Classic evolutionary theory predicts that monogamy should be intimately linked with parental care. It has long been assumed, therefore, that avian brood parasites—which lay their eggs in the nests of 'host' species and provide little, if any, parental care—should be overwhelmingly promiscuous. However, recent studies have revealed that the social mating systems of brood parasites are surprisingly diverse, encompassing lek polygyny, monogamy, polygamy and promiscuity. What ecological or phylogenetic factors explain this variation, and why are some brood parasites apparently monogamous? Here we review the social and genetic mating systems of all 75 brood parasitic species for which data are available and evaluate several hypotheses that may help explain these patterns. We find that social monogamy is widespread, often co-occurring with territoriality and cooperative behaviour by the mated pair. Comparative studies, though preliminary, suggest that in some species, monogamy is associated with low host density and polygamy with higher host density. Interestingly, molecular data show that genetic and social mating systems can be entirely decoupled: genetic monogamy can occur in parasitic species that lack behavioural pair-bonds, possibly as a by-product of territoriality; conversely, social monogamy has been reported in parasites that are genetically polygamous. This synthesis suggests that social and genetic monogamy may result from very different selective pressures, and that male–female cooperative behaviours, population density and territoriality may all interact to favour the evolution of monogamous mating in brood parasites. Given that detailed descriptive data of social, and especially genetic, mating systems are still lacking for the majority of brood parasitic species, definitive tests of these hypotheses await future work. This article is part of the theme issue 'The coevolutionary biology of brood parasitism: from mechanism to pattern'.


Alpha-amanitin was shown to inhibit triiodothyronine (T3)-induced increases in mitochondrial alpha-glycerophosphate dehydrogenase (alpha-GPD) and cytoplasmic malic enzyme activity in the livers of male Sprague-Dawley rats. A 3-fold increase in alpha-GPD observed 24 h after the iv injection of 3 microngT3/100 g BW was completely inhibited by administration of alpha-amanitin at 0 and 8 h. Similarly, alpha-amanitin blocked a two- to four-fold increase in malic enzyme 24 h following iv injection of 3 mg T3/100 g BW into euthyroid rats. After the initial inhibition of enzyme induction by alpha-amanitin was dissipated, however, a delayed but striking increase in enzyme activity occurred. In hypothyroid animals, alpha-GPD activity rose after the initial 24 h inhibition and reached levels at 72 h equal to those observed in hypothyroid rats treated with T3 only. In euthyroid animals treated with T3 and alpha-amanitin, a delayed increase in malic enzyme activity was observed at 72 h and attained values at 96 h similar to those in euthyroid animals injected with T3 only. The delayed rise in enzyme response is most easily explained by the formation of a long-lived intermediate during the exposure of the nuclear sites to T3.


Visual and audio modalities are highly correlated, yet they contain different information. Their strong correlation makes it possible to predict the semantics of one from the other with good accuracy. Their intrinsic differences make cross-modal prediction a potentially more rewarding pretext task for self-supervised learning of video and audio representations compared to within-modality learning. Based on this intuition, we propose Cross-Modal Deep Clustering (XDC), a novel self-supervised method that leverages unsupervised clustering in one modality (e.g., audio) as a supervisory signal for the other modality (e.g., video). This cross-modal supervision helps XDC utilize the semantic correlation and the differences between the two modalities. Our experiments show that XDC outperforms single-modality clustering and other multi-modal variants. XDC achieves state-of-the-art accuracy among self-supervised methods on multiple video and audio benchmarks. Most importantly, our video model pretrained on large-scale unlabeled data significantly outperforms the same model pretrained with full-supervision on ImageNet and Kinetics for action recognition on HMDB51 and UCF101. To the best of our knowledge, XDC is the first self-supervised learning method that outperforms large-scale fully-supervised pretraining for action recognition on the same architecture.


The Terminal Classic at El Mirador, Peten, Guatemala Richard M. Allen Department of Anthropology Master of Arts Recent excavations uncovered numerous small rooms constructed on top of the Danta Acropolis at El Mirador, Guatemala. The characteristics of the settlement and the material items indicated that it was a late occupation and lacked the features associated with large Maya polities and Classic Maya culture. This thesis focused on describing the continuities and changes that occurred from the Late Classic to the Terminal Classic at El Mirador based on the ceramic assemblage and architecture. Significant continuity and stability of the pottery making community is reflected in the ceramic assemblage. Additionally, it was desirable to gain an understanding of how the Terminal Classic occupation at El Mirador differed from other Maya cities. The comparisons show that on a general level, despite being a small settlement, El Mirador participated in many of the cultural patterns that characterize the Terminal Classic period. Two levels of ceramic production are postulated for the Late Classic period, one sustaining production of fine wares (polychromes) and the other sustaining production of basic production (utilitarian wares). The people inhabiting El Mirador in the Terminal Classic period were materially less well-off, and did not pursue activities associated with high culture as their counterparts did in larger cities. Nevertheless, they were not culturally isolated and they had access to trade items and small quantities of prestige goods.


There may be no greater source of anxiety for Americans today than the question of what to eat and drink. Are eggs the perfect protein, or are they cholesterol bombs? Is red wine good for my heart or bad for my liver? Will pesticides, additives, and processed foods kill me? Here with some very rare and very welcome advice is food historian Harvey Levenstein: Stop worrying! In "Fear of Food" Levenstein reveals the people and interests who have created and exploited these worries, causing an extraordinary number of Americans to allow fear to trump pleasure in dictating their food choices. He tells of the prominent scientists who first warned about deadly germs and poisons in foods and their successors who charged that processing foods robs them of life-giving vitamins and minerals. These include Nobel Prize-winner Eli Metchnikoff, who advised that yogurt would enable people to live to be 140, and Elmer McCollum, the "discoverer" of vitamins, who tailored his warnings about vitamin deficiencies to suit the food producers who funded him. Levenstein also highlights how large food companies have taken advantage of these concerns by marketing their products to combat the fear of the moment. Such examples include the co-opting of the "natural foods" movement, which grew out of the belief that inhabitants of a remote Himalayan Shangri-la enjoyed remarkable health by avoiding the very kinds of processed food these corporations produced, and the physiologist Ancel Keys, originator of the Mediterranean Diet, who provided the basis for a powerful coalition of scientists, doctors, food producers, and others to convince Americans that high-fat foods were deadly. In "Fear of Food", Levenstein offers a much-needed voice of reason; he expertly questions these stories of constantly changing advice to reveal that there are no hard-and-fast facts when it comes to eating. With this book, he hopes to free us from the fears that cloud so many of our food choices and allow us to finally rediscover the joys of eating something just because it tastes good.


Paid crowd work offers remarkable opportunities for improving productivity, social mobility, and the global economy by engaging a geographically distributed workforce to complete complex tasks on demand and at scale. But it is also possible that crowd work will fail to achieve its potential, focusing on assembly-line piecework. Can we foresee a future crowd workplace in which we would want our children to participate? This paper frames the major challenges that stand in the way of this goal. Drawing on theory from organizational behavior and distributed computing, as well as direct feedback from workers, we outline a framework that will enable crowd work that is complex, collaborative, and sustainable. The framework lays out research challenges in twelve major areas: workflow, task assignment, hierarchy, real-time response, synchronous collaboration, quality control, crowds guiding AIs, AIs guiding crowds, platforms, job design, reputation, and motivation.


A steady state cross-shelf density gradient of a wind-free coastal ocean undergoing winter time cooling is found for cooling and geometries which do not vary in the along-shelf direction. The steady state cross-shelf density gradient exists even when the average density of the water continues to increase. The steady state density gradient can be attained in less than a winter for parameters appropriate to the mid-Atlantic Bight. The cross-shelf eddy-driven buoyancy fluxes which cause this steady state gradient are found to depend critically on bottom friction and bottom slope, and the coastal polyna solutions of Chapman and Gawarkiewicz [1997] are significantly modified by this dependence in the limit of polynas with a large alongshore extent. Bottom friction retards the cross-shelf propagation of eddies, so that the buoyancy transport is no longer carried by self-advecting eddy pairs but mixed across the shelf by interacting eddies. The eddy interaction changes the length scale of the eddies until it is the lesser of the Rhines arrest scale or an analogous frictional arrest scale. The estimates of the steady state cross-shelf density gradient are found to compare well with numerical model results.


Around the world, productivity growth has stalled out. While some hope that a "second machine age" will reverse the slump, we think that wringing bureaucracy out of the economy offers a more promising and less speculative route to boosting productivity. By our calculations, busting bureaucracy would add $3 trillion to economic growth in the US alone. Dismantling bureaucracy won't be easy, but it has to happen — bureaucracy must die. This paper provides a detailed blueprint for abolishing the bureaucracy tax in organizations and everywhere else.


