Introduction Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a genetically heterogenous condition with mutations reported in at least 50 associated genes.1 Our consortium has demonstrated the presence of truncating mutations in the giant sarcomeric gene titin (TTN) in up to 27% of DCM2 making this the commonest genetic cause of DCM. Here we conducted a comprehensive analysis of the frequency of rare coding variants in cardiomyopathy genes in DCM patients and ethnically-matched healthy controls. Methods We sequenced 64 cardiomyopathy genes in 651 individuals, comprising 234 patients referred for prospective evaluation of DCM with cardiac MRI (54 ± 14 yrs at scan, 70.5% males), 98 end-stage DCM (39 ± 16 yrs on date of transplant/left-ventricular assist device implantation, 83.7% males), and 319 prospectively recruited adult healthy volunteers (HVOL, 42 ± 14 yrs at scan, 46.1% males), who underwent detailed phenotyping with cardiac MRI. Next-generation targeted exon sequencing was performed on the SOLiD 5500xl platform. Variant calling was performed using Lifescope v2.5.1. Data were mapped to the Hg19 (GRCh37) human genome reference. Caucasian ethnicity was confirmed using Principal Component Analysis. Burden testing for potentially disease-causing variation was performed on each gene. Results DCM patients were enriched for novel protein-altering variants in 28 genes (Table 1: top 7 genes), but only 5 achieved nominal significance. Truncating variants in TTN (TTNtv) remained significant after multiple testing correction (12% DCM, 1.9% controls, p = 8.1 × 10–6). Abstract 76 Table 1 Top 7 genes with novel and protein altering variants in DCM compared to controls Gene tested DCM n (%) HVOL n (%) P value 1-tailed TTNtvTTNns 40 (12.0)85 (25.6) 6 (1.9)82 (25.7) 1.26 × 10–7*0.55 LMNA 8 (2.4) 0 0.004 DSP 12 (3.6) 4 (1.3) 0.04 RBM20 13 (3.9) 5 (1.6) 0.05 PKP2 10 (3) 3 (0.9) 0.05 MYH7 12 (3.6) 5 (1.6) 0.08 TNNT2 4 (1.2) 0 0.06 * Significant after multiple testing correction, p < 0.0008 Rare variation in SCN5A and MYH6, previously reported to play a key role in DCM, were not enriched in DCM (SCN5A – 2.1% DCM, 2.8% controls, p = 0.80; MYH6 –0.9% DCM, 2.2% controls, p = 0.95) and nor were non-synonymous SNPs in TTN (TTNns, 25.6% DCM, 25.7% controls, p = 0.55). Importantly, an additive effect of variation in multiple DCM genes on DCM risk was identified using logistic regression models (p = 5.7 × 10 x -4), demonstrating a multi-genic basis for DCM in some cases. Conclusions To the best of our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive study of the genetic architecture of DCM compared to an ethnically-matched healthy control cohort. The majority of genes reported to contain rare variants in DCM have similar burdens of variation in controls. Some variants may contribute to disease, but excluding TTNtv the majority of such variants are uninterpretable in the absence of functional or segregation data. References Mestroni L, Taylor MR. Genetics and genetic testing of dilated cardiomyopathy: a new perspective. Discov Med. 2013;15(80):43-9 Herman DS, Lam L, Taylor MR, Wang L, Teekakirikul P, Christodoulou D, et al. Truncations of titin causing dilated cardiomyopathy. N Engl J Med. 2012;366(7):619-28


The topic of personal hygiene and domestic cleanliness occupied Protestant missionaries working in Egypt during the first half of the twentieth century. Remarks on hygiene can be found not only in writings published for the interested public but also in personal documents such as diaries. This article illustrates that, in missionary sources, descriptions of cleanliness appear mainly in the female sphere, implying a deficient domesticity. The causes of this shortcoming were seen in the crisis of the Egyptian – and in particular the Islamic – family, in which, in the missionaries' perception, the husband ruled despotically over his wife and impeded a healthy family life. Missionaries tried to impart a new female role model – their ideal of a competent housewife and wise mother – and thereby aimed to empower women by teaching them habits of cleanliness. This paper examines the missionaries' methods and arguments for spreading ideas and practices related to hygiene and shows how cleanliness was closely linked to values such as orderliness, discipline and punctuality. It also explores the role of cleanliness in missionary accounts of Egyptian converts and examines how conceptions of personal hygiene and domestic cleanliness were linked to moral and religious purity.


This study presents modern erosion rate measurements based upon vertical aerial photography captured in 1955, 1979, and 2002 for a 100 km segment of the Beaufort Sea coastline. Annual erosion rates from 1955 to 2002 averaged 5.6 m a-1. However, mean erosion rates increased from 5.0 m a-1 in 1955–79 to 6.2 m a-1 in 1979–2002. Furthermore, from the first period to the second, erosion rates increased at 60% (598) of the 992 sites analyzed, decreased at 31% (307), and changed less than ± 30 cm at 9% (87). Historical observations and quantitative studies over the past 175 years allowed us to place our erosion rate measurements into a longer-term context. Several of the coastal features along this stretch of coastline received Western place names during the Dease and Simpson expedition in 1837, and the majority of those features had been lost by the early 1900s as a result of coastline erosion, suggesting that erosion has been active over at least the historical record. Incorporation of historical and modern observations also allowed us to detect the loss of both cultural and historical sites and modern infrastructure. U.S. Geological Survey topographic maps reveal a number of known cultural and historical sites, as well as sites with modern infrastructure constructed as recently as the 1950s, that had disappeared by the early 2000s as a result of coastal erosion. We were also able to identify sites that are currently being threatened by an encroaching coastline. Our modern erosion rate measurements can potentially be used to predict when a historical site or modern infrastructure will be affected if such erosion rates persist.


A consumer market for diffractive optical elements in glass can only be created if high efficient elements are available at affordable prices. In diffractive optics the efficiency and optical properties increases with the number of levels used, but in the same way the costs are multiplied by the number if fabrication steps. Replication of multilevel diffractive optical elements in glass would allow cost efficient fabrication but a suitable mold material is needed. Glassy carbon shows a high mechanical strength, thermal stability and non-sticking adhesion properties, which makes it an excellent candidate as mold material for precision compression molding of low and high glass-transition temperature materials. We introduce an 8 level micro structuring process for glassy carbon molds with standard photolithography and a Ti layer as hard mask for reactive ion etching. The molds were applied to thermal imprinting onto low and high transition temperature glass. Optical performance was tested for the molded samples with different designs for laser beamsplitters. The results show a good agreement to the design specification. Our result allow us to show limitations of our fabrication technique and we discussed the suitability of precision glass molding for cost efficient mass production with a high quality.


The concentration of oxygen and its rate of consumption are important factors playing a role in PDT and radiotherapy. One of the methods for measuring the tissular oxygen partial pressure (pO2) is based on the use of luminophores presenting an oxygen-dependent quenching of their phosphorescence. The time-resolved luminescence spectroscopy of palladium (PdTCPP) or ruthenium (RuDPP) porphyrin complexes is used for this purpose. Unfortunately, these porphyrin derivatives are phototoxic and leak rapidly out of the blood vessels, making them unsuitable for measuring tissular and or intravascular pO2. Therefore, this research aimed at developing and testing new biocompatible, non-phototoxic oxygen sensors based on palladium complexes incorporated into oxygen permeable, polysaccharide-based nanoparticles appropriate for noninvasive in situ and in vivo measurements of the pO2. In vitro studies, performed with an optical fiber-based time-resolved spectrophotometer, showed that the incorporation of such pO2 probes in nanovectors reduces their sensitivity to oxygen as well as their photobleaching by less than one order of magnitude. However, in vivo biocompatibility studies performed on the chick's embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) model demonstrated that the luminescence of those oxygen probes tends to be heterogeneously distributed within the vasculature. In addition, these probes induce a 'clumping tendency', resulting in a more or less decreased viability of the embryos.


The interest toward the doping of semiconductor nanostructures has been increasing steadily, but a clear understanding must still be reached, due to challenging characterization issues. In this work, we focused on Si nanocrystals (NCs) embedded in SiO2, which represent the most scalable and one of the most interesting and studied systems, but where an accurate quantification of the evolution of dopant profiles is still lacking. High depth resolution time‐of‐flight SIMS with charge compensation has been used to extract secondary ion depth profiles relative to P and Si elements. The relative sensitivity factors of P in SiO2 and of P in a layer containing Si NCs approximately 4.2 nm in diameter, as well as non‐linearity of P intensity at high P concentrations, were determined by comparison with P dose data extracted by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry analysis. Transmission electron microscopy analyses were performed to characterize the NC size distribution and stability upon thermal annealing. As a final result, we obtained a measurement protocol able to extract with high accuracy fully calibrated P concentration profiles in the SiO2 matrix with embedded Si NCs. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


This publication is focused on the nascent industry of drones being used by professional users, more commonly known as commercial drones. While piloted aircraft have dominated the airspace as we know it for about a century, the use of unmanned aircraft by professionals is creating a conflict between two dominant stakeholders: the aerospace industry and the professional. This publication attempts to take a closer look at these two stakeholders and their desire to occupy a limited public resource: airspace. In order to understand the leading role being taken by commercial drone suppliers in Switzerland, a reconnaissance of other leading drone markets is conducted: The United States, The European Union and Japan.
This publication attempts to understand what some of the critical success factors for a commercial drone industry emerging in Switzerland could be, particularly when compared to other markets advancing in drone development. Finally, an attempt is made to assess whether Switzerland can maintain a sustainable competitive advantage moving forward.


