ABSTRACT Essential oil from yarrow (Achillea millefolium L. s. l.) has a broad spectrum of pharmacological activities. However, active chemical components of yarrow oil are sensitive to environmental factors such as, light, oxygen and temperature. Encapsulation of essential oil offers solutions for the limitation. Yarrow oil was encapsulated in hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HPβCD) through freeze-drying technique with encapsulation efficiency of 45%. Inclusion complex formation was examined by scanning electron microscope, Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy and UV–vis analysis and phase solubility study. Yarrow oil gave strong antioxidant activity of 72% DPPH scavenging at 50 μg/mL. HPβCD could protect active compounds of essential oil and retained antioxidant activity after sunlight exposure. Yarrow oil also exhibited antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli with the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of 250 μg/mL and 500 μg/mL, respectively. The antibacterial efficacy was much improved after encapsulation against both S. aureus and E. coli with the MIC value of 62.5 μg/mL.


INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: Robot-assisted Radical nephrectomy (RN) with Inferior vena cava (IVC) thrombectomy for renal cancer is one of the most challenging urologic surgical procedures. A crucial step is the control of the cranial edge of the thrombus. In this video we highlighted surgical steps of a right RN and level III IVC thrombectomy using Indocyanine green (ICG) guidance for the management of the upper boundary of IVC tumour thrombus. METHODS: Preoperative embolization of renal artery is usually was performed. Key surgical steps are: liver mobilization, with an extensive incision of triangular ligament to expose the retrohepatic IVC; meticulous IVC isolation, cranially and distally to the neoplastic thrombus, for tourniquets placement; ligation and dissection of all lumbar and right gonadal veins, left renal vein isolation for tourniquet encircling. After right renal arteries transection, the previously applied tourniquets were synched down after confirming, with near infrared fluorescence imaging (NIFI), the proper control of cranial thrombus edge. Cavotomy was performed and the thrombus delivered and secured into an endo catch bag. IVC lumen was copiously irrigated with heparin saline solution and IVC suture performed with 3-0 monocryl running suture. After tourniquets removal, NIFI was used to inspect IVC lumen and to confirm proper restoration of IVC flow. Finally, nephrectomy was completed. Patients with renal tumour and level III IVC thrombus treated between October 2017 and August 2018 were included. Baseline, preoperative, perioperative and pathologic characteristics were reported in Table 1. RESULTS: Overall, NIFI guidance was used in 4 patients with right side level III IVC thrombi. Mean follow-up was 8 months. Mean operative time was 282.5 minutes, with a mean IVC clamp time of 35 minutes. One patient required blood transfusion. Clavien grade 2 complication occurred in one patient; one patient experienced atrial fibrillation in post-operative day 3, which required intensive care unit management (Clavien grade 4a). CONCLUSIONS: NIFI represents a significant technical advancement in the management of level III tumour thrombi, to improve control of the cranial thrombus edge and to confirm proper restoration of IVC flow after Cava suture. Source of Funding: none


The emergence of genomic tools for reef-building corals and symbiotic anemones comes at a time when alarming losses in coral cover are being observed worldwide. These tools hold great promise in elucidating novel and unforeseen cellular processes underlying the successful mutualism between corals and their dinoflagellate endosymbionts Symbiodinium spp. Since thermal stress trig- gers a breakdown in the symbiosis (coral bleaching), measuring the transcriptomic response to ther- mal stress-induced bleaching offers an extraordinary view of cellular processes that are specific to coral-algal symbioses. In the present study, we utilized a cDNA microarray containing 2059 genes of the threatened Caribbean elkhorn coral Acropora palmata to identify genes that are differentially expressed upon thermal stress. Fragments from replicate colonies were exposed to elevated temp- erature for 2 d, and samples were frozen for microarray analysis after 24 and 48 h. Totals of 204 and 104 genes were differentially expressed in samples that were collected 1 and 2 d after thermal stress, respectively. Analysis of the differentially expressed genes indicates a cellular stress response in A. palmata involving (1) growth arrest, (2) chaperone activity, (3) nucleic acid stabilization and repair, and (4) removal of damaged macromolecules. Other differentially expressed processes include sen- sory perception, metabolite transfer between host and endosymbiont, nitric oxide signaling, and modifications to the actin cytoskeleton and extracellular matrix. The results are compared with those from a previous coral microarray study of thermal stress in Montastraea faveolata, and point to an overall evolutionary conserved bleaching response in scleractinian corals.


I. INTRODUCTION The classic story of a young artist entering into an unfair record deal and receiving pennies on the dollar for his work after years of recording and touring resonates throughout the music community. Although these stories are potentially exaggerated, there are certainly disparities in the compensation granted compared to the value of an artist's work. Even successful, established artists often wish to regain control of their copyrights. What if there was an opportunity for an artist to escape these arrangements? The 1976 Copyright Act includes a provision that allows artists to recapture their copyrights thirty-five years after assigning their work to a third party, such as a publisher or record label. Congress recognized the disparity in bargaining power between authors and assignees and provided a "practical compromise" that would recognize the interests of both sides.2 In addition, the termination right acknowledges the impossibility of determining the value of a work until it has been exploited by the assignee.3 Ideally, artists would have the opportunity to sign new deals after the value of their work is recognized. Significantly, works for hire are not subject to the right of termination.4 As an obvious result, record companies prefer to own a copyright as a work for hire, rather than as an assignment.5 If a sound recording is considered a work for hire, then the record company retains full copyrights for the entire duration of the copyright - up to ninety-five years.6 If sound recordings are considered a work for hire, artists completely lose the right to recapture the copyrights in their master recordings.7 Often, young or inexperienced artists are forced into a contract that does not fully compensate them for the value of their work. Termination rights for works transferred on or after January I, 1978, will begin in 2013.8 However, notice of termination may be served between two and ten years before the thirty-five year mark.9 Therefore, notices of termination for pre- 1978 works could have been served as early as 2003. 10 There is little clarity as to whether recording agreements will be construed as creating works for hire. It will likely take a high court decision or legislative action to determine if sound recordings are works for hire and therefore ineligible for copyright termination. This paper will examine the work for hire doctrine and the potential impact of the termination of sound recordings. Part II provides an overview of the pertinent history of copyright law in the United States. Part III describes Sections 203 and 304(c) of the Copyright Act and the problems that these termination rights bring forth. Part IV outlines the factors of the work for hire doctrine as applied to artist contracts. Part V describes legislative changes to the right of termination. Finally, Part VI considers defenses available to artists if the work for hire doctrine is found to apply to recording contracts. II. Copyright History A. The Copyright Act ofl 790 The Constitution empowers Congress to promote the "useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors ... the exclusive Right to their respective Writings . . . ." The first federal Copyright Act was passed in 1790.12 This act was based upon the system of formalities and restrictions of the English Statute of Anne.1 The Statute of Anne was enacted in 1710 and was a considerable shift in law because it recognized the rights of authors, rather than just the rights of printers and booksellers.14 The statute provided the author with the exclusive right to print his works for fourteen years and included an additional renewal term of fourteen years for a living author.15 These structural provisions combined with the recognition of a creator's rights formed the basis for future copyright legislation.16 B. The Copyright Act ofl 909 The Copyright Act of 1909 extended the duration of copyright from fourteen years to twenty-eight years from the date of publication. …


One of the most significant powers exercised by federal agencies is their power to make rules. Given the importance of agency rulemaking, the process by which agencies develop rules has long been subject to procedural requirements aiming to advance democratic values of openness and public participation. With the advent of the digital age, government agencies have engaged in increasing efforts to make rulemaking information available online as well as to elicit public participation via electronic means of communication. How successful are these efforts? How might they be improved? In this article, I investigate agencies' efforts to make rulemaking information available online. Drawing on a review of current agency uses of the Internet, a systematic survey of regulatory agencies' websites, and interviews with managers at a variety of federal regulatory agencies, I identify both existing "best practices" as well as opportunities for continued improvement. The findings of this research suggest that there exist both considerable differences in how well different agencies are making rulemaking information available online as well as significant opportunities for the diffusion of best-practice innovations that some agencies have adopted. This research also provides a basis for seven recommendations that I offer for enhancing both the accessibility and quality of rulemaking through online technology. A commitment to well-accepted democratic principles applicable to regulatory agencies should lead federal web designers to strive to create websites that are as accessible to ordinary citizens, including individuals with limited English proficiency, vision impairments, and low-bandwidth connections, as they are to the sophisticated repeat players in Washington policymaking circles.


The scholarly debate over hate speech regulation has often been characterized as a clash of absolutes, an irreconcilable conflict between the values of free speech and equality. In this Essay, which focuses on the college and university context, I consider whether the findings of social and cognitive psychology research might have the potential to shift the hate speech debate such that some areas of common ground come into view. Relying on insights from the substantial body of research that demonstrates that individual behavior is strongly influenced (often unconsciously) by situational factors, this Essay proposes that universities can - and should - consider ways in which to structure their social and physical environments so as to minimize harmful, antisocial speech and maximize prosocial, productive speech. Such an approach would avoid the heavy-handed censorship most objectionable to strong free speech advocates, while at the same time recognizing the social constructionist insight that belief and behavior are profoundly influenced by cultural practices, language, and images.


