Discrete choice experiments (DCEs) are increasingly used for ex-ante evaluations of environmental policies but their validity and reliability are largely untested in low-income settings. My thesis examines whether DCEs provide valid and reliable estimates of welfare impacts in these contexts and comprises a systematic review and three field tests of DCE in a new REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) project and national park in eastern Madagascar. I first conducted a systematic review of empirical evidence on the reliability and validity of DCEs when valuing non-market environmental goods from the past 13 years. I found limited and mixed evidence and mostly recommend the use of more qualitative, interdisciplinary and deliberative approaches. The review informed the design of my empirical DCE survey, which elicited local people's preferences for the right to clear forests for swidden agriculture, cash payments, and support for improved rice farming. I used this survey and rigorous qualitative debriefings to investigate three aspects of reliability and validity of DCEs. I first surveyed households who have varying experience of restrictions on swidden agriculture to explore the validity of DCE in estimating the costs of conservation restrictions ex-ante. I found that experience of forest protection matters; households who have been exposed to forest protection for a comparatively longer period had significantly higher welfare costs for restricting forest clearance than those who are less experienced. I conclude that although DCE can elicit current preferences in my study context, DCE is not a valid ex-ante tool for estimating compensations for such a long-term and complex intervention. I then used a within-subject design to evaluate whether giving respondents more time to deliberate influences DCE responses. I found that deliberation significantly affected individual-level preference parameters and marginal willingness-to-accept (WTA) estimates, but the effect depended on their literacy. Illiterate respondents' WTA significantly increased post-deliberation while literate respondents' decreased. Although respondents' decisions to revise their choices mostly stemmed from more reflection, I also found evidence of strategic behaviour among more literate respondents. Greater time to deliberate may improve welfare estimates with illiterate respondents, but may have risks when used with others. Finally, I compared responses to the WTA and willingness-to-pay (WTP) DCE formats. While it is well recognised that the choice of format can influence welfare estimates, I showed that it also influenced which attributes are significant. The WTA format is more appropriate in my study context based on three criteria; its content validity, its acceptability to respondents, and respondents' ability to pay. I also found that local people were generally averse to state protection and strongly demand secure forest tenure. My thesis makes an important methodological contribution to the advancement of DCE techniques. It also has major implications for how forest conservation policy may be devised in low-income countries, including devolution of secure forestland tenure to local people and genuinely negotiating conservation with forest users.


Several studies have demonstrated that miRNA are involved in cardiac development, stem cell maintenance, and differentiation. In particular, it has been shown that miRNA133, miRNA1, and miRNA499 are involved in progenitor cell differentiation into cardiomyocytes. However, it is unknown whether different miRNA may act synergistically to improve cardiac differentiation. We used mouse P19 cells as a cardiogenic differentiation model. miRNA499, miRNA1, or miRNA133 were transiently over‐expressed in P19 cells individually or in different combinations. The over‐expression of miRNA499 alone increased the number of beating cells and the association of miRNA499 with miRNA133 exerted a synergistic effect, further increasing the number of beating cells. Real‐time polymerase chain reaction showed that the combination of miRNA499 + 133 enhanced the expression of cardiac genes compared with controls. Western blot and immunocytochemistry for connexin43 and cardiac troponin T confirmed these findings. Importantly, caffeine responsiveness, a clear functional parameter of cardiac differentiation, was increased by miRNA499 in association with miRNA133 and was directly correlated with the activation of the cardiac troponin I isoform promoter. Cyclic contractions were reversibly abolished by extracellular calcium depletion, nifedipine, ryanodine, and IP3R blockade. Finally, we demonstrated that the use of miRNA499 + 133 induced cardiac differentiation even in the absence of dimethyl sulfoxide. Our results show that the areas spontaneously contracting possess electrophysiological and pharmacological characteristics compatible with true cardiac excitation‐contraction coupling. The translational relevance of our findings was reinforced by the demonstration that the over‐expression of miRNA499 and miRNA133 was also able to induce the differentiation of human mesenchymal stromal cells toward the cardiac lineage. Stem Cells 2015;33:1187–1199


Peripheral artery disease (PAD) reduces oxygen supply to skeletal muscle that causes an exaggerated blood pressure response to exercise. Revascularization procedures have been important for treating impaired limb perfusion caused by PAD. However, to what extent these procedures improve tissue perfusion during exercise or normalize the exercise pressor reflex in PAD remains unknown. The purpose of the study was to examine whether revascularization reduces the exercise pressor reflex and improves skeletal muscle oxygen saturation (SmO2) measured using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Six PAD patients performed incremental supine plantar flexion exercise, starting at 0.5 kg and increased by 0.5 kg every minute for up to 14 minutes, pre- and one-month post peripheral revascularization procedure. SmO2 was measured continuously from the gastrocnemius muscle, while heart rate and blood pressure were measured beat-by-beat. Reductions in SmO2 from baseline to 1.5 kg were attenuated post-revascularization when compared to pre-intervention (-6.5 ± 6.2% vs. -39.8 ± 22.5%, P < .05). The change in mean arterial blood pressure was reduced post-revascularization (4 ± 4 mmHg vs. 16 ± 12 mmHg P < .05). These data suggest that revascularization reverses the rapid decline in SmO2 and attenuates the blood pressure response during exercise in patients with PAD.


Objective — This study evaluated the prevalence of increased cardiac troponin I (cTnI) in patients with acute aortic dissection of the ascending aorta (type A). Methods and results — In 119 consecutive patients with type A acute aortic dissection, serum cardiac troponin I was measured along with clinical, haemodynamic, electrocardiographic and echocardiographic variables obtained on admission. Cardiac troponin I was positive in 28 patients (23.5%; mean ± SD: 6.1 ± 14.7 ng/ml) and above the myocardial infarction threshold (1.5 ng/ml) in 12 (10%). Catecholamine infusion (17.9% vs. 4.4%; p = 0.03) and higher value of creatinine (35.7% vs. 15.4%; p = 0.03) were more frequent in patients with elevated troponin.Total mortality was 29.7% (n = 35) and surgical mortality was 16.8% (n = 17). An increased troponin was discriminatory with respect to mortality (OR: 4.1 (1.6-9.9); p = 0.002) in univariate analysis. However, this association was lost when other markers of death (age, stroke, ST-segment elevation, tamponade, catecholamine infusion, renal failure) were added in a multivariate model (OR: 2.2 (0.7-7.4); p = 0.19) indicating that the myocardial loss associated with troponin increase is not in itself a factor of mortality. Conclusions — Cardiac troponin I elevation is frequent in patients with type A aortic dissection. It might reflect a higher haemodynamic stress but does not necessarily reflect a negative prognosis.


We investigated the pH-dependent response of flat polyacid brushes of varying length and dispersity in the extended brush regime. Our model system consisted of poly(acrylic acid) brushes, which change from hydrophobic and neutral at low pH to hydrophilic and negatively charged at high pH, synthesized on silicon substrates using a grafting-from approach at constant grafting density. We observed three trends in the pH-response: first, the dry brush thickness increased as the pH was increased for brushes above a critical length, and this effect was magnified as the dispersity increased; second, the water contact angle measured at low pH was larger for brushes of greater dispersity; and third, brushes of sufficient dispersity exhibited hysteretic memory behavior in the pH-dependence of the contact angle, in which the contact angle upon increasing and decreasing pH differed. As a consequence, the pKa of the brushes measured upon increasing pH was consistently higher than that measured upon decreasing pH. The observed pH response is consistent with proposed changes in the conformation and charge distribution of the polyelectrolyte brushes that depend on the direction of pH change and the dispersity of the brushes.


Title of Dissertation: A ROBUST MODEL FOR ESTIMATING FREEWAY DYNAMIC ORIGIN-DESTINATION MATRICES Pei-Wei Lin, Doctor of Philosophy, 2006 Dissertation directed by: Professor Gang-Len Chang Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering The purpose of this study is to develop an effective model and algorithm for estimating dynamic Origin-Destination demands for freeways. The primary challenge for this research subject lies in the fact that the number of unknown parameters is always more than the number of observable data, especially for a large network. Hence, the estimated O-D patterns may result in a large variance and insufficient reliability for use in practice. Besides, most existing approaches are grounded on the assumptions that a reliable initial O-D set is available and traffic volume data from detectors are accurate. However, in most highway network systems, both types of critical information are either unavailable or subjected to a significant level of measurement errors. To deal with those critical issues, this study has developed a set of dynamic models and solution algorithms for estimating freeway dynamic O-D matrices. The first extended model formulations can capture the speed discrepancy among drivers with an embedded travel time distribution function and the derivable interrelations between timevarying ramp and mainline flows. These formulations also feature their best use of the available mainline information and travel time function, and hence substantially increase the system observability with fewer parameters. The second component is an iterative algorithm that can be used to provide a reliable estimate of the initial O-D set, which is often unavailable in practice. The proposed algorithm first divides the network into small sub-networks to reduce the number of unknown variables, and recursively compute the O-D proportions for each sub-network to well capture the relations between the O-D demands and the input information. To deal with the constraints that the available data usually contain measurement errors, this research has developed an interval-based model for estimating dynamic freeway O-D demands. This component includes a set of formulations that converts each model input as an interval with its boundaries based on the prior knowledge. This study has performed sensitivity analyses and explored their potential for realworld application with the I-95 freeway corridor in Maryland. The numerical results under various traffic scenarios have indicated the promising properties of the proposed models and algorithms. A ROBUST MODEL FOR ESTIMATING FREEWAY DYNAMIC ORIGIN-DESTINATION MATRICES


Abstract. Dicarboxylic acids are believed to stabilize pre-nucleation clusters and facilitate new particle formation in the atmosphere, but the detailed mechanism leading to the formation of multi-component critical nucleus involving organic acids, sulfuric acid (SA), base species, and water remains unclear. In this study, theoretical caculations are performed to elucidate the interactions between succinic acid (SUA) and clusters consisting of SA-ammonia (AM)/dimethylamine (DMA) in the presence of hydration of up to six water molecules. Formation of the hydrated SUA·SA·base clusters by adding one SUA molecule to the SA·base hydrates is energetically favorable. The addition of SUA to the SA·base hydrates either triggers proton transfer from SA to the base molecule, resulting in formation of new covalent bonds, or strengthens the pre-existing covalent bonds. The presence of SUA promotes hydration of the SA·AM and SA·AM·DMA clusters but dehydration of the SA·DMA clusters. At equilibrium, the uptake of SUA competes with the uptake of the second SA molecule to stabilize the SA·base clusters at atmospherically relevant concentrations. The clusters containing both the base and organic acid are capable of further binding with acid molecules to promote their subsequent growth. Our results indicate that the multi-component nucleation involving organic acids, sulfuric acid, and base species promotes new particle formation in the atmosphere, particularly under polluted conditions.


