layer ozone are studied and the results critically discussed.


Much research suggested that recognizing our own body-parts and attributing a body-part to our physical self-likely involve distinct processes. Accordingly, facilitation for self-body-parts was found when an implicit, but not an explicit, self-recognition was required. Here, we assess whether implicit and explicit bodily self-recognition is mediated by different cerebral networks and can be selectively impaired after brain lesion. To this aim, right- (RBD) and left- (LBD) brain damaged patients and age-matched controls were presented with rotated pictures of either self- or other-people hands. In the Implicit task participants were submitted to hand laterality judgments. In the Explicit task they had to judge whether the hand belonged, or not, to them. In the Implicit task, controls and LBD patients, but not RBD patients, showed an advantage for self-body stimuli. In the Explicit task a disadvantage emerged for self-compared to others' body stimuli in controls as well as in patients. Moreover, when we directly compared the performance of patients and controls, we found RBD, but not LBD, patients to be impaired in both the implicit and explicit recognition of self-body-part stimuli. Conversely, no differences were found for others' body-part stimuli. Crucially, 40% RBD patients showed a selective deficit for implicit processing of self-body-part stimuli, whereas 27% of them showed a selective deficit in the explicit recognition of their own body. Additionally, we provide anatomical evidence revealing the neural basis of this dissociation. Based on both behavioral and anatomical data, we suggest that different areas of the right hemisphere underpin implicit and explicit self-body knowledge.


The Supreme Court's recent Janus Capital case offers a reading of the word "make" in Rule 10b-5 that speaks to ultimate legal authority over the communication in question. This creates the real possibility that we can have lies without liars, an entirely perplexing result in terms of any purposive meaning of the rule. In so holding, Justice Thomas joined a seemingly short list of judges who suggest that legal formalism is a particularly good weapon with which to fight securities fraud. This paper explores Janus through the lens of conservative textualism, which takes us through a much longer intellectual history with respect to secondary liability (well beyond Central Bank of Denver) than is generally acknowledged. It makes two important claims: first, that a better reading of the opinion is one that limits it to private securities litigation, not SEC enforcement, even though the early precedent tilts in the other direction; and second, that Janus also plants seeds for a conservative retrenchment on the meaning of the "in connection with" requirement under Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5, at least as applied to private securities litigation. It then examines some open questions under the "ultimate authority" test — the ability to reach officers and directors of the issuer, the problem of informal publicity, attribution of knowledge and "scheme" pleading, and considers whether the SEC can overturn Janus on its own by a simple clarifying amendment to its rule.


OBJECTIVE
To report the clinical, imaging, pathologic findings, surgical planning, and long-term outcome after surgery in a dog with neurologic deficits because of a hypertrophic ganglioneuritis that compressed the spinal cord.

STUDY DESIGN
Clinical report.

ANIMAL
An 8-year-old male intact Yorkshire terrier.

METHODS
The dog had ambulatory tetraparesis and neurologic examination was consistent with a C1-C5 myelopathy. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed enlargement of the left C2 spinal nerve causing compression of the spinal cord. The main differential diagnosis was spinal nerve neoplasia with compression and possibly spinal cord invasion. On ultrasonography, there was enlargement of the spinal nerve and fine needle aspiration did not show evidence of neoplasia. Fascicular biopsy of the spinal nerve was consistent with enlargement because of chronic inflammation (hypertrophic neuritis).

RESULTS
Hemilaminectomy followed by durotomy and rhizotomy allowed resection of an intradural-extramedullary mass that was the enlarged left C2 spinal nerve. Histopathology was consistent with a hypertrophic ganglioneuritis. Thirteen months later the dog remained free of clinical signs.

CONCLUSION
Hypertrophic neuritis affecting the spinal nerves may be misdiagnosed as spinal nerve neoplasia that in dogs is usually malignant with a poor prognosis. Focal spinal nerve lesions with compression of the spinal cord evident on MRI may be inflammatory and are not necessarily a neoplastic condition.


People often have a strong intuitive sense that we ought to rescue those in serious need, even in cases where we could produce better outcomes by acting in other ways. It has become common in such cases to refer to this as the Rule of Rescue. Within the medical field this rule has predominantly been discussed in relation to decisions about whether to fund particular treatments. While, in this setting, the arguments in favour of the Rule of Rescue have generally been found to be unconvincing, there are some reasons for thinking that it may have more of a role to play at the clinical level. In this article, we examine three lines that such reasoning might take. In each case, we argue that the reasons given do not support the adoption of a Rule of Rescue in clinical practice.


Despite extensive scholarly, legislative, and judicial attention to privacy, our understanding of privacy and the interests it protects remains inadequate. At the crux of this problem is privacy's protean nature: it means "so many different things to so many different people" that attempts to articulate just what it is, or why it is important, generally have failed or become unwieldy. As a result, important privacy problems remain unaddressed, often to society's detriment. In his newest book, Understanding Privacy, Daniel J. Solove aims to reverse this state of affairs with a pluralistic conception of privacy that recognizes the societal value of privacy protections. His pragmatic approach, which includes a taxonomy of privacy problems, succeeds because it is as dynamic as it is functional. It is poised to respond to existing privacy issues, yet nimble enough to tackle emerging problems. Without further guidance to policymakers about how to apply his framework, however, Solove's proposal is susceptible to precisely the kind of non-pragmatic decision-making he eschews. It offers no safeguards, for example, to prevent decision makers from rendering judgments based on their overarching philosophies, preferences, or emotions, and it provides little advice to policymakers weighing competing privacy risks. In these respects, Solove's approach would benefit from a more transparent decision-making process as well as rules of thumb intended to guide policymakers through some of privacy's more complicated terrain. Solove provides an excellent aerial map of privacy, but to fulfill pragmatism's promise, he needs to get closer to the ground.


Wheat grain affected by Fusarium head blight (FHB) contains the mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON) that is harmful to humans and animals. Reducing the amount of DON in grain is the goal of management practices for FHB so it is important to understand the factors affecting DON in grain. Some studies on the effects of late-season moisture found increases in DON while others found decreases due to leaching. The objectives of this study were to determine effects of late-season rain and misting on DON concentration in wheat spike tissues and to quantify the amount of DON leached from spikes. Field experiments were conducted on susceptible and moderately resistant wheat cultivars affected by FHB utilizing spike holders to catch water leaching through groups of spikes, rain shelters to protect plots from rain and misting, and a rainfall simulator to apply simulated rain. A critical component of these experiments was to have groups of spikes with similar levels of DON at the beginning of experiments, and methods were developed to make groups as similar as possible and to statistically test for similarity such that dissimilar groups could be eliminated to improve the accuracy of results. Groups of spikes were either not treated or treated with various amounts of rain/simulated rain, and water, grain and chaff were analyzed for DON concentrations. DON was detected in all water samples, indicating that leaching of DON is common. Similar percentages of DON leached from most spike samples that received a particular rain treatment, indicating that the amount leached is proportional to the amount in the sample. Chaff and scabby grain had the highest concentrations of DON and the greatest reductions with rain treatments. Compared to grain from plots protected with rain shelters, grain from comparable plots that were exposed to rain and misting had lower concentrations of DON, indicating that late-season rain reduces DON in grain. A common practice of drying wet samples in a grain dryer was found to degrade a portion of the DON. These results contribute to understanding the role of late-season moisture on DON concentrations in spike tissues and could be beneficial in identifying resistant cultivars to


Approximately 20 fragments of bronze statuary were recovered in the 1970s from a wreck off the coast of Calabria near the village of Porticello, but only one of these pieces, the long-bearded head of an elderly man (P1), has attracted scholarly attention because of its pronounced realism. A second male head (P2) was smuggled abroad almost immediately upon recovery. It had remained unknown until it was returned to Italy from Basel, Switzerland, in 1993; but after the first announcements, it received scant official mention, and doubts have even been expressed about its connection with the other bronzes from the Porticello wreck. It is here argued that such connection can be proved on the basis of stylistic and technical evidence, which should place both heads ca. 430–420 B.C.E. In addition, the idealized features of the head from Basel (P2) confirm that even the previously known "philosopher" from Porticello (P1) does not portray a known personage, but rather a fictional character such as a mythological being or an epic hero. The bronzes from the wreck, which include some athletic nude males, should be examined together before a proper assessment is attempted.


