Autologous blood cell transplantation (ABCT) has been successfully used to treat a variety of haematological cancers and some solid tumours. The number of patients who are long term survivors and free of disease following this treatment is growing rapidly. To enable nurses and health care workers to provide optimal supportive care for these patients, an understanding of how the transplant has affected their quality of life (QOL) is essential. In the last two decades numerous studies have focused on QOL issues in this patient group. However, the majority of these studies tend to approach QOL from a bio-physiological perspective, generating knowledge about the treatment and its side effects. Little is known about the patients' experiences and how they interpret their QOL in the years following their transplants. The purpose of this study was to explore QOL issues from the perspectives of 12 patients who had undergone an ABCT. Heideggerian phenomenology (interpretive phenomenology) was chosen as the theoretical framework for the study, as it allows for the transparent world of people's everyday lived experiences to be illuminated, and so reveal how they interpret their QOL. The aims of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of QOL issues through the participants interpretations of their experiences, and to uncover themes and different patterns of meaning which embody the participants' QOL. Data was collected through in-depth, unstructured interviews with each participant. Thematic analysis, exemplars and paradigm cases were utilised to present the participants' interpretations of their QOL. The findings showed that the participants' QOL was influenced by their interpretations of embodiment, being in time, being in society and re-appraisal of life. The findings also revealed that QOL following an ABCT is a highly individualised, dynamic experience that depends on the challenges the participants confront in their everyday lives. As the participants re-interpreted their lives following their transplants, their perspectives on their QOL changed. For some this was a positive experience, but for others their QOL diminished. The implication of this study is that nurses must be committed to providing individualised, patient focused care following an ABCT. The findings of this study offer a deeper understanding of patients' everyday lived experiences and their QOL following an ABCT, and will enable nurses and other health professionals to develop supportive care infrastructure to assist patients during their recoveries, thus improving their QOL.


INTRODUCTION
Previously we (Snapp-Childs et al., 2013a; 2013b; 2014) developed a method that supports active movement generation to allow practice with improvement of good compliance control. We showed that the method allowed children with Developmental Coordination Disorder to improve at a 3D tracing task to become as proficient as Typically Developing children who had also trained. We also showed that the training improved figure copying. In this study, we expanded the training protocol to include a wider variety of ages (5-10 year olds) and we varied the scale of training (smaller or larger figures of the same shape) to assess the generality of learning.

METHODS
Fifty children (eighteen 5-6 year olds, sixteen 7-8 year olds, and sixteen 9-10 year olds) were tested with the Beery VMI, the 3D tracing task, and a 2D letter-like figure-copying task. The children then trained on one version of the 3D tracing task (smaller or larger scale figures) until they all reached comparably good proficiency. The 3D tracing and copying tasks were tested again following training.

RESULTS
Performance on the 3D tracing task at baseline varied as a function of the level of difficulty, size of figure, and age. After training, the age differences were eliminated but the level of difficulty and size effects remained although the differences were greatly reduced. Also, training (on small versus larger figures) now influenced performance: training with small figures gave an advantage on smaller figures, while training with large figures gave an advantage on larger figures.

CONCLUSIONS
Training on the 3D tracing task, whether with larger or smaller scale figures, greatly improved performance and eliminated age differences but yielded some training specific effects. In conclusion, the training method does yield general learning and is not highly specific to one particular age group. Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2015.


Why do levels of entrepreneurship differ across America's cities? This paper presents basic facts on two measures of entrepreneurship: the self-employment rate and the number of small firms. Both of these measures are correlated with urban success, suggesting that more entrepreneurial cities are more successful. There is considerable variation in the self-employment rate across metropolitan areas, but about one-half of this heterogeneity can be explained by demographic and industrial variation. Self-employment is particularly associated with abundant, older citizens and with the presence of input suppliers. Conversely, small firm size and employment growth due to unaffiliated new establishments is associated most strongly with the presence of input suppliers and an appropriate labor force. I also find support for the Chinitz (1961) hypothesis that entrepreneurship is linked to a large number of small firms in supplying industries. Finally, there is a strong connection between area-level education and entrepreneurship.


This paper describes an evaluation of five machine learning algorithms for predicting the domestic space and hot-water heating production for the next day. The evaluated algorithms were the k-nearest neighbour algorithm, linear regression, regression tree, decision table and support vector machine regression. The hot water production was measured in the ME3Gas project, where data was collected from two Swedish households that use the same type of geothermal heat pumps for space heating and hot-water production. The evaluation consisted of four experiments where we compared the regression performance by varying the number of previous days and the number of time periods for each day as input features. In the experiments, the k-nearest neighbour algorithm, linear regression and support vector machine regression had the best performance.


Although nominally protected by a plethora of laws, and championed in several well-intentioned declarations and charters, today's worker often feels adrift on an uncharted sea subject to unpredictable currents that have nothing to do with the quality of his or her work. Can we get at the root of this serious problem? We can at least determine if our existing legal systems, especially in the area of collective bargaining, discrimination, social security and European integration are able and ready to tackle the world-of-work challenges that confront us. And if they are not, we can begin to formulate a basis for new and effective labour and social security laws. This was in fact the essential impetus for the European Conference of the International Society of Labour Law and Social Security held in Stockholm in September 2002, a ground-breaking conference of which this book is the written record. In general, the papers stress the European situation, as it is in the EU, both as it exists today and as it is likely to be in the foreseeable future, a community of twenty-five nations, that the major work challenges are felt, and that the legal debate on relevant issues is strongest and most open. However, the twenty-four distinguished authors include representatives from countries as farflung as Belarus and Congo, Korea and Turkey, and with these contributions the analysis extends to a study of fundamental rights as they actually exist under a wide variety of labour and social security law regimes in today's world. Collective Bargaining, Discrimination, Social Security and European Integration should not be overlooked by any policymaker or academic in the fields of labour and industrialrelations law or social security law. It is one of the most detailed and current investigations we have of a situation that threatens to become a crisis in contemporary law and society.


A panel of mAbs was elicited against intracellular membrane fractions from rat pancreas. One of the antibodies reacted with a 95-kDa protein that localizes primarily to the Golgi complex or the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), depending on cell type. The corresponding cDNA was cloned and sequenced and found to encode a protein of 97.6 kDa that we call GERp95 (Golgi ER protein 95 kDa). The protein copurifies with intracellular membranes but does not contain hydrophobic regions that could function as signal peptides or transmembrane domains. Biochemical analysis suggests that GERp95 is a cytoplasmically exposed peripheral membrane protein that exists in a protease-resistant complex. GERp95 belongs to a family of highly conserved proteins in metazoans and Schizosaccharomyces pombe. It has recently been determined that plant and Drosophila homologues of GERp95 are important for controlling the differentiation of stem cells (Bohmert et al., 1998; Cox et al., 1998; Moussian et al., 1998). In Caenorhabditis elegans, there are at least 20 members of this protein family. To this end, we have used RNA interference to show that the GERp95 orthologue in C. elegans is important for maturation of germ-line stem cells in the gonad. GERp95 and related proteins are an emerging new family of proteins that have important roles in metazoan development. The present study suggests that these proteins may exert their effects on cell differentiation from the level of intracellular membranes.


Within the context of school success of ethnic minority children in the Netherlands, it is currently debated what criteria should be applied by the Ministery of Education in assigning extra funds to children at risk. To this date, two criteria are used: level of parental education and parents' country of origin. As both criteria do no longer fully comply with the needs, it is proposed to test the children entering Kindergarten, with respect to their language proficiency in Dutch and/or their intelligence. This article reports the results of a longitudinal study on the language and school development of monolingual Dutch and bilingual ethnic minority children who were followed from entering Kindergarten at the age of 4, to the end of grade 6 in primaty school at the age of 12. During the first four years, Dutch language tasks ( ) were annually administered. Besides, children took an intelligence test (RAKIT) at the age of five. In grade 6, at the age of 12, a test battery of Dutch language proficiency, writing, reading, mathematics, science and information processing tasks were administered (Cito Eindtoets) to operationalise 'school success'. Finally, several background data were gathered, such as level of parental education and home language use. The results of regression analyses tentatively show that a language test administered in Kindergarten is the best predictor of school success (Multiple R= .432), that the intelligence test adjusts 4% to that, and that both home language use and parental education add another 2%. For the ethnic minority children alone, the Dutch language test (R2=.275) and home language use (adding 5%) are the only two predicting factors. However, if we look into the data as if we were teachers and had to decide whether or not to assign extra funds to a specific child on the basis of his/her test scores in Kindergarten, 29% of those assignments had been wrong: 14% wrongly not assigned ('false negatives'), and 15% wrongly assigned ('false positives'). For only 11% of the children the assignment of funds would have been predicted correctly. From this perspective, testing children in Kindergarten is not the most appropriate way to assign extra funds to children at risk.


PURPOSE
Most of the esophageal squamous cell carcinomas (ESCCs) and cancers of the head and neck (H&N) region are diagnosed at later stages. To achieve better survival, early detection is necessary. We compared the real-time diagnostic yield of superficial cancer in these regions between conventional white light imaging (WLI) and narrow band imaging (NBI) in high-risk patients.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
In a multicenter, prospective, randomized controlled trial, 320 patients with ESCC were randomly assigned to primary WLI followed by NBI (n = 162) or primary NBI followed by WLI (n = 158) in a back-to-back fashion. The primary aim was to compare the real-time detection rates of superficial cancer in the H&N region and the esophagus between WLI and NBI. The secondary aim was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of these techniques.