This comparative study was designed to search for the difference in recreational use and recreational offers between German Nature Parks and Korean Recreational Forests. To review current recreational offers, a complete search of the websites of all German Nature Parks and 50% of Korean Recreation Forests was undertaken. The result is compared per category of offers. Hiking is offered as a recreational forest activity in nearly all Nature Parks in Germany (95%) and Recreation Forests in Korea (98%). Apart from hiking, biking (92%) and horse riding (71%) were offered by most of the German Nature Parks whereas Walking (96%) and Fitness trail (76%) activities were mostly offered in Korea. Swimming (66%), canoeing (62%), fishing (43%) and sailing (38%) were very famous water activities in German Nature Parks. However, there are very few water activities except swimming (74%) in Korean Recreation Forests. Environmental education plays an important role in nature friendly recreation. In terms of quantity and quality, there were better offers in environmental education in Germany than in Korea. Nature educational trails were offered by 68% of German Nature Parks compared to 26% of Recreation Forests in Korea. Various environmental education programs for children were 63% in German and only 40% in Korea. Furthermore, there were more offers in German Nature Park, for example environmental guide (56%), environmental education program (47%) and environmental touring (26%). There were nine tour themes in German Nature Parks with the largest proportion (66%) dedicated to experience with nature and 8% for the disabled people. On the other hand, the Korean Recreation Forest has not so many tour themes as in German Nature Parks. Nevertheless, the activities comprise of nature experience (80%), cultural history (72%) and wellness (32%). The demand of recreation users on Infrastructures is very high, therefore almost all of Korean Recreation Forests have Toilet (94%), Kitchen & Water (80%) and shower rooms (68%). They exhibit passive recreation and the environmental education program is less compared to that of German Nature Park, but the infrastructure plays a very important role in nature recreation of Koreans. It sums that, German Nature Parks have more of almost all kinds of recreational offers than Korean Recreation Forests.


High comfort for the driver in working vehicles is an important feature as well as a demand from the drivers. Low noise level is an essential factor for the manufacturer to maintain a high standard and comfort of vehicles. In many cases the noise inside the cabin can be related to the engine orders. Hydraulic pumps and fans are also related to the engine but not necessarily integers of the engine order. Passive absorbers are not suitable for the lowest frequencies and one approach is to use an active noise control system to solve the noise problem at low frequencies. In the present experiment loudspeakers were mounted inside the cabin of a fork lift-truck to produce the secondary noise field. To sense the residual noise, microphones were installed close to the driver's head. The aim is to create a zone of reduced noise around the head. Since a large portion of the noise inside the cabin can be related to the engine, an active control system based on a feedforward solution is possible. Experimental results from a feedforward solution of active noise control in a fork-lift truck cabin show that the noise level in the low frequency region can be reduced significantly.


Coccidiosis is recognized as the major parasitic disease of poultry and is caused by the apicomplexan protozoan Eimeria. In the past, conventional disease control strategies have depended mainly on anticoccidial drugs and, to a certain extent, live vaccines. Anticoccidial drugs have played a major role in the effective control of avian coccidiosis, but, their extensive use has resulted in the emergence of drug resistant coccidian strains. In such situations, new drugs should be available to replace the older ones against which resistance has developed, however it takes a long time to develop any new compounds. Because of the high cost of developing new drugs and vaccines, development of drug resistance and concerns over drug residues associated with the continuous use of these chemicals, there is a renewed interest in the use of botanicals for safe, effective and cheap control of avian coccidiosis. Several poultry scientists all over the world are now actively engaged in research into the use of plants and plant derived products to fight and reduce the heavy economic losses in poultry industry caused by coccidiosis. This paper reviews the research on botanicals, herbal complexes and commercially available botanical products having anticoccidial properties against avian coccidiosis. Information regarding active compounds, doses and mechanism of action of plants provided in this paper may serve as a guideline for the use of botanical anticoccidial agents as a part of integrated control strategies for the effective control of resistant coccidian parasites.


Throughout history up until the present, many cultures have traditionally experienced the effects of verifiable healings, along with hexes, curses, witchcraft, voodoo and other mysterious phenomena. These effects - many of which were elicited by unscientific means - were brought about by the beliefs and lore of the society. Even today, pharmaceutical companies use double- and triple-blind randomised studies in an attempt to exclude of the power of the mind over the body. In You Are the Placebo, Dr. Joe Dispenza explores the history, the science and the practical applications of the so-called placebo effect. Citing many amazing individual cases studies, this compelling book will empower you to personally use 'the expectation of a particular outcome' to alter your internal states - as well as external reality - solely through the action of your mind. It offers the necessary understandings to change old beliefs and perceptions into new ones. In addition, it teaches a model of personal transformation that correlates with the placebo effect, without the need for any external influences ('placebos' such as sugar pills, saline injections, and so on). You Are the Placebo combines the latest research in neuroscience, biology, psychology, hypnosis, behavioral conditioning and quantum physics to demystify the workings of the placebo effect ...and show how the seemingly impossible can become possible.


The effect of rotation on the lasing properties of circular Bragg micro-lasers is studied. In addition to the wavelength detuning caused by the Sagnac shift, a direct influence of the rotation on the lasing threshold of the clockwise and counterclockwise rotating modes is observed. The employment of the new effect for the realization of micro-rotation-sensors is discussed.


Dissolved gas ratios and isotopic compositions provide essential information about the biological and physical mechanisms influencing N2, O2, and Ar in aquatic systems. Current methods available are either limited by overall cost, labor‐intensive sample collection and analysis, or insufficient precision. Here, we present a new highly accurate and robust method for sample collection and subsequent simultaneous measurement of the dissolved gas ratios (N2/Ar and O2/Ar) and isotopic compositions (δ15N2 and δ18O2) in seawater. The relatively simple sampling procedure using low cost materials enables collection of hundreds to more than a thousand discrete samples on a single research cruise. Samples can be preserved and stored at room temperature and maintain their integrity for many months. Laboratory analysis employs an on‐line extraction system coupled to a multi‐collector isotope ratio mass spectrometer (IRMS). A continuous flow of He carrier gas completely degasses the sample, and passes through the preparation and purification system before entering the IRMS for analysis. The use of this continuous He carrier permits short analysis times (less than 8 min per sample) as compared with current high‐precision methods. In addition to reference gases, calibration is achieved using air‐equilibrated water standards of known temperature and salinity. Assessment of reference gas injections, air equilibrated standards, as well as samples collected in the field shows the accuracy and precision of this new method to be equal to or better than current standard techniques.


Through his distinctive fusion of modernist daring and traditional storytelling, Bernard Malamud became one of postwar America's most important writers, his work an inspiration for and lasting influence on novelists who have come after him, Cynthia Ozick and Philip Roth most notably among them. The second volume of the Library of America's Malamud edition brings together three novels of the 1960s: "A New Life" (1961), a satiric campus novel set in the Pacific Northwest (based on the author's experiences at Oregon State), in which native New Yorker Seymour Levin finds himself confronted not only with a new landscape but with erotic intrigue, university politics, and an appointment that isn't quite what he had expected it to be. "The Fixer" (1966) is the gripping saga of a Jew imprisoned in prerevolutionary Russia after being falsely accused of the ritual murder of a twelve-year-old boy. The novel-instories "Pictures of Fidelman: An Exhibition "(1969) follows the comic misadventures, sexual and otherwise, of a failed American painter in Italy. In the ten unforgettable stories concluding the collection, Malamud shows himself to be an heir to the tradition of Hawthorne, Chekhov, and Kafka, and at his best-- "Idiots First," "The Jewbird," "The German Refugee"-- their equal.


Substorms are known to cause geomagnetically induced currents (GIC) in power transmission lines through variations in the ground magnetic field. An improved knowledge and understanding of how the different phases of substorms affect the ground magnetic field will ultimately help to better understand how GIC arise. Although usually associated with high latitude power transmission networks, GIC potentially pose a risk to mid latitude networks such as the UK's National Grid. Using a list of substorm expansion phase onsets derived from auroral observations by the IMAGE-FUV satellite, this study examines 553 individual onsets. In order to cover mid latitudes, ground magnetometer data from the UK Sub-Auroral Magnetometer Network (SAMNET) are exploited. These high time resolution (5 s) data are used to study the ground magnetic field for an hour after onset, in particular the time derivative of the horizontal magnetic field, H. The data covers the period from 2000 to 2003 (just after solar maximum). Results are compared with a previous study of magnetic field variations at higher latitudes, using data with a much lower (1 min) cadence during substorms identified from geomagnetic indices during a period just after solar minimum.