The Paardenkamp Foundation (a rest home for retired horses) wishes to contribute to circularity and is exploring the possibilities to process and apply horse manure with straw on the own farm. Until now, solid horse manure is exported from the farm to be used elsewhere as mushroom substrate and liquid dairy manure from a nearby dairy farm is used for fertilization of the land. The following alternatives are studied:using horse manure for fertilization, composting of horse manure, fermentation and anaerobic digestion of horse manure. The end products differ in physical and chemical characteristics, e.g. application methods for solid and liquid manure products, nutrient levels in the products and gaseous emissions from processing and land application. Also the survival rates of pathogens such as parasites and worms and degradation rates of veterinary medicines may vary between the different technologies. It is concluded that adherence to the current working method (the replacement of horse manure with dairy manure for fertilization of the land)is the best compromise between circularity, soil fertility, animal health and economy of De Paardenkamp.


A range of high precision laser fabrication tasks can be implemented using a combination of ultrashort pulsed lasers and tight focusing with a high numerical aperture lens. These methods can create material modifications confined within three dimensions with sub-micrometer scales. Dynamic optical elements, such as deformable mirrors or liquid crystal spatial light modulators can enhance the performance of laser fabrication systems through adaptive beam control. We explain how these methods are being used to improve fabrication of photonic devices, through aberration correction and parallelization for three-dimensional structuring of materials. In particular, aberration correction enables precise focusing deep inside high refractive index materials, where refraction at the surface introduces spherical aberration that increases with focusing depth. This causes distortion of the focus and hence a reduction in precision and efficiency of fabrication. We have used adaptive laser fabrication to enable a range of devices: applications include waveguide circuits for quantum optics, waveguides and Bragg gratings in diamond, targeted creation of colour centres in diamond, novel polymer/liquid crystal structures and diamond-based radiation detectors. These devices for building blocks for applications in quantum optics and sensing.


In PKn Learning in the concept of being proud as an Indonesian child there are many third grade students of SDIT Harapan Ummat Jakarta who get a less than optimal score. From the results of observations, the teacher uses a less varied learning method so that it does not support student activity and is less focused on the subject matter. Therefore, to improve the learning process, using the Cooperative Script model is expected to help students improve and improve their learning outcomes. The specific purpose of this study is to identify the steps and improve student learning outcomes through the Cooperative Script model in PKn learning. The type of this research used was Classroom Action Research using the Kemis and Teggart models conducted at SDIT Harapan Ummat with 35 students. The results of this study experienced a lot of improvement in activities and learning outcomes. from the results of observing the activities of students in the first cycle that is 57%, with enough categories and experiencing an increase in the second cycle to 84%, with the category Very good. While the average value of student learning outcomes in pre-cycle 36, cycle I 75.2, and cycle II increased to 92. From the results obtained concluded that learning using Cooperative Script learning models in Civics learning on the concept of pride has succeeded with increasing learning outcomes students. Recommendations to teachers as a reference for preparing lesson plans in improving professional skills in teaching Civics material for students in their classrooms, as well as broadening teacher insights and knowledge in applying Cooperative Script learning models.


The 2-alkyl-3-hydroxy-4(1H)-quinolone 2,4-dioxygenase HodC was previously described to cleave the Pseudomonas quinolone signal, PQS, which is exclusively used in the complex quorum sensing (QS) system of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an opportunistic pathogen employing QS to regulate virulence and biofilm development. Degradation of PQS by exogenous addition of HodC to planktonic cells of P. aeruginosa attenuated production of virulence factors, and reduced virulence in planta. However, proteolytic cleavage reduced the efficacy of HodC. Here, we identified the secreted protease LasB of P. aeruginosa to be responsible for HodC degradation. In static biofilms of the P. aeruginosa PA14 lasB::Tn mutant, the catalytic activity of HodC led to an increase in viable biomass in newly formed but also in established biofilms, and reduced the expression of genes involved in iron metabolism and siderophore production, such as pvdS, pvdL, pvdA, and pvdQ. This is likely due to an increase in the levels of bioavailable iron by degradation of PQS, which is able to sequester iron from the surrounding environment. Thus, HodC, despite its ability to quench the production of virulence factors, is contraindicated for combating P. aeruginosa biofilms.


The reducing cost of renewable energy resources, such as solar photovoltaics (PV) and wind farms, is accelerating global energy transformation to mitigate climate change. However, a high level of intermittent renewable energy causes power grids to have more stability issues. This accentuates the need for quick location of system failures and follow-up control actions. In recent events such as in California, line failures have resulted in large-scale wildfires leading to loss of life and property. In this article, we propose a two-stage graph learning framework to locate power grid faults in the challenging but practical regime characterized by (a) sparse observations, (b) low label rates, and (c) system variability. Our approach embeds the geometrical structure of power grids into the graph neural networks (GNN) in stage I for fast fault location, and then stage II further enhances the location accuracy by employing the physical similarity of the labeled and unlabeled data samples. We compare our approach with three baselines in the IEEE 123-node benchmark system and show that it outperforms the others by significant margins in various scenarios.


Abstract. We describe the synoptic and regional-scale meteorological conditions that affected the transport and mixing of trace gases and aerosols in the vicinity of Sacramento, California during June 2010 when the Carbonaceous Aerosol and Radiative Effects Study (CARES) was conducted. The meteorological measurements collected by various instruments deployed during the campaign and the performance of the chemistry version of the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF-Chem) are both discussed. WRF-Chem was run daily during the campaign to forecast the spatial and temporal variation of carbon monoxide emitted from 20 anthropogenic source regions in California to guide aircraft sampling. The model is shown to reproduce the overall circulations and boundary-layer characteristics in the region, although errors in the upslope wind speed and boundary-layer depth contribute to differences in the observed and simulated carbon monoxide. Thermally-driven upslope flows that transported pollutants from Sacramento over the foothills of the Sierra Nevada occurred every afternoon, except during three periods when the passage of mid-tropospheric troughs disrupted the regional-scale flow patterns. The meteorological conditions after the passage of the third trough were the most favorable for photochemistry and likely formation of secondary organic aerosols. Meteorological measurements and model forecasts indicate that the Sacramento pollutant plume was likely transported over a downwind site that collected trace gas and aerosol measurements during 23 time periods; however, direct transport occurred during only eight of these periods. The model also showed that emissions from the San Francisco Bay area transported by intrusions of marine air contributed a large fraction of the carbon monoxide in the vicinity of Sacramento, suggesting that this source likely affects local chemistry. Contributions from other sources of pollutants, such as those in the Sacramento Valley and San Joaquin Valley, were relatively low. Aerosol layering in the free troposphere was observed during the morning by an airborne Lidar. WRF-Chem forecasts showed that mountain venting processes contributed to aged pollutants aloft in the valley atmosphere that are then entrained into the growing boundary layer the subsequent day.


Characteristics of efficient roof shape is a part of configuration of efficient architecture which seems to be an ideal in contemporary architecture especially in contemporary architecture of developing countries such as Iran. This study is to investigate two roof shapes in view of air flow and indoor-temperature to find efficient roofs shapes for residential buildings in Tehran. Computational modeling and simulation methods are applied to reach this purpose. A mathematical modeling along with CFD simulation by Fluent Software is used to determine variables. For simulating velocity and pressure path lines κ-e standard model and finite difference discretization technique is applied. Results show that a sample room with dome roof is about eight Kelvin degree cooler than the same room with flat roof. Also velocity and pressure simulations indicate that roof geometry has a major impact on reducing heat transfer of room and roof temperature. Finally the study suggests some methods for using results in an operational situation.


The performance of simple permafrost distribution models widely used on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP) has not been fully evaluated. In this study, two empirical models (the elevation model and mean annual ground temperature model) and three semi‐physical models (the surface frost number model, the temperature at the top of permafrost model and the Kudryavtsev model) were investigated. The simulation results from the models were compared to each other and validated against existing permafrost maps of the entire QTP and in three representative areas investigated in the field. The models generally overestimated permafrost distribution in the investigated areas, but they captured the broad characteristics of permafrost distribution on the entire QTP, and performed best in areas with colder, continuous permafrost. Large variations in performance occurred at elevations of 3800–4500 m asl and in areas with thermally unstable permafrost. The two empirical models performed best in areas where permafrost is strongly controlled by elevation, such as eastern QTP. In contrast, the three semi‐physical models were better in southern island permafrost areas with relatively flat terrain, where local factors considerably impact the distribution of permafrost. Model performance could be enhanced by explicitly considering the effects of elevation zones and regional conditions. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


This paper analyzes the ability of rural communities to maintain health care services for their residents in a changing health care environment. In addition to the constantly evolving health care marketplace, factors
that influence the structure and strength of the rural health care safety net include demography, geography, and policies at the federal, state, and
local levels. The safety net in rural areas generally includes almost all local providers. Therefore, maintaining the safety net in rural communities
strengthens the entire health care infrastructure. The study describes the health care safety net in 11 rural counties in five states (AL, MN, MS, TX, and WA).


More detailed sequence standards that keep up with revolutionary sequencing technologies will aid the research community in evaluating data. For over a decade, genome sequences have adhered to only two standards that are relied on for purposes of sequence analysis by interested third parties (1, 2). However, ongoing developments in revolutionary sequencing technologies have resulted in a redefinition of traditional whole-genome sequencing that requires reevaluation of such standards. With commercially available 454 pyrosequencing (followed by Illumina, SOLiD, and now Helicos), there has been an explosion of genomes sequenced under the moniker "draft"; however, these can be very poor quality genomes (due to inherent errors in the sequencing technologies, and the inability of assembly programs to fully address these errors). Further, one can only infer that such draft genomes may be of poor quality by navigating through the databases to find the number and type of reads deposited in sequence trace repositories (and not all genomes have this available), or to identify the number of contigs or genome fragments deposited to the database. The difficulty in assessing the quality of such deposited genomes has created some havoc for genome analysis pipelines and has contributed to many wasted hours. Exponential leaps in raw sequencing capability and greatly reduced prices have further skewed the time- and cost-ratios of draft data generation versus the painstaking process of improving and finishing a genome. The result is an ever-widening gap between drafted and finished genomes that only promises to continue (see the figure, page 236); hence, there is an urgent need to distinguish good from poor data sets.


