Objective: The chiropractic care of a patient presenting with a malposition/malpresentation pregnancy using Webster InUtero Constraint technique is described. Clinical Features: A 41 year old and 36 week pregnant female presented to the office after her perinatologist via ultrasound stated the fetus was in a breech position and recommended a planned c-section. Patient stated she was looking for a natural alternative to a pre-planned cesarean section. Interventions and Outcomes: Light-force, contact-specific (Webster In-Utero Constraint technique) chiropractic adjustments were performed on the sacrum, along with relief of abdominal ligamentous and muscle tension by use of manual trigger point therapy. After the application of 5 Webster Technique adjustments, the fetal position turned from a longitudinal fetal lie and breech fetal presentation, to a longitudinal fetal lie and vertex fetal presentation. Conclusion: Chiropractic care of a malposition/malpresentation pregnancy using Webster In-Utero Constraint technique was presented. The relief of musculoskeletal and ligamentous causes of intrauterine constraint was achieved. These findings were noted through the use of pre and post ultrasonography and Leopold's Maneuver.


Alkaline basalts with geochemical features similar to those of intraplate ocean islands have been emplaced along the main trace of the Tepic-Zacoalco rift (TZR), a unique tectonic structure of the western Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt in which extension is superimposed to a convergent margin. New geochemical and petrologic data on mafic volcanic rocks along the rift indicate the existence of a highly heterogeneous pre-subduction mantle wedge that has been slightly overprinted by slab-derived chemical agents. Most mafic volcanic rocks display geochemical and isotopic compositions that are indistinguishable from those of the Pacific islands Socorro and Isabel, and confirm the existence of an ancient, recycled, high-μ component (HIMU; μ = 238 U/ 204 Pb) in their mantle source. Olivines separated from samples carrying the HIMU signature have NiO and CaO contents similar to olivines from mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB), indicating that the source of enrichment must be entirely hosted in peridotite. In contrast, more evolved rocks within the TZR have stronger subduction signatures and water contents, and display a distinctive isotopic array that points to slab-derived contributions. Olivines from these rocks are slightly less forsteritic but also extend to higher NiO and lower CaO contents than those from more mafic magmas, suggesting provenance from a secondary pyroxenite source. The overall geochemical evidence thus indicates that the pre-subduction background mantle wedge in western Mexico must be identical, and just as diverse, as that below the Pacific basin. Extension-driven mantle upwelling in a continental setting can only melt a dry peridotitic mantle to its lowest extents, and therefore preferentially sample its most enriched and easily fusible components. Yet the addition of even a small amount of slab-derived silica promotes a secondary petrologic transformation to pyroxene-rich lithologies that upon melting create magmas with compositions that are more akin to a volcanic arc setting.


The St. George Group on the Port au Port Peninsula of western Newfoundland is little deformed, well exposed and provides a nearly complete sequence through the Lower Ordovician. The about 600 m thick succession records two depositional megacycles, and is divided into four formations in ascending order, the Watts Bight, Boat Harbour, Catoche and Aguathuna formations. -- Over 45,000 conodonts have been recovered from 432 3.5 kg samples from 10 sections comprising two composite sections through the St. George Group. The conodonts show excellent preservation with a low conodont Colour Alteration Index (CAI) of 1. Detailed taxonomic study of these faunas has permitted major revision to the reconstruction of Lower Ordovician multielement apparatuses, new interpretation of the phylogenetic relationships of Lower Ordovician, Midcontinent Province conodonts, and the establishment of a new and more refined Lower Ordovician conodont zonation for the Midcontinent Province. -- One of the major objectives of this study is to examine the Lower Ordovician conodont taxonomy. Seventy-five multielement species, representing 28 genera, have been described and illustrated, among them 7 new genera, 33 new species and 70 newly reconstructed multielement species. The new genera are Glyptodontus, Loxodentatus, Loxoqnathus,
Polycostatus, Striatodontus, Stultodontus and Tricostatus. The new species are: Acodus primus, Clavohamulus lonqicuspis, C. neoelonqatus, C. reniformis, C. sphearicus, Cristodus ethinatoni, Drepanodus nowlani, Glyptoconus felicitii, G. multiplicatus, G. priscus, Glyptodontus constrictus, G. expansus, G. tumidus, Loxodentatus bipinnatus, Loxognathus phyllodus, Loxodus latibasis, Macerodus crassatus, M. gracilis, M. wattsbightensis, Polycostatus falsioneotensis, P. minutus, Protopanderodus prolatus, Scolopodus subrex, Stritodontus lanceolatus, S. prolificus, S retractus, S. teridontus, Stultodontus ovatus, S. pygmaeus, Teridontus obesus, Tricostatus glyptus, Utahconus longipinnatus and Variabiloconus neobassleri. -- Three apparatus types, apparatus Type I, II and III, are redefined. Type I apparatuses consist of only a and e elements, and are characterized by stubby coniforms and extremely flattened forms. Type II apparatuses have three element morphotypes including a, c and e elements. Type III apparatuses contain four or five skeletal morphotypes: a, b, c, e and, commonly f elements. -- Following the taxonomic study, the local, regional and global stratigraphic range of the taxa were examined to help interpret evolutionary lineages. Nearly twenty such lineages have been recognized. Most are closely related to the Teridontus lineage, and belong to the Teridontus evolutionary complex. The evolutionary relationships of multielement taxa in the Teridontus complex show that the Teridontus lineage spread widely, evolving into both the Clavohamulus and Semiacontiodus lineages during the latest Cambrian. The latter probably produced the Variabiloconus and Polycostatus lineages during the earliest Tremadoc. Two important lineages, Glyptoconus and Striatodontus, appear suddenly, spreading widely, and diversifing rapidly during the early and middle Arenig. The late Tremadoc extinction is one of the most profound crises in conodont evolutionary history. This extinction leads to the demise of more than seven lineages including over 35 species. -- The conodonts recovered indicate that the St. George Group ranges in age from earliest Canadian to the earliest Whiterockian. Eight conodont Assemblage Zones have been established for the shallow-water (SW) facies of the typical Midcontinent Province. Six deeper-water (DW) conodont Assemblage or Lineage Zones have been recognized or redefined, and include some taxa with affinities to the North Atlantic Province. All the SW Assemblage Zones represent limited stratigraphic intervals in the Lower Ordovician, most can be recognized with other low latitude cratons, such as Australia, Siberia, and North China. In contrast, the DW Assemblage or Lineage Zones can be correlated through the critical biostratigraphic tie-points with the North Atlantic Province zonation.


Wave energy converters (WECs) usually require reactive power for increased levels of energy conversion, resulting in the need for more complex power take-off (PTO) units, compared to WECs that do not require reactive power. A WEC without reactive power produces much less energy, though. The concept of Variable Shape Buoy Wave Energy Converters (VSB WECs) is proposed to allow continuous shape-change aiming at eliminating the need for reactive power, while converting power at a high level. The proposed concept involves complex and nonlinear interactions between the device and the waves. This paper presents a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tool that is set up to simulate VSB WECs, using the ANSYS 2-way fluid–structure interaction (FSI) tool. The dynamic behavior of a VSB WEC is simulated in this CFD-based Numerical Wave Tank (CNWT), in open sea conditions. The simulation results show that the tested device undergoes a significant deformation in response to the incoming waves, before it reaches a steady-state behavior. This is in agreement with a low-fidelity dynamic model developed in earlier work. The resulting motion is significantly different from the motion of a rigid body WEC. The difference in the motion can be leveraged for better energy capture without the need for reactive power.


Snakebite envenoming is a global public health issue that causes significant morbidity and mortality, particularly in low-income regions of the world. The clinical manifestations of envenomings vary depending on the snake's venom, with paralysis, haemorrhage, and necrosis being the most common and medically relevant effects. To assess the efficacy of antivenoms against dermonecrosis, a preclinical testing approach involves in vivo mouse models that mimic local tissue effects of cytotoxic snakebites in humans. However, current methods for assessing necrosis severity are time-consuming and susceptible to human error. To address this, we present the Venom Induced Dermonecrosis Analysis tool (VIDAL), a machine-learning-guided image-based solution that can automatically identify dermonecrotic lesions in mice, adjust for lighting biases, scale the image, extract lesion area and discolouration, and calculate the severity of dermonecrosis. We also introduce a new unit, the dermonecrotic unit (DnU), to better capture the complexity of dermonecrosis severity. Our tool is comparable to the performance of state-of-the-art histopathological analysis, making it an accessible, accurate, and reproducible method for assessing dermonecrosis. Given the urgent need to address the neglected tropical disease that is snakebite, high-throughput technologies such as VIDAL are crucial in developing and validating new and existing therapeutics for this debilitating disease.