Reliable information about protein-protein interactions (PPIs) enables us to better understand biological processes, pathways and functions. However, there are many experimental problems in identifying complete PPI-networks in a cell or organism. To supplement the limitations of current experimental techniques, we have previously proposed PSOPIA, a computational method to predict whether two proteins interact or not (http://mizuguchilab.org/PSOPIA/) [1]. In the PPI prediction, the selection of datasets is a big issue for accurately evaluating the performance of different algorithms [2, 3]. It is generally believed that increasing the size and diversity of examples makes the dataset more representative and reduces the noise effects; however, for many algorithms, it is impractical to use a large-scale dataset because of the memory and CPU time requirements. In this study, PSOPIA was retrained on a highly imbalanced large-scale dataset having a diverse set of examples at the proteome level. The dataset consisted of 43,060 high-confidence direct physical PPIs obtained from TargetMine [4] (as PPIs being only 0.13% of the total) and 33,098,951 non-PPIs. As a result, the new prediction model achieved a higher AUC of 0.89 (pAUCFPR≤0.5% = 0.24) than the previous model of PSOPIA. Furthermore, it was applied to the problem of filtering out protein pairs incorrectly labeled as interacting from a low-confidence human PPI dataset. Here, we suggest that a diverse set of large-scale examples is key to more reliable PPI prediction, demonstrating the performance of PSOPIA at the proteome level.


Grindr is a geo-social dating app for men seeking men. However, some men who create profiles on Grindr do not post identifiable pictures, a practice that seems at odds with the goal of finding a romantic partner. In order to understand why Grindr users choose unidentifiable pictures, we surveyed Grinder users asking for descriptions of and explanations for their choice of profile picture, as well as their perceptions of users who do not have an identifiable profile picture. We discovered that location was a factor in why some Grinder users displayed unidentifiable profile pictures, but other users change their profile from identifiable to unidentifiable as a means of controlling interactions.


Specific sites within the nucleus may promote maintenance of genes in a state of enhanced responsiveness. Cells are able to store "memory" of an earlier response to a signal. Gialitakis et al. studied such a mechanism in HeLa cells (an epithelial cell line derived from a human cancer). These cells respond to interferon-γ (IFN-γ) by increasing transcription of genes encoding major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II proteins. Cells that had been exposed to IFN-γ and then had the stimulus removed for 96 hours were more sensitive to a second treatment with IFN-γ than were unprimed cells. The cells previously exposed to IFN-γ showed faster and greater accumulation of mRNA encoded by MHCII genes. The increased transcriptional responsiveness was associated with a persistent loss of histone H3, indicative of loss of nucleosomes, which may provide a more open conformation of the chromatin, and persistent dimethylation of histone H3. IFN-γ also caused increased production of the promyelocytic leukemia (PML) protein, which localizes in nuclear structures known as PML bodies that have been suggested to be sites of localized transcriptional activation. The MHCII locus was shown by immunostaining and fluorescence in situ hybridization to be more closely associated with PML bodies in cells responding to IFN-γ or in cells that had been primed by such a response. The mixed lineage leukemia (MLL) methyltransferase complex also showed altered localization to the vicinity of PML bodies in primed cells or cells responding acutely to IFN-γ. Depletion of PML with siRNA decreased the IFN-γ–induced increase in dimethylation at the MHCII promoter and prevented the sustained priming effect. Transcriptional activation of the MHCII gene in response to IFN-γ was diminished in cells depleted of PML, as was the priming effect on a later response to IFN-γ. The results provide additional evidence for the importance of subnuclear localization not only for transcriptional regulation but also for the long-term memory effects that can be maintained over multiple generations in replicating cells. The authors propose that such mechanisms could allow cells to maintain certain genes in a state poised for increased responsiveness to a subsequent signal for activation. M. Gialitakis, P. Arampatzi, T. Makatounakis, J. Papamatheakis, Gamma interferon-dependent transcriptional memory via relocalization of a gene locus to PML nuclear bodies. Mol. Cell. Biol. 30, 2046–2056 (2010). [Abstract] [Full Text]


This paper details a method for implementing personal retirement accounts (PRAs) as a part of Social Security reform. The approach described here answers the following questions: how funds are collected and credited to each participants' retirement account; how money is invested; and how funds are distributed to retirees. It is designed to accommodate a variety of answers to a wide range of important policy questions; to minimize administrative costs and distribute those costs in a fair and reasonable way; to minimize the burden on employers, especially small employees who do not now maintain a qualified retirement plan; and to meet the expectations of Americans for simplicity, security, control, and independence in ways that are easy to explain and to understand. The system we describe relies on existing payroll and income tax mechanisms for collecting PRA funds and crediting PRA accounts. It provides two basic options for investments: (i) a simply system involving a limited number of funds sponsored by the Social Security Administration and managed by private companies, and (ii) privately sponsored funds with additional investment choices. It also provides two distribution alternatives if distributions are required to be annuitized: (i) an increase in Social Security benefits, and (ii) inflation-protected annuities provided directly to retirees by private companies.


The book is the volume of "History of Literature in the Qing Dynasty" among a series of books of "Deep into China Histories". The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC) and the Bamboo Annals (296 BC) describe a Xia dynasty (c. 2070–1600 BC) before the Shang, but no writing is known from the period The Shang ruled in the Yellow River valley, which is commonly held to be the cradle of Chinese civilization. However, Neolithic civilizations originated at various cultural centers along both the Yellow River and Yangtze River. These Yellow River and Yangtze civilizations arose millennia before the Shang. With thousands of years of continuous history, China is one of the world's oldest civilizations, and is regarded as one of the cradles of civilization.The Zhou dynasty (1046–256 BC) supplanted the Shang and introduced the concept of the Mandate of Heaven to justify their rule. The central Zhou government began to weaken due to external and internal pressures in the 8th century BC, and the country eventually splintered into smaller states during the Spring and Autumn period. These states became independent and warred with one another in the following Warring States period. Much of traditional Chinese culture, literature and philosophy first developed during those troubled times.In 221 BC Qin Shi Huang conquered the various warring states and created for himself the title of Huangdi or "emperor" of the Qin, marking the beginning of imperial China. However, the oppressive government fell soon after his death, and was supplanted by the longer-lived Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD). Successive dynasties developed bureaucratic systems that enabled the emperor to control vast territories directly. In the 21 centuries from 206 BC until AD 1912, routine administrative tasks were handled by a special elite of scholar-officials. Young men, well-versed in calligraphy, history, literature, and philosophy, were carefully selected through difficult government examinations. China's last dynasty was the Qing (1644–1912), which was replaced by the Republic of China in 1912, and in the mainland by the People's Republic of China in 1949.Chinese history has alternated between periods of political unity and peace


