Biological Wastewater Treatment in Warm Climate Regions gives a state-of-the-art presentation of the science and technology of biological wastewater treatment, particularly domestic sewage. The book covers the main treatment processes used worldwide with wastewater treatment in warm climate regions given a particular emphasis where simple, affordable and sustainable solutions are required.

This comprehensive book presents in a clear and informative way the basic principles of biological wastewater treatment, including theory and practice, and covering conception, design and operation. In order to ensure the practical and didactic view of the book, 371 illustrations, 322 summary tables and 117 examples are included. All major wastewater treatment processes are covered by full and interlinked design examples which are built up throughout the book, from the determination of wastewater characteristics, the impact of discharge into rivers and lakes, the design of several wastewater treatment processes and the design of sludge treatment and disposal units.

The 55 chapters are divided into 7 parts over two volumes: Volume One: (1) Introduction to wastewater characteristics, treatment and disposal; (2) Basic principles of wastewater treatment; (3) Stabilisation ponds; (4) Anaerobic reactors; Volume Two: (5) Activated sludge; (6) Aerobic biofilm reactors; (7) Sludge treatment and disposal.

As well as being an ideal textbook, Biological Wastewater Treatment in Warm Climate Regions is an important reference for practising professionals such as engineers, biologists, chemists and environmental scientists, acting in consulting companies, water authorities and environmental agencies.

ISBN: 9781843391074 (Print)

ISBN: 9781780402703 (eBook)


Background: The objective of this study was to determine the effect of egg consumption on lipid parameters in overweight and obese hypercholesterolemic womentreated with lipid-lowering agents. Methods: Forty overweight and obese hypercholesterolemic women, mean age of 58 years and mean body mass index of 27 kg/m2, who had been treated with lipid-lowering agents. Every patient was assigned to consume additional 3 eggs daily with their regular diet for 12 weeks. Lipid parameters and body compositions were measured. Results: An additional consumption of 3 eggs daily for 12 weeks increased HDL-cholesterol by 4.75 mg/dl (P <0.01) and decreased LDL-cholesterol to HDL-cholesterol ratio by 0.35 (P <0.05). No statistically significant changes were found in other lipid parameters. Body weight, body mass index, body composition and blood pressure were insignificantly changed. Conclusion: Addition of 3 eggs daily to their regular diet will increase the level of HDL-cholesterol and lower the ratio of LDL-cholesterol to HDL-cholesterol in overweight and obese hypercholesterolemic women who were treated with lipid-lowering agents.


Recently, the unemployment gap in the euro area has fallen markedly. However, wages increased less than predicted by traditional Phillips curves. Using Bayesian methods, we estimate the wage Phillips curve with time-varying parameters. We consider alternative measures for labor market slack, namely the unemployment gap and the European Commission's labor shortage indicator. Using the latter indicator, we find a steepening of the wage Phillips curve in Italy and France, and a stable Phillips curve in the Netherlands after the crisis. In Germany (Spain), both measures suggest a recent flattening (steepening) of the wage Phillips curve.


The
 Q methodology operant construct is examined in terms of some
implications of operantcy for the comprehensive approach to
psychological subjectivity. After briefly noting B. F. Skinner's operant
 and an early reference to the construct by W. Stephenson, the developer
 of Q methodology, this paper explores seven ways in which operantcy
facilitates the study of subjectivity. These include [1] subjectivity as
 purely behavioral, and not as one side of some mind-body dualism; [2]
the sorter's perspective as primary, rather than secondary, to that of a
 test constructor; [3] operant factor structure as emitted and
inherently meaningful; [4] factors as interpretable in their own right,
and not as tests of preconceived hypotheses; [5] operant factors as
naturally-occurring and confrontable; [6] complementarity, whereby in
the same experiment some factors may be paradoxical yet still essential
for describing the outcome; and [7] the field system alternative of
quantum physics as opposed to the causal determinism found in classical
physics. The main conclusion is that the operant is used in Q
methodology in ways that are consistent with the latest developments in
the logic of science.


The ability to create and hold a mental schema of an object is one of the milestones in cognitive development. Developmental scientists have named the behavioral manifestation of this competence object permanence. Convergent evidence indicates that frontal lobe maturation plays a critical role in the display of object permanence, but methodological and ethical constrains have made it difficult to collect neurophysiological evidence from awake, behaving infants. Near-infrared spectroscopy provides a noninvasive assessment of changes in oxy- and deoxyhemoglobin and total hemoglobin concentration within a prescribed region. The evidence described in this report reveals that the emergence of object permanence is related to an increase in hemoglobin concentration in frontal cortex.


This paper describes an ecosystem of project-based learning formed around Logo-based tools and computational thinking. At Portfolio School a mixed-age, project-based learning, maker centered micro-school in NYC with ten children between the ages of 6-10 year old, learners used GoGo Board, Netlogo, TurtleArt, and LightLogo to design personal projects using robotics, create laser cut bookmarks designed with functions, construct and program a LED bonfire, and code agent-based simulations. Observations throughout the school-year suggested that this ecosystem immersed learners into the computational thinking world and supported the development of agency by providing an environment where learners could: 1) create things that were meaningful to them and 2) give learners the opportunity to take ownership over the process of making.


Mutations of the recombinase-activating genes 1 and 2 (RAG1 and RAG2) in humans are associated with a broad range of phenotypes. For patients with severe clinical presentation, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) represents the only curative treatment; however, high rates of graft failure and incomplete immune reconstitution have been observed, especially after unconditioned haploidentical transplantation. Studies in mice have shown that Rag−/− natural killer (NK) cells have a mature phenotype, reduced fitness, and increased cytotoxicity. We aimed to analyze NK cell phenotype and function in patients with mutations in RAG and in non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) genes. Here, we provide evidence that NK cells from these patients have an immature phenotype, with significant expansion of CD56bright CD16−/int CD57− cells, yet increased degranulation and high perforin content. Correlation was observed between in vitro recombinase activity of the mutant proteins, NK cell abnormalities, and in vivo clinical phenotype. Addition of serotherapy in the conditioning regimen, with the aim of depleting the autologous NK cell compartment, may be important to facilitate engraftment and immune reconstitution in patients with RAG and NHEJ defects treated by HSCT.


Native to the eastern United States, American bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana (Lithobates catesbeianus)) have been introduced in many countries throughout the world. There have been relatively few effective and efficient control methods developed to manage bullfrogs. Particularly in the Hawaiian Islands, Pacific coast of North America, and Japan, finding effective methods for controlling invasive bullfrogs is needed with special emphasis on low impacts for sensitive native species. We conducted a field study to examine the efficacy of a newly designed live trap for capturing invasive bullfrogs. We found that our trap was successful at capturing bullfrogs because we captured up to seven in a single trap overnight. Fishing lures, live crickets, and lights were used as attractants and all capture bullfrogs, however more research is needed for finding effective attractants. We captured one known non-target frog that was released. Our findings suggest that the multiple capture traps could effectively be used as part of an integrated pest management strategy for controlling invasive bullfrog populations.


Short-term effects of increasing pCO2; 380 ppm (LC) vs. 700 ppm (HC); at different nitrogen levels; 5 µM nitrate (LN) vs. 50 µM (HN); on the contents of protein, mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs), phenolic compounds and total fatty acids, antioxidant activity, calcification and C:N ratios were analyzed in 3 eulittoral Mediterranean macroalgae with different bio-optical characteristics and carbon assimilation efficiencies: Cystoseira tamariscifolia (Heterokontophyta), Ulva rigida (Chlorophyta) and Ellisolandia elongata (Rhodophyta). After acclimation to different pCO2 and nitrogen conditions for 6 d, the algae were subjected to a 4°C temperature increase for 3 d. Increasing temperature and pCO2 produced alterations in the biochemical composition of the 3 macroalgae. Short-term variations of protein levels were observed in U. rigida, with clearly decreased values in the HCLN treatment. In C. tamariscifolia, protein decreased after the temper- ature increase but only under LC. The interaction of temperature and N affected phenolic com- pounds only in U. rigida and the content of MAAs in E. elongata. The functional patterns of the 3 macroalgae in response to the pCO2, nitrogen and temperature regimes may be explained in terms of their bio-optical characteristics and antioxidant activity. The vulnerability and acclima- tion of the 3 species to the expected variations of climate change factors are discussed.


The aim of this paper is to optimize the adaptation of best practices in the field of Urban Freight Transport (UFT). This was possible ba sed on the results obtained by engineering school, EIGSI La Rochelle, in several E uropean projects (eg CIVITAS program, TRAILBLAZER) and French projects(CGOODS, C OLIS URBAINS, PRODIGE) and experience learned from organizations and associations dealing with this subject. During these projects, EIGSI has participated first ly to develop an approach that allows building DSPs (Delivery & Service Plans) at the municipality level and secondly to evaluate the impacts and the transferab ility to other similar cities. DSPs describe coherent and holistic sets of actions inte nding to optimise Urban Freight for one or several organisation. They are materialised by key strategy documents outlining how a public or private sector organisati on deals with its need to generate freight transport efficiently, safely and in a sust ainable way. The actions included in DSP can affect the distribution itself, the mainten ance of the fleet, the supply of goods, the interoperability of information systems, etc. The developed approach has been tested and validate d in s veral projects which have included different European cities' contexts like L a Rochelle, Sutton, Preston, Borlange, etc. This paper describes the evaluation framework appli ed in the cities partners of the TRAILBLAZER project in order to determine the param eters most appropriate for impact evaluation of DSP actions in the context of emerging countries, especially its use in the context of two Moroccan cities. EIGSI, La Rochelle, France. tatiana.graindorge@eigs i.fr EIGSI, La Rochelle, France. dominique.breuil@eigsi. fr 3 EIGSICA, Casablanca, Maroc, firstname.lastname@example.com 4 Université Hassan 1, Settat, Maroc, firstname.lastname@example.com


Through treatment of selected interventions and artworks, the thesis investigates relationships
between cybernetics, conceptions of intelligence and artistic practice. The works in question are
primarily the artist's own, documented in the thesis and a separate portfolio. Specifically, intelligence's
downside, the controversial notion of stupidity, has been reappropriated as a means of considering the
way artists intervene and how art, as a system, functions.

