Automatic optimisers can play a vital role in the design and development of engineering systems and
processes. However, a lack of available data to guide the search can result in the global optimum solution
never being found. Surrogate models can be used to address this lack of data and allow more of the
design space to be explored, as well as provide an overall computational saving.

In this thesis I have developed two novel long-term prediction methods that investigate the use of ensembles
of surrogates to perform predictions of aerodynamic data. The models are built using intermediate
computational fluid dynamic convergence data. The first method relies on a gradient based learning
algorithm to optimise the base learners and the second utilises a hybrid multi-objective evolutionary algorithm.
Different selection schemes are investigated to improve the prediction performance and the
accuracy of the ensembles are compared to the converged data, as well as to the delta change between
flow conditions.

Three challenging real world aerodynamic data sets have been used to test the developed algorithms
and insights into aerodynamic performance has been gained through analysis of the computational fluid
dynamic convergence histories. The trends of the design space can be maintained, as well as achieving
suitable overall prediction accuracy. Selecting a subset improves ensemble performance, but no selection
method is superior to any others. The hybrid multi-objective evolutionary algorithm approach is also
tested on two standard time series prediction tasks and the results presented are competitive with others
reported in the literature.

In addition, a novel technique that improves a parameter based surrogates learning through the transfer
of additional information is also investigated to address the lack of data. Transfer learning has an initial
impact on the learning rate of the surrogate, but negative transfer is observed with increasing numbers
of epochs. Using the data available for the low dimensional problems, it is shown that the convergence
prediction results are comparable to those from the parameter based surrogate. Therefore, the convergence
prediction method could be used as a surrogate and form part of an aerodynamic optimisation task.
However, there are a number of open questions that need to be addressed, including what is the best use
of the surrogate during the search?


Research in NLP lacks geographic diversity, and the question of how NLP can be scaled to low-resourced languages has not yet been adequately solved. 'Low-resourced'-ness is a complex problem going beyond data availability and reflects systemic problems in society. In this paper, we focus on the task of Machine Translation (MT), that plays a crucial role for information accessibility and communication worldwide. Despite immense improvements in MT over the past decade, MT is centered around a few high-resourced languages. As MT researchers cannot solve the problem of low-resourcedness alone, we propose participatory research as a means to involve all necessary agents required in the MT development process. We demonstrate the feasibility and scalability of participatory research with a case study on MT for African languages. Its implementation leads to a collection of novel translation datasets, MT benchmarks for over 30 languages, with human evaluations for a third of them, and enables participants without formal training to make a unique scientific contribution. Benchmarks, models, data, code, and evaluation results are released at https://github.com/masakhane-io/masakhane-mt.


In this paper we look at lifetime inequality to address two main questions: How well does a modern tax system, based on annual information, target lifetime inequality? What aspects of the transfer system are most progressive from a lifetime perspective? To answer to these questions it is crucial to relate lifetime and annual inequality and determine the main building blocks of lifetime disparities. We look at lifetime inequality and the redistribution properties of taxes and benefits using a dynamic life-cycle model of women's education, labour supply and savings with family dynamics and rich individual heterogeneity in preferences and productivity. The model is coupled with a detailed description of the UK personal tax and benefit system and is estimated on UK longitudinal data covering the 1990s and early 2000s. We show that the tax and benefits system is more redistributive from an annual than from a lifetime perspective, and is most progressive at the bottom of the income distribution in both cases. We then establish that heterogeneity in family experiences throughout adult life is the main vehicle through which the tax and benefits system moderates lifetime inequality. Although transitory, family conditions under which working is especially costly, such as lone-motherhood, are especially prevalent among the lifetime poor. By targeting this group, particularly using policies specifically designed to improve the work incentives of those with the lowest earnings capacity, the tax and benefits system does achieve life-cycle redistribution. Other policies like universal benefits towards family with children are less well targeted towards the lifetime poor but are more progressive and improve the work incentives in the middle 60% of the distribution of lifetime income.


The brine shrimp Artemia franciscana was used as a model zooplankter to explore the range and accuracy of quantitative PCR (QPCR) in detecting a target species in plankton community DNA. Specific primers were designed in the 18S ribosomal RNA and mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I genes and analyzed by TaqMan and SYBR Green I reporting systems. Assays were sensitive in detecting A. franciscana nauplii in DNA extractions from bulk plankton: a single nauplius was detected when added to 20 mg wet, packed plankton and distinguished from two added nauplii. Indeed, Artemia DNA diluted to 0.1 picograms per reaction (equivalent to 10−5 nauplii) was detectable. Artemia franciscana was detected without coamplification of other plankton, alleviating concern for errors caused by the presence of similar organisms in the plankton community. A natural plankton DNA sample and purified herring sperm DNA inhibited PCR above 100 ng reaction−1, but these samples could be diluted to eliminate inhibition. Because QPCR could detect 10−5 nauplii, dilution solves inhibition without sacrificing sensitivity. This sensitivity allows for analysis of a mass of plankton made large enough sufficient to include a target organism at low density. The newly hatched nauplius (DNA mass = 6. 1 ng) is a useful internal control in experiments examining plankton samples, providing a means of controlling for variations in DNA extraction and amplification efficiency in surveys for species of interest.