In 2014 comprehensive income tax legislation is a hundred years old in South Africa. In light of this milestone, the origins of one of the important cornerstones of this legislation, the general deduction formula, is reflected upon here.
The general deduction formula plays a prominent role in the calculation of a taxpayer's liability for income tax. Currently, this calculation requires from the taxpayer to deduct certain expenditure and losses from his 'income' (which refers to his gross receipts or accruals, from which certain amounts are exempt). However, only those expenses and losses provided for in the act, and not under, for example, accounting principles, may be so deducted. Some of these deductible expenses and losses are specifically listed in the act itself, whereas others, although not specifically listed, are deductible if they meet a set of general requirements set out in ss 11(a) and 23(g). These sections are collectively known as 'the general deduction formula', with s 11(a) often being referred to as the 'positive leg' (since it sets out the criteria which, if met, will allow for a deduction) and s 23(g) as the 'negative leg' (since it places prohibitions against the deduction of certain expenses) of the formula.
This article considers the origins of the wording of the general deduction formula as incorporated in legislation promulgated by the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope ('the Cape') before the Union of South Africa was formed, as well as the role that case law played in the understanding of the formula during these early years. This Cape legislation would later form the basis of the Union's first comprehensive income tax act, promulgated in 1914 ('the 1914 Act') and, since all subsequent South African income tax acts were substantially based on the preceding one, the general deduction formula found in the current income tax legislation of South Africa can be traced back to the Cape legislation. Understanding the heritage of the formula in the Cape legislation thus also gives insight into the current formula.


The model of a beam propagating in a high power laser system is built based
 on relay imaging. The displacement sensitivity of the lens to beam positioning error
 is obtained using this model, which is then compared with the traditional method.
 Two real systems, the pre-amplifier and four-pass amplifier in SGII-U, are presented
 to further discuss the differences between the two methods. The limitation and
 application range are summarized in the end. The findings can be used to provide
 guidance in similar systems.


The poison put is a contractual innovation that grants debtholders an option to redeem their debt upon the occurrence of a predefined trigger. While certain poison puts can be justified in light of Delaware corporate law's deference to directors, one particular class of poison puts is more troubling from a corporate governance perspective: those triggered by a turnover in a majority of a company's board. These "continuing director" poison puts become problematic if a corporation with substantial outstanding debt subsequently faces a hostile challenge. In such a scenario, if the incumbent board chooses not to approve the new directors, the threat of financial distress effectively coerces shareholders to retain incumbent directors. Delaware courts have grappled with such provisions on two recent occasions: first in 2009 in San Antonio Fire & Police Pension Fund v. Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and then again in 2013 in Kallick v. SandRidge Energy, Inc. Both cases were brought on narrow grounds, challenging a board's failure to approve a dissident slate for the purposes of nullifying the poison put. As such, Delaware courts have yet to address whether directors breach fiduciary duties in the initial decision to agree to the inclusion of continuing director poison puts in debt agreements. This Note provides a background discussion of corporate law, before proceeding to an economic and legal analysis of continuing director poison puts. In concluding that such provisions have both the motive and effect of entrenching incumbent directors, this Note challenges Delaware courts' adoption of the intermediate Unocal standard of review in the context of approving a dissident slate. This Note concludes by arguing that the strict Blasius standard of review should apply to a board's initial decision to agree to the inclusion of continuing director poison puts in their debt agreements.


: The current experimental study is made to investigate the heat transfer characteristics and pressure losses for both impingement and impingement/effusion cooling systems. The experiments are carried out on a metal test plate. The numerical work is made to analyze the flow behavior in the test section. The benefit of introducing the present experimental method is the capability of investigating and analyzing the performance of both impingement and impingement/effusion cooling systems by the same test rig. The impinging jet device configurations are designed as inline round multi-hole arrays with jet to jet spacing of 4 jet hole diameter. The effusion holes configurations are inline round multi-hole arrays. Staggered arrangement between jet and effusion holes is maintained. The Jet Reynolds numbers ( Re j ) of 5000 to 15000 and jet height to diameter ratio ( H D⁄ ) of 1.5, 2.0, and 3.0 are maintained. For impingement/effusion case, the best wall cooling effectiveness is obtained at (H D⁄ = 2), and maximum increment in the wall cooling effectiveness over that of impingement case is 23% at ( Re j = 5000), 16 % at ( Re j = 7500), and 14% at ( Re j = 15000). Jet spacing in impingement case and blowing ratio in impingement/effusion case show an evident effect on the discharge coefficients.


Operating on two levels, this book aims to help students and practitioners understand how to plan and use time effectively within the foundation stage setting. The book examines how children learn and play at different times of day, how they fiction when they might be tired or hungry and how best to organize the learning day with this in mind. The authors discuss the issue of environment, how children relate to different areas within their own room, and what happens when routines of time and place are altered. The book also discusses how to develop children's understanding of time and how to incorporate the theme of time into children's play. The book includes: * practical activities and examples that will allow children to fully comprehend the concept of time * advice on how to create time for children to learn through play, inquiry and investigation * sections on how time can be used to include parents, colleagues and the local community. This book provides in-depth analysis of how effective use of time can be beneficial for parents, children and staff in early years setting.


[1] Similar to other oxygen-bearing atmospheric compounds, lower-stratospheric and tropospheric nitrous oxide (N2O) show an oxygen isotope anomaly. This anomaly can be explained by in situ atmospheric chemical sources that transfer the well-known oxygen isotope anomaly of ozone to N2O. The isotope anomaly of ozone, in turn, is caused by non-mass-dependent fractionation during its formation. Nevertheless, recent work claimed that photodissociation of stratospheric N2O could account for up to half of the observed anomaly in N2O without having to invoke chemical N2O sources. It is shown that this prediction is due to the choice of inadequate parameters in the specific underlying physicochemical model of isotopic fractionation in N2O photolysis. Budget calculations based on experimentally measured fractionation factors at stratospherically relevant wavelengths show only negligible contributions of N2O photolysis to the observed oxygen isotope anomaly. However, biological sources at the Earth's surface, which are usually considered to produce mass-dependently fractionated N2O, may actually be responsible for part of the observed anomaly. This is as a consequence of slight variations in the mass-dependent relationships between 17O and 18O isotope effects and the relationship assumed in the definition of the oxygen isotope anomaly. Up to 44% of the observed anomaly might be explained by this "numerical source" that was not recognized previously. As a prerequisite to understand this possibly surprising result, the existing definitions of isotope anomalies and their practical consequences are analyzed. An accurate terminology will also benefit future generations of researchers in the rapidly growing fields of atmospheric isotope chemistry and physics.


Hepatitis C is becoming an increasingly common cause of mortality especially in the HIV-coinfected group. Due to the efficacy of interferon (IFN) based therapy in the treatment of hepatitis C, various compounds possessing IFN-inducing activity have been hitherto reported. In the present study, we describe how steric, electrostatic, hydrophobic, and hydrogen-bonding interactions might influence the biological activity of a published set of IFN inducers, using a three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship (3-D QSAR) approach. Analyses were conducted evaluating different series of compounds structurally related to 8-hydroxyadenines and 1H-imidazo[4,5-c]quinolines. A ligand-based alignment protocol in combination with the GRID/GOLPE approach was applied: 62 3-D QSAR models were derived using different GRID probes and several training sets. Performed 3-D QSAR investigations proved to be of good statistical value displaying r2, q2CV-LOO, and cross-validated SDEP values of 0.73, 0.61, 0.61 and 0.89, 0.64, 0.58 using the OH or the DRY probe, respectively. Additionally, the predictive performance was evaluated using an external test set of 20 compounds. Analyses of the resulting models led to the definition of a pharmacophore model that can be of interest to explain the observed affinities of known compounds as well as to design novel low molecular weight IFN inducers (IFNIs). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first 3-D QSAR application on IFN-inducing agents.