The term 'artificial stupidity' was invented in reaction to a particular construal of what Artificial
Intelligence (AI) meant. The notion has been employed since, and the thesis discusses interpretations
and uses of it. One meaning relates to an ability to become, or make oneself, 'stupid' in order to
facilitate discovery. In the conclusions, the arguments are extended to 'art as a social system' (Niklas
Luhmann), suggesting that it survives and reproduces through a wily kind of pretend idiocy combined
with occasional acts of generosity to other systems.

The research methodology is threefold. Firstly, unapologetically playful approaches,
characteristic of the artistic process, were utilised to generate ideas. Thus, art becomes primary research;
an equivalent to experimentation. Secondly conventional secondary research; the study of texts; was
conducted alongside artistic production. Thirdly the works themselves are treated as raw materials to
be discussed and written about as a means of developing arguments.

Work was selected on the basis of the weight it carries within the author's practice (in terms of
time, effort and resources devoted) and because of its relevance to the thesis themes i.e. contemporary
and post-conceptual art, the science of feedback loops and critiquing intelligence and AI. The second
chapter divides interventions and outputs into three categories. Firstly, the short looping films termed
'simupoems', which have been a consistent feature of the practice, are given attention. Then live art, in
which a professional clown was often employed, is considered. Lastly a series of interactions with the
everyday technological landscape is discussed. One implication, in mapping out this trajectory, is that
the clown's skills have been appropriated. 'Artificial stupidity' permits parking contravention images to
be mistaken for art photography, for beauty to be found in courier company point-of-delivery
signatures and for the use of supermarket self-checkout machines, but to buy nothing.

The nature of the writing in chapter 2 and appendix A (which was a precursor for the approach)
is discursive. Works are reviewed and speculations made about the relationship with key themes. The
activities of artists like Glenn Lygon, Sophie Calle, Samuel Beckett are drawn upon as well as
contemporary groupings Common Culture (David Campbell and Mark Durden) and Hunt and Darton
(Jenny Hunt and Holly Darton). Chapter 3 includes a more structured breakdown and taxonomy of
methods. Art theories of relevance including the ideas of Niklas Luhmann already mentioned, John
Roberts, Avital Ronell, Mikhail Bakhtin, Andrew Pickering and Claire Bishop are called upon
throughout the thesis.

Interrogation of the work raises certain ethical or political questions. If there are good reasons for
the unacceptability of 'stupid' when applied to other human beings, might it be reasonable to be
disparaging about the apparent intellectual capacities of technologies, processes and systems?

The period of PhD research provided an opportunity for the relationship between the artist's
activities and the techo-industrial landscape to be articulated. The body of work and thesis constitutes a
contribution to knowledge on two key fronts. Firstly, the art works themselves, though precedents exist,
are original and have been endorsed as such by a wider community. Secondly the link between systems
and engineering concepts, and performance-oriented artistic practice is an unusual one, and, as a result,
it has been possible to draw conclusions which are pertinent to technological spheres, computational
capitalism and systems thinking, as well as art.


This review summarises the different motivational frameworks that are commonly applied to the study of substance misuse and explores the potential of a comprehensive conceptualisation of motivation based on the self-determination theory (SDT). The most prominent conceptualisations of motivation to change amongst substance misusing patients are identified. Defining and measuring the concept of motivation within a sound theoretical framework has been a challenge. The literature lends little support to the conceptualisation of motivation as internal and external types. Promising work employs a dynamic model of motivation, but empirical research based on such a framework is still in its infancy. There is empirical support to the conceptual distinction between motivation and treatment readiness and it appears that such a distinction can be particularly useful to treatment services. Clients' motivation has significant implications for initiating and sustaining recovery, and future conceptual and methodological improvements are needed that can improve our understanding of how people change addictive behaviours and what can be done better to assist them in their attempts to recover from addiction.


El Tinguian published in 1888 was considered as the most complete study of the Tinguian at that time; it would mirror travel writings that were produced by Europeans about the region. With its accentuated notions on differentiation and otherings, de los Reyes's "gaze" at the Tinguian served as his representation of the ethnolingusitic group to the world. El Tinguian presents itself as indeed a counter-discourse, an attempt to both refute and dispute several notions and nuances that tend to misrepresent the Tinguian. De los Reyes is in a position that shares colonial scientific knowledge with local experience and nativistic thinking which would make one assume that the legitimacy of the text should not even be questioned by anyone in the literary and ethnographic community. But what about the Tinguian? This paper theorizes that the gaze is often utilized on a race that is surmised incapable of speaking for itself. From a postcolonial stance, though himself a Filipino, de los Reyes utilizes a dominating colonial discourse and gazes on an abject other. De los Reyes's defines and transforms the indigenous "other" into a set of categories to be utilized by the non-Tinguian as a basis for comparison and differentiation. This paper tackles Isabelo de los Reyes's views and representations of the indigenous "other" in his study titled El Tinguian . In writing about the Tinguian, de los Reyes attempts to produce a more localized and nativistic view of the Tinguian which tends to differentiate itself from European writings about the people. But with his use of rhetorical devices in order to give meaning and understanding of the "other", his study still delivers itself as an outsider's view of the Tinguian. Keywords: Postcolonial, rhetorical analysis, travel writing, cultural criticism, Tinguian, Cordilleran history


A firm's incentive to disclose has been linked empirically to a range of variables, including information asymmetry, agency costs, political costs, and proprietary costs. While the intuition underlying each of the variables seems plausible, Verrecchia (2001) argues that disclosure models can be characterized as an eclectic mingling of highly idiosyncratic economic-based models, and challenges researchers to take the first steps to unification. First, we investigate the role of ownership and competition variables in explaining voluntary segment disclosures in Australian firms and find support for both these variables. Second, drawing on theory supported by the corporate governance, strategic management and industrial organization literatures, we introduce a new economic variable that unifies both ownership and competition variables. We find that the unifying variable performs better than our model focusing on ownership and competition variables alone. We conduct a series of robustness tests on the model and find that its significance is not affected by the inclusion of disclosure control variables identified in prior literature, the change in standard, and acquisitions and disposals of physical assets.


The human pineal gland regulates day‐night dynamics of multiple physiological processes, especially through the secretion of melatonin. Using mass‐spectrometry‐based proteomics and dedicated analysis tools, we identify proteins in the human pineal gland and analyze systematically their variation throughout the day and compare these changes in the pineal proteome between control specimens and donors diagnosed with autism. Results reveal diverse regulated clusters of proteins with, among others, catabolic carbohydrate process and cytoplasmic membrane‐bounded vesicle‐related proteins differing between day and night and/or control versus autism pineal glands. These data show novel and unexpected processes happening in the human pineal gland during the day/night rhythm as well as specific differences between autism donor pineal glands and those from controls.


