LEGAL COUNSEL David B. Wechsler, Esq THE MANY BENEFITS OF MEMBERSHIP IN THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF HYPERTENSION, INC (ASH) • Recognition as a member of the largest professional medical society in the United States that serves as the leading forum for discussion, debate and dissemination of scientific information and clinical treatment strategies for hypertension, linking blood pressure and cardiovascular health • Active participation in an organization influencing hypertension and cardiovascular health research and education • Association and interaction with recognized national and international scientific and clinical investigators and health professionals in hypertension • Membership Subscription to the The Journal of Clinical Hypertension (JCH) and the Journal of the American Society of Hypertension (JASH) • Reduced Member registration fee for the ASH Annual Scientific Meeting, the largest scientific forum in the United States for hypertension and cardiovascular health • Reduced Member registration fees for other Society-sponsored Continuing Medical Education (CME) events, e.g., Rotating Regional Symposia, Chapter Annual Meetings, Clinical Hypertension Review Courses, etc. • Eligibility to sponsor candidates for the Annual Research Award, the Annual Young Scholar Awards, and Annual Recognition Awards for Young Investigators • Eligibility for membership in Regional Chapters and related local hypertension outreach programs • Listing in the on-line membership Directory at the ASH Web site, www.ash-us.org • Access to the Member Section of the ASH Website • Access to our new ASH Member-Only Online Forum — ''Hypertension and Cardiovascular Disease.''


Thalamic nuclei can be distinguished by their characteristic fiber orientations, which influence the diffusion. Fiber orientations are relatively aligned within a nucleus due to the fact that the cerebrocortical striations within a nucleus all target the same region of cortex. The number of thalamic nuclei reported with histological methods varies with the method employed, although most cyto/myeloarchitec stains identify 14 major nuclei. We present a new approach for thalamic nuclei segmentation on High Angular Diffusion Resolution Images (HARDI), performed with a constrained k-means clustering. As described by John D.Carew[1], it is possible to classify HARDI data based on the shape of the diffusion, thanks to the complex information coming from them. Mette R. Wiegell [2] proposed a thalamic nuclei clustering with k- means on diffusion tensor images, using a combination of a voxel distance and a diffusion tensor distance. In the same way, we use the k-mean algorithm with a weighted sum of two distances to cluster the thalamic nuclei on HARDI data.


List of Contributors. Introduction to Institutional Investors in Global Capital Markets. Financial Liberalization and Foreign Institutional Investors: Literature Review. Institutional Investment Horizon and Firm Credit Ratings. Divestment of Foreign Strategic Investment in China's Banking Sector: Causes and Consequences. Domestic and Foreign Institutional Investor Behavior in China: Financial Characteristics and Corporate Governance. Institutional Investors' Participation in Foreign Firms: Evidence from ADRs. Do Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) Exhibit Herding and Positive Feedback Trading in Indian Stock Markets?. Do Financial Conglomerates have an Incentive to Prevent Managers of other Firms from Pursuing their Own Interest?. The Impact of Foreign Government Investments: Sovereign Wealth Fund Investments in the United States. What do Sovereign Wealth Funds Imply for Financial Stability?. Africa's Quest for Development: Can Sovereign Wealth Funds Help?. Portfolio Allocation for Sovereign Wealth Funds in the Shadow of Commodity-Based National Wealth. Are Sovereign Wealth Funds Politically Biased? A Comparison with other Institutional Investors. Sovereign Wealth Fund Acquisitions: A Comparative Analysis with Mutual Funds. Institutional Investors in Global Capital Markets. International finance review. International finance review. Copyright page.


In this paper, a model based on genetic algorithms for protein folding prediction is proposed. The most important features of the proposed approach are: i) Heuristic secondary structure information is used in the initialization of the genetic algorithm; ii) An enhanced 3D spatial representation called cube-octahedron is used, also, an expansion technique is proposed in order to reduce the computational complexity and spatial constraints; iii) Data preprocessing of geometric features to characterize the cube-octahedron using twelve basic vectors to define the nodes. Additionally, biological information (torsion angles, bond angles and secondary structure conformations) was pre-processed through an analysis of all possible combinations of the basic vectors which satisfy the biological constrains defined by the spatial representation; and iv) Hashing techniques were used to improve the computational efficiency. The pre-processed information was stored in hash tables, which are intensively used by the genetic algorithm. Some experiments were carried out to validate the proposed model obtaining very promising results.


We pursue a group coordination problem where the objective is to steer the differences between output variables of the group members to a prescribed compact set via distributed feedback rules. When the information flow between neighboring members is bidirectional, we show that the closed-loop system exhibits a special interconnection structure which inherits the passivity properties of its components. By exploiting this structure we develop a passivity-based design framework, which results in a broad class of feedback rules that encompass as special cases some of the existing formation stabilization and group agreement designs in the literature. The passivity approach offers additional design flexibility compared to these special cases, and systematically constructs a Lurie-type Lyapunov function for the closed-loop system. We further study the robustness of the feedback laws in the presence of a time-varying communication topology


Following the seminal work of Ibboston and Jaffe (1975) and then Ritter (1991) several studies, using different sample sets and different periods of time, have documented that initial public offerings (IPOs) are both underpriced and are underperforming market index reference portfolios. A growing body of literature has-been trying to develop an explanation for the IPO anomalies. The involvement of venture capitalists in the public offerings has been regarded as empirical evidence to test the underpricing and the long-term underperformance. As such, it is argued that venture capitalists can affect both the pricing of the offering and the performance of the shares following the IPO. The common claim of these explanations is that companies backed at the IPO by venture capitalists are regarded by potential investors as lower risk, and hence issuers do not need to underprice to attract investors. Similarly, companies backed by venture capitalists are expected to exhibit a positive abnormal return in the long-term. To assess whether the above claim holds on the U.K. initial public offering market, a sample of venture capital backed IPOs that went public in the period 1992-1996 was matched with a sample of non venture capital backed IPOs. Consistent with the prevailing belief that venture capitalists reduce the uncertainty at the offering, venture capital backed IPOs are found to be less underpriced than the non venture capital backed IPOs. The comparison of the long-term performance of VC-backed and non-VC-backed IPOs yielded mixed results depending on the method used to compute the abnormal returns. The cumulative average returns show that venture capital IPOs are underperforming market portfolios whereas non-venture backed IPOs have relatively outperformed the market portfolios at the end of the 36(^th) month after floatation. On the other hand, a rather contrasting result was found using the buy and hold method as a measure of the abnormal returns. Both venture capital and non venture capital IPOs appear to outperform the market portfolios. Similar results were also documented by Shah (1995) and Allen, Morkel-Kingsbury et al. (1999) where IPOs on average outperformed the market indices. Based on these results it is hard to state that VC-backed IPOs have outperformed non-VC-backed IPOs, or vice versa, at the end of the 3 year period after floatation. However, the results of the long-term returns provide further evidence that the abnormal returns are highlysensitive to the methodology employed. Segmentation of the returns according to themarket floatation showed that IPOs floated on the AIM market are more underpricedand more underperforming than IPOs floated on the LSE market. Finally, contrary tothe expectation, the survival analyses showed that VC-backed IPOs have a lowerprobability of survival than comparable non-VC-backed IPOs.


During the recent decades, urban management in Iran has increasingly confronted numerous challenges due to different kinds of social, cultural, political, executive, financial, and legal factors. The present study is going to specify and analyze the aforementioned challenges in the domain of the urban environment in order to determine how far they have been effective, how they have been prioritized, and what strategies or solutions are needed to meet or reduce them. Zahedan is among those cities of Iran that due to its uncontrolled growth in terms of its framework and population, has exposed urban management to many challenges during the last two or three decades, specially, in the domain of the environment. The present study aims to investigate and analyze the effects of challenges, resulted from population growth, on the environment of Zahedan. This research's method is descriptive-analytical and the gathered data and information have been statistically processed and analyzed using SPSS software. The results indicate that the greatest challenge in the domain of the environment is related to «water resources». Considering the population growth, human, soil, and air resources are respectively other problems which can lead to further significant problems in urban management system.


The solution of the inverse kinematics is required in many technical applications. In this contribution a concept is proposed which reformulates the inverse kinematics (IK) of kinematically redundant manipulators as a linear programming (LP) problem. This formulation enables the explicit consideration of technical constraints as for example mechanical end-stops, velocity and, if necessary, acceleration limits as linear inequality constraints. Besides that, automatic collision avoidance within the workspace of the manipulator can be included. The kinematic redundancy is resolved with respect to quadratic criteria. As the LP problem at hand belongs to the small-size problems, the optimal solution can be found numerically in appropriate time using standard algorithms such as the simplex algorithm or interior point methods. This article closes with a numerical example of the LP-IK of a planar 4-link manipulator.


Knowledge and understanding of Tuberculosis (TB) is essential Therefore, identifying the performance of nurses in rendering quality care to all individuals, since Nursing is a profession of caring individuals from womb to tomb. This research is about the level of performance of staff nurses on their rendering care among TB patients in the wards. It is quantitative and comparative which covered 22 staff nurses and five head nurses from selected government hospitals in Quezon province. They were selected using purposive sampling. The profile of staff nurses includes gender, age, and length of service. The head nurses are all female and in their late adulthood. The study was conducted in Guinayangan Medicare Community Hospital, Maria L. Eleazar District Hospital, and Magsaysay Memorial District Hospital. The respondents answered the adapted questionnaires from the Orientation of Hospitals on Benchbook SelfAssessment and Accreditation Process Manual II 2005 of Philippine Health Insurance Corporation which was modified by the researcher into two questionnaires and were validated by experts. The questionnaire for staff nurses had a reliability result of 0.97 and 0.99 for head nurses respectively using Cronbach Alpha. Statistical treatments that were utilized includes: frequency and percentage, mean, standard deviation, and independent sample t-Test. The result elucidated that there was no significant difference in their perceived level of performance in rendering care among TB patients in the wards when their profiles were considered. It can also be concluded that there was no significant difference between the perception of the head nurses and the staff nurses on their level of performance in rendering care among TB patients in the wards. Moreover, enhancement program pertaining to Evaluation of Care, Access, and Assessment through trainings and seminars were included.


