During germ cell and early embryonic development—the most sensitive and vulnerable period of epigenetic reprogramming—exposure to an adverse environment leads to abnormal methylation and, possibly, long-term health problems. DNA methylation, a major epigenetic mechanism for gene silencing, is recognized to be responsible for the stability of gene expression status. The majority of cytosine-phosphate-guanine sites (CpGs) in mammalian genomes are methylated. DNA methyltransferase (Dnmt) 3A and 3B are essential for de novo methylation, and Dnmt1 maintains methylation patterns during cell division (1). Establishment and maintenance of cell type–specific DNA methylation patterns are dependent on both methylation and demethylation. DNA demethylation is the process of the removal of a methyl group from nucleotides in DNA, which can be passive or active. It has been generally understood that passive DNA demethylation occurs by a reduction in activity or absence of Dnmts, whereas the mechanism of active DNA demethylation has been controversial in recent decades.

Recently, three enzyme families have been implicated in active DNA demethylation via DNA repair. The first is the ten-eleven translocation (Tet) family of enzymes. 5-Methylcytosine (5mC) can be hydroxylated by Tet to form 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC), which can be further oxidized to 5-formylcytosine (5fC) and 5-carboxylcytosine (5caC). The second family is the AID/APOBEC family. 5mC (or 5hmC) can be deaminated by AID/APOBEC family members to form 5-methyluracil (5mU) or 5-hydroxymethyluracil (5hmU). The third is the UDG family of base excision repair glycosylases. TDG and SMUG1 replace these intermediates (i.e., 5mU, 5hmU, or 5caC), culminating in cytosine replacement and DNA demethylation …


We report on an efficient Ir-catalyzed decarbonylation of glycerol, which could be coupled to an ensuing Pd-catalyzed alkoxycarbonylation of styrenes. The formation of hydrogen could be avoided by employing 1,4-benzoquinone (BQ) as an external oxidant. A wide variety of styrenes underwent the esterification in good yields and high regioselectivity. Applying catalytic amounts of hexafluoroisopropanol provided access to alcohols other than methanol, which this transformation is often limited to. Finally, we demonstrate the suitability of this methodology for the preparation of three well-known nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).


This thesis lays out a number of investigations into different magnetic systems governed by short- and long-range magnetic interactions. We take advantage of the sensitivity of soft x-rays to magnetism and the polarisation dependence of magnetic x-ray scattering to investigate these systems.

Full polarisation analysis is a highly sensitive technique which can be utilised to refine small deviations in magnetic structures. We present work on improving the efficiency of these measurements, finding efficiencies of up to 75\% in the measurement method by rotating the incident light angle with the polarisation analyser fixed at the peak of intensity.

Full polarisation analysis has been applied to the study of magnetism in the heavy fermion system CeRu$_2$Al$_{10}$. Although this system has a relatively simple magnetic structure it is highly unstable to doping and has an anomalously high transition temperature. Magnetic scattering was observed at the cerium $M$-edges and the polarisation dependence of the scattering is only consistent with a non-collinear magnetic structure. Least squares fitting of the non-collinear structure revealed a small spin canting of the magnetic structure towards the $a$-axis. This canting requires a symmetry lowering of the space group from $Cmcm$ to the subgroup $Pmnm$ to allow for the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction.

Full polarisation analysis as well as neutron powder and single crystal measurements have been undertaken on the multiferroic skyrmion system Cu$_2$OSeO$_3$. Measurements were taken in the helical, conical, skyrmion, and ferrimagnetic regions. The (1, 0, 0) reflection at the Cu $L$-edge was found to be due to the anisotropy of the tensor of x-ray susceptibility (ATS). The satellite reflections around the ATS peak were observed not to display the polarisation dependence expected for a helix. The polarisation dependence observed is not consistent with a non-collinear structure and can be fitted with a long spin density wave with the moment pointing along the scattering vector. This structure would be expected to produce stepped features in the magnetisation measurements which are not observed. This long spin density wave structure is also not consistent with previous Lorentz transmission electron microscopy measurements.
Neutron scattering measurements confirm the three up one down magnetic structure in the ferrimagnetic phase. However, the magnetic intensity at the $(1, 0, 0)$ position in the helical phase indicates a change in the magnetic structure Rietveld refinement fitting with a reduced ferrimagnetic structure where one of the $4a$ site copper moments is coupled antiferromagnetically to the $12b$ and remaining $4a$ site moments.

Finally, the magnetic properties of thin films have been investigated using absorption techniques and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism. Manganese oxide monolayers and bilayers have been grown in different charge environments provided by heterostructuring with SrTiO$_3$ and LaAlO$_3$, with the aim of controlling the magnetic properties of the manganese \textit{via} charge transfer. It was found that the magnetic properties of the manganese is strongly linked to the capping layer used. This is due to different effects introduced by the growth of the different capping layers; LaAlO$_3$ introducing strong ion intermixing, and SrTiO$_3$ introducing oxygen vacancies. Both capping layers displayed superparamagnetic temperature and field dependent properties with small clusters (around 4) of strongly interacting manganese ions. The strongly interacting manganese ions are separated by either the ion intermixing or oxygen vacancies.
Both capping layers displayed superparamagnetic temperature and field dependent properties. Superparamagnetism is usually only observed in nanoparticles. The elimination of the magnetic interactions required for nanoparticle-like properties to be possible are due to a combination of ion intermixing and oxygen vacancies.


ODL system since its inception has gone a long way in terms of imparting education to the learners through different modes of teaching. Many professional and skill based programmes like MBA, MCA, etc. are being offered by various open distance learning institutes throughout the globe. Most of these programmes across the globe are offered online. The reason to this is the increased competition in higher education, which has stressed upon a need to look beyond the traditional mode of teaching. IGNOU also offers such programmes but most of them still have the Self Learning Materials (SLMs) as the main source of imparting education to the learners. Most of the studies, which have been done, are based on web-based learning. Shen etal (2008) have tried to explore the need to enhance skills of Application Software via Web-Enabled ProblemBased Learning and Self-Regulated Learning. This study was basically related to the computer software education in vocational schools. In another study Merrill & Gilbert (2008) stressed upon the need for peer interaction in a problem based learning (PBL) instructional form. The need of the hour is to study the effectiveness of the SLMs used for professional programmes. An effort has been made in this paper to explore the efficacy of SLMs for Management Programme and what measures can be taken up to develop course materials with more of problem based learning instructional forms. The research methodology is based on primary as well as secondary data. A random survey has been conducted. The feedback and suggestions have been taken from the learners who have passed out the programme in 2009. The concentration of this paper is more on the PBL as a teaching methodology for professional programme. This is an exploratory study and will try to highlight the use of SLMs in an innovative form.


Language is a tool of social interaction or a tool of human communication. In any activity, language can provide information in the form of thoughts, ideas, intentions, or feelings directly. Communication is the delivery of the message and intent of one person to another through language. The emergence of different languages or language variations caused by the speaker to choose language appropriate to the situation in the context of sosialnya.Ragam language is the language variation that arise because of different usage, different topics discussed and a different conversation medium. One of the variations in
language that is jargon. Jargon language is characterized by variations in speech newfound vocabulary and rapidly changing, used by young people or social groups and professionals to communicate in it. Jargon language transvestites in the city of Psychology, can be either (1) word, (2) abbreviations and acronyms. This is the principal form of jargon that will be analyzed. From the analysis results are expected to give an objective picture of the patterns of word formation, function and meaning of the slang transvestites in the city of Psychology. The method used in this research is descriptive qualitative method. Descriptive method means that the study was based on facts or phenomena that live on the speakers. Data taken from the informants, in this case that there are transvestites in the city of Terri .. The use of slang language is based on the convention transgendered community in the City of Trenggalek, so that people outside the group is difficult to understand its meaning. Pattern formation transvestite slang language is (a) replacing the word with a word, another word that sounds similar, and the name of the person, (b) the words that got additions, prefixes, and word insertion and deletion, (c) new words that can not be classified .. jargon language functions as (1) information, (2) request, (3) solicitation, (4) questions, (5) irritation, (6) praise, (7) advice, (8) invective. The meaning of language is the meaning of jargon jargon language transvestites based on the context of a conversation directly with the analysis of the occurrence of a conversation, the topic pembicaraa, the atmosphere and the other person.


Extracted from text ... MICHAEL A. MORRISON. John Barrymore, Shakespearean Actor. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1997. 397 pp.
Reviewed by BRIAN PEARCE
This book is a work of merit, giving the reader access to the life and career of one of the great
twentieth century actors of Shakespeare, John Barrymore (1882-1942). Michael A. Morrison is a
New York based theatre historian and critic. His study of Barrymore is detailed and incisive. The
book is lavishly produced with some fascinating photographs of the productions, two appendices
and extensive notes.
In this wealth of information and analysis, however, the reader has to do some searching ..


