Abstract Reintroductions aim to re-establish species within their historical ranges through the release of wild- or captive-bred individuals following extirpation (or extinction) in the wild. There is no general agreement on what constitutes a successful reintroduction but the probability of the population achieving long-term persistence should be addressed. Here we review a 10-year trial reintroduction of the great bustard Otis tarda, a globally threatened bird species, to the UK and assess the long-term population viability. Despite changes in rearing and release strategy, initial post-release survival probability remained consistently low, with only 11.3% of bustards (n = 167) surviving from release to 1 year post-release. Nineteen breeding attempts were made by eight females; however, only one chick survived > 100 days after hatching, and no wild juveniles have recruited into the population. Using demographic rates from the UK population and wild populations elsewhere, and stochastic population modelling, we investigate the viability of this reintroduced population by predicting population size over the next 10 years. Under current demographic rates the population was predicted to decline rapidly. Self-sufficiency was predicted only using the highest estimates from the UK population for first-year and adult survival, and recruitment rates from wild populations elsewhere. Although changes have been made in rearing, release strategies, habitat management and release sites used, these changes appear to have a modest effect on long-term viability. Substantial improvements in survival rates and productivity are necessary to establish a viable great bustard population in the UK, and we consider this unlikely.


South Africa is a complex country that has undergone fundamental changes in the last sixteen years. One of the major areas that have been greatly affected by these changes is education. Due to these drastic changes, schools are being placed under tremendous pressure to deal effectively with this reformation. In addition, the strike action in (2007) and the recent strike action in (2010) that occurred in our country, brought the teaching profession once again in dispute. The broader public has therefore become very curious in their quest to find out if teachers are promoting effective teaching and learning in their schools. In light of this, this dissertation works from the premise that these teachers play an important role as leaders in their schools. The need to act as professionals is crucial, if teachers are to be positive role models to their learner. The aim of this study is to discover how teachers understand professionalism, and to investigate some of the obstacles or challenges they face in leading their schools to be professional places for teaching and learning. The study was designed as a case study which was conducted within the interpretive paradigm and was mainly qualitative in nature. Data was gathered by means of survey questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, a focus group interview, documents and observations. The case study was an urban primary school in KwaZulu – Natal, South Africa. Data was predominantly qualitative and was analysed using thematic content analysis. Findings of the study indicate that teachers understand professionalism to mean training for a specific period of time with the necessary skills and knowledge to impart into our learners. Also it is a specific code of ethics. The main barriers to teacher leadership and professionalism were a lack of empowerment by management and an overemphasis on control by the principal, the lack of parental involvement with regards to teaching and learning and the behaviour portrayed by some teachers that of frequent absenteeism became a barrier in performing their duties professionally. The enhancing factors were that teachers worked collaboratively with each other.


Nigeria is on the verge of not meeting the fifth millennium development goals of improving maternal health due to a high maternal mortality rate which is estimated to be 630 women per 100,000 live births and lack of utilization of maternal health care services is a major contributing factor. Hence, the study was designed to explore awareness and barriers to the utilization of maternal health care services among reproductive women (15 to 45 years) in Amassoma community, Bayelsa State, Nigeria. The study population consists of women of reproductive age (15 to 45 years). A purposive sampling technique was used to select the sample size of 192. Data were collected using a questionnaire and descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data generated. The study revealed that the majority of the respondents [182 (94.8%)] have heard of maternal health services but only few actually knew the main services rendered at maternal health care services. Regression coefficient showed significant association between educational status and utilization of maternal health care services (MHCS) among the respondents (beta = 0.47, p = 0.000); parity and utilization of MHCS (beta = -0.14, p = 0.016); and age and utilization of MHCS (beta = -0.19, p = 0.001). The major variables associated with barriers to utilization of maternal health services among respondents were poor knowledge of the existing services, previous bad obstetric history; attitude of the health care provider, availability, accessibility and husband's acceptance of the maternal healthcare services. It is recommended that Government should subsidize maternal health services in order to make it affordable, acceptable and available to women. Also nurses should encourage women of reproductive age to utilize maternal health by providing a welcoming and supportive attitude at all contacts.

 Key words: Awareness, barrier, utilization, maternal health care services, reproductive age, women.


Vientiane is the largest city and capital of Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR). The total population in Vientiane
is estimated around 331,000, with population density around 134 persons per km2. The city is lacking a proper sanitation
network, which is seriously threatening the health situation of the population due to discharge of wastewater into low-land
areas. Therefore, the Department of Communication, Transport, Post and Construction (DCTPC) under Vientiane Capital
City, initiated an Urban Environmental Sanitation Project for the improvement of the Vientiane urban environment, supported
by Danish International Development Agency (Danida). This paper briefly highlights the basic objectives, major
accomplishments and learning from this on-going project.


Wind turbine placement in a wind farm can be optimized to limit power losses due to wakes and improve the economic value of the plant. Seeing as wind farms are increasing in number and size, fast methods to generate good quality layouts can be beneficial for designers. Wind Farm Layout Optimization (WFLO) consists in finding a layout that maximizes the Annual Energy Production (AEP) of a wind farm. The procedure is driven by an algorithm that generates possible layouts and by a framework that evaluates their AEP. If the traditional method to assess AEP is adopted, layout optimization is computationally demanding due to the impact of each turbine's position on the productivity of the surrounding ones. Indeed, for any change in the layout, this inter-dependency forces designers to calculate wake effects and the wind resource-average energy production of the wind farm. This thesis proposes an approach to reduce the computational load of WFLO by pre-computing the power losses. Indeed, the approach avoids recalculating the expected power loss among turbines during the optimization procedure. This optimization strategy employs a novel approach, called Pre-Averaged Model (PAM), that expresses the expected power loss of a wake source at representative points around it. Firstly, the wind farm is discretized, and fictitious turbines are placed at each given spot. Secondly, PAM calculates the expected power loss caused by each fictitious turbine for the surrounding ones. Discontinuities introduced by wind resource discretization and top-hat wake deficit profiles affect PAM's accuracy substantially. Binning wind measurements in 72 wind directions solves the problem for typical engineering wake models. Then, a greedy algorithm uses the power losses of the fictitious turbines to build layouts constructively by adding an extra turbine per iteration. The effect of multiple wake sources on a wake target is modelled by linear superimposition of the pre-computed power losses. PAM is tested in combination with three greedy algorithms, namely, Basic Greedy (BG), Add-Remove-Move Greedy (ADREMOG), and ADREMOG II. This research demonstrates that the PAM and the superposition of the power losses can be reliably used for WFLO. Also, the joint use of PAM and greedy algorithms achieve an interesting trade-off between speed and quality of the layouts. Indeed, PAM is beneficial as it speeds up greedy algorithms. Furthermore, greedy algorithms allow generating better layouts at the cost of slowing down the algorithm. The balance between speed and quality can be regulated by using a finer discretization, testing different locations for the first turbine placement, or acting on the nature of the algorithm. In particular, the use of a re-location stage at each constructive iteration increases the quality of the layouts substantially but reduces the speed of execution. As a result, the proposed algorithms present different characteristics: the BG is the fastest but its median layout is the worst; ADREMOG produces the best layouts in the longest time; ADREMOG II is a compromise between the two former algorithms.


Wales is leading the way in the development of mobile lymphoedema assessment and treatments. Lymphoedema, a chronic swelling due primarily to a failure of lymph drainage, is an incurable condition requiring lifelong management. Lymphoedema can be caused by a variety of conditions including obesity, venous disease, and recurrent cellulitis. Cancer treatment, particularly radiotherapy or surgery, is also a recognised cause of lymphoedema (DiSipio et al 2013). Patients can remain at risk of developing lymphoedema for some time after their treatment, yet it is a problem that is poorly recognised by healthcare professionals (Moffatt et al 2003).

Lymphoedema is well documented as being an extremely debilitating condition with a profound impact on patients' quality of life (Kwan et al 2002). Symptoms include gross swelling, pain, and mobility problems, and patients often experience difficultly performing activities of daily living (Morgan et al 2005) In addition, the psychological impact of lymphoedema on patients is considerable (Meiklejohn et al 2013).

The Welsh Government has developed a 'Strategy for Lymphoedema' acknowledging that improving patient access to specialised lymphoedema services would be crucial as specialist services are highly successful in controlling swelling and associated symptoms (Welsh Assembly Government, 2009). There was wide variation in the organisation and delivery of lymphoedema services across the seven Health Boards of Wales; some Health Boards had dedicated services delivered by a range of allied healthcare professionals, others had nothing and the diversity of provision was not driven by patient need.

To improve patient access to lymphoedema services, Tenovus, Wales' leading cancer charity, working in partnership with NHS Wales, launched a three month pilot mobile lymphoedema clinic on board the Tenovus Mobile Cancer Support Unit in 2012. Initially the Mobile Unit was developed to provide chemotherapy treatment and associated psychosocial support services to patients in a local setting, reducing journey times and providing a welcoming and familiar environment for patients and their families. An early evaluation of the Mobile Unit showed high levels of patient satisfaction, both with the environment itself and the level of support provided (Iredale et al 2011).

For the pilot lymphoedema project the Mobile Unit was staffed by specialist practitioners from NHS Wales able to provide multidisciplinary care to lymphoedema patients. Developed with reference to the International Lymphoedema Framework (2006), this model of care included skin care, multilayer lymphoedema bandaging, lymphatic drainage, compression garment fitting, and advice on self-management techniques. This approach was designed both to manage patient's symptoms and improve their quality of life, giving them the support and education they need to manage their condition at home.