The world is facing an enormous sanitation crisis: about 2.6 billion people lack of appropriate sanitation. Together with the lack of clean drinking water, it is causing 10 000 30 000 deaths daily. Roughly 6 000 children die every day from diarrhoeal diseases alone. And 88 per cent of those diseases are caused by unsafe water and inappropriate sanitation. In Finland, the lack of proper sanitation is not jeopardizing people's lives, but it causes deterioration of the environment, especially eutrophication of surface waters and in some cases also pollution of groundwater. There are more than 700 000 residential properties either summer cottages or year-round houses outside sewerage networks in the country. The wastewaters of these properties were mainly treated in septic tanks until the end of the 20 century. Since the beginning of the new millennium, the legislation concerning on-site sanitation has changed completely. For it to operate as planned, research on the proper management of on-site sanitation is required. The main objective of this research is to find answers to the questions: How to put the new laws and regulations into practice without major friction? What will the consequences of the new legislation be? What main topics should be researched further to avoid the deterioration of the environment due to wastewaters from sparsely populated areas? After collecting empirical data from different sanitation projects in Finland and a number of international conferences, as well as studying the theory of Social Construction of Technology (SCOT), path dependence theory, stakeholders theories and futures research methods, the author makes comparisons, analyses and reviews of the findings and gives his conclusions and recommendations concerning the research topics. Action research, which aims at interaction between practise and theories, is used as the strategy of the research. The main findings can be condensed into the following conclusions. Finland has enough up-to-date laws and regulations concerning on-site sanitation. The most important thing is that the legislation is interpreted with equal strictness all over the country to uphold respect for it. The quality of all activities taken must be first rate, availability of professional sector people is to be secured and product development especially in dry toilet technology must continue. We should apply the methods of futures research more seriously in the water and sanitation sector to ensure that we are moving in the preferred direction. There are also a couple of recommendations for future actions and research topics given. The research implies the question whether the dominating trend toward larger sewer networks and larger centralised wastewater treatment plants in Finland is desirable or should we also study the decentralised alternatives? Should we totally eliminate the concept of non-point source pollution to highlight the individual's responsibility for the environment? Mattila, H. Appropriate management of on-site sanitation 8 Finnish research, experiences and product development of on-site sanitation could help in solving the world's sanitation crisis if only given enough resources. It would support the country's own environmental protection, employment and economy as well.


The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of teaching communicate with adolescents to their mothers and the methods of emotion regulation to adolescents on reducing stress and depression in adolescents of Eshkanan city. This study was a quasi-experimental research. The statistical population of this study consisted of students and their mothers. Sampling was performed by available sampling method and 40 mothers and 40 girls entered in study and replaced in two experimental (n = 20) and control (n =20) groups. The research instruments were adolescent depression (2000), the adolescent stress (2000), and questionnaires. The data was analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics. The mean and standard deviation of the descriptive statistics, statistical analysis using SPSS and repeated measures analysis of inferential statistics were used to examine the hypotheses. The results showed that teaching communicate with adolescents to mothers and teaching the methods of emotion regulation to the adolescents were effective on reducing adolescents stress and depression during the time.


PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of 3 different abutment types on the stress distribution in bone with inclined loads using finite element analysis.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The 1-body, internal-hex, and external-hex implant systems were modeled to study the effect of abutment type on stress distribution in bone. The bone model used in this study comprised compact and spongious bone assumed to be homogeneous, isotropic, and linearly elastic.

RESULTS
In the case of the 1-piece implant, the load was transferred evenly not only in the implant system but also in bone. However, the maximum Von Mises stress generated in bone with the 1-piece implant was always higher than that generated with the internal-hex implant, regardless of load angle inclination. In the case of the internal-hex implant, the contact condition with friction between abutment and implant in the tapered joints and at abutment neck reduced the effect of bending caused by horizontal component of inclined load. The maximum Von Mises stress in bone was the highest for the external-hex implant.

DISCUSSION
It was found that the internal-hex implant system generated the lowest maximum Von Mises stresses for all loading conditions because of reduction of the bending effect by sliding in the tapered joints between the implant and abutment.

CONCLUSIONS
It was concluded that abutment type has significant influence on the stress distribution in bone because of different load transfer mechanisms and the differences in size of the contact area between the abutment and implant.


This article analyses the dynamic spatial equilibrium of taxicabs and shows how common taxi regulations lead to substantial inefficiencies as a result of search frictions and mis-allocation. To analyse the role of regulation on frictions and efficiency, I pose a dynamic model of spatial search and matching between taxis and passengers. Using a comprehensive dataset of New York City yellow medallion taxis, I use this model to compute the equilibrium spatial distribution of vacant taxis and estimate intraday demand given price and medallion regulations. My estimates show that the weekday New York market achieves about $\$$5.7 million in daily welfare or about $\$$27 per trip, but an additional 53 thousand customers fail to find cabs due to search frictions. Counterfactual analysis shows that implementing simple tariff pricing changes can enhance allocative efficiency and expand the market, offering daily consumer surplus gains of up to $\$$227 thousand and up to 49 thousand additional daily taxi-passenger matches, a similar magnitude to the gain in matches generated by adopting a perfect static matching technology.


Summary

1
Bythotrephes cederstroemi (Crustacea: Onychopoda: Cercopagidae) is an introduced invertebrate predator currently spreading through the Laurentian Great Lakes region of North America. We examined a previously unsuspected way in which B. cederstroemi may be dispersed by fish by their consumption of diapausing eggs.

2
Ninety-four percentage of the mature B. cederstroemi diapausing eggs consumed by fish were egested apparently intact. This proportion is considerably above previous estimates for the ephippial eggs of Daphnia. The hatching success of diapausing eggs was compared among four categories: (a) eggs released naturally by B. cederstroemi (control, 73% hatched) (b) eggs released during 'stressful confinement' (46% hatched) (c) eggs dissected from dead females (13% hatched) and (d) eggs recovered from faecal pellets following consumption by fish (viable gut passage experiment, 41% hatched).

3
Samples of small fish and B. cederstroemi were collected simultaneously. Examination of gut contents revealed that fish contained B. cederstroemi diapausing eggs and that B. cederstroemi bearing resting eggs were consumed selectively over those without eggs. Moreover, fish selected B. cederstroemi bearing mature rather than immature diapausing eggs.

4
The fact that diapausing eggs survive gut passage is important for the dispersal of B. cederstroemi. Fish often move between the pelagic and littoral zones of lakes and may thus disperse diapausing eggs widely. Fish may also move between lakes connected by river systems and can be caught and passively dispersed by anglers or piscivorous birds. Our results demonstrate the potential for fish to act as vectors in the spread of B. cederstroemi.


James Jackson Putnam was an established sixty-three-year-old Boston physician and Harvard professor of neurology when he and William James traveled to Clark University to hear Sigmund Freud's lectures on psychoanalysis. Putnam had become interested in psychoanalytic theory three years earlier in 1906; and, in 1908, his interest had been renewed when he met Freud's first English-speaking follower, twenty-eight-year-old Ernest Jones. It still surprised and even disturbed his friends, however, when Putnam became Freud's first American convert as well as a founder and first president of the American Psychoanalytic Association in 1911, and of the Boston Society for Psychoanalysis in 1914. Of the 172 letters in this volume 163 are published here for the first time. All of the letters present new perspectives on the origins and early development of psychoanalysis in the United States. They provide the first documentary account of the founding of the American psychoanalytic organizations and the battles that surrounded the first public presentations of the psychoanalytic cause in Europe and America. They dramatize the extent to which Freud and Jones used Putnam as a confidant and how important Putnam's Yankee fairness, objectivity, and personal integrity were to the movement. It is intriguing to discover how these men, long before formal training centers were established, educated each other by mail and learned by letters how to handle psychoanalytic problems never recognized or encountered before. Theory was debated as well, and the 89 letters between Putnam and Freud indicate how Freud's increasingly disillusioned stoicism clashed with Putnam's New England optimism and formed the basis for a significant dialogue on the nature of man, ethics, and the psychoanalytic mission. The letters suggest that Putnam encouraged Freud's interest in the analysis of conscience and of religion that Wilhelm Wundt and Carl Jung had earlier awakened. Nathan G. Hale, Jr., in an introductory essay, provides the background and the explanation for the surprising role Putnam played in what he came to call the "cause." Marian C. Putnam, who made the unpublished letters available, has written a warm recollection of her father. Judith Bernays Heller, Freud's niece, has translated the German texts, which are also published in the original German.


Summary Distinguishing primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) from familial hypocalciuric hypercalcaemia (FHH) can be challenging. Currently, 24-h urinary calcium is used to differentiate between the two conditions in vitamin D replete patients, with urinary calcium creatinine clearance ratio (UCCR) <0.01 suggestive of FHH and >0.02 supportive of PHPT. A 26-year-old Caucasian gentleman presented with recurrent mild hypercalcaemia and inappropriately normal parathyroid hormone (PTH) following previous parathyroidectomy 3 years prior. He had symptoms of fatigue and light-headedness. He did not have any other symptoms of hypercalcaemia. His previous evaluation appeared to be consistent with PHPT as evidenced by hypercalcaemia with inappropriately normal PTH and UCCR of 0.0118 (borderline low using guidelines of >0.01 consistent with PHPT). He underwent parathyroidectomy and three parathyroid glands were removed. His calcium briefly normalised after surgery, but rose again to pre-surgery levels within 3 months. Subsequently, he presented to our centre and repeated investigations showed 24-h urinary calcium of 4.6 mmol/day and UCCR of 0.0081 which prompted assessment for FHH. His calcium-sensing receptor (CASR) gene was sequenced and a rare inactivating variant was detected. This variant was described once previously in the literature. His mother was also confirmed to have mild hypercalcaemia with hypocalciuria and, on further enquiry, had the same CASR variant. The CASR variant was classified as likely pathogenic and is consistent with the diagnosis of FHH. This case highlights the challenges in differentiating FHH from PHPT. Accurate diagnosis is vital to prevent unnecessary surgical intervention in the FHH population and is not always straightforward. Learning points: Distinguishing FHH from PHPT with co-existing vitamin D deficiency is difficult as this can mimic FHH. Therefore, ensure patients are vitamin D replete prior to performing 24-h urinary calcium collection. Individuals with borderline UCCR could have either FHH or PHPT. Consider performing CASR gene sequencing for UCCR between 0.01 and 0.02. Parathyroid imaging is not required for making the diagnosis of PHPT. It is performed when surgery is considered after confirming the diagnosis of PHPT.


