Artichokes are an important crop in Navarre and are grown for both the fresh produce market and the agro-food industry (canning and freezing). The main cultivar cultivated in Navarre is the traditional vegetative propagated 'Blanca de Tudela', which is characterised by its extreme precocity. Traditionally, the cuttings for new plantations in the major artichoke-producing regions of Spain, located along the Mediterranean coast, have come from annual crops grown in Navarre. Recently, however, seed cultivars have been introduced in these regions and, due to their low level of precocity, gibberellic acid is applied in order to stimulate more rapid growth. In cold regions such as Navarre, where there is a risk of frost, the application of this phytoregulator fails to produce the desired results. Given the importance of the 'Blanca de Tudela' artichoke cultivar in Navarre, due to its twofold use: heads and cuttings, INTIA has taken a special interest in analysing the agronomic adaptation and behaviour of seed cultivars in our agroclimatic conditions. Since 1999, INTIA has tested 58 cultivars of seed artichokes, and this paper presents the morphological characteristics of those tested over the course of more than five years. It also analyses the precocity and yield of seven seed cultivars tested over the course of the last two seasons (2012-2013 and 2013-2014), in comparison with 'Blanca de Tudela': 'Lorca', 'Madrigal', 'N-4011', 'N-4146', 'Opera', 'PS-3779' and 'Symphony'. 'Blanca de Tudela', a vegetative propagated cultivar, was the earliest cultivar of those tested, and the only one with an autumn yield. All the seed cultivars were characterised by a late harvest as well as, in some cases, a high harvest concentration. 'Madrigal' was the latest cultivar, but also the one with the highest yield.


Masarak (also known as Masalit, sometimes spelled Massaleit) is a highly endangered, previously undocumented Nilo-Saharan language spoken in Darfur. The language is characterized by complicated agreement patterns, and the imperative, prohibitive and 2nd person agreement systems are particularly complex. These systems exhibit a web of stem alternations and agreement allomorphy conditioned by varying factors, such as verb class, stem phonology, and grammatical properties such as aspect. This paper provides a detailed outline of the morphology and morphophonology of Masarak's imperative, prohibitive and 2nd person systems.


BACKGROUND
Various risk factors for depression in lung cancer patients have been suggested but have been examined separately in studies with relatively small sample sizes. The present study examined the biopsychosocial risk factors of depression in lung cancer patients, focusing on psychological factors in the largest patient sample reported to date.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
A total of 1334 consecutively recruited lung cancer patients were selected, and data on cancer-related variables, personal characteristics, health behaviors, physical symptoms, and psychological factors were obtained. The participants were divided into groups with or without depression using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale.

RESULTS
Among the recruited patients, 165 (12.4%) manifested depression. The results of a binary logistic regression analysis were significant (overall R2, 36.5%), and a greater risk for depression was strongly associated with psychological factors, such as personality characteristics (neuroticism) and coping style (low fighting spirit, helplessness/hopelessness, and anxious preoccupation). Although the contributions of cancer-related variables, personal characteristics, health behaviors, and clinical state were relatively low, cancer stage, cancer type, sex, and age correlated significantly with depression.

CONCLUSION
Depression was most strongly linked with personality traits and coping style, and using screening instruments to identify these factors may be useful for preventive interventions.


The beauty and awe that the natural world evokes lead humans intuitively to believe in an all powerful creator as is convincingly exemplified by Psalm 19. The author allows both nature and law to communicate elatedly about this god, who is believed to exist objectively. This ease with which human beings conceptualize counterintuitive beings ('gods'), has lately been confirmed by Evolutionary Psychology as well. The 'Theory of Mind' mental tool especially, plays a primary role in this regard. To 'think up' a god(s), responsible for the world and its functioning, comes naturally and intuitively. Evolutionary Psychology, however, differs from Psalm 19, namely therein that 'god' is a subjective construct. Bringing Darwinian evolution into the conversation, the problem of the 'existence of god' becomes even more critical, as evolution does not need a creator god. But god(s) persists. In reaction to the personal 'god' of theism and the no-god of atheism, seeking the 'godly' (atheism) becomes quite attractive.


Industrial Organization is a central branch of microeconomics that has historically provoked a great deal of debate among economists. Steve Martin draws on this debate and economic history in order to examine the economics of markets, industries and their participants and in doing so addresses the implications for public policy towards business behaviour. Industrial Organization in Context leads students through the essential concepts that are central to understanding the strategic behaviour of firms and the policy questions at the heart of Industrial Organization. It takes an international approach, examining both US Antitrust and EU Competition Policy and their development. Classic and contemporary examples serve to illustrate the theory and experimental tests of models help students to study economic questions. This book is accompanied by an Online Resource Centre which includes: For students: essay questions, links to useful websites, historical timelines For lecturers: Scientific Workplace, slides, instructor manual


SUMMARY A purpose of password-based anonymous authentication schemes is to provide not only password-based authentication but also user anonymity. In [19], Yang et al., proposed a password-based anonymous authentication scheme (we call it YZWB10 scheme) using the password-protected credentials. In this paper, we discuss user anonymity of the YZWB10 scheme[19] against a third-party attacker, who is much weaker than a malicious server. First, we show that a third-party attacker in the YZWB10 scheme can specify which user actually sent the login request to the server. This attack also indicates that the attacker can link di ff erent login requests to be sent later by the same user. Second, we give an e ff ective countermeasure to this attack which does not require any security for storing users' password-protected credentials.


When courts and legislatures choose where to resolve a dispute, they often must consider whether questions of law should be decided in the "home" court. When should, for instance, Delaware state courts decide questions of Delaware state law? The choice between the home forum and others is particularly stark in corporate law, where out-of-state courts must often apply the law of the state of incorporation. Litigation over corporate deals increasingly takes place in multiple, competing jurisdictions, presenting a clear choice between resolution in the home court or out of state. Beyond corporate law, the question arises any time legislatures must decide whether jurisdiction is exclusive, or courts must determine whether to stay a case or refer a question by way of certification, abstention, primary jurisdiction, or other sorting mechanisms. All of these instances raise the same normative question: When should law be decided in the home forum? In response, scholars and courts have pointed to vague notions of comity or focused on a single legal context. In contrast, this Article develops a robust theoretical account that crosses legal areas. It analyzes the tension in the U.S. legal landscape between doctrines that link law and forum (for instance, exclusive jurisdiction) and those that affirmatively separate them (for instance, diversity jurisdiction). It identifies two main functions of home court decisions: the lawmaking function derived from their unique power to bind, and the distinct repeat-player relationship that the home forum has with the body of law, which supports a claim to expertise. Finally, the Article uses these functions as the basis for an interest-balancing approach to determining when law should be decided at home.


This article reports a study of the presence of hygienic behaviour in honey bee colonies in England and Wales. A freeze-killed brood assay was used, and both sealed and unsealed brood were investigated. Thirty-seven colonies across England and Wales were assessed for hygienic behaviour expression in 2000, and 41in 2001. Eight colonies (10%) were found to show hygienic behaviour, with some other colonies having a high level of removal of sealed dead larvae and pupae. In most colonies, all of the freeze-killed unsealed brood was removed. With a wider study it may be possible to correlate the presence of hygienic behaviour with disease occurrence.


Software running on an open architecture, such as the PC, is vulnerable to inspection and modification. This is a concern, as software may consist of or provide access to valuable information. As a result, several defenses against program understanding and modification have been proposed in literature. The approach discussed in this paper complements existing work and focuses on hiding the actual location of data throughout the execution of the program. To achieve this, we combine three techniques: (i) periodic reordering of the heap, (ii) migrating local variables from the stack to the heap and (iii) pointer scrambling. The techniques serve to complicate static data flow analysis and dynamic data tracking. Our prototype implementation compiles C programs into a binary for which every access to the heap is redirected through a memory management unit. In order to protect traditionally stack-based variables as well, a mechanism is provided to migrate them to the heap and to adapt all accesses to those variables. Finally, an option is provided to enable pointer scrambling. If this is turned on, the program can no longer operate directly on the pointers; therefore, pointer arithmetic is intercepted as well. Experimental evaluation on benchmarks from the SPEC CPU2006 benchmark suite illustrates the type of trade-off that needs to be made for this type of protection. Balance must be struck between comprehensive protection and cost in terms of execution time and (to a lesser extent) static and dynamic memory footprint.


ABSTRACT For a sample of all 88 counties in the State of Ohio over a 5-year period, this study documents the effect of flagship enterprises and concentrated industrial clusters on regional innovation. Consistent with the agglomeration arguments and the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship, both appear to affect regional innovation positively. Additionally, regional educational attainment positively moderates the effect of industrial clusters on innovation. At the same time, flagship enterprises primarily affect regional innovation in regions with low education levels. Results are obtained with the help of conservative econometric techniques and are robust to the choice of alternative dependent variables and estimators. The findings have major policy implications and provide insights into alternative routes to encouraging regional innovation.


Since the mid-1990s, seventeen emerging countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have been leaving behind the conflicts, stagnation, and dictatorships of the past and achieving steady economic growth, deepening democracy, stronger leadership, and falling poverty—and six additional African countries are showing signs that they may be on the same path. The paths of the countries that comprise "emerging Africa" are characterized by five commonalities democratic and accountable governments; the implementation of more sensible economic policies; the end of the decades-long debt crisis, and with it major changes in Africa's relationship with the international community; the spread of new technologies that promote political accountability and create fresh business opportunities; and the emergence of a new generation of policy makers, activists, and business leaders.


