The exceptionally beautiful Judith Gautier (1845–1917), daughter of Théophile Gautier and Italian opera diva Ernesta Grisi, was raised in the epicenter of Europe's literary and artistic avant-garde. Among the weekly visitors to her parents' home were Flaubert, Baudelaire, Delacroix, Dumas, Taine, Mallarmé, Puivis de Chavannes, and the Goncourt brothers. She became a best-selling novelist, an early champion of Richard Wagner, a successful journalist, musicologist and art critic, a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, and the first woman elected to the prestigious Goncourt Academy. She was instrumental in introducing Europeans to both Chinese and Japanese poetry. Yet, despite these fascinating and remarkable achievements, critical studies devoted to her are limited to a handful of articles. I attempt to correct this oversight by examining the prominent place accorded to gore, gruesomeness, and the macabre in her works. In so doing, I hope to show how these texts, through their deft handling of traditionally "masculine" subject matter, not only provided an entrée to the rarefied, male-dominated world of nineteenth-century French letters, but also articulated a unique theory of the novel—one that sees fiction writing above all as the expression of the violence inherent to and existing inside representation itself.


A Visual Return-to-Home System for GPS-Denied Flight Benjamin Paul Lewis Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, BYU Master of Science Unmanned aerial vehicle technology is rapidly maturing. In recent years, the sight of hobbyist aircraft has become more common.Corporations and governments are also interested in using drone aircraft for applications such as package delivery, surveillance and communications. These autonomous UAV technologies demand robust systems that perform under any circumstances. Many UAV applications rely on GPS to obtain information about their location and velocity. However, the GPS system has known vulnerabilities, including environmental signal degradation, terrestrial or solar weather, or malicious attacks such as GPS spoofing. These conditions occur with enough frequency to cause concern. Without a GPS signal, the state estimation in many autopilots quickly degrades. In the absence of a reliable backup navigation scheme, this loss of state will cause the aircraft to drift off course, and in many cases the aircraft will lose power or crash. While no single approach can solve all of the issues with GPS signal degradation, individual events can be addressed and solved. In this thesis, we present a system which will return an aircraft to its launch point upon the loss of GPS. This functionality is advantageous because it allows recovery of the UAV in circumstances which the lack of GPS information would make difficult. The system presented in this thesis accomplishes the return of the aircraft by means of onboard visual navigation, which removes the dependence of the aircraft on external sensors and systems. The system presented here uses an downward-facing onboard camera and computer to capture a string of overlapping images (keyframes) of the ground as the aircraft travels on its outbound journey. When a signal is received, the aircraft switches into return-to-home mode. The system uses the homography matrix and other vision processing techniques to produce information about the location of the current keyframe relative to the aircraft. This information is used to navigate the aircraft to the location of each saved keyframe in reverse order. As each keyframe is reached, the system programmatically loads the next target keyframe. By following the chain of keyframes in reverse, the system reaches the launch location. Contributions in this thesis include the return-to-home visual flight system for UAVs, which has been tested in simulation and with flight tests. Features of this system include methods for determining new keyframes and switching keyframes on the inbound flight, extracting data between images, and flight navigation based on this information. This system is a piece of the wider GPSdenied framework under development in the BYU MAGICC lab.


Immune detection by T cells can involve the recognition of specific lipids (see the Perspective by De Libero), as well as protein-derived antigens. Unlike the well-characterized intracellular pathways that load and present peptides, scant detail has been available about how lipid antigens come to be processed and presented. Zhou et al. find that members of a family of proteins known to transfer lipids during synthesis and degradation within the endosome also assist in extracting and loading lipids onto CD1d molecules, which present the lipids to T cells. In the absence of such lipid-transfer protein genes, mice failed to present particular lipids and displayed defects in development of a major subset of CD1d-specific T cells. Moody et al. describe a new species of naturally occurring ligands presented by CD1a with an unusual antigenic structure in which peptides are chemically complexed with lipid. These lipopeptides resemble essential iron-scavenging siderophores from mycobacteria. Thus, CD1-based microbial immune detection may have evolved to recognize molecular species specifically generated during obligate survival pathways of bacteria. G. De Libero, The Robin Hood of antigen presentation. Science 303, 485-487 (2004). [Summary] [Full Text] D. Zhou, C. Cantu III, Y. Sagiv, N. Schrantz, A. B. Kulkarni, X. Qi, D. J. Mahuran, C. R. Morales, G. A. Grabowski, K. Benlagha, P. Savage, A. Bendelac, L. Teyton, Editing of CD1d-bound lipid antigens by endosomal lipid transfer proteins. Science 303, 523-527 (2004). [Abstract] [Full Text] D. B. Moody, D. C. Young, T.-Y. Cheng, J.-P. Rosat, C. Roura-mir, P. B. O'Connor, D. M. Zajonc, A. Walz, M. J. Miller, S. B. Levery, I. A. Wilson, C. E. Costello, M. B. Brenner, T cell activation by lipopeptide antigens. Science 303, 527-531 (2004). [Abstract] [Full Text]


The cerebral cortex of Alzheimer's and Down syndrome patients is characterized by the presence of protein deposits in neurofibrillary tangles, neuritic plaques, and neuropil threads. These structures were shown to contain forms of beta amyloid precursor protein and ubiquitin-B that are aberrant (+1 proteins) in the carboxyl terminus. The +1 proteins were not found in young control patients, whereas the presence of ubiquitin-B+1 in elderly control patients may indicate early stages of neurodegeneration. The two species of +1 proteins displayed cellular colocalization, suggesting a common origin, operating at the transcriptional level or by posttranscriptional editing of RNA. This type of transcript mutation is likely an important factor in the widely occurring nonfamilial early- and late-onset forms of Alzheimer's disease.


Directors and boards face many challenges in terms of managing complexity. A key factor of success in practising good corporate governance is the board's ability to cope with paradox. The purpose of this research has been to explore the core corporate governance dilemmas facing boards. The investigation was qualitative in nature using the Delphi technique. Six core corporate governance dilemmas facing board members were identified one of which is not mentioned in the international literature. The findings should provide directors with an ability to identify the nature of the paradoxes to which they need to respond. JEL L20; M10


This paper suggests a document-driven information systems development (ISD) approach. The reason for this approach is to find better ways to communicate with novice users. We have based our research on two principles: start with what is known and shift between abstractions and concretions. The concept "what is known" means that we have used existing familiar documents as a staring point. When modelling IS we always make abstractions. One way to confirm that we have made the right abstraction is to relate it something that is concrete to the user. We have used a shift between the abstract and the concrete in order to help the users to understand particular phenomena. We have experienced that this is especially important when developing IS that involves novice users. Our conclusion about the work practice is that document-driven systems development has led to improvements in the work practice. The approach has resulted in improved conditions for communication between the users, conceptual improvements and structural process improvements. Using the latter of the two principles means that the researchers/ISD professionals should be sensitive for when to make abstractions and when to make concretions. Using existing documents as starting point means to start with what is known. Our experience from this is that users have participated in a natural way during the analysis and design work.


The purpose of this article is to examine the sources (causes) of conflict, the effect that conflict has on employees in a medium-sized municipality and the types of conflict styles employees apply in conflict situations. Considering the fact that transformation and affirmative action have taken place at an accelerated rate during the past decade in municipalities, it is assumed that interpersonal conflict in these institutions could be the result of unique causes and that it affects employees in different ways. Consequently various styles are used to manage conflict. Addressing this problem of conflict dynamics in a new environment, the purpose of this article is to examine what the causes (sources) of interpersonal conflict constitute, what effect it has on employees, and what conflict-handling styles are applied in conflict situations. The findings of this exploratory study revealed that affirmative action played the most important role in conflict and that a lack of work performance, which lead to depression or stress were the major effects of conflict. The conflict-handling styles used, turned out to be a function of different variables such as age, status, gender, tenure, academic qualifications, and language.


Fresh off of the most substantial national liquidity crisis of the last generation and the enactment of sweeping credit card regulation in the form of the Credit CARD Act, Congress continues to deliberate, with a continuing drumbeat of support from lobbyists, a set of new regulations for credit card companies. These proposals, offered in the name of consumer protection, seek to constrain the setting of "interchange fees" - transaction charges integral to payment card systems - through a range of proposed political interventions. This article identifies both the theoretical and actual failings of such regulation. Payment cards are a secure, inexpensive, welfare-increasing payment mechanism largely unlike any other in history. Rather than increasing consumer welfare in any meaningful sense, interchange fee legislation represents an attempt by some merchants to shift costs away from their businesses and onto card issuing banks and cardholders. In particular, bank-issued credit cards offer a dramatic improvement in the efficiency and availability of consumer credit by shifting credit risk from merchants onto banks in exchange for the cost of the interchange fee - currently averaging less than 2% of purchase value. Merchants' efforts to cabin these fees would harm not only consumers but also the merchants themselves as commerce would depend more heavily on less-efficient paper-based payment systems. The consequence of interchange fee legislation, as Australia's experiment with such regulation demonstrates, would be reduced access to credit, higher interest rates for consumers, and the return of the much-loathed annual fee for credit cards. Interchange fee regulation threatens to constrain credit for consumers and small businesses as the American economy begins to convalesce from a serious "credit crunch," and should be accordingly rejected.


This paper presents a hybrid simulation model for the management of an eye condition called age-related macular degeneration, which particularly affects the elderly. The model represents not only the detailed clinical progression of disease in an individual, but also the organization of the hospital clinic in which patients with this condition are treated and the wider environment in which these patients live (and their social care needs, if any, are met). The model permits a 'whole system' societal view which captures the interactions between the health and social care systems.