In any nascent democracy, the military as an organized force is a dominant factor in politics. The nature of the relationship between different institutions, especially in fledgling democracies, decides the position of the military in the state. Compared to the political parties, the military is a cohesive force with a command structure that ensures orders are dutifully implemented. Often the military becomes part of contested politics and remains a dominant factor in countries that were previously under military rule. This could be for two reasons. First, their regime remains a reference point and is often compared to democratic regimes thereby creating a legitimacy factor. Second, the military is seen as savior and often portrayed as a fall-back option if a civilian system of governance is not able to deliver. Though many argue that military regimes are a thing of the past and their role is in fact in decline, this may not be true. Military institutions have adapted to change and the nature of their interactions with civilian groups has undergone a shift. However, use of coercion by military authority does not explain military dominance. Much is determined by the structural factors within which both the civil and military agents operate. In some cases, the military's preserve is not only ensuring state "sovereignty" and its territorial integrity but also preventing a political catastrophe from happening during political transition. They are often referred to as guardians of the state. Study of civil–military relations in South Asia tends to follow a narrative that synthesizes and combines the structural and agency-related issues. Agency, however, is a dominant factor that waits for structurally enabling factors to contemplate a military takeover. In South Asia, and particularly in Bangladesh, any study of civil–military relations within the theoretical framework of a structure-agency divide is inadequate. Challenges in studying the structure-agency divide can be attributed to the larger-than-life image of the military agency. Military agents as actors, their political motives appear to be more important than the societal structure that influences decision. Social class, macroeconomic situations, the society-governing class interface, and lopsided institutional developments also shape the role of agencies (civil and military) and determine the balance of power. Absence of coup does not imply "civilian control," but rather the civilian government's ability to decide on posting, promoting, and shaping the vision of the military regarding threat perception determines the extent of civilian control over the military. Political culture, agreement within the society on political structure, institutional checks and balances, and political socialization are important aspects of state structure that acts a constraint on Agency's action.


Background: It is assumed that practical skills learned through simulation can be transferred to the clinical setting, but little is known about students' skill performance on real patients after simulation-based learning. The literature shows that newly qualified nurses lack proficiency in skill performance, implying that transfer of learning is challenging. The aim is to explore practical skill transfer from skill centre to clinical setting. Method: A qualitative descriptive observational study of five undergraduate nursing students practicing peripheral venous cannulation (PVC) in the skills centre and clinical setting. Performances were compared using content analysis. Findings: There were similarities and differences in the students' performance accuracy  in the skills centre and the clinical setting. Many steps were performed correctly, though some were performed incorrectly, and several were not performed or not relevant to perform in either setting. Practicing on a mannequin and on actual patients gave different learning opportunities. Practicing on a mannequin gave the students the opportunity to perform most of the PVC steps even if the vein was missed. When students missed the vein on real patients, they had to terminate the attempt, with no opportunity to perform subsequent steps of the skill. Conclusion: Low-fidelity simulation was found both to be effective, as it provided familiarity with equipment used in the clinical setting, and inadequate due to lacking opportunity to discern differences encountered in the clinical setting. The simulation must be improved to ensure that students learn what is needed for safe practice on real patients in the clinical setting.


This chapter provides a critical review of statistical methods applied in animal and plant breeding programs, especially Bayesian methods. Classical and Bayesian procedures are presented in pedigree-based and marker-based models. The flexibility of the Bayesian approaches and their high accuracy of prediction of the breeding values are illustrated. We show a tendency of the superiority of Bayesian methods over best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) in accuracy of selection, but some difficulties on elicitation of some complex prior distributions are investigated. Genetic models including marker and pedigree information are more accurate than statistical models based on markers or pedigree alone.


Energy policy is being driven by two predominant themes: climate change; and energy security. In response, the built environment needs to develop sustainable, decarbonised, low energy systems and approaches that are socially acceptable and economically beneficial. The UK mainstream house construction industry is being driven, through policy and regulation, towards achieving this end without evidence of how these new systems of provision are used by passively adopting households. This thesis considers the outcomes of this policy drive and questions the ability of the approaches taken to meet policy targets in the real world.
A case study, comprising 14 newly constructed low energy affordable homes in Norfolk, is used to evaluate the real world energy and carbon outcomes of the house building industries response to policy. The interdisciplinary study included: the embodied energy and carbon of construction; energy and consequential carbon from occupation; the influence of household attitudes and behaviour; and how passively adopting households adopt and adapt to new technologies. Four different energy technologies and design approaches were compared: conventional high efficiency gas boiler; active solar (thermal and photovoltaic); passive solar design and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery; and ground sourced heat pumps.
The study found there were significant savings compared with conventional housing. This was attributed to the improvements in built fabric and the technical aspects of the homes. Yet, there was a significant performance gap between design and actual. The occupants were found to be a critical factor in determining the energy and carbon emissions.
The findings pose significant questions on the capacity of policy to deliver the projected reductions in emissions of CO2. Ultimately, it is how these new homes and technologies are used that will become increasingly important in the successful implementation of low carbon aspirations.


Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a metabolic disease characterized by insufficient insulin secretion and insulin resistance. Disturbed beta-cell function is the final culprit that leads to the development of T2D. In addition, impaired incretin effect is likely a part of the pathogenesis of T2D. The aim of this thesis was to study the role of CART in beta-cells and incretin producing L- and K-cells.Endogenous beta-cell CART was found to regulate insulin secretion and production, ATP levels and beta-cell exocytosis in INS-1 (832/13) cells. CART silencing (KD) decreased expression of genes important for exocytosis, glucose sensing, and insulin processing, likely as a consequence of reduced expression of beta-cell transcription factors Mafa, Pdx-1, Isl1, NeuroD1, Nkx2.2 and Nkx6.1. Moreover, in human islets, CARTPT expression correlated with insulin, exocytosis genes and beta-cell transcription factors. To increase our understanding of the function of CART in beta-cells, we performed RNAseq on CART-silenced INS-1 (832/13) cells. Differential expression analysis revealed that CART KD affected expression of 25.5% of all detected genes, including genes with important roles for insulin secretion and exocytosis. The most strongly upregulated and downregulated genes after CART KD were AABR07068253.1, Jun, Srp14 and Adam11, Pak3, Ppp1r17 respectively. Stxa1, Gnas and Stxbp1 were the top differentially expressed genes related to insulin secretion. In a follow-up study, we established the role of one of the strongest CART-regulated genes, SCRT1 in beta-cell function. SCRT1 expression was found in rodent and human beta-cells. SCRT1 was translocated from the nucleus to the cytosol in diabetic DEX rats and SCRT1 mRNA expression was reduced by increasing glucose concentrations in vitro. SCRT1 KD in INS-1 (832/13) cells resulted in decreased insulin expression and secretion, as well as reduced expression of Tcf7l2, Pdx-1, Isl1, Neurod1 and Mafa. In human islets, SCRT1 expression correlated with insulin, glucagon, beta-cell transcription factors and exocytotic genes. Finally, we established CART expression in K- and L-cells in the human duodenum and jejunum and CART plasma levels were increased after a meal in humans. In incretin-producing GLUTag and STC-1 cells, CART mRNA was increased by fatty acids and GIP. In addition, CART KD in GLUTag cells reduced GLP-1 expression and secretion. CART also increased GLP-1 and GIP secretion during an oral glucose-tolerance test in vivo in mice. Collectively, our data imply that CART is an important regulator of insulin and incretin-producing cell function and glucose homeostasis. Thus, the therapeutic potential of CART-based therapy for treatment of T2D should be evaluated. (Less)


Background The influence of prior seasonal influenza vaccination on the antibody response produced by natural infection or vaccination is not well understood. Methods We compared the profiles of antibody responses of 32 naturally infected subjects and 98 subjects vaccinated with a 2009 influenza A(H1N1) monovalent MF59-adjuvanted vaccine (Focetria®, Novartis), with and without a history of seasonal influenza vaccination. Antibodies were measured by hemagglutination inhibition (HI) assay for influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 and by protein microarray (PA) using the HA1 subunit for seven recent and historic H1, H2 and H3 influenza viruses, and three avian influenza viruses. Serum samples for the infection group were taken at the moment of collection of the diagnostic sample, 10 days and 30 days after onset of influenza symptoms. For the vaccination group, samples were drawn at baseline, 3 weeks after the first vaccination and 5 weeks after the second vaccination. Results We showed that subjects with a history of seasonal vaccination generally exhibited higher baseline titers for the various HA1 antigens than subjects without a seasonal vaccination history. Infection and pandemic influenza vaccination responses in persons with a history of seasonal vaccination were skewed towards historic antigens. Conclusions Seasonal vaccination is of significant influence on the antibody response to subsequent infection and vaccination, and further research is needed to understand the effect of annual vaccination on protective immunity.


With the emergence of new technologies, new academic trends introduced into Educational system which results in large data which is unregulated and it is also challenge for students to prefer to those academic courses which are helpful in their industrial training and increases their career prospects. Another challenge is to convert the unregulated data into structured and meaningful information there is need of Data Mining Tools. Hadoop Distributed File System is used to hold large amount of data. The Files are stored in a redundant fashion across multiple machines which ensure their endurance to failure and parallel applications. Knowledge extracted using Map Reduce will be helpful in decision making for students to determine courses chosen for industrial trainings. In this paper, we are deriving preferable courses for pursuing training for students based on course combinations. Here, using HDFS, tasks run over Map Reduce and output is obtained after aggregation of results.


Awards LexisConferences holds regular yearly meetings that are design to share and connect with scientists all over the world. We most enthusiastically announce "Cytology and Cytopathology" which is to be held during November 23-24, 2020 at an exciting city Miami, USA. The main theme of the conference is "Innovation trends of Cytology and Cytopathology". Cytopathology 2020 aims to provide a platform where the key strategic objective of this meeting is to communicate science and medical research between academia, and industry. Through inspiring sessions and whims of networking, you will learn to be even more audacious and bold than you are now and free to grow your mind, grow your business, and grow your bottom line. We can relieve you of the time and resource-draining elements of the events that you plan to hold. Poster and oral presentations, and thesis presentations will be included in the Conference Program. We can relieve you of the time and resource-draining elements of the events that you plan to hold. This conference is intended to deliver a miscellaneous and current education that will keep medical professionals up to date with the latest methodologies, strategies and the present update in the field of Cytology & Cytopathology. The goal of organizing the Cytopathology 2020 is to provide exposure to technologies and to deliver information about research work proceeding on Cytology & Cytopathology.


