Imatinib mesylate (Gleevec, formerly STI571) is an effective therapy for all stages of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). While responses in chronic-phase CML are generally durable, resistance develops in many patients with advanced disease. We evaluated novel antileukemic agents for their potential to overcome resistance in various imatinib-resistant cell lines. Using cell proliferation assays, we investigated whether different mechanisms of resistance to imatinib would alter the efficacy of arsenic trioxide (As2O3) or 5-aza-2-deoxycytidine (decitabine) alone and in combination with imatinib. Our results indicate that resistance to imatinib induced by Bcr-Abl overexpression or by engineered expression of clinically relevant Bcr-Abl mutants does not induce cross-resistance to As2O3 or decitabine. Combined treatment with these agents and imatinib is beneficial in cell lines that have residual sensitivity to imatinib monotherapy, with synergistic growth inhibition achieved only at doses of imatinib that overcome resistance. In some imatinib-resistant cell lines, combination treatments that use low doses of imatinib lead to antagonism. Apoptosis studies suggest that this can be explained in part by the reduced proapoptotic activity of imatinib in resistant cell lines. These data underline the importance of resistance testing and provide a rational approach for dose-adjusted administration of imatinib when combined with other agents.


With the increase in the usage of signal isolation in many industrial and automotive applications, the need for isolated power has also increased. The benefits of isolation are lost if the power supplies on either side of the isolation barrier are simply shorted. At the same time, if the isolated power sub-systems are not designed carefully, it affects the overall system performance like temperature rise due to poor power transfer efficiency, data corruption due to emissions, and so on. To simplify the design process of isolated CAN sub-systems, this document provides various options (discrete and integrated) to isolate CAN signals and power.


PURPOSE
Oxidative stress-induced retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) senescence is one of the important factors in the pathogenesis of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). This study aimed to develop a new antisenescence-based intervention and clarify its possible molecular mechanism.

METHODS
A cell premature senescence model was established in both primary RPE cells and ARPE-19 cells by exposure of the cells to pulsed H₂O₂ stress for 5 days, and confirmed with senescence-associated β-galactosidase (SA-β-gal) staining. The final concentration of fullerenol (Fol) in the cell culture system was 5 μg/mL. Cellular redox status was determined by the examination of cellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) staining, catalase activity, and the ratio of reduced to oxidized glutathione, respectively. Deoxyribonucleic acid double-strand breaks were determined by quantitative analysis of γH₂AX. Cell cycle analysis was performed with flow cytometry. SIRT1 activity was examined with SIRT1 Assay Kit. SIRT1 overexpression and knockdown in ARPE-19 cells were performed with lentiviral-mediated infection.

RESULTS
Pulsed H₂O₂ exposure triggered the acetylation of p53 at lysine 382 (K382) and subsequent increase in its target p21(Waf1/Cip1). It also increased the number of accumulated phospho-γH2AX foci and the level of phosphor-ATM in RPE cells. Fullerenol protected the RPE cells, as it reduced the number of positive SA-β-gal-staining cells, alleviated the depletion of cellular antioxidants, and reduced genomic DNA damage. Its mechanism might involve the activation of deacetylase SIRT1, resulting in decreased levels of acetyl-p53 and p21(Waf1/Cip1). The roles of SIRT1 in protecting cells in response to Fol were further confirmed by applications of SIRT1 activator (resveratrol) and inhibitors (nicotinamide and sirtinol), and through SIRT1 overexpression and knockdown.

CONCLUSIONS
Fullerenol could rescue RPE cells from oxidative stress-induced senescence through its antioxidation activity and the activation of SIRT1. The protective effect of Fol is useful for the development of new strategies to treat oxidative stress-related retinal diseases like AMD.


Battery is the bottleneck technology of electric vehicles (EVs), which has complex and hardly observable inside chemical reactions. To reduce the training data volume requirement in artificial intelligent algorithm based battery model, this paper presents a deep transfer learning algorithm based battery modeling method. The Deep Belief Network - Extreme Learning Machine (DBN-ELM) algorithm is used for battery modeling issue in this paper to excavate the hidden features in battery data set and improve the accuracy and stability. The results show that the proposed transfer learning algorithm based battery modeling method is able to achieve a highly accurate simulation for battery dynamic characteristics under an insufficient data set, and the mean absolute percentage error of the established model is within 3%.


There has been a recent emergence of new workflow applications focused on data analytics and machine learning. This emergence has precipitated a change in the workflow management landscape, causing the development of new dataoriented workflow management systems (WMSs) in addition to the earlier standard of task-oriented WMSs. In this paper, we summarize three general workflow use-cases and explore the unique requirements of each use-case in order to understand how WMSs from both workflow management models meet the requirements of each workflow use-case from the user's perspective. We analyze the applicability of the two models by carefully describing each model and by providing an examination of the different variations of WMSs that fall under the task driven model. To illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of each workflow management model, we summarize the key features of four production-ready WMSs: Pegasus, Makeflow, Apache Airflow, and Pachyderm. To deepen our analysis of the four WMSs examined in this paper,we implement three real-world use-cases to highlight the specifications and features of each WMS. We present our final assessment of each WMS after considering the following factors: usability, performance, ease of deployment, and relevance. The purpose of this work is to offer insights from the user's perspective into the research challenges that WMSs currently face due to the evolving workflow landscape.


Computational design of mechanical components is an iterative process that involves multiple stress analysis runs; this can be time consuming and expensive. Significant improvements in the efficiency of this process can be made by increasing the level of interactivity. One approach is through real-time re-analysis of models with continuously updating geometry. In this work the boundary element method is used to realise this vision. Three primary areas need to be considered to accelerate the re-solution of boundary element problems. These are re-meshing the model, updating the boundary element system of equations and re-solution of the system.

Once the initial model has been constructed and solved, the user may apply geometric perturbations to parts of the model. A new re-meshing algorithm accommodates these changes in geometry whilst retaining as much of the existing mesh as possible. This allows the majority of the previous boundary element system of equations to be re-used for the new analysis.

Efficiency is achieved during re-integration by applying a reusable intrinsic sample point (RISP) integration scheme with a 64-bit single precision code. Parts of the boundary element system that have not been updated are retained by the re-analysis and integrals that multiply zero boundary conditions are suppressed. For models with fewer than 10,000 degrees of freedom, the re-integration algorithm performs up to five times faster than a standard integration scheme with less than 0.15% reduction in the L_2-norm accuracy of the solution vector. The method parallelises easily and an additional six times speed-up can be achieved on eight processors over the serial implementation.

The performance of a range of direct, iterative and reduction based linear solvers have been compared for solving the boundary element system with the iterative generalised minimal residual (GMRES) solver providing the fastest convergence rate and the most accurate result. Further time savings are made by preconditioning the updated system with the LU decomposition of the original system. Using these techniques, near real-time analysis can be achieved for three-dimensional simulations; for two-dimensional models such real-time performance has already been demonstrated.


Sapura is presently in three main business areas such as Telecommunications, Information Technology, Metal-Based Industries as well as the continued towards Research and Development. In addition to make their company expand into the worldwide, they were setting their sights on New Global Markets. While by consolidating their activities in the IT focused in Industry, they also plan to diversify into a range of businesses which meet specialized requirements and projects. Sapura Telecommunications also have started venturing into property management and building maintenance, construction and the tourism business. Sapura facing some competitors in telecommunication industry where most of them compete each other to gain competitive advantages and expand business worldwide. Some of competitors consist of DiGi Com. Berhad, Maxis Berhad, Telekom Berhad, Celcom Berhad and also Mobikom Berhad. Each companies has their own strengths in order to attract customers in this industry. Start in year 1997, Sapura facing problems in maintaining their performance of generating sales and revenue as we can see in their financial ratio, most of ratio is indicate bad performance. This may due from economic downturn that faced by our country. In order to established back their market and business, sapura should change some strategies in order to maintain and expand more in industry. Base on analysis, the appropriate strategies that can be taken are market penetration and product development. As consequences from high demand in telecommunication industry and increasing in population, Sapura should develop more on this strategies. As a conclusion, now Sapura become one of the most popular distributors telecommunication products in Malaysia. They acquired more established IT companies in order to compete with the competitors in global market. Futhermore, the decreasing in performance in a year 1997 until 1999 due to recession in our country. As overall, Sapura can be a developed companies in telecommunication industry as they have many strengths and opportunities to gain.


Stories on people's lifes play an ever growing part in postmodernism. This article discusses the way narrativity relates three fields: the autobiographical, the historical, and the psychological. Creative processes create accounts of happenings in which narrative structures are introduced en a story takes form. More interesting, however, are the moments in which narrativity is broken through and fictionalization happens. This takes place in every form of autobiographical and biographical writing, whether it is literature, ego documents or historiography. The narrative voice then becomes an unknowable, ingraspable transpersonal authority that speaks from a 'transitional' space: a complex mixture of pieces of memories, dreams, desires, and onconscious conflict. The narrative is constructed through the secondary processes of organization, temporality et cetera, while primary, unconscious processes play a part as well.


