Since the early 1980s, long-term government bond yields in the euro zone have declined, in line with those in other industrialized countries. In this paper, the authors examine the monetary and fiscal policies adopted by European countries on the path to Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), and assess how these policies, including the introduction of the common currency, have contributed to the convergence of national long-term government bond yields in the euro zone. The authors find evidence that increased harmonization of monetary and fiscal policies on the path to EMU contributed greatly to the convergence of long-term government bond yields in the euro zone. More importantly, their findings suggest that the convergence of national long-term government bond yields in the euro zone cannot be attributed primarily to the introduction of the common currency itself, since two control groups of other OECD countries experienced a similar convergence. The first control group consists of other European Union (EU) countries not included in EMU (Denmark, Sweden, and the United Kingdom), and the second group includes other OECD countries that are members of neither EMU nor the EU (Australia, Canada, Norway, and Switzerland). The authors also find evidence that currency risk premiums declined gradually following the adoption of the Maastricht Treaty and were largely eliminated by the time the single currency was introduced in January 1999. These findings suggest that, in the context of integrated international financial markets, harmonization of sound monetary and fiscal policies across countries will cause national long-term bond yields to converge. Based on evidence from the euro zone, the adoption of a common currency will have, at most, a secondary effect on the convergence of national bond yields.


In secondary schools in the industrial area in and around Rotterdam an experimental curriculum 'Dutch as a foreign language' for teen-agers is being developed in cooperation with teachers and linguists. The process started in 1975 with:1. A study of literature (concerning psychology in teaching foreign languages, curriculum development and applied linguistics).2. Analysis of existing methods 'Dutch as a foreign language'.3. Visits to secondary schools with so-called international prepa-ratory classes and interviews with the language teachers.The experimental material Starting points were:- the experiences of the teachers- four courses Dutch as a foreign language for adults- one Dutch course for French speaking Belgian teenagers.Each lesson of the experimental material consists of an A-, B- and C- part.The A- part introduces new words and structures, includes exercises and ends with a test.The B- part introduces more words, structures and exercises and also ends with a test.The C- part starts with a dialogue and repeats what is introduced in the A- and B- part in various contexts and in 4-phase drills on tape.The procedureAn experiment on a small scale '75-'76.It involved 3 schools, 3 language teachers and 75 students.Ten lessons were designed and then criticized by the teachers and two linguists, before being introduced in the classroom.After that the material was revised with the help of teachers and linguists.Now an experiment on a large scale is in progress. This involves 12 secondary schools, 22 teachers and 400 students of 20 different nationalities.The revised material is printed on loose leaves.- The instruction sheets for the teacher are in pink, explaining the aim of the lesson and giving a working method in three phases:1. Introduction - with emphasis on visual aspects,2. Demonstration - with emphasis on oral aspects,3. Repetition - oral and written assimilation.- The material for the students, on white sheets, has simple illustrations.- The tests are on yellow sheets.As yet little is known about the psychological and linguistic background of Dutch as a foreign language in an environment where Dutch is the only medium of instruction.The teachers and author of this experimental curriculum have not yet been able to find any support from scientific research in this field.


Topoisomerases I promote the relaxation of DNA superhelical tension by introducing a transient single-stranded break in duplex DNA and are vital for the processes of replication, transcription, and recombination. The crystal structures at 2.1 and 2.5 angstrom resolution of reconstituted human topoisomerase I comprising the core and carboxyl-terminal domains in covalent and noncovalent complexes with 22-base pair DNA duplexes reveal an enzyme that "clamps" around essentially B-form DNA. The core domain and the first eight residues of the carboxyl-terminal domain of the enzyme, including the active-site nucleophile tyrosine-723, share significant structural similarity with the bacteriophage family of DNA integrases. A binding mode for the anticancer drug camptothecin is proposed on the basis of chemical and biochemical information combined with these three-dimensional structures of topoisomerase I-DNA complexes.


The regulation of media and communications in the UK has recently been subject to reform resulting in the creation of the Office of Communications (Ofcom). This statutory body, established by an Act of Parliament, is a new, sector-wide regulator, protecting the interests of what has been termed the 'citizen-consumer'. This article charts the discursive shifts that occurred during the passage of the Communications Act through Parliament and in the initial stages of its implementation to understand how and why the term 'citizen-consumer' came to lie at the heart of the new regulator's mission. By critically analysing the various alignments of 'citizen' and 'consumer' interests within the debates, the underlying struggles over the formulation of power, responsibility and duties for the new regulator and for other stakeholders – industry, government and public – are identified. The article concludes that the legacy of these debates is that regulatory provisions designed to further the 'citizen interest' contain significant and unresolved dilemmas.


The purpose of this study was to evaluate the implementation of online courses into one school system's five traditional middle schools using these key questions: What steps were needed to implement an online program in middle school? What implementation differences (scheduling, extra time available, DLA appointment and support, number of facilitated courses, administrator perceptions and support, and faculty/staff support) existed among the schools? Were there student characteristics (demographic, classifications, reading achievement levels—EOG scores, prior academic achievement) that can be associated with success in online learning? What were the student outcomes (course participation, EOG scores, time management, technological skills, preparation for future coursework, high school credits earned)? Which online courses were most effective in fostering academic success? What changes should be implemented for this online program in the future?
Data collection included individual interviews with administrators and distance learning advisors to determine processes and procedures. Student data included test data, course grades, student characteristics, and student perceptions from a survey developed by the school system. This study indicated that the presence of a strong distance learning advisor and a prerequisite online course play a major role in the success of online middle school students.


The selection of numerical model and the transformation of catchment data into 'input data' are two fundamental problems in urban runoff simulation. They are discussed from a general point of view. A numerical solution method for the kinematic wave equations is proposed for base catchment modeling. In connection to this solution a methodology for the generation of input data representing the individual base catchment is presented.


We present Persona, a real-time human face-oriented visual effect solution on mobile devices. Persona consists of a 3D face tracker with multi-scale reconstruction models for different-level of mobile devices and a visual effect authoring tool. Our face tracker is able to reliably predict a sequence of facial and illumination parameters from a monocular video in real-time. Those parameters can then be used to develop many interesting applications. We demonstrate that our method outperforms existing state-of-the-art work about 3D face reconstruction on mobile devices and showcase results generated by our tool.


Worldwide, an increasing number of students seek private supplementary tutoring, known as " shadow education. " Various studies report social class differences in the use of shadow education. High-SES families may invest in shadow education as a form of conc erted cultivation, seeking to improve their children's school achievement. In this study, we apply meta-analytic structural equation modeling to explore relationships between parental education, income, and the use of shadow education across nations and educational contexts. We find robust relationships between parental education, income, and the use of shadow education. Moreover, we assess a mediating role of shadow education in the relationship between SES and achievement. Shadow education appears to fulfill a competitive function for privileged families who seek to secure advantage in educational competition. We conclude that educational research, particularly research concerned with inequality of opportunities, needs to take account of the progressively prominent position of shadow education in the educational landscape. shadow and low Studies


Research on the increasing concentration of poverty in the 1980s gave renewed prominence to the role of neighborhood conditions in social policy. This paper begins an examination of trends in this phenomenon during the 1990s, covering all U.S. metropolitan areas. It opens with data on patterns of increase and decrease in concentrated poverty, nationally and for different regions and types of metropolitan areas. Data are presented using both a 40 percent and a 30 percent poverty rate cut-off for defining high-poverty census tracts. The paper also examines the mechanics by which these changes took place. The central finding is that, after decades of moving in the other direction, poverty became notably less concentrated in the 1990s. The share of the metropolitan poor who live in high-poverty neighborhoods (poverty rates of 30 percent or more) increased from 25 to 31 percent in the 1980s but dropped back to 26 percent in 2000. The share of all such neighborhoods in large central cities and predominantly black populations declined while shares of those in the suburbs and those with predominantly Hispanic populations increased.


A combination of modal estimates from powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) experiments and argon isotopic data shows that muscovite 40Ar/39Ar total gas age correlates with muscovite composition near the retrograde Bald Mountain shear zone (BMSZ) in Claremont, New Hampshire, and that the shear zone was active at ∼245 Ma. Petrologic study demonstrates that chemical disequilibrium is preserved in muscovite grains in these samples. The recognition of this preservation is critical to the interpretation of the 40Ar/39Ar step-heating experiments, which never produce age plateaus and yield spectra with steps that range in age by ∼20 Ma. Petrographic, compositional, and crystallographic data all indicate that the age spectra reflect dissolution of metastable Na-rich muscovite and precipitation of stable Na-poor muscovite associated with deformation in the BMSZ.Comparison of whole rock and muscovite concentrate XRD patterns from individual samples demonstrates that the mineral separation process can fractionate these muscovite populations. Therefore, four muscovite concentrates of varying magnetic susceptibility were prepared from a single hand sample, analyzed by XRD, and dated. These four splits define a mixing line that resolves end-member ages of 244.5 ± 4.2 Ma and 302.5 ± 12.5 Ma (1σ). Although the ages are imprecise, the petrologically supported conclusion that these schists preserve two discrete ages is distinct from an interpretation that the spectra reflect cooling through closure at ∼270 Ma, as might be concluded in the absence of petrologic characterization. The XRD results also demonstrate that, even well above anchizone conditions, petrologic information relevant to 40Ar/39Ar dating is observable in subtle variations in the crystallography of muscovite grains.