Gene-targeted therapies, such as adeno-associated viral vector (AAV)-mediated gene therapy and cell-mediated therapy using myogenic stem cells, are hopeful molecular strategies for muscular dystrophy. In addition, drug therapies based on the pathophysiology of muscular dystrophy patients are desirable. Multidisciplinary approaches to drug design would offer promising therapeutic strategies. Myostatin, a member of the transforming growth factor-beta superfamily, is predominantly produced by skeletal muscle and negatively regulates the growth and differentiation of cells of the skeletal muscle lineage. Myostatin inhibition would increase the skeletal muscle mass and prevent muscle degeneration, regardless of the type of muscular dystrophy. Myostatin inhibitors include myostatin antibodies, myostatin propeptide, follistatin and follistatin-related protein. Although follistatin possesses potent myostatin-inhibiting activity, it works as an efficient inhibitor of activins. Unlike myostatin, activins regulate the growth and differentiation of nearly all cell types, including cells of the gonads, pituitary gland and skeletal muscle. We have developed a myostatin-specific inhibitor derived from follistatin, designated FS I-I. Transgenic mice expressing this myostatin-inhibiting peptide under the control of a skeletal muscle-specific promoter showed increased skeletal muscle mass and strength. mdx mice were crossed with FS I-I transgenic mice and any improvement of the pathological signs was investigated. The resulting mdx/FS I-I mice exhibited increased skeletal muscle mass and reduced cell infiltration in muscles. Muscle strength was also recovered in mdx/FS I-I mice. Our data indicate that myostatin inhibition by this follistatin-derived peptide has therapeutic potential for muscular dystrophy.


This RFC describes the features of the computerised facsimile system
developed in the Department of Computer Science at UCL. First its
functions are considered and the related experimental work are
reported. Then the disciplines for system design are discussed.
Finally, the implementation of the system are described, while
detailed description are given as appendices.


The purpose of this paper is to review the case for using 'capture' rather than recharge as the conceptual basis for sustainable groundwater use in South Africa. Capture refers to the sum of the increase in recharge and decrease in discharge brought about by pumping. Definitions of sustainability are reviewed, and the capture process is outlined. Implications for using the capture principle in the implementation of the NWA are discussed, and adaptive management is proposed as an appropriate management approach. Implications for groundwater monitoring are also discussed. Case studies are described that support the need for adaptive management and the application of the capture principle.


Indium is introduced here as a metallic binder in energetic composites as an approach for consolidating the media and providing a highly conductive percolating scaffold for enhancing energy transport. Indium can replace traditional polymer binders and provide an approach for not only binding composites but also enhancing energy transport. For energy generation applications, a commonly used formulation in thermal batteries is investigated and comprised of magnesium (Mg) and manganese dioxide (MnO2) powders mixed with varying indium (In) concentrations and pressed into thin sheets. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images indicated that during compression In flows through voids in the composite, resulting in a connected network of highly conductive filler. This network produces self-adhered composites that do not require additional binders. The thin sheets are ignited, flame speeds are measured, and specific energy ranged from 2000–5000 kJ kg−1 depending on the In concentration. Energy liberation is maximized for Mg + MnO2 mixed with 19 vol% In. Laser flash analyzer (LFA) thermal conductivity measurements demonstrate a good correlation between high energy propagation rates and optimal thermal conductivity. However, increased thermal conductivity is balanced by decreased heat production, and energy propagation decreased beyond 19 vol% In. Comparison of thermal conductivity measurements with predictions from classical and more recent percolation theories show that percolation in composites most closely aligns with the assumptions of the lattice percolation theory.


The volume presents, in a synergistic manner, significant theoretical and practical contributions in the area of social media reputation and authorship measurement, visualization, and modeling. The book justifies and proposes contributions to a future agenda for understanding the requirements for making social media authorship more transparent. Building on work presented in a previous volume of this series, Roles, Trust, and Reputation in Social Media Knowledge Markets, this book discusses new tools, applications, services, and algorithms that are needed for authoring content in a real-time publishing world. These insights may help people who interact and create content through social media better assess their potential for knowledge creation. They may also assist in analyzing audience attitudes, perceptions, and behavior in informal social media or in formal organizational structures. In addition, the volume includes several chapters that analyze the higher order ethical, critical thinking, and philosophical principles that may be used to ground social media authorship. Together, the perspectives presented in this volume helpus understand how social media content is created and how its impact can be evaluated. The chapters demonstrate thought leadership through new ways of constructing social media experiences and making traces of social interaction visible. Transparency in Social Media aims to help researchers and practitioners design services, tools, or methods of analysis that encourage a more transparent process of interaction and communication on social media. Knowing who has added what content and with what authority to a specific online social media project can help the user community better understand, evaluate and make decisions and, ultimately, act on the basis of such information.


The wild North American grapevine Vitis rupestris Scheele is an important genetic resource for viticulture, but its natural populations have been severely depleted. We collected samples from seven V. rupestris populations from the Ozark Plateau in Missouri and the Ouachita Mountains in Oklahoma and genotyped them with 14 microsatellite markers to assess allelic diversity, heterozygosity, and genetic differentiation at various levels of population structure. We found that genetic diversity in V. rupestris was similar to that measured in many V. vinifera L. ssp. sylvestris populations and in other outcrossing angiosperms. We detected significant genetic differentiation among populations (ΦPT = 0.105); there was no significant deviation from Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium in some populations, and there was moderate inbreeding in others. Pronounced differentiation between Missouri and Oklahoma populations was supported by a Bayesian clustering approach and principle coordinate analyses and was apparently a function of geographic distance. Genetic differentiation among Missouri populations was modest. We posit that population differentiation and genetic drift may be inherent characteristics of V. rupestris.


Long suppressed in the Soviet Union, the works of Ukraine's most noted historian, Mykhailo Hrushevs'kyi, have recently become the object of great interest in Ukraine. It is therefore necessary for the scholarly world to begin the process of re-examining Hrushevs'kyi's writing of history. This paper rejects the common interpretation that Hrushevs'kyi's work was a product of the nineteenth century Ukrainian populist tradition and was therefore indifferent to the idea of Ukrainian statehood or nationhood. By demonstrating the continuity of Ukraine's historical development, H rushevs'kyi sought to modify the traditional Russocentric interpretation and to show that Ukraine was a distinct nation with a tradition of statehood. This paper illustrates how Hrushevs'kyi's methodology, periodization scheme, and interpretive framework for East-Slavic history were all adjusted to support this "national idea;" this willingness to adapt his methods is the outstanding characteristic of Hrushcv's'kyi's historical methodology. His highly controversial interpretation of the origin of the East-Slavic peoples is also examined in this paper. Finally, Hrushevs'kyi's historical bias as well as his contribution to the scholarly world are considered.


Phosphorus depletion and hypophosphatemia have been described to hamper immune function in different species, an effect barely studied in dairy cows commonly developing hypophosphatemia in early lactation. Dietary P deprivation in mid lactating dairy cows was associated with a decline of the number of granulocytes and impaired granulocyte survival, whereas the phagocytic activity remained unaffected. The objective of the study reported here was to determine the effect of P deprivation on the leukocyte function of periparturient dairy cows. Eighteen multiparous and late pregnant dairy cows were randomly assigned to either a treatment group that was offered a markedly P-deficient diet or a control group receiving the same ration with adequate P content. The study consisted of a 2-wk acclimation period that was followed by a P deprivation period extending from 4 wk before to 4 wk after parturition and a P repletion period of 2 wk thereafter. Blood samples for leukocyte counts and leukocyte function analysis were obtained at the end of the acclimation period, after 2 wk of P deprivation, within the first week of lactation, at the end of the P depletion period and after 2 wk of dietary P supplementation. Blood samples for biochemical analysis were obtained weekly. Immune function was assessed by means of a phagocytosis assay and a lymphocyte stimulation test. Dietary P deprivation resulted in pronounced and sustained hypophosphatemia. Time effects were observed on the counts of different leukocyte fractions, the relative number of phagocytic granulocytes, the degree of phagocytosis, and the lymphocyte proliferation. Differences between P-deprived and control cows were only identified for the degree of phagocytosis that was lower in P-deprived cows compared with control cows. The correlation and regression analyses, however, revealed positive associations of the plasma phosphate concentration and the granulocyte count, the relative number of phagocytic granulocytes, and the degree of phagocytosis at the end of the dietary P deprivation when P depletion was most severe. The results of the study reported here indicate a mild negative effect of pronounced and sustained hypophosphatemia on the granulocyte count and the phagocytic activity of granulocytes in transition dairy cows. The clinical relevance of this effect for health and productivity of dairy cows remains to be determined.