RESULTS
NBI detected superficial cancer more frequently than did WLI in both the H&N region and the esophagus (100% v 8%, P < .001; 97% v 55%, P < .001, respectively). The sensitivity of NBI for diagnosis of superficial cancer was 100% and 97.2% in the H&N region and the esophagus, respectively. The accuracy of NBI for diagnosis of superficial cancer was 86.7% and 88.9% in these regions, respectively. The sensitivity and accuracy were significantly higher using NBI than WLI in both regions (P < .001 and P = .02 for the H&N region; P < .001 for both measures for the esophagus, respectively).

CONCLUSION
NBI could be the standard examination for the early detection of superficial cancer in the H&N region and the esophagus.


It is a trend for pharmaceutical companies to contract third parties to conduct their clinical trials in order to test their drugs. This trend is referred to as 'outsourcing', and the companies that carry out the work are called 'contract research organisations' (CROs). In addition, clinical trials are increasingly conducted in non-traditional trial regions, which are mainly low- and middle-income countries. This trend is called 'offshoring'. It is widely agreed that the offshoring of clinical trials to these regions should be scrutinised from an ethical perspective because of the vulnerability of the trial population. What happens when offshoring is combined with outsourcing? Do additional ethical risks arise when clinical trials are contracted out? Virtually all pharmaceutical companies publicly declare that they test their drugs in accordance with the highest ethical guidelines, such as the Declaration of Helsinki. But how do pharmaceutical companies safeguard their commitments when they outsource clinical trial activities to CROs in poor regions? These are the central questions that are addressed in this report. The report is based on research conducted in India, Argentina, Brazil and Peru, and combined with interviews with pharmaceutical companies and clinical trial experts. The research experiences demonstrate that the pharmaceutical sector is generally not transparent, which hinders the definitive answering of the research questions. Nevertheless, the secondary and interview data collected in India, Argentina, Brazil and Peru provides some valuable insights into the way the CRO sector is developing in these countries. Furthermore, the report demonstrates that pharmaceutical companies have elaborate systems in place to manage their supply chain responsibility, although their functioning can not be independently verified. In addition, experts, authorities and clinical trial practitioners in the selected non-traditional trial regions still expressed grave concerns about the implementation of clinical trials in these countries.


Context
The long-term effects of metformin in women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) are inadequately studied.

Objective
The effects of metformin on women with PCOS during 24 months with respect to menses, hormones, and metabolic profiles are assessed.

Design
Prospective cohort.

Setting
A reproductive endocrinology clinic in a university-affiliated medical center.

Patients
One hundred nineteen women with PCOS, defined by the Rotterdam criteria, were enrolled.

Intervention
Metformin was given daily for 24 months.

Main Outcome Measures
The primary outcome was the proportion of patients with regular menstruation during treatment. Changes in anthropometric, hormonal, and metabolic parameters were also assessed. Analyses were performed using segmented regression analysis with a generalized estimating equation methodology. Outcomes are expressed as magnitude of change from the baseline.

Results
Both overweight (OW) and normal-weight (NW) women with PCOS had increased menstrual frequency and decreased body mass index (BMI), testosterone, and luteinizing hormone levels in the first 6 months. Further stratification showed that NW women exhibiting elevated testosterone at baseline had the largest magnitude of improvement at 6 months [odds ratio (OR), 7.21; 95% confidence interval (CI), 2.35 to 22.17], whereas OW patients with normal testosterone were most likely to achieve normal menses at 12 months (OR, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.47 to 0.77).

Conclusions
Metformin was associated with improvements in the menstrual cycle and most hormonal profiles in OW and NW women with PCOS during 24 months of treatment. Most parameters reached maximal response and steady-state after 6 months. Phenotypic differences in baseline BMI and testosterone level can be used as patient selection criteria or treatment prognostics.


The development of radar and concomitant observations on the heating effects of microwaves on biological materials have resulted in research programs directed toward developing sources of microwave energy and applying it to food processing. Numerous articles have appeared on the basic properties, modes of action, and applications of microwaves to food processing since about 1944; however, the development of continuous tunnels for processing around 1962 has generated more extensive and definitive articles in the field.This annotated bibliography covers more than 600 articles (including patents), which have been previously scattered throughout the food science literature. The abstracts are cross-indexed by author and by subject and are arranged alphabetically under the following categories: Books, Review Articles, and Announcements; Biological Effects of Microwaves, Personnel Safety, Measurement of Low Doses, Etc.; Dielectric Properties of Foods and Biological Materials and Their Measurement; Microwave Equipment--Power Sources, Ovens, Wave Guides, Tunnels, Etc.; and Applications, which include cooking and catering, general processing, sterilization and pasteurization, blanching and enzyme inactivation, packaging for microwave processing, baking, defrosting of frozen foods, freeze dehydration, dehydration, insect control, and special techniques for processing poultry, potato chips, and precooked bacon.


Summary Organic-rich sediments (black shales) occur in parts of the South Atlantic ocean within Jurassic, Cretaceous and Neogene sections. These black shales are represented by various lithologies, including mudstones, marlstones, limestones, sandstones, pebbly mudstones and diatomites. They range from thin to very thick bedded, laminated, fissile or structureless, and show varying degrees and types of bioturbation. Texturally and compositionally they are equally varied. Organic carbon may be of principally marine or terrigenous source and forms from 1% to over 20% of the sediment. In many cases, the black shales are interbedded with organic-poor lithologies in cycles with irregular periodicities that average 20,000 to 140,000 years. The range of depositional processes of these black shales includes sliding, debris flows, high- and low-concentration turbidity currents, pelagic/hemipelagic sedimentation, and winnowing by shelf bottom currents. They occur in various palaeogeographical settings from nearshore shelf to ocean basin, and have been differently influenced by variations in bottom water oxygenation, organic matter supply and rates of sedimentation.


Innovative neurostimulation therapies require improved electrode materials, such as poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) polymers or IrOx mixed ionic–electronic conductors and better understanding of how their electrochemistry influences nerve growth. Amphibian neurons growing on transparent films of electronic (metal) conductors and electronic–ionic conductors (polymers and semiconducting oxides) are monitored. Materials are not connected directly to the power supply, but a dipole is created wirelessly within them by electrodes connected to the culture medium in which they are immersed. Without electrical stimulation neurons grow on gold, platinum, PEDOT‐polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT‐PSS), IrOx, and mixed oxide (Ir‐Ti)Ox, but growth is not related to surface texture or hydrophilicity. Stimulation induces a dipole in all conductive materials, but neurons grow differently on electronic conductors and mixed‐valence mixed‐ionic conductors. Stimulation slows, but steers neurite extension on gold but not on platinum. The rate and direction of neurite growth on PEDOT‐PSS resemble that on glass, but on IrOx and (Ir‐Ti)Ox neurites grow faster and in random directions. This suggests electrochemical changes induced in these materials control growth speed and direction selectively. Evidence that the electric dipole induced in conductive material controls nerve growth will impact electrotherapies exploiting wireless stimulation of implanted material arrays, even where transparency is required.


* Corresponding Author: Fahimeh Baghbani-arani Email: email@example.com Background: Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH) is an inherited hereditary autosomal recessive heredity, which is often induced by mutation in the CYP21A2 gene. The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of cluster exon 6 mutation among patients with CAH deficient in 21-OHD enzyme in Iranian population. Materials and Methods: In the current descriptive study, blood samples were collected from 25 patients with CAH who referred to Ali Asghar Hospital in Tehran. After extraction of genomic DNA, the region containing the cluster gene exon 6 gene was amplified using PCR and then sequenced. Finally, by analyzing sequences, the frequency of cluster mutation exon 6 was determined in the population studied. Results: A total of 15 patients (60%) had a cluster mutation of exon 6, so that in all of them, three mutations V236E, I236N, and M238K were observed as heterozygote. This mutation in the healthy parents of these patients was also identified as heterozygote. Conclusion: It seems that cluster E6 mutation in the heterozygote form alone does not lead to disease, and it is necessary to examine the presence of other mutations in the gene. This mutation may be present as compound heterozygote along with other mutations in the rest of the exons in patients.


The importance of a highly efficient schedule for space construction cannot be overestimated. A detailed scheduling process working closely with design data could reduce costs, minimize risk to human life, and contribute greatly to the success of a space construction project. However the information stored in a Computer Aided Design and Drafting (CADD) 3D model is often not effectively utilized beyond the design phase of a project. If the appropriate software system existed, design data could be used to improve the planning and management of construction, procurement, start-up operations, and maintenance tasks. Such a software system has been developed at Bechtel Western Power Company. This program provides mechanisms for transferring CADD 3D data to a high performance workstation. Sequencing and precedence information are then added to produce a complete, detailed Critical Path Method (CPM) schedule before site work begins.


