Context. Wide-field observations targeting galaxy clusters at low redshift are complementary to field surveys and provide the local benchmark for detailed studies of the most massive haloes in the local Universe. The Wide-field Nearby Galaxy-cluster Survey (WINGS) is a wide-field multi-wavelength survey of X-ray selected clusters at z = 0.04-0.07. The original 34' x 34' WINGS field of view has now been extended to cover a 1 deg(2) field with both photometry and spectroscopy.
Aims. We present the Johnson B- and V-band OmegaCAM at the VST observations of 46 WINGS clusters together with the data reduction, data quality, and Sextractor photometric catalogues.
Methods. The data reduction was carried out with a modified version of the ESO-MVM (also known as ALAMBIC) reduction package, adding a cross-talk correction, the gain harmonisation, and a control procedure for problematic CCDs. The stray-light component was corrected for by employing our own observations of populated stellar fields.
Results. With a median seeing of 1 '' in both bands, our 25-min exposures in each band typically reach the 50% completeness level at V = 23.1 mag. The quality of the astrometric and photometric accuracy has been verified by comparison with the 2MASS and SDSS astrometry, and SDSS and previous WINGS imaging. Star-to-galaxy separation and sky-subtraction procedure were tested comparing them with previous WINGS data.
Conclusions. The Sextractor photometric catalogues are publicly available at the CDS and will be included in the next release of the WINGS database on the Virtual Observatory together with the OmegaCAM reduced images. These data form the basis for a large ongoing spectroscopic campaign with AAOmega at the AAT and are being employed for a variety of studies.


BACKGROUND
The aim of the study was to measure the level of physical activity (PA) of the users of an urban park before and after the installation of 2 fitness zones (FZs) and to assess the impact of that intervention on the users' level of PA.

METHODS
The System for Observing Play and Recreation in Communities method was applied in the urban plaza Liber Seregni in Montevideo (Uruguay): 14 different areas were mapped and then recategorized as fitness (for PAs, including sports), green, and paved zones. Observations were made in the spring (Sep-Oct) of 2011 and 2014, before and after placing 2 FZs. Participation was analyzed by gender, year, mapped areas, and zones, and significant differences were assessed using the χ2 test.

RESULTS
In total, 7342 individuals (4091 men and 3251 women) were observed. A greater number of people with intense PA could be seen in the FZ, with significant differences between 2011 (45%) and 2014 (70%; P < .05).

CONCLUSION
This is the first longitudinal study on the impact of an intervention to increase the level of PA in public spaces in Uruguay. Higher intensity levels of PA and fewer sedentary people were observed after the installation of the FZ.


The U.S. Bureau of Mines has investigated the chemical vapor deposition of diamond films on tungsten substrates. The effects of deposition parameters on the adhesion of the films was determined. The films were produced using a hot filament chemical vapor deposition system. Parameters investigated were substrate temperature and methane concentration in the feed gas. Film quality, morphology, and composition were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy.
Adhesion testing was performed using an indentation technique, and the results were quantified by relating adhesion to interface fracture toughness. Diamond films with well-faceted crystalline morphology with grain size greater than 1 pm had poor adhesion properties regardless of substrate temperature or methane concentration. Diamond films with smooth morphologies consisting of rounded clusters of small (<0.2 pm) diamond crystallites and amorphous carbon phases displayed
much higher adhesion, although the conditions that led to the growth of these films are not understood.


The book's detailed analysis of five strategic sectors (economy, environment, health, information and security) points to an intricate and rapidly evolving interplay of geopolitical, cultural and ecological spaces. It shows that the normative ethos and politico-legal institutions of the modern epoch are gradually being eroded. Despite competing trends and countertrends the authors discern the slow, at times ambiguous, often contentious but unmistakable emergence over the last several decades of a new governance regime, one which is striving for a leap in human reflexivity in response to the challenges of a stressed world that is simultaneously singular and plural.


Serious games are an effective tool for giving players a hands-on, immersive experience of crisis situations. To simplify the design of such games while ensuring their relevance, we propose a design method that is based on reference tasks. The feasibility of this approach is demonstrated by the improved design of the serious game "Disaster in my Backyard" that has been played during ISCRAM Summer school 2013. The design incorporates humanitarian logistics, search-and-rescue and coordination tasks. We also present the lessons learned from this instantiation of the game and give an outlook towards future research, such as the evaluation of tools for crisis response and management through the use of serious games and reference tasks.


The current study examines the impact of hip-hop art and music in the English class to arouse intrinsic interest by improving spoken English vocabulary in learners. The researchers conducted the study with A1 students of two public schools from (Bogotá, Colombia) who showed apathy and lack of motivation towards English class. As a result, their attitude was aggressive and their performance very low. For this, the researchers resorted to hip-hop as pedagogical tool to attract the learners' interests as has happened in countries such as the USA, China and Brazil. However, in Colombia it has been scarcely implemented to motivate teenagers from marginalized communities to study and to keep them safe from drug traffic and gangs. The researchers used hip-hop resources such as graffiti and song lyrics along 12 sessions to expose learners to the language through pedagogical materials, which produced significant changes in students' attitudes going from skeptic to receptive. The researchers analyzed the collected data such as focus groups, surveys, video recordings and artifacts that included presentations and commentaries through the grounded theory method. Results revealed that learners experimented significant transformations in their attitudes, which produced better disposition towards the class to connect contents and young literacies. In conclusion, this study advances in the research about the impact of including cultural features in language learning by framing a new motivational approach based on urban artistic resources that arouse curiosity as well as critical thinking in teenagers.


ABSTRACT This study empirically investigates the potential of auditory displays for spatial data exploration, as an additional means to broaden the accessibility and dissemination of geographic information for a diverse body of users. In a mixed factorial experiment, three parameter mapping sonification methods are empirically evaluated to interactively explore discrete and continuous digital elevation models by auditory means. Contrasting prior sonification research, this study's unique empirical evidence suggests that participants can indeed successfully interpret sonified displays containing continuous spatial data. Specifically, the auditory variable pitch leads to significantly better response accuracy, compared to the sound variable duration. Background and training has a weak effect on data interpretation performance with the auditory display. The more immersive the experienced soundscape, the better participants can interpret the sonified terrain. These encouraging empirical results indeed suggest that interactive auditory displays might offer additional means to disseminate spatial information, and to increase the accessibility to spatial data, beyond the currently dominant visual paradigm.


Research has been conducted by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) to predict the fluvial response to dam drawdown and determine the distribution of recent deposits along three partially impounded Kalamazoo River reaches. Previous environmental degradation during the first half of this century has reduced surface water quality and adversely affected aquatic ecosystems. The MDNR intends to improve water quality, to meet established standards, and to restore the river as a recreational resource. Steps proposed to restore the river include complete dam removal and total drawdown of partially impounded areas. Dam removal has required evaluation of the anticipated stream channel responses, both up and downstream of the dam sites. The predicted response downstream includes channel cross section enlargement and bedload transport, while upstream, vertical incision followed by lateral channel erosion is expected. HECII models have been generated to predict flood stage/discharge relationships following dam removal. Geomorphologic analysis of valley parameters in conjunction with HECII modelling is being used to evaluate the fluvial response through the three reaches of the Kalamazoo River system.


The study aimed to estimate and compare the psychometric properties of the Portuguese versions of two irrational-beliefs selfreport measures: the Irrational Belief Questionnaire (IBQ) and the Irrational Belief Scale (IBS). Eight hundred fourty nine college students completed both instruments besides the Goldbergis General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), used as external criterion of the discriminant validity. Results show that both instruments have good internal consistency and test-retest reliability, but none of them correlated significantly with the GHQ. The IBS principal component analysis points to a singlefactor structure with 16 out of the 20 scaleis items high loading on the same factor in at least one of the groups according to the sex and the general sample. It is suggested that the IBS should be preferred to the IBQ for assessing irrational beliefs


The focus of this study is communicative influence—words of encouragement and persuasion—and its role in young people's proenvironmental engagement. It offers a holistic understanding of adolescents' social context by studying communicative influence from three key socializers at once: parents, friends, and teachers. The study also contributes a longitudinal perspective by investigating behavior change over time in adolescents with different extents of communicative influence. Finally, the validity of the measurement of communicative influence is put to the test. The findings confirm the prominent role of parents in adolescents' proenvironmental engagement, but also reveal that adolescents tend to misinterpret communicative influence from parents in line with their own environmental beliefs. Young people with two or more sources of encouragement are the most environmentally engaged; however, the extent of communicative influence does not increase their probability of being more engaged one year later.


Background: The first five years of life, called the early years is a period of rapid and vital physical, behavioural, emotional and social development. Physical activity (PA) is one of the behaviours which develop during the early years, and high levels of PA during the early years have been shown to be related to multiple health outcomes. The importance of PA of young children (children during the early years) has been highlighted by a number of national governments. In order to better inform future interventions and public health policies, a greater understanding of the correlates and determinants of young children s PA is vital. Previous research has been limited through measurement inconsistencies, and few studies have been conducted within multi-ethnic communities, where many young children in the United Kingdom are born.

Thesis Aims: 1) to systematically review published research in order to establish currently known correlates and determinants of PA in the early years and identify gaps within the literature.

2) Calculate an accelerometer wear-time criteria to reliably measure young children s habitual PA.

3) Investigate the validity and test re-test reliability of a new parental proxy reported PA questionnaire.