My dissertation aims to contribute the migration and education literatures, my thesis contains two main topics and three papers. In the first two papers, I study the job search process of rural migrants in urban labor markets when social networks present. Then, I analyse how social networks affect both migration decisions and individuals' labor market outcomes. In the last paper, I examine the determinants of an individual's college education decision, with particular attention to the uncertainty faced by individuals. The first paper examines the job search process of rural migrants, who have the option of returning home. This paper focuses on analysing the effect of social networks on their labor market outcomes. I build a dynamic structural model of job search for migrants. I estimate the model using "Rural Urban Migration in China" dataset. The estimation results show that rural migrants with social networks receive more job offers and that migrants with social networks also have higher wages on average. The second paper analyses the effect of social networks on both migration decisions and individuals' labor market outcomes. I develop and estimate a dynamic model of return and repeated migration, social network investment decisions and labor market transitions. The model distinguishes two channels through which social networks may affect migration decisions: (1) a direct effect on migration costs, and (2) an indirect effect on labor market outcomes through the job arrival rate. I estimate the model using panel data from the Chinese Household Income Project (2007-2009). The estimation results show that social networks increase arrival rates, and decrease migration costs. I also show that policies that directly lower migration costs may be more cost effective at increasing rural-urban migration in China than those focused on unemployment benefits. In the third paper, we use economic theory and estimates of a semiparametrically identified structural model to analyze the role played by uncertainty and its interaction with credit constraints and preferences in explaining education choices. We develop amethodology that distinguishes information unknown to the econometrician but forecastable by the agent and information unknown to both at each stage of the life cycle. Usingmicrodata on earnings, we estimate amodel of college choice, labor supply and consumption, under uncertainty with repayment constraints. We find that 52% and 56% of the variances of college and high school log-wages respectively are predictable by the agent at the time schooling choices are made. When people are allowed to smooth consumption, college increases to nearly 58%.


Pedestrian movement study can be possible done by different approaches like Investigation of walker movement (field data collection), experimental observation, and conduction of controlled tests and also by creating pedestrian models. All these diverse sorts of studies are subject to develop fundamental diagrams. Movement of pedestrian along a line of the corridor under the closed boundary conditions is the simplest method to know how the different condition influences the fundamental diagram. We have to study diverse angle and distinctive effects which impact person on foot movement, to give better pedestrian facilities and also help in design spaces for human circulation.So, here in this thesis it is aimed to study the impact of gender mix condition on pedestrian at different densities at fundamental level.In this contribution it is studied through fundamental diagram, whether the impact of gender and gender mix condition influence the pedestrian behaviour or not. To conduct the experiment, the simplest system, which is known as the movement of pedestrians along a line under closed boundary conditions (single file movement) is chosen with five different gender mix condition. It is found that the Mean free flow speed is 1.27ms−1 for male pedestrian and it is1.24ms−1for female pedestrians. While walking females are more conscious about their private space than the males. This may be because of contrasts in their self-organizing behaviour. Without any statistical proof one can't tell whether there are contrasts or not. By statistical hypothesis test it is discovered quantitatively that these distinctions exist, recommending the gender and gender mix impact in fundamental diagram


For maintaining of Zagros forests role in wild life, water and soil conservation, the suitable solutions and methods for assessing the existing conditions and planning for management of this forests should be given. To detection of suitable sampling method to study tree Diameter at Breath Height in the northern Zagros forest, Blake forest, in Baneeh region, Kurdistan province, and west of Iran was selected. 40 square sample plots one hectare (100×100 m) were selected and perfect inventoried. In every sample plot the position of tree, kind of species and Diameter at Breath Height (DBH) were recorded. In order to study of tree density (tree/ha) different sampling methods (rectangular sample with 20×50 m and 10×50, random sampling method with 40, 50 and 60 circle sample plots which everyone was 1000 m2) compered the prefect inventory. To determination of suitable sampling for study of tree Diameter at Breath Height (DBH) used the %E2 ×T indexes. To compere the Diameter at Breath Height (DBH) in the every sampling methods and perfect inventory used the t-test analysis. Data analyzing was done by SPSS16 software's. Results showed that the rectangular sample with 20×50 m sample methods was the best methods and have maximum of accuracy. Overall results showed that the rectangular sample with 20×50 m sampling methods was (have minimum of time and %E2×T criteria) the suitable methods to study of density (tree/ha). Authors suggested to study of tree density (tree/ha) in the northern zagros forest used the rectangular sample with 20×50 m sampling methods.


A mechanistic study of the oxidation of toluene and its derivatives in a model system designed to mimic cytochrome P450 (P450) using iron tetrakis(2,6-dichlorophenyl)porphyrin chloride (FeTPPCl8Cl) and pentafluoroiodosylbenzene (PFIB:C6F5IO) in dichloromethane is reported. The oxidation products were the corresponding benzyl alcohols and aldehydes; no further oxidation products were observed. The relative reaction rates were obtained in competitive reactions including the use of deuterated analogues. In the present model system, Hammett plots and isotope effects indicated conclusively that the rate-determining step was a hydrogen atom abstraction to the oxoiron intermediate which was then followed by a rebound of an OH group. The concerted mechanism and the rebound mechanism were discussed in terms of the differences in reactivities between the model system and natural P450 enzymes and similar monooxygenation enzymes.


The purpose of this article is to discuss the possible integration of Asian administrative space in terms of regional convergence. Asia is a very diverse region so that it is difficult to mobilize many Asian countries for possible integration, but it is worthy to pursue the possible development of the Asian Union or similar regional arrangement for peace and common prosperity. In terms of regional integration, the case of the European Union could provide a useful reference for the possible establishment of the Asian Union in the future. Accordingly, the case of the Europeanization will be first reviewed, followed by a discussion of the regional integration of Asia, the development of public administration associations in Asia, and the convergence of administrative space and systems in Asia. A proposal is made for the possible establishment of a common school of administration in East Asia.


As playing digital games has become part of their everyday life for many young people, digital game based learning can be a useful way of teaching today's children and teenagers. However, in order to make sure that playing is not only a way of passing time for pupils it is necessary to know some more about digital games and how they can be used in classroom learning. This article first of all discusses some factors to be taken into account before a teacher can take a digital game into the classroom. Then initial results of a research project carried out with students teachers are presented, showing that most of them need to be sensitised to the potential of digital games in order to be able to use them in class and make sure transfer of skills, facts, and attitudes children and teenager acquired in these virtual environments takes place in a way that students are also able to use them outside the game.


Studying similarities and differences between speech and song provides an opportunity to examine music9s role in human culture. Forty participants divided into groups of musicians and nonmusicians spoke and sang lyrics to two familiar songs. The spectral structures of speech and song were analyzed using a statistical analysis of frequency ratios. Results showed that speech and song have similar spectral structures, with song having more energy present at frequency ratios corresponding to those ratios associated with the 12-tone scale. This difference may be attributed to greater fundamental frequency variability in speech, and was not affected by musical experience.Higher levels of musical experience were associated with decreased energy at frequency ratios not corresponding to the 12-tone scale in both speech and song. Thus, musicians may invoke multisensory (auditory/vocal-motor) mechanisms to fine-tune their vocal production to more closely align their speaking and singing voices according to their vast music listening experience.


While a great deal of public attention addresses the Halliburton loophole of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and Bureau of Land Management efforts to regulate hydraulic fracturing on public lands, less attention has been paid to the National Park Service "9B Regulations," which provide a national regulatory framework governing the exercise of nonfederal oil and gas rights in national parks. This article begins with a review of law pertaining to oil and gas drilling in national parks. The article examines the tension in striking a balance between environmental protection, conservation of national lands and achieving energy independence, including National Park Service proposals to revise the 9B regulations. The article concludes that because it is impractical to purchase the mineral rights in NPS units, it is critical to revise the 9B rules to: (1) create protocols that bring exempt operations within the 9B regulations; (2) raise the bond and financial assurance requirements; (3) create access and user fees that reflect fair use; (4) allow administrative fines to be assessed for minor violations; (5) ensure all drilling meets modern safety standards including measures to preclude park damage after well closure; (6) require a baseline environmental assessment as a permit condition; and (7) require operators to map and record in land records the exact location of all pipes and other equipment installed in the land.


Mahlon Locke was a Canadian physician who attracted international attention in the 1930s with an unusual therapy. Through a process of foot manipulation, popularly known as 'toe-twisting', Locke seemed able to relieve many intractable cases of arthritis as well as a variety of related afflictions. Sufferers flocked to his clinic in Williamsburg, Ontario and, at the height of his fame, he was tending literally hundreds of people each day. Despite this spectacular public reaction, however, Locke is an obscure figure in Canadian history. People who lived through the Great Depression may remember the crowds lining the streets of Williamsburg or the media coverage of the clinic, but later generations are largely unacquainted with this unusual practitioner. One purpose of this paper, then, is simply to recapture and recount his story for the record. At the same time, Locke represents more than just a curious episode in Canadian history; he inspired strong and divergent opinions and the study of these reactions can help us to understand the social and medical climate of this period. In this discussion, I have focused on the attitudes of Locke's orthodox medical colleagues with particular attention paid to the disparate reactions of physicians in Canada and the United States. Thus, the other aim of this paper is to suggest that, desire shared definitions of health and healing, Canadian and American doctors responded differently to Locke as a result of fundamental differences in the tradition and character of each medical community.


Modern hearing aids use Dynamic Range Compression (DRC) as the primary solution to combat Hearing Loss (HL). Unfortunately, common DRC based solutions to hearing loss are not directly based on a proper mathematical or algorithmic description of the hearing loss problem. In this paper, we propose a probabilistic model for describing hearing loss, and we use Bayesian inference for deriving optimal HL compensation algorithms. We will show that, for a simple specific generative HL model, the inferred HL compensation algorithm corresponds to the classic DRC solution. An advantage to our approach is that it is readily extensible to more complex hearing loss models, which by automated Bayesian inference would yield complex yet optimal hearing loss compensation algorithms.