A. Bolonkin was born in (Russia). When he was young, he had National and World records in aviation modelling and was awarded with gold and silver medals. He graduated with awards from Aviation Collage, Faculty of Aviation Engines, (B.S.)(USSR); Kazan Aviation Institute, Faculty of Aircraft Design, (M.S.); Kiev University, Faculty of Mathematics, (M.S.); Moscow Aviation Institute, Rocket Department, dissertation "Optimal Trajectories of Multistate Rockets" (Ph.D., Dr.Sci.); Leningrad Politechnic University, Aerospace Enginering Department, dissertation "New Methods of Optimization and their Applications" (Post-Doctoral Degree in the former USSR). He worked in Soviet aviation, rocket and Space industries and lectured in main Soviet University about 15 years. In particularty, in Kiev Aircraft State Design Bureau headed by O. Antonov, Bolonkin took part in design of aircraft AN-8 through AN-225 (Enginer-Senior Engineer-Chairman of Department); in Rocket engine Construction Bureau headed by Academician V.P.Glushko, Bolonkin was Chairman of Reliability Department and took part in design of rocket engines for main strategic rockets of the USSR; in TsAGI (central Aero-Hydrodynamic Research Institute) A. Bolonkin was a scientific researcher. He lectured as a professor and worked as a Project Director in Moscow Aviation Institute, Moscow Aviation Technological Institute, Bauman Highest Technical University, Technological Institute, He contacted with Construction Bureaus of Tupolev, Yakovlev, Mikoyan, Ilushin, Sykhoy, with all main aviation, rocket and space research and design Centers of the USSR. He had many awards in the Soviet Union. In 1972 professor Bolonkin was arrested the Soviet Secret Police (KGB) because he read forbidden political literature about freedom and democracy and listen in "Voice of America". More 15 years KGB tortures him into special prisons, concentration camps, and exile in Siberia. This period his life is described in this book. In 1988, Alexander Bolonkin arrived as a political refuge in the USA and became American citizen in 1994. He worked as a mathematician in Sherson Lehman Hutton (American Express), N.Y., (Research, computation, programming, Optimal portfolio of securities), a Senior Researcher in Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences of New York University; two years as a Senior Research Associate in Wright Laboratory, Flight Dynamic Directorate (Dayton, Ohio), (it is the main Laboratory of the USA Air Force with over 20,000 scientists); as a professor in New Jersey Institute of Technology, Computer and Information Department. He worked as an expert of Association Engineers and Scientists in N.Y.C. (Estimation of new ideas, projects, patents. Consulting). He worked two years as a Senior Research Associate in the NASA (Dryden Flight Research Center) in California, Edwards and two years as Senior Researcher in Eglin USA Air Force Base (Florida). Now Dr. Bolonkin lectures in New Jersey Institute of Technology. For last four years alone, A. Bolonkin published more 35 scientific articles and books in the USA and a lot of articles in Russia-American press about scientific problems. He took part in three World Space Congress (1992, 1994, 1996), in World Aviation Congress (Los-Angeles, 1998, 1999) and more tens National Scientific Conferences in the USA. In particularly, he published monograph "Development of Soviet pocket engines for Strategic Missiles", Delphic Ass., USA, 1991, 133 p., and large Chapter "Aviation, motor, and Space Designs" in book "Development Technology in the Soviet Union", pp.32-80, Delphic Ass., USA, 1990; book "Non-Rocket Space Launch and Flight", by A. Bolonkin, Elsevier, 2006, 488 ps.; chapters: Space Towers, Cable Anti-Gravitator, Electrostatic Levitation and Artificial Gravity in collection "Macro Engineering: A Challenge for the Future", edited by V. Badesky, R.B. Cathcart and R.D. Schuilling, Springer, 2006; book "New Concepts, Ideas, Innovations in Aerospace and Technology", by A. Bolonkin, Nova, 2007; book "Human Immortality and Electronic Civilization", Lulu, 3-rd Edition, "Macro-Projects: Environment and Technologies", NOVA, 2008 and others. Alexander Bolonkin is the author of more 170 scientific articles and books and 17 inventions. B. Kruglyak, Ph.D.


Understanding how organisms adjust breeding dates to exploit resources that aff ect fi tness can provide insights into impacts of climate change on avian demography. For instance, mismatches have been reported in long-distance migrant bird species when environmental cues experienced during spring migration are decoupled from conditions on breeding grounds. Short-distance migrant bird species that store reproductive nutrients prior to breeding may avoid or buff er adverse phenological eff ects. Furthermore, reduced short-term reproductive success could be off set by higher future recruitment of surviving off spring. We evaluated whether recruitment of locally-hatched female off spring was related to hatching date alone or strength of mismatched breeding date for 405 individually-marked adult female common goldeneyes Bucephala clangula (a short-distance migrant) and their ducklings from a site in central Finland where ice-out date has advanced by ∼ 2 weeks over 24 yr. Path analyses revealed that older, early-nesting females with good body condition and larger broods recruited the most female off spring. Off spring recruitment decreased strongly among females that bred late relative to other females in the population each year; the extent of mismatched breeding date, i.e. hatching date scaled to annual ice-out date, was less infl uential. Overall, most females advanced breeding dates when ice-out occurred earlier in spring, but some females exhibited greater fl exibility in response to ice-out conditions than did others. In general, directional selection favoured early breeding over a wide range of ice-out dates. Our results seem most consistent with a hypothesis that some short-distance migrant species like goldeneyes have the capacity to track and respond appropriately to changing environmental conditions prior to onset of breeding.


This article presents the results of a case involving the application of project-based learning carried out with students in the Mechanical Engineering degree program at the University of Girona. The project, entitled "Design and construction of a wooden bridge", was conducted at the Polytechnic School in the third-year Structures course. This project required students to address, consider and solve different problems related to the resistance of materials, structural calculations, material optimization and structural design. The project also included the building of the bridge based on the calculations made, thus enabling the students to verify the suitability of the theoretical calculations as compared to real results. Finally, a competition was held to reward those teams who obtained the best ratio between the failure load and the weight of the bridge. The main conclusion observed from the implementation of only two editions of this project is the acquisition of the different proposed competences (both specific and cross-curricular) by the students. Finally, it was interesting to note that after completing the activity, the students were observed to be more motivated by the course content


The damage of glass fibers at various conditions was investigated in a corotating twin screw extruder by varying viscosity, screw speed, and screw configuration. Increasing the screw speed and melt matrix viscosity were found to increase the extent of fiber breakage. Based on the experimental data and Euler buckling theory, a composite modular kinetic model to describe glass fiber breakage was developed. Regions of the major and minor fiber breakage in a corotating twin screw extruder were found. The simulation program based on the experimental data and kinetic constants was developed for fiber breakage along the screw length. Comparisons were made between simulated results and experimental data indicating a reasonable quantitative agreement between them. Predictions of the model are also in general qualitative agreement with many published data on fiber breakage in twin screw extruders. POLYM. COMPOS., 2012. © 2012 Society of Plastics Engineers


We present the first constraints on cosmology from the Dark Energy Survey (DES), using weak lensing measurements from the preliminary Science Verification (SV) data. We use 139 square degrees of SV data, which is less than 3% of the full DES survey area. Using cosmic shear 2-point measurements over three redshift bins we find sigma8(Omegam/0.3 )0.5=0.81 ±0.06 (68% confidence), after marginalizing over 7 systematics parameters and 3 other cosmological parameters. We examine the robustness of our results to the choice of data vector and systematics assumed, and find them to be stable. About 20% of our error bar comes from marginalizing over shear and photometric redshift calibration uncertainties. The current state-of-the-art cosmic shear measurements from CFHTLenS are mildly discrepant with the cosmological constraints from Planck CMB data; our results are consistent with both data sets. Our uncertainties are ˜30 % larger than those from CFHTLenS when we carry out a comparable analysis of the two data sets, which we attribute largely to the lower number density of our shear catalogue. We investigate constraints on dark energy and find that, with this small fraction of the full survey, the DES SV constraints make negligible impact on the Planck constraints. The moderate disagreement between the CFHTLenS and Planck values of sigma8(Omegam/0.3 )0.5 is present regardless of the value of w .


Lung cancers are among the most common cancers in the world, and the search for effective and safe drugs for the chemoprevention and therapy of pulmonary cancer has become important. In this study, bovine lactoferrin (bLF) was used in both in vitro and in vivo approaches to investigate its activity against lung cancer. A human lung cancer cell line, A549, which expresses a high level of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) under hypoxia, was used as an in vitro system for bLF treatment. A strain of transgenic mice carrying the human VEGF-A165 (hVEGF-A165) gene, which induces pulmonary tumors, was used as an in vivo lung cancer therapy model. We found that bLF significantly decreased proliferation of A549 cells by decreasing the expression of VEGF protein in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, oral administration of bLF at 300 mg/kg of body weight 3 times a week for 1.5 mo to the transgenic mice overexpressing hVEGF-A165 significantly eliminated expression of hVEGF-A165 and suppressed the formation of tumors. Additionally, treatment with bLF significantly decreased the levels of proinflammatory cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor-α, and antiinflammatory cytokines, such as IL-4 and IL-10. Levels of IL-6, which is both a proinflammatory and an antiinflammatory cytokine, were also reduced. Treatment with bLF decreased levels of tumor necrosis factor-α, IL-4, IL-6, and IL-10 cytokines, resulting in limited inflammation, which then restricted growth of the lung cancer. Our results revealed that bLF is an inhibitor of angiogenesis and blocks lung cell inflammation; as such, it has considerable potential for therapeutic use in the treatment of lung cancer.