4) Investigate the levels and correlates of moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) in toddlers (1-3 year olds) from a predominately bi-ethnic and bi-linguistic population.

Methods: Aim 1) nine electronic databases were searched to identify previous research which investigated associations between an exposure/variable, and a quantitative measure of PA. Correlates/determinants of total PA (TPA), MVPA and light-intensity PA (LPA) were reported using an ecologic model.

Aim 2) to calculate a wear-time criteria for young children a simple stepped process was used whereby statistical tests were run to determine the minimum length of wear for one day, if there were any differences between weekdays and weekend days, and the presence of reactivity. Intra-class correlation models and the Spearman-Brown prophecy formula were used to calculate wear-time reliability.

Aim 3) this study was undertaken by 196 parents completing a proxy report questionnaire on their child s PA and sedentary behaviour after seven days of their young child (mean age 3.2 ,SD: 0.8 years) wearing an accelerometer. A total of 156 (79.6%) questionnaires were completed in English and 40 (20.4%) were completed in transliterated Urdu. Of the 196 parents, 109 parents completed the EY-PAQ a second time seven days apart from the first EY-PAQ completion; this was to assess test re-test reliability of MVPA and sedentary time. Validity analysis used all data and data falling with specific proportion boundaries for MVPA (2%-41%) and sedentary time (30%-94%). Reliability was assessed using intra-class correlations (ICC) and validity by Bland Altman plots and rank correlation coefficients.

Aim 4) this study was undertaken by conducting a cross-sectional analysis using 24 month olds and their mothers data collected as part of the Born in Bradford (BiB) birth cohort sub-sample study called BiB1000. The outcome variable was daily minutes of MVPA measured by the EY-PAQ. Numerous independent variables covering the layers of an ecological model were selected. Univariate linear regression models accounting for sex, age, language and season were conducted to examine the differences between White British and South Asian children s daily minutes of MVPA and each of the EY-PAQ s domains, and the proportion of time spent in MVPA within each of the EY-PAQ s domains. A series of univariate linear regression analyses were performed to examine and identify correlates of MVPA (for the whole sample, and separately for White British and South Asian children). Significant variables found in univariate analyses were then included in hierarchical multivariable regression models (based upon the ecological model), in order to examine the percentage of variance accounted for in daily minutes of MVPA.

Results: Aim 1) The systematic review identified a large volume of published research. All studies took place in high income countries and few studies (6%) were of high quality. A small number of correlates and determinants of TPA were identified. The only correlate of MVPA was sex and no determinants of MVPA or LPA were found. PA correlates/ determinants were relatively consistent between objective and subjective PA measures and few studies investigated correlates of toddlers or between children with White and South Asian ethnicity. Aim 2) No differences in accelerometer-determined time in TPA, MVPA or sedentary time were observed between weekdays and weekend days within this sample of young children. Similarly, there was no evidence of reactivity to accelerometer use. For young children living in Bradford, an accelerometer wear-time of a minimum of six hours on any three days was shown to provide reliable estimates of accelerometer-determined time in TPA, MVPA, and sedentary time. Aim 3) The test re-test reliability of the EY-PAQ was moderate for sedentary time and fair for MVPA. The EY-PAQ had poor agreement with accelerometry with both sedentary time and MVPA before the application of boundaries. Post application of boundaries the EY-PAQ still had poor agreement with accelerometer-determined sedentary time but good agreement for MVPA. Limits of agreement were wide for all variables and language and ethnicity did not confound results. Aim 4) Bradford toddlers were found to be very active and no difference was observed between proxy-reported time spent in MVPA between White British and South Asian children. However, White British toddlers were found to have spent significantly more time in reported MVPA while walking for transport compared to South Asian toddlers; while South Asian toddlers reportedly spent significantly more time of MVPA in the home compared to White British toddlers. Correlate models were only statistically significant when multi-layers of the ecological model were included; and correlates differed for South Asian and White British children.

Conclusions: There is a need for more high-quality studies exploring correlates/determinants across all layers of the ecologic model, and research investigating MVPA correlates/determinants of toddlers and between ethnicities is sparse. The work reported within this thesis has produced a reliable wear-time criterion for use to estimate accelerometer-determined PA and sedentary time in young children living in a bi-ethnic community. This criterion can now be used in future accelerometer studies (validation, observational and intervention) and the stepped-process offers researchers a method to derive sample-specific wear time criteria. The EY-PAQ is a promising habitual population-level measure of young children s MVPA from a bi-ethnic community. In situations when objective methods are not possible for measurement of young children s MVPA, the EY-PAQ may be a suitable alternative. Levels of toddlers MVPA did not differ by ethnicity but the contexts and correlates did. Therefore, future interventions should seek to maintain and maximise high levels of toddlers MVPA and tailor interventions by ethnicity. The research conducted within this thesis will inform the development of surveillance systems, interventions and public health polices to improve young children s PA levels, particularly children living in a bi-ethnic community.


This research study focuses on the development and evaluation of the Learning Space Platform as a resource for the improvement of the pre-service Teachers' Practicum. The Teachers' Practicum is a compulsory course for preservice teachers studying at the University of Cyprus. The course aims at familiarizing pre-service teachers with the class environment, with planning for instruction and with the various roles undertaken by teachers in school settings. The course also involves assessment that is carried out by supervisors aiming to sustain the quality of work. This paper reflects upon describing the processes applied while embedding on line technologies in a university course like Teachers' Practicum. Furthermore, the study discusses the users' reactions as far as these changes are concerned and the benefits derived from using on line technologies. In order to evaluate the usability and functionality of the elearning platform, seventeen pre-service teachers and six practicum supervisors participated in a pilot study using the platform during one semester. The results indicate that the process of embedding on line learning in university courses demands great effort and time from the instructors during the design and implementation of the course but provides more time at later stages. Finally, according to the preservice teachers and practicum supervisors, using the elearning platform for the Teachers' Practicum provided users with enhanced time management and helped them manage the resources in more efficient ways.


Abstract. This study includes geophysical studies carried out in the last section in the close south of Koyulhisar (Sivas) landslide site. Additionally, the study area is in the most active location where landslide's displacement amount is the highest. The landslide site basically has been examined geophysics (SRT, GPR) and geodesic (GNSS) methods. According to the geophysical results, within ~ 20 m of investigation depth, layers with the average seismic P-wave velocities (VP) of 0.30, 1.00 and 2.00 km/s have been identified. It has been understood that the thickness of the first two layers of these layers from top to the bottom is approximately 3 and 6.5 m, and the last layer with Vp > 2.0 km/s is the bedrock. Furthermore, it has been understood that the depth of the sliding surface which is the upper limit of the bedrock varies between ~ 7–10 m, there are loose units on the sliding surface, the type of sliding is planar sliding, and the direction of sliding is S–SE, the tilt of the layer has the same direction with topography, is SE-oriented and mostly bigger than 50. It was understood that the deformations in the landslide mass were occured from the geological unit, the layer or topography slope and precipitation and the landslide activity can continue in the study area. Thus, it has proven that precipitation and deformations within the layer are effective in triggering the landslide by the geodetic (IDH) observations, and it is understood that they were compatible with the geophysical results. Therefore, the study area contains the risk and the natural hazards, and these threatens the settlement area and the buldings and other constructions there.


Gametic asymmetry implies that females invest more per gamete than males do and thus sperm is considered to be a relatively cheap resource. However, contrary to this classic view, sperm has been shown to be frequently in short supply; hence, selection favouring females that mate for fertility benefits should occur. For this reason, we determined whether males signalling fertility are preferred by female newts of the species Triturus alpestris. We performed paired female–male trials using unmated and previously inseminated females to determine potential criteria for female interest in a courting male, to establish what factors lead to successful mating and to assess the importance of female choice for direct and indirect benefits. We found that female interest in any potential mate and mating success decreased once mating had occurred. Furthermore, we detected an increase in spermatophore deposition rate and rapid spermatophore transfer in encounters that resulted in a successful mating. The results obtained indicate that female alpine newts are attracted to males showing signs of relatively high fertility and that females exhibit a decreased propensity to mate once initial sperm reserves have been acquired. Our results support the theory of initial female choice for fertility benefits. © 2007 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2007, 91, 483–491.


The relationship between population growth and economic growth is of great interest both for demographers and for development economists. Considering the case of Mexico, the objective of this study was to analyze the dynamic relationship between population growth and economic growth, through a structural break cointegration analysis for the period 1960-2014. The Gregory-Hansen cointegration test confirmed the existence of a long run equilibrium relationship between population and economic growth in Mexico. Based on the results of this test, we used 1985 as the year in which the structural break occurs in the cointegrating equation and therefore we included a dummy variable for this year in the VECM developed in the paper. In the short run, it was found that economic growth has a negative effect on population growth. In the long run, it was found that population has a positive effect on per capita GDP and that per capita GDP positively affects population. Additionally, a Granger causality test indicated that per capita GDP is Granger-caused by population and population is Granger-caused by per capita GDP, thus revealing the presence of a mutually reinforcing relationship between these two variables. In sum, the results found in this study suggest the existence of a bi-directional causality between population growth and economic growth in Mexico.