This Article constructs frameworks for analyzing federalism's undertheorized horizontal dimension. Discussions of federalism generally focus on the hierarchical (or vertical) allocation of power between the national and state governments while overlooking the horizontal allocation of power among coequal states. Models of federal-state relations tend to treat the fifty states as a single aggregate unit, obscuring the fact that individual states often cannot concurrently exercise their powers without infringing the other states' autonomy, frustrating the others' legitimate interests, or burdening the others' citizens. Preserving interstate harmony and protecting citizens from excessive burdens therefore requires limits on how states may wield their shared authority. Constitutional law currently addresses these limits in a piecemeal fashion through doctrines regulating such diverse subjects as personal jurisdiction, restraints on interstate commerce, choice of law, federal subject-matter jurisdiction, interstate compacts, federal common law, tax apportionment, interjurisdictional preclusion, and discrimination based on state citizenship. This Article moves beyond the piecemeal approach by identifying facets of horizontal federalism that transcend doctrinal categories. Considering these common features without the distraction of historically contingent doctrinal labels can help reconfigure jurisprudence that is often unprincipled, unsatisfying, and unstable. The Article proceeds in four steps. First, it defines horizontal federalism, explains how horizontal and vertical federalism overlap, and explores structural features of the Constitution that complicate efforts to define limits on state authority. Second, it groups seemingly unrelated examples of state action into eight categories. This typology highlights thematic connections between forms of state action that prevailing doctrine often treats separately. Third, the Article analyzes the Constitution holistically to identify the clauses that regulate horizontal federalism and consider how these fragments fit together to resolve, deter, or mitigate problems arising from the categories of state action noted above. This approach identifies five methods that the Constitution uses to regulate interstate activity. Finally, the Article develops a model for analyzing jurisprudence implementing the Constitution's methods for coping with horizontal federalism. This model reveals that horizontal federalism doctrines rely on a varying combination of four concepts: capacity (the scope of a state's sovereign authority), constraint (rights or immunities that limit state power), centralization (express or implied federal preemption or authorization of state action), and comity (the need for states to respect each other even when capacity exists free from constraint or central control). Identifying these concepts exposes at least three sources of incoherence or instability within horizontal federalism jurisprudence. First, individual judicial decisions are often imprecise about which concept controls, leading to a lack of fit between reasoning and outcomes. Second, the role of the four concepts can vacillate within a line of precedent over time, leading to confusion about a doctrine's rationale and proper application. Finally, distinct lines of precedent can deploy the four concepts differently despite the lack of meaningful distinctions between the doctrines' underlying purposes or functions. Parsing and critiquing capacity, constraint, centralization, and comity arguments can therefore affect the implementation, justification, and coordination of horizontal federalism doctrines. The model thus provides a foundation for future scholarship reevaluating vast swaths of constantly evolving law.


the aim of the article is to define the concept of territorial classification and typology, including classification and typology of spatial units, and to systematize the practical variants of the method, as well as to identify the possibilities of using functional structure as a research tool. it systematizes existing approaches of creating functional classifications and typologies and presents examples of their application in analyses to interpret and explain dissection of individual variables. the paper consists of two parts. in the first one the spatial unit classification has been defined and distinguished from related terms. different classification of rural areas has been systemized using formal and methodological or substantive criteria. in the second part, diverse empirical examples of rural spatial units classifications regarding functional structure and their application have been examined in relation to above mentioned systematics.


Caprocks are impermeable sedimentary formations that overlie prospective geologic CO2 storage reservoirs. As such, caprocks will be relied upon to trap CO2 and prevent vertical fluid migration and leakage. Natural and industrial analogues provide evidence of long-term performance of caprocks in holding buoyant fluids. However, the large volumes of CO2 that must be injected and stored to meaningfully reduce anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions will exert unprecedented geomechanical and geochemical burdens on caprock formations due to elevated formation pressures and brine acidification.

Caprocks have inherent vulnerabilities in that wellbores, faults and fractures that transect caprock formations may provide conduits for CO2 and/or brine to leak out of the intended storage formation. As a result, a critical criterion for CO2 storage reservoir siting assessments will be to predict and reliably quantify the risk of leakage through caprock formations. We use "flow paths" as a catchall term for any fluid conduit through caprocks including pore networks, fractures and faults along with any combination of the three elements. It is useful to assess leakage rates through flow paths in terms of their individual transmissivity, T [m4], which is the product of the permeability and the cross-sectional area of the flow path. Darcy's law can be used to relate these intrinsic flow path characteristics and the hydraulic potential (pressure) gradient to determine a volumetric flow rate, Q , or a leakage rate for the individual flow path:

![Formula][1] (1)
Where P is the hydraulic potential [Pa], z is the depth [m], μ is the fluid viscosity [Pa s] and A [m2] is the cross-sectional area of the flow path perpendicular to flow, and A equals the product of average fracture aperture and fracture length normal to the flow direction. Predicting leakage potential, however, is extremely complex because assessments …

 [1]: /embed/mml-math-1.gif


Abstract
Rhesus monkeys inoculated with yellow fever (YF) (DakH 1279) virus had a predictable course. Death occurred 108–135 hours after infection and was preceded by a 14- to 25-hour period during which clinical signs and physiological changes were present. Viremia was first detected 48 hours after inoculation and peaked at 96 hours. Abnormal liver function (elevated serum bilirubin and transaminases and retention of bromsulfalein) was not detected until approximately 24 hours before, nor hypoglycemia until 8 hours or less before death. Chemical hepatic dysfunction and histopathologic alterations developed precipitously; needle liver biopsies up to 23 hours before death revealed only Kupffer cell changes without hepatocellular degeneration, whereas at necropsy there was coagulative necrosis of the entire liver. Renal function was also not impaired until the terminal 24-hour period, during which urine output diminished, proteinuria, and cylindruria appeared, and serum creatinine rose. A marked fall in 24-hour urinary Na+ excretion was a feature of the early oliguric phase, and needle biopsies of the kidney were normal. At autopsy, there was necrosis of the tubular epithelium and accumulation of cell debris and proteinaceous material in the tubular lumina. These findings suggest that the acute tubular necrosis may be the end result of prerenal hemodynamic alterations and azotemia, and thus be preventable. Acid-base and electrolyte disturbances were late findings. Between 2 and 9 hours before death, arterial pCO2 fell; there followed a modest decline in pH, and systolic and pulse pressures gradually decreased. In the final 1–2 hours, pCO2 rose acutely and severe acidemia, hyperkalemia, and shock developed. These pathophysiologic changes suggest the need to investigate therapeutic countermeasures. No definitive evidence for disseminated intravascular coagulation was obtained in our experiments. An interesting finding was the marked acute necrosis of B cell areas of lymphoid tissues, and further studies are indicated to define possible immunosuppressive effects of YF viral lymphoid injury. The lymphoid necrosis may be diagnostically helpful; examination of spleen and nodes has been overlooked in the histopathologic diagnosis of human YF. Speculations on the possible role of bacterial endotoxemia in the pathogenesis of fatal YF are discussed.


Correspondence: Deborah James, NIHR National Biomedical Research Unit in Hearing, Ropewalk House, 113 The Ropewalk, Nottingham NG1 5DU, UK E-mail: deborah.james@ nottingham.ac.uk Abstract Background This paper describes the impact of a family-centred intervention that used video to enhance communication in a young girl with cerebral palsy. This single case study describes how the video-based intervention worked in the context of multimodal communication, which included high-tech augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device use. This paper includes the family's perspective of the video intervention and they describe the impact of it on their family. Methods This single case study was based on the premise that the video interaction guidance intervention would increase attentiveness between participants during communication. It tests a hypothesis that eye gaze is a fundamental prerequisite for all communicative initiatives, regardless of modality in the child. Multimodality is described as the range of communicative behaviours used by the child and these are coded as AAC communication, vocalizations (intelligible and unintelligible), sign communication, nodding and pointing. Change was analysed over time with multiple testing both pre and post intervention. Data were analysed within INTERACT, a computer software to analyse behaviourally observed data. Behaviours were analysed for frequency and duration, contingency and co-occurrence. Results Results indicated increased duration of mother's and girl's eye gaze, increased frequency and duration in AAC communication by the girl and significant change in frequency [c (5, n = 1) = 13.25, P < 0.05] and duration [c (5, n = 1) = 12.57, P < 0.05] of the girl's multimodal communicative behaviours. Contingency and co-occurrence analysis indicated that mother's eye gaze followed by AAC communication was the most prominent change between the preand post-intervention assessments. Conclusions There was a trend for increased eye gaze in both mum and girl and AAC communication in the girl following the video intervention. The family's perspective concurs with the results.


In the past, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) techniques have routinely been used to test for measurement equivalence in longitudinal data. However, item response theory (IRT) techniques also can be used for this task. This study illustrates that a particular type IRT technique (likelihood ratio tests) are conceptually and pragmatically more appropriate for testing for measurement equivalence in longitudinal data than are the CFA analyses. Data were simulated using both CFA and IRT paradigms manipulating the number of items simulated, the number of items with simulated differences, and differences in sample size. The CFA simulated data also contained simulated differences in factor loadings, factor variance, and item intercepts. The IRT simulated data also contained simulated differences in item parameters and varying degrees of canceling differences. CFA and two IRT analyses, likelihood ratio (LR) tests and differential functioning of items and tests (DFIT), were used to analyze the data. Results show that the CFA analyses currently in use do not perform as well as the LR IRT tests for detecting differences in longitudinal data. Furthermore, the widely used DFIT IRT analyses showed extremely poor performance in detecting these simulated differences.