Objective: To describe the anatomical relationships that exist between the heart valve structures taking into account the segments of the fibrous annuli and the left ventricular volume Method: Digital photographs of 41 hearts from autopsies performed by a coroner's office were analyzed. The photographs were processed using MATLAB ® software, which supplies measurements of the valvar perimeter and area and the left ventricular volume. Results: The average age of the corpses studied was 33 years old (standard deviation ± 17 years). Several ratios involving the tricuspid and mitral valves were tested, with strongly significant correlations found between the inter-commissural distance (ItD) and the perimeter of the anterior annulus (PA) of the tricuspid valve (r = 0.72; p-value < 0.05) and between the inter-commissural distance (ImD) and the perimeter of the posterior annulus (PP) of the mitral valve (r = 0.63; p-value < 0.05). The proportions between these parameters were PA/ItD = 1.36 ± 0.24 and PP/ImD = 1.38 ± 0.16. Conclusion: The proportions between the perimeter of the anterior annulus (tricuspid) and the perimeter of the posterior annulus (mitral) and their respective distances have high statistical significance and can be applied during surgery of valvar reconstruction.


The relationships between energy and development are complex, compounded by increasingly differentiated situations amongst developing countries and within them. Moreover, the manner in which energy services are realised has consequences for our health, environment, wealth, and social relations. Two important issues currently preoccupying the realm of international development are enhancing energy access whilst simultaneously addressing climate change.

A recurring theme in studies and policies for energy and development is the role innovation can play in improving sustainable energy access. International climate change negotiations place an emphasis on low-carbon technology transfer, which perpetuates a long history of expectations about technology providing solutions to energy and development challenges. Whilst these expectations are not entirely unfounded, this history indicates that solving the many problems associated with the provision of energy services involves a more complex set of interdependent processes than 'straightforward' transfer of technology. And yet, international discussions are intensifying (once again) around innovation in the form of technology transfer; discussions that frame the issue, we argue, in terms of financing the flow of low-carbon technological hardware to developing countries. This 'hardware and finance' framing of low-carbon development has resulted in a limited number of general purpose policy instruments – such as the Clean Development Mechanism – that tend to neglect important details of how technology can be 'transferred' successfully and sustainably. Moreover, they seem to neglect the contestable purposes of low-carbon development more broadly and the limited, though vital, roles technology transfer plays therein. Given the diversity of situations and concerns in energy and development, such a generalised yet narrow framing of the challenge could prove problematic.

Drawing upon the history of technology transfer, and discussing the record of the Clean Development Mechanism, this paper questions just how much the dominant 'hardware and finance' framing will help communities explore and develop low-carbon pathways that meet their needs. Our view is that a much broader and ambitions approach to energy and development is needed. We suggest a 'socio-technical transformation' framework for organising low-carbon energy initiatives in development. In making this argument, we use a pathways approach to understanding the challenges of energy and development; an approach being developed by the STEPS Centre at the University of Sussex. Having argued for a broader and more plural perspective, we conclude the paper by suggesting a research agenda for testing its potential.


The specific goal of this study was to determine the use of the physical classroom environment as a teaching and learning tool in an era of the implementation of the Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI). This qualitative multi-case study focused on the learning principles and epistemological beliefs of primary teachers with reference to the physical classroom environment and the teaching process in regard to meeting the expectations set forth by the CCSSI. The researcher sought participation from a city school district in Northeast Tennessee which included a total of 8 participating teachers consisting of 2 each of grades kindergarten, first, second, and third. The Teacher Beliefs Survey (Woolley, Benjamin, & Woolley, 2004) was administered to determine teachers' philosophical position regarding constructivist and traditional beliefs. Based upon responses, 8 teachers representing the most constructivist and most traditional teachers in each grade were selected for further participation. Teachers' practices and perceptions of the role of the physical environment in the teaching and learning process including consideration of the CCSSI were further explored through interview. Each physical classroom environment was evaluated using the Primary Educators Environment Rating Scale (PEERS), a rubric designed to assess the use of the physical classroom environment on a continuum from traditional to constructivist practices (Evanshen & Faulk, under review). Observational field notes and photographs were collected in order to document environmental components of the physical classroom environment of each participant. Data was collected and triangulated through the use of the aforementioned methods. Through the data analysis process, the researcher found all participants to demonstrate support for the role of the physical environment in the teaching and learning process which was determined based on results of the interview in conjunction with findings of the PEERS and supporting photographic evidence. Each teacher's personal experiences and philosophy of education was found to guide the physical classroom environment design and layout in various ways. While most teachers felt the CCSSI had little or no impact on their physical classroom environment, all shared in varying degrees the use of the physical environment as a tool to support students in developing 21st century skills.


Background & Objectives: Hemophilia A is an X-linked recessive bleeding disorder, which is caused by several different abnormalities in Factor 8 gene . Intron 22 inversion is the main causative mutation in 45-50% of severe hemophilia A patients. Moreover intron 1 inversion is responsible for >5% of severe hemophilia A cases . The goal of this study was to precisely analyse intron 1 inversion of Factor 8 gene in severe Hemophilia A patients who were negative for intron 22 inversion by Inverse Shifting-PCR (IS-PCR) method. Methods: In this experimental study, severe hemophilia A patients with less than 1% of normal FVIII activity level referred from Isfahan Seyedolshohada hospital were analyzed. After obtaining the consent from patients, genomic DNA from peripheral blood leukocytes was extracted. Then, Inverse-Shifting PCR method was exploited for detection of inversion of intron 1 of Factor 8 gene in patients who were negative for inversion intron 22. Results : In 18 out of 32 patients who were negative for inversion intron 22, 2 (6.2%) had intron 1 inversion . Conclusion : The allele frequency of inversion of intron 1 at Factor 8 gene is in agreement with related studies. IS-PCR is a rapid, robust and cost effective method that can improve the molecular detection of inversion and is useful for analysis of hemophilia A patients, carrier testing and prenatal diagnosis.


The purpose of this study is to explore the preconditions of trust. Using a sample of more than 13,000 university graduates in Europe, the impact of competence mismatch on trust-related behavior (designated below as trust) is investigated. The existing literature estimates the overall impact of skills matches on job outcomes, while this study explores the links between nineteen skills/competencies and trust. Theoretical analyses are grounded in one of the mainstays of management studies: a "fit theory" that conjectures that the performance of an individual is driven by the extent to which the environment is congruent with that individual's personal characteristics. Using simple logistic regression analysis, we find a non-monotonic link between competence mismatch and trust-related behavior. The effects of underskilling on trust is stronger in comparison to a surplus of required skills and competencies.


Four types of soft dates (SD), three types of semi-dried dates (SDD) and one type of dried dates (DD) were used in this study. The antioxidant activities were assessed using TEAC method (ABTS assay) and the ferric reducing/antioxidant power method (FRAP assay), while total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) were measured using Folin-Ciocalteau and aluminum chloride colorimetric methods. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), discriminant analysis (DA) and principal component analysis (PCA) were used to analyze the data. MANOVA showed a strong significant difference between the eight types of dates. DA identified the relative contribution of each parameter in distinguishing the dates. DA also identified two functions responsible for discriminating the dates and showed the difference between different types of dates. The first function distinguished DD from other types of dates, whilst the second function discriminated SD and SDD, affording 100% correct assignation. PCA identified only one component responsible for explaining 98.85% of the total variance in antioxidant data. It is suggested that the TEAC method and the quantitative determination of TPC and TFC was suitable for differentiation of dates and quality control.


This thesis deals with French decolonisation policy towards Tunisia and Morocco and international impacts on the decolonisation process. It is very important to deal with the two countries at the same time, because nationalist movements in each country and French policy responses were closely related. So far, research on French decolonisation has examined the reason why France was forced to retreat from their overseas territories and indicated that nationalist and international pressures largely contributed to this process. This thesis rather aims to clarify how the French tried to maintain their influence in Tunisia and Morocco. In terms of international impact, the existing research has stressed the role of American pressure towards decolonisation but has not referred to British policy. The thesis also focuses on Britain's role in determining French attitudes especially in the UN. Furthermore, this work aims to locate the decolonisation process of both countries in a broader context of post-war French policy towards their overseas territories. The thesis argues that the French accepted Tunisia's internal autonomy because they realised that the Tunisian people's consent was essential to retain influence. Hitherto, the French had been controlling Tunisia through puppet governments, which had been legitimised by the Tunisian sovereign's traditional authority. Now the French understood that they had to secure collaborators who could rally popular support. The thesis also argues that the French decision on Morocco's independence was aimed at preserving the unity of Morocco, whose opinion had been seriously divided. Indeed, France was aiming to produce pro-French moderate nationalism, thereby maintaining France's interest and influence. However, Morocco, and then Tunisia achieved independence without the framework of the French Union, the organisation grouping French overseas territories. Soon after Morocco's independence, France decided to give internal autonomy to the African territories, a move which paved the way to those territories' independence.