A common question in neuroscience is what forms the neurological basis of the variety of behaviors in mammals. While many studies have compared mammalian anatomy and evolution, few have investigated the physiologic functions of individual neurons in a comparative manner. Neurons' ability to modify their features in response to stimuli, known as synaptic plasticity, is fundamental for learning and memory. A key feature of synaptic plasticity involves delivering mRNA to distinct domains where they are locally translated. Regulatory coordination of these events is critical for synaptogenesis and synaptic plasticity as defects in these processes can lead to neurological diseases. In this work, we combine computational and experimental biology to investigate subcellular localization of mRNAs in dendrites of mouse and rat neurons. Differential subcellular localization of specific gene products may highlight differential synaptic function and allow the uncovering of evolutionary conserved as well as divergent molecular functions in neurons. First, we performed a comparative analysis of the dendritic transcriptome in mouse and rat via microarrays. We found that their dendritic transcriptome are significantly more divergent than other homologous tissues and that these evolutionarily changes could be associated with transposon activity. Second, we comprehensively determined subcellular expression patterns for neuronal genes in mice and rats via a systematic in situ survey on a curated list of dendritic mRNA from our previous microarray study. This survey highlighted that dendritic localization of specific transcripts occurs in a species-specific fashion. We uncovered species-specific cis and trans-elements with possible implications in transcript localization and gene expression regulation in neurons. The interactions between these elements might play a major role in the proper development and evolution of complex nervous systems. Our data will be publically available in a database (http://kim.bio.upenn.edu/insitu/public/), which could guide future investigations. Finally, we investigated single cell variability by combining microarrays, RNAseq and in situ experiments. Our preliminary results underlined the extent of this variability and its contributions in establishing cell's unique identity. In conclusion, our study suggests the existence of species-specific mRNA localization mechanisms and supports the idea that evolution of phenotypes might be linked to the evolution of subcellular localization of transcripts. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Biology First Advisor Junhyong Kim This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/961 Second Advisor Jim Eberwine


Broadly speaking a term Cryptography used to secure & hide the original information of a message from the unauthorised users. First time used to encrypt a plaintext into cipher text where a key was associated at the time of encryption to change original content into some other form i.e. decrypted message. And same key was used to decrypt that message into original form. In the modern communication era, people begin to transmit huge digital and multimedia information through the public network. During the transmission, most important thing is to secure data, for which a different kind of cryptography used, known as Visual Cryptography Scheme (VCS). This paper presents a new VCS approach & its implementation for gray scale images based on Intensity Division. In this approach the intensity of a pixel is divided into MSBs & LSBs. Two shares are generated using MSBs and at the receiver's end stacking of these provide the revealed image. It also improves the quality of shared images even after decryption of the secret image. This is finally compared with the original Host image. Performance of this approach can be measured by calculating MSE & PSNR and Histogram.


Based on ethnographic data collected in a New York Chinatown church, this paper explores how ethnic socialization and upward assimilation work together, a primary theme of the segmented assimilation thesis, among working class immigrant Chinese youth who convert to Christianity. These youth are much more bi-cultural and more at risk than the Asian American youth who have received most of the attention in the immigrant religion literature. This study shows that the church facilitates youth socialization by being a nurturing surrogate family that compensates for the weakness of immigrant families and the lack of parental resources. This study suggests that working class immigrant Chinese conversion to Christianity involves a re-authoritization process in which the new authorities in the Western Christian world, as represented by the pastor's role as a foster father, replace the old ones embedded in traditional Chinese families and create an emotionally open culture for the marginalized youth. This emotionally open culture of the church places immigrant youth's adaptation in a supportive context.


INTRODUCTION
The implementation of the mental health policy in the health centers of Campinas, Southeastern Brazil, is analysed.

MATERIAL AND METHOD
The methodology used consisted of a descriptive epidemiological study of a sample of 150 patients, discharged from a psychiatric hospital, and referred to health centers for continuing treatment. During the 4 months following discharge the attendance of the patients at these centers and return visits into hospital were verified.

RESULTS
The results showed that 48.6% of the patients discharged by hospitals did not turn up at the health centers. Of those who did get those, 51.4% abandoned their treatment before the end of the 4 months. The percentage of 24.7% of the patients returned to hospital, most of them receiving a diagnosis of psychosis.

CONCLUSIONS
The problems encountered in the implementation of the mental health policy in the health center network in Campinas as regards the definition of the policy, the organization of the work of the professional teams and the results these services achieve, were brought out. The evidence that the transformation of the asylum calls for new psycho-social rehabilitation services and intersectional articulation to obtain good results in de-hospitalization and the salvaging of the citizenship of mentally-ill patients is reinforced.


Extended high altitude cirrus were observed during a cruise of the German research vessel POLARSTERN by a Mobile Aerosol Raman Lidar (MARL). The clouds occurred between 8°S and 12°N along 22°W during 34 h of observations from May 30th to June 3rd 2000. The altitude, vertical and optical depth at 532 nm and 355 nm of the cloud are determined from the Lidar data, as well as depolarisation characteristics at both this wavelength. The clouds appear in an altitude around 16 km and are between 0.5 and 2 km thick. The optical depth at 532 nm lies between 0.01 an 0.1. The data of radiosondes launched aboard POLARSTERN on a daily basis allow the determination of the temperatures, humidity and airmass of the clouds. Obviously the high-altitude cirrus appear in two distinct layers of purely tropospheric air separeted by wind direction and speed. The poster will discuss the lidar observations of the tropical cirrus in respect to this dynamical situation. Comparison of the depolarisation behavior measured for the tropical clouds with those of midlatitudinal cirrus allow some insight in the particle characterisitics.


This Essay argues in favor of legally recognizing same-sex marriages by exploring the similarities in passing between members of same-sex marriages/relationships and interracial marriages/relationships. Specifically, this Essay unpacks the claim that the ability of gays and lesbians to pass as heterosexual distinguishes the ban on same-sex marriages from former bans on interracial marriages. Part I of this Essay first describes policy-based critiques of a Loving-based argument for legalizing same-sex marriage, or as one scholar has coined, of playing the Loving card by analogizing the racism that motivated anti-miscegenation statues that the Supreme Court struck down in 1967 to the anti-gay animosity that motivates contemporary opposition to same-sex marriages. In particular, it focuses on critiques by black religious leaders against analogizing the prior ban on interracial marriages to the current prohibition of same-sex marriages because of the ability of gays and lesbians to pass as heterosexual. Part II of this Essay briefly describes social constructionist theories of identity and explores the various ways in which Blacks and gays, lesbians, and bisexuals may pass, both in a physical and a social sense, to avoid forms of discrimination. Part III then clarifies what Loving's got to do with it by exploring the congruencies between passing in the context of interracial and same-sex relationships and argues that social constructions of race and sex have enabled both types of passing. Finally, this Essay defends the legal recognition of same-sex marriages on the basis of these parallels.


When the current through the junction of a light emitting diode (LED) is modulated, there is a delay between the modulation and the response of the optical signal to this modulation. We have recently observed that this delay is not the same at different parts of the LED's optical spectrum. This effect, the relative delay between spectral components, we call chromatic delay. This paper reports the results of measurements of chromatic delay for several LED's of various kinds. This effect amounts to delays of the order of 200-300 psec between half power points of the LED spectrum. Thus it establishes a lower limit on the rise time achievable from these devices.


This thesis is the first scholarly study of the organisation representing electrical trades workers in Western Australia, from its inception in 1905 to 1979. It examines how a small craft union was created, how it won and maintained its independence and fostered the singular skill base of its members, and how it developed and strengthened its power. The thesis argues that the union fought to create and maintain a separate trade union identity based on specific trade skills within the electrical trades in the face of opposition from already-established metal trade unions.

 In 1905 the Metropolitan Electrical Trades Union (METU) was established. This was the first union to represent electrical workers in Western Australia. In 1914 the METU amalgamated with the Amalgamated Society of Engineers (ASE) / Amalgamated Engineering Union (AEU). Many electrical workers were unhappy with this amalgamation and in 1926, with the assistance of the national body of the Electrical Trades Union of Australia, a union known as the Electrical Trades Union of Australia (Western Australian Branch) (ETUWA) was established. From 1927 until 1949 the ETUWA was embroiled in a long bitter struggle to regain its independence. The ETUWA's main opposition to independence came from the engineering unions, the ASE/AEU and Australasian Society of Engineers. Even after re-registration in 1949 the ETUWA remained a small ineffectual union.

However, from the late 1960s onwards immigrants from the British Isles and from the eastern states of Australia began to expand a grass roots activism that promoted and strengthened the ETUWA. Electrical installers working in the electrical contracting industry flocked to WA to work in the State's expanding industrial complexes on the Kwinana Industrial Strip and the iron ore projects in the Pilbara. And, from 1970 onwards, these newcomers aided in the development of a stronger more militant union, eventually succeeding in creating an independent award for the electrical contracting industry, thus breaking the nexus between the electrical trades and the engineering trades. This thesis has added to the history of industrial development in Western Australia, from the early twentieth century by examining, from a labour history perspective, the growth of unionisation in the electrical industry.


The complications of 2,179 dialysis access procedures of various types have been reviewed in an effort to determine their possible prevention and management. Scribner arteriovenous shunts or central venous catheters were preferred for temporary dialysis. Infection was a common complication of central venous catheters, but responded well to removal of the catheter. Brescia-Cimino fistulae were preferred for long-term dialysis, but were often not possible because of inadequate veins or the need for relatively urgent hemodialysis. The most useful secondary shunt was the straight forearm synthetic polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) graft whose most common complication was thrombosis due to intimal hyperplasia at the venous anastomosis. In most cases, this complication could be corrected by patch grafting or by extension bypass. Infection was infrequent with PTFE shunts and, when localized, was sometimes successfully treated by drainage, antibiotic therapy, and topical povidone-iodine. The principal complications of long-term peritoneal dialysis were peritonitis and tunnel infection that responded to antibiotic therapy and/or removal of the catheter. Compulsive care in access insertion and meticulous management during dialysis has permitted very satisfactory long-term hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis.