The aim of this thesis is to describe the distribution of coral reef and shore gastropods in
the Philippines, using the species rich taxa, Nerita, Clypeomorus, Muricidae,
Littorinidae, Conus and Oliva. These taxa represent the major gastropod groups in the
intertidal and shallow water ecosystems of the Philippines. This distribution is described
with reference to the McManus (1985) basin isolation hypothesis of species diversity in
Southeast Asia. I examine species-area relationships, range sizes and shapes, major
ecological factors that may affect these relationships and ranges, and a phylogeny of one
taxon.
Range shape and orientation is largely determined by geography. Large ranges are
typical of mid-intertidal herbivorous species. Triangular shaped or narrow ranges are
typical of carnivorous taxa. Narrow, overlapping distributions are more common in the
central Philippines.
The frequency of range sizes in the Philippines has the right skew typical of tropical
high diversity systems. This shows that there are many species with small range sizes,
and suggests a tendency for these ranges to overlap.
The species area curves are consistent with predictions of basin isolation on species
richness. The central Philippine basins (Visayas and, Sibuyan) have a z estimate (a
parameter of the Species Area relationship or SPAR) close to unity (0.59-1.30). This
contributes to biogeographical provinciality (a measure of faunal uniqueness) in these
basins. The basin that is most provincial is the Sibuyan Sea basin. However this
provinciality may also be due to a small-area effect or the decoupling of species
richness with area as a result of habitat heterogeneity within the basin. Endemicity of
taxa is observed mainly in the central, as opposed to the peripheral, oceanic basins.
A regression approach was applied to test the effects of larval duration and habitat
availability on range size and species richness of Conus. The results suggest that habitat
is a more significant factor in determining species ranges and species richness than
larval duration. This supports the suggestion from basin isolation for an important effect of habitat heterogeneity on range size and species richness. . Extinction rate estimates
are negative for the Philippines and other areas in the Indo-West pacific (IWP). This
suggests that species in the Philippine basins, and the IWP in general, have been
accumulating in these areas over the past 18,000 years.
In Conus, the mode of speciation was inferred from a published molecular phylogeny,
coupled with data on modern ranges. This study also tried to infer Conus speciation
within the IWP. The relationship of modern ranges and phylogenetic information is not
informative, and does not provide inferences on the mode or location of speciation. The
ranges and phylogenetic patterns of Conus suggest that changes in range extents have
been large during the evolution of the genus. This may be due to the long larval
duration, that allows for wide dispersal, being largely conserved during Conus
evolution.
In the sand-dwelling coral reef genus Oliva, the ranges and species area curves were
similar to those of Conus.. The central Philippines basin of the Sibuyan Sea has the
highest degree of provinciality. The area of the OGU (geographical regions) affects
species richness of Oliva significantly This observation is consistent with results of a
PCA ordination of the frequency of occurrence of Oliva. The presence of sandy
habitats affect Oliva species richness significantly. The morphological diversity of two
widely distributed species of Oliva was studied. Monotopic species (species that are
found only in a single substrate type) tend to show morphologies that are found only in
certain oceanic basins.
Modern ranges suggest basin isolation as an historical process that has maintained and
possibly caused the high taxonomic diversity of intertidal and shallow water gastropods
in the IWP. There is evidence that high species diversity in IWP is likely related to the
existence of numerous habitats. The geological histories of the Philippine oceanic
basins may provide important information in future biogeographic studies of patterns of
species richness. The evidence is considered with respect to current molecular
phylogenetic studies of gastropods. The study highlights the paradox of low endemism
in a highly diverse region. Suggestions are made for future research that could provide
insight into the nature of endemism and species persistence of marine organisms in the
IWP.


Many microbes live in biofilms, which are spatially structured populations [1] [2]. During adaptation to a new environment, beneficial mutations occur, and some of them spread through the population. Others go extinct due to noise in the life cycle and reproduction process. This noise is called genetic drift. Growing biofilms are an example of populations undergoing a range expansion. The level of noise in growing biofilms differs strongly between species [3] [4]. However, the effect of these different noise levels on the establishment of beneficial mutations has not yet been quantified. Here we show, that the observed differences in noise level indeed lead to large differences in the establishment rates of beneficial mutations. We found establishment rates of S. cerevisiae and spherical E.coli strains to be 1–2 orders of magnitude larger than establishment rates of rod-like strains of E. coli. Furthermore we observed that the noise level can be tuned via growth temperature, and that the establishment rates measured at different temperatures are consistent with the respective noise levels. Our results suggest that the efficiency of natural selection in biofilms strongly depends on the species and growth conditions. The method presented in this study can be used to test the dependence of establishment rates on other parameters and for many microbial species easily.


It has been generally observed that the credit period has become a major concern for most of retailers, as it not only has direct influence on inventory and finance, but also on the demand of an item. Unfortunately, for deteriorating items, the impact of the credit period on demand has not received much attention in the literature, whereas in reality, the length of the credit period offered by the supplier/retailer has a positive impact on the demand rate. Furthermore, it is generally observed that at the initial stage the credit period may not be effective in realising the demand but as the credit period increases it has a significant impact on demand and gradually reaches its saturation level. In order to incorporate this phenomenon in a supply chain of a single supplier single retailer and multiple consumers, a credit-linked demand function has been considered to determine the optimal replenishment time as well as the credit period for a retailer. Using the theorem, the optimal replenishment policy for deteriorating items has been derived for the retailer. Finally, results have been validated with numerical examples followed by a sensitivity analysis.


Bacteria face a variety of problems in trying to survive and grow in acidic environments. These include maintaining intracellular pH (PHi) in order to protect internal cell components, modifying or abandoning those external structures inevitably exposed to acidity, and resisting stresses whose interaction with pH may be the actual determinant of survival or growth rather than H+ toxicity per se. An important aspect of acid resistance in Gram-negative bacteria (including the root nodule bacteria) is the adaptive acid tolerance response (ATR), whereby cells grown at moderately acid pH are much more resistant to being killed under strongly acidic conditions than are cells grown at neutral pH. Survival during pH shock is also markedly affected by the calcium concentration in the medium. The pH at which commercial legume inoculants are grown and supplied for inoculation into acid soils may therefore be of considerable importance for initial inoculant survival. The mechanisms of resistance to acidity in root nodule bacteria have been investigated via 3 approaches: (i) creation of acid-sensitive mutants from acid-tolerant strains, and identification of the genes involved; (ii) random insertion of reporter genes to create mutants with pH-dependent reporter expression; and (iii) proteomics and identification of proteins regulated in response to acidity. The results of the first approach, directed at genes essential for growth at acid pH, have identified a sensor-regulator gene pair (actS-actR), a copper-transporting ATPase (actP), and another gene involved in lipid metabolism (actA), inactivation of which results in sensitivity to heavy metals. While the ActS-ActR system is undoubtedly required for both acid tolerance and the ATR, it is also involved in global regulation of a wide range of cellular processes. The second approach has allowed identification of a range of acid-responsive genes, which are not themselves critical to growth at low pH. One of these (phrR) is itself a regulator gene induced by a range of stresses including acid pH, but not controlled by the ActS-ActR system. Another, lpiA, responds specifically to acidity (not to other stresses) and may well be an antiporter related to nhaB, which is involved in Na+ transport in other bacteria. The third approach indicates a number of proteins whose concentration changes with a switch from neutral to acidic growth pH; most of these seem to have no homologues in the protein databases, while the blocked N-terminal sequences of others have prevented identification. It has been common experience that strains of root nodule bacteria selected for acid tolerance in the laboratory are not necessarily successful as inoculants in acid soils. In the light of the complex interactive effects on growth and survival of H+, Ca2+ and CU2+ concentrations in our studies, this lack of correlation is no longer surprising. It remains to be seen whether it will be possible to improve the correlation between growth on laboratory media and performance in acid soils by determining which strains show an ATR, and by screening on media with defined ranges of concentration of some of these critical metal ions, perhaps approximating those to be expected in the soils in question.


Background . One of the more discernible needs that challenges universities is addressing the level of preparedness of students entering the higher education environment. Students expect to participate in active learning, while at the same time adopting a certain level of agency to successfully pass through higher education. Objective . To determine the relationship between student preparedness, learning experiences and agency of students in the Faculty of Community and Health Sciences (FCHS), University of the Western Cape (UWC), Cape Town, South Africa. Methods . A cross-sectional study was conducted on 266 (N=578) convenience sampled 3rd-year students in the FCHS. Data were collected with an instrument constructed from items of evaluation from the departments in the FCHS and other validated instruments. Results . Findings suggest that 3rd-year students perceive themselves as moderately prepared on enrolling at UWC (mean (SD) 13.74 (1.86)); current learning experiences are favourably indicated (94.04 (15.32)). On average, students perceive themselves to be agents of their own learning (51.56 (8.79)). Furthermore, a significantly positive relationship was found between learning experiences and agency. Conclusion . This study broadens our understanding of the Vygotskian perspective of the zone of proximal development, where students bring their own knowledge, interact with lecturers who scaffold their learning, and then become agents in their own learning.


The main objective of AcademyRS project is to create an online IT Help Desk for users of The Academy LMS (Learning Management System) that will make it simpler to report issues they are encountering with the system while also providing detailed information to the support team regarding the issue which can be used to identify a resolution. AcademyRS will keep records of issue details and IT staff members responsible for solving each issue. These records will then be used to create automated key performance indicator (KPI) charts. The objectives of KPI's are to:
- Improve efficiency within the IT support team.
- Allow staff to be recognised for their contributions to the organisation.
- Provide the organisation leaders with information so they can make educated decisions.

