We use a Lagrangian dispersion model driven by a mesoscale model with four-dimensional data assimilation to simulate the dispersion of elemental carbon (EC) over a region encompassing Mexico City and its surroundings. The region was the study domain for the 2006 MAX-MEX experiment, which was a component of the MILAGRO campaign. The results are used to identify periods when biomass burning was likely to have had a significant impact on the concentrations of elemental carbon at two sites, T1 and T2, downwind of the city, and when emissions from the Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA) were likely to have been more important. They are also used to estimate the median ages of EC affecting the specific absorption of light, α ABS , at 870 nm as well as to identify periods when the urban plume from the MCMA was likely to have been advected over T1 and T2. Median EC ages at T1 and T2 are substantially larger during the day than at night. Values of α ABS at T1, the nearer of the two sites to Mexico City, were smaller at night and increased rapidly after mid-morning, peaking in the mid-afternoon. The behavior is attributed to the coating of aerosols with substances such as sulfate or organic carbon during daylight hours, but such coating appears to be limited or absent at night. Evidence for this is provided by scanning electron microscopy images of aerosols collected at the sampling sites. During daylight hours the values of α ABS did not increase with aerosol age for median ages in the range of 1–4 h. There is some evidence for absorption increasing as aerosols were advected from T1 to T2 but the statistical significance of that result is not strong.


Purpose: In Sweden, the ambulance response time from call to arrival is 11 minutes in patients with an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). However, there is a small group of OHCA patients (20%) in whom this delay is minimized, namely those that occur minutes before or after the arrival of the ambulance. Despite CPR and/or defibrillation within one minute, only 20% survive to hospital discharge. The objective was therefore to determine whether a pathway with direct transportation to the cath lab, using mechanical chest compression (LUCAS), could improve survival in this selected group. Aim: To describe characteristics, feasibility and outcome among a selected group of OHCA patients transported directly to the cath lab by the ambulance in a new pathway Method: A prospective observational study from November 2013 to November 2015 Inclusion criteria: 1. Crew-witnessed cardiac arrest (CA) of cardiac origin or CA immediately defibrillated to return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) by public access. 2. CA occurring two to three minutes before ambulance arrival where the patient had immediate bystander CPR of high quality. 4. CA occurring two to three minutes before ambulance arrival where the patient was still breathing at ambulance arrival. Exclusion criteria: Non-cardiac origin CA or high physiologic age (hospice patients) Result: Sixty-four patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria and 14 were excluded. Of the remaining 50 patients, 25 were transported with mechanical CPR to the cath lab. The time from CA to hospital was a median of 38 minutes. Survival to 30 days was 38% among all patients, 47% among VF (N=34) and 12% (N=25) among those who were transported with mechanical CPR. Conclusion: The pathway appears safe and feasible, but the inclusion criteria need to be less complex. The vast majority of survivors were found in the VF population. There were survivors (12%) among patients transported with ongoing CPR (N=25) directly to the cath lab by the ambulance.


Abstract Objective: To determine if there was a relationship between CD4 cell count, nutritional status and self-reported quality of life (QoL) in HIV-infected adults. Design: Descriptive study in the quantitative research domain. Setting: The out-patient antiretroviral (ARV) clinic at Dr George Mukhari Hospital (Ga-Rankuwa) (institutional). Subjects: The study group (n = 90) consisted of male (n = 34) and female patients (18–50 years) diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. Convenience sampling was used. Outcome measures: Anthropometry (weight, height, BMI, MUAC, TSF), dietary intake (habitual food intake recall) and QoL (WHOQoL-HIV questionnaire) were assessed. Data collection was done from January–April 2007. Results: Significant, but poor, positive correlation was found for the following anthropometrical parameters and the CD4 cell count: weight (r = 0.37; ρ = 0.00), BMI (r = 0.39; ρ = 0.00), and MUAC (r = 0.36; ρ = 0.00). The study group had a poor dietary quality. Significant correlation with the CD4 cell count was found for the following domains of the QoL: physical activity (r = 0.27; ρ = 0.01), psychological (r = 0.27; ρ = 0.01), level of independence (r = 0.36; ρ = 0.00), and environmental (r = 0.27; ρ = 0.01). The overall QoL assessment was average, according to the WHOQoL-HIV questionnaire score. Conclusion: Significant positive relationships existed between specific anthropometry and the CD4 cell count, and also between certain QoL domains and the CD4 cell count. Strategies for increasing dietary diversity and QoL ought to be identified and implemented in communities. Recommendation: A longitudinal study would give better understanding of the relationship between nutritional status, the CD4 cell count and QoL.


After eleven years, the longest period in Supreme Court history with no change in membership, the Roberts Court commenced in the year 2005 with two new justices. John Roberts replaced William Rehnquist as the seventeenth Chief Justice and Samuel Alito replaced Sandra Day O'Connor as Associate Justice. The conventional wisdom suggests that on the nine-justice Supreme Court, these two appointments have produced a single-increment move, ideologically, to the right. The two Chief Justices occupy roughly the same ideological position. In contrast, whereas O'Connor was generally viewed as occupying the Court's centrist, or median, position, Alito has instead continued to embrace the same conservative judicial philosophy that characterized his fifteen-year career on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. It now appears that the Roberts Court is one justice shy of what conservatives had long hoped for, namely a core conservative majority that would ensure predictable rulings in key areas of constitutional law, including most notably abortion, equal protection, and criminal procedure. This Article will explain that while this conventional wisdom is generally sound, it is also incomplete in a critical respect. The increasingly prominent conservative center of gravity in the Supreme Court coincides with an overwhelmingly conservative set of federal circuit courts of appeals. This uncommon judicial occurrence becomes all the more significant when we factor in one more consideration. The Supreme Court has proved most willing to alter its standing doctrines, which govern access to the federal judiciary and ultimately to the Court itself, when this combination coincides with a set of standing rules that threaten to undermines the Court's ability, working in alignment with the lower federal judiciary, to further its emerging doctrinal mandate. This even rarer combination has happened only one prior time in the post New Deal period, and that was during the Warren Court.This Article's thesis is ironic: With respect to standing doctrine, which affects the timing of doctrinal transformation, the Roberts Court is most likely to resemble the Warren Court, the very Court whose historical legacy it seeks to counteract. Further core conservative appointments to the Roberts Court will place stress upon strict standing doctrines developed in the Burger and Rehnquist Courts, as the Supreme Court, working in alignment with the conservative lower federal judiciary, seeks to move substantive constitutional doctrine in its preferred ideological direction. Over time, an increasingly conservative Roberts Court will seek to relax the strictest features of standing doctrine to facilitate its broader doctrinal agenda.To support this thesis, this Article develops and presents two new sets of data. Adapting the Martin-Quinn scoring system, the first data set tracks the ideological center of gravity and the stability of dominant coalition structures on the Supreme Court itself from 1937 through 2005. The second data set is the product of original research drawn from the Federal Judges Biographical Database, compiled by the Federal Judicial Center. These data track the ideological balance of the federal circuit courts, for each year from 1933 through 2006 based upon the party of appointing President. This Article transforms these two sets of data into a readily comparable form and presents them together in a chronological table covering the Supreme Court and circuit courts from 1933 through 2006. This Article relies upon these data to explain the conditions under which the Supreme Court has historically developed and transformed its principal doctrinal gatekeeper, namely standing, in an effort to control developing constitutional doctrine in concert with the lower federal courts. The Article then places the Roberts Court in a broader theoretical and empirical perspective that tracks the Court's internal coalition structures and accounts for the historical relationship between ideological dominance on the Supreme Court and the majority of the federal circuit courts. The analysis helps not only in assessing the significance of the Roberts and Alito appointments, but also of potential future appointments in affecting doctrinal change.The Supreme Court's standing rules have long been viewed as a conservative set of doctrines. The Court's most recent, and controversial, standing pronouncement, Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency ('EPA'), which over the dissents of the four core conservatives, afforded standing to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to challenge the EPA's denial of rulemaking respecting the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act, is consistent with casting standing in such ideological terms. A longer historical view, however, belies the claim that strict standing inevitably serves conservative interests. Since the doctrine's inception in the New Deal, the Supreme Court has willingly modified standing to fit its changing circumstances and in doing so, has also changed the doctrine's ideological cast. This Article provides theoretical and empirical support for the thesis that as the Roberts Court moves further in a conservative direction, it will be poised once more to modify the strict form of standing that characterized that doctrine in the Burger and Rehnquist Courts as a means working with the aligned conservative lower federal judiciary to move doctrine in its preferred ideological direction.


Usability is a determining factor in information systems acceptance. Despite the presence of various usability engineering techniques to produce usable information systems, usability issues are still identified late in the development process during final system/product testing, or worse, after the system is live. One of the critical reasons for this usability failure is the inadequacy of current requirements engineering practice to transform usability perspectives effectively into software requirements specifications. In this paper, we propose a designoriented framework incorporating user modelling and usability modelling to produce user-centred software requirements and a research design to verify its validity.