This paper extends the quotient method proposed in [1] and applies it to stabilize a "ball-on-a-wheel" system. The quotient method requires a diffeomorphism to obtain the normal form of the input vector field and uses canonical projection to obtain the quotient. However, the whole process can be done without computing the normal form, which requires defining a quotient generating function and a quotient bracket. This paper presents the steps necessary to apply the quotient method without obtaining the normal form. Furthermore, a Lyapunov function is introduced to prove stability. This paper also presents the experimental implementation of the quotient method to stabilize a ball-on-a-wheel system.


We analyze how modern distributed storage systems behave in the presence of file-system faults such as data corruption and read and write errors. We characterize eight popular distributed storage systems and uncover numerous bugs related to file-system fault tolerance. We find that modern distributed systems do not consistently use redundancy to recover from file-system faults: a single file-system fault can cause catastrophic outcomes such as data loss, corruption, and unavailability. Our results have implications for the design of next generation fault-tolerant distributed and cloud storage systems.


Background: There was growing recognition worldwide by professional engineering bodies, engineering faculties and researchers on the need to pay attention to engineering students' emerging identities and how they were formed across the trajectory of undergraduate engineering programmes. An increasing number of research studies focused on engineering identity, including systematic reviews of the research literature. Aim: Engineering laboratories were key learning spaces in undergraduate engineering programmes. In the laboratory, students learned to integrate theory and practice, engaged in problem-solving and applied experimental methods. The purpose of this critical review of the literature was to interrogate the impact that learning in engineering laboratories had on emerging professional identities across engineering disciplines and fields. Method: This review built on and extended previous systematic reviews on engineering identity by studying pedagogies in the engineering laboratory through the lens of identity formation. Search terms were consistently applied to eight databases, which yielded 57 empirical studies, after the application of relevance and quality appraisal criteria. Two reviewers independently applied a socio-materialist theoretical framework of identify formation to each study and coded each of the studies into categories aligned with the theoretical framework. Results: The findings of the critical review revealed the temporal, spatial, material, performative and discursive dimensions in engineering identity formation and showed that students' emerging identities could be affirmed and supported by appropriate laboratory pedagogies. Conclusion: The critical review of the literature concluded that curricular and pedagogical interventions that were better aligned with the dimensions of identity formation were more likely to enhance students' identification with engineering.


The purpose of this project is to study the authenticity of the naming system of the bud grafted mango
(Mangifera indica) .. Many type of mango are commonly cultivated, namely, Apple, Malgoa, Harum~anis,
Erwin, etc. Regarding the naming system, there are two schools of thought. One suggests that the different
types are different' clones'. The other view is that they are different 'varieties'.
Since a clone is defined as a group of plants or individuals propagated asexually from a single parent,
their isozyme patterns should be uniform or identical. If the isozyme patterns of plants that reputedly belong
to the same clone show a high degree of variation between individuals, this would indicate that they are not a
true clone.
Six'clones' of mango were studied using the electrophoretic technique. The banding patterns of four
enzyme systems including esterases, aspartate aminotransferase and acid and alkaline phosphatases were analysed.
From the results obtained, it is suggested that the term 'variety', rather than the term'clone' is more appropriate.
The results suggested that all the morphologically similar individuals of the same'clone' in fact do
not come from the same parent. The present chaotic naming system of mango should be standardised and
improved so that it can be used as a basis for plant breeding research.


Dentin bond strength testing remains a subject of high interest based on the prevalence of studies reported in the dental literature. But making general conclusions about materials or methods by comparing results from different studies can be a dubious proposition due to the many variables involved in testing. Though guidelines exist for bond testing, they unfortunately are not always followed by all researchers. This three-part manuscript was written to help navigate the prolific literature in this field of study. In the first part, the most popular testing modes are described by providing an analysis of their loading mechanics and stress distributions. In the second part, a review of the test variables that may influence outcomes of bond strength testing are presented for the different test methods, and the extent to which each affects the results is discussed. Data collected from thirty studies published within the past five years for one specific adhesive are used to emphasize the nature and extent of these effects. In the third part, studies that included specific brands of resin dentin bonding agents that represent the current most popular types are reviewed in an attempt to make general statements about how the brands compare to one another within the different test methods. While it is difficult at this time to provide a simple consensus opinion about how bond strength testing should be conducted, this paper attempts to clarify some of the important issues in this popular, but complex, field.