This program aims to create an environment that is user friendly and allows them to communicate their issues effectively with our support team thus leading to a speedy resolution and resulting in greater customer satisfaction.


Novel multiferroic materials have attracted increasing attention in recent years. Aurivillius bismuth‐layer structured Bi4Ti3O12·nBiFeO3 (BTFO: n = 1–3, 5) compounds with potential multiferroic properties are such a compound. However, the data on these BTFOs are ambigious, inconsistent, and incomplete. Therefore BTFOs were grown into single crystals for a systematic evaluation. Their crystal structures and microstructures show that intergrowth of layer structure occurs easily in this class of material. Their ferroelectric measurements show strong anisotropy and dielectric peaks at high temperature, accompanied by an abnormal loss that corresponds to their polar phase transition. At room temperature, ferroelectric hysteresis loops were successfully measured; the loops show a strong dependence in their polarization and coercive field on different values of n and anisotropy. Magnetic measurement shows that all the single crystals display magnetic transitions at high temperatures and weak ferromagnetism at room temperature. Electron spin resonance (ESR) results show the coexistence of ferromagnetic and paramagnetic signal components in all the compounds. Scanning probe microscope measurements show magnetic domains switched together with electric domains by use of an electric field. Therefore we conclude that overall spin disorder with localized order is the character of this class of material, with observed magnetoelectric (ME) coupling. This work could also point the way to novel multiferroic materials in locally magnetic ordered systems.


We have realized an implantable and wearable system for the continuous monitoring of human metabolites, such as glucose, lactate, ATP, etc.. The implantable portion of the device consists of a cylinder of 2.2 mm in diameter and 15 mm in length to be inserted in the interstitial tissue. The implanted device houses five electrochemical biosensors for the simultaneous monitoring of metabolites, as well as temperature and pH sensors for calibration, and it transmits data to a wearable skin patch in close proximity. Electrochemical biosensors consist of electrochemical cells, biological recognition elements and the electronics for carrying out measurements. The biological element is typically an enzyme that is selective for a specific compound and is capable of promoting a chemical reaction with the generation of electrons in the electrochemical cell. Electrochemical biosensors offer numerous advantages to be applied on implantable devices, among which relatively simple electronics and compatibility with micro-fabricated electrodes. The biosensors are placed on a silicon interposer which is connected to a data acquisition and transmission microchip. All is encapsulated in a flexible outer casing in polydimethylsiloxane with an opening that hosts a membrane that allows the metabolites to get in touch with the biosensors. Experiments in mice have shown low levels of toxicity of this implant with the current encapsulation. A CMOS integrated circuit, with an approximate size of 3×1.5 mm, is used for the on-board generation of the voltage ramps required by the electrochemical measurements. Due to the limited size of the implantable device, batteries cannot be hosted in the tiny implant. Therefore, inductive coils are placed under the interposer for power harvesting, as well as for data transmission. The device works in connection with a patch located on the skin in the body area where the implant is placed. The patch produces an electromagnetic field that supports power transmission to the implant, as well as bidirectional data transmission to the implant and data re-transmission via a Bluetooth connection to portable devices, such as a smartphone, a tablet, or an external control station. Dedicated interfaces for both smartphone and remote laptop were designed to communicate with the implantable device and plot the received data. The doctor, for example, can remotely choose the metabolite to monitor and follow the behavior in real-time. Otherwise, data can be stored in the memory of the phone or of the laptop and analyzed by the expert subsequently.


This chapter from Sarat, Anderson and Frank's, Law and the Humanities, An Introduction (Cambridge U.P., 2010), opens with a "post 9/11" clinical teaching "war story," concluding "so much for acronym, euphemism, context, signifiers, and what they signify, writing, positive law and its bureaucratic and institutional simulacra, institutional and disciplinary discourses, surprise, its absence, familiarity, shock, and outrage; and cultural stories, tropes, schemas, or plausible narratives, like the performance of both truthfulness and trauma, or what we might call their discursive construction; and the sites where law and language are evident kin. What of law and language? What does telling stories about law, including the genre of "war stories," suggest about this aspect of the interdisciplinary field constituted by law and humanities work? After all, '"[c]ollecting stories,'" Ewick and Silbey write, in one of a group of recent thoughtful critical studies of law and language that complicate the distinction between linguistic humanities and linguistic human science method, "and 'having conversations' is not the usual way of describing social science research." More to the point, all of these aspects of the writing about law might equally be found in other sociocultural institutions and their discourses."Beyond registering that the body of work on law and language that proceeds from the premise that language is but a medium of transmission for the substance of law has been left methodologically behind by contemporary law and language scholarship, this much might also be said: This survey of the state of contemporary humanistic Law and Language scholarship suggests four main conclusions. The first is that much of value in this body of work involves applying linguistic humanities andor critical linguistic human sciences methodology to the work of legal institutions, discourses, and texts, and could equally be replicated in "and language" interdisciplinary work in other professions, practices of subject formation, disciplines.Next, some of it - and the scholarship of Peter Goodrich stands out in particular here - is about the unique or distinctive relationships between law and language. That said, this chapter's third conclusion about law and language scholarship and the praxes that might be informed by it is that much is yet to be done in the subdiscipline of scholarship concerning itself with the unique or distinctive insights that might emerge from interdisciplinary inquiries into "law" grounded in the work of influential theorists of language and discourse. A cursory sampling of such scholars working in the post- and neostructuralist language studies traditions might range from Derrida and Foucault and Irigaray to Halliday, Kress, and Threadgold to Badiou and Lacan and Kristeva. There are likewise possibilities for interdisciplinary work in law and language that might be potentiated by the development of Peircean semiotics and the linguistic philosophy of Searle and, to a lesser extent, Austin.This in turn suggests survey's fourth conclusion: That to the extent that there is an aspect of law and language scholarship that is presently significantly underdeveloped, it is the interrelationships among theories of language, of subject formation, and of law. Lines of inquiry exploring this question might be generated by work drawing on sources that include Husserl's phenomenological theorization of meaning and language and its account of the communicating subject, and Bourdieu's work on both discourse and subject formation.The balance of this chapter is divided into six main sections that in turn map distinctive subtypes of Law and Language scholarship: "Humanism and its Supplements;" "InstrumentalPhenomenal;" "PhilosophyTheory;" "Pedagogy and Subject Formation;" "Practice;" and "Culture." I have endeavored to select both representative and significant scholars to exemplify general arguments, with inevitable omissions.


The most basic economic theory suggests that rising incomes in developing countries will deter emigration from those countries, an idea that captivates policymakers in international aid and trade diplomacy. A lengthy research literature and recent data suggest something quite different: that over the course of a "mobility transition", emigration generally rises with economic development until countries reach upper-middle income—at least until countries reach upper-middle income level, like Algeria or El Salvador. Only thereafter, as countries become even richer, do emigration rates typically fall. This note quantifies the shape of the mobility transition in every decade since 1960. It then briefly surveys 45 years of research, which has yielded six classes of theory to explain the mobility transition and numerous tests of its existence and characteristics in both macro- and micro-level data. This evidence suggests that donors to low income countries have little hope of using assistance to deter migration, unless the determinants of migration undergo rapid change in the future. Policy research might be better directed toward understanding how to shape rising migration flows for mutual gain. The note concludes by suggesting five questions that require further study.


The hereby article aims to describe how innovation and reengineering helps the restructuration of an organization. As I showed already in this paperwork the notion of innovation indicates the adaptation of the structure of an organization to the new. The accommodation to the new led in time and had a major impact in the progress and evolution of society. The innovation consists in the discovery of methods and strategies that could lead the organizations towards the alignment with the needs of modern society. The root of innovation are the discoveries these two notions being interrelated. The Dex defines the inventions as being "a solution or technical realization from an area of knowledge who represents something new and progress regarding the stages known before" and to innovate translates as "to face a challenge, to bring something new in an area of expertise or in a system".\r\n\r\n Reengineering on the other hand stands for a management strategy business related who started somewhere in the '90s. Reengineering is used for the reinvention or the innovation of the orientation of an enterprise or the mechanics of the business process towards more productive ways. Both methods (innovation and reengineering) try to optimize the management of the enterprises leading to changes in the process of development of an organization.