A potential Mars Sample Return (MSR) architecture is being jointly studied by NASA and ESA. As currently envisioned, the MSR campaign consists of a series of 3 missions: sample cache, fetch and return to Earth. In this paper, we focus on the fetch part of the MSR, and more specifically the problem of autonomously detecting and localizing sample tubes deposited on the Martian surface. Towards this end, we study two machine-vision based approaches: First, a geometry-driven approach based on template matching that uses hard-coded filters and a 3D shape model of the tube; and second, a data-driven approach based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and learned features. Furthermore, we present a large benchmark dataset of sample-tube images, collected in representative outdoor environments and annotated with ground truth segmentation masks and locations. The dataset was acquired systematically across different terrain, illumination conditions and dust-coverage; and benchmarking was performed to study the feasibility of each approach, their relative strengths and weaknesses, and robustness in the presence of adverse environmental conditions.


This is the user's manual of MC@NLO 2.2. This package is a practical im- plementation, based upon the HERWIG event generator, of the MC@NLO formalism, which allows one to incorporate NLO QCD matrix elements consistently into a parton shower framework. Processes available in this version include the hadroproduction of single vector and Higgs bosons, vector boson pairs, and heavy quark-antiquark pairs. This document is self-contained, but we emphasise the main dierences with respect to previous versions.


This study investigates mobility patterns in microcellular wireless networks, based on measurements from the 802.11 based system that blankets the Carnegie Mellon University campus. We characterize the distribution of dwell time, which is the length of time that a mobile device remains in a cell until the next handoff, and sign-on interarrival time, which is the length of time between successive sign-ons from the same mobile device. Many researchers have assumed that these distributions are exponential, but our results based on empirical analysis show that dwell time and sign-on interarrival time can be accurately described using heavy-tailed arithmetic distributions that have infinite mean and variance. We also show that the number of handoffs per sign-on can be modeled accurately with a heavy-tailed distribution.


The mechanical behavior of soils is highly dependent on the particle microstructure. Traditional geotechnical engineering soil tests generally do not measure soil properties on a micro-scale; instead, macro scale properties are commonly used as estimates of microstructure properties in determining soil engineering behavior. Additionally, traditional geotechnical engineering soil tests are destructive in nature, and many test methods destroy the same soil properties they intend to measure. The goal of this research was to develop non-destructive soil test methods using x-ray computer-aided tomography (CT) scanning techniques to determine soil index properties. The CT scanning process provides a promising method for examining soil microstructure in a non-destructive manner. This research had two main objectives. The first was to configure the Montana State University (MSU) Civil Engineering Department's computer-aided tomography scanner to perform CT scans on soil samples. The second objective was to use the CT scanner to develop non-destructive test procedures to determine geotechnical index properties of soils. Test methods were developed in this study to determine porosity, grain size distribution, and pore size distribution. The results from the first objective showed that the MSU CT scanning equipment is capable of producing high quality CT scans of soil materials. Resolution limitations of the scanner define the smallest soil grain size that is detectable in a CT scan, but the scan resolution may be improved by using smaller sample sizes for small particle soils. The results of the second portion of the study show that the non-destructive CT scanning test methods compare favorably with traditional geotechnical laboratory mechanical test methods. CT-measured porosity values and grain size distributions compared well with mechanical testing results, which were used to validate the new test methods. In addition, the CT-measured pore size distributions were in good agreement with an accepted pore size mathematical model. Since traditional pore size distribution tests are time-consuming, labor-intensive, and destructive in nature, the non-destructive x-ray CT scanning test methods developed in this study show strong promise as a means for measuring an elusive soil property that cannot be accurately measured using traditional geotechnical testing procedures.


The Internet has provided an unlimited potential with access to ebooks, multimedia content, news, new ideas, and information access in general. Yet, due to poor broadband infrastructure and available grid power to support the Internet and ICT growth, the developing regions have actually been left even further behind. The basic requirements in any developing region (beyond clean water and food) are a reliable electric power grid, network infrastructure, education, jobs, and a stable government and banking system. Nothing works without the electric and network infrastructure in place. The sad fact is diesel generators are used to power everything in place of a stable power grid. The other sad fact is most of these countries have tremendous amount of wind or solar energy that can be used in place of imported fossil fuels. The developing regions in most cases are connected to the Internet; the question is how best to interconnect inside the regions and countries and move the data closer to the end user? We need a developing world approach, not our western model of bigger is better, ie over sized, energy hungry Data centers. Many papers have been written on how Cloud Computing will help the developing world by just lower ICT costs, yet this is a flawed theory. As the data, systems, telecommunication bandwidth, and people required still remain in the western world and its control. Moving processing and data closer to the user in the developing region plays an import role on three fronts; 1. Keeps needed jobs and systems ICT people in region, 2. Sidesteps high telecommunication bandwidth costs and network latency issues in and out of the region and 3. Quality of service: in region computing can remove a major points of network failure and potential bandwidth bottlenecks. Energy- efficient computing cannot be achieved without the integration between computer science, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and environmental science. Designing data centers for the developing regions require a vertically integrated efforts to drive key energy-efficient technologies in computing (cloud computing), electronics (low power CPUs and systems), and building systems (spot rack cooling, higher ambient temperatures, and natural convention cooling). Collectively, these technologies address very significant near-term and long-term energy challenges and environmental issues. What is that approach for developing region ICT, in region Green Cloud Computing, which is cloud computing using low power CPUs servers, and renewal energy and most important, which is closer to the end user. This paper presents an approach for a low energy use data centers using cloud computing designed for developing regions, powered with renewable energy.


This thesis summarizes the work performed on the development and implementation of the optical measurement technique called total internal reflection ellipsometry (TIRE).The TIRE principle is based on spectroscopic ellipsometry performed under conditions of total internal reflection. This configuration is suitable for monitoring and analysis of thin semitransparent films and changes in/on these films due to exposure to various media (liquid or gas). When metal films are used this technique can be further extended with the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect forming a measurement method, which allows measurements with very high precision. The main advantages of TIRE are the possibility for measurements in opaque liquids and very good detection limits, both unavailable with the complementary techniques, ellipsometry and SPR, used in their conventional mode.The measurement principles of ellipsometry and surface plasmon resonance have been known for a long time and these techniques are currently widely used in various areas of science and technology. Furthermore, internal reflection ellipsometry has been reported several years ago and possibilities offered by this technique have been discussed by several scientists. However, so far there has been no attempt to give a more comprehensive report containing the combination of theoretical aspects, technical development and practical applications all-in-one. Therefore, the main goal of this work was to give some deeper insight into the TIRE technique by focusing on the following aspects: theoretical and mathematical tools used in TIRE and development of the measurement system with its applications. Unfolding the above - the aim of the TIRE project is to review what has been done so far in the area of TIRE and update this with the current results. Included is also developing a set of components of the TIRE measurement system, and understanding the possible technical problems which may show up, with an attempt to resolve them. Finally, the possible applications of the TIRE technique in various areas of science and technology are exemplified, with focus on the advantages over the currently used techniques.The TIRE technique is suitable for monitoring of adsorption/ desorption of molecules from various liquid/gas media on the surfaces of the material playing the role of the substrate, as well as for studying the material itself. Within the TIRE project three types of applications have been studied. The first was in situ studies of protein adsorption on thin metal films, with use of SPR extended TIRE. The information obtained was more precise and complete than usually obtainable from SPR and conventional ellipsometry. With appropriate technical setup there is a potential to resolve the morphology of adsorbed multi-layered protein structures with TIRE. The behaviour of proteins on metals is of great importance in many areas of bio-sciences, including medicine (e.g. implants in the human body). The other two applications studied were more technical, with possible industrial relevance: adsorption and subsequent cleaning of substances from milk (useful i.e. for pipeline monitoring in the diary industry) and studies on corrosion on thin copper layers (useful e.g. for circuit board control in the microelectronics industry).


In recent years Google has been accused of manipulating its organic search results to favor its own services. We explore possible choices of relevant antitrust markets that might make various antitrust allegations meaningful. We argue that viewing Internet search in isolation ignores the two-sided nature of the search advertising platform and the feedback effects that link the provision of organic search results to consumers, on the one hand, and the sale to businesses of advertising on the other. We conclude that the relevant market in which Google competes with respect to Internet search is at least as broad as a two-sided search-advertising market. We also ask whether Google has a duty to provide organic search results that are neutral with respect to whether the displayed listing is for a Google rather than a non-Google business. We articulate and apply a standard that asks whether various practices related to Google's organic search results would harm competition that would have otherwise occurred.


This paper argues that the spread of proportionality analysis can be explained, in part, by the decline of metaphysics and universal morals in the modern social imaginary. Lacking societal consensus regarding many public policy questions, the judicial branch has turned to proportionality analysis as a means of managing this disagreement. By doing so, judges have transformed the administration of justice into a form of bureaucratic rule – represented by a mechanical churning of the justice machine – anticipated by Max Weber's sociology of law. After discussing a few examples drawn from Canadian jurisprudence and elsewhere, the paper concludes by asking whether jurists are best suited to undertake this sort of task and the role legal education will play in its future.