Using mixed methods we explored whether a mobile setting is a viable way of assessing, treating and educating people with lymphoedema and investigated the attitudes that patients and staff had about the Mobile Unit. A total of 14 lymphoedema clinics were held on the Mobile Unit with 64 patients treated over a three month period; most patients had either breast, colorectal or neck cancer. Out of 57 respondents 37 patients (65%) stated that they had previously received treatment for their lymphoedema in a hospital setting. When asked how their treatment on the Tenovus Mobile Unit compared with their previous appointment, no patients stated that it was worse than their previous appointment with the majority (n=22, 59%) saying that their treatment on the Mobile Unit was better than their previous treatment. The most cited reasons for why the Mobile Unit appointment was better than a previous appointment related to the convenience of receiving treatment closer-to-home, which reduces travelling time and cost. The average distance travelled per journey, per patient to the Mobile Unit was 10.8 miles compared to 21.4 miles for a previous appointment. On average, our sample of lymphoedema patients spent 31 minutes travelling to the Mobile Unit compared to an average of 55 minutes to a usual appointment. All patients held extremely positive attitudes towards the Mobile Unit rating highly the convenience of using the Unit, its general environment, the quality of service and care provided, and its comfort and cleanliness.

Mobile Units provide practical, patient-centred solutions to meeting the needs of cancer patients. The Welsh Government's current strategy for cancer, Together for Health, the Cancer Delivery Plan for the NHS up to 2016, was published in June 2012 (Welsh Government, 2012). The NHS in Wales currently spends about 7% of its budget on cancer services. In 2010–2011 this amounted to just over £347 million. The Cancer Delivery Plan clearly demonstrates the need for cancer services to be delivered outside of the hospital setting and as close to home as possible, whilst maximising patient preferences. Established Welsh clinics have reported a substantial increase in the numbers of lymphoedema cases in the last 5 years.

With that in mind Tenovus are now building a bespoke Mobile Unit exclusively for lymphoedema patients; a custom built trailer with fully functioning treatment facilities and counselling rooms. We will be working in partnership with all seven Health Boards in Wales to see at least 25 patients per day for lymphoedema treatments and even more for group assessments, as well as offering education and support groups around cancer rehabilitation that will operate after hours. All of the services provided on the Tenovus Lymphoedema Mobile Unit will be free of charge at the point of use for anyone affected by cancer in Wales.

Watch Rachel Iredale discuss the unit with Prof Gordon McVie.


Porous hydroxyapatite sintered samples possesses suitable chemical, physical and mechanical properties were successfully prepared using combining forming techniques. Starch consolidation (using native potato starch) and pore forming (using hydrogen peroxide) techniques were applied in this concern. The chemical, physical and mechanical properties of the consolidated samples after sintering were studied. The chemical properties of the sintered samples in terms of phase analysis using XRD and FT-IR analysis proves that, while, both potato starch and sintering temperature influence the phase composition of the final sintered samples the hydrogen peroxide addition not show any effect. A hydrogen peroxide amount was found to have a tremendous effect on both physical and mechanical properties of the final sintered samples. The apparent porosity was found to highly increase from ~25% to ~ 70% with increasing the hydrogen peroxide amount from 0 to 5 wt.%, respectively. While, the pore size distributionwas found to be highly changed frommono-modal tomultimodal type with increasing peroxide amount from0 to 5 wt.%, respectively. On the other hand, the compressive strength of the final sintered samples was found to be highly retarded with increasing peroxide amount. For porous samples having higher porosity (with 5 wt.%H2O2 addition), beside, it shows a suitable porosity and pore size distribution, it was found to possess a reasonable compressive strength for being applied as implant.


Angular similarity measures have been utilized by several database applications to define semantic similarity between various data types such as text documents, time-series, images, and scientific data. Although similarity searches based on Euclidean distance have been extensively studied in the database community, processing of angular similarity searches has been relatively untouched. Problems due to a mismatch in the underlying geometry as well as the high dimensionality of the data make current techniques either inapplicable or their use results in poor performance. This brings up the need for effective indexing methods for angular similarity queries. We first discuss how to efficiently process such queries and propose effective access structures suited to angular similarity measures. In particular, we propose two classes of access structures, namely, angular-sweep and cone-shell, which perform different types of quantization based on the angular orientation of the data objects. We also develop query processing algorithms that utilize these structures as dense indices. The proposed techniques are shown to be scalable with respect to both dimensionality and the size of the data. Our experimental results on real data sets from various applications show two to three orders of magnitude of speedup over the current techniques


Interannual anomalies in vertical profiles of stratospheric ozone, in both equatorial and extratropical regions, have been shown to exhibit a strong seasonal persistence, namely, extended temporal autocorrelations during certain times of the calendar year. Here we investigate the relationship between this seasonal persistence of equatorial and extratropical ozone anomalies using the SAGE-corrected SBUV data set, which provides a long-term ozone profile time series. For the regions of the stratosphere where ozone is under purely dynamical or purely photochemical control, the seasonal persistence of equatorial and extratropical ozone anomalies arises from distinct mechanisms but preserves an anticorrelation between tropical and extratropical anomalies established during the winter period. In the 16–10 hPa layer, where ozone is controlled by both dynamical and photochemical processes, equatorial ozone anomalies exhibit a completely different behavior compared to ozone anomalies above and below in terms of variability, seasonal persistence, and especially the relationship between equatorial and extratropical ozone. Cross-latitude-time correlations show that for the 16–10 hPa layer, Northern Hemisphere (NH) extratropical ozone anomalies show the same variability as equatorial ozone anomalies but lagged by 3–6 months. High correlation coefficients are observed during the time frame of seasonal persistence of ozone anomalies, which is June–December for equatorial ozone and shifts by approximately 3–6 months when going from the equatorial region to NH extratropics. Thus in the transition zone between dynamical and photochemical control, equatorial ozone anomalies established in boreal summer/autumn are mirrored by NH extratropical ozone anomalies with a time lag similar to transport time scales. Equatorial ozone anomalies established in boreal winter/spring are likewise correlated with ozone anomalies in the Southern Hemisphere extratropics with a time lag comparable to transport time scales, similar to what is seen in the NH. However, the correlations between equatorial and SH extratropical ozone in the 10–16 hPa layer are weak.


This essay sets out to explain how educational semiotics as a discipline can be used to reform medical education and assessment. This is in response to an ongoing paradigm shift in medical education and assessment that seeks to integrate more qualitative, ethical and professional aspects of medicine into curricula, and develop ways to assess them. This paper suggests that a method to drive this paradigm change might be found in the Peircean idea of suprasubjectivity. This semiotic concept is rooted in the scholastic philosophy of John of St Thomas, but has been reintroduced to modern semiotics through the works of John Deely, Alin Olteanu and, most notably, Charles Sanders Peirce. I approach this task as both a medical educator and a semiotician. In this paper, I provide background information about medical education, paradigm shifts, and the concept of suprasubjectivity in relation to modern educational semiotic literature. I conclude by giving examples of what a suprasubjective approach to medical education and assessment might look like. I do this by drawing an equivalence between the notion of threshold concepts and suprasubjectivity, demonstrating the similarities between their positions. Fundamentally, medical education suffers from tensions of teaching trainee doctors the correct balance of biological science and situational ethics/ judgement. In the transcendence of mind-dependent and mind-independent being the scholastic philosophy of John of St Thomas may be exactly the solution medicine needs to overcome this dichotomy.


The common dolphinfish (Coryphaena hippurus) is an epipelagic, mid-trophic level, highly migratory species distributed throughout the world's tropical and subtropical oceans in waters greater than 20°C. Life-history variables, migratory behaviour, and genetic markers have been used to define major stocks in the central Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Here, we used the mitochondrial DNA gene NADH subunit 1 (688 bp) to test for differences between population groups. A total of 103 haplotypes were detected among 203 fish. Gene diversities in samples were large and similar among populations (mean h = 0.932; range 0.894–0.987), but nucleotide diversities varied widely among samples (range π = 0.004–0.034) and appear to reflect population histories. Principal component analysis revealed two large populations groups, and the analysis of molecular variation and pairwise values of ΦST resolved population structure within these groups. Populations in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean showed the largest amounts of divergence from one another (ΦCT = 0.331). Adult movement and biophysical barriers to larval dispersal may explain contemporary differences between stocks, but the divergent populations in the Mediterranean Sea are likely due to isolations by cold temperature barriers during Pleistocene glaciations. The geographically large stock groupings require international cooperation in the harvest management and conservation of local dolphinfish populations.


Epidemiologic studies suggest that diet rich in plant-derived foods plays an important role in the prevention of prostate cancer. Curcumin, the yellow pigment in the spice turmeric, has been shown to exhibit chemopreventive and growth inhibitory activities against multiple tumor cell lines. We have shown previously that curcumin and tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL)/Apo2L interact to induce cytotoxicity in the LNCaP prostate cancer cell line. In this study, we investigated the mechanism by which curcumin augments TRAIL-induced cytotoxicity in LNCaP cells. Subtoxic concentrations of the curcumin-TRAIL combination induced strong apoptotic response in LNCaP cells as demonstrated by the binding of Annexin V-FITC and cleavage of procaspase-3. Furthermore, LNCaP cells express constitutively active nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB), which is inhibited by curcumin. Because NF-kappaB has been shown to mediate resistance to TRAIL-induced apoptosis in tumor cells, we investigated whether there is a relationship between NF-kappaB activation and resistance to TRAIL in LNCaP prostate cancer cells. Pretreatment with curcumin inhibited the activation of NF-kappaB and sensitized LNCaP cells to TRAIL. A similar increase in the sensitivity of LNCaP cells to TRAIL-induced apoptosis was observed following inhibition of NF-kappaB by dominant negative mutant IkappaBalpha, an inhibitor of NF-kappaB. Finally, curcumin was found to inhibit NF-kappaB by blocking phosphorylation of IkappaBalpha. We conclude that NF-kappaB mediates resistance of LNCaP cells to TRAIL and that curcumin enhances the sensitivity of these tumor cells to TRAIL by inhibiting NF-kappaB activation by blocking phosphorylation of IkappaBalpha and its degradation.