We investigate two methods for using daily stock returns to forecast, and update forecasts of, quarterly real output growth. Both methods aggregate daily returns in some manner to form a single stock market variable. We consider (i) augmenting the quarterly AR(1) model for real output growth with daily returns using a nonparametric Mixed Data Sampling (MIDAS) setting, and (ii) augmenting the quarterly AR(1) model with the most recent r -day returns as an additional predictor. We discover that adding low frequency stock returns (up to annual returns, depending on forecast horizon) to a quarterly AR(1) model improves forecasts of output growth.


Abstract : The effect of chronic administration of morphine on the activity of monoamine oxidase in specific regions of the brain of rats has been investigated. It was found that, shortly after the last administration of morphine, brain monoamine oxidase was drastically reduced in rats which had been chronically treated with morphine and which had exhibited a hyperactivity syndrome manifested by compulsive gnawing and spasmodic jumping. Lowest values were seen at approximately 30 minutes and returned to nearly normal levels by 6 hours after the last injection. In contrast, no significant changes were observed in the activity of this enzyme in animals that did not exhibit this syndrome after morphine adminstration. The study of morphine-induced changes in brain monoamine oxidase described above provides information on basic mechanisms of function of the mammalian central nervous system. This information is of great value to studies of effects of other toxic agents including ionizing and nonionizing radiation. (Author)


Inland fisheries contribute only about ten percent to global fish production. Asia is the leading producer of inland fish, accounting for over 80 percent of the total production. Until recently, the inland fisheries sector had taken back stage in fisheries development plans, particularly so, given the emphasis being placed on aquaculture development throughout the world, including Asia. This report evaluates the inland fishery practices in a number of Asian countries according to habitat type, role in overall foodfish supplies and development trends. Special emphasis is laid on stock enhancement in inland fisheries in Asia, and only those fisheries in which some form of stock enhancement is practised are considered in this report. In Asia, inland fisheries are mostly rural, artisanal activities catering to rural populations and providing an affordable source of animal protein, employment and household income. Stock enhancement is an integral component of many inland fisheries. With recent developments in artificial propagation techniques for fast-growing and desirable fish species and the consequent increased availability of seed stock, such activities are beginning to affect inland fishery production in most Asian countries. Indeed, new avenues of production such as culture-based fisheries are increasingly adopted and seen as a way forward in most countries. Inland fishery activities also have a distinct advantage in that their development is usually less resource intensive than is aquaculture. The economic viability of stock enhancement of large lacustrine waterbodies and rivers has not been demonstrated in any of the Asian countries, the fisheries of such waterbodies being dependent on naturally recruited stocks. The most successful stock enhancements in Asia are in floodplain beels and oxbow lakes in Bangladesh where the use of small waterbodies that are not capable of supporting natural fisheries has led to culture-based fisheries having stock and recapture rates that are very high. Culture-based fisheries are not resource intensive and are community-based activities. However, their success requires major institutional changes, and these are affected by national and local governments. In general, they can be considered to have the greatest potential for further development. A major concern related to stock enhancements in inland waters is their possible effects on biodiversity. This is for two reasons: firstly, most countries depend wholly or partially on exotic species for stock enhancement and secondly, freshwater fishes are known to be among the most threatened of vertebrates. Major studies should be undertaken to evaluate the current situation so that remedial steps can be taken, if needed, without causing serious harm to some of the stock enhancement practices that are gaining momentum.


Plastic waste takes years to decompose and pollutes the environment. Nevertheless, plastics are an indispensable part of everyday life. It is therefore all the more important to find a meaningful alternative that is sustainable, environmentally friendly and has better properties and more functionality than conventional plastics. In addition, such an alternative should not be dependent in any way on fossil resources. Bioplastics are one potential solution.


Among the many scenes and texts that occur for the first time in the Nineteenth Dynasty cenotaph of Seti I at Abydos is a representation of the awakening of Osiris by Horus, which appears directly beneath a vignette depicting the transit of the solar barques. The annotations to this bi-partite tableau appear in a mixture of standard, hieroglyphic Egyptian and cryptographic scripts. Similar groups of scenes and texts occur in the Twentieth Dynasty royal tombs of Ramesses VI (KV9) and Ramesses IX (KV6), the Twenty-Second Dynasty tomb of Sheshonq III at Tanis (NRT5), and the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty private tomb of Mutirdis at Thebes (TT410). In addition, significant, albeit partial parallels occur on the re-carved, Twenty-Second Dynasty sarcophagus of Psusennes and a Ptolemaic sarcophagus inscribed for a certain Khaf. This study offers a summary of the scenes' iconography together with the first synoptic edition of the relevant annotations, taking into account all currently published exemplars. Many of the cryptographic texts are translated here for the first time, while others receive updated translations and expanded analyses. The author also considers the meaning and context of the paired scenes in royal and private monuments, in order to demonstrate the status of the bi-partite tableau as a unified composition. This composition is identified as a concise representative of the cosmological genre referred to usually as the Books of the Underworld and Sky.


AIMS
To compare the mid-term efficacy and safety of the bioabsorbable BioSTAR(r) device with the non-bioabsorbable CardioSEAL(r) device for percutaneous patent foramen ovale (PFO) closure.

METHODS AND RESULTS
All 81 consecutive patients who underwent PFO closure with the CardioSEAL(r) or BioSTAR(r) device between June 2003 and July 2008 were included. The presence of a residual shunt (minimal, moderate or large) was measured in both groups at six months follow-up, using contrast transthoracic echocardiography. Forty-four patients (48.4±11.4 years) received the CardioSEAL(r) device and 37 patients the BioSTAR(r) device (47.9±10.7 years). There were no significant differences in short-term complications. Two patients who received the BioSTAR(r) device developed a recurrent transient cerebral ischaemic event. Overall, atrial arrhythmias occurred in 19%, with no difference between both groups. At six months, a residual shunt was present in 29% (27% minimal, 2% moderate) using the CardioSEAL(r) device compared to 28% (17% minimal, 11% moderate) using the BioSTAR(r) device (p=0.18). A predictor for residual shunt could not be found.

CONCLUSIONS
There is no difference in safety and efficacy at six months between the CardioSEAL(r) and BioSTAR(r) device used for PFO closure. However, using the BioSTAR(r) device tends to be associated with a higher percentage of moderate shunting.


Vegetation zonation and tidal hydrology are basic attributes of intertidal salt marshes, but specific links among vegetation zonation, plant water use, and spatiotemporally dynamic hydrology have eluded thorough characterization. We developed a quantitative model of an intensively studied salt marsh field site, integrating coupled 2‐D surface water and 3‐D groundwater flow and zonal plant water use. Comparison of model scenarios with and without heterogeneity in (1) evapotranspiration rates and rooting depths, according to mapped vegetation zonation, and (2) sediment hydraulic properties from inferred geological heterogeneity revealed the coupled importance of both sources of ecohydrological variability at the site. Complex spatial variations in root zone pressure heads, saturations, and vertical groundwater velocities emerged in the model but only when both sources of ecohydrological variability were represented together and with tidal dynamics. These regions of distinctive root zone hydraulic conditions, caused by the intersection of vegetation and sediment spatial patterns, were termed "ecohydrological zones" (EHZ). Five EHZ emerged from different combinations of sediment hydraulic properties and evapotranspiration rates, and two EHZ emerged from local topography. Simulated pressure heads and groundwater dynamics among the EHZ were validated with field data. The model and data showed that hydraulic differences between EHZ were masked shortly after a flooding tide but again became prominent during prolonged marsh exposure. We suggest that ecohydrological zones, which reflect the combined influences of topographic, sediment, and vegetation heterogeneity and do not emphasize one influence over the others, are the fundamental spatial habitat units comprising the salt marsh ecosystem.


In this study, rice husk was used as a low cost adsorbent to remove copper and cadmium ions from wastewater by batch method. The effects of pH, initial adsorbent concentration, contact time, initial metal ion concentration and temperature were studied. The experimental data were agreement with the pseudo-second-order kinetic model; and analyzed by Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models to investigate the adsorption of copper and cadmium ions on rice husk. The adsorption mechanisms of metal ions onto the rice husk were examined using: Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). As a conclusion, rice husk could be one of the low cost and effective adsorbent to be used in large amount operation of water treatment.


This thesis concerns the mechanical behaviour of unsaturated highly expansive clays. Given the high cost of damage to buildings, structures and roads caused by unexpected ground movements associated with unsaturated highly expansive clays and the increasing use of compacted expansive clays for engineered barriers for environmental protection and other purposes, it was considered important to investigate the behaviour of these materials.

Previous researchers had reported the occurrence of substantial irreversible components of either wetting-induced swelling or drying-induced shrinkage during cycles of wetting and drying performed on unsaturated highly expansive clays containing active clay mineral such as montmorillonite. This form of irreversible behaviour cannot be represented by existing elasto-plastic models for unsaturated non-expansive clays. It had therefore been suggested that the behaviour of unsaturated highly expansive clays was fundamentally different to that of unsaturated non-expansive clays, and that the constitutive models developed for unsaturated non-expansive clays were inappropriate.