In this thesis, we investigate new aspects of addressing and routing in Spontaneous Wireless Mesh Networks (WMN). Spontaneous wireless mesh networks promise a completely different architecture of the future Internet in comparison with its current state, but there are still many problems that have to be solved prior to the WMNs deployment. For example, routing in small static networks is easy. However, most real wireless networks are dynamic; links may go up and down, nodes join or leave the network and the WMN size may grow, which implies the problem of large routing tables. New kinds of spontaneous networks amplify this trend, they include thousands of nodes acting as routers. Several experimentations reported on scaling problems of topological routing protocols such as AODV, DSDV, DSR or OLSR. Classical routing algorithms should be replaced with suitable technologies that guarantee good scalability and offer robust connectivity. We have considered geographical routing algorithms, because they do not require complete knowledge of the global network topology to compute routes and thus they are much more scalable than topological algorithms. There are, however, many problems we need to solve. The most important one is that geographical algorithms suffer from poor performance. They can compute much longer paths than topological routing algorithms. In order to solve this problem, we first studied the behavior of the greedy geographical forwarding, the basic building block of geographical algorithms. Then, we designed two new routing protocols: Binary Waypoint Routing and Scalable Waypoint Routing. Our protocols do not require any additional overhead to discover the network topology, but instead they passively analyze the traffic to learn efficient routes. We gather pure geographical information that helps to forward packets. Our method of packet forwarding follows the topological properties of the network and in consequence improve the performance of geographical routing algorithms.


Cultural development is a relatively new area of focus in local government, with local government areas increasingly employing staff within dedicated areas of council over the last 20 years. Practices tend to vary significantly between councils, because there is as yet no specific training nor agreed professional standards for cultural development. This paper presents results of a state-wide survey about cultural planning practices in local government across Victoria, reporting on breadth of cultural planning, amount of investment, policy influences in their development and planning processes. Findings indicate that all Victorian councils provide some kind of cultural development activity, with all but the smallest shires making considerable investment in staff, venues, programming and support for local initiatives. Cultural plans are increasingly being implemented, with more than 75% of councils having a published plan or one in progress. Scope for practice improvement was also evident, with few plans indicating any use of data, evidence or measurement strategies. In offering this picture of the current state of professional activity of cultural development in local government in Victoria, this research offers the potential for stronger practice, improved collaboration and increasingly shared standards between councils.


Landslides occur both onshore and offshore, however little attention has been given to offshore landslides (submarine landslides). The unique characteristics of submarine landslides include large mass movements and long travel distances at very gentle slopes. Submarine landslides have significant impacts and consequences on offshore and coastal facilities. This paper presents data from a series of centrifuge tests simulating submarine landslide flows on a very gentle slope. Experiments were conducted at different gravity levels to understand the scaling laws involved in simulating submarine landslide flows through centrifuge modelling. The slope was instrumented with miniature sensors for measurements of pore pressure beneath the flow. A series of digital cameras were used to capture the flow in flight. The results provide a better understanding of the scaling laws that needs to be adopted for centrifuge experiments involving submarine landslide flows and gives an insight into the flow mechanisms. © 2010 Taylor & Francis Group, London.


Enhancing Global Governance analyzes the means by which global governance has been promoted by innovative diplomatic practices. The impetus for a new diplomacy has emerged not from traditional channels, but through a series of cross cutting coalitions among like-minded states and civil society. The question of how these alternative leadership forms have been expressed through the United Nations system, together with an evaluation of the impact they have achieved, provides the fundamental theme of this book. Following an overview of the frustrations concerning the nature of leadership from the UN Security Council, experts look at the manner in which innovative diplomatic practices played out in two significant case studies: the development of the Ottawa Treaty to ban anti-personnel landmines and the campaign to establish an international court. The book then reviews the application of new diplomacy approaches, first in the commercial domain of international activity, particularly in the application of codes of conduct that would affect both states and global business, and then in selected areas of the expanded security agenda; including child soldiers and the exportation of diamonds from areas of conflict.


Introduction The processes that regulate the settlement phase in marine fish species, passing from pelagic larvae to juveniles associated with the benthos, are complex and play a key role in the population dynamics. Examples of these processes are the duration of the pelagic larvae stage, metamorphosis, the orientation towards their adult habitat, adaptation to different predatory field or changes in feeding. While these processes are widely studied in coral reef fishes, knowledge of these early life stages is still scarce for temperate regions. In the Mediterranean Sea, these fish species are subjected to high anthropogenic pressure, either due to pollution, environmental physical alterations or direct exploitation by fishermen. More concretely in the Balearic Islands, Spain, the pressure of recreational fisheries is high enough to be considered as a not negligible stress factor on fish population dynamics and this recreational activity has been steadily increasing for the last years. Furthermore, the recreational fisheries are locally concentrated in areas around towns, normally close to small bays where other environmental stressors are particularly acute.
Research description This thesis evaluates some of the effects of this anthropogenic interaction with the fraction of the fish community that is not directly affected by recreational fishing, i.e. recruits or juveniles, through a series of field collected datasets, laboratory experiments and the use of other indirect indicators of fish fitness such as otoliths.
In the field based chapters, we first describe the sequential use of Posidonia oceanica seagrass meadows as nursery habitats by a wide range of juvenile fish, and how this transient community has changed in the last half century. A key example is the increase in abundance of juvenile Diplodus annularis in shallow seagrass meadows. We then describe and apply a method based on stereoscopic video-filming to better understand the nursery function of P. oceanica meadows. This work generates new potential for further studies including the quantification of nursery function.
Regarding the experimental chapters, we looked at the potential anthropogenic effects on early juvenile dynamics. First, the increment of fatty acid composition of larval fish associated with ocean acidification derived from the humanly induced increment of CO2 in the atmosphere is suggested. At a more local scale, we show the effect of polluted waters (sunscreen and harbour-influenced water) on the behaviour of juvenile gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata). Additionally, we use this last model species for an experiment on the predator-induced phenotypic adaptations. We describe for the first time in a marine species that the odour of predation induced changes in shape, which are reversible. In the last part of this thesis, we include two chapters evaluating the multiple uses of otoliths (including shape, growth, and microchemical analysis) as indirect indicators of fish life history traits (LHT) among a wide set of experiments and field collected data.
Conclussions Firstly, we proved that the use of otolith fluctuating asymmetry (OFA, as the difference between the pair of bony structures) was not correlated with fish fitness or survival success, contrarily to mainstream belief. Secondly, we found for the first time in the field, that differences in otolith microchemistry among subpopulations may be due to differences in their LHT, which in turn may be affected by recreational fishing pressure.
We believe that this thesis has achieved it mains objective: filling several knowledge gaps about settlement/recruitment processes of coastal fish species, many of them highly relevant for recreational fisheries in the Mediterranean Sea.


Iso-polyhalomethanes are important reactive intermediates in the condensed and gas-phase chemistry of halomethanes. Building upon our recent study of iso-bromoform, in this work the substituted isotribromomethanes (iso-CXBr3; X = F, Cl, Br) were characterized by matrix isolation infrared and UV/Vis spectroscopy, supported by ab initio calculations, to further probe the structure, spectroscopy, properties, and photochemistry of these important intermediates. Selected wavelength laser irradiation of CXBr3 samples in an inert rare gas (typically Ar; mixing ratio 1:500) held at ∼5 K yielded iso-CXBr3 (XBrC–Br–Br or Br2C–Br–X). The observed infrared and UV/Vis absorptions are in excellent agreement with computational predictions, and the energies of various stationary points on the CXBr3Potential Energy Surfaces (PESs) were characterized computationally using DFT, MP2, and CCSD (T) methods in combination with triple-zeta quality basis sets. These calculations show that the isomers are minima on the PESs that lie ∼200 kJ/mol above the global CXBr3 minimum, yet are bound by some 50–70 kJ/mol in the gas-phase with respect to the CXBr2 + Br asymptote. Laser irradiation of the isomers resulted in back photoisomerization to CXBr3, and intrinsic reaction coordinate (IRC) calculations confirmed the existence of a first order saddle point connecting the two isomers. Calculations of important stationary points on the CXBr3 PESs show that in the gas-phase the isomerization barrier lies energetically near the threshold for simple bond fission. The iso-CXBr3species are significantly stabilized in the condensed phase, due to the high degree of ion-pair character, as revealed by Natural Resonance Theory analysis.


Extraordinary optical transmission of 1D metallic gratings is studied. Experimental samples are fabricated by means of Electron Beam Lithography. The optical characterization is focused on far field transmission properties and in particular on polarization dependence of the incident light. A peculiar symmetry in transmission spectra at different polarization angles is shown; this symmetry is studied both experimentally, and numerically with FEM method. A comparison between numerical and experimental data is provided.


The Digital Services Research Group and its predecessor groups and offshoots in Digital Equipment Corporation have been mobilizing leading-edge AI research to bear on real-life problems that face the corporation and its customers. The general strategy of the group is to explore emerging techniques relevant to service and support needs through developing rapid prototypes, deploying these prototypes, and incorporating feedback from users. With over 32 major projects undertaken during the past decade, we have worked on broad spectrum of problems and explored a variety of advanced AI techniques. This article describes the current AI activities in five areas: (1) enterprise advisory systems, (2) natural language processing and textual information retrieval, (3) largescale knowledge base management and access, (4) software configuration management, and (5) intrusion detection. We also list some future research directions.