Interfering with the stress protein FKBP51 can block chronic pain in mice and rats, suggesting its potential as a therapeutic target. A key to chronic pain Our treatment tools are distressingly poor for alleviating long-lasting, debilitating pain, so new ideas are welcome. Maiarù et al. now find that inhibition of spinal cord FKBP51—a stress-related protein involved with glucocorticoid signaling—can curtail the development of chronic pain in animal models. More important for clinical application, siRNA inhibition or a newly developed FKBP51 inhibitor, SAFit2, can interrupt a preexisting chronic pain state. The authors also amass evidence from their mouse models that FKBP51 acts on chronic pain via the glucocorticoid signaling pathway. Variation in the human gene FKBP51 alters pain severity after trauma, lending confidence that drugs like SAFit2 may help patients suffering from chronic pain. Polymorphisms in FKBP51 are associated with stress-related psychiatric disorders and influence the severity of pain symptoms experienced after trauma. We report that FKBP51 (FK506 binding protein 51) is crucial for the full development and maintenance of long-term pain states. Indeed, FKBP51 knockout mice, as well as mice in which silencing of FKBP51 is restricted to the spinal cord, showed reduced hypersensitivity in several persistent pain models in rodents. FKBP51 deletion did not compromise the detection of acute painful stimuli, a critical protective mechanism. Moreover, the intrathecal administration of the specific FKBP51 inhibitor SAFit2 reduced the severity of an established pain state, confirming the crucial role of spinal FKBP51 in nociceptive processing. Finally, glucocorticoid signaling, which is known to modulate persistent pain states in rodents, was impaired in FKBP51 knockout mice. This finding suggested that FKBP51 regulates chronic pain by modulation of glucocorticoid signaling. Thus, FKBP51 is a central mediator of chronic pain, likely in humans as well as rodents, and is a new pharmacologically tractable target for the treatment of long-term pain states.


Three-dimensional topological insulators are a new state of quantum matter with a bulk gap and odd number of relativistic Dirac fermions on the surface. By investigating the surface state of Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} with angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, we demonstrate that the surface state consists of a single nondegenerate Dirac cone. Furthermore, with appropriate hole doping, the Fermi level can be tuned to intersect only the surface states, indicating a full energy gap for the bulk states. Our results establish that Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} is a simple model system for the three-dimensional topological insulator with a single Dirac cone on the surface. The large bulk gap of Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} also points to promising potential for high-temperature spintronics applications.


This thesis argues that a unique design ideology manifested in Soviet Estonia during the
Late Socialist period. It was a combination of broader Soviet design ideologies
concerned with material practices and the control of production, and Western design
influences that were more apparent in Estonia than elsewhere in the Soviet Union and
provided aesthetic guidance in a vacuum of Soviet style. This research allows for the
first time a determination of the characterising qualities of Estonia's Late Socialist
industrial design, as well as provision of a new contextual framework for considering
Soviet design ideas more broadly.
To date, studies of Soviet design have focused on object aesthetics, leaving authors who
are then faced with the absence of a consistent Soviet style to assume an equally absent
Soviet design ideology. However, while it is not necessarily visible in the appearance of
products, a tangible Soviet design ideology existed in bureaucratic apparatuses, material
practices and accompanying textual materials. This thesis uses oral history and archival
research to provide a detailed analysis of the Soviet ideology operating within one
cultural monad of the wider USSR. In doing so it breaks away from the emphasis on
Russia as the totality of 20th century Soviet socialism to make a first important step
toward a more substantial history of Soviet production. Estonia can be understood as a
meeting point between two major world design cultures, and from its example we can
better understand the characteristics, functioning, and impact of different design
ideologies.


Among the various factors that contribute to flood risk, heavy storms, inadequate storm drainage systems, and the concentration of population and assets have usually been considered to be fundamental factors affecting flood damage. Climate change is also a real threat, bringing heavier and more frequent storms. This study presents a methodology for comparatively evaluating the impact of the flood risk factors using a GIS-based flood damage prediction model (FDPM). The FDPM calculates flood inundation depths using the XP-SWMM routine and monetary flood damages using a flood damage estimation model for various storms and catchment conditions. The concept of flood risk in this context is defined as the product of flood damage and the probability of its occurrence. This study produces a flood risk structure in a risk assessment framework. The method is applied to the Kiba drainage area in Tokyo, Japan. The study gives a quantitative evaluation of the changes in flood risk due to risk factors such as increase in asset values, flood control, and climate change using a flood risk impact factor (FRIF). The FRIF is introduced as an index to evaluate the impact of various sources of increased or reduced flood risk to society.


Abstract. Sea level is one of the 50 Essential Climate Variables (ECVs) listed by the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) in climate change monitoring. In the past two decades, sea level has been routinely measured from space using satellite altimetry techniques. In order to address a number of important scientific questions such as "Is sea level rise accelerating?", "Can we close the sea level budget?", "What are the causes of the regional and interannual variability?", "Can we already detect the anthropogenic forcing signature and separate it from the internal/natural climate variability?", and "What are the coastal impacts of sea level rise?", the accuracy of altimetry-based sea level records at global and regional scales needs to be significantly improved. For example, the global mean and regional sea level trend uncertainty should become better than 0.3 and 0.5 mm year−1, respectively (currently 0.6 and 1–2 mm year−1). Similarly, interannual global mean sea level variations (currently uncertain to 2–3 mm) need to be monitored with better accuracy. In this paper, we present various data improvements achieved within the European Space Agency (ESA) Climate Change Initiative (ESA CCI) project on "Sea Level" during its first phase (2010–2013), using multi-mission satellite altimetry data over the 1993–2010 time span. In a first step, using a new processing system with dedicated algorithms and adapted data processing strategies, an improved set of sea level products has been produced. The main improvements include: reduction of orbit errors and wet/dry atmospheric correction errors, reduction of instrumental drifts and bias, intercalibration biases, intercalibration between missions and combination of the different sea level data sets, and an improvement of the reference mean sea surface. We also present preliminary independent validations of the SL_cci products, based on tide gauges comparison and a sea level budget closure approach, as well as comparisons with ocean reanalyses and climate model outputs.


The McTier Creek watershed is located in the Sand Hills ecoregion of South Carolina and is a small catchment within the Edisto River Basin. Two watershed hydrology models were applied to the McTier Creek watershed as part of a larger scientific investigation to expand the understanding of relations among hydrologic, geochemical, and ecological processes that affect fish-tissue mercury concentrations within the Edisto River Basin. The two models are the topographybased hydrological model (TOPMODEL) and the grid-based mercury model (GBMM). TOPMODEL uses the variablesource area concept for simulating streamflow, and GBMM uses a spatially explicit modified curve-number approach for simulating streamflow. The hydrologic output from TOPMODEL can be used explicitly to simulate the transport of mercury in separate applications, whereas the hydrology output from GBMM is used implicitly in the simulation of mercury fate and transport in GBMM. The modeling efforts were a collaboration between the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Exposure Research Laboratory. Calibrations of TOPMODEL and GBMM were done independently while using the same meteorological data and the same period of record of observed data. Two U.S. Geological Survey streamflow-gaging stations were available for comparison of observed daily mean flow with simulated daily mean flow—station 02172300, McTier Creek near Monetta, South Carolina, and station 02172305, McTier Creek near New Holland, South Carolina. The period of record at the Monetta gage covers a broad range of hydrologic conditions, including a drought and a significant wet period. Calibrating the models under these extreme conditions along with the normal flow conditions included in the record enhances the robustness of the two models. Several quantitative assessments of the goodness of fit between model simulations and the observed daily mean flows were done. These included the Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient of model-fit efficiency index, Pearson's correlation coefficient, the root mean square error, the bias, and the mean absolute error. In addition, a number of graphical tools were used to assess how well the models captured the characteristics of the observed data at the Monetta and New Holland streamflowgaging stations. The graphical tools included temporal plots of simulated and observed daily mean flows, flow-duration curves, single-mass curves, and various residual plots. The results indicated that TOPMODEL and GBMM generally produced simulations that reasonably capture the quantity, variability, and timing of the observed streamflow. For the periods modeled, the total volume of simulated daily mean flows as compared to the total volume of the observed daily mean flow from TOPMODEL was within 1 to 5 percent, and the total volume from GBMM was within 1 to 10 percent. A noticeable characteristic of the simulated hydrographs from both models is the complexity of balancing groundwater recession and flow at the streamgage when flows peak and recede rapidly. However, GBMM results indicate that groundwater recession, which affects the receding limb of the hydrograph, was more difficult to estimate with the spatially explicit curve number approach. Although the purpose of this report is not to directly compare both models, given the characteristics of the McTier Creek watershed and the fact that GBMM uses the spatially explicit curve number approach as compared to the variable-source-area concept in TOPMODEL, GBMM was able to capture the flow characteristics reasonably well. Simulation of Streamflow in the McTier Creek Watershed, South Carolina By Toby D. Feaster, Heather E. Golden, Kenneth R. Odom, Mark A. Lowery, Paul A. Conrads, and Paul M. Bradley 2 Simulation of Streamflow in the McTier Creek Watershed, South Carolina


Wigan Education Authority had provided an Instrumental Teaching Service free of charge to all its schools and colleges since the reorganisation of local government in 1974. In the last decade there have been progressive cuts in this service until, in 1994, the funding was almost totally withdrawn. Literally overnight what was once a totally free service became a service that charged for every aspect of its work. This research, sponsored by the LEA, considers the effects of introducing charging on the provision of the Instrumental Teaching in Wigan.
In undertaking this research I have been able to study a great deal of documentary evidence dating from 1981 to the present. This has enabled me to discover how charging has affected the socio-geographic coverage of the service, the variety of instruments being taught, the numbers of pupils learning and the standards that they are achieving. In addition I wanted to look at how charging had affected the attitudes of pupils receiving tuition, their instrumental teachers, managers of the service and Headteachers in schools. This has largely been achieved through the use of semistructured
interviews.
This research also looks at the effects of charging on the teaching within the service. In order to do this I adopted the role of 'non-participant known observe?. I observed the work of nine teachers working in a wide variety of teaching situations and with a wide age range of pupils.
The findings of this research have implications for the Instrumental Teaching Service in terms of:-
• Developing teaching within the service and in particular group teaching skills.
• Exploring how a more equitable Socio-Geographic provision can be achieved.
• Providing suitably challenging enrichment opportunities for pupils learning the most popular instruments.