In trans* people the subjectively perceived gender identity does not match the biological sex assigned at birth. Many trans* people transition, i.e. they decide to adapt their physical sex characteristics with the preferred gender and to change their social gender presentation. The process of transitioning may be accompanied by severe strains. Therefore, the availability of psychosocial resources that play an important role in quality of life (QOL) and in resilience to psychological strain is of special interest. However, research systematically investigating QOL, psychosocial resources, psychological strain and their interrelations in trans* people is missing. The present study aimed to fill this gap.
Using a cross-sectional design, a total of 557 male-to-female trans* persons who had received gender-affirming surgery (GAS) at the local clinic between 1995 and 2015 were contacted via mail and sent a set of questionnaires. Psychosocial resources were assessed using the Essen Resource-Inventory, the Sense of Coherence Scale and the Social Support Scale. QOL was assessed with the Short Form Health Survey and the Essen Transidentity Quality of Life-Inventory. Psychological strain was assessed using the Symptom Checklist.
In total, 158 persons (42% of the contacted) participated in the present study. Trans* women in the current study showed high levels of generic physical QOL which resembled the general population, while mental QOL was reduced. Trans* specific QOL had strongly increased when comparing QOL at coming-out with QOL at the end of the transition. Physical QOL was best predicted by employment status and a short time interval since GAS. Mental and trans* specific QOL were predicted by a high availability of psychosocial resources and low levels of psychological strain. Even at the end of the transition trans* subjects showed a lower diversity of psychosocial resources and almost twofold levels of psychological strain when compared to the general population.
This study reveals that QOL and psychosocial resources develop in the course of the transition and underlines the importance of gender-affirming treatment. It further emphasizes the importance of psychosocial resources for QOL. Still, deficits in resource diversity and psychological strain become obvious. This emphasizes the importance of offering specialized counseling or medical services to support personal growth and to enhance QOL and well-being in trans* people.


This research is a descriptive research which aims to make a systematic and accurate view of facts, behavior and relation between aspects that are quantitatively or qualitatively researched. This research was done to see the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that were faced by Freakinshop and determine the best strategy for it. Strategic formulation consist of three stages; input stage, matching stage, and decision stage. In the input stage Internal Factor Evaluation (IFE) and External Factor Evaluation matrix were used to analyze the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of Freakinshop. The second stage which is the matching stage uses Strength-Weakness-Opportunity-Threat (SWOT) analysis and Internal-External (IE) matrix. Based on the input, Freakinshop placed at SO strategy on the SWOT analysis and on the fifth quadrant of the IE matrix. Both of those matrix resulted on market penetration and product development strategy for Freakinshop. Next, the decision stage. Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix (QSPM) was used to determine the best strategy from the alternative that was given by the second stage. With the highest score, market penetration strategy was chosen as the best strategy for Freakinshop now. This strategy can be implemented by increasing the promotional activity and by sponsorship at K-pop events in Malang. Keywords: Input stage, matching stage, decision stage, online shop, Freakinshop, market penetration


The poor spatial resolution of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) makes it difficult to distinguish two closely located cortical areas from each other. Here, a combination of multi-channel NIRS and a centre of gravity (CoG) approach (widely accepted in the field of transcranial magnetic stimulation; TMS) was used to discriminate between closely located cortical areas activated during hand and foot movements. Similarly, the possibility of separating the more anteriorly represented discrete movements from rhythmic movements was studied. Thirteen healthy right-handed subjects performed rhythmic or discrete ('task') hand or foot ('extremity') tapping. Hemodynamic responses were measured using an 8-channel NIRS setup. For oxyhemoglobin (OHb) and deoxyhemoglobin (HHb), a CoG was determined for each condition using the mean hemodynamic responses and the coordinates of the channels. Significant hemodynamic responses were found for hand and foot movements. Based on the HHb responses, the NIRS-CoG of hand movements was located 0.6 cm more laterally compared to the NIRS-CoG of foot movements. For OHb responses no difference in NIRS-CoG was found for 'extremity' nor for 'task'. This is the first NIRS study showing hemodynamic responses for isolated foot movements. Furthermore, HHb responses have the potential to be used in multi-channel NIRS experiments requiring differential activation of motor cortex areas linked to either hand or foot movements.


Description of the subject. To boost the development of the national palm oil sector, one of the most promising moves for the Cameroonian government would be to improve partnerships between agro-industries and smallholders in order to increase the latter's plantation yields and oil extraction rates. Objectives. Drawing on successful experiences in Southeast Asia, this paper examines the conditions for establishing a win-win partnership between agro-industrial companies and smallholders in the Cameroonian palm oil sector. Method. The study was carried out in three production basins in the Centre and the Southwest regions of Cameroon where such partnerships were initiated before the collapse of the National Aid Fund for Rural Development (FONADER) in the 1970s. In participatory workshops involving at least twelve stakeholders (palm oil producers, artisanal and industrial millers, intermediaries and agricultural extension services), the participants' knowledge was integrated together through individual and collective reflection, with a guarantee of equal expression and consideration of views. Two workshops followed a strict adaptation of Participatory Prospective Analysis (PPA); a third followed a semi-directed participatory approach. Interactions between participants produced definitions of the systems studied and the variables involved, different plausible future scenarios, and recommendations for decision making. Results. Access to technical and managerial capacity building, terms of the contract, access to shareholding in the company by smallholders, and legalization of the terms of the contract emerged as the major items that would influence a sustainable partnership between agro-industries and smallholders. Conclusions. Participatory derived recommendations show that long-term partnerships between agro-industry and smallholders depend on a negotiated contract agreement between the partners to ensure transparency and trust. In addition, a dedicated smallholder department in charge of village plantations within agro-industrial companies can facilitate communication between partners.


Synthesis of a Cyclic Depsipeptide via an Amide Cyclization

The synthesis of (S)-Pms-(R)-Pro-(S)-Ala-Aib-N(CH3)2 (12) has been achieved according to Scheme 3. For the formation of fragment 11, the reaction of Z-alanine (Z = benzyloxycarbonyl) and 3-dimethylamino-2,2-dimethyl-2-azirine (1) has been used, whereby 1 serves as an aminoisobutyric-acid dimethylamide (aib-N(CH3)2) equivalent. Treatment of a suspension of 12 in toluene with HCl gas at 100° led to the cyclic depsipeptide 13 in 72% yield (Scheme 4). In presence of water, the acid 14 was isolated as the sole product. A mechanism for the formation of 13 and 14via an oxazolinone intermediate, is postulated in Scheme 4.


We consider the problem of optimal placement of concentrated masses along a massless elastic column that is clamped at one end and loaded by a nonconservative follower force at the free end. The goal is to find the largest possible interval such that the variation in the loading parameter within this interval preserves stability of the structure. The stability constraint is nonconvex and nonsmooth, making the optimization problem quite challenging. We give a detailed analytical treatment for the case of two masses, arguing that the optimal parameter configuration approaches the flutter and divergence boundaries of the stability region simultaneously. Furthermore, we conjecture that this property holds for any number of masses, which in turn suggests a simple formula for the maximal load interval for $n$ masses. This conjecture is strongly supported by extensive computational results, obtained using the recently developed open-source software package granso (GRadient-based Algorithm for Non-Smooth Optimization) to maximize the load interval subject to an appropriate formulation of the nonsmooth stability constraint. We hope that our work will provide a foundation for new approaches to classical long-standing problems of stability optimization for nonconservative elastic systems arising in civil and mechanical engineering.


The study investigated the financial sustainability of the federal health institutions in Nigeria.  The population of the study comprised twenty-five (25) federal health institutions from four (4) geo-political zones and Abuja.  Secondary data were sourced from Annual General Warrant from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation and Audited Financial Statements of the Public Sector Entities. Data obtained were analyzed using Balanced Score Card techniques.  The results showed that none of the sampled federal  health institutions in Nigeria  attained a basic standard of sustainability test, whereby the ratios of their Internally Generated Revenue to recurrent expenditure is between (40 – 60)%  or 0.04 and 0.6.This indicates the inability of the institutions to generate sufficient revenue independently to cover even the operational expenses in the short-run.  Also, the results equally showed the highest positive operating surplus ratios of 1%-5% of operational sustainability indicating that the health institutions heavily depended on central authority's funding for their survival. The results further revealed that none of the federal health institutions attained both intermediate and advance standards of sustainability tests. In conclusion, federal health institutions in Nigeria are heavily dependent on central authority for sustenance. Therefore, the central authorities should roll out blueprints that will make the institutions widen their internally generated revenue capacity and reduce the reliance on central authority's funding for survival.