Background. Health advocacy has been identified as a key outcome competency in the undergraduate curriculum for a number of health professions by the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) and the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Durban, SA. Despite health advocacy and activism playing a strong role in the student body and civil society, there has been only limited engagement with the manner in which to teach health advocacy in the health professions literature. Objectives. To assess how the faculty in health professions programmes at UKZN understood health advocacy and how it was covered in the curriculum. Methods. Focus group discussions were held with faculty from undergraduate health professions programmes at the university regarding how health advocacy was understood and how it was being integrated into the current curriculum. A thematic analysis was performed on the transcripts of the focus groups. Results. A range of ways in which health advocacy was understood became apparent in the focus groups, with a few disciplines indicating that they do not cover health advocacy explicitly in the curriculum. Three main focus areas of health advocacy training were identified: for the profession (particularly in the smaller health professions groups); for services within the health system; and for patients or communities. The main points of departure for health advocacy were ethics and human rights and to a much lesser degree social justice. There was generally limited experience of how health advocacy could be taught as a skill and little consensus between the participating disciplines regarding the scope and content of health advocacy training. Advocacy itself was also seen as potentially risky, which could undermine the relationship between the university and the service platform. Similarly, the potential risk to whistle-blowers and the institutional culture in universities and public sector services were also seen as limitations. Conclusions. Ample opportunities were identified for the potential teaching of health advocacy in complex professional and public sector interactions. Dual loyalty was seen to be a key dilemma for how to approach advocacy as part of work-based learning, and linked to considerable risk to the institution, educators and students. The current review offers an exciting opportunity to define more clearly what the outcome competencies of health advocacy are, particularly in the context of transformative health professions education – and how these can be operationalised in the overall curriculum.


We introduce FFTNet, a deep learning approach synthesizing audio waveforms. Our approach builds on the recent WaveNet project, which showed that it was possible to synthesize a natural sounding audio waveform directly from a deep convolutional neural network. FFTNet offers two improvements over WaveNet. First it is substantially faster, allowing for real-time synthesis of audio waveforms. Second, when used as a vocoder, the resulting speech sounds more natural, as measured via a "mean opinion score" test.


OBJECTIVES: Sexting (sending/receiving sexually explicit texts and images via cell phone) may be associated with sexual health consequences among adolescents. However, to date, no published data from a probability-based sample has examined associations between sexting and sexual activity. METHODS: A probability sample of 1839 students was collected alongside the 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey in Los Angeles high schools. Logistic regressions were used to assess the correlates of sexting behavior and associations between sexting and sexual risk-taking. RESULTS: Fifteen percent of adolescents with cell phone access reported sexting, and 54% reported knowing someone who had sent a sext. Adolescents whose peers sexted were more likely to sext themselves (odds ratio [OR] = 16.87, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 9.62–29.59). Adolescents who themselves sexted were more likely to report being sexually active (OR = 7.17, 95% CI: 5.01–10.25). Nonheterosexual students were more likely to report sexting (OR = 2.74, 95% CI: 1.86–4.04), sexual activity (OR = 1.52, 95% CI: 1.07–2.15), and unprotected sex at last sexual encounter (OR = 1.84, 95% CI: 1.17–2.89). CONCLUSIONS: Sexting, rather than functioning as an alternative to "real world" sexual risk behavior, appears to be part of a cluster of risky sexual behaviors among adolescents. We recommend that clinicians discuss sexting as an adolescent-friendly way of engaging patients in conversations about sexual activity, prevention of sexually transmitted infections, and unwanted pregnancy. We further recommend that discussion about sexting and its associated risk behavior be included in school-based sexual health curricula.


Arsenic is associated with Hg in the mercury deposits of the Asturias region of northern Spain. Until 1974, the mines of La Peña and El Terronal exploited an ore deposit located in the valley of the San Tirso River (Mieres district). At this site, a great volume of waste material from mining and metallurgical works have been stock-piled for years, constituting a spoil heap of about 20 000 m2 in area. Total As concentrations in representative samples of waste materials on the surface of the spoil heap reach a maximum value of 72 153 mg kg−1 and an average value of 15 967 mg kg−1; analysis of deeper samples (trenches on the spoil heap) exceed 99 999 mg kg−1. The total flow of polluted water from its circulation through the spoil heap is estimated at 3465 m3 a−1. Weathering processes facilitate the dissolution and leaching of As and heavy metals in the ore and waste material. Arsenic contents in surface waters (San Tirso River) immediately downstream of the spoil heap reach 7.9 mg l−1. The impact on the area, reflected by elevated concentrations of As in adjacent soils, biota and surface/underground waters, is discussed.


Background: One rarely finds Indian women talking about their sexuality like this due to sex taboo in our society. This does not mean that sexual dysfunction is uncommon in Indian women. Female sexual dysfunction is widely prevalent. Aim and Objective: Indian women seek less assistance for them, despite undergoing physical and marital problems. Data of prevalence of such problems was collected to understand the scope of these problems and how Indian women deal with it.The objective was to understand prevalence of sexual dysfunction in women attending Gynaecology OPD and their perception about sex. Material and Methods: A questionnaire based prevalence study comprising of 520 patients from January, 2018 to June, 2018 was done. The questionnaire was designed on the basis of prior used ones in various studies and modified according to current patient scenario at the tertiary centre where study was conducted. Results: The data collected showed that sexual problems are not reported even when they were widely prevalent. 64% of women can't talk regarding this to their partners too. 82% patients had some sort of sexual problem. Only 18% patients said that they have no sexual problem and were satisfied with their sexual life. However, none of them consulted or took any form of assistance from any medical personnel. Conclusion: Indian women are reluctant and shy to discuss sexual problem unlike westerners who are more open and demanding when it comes to their needs. Gynecologists need to discuss with the patients about their sexuality and pertaining issues with utmost warmth, care and respect. They need to pull out the problem from within their patients and handle it effectively.


Theories of participation have been developed and tested almost exclusively on majority populations. While the relative under-representation of ethnic minorities in the political process is regularly asserted, their participatory behaviour is therefore generally less-well understood. Using recently gathered data based on a sample of residents in the region of Greater Stockholm, Sweden, this article considers two primary questions: whether associational affiliation increases individuals' likelihood of political participation and whether these effects are the same for immigrants and native Swedes. It is shown that associational affiliation lowers the thresholds of political participation for immigrants by offering a training ground for civic skills and, albeit of lesser importance, an arena for political recruitment. In contrast, the positive correlation between affiliation and political participation among native Swedes instead seems to stem from processes of self-selection. While associational affiliation thus seems to be an important means for the political integration of immigrants, the political importance of associational affiliation for the majority population may well be called in question.


Three inoculation trials with soybean, cowpea and groundnut were conducted on Eutric Cambisols (EC) and Rhodic Nitisols (RN) in a greenhouse. Five rhizobial inoculants: MAR 1495, TSBF Mixture, Legumefix, HiStick and IRJ 2180A were tested on each crop to determine their response to soil type and ability to form symbiotic relationship with the crops. Generally, response to inoculation was found to be significantly higher (P < 0.05) in EC than RN.  In soybean and groundnut trials, highest nodulation in both soils was recorded by strain MAR 1495 followed by TSBF Mixture and these were significantly higher (P < 0.05) than other inoculants and control. A similar trend, though only in EC, was observed in N uptake and in nitrogen fixation but no significant difference was observed in dry matter yield. Cowpea trials did not show response to inoculation nor was there difference between the soils. Instead, control treatment surpassed all the inoculated treatments in nodulation at P < 0.05. Nitrogen uptake and N2 fixation of control also surpassed those of inoculated treatments. Rhizobia strains MAR 1495 and TSBF Mixture showed similar ability to improve the productivity of soybean and groundnut thus can be used as common inoculants for the two crops.

 Key words: Rhizobial inoculation, Eutric cambisols, Rhodic nitisols, nodulation, dry matter yield, N uptake, N2 fixation.


BACKGROUND
Intensive glycaemic control can reduce the risk of microvascular complications in people with type 2 diabetes.

AIM
To examine the extent of monitoring and glycaemic control of patients with type 2 diabetes prescribed oral agents and/or insulin, and to investigate transition to insulin.

DESIGN OF STUDY
Retrospective cohort study.

SETTING
A total of 154 general practices in the UK contributing to the DIN-LINK database between 1995 and 2005.

METHOD
People with type 2 diabetes were identified using Read codes and prescribing data. Outcome measures were: glycaemic monitoring and control on multiple oral agents and/or insulin, and transition to insulin.

RESULTS
A total of 14 824 people with type 2 diabetes were prescribed multiple oral agents concurrently, of whom 5064 (34.16%) had haemoglobin A(1c) (HbA(1c)) assessments 6 months before and following initiation of their last oral therapy. Mean HbA(1c) before therapy was 9.07%, which dropped to 8.16% following therapy (mean difference 0.91%, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.86 to 0.95, P <0.0001). Of the patients with HbA(1c) assessments, 3153 (62.26%) had evidence of poor glycaemic control following therapy. Median time to insulin for patients prescribed multiple oral agents was 7.7 years (95% CI = 7.4 to 8.5 years); 1513 people began insulin during the study and had HbA(1c) assessments 6 months before and following insulin. Mean HbA(1c) before insulin was 9.85% (standard deviation [SD] 1.96%) which decreased by 1.34%, (95% CI = 1.24% to 1.44%) following therapy, but 1110 people (73.36%) still had HbA(1c) > or =7.5%.

CONCLUSION
Many people with type 2 diabetes received inadequate monitoring and had poor glycaemic control. Intensive management is required to reduce the risk of microvascular complications.