The behaviour of an unsaturated highly expansive compacted bentonite/kaolin mix under isotropic stress states has been studied in a programme of controlled-suction tests incorporating isotropic loading and unloading at constant suction and cycles of wetting and drying (variation of suction) performed either under constant load or at constant volume. A smaller series of tests was also performed on unsaturated compacted samples of non-expansive pure kaolin.

Either net shrinkage or net swelling occurred over a wetting/drying cycle for samples of the same soil, depending upon the compaction pressure. Irreversible shrinkage or swelling occurred during subsequent wetting/drying cycles, not just during the first cycle. Net shrinkage during a wetting/drying cycle was sometimes accompanied by a distinct change of stiffness (a yield point) during the appropriate drying path, but at other times was not. Yield points were never observed during both drying and wetting stages of a cycle. Net shrinkage or swelling during a wetting/drying cycle was always accompanied by a substantial net change of degree of saturation Sr during the cycle (termed hydraulic hysteresis). Experimental evidence showed that there is no fundamental difference between the mechanical behaviours of unsaturated highly expansive soils and unsaturated non-expansive soils.

The experimental results suggested that unified modelling for both unsaturated highly expansive soils and unsaturated non-expansive soils is desirable. A new constitutive modelling framework is therefore proposed. In the modelling framework new forms of stress variables, with conjugate strain increment parameters, are used for the first time. Results from theoretical analysis of the influence of suction on inter-particle forces are used in developing the modelling framework. The influence of hydraulic hysteresis on stress strain behaviour is included in the framework, which has been developed in such a way that the otherwise difficult, transition between saturated and unsaturated conditions can be modelled in a relatively straightforward fashion. In the new modelling framework, both net shrinkage and net swelling during wetting/drying cycles, can be explained.


In this study, micrometer-sized (< 5μm) microbubbles (MBs) were investigated as optical contrast agents. Exogenous contrast agents in optical imaging can enhance the detection of cancerous tissue, however they are limited by their potential side effects such as organ accumulation and toxicity with repeated administration. In ultrasound imaging, microbubbles are FDA approved and used clinically as contrast agents. Microbubbles can also produce a refractive index mismatch between the gas-filled core and surrounding water media, potentially modifying optical properties of tissue when injected intravenously into tissue.
Cancer detection can potentially be achieved by imaging microvasculature functionality through the blood volume fraction measurements with diffuse optical imaging (DOI). In order to study the potential application of using MBs for DOI, the effect of MBs on the bulk optical properties of a skin tissue phantom solution at various volume fraction
of human blood was assessed at various injection doses of Definity® microbubble. The absorption and reduced scattering coefficients were computed and compared in the absence and presence of microbubbles. The presence of microbubbles in the blood caused a statistically significant enhancement in the reduced scattering contrast (~1.3 times) at 660 nm wavelength which increases with the dose of Definity® MBs (166 μL/kg) at 6% blood volume fraction. However, the absorption contrast enhancement remained relatively constant as microbubble dose increased. The scattering contrast enhancement confirmed the feasibility of using MBs as DOI contrast agents to improve the detection of tissue with high blood concentration conditions.
Microbubbles were also investigated as optical coherence tomography (OCT) contrast agents. OCT structural and speckle variance (sv) images, as well as the speckle decorrelation times, were evaluated under no-flow and flow conditions from a skin tissue phantom with two embedded microtubes. Faster decorrelation times and greater structural and svOCT image contrasts were detected with the presence of MBs. The effects of the presence of MBs on the image contrast were maximal (2 times) at no flow in the svOCT imaging mode and reduced with blood average flow velocity from zero to 12 mm/s. This result confirmed the feasibility of using MBs to enhance svOCT visualization of microvasculature morphology.


The Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey (H-ATLAS) provides an unprecedented opportunity to search for blazars at sub-mm wavelengths. We cross-matched the FIRST radio source catalogue with the 11655 sources brighter than 35 mJy at 500{\mu}m in the \sim 135 square degrees of the sky covered by the H-ATLAS equatorial fields at 9 h and 15 h, plus half of the field at 12 h. We found that 379 of the H-ATLAS sources have a FIRST counterpart within 10 arcsec, including 8 catalogued blazars (plus one known blazar that was found at the edge of one the H-ATLAS maps). To search for additional blazar candidates we have devised new diagnostic diagrams and found that known blazars occupy a region of the log(S500{\mu}m/S350{\mu}m) vs. log(S500{\mu}m/S1.4GHz) plane separated from that of the other sub-mm sources with radio counterparts. Using this diagnostic we have selected 12 further candidates that turn out to be scattered in the (r-z) vs. (u-r) plane or in the WISE colour-colour diagram proposed by Massaro et al. (2012), where known blazars are concentrated in well defined strips. This suggests that the majority of them either are not blazars or have spectral energy distributions contaminated by their host galaxies. A significant fraction of true blazars are found to be hosted by star-forming galaxies. This finding, supported by an analysis of blazars detected in Planck 545 and 857 GHz bands, is at odds with the notion that blazar hosts are passive ellipticals and indicates that the sub-mm selection is providing a novel prospect on blazar properties. Based on an inspection of the available photometric data, including the WISE all-sky survey, the unpublished VIKING survey and new radio observations, we tentatively estimate that there are 11 blazars with synchrotron flux density S500{\mu}m > 35mJy over the considered area. This result already allows us to constrain blazar evolution models.


Up converters combined with GaAs based semiconductor light sources are described as having potential for emissive displays with very large color gamut and very high resolution. To enable such displays the efficiency and temporal response of the up converting materials were studied and are reported. High efficiency is shown to be possible by proper preparation and utilization of the up converters. Up conversion displays can operate with refresh rates as high as 240 Hz. Operation as either a visible or near infrared display is possible.


Introduction Within the years 1837 and 1839 Darwin read his first paper on the coral islands of the Pacific, and Murchison published the Silurian System, in which he described, under the name of "ballstones," the reefs of the Wenlock. In 1847 Murchison described the Silurian reefs of Gotland, and did not hesitate to call them reefs . Since then the literature of ancient coral reefs has grown enormously in Europe, but in America the ground which Chamberlin so carefully prepared in his beautiful description of the Niagaran reefs of Wisconsin (1877) has lain too long fallow. There are many brief references to ancient reefs in American literature ; but, outside of the writings of Chamberlin, Grabau, Vaughan and Twenhofel, little appreciation of the significant relations of these bodies or even of their real nature has been evinced. The present writers plead guilty, along with most of their contemporaries, to this lack . . .


Introduction HIV infection in children is seen much more commonly seen in the UK. HIV associated nephropathy (HIVAN), is commonly considered as a late manifestation in adults having longstanding HIV infection with high viral-load and low T-helper cell (CD4) counts. The authors report a case of HIVAN in a teenager who was already on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) with well suppressed disease activity. Case A Zimbabwe-born 9-year-old boy was diagnosed with miliary tuberculosis and vertically transmitted HIV infection. He was started on anti tuberculosis medications and HAART. Within few months of HAART therapy his viral-load became undetectable and CD4 count got normalised. He successfully completed the treatment of miliary tuberculosis, but 4 years later, he developed nephrotic range proteinuria (7.5 gm/day). He was not hypertensive or oedematous. His urine showed no sediments, serum albumin was low, cholesterol was elevated, with normal creatinine and complement levels, and negative autoimmune screen. Ultrasound revealed echogenic normal sized kidneys. CD4 counts were still normal and viral-load remained undetectable. Drug related causes of nephropathy were ruled out by reviewing the list of medication that he was previously on. Kidney biopsy showed non-collapsing focal segmental glomerular sclerosis suggestive of HIVAN. Treatment Along with regular HAART, he received 8 weeks of prednisolone and was put on enalapril (angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor), which markedly improved the proteinuria. His renal function subsequently has remained stable. Conclusion This is a very interesting and unique case not reported in literature till now. Contrary to common belief it has made us postulate that HIVAN can occur at any stage in HIV infection, even in those with HAART induced stable state with undetectable viral-load and normal CD4 count. It has been suggested that renal epithelial cells act as reservoir for HIV-1 and intracellular expression of viral RNA could persist despite HAART. Improved survival following introduction of HAART has resulted in more patients being at-risk of developing kidney diseases. Suggestion As HIVAN can remain asymptomatic in early stages, children with HIV infection should be regularly screened for kidney disease even if they are clinically asymptomatic and on adequate HAART regimen.


Attitude polarization between conservative and progressive politicians over global warming has an important influence upon public acceptance of action on climate change. Political party
identification theorists claim that political elites provide cues that guide party supporters on
complex political issues. In Australia, as in the USA, the UK and elsewhere, public attitudes on
climate change are deeply divided on the basis of party identification and political ideology.
Multivariate analyses of Australian candidate and voter survey data show that coalition
candidates and their supporters are far less likely than their Labor or Greens counterparts to
believe global warming will pose a serious threat to their way of life. Attitudes toward global
warming are also more polarized according to party allegiance among candidates than among
voters. Controlling for social background and political ideology, Coalition identifiers are less
concerned about the dangers of climate change, far less supportive of the carbon tax and less
likely to support renewable energy options than Greens or Labor identifiers are, but much more
supportive of nuclear power as an alternative energy source.


The Victorian Mallee region encompasses the Little Desert, the Big Desert, the Sunset Country and the Hattah-Kulkyne. Each area is unique and with different topography, vegetation and fauna. The region experiences consistently higher temperatures, lower rainfall and contains a greater diversity of reptiles than any other part of the state.

Snakes, Lizards and Frogs of the Victorian Mallee represents the first comprehensive publication on the herpetofauna of the region. It covers 56 species that inhabit the area as well as a further 24 species occurring in fringe riverine and woodland systems. The reader is able to identify species by means of a photograph supported by a distribution map, a diagnostic features key and descriptive species accounts.