Antibodies specific for DEC205, a dendritic cell (DC) endocytic receptor that traffics to the antigen presentation pathway, have been shown to be excellent tools for raising robust, sustained immune responses to co-delivered vaccine antigens; however, strong immune responses are only elicited with the aid of non-specific dendritic cell maturation factors, without which a tolerogenic immune response is induced. We hypothesize that regulatory T cell epitopes (Tregitopes) located in the αDEC205 sequence promotes tolerance, requiring the use of non-specific immuno-stimulators to promote pro-inflammatory immune responses. This hypothesis is based on previous research performed by De Groot et al. 2008 who characterized a set of natural regulatory T cell epitopes derived from human immunoglobulins (IgG) that were found to induce tolerance by stimulating regulatory T cells (CD4CD25FoxP3). We believe that αDEC205 can be rendered less tolerogenic by modifying its regulatory T cell epitope content and improve its capacity to induce inflammatory responses without the aid of non-specific maturation factors to activate the immune system. In this work, the αDEC205 sequence was computationally screened for putative HLA-Class II-restricted, regulatory T cell epitopes as targets for elimination by mutation. Mutations affecting key amino acid sites, relevant to peptide-HLA-DRB1*0401 binding, were carried out to reduce epitope binding affinity to the HLA-DRB1*0401 allele. Sequence modifications confirmed to disrupt peptide-HLA binding were incorporated into an array of αDEC205:OVA-ORG (original sequence) variants (mutant sequences) via site directed mutagenesis. Protein was produced by CHO-S cell transient transfection. Purified variant αDEC205:OVA-ORG recombinant proteins were utilized in DR4 in vivo immunizations and functional assays to observe T cell activation and proliferative immune responses. The αDEC205:OVA variants (HC54-MOD1, VH77-MOD1 & VH77MOD2) were shown to target and bind to dendritic cells as effectively as the non-modified αDEC205:OVA antibody. Splenocytes were re-stimulated with ovalbumin in the T cell proliferation assay and with OVA Class I (257-264) and OVA Class II (323-339) peptides in the ELISpot assay to measure the memory responses. Both αDEC205:OVA-VH77-MOD1 and αDEC205:OVA-VH77MOD2 showed statistically significant differences in CD8+ and CD4+ T cell proliferation in comparison to splenocytes previously immunized with the αDEC205:OVA-ORG antibody condition, respectively. However, a lack of statistically significant IFN-γ cytokine production was observed for all variant antibody immunization conditions. Further analyses are required to determine the true significance observed from the αDEC205:OVA-VH77-MOD1 data set as evidenced by the possible outliers, which may be skewing the results. The αDEC205:OVA-HC54-MOD1 sequence failed to generate elevated levels of T cell proliferation and IFN-γ secretion responses. It was concluded that the αDEC205:OVA antibodies (VH77-MOD1 and VH77-MOD2) induced statistically significant elevated T cell proliferative responses in comparison to the baseline immune response levels of the nonmodified αDEC205:OVA-ORG antibody, suggesting that an improved vaccine delivery system is underway due to the epitope modifications at the VH77 Tregitope sequence, which potentially decreased the tolerogenicity of the αDEC-205:OVA antibody. In regards to the other variant antibodies, further modifications to the Tregitope sequences in the αDEC205:OVA antibody's overall sequence may be necessary to reduce tolerogenicity further to begin to create a detolerized antibody capable of inducing a pro-inflammatory immune response without the aid of a non-specific immuno-stimulator.


Hybrid perovskites provide the possibility of integrating useful organic and inorganic characteristics within a single crystalline molecular-scale composite, enabling unique electronic, magnetic and optical properties. The ability to understand and control the organic and inorganic structural attributes of these hybrids is important for being able to engineer the physical characteristics, both for fundamental studies as well as potential applications. Recently, a number of new and interesting perovskite structures have been reported and a better understanding has begun to emerge with respect to crystal design considerations. This contribution will review several of these new developments and will provide a more general discussion of structural engineering within this diverse family of compounds.
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Cryogel matrices composed of different polymeric blends were synthesized, yielding a unique combination of hydrophilicity and hydrophobicity with the presence or absence of charged surface. Four such cryogel matrices composed of polyacrylamide–chitosan (PAAC), poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide)–chitosan, polyacrylonitrile (PAN), and poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide) were tested for growth of different hybridoma cell lines and production of antibody in static culture. All the matrices were capable for the adherence of hybridoma cell lines 6A4D7, B7B10, and H9E10 to the polymeric surfaces as well as for the efficient monoclonal antibody (mAb) production. PAAC proved to be relatively better in terms of both mAb production and cell growth. Further, PAAC cryogel was designed into three different formats, monolith, disks, and beads, and used as packing material for packed‐bed bioreactor. Long‐term cultivation of 6A4D7 cell line on PAAC cryogel scaffold in all the three formats could be successfully done for a period of 6 weeks under static conditions. Continuous packed‐bed bioreactor was setup using 6A4D7 hybridoma cell line in the three reactor formats. The reactors ran continuously for a period of 60 days during which mAb production and metabolism of cells in the bioreactors were monitored periodically. The monolith bioreactor performed most efficiently over a period of 60 days and produced a total of 57.5 mg of antibody in the first 30 days (in 500 mL) with a highest concentration of 115 μg mL−1, which is fourfold higher than t‐flask culture. The results demonstrate that appropriate chemistry and geometry of the bioreactor matrix for cell growth and immobilization can enhance the reactor productivity. © 2010 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 2011


ABSTRACT We examined the radiocarbon (14C) reservoir effect in Lake Kutubu using tephrochronology and terrestrial plant material to deliver a precise age-depth profile and sedimentation rates for this lake. Based on the presence of two tephra horizons (Tibito and Olgaboli), we found a reservoir age offset in sediments of between 1490 and 2280 14C yr using the sediment ages derived from the lead-210 (210Pb) dating method. The live submerged biological samples collected exhibited a higher reservoir age offset than the sediment. This is most likely a result of delayed transport of "bomb" 14C from the atmosphere to aquatic and sedimentary system. The 14C reservoir effect increased with distance from the lake inlet and also decreased with depth. Dissolution of 14C-depleted carbon from surrounding limestone and direct in-wash of old soil or vegetation remnants from the catchment are the most likely causes of the 14C reservoir effect. Based on limestone areas mapped in Papua New Guinea, we indicate lakes which may be subject to a significant 14C reservoir effect. The results of this study demonstrate the magnitude of the 14C reservoir effect in lakes and provide insights to the correct interpretation of past environmental and archaeological events in PNG.


Cattle rearing plays a crucial role in the semi arid communal areas of Zimbabwe, as a result any developmental strategy that is aimed at improving household livelihood in these areas should target cattle production. The objective of the study was to assess the impact of introducing improved indigenous cattle beef breeds in Bulilima District of Matabeleland South in Zimbabwe. The study was carried out in Masendu ward comprising of six villages of Luvuluma, Mambo, Tjeboroma, Makumbi, Thandawani and Muke. A random sample of 13 livestock farmers were selected from participants of the Kellogg Foundation communal areas indigenous cattle (Tuli, Afrikaner and Nguni) improvement program through a donation of  improved indigenous beef cattle bulls. Semi-structured questionnaires were used to collect data on household demographics, socioeconomic factors, herd structure, management practices and constraints in cattle breeding program. Qualitative data were coded and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 2008) computer software in order to generate descriptive statistics such as means and frequencies or percentages. The study revealed an interesting scenario on household demographics; the majority of the farmers had formal education, with only 7.7% not having attained any formal education. As a result of Kellogg Foundation bull donations some farmers (15.4%) increased their herd size to more than 30 cattle which improved their social status in the areas. Farmers interviewed showed that they were motivated to keep improved breeds with least more than half of the farmers reporting that the bulls to a certain extent increased the number of cows serviced within the community herds. Poor animal condition was reported in cattle herds due to the inadequate supply of both water and nutrition, the latter being caused by lack of good grazing. It was noted that government support was necessary in infrastructure development in order to improve community based cattle breeding programs. The need to organise market to encourage smallholder farmers to sell their animals was also cited. There was a belief that better prices were achievable at local markets if the communal herd was genetically improved for important economic traits. Therefore, the key conclusion was that communal farmers had a positive perception on improving the communal cattle herds.  This warranted a multi-sectoral approach to address different challenges that militate against high cattle productivity in communal areas.


Electrical and luminescence characterization was performed on 16 dye sensitized solar cells with different formulations, from different industrial and academic sources. Most of the cells were fabricated in pre-industrial pilot lines. The cells were put through a light soaking period up to 150 hours and then re-characterized. The results show the commonly observed increase in Jsc with light soaking is due to a decrease in the conduction band energy (with respect to the electrolyte) and an increase in the injection rate and efficiency. The strong correlation between the luminescence decay lifetime (<200 ps to 5 ns) and the photocurrent (7 to 13 mA cm−2) shows that the luminescence decay is a useful monitor of injection rates in these cells. The very slow injection shown by some cells implies substantial losses at the injection step. The data point to a need to understand and improve the TiO2 processing and dyeing conditions in the industrial setting as well as the need to focus injection studies on the full range of dynamics present in the cells.


Over the past few years, there have been a few studies on the development of an interest in science and scientists' views on public outreach. Yet, to date, there has been no global study regarding astronomers' views on these matters. Through the completion of our survey by 155 professional astronomers online and in person during the 28th International Astronomical Union General Assembly in 2012, we explored their development of and an interest for astronomy and their views on time constraints and budget restriction regarding public outreach activities. We find that astronomers develop an interest in astronomy between the ages of 4-6 but that the decision to undertake a career in astronomy often comes during late adolescence. We also discuss the claim that education and public outreach is regarded an optional task rather than a scientist's duty. Our study revealed that many astronomers think there should be a larger percentage of their research that should be invested into outreach activities, calling for a change in grant policies.


Breadth-First Search is an important basis for many different graph-based algorithms with applications ranging from peer-to-peer networking to garbage collection. However, the performance of different approaches depends strongly on the type of graph. In this paper, three algorithms of varying complexity are implemented using the CUDA Programming Model for the GPU and are compared to one another on a variety of different, sparse graphs. As part of this, we look into utilizing dynamic parallelism in order to both reduce overhead from latency between the CPU and GPU, as well as speed up the algorithm itself. Lastly, the same three algorithms are then integrated with the faimGraph framework for dynamic graphs and the relative performance to a Compressed-Sparse-Row data structure is examined. We show that our algorithm can be well adapted to the dynamic setting and outperforms another competing dynamic graph framework on our test set.