This paper 1s a synthesis of studies in vanous irrigated areas in Spain. Agricultural development in large areas where major irrigation projects are carried out by the government is a complex problem. The change from dryland to wetland crops needs irrigation water, but many other factors are necessary for farmers to take advantage of all the possibilities irrigation can provide. The use of a new factor, according to the principle of the "package of practices," requires that simultaneously other factors be changed. One of the most important factors that determine the rate of adoption of irrigation is the increase in returns; the greater that increase, the greater the stimulus for change from dryland to wetland crops. Availability of credit to acquire the means of production needed for the intensification of crop farming is essential if farmers do not waste such funds. Another factor is the existence of marketing organizations, especially for marketing agricultural products. And the agranan structure of the zone has an influence on the process of irrigation adoption, especially the size of farms. Farmers' level of education, professional training, initiative, and dynamism, and the uncertainty mvolved in the change to wetland farmmg, whose techmcal and economic aspects are not famihar to farmers, have a great influence on irrigation adoption. The importance of these factors is manifest in the high rate of irrigat10n adoption 10 areas where some irrigated parcels existed pnor to the irrigation project


Multimedia contents often possess weakly annotated data such as tags, links and interactions. The weakly annotated data is called side information. It is the auxiliary information of data and provides hints for exploring the link structure of data. Most clustering algorithms utilize pure data for clustering. A model that combines pure data and side information, such as images and tags, documents and keywords, can perform better at understanding the underlying structure of data. We demonstrate how to incorporate different types of side information into a recently proposed Bayesian nonparametric model, the distance dependent Chinese restaurant process (DD-CRP). Our algorithm embeds the affinity of this information into the decay function of the DD-CRP when side information is in the form of subsets of discrete labels. It is flexible to measure distance based on arbitrary side information instead of only the spatial layout or time stamp of observations. At the same time, for noisy and incomplete side information, we set the decay function so that the DD-CRP reduces to the traditional Chinese restaurant process, thus not inducing side effects of noisy and incomplete side information. Experimental evaluations on two real-world datasets NUS WIDE and 20 Newsgroups show exploiting side information in DD-CRP significantly improves the clustering performance.


Climate is one of many external drivers which have the potential to significantly influence water supply systems. However, a changing climate is the main driver to affect the availability of raw water resources. Predominately changes in the timing, frequency and intensity of precipitation can have a significant impact on the entire hydrological system. For example, increasing temperature often results in increasing water demand and enhanced water losses due to intensified evaporation. While increasing precipitation can damage water supply systems, due to flooding or increased erosion and water abstraction can be affected due to high turbidity and decreased water quality. Less precipitation or shifting seasonal precipitation events can cause serve water shortages, in particular when water storage facilities are insufficient. To respond to current and future climatic challenges and other external drivers, water resource management plans are developed and constantly upgraded.
The traditional approach in water resource planning and management has been based on the assumption of stationarity of the hydrological system. However, the assumption that the past will be the key to the future is no longer valid. The climate and therefore the entire hydrological system is changing, and relying on the traditional planning approach increases the risk of mal-adaptation, water shortages and monetary losses. However, the methods to identify the future changes in water resources due to climate change are very uncertain. This cascade of uncertainty stems from the assumptions made about the state of future society and the greenhouse gas scenarios affiliated to these states. The uncertainty envelop expands further when the greenhouse gas scenarios are used to drive the global climate models, which are then downscaled to the regional models, and finally more uncertainty is added through local impact models. Such uncertain simulations are
problematic when decisions on future adaptation have to be agreed upon to avoid expensive mal-adaptation.
This chapter examines climate change as emerging pressure on water supply and the evidence of climate change from climate records. Future impacts of climate change on water resources are highlighted and the challenge of adaptation is reflected on. Being confronted with deep uncertainty, the need for alternative approaches, shifting the paradigm away from the traditional "predict and provide" approach, seeking an optimum adaptation solution, is highlighted. Instead, alternative approaches are needed that allow the development of water supply systems that are robust to the uncertainty framing future changes in water resources. International examples of these approaches are described; including a case study of the Boyne catchment's water supply system in the east of Ireland. The uncertainties involved in generation of future catchment hydrology are discussed and the vulnerability of the case study water supply system to a changing climate is investigated. Where vulnerability exists, sample plausible future adaptation options are then assessed to their robustness to uncertainty, to quantify the water supply system response, to aid decision making. This chapter concludes that water managers will have to engage with alternative methods for climate change adaptation in conjunction with future observational evidence of change.


Rapid cooling is an important step in the metal heat treatment industry to increase the materials hardness. To obtain this high cooling rate, good quality quench medium is a must. However, low thermal conductivity is a primary limitation in fluid used for this purpose. Nowadays, a higher thermal conductivity fluid are widely developed by using nanofluids. Nanofluids are created by suspending particles with average sizes below 100 nm in fluid base such as water, oil, diesel, ethylene glycol, etc. Aluminium oxide (Al2O3) can be used as mentioned particle because of its high thermal conductivity characteristic. In addition, the thermal conductivity of Al2O3 will increase with the decreasing of the particle size because the surface area of the particle increased.However, Most of the nanofluids with Al2O3 particle are prepared by using an ultrasonic stirring which is not stable for a longer time. Therefore, surfactant is needed to stabilize the nanofluid.In this research, 1 – 5% of sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonates (SDBS) was added as surfactant into 100 ml water-based nanofluid with 0.5% volume Al2O3. Commercial grade Al2O3 powder was used in the experiment and milled for 10 hours at 500 rpm. As for surfactant, a commercially available household bodycare product which contain SDBS was used. Initial result by Scanning Electron Microscope showed that the particle size after milling were more than 100 nm. This nanofluid was then used as quenching medium for S45C medium carbon steel which heated at 1000°C for 1 hour. Hardness and microstructure observation were conducted for the steel samples. From the hardness result, SDBS addition lower the hardness of quenched S45C sample to 568 HV, compared with 636 HV for nanofluid without SDBS. This mean that SDBS reduce the cooling rate of nanofluid quenchant.


Experimental studies of magnetotunnelling in heterostructures have revealed series of resonances due to electrons tunnelling from a 2DEG in a lightly-doped emitter into magnetoquantised states in the collector contact of a single-barrier structure (Hickmott, 1987 and Snell et al. 1987) or in the quantum well of a double-barrier structure (Eaves et a1., 1988 and Leadbeater et a1., 1989). These experiments are very suitable for theoretical analysis since a transverse magnetic field (parallel to the barrier interfaces) has little effect on the electronic states of the 2DEG, provided the diamagnetic energy is much less than the binding energy of the bound state of the accumulation layer potential. The tunnelling electrons then have a small range of transverse momenta between +PF and -PF, where PF = l'lkF is the Fermi momentum in the 2DEG. This range determines the positions of the orbit centres of the magnetoquantised states into which the electrons are injected after emergence from the tunnel barrier. For the single-barrier heterostructures described in this thesis, these are interfacial Landau states corresponding to classical orbits in which the electron skips along the barrier interface. For double-barrier structures there are interfacial states at high magnetic fields and traversing states at low magnetic fields. Owing to the high electric field in the quantum well, the corresponding classical orbits are cycloidal trajectories which intersect both barrier interfaces (traversing states) or just one barrier interface (skipping states).
The variation of the tunnel current I with magnetic field B and voltage V is calculated using the Bardeen transfer-Hamiltonian approach within a WKB approximation. The accumulation layer potential is modelled according to a simple variational solution.
This enables a physical interpretation of the experimental results to be given in terms of the effect of the magnetic field on the effect ive barri er hei ght and the ampli tudes of the magnetoquantised wave functions at the barrier interfaces. Both of these effects are required to account for the observed dependence of current on magnetic field I(B) and the amplitudes of the oscillatory structure revealed in the derivative plots of dI/dB and d2I/dB2 accounts for:
The model
(a) the observation of two series of resonances corresponding to +PF and -PF electrons in experiments on (InGa)As/InP single-barrier structures.
(b) the absence of the +PF series of resonances in GaAs/(A1Ga)As single-barrier structures.
(c) the changeover from traversing to skipping states in GaAs/(A1Ga)As double-barrier structures and the characteristic decrease in oscillatory amplitudes in the changeover region.


The federal definition of emotional disturbance (ED) provides limited guidance to educational professionals charged with making Individuals with Disabilities in Education Improvement Act eligibility determinations. Despite calls to revise the definition, the ED category remains largely unchanged nearly four decades after being codified into federal law. To navigate the vague, ambiguous, and outdated eligibility criteria, school psychologists must adhere to comprehensive assessment strategies whenever an ED placement is considered. In this study, we examined the ED assessment practices of 214 school psychologists. The results indicated that respondents all too frequently relied on only select sources of data (e.g., behavior rating scales), rather than taking a multimethod, multisource approach, when evaluating children referred for emotional and behavioral concerns. Implications for both the practice and preparation of school psychologists are discussed.


To better understand the metabolism of sulfur-containing amino acids, which likely plays a key role in a variety of cell functions, in Entamoeba histolytica, we searched the genome data base for genes encoding putative orthologs of enzymes known to be involved in the metabolism. The search revealed that E. histolytica possesses only incomplete cysteine-methionine conversion pathways in both directions. Instead, this parasite possesses genes encoding two isoenzymes of methionine gamma-lyase (EC 22.214.171.124, EhMGL1/2), which has been implicated in the degradation of sulfur-containing amino acids. The two amebic MGL isoenzymes, showing 69% identity to each other, encode 389- and 392-amino acid polypeptides with predicted molecular masses of 42.3 and 42.7 kDa and pIs of 6.01 and 6.63, respectively. Amino acid comparison and phylogenetic analysis suggested that these amebic MGLs are likely to have been horizontally transferred from the Archaea, whereas an MGL from another anaerobic protist Trichomonas vaginalis has MGL isotypes that share a common ancestor with bacteria. Enzymological and immunoblot analyses of the partially purified native amebic MGL confirmed that both of the MGL isotypes are expressed in a comparable amount predominantly in the cytosol and form a homotetramer. Recombinant EhMGL1 and 2 proteins catalyzed degradation of L-methionine, DL-homocysteine, L-cysteine, and O-acetyl-L-serine to form alpha-keto acid, ammonia, and hydrogen sulfide or methanethiol, whereas activity toward cystathionine was negligible. These two isoenzymes showed notable differences in substrate specificity and pH optimum. In addition, we showed that EhMGL is an ideal target for the development of new chemotherapeutic agents against amebiasis by demonstrating an amebicidal effect of the methionine analog trifluoromethionine on trophozoites in culture (IC50 18 mum) and that this effect of trifluoromethionine was completely abolished by the addition of the MGL-specific inhibitor DL-propargylglycine.