Microblogging platforms such as Twitter let users communicate with short messages. Due to the messages' short content and the users' tendency to type short queries while searching, it is particularly challenging to locate useful tweets that match user queries. The fundamental problems of word mismatch due to ambiguity are especially acute. To solve this problem, this thesis explores and compares multiple automatic query expansion methods that involve the most frequent hashtags and keywords. We built a Web service that provides real-time Twitter Search results incorporating automatic query expansion. Six pseudo-relevance feedback methods were studied and the numbers indicate that results without query expansion perform just as well as results with query expansion. However, the expanded queries find different relevant tweets than the original query, indicating, from multiple methods, that combining the results is a fruitful area for future investigations.


Cohousing has proven to be a successful and influential housing type. The reasons for its success also highlight the limits of its appeal, however, and some of the obstacles to its more widespread application. There are few cohousing schemes in Australia, not least because of these obstacles. In this paper, a simpler way to cohousing is identified, described as 'found cohousing'. Cohousing is only one of a variety of ways of achieving the broad aim of more socially and environmentally sustainable neighbourhoods. The paper samples some of these ways in the Australian context, from eco-villages to community development initiatives, and comparisons are drawn with cohousing. This paper is a companion paper to DES 17: Cohousing – An Introduction to a Residential Alternative.


Callahan introduces five articles drawn from presentations made at a December 1982 meeting at The Hastings Center. William Ruddick, in "What should we teach and test?," discusses the skills and knowledge that ethics tests on medical boards might evaluate. Ruth Macklin and Johanna Jones describe "The experience of the National Board of Medical Examiners" in assessing competency in medical ethics; Lynn O. Langdon and Albert R. Jonsen describe "The experience of the American Board of Internal Medicine"; Vanessa Merton discusses "Ethics tests in the legal profession"; and Carol Levine, in "Do ethics tests get a passing grade?," summarizes various views on the use of oral examinations and on the effects of ethics testing on ethics teaching.


A testament to the energy and creativity of a writer and journalist without equal, Charles Dickens' "Selected Journalism 1850-1870" is edited with an introduction and notes by David Pascoe in "Penguin Classics". Throughout his writing career Charles Dickens was a hugely prolific journalist. This volume of his later work is selected from pieces that he wrote after he founded the journal "Household Words" in 1850, up until his death in 1870. Here subjects as varied as his nocturnal walks around London slums, prisons, theatres and Inns of Court, journeys to the continent and his childhood in Kent and London are captured in remarkable pieces such as "Night Walks", "On Strike", "New Year's Day" and "Lying Awake". Aiming to catch the imagination of a public besieged by hack journalism, these writings are an extraordinary blend of public and private, news and recollection, reality and fantastic description. David Pascoe's introduction traces the development of Dickens' career as a journalist and examines his fusion of real events with flights of fancy. This edition also includes explanatory notes, a bibliography and a Dickens chronology. Charles Dickens is one of the best-loved novelists in the English language, whose 200th anniversary was celebrated in 2012. His most famous books, including "Oliver Twist", "Great Expectations", "A Tale of Two Cities", "David Copperfield" and "The Pickwick Papers", have been adapted for stage and screen and read by millions. If you enjoyed "Selected Journalism 1850 - 1870", you might like Dickens' "Sketches by Boz", also available in "Penguin Classics".


Economic affordability and access to water and waste services (WWS) are extensively studied topics in economic literature. However, most papers focus on social rights or the importance of water provision for equity and development. The impact of different regulatory and/or management models, the measurement of affordability and efficient pricing have all deserved the attention of researchers, but few studies assess the actual revenue impact of the existing social support mechanisms. For Portugal, while some preliminary data collection has taken place, a comprehensive review is still lacking. With this paper, the Water and Waste Services Regulation Authority (ERSAR) takes a first step towards filling that gap, by calculating the amount of subsidisation inherent in the adoption of social tariffs in mainland Portugal municipalities. Starting with an account of the current status quo, the article analyses different subsidisation situations, including a hypothetical framework where social tariffs are administered according to ERSAR's guidelines. Results indicate that, if ERSAR's Recommendation were fully applied, the number of social tariff beneficiaries could be above current figures, possibly translating into a disproportionate burden on the remaining WWS users through the application of higher bills. In the context of the severe economic crisis that is forcing families into increasing budgetary constraints, the article stresses issues of feasibility, drawing on the policy implications of the adoption of such discounts.


In his foreword, Robert D Tollison identifies the main objective of Geoffrey Brennan and James M Buchanan's THE REASON OF RULES: "...a book-length attempt to focus the energies of economists and other social analysts on the nature and function of the rules under which ordinary political life and market life function." In persuasive style, Brennan and Buchanan argue that too often economists become mired in explaining the obvious or constructing elaborate mathematical models to shed light on trivial phenomena. Their solution: economics as a discipline would be better focused on deriving normative procedures for establishing rules so that ordinary economic life can proceed unaffected as much as possible by social issues. In THE REASON OF RULES, Brennan and Buchanan sketch out a methodological and analytical framework for the establishment of rules. They point out that the consideration of rules has its roots in classical economics and has been hinted at in the work of some contemporary economists. But the enterprise of applying the analytical rigor of modern economics to the establishment of effective rules is the little-traveled road that bears the most promise. In fact, the basic idea of the importance of rules is a thread that runs through virtually the whole of Buchanan's distinguished career, and it is one of his signal contributions to the contemporary discipline of economics. THE REASON OF RULES is an elaboration of the potential for rules and the normative process by which they can best be devised.


The increasing availability of abundant geographically referenced information in the Geospatial Web provides a variety of opportunities for developing value-added LBS applications. However, large data volumes of the Geospatial Web and small mobile device displays impose a data visualization problem, as the amount of searchable information overwhelms the display when too many query results are returned. Excessive returned results clutter the mobile display, making it harder for users to prioritize information and causes confusion and usability problems. Mobile Spatial Interaction (MSI) research into this "information overload" problem is ongoing where map personalization and other semantic based filtering mechanisms are essential to de-clutter and adapt the exploration of the real-world to the processing/display limitations of mobile devices. In this thesis, we propose that another way to filter this information is to intelligently refine the search space. 3DQ (3-Dimensional Query) is our novel MSI prototype for information discovery on today's location and orientation-aware smartphones within 3D Geospatial Web environments. Our application incorporates human interactions (interpreted from embedded sensors) in the geospatial query process by determining the shape of their actual visibility space as a query "window" in a spatial database, e.g. Isovist in 2D and Threat Dome in 3D. This effectively applies hidden query removal (HQR) functionality in 360o 3D that takes into account both the horizontal and vertical dimensions when calculating the 3D search space, significantly reducing display clutter and information overload on mobile devices. The effect is a more accurate and expected search result for mobile LBS applications by returning information on only those objects visible within a user's 3D field-of-view.


Under conservative assumptions about the Galaxy, the derived velocity of the Smith Cloud indicates that it will have undergone at least one passage of the Galactic disc. Using hydrodynamic simulations, we examine the present-day structure of the Smith Cloud and find that a dark matter supported cloud is able to reproduce the observed present-day neutral hydrogen mass, column density distribution and morphology. In this case, the dark matter halo becomes elongated owing to the tidal interaction with the Galactic disc. Clouds in models neglecting dark matter confinement are destroyed upon disc passage, unless the initial cloud mass is well in excess of what is observed today. We then determine integrated flux upper limits to the gamma-ray emission around such a hypothesized dark matter core in the Smith Cloud. No statistically significant core or extended gamma-ray emission are detected down to a 95 per cent confidence level upper limit of 1.4 x 10(-10) ph cm(-2) s(-1) in the 1-300 GeV energy range. For the derived distance of 12.4 kpc, the Fermi upper limits set the first tentative constraints on the dark matter cross-sections annihilating into tau(+)tau(-) and b (b) over bar for a high-velocity cloud.


In this thesis, chitosan, a biocompatible polysaccharide that has been approved as a food additive was selected as a platform for the development of safe, efficient non-viral gene delivery systems to mammalian cells. Previously, chitosan-based gene formulations had been generally associated with high molecular weight chitosans, which were poorly characterised in terms of molecular weight distribution and degree of acetylation. Therefore, in order to improve the properties of chitosan-based gene formulations, the research associated with this thesis focused on establishing the structure-property relationships of well-defined, low molecular weight chitosans (chitosan oligomers) as delivery systems for nucleic acids (pDNA and siRNA) in vitro and after lung administration in vivo. pDNA dissociated more easily from chitosan oligomers than from conventional high molecular weight chitosans, resulting in a faster onset and higher levels of in vivo gene expression, comparable to those mediated by polyethyleneimine (PEI), one of the most efficient non-viral delivery systems. Coupling of a trisaccharide branch to the chitosan oligomers so as to target extracellular lectins resulted in a significant improvement in transfection efficiency because of enhanced cellular uptake and colloidal stability. In contrast to pDNA, longer linear chitosan oligomers were required to form physically-stable nanoparticles with siRNA that mediated efficient, sustained gene silencing in vitro. Finally, the use of an optimised catheter device for the nebulisation of small volumes of pDNA formulations resulted in improved dose precision and lung distribution in vivo compared with conventional intratracheal instillation. In conclusion, chitosan oligomers are interesting and viable alternatives to other non-viral gene delivery systems.


Vessels, Voyages and Visitors: HMS Vanguard and the Royal Tour of South Africa [1947]

The Royal Archives at Windsor hold the official diary of the Royal Tour of South Africa in 1947. Written by King George VI's Press Secretary, Captain Sir Lewis Ritchie RN (formerly known as 'Ricci', before he anglicised his name, and better known by many readers as the author of sea stories by the pseudonym, Bartameus), the official diary records the three-month journey by King George VI and his family on their first trip to South Africa in 1947, from their departure in London to their arrival at Portsmouth for the 6,000-mile journey to Cape Town harbour on the HMS Vanguard. It is post-war, a time of austerity and snow in London.