Ectopic expression of the mitochondrial F(1)F(0)-ATP synthase on the plasma membrane has been reported to occur in cancer, but whether it exerts a functional role in this setting remains unclear. Here we show that ectopic ATP synthase and the electron transfer chain exist on the plasma membrane in a punctuated distribution of lung adenocarcinoma cells, where it is critical to support cancer cell proliferation. Applying ATP synthase inhibitor citreoviridin induced cell cycle arrest and inhibited proliferation and anchorage-independent growth of lung cancer cells. Analysis of protein expression profiles after citreoviridin treatment suggested this compound induced the unfolded protein response (UPR) associated with phosphorylation the translation initiation factor 2α (eIF2α), triggering cell growth inhibition. Citreoviridin-enhanced eIF2α phosphorylation could be reversed by siRNA-mediated attenuation of the UPR kinase PKR-like endoplasmic reticulum kinase (PERK) combined with treatment with the antioxidant N-acetylcysteine, establishing that reactive oxygen species (ROS) boost UPR after citreoviridin treatment. Thus, a coordinate elevation of UPR and ROS initiates a positive feedback loop that convergently blocks cell proliferation. Our findings define a molecular function for ectopic ATP synthase at the plasma membrane in lung cancer cells and they prompt further study of its inhibition as a potential therapeutic approach.


In light water reactors, components made of nickel-base alloys are susceptible to environmentally assisted cracking. This report summarizes the crack growth rate results and related metallography for field and laboratory-procured Alloy 600 and its weld alloys tested in pressurized water reactor (PWR) environments. The report also presents crack growth rate (CGR) results for a shielded-metal-arc weld of Alloy 182 in a simulated PWR environment as a function of temperature between 290 C and 350 C. These data were used to determine the activation energy for crack growth in Alloy 182 welds. The tests were performed by measuring the changes in the stress corrosion CGR as the temperatures were varied during the test. The difference in electrochemical potential between the specimen and the Ni/NiO line was maintained constant at each temperature by adjusting the hydrogen overpressure on the water supply tank. The CGR data as a function of temperature yielded activation energies of 252 kJ/mol for a double-J weld and 189 kJ/mol for a deep-groove weld. These values are in good agreement with the data reported in the literature. The data reported here and those in the literature suggest that the average activation energy for Alloy 182 welds is on the order of 220-230 kJ/mol, higher than the 130 kJ/mol commonly used for Alloy 600. The consequences of using a larger value of activation energy for SCC CGR data analysis are discussed.


This paper examines shifts in manufacturing related to globalization. The purpose of the paper is to provide design educators with a better understanding of changes taking place in manufacturing, with the aim of generating discussion around educational responses to these changes in the subject area of design. In the first part of the paper, the broad transformations taking place in manufacturing are outlined, with a focus on concurrent engineering and agile manufacturing. Next, the ways these changes are affecting the contemporary organization of product development teams are examined. Then, the implications of these shifts for design education are considered. It is argued that changing trends in manufacturing, and related changes in the organization of product development, highlight the importance of equipping design students with skills for working in globally networked organizations. Finally, we overview an educational response to globalization in the subject area of design.


This thesis is a case study of the exhaustion of the progressive public policy approach to Aboriginal governance. Using poststructuralist and constructivist theory and interpretive ethnographic research methods, it finds that the progressive approach rests on notions of solidary culture, unitary identity and binary difference, and the cause of Aboriginal circumstances to be the oppressive power of the colonial and later Australian state, to which Aborigines have been innocently victim. The logic has been that the acknowledgement of particularity, provision of culturally-appropriate services and support for self-determination would facilitate a recovery of culture and self and thence enhanced capacity to engage in national society.
The thesis recognises the early usefulness of the approach but documents its contemporary exhaustion as Aboriginal political elites find it in their interests to elaborate the same notions and logic and impose on their constituents a restrictive regime of normative Aboriginality. It finds that contemporary Aboriginal Tasmanian and settler-Australian 'cultures' are ambiguously different and that Aborigines are subjectively multiple. Moreover, in their everyday lives they negotiate the small differences that distinguish them from other Australians and thus are able to be both Aborigines and citizens.
Contrarily, progressive Aboriginal governance, in schooling and other spheres, makes this demotic negotiation of dual consciousness more difficult to achieve. For their different governing ends, which inhere in having Aborigines choose either Aboriginality or citizenship, both the administrative state and Aboriginal politics manipulate a notional binary difference between a mythic Aboriginality and normal citizenship. Their interests align to press Aborigines into a certain particularity, apparently unable to grow beyond it without losing it, and making it difficult for them to also be participatory citizens.
This hegemonic discourse has many Aborigines perform a masquerade of the authorised Aboriginality and in that way problematise the capabilities to negotiate the complexities of being both Aboriginal and Australian that they otherwise employ in their everyday lives. This unnecessarily compromises their relationship with settler-Australia, contributing to a sense of alienation and poor educational and health outcomes. The thesis argues that it is the attempt to simplify actual complexity that has led progressivism to become counter-productive in this way. It considers the national implications of these dynamics and argues that a better negotiation of the tensions between cultural particularity and citizenship relies on the acknowledgement by policy-makers of the interculturality, identity ambiguity, causal multi-dimensionality and agency of the objects of policy that are Aboriginal Australians' lived reality.


To the Editor: Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine is one of the most commonly used vaccines for tuberculosis (TB) worldwide (1). The original BCG strain was developed in 1921. Numerous strains have since been developed, and 5 strains, including Danish SSI 1331 (Statens Serum Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark), account for >90% of BCG vaccine used. Each strain has unique characteristics and a different reactogenicity profile (2). The most common severe adverse events related to BCG vaccination are nonsuppurative and suppurative lymphadenitis.

In the country of Georgia, BCG vaccine is administered routinely to infants (estimated coverage 96%); the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health receives its vaccine supply from the United Nations Children's Fund and is responsible for countrywide distribution. Before 2012, Russian BCG-I (Bulbio, Sofia, Bulgaria) and Danish SSI 1331 strains were used (≈50% each). Shortly after a change to exclusive use of the Danish 1331 strain during 2012–2013, an increasing number of BCG-related lymphadenitis cases were reported to the National Center for Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases (NCTLD). We aimed to quantify the increase in cases of BCG lymphadenitis and to evaluate clinical management of the cases. The Institutional Review Boards of Emory University (Atlanta, GA, USA) and the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health approved the study.

Medical chart abstraction was conducted for all infants with BCG lymphadenitis either reported to the NCTLD or found by inquiry of pediatricians at the largest children's hospital in the country during January 2012–July 2013. We used national surveillance data to obtain the number of live-born infants.

BCG vaccine is given intradermally over the deltoid muscle on the left arm to infants within 5 days after birth at the maternity hospital. BCG lymphadenitis was clinically defined as ipsilateral axillary lymph node enlargement developing within 2 years after vaccination. If the patient was brought for care to the NCTLD, a sample was obtained through aspiration for acid-fast bacilli smear; culture; and, if necessary, drug-susceptibility testing (3). Although treatment was at the discretion of clinicians, national TB program treatment guidelines did not include management of BCG-related adverse events.

During 2007–2011, six cases of BCG lymphadenitis were reported to the NCTLD. During the 19-month study period, we found 23 cases of BCG lymphadenitis: 15 reported to the NCTLD and 8 diagnosed at the Tbilisi children's hospital and ascertained by inquiry (Table). In all cases, a 0.05-mL dose of Danish SSI BCG vaccine (series 111003A and 111021A) was used. The 15 infants from the NCTLD were vaccinated at 8 maternity hospitals: 6 in Tbilisi and 2 in outside regions. A total of 14,230 live-born infants were registered at hospitals reporting BCG lymphadenitis in 2012. Based on the following calculation—16 cases/(14,230 live-born infants × 96% vaccination coverage)—the estimated prevalence of BCG-related suppurative lymphadenitis in 2012 was 1.12 cases per 1,000 infants.

Table

Characteristics of 23 infants with BCG lymphadenitis, Georgia, January 2012–July 2013*

Median time from BCG vaccination to onset of lymphadenitis was 5 months (range 1–15 months). No patients had systemic signs or symptoms.

After a change in BCG vaccine strains in Georgia to the exclusive use of BCG SSI vaccine, we found a substantial increase in the known prevalence of BCG-associated lymphadenitis. We found 23 cases of BCG-associated lymphadenitis during a 19-month period, ≈4 times the number of reported cases during the prior 5 years, when multiple vaccine strains were used. The estimated prevalence of suppurative lymphadenitis (1.12 cases/1,000 infants) was higher than the expected rate of <1/1,000 given by the manufacturer (4). Our rate is probably an underestimation, given a mainly passive system of surveillance. Prior studies in various countries have similarly shown increased BCG lymphadenitis with the introduction of the BCG SSI vaccine (5–7).

We found different approaches to treatment of BCG-associated lymphadenitis depending on where care was received. Physicians at the NCTLD prescribed first-line anti-TB medications, including pyrazinamide, whereas patients managed at the children's hospital were treated with either surgical excision or a conservative watch-and-wait approach. Although no official treatment guideline exist for suppurative BCG-associated lymphadenitis, a recent meta-analysis found no benefit to using anti-TB medications (8). Furthermore, Mycobacterium bovis is inherently resistant to pyrazinamide. A randomized controlled trial found needle aspiration to improve rates and speed of healing of suppurative nodes and is the only evidence-based effective treatment (9). Surgical excision remains controversial because of potentially high rates of significant scarring (10). For nonsuppurative lymphadenitis, a watch-and-wait approach is recommended because most resolve rapidly (8).