Inspired by the variety of organisms that are naturally desiccation tolerant, anhydrobiotic preservation potentially furnishes a means of processing and storing mammalian cells in a state of "suspended animation" at ambient conditions in carbohydrate glasses. Although there have been promising applications of this technique, especially when employing the disaccharide trehalose, the ultimate goal of room temperature long-term storage has thus far not been achieved -at least in part owing to an incomplete understanding of the fundamental cellular damage mechanisms. Although there have been many studies examining the thermodynamics of relevance to anhydrobiotic preservation, particularly with regard to lipid phase and the effect of carbohydrates thereupon, comparatively little attention has been paid to the effect of transport kinetics on preservation success. Further, although cells are typically dried in carbohydrate solutions on a solid support, there are few studies on the role played by the support. This work seeks to help remedy such deficiencies. First, considering damage mechanisms at the individual cell level, giant liposomes were employed as a model cell system, given that the cell membrane is a key damage site. The influence of solid surface lipid bilayer interactions was investigated in the presence and absence of trehalose. Two lipids were chosen in order to determine the effect of lipid phase on surface interactions: gel-phase 1,2-distearoyl-sn -glycero-3-phosphocholine (DSPC) and liquidcrystalline phase 1,2-dilauroyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DLPC). In the absence of trehalose, DSPC liposomes adsorbed to the polystyrene support surface, producing irreversible structural changes and apparent leakage of all intravesicular solute upon drying and re-hydration. Addition of trehalose significantly reduced vesicle adsorption with only transitory intravesicular solute leakage for the re-hydrated vesicles, likely owing to a transient osmotic imbalance; however, at very low moisture contents, the vesicles underwent permanent structural changes. In contrast to the results with DSPC vesicles, DLPC vesicles largely evaded adsorption and exhibited high intravesicular solute retention when dried and re-hydrated even in the absence of trehalose, despite significant internal structural changes. Next, taking a more macroscopic view, the influence of the solid support and desiccation kinetics was analyzed at the whole droplet level. During desiccation, sessile droplets of glassforming carbohydrate solutions exhibit complex dynamic phenomena, including fluid flow, droplet deformation and crack formation, all of which may alter cell preservation efficacyTwo factors were identified that strongly influenced the features of the preserved giant liposome suspension droplets: the underlying surface and the liposome concentration. In particular, the surface altered the droplet shape as well as the microflow pattern and in turn the moisture conditions encountered by the liposomes during desiccation. A ring deposit formed when the droplets were dried on polystyrene -as would be expected owing to the capillary flow that generally occurs in pinned droplets. In contrast, when dried on the more hydrophilic glass slide, the resulting droplets were thinner and the liposomes accumulated near their centers -an unexpected result likely owing to the glass-forming nature of the trehalose solutions. As might be anticipated given the variations in liposome distribution, the choice of surface also influenced crack formation upon continued drying. In addition to providing a preferential path for drying, such cracks are relevant because they could inflict mechanical damage on cells. Liposome concentration had an even more profound effect on crack formation; indeed, while cracks were found in all droplets containing liposomes, in their absence few of the droplets cracked at all, regardless of the surface type. Given the experimentally-determined non-uniform distribution of liposomes within the sessile droplets, a finite element method model was formulated to assess the moisture content variation within desiccating trehalose solution microdroplets both unsupported and sessile. In the unsupported droplet, a thin glassy skin was found to form at the droplet surface, which significantly hampered further evaporation owing to the extremely low diffusivity of water in trehalose glasses. Thus, residual water was essentially trapped in the droplet core for long times, preventing a transition to the glassy state there. This is significant for anhydrobiotic preservation because most liposomes, or cells, would be located in the droplet core rather than in the thin glassy skin. The sessile droplet provided another degree of complexity in that the moisture concentration was inhomogeneous not only in the direction perpendicular to the interface, but along it as well, since the glassy skin did not form uniformly, instead progressing inward from the contact line. In summary, surface interactions were found to play a significant role in anhydrobiotic preservation, both at the cellular level through adsorption and at the whole droplet level through their effect on distribution of suspended liposomes (or cells) and crack formation. Further, kinetic phenomena had a strong influence, again at the cellular level through transient osmotic imbalances and at the whole droplet level in the form of inhomogeneous moisture distributions. Such effects clearly merit further investigation in the development of anhydrobiotic preservation protocols. Thesis Supervisor: Robert S. Langer Title: Institute Professor and Professor of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering


To determine the frequency of the posterior capsule rupture (PCR) during cataract surgery, the intra and post-operatory management and the final visual acuity (VA) an observational retrospective study was carried out with the records of patients subjected to cataract surgery in our service from April 2007 to March 2008. Demographic data, pathological records, pre and postoperative VA, alterations of the fundus of the eye, surgical technique, experience of the surgeon, vitreous loss during the surgery, vitrectomy type, implant of intraocular lenses, postoperative complications. Seven hundred fifty four patients were subjected to cataract surgery during the study period, 54 (7.1%) presented PCR. Records of 49 patients with PCR were selected for the variable analysis. Mean age was 69 years old, 38 patients (76%) had preoperative AV of count fingers to light perception, 10 patients (20.4%) presented pupil dilation lower than 6 mm, 19 (38.8%) showed capsular pseudoexfoliation and 73.5% were operated by residents. Extracapsular extraction was made in 79.6% of the cases. The 73.5% presented vitreous Santacruz I y col. 44-48 44 loss and were subjected to vitrectomy, 69.4% received implant of intraocular lenses and 26.5% presented post-operatory complications. The 75.5% of the patients achieved a post-operatory VA better than 20/140. A statistically significant relation was found when the post-operatory VA was compared with the presence of complications (p: 0.01). The PCR is a complication to which all cataract surgeons are exposed to and the adequate management is essential to avoid complications as much as possible and achieve good VA.


Abstract There is an increasing need for analysing the demand for skills in the labour market. While most studies aggregate skills in groups or use available proxies for them, the authors analyse the demand by employers for individual competences. Such an analysis better reflects reality because companies usually require job candidates to have particular competences, rather than generally defined groups of skills. However, no method exists to analyse on a large scale which competences are required by employers. At a detailed level, there are hundreds of competences; thus, this demand cannot be measured in a sample survey. The authors propose a method for conducting a continuous and efficient analysis of the demand for competences of prospective employees. The method involves collecting online job offers and analysing them with data mining and text analysis tools. The authors use this method to analyse transversal competences in the Polish labour market. Their findings indicate that companies typically required only certain competences—especially 'language and communication competences'—while neglecting others. The number of job candidate requirements was counter-cyclical. However, the structure of the competences demanded did not change during the analysed period.


The study investigated the antioxidant potential as well as the inhibitory potential of the seed extracts of Picralima nitida on α-amylase and α-glucosidase enzymes. The methanolic, aqueous and coconut water extracts were obtained using 70% methanol, distilled water and coconut water, respectively. Antioxidant properties were studied in vitro using DPPH (1, 1-diphenyl-2-pricrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging, Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP), Total Antioxidant Capacity (TAC), Hydroxyl Radical Averting Capacity (HORAC), Total Phenol Content (TPC), and Total Flavonoid Content (TFC) assays. Different concentrations (0.1 - 0.5 mg/ml) of the extracts were subjected to α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitory assays using acarbose as standard. Absorbance was measured at 540 (for α-amylase) and 405 nm (α-glucosidase). The percentage of α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitory activity of the extracts and their IC50 values were determined. The seed extracts of P. nitida showed significant antioxidant potential. The inhibitory activity of the extracts on α-amylase and α-glucosidas compared favourably with acarbose with the methanolic extract possessing the highest inhibitory activity. The methanolic extract also possessed the highest antioxidant capacity with the lowest IC50 value among the extracts. The results indicate that the seed extracts of P. nitida possess significant antioxidant properties and are effective inhibitors of α-amylase and α-glucosidase enzymes.

 Key words: Antioxidants, α-amylase, α-glucosidase, diabetes, phenolics, flavonoids, Picralima nitida.


In this talk, we will discuss how scientists learn about the nature of dynamical environmental systems via the adaptive process of encoding Information of various kinds (based in physics, contained in data, and provided via assumptions) into model hypotheses. In particular, we are interested in models that characterize a physics-based understanding of the world (although many of our comments also apply to databased models), and on the important issues of inferring System Architecture and Process Parameterization, rather than the comparatively trivial problem of parameter value selection. The talk will consist of two main parts. In Part I, we discuss the concept of Information and its relationship to Uncertainty, Data, Models and the process of Learning. We discuss how Information is encoded into models as a hierarchy of structural decisions, the kinds of problems that can arise due to making unjustifiably strong hypotheses, and the consequent need for an informationally justifiable approach to model development and inference based in the Principle of Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt). The resulting model structural hypothesis can then be quantitatively assessed in terms of its Likelihood and Information Content. Specifically, we show how alternative model architectures of varying complexity can be assessed without the need to make precise statements about the specific forms of the process parameterization equations. In Part II, we show how Information Theoretic concepts can be used to assimilate new information (from data) into a MaxEnt model hypothesis, and how the information content of the data (in regard to the model) can be meaningfully assessed. Specifically, we show how the likely mathematical forms for the process parameterization relationships can be inferred via a process of Bayesian Inference. To facilitate clarity of communication, the ideas will be illustrated via a relatively simple catchment-scale hydrological modeling study. If time permits, we will also discuss the relationship between the Learning Problem and the need for Operational Implementation. While computational issues and matters of detail remain to be addressed, the theory provides a robust approach to model development that accurately represents what we actually know (and know that we don't know) about an environmental system, enables a balance between complexity and parsimony, and facilitates ongoing learning.


Purpose of review The management of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) presents significant challenges, and there remains a need for new therapies with greater efficacy and better tolerability than existing treatments. An improved understanding of the genetic and molecular changes underlying AML can help both to guide treatment strategies and to predict clinical outcomes, thereby enabling more precise decision-making regarding the optimal treatment strategy for individual patients. Recent findings The tyrosine kinase receptor FLT3 plays an important role in the survival and proliferation of blasts, and approximately 25% of patients with AML have mutations in the FLT3 gene. This protein is therefore an obvious therapeutic target in AML. Amongst recently developed tyrosine kinase inhibitors of FLT3, lestaurtinib and midostaurin are two orally bioavailable agents that have shown encouraging activity, both preclinically and in relapsed AML, and are now in phase III clinical trials. These agents are also being tested in combination with conventional chemotherapy. Summary Oral FLT3 inhibitors offer a hope of improved treatment outcomes for patients with relapsed and newly diagnosed AML.


Annotation: The article highlights the negligence and irresponsibility of the industrial enterprises built in Uzbekistan in 1940-1980, which led to environmental problems. Lack of technical equipment in the chemical, petroleum, mining and construction industries built in the country, low allocation of funds for material and technical bases have led to a sharp increase in environmental damage at enterprises. Atmospheric air, soil, water and nearby populations suffered from industrial waste. Over the years, the environmental situation in Uzbekistan has worsened due to the fact that industrial enterprises are in need of repair. Since the former union was the sole owner of these industrial enterprises, local leaders could not solve even the simplest problems in industrial enterprises on their own. Activities in industrial enterprises were managed by the center. The appeals of the local population were not taken into account, and no measures were taken to prevent diseases and environmental tragedies among the population. As a result, the pollution of the Amudarya and Syrdarya rivers, the main water sources of Central Asian countries, has created economic and social problems. Historical and research sources provide information on the catastrophic impact of the waste from the chemical aluminum plant in Tajikistan on the environmental situation in the transboundary regions of Uzbekistan, including Surkhandarya.