Aggressive driving is an important topic for many reasons, one of which is higher energy used per unit distance traveled, potentially accompanied by an elevated production of greenhouse gases and other pollutants. Examining a large data set of self-reported fuel economy (FE) values revealed that the dispersion of FE values is quite large and is larger for hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) than for conventional gasoline vehicles. This occurred despite the fact that the city and highway FE ratings for HEVs are generally much closer in value than for conventional gasoline vehicles. A study was undertaken to better understand this and better quantify the effects of aggressive driving, including reviewing past aggressive driving studies, developing and exercising a new vehicle energy model, and conducting a related experimental investigation. The vehicle energy model focused on the limitations of regenerative braking in combination with varying levels of driving-style aggressiveness to show that this could account for greater FE variation in an HEV compared to a similar conventional vehicle. A closely matched pair of gasoline-fueled sedans, one an HEV and the other having a conventional powertrain, was chosen for both modeling and chassis dynamometer experimental comparisons. Results indicate that the regenerative braking limitations could be a main contributor to the greater HEV FE variation under the range of drive cycles considered. The complete body of results gives insight into the range of fuel use penalties that results from aggressive driving and why the variation can be larger on a percent basis for an HEV compared to a similar conventional vehicle, while the absolute fuel use penalty for aggressive driving is generally larger for conventional vehicles than HEVs. CITATION: Thomas, J., Huff, S., West, B., and Chambon, P., "Fuel Consumption Sensitivity of Conventional and Hybrid Electric Light-Duty Gasoline Vehicles to Driving Style," SAE Int. J. Fuels Lubr. 10(3):2017, doi:10.4271/2017-01-9379. Published 08/11/2017 Copyright © 2017 SAE International doi:10.4271/2017-01-9379 Downloaded from SAE International by John Thomas, Friday, August 11, 2017


Predictive analytics systems are currently one of the most important areas of research and development within the Artificial Intelligence domain and particularly in Machine Learning. One of the "holy grails" of predictive analytics is the research and development of the "perfect" recommendation system. In our paper we propose an advanced pipeline model for the multi-task objective of determining product complementarity, similarity and sales prediction using deep neural models applied to big-data sequential transaction systems. Our highly parallelized hybrid pipeline consists of both unsupervised and supervised models, used for the objectives of generating semantic product embeddings and predicting sales, respectively. Our experimentation andbenchmarking havebeen done using very large pharma-industry retailer Big Data stream.


Due to the significant increase in the size of the internet and the number of users on this platform there has been a tremendous increase in load on various websites and web-based applications. This load is from the user end which causes unforeseen conditions which leads to unacceptable consequences such as crash or a data loss scenario at the webserver end. Therefore, there is a need to reduce the load on the server as well as the chances of network attacks that increase with the increased user base. The undue consequences such as data loss and server crash are caused due to two main reasons: the first one being an overload of users and the second due to an increased number of automatic programs or robots. A technique can be utilized to overcome this scenario by introducing a delay in the operation speed on the user end through the use of a CAPTCHA mechanism. Most of the classical approaches use a single method for the generation of the CAPTCHA, to overcome this proposed model uses the versatile image CAPTCHA generation mechanism. We have introduced a system that utilizes manualbased, face detection-based, colour based and random object insertion technique to generate 4 different random types of CAPTCHA. The proposed methodology implements a region of interest and convolutional neural networks to achieve the generation of the CAPTCHA effectively.


GDP per worker fell for the five years after 2008 which is unprecedented in post war UK history. In this paper we argue that "capital shallowing" (i.e. the fall in the capital-labour ratio) could be the main reason for this. This is likely to have occurred due to changes in factor prices: a large fall in real wages and increases in the cost of capital. In previous recessions real wages did not fall, but reforms to union strength and welfare have made wages more sensitive to negative demand shocks. This wage flexibility is desirable as it reduces the risks of long-term unemployment building up. After accounting for changes in capital TFP is more similar to earlier recessions and likely to be related to under-utilised resources and misallocation. The fall in labour productivity is therefore likely to reverse if demand improves – e.g. through stronger monetary or fiscal policy stimulus.


The year 2011 began with momentous changes across the Middle East as people took to the streets and demanded an end to their regimes. The year will end with a significant reduction of US military forces in the Muslim world. And at the very time that the Arab world is experiencing a surge of hope, the US role in the region is diminishing. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] My own experience of working with the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan has been extremely positive. However, it has made me increasingly aware of the limitations of US power, the over-militarization of US foreign policy, and the reasons for the country's negative reputation in the region. It is still too early to compare the outcomes of the transitions of countries where the changes were brought about by the people with those countries where transitions were forced by external intervention. While dignity and hope are replacing decades of humiliation and despair, those participating in the revolutions sweeping the Muslim world are likely to soon face the reality that it is easier to pull down a regime than it is to build a new one. These transitions may turn out to be long and messy, but can ultimately help create a region which is more democratic and whose people have greater freedoms. Such an outcome is in our long-term strategic interest. But whether people in the region become closer to us will depend to a large degree on whether we can change our existing paradigm towards them. The time is ripe for us to reassess our foreign policy towards the Middle East, to rethink our national interests, and to realign our practices more closely with our values. Use and Abuse: United States' Middle East Policy For years, the United States has continued to support and arm Middle Eastern autocrats so long as they remained pro-West, provided access to oil, and were positively accommodating of our policies towards Israel. These regimes were tolerated and reinforced, as they were regarded as a required buffer against the more extremist and rejectionist elements within the Muslim world. For decades, communities and families in the Middle East have viewed the United States as supporting Israel, despite its denial of human rights to the Palestinians. The United States has sustained autocratic regimes, despite their abuse of their people. The country has invested in the military capacities and capabilities of Middle Eastern regimes in order to target opponents. Many Middle Easterners further believe that the United States has denied the right of Islamist parties to participate in the political process in these countries, has shown an attitude against Islam, and has collaborated directly in torturing terror suspects. A broad range of different opposition groups have frequently opposed the regimes, focusing on their corrupt ways and dependence on outside powers. Al Qaeda views the "near enemy" as the corrupt Middle Eastern regimes; the rationale behind Al Qaeda targeting the "far enemy," the United States, is US support for maintaining these regimes. Al Qaeda reasoned that if it could cut off US support, the regimes would crumble. Across the region, people have regularly expressed their anger towards US policy in the Middle East, while at the same time declaring their respect for US values, culture, and achievements. They want jobs, education, and connections with the world. Repression, censorship, and secret police have kept them isolated. While some Americans may claim that the removal of Saddam Hussein led to the revolutions taking place today in the region, the Arab World remembers the Bush era mainly for the invasion of Iraq and later sectarian war which led to the deaths of over 100,000 Iraqis and the strengthening of Iran's position in Iraq and the region. Lessons from Interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan US interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan have come at tremendous cost in terms of blood and treasure. …


Companies are faced with increasing expectations on the part of
stakeholders to engage in social responsibility and are consequently
expected to communicate their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
efforts to a varied, influential, and alert audience. Despite this, CSR
communication remains an emerging field, with research focusing on
corporate social disclosure mainly through websites and corporate reports,
while little is known about CSR advertisements. This thesis addresses this
gap in the research and explains how companies publicise their CSR
actions through print advertisements in order to disclose the CSR image
they want to signal to their public(s).


As this summer draws to a close, children, parents, and teachers across the country have begun the annual ritual of returning to school. Stores are advertising sales on school supplies, and schools have reopened so that teachers can begin decorating classrooms and readying their lesson plans. Bright yellow school buses are once again a mainstay of the morning commute. Many children across the country are beginning a new school year, as their parents wave goodbye and send them off to new learning experiences.


The pagodas of Burma, the temples of Angkor, the great Buddhist monuments of Borobudur - these achievements of powerful courts and rulers were part of a broad artistic tradition including textiles, applied arts, vernacular architecture and village crafts. Covering Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Burma and the Philippines, Dr Fiona Kerlogue examines the roots and development of the arts of this distinctive region from prehistory to the present day. Broadly chronological, the book traces the different religions that have shaped the region's historic cultures - Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and Christianity - finishing with an exploration of the arts of the post-colonial period. With nearly 200 illustrations, over 100 in colour, a glossary of names and places and cues to further reading, the book is a comprehensive introduction to the arts and crafts of Southeast Asia. It is ideally suited to students, travellers and expatriates and will appeal to anyone with an interest in the region.


During an earthquake, significant damage can result due to instability of the soil in the area affected by internal seismic waves. A liquefaction-induced lateral ground displacement has been a very damaging type of ground failure during past strong earthquakes. In this study, neuro-fuzzy group method of data handling (NF-GMDH) is utilized for assessment of lateral displacement in both ground slope and free face conditions. The NF-GMDH approach is improved using gravitational search algorithm (GSA). Estimation of the lateral ground displacements requires characterization of the field conditions, principally seismological, topographical and geotechnical parameters. The comprehensive database was used for development of the model obtained from different earthquakes. Contributions of the variables influencing the lateral ground displacement are evaluated through a sensitivity analysis. Performance of the NF-GMDH-GSA models are compared with those obtained from gene-expression programming (GEP) approach, and empirical equations in terms of error indicators parameters and the advantages of the proposed models over the conventional method are discussed. The results showed that the models presented in this research may serve as reliable tools to predict lateral ground displacement. It is clear that a precise correlation is easier to be used in the routine geotechnical projects compared with the field measurement techniques.


Within organisations, employees create, accumulate and share knowledge, often within teams. To increase team effectiveness, today's organisations seek to promote knowledge sharing among their employees. Previous studies of knowledge sharing within organisations have ignored a critical factor: human resource management (HRM). To address this oversight, 52 sets of completed questionnaires from 203 research and development (R&D) employees formed the basis of our empirical analysis, exploring the relationship between HRM and the willingness of team members to share knowledge. We classified team members according to their work values and focused on exploring whether the HRM of teams with different work values would impact knowledge sharing differently. We discuss our findings in terms of their implications for management practices and future research.


We analyze the risks, returns and optimal adoption strategies for a representative Minnesota farm switching from conventional to organic cropping systems. The EPIC simulation model was calibrated based on the yields observed in a farming systems field study. A farm-level simulation model was constructed using the EPIC simulated crop yields and historical prices. Results were compared for an expected utility maximizing farm under a range of risk aversion levels, with and without management learning curves and biological transition effects. A dynamic programming model was then constructed to evaluate the joint effects of machinery replacement decisions, learning curves, and biological transition effects on optimal adoption strategies. Results show that producers will find it optimal to transition to organic systems as rapidly as possible, even with significant learning curves and machinery adjustment costs.