Background: Bambusa balcooa (Poaceae: Bambusoideae) is a multipurpose bamboo species, which is native of the Indian subcontinent. B. balcooa is regarded as one of the best species for scaffolding and building purposes because of its strong culm. Other uses include paper pulp, handicrafts, and products of the wood chip industry. Due to these various uses in industries, this species has been identified as one of the priority bamboos by the National Bamboo Mission. Objective: This study is designed to analyze the identification of fungus and develop the strategy to eliminate the contamination during in vitro establishment of B. balcooa through nodal part. Fungus contamination is a problem which is encountered during in vitro establishment of B. balcooa cultures. Materials and Methods: In the present study, fungus contamination from in vitro cultured plant has been isolated and subjected to partial sequence analysis of the 18S rRNA gene to identify the fungus strain. Experiments were designed to develop a strategy for removal of the fungus contamination with the help of antifungal compounds and commercial antimicrobial supplement supplied by HiMedia. Results: Fusarium equiseti was identified as endophytic fungus. It was observed that antimicrobial supplement at concentration of 500 μl/l was more effective concentration to remove fungus contamination and not showed any detrimental effect on growth parameters of shoot. Conclusion: This experiment would help in identification and to get rid of fungal contamination and improve the in vitro establishment of B. balcooa cultures for large-scale propagation. Abbreviations used: B. balcooa: Bambusa balcooa, F. equiseti: Fusarium equiseti, PDA: Potato dextrose agar, PCR: Polymerase chain reaction, MS: Murashige and Skoog's, BAP: 6-Benzylaminopurine, ITS1/4: Internal transcribed spacer region 1/4, GA3: Gibberellic acid


Satire has been used throughout history to raise awareness of critical issues. Although its use was once limited to professional satirists and to the media, it has evolved over time and has now become a genre of the masses. The combination of social media and satire has not only changed the nature of critical inquiry and discourse but also redefines the concept of satirists as opinion leaders. This paper overviews the linkages among satire, social media, and message deconstruction and offers four types of satirical opinion leaders: traditionalist, creator, rookie, and technologist. The examination results in several major research questions deserving of future exploration. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The gold standard for identifying more effective pedagogical approaches is to perform an experiment. Unfortunately, frequently a hypothesized alternate way of teaching does not yield an improved effect. Given the expense and logistics of each experiment, and the enormous space of potential ways to improve teaching, it would be highly preferable if it were possible to estimate in advance of running a study whether an alternative teaching strategy would improve learning. This is true even in learning at scale situations, since even if it is logistically easier to recruit a large number of subjects, it remains a high stakes environment because the experiment is impacting many real students. For certain classes of alternate teaching approaches, such as new ways to sequence existing material, it is possible to build student models that can be used as simulators to estimate the performance of learners under new proposed teaching methods. However, existing methods for doing so can overestimate the performance of new teaching methods. We instead propose the Robust Evaluation Matrix (REM) method which explicitly considers model mismatch between the student model used to derive the teaching strategy and that used as a simulator to evaluate the teaching strategy effectiveness. We then present two case studies from a fractions intelligent tutoring system and from a concept learning task from prior work that show how REM could be used both to detect when a new instructional policy may not be effective on actual students and to detect when it may be effective in improving student learning.


An automated metric to evaluate dialogue quality is vital for optimizing data driven dialogue management. The common approach of relying on explicit user feedback during a conversation is intrusive and sparse. Current models to estimate user satisfaction use limited feature sets and employ annotation schemes with limited generalizability to conversations spanning multiple domains. To address these gaps, we created a new Response Quality annotation scheme, introduced five new domain-independent feature sets and experimented with six machine learning models to estimate User Satisfaction at both turn and dialogue level.
Response Quality ratings achieved significantly high correlation (0.76) with explicit turn-level user ratings. Using the new feature sets we introduced, Gradient Boosting Regression model achieved best (rating [1-5]) prediction performance on 26 seen (linear correlation ~0.79) and one new multi-turn domain (linear correlation 0.67). We observed a 16% relative improvement (68% -> 79%) in binary ("satisfactory/dissatisfactory") class prediction accuracy of a domain-independent dialogue-level satisfaction estimation model after including predicted turn-level satisfaction ratings as features.


Introduction: Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapies have demonstrated robust and sustained clinical responses in several hematologic malignancies. Data suggest that achieving acceptable benefit:risk profiles depends on several factors, including the specificity of the antigen target and characteristics of the CAR itself, including on-target, off-tumor activity.To test the safety and efficacy of CAR T cells in relapsed and/or refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM), we have designed a second-generation CAR construct targeting B cell maturation antigen (BCMA) to redirect T cells to MM cells. BCMA is a member of the tumor necrosis factor superfamily that is expressed primarily by malignant myeloma cells, plasma cells, and some mature B cells. bb2121 consists of autologous T cells transduced with a lentiviral vector encoding a novel CAR incorporating an anti-BCMA scFv, a 4-1BB costimulatory motif and a CD3-zeta T cell activation domain. Methods: CRB-401 (NCT02658929) is a multi-center phase 1 dose escalation trial of bb2121 in patients with RRMM who have received ≥ 3 prior regimens, including a proteasome inhibitor and an immunomodulatory agent, or are double-refractory, and have ≥ 50% BCMA expression on malignant cells. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells are collected via leukapheresis and shipped to a central facility for transduction, expansion, and release testing prior to being returned to the site for infusion. Patients undergo lymphodepletion with fludarabine (30 mg/m 2 ) and cyclophosphamide (300 mg/m 2 ) daily for 3 days then receive 1 infusion of bb2121. The study follows a standard 3+3 design with planned dose levels of 50, 150, 450, 800, and 1,200 x 10 6 CAR+ T cells. The primary outcome measure is incidence of adverse events (AEs), including dose-limiting toxicities (DLTs). Additional outcome measures were quality and duration of clinical response assessed according to the IMWG Uniform Response Criteria for Multiple Myeloma, evaluation of minimal residual disease (MRD), overall and progression-free survival, quantification of bb2121 in blood, and quantification of circulating soluble BCMA over time. Results: Asof May 4, 2017, 21 patients (median 58 [37 to 74] years old) with a median of 5 (1 to 16) years since MM diagnosis, had been infused with bb2121, and 18 patients were evaluable for initial (1-month) clinical response. Patients had a median of 7 prior lines of therapy (range 3 to 14), all with prior autologous stem cell transplant; 67% had high-risk cytogenetics. Fifteen of 21 (71%) had prior exposure to, and 6 of 21 (29%) were refractory to 5 prior therapies (Bort/Len/Car/Pom/Dara). Median follow-up after bb2121 infusion was 15.4 weeks (range 1.4 to 54.4 weeks). As of data cut-off, no DLTs and no treatment-emergent Grade 3 or higher neurotoxicities similar to those reported in other CAR T clinical studies had been observed. Cytokine release syndrome (CRS), primarily Grade 1 or 2, was reported in 15 of 21 (71%) patients: 2 patients had Grade 3 CRS that resolved in 24 hours and 4 patients received tocilizumab, 1 with steroids, to manage CRS. CRS was more common in the higher dose groups but did not appear related to tumor burden. One death on study, due to cardiopulmonary arrest more than 4 months after bb2121 infusion in a patient with an extensive cardiac history, was observed while the patient was in sCR and was assessed as unrelated to bb2121. The overall response rate (ORR) was 89% and increased to 100% for patients treated with doses of 150 x 10 6 CAR+ T cells or higher. No patients treated with doses of 150 x 10 6 CAR+ T cells or higher had disease progression, with time since bb2121 between 8 and 54 weeks (Table 1). MRD negative results were obtained in all 4 patients evaluable for analysis. CAR+ T cell expansion has been demonstrated consistently and 3 of 5 patients evaluable for CAR+ cells at 6 months had detectable vector copies. A further 5 months of follow up on reported results and initial data from additional patients will be presented. Conclusions: bb2121 shows promising efficacy at dose levels above 50 x 10 6 CAR+ T cells, with manageable CRS and no DLTs to date. ORR was 100% at these dose levels with 8 ongoing clinical responses at 6 months and 1 patient demonstrating a sustained response beyond one year. These initial data support the potential of CAR T therapy with bb2121 as a new treatment paradigm in RRMM. CT.gov study NCT02658929, sponsored by bluebird bio and Celgene Disclosures Berdeja: Teva: Research Funding; Janssen: Research Funding; Novartis: Research Funding; Abbvie: Research Funding; Celgene: Research Funding; BMS: Research Funding; Takeda: Research Funding; Vivolux: Research Funding; Amgen: Research Funding; Constellation: Research Funding; Bluebird: Research Funding; Curis: Research Funding. Siegel: Celgene, Takeda, Amgen Inc, Novartis and BMS: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Merck: Consultancy. Jagannath: MMRF: Speakers Bureau; Bristol-Meyers Squibb: Consultancy; Merck: Consultancy; Celgene: Consultancy; Novartis: Consultancy; Medicom: Speakers Bureau. Turka: bluebird bio: Employment, Equity Ownership. Lam: bluebird bio: Employment, Equity Ownership. Hege: Celgene Corporation: Employment, Equity Ownership. Morgan: bluebird bio: Employment, Equity Ownership, Patents & Royalties. Quigley: bluebird bio: Employment, Equity Ownership, Patents & Royalties. Kochenderfer: Bluebird bio: Research Funding; N/A: Patents & Royalties: I have multiple patents in the CAR field.; Kite Pharma: Research Funding.


This paper examines two different clearing arrangements for bank liabilities. One was a profit-maximizing private entity, the Suffolk Banking System. It cleared notes for New England banks between 1827 and 1858. The other was a nonprofit collective, the clearinghouses organized in many cities beginning in 1853. The paper examines how well these arrangements prevented bank failures and acted as lenders of last resort. It finds the Suffolk system had fewer failures but acted less like a lender of last resort. It argues that these differences can be explained by the different incentives facing the Suffolk Bank and the members of clearinghouses.