The aim of this systematic review was to establish whether or not the Mozart Effect can lower the seizure activity in children with a history of epilepsy. An electronic literature search for "Mozart Effect," "children," and "epilepsy" was conducted using CINAHL Complete, Cochrane, and PubMed databases. Inclusion criteria included systematically reviewed literature all written in the English language, peer-reviewed articles, full text, abstract available, and published articles between April 1999 and September 2015. Articles written before 1999 were excluded. This search strategy identified a total of 60 articles in Science Direct and CINHAL Complete, 11 articles in PubMed, and 1 article in Cochrane. Articles not pertinent to the research topic and duplicates were removed. Nine studies were selected for analysis based on these criteria. This paper includes discussion of the limitations and strengths of each article using the Johns Hopkins nursing evidence-based practice rating scale (JHNEBP) to evaluate the level of evidence for each study and study quality. The data supports that the Mozart Effect on children with epilepsy does not cause any adverse effects. Observational studies have shown that listening to Mozart's K.448 reduces seizure episodes in children who are not in complete control of their motor functions. The evidence is inconclusive on the Mozart Effect's ability to reduce seizure incidence although there is strong support that epileptiform discharges are decreased with music listening. Implications Registered Nurses may consider of the Mozart Effect as an adjunct to current epilepsy treatments.


The Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, an internationally recognised landmark due to its geographic position, historical importance and scenic splendor, is a major attraction for both domestic and foreign tourists. Increased human pressure along the reserve's coastline prompted the reserve managers to appoint a multi-disciplinary team of specialists to prepare a development plan and management guidelines for the reserve. Because of the importance of the reserve as a tourist destination, local recreation site and outdoor education venue, the consultant team resolved to involve the public throughout the planning process. Questionnaire and interview surveys were conducted in the reserve amongst various user groups. Tour operators and guides were also consulted to determine patterns and preferences of visitors. Throughout the planning process, meetings were held with representatives of the recreation users, adjacent communities and special interest groups to present the objectives, guiding principles and preliminary planning proposals for comment. Input from the public provided the consultants with invaluable first-hand information. Where appropriate, plans were modified to meet the needs and address the concerns of the various user groups. Where there were opposing views on certain planning proposals, additional meetings were held with directly affected parties to resolve differences. On completion of the study, the reserve managers, controlling authorities and various user and interest groups were very supportive of the planning proposals submitted by the consultant team. Adoption and implementation of plans are more likely to succeed where there is public support.


Lilies are economically important plants because of their large and attractive flowers. Thus, many wild species of lilies have been cultivated to produce Lilium bulbs or flowers. This work was conducted to analyse the effect of hormone applications on Lilium artvinense (Syn: Lilium ponticum K. Koch., Lilium ponticum var. artvinense (Miscz.) P. H. Davis and D. M. Hend., Lilium carniolicum var. artvinense (Miscz.) P. H. Davis and D. M. Hend and Lilium pyrenaicum var. artvinense (Miscz.) V.A. Matthews) seeds on germination percentage and seedlings morphological traits. In the research, 1000, 3000 and 5000 ppm doses of IAA, IBA, NAA and GA3 hormones were applied to L. artvi‐ nense seeds and approximately 180 days later, the number of roots, root length, offset stem height and diameter were assessed. As a result, while the control group except 5000 ppm NNA application achieved an increase in the percentage of germination (40%) of all the applications. Germination frequency up to 100% was obtained using 5000 ppm GA3. Effects of hormone applications on other key morphological characters (rooting percentage, root height, number of scions, scion height and width) are described in terms of growth rate between 1.27 and 2.44.


The liberalization of education has fostered an unprecedented demand especially at the tertiary level. In several deliberations, human capital ultimately emerges as the decisive factor governing the success of any endeavor of scale and substance. In the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) era, as indeed in any other era, the needs of all people cannot be completely fulfilled. Even now the power of ICT has been fully harnessed to apply to a relatively small portion of humanity even though nations, institutions, and individuals are continually thinking of how to use this technology to reach the marginalised. The principal difficulties include the galvanizing of people and aligning different cultures to forge ahead with initiatives that converge on endeavors to satisfy human aspirations, be they physical, emotional, mental, or even spiritual. The development of human capital with the requisite skills, understanding, motivation, vision, focus and commitment without vexing restrictions or constraints are essential attributes for eventual success. The area for human resource training has been foremost in the minds of the planners. Higher funding levels, the expansion of public institutions of higher learning, and the recognition of the role of the private tertiary education sector to enable a more effective and fast-tracked training of the requisite manpower have been most obvious steps. In the drive to achieve manpower training effectiveness, private education sector has been encouraged, resulting in timely approvals to provide university level courses, especialli in capital intensive and or marketable fields like Computer science, Information Technology, Information Systems, Software Engine%ring, Communication, and Business Administration. This paper analyses twelve teptiary inst)tutions (private and public) of EAC with a focus on both human resource and #urriculum development and presents a snapshot of ICT edecation stadus in whIch the identified opportunities, risks and challenges are discucsed. The paper also suggests solutions that could be considered at subregional leve,.


A queuing analytical model is presented to evaluate call-level and packet-level quality of service (QoS) metrics in the uplink of a voice/data cellular code division multiple access (CDMA) network. In this model, a threshold-based call admission control (CAC) is used to limit the number of admitted calls in a cell and also to prioritize handoff calls over new calls. The transmission rates for data calls can be adjusted to accommodate more voice and/or data calls while satisfying the minimum signal-to-interference ratio (SIR)/ transmission rate requirement. Also, automatic repeat request (ARQ)-based error control is used for improved reliability of data packets. Call-level performance measures for both voice and data calls and packet-level performance measures specifically for data calls can be obtained from the analytical model. The interdependencies among call-level and packet-level QoS metrics are investigated under different CAC, rate adaptation, and error control parameter settings. To this end, the level of users' satisfaction (or user utility) is formulated as a function of the QoS metrics and an optimization formulation is presented to obtain the local-optimal system parameters


A speech/audio codec based on Frequency Domain Linear Prediction (FDLP) exploits auto-regressive modeling to approximate instantaneous energy in critical frequency sub-bands of relatively long input segments. The current version of the FDLP codec operating at 66 kbps has been shown to provide comparable subjective listening quality results to state-of-the-art codecs on similar bit-rates even without employing standard blocks such as entropy coding or simultaneous masking. This paper describes an experimental work to increase compression efficiency of the FDLP codec by employing entropy coding. Unlike conventional Huffman coding employed in current speech/audio coding systems, we describe an efficient way to exploit arithmetic coding to entropy compress quantized spectral magnitudes of the sub-band FDLP residuals. Such an approach provides 11% (∼ 3 kbps) bit-rate reduction compared to the Huffman coding algorithm (∼ 1 kbps).


The Incident Object Description Exchange Format (IODEF) defines a data
representation for security incident reports and indicators commonly
exchanged by operational security teams for mitigation and watch and
warning. This document describes an updated information model for the
IODEF and provides an associated data model specified with the XML
schema. This new information and data model obsoletes RFCs 5070 and
6685.


The way of generation of the protective nanostructural coatings from the separated multicomponent plasma flows is suggested. The influence of the elemental composition on their structural-mechanical properties was studied. It's found, the multicomponent coatings are characterized by the dense super fine-grained structure and possess the enhanced antifriction and anticorrosion properties in comparison with nitride titanium coatings.


Thymic T cell anergy, as manifested by thymocyte proliferative unresponsiveness to antigens expressed in the thymic environment, is commonly believed to mediate the acquisition of immunological self- tolerance. However, we previously found that thymic T cell anergy may lead to the breakdown of tolerance and predispose to autoimmunity in nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice. Here, we show that NOD thymic T cell anergy, as revealed by proliferative unresponsiveness in vitro after stimulation through the T cell receptor (TCR), is associated with defective TCR-mediated signal transduction along the PKC/p21ras/p42mapk pathway of T cell activation. PKC activity is reduced in NOD thymocytes. Activation of p21ras is deficient in quiescent and stimulated NOD T cells, and this is correlated with a significant reduction in the tyrosine phosphorylation of p42mapk, a serine/threonine kinase active downstream of p21ras. Treatment of NOD T cells with a phorbol ester not only enhances their p21ras activity and p42mapk tyrosine phosphorylation but also restores their proliferative responsiveness. Since p42mapk activity is required for progression through to S phase of the cell cycle, our data suggest that reduced tyrosine phosphorylation of p42mapk in stimulated NOD T cells may abrogate its activity and elicit the proliferative unresponsiveness of these cells.


Yemen is a country in continuous crisis. More than half its population live below the poverty line and are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. Fuel shortages, corruption, unemployment and violence have all become part of daily life. Now, a new crisis is unfolding: as fuel supplies run dry, food prices are soaring and water is becoming inaccessible. Fuel shortages and rapid inflation are sending shock waves through rural communities across the country. Millions of Yemenis are going hungry, drinking unsafe water and increasingly falling between the cracks of an inadequate social safety net, as they bear the brunt of yet another fuel crisis. Yemen's government and donors must address immediate human impacts alongside the root causes of the fuel crisis. They must increase the provision of social welfare while also undertaking public finance reform, to ensure the safety of all Yemenis, the country's stability and political transition.