The study is performed in Elbasani region; cities in which many biological studies carried out in recent years. Palynological information featured in this paper are provided in earth depositions of last XX centuries - last Quaternary or last period of New Holocene. Through this study we try to provide paleopalynological information for the layout of this family during Holocene period, for the geographical location in which the Elbasan city is located. The goal of this presented paper is to provide information about the Holocene distribution of Caryophyllaceae spores and pollens, bearing in mind that different ground depths correspond to certain time periods. For this purpose, we taken different sediment samples in each station, every 25 cm from the surface up to 4 m deepness. Approximate data about sedimentation rate are given, from about 1.87 mm/yr (during 1500 years at the Basilica of Bezistani) and up to 2.5 mm/year at the depths 2.8-4 m (0-V centuries). Paleopalynological information given for this family are provided for the first time exclusively in this work and does not exist any similar work of this nature and for this family in the Albanian Palinology literature. Sample treatment and microscopic examinations were carried on at the Study University "La Sapienza", Rome. Survey and palynomorphs photos it was carried on using Motic BA310 microscopes with 1000x magnification. In conclusion we can say that the data provided is sufficiently clear for the Holocene layout of this family.


BACKGROUND
Triply diagnosed patients, who live with HIV and diagnosed mental health and substance abuse disorders, account for at least 13% of all HIV patients. This vulnerable population has substantial gaps in their care, attributable in part to the need for treatment for three illnesses from three types of providers.

AIMS OF THE STUDY
The HIV/AIDS Treatment Adherence, Health Outcomes and Cost study (HIV Cost Study) sought to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of integrated HIV primary care, mental health, and substance abuse services among triply diagnosed patients. The analysis was conducted from a health sector budget perspective.

METHODS
Patients from four sites were randomly assigned to intervention group (n=232) or control group (n=199) that received care-as-usual. Health service costs were measured at baseline and three, six, nine and 12 months and included hospital stays, emergency room visits, outpatient visits, residential treatment, formal long-term care, case management, and both prescribed and over-the-counter medications. Costs for each service were the product of self-reported data on utilization and unit costs based on national data (2002 dollars). Quality of life was measured at baseline and six and 12 months using the SF-6D, as well as the SF-36 physical composite score (PCS) and mental composite score (MCS).

RESULTS
During the 12 months of the trial, total average monthly cost of health services for the intervention group decreased from USD 3235 to USD 3052 and for the control group decreased from USD 3556 to USD 3271, but the decreases were not significant. For both groups, the percentage attributable to hospital care decreased significantly. There were no significant differences in annual cost of health services, SF-6D, PCS or MCS between the intervention and control group.

IMPLICATIONS FOR HEALTH CARE PROVISION AND USE
The results of this randomized controlled trial did not demonstrate that the integrated interventions significantly affected the health service costs or quality of life of triply diagnosed patients. Professionals could pursue coordination or integration of care guided by the evidence that it does not increase the cost of care. The results do not however, provide an imperative to introduce multi-disciplinary care teams, adherence counseling, or personalized nursing services as implemented in this study.

IMPLICATIONS FOR HEALTH POLICIES
There is not enough evidence to either limit continued exploration of integration of care for triply diagnosed patients or adopt policies to encourage it, such as financial reimbursement, grants regulation or licensing.

IMPLICATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
Future trials with interventions with lower baseline levels of integration, longer duration and larger sample sizes may show improvement or slow the decline in quality of life. Future researchers should collect comprehensive cost data, because significant decreases in the cost of hospital care did not necessarily lead to significant decreases in the total cost of health services.


The DSS Application is a computer program comprising a Windows version of the UNIX-based Decelerator System Simulation (DSS) coupled with an Excel front end. The DSS is an executable code that simulates the dynamics of airdropped cargo from first motion in an aircraft through landing. The bare DSS is difficult to use; the front end makes it easy to use. All inputs to the DSS, control of execution of the DSS, and postprocessing and plotting of outputs are handled in the front end. The front end is graphics-intensive. The Excel software provides the graphical elements without need for additional programming. Categories of input parameters are divided into separate tabbed windows. Pop-up comments describe each parameter. An error-checking software component evaluates combinations of parameters and alerts the user if an error results. Case files can be created from inputs, making it possible to build cases from previous ones. Simulation output is plotted in 16 charts displayed on a separate worksheet, enabling plotting of multiple DSS cases with flight-test data. Variables assigned to each plot can be changed. Selected input parameters can be edited from the plot sheet for quick sensitivity studies.


The experimental study of the valence band offset (ΔEv) of a mixed As/Sb type-II staggered gap GaAs0.35Sb0.65/In0.7Ga0.3As heterostructure used as source/channel junction of n-channel tunnel field effect transistor (TFET) grown by molecular beam epitaxy was investigated by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Cross-sectional transmission electron micrograph shows high crystalline quality at the source/channel heterointerface. XPS results demonstrate a ΔEv of 0.39 ± 0.05 eV at the GaAs0.35Sb0.65/In0.7Ga0.3As heterointerface. The conduction band offset was calculated to be ∼0.49 eV using the band gap values of source and channel materials and the measured valence band offset. An effective tunneling barrier height of 0.21 eV was extracted, suggesting a great promise for designing a metamorphic mixed As/Sb type-II staggered gap TFET device structure for low-power logic applications.


One of the most accomplished writers and directors of classic Hollywood, Billy Wilder (1906-2002) directed numerous acclaimed films, including "Sunset Boulevard" (1950), "Sabrina" (1954), "The Seven Year Itch" (1955), "Witness for the Prosecution" (1957), and "Some Like It Hot" (1959). Featuring Gene D. Phillips's unique, in-depth critical approach, "Some Like It Wilder: The Life and Controversial Films of Billy Wilder" provides a groundbreaking overview of a filmmaking icon. Wilder began his career as a screenwriter in Berlin but, because of his Jewish heritage, sought refuge in America when Germany came under Nazi control. Making fast connections in Hollywood, Wilder immediately made the jump from screenwriter to director. His classic films "Five Graves to Cairo" (1943), "Double Indemnity" (1945), and "The Lost Weekend" (1945) earned Academy Awards for best picture, director, and screenplay. During the 1960s, Wilder continued to direct and produce controversial comedies, including "Kiss Me, Stupid" (1964) and "The Apartment" (1960), which won Oscars for best picture and director. This definitive biography reveals that Wilder was, and remains, one of the most influential directors in filmmaking.


The Chiropractors & Osteopaths Musculo-Skeletal Interest Group evolved from regular clinical meetings at Ringwood Clinic, a multi-disciplinary clinic in Melbourne In 1987 the Directors of the clinic Bruce F. Walker D.C. and Alison Hogg MB.BS. (Hons), FRACGP. Decided to invite a range of guest speakers (on musculo-skeletal topics) to give an address every 6 weeks Local practitioners of all persuasions were invited to attend these meetings. Although all groups were represented, by far the greatest interest shown by the chiropractors and osteopaths In 1989 Peter D. Werth B.App.Sc.(Chiro) joined the team and together with the writer formulated a plan to broaden the list of invited guests to all registered chiropractors and osteopaths in Melbourne Naturally, this required a larger venue and organisation. After several successful meetings attracting groups of 60 to 70 practitioners we formalised the COMSIG organisation and gained the invaluable assistance of David de l Harpe B.Sc., B.App.Sc.(Chiro), MB.,BS., Shane Carter B.App.Sc.(Chiro) and Simon Clement D.O. on our committee. More recently Shane Carter left for overseas and was ably replaced by Miriam Bourke B.App.Sc.(Chiro) This year COMSIG incorporated under the name of the long established Chiropractic & Osteopathic College of Australasia So, what is COMSIG and what are it's objectives? COMSIG is a special interest group of the Chiropractic & Osteopathic College of Australasia. More specifically, it is an affiliation of Chiropractors and Osteopaths with interests pertaining to the musculo-skeletal system The objectives for which COMSIG was established are: to promote knowledge of disorders of the musculo-skeletal system. to provide a forum for the interchange of ideas related to such disorders. to educate chiropractors, osteopaths and other health professionals about the diagnosis and management of such disorders. to encourage the diagnosis and management of musculo-skeletal disorders in a scientific and ethical manner. to conduct, promote, and arrange meetings, seminars, symposia, conferences, and lectures on musculo-skeletal disorders. to foster research into musculo-skeletal disorders. Importantly, COMSIG is not a political organisation but rather an academic organisation arising from the practitioner ranks of the professions We encourage all those with an interest in musculo-skeletal disorders to join COMSIG and participate in its development. An application form is enclosed, or available from the Secretary…


'Fanatic', 'dogmatic', 'fundamentalist' - these are the words most often used in the West to describe the Ayatollah Khomeini. The essays in this book challenge that view, arguing that Khomeini and his Islamic movement should be seen as a form of Third World political populism - a radical but pragmatic middle-class movement that strives to enter, rather than reject, the modern age. Ervand Abrahamian, while critical of Khomeini, asks us to look directly at the Ayatollah's own works and to understand what they meant to his principal audience - his followers in Iran. Abrahamian analyzes political tracts dating back to 1943, along with Khomeini's theological writings and his many public statements in the form of speeches, interviews, proclamations and fatwas (judicial decrees). What emerges, according to Abrahamian, is a militant, sometimes contradictory, political ideology that focuses not on issues of scripture and theology but on the immediate political, social, and economic grievances of workers and the middle class. These essays reveal how the Islamic Republic has systematically manipulated history through televised 'recantations', newspapers, school textbooks, and even postage stamps. All are designed to bolster the clergy's reputation as champions of the downtrodden and as defenders against foreign powers. Abrahamian also discusses the paranoia that permeates the political spectrum in Iran, contending that such deep distrust is symptomatic of populist regimes everywhere.