Introduction Compared with White Americans, African Americans exhibit lower levels of trust in government. However, there is a dearth of research that seeks to explain that group's level of political trust. Employing data taken from the 1996 National Black Election Study, this research examines three explanations to test how psychological involvement, policy satisfaction, and reference group influence political trust among African Americans. The results show support for each of the models as important factors in explaining African Americans' trust in government. Political trust is defined in the literature as a summary of both negative and positive evaluations of the government in Washington, D.C. (1) It reflects the perception of how well the federal government is performing based upon expectations, which involves, to some degree, trust in public officials who serve in government, as well as both the system and process of government. One must be careful to understand the concept of political trust as a more narrow term, however, and not conflate it with other terms. Political trust is mainly concerned with expectations and their relationship to the outcomes of government's actions. Oftentimes, when speaking more specifically about trust in certain public officials, congressional or presidential approval ratings would be a more suitable measurement of that trust. If the focus is on the system or process of government, then system or process support would be a more appropriate measure of trust. Lastly, political trust does not refer to trust in political parties, for that would be subsumed by party identification. Most research suggests that political trust is composed primarily of evaluations of public officials, political institutions, and satisfaction with public policies. (2) The conventional wisdom concerning political trust is that as conditions improve for the nation, trust in government increases. Conversely, as Arthur Miller, a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Iowa, argues, low levels of trust indicate dissatisfaction with the political system. (3) Jack Citrin, a professor of political science at the University of California-Berkeley, adds that low levels of political trust are the result of poor evaluations the public assigns incumbents and their policies. (4) Americans have become more distrusting of government since the 1970s. (5) African Americans trust government less than whites, which can best be explained by the history of racism and discrimination in the United States. The American South, the home of Jim Crow laws and numerous efforts to subvert the African-American vote, has been a bastion of racial hatred toward African Americans. (6) Moreover, racial segregation remains prevalent in the country, and many bemoan the educational, economic, social, and justice systems as being anti-African American. (7) Extant scholarship on political trust confirms that African Americans have less of it than whites. (8) However, these studies offer limited theoretical justifications for African Americans' distrust of government beyond speculating, typically without empirical evidence, that it is rooted in their experiences with racial discrimination. While plausible, this explanation does not take into account other factors that may explain lower levels of political trust among African Americans. This study offers several tests of models in an effort to explain political trust among African Americans. In doing so, it attempts to fill a gap in the literature. Other works have addressed why African Americans do not trust government, but without systematic analyses. By and large, they ignore African Americans or conclude the opposite of their findings on political trust among White Americans. Research on African-Americans' political trust chiefly promotes the roles of descriptive representation (shared social characteristics) rather than actual living experience, and substantive representation (shared policy interests) instead of policy and governmental evaluations in affecting African-Americans' political trust. …


Despite recent improvements in staging, treatment, and perioperative care, esophageal cancer remains a devastating disease with a 5-year overall survival rate of only 15-25%. As prognosis is often poor, multimodality (rather than single modality) treatment approaches are frequently applied to increase the chances of cure. For patients the multitude of burdening treatment modalities are hard to undergo and exhibit substantial risks of serious side effects without knowing whether all components (e.g. chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery) contribute to the desired outcome on an individual basis. The studies presented in this thesis aimed to open a window to move towards individualized care for patients with esophageal cancer enabling selection of only those treatments that are best for the individual patient and omission of components that contribute little to (or even deteriorate) the well-being of the patient. In order to enable such tailor-made treatment for the individual patient with esophageal cancer, improvements in the diagnostic work-up, multimodality treatment strategies, treatment response assessment, and the risk prediction, prevention, and management of postoperative complications are indicated. The research projects presented in this thesis contribute to the realization of these improvements through the use of advanced imaging techniques and prediction models for the estimation of individual treatment efficacies and risks. Two exciting developments described in this thesis have shown promising results for allowing individualized treatment for esophageal cancer in the nearby future. First, it was indicated that in the coming years clinicians will likely become able to accurately estimate patients' individual probability of a certain treatment efficacy after chemoradiotherapy based on MRI-based quantitative imaging parameters. Such an estimation would tremendously help clinicians and patients with informed and shared treatment decision-making. In particular the preoperative probability of a pathologic complete response is of interest for the patient, as this parameter reflects the need for additional surgical treatment. Vice versa, early identification of a high probability of non-response may be reason to modify or stop (toxic) chemoradiotherapy. Second, in this thesis the first steps were taken to develop MRI-guided radiotherapy for esophageal cancer using the MR-linac, which is a treatment modality that is currently transforming the field of radiotherapy. The MR-linac enables physicians to visualize and adapt radiotherapy in real-time during treatment based on detailed MR images. As such, the MR-linac yields unprecedented levels of precision and accuracy for each individual patient resulting in improved treatment efficacy and reduced toxicity. In addition, it implies that in the nearby future standard (rather conservative) total radiation doses –already leading to a complete disappearance of esophageal cancer in approximately 30% of cases– may be safely escalated using the MR-linac. Meanwhile, treatment response could be continuously monitored during treatment using the MRI component. These features are expected to result in a higher proportion of local cure (and good tumor responses) for esophageal cancer with fewer side effects. If so, a more restrained policy towards surgery may be practiced in a significant proportion of patients, while current non-surgical patients (due to advanced local tumor characteristics) may become new surgical candidates.


The coverage of a test suite is often used as a proxy for its effectiveness. However, previous studies that investigated the influence of code coverage on test suite effectiveness have failed to reach a consensus about the nature and strength of the relationship between these test suite characteristics. Moreover, many of the studies were done with small or synthetic programs, making it unclear that their results generalize to larger programs. In addition, some of the studies did not account for the confounding influence of test suite size. We have extended these studies by evaluating the relationship between test suite size, block coverage, and effectiveness for large Java programs. Our test subjects were four Java programs from different application domains: Apache POI, HSQLDB, JFreeChart, and Joda Time. All four are actively developed open source programs; they range from 80,000 to 284,000 source lines of code. For each test subject, we generated between 5,000 and 7,000 test suites by randomly selecting test methods from the program's entire test suite. The suites ranged in size from 3 to 3,000 methods. We used the coverage tool Emma to measure the block coverage of each suite and the mutation testing tool Javalanche to evaluate the effectiveness of each suite. We found that there is a low correlation between block coverage and effectiveness when the number of tests in the suite is controlled for. This suggests that block coverage, while useful for identifying undertested parts of a program, should not be used as a quality target because it is not a good indicator of test suite effectiveness.


The purpose of this study was to examine beach volleyball players' experience regarding shoulder injury and how it affects their return to play. To achieve the research aims a qualitative design with semi-structured interviews had been conducted, five elite beach volleyball players, four men and one woman aged 27–42 participated in the study. All participants had suffered a severe shoulder injury, with absence from training and competing for at least 28 days. The findings of this study indicate that it is the individual's inner motivation, together with a clear goal and support from the community, family, teammate and coach that are the most important factors when going through rehabilitation and getting back to playing beach volleyball after a shoulder injury. All participants had been affected by their injury in some way; some of the participants had been affected in a positive way since they had become mentally stronger and had developed better volleyball technique after rehabilitation. The conclusions of this study indicate that there are three distinct factors that increase the chances of getting back to playing beach volleyball after shoulder injury; it is the players' self motivation, together with a clear goal and support from the community.


The Atlantic Water flow from the Barents and Kara seas to the Arctic Ocean through the St. Anna Trough (SAT) is conditioned by interaction between Fram Strait branch water circulating in the SAT and Barents Sea branch water—both of Atlantic origin. Here we present data from an oceanographic mooring deployed on the eastern flank of the SAT from September 2009 to September 2010 as well as CTD (conductivity-temperature-depth) sections across the SAT. A distinct vertical density front over the SAT eastern slope deeper than ∼50 m is attributed to the outflow of Barents Sea branch water to the Arctic Ocean. In turn, the Barents Sea branch water flow to the Arctic Ocean is conditioned by two water masses defined by relative low and high fractions of the Atlantic Water. They are also traceable in the Nansen Basin downstream of the SAT entrance. A persistent northward current was recorded in the subsurface layer along the SAT eastern slope with a mean velocity of 18 cm s−1 at 134–218 m and 23 cm s−1 at 376–468 m. Observations and modeling suggest that the SAT flow has a significant density-driven component. It is therefore expected to respond to changes in the cross-trough density gradient conditioned by interaction between the Fram Strait and Barents Sea branches. Further modeling efforts are necessary to investigate hydrodynamic instability and eddy generation caused by the interaction between the SAT flow and the Arctic Ocean Fram Strait branch water boundary current.