This article investigates the formation and operation of a market of informal real estate in China, referred to by the term "small property" (xiaochanquan), as their property rights are "smaller" (weaker) than those of the "big" (formal) property market. In the city of Shenzhen, which experienced exponential population growth from 300,000 to more than ten million between 1978 and 2010 as the first experimental site of China's market reforms, almost half of the buildings are small-property constructions. These illegal buildings, which lack legal titles and are concentrated in 320 intra-city villages, house most of the 8 million migrant workers in Shenzhen and are the main source of livelihood of the more than 300,000 local villagers.The underlying question is how to coordinate people's behaviors in the absence of centralized law. A problem of coordination arises when players have to combine their actions in a certain way among multiple possibilities. In other words, coordination games have multiple equilibria, and therefore the payoffs alone do not determine the behavioral outcome. Instead, the final outcome depends on the specific social settings and individual participants involved, leaving room for less concrete variables, such as history and politics, to impact individuals' choices. Nobel Laureate Thomas Schelling first observed that, in situations requiring coordination, anything that makes salient one behavioral means of coordinating tends to produce self-fulfilling expectations that then lead to the occurrence of that result. This salient solution is called a focal point. The essential idea of the focal point is that the intrinsic magnetism of particular outcomes makes them qualitatively differentiable from the continuum of possible alternatives.Set against the backdrop and context of China's market transition, this research discovers that the political, legal, and economic transition in Shenzhen made rural land development and transfer the focal point, despite its illegality. This focal point coordinates players' expectations to converge on the same equilibrium in the formation and operation of the small-property market. I model the formation of the small-property market as an Assurance Game among social entrepreneurs in Shenzhen, the demolition risk as a Hawk-Dove Game between the Shenzhen government and farmers, and contract risk as a Hawk-Dove Game between a buyer and a seller. This research enriches our understanding of market institutions by applying up-todate insights from coordination games and focal point theory. It also contributes a significant real world example to the theories of coordination games and focal points, most of which are based on laboratory experiments.


This paper provides estimates of the elasticity of substitution and total factor productivity (TFP) for South Africa. Estimates are based on constant elasticity of substitution (CES) production functions. Estimates of potential output and the output gap implied by different CES model specifications are also compared to those from other models.


Introduction: The purpose of this study was to delineate the anatomic relationship between the anterior articular capsule and the adjacent subscapularis by measuring the dimensions of the anterior articular capsule attachment and the subscapularis footprint on the humerus, as well as investigating the interface between the two structures. Materials and methods: Three shoulder specimens underwent histological analysis; for histological analysis, cross-sections through the subscapularis-capsule complex were harvested at the tendinous and muscular insertion sites. The dimensions of the anterior articular capsule attachment and the subscapularis footprint (including the tendinous and muscular insertions) were measured in thirteen cadaveric shoulder specimens. Results: Histologically, the articular capsule has thin and loosely arranged collagen fibers with many interspersing fibroblast nuclei, whereas the outer layer of the articular capsule blends into a layer of more loosely spaced and less organized collagen fibers. This interface between the subscapularis and the underlying articular capsule is filled with more loosely spaced and less organized collagen fibers. The macroscopic evaluation showed that the minimum articular capsule width (4.2 mm, SD 2.2 mm) was located at its initiation 4.9 mm (SD, 2.1 mm) inferior to the superior margin of the subscapularis; the corresponding subscapularis footprint width measured 10.1 mm (SD, 4.9 mm). The maximum articular capsule width was11.1 mm (SD, 3.7 mm) and was located 5 mm distal to the inferior margin of the tendinous footprint. The maximum subscapularis footprint width was 15.8 mm (SD, 2.9 mm); the corresponding articular capsule attachment measured 5.2 mm (SD, 1.8 mm). Conclusions: Our results suggest that the anterior articular capsule attachment of the glenohumeral joint complements the footprint of the subscapularis and occupies a larger area of the lesser tubercle and metaphysis of the humerus than previously documented. The histological study confirms the presence of a demarcation between the subscapularis and articular capsule, specifically more significant at the region medial to the tendon insertion and at the muscular insertion of the subscapularis. © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.


Judges are required to forego a litany of professional and personal behaviors deemed to be inconsistent with the role of the neutral magistrate. For example, codes of judicial conduct prohibit ex parte communications, the misuse of office, public commentary on prohibited topics, and participation in certain civic, religious, and political activities. In addition to specific rules barring actual improprieties, it is commonly believed that a broader disciplinary standard is necessary to fully safeguard the public's faith in the judiciary. As a result, under virtually every state judicial code, discipline may be imposed upon a judge for conduct which violates no particular rule but which is thought to create an "appearance of impropriety".This Article examines the disciplinary use of the appearance of impropriety standard from a theoretical and practical standpoint. The history of the standard is explored together with the most debated aspect of the rule - whether the appearance of impropriety prohibition can survive a vagueness challenge. The inescapable conclusion is that it cannot. A cost-benefit analysis further discloses that the disadvantages of the rule clearly outweigh its oft-touted but, nevertheless, illusory benefits. It is proposed that the use of the appearance standard as a disciplinary rule should be discontinued or, in the alternative, that a limiting construction should be placed on the "appearance of impropriety" thereby supplying the specificity needed to meet due process requirements.


CONTEXT
Postoperative atrial fibrillation or flutter (AF) is one of the most common complications of cardiac surgery and significantly increases morbidity and health care utilization. A few small trials have evaluated whether long-chain n-3-polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) reduce postoperative AF, with mixed results.

OBJECTIVE
To determine whether perioperative n-3-PUFA supplementation reduces postoperative AF.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS
The Omega-3 Fatty Acids for Prevention of Post-operative Atrial Fibrillation (OPERA) double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial. A total of 1516 patients scheduled for cardiac surgery in 28 centers in the United States, Italy, and Argentina were enrolled between August 2010 and June 2012. Inclusion criteria were broad; the main exclusions were regular use of fish oil or absence of sinus rhythm at enrollment.

INTERVENTION
Patients were randomized to receive fish oil (1-g capsules containing ≥840 mg n-3-PUFAs as ethyl esters) or placebo, with preoperative loading of 10 g over 3 to 5 days (or 8 g over 2 days) followed postoperatively by 2 g/d until hospital discharge or postoperative day 10, whichever came first.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE
Occurrence of postoperative AF lasting longer than 30 seconds. Secondary end points were postoperative AF lasting longer than 1 hour, resulting in symptoms, or treated with cardioversion; postoperative AF excluding atrial flutter; time to first postoperative AF; number of AF episodes per patient; hospital utilization; and major adverse cardiovascular events, 30-day mortality, bleeding, and other adverse events.

RESULTS
At enrollment, mean age was 64 (SD, 13) years; 72.2% of patients were men, and 51.8% had planned valvular surgery. The primary end point occurred in 233 (30.7%) patients assigned to placebo and 227 (30.0%) assigned to n-3-PUFAs (odds ratio, 0.96 [95% CI, 0.77-1.20]; P = .74). None of the secondary end points were significantly different between the placebo and fish oil groups, including postoperative AF that was sustained, symptomatic, or treated (231 [30.5%] vs 224 [29.6%], P = .70) or number of postoperative AF episodes per patient (1 episode: 156 [20.6%] vs 157 [20.7%]; 2 episodes: 59 [7.8%] vs 49 [6.5%]; ≥3 episodes: 18 [2.4%] vs 21 [2.8%]) (P = .73). Supplementation with n-3-PUFAs was generally well tolerated, with no evidence for increased risk of bleeding or serious adverse events.

CONCLUSION
In this large multinational trial among patients undergoing cardiac surgery, perioperative supplementation with n-3-PUFAs, compared with placebo, did not reduce the risk of postoperative AF. TRIAL REGISTRATION clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00970489.


Background:Difficulties in recruiting patients for clinical trials lead to increasing costs, and prolonged implementation of evidences into medical practice. Knowledge about motivation and barriers in potential participants would be helpful to develop successful recruitment strategies. Currently, no systematic research of determining factors affecting the decision to participate in clinical studies is available from German samples.Methods:After been given details about a potential participation in a clinical or diagnostic study in nine study centers, patients were recruited for an additional structured questionnaire survey concerning motivation and barriers to participation.Results:62 patients were included into the survey. 95.1% did not have any experience with clinical studies before. 66.1% met the physician explaining the study and asking for informed consent for the first time. Despite this, 96.6% judged the physician to be competent. Family and friends were important for decision-making about the participation in a study. Gender was only of marginal influence. The majority of patients (91.4%) expected advantages of the study for their own. 88% of the patients denominated potential advantages for other patients as an additional motivator. The possibility of adverse events was inferior for patients in decision-making about participation in a clinical trial.Conclusion:Physicians recruiting patients for clinical studies should be well prepared about details of the study and should have adequate time for an introductory conversation in a quiet environment. Including relatives into the introductory conversation may enhance the motivation and therefore the success of recruitment. Potential advantages of a participation for the own treatment and additionally for other patients should be highlighted. Possible side effects should be explained in a realistic manner.