Following spinal cord injury (SCI), residential microglia and astrocytes in the spinal cord are known to activate an innate immune response. Here, we examined a role for EphB3 and EphA4 receptors in the early immune response following SCI. Our results demonstrate that EphB3 and EphA4 are present on both microglia and astrocytes in the adult spinal cord, and that they are phosphorylated within 15 min after the initiation of injury. Receptor activation by the ligand ephrinB3 is thought to enhance multiple cytokine mRNA transcripts involved in the immune response, as well as mediate the release of several pro-inflammatory cytokines in vitro. These responses are significantly attenuated in cells derived from mice deficient for EphB3 and EphA4. Interestingly, analysis of the whole spinal cord, using ELISA Assay, showed a significant attenuation in interleukin-6 (IL-6) in astrocytes but not microglia derived from EphB3/EphA4 double knockout (EphB3/A4-/-) mice. To examine cytokine levels following SCI, we collected spinal cord tissues from sham or SCI wild type (WT) and EphB3/A4-/- mice at 4 and 24 hours and analyzed cytokine levels using cytometric bead array. We observed a significant increase in IL-6 and chemokine ligand 2 (CCL-2) at 4 and 24 hours post-SCI in WT but not EphB3/A4-/- mice. These data suggest a novel role for EphB3 and EphA4 in the early activation of the acute immune response, and possibly the progression of damage to the injured spinal cord.


Many text documents on the Web are not originally created but forwarded or copied from other source documents. The phenomenon of document forwarding or transmission between various web sites is denoted as Web information diffusion. This paper focuses on mining information diffusion processes for specific topics on the Web. A novel system called LIDPW is proposed to address this problem using matching learning techniques. The source site and source document of each document are identified and the diffusion process composed of a sequence of diffusion relationships is visually presented to users. The effectiveness of LIDPW is validated on a real data set. A preliminary user study is performed and the results show that LIDPW does benefit users to monitor the information diffusion process of a specific topic, and aid them to discover the diffusion start and diffusion center of the topic.


Pellegrino Artusi is the original icon of Italian cookery, whose legendary 1891 book "Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well" defined its national cuisine and is still a bestseller today. He was also a passionate gastronome, renowned host and brilliant raconteur, who filled his books with tasty recipes and rumbustious anecdotes. From an unfortunate incident regarding Minestrone in Livorno and a proud defence of the humble meat loaf, to digressions on the unusual history of ice-cream, the side-effects of cabbage and the Florentines' weak constitutions, these writings brim with gossip, good cheer and an inexhaustible zest for life.


Background: There is a growing understanding that different kinds of interpersonal violence are interrelated. Many victims report experiences of cumulative violence, i.e., being subjected to more than one kind of violent behaviour (sexual, physical, emotional) and/or violence from more than one kind of perpetrator (family members, partners, acquaintances/strangers). To gain a more comprehensive understanding of what violence entails for victims, how victims can be helped and how violence can be prevented, there is a need to learn more about the co-occurrence of violence. Also, despite strong associations repeatedly being found between exposure to violence and the reporting of different kinds of ill-health, only a minority of victims have told health care professionals about their victimization. Less is known about the process of disclosing victimization to health care professionals for men than for women.Main aims: 1) Investigate the prevalence and co-occurrence of self-reported lifetime experiences of different kinds of interpersonal violence among male and female clinical and random population samples in Sweden (Study I-II). 2) Investigate whether cumulative violence is more strongly associated with self-reported symptoms off psychological ill-health than with any kind of victimization alone (Study III). 3) Develop a theoretical model concerning male victims' process of disclosing experiences of victimization to health care professionals in Sweden (Study IV). Method: The self-reported prevalence of interpersonal violence as well as self-reported symptoms of psychological ill-health were estimated by means of secondary analyses of data collected with the NorVold Abuse Questionnaire (NorAQ). Both sexes were represented in clinical (women n=2439 men n=1767) and random population samples (women n=1168 men n=2924). Descriptive statistics as well as binary logistic regression and ordinal regression analyses were used (Study I-III). In study IV, constructivist grounded theory was used, and 12 men were interviewed concerning their experience of disclosing victimization to health care professionals.Results: A large proportion of victims (women: 47-48%, men: 29-31%) reported experiences of more than one kind of violent behaviour. Many also reported being subjected to violence by more than one kind of perpetrator (women: 33-37%, men: 22-23%). Reporting cumulative violence had a stronger association with symptoms of psychological ill-health than reporting only one kind of victimization. In study IV, the interviewed men's own perceptions and considerations beforehand (e.g., perceived need for help and feelings of shame), as well as the dynamics during the actual health care encounter (e.g., patient-provider relationship and time constraints), were essential for understanding the process of disclosure. Also, the men's own conformity to hegemonic constructions of masculinity and professionals' adherence to gender norms had a strong negative influence on the men's process of disclosure.Discussion: Experiences of cumulative violence were common. Prevalence rates of experiences of different kinds of interpersonal violence were compared to previous studies on interpersonal violence in Sweden. Large discrepancies were found between all studies, which is a symptom of methodological and conceptual difficulties within the research field. Violence is a gendered phenomenon. Differences were seen in the kind of violence men and women reported. In addition to this, the results in study IV indicate that gender affects how violence is perceived and how victims are treated by health care professionals. Conclusion: Integrated approaches in research on interpersonal violence, as well as in clinical work, are needed. If the co-occurrence of violence is ignored, it may hamper our understanding of the experiences and consequences of interpersonal violence for victims. More research is needed into what produces the differences found in prevalence rates between studies to improve the methodology.


The ac magnetic susceptibility of a single crystal sample of the compound Y9Co7 has been measured in applied dc fields ranging from 0–6.7 kOe by utilizing a tunnel diode resonator circuit. In agreement with previous measurements on this material, a superconducting transition has been observed to occur at TSC≈2.5 ?> K. A broad maximum has been observed in the zero field susceptibility measurements from 2.5 K  <  T  <  8 K and its behavior with applied dc magnetic fields is consistent with that of the itinerant ferromagnet ZrZn2, which supports previous claims of itinerant ferromagnetism in this compound. The susceptibility has also been measured as a function of applied magnetic field and the results indicate that the actual Curie temperature for this system is higher than that suggested by previous reports based on Arrott plots constructed from dc magnetization.


Coronary Artery Disease is the major cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. Serum paraoxonase is a high density lipoprotein (HDL)-bound enzyme exhibiting antiatherogenic properties. Oxidative stress plays the major role in the atherosclerotic process. In the present case control study, serum paraoxonase activity and oxidative stress were monitored in 100 patients with AMI and 50 age and sex matched healthy controls. The levels of total cholesterol, triglycerides and low density lipoprotein were significantly (p<0.001) high and the levels of high density lipoprotein were significantly (p<0.001) low in the AMI patients as compared to healthy controls. MDA level was significantly (p<0.001) high and antioxidant activity of PON was significantly low in diabetic (p<0.001) and non-diabetic (p<0.01) AMI patients as compared with controls. Our findings show the increased oxidative stress and decreased paraoxonase antioxidant activity in AMI patients and importance of assessing these markers along with lipid profile in AMI patients.


Kyoto was Japan's political and cultural capital for more than a millennium before the dawn of the modern era. Until about the fifteenth century, it was also among the world's largest cities and, as the eastern terminus of the Silk Road, it was a place where the political, artistic, and religious currents of Asia coalesced and flourished. Despite these and many other traits that make Kyoto a place of both Japanese and world historical significance, the physical appearance of the pre-modern city remains largely unknown. Through a synthesis of textual, pictorial, and archaeological sources, this work attempts to shed light on Kyoto's pre-modern urban landscape with the aim of opening up new ways of thinking about key aspects of pre-modern Japanese history. The book begins with an examination of Kyoto's highly idealized urban plan (adapted from Chinese models in the eighth century) and the reasons behind its eventual failure. The formation of the suburbs of Kamigy? and Shimogy? is compared to the creation of large exurban temple-palace complexes by retired emperors from the late eleventh century. Each, it is argued, was a material manifestation of the advancement of privatized power that inspired a medieval discourse aimed at excluding "outsiders." By examining this discourse, a case is made that medieval power holders, despite growing autonomy, continued to see the emperor and classical state system as the ultimate sources of political legitimacy. This sentiment was shared by the leaders of the Ashikaga shogunate, who established their headquarters in Kyoto in 1336. The narrative examines how these warrior leaders interacted with the capital's urban landscape, revealing a surprising degree of deference to classical building protocols and urban codes. Remaining chapters look at the dramatic changes that took place during the Age of Warring States (1467-1580s) and Kyoto's post-war revitalization under the leadership of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Nobunaga's construction of Nij? Castle in 1569 transformed Kyoto's fundamental character and, as Japan's first castle town, it set an example soon replicated throughout the archipelago. In closing, the book explores how Hideyoshi--like so many before him, yet with much greater zeal--used monumentalism to co-opt and leverage the authority of Kyoto's traditional institutions. Richly illustrated with original maps and diagrams, Kyoto is a panoramic examination of space and architecture spanning eight centuries. It narrates a history of Japan's pre-modern capital relevant to the fields of institutional history, material culture, art and architectural history, religion, and urban planning. Students and scholars of Japan will be introduced to new ways of thinking about old historical problems while readers interested in the cities and architecture of East Asia and beyond will benefit from a novel approach that synthesizes a wide variety of sources.


Interregional and intermetropolitan economic divergence is greater in many western developed countries than it has been in many decades. Divergence manifests itself in many ways, including per capita income, labor force participation, and the spatial distribution of skills and returns to education. At the same time, geographical polarization of political preferences and electoral choices has increased, with gains in populism and nationalism in some regions, and broadening of socially liberal, pro-trade and multicultural attitudes in other regions. The task of explaining these developments poses challenges to economic geography and regional and urban economics. These fields have already developed some of the building blocks of an account, but a number of important gaps persist. This article is devoted to identifying priorities for regional science and urban economics, the new economic geography and proper economic geography to tackle the key mechanisms behind divergence as well as to integrate them in a common overall framework.