The King is, of course, travelling with a host of others besides his own family: an entourage, as well as commanders and crew, being a necessity for any royal travel at sea. Aside from his Press Secretary, there is also the seasoned BBC war correspondent Frank Gillard, whose voice is captured on British Pathe and BBC videos of newsreels from the time, all now archived online. We do not easily have access to the full documentary that was shown on the BBC in the historically momentous month of June 1947 (for this is when Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip announce their engagement; it is only weeks before Partition; and it is a year before the Nationalist Party come into power in South Africa), but we do have clips – both those chosen by the editors for viewing at the time, and now a select archival collection of cuts, of unused footage. Some clips are thus narrated, some are silent, and there are certainly significant gaps. The commentary too is not always geographically accurate.

With the extraordinary South African press coverage in archive collections such as the Royal Commonwealth Society and the Collections at the Royal Archives, to what extent are these filmic accounts representative of the physical journeys involved – on both sides – of the royal tour (on this point I am following Hilary Sapire who has described the 'epic' journeys over mountains and veld by so many Africans loyal to the monarchy and determined to actually see them).

However, though the royal family travel for some three months, what we see is mostly embarkations and arrivals, crowds waving, princesses playing on deck. On land, key sites on the itinerary organised by the King's South African hosts, pilgrimages to Rhodes's grave in the Matopos; later, en route back to England, Napoleon's burial place on the island of St Helena.

But what other travels - by vessels and visitors – occur alongside the procession of the royal family itself?

After the royal family's departure from Cape Town in February, five days after their arrival, the HMS Vanguard at first entertains locally, and then, as we learn from the Naval Review of 1947, it begins its cruise, following the route of the royal family to the extent that it can, on the coast – visiting Saldanha, East London, Port Elizabeth and Durban. As the Review notes, the itinerary of the ship includes 'various pre-arranged points of vantage, such as Mossel Bay, Knysna, Port Alfred and Hermanus, in order that as many people as possible might have an opportunity of seeing the ship', before it returns to Cape Town to collect the royal family for the homeward journey back to Portsmouth. In other words, the HMS Vanguard symbolises at sea the royal family who are now traversing the interior, travelling through the country on the White Train, a spectacle for the native inhabitants who come to view them. Then, thrillingly, in their respective aircraft, the King and Queen are given a chance to survey from above, flying further afield into Rhodesia and Botswana.

Exploring the ways in which the images and textual archives in the Royal Collection may or may not collaborate or coincide with the parallel story of the HMS Vanguard on its royal tour, this visual essay connects the individual and intersecting histories that we discover when we look beyond the centrality of the main procession of the royal tours, to the various travellers on the voyage with them.


-This paper describes the synthesis of a new derivative dihydro-3H-indol-3-ylidene propane dihydrazide [L], which have been obtained from the reaction between malonyl di-hydrazide and an ethanollic solution of isatin. Tetradentatemacrocyclic ligand [L] was characterized by (C.H.N), (FT-IR), (UV-Vis), and 1H.NMR.A series of the used metal complexes have been synthesized by the prepared ligand [L] reaction with some transition metal ions. The isolated complexes were Cr(III), Mn(II), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II) also characterized using different techniques such as (FT-IR), and (UV-Vis) spectroscopies, (C.H.N), flam atomic absorption in addition to the magnetic susceptibility and molar conductivity measurement. Al complexes were octahedral in geometry except for Zn (II) complex, which was tetrahedral . Structural Study of Complexes of Tetradentate Schiff Base Derived from with Cr(III), Mn(II), Co(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II) Ions,"


BACKGROUND
Solitary rectal ulcer syndrome (SRUS) is a chronic, benign defecation disorder often related to excessive straining. SRUS is diagnosed on the basis of clinical symptoms, endoscopic and histological findings.

METHODS
All patients diagnosed with SRUS by colonoscopy and confirmed by histopathology from October 2012 to August 2014 in the Department of Gastroenterology, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, India, were included in the study. Out of 92 patients, thirty-four patients underwent anorectal manometry. Twenty age-matched healthy volunteers were also studied with anorectal manometry to serve as controls.

RESULTS
Mean age of the group was 41 ± 19 years with age range of 10-82 years; males were 58 (63%) with male to female ratio of 1.7:1. Bleeding per rectum was present in 83%, constipation in 46.7%, abdominal pain in 27.2%, and diarrhea in 25% of the patients. On endoscopy, ulcerative lesions were seen in 83% patients of whom solitary and multiple lesions were present in 44% and 39%, respectively. Polypoidal lesions were reported in 17.4% whilst rectal polyps and erythematous mucosa were found in 5.4% and 2.2%, respectively. Histological examination revealed fibromuscular obliteration in 100% of patients, surface ulceration in 70.6% and crypt distortion in 20.65% of patients. Anal relaxation and balloon expulsion test was significantly abnormal in SRUS patients compared to healthy controls (53% vs. 20%, p < 0.01).

CONCLUSION
Rectal bleeding was the most common symptom and ulcerative lesions the most common endoscopic finding. Fecal evaluation disorder was more prevalent inpatients with SRUS.


To develop targeted intervention strategies for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, we first need to identify early markers of brain changes that occur before the onset of cognitive impairment. Here, we examine changes in resting-state brain function in humans from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. We compared longitudinal changes in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF), assessed by 15O-water PET, over a mean 7 year period between participants who eventually developed cognitive impairment (n = 22) and those who remained cognitively normal (n = 99). Annual PET assessments began an average of 11 years before the onset of cognitive impairment in the subsequently impaired group, so all participants were cognitively normal during the scanning interval. A voxel-based mixed model analysis was used to compare groups with and without subsequent impairment. Participants with subsequent impairment showed significantly greater longitudinal rCBF increases in orbitofrontal, medial frontal, and anterior cingulate regions, and greater longitudinal decreases in parietal, temporal, and thalamic regions compared with those who maintained cognitive health. These changes were linear in nature and were not influenced by longitudinal changes in regional tissue volume. Although all participants were cognitively normal during the scanning interval, most of the accelerated rCBF changes seen in the subsequently impaired group occurred within regions thought to be critical for the maintenance of cognitive function. These changes also occurred within regions that show early accumulation of pathology in Alzheimer's disease, suggesting that there may be a connection between early pathologic change and early changes in brain function.


With the rapid development of China's oil and gas pipeline mileage, pipeline construction will be unable to avoid crossing high-risk areas such as disaster risk areas, densely populated areas, environmentally sensitive areas. The traditional extensive pipeline patrol method has been unable to meet the requirements of fine management, which puts forward a new test for the upgrade of safety monitoring technology. In this paper, the distributed optical fiber sensing technology which has been studied intensively in recent years is introduced. Through in-depth analysis of pipeline requirements and characteristics of accompanying optical cable, a single-end BOTDA solution suitable for long-distance oil and gas pipelines is proposed. A 400-meter pipeline trench was excavated along the route of a domestic product oil pipeline. Strain special cables and GYTA53 cables were laid concurrently. Twelve strain monitoring sections were set up using vibrating wire strain sensors. The strain of two kinds of optical cables was monitored under various working conditions, such as partial backfilling, full backfilling, manual compaction and heavy mechanical compaction, as well as the monitoring values of two kinds of optical cable for soil temperature. The test results show that: 1) the strain-sensitive fiber optic cable is sensitive to strain feedback, and can produce rapid feedback to 2m3 pile soil, while the stress feedback of pipeline-accompanying fiber optic cable to soil is very small. 2) The temperature around the pipeline can be accurately reflected by the fiber optic cable, and it can be used for temperature compensation in strain monitoring.


Pretilt angle effect on the dark-state light leakage and viewing angle of in-plane switching (IPS) liquid crystal display is investigated. As the liquid crystal (LC) pretilt angle increases, the light leakage becomes more severe and the off-axis light leakage from the out-of-plane LC directors cannot be neglected. Introducing an oblique compensation plate (O-plate) reduces the off-axis light leakages from the crossed linear polarizers and the anisotropic LC media simultaneously which, in turn, improves the viewing angle of the IPS LCD


Structural changes associated with femtosecond laser fabrication of waveguides and Bragg gratings in fused silica were analyzed using optical microscopy and laser spectroscopy. Using 800 nm femtosecond lasers with a kilohertz repetition rate and various pulse energies, both smooth and rough modifications were induced. The different modification regimes were characterized by measuring the spectra of the light emitted during writing with the femtosecond laser and collecting fluorescence spectra after femtosecond writing using a low power 488 nm laser as an excitation source. The spectral features observed during and after writing can be used to distinguish the smooth and rough modification regimes, and they assist in understanding the underlying modification mechanisms..


Magnaporthe oryzae 2539 was previously found to be avirulent to most rice cultivars and, therefore, was assumed to carry many avirulence (AVR) genes. However, only one AVR gene, AVR1-CO39, which corresponds to a resistance (R) gene Pi-CO39(t) in rice cv. CO39, has been found from 2539 thus far. In order to identify more AVR genes, we isolated 228 progeny strains from a cross between 2539 and Guy11, an M. oryzae strain with strong virulence on rice, and inoculated these strains onto 23 rice accessions (22 individual cultivars and a mixture of 14 cultivars) that are all resistant to 2539 but susceptible to Guy11. Unexpectedly, the experimental results indicated that the avirulence of 2539 on these rice cultivars appeared to be controlled only by the AVR1-CO39 locus. Consistent with this result, we further found that all except one of the rice cultivars were resistant to two transformed Guy11 strains carrying a 1.05-kb fragment containing the AVR1-CO39 gene from 2539. These results suggest that AVR1-CO39 is a predominant locus controlling the broad avirulence of 2539 on cultivated rice. Based on the results of this study and other previous studies, we infer that AVR1-CO39 is a species-wise rather than a cultivar-wise host-specific AVR locus of M. oryzae for rice.