Given our findings, the National TB Program in Georgia subsequently created a management protocol. This protocol recommends no intervention for nonsuppurative lymphadenitis and needle aspiration for suppurative local lymphadenitis.

In summary, we found an increasing rate of BCG-associated lymphadenitis after a shift to exclusive BCG SSI vaccine use in Georgia. Countries with a BCG vaccination policy should have a clear protocol on management of BCG vaccine–related adverse events to avoid inappropriate treatment in children.


The International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health (ICF) is meant to be a universal language for professionals working with functioning and health in children and adults. So far most applications of ICF have been in the field of health sciences. Is it also applicable to education? This paper aims to present the outcome of a systematic literature review in the fields of education, more specifically education of children with disabilities or special educational needs and the ICF. Devised as a complementary classification of health and functioning by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2001 with a child and youth version (ICF-CY) published in 2007, the ICF appears to be mostly used in the medical field with reviews highlighting its use and applications (Bruyere, Van Looy, & Peterson, 2005). Thus, this literature review intends to situate the current debates in education which relate to the ICF and its concepts, and also to report the extent to which it is being used. The major interest is to explore how the ICF/ICF-CY, are currently situated in the field of education. This study uses a systematic review of the literature using database keyword searches. The


3 Overview The ideal method for migration to OpenVMS on the Intel® Itanium® architecture is to recompile, relink, and requalify. For many users, this strategy has been highly successful. Many applications, each comprised of hundreds of thousands of lines of source code, have been ported virtually overnight. Other organizations face more challenging circumstances. Restricted budgets, operational commitments, dependencies on layered products, staff shortages, the sheer number of applications, and the size of the aggregate source bases make the " all at once " strategy infeasible. OpenVMS provides unique capabilities that allow an organization to assimilate HP Integrity servers in a phased, structured, extremely low-risk approach. This strategy decouples the different phases to the maximum extent possible, permitting the assimilation process to proceed transparently to users, with minimal disruption to operations and minimal business risk. OpenVMS has clustering and image translation capabilities that offer end-user management and technical staff a unique degree of flexibility. In the past, this flexibility has enabled OpenVMS to confound critics by enabling the assimilation of Alpha processors and, more recently, Intel Itanium processors. The same capabilities that enabled the rapid assimilation of radically different hardware architectures by the OpenVMS Engineering organization itself are fully available to independent software vendors and end user


This thesis documents the research I have undertaken as a science specialist in a teacher training institution in higher education. It details the epistemological transformation I have undergone in coming to claim that I have developed an ecological approach to science teacher education.

The thesis contends that the improvement of planetary well-being needs to be premised upon developing a way of thinking which is antithetical to the dominant technical rational form of logic and epistemology adopted by much of the western world. I propose that a particular perception of science, and the forms of knowledge it can generate, has played a role in promoting these epistemologies. The thesis suggests an approach to science teacher education which demonstrates that science is an ecological act is necessary; one which can highlight the importance of understanding the relational, dynamic and provisional nature of knowledge.

I also recognise that the manner in which education is undertaken is as important as what is taught and suggest that the development of mutually respectful educational relationships are necessary for developing ecological epistemologies.

The action research methodology adopted for the study reflects the transformational nature of knowledge generation by charting the two action-reflection cycles undertaken throughout the research process.

Through this research, and consequently by defining an ecological approach to science teacher education, I have been able to articulate and theorise the manner in which I live out my practice. In doing so I suggest that I have provided an explanation of my pedagogy which demonstrates the interrelated nature of values, curriculum, and the way in which I taught.

The thesis provides suggestions for science teacher educators and science teachers that may help in reconceptualising science which may contribute to developing a way of thinking and working that is necessary for improving planetary well-being.


Manual fact-checking does not scale well to serve the needs of the internet. This issue is further compounded in non-English contexts. In this paper, we discuss claim matching as a possible solution to scale fact-checking. We define claim matching as the task of identifying pairs of textual messages containing claims that can be served with one fact-check. We construct a novel dataset of WhatsApp tipline and public group messages alongside fact-checked claims that are first annotated for containing "claim-like statements" and then matched with potentially similar items and annotated for claim matching. Our dataset contains content in high-resource (English, Hindi) and lower-resource (Bengali, Malayalam, Tamil) languages. We train our own embedding model using knowledge distillation and a high-quality "teacher" model in order to address the imbalance in embedding quality between the low- and high-resource languages in our dataset. We provide evaluations on the performance of our solution and compare with baselines and existing state-of-the-art multilingual embedding models, namely LASER and LaBSE. We demonstrate that our performance exceeds LASER and LaBSE in all settings. We release our annotated datasets, codebooks, and trained embedding model to allow for further research.


Grapheme to phoneme modelling is one of the key features in automated speech recognition and speech synthesis. In this paper, the authors compare two different approaches: a statistical machine translation based method using the phonetically transcribed Latvian Speech Recognition Corpus and a rule-based method for phonetic transcription of words from grammatically correct forms. The paper provides 10-fold cross-validation results and error analysis for both methods.


A translation memory (TM) is proved to be helpful to improve neural machine translation (NMT). Existing approaches either pursue the decoding efficiency by merely accessing local information in a TM or encode the global information in a TM yet sacrificing efficiency due to redundancy. We propose an efficient approach to making use of the global information in a TM. The key idea is to pack a redundant TM into a compact graph and perform additional attention mechanisms over the packed graph for integrating the TM representation into the decoding network. We implement the model by extending the state-of-the-art NMT, Transformer. Extensive experiments on three language pairs show that the proposed approach is efficient in terms of running time and space occupation, and particularly it outperforms multiple strong baselines in terms of BLEU scores.


The methanol‐to‐olefin (MTO) process, catalyzed by acidic zeolites such as H‐ZSM‐5, provides an increasingly important alternative to the production of light olefins from crude oil. However, the various mechanistic proposals for methanol‐to‐olefin conversion have been strongly disputed for the past several decades. This work provides theoretical evidence that the experimentally suggested 'alkene cycle', part of a co‐catalytic hydrocarbon pool, offers a viable path to the production of both propene and ethene, in stark contrast to the often‐ proposed direct mechanisms. This specific proposal hinges on repeated methylation reactions of alkenes, starting from propene, which occur easily within the zeolite environment. Subsequent cracking steps regenerate the original propene molecule, while also forming new propene and ethene molecules as primary products. Because the host framework stabilizes intermediate carbenium ions, isomerization and deprotonation reactions are extremely fast. Combined with earlier joint experimental and theoretical work on polymethylbenzenes as active hydrocarbon pool species, it is clear that, in zeolite H‐ZSM‐5, multiple parallel and interlinked routes operate on a competitive basis.


River salinization is a byproduct of water resource development that results from cumulative impacts of flow-regime modifications and crop irrigation. However, historical salinization in the Lower Pecos River is often attributed to natural, high-salinity groundwater. Here, evidence from literature and U.S. Geologi- cal Survey gaging stations is reviewed to summarize historical changes associated with water development that potentially contributed to Pecos River salinization. A suite of hydrological changes, initiated in the 1880s, likely contributed to streamflow salinization: (1) reduced flood frequency and magnitude, (2) diminished streamflow, (3) increased evapotranspiration, and (4) increased prevalence of natural, high-salinity groundwater. Saliniza- tion is presently highest where these cumulative impacts were greatest (Red Bluff Dam to Girvin, Texas). Prior to water-resource development, higher, fresher streamflows and periodic floods diluted natural, high-salinity groundwater inflows and continuously exported salts from the drainage. Predevelopment salinity was low enough to support at least 44 native fishes, 13 of which have disappeared from the region. Only seven euryha - line natives remain in the most salinized river reach. However, flow-regime restoration and improved irrigation practice could potentially reduce salinization and partially restore a freshwater fauna.


Abstract. We have measured the column-averaged atmospheric CO 2 mixing ratio to a
variety of cloud tops by using an airborne pulsed multi-wavelength
integrated-path differential absorption (IPDA) lidar. Airborne measurements
were made at altitudes up to 13 km during the 2011, 2013 and 2014 NASA Active Sensing of CO 2 Emissions over Nights, Days,
and Seasons (ASCENDS) science campaigns flown in the United States West and Midwest and were
compared to those from an in situ sensor. Analysis of the lidar backscatter
profiles shows the average cloud top reflectance was ∼  5 % for the
CO 2 measurement at 1572.335 nm except to cirrus clouds, which had lower
reflectance. The energies for 1  µ s wide laser pulses reflected
from cloud tops were sufficient to allow clear identification of CO 2
absorption line shape and then to allow retrievals of atmospheric column
CO 2 from the aircraft to cloud tops more than 90 % of the time.
Retrievals from the CO 2 measurements to cloud tops had minimal bias but
larger standard deviations when compared to those made to the ground,
depending on cloud top roughness and reflectance. The measurements show this
new capability helps resolve CO 2 horizontal and vertical gradients in
the atmosphere. When used with nearby full-column measurements to ground, the
CO 2 measurements to cloud tops can be used to estimate the
partial-column CO 2 concentration below clouds, which should lead to better
estimates of surface carbon sources and sinks. This additional capability of
the range-resolved CO 2 IPDA lidar technique provides a new benefit for
studying the carbon cycle in future airborne and space-based CO 2
missions.