N,N-Diethyl meta Toluamide (DEET) is an insect repellent agent that contrary to its benefits, if is used in formulations with high skin permeation, will produce side effects of different severity. This study attempted to achieve a semi-solid DEET containing formulation with good appearance, sufficient spreadity, suitable viscosity for tube and jar filling, compatible pH with skin, reasonable stability, longer release time, and the less skin permeation. To obtain such a formulation, three types of DEET containing semi solids including gels (hydrophile), creams (emulsion) and ointments (lipophile), and their characteristics were compared with each other and with Off! Brand. Results showed that one of the prepared creams with the proper viscosity, stability, appearance and spreadity, had the least drug release in six hours and less skin permeation of DEET as compared with Off!. Hence the preparation was introduced as the optimal formulation.


It is well established that accent can have a detrimental effect on the performance of automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems. Whereas accents can be labelled in terms of a speaker's mother tongue, it remains to be determined if and when this distinction is appropriate for the development of ASR technology. This study compares the varieties of South African English produced by mother-tongue speakers of the Nguni and Sotho languages, who account for over 70% of the country's population. The aim of the investigation was to determine whether these two accent groups should be treated as a single variety by ASR systems, or whether it is better to consider them separately. To this end, two sets of experiments were carried out. First, a perceptual experiment was performed in which human listeners were required to classify differ- ent English accents. Subsequently, automatic speech recognition experiments were conducted to determine how the accuracy of an automatic accent identification system compares with these perceptual results, and whether the acoustic models benefit from the incorporation of Nguni/Sotho accent classifications. The results of the perceptual experiment indicated that most listeners could not correctly identify a speaker's mother tongue based on their English accent. This finding was supported by the results of the automatic accent identification and speech recognition experiments.


Phenomenological interview methods were used to examine the experiences of thirteen channel swimmers (nine males and four females) with an average age of 41.08 years (SD = 10.05). All participants successfully completed an official channel crossing of 20 or more miles within the past 2 years. Analyses of the interview transcripts yielded 2,028 meaning units that were grouped into subthemes, themes, and major dimensions (e.g., Patton, 2002). The final thematic structure consisted of three major dimensions that chronicled the swimmers' experiences including: before my channel swim, during my channel swim, and after my channel swim. This manuscript specifically focuses on the themes from within the dimension of during my channel swim, which includes the swimmers' environmental, physical, social, and psychological experiences during the swim itself as well as the coping mechanisms that they used to succeed.


This report presents an analysis of the national reports according EC Regulation 1452/2003 of the years 2004 and 2005, recording the number of authorisations permitted, the quantity of nonorganic seeds used and the main reasons for allowing derogation for each crop (species). The work was carried out as part of the "EEC 2092/91 (Organic) Revision" project (No. SSPE-CT-2004-502397) within the EU 6th Framework Programme.

The main objective was to analyse national derogation reports with respect to total seed use of selected species/subspecies, and to analyse the feedback from expert interviews and meetings regarding the implementation of the new seed regulation, in order to provide recommendations for further improvement of the implementation of the organic seed regulation.

The national annual organic seed reports 2004 and 2005 differ much in form and quality. The data show considerable differences in the offer of organic seeds and the use of non-organic seeds between the reporting states.

Authorisations for the use of non-organic seeds or a general derogation mean a financial benefit for the respective farmers. Since the seed costs can not be neglected in calculating the whole sale product price, countries with high rates of non-organic seeds can take advantage of this situation on the European market.

Harmonisation of the derogation policy on EU-level as well as on national level should therefore be of high importance for the authorities. To increase the use of organic seed we propose the following measures to be taken:
Measures recommended on national level
1. Some national databases need technical improvement and more registered varieties to be a useful tool for organic farmers. International cooperation of the database managers should be enhanced.
2. A registration duty for farmers calling for a derogation of the acreage planted or the number of pot plants produced, in order to allow the evaluation of the acreage planted with non-organic seeds in the national organic seed reports.
3. Use of a standardised reporting scheme including a common species list, subtotals for crop groups (e.g. vegetables), species and subspecies to make reports comparable. Assembling of raw data versions according to a common template in order to allow a direct comparison in Pivot-tables. The reports should immediately be made publicly available, according to Art. 12 and 13 of the EC-Regulation 1452/2003.
4. Establishment at a national level of lists of equivalent varieties (useful for professional growers) for every subspecies (variety group) in order to facilitate the decision making of the control bodies and to make possible, that individual calls for derogation can be denied with respect to farmers needs.
5. Establish a fee system that balances the cost difference between organic and non-organic seed in order to avoid unfair competition. This money can be used to promote organic seed marketing, to support organic seed production and breeding projects as well as to reduce the price of organic seeds.
6. Introduction of national Annexes as preliminary stage to come to a common European one (Annex 1) with respect to the national organic seed offer. Making the organic seed use compulsory would give security for the seed companies to increase the organic seed production.
7. In order to grant fair conditions among EU producers, common Annexes with neighbour countries or countries with similar production systems and markets (especially export markets) should be favoured. Annexes on national or bilateral/regional level seem to be more realistic, than a common European Annex 1. The number of species/subspecies listed in the national Annex 1 has to increase annually.
Measures recommended on EU-Commission level
1. In order to harmonize organic seed availability among EU Member States and facilitate seed companies in supplying their seeds wherever requested, it should be possible for all seed companies to enter the National database of all Members States where they have a local distributor.
2. To allow well supplied subspecies according to cultivation and use (crop types, variety groups, e.g. cherry tomatoes) to be listed on the Annex 1 instead of whole botanical species. In cases of unforeseen shortage of organic seed, national authorities should get the right to allow individual derogations according Article 5.1 of the EC-Regulation 1452/2003.
3. Including the use of non-organic basic seed as reason in Article 5 (1) for derogation for Annex 1 species, to get more complete data in the seed reports, (in addition to already mentioned exemptions for conservation varieties and variety trials).
4. Currently it is very difficult to produce grass seed mixtures with 100% organic components. Grass seed mixtures with a legally defined minimal share of organic seed components should get the right to be listed in the organic seed databases.
5. To extend the regulation system and the reporting to vegetative propagation material.
6. Introduction of a registration duty for the variety name, the amount of conventional seeds used and the acreage planted, respectively the number of pot plants for species or subspecies with general derogation in order to get more information about the demand of poorly supplied species/ subspecies.
7. Introduction of a detailed list of possible reasons for individual derogation calls defined in Article 5.1 d) of the EC-regulation in order to get precise data about the needed variety characteristics for the seed companies and as decision background for the bodies issuing the derogations. Registration duty for farmers of the agronomical reasons according the following list: variety trials, conservation varieties, basis seed for the production of organic seeds, specific soil conditions, tolerance or resistance against pests, climatic conditions or altitude, contract production with prescription of the variety, market demand or processing quality, form or quality of the seed (e.g. pilled or pre-germinated seed), other reasons (to be specified in words).
8. Setting a time limit of three years to abandon "General Derogation" for arable crops and most important annual vegetable species /subspecies.
9. Setting a time limit of five years to reach less than 5% derogations for important arable crops, annual vegetables and the most important biennial vegetables.
10. Advise the national authorities to withdraw obstacles and implement measures, which stimulate agricultural biodiversity on organic farms.


Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) have been shown to be effective at achieving large speedups over contemporary Chip Multiprocessors (CMPs) on massively parallel programs. The lack of well-defined GPU memory models, however, prevents support of high-level languages like C++ and Java, and negatively impacts programmability of GPUs. This thesis proposes to improve GPU programmability by adding support for a well-defined memory consistency model through hardware cache coherence. We show that GPU coherence introduces a new set of challenges different from that posed by scalable cache coherence for CMPs. First, introducing conventional directory coherence protocols adds unnecessary coherence traffic overhead to existing GPU applications. Second, the massively multithreaded GPU architecture presents significant storage overheads for buffering thousands of in-flight coherence requests. Third, these protocols increase the verification complexity of the GPU memory system. Recent research, Library Cache Coherence (LCC), explored the use of time-based approaches in CMP coherence protocols. This thesis describes a time-based coherence framework for GPUs, called Temporal Coherence (TC), that exploits globally synchronized counters in single-chip systems to develop a streamlined GPU coherence protocol. Synchronized counters enable all coherence transitions, such as invalidation of cache lines, to happen synchronously, eliminating all coherence traffic and protocol races. We present two implementations of TC, called TC-Strong and TC-Weak. TCStrong implements an optimized version of LCC, while TC-Weak uses a novel timestamp based memory fence mechanism to implement Release Consistency (RC) on GPUs. TC-Weak eliminates TC-Strong's trade-off between stalling stores and increasing L1 miss rates to improve performance and reduce interconnect traffic. By providing coherent L1 caches, TC-Weak improves the performance of GPU applications requiring coherence by 85% over disabling the non-coherent L1 caches in the baseline GPU. We also show that write-through protocols outperform a writeback protocol on a GPU as the latter suffers from increased traffic due to unnecessary refills of write-once data.