"Readiness cohorts" are an innovation in clinical trial design to tackle the scarcity of time and people in drug studies. This has emerged in response to the challenges of recruiting the "right" research participants at the "right time" in the context of precision medicine. In this paper, we consider how the achievement of "readiness" aligns temporalities, biologies, and market processes of pharmaceutical innovation: how the promise of "willing bodies" in research emerges in relation to intertwined economic and biological time imperatives. Drawing on long-term engagement with the field of Alzheimer's disease prevention and interviews with researchers from academia and the pharmaceutical industry, we describe the discursive construction and practical arrangement of readiness. This paper contributes to understandings of temporal specificity, or "timing," within prevention research and casts critical light on the way this specificity—the threshold for "trial readiness"—relates to an opaque and highly speculative drug development pipeline. Extending the study of biomedical potential, as that which holds promise but may not yet exist, we consider how absences operate in adaptive trials. By highlighting these absences ("ready for what?"), we outline an opportunity for socio-ethical research to intervene in the speculative gaps of drug development.


The Himalayan syntaxes are exceptionally dynamic landscapes characterized by high-relief topography and some of the most rapid and focused crustal exhumation on Earth. In the eastern Himalayan syntaxis, it has been hypothesized that thermo-mechanical feedbacks between erosion by the Yarlung River and growth of a crustal-scale antiform may have locally sustained exhumation rates exceeding 5 km/m.y. during the late Pliocene and Pleistocene. However, young (younger than 3 Ma) cooling histories from syntaxial bedrock samples restrict interpretations of the timing and mechanism initiating feedback development. To extend this record of landscape evolution, we reconstructed an exhumation history since the late Miocene from analysis of detrital minerals in Himalayan foreland basin deposits. We combined magnetostratigraphy, detrital white mica 40Ar/39Ar thermochronology, and coupled zircon U-Pb and fission-track geothermochronology from a 4.6-km-thick stratigraphic section proximal to the eastern syntaxis. We used a simple thermal model to interpret the combined provenance and lag-time data set, concluding that rock exhumation rates in the core of the syntaxis increased by a factor of 5–10 in the late Miocene and have sustained extremely rapid exhumation rates (>5 km/m.y.) since 5 Ma. This onset significantly postdates the first appearance of Tibetan detritus in the Himalayan foreland, suggesting that thermo-mechanical feedbacks sustaining rapid exhumation are unrelated to river integration. Instead, such feedbacks may develop where large, antecedent rivers sustain elevated erosion rates across a region of enhanced rock uplift. Compilation of similar data sets across the Himalaya demonstrates extraordinary syntaxial exhumation histories, potentially resulting from peculiar geodynamics at these orogenic margins.


Aerosol particles can be directly emitted to the atmosphere in many ways, such as sea spray, volcanoes, wildfires or industrial combustion processes. However, aerosol particles also form in the atmosphere, when precursor gases nucleate and new-particle formation occurs. This phenomenon is frequently observed in the atmosphere, and studies suggest that approximately half of the global budget of cloud condensation nuclei results from secondary particle formation. Nevertheless, we do not yet understand atmospheric new-particle formation in detail. This thesis addresses underlying processes of new-particle formation in the atmosphere, with focus on the role of ions in those processes. The aim is to increase the understanding on atmospheric processes and the interpretation of observations, which are crucial to improve climate change predictions. Organic vapors with very low volatilities were found to play a significant role in both nucleation and growth of molecular clusters. These vapors can form through oxidation of volatile organic compounds such as monoterpenes (e.g. alpha-pinene or delta-3-carene, C10H16). While for a long time the prevailing opinion was that nucleation does not occur without sulfuric acid as a precursor, we found that organic vapors with very low volatilities can form particles even in the absence of sulfuric acid. Moreover, the early growth of freshly formed clusters can also be governed by low volatility organics. In cases where conditions are unfavorable for neutral clusters to form, ions can help by stabilizing nuclei, thus facilitating new-particle formation (ion-induced nucleation). To be able to study ion-related effects in detail, accurate ion concentration and size measurements are vital. For this thesis, we performed calibration measurements to verify the output of the neutral cluster and air ion spectrometer. We identified deviations in ion concentrations of up to 30%. By applying the correction terms that we derived from our laboratory results, the uncertainty of measured ion concentrations can be reduced to 10%. Studying the effect of ions on new-particle formation, we found that the contribution of ioninduced nucleation is sensitive to the concentration of cluster ions, decreasing towards low concentrations. High concentrations of cluster ions indicate small sinks of ions and charged clusters, as well as high recombination rates. The difference in cluster ion concentrations between the boreal forest in Hyytiälä, Finland, and the laboratory environment at CERN, Switzerland, can, at least partly, explain the different contributions of ion-induced nucleation when comparing results from the two environments. This thesis addresses new-particle formation, especially nucleation and growth processes, and provides new insights to the participating precursor gases and the role of ions. Linking laboratory studies to ambient observations is challenging, and further investigation is needed to confirm implications for the Earth's atmosphere.


Recent work has shown the potential benefit of selective prediction systems that can learn to defer to a human when the predictions of the AI are unreliable, particularly to improve the reliability of AI systems in high-stakes applications like healthcare or conservation. However, most prior work assumes that human behavior remains unchanged when they solve a prediction task as part of a human-AI team as opposed to by themselves. We show that this is not the case by performing experiments to quantify human-AI interaction in the context of selective prediction. In particular, we study the impact of communicating different types of information to humans about the AI system's decision to defer. Using real-world conservation data and a selective prediction system that improves expected accuracy over that of the human or AI system working individually, we show that this messaging has a significant impact on the accuracy of human judgements. Our results study two components of the messaging strategy: 1) Whether humans are informed about the prediction of the AI system and 2) Whether they are informed about the decision of the selective prediction system to defer. By manipulating these messaging components, we show that it is possible to significantly boost human performance by informing the human of the decision to defer, but not revealing the prediction of the AI. We therefore show that it is vital to consider how the decision to defer is communicated to a human when designing selective prediction systems, and that the composite accuracy of a human-AI team must be carefully evaluated using a human-in-the-loop framework.


Abstract Structured illumination fluorescence microscopy is a powerful super-resolution method that is capable of achieving a resolution below 100 nm. Each super-resolution image is computationally constructed from a set of differentially illuminated images. However, real-time application of structured illumination microscopy (SIM) has generally been limited due to the computational overhead needed to generate super-resolution images. Here, we have developed a real-time SIM system that incorporates graphic processing unit (GPU) based in-line parallel processing of raw/differentially illuminated images. By using GPU processing, the system has achieved a 90-fold increase in processing speed compared to performing equivalent operations on a multiprocessor computer—the total throughput of the system is limited by data acquisition speed, but not by image processing. Overall, more than 350 raw images (16-bit depth, 512 × 512 pixels) can be processed per second, resulting in a maximum frame rate of 39 super-resolution images per second. This ultrafast processing capability is used to provide immediate feedback of super-resolution images for real-time display. These developments are increasing the potential for sophisticated super-resolution imaging applications.


Infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV) contains 3 major genogroups in North America with discreet geographic ranges designated as upper (U), middle (M), and lower (L). A comprehensive genotyping of 237 IHNV isolates from hatchery and wild salmonids in California revealed 25 different sequence types (a to y) all in the L genogroup; specifically, the genogroup contained 14 sequence types that were unique to individual isolates as well as 11 sequence types representing 2 or more identical isolates. The most evident trend was the phylogenetic and geographical division of the L genogroup into 2 distinct subgroups designated as LI and LII. Isolates within Subgroup LI were primarily found within waterways linked to southern Oregon and northern California coastal rivers. Isolates in Subgroup LII were concentrated within inland valley watersheds that included the Sacramento River, San Joaquin River, and their tributaries. The temporal and spatial patterns of virus occurrence suggested that infections among adult Chinook salmon in the hatchery or that spawn in the river are a major source of virus potentially infecting other migrating or resident salmonids in California. Serum neutralization results of the California isolates of IHNV corroborated a temporal trend of sequence divergence; specifically, 2 progressive shifts in which more recent virus isolates represent new serotypes. A comparison of the estimates of divergence rates for Subgroup LI (1 x 10(-5) mutations per nucleotide site per year) indicated stasis similar to that observed in the U genogroup, while the Subgroup LII rate (1 x 10(-3) mutations per nucleotide site per year) suggested a more active evolution similar to that of the M genogroup.


The objective of this work was to identify and assess the technological, zootechnical and socioeconomic profiles and identify and quantify benchmarks for dairy cattle production systems, in a nonexperimental approach, aiming to contribute to the sustainability and competitiveness of dairy farming in the Pernambuco Agreste region, northeastern Brazil. Thirty-six milk production systems of family and corporate farming were evaluated during twelve months, in order to identify and quantify the benchmarks. The systems were characterized regarding their size and technological, zootechnical and economic profiles. The correlation coefficients of the return rate on invested capital were assessed and regression equations were developed for each indicator, according to four scenarios of annual return rates (4, 6, 8 and 10%). The indicators evaluated were milk production per dairy cows, milk production per area, average price of milk, effective operational cost, total operating cost, total cost per price of milk and profitability. The dairy farming in the Pernambuco Agreste region pays the production costs, but tends to a not adequate remuneration of family labor and a need of external capital input for replacement of the assets. The productivity of production factors area and animals showed higher correlation with cost-effectiveness, denoting the need for increase the production through increases in land area and milk productivity per dairy cow. The identification and quantification of benchmarks may help to identify the weak points of dairy farming in the Agreste region, making it sustainable and competitive.