We have introduced the nlacZ reporter gene into the locus of the myogenic factor gene myf‐5 by homologous recombination in embryonic stem (ES) cells. Targeted ES clones were injected into precompaction morula, and the β‐galactosidase expression pattern was monitored. These mice permit the sensitive visualization of myf‐5 expression throughout the embryo, and provide a standard for comparing it with that seen with different myf‐5/nlacZ transgenes. Thus, in a comparison using ES cells in chiameric embryos containing the targeted or randomly integrated myf‐5/nlacZ construct, we demonstrate that 5.5 kbp of myf‐5 upstream flanking sequence including exon1 and most of intron1 directs some skeletal muscle expression, but this is neither qualitatively nor quantitatively equivalent to that of the endogenous gene. Myf‐5 is expressed early, before terminal myogenesis takes place in the medial half of the somite, and subsequently it is a major myogenic factor as skeletal muscle forms. All skeletal muscle shows β‐galactosidase activity, even after birth, indicating that myf‐5 expression is not confined to primary myotubes, which are derived from embryonic myoblasts, but is also present in muscles containing different adult fibre types. The presence of myf‐5 transcripts from the endogenous gene in older muscle was confirmed by in situ hybridization. These results suggest that the myf‐5 gene is not activated in only a subset of muscle cells and are consistent with the results on the MyoD knockout mice. © 1996 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Mountainous topography covers a considerable proportion of the global permafrost region. There, temperature changes and the degradation of permafrost in steep bedrock can evoke rapid geomorphic change, some of which may result in natural hazards. Due to the strong relief of most rock walls, corresponding events can have a long runout and transform into cascading events, such as impact to lakes or the damming of rivers that propagate far below the periglacial zone. The identification of areas that potentially have permafrost conditions in steep rock is the important first step in the evaluation of corresponding hazards. During the past decade, researchers have given considerable attention to permafrost in steep bedrock, although most investigations have been conducted in the European Alps. This contribution provides a summary of findings related to the delineation of permafrost in rock walls. Based on this, simple considerations and data sources are outlined that may help the application of current knowledge in remote mountain regions.


The goal of this paper is to extend to infinite graphs the known Morse inequalities for discrete Morse functions proved by R. Forman in the finite case. In order to get this result we shall use a special kind of infinite subgraphs on which a discrete Morse function is monotonous, namely, decreasing rays. In addition, we shall use this result to characterize infinite graphs by the number of critical elements of discrete Morse functions defined on them.


Polymer electrolytes are found at the heart of numerous electrochemical technologies involved in energy storage, conversion and separations. An important property of these materials is their partitioning behavior of ions in aqueous solutions and its effect on the activity of the ions within the polymer electrolyte. In this work, the fraction of condensed counterions (fc) were quantified in nanostructured block copolymer electrolyte (BCE) thin films with new and established experimental techniques. The transition between the osmotic-controlled regime and condensation-controlled regime in BCEs was identified using environmental GI-SAXS and solution uptake measurements via a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM). Further, the activity coefficients of ions in thin film BCEs were quantified experimentally and these values matched predictions from Manning's theory of counterion condensation if the average distance between fixed charges on the polymer chains were determined accurately. Classical molecular dynamics simulations were also performed to assess counterion condensation and ionic conductivity values. The simulations showed large fc values in the BCE – agreeing with results from GI-SAXS and QCM. Because a holistic approach was adopted, it was uncovered that fc can vary significantly depending on the experimental method and analysis deployed. Interestingly, ionic conductivity measurements of the BCE thin films with aqueous solutions and humidified vapor revealed that solvation is critical for breaking ion pairs, and that the notion of two distinct counterion types, condensed and non-condensed, may not be the most accurate picture despite the utility of Manning's theory for accurately predicting the activity coefficient of ions in polymer electrolytes.


This article considers two different aspects of A-bar movement, namely (a) an analysis of reconstruction effects in terms of deletion at LF, and (b) Johnson's (2007) decompositional analysis of quantifiers as a means to derive the correct interpretation of A-bar chains. By examining how these two proposals mesh with each other, it is possible to compare the copy theory of movement to a multidominance alternative. We will see that each approach to movement must make use of slightly different assumptions in order to derive the correct results, thus establishing a basis for a potential comparison between the two of them.


This Essay illustrates how the "Running It Twice" concept that makes poker games less of a gamble can also be used in another forum where large amounts of money can be at stake: arbitrations. I introduce three new forms of arbitration based on this concept: Double-Header Baseball Arbitration, Triple-Header Baseball Arbitration, and Reverse Baseball Arbitration. In this Essay, I show that that these new forms of arbitration are superior to current methods because they result in what the average or median qualified arbitrator would award—thereby making arbitration more accurate, predictable, and fair.


Proteins involve motions over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. While the large conformational changes, such as folding and functioning, are slow and appear to occur in a highly cooperative manner, how the hierarchical dynamics over different time scales play a role during these slow transitions has been of great interest over the decades. Here we study the folding mechanism of the villin headpiece subdomain (HP35) to understand the molecular mechanism behind this prototypical fast-folding protein. The ∼400 μs molecular dynamics (MD) trajectories obtained by Piana et al. [ Piana , S. ; Lindorff-Larsen , K. ; Shaw , D. E. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2012 , 109 , 17845 ] are analyzed in detail. By extracting the slowest mode from the trajectories, which is responsible for the folding/unfolding transitions, and by analyzing the transition events along this mode, we find that the transitions occur in a heterogeneous manner. Detailed analysis of the individual transition events shows that the folding/unfolding transitions occur via two qualitatively different pathways, i.e., the unfolding triggered from the C-terminal (α3 helix) and from the N-terminal (α1-α2 loop). Non-native contacts are also found to contribute in slowing down the transitions. The folding of HP35 thus proceeds in a segmental manner rather than cooperatively at the submicrosecond time scale. The Lys→Nle mutation is found to speed up the transitions by rigidifying the α3 helix, i.e., suppressing one transition pathway. The analysis of the microsecond dynamics in the single-molecule Förster resonance energy transfer efficiency trajectories, which are calculated from the MD data, reveals that the folding/unfolding transitions in the NleNle mutant can be fitted with a two-state model, whereas those in WT appear to be more complex and involves multiple time scales. This is due to the coupling between the folding/unfolding transitions and conformational transitions within the unfolded and intermediate states. The present study demonstrates that a protein as small as HP35 already involves heterogeneous characters during folding/unfolding transitions when the hierarchical dynamics at the molecular level is considered, thus heterogeneity can be a general characteristic in protein folding.


A rugged iris mechanism has been designed to satisfy several special requirements, including a wide aperture in the "open" position, full obscuration in the "closed" position, ability to function in a cryogenic or other harsh environment, and minimization of friction through minimization of the number of components. An important element of the low-friction aspect of the design is maximization of the flatness of, and provision of small gaps between, adjacent iris blades. The tolerances of the design can be very loose, accommodating thermal expansions and contractions associated with large temperature excursions. The design is generic in that it is adaptable to a wide range of aperture sizes and can be implemented in a variety of materials to suit the thermal, optical, and mechanical requirements of various applications. The mechanism (see figure) includes an inner flat ring, an outer flat ring, and an even number of iris blades. The iris blades shown in front in the figure are denoted as "upper," and the iris blades shown partly hidden behind the front ones are denoted as "lower." Each iris blade is attached to the inner ring by a pivot assembly and to the outer ring by a roller/slider assembly. The upper and lower rings are co-centered and are kept in sliding contact. The iris is opened or closed by turning the outer ring around the center while holding the inner ring stationary. The mechanism is enclosed in a housing (not shown in the figure) that comprises an upper and a lower housing shell. The housing provides part of the sliding support for the outer ring and keeps the two rings aligned as described above. The aforementioned pivot assemblies at the inner ring also serve as spacers for the housing. The lower housing shell contains part of the lower sliding surface and features for mounting the overall mechanism and housing assembly. The upper housing shell contains part of the upper sliding surface.


This article is a US Government work and, as such, is in the public domain in the United States of America.


The sound insulation demands for dwellings and public building has increased over the years as the number of sound sources has grown. From the outside our homes are exposed to noise from cars, trains, airplanes, etc. Noise intrudes from our neighbours and their television and stereo equipments. Also noise from spaces for mechanical services systems tends to become more important due to increasing energy saving demands. This thesis presents new analytical models for predicting the sound reduction index of single or double plate systems. In the single plate case, a theoretical and experimental analysis of the air-borne sound transmission through a single plate is presented. The plate is assumed to be excited by a diffuse sound field and the velocity distribution of the plate is derived from the Kirchoff plate equation in the frequency domain. The resulting Fourier transform is evaluated using residue calculus and the solution is verified numerically. The analytical model is valid for a wide frequency range, both below, above and at the critical frequency. Special interest is paid to the area dependency of the sound reduction index. This technique is further expanded for the double plate case by adding another plate and an intermediate layer which is modelled as a locally reacting spring. The model is valid and continuous through both the mass-spring-mass resonance and the coincidence region. The results from the analytical models show good agreement with measured results in both the single and double plate case. A simplified model is also presented for the sound reduction index of finite size floating floors. The model is valid for two elastic plates with a resilient layer in between where the bottom plate, the load-bearing slab, is assumed to be excited with a diffuse airborne sound field. The top plate and the resilient layer compose the floating floor. The problem is solved for frequencies below, between and above the critical frequencies of the plates. Above the critical frequency of the load-bearing plate, but below that of the floating slab, the main coupling between the plates will occur at the coincidence angle of the load-bearing plate. Above the critical frequency of both plates, the main transmission will occur at the angle of coincidence of each plate. As the plates will interact, the sound insulation improvement will to some extent depend on the properties of the load-bearing slab. It is shown how the sound reduction index depends on the physical parameters and the geometry of the plates.