The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA, P.L. 95-87), enacted in 1977, established reclamation standards for all coal surface mining operations, and for the surface effects of underground mining. It also established the Abandoned Mine Land (AML) program to promote the reclamation of sites mined and abandoned prior to the enactment of SMCRA. To finance reclamation of abandoned mine sites, the legislation established fees on coal production. These collections are divided into federal and state shares; subject to annual appropriation, AML funds are distributed annually to states with approved reclamation programs. This report describes the distribution of these funds and the various issues that arise from said distribution.


We investigate the mechanism for the electrocatalytic generation of hydrogen from water by the molecular molybdenum-oxo complex, [(PY5Me(2))MoO](2+) (PY5Me(2) = 2,6-bis(1,1-bis(2-pyridyl)ethyl)pyridine). Computational and experimental evidence suggests that the electrocatalysis consists of three distinct electrochemical reductions, which precede the onset of catalysis. Cyclic voltammetry studies indicate that the first two reductions are accompanied by protonations to afford the Mo-aqua complex, [(PY5Me(2))Mo(OH(2))](+). Calculations support hydrogen evolution from this complex upon the third reduction, via the oxidative addition of a proton from the bound water to the metal center and finally an α-H abstraction to release hydrogen. Calculations further suggest that introducing electron-withdrawing substituents such as fluorides in the para positions of the pyridine rings can reduce the potential associated with the reductive steps, without substantially affecting the kinetics. After the third reduction, there are kinetic bottlenecks to the formation of the Mo-hydride and subsequent hydrogen release. Computational evidence also suggests an alternative to direct α-H abstraction as a mechanism for H(2) release which exhibits a lower barrier. The new mechanism is one in which a water acts as an intramolecular proton relay between the protons of the hydroxide and the hydride ligands. The calculated kinetics are in reasonable agreement with experimental measurements. Additionally, we propose a mechanism for the stoichiometric reaction of [(PY5Me(2))Mo(CF(3)SO(3))](+) with water to yield hydrogen and [(PY(5)Me(2))MoO](2+) along with the implications for the viability of an alternate catalytic cycle involving just two reductions to generate the active catalyst.


Rats have been shown to be capable of displaying the various kinds of delayed cutaneous hypersensitivity reactions attributable to transplantation immunity previously described in guinea pigs, hamsters, rabbits, dogs, and man. The rat is unlike most other species in that much larger numbers of lymphoid cells are needed to incite these cutaneous reactions. With direct, transfer, or normal lymphocyte transfer reactions, the cutaneous responses were greater when donor and recipient differed at the Ag-B histocompatibility locus than when donor and recipient shared the same Ag-B alleles. An experiment was performed in which adult rats of a genetically defined backcross population, resulting from matings between DA and (DA x Lewis) F1 hybrid rats, were inoculated intradermally with lymph node cells from DA rats sensitized against tissues from Lewis-strain donors. Some of the R2 animals gave a biphasic transfer reaction with peak reactivities occurring first at 48 hr and recurring at 96–120 hr, while the others lacked this second component. Hemagglutination tests revealed that the R2 rats giving the biphasic response possessed the Ag-B,1 antigen, which is also present in Lewis rats, whereas rats which gave monophasic reactions were homozygous for the Ag-B,4 antigenic determinant which is present in the DA strain. This suggested that the recall flare at 96–120 hr reflects proliferative activity on the part of the inoculated cells confronted by the disparate Ag-B isoantigen in the host's dermis. Skin homografts from R1 animals bearing the Ag-B,1 antigen were uniformly rejected by DA hosts in 11 days or less, while grafts from backcross animals homozygous for the Ag-B,4 antigen usually lived longer, being rejected in 9 to 27 days. Evidence is also presented which suggests that specific isoantibodies may act synergistically with immune lymphocytes to bring about cutaneous inflammatory reactions in the rat.


Immunology, like virtually every other branch of modern biology, has benefited from the technological and scientific advances in molecular biology. From the cloning of a myriad of immunologically relevant genes—including those that encode antibodies, T cell receptors, major histocompatibility complex antigens, lymphokines and their receptors, and various lymphocyte accessory molecules—to the generation of transgenic mice or mice that lack a selection of these genes, the methods of molecular biology have already left a permanent imprint on our understanding of the immune system. Conversely, it is worth noting that a number of advances in molecular biology—such as the development of early cloning methods and the refinement of cloning techniques that take advantage of antibody enrichment—improved rapidly once immunological expertise was drawn into the methodology.


Complex data analytics that involve data mining often comprise not only a single algorithm but also further data processing steps, for example, to restrict the search space or to filter the result. We demonstrate graph mining with Gradoop, the first scalable system supporting declarative analytical programs composed from multiple graph operations. We use a business intelligence example including frequent subgraph mining to highlight the analytical capabilities enabled by such programs. The results can be visualized and, to show its ease of use, the program can be modified on visitors request. Gradoop is built on top of state-of-the-art big data technology and out-of-the-box horizontally scalable. Its source code is publicly available and designed for easy extensibility. We offer to the graph mining community, to apply Gradoop in large scale use cases and to contribute further algorithms.


This note provides a snapshot of key indicators of the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) extractives sector: the basic elements underpinning current debates. The first section examines LAC reserves and production of hydrocarbons and minerals. The second section explores recent market and investment trends, considering its effects on LAC economies. The final section concludes noting emerging social transformations in the sector and the need to foster a sense of shared responsibility among stakeholders.


Veterans with family support have better functional recovery and reintegration outcomes. However, families' ability to support the veteran with PTSD's rehabilitation and reintegration oftentimes is hindered by interpersonal challenges. We report findings of a qualitative study that examined OEF/OIF veterans with PTSD/TBI and their significant others' (SOs') perceptions of family functioning. We conducted 24 in-depth interviews with 12 veteran/SO dyads using an adapted version of the Family Assessment Device Structured Interview. Descriptive qualitative analytic methods were used to analyze the data. Data show that the impact of deployment and the resulting changes in the individuals and the family dynamics lingered years after the veterans returned home and had a lasting influence on veterans' and SOs' perceptions of family functioning. Most couples acknowledged growth in their relationships several years postdeployment. However, many continued to struggle with disruptions generated by deployment. Four themes emerged from the data: individual changes, coping strategies, relationship changes, and a "new normal." Postdeployment family functioning was influenced by a dynamic interplay of individual and relationship factors and the development of coping strategies and a new normal. This study contributes to the understanding of the prolonged postdeployment family reintegration experiences of veterans and their SOs. Findings underscore the importance of continuing to advance the current knowledge base about the long-term impact of deployment on veterans and their families, especially factors that contribute to positive postdeployment family functioning. Additional empirical studies are needed to provide more in-depth understanding of the long-term postdeployment reintegration experiences of veterans and their families.


The potential effectiveness of marine protected areas (MPAs) as a conservation tool for large sharks has been questioned due to the limited spatial extent of most MPAs in contrast to the complex life history and high mobility of many sharks. Here we evaluated the movement dynamics of a highly migratory apex predatory shark (tiger shark Galeocerdo cuvier) at the Galapagos Marine Reserve (GMR). Using data from satellite tracking passive acoustic telemetry, and stereo baited remote underwater video, we estimated residency, activity spaces, site fidelity, distributional abundances and migration patterns from the GMR and in relation to nesting beaches of green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas), a seasonally abundant and predictable prey source for large tiger sharks. Tiger sharks exhibited a high degree of philopatry, with 93% of the total satellite-tracked time across all individuals occurring within the GMR. Large sharks (> 200 cm TL) concentrated their movements in front of the two most important green sea turtle-nesting beaches in the GMR, visiting them on a daily basis during nocturnal hours. In contrast, small sharks (< 200 cm TL) rarely visited turtle-nesting areas and displayed diurnal presence at a third location where only immature sharks were found. Small and some large individuals remained in the three study areas even outside of the turtle-nesting season. Only two sharks were satellite-tracked outside of the GMR, and following long-distance migrations, both individuals returned to turtle-nesting beaches at the subsequent turtle-nesting season. The spatial patterns of residency and site fidelity of tiger sharks suggest that the presence of a predictable source of prey and suitable habitats might reduce the spatial extent of this large shark that is highly migratory in other parts of its range. This highly philopatric behaviour enhances the potential effectiveness of the GMR for their protection.


Within the framework of sustainable development, and ever-increasing energy costs,
wastewater treatment operators focus on developing on-site energy production: the main
approach today is via sewage biogas. In most cases, H2S removal is necessary to meet
the requirements of the energy conversion equipment inlet requirements (for cogeneration
motors around 300 – 500 ppm, but for fuel cells around 1ppm or below). Therefore to
optimise the overall energy and economic balance, it is necessary to dispose of efficient
and cost-effective biogas treatments, amongst which biological treatments have promising
prospects for H2S removal.
A biogas-powered SOFC pilot plant was constructed in a Waste Water Treatment Plant
(WWTP) (January 2009) in Spain and was operated until the end of the project (June
2012). The pilot plant treats 10 Nm3/h biogas and produces both electricity and heat in a
high efficient way. The BIOCELL project (funded by the LIFE+ program of the European
Commission, LIFE07 ENV/E/000847) is one of the few demonstration projects that studies
biogas applications in SOFC. The following project tried to review the state of the art of
removal H2S biological technologies and summarized the experience gathered from the
biotrickling filter of the BIOCELL project.
The biogas treatment was designed to reach the inlet requirements of the fuel cell. H2S
was identified as the main biogas pollutant and it causes severe and rapid degradation of
fuel cell stacks. Examples of industrial biogas treatment units coupled to fuel cells
consisting of a main H2S removal stage followed by a final H2S polishing system proved to
be successful, thus this was the strategy implemented in the BIOCELL project. In
particular, a biotrickling filter was installed as it is one of the most interesting technologies
for the main removal because of its low operating costs compared to other physical –
chemical treatments. On the other hand, adsorption-based systems (iron oxides + biogas
drying + activated carbon) were chosen for biogas polishing as they are the only
technology which can reduce the concentration of contaminants to the stringent extent of
fuel cell's specifications.
The biotrickling filter was operated for more than 12 months. The operating conditions
were optimized to temperature 30oC, pH 1.5 and residence time > 100 seconds. Over the
long term and under these conditions, it showed a removal efficiency of 70% and an
availability of 80% because of progressive filter clogging due to elemental sulphur
accumulation. Operational expenses were calculated at 0,5 – 1 c€/Nm3. This report
includes operational guidelines and recommendations for re-design.
To sum-up, this report shows the conclusions of the biogas treatment technologies from
BIOCELL project, which shows that are ready to meet fuel cell inlet requirements for long
periods of time at a reduced cleaning cost.