Candida albicans is commensal in human microbiota and is known to be the commonest opportunistic pathogen, having variable clinical outcomes that can lead to up to 60% mortality. Such wide clinical behaviour can be attributed to its phenotypical plasticity and high genetic diversity. This study characterised 10 Colombian clinical isolates which had already been identified as C. albicans by molecular tests; however, previous bioinformatics analysis of protein mass spectra and phenotypical characteristics has shown that this group of isolates has atypical behaviour, sharing characteristics of both C. africana and C. albicans. This study was aimed at evaluating atypical isolates' pathogenic capability in the Galleria mellonella model; susceptibility profiles were determined and MLST was used for molecular characterisation. Cluster analysis, enabling unbiased bootstrap to classify the isolates and establish their cluster membership and e-BURST, was used for establishing clonal complexes (CC). Both approaches involved using representative MLST data from the 18 traditional C. albicans clades, as well as C. albicans-associated and minor species. Ten atypical isolates were distributed as follows: 6/10 (B71, B41, B60, R6, R41, and R282) were grouped into a statistically well-supported atypical cluster (AC) and constituted a differentiated CC 6; 2/10 of the isolates were clearly grouped in clade 1 and were concurrent in CC 4 (B80, B44). Another 2/10 atypical isolates were grouped in clade 10 and concurred in CC 7 (R425, R111); most atypical isolates were related to geographically distant isolates and some represented new ST. Isolates B41 and R41 in the AC had greater virulence. Isolate B44 was fluconazole-resistant and was grouped in clade 1. The atypical nature of the isolates studied here was demonstrated by the contrast between phenotypical traits (C. africana-like), molecular markers (C. albicans-like), virulence, and antifungal resistance, highlighting the widely described genetic plasticity for this genus. Our results showed that the atypical isolates forming well-differentiated groups belonged to C. albicans. Our findings could contribute towards developing molecular epidemiology approaches for managing hospital-acquired infection.


Sleep has biological and circadian rhythms and a complex pattern. When it obeys the biological clock, one's body adapts to the circadian cycle.1 The quality and quantity of sleep are important. Insufficient sleep causes impaired attention and alertness, reduced learning, and high stress. Loss of sufficient sleep may cause increased anxiety and hypomania.2 Traveling through several time zones causes jet lag. In other words, circadian rhythms adjust slowly and maintain the original biological schedule for few days or even weeks. It is important to remind that among immigrants, acculturation is associated with poor sleep quality in host countries. Several factors influence immigrants, such as background of one's culture (e.g., early life risk factors, diet); factors resulting in the immigration (compulsory or voluntary); factors during the process of immigration; and socioeconomic factors of host country (such as poor socioeconomic conditions or lack of social status).3 Sleep disorders such as drowsiness and insomnia have a high instance race in this population group because of changes to their circadian sleep rhythms. Fatigue, drowsiness, and insomnia are closely related. They cause low alertness, psychological disorders, and forgetfulness, possibly because of a disruption in brain chemicals. People with sleep dissatisfaction can experience low quality of life and a reduction in productivity. Immigrants to other countries may experience great distress because of sleep disturbance. Jet lag is a direct result of one's ability to traverse several time zones in a short period of time. In addition to night time sleep disturbances and impaired alertness in daytime, general unrest is another symptom of jet lag.4 It is even possible that the jet-lagged person will ignore the immigration principals and his/her goals in the face of unpleasant changes. For example, he/she may come to regret his/her action or may develop a negative and biased view toward the new country.


: This situation analysis presents a thorough, evidence-based examination of the relationship between wildlife and zoonosis, wildlife and emerging human pathogens and associated diseases, their origins, drivers, and risk factors. There is considerable divergence of opinion around the subject both within and outside the biodiversity conservation community and given the ontological challenges and highly different perspectives, contradictory narrative is unsurprising. Context is all-important and to clarify this in the analysis, the evidence of human diseases coming from wildlife is compared to diseases emerging from domestic animals and humans themselves, to provide context and proportions of the relative risk. The report highlights key knowledge, and provides perspective on where research, policy, interventions, and capacity building are needed to reduce risks of zoonoses and emergent animal-origin


The emission of light by sources in close proximity to a thin metallic film is dominated by surface plasmon-polariton modes supported by that film. We explore the nature of the modes and examine how the energy lost to such modes can be recovered. Both cross-coupled and coupled SPPs are presented as a means of transferring energy across a thin metal film. These modes are then scattered and thereby coupled to light by a wavelength scale grating type microstructure. We show that the photoluminescence emission from a structure containing a microstructured thin metal film that supports coupled SPPs is over 50 times greater than that from a similar planar structure. Similar strong photoluminescence emission is also exhibited by a sample that contains a planar metal film coated with a microstructured dielectric overlayer.


This paper investigates how China's success in economic development negatively influences civil liberties and democracy as practiced in the West, and asks why the growing economic interdependence between China and the global economy enables China to intervene in the political conduct of leading democracies but not vice versa. Empirically, the paper examines cases of Chinese foreign relations behaviour in which China uses its economic connections with various leading industrial democracies to bend their international political behaviour regarding visits by the Dalai Lama. It also highlights how economic interests relating to the Chinese market make multinational corporations vulnerable to Beijing's political pressure, and analyses why international capital is easily lured to cooperate with the Chinese repressive state to curb freedom in and outside China. It argues that the new political economy of globalisation in the post-Cold War era explains the rise of this kind of dictator's diplomacy, and that post- Tiananmen China has greatly contributed to the shaping of a new political economy characterised by state-market collaboration in promoting material prosperity.


Upper tropospheric NOx controls, in part, the distribution of ozone in this greenhousesensitive region of the atmosphere. Many factors control NOx in this region. As a result it is difficult to assess uncertainties in anthropogenic perturbations to NO from aircraft, for example, without understanding the role of the other major NOx sources in the upper troposphere. These include in situ sources (lightning, aircraft), convection from the surface (biomass burning, fossil fuels, soils), stratospheric intrusions, and photochemical recycling from HNO3. This work examines the separate contribution to upper tropospheric "primary" NOx from each source category and uses two different chemical transport models (CTMs) to represent a range of possible atmospheric transport. Because aircraft emissions are tied to particular pressure altitudes, it is important o understand whether those emissions are placed in the model stratosphere or troposphere and to assess whether the models can adequately differentiate stratospheric air from tropospheric air. We examine these issues by defining a point-by-point "tracer tropopause" in order to differentiate stratosphere from troposphere in terms of NOx perturbations. Both models predict similar zonal average peak enhancements of primary NOx due to aircraft (--10-20 parts per trillion by volume (pptv) in both January and July); however, the placement of this peak is primarily in a region of large stratospheric nfluence in one model and centered near the level evaluated as the tracer tropopause in the second. Below the tracer tropopause, both models show negligible NOx derived directly from the stratospheric source. Also, they predict a typically low background of 120 pptv NOx when tropospheric HNO3 is constrained to be 100 pptv of HNO3. The two models calculate large differences in the total background NOx (defined as the source of NOx from lightning + stratosphere + surface + HNO3) when using identical loss frequencies for NOx. This difference is primarily due to differing treatments of vertical transport. An improved diagnosis of this transport hat is relevant to NOx requires either measurements of a surface-based tracer with a substantially shorter lifetime than 222Rn or diagnosis and mapping of tracer correlations with different source signatures. Because of differences in transport by the two models we cannot constrain the source of NOx from lightning through comparison of average model concentrations with observations of NOx.


In the world today, the portion of aging people grows continuously. Due to successfulof healthcare services, people are living longer and the number of newborn isdecreasing. This can imply that the population of young and working people isdecreasing in many countries. This leads to the mean value incrementing of the meanworld population's age value in the whole world. It has become more and moreimportant to consideration human factors of elderly people in many businesses.Software companies have to consider design of software concerning of usability forageing people. Currently, most of the software is designed to support younger users.To support elderly users, we have to consider more on age-related differences. Thisthesis presents a literature survey, and related theories used in designing graphic userinterface for ageing people. Besides, criteria for designing software for older users arealso discussed and suggested as guidelines for future studies and development. Thepurpose is to improve older users' potential in using information technologies, and topotentially allow older users to gain more benefit from using of computer software.A case study for software design for elderly users was implemented to verifysuggested guideline and gain deeper design understanding. The elderly volunteerswere involved in design evaluation process. The results from case study have showneffectiveness of the design guideline approach.


Reports of state-sponsored harmful cyber intrusions abound. The prevailing view among academics holds that if the effects or consequences of such intrusions are sufficiently damaging, international humanitarian law (IHL) should generally govern them — and recourse to armed force may also be justified against states responsible for these actions under the jus ad bellum. This Article argues, however, that there are serious problems and perils in relying on analogies with physical armed force to extend these legal regimes to most events in cyberspace. Armed conflict models applied to the use of information as a weapon and a target are instead likely to generate "legal phantoms" in cyberspace — that is, situations in which numerous policy questions and domestic criminal issues are often misinterpreted as legal problems governed by the IHL framework or the jus ad bellum. This Article assesses this dilemma in the context of four key problem areas relating to dimensions of information: (1) problems of origin, organization, and availability; (2) problems of access and control; (3) problems of exploitation; and (4) problems of manipulation and content.