Distributed networks of personal workstations are becoming the dominant computing environment for software development organizations. Many cooperative activities that are carried out in such environments are particularly well suited for automated support. Taking the point of view that such activities are modeled most naturally as the occurrence of events requiring actions to be performed, we developed a system called Yeast (Yet another Event Action Specification Tool). Yeast is a client server system in which distributed clients register event action specifications with a centralized server, which performs event detection and specification management. Each specification submitted by a client defines a pattern of events that is of interest to the client's application plus an action that is to be executed in response to an occurrence of the event pattern; the server triggers the action of a specification once it has detected an occurrence of the associated event pattern. Yeast provides a global space of events that is visible to and shared by all users. In particular, events generated by one user can trigger specifications registered by another user. Higher level applications are built as collections of Yeast specifications. We use Yeast on a daily basis for a variety of applications, from deadline notification to software process automation. The paper presents an in depth description of Yeast and an example application of Yeast, in which Yeast specifications are used to automate a software distribution process involving several interdependent software tools. >


Introduction: We examined the neural mechanisms responsible for plantar flexion torque changes at different joint positions. Methods: Nine subjects performed maximal voluntary contractions (MVC) at 6 ankle–knee angle combinations [3 ankle angles (dorsiflexion, anatomic position, plantar flexion) and 2 knee angles (flexion, full extension)]. Neural mechanisms were determined by V‐wave, H‐reflex (at rest and during MVC), and electromyography during MVC (RMS), normalized to the muscle compound action potential (V/Msup, Hmax/Mmax, Hsup/Msup and RMS/Msup) and voluntary activation (VA), while muscle function was assessed by doublet amplitude. Results: MVC and doublet amplitude were significantly lower at plantar flexion (P < 0.01), while VA was significantly lower at dorsiflexion and full knee extension (P < 0.05). V/Msup and RMS/Msup were significantly lower at knee extension (P < 0.01), while Hsup/Msup was not affected by joint angle. Conclusions: These results indicate that joint positions leading to muscle lengthening produce reduced neural drive, due mainly to supraspinal mechanisms. Muscle Nerve 53: 626–632, 2016


China's role as the world's largest country and global manufacturing behemoth commands attention, along with apprehension over tremors arising from its complex rural-urban adjustments. John Friedmann, a well-known, retired UCLA urban and regional planner, wrote this book for the people he represents: intelligent, interested nonspecialists. He succeeds admirably with an amply illustrated volume of 128 pages, accompanied by copious notes and references revealing his academic background. A few geographers are included in his readings, although they are greatly outnumbered by historians and sociologists. Covering the post-Mao period from 1980 to 2005, Friedmann focuses on the varieties of urban processes and outcomes across China that he sees as compellingly huge and important for the future. The following section summarizes the book's main chapters, concluding with a discussion of some of the most important points he considers.


Background Strongyloides stercoralis is an intestinal nematode that usually causes asymptomatic infection in immunocompetent individuals and reverts to life-threatening hyperinfection in immunocompromised individuals. Objective The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of ivermectin (IVM) treatment on S. stercoralis larvae in-vitro cultured forms. In-vivo evaluation was performed by assessment of parasitological, histopathological, and ultrastructural changes in the lungs of mice with Strongyloides hyperinfection syndrome before and after treatment with IVM. Materials and methods S. stercoralis larvae were collected from agar plates cultures of positive stool samples from different areas in Menuofyia Governorate. The in-vitro study involved the examination of S. stercoralis larvae grown in agar plates (APC) after exposure for 2 h to IVM (15 μl/ml) by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and after 24 h for larval motility. In-vivo study involved 96 mice that were divided into four groups (24 mice in each). Group GI was immunosuppressed by dexamethasone and infected with S. stercoralis larvae; GII was immunosuppressed then infected and treated by IVM (0.5 mg/kg); GIII was infected with S. stercoralis larvae; and GIV was infected and treated by IVM. Fecal larval output was carried out on 1 st , 6 th , 11 th , and 13 th days postinfection (dpi); histopathological examination of the lung was conducted on 2 nd , 7 th , 12 th , and 14 th dpi; and lung ultrastructure study by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was performed on 7 th and 14 th dpi. Results IVM caused severe destruction of S. stercoralis larvae detected by SEM after 2 h and resulted in their death after 24 h. In-vivo results recorded significant decrease in fecal larval output in the treated groups (GII and GIV) and in GIII in comparison with GI. The latter showed significant continuous increase in fecal larval output throughout the period of study. Histopathological and ultrastructural results showed marked pathological changes in GI that were still evident until the last day of the study. IVM induced mild improvement in lung tissues in GII in comparison with GIV. The latter showed obvious improvement with great preservation of lung tissue. In GIII, mild pathological effect of infection was still evident by the end of study. Conclusion Dexamethasone-immunosuppressed mice infected by S. stercoralis showed intestinal and pulmonary hyperinfection. IVM showed significant improvement of all parameters studied mainly in the immune group and was very effective on motility of S. stercoralis larvae in vitro.


With the surge of interest in nano-satellites, there is a concomitant need for high quality, yet affordable simulation and testing environments. It is particularly challenging to experimentally evaluate nano-satellite attitude control systems in a test environment. This article investigates the technical feasibility of fabricating a low-cost air-bearing platform with three degrees of freedom of angular motion using desktop 3-D printing technology with limited printing resolution. An open source air-bearing attitude simulator for complete 1U CubeSat is proposed, manufactured, and characterized. The platform is equipped with directional air nozzles that enable external torque generation in order to cancel out i) parasitic moments of inertia from the satellite's enclosure and ii) error torque produced by imperfections. It is also capable of simulating disturbances in a space environment. The results show that the torques produced by the nozzles can reach beyond 0.001 Nm and are sufficient to remove error torques and provide torque compensation of the orders of 0.0004 Nm. Removing the effects of gravity torque with the nozzles proved to be unachievable with the current design, requiring precise positioning of the CubeSat within the enclosure. Future work has been identified for a number of improvements to the design and details for the further development of the platform.


The general consensus in our society to the primary aim in obtaining a university degree is to improve one's wellbeing by obtaining a suitable well paid position after graduation. Many educationalists disagree with this goal to be the ultimate as stated by Haigh and Clifford (2010) 'there is more to life than doing a job. The graduates of our higher education system will be more than employees/employers, they will also be future leaders in our world and our neighbours and so affect our lives at all levels'. It is statements such as these that sparked the Graduate Attributes debate that has been going on over the past two decades and has recently intensified. This paper addresses Graduate Attributes as an issue that has been underestimated by higher education across the globe, but recently there have been some efforts to formalize and appropriately articulate them within the curriculum. The paper looks at Graduate Attributes as they are perceived by educators worldwide and presents some of the recent international efforts to establish attributes for higher education. The generic attributes that are suggested by a number of educational entities are presented and compared to find the commonalities of recommended attributes for future graduates. A discussion of the state of Graduate Attributes in Bahrain's higher education sector is carried out including a brief review and general observations of the attributes as published by a number of universities for Business and IT disciplines. The paper addresses the requirements of the National Authority for Qualifications and Quality Assurance of Education and Training in Bahrain and its possible impact on improving the state of Graduate Attributes offered by higher education institutions in Bahrain.


Abstract HANARO (High flux Advanced Neutron Application ReactOr) is an open-tank-in-pool-type, multipurpose research reactor. Since the commencement of HANARO operations in 1995, a significant number of experimental facilities have been developed and installed, and continued efforts to develop more facilities are in progress. Owing to a stable operation of the reactor and its rapid utilization, more experimental facilities are being continuously added to satisfy various fields of study and diverse applications. The equipment is classified into a capsule and a fuel test loop (FTL) for the irradiation tests of the nuclear fuels and materials in HANARO. Capsules for the irradiation tests of nuclear fuels in HANARO, under the conditions of its coolant and materials in dry conditions, have been developed. The FTL can conduct an irradiation test of a nuclear fuel under the operating conditions of commercial nuclear power plants. Three test fuel rods can be irradiated in HANARO by using the FTL. Some instrumentation such as thermocouples, linear variable differential transformers, small heaters, fluence monitors, and self-powered neutron detectors are used to perform the irradiation tests by using these irradiation devices. In this paper, the status of HANARO and its irradiation devices including the instrumentations and some results from these instrumentations during irradiation tests are described.


In mammalian cells, the activity of the sites of initiation of DNA replication appears to be influenced epigenetically, but this regulation is not fully understood. Most studies of DNA replication have focused on the activity of individual initiation sites, making it difficult to evaluate the impact of changes in initiation activity on the replication of entire genomic loci. Here, we used single molecule analysis of replicated DNA (SMARD) to study the latent duplication of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) episomes in human cell lines. We found that initiation sites are present throughout the EBV genome and that their utilization is not conserved in different EBV strains. In addition, SMARD shows that modifications in the utilization of multiple initiation sites occur across large genomic regions (tens of kilobases in size). These observations indicate that individual initiation sites play a limited role in determining the replication dynamics of the EBV genome. Long-range mechanisms and the genomic context appear to play much more important roles, affecting the frequency of utilization and the order of activation of multiple initiation sites. Finally, these results confirm that initiation sites are extremely redundant elements of the EBV genome. We propose that these conclusions also apply to mammalian chromosomes.