The formulas-as-types isomorphism tells us that every proof and theorem, in the intuitionistic implicational logic H → , corresponds to a lambda term or combinator and its type. The algorithms of Bunder very efficiently find a lambda term inhabitant, if any, of any given type of H → and of many of its sub-systems. In most cases the search procedure has a simple bound based roughly on the length of the formula involved. Computer implementations of some of these procedures were done in Dekker. In this paper we extend these methods to full classical propositional logic as well as to its various subsystems. This extension has partly been implemented by Oostdijk.


Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a major health problem throughout the world. In the U.S., it is estimated that about 1.5 million people suffer from T1D. Even when well controlled—by frequent monitoring of blood glucose and administration of insulin, the long-term complications of the disease are significant and include cardiovascular disease, nephropathy, retinopathy, and neuropathy (1). Here we review recent progress in preclinical models of pig islet xenotransplantation and discuss the remaining challenges that need to be addressed before the application of this form of therapy can be established in patients with T1D.

During the past decade, islet allotransplantation alone (without previous kidney transplantation) using deceased human donor pancreata has been indicated mainly in patients who have had T1D for >5 years with life-threatening hypoglycemic episodes and wide fluctuations in blood glucose levels. Although the initial long-term results were rather disappointing (2), the results of islet allotransplantation have improved significantly in recent years, with 5-year insulin-independent normoglycemia achieved in >50% of patients at experienced centers (3). There is increasing evidence that successful islet allotransplantation greatly reduces the incidence of hypoglycemic episodes (2) and reduces or slows the incidence of late complications of T1D (4). This may extend the indications for islet transplantation to patients with progressive complications. For example, islet transplantation in a patient with preterminal renal failure may prevent disease progression, possibly avoiding the need for hemodialysis and kidney transplantation, provided that nonnephrotoxic immunosuppressive drug therapy is administered.

Currently, in the U.S., the median waiting time for a kidney allograft from a deceased human donor is >4 years (5). However, islets from two deceased human donor pancreata are frequently required to achieve normoglycemia in a diabetic patient. Because of the limited number of suitable deceased donor pancreata, the overall number of …


Reedbeds are dominated by a small number of plant species, but are extremely valuable habitats for faunal biodiversity. However, reedbeds often exist in small patches distributed across landscapes and for most regions there is a lack of information about their location and condition. This paper investigates the potential of using LiDAR-derived elevation and intensity data to characterise reedbeds. A Leica ALS50 was used to acquire data for reedbeds during the leaf-off phenological period and the study site encompassed a wide range of canopy development. For reedbeds there was a lack of multiple LiDAR returns and ground returns, which limited the ability to acquire information on canopy structure or terrain elevation. Nevertheless, the first return LiDAR data was able to generate an accurate digital surface model and subsequent canopy height model, as validated using field measurements (RMSE 0.47 m; average difference 0.09 m (5% of average height)). LiDAR intensity data displayed specular reflection effects within reedbed areas, but off-nadir imagery was successfully used for mapping reedbeds, non-reedbed vegetation and water bodies.


With the rise of China in the world economy, investors from all over the world are moving to explore business opportunities in this market. Managing international business in a transition economy like China is a daunting challenge. Tian presents a practical guide to major managerial issues faced by foreign investors in the China market including strategic management of Guanxi, entry mode selection, alliance management, negotiation with Chinese partners, human resource management, marketing management, protection of intellectual property rights, and corporate financial management. These issues are analyzed in the light of relevant theoretical models of international business, with reference to current management practices of transnational corporations operating in China. With up-to-date case studies, questions for discussion and recommended readings at the end of each chapter, this book can be used as a textbook for postgraduate programmes in international business or other management disciplines, and as a textbook for executive training programmes.


This work is located in the unique context of the newly democratised South Africa of 1997 and comprises two phases reflecting its beginning as a Masters project and Its development into a doctoral study. It seeks to answer the research question: Can we improve the learning opportunities for South African Management Studies students from African cultures and restrictive economic and schooling backgrounds, by providing them with a curriculum that promoted free thought? The purpose of the first phase of this work was to evaluate an experience-based curriculum that was learner-centred. It aimed to meet the needs of the 'whole student' and to give the students opportunity to think freely and to achieve their potential. The evaluation, incorporating qualitative and quantitative data, formed the basis of a single case study: it explored the course's effectiveness in providing learning conditions that could promote students' personal, academic and intellectual growth from their first year of study. The purpose of the second phase was to problematise the case study, reflecting on it in the light of subsequent experience and research. This involved an exploration of the value of experience-based learning; the likelihood of the conclusions' replication, particularly within the faculty; the prospects for wider application of the case studied. The thesis argues that experiential learning helped this group of students perform better academically than their compatriots whose learning experience was limited to a traditional university approach, suggesting that the conditions under which teaching and learning occur affect the outcome. The concept of problem-based learning was found to provide an inadequate theoretical framework since its Western cultural underpinnings are foreign to the African culture and did not provide opportunities for 'whole student' independent thought. Since this thesis is based on a unique case study the conclusions cannot be generalisable although they are considerably strengthened in the light of students continuing to perform better over the next five years. Unless universities themselves change their approach to teaching and learning, however, it is suggested that it would be difficult to replicate these findings more broadly.


It is known that, for a gimbaled inertial measurement unit employing two dry-tuned gyros, a dual gyro wheel supply (DGWS) gives a better performance than a single gyro wheel supply (SGWS). The effectiveness of the DGWS is explained in this paper by demonstrating the effects of certain vibrations on gyros. It will be shown that a dry-tuned gyro is susceptible to vibrations at frequencies which are either equal to or twice that of the gyro spin frequency. By using two power supplies of slightly different frequencies, external vibrations at these frequencies are avoided. It is recommended that gyro sensitivities with respect to external vibrations at these special frequencies be included in the performance specification of a dry-tuned gyro.


Owners, managers and occupiers of existing buildings are keen to understand if and how enhanced sustainability performance does pay in terms of cost savings. The Building Research Establishment (BRE) says in itis BRE Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM): iBREEAM in-use (BiU) is a scheme to help building managers reduce the running costs and improve the environmental performance of existing buildingsi. But so far there is only little evidence available on cost savings that have been achieved by applying the BREEAM in-use standard. This paper is presenting a selection of case studies on BiU certified office and retail properties across Europe. In an online research on literature and BiU, behavioural options of owners, managers and occupiers are studied in order to reach a better understanding of how organisational decisions impact on cost savings. Observations are collected on site-visits at labelled properties. Experience is compiled in interviews with asset managers and sustainability assessors. Finally, the relations between sustainability profiles of certified buildings and best practice behaviour of owners, managers and occupiers are analysed. Conclusions are drawn on recommendations easy to implement for quick cost savings from behavioural improvements along the BiU standard.


Around the world, governments are establishing Marine Protected Area (MPA) networks to meet their commitments to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. MPAs are often used in an effort to conserve biodiversity and manage fisheries stocks. However, their efficacy and effect on fisheries yields remain unclear. We conducted a case-study on the economic impact of different MPA network design strategies on the Atlantic cod ( ) fisheries in Canada. The open-source R Gadus morhua package that we developed to analyze this case study can be customized to conduct similar analyses for other systems. We used a spatially-explicit individual-based model of population growth and dispersal coupled with a fisheries management and harvesting component. We found that MPA networks that both protect the target species' habitat and were spatially optimized to improve population connectivity had the highest net present value (i.e., were most profitable for the fishing industry). These higher profits were achieved primarily by reducing the distance travelled for fishing and reducing the probability of a moratorium event. These findings add to a growing body of knowledge demonstrating the importance of incorporating population connectivity in the MPA planning process, as well as the ability of this R package to explore ecological and economic consequences of alternative MPA network designs.


ABSTRACT The present study analyzes the phenomenon of linguistic accommodation, i.e. the adaptation of one's language use to that of one's conversation partner. In a large corpus of private social media messages, we compare Flemish teenagers' writing in two conversational settings: same-gender (including only boys or only girls) and mixed-gender conversations (including at least one girl and one boy). We examine whether boys adopt a more 'female' and girls a more 'male' writing style in mixed-gender talks, i.e. whether teenagers converge towards their conversation partner with respect to gendered writing. The analyses focus on two sets of prototypical markers of informal online writing, for which a clear gender divide has been attested in previous research: expressive typographic markers (e.g., emoticons), which can be considered more 'female' features, and 'oral', speech-like markers (e.g., regional language features), which are generally more popular among boys. Using generalized linear-mixed models, we examine the frequency of these features in boys' and girls' writing in same- versus mixed-gender conversations. Patterns of convergence emerge from the data: they reveal that girls and boys adopt a more similar style in mixed-gender talks. Strikingly, the convergence is asymmetrical and only significant for a particular group of online language features.