Soil moisture is a key factor that controls the exchange of water between land surface evaporation and plant transpiration. Information on surface soil moisture variations in both time and spatial domains is important for numerous applications, especially agricultural and environmental monitoring. This study aimed at retrieving surface soil moisture from daily MODIS and AMSR-E (Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer – Earth Observing System) data. A case study was conducted in Taiwan for 2009. Data were processed using the Temperature Vegetation Dryness Index (TVDI). This index is developed based on an empirical analysis of the relationship between land surface temperature (LST) and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data. The comparison between the TVDI results and the daily precipitation data collected from meteorological stations throughout the study area indicated that there were close relationships between the two datasets. The TDVI results (values range from 0 to 1) were converted to the same unit with the AMSR-E soil moisture data (i.e., g cm -3 ) by linear regression analysis between these two datasets. The results achieved by this analysis were soil moisture maps that had a better spatial resolution (1 km × 1 km) than the AMSE-E soil moisture data (25 km × 25 km). The soil moisture achieved by TVDI – AMSR-E regression analysis showed the comparable spatial patterns with those from the AMSR-E soil moisture data. A quantitative analysis between the soil moisture (deduced from TVDI-AMSR-E analysis) and the AMSR-E soil moisture data also reaffirmed significant correlations between the two datasets. This study has demonstrated a method of surface soil moisture retrieval from MODIS and AMSR-E data.


A new fabrication technique of p-type CdS thin films by He-Ne laser illumination of bilayer Cu-nCdS structures at room temperature was investigated. The n-type CdS films were obtained by vacuum evaporation in a quasi-closed volume. X-ray diffraction was used to provide crystalline structure and composition data of CdS films and Cu-CdS structures. The band gap of CdS films was estimated from the optical transmission spectra. The hot probe and Hall effect studies were used for the determination of conductivity type and concentration of charge carriers in films. The formation of a p-n homojunction in CdS films or conversion of the film all over to the p-type, depending on the duration of laser illumination, was shown by I-V characteristics, the photovoltaic, the hot probe and Hall effect measurements. Analysis of concentration distributions of Cu in CdS films, arising as a result of laser-accelerated diffusion, by energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy gave the effective diffusion coefficient of copper, D = 8 × 10-12 cm2 s-1 at T = 25 °C.


Paul Cullen, John Henry Newman, and the Catholic University of Ireland, 1845-1865. By Colin Barr. (Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press. 2003. Pp. xv, 288. $30.00 paperback.) The story of the conception, structure, and early development of a Catholic university in Ireland in the mid-nineteenth century has often been presented as the struggle of its first rector to preserve a delicate balance between authority and freedom. This book, however, which began its life as a thesis, is less concerned with the inner struggle of Newman in coming to terms with a newly-found persona than it is with the ongoing relationship between Cullen and Newman in the construction of an effective alternative to the nondenominational Queen's Colleges, established in 1845 and condemned by the Synod of Thurles in 1850. In the attempt to present Cullen's leadership in a more favorable and balanced way, Barr has yielded to the temptation to demonize those who had a different conceptual approach to the Queen's Colleges and the nature of the proposed Catholic university. This is particularly noticeable in the treatment of Archbishops Murray and MacHale and, at times, Slattery of Cashel in the author's attempt to weaken the charge of obscurantism leveled at Cullen's leadership. It is a temptation, however, into which revisionist historians have to be essentially on guard. At least a quarter of the book is given over to examining well-known issues of'mixed' education at various levels before attention is directed at the central themes. This is to the author's credit although, despite it, the changing concepts of educational thought in nineteenth-century England are not considered in any serious depth. While it is important to emphasize the relationship between Cullen and Newman against the overtones of famine, poverty, politics, and nationalism in Ireland, it is equally important to stress the anti-Catholicism of the British Parliament in relation to contemporary troubles within the Church of England, the waves of post-1845 converts to Catholicism, and the latent antiRomanism manifested in 1851 and subsequently in response to the establishment of Roman Catholic bishops-in-ordinary in England. On the university issue, for Cullen the primary duty of the Church was to form its own youth in connection with the depositum fldei of which she was guardian and true exponent. For Cullen, as indeed for Manning in England after 1865, the need was for the Church to construct an escarpment from which to sally forth to do intellectual battle with the secular world. Outram Evennett once claimed that for men like Cullen and Manning, the university question concerned not merely a few individuals or their career opportunities but the whole future prospects of Catholicism in Ireland and England. The internal self-completion of the Church lay at the heart of things, both men being determined that the Church must not be arrested in her attempt to establish and pursue her missionary endeavor. Fundamentally, the failure of MacHale to grasp the importance of this truth was why Cullen found his approach to the university so reprehensible and also why Cullen was disappointed by Newman's reluctance to take the university question seriously enough to warrant giving full-time attention to it and a continuing presence in Dublin. …


The studies of Relational Data Base Management Systems and Databases constitute nowadays a main tren of investigation in large businesses and universities of the entire world. The creation of a data base engine keeps being a challenge since there are aspects in which have not been achieved a final solution. Por example, the requeriments of storage of images, video, sound. etc. The purpuse of this project is to implement a Relational Database Manager System (RDBMS) and an Interpreter of Data Query Language that can be utilized in investigation an data processing development of applications. It is important to count on a RDBMS developed in our universities so they can study an do modifications, which is practically impossible with the commercial products due to that does not available neither their Source code neither the documentation detailed neither the necessary training. Our investigation includes the development of innovating algorithms for access and maintenance of the data and procedures; techniques and tools to carry out Datawarehouse and DataMining, offering a good fulfillment as for time of answer and extensive capacity of backup to requeriments such as operational as strategic (Decision Support Systems).


How much is support for vote by mail (VBM) impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, partisanship, and recent efforts by partisan elites to politicize discussions about expanding the use of VBM in November 2020? Using surveys of registered voters conducted in April and May 2020 we characterize how changing concerns about COVID 19 and increased partisan messaging affects public support for VBM. We show that the bipartisan support for VBM in April 2020 falls sharply after just six weeks because: Republicans became less worried about catching COVID-19, and unconcerned Republicans also became more opposed to VBM. The pandemic originally increased public support for expanding VBM to help combat the spread of COVID-19 - creating a relative unique opportunity to examine the public's willingness to reconsider how elections are administered - but decreasing COVID-19 concerns among Republicans and increased opposition among unconcerned Republicans (perhaps due to increased partisan messaging) has combined to increase partisan divisions in otherwise historically high levels of public support for VBM.


In the European Union, freedom of choice between genetically modified (GM) and conventional or organic crops, for both producers and consumers, should be provided through coexistence measures. Coexistence measures at the farm level differ in costs and effectiveness and should not tip the balance for farmers in their cultivation decisions, and therefore it is important to measure these costs. In this article, we investigate the costs of different coexistence measures for farmers in Germany. Currently, GM crop cultivation is outlawed in Germany, but there was a short period from 2005-2008 when cultivation of Bt maize was allowed. We interviewed former Bt maize farmers and their neighbors concerning their experience with Bt maize cultivation and the costs of coexistence measures. The results show the clear differences in burden between the different measures. In addition, we show that there are important differences in farm characteristics and overall landscape configuration that influence the costs or burden of coexistence measures.


Nigerians have come to realize that environmental problems such as deterioration or degradation are not restricted to the developed areas alone. It appears that polluted environment is a global issue and if not properly handled, world community would bear worst results more as they already faced. The study therefore investigates the causes, effects and roles of individual on the management of these rivers and the environment and the health effects these can impose on the citizens. The study revealed that the human activities such as improper land disposal, run-off and agricultural activities amongst others could result to introduction of pollutants in the rivers. Therefore, in the attempt to reduce the effects caused by water pollution, there should be proper awareness and enlightment on the causes, effects and the possible strategies to follow in order to combat this problem.


Zebra mussels established populations in Croton Pond, an impoundment on the Muskegon River in Michigan, between 1999 and 2000. Subsequently, declines in the filter feeding invertebrate communities downstream of the impoundment have occurred. Because of these changes, I investigated the impacts of zebra mussels on the production and downstream transport of phytoplankton in Croton Pond and the Muskegon River. Chlorophyll a concentrations were determined at multiple sites upstream, in the pond, and downstream. In addition, simulations were set up to predict algal biomass had zebra mussels not been introduced into the reservoir. Chlorophyll data indicates that the algal biomass in this portion of the river continually decreased with downstream flow. Clearance rates of zebra mussels were found to be 108 mLind.-1hr-1, immediately below Croton Dam while the incubations showed phytoplankton daily production rates to be 1.92 μgL-1 in the absence of zebra mussels. These data combined are a strong indication that the changes in chlorophyll a throughout the stream were a result of zebra mussel filtration. Decreased downstream transport of algal biomass may account for declines in other filter feeding invertebrate populations. In addition, zebra mussel filtering rates may directly limit the expansion of zebra mussel populations downstream due to food limitation.


The relationship between individual and organizational performance is a key challenge for leaders in modern organizations, especially with the current disruption in technology and innovation. This thesis is a literature review and compilation of the relevant empirical evidence on various processes of industrial groups and organizational characteristics such as the changing nature of work, leadership, and company culture in detail. I investigate the complex challenges that millennials and organizations are facing in the current VUCA work environment as well as their potential responses to these changes. I map out the evolution of the concept of work and compare changes in the workplace environment of the past, present, and future. Additionally, this thesis reviews the literature on organizational culture models, cultural fit and clash. I explore the intertwined differences and commonalities between management and leadership and also consider a gradual shift to a model of managerial-leadership in 21st century organizations. Furthermore, the research closely examines cultural change management through the lens of mergers and acquisitions. It also discusses next steps, like job redesign, team reorganization, and cultural reconciliation, to increase job satisfaction, employee motivation, and performance in future-ready organizations.