Current treatments of neurological and neurodegenerative diseases are limited due to the lack of a truly non-invasive, transient, and regionally selective brain drug delivery method. The brain is particularly difficult to deliver drugs to because of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). The impermeability of the BBB is due to the tight junctions connecting adjacent endothelial cells and highly regulatory transport systems of the endothelial cell membranes. The main function of the BBB is ion and volume regulation to ensure conditions necessary for proper synaptic and axonal signaling. However, the same permeability properties that keep the brain healthy also constitute the cause of the tremendous obstacles posed in its pharmacological treatment. The BBB prevents most neurologically active drugs from entering the brain and, as a result, has been isolated as the rate-limiting factor in brain drug delivery. Until a solution to the trans-BBB delivery problem is found, treatments of neurological diseases will remain impeded. Over the past decade, methods that combine Focused Ultrasound (FUS) and microbubbles have been shown to offer the unique capability of noninvasively, locally and transiently open the BBB so as to treat central nervous system (CNS) diseases. Four of the main challenges that have been taken on by our group and discussed in this paper are: 1) assess its safety profile, 2) unveil the mechanism by which the BBB opens and closes, 3) control and predict the opened BBB properties and duration of the opening and 4) assess its premise in brain drug delivery. All these challenges will be discussed, findings in both small (mice) and large (non-human primates) animals are shown and finally the clinical potential for this technique is shown.


The coronavirus disease‐2019 (COVID‐19) has been found to be caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2). However, comprehensive knowledge of COVID‐19 remains incomplete and many important features are still unknown. This manuscript conducts a meta‐analysis and a sensitivity study to answer the questions: What is the basic reproduction number? How long is the incubation time of the disease on average? What portion of infections are asymptomatic? And ultimately, what is the case fatality rate? Our studies estimate the basic reproduction number to be 3.15 with the 95% CI (2.41‐3.90), the average incubation time to be 5.08 days with the 95% CI (4.77‐5.39) (in day), the asymptomatic infection rate to be 46% with the 95% CI (18.48%‐73.60%), and the case fatality rate to be 2.72% with 95% CI (1.29%‐4.16%) where asymptomatic infections are accounted for.


The primary mechanism used to resolve breaches of diplomatic protection is to accord states responsibility for due protection. This Public International Law approach works in the majority of cases except for very few cases such as in Libya, when incumbent governments struggle to maintain control over the national territory of their own states.

This thesis investigates problems with the current approach and proposes solutions through virtual diplomacy, to safe guard diplomats from imminent attacks while enabling diplomatic functions to continue using modern communications. In other words,a preventative approach. However, in the absence of virtual diplomacy, if diplomats are attacked or injured by non-state parties in a conflict environment such as Libya in the post-Gaddafi period, the question of reparations and punishment of offenders becomes a difficult process to achieve because of the political and security situation in the country. The starting point will still be the principle of state responsibility in terms of payment of reparations to the sending state of the injured diplomats or their families. The punishment of offenders will be for criminal law.This thesis contends that TJ can play a supporting or complementary role to state responsibility and criminal law. TJ can play role in terms of facilitating state responsibility for the protection of diplomats, fact finding, enabling the gathering of evidence and maybe even the assessment of reparations to be paid by armed rebel groups' offenders such as Ansar al-Sharia in Libya whose actions have caused injury to foreign diplomats.


We performed calculations of momentum distributions of annihilating electron-positron pairs in various fully relaxed vacancy defects in SiC. We used self-consistent two-component density functional theory schemes to find the electronic and positronic densities and wave functions in the considered systems. Using the one-dimensional momentum distributions (Doppler-broadened annihilation radiation line shapes) we calculated the line-shape parameters $S$ and $W$. We emphasize the effect of the experimental resolution and the choice of the integration ranges for the $S$ and $W$ parameters on the distributions of the points corresponding to different defects in the $S(W)$ plot. We performed calculation for two polytypes of SiC, $3C$, and $6H$ and showed that for silicon vacancies and clusters containing this defect there were no significant differences between the Doppler spectra. The results of the Doppler spectra calculations were compared with experimental data obtained for $n$-type $6H$-SiC samples irradiated with 4-MeV Au ions. We observed a good general agreement between the measured and calculated points.


Novae are binary systems containing a white dwarf (WD) and a less-evolved companion star, either a main-sequence, sub-giant or red giant star. The WD accretes matter from the companion through Roche lobe overflow or via a stellar wind. As material is accreted, the pressure and temperature at the base of the accreted envelope increase until a thermonuclear runaway occurs. This causes a sudden increase in brightness (the outburst), which ranks among the most luminous stellar astrophysical phenomena.Following the outburst, some novae form detectable dust in the ejecta. Observationally, there is a correlation between the dust-formation timescale and the time it takes the nova to fade optically by two magnitudes, which was emphasised in a study of infrared emission from novae in the Andromeda Galaxy (M31). In the first part of this thesis, a simple theoretical model is presented, which considers the higher-energy photons produced by the nova being absorbed by neutral hydrogen in the ejecta, before they can reach the potential dust-formation sites. This new model successfully replicates the observed trend between these two parameters and agrees well with the observational data.The majority of novae are thought to consist of a WD and a main-sequence star, although some systems harbour a sub-giant (SG-novae) or red giant (RG-novae) companion instead. In the Milky Way galaxy, relatively few RG-novae have been confirmed, although in many systems, the evolutionary state of the secondary is simply not known. There is evidence that the progenitors of some Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) may be RG-nova systems (e.g. SN PTF11kx), therefore it is important to understand the population of such systems. In this thesis, archival Hubble Space Telescope (HST) data are used to search for RG-novae in M31. Many more novae are discovered in M31 each year (~30) than in the Milky Way (~10). Distance determination is a major complication when studying Galactic novae. However, at the distance of M31 all the novae may be considered to be at the same distance, making M31 an excellent environment for studying nova populations.We conducted a survey of 38 spectroscopically confirmed M31 novae in quiescence. We determined that 11 of these systems had a coincident progenitor candidate whose probability of being a chance alignment with a resolved source in the HST data was ≤5%. As the main sequence and the majority of the sub-giant branch are not resolvable in the HST data, this implies that a significant proportion of these systems contain red giant secondaries. The light curves of several M31 novae are also presented here, some of which use HST data to extend the light curves far deeper than is typically possible for extragalactic systems.A statistical study was then carried out to test the results of the survey and derive an estimate of the proportion of M31 novae associated with a resolved source in the HST data. This includes, for example, models of the spatial distribution, speed class and peak magnitude of the M31 nova population, as well as considering biases introduced by the HST coverage of M31. The initial results suggest about 0.38 of M31 novae are associated with a source in the HST data, a class of objects expected to be dominated by RG-novae. This is a much greater proportion than that observed so far in our Galaxy, and will be important when considering such systems as potential SN Ia candidates. The spatial distribution of novae that have resolved progenitor candidates is consistent with these systems being associated with the M31 disk, rather than the bulge.The method used to locate the progenitors of M31 novae was also used to study three additional systems. The M31 nova, M31N 2008-12a, which appears to be a recurrent nova (RN) with a very short inter-outburst period, produced an outburst in November 2013. This outburst was studied and a candidate progenitor system was found in HST data when it was apparently in quiescence, supporting its classification as a RN with a high accretion rate. The method was also used to explore upper limits on the brightness of the progenitor of SN 2014J, a SN Ia in M82, although no progenitor was found, a RG-nova (or in-fact any type of system) could not be ruled out due to the limitations of the data. For the M31 transient TCP J00403295+4034387, which showed an unusual spectrum, archival HST data were used to show the object was probably a blend of two objects with a very small apparent separation. Finally, the thesis is summarised, and future work on both dust formation and the progenitor search are discussed.


Standardised language tests can have a crucial and long-lasting impact on the study, work and life trajectories of globally mobile people. Test companies, therefore, have a responsibility to ensure that potential candidates have access to the right kind of information about their test so that they can prepare adequately and provide a snapshot of their proficiency that is reliable and has face-validity. Failure to do this can spawn negative attitudes and demotivate test-takers. However, there has been insufficient documented evidence to-date of the range of test preparation experiences among IELTS test-takers: what they know about the test, how they prepare to use test-taking strategies or the activities they undertake in their daily lives to improve their English in preparation for the test. This report addresses these questions. The study involved two stages. First, a questionnaire with a series of questions about test-taker experiences with IELTS Test preparation was administered to over 750 candidates from more than 80 different countries of origin. Twenty-seven of those respondents were then interviewed in-depth to further explore their responses. The report includes a discussion of a range of factors that impact on preparation for, and perceptions of, the Test, and concludes with some implications for all stakeholders to consider in the interest of counteracting potential negative attitudes, and better supporting test-takers as they prepare for the test.