An auxin gradient is involved in cell fate specification of the female sex cells in flowering plants. The development of the specialized cells that make up the female reproductive unit in flowering plants, the gametophyte, requires the hormone auxin. However, auxin's function is unknown, and its movements to and within these cells are unclear. Pagnussat et al. (see the Perspective by Friedman) provide evidence that auxin is synthesized at specific positions within the female gametophyte and exerts a positional effect and that a gradient of auxin controls patterning of these specialized cells. G. C. Pagnussat, M. Alandete-Saez, J. L. Bowman, V. Sundaresan, Auxin-dependent patterning and gamete specification in the Arabidopsis female gametophyte. Science 324, 1684–1689 (2009). [Abstract] [Full Text] W. E. Friedman, Auxin at the evo-devo intersection. Science 324, 1652–1653 (2009). [Summary] [Full Text]


Nationalism, Democracy, and Power in the Balkans The war in Kosovo marked a potential turning point for the Balkans. NATO's military defeat of Serbia, the International Criminal Tribunal's indictment of Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic for war crimes, and the commitment of large numbers of NATO troops to peacekeeping in Kosovo reflect new policy realities. The United States and NATO have accepted the responsibility of maintaining a substantial security presence m the region until a democratic government replaces Milosevic's regime, which remains the prime source of regional instability. The end of Milosevic's reign is the only basis for preventing further conflict and creating the conditions that will permit US and NATO troops to withdraw from the region. Democracy is beginning to catch up with nationalism in the Balkans, and Western allies are emerging in the region. Serbia's democratic forces are more united than they were in the recent past and now have the support of Western democracies. Kosovo is no longer subject to Serbian repression and is trying to establish democratic institutions. Montenegro has made significant progress toward establishing a multiethnic, democratic government and is easing away from its federation with Serbia. Croatia has elected a reform-minded democratic parliament and president, who have begun to dismantle the extreme nationalist policies of the late Franjo Tudjman's Croatian Democratic Union. Progress by democratic forces in Croatia will enable the Bosnians to pursue new opportunities for restoration of territorial integrity and national unity within a democratic, multiethnic context. But the danger of additional Balkan conflicts involving NATO still exists. The violent destruction of Yugoslavia that began nearly ten years ago may not have run its course. Serbian democrats may lack the power to oust Milosevic, who is unlikely to peacefully accept the end of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and may well intervene militarily in Montenegro. Washington will face difficult decisions in attempting to deter looming conflict in Montenegro, to encourage Serbian democratic forces to continue resisting Milosevic, and to deal constructively with the Kosovo Albanians' expectations ofindependence. Dealing with these numerous challenges requires an understanding of how the differing political situations in each region will shape US policy. Pressure on Serbia Serbian dictator and indicted war criminal Slobodan Milosevic is down, but not yet out. He remains president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY)--the federation of Serbia and Montenegro--but presides over territory significantly reduced from the original Yugoslavia. Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, and Macedonia have successively abandoned a Yugoslavia dominated by anti-democratic Serbia; Kosovo is transitioning toward independence; and Montenegro is turning away from the truncated FRY because of Milosevic's unrelenting hardline anti-Western policies. The most significant political change in the Balkans during the past year was the decision by the United States and its European allies to cease treating Milosevic as a stabilizing force in the region and instead to seek his isolation from the international community and replacement by democratic forces. This marked a reversal of the policy established after the November 1995 Dayton peace agreement, when the West lifted many of the wartime sanctions against Serbia and intensified meetings with Milosevic to facilitate implementation of the Dayton agreement. In embracing Milosevic, the West counterproductively froze cooperation with opposition Serbian democrats prepared to challenge his rule. The war in Kosovo convinced NATO that the long-term deployment of its troops would be necessary to counter the threat Milosevic's government poses to Balkan peace and stability. After he was defeated by NATO and indicted by the Tribunal, Serbia's re-energized democratic forces began to receive significant support from Western democracies. …


Background: Oral nucleos(t)ide analogs are recommended for patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related acute exacerbation (AE) and acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF). The efficacy and safety of administering entecavir (ETV) and lamivudine (LAM) to such patients remain unclear. Methods: A comprehensive literature search was performed to select studies published before December 2015 on therapy involving ETV or LAM for chronic HBV-related AE with or without ACLF. The main outcomes were short-term (within 4 mo) and long-term (beyond 4 mo) mortality. The secondary outcomes were virological and biochemical responses, ACLF recurrence, and safety. Results: Three prospective and 8 retrospective cohort studies involving 1491 patients were selected. An overall analysis revealed comparable short-term and long-term mortality rates among all patients who received ETV or LAM [short term: risk ratio (RR)=0.99; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.78-1.27; long term: RR=0.82; 95% CI, 0.45-1.52]. However, in patients with ACLF, ETV yielded a more favorable long-term outcome than did LAM (RR=0.60; 95% CI, 0.45-0.80). Furthermore, ETV resulted in more efficient virological and biochemical responses than did LAM regarding the HBV DNA undetectable rate (RR=1.34; 95% CI, 1.09-1.63), HBV DNA reduction rate (weighted mean difference=−0.41; 95% CI, −0.69 to −0.13), and serum alanine aminotransferase normalization rate (RR=1.13; 95% CI, 1.05-1.21). Conclusions: ETV and LAM treatments exerted similar effects on the mortality rate of patients with chronic HBV-related AE with or without ACLF. However, ETV yielded a more favorable long-term outcome than did LAM in patients with ACLF; ETV was associated with greater clinical improvements. Additional larger, long-term randomized controlled trials are required to confirm these conclusions.


In contrast to most Western countries, routine offer of prenatal screening is considered problematic in the Netherlands. The main argument against offering it to every pregnant woman is that women would be brought into a moral dilemma when deciding whether to use screening or not. This paper explores whether the active offer of a prenatal screening test indeed confronts women with a moral dilemma. A qualitative study was developed, based on a randomised controlled trial that aimed to assess the decision-making process of women when confronted with a test offer. A sample of 59 women was interviewed about the different factors balanced in decision-making. Participants felt themselves caught between a need for knowledge and their unwillingness to take on responsibility. Conflict was reported between wishes, preferences and ethical views regarding parenthood; however, women did not seem to be caught in a choice between two or more ethical principles. Participants balanced the interests of the family against that of the fetus in line with their values and their personal circumstances. Therefore, we conclude that they are not so much faced with an ethical dilemma as conflicting interests. We propose that caregivers should provide the opportunity for the woman to discuss her wishes and doubts to facilitate her decision. This approach would help women to assess the meaning of testing within their parental duties towards their unborn child and their current offspring.


Using high bandwidth network technologies in real-time applications, for example in automotive systems, is rapidly increasing. In this context, switched Ethernet-based protocols are becoming more popular due to their features such as providing a collision-free domain for transmission of messages. Moreover, switched Ethernet is a mature technology. Several protocols based on switched Ethernet have been proposed over the years, tuned for time critical applications. However, research for improving the features and performance of these protocols is still on-going. In order to evaluate the performance of early stage proposed protocols, the mathematical analysis and/or experiments are required. However, performing an experiment for complex network topologies with a large set of messages is not effortless. Therefore, using a simulation based approach for evaluating a protocol's performance and/or properties is highly useful. As a response to this we have, based on Simulink, developed a simulator, called SEtSim, for switched Ethernet networks. SEtSim currently supports different network topologies of the FTT-SE protocol, a master-slave protocol designed for standard Ethernet switches, as well as Ethernet AVB protocol. However, the kernel of SEtSim is designed such that it is possible to add and integrate other switched Ethernet-based protocols. In this paper, we describe the design of SEtSim and we show its scalability.


When a rubber test piece is loaded in simple tension from its virgin state, unloaded and then reloaded, the stress required on reloading is less than that on the initial loading for stretches up to the maximum stretch achieved on the initial loading. This stress softening phenomenon is referred to as the Mullins effect. In this paper a simple phenomenological model is proposed to account for the Mullins effect observed in filled rubber elastomers. The model is based on the theory of incompressible isotropic elasticity amended by the incorporation of a single continuous parameter, interpreted as a damage parameter. This parameter controls the material properties in the sense that it enables the material response to be governed by a strain–energy function on unloading and subsequent submaximal loading different from that on the primary (initial) loading path from the virgin state. For this reason the model is referred to as pseudo-elastic} and a primary loading-unloading cycle involves energy dissipation. The dissipation is measured by a damage function which depends only on the damage parameter and on the point of the primary loading path from which unloading begins. A specific form of this function with two adjustable material constants, coupled with standard forms of the (incompressible, isotropic) strain–energy function, is used to illustrate the qualitative features of the Mullins effect in both simple tension and pure shear. For simple tension the model is then specialized further in order to fit Mullins effect data. It is emphasized that the model developed here is applicable to multiaxial states of stress and strain, not just the specific uniaxial tests highlighted.


As an emerging phenomenon, virtual world education is rarely researched in MIS literature. With stiff competition among institutions using virtual worlds for education, a legitimate research question is: What factors influence students' intention to adopt 3-D virtual world environment for their education needs? Drawing on existing technology acceptance models and studies in other IS contexts, we developed a model to predict students' acceptance of a 3-D virtual world education environment and plan to empirically test the model using survey data collected from college students. From the academic research perspective, studies on the use of the new technology for education will provide insights on how virtual world environment contributes to virtual education that is now part of the mainstream of education. From the practitioner perspective, the study provides useful insights to educational institutions and assists institutions in evaluating whether investing in virtual world education is a sound strategy.