Chapters one to three are an introduction to photosensitive epilepsy, electroencephalography (EEG) and the magnocellular and parvocellular visual pathways. Photoparoxysmal response (PPR) are strongly associated with photosensitive epilepsy. Chapters four to nine investigated whether occipital spikes were associated with PPR and hence with photosensitive epilepsy. The chapters investigated whether the response types showed similar dependence on stimulus characteristics using EEG. Chapters four and five found that occipital spikes and PPR showed different dependence on colour and luminance contrast. The differences were consistent with the magnocellular pathway mediating occipital spikes and the pavocellular pathway mediating PPR. The study in chapter eight found that monocular occlusion had a significantly greater effect on PPR than on occipital spikes, which is further evidence against an association between the two types of response. Chapters six and seven showed that occipital spikes and PPR had similar optimum spatial and temporal frequencies. Chapter nine showed that both response types could be generated via stimulation of the periphery of the retina. However, these three chapters are not strong evidence of an association, as the results do not contradict the theory that the responses are generated via different pathways. The magnocellular and pavocellular pathways have similar optimum temporal and spatial frequencies and both are present in the periphery. In chapter ten, magnetoencephalography was used to estimate the source of activity underlying the components of the VEP and occipital spike. Changes in the amplitude and latency in the components of the normal VEP are associated with epilepsy. However, the source underlying the occipital spikes was not related to that underlying the components of the VEP so this is also removed as a source of evidence for an association between occipital spikes and photosensitive epilepsy.


OBJECTIVES
The aim of this study was to compare the sharp and blunt needles in order to determine the incidence of complications during transforaminal anterior epidural steroid injections.

METHODS
In this retrospective study, 185 cases that undergo transforaminal epidural steroid injection with sharp or blunt needles were evaluated between June 2004 and December 2008. Patients age, sex, diagnosis, needle type (sharp or blunt), volume of local anesthetic and steroid injected, complications (paresthesia, dural puncture, bleeding, paralysis, intravascular penetration, headache, local back pain, temporary motor loss in lower extremities) was recorded.

RESULTS
3 cases in blunt needle group and 8 cases in sharp needle group showed paresthesia during the procedure. The difference was not found to be significant among the groups. Vascular penetration was observed in 2 cases in blunt and 13 cases in sharp needle group and the difference between groups was statistically significant (p<0.001). Dural puncture and headache incidence were not significant when the two groups are compared. The local back pain at the injection site had a higher incidence in the blunt needle group.

CONCLUSION
When using the blunt needles, vascular penetration and paresthesia were less during transforaminal epidural steroid injections. Therefore blunt needles seem to be more advantageous.


This paper describes a new strategy for synthesizing electrocatalytically active bimetallic Pt and Ru nanoparticle (NP) composite films by combining Pt and Ru NP films. Each metal NP film could be generated at the water/oil interface and its subsequent transfer to conducting substrates allowed one to rationally design the contact ratio between Pt and Ru NPs. Significantly, each metal NP size could be predetermined by controlling the synthetic conditions, and the interparticle contact between Pt and Ru NPs could be tuned by altering the transfer order. The electrocatalytic activity of the resulting NP composite films toward methanol was investigated as a function of Pt and Ru NP contact ratios. It was found that the maximum contact between Pt and Ru NPs contributes to the minimization of CO poisoning on Pt surfaces, which leads to the maximum electrocatalytic activity toward methanol electrooxidation.


This report examines the history of arsenic pollution from Giant Yellowknife Gold Mine, and its
environmental and public health impacts. It is based on extensive archival research in national and
territorial archives, as well as oral histories (published and unpublished) and a review of public reports
on the issue.
Operating from 1948 to 2004, Giant Mine produced over 7 million ounces of gold mined from
arsenopyrite ore formations located on the north shore of Yellowknife Bay. Gold processing entailed
roasting the ore, producing as a byproduct arsenic trioxide dust, a highly toxic form of arsenic. In the
early 1950s, arsenic emissions from Giant and Con mines totalled an estimated 22,000 lbs. per day.
Though Con mine installed a scrubber in 1949, Giant mine (the source of most of the arsenic) did not
install pollution control equipment until the end of 1951, after a Dene child died of acute arsenic
poisoning at Latham Island. Local livestock also died as from arsenic poisoning. Government and mine
officials met at the time to discuss how to address the problem of arsenic pollution, but never
contemplated even a temporary shutdown of the mine.
The capture of arsenic using a Cottrell Electrostatic Precipitator reduced but did not eliminate arsenic.
Collection rates were further improved by the installation of a baghouse in 1958. Studies undertaken
through the 1950s and 1960s revealed persistent high levels of arsenic on local produce and berries.
Concerns remained about water pollution from both atmospheric deposition and arsenic- and cyanidelaced
tailings effluent. The collection of arsenic, , also resulted in the fateful decision to store arsenic
trioxide dust in underground chambers and mined-out stopes. Today, the 237,000 tonnes of arsenic
trioxide underground at Giant remains the central environmental challenge for the reclamation and
remediation of the site.
Public health studies undertaken in the 1960s suggested a possible link between arsenic exposure and
elevated cancer rates in Yellowknife, but these studies were not made public until the 1970s. A series
of independent and government studies followed these revelations as public concern mounted over
the health effects of long-term arsenic exposure. Further reductions in arsenic emissions from Giant
were achieved, and the mine constructed a tailings effluent treatment system in 1981. While local
activists raised concerns about sulphur dioxide and arsenic emissions in the early 1990s, territorial
government studies concluded these emissions did not pose a public health risk.
For the Yellowknives Dene First Nation in particular, memories of mine development and subsequent
arsenic pollution of their traditional lands are painful. Some Dene worked at the mine, but the
communities of Ndilo and Dettah saw few benefits from the mines overall. Yet these communities, due
to their location in relation to Giant, were on the front line of arsenic exposure over the half-century
ofits operation. The Yellowknives Dene not only suffered disproportional health impacts from arsenic
pollution, but also the loss of harvesting areas due to the appropriation of land for the mining
operations and urban growth in the city of Yellowknife.


(No paper) The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) has constructed hundreds of water storage and delivery projects throughout the 17 western United States. These projects vary in size and complexity from a simple water distribution system to a complex combination of dams, pumps, electrical generators and distribution system such as the Central Valley Project in California. Construction of these projects was funded by Reclamation. Water user organizations signed contracts to repay the reimbursable cost of constructing these facilities over an extended period of time. Because the construction was funded by Reclamation, title to the facilities remained in their hands even though the water users repaid all reimbursable costs. Reclamation has turned the operation and maintenance responsibility over to the water user entities in most cases. Faced with a decline in manpower and budgets, and in response to the second phase of the National Performance Review (REGO II), Reclamation developed a Framework for the Transfer of Title - Bureau of Reclamation Projects. This framework was released to the public on August 7, 1995. The framework was to define and guide the transfer of title to facilities that could be efficiently and effectively managed by non-Federal entities and that are not identified as having national importance. It has now been three years since this program was introduced and as of February 1999, not one facility has been transferred pursuant to the framework. Although a few projects have been transferred by the U.S. Congress, attempts at title transfer using the framework established by Reclamation seem to be stymied. The reasons for not effecting a transfer are as varied as the projects themselves. Reviewing the case histories of three separate title transfer efforts provide examples of the problems encountered in following Reclamation's Framework to achieve title transfer. Reclamation's efforts to transfer the title of some facilities to non-government entities seems to come from good intentions but is not being accomplished because of resistance from other interests, leaving prospective beneficiaries of the program wondering if title transfer is to be a fact or fiction.


In this paper, He's homotopy perturbation method is applied to solve linear Schrodinger equation. The method yields solutions in convergent series forms with easily computable terms. The result show that these method is very convenient and can be applied to large class of problems. Some numerical examples are given to effectiveness of the method.


The paper focuses on the analysis of the African-American film Daughters of the Dust . Due to the film's geographical setting, narrative techniques, feminist perspective and immersion in the postcolonial context, it is possible to analyze it in the context of intertextuality and in correlation with other important films and novels. The technique of juxtaposing the past and the present is emphasized as means of depicting the importance of communal memories. From a linguistic point of view, the film Daughters of the Dust represents an ideal site for investigating the characteristics of Gullah Creole as a product of contact between English and West African languages. Such linguistic contact represents a part of a broader cultural contatact within which it is possible to identify language conflict and language ideology, notions which emerge in the analysis of efforts to maintain the cultural and linguistic identity of Gullah speakers.


Objective: Vaginal colonisation with Lactobacillus species is characteristic of normal vaginal ecology. The absence of vaginal lactobacilli, particularly hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-producing isolates, has been associated with symptomatic bacterial vaginosis (BV) and increased risk for HIV-1 acquisition. Identification of factors associated with vaginal Lactobacillus colonisation may suggest interventions to improve vaginal health. Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study of correlates of vaginal Lactobacillus colonisation among Kenyan HIV-1 seronegative female sex workers. At monthly follow-up visits, vaginal Lactobacillus cultures were obtained. Generalised estimating equations were used to examine demographic, behavioural and medical correlates of Lactobacillus isolation, including isolation of H2O2-producing strains. Results: Lactobacillus cultures were obtained from 1020 women who completed a total of 8896 follow-up visits. Vaginal washing, typically with water alone or with soap and water, was associated with an approximately 40% decreased likelihood of Lactobacillus isolation, including isolation of H2O2-producing strains. Recent antibiotic use, excluding metronidazole and treatments for vaginal candidiasis, reduced Lactobacillus isolation by ∼30%. H2O2-producing lactobacilli were significantly less common among women with Trichomonas vaginalis infection and those who were seropositive for herpes simplex virus type 2. In contrast, H2O2-producing lactobacilli were significantly more common among women with concurrent vaginal candidiasis. Conclusions: Modifiable biological and behavioural factors are associated with Lactobacillus colonisation in African women. Our results suggest intervention strategies to improve vaginal health in women at high risk for HIV-1.