In image retrieval, standard evaluation metrics rely on score ranking, e.g. average precision (AP). In this paper, we introduce a method for robust and decomposable average precision (ROADMAP) addressing two major challenges for end-to-end training of deep neural networks with AP: non-differentiability and non-decomposability. Firstly, we propose a new differentiable approximation of the rank function, which provides an upper bound of the AP loss and ensures robust training. Secondly, we design a simple yet effective loss function to reduce the decomposability gap between the AP in the whole training set and its averaged batch approximation, for which we provide theoretical guarantees. Extensive experiments conducted on three image retrieval datasets show that ROADMAP outperforms several recent AP approximation methods and highlight the importance of our two contributions. Finally, using ROADMAP for training deep models yields very good performances, outperforming state-of-the-art results on the three datasets.


Introduction. Dentists and hygienists are strongly affected by musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). As workstation concepts are supported by subjective arguments only, the aim of this study was to use objective measurements to compare the variability of strain in various concepts: a dental chair equipped with a cart or an over-the-patient delivery system without an assistant, and Dr Daryl Beach's concept with an assistant. Methods. Goniometric and electromyographic recordings were made on 8 subjects, during a scaling operation. The electrical activity of their trapezius and lumbar muscles was compared, as were their cervical and lumbar ranges of motion. Results. The results showed that there was a wide variability depending on the workstation. However, the Beach concept tended to reduce physical strain on most parameters: duration of left lumbar muscle activity (2% compared to 15% of time spent in >10% maximal voluntary contraction, MVC), time spent in cervical side bending (4% compared to 30%), cervical flexion of >20° (9% compared to 40%), and left trapezius activity (9% of time spent >10% MVC compared to 28%). Conclusion. Practitioners and students should adjust their workstations to reduce the prevalence of MSDs.


Since 1987, the federal government and state governments, have tried to combat counterfeit drugs from entering the United States and the states' pharmaceutical supply chain. The latest attempt to prevent counterfeit drugs from entering the state drug supply chain was the California E-Pedigree drug tracing program that was to be implemented by the end of 2017. The California E-Pedigree system uses GS1 PDMS tracing system as its guideline. Since all of the states use paper format pedigree systems, California would have been the first electronic pedigree system in the U.S. However, on November 27, 2013, the President of the United States signed into law the Drug Quality Security Act (DQSA). Title II of DQSA is called the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) and it removes all existing or future drug track or trace systems including pedigree systems from all states. DSCSA does establish a new federal drug tracing program that uses pedigrees and product identifiers for verification of the drugs being accepted by the buyer. Although the full implementation of the DSCSA will take about ten years from its enactment, the basic structure of the new federal tracing program is laid out. My thesis will analyze the current state of the pharmaceutical industry, the impact of counterfeit medicine, and anti-counterfeit technologies. We will proceed to analyze the DSCSA to create a basic logical model and show a possible implementation of its verification process. Additionally, we will discuss DSCSA model as to its effectiveness of the basic design against the entrance of counterfeit medicine into the United States Pharmaceutical Supply Chain. This will be followed by a conclusion.


A singular-value-decomposition (SVD) statistical downscaling technique was developed for monthly rainfall over southern Taiwan. The statistical model was applied to seven different general circulation models. Seven different geographical domains for the large-scale atmospheric predictors were tested and their effects on rainfall projections were evaluated. Because different climate models indicate different future rainfall projections, a multi-model ensemble approach was applied to provide best guess estimates. Using the multi-model ensemble, and a range of metrics, it was found that the different predictor geographical domains had little influence on the projected monthly rainfalls. Two emission climate change scenarios (A1B and B1) were used to project the future rainfalls for the period from 2010 to 2045 across southern Taiwan. Overall, future rainfall shows an increasing trend during the May-to-October wet season and a decreasing trend during the November-toApril dry season.


Euro New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP) will start to test pedestrian Automatic Emergency Braking Systems (AEB) from 2016 on. Test procedures for these tests had been developed by and discussed between the AsPeCSS project and other initiatives (e.g. the AEB group with Thatcham Research from the United Kingdom). This paper gives an overview on the development process from the AsPeCSS side, summarizes the current test and assessment procedures as of March 2015 and shows test and assessment results of five cars that had been tested by BASt for AsPeCSS and the respective manufacturer. The test and assessment methodology seems appropriate to rate the performance of different vehicles. The best test result - still one year ahead of the test implementation - is around 80%, while the worst rating result is around 10%. Other vehicles are between these boundaries.


In March 2015, in the midst of a political transition, Tunisia was rocked by a terrorist attack at the Bardo Museum in downtown Tunis in which 21 people were killed. How did Tunisian journalists manage the tension between a heightened sense of insecurity and the country's uncertain democratic development? This article analyses journalistic commentary on the causes and implications of terrorism four years into the transition sparked by the Arab uprisings. It provides an empirically nuanced perspective on the role of journalism in political transitions, focusing on journalists as arbitrators in public debate. We argue that influential Tunisian journalists fell back on interpretive schema from the Ben Ali era when they tried to make sense of the Bardo attack, thus facilitating the authoritarian drift of the Tunisian government at the time. They actively contributed to the non-linearity of a political transition, despite enjoying real freedom of speech.


Between states... no punitive war is thinkable because between them a relation of superior and inferior does not exist. Whence it follows that a war of extermination, where the process of annihilation would strike both parties at once and all right as well, would bring out perpetual peace only in the great graveyard of the human race. -from "Perpetual Peace" One of the most influential thinkers of the Western civilization, a man who profoundly shaped the mind-set of the modern world, examines war and human nature and concludes, bracingly, that global peace is inevitable. Far from an unattainable utopian fantasy, this 1795 essay lays out the requirements for peace, including republican governments, freedom of movement for citizens, and-prophetically-the formation of a league of nations. In this era of imperialistic ambitions and preemptive wars, Kant's insight is a profound reminder that peace is possible but must be actively pursued. Also available from Cosimo Classics: Kant's Analytic of the Beautiful and Perpetual Peace. German metaphysician IMMANUEL KANT (1724-1804) served as a librarian of the Royal Library, a prestigious government position, and as a professor at Kvnigsberg University. His other works include Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime (1764), Critique of Pure Reason (1781), and Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785).


This paper proposes a 3D human body pose reconstruction system based on videos captured from any perspective view of a monocular camera. The appearance, color and temporal information extracted from the video frames are effectively combined to accurately track 2D body features. This view invariant system overcomes the challenges of requiring the modeled human to be viewed from a pre-specified angular perspective so as to initialize the 3D body model configuration, as well as to continuously find the best match between the tracked 2D features with the 3D model based on the downhill simplex algorithm. The matching information of 3D poses are also fed back to assist 2D tracking, which eventually provides more reliable 3D tracking performance.


We propose a new authentication algorithm for small internet of things (IoT) devices without key distribution and secure servers. Encrypted private data are stored on the cloud server in the registration step and compared with incoming encrypted data without decryption in the verification step. We call a set of encryptions that can verify two encrypted data items without decryption a verifiable encryption (VE). In this paper, we define VE, and claim that several cryptosystems belong to the VE class. Moreover, we introduce an authentication algorithm based on VE, and show an example of the algorithm and discuss its performance and security. As the algorithm neither shares any secret keys nor decrypts, its computation time becomes very small.


Results from the Faroe-Iceland Ridge Experiment (FIRE) constrain the crustal thickness as 19 km under the Northern Volcanic Zone of Iceland and 35 km under older Tertiary areas of northeastern Iceland. The Moho is defined by strong P wave and S wave reflections. Synthetic seismogram modeling of the Moho reflection indicates mantle velocities of at least 8.0 km/s beneath the Tertiary areas of northeastern Iceland and at least 7.9 km/s beneath the neovolcanic zone. Crustal diving rays resolve the structure of the upper and lower crust. Surface P wave velocities are 1.1–4.0 km/s in Quaternary rocks and are rather higher, 4.4–4.7 km/s, in the Tertiary basalts that outcrop elsewhere. The highest crustal P wave velocities observed directly from diving rays are 7.1 km/s, from rays that turn at 24 km depth. Velocities of 7.35 km/s at the base of the crust are inferred from extrapolation of the lower crustal velocity gradient (0.024 s−1). A Poisson's ratio of approximately 0.27, equivalent to an S wave to P wave travel time ratio of 1.78, is measured throughout the crust east of the neovolcanic zone. The Poisson's ratio and the steep Moho topography (in places up to 30° from the horizontal) indicate that the entire crust outside the neovolcanic zone is cool (<800°C). Gravity data are well matched by a velocity/density conversion of our seismic crustal model and indicate a region of low mantle density beneath the neovolcanic zone, believed to be due to elevated mantle temperatures. The crustal thickness in the neovolcanic zone is consistent with geochemical estimates of the melt generation, placing constraints on the flow within the Iceland mantle plume.