Nominate Barn Owls Tyto a. alba can be sexed based on flecking patterns of the underwing and underbody, but in the Dutch population consisting of the nominate subspecies and T. a. guttata, overlap in flecking exists between the sexes. In this paper we describe a new method to sex Barn Owls based on apical bar widths of the primaries. Data were obtained from 240 dead Barn Owls that were sexed by autopsy. The apical bars of the primaries 10 and 8 were narrower than 7.5 mm in males and wider than 7.5 mm in females. The widths of more basal bars of the primaries and secondaries overlapped between the sexes. The method was validated by providing 20 carcasses to 10 instructed volunteers, who measured the apical bar widths to sex the birds. The measuring error per owl specimen averaged at 2.2% (range 0.8–3.9%), and the proper sex was assigned in all cases.


Many countries have realised the importance of a transition to a green economy and have formulated precise scenarios, although the main emphasis relies on the application of renewable energy technologies. Considering the contemporary economic prosperity of developing countries, there is a great demand to enhance the infrastructure of investment for renewable energy as developed nations have already developed strategies for actions. Practical evidence of the dissemination of renewable energy technologies in Uzbekistan is provided, which stimulates the process of transition to green economy in the country.


This paper analyzes the determinants of the composition of sovereign bond, corporate bond and bank financing in a general equilibrium model of the financial sector of an emerging market economy (EME). We model an EME as an economy with a shortage of capital, weak debt enforcement institutions and potential government overborrowing, which may expose the country to sovereign default risk. As in Bolton and Freixas (2005) we model banks as having a comparative advantage in restructuring debt of financially distressed firms, but their lending is constrained by capital adequacy requirements. Corporate bond financing is a less flexible form of financing but is unconstrained by any capital adequacy requirements.


Thermal annealing is shown to be a successful approach to reduce the electrical resistance of transparent electrodes made of randomly oriented silver nanowires (AgNWs). A decrease in the electrical resistance by several orders of magnitude, whilst maintaining optical transmission (above 85%), is demonstrated. Several mechanisms involved in the electrical behaviour induced by thermal treatment both in air and under vacuum are identified using a combination of ramped, stepped and isothermal annealing. Some mechanisms lead to the reduction of the electrical resistance such as local sintering, while others, such as spheroidisation, induce irreversible damage to the network. It is also shown that the polymer used in the synthesis of Ag nanowires plays a crucial role as a thermal stabiliser under vacuum conditions. Finally, optimised samples exhibit an optical transmittance of 83% (without substrate contribution removal) and a sheet resistance of 9.5 Ω/sq.


This paper offers a preliminary investigation into the conditions under which it might be optimal to engage in proactive management of a non-timber forest resource in the presence of an invasive species whose spread is unaffected by management action. Proactive management is defined as treating an uninfected area in order to encourage healthy ecosystem function, given that the arrival of the invasive is inevitable. Inspired by the problem of white pine blister rust in the Rocky Mountain west, the model was solved under varying assumptions concerning the scale of management action, benefit and costs, the discount rate, and uncertainty of spread. Results showed that proactive strategies tended to be optimal when, ceteris paribus, a) more resources are available for treatment; b) the costs of treatment are rapidly increasing in forest health, or conversely, the benefits of healthy and unhealthy stands are relatively similar; and c) the discount rate is low. The introduction of uncertainty did not significantly affect the likelihood of a proactive management strategy being optimal, but did show that the conditional probabilities of infection play important role in the decision of which uninfected stand should be treated if a choice is available to the manager.


This paper aspires to deconstruct China's policy towards the Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries as well as to measure and assess China's impact on political regimes in the region. It places Beijing's actions in the broader context of China's grand strategy and its policy towards the post-Soviet space and the European Union alike. It focuses on the developments in China's policy after 2009, i.e. following the start of the EaP. The paper scrutinizes the evolving relevance of the EaP countries for Beijing, deconstructs long-term Chinese goals towards these actors, and identifies key instruments and carriers of foreign policy on the part of Beijing. The study is based on a number of semi-structured interviews with representatives of Chinese academia, think tanks and administration conducted in 2017. In order to measure the impact of China's policies on local political regimes,
the article adopts the theoretical framework of Limited Access Orders (LAOs) and Open Access Orders (OAOs), developed by North, Wallis, and Weingast (2009), and further refined into a typology by Ademmer, Langbein, and Borzel (2018). The empirical analysis leads to the conclusion that due to China's general foreign policy principles, as well as its recognition of Russia's alleged interests in the region, Beijing does not aspire to alter
local political regimes. However, in the case of Belarus, the Belarusian comprehensive economic and policy cooperation with China within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative is leading to increased economic openness and the evolution of Belarus' LAO towards unbalanced closure. The article argues that China's economic presence in the region brings both challenges and opportunities to the European Union's policies, which need to be addressed proactively.


In order to understand the permanent deformation and degradation of railway ballast under high speed train loading, a series of cyclic triaxial tests were conducted using large-scale cylindrical apparatus. The frequency was used from 5 Hz to 60 Hz corresponding to the train speeds from about 40 km/h to 400 km/h. Three types of permanent deformation mechanisms were observed in response to the applied cyclic loads, namely, plastic shakedown at relatively lower frequency, ratcheting at an increased frequency, and plastic collapse at higher frequencies. Correspondingly, four types of particle degradation were observed. The magnitudes of ballast deformation and degradation were found to increase with the frequency and number of load cycles. A critical train speed was identified. Moreover, a good correlation was obtained between particle breakage and volumetric strain under cyclic loading.


The prime purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the School
Leadership and Management Course (KPKS) through three levels namely participants
satisfaction, learning enhancement and organizational effectiveness. This study also
attempted to investigate the relationships among these three variables. The research
methodology employed here was of correlational and descriptive. The survey
questionnaires and KPKS tests were used in the collection of data. Purposive
sampling of clusters was preferred as this technique seem to be more suitable in
studying course participants according to cohorts in a certain year. All the 221
headmaster participants (six groups) attended the KPKS course in the year 2002 were
selected as clusters for the study. Besides that, multistage stage cluster sampling was
also used. All 221 headmaster participants plus their 221 senior assistants and their
2210 teachers (10 teachers per school) participated in this study. The data was
analyzed using means, standard deviation, t-test and One Way ANOVA. The findings
of the study indicate that participant satisfaction, generally was satisfactory. The participant satisfaction towards KPKS arranged in ascending order was physical
facilities, followed by course content, lecturers' presentation and course benefits. The
levels of knowledge, skills and confidence of the participants were different and
significant after attending the course as compared to before. Knowledge enhancement
was most evident in the aspect of curriculum and cocurriculum management whereas,
enhancement in skills and confidence was in the aspect of office and financial
management. The findings of this study also indicated that there was no difference in
the perception of headmasters, senior assistants and the teachers with regards to
organizational effectiveness. The headmaster participants were found to be least
interested in implementing innovation projects and they were mostly indulged in dayto-
day management and administration. A significant and positive but weak
relationship was identified between participant satisfaction and learning enhancement.
Besides that, a similar weak relationship was also identified between participant
satisfaction and organizational effectiveness. However, a weak to moderate
relationship was identified between learning enhancement and organizational
effectiveness. In whole, majority of the participants welcome the KPKS course and
felt satisfied with three main variables namely participant satisfaction, learning
enhancement and organizational effectiveness. The implications of these findings
suggest that the KPKS course should be continued and retained compulsory for every
headmaster who is newly appointed. However, attempts to update the course contents
and to cultivate transformational leadership among KPKS participants should be
enhanced in order to fulfill the basic needs of Malaysian headmasters.


"The Secret African City" is a project that fulfills both my academic and personal interests. Throughout American history, ancient Egyptian's art and architectural concepts have served as a blueprint for the development of state capitols, one in particular being Washington, D.C. where monumental constructions have occupied its city streets devoid of any direct recognition of their African origins. Traditionally, people of African descent among other Americans were not aware of African and more specifically Egyptian contributions to Western Civilization in general; hence, many have not made the correlation between D.C.'s architecture and artifacts such as the Washington Monument, the U.S. capitol, and/or the House of the Temple on one hand, and African influences or origins on the other. One of the most significant reasons for such absences and omissions is based on the long practice of portraying Egypt as separate from the African continent. Although architecture is the focus of this thesis, the pattern of silence/omission is consistent with the contributions of people of African descent in the United States in relationship to the development of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. By researching the works of scholars such as David Ovason, James Steven Curl, Ivan Van Sertima, Anthony Browder, and Martin Bernal among others an examination has been done to decode as well as unveil the significance of the ancient Egyptian inspired structural designs within Washington, D.C. As a result, the misconceptions that the edifices of the District of Columbia were initiated on behalf of the nation's "forefathers" appear to have different origins and roots. Also, the honorary legacy of President George Washington is investigated to demonstrate the ways in which his position of power as the U.S. president and also, his association with Freemasonry as a Master Mason influenced the evolution and construction of the U.S. Capitol and the planning of the city of Washington, D.C.


In this paper we study a mathematical model of one-dimensional swimmers performing a planar motion while fully immersed in a viscous fluid. The swimmers are assumed to be of small size, and all inertial effects are neglected. Hydrodynamic interactions are treated in a simplified way, using the local drag approximation of resistive force theory. We prove existence and uniqueness of the solution of the equations of motion driven by shape changes of the swimmer. Moreover, we prove a controllability result showing that given any pair of initial and final states, there exists a history of shape changes such that the resulting motion takes the swimmer from the initial to the final state. We give a constructive proof, based on the composition of elementary maneuvers (straightening and its inverse, rotation, translation), each of which represents the solution of an interesting motion planning problem. Finally, we prove the existence of solutions for the optimal control problem of finding, among the histories of shape changes taking the swimmer from an initial to a final state, the one of minimal energetic cost.