Perfusion of livers from fasted rats with nitrogen-saturated buffer caused hepatocellular damage within 30 min. Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) was released at maximal rates of approximately 300 U . g-1 . h-1 under these conditions, and virtually all cells in periportal and pericentral regions of the liver lobule were stained with trypan blue. Infusion of glucose, xylitol, sorbitol, or mannitol (20 mM) did not appreciably change the time course or extent of damage due to perfusion with nitrogen-saturated perfusate. However, fructose (20 mM) completely prevented damage assessed by LDH release, trypan blue uptake, and ultrastructural changes for at least 2 h of perfusion. Neither glucose, xylitol, sorbitol, nor mannitol (20 mM) increased lactate formation above basal levels during hypoxia. On the other hand, fructose (0.4-20 mM) caused a concentration-dependent increase in lactate formation that reached maximal rates of approximately 180 mumol . g-1 . h-1. The dose-dependent increase in glycolytic lactate production from fructose correlated well with cellular protection reflected by decreases in LDH release. ATP:ADP ratios were also increased from 0.4 to 1.8 in a dose-dependent manner by fructose. The results indicate that fructose protects the liver against hypoxic cell death by the glycolytic production of ATP in the absence of oxygen.


The author argues that Chinese characters have shaped Chinese poetic art not through their ideographic form but through their monosyllabic sound. Specifically, the pauses in a Chinese poetic line tend to be determined by sound patterns. Since monosyllabic sound is nearly always endowed with meaning, sound patterns tend to be semantic groupings as well. These groupings of meaning, in turn, determine syntax and, by extension, the organization of an entire poem. Given the semantic denseness of Chinese poetry, this structure is crucial to the overall meaning of a poem, to how we read or understand it. So what we have is something like sound ⇒ prosodic pattern ⇒ semantic grouping ⇒ syntax ⇒ structure. A multilayered integration of all these elements seems to represent the gestalt of Chinese poetic form, with monosyllabic sound as its foundation. At its best, this gestalt engenders a dynamic interplay of all its elements, from which poetic vision emerges.


Modern machining systems use horizontal and vertical data integration for the automatic monitoring and quality control of the machining operations. There are currently available some comprehensive papers focused on high-level system integration. Independently of that, there are also multiple publications focused on the automatic monitoring of specific machining operations. There is lack of presented connections between the high-level proposals and the operation-level methods. This paper proposes a framework for milling process monitoring that covers both mentioned levels, i.e., the system complexity as well as particular operation details. The data model consisting of five key objects (cutting tool management; machine tool; workpiece; machining operation and user) is presented within the framework.


If development is about poverty reduction, where the poorest live is an important question, especially so amid policy debates on what might follow the UN Millennium Development Goals. It is now well known that most of the poor do not live in low income nor fragile states, whether one uses income poverty or multi-dimensional poverty to assess this. However, low income and fragile states typically have higher rates of poverty and poverty severity than stable middle income countries which raises the question, even if middle income countries are home to the world's poor, where do the world's poorest live? This paper seeks to answer this question taking a multidimensional approach to poverty. Three approaches to identifying the 'Bottom Billion': by countries (eg low and middle income); by sub-national regions (as the poor may live in low-income regions of otherwise prosperous countries) and by poverty profiles of individuals from every survey household across 104 countries. Although the different approaches produce different findings there are notable commonalities across the approaches that are of relevance to the discussions of post2015 development goals.


Nrf2 is the main transcriptional controller of cellular oxidative stress responses. This is achieved by driving the transcription of a battery of cytoprotective genes that possess a characteristic Antioxidant Response Element (ARE) sequence in their upstream promoter regions. As such, the Nrf2 signalling pathway plays a vital role in health, aging and disease. Defects in Nrf2 activity can lead to impaired mitochondrial function and reduced protection against free radical damage. Over time these effects contribute to common age-related conditions including cardiovascular disease, neurodegeneration and chronic inflammatory conditions. Despite the well-characterised cytoprotective role of Nrf2, inappropriate over or under activation of Nrf2 signalling can also be detrimental. It is therefore important to develop a better understanding of how Nrf2 signalling networks may be regulated. For that reason, the primary aim of this project was to provide a better systems level contextual understanding of Nrf2 signalling in human cells, by generating an improved high-density experimentally defined human Nrf2-centric protein-protein interaction network. Under normal basal conditions Nrf2 binds to Keap1, a component of the Cul3/Rbx1 ubiquitin ligase complex, resulting in a constant process of Nrf2 ubiquitination and proteasomal degradation. However, under conditions of oxidative stress or pharmacological intervention, Keap1 becomes modified, thus altering the interaction with Nrf2 and allowing newly synthesised Nrf2 to be transported into the nucleus, resulting in the transcription of a diverse range of ARE-driven cytoprotective genes. While this simple process appears to operate in most cells, Nrf2 and Keap1 both have many more known and predicted interaction partners. Additionally, other components of the Nrf2 cascade are known to interact with components of other pathways and signalling networks such as the NF-ĸB complex. Currently it is not clear which of these interactions are competitive, sequential or conditional; or how these proteins may work together in multi-protein complexes. By addressing these questions we will be able to provide better insight into the detailed molecular mechanism of Nrf2 signalling and the potential effects of crosstalk between different signalling cascades in human cells. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks can also provide insight into the function of uncharacterised proteins and can guide future hypothesis driven research into protein function and the regulation of complex biological processes. PPI data for Nrf2 remains unclear and incomplete, therefore a predicted Nrf2 PPI network was initially generated from publically available datasets, an 'in-house' interactome and from literature. The yeast two-hybrid system was then initially employed to test 135 predicted binary interactions and identify novel Nrf2 interaction partners. A combination of secondary interaction methods and transcriptional activity assays were then used to assess confidence limits for Nrf2 partner interaction profiles. Finally, conditional changes in Nrf2 protein complex profiles were investigated in a series of Affinity Purification coupled with Mass Spectrometry assays. This study identified 98 novel experimentally defined binary Nrf2 interaction partners using the yeast two-hybrid assays, together with 96 novel interactions from the Mass Spectrometry studies. This increased the complexity of the binary Nrf2 PPI network by almost 4-fold, and the total Nrf2 interactome by 3.7- fold. This Nrf2-centric network can be used to guide future hypothesis driven research into the physiological mechanisms and functional relevance of these interactions, providing a more in-depth understanding of the molecular mechanisms of Nrf2 regulation and pathway crosstalk in human cells.


Abstract. Globally, tropical forest soils represent the second largest source of N2O and NO. However, there is still considerable uncertainty on the spatial variability and soil properties controlling N trace gas emission. Therefore, we carried out an incubation experiment with soils from 31 locations in the Nyungwe tropical mountain forest in southwestern Rwanda. All soils were incubated at three different moisture levels (50, 70 and 90 % water filled pore space (WFPS)) at 17 °C. Nitrous oxide emission varied between 4.5 and 400 μg N m−2 h−1, while NO emission varied from 6.6 to 265 μg N m−2 h−1. Mean N2O emission at different moisture levels was 46.5 ± 11.1 (50 %WFPS), 71.7 ± 11.5 (70 %WFPS) and 98.8 ± 16.4 (90 %WFPS) μg N m−2 h−1, while mean NO emission was 69.3 ± 9.3 (50 %WFPS), 47.1 ± 5.8 (70 %WFPS) and 36.1 ± 4.2 (90 %WFPS) μg N m−2 h−1. The latter suggests that climate (i.e. dry vs. wet season) controls N2O and NO emissions. Positive correlations with soil carbon and nitrogen indicate a biological control over N2O and NO production. But interestingly N2O and NO emissions also showed a positive correlation with free iron and a negative correlation with soil pH (only N2O). The latter suggest that chemo-denitrification might, at least for N2O, be an important production pathway. In conclusion improved understanding and process based modeling of N trace gas emission from tropical forests will benefit from spatially explicit trace gas emission estimates linked to basic soil property data and differentiating between biological and chemical pathways for N trace gas formation.


This work documents a new method for rapid and robust Cartesian mesh generation for component-based geometry. The new algorithm adopts a novel strategy that first intersects the components to extract the wetted surface before proceeding with volume mesh generation in a second phase. The intersection scheme is based on a robust geometry engine that uses adaptive precision arithmetic and automatically and consistently handles geometric degenerades with an algorithmic tie-breaking routine. The intersection procedure has worst-case computational complexity of O(N log N) and is demonstrated on test cases with up to 121 overlapping and intersecting components, including a variety of geometric degeneracies. The volume mesh generation takes the intersected surface triangulation as input and generates the mesh through cell division of an initially uniform coarse grid. In refining hexagonal cells to resolve the geometry, the new approach preserves the ability to directionally divide cells that are well aligned with local geometry. The mesh generation scheme has linear asymptotic complexity with memory requirements that total approximately 14-17 words/cell. The mesh generation speed is approximately 10 6 cells/minute on a typical engineering workstation


Push-up and the bench- press are common exercises to develop upper-body strength and muscle endurance. The purpose of this study was to compare muscle endurance performance of matched load push-up and bench-press between men and women, where women perform modified push-up and men standard push-up. Thirty-two young healthy men and women (16 men and 16 women) participated in the study. Participants completed three tests, push-ups to failure, one repetition maximum (1RM) bench-press, and a bench-press test to failure performed with a load equivalent to percent body mass during the push-up. On average men performed 17.5 more repetitions than women in the bench-press test (men 25.3 (5.7), women 5.9 (4.2), p < 0.001). No difference ( p = 0.25) was found between women and men in the number of push-ups performed (men 32.8 (8.3), women 29.6 (7.1)). However, within subjects differences were observed between bench-press and push-up exercises, p < 0.001. 1RM bench-press load was greater in men, in absolute values, men lifted 77.7 kg more than women ( p < 0.001), and relative to body mass, men lifted 2.4 times more mass than women ( p < 0.001). These results suggest that bench-press and push-up muscle endurance exercises differ greatly in women but not in men, likely due to gender differences in upper-body strength. This is an important consideration for upper-body strength training prescriptions.