Radio frequency identification RFID authentication is an indispensable part of RFID applications, which allows a reader to identify objects in an authenticated manner. Recently, Liao and Hsiao proposed a very interesting elliptic curve cryptography-based RFID authentication scheme with ID-verifier transfer protocol. They claimed that the proposed protocol is secure against many attacks and satisfies essential security requirements of RFID systems. However, in this paper, we demonstrate that the protocol suffers from several attacks, in contrast to their original claims in the paper. Furthermore, we also propose a repaired version of the authentication protocol against identified attacks, and we provide formal security proofs. Copyright © 2015John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The mathematical underpinnings of vector analysis are reviewed as they are applied in the development of the ensemble of numeric statements for subsequent matrix solution. With the continued advances in computational power, there is increased interest in the field of atmospheric modelling to decrease the computational scale to a micro‐scale. This interest is partially motivated by the ability to solve large scale matrix systems in the number of occasions to enable a small‐scale time advancement to be approximated in a finite‐difference scheme. Solving entire large scale matrix systems several times a modelling second is now computationally feasible. Hence the motivation to increase computational detail by reducing modelling scale.


Amino acids induce signaling through mTORC2. Signaling through the mammalian target of rapamycin complexes 1 and 2 (mTORC1 and mTORC2) controls various cellular growth, metabolic, and survival processes. Whereas activation of mTORC1 regulates growth and metabolism, activation of mTORC2 regulates cellular survival. Hormones and growth factors induce signaling through both complexes, but amino acids have only been reported to activate mTORC1. Tato et al. report that amino acids are also capable of activating mTORC2 under starvation conditions. Insulin signaling through phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) causes phosphorylation of the kinase Akt on Thr308, which leads to activation of both mTORCs; Akt is further phosphorylated by mTORC2 to reach its maximal activity. In six different mammalian cell lines, amino acid treatment after serum starvation induced phosphorylation of Akt on Thr308 and on Ser473. The PI3K inhibitor wortmannin blocked both phosphorylation events, but the mTORC1 inhibitor rapamycin did not, suggesting that amino acids and insulin activated signaling through the same mechanism. Knocking down the mTORC2-specific component rictor using small interfering RNA (siRNA) eliminated amino acid–induced Ser473 phosphorylation but did not affect the phosphorylation of mTORC1 targets. Both mTOR and mTORC2 purified from lysates of amino acid–stimulated cells induced phosphorylation of Ser473 in an in vitro kinase assay. mTORC2-mediated phosphorylation of the Forkhead family transcription factor FOXO3a causes FOXO3a to be excluded from nuclei, thereby preventing it from stimulating expression of proapoptotic genes. Amino acid stimulation induced phosphorylation of FOXO3a, and this effect was blocked by wortmannin and by the Akt inhibitor Akti-1/2. The authors also noted that the ability of amino acids to stimulate Akt phosphorylation downstream of mTORC2 depended on the starvation conditions and duration of starvation, suggesting that this pathway may be significant in the interplay between nutrient sensing and insulin signaling observed in diseases such as obesity and cancer. The observation that mTORC2 can be activated by amino acids highlights a link between amino acids and cell survival and apoptosis, which may also have implications in aging and tumor progression. I. Tato, R. Bartrons, F. Ventura, J. L. Rosa, Amino acids activate mammalian target of rapamycin complex 2 (mTORC2) via PI3K/Akt signaling. J. Biol. Chem. 286, 6128–6142 (2011). [Abstract] [Full Text]


The immediate post-partum period offers a convenient time to have an intrauterine device placed because of the co-location of a non-pregnant woman and her clinician; however, this practice is associated with increased expulsion rates of up to 30%, compared with a 3% expulsion rate for interval insertions. This paper presents a device and method to improve intrauterine device delivery and retention in the immediate postpartum period. This initial feasibility study illustrates that it is possible to temporarily tether a commercially available intrauterine device within the uterus of an immediately postpartum baboon. The results indicate this device and method are technically feasible, but further studies will be needed to evaluate safety and efficacy in reducing expulsion rates.


This article first builds on the semiotics of culture approach and argues that the increasingly widespread transmedia practices may be valuable for contributing to the dynamics of how modern cultures are innovated. Transmedia practices facilitate intersemiotic translations at all levels of cultures, which conditions increased dialogism and the feasible evolution of these cultures. In the second part of the article, we demonstrate that there are hindrances in the existing media systems that may prevent this potential being fulfilled. It is often argued that transmedia can empower micro-sized content providers to participate in such dialogues and in the production of culture. However, recent studies demonstrate that in a European context the transmedia era may instead enforce the oligopolistic structures of media markets.


This article addresses how mediated discourse theory and related analytical tools can be used to explore how students write together. Considered within a sociocultural framework that conceptualises writing as involving distributed, mediated and dialogic processes of invention, this article presents an investigation of how three high school students wrote together for a collaborative project. This article presents a writing event selected from a larger study that is used to explore the ways authorship is distributed among the students, the resources that mediate their writing, the shifting social contexts they establish when writing and the relational and reflexive social positioning they enact. Mediated discourse theory and its related analytical tools are introduced for heuristic and methodological purposes for analysing how the coordination of these complexities shapes students' writing. The purpose for doing so is to gain a better understanding of how and why students write in the ways they do.


Malaria accounts for the greatest morbidity and mortality of any arthropod-borne disease globally. Recently, it was determined that the protective antisporozoite CD8+ T-cell response originates predominantly from cutaneous lymph nodes draining the site of parasite inoculation by an Anopheles mosquito. The female mosquito inoculates sporozoites along with an assortment of salivary proteins into the skin of its mammalian host. Mosquito saliva has demonstrable antihemostatic as well as various immunomodulatory activities, and studies with mosquito-borne viruses support a role for mosquito saliva in enhancement of transmission and exacerbation of disease. Early differences in immune response can be detected, which discriminate between mice that are resistant and susceptible to neurological pathology. This supports the idea that early divergence in the immune response may influence the likelihood of progression to the more severe forms of malaria. To evaluate the effect of mosquito feeding on the pathogenesis and immune response to malaria, we injected washed Plasmodium berghei sporozoites intradermally in the presence or absence of mosquito feeding. We observed that mice exposed to mosquito feeding in tandem with the inoculation of sporozoites had higher parasitemias and an elevated progression to cerebral malaria. This was associated with, in particular, elevated levels of interleukin-4 and interleukin-10, suppression of overall transcription in response to infection, and decreased extravasation of dendritic cells and monocytes. This study enhances to our understanding of the complexity of the interactions between the malaria parasite, its host, and the mosquito vector.


There is increasing evidence that resource availability significantly modulates the measured effects of Ocean Acidification (OA) on marine phytoplankton. In this context, the interactive effects of OA and irradiance have been proven especially important, yet most studies have applied constant light levels only. Whether such experimental results can be extrapolated to the ocean, where light intensities are highly dynamic, is currently unknown. To investigate the potential effect of dynamic light on OA responses, we grew the diatom Chaetoceros debilis under two pCO2 (390 and 1000 µatm) and light conditions (constant and dynamic). To characterise the respective responses a variety of parameters were measured (e.g. growth, elemental composition, primary production). Our results suggest that dynamic light strongly alters the effects of OA, as high pCO2 had a beneficial effect on primary production under constant but a negative effect under dynamic light. To understand these complex interactions, we assessed the underlying processes on different levels, obtaining results from transcriptomics, photophysiology as well as carbon fixation.


For every live being, ecological conditions greatly influence biology. In the case of a fish, these conditions may be responsible for its presence or absence in the medium, its development and its population size. This work studies the characteristics and physicochemical typology of Sidi Rachid River, known by its wealth of the Salmonidae fish: Salmo trutta macrostigma (Dumeril, 1858). The results show that apart from the appearance of nitrates, whose high levels indicate an organic pollution, during some times of the year, coming seemingly from the Ras Elma fish farm waste water, the water quality is good. The results also show that the physico-chemical typology of the watercourse is mainly influenced by the "season" factor and that among the studied variables, only the pH does not influence the spatial and temporal variation of the medium studied characteristics. Key words: Sidi Rachid River, physicochemical typology, Salmo fario, Morocco.


Abstract The Tokoro Belt exposed in NE Hokkaido (Japan) represents part of a Late Cretaceous accretionary complex, which includes variously metamorphosed volcanic rocks that are interbedded with chert, lenticular limestone and some fore-arc sedimentary rocks. The Tokoro Belt is notably different from other Late Cretaceous accretionary complexes around the Pacific Rim because of widespread occurrence of basalts and volcaniclastic rocks in it. The Nikoro Group, characterized by widespread occurrence of volcanic rocks, is divided into western, eastern and southern sections based on the internal structure, geochemical affinities and metamorphic grades of their volcanic lithologies. OIB (ocean island basalt)-type volcanic rocks with low-grade metamorphic overprint predominate in the western and southern sections, whereas MORB (mid-ocean ridge basalt)- and OIA (ocean island alkaline basalt)-type rocks in the eastern section with partly high-pressure metamorphism make up the northern part of the eastern section. Trace element patterns display transitional trends from MORB to OIA geochemical affinities. OIB-type rocks display trace element characteristics similar to those of shield volcano lavas on Hawaii, rather than small and mainly alkaline, Polynesian hotspot lavas; furthermore, they show significant HREE (heavy rare earth element) enrichment probably caused by plume–ridge interaction. Widespread OIBs in the Tokoro Belt represents tectonic slices of a large (>80 km wide) Hawaiian-style, seamount shield volcano on the Izanagi oceanic plate that was accreted into the continental margin of Far East Asia in the Late Cretaceous.