This paper presents a developing Pitch Error Coding Protocol for assessing the accuracy of a musician's performance. The protocol organized performance errors into any of three main categories, each based on an established cognitive theory of music memory and processing: (1) the Serial Distance Hypothesis (SDH); (2) the Implication Realization (I-R) model; and (3) the mental organizing principle of the Schema Theory (SCH). An elite oboist formed the basis of a detailed case study where his sight reading, practice, and performance of a challenging excerpt of music were examined. These data were used to: 1) investigate the protocol; 2) ask whether any protocol components could explain errors better than others; 3) and show where improvements after practice occurred. The results revealed that the SDH accounted for the majority of pitch errors, these originated in a three-note proximity of the target and some SDH errors overlapped with the I-R category errors. Although final counts for SDH and I-R are similar, SDH uniquely identified errors more frequently than the I-R. Future research and development of the protocol might look at combinations of pieces and performer to determine whether SDH may be a dominant source of error.


A reduced set of measurement geometries allows the spectral reflectance of special effect coatings to be predicted for any other geometry. A physical model based on flake-related parameters has been used to determine nonredundant measurement geometries for the complete description of the spectral bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF). The analysis of experimental spectral BRDF was carried out by means of principal component analysis. From this analysis, a set of nine measurement geometries was proposed to characterize special effect coatings. It was shown that, for two different special effect coatings, these geometries provide a good prediction of their complete color shift.


In the last 25 years or so Australia has experienced one of the longest economic booms in history, as compared with other advanced economies. As a result, Australians are enjoying one of the world's highest living standards and per capita income. Will Australians continue to enjoy positive economic growth for the next 25 years or so? No one could predict accurately – which is not at all helpful. However, it is possible to shed further light on the long-run sustainability of Australia's aggregate output growth by quantifying and decomposing it. The primary aim of this dissertation is to quantify the sources of economic growth in Australia covering the period 1965 to 2015. The neoclassical growth analysis (Solow 1956; Swan 1956) will be employed to decompose Australia's economic growth into three components. The first is due to the growth of capital input, the second is due to the growth of labour input, and the third is due to technological progress as captured by an increase in both the productivity of capital and labour, which is also known in the growth literature as total factor productivity (TFP). The Solow-Swan model not only provides a razor-edge measurement method for technological progress but of more importance, the model demonstrates that technological progress (as captured by TFP) is the engine of long-run sustainable growth (Solow 1956; Swan 1956). A positive TFP value suggests that growth is sustainable and vice versa.


The intention of the current book is to provide a flexible and comprehensive bibliographical tool to those scholars working or interested in Irish English. A whole range of references (approx. 2,500) relating to Irish English in all its aspects are gathered together here and in the majority of cases annotations are supplied. The book has a detailed introduction dealing the history of Irish English, the documentation available and contains an overview of the themes in Irish English which have occupied linguists working in the field. Various appendixes offer information on the history of Irish English studies and biographical notes on scholars from this area. All the bibliographical material is contained on the accompanying CD-ROM along with appropriate software (Windows, PC) for processing the databases and texts. The databases are fully searchable, information can be exported at will and customised extracts can be created by users from within an intuitive software interface. This bibliography is part of a larger project, called the Irish English Resource Centre . On the web site of the centre, under Sources, you can find updates both of software and of bibliographical items. The compiler expects to be adding items every one or two months. The web site of the centre can be found here: www.uni-essen.de/IERC . The updates of the bibliography and its software can also be reached directly under the address www.uni-essen.de/~lan300/atlas/sb_update.htm . For questions about or help with the software, please contact Raymond Hickey ( firstname.lastname@example.com ), who will also be maintaining a FAQ page on the site.


Trade in primates is considered a major impediment to primate conservation globally. The bushmeat trade in West and Central Africa is considered largely unsustainable and represents one of the main threats to biodiversity. Furthermore, the use of primates in traditional practices and medicine includes a third of the African primate species. Little is known about the trade in the African mainland lorisiforms; pottos, angwantibos and galagos. Aiming to fill this knowledge gap we created an online survey, conducted a literature review, and analyzed CITES trade records, focusing on the last two decades. We obtained 188 questionnaire responses from researchers and people working in 31 different countries in sub-Saharan Africa. We found a total of 33 publications reporting on trade in African lorisiforms, and CITES records indicate that almost 2000 lorisiforms were traded internationally from African range countries. Fifty-three percent of respondents provided meaningful details about aspects of the trade in African lorisiforms from 50% of the range countries. Galagos were reported by respondents in larger numbers than pottos and angwantibos, and mainly occurred in the pet trade. Pottos were the most frequently mentioned taxon in the literature, when all trade types were combined. Across all of the sources (online survey, literature and CITES database), trade in pottos and angwantibos was reported from 12 countries, and galagos from 23 countries. Trade was reported to occur mainly within rural settings (64%), potentially indicating that demand is not high enough to fuel long distance trading. However, as seen in the Asian lorisiforms, once quantitative studies were conducted, the threat that trade posed became alarmingly apparent and is now considered a major impediment to their conservation. Our insight into the trade of African lorisiforms should be followed up with concerted studies, with an emphasis on quantifying trade to  the species level. Download the complete issue.


The paper presents the automatic control of aircraft in longitudinal plane, during landing, by using the linearized dynamics of aircraft, taking into consideration the sensor errors and other external disturbances. Aircraft auto-landing is achieved by combining two control techniques: H2 and H∞ approaches; this way, a robust H2/H∞ controller is obtained. Within the robust H2/H∞ controller, the weights of the H2 and H∞ control techniques are adjusted such that the aircraft accurately tracks the desired trajectory during the two main stages of the landing process (glide slope and flare). The new automatic landing system also consists of: a subsystem which models the geometry of landing, providing the imposed value of aircraft longitudinal velocity and altitude, an optimal observer for the estimation of aircraft state and a dynamic compensator providing one of the two components of the mixed H2/H∞ control law. The theoretical results are validated by numerical simulations for the landing of a Boeing 747; the results are very promising and prove the robustness of the new auto-landing system even in the presence of disturbances.


Patient: Female, 49 Final Diagnosis: Cerebral venous thrombosis Symptoms: Altered mental state • weakness in limbs Medication: — Clinical Procedure: — Specialty: Endocrinology and Metabolic Objective: Rare co-existance of disease or pathology Background: Cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) is a rare but fatal complication of hyperthyroidism that is induced by the hypercoagulable state of thyrotoxicosis. Although it is frequently difficult to diagnose CVT promptly, it is important to consider it in the differential diagnosis when a hyperthyroid patient presents with atypical neurologic symptoms. Care Report: A 49-year-old Japanese female with unremarkable medical history came in with thyroid storm and multiple progressive ischemic stroke identified at another hospital. Treatment for thyroid storm with beta-blocker, glucocorticoid, and potassium iodide-iodine was started and MR venography was performed on hospital day 3 for further evaluation of her progressive ischemic stroke. The MRI showed CVT, and anticoagulation therapy, in addition to the anti-thyroid agents, was initiated. The patient's thyroid function was successfully stabilized by hospital day 10 and further progression of CVT was prevented. Conclusions: Physicians should consider CVT when a patient presents with atypical course of stroke or with atypical MRI findings such as high intensity area in apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) mapping. Not only is an early diagnosis and initiation of anticoagulation important, but identifying and treating the underlying disease is essential to avoid the progression of CVT.


The ability of certain cells to grow in a polarized fashion has been studied for many years, but the mechanisms involved in the process, particularly in plant cell systems, remain unclear. Takeda et al. report the discovery of a positive feedback mechanism that regulates the development of a polarized cell shape in the commonly studied model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. The positive feedback system is generated by the local interaction of Ca2+ and reactive oxygen species in root hair cells and is central to the maintenance of active growth at spatially restricted sites during polarized cell elongation. S. Takeda, C. Gapper, H. Kaya, E. Bell, K. Kuchitsu, L. Dolan, Local positive feedback regulation determines cell shape in root hair cells. Science 319, 1241-1244 (2008). [Abstract] [Full Text]


The role of mean and stochastic freshwater forcing on the generation of millennial-scale climate variability in the North Atlantic is studied using a low-order coupled atmosphere‐ocean‐sea ice model. It is shown that millennial-scale oscillations can be excited stochastically, when the North Atlantic Ocean is fresh enough. This finding is used in order to interpret the aftermath of massive iceberg surges (Heinrich events) in the glacial North Atlantic, which are characterized by an excitation of Dansgaard‐Oeschger events. Based on model results, it is hypothesized that Heinrich events trigger Dansgaard‐Oeschger cycles and that furthermore the occurrence of Heinrich events is dependent on the accumulated climatic effect of a series of Dansgaard‐Oeschger events. This scenario leads to a coupled ocean‐ice sheet oscillation that shares many similarities with the Bond cycle. Further sensitivity experiments reveal that the timescale of the oscillations can be decomposed into stochastic, linear, and nonlinear deterministic components. A schematic bifurcation diagram is used to compare theoretical results with paleoclimatic data.