Introduction: Hypertension is a leading problem in Indonesia, because of the high prevalence and the long term effect. Bitter melon leaves (Momordica charantia L.) has been traditionally utilized to treat hypertension, yet not many studies explained the antihypertension effect of this plant. Methods: This study was conducted to test the benefit of bitter melon leaves as antihypertension using angiotensin converting enzyme inhibition activity in 80% ethanolic extract and its fractions (n-hexane, ethyl acetate, and n-butanol) using ACE kit-WST (Dojindo, Japan). Then the antihypertension activity was associated with the phenolic content which was expressed in gallic acid equivalent (GAE) and total flavonoid in quercetin equivalent (QE). Results: Result of the study showed that the IC50 value obtained from the ethanolic extract to inhibit ACE activity was 7.52 μg/mL and the highest inhibition obtained in ethyl acetate fraction with IC50 value was 4,29 μg/mL. Phenolic total and flavonoid total determination also showed that the highest content obtained in ethyl acetate fraction with 18.752 mg GAE/gr extract and 8.310 mg QE/gr extract, respectively. Conclusion: According to the study, it could be concluded that bitter melon (Momordica charantia L.) leaves provide inhibition activity against Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE) and chemical compounds that were expected to play an active role in inhibiting ACE were flavonoid and tannin.


Discovery and Applications of Bacterial Noncoding RNAs Huei-Hun Elizabeth Tseng Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Walter L. Ruzzo Computer Science & Engineering Noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) are functional transcripts that do not code for proteins. Many of them play indispensible roles in the cell. For example, the ribosomal RNAs make up the ribosome that is the factory for making proteins and riboswitches bind to small metabolites in the cell and regulate gene expression. Computational discovery of ncRNAs is challenging, however, because ncRNAs evolve rapidly on the nucleotide level while preserving secondary structure. In the first part of this thesis, we develop two clustering algorithms that are robust to weak sequence homology signals and are applicable on the genomic scale. We show that both algorithms can recover most known ncRNA families and as few as 5 homologous sequences are needed to predict a strong motif. In the second part of the thesis, we investigate whether secondary structure information improves maximum likelihood tree inference for ncRNAs. An accurate phylogenetic tree has important biological and clinical applications: it can be used to infer the function of novel organisms and understand the evolutionary history of species. We show that using structure information, a more realistic gap model, and a maximum likelihood approach improves phylogenetic tree inference. In the third part of the thesis, we develop a method for profiling human gut microbial communities using high-throughput sequencing. Our method works on Illumina short reads and does not require assembly or taxonomic identification. We show that it can differentiate between the gut microbiota of healthy individuals at low sequencing depth, making it a cost-effective screening tool for large population studies. In the final part of the thesis, we use a standard additions experiment to examine sequencing bias and errors in Illumina HiSeq. We identify features associated with systematic errors and develop an error correction pipeline. We show that our method reduces base errors and produces better species diversity estimates.


Purpose The aim of the study was to determine if listening to music may reduce anxiety experienced by stroke patients during acute rehabilitation. Design A prospective, nonblinded, randomized study in an inpatient rehabilitation setting. Methods Fifty participants were randomized into two groups: (1) 1 hour of music (intervention) or (2) no music (control). All participants completed pretest anxiety and depression screening and 44 completed the posttest anxiety screening. Differences between groups were determined using chi-square and t tests. Findings After listening to music for 1 hour, participants who completed the posttest (n = 44) reported significantly less anxiety (p < .0001) compared to before the intervention. The control group showed no difference in their pre- and posttest anxiety scores (p = .84). No differences were determined among age, gender, or diagnostic groups. Conclusions These findings demonstrate that music intervention may help lessen anxiety in rehabilitation patients poststroke. Clinical Relevance Offering musical intervention to stroke patients in rehabilitation may lessen symptoms of anxiety.


This chapter explores efforts to address the unequal distribution of polluting facilities and other environmental hazard exposure through civil rights and environmental law. From the very beginning of the environmental justice movement, its advocates brought lawsuits in federal courts challenging the placement of polluting facilities and landfills as racially discriminatory. Almost uniformly these lawsuits failed, in large part due to the underlying shifts in anti discrimination jurisprudence over the last 30 years in which requirements of intent and causation became serious obstacles to proving discrimination. A parallel effort by advocates to incorporate anti discrimination norms into environmental regulation, using President Bill Clinton's Executive Order on environmental justice, met with some success. However, the application of the Order by environmental decision makers revealed how much in tension are the distributive equity aims animating environmental justice challenges and the narrow risk assessment framework that guides environmental regulation. This chapter suggests that one way to align these two frameworks — to better integrate equality norms into environmental decision making — is through the lens of vulnerability. From an equality standpoint, legal theorists have advanced vulnerability as an alternative to the limitations of anti discrimination law and as a more robust conception of the role of the state in protecting vulnerable populations. In the environmental context, social vulnerability analysis and metrics have long been employed to assess and address the ways that some subpopulations are more susceptible to the harms from climate change and environmental hazard events like hurricanes and floods. The use of vulnerability, either as a policy framework or as social science, has not been utilized much in the pollution context to capture the array of factors that shape the susceptibility of certain places and populations to disproportionate environmental hazard exposure. This limitation suggests that a fertile area of research is how to utilize vulnerability metrics in regulatory and legal analysis to better protect these populations and communities.


The suite of specimens accompanying the following notice are submitted to the inspection of the Geological Society, as illustrating the history of certain organic impressions which are found occurring in the flinty nodules of the chalk strata, and of which the real origin had previously escaped detection. Mr. Parkinson, is I believe, the first naturalist who has noticed similar specimens; the following description of them is given in the second vol. of his valuable work on organic remains, and it is not possible to convey a more accurate idea of their external characters. "Small round compressed bodies not exceeding the eighth of an inch in their longest diameters, and horizontally disposed, are connected by processes nearly of the fineness of a hair which pass from different parts of each of these bodies, and are attached to the surrounding ones; the whole of these bodies being thus held in connection." Page 75, 76. Mr. Parkinson proceeds to conjecture "that the formation of these bodies has been the work of some animal of a nature similar to the polypes by which the known Zoophytes are formed." He therefore classes them among fossil corals of unknown genera, acknowledging at the same time that the circumstances which induced him thus to arrange them were very slight, and that they differed essentially from every zoophyte, recent or fossil, with which he was acquainted. The impressions in question are generally found in a state of such indifferent preservation, and afford such insufficient data on which any


The standard scattering theory (SST) in non relativistic quantum mechanics (QM) is analyzed. Self-contradictions of SST are deconstructed. A direct way to calculate scattering probability without introduction of a finite volume is discussed. Substantiation of SST in textbooks with the help of wave packets is shown to be incomplete. A complete theory of wave packets scattering on a fixed center is presented, and its similarity to the plane wave scattering is demonstrated. The neutron scattering on a monatomic gas is investigated, and several problems are pointed out. A catastrophic ambiguity of the cross section is revealed, and a way to resolve this ambiguity is discussed.


ABSTRACT Recent years have seen renewed interest in personal tutoring in the UK higher education sector, and many higher education institutions (HEIs) are reconsidering and enhancing their personal tutoring provision. There is limited research into the principles and models of personal tutoring in the UK context and no studies which identify how those operating in a personal tutor role view the best practice recommendations based on their own experience. This paper examines best practice identified in the student success, personal tutoring, and academic advising literature. Personal tutors in UK HEIs were surveyed to determine whether their perceptions of effective tutoring accord with these practices. Significant findings are that all students must have a tutor with whom they meet individually. Tutors must support students in their personal, professional, and academic development and help them to transition into effective study in higher education. The importance of tutor training was also highlighted. The results of this survey are discussed in the light of the recommendations identified in the research literature, the needs of students, and the recommendations of the National Union of Students (NUS) as embodied in the NUS Charter. A set of common principles is offered as the basis of personal tutoring systems in contemporary UK HEIs. These principles seek to define an approach to personal tutoring which effectively supports students and prioritises their personal growth, persistence, and success.


The demands on asphalt pavements, as a result of the growth in traffic volumes, traffic loads and tyre contact pressures, has resulted in an increased interest in the use of modified bitumens, particularly over the last ten years. Of the various types of modified and specialised binders that are available worldwide, polymer modified bitumens (PMB's) have tended to be the most popular. Polymer modification significantly alters the rheological characteristics of the binder, thereby requiring the use of fundamental rheological testing methods rather than empirical methods, to provide an indication of the performance of the binder and subsequently the asphalt mixture.

This thesis is concerned with the use of a Dynamic Shear Rheometer (DSR) to quantify the fundamental rheological characteristics of various unaged and aged PMB's. The parallel plate testing methodology used with the Bohlin Model DSR50 Dynamic Shear Rheometer requires accurate temperature control by means of a circulating fluid bath, a combination of different plate diameters and sample geometries, and the use of small strains in order to measure the linear viscoelastic rheological characteristics of a bitumen specimen.

Conventional and dynamic shear rheometry testing of various penetration grade bitumens, semi-crystalline ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) PMB's and thermoplastic rubber styrene butadiene styrene (SBS) PMB's have indicated that the rheological characteristics differ considerably between the unmodified and polymer modified bitumens as well as between the plastomeric EVA and elastomeric SBS PMB's. The DSR dynamic rheological parameters of complex modulus and phase angle indicate that the modification mechanism of EVA PMB's consists of the crystallisation of rigid three dimensional networks within the bitumen. These rigid crystalline structures increase the stiffness and elastic component of the viscoelastic balance of the PMB up to the temperature associated with the melting of the copolymer. The modification mechanism of SBS PMB's consists of the establishment of a highly elastic network within the bitumen that increases the elasticity and stiffness, particularly at high temperatures. The higher melting temperature of the SBS copolymer allows the rheological character of the SBS PMB to extend to temperatures greater than those found for EVA PMB's.

DSR measurements of the rheological changes associated with laboratory ageing of EVA PMB's indicate that the ageing mechanism is linked to a chemical change of the copolymer due to fusion of the crystallites. This chemical change leads to a degradation of the polymer and, therefore, a transition of the rheological behaviour towards that of an unmodified bitumen.