Obesity and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk among adolescents have become major public health concerns. Obesity rate has reached 18.4% among 12-19 year olds, and 20.3% of this age group has at least one abnormal blood lipid level. Among obese adolescents, dyslipidemia rate is troubling, at 42.9%. Diet quality may play a key role in the development of obesity and other CVD risks among this age group. Consistently poor diet quality has been observed among adolescents, and research indicates dietary patterns from this age persist into adulthood. Moreover, minimal research has explored connections between diet quality and CVD risk in adolescents. Therefore, the primary aims of this dissertation were: 1) to determine differences in diet quality between obese and non-obese, hypertensive and normotensive, and dyslipidemic and non-dyslipidemic 16 year-olds; 2) to examine relationships between diet quality and CVD risks; 3) to identify relationships between dietary components and CVD risk; and 4) to examine interactions between diet quality and adiposity on CVD risks. The first study identified greater sweetened beverage intake among obese adolescents. Additionally, fruit and fiber intake were negatively related to body mass index (BMI). Fruit and protein intake were also negatively related to waist circumference (WC). The second study found positive relationships between blood pressure (BP) and BMI and WC. Greater consumption of vegetable, fruit, whole fruit, greens and beans, fiber, and magnesium, and lower consumption of energy from fat were related to decreases in BP. The second study also showed greater intake of sweetened beverages, and lower intake of omega 3 fatty acids and fiber among participants with elevated total cholesterol (TC). Diet quality, omega 3 fatty acids, fiber, vegetable, and greens and beans were positively related to TC. Lastly, low density lipoprotein was negatively related to vegetable and greens and beans intake. Significant moderation effects by diet quality were observed on the relationships between BMI and systolic BP, and BMI and triglycerides. These findings implicate elevated BMI, WC, and sweetened beverage intake with greater CVD risk. By contrast, these findings suggest cardio-protective effects for greater vegetable, fruit, and fiber consumption.


This paper presents a somewhat novel approach to explore the economic contribution of ecosystems. It develops linked models to capture connections between resource stocks and flows and the resulting microeconomic and macroeconomic impacts. A bioeconomic model is developed that is imbedded into a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model. Incorporating imperfect regulation, the bioeconomic model characterizes optimal policies, while the CGE model explores the economy-wide consequences of possible changes to the ecosystem. The model is parameterized and calibrated to the case of the Serengeti ecosystem which is perhaps the most intensively researched biome with a relative abundance of data. This ecosystem is also undergoing rapid change from a host of factors related to developments within and around the protected area system. The analysis identifies the contribution of the ecosystem to the economy and finds that changes in tourism and bushmeat hunting have surprisingly diffuse economy-wide impacts, that are especially large in the rural sector. To guard against overstatement, ecosystem impacts are under-stated relative to other effects. The results suggest that linkages to the natural resource sector (backward and forward multipliers) are important and neglecting these may lead to biased estimates.


Maintaining usable and sustainable digital collections requires a complex set of actions that address the many challenges at various stages of the digital object lifecycle. Digital curation activities enhance access and retrieval, maintain quality, add value, and facilitate use and re-use over time. Digital resource lifecycle management is becoming an increasingly important topic as digital curators actively explore software tools that perform metadata curation and file management tasks. Accordingly, the University of North Texas (UNT) Libraries develop tools and workflows that streamline production and quality assurance activities. This article demonstrates two open source software tools, AutoHotkey and Selenium IDE, which the UNT Digital Libraries Division has adopted for use during the pre-ingest and post-ingest stages of the digital resource lifecycle.


Microfinance institutions (MFIs) constitute a support mechanism for microenterprises in Mexico by designing programmes that are accessible to this type of business. This article makes a comparative analysis of the financing programmes granted by MFIs and commercial banking and in turn, determines the impact of these supports on the results of the microenterprises. By applying non-parametric statistics, the results reveal that MFIs offer loans with smaller amounts, shorter terms, periodic payments, and higher interest rates compared with commercial banking products. Also, it was found that microenterprises that obtained financing from MFIs achieved lower profits than those that acquired resources from commercial banking.


To measure the difference between two intersecting families ${\cal F},{\cal G} \subseteq 2^{[n]}$ we introduce the quantity $D({\cal F} ,{\cal G})=|\{ (F,G):F \in {\cal F}, G \in {\cal G}, F\cap G =\emptyset \}|$. We prove that if ${\cal F}$ is $k$-uniform and ${\cal G}$ is $l$-uniform, then for large enough $n$ and for any $i \neq j$ ${\cal F}_i=\{F \subseteq [n]: i \in F, |F|=k \}$ and ${\cal F}_j=\{F \subseteq [n]: j \in F, |F|=l\}$ form an optimal pair of families (that is $D({\cal F},{\cal G}) \leq D({\cal F}_i,{\cal F}_j)$ for all uniform and intersecting ${\cal F}$ and ${\cal G}$), while in the non-uniform case any pair of the form ${\cal F}_i=\{F \subseteq [n]: i \in F \}$ and ${\cal F}_j=\{F \subseteq [n]: j \in F\}$ is optimal for any $n$.


This work deals with a "passive flow monitoring" technique which can be used to help determine the energy used by a building's heating system. The thesis first highlights the background and importance of energy monitoring in buildings. This work points out that energy monitoring is an important feature in the running of buildings today. In the past, the energy crisis in the 1970's made people aware of how important it was to have knowledge of how buildings consume energy. More recently, environmental issues have reinforced the importance of gaining good quality information on energy use in buildings. This thesis investigates the use of combined port flow characteristics/control signal relationships for three port control valves to predict system water flow rate in heating systems. A laboratory test rig was built and a range of three port valves were tested. A series of combined port flow characteristics/control signal relationships were developed from measurements from the test rig. Curve fit models were then applied to these relationships in the form of polynomial equations. Where practical relationships could not be measured for a valve, a theoretical valve model was derived. In order to validate the polynomial regression model and the mathematical model, the test rig was modified to take into account practical heating system characteristics. A series of flow characteristic results were produced from the modified test rig so that the performance of the two models (empirical and mathematical) could be evaluated. It was found that the empirical model performed well in predicting combined port flow ratios with RMS errors ranging between 2.73% and 6.54%. The mathematical model gave overall prediction errors between -2.63% and +9.25% which compare favourably with the performance of some flow meters. The work then goes on to present an energy use algorithm which incorporates the valve model (empirical or theoretical) for use in BEMS.


We evaluated the potential antitubercular activity of triterpenes obtained fromleaves and barks of Byrsonima crassa, a native species of Brazilian central savannah-like belt of vegetation. The structures of compounds were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic evidence. The antitubercular activitywas determined by microplate alamar blue method(MABA). From chloroformic extracts of leaves, by bioassay guided fractionation, we obtainedmixtures of known triterpenes: α-amyrin, β-amyrin and their acetates, lupeol, oleanolic acid, ursolic acid and α-amyrinone, which exhibited minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) ranged of 31.25- 312.25µg/mL. β-amyrin and friedelin isolated from chloroformic extract of bark showed MICof 312,25µg/mLand 125µg/mLrespectively. This is the first report of triperpenes present in B. crassa and their antimycobacterial activity.


ABSTRACTThe temporal variation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission in a petrochemical wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) was investigated in this study. Two approaches including an in-situ continuous monitoring and a typical grab sampling methods were also compared. The in-situ continuous monitoring method provided more detailed information regarding the temporal variations of GHG concentrations. A sufficient sampling frequency (e.g., once every 6 hours) for the grab sampling method is required to effectively resolve the diurnal variations of GHG concentrations. This study highlights significant diurnal variations of GHG concentrations in different wastewater treatment units. Only with proper and reliable sampling and analytical methods, it becomes possible to correctly identify the characteristics of GHG emissions and to develop strategies to curtail the GHG emissions from such an important source in response to regulatory measures and international treaties. This study revealed that N2O was the dominant species responsible for GHG emissions in the WWTP and the emission factors of CH4 and N2O were higher in the equalization tank and final sedimentation tank compared to other units. We further compared the GHG emission factors of this study with other literatures, showing that the GHG emission factors were lower than those measured in Netherlands, Australia, and IPCC, but similar to those measured in Japan.


Influenced by the development of international monetary system and the fi-nancial crisis, the promotion of CNY internationalization has gradually evolved into the dual needs of both domestic and overseas. According to the money demand function proposed by Friedman and selecting the semi-annual data from 1990 to 1998, this paper establishes the domestic monetary demand model of CNY and estimates the offshore stock of CNY from 1999 to 2015 by indirect measurement method. And we take this as a measure of CNY internationalization standards. On this basis, this paper establishes a semi-logarithmic model and makes an empirical study on the influencing factors of CNY in-ternationalization by cointegration analysis. The empirical result shows that the expansion of China's economic scale and the current account surplus are conducive to promoting the process of CNY internationalization, but the impact of capital and financial account on the process of CNY internationaliza-tion is not significant.


Background: Advance care planning (ACP) often culminates in the completion of advance care directives (ACD), which is a written record of informed decisions specifying the type and extent of desired medical treatment. Documentation of ACD in nursing homes in the United States indicates a 60% to 70% completion rate. There are little data on the time at which ACD are completed in relation to when the resident was admitted to the nursing home facility. Objective: To explore the success of advanced care planning at a large, rural long-term care (LTC) facility. Methods: A descriptive approach, using a retrospective chart review, of 167 residents was used to examine resident completion of health-care system documents, legal documents, predisposing factors (resident demographics and psychosocial characteristics), and the actual process of ACP as defined by the rural LTC facility. Results: This nursing home utilizes a document entitled resident preference for life-sustaining treatment (RPLST). For residents who do not have formal prepared advance directive documents, the RPLST serves to define resident and family choices for resuscitation and implementation of fluids, nutrition, medications, and antibiotics. The most striking finding was the completion rate of the RPLST within 100 days of being admitted to the nursing home. Conclusion: Documentation of end-of-life preferences within 10 days of admission was achieved through the incorporation of RPLST during the resident admission process.