How can the unique knowledge, experience, technology, institutions, norms, and ideas of developing countries contribute to the political, economic, and social development of other developing countries? This question is worth asking, as ongoing discussions regarding emerging donors have failed to explore the possible contribution of developing countries to governance issues through the utilization of their unique resources. This paper examines the realities and potential of India's contribution to the enhancement of democratic governance in developing countries. It argues that India's enduring experience of constitutional democracy has been attracting attention from other developing countries, particularly those who are tackling the daunting challenge of consolidating democracy in tandem with the projects of nation-building and state-building within the inherently hostile environment of an ethnically and religiously divided society.


The sustainable use of aquatic living resources is the cornerstone of the ecosystem approach to fisheries management (EAF). Excess fishing effort leading to the degradation of fishery resources and significant economic waste is globally recognized by resource managers as a major problem for the implementation of the EAF and European's Union Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). Knowledge of how fishers allocate their fishing effort in space and time is essential to understand how a fishery develops. Understanding fishing strategies is also vital for predicting how a fishery might respond to proposed management changes such as effort/area restrictions and introduction of a marine protected area, and for drawing up a management policy. Random utility models were used to examine the factors affecting fishers' behaviour in the NE Mediterranean. The probability of selecting a specific fishing rectangle was estimated using monthly purse seine data. The predictive inputs concerned both subjective behavioural and objective seasonal and technical-economic characteristics. The present study provided direct evidence of the important role that the strategic decision-making behaviour of fishers could play in understanding the way the industry will respond to changes in resource availability, market conditions and management measures under the EAF principle.


Background: Formative assessment can assist students in acquiring clinical and professional competencies. Many tools exist in medical education literature, assessing various components of learning. However, using multiple processes is administratively complex. Methods: Using best practice in medical education, we integrated multiple processes into a portfolio for the Postgraduate Diploma in Eye Care. Results: The portfolio contains objective structured clinical examination guidelines, mini-clinical evaluations, learning journals, performance appraisals and patient feedback to assess development of competencies, assist learning and provide feedback to staff and students. Evaluation by supervisors and students showed good portfolio face validity and acceptability. Conclusion: Similar clinical portfolios could be applied to competency-based optometry programs.


To make accurate predictions about a system one must develop a model for that system. Bilinear models are often attractive options because they allow the user to model nonlinear interactions between variables in complicated systems with (potentially) millions of variables. In this work we apply bilinear models to two separate domains and present novel models for improved prediction accuracy and novel heuristics for solving the optimization problems that arise from the use of bilinear models. In the first system we use a bilinear model to predict the remaining useful life (RUL) of a rechargeable lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery. The approach used to solve the bilinear model leverages bilinear kernel regression to build a nonlinear mapping between the capacity feature space and the RUL state space. Specific innovations of the approach include: a general framework for robust sparse prognostics that effectively incorporates sparsity into kernel regression and implicitly compensates for errors in capacity features; and two numerical procedures for error estimation that efficiently derives optimal values of the regression model parameters. Second, we apply a bilinear model to the matrix completion problem, where one seeks to recover a data matrix from a small sample of observed entries. We assume the matrix we wish to recover is low-rank (the rank of the matrix is much less than either dimension) and model it as the product of two low-rank matrices. We then adapt existing parallel solutions to this model for use on a graphics processing unit (GPU). Additionally, we introduce a novel method for inductive matrix completion on a GPU.


The introduction of the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy in Higher Education in 2015 inspired many librarians to rethink how they offer information literacy instruction. This multi-method study, using data from a survey and five focus groups, explores the use of the Framework in business information literacy (BIL). The study research questions focus on how librarians engage with the Framework in supporting the information needs of business students. Participants indicate that they make implicit, direct, and institutional use of the Framework. They also use a variety of tools aside from the Framework when designing their BIL instruction. Limitations of the Framework include the language of the document and irrelevance to some disciplinary contexts; librarians also struggle with meeting faculty expectations and finding the time for implementation. However, they find "Authority Is Constructed and Contextual," "Information Has Value," and "Searching as Strategic Exploration" to be the most useful frames for BIL instruction.


INTRODUCTION
Eye drops made from Euphrasia rostkoviana Hayne have been used in anthroposophical medicine for more than 70 years for the structuring of the fluid organism in the eye, especially in inflammatory and catarrhal conjunctivitis. The aim of this prospective cohort trial was to describe the efficacy and tolerability of these eye drops in a community-based setting. To evaluate these questions, prospective cohort studies are the best method. This enables the investigator to attain real insights as to which treatment administered related to specific results in a specific group of patients.

DESIGN
Prospective, open label, one-armed, multicentered, multinational cohort trial.

SETTING
The trial was carried out in the clinics of 12 experienced anthroposophical general practitioners and ophthalmologists in Germany and Switzerland.

PATIENTS
Patients with inflammatory or catarrhal conjunctivitis, treated with Euphrasia single-dose eye drops were included in the trial.

INTERVENTION
One drop of Euphrasia single-dose eye drops 1-5 times a day was prescribed. The prescription was determined solely by medical therapeutic needs.

OUTCOME MEASURES
Efficacy variables were: redness, swelling, secretion, burning of the conjunctiva, and foreign body sensation. Tolerability variables were: conjunctival reddening, burning of the conjunctiva, foreign body sensation, and veiled vision. All symptoms were given for the right or left eye separately, with degree of severity in relation to baseline after approximately 7 days (+/-3 days; first follow-up examination) and after approximately 14 days (+/-3 days; second follow-up examination). If, after the first follow-up, all symptoms had disappeared, no second follow-up was done.

RESULTS
Sixty-five (65) patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria for the protocol evaluation. A complete recovery was seen in 53 patients (81.5%) and a clear improvement in 11 patients (17.0%). A slight worsening could only be determined in 1 patient in the second week of treatment (1.5%). No serious adverse events were observed during the entire trial. The efficacy and tolerability were evaluated by the patients and doctors as "good" to "very good" in more than 85%.

CONCLUSION
Euphrasia single-dose eye drops can effectively and safely be used for various conjunctival conditions by general practitioners and ophthalmologists. A dosage of one drop three times a day seems to be the general prescribed dosage.


This paper explores superadditivity effects in natural language by considering three interrelated phenomena in Colloquial Bambara (CB). The premise of superadditivity is that although marked structures are accommodated in a system, particular structures cannot co-occur in a given domain. This arises because the simultaneous, additive violation of constraints within a domain arguably incurs an additional penalty. Thus, languages may limit the number of phonologically complex structures in a domain. We consider superadditivity in CB, which places strict limitations on the type and distribution of complex syllables within a word. We also discuss these data as they relate to models of phonological acquisition which maintain that outright bans on multiple complex structures do not occur in adult language yet are frequently encountered in developing languages.


Objective: Neuropathic pain is a prevalent desease that greatly impairs the patients quality of life. A lack of the understanding of its aetiology, inadequate relief, and development of tolerance and potential toxicity of classical antinociceptives warrant the investigation of the newer agents to relieve this pain. The aim of the present study was to explore the antinociceptic effect of curcumin and its effect on expression of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor in spinal dorsal horn and dorsal root ganglion in chronic constriction injury (CCI) mode of neuropathic pain of rats. Methods: Paw withdrawal mechanical threshold (PWMT) and paw withdrawal thermal latency (PWTL) of rats were measured on 2th pre-operative and 1, 3, 5, 7, 10, 14 post-operative days, and the expression of NMDAR NR-1 in spinal dorsal horn and DRG was measured by Immunohistochemical staining and western-blot. Results: CCI rats exhibited significant hyperalgesia after operation as compared with control rats. Chronic treatment with curcumin 100mg/kg/day for 14days starting from the 1 th day after CCI operation significantly attenuated PWMT and PWTL. Curcumin also inhibited the expression of NMDAR NR-1 in spinal dorsal horn and DRG. Conclusion: These results indicate an antinociceptive activity of curcumin possibly through its inhibitory action on expression of NMDAR NR-1 in spinal dorsal horn and DRG and point towards its potential to attenuate neuropathic pain.


Anticipation is crucial for fluent human-robot interaction, which allows a robot to independently coordinate its actions with human beings in joint activities. An anticipatory robot relies on a predictive model of its human partners, and selects its own action according to the model's predictions. Intention inference and decision making are key elements towards such anticipatory robots. In this thesis, we present a machine-learning approach to intention inference and decision making, based on Hierarchical Gaussian Process Dynamics Models (H-GPDMs).

We first introduce the H-GPDM, a class of generic latent-variable dynamics models. The H-GPDM represents the generative process of complex human movements that are directed by exogenous driving factors. Incorporating the exogenous variables in the dynamics model, the H-GPDM achieves improved interpretation, analysis, and prediction of human movements. While exact inference of the exogenous variables and the latent states is intractable, we introduce an approximate method using variational Bayesian inference, and demonstrate the merits of the H-GPDM in three different applications of human movement analysis. The H-GPDM lays a foundation for the following studies on intention inference and decision making.

Intention inference is an essential step towards anticipatory robots. For this purpose, we consider a special case of the H-GPDM, the Intention-Driven Dynamics Model (IDDM), which considers the human partners' intention as exogenous driving factors. The IDDM is applicable to intention inference from observed movements using Bayes' theorem, where the latent state variables are marginalized out.
As most robotics applications are subject to real-time constraints, we introduce an efficient online algorithm that allows for real-time intention inference. We show that the IDDM achieved state-of-the-art performance in intention inference using two human-robot interaction scenarios, i.e., target prediction for robot table tennis and action recognition for interactive robots.