The book includes a discussion of venomous snakes, information on first aid for snakebites, and hints for snake prevention around the house.


AbstractSocial studies classes educate students as citizens who are expected to adopt democratic values and apply their information and richness to their life. Social studies classes are the ones that include human rights education in the first place. The purpose of this study is to make a comparison of inclusion levels of children's rights issues in Turkish and USA social studies curricula. The study adopts the survey model. Data source of the study is all the gains in social studies curricula of Turkey and the USA. We used the content analysis, which is a qualitative research method, in this study. Turkish social studies curriculum was found to include children's rights more than USA curriculum does. Gains with right to participation takes the most place in Turkish social studies curriculum whereas gains with the right to development take the most allocated place in USA social studies curriculum. In addition, neither country's curriculum included gains with the children's right to protection in social studies curricula.Key WordsChildren's Rights, UN Convention on the Rights of Child, Curricula, Social Studies Education, Turkey, U.S.A.The idea of children's rights is an important part of human rights. Thus, the emergence, realization, development, and acquisition/application of children's rights have been studied along with the development process of human rights more generally (Dogan, 2000). The concept of children's rights means the provision of benefits and protection by legal rules in order to allow children to develop mentally, physically, emotionally, socially, morally, economically, independently, decently, healthily and normally (Akyuz, 1999). In other words, children's rights are considered as part of a universal concept including all physically, psychologically, sociologically, and politically described rights granted to all children on earth, in relation to legal and social norms, given at birth (Wald, 1986).The idea of protecting children and children's rights emerged from the idea that all people are responsible for children regardless of religion, language, race, color, nationality, or ideology (Inan, 1995). The history of this idea started with the Geneva Declaration of Children's Rights in 1924; later in 1959, the Declaration of Children's Rights was added to the discussion. In 1979, when the United Nations celebrated the "Children's Year", Prof. Lopatka from Poland proposed a bill for children's rights. The idea of a bill was accepted with majority votes in the United Nations general assembly in 1979. The first draftwas accepted and was then developed into its latest form over ten years' time. The text, first voted in the United Nations' General As- sembly, was accepted on the 30th anniversary of the Declaration of Children's Rights on November 20, 1989 and was signed by 61 nations on January 26, 1990. The Convention of Children's rights (CCR) was approved by 191 nations, except the USA and Somalia, and was put into effect on the September 2, 1990. Like other human rights documents, this bill has general validity on the international platform and includes children's political, economic, social, cultural, and citizenship rights. According to Dogan (2005), the CCR is the most important document so far prepared about children's rights, since children were provided with the legal support expected and described in 1989. The physical, mental, emotional, social, and moral protection of children is detailed in the bill. The CCR rights require the signing nations to provide the stated rights in full (Akyuz, 1999).Introducing children's fundamental rights and freedoms to children became a requirement at this time. Based on the best benefit for children, various needs and desires are put forward in the Convention of Children's Rights. The bill's principles and provisions cover all units (family, society, state, and etc.) related to children. It is doubtless that providing the permanency and development of children's rights will be a sound investment in contemporary democratic culture, as childhood defines adulthood. …


Objective Translation of the contact zone in articulating joints is an important component of joint kinematics, yet rarely investigated in a biological context. This study was designed to investigate how sliding contact areas affect cartilage mechanobiology. We hypothesized that higher sliding speeds would lead to increased extracellular matrix mechanical stress and the expression of catabolic genes. Design A cylindrical Teflon indenter was used to apply 50 or 100 N normal forces at 10, 40, or 70 mm/s sliding speed. Mechanical parameters were correlated with gene expressions using a multiple linear regression model. Results In both loading groups there was no significant effect of sliding speed on any of the mechanical parameters (strain, stress, modulus, tangential force). However, an increase in vertical force (from 50 to 100 N) led to a significant increase in extracellular matrix strain and stress. For 100 N, significant correlations between gene expression and mechanical parameters were found for TIMP-3 (r2 = 0.89), ADAMTS-5 (r2 = 0.73), and lubricin (r2 = 0.73). Conclusions The sliding speeds applied do not have an effect on the mechanical response of the cartilage, this could be explained by a partial attainment of the "elastic limit" at and above a sliding speed of 10 mm/s. Nevertheless, we still found a relationship between sliding speed and gene expression when the tissue was loaded with 100 N normal force. Thus despite the absence of speed-dependent mechanical changes (strain, stress, modulus, tangential force), the sliding speed had an influence on gene expression.


The performance of business processes is measured and monitored in terms of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). If the monitoring results show that the KPI targets are violated, the underlying reasons have to be identified and the process should be adapted accordingly to address the violations. In this paper we propose an integrated monitoring, prediction and adaptation approach for preventing KPI violations of business process instances. KPIs are monitored continuously while the process is executed. Additionally, based on KPI measurements of historical process instances we use decision tree learning to construct classification models which are then used to predict the KPI value of an instance while it is still running. If a KPI violation is predicted, we identify adaptation requirements and adaptation strategies in order to prevent the violation.


The evolution of human language has been discussed for centuries from different perspectives. Linguistic theory has proposed grammar as a core part of human language that has to be considered in this context. Recent advances in neurosciences have allowed us to take a new neurobiological look on the similarities and dissimilarities of cognitive capacities and their neural basis across both closely and distantly related species. A couple of decades ago, the comparisons were mainly drawn between human and non-human primates, investigating the cytoarchitecture of particular brain areas and their structural connectivity. Moreover, comparative studies were conducted with respect to their ability to process grammars of different complexity. So far the available data suggest that non-human primates are able to learn simple probabilistic grammars, but not hierarchically structured complex grammars. The human brain, which easily learns both grammars, differs from the non-human brain (among others) in how two language-relevant brain regions (Broca's area in the inferior frontal cortex and the superior temporal cortex) are connected structurally by fiber tracts which run dorsally and ventrally in the primate brain. Whether the more dominant dorsal pathway in humans compared to non-human primates is causally related to this behavioral difference is an issue of current debate. Ontogenetic findings suggest at least a correlation between the maturation of the dorsal pathway and the behavior to process syntactically complex structures, although the ultimate causal prove is still not available. Thus, the neural basis of complex grammar processing in humans remains to be defined.

More recently it has been reported that songbirds are also able to distinguish between sound sequences reflecting complex grammar. Interestingly, songbirds learn to sing by imitating adult song in a process not unlike language development in children. Moreover, the neural circuits supporting this behavior in songbirds bear anatomical and functional similarities to those in humans. In adult humans the fiber tract connecting the auditory cortex and motor cortex dorsally is known to be involved in the repetition of spoken language. This pathway is present already at birth and is taken to play a major role during language acquisition. In songbirds, detailed information exist concerning the interaction of auditory, motor, and cortical-basal ganglia processing during song learning, and present a rich substrate for comparative studies.

The scope of the Research Topic was to bring together contributions of researchers from different fields, who investigate grammar processing in humans, non-human primates, and songbirds with the aim to find answers to the question of what constitutes the neurobiological basis of language and language learning.

A number of contributions discuss the ventral and dorsal pathways in human and non-human primates considering their functional roles in speech and language. Some of these take an evolutionary perspective comparing non-human and human primates (Rauschecker, 2012; Rilling et al., 2012), whereas other takes an ontogenetic perspective (Friederici, 2012). The functional roles of the ventral and dorsal pathways in language and other modalities in particular action including articulatory and hand gestures are discussed in further articles (Fitch, 2011; Aboitiz, 2012; Rijntjes et al., 2012). Two articles consider the language system at the interface of two other human specific abilities, namely number processing (Heim et al., 2012) and reading (Lachmann et al., 2012). A couple of contributions take the evolutionary perspective even further by including song birds into their comparative approach (Berwick et al., 2012; Kiggins et al., 2012; Petkov and Jarvis, 2012).

The selection of the articles provides a picture of the current views on the evolutionary and neurobiological basis of the language and language learning.


There is no doubt that for a couple who are having difficulties in conceiving, having a child is an objective good. However, it is also indisputable that assisted reproduction techniques raise clear ethical issues. In order to begin this bioethical reflection, it should be clearly established that the early embryo, which can be manipulated or destroyed using these techniques, is a living being of our species. We believe this is unquestionable from a biological point of view, and it therefore deserves our full respect. The bioethical assessment of assisted reproduction techniques includes analysis of the embryo losses caused by their selection and manipulation through preimplantation genetic diagnosis, 'social freezing' or the possible lack of rigour in the information provided by the clinics involved, to which must be added the higher morbidity reported in babies born as a result of these procedures.


Thirteen samples from the Peterborough Member (Oxford Clay Formation, Middle Jurassic), from Quest Pit, Stewartby, central England, were examined in detail using a combination of optical microscopy and backscattered electron imagery. The majority of the samples were clay-rich mudstones, two were silt-rich mudstones and one was a muddy sandstone. The dominant components of these samples are fine-grained clays (illite, mixed layer illite/smectite, kaolinite) and amorphous organic matter; minor components include authigenic pyrite (framboidal and euhedral), silt-sized quartz grains, calcareous nannoplankton (mainly disarticulated coccolith plates) and a variety of early carbonate cements. Some of the mudstones were found also to contain abundant foraminifera. Temporal trends between samples in grain size, foraminiferal abundance and total organic carbon contents were observed. These mudstones were deposited in a shallow epeiric sea, where productivity was high and the bottom waters were oxic. Relative sea-level change, coupled to a lack of available accommodation space within the basin at low sea-level stands is invoked to explain the observed mudstone stacking patterns.