Because of the potential link between the ongoing Zika virus outbreak and a surge in the number of cases of congenital microcephaly, officials in Latin America have recommended that women postpone pregnancy until this association is firmly established or the outbreak subsides. However, in all these countries a large proportion of babies are still born out of unplanned pregnancies. Teenage girls are particularly at high risk, as they often lack access to preventive contraception methods, or the knowledge to use them appropriately. To gauge the magnitude of the barriers preventing the implementation of such a recommendation in Brazil, the country so far most affected by the Zika epidemic, we evaluated pregnancy rates in teenage girls, and their spatial heterogeneity in the country, in recent years (2012-2014). Nearly 20% of children born in Brazil today (~560,000 live births) are by teenage mothers. Birth incidence is far higher in the tropical and poorer northern states. However, in absolute terms most births occur in the populous southeastern states, matching to a large extent the geographic distribution of dengue (an indicator of suitable climatic and sociodemographic conditions for the circulation of Aedes mosquitoes). These findings indicate that recommendation to delay pregnancy will leave over half a million pregnant adolescents in Brazil vulnerable to infection every year if not accompanied by effective education and real access to prevention.


The aim of this paper is to explore some facets of the geometry of generic isotopies of plane curves. Our major tool will be the paper of Arnol'd [1] on the evolution of wavefronts. The sort of questions one can ask are: in a generic isotopy of a plane curve how are vertices created and destroyed? How does the dual evolve? How can the Gauss map change? In attempting to answer these questions we are taking advantage of the fact that these phenomena are all naturally associated with singularities of type Ak. Now the bifurcation set of an Ak+1 singularity and the discriminant set of an Ak singularity coincide. So we can apply Arnol'd's results on one parameter families of Legendre (discriminant) singularities (e.g. the duals) to get information on one parameter families of Lagrange (bifurcation) singularities (e.g. the evolutes). For bifurcation sets of functions with singularities other than those of type Ak one runs up against problems with smooth moduli—see [4].


The accuracy of a conventional supervised classification is in part a function of the training set used, notably impacted by the quantity and quality of the training cases. Since it can be costly to acquire a large number of high quality training cases, recent research has focused on methods that allow accurate classification from small training sets. Previous work has shown the potential of support vector machine (SVM) based classifiers. Here, the potential of the relevance vector machine (RVM) and sparse multinominal logistic regression (SMLR) approaches is evaluated relative to SVM classification. With both airborne and spaceborne multispectral data sets, the RVM and SMLR were able to derive classifications of similar accuracy to the SVM but required considerably fewer training cases. For example, from a training set comprising 600 cases acquired with a conventional stratified random sampling design from an airborne thematic mapper (ATM) data set, the RVM produced the most accurate classification, 93.75%, and needed only 7.33% of the available training cases. In comparison, the SVM yielded a classification that had an accuracy of 92.50% and needed 4.5 times more useful training cases. Similarly, with a Landsat ETM+ (Littleport, Cambridgeshire, UK) data set, the SVM required 4.0 times more useful training cases than the RVM. For each data set, however, the classifications derived by each classifier were of similar magnitude, differing by no more than 1.25%. Finally, for both the ATM and ETM+ (Littleport) data sets, the useful training cases by SVM and RVM had distinct and potentially predictable characteristics. Support vectors were generally atypical but lay in the boundary region between classes in feature space while the relevance vectors were atypical but anti-boundary in nature. The SMLR also tended to mostly, but not always, use extreme cases that lay away from class boundary. The results, therefore, suggest a potential to design classifier-specific intelligent training data acquisition activities for accurate classification from small training sets, especially with the SVM and RVM.


When users post photos on Facebook, they have the option of allowing their friends, followers, or anyone at all to subsequently reshare the photo. A portion of the billions of photos posted to Facebook generates cascades of reshares, enabling many additional users to see, like, comment, and reshare the photos. In this paper we present characteristics of such cascades in aggregate, finding that a small fraction of photos account for a significant proportion of reshare activity and generate cascades of non-trivial size and depth. We also show that the true influence chains in such cascades can be much deeper than what is visible through direct attribution. To illuminate how large cascades can form, we study the diffusion trees of two widely distributed photos: one posted on President Barack Obama's page following his reelection victory, and another posted by an individual Facebook user hoping to garner enough likes for a cause. We show that the two cascades, despite achieving comparable total sizes, are markedly different in their time evolution, reshare depth distribution, predictability of subcascade sizes, and the demographics of users who propagate them. The findings suggest not only that cascades can achieve considerable size but that they can do so in distinct ways.


This paper summarizes the work on the social dimension conducted within the EU FP7 SiteChar project. The most important aim of the research was to advance public awareness and draw lessons for successful public engagement activities when developing a CO2 storage permit application. To this end, social site characterization (e.g. representative surveys) and public participation activities (focus conference) were conducted at two prospective Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) sites: an onshore site in Poland and an offshore site in Scotland. The research consisted of four steps over a time period of 1.5 year, from early 2011 to mid-2012. The first step consisted of four related qualitative and quantitative research activities to provide a social characterization of the areas: desk research, stakeholder interviews, media analyses, and a survey among representative samples of the local community. The aim was to identify: stakeholders or interested parties; factors that may drive their perceptions of and attitudes towards CCS. Results were used to as input for the second step, in which a new format for public engagement named 'focus conferences' was tested at both sites involving a small sample of the local community. The third step consisted of making available generic as well as site-specific information to the general and local public, by: setting up a bilingual set of information pages on the project website suitable for a lay audience; organizing information meetings at both sites that were open to all who took interest. The fourth step consisted of a second survey among a new representative sample of the local community. The survey was largely identical to the survey in step 1 to enable the monitoring of changes in awareness, knowledge and opinions over time.Results provide insight in the way local CCS plans may be perceived by the local stakeholders, how this can be reliably assessed at early stage without raising unnecessary concerns, and how results of this inventory can be used to develop effective local communication and participation strategies. In future project development, if any, these results can be used to start up and inform the process of information provision and public engagement.


Objective: To examine the role of an IGF-I gene promoter polymorphism in the prevalence of radiographic osteoarthritis (ROA), and study its interaction with the COL2A1 gene. Methods: Individuals genotyped for IGF-I (n = 1546) and COL2A1 gene polymorphisms (n = 808) were selected from a random sample (n = 1583) derived from the Rotterdam study. The presence of ROA was defined as a Kellgren score of 2 or more in at least one of four joints (knee, hip, hand, and spine). Genotype specific odds ratios (OR) were adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, and bone mineral density using logistic regression. Interaction with the COL2A1 genotype was tested. Results: Overall, no association was found between the IGF-I polymorphism and ROA. In subjects aged 65 years or younger (n = 971), the prevalence of ROA increased with the absence of the 192 base pair (bp) allele (p for trend = 0.03). Compared with homozygotes for the 192 bp allele, the prevalence of ROA was 1.4 times higher in heterozygotes (95% confidence interval, 1.0 to 1.8) and 1.9 times higher in non-carriers (1.1 to 3.3). There was evidence of interaction between the IGF-I and COL2A1 genes. Individuals with the risk genotype of both genes had an increased prevalence of ROA (OR 3.4 (1.1 to 10.7)). No effect was observed in subjects older than 65 years. Conclusions: Subjects with genetically determined low IGF-I expression (non-carriers of the 192 bp allele) may be at increased risk of ROA before the age of 65 years. Furthermore, an interaction between the IGF-I and COL2A1 genes is suggested.


Space Communications Topic O1 NASA's communications capability is based on the premise that communications shall enable and not constrain missions. Communications must be robust to support the numerous missions for space science, Earth science and exploration of the universe. Technologies such as optical communications, RF including antennas and ground based Earth stations, surface networks, access links, reprogrammable communications systems, communications systems for EVAs, advanced antenna technology, transmit array concepts and communications in support of launch services including space based assets are very important to the future of exploration and science activities of the Agency. Emphasis is placed on size, weight and power improvements. Even greater emphasis is placed on these attributes as small satellites (e.g., micro and nano satellite) technology matures. Innovative solutions centered around operational issues associated with the communications capability are needed. Communications that enable the range safety data from sensitive instruments is imperative. These technologies are to be aligned with the Space Communications and Navigation Architecture as being developed by the Agency. See https://www.spacecomm.nasa.gov/spacecomm/ [1] for more details. A typical approach for flight hardware would include: Phase 1 Research to identify and evaluate candidate telecommunications technology applications to demonstrate the technical feasibility and show a path towards a hardware/software demonstration. Bench or lablevel demonstrations are required. Phase 2 Emphasis should be placed on developing and demonstrating the technology under simulated flight conditions. The proposal shall outline a path showing how the technology could be developed into space-worthy systems. The contract should deliver a demonstration unit for functional and environmental testing at the completion of the Phase 2 contract. Some of the subtopics in this topic could result in products that may be included in a future small satellite flight opportunity. Please see the SMD Topic S4 for more details as to the requirements for flight opportunities. Sub Topics:


The HipHop Virtual Machine (HHVM) is a JIT compiler and runtime for PHP. While PHP values are dynamically typed, real programs often have latent types that are useful for optimization once discovered. Some types can be proven through static analysis, but limitations in the ahead-of-time approach leave some types to be discovered at run time. And even though many values have latent types, PHP programs can also contain polymorphic variables and expressions, which must be handled without catastrophic slowdown. HHVM discovers latent types by structuring its JIT around the concept of a tracelet. A tracelet is approximately a basic block specialized for a particular set of run-time types for its input values. Tracelets allow HHVM to exactly and efficiently learn the types observed by the program, while using a simple compiler. This paper shows that this approach enables HHVM to achieve high levels of performance, without sacrificing compatibility or interactivity.