In two national surveys of tuberculosis notifications in England conducted in 1978/79 and 1983 the estimated annual notification rates for the Indian subcontinent (Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi) ethnic groups were considerably higher than the rate for the white ethnic group. The mean annual decline in rates between the surveys appeared to be greater for the Indian and the Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic groups, 15% and 16% respectively, than for the white ethnic group (7%). Data from two small sample population surveys, the National Dwelling and Housing Survey in 1978 and the Labour Force Survey in 1983, were used to calculate the rates. However, comparison of the estimates for the population of Indian subcontinent ethnic origin in England from these surveys revealed discrepancies between them. Additional information from the Labour Force Survey on the year of first entry to the United Kingdom (UK) permitted the calculation of new estimates for the 1978 population, and based on these estimates the annual notification rates for 1978/79 were 287 per 100,000 for the Indian and 286 per 100,000 for the Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic groups. The rates for 1983 were 178 and 169 respectively, and the mean annual decline between the surveys was 11% for the Indian and 12% for the Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic groups. There were important changes in the characteristics of the population of Indian subcontinent ethnic origin in England between 1978 and 1983, and therefore the rates for both surveys have been standardised by the method of direct standardisation to a common reference population. Standardizing for year of entry to the UK, place of birth (UK or abroad), age, and sex reduced the mean annual decline in the notification rate to 4% for the Indian and 9% for the Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic groups. The much greater reduction in the rate of decline in the Indian ethnic group is due to the substantial decline between the surveys in the proportion of recent immigrants, the group with the highest annual notification rate, in that population. Future trends will continue to be influenced by immigration patterns, but it will also be important to monitor the rates among the increasing proportion of the population born in the UK or resident in England for more than five years.


Abstract. Carbonaceous aerosol (total carbon, TCp) was source
apportioned at nine European rural background sites, as part of the European Measurement and Evaluation Programme
(EMEP) Intensive Measurement Periods in fall 2008 and winter/spring 2009. Five
predefined fractions were apportioned based on ambient measurements:
elemental and organic carbon, from combustion of biomass (ECbb and
OCbb) and from fossil-fuel (ECff and OCff) sources, and
remaining non-fossil organic carbon (OCrnf), dominated by natural
sources. OCrnf made a larger contribution to TCp than anthropogenic sources
(ECbb, OCbb, ECff, and OCff) at four out of nine sites
in fall, reflecting the vegetative season, whereas anthropogenic sources
dominated at all but one site in winter/spring. Biomass burning
(OCbb + ECbb) was the major anthropogenic source at the central
European sites in fall, whereas fossil-fuel (OCff + ECff) sources
dominated at the southernmost and the two northernmost sites. Residential
wood burning emissions explained 30 %–50 % of TCp at most sites in the
first week of sampling in fall, showing that this source can be the dominant one,
even outside the heating season. In winter/spring, biomass burning was the
major anthropogenic source at all but two sites, reflecting increased
residential wood burning emissions in the heating season. Fossil-fuel
sources dominated EC at all sites in fall, whereas there was a shift
towards biomass burning for the southernmost sites in winter/spring. Model calculations based on base-case emissions (mainly officially reported
national emissions) strongly underpredicted observational derived levels of
OCbb and ECbb outside Scandinavia. Emissions based on a consistent
bottom-up inventory for residential wood burning (and including intermediate
volatility compounds, IVOCs) improved model results compared to the
base-case emissions, but modeled levels were still substantially
underestimated compared to observational derived OCbb and ECbb
levels at the southernmost sites. Our study shows that natural sources are a major contributor to carbonaceous
aerosol in Europe, even in fall and in winter/spring, and that residential
wood burning emissions are equally as large as or larger than that of fossil-fuel
sources, depending on season and region. The poorly constrained residential
wood burning emissions for large parts of Europe show the obvious need to
improve emission inventories, with harmonization of emission factors between
countries likely being the most important step to improve model calculations
for biomass burning emissions, and European PM2.5 concentrations in
general.


This study aimed to explore how Indonesian parents managed their elementary school-aged children's (aged 6 - 12) use of smartphone and tablet. A qualitative method was used in this study by interviewing three mothers who allow their children using smartphone and tablet for at least two to three times a week, with a duration at least thirty minutes per used. The results were analyzed using content analysis technique. To increase the validity of data, this study also did triangulation to participant's children and significant others. This study found that all three mothers combined some types of parental mediation to managed their children's gadget use. Active mediation was used, due to improved cognitive ability of elementary school-aged children. However, all mothers faced the same issue when explaining and discussing sexual contents to their children. Mother's perception toward children's low self-control also caused all mothers to use restrictive mediation. Technical restrictions was rarely used because some parents had low technology skills. Inconsistency in parental mediation practice might occur when parents entrusted their children with extended family members. Father also tend to loose the rules which set by the mother and hampered the effectiveness of parental mediation. Keywords: parental mediation, gadget, elementary school-aged children, Indonesian family parenting, digital technology


We introduce an efficient computational method for generating dense and low distortion maps between two arbitrary surfaces of same genus. Instead of relying on semantic correspondences or surface parameterization, we directly optimize a variance-minimizing transport plan between two input surfaces that defines an as-conformal-as-possible inter-surface map satisfying a user-prescribed bound on area distortion. The transport plan is computed via two alternating convex optimizations, and is shown to minimize a generalized Dirichlet energy of both the map and its inverse. Computational efficiency is achieved through a coarse-to-fine approach in diffusion geometry, with Sinkhorn iterations modified to enforce bounded area distortion. The resulting inter-surface mapping algorithm applies to arbitrary shapes robustly, with little to no user interaction.


The study aims to examine brand management model in Iran's professional Football League (2011-2012) with emphasis on brand image. The study was descriptive-survey one. A sample of Iranian professional football league fans (N=911) responded 4 items questionnaire. A structural equation model (SEM) test with maximum likelihood estimation was performed to test the relationships among the research variables. The analyses of data showed three dimensions of brand image influenced on fan's brand loyalty of which the attitude was the most important. Benefits and attributes were placed in the second and third rank respectively. According to Results, brand image play a pivotal role between Iranian fans brand loyalty. Create an attractive and desirable brand image in the fans mind increases brand loyalty. And due to, revenue and profits increase through ticket sales and products of club and also attract more sponsors.