Hemodynamic management aims to provide adequate tissue perfusion, which is often altered during cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). We evaluated whether skin perfusion pressure (SPP) can be used for monitoring of adequacy of tissue perfusion in patients undergoing valvular heart surgery. Seventy-two patients undergoing valve replacement were enrolled. SPP and serum lactate level were assessed after anaesthesia induction (baseline), during CPB, after CPB-off, end of surgery, arrival at intensive care unit, and postoperative 6 h. Lactate was further measured until postoperative 48 h. Association of SPP with lactate and 30-day morbidity comprising myocardial infarction, acute kidney injury, stroke, prolonged intubation, sternal infection, reoperation, and mortality was assessed. Among the lactate levels, postoperative 6 h peak value was most closely linked to composite of 30-day morbidity. The SPP value during CPB and its % change from the baseline value were significantly associated with the postoperative 6 h peak lactate (r = -0.26, P = 0.030 and r = 0.47, P = 0.001, respectively). Optimal cut-off of % decrease in SPP during CPB from baseline value for the postoperative 6 h hyperlactatemia was 48% (area under curve, 0.808; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.652–0.963; P = 0.001). Decrease in SPP >48% during CPB from baseline value was associated with a 12.8-fold increased risk of composite endpoint of 30-day morbidity (95% CI, 1.48–111.42; P = 0.021) on multivariate logistic regression. Large decrease in SPP during CPB predicts postoperative 6 h hyperlactatemia and 30-day morbidity, which implicates a promising role of SPP monitoring in the achievement of optimal perfusion during CPB.


A one step, in situ, room temperature synthesis of yellow luminescent CdSe QDs was achieved in a metallohydrogel derived from a facially amphiphilic bile salt, resulting in a QD-gel hybrid. An ordered self-assembly and homogeneous distribution of the CdSe QDs in the hydrogel network was observed from optical and electron micrographs. The different excited state behavior of the CdSe QDs in the hybrid was revealed for the first time using time resolved spectroscopy. We also describe the successful isolation of the photoluminescent CdSe QDs from the gel followed by their re-dispersion in an organic solvent using suitable capping ligands.


We have previously shown that fructose and sorbitol given with a standard meal cause less increment in plasma glucose than sucrose and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in patients with NIDDM. However, there was no direct comparison of sucrose with HFCS. Sixteen men and one woman aged 54–67) with NIDDM were given either 35 g sucrose, 35 g fructose, or 43.75 g HFCS containing 35 g carbohydrate as part of a 400-calorie test meal. Blood samples were obtained at frequent intervals up to 3 h and were analyzed for glucose and insulin. As compared with a fructose meal, the mean increment in plasma glucose (ΔPG) after a sucrose meal was significantly higher at 45 min and after an HFCS meal it was significantly higher at 30 and 45 min, but sucrose and HFCS meals did not differ. When delta PGs were compared in nine patients with basal PG > 140 mg/dl and in eight patients with basal PG < 140 mg/dl, differences in ΔPG after sucrose and HFCS versus fructose meals became more significant but still did not differ from each other. The integrated total areas under the ΔPG curves after sucrose, HFCS, and fructose meals were not statistically different. However, the areas under the curves up to 90 min after sucrose and HFCS meals, which did not differ, were greater than the fructose meal. The mean delta IRI after sucrose meals was markedly elevated at 45, 60, and 75 min (P < 0.05) and after HFCS meals at 45 min as compared with fructose meals. There was no significant difference in the mean AIRI between sucrose and HFCS meals. This study shows that sucrose and HFCS cause greater increments of PG than fructose in patients with NIDDM, but do not differ from each other. Thus, even though HFCS is less expensive than fructose, its effect on plasma glucose and insulin is not different from that of sucrose, and we cannot confirm on a scientific basis a useful function for HFCS in diets for persons with diabetes. Also, diabetic patients with higher basal PG (i.e., > 140 mg/dl) show similar increase in PG whether they are given sucrose, HFCS, or fructose meals. Therefore, fructose has potential value only in patients with mild diabetes mellitus.


The basic insight of the literature concerning the Median Voter Theorem and its applications, dating back to Black (1948), is that the policies implemented by different parties once in o¢ce should approach the median voter's preferred policy if they run in a single-dimensional and democratic electoral space. This strong prediction has been challenged in recent years using arguments related to the observation that usually the political spaces concern much more than one single dimension and that, once we consider such a space, the Median Voter Theorem cannot be applied. Our idea is that one can challenge the median voter predictions even if we keep considering just one single dimension. Infect also in electoral competitions characterized by a very important issue seen by voters as "salient" is almost impossible to observe in reality the convergence predicted by the Black's theorem. In the present model we introduce a simple assumption over the process of opinions' formation of the voters and we show as in equilibrium strategic considerations lead the parties to choose polarized platforms.


Chronic radiation proctitis is an infrequent complication of pelvic radiotherapy, occurring in 5%–20% of patients [1]. Argon plasma coagulation (APC) is the preferred endoscopic therapy for treatment of chronic radiation proctitis and is considered effective and well tolerated. A 74-year-old man with a history of radical prostatectomy and subsequent radiotherapy 3 years previously was brought to the emergency room of our center because of proctorrhagia for 3 days. The patient underwent colonoscopy, which showed sigmoid diverticular disease and chronic hemorrhagic radiation proctitis involving the distal 4cm of the rectum. The patient underwent two treatments with APC separated from each other by 20 days. These resulted in the creation of a large ulcer that involved one-third of the wall, but no clinical improvement (●" Fig.1a). In view of the absence of improvement and continued episodes of proctorrhagia, the large extent of the disease, and the possibility that at least five more APC treatments would be needed, we decided to treat the patient with rectal band ligation (RBL) instead. RBL was performed with a standard gastroscope and a standard endoscopic esophageal variceal ligation kit in two procedures separated by a period of 20 days. The patient was not sedated during the procedures. Three bands were placed in the first session and two during the second session (●" Fig.1b). RBL was well tolerated: the patient reported no pain during the procedures or in the subsequent days. Throughout the treatment period the patient underwent topical therapy with mesalazine. A lower gastrointestinal endoscopy 45 days after the completion of treatment showed no evidence of ongoing chronic hemorrhagic radiation proctitis (●" Fig.1c) and the topical therapy was discontinued. To date there are no data or reports in the literature regarding the use of band ligation for the treatment of chronic hemorrhagic radiation proctitis. In our experience, RBL is an effective, painless, safe, and rapid treatment for this disease, which we believe could be used as the first approach in extensive chronic hemorrhagic radiation proctitis.


This paper presents findings from a survey of 6,025 unemployed workers who were interviewed every week for up to 24 weeks in the fall of 2009 and winter of 2010. We find that the amount of time devoted to job search declines sharply over the spell of unemployment; we do not observe a rise in job search or job finding around the time that extended unemployment insurance (UI) benefits expire. The workers in our survey express much dissatisfaction and unhappiness with their lives, and their unhappiness rises the longer they are unemployed. The unemployed appear to be particularly sad during episodes of job search, and they report feeling more sad during job search the longer they are unemployed. We also find that in the aftermath of the Great Recession the exit rate from unemployment was low at all durations and declined gradually over the spell of unemployment. Both the amount of time devoted to job search and the reservation wage help predict early exit from UI.


Glycerol can be transformed to 1,3-propanediol (1,3-PD) by Klebsiella pneumoniae with accompanying ethanol accumulation.Aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) is one of the key enzymes for biosynthesis of ethanol, which competes for reducing equivalents NADH with 1,3-propanediol dehydrogenase which catalyzes biosynthesis of 1,3-PD.Based on metabolic analysis, one reasonable method to improve 1,3-PD yield is to inhibit the catalysis of ALDH so that ethanol production could be restrained. In this paper, a homologous recombination vector pUCAT was constructed, in which the ALDH gene of K.pneumoniae was disrupted by inserting tetracycline resistance gene (Tcr).The amplified DNA fragment of 5′ALDH-Tcr-3′ALDH from pUCAT was used to transform K.pneumoniae M5aL and the ALDH gene knockout recombinants were obtained.Comparing with those of the wild type K.pneumoniae M5aL, the ALDH activity of the recombinants were undetected, cell growth was inhibited obviously, ethanol yields were decreased by 43%—53%, 1,3-PD yields and molar conversions from glycerol to 1,3-PD were increased by 27%—42% and 19%—24% respectively.


The Power Electronics community will gather in Riga, Latvia, from 17 to 21 September 2018, to exchange views on research progresses and technological developments in the various topics described hereunder. On Monday 17 September a number of tutorials will be organised and several technical visits are planned on Friday 21 September. The 20 Conference on Power Electronics and Applications (and Exhibition), EPE'18 ECCE (Energy Conversion Congress and Expo) Europe is co-sponsored by the EPE Association and IEEE PELS. It will take place at the Kipsala International Exhibition Centre in Riga Technical University Campus.


The present volume begins, in a summary fashion, with a description of the natural occurrence of the element Th. Especially stressed are those facts that are most important in understanding its geological distribution on Earth and its behaviour in minerals. Attached is a tabulation of the highest reported Th or ThO2 content in minerals that normally (by their crystal-chemical formula) do not contain Th. The main part of the present volume describes the minerals of Th. As can be seen from the crystal-chemical formulas, there are, in addition to a few minerals containing Th as the sole cation, a number of minerals that contain Th as an additional cation or as a diadochic element. In the case of diadochic substitution, the mineral may present a Th-rich end member of a solid-solution series and, therfore, is described as a separate Th mineral, or may only sporadically contain higher amounts of Th (no mineral description is given). The mineral descriptions in this volume - including oxides, carbonates and phosphates/siliconphosphates of Th - comprise the following topics: occurrence; chemistry; crystal form and structure; optical and other physical properties; and chemical and thermal behaviour.