Like other companies, banks have different outfits to wear in public. As a retired CFO once confided, We had three suits: one to impress regulators, another to attract investors, and the last--most important of all--to deceive ourselves." Banks' most frequent raiment--usually in shades of gray--is woven from GAAP-based financials. This is, of course, required dress when confronting regulators, investors, creditors, and big customers. And if one listens to the high priests of accountancy, this is the only one required. But to one trained as an equity analyst, this definition doesn't hunt. Bank analysts like the late Harry Keefe, founder of Keefe, Bruyette and Woods, began persuading banks to disclose the "net interest margin"--and other investor-useful metrics--decades before the AICPA added such ideas to their audit guides. Even among accountants, the GAAP-based vision of bank performance was also criticized. Here's the thinking of Lee G. Irving, then KeyCorp's chief accountant. He wrote me: "Any management that restricts itself to GAAP financial reporting will be out of touch with the indicators needed in adapting a business to a changing strategic environment. GAAP-based information is limited to customer (and other) interactions resulting in a transaction. Seeking out, managing and retaining customers in a high-volume, commodity-like business like banking, however, requires a grasp of how all customer events proceed, not just those that get booked." The gray dress of accountancy, in other words, is hardly all-weather gear. Is there a sturdier garment a bank might don to display its financial coloration? Yes! But to describe it we must enter a field of economics called "productivity." I hit upon this insight when a banker friend who owns and chairs his $150 million Midwest bank asked me to attend a board meeting. The issue that day was cost control, especially its largest item, workforce compensation. The group reflex was how to "cut" that cost, not knowing by how much, nor why. Did the challenge run deeper than to show earnings improvement? They didn't see costs as an asset, in the sense that costs fund the bank's strategies, to say nothing of their execution. I suggested another way of addressing the challenge. Let's start, I said, with a trend line showing revenue per employee. This simple metric--the higher the better--serves as the unique 'signature' of any bank, accurately reflecting the benefits arising from innovation and efficiency. Then layer in compensation per employee and, finally, the ratio of the two. In a workforce-healthy bank all three productivity trend lines will be gradually rising, the top line leading the others upwards. And if you're interested in morale, this 'ratio cluster' conveys important information. It's when revenue per employee is much lower, as at community banks, that these productivity trend lines become urgent. To whom? To the owner of a bank looking to sell, or to buy another, such metrics could help turn the key to a successful deal. The directors I met that day liked the decision-support texture of this cluster for the light it sheds on wage policy. But the chairman dissented, since he, like his dad before him, felt more comfortable with the simpler tactic of "cutting." Productivity metrics as a diagnostic "lens" go way beyond compensation issues. The strength of productivity modeling stems from the fact that people serve as accountable agents within the model. Compare this to the people-empty model of mere profitability, from which goals, style, and rewards are absent. So let's define productivity more fully. The factors driving it include--in addition to raw materials like funding and products--an entrepreneur and a workforce. This inclusiveness leads to a rich menu of insights useful to managers and investors alike. Say our hypothetical entrepreneur wants to make a name for herself. …


Background: The recent COVID-19 pandemic sweeping the globe has caused great concern worldwide. Due to the limited evidence available on the dynamics of the virus and effective treatment options available, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has had a huge impact in terms of morbidity and mortality. The economic impact is still to be assessed. Aims: The purpose of this article is to review the evidence for the multiple treatment options available, to consider the future of this global pandemic, and to identify some potential options that could revolutionize the treatment of COVID-19. Moreover, this article underscores the sheer importance of repurposing some of the available antiviral and antimicrobial agents that have long been in use so as to have an effective and expeditious response to this widespread pandemic and the need to conduct a multicenter global randomized controlled trial to find an effective single antiviral agent or a cocktail of available antimicrobial agents. Method: We thoroughly searched and reviewed various case reports, retrospective analyses, and in vitro studies published in PubMed, EMBASE, and Google Scholar regarding the treatment options used for SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2 since its outbreak in an attempt to highlight treatments with the most promising results. Conclusion: We are currently facing one of the worst pandemics in history. Although SARS-CoV-2 is associated with a lower mortality rate than are SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, its higher infectivity is making it a far more serious threat. Unfortunately, no vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 or effective drug regimen for COVID-19 currently exists. Drug repurposing of available antiviral agents may provide a respite; moreover, a cocktail of antiviral agents may be helpful in treating this disease. Here, we have highlighted a few available antimicrobial agents that could be very effective in treating COVID-19; indeed, a number of trials are underway to detect and confirm the efficacy of these agents.


CKD progresses with fibrosis and erythropoietin (Epo)-dependent anemia, leading to increased cardiovascular complications, but the mechanisms linking Epo-dependent anemia and fibrosis remain unclear. Here, we show that the cellular phenotype of renal Epo-producing cells (REPs) alternates between a physiologic Epo-producing state and a pathologic fibrogenic state in response to microenvironmental signals. In a novel mouse model, unilateral ureteral obstruction-induced inflammatory milieu activated NFκB and Smad signaling pathways in REPs, rapidly repressed the Epo-producing potential of REPs, and led to myofibroblast transformation of these cells. Moreover, we developed a unique Cre-based cell-fate tracing method that marked current and/or previous Epo-producing cells and revealed that the majority of myofibroblasts are derived from REPs. Genetic induction of NFκB activity selectively in REPs resulted in myofibroblastic transformation, indicating that NFκB signaling elicits a phenotypic switch. Reversing the unilateral ureteral obstruction-induced inflammatory microenvironment restored the Epo-producing potential and the physiologic phenotype of REPs. This phenotypic reversion was accelerated by anti-inflammatory therapy. These findings demonstrate that REPs possess cellular plasticity, and suggest that the phenotypic transition of REPs to myofibroblasts, modulated by inflammatory molecules, underlies the connection between anemia and renal fibrosis in CKD.


As people age, identifying lifestyle choices that promote and support physical and emotional wellbeing becomes more important. Using the Reserve Capacity framework to explore psychosocial contributions to health disparities (Gallo, 2009), we examined the influences of age, gender, race, education, and income difficulty on engagement in two health-promoting behaviors: healthy eating and physical activity. We further examined how these factors relate to physical and emotional wellbeing in adults of varying ages. Data from 456 adults ( M age = 50.7) were used to test a model in which demographic variables, healthy eating and physical activity were expected to relate to both physical and emotional wellbeing. The model adequately fit the data [x 2 ( df = 47, N = 456) = 150.57, p < .001; CFI = .90; TLI = .84; RMSEA = .07], accounting for 40.1% of the variance in physical wellbeing and 21.4% of the variance in emotional wellbeing. Physical activity directly influenced both physical and emotional wellbeing. Healthy eating related directly to emotional wellbeing, but not physical wellbeing. Race exerted neither direct nor indirect effects.  Indirect effects of age on emotional wellbeing via healthy eating, and indirect effects of gender on both forms of wellbeing via physical activity were observed.  Education was associated with physical wellbeing directly and indirectly, via physical activity. Education was indirectly associated with emotional wellbeing via healthy eating. Income difficulty exerted both direct effects on wellbeing and indirect effects via both health-promoting behaviors. The independent contribution of sociodemographic influences and the importance of looking beyond age, race and gender as correlates of wellbeing are discussed.


The banking industry has experienced many changes in the last several years, and there are no indications the future will be different. One of the most significant drivers of the future change is likely to be the Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Ad of 1994, which will allow banks to open branches nationwide starting in 1997. Analysts who track bank acquisitions predict a major upsurge in merger and acquisition activity, especially in small to medium size banks. Some experts predict that the number d banks by the year 2000 will be approximately half the current 10,000.(1) This movement of banks and bank holding companies into new markets and the concomitant capital expenditures will increase the potential for using a variety of capital budgeting techniques. In an effort to gauge current industry practices for capital budgeting and to serve as a basis for measuring change, a survey of commercial banks was undertaken. This paper presents the findings of that survey. THE SURVEY A survey instrument was mailed to the chief financial officers of 490 commercial banks. The banks were chosen at random from the banks listed in the 1993 Moody's Bank and Finance Manual. The respondents were not asked to identify themselves or their institution. The questionnaire asked about bank characteristics, such as total assets and deposits, and capital budgeting procedures. Fifty-five surveys were returned, a rate of approximately 11%. This response rate is low; however, it has become increasingly difficult to entice financial executives to respond to mail surveys from finance and accounting professors.(2) In addition, there were no follow-up mailings to banks that did not return the first mailing. The survey was designed to gather information both about bank characteristics and about capital budgeting procedures. Bank characteristics were examined from a number of perspectives, including size, control, and state in which the bank operated. Questions about capital budgeting procedures included not only tool preference, but also risk acknowledgment, project review, and annual capital expenditure. ANALYSIS OF RESPONSES Bank Characteristics. The first questions on the survey were designed to determine the characteristics of the responding banks. We inquired about total assets, capital assets, deposits, the number of banking locations, and the state in which the bank conducted business. Responding banks conduct business in 33 different states. The characteristics of the banks that responded are summarized in Table 1 at the end of this article. (Table 1 omitted) In order to estimate any response bias, we collected this same data from Moody's on the sample. There is no significant difference between the distribution of the responses and the distribution of the sample, leading us to assume that the banks that responded were representative of the industry as a whole. Additional questions were asked about the control of the surveyed banks. 77% of the respondents indicated that the bank was controlled by a holding company. Again, there appears to be no significant difference between respondents and survey sample for this question. Of the controlled banks, a large majority, 74%, do not have a capital budgeting process determined by the controlling organization. Capital Budgeting Procedures. The results of the survey indicate that almost all the responding banks are involved in spending at least some funds for capital assets each year. Only four banks indicated that they either made no capital expenditures, or else did not disclose information about their annual capital budgets. Just over 25% (14) of the responding banks do not use any capital budgeting techniques for evaluating capital expenditure decisions. The annual capital expenditures for these firms range from $25,000 to $30,000,000, with all but five banks spending less the $1,000,000 annually. the average annual capital budgets for firms using some form of capital budgeting procedure range from $5,000 to $30,000,000. …