Begging calls provide a way for parents to gauge offspring state. Although temperature is known to affect call production, previous studies have not examined the influence of ambient temperature at the nest. We recorded ambient temperature and begging calls of 3 day-old tree swallows ( Tachycineta bicolor ). Our results indicate that typical daily temperature flux can dramatically alter a brood's begging calls, depending on body size. Broods with small (low body mass) nestlings decreased the rate and length of their calls at colder temperatures, consistent with a biophysical constraint. In contrast, broods with large (high body mass) nestlings increased the rate of their calls at colder temperatures. Parents responded in a context-dependent manner, returning more rapidly after smaller nestlings gave longer begging calls. Our results suggest that the function of offspring begging calls is highly dynamic, with environmental conditions altering the relationship between begging calls and offspring state.


Background: Obesity and its related metabolic syndrome are closely associated with major risk factors for chronic diseases, including dyslipidemia and insulin resistance. We investigated whether a combination of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), capsaicin (Cap), and indigestible dextrin (Dx) could protect mice against obesity and its related metabolic disorders. Methods: We fed male C57BL/6J and genetically obese ob/ob mice various diets for 10 weeks. The normal group was standard chow (SC; 5.3% fat content)-fed C57BL/6J mice. The control group was SC-fed ob/ob mice. The experimental groups were SC-fed ob/ob mice whose diets were supplemented with either 4% (w/w) EPA (EPA group), a combination of 4% (w/w) EPA and 0.01% (w/w) Cap (EPA+Cap group), or 4% (w/w) EPA, 0.01% (w/w) Cap, and Dx (EPA+Cap+Dx group). Results: We discovered that the weight of body and fat tissue, levels of serum glucose, insulin, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase, and the homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) index were significantly higher in the control group than in the normal group ( P < 0.05 for all parameters). However, the weight of body and fat tissue, the serum glucose, total cholesterol, alanine aminotransferase levels, and the HOMA-IR index were lower in the EPA+Cap+Dx group than in the EPA and EPA+Cap groups. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the co-administration of EPA, Cap, and Dx may suppress the progression of obesity-related metabolic dysregulation and subsequent complications. Keywords : eicosapentaenoic acid/capsaicin/dextrin/mice/obesity


Abstract Four distinct associations of graphite have been identified in the low-pressure, high-temperature belt of the Sierra de Aracena (SW Spain). Syngenetic occurrences include: (1) stratiform graphite mineralization within a calc-silicate series; (2) disseminated graphite within a terrigenous sequence; and (3) 'restitic' graphite within anatectic tonalites and their enclaves. Epigenetic graphite occurs as (4) veins cross-cutting mafic granulites. Graphite in all types of occurrences is highly crystalline, with the c parameter close to 6.70 Å. Such c values correspond to temperatures of formation of ~800°C. The thermal properties of graphite are also typical of well-ordered graphite and provide DTA exothermic maxima ranging from 810 to 858°C depending on the mode of occurrence. The differences among the temperatures of formation estimated by graphite geothermometry, the position of the exothermic maximum in the DTA curves, and petrologic geothermometers are discussed in terms of the applicability of graphite geothermometry to granulite-facies rocks. Carbon isotope analysis yields δ13C values in the range from -31.6 to -21.4‰ for syngenetic graphite of types I, II and III attributable to biogenically-derived carbon. The heavier signatures for graphite in vein occurrences (δ13C= -17.7 to -18.3‰) with respect to syngenetic graphites suggest that isotopically heavy carbonic species were incorporated into the metamorphic fluids (probably as a consequence of decarbonation reactions of the calc-silicate rocks) from which graphite precipitated into the veins. These fluids were strongly channelled through structural pathways.


NATURE hath made men so equal in the faculties of body and mind as that, though there be found one man sometimes manifestly stronger in body or of quicker mind than another, yet when all is reckoned together the difference between man and man is not so considerable as that one man can thereupon claim to himself any benefit to which another may not pretend as well as he. For as to the strength of body, the weakest has strength enough to kill the strongest, either by secret machination or by confederacy with others that are in the same danger with himself. And as to the faculties of the mind, setting aside the arts grounded upon words, and especially that skill of proceeding upon general and infallible rules, called science, which very few have and but in few things, as being not a native faculty born with us, nor attained, as prudence, while we look after somewhat else, I find yet a greater equality amongst men than that of strength. For prudence is but experience, which equal time equally bestows on all men in those things they equally apply themselves unto. That which may perhaps make such equality incredible is but a vain conceit of one's own wisdom, which almost all men think they have in a greater degree than the vulgar; that is, than all men but themselves, and a few others, whom by fame, or for concurring with themselves, they approve. For such is the nature of men that howsoever they may acknowledge many others to be more witty, or more eloquent or more learned, yet they will hardly believe there be many so wise as themselves; for they see their own wit at hand, and other men's at a distance. But this proveth rather that men are in that point equal, than unequal. For there is not ordinarily a greater sign of the equal distribution of anything than that every man is contented with his share. From this equality of ability ariseth equality of hope in the attaining of our ends. And therefore if any two men desire the same thing, which nevertheless they cannot both enjoy, they become enemies; and in the way to their end (which is principally their own conservation, and sometimes their delectation only) endeavour to destroy or subdue one another. And from hence it comes to pass that where an invader hath no more to fear than another man's single power, if one plant, sow, build, or possess a convenient seat, others may probably be expected to come prepared with forces united to dispossess and deprive him, not only of the fruit of his labour, but also of his life or liberty. And the invader again is in the like danger of another. And from this diffidence of one another, there is no way for any man to secure himself so reasonable as anticipation; that is, by force, or wiles, to master the persons of all men he can so long till he see no other power great enough to endanger him: and this is no more than his own conservation requireth, and is generally allowed. Also, because there be some that, taking pleasure in contemplating their own power in the acts of conquest, which they pursue farther than their security requires, if others, that otherwise would be glad to be at ease within modest bounds, should not by invasion increase their power, they would not be able, long time, by standing only


In situ hybridisation has been used to detect mRNAs to the macrophage secretory products, lysozyme, interleukin 1 beta and tumour necrosis factor-alpha. Sections of paraformaldehyde fixed, frozen colonoscopic biopsies from patients with ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease or normal controls were hybridised with specific radiolabelled probes and the signal detected by autoradiography. Lysozyme mRNA expression was more common in ulcerative colitis (22/27) and Crohn's disease (eight of eight) compared with controls (17/27). Positive cells were found mainly in the subepithelial region in normal colon, while in inflammatory bowel disease they also appeared in the deeper lamina propria. Immunocytochemistry in parallel sections showed that lysozyme mRNA was expressed only in macrophages or in metaplastic Paneth cells in longstanding inflammatory bowel disease. Tissue neutrophils did not express the lysozyme mRNA, though they have large stores of the protein. Tumour necrosis factor mRNA was detected in four of nine controls compared with 11/15 inflammatory bowel disease patients. For interleukin 1 beta, three of eight controls were positive compared with 10/13 with ulcerative colitis. The tumour necrosis factor signal was located mainly in the deeper lamina propria whereas the interleukin 1 beta was seen in subepithelial macrophages. These results confirm increased macrophage activation in inflammatory bowel disease and suggest functional heterogeneity within the intestinal macrophage population.


Yield comparisons do not provide the appropriate basis for decision-making regarding cropping systems. The dominant factor influencing the adoption of cropping systems is economics. The objective of this 15-yr study was to evaluate the long-term effect of four N fertilization treatments on the economic returns of seven crop rotations in Wisconsin, based on annual market prices and production costs. The seven crop rotations were continuous corn (Zea mays L.) (CC), continuous alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) (AA), corn-soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] (CS), corn-alfalfa (CA), corn-corn-corn-alfalfa-alfalfa (CCCAA), corn-corn-oat (Avena sativa L.) with alfalfa seeding-alfalfa-alfalfa (CCOaAA), and corn-soybean-corn-oat with alfalfa seeding-alfalfa (CSCOaA). The four N treatments were 0, 56, 112, and 224 kg N ha -1 for the corn phase. Across all crop rotations, the average return was greatest for the 112 and 224 kg N ha -1 treatments, which returned on average $32 and $85 ha -1 more than the 56 and 0 kg N ha -1 treatments, respectively. Across all N rates, average returns were highest for the CS rotation. The CS rotation returned $58 ha -1 more than the CSCOaA and CCOaAA rotations, $129 ha -1 more than the CCCAA rotation and AA, $224 ha more than the CA rotation, and $269 ha -1 more than CC. Under second degree stochastic dominance, the stochastically efficient treatments were CS at all N rates and CC at 224 kg N ha -1 . All other cropping systems were inefficient relative to these five treatments (i.e., they would not be chosen by a risk-averse decision maker). This research shows that the most profitable systems (CS) remain the most efficient when risk is taken into consideration. However, these results also show that when 224 kg N ha -1 is added, risk can be reduced for continuous corn. Individual circumstances will dictate the optimal choice among the efficient rotations.