AX J2049.6+2939 is a compact X-ray source in the vicinity of the southern blow-up region of the Cygnus Loop supernova remnant. This source was the brightest X-ray source inside the Cygnus Loop observed during the ASCA survey project. The X-ray spectrum was well fitted by a power-law function with a photon index of -2.1 ± 0.1. Short-term timing analysis was performed, and no coherent pulsation was found. Follow-up observations with ASCA have revealed a large variation in X-ray intensity by a factor of ≃50, whereas the spectral shape did not change within the statistical uncertainties. In the second ASCA observation, we found another X-ray source, AX J2050.0+2941, to the northeast of AX J2049.6+2939. During the three ASCA observations, the X-ray intensity of AX J2050.0+2941 varied by a factor of ≃4. No coherent pulsations could be found for AX J2050.0+2941. We have performed optical photometric and spectroscopic observations in the vicinity of AX J2049.6+2939 at KPNO. As a result, all objects brighter than a B-band magnitude of 22 in the error box can be identified with normal stars. Combined with the X-ray results and the fact that there are no radio counterparts, AX J2049.6+2939 is not likely to be either an ordinary rotation-powered pulsar or an active galactic nucleus (AGN). The nature of AX J2049.6+2939 is still unclear, and further observations over a wide energy band are strongly required. As to AX J2050.0+2941, the long-term X-ray variability and the radio counterpart suggests that it is an AGN.


Playing mobile games is popular among a large and diverse set of players, contrasting sharply with the limited set of companies and people who design them. We would like to democratise mobile game design by enabling players to design games on the same devices they play them on, without needing to program. Our concept of fluidic games aims to realise this vision by drawing on three design methodologies. The interaction style of fluidic games is that of casual creators; their end-user design philosophy is adapted from metadesign; and their technical implementation is based on parametric design. In this short article, we discuss how we've adapted these three methods to mobile game design, and some open questions that remain in order to empower end user game design on mobile phones in a way that rises beyond the level of typical user-generated content.


HCN profiles measured by solar occultation spectrometry during 10 balloon flights of the JPL MkIV instrument are presented. The HCN profiles reveal a compact correlation with stratospheric tracers. Calculations with a 2D‐model using established rate coefficients for the reactions of HCN with OH and O(1D) severely underestimate the measured HCN in the middle and upper stratosphere. The use of newly available rate coefficients for these reactions gives reasonable agreement of measured and modeled HCN. An HCN yield of ∼30% from the reaction of CH3CN with OH is consistent with the measurements.


The role of amino acids as triggers of Mucor racemosus sporangiospore germination was investigated. No single amino acid was effective as glucose or peptone at triggering germination. Germination induced by glucose or peptone was pH-independent, whereas germination induced by glutamate was pH-dependent. The composition of the free amino acid pools of M-spores (those unable to germinate on glutamate) was qualitatively and quantitatively similar to that of C-spores (those capable of germinating on glutamate) with the exceptions of hydroxyproline and methionine and methionine whose concentrations were several-fold higher in C-spores. Glutamate and leucine were taken up by germinating and nongerminating spores; however, significant protein synthesis occurred only in germinating spores. Spores not triggered by 3-O-methyl-D-glucose (M-spores) contained about one-half the protein of those triggered by 3-O-methyl-D-glucose (C-spores). C-spores initiated to germinate by 3-O-methyl-D-glucose decreased in total organic carbon and protein over a 6 h period; removal of the 3-O-methyl-D-glucose resulted in an immediate halt of protein degradation and spore swelling. These results suggest that protein is a major endogenous reserve in M. racemosus sporangiospores and that its turnover is a necessary event for glucose-triggered germination.


Patients will have the option to refer themselves for diagnostic tests without going through a GP as part of an early diagnosis programme for cancer, NHS England has announced.

It also announced that a new independent taskforce will develop a five year action plan for cancer services to improve survival rates and that stereotactic ablative radiotherapy will be made more widely available to patients with cancer in England.

The early diagnosis programme, run jointly with Cancer Research UK and Macmillan Cancer Support, will test new approaches to expedite cancer diagnosis. The programme has identified more than 60 potential projects to tackle late diagnosis, which will be led locally by NHS teams. They will be evaluated and then could be implemented nationally from 2016-17.

The projects include giving GPs direct access to diagnostic tests, such as computerised tomography and ultrasonography, lowering referral thresholds for GPs, and creating bespoke clinics …


The design and synthesis of a phthalocyanine – Gd‐DOTA conjugate is presented to open the way to novel molecular theranostics, combining the properties of MRI contrast imaging with photodynamic therapy. The rational design of the conjugate integrates isomeric purity of the phthalocyanine core substitution, suitable biocompatibility with the use of polyoxo water‐solubilizing substituents, and a convergent synthetic strategy ended by the use of click chemistry to graft the Gd‐DOTA moiety to the phthalocyanine. Photophysical and photochemical properties, contrast imaging experiments and preliminary in vitro investigations proved that such a combination is relevant and lead to a new type of potential theranostic agent.


In every human life, there would be various development phase. One of the most overviewed development phases was adolescence. In adolescence era, there was a physical change which made the adolescent paid attention to their
physical appearance. Most of adolescent want to be seemed thinner and slender since they considered that became slender would make them happy, success, and popular. To do what they want, adolescent did so many ways, one of them by
consuming slenderizing medicine. Most of people who consumed slenderizing medicine were people who gained more weight or obesity. But according to the existing phenomena, some people who owed proportional body still consumed
slenderizing medicine. The research aimed to find out the psychological dynamism of adolescent who owed proportional body in consuming slenderizing medicine.
The research was qualitative descriptive research. In this research, the writer used purposive sampling technique by taken 3 subjects. Data collection method used was interview. Data verification method was source triangulation with subject's friend.
From the research there found that the three subject owed mistakes in percepting their ideal weight according to their opinion. There found that their weight was ideal but they wanted to be thinner by making ideal standard according to theirown. The three subject's perception about ideal weight and according to subject's friend determination about subject's body force them to consume more slenderizing medicine. According to their expirience there could be found that slenderizing medicine owed negative side according positive side. The three subject perception about ideal weight made them owing anxiousness about their body. Two of the three subjects, JK and RM felt happy and satisfy with the slenderizing medicine they consumed since they became confidence in making relation or interacting with somebody elses. While MU subject felt quiet by consuming slenderizing medicine since her anxiousness to get fet could be handled.


Discovery of new drug binding sites on well-established targets is of great interest as it facilitates the design of new mechanistic inhibitors to overcome the acquired drug resistance. Small chemical fragments can easily enter and bind to the cavities on the protein surface. Thus, they can be used to probe new druggable pockets in proteins. DNA gyrase plays indispensable roles in DNA replication, and both its GyrA and GyrB subunits are clinically validated antibacterial targets. New mechanistic GyrB inhibitors are urgently desired since the withdrawal of novobiocin from the market by the FDA due to its reduced efficiency and other reasons. Here, a fragment library was screened against the E. coli GyrB ATPase domain by combining affinity- and bioactivity-based approaches. The following X-ray crystallographic efforts were made to determine the cocrystal structures of GyrB with ten fragment hits, and three different binding modes were disclosed. Fortunately, a hydrophobic pocket which is previously unknown was identified by two fragments. Fragments that bind to this pocket were shown to inhibit the ATPase activity as well as the DNA topological transition activity of DNA gyrase in vitro. A set of fragment analogs were screened to explore the binding capacity of this pocket and identify the better starting fragments for lead development. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that this pocket is conserved in most Gram-negative and also many Gram-positive human pathogenic bacteria, implying a broad-spectrum antibacterial potential and a lower risk of mutation. Thus, the novel druggable pocket and the starting fragments provide a novel basis for designing new GyrB-targeting therapeutics.


The L-type calcium channel (LTCC) provides trigger Ca(2+) for sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca-release, and LTCC function is influenced by interacting proteins including the LTCC distal COOH terminus (DCT) and calmodulin. DCT is proteolytically cleaved and reassociates with the LTCC complex to regulate calcium channel function. DCT reduces LTCC barium current (I(Ba,L)) in reconstituted channel complexes, yet the contribution of DCT to LTCC Ca(2+) current (I(Ca,L)) in cardiomyocyte systems is unexplored. This study tests the hypothesis that DCT attenuates cardiomyocyte I(Ca,L). We measured LTCC current and Ca(2+) transients with DCT coexpressed in murine cardiomyocytes. We also heterologously coexpressed DCT and Ca(V)1.2 constructs with truncations corresponding to the predicted proteolytic cleavage site, Ca(V)1.2Δ1801, and a shorter deletion corresponding to well-studied construct, Ca(V)1.2Δ1733. DCT inhibited I(Ba,L) in cardiomyocytes, and in human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 cells expressing Ca(V)1.2Δ1801 and Ca(V)1.2Δ1733. Ca(2+)-CaM relieved DCT block in cardiomyocytes and HEK cells. The selective block of I(Ba,L) combined with Ca(2+)-CaM effects suggested that DCT-mediated blockade may be relieved under conditions of elevated Ca(2+). We therefore tested the hypothesis that DCT block is dynamic, increasing under relatively low Ca(2+), and show that DCT reduced diastolic Ca(2+) at low stimulation frequencies but spared high frequency Ca(2+) entry. DCT reduction of diastolic Ca(2+) and relief of block at high pacing frequencies and under conditions of supraphysiological bath Ca(2+) suggests that a physiological function of DCT is to increase the dynamic range of Ca(2+) transients in response to elevated pacing frequencies. Our data motivate the new hypothesis that DCT is a native reverse use-dependent inhibitor of LTCC current.