Background Calcific uremic arteriolopathy (CUA), also referred to as calciphylaxis, is a rare and serious complication of kidney failure with limited treatment options. Kidney transplantation (KTX) restores kidney function and is hence a potential treatment option for CUA. We present 3 patients who had their CUA lesions successfully healed after urgent KTX. Methods Data were retrospectively retrieved from hospital records at our national transplant center. Results All 3 patients had previously been kidney transplanted and had experienced graft loss and were in stage 5 kidney failure when CUA developed. One patient was on warfarin treatment for pulmonary embolism. Skin lesions developed in the lower limbs in all 3 patients. Multidisciplinary care including intensified hemodialysis did not induce any clinically relevant improvement of the lesions. The recipients were enlisted on a clinically urgent waitlist for KTX and received a deceased donor kidney after 2 to 4 weeks. All recipients experienced good graft function. The lesions healed completely within 6 weeks in 2 patients. In the third patient, partial healing occurred after 2 months and complete healing was achieved 4 months after transplantation. Conclusions These cases indicate that urgent KTX may contribute to an efficient treatment for end-stage renal disease patients with CUA.


The agricultural sector covers 34% of the total employment in Indonesia in 2014, larger than those employed in services, and second only to industry sector. In estimation, this amounts to more than fifty million people - a significant share of the Indonesian workforce. Unfortunately, most of them live below the poverty line or just slightly above it. In rice-producing districts such as Indramayu in West Java, landless farm workers earn only about IDR 300,000 per month and small-scale farmers make less than IDR 600,000 per month from farm work. Limited job opportunities in the villages, poor irrigation systems, and unpredictable weather are among the factors that add to rural predicaments. Consequently, people in the villages choose to migrate into cities, indicated by the decreasing percentage of rural population compared to the total population in the country, from 50% in 2010 to just 46% in 2015.

To address this situation, the government allocates funds that enable farmers to buy seeds, fertilizers, and rice at subsidized prices. However, government agencies acknowledge that this support is ineffective. Despite their hefty annual state budget of IDR 52 trillion, the subsidized products are of low quality and their poor distribution systems leading to black market activities. Only the rich, well-connected farmers take advantage of these subsidies.

As poor farmers and farm workers struggle with their low-income, more targeted support programs such as conditional cash transfers (Program Keluarga Harapan/PKH) and financial assistance for healthcare (Kartu Indonesia Sehat/KIS) and education (Kartu Indonesia Pintar/KIP) are recommended. These programs can be more effective as they directly address recipients with insufficient earnings to cover their healthcare and education expenses. Meanwhile, agricultural insurance programs for rice farmers (Asuransi Usaha Tani Padi/AUTP) can help them by alleviating their income losses due to harvest failures. However, these programs are currently unable to reach their objectives due to budget restraints as their funds are less than half of the farm subsidies.

There are three possible solutions: firstly, the government may reallocate funds, from ineffective and costly farm subsidies to the more targeted and effective PKH, KIS, KIP, and AUTP schemes. These programs have greater impact on people's livelihood and reducing farmers' risk of income losses. This approach will require a paradigm shift, in which the government must improve public awareness that the subsidies only benefit the wealthy farmers. Secondly, once the budget of PKH, KIS, KIP, and AUTP increases, their coverage can be expanded along with an improvement of their targeting efforts and the infrastructure of the support systems. Thirdly, the government may develop their insurance policy as a tool to protect the farmers of various food crops against the risk of harvest failures. The insurance benefits must be clearly communicated to the farmers, the processes involved must be simplified, and the coverage to remote areas must be expanded in partnership with private insurance firms that maintain a wide network of branches and agents.


A study of materials fluxes across different scales o f time and space was conducted in the Rhone Delta, France, to test the applicability of a conceptual model of deltaic ecosystem function in a scenario of accelerated sea-level rise to a mediterranean delta which has been heavily altered by human activities. Natural pulsing events such as tides, river floods and storms cause sediment surfaces to maintain elevation in the face of relative sea level rise through the process of soil formation. These pulses also enhance ecosystem function through habitat creation, food production, materials transformation, water quality and storm and flood protection. Human activities such as the construction of dams, levees and sea dikes have reduced the impacts of these natural pulsing events which operate on different scales o f time and space. As a consequence, soil formation and accretion are lowered and ecosystem function is decreased. Despite human impacts the Rhone River is capable of large pulses of freshwater and sediments (average 4.8 x 1010 m3 yr-1 water, 8.2 million tons sediments yr-1) which cause net materials fluxes in deltaic wetlands in communication with the river. These wetlands import mostly inorganic suspended sediments which cause event-driven short-term sedimentation, a function of Rhdne discharge and climatic conditions. Deposition of these sediments leads to vertical accretion in excess of relative sea-level rise. The wetlands also import dissolved inorganic nutrients which stimulate organic matter production, some of which is exported as chlorophyll to the adjacent estuary, showing important ecosystem functions. Wetlands in connection with the sea appear to be maintaining elevation, although no significant fluxes were measured within the study period. Most of the delta, however, is isolated from materials fluxes due to the presence of levees and dikes, which leads to low accretion and elevation change and a loss of ecosystem function. The results of this study show that significant pulsing energies and materials fluxes are available to the larger delta. It is recommended that holisitc


Differences in microbial fuel cell (MFC) architectures, materials, and solution chemistries, have previously hindered direct comparisons of improvements in power production due to new cathode materials. However, one common reactor design has now been used in many different laboratories around the world under similar operating conditions based on using: a graphite fiber brush anode, a platinum cathode catalyst, a single-chamber cube-shaped (4 cm) MFC with a 3 cm diameter anolyte chamber, 50 mM phosphate buffer, and an acetate fuel. Analysis of several publications over 10 years from a single laboratory showed that even under such identical operational conditions, maximum power densities varied by 15%, with an average of 1.36 ± 0.20 W m−2 (n = 24), normalized to cathode projected area (34 W m−3 liquid volume). In other laboratories, maximum power was significantly less, with an average of 0.91 ± 0.26 W m−2 (n = 10), despite identical conditions. One likely reason for the differences in power is cathode age. Power production with Pt catalyst cathodes significantly declined after one month of operation or more to 0.87 ± 0.31 W m−2 (n = 18) based on studies where cathode aging was examined, while in many studies the age of the cathode was not reported. Using these studies as a performance baseline, we review the claims of improvements in power generation due to new anode or cathode materials, or changes in solution conductivities and substrates.


The general aim of the study is an exploration into the meaning of a grammatical form and the proofs of its meaning. The scope of this study is the form referred to as the "progressive aspect" in English. The absence of an imperative progressive is used as a heuristic tool in the determination of the categoriality of the progressive. The study proposes that the primary function of the progressive form in English is not that of indicating the internal structure of the event, that is, an aspect, but rather of coding the clause as pragmatically dependent. Such clauses must be interpreted in connection with another proposition or time. The other proposition might be mentioned in the preceding or the following discourse. The time may be overtly coded in the same or in a different clause. If no time or other proposition is overtly coded, the clause containing the progressive form is interpreted with respect to the time of speech or the situation surrounding the speech event.


The observation of the cork oak leaves revealing the existence of very numerous and diversified spectacular structures, is called the galls. We studied these in two regions of Northeast of Algeria: the cork oaks of El-Kala and Souk-Ahras. Preliminary results show the presence of four frequent species during two years of study, 2015 and 2016: Dryomyia lichtensteini, Neuroterus saltans, Neuroterus minutulus, and Eriophyes species. We counted up to 40 galls / leaves; the lesions were located mainly in the first and second class of leaves with 1-5 and 6-10 galls / leaves, respectively. The other classes are poorly represented. We also found some specific associations with the same leaf N. minutulus and N. saltans in two study areas rating 46.15% for El-Kala and 87.5% in Souk-Ahras. Other associations exist and vary with the region and year of harvest.