Geographic information systems use databases to map keywords to places. These databases are currently most often created by using a top-down approach based on the geographic definitions. However, there is a problem with this approach in that these databases only contain location definitions such as addresses and place names, which does not allow for searches using keywords other than these words. Additionally, they do not give any information on the popularity, e.g., which is more popular among the places indexed by the same keyword. A bottom-up approach, based on the actual usage of words, can address these problems. We propose a method to aggregate tagging data and extract places related to a tag using the pair of a tag and a geo-tagged photo. We target the co-occurrence of a tag and the geolocation and represent the places related to a tag as a probability distribution over the longitudes and latitudes. We applied our method to data on the photo sharing service Flickr and experimentally confirmed that our method made it possible to highly-accurately extract places related to tags. Our direct bottom-up approach enables the extraction of place information that is not obtained by using traditional top-down approaches.


Omar is a restless young Asian man, caring for his alcoholic father in the hustling London of the mid-1980s. His uncle, a keen Thatcherite, offers Omar an entrepreneurial opportunity to revamp a dingy laundrette, and ambitious Omar rolls up his sleeves, enlisting the assistance of his old school-friend Johnny, who has since fallen in with a gang of neo-fascists. Omar and Johnny soon form an unlikely alliance that leads to business success, as well as other, more intimate surprises.


We investigate the power of physical unclonable functions (PUFs) as a new primitive in cryptographic protocols. Our contributions split into three parts. Firstly, we focus on the realiza bility of PUF-protocols in a special type of stand-alone setting (the "stand-alone, good PUF setting") under minimal assumptions. We provide new PUF definitions that require only weak average security properties of the PUF, and prove that these definitions suffice to realize secure PUF-based oblivious transfer (OT), bit com mitment (BC) and key exchange (KE) in said setting. Our protocols for OT, BC and KE are partly new, and have certain practicality and security advantages compared to existing schemes. In the second part of the paper, we formally prove that there are very sharp limits on the usability of PUFs for OT and KE beyond the above stand-alone, good PUF scenario. We introduce two new and realistic attack models, the so-called posterior access model (PAM) and the bad PUF model, and prove several impossibility results in these models. First, OT and KE protocols whose security is solely based on PUFs are generally impossible in the PAM. More precisely, one-time access of an adversary to the PUF after the end of a single protocol (sub-)session makes all previous (sub-)sessions provably insecure. Second, OT whose security is solely based on PUFs is impossible in the bad PUF model, even if only a stand alone execution of the protocol is considered (i.e., even if no adversarial PUF access after the protocol is allowed). Our impossibility proofs do not only hold for the weak PUF definition of the first part of the paper, but even apply if ideal rand omness and unpredictability is assumed in the PUF, i.e., if the PUF is modeled as a random permutation oracle. In the third part, we investigate the feasibility of PUF-based bit commitment beyond the stand-alone, good PUF setting. For a number of reasons, this case is more complicated than OT and KE. We first prove that BC is impossible in the bad PUF model if players have got access to the PUF between the commit and the reveal phase. Again, this result holds even if the PUF is "ideal" and modeled as a random permutation oracle. Secondly, we sketch (without proof) two new BC-protocols, which can deal with bad PUFs or with adversarial access between the commit and reveal phase, but not with both. We hope that our results can contribute to a clarification of the usability of PUF s in cryptographic protocols. They show that new hardware properties such as offline certifiability and the erasure of PUF responses would be required in order to make PUFs a broadly applicable cryptographic tool. These features have not yet been realized in practical PUF-implementations and generally seem hard to achieve at low costs. Our findings also show that the question how PUFs can be modeled comprehensively in a UC-setting must be considered at least partly open.


The marketing of tourism destinations has become increasingly competitive. However, a tourism destination cannot be seen as a single destination-based entity competing with other destinations. Each tourism destination manager must typically integrate a network of interested stakeholders and mediate between political aims and operational realities. Websites are an increasingly important focus for competitive differentiation of tourism destinations. This research examines the effects of cultural differences on website development by comparing cultural environments typified by a prevalence of collectivism with those typified by individualism. Websites from a sample of French and English seaside tourism destinations are compared, with a focus on tourism destination brand image elements. Our approach combines two methods. First, we analyse specific communicated images. Second, interviews with officials of these cities are undertaken to compare the communicated image to the desired one. We find that cities with a similar environment communicate elements of their natural settings as well as other brand elements, but the communicated image often does not correspond to the desired brand image. Therefore we propose a model to promote the desired destination brand image.


The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of sight-reading instruction on the performance achievement of instrumentalists. Participants (N = 30) were high school band students divided into treatment (n = 16) and control (n = 14) groups. Participants engaged in pretest and posttest assessments for sight-reading accuracy using the Watkins-Farnum Performance Scale and for performance achievement using the Winds Brass Percussion Solo Evaluation Form. The treatment group members received instruction in sight-reading using The Sight-Reading Book for Band, Volume 4 for a portion of 20 consecutive band rehearsals before posttest assessments. Performance achievement of participants in the treatment group declined, while performance of the control group members improved. I found statistical significance in the between subjects effects for performance and grade level (F = 7.38, df = 3, p < .001). Ninthgrade students made significant gains in performance scores, consistent with previous researchers who found greatest gains in performance in younger grades. While there was modest improvement in the sight-reading scores of the participants in both groups, the control group members scored higher than the treatment group members, although the gains were not statistically significant.


Nitric oxide (NO) has been implicated in the establishment of precise synaptic connectivity throughout the neuroaxis in several species. To determine the contribution of NO to NMDA receptor-dependent dendritic growth in motor neurons, we administered the NMDA antagonist MK-801 to wild-type mice and neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) knock-out mice between postnatal days 7 and 14. Compared to saline-treated wild-type animals the number of dendritic bifurcations was significantly reduced in nNOS knock-out animals and MK-801-treated wild-type animals. There was no significant difference in dendritic bifurcation between MK-801-treated wild-type, MK-801-treated nNOS knock-out, and saline-treated nNOS knock-out animals, suggesting that nNOS knock-out and NMDA receptor block had similar effects. The path of the longest dendrite and the number of primary dendrites was the same in all treatment groups, indicating an effect specific to bifurcation. Sholl analysis revealed that differences in bifurcation numbers occurred between 160 and 320 μm from the cell body, the distance at which second, third, and fourth order dendrites are most prevalent. Dendrite order analyses confirmed a significant reduction in numbers, but not lengths, of third and fourth order dendrites in nNOS knock-out and drug-treatment groups. Finally, immunohistochemical examination of the developing spinal cord indicated that NMDA receptors and nNOS are colocalized within interneurons surrounding the motor neuron pool. These results support the view that at least part of NMDA receptor-dependent arborization of motor neuron dendrites is mediated by the local production of NO within the developing spinal cord.


The objectives of the Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments (FRAME) are spelled out, as laid down in the Charity's Trust Deed of 1969, and the support of the Charity's trustees, consultants, patrons and staff in all that has been achieved during its first 40 years, are recognised. The recent establishment of the W.M.S. and Claire Russell Archive at the University of Nottingham is recognised as a further important link between FRAME and the University.


Background: Efficacy of guideline cardiovascular disease prevention regimens may differ between patients with or without type II diabetes mellitus. We therefore compared change in carotid artery wall dimensions in type II diabetes mellitus and non-type II diabetes mellitus patients with a history of a major cardiovascular disease event, using magnetic resonance imaging. Methods: Thirty type II diabetes mellitus patients and 29 age- and sex-matched non-diabetes mellitus patients with a history of stroke or myocardial infarction and a carotid artery stenosis (15%–70%) were included. In all patients, treatment was according to cardiovascular risk management guidelines. At baseline and follow-up, carotid artery vessel wall dimensions were measured using 1.5 T magnetic resonance imaging. Results: After 2 years of follow-up, total wall volume of the carotid artery in type II diabetes mellitus patients decreased by 9.6% (p = 0.016). In contrast, stabilization rather than regression of carotid artery wall dimensions was observed in non-diabetes mellitus patients over a 2-year period. Body mass index was identified as a predictor of total wall volume decrease. Conclusions: Guideline treatment arrests atherogenesis in non-diabetes mellitus patients and even decreases vessel wall dimensions in type II diabetes mellitus patients. Baseline body mass index predicts cardiovascular disease prevention efficacy expressed as decrease in total wall volume. These data emphasize the importance of optimal cardiovascular-prevention, particularly in diabetes patients with a high body mass index.


Background: In patients with ischaemic cardiomyopathy and viable myocardium, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) does not always improve after revascularisation. Whether this may affect prognosis is unclear. Objective: To evaluate the prognosis of viable patients with and without improvement of LVEF after coronary revascularisation. Methods: Before revascularisation, radionuclide ventriculography (RNV) and dobutamine stress echocardiography were performed to assess LVEF and myocardial viability, respectively. Nine to 12 months after revascularisation, LVEF improvement was assessed by RNV. Patients were divided into three groups: group 1, viable patients with LVEF improvement (n = 27); group 2, viable patients without LVEF improvement (n = 15), group 3, non-viable patients (n = 48). Cardiac events were evaluated during a 4-year follow-up. Results: After revascularisation, the mean (SD) LVEF improved from 32 (9)% to 42 (10)% in group 1, but did not change significantly in group 2 and in group 3, p<0.001 by analysis of variance (ANOVA). Heart failure symptoms improved in both groups 1 (mean (SD) NYHA class from 3.1 (0.9) to 1.7 (0.7)) and 2 (from 3.2 (0.7) to 1.7 (0.9)), but not in group 3 (from 2.8 (1.0) to 2.7 (0.5)), p<0.001 by ANOVA. During follow-up, the cardiac event rate was low (4%) in group 1, intermediate (21%) in group 2 and high (33%) in group 3 (p = 0.01). Conclusion: The best prognosis after revascularisation may be expected in those viable patients whose LVEF improves. Conversely, viable patients without functional improvement have an intermediate prognosis.