Background Although human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) hold great promise as a source of differentiated cells to treat several human diseases, many obstacles still need to be surmounted before this can become a reality. First among these, a robust chemically-defined system to expand hESCs in culture is still unavailable despite recent advances in the understanding of factors controlling hESC self-renewal. Methodology/Principal Findings In this study, we attempted to find new molecules that stimulate long term hESC self-renewal. In order to do this, we started from the observation that a commercially available serum replacement product has a strong positive effect on the expansion of undifferentiated hESCs when added to a previously reported chemically-defined medium. Subsequent experiments demonstrated that the active ingredient within the serum replacement is lipid-rich albumin. Furthermore, we show that this activity is trypsin-resistant, strongly suggesting that lipids and not albumin are responsible for the effect. Consistent with this, lipid-poor albumin shows no detectable activity. Finally, we identified the major lipids bound to the lipid-rich albumin and tested several lipid candidates for the effect. Conclusions/Significance Our discovery of the role played by albumin-associated lipids in stimulating hESC self-renewal constitutes a significant advance in the knowledge of how hESC pluripotency is maintained by extracellular factors and has important applications in the development of increasingly chemically defined hESC culture systems.


This article firstly deals with a general survey of the Turkic-Iranian relationships, from the VI century onwards, by the point of view of epigraphic evidences and sparse linguistic references within the Indo-Iranian borderlands and Central Asia. Secondly, it focuses on Turkic words (onomastic, epithets, titles) recorded in Middle Persian texts of the Manichean religion, in order to highlight the cultural contacts between the Uighur newcomers of the Qočo kingdom and the local population, both sharing common religious beliefs such as Manichaeism and Buddhism. Given the Manichaean faith of the Uighur élites, the Middle Persian Manichaean texts show an appreciation of the Turkic rulership, attested by the panegyrical tone of many compositions dedicated to the khans and their entourages.


Students with weak visual/spatial thinking skills often perform poorly in mathematics and science. The high school juniors I teach who had low scores on a test of visual/spatial ability also had low scores on their physics assessments. The treatment in this action research project was to provide instruction in visual/spatial thinking by using a tangible object (in particular cardboard vectors) that the student could manipulate at first then guide the students to use their "mind's eye" to manipulate the images without the manipulatives. A large majority of the students have shown significant improvement in both their visual/spatial skills and their understanding of basic physics.


Simulated humanoids are an appealing research domain due to their physical capabilities. Nonetheless, they are also challenging to control, as a policy must drive an unstable, discontinuous, and high-dimensional physical system. One widely studied approach is to utilize motion capture (MoCap) data to teach the humanoid agent low-level skills (e.g., standing, walking, and running) that can then be re-used to synthesize high-level behaviors. However, even with MoCap data, controlling simulated humanoids remains very hard, as MoCap data offers only kinematic information. Finding physical control inputs to realize the demonstrated motions requires computationally intensive methods like reinforcement learning. Thus, despite the publicly available MoCap data, its utility has been limited to institutions with large-scale compute. In this work, we dramatically lower the barrier for productive research on this topic by training and releasing high-quality agents that can track over three hours of MoCap data for a simulated humanoid in the dm_control physics-based environment. We release MoCapAct (Motion Capture with Actions), a dataset of these expert agents and their rollouts, which contain proprioceptive observations and actions. We demonstrate the utility of MoCapAct by using it to train a single hierarchical policy capable of tracking the entire MoCap dataset within dm_control and show the learned low-level component can be re-used to efficiently learn downstream high-level tasks. Finally, we use MoCapAct to train an autoregressive GPT model and show that it can control a simulated humanoid to perform natural motion completion given a motion prompt. Videos of the results and links to the code and dataset are available at https://microsoft.github.io/MoCapAct.


As it is always necessary to design a pipeline at high pressure (high density), pipelines are also exposed to ambient temperatures and are usually exposed to low temperatures. On the other hand, in the presence of water vapor (almost all natural gases have some water vapor), and more importantly, the presence of hydrocarbons causes hydrate crystals to form. In this work, the capacity of carbon dioxide hydrate storage in water in the presence of surfactants at different temperatures, pressures and concentrations of TBAC and CTAB additives was calculated and measured using induction time measurement. The results of experiments show that with increasing pressure and decreasing temperature the storage capacity of CO2 in hydrate increases. Addition of CTAB also dramatically increases the storage capacity, while increasing pressure has a greater impact on the storage capacity of carbon dioxide in the hydrate. The effect of TBAC and CTAB surfactant on the induction of hydrate formation and carbon dioxide storage capacity was investigated. Design Expert software was used to design the experiment. Finally, statistical analysis of the effective parameters on the time of induction of hydrate formation showed that TBAC can decrease the time of induction of hydrate formation compared to other additives. In investigation of the effect of variables on the storage capacity of carbon dioxide gas, it can be concluded that increasing the amount of CTAB surfactant and pressure has the most impact on the increase of carbon dioxide storage capacity compared.


Potatoes - not Doner! The problem of cultural identity within the context of globalisation
In the 18th century, Johann Gottfried Herder introduced the traditional concept of ex-clusive cultures. Ever since culture has been defined as the unifying element of a collective, disregarding any differences and as 'Volkskultur' (culture of a people) it was related to the homogenising concept of a nation. Lately the phenomenon of globalisation has led to the erosion of this once stable concept which used to vouch for identity. This process questions the underlying concept of culture altogether. By referring to current socio-political trends in Germany, this article illustrates how concepts of culture influence the perception of (cultural) reality and how they simultaneously determine the understanding and treatment of cultural identities.


China resumed its sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997. Since then drastic changes in this former British colony have occurred. One of these changes is a shift in language policy, from bilingualism (Cantonese and English) to trilingualism (Cantonese, English and Putonghua). The present study is aimed at investigating tertiary students' use of Cantonese, English and Putonghua on a daily basis, analysing the roles and functions of each language and discussing how these may impact on language policy and language education. Research instruments included 52 students' language diaries and written analyses, 51 hours of audio-recordings of verbal exchanges, and focus group semi-structured interviews. Results show that the students' speech repertoire mainly consists of two languages: Cantonese and English and their various mixes. Cantonese is used to ensure understanding, consolidate solidarity and maintain social cohesion. The English-Cantonese mix has become a more powerful identity marker for educated people in Hong Kong than pure Cantonese. English and its supplement with Cantonese are often used in the domain of education. The majority of students seldom use Putonghua in everyday life, but there is a strong instrumental motivation to learn it. Measures are suggested to facilitate a more successful move from bilingualism to trilingualism.


Abstract The systematics of Hypoptopoma Günther (1868a) is revised based on comprehensive evaluation of specimen collections and a phylogenetic analysis of the species. The genus Hypoptopoma comprises a distinctive assemblage of loricariid catfishes distributed in the lowland drainages of tropical, subtropical, and temperate latitudes of South America to the east of the Andes. Hypoptopoma is uniquely diagnosed among genera of the Loricariidae on the basis of the presence of a laterally expanded nuchal plate. Members of the genus can be further distinguished from all other loricariids, except the hypoptopomatin genus Oxyropsis, by the depressed head with eyes placed ventrolateral and visible from below. Hypoptopoma is further distinguished from all other Hypoptopomatini, including Oxyropsis, by the caudal peduncle posterior to the base of the anal fin ovoid in cross section and deeper in the dorsoventral axis. All species of Hypoptopoma, except H. spectabile, can be further distinguished among loricariids by the presence in adult stages of a column of variably enlarged and flattened odontodes positioned along the posterior margin of the trunk plates. Individuals of several Hypoptopoma species attain the largest body size for the subfamily Hypoptopomatinae, with standard length reaching 105 mm. Species of Hypoptopoma typically occur in streams of slow to moderate current and muddy to sandy bottom with marginal emergent vegetation. Based on verified specimen records, the species is distributed in the Río Amazonas basin, including the Ucayali, Madeira, and Tapajos rivers, as well as in the rivers east to the Ilha Marajo drainage (Para, Brazil), in the Tocantins and smaller coastal river drainages in northeastern Brazil (Mearim), the upper Río Orinoco basin, the Essequibo and Nickerie river basins of the Guiana Shield, and in the ríos Paraguay and lower Paraná. There are no records of Hypoptopoma in the Río Uruguay, the Atlantic coastal drainages of Uruguay and Brazil south of Rio Mearim (Maranão), the upper Paraná, and Rio São Francisco systems. Fifteen species are recognized in Hypoptopoma, seven of which are newly described herein. Phylogenetic analysis of Hypoptopoma species, based on analysis of 26 characters drawn from aspects of external morphology and internal osteology, recovered a well-supported but incompletely resolved nested set of clade relationships that suggests a widespread ancestral distribution for the group in central Amazonia, plus at least four instances of divergence of a species having a peripheral distribution from an Amazonian sister group. Relationships at the basal node were unresolved. There was insufficient evidence to resolve the relationships among H. baileyi, n. sp., of the Madeira river basin, an unresolved clade comprised of H. guianense Boesemann, 1974, of the Essequibo and Nickerie basins in Guyana and Surinam; H. psilogaster Fowler, 1915, of the upper Amazon basin in Brazil and Peru; and H. thoracatum Günther, 1868a, of the upper and middle Amazon basin; and a well-supported clade that includes all other Hypoptopoma species. The latter clade was supported by four synapomorphies and includes H. brevirostratum, n. sp., of the upper Amazon basin in Brazil and Peru, H. muzuspi, n. sp., of the Tocantins basin, and a more restricted clade supported by six character-state changes comprising the remainder of the subfamily. Two species, H. spectabile (Eigenmann, 1914) of the upland Amazon and upper Orinoco river basins of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru and H. sternoptychum (Schaefer, 1996a) of the lowland reaches of the Amazon river, formerly placed in the genus Nannoptopoma Schaefer, 1996, represent a clade most closely related to a nested subset of Hypoptopoma species. These former Nannoptopoma species are reassigned to Hypoptopoma, thus rendering the former generic name a subjective junior synonym of Hypoptopoma. Hypoptopoma bianale, n. sp., of the upper Amazon River basin in Brazil and Peru represents the sister group to a largely unresolved clade comprised of H. inexspectatum (Holmberg, 1893a) of the Paraguay-Paraná basin, H. steindachneri Boulenger, 1895, of the upper Amazon basin in Brazil and Peru, H. gulare Cope, 1878, of the upper Amazon basin, H. machadoi, n. sp., of the Orinoco basin, and a clade comprised of H. elongatum, n. sp., of the lower Tapajos and lower Trombetas rivers plus H. incognitum, n. sp., of the middle Amazon basin, Tocantins, and Mearim rivers. A key to the species of Hypoptopoma is provided.