There is a widespread awareness that the wealth of preclinical toxicity data that the pharmaceutical industry has generated in recent decades is not exploited as efficiently as it could be. Enhanced data availability for compound comparison ("read-across"), or for data mining to build predictive tools, should lead to a more efficient drug development process and contribute to the reduction of animal use (3Rs principle). In order to achieve these goals, a consortium approach, grouping numbers of relevant partners, is required. The eTOX ("electronic toxicity") consortium represents such a project and is a public-private partnership within the framework of the European Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI). The project aims at the development of in silico prediction systems for organ and in vivo toxicity. The backbone of the project will be a database consisting of preclinical toxicity data for drug compounds or candidates extracted from previously unpublished, legacy reports from thirteen European and European operation-based pharmaceutical companies. The database will be enhanced by incorporation of publically available, high quality toxicology data. Seven academic institutes and five small-to-medium size enterprises (SMEs) contribute with their expertise in data gathering, database curation, data mining, chemoinformatics and predictive systems development. The outcome of the project will be a predictive system contributing to early potential hazard identification and risk assessment during the drug development process. The concept and strategy of the eTOX project is described here, together with current achievements and future deliverables.


We read with great interest the paper by Kim et al. [1] entitled "Local ablation therapy with contrast enhanced ultrasonography for hepatocellular carcinoma: a practical review," recently published in Ultrasonography. We think that contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS), together with the development of reliable navigation systems, is likely to represent one of the most important advances in image-guided ablations in recent years. Thus, we offer some considerations on the topic.

Percutaneous ablations, performed with different technologies, are increasingly used to treat a variety of conditions, including liver, kidney, and even neck tumors [2,3]. Whatever the technology, most procedures are performed under sonographic guidance, which provide a reliable, real-time, and cheap guidance method even in extremely complex conditions. However, in some cases, lesions may be not clearly detectable on ultrasonography, due to low conspicuity or when visibility is impaired by bones or aerated organs (i.e., the lungs and bowel). In these cases, the use of more complex guidance modalities, such as computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), or even positron-emitting tomography (PET), have been reported [3]. However, all these methods imply an increased level of technical difficulty, longer procedure duration, and higher costs. Kim et al. [1] highlighted how the use of CEUS may help in performing liver ablations in cases of lesions not clearly visible on standard ultrasonography. We consider the intra-procedural use of CEUS of paramount importance for image-guided ablations. In our experience, CEUS has allowed for the immediate retreatment of patients with incomplete ablations. This implied a dramatic decrease in rate of repeat visit and repeat ablation, thus also remarkably reducing the overall costs per patient [4]. Unlike Kim et al. [1], we generally perform post-ablation CEUS after 5-7 minutes, as soon as the gas that developed during the procedure has disappeared. At 20-40 minutes, a peripheral hyperemic halo may be present, potentially mimicking the presence of a residual peripheral tumor.

However, even CEUS may not be sufficient to fully depict the lesion with full conspicuity in certain patients. Under these conditions, fusion imaging between ultrasonography and pre-acquired CT, MRI, or PET images, together with virtual navigation, may represent a valuable option [5]. In our experience, we were able to achieve correct targeting of lesions not thoroughly detectable at ultrasonography or CEUS in more than 90% of cases, thanks to the availability of a fusion system [5].

In conclusion, we think that CEUS, virtual navigation, and fusion systems may enable the application of minimally-invasive image-guided procedures to a larger population, potentially avoiding major surgery in a selected subset of patients.


Black cumin (Nigella sativa) is an important medicinal plant in the pharmacological industry. It is cultivated on a commercial scale, but its seeds have a slow, unsynchronized germination rate. Enhancing seed germination is crucial for improving the production of black cumin. The influence of presowing treatments [gibberellic acid (GA3), potassium nitrate, salicylic acid, and stratification at 4 °C] on seed germination was assessed. Seed germination was determined daily for 30 days, and germination parameters, including final germination percentage (FGP), corrected germination rate, number of days to reach 50% of FGP, and seedling length vigor index, were evaluated. Endogenous contents of GA3 and abscisic acid (ABA) in nonstratified and stratified seeds were estimated using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and seedling growth was determined in 45-day-old seedlings. All presowing treatments tended to boost early germination for the first 10 days compared with the control. Low concentrations of GA3 at 0.25 g·L−1 also increased FGP (80%) compared with the control group (65.55%). Stratification for 4 weeks provided the greatest FGP value at 95.56%, and stratification for 3 weeks proved to be the most effective treatment for optimal seedling growth. Sodium dodecyl sulphate–polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis patterns of stratified seeds revealed the alteration in intensities of 13 bands and the appearance of a new band (180 kDa) indicating a change in the synthesis of proteins during stratification. Moreover, stratification modulated the endogenous GA3 and ABA contents of black cumin seeds, which alleviated the physiological dormancy and resulted in high and synchronized seed germination.


Gilliss reported that "contaminated food consumed in the United States causes an estimated 48 million illnesses, 128,000 hospitalizations, and 3,000 deaths annually" (2011, p. 749). The risk of contaminated food reaching consumers can be reduced by the use of food safety training programs. As the number of vegetable consumers increases and the consumers' concern for quality food grows, there is a need to improve food handler training programs. The over-arching question guiding this research was: What enhancements can be made to the vegetable producer's food safety training program to ensure improvement in the safe practices/behaviors and increases in food safety knowledge of vegetable production employees? The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of active learning teaching strategies on the Growers Express food safety training program among vegetable packing employees using Kirkpatrick's four level model of training evaluation. A mixed-method time series design was used. Sixty-one subjects from one vegetable packaging facility participated in the evaluation. The subjects were split into two groups where they completed a food safety knowledge pre-test, participated in either an active learning or traditional training series (depending on group), and submitted a training reaction survey. The active learning training group showed significant improvement in their test scores on three of the test sections. The traditionally trained group only improved significantly on one test section and their scores decreased on one test section. All participants reacted positively to the training program, but the active learning group agreed or strongly agreed to the statements more often on the training reaction survey. Based on the results of this study, it was determined that the addition of active learning methods positively influenced the subjects' reactions to the training program, increased test scores on the food safety knowledge exam, enhanced the subjects' on job behaviors and actions, and improved the overall effectiveness of the program.


Invaded in 1830, populated by one million settlers who co-existed uneasily with nine million Arabs and Berbers , Algeria was different from other French colonies because it was administered as an integral part of France, in theory no different from Normandy or Brittany. The depth and scale of the colonization process explains why the Algerian War of 1954 to 1962 was one of the longest and most violent of the decolonization struggles. An undeclared war in the sense that there was no formal beginning of hostilities, the war produced huge tensions that brought down four governments, ended the Fourth Republic in 1958, and mired the French army in accusations of torture and mass human rights abuses. In carefully re-examining the origins and consequences of the conflict, Martin Evans argues that it was the Socialist led Republican Front, in power from January 1956 until May 1957, which was the defining moment in the war. Predicated on the belief in the universal civilizing mission of the Fourth Republic, coupled with the conviction that Algerian nationalism was feudal and religiously fanatical in character, the Republican Front dramatically intensified the war in the spring of 1956. Drawing upon previously classified archival sources as well as new oral testimonies, this book underlines the conflict of values between the Republican Front and Algerian nationalism, explaining how this clash produced patterns of thought and action, such as the institutionalization of torture and the raising of pro-French Muslim militias, which tragically polarized choices and framed all subsequent stages of the conflict.


Introduction: The link between periodontal disease and noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) has been the subject of major research over the past several years. The primary objective of this review is to understand the cellular and molecular components that link common risk factors (exposure) in adult patients (population) with periodontal disease and other NCDs (outcome). The secondary objective is to interpret from existing literature the possibility of identifying the molecular plausibility of the Common Risk Factor Approach (CRFA). Materials and Methods: A literature search was performed in PubMed/MEDLINE, CINAHL, Web of Science, and Google Scholar for all published articles pertaining to the molecular and cellular basis of the risk factors between periodontal diseases and major NCDs. Data from all randomized and nonrandomized clinical trials, cross-sectional studies, case-control, cohort studies, literature, and systematic reviews were included. Results: Periodontal pathogens, stress, obesity, smoking, and dietary factors are some of the common risk factors between periodontal disease and NCDs. Conclusion: Understanding the molecular and cellular link of common risk factors between NCDs and periodontal disease would ensure the application of CRFA. The CRFA implies that controlling the risk factors associated with NCDs can have an incredible positive impact on regulating many chronic conditions, which would extend to periodontal health also.