Rhodopsin is a light-activated G protein-coupled receptor that induces the signaling cascade leading to vision. Isomerization of the 11-cis chromophore to all-trans triggers the visual transduction process. Borhan et al. have trapped the photoisomerization intermediates and have traced changes in the interaction between the chromophore and the protein by photoaffinity labeling. They show that the isomerization occurs with minimal movement of the chromophore ring, leading to a highly strained intermediate. This energy is used to flip the ring, which is accompanied by conformational changes in the protein. Borhan, B., Souto, M.L., Imai, H., Shichida, Y., and Nakanishi, K. (2000) Movement of Retinal along the visual transduction path. Science 288: 2209-2212. [Abstract] [Full Text]


Produced water is generated to the surface from oil production. Because of the complex composition of produced water (a mixture of different organic and inorganic compounds and residues of oilfield chemicals - added to aid oil water separation) and due to the outcome of increasing volume and effect of discharging, its analysis has become a significant issue of environmental concern. For this purpose and also because of concerns over health and its safety, the chemical compositions of four produced water samples from Al-Hamada oilfield in the Libyan Arab desert were investigated in details. The physical-chemical properties included pH,TDS, EC, COD, cations and anions, organic compounds TOG, TPH, Base/Neutrals acids, Total phenols, BTEX, PAH carbon distribution of the oil extracted from the samples, inorganic compounds (heavy metals), added chemicals (corrosion inhibitor and biocides). Determinations were carried out using techniques, such as, GC-FID (HS-SPME), GC-MS, (ESI-MS/MS) and (LC-ESI-MS). The results indicate that the metals were within the expected natural ranges compared to those mentioned in the literature. Only manganese values were found to be higher than those in the literature in a range between 0.06-0.23ppm. BTEX and phenol were within range, 0.1- 0.2 and compounds acenaphthene, indeno(1,2,3-cd)pyrene, benzo(b)fluoranthene of PAH were identified in the range between0.4-2ppm. These originate could be from biodegradation by existing bacteria, which generally changes the chemical composition and reduce the toxicity of the water. Typical corrosion inhibitor chemicals quaternary ammonium compounds (quats) were detected with alkyl chain lengths of C12 (m/z 304), C14 (m/z 332), C16 (m/z 360) and C18 (m/z 388). On the whole, knowledge is needed about the level of oilfield chemicals in the produced water and groundwater and also phenol and alkyl phenols compound present that contribute to the environmental impact of produced water need to identify by GC-MS. Produced water should not be consumed by humans and animals.


Objectives The health of physicians is an important topic which needs to be addressed in order to provide the best quality of patient care. However, there are few studies on the prevalence of chronic diseases among physicians. In this study, we explored the prevalence of chronic diseases among physicians and compared the probability of chronic diseases between physicians and the general population using a population-based data set in Taiwan. Study design A cross-sectional study. Setting Taiwan. Participants Our study consisted of 1426 practising physicians and 5704 general participants. Primary outcome measures We chose 22 chronic diseases from the Elixhauser Comorbidity index and nine highly prevalent medical conditions in an Asian population for analysis. We used conditional logistic regression analyses to investigate the OR and its corresponding 95% CI of chronic diseases between these two groups. Results The conditional logistic regression analyses showed that physicians had lower odds of peripheral vascular disorders (OR=0.41, 95% CI=0.19 to 0.90), uncomplicated diabetes (OR=0.76, 95% CI=0.60 to 0.97), complicated diabetes (OR=0.53, 95% CI=0.34 to 0.83), renal failure (OR=0.41, 95% CI=0.19 to 0.90), liver diseases (OR=0.78, 95% CI=0.66 to 0.94), and hepatitis B or C (OR=0.62, 95% CI=0.49 to 0.77) and higher odds of hypertension (OR=1.21, 95% CI=1.03 to 1.41), hyperlipidaemia (OR=1.43, 95% CI=1.23 to 1.67) and asthma (OR=1.59, 95% CI=1.16 to 2.18) than the general population. Conclusions We concluded that although physicians had decreased prevalence of some chronic diseases, they had a significantly increased prevalence of hypertension, hyperlipidaemia and asthma.


This paper uses Bourdieu's concept of field to analyse findings from an ethnographic study of Entry to Employment (E2E) programmes in England. Entry to Employment is a work-based learning programme which aims to re-engage young people with 'barriers to learning' inhibiting access to further education, training or employment. The paper examines field positions associated with E2E, such as learner and tutor, distinguishing between the taking of positions by individual agents and the construction of these positions by dominant institutions. The paper argues that official constructions are based on a discourse which positions E2E learners as a deficit category alongside young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) and separates E2E programmes from those in mainstream educational provision. In consequence, although learners are supported and make individual progress, E2E contributes to the exclusion that Bourdieu identifies as the chief means of social reproduction in the education system.


The utility of Deci and Ryan's self-determination theory (1985) and Coakley's unidimensional identity model (1992) has yet to be adequately assessed in understanding youth athlete burnout. This may be due to a lack of measures available to assess these relevant constructs in a youth athlete sample. Having such inventories would likely enhance practitioners' ability to identify, prevent, and treat this phenomenon more effectively in young children. Therefore, the current study assessed the psychometric properties for modified burnout, motivation, and athletic identity inventories for a youth athlete sample. Participants included 88 youth swimmers ranging in age from 7 to 12 years, who completed measures assessing burnout, motivation, and athletic identity. Internal consistencies and exploratory factor analyses provided preliminary psychometric support for the use and continued evaluation of these revised measures with young athletes.


In this paper, we present a δ13C record that covers the past 750 years at a resolution of 2 3 years which was preserved in a precisely dated stalagmite (DY-1) obtained from the Dayu Cave on the south flank of the Qinling Mountains in central China. Between 1249 AD and 1800 AD, climate-induced vegetation changes appear to have been the primary control on δ13C values at a centennial scale. Variations in precipitation amounts control the residence time of seepage water and may have affected the dissolution of bedrock, prior carbonate precipitation in the unsaturated zone above the cave, and the degassing of CO2 within the cave. These hydrogeochemical processes are likely to have been the most important controls on δ13C levels over annual to decadal scales, and may also have influenced centennial-scale variations. The reduced δ13C value of atmospheric CO2 since the Industrial Revolution may have caused the decreasing trend in δ13C values seen in stalagmite DY-1 after 1800 AD. Increased visitor numbers in the unventilated Dayu Cave over time produced a large amount of CO2, and maintained a raised level of pCO2 in the cave air. This artificially enhanced pCO2 may have decreased the fraction of CO2 degassing, and hence carbonate precipitation, which could partly cause the decreasing trend in the stalagmite δ13C seen over the past 200 years.


Objective: Considering the growing trend of information at the current era and development of educational patterns, transforming traditional education into e-learning is becoming increasingly popular. The present study was conducted to compare dental public health course offered through traditional training and e-learning. Methods:  In this semi-experimental study, 70 senior(11and 12terms) dental students in Shahid Beheshti Dental School who took dental public health course in the first semester of 2010-2011 educational year were selected by census sampling method and assigned to the intervention or control group based on their term. Data were collected using the standard translated version of Distance Learning Attitude Survey (DLAS) questionnaire that was used after determining its validity and reliability. This questionnaire measured the success criteria of e-learning in students. The course was offered online to the intervention and as traditional classroom teaching to the control group for one semester. At the end of the course, a written examination was held for the students in both groups to evaluate their educational progress. Also, students' satisfaction about the educational method was assessed using the translated version of Individual Development and Educational Assessment (IDEA) questionnaire after determination of its validity and reliability. SPSS software was used for data analysis. Results: 36 students, were assigned to the e-learning instruction group13 (36.1%) were males and 23 (63.9%) were females. Thirty four subjects were assigned to the traditional classroom instruction group out of which 10 (29.4%) were males and 24 (70.6%) were females. In terms of demographic characteristics, the only difference between the two groups was in the daily computer usage. The mean± SD of the final examination score was similar in the two groups of e-learning and traditional classroom teaching and no significant difference was detected in this respect. Students' satisfaction in the two groups was compared in five domains. The first 4 domains were the instructor's teaching, the educational content, attitude towards the educational course, and difficulty of the course and no significant difference was detected between the two groups in the mentioned domains. The only significant difference between the two groups was observed in the fifth domain namely the final perception and judgment of students (P<0.0001, 2.93 versus 3.85). Conclusion:  All students successfully passed the course. No statistically significant difference was found between the two groups in terms of the knowledge gained about dental public health. E-learning method successfully achieved its objectives which were the development of positive attitude in students towards online education and obtaining their satisfaction. Given the necessary equipment and under certain conditions, elearning can be successfully used as a substitute for traditional education in national dental universities.


A new phenomenon on the Internet is the online audience response. Mentimeter is a web-based tool where you can create online polls. The users can then cast a vote and the result is shown in real time. We want to test the information visualization in Mentimeter and we base our hypothesis, that a better graph design is possible, on the work of Edward Tufte and Stephen Few. Edward Tufte is an emeritus at Yale University, where he held courses in statistical evidence and information design and has created theories about how visual information should be designed. Stephen Few is a known information designer and he has based a lot of his theories on the work of Tufte. We compare Tufte and Fews design principles against the Mentimeter tool with user testing. We can see that Tufte and Fews theories still stand strong when it comes to the comparisment with Mentimeter and that a redesign of their graphs could raise the quality and the user experience of the tool. But Mentimeter is also a tool that functions the way it is supposed to.


Research in network and computer system architecture is evolving beyond its traditional focus as mobile devices become ubiquitous and mobile computing triggers dramatic change in the computing world. Mobile devices can form heterogeneous mobile networks that provide distributed services and information access in real time from anywhere in the world. Coincident with this change, the assurance of network and system security and availability becomes an important problem. This problem is challenging because it requires the system to be easy to manage and operate, but also requires reliability and security. For the purpose of securing a network, we usually require authentication, authorization, and accounting. Authentication requires users to prove their identity. Accounting requires intrusion detection or forensic analysis to find attacks, if any, in the system. Finally, authorization requires access control to ensure data privacy.
This dissertation aims to design security and collaboration protocols to create a comprehensive trust framework to protect mobile and sensor networks by applying cryptographic algorithms. It makes three primary contributions. First, we propose and implement a distributed authentication protocol called DAPP in wireless sensor networks to allow sensors to authenticate servers without requiring a commonly-used trusted authentication server. DAPP maintains the distributed nature of sensor networks, has low computation and communication overhead, and is resilient to node compromises. Second, to attain security for nodes in mobile ad hoc networks, we present an intrusion detection system (IDS) architecture at the application layer to help detect malicious nodes in the network. We describe the design of this architecture and the use of mobile agents to augment each node's IDS. Finally, we design a trusted group-based information sharing protocol called TGIS for mobile devices to establish a trust relationship with collaborators and enforce data access control between collaborators with different privileges. TGIS is built upon existing trust infrastructures in individual organizations to enable trust management for group collaboration.
The security and collaboration protocols presented in this dissertation together achieve secure distributed authentication, authorization, and accounting in mobile and sensor networks.