Seventeen women geoscientists from New England, New York, and New Jersey assembled for a writing retreat at Boston College's Connors Family Retreat and Conference Center, set on 80 pastoral acres on the outskirts of Boston. Funded through the National Science Foundation ADVANCE program, the retreat had two objectives: to facilitate writing and to develop a supportive community. It succeeded on both accounts. Although new to science, retreats of this sort have long been a highly sought after experience for writers in other disciplines. The potential benefits for scientists, in particular, women scientists, are great. Writing is a cornerstone of our work, yet we struggle to find time for it, juggling the demands of students, teaching, family, domestic chores, and research.


Abstract. Soil moisture estimation is essential for optimal water and soil resources management. Surface soil moisture is an important variable in the natural water cycle, which plays an important role in the global equilibrium of water and energy due to its impact on hydrological, ecological and meteorological processes. Soil moisture changes due to the variability of soil characteristics, topography and vegetation in time and place. Soil moisture measurements are performed directly using in situ methods and indirect, by means of transfer functions or remote sensing. Since in-site measurements are usually costly and time-consuming in large areas, we can use methods such as remote sensing to estimate soil moisture at very large scales. The purpose of this study is to estimate soil moisture using surface temperature and vegetation indices for large areas. In this paper, ground temperature was calculated using Landsat-8 thermal band for Mashhad city and was used to estimate the soil moisture content of the study area. The results showed that urban areas had the highest temperature and less humidity at the time of imaging. For this purpose, using the LANDSAT 8 images, the indices were extracted and validated with soil moisture data. In this research, the study area was described and then, using the extracted indices, the estimated model was obtained. The results showed that there is a good correlation between surface soil moisture content with LST and NDVI indices (95%). The results of the verification of the soil moisture estimation model also showed that this model with a mean error of less than 0.001 can predict the surface moisture content, this small amount of error indicates the precision of the proposed model for estimating surface moisture.


Scarcity of water resources in the Middle East represents a prime factor in the stability of the region and its economic development and prosperity. Accordingly, augmenting water is considered very important. Therefore, building of dams is an important mean to achieve such a goal. Despite the fact that number of dams had been built but maintenance operations and reduction of siltation rates are still not up the standards. Two small reservoirs, north West Jordan, were investigated. Sad Wadi Alarab reservoir constructed in 1986 (storage capacity of 20x10 6 m 3 ). The second, Alghadeer Alabyadh, was constructed 1966(storage capacity 7 x10 5 m 3 ). The actual storage capacities of these reservoirs were calculated using echo-sounding traverses. Data obtained were used in special computer software to construct the bathymetric maps and calculate the existing storage volume. The results showed that the reservoir storage capacities were reduced at an average annual rate of 0.3 x10 6 and 1.7 x10 4 m 3 respectively. This implies that Sad Wadi Alarab reservoir will be filled with sediment within 38 years, while Alghadeer Alabyadh reservoir is already filled with sediment now. Bottom sediments of the reservoirs were collected and analyzed. In all the cases, sand, silt and clay were the dominant sediment components.


Patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS) is the most common injury to befall runners and as such poses a huge barrier to exercise. Despite its prevalence, PFPS remains poorly understood and treated, with up to 90% of cases recalcitrant to therapy. An increased magnitude of knee valgus when running has been linked to patellofemoral pain syndrome, with this position proposed to increase joint contact pressure on the lateral aspect of the patellofemoral joint and cause pain. Accordingly, clinicians will commonly assess the magnitude of knee valgus when treating runners with PFPS. Accurately assessing running gait requires skill, equipment and time however, and as a consequence dynamic tests such the single leg squat are used instead. The movement patterns of the single leg squat are proposed to be similar to those when running, thus magnitude of knee valgus during a single leg squat is proposed to correlate with running knee valgus and offer some predictive value. The evidence supporting this correlation is in healthy runners only and it is unclear whether this can be extrapolated to a symptomatic population. This study aimed to investigate whether a correlation exists between knee valgus when running and performing a single leg squat in asymptomatic runners and runners with PFPS. Sixteen asymptomatic runners (asymptomatic group) and sixteen runners with patellofemoral pain syndrome (symptomatic group) were recruited. The asymptomatic group was subdivided by leg dominance and the symptomatic group was subdivided by 'painful' and 'non-painful' leg to give four distinct sub-groups. Participants were videoed performing single leg squats and running on a treadmill at a self-selected pace. Knee valgus magnitude was calculated using the frontal plane projection angle (FPPA). The strength of correlation between FPPA for running and single leg squat was calculated using Pearson's Correlation Coefficient for each of the four sub-groups. Differences in FPPA between the sub-groups for both running and single leg squat were calculated using an ANOVA and subsequent Independent T-Tests as indicated. The study found that the correlation in FPPA between running and the single leg squat was not statistically significant for the painful leg (symptomatic group (r=0.34, p=0.19)) but was for the remaining three sub-groups (p<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in FPPA between the four sub-groups when running. Single leg squat FPPA was larger for the painful leg (symptomatic group (10.3°)) than the dominant (−0.2° (p=0.02)) and non-dominant leg (−0.4° (p=0.001)) in the asymptomatic group. This study suggests that the single leg squat cannot be used to predict the magnitude of knee valgus in runners with patellofemoral pain syndrome and refutes this current clinical practice. The significant correlation in the asymptomatic group supports previous research using this group. The lack of a statistically significant difference in running knee valgus between the sub-groups may suggest that the mechanisms for developing PFPS are not simply driven by an increased magnitude of knee valgus.


ABSTRACT Heparan sulfate (HS) chains are found in the extracellular matrix, covalently linked to core proteins collectively termed heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs). A wealth of data has demonstrated roles for HSPGs in the regulation of many cell surface signaling pathways that are crucial during development. Variations in the sulfation pattern along the HS chains influence their ability to interact with molecules such as growth factors, chemokines, morphogens, and adhesion molecules. Sulf1 and Sulf2 are members of a class of recently identified genes that encode heparan sulfate 6-O-endosulfatases (Sulf genes). The removal of 6-O-sulfate from HS via SULF activity influences the function of many factors, including Wnt, fibroblast growth factor, hepatocyte growth factor, heparin-binding epidermal growth factor, and bone morphogenetic protein. Given their possible developmental roles, we have examined Sulf gene expression during mouse embryogenesis. The two Sulf genes are expressed in a broad range of tissues throughout development with largely nonoverlapping expression patterns. Sulf2 transcripts are expressed in the lung, heart, placenta, and ribs. We generated a mouse line possessing a gene trap disruption of the Sulf2 gene. Mice homozygous for the Sulf2 gene trap allele are viable and fertile and have no major developmental defects on several genetic backgrounds. However, we observed strain-specific, nonpenetrant defects affecting viability, lung development, and growth in Sulf2 homozygous animals. These data suggest that Sulf2 may have roles in several tissues but that there is compensation by and/or redundancy with Sulf1.


Plasma dopamine-β-hydroxylase (pDBH) activity is markedly elevated in chronic experimental streptozotocin (STZ) diabetes in the rat. Several possible explanations, all potentially relevant to the pathophysiology of diabetes, could explain this observation. The objective of this paper was to further delineate the behavior of pDBH in diabetes and examine several possible mechanisms for the increase. Plasma DBH increases within 1 day of STZ administration, is fivefold elevated within 1 wk, and slowly reaches ninefold control values after several months. Similar changes result from alloxan-induced diabetes. The increase in pDBH activity correlates well with the severity of diabetes as assessed by plasma glucose levels. Reversal of the diabetic state with insulin administration or islet cell transplantation results in the decrease of pDBH activity toward normal values. Plasma DBH is not increased in hyperglycemic obese (ob/ob) mice, suggesting a primary dependence of pDBH elevation on reduced levels of insulin and not hyperglycemia per se. Guanethidine-sympathectomized and sympathectomized/adrenal demedullated animals, with 60% and 25% of control levels of pDBH, respectively, show the same percentage increase in pDBH activity with induction of diabetes, thus, the increase in pDBH does not result from a selective activation or dysfunction of the sympathetic nervous system or adrenal medulla in diabetic animals. No evidence is found for the alteration of the kinetic parameters, molecular size, or charge of pDBH in diabetes. Several mechanisms for the increase are considered.


With the recent government organization and regulation for saving the water, trees, curtains to the use of these sources which contribute to global warming present day mankind uses various equipment in their daily need which includes conventional cooler, AC etc. This consumes large amount of water and electricity so for reducing the use of these main sources research involves the use of VCRS system which include eco-friendly refrigerant R134a in cooler system. This system is mounted in the research model in a proper manner so that it is compact in size. The refrigerant R134a absorbs the heat from air and makes the air cooled, itself getting vaporized in evaporator and then the cooled air is sent outward from the opening. In the research model with help of fan running on motor and gives the cooling effect. This use of VCRS system with eco -friendly refrigerant reduces the consumption of the water, electricity consumption and tree which is used for making wood wool in conventional cooler. This ultimately reduces the global warming. For making these purposes the project is developed.


The palliation of patients with megaesophagus secondary to achalasia of the cardia presents significant challenges to the surgeon. Experience with palliation of megaesophagus secondary to Chagas' disease suggests that options other than cardiomyotomy or oesophagectomy can result in satisfactory outcomes. A small series of patients with non-chagasic megaesophagus who were treated with a gastroesophagoplasty procedure is discussed.