Abstract Ever since the character strings on silicon wafers were read using OCR (Optical Character Recognition) cameras, there has been a problem with damaged characters. This problem is due to reflection from the light source or physical damage of the characters themselves. There are obvious types of damage that occur frequently on many of the bitmaps that the OCR camera reads. With these types, one can test them to find the most damaging types for each particular character. However, currently there is no known research that systematically determines the worst damages or limits of damage to characters for specific OCR methods such as template matching or neural network algorithms. This article presents algorithms for testing common forms of damages on template-matching optical readers reading strings on silicon wafers. It also displays results from combining a simple neural network and the algorithms. The results on readability are critical for the development of robust OCR systems.


In utilities using a mixture of hydroelectric and nonhydroelectric power, the economics of the hydroelectric plants depend upon the reservoir height and the inflow into the reservoir for several months into the future. Accurate forecasts of reservoir inflow allow the utility to feed proper amounts of fuel to individual plants, and to economically allocate the load between various nonhydroelectric plants. For this reasons, several companies in the Brazilian Electrical Sector use the linear time series models such as PARMA (periodic auto regressive moving average) models. This paper provides for river flow prediction a numerical comparison between nonlinear sigmoidal regression blocks networks (NSRBN), called NeuroInflow and PARMA models. The model was implemented to forecast monthly average inflow with a long-term prediction horizon (one to twelve months ahead). It was tested on 37 hydroelectric plants located in different river basins in Brazil. The results obtained in the evaluation of the performance of NeuroInflow were better than the results obtained with PARMA models.


This
paper shows how a desktop simulation can be migrated into its cloud equivalence
using Windows Azure. It is undeniable that simulators are expensive and
cost-intensive regarding maintenance and upgrading, and thus, it is not always
feasible to buy such a simulator. Therefore, it will be of great significance
if we have an approach, which provides simulators with services through the
Internet with the aim of making them accessible from anywhere and at any time.
That is, researchers and developers can focus on their actual researches and
experiments and the intended output results. The cloud simulation
infrastructure of this contribution is capable of hosting different simulations
with the ability to be cloned as cloud services. The simulator example used here
mimics the process of a distillation column to be seen as a widely used plant
in several industrial applications. The cloud simulation core embedded in the
cloud environment is fully independent from the developed user-interface of the
simulator meaning that the cloud simulator can be connected to any
user-interface. This allows simulation users such as process control and alarm
management designers to connect to the cloud simulator in order to design,
develop and experiment their systems on a "pay-as-you-go" basis as it is the
case of most cloud computing services, aimed at providing computing services as
utilities like water and electricity. For coding convenience, Windows Azure was
selected for both developing the cloud simulation and hosting it in the cloud
because of the fact that the source code of the desktop simulator is already
available in C# based on dot Net technology. From a software technical point of
view, UML graphical notations were applied
in order to express the software requirement specifications of the distributed
cloud simulation, representing a widespread technology in the object-oriented
design and analysis.


Poor harvesting, packaging, and storage practices harm cocoyam ( Xanthosoma spp) cormels resulting in short shelf life and post harvest loses. Packaging materials namely, jute sack and woven polypropylene sack, and storage methods namely, storage in moistened 'wawa' sawdust and on platform in open-air were employed in the storage of cocoyam cormels, purchased from the open markets in the Greater Accra Region, to determine the packaging material(s) and storage method(s) most efficient and ideal for prolonging shelf life and reducing post harvest loses of cocoyam cormels. Most of the fungal species encountered were wound pathogens, belonging to five different genera: Aspergillus, Fusarium, Cladosporium, Penicillium, and Lasiodiplodia . The resident mycoflora in the cormels increased from an initial 3.0 - 3.5 log10 CFU to 4.2 – 5.3 log10 CFU/g in 30 days. Of all the Aspergillus species encountered, only A. fumigates failed to colonize the cormels upon inoculation. The presence of these fungi on the cocoyam cormels varied according to the type of packaging material and storage method employed. Packaging in woven polypropylene sack and storage on platform in open-air recorded higher mycoflora population, and were also less suitable for prolonging shelf life and reducing post harvest loses of cocoyam cormels. Jute sack, and moistened 'wawa' sawdust were the better packaging material and storage method respectively. Storage in moistened 'wawa' sawdust for 50 days, did not significantly affect the texture and the nutritional status of the cormels. Overall, the red cocoyam variety stored better than the white variety.


Few investigators have studied cognition over time in adults with heart failure (HF). A battery of neuropsychological tests was administered to 279 adults with chronic systolic or diastolic HF at baseline, three and six months. Growth mixture modeling (GMM) was used to model the measure anticipated to be most sensitive, the digit symbol substitution task (DSST). We describe how and why the DSST patterns change over time. Other measures of cognition were examined to identify consistency with the DSST patterns. The sample was predominantly male (63.2%), Caucasian (62.7%), mean age 62 years. The best fit GMM revealed two trajectories of DSST scores: Average processing speed group (40.5%) and Below Average processing speed (59.9%). Neither group changed significantly over the six month study. Other measures of cognition were consistent with the DSST patterns. Factors significantly associated with increased odds of being in the Below Average processing speed group included older age, male gender, Non-Caucasian race, less education, higher ejection fraction, high comorbid burden, excessive daytime sleepiness, and higher BMI. As some of the factors related to cognitive impairment are modifiable, research is needed to identify interventions to preserve and improve cognition in these patients.


It has been hypothesized that suppression of bone remodeling allows microdamage to accumulate, leading to increased bone fragility. This study evaluated the effects of reduced bone turnover produced by bisphosphonates on microdamage accumulation and biomechanical properties of cortical bone in the dog rib. Thirty‐six female beagles, 1–2 years old, were divided into three groups. The control group (CNT) was treated daily for 12 months with saline vehicle. The remaining two groups were treated daily with risedronate (RIS) at a dose of 0.5 mg/kg per day or alendronate (ALN) at 1.0 mg/kg per day orally. After sacrifice, the right ninth rib was assigned to cortical histomorphometry or microdamage analysis. The left ninth rib was tested to failure in three‐point bending. Total cross‐sectional bone area was significantly increased in both RIS and ALN compared with CNT, whereas cortical area did not differ significantly among groups. One‐year treatment with RIS or ALN significantly suppressed intracortical remodeling (RIS, 53%; ALN, 68%) without impairment of mineralization and significantly increased microdamage accumulation in both RIS (155%) and ALN (322%) compared with CNT. Although bone strength and stiffness were not significantly affected by the treatments, bone toughness declined significantly in ALN (20%). Regression analysis showed a significant nonlinear relationship between suppressed intracortical bone remodeling and microdamage accumulation as well as a significant linear relationship between microdamage accumulation and reduced toughness. This study showed that suppression of bone turnover by high doses of bisphosphonates is associated with microdamage accumulation and reduced some mechanical properties of bone.


Aims. In this paper, we present the analysis of time-series observations from 2013 and 2014 of five metal-rich ([Fe /H] > 1) globular clusters: NGC 6388, NGC 6441, NGC 6528, NGC 6638, and NGC 6652. The data have been used to perform a census of the variable stars in the central parts of these clusters. Methods. The observations were made with the electron-multiplying charge-couple device (EMCCD) camera at the Danish 1.54m Telescope at La Silla, Chile, and they were analysed using di ff erence image analysis to obtain high-precision light curves of the variable stars. Results. It was possible to identify and classify all of the previously known or suspected variable stars in the central regions of the five clusters. Furthermore, we were able to identify and, in most cases, classify 48, 49, 7, 8, and 2 previously unknown variables in NGC 6388, NGC 6441, NGC 6528, NGC 6638, and NGC 6652, respectively. Especially interesting is the case of NGC 6441, for which the variable star population of about 150 stars has been thoroughly examined by previous studies, including a Hubble Space Telescope study. In this paper we are able to present 49 new variable stars for this cluster, of which one (possibly two) are RR Lyrae stars, two areWVirginis stars, and the rest are long-period semi-regular or irregular variables on the red giant branch. We have also detected the first double-mode RR Lyrae in the cluster.


Abstract Residential property is a popular investment option and has historically attracted small Australian individual investors with debt financing lowering the initial equity component, favourable tax structure and past evidence of good returns. A major concern with this approach is uncertainty, where stable assumptions cease to hold and there is concentrated negative price movement. This extreme downside volatility may not be fully reflected in traditional risk calculations. This research studies 40 years of quarterly Melbourne established residential property market performance data for normal distribution features and signs of extreme downside risk. The results show that the normal bell curve distribution underestimated actual extreme values both by frequency and extent for ungeared residential property data. This is magnified as the gearing is increased to an extent where the outermost data point on 80% debt leverage shows an unrealistic probability of a 1 in 192 year event. Alternatively adopting the Cubic Power Law of returns, the probabilities of the most extreme event occurring drops to a realistic 1 in 38 year event. In highlighting the challenges to measuring the impact of leverage on residential property market performance, the analysis of extreme downside risk should be separated from traditional standard deviation risk calculations.