A low-pressure filtration unit incorporated with polymeric electrospun polyvinyl chloride (PVC) fiber membranes was designed and fabricated for the treatment of waste water in order to improve its quality. This custom-made pressure filter was designed according to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code (BPVC). A scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to characterize the electrospun membranes. In order to increase the hydrophilicity and filtration rates of PVC membranes, a lower dosage of poly (ethylene oxide) was added to the PVC solution prior to the electrospinning process. The filter was found to be well suited for the reduction of larger suspended solids, turbidity, and odor. It was demonstrated that this type of filtration membrane could be manufactured at a lower cost and not require electricity or any other external power source to achieve high flow rates. This technology could even be used to enhance the quality of tap water in many places, such as Africa. Another application could be a pre-filtration of reverse osmosis (RO) or other ultrafine filtration systems, to increase the life of the primary filter while decreasing fouling and maintenance.Copyright © 2011 by ASME


In two experiments, we investigated the downstream consequences of activating deliberative versus implemental mindsets on risk perception (Experiment 1) and risk-taking behavior (Experiment 2). We hypothesized that participants in an implemental versus deliberative mindset arrive at more optimistic judgments about their own risks of experiencing negative life events, compared to other peoples' risks. The results of Experiment 1 confirm this hypothesis and reveal perceived controllability as an important moderator. Experiment 2 further augments these findings by demonstrating that participants in a deliberative mindset show less risk-taking behavior than participants in an implemental mindset using a behavioral risk task. Implications for research on mindset theory of action phases and mindset-dependent effects on risk perception and risk-taking behavior are discussed.


Fitts' pointing paradigm is widely used to conduct controlled experiments and to evaluate new interaction techniques enhancing target acquisition. Many of them change the behavior of the cursor according to various inputs, most notably the positions of potential targets. We propose to extend Fitts' paradigm in order to challenge those techniques with distractors (i.e., potential targets which are not the goal of the user) in a controlled manner. To reduce variability, we add a single new factor to the paradigm, the distractor density. We specify a distractors distribution, fully determined by this factor together with those of Fitts' task, aimed at reducing bias toward a specific technique. We also propose a preliminary extension of Fitts' law to take account of the sensitivity to the density of distractors as well as of the task difficulty. In an experiment, we compare five existing pointing techniques, and show that this extended protocol enables contrasted comparisons between them.


This paper examines a key question in Information Seeking and Retrieval: how do people assess the usefulness of documents? In an experimental study, we presented 25 participants with five task-based search scenarios and asked them to assess and comment on the usefulness of Web documents from the Canadian government domain. Data was analyzed to test for the effect of five information task types: fact-finding, deciding, doing, learning and problem-solving. Participant assessments show a low level of agreement on usefulness scores overall, but consistency varied by task type. The criteria used to assess usefulness varied by level of usefulness, by task type and by participant. Findings contribute to our understanding of consistency in relevance assessments and the impact of tasks on information behaviour.


This represents the most comprehensive compilation of data on threatened vascular plants ever published. It includes the names of some 33,000 plant species determined to be rare or threatened on a global scale. Conservation assessments were provided by the IUCN Species Survival Commission, the National Botanical Institute (South Africa), Environment Australia and CSIRO,. The Nature Conservancy, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew together with hundreds of botanic gardens and botanists throughout the world. The Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh and New York Botanical Garden have made major in-kind contributions. The result of 20 years work by botanists and conservationists around the world, it is intended as a conservation tool, as provider of baseline information to measure conservation progress and as a primary source of data on plant species. Most importantly, however, it provides the building blocks on which to base a worldwide effort to conserve plant species. This publication has been scanned by the Biodiversity Heritage Library and is available online: http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/31085360


We develop an encompassing framework for matching, covariate balancing, and doubly-robust methods for causal inference from observational data called generalized optimal matching (GOM). The framework is given by generalizing a new functional-analytical formulation of optimal matching, giving rise to the class of GOM methods, for which we provide a single unified theory to analyze tractability, consistency, and efficiency. Many commonly used existing methods are included in GOM and, using their GOM interpretation, can be extended to optimally and automatically trade off balance for variance and outperform their standard counterparts. As a subclass, GOM gives rise to kernel optimal matching (KOM), which, as supported by new theoretical and empirical results, is notable for combining many of the positive properties of other methods in one. KOM, which is solved as a linearly-constrained convex-quadratic optimization problem, inherits both the interpretability and model-free consistency of matching but can also achieve the $\sqrt{n}$-consistency of well-specified regression and the efficiency and robustness of doubly robust methods. In settings of limited overlap, KOM enables a very transparent method for interval estimation for partial identification and robust coverage. We demonstrate these benefits in examples with both synthetic and real data


Ethanolic extracts of the leaves of Rubia cordifolia L. (Rubiaceae) (ERC) were investigated for their phytocompounds, in vitro and in vivo immunopharmacological properties. Immunomodulatory effects of this plant extract were proved in Cyclophosphamide (CP) -induced immunosuppressed animal models. Albino rats were treated with the aqueous extract of ERC and Cyclophosphamide. The Total count (TC) and Differential count (DC) of microphages and blood clotting assay were affected due to the suppressive effect of Cyclophosphamide. Administration of plant extract to CP- exposed animals resulted in enhanced immune responses.


Surface tension is an important property of liquids. It has diverse uses such as testing water contamination, measuring alcohol concentration in drinks, and identifying the presence of protein in urine to detect the onset of kidney failure. Today, measurements of surface tension are done in a lab environment using costly instruments, making it hard to leverage this property in ubiquitous applications. In contrast, we show how to measure surface tension using only a smartphone. We introduce a new algorithm that uses the small waves on the liquid surface as a series of lenses that focus light and generate a characteristic pattern. We then use the phone camera to capture this pattern and measure the surface tension. Our approach is simple, accurate and available to anyone with a smartphone. Empirical evaluations show that our mobile app can detect water contamination and measure alcohol concentration. Furthermore, it can track protein concentration in the urine, providing an initial at-home test for proteinuria, a dangerous complication that can lead to kidney failure.


The PG&E WaveConnect project was intended to demonstrate the technical and economic viability of wave power in the open ocean adjacent to PG&E's service territory. WaveConnect was conceived as a multi-stage development process leading to long-term megawatt-scale wave power production. The first-stage tasks consisted of site selection, permitting, pilot plant design, and assessment of technology and commercial readiness. The second stage would have included development of infrastructure, undersea cabling, and deployment of wave energy conversion devices (WECs). In the third stage, the most promising WEC devices would have been deployed in larger quantities and connected to the grid. This report documents the findings of Stage One. Site Selection: After studying the wave energy potential, grid interconnection and other project infrastructure along the California coast, PG&E selected two sites: one near Eureka, called the Humboldt WaveConnect (HWC) project, and another near Vandenberg Air Force Base, called the Central Coast WaveConnect project (CCWC). Permitting: FERC issued PG&E preliminary permits for HWC in 2008 and for CCWC in 2010. PG&E chose to use FERC's Pilot Project Licensing Process, which was intended to streamline licensing to allow relatively quick and easy installation, operation, and environmental testing for pilot projects. Permitting, however, proved to bemore » complicated, time-consuming and expensive, mainly because of the uncertain impacts of WEC devices. PG&E learned that even under the PPLP the project would still require a full analysis under CEQA, including an EIR, as well as Monitoring and Adaptive Management Programs and other requirements that had significant cost and scheduling implications. A majority of efforts were expended on permitting activities. Pilot Plant Design: PG&E prepared a conceptual design for a 5-MW pilot test facility at the Humboldt site, which consisted of an off-shore deployment area where WECs of different designs and from different device manufacturers could be tested. PG&E was to provide permitting, subsea cables, and on-shore facilities necessary to connect WaveConnect to an existing PG&E substation, while the WEC manufacturers would provide, operate and maintain their devices during the test period. Technology and Commercial Readiness: PG&E issued a Request for Information to the wave power industry to assess the technical and commercial capabilities of WEC manufacturers. Sixteen manufacturers responded, representing the four best-known and most mature designs. PG&E found that WECs are early-stage devices with evolving designs and little real-world operating experience. These characteristics made environmental impacts difficult to assess, which complicated permitting efforts. It also made a megawatt-scale demonstration project difficult to support because early stage WECs are costly and have limited track records for performance and reliability. Results: PG&E withdrew its FERC DPLA for HWC in November 2010 and surrendered its preliminary permit for CCWC in May 2011, effectively discontinuing the project for the following combination of reasons: Permitting issues were much more challenging than originally anticipated. Stage One project funding of $6 million proved insufficient to complete the necessary development and permitting work. During Stage One development, PG&E determined that permitting costs would be $2 million to $5 million greater than originally budgeted. The cost of developing a five-year, 5-MW pilot project at Humboldt Bay is much greater than the $15 million to $20 million originally estimated. Even assuming that vendors provide WEC devices at no cost to the utility, which was the proposed strategy with WaveConnect, PG&E concluded that a pilot project comparable to HWC would cost approximately $47 million. If WEC devices were purchased for such a project, its total cost would be on the order of $90 million. It is unclear when or if wave power will become competitive with renewable energy alternatives. Significant additional investment in design, testing and demonstration will be needed to improve designs and reduce costs. Using a vendor-provided installed cost goal of $2500/kW for mature WECs in five to 10 years, PG&E concluded that their LCOE would be in the range of $175-$250/MWh, which is not competitive with current or near-term renewable alternatives such as wind or solar photovoltaics. Although PG&E discontinued the project and no WEC devices were deployed, WaveConnect advanced PG&E's understanding of the technological, engineering, permitting, environmental, economic, stakeholder, and related issues involved in undertaking any wave power project now or in the future. As WEC technologies mature, and regulatory and permitting agencies grow more familiar with their environmental impacts, PG&E believes that wave power will merit further evaluation, demonstration and deployment.« less


The antimicrobial activity of thymol, carvacrol and cinnamaldehyde was tested by several methods on bacteria involved in upper respiratory tract infections. Their combinations were investigated too. The broad spectrum of activity and the synergistic effect observed with some combinations (specially thymol and carvacrol) could allowed the use of the three compounds alone or, like thymol an carvacrol, combined during the treatment of respiratory infections.