Abstract The control of nonholonomic canonical form using an invariant manifold is investigated to apply to a mobile robot steered by two independent driving wheels. A quasi-continuous exponential stabilizing controller is designed by using another input pattern. Additionally, the control gain designing method is proposed for this controller. Modified error system of nonholonomic double integrator model is used as nonholonomic canonical form. Generally, the gain cannot be calculated due to the non-linear transform of system. Owing to complicated relation of several parameters, the controller behavior is inconstant by gain pattern. We propose a method of designing gain which uses desired settling time. An approximate equation to obtain designed gains is derived based on the evaluation function. The design method to determine gains of the assumed actual system is simulated. The effectiveness of the proposed method is confirmed by these simulations.


We study non-convex subgradient flows for training two-layer ReLU neural networks from a convex geometry and duality perspective. We characterize the implicit bias of unregularized non-convex gradient flow as convex regularization of an equivalent convex model. We then show that the limit points of non-convex subgradient flows can be identified via primal-dual correspondence in this convex optimization problem. Moreover, we derive a sufficient condition on the dual variables which ensures that the stationary points of the non-convex objective are the KKT points of the convex objective, thus proving convergence of non-convex gradient flows to the global optimum. For a class of regular training data distributions such as orthogonal separable data, we show that this sufficient condition holds. Therefore, non-convex gradient flows in fact converge to optimal solutions of a convex optimization problem. We present numerical results verifying the predictions of our theory for non-convex subgradient descent.


Whilst ketamine use in clubbing contexts has recently been the focus of British media attention, little quantitative or qualitative data is available on its use amongst those young people participating in Britain's contemporary post-rave electronic dance music (EDM) 'scenes' as clubbers. Drawing on data from in-depth semi-structured interviews conducted with 12 current regular ketamine users, this article explores user accounts of their motivations for taking ketamine within EDM clubbing contexts, the consequences (both positive and negative) of use and the broader meanings of use. Each issue is considered in relation to two key emergent themes: 'intensity' and 'sociability' in the drug experience. Participants attempted to optimise the possibility of pleasurable intoxication. This primarily involved participants controlling the quantity, quality and frequency of dose, along with various aspects of the setting of their use, in the hope of producing their individual favoured level of intensity and level of sociability during the ketamine experience. Relatedly, participants drew on discourses of uncontrolled hedonism, compulsion, 'inappropriate to occasion' and 'inappropriate for purpose' usage to make sense of negative consequences and to firmly position themselves as 'sensible' 'recreational' users in light of conflicting, largely negative meanings of ketamine produced by other (non-ketamine using) clubbers, the media and 'official' responses to use. The article concludes by considering how pleasure is understood and acquired by participants through a pleasure nexus of intersecting axes of intensity and sociability, with users attempting to manage their own intoxication in accordance with individual preferences and previous experiences.


Data driven approaches to modeling time-series are important in a variety of applications from market prediction in economics to the simulation of robotic systems. However, traditional supervised machine learning techniques designed for i.i.d. data often perform poorly on these sequential problems. This thesis proposes that time series and sequential prediction, whether for forecasting, filtering, or reinforcement learning, can be effectively achieved by directly training recurrent prediction procedures rather then building generative probabilistic models. To this end, we introduce a new training algorithm for learned time-series models, Data as Demonstrator (DaD), that theoretically and empirically improves multi-step prediction performance on model classes such as recurrent neural networks, kernel regressors, and random forests. Additionally, experimental results indicate that DaD can accelerate model-based reinforcement learning. We next show that latent-state time-series models, where a sufficient state parametrization may be unknown, can be learned effectively in a supervised way using predictive representations derived from observations alone. Our approach, Predictive State Inference Machines (PSIMs), directly optimizes – through a DaD-style training procedure – the inference performance without local optima by identifying the recurrent hidden state as a predictive belief over statistics of future observations. Finally, we experimentally demonstrate that augmenting recurrent neural network architectures with Predictive-State Decoders (Psds), derived using the same objective optimized by PSIMs, improves both the performance and convergence for recurrent networks on probabilistic filtering, imitation learning, and reinforcement learning tasks. Fundamental to our learning framework is that the prediction of observable quantities is a lingua franca for building AI systems.


It is now well accepted that the brain is able to generate newborn neurons from a population of resident multipotential neural stem cells (NSCs) located in two discrete regions of the brain. The capacity for neurogenesis appears to diminish over the lifespan of an organism. Methods to potentiate the proliferation of new neuronal or glial cells within the central nervous system from resident NSCs could have therapeutic potential following an insult, such as stroke, or to replace lost cells as a result of a neurodegenerative disease. We implanted cells from a human NSC cell line, CTX0E03, originally derived from fetal cortical tissue directly into the ventricles of aged rats. CTX0E03 cells have angiogenic properties via secretion of growth factors, so we investigated if the implanted cells would stimulate proliferation of NSCs within the subgranular zone (SGZ) of the dentate gyrus. Bromodeoxyuridine staining demonstrated significantly increased proliferation in the SGZ. Absence of double labeling for human nuclear antigen suggested that the increased proliferation was from endogenous neural progenitor cells. The acute treatment also led to an increased number of immature neurons as demonstrated by immunohistochemical staining for the immature neuronal marker doublecortin. The data suggest that implants of exogenous NSCs may promote regeneration in aging organisms through stimulation of endogenous neurogenesis.


Financial Institutions (FIs), the key constituent for the development of a country, can improve their service level along with enhanced social responsibility through the practice of 'green financing'. Initiatives have been taken to practice green financing throughout the economy covering banks and other non-bank financial institutions in Bangladesh. This qualitative study aims to bring out the challenges % opportunities for green banking in Bangladesh based on an examination of published information such as research papers, sustainability reports from different banks and environmental organisations, published documents of the Bangladesh bank and consultation with bankers. In addition to the portrayal of current green banking practices in Bangladesh, this paper establishes the major challenges such as the incorporation of environmental parameters, effective policy formulation, the creation of homogenous environments and other aspects. The findings of this study show opportunities to improve green banking practice such as the improvement of online financing/banking, separate green financing/banking unit, incorporation of environmental risk with the core risks and other views of policy formulation.


We describe the development of quantitative structure activity relationship (QSAR) models based on activity data from the ChEMBL database, to predict the interaction of compounds with protein targets associated with adverse outcome pathways and toxicities. However, systemic exposure to a compound will also result in the formation of metabolites, which themselves may be the cause of a toxic response. Therefore, we have developed an integrated system linking models that predict the enzymes responsible for metabolism of a parent compound and the resulting metabolites with QSAR models of target interactions. The combination of these models can predict potential toxicities resulting directly or indirectly from exposure to the parent compound. The initial implementation is focused on metabolism by Cytochrome P450 enzymes, but forms a framework that may be extended to other metabolic pathways and additional QSAR models of toxicity


Robust and reliable diagnostic tools that can be employed under operating conditions are crucial to understanding performance and failure mechanisms in battery processes. The operando spectrum of a battery often consists of a strongly overlapping mixture of time dependent and independent resonances due to the compositional complexity. Here we report a new method called derivative operando (dOp) that improves the resolution of operando nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra by removing time independent signals and further distinguishes between time dependent signals associated with the formation and removal of species. This approach not only provides better resolution but also more clearly reveals correlations between resonances and the chemical transformations occurring at a specific potential. With the dOp-NMR method we detect the formation of lithium graphite intercalation compounds (GICs), including the signatures of LiC72 and its precursors, which have been previously undetected. We also observe a clear correlation of the dOp 7Li NMR spectra of lithium metal dendrites on the counter electrode with the chemistry of the working electrode.


The major search engines are competing to index as much of the Web as possible. Having indexed much of the surface Web, search engines are now using a variety of approaches to index the deep Web. At the same time, institutional repositories and digital libraries are adopting the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) to expose their holdings, some of which are indexed by search engines and some of which are not. To determine how much of the current OAI-PMH corpus search engines index, we harvested nearly 10M records from 776 OAI-PMH repositories. From these records we extracted 3.3M unique resource identifiers and then conducted searches on samples from this collection. Of this OAI-PMH corpus, Yahoo indexed 65%, followed by Google (44%) and MSN (7%). Twenty-one percent of the resources were not indexed by any of the three search engines.


A circular harmonic filter illuminated with white light illumination is used to achieve scale, rotation, and shift invariant image recognition. The circular harmonic expansion of an object is utilized to achieve rotation and shift invariant image recognition. Scale invariance is added using a broadband dispersion-compensation technique. When illuminated with broadband light, the frequency-plane filter simply selects the wavelength from the spectrum that produces the same size transform as that recorded in the filter. Laboratory experiments that demonstrate the operation of the technique are presented.


Social well-being, referring to a subjectively perceived long-term state of happiness, life satisfaction, health, and other prosperity afforded by social interactions, is increasingly being employed to rate the success of human social systems. Although short-term changes in well-being can be difficult to measure directly, two important determinants can be assessed: perceived enjoyment and affection from relationships. The current article chronicles our work over several years toward achieving enjoyable and affectionate interactions with robots, with the aim of contributing to the perception of social well-being in interacting persons. Emphasis has been placed on both describing in detail the theoretical basis underlying our work, and relating the story of each of several designs from idea to evaluation in a visual fashion. For the latter, we trace the course of designing four different robotic artifacts intended to further our understanding of how to provide enjoyment, elicit affection, and realize one specific scenario for affectionate play. As a result, by describing (a) how perceived enjoyment and affection contribute to social well-being, and (b) how a small humanoid robot can proactively engage in enjoyable and affectionate play—recognizing people's behavior and leveraging this knowledge—the current article informs the design of companion robots intended to facilitate a perception of social well-being in interacting persons during affectionate play.