The common-mode leakage current should be carefully considered when designing a transformer-less photovoltaic (PV) inverter since the leakage current can cause the output current distortion and increase the operational risk. The unipolar sinusoidal pulse width modulation of the traditional H-bridge inverter can produce the superior output performance but will cause a high-frequency fluctuated common-mode voltage and consequently the nonnegligible leakage current. To attenuate the fluctuation phenomena of common-mode voltage, few neutral-point-clamped (NPC) circuits have been designed to clamp the neutral-point voltage and maintain the common-mode voltage constant. This paper analyzes the equivalent common-mode circuit of single-phase inverters and proposes a generalized design principle of multiterminal NPC circuits, whose unidirectional and bidirectional variations are fully analyzed. Subsequently, two types of single-phase PV inverters with the NPC circuits are proposed. Also, the operational losses and component counts are compared between the proposed topologies and the traditional NPC inverters. The experimental results verified the theoretical findings.


Introduction The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is a trilateral trade agreement between Mexico, Canada, and the United States. NAFTA provides for the elimination of all tariffs on goods originating in the three member nations. The agreement was implemented in January 1994 and resulted in the creation of a total market encompassing 370 million people and $6.5 trillion worth of goods (Farmer, 1994: 293). Included within NAFTA is the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation (NAALC). The Labor Agreement was added to the final version of NAFTA to define the obligations of the member nations toward workers employed in trade-related occupations and to define general labor-related goals among the three nations. The preamble to the NAALC proposes that the governments of the member nations: ... create new employment opportunities and improve working conditions and living standards in their respective territories; ... [and] protect, enhance, and enforce basic workers' rights. This research note covers three areas: (1) the procedures established in the NAALC to resolve labor disputes and to meet the promises of the preamble, (2) the status of the economies and labor disputes in the member nations, especially as it relates to trade-related jobs, and (3) the potential use of U.S. anti-discrimination law in conjunction with the NAALC to alleviate worker grievances stemming from allegations of sex discrimination in the United States or involving U.S. companies.(1) The North American Free Trade Agreement on Labor Cooperation The NAALC establishes guidelines for the promotion of labor rights and worker well-being in the member nations and develops mechanisms for cooperative resolution of specific labor disputes. The Agreement contains seven sections with 55 articles that are summarized in Appendix 1. Part I outlines the objectives of the Agreement. Included in this section is an extensive list of labor principles that, according to the Agreement, are "guiding principles, but do not establish minimum standards for each Parties' domestic law." Part II, the "obligations" section of the Agreement, declares that each country, not any NAFTA-created body, is responsible for the promulgation and enforcement of its own labor laws and policies. This section requires that member nations establish "fair" procedures for workers to allege a violation of an existing labor law. The Agreement does not mandate a minimal level of worker rights or labor standards for workers engaged in trade-related work. No requirement exists for similar treatment of workers in each country who are engaged in the same occupation and employed by the same company. The subsequent sections of the Agreement establish procedures for the review of a limited number of alleged labor violations that affect trade. The NAALC establishes three types of labor violations, with separate procedures for the resolution of each type of dispute. First, alleged violations of the right to organize, bargain collectively, and strike are handled by each country's respective National Administrative Office (NAO). These offices review alleged violations and issue reports. The NAOs have no enforcement mechanisms. The NAALC's second level addresses allegations of the use of forced labor, employment discrimination, unequal pay for men and women, violations of existing workers' compensation rules, or the improper use of migrant workers. These allegations are handled through a trinational Evaluation Committee of Experts (ECE). The ECE issues evaluations and recommendations, but like the NAOs has no enforcement power and lacks the authority to issue sanctions for violations. For alleged violations of national occupational safety and health laws, minimum wage, or child labor laws, the enforcement rises to a third level where sanctions are possible. Evaluating and resolving allegations of these three labor violations require an attempt at a cooperative solution and, if a solution is not reached, the use of an arbitral panel. …


Abstract Despite the fragmentation of audience behaviour and the pluralization of platforms within the media cultures of the digital age, cultural memory practices retain an important feature: They echo a basic existential quest for communitas. The present article compares two seemingly incomparable regimes of memory of our time: the anniversaries of 9.11 on Swedish television and web communities of commemoration of lost loved ones. It suggests through these contrasting examples that existential themes are pursued in the face of three challenges: the temporality of instantaneity, the all-pervasive networked individualism that makes memory into a matter of elective affinities, and the technological capacities that subject memory to endless revision. The article explores the existential dimension of these memory practices in line with research within the culturalist emphasis on the study of media and religion. This debate recognizes the need for a broader understanding of the mediated qualities of religion and the religious qualities of the media. The article argues that both televisual anniversaries of trauma that invite audiences to an annual return, and our new multiple and fragmented media memories compel us to conceive of our hyper-contingent, late-modern digital age as a quest for meaning, transcendence and cohesion – for what Victor Turner (1969) called existential communitas.