The article examines how the German city of Leipzig governs the housing of asylum seekers. Leipzig was a frontrunner in organizing the decentralized accommodation of asylum seekers when adopting its accommodation concept in 2012. This concept aimed at integrating asylum-seeking persons in the regular housing market at an early stage of arrival. However, since then, the city of Leipzig faces more and more challenges in implementing the concept. This is particularly due to the increasingly tight situation on the housing market while the number of people seeking protection increased and partly due to discriminating and xenophobic attitudes on the side of house owners and managers. Therefore, we argue that the so-called refugee crisis of 2015–2016 has to be seen in close interaction with a growing general housing shortage in Leipzig like in many other large European cities. Furthermore, we understand the municipal governing of housing as a contested field regarding its entanglement of diverse federal levels and policy scales, the diversity of stakeholders involved, and its dynamic change over the last years. We analyze this contested field set against the current context of arrival and dynamic urban growth on a local level. Based on empirical qualitative research that was conducted by us in 2016, Leipzig's local specifics will be investigated under the umbrella of our conceptual framework of Governance of Arrival. The issues of a strained housing market and the integration of asylum seekers in it do not apply only to Leipzig, but shed light on similar developments in other European Cities.


Early in the last century the successes of science led a group of French thinkers to apply the principles of science to the study of society. These thinkers purported to have discovered the supposed 'laws' of society and concluded that an elite of social scientists should assume direct control of social life. The Counter-Revolution of Science is Nobel Laureate Friedrich Hayek's forceful attack on this abuse of reason.


Many novel condition monitoring techniques have been invented in recent years, and the challenge lies in coming up with a highly reliable and cost efficient monitoring system which should be capable of tracking down and give an early indication of machinery's faults. The focus of this paper is to develop advanced approaches based on advanced intelligent computations to diagnosis and prognosis bearing condition. TESPAR (Time Encoded Signal Processing and Recognition) is an effective and direct way for describing complex waveforms in digital terms. It is the generic terms set to a collection of novel signal analysis, recognition and classification approaches that can be applied to describe and classify various ranges of complicated band limited signals. The results show that vibration signal waveforms of bearing faults can be digitized and analyzed in terms of its epochs' duration and shape which are the main parameters of the TESPAR technique that provides an accurate separation between different bearing faults with different degree of severity.


In this paper, following J. Nielsen, we introduce a complete characteristic of orientation-preserving periodic maps on the two-dimensional torus. All admissible complete characteristics were found and realized. In particular, each of the classes of orientation-preserving periodic homeomorphisms on the 2-torus that are nonhomotopic to the identity is realized by an algebraic automorphism. Moreover, it is shown that the number of such classes is finite. According to V. Z. Grines and A. Bezdenezhnykh, any gradient-like orientation-preserving diffeomorphism of an orientable surface is represented as a superposition of the time-1 map of a gradient-like flow and some periodic homeomorphism. Thus, the results of this work are directly related to the complete topological classification of gradient-like diffeomorphisms on surfaces.


Through the practice-based lens of the Night in the Garden at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (2014) this paper explores how environments, both built and green, can become something powerfully augmented in the regeneration of cities and towns, and introduces the human experience of unexpected events as an affordance of access and belonging. In the last two decades the explosion of the 'light festival' as a global phenomenon has created a new night-time language of temporary performance. Our urban environments are straining to develop unique visual representations that have driven a new kind of tourism. The alien performances that play out across our urban centres bring a return to the joy of the unique and the carnivalesque and are situated within the environments that we recognise so differently during the day. This creative practice led perspective, supported exploration of audience engagement and asked questions of how personal and shared experiences are generated and broadcast; whilst recognising this approach as part of a wider place-making phenomena, where visual culture awakens sleeping spaces. The urban domain is a canvas for storytelling open to change each time the festival rolls into town, where physical structures remain unaltered, but our perception of them becomes reanimated.


This paper puts forward the argument that there are various, competing, and antithetical evidence-based practice (EBP) definitions and acknowledges that the different EBP definitions are based on different epistemological perspectives. However, this is not enough to understand the way in which nurse professionals choose between the various EBP formations and consequently facilitate them in choosing the most appropriate for their needs. Therefore, the current article goes beyond and behind the various EBP epistemologies to identify how individuals choose an epistemology, which consequently will assist our understanding as to how an individual chooses a specific EBP formation. Individuals choose an epistemology on the mere belief that the specific epistemology offers the ideals or ideas of best explaining or interpreting daily reality. These ideals or ideas are termed by science, history, and politics as ideology. Similarly, individual practitioners choose or should choose between the different EBP formations based on their own personal ideology. Consequently, this article proceeds to analyse the various ideologies behind different EBP definitions as to conclude that there are two broad ideologies that inform the various EBP formations, namely the ideology of truth and the ideology of individual emancipation. These two ideologies are analysed and their connections to the various EBP formations are depicted. Eventually, the article concludes that the in-depth, critical, and intentional analysis by individual nurses of their own ideology will allow them to choose the EBP formation that is most appropriate and fitting for them, and their specific situation. Hence, the conscious analysis of individual ideology becomes the criterion for choosing between competing EBP formations and allows for best evidence to be implemented in practice. Therefore, the best way to teach EBP courses is by facilitating students to analyse their own ideology.


We published the Smart Jurisdictions Index in November 2018. This compared 48 jurisdictions across the globe using 151 factors, ranking a number of pioneering States in the USA at No 1, with France at 10, Canada at 11, the Netherlands at 12, the UK-England at 13, and Switzerland at 18. Drivers include how jurisdictions handle Identity, Documentation, Legal, and Payments, and how nations are beginning to deploy services to citizens using Smart Ledger technology. We have built on the Smart Jurisdictions Index to develop the Smart Centres Index.

The Smart Jurisdictions Index was created using a range of instrumental factors divided into two groups and covering nine relevant areas:

Base Factors:

Business Environment
Reputational
Infrastructure
Human Capital
Financial Services

Smart Ledger Factors:

Legal
Documentation
Identity
Payments.

As a result of feedback on the pilot, we have developed our approach into the new Smart Centres Index, which uses the same range of instrumental factors, but which focuses on financial and business centres rather than jurisdictions; and which widens the scope of research to cover the regulation, depth, and quality of new technologies.


Vibrio cholerae transitions between a free-swimming planktonic lifestyle and a multicellular community called a biofilm, which is used as protection from environmental stressors. The objective of this study was to analyze the role of vibriobactin in biofilm formation. These analyses utilized mutants defective in vibriobactin transport (viuA::tetR) or synthesis (?vibF) and were assayed in iron-replete (EZRDM) and -deplete (100 µg/ml EDDA) conditions. Our results show that biofilm cell density is significantly different between wild-type V. cholerae, viuA::tetR, and ?vibF over a period of 1-3 days in iron-replete and -deplete media. Confocal microscopy experiments using STYO-9 show that biofilm architecture and maturation is altered substantially in both viuA::tetR and ?vibF mutants compared to wild-type under iron-replete and -deplete conditions over a period of 1-3 days. Furthermore, competition indices show that viuA::tetR is outcompeted for space in biofilms by wild type and ?vibF is at a competitive advantage. Confocal microscopy experiments show that viuA::tetR and ?vibF have unique distributions in biofilms when mixed with wild type.


In the last decade, vitamin D was in the spotlight in many fields of research. Despite numerous publications, its influence on reproductive health remains ambiguous. This paper presents an up-to-date review of current knowledge concerning the role of cholecalciferol in human reproduction. It covers various infertility issues, such as polycystic ovary syndrome, endometriosis, myoma-induced infertility, male infertility, premature ovary failure and in vitro fertilization techniques. Vitamin D deficiency, defined as serum concentration of 25-hydroxycalciferol of less than 50 nmol/L, is commonly noted more frequently than only in fertility clinic patients. It is a global trend that is observed in all age groups. The results of original publications dated up to 2015 have been summarized and discussed in a critical manner. Most experts agree that vitamin D supplementation is a necessity, particularly in women suffering from obesity, insulin resistance or small ovarian reserve, as well as in men with oligo- and asthenozoospermia if serum concentration should fall below 50 nmol/L (normal range up to 125 nmol/L). High concentration of vitamin D and its metabolites in decidua during the 1st trimester suggests its important role in the implantation process and a local immunological embryo-protection. On the other hand, evidence-based research did not prove a significant difference so far in ovulation stimulation or embryo development depending on vitamin D level. In one of the publications, it was also found that vitamin D binding protein (VDBP) has a molecular similarity to anti-sperm antibodies, and another one concluded that both low (<50 nmol/L) and high (>125 nmol/L) concentration of vitamin D are associated with decreased number and quality of spermatozoa in semen. Vitamin D is definitely not a Trojan Horse in reproductive health, since there were no adverse effects reported for vitamin D intake of up to 10,000 IU/day, but to proclaim it the Golden Fleece, more evidence is needed.


In the past decade great effort has been put into the development of synthetic strategies to produce trinuclear triangular CuII (TTC) arrays, which may be synthetic analogues of the trinuclear site in ascorbate oxidase and blue oxidase. A large number of scientific contributions have been dedicated to the synthesis and spectroscopic characterization of TTC arrays. In contrast, only a small number of studies deal with their possible applications. As a consequence, systematic studies describing their reactivity are very rare and the few existing models can only partially explain how structural and molecular parameters influence their reactivity and their possible uses and applications. This contribution reports a summary of all experimental results related to the Cu3(μ3-OH)(μ-pz)3 core (pz = unsubstituted pyrazolate). We describe here all species, distinguishing them according to whether they are neutral, cationic or anionic, as well as their main structural features, the synthetic procedures employed for their production, their reactivity toward nucleophiles and strong acids and, finally, their possible and perspective applications.