A Classic in the Field of Christian Counseling Competent to Counsel has helped thousands of pastors, students, laypersons, and Christian counselors develop both a general approach to Christian counseling and a specific response to particular problems. Using biblically directed discussion, nouthetic counseling works by means of the Holy Spirit to bring about change in the personality and behavior of the counselee. As Dr. Jay Adams points out in his introduction, "I have been engrossed in the project of developing biblical counseling and have uncovered what I consider to be a number of important scriptural principles...There have been dramatic results...Not only have people's immediate problems been resolved, but there have also been solutions to all sorts of long-term problems as well." Since its first publication in 1970, this book has gone through over thirty printings. It establishes the basis for and an introduction to a counseling approach that is being used in pastors' studies, in counseling centers, and across dining room tables throughout the country and around the world


This article addresses the longstanding debate over whether federalism constrains the treaty power and challenges the view that courts may authoritatively resolve that debate. Until recently, scholars generally accepted that the treaty power operated free from federalism limits based on Justice Holmes' opinion in Missouri v. Holland. Lately, however, scholars have questioned whether Missouri remains good law. Two camps have emerged. On one side lie "nationalists" who seek to defend Missouri by invoking constitutional text, structure, history, doctrine and prudential claims. On the other side reside "new federalists" who suggest that the Court should overrule Missouri in light of: (1) adjustments to Congress' commerce power via Lopez and its progeny; and (2) changes in the subjects and substantive obligations of U.S. treaties. Despite their disagreements, both sides focus on the same subject - the Supreme Court. This article demonstrates, however, that this judicial focus is misplaced. An examination of the Court's doctrine reveals little likelihood that it will revisit Missouri. More importantly, while the Court has chosen to disengage, the Executive has interpreted the treaty power's scope and devised its own mechanisms for accommodating federalism in U.S. treaties. To date, however, scholars have largely ignored the Executive's efforts to self-judge when and how federalism limits U.S. treaty-making-efforts that I label "Executive Federalism." But Executive Federalism has significant domestic and international ramifications. First, it requires rethinking federalism's nature by demonstrating that federalism need not function solely as a judicial or legislative safeguard for states' rights. Second, while it serves as a vehicle for Executive self-restraint, Executive Federalism still has structural implications, weakening the authority of other actors (the courts, the legislature, and even future Presidents) to voice their views on federalism in the treaty context. Third, it provides us with valuable information about how the holder of the treaty power - the Executive - conceives of its scope. Finally, Executive Federalism can affect U.S. foreign relations, preventing some treaty-making altogether, constraining U.S. negotiating positions, imposing extra costs to achieve U.S. goals, and complicating questions of U.S. compliance. In sum, Executive Federalism presents the case for re-conceptualizing the treaty power debate to recognize the Executive as an essential subject in its own right.


Alphabetical sorting routines useful in processing natural language texts are explored in this article. Four basic algorithms (Bin, Bubble, Tree and Chain sorts) and five SNOBOL implementations of these algorithms are discussed. In addition, the authors deal with problems of program-defined special character sets and sorting orders diverging from standard machine collating sequence, as well as questions of producing reverse-alphabetized word lists. Comparative running times for these programs on representative corpora of varying sizes are tabulated and compared. For those readers unfamiliar with SNOBOL, the article offers a brief introduction to the language sufficient to allow understanding of these and many other SNOBOL programs. Thus the programmer who works with other languages can both familiarize himself with SNOBOL, and at the same time learn enough to translate the sort programs into his usual language. Reference is also made to SPITBOL, a recently developed high-speed compiler for SNOBOL.


The common goal of various protein immobilization techniques has been to bypass the intrinsic drawbacks of utilizing free enzymes as catalytic materials in industry. Crosslinked enzyme aggregates (CLEAs), one of the most successful, easily and widely applicable techniques developed so far, has greatly improved the storage and operational stability of enzyme preparations as well as permitted their easy recovery and thus reuse. Involving the seemingly simple semi-specific chemical cross linking of protein aggregates forced out of solution, the general applicability of typical CLEA methods has occasionally been challenged by protein-specific anomalies, reflecting intrinsic structural and functional traits, altering the effectiveness of aggregation and crosslinkability, as well as the resultant bioactivity of the material. In this work, the described limitations, have been addressed using two particularly CLEA-unfriendly protein starting materials, namely, native pepsin and urease. In case of urease, conventional CLEA methods led to dramatically low aggregation and cross linking yields, and displayed statistically insignificant catalytic activity in the immobilized product. Critical breakthrough was achieved by enforcing protein aggregation via lyophilization as opposed to routine precipitation. The subsequent crosslinking of the lyophilizate (yielding a CLEL) in a suitable antisolvent led to a much improved crosslinking yield and catalytic activity. In case of pepsin, the problematic step was achieving covalent crosslinking by conventional CLEA methods, as pepsin bears a single surface lysyl residue and predictably was relatively unresponsive to all crosslinking attempts of surface amino groups. The problem was alleviated by appropriate choice of a rather large crosslinker, i.e., dextran polyaldehyde, and the use of the subzero crosslinking temperatures, therefore permitting the formation of the first ever catalytically competent pepsin CLEA. Novel immobilized formulations presented herein, are expected to contribute as alternatives to many established industrially important applications, involving challenging protein systems. Furthermore, these also could be utilized to prompt greener processes, such as the syntheses of industrially important commodity compounds.


Airborne measurements of a methane (CH4) plume over the North Sea from August 2013 are analyzed. The plume was only observed downwind of circumnavigated gas fields, and three methods are used to determine its source. First, a mass balance calculation assuming a gas field source gives a CH4 emission rate between 2.5 ± 0.8×104 and 4.6 ± 1.5×104 kg h−1. This would be greater than the industry's reported 0.5% leak rate if it were emitting for more than half the time. Second, annual average UK CH4 emissions are combined with an atmospheric dispersion model to create pseudo‐observations. Clean air from the North Atlantic passed over mainland UK, picking up anthropogenic emissions. To best explain the observed plume using pseudo‐observations, an additional North Sea source from the gas rigs area is added. Third, the δ13C‐CH4 from the plume is shown to be −53‰, which is lighter than fossil gas but heavier than the UK average emission. We conclude that either an additional small‐area mainland source is needed, combined with temporal variability in emission or transport in small‐scale meteorological features. Alternatively, a combination of additional sources that are at least 75% from the mainland (−58‰) and up to 25% from the North Sea gas rigs area (−32‰) would explain the measurements. Had the isotopic analysis not been performed, the likely conclusion would have been of a gas field source of CH4. This demonstrates the limitation of analyzing mole fractions alone, as the simplest explanation is rejected based on analysis of isotopic data.


Between 1935 and 1938 the celebrated photographer Roman Vishniac explored the cities and villages of Eastern Europe, capturing life in the Jewish shtetlekh of Poland, Romania, Russia, and Hungary, communities that even then seemed threatened - not by destruction and extermination, which no one foresaw, but by change. Using a hidden camera and under difficult circumstances, Vishniac was able to take over sixteen thousand photographs; most were left with his father in a village in France for the duration of the war. With the publication of "Children of a Vanished World", seventy of those photographs are available, thirty-six for the first time. The book is devoted to a subject Vishniac especially loved, and one whose mystery and spontaneity he captured with particular poignancy: children. Selected and edited by the photographer's daughter, Mara Vishniac Kohn, and translator and coeditor Miriam Hartman Flacks, these images show children playing, children studying, children in the midst of a world that was about to disappear. They capture the daily life of their subjects, at once ordinary and extraordinary. The photographs are accompanied by a selection of nursery rhymes, songs, poems, and chants for children's games in both Yiddish and English translation. Thanks to Vishniac's visual artistry and the editors' choice of traditional Yiddish verses, a part of this wonderful culture can be preserved for future generations. Earlier books of Roman Vishniac's photographs include "To Give Them Light: The Legacy of Roman Vishniac" (1995), "A Vanished World" (1983), and "Polish Jews" (1947). A major exhibition titled 'Children of a Vanished World: Photographs byRoman Vishniac' is scheduled at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York. The show will open to the public on March 7 and run through June 4, 2000.


Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) increases the production of interleukin-12 (IL-12) from mouse macrophages via a κB site within the IL-12 p40 promoter. In this study, we found that oxidized low density lipoprotein (oxLDL) inhibited this LPS-stimulated production of IL-12 in a dose-dependent manner while native LDL did not. OxLDL inhibited p40 promoter activation in monocytic RAW264.7 cells transiently transfected with p40 promoter/reporter constructs, and the repressive effect mapped to a region in the p40 promoter containing a binding site for nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) (p40-κB). Activation of macrophages by LPS in the presence of oxLDL resulted in markedly reduced binding to the κB site, as demonstrated by the electrophoretic mobility shift assays. In contrast, native LDL did not inhibit the IL-12 p40 promoter activation and NF-κB binding to the κB sites, suggesting that oxidative modification of LDL was crucial for the inhibition of NF-κB-mediated IL-12 production. 9-Hydroxyoctadecadienoic acid, a major oxidized lipid component of oxLDL, significantly inhibited IL-12 production in LPS-stimulated mouse macrophages and also suppressed NF-κB-mediated activation in IL-12 p40 promoter. The NF-κB components p50 and p65 directly bound peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPAR-γ) in vitro. In cotransfections of CV-1 and HeLa cells, PPAR-γ inhibited the NF-κB transactivation in an oxLDL-dependent manner. From these results, we propose that oxLDL-mediated suppression of the IL-12 production from LPS-activated mouse macrophages may, at least in part, involve both inhibition of the NF-κB-DNA interactions and physical interactions between NF-κB and PPAR-γ.