This book gives a theoretical base and a perspective for the analysis, design, and operation of information systems, particularly their information storage and retrieval (ISAR) component, whether mechanized or manual. Information systems deal with many types of entities: events, persons, documents, business transactions, museum objects, research projects, and technical parts, to name a few. Among the purposes the serve are to inform the public, to support managers, researchers, and engineers, and to provide a knowledge base for an artificial intelligence program. The principles discussed in this book apply to all these contexts. The book achieves this generality by drawing on ideas from two conceptually overlapping areas - data base management and the organization and use of knowledge in libraries - and by integrating these ideas into a coherent framework. The principles discussed apply to the design of new systems and, more importantly, to the analysis of existing systems in order to exploit their capabilities better, to circumvent their shortcomings, and to introduce modifications where feasible.


Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is an important tropical crop which provides a large portion of daily calories intake to hundreds of millions of people in Africa, Latin America, and tropical Asia. Cassava is grown for its starchy storage roots as staple food, as animal feed, and as industrial raw material. The utilisation of cassava is hindered by its characteristic physiological response, the post-harvest physiological deterioration (PPD). The inevitable wounding caused during harvesting and handling will trigger a series of physiological responses within 24 to 48 hours, which causes a blue-black discoloration in the storage roots, rendering these roots unmarketable and unpalatable in a few days. During the PPD response large amount of phenylpropanoid compounds, especially scopoletin and its glycoside, accumulate in the roots. Scopoletin may play an important role in PPD development but little work has been done on the possible relationship. Here we aim to examine the effects of altering scopoletin synthesis in cassava roots on the PPD response. In Arabidopsis thaliana, gene F6'H1 (feruloul CoA 6'-hydroxylase 1) is indispensable in the biosynthesis of scopoletin. Cassava F6'H1 candidate gene family involved in scopoletin synthesis were identified by their ability to functionally complement F6'H1 T-DNA insertion mutation in Arabidopsis thaliana that prevented synthesis of scopoletin. RNAi constructs targeting the identified cassava F6'H1 candidate gene family were designed, under the control of either constitutive CaMV 35S or root-specific StPAT promoters. These were used to transform wild-type cassava to down-regulate the expression of these scopoletin synthetic genes in F6'H1 gene family. The inhibition of cassava F6'H1 candidate gene expression and thus the scopoletin synthesis in transgenic cassava roots were confirmed by qRT-PCR and LC-MS, respectively. The RNAi transgenic cassava lines show less scopoletin accumulation and inhibited F6'H1 candidate genes expression during the PPD response. A reduced PPD discoloration development compared to that of the wild-type was also observed in the RNAi transgenic cassava lines.


Purpose: This article explores the classical relationship between socioeconomic status and political domains, and the need to include different variables (contextual and individual) to measure the effect of economic and cultural capitals on youth participation and knowledge. Method: A multivariate analysis of covariance was performed on a sample of 732 Portuguese students, from Grades 8 and 11, in order to analyse how different socioeconomic variables related to family and schooling contexts have an effect on their political knowledge and experiences.  Findings: The article highlights the differential role of socioeconomic variables on political knowledge and participatory patterns. Low economic capital instigates participation, while high cultural capital is related with higher political literacy. However, both forms of capital interact with the schooling context, revealing more complex patterns of behaviour and knowledge in students attending public and private schools.


For many years pharmaceutical companies have taken a deliberate approach for creating new small molecule drugs for disease treatment. These new chemical entities and their analogs were often synthesized in large numbers and then tested for efficacy for treatment of various diseases. With the small molecule drug hit rate dropping and with recombinant protein synthesis becoming available and growing explosively, it became possible to manufacture biopharmaceuticals which could be used to treat diseases that could not have been considered previously. Many pharmaceutical companies have focused more and more of their efforts in this area, and new biopharma companies have grown around this important area. A number of large, smallmolecule-focused pharmaceutical companies have also purchased or merged with startup biopharmaceutical companies to acquire their pipelines and their expertise.


The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of the unusually low interest rate environment on the soundness of the US banking sector in terms of profitability and risk-taking. Using both dynamic and static modeling approaches and various estimation techniques, we find that the low interest rate environment indeed impairs bank performance and compresses net interest margins. Nonetheless, banks have been able to maintain their overall level of profits, due to lower provisioning, which in turn may endanger financial stability. Banks did not compensate for their lower interest income by expanding operations to include trading activities with a higher risk exposure.


Context. Five different physical processes might be responsible for the formation of decretion disks around Be stars: fast rotation of the star, stellar pulsations, binarity, stellar winds, and magnetic fields. Our observations indicate that fast rotation seems to produce a disk in Keplerian rotation, at least in the specific case of the two stars observed. We do not know if this observational result is a generality or not. Aims. We measure the size, orientation, shape, and kinematics of the disks around 2 Be stars, namely 48 Per and ψ Per. Methods. We used the VEGA/CHARA interferometer with a spectral resolution of 5000 to obtain spectrally dispersed visibility modulus and phases within the Hα emission line. Results. We were able to estimate the disk extension in the continuum and in the Hα line, as well as flattening, for both stars. Both stars rotate at nearly a critical rotation, but while the disk of 48 Per seems to be in Keplerian rotation, our preliminary data suggest that the disk of ψ Per is possibly faster than Keplerian, similarly to what has been found for κ CMa with observations carried out in the near-IR. However, more data is needed to confirm the fast rotation of the disk. Conclusions. Assuming a simple uniform disk model for the stellar photosphere in the continuum and a Gaussian brightness distribution in the line emission region, we obtain a ratio of the disk diameter over the photospheric diameter of 8 for 48 Per and 11 for and ψ Per. We also found that the major axis of 48 Per is parallel to the polarization angle and not perpendicular to it as previously observed for many Be stars, including ψ Per. This might be due to the optical thickness of the disk, which is also responsible for the incoherent scattering of a non negligible part of the Hα line emission. To our knowledge, this is the first time that this effect has been measured in a Be star.


Foreign investors play a key role in sovereign bond markets in emerging market economies (EMEs), in part because their portfolio flows are sensitive to bond returns and are therefore pro-cyclical in nature. This note discusses the implications of the framework proposed by So et al (2019), which incorporates the risk that arises from the portfolio performance and flows of actively managed bond funds. When the framework is applied to the data, using local currency sovereign bonds of 16 EMEs, preliminary calculations show that local currency sovereign bonds that positively covary with the returns of active funds receive risk premia as compensations for active fund risk. Furthermore, and in line with theory, the price of this risk increases when bond funds experience outflows and the exposure to active funds risk increases with the heightened price of risk. This double effect helps explain why spikes in returns of some EME local currency bonds can be especially large. These results demonstrate how the portfolio performance and flows of actively managed funds help transmit shocks across EMEs.


Linear rules have played an increasing role in structural proof theory in recent years. It has been observed that the set of all sound linear inference rules in Boolean logic is already coNP-complete, i.e. that every Boolean tautology can be written as a (left- and right-)linear rewrite rule. In this paper we study properties of systems consisting only of linear inferences. Our main result is that the length of any 'nontrivial' derivation in such a system is bound by a polynomial. As a consequence there is no polynomial-time decidable sound and complete system of linear inferences, unless coNP=NP. We draw tools and concepts from term rewriting, Boolean function theory and graph theory in order to access some required intermediate results. At the same time we make several connections between these areas that, to our knowledge, have not yet been presented and constitute a rich theoretical framework for reasoning about linear TRSs for Boolean logic.


IIASA celebrated its twentieth anniversary on May 12-13 with its fourth general conference, IIASA '92: An International Conference on the Challenges to Systems Analysis in the Nineties and Beyond. The conference focused on the relations between environment and development and on studies that integrate the methods and findings of several disciplines. The role of systems analysis, a method especially suited to taking account of the linkages between phenomena and of the hierarchical organization of the natural and social world, was also assessed, taking account of the implications this has for IIASA's research approach and activities.