The most common etiology of glottal insufficiency is vocal fold paralysis usually from damage to the nerve supplying the laryngeal muscles. Glottal closure is an important part of the mechanism that protects the airway during the normal swallow. Vocal fold paralysis or atrophy disrupts the normal closure of glottis during swallowing, thus placing patient at increased risk for aspiration. Treatment of glottal insufficiency can be classified as surgical, provided by the otolaryngologist, or non-surgical. Non-surgical treatment includes voice therapy which may incorporate resonant voice therapy, counseling and massaging techniques. Swallowing rehabilitation, another form of non-surgical intervention, consists of direct therapy (swallowing maneuvers, head postures, or changes in diet consistencies) or indirect therapy (swallowing exercises), or combined.


This paper provides sociological reflections on the use of research methods in the history of sport. In light of the convergence of social scientific approaches and social research methods in recent years, it draws upon Durkheim's reflections on the principles of sociology to explore the potential of the discipline to provide a distinctive methodological orientation to the study of sport. It subsequently uses this framework to assess the tendency in sports history to present interview data in non-anonymized form, and to advocate the value of particular kinds of comparative analysis for forwarding our understanding of the social world.


Due to significant advances in wireless modulation technologies, some MAC standards such as 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g can operate with multiple data rates for QoS-constrained multimedia communication to utilize the limited resources of MANETs more efficiently. In this paper, by means of measuring the busy/idle ratio of the shared radio channel, a method for estimating one-hop delay is first suggested. Then, by constructing a multicast tree, a delay-sensitive multicast protocol for real-time applications in multirate MANETs is proposed. In order to increase the network capacity, the proposed multicast protocol intends to minimize the sum of the total transmission time of the forwarders and the total blocking time of the blocked hosts, by taking the neighboring information of the forwarders into account and properly adjusting the data rates of the forwarders. Simulation results show that the proposed delay estimation method is more accurate, as compared with previous works. Besides, the proposed multicast protocol can induce higher network capacity, while satisfying the delay requirement.


In this paper we describe an approach to feature representation for simultaneous localization and mapping, SLAM. It is a general representation for features that addresses symmetries and constraints in the feature coordinates. Furthermore, the representation allows for the features to be added to the map with partial initialization. This is an important property when using oriented vision features where angle information can be used before their full pose is known. The number of the dimensions for a feature can grow with time as more information is acquired. At the same time as the special properties of each type of feature are accounted for, the commonalities of all map features are also exploited to allow SLAM algorithms to be interchanged as well as choice of sensors and features. In other words the SLAM implementation need not be changed at all when changing sensors and features and vice versa. Experimental results both with vision and range data and combinations thereof are presented.


Feature matching, which refers to establishing reliable correspondence between two sets of features (particularly point features), is a critical prerequisite in feature-based registration. In this paper, we propose a flexible and general algorithm, which is called locally linear transforming (LLT), for both rigid and nonrigid feature matching of remote sensing images. We start by creating a set of putative correspondences based on the feature similarity and then focus on removing outliers from the putative set and estimating the transformation as well. We formulate this as a maximum-likelihood estimation of a Bayesian model with hidden/latent variables indicating whether matches in the putative set are outliers or inliers. To ensure the well-posedness of the problem, we develop a local geometrical constraint that can preserve local structures among neighboring feature points, and it is also robust to a large number of outliers. The problem is solved by using the expectation-maximization algorithm (EM), and the closed-form solutions of both rigid and nonrigid transformations are derived in the maximization step. In the nonrigid case, we model the transformation between images in a reproducing kernel Hilbert space (RKHS), and a sparse approximation is applied to the transformation that reduces the method computation complexity to linearithmic. Extensive experiments on real remote sensing images demonstrate accurate results of LLT, which outperforms current state-of-the-art methods, particularly in the case of severe outliers (even up to 80%).


In this essay, I respond to a debate between Geoffrey Stone, Seth Barrett Tillman, Alan Brownstein, and others about the complex relationships between the authors of the 1787 Constitution, contemporaneous religious practices and beliefs, and the enterprise of constitutional interpretation and textual exegesis. I identify religion and other "partial" constitutional phenomena as concepts alluded to in the Constitution but not given a more complete, direct articulation. In order to describe our political system accurately, and sustain the general project of constitutionalism, we need to understand partial constitutional text by adopting a somewhat novel hermeneutic approach. First, we should assume a somewhat abstracted and ahistorical "framer's perspective" that contrasts rather sharply with the "Framer's intention" or "originalist" stance holding such a prominent place in today's constitutional analysis. Second, in reconciling religion and God as concepts incompletely contained within our supreme law, we need to consider the power and utility of constitutional analogies.


Abstract
The role of language in development has been a central theme in post-war English. However, the European history of ideas about the role of signs has been insufficiently appreciated. I aim to enrich readings of contemporary urban classrooms by recovering something of this history. As the culmination of this work, I trace the story of a poem, written by a Black student in a London classroom, back into the history of discussions and debates that a class conducted with itself over five years. From perspectives provided by the history of ideas and recent work in social memory, I show how the student's representation of a childhood recollection (a visit to the site of a former plantation) was mediated and shaped by 'pedagogical artefacts'. I give a history of one such artefact as an instance of the role of signs in a contemporary classroom.
A picture of language as human invention was drawn in the first instance during the European Enlightenment. From this picture a seminal theory about the role of signs in the mastery of mental operations emerged. On this view, memory and imagination depend upon signs. In the aftermath to the French Revolution, language was linked to conceptions of citizenship and human advancement. In Germany, the picture of language was redrawn in the light of Kant's epistemology, and connected to an educational ideal of selfcultivation.
In the nineteenth century, 'cultural' psychology attempted
unsuccessfully to combine a notion of signs in the development of higher mental functions with findings in experimental psychology. Subsequently, the introduction of a distinction between mental 'contents' and mental 'acts' fostered new research into the role of signs in consciousness. Concurrently, an ethical vision of symbolisation as the 'common ground' of humanity issued from a philosophy of symbolic forms. As a whole the thesis seeks to show the continuing relevance of this history.


Morphological variation among Turkish populations of the Atlantic horse mackerel Trachurus trachurus (Carangidae) was examined for 150 specimens at five different sampling localities (Sea of Marmara (Istanbul and Canakkale), Aegean (Izmir) and Northeastern mediterranean (Antalya and Iskenderun) seas) in Turkey by discriminant function analysis of eleven morphometric and five meristic characters. The results of discriminant function analysis showed that there is limited gene flow among T. trachurus populations in Turkish coastal waters. The Marmara Sea sample was similar to the Aegean Sea samples for both morphometric and meristic data. Morphometric and meristic data showed the heterogeneity between Aegean and Mediterranean mackerel samples. The Mediterranean samples separated from all others and indicate 2 local populations (Iskenderun and Antalya) for morphometric data, unlike meristic data that revealed no significant differentiation between 2 Mediterranean localities. Discriminant function analyses indicated that morphometric differentiation between the samples was largely due to differences in the head characters of fish. It is confirmed that metric characters are much less effective for discriminating between T. trachurus populations than morphometric characters, which is expressed higher distances between samples. The results indicate a small degree of spatial separation in morphology in T. trachurus among the studied localities.


Portfolio insurance, as practiced in 1987, consisted of trading between an underlying stock portfolio and cash, using option theory to place a floor on the value of the position, as if it included a protective put. Constant Proportion Portfolio Insurance (CPPI) is an option-free variation on the theme, originally proposed by Fischer Black. In CPPI, a financial institution guarantees a floor value for the "insured" portfolio and adjusts the stock/bond mix to produce a leveraged exposure to the risky assets, which depends on how far the portfolio value is above the floor. Plain-vanilla portfolio insurance largely died with the crash of 1987, but CPPI is still going strong. In the frictionless markets of finance theory, the issuer's strategy to hedge its liability under the contract is clear, but in the real world with transactions costs and stochastic jump risk, the optimal strategy is less obvious. Frequent rebalancing limits how badly the position can go off track, but costs more than infrequent rebalancing. Gap risk resulting from a down jump that penetrates the floor adds another hard-to-manage risk. In this article, Jessen comparescommon hedging strategies for CPPI and explores how well each does in managing the risks.


Using technology in education is crucial to support learning, and Virtual Worlds (VWs) are one of the technologies used by many educators to support their teaching objectives. VWs enable students to connect, synchronously interact, and participate in immersive learning activities. Such VW has been developed at Sheffield Hallam University (UK), and is used to support the teaching of a specific module, as well as for conducting empirical research around the topics of Transactive Memory Systems (TMS) and Students Engagement. TMS is a phenomenon representing the collective awareness of a group's specialisation, coordination, and credibility with interesting results. This paper presents the lessons learned while using the VW over the past few years at a higher education institution to support collaborative learning within working groups. A review of these empirical findings is presented, together with the results of a follow up study conducted to further investigate TMS and student Engagement, as well as students perceived Motivation to use a VW for learning, and their Learning Outcomes. The findings of this study are corroborating and contributing to previous results, suggesting that a VW is an effective tool to support collaborative learning activities, allowing students to engage in the learning process, motivate them to participate in activities, and contribute to their overall learning experience.