General government investment in infrastructure has fallen in recent years for most of the countries in this study, (information is not available to assess whether this is true for public investment more generally). Nevertheless, overall investment in infrastructure has remained fairly steady in recent years, although volatile in some countries. Total Australian investment in infrastructure has rebounded in recent years to just below 6 per cent of GDP in 2006-07. Sub-national governments undertook 76 per cent of public infrastructure investment, with government trading enterprises accounting for around half of this. With the global financial crisis, governments are looking to infrastructure investment as a way of stimulating the economy. But financing options have also been constrained by the crisis. Financing decisions are separate from the investment decision and can be made independently. Financing differs from public funding - the latter being the commitment of public revenue to meet any gap between the costs of infrastructure provision and the revenue from user charges. Funding decisions carry an opportunity cost and deadweight loss of raising taxes. Budget appropriations, financed on a pay-as-you-go basis or from public debt, remain the major form of financing for government investment in infrastructure (63 per cent in 2006-07). Specific-purpose bonds, where repayment is linked to the performance of the asset, are a major source of finance in the United States and Canada, but were phased out in the 1980s in Australia. Public-private partnerships (PPP), where the government contracts a private partner to variously finance, design, build and operate infrastructure assets for a fixed period, are growing in use. Used extensively in the United Kingdom, in Australia they made up 6 per cent of public investment in 2006-07 - higher in New South Wales and Victoria. Some approaches used to finance public infrastructure can improve efficiency and lower the life-time project cost through - better management of project risk by aligning incentives for risk management with the capacity to manage the risk; improvements in information, contract negotiation and management and other transaction activities that pay-off in better risk management and cost savings; bringing greater market or other scrutiny to bear on the investment, and imposing the costs on potential beneficiaries to better reveal their willingness to pay. The most efficient financing vehicle will depend on the nature of the investment, the degree of asymmetry of information, the potential for competition, and the skills of the government as negotiators and contract managers. The potential for governments to shift risk onto private partners may be limited, and any non-diversifiable risk assumed by the private sector will be reflected in their required rates of return. PPPs offer considerable potential to reduce project risk, but are costly to transact. If such transactions are off-budget, this may inhibit the scrutiny needed to ensure efficient investment. The views expressed in this paper are those of the staff involved and do not necessarily reflect those of the Productivity Commission.


This paper studies the problem of inferring a partition (or a graph cut) of an undirected deterministic graph where the labels of some nodes are observed thereby bridging a gap between graph theory and probabilistic inference techniques. Given a weighted graph, we focus on the rules of weighted neighbors to predict the label of a particular node. A maximum margin and maximal average margin based argument is used to prove a generalization bound, and is subsequently related to the classical MINCUT approach. From a practical perspective a simple and intuitive, but efficient convex formulation is constructed. This scheme can readily be implemented as a linear program which scales well till a few thousands of (labeled or unlabeled) data-points. The extremal case is studied where one observes only a single label, and this setting is related to the task of unsupervised clustering.


Recent headlines have shouted the news of multi-million dollar verdicts against large corporations and huge settlement agreements. Texaco, facing adverse publicity as a result of ninety-four discrimination claims, settled those claims for $172 million. Mitsubishi settled a sexual harassment suit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for $34 million. Shoney's, Inc., a family restaurant chain, faced a $530 million racial discrimination lawsuit. Shoney's settled for $134.5 million and saw its earnings drop dramatically: "the company posted a $26.6 million loss [in 1992]." Moreover, "in 1996 The Wall Street Journal reported that Shoney's had spent more than $194 million on minority organizations and salaries to repair its image after the lawsuit." In February 1997, Publix Supermarkets settled a sex discrimination claim for $81.5 million. More recently, in November 1997, Home Depot had to pay out more than $104 million to settle sex discrimination claims against its West Coast locations. Consequently, the "November 1997 settlement reduced ... Home Depot's fourth quarter earnings by 25 percent."


The literature on agent-based macroeconomics has grown substantially over the past decade. However, a typically small set of common features impedes an instructive comparison of model results and obscures the implications of specific model assumptions. While validation and model selection techniques can contribute to consolidating the literature and thereby achieve a more concerted research agenda, I propose a different route in this paper. By transcribing the common core of modern DSGE models into an agent-based framework, a well-known and parsimonious representation of the economy is developed that can serve as a point of departure for studying a wide range of research questions. The flexibility of the agent-based approach thereby helps to address common critiques of mainstream macro, such as the complexity-limit to microfoundations, the fallacy of composition and the lack of realism associated with rational expectations. To demonstrate this flexibility, simulations focus thematically on the aggregate impact of non-financial uncertainty, which has proven to be very challenging to incorporate into a DSGE setting. Simulation results show that an increase in uncertainty leads to a new equilibrium with unemployment. A reduction of nominal wages, discretionary fiscal and monetary policy can all lead to economic recovery. However, each measure bears its own risk. Furthermore, when households learn about uncertainty from past experience, discriminatory behavior by firms on the labor market can result in a strong and detrimental impact on aggregate dynamics.


Sensitivity analysis is often used to judge the sensitivity of model behaviour to uncertain assumptions about model formulations and parameter values. Since the ultimate goal of modelling is typically policy recommendation, one may suspect that it is even more useful to test the sensitivity of policy recommendations. A major reason for this is that behaviour sensitivity is not necessarily a reliable predictor of policy sensitivity. Policy sensitivity analysis is greatly simplified if one can find optimal policies. Then one can simply see how the optimal policy changes when the model assumptions are altered. Our case is a fishery model. We investigate how (near-to) optimal policies change when we correct for a typical estimation bias in an aggregate model, when we substitute the aggregate model with a cohort representation of the same fishery, and when we switch from assuming variable to assuming constant fish prices and per unit variable costs. Normally these assumptions follow from the analyst's school of thought without testing. The most surprising result is that while assumptions about the fish price and the per unit variable costs matter a lot, the choice between an aggregate and a cohort model is of little importance.


IMPORTANCE
There is a high prevalence of obesity in psychiatric patients, possibly leading to metabolic complications and reducing life expectancy. The CREB-regulated transcription coactivator 1 (CRTC1) gene is involved in energy balance and obesity in animal models, but its role in human obesity is unknown.

OBJECTIVE
To determine whether polymorphisms within the CRTC1 gene are associated with adiposity markers in psychiatric patients and the general population.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS
Retrospective and prospective data analysis and population-based samples at Lausanne and Geneva university hospitals in Switzerland and a private clinic in Lausanne, Switzerland. The effect of 3 CRTC1 polymorphisms on body mass index (BMI) and/or fat mass was investigated in a discovery cohort of psychiatric outpatients taking weight gain-inducing psychotropic drugs (sample 1, n = 152). The CRTC1 variant that was significantly associated with BMI and survived Bonferroni corrections for multiple comparison was then replicated in 2 independent psychiatric samples (sample 2, n = 174 and sample 3, n = 118) and 2 white population-based samples (sample 4, n = 5338 and sample 5, n = 123,865).

INTERVENTION
Noninterventional studies.

MAIN OUTCOME AND MEASURE
Difference in BMI and/or fat mass between CRTC1 genotype groups.

RESULTS
Among the CRTC1 variants tested in the first psychiatric sample, only rs3746266A>G was associated with BMI (P(adjusted) = .003). In the 3 psychiatric samples, carriers of the rs3746266 G allele had a lower BMI than noncarriers (AA genotype) (sample 1, P = .001; sample 2, P = .05; and sample 3, P = .0003). In the combined analysis, excluding patients taking other weight gain-inducing drugs, G allele carriers (n = 98) had a 1.81-kg/m² lower BMI than noncarriers (n = 226; P < .0001). The strongest association was observed in women younger than 45 years, with a 3.87-kg/m² lower BMI in G allele carriers (n = 25) compared with noncarriers (n = 48; P < .0001), explaining 9% of BMI variance. In the population-based samples, the T allele of rs6510997C>T (a proxy of the rs3746266 G allele; r² = 0.7) was associated with lower BMI (sample 5, n = 123,865; P = .01) and fat mass (sample 4, n = 5338; P = .03). The strongest association with fat mass was observed in premenopausal women (n = 1192; P = .02).

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
These findings suggest that CRTC1 contributes to the genetics of human obesity in psychiatric patients and the general population. Identification of high-risk subjects could contribute to a better individualization of the pharmacological treatment in psychiatry.