The rheological changes associated with the ageing of SBS PMB's is linked to a breakdown of the molecular structure of the SBS copolymer to form a lower molecular weight polymer substructure. This results in an increased viscous behaviour after ageing compared to the increased elastic behaviour found for unmodified bitumens.


This report provides a brief overview of the area of personalised and precision medicine since the turn of the millennium, highlighting key areas of development in publication activity. It has been produced in celebration of the Russian-German Science Dialogue and in combination with Merck's 120th Anniversary in Russia. As a result, we pay particular attention to these countries.


It has been suggested that amphiphilic amino acids play an important role in the adsorption of proteins on nanostructured surfaces with an ordered, striped domain structure such as those presented by monolayer-protected metal nanoparticles (MPMNs). We have proposed and now further explore this hypothesis by studying the adsorption behaviour of proteins on MPMN surfaces by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Our atomistic MD simulations of lysozyme (Lyz) on nanostructured surfaces, including single component surfaces and several theoretical nanopatterns of different spacing, presented here confirm the special role of amino acids containing sidechain amines in facilitating direct protein adsorption to MPMN surfaces. While we have previously demonstrated that an amphiphilic amino acid lysine is responsible for selective adsorption behaviour of Cyt C on nanostructured surfaces, in the case of Lyz it is the amphipathic character of arginine that enables the protein to form close contacts with both polar and non-polar surface ligands simultaneously. This renders it especially important for interactions with surfaces composed of adjacent nano-scale chemical domains. Arg is also capable of forming close contacts with homogeneous hydrophobic and hydrophilic ligand surfaces. We have also found that other amphiphilic amino acids, such as tyrosine and tryptophan, interact with surfaces via water-mediated contacts. Bridging water molecules adopt orientations which differ from those of simple surface-adsorbed waters, with the specificity of their orientations facilitating the protein-surface contacts. Our findings suggest that not only nanopatterned surfaces can be designed to selectively interact with different proteins but proteins may be engineered to specifically interact with nanomaterials by targeted incorporation of synthetic amino acids which can mimic natural amphiphilic amino acids possessing multiple affinities to different chemical motifs.


Each kind of oil has different characteristics and physico-chemical properties. Therefore, cooling method applied during dry fractionation of oil must be specifically designed. Fractionation condition of coconut oil commonly uses the fractionation data of palm oil, soybean oil, butter milk, and other commercial oil. Therefore, a more suitable cooling method for coconut oil needs to be investigated. The study showed that there were three distinct cooling phases critical to crystallization process, i.e. initial cooling, critical cooling and crystallization phase. The initial cooling phase is a process of lowering the rejuvenated oil temperature to the temperature for the onset of oil crystallization.  For coconut oil, the onset of crystallization temperature was found at 29°C. The critical cooling phase is cooling from 29°C to the crystallization temperature. Crystallization phase is a phase to maintain the oil temperature constant at a predetermined crystallization temperature. In the  initial cooling phase, melted coconut oil might be cooled quickly to save time but in the critical cooling phase, it should be done with a cooling rate of less than 0.176°C/min to produce a physically stable crystal. This study has successfully formulated a typical dry fractionation for coconut oil at pilot plant scale (120 kg) and resulted in an effective cooling procedure to produce oil fractions with physico-chemical properties as expected. The conditions and essential requirements that must be managed and maintained in a dry fractionation stage of coconut oil had been identified and were known. Hence, the fractionation process for specific purposes can be designed in a more practical way.


Aim/Purpose Based on the social exchange theory, this study aimed to explore the underlying mechanisms and boundary conditions between organizational socialization and knowledge sharing. Background With the advent of the era of the knowledge economy, knowledge has been replacing traditional resources such as capital, labor, and land to become the critical resources of enterprises. The competitiveness of an organization depends much on the effectiveness of its knowledge management; the success of its knowledge management largely relies upon employees' motivation and willingness to engage in knowledge sharing. Methodology This study is a longitudinal analysis of data collected from 281 newcomers in Chinese enterprises at two-time points with a one-month interval. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was conducted to test hypotheses by calculating standardized path coefficients and their significance levels. Contribution The study examined models linking organizational socialization and knowledge sharing that included organizational links and sacrifice as mediators and trust as a moderator. Organizational socialization and knowledge sharing 2 Findings Results show that the influences of organizational socialization on knowledge sharing change regularly over time. In the role management stage, coworker support and prospects for the future impact the practices of knowledge sharing through links and sacrifice. Moreover, the findings show that trust moderates the effect of links and sacrifice on employees' knowledge sharing. Recommendations for Practitioners This study can help enterprises develop targeted human resource management strategies, improve the degree of job embeddedness within the organization, and thus encourage more knowledge sharing among employees. Recommendations for Researchers First, researchers could pay attention to more underlying mechanisms and boundary conditions in the relationship between organizational socialization and knowledge sharing. Second, focusing on specific cultural context and dimension of concepts may provide a new insight for the future study and help add greater theoretical precision to knowledge sharing. Impact on Society First, this study suggests that coworker support and prospects for the future improve knowledge sharing within the organization. Second, understanding how job embeddedness (organizational links and organizational sacrifice) acts as a mediator enhancing knowledge sharing, managers should consider raising their attachment relationship to organizations from two aspects: links and sacrifice. Third, knowledge sharing takes place in a team-oriented context, where the success of the team requires highquality relationships among individual team members within the team as a whole. Future Research Researchers in the future should employ experimental research design or utilize longitudinal data to ensure that the findings reveal causation. In addition, future research can investigate how the initial level and later changes of organizational socialization are associated with knowledge sharing beyond the observational scope of traditional cross-sectional and lagged research designs.


We provide empirical evidence on the relevance of systemic risk through the interbank lending channel. We adapt a spatial probit model that allows for correlated error terms in the cross-sectional variation that depend on the measured network connections of the banks. The latter are in our application observed interbank exposures among German bank holding companies during 2001 and 2006. The results clearly indicate significant spillover effects between banks' probabilities of distress and the financial profiles of connected peers. Better capitalized and managed connections reduce the banks own risk. Higher network centrality reduces the probability of distress, supporting the notion that more complete networks tend to be more stable. Finally, spatial autocorrelation is significant and negative. This last result may indicate too-many-to-fail mechanics such that bank distress is less likely if many peers already experienced distress.


PURPOSE
This double-blind, randomized, phase III clinical trial evaluated time to progression (TTP) and overall survival in women with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) who received sialyl-TN (STn) keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) vaccine. Secondary endpoints included vaccine safety and immune response.

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
The study population consisted of 1,028 women with MBC across 126 centers who had previously received chemotherapy and had had either a complete or a partial response or no disease progression. All women received one-time i.v. cyclophosphamide (300 mg/m(2)) 3 days before s.c. injection of 100 μg STn-KLH plus adjuvant (treatment group) or 100 μg KLH plus adjuvant (control group) at weeks 0, 2, 5, and 9. Subsequently, STn-KLH without adjuvant or KLH without adjuvant was then administered monthly for 4 months, and then quarterly until disease progression, without cyclophosphamide.

RESULTS
STn-KLH vaccine was well tolerated; patients had mild to moderate injection-site reactions and reversible flu-like symptoms. Week-12 antibody testing revealed high specific IgG titers and a high rate of IgM-to-IgG seroconversion; the median IgG titers in STn-KLH recipients were 320 (anti-ovine submaxillary mucin) and 20,480 (anti-STn), with no detectable antimucin antibodies in the control group. The TTP was 3.4 months in the treatment group and 3.0 months in the control group. The median survival times were 23.1 months and 22.3 months, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
Although STn-KLH was well tolerated in this largest to date metastatic breast cancer vaccine trial, no overall benefit in TTP or survival was observed. Lessons were learned for future vaccine study designs.


New geoarchaeological and bioarcheological research was undertaken at the open‐air site of Mira, which is buried in deposits of the Second Terrace of the Dnepr River, roughly 15 km downstream from the city of Zaporozhye in Ukraine. Previous excavation of the site revealed two occupation layers dating to ∼32,000 cal BP. The lower layer (II/2) yielded bladelets similar to those of the early Gravettian, while the upper layer (I) contained traces of an artificial shelter and hundreds of bones and teeth of horse (Equus latipes). Mira represents the only firmly dated early Upper Paleolithic (EUP) site in the Dnepr Basin, and occupies a unique topographic setting for the EUP near the center of the broad floodplain of the Dnepr River. The site was visited during a period of floodplain stability, characterized by overbank deposition and weak soil formation under cool climate conditions. Mira was used as a long‐term camp, but also was the locus of large‐mammal carcass processing associated with a nearby kill of a group of horses (Layer I).


When anti-epileptic drugs fail, and epilepsy surgery is found unfeasible or ineffective, there remains a group of at least 25% of children with epilepsy in whom seizure control cannot be achieved. Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is an adjunctive treatment for medically refractory epilepsy. It is an implantable, multi-programmable pulse generator that delivers current electrical stimulation to the vagus nerve for the purpose of suppressing and reducing the frequency and/or severity of epileptic seizures. Ketogenic diet (KD) is a high fat, low carbohydrate and low protein diet that has been used for childhood therapy resistant epilepsy since the1920s. It was developed to mimic the ketotic state of starvation.