Community Development departments at Federal Reserve Banks have been mandated by the Fed's Board of Governors since 1981. As part of its mandate, the Chicago Fed's Community Development and Policy Studies (CDPS) division works to understand and document the roles and capacities of community development organizations (CDO). With a combination of public, private, and philanthropic funding, these organizations provide an array of services for our country's vulnerable populations, and may offer investment or lending opportunities for financial institutions subject to the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA); we periodically profile CDOs that operate in the Seventh Federal Reserve District. As a bank regulator, we want to know more about the partnerships between banks and a type of CDO known as community development financial institutions (CDFI). These catalysts in community development received a boost in 1995 when the CDFI Fund was established within the U.S. Treasury Department to provide grants and other funding to organizations that apply for and receive certification as CDFIs. Over time, CDFI lending has informed lending policy at mainstream banks and transformed perceptions of lending risk. Banking institutions also benefit (as partners) from CDFIs' expertise in underwriting loans for nonprofits across sectors that work with low-income and underserved populations. In this edition, we profile one of the largest and most innovative CDFIs nationwide, IFF.


Abstract The symbols and special characters used in the original abstract could not be transcribed due
to technical problems. Please use the PDF version to read the abstract.
Infectious disease accounts for nearly 50 million illness incidences around the world.
Applications of lab on chip devices in conducting biomedical research have been drawn
substantial interests from scientists and researchers all over the world. These lab-on-achip
systems create clinically useful technologies and have a number of competitive
advantages over the conventional biomedical instruments due to the reduced
reagents/samples consumption, decreased analysis times and operational costs. In
addition, these systems facilitate the development of the portable devices and the
possibility of automatically performing multiple assay processes. Early detection and
notification of pathogenic bacteria, is therefore of considerable significance in disease
control. DNA-based amplification technique, known as a precise diagnostic tool for
detecting pathogens, has presented a distinctive advantages over the conventional
microbiological culture-based methods for pathogen detection such as high sensitivity,
specificity and rapidity, especially in the detection of bacteria in samples containing low
concentrations. over the past decade, loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP)
has caught significant attention as it is provides rapid amplification with high sensitivity
and specificity of the target gene. In this thesis, various lab on a chip based platforms
have been developed combining DNA LAMP amplification for detection and
quantification of pathogens. In the first part, a microfluidic device designed for
amplification of malB gene of E.coli bacteria followed by electrochemical detection of
the amplified product. Through amplification time optimization, microfluidic chip could
detect and quantify 48 cfu/ml of bacteria in 35 min employing immobilisation-free
electrochemical transduction. In the second part of thesis, we have invented a cassette
device for high throughput detection of various bacteria types (gram negative & gram
positive). The cassette consists of two aluminum reels and a plastic ribbon, which has
an array of chambers. one reel act as the provider of ribbon whilst the other one act as
collector. The collector reel is connected to a heater to provide adequate temperatures
for the amplification. LAMP solutions with E.coli (as gram negative model for bacteria)
was applied to each reservoir and a plastic tape cover the chambers and rolls into the
collector reel. After 1 hour - amplification of E.coli was detected using a colorimetric
method employing Hydronaphthol blue (HNB) with a 30 CFU/ml limit of detection. The
color of HNB changed from purple to blue in the presence of bacterial amplified product.
Through procedure modification we were able to detect as low as 200 CFU/ml of
S.aureus as an example gram-positive bacteria using Calcein.
In the third part of thesis, the cassette's ribbon has been modified by using flexible
screen-printed electrode attached at the bottom of each chamber. Using Osmium redox
and immobilisation-free of electrochemical technique, we could monitor the amplification
of DNA of E.coli and S.aureus bacteria in a real-time analysis and quantification.
In the forth part of thesis, a novel biosensor platform has been developed to detect the
viability of bacteria using T4 bacteriophage and label free impedance spectroscopy. We
have shown that we could monitor viability of bacteria in the range of 103 -109 CFU/ml,
while using LAMP amplification and linear sweep voltammetry technique we could
detect 102 CFU/ml within 40 min response time.
In the last part of the thesis, we summarize our findings, and provide contribution of
these researches to the knowledge as well as health. In addition, future possible path to
the research work will be discussed.


The structure of anodized nanoporous alumina is described as a closely-packed hexagonal arrangement of monodispersed nanopores, of which size and interval can be controlled by changing the anodization conditions. Nanoporous alumina thin films with highly ordered hexagonal arrangement of various porosities represent a rather complicate system for elastic wave propagation. The periodic structure, the extremely high acoustic impedance contrast (alumina vs. air) and the possible existence of different polymorphs all can significantly affect the transportation of elastic energy, e.g. the generation of the so-called phononic bandgaps and the strong localization of elastic waves. Investigation of phonon propagation in such nanoporous alumina films is of both significant fundamental and applied importance. In addition, the mechanical anisotropy (in-plane vs. out-of-plane) associated with such two dimensional structures remains unexplored. Here we present preliminary results on elastic waves in these nanoporous alumina films studied by Brillouin light scattering (BLS).


We analyze the effects of macroeconomic fluctuations, as well as episodes of financial instability and inflation, on inequality indicators in Chile for the period 1960-2014. For this purpose measures of income inequality are constructed from data from the Survey of Employment and Unemployment of the Universidad de Chile. To identify events of banking and inflationary crises we used indicators defined by Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff. Furthermore, to determine the business cycle and employment fluctuations we use the Gerhart Bry and Charlotte Boschan algorithm. The relationship between episodes of crisis and fluctuations on levels of inequality are estimated from an event study, finding that they are related to fluctuations in inequality. In addition, we perform econometric estimates where inequality indicators relate to different macroeconomic variables and educational performance. The main conclusions are that banking and inflation crises, as well as periods of severe cyclical contractions, tend to increase the levels of inequality in Chile. Our results show that achieving levels of macro-financial stability in the economy contributes not only to sustain growing levels of average income per capita, but also to avoid negative effects on equity.


The old, historical concept of 'disinterestedness' has dominated the tradition of aesthetics for almost two centuries. In environmental aesthetics, a rather recent branch of aesthetics, some scholars such as Arnold Berleant have criticized disinterestedness, claiming that it is not a satisfactory criterion since it views the environment as an artwork. As an alternative, Berleant proposes a theory of the 'aesthetics of engagement'. I claim that although his main intention is to introduce a comprehensive perception of nature, 'appreciating nature as nature' (not as an artwork), into the aesthetics of nature, Berleant misinterprets 'disinterestedness' and overlooks the fact that it can still be maintained within environmental aesthetics. Disinterestedness can guide our judgements with the notions of non-instrumentality, transparent self, and impartiality. In this sense, I argue that (1) the proper opposite of engagement is not disinterestedness but a dominant concept of aesthetics left over from the eighteenth century, the 'picturesque', (2) in contrast to holistic accounts of the philosophers who look for an immersion-of-self-ina-bigger-Self, disinterestedness provides being devoid-of-any-empirical-self and (3) disinterestedness is not anthropocentric, but anthropogenic, human-generated, which accepts the 'otherness' of nature and opens the way for respect and care in environmental ethics.


This thesis will examine the possible factors that could greatly influence the future development of the legacy carrier of Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabian Airlines. Furthermore, this thesis delved into the feasibility of a new route from Jeddah to Auckland and how this route could impact the growth of Saudi Arabian Airlines. The research questions were answered through the use of a mixed method approach. The research was carried out in two phases. The first phase involved environmental scanning through the process of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis, where the strengths and weaknesses of the internal environment of Saudi Arabian Airlines were appraised. It also examined the possible opportunities and threats of the external environment (i.e. the Middle East region), where Saudi Arabian Airlines is situated. The second phase involved a survey where the feasibility of a new route (i.e. Jeddah–Bali–Auckland) was examined and evaluated. The results suggested that the exponential growth of the aviation industry in the Middle East can be capitalized by Saudi Arabian Airlines by using its recognized strengths and addressing the concerns that have emerged in this study. A possible strategy by which these concerns can be addressed is through establishing a new route that Saudi Arabian Airlines can take advantage of in the future to fulfil its ambitions of becoming one of the top airlines in the aviation industry. One specific route that the thesis examines is the Jeddah–Bali–Auckland route, where there is a substantial market which will yield an increased profit margin and therefore impact the growth of Saudi Arabian Airlines.


We present a theoretical analysis of the training process for a single-layer GAN fed by high-dimensional input data. The training dynamics of the proposed model at both microscopic and macroscopic scales can be exactly analyzed in the high-dimensional limit. In particular, we prove that the macroscopic quantities measuring the quality of the training process converge to a deterministic process characterized by an ordinary differential equation (ODE), whereas the microscopic states containing all the detailed weights remain stochastic, whose dynamics can be described by a stochastic differential equation (SDE). This analysis provides a new perspective different from recent analyses in the limit of small learning rate, where the microscopic state is always considered deterministic, and the contribution of noise is ignored. From our analysis, we show that the level of the background noise is essential to the convergence of the training process: setting the noise level too strong leads to failure of feature recovery, whereas setting the noise too weak causes oscillation. Although this work focuses on a simple copy model of GAN, we believe the analysis methods and insights developed here would prove useful in the theoretical understanding of other variants of GANs with more advanced training algorithms.