We investigated the gravitational microlensing of active galactic nuclei dusty tori in the case of lensed quasars in the infrared domain. The dusty torus is modelled as a clumpy two-phase medium. To obtain spectral energy distributions and images of tori at different wavelengths, we used the 3D Monte Carlo radiative transfer code skirt. A ray-shooting technique has been used to calculate microlensing magnification maps. We simulated microlensing by the stars in the lens galaxy for different configurations of the lensed system and different values of the torus parameters, in order to estimate (a) amplitudes and time-scales of high magnification events and (b) the influence of geometrical and physical properties of dusty tori on light curves in the infrared domain. We found that, despite their large size, dusty tori could be significantly affected by microlensing in some cases, especially in the near-infrared domain (rest frame). The very long time-scales of such events, in the range from several decades to hundreds of years, are limiting the practical use of this method to study the properties of dusty tori. However, our results indicate that, when studying flux ratios between the images in different wavebands of lensed quasars, one should not disregard the possibility that the near- and mid-infrared flux ratios could be under the influence of microlensing.


One technique for improving the fatigue life of a fastener hole in a built-up metallic structure is to use an interference fit bushing. The installation of these bushings produces residual compressive stresses around the hole that improve the fatigue life. It also causes residual strains and therefore distortion of the part. The distortion is both in-plane growth of the part and out-of-plane deflection, or cupping. The resulting distortion can cause difficulty in downstream assembly, such as misalignment of fastener holes or a misfit of mating surfaces. For small parts with only a few bushings, it is possible to predict the distortion by explicitly modeling the installation process by using a finite element approach. However, for a large part with many bushings, it is not practical to build a model with a detailed finite element representation of each bushing installation. In this work, a simplified approach is presented for predicting the global distortion of large shell-like parts that is caused by installing many interference fit bushings. The simplified approach consists of representing the bushings with equivalent springs in a shell-based finite element model of a large part. In this approach, the equivalent springs are not constructed with spring elements that are commonly found in finite element codes. Rather, the equivalent springs are constructed with a number of shell elements in two layers. The properties of the elements that make up the equivalent springs are estimated from experiments on small test coupons. The same springs, with the same calibrated parameters, are then applied to the larger part of interest. Results indicate that this approach can be used to estimate the distortion that can be expected in a large part that is cause by the installation of interference fit bushings.


This paper studies the sustainable design and cultural elements that are found in the traditional Minangkabau house in Western Sumatera, Indonesia and in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. The matriarchal influence on the architecture features a unique regional style. The architecture is known to be laced heavily with cultural values, customs and rituals and reflects the people's understanding about designing architecture that is in harmony with nature. The house serves as a residence, a hall for family meetings, and for ceremonial activities. With the Minangkabau society being matrilineal, the house is owned by the women of the family who live there – ownership is passed from mother to daughter. The houses have dramatic curved roof structures with multi-tiered, upswept gables to mimic the horn of the buffalo. The objectives of this research are to analyse the matriarchal influence on the architecture; to investigate the architecture in terms of its sustainability issues as well as the traditional philosophy and cultural issues associated with the architecture. The methodology employed for this research includes reviewing the existing literature on the house to enable understanding of the space planning of the house. Other literature looks into cultural issues that comprise customs and traditions relating to the house supported by the field research in the Minangkabau villages in Malaysia and Western Sumatera. This is done simultaneously with the interview process of the locals and the visual data collection of the architecture. Architecturally, the house transpires that the dwelling-house is represented in the forms of space visualising the dwellers' culture. This research will ultimately venture into the understanding of the sustainability issues found in the design of the house and the sustainability of cultural beliefs applied in the rituals associated with the architecture.


From the first maternal level up to the delivery, there is high risk in women's health factors. Nowadays, severe maternal problems lead to crucial health issues in pregnant women. These problems may occur either during pregnancy or delivery time or after delivery according to the women health conditions. These crucial issues will become a risk for the mother's and baby's life. These maternal conditions during delivery are not easy to detect at the early stage of pregnancy. In this paper, some of the important pregnancy complications are addressed with their symptoms and treatment. Based on the study, different methodologies are discussed to prevent and avoid pregnant women's complications and for childbirth. The main aim of this study is to improve the maternal and fetal outcomes irrespective of the places. In this paper, a sample dataset in India is taken to show the Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) by considering the values from the year 2010 to 2030. More analysis of MMR can be done by considering different countries, which will be helpful to solve the occurrence of risk factors either during or after pregnancy. Consequently, this analysis may avoid pregnancy death rates. The main work is to improve the maternal and fetal outcomes by strengthening the pregnant women health. Future work will be applying different machine learning methodologies to detect the risk level of severe maternal morbidity. Keywords— Maternal Mortality Rate, Fatal outcomes, Neonatal mortality, Ectopic Pregnancy, Eclampsia.


T hat gay marriage went from impossible to inevitable in this country in such a short span of time is a testament to the wonderful suppleness of the human heart. Through this process we all got to witness firsthand how societies, like individuals, have the thrilling ability to change from the inside. It has been breathtaking to watch as, household by household, gay people have become human in the eyes of the American public. Their commitments to one another have come to be seen as real commitments, their parenting as real parenting, their love as real love. Our collective hearts opened and then the laws changed, in that order, slowly at first and then quickly. In a recurring drama of our American social theater, the hotbutton issues of one generation are often matters of common decency for the next. In one generation it's acceptable to proudly fly the Confederate flag and fight for segregated schools; in the next generation it's not. In one generation you can argue with a straight face that women should be ineligible to vote; in the next generation you can't. In one generation it seems reasonable to pass sodomy laws; in the next generation samesex couples can legally marry. Such changes build gradually over decades, even centuries, like separate trickles of water slowly forming streams and merging into rivers. But once they join, the current is strong and swift, and suddenly the naysayers find themselves on "the wrong side of history." And the current doesn't go backward: once we have identified a site of collective spiritual constriction and released it, our new openness and wisdom carry forward into the future. The environmental movement today finds itself somewhere in the middle of this process. We are still living in a time in which it is politically acceptable to fight against clean air and water regulations, to try to obstruct international agreements on global warming, and to promote fracking and drilling for oil within fragile ecosystems. It is still socially acceptable to throw bottles in the garbage, get takeout in Styrofoam containers and plastic bags, eat meat daily, and water our lawns. Our paltry environmental victories are politically expensive, haggled in back rooms through gritted teeth and with pinched noses. We do, of course, have some political activism and books and movie stars arguing for environmental stewardship. But clearly the tipping point has not yet been reached. The current has not yet shifted the consciousness of our cultural soul. What will it take to engender that shift? If we've learned one lesson from the success of the gay marriage movement, it's that it will take nothing less than love— in this case, love for the sacred, natural world and everything that is part of its delicate web. Ultimately there are no statistics dire enough, no news reports dramatic enough, no storms devastating enough to convince us to make the largemagnitude changes we will need to heal our earth. The shift is too profound for us to be reasoned into it. First must come love. We'll need to feel akin to all living beings, from the bees to the rain forest trees, and attach our hearts to the interconnected web of all life. We'll need to know that a mother lion will risk her life to protect her cub, just like we would for our children. We'll need to hear the flute sound of an owl and see how light filters through the summer leaves swaying high in the trees. We'll need to remember how much it used to snow when we were kids and the pure joy we felt as it fell.