The general aim of this thesis was to evaluate effects of VNS on epileptiform activity, deltapower and sleep characteristics and to correlate these to clinical aspects on behaviour, mood and QOL in children with therapy resistant epilepsy. Initially, and after three and nine months of VNS-treatment, 15 children were investigated. Sleep characteristics and clinical correlations were also evaluated after 3 and 12 months in 18 children with KD. A diary of seizure frequency and the National Hospital Seizure Severity Scale (NHS3) were collected.

In the first study (paper I) cognitive functioning was recorded, a Visual Analogue Scale for validating QOL, Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) for quantifying behaviour problems, Dodrill Mood Analogue Scale and Birleson Depression Self-Rating Scale were used. Six of fifteen children showed a 50% or more reduction in seizure frequency; one of these became seizure-free. Two children had a 25-50% seizure reduction. Two children showed increased seizure frequency. In 13 of 15 children there was an improvement in NHS3. The parents reported shorter duration of seizure and recovery phase. There were no changes in cognitive functioning. Twelve children showed an improvement in QOL. Eleven of these also improved in seizure severity and mood and 5 also in depressive parameters.

In the second study (paper II) 24 hours ambulatory EEG monitoring for spike detection were used. This study shows that VNS reduces interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs), especially in rapid eye movements (REM) and slow wave sleep, and the number of electrographic seizures. It also shows a concordance between reduction in IEDs and electrographic seizures. There was no correlation between the extent of improvement in clinical data and the degree of spike reduction.

In the third and forth study (paper III and IV) children with VNS and KD were examined with ambulatory polysomnographic recordings. Sleep parameters, and in VNS, movement times (MTs), used to account for arousals were estimated. Our findings indicate that VNS counteracts known adverse effects of epilepsy on sleep and increases slow wave sleep. This possibly contributes to the reported improvement in wellbeing. We also see an increase in MTs. This arousal effect seems to be of minor importance for QOL and could possibly be related to the antiepileptic mechanisms in VNS. KD decreases night sleep and improves sleep quality. The improvement in sleep quality, with increased REM sleep, seems to contribute to the improvement in QOL.

In the fifth study (paper V) the 24 hours ambulatory EEG monitoring were used to study immediate effects of VNS stimulation on epileptiform activity, arousals and background frequency in EEG. The findings lend no support to earlier studies suggesting immediate VNS stimulation related changes in IEDs och IEIs. There were no VNS stimulation related changes in background EEG frequency despite the significant increase in the number of MTs immediately related to the VNS stimulation periods.


The Healthy People 2010 guidelines identify substance abuse as a major public health problem in need of effective interventions for diverse populations including racial and ethnic minorities (United States Department of Health and Human Services [USDHHS], 2000). However, the literature with regard to substance abuse in the African American community is rather scant (Bass & Kane-Williams, 1993; Dent, Sussman, Ellickson, Brown, & Richardson, 1996). Further compounding this problem is the way that African Americans are classified in our country, which does not adequately capture the diversity within this group (Sellers, Smith, Shelton, Rowley, & Chavous, 1998). At least four different groups with differing sets of needs, cultures, socio-economic status, self concept, and substance abuse patterns are imbibed in this single categorization. The first subgroup consists of the blacks that have been living in the country for three or four generations or longer. The second subgroup is comprised of individuals that have migrated from the Caribbean countries. The third subgroup is made up of individuals who are first generation immigrants from Africa, which too has a lot of diversity. The final subgroup consists of multiracial individuals, many of whom are often misclassified as African Americans. Most of the studies done on blacks have involved a comparison of American and immigrant blacks and have failed to focus on all possible groups of immigrant blacks (Dodoo, 1997). Dodoo (1997) also examines that even though there has been some focus on Caribbean blacks, other blacks--most importantly the Africans--are conspicuously missing from the literature. Hence, the first need in substance abuse literature is to correctly identify the subgroups inherent in the term "African American." During the past decade, some concern has been raised regarding the adverse outcomes experienced by some African American youth due to substance use and abuse. Although African American youth consume fewer drugs than white youth, they are more likely to experience social problems as a result of their use (Scheier & Botvin, 1998). Research into modifiable constructs that can prevent this from happening needs to be undertaken. In exploring the role of personal and racial identity on drug attitudes among African American males, Townsend and Belgrave (2000) found that earlier research suggested that alcohol and drug initiation began early in this ethnic group. More research is needed in comprehending factors for alcohol and drug initiation that are unique to this racial group. In studies exploring the ethnic disparities in the unmet needs for alcoholism, drug abuse and mental health care a greater unmet need for alcoholism and drug abuse treatment and mental health care among African American and Hispanics relative to whites has been well documented (Wells, Klap, Koike, & Sherbourne, 2001). It is noteworthy that whites are more likely than African Americans or Hispanics to use alcohol, smoke or consume illicit drugs (USDHHS, 2000). Treatment gap for illicit drug use and treatment gap for problem alcohol use are the twin objectives of Healthy People 2010 that relate directly to this significant concern for ethnic disparities and their unmet needs and aim to reduce the same. Presently, a major limitation of the prevention literature has been the paucity of research that examines the extent to which substance use risk factors identified in studies of white adolescents generalize to African American youth. To circumvent this absence of information on the racial differences in risk factor exposure and vulnerability, current preventive interventions are based on two main assumptions that 1) the risk factors for African American and white adolescents' substance use are identical; and 2) that African American and white adolescents are equally exposed and equally vulnerable to these risk factors. It has been reported that African Americans differ significantly in their exposure to more than half of the 55 risk factors examined. …


Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.3 is a redesign of the Web's most important security protocol. It was standardized in August 2018 after a four year-long, unprecedented design process involving many cryptographers and industry stakeholders. We use the rare opportunity to track deployment, uptake, and use of a new mission-critical security protocol from the early design phase until well over a year after standardization. For a profound view, we combine and analyze data from active domain scans, passive monitoring of large networks, and a crowd-sourcing effort on Android devices. In contrast to TLS 1.2, where adoption took more than five years and was prompted by severe attacks on previous versions, TLS 1.3 is deployed surprisingly speedily and without security concerns calling for it. Just 15 months after standardization, it is used in about 20% of connections we observe. Deployment on popular domains is at 30% and at about 10% across the com/net/org top-level domains (TLDs). We show that the development and fast deployment of TLS 1.3 is best understood as a story of experimentation and centralization. Very few giant, global actors drive the development. We show that Cloudflare alone brings deployment to sizable numbers and describe how actors like Facebook and Google use their control over both client and server endpoints to experiment with the protocol and ultimately deploy it at scale. This story cannot be captured by a single dataset alone, highlighting the need for multi-perspective studies on Internet evolution.


Stroke is a clinical syndrome characterized by focal neurologic deficits. It is
classified as one of the most important causes of impairment. Stroke has a critically impairing effect
on the life quality of patients. Considering the importance of the problem and its treatment, we aimed
to study the effects of sertraline on reducing the disabilities in stroke.
Materials & Methods: This double blind control trial study was conducted on 67 patients (completers:
N=67, Mean age 65.27±6.17) who were selected randomly and were assigned to receive 9 months of
treatment with either sertraline or placebo.
Results: The intervention group consisted of 40 patients from which three (7.5%) patients failed to be
followed up because of the depression. The control group consisted of 40 patients and 11 (27.5%)
were excluded during the study because of depression. There was a significant difference between the
two groups regarding their sleep, social isolation, physical ability, emotional reaction and energy level,
but the difference was not significant in pain scale.
Conclusion: Sertraline could positively affect stroke patients in preventing several scales of quality of
life, health profile and depression.


It is widely accepted that English is the current lingua franca, especially in the scientific community. With approximately 527 million native speakers globally, English ranks as the third most-spoken language (after Chinese and Hindu-Urdu), but there are also an estimated 1.5 billion English-language learners in the world.The preeminence of English reflects the political power of the English-speaking world, carrying privileges for those who can speak, write, and read in English, and disadvantages to those who cannot. This is also the case in scholarly communication. Linguist Nicholas Subtirelu identifies three privileges for native English speakers: 1) easier access to social, political, and educational institutions; 2) access to additional forms of capital; and 3) avoiding negative opinions of one's speech.For example, we were both born into families that speak American English at home, we were surrounded by English books and media growing up, and our entire education was in English. Even defining who counts as a "native" speaker can be refracted through other social identities. As college-educated white Americans, our English is never questioned, but the same is not true for many equally fluent people around the world.


An injurer undertakes precautions to reduce both the probability and the severity of an accident. The damages that the victim suffers are privately observed, and will be verified at a cost if the case is litigated. While finely tuned damage awards induce the injurer to take appropriate precautions ex ante, they increase the probability that the litigants will disagree about the case, and thereby aggravate the settlement process. Flat damage awards reduce the level of costly litigation, but lead to underinvestment in precautions. We show that when the litigation costs are small the optimal award is finely tuned to the actual damages, and when litigation costs are large the optimal award is a flat penalty. Applications to scheduled damages and workers' compensation are discussed.


Thin films of fullerene C60 and molybdenum oxide (MoO3) are ubiquitously used as the electron acceptor material and hole extraction interfacial layer for the fabrication of organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells. It is well known that light exposure induces color changes in MoO3 (photochromism) and the formation of intermolecular bonds between C60 molecules (photopolymerization). The influence of these photoinduced reactions on the long‐term stability of OPV cells, however, has not previously been studied in detail. Here, a study and discussion of the early (<5 days) aging mechanisms occurring in illuminated ITO/MoO3/organic cyanine dye/C60/Alq3/Ag bilayer solar cells under nitrogen atmosphere is presented. A degradation process at the organic heterojunction is identified and the formation of Mo5+ species during illumination is found to adversely affect cell behavior. For these widely used materials, the results suggest that light processing is a first necessary step before OPV characteristics can be meaningfully rated.