Decision making based on a time series of predictions allows a robot to be proactive in its action selection, which involves a trade-off between the accuracy and confidence of the prediction and the time for executing a selected action. To address the problem of action selection and optimal timing for initiating the movement, we formulate the anticipatory action selection using Partially Observable Markov Decision Process, where the H-GPDM is adopted to update belief state and to estimate transition model. We present two approaches to policy learning and decision making, and show their effectiveness using human-robot table tennis.

In addition, we consider decision making solely based on the preference of the human partners, where observations are not sufficient for reliable intention inference. We formulate it as a repeated game and present a learning approach to safe strategies that exploit the humans' preferences. The learned strategy enables action selection when reliable intention inference is not available due to insufficient observation, e.g., for a robot to return served balls from a human table tennis player.

In this thesis, we use human-robot table tennis as a running example, where a key bottleneck is the limited amount of time for executing a hitting movement. Movement initiation usually requires an early decision on the type of action, such as a forehand or backhand hitting movement, at least 80ms before the opponent has hit the ball. The robot, therefore, needs to be anticipatory and proactive of the opponent's intended target. Using the proposed methods, the robot can predict the intended target of the opponent and initiate an appropriate hitting movement according to the prediction. Experimental results show that the proposed intention inference and decision making methods can substantially enhance the capability of the robot table tennis player, using both a physically realistic simulation and a real Barrett WAM robot arm with seven degrees of freedom.


Abstract Previous research has generally ignored whether consumers exhibit a "treatment bias" and have more favorable opinions of physicians who provide more treatment even if the benefits of more treatment are equivocal. This research experimentally manipulates three variables, (1) treatment choice (more treatment versus less treatment), (2) interpersonal treatment (patient involvement with treatment decisions), and (3) health outcomes, and examines their influence on respondent's inferences about the physician's ability, concern for patient welfare, quality of care, and accountability for patient death. Results clearly showed evidence of a treatment bias. Consumers made more favorable inferences about the physician in the more treatment condition even though both physicians acknowledged that the less treatment option was recommended for the patient. Results also showed that consumers' inferences about the physician were more favorable in the better health outcomes condition. There was no influence of patient involvement on consumers' inferences about the physician.


The U.S. today faces the most complex and challenging security environment in recent memory-- even as it deals with growing constraints on its ability to respond to threats. Its most consequential challenge is the rise of China, which increasingly has the capability to deny the U.S. access to areas of vital national interest and to undermine alliances that have underpinned regional stability for over half a century. Thus, the time is right for the U.S. to adopt a long-term strategy for dealing with China; one that includes but is not limited to military means, and that fully includes U.S. allies in the region. This book uses the theory and practice of peacetime great-power strategic competition to derive recommendations for just such a strategy. After examining the theory of peacetime strategic competition, it assesses the U.S.-China military balance in depth, considers the role of America's allies in the region, and explores strategies that the U.S could adopt to improve its strategic position relative to China over the long term.


Numerous papers included within the broad subject of geomaterials have been published in QJEGH over the past 50 years. These have been compiled and divided here into three main categories: aggregates, building stone and earthworks. The aim of this review is to provide a comprehensive summary of the relevant papers published in QJEGH with a view to identifying the main areas of interest historically, now and in the future. Some clear trends are evident from the survey and review; for example, there has been a steady interest in building stone and in particular its deterioration, a decline in papers on earthworks and an increase in those on ground improvement (also covered here). It is also noted that methods of characterizing geomaterials are becoming more sophisticated with advancing technology. The review makes relevant links with other Special Publications from the Geological Society, including also Engineering Geology Special Publications.


Methionine is an essential amino acid in mammals at the junction of methylation, protein synthesis, and sulfur pathways. However, this amino acid is highly susceptible to oxidation, resulting in a mixture of methionine-S-sulfoxide and methionine-R-sulfoxide. Whether methionine is quantitatively regenerated from these compounds is unknown. Here we report that SK-Hep1 hepatocytes grew on methionine-S-sulfoxide and consumed this compound by import and methionine-S-sulfoxide reductase (MsrA)-dependent reduction, but methionine-R-sulfoxide reductases were not involved in this process, and methionine-R-sulfoxide could not be used by the cells. However, SK-Hep1 cells expressing a yeast free methionine-R-sulfoxide reductase proliferated in the presence of either sulfoxide, reduced them, and showed increased resistance to oxidative stress. Only methionine-R-sulfoxide was detected in the plasma of wild type mice, but both sulfoxides were in the plasma of MsrA knock-out mice. These results show that mammals can support methionine metabolism by reduction of methionine-S-sulfoxide, that this process is dependent on MsrA, that mammals are inherently deficient in the reduction of methionine-R-sulfoxide, and that expression of yeast free methionine-R-sulfoxide reductase can fully compensate for this deficiency.


Background: Since receiving unexplained pneumonia patients at the Jinyintan Hospital in Wuhan, China in December 2019, the new coronavirus (COVID-19) has rapidly spread in Wuhan, China and spread to the entire China and some neighboring countries. We establish the dynamics model of infectious diseases and time series model to predict the trend and short-term prediction of the transmission of COVID-19, which will be conducive to the intervention and prevention of COVID-19 by departments at all levels in mainland China and buy more time for clinical trials. Methods: Based on the transmission mechanism of COVID-19 in the population and the implemented prevention and control measures, we establish the dynamic models of the six chambers, and establish the time series models based on different mathematical formulas according to the variation law of the original data. Findings: The results based on time series analysis and kinetic model analysis show that the cumulative diagnosis of pneumonia of COVID-19 in mainland China can reach 36,343 after one week (February 8, 2020), and the number of basic regenerations can reach 4.01. The cumulative number of confirmed diagnoses will reach a peak of 87,701 on March 15, 2020; the number of basic regenerations in Wuhan will reach 4.3, and the cumulative number of confirmed cases in Wuhan will reach peak at 76,982 on March 20. Whether in Mainland China or Wuhan, both the infection rate and the basic regeneration number of COVID-19 continue to decline, and the results of the sensitivity analysis show that the time it takes for a suspected population to be diagnosed as a confirmed population can have a significant impact on the peak size and duration of the cumulative number of diagnoses. Increased mortality leads to additional cases of pneumonia, while increased cure rates are not sensitive to the cumulative number of confirmed cases. Interpretation: Chinese governments at various levels have intervened in many ways to control the epidemic. According to the results of the model analysis, we believe that the emergency intervention measures adopted in the early stage of the epidemic, such as blocking Wuhan, restricting the flow of people in Hubei province, and increasing the support to Wuhan, had a crucial restraining effect on the original spread of the epidemic. It is a very effective prevention and treatment method to continue to increase investment in various medical resources to ensure that suspected patients can be diagnosed and treated in a timely manner. Based on the results of the sensitivity analysis, we believe that enhanced treatment of the bodies of deceased patients can be effective in ensuring that the bodies themselves and the process do not result in additional viral infections, and once the pneumonia patients with the COVID-19 are cured, the antibodies left in their bodies may prevent them from reinfection COVID-19 for a longer period of time.


In this paper, I propose to look closely at certain crucial aspects of the logic of Rawls' argument in Political Liberalism and related subsequent writings. Rawls' argument builds on the notion of comprehensiveness, whereby a doctrine encompasses the full spectrum of the life of its adherents. In order to show the mutual conflict and irreconcilability of comprehensive doctrines, Rawls needs to emphasise the comprehensiveness of doctrines, as their irreconcilability to a large extent emanates from that comprehensiveness. On the other hand, in order to show the possibility and plausibility of the political liberal solution he needs to emphasise that most of these doctrines are reasonable: i.e., they are willing to cede a portion of their authority to political liberalism for the right reasons. Yet, if they are willing to cede a portion of their authority to a political conception they cannot be as comprehensive as we initially thought they were. All these elements highlight the tension in the argument itself. I suggest that many of these tensions can be removed by making Rawls' account more flexible. In this context I propose certain amendments to Rawls' account, which may overcome some of the tensions mentioned above.


This thesis theoretically investigated the psychoanalytic process working through with the purpose of clarifying and refining the concept. The literature on working through and its elements, resistance and interpretation was examined. The concepts of working through of the school of ego psychology, the school of object relations and the school of self psychology were compared. Theoretical analysis involved explaining the working through process by simple analogy. My findings were that working through decreases the patient"s defensive anxieties through the medium of words. This explanation applies to all three schools. In addition, a model of psychic development was derived, which integrates the theories of the ego school, the object relations school, and the school of self psychology.


Arbitration is a judicial act of a special nature wherein the arbitrator obtains his authority from the agreement of the parties. The benefits of such an alternative means of dispute settlement usually include cost savings, increased efficiency compared to court hearings, more control over the proceedings, and some degree of confidentiality with respect to pleadings and the award. Arbitration, whether local or foreign, is regulated in Kuwait by the Civil and Commercial Pleadings Law No. 38 of 1980. Under the Pleadings Law and the 1958 New York Convention, to which Kuwait is a party, a foreign arbitral award is enforced in Kuwait provided that certain conditions are met.The Pleadings Law follows an 'observation' approach rather than a 'revision' approach, which means that a Kuwaiti judge will not act like an appeals court judge but rather as an 'observer of conformity' of the award with Kuwaiti law and the New York Convention.


This study analyzes the basic concepts and key issues of existing collaboration between government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in health care, using as an example the implementation of the DOTS (formerly an abbreviation for directly observed treatment, short course) strategy for tuberculosis (TB) control in Bangladesh. It also examines efforts by the Government of Bangladesh to improve health services delivery, especially for the poor, through collaboration with NGOs. Data were collected in 2001 and 2002 as a part of the process of developing a public-private partnership model for TB care in Bangladesh. Analyses of existing collaboration models in TB control strongly suggest that the government and NGO sectors can be complementary in controlling TB. We found an increasing trend of government collaborating with NGOs in implementing TB control programmes. The study indicates that government-NGO collaboration is an effective way of improving access to and quality of TB and other health care services.