This paper is one of six IIASA Collaborative Papers published as part of the report on the conference, an earlier instalment of which was Science and Sustainability, published in 1992.

Professor Koptyug's paper is written from the viewpoint of a chemist, but of one who has an unusual consciousness of error in estimates of some of the vital parameters affecting the environment. He finds a variation of 100 percent between the low and high estimates of absorption of carbon dioxide by the oceans, and adding that to the similar variation in estimate of emissions and related quantities he ends up with a four-fold variation between the lowest and the highest rate of accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Yet the paper does not argue from this that we should do nothing until we know more. We know in what directions we have to move as we try for stability, and are learning something about directions we should not try. A lesson was learned in this latter sense from the building of a dam across a bay in the Caspian Sea in order to reduce evaporation. The story is that with the agricultural and industrial development along the Volga River the level of the Caspian Sea fell by three meters between 1933 and 1977. It was hoped that the darn separating off the Black Jaws Gulf would counteract the withdrawal of water from higher up. But there seems at the same time to have been a flow of water of unknown origin into the Caspian Sea. The Gulf dried out by evaporation, while the Caspian Sea rose a wholly unanticipated 13 centimeters per year. Such a rise was disastrous for people living along the coast, and the dam is now to be destroyed.

For me the lesson is not that we should never do anything about the environment, hut rather that we should look very closely and be very sure of our knowledge base before we try smart tricks with the planet in the hope of neutralizing the effects of irresponsible industrialization. One such smart trick that was fortunately checked before it started to be built was the diversion southward of four major rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean. No one has any way of estimating what unanticipated results might come from that, what uncontrollable positive feedback loops it might initiate. These are among the things I have learned from Professor Koptyug's paper.


In some emergency clinical situations, the injection of a more concentrated drug solution in the intensive care units is common. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the physicochemical stability of concentrated solutions of amiodarone hydrochloride in polypropylene syringes during 28 days of storage at 5°C ± 3°C, with protection from light. Five syringes of 50 mL, containing 25 mg/mL of amiodarone in dextrose 5%, were prepared and stored at 5°C ± 3°C with protection from light during 28 days. Immediately after preparation and periodically during the storage, amiodarone hydrochloride concentrations were measured by ultra-performance liquid chromatography. Spectrophotometric absorbance at different wavelengths, pH measurement, and microscopic observations were also performed. All solutions were physicochemically stable during the study period when stored at 5°C ± 3°C. No color change, turbidity, precipitation, opacity, significant pH variations, or optic densities were observed in the solutions. No crystals were seen by microscopic analysis. The concentration of amiodarone did not decrease during the 28 days of storage. Solutions of amiodarone 25 mg/mL in syringes of dextrose 5% are physically and chemically stable for at least 28 days when stored in syringes at 5°C ± 3°C with protection from light and may be prepared in advanced by a centralized intravenous additive service.


Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a fatal genetic disease associated with widespread exocrine gland dysfunction. Studies have suggested activating effects of resveratrol, a naturally-occurring polyphenol compound with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, on CF transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) protein function. We assayed, in F508del-CFTR homozygous (CF) and in wild-type mice, the effect of resveratrol on salivary secretion in basal conditions, in response to inhibition by atropine (basal β-adrenergic-dependent component) and to stimulation by isoprenaline (CFTR-dependent component). Both components of the salivary secretion were smaller in CF mice than in controls. Two hours after intraperitoneal administration of resveratrol (50 mg/kg) dissolved in DMSO, the compound was detected in salivary glands. As in both CF and in wildtype mice, DMSO alone increased the response to isoprenaline in males but not in females, the effect of resveratrol was only measured in females. In wild-type mice, isoprenaline increased secretion by more than half. In CF mice, resveratrol rescued the response to isoprenaline, eliciting a 2.5-fold increase of β-adrenergic-stimulated secretion. We conclude that the salivary secretion assay is suitable to test DMSO-soluble CFTR modulators in female mice. We show that resveratrol applied in vivo to mice reaches salivary glands and increases β-adrenergic secretion. Immunolabelling of CFTR in human bronchial epithelial cells suggests that the effect is associated with increased CFTR protein expression. Our data support the view that resveratrol is beneficial for treating CF. The salivary secretion assay has a potential application to test efficacy of


Aim: To characterize the consumption of psychoactive substances and sexual risk behaviour among young people in night recreational settings in Coimbra. Background: Recreation settings have become key places of socialization in which young adults participate actively. Yet the hedonistic culture associated with this social phenomenon has promoted the consumption of alcoholic drinks and the use of drugs, as well as the engagement in sexual risk behaviour. Method: Sample: 143 teenagers were selected by variation of RDS (Respondent Driven Sampling), in the recreational settings of Coimbra. Average age: 21,76; 51,05% male; 48,95% female; 81,12% university students. Instrument: Characterization of the Population Questionnaire, which integrates the ECRIP – "Study of recreative culture as a means of prevention"(IREFREA, 2006). Results: The most used substances are alcohol (95,10%), tobacco (79,72%) and cannabis (65,73%). The average number of sexual partners per sexually active persons was of 2,66 (SD=3,57). In this group, 64,52% experienced sex under the effects of drugs. 40,33% never/seldom used a condom and 9,64% admitted not having used a condom due to being "drunk" or "stoned". 14,60% had engaged in sexual activity due to the consumption of drugs and alcohol, having regretted it later. 26,61% undertook medical tests for STIs (Sexually Transmitted Infections). Conclusions: There are high levels of drug and alcohol consumption and indicators of risky sexual behaviour. Young people are aware that some types of sexual behaviour are risky and acknowledge that the consumption of substances is a risk factor leading to such behaviour. Considering these results, local community intervention proposals are analysed and preventive implications are further discussed.


This paper explores and explains the partner choice of Swedes in the period 1991-2008. The partner market for Swedes has expanded considerably in the last few decades, due to EU expansion, globalisation processes and an increased diversity of the migrant population. Besides increased opportunities, citizens who are better educated, younger and more mobile might prefer foreign partners of their own kind. The paper focuses on marriages between Swedish-born and foreign-born partners, and distinguishes people with Swedish-born parents from those with foreign-born parents. Using full-population register data, a systematic comparison between Swedes marrying EU partners and those marrying non-EU partners is conducted. I find that the binational marriage rate has increased over time, especially for native Swedish men and men who are second-generation Swedes. The increase is for the greater part attributable to an increase in the number of marriages to partners from outside the EU, while binational EU marriages have remained stable with no effects from EU accession. Patterns of binational marriages are highly gender-specific, with Finland being the most important supplier for foreign husbands, while Thai women are most popular amongst men. Against expectation, native Swedes in binational marriages are, by and large, older and less well-educated.


The sequence specificity of DNA-binding by monoaza- and diaza-anthracenedione analogues of mitoxantrone (MX) has been investigated by DNase 1 footprinting and spectroscopic techniques. More than 100 sites cut by the enzyme were sequenced on three pBR 322 and simian virus 40 DNA restriction fragments. Different inhibition and stimulation effects were observed as a function of the structural properties of each drug. A gradual change was found from MX to monoaza derivatives and from these to diaza derivatives, corresponding to a broader distribution of drug-inhibited regions. In addition to almost all sites found with MX (38 of 44), 29 new inhibition sites were observed using the diaza compound BBR 2894. The sequence analyses in terms of base doublets or triplets confirm the preference of MX for alternating pyrimidine-purine sites, the most significant triplet sequences being (5' to 3') CTA, GCA, TAC, ACT, CAC and TTA. In addition to MX sites, BBR 2894 seemed to bind efficiently to pyrimidine-pyrimidine-pyrimidine or purine-pyrimidine-pyrimidine triplets containing CT or TC motifs. Differential cleavage plots essentially confirmed the above results. Spectrophotometric and chiroptical studies showed a decreased DNA-binding affinity and a modified geometry of intercalation when nitrogen replaces carbon in the anthraquinone ring. These results can be useful for understanding the substantially different biological responses exhibited by aza-substituted anthracenedlones when compared with their non-substituted, pharmacologically relevant congeners.


This paper focuses on veto supertree methods; i.e., methods that aim at producing a conservative synthesis of the relationships agreed upon by all source trees. We propose desirable properties that a supertree should satisfy in this framework, namely the non-contradiction property (PC) and the induction property (PI). The former requires that the supertree does not contain relationships that contradict one or a combination of the source topologies, whereas the latter requires that all topological information contained in the supertree is present in a source tree or collectively induced by several source trees. We provide simple examples to illustrate their relevance and that allow a comparison with previously advocated properties. We show that these properties can be checked in polynomial time for any given rooted supertree. Moreover, we introduce the PhySIC method (PHYlogenetic Signal with Induction and non-Contradiction). For k input trees spanning a set of n taxa, this method produces a supertree that satisfies the above-mentioned properties in O(kn(3) + n(4)) computing time. The polytomies of the produced supertree are also tagged by labels indicating areas of conflict as well as those with insufficient overlap. As a whole, PhySIC enables the user to quickly summarize consensual information of a set of trees and localize groups of taxa for which the data require consolidation. Lastly, we illustrate the behaviour of PhySIC on primate data sets of various sizes, and propose a supertree covering 95% of all primate extant genera. The PhySIC algorithm is available at http://atgc.lirmm.fr/cgi-bin/PhySIC.