Background Although diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) fractional anisotropy (FA) is commonly used to quantify neural injury, it is non-specific and affected by a number of microstructural changes. Objective To examine alterations in white matter (WM) associated with neonatal encephalopathy (NE), and relate these to tangible biophysical changes using the neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging (NODDI) model. Design/Methods We recruited with parental consent consecutive encephalopathic neonates (Thompson score ≥6) admitted to Calicut Medical College, India over a 6 month period. At age <3 wk diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DTI, TR/TE = 2800 ms/94 ms, 20 directions, b = 0&1000 s/mm2, 1.8 × 1.8 × 5 mm3) was performed at 1.5T (Siemens Avanto). Sarnat encephalopathy stage (none, mild, moderate or severe) was allocated at day 3. DTI data were fitted to the NODDI model, generating maps of orientation dispersion index (ODI) and neurite density index (NDI). These were compared between infants grouped by encephalopathy severity using tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS). Results Fifty-four infants were recruited; 31 had usable data. The mean FA skeleton is shown in green (Figure 1a). Compared to normal/mild (n = 22) the moderate/severe encephalopathy group (n = 9) had significantly reduced WM FA (Figure 1b: red p < 0.05; yellow p < 0.01) and increased radial diffusivity (RD, Figure 1c). This corresponded to a decrease in NDI (Figure 1d), but not ODI (Figure 1e). Conclusions In this cohort, NODDI fitting indicates that microstructural changes in NE may be due to a reduced neurite density. Further work will establish whether these findings are consistent with those obtained from gold-standard multi-shell diffusion data. Abstract 8.9 Figure 1


Neurons in the medial vestibular nucleus (MVN) display hyperpolarisation-gated synaptic plasticity, where inhibition believed to come from cerebellar cortical Purkinje cells can induce long-term potentiation (LTP) or long-term depression (LTD) of vestibular nerve afferent synapses. This phenomenon is thought to underlie the plasticity of the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR). The molecular and cellular mechanisms involved are largely unknown. Here we present a novel multi-scale computational model, which captures both electrophysiological and biochemical signalling at vestibular nerve synapses on proximal dendrites of the MVN neuron. We show that AMPA receptor phosphorylation at the vestibular synapse depends in complex ways on dendritic calcium influx, which is in turn shaped by patterns of post-synaptic hyperpolarisation and vestibular nerve stimulation. Hyperpolarisation-gated synaptic plasticity critically depends on the activation of LVA calcium channels and on the interplay between CaMKII and PP2B in dendrites of the post-synaptic MVN cell. The extent and direction of synaptic plasticity depend on the strength and duration of hyperpolarisation, and on the relative timing of hyperpolarisation and vestibular nerve stimulation. The multi-scale model thus enables us to explore in detail the interactions between electrophysiological activation and post-synaptic biochemical reaction systems. More generally, this model has the potential to address a wide range of questions about neural signal integration, post-synaptic biochemical reaction systems and plasticity.


The project nanoGRAVUR (BMBF, 2015-2018) developed a framework for grouping of nanomaterials. Different groups may result for each of the three distinct perspectives of occupational, consumer and environmental safety. The properties, methods and descriptors are harmonised between the three perspectives and are based on: Tier 1 intrinsic physico-chemical properties (what they are) or GHS classification of the non-nano-form (human tox, ecotox, physical hazards); Tier 2 extrinsic physico-chemical properties, release from nano-enabled products, in vitro assays with cells (where they go; what they do); Tier 3 case-specific tests, potentially in vivo studies to substantiate the similarity within groups or application-specific exposure testing. Amongst all properties, dissolution and transformation are least modulated by different nanoforms within one substance, whereas dustiness, dispersion stability, abiotic and especially in vitro surface reactivity vary more often between different nanoforms. The methods developed or selected by nanoGRAVUR fill several gaps highlighted in the ProSafe reviews, and are useful to implement (i) the concept of nanoforms of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) and (ii) the concept of discrete forms of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). One cannot assess the significance of a dissimilarity, if the dynamic range of that property is unknown. Benchmark materials span dynamic ranges that enable us to establish bands, often with order-of-magnitude ranges. In 34 case studies we observed high biological similarity within each substance when we compared different (nano)forms of SiO2, BaSO4, kaolin, CeO2, ZnO, organic pigments, especially when we compared forms that are all untreated on the surface. In contrast, different Fe2O3 or TiO2 (nano)forms differ more significantly. The same nanoforms were also integrated in nano-enabled products (NEPs) for automotive coatings, clinker-reduced cements, cosmetic sunscreen, and lightweight polymers.


Benzyl isothiocyanate (BITC) is a dietary chemopreventive agent that inhibits the growth of various human cancer cells by causing apoptotic cell death. In this study, we demonstrate that BITC not only induces apoptosis but also induces autophagy in human hormone-sensitive (Rv1) and -refractory (PC3) prostate cancer cells. In BITC-treated cells, the induction of autophagy was detected by monitoring the processing of an autophagy marker protein, microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 (LC3), the aggregation of LC3 into granular structures and the formation of acidic organelles. Inhibition of autophagy using 3-methyladenine increased BITC-induced apoptosis, whereas the administration of caspase inhibitor suppressed BITC-induced cell death. Our data also showed that BITC inhibits mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) kinase activity in a dose-dependent manner. The expression of phospho-mTOR (Ser2481), an indicator of mTOR intrinsic catalytic activity, and phospho-UNC-51-like kinase 1 (Ser757), a direct substrate of mTOR, were decreased in BITC-treated cells. However, the increased expression of phospho-mTOR (Ser2448), phospho-AKT (Ser473) and antiapoptotic Bcl-2 were detected only in PC3 cells at later stages of BITC treatment. Collectively, our results show that BITC induces a protective autophagy response in Rv1 and PC3 cells through inhibition of the mTOR signaling pathway. Activation of the AKT survival pathway was only observed in PC3 cells, representing a resistance mechanism of advanced prostate cancer upon BITC treatment. These findings could potentially contribute to the beneficial effect of BITC in prostate cancer treatments.


Increasing the strength and durability of road surfaces is crucial. Therefore, the concrete compressive strength, flexural strength, frost, and abrasion resistance of fiber-reinforced concrete for rigid pavements are investigated in this study an experiment is performed based on an optimal plan, in which four factors of concrete composition are varied: the amounts of Portland cement, polypropylene fiber, metakaolin, and polycarboxylate type admixture. Experimental statistical models for investigating the effects of composition factors on concrete properties are established. It is discovered that owing to the use of metakaolin and a superplasticizer, the concrete compressive strength increases. Furthermore, the use of modifiers and fiber reinforcement increases the flexural strength, frost resistance, and wear resistance of concrete. X-ray phase analysis of the fiber-reinforced concrete structure confirm the effectiveness of the modifier effect, in particular the positive role of metakaolin as an active pozzolana. The developed fiber-reinforced concrete for rigid pavements with rational modifiers, depending on the Portland cement content, exhibits compressive strengths from 55 to 70 MPa, flexural strengths from 8 to 9.5 MPa, frost resistances from F350 to F450, and abrasion resistances from 0.3 to 0.4 g/cm2. Such properties ensure the high durability of fiber-reinforced concrete and allow it to be used on road pavements that support heavy loads and traffic.


ELASTIC-WAVE PROPAGATION IN ANHARMONIC MEDIA WITH RESONANT ABSORPTION AND DISPERSION Fred H. Harris We.tsel _e_t a_l and Meyer e t a 1 have experimentally observed anomalous resonances at harmonics of the fundamental resonant 44field in CaF^ : U using 9.0 GHz elastic waves. Wetsel has explained the observed phenomena by invoking multiphonon spinlattice interactions while Meyer e_t al_ have attributed it to the natural anharmonicity of the crystal lattice. In this paper a model for elastic-wave propagation in anharmonic media with resonant absorption and dispersion is developed. The anharmonicity is represented by including thirdorder elastic energy, which leads to a nonlinear wave equation. Further, the resonant absorption and dispersion is included by assuming a Gaussian lineshape for a linear one-phonon spinlattice interaction. The solution of the resulting equations of motion in terms of a harmonic series of sinusoidal waves leads to an infinite set of coupled nonlinear differential equations. The numerical solutions obtained by truncating the set at the fifth harmonic are given, and their close qualita¬ tive agreement with the experimental data is described. In view of the close qualitative agreement between the model and experiment, it is concluded that the observed anomalous resonances can be explained on the basis of lattice anharmonicity without including multiphonon spin-lattice interactions. Also, further experimental tests are suggested to test the results of the model. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page


The recently updated information has raised a concern in not only the existing costineffective design method but also the unrealistic analysis mode of railroad prestressed concrete sleepers. Because of the deficient knowledge in the past, railway civil engineers have been mostly aware of the over conservative design methods for structural components in any railway track, which rely on allowable stresses and material strength reductions. Based on a number of proven experiments and field data, it is believed that the concrete sleepers complied with the allowable stress concept possess the unduly untapped fracture toughness. A collaborative research run by the Australian Cooperative Research Centre for Railway Engineering and Technologies (RailCRC) was initiated to ascertain the reserved capacity of Australian railway prestressed concrete sleepers designed using the existing design code. The findings have led to the development of a new limit states design concept. This article highlights the conventional and the new limit states design philosophies and their implication to both railway and public community.


Many companies are using the web to enable customers to individually customize their products that range from automobiles and bicycles to CDs, cosmetics and shirts. In this paper we present a mobile application for product customization and production within a smart factory. This allows the ad hoc configuration of products at the point of sale (POS). We investigate human factors when customizing products while interacting with them. We focus on the concept of the mobile client that enables this ad hoc modification, but also present the production chain behind our product. We believe that this particular 3D interaction with a product and a mobile device help to improve the customer satisfaction as it allows for customizing a product in an easy and intuitive way. From a CHI perspective an important aspect is that our mobile augmented reality interface can help to match the costumer's expectations with the final modified product and allows the most natural and intuitive interaction. As a use case of the system, we present the modification of a soap dispenser.


The maze traversal problem involves finding the shortest distance to the goal from any position in a maze. Such maze solving problems have been an interesting challenge in computational intelligence. Previous work has shown that grid-to-grid neural networks such as the cellular simultaneous recurrent neural network (CSRN) can effectively solve simple maze traversing problems better than other iterative algorithms such as the feedforward multi layer perceptron (MLP). In this work, we investigate improved learning for the CSRN maze solving problem by exploiting relevant information about the maze. We cluster parts of the maze using relevant state information and show an improvement in learning performance. We also study the effect of the number of clusters on the learning rate for the maze solving problem. Furthermore, we investigate a few code optimization techniques to improve the run time efficiency. The outcome of this research may have direct implication in rapid search and recovery, disaster planning and autonomous navigation among others.