Melanoma is a malignant skin cancer with high metastatic potential. The
number of melanoma cases worldwide is increasing faster than any other cancer. The prognosis is bad in the advanced stages of the disease due to resistance to conventional anti-cancer treatments. Patients diagnosed with advanced stage melanoma continue to pose a significant challenge for clinicians. Although many therapeutic regimens for metastatic melanoma have been tested, very few achieve response rates greater than 25%. There is much hope for targeted therapies and promising agents include those that act on apoptosis-regulating molecules. Very recently, we have identified that an immunophilin, namely FK506 binding protein (FKBP) 51 controls response of melanoma to DNA damaging agents, such as anthracyclines compounds. The aim of this study was to investigate the possible role of FKBP51 in the control of response to ionizing radiation (IR) in malignant melanoma. FKBP51-silenced cells showed reduced clonogenic potential after irradiation compared with non-silenced cells. After IR, we observed apoptosis in FKBP51-silenced cells and autophagy in non-silenced cells. FKBP51 was required for the activation of Rx-induced NF-kappaB, which in turn inhibited apoptosis by
stimulating X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein and promoting authophagymediated Bax degradation. Using a tumor-xenograft mouse model, the in vivo pretreatment of tumors with FKBP51-siRNA provoked massive apoptosis after irradiation. Immunohistochemical analysis of 10 normal skin samples and 80 malignant cutaneous melanomas showed that FKBP51 is a marker of melanocyte malignancy, correlating with vertical growth phase and lesion thickness. Moreover, we provided evidence that FKBP51 targeting radiosensitizes cancer stem/initiating cells. Finally, we expanded the study to other types of cancer, including ovarian, pancreatic, prostate, colon, breast and lung cancer and found a strong correlation between the protein expression and malignity of the tumoral lesions. In conclusion, our study identifies a possible molecular target for radiosensitizing therapeutic strategies against malignant melanoma and a potential novel tumoral biomarker.


This article outlines a research program for an anthropology of viral hemorrhagic fevers (collectively known as VHFs). It begins by reviewing the social science literature on Ebola, Marburg, and Lassa fevers and charting areas for future ethnographic attention. We theoretically elaborate the hotspot as a way of integrating analysis of the two routes of VHF infection: from animal reservoirs to humans and between humans. Drawing together recent anthropological investigations of human–animal entanglements with an ethnographic interest in the social production of space, we seek to enrich conceptualizations of viral movement by elaborating the circumstances through which viruses, humans, objects, and animals come into contact. We suggest that attention to the material proximities—between animals, humans, and objects—that constitute the hotspot opens a frontier site for critical and methodological development in medical anthropology and for future collaborations in VHF management and control.


In this paper, an uncertainty assessment analysis extension is proposed for the inoperability input-output model (IIM), which is a methodology for assessing the propagated consequences of initial disruptions to a set of sectors. The IIM has been developed to help understand infrastructure interdependencies on deliberate external attacks or unfortunate natural disasters. Since the final demand perturbation may be affected by the psychological impact on consumers. In this paper, the uncertainty demand-driven IIM is extended to allow final demand perturbations in the form of lognormal probability distributions. The Monte Carlo simulation is used to demonstrate the uncertainty analysis methodology in detail through a four-sector economy system, and the results show that the value of interdependency analysis in the risk assessment process as an integral part of interdependent infrastructure.


[1] Ozone within the springtime Antarctic vortex is affected by both chemical and dynamical processes. We use correlations between monthly means of total ozone columns and temperatures in the vortex core and the vortex edge (or collar) regions to construct ozone anomaly time series for September and October, which mainly reflect variations in ozone due to chemical forcing. The ozone anomaly time series, obtained from ground-based Dobson/Brewer column measurements, reveal a statistically significant leveling off of total ozone, relative to the previous rate of decline, since 1997. The second derivative with respect to time of stratospheric halogen loading in the Antarctic vortex reached a well-defined minimum in 1997, marking the time when the chemical forcing of polar ozone loss started leveling off. Vertical profiles of ozone in the Antarctic vortex from SAGE II and ozonesondes show that near-zero levels of ozone have sometimes been reached in the core of the vortex each October, between the 380 and 500 K isentropes, since 1992. We have accounted for this so-called loss saturation effect in our analysis by comparing the frequency distribution of measured ozone with the distribution expected from a reconstruction of ozone that hypothetically allows ozone abundances to drop below zero. This approach indicates that changes in stratospheric halogen loading, not the loss saturation effect, are the primary cause of the recent leveling off of the total ozone anomaly time series. This analysis indicates that total column ozone within the Antarctic vortex core and collar regions has reached the first stage of recovery as defined by the World Meteorological Organization: a statistically significant reduction in the rate of decline that is clearly attributable to decreases in the abundance of ozone-depleting substances brought about by the Montreal Protocol.


Complex shotgun proteomics peptide profiles obtained in quantitative differential protein expression studies, such as in biomarker discovery, may be affected by multiple experimental factors. These preanalytical factors may affect the measured protein abundances which in turn influence the outcome of the associated statistical analysis and validation. It is therefore important to determine which factors influence the abundance of peptides in a complex proteomics experiment and to identify those peptides that are most influenced by these factors. In the current study we analyzed depleted human serum samples to evaluate experimental factors that may influence the resulting peptide profile such as the residence time in the autosampler at 4 °C, stopping or not stopping the trypsin digestion with acid, the type of blood collection tube, different hemolysis levels, differences in clotting times, the number of freeze-thaw cycles, and different trypsin/protein ratios. To this end we used a two-level fractional factorial design of resolution IV (2(IV)(7-3)). The design required analysis of 16 samples in which the main effects were not confounded by two-factor interactions. Data preprocessing using the Threshold Avoiding Proteomics Pipeline (Suits, F.; Hoekman, B.; Rosenling, T.; Bischoff, R.; Horvatovich, P. Anal. Chem. 2011, 83, 7786-7794, ref 1) produced a data-matrix containing quantitative information on 2,559 peaks. The intensity of the peaks was log-transformed, and peaks having intensities of a low t-test significance (p-value > 0.05) and a low absolute fold ratio (<2) between the two levels of each factor were removed. The remaining peaks were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA)-simultaneous component analysis (ASCA). Permutation tests were used to identify which of the preanalytical factors influenced the abundance of the measured peptides most significantly. The most important preanalytical factors affecting peptide intensity were (1) the hemolysis level, (2) stopping trypsin digestion with acid, and (3) the trypsin/protein ratio. This provides guidelines for the experimentalist to keep the ratio of trypsin/protein constant and to control the trypsin reaction by stopping it with acid at an accurately set pH. The hemolysis level cannot be controlled tightly as it depends on the status of a patient's blood (e.g., red blood cells are more fragile in patients undergoing chemotherapy) and the care with which blood was sampled (e.g., by avoiding shear stress). However, its level can be determined with a simple UV spectrophotometric measurement and samples with extreme levels or the peaks affected by hemolysis can be discarded from further analysis. The loadings of the ASCA model led to peptide peaks that were most affected by a given factor, for example, to hemoglobin-derived peptides in the case of the hemolysis level. Peak intensity differences for these peptides were assessed by means of extracted ion chromatograms confirming the results of the ASCA model.


Background: The trust relationship between employees and their supervisors (called Supervisory trust) has a definite impact on employee behaviour and attitudes. Furthermore, various studies found that Ethical leadership impacts on Supervisory trust, but in different contexts, and often with homogeneous or limited samples. The interactionist construct of Person-organisational fit (P-O fit), consisting of a combination of Supplementary fit (indirect fit or value congruence) and Complementary fit (direct or person-job fit, as well as needs-supply fit) may, however, impact on the relationship between ethical leadership and supervisory trust. The unique permutations of these relationships are important not only for conceptualisation purposes, but also for intervention design to enhance the employees? trust in their supervisors; this would contribute to positive employee behaviour and attitudes.Aim: The purpose of this study was to determine whether a relationship exists between Ethical leadership and Supervisory trust, with possible mediation by P-O fit.Setting: The research was conducted with ±60 employees from each of 17 private sector and four public sector organisations in South Africa.Method: This study utilised a positivist methodology based on an empirical approach, while using a cross-sectional design and quantitative analysis. The sample is relatively representative (in terms of race, gender and the South African work force), as it consisted of 60 employees from each of the 21 South African organisations that participated in the study, with 1 260 respondents in total.Results: Significant, positive relationships were found between Ethical leadership, P-O fit and Supervisory trust. Additionally, it was found that P-O fit partially mediates the relationship between Ethical leadership and Supervisory trust, confirming the proposed model.Conclusion: A strong, positive relationship exists between Ethical leadership (consisting of Morality and fairness, Role clarification leadership and Power sharing leadership) and Supervisory trust, which is partially mediated by P-O fit (consisting of Supplementary fit and Complementary fit).


The recent rise in rates of nonvaccination and vaccine-preventable diseases and the attendant risks to the public's health require that lawmakers consider new policy solutions. This Article proposes one such solution. We recommend creation of a limited exception to parental decisionmaking authority by permitting certain older minors to provide legally binding consent for childhood vaccinations. We analogize this proposed policy to other statutory exceptions that permit certain minors independent access to services relating to contraception, pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, mental health and substance abuse, and sexual assault without parental consent. In this interdisciplinary paper, we analyze the constitutional, policy, scientific, and practical issues relevant to this proposal, and provide lawmakers with a blueprint with which to enact the proposed legislative reform. We also suggest that, in the absence of legislative action, courts allow petitioning mature minors to consent independently to recommended childhood vaccinations. In addition, consistent with protections recommended for other treatment-specific exceptions to parental consent rules, we recommend protecting the confidentiality of minors who request vaccinations, both from direct disclosure of medical information without the minors' consent and from dissemination of information by insurance companies that might cover the cost of the vaccinations.


As the development sector falls under increasing pressure to demonstrate the impact of its work, evaluability assessments are really gaining traction. Assessing evaluability can usually be done for a small cost of the total evaluation budget and can save you valuable time and resources in the long run. This guidance note gives an overview of what evaluability is and how assessing it can be used for impact evaluations. It then provides guidance for planning and doing evaluability assessments, including checklists, decision support and lessons from practice.