In a world where energy demand, population, and environmental concern are increasing by the day, the use of solar energy and other renewable energy sources becomes ever more important. Most of the African population lives in rural areas and uses wood as primary energy source for cooking. The wood, however, can be replaced by the energy in the abundant sunshine most African countries experiences and used in solar cookers. However, the biggest disadvantage of most common solar cookers available today is that they are dependent on direct solar radiation to work. This makes them vulnerable to the intermittent nature of the sun and limits the cooking to the sunny hours of the day. In this thesis, a possible solution to that problem area is examined. A solar energy heat storage for vapour based solar concentrators is designed, constructed and analysed with cooking of the traditional Ethiopian bread injera in mind. The storage consists of an aluminium bolt with salt filled cavities that has working fluid (steam or oil) running through it. The energy stored during the salt melting (latent heat) is released at constant temperature between 210°C-220°C which is the melting temperature of the salt, and the temperature needed to cook injeras. One experiment was performed with heat transfer oil as working fluid, but did not yield any results due to air bubbles that prevented circulation. Two experiments were done with steam as working fluid. The first experiment measured the discharge of the storage which was found to be a temperature fall from 221.8°C to 50°C during a time span of 85 hours. The other experiment aimed for boiling of one litre of water, but the highest temperature reached was 70.9°C. However, several modifications can be done to improve the storage capacity and cooking procedure, as for instance increasing the amount of salt.


After the end of World War II, the United States, by far the dominant economic and military power at that time, joined with the surviving capitalist democracies to create an unprecedented institutional framework. By the 1980s many contended that these institutions--the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (now the World Trade Organization), the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund--were threatened by growing economic nationalism in the United States, as demonstrated by increased trade protection and growing budget deficits. In this book, Robert Gilpin argues that American power had been essential for establishing these institutions, and waning American support threatened the basis of postwar cooperation and the great prosperity of the period. For Gilpin, a great power such as the United States is essential to fostering international cooperation. Exploring the relationship between politics and economics first highlighted by Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and other thinkers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Gilpin demonstrated the close ties between politics and economics in international relations, outlining the key role played by the creative use of power in the support of an institutional framework that created a world economy. Gilpin's exposition of the in.uence of politics on the international economy was a model of clarity, making the book the centerpiece of many courses in international political economy. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, when American support for international cooperation is once again in question, Gilpin's warnings about the risks of American unilateralism sound ever clearer.


The study of ethnocultural identity is remarkably up to date when considering the interactions of different countries, the ethnic groups studied within the limits of monoand multicultural space, and the processes of acculturation, assimilation, and others. Ethnocultural identity is based on the desires of the individual and the nation viewed integrally; it is achieved in substituted forms through integration in the cultural and symbolic space of society. The aim of this article is to analyze the meaning-of-life and value orientations of Armenian and Russian students in the Russian Federation and the Republic of Armenia. In order to study ethnocultural identity as part of the self-concept we carried out a study with students at the Russian-Armenian (Slavonic) University (Yerevan, Armenia) and the South Federal University (Rostov-on-Don, Russia): at the initial stage we conducted two focus groups (the number of respondents in each group was 10); at the second stage we conducted a study the number of respondents was 160. When the Armenian and Russian youth described their ethnicity, high values of social self — in particular, national civic identity — correlated with high and medium levels of meaning-of-life orientations. Armenians and Russians in title ethnos and in the associated diaspora had a number of similarities and differences in value orientations. The majority of respondents in the focus groups noted their positive emotions connected with being Armenian or Russian. The ethnic Russians in Armenia pointed out the ease of communication with Russian speakers, regardless of ethnicity, but noted the difficulty of social interaction because of their insufficient knowledge of the Armenian language. The formation and development of ethnic self-consciousness may be carried out at two levels: understanding the values and ideas of ethnicity and assessing the ethnocultural and ethnopsychological features of one's ethnic group. The ethnic identity of Armenians in Russia has been transformed, and they are now characterized by similar values as ethnic Armenians in Armenia. Ethnic Armenians and ethnic Russians are in continuous interaction in Armenia and in Russia. This interaction is a key to positive ethnic attitudes in both groups as evidenced by their tolerance for other ethnic groups and their solidarity and it enriches the representatives of both ethnic groups at the regulatory value level, making them carriers of both culture.


Surveys of the benthic macroinvertebrate community were conducted in the main basin of Lake Huron in 2000 and 2003, and corresponding studies of lake whitefish diets were conducted in 2002-2004. Populations of three major benthic taxa, Diporeia spp., Sphaeriidae, and Chironomidae, declined dramatically between 2000 and 2003, with densities declining 57%, 74%, and 75% over this 3-year period. By 2003, Diporeia, an important food source for lake whitefish, was gone or rare at depths < 50 m except in the far northeastern portion of the lake. In contrast, densities of the Dreissena bugensis (quagga mussel) increased between 2000 and 2003, particularly at the 31-50 m depth interval, while densities of the zebra mussel Dreissena polymorpha remained stable. As expected, the diet of lake whitefish varied with fish size. Age-0 lake whitefish fed mainly zooplankton, most of which were Daphnia (98%). Medium lake whitefish (< 350 mm excluding age-0 fish) fed mainly on zooplankton, Chironomidae, and Dreissena bugensis, and large lake whitefish (350 to 688 mm) fed mainly on D. bugensis and Gastropoda. The diet of medium and large lake whitefish reflected the changing nature of the benthic community; that is, Diporeia was rarely found in the diet while D. bugensis played a prominent role. Since Diporeia has a much higher energy content than D. bugensis, contrasting density trends in the two organisms will have long term consequences to the relative health of lake whitefish populations in the lake.


Title of Dissertation: CONTRIBUTIONS TOWARDS THE UNDERSTANDING OF ROTOR-INDUCED DUST PARTICLE MOBILIZATION AND TRANSPORT Anish Joshua Sydney, Doctor of Philosophy, 2014 Dissertation directed by: Minta Martin Professor J. Gordon Leishman Department of Aerospace Engineering To better understand the problem of rotor-induced particle motion and rotorcraft brownout, time-resolved, dual-phase particle image velocimetry and particle tracking velocimetry measurements were made in the flow produced by a small laboratory rotor that was hovering over a ground plane covered with a mobile sediment bed. To investigate the three-dimensionality of the wake and resultant particle field, flow measurements were made in vertical and horizontal planes around the rotor and near the ground. The primary goals of the work were to: 1. Characterize the fundamental flow physics of a rotor wake interacting with a sediment bed; 2. Investigate how rotor operating parameters, such as the disk loading, blade loading coefficient, and wake shedding frequency affected the mobilization, uplift and overall development of the particle field; 3. Examine the effects of placing a body between the rotor and the ground to understand how the interactions of the rotor wake with the body affected the transport of particles from the bed. The results showed that the rotor wake was very three-dimensional, with highly non-uniform velocities near the ground that resulted in the radially asymmetric mobilization, uplift and suspension of particles. The tip vortices were found to be the primary contributor to the uplift of particles, with the aperiodic variations in their trajectories near the ground causing intermittent particle mobilization events. These effects were caused, in part, by wave-like displacements that developed along the lengths of the tip vortices, which caused some parts of the filaments to convect closer to the ground than other parts and so uplift discrete bursts or plumes of particles. The quantity and distribution of uplifted particles were shown to be affected by the operating condition of the rotor, with the overall complexity of the rotor wake generally resulting in the formation of a highly three-dimensional and time-varying particle field. The rotor operating parameters were shown to interdependently alter the characteristics of the groundwash flow and the tip vortices produced by the rotor. Stronger wake vortices that impinged on the bed generally uplifted more particles, however, higher near-wall flow velocities over the bed also convected particles further downstream before they could be suspended. The near-wall flow developments were further complicated by the interaction of the rotor wake with a body, which significantly distorted the development of the rotor wake at the ground, the resulting near-wall flow velocities generally being lower in magnitude. The degree of wake distortion, however, was found to be sensitive to the cross-sectional shape of the body. In cases where there was direct impingement of the tip vortices on the body surfaces, the distortions to the wake caused lower near-wall flow velocities but still contained vortices that were able to suspend sediment particles radially closer to the rotor compared to the isolated rotor case. CONTRIBUTIONS TOWARDS THE UNDERSTANDING OF ROTOR-INDUCED DUST PARTICLE MOBILIZATION AND TRANSPORT by Anish Joshua Sydney Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2014 Advisory Committee: Minta Martin Professor J. Gordon Leishman, Chair/Advisor Professor Inderjit Chopra Associate Professor James Baeder Assistant Professor Anya Jones Professor Kenneth Kiger