This paper reviews the economic impact of natural resources on low-income countries and the policy options available to them as recommended by academia and international organizations. We find that traditional policy prescriptions are unrealistic and miss a number of issues that include what to do when resources are depleted, job creation for growth and prosperity, and heterogeneity in country conditions. The paper proposes to reconcile these problems by advocating a strategy based on new structural economics, with a special focus on economic growth and job creation using the proceeds of natural resources. This approach combines "learning by doing" with targeted public investment in order to develop infrastructure and human capital. For many low-income countries, development of simple, labor-intensive light manufacturing is the recommended path. This recommendation is elaborated in a case study of South Sudan, a poor, resource-rich country in Africa.


Aggregates formed from colloidal particles will vary in shape according to the aggregation regime prevalent. Compact structures are formed when the aggregation is slow, whilst loose tenuous structures are formed when rapid (or diffusion limited) aggregation prevails. These structures can be fractal in nature, that is, there is a relationship between porosity and the number of primary particles making up the aggregate, and is described by the fractal dimension, dF. Fractal dimensions of hematite aggregates have been measured experimentally using the static light scattering technique. Fractal dimensions varied with aggregation regimes; for the rapid aggregation regime, dF was found to be 2.8, whilst for conditions in which aggregation was slow (retardation forces prevail), dF's of 2.3 were measured. For conditions which lead to aggregation in which both diffusion and retardation forces play a part, structures with fractal dimensions such that 2.3 < dF < 2.8 were found.

The effects of adsorbed fulvic acid, a naturally occuring organic acid, on the kinetics of hematite aggregation and on the resulting structure of hematite aggregates were also investigated. The study of aggregate structure shows that the fractal dimensions of hematite aggregates which are partially coated with fulvic acid molecules are higher than those obtained with no adsorbed fulvic acid. The scattering exponents obtained from static light scattering experiments of these aggregates range from 2.83 ± 0.08 to 3.42 ± 0.1. The scattering exponents of greater than 3 indicate that the scattering is the result of objects that contains pores which are bounded by surfaces with a fractal structure, and can be related only to surface fractal dimension. The high fractal dimensions are due to restructuring within the aggregates, which only occured at low coverage by the organic acid.


Pulsed terahertz imaging is being developed as a technique to image obscured mural paintings. Due to significant advances in terahertz technology, portable systems are now capable of operating in unregulated environments and this has prompted their use on archaeological excavations. August 2011 saw the first use of pulsed terahertz imaging at the archaeological site of Çatalhöyük, Turkey, where mural paintings dating from the Neolithic period are continuously being uncovered by archaeologists. In these particular paintings the paint is applied onto an uneven surface, and then covered by an equally uneven surface. Traditional terahertz data analysis has proven unsuccessful at sub-surface imaging of these paintings due to the effect of these uneven surfaces. For the first time, an image processing technique is presented, based around Gaussian beam-mode coupling, which enables the visualization of the obscured painting.


Beliefs are one component of culture. Data from the World Values Survey is available on a subset of beliefs concerning (broadly) meritocracy and poverty that appear relevant for economics. We document how they vary as well as their distribution across countries. We then correlate these measures of beliefs with economic growth and compare them with institutional and geographical determinants of income. A strong negative relationship is found between leftist economic beliefs and growth but little evidence is found of a relationship with respect to non-economic beliefs. Finally, we briefly discuss some causal effects on beliefs. The evidence suggests that higher country risk and more dependence on natural resources shifts nations to a more leftist set of economic beliefs. Overall the evidence supports the view that cultural specificities may explain why certain institutions cannot be transplanted between nations with different cultural histories and underlines the limit to policy activism.


Studies on self-management (SM) support programmes in chronic low back pain (CLBP) have failed to show clinically meaningful treatment benefit, which potentially highlights lack of research on predictors of effective SM. The purpose of this multi-centre non-experimental longitudinal cohort study is to identify the predictors of SM and its change over time in community ambulant adults (18-65 years) who are attending or have recently attended outpatient physiotherapy for their CLBP (approx. n=400). Self-reported validated measures for SM, pain intensity, disability, physical activity level, kinesiophobia, catastrophising, depression and global impression of change will be recorded at baseline and six-months. Descriptive statistics, correlation and multiple regression will be employed for the primary data analyses. This study protocol has ethical approval and is registered in ClinicalTrials.gov (ID: NCT02636777). Study results will inform patient selection for SM support in CLBP, and the development of tailored and targeted SM support programmes for this patient group.


Low Frequency Waves and Turbulence in Magnetized Laboratory Plasmas and in the Ionosphere was developed from courses taught by the author at the universities of Oslo and Tromso in Norway. Suitable for undergraduates, graduate students and researchers, the first part of the book is devoted to discussing some relevant plasma instabilities and the free energy that drives them. In the second part, the more advanced topics of nonlinear models and the interactions of many modes are discussed. Theoretical tools available for turbulence modelling are also outlined. The book summarizes a number of studies of low-frequency plasma waves, drift waves in particular, from laboratory and space experiments. Part of the IOP Plasma Physics Series


Objective. Assess frequencies of maternal and congenital syphilis, mother-child transmission and variables associated with syphilis in six urban hospitals in Bolivia. Material and Methods. A cross-sectional study was performed between May and September 2004. We administered the Abbot De- termine-TP rapid test and quantitative RPR to postpartum women without prior RPR. Sociodemographic variables and prior prenatal care visits were studied. Newborns of syphilis positive mothers were studied with Western Blot IgM p47 and ELISA IgM. Serum samples were analyzed at the Central Reference Laboratory (INLASA). Statistical analysis included bivariate and multivariate analyses to establish association with positive diagnosis of T. pallidum. Results. Syphilis prevalence among 1 594 postpartum women was 7.2%. Mother to child transmission was 15.7%. Congenital syphilis prevalence by serology was 1.1% and 94% of these newborns displayed no symptoms. Despite 70.5% prenatal care coverage in Bolivia some women still go directly to a facility to give birth without prior routine tests for syphilis. Low education levels in both parents (< 8 years) and failure to attend prenatal care were strong predictors of congenital syphilis. Conclusions. Rapid syphilis tests constitute an important tool to strengthen early diagnosis of syphilis dur - ing pregnancy. Preventing congenital and maternal syphilis in Bolivia remains a public health priority.


Current trends in telecommunication networks foresee the adoption of the fifth generation (5G) of wireless networks in the near future. However, a large number of people are living without coverage and connectivity. To face this issue, we consider the possibility of deploying 5G networks in rural and low-income zones. After detailing the current state-of-the-art, we consider the main challenges that need to be faced. Moreover, we define the main pillars to follow in order to deploy 5G networks in such zones, as well as a proposal of a future network architecture.


A number of recent papers have explored monetary policy options, including inflation targeting and inflation forecast targeting (notably Svensson (1999a, 1999b, 2000)) and price level targeting (Wolman 2000, Batini and Yates 1999, Blinder 1999). Most papers explore "optimal" monetary policy in the context of a single model. However, a number of conclusions made in the literature depend strongly on the model specification used. In addition, most papers have used the efficient policy frontier concept to define optimal monetary policy. This paper investigates the behavior of a variety of small structural macro models under a variety of targeting rules. The paper examines both minimum variance policy frontiers and utility-maximizing policy. In the latter case, an explicit model of consumer behavior with inflation-induced tax distortions is explored. The paper examines the improvement in utility from an optimal price-level target and re-examines the improvement in utility in moving from a positive to a zero target inflation rate. This paper is a revised version of Working Paper 00-5,"Optimal Monetary Policy in a Model with Habit Formation."


The Education Law of Latvia recognizes early childhood education as an educational level in which multi-dimensional development of the child as an individual, strengthening of health and preparation for the acquisition of primary education takes place. Currently, early childhood education is undergoing considerable transformations and transition to a competence-based approach. Teachers' perspectives serve as significant indicators for analysis of current educational situation and therefore highlight the core areas for enhancing early childhood educational practice. The design of the study is based on qualitative research using data from a survey and focus group discussions. The aim of the study is to identify and analyse teachers' perspectives on early childhood educational practice. In accordance to the aim, the following research questions were posed: (1) what is early childhood teachers' personal meaning of good educational practice; (2) what factors could contribute to enhance the early childhood educational practice in future? To identify teachers' perspectives, a survey was conducted with early childhood teachers implementing curriculum in municipal early childhood education institutions around Latvia. The answers to two open-ended questions as a part of a larger questionnaire were analysed. The in-depth examination of perspectives was reached by implementing several focus group discussions. Data were analysed using the method of qualitative content analysis. The findings revealed wide diversity in teachers' personal meaning of good educational practice. The issues related to developmental psychology-based learning outcomes and school-readiness still dominate among teachers' perspectives. Postmodern views on a child emphasizing children's diversity and uniqueness were often mentioned as well. The factors contributing to good educational practice were categorized into four main areas such as organization of the pedagogical process, teachers' competences, environment of an early childhood setting, collaboration with parents. In general, Latvian teachers' perspectives demonstrate readiness for transition to a competence-based approach in early childhood education. However, identified contributing and hindering factors should be taken into account during the process of transformations.