The familiar classical result that a continuous map from a space $X$ to a space $Y$ can be defined by giving continuous maps $varphi_U: U to Y$ on each member $U$ of an open cover ${mathfrak C}$ of $X$ such that $varphi_Umid U cap V = varphi_V mid U cap V$ for all $U,V in {mathfrak C}$ was recently shown to have an exact analogue in pointfree topology, and the same was done for the familiar classical counterpart concerning finite closed covers of a space $X$ (Picado and Pultr [4]). This note presents alternative proofs of these pointfree results which differ from those of [4] by treating the issue in terms of frame homomorphisms while the latter deals with the dual situation concerning localic maps. A notable advantage of the present approach is that it also provides proofs of the analogous results for some significant variants of frames which are not covered by the localic arguments.


Preventing potential failure in pipework due to fatigue induced vibration provoked by slug flow is a critical part of detailed engineering design phase as these types of failures have been evidenced across the industry, and particularly in the oil and gas sector leading to significant incidents.
 Slug forces are generated at change of direction of piping systems (i.e: elbows, tees, branches, and laterals) due to change of momentum of the fluid in two-phase flow regimes; The order of magnitude of such slug forces depend on the process stream properties, and in the relation between the two phases liquid and gas converging into the same pipework.
 In order to address this concern, the piping designer typical approach is to conduct the static equivalent method where dynamic loads are converted to static loads in the piping flexibility analysis. In this approach, the designer estimates the slug force by selecting the most conservative combination of both variables, density and velocity of the slug, which is multiplied by the internal sectional area of the pipe, where the slug load is expected to occur. The resulting slug force is then typically multiplied by 1.5 to 2.0 in order to take into account the dynamic load factor.
 The resulting slug forces are applied at all the affected changes of directions as a constant force in the piping flexibility analysis. While this approach is routinely followed as it is typically conservative from the piping flexibility static load cases perspective, it does not simulate the real dynamic conditions of the piping system, as it does not consider the influence of the slug forces occurring as a function of time, wherein reality, not all the slug forces are occurring at once at any given time, but occurring sequentially as the fluid travels through the length of the pipe, impacting the elbows in a progressive order, which directly dependents on the velocity of the fluid and the estimated length of the slug.
 Therefore, this approach may not be reliable to evaluate existing systems with high vibration due to the high level of confidence required before proceeding to perform field modifications.
 This paper describe over a real case example, an alternative methodology which allowed to determine the dynamic interaction of the slugging forces by utilizing the Time-History assisted by Response-Spectrum, both available within common piping flexibility analysis software.
 The methodology allowed to resolve the piping vibration problem on subject by re-designing the associated spring and supports, without reducing the gas treatment plant production rates nor shutting down the facility.
 The original design and modification of NPS 30 piping inlet to a Rich Amine Column is discussed along with results of both flexibility analysis and field vibration measurements before and after the modification.


As the U.S. space program turns to focus on planetary surface exploration, there will be an increasingly important role for extended simulations at analog field sites. Field testing and training date back to the Apollo program, and have been pursued with increasing scope and concerns of fidelity during the past decade. These recent tests have included considerations of exploration for minor bodies, but in the whole have been more applicable to lunar and Mars missions. In simulating extravehicular activities (EVAs), a variety of pressure suit analogs have been adopted in the past, ranging from a full pressure suit to no special garments at all. Simulating an EVA on Mars or, more challenging, the moon realistically in the field on Earth is an effectively impossible task. The "gold standard" would be a pressurized suit, but even without life support equipment, the suited subject weighs substantially more than they would on a mission, massively increasing physiological workload and incurring increased physical risks to the subject. To attempt to improve Earth-based fidelity while supporting field testing, the University of Maryland has developed three successive series of suit simulators using garment design and interstitial padding to represent the bulk and joint limits of a pressure suit without pressurization. This allows the use of a lighter-weight suit, more representative of the on-back weight for a suit system for the moon or Mars, without incurring the training and safety monitoring requirements of a pressurized system. Helmets of these suits are totally enclosed with ventilation fans to provide fresh air to the wearer, simulating the aural environment of a pressurized suit with vent air noise in the helmet. Since the suit garment very effectively insulates the subject, these systems also had to be designed to incorporate a liquid cooling garment and ice reservoir in the backpack assembly. These suits were used in a series of field tests in Arizona in collaboration with Arizona State University, where professional geologists performed field research while in the suits in simulation of lunar or Mars scientific exploration. In the last two years, the UMd suit simulators have become an integral part of operations at the HI-SEAS field site in Hawaii. These tests are isolation studies, requiring the six-person crews to operate without any physical or visual interactions outside of the simulation, and requiring environmental isolation whenever an EVA simulation takes place. To date, two MX-C suit simulators have accumulated over six months of operational use in support of three successive missions. During the HI-SEAS tests, EVA operations are conducted in either MX-C suit simulators or in off-the-shelf hazardous material handling (HAZMAT) suits. The HAZMAT suits are lighter in weight, not overly restrictive of limb motion, and allow unrealistic capabilities such as pulling the arms inside and using a tablet inside the suit. The paper focuses on the lessons learned from EVA simulations performed in the second and third HI-SEAS missions using the MX-C suit simulators. Critical issues with the MX-C suits, including the need for assistance in doffing and donning the suits, and inability for self-rescue in the event of overheating or trauma. Desirable design revisions for the next generation suit simulators based on lessons learned are presented and prioritized.


Pre-service teachers are typically concerned with student assessment and view related issues through varied experiences and backgrounds. Understanding how they think about assessment issues within the current educational context helps to better prepare them. In this paper we describe pre-service teachers' thinking about assessment issues, the theories that underlie their thinking, and how it evolves as a result of using an introspective critical approach called the objective knowledge growth framework. The framework combines the diary and the think aloud protocol and brings pre-service teachers to identify initial assessment problems, propose tentative solutions, and challenge their solutions. Thirty-one pre-service teachers took part in this study and received a one hour workshop on the use of the introspective approach to solve their self-identified assessment issues. Brookhart's 'Tensions in Classroom Assessment Theory and Practice' framework was then used to explore the theories at play when pre-service teachers go through their problem solving processes. The participants identified group work, test failure, accommodation, fairness, multiple assessment opportunities, and academic enablers as key areas of concern. Particularly notable in the study, was the greater importance attached by the pre-service teachers to assessment for classroom management, student motivation, and social justice purposes, than to support learning. The analysis of these concerns using Brookhart's framework and of the reasoning about them suggests that the intersection of measurement, psychological, and social theories continues to impact the decision making process regarding assessment.


We experimentally demonstrate the coherent combining of two tunable erbium-doped fiber lasers by using a single-mode fiber feedback loop configuration. A single-mode fiber is arranged in the feedback loop to filter the far-field pattern, and the energy of desired in-phase mode is collected and injected into the resonators of two component fiber lasers. The coherently combined laser is tunable over a wide spectrum ranging from 1536 to 1569 nm, which means that the combining scheme is compatible with wavelength tuning. The effects and necessity of whether adopting polarization controlling measures or not in component lasers are investigated in detail. The results indicate that adding polarization controlling can improve the array's coherence, whereas it will decrease the output power and efficiency simultaneously.


Natural Language Understanding (NLU) models on voice-controlled speakers face several challenges. In particular, music streaming services have large catalogs, often containing millions of songs, artists, and albums and several thousands of custom playlists and stations. In many cases there is ambiguity and little structural difference between carrier phrases and entity names. In this work, we describe how we leveraged multi-armed bandits in combination with implicit customer feedback to improve accuracy and personalization of responses to voice request in the music domain. Our models are tested in a large-scale industrial system containing several other components. In particular, we focused on using this technology to correct errors made by upstream NLU models and personalize responses based on customer preferences and music provider functionality. The models resulted in significant improvement of playback rate for Amazon Music and are deployed in systems serving several countries and languages. We further used the implicit feedback of the customers to generate weakly labeled training data for the NLU models. This improved the experience for customers using other music providers on all Alexa devices.


An equilibrium of a signaling game isnoise-proofif it survives a small perturbation of the Receiver's perception of the signal. We derive conditions for noise proofness and prove existence for signaling games where the Receiver has two actions, the message space is a real interval, and standard monotonicity conditions are met. Such games have a continuum of equilibria which satisfy the never-a-weak-best-reply criterion (NWBR), but often a unique noise-proof equilibrium. Every noise-proof equilibrium satisfies NWBR and is "insufficiently revealing": With some probability the Receiver chooses an action which would be suboptimal under full information.


The objective of this thesis is to develop a new way of thinking about the theory and practice of human rights to accommodate the demands of vegans for basic moral rights for nonhuman animals. The work firstly outlines the ways in which the claims of vegans, under the right to freedom of thought and conscience, are largely unsupported by existing human rights because they are typically outweighed by the wider interests of the majority. Drawing on the work of Emmanuel Levinas, the thesis considers arguments that ground the nature of vegan claims in the ethics of alterity. It specifically utilises the argument that the basis of human rights recognises ethical responsibility to the precarious, mortal other. Upendra Baxi cautiously supports the application of Levinas' philosophy to the ethics of law, and there is a slowly growing body of literature in this regard. This thesis is the first human rights work to show that Levinas' ethics of alterity can also be applied to nonhuman others, and that human rights arguments can include claims that the avoidable suffering of nonhuman animals is a human rights wrong. The argument developed within this thesis allows a reconceptualisation of the human rights demands of vegans as claims representing a well-established ethical regard for nonhumans. Looking to Levinas' ethics of alterity not only illustrates a new approach to human rights litigation to accommodate vegans but also grounds the protection of other animals and allows for a reconceptualisation of the very idea of human rights.