This thesis examines the ways in which male homosexuality came to be closely associated with urban life between 1885 and 1914. It focuses on London and argues that particular aspects of the city's history and reputation were integral to the social, sexual and political aspects of emerging homosexual identities. The thesis draws on literature, sexology, the largely overlooked diaries and scrapbooks of George Ives (an early campaigner for homosexual law reform), and previously unexamined newspaper reports. The first chapter outlines changes to London during the period, and examines the intensification of concerns about poverty, degeneracy, decadence and sexual profligacy. The chapters that follow show how these changes and concerns informed understanding and expressions of homosexuality. Chapter two looks at the history of homosexuality in London, and indicates the significance of urban change in shaping patterns of behaviour. Chapter three examines legislation, the ways in which men were policed and surveyed in London, and newspaper accounts of court cases. Chapter four shows how sexology strengthened and elaborated this connection between homosexuality and the city. The last two chapters consider material written by, and explicitly or implicitly concerning, men involved in homosexual activity. Chapter five discusses how the city provided an ideal locale for a decadent understanding of desire, and the final chapter focuses on writing that attempted to counter this decadence with an appeal to Hellenism and pastoralism. It shows how the city was envisaged as a locus for the formation of political and sexual identities that might initiate a process of social change.


An imager for time-resolved optical sensing was fabricated in CMOS technology. The sensor comprises an array of 128times128 single-photon pixels, a bank of 32 time-to-digital-converters, and a 7.68 Gbps readout system. Thanks to the outstanding timing precision of single-photon avalanche diodes and the optimized measurement circuitry, a typical resolution of 97 ps was achieved within a range of 100 ns. To the best of our knowledge, this imager is the first fully integrated system for photon time-of-arrival evaluation. Applications include 3-D imaging, optical rangefinding, fast fluorescence lifetime imaging, imaging of extremely fast phenomena, and, more generally, imaging based on time-correlated single photon counting. When operated as an optical rangefinder, this design has enabled us to reconstruct 3-D scenes with milimetric precisions in extremely low signal exposure. A laser source was used to illuminate the scene up to 3.75 m with an average power of 1 mW, a field-of-view of 5deg and under 150 lux of constant background light. Accurate distance measurements were repeatedly achieved based on a short integration time of 50 ms even when signal photon count rates as low as a few hundred photons per second were available.


The types of technology change catalyzed by research interventions in integrated natural resource management (INRM) are likely to require much more social negotiation and adaptation than are changes related to plant breeding, the dominant discipline within the system of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). Conceptual models for developing and delivering high-yielding varieties have proven inadequate for delivering natural resource management (NRM) technologies that are adopted in farmers' fields. Successful INRM requires tools and approaches that can blend the technical with the social, so that people from different disciplines and social backgrounds can effectively work and communicate with each other. This paper develops the "follow-the-technology" (FTT) approach to catalyzing, managing, and evaluating rural technology change as a framework that both "hard" and "soft" scientists can work with. To deal with complexity, INRM needs ways of working that are adaptive and flexible. The FTT approach uses technology as the entry point into a complex situation to determine what is important. In this way, it narrows the research arena to achievable boundaries. The methodology can also be used to catalyze technology change, both within and outside agriculture. The FTT approach can make it possible to channel the innovative potential of local people that is necessary in INRM to "scale up" from the pilot site to the landscape. The FTT approach is built on an analogy between technology change and Darwinian evolution, specifically between "learning selection" and natural selection. In learning selection, stakeholders experiment with a new technology and carry out the evolutionary roles of novelty generation, selection, and promulgation. The motivation to participate is a "plausible promise" made by the R&D team to solve a real farming problem. Case studies are presented from a spectrum of technologies to show that repeated learning selection cycles can result in an improvement in the performance of the plausible promise through adaptation and a sense of ownership by the stakeholders.


Prescribing errors are common and problematic in hospital settings in the UK. [1] Pharmacists have been described as integral in the interception of prescribing errors, with effective medication communication between pharmacists and prescribers important to resolve and optimize prescribing outcomes. However, poor communication between healthcare professionals, including pharmacists and prescribers, is considered a leading cause of prescribing error. [1]

Pharmacists' medication communication with prescribers has been reported as limited in the literature, whilst they have been described as working independently to doctors. Additionally, pharmacists have previously described communication apprehensions with doctors, [2] with these apprehensions creating barriers to effective medication communication with prescribers.

The aim of this study was to explore the perceptions and views of hospital pharmacists on their medication communication with prescribers.

The study was undertaken in a large acute teaching hospital in the North West of England. All (n = 37) hospital pharmacists were eligible to participate. An invitation to participate was communicated verbally at a departmental meeting and via e‐mail.

In‐depth, semi‐structured, face‐to‐face interviews were used to explore pharmacists' perceptions of medication communication with prescribers. The topic guide was informed by the literature and previous research to explore how pharmacists communicate with prescribers about medications, and how they have learnt inter‐professional medication communication skills.

All interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed by the researcher. Interviews lasted an average of 32 minutes (21–48 minutes) and data saturation was achieved by the fifteenth interview. A thematic analysis was performed manually by the researchers with initial codes discussed and consensus achieved through regular meetings.

Relevant hospital and University of Liverpool ethics committees' approval was obtained before commencing this study.

Twenty‐nine pharmacists volunteered to participate and were interviewed. A range of pharmacist grades (Agenda for change band 6–8b) were recruited.

Three key themes emerged from the data: Communication skills training, medication communication with prescribers, and pharmacist as a communicator. Pharmacists reported that training in medication communication with prescribers was limited with these skills developed mainly through postgraduate experience and reflection. Medication communication was inconsistent between pharmacists with a range of written and verbal communication reported. Barriers to medication communication with prescribers included pharmacy service provision, workload, perceived urgency of the medication issue, prescriber rapport and communication anxiety. Expectations of junior pharmacists were considered unrealistic and contributed to unnecessary medication communication apprehensions with prescribers. The limited medication communication reported appeared to contribute to a sense that hospital pharmacists worked in parallel to the clinical team. The need for greater contextualized training in inter‐professional communication was reported to prepare pharmacists for the challenges of hospital practice.

This is a qualitative case study with limited generalizability, although a wide range of pharmacists were interviewed typical of a UK hospital pharmacy department. This is the first known UK study exploring pharmacist‐prescriber medication communication in a hospital setting in‐depth, and has raised awareness of barriers to effective medication communication, and the need for enhanced communication‐skills training to support the hospital pharmacist workforce.

References

1. Dornan T, Ashcroft D, Heathfield H, Lewis P, Miles J, Taylor D, Tully M, Wass V. An in‐depth investigation into causes of prescribing errors by foundation trainees in relation to their medical education. EQUIP Study. General Medical Council, 2009. Available from http://www.gmc-uk.org/about/research/research_commissioned.asp accessed 12th September 2017

2. Lloyd M, Watmough SD, O'Brien SV, Furlong N, Hardy K. Exploring Attitudes and opinions of pharmacists towards delivering prescribing error feedback: A qualitative case study using focus group interviews. Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy, 2016;12:461‐74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sapharm.2015.08.012


Understanding the fundamental limits of robust supervised learning has emerged as a problem of immense interest, from both practical and theoretical standpoints. In particular, it is critical to determine classifier-agnostic bounds on the training loss to establish when learning is possible. In this paper, we determine optimal lower bounds on the cross-entropy loss in the presence of test-time adversaries, along with the corresponding optimal classification outputs. Our formulation of the bound as a solution to an optimization problem is general enough to encompass any loss function depending on soft classifier outputs. We also propose and provide a proof of correctness for a bespoke algorithm to compute this lower bound efficiently, allowing us to determine lower bounds for multiple practical datasets of interest. We use our lower bounds as a diagnostic tool to determine the effectiveness of current robust training methods and find a gap from optimality at larger budgets. Finally, we investigate the possibility of using of optimal classification outputs as soft labels to empirically improve robust training.