Teenage childbearing is associated with negative outcomes for mothers, their children, and society as a whole. We used data from a nationally representative survey that follows young women over time to explore the relationship between three different measures of academic ability and the likelihood of subsequently experiencing a teen birth outside of marriage. Previous studies have found that girls who perform well in school are less likely to become teen mothers. We show that this is true for some girls, but not for others. We also show that not all measures of academic ability are related to the risk of nonmarital teen childbearing.


"Convergence Culture" maps a new territory: where old and new media intersect, where grassroots and corporate media collide, where the power of the media producer, and the power of the consumer interact in unpredictable ways. Henry Jenkins, one of America's most respected media analysts, delves beneath the new media hype to uncover the important cultural transformations that are taking place as media converge. He takes us into the secret world of "Survivor Spoilers", where avid internet users pool their knowledge to unearth the show's secrets before they are revealed on the air. He introduces us to young Harry Potter fans who are writing their own Hogwarts tales, while executives at Warner Brothers struggle for control of their franchise. He shows us how "The Matrix" has pushed transmedia storytelling to new levels, creating a fictional world where consumers track down bits of the story across multiple media channels. Jenkins argues that struggles over convergence will redefine the face of American popular culture. Industry leaders see opportunities to direct content across many channels to increase revenue and broaden markets. At the same time, consumers envision a liberated public sphere, free of network controls, in a decentralized media environment. Sometimes corporate and grassroots efforts reinforce each other, creating closer, more rewarding relations between media producers and consumers. Sometimes these two forces are at war. Jenkins provides a riveting introduction to the world where every story gets told and every brand gets sold across multiple media platforms. He explains the cultural shift that is occurring as consumers fight for control across disparate channels, changing the way we do business, elect our leaders, and educate our children.


Small Wonders: Nature Education for Young Children introduces children ages three through kindergarten to the natural world in a special way. Based on a hands-on educational approach, children learn about their environment by seeing and doing. The accurate, scientific content is wrapped in age-appropriate exercises, experiments, and explorations that use children's imagination and natural curiosity. *Fact-filled essays introduce each subject *Field-tested activities encourage exploration and discovery *Scientifically accurate drawings illustrate topics and are incorporated into lessons *A multidisciplinary approach integrates developmentally appropriate activities in science, language arts, movement, music, and visual arts *Includes twenty-four nature exploration units grouped around three themes: growth and change, animal homes, and connections to nature Small Wonders is a perfect tool for teachers, parents, child care providers, camp counselors, and others to spark young children's interests in the environment that surrounds them.


We present a theoretical model and experimental demonstration of an all-optical switching process occurring in twist alignment dye-doped nematic liquid crystal cells. A Landau-deGennes theory is applied together with the thermal buildup and diffusion equation to analyze the laser-induced temperature, the order parameter, and the birefringence changes in the liquid crystal cell. The resulting transmission switching processes are calculated using a modified Jones matrix method. Experimental observations of the switching processes in cells of varying thicknesses and their dependence on the input optical power are in good agreement with theoretical predictions. We have also studied the dynamics of the switching processes and observed microseconds switching times. These studies demonstrate the possibility of low-threshold power and microseconds speed switching applications.


During a passage through the Earth's dawn‐side outer radiation belt, whistler‐mode waves with amplitudes up to more than ∼240 mV/m were observed by the STEREO S/WAVES instrument. These waves are an order of magnitude larger than previously observed for whistlers in the radiation belt. Although the peak frequency is similar to whistler chorus, there are distinct differences from chorus, in addition to the larger amplitudes, including the lack of drift in frequency and the oblique propagation with a large longitudinal electric field component. Simulations show that these large amplitude waves can energize an electron by the order of an MeV in less than 0.1s, explaining the rapid enhancement in electron intensities observed between the STEREO‐B and STEREO‐A passage during this event. Our results show that the usual theoretical models of electron energization and scattering via small‐amplitude waves, with timescales of hours to days, may be inadequate for understanding radiation belt dynamics.


English is spoken or written today by a third of the world's population - an unprecedented achievement for a language. How has this situation come about? And what happens to a language when it is used by so many? In this illustrated history David Crystal charts the development of the language from the earliest runic inscriptions in Old English, through the emergence of a standard variety of English between 1400 and 1800, to the most modern forms of the language in 'concrete' and 'text' poetry. In telling the story he draws on examples from English in its various guises and uses - from our everyday English to English in the workplace and English used as a medium of playful and literary expression. The regional and international varieties of English are also considered. This book shows us where language is now, where it has been, and - perhaps most important of all - where it is heading, for the new varieties of the language appearing in world literature and on the Internet show that this is a story which is by no means over.


Recently there are more and more cases when underage alcohol usage and serious problems connected with it are registered in Lithuania and all around the world. It is possible to distinguish many reasons why a child uses alcohol and it is impossible to point the one that could be the main and after removal of which we could fully solve or markedly reduce the problem analyzed. Usually there are many factors that act together and affect the problem. The alcohol affects a child's organism much more seriously that the adult's one, so it is obvious that the consequences of alcohol usage for a child are also much bigger: alcohol affects child's psyche, social life and organism so there are number of prevention means analysed in the article, that could help to avoid or at least reduce the problem of alcohol abuse. There are conclusions at the end of the article that a child is encouraged to start using alcohol by his/her personal features, environment, alcohol usage habits of parents, information presented in mass media and the common culture where the child lives. One of the main parts dealing with alcohol abuse problems is prevention, as it helps to deal with the problem while it is possible to avoid it. It is important for the prevention to involve all children (not only those that are in the risk groups). It is also important that all children's environment would act together unitedly: parents, school, authorities and even unacquainted people in the environment.


The interference from Rayleigh and other elastic scattering is a serious intrinsic problem of Raman spectroscopy. This is especially the case with multichannel Raman spectroscopy, in which the spectrometer slits have to be widely opened so that they transmit the dispersed light of the whole spectral region to be detected. The standard multichannel Raman spectrometer therefore adopts a specially designed triple polychromator equipped with a subtractive double-grating filter. This type of polychromator is rather elaborate and needs careful handling because of complicated optical arrangements that include three gratings and at least six mirrors. The throughput of the filter is as low as a few tens of percent and this causes a difficulty if one needs to detect extremely weak light signals, say, in time-resolved resonance Raman spectroscopy. A high-effeciency line-elimination optical filter would solve these problems. Recently, Flaugh et al. demonstrated that a crystalline colloidal array of monodisperse polystyrene spheres was useful for that purpose. In this paper, we propose a simple and convenient line-elimination filter which utilizes an extremely sharp absorption of a J-aggregate of an organic dye molecule.


We present an approach for learning simple algorithms such as copying, multi-digit addition and single digit multiplication directly from examples. Our framework consists of a set of interfaces, accessed by a controller. Typical interfaces are 1-D tapes or 2-D grids that hold the input and output data. For the controller, we explore a range of neural network-based models which vary in their ability to abstract the underlying algorithm from training instances and generalize to test examples with many thousands of digits. The controller is trained using $Q$-learning with several enhancements and we show that the bottleneck is in the capabilities of the controller rather than in the search incurred by $Q$-learning.


Preeclampsia is one of the most leading causes of maternal mortality in developing countries like Bangladesh. Several studies have demonstrated the relationship between platelets count and preeclampsia. The aim of the study was to assess the association of platelets count with preeclampsia. A case control study was conducted in the Department of Biochemistry, Dhaka Medical College, Dhaka from July 2010 to June 2011. A total number of 100 pregnant women in third trimester of pregnancy attending in Obstetrics & Gynaecology Department of Dhaka Medical Hospital were selected as study subjects. Among them 50 diagnosed cases of preeclampsia were selected as cases and 50 normal healthy pregnant women as controls. Platelet count was measured in all study subjects. The mean platelet count in cases and controls were 1,44,260±96,472 and 1,98,100±51,219 respectively. The present study showed significant difference of mean platelet count between cases and controls. The study revealed that low platelets count is associated with preeclampsias. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jdnmch.v18i2.16018 J. Dhaka National Med. Coll. Hos. 2012; 18 (02): 24-26


Purpose Despite recent advances in colorectal cancer (CRC) treatment, the prognosis of patients suffering from this malignancy still remains substandard, and metastatic recurrence following curative surgery is the leading cause of mortality. Therefore, it is imperative to identify prognostic markers to predict the clinical outcome of CRC patients. Recent evidence revealed the new role of small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) in oncogenesis. Herein, we systematically evaluated dysregulation of snoRNAs in CRC and clarified their biomarker potential and biological significance in CRC. Experimental design We analysed expression levels of 4 snoRNAs in 274 colorectal tissues from 3 independent cohorts and 6 colon cancer cell lines. The functional characterisation for the role of SNORA42 in CRC was investigated through a series of in vitro and in vivo experiments. Results In the screening phase, expression levels of all four snoRNAs were significantly elevated in CRC tissues than in corresponding normal mucosa. In the clinical validation cohort, increased SNORA42 expression was an independent prognostic factor for overall survival and disease-free survival, and was a risk factor for distant metastasis. SNORA42 expression negatively correlated with overall survival in an additional independent cohort and identified the patients with high risk for recurrence and poor prognosis in stage II CRC. Furthermore, in vitro and in vivo analyses showed that SNORA42 overexpression resulted in enhanced cell proliferation, migration, invasion, anoikis resistance and tumorigenicity. Conclusions SNORA42 appears to be a novel oncogene and could serve as a promising predictive biomarker for recurrence and prognosis in patients with CRC.