The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA 2005) has classified a number of ecosystems good and services (EGS) provided by tropical forests, namely cultural, provisioning, regulatory and support services. The primary focus of this paper is to carry out an economic assessment by comparing the financial costs and returns of selected EGS, namely carbon and timber in the tropical forests of Central America. Timber is unlike the other EGS provided by forests in that it competes with the other services, i.e. biodiversity, recreation and water services. Carbon storage is the non-timber value most often included in forest accounts and can be equated directly with timber available in terms of biomass content. The study provides a quantitative appraisal of the carbon and timber stocks and flows of tropical (primary) forests and the associated trade-offs by evaluating them simultaneously using data and market values from a number of sources. The provision of reliable and accurate estimates of the economic value of these services is crucial to plan adequate conservation policies that encourage the protection and sustainable management of tropical forests such as those under REDD/REDD+. Results indicate that the economic return for managing natural forests is influenced by timber and carbon prices as well as the discount rate applied. Timber on face value is the better land use option; however, there are many issues that need to be considered when valuing timber, especially regarding the management regimes. Revenues under REDD/ REDD+ option would be higher if co-benefits, which include monies from the sustainable extraction of timber under Sustainable Forestry Management (SFM) are considered.


Longitudinal profiles of major rivers in Maryland and Virginia are generally closely adjusted to the resistance of the rocks over which they flow, but they all show major discontinuities at or just above the Fall Line. The amount of discrepancy at the Fall Line between the actual profiles and the projection of the profiles of the upstream reaches increases from about 27 m at the James River to about 50 m at the Susquehanna River. At the Potomac River it is about 45 m. Detailed study of the terraces along the Potomac in the Piedmont above Washington, D.C., suggests that the discontinuity in longitudinal profile is the result of Quaternary downcutting in response to a lowered base level. Changes in base level during sea-level fluctuations in the Pleistocene must have been an important factor, but strong circumstantial evidence suggests that the discontinuities in river profiles may in part be due to differential uplift of the Piedmont with respect to the coastal plain along a zone of flexure or distributed faulting near the Fall Line.


The proposed phaseout of methyl bromide (MeBr) in 2001, while undertaken for environmental reasons, has important economic implications. At the present time, very little is known about how much MeBr escapes from fumigated soils into the atmosphere, or about methods for reducing this loss in an economically feasible manner. In this study we report the results of a series of experiments on MeBr diffusion and emission through soil columns under various management techniques. Column experiments were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of commonly used polyethylene films in preventing MeBr emission into the atmosphere, and were analyzed with a mathematical model to estimate the soil gas diffusion coefficient (D g s ) and the mass transfer coefficients (h) for different polyethylene films. Additional experiments were then conducted to evaluate the effect of adding various amounts of irrigation water after injection and tarping on total MeBr emission into the atmosphere. The films were found to be only marginally effective in preventing MeBr emission from fumigated soils, while irrigating and then covering the soil with the film was much more effective in reducing MeBr loss.


SUMMARY. Differences in the immunopathogenesis of several strains of infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) were compared. The strains included a virulent virus (IBDV-IM) and three vaccine viruses that included an intermediate vaccine virus (IBDV-B2) and two mild vaccine viruses (IBDV-Lukert and IBDV-BVM). The most significant differences were found in the systemic effects of these strains. In comparison with other strains, IBDV-IM antigen was detectable for up to 8 days postinfection (PI) in lymphoid tissues that included spleen and cecal tonsils, whereas only a few IBDV-B2- and IBDV-Lukert- and no IBDV-BVM-inoculated birds had detectable IBDV antigen in these tissues. IBDV-IM induced systemic circulating nitrite levels in over 86% of the birds at days 2 and 3 PI. IBDV-IM suppressed most vigorously the splenic mitogenic response on days 3-8 PI. Among the three vaccine strains, IBDV-B2 was the most virulent of the three, inducing a significant suppression of the mitogenic response (P < 0.05) and the most vigorous lesions in the bursa of Fabricius with the highest possible lesion score of 4 at 3 days PI (P < 0.05). IBDV-BVM was the mildest strain, not inducing any detectable lesions in lymphoid tissue at the tested time points. Whereas all IBDV-BVMinoculated and 67% and 33% of the IBDV-Lukert- and IBDV-B2-inoculated birds, respectively, had detectable IBDV antigen in the bursa at 4 days postchallenge, none of the IBDV-IMinoculated birds was positive for IBDV by immunohistochemistry. IBDV-IM induced the highest enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) antibody levels detected at days 8-29 PI (P < 0.05) and the best protection against challenge virus replication in comparison with IBDV-B2 and IBDV-Lukert. Only one of five IBDV-BVM-inoculated birds developed antiIBDV ELISA antibodies at 29 days PI, and none of the birds was protected against IBDV challenge. We speculate that better protection with more virulent strains was due to more systemic antigenic stimulation on the basis of higher replication of IBDV in extrabursal lymphoid tissues. Interestingly, IBDV-IM did not differ from IBDV-B2 and IBDV-Lukert in its ability to induce T cell accumulation in the bursa at 8 days PI and local interferon-Y induction from days 2 to 5 PI. These results suggested that the local T cell events in the bursa alone


Wittgenstein finished part 1 of the "Philosophical Investigations" in the spring of 1945. From 1946 to 1949 he worked on the philosophy of psychology almost without interruption. The present two-volume work comprises many of his writings over this period. Some of the remarks contained here were culled for part 2 of the "Investigations"; others were set aside and appear in the collection known as "Zettel." The great majority, however, although of excellent quality, have hitherto remained unpublished. This bilingual edition of the "Remarks on the Philosophy of Psychology "presents the first English translation of an essential body of Wittegenstein's work. It elaborates Wittgenstein's views on psychological concepts such as expectation, sensation, knowing how to follow a rule, and knowledge of the sensations of other persons. It also shows strong emphasis on the "anthropological" aspect of Wittgenstein's thought. Philosophers, as well as anthropologists, psychologists, and sociologists will welcome this important publication.


INTRODUCTION AND AIMS
Alcohol-related morbidity is estimated to range from 10-38% of the presentations to hospital emergency departments. This study aims to investigate the actual management process for alcohol-related presentations in a teaching hospital in Australia.

DESIGN AND METHODS
Retrospective audit was conducted on the electronic medical records of 210 presentations with a primary or secondary diagnosis of 'alcohol use disorder' at discharge between November 2016 and February 2017. Six key management steps were investigated: identification of alcohol use disorder, documentation, thiamine, alcohol withdrawal assessment, benzodiazepine for alcohol withdrawal and referral to the drug and alcohol consultation liaison service.

RESULTS
Of all the 210 presentations, 77.1% (162) were identified with alcohol use disorder in the initial assessments; 64.3% (135) were documented with alcohol use history, 49.5% (104) were prescribed with thiamine, 48.1% (101) were assessed with the alcohol withdrawal scale, 41% (86) were prescribed with benzodiazepine for alcohol withdrawal and only 38.6% (81) were referred to the drug and alcohol consultation liaison service. Only 8.6% (18) of the initial presentations were directly related to alcohol. These presentations had a higher completion rate in each of the six steps than those (91.4%, 192) not directly related to alcohol. Only 6.2% (13) were formally screened for alcohol use.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
The findings suggest a need to improve the alcohol management practice in the hospital. Routine use of an alcohol screening tool can enable early identification of the alcohol use disorder and to improve the management of this problem in the hospital.


The objective of this thesis was to explore the chemistry of series of linear and star shaped compounds based on benzimidazolyl, 2-(2'-pyridyl)benzimidazolyl, and 2,2'dipyridylamino functional groups. These groups all possess Lewis base sites suitable for metal coordination, and are all known fluorophores. The first compounds to be presented are the homo-substituted benzimidazolyl derivatives. Compounds 2.1-2.5 have been fully characterized and are all luminescent with emission energies in the UV region. While coordination complexes with these ligands have not been isolated, the effect of metal ion complexation on ligand luminescence has been explored via metal ion titration experiments. Furthermore, these compounds all have electron affinities greater than -3.0 eV and large optical bandgaps that range between 3.55 and 3.95 eV. These compounds also have high thermal and morphological stability. In light of this, compound 2.3 was selected as a representative example, and further characterized as an electron transport/hole blocking material for OLED applications. It has demonstrated a performance comparable to that of the well known electron transport material Alq3 (q = 8-hydroxyquinolinate). The second class of compounds, 3.2 and 3.3, represent a pair of hetero-substituted ligands with two different binding sites available for coordination chemistry. A copper (I) complex of 3.3 has been isolated and exhibits orange phosphorescence at room temperature and at 77 K. Furthermore, a series of metal titration experiments have been performed on 3.3 and 3.4, and have demonstrated the preference of different metal ions for either the 2,2'-dipyridylamino site, or the 2-(2'-pyridyl)benzimidazolyl binding site. The details of these explorations will be presented in the subsequent chapters.


A practical and scalable synthetic method to obtain dolutegravir sodium (1) was established starting from the readily accessible material maltol (2). This synthetic method includes a scalable oxidation process of maltol and palladium-catalyzed amidation for introduction of an amide moiety, leading to a practical manufacturing method in short synthetic steps. The synthetic method demonstrated herein enables multikilogram scale manufacturing of 1 of high purity.


Variational autoencoders (Kingma & Welling, 2014) employ an amortized inference model to approximate the posterior of latent variables. However, such amortized variational inference faces two challenges: (1) the limited posterior expressiveness of fully-factorized Gaussian assumption and (2) the amortization error of the inference model. We present a novel approach that ad-dresses both challenges. First, we focus on ReLU networks with Gaussian output and illustrate their connection to probabilistic PCA. Building on this observation, we derive an iterative algorithm that finds the mode of the posterior and apply full-covariance Gaussian posterior approximation centered on the mode. Subsequently, we present a general framework named Variational Laplace Autoencoders (VLAEs) for training deep generative models. Based on the Laplace approximation of the latent variable posterior, VLAEs enhance the expressiveness of the posterior while reducing the amortization error. Empirical results on MNIST, Omniglot, Fashion-MNIST, SVHN and CIFAR10 show that the proposed approach significantly outperforms other recent amortized or iterative methods on the ReLU networks.