The aim of this thesis was to examine the performance characteristics of Paralympic 7-a-side soccer (CP soccer). Classification of eligible impairments is central to equitable competition and participation opportunities in Paralympic sport. Therefore the impact of classification was a focus throughout. A multi-disciplined approach helped establish a profile of CP soccer. Field-tests uncovered lower performance levels in elite CP players compared to those previously observed in elite able-bodied (AB) players. Inter-class contrasts identified that anaerobic tests discriminated between the least impaired class (FT8) and other eligible classes (FT5, FT6, FT7). FT8 players were capable of running faster, jumping higher, and were more agile. Time-motion analysis showed FT8 players also executed these actions, associated with game-defining moments, more frequently in matches. Technical analysis of soccer identified that FT8 players executed more passes, shots and dribbles than FT5-FT7 player but no inter-class differences were found for skill success rates. Overall, classes primarily defined by type and topology of CP (FT5-FT7 classes) exhibited overlapping performance capabilities. The mild severity of impairment that distinguishes the FT8 class and underpins their performance superiority poses a challenge for the classification process and equitable competition in the sport. A participation by-law exists to address this issue and complement the classification process. Despite restrictions to FT8 class participation, the by-law failed to neutralise FT8 players' superiority during match-play; notational match analysis revealed that FT8 players' involvement in goal scoring actions was disproportionately high. Analysis also indicated that goal scoring patterns in CP soccer differ from those previously observed in AB soccer. There are several applied and research implications from this thesis: knowledge derived from the performance data could facilitate CP soccer specific training, coaching and talent identification; future research development of valid strength and anaerobic activity tests could aid the classification process; and exploring alternative participation by-laws that uphold equitable competition, without restricting participation opportunities for eligible individuals, may be beneficial.


PURPOSE
A definition of cut-off points for nodal size is essential to determine whether cervical lymph nodes are metastatic or not. Because the currently used size criteria are defined for random populations of patients with head and neck cancer, we set out to study whether these criteria are optimal for patients without palpable metastases in different levels of the neck We defined optimal size criteria for sonography by calculating the sensitivity and specificity of different size cut-off points.

METHODS
We compared the sensitivity and specificity of different size cut-off points as measured on sonograms for various levels in the neck in a series of 117 patients with and 131 patients without palpable neck metastases.

RESULTS
A minimum axial diameter of 7 mm for level II and 6 mm for the rest of the neck revealed the optimal compromise between sensitivity and specificity in necks without palpable metastases. For all necks together (with and without palpable metastases), the criteria were 1 to 2 mm larger.

CONCLUSION
Our findings indicate that the current sonographic size criteria used for random patient populations are not optimal for necks without palpable metastases, nor can the same cut-off points be used for all levels in the neck.


A long-term, homogeneous set of daily maximum and minimum temperature data representing a subset of daily U.S. Historical Climatology Network stations is used to analyze trends in extreme temperature occurrence across the contiguous United States. Time series of various lengths are analyzed, with the longest spanning the period 1900‐96. Trends in the annual occurrence of extreme maximum and minimum temperatures (e.g., values greater than the 90th, 95th, or 99th percentile) are strongly influenced by high exceedence counts during drought periods in the 1930s and 1950s. Peaks in exceedences during these years result in predominantly decreasing warm exceedence trends across the country during the 1930‐96 period. This is uncharacteristic of recent years (1960‐96) in which a large majority of stations show increases in warm extreme temperature exceedences. Significant increases in warm minimum temperature exceedences are found at nearly one-third of the stations during this period. Multiday warm temperature exceedence runs also show strong increases during this more recent period. The most rapid increases in high maximum and minimum temperature extremes occur at stations classified as urban, by satellite land use information. Trends in the annual occurrence of extremely cold maximum and minimum temperatures display an analogous decrease during the 1960‐96 period. Here again, there is a distinct shift in the number of decreasing trends between the 1950‐96 and 1960‐96 periods. Based on starting decades prior to 1960, there is not a strong tendency for either increasing or decreasing trends. The period 1910‐96 is an exception, with almost all stations exhibiting decreasing cold extreme occurrence trends. The extreme cold exceedence trends during the 1960‐96 period are also influenced by urbanization, but to a lesser degree than the warm extremes.


Collagen IV networks are present in all metazoa and underlie epithelia as a component of basement membranes. The networks are essential for tissue function and are defective in disease. They are assembled by the oligomerization of triple-helical protomers that are linked end-to-end. At the C terminus, two protomers are linked head-to-head by interactions of their trimeric noncollagenous domains, forming a hexamer structure. This linkage in the α1.α2 network is stabilized by a putative covalent Met-Lys cross-link between the trimer-trimer interface (Than, M. E., Henrich, S., Huber, R., Ries, A., Mann, K., Kuhn, K., Timpl, R., Bourenkov, G. P., Bartunik, H. D., and Bode, W. (2002) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 99, 6607–6612) forming a nonreducible dimer that connects the hexamer. In the present study, this cross-link was further investigated by: (a) comparing the 1.5-Å resolution crystal structures of the α1.α2 hexamers from bovine placenta and lens capsule basement membranes, (b) mass spectrometric analysis of monomer and nonreducible dimer subunits of placenta basement membrane hexamers, and (c) hexamer dissociation/re-association studies. The findings rule out the novel Met-Lys cross-link, as well as other covalent cross-links, but establish that the nonreducible dimer is an inherent structural feature of a subpopulation of hexamers. The dimers reflect the reinforced stabilization, by noncovalent forces, of the connection between two adjoining protomers of a network. The reinforcement extends to other types of collagen IV networks, and it underlies the cryptic nature of a B-cell epitope of the α3.α4.α5 hexamer, implicating the stabilization event in the etiology and pathogenesis of Goodpasture autoimmune disease.


The phenomenon of three-dimensional flow separation is and has been in the focus of many researchers. An improved understanding of the physics and the driving forces is desired to be able to improve numerical simulations and to minimize aerodynamic drag over bluff bodies. To investigate the sources of separation one wants to understand what happens at the surface when the flow starts to detach and the upwelling of the streamlines becomes strong. This observation of a flow leaving the surface could be captured by investigating the limiting streamlines and surface parameters as pressure, vorticity or the shear stress. In this paper, numerical methods are used to investigate the surface pressure and flow patterns on a sedan passenger vehicle. Observed limiting streamlines are compared to the pressure distribution and their correlation is shown. For this investigation the region behind the antenna and behind the wheel arch, are pointed out and studied in detail. Besides the discussion of the correlation between limiting streamlines and the surface pressure distribution, it is discussed how the surface pressure and limiting streamline development is formed. It is shown how vortices emanating from the antenna influence the surface pressure and therefore the limiting streamline pattern. Behind the front wheel arch it is explained how the separation bubble upstream influences the development of the limiting streamlines further downstream.


Immersion education, a variant of content-based instruction, is characterised by the dual curriculum goals of content and language learning. The content and language learning goals become increasingly complex and challenging at the late immersion level. One way to help students achieve these goals is by planning content and language learning objectives that guide the design of content-language integrated learning materials. This article reports how content teachers and an ESL teacher educator in Hong Kong collaborated to design materials to support late immersion students' integrated content-language learning. The learning materials were designed by reference to a pedagogical framework that uses knowledge structures and text structures to link content and language learning objectives. The author presents sample learning materials and explains their design. Student achievements in using the history materials in a collaborative action research project, as well as the students' and the teacher's views of the materials, demonstrate some effectiveness of the design. Challenges to the content-language integration design are discussed.


Transplant patients at high risk of invasive mold infections receive voriconazole for prophylaxis. Large variability in voriconazole exposure with a fixed dosing regimen was observed. Low exposure of voriconazole predisposes patients for infection. High concentrations are associated with toxicity.The objectives are to characterize the pharmacokinetics of voriconazole in transplant patients, to identify factors associated with the variability in the pharmacokinetics, and to develop adequate dosing guidelines for transplant patients.Liver, lung and pediatric bone marrow transplant (BMT) patients were enrolled. Multiple blood samples were collected within one dosing interval (totally 75 full pharmacokinetic profiles). Voriconazole plasma concentrations were measured using HPLC. Non-compartmental analysis was performed using WinNonlin. Population pharmacokinetic models were developed using NONMEM. Covariate models were built using a forward addition and reverse removal approach. Precision of parameter estimation was evaluated by bootstrapping. Adequate dosing regimens were developed using Monte Carlo simulations.There was a good correlation between AUCo-∞ and trough voriconazole plasma concentrations. Bioavailability of voriconazole is substantially reduced in lung transplant and BMT patients during the early post-transplant period. Pharmacokinetics of voriconazole is significantly associated with postoperative time, liver function and CYP2C19 genotype in liver transplant patients. Pharmacokinetics of voriconazole is significantly associated with postoperative time and cystic fibrosis in lung transplant patients. Pharmacokinetics of voriconazole is significantly associated with liver function in BMT patients. Patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) exhibited a significantly lower bioavailability than non-CF patients. Donor characteristics had no significant correlation with pharmacokinetics of voriconazole in liver transplant patients. Bioavailability of voriconazole is similar between lung transplant and BMT patients. Compared to liver and lung transplant patients, BMT patients had significantly higher clearance and significantly lower volume of distribution.In conclusion, weight-adjusted or fixed dosing regimens resulted in highly variable exposure of voriconazole in liver transplant, lung transplant and BMT patients. Given that trough voriconazole concentration is a good measure of drug exposure (AUC), voriconazole dose can be individualized based on trough concentrations. Population analysis demonstrated inadequacy of oral administration of voriconazole and adequacy of intravenous administration during the first few post-operative days, followed by oral doses for optimal drug exposure.