In this work chemical, biological and biochemical investigations were carried out in the cooperation with the Chair of Molecular Neurobiochemistry at the University of Bochum and with the Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology, Moscow State University. In this cooperation the main purpose was to find optimal conditions for the preparation of stable monodisperse calcium phosphate colloids and their applications in biological investigations on living cells. This interdisciplinary cooperation was necessary to understand major barriers in the gene delivery system and to develop a new system which can overcome these barriers or at least improve the trafficking of nucleic acids into the cells. We have demonstrated how by a comparatively easy and well reproducible process nanodisperse calcium phosphate/DNA nanoparticles with a size below 100 nm can be prepared, especially if calcium is partially substituted by magnesium or aluminum. These ions obviously have an inhibitory effect on the particle growth of calcium phosphate. Multi-shell calcium phosphate/DNA-nanoparticles with a calcium phosphate core and DNA/calcium phosphate shells help to protect DNA from the degradation by enzymes (nucleases) inside the cytoplasm of cultured endothelial cells, reaching the efficiency of Polyfect®. Calcium phosphates should be advantageous due to their high biocompatibility and good biodegradability compared to other types of nanoparticles used for cell transfection such as iron oxide (magnetite), gold or silica. In contrast to the classical calcium phosphate method, the particle/DNA dispersions can be stored for weeks without loss of their transfection efficiency. We have developed a delivery system for gene silencing in which these nanoparticles are used for down-regulation of gene expression by targeting the mRNA resulting in effective gene silencing. The preparation of stable calcium
phosphate/oligonucleotide dispersions and their successful biological application in vitro to HeLa-EGFP cells was shown. The most challenging work in non-viral gene therapy is a successful delivery of DNA into the nuclei overcoming all the extracellular and intracellular physicochemical barriers. To get information about the targeting of calcium phosphate nanoparticles into T-HUVEC, fluorescence microscopy was used. The routing of nanoparticles inside the cells was studied. It was shown that the transfection efficiency correlates with the distribution of the nanoparticles in the cells. DNA/BSA aggregates alone were not able to penetrate the cell membrane, i.e. the inorganic nanoparticles (calcium phosphate) were necessary as carriers to enter the cell. We also performed the preparation of calcium phosphate samples with ubiquitin by the co-precipitation method. It was shown that ubiquitin can be adsorbed as well as incorporated into the calcium phosphate particles. This method shows opportunities in the preparation of calcium phosphate ceramics with proteins similar to ubiquitin, i.e. proteins of the BMP family. An implantation of such biofunctionalized calcium phosphate ceramics (e.g. cold-isostatically pressed into an appropriate shape) in bone defects can stimulate the development of new bone at the implantation site.


The concept of infinite is clearly addressed in the comments that St. John of the Cross made to his own poetry. In his work, the concept of infinite is intimately related to the notion of God, who is reached not through the knowledge, but rather through the spiritual experience. The main goal of this paper is to look at the philosophical and hermeneutic implications of the concept of infinite and the different uses that St. Jhon of the Cross made in his work.


Emerging technologies---such as the voice enabled internet---present many opportunities and challenges for HCI research and society as a whole. Advocating for better, healthier implementations of these technologies will require us to communicate abstract values, such as trust, to an audience that ranges from the general public to technologists and even policymakers. In this paper, we show how a combination of film-making and product design can help to illustrate these abstract values. Working as part of a wider international advocacy campaign, Our Friends Electric focuses on the voice enabled internet, translating abstract notions of Internet Health into comprehensible digital futures for the relationship between our voice and the internet. We conclude with a call for designers of physical things to be more involved with the development of trust, privacy and security in this powerful emerging technological landscape.


Dried plant herbarium specimens are potentially a valuable source of DNA. Efforts to obtain genetic information from this source are often hindered by an inability to obtain amplifiable DNA as herbarium DNA is typically highly degraded. DNA post-mortem damage may not only reduce the number of amplifiable template molecules, but may also lead to the generation of erroneous sequence information. A qualitative and quantitative assessment of DNA post-mortem damage is essential to determine the accuracy of molecular data from herbarium specimens. In this study we present an assessment of DNA damage as miscoding lesions in herbarium specimens using 454-sequencing of amplicons derived from plastid, mitochondrial, and nuclear DNA. In addition, we assess DNA degradation as a result of strand breaks and other types of polymerase non-bypassable damage by quantitative real-time PCR. Comparing four pairs of fresh and herbarium specimens of the same individuals we quantitatively assess post-mortem DNA damage, directly after specimen preparation, as well as after long-term herbarium storage. After specimen preparation we estimate the proportion of gene copy numbers of plastid, mitochondrial, and nuclear DNA to be 2.4–3.8% of fresh control DNA and 1.0–1.3% after long-term herbarium storage, indicating that nearly all DNA damage occurs on specimen preparation. In addition, there is no evidence of preferential degradation of organelle versus nuclear genomes. Increased levels of C→T/G→A transitions were observed in old herbarium plastid DNA, representing 21.8% of observed miscoding lesions. We interpret this type of post-mortem DNA damage-derived modification to have arisen from the hydrolytic deamination of cytosine during long-term herbarium storage. Our results suggest that reliable sequence data can be obtained from herbarium specimens.


The purpose of this study is to evaluate critical success factors (CSFs) for the implementation of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system from a user perspective. Users play a vital role when implementing an ERP system, but their perspective has been neglected in the literature. A better understanding of their perspective promises to contribute to the design of more effective ERP systems, its implementation, and management. In order to identify the user perspective, a survey was conducted within three Pakistani companies that recently have implemented a new ERP system. The questionnaire was developed based on thirteen CSFs deduced from literature. Based on each CSF's level of importance, they are ranked in order of importance and divided into three groups: most important, important and not important. Findings reveal that users believe that management should prioritize the following four CSFs when implementing an ERP system: education and training, strategic decision-making, communication, and business process alignment.


This dissertation is a fantasy theme analysis of the organizational communication culture of the Louisiana State Police. This study interprets the rhetorical function of the organizational sagas of State Police. State Police has a distinct history aligned with Louisiana Politics. In 1937, General Louis F. Guerre, the first superintendent, envisioned a new State Police, immune from political pressures, "soldiers of the law in the first line of defense for society." The symbolic persona of LSP has survived through fifty-six years of politics and policing as the state's ranking law enforcement agency. As participant observer, the researcher gathered communication data and observations through interviews, informal conversations, and surveys with veteran troopers and cadets. The surveys provide data for content analysis and to correct discrepancies. A fantasy theme analysis as a taxonomy of the symbolic convergence theory of communication provides the methodology to discover and interpret narrative and dramatic communication materials. This study reconstructs the rhetorical visions and sagas as the social reality of the organization to determine how and why members create culture through communication. This analysis validates two overarching organizational sagas of Soldiers of the Law and The Academy. These function as the members' common symbolic bond to the organization. v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The study reveals that the symbolic personae function as the unifying elements of the sagas and the members1 identification with the organization. Documented in the study are three patterns of symbolic convergence as consciousness creating, raising, and sustaining communication. The LSP Training Academy experience and the graduation ritual function as consciousness creating and raising communication strategies through which new recruits are acculturated into the organization. Finally, consciousness sustaining communication is documented through Internal Affairs sessions. The study confirms that State Police is an organization in flux. In response to crisis, members create new fantasy themes and rhetorical visions as strategies to accommodate change. The organizational sagas of State Police function rhetorically as primary communication forms through which members create, raise, and sustain the culture and make sense of the chaos of organizational life.


In this paper, we present the current development progress of our dynamic insert strategy based on the Intelligent Cluster Index (ICIx), which is a new type of multidimensional database storage. Opposite to purely value-based interval methods, ICIx performs a semantic clustering of the data objects in a database and keeps the clustering results as basis for storing in a special tree structure (V-Tree). Our paper aims at the quality problem caused by a trade-off between the static clustering that results from the initial training data set and the continuous insertion of data into a database which requires a continuous classification. The strategy that we propose will solve this problem through a continuous and efficient content-based growing of the initially static clustering. We have developed an additional structure — the C-Tree — which stores the knowlege of the hierarchical clustering component, i.e. hierarchical Growing Neural Gas (GNG), for unsupervised content based classification. In contrast to other methods (e.g. dynamic versions of R-Trees) we use the C-Tree to process the new tuple. Furthermore, we use a Bayesian approach to determine the degree of adaptation of the knowledge base. Using this value, we update the knowlege base and propagate the resulting changes to the V-Tree. As a result, we obtain a continuous content-based growing.