This paper seeks to answer two questions: Has there been a shift in the representation of Muslims by the American media in the wake of increasing number of Muslims living here, and could Muslims speak for themselves through an autonomous Muslim discourse in the post-9/11 period? Using the tools of postcolonial analysis, I analyze the coverage on Muslims in the mainstream media following the 9/11 attacks. I find that there was a shift, in the form of a differentiation between moderates and fundamentalists. Additionally, the same tropes used to represent Muslims in the colonial discourse were now employed to the fundamentalist "Other." Muslims could speak up; however, this could not avoid reproducing the dominant discourse. Yet, the presence of a significant Muslim minority offers opportunities for broadened boundaries of "American" citizenry that can be realized by growing activism to this end.


The article illustrates the historical patterns of energy use and social and economic development as a context for informing contemporary trends. It will begin with a timeline of human population estimates and the associated energy sources and quantities harnessed. It will then explore the social and economic impacts of two technology waves that were instrumental in shaping the modern developed world: agriculture and industrialization. In these sections, energy trends associated with food and industrial output will be investigated. Finally, the paper will attempt to discover whether a correlation exists between per capita energy consumption and human well-being. The overarching theme throughout will be one of allowing the past to inform the future. An analytical understanding of the historical co-evolutionary patterns can inform the choices made in the present to better manage future trajectories.


Searching for black hole echo signals with gravitational waves provides a means of probing the near-horizon regime of these objects. We demonstrate a pipeline to efficiently search for these signals in gravitational wave data and calculate model selection probabilities between signal and no-signal hypotheses. As an example of its use we calculate Bayes factors for the Abedi-Dykaar-Afshordi (ADA) model on events in LIGO's first observing run and compare to existing results in the literature. We discuss the benefits of using a full likelihood exploration over existing search methods that used template banks and calculated p-values. We use the waveforms of ADA, although the method is easily extendable to other waveforms. With these waveforms we are able to demonstrate a range of echo amplitudes that is already is ruled out by the data.


Dependency grammar induction is the task of learning dependency syntax without annotated training data. Traditional graph-based models with global inference achieve state-ofthe-art results on this task but they require O(n3) run time. Transition-based models enable faster inference with O(n) time complexity, but their performance still lags behind. In this work, we propose a neural transition-based parser for dependency grammar induction, whose inference procedure utilizes rich neural features with O(n) time complexity. We train the parser with an integration of variational inference, posterior regularization and variance reduction techniques. The resulting framework outperforms previous unsupervised transition-based dependency parsers and achieves performance comparable to graph-based models, both on the English Penn Treebank and on the Universal Dependency Treebank. In an empirical comparison, we show that our approach substantially increases parsing speed over graphbased models.


Abstract. Airborne measurements in Arctic boundary-layer stratocumulus were carried out near Spitsbergen on 9 April 2007 during the Arctic Study of Tropospheric Aerosol, Clouds and Radiation (ASTAR) campaign. A unique set of co-located observations is used to describe the cloud properties, including detailed in situ cloud microphysical and radiation measurements along with airborne and co-located spaceborne remote sensing data (CALIPSO lidar and CloudSat radar). CALIPSO profiles indicate cloud top levels at temperature between −24°C and −21°C. In situ measurements confirm that the cloud-top lidar attenuated backscatter signal along the aircraft trajectory is linked with the presence of liquid water, a common feature observed in Arctic mixed-phase stratocumulus clouds. A low concentration of large ice crystals is also observed up to the cloud top resulting in significant CloudSat radar echoes. Since the ratio of the extinction of liquid water droplets to ice crystals is high, broadband radiative effects near the cloud top are mostly dominated by water droplets. CloudSat observations and in situ measurements reveal high reflectivity factors (up to 15 dBZ) and precipitation rates (1 mm h−1). This feature results from efficient ice growth processes. About 25% of the theoretically available liquid water is converted into ice water with large precipitating ice crystals. Using an estimate of mean cloud cover, a considerable value of 106 m3 h−1 of fresh water could be settled over the Greenland sea pool. European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF) operational analyses reproduces the boundary layer height variation along the flight track. However, small-scale features in the observed cloud field cannot be resolved by ECMWF analysis. Furthermore, ECMWF's diagnostic partitioning of the condensed water into ice and liquid reveals serious shortcomings for Arctic mixed-phased clouds. Too much ice is modelled.


In this study, a series of bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3) samples doped with a metal iodide (MI; M = Cu, Cs, K) were successfully prepared by the conventional solid-state reaction. The electron and thermal transport properties, i.e., electrical conductivity, carrier concentration, Hall mobility, Seebeck coefficient, and thermal conductivity, of MI-doped Bi2Te3 were measured in the temperature range of 300–650 K to understand the effect of metal iodide doping on the thermoelectric performance of Bi2Te3. The microstructure and morphologies of MI-doped Bi2Te3 were investigated by powder X-ray diffraction and high resolution transmission electron microscopy. The electrical conductivity increases with increasing MI contents due to the co-doping effect of metal and iodide. This value is much higher than that of Bi2Te3 doped with Cu prepared under the same experimental conditions. All the MI doped samples exhibit n-type conduction. The HR-TEM images of MI-doped Bi2Te3 samples reveal that all systems contain compositional fluctuations at the nanoscopic level, which suppress the thermal conductivity. Among metal iodides, the CuI dopant was very effective in improving the electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient, and suppressing the thermal conductivity, thus enhancing ZT. A significant increase in power factor (43 μW cm−1 K−2 at 368 K) accompanied by the reduction in thermal conductivity (1.23 W m−1 K−1 at 368 K) resulted in a higher ZT of (CuI)0.01Bi2Te3 than those of undoped Bi2Te3 and Cu0.07Bi2Te3.


Recreation is an important ecosystem service in coastal and marine ecosystems. The methodology for valuing recreational services is well developed in the literature. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt at estimating a country-wide value for this service. Using the zonal travel cost method we estimate the partial value of this service to be Rs 531.7 billion in 2012-13 for domestic tourists when consumer's surplus component is not added. Therefore, this represents a floor value. This constituted about 0.49% of the GDP (at current prices in that year). It is expected that the final value of these services will be higher than what this estimate suggests as it constitutes only what the consumers (recreational visitors) spent in their travel by way of cost of travel, accommodation and income forgone (opportunity cost). The main purpose of this exercise is to understand how these ecosystems services are valued by individuals as there is no direct way to recognize their value. It then helps us to allocate resources better and conserve natural capital.


The hydrodynamical structure of perfect fluid orbiting Schwarzschild–de Sitter black holes is investigated for configurations with uniform distribution of angular momentum density. It is shown that in the black-hole backgrounds admitting the existence of stable circular geodesics, closed equipotential surfaces with a cusp, allowing the existence of toroidal accretion disks, can exist. Two surfaces with a cusp exist for the angular momentum density smaller than the one corresponding to marginally bound circular geodesics; the equipotential surface corresponding to the marginally bound circular orbit has just two cusps. The outer cusp is located nearby the static radius where the gravitational attraction is compensated by the cosmological repulsion. Therefore, due to the presence of a repulsive cosmological constant, the outflow from thick accretion disks can be driven by the same mechanism as the accretion onto the black hole. Moreover, properties of open equipotential surfaces in vicinity of the axis of rotation suggest a strong collimation effects of the repulsive cosmological constant acting on jets produced by the accretion disks.


The following paper shows an approach to measure orientation data of sensors during an airplane flight for traffic data acquisition. This orientation data is necessary for georegistration of any taken aerial images and extracted features. Since an inertial measurement unit is a very costly component, alternative methods for orientation determination should be considered. In this paper we present an approach achieving this only by using a GPS position and a database of the road network around. It is shown how the roads are extracted in the image considering their color hue and how they are matched to the given database segments. To adjust the rotation angles a simplex optimization algorithm is used. The approach yields convergence rates of more than 96 percent with a rotation error of around 1/4 degree for pitch and roll, which is sufficient for traffic surveillance purpose.


In this review, I will present an overview of the development of the field of scatter hoarding studies. Scatter hoarding is a conspicuous behaviour and it has been observed by humans for a long time. Apart from an exceptional experimental study already published in 1720, it started with observational field studies of scatter hoarding birds in the 1940s. Driven by a general interest in birds, several ornithologists made large-scale studies of hoarding behaviour in species such as nutcrackers and boreal titmice. Scatter hoarding birds seem to remember caching locations accurately, and it was shown in the 1960s that successful retrieval is dependent on a specific part of the brain, the hippocampus. The study of scatter hoarding, spatial memory and the hippocampus has since then developed into a study system for evolutionary studies of spatial memory. In 1978, a game theoretical paper started the era of modern studies by establishing that a recovery advantage is necessary for individual hoarders for the evolution of a hoarding strategy. The same year, a combined theoretical and empirical study on scatter hoarding squirrels investigated how caches should be spaced out in order to minimize cache loss, a phenomenon sometimes called optimal cache density theory. Since then, the scatter hoarding paradigm has branched into a number of different fields: (i) theoretical and empirical studies of the evolution of hoarding, (ii) field studies with modern sampling methods, (iii) studies of the precise nature of the caching memory, (iv) a variety of studies of caching memory and its relationship to the hippocampus. Scatter hoarding has also been the subject of studies of (v) coevolution between scatter hoarding animals and the plants that are dispersed by these.