With this paper I maintain that the regulation of social security and healthcare in EU law revolves around the quest for a right balance between conflicting interests, involving the issues of social rights, State and Market, distribution of competences. In particular, the analysis of the way in which the ECJ legally frames the so called public/private divide permits to underline the emergence of relevant dissonances in the jurisprudence concerning the three sectors of competition, free movement and State aids. The rationale behind some of such divergences pertain to the existence of natural asymmetries on which evolve and take shape the constitutive elements of the European economic and social constitution. In this sense, the lack of convergence is not undesirable per se. On the contrary, it depends on the different role and function exercised by the solidarity principle on one hand and on the relevance of the public financing of social services on the other hand, in their interplay with the choice between abandon or revaluation of a (more or less) idealtpic public/private dichotomy. At the centre of the analysis is the full incorporation or, alternatively, attenuation, in the field of social security and healthcare, of the functional approach adopted in relation to the notion of economic activity. Some other divergences, however, are not justifiable. That is to say that in some cases there seems to emerge a need for a rapprochement between competition, free movement and States aids. This concerns the concept of general (economic?) interest and its potential intervention as a method of positive market and rights integration. Finally, the paper intends to highlight that at the core of the EU discourse is the pursuit of (and the quest for) a "healthy" interaction and relationship between individual free movement rights, social rights and State redistributive autonomy for the management of national social security and healthcare systems. In this respect, I will underline role, function and potentialities of Art. 106.2 TFEU as the appropriate sedes materiae to balance public interest's aims and values with market principles and demands, both considered as constitutive elements, respectively, of the EU social and economic constitution.


Background: Most websites, especially those with a commercial orientation, need a high ranking on a search engine for one or more keywords or phrases. The search engine optimisation process attempts to achieve this. Furthermore, website users expect easy navigation, interaction and transactional ability. The application of website usability principles attempts to achieve this. Ideally, designers should achieve both goals when they design websites. Objectives: This research intended to establish a relationship between search engine optimisation and website usability in order to guide the industry. The authors found a discrepancy between the perceived roles of search engines and website usability. Method: The authors designed three test websites. Each had different combinations of usability, visibility and other attributes. They recorded and analysed the conversions and financial spending on these experimental websites. Finally, they designed a model that fuses search engine optimisation and website usability. Results: Initially, it seemed that website usability and search engine optimisation complemented each other. However, some contradictions between the two, based on content, keywords and their presentation, emerged. Industry experts do not acknowledge these contradictions, although they agree on the existence of the individual elements. The new model highlights the complementary and contradictory aspects. Conclusion: The authors found no evidence of any previous empirical experimental results that could confirm or refute the role of the model. In the fast-paced world of competition between commercial websites, this adds value and originality to the websites of organisations whose websites play important roles.


Of all the remote sensing modalities available for underwater applications, acoustic methods, covering frequency ranges from a few Hz to several MHz, are by far the most flexible and widely used. The authors propose a method for preprocessing sidescan sonar data for visualisation, detection and classification purposes. Sidescan imagery is highly sensor specific and is typically affected by factors that have either a range dependency or an angular dependency. Each of these is altered in a different way given variations in sensor altitude over the seabed. Working from the physics and geometry of the sonar process, the proposed method estimates separate correction factors for range and angular dependencies directly from the image data. Once calculated, these factors can be applied over large data sets to provide radiometric correction over the entire survey area. Simpler image processing algorithms are more effective because the image statistics are improved with more stable means and variances across the sonar swath. The method requires a good bottom detection algorithm for estimation of sensor altitude at each transmission time and incorporates a resampling scheme for the calculation and application of the angular-dependency correction factors. Results showing improved classification performance for two large area surveys are presented. The method proposed provides a more complete solution than previously reported resampling schemes and offers significant improvements in terms of accuracy, robustness, usability and execution times.


Mentorships are important relationships that pair youth with more experienced members of the community. Mentorships facilitated by organizations often connect two community members who are unlikely to meet by happenstance, thus increasing social capital and aiding community development. Yet, difficulties in measuring how formal mentorships improve a city's social capital and participant welfare might dissuade communities from investing in such programs. We describe a mixed-methods approach for measuring the impact of mentorship programs using a case study in Santa Fe, New Mexico. We survey participants and analyze differences between mentor and protege neighborhoods using U.S. Census data in a Geographic Information System.We find that participants report increases in social capital indicators including connections between individuals with socio-economic differences. However, Census data indicate that mentors and proteges have relatively few socio-economic differences in their neighborhoods. This divergence emphasizes the importance of measuring social capital in an urban and spatial context.


We observed the episodically active asteroid (6478) Gault in 2020 with multiple telescopes in Asia and North America and found that it is no longer active after its recent outbursts at the end of 2018 and the start of 2019. The inactivity during this apparition allowed us to measure the absolute magnitude of Gault of H r = 14.63 ± 0.02, G r = 0.21 ± 0.02 from our secular phase-curve observations. In addition, we were able to constrain Gault's rotation period using time-series photometric lightcurves taken over 17 hr on multiple days in 2020 August, September, and October. The photometric lightcurves have a repeating ≲0.05 mag feature suggesting that (6478) Gault has a rotation period of ∼2.5 hr and may have a semispherical or top-like shape, much like the near-Earth asteroids Ryugu and Bennu. The rotation period of ∼2.5 hr is near the expected critical rotation period for an asteroid with the physical properties of (6478) Gault, suggesting that its activity observed over multiple epochs is due to surface mass shedding from its fast rotation spin-up by the Yarkovsky–O'Keefe–Radzievskii–Paddack effect.


Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), capable of providing free (or low cost) courses for millions of learners anytime and anywhere, have gained the attention of researchers, educational institutions, and learners worldwide. Even though they provide several benefits, there are still some criticisms of MOOCs. For instance, MOOCs' high dropout rates or predominantly elite participation are considered to be important problems. In order to develop solutions for these problems, a deeper understanding of MOOCs is required. Today, despite the availability of several research studies about MOOCs, there is a shortage of in-depth research on course characteristics, learner characteristics, and predictors of certification rates. This study examined MOOC and learner characteristics in detail and explored the predictors of course certification rates based on data from 122 Massachusetts Institute of Technology MOOCs (MITx) on edX platform as well as data about the 2.8 million participants registered in these MOOCs. The results indicated that as the number of courses offered and the number of learners enrolled increased in years, there was a decrease in the certification rates among enrolled learners. According to our results, the number of average chapters completed, total forum messages, and mean age predicted course certification rates positively. On the other hand, the total number of chapters in a course predicted the course certification rates negatively. Based on these results, shorter and more interactive MOOCs are recommended by considering the needs of the learners, course content design, and strategies encouraging the enrolled students to enter the courses.


The Qitianling granitic stock is a stanniferous granite located in Hunan Province, China. Recently, the Furong tin ore deposit was found in this stock, with a tin reserve of approximately 600,000 tons. The main rock-forming minerals including amphibole, biotite, plagioclase and ore minerals including cassiterite and rutile were analysed chemical compositions by electron microprobe. The biotite is Fe-rich annite, and has high Ti and Cl concentration. The biotite has high Fe 3+ /(Fe 2+ +Fe 3+ ) ratios and the oxygen fugacity calculated by biotite compositions is above Ni-NiO (NNO), and near the Fe 2 O 3- Fe 3 O 4 (MH). The amphiboles are ferropargasite and ferro-edenite hornblende. The pressure of the granite estimated by Al-in-hornblende barometer is 3.6 ± 0.9 kbar. An amphibole-plagioclase thermometry and a semiquantitative hornblende thermometer yield a forming temperature of 750∼820°C. The chlorite from the orebody has negligible K 2 O, Ti 2 O, F, and Cl, but shows similar Fe/(Fe+Mg) ratios with amphibole and biotite. Cassiterite is observed closely associated with rutile disseminated in chlorite alteration veins and envelopes. The ore-forming temperature is estimated to be 290∼405°C from chlorite geothermometry. The Qitianling granite contains Sn-rich hornblende and biotite, and shows a high oxygen fugacity for the magma, which is slightly different from the common S-type stanniferous granites worldwide. Fractional crystallization of the magma and tin deposition directly from exsolved magmatic-hydrothermal fluids may not be the major mechanism for the tin mineralization in this deposit. Instead, we suggest that post-magmatic hydrothermal alteration of the granite may have released tin and other metals ( e.g. , Ti) from the Sn-bearing biotite and hornblende in the granite. Then cassiterite and rutile precipitated together with chlorite when the physical and chemical condition of the Sn- and Ti-rich fluids changed.


Teaching programming to novices has proved challenging for both learner and lecturer due to the abstraction and complexity of the subject matter. The work described in this paper is part of an EU funded Minerva project called TUPULO (Teaching Undergraduate Programming Using Learning Objects) which aims to address the challenges faced by novice programmers by providing them with an innovative learning tool. This learning tool that is currently under development and rollout incorporates a set of Reusable Learning Objects (RLOs) based on sound pedagogical principles and encapsulated in a Constructivist Learning Environment (CLE), which includes a meta-cognitive interface. The subject matter experts and instructional designers in the local academic partner institutions designed these learning objects. The outputs and findings of the TUPULO project will not only benefit learners in the partner institutions involved, but by being disseminated to the wider educational community, they will also help learners in the domain on a broader scale. This paper describes the preparatory work undertaken in order to establish a set of potential LOs for development based on the student's main areas of weakness. When attempting to build learning objects for use in any domain the primary consideration should always be the needs and abilities of the learners. This paper describes the work done by the authors in conducting a user needs analysis in order to establish the key problem areas facing learners of introductory programming. A methodology for user needs capture and analysis was produced based on the set of user groups available at the Institutions and the needs of the users were captured and analysed. The methodology was devised to incorporate both quantitative and qualitative analysis of the information available to us regarding students. Exam scripts and corresponding results together with focus group discussions were used in order to ascertain perceptions regarding the course content, delivery, level of difficulty and areas of difficulty in programming. Additional institutional information such as students' leaving certificate points and Maths grade together with students' overall performance in other subject areas were used to investigate possible correlations. The analysis of this data provided some preliminary information on the ways in which students interpret various questions and their conceptual difficulties in understanding certain topics. This analysis leads to the final selection of programming topics for potential development as reusable learning objects.