The British Atmospheric Data Centre (BADC) has existed in its present form for 20 years, having been formally created in 1994. It evolved from the GDF (Geophysical Data Facility), a SERC (Science and Engineering Research Council) facility, as a result of research council reform where NERC (Natural Environment Research Council) extended its remit to cover atmospheric data below 10km altitude. With that change the BADC took on data from many other atmospheric sources and started interacting with NERC research programmes. The BADC has now hit early adulthood. Prompted by this milestone, we examine in this paper whether the data centre is creaking at the seams or is looking forward to the prime of its life, gliding effortlessly into the future. Which parts of it are bullet proof and which parts are held together with double-sided sticky tape? Can we expect to see it in its present form in another twenty years' time? To answer these questions, we examine the interfaces, technology, processes and organisation used in the provision of data centre services by looking at three snapshots in time, 1994, 2004 and 2014, using metrics and reports from the time to compare and contrasts the services using BADC. The repository landscape has changed massively over this period and has moved the focus for technology and development as the broader community followed emerging trends, standards and ways of working. The incorporation of these new ideas has been both a blessing and a curse, providing the data centre staff with plenty of challenges and opportunities. We also discuss key data centre functions including: data discovery, data access, ingestion, data management planning, preservation plans, agreements/licences and data policy, storage and server technology, organisation and funding, and user management. We conclude that the data centre will probably still exist in some form in 2024 and that it will most likely still be reliant on a file system. However, the technology delivering this service will change and the host organisation and funding routes may vary.


This paper explores how a pre-existing virtual 3D model of the British Empire Exhibition of 1938 was used to deliver innovative teaching and learning materials into schools. With digital and mobile technologies now forming an integral feature of schools, a range of tools can be used to support students and teachers in their every day lessons. However, despite the wealth of research on digital technology use within schools, few studies have so far looked at the teaching and learning potential of 3D models and in particular the re-use of the large number of existing digital heritage datasets originally generated for a range of purposes.

Through a comparative case study of three primary and secondary schools in the UK, this paper investigates how the 3D model was used by teachers and students to support teaching and learning activities across different subject areas. In particular, it evaluates the potential and impact of using such a tool in formal educational settings and highlights a number of salient issues and challenges that emerged. These include, amongst others, the wider pressures of teacher time and curriculum regimes, the role of the motivation and interest of individual teachers as well as the drivers for student engagement. In light of the above, the paper considers the range of actors and factors that underpin the outcomes and sustainability of such a project and concludes with some suggestions for the future use 3D models and supporting software.


Although neocortex underlies higher-order brain functions, little is known about the synaptic interactions that drive neocortical microcircuit function in vivo. The neocortex is spontaneously active in vivo so I explored how such spontaneous network activity affects in vivo the interactions between excitatory and inhibitory neurons in the barrel cortex. To this aim, I have focused on the layer 2/3 microcircuit of the C2 barrel column driving sensory processing for the C2 whisker, and combined in vivo whole-cell patch-clamp recordings in anesthetised and awake head-restrained mice with optogenetic stimulation, that allows controlling the activity of genetically defined neurons with light. I expressed channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2), a light-gated cation channel to evoke action potentials in excitatory neurons with brief light pulses. The impact of this optogenetic stimulus was measured on the membrane potential dynamics of their postsynaptic target neurons. The optogenetic stimulus drove reliable action potentials in ChR2-expressing excitatory neurons, independent of the state of ongoing spontaneous cortical activity. In contrast, I found a marked modulation of light-evoked postsynaptic responses in ChR2-non-expressing excitatory neurons by cortical activity. During spontaneously hyperpolarised periods (DOWN state), optogenetic stimulation resulted in depolarisations of postsynaptic excitatory neurons, while during depolarised periods (UP state), the response was significantly smaller and shorter. The optogenetic stimulus drove the membrane potential of postsynaptic excitatory layer 2/3 neurons towards reversal potentials, which were hyperpolarised relative to action potential threshold, leading to a reduction in firing rates. Targeting whole-cell recordings to GFP-labelled GABAergic layer 2/3 neurons with two-photon microscopy revealed that both fast-spiking and non-fast-spiking inhibitory postsynaptic neurons were rapidly driven to fire action potentials, preferentially from UP states. Such rapid activation of inhibitory neurons in the UP state is likely to be responsible for decreasing firing rate in excitatory neurons. As a result, optogenetic stimulation of a given set of excitatory neurons results in a state-dependent recruitment of inhibitory neurons that limit the spread of excitation within the layer 2/3 microcircuit. The data presented here indicates that a powerful inhibitory loop within the cortical microcircuit rapidly balances excitation with inhibition and enforces sparse coding of layer 2/3 excitatory neurons.


Perovskite-type Nd1−xLaxCrO3(0 ≤ x ≤1.0) polycrystalline samples were synthesized using solid state reaction. Structural studies indicate that the lattice parameters, metal–oxygen bond lengths, and angles of Nd1−xLaxCrO3 strongly depend on the La content. Two magnetic transition temperatures, Cr3+ antiferromagnetic ordering temperature (TN) and the spin reorientation phase transition temperature (TSRPT), have been observed in the M-T curves. The increase in TN and decrease in TSRPT with increasing x value can be explained by the change in the magnetic interactions due to La doping. The heat capacity of Nd1−xLaxCrO3 measured from 2 to 300 K reveals that the lattice, electronic, and magnetic contributions to heat capacity can be well interpreted quantitatively using the Debye and Schottky models. The splitting energy of the Cr3+ 3dt2g orbital and the Nd3+ ground state have been calculated by fitting to the Schottky anomaly at very low temperature. The Cr–Nd interaction is suppressed gradually by La doping, which is verified by the calculation of the mean-field interaction parameter. This doping dependence provides directed evidence of TM–RE magnetic interactions in perovskite compounds, in agreement with the proposed model.


The response of a bowtie antenna-coupled thermocouple operating at 10.6 μm is studied for varying lengths of a transmission line, which connects the antenna to the thermocouple and functions as an impedance-matching element. Peaks in the response are observed for several lengths of transmission line. Most notably, the response of a device with a transmission line length of 1.3 μm is increased 2.4 fold when compared to the device without the transmission line. The analytical response of a microwave circuit describing the detector is in agreement with the measurements, indicating that the increases in the response are caused by an improved impedance match between the antenna and thermocouple facilitated by the transmission line. This experiment demonstrates for the first time impedance matching principles applied to infrared antenna-coupled thermal detectors.


This paper aims to clarify how employees of interest-free banks approached to HR practices from the perspective of the asset and resources concepts. The study aims to present the effect of the "asset concept" on the evaluation of human resources practices. The paper is a descriptive analytical study. 351 out of 550 survey forms that were sent to the sample group were chosen to be evaluated and the data was analyzed using SPSS 22. The data was examined based on the theoretical framework of human asset and the human resources conceptual structures. Results showed that there existed a statistically significant and positive relationship between "human assets" orientation and their ways of evaluating "human resources practices". Although this relationship was positive, it can be evaluated as a weak one. According to the conclusions made based on the findings of the research management and human resources applications that are realized within the framework of human assets in the interest-free banks affect the employees positively and have a feature of increasing their morale and motivation. Therefore, education, consciousness raising applications and adoption of the approach of human values can provide beneficial results to the businesses.


The haptic paddle is a force-feedback joystick used at several universities in teaching System Dynamics, a core mechanical engineering undergraduate course where students learn to model dynamic systems in several domains. A second goal of the haptic paddle is to increase the accessibility of robotics and haptics by providing a low-cost device for middle and high school teachers and students, a goal which has been hindered to date by the lack of low-cost electronic solutions for motor control and computer interfacing. Prior assessments of the learning enabled by the paddles at the college level have been qualitative, consisting of anecdotal case studies illustrating student and educator belief that they enhance learning and increase student enthusiasm. In this paper, we describe haptic paddle design enhancements and provide a formal assessment of student learning when interacting with haptic paddles. Design enhancements seek to enable broad dissemination and improve the student experience by making the paddle less expensive (less than $100 for a complete system including electronics) and easier to use. Our formal assessment quantifies if and when learning occurs in a System Dynamics course featuring haptic paddle laboratories, via multiple choice quizzes presented at various time points to measure learning in the lecture, in the lab, during lab report writing, and at the end of the semester.