Four classes of unsaturated copolyesters of L-lactide were prepared either from isosorbide or bis(hydroxymethyl)tricyclodecane in combination with fumaric acid or from 1,4-butenediol or 1,4-butynediol with terephthalic acid. All syntheses were performed in such a way that lactide was oligomerized with a diol as the initiator and the resulting oligomers were polycondensed with a dicarboxylic acid dichloride either in a one-pot synthesis or in a two-step procedure. For most copolyesters the SEC measurements gave weight average molecular weights in the range of 30–60 kg mol−1 and dispersities in the range of 4.2–6.2. The MALDI-TOF mass spectra displayed a high content of cycles and indicated an irreversible kinetic course of all polycondensations. Glass-transition temperatures (Tg) above 90 °C were only found for two copolyesters of isosorbide. Addition of bromine to copolyesters of 1,4-butenediol yielded flame retarding biodegradable polymers.


PURPOSE
Human uveal melanoma cells have been shown to produce plasminogen activator (PA), an enzyme which can enhance tumor metastasis by promoting degradation of extracellular matrix. This study used cultured human uveal melanoma cells to determine whether the PA production of uveal melanoma cells could be modulated by transforming growth factor-beta2 (TGF-beta2), a mitogen present in the uvea.

METHODS
Five different cell lines of human uveal melanoma of differing cellular morphology (2 spindle, 2 epithelioid, 1 mixed) derived from tumors from different locations in the eye (3 choroidal, 1 ciliochoroidal, 1 orbital) were grown in serum-free media, in the presence or absence of TGF-beta2 (1ng/ml to 100ng/ml). After 24 hrs, the conditioned media were collected and quantitated for PA activity by measuring the radial diffusion in fibrin-agarose clot and for total PA concentration using an enzyme-linked immunoassay.

RESULTS
Among the cell lines studied, all produced PA. Cell lines derived from intraocular tumors secreted tissue-type PA (tPA), and TGF-beta2 stimulated tPA activity and secretion of cell lines containing epithelioid cells but had no effect on spindle cells. In contrast, tumor cells isolated from an orbital tumor secreted urokinase (uPA), activity and secretion of which was inhibited by TGF-beta2.

CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that cultured human uveal melanoma cells produce either tPA or uPA, and TGF-beta2 can have a variable effect on PA production of these cells.


Organo-metal halide perovskites are composed of an ABX3 structure in which A represents a cation, B a divalent metal cation and X a halide. The organo-metal perovskite shows very good potential to be used as a light harvester in solar cells due to its direct band gap, large absorption coefficient, high carrier mobility and good stability. However, there is an important question in the photovoltaic field regarding the most advantageous architecture for perovskite based solar cells. Several studies showed sensitized perovskite solar cells achieving high performance, while high efficiency was also observed with the planar architecture. Consequently, it is still an open question regarding which operation mechanism and which architecture offers better results. This review describes both architectures, based on studies in the field. In the case of the sensitized structure, there are more difficulties in pore filling, naturally more recombination, and the possibility to use thicker metal oxide films. In the planar structure, thin metal oxide films are used, less recombination was observed and there are no infiltration problems. Both architectures exhibit long-range diffusion length and meet the demand for excellent coverage of the perovskite film.


Initially cold and spherically symmetric self-gravitating systems may give rise to a virial equilibrium state which is far from spherically symmetric, and typically triaxial. We focus here on how the degree of symmetry breaking in the final state depends on the initial density profile. We note that the most asymmetric structures result when, during the collapse phase, there is a strong injection of energy preferentially into the particles which are localized initially in the outer shells. These particles are still collapsing when the others, initially located in the inner part, are already re-expanding; the motion of particles in a time varying potential allow them to gain kinetic energy --- in some cases enough to be ejected from the system. We show that this mechanism of energy gain amplifies the initial small deviations from perfect spherical symmetry due to finite $N$ fluctuations. This amplification is more efficient when the initial density profile depends on radius, because particles have a greater spread of fall times compared to a uniform density profile, for which very close to symmetric final states are obtained}. These effects lead to a distinctive correlation of the orientation of the final structure with the distribution of ejected mass, and also with the initial (very small) angular fluctuations.


This article explores the policy responses and conceptual underpinnings of intercultural education in Greece. In the past two decades, and as a result of migration, Greece has seen its demography significantly and irreversibly altered in social, cultural, economic, ethnic, racial, and religious terms. Faced with an increasingly diverse student population, novel education policies are required. This article addresses the following questions: How has intercultural education been designed in Greece in response to growing immigration? What are the main objectives of Greek educational policy as regards contemporary Greek society overall and the immigrant population in particular? Are these changing, and if so in what direction? Is intercultural education perceived differently on the part of the various stakeholders? Based on our empirical research we highlight the connection between education policy approaches, practices and national identity discourses in order to explore the conceptual confusion of intercultural vs multicultural education approaches and the importance of the national context. We also raise a number of issues that we consider merit further examination both in policy and research terms in order to expand and enrich intercultural education in Greece


Calendering of coated paper leads to a brightness decrease. The mechanism for this is not clear, although it has been discussed in the past. One common explanation is that the porosity of the coating layer decreases and hence scattering. By comparing simulated and measured results this paper shows that modifications of the surface properties account for the brightness decrease of GCC coated substrates with calendering. The effect of a deformable cartonboard substrate is investigated here and compared to a less deformable plastic film substrate. From simulations based on a two-layer Kubelka-Munk model, it is shown that the brightness decrease of the cartonboard due to calendering has a negligible contribution to the brightness decrease of the coated cartonboard. The brightness decrease was similar for coated plastic film and coated cartonboard. The thickness of GCC coated plastic films was not affected by calendering irrespectively of the pigment and latex size distribution. Monte Carlo light scattering simulations, taking into account the measured decrease of surface microroughness and increased effective refractive index, showed that surface modifications accounted for most of the observed brightness decrease of the GCC coated substrate, whereas the bulk scattering and absorption coefficients were not affected by calendering. It is also shown that the scattering coefficient is significantly dependent on the coat weight whereas the physical absorption coefficient is not.


NGC3718 is a LINER $L1.9$ galaxy, lying at a distance of about $\sim 17.4$ Mpc away from earth and its similarities with NGC5128 often award it the name "northern Centaurus A". We use high angular resolution ($\sim100$ mas) e-Merlin radio and SUBARU NIR ($\sim170$ mas) data, to take a detailed view of the processes taking place in its central region. In order to preserve some objectivity in our interpretation, we combine our results with literature values and findings from previous studies. Our NIR maps suggest, on one hand, that towards the stellar bulge there are no large scale absorption phenomena caused by the apparent dust lane and, on the other, that there is a significant (local) contribution from hot ($\sim1000$ K) dust to the nuclear NIR emission. The position where this takes place appears to be closer to the offset compact radio emission from our e-Merlin $6$ cm map, lying offset by $\sim4.25$ pc from the center of the underlying stellar bulge. The shape of the radio map suggests the presence of one (or possibly two, forming an X-shape) bipolar structure(s) $\sim1$ ($\sim0.6$) arcsec across, which combined with the balance between the gas and the stellar velocity dispersions and the presence of hard X-ray emission, point towards effects expected by AGN feedback. We also argue that NGC3718 has a "core" in its surface brightness profile, despite the fact that it is a gas-rich galaxy and we discuss its mixed photometric and spectroscopic characteristics. The latter combined with the observed spatial and radio offsets, the relative redshift between the broad and the narrow $H{\mathrm{\alpha}}$ line, the limited star formation activity and AGN feedback, strongly imply the existence of an SMBH recoil. Finally, we discuss a possible interpretation, that could naturally incorporate all these findings into one physically consistent picture.


Abstract We examine how normative constructions of 'the creative city' have entered into Australian planning discourses. Although welcoming a place-based approach, critical consideration is given to how the misappropriation of 'place making' in creative city revitalisation plans may enhance rather than address processes of social marginalisation. A Foucauldian framework is employed, exploring the notion of the social production of power through discourse. We draw on a case study of Wentworth Street, a key urban space in Port Kembla, the industrialised district of Wollongong, New South Wales. The study focuses on various ideas of a common place-making theme of the 'urban village' evoked by planners, the media and a targeted local resident group (here elderly Macedonians) for a street positioned in 'crisis' because of declining infrastructure, services and its association with crime, drugs and prostitution. The case study demonstrates that marginalisation and exclusions are products of creative city strategies and wider, more oppressive urban discourses. But we also demonstrate that despite becoming normative in the texts of planning policies, discourses of place and identity always remain multiple, negotiated, and contradictory.


Na metal is considered as one of the most promising anode materials for Na batteries due to its low cost, high theoretical specific capacity and low electrochemical potential. However, Na metal anode has poor reversibility and thereare safety issues of dendritic growth of Na, which hinder its further application. In this study, we demonstrate that carbon fibre paper (CFP), as the 3D current collector, suppresses the growth of dendrite and improves the coulombic efficiency and the voltage hysteresis during long-term cycling due to the good Na affinity with carbon and the 3D conductive scaffold structure. Moreover, full battery is assembled with a Prussian blue cathode and CFP@Na anode. The superior performance of CFP@Na makes it a promising candidate for practical applications.