This study investigates benefits and challenges associated with the use of sport – in this case cricket – as a community development tool in Samoa. This Pacific Island nation, like others in the region, has been the focus of various development programs in the post-colonial era, with developed economy neighbours like Australia and New Zealand providing aid funding. Some of that has involved sport as a development tool, underpinned either by funding from the national government, foreign aid agencies, or a combination of both. The present paper, by focusing on a cricket for development (CFD) program in Samoa, aims to explore outcomes and limitations associated with the use of sport as a community engagement tool. The paper pursues that goal by examining the activities of relevant sport and government organisations, and – most crucially – it interviews key stakeholders involved in the CFD process in Samoa. In short, the prime purpose of this paper is to identify and interpret – from the perspective of locals – whether the CFD program has brought benefits to Samoan communities, and the challenges and limitations they see thus far. This is important because, to date, there has been an absence of qualitative inquiry into the efficacy of sport for development (SFD) programs in Samoa, and very limited research in a Pacific Islands context.


Objectives This study aims to investigate if iliac autogenous graft augmentation in medial open wedge high tibial osteotomies (OWHTOs) is superior to no augmentation in terms of bone healing. Patients and methods Twenty-five patients (14 males, 11 females; mean age 40.9±4.0 years; range, 33 to 48 years) with medial compartmental osteoarthritis of knee joint who underwent high tibial osteotomy with medial open wedge between January 2016 and December 2018 were included in this retrospective study. Twelve of the operated knees were the right knee. Graft was used in 13 patients (52%). Data including age, gender, body mass index (BMI), direction, follow-up period, union, Lysholm and International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) scores, pre- and postoperative femoral tibial angles (FTAs) and posterior tibial slopes were evaluated. Results The mean BMI was 26.4±1.9 (range, 22.0 to 30.0). Only 48% of the patients were smoking. The mean follow-up period was 28.6±5.3 months (range, 24 to 38 months). No statistically significant difference was found between the grafted and non- grafted groups in terms of age, BMI, follow-up time, gender, side and smoking status (p>0.05) There was no statistically significant difference between two groups in terms of pre- and postoperative Lysholm scores, pre- and postoperative IKDC scores, or pre- and postoperative FTA values (p>0.050). Conclusion Iliac autogenous graft augmentation in medial OWHTO has no effect on union but shortens the union time. Preoperative high varus degree adversely affects union. Therefore, routine use of iliac crest autograft is not recommended.


Abstract In insects, chitinases participate in the periodic shedding of old exoskeletons and the turnover of peritrophic membranes. Chitinase family members have been identified in dozens of species, including Tribolium castaneum, Drosophila melanogaster, and Anopheles gambiae. In this study, nine chitinases and three hypothetical chitinases have been identified in Bombyx mori L. (Lepidoptera: Bombycidae) through genome-wide searching. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that seven of them belong to the seven chitinase groups, respectively. BmCht25 and BmCht26 could not be grouped into the known chitinase groups, and might belong to two new groups of the chitinase family. BmCht10, BmCht25, and BmIDGF have glutamate amino acid substitutions in the active catalytic domain. Only BmCht5 and BmCht10 contain CBD domain and PEST sequences (rich in proline, glutamic acid, serine, and threonine). BmCht5 and BmCht26 are located on chromosome 7, and others (BmCht6, BmCht7, BmCht10, BmCht11, BmCht20, BmIDGF) are located on separate chromosomes of Bombyx mori, respectively. The present study provides important background information for future studies using Bombyx mori as a model organism for insect development and virus and host interaction.


Positive results were reported after application of plasma-rich in growth factors (PRGF) in sinus elevation augmentations. Furthermore, PRGF products are available in different formulations and   using them along with different graft biomaterials possibly induces bone formation and remodeling. This study assessed the histologic and histomorphometric results of NanoBone® biomaterial with and without PRGF in bilateral sinus augmentations. In this randomized split-mouth clinical trial, 10 patients who needed sinus floor elevation were selected and activated liquid PRGF was obtained through centrifuge of their blood. The space between alveolar process and sinus floor were filled with NanoBone® + PRGF (test site) or NanoBone® alone (control site) post-surgery. After 6 months, the implants were inserted in the regions and bone specimens were obtained using trephine burs. The sections were prepared by the standard techniques and bone remodeling was examined in both groups. The data were subjected to paired t test. Results: In case sites, the mean new bone formation percentages were 30.29%±8.54 and 30.84% ±6.76 in control sites. The mean remnant particles were 26.16%±10.03 and 26.18%± 10.09 in case and control sites respectively. No significant differences were noted between case and control sites regarding mean new bone formation and remnant particles. Chronic inflammation was noted in all specimens with dominant range of 10-30%. The giant cells were evident and all specimens showed bones of lamellar and woven types.  Although no significant differences existed between the sites filling using NanoBone® with and without PRGF in bilateral sinus augmentations, the results are probably related to the lengthy time periods for specimen preparation and the type of bone materials used. Conclusion was that PRGF did not induce bone formation in the aforementioned period of time.


In Australia, the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) invites educators in Early Childhood
Education and Care (ECEC) services to view children as learners who are confident and involved
(Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, 2009)
while the National Quality Standard (NQS) contends that the "educational program and practice of
educators are child-centred, stimulating and maximise opportunities for enhancing and extending each
child's learning and development" (Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority
[ACECQA], 2017, p. 95). Additionally, article 12 of the United Nations Convention of the Rights of
the Child (UNCRC) advises that it is a child's right to contribute and their opinions need to be
considered in decisions that affect them (United Nations Children's Fund [UNICEF], 1996).
Nonetheless, limitations appear to exist in supporting educators' decisions and provisions in the
environment and use of the outdoor learning spaces that contrast with the documents that underpin
educator practice. This literature review examines the tensions between the ideal and the reality of
children's and educators' decision making in outdoor learning spaces. It shows that strong policy
alone is not sufficient unless underpinned by an environment in which educators are able to make
decisions without fear of litigation and children's perspectives are heard, respected, and enacted.


Deletions of 9p have been associated with 46,XY gonadal dysgenesis, and the smallest region of overlap has been mapped to the tip of chromosome 9. Two candidate genes (DMRT1 and 2) have been found in the region. Despite intensive mutation searches, no mutations have been detected in these genes. To gain insights into the genomics of the region and to isolate other candidate genes for the phenotype, we have constructed a P1 artificial chromosome (PAC)/bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) contig spanning over 500 kb and covering the consensus critical region. We have analyzed the expression pattern of several ESTs mapped or sublocalized within the framework of the contig. In addition, a sample shotgun sequencing of a PAC containing the mentioned DM genes led to the detection of novel transcripts displaying an expression pattern specific to testis and kidney, consistent with a role in the development of the urogenital system. One of them, expressed in adult testis and human embryos aged 4-5 weeks, encodes a potential polypeptide and is located immediately downstream of a sequence capable of encoding a novel DM domain. The region was partially screened for mutations in sex-reversed patients by Southern blot, sequencing, and FISH. No mutations were found. Our results suggest that the critical region on 9p involved in male-to-female sex reversal displays greater gene density and genomic complexity than previously anticipated. Future investigations will include functional and mutational studies of the novel transcripts mapped or sublocalized within the critical region by this study as well as cloning efforts to isolate additional candidate genes.


We emphasize the need for input-dependent regularization in the context of conditional density models (also: discriminative models) like Gaussian process predictors. This can be achieved by a simple modification of the standard Bayesian data generation model un- derlying these techniques. Specifically, we allow the latent target function to be a- priori dependent on the distribution of the input points. While the standard genera- tion model results in robust predictors, data with missing labels is ignored, which can be wasteful if relevant prior knowledge is avail- able. We show that discriminative mod- els like Fisher kernel discriminants and Co- Training classifiers can be regarded as (ap- proximate) Bayesian inference techniques un- der the modified generation model, and that the template Co-Training algorithm is related to a variant of the well-known Expectation- Maximization (EM) technique. We propose a template EM algorithm for the modified generation model which can be regarded as generalization of Co-Training.


Pixel windows are often used to average the image spectral response values that represent the area over which field measurements are collected to estimate biophysical parameters such as forest stand structure, aboveground biomass, and leaf area index. Averaging spectral values within a pixel window ensures the resulting spectral response is representative of the biophysical parameter, and reduces sampling error from spatial mis-registrations between the image and plot locations. These spectral values are related to field plot measurements through empirical models that may result in poor estimates if (a) the plot is located too close to a spectrally different land feature; and (b) natural and human-caused disturbance occurs between the field data collection and image acquisition. This paper introduces SEGSAMP (SEGmentation SAMPle), an image sampling method to extract pixel values within a segmented sampling window that would be more spectrally representative of biophysical parameters measured from field plots. Written in Arc Macro Language, the method uses a point and polygon shapefile from which to sample only those pixels that are within a defined pixel window size and the image segment the plot is contained in. The output forms a segmented pixel window grid, which can be used to extract pixel values from imagery. A case-study application demonstrates that segmented pixel windows resulted in models whose coefficient of determination values were higher for prediction of stand height and crown closure (height Radj 2 = 0.65 ; crown closure Radj 2 = 0.57) than from square windows (height Radj 2 = 0.57 ; crown closure Radj 2 = 0.48).