Considerable attention has been paid to the potentially confounding effects of geological and seasonal variation on outputs from bioassessments in temperate streams, but our understanding about these influences is limited for many tropical systems. We explored variation in macroinvertebrate assemblage composition and the environmental characteristics of 3rd- to 5th-order streams in a geologically heterogeneous tropical landscape in the wet and dry seasons. Study streams drained catchments with land cover ranging from predominantly forested to agricultural land, but data indicated that distinct water-chemistry and substratum conditions associated with predominantly calcareous and silicate geologies were key determinants of macroinvertebrate assemblage composition. Most notably, calcareous streams were characterized by a relatively abundant noninsect fauna, particularly a pachychilid gastropod snail. The association between geological variation and assemblage composition was apparent during both seasons, but significant temporal variation in compositional characteristics was detected only in calcareous streams, possibly because of limited statistical power to detect change at silicate sites, or the limited extent of our temporal data. We discuss the implications of our findings for tropical bioassessment programs. Our key findings suggest that geology can be an important determinant of macroinvertebrate assemblages in tropical streams and that geological heterogeneity may influence the scale of temporal response in characteristic macroinvertebrate assemblages.


fibrillation (AF), but the underlying mechanisms have not been explored extensively. In this study, we considered the hypothesis that chronic obstructive coronary artery disease can create a substrate for AF initiation and maintenance by altering atrial properties. In a chronic dog model, we ligated a small coronary artery that provides blood flow only to a portion of the right atrial free wall. After coronary artery ligation, dogs showed increased occurrence of spontaneous atrial ectopy and atrial tachyarrhythmias, along with a substrate for AF maintenance. Cellular studies showed that spontaneous ectopy was related to triggered activity caused by Ca 2 (cid:1) -handling abnormalities, including enhanced Na (cid:1) -Ca 2 (cid:1) exchange current and spontaneous quantal Ca 2 (cid:1) releases (sparks) occurring during adrenergically driven Ca 2 (cid:1) loading. AF maintenance was related to stable rotors located in the border zone of the atrial infarction resulting from coronary artery occlusion. Local conduction abnormalities in the heterogeneous border zone of the infarction provided the substrate for reentry. These results show that chronic occlusive disease of coronary arteries supplying atrial tissue produces atrial abnormalities that provide both triggers for AF initiation and a substrate for AF maintenance. They indicate a potential mechanism for the observed association between coronary artery disease and AF. These mecha-nistic concepts may be useful for understanding AF pathophysiology and developing new mechanism-based approaches to patient-specific therapeutics. See p 137. patients, the lesion passed between the aorta and the pulmonary artery (interarterial course), anatomy that has been believed to place the patient at substantially higher risk. Surgery was more commonly performed in patients with anomalous left coronary arteries, interarterial course, positive stress testing, and in the presence of concurrent coronary disease and appeared to become the highly favored strategy over the past decade. Among the patients with interarterial course, 28 underwent surgical repair with no perioperative deaths but with long-term survival similar to that of the unrepaired cohort. Quality of life was not formally assessed in this study. Our results suggest that anomalous coronary artery arising from the opposite sinus of Valsalva with surgery is increasingly being performed in elderly high-risk patients who are at high risk of hemodynamic insults such as low cardiac output syndrome. In this single-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in patients undergoing aortic valve replacement, glucose-insulin-potassium improved the hemodynamic status of treated patients compared with those on placebo. The mechanisms contributing to this beneficial effect of glucose-insulin-potassium are complex and include metabolic enhancement. We demonstrate for the first time in humans that glucose-insulin-potassium augments myocardial signal-ling by increasing protein O-linked (cid:1) - N -acetylglucosamination of selective proteins and Akt/5 (cid:5) -AMP–activated protein kinase phos-phorylation. Although requiring replication, this study provides a rationale for the instigation of glucose-insulin-potassium during cardiac surgery and mandates a more detailed assessment of the link between O-linked (cid:1) - N -acetylglucosamination and cardioprotection during ischemia/reperfusion in humans. See p 170.


An Autonomous Mobile Robot is an artificially intelligent vehicle that is capable of traveling in unknown, unstructured environments independently. Among the proposed approaches in the literature to handle the navigation problem of a mobile robot is the simple fuzzy reactive approach. This approach, however, occasionally suffers from two problems the combinatorial explosion of the if-then rules in the inference engine, and finally the lack of a unified fuzzy rule-based system procedure. This paper offers an approach to handle the first two problems. In this paper a new approach to the design of simple fuzzy navigation systems is presented. The proposed approach is based on decomposing MIMO fuzzy logic controller into a number of SISO controllers. This approach has the advantage of greatly reducing the number of if-then rules by introducing weighting factors for the sensor inputs, thus inferring the reflexive conclusions from each input to the system rather than putting all the possible states of all the inputs to infer a single conclusion. Simulation and experimental results are presented to prove the efficiency of the proposed approach for mobile robot navigation in unstructured unknown environment.


Fractal image compression techniques promise better compression capabilities as compared to the currently popular DCT and DWT based techniques. However the complexity of the encoding process makes it an unpopular choice in many application areas. On the other hand, traditionally, digital images have been captured, processed and displayed on rectangular (square) grids. Alternatively hexagonal grid pixel representations are able to provide more natural image capture and display capabilities due to its close correspondence with the human retina. In this paper we propose a fractal image coding scheme specifically designed to code images represented on a hexagonal grid. We show that the proposed scheme provides a better compression performance and an average, 30 fold improvement in speed, as compared to the application of traditional fractal image coding schemes to rectangular grid images.


Background: Sleep disordered breathing and pulmonary hypertension are both highly prevalent in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). Since (SDB) has been shown to increase pulmonary pressures, we hypothesized that initiation of positive airway pressure (PAP) may reduce pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP) in compliant patients.
Methods: A total of 125 consecutive CHF patients admitted for decompensation were screened. Of these patients, 18 met inclusion criteria for the study which included a PASP ≥ 36 and polysomnogram-proven SDB. A repeat echocardiogram performed at mean 8 weeks post intervention was reviewed to compare PASP.
Results: There was no statistically significant difference in mean age, BMI, AHI, baseline PASP, and ejection fraction between the PAP-compliant group and PAP non-compliant group. A statistically significant mean reduction in PASP of 13.8 ± 7.0 mmHg (range: -25, -1) was observed in CHF patients with SDB who were compliant with PAP therapy, versus a mean increase of 0.9 ± 8.7 mmHg (range: -8, 15) in heart failure patients with SDB who were noncompliant with PAP therapy.
Conclusions: The findings suggest that PAP therapy is associated with improvement in pulmonary hypertension with congestive heart failure and sleep disordered breathing.


The performance of statistical methods for modeling resource selection by animals is difficult to evaluate with field data because true selection patterns are unknown. Simulated data based on a known probability distribution, though, can be used to evaluate statistical methods. Models should estimate true selection patterns if they are to be useful in analyzing and interpreting field data. We used simulation techniques to evaluate the effectiveness of three statistical methods used in modeling resource selection. We generated 25 use locations per animal and included 10, 20, 40, or 80 animals in samples of use locations. To simulate species of different mobility, we generated use locations at four levels according to a known probability distribution across DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge (DNWR) in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa, USA. We either generated 5 random locations per use location or 10,000 random locations (total) within 4 predetermined areas around use locations to determine how the definition of availability and the number of random locations affected results. We analyzed simulated data using discrete choice, logisticregression, and a maximum entropy method (Maxent). We used a simple linear regression of estimated and known probability distributions and area under receiver operating characteristic curves (AUC) to evaluate the performance of each method. Each statistical method was affected differently by number of animals and random locations used in analyses, level at which selection of resources occurred, and area considered available. Discrete-choice modeling resulted in precise and accurate estimates of the true probability distribution when the area in which use locations were generated was ≥ the area defined to be available. Logistic-regression models were unbiased and precise when the area in which use locations were generated and the area defined to be available were the same size; the fit of these models improved with increased numbers of random locations. Maxent resulted in unbiased and precise estimates of the known probability distribution when the area in which use locations were generated was small (homerange level) and the area defined to be available was large (study area). Based on AUC analyses, all models estimated the selection distribution better than random chance. Results from AUC analyses, however, often contradicted results of the linear regression method used to evaluate model performance. Discretechoice modeling was best able to estimate the known selection distribution in our study area regardless of sample size or number of random locations used in the analyses, but we recommend further studies using simulated data over different landscapes and different resource metrics to confirm our results. Our study offers an approach and guidance for others interested in assessing the utility of techniques for ion in modeling resource select


The technology of cloud computing is ushering great change in the world of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). In today's fast paced work environment, systems that can be accessed anywhere and any time have great advantages. The Cloud is answering that call as a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned or released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. In order to study the impact of cloud computing on traditional desktop GIS, it is necessary to find out what the cloud can offer and then look into some of the options that are becoming available today. ESRI, a leader in GIS software, offers many options that include ArcGIS.com, a free to use web-based GIS software, and an ArcGIS mobile application available for smart phones and tablets. Through thorough literature review and application practice, this research provides a complete understanding of the current development of cloud computing's application in GIS.


Motivated by packet routing in computer networks, online queuing systems are composed of queues receiving packets at different rates. Repeatedly, they send packets to servers, each of them treating only at most one packet at a time. In the centralized case, the number of accumulated packets remains bounded (i.e., the system is \textit{stable}) as long as the ratio between service rates and arrival rates is larger than $1$. In the decentralized case, individual no-regret strategies ensures stability when this ratio is larger than $2$. Yet, myopically minimizing regret disregards the long term effects due to the carryover of packets to further rounds. On the other hand, minimizing long term costs leads to stable Nash equilibria as soon as the ratio exceeds $\frac{e}{e-1}$. Stability with decentralized learning strategies with a ratio below $2$ was a major remaining question. We first argue that for ratios up to $2$, cooperation is required for stability of learning strategies, as selfish minimization of policy regret, a \textit{patient} notion of regret, might indeed still be unstable in this case. We therefore consider cooperative queues and propose the first learning decentralized algorithm guaranteeing stability of the system as long as the ratio of rates is larger than $1$, thus reaching performances comparable to centralized strategies.