Ethnographic and ethnographically inspired approaches are becoming increasingly popular in studies of digital media and digital culture, and are being used by scholars from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds, as well as in interdisciplinary projects. Nonetheless, specific methodological tensions and dilemmas can arise in the encounter between different research traditions. One area of such tension relates to how texts are approached, and how they are linked to other types of data. This article reports on related methodological questions which arose in interdisciplinary research into how residents of a favela, or shantytown, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil used the internet, and particularly blogs, to represent the area where they lived. Overall the article argues that the interdisciplinary nature of the research provided an opportunity to adapt and develop methodological concepts and approaches from different traditions (including anthropology, internet ethnography, new literacy studies and internet studies) in response to the characteristics of the field site. These were brought together in the idea of 'following the content', which also included the concept of the 'content event', inspired by new literacy studies and employed to connect texts and practices.


The Southern region of the New Hebrides consists of five islands of very different size, clearly separated from and with a cooler climate than the remainder of the archipelago. Only the three largest islands have been studied botanically. These islands are Aneityum and Erromanga, now sparsely populated, where there is still extensive climax vegetation on the deep, infertile soils, and Tanna, with a dense human population, where, except in mountainous regions, there is scarcely anything but secondary vegetation, on generally fertile soils that are periodically rejuvenated by ash showers from a continuously active volcano. The principal vegetation types recognized are: dense Agathis (kauri) - Calophyllum forest; cloud forest, with mosses and ferns, on ridges above 500 m altitude; low forests or thickets with Euphorbiaceae, Hibiscus or Leucaena; open Acacia spirorbis forest; thickets of Myrtaceae and Vaccinium; various associations more or less dominated by grasses. The flora, though relatively rich in the New Hebridean context, appears poor in comparison with that of Fiji, to which it is nevertheless fairly closely related, and even poorer in comparison with that of New Caledonia. Its wider affinities are Malaysian.


Open source and peer production have been praised as organisational models that could change the world for the better. It is commonly asserted that almost any societal activity could benefit from distributed, bottom-up collaboration — by making societal interaction more open, more social, and more democratic. However, we also need to be mindful of the limits of these models. How could they function in environments hostile to openness? Security is a societal domain more prone to secrecy than any other, except perhaps for romantic love. In light of the destructive capacity of contemporary cyber attacks, how has the Internet survived without a comprehensive security infrastructure? Secrecy vs. openness describes the realities of Internet security production through the lenses of open source and peer production theories. The study offers a glimpse into the fascinating communities of technical experts, who played a pivotal role when the chips were down for the Internet after large-scale attacks. After an initial flirtation with openness in the early years, operational Internet security communities have put in place institutional mechanisms that have resulted in less open forms of social production.


In 2008, Sweden changed its labor migration legislation and allowed for labor migrants from non EU/EEA countries to migrate to Sweden, which had heavily been restricted since the 1970s. This shift in labor migration policy is mirrored in Swedish integration policy where the focus in recent years has been on labor market integration. This thesis aims to investigate the sociocultural integration of migrants who are employed and, in the Swedish context, assumed to be integrated. In addition, sociocultural integration is related to employment and length of stay. Sociocultural integration is measured by three indicators: knowledge of Swedish language, having Swedish friends, and membership in organizations. The data was collected through sixteen semistructured interviews of highly educated migrants with employment in Sweden and analyzed using four integration theories. The study reveals that employed migrants are only partially socioculturally integrated. Respondents presented low levels of Swedishlanguage knowledge, which can be explained by their short stay in the country as well having international workplaces where mostly English is spoken. However, these workplaces also offer respondents opportunities to meet natives and most respondents met their Swedish friends through work. There is a need for further studies of integration, in particular those that would explore multiple dimensions of integration and incorporate migrants who are already economically integrated.


Growth hormone deficiency (GHD) is associated with decreased bone mineral density (BMD). Low BMD is correlated to increased fracture risk. There are no studies on fracture risk in GHD patients on GH therapy and no studies on BMD in adults with childhood onset (CO) craniopharyngioma (CP) on GH therapy. We have shown a doubled fracture incidence in CO GHD women and decreased incidence of fractures in adult onset (AO) GHD men. We have also shown decreased BMD in adult women with CO CP on GH therapy, in comparison to matched controls, but not in CO CP men. The cause is not known but insufficient sex steroid and GH replacements, particularly during adolescence, in CO GHD and CP women, and an adequate substitution rate of testosterone and GH in AO GHD and CO CP men are possible explanations. GHD is also associated with increased cardiovascular mortality and morbidity. The impact of long-term GH replacement on cerebral- and cardiovascular diseases and diabetes mellitus (DM) in hypopituitary patients and the prevalence of cardiovascular morbidity and risk factors in adults with childhood onset (CO) craniopharyngioma (CP) are unknown. We have shown that the life-long incidence of non-fatal stroke was tripled in GHD women and doubled in men, but a decline was seen among both genders during the periods where most patients had GH replacement. Life-long incidence of non-fatal cardiac events was similar in the patient and control cohorts, but declined in GHD men during the periods where most patients had GH replacement. GHD women had higher prevalence of type 2 DM and lipid-lowering medication, whereas GHD men had higher prevalence of antihypertensive medication. This cardio-protective medication, together with the GH therapy may have resulted in the decline in non-fatal stroke risk, particularly noted in GHD women, and in significantly lower non-fatal cardiac risk that was seen in GHD men. We have also shown that patients with a CO CP, on GH therapy, had increased cardiovascular morbidity and particularly women were at risk. Of CP women 60% had increased risk for cardiovascular disease. Insulin tolerance test (ITT) is the recommended test for diagnosing GHD. We have shown that GHD patients during an ITT had very low nadir blood glucose levels and few symptoms of hypoglycemia and in 31% unawareness was seen. If the ITT is still going to be recommended, we ask for more uniform recommendations. (Less)


Structural, optical and electrical properties of hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) films, deposited from silane (SiH4) and helium (He) gas mixture without hydrogen by hot wire chemical vapor deposition (HWCVD) method were investigated as a function of helium dilution of silane (RHe). We observed that the deposition rate is much higher (4-33 A/s) compared to conventional plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposited (PE-CVD) nc-Si:Hfilms. Raman spectroscopy revealed that the crystalline volume fraction decreases with increasing He dilution of silane whereas the crystallite size remains almost constant (~ 2 nm) for the entire range of He dilution of silane studied. Furthermore, an increase in the structural disorder in the nc-Si:H films has been observed with increasing He dilution of silane. The hydrogen content was ~ 9 at. %in the filmdeposited at 60%RHe and decreases rapidly as RHe increases further. The photoresponse decreases by order of 1 with increasing heliumdilution of silane from60 to 97 %. It has been concluded that adding helium gas to the silane induces the structural disorders in the hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon (nc- Si:H) thin films prepared byHW-CVDmethod.


Chikungunya is a viral infection caused by chikungunya virus belonging to family Togaviridae, transmitted by Aedes mosquitoe. It presents with acute onset of fever with debilitating arthralgia/ arthritis. A spectrum of muco-cutanous manifestations have been reported in the literature. We report a case of a 35 years old female presented with non-progressive hyperpigmented macules in a segmental pattern over the left side of the neck for the past 1 month. She had a preceding history of chikungunya diagnosed on clinical and serological grounds just 2 weeks prior to the onset of pigmentation. Histopathology showed increased melanin deposition in the basal layer of the epidermis with presence of melanophages in the upper dermis. There was no basal cell vacuolization or inflammatory infiltrates. These findings were consistent with a diagnosis of post chikungunya pigmentation. Patient responded well to treatment of topical 2% hydroquinone. This unique segmental presentation of post chikungunya pigmentation must be kept in mind when a patient presents with an acquired segmental hyperpigmentary disorder of unknown origin.


Differential signaling has become the defacto standard for high speed (>1 Gbps) data transmission. Differential crosstalk in high density connectors, footprints, and packages is typically 1/3 or lower than single-ended crosstalk due to field cancellation. A second reason is that differential signaling reduces radiated emissions and improves immunity. Balance, as characterized by mode conversion, is considered to be the metric for the degree of reduction in radiated field strength in differential systems. In this paper, we will look at measured results showing the reduction in emissions due to differential signaling in shielded cable assemblies.


R UTH WAJNR YB's blend of 'Call My Bluff , a venerable institution on BBC television (in which two teams of three celebrities throw obscure words from the OED at each other) and 'It Pays to Increase Your Word Power, an equally venerable institution of the Reader's Digest (in which multiple-choice responses are given to a number of words considered potent and therefore zvorth knowing). Look at the answers on page 63 as a last resort.


A closed-form solution of the elastic-plastic deformation of a cylinder with uniform temperature inside its cylindrical core and zero surface temperature is presented for a linearly strain hardening material. The analysis is based on Tresca's yield condition and its associated flow rule. The effect of hardening on the expansion of plastic regions and on the distribution of stress is displayed graphically.


This is the first book to detail bioanalytical technologies and methods that have been developed using aptamers in analytical, medical, environmental, and food science applications. After an introduction to aptamers, aptamer targets, and their general uses, it discusses different applications with particular attention to the comparison between aptamer-based biosensors and methods versus the corresponding immunosensors. Examples of aptamer-based diagnostic techniques include whole-cell protein profiling (proteomics) and medical diagnostics for the distinction of diseased versus healthy states. This is a core reference for analytical chemists, electrochemists, pharmaceutical/medicinal chemists, biotechnologists, and others.