There is a need for in vivo monitoring of cell engraftment and survival after cardiac cell transplantation therapy. This study assessed the feasibility and usefulness of combined PET and MRI for monitoring cell engraftment and survival after cell transplantation. Methods: Human endothelial progenitor cells (HEPCs), derived from CD34+ mononuclear cells of umbilical cord blood, were retrovirally transduced with the sodium iodide symporter (NIS) gene for reporter gene imaging by 124I-PET and labeled with iron oxides for visualization by MRI. Imaging and histologic analysis were performed on 3 groups of nude rats on days 1, 3, and 7 after intramyocardial injection of 4 million HEPCs. Results: In vitro studies demonstrated stable expression of functional NIS protein and normal viability of HEPCs after transduction. On day 1, after intramyocardial transplantation, iron- and NIS-labeled HEPCs were visualized successfully on MRI as a regional signal void in the healthy myocardium and on PET as 124I accumulation. The 124I uptake decreased on day 3 and was undetectable on day 7, and the MRI signal remained unchanged throughout the follow-up period. Histologic analysis with CD31 and CD68 antibodies confirmed the presence of either labeled or nonlabeled control transplanted HEPCs at the site of injection on day 1 but not on day 7, when only iron-loaded macrophages were seen. Furthermore, deoxyuride-5′-triphosphate biotin nick end labeling showed extensive apoptosis at the site of transplantation. Conclusion: The combination of MRI and PET allows imaging of localization and survival of transplanted HEPCs together with morphologic information about the heart. Although iron labeling rapidly loses specificity for cell viability because of phagocytosis of iron particles released from dead cells, reporter gene expression provided specific information on the number of surviving cells. This multimodality approach allows complementary analysis of cell localization and viability.


This sculpture has been constructed using wire-arc additive manufacturing techniques. Suspended at eye height and lit from above, the sculpture casts the shadow of CPU unit. the electronic circuitry that carries out the instructions of a computer program. Any physical machine whose functions are controlled by operating software will have some form of CPU inside it.

Software has been used to drive and control the operation of heavy machinery in ports and shipyards for many decades. Its importance has increased with the push towards automation, digitization, and data driven process. However, the presence of familiar machines in the port implies work as usual, making the presence of these new processes – and their dependencies – difficult to sense.

Wire arc additive manufacturing is an experimental process which combines arc welding processes with complex software and hardware to create three-dimensional structures out of metal. Arc welding has been a commercially important part of the shipping industry since the 1940s, essential for fabricating steel structures and vehicles. Wire arc additive manufacturing depends on complex and interconnected digital and physical processes including the creation of 3D files, mapping toolpaths, and defining the speed and motions of robotic welding machinery.

Commissioned for the FutureFlux festival, Port of Rotterdam, and created with support from a residency with RAMLAB.


Introduction: The international standard Clinical Pathology Accreditation UK , WHO-AFRO accreditation and ISO 15189 Medical laboratories -Particular requirements for quality and competence are the basis for this accreditation. These requirements not only require a management system and manual in the medical laboratory but also require that the laboratory be found competent to perform specific medical tests or types of tests.
Objective: The study aimed to assessment Governmental Hospitals' Laboratories situation and their performance according to international standards scale.
Methods: The present study designed descriptive Series of case studies in thirty eight Government Hospitals' Laboratories located in Khartoum state, the intervention application of Continuous Quality Improvement techniques to assess laboratories processes; total Quality Systems standards into laboratories were measured by Checklist contain standards elements and score of each element was conducted according to their importance of international standards. The quality control in this study was carried out for 15 tests, used control sera.
Results: Results availability of international standards for total quality management implementation in the laboratories is between 36% -86% the mean 65%, the safe laboratory design and organization 77.5%, laboratory organization 48.5%, document and management system 45.5%, quality of Personnel management 55.5%. The observed errors of laboratories in the preanalytical phase of testing were 60% and 37% in analytical phase, only 3% errors was reported in the post-analytical phase, continual improvement for laboratories auditing 26% . The quality control program 67% had internal quality control, 33% had national quality control, and the acceptability of quality control results for all laboratories was 72%, total absolute error 55.56%, inaccuracy (variation) 11.5%, imprecision CV 25.1%.
Conclusion: This study showed significant correlation between adoption of international standards and improved of accuracy and reliability on medical laboratories tests.


Some 320 specimens of silver halides from the Broken Hill field, New South Wales, held in the collections of the Australian Museum have been examined. On the basis of colour and habit variations, 42 specimens were selected for analysis. Contrary to previous suggestions, compositions of individual specimens are highly variable and reflect a complex crystallisation history. Bromargyrite has been detected for the first time away from the Broken Hill main lode horizon. Compositions are discussed in terms of the lacunar nature of the appropriate phase diagrams; natural material is shown to reflect compositions of synthetic phases prepared at about 25°C. No obvious relationship between composition and physical properties could be detected for the chlorargyrite-bromargyrite series. This highlights the difficulties of visual identifications.


Historical urban textures are the whole of the open and closed public spaces with the buildings and transportation axis, shaped by the cultural heritages of cities. One of the most important elements in historical urban textures, bringing dwellers with nature, and giving life to the city, are landscape spaces. The capital of Cyprus, Nicosia, also has a very rich historical texture. Within this context, the aim of this study is to examine the landscape of the historical urban texture of Nicosia from the past to the present, within the whole of various cultural periods including the present day status. Therefore, the development of Nicosia through the historical process is given right after the introduction. After the introduction, landscape of walled city of Nicosia was examined through the historical periods: Lusignan Period, Venetian Period, Ottoman Period, British Period, Republic of Cyprus Period, and the present day period, TRNC Period.


Background Understanding how lay people perceive the causes of mortality and their associated risk factors is important for public health. In resource-limited settings, where verbal autopsy (VA) is used as the most expedient method of determining cause of death, it is important to understand how pre-existing concepts of cause of death among VA-informants may influence their VA-responses and the consequential impact on cause of death assessment. This study describes the agreement between VA-derived causes of death and informant-perceived causes and associated influential factors, which also reflects lay health literacy in this setting. Method Using 20 years of VA data (n=11,228) from the Agincourt Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) site in rural South Africa, we explored the agreement between the causes of death perceived by the VA-informants and those assigned by the automated Inter-VA tool. Kappa statistics and concordance correlation coefficients were applied to measure agreement at individual and population levels, respectively. Multivariable regression models were used to explore factors associated with recognised lay perceptions of causes of mortality. Results Agreement between informant-perceived and VA-derived causes of death at the individual level was limited, but varied substantially by cause of death. However, agreement at the population level, comparing cause-specific mortality fractions was higher, with the notable exception of bewitchment as a cause. More recent deaths, those in adults aged 15–49 years, deaths outside the home, and those associated with external causes showed higher concordance with InterVA. Conclusion Overall, informant perception of causes of death was limited, but depended on informant characteristics and causes of death, and to some extent involved non-biomedical constructs. Understanding discordance between perceived and recognised causes of death is important for public health planning; low community understanding of causes of death may be detrimental to public health. These findings also illustrate the importance of using rigorous and standardised VA methods rather than relying on informants' reported causes of death.


This paper presents the results of designing a hardware and software suite of a control unit for Tokamak technological equipment (an experimental plant working in repetitively pulsed mode and intended for producing controlled thermonuclear fusion). In order to reduce time consumption for preparation activities, minimize errors of the operator when generating control commands and use the function of group complex preparation of a distributed park of technological aggregates, there has been solved a problem of automation of the equipment preparation to experiments via applying an advisor information control system. The solution to the problem is based on the application of the Petri-net machine, and the object under control at the informational level is described with a discrete model every state of which can be described by a Mealy machine. The control system software is completed and tested as a part of the control unit of КТМ plant (Kurchatov, the Republic of Kazakhstan), Viktoriya Т-15 plant, an impulse modulator complex, (Moscow) and others.


The groups of patients with myocardial infarction (MI) and hypertrophy of the left ventricle (HLV) (n = 45 and n = 53, respectively) and a sample of healthy individuals from the Moscow population (n = 60) were examined for T174M polymorphism of AGT gene (replacement of methionine for threonine at position 174 of the correspondent amino acid sequence). In MI patients the content of TT genotypes and T allele was significantly lower than in the control group (57.8% against 80% and 67.9 against 89.2%, respectively), whereas the proportion of M allele and TM heterozygotes was increased (32.1 against 10.8% and 37.8 against 18.3%, respectively). In patients with HLV, the proportion of TT genotype (64.2%) and T allele (77.4%) was also lower than in the control group, whereas the frequency of M allele was increased (22.6%). Our results suggest that the T174M polymorphism of AGT gene is associated with MI and HLV in the Moscow population.


The strong magnetic fields found on the surface of magnetars are known to have profound effects in the physics of atoms in magnetar envelopes. We argue that the Friedel oscillations in the Coulomb force between the ions due to electron shielding can, for certain values of the parameters, be the dominant effect determining the crystal structure in the outer crust of magnetars. We estimate the densities and magnetic fields for which this occurs, compute some of the elastic moduli and lattice phonon dispersion relations in this "Friedel crystal" phase.