Objective: To assess the efficacy of partial splenic embolisation in the management of hypersplenism Material and Method: Eleven partial splenic embolisations were performed in nine children suffering from portal hypertension, aged 10 to 15 yrs (mean 12.5 years). All patients had splenomegaly with thrombocytopenia (platelet count less than 60x10, 9/ lit) and leucopenia at the time of the procedure. Portal hypertension was investigated in all patients with endoscopy, liver biopsy & abdominal sonography. Particles of polyvinyl alcohol were used to achieve embolisation of at least 75 percent of the splenic artery thereby causing embolisation of the peripheral splenic branches. Post embolisation arteriogram and ct were obtained to document the extent of devascularisation. Results: Peripheral count had improved significantly after partial splenic embolisation (PSE) and platelet count of more than 450 x 10 9 lit was present in nine of the eleven patients by the end of the seventh day. Leucocyte count rose significantly by day one and seven after PSE compared with counts before the procedure. Reduction in size of the spleen was noticed in all patients. Six out of eight patients showed considerable reduction in size of the oesophageal and gastric varices. All patients had a moderate rise in temperature up to 38.5 degree C along with pain in the left hypochondrium. Segmental atelectasis was seen in three patients. Conclusion: Partial splenic artery embolisation is an effective procedure for the control of Hypersplenism.


Interactions between people occur in a social realm. On the other hand, "things", including devices for communication and computation, are generally socially deficient. Imagine socially aware systems moving from an interruption model of communication to an introduction model. To create considerate systems, there is a need to model social context, social behavior, and communication goals.This paper describes early systems that work to understand and eliminate the socially disruptive qualities of the ubiquitous systems people increasingly use and rely on in all aspects of their personal, educational, social and business lives. We show performance improving systems: an instant message arrives after you have finished typing a sentence, not while you are forming it; a car waits for you to complete a difficult maneuver before giving you distracting feedback.This work relies on dynamic task, user, system, and communication models. The goal is to stimulate more work to understand and create considerate systems. Such systems will improve people's experience and performance. Social responsiveness can become the norm for the technology that pervades our lives.


BACKGROUND
Our previous studies have used intravenous (IV) clamping methods to demonstrate that family history positive (FHP) subjects exhibit a greater initial response to alcohol than family history negative (FHN) subjects. These results differ from other studies of family history of alcoholism (FHA) influences, most of which have used an oral alcohol challenge, suggesting that the route of administration may influence both the response to alcohol and FHA-related differences in response. To examine this possibility, one approach would be to directly compare responses following oral and IV alcohol administration in the same subjects. There is, however, a 3- to 4-fold variance, between- and within-subjects, in the breath alcohol concentrations (BrACs) following oral alcohol administration. Thus, our objective was to characterize the between-subject variability in the time course of BrACs following oral alcohol administration in healthy volunteers and to develop an IV infusion method to mimic the BrAC-time course attained following oral alcohol in the same subject.

METHODS
This was a 2-session study in young adult, healthy, nondependent drinkers. In the first session, subjects ingested an oral dose of alcohol, based on total body water, to achieve a target peak BrAC of 80 mg%. In the second session, subjects received an IV infusion of ethanol designed to achieve the same BrAC time course as that achieved in the first session. The individualized infusion-rate profile was precomputed using a physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model for alcohol with model parameters adjusted to the individual's physiology. The peak BrACs (C(max)), times of peak BrAC (T(max)), and the areas under the BrAC vs. time curve (AUC) were compared between sessions to assess how closely the BrAC exposure during the IV infusion session mimicked the exposure following oral alcohol.

RESULTS
The time course of BrACs following oral alcohol administration showed a high degree of between-subject variability. Mean C(max), T(max), and AUC did not differ by gender, indicating that calculation of oral doses based on total body water results in comparable BrAC-time courses, on average, for females and males. The IV infusion driven BrAC-time profiles demonstrated good fidelity to the BrAC-time curves resulting from oral alcohol: the mean %difference in C(max) and AUC were both 11%, while the mean %difference for T(max) was 27%. This degree of variability is less than half that seen across individuals following oral alcohol administration, which was substantial [coefficient of variation (%CV) ranging from 22 to 52%].

CONCLUSIONS
Despite the use of standardized doses and controlled experimental conditions, there was substantial between-subject variability in the BrAC time course following oral administration of alcohol. The PBPK-model-based infusion method can mimic the BrACs attained with oral alcohol for individual subjects. This method provides a platform to evaluate effects attributable to the route of administration on the response to alcohol, as well as the influence of determinants such as family history of alcoholism on the alcohol response.


The term "open government" is frequently used in practice and science. Since President Obama's Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies in March 2009, open government has attracted an enormous amount of public attention. It is applied by authors from diverse areas, leading to a very heterogeneous comprehension of the concept. Against this background, this article screens the current open government literature to deduce an integrative definition of open government. Furthermore, this article analyzes the empirical and conceptual literature of open government to deduce an open government framework. In general, this article provides a clear understanding of the open government concept.


The sources of drinking water consumed by grazers vary over time and may be highly selective, similar to choices in diet. Water sources consumed by large grazers in natural populations are not typically measured directly. Instead, consumption is inferred based on animal proximity to water sources. Here, we analysed the stable isotopic signature of water (δ18O and δD) extracted from fecal samples from a herd of bison in mesic grassland as a direct estimation of the water sources consumed over time. Bison at this site have their choice of a range of habitats and drinking water sources. Potential source-water samples measured had a large range of isotopic signatures, allowing the isotopic composition of water from bison fecal samples to be proportionally estimated based on varying sources. Results indicate bison have low reliance on multiple streams on site; rather, the majority of water consumed was from rainfall-fed sources (puddles and wallows) and from forage. Our research suggests that source-water analysis from fecal samples is a robust technique when samples from large grazers can be collected soon after production. These results have implications for analyses of the foraging patterns and landscape utilization by this and other large grazers, because hotter and drier future conditions are likely to reduce the frequency and amount of rainfall-fed puddles available for consumption in many grassland systems worldwide.


Abstract: Most decapod crustaceans are nocturnal. However, because cleaner shrimp at cleaning stations act in concert with their hosts, they clean debris and parasites off the body surfaces of diurnal hosts during daytime. It is not known how cleaner shrimp physiologically accommodate diurnal environments and perform cleaning behaviors. We examined the effect of light cues on the daily rhythmicity of the banded coral shrimp Stenopus hispidus (Decapoda, Stenopodidae), a cleaner shrimp in coral reefs. Shrimp were individually kept in aquaria under conditions of 12-hr light and 12-hr darkness (LD) and constant darkness (DD). Double-plotted actogram analyses revealed that shrimp under LD were active during scotophase and inactive during photophase. Locomotor rhythms were observed in most shrimp under DD. Periodogram analyses showed a weak circadian rhythm in shrimp under DD. Our results show that this species is nocturnal and that its locomotor activity is controlled primarily by the LD cycle. Day-night differences in locomotor activity were reduced in shrimp under LD with weak irradiance, and they remained active during photophase. Shrimp under LD using blue or green light-emitting diode light, but not red light-emitting diode light, showed a day-inactive and night-active rhythmicity. These results indicate that this species can be active under environments with low green and blue spectra—for example, during twilight hours, at depth, or on cloudy days—even during daytime, and this weakness of the circadian clock may be advantageous in their role as cleaner shrimp. It is concluded that in addition to the presence of visiting hosts, light conditions at cleaning stations are likely to influence cleaning activity.


PURPOSE
Colon cancers exhibiting DNA mismatch repair (MMR) defects demonstrate distinct clinical and pathologic features, including better prognosis and reduced response to fluorouracil (FU) -based chemotherapy. This prospective study investigated adjuvant chemotherapy containing FU and irinotecan in patients with MMR deficient (MMR-D) colon cancers.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Cancer and Leukemia Group B 89803 randomly assigned 1,264 patients with stage III colon cancer to postoperative weekly bolus FU/leucovorin (LV) or weekly bolus irinotecan, FU, and LV (IFL). The primary end point was overall survival; disease-free survival (DFS) was a secondary end point. Tumor expression of the MMR proteins, MLH1 and MSH2, was determined by immunohistochemistry (IHC). DNA microsatellite instability was also assessed using a panel of mono- and dinucleotide markers. Tumors with MMR defects were those demonstrating loss of MMR protein expression (MMR-D) and/or microsatellite instability high (MSI-H) genotype.

RESULTS
Of 723 tumor cases examined by genotyping and IHC, 96 (13.3%) were MMR-D/MSI-H. Genotyping results were consistent with IHC in 702 cases (97.1%). IFL-treated patients with MMR-D/MSI-H tumors showed improved 5-year DFS as compared with those with mismatch repair intact tumors (0.76; 95% CI, 0.64 to 0.88 v 0.59; 95% CI, 0.53 to 0.64; P = .03). This relationship was not observed among patients treated with FU/LV. A trend toward longer DFS was observed in IFL-treated patients with MMR-D/MSI-H tumors as compared with those receiving FU/LV (0.57; 95% CI, 0.42 to 0.71 v 0.76; 95% CI, 0.64 to 0.88; P = .07; hazard ratio interaction between tumor status and treatment, 0.51; likelihood ratio P = .117).

CONCLUSION
Loss of tumor MMR function may predict improved outcome in patients treated with the IFL regimen as compared with those receiving FU/LV.


Abram Tertz, one of the most important writers to emerge in the Soviet Union since World War II, came to prominence in 1959 when "On Socialist Realism" was published in the West. It was the first important critique of the central dogma of Soviet literature. It arrived with a novel - "The Trial Begins", which was published in 1960. Other books followed these into the West, until in 1965 a respected literary scholar at the Gorky Institute, Andrei Sinyavsky was arrested, revealed to be Abram Tertz, tried, and sentenced to seven years in a forced labor camp.