ABSTRACT The current study provided an exploratory qualitative examination of the issues surrounding career progression for military spouses from the perspective of the soldier. Utilizing family systems theory and spillover theory we explored the soldier's perceptions of the impact that the military lifestyle has on a military spouse's opportunities for employment and advancement within their work. Data from 50 soldiers (90% enlisted; 90% male; 59% White) whose spouses were employed as civilians were collected during 11 focus groups. We conducted an inductive analysis on transcripts of the focus groups to guide the discovery of themes. Three major themes surrounding military personnel and their spouses' employment progression emerged: soldiers' perceptions that (1) the military can negatively influence the spouses' career progression through frequent and/or unpredictable relocations, physical distance, and the mentality that military comes first; (2) there are benefits associated with spouse employment; and (3) the spouses' career type impacts the success of their career. Notably, soldiers view their spouses' careers as important, and acknowledge that the military way of life can retard spouse career progression, depending upon the type of job or career the spouse holds. Soldiers suggest less frequent relocations and consideration of spouses' jobs would improve spouse career progression and improve solider and family well-being. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.


As products become increasingly complex, product developers have to make decisions effectively and efficiently. Therefore, the long term goal of the authors is the development of a new app to support collaborative and multi-criteria decision making in product development. For this, the basic requirements of such a new app are presented. Based on this, the methodological concept and procedure are briefly explained. Afterwards, a first prototype of the app with the core functionalities and the user interface is presented. Finally, this prototype is applied and evaluated by an example. In the future, the authors aim to improve the concept and to integrate further functionalities by implementing the presented concept as a real smartphone app.


By the time we reach the age of 60 -65, many of us are likely to become diabetic. This
is the message from scientists and health experts taking part in a major health
symposium at the University of Central Lancashire.
Diabetes mellitus is a global health problem currently affecting more than 180 million
people worldwide. The total number of people in the world with diabetes is expected to
reach 220 million in 2010 and more than 300 million by 2025. In the United Kingdom
more than 2 million people are diagnosed as diabetics and another 1 Y2- 2 million
diabetics have not yet been diagnosed (approximately 3% of the British population). It
costs the British National Health Service over 5Yz billion pounds annually to diagnose,
treat and care for diabetic patients. This is an enormous burden for both the sufferers
and the Health Service. Ageing, obesity and ethnicity are special risk factors.
Preston will be the host City for the 4th International Symposium on Diabetes Mellitus,
which will focus on the global issues surrounding diabetes and its complications.
Delegates and representatives from all over the world including Lancashire Teaching
(NHS) Trust will be joining colleagues at the University of Central Lancashire on the
7th and gth July, in order to take an active part in the exchange of ideas and knowledge
of all areas of type 1 and type 2 diabetes meliitus.
The Symposium will be structured in the form of guest lectures by distinguished
clinicians and researchers, diabetes questions, and oral and poster presentations. A
range of issues from epidemiology, diagnosis, treatment, prevention and complications
will be covered and there will also be a special day-long session on Tuesday gth July
dealing with diabetes-induced heart disease, sponsored by the British Heart Foundation.
Organisers of the conference include academics from the University of Central
Lancashire and Consultant Diabetologists from Royal Preston and Chorley Hospitals.
All are keen that the Symposium, which also includes a Mayoral Reception at the Harris
Museum, should be instrumental in raising awareness of diabetes mellitus, a condition
which often goes unrecognised by sufferers, and therefore untreated.
4 July 2003
nr064pc 2
Notes to editors:
1. The 4th International Symposium on Diabetes Mellitus and its
Complications will take place at the University of Central Lancashire in
Preston, UK, from 7-8 July 2003. The lectures will be held in Maudland
TVI lecture theatre (M49) while the posters and commercial displays will be
held at the Marsh Building Lecture Theatre.
2. On the evening of Monday 7th July there will be a Mayoral Reception for
delegates and distinguished guests at the Harris Museum in Preston from
5.30pm. This will be followed by the Symposium dinner at Foster Building
Restaurant.
3. Media enquiries should be directed to Pam Culley, Media & Public
Relations, University of Central Lancashire, tel: 01772 894425,
email@example.com . Further information can be obtained from Professor
J aipaul Singh, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Central
Lancashire, tel: 01772 893515, firstname.lastname@example.com as well as Dr Abdul
Lakhdar, Consultant Diabetologist at RPH (firstname.lastname@example.com
tel: 01772 522092) and Dr Satyan Rajbhandari (Consultant Diabetologi st,
Chorley General Hospital) (Satyan.Rajbhandari @LTHTR.nhs.uk; tel: 01257
245028).
4. There are two types of diabetes mellitus, type 1 (juvenile onset) or type 2
(maturity onset). The disease is caused by a deficiency of the metabolic
hormone insulin as in type 1 diabetes or in both the deficiency and reduced
action (insensitivity or resistance) of insulin (type 2). If insulin is either not
present or defective in its action then the glucose rises in the blood causing
hyperglycaemia. This in tum results in polyuria (excessive urination),
polydipsia (thirst), polyphagia (hunger), weight loss, fatigue, cramps and
blurred vision in the short term and in the longterm a series of micro and
macro vascular complications including cardiomyopathy (an enlarged weak
heart), retinopathy (damaged retina and then blindness), neuropathy (loss of
touch, feeling and sensation in hands and feet), and nephropathy (kidney
damage and later failure). Moreover, the risk for diabetic men to develop
heart disease and hypertension (high blood pressure) increases by 2-3 fold
and for women 5-6 fold. It is now known that more than 50% of all
diabetics die primarily from cardiovascular complications. A wealth of
evidence base have accumulated in support of earlier detection and treatment
of diabetes lead to prevention of diabetic complications.


Title of dissertation: APPLICATION OF POROUS SILICON IN TERAHERTZ TECHNOLOGY Shu-Zee Alencious Lo, Doctor of Philosophy, 2010 Dissertation directed by: Professor Thomas E. Murphy Department of Electrical and Computer Enginering In this thesis, we discuss our efforts in developing porous silicon based devices for terahertz signal processing. In the first stage of our research, we demonstrate that porous silicon samples fabricated from highly doped p-type silicon can have adjustable refractive indices ranging from 1.5-2.1 and can exhibit a resistivity that is four orders of magnitude higher than that of the silicon wafer from which they were made. We show that the porous silicon becomes stable and relatively lossless after thermal oxidation. The partially oxidized porous silicon is shown to exhibit a smooth absorption spectrum, with low absorption loss of < 10 cm over the entire terahertz spectrum. As a proof of concept, we fabricated, for the first time, a porous silicon based multilayered Bragg filter with reflectance of 93% and full-width at half-maximum bandwidth of 0.26 THz. Compared with other multilayered filtering techniques, porous silicon has the advantage that it can be easily fabricated, and offers the possibility of forming multilayer and graded index structures for more advanced filters. The large surface area of nanoporous silicon makes it an especially attractive platform for applications in biochemical detection and diagnostics As part of our effort in developing terahertz waveguide for biosensing, we reported the world's first porous silicon based terahertz waveguide using the principle of surface plasmon polaritons. The effect of porous silicon film thickness on the propagation of surface plasmons is explained theoretically in this thesis and is found to be in good agreement with experimental results. APPLICATION OF POROUS SILICON IN TERAHERTZ TECHNOLOGY by Shu-Zee Alencious Lo Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2010 Advisory Committee: Professor Thomas E. Murphy, Chair/Advisor Professor Chi H. Lee Professor Robert W. Gammon Professor Howard Milchberg Professor Isaak D. Mayergoyz c © Copyright by Shu-Zee Alencious Lo 2010