A study of doubly bidentate ligands like 4,4'-bis-(phthalamidyl)biphenyl Bd(PAH)2, 4,4'-bis-(Succinamidyl)biphenyl Bd(SAH)2, 1,4-bis-(phthalamidyl)monophenyl PPD(PAH)2 and 1,4-bis-(succinamidyl)monophenyl PPD(SAH)2 with oxomolybdenum(V) is described. The complexes were prepared by reaction with the precursor (PyH)2(MoOCl5). The coordination behavior of the complexes have been determined with the help of elemental composition, infrared and electronic spectroscopy, cyclicvoltammetric and thermal studies.


The use of knowledge management tools enabling distributed collaboration and information sharing supports, and indeed shapes, how work is done in industry today. The panel chosen, all having extensive international experience, reflects directly the realities of a digital, global workforce and the new opportunities for information technology to support it. Starting off the panel will be a consultant from one of the leading providers of tools and research on innovation, who will outline the latest thinking on what is necessary for effective innovation in the workplace, with a focus on how this is enabled by knowledge management tools. The changing role of the information professional is illustrated clearly by the three following panelists, all from various industrial sectors, who will share some of the groundbreaking changes in knowledge management in industry. From digital idea management and use of taxonomies as a collaborative means to enable innovation to an innovative look at managing the virtual organization, all four panelists will provide some thought provoking examples of how innovation in knowledge management is changing how work is done.


Aim: The aim of this study was to establish the relationship between demographics of honourable members, their level of knowledge of and the perceptions of the chiropractic profession. Methods: A questionnaire-based survey was administered to 84 Health Portfolio Committee (HPC) members at their meetings as requested through the respective committee secretaries. The questionnaire was administered in a semi supervised fashion at the set meetings. Results: A response rate of 64% revealed that the mean knowledge score of 31.4% was relatively low. The mean perceptions score was 38.2%, indicating an overall negative perception of chiropractic amongst this population. Experience did indeed influence perceptions significantly (p=0.035) with those having consulted a chiropractor before having higher perceptions scores. No significant correlations existed between knowledge and perception and the demographic variables with the exception of ethnicity. This was enhanced by a weak statistically significant positive correlation between knowledge and perceptions score (r=0.394, p=0.004). The weak strength of the correlation shows that in general, as knowledge increased so did perceptions. Conclusion: Generally knowledge and perception of chiropractic was low in this population and seems to be influenced principally by the ethnicity / culture within which the honourable members operate (whether it is within the medical paradigm or their individual cultural orientation). Thus increasing the awareness and knowledge of chiropractic in this group may lead to more positive knowledge scores and perception levels.


Distributed generation that utilizes 5-10kW Solid Oxide Fuel Cells requires power electronics to optimize the overall system efficiency while reducing the cost. The Adaptive Energy Zero-Voltage-Switching Phase-Shift-Modulated Full-Bridge (AE-ZVSPSM-FB) topology meets these criteria under all loading conditions, but suffers from complexity associated with an analog control implementation. This thesis presents a novel Look-Up-Table (LUT) based digital controller required for such converter. The applied design approach also reduces the design time and controller requirements, which in turn decreases the overall system cost. Steady-state analysis for the AE-ZVS-PSM-FB converter is performed using a piece-wise equivalent circuit model. This analysis is used to verify the LUT concept that forms the basis for the proposed LUT-based digital controller. The proposed LUT-based digital control algorithm is developed and verified using Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) Logic platform. Design procedures and operational function under steady state and step change conditions are presented. Simulation results demonstrate the LUT concept in the AE-ZVS-PSM-FB converter, and the simplicity of the proposed LUT-based digital controller in producing the expected switching sequence. Simulation results were also produced showing successful dynamic response of LUT-based digital controller interconnected with the converter under different operating conditions. A Xilinx FPGA demonstration board was used to generate experimental switching sequence results to demonstrate the simplicity of the proposed controller.


Although the attributed importance of board independence is high, a clear definition of independence does not exist. Furthermore, the aim and consequences of independence are the subject of discussion and empirical evidence about the impact of independence is weak and disputable. Despite this lack of a clear definition, aim and consequences of independence, the focus of corporate governance reforms is on independence. For that reason, this book focuses on the question whether the attention paid to board independence is overrated. It approaches the subject from an economic, legal and behavioural perspective. The economic part gives a literature review on studies that have focused on the relationship between independence and performance. Additionally, these prior studies are aggregated by means of a meta-analysis, which shows statistically a significant negative relationship between independence and performance. The legal part compares the legal frameworks with respect to independence in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Sweden. It identifies three building blocks of independence - person, composition/structure and preconditions - which must be well designed in order to have truly independent supervision. The behavioural part addresses the cultural aspects of independence, the impact of social relationships on independence, and groupthink theory. Finally, this book provides conclusions about the importance, definition, aim and consequences of independence together with twelve recommendations.


A study of the reform policies in the sphere of higher education in post-Mao China, this work examines the concrete conditions in Chinese universities which gave rise to much social instability within the education system, which was then cast on to the national political scene. It focuses upon the nature of the educational reforms, their impact on the lives of various interests within the universities in China, and the different opportunities that these interests had of articulating their demands, anxieties and fears. It seeks to understand the necessity for, as well as the nature and progress of the reforms in higher education. The book addresses two issues. First, the nature of the pressures and interests arising out of the structure and functioning of higher education in China and post-Mao reforms. Second, the ways in which these pressures and interests have been allowed to be aired in the political system, and with what results. It is thus a study of the levels of participation allowed to different sections of the university population by the authorities. It explores the realm of non-authorized participation by those denied access to the public sphere within and outside the university. While unpacking the process of policy implementation in China, it also studies strategies of overt and covert subversion, tactics of resistance through non-action, and of open opposition by those affected by the reform policy. It points to the political consequences of the failure of institutions and organizations when they are unable or incapable of representing the interests of their membership. It is, in short, a story of a process of recognition of special interests and a demand for a system that will allow for their articulation.


Nowadays formal education systems are under increasing pressure to respond and adapt to rapid technological innovation and associated changes in the way we work and live. As well as accommodation of technology in its ever‑diversifying forms, there is a fundamental need to enhance learning processes through evolution in pedagogical approaches, so as to make learning in formal education more engaging and, it is hoped, more effective. One opportunity attracting particularly close attention is Serious Games ( SG), which offer considerable potential for facilitating both informal and formal learning. SG appear to offer the chance to hook today's (largely) digital‑native generation of young learners, who are at risk of falling into an ever‑widening gap between networked lifestyles and the relative stagnant environment they experience in school and university. However, there are a number of inhibitors preventing wider SG take‑up in mainstream education. This paper investigates SG in formal education, initially by concentrating on pedagogical issues from two different but complementary perspectives, game design and game deployment. It then goes on to examine game based practice in formal settings and focuses on the pivotal role of the educator within the emerging panorama. This is followed by a brief look at some specific implementation strategies, collaboration and game building, which are opening up new possibilities. Finally some points for further consideration are offered.


In behavioral experiments, carefully choosing the stimuli is critical for success. Recently, several "adaptive" Bayesian methods gained popularity by proposing to optimally select the stimulus in each trial based on the results of the preceding trials. However, current methods are computationally expensive and might require a long waiting period between each question. Moreover, they are often tailored to a particular model and a particular objective, such as parameter estimation, prediction or model selection. It is left to the researcher to extend these approaches to other models by providing a suitable Bayesian inference method. We propose to apply the Sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) framework to solve both the inference problem and the optimal experimental design problem. This new method, called Sequential Optimal Inference (SOI) provides gains in computational efficiency and allows for the use of a broad class of complex models and objectives. We demonstrate its validity with simulation studies. An implementation of the method in MATLAB and Python is provided.


Graphic elicitation techniques, which ask research participants to provide visual data representing personal understandings of concepts, experiences, beliefs, or behaviors, can be especially useful in helping participants to express complex or abstract ideas or opinions. The benefits and drawbacks of using graphic elicitation techniques for data collection, data analysis, and data display in qualitative research studies are analyzed using examples from a research study that employed data matrices and relational maps in conjunction with semi-structured interviews. Results from this analysis demonstrate that the use of these combined techniques for data collection facilitates triangulation and helps to establish internal consistency of data, thereby increasing the trustworthiness of the interpretation of that data and lending support to validity and reliability claims. Findings support the notion that graphic elicitation techniques can be highly useful in qualitative research studies at the data collection, the data analysis, and the data reporting stages. For example, this study found that graphic elicitation techniques are especially useful for eliciting data related to emotions and emotional experiences.


ABSTRACT We analyze the Gulf of Mexico brown shrimp fishery and the potential impacts of a large seasonal area of hypoxia (low dissolved oxygen) that coincides with the peak shrimp season. A spatial-dynamic bioeconomic simulation embeds three biological impacts on shrimp: mortality, growth, and aggregation on hypoxic edges. Hypoxia creates feedbacks in the bioeconomic system, altering catch and effort patterns. System changes propagate over space to affect areas that do not experience hypoxia. Areas that might otherwise be considered controls in a natural experiments framework are contaminated by the ecological disturbance through spatial sorting. Aggregate predictions from simulations are similar to empirical fishery data. Average shrimp size and total landings are negatively correlated, as are hypoxic severity and landings. Shrimp size and hypoxic severity are only weakly negatively correlated. Growth overfishing, which varies with recruitment success and ecological disturbances, is a key mediating effect. JEL Code: Q22