The renowned scientist and teacher of the Chief Scientific Officer of the Laboratory of the Animal Genetic Resources Bank of the Institute of Animal Breeding and Genetics nd. a. M.V.Zubets of National Academy of Agrarian Science Svitlana Voitenko turned 60 on November 12, 2019.
Svitlana Voitenko was born on November 12, 1959 in Poltava. She graduated from the 24 th high school and zoo-engineering faculty of the Poltava Agricultural Institute.From 1977 to 2006 she worked at the Institute of Pig Breeding of the UAAS. During 1990–1993 she went to graduate school of the same scientific institution.
Since 2006 he has been working as a leading researcher, since 2008 – chief researcher at the gene pool laboratory of the breeds of the Institute of Animal Breeding and Genetics of UAAS. In 2008, Svitlana Voitenko was appointed head of the genetic resources sector in the pig breeding of this institution.
Since February 2010, Svitlana Voitenko begins her pedagogical activity as the head of the breeding and genetics of agricultural animals department of the Poltava State Agrarian Academy. From September 2019 to the present time he has been working as the Chief Scientific Officer of the Institute of Animal Breeding and Genetics nd. a. M.V.Zubets of NAAS.
The degree of Candidate of Agricultural Sciences in the specialty "Breeding and Breeding of Animals" on the basis of the defense (1994) of the dissertation on the topic "Selection and genetic characteristics of pigs of Myrhorod breed and their use in combination with boars of the parental form". The senior scientist was awarded the academic title in 2001. In 2008 she defended her dissertation for a scientific degree on "Methods of improvement of pigs of the Myrhorod breed and preservation of her gene pool". Professor she was awarded the academic title in 2013.
Professor S. Voytenko's research is aimed at developing breeding and genetic methods for improving the productivity of farm animals and controlling product quality, as well as maintaining the gene pool of small local pigs of Ukraine.
Under the methodological guidance of S. Voitenko new lines and families in the Myrhorod breed were created and tested. She participated in the development of the State Standards of Ukraine.She has published about 250 scientific papers. She is active in inventing activities, has 11 patents and copyright certificates for inventions.
Under the methodical guidance of S. Voitenko, 7 PhD theses are defended and another 1 graduate student is being trained.
She was awarded with certificates of honor from the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine, the Department of Education and Science of the Poltava Regional State Administration.
The staff of the Institute sincerely congratulates dear Svitlana and wishes her good health, happiness, inexhaustible energy, relentless movement forward to new achievements and impressions!


It's the last issue of the year and how time has flown. It's been an incredible year and, despite the economic recession, SA printers were upgrading their printrooms, suppliers were selling equipment and they were all trying to do it smarter and better. Then there were the mergers and collaborative agreements, with digital and litho printers bridging the divide and finishing equipment striving to keep up. And we covered all of it in Graphix. We take great pride in the fact that between the monthly magazine, our website (www.graphixmag.co.za) and our fortnightly e-newsletters, we cover every single development that is relevant to our readers as and when it happens.


The basic requirement for the VEPP-2000 Beam Position Monitor (BPM) is the measurement of the beam orbit with 0:1 mm precision. To improve the measurement accuracy, the response of the electrostatic BPMs (pickups) were mapped in the laboratory before they were installed in the VEPP-2000 ring. The wire method for the sensitivity calibration and position-to-signal mapping is used. The test stand consists of high frequency coaxial switches to select each pickup electrode, movable antenna to simulate the beam, signal source, spectrum analyzer to measure the pickup signals, and analysis software. This calibration showed possibility of required accuracy. During calibration the electrical center of the different BPMs was measured with respect to the mechanical center. Conversion between the BPM signal and the actual beam position is done by using polynomial expansions fit to the mapping data within 6 mm square. Results for these portions of the calibration are presented.


Evapotranspiration by plantains growing on a heavy Mabi soil (Vertic Eutropepts) averaged 2.9, 2.5 and 2.4 mm daily. Yields were 15,695, 22,215, and 24,225 kg/ha when irrigation was applied whenever available soil moisture was depleted by 20, 40 and 60%, respectively. Overall evapotranspiration for all treatments averaged 68.9% of open pan evaporation. Evapotranspiration in the most frequently irrigated plots averaged 80% and 61% of open pan evaporation during the period of rapid vegetative growth and during the period from flowering to harvest, respectively.


Background & Purpose Intracellular Ca2+ plays an important role in the cardiac physiology and development. Augmentation in intracellular Ca2+ activates the hypertrophic response in cardiomyocytes, although the source of the Ca2+ responsible for this is still elusive. We have previously shown that calcium influx through Transient receptor potential canonical 1 (TRPC1) channel is a key mediator of the cardiac hypertrophic response and lipid raft facilitates the channels assembly. Statins have recently been shown to exert pleiotropic protective effects in cardiac hypertrophy. Here, we studied whether simvastatin interfere with the membrane lipid raft formation and affects the TRPC1 channel function to protect the cardiomyocytes against hypertrophic stimuli. Methods H9C2 cells were obtained from American Type Culture Collection (ATCC, Manassas, VA) and maintained in high glucose DMEM supplemented with heat-inactivated 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS) (Gibco, MD), 100 units/ml penicillin, 100 μg/ml streptomycin in a water-saturated atmosphere of 5% CO2 at 37 °C. To induce hypertrophy, cells were exposed to endothelin 1 for 48 h. Cells treated with a combination of simvastain and endothelin-1 were exposed to simvastatin 12 h prior to the addition of endothelin-1 to the treatment medium and were then incubated in the presence of both drugs for a further 48 h. protein expression was analysed by western blotting. H9C2 cells were loaded with Fura-2 to measure the TRPC1 channel function and images were taken by using EasyratioPro (PTI Tech). For transient transfection, cells were transfected with TRPC1 siRNAs or STIM1 siRNA or scrambled control siRNA using Lipofectamine 3000. To measure NFAT luciferase activity, cells were transiently transfected with pNFAT-Luc (containing firefly luciferase gene from Photinus Pyralis; Clontech, Mountain View, CA) and 0.06 μg of pRL-TK (containing Renilla luciferase gene from Renilla reniformis, used as internal control; Promega, Madison, WI). To isolate lipid raft, cells were lysed in TNE buffer and lysates were mixed with 80% sucrose (w/v), and overlaid with 6 ml of 35% sucrose followed by 4 ml of 5% sucrose (in TNE buffer). Samples were centrifuged at 34,000 rpm for 18 h at 4 °C using SW 41 Ti Swinging Bucket Rotor. Ten 1.2-ml fractions were collected from the top of the tube and used as required. Results Endothelin 1 treatment induced hypertrophic response in cardiomyocytes which were confirmed by measuring cell size and hypertrophic markers, ANF and BNP (60% increase compare to control). Endothelin 1 treatment significantly induced calcium overload as revealed by an increase intracellular Ca2+ and subsequent NFAT nuclear activation compared with control. Moreover, hypertrophic stimuli increases the expression and function of TRPC1 and activate the recruitment of TRPC1 to membrane lipid raft domain from non-raft in hypertrophic cardiomyocytes (HC). Co-immunoprecipitation of STIM1, a Ca2+ sensor in the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR), revealed that the functional interaction between STIM1 and TRPC1 was increased in HC and lipid raft domain facilitates the interaction. Silencing TRPC1 or STIM1 by respective siRNAs significantly prevented the calcium overload and NFAT activation in HC. Simvastatin treatment prevent the calcium overload and attenuates the hypertrophic response in H9C2 cells. Moreover, cholesterol depletion by simvastatin markedly reduced the calcium influx via TRPC1 by affecting the lipid raft domain and decrease the interaction of TRPC1 and STIM1 in hypertrophic cardiomyocytes. Conclusion Our results indicate that Ca2+ influx through TRPC1 provides a unique source of Ca2+ to activate pathologic cardiac hypertrophy and blockade of TRPC1 function by affecting the lipid raft domain formation in hypertrophic cardiomyocytes may be another important therapeutic mechanism of simvastatin in preventing cardiac hypertrophy.


Benthic microorganisms form highly organized communities called "biofilms." A biofilm consists of the individual cells plus their extracellular polymeric substances (EPS). In marine and non-marine environments, benthic microbial communities interact with the physical sediment dynamics and other factors in the environment in order to survive. This interaction can produce distinctive sedimentary structures called microbialites. Binding, biostabilization, baffling, and trapping of sediment particles by microorganisms result in the formation of microbially induced sedimentary structures (MISS); however, if carbonate precipitation occurs in EPS, and these processes happen in a repetitive manner, a multilayered build-up can form—stromatolites. Stromatolites and MISS are first found in the early Archean, recording highly evolved microbial activity early in Earth's history. Whereas the stromatolites show enormous morphologic and taxonomic variation, MISS seem not to have changed in morphology since their first appearance. MISS might be the older relative, but due to the lack of well-preserved sedimentary rocks older than 3.5 billion years, the origin of both stromatolites and MISS remains uncertain.


Decentralized optimization is emerging as a viable alternative for scal-able distributed machine learning, but also introduces new challenges in terms of synchronization costs. To this end, several communication-reduction techniques, such as non-blocking communication, quantization, and local steps, have been explored in the decentralized setting. Due to the complexity of analyzing optimization in such a relaxed setting, this line of work often assumes global communication rounds, which require additional synchronization. In this paper, we consider decentralized optimization in the simpler, but harder to analyze, asynchronous gossip model, in which communication occurs in discrete, randomly chosen pairings among nodes. Perhaps surprisingly, we show that a variant of SGD called SwarmSGD still converges in this setting, even if non-blocking communication , quantization , and local steps are all applied in conjunction , and even if the node data distributions and underlying graph topology are both heterogenous . Our analysis is based on a new connection with multi-dimensional load-balancing processes. We implement this algorithm and deploy it in a super-computing environment, showing that it can outperform previous decentralized methods in terms of end-to-end training time, and that it can even rival carefully-tuned large-batch SGD for cer-tain tasks.