Biological invasions by woody species in forested ecosystems can have significant impacts on forest management and conservation. We designed and tested several management options based on the physiology of Chinese tallow (Triadica sebifera [L.] Small). Specifically, we tested four treatments, including mastication, foliar herbicide, and fire (MHfolF), mastication and foliar herbicide (MHfol), dormant-stem herbicide and fire (HdorF), and dormant-stem herbicide (Hdor), to determine their efficacy in reducing the density and regeneration of this highly invasive tree species. Mastication treatments were significant in reducing density the first year but not after 3 years. Prescribed fire significantly reduced density combined with previous treatments. Regeneration coverage was highest on those sites with mastication, which was not affected by the addition of prescribed fire. Overall, we found that the most comprehensive treatment (MHfolF) was more effective in reducing density but did not result in a difference in the amount of regeneration after treatment.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Ferric citrate is an oral medication approved for treatment of iron deficiency anemia in patients with CKD not requiring dialysis. The relative efficacy of ferric citrate versus ferrous sulfate in treating iron deficiency in patients with CKD is unclear.

DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS
We randomized 60 adults with moderate to severe CKD (eGFR 15-45 ml/min per 1.73 m2) and iron deficiency (transferrin saturation [TSAT] ≤30% and ferritin ≤300 ng/ml) to ferric citrate (2 g three times a day with meals, n=30) or ferrous sulfate (325 mg three times a day, n=30) for 12 weeks. Primary outcomes were change in TSAT and ferritin from baseline to 12 weeks. Secondary outcomes were change in hemoglobin, fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23), and hepcidin.

RESULTS
Baseline characteristics were well balanced between study arms. There was a greater increase in TSAT (between-group difference in mean change, 8%; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1 to 15; P=0.02) and ferritin (between-group difference in mean change, 37 ng/ml; 95% CI, 10 to 64; P=0.009) from baseline to 12 weeks in participants randomized to ferric citrate as compared with ferrous sulfate. Similarly, as compared with ferrous sulfate, treatment with ferric citrate resulted in a greater increase in hepcidin from baseline to 12 weeks (between-group difference, 69 pg/ml; 95% CI, 8 to 130). There were no between-group differences in mean change for hemoglobin (0.3 g/dl; 95% CI, -0.2 to 0.8), intact FGF23 (-29 pg/ml; 95% CI, -59 to 0.1), or C-terminal FGF23 (61 RU/ml; 95% CI, -181 to 58). The incidence of adverse events did not differ between treatment arms.

CONCLUSIONS
As compared with ferrous sulfate, treatment with ferric citrate for 12 weeks resulted in a greater mean increase in TSAT and ferritin concentrations in individuals with moderate to severe CKD and iron deficiency.

CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRY NAME AND REGISTRATION NUMBER
Impact of Ferric Citrate vs Ferrous Sulfate on Iron Parameters and Hemoglobin in Individuals With Moderate to Severe Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) With Iron Deficiency, NCT02888171.


The Oconaluftee River is a moderate to large sized stream located in the Little Tennessee River basin of the southern Appalachian Mountains. The Little Tennessee River basin is home to six different species of Redhorse, three of which, Black (Moxostoma duquesnii), Golden (M. erythrurum), and Sicklefin (M. sp.), are thought to have historically occurred in the section of the Oconaluftee River above Bryson Dam near the mouth of the River. Despite propagation efforts and restorative stocking of the extirpated Sicklefin Redhorse population, there has been no sign of success. Understanding of rare species (such as the Sicklefin Redhorse) has been a priority for researchers; however, other Redhorse species are understudied in the southern Appalachian Mountain region. Increasing the overall knowledge of other Redhorse populations in areas where Sicklefin Redhorse have been extirpated provides vital information on ability of the habitat to support Redhorse populations. From April to September of 2017, we used fyke netting and mark-recapture electrofishing surveys to assess Redhorse population abundance and demographics in the upper Oconaluftee River. Due to high flows and interference from otters, we determined that the fyke net was unsuitable for sampling in this system. Using the raft electrofishing system, we captured 624 Black Redhorse aged 1-12 and 138 Golden Redhorse aged 1-10. No Sicklefin Redhorse were captured during our sampling events. Population abundance of the sampled reaches for Black Redhorse was estimated at n=2101 (Schumacher-Eschmeyer) or n = 1357 (Cormack-Jolly-Seber) and Golden Redhorse was estimated at n = 1084 (Schumacher-Eschmeyer) and too few recaptures occurred to estimate using the Cormack-Jolly-Seber model. Two distinctive size classes were found for both species of Redhorse, which were grouped largely by age. Only one individual was aged at 4 years for Golden Redhorse, perhaps indicating a failed year class for the population or failure to capture Redhorse in that year class. Using life-table modeling, the Black Redhorse population in the upper Oconaluftee system was estimated to be slightly increasing. Electrofishing surveys were most efficient at lower discharge levels for capturing Redhorse. The von Bertalanffy growth models show similar parameters to those from other Southern Appalachian populations as well as Black Redhorse populations in Canada. Weekly larval fish samples were taken from April to August 2017 using drift nets and light traps to assess Redhorse reproductive occurrence and reproductive output. Larval catostomids were captured at all sampling locations with the majority (>70%) being identified as Moxostoma, indicating that there are reproducing Redhorse populations throughout the entire upper Oconaluftee system. There was a significant difference in sample location, with the middle sample site having the highest drift density (Mean drift densities for each site from 4/26/17-6/4/17: Up=7.54 x 10-3 larvae/m3, Mid=2.93 x 10-2 larvae/m3, Low=3.10 x 10-3 larvae/m3).


Abstract The question of how self-interacting chromatin domains in interphase chromosomes are structured and generated dominates current discussions on eukaryotic chromosomes. Numerical simulations using standard polymer models have been helpful in testing the validity of various models of chromosome organization. Experimental contact maps can be compared with simulated contact maps and thus verify how good is the model. With increasing resolution of experimental contact maps, it became apparent though that active processes need to be introduced into models to recapitulate the experimental data. Since transcribing RNA polymerases are very strong molecular motors that induce axial rotation of transcribed DNA, we present here models that include such rotational motors. We also include into our models swivels and sites for intersegmental passages that account for action of DNA topoisomerases releasing torsional stress. Using these elements in our models, we show that transcription-induced supercoiling generated in the regions with divergent-transcription and supercoiling relaxation occurring between these regions are sufficient to explain formation of self-interacting chromatin domains in chromosomes of fission yeast (S. pombe).


This paper will explore the preparations, patterns, neuroses and procrastinations that surround the production of art works in the studio. It will draw on data gathered from a four day, live performance event at Tate Modern. For Inventory of Behaviours, artists are invited to consider their own behaviour in the physical, digital, or psychological spaces in which their art is made and devise an instruction to enable someone else to imitate or re-enact their ritual, traits or habits. The resulting instructions will be collated and enacted by visitors to Tate Exchange and scrutinised by invited specialists from a variety of disciplines, including psychology and neurology.

Christopher Bollas's 'unthought known' refers to the ways in which individuals may organize their lives around patterns of experience that are known at some deep level but possibly not at the level of conscious thought. By attempting to draw out some of the behaviours that are integral to the interior creativity of artists and employing re-enactment to embody them, this research seeks to understand the possibilities for making and learning.

Inventory of Behaviours was developed by artists/senior lecturers Jo Addison and Natasha Kidd in collaboration with Freelands Foundation. Consistent with their individual practice-based research in to the conditions of making, their collaborative research explores learning as form. Performances and live events are designed to stage the act of learning beyond the constraints of academia.

In keeping with this methodology, this presentation will employ a performative approach.


Objectives To investigate a potential outbreak of high-level azithromycin resistant (HL-AziR) gonococcal infections diagnosed in eight patients attending a sexual health clinic in Leeds, North England, between November 2014 and March 2015. Methods Eight cases of infection with gonococci exhibiting azithromycin minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) ≥256 mg/L were identified from patients in Leeds as part of the routine service provided by the Sexually Transmitted Bacteria Reference Unit. All patient records were reviewed to collate epidemiological and clinical information including evaluation of patient management. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) was performed on seven gonococcal isolates to determine Neisseria gonorrhoeae multiantigen sequence type (NG-MAST), WGS comparison and mutations in the 23S rRNA genes. Results All patients were heterosexual (five male, three female) from a range of ethnic backgrounds and from the Leeds area. Three patients were linked by partner notification. All patients were infected at genital sites and two women had pharyngeal infection also. Six patients received the recommended first-line therapy for uncomplicated gonorrhoea, one was treated for pelvic inflammatory disease and one received spectinomycin followed later by ciprofloxacin. Test of cure was achieved in seven patients and confirmed successful eradication. All seven isolates sequenced were identical by NG-MAST and WGS comparison, and contained an A2143G mutation in all four 23S rRNA alleles. Conclusions Epidemiological and microbiological investigations confirm that an outbreak of a gonococcal strain showing HL-AziR is ongoing in the North of England. Every effort should be made to identify and curtail dissemination of this strain as it presents a significant threat to the current recommended front-line dual therapy.


The evaluation and control of the cellular response to substrate materials is important for a wide range of regenerative medicine applications including implants, biomaterial devices and biosensors. Gradient surfaces provide a simple and fast method for determining optimal surface conditions for cellular responses such as attachment and growth. This chapter presents an overview of high-throughput techniques available for the optimisation of cell material interactions with particular emphasis on surface topographical and chemical gradients. The gradient approaches presented throughout this chapter are expected to become useful tools for researchers that are aiming to optimise advanced materials for a variety of biomedical applications.