This paper reviews and ranks major proposed energy-related solutions to global warming, air pollution mortality, and energy security while considering other impacts of the proposed solutions, such as on water supply, land use, wildlife, resource availability, thermal pollution, water chemical pollution, nuclear proliferation, and undernutrition. Nine electric power sources and two liquid fuel options are considered. The electricity sources include solar-photovoltaics (PV), concentrated solar power (CSP), wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, wave, tidal, nuclear, and coal with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. The liquid fuel options include corn-ethanol (E85) and cellulosic-E85. To place the electric and liquid fuel sources on an equal footing, we examine their comparative abilities to address the problems mentioned by powering new-technology vehicles, including battery-electric vehicles (BEVs), hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (HFCVs), and flex-fuel vehicles run on E85. Twelve combinations of energy source-vehicle type are considered. Upon ranking and weighting each combination with respect to each of 11 impact categories, four clear divisions of ranking, or tiers, emerge. Tier 1 (highest-ranked) includes wind-BEVs and wind-HFCVs. Tier 2 includes CSP-BEVs, geothermal-BEVs, PV-BEVs, tidal-BEVs, and wave-BEVs. Tier 3 includes hydro-BEVs, nuclear-BEVs, and CCS-BEVs. Tier 4 includes corn- and cellulosic-E85. Wind-BEVs ranked first in seven out of 11 categories, including the two most important, mortality and climate damage reduction. Although HFCVs are much less efficient than BEVs, wind-HFCVs are still very clean and were ranked second among all combinations. Tier 2 options provide significant benefits and are recommended. Tier 3 options are less desirable. However, hydroelectricity, which was ranked ahead of coal-CCS and nuclear with respect to climate and health, is an excellent load balancer, thus recommended. The Tier 4 combinations (cellulosic- and corn-E85) were ranked lowest overall and with respect to climate, air pollution, land use, wildlife damage, and chemical waste. Cellulosic-E85 ranked lower than corn-E85 overall, primarily due to its potentially larger land footprint based on new data and its higher upstream air pollution emissions than corn-E85. Whereas cellulosic-E85 may cause the greatest average human mortality, nuclear-BEVs cause the greatest upper-limit mortality risk due to the expansion of plutonium separation and uranium enrichment in nuclear energy facilities worldwide. Wind-BEVs and CSP-BEVs cause the least mortality. The footprint area of wind-BEVs is 2–6 orders of magnitude less than that of any other option. Because of their low footprint and pollution, wind-BEVs cause the least wildlife loss. The largest consumer of water is corn-E85. The smallest are wind-, tidal-, and wave-BEVs. The US could theoretically replace all 2007 onroad vehicles with BEVs powered by 73 000–144 000 5 MW wind turbines, less than the 300 000 airplanes the US produced during World War II, reducing US CO2 by 32.5–32.7% and nearly eliminating 15 000/yr vehicle-related air pollution deaths in 2020. In sum, use of wind, CSP, geothermal, tidal, PV, wave, and hydro to provide electricity for BEVs and HFCVs and, by extension, electricity for the residential, industrial, and commercial sectors, will result in the most benefit among the options considered. The combination of these technologies should be advanced as a solution to global warming, air pollution, and energy security. Coal-CCS and nuclear offer less benefit thus represent an opportunity cost loss, and the biofuel options provide no certain benefit and the greatest negative impacts.


Hannam, K. D., Neilsen, G. H., Neilsen, D. and Bowen, P. 2015. Cluster thinning as a tool to hasten ripening of wine grapes in the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia. Can. J. Plant Sci. 95: 103-113. Achieving fruit maturity can be a challenge on some Okanagan vineyards in some years. Cluster thinning is widely used to hasten ripening, but may not be effective on sites with balanced crop loads. In a Merlot vineyard in Summerland, BC, the effects of cluster thinning on juice soluble solids (an indicator of fruit maturity), yield and vine growth were examined between 2008 and 2011 across a range of treatments that manipulated the frequency and quantity of applied irrigation water. Cluster thinning increased juice soluble solids in 2 out of 3 study years and consistently increased cluster weights, but had few effects on juice pH, titratable acidity or yield. In 2 of 3 yr, correlation analyses showed that cluster thinning was most effective at improving the maturity of fruit with low soluble solids. Irrigation treatments did not have a consistent effect on juice composition but year-to-year variability was significant. Response ratios calculated from values reported in the literature show that cluster thinning in this region causes small but inconsistent improvements in juice soluble solids across a range of crop loads.


The British Archaeological Association's 2007 conference celebrated the material culture of medieval Coventry, the fourth wealthiest English city of the later middle ages. The nineteen papers collected in this volume set out to remedy the relative neglect in modern scholarship of the city's art, architecture and archaeology, as well as to encompass recent research on monuments in the vicinity. The scene is set by two papers on archaeological excavations in the historic city centre, especially since the 1970s, and a paper investigating the relationships between Coventry's building boom and economic conditions in the city in the later middle ages. Three papers on the Cathedral Priory of St Mary bring together new insights into the Romanesque cathedral church, the monastic buildings and the post-Dissolution history of the precinct, derived mainly from the results of the Phoenix Initiative excavations (19992003). Three more papers provide new architectural histories of the spectacular former parish church of St Michael, the fine Guildhall of St Mary and the remarkable surviving west range of the Coventry Charterhouse. The high-quality monumental art of the later medieval city is represented by papers on wall-painting (featuring the recently conserved Doom in Holy Trinity church), on the little-known Crucifixion mural at the Charterhouse, and on a reassessment of the working practices of the famous master-glazier, John Thornton. Two papers on a guild seal and on the glazing at Stanford on Avon parish church consider the evidence for Coventry as a regional workshop centre for high quality metalwork and glass-painting. Beyond the city, three papers deal with the development of Combe Abbey from Cistercian monastery to country house, with the Beauchamp family's hermitage at Guy's Cliffe, and with a newly identified stonemasons' workshop in the 'barn' at Kenilworth Abbey. Two further papers concern the architectural patronage of the earls and dukes of Lancaster in the 14th century at Kenilworth Castle and in the Newarke at Leicester Castle.


The development of patch test consistent quasi-continuum energies for multidimensional crystalline solids modeled by many-body potentials remains a challenge. The original quasi-continuum energy (QCE) [R. Miller and E. Tadmor, Model. Simul. Mater. Sci. Eng., 17 (2009), 053001] has been implemented for many-body potentials in two and three space dimensions, but it is not patch test consistent. We propose that by blending the atomistic and corresponding Cauchy-Born continuum models of QCE in an interfacial region with thickness of a small number $k$ of blended atoms, a general blended quasi-continuum energy (BQCE) can be developed with the potential to significantly improve the accuracy of QCE near lattice instabilities such as dislocation formation and motion. In this paper, we give an error analysis of the blended quasi-continuum energy (BQCE) for a periodic one-dimensional chain of atoms with next-nearest neighbor interactions. Our analysis includes the optimization of the blending function for an improved convergence rate. We show that the $\ell^2$ strain error for the nonblended QCE energy, which has low order $O(\varepsilon^{1/2})$, where $\varepsilon$ is the atomistic length scale [M. Dobson and M. Luskin, SIAM J. Numer. Anal., 47 (2009), pp. 2455-2475, P. Ming and J. Z. Yang, Multiscale Model. Simul., 7 (2009), pp. 1838-1875], can be reduced by a factor of $k^{3/2}$ for an optimized blending function where $k$ is the number of atoms in the blending region. The QCE energy has been further shown to suffer from a $O(1)$ error in the critical strain at which the lattice loses stability [M. Dobson, M. Luskin, and C. Ortner, J. Mech. Phys. Solids, 58 (2010), pp. 1741-1757]. We prove that the error in the critical strain of BQCE can be reduced by a factor of $k^2$ for an optimized blending function, thus demonstrating that the BQCE energy for an optimized blending function has the potential to give an accurate approximation of the deformation near lattice instabilities such as crack growth.


The main purpose of this study was to examine teacher's qualification; Area of specialization and the implementation of the environmental education curriculum in Cross River State, Nigeria. Two hypotheses were formulated to guide the study: Teachers' professional qualifications do not significantly affect the implementation of Environmental Education curriculum. There is no significant relationship between teacher's area of specialization and the implementation of the environmental education curriculum in Cross River State. Literature review was carried out according to the variables under study. The ex post-facto research design was adopted for the study. A sample of four hundred and eighty (480) teachers was randomly selected for the study. The selection was done through the stratified and simple random sampling techniques. The questionnaire was the main instrument used for data collection. The reliability estimate of the instrument was established through the split-half reliability method and its associated spearman-brown prophecy formula. The one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), was the statistical tool employed to test the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. The result of the analysis revealed that Teacher's professional qualification, area of study: do not significantly influence the implementation of environmental education curriculum in Cross River State - Nigeria.


Medication safety and prevention of medication related problems are important issues in promoting and maintaining health and safety in one's home for community dwelling older adults. Assessment of medications and management of a medication schedule are essential elements of medication safety, medication review, and medication care coordination. The Framework for Geriatric Homecare Excellence (Collaboration for Home Care Advances and Practices, 2009) is used as the foundation of this project to improve medication management, and promote and maintain health and safety at home. An in-home medication assessment was completed, using a medication management software informatics system to review medications, identify medication related problems, and convey this information to the Primary Care Provider, case manager, and client. Educational interventions on management and understanding of medications were provided to participants to assess and emphasize the correct use of medications and use of a personal medication record. The goal of this health promotion and health maintenance project was to improve medication safety through focused assessment and medication related education interventions for community dwelling older adults. This informatics based medication safety intervention showed considerable strength in completing and sharing medication home assessments enhanced by the software abilities. Significant outcome improvements were associated with the pre-post test comparison in provision of an up-to-date medication list and comprehension by clients of specific medication safety education.