James E. Fleming and Linda C. McClain have authored an important and intellectually accessible new book, ORDERED LIBERTY: RIGHTS, RESPONSIBILITIES, AND VIRTUES, that canvasses the communitarian critique of a liberal theory of rights, and responds to its central claims. The book's arrival is especially well timed given the roiling national debate about the proper reach of government authority, and may offer an important corrective to some of the Constitution-based claims being made in these debates, if not to more general claims about a culture of selfishness. It also debuts at a moment when arguments for and against particular constitutional rights, such as reproductive rights, are gaining momentum. That is, the scope and content of constitutional liberalism are very much at issue, with some seeking more liberty and others favoring less restraint on government power.The constitutional doctrine they discuss matters, because the doctrine is the framework within which American constitutional liberalism operates. This judge-made law affords government ample power to incentivize virtue, to inculcate values, and even to penalize or criminalize its version of individual "irresponsibility." In fact, libertarian complaints stem from a sense that the law offers individuals too little protection, not too much. Consequently, the claim that constitutional liberalism has caused the alleged slide in our collective virtue by insisting on "empty toleration" of values and behaviors seems seriously overblown. Little in modern constitutional law or in actual government practice supports a narrow reading of government's moral authority, or a dichotomous reading of rights versus responsibilities.


SUMMARY: The major characteristics of a temperate phage specific, as far as is known, for one strain of Escherichia coli serotype 04 have been described. It is inactivated by ultraviolet light at a rate characteristic of temperate phages, and it is serologically unrelated to the P1, P22 and T phages. This phage (designated o 04-CF) is short-tailed, contains DNA, is about 55 mμ, needs no supplemental Ca2+ or Mg2+ for adsorption, shows a latent period of 46 min. and a burst size of 166, and is ultraviolet light inducible. Phage 04-CF can transduce markers to the susceptible indicator strain of E. coli (CF 2004-6). The variety of markers transduced indicates that this is another generalized transducing system for E. coli. The frequencies of transduction lie between 10-6 and 10-8 for different markers, but vary with phage multiplicities. This strain of E. coli also acts as recipient in matings with E. coli K 12 strains.


—Software Defined Networking (SDN) is currently a hot topic in the area of Datacenter Networking or Enterprise Networks as it has the promise to radically simplify network management and operation. However, it has not been considered so far as a promising candidate for Industrial Control Networks mainly because of the deterministic performance requirements and the dedicated design of those networks to fulfil strict performance guarantees. In this paper, we propose a resilient SDN based architecture for Industrial Control Networks and show that by combining several SDN based fast failover technologies using per-link Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD), precon-figured primary and backup paths and flexible packet duplication orchestrated by an SDN controller, we can reduce significantly the control latency and provide more stringent performance guarantees even under lossy and failing links.


The regulatory effect of salicylic acid under biotic and abiotic stresses can be constructive for maize cultivation in water deficit conditions of subtropical environments. Therefore, we investigated the effect of applying salicylic acid (SA) on growth, yield attributes and quality related traits of two maize hybrids (ICI-9091 and Pioneer-1543) under limited irrigation. The plants were grown at the Agronomic Research Area of Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan, Pakistan during spring 2016. We conducted one independent experiment with completely randomized design (CRD) with factorial arrangement and repeated thrice, under green-house, using four treatments viz. control, irrigation deficit with 0% SA, irrigation deficit with 1% SA and full irrigation with 1% SA. Salicylic acid was sprayed at 10-12 leaf stage. The obtained data revealed that, irrigation deficit (p≤0.05) affected different growth and yield variables like plant height, stem diameter, cob length, number of rows per cob, number of grains per row, 1000-grain weight, biological and economic yield (t ha -1 ). Additionally, relative water content, chlorophyll content, soluble sugar and grain protein content were also affected (p≤0.05) by irrigation deficit. Moreover, spraying maize hybrids with 1% SA significantly (p≤0.05) increased the growth, yield and quality parameters of both maize hybrids under full and deficit irrigation conditions except the proline content. Between maize hybrids, Pioneer-1543 proved significantly (p≤0.05) better tolerance under irrigation deficit condition as compared to ICI-9091. On the basis of results, it is suggested that under limited irrigation maize yield may be linked with the effect of SA application on the yield attributes.


According to a 2002 National Center for Education Statistics report, 98% of schools in 2001 were connected to the Internet and 63% of public classrooms had Internet connections. According to a 2003 United States Census Bureau report, 68.3% of homes with children subscribed to the Internet. These statistics reveal the scope of access children have to the Internet. This study focused on the children's voice by investigating the children's report of their online activities and their awareness of cyber security, ethics, and safety issues. The purpose of this study was to gain insight into the specific reported online activities and Internet safety knowledge of children aged 10-14 years along with their report of parental supervision of their Internet use. The study included data gathered from 446 self-administered surveys completed by 6th-, 7th-, and 8th-grade students in a rural school district in East Tennessee. An analysis of the research confirmed that as children mature, they increase their use of the Internet and their participation in unsafe online practices. The findings indicated that the most common online practices reported by the middle-grade students included emailing, social networking (MySpace), instant messaging, publishing and sharing information about their favorite sports and activities, and using secret codes while messaging with friends. The results of this study indicated significant relationships between the household placement of the computer and the frequency of unsafe online practices; students with computers in private locations reported unsafe online practices with twice the frequency of those with computers that could be monitored. The findings reflected that, in general, students were knowledgeable about unsafe Internet practices and engaged primarily in safe practices; however, many did report practices that could potentially place them at risk. The results from this study demonstrate a need for Internet safety programs to educate parents about the dangers their children face online and how to minimize those risks and to help children to gain the knowledge, decision-making skills, and motivation necessary to make safe and responsible choices when they are using the Internet.


The purpose of this study is to analyze the effectiveness of the reforms introduced by Higher Education Commission Pakistan (HEC) in 2002 about selection criteria of Vice Chancellors in public sector universities of Pakistan. The focus of this study is an evaluation of divergent views and concerns of the community about this new system in the province of Punjab as a case study. "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world (Nelson Mandela)." Higher education plays a vital role in knowledge creation and dissemination to develop individuals, institutions, societies and nations. The role of an exceptional academic leadership is very decisive to promote higher education. Vice chancellor as an academic leader is a very significant position, who runs academic institutions and he/she is at the core of organizational development, individual development and eventually society's development. A VC job requires an extraordinary individual with exceptional capabilities. The selection procedure of VC therefore, deserves great attention. This study also examines the institutional context in the light of this new framework of reforms and highlights the major problems to be addressed. The future researchers are invited to test the findings empirically and may be replicated in other provinces of Pakistan.


Colonic perineuriomas are recently described benign mucosal polyps that are composed of a bland spindle cell proliferation surrounding crypts that often demonstrate hyperplastic/serrated epithelial changes. However, the origin of this unique stromal proliferation is still unclear, and the association with serrated polyps, including sessile serrated adenomas, has not been fully described. We evaluated the pathologic and molecular features of colonic polyps associated with perineurial-like proliferations in 2 retrospective cohorts: (1) a series of 198 consecutive sessile serrated adenomas and (2) 20 colonic polyps diagnosed as a perineurioma irrespective of the presence of serrated colonic crypts. Thirteen of 198 (6.5%) sessile serrated adenomas demonstrated a perineurial-like stromal proliferation, with most (12 of 13, 92%) involving the right (9 cases) and transverse colon (3 cases). In all 13 cases, the perineurial-like proliferation surrounded serrated colonic crypts and typically involved only a small area of the sessile serrated adenoma (average 9% of polyp size; range, 2% to 19%). All 11 polyps evaluated for epithelial membrane antigen (EMA) expression demonstrated stromal EMA staining limited to the perineurial-like proliferation. Twelve of 13 (92%) sessile serrated adenomas with perineurial-like proliferations demonstrated a pV600E BRAF mutation. Of the 20 colonic polyps diagnosed as a perineurioma, 18 (90%) demonstrated serrated crypts intimately associated with the perineurial-like proliferation. In 13 of 18 polyps with associated serrated crypts, all serrated crypts were invested with the perineurial proliferation. In 5 cases, serrated crypts were seen away from the perineurial proliferation. Of these 18 polyps, the majority (16 of 18, 89%) were microvesicular hyperplastic polyps involving the left colon. However, 2 (11%) polyps in the right colon demonstrated histologic features diagnostic of sessile serrated adenoma. All 18 polyps with serrated crypts demonstrated a pV600E BRAF mutation. In contrast, the 2 polyps not associated with serrated crypts were negative for a BRAF mutation. Our results show for the first time that perineurial-like stromal proliferations frequently occur in sessile serrated adenomas. The presence of focal perineurial-like stromal proliferations in sessile serrated adenomas and the common finding of serrated crypts in colonic perineuriomas are likely indicative of an epithelial-stromal interaction, possibly related to some factor elaborated by the serrated epithelium.