The Silurian–Devonian metasedimentary rocks of the Connecticut Valley-Gaspé trough (CVGT) were subjected to multiple deformational and metamorphic events during the Acadian orogeny in the Middle–Late Devonian. Plutons intruding the Devonian Waits River and Gile Mountain Formations have been considered post-tectonic, but microstructural studies of the intrusions and their metamorphic aureoles indicate some of these plutons intruded syntectonically. This study investigates the relationship between Acadian deformation and intrusion of the Knox Mountain pluton (KMP) of central Vermont. Structural and geochronological data were collected along a c. 15 km transect from the western limit of the CVGT, where the unconformable Richardson Memorial Contact coincides with the Dog River Fault Zone, into the margin of the KMP in the east. Field and microstructural observations indicate the KMP intruded syntectonically. Evidence for Acadian deformation post-dating intrusion includes folded and boudinaged granitic dikes at the margin of the KMP, and microstructures such as flame perthite, myrmekite, deformation twins, and textures associated with grain-boundary migration recrystallization in the granite. In the metamorphic aureole, biotite porphyroblasts overgrow S3, the earliest Acadian secondary foliation, and were deformed during S4 crenulation cleavage development. The KMP intruded at 377±5.2 Ma based on a U-Thtotal Pb monazite crystallization age, which is concordant with the published age of the nearby Barre granite. The timing of S4 foliation development in the CVGT is constrained locally by 40 Ar/ 39 Ar geochronology at ~365 Ma, consistent with the microstructurallyinferred relative-age relationships. Plateau/weighted mean 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages from across the transect and minimum ages from argon-loss profiles show a general trend of younging towards the east, suggesting these rocks have been affected by Alleghanian and Mesozoic deformation and exhumation.


Abstract This article assesses the causes of the crisis of detention in Latin America. It is argued that this crisis, which manifests itself in overpopulation of the region's prison systems, deficient infrastructure, prison informality and violence propelled ultimately by political processes, is mostly related to, on the one hand, disastrous human rights conditions inside Latin American prisons, and on other, the political denial of these conditions. This denial produces a state of institutional abandonment that is preserved by the interests of politicians and bureaucrats, who are engaged in denying prison violence and human rights abuses while simultaneously calling for more punishment and imprisonment.


In this thesis, three interrelated theoretical investigations on the cell-biological topics of DNA double strand break response and DNA replication are presented. The first investigation is concerned with the recruitment of DNA double strand break response proteins to DNA damage sites. In the second, necessary conditions for the appearance of multiple steady states and oscillations in generic protein complex assembly networks are identified. Lastly in the third investigation, the mechanisms underlying the genome-scale organization of DNA replication are analyzed.

It is known from experiment that the recruitment of the pathway-independent double strand break response protein NBS1 qualitatively changes its dynamics beyond a certain damage density, from damage density dependent to damage density independent. A minimal computer model of the recruitment of NBS1 (contained in the MRN complex) and several interacting proteins is developed and compared to experimental data. It becomes evident from the model that the change in dynamics can be interpreted a consequence of the shifting importance of two different MRN binding interactions. At low damage densities, binding in the wider damage site vicinity dominates, while at higher damage densities, binding directly to the damaged double strand ends becomes more important.

Next, generic protein recruitment/protein complex assembly networks are investigated to find the prerequisites of complex dynamical effects such as multistability and oscillation. It is shown that if the networks are limited to association and dissociation reactions and if the protein numbers are conserved for the indivisible "elementary" proteins participating, then at least four such elementary protein species must be present for multistability or oscillations to appear. A rigorous mathematical proof is given that networks with only three elementary species cannot have multiple steady states.

DNA replication in mammals and humans is qualitatively different from the well-understood replication process in simpler eukaryotes such as yeast. Reliable patterns exist in the organization of replication on the scale of chromosomes and chromosome segments, while the microscopic dynamics are known to be stochastic. A stochastic computer model is presented that incorporates the minimal set of model ingredients necessary to reproduce these dynamical properties. The ingredients are a fast-diffusing limiting factor, induced firing of origins depending on proximity to replication forks, a constant replication fork speed that is reduced during early S-phase and the initiation of replication in euchromatic DNA.

Results are consistent with experimental data and the literature, making the model presented here one of the best-benchmarked replication models in existence. A combination of model results with a three-dimensional DNA conformation obtained from a Monte Carlo model shows that chromatin packing is a main cause of the microscopy patterns observed during mammalian DNA replication.

The theoretical investigations presented in this thesis combine methods of physics and applied mathematics with problems from the field of cell-biology. Thus, due to this inherently interdisciplinary character, this thesis is of interest to a readership of both, physicists and biologists.


Concentrations of Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn, Ni and Fe in the surface seawater, suspended particulate matter, algal mat, sediments and gastropod Nerita lineata were determined to assess the status of heavy metal pollution in Dumai coastal waters. Concentrations of heavy metal in sediments varied from 0.88, 6.08, 32.34, 53.89, 11.48 μg/g dry weight and 3.01 % for Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn, Ni and Fe, respectively. These concentrations were comparable to metal concentrations in non polluted coastal waters and even lower than concentrations found in the sediments from the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia which is located just at the opposite side of the study area by the Malacca Straits. Generally, higher metal concentrations in the surface seawater, suspended particulate matter, algal mat, sediment and gastropod Nerita lineata were found at the stations with more industrial and anthropogenic activities near Dumai city center (eastern and central regions). Metal pollution index (MPI) of N. lineata further confirm higher level of heavy metal contaminations at the eastern region of Dumai coastal waters. Cd in sediments from the eastern region was the only metal that slightly higher than effective range low (ERL) but still below effective range medium (ERM) values. The enrichment factor (EF) and pollution load index (PLI) values for Cd and Pb in the eastern region were also higher than other regions. Index of geoaccumulation (Igeo) indicated that most of the stations were categorized as class 1 (unpolluted to moderately polluted environment) and only Cd in Cargo Port was in class 2 (moderately polluted).
More than 50 % of Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn, Ni and Fe in sediments were accumulated in the 'resistant' fraction which indicated that the mobility of these metals in Dumai coastal waters were quite low. The eastern and center regions of Dumai coastal waters accumulated higher percentages of 'nonresistant' fraction of metals, especially Pb. However, only Pb in the eastern region was dominated by 'nonresistant' fraction (> 60 %). For overall stations, Pb also showed the highest percentage (45.32 %) of 'non-resistant' fraction, suggesting more anthropogenic inputs of Pb in Dumai coastal waters in comparison with other metals (43.22, 40.85, 37.34, 25.93 and 18.03 % for Cd, Zn, Ni, Cu and Fe, respectively).
All biomonitor organisms analyzed in the present study showed their ability to accumulate metals from their environment. T. telescopium accumulated the highest concentrations of Cd, Cu and Pb, whilst N. lineata accumulated the highest concentration for Zn. However, the difference between concentrations of Cd, Cu and Pb in both species was not significant and T. telescopium was not widely distributed in Dumai coastal waters as for N. lineata. Furthermore, among the studied biomonitors, N. lineata has wider range of distribution in the study area and it also fulfilled some of the prerequisites for being indicator organisms for heavy metal pollution.
The mean concentrations of Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn, Ni and Fe in N. lineata were 4.14, 5.90, 44.43, 3.74, 20.73, 24.91 μg/g in shell; 4.16, 7.31, 51.78, 17.63, 23.52, 30.60 μg/g in operculum and 0.71, 15.16, 9.34, 94.69, 5.08, 397.96 μg/g d.w in the total soft tissue, respectively. Concentrations of Cd, Pb and Ni decreased in the order: operculum > shell > soft tissue whilst Cu, Zn and Fe in the order of soft tissue > operculum > shell. Metal concentrations, especially Cd in the shells and Pb in the soft tissues of N. lineata were significantly correlated with some of the respective geochemical fractions of metal concentrations in sediment as well as with metal concentrations in algal mat, suspended particulate matter and seawater which suggest that N. lineata could be used as biomonitoring agent for heavy metals pollution in Dumai coastal waters.
Geochemical fractionation analysis and calculated pollution indices using surface sediments and gastropod N. lineata revealed that Dumai coastal waters can be classified as unpolluted to moderately-polluted coastal environment. Therefore, although Dumai coastal waters is still not seriously polluted, a continuous environment monitoring program should be implemented as the ever increasing human activities and rapid developments in many infrastructures and industry sectors are continuously expanding.


Diabetes and related complications are responsible for early death - one person in every 7 seconds. Long term and short term complications due to diabetes can be reduced through proper diet, physical exercise, and medication. In order to assess the pattern of glucose changes of diabetic patients (for determining the appropriate drugs), concentration of glucose in blood needs to be monitored. The pain and inconvenience (due to pricking fingers) in the current invasive blood glucose monitoring technique has led to the emergence of noninvasive blood glucose monitoring (NIBGM) techniques. In this paper, we propose a multisensor NIBGM system using infrared (IR) sensor and ultrasonic micro-electro-micro mechanical (MEMS) technology. We simulate the proposed NIBGM system using COMSOL Multiphysics software and calibrate the system using Matlab code. Lead free piezoelectric materials are evaluated for ultrasonic sensors. Behavior of ultrasonic MEMS is simulated by varying the concentration of blood glucose. The simulation results are cross validated with actual glucose concentration to assess errors. According to simulation results and Clarke error grid analysis (EGA), the proposed NIBGM system has potential to enhance accuracy. By adding easiness and comfort (due to no pricking), the proposed multisensor NIBGM device should provide better assistance to monitor and manage diabetes.