The stabilization of economic activity in the mid 1980s has received considerable attention. Research has focused primarily on the role played by milder economic shocks, improved inventory management, and better monetary policy. This paper explores another potential explanation: financial innovation. Examples of such innovation include developments in lending practices and loan markets that have enhanced the ability of households and firms to borrow and changes in government policy such as the demise of Regulation Q. We employ a variety of simple empirical techniques to identify links between the observed moderation in economic activity and the influence of financial innovation on consumer spending, housing investment, and business fixed investment. Our results suggest that financial innovation should be added to the list of likely contributors to the mid-1980s stabilization.


The area of Requirements Engineering is often underestimated in value in the area of Software Engineering. According to certain sources the failure rate of IT investments is over 60%. In addition problems introduced through the Requirements Engineering of a project accounts for something like 50% of the total debugging costs. The main reason for this is a low level of maturity pertaining to the Requirements Engineering process. This thesis introduces a model that can help organizations improve their Requirements Engineering process. A first step in process improvement is process evaluation. The REPM model has the purpose of measuring the maturity level of the Requirements Engineering process in projects, and to give a basis for what steps to take in order to improve on it. In addition to the model a method for using the model is introduced. The model and method are subsequently designed, implemented and validated. The validation takes the form of interviews and case-studies in industry featuring four companies and four projects of varying size. The project evaluations were conducted on-site in both Sweden and in Ireland. It is shown that the REPM model in combination with the method is a good way to evaluate the Requirement Engineering process of a project. It gives a picture of the current state of the Requirements Engineering process in a project and, more importantly, how the results of the evaluation can be used for process improvement.


Fluctuations in body weight and water retention are common complaints made by many women as a result of hormonal changes that accompany menstrual cycle (MC). Specific research regarding how the different phases of the menstrual cycle may impact body composition measures have been limited, and typically are examined as a subset of other variables. As lean body tissue is approximately 73% water, fluctuations in body water due to changes in a women's MC may influence measurements of body composition. PURPOSE: To investigate whether phases of the MC have an impact on common measures of body composition. METHODS: A total of 51 females between the ages of 18 and 45 years participated in a total of four data collection sessions. Participants reported to the exercise physiology lab once a week, at the same time of day, seven days apart, for a total of four weeks. Each week, participants self-reported the presence or absence of menses during that week, including starting or ending days. Participants completed three body composition assessments: bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), air displacement plethysmography (ADP), and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) according to manufacturer's instructions. Physical activity patterns for the previous week were also self-reported weekly. RESULTS: RMANOVAs revealed no differences in physical activity levels between sessions for participants and that total body water amounts in participants did not change across time when measured via BIA. A 3 (device) x 4 (MC phase) RMANOVA demonstrated no significant device by phase interaction effects, nor were changes in body weight, body fat percentage, or lean body mass seen across time. However, significant differences in lean body mass measures (p = .001) between DXA and BIA (x ̄ difference = 1.62 ± 0.4 kg) and DXA and ADP (x ̄ difference = 1.74 ± 0.36 kg) measures were seen. CONCLUSION: Although there were no changes in body composition across the MC phases, there were differences in body composition values among the three types of devices used to quantifying body composition. These findings suggest that differences in the technology used to quantify body composition may explain varying results across studies.


Current debates on the nature of explanatory understanding have converged on the idea that at least one of the core components of understanding is inferential. Philosophers have characterized the inferential dimension of understanding as consisting of several related cognitive abilities to grasp a given explanation and the nexus of complementing explanations to which it belongs. Whilst analyses of both the subjective epistemic abilities related to grasping and objective features of the inferential links within explanations have received much attention, both within theories of explanation and in the literature on understanding, the criteria for evaluating the specific structure and organization of explanatory clusters or nexuses has received much less attention. Nevertheless, two notable exceptions stand out—Khalifa's characterization of an explanatory nexus, and theories of explanatory unification. I take Khalifa's ideas, together with the basic criteria of successful explanatory unification, as my starting point. To both I make some corrections and additions, in order to arrive at a more robust notion of an explanatory nexus and ultimately show that its structural properties and the inter-explanatory relations it contains are relevant to the resulting understanding. The Degrees of Understanding and the Inferential Component of Understanding 747 Organon F 28 (4) 2021: 746–776 I propose to represent such nexuses as directed graph trees and show that some of their properties can be related to the degree of understanding that such nested explanatory structures can offer. I will further illustrate these ideas by a case study on an ecological theory of predation.


Abstract Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are simplified models of human brain. These are networks of computing elements that have the ability to respond to input stimuli and generate the corresponding output. To obtain a desirable output, the network weights must be trained upon the available data many times. Hence the software realization of ANN takes many hours to learn a particular example. On the other hand, neural network (NN) in hardware can speed up the training by several orders of magnitude, due to the faster nature of the hardware. Different types of VLSI implementation of ANN are found in the literature. This paper provides a brief survey of digital and pulsed neurohardware. It highlights the important issues related and shows the possible direction of future research.


The regulation of body fluid balance is a key concern in health and disease and comprises three concepts. The first concept pertains to the relationship between total body water (TBW) and total effective solute and is expressed in terms of the tonicity of the body fluids. Disturbances in tonicity are the main factor responsible for changes in cell volume, which can critically affect brain cell function and survival. Solutes distributed almost exclusively in the extracellular compartment (mainly sodium salts) and in the intracellular compartment (mainly potassium salts) contribute to tonicity, while solutes distributed in TBW have no effect on tonicity. The second body fluid balance concept relates to the regulation and measurement of abnormalities of sodium salt balance and extracellular volume. Estimation of extracellular volume is more complex and error prone than measurement of TBW. A key function of extracellular volume, which is defined as the effective arterial blood volume (EABV), is to ensure adequate perfusion of cells and organs. Other factors, including cardiac output, total and regional capacity of both arteries and veins, Starling forces in the capillaries, and gravity also affect the EABV. Collectively, these factors interact closely with extracellular volume and some of them undergo substantial changes in certain acute and chronic severe illnesses. Their changes result not only in extracellular volume expansion, but in the need for a larger extracellular volume compared with that of healthy individuals. Assessing extracellular volume in severe illness is challenging because the estimates of this volume by commonly used methods are prone to large errors in many illnesses. In addition, the optimal extracellular volume may vary from illness to illness, is only partially based on volume measurements by traditional methods, and has not been determined for each illness. Further research is needed to determine optimal extracellular volume levels in several illnesses. For these reasons, extracellular volume in severe illness merits a separate third concept of body fluid balance.


Governmental and commercial lists of food retailers are often used to measure food environments and foodscapes for health and nutritional research. Information about the validity of such secondary food source data is relevant to understanding the potential and limitations of its application. This study assesses the validity of two government lists of food retailer locations and types by comparing them to direct field observations, including an assessment of whether pre-classification of the directories can reduce the need for field observation. Lists of food retailers were obtained from the Central Business Register (CVR) and the Smiley directory. For each directory, the positive prediction value (PPV) and sensitivity were calculated as measures of completeness and thematic accuracy, respectively. Standard deviation was calculated as a measure of geographic accuracy. The effect of the pre-classification was measured through the calculation of PPV, sensitivity and negative prediction value (NPV). The application of either CVR or Smiley as a measure of the food environment would result in a misrepresentation. The pre-classification based on the food retailer names was found to be a valid method for identifying approximately 80% of the food retailers and limiting the need for field observation.


Background
The glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist liraglutide (LIRA) is a potential hypoglycemic drug with anti-atherosclerosis (AS) effects. Autophagy in the vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) facilitates AS. However, the role of autophagy in the anti-AS mechanism of LIRA remains unclear.

Aims
To examine the role and mechanisms of autophagy in LIRA's improvement of the biological characteristics of VSMCs in high glucose conditions.

Study Design
A VSMC injury model induced by high glucose concentrations was used to detect the regulatory effects of LIRA on VSMC autophagy, calcification, migration, proliferation and phenotype conversion.

Methods
VSMCs isolated from the thoracic aorta of male SD rats were subjected to a high glucose (HG) condition (25 mM) in Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's Medium with or without LIRA, the GLP-1 receptor antagonist exendin9-39 (Exe9-39), a phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitor (LY294002), and autophagy inhibitors (3-methyladenine [3-MA] and bafilomycin A1 [Baf A1]). Acridine orange staining, western blotting, transmission electron microscopy, and mCherry-GFP-LC3 transfection were performed to evaluate the autophagy flux. Additionally, VSMC migration, calcification, proliferation, and apoptosis in HG conditions were observed.

Results
Addition of LIRA alone or in combination with autophagy inhibitors significantly downregulated Beclin, increased the LC3-II/LC3-I ratio, and upregulated p62 in VSMCs in HG conditions. Furthermore, autophagolysosome formation was markedly curbed after treatment with LIRA and/or autophagy inhibitors. Inhibition of autophagy by LIRA and/or the autophagy inhibitors attenuated VSMC phenotype conversion, proliferation, migration, and calcification and promoted VSMC apoptosis in HG conditions. This protective role of LIRA was augmented by LY294002, but inhibited by Exe9-39.

Conclusion
LIRA plays a significant role in the improvement of the biological features of VSMCs in HG conditions.