Middle East and North Africa's demographic trends reveal together a growing ageing population and an exceptional growth of the youth population. Increasing elderly population leads to significant consequences for the cost and organization of health systems. The rise in life expectancy has changed the arrangement of multigenerational families; relationships in ageing families have become more unstable and less predictable. In this paper, we investigate - in a gender and geographic perspective – differences in the socio-economic situation of the elderly and the determinants of late-life living arrangements in Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia starting from Labor Market Panel Surveys. Results are in line with both the different countries' stages of the demographic transition and welfare state coverages. The family continues to be the basis for support to older people, as in general in the Arab area. A relevant socio-political group, calling for policy interventions, is represented by the elderly living alone.


Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of two different cementation techniques of individually formed E-glass fiber-reinforced composite (FRC) post on bond strength and microleakage. Methods: The crowns of extracted third molars were removed and post preparation was carried out with parapost drills (diameter 1.5 mm). After application of bonding agents individually formed FRC posts (everStick POST, diameter 1.5 mm) were cemented into the post spaces with either ParaCem®Universal or self-adhesive RelyX™Unicem, using two different cementation techniques: 1) an "indirect (traditional) technique" where the post was prepolymerized prior application of luting cement and insertion into the post space or 2) a "direct technique" where the uncured post was inserted to the post space with luting cement and light-polymerized in situ at the same time. After water storage of 48 hours, the roots (n = 10/group) were cut into discs of thickness of 2 mm. A push-out force was applied until specimen fracture or loosening of the post. A microleakage test was carried out on roots which were not subjected to the loading test (n= 32) to evaluate the sealing capacity of the post-canal interface. The microleakage was measured using dye penetration depth under a stereomicroscope. Results: Higher bond strength values (p<0.05) and less microleakage (p<0.05) were obtained with the "direct technique" compared to the "indirect technique". None of the FRC posts revealed any dye penetration between the post and the cement. Conclusions: The "direct technique" seems to be beneficial when cementing individually formed FRC posts.


prior work indicates that listeners may be more likely to call a note in-tune when it is sung than when it is in another timbre. The current study seeks to confirm whether this vocal generosity effect generalizes to melodies. Musicians and nonmusicians listened to pairs of single tones and scale-based melodies performed with the voice or the violin. The final note was varied in how well it was tuned to the prior context, and for each example, listeners judged whether the final note was intune or not. A strong vocal generosity effect was found for musicians and nonmusicians in both melodic and single tone conditions – a higher degree of mistuning was necessary for listeners to decide that sung tones were out-of-tune compared with violin notes. These results confirm the role of timbre in tuning judgments, and help explain why singers are typically less well-tuned than instrumentalists in performance.


This empirical paper adds to competition and industrial organization literature by exploring the interplay between industry structure and competitiveness on local, rather than nation-wide, markets. We use microlevel statistical data for banks in two Russian regions (Bashkortostan and Tatarstan) to estimate Herfindahl-Hirschman index, Lerner index, and Panzar-Rosse model. We estimate Panzar-Rosse model in two ways: via the widely used price-equation that accounts for scale effects and then via a revenue-equation that disregards scale effects as suggested by Bikker, Shaffer and Spierdijk (2009). We find both regional markets to be ruled by monopolistic competition, although estimation by revenue-equation does not reject monopoly hypothesis for Tatarstan. Existence of sizeable locally-owned and operated institutions does not necessarily lead to higher competitiveness of the given regional market. Non-structural methods of estimation suggest that bank competition in Bashkortostan is stronger than in Tatarstan.


A small macroeconomicmodel is constructed starting from a German money demand relation for M3 based on quarterly, seasonally unadjusted data for the period from 1976 to 1996. In contrast to previous studies we build a vector error correction model for M3, GNP, an inflation rate and an interest rate spread variable to represent opportunity costs of holding money. Furthermore, import price ination is added as an exogenous variable. The model is used to analyze the relation between money growth and ination by means of an impulse response analysis.


Chronic pain caused by damage to the nervous system (neuropathic pain) results in part from the immune response in the damaged tissue. Clark et al. provide new insight into how microglial cells (cells of the immune system that function in the central nervous system) contribute to such effects. After partial neuronal ligation of the sciatic nerve in rats, the authors noted (by immunofluorescence microscopy) increased abundance of the protease cathepsin S in microglial cells in the area of the spinal cord where the injured nerve fibers terminated. If they continuously exposed the spinal cord cells to an irreversible inhibitor of cathepsin S in vivo, the hyperalgesia (increased sensitivity to pain) and allodynia (sensation of pain from a stimulus that is not normally painful) experienced by the animals 7 to 14 days after injury was reduced. Administration of recombinant rat cathepsin S, on the other hand, increased hyperalgesia and allodynia in uninjured rats. The authors therefore searched for potential target molecules expected from their protein sequence to be susceptible to cleavage by cathepsin S. One such protein was the membrane-bound chemokine fractalkine, which is expressed on the surface of neuronal cells and activates receptors on microglial cells; the hypothetical cleavage event was expected to release the biologically active extracellular domain of the molecule. Indeed, exposure of cultured neurons to cathepsin S increased release of fractalkine into the culture medium. Furthermore, inhibiting the action of fractalkine with a neutralizing antibody in vivo reduced hyperalgesia and allodynia caused by administration of cathepsin S or fractalkine at the spinal cord. The allodynia produced by administration of cathepsin S was not observed in mice lacking the CX3CR1 receptor for fractalkine. Fractalkine presumably enhances release of other cytokines that enhance perception of pain. Thus the authors propose that blocking these events through inhibition of cathepsin S could provide a mechanism to therapeutically limit chronic pain. A. K. Clark, P. K. Yip, J. Grist, C. Gentry, A. A. Staniland, F. Marchand, M. Dehvari, G. Wotherspoon, J. Winter, J. Ullah, S. Bevan, M. Malcangio, Inhibition of spinal microglial cathepsin S for the reversal of neuropathic pain. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 104, 10655-10660 (2007). [Abstract] [Full Text]


A principal conclusion of this thesis is, that benthic foraminifera are excellent recorders of paleoenvironments and paleoenvironmental change. Insight in their community structure, and changes in this through time, is still increasing and will add to their usefulness in the reconstruction of past environments. Moreover, we found that gradual processes affecting the paleoenvironment are as instrumental in the evolution of benthic communities as short-lived ecological crises.


The paper presents dealswith the effect of poly vinyl alcohol (PVA) amount as gel making agent of sol-gel combustion method on the morphology and the particles sizes of chromium oxide nanostructures (CONS). Chromium nitrate is dissolved in 1:1 water ethanol mixed solvent. Some different amounts are dissolved in the chromium nitrate solution under controlled temperature to make a sol. The solvent of the sol is evaporated under controlled temperature to obtain a high viscous material which called gel. The suitable pyrrolysis temperature of the gel is found by TGA/DTA analysis. The homogenous gel is slowly pyrrolized under 500 oC by an electrical furnace to obtain a CONS sample. Five different samples are synthesized by using different amounts of PVA. The morphology, particles sizes and the composition of the CONS is characterized by SEM, TEM, XRDandDLS.


Single-pair Förster resonance energy transfer (spFRET) experiments using single-molecule burst analysis on a confocal microscope are an ideal tool to measure inter- and intramolecular distances and dynamics on the nanoscale. Different techniques have been developed to maximize the amount of information available in spFRET burst analysis experiments. Multiparameter fluorescence detection (MFD) is used to monitor a variety of fluorescence parameters simultaneously and pulsed interleaved excitation (PIE) employs direct excitation of the acceptor to probe its presence and photoactivity. To calculate accurate FRET efficiencies from spFRET experiments with MFD or PIE, several calibration measurements are usually required. Herein, we demonstrate that by combining MFD with PIE information regarding all calibration factors as well as an accurate determination of spFRET histograms can be performed in a single measurement. In addition, the quality of overlap of the different detection volumes as well as the detection of acceptor photophysics can be investigated with MFD-PIE. Bursts containing acceptor photobleaching can be identified and excluded from further investigation while bursts that contain FRET dynamics are unaffected by this analysis. We have employed MFD-PIE to accurately analyze the effects of nucleotides and substrate on the interdomain separation in DnaK, the major bacterial heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70). The interdomain distance increases from 47 Å in the ATP-bound state to 84 Å in the ADP-bound state and slightly contracts to 77 Å when a substrate is bound. This is in contrast to what was observed for the mitochondrial member of the Hsp70s, Ssc1, supporting the notion of evolutionary specialization of Hsp70s for different cellular functions in different organisms and cell organelles.


Due to noise in the synthesis and degradation of proteins, the concentrations of individual vertebrate signaling proteins were estimated to vary with a coefficient of variation (CV) of approximately 25% between cells. This high variation enables population-level regulation of cell functions but abolishes accurate single-cell signal transmission. Here we measure cell-to-cell variability of relative protein abundance using quantitative proteomics of individual Xenopus laevis eggs and cultured human cells and show that variation is typically much lower, in the range of 5–15%, compatible with accurate single-cell transmission. Furthermore, we show that MEK and ERK expression covary which improves controllability of the fraction of cells that activate bimodal ERK signaling, arguing that covariation has a role in facilitating population-level control of binary cell-fate decisions. Together, our experimental and model data argues for a control principle whereby low covariation limits signaling noise for accurate control analog single-cell signaling. In contrast, increased covariation widens the stimulus-range over which external inputs can regulate binary cell activation, thereby enabling accurate control of the fraction of activated cells at the population level.