The growing information technology is very rapidly, the more evolving crime techniques to find information that is confidential. The Internet is one of the main media in disseminating information. The use of security on the internet still needs to be developed. Based on these problems, the type of research undertaken in the writing of this final task is the type of experimental research by developing methods that have been done by previous researchers to hide secret data that is inserted into the audio * .wav so that the security and confidentiality of data can be guaranteed. data security can be done with various methods, including cryptography and steganography. Cryptography is a technique for encrypting messages and steganography is a message concealment technique. This insertion type uses binary ASCII character code. In the cryptographic process, using the Vigenere Cipher algorithm and in the steganography, process using the algorithm (LSB) Least Significant Bits. The merger of the two techniques resulted in a better new digital image security system and increased the value of MSE, PSNR and Execution time. Then the test results in the evaluation using BER and histogram analysis. Good audio quality has a minimum value of 30 dB PSNR. In the embedding process using combinations of vigenere and LSB methods, Audio 15 is the best audio compared to other audio. Audio 15 has a smaller MSE (0.001656) value and a larger PSNR (124.138499) value than any other audio when embeded messages *.txt file with character 4096.


Two novel mutations (R85C and R85H) on the extracellular immunoglobulin-like domain of the sodium channel beta1 subunit have been identified in individuals from two families with generalized epilepsy with febrile seizures plus (GEFS+). The functional consequences of these two mutations were determined by co-expression of the human brain NaV1.2 alpha subunit with wild type or mutant beta1 subunits in human embryonic kidney (HEK)-293T cells. Patch clamp studies confirmed the regulatory role of beta1 in that relative to NaV1.2 alone the NaV1.2+beta1 currents had right-shifted voltage dependence of activation, fast and slow inactivation and reduced use dependence. In addition, the NaV1.2+beta1 current entered fast inactivation slightly faster than NaV1.2 channels alone. The beta1(R85C) subunit appears to be a complete loss of function in that none of the modulating effects of the wild type beta1 were observed when it was co-expressed with NaV1.2. Interestingly, the beta1(R85H) subunit also failed to modulate fast kinetics, however, it shifted the voltage dependence of steady state slow inactivation in the same way as the wild type beta1 subunit. Immunohistochemical studies revealed cell surface expression of the wild type beta1 subunit and undetectable levels of cell surface expression for both mutants. The functional studies suggest association of the beta1(R85H) subunit with the alpha subunit where its influence is limited to modulating steady state slow inactivation. In summary, the mutant beta1 subunits essentially fail to modulate alpha subunits which could increase neuronal excitability and underlie GEFS+ pathogenesis.


Using a visualization prototype built from original electrical-submersible-pump (ESP) components and with minimal geometrical modifications, a pioneer experimental procedure was developed and conducted to address the viscous effect on liquid/gas two-phase flow through these types of pumps. Based on dimensionless groups that govern centrifugal-pump single-phase performance, two-phase experiments were conducted at different shaft speeds (15, 25, and 30 Hz), with nonslip void fractions (up to 5%), and viscosity values of 46 to 161 cp, while liquid rates were kept constant at 60% of the maximum rate at the defined shaft speed. High-speed video footage was taken from the entire impeller flow channel, and stage incremental pressure was measured. The authors identified four liquid/air flow patterns inside the impeller channels: agglomerated bubbles, gas pocket, segregated gas, and intermittent gas. By comparing the images with the differential-pressure data, it was concluded that the agglomerated-bubbles pattern is responsible for the initial head degradation and that the surging event coincides with the gas-pocket structure, indicating that this is an interface-instability problem. Another conclusion made was that the increase in viscosity caused surging to occur at lower void fractions, which could be compensated for by increasing rotational speed. The significance of this work is given by the fact that several authors hae investigated centrifugal-pump performance under two-phase flow; however, previous experiments have been conducted only with water as the liquid, thus neglecting the viscous effect on the two-phase-flow mixture. In most of the petroleum industry's applications, ESPs operate with oil and natural gas. The present work begins the task of addressing this knowledge gap between scientific research and field applications.


The integration of biology and electronics is crucial to developing advanced medical diagnostics and biological experimentation devices. To this end, we investigated the generation of hydrogels from the "biocompatible" polymer chitosan. Specifically, we imposed electrical signals at the biology electronics interface within microfabricated fluidic devices to electrodeposit chitosan hydrogels. Chitosan's unique properties enable electrodeposited hydrogels to be reversibly swollen and de-swollen providing a means for microfluidic valving or for controlled release of entrapped components. Furthermore, the method of anodic deposition reported here allows for one-step biofunctionalization of components for multiplexed electrochemical biosensing. Thus, we believe this electrodeposition method will provide a means to generate hydrogels capable of integrating biology with microelectromechanical systems.


We test with a randomized experiment in the slums of Nairobi whether violence suffered during the 2007 political outbreaks affects trustworthiness learning when participants live group experiences and face opportunism and free riding in public good games (PGGs) between two subsequent trust games (TGs). Our findings document that participants move toward balanced reciprocity after the PGG with the exception of those who have experienced directly or indirectly physical violence and/or forced relocation who exhibit significantly less trustworthiness in the second TG round. Results are robust to several robustness checks controlling for selection into victimization. Since in a framework of asymmetric information and incomplete contracts, trust games mimic sequential economic exchanges whose functioning is crucial to economic growth, we argue that our results identify a microeconomic nexus among socio-political instability, violence and growth helping to solve identification problems of the cross-country literature on the subject.


Based on an interdisciplinary investigation of future visions, scenarios, and case-studies of low carbon innovation taking place across economic domains, Decarbonising Economies analyses the ways in which questions of agency, power, geography and materiality shape the conditions of possibility for a low carbon future. It explores how and why the challenge of changing our economies are variously ascribed to a lack of finance, a lack of technology, a lack of policy and a lack of public engagement, and shows how the realities constraining change are more fundamentally tied to the inertia of our existing high carbon society and limited visions for what a future low carbon world might become. Through showcasing the first seeds of innovation seeking to enable transformative change, Decarbonising Economies will also chart a course for future research and policy action towards our climate goals. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.


The work presented within this Thesis describes a method to extract the 3D pose of a human performing a gaited action using only the motion of a sparse set of tracked features. The features used are not extracted using specific limb detectors, but are selected and tracked automatically using a standard feature tracker. These features contain noise that is not Gaussian in nature, but systematic, as a result of edge effects. Furthermore, features are indiscriminately tracked on both the subject of interest and the background. This ensures that a method designed to exploit only the structure of the features would fail, the motion of the features must be exploited to extract useful information. A method is presented that models the expected motion of a feature tracking a particular limb. Using these models the likelihood that each observed motion is caused by a specific limb can be estimated. Furthermore, this representation allows the temporal state of an action to be estimated for each feature independently. Integrating over all features, a Hidden Markov Model is shown to be able to accurately extract gait phase. Given these initial likelihood estimates, an approach is presented to create probability maps that describe the likelihood of a limb being located at each position in the image. Following this, 2D pose in the image plane can be estimated. This is achieved using a Pictorial Structures representation that uses phase dependent priors. This search is performed via Dynamic Programming and conducted in each frame independently. Extracted poses are then enforced to be temporally coherent using a high-level motion model. Finally, these methods are shown to be suitable for 3D pose estimation. Methods are presented to extract 3D motion from 2D image observations and to efficiently extract pose in R. This is achieved by placing constraints on the search space and by mapping observations from the image plane into R. To extract 3D pose 3D models are learnt directly from motion capture data no image data is used for training. Quantitative results are provided using the HumanEva data set. The approach is tested on a variety of scenes filmed from different viewpoints, with no prior expectation of the path the subject will walk through the scene. Despite this the same 3D model is used throughout. Unlike many current approaches, the presented method requires no initialisation of joint locations in the first frame, this is performed automatically. Furthermore, only a single viewpoint is ever exploited. The work in this thesis demonstrates that a set of sparse motion features contains enough information to extract the 3D pose of a person whilst performing gaited actions.


The paper analyses the impact of geographic innovation on Total Factor Productivity (TFP) in Taiwan. Using 242 four-digit standard industrial classification (SIC) industries in Taiwan in 2001, we compute TFP by estimating Translog production functions with K, L, E and M inputs, and measure the geographic innovative activity using both Krugman's Gini coefficients and the location Herfindahl index. We also consider the geographic innovation variable as an endogenous variable and use 2SLS to obtain a consistent, albeit inefficient, estimator. The empirical results show a significantly positive effect of geographic innovation, as well as R&D expenditure, on TFP. These results are robust for the Gini coefficients and location Herfindahl index, when industry characteristics and heteroskedasticity are controlled. Moreover, according to the endogeneity of geographic innovation, the Hausman test shows that the geographic innovation variable should be treated as endogenous, which supports the modern theory of industrial clustering about innovation spillovers within clusters.