The loss of L-ascorbic acid (L-AA) in 14 different cooked local vegetables found in Nairobi markets was determined by high performance liquid chromatography. The effect of quantity of water on the loss of L-AA during cooking was studied with cowpea leaves. It was found that more L-AA was lost when larger amount of water was used than when smaller amount was used. The effect of the sharpness of the knife on the loss of L-AA was studied with spinach. It was found that more loss of L-AA occurred when a blunt (edge thickness 0.08 cm) knife was used for cutting the vegetables than when a sharp knife (edge thickness 0.04 cm) was used during cooking. L-AA was also determined when vegetables were cooked in different size pieces (surface are >1 cm 2 and Bulletin of the Chemical Society of Ethiopia. ISSN: 1011-3924


In this paper, packet scheduling with maximum delay constraints is considered with the objective to minimize average transmit power over Gaussian channels. The main emphasis is on deriving robust schedulers which do not rely on the knowledge of the source arrival process. Towards that end, we first show that all schedulers (robust or otherwise) which guarantee a maximum queuing delay for each packet are equivalent to a time-varying linear filter. Using the connection between filtering and scheduling, we study the design of optimal power minimizing robust schedulers. Two cases, motivated by filtering connection, are studied in detail. First, a time-invariant robust scheduler is presented and its performance is completely characterized. Second, we present the optimal time-varying robust scheduler, and show that it has a very intuitive time water-filling structure. We also present upper and lower bounds on the performance of power-minimizing schedulers as a function of delay constraints. The new results form an important step towards understanding of the packet time-scale interactions between physical layer metric of power and network layer metric of delay


Abstract In the range of climates from high-latitude glacial to equatorial tropical, the mineral and chemical compositions of over 600 modern nonmarine, first-cycle sands and muds produced from felsic crystalline basement provenance in various tectonic settings were studied. Under glacial conditions, sediments are developed by mostly mechanical weathering and thus are mineralogically and chemically similar to their source rocks. Humid tropical climates yield quartz-rich sands, kaolinite-rich muds, along with Si, Mg, Ca, Na, and K in solution. Between these extremes, a wide range of detrital sediment compositions are developed in arid to wet climates. In arid-climate and semi-arid-climate sands, feldspar is commonly more abundant than quartz, and plagioclase > K-feldspar (except in the cases of granite source rocks); the muds are feldspathic with smectite dominant in the clays. With increasing temperature and moisture in temperate to subtropical climates, mafic silicates and feldspars are destroyed so that the sands range from arkoses with plagioclase as the major feldspar to subarkoses with dominant K-feldspar. Through this range of climate, muds become more kaolinitic and thus more aluminous with increasingly severe weathering. Typically, feldspathic sands are associated with feldspathic muds; with decreasing feldspar in sands, there is less feldspar in muds. With increasingly intense chemical weathering, rare earth elements (REE) are more fractionated into muds. Typically sands contain 150 ppm REE with much of the REE in heavy minerals. Abundance differences are greatest between humid tropical sands and muds. In many samples the REE are mostly in monazite, allanite, sphene, and apatite. More intensely weathered samples contain more xenotime and zircon, evidenced by Yb enrichment.


This paper is an extract from a larger study. The study investigated the relative effectiveness of Cognitive Restructuring (C.R) therapy in the reduction of cigarette smoking behaviour of undergraduate students from South West of Nigeria. The research followed a pre test post test control group design. sixty volunteer undergraduate males and females of Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife were the participants in the study. An adapted version of Donald and Judith (1986) and Akinyele (1991) Sources of Satisfaction of Cigarette Smoking Inventory (SSCSI) and self constructed Attitude Towards Cigarette Smoking Inventory (ATCSI) were used to determine their behavior and attitudes toward cigarette smoking. While African based twelve (12) illogical statements were constructed and used as cognitive restructuring therapy in the reduction of cigarette smoking behavior of the participants. The experimental group (30 participants) was exposed to C.R therapy for four weeks of eight group sessions of 45 minutes (using self constructed 10 illogical and logical statements) while no treatment was accorded the control group. The data was subjected to t-test analysis, with hypothesis tested at 0.05 level of significance. The results indicated that subjects exposed to C.R therapy reduced the frequency of cigarette smoking (pre-test X = 9.27, SD = 2.01, df = 58; post-test X = .167, SD = .379, df =58), with the difference between the mean values being significant (t= 24.5, df = 58, p> 0.05). The results further indicated that C.R was effective in changing the attitude of smokers toward cigarette smoking (t = 4.37; df = 58, p> 0.05). It was therefore concluded that Cognitive Restructuring therapy was effective in the reduction of cigarette smoking of university students. IFE PsychologIA Vol. 16 (1) 2007: pp. 187-197


Constrained partially observable Markov decision processes (CPOMDPs) extend the standard POMDPs by allowing the specification of constraints on some aspects of the policy in addition to the optimality objective for the value function. CPOMDPs have many practical advantages over standard POMDPs since they naturally model problems involving limited resource or multiple objectives. In this paper, we show that the optimal policies in CPOMDPs can be randomized, and present exact and approximate dynamic programming methods for computing randomized optimal policies. While the exact method requires solving a minimax quadratically constrained program (QCP) in each dynamic programming update, the approximate method utilizes the point-based value update with a linear program (LP). We show that the randomized policies are significantly better than the deterministic ones. We also demonstrate that the approximate point-based method is scalable to solve large problems.


An occluded site stabilizes charged amino acids as they cross the membrane field to achieve a switchlike channel opening. Voltage-dependent ion channels are gated by voltage sensors that show a switchlike response to voltage differences across the membrane. Tao et al. used mutagenesis, electrophysiology, and x-ray crystallography to gain insight into the molecular basis of this response in voltage-dependent potassium channels. An occluded site was identified that catalyzes translation of positive charges across the membrane. The closed channel appears to be associated with a distribution of conformations, depending on the degree of hyperpolarization of the membrane, whereas the open channel appears to be associated with a specific conformation. Thus, the transition of the ion channel from open to closed occurs over a very small voltage difference. X. Tao, A. Lee, W. Limapichat, D. A. Dougherty, R. MacKinnon, A gating charge transfer center in voltage sensors. Science 328, 67–73 (2010). [Abstract] [Full Text]


The literature widely documents the negative liquidity impact of foreign participation in firms that permit high foreign institutional ownership. This paper employs a unique setting for the limited participation of qualified foreign institutional investors (QFIIs) in China's A-share market and examines how this impacts on stock liquidity in emerging markets. Contrary to the findings in the literature, foreign investor participation helps enhance the liquidity of affected stocks by promoting trade activities and price discovery. The improvement in liquidity does not occur through the information friction channel, but rather the real friction channel. Our results are robust to endogeneity issue and the possible influence of the global financial crisis, industry effects and the stock exchange. Further, the liquidity improving effects of QFII are even stronger when the analysis is performed on a subsample of QFII firms.


We present TUAnalyzer, a novel tool that extracts the template structure of C++ programs on the basis of the GNU C/C++ compiler's internal representation of a C/C++ translation unit. In comparison to other such tools, our tool is capable of supporting the extraction of function invocations that depend on the particular instantiation of C++ templates and to relate them to their particular template instantiation. TUAnalyzer produces RSF format output that can be easily fed into existing visualization and analysis tools such as Rigi or Graphviz. We motivate why this kind of template analysis information is essential to understand real-world legacy C++ applications. We present how our tool extracts this kind of information to allow others to build on our results and further use the template information. The applicability of our tool has been validated on real code as proof of concept. The results obtained with TUAnalyzer enable us and other approaches and tools to perform detailed studies of large (open source) C/C++ projects in the near future.


Abstract. The Airborne Multiangle SpectroPolarimetric Imager (AirMSPI) is an eight-band (355, 380, 445, 470, 555, 660, 865, 935 nm) pushbroom camera, measuring polarization in the 470, 660, and 865 nm bands, mounted on a gimbal to acquire multiangular observations over a ±67° along-track range. The instrument has been flying aboard the NASA ER-2 high altitude aircraft since October 2010. AirMSPI employs a photoelastic modulator-based polarimetric imaging technique to enable accurate measurements of the degree and angle of linear polarization in addition to spectral intensity. A description of the AirMSPI instrument and ground data processing approach is presented. Example images of clear, hazy, and cloudy scenes over the Pacific Ocean and California land targets obtained during flights between 2010 and 2012 are shown, and quantitative interpretations of the data using vector radiative transfer theory and scene models are provided to highlight the instrument's capabilities for determining aerosol and cloud microphysical properties and cloud 3-D spatial distributions. Sensitivity to parameters such as aerosol particle size distribution, ocean surface wind speed and direction, cloud-top and cloud-base height, and cloud droplet size is discussed. AirMSPI represents a major step toward realization of the type of imaging polarimeter envisioned to fly on NASA's Aerosol-Cloud-Ecosystem (ACE) mission in the next decade.


This chapter argues that Marx proffers important resources to develop a critical constitutional theory that questions the fetishism and mystifications of modern constitutionalism and whose goal is to deepen democracy. In particular, it argues that Marx's critical theory of constitutional law is political, social, socialist, and anti-systemic.

The chapter is organised as follows. The first section highlights Marx's attention to the antinomy of constitutionalism in his engagement with Hegel's theory of the state. In the course of this engagement, Marx contrasts the political constitution (both monarchical and republican) with 'democracy' in order to foreground the constitution's limitations and point the way toward the resolution of the paradox by centering the people's constituent power and subjecting the constitution to popular will at all times. The second section examines alienation and the abstraction of popular sovereignty under a political constitution that emanates from the separation of state and 'civil society'. The third section argues that the limitations and mystifications of 'the paradox of constitutionalism' are rooted in the political (or partial) revolution that generates the constitution. Instead of a class-neutral constituent power leading a political revolution, Marx envisions a social revolution in which the proletariat is the constituent power. In order to illustrate the false promises of political revolutions, the fourth and fifth sections focus on the failings of constituent assemblies. These constitution-making assemblies do not live up to the ideal of constituent power, either because their politics is non-revolutionary or because the pre-revolutionary constitutional order imposes constraints on their work to prevent revolutionary rupture. The sixth section highlights Marx's analysis of the incoherence and contradictions of the political revolution's constitution. The fact that the constitution is ultimately based on modus vivendi because it accommodates competing interest and embodies a class compromise generates this incoherence. The seventh section returns to the paradox of constitutionalism in order to highlight Marx's conclusion, following his analysis of bourgeois revolutionary constitutions, that the fundamental contradiction consists in the blockage of social emancipation, and that the constitutional incoherence and instability are better understood as emanating from the unresolved paradox of constitutionalism. The eighth (and penultimate) section explores elements of an alternative radical constitutionalism that Marx identifies in the experience of the Paris Commune in order to chart a path beyond the alternatives of despotism and class rule.