This article examines the contemporary efforts to manage coastal resources through the integrated approach in one region of the Philippines, the Lingayen Gulf. The Gulf is one of the Philippines' richest and most valuable marine resources but has been suffering stress for several decades. There have been several programs to reverse the decline. Some of these initiatives coincided with political decentralization whereby many coastal management functions were devolved to subnational governments. In recent years these programs has been organized on an integrative model. But has the necessary integration for effective coastal management occurred between the leading organizations and stakeholders? Has decentralization actually facilitated the process of ICM by bringing decisionmaking closer to the people and enabling managers to secure better coordination as predicted in decentralization theory? The research findings were that decentralization was not a panacea for coastal management and that subnational governments faced difficulties in performing their new roles. Although the necessary integration was not achieved, the groundwork for integrative approaches was undertaken.


The detection of marine oil spill candidate from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images is largely hampered by SAR speckle noise and the complex marine environment. In this paper, we develop a thresholding-guided stochastic fullyconnected conditional random field (TGSFCRF) model for inferring the binary label from SAR imagery. First, an intensity thresholding approach is used to estimate the initial labels of oil spill candidates and the background. Second, a Gaussian mixture model (GMM) is trained using all the pixels based on the initial labels. Last, based on the GMM model, a graph-cut optimization approach is used for inferring the final labels. By using a threholding-guided approach, TGSFCRF can exploit the statistical characteristics of the two classes for better label inference. Moreover, by using a stochastic clique approach, TGSFCRF efficiently addresses the global-scale spatial correlation effect, and thereby can better resist the influence of SAR speckle noise and background heterogeneity. Experimental results on RADARSAT-1 ScanSAR imagery demonstrate that TGSFCRF can accurately delineate oil spill candidates without committing too much false alarms.


Irony as key to the interpretation of Psalm 14. The Gattung of a psalm is generally still regarded as the key to its interpretation. Since Psalm 14 shows relatedness to a number of different genres, inter alia to wisdom literature and prophecy, there is little or no consensus on how it should be interpreted. It is argued in this paper that the textual strategy of a poem such as Psalm 14 should be regarded as the key to its interpretation rather than a genre classification. Through a poetic analysis of Psalm 14 it is shown that irony plays such a key role in the psalm. Cognizance of this feature of the psalm focusses attention on its coherence and unity and opens up a new avenue of understanding.


Deep dysphasia is a language impairment that is defined by impaired repetition. In this study we report a bilingual Turkish-English patient BRB who shows many of the features of deep dysphasia in both languages. BRB was given lexical and non-lexical processing tasks including oral reading, repetition and writing to dictation manipulating several variables (AoA, regularity, imageability, grammatical class) in Turkish (L1) and English (L2). BRB was also asked to translate orally and in writing both high and low frequency and high and low imageability words from L1 to L2 and from L2 to L1. Significant main effects of language and task as well as interactions between language and task were observed e.g., BRB's repetition, reading and writing was better in L1 than L2 object naming was better in L2 than L1 but only with high imageability words. We argue that impaired language processing in deep dysphasia arises from the under-activation of phonological representations. We propose that current models of deep dysphasia require modification to explain bilingual deep dysphasia and also interpret BRB's performance using a model of bilingual lexical processing.


Background:Fasting has been shown to have an impact body systems in different manners. The influence of fasting on immune system regulation remains controversial. Immunomodulatory effect of nicotine was suggested recently. Low prevalence of smoking was observed among patients with COVID-19.Aim: To study fasting as an immune modulator in relation to the severity and mortality of COVID-19 patients, and to determine the effect of smoking on such patients. Methods:This is a comparative study included all PCR-confirmed COVID-19 patients during April, May and June 2020 in Basrah. The severity of and mortality due to COVID-19 infection were studied in fasting patients in Ramadan as compared with the non-fasting months before and one month later. Current smoking in relation to the severity of infection was also studied. Results :Significantly less severe cases and lower mortality were detected in patients with COVID-19 who were fasting as compared with non-fasting patients before and after the fasting month. Current smoking is significantly less frequently detected among severe as compared with mild to moderate cases. Conclusion Fasting could be useful to improve immune response against infection and to reduce severity and mortality in patients with infections. Smoking benefit in preventing and ameliorating of respiratory tract infection needs to be further investigated. .


We discuss the history of the exit poll as well as its future in an era characterized by increasingly effective and inexpensive alternatives for obtaining information. With respect to the exit poll's future, we identify and assess four purposes it might serve. We conclude that the exit poll's most important function in the future should, and probably will, be to provide information about the administration of the franchise and about the voter's experience in casting a ballot. The nature of this purpose suggests that it may make sense for academic institutions to replace media outlets as the primary implementers of exit polls.


It is important to note that the need to support ad-hoc and potentially mobile arrangements of devices in ubiquitous environments does not fit well within the traditional client/server architecture. We believe peer-to-peer communication offers a preferable alternative due to its decentralised nature, removing dependence on individual nodes. However, this choice adds to the complexity of the developers task. In this paper, we describe a two-tiered approach to address this problem: A lower tier employing peer-to-peer interactions for managing the network infrastructure and an upper tier providing a mobile agent based programming framework. The result is a general purpose framework for developing ubiquitous applications and services, where the underlying complexity is hidden from the developer. This paper discusses our on-going work; presenting our design decisions, features supported by our framework, and some of the challenges still to be addressed in a complex programming environment.


Deep learning requires data. A useful approach to obtain data is to be creative and mine data from various sources, that were created for different purposes. Unfortunately, this approach often leads to noisy labels. In this paper, we propose a meta algorithm for tackling the noisy labels problem. The key idea is to decouple "when to update" from "how to update". We demonstrate the effectiveness of our algorithm by mining data for gender classification by combining the Labeled Faces in the Wild (LFW) face recognition dataset with a textual genderizing service, which leads to a noisy dataset. While our approach is very simple to implement, it leads to state-of-the-art results. We analyze some convergence properties of the proposed algorithm.


Abstract Many adult Lepidoptera are dependent on carbohydrate‐rich solutions such as nectar and honeydew. These food sources can contain a range of carbohydrates as well as low levels of other compounds, including free amino acids, proteins and lipids. Little is known about the nutritional value of individual nectar sugars and amino acids for adult Lepidoptera. Ten sugars occurring in nectar and honeydew were tested with respect to their effects on a number of Pieris brassicae life‐table parameters. In similar experiments it was investigated whether the butterfly derives nutritional benefits from mixtures of common non‐essential or essential amino acids when provided either in water or in a sucrose solution. Food sources were found to have a significant effect on butterfly fertility, longevity, lifetime fecundity and daily oviposition rate. Whereas a number of sugars significantly increase longevity, melibiose and melezitose reduce P. brassicae longevity. Butterfly fecundity is compromized significantly by sucrose and melibiose. Glucose is the only sugar that has a positive effect on both longevity and fecundity as well as a number of oviposition parameters. Amino acids seem to have no or only a minor effect on the life‐table parameters tested. However, when provided in sucrose, they appear to compensate for the negative effect of pure sucrose on fecundity. A comparison with an earlier study on the gustatory response of P. brassicae shows that there is only a weak correlation between the nutritional value of sugars and amino acid mixtures and their perceptibility.


Today we live apart. Our past is a tragic war which resulted into the separation of two nations. Time passes, but the pain remains and wounds are still aching. Questions have not been answered. The future is still unclear. The future will not change if we do not reflect on the tragedy that happened; if we do not seek ways to come together. For us, for one part of the Georgian society, it is clear that the problems cannot be solved without admitting our mistakes. This appeal comes directly from our hearts. Sorry for not preventing the war. Sorry for not having avoided the disaster. Sorry for every word that inspired the war; for every bullet that was shot. We are fully aware that there are always reasons for war to break out; both opposing sides had provokers and encouragers who supplied them with weapons to kill each other. Some are more to blame than others but everybody is guilty of the war. The war already meant defeat. Let us not classify people as "ours" and "theirs"; "enemies" or "allies". We are not enemies. We have nothing to fight about. We wish to apologize to the Abkhaz people because we failed to maintain the peace and started communicating using "the language of weapons". We want to hold out our hands to each other. We believe that our cruel past should not divide us; just the opposite, it should bring our peoples together. We should forgive each other for the war in order to avoid a second one. Trust us, Abkhaz people, the Abkhaz language and culture are precious to us. Our past, when we were together, is important to us. We know that the friendship between Abkhaz and Georgian peoples is opposed by many and unfortunately, those opponents are present on both sides. But we can find the way to each other's hearts. Sorry for not appealing to you before and for not saying these words publicly. Sorry for not preventing tragedy from happening. Sorry, we did not or could not do more. We pray for you; We pray for the Abkhaz and Georgian peoples; We pray for peace; We pray for reconciliation. SORRY


In a large number of rheumatic diseases the disease process is driven by the immune system. In the past few decades, there have been great advances in our understanding of the immunopathology and pathogenesis of the rheumatic diseases. At the same time, there have been similar advances in the development of drugs, particularly in the field of biopharmaceutical drugs that can target specific components of the immune response central to these diseases. Biological drugs can be monoclonal antibodies or proteins produced by living cells that bind with receptors on various cells to block formation or action of various cytokines or cell mediators, or in other ways change cell function.