The use of scroll compressors in refrigeration systems is becoming increasing popular. However the development and use of a scroll machine as an expander to replace a throttle valve has never been reported. This thesis describes the work carried out to develop a two phase scroll expander for use in vapour compression refrigeration systems. By this means the power requirements of the system would be decreased and the refrigeration effect increased. A computer simulation of the geometry of the scroll device was first developed. This was attached to a package of subroutines developed to analyse compressor and expander thermodynamic performance to obtain estimates of both scroll expander and compressor performance. The results of the expander compressor analyses were used to estimate the performance of a scroll expander driving a second scroll compressor in a sealed unit used in a large industrial chiller of 4MW thermal output. By this means the power requirement for the main compressor was reduced by approximately 10% while, due to the expansion in the expander being more nearly isentropic than in the throttle valve, the refrigeration effect was simultaneously increased by nearly 2%. This lead to an overall improvement in coefficient of performance of nearly 13.5%. Further investigation of the system and more specially
on the scroll device appears to be justified. A 3D simulation was then performed by the use of a CFD package called CFX4. This gave an excellent understanding on the flow 'inside' the machine. From the flow patterns obtained it is obvious that the scroll device behaviour appears to be excellent as compressor but not so good as an expander. This is mainly due to the huge recirculation during the filling process and due to the significant pressure drop of approximately 2 bar (Max) associated with it.


Social and emotional competence relates to children's ability to process and understand their experiences and their ability to utilise this throughout their lives. Rooted in theories of multiple intelligence, social and emotional competence is said to reach far beyond measures of attainment in understanding children's wellbeing. This study aimed to explore how social and emotional learning (SEL) develops at pre-school stage, considering practitioner involvement in planned and naturally occurring learning. The triangulated qualitative methodologies involved observations, interviews, and focus groups with an identified focus on learning strategies used by the adults in the setting. Thus the intention was to research practitioner views of SEL, observe interventions used to develop SEL in children, and understand children's experiences through observing them in social learning situations. The research observes a fundamentally consistent ethos encompassing expectations of staff about children, and concludes with an unexpected finding; that having processed such consistent messages, children themselves began to police their own environment.


The advent of service-oriented architectures (SOAs) has strongly facilitated the development and deployment of large-scale distributed (serviceoriented) applications. The middleware for orchestrating process-based applications that consist of several distributed services has to be inherently distributed as well, in order to provide a high degree of scalability and to avoid a single point of failure. Self-healing execution of such processes supported by a distributed middleware requires replicated control metadata and instance data of processes. Most importantly, replication has to be provided in a way that does not affect the adaptivity and elasticity behavior of the middleware for composite service execution. In this technical report, we introduce OSIRIS Safety Ring, a novel approach to fault-tolerant process execution. Safety Ring is based on OSIRIS, a distributed and decentralized middleware for the execution of composite services. Essentially, the Safety Ring exploits dedicated node monitors, organized in a self-organizing ring structure, for the replication of control data. Moreover, it leverages virtual stable storage for managing process instance data in a robust way. We present the architecture of OSIRIS' Safety Ring and discuss in detail the algorithms it applies for self-healing process execution. The performance evaluation shows that the additional gain in robustness has only marginal effects on the scalability characteristics of the system.


Abstract. We use ozone and carbon monoxide measurements from the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES), model estimates of Ozone, CO, and ozone pre-cursors from the Real-time Air Quality Modeling System (RAQMS), and data from the NASA DC8 aircraft to characterize the source and dynamical evolution of ozone and CO in Asian wildfire plumes during the spring ARCTAS campaign 2008. On the 19 April, NASA DC8 O 3 and aerosol Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) observed two biomass burning plumes originating from North-Western Asia (Kazakhstan) and South-Eastern Asia (Thailand) that advected eastward over the Pacific reaching North America in 10 to 12 days. Using both TES observations and RAQMS chemical analyses, we track the wildfire plumes from their source to the ARCTAS DC8 platform. In addition to photochemical production due to ozone pre-cursors, we find that exchange between the stratosphere and the troposphere is a major factor influencing O 3 concentrations for both plumes. For example, the Kazakhstan and Siberian plumes at 55 degrees North is a region of significant springtime stratospheric/tropospheric exchange. Stratospheric air influences the Thailand plume after it is lofted to high altitudes via the Himalayas. Using comparisons of the model to the aircraft and satellite measurements, we estimate that the Kazakhstan plume is responsible for increases of O 3 and CO mixing ratios by approximately 6.4 ppbv and 38 ppbv in the lower troposphere (height of 2 to 6 km), and the Thailand plume is responsible for increases of O 3 and CO mixing ratios of approximately 11 ppbv and 71 ppbv in the upper troposphere (height of 8 to 12 km) respectively. However, there are significant sources of uncertainty in these estimates that point to the need for future improvements in both model and satellite observations. For example, it is challenging to characterize the fraction of air parcels from the stratosphere versus those from the fire because of the low sensitivity of the TES CO estimates used to mark stratospheric air versus air parcels affected by the smoke plume. Model transport uncertainties, such as too much dispersion, results in a broad plume structure from the Kazakhstan fires that is approximately 2 km lower than the plume observed by aircraft. Consequently, the model and TES data do not capture the photochemical production of ozone in the Kazakhstan plume that is apparent in the aircraft in situ data. However, ozone and CO distributions from TES and RAQMS model estimates of the Thailand plume are within the uncertainties of the TES data. Therefore, the RAQMS model is better able to characterize the emissions from this fire, the mixing of ozone from the stratosphere to the plume, and the photochemical production and transport of ozone and ozone pre-cursors as the plume moves across the Pacific.


Coronary sinus lead placement for transvenous left ventricular (LV) pacing in cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) has a significant failure rate at implant and a significant dislocation rate during follow-up. For these patients, epicardial pacing lead implantation is the most frequently used alternative. The aim of this case report is to describe a fundamentally new approach for the endocardial LV lead implantation. An epicardial lead implantation was planned, but after thoracotomy, extensive pericardial adhesions were found. An active fixation lead was placed into the LV cavity using the standard Seldinger technique through the LV apex. After an uneventful post-operative period at the 3- and 6-month follow-up visits, the patient had effective CRT with unchanged pacing parameters. In conclusion, this is the very first report showing feasibility of transapical LV lead implantation.


Cadbury showed concern for the welfare of its labour force in a variety of ways and not least in the provision of educational and educative-recreational facilities. The firm regarded the education of employees as having a positive effect on the efficiency of the business at the same time as being of benefit to the individual, the local community and the nation. The life-long education of people was seen as essential for personal fulfilament, social improvement, economic competitiveness and the proper functioning of democratic procedures. The educational system built up at Cadbury, and the philosophy on which it was founded, acquired both a domestic and international reputation. Its main components were the day continuation education of juniors; the Bournville Works Evening Institute; vocational and non-vocational scholarships; emphasis on the primary importance of general education as a basis for life, work and technical training; stress on equality of educational opportunity for females; and leisure and sporting amenities which the firm felt to be educative in the sense that they contributed to personal psychological and physical development and social skills. The system was primarily shaped and constructed in the first three decades of the twentieth century and went into decline and eventual demise in the 1960's and 1970's as a result of economic pressures, social changes, enhanced state arrangements for education, shifts in Cadbury management thinking and the merger with Schweppes in 1969.


Adult mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC), also referred to as mesenchymal stem cells, were detected almost half a century ago in bone marrow and have been studied intensively in the last decade. Different aspects of MSC biology were explored and published. Studies pointed to their localization in different organs during development and in adulthood and described their characteristics in experimental or clinical investigations. Despite intensive research in the field and in sharp contrast to hematopoietic stem cells (HSC), it has become more and more clear that MSC lack a unique cell surface marker. MSC not only share cell surface markers with other types of cells, they also share many features with pericytes and fibroblasts, including their capability to differentiate into, for instance, osteoblasts or adipocytes. In this review we therefore screen the current literature to disclose differences between MSC and fibroblasts and also report on common qualities.


Non-aerodynamic mechanical devices are under consideration as means to augment the stability of miniature autonomous and remotely controlled aircraft. Such aircraft can be used for diverse purposes, including military reconnaissance, radio communications, and safety-related monitoring of wide areas. The need for stability-augmentation devices arises because adverse meteorological conditions generally affect smaller aircraft more strongly than they affect larger aircraft: Miniature aircraft often become uncontrollable under conditions that would not be considered severe enough to warrant grounding of larger aircraft. The need for the stability-augmentation devices to be non-aerodynamic arises because there is no known way to create controlled aerodynamic forces sufficient to counteract the uncontrollable meteorological forces on miniature aircraft. A stability-augmentation device of the type under consideration includes a mass pod (a counterweight) at the outer end of a telescoping shaft, plus associated equipment to support the operation of the aircraft. The telescoping shaft and mass pod are stowed in the rear of the aircraft. When deployed, they extend below the aircraft. Optionally, an antenna for radio communication can be integrated into the shaft. At the time of writing this article, the deployment of the telescoping shaft and mass pod was characterized as passive and automatic, but information about the deployment mechanism(s) was not available. The feasibility of this stability-augmentation concept was demonstrated in flights of hand-launched prototype aircraft.