India will soon have to bear an enormous socioeconomic burden due to the costs of the rehabilitation of stroke survivors; this is because the population is now surviving through the peak years (age 55-65) for the occurrence of stroke or cerebrovascular accident (CVA). Community surveys from many regions show crude prevalence rates for stroke (presumed to be of vascular origin) in the range of 90-222 per 100,000 persons. In India, the major risk factors identified have been hypertension (>95 mm Hg diastolic), hyperglycemia, tobacco use, and low levels (<10 gm%) of hemoglobin. The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study, in 1990, reported 9.4 million deaths in India, of which 619,000 deaths were due to stroke, suggesting a mortality rate of 73 per 100,000 persons. This mortality rate was almost 22 times greater, and the disability adjusted life years lost was nearly six times higher, than that due to malaria. For effective prevention strategies, the existing mass media must be used to build up public awareness and impart health education on the warning symptoms of hypertension and stroke. In the absence of facilities such as computerized tomography in rural areas, primary health care doctors should receive training on the nomenclature and clinical diagnosis of stroke. Community surveys to detect 'stroke-prone' subjects should be undertaken wherever feasible and medico-social workers should remain in contact with such patients to ensure intake of preventive medicines. Changes in lifestyle and dietary habits, and intensive campaigns against tobacco use, will prove rewarding. National councils should interact with various agencies (health, industry, finance, etc.) to coordinate activities at all levels.


Even though we can't hold our regular stress less programming, we wanted to provide our students with plenty of options to help de-stress during this time of the semester. We may not be together in person, but we are still with you in spirit! online jigsaw puzzles


This unique treasure of a book captures the sensual pleasure of an artist's sketchbook as well as the genius behind Klimt's vision of women. Throughout his career, Gustav Klimt completed hundreds of paintings and drawings of delicate beauty, many of them featuring the female form. Designed to imitate an artist's sketchbook, this exquisite volume focuses on the artist's most intimate erotic sketches and watercolours. The experience of viewing it awakens the senses, while affording the reader the guilty pleasure of leafing through an artist's most private visions. The stunning colour reproductions, embossed cover, and cloth spine make this a perfect gift for lovers of art and for lovers everywhere.


The multiple roles and functions of agriculture and forestry beyond those of supplying food and fibre, such as the provision of environmental benefits and the contribution to the socio-economic viability of rural areas, account for a growing recognition in both scientific debates and political decision making. In order to foster further research in the field of multifunctionality of agriculture, forestry, and rural areas, this report provides an overview of the scientific work that has been done with respect to the different ways and goals of setting up and management of public policies with multifunctional purpose. It particularly focuses on policies that have been implemented in Germany since 1992. Initially, a description of traditional policies for multifunctionality that have been initiated at EU, national, Laender, regional, and local level is provided. This includes, among other things, the EU Rural Development Regulations, the LEADER initiatives, the Flora-Fauna-Habitats Directive and Federal State and Laender legislation on protected areas. For each policy presented, apart from their content, important characteristics with regard to their setting up and implementation, such as responsibilities for and processes of goal determination, policy and measure design, and administrative implementation are presented. Subsequently, policies are introduced that particularly aim at creating new markets and services. Furthermore, innovative approaches are presented which involve new institutional arrangements for the provision of goods and services. Based on this presentation, the scientific debate on the design and implementation of policies with multifunctional purpose is sketched out. Five major strands of debates dealing with issues of setting up and management of those policies are highlighted: First, scientific literature is reflected that discusses issues regarding the allocation of property rights and the related question of applying standards, such as GFP, or incentive based policies. Second, light is shed on the scientific debate on the appropriate degree of centralisation and decentralisation, respectively. Third, directions of the discussion on policy and scheme design are considered. Fourth, the closely related issues of acceptance and demand of policies are highlighted. Fifth, questions of monitoring and enforcement are addressed. Finally, the main research gaps are highlighted. Outstanding and promising issues include the research on optimal institutional arrangements of property rights and matching forms of governance as well as interdisciplinary work on policies other than agri-environmental schemes.


This clear and accessible text provides a complete introduction to basic linguistic terms and descriptions of language structures. The German Language Today describes in detail the main liguistic features of the language and the wide variety of speech forms and vocabulary existing within the German-speaking community. It also introduces sociolinguistic and linguistic topics as they relate to the German language, and illustrates them widely with examples. The German Language Today describes the sounds, inflectional processes, syntactic structures, competing forms and different layers of words in the language. Topics covered include: The distribution of German and its dialects The linguistic consequences of German reunification The application of modern linguistic concepts to German, incorporating the findings of the latest German linguistic research. The book has been written with the specific needs of students in mind. It will be invaluable to students of modern German linguistics or modern German society and will be a useful reference resource for postgraduates and teachers of German.


Aluminum closed-cell foam filled aluminum tubes with a polyester bonding layer between foam core and tube wall have been compression tested in ord er to detemiine specific energy absorption for the crash box applications. Aluminum foam, empty and foam filled tubes without bonding layer were also tested for comparison purposes, Preliminary results have shown that interaction effect has been found in foam filled tubes with polyester layer. In order to identify deforiDation mechanisms involving with tube deforination, deformed empty and foam filled tubes crosssections were microscopically analyzed and operative defoimationmechanisms were determined.


Some materials exhibit large changes in electrical resistance in the presence of a magnetic field, and this change can be used in applications from sensor technology to magnetic data storage. In their Perspective, Rao and Cheetham discuss magnetoresistance in perovskite manganates, where the effect is unusually strong. Much has been learned about these materials, and this understanding is driving the search for new materials with even more impressive properties.


In this paper we provide a principled account of the syntactic properties of Spanish Comparative Correlatives (CCs) within Principles and Parameters theory. CCs have lately been at the centre of the debate between Construction Theory proponents, who claim construction status for them because of their idiosyncratic syntax and semantics, and supporters of UG-based syntax.1We contribute to this debate by showing that, despite appearances, Spanish CCs have a regular internal and external syntax. Assuming a cartographic approach to the syntax of Topic and Focus, we argue that their informational properties are the clue to their macrostructure. Specifically, we propose that C1, the first clause of CCs, is a subordinate clause that sits in the specifier position of the topic Phrase of the main clause and is followed by a focus-fronted constituent which occupies the specifier position of the focus Phrase of the main clause. We also show that our analysis can be extended to other sentence-initial adverbial adjunct clauses.


A nonintrusive measure of the exhaust plume and immediate sound field produced by a cluster of two thrust-optimized parabolic contour nozzles is studied during two steady-state conditions. The first condition is at a nozzle pressure ratio of 25, at which point the flow is in a restricted-shock separated state. The second condition is at a nozzle pressure ratio of 37 and is when the flow and internal shock pattern transition rapidly between free-shock separated flow and the end-effects regime. These end-effects regime pulsations produce significant vibroacoustic loads due to the intermittent breathing of the last trapped annular separation bubble with the ambient. The exhaust plumes and surrounding sound field are first visualized by way of retroreflective shadowgraphy. Radon transforms of the spatially resolved shadowgraphy images are then used to characterize the statistical behavior of the acoustic wave fronts that reside within the hydrodynamic periphery of the nozzle flow. The findings reveal quantita...


One of the oldest and richest questions in biology is that of how species diversity is related to the availability of resources that limit the productivity of ecosystems. Researchers from a variety of disciplines have pursued this question from at least three different theoretical perspectives. Species energy theory has argued that the summed quantities of all resources influence species richness by controlling population sizes and the probability of stochastic extinction. Resource ratio theory has argued that the imbalance in the supply of two or more resources, relative to the stoichiometric needs of the competitors, can dictate the strength of competition and, in turn, the diversity of coexisting species. In contrast to these, the field of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning has argued that species diversity acts as an independent variable that controls how efficiently limited resources are utilized and converted into new tissue. Here we propose that all three of these fields give necessary, but not sufficient, conditions to explain productivity–diversity relationships (PDR) in nature. However, when taken collectively, these three paradigms suggest that PDR can be explained by interactions among four distinct, non-interchangeable variables: (i) the overall quantity of limiting resources, (ii) the stoichiometric ratios of different limiting resources, (iii) the summed biomass produced by a group of potential competitors and (iv) the richness of co-occurring species in a local competitive community. We detail a new multivariate hypothesis that outlines one way in which these four variables are directly and indirectly related to one another. We show how the predictions of this model can be fit to patterns of covariation relating the richness and biomass of lake phytoplankton to three biologically essential resources (N, P and light) in a large number of Norwegian lakes.


We consider a special class of multiple testing problems, consisting of M simultaneous point hypothesis tests in local statistical experiments. Under certain structural assumptions the global hypothesis contains exactly one element θ∗ (say), and θ∗ is least favourable parameter configuration with respect to the family-wise error rate (FWER) of multiple single-step tests, meaning that the FWER of such tests becomes largest under θ∗. Furthermore, it turns out that concepts of positive dependence are applicable to the involved test statistics in many practically relevant cases, in particular, for multivariate normal and chi-squared distributions. Altogether, this allows for a relaxation of the adjustment for multiplicity by making use of the intrinsic correlation structure in the data. We represent product-type bounds for the FWER in terms of a relaxed Šidák-type correction of the overall significance level and compute "effective numbers of tests". Our methodology can be applied to a variety of simultaneous location parameter problems, as in analysis of variance models or in the context of simultaneous categorical data analysis. For example, simultaneous chisquare tests for association of categorical features are ubiquitous in genomewide association studies. In this type of model, Moskvina and Schmidt (2008) gave a formula for an effective number of tests utilizing Pearson's haplotypic correlation coefficient as a linkage disequilibrium measure. Their result follows as a corollary from our general theory and will be generalized. JEL classification: C12, C44. AMS 2000 subject classifications: Primary 62J15, 62F05; secondary 62F03, 60E05.