The main goal of this article is to describe Bender, a general-purpose social robot with human--robot interaction capabilities, and to report and analyze its applicability in three different natural environments: (i) home settings, (ii) school classrooms, and (iii) public places. Evaluation of the robot's performance is based on its ability to detect and identify humans in those settings, its ability to express emotions, and its ability to interact naturally with humans. The obtained results, although preliminary, indicate that the robot has great acceptance from expert and non-expert human users alike, and that it is able to interact successfully with humans using human-like interaction mechanisms, such as speech and visual cues (particularly facial information). It is remarkable that the robot even has the potential to teach children in a real classroom setting. Further experiments will be conducted in order to better assess the robot's potential.


Visual analytics for time series data has received considerable attention in previous literature, and different approaches have been developed to understand the characteristics of the data and to obtain meaningful information. Visualizing, analyzing and presenting large temporal datasets are important tasks to understand, navigate and explore such data. Onedimensional time-series charts are usually used to visualize time series data but if the dataset contains multiple time series with a large number of observations a high degree of overlap will occur which may obscure important information. This problem has become a vital challenge in many domains such as finance, biological systems, and meteorology. The need for analyzing and exploring large time-series data led researchers to develop various interactive visualization tools and analytical algorithms which aim to give insight into the data, and most of them either focus on a small number of tasks or a specific domain. We propose a visual analytics system and approach which aims to visualize, analyze, present and explore large temporal datasets. Our approach consists of three main stages which are preprocessing, dimensionality reduction, and visual exploration. It assists with finding the interesting features in the data which are often obscured in the line chart or the visual compression that is required to render the large datasets on a small screen. Also, it helps to obtain an overview of the entire dataset and track changes over time. Moreover, it enables the user to detect clusters and outliers and observe the transitions between data. The juxtaposed views are used to visualize and interact both with raw time series data and projection data. Different time series datasets are deployed on our system, and we demonstrate the utility and evaluate the results using a case study with two different datasets which show the effectiveness of our system.


Problem statement: Some component of fermentation medium showed to reduce the bacterial production of hydrogen. Approach: Reinforced clostridium medium is a selected medium for Clostridium species. Reformulation this medium regarding hydrogen production may focus on such medium composition that enhance or reduce the bacterial productivity. The optimum pH and temperature for hydrogen production were at initial pH of 7.0 and 30°C. Results: The results show that both nitrogen source and its concentration affected biomass growth as well as H2 yield. Yeast extract at concentration of 13 gL-1 was the best organic nitrogen source and resulted in hydrogen yield (YP/S) of 308 mL g-1 glucose utilized with biomass concentration of 1.1 gL-1, hydrogen yield per biomass (YP/X) of 280 mL g-1 L-1, biomass per substrate utilized (YX/S) of 0.22 and produced hydrogen in gram per gram of glucose utilized (YH2/S) of 0.0275. C/N of 70 enhanced the YP/S from 308 mL g-1 to 350 mL g-1 glucose utilized with biomass concentration of 1.22 gL-1, YP/X of 287 mL g-1 L-1, YX/S of 0.244 and (YH2/S) of 0.03125. In the absence of sodium chloride and sodium acetate further enhanced YP/S from 350 mL g-1 glucose utilized to 391 mL g-1 glucose utilized with maximum hydrogen productivity of 77.5 mL L-1 h-1, whereas RCM medium gave the highest hydrogen productivity of 63.5 mL L-1h-1. Results also show that Sodium Chloride and Sodium Acetate in the medium adversely affect growth. Removal of both components from the medium enhanced the biomass concentration from 1.22-1.34 gL-1, YP/X of 254 mL g-1 L-1, YX/S of 0.268 and (YH2/S) of 0.0349. Conclusion: The medium an improved containing (glucose 5 gL-1, Yeast extract gL-1, L-Cystine. HCl 1 gL-1 and Bacteriological agar 0.5 gL-1), was able to enhance the hydrogen productivity.


Modular structures in biological networks are ubiquitous and well-described, yet this organization does not capture the complexity of genes individually influencing many modules. Pleiotropy, the phenomenon of a single genetic locus with multiple phenotypic effects, has previously been measured according to many definitions, which typically count phenotypes associated with genes. We take the perspective that, because genes work in complex and interconnected modules, pleiotropy can be treated as a network-derived characteristic. Here, we use the complete network of yeast genetic interactions (GI) to measure pleiotropy of nearly 2700 essential and nonessential genes. Our method uses frequent item set mining to discover GI modules, annotates them with high-level processes, and uses entropy to measure the functional spread of each gene's set of containing modules. We classify genes whose modules indicate broad functional influence as having high pleiotropy, while genes with focused functional influence have low pleiotropy. These pleiotropy classes differed in a number of ways: high-pleiotropy genes have comparatively higher expression variance, higher protein abundance, more domains, and higher copy number, while low pleiotropy genes are more likely to be in protein complexes and have many curated phenotypes. We discuss the implications of these results regarding the nature and evolution of pleiotropy.


Underestimated for a long time, the involvement of the microenvironment has been proven essential for a better understanding of the cancer development. In keeping with this, the tumor is not considered anymore as a mass of malignant cells, but rather as an organ composed of various malignant and nonmalignant cell populations interacting with each other to create the tumor microenvironment. The tumor immune contexture plays a critical role in shaping the tumor immune response, and it is now well supported that such an immune response is impacted by the hypoxic stress within the tumor microenvironment. Tumor hypoxia is closely linked to tumor progression, metastasis, treatment failure, and escape from immune surveillance. Thus, hypoxia seems to be a key factor involved in creating an immune-suppressive tumor by multiple overlapping mechanisms, including the impairment of the function of cytotoxic immune cells, increasing the immunosuppressive properties of immunosuppressive cells, and activating resistance mechanism in the tumor cells. In this chapter, we review some recent findings describing how hypoxic stress in the tumor microenvironment hijacks the antitumor immune response.


This article discusses the implications of decision rules in the governance structures of transnational infrastructure projects. It stresses that decision rules strongly affect the performance of the partnership and that, consequently, attention should be given to their design at the initial stage. The article also stresses the fact that partners must not only agree on how to make ordinary decisions, but also special ones such as, for example, changing the rules along the way or making changes to the membership of the group. This paper makes the following specific points. First, the choice of partners is a key variable, which affects the choice of decision rules and, in turn, is influenced by the conditions for new entrants. Second, the choice of decision rules can crucially affect the degree of confidence and the level of cooperation among partners, as well as the speed at which the partnership adopts new decisions. Third, agreements on how to eventually change the initial set of rules and partners should be part of the design of a well established decision system.


Abstract Studies have been performed on plutonium burning in the Japanese prototype fast breeder reactor Monju. The main aims of these studies were to illustrate the plutonium-burning capabilities of fast reactors and to investigate the consequences of the related core design measures on the main core characteristics of Monju. Burner cores with diluting pins, with diluting subassemblies (also called diluents), and with an internal slice of inert material have been investigated; these require an increased average plutonium enrichment and thus offer an enhanced plutonium-burning rate. On the other hand, the consequences of the elimination of the radial and/or axial blanket have been investigated. Among the burner concepts, the B4C containing diluents have been found to be preferable because they cause the smallest maximum linear rating increase and offer the largest flexibility to adapt their reactivity via a modification of the B4C content. They also do not require a new fuel subassembly concept. For the case of the blanket elimination, the replacement of the blankets by steel reflectors has been found to be the best solution. The main consequence of the elimination of both blankets is the increase of the maximum linear rating by up to 11%. Whether this increase may lead to problems will depend on the actual linear power level of the core.


In enology, lees are mainly used in the traditional practice of « sur lies » wine ageing, which consists of carrying on the contact between wine and lees (yeasts and vegetal residues) during ageing. Lees come either from first or second fermentation, and could be used for white or red wines elaboration. Such an enological practice remains yet empirical. In the present paper, the state of art was investigated in order to collect and analyze most of the scientific works realized on wine lees. It includes also technological points relevant from such a practice.A clear definition of wine lees from legal and technological points of view was given in the first part of the present paper. A second part described the mechanisms of autolysis and focused more precisely on each class of identified autolysis products. Many scientific works had indeed revealed the yeast autolysis phenomenon occuring during such a way of wine ageing. All these works remained mainly based on identification of yeast macromolecules released in the wine during the autolysis phenomenon. However, the experimental methodologies followed by the different authors are variable, and most of the obtained results were difficult to extrapolate to actual wine ageing on lees. Only few works dealt with the physicochemical properties of such lees during autolysis, specially towards oxygen, polyphenols and other wine compounds. A compilation of recent data obtained on these peculiar topics was then given. In a third and last part, the effect of ageing wine on lees was approached from a technical point of view.


An ever-increasing amount of data and semantic knowledge in the domain of life sciences is bringing about new data management challenges. In this paper we focus on adding the semantic dimension to literature search, a central task in scientific research. We focus our attention on PubMed, the most significant bibliographic source in life sciences, and explore ways to use high-quality semantic annotations from the MeSH vocabulary to rank search results. We start by developing several families of ranking functions that relate a search query to a document's annotations. We then propose an efficient adaptive ranking mechanism for each of the families. We also describe a two-dimensional Skyline-based visualization that can be used in conjunction with the ranking to further improve the user's interaction with the system, and demonstrate how such Skylines can be computed adaptively and efficiently. Finally, we evaluate the effectiveness of our ranking with a user study.