INTRODUCTION Different actions by countries with different circumstances will need different docking stations of support. So what tools will you create within the climate change regime to deliver on adaptation and mitigation? How will you use those tools to develop a self-financing climate compact? --Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Statement at the high-level segment of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, Poznan, Poland, 11 December 2008. (1) The nations of the world are all in this global boat together. It is not a boat of which only half will sink while the other half stays afloat. Unless we all pull our oars in the same direction and plug the large leaks as well as the small leaks, our ship will flounder and surely sink. --U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd, statement during floor debate on S. Res. 98, the "Byrd-Hagel Resolution," Cong. Rec. S8115, 25 July 1997. The credibility of the United States is not enhanced when the administration negotiates a treaty that has no hope of ratification in the U.S. Senate. --U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel, statement during floor debate on S. Res. 98., the "Byrd-Hagel Resolution," Cong. Rec. S8115, 25 July 1997. In 2009, efforts to address global climate change are underway in a wide range of forums. Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its Kyoto Protocol aim to adopt, in Copenhagen, Denmark in December 2009, a new instrument to replace Kyoto, whose legally binding emissions caps expire in 2012. The G-8 Summit to be held in Maddalena, Italy, in July 2009; discussions in the Major Economies Forum (MEF) process; and heads of state discussions initiated by UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon are all expected to address climate change. In 2008, the European Union adopted a climate & energy package that aims to reduce EU emissions 20% below 1990 levels by 2020, and in January 2009 the European Commission released proposals for the design of a new instrument at Copenhagen. Legislation to cap U.S. greenhouse gas emissions will be considered in the U.S. Congress in 2009. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is also expected to begin exercising its authority, recently reaffirmed by the Supreme Court, (2) to regulate carbon dioxide under the U.S. Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. sec. 7521(a)(1). And efforts are underway among U.S. states, working in partnership with other states and provinces around the world. One point is consistently emerging from all of these discussions. To keep open options for realizing the objective of the UNFCCC, namely stabilization of atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases at a level and in a timeframe so as to avert dangerous climate change, (3) efforts to slow, stop and reverse the increase in greenhouse gases must move as rapidly as possible in all major emitting nations, including industrialized nations, emerging economic powers, and developing countries. It is the thesis of this paper that the chances for realizing the objective of the UNFCCC can be improved significantly if governments construct cap-and-trade markets for global warming pollution, and if they include, in both the national legislation and any new international climate accord creating these cap-trade markets, what I call 'docking stations' (4)--i.e., provisions that welcome, rather than ward off, the participation of major emitting nations. To some readers, such a thesis may sound obvious, or even trivial, on first reading. Of course all major emitting nations should be encouraged to join global efforts to cut emissions. Some recent scholarship, pointing to the lack of broad participation in emissions caps, has suggested that, rather than trying to expand emissions cap-and-trade markets to include new nations, it would be preferable instead to cut "political deals . …


OBJECTIVES--To study the effect of body fat distribution in women of reproductive age on fecundity. DESIGN--Prospective cohort study of all women who had entered a donor insemination programme. SETTING--One fertility clinic serving a large part of the midwest of the Netherlands. SUBJECTS--Of 542 women attending the clinic for artificial insemination for the first time, 500 women were eligible for study. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Probability of conception per cycle and number of insemination cycles before pregnancy or stopping treatment. RESULTS--A 0.1 unit increase in waist-hip ratio led to a 30% decrease in probability of conception per cycle (hazard ratio 0.706; 95% confidence interval 0.562 to 0.887) after adjustment for age, fatness, reasons for artificial insemination, cycle length and regularity, smoking, and parity. Increasing age was significantly related to lower fecundity (p < 0.05); very lean and obese women were less likely to conceive (p < 0.10) as were women with subfertile partners (p < 0.10). All other exposure variables were not significantly related to fecundity. CONCLUSIONS--Increasing waist-hip ratio is negatively associated with the probability of conception per cycle, before and after adjustment for confounding factors. Body fat distribution in women of reproductive age seems to have more impact on fertility than age or obesity.


In this paper we present our experimental studies on controlling the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) from Yb(3+) ions in Er/Yb co-doped fiber amplifiers. We propose a new method of controlling the Yb-ASE by stimulating a laser emission at 1064 nm in the amplifier, by providing a positive 1 μm signal feedback loop. The results are discussed and compared to a conventional amplifier setup without 1 μm ASE control and to an amplifier with auxiliary 1064 nm seeding. We have shown, that applying a 1064 nm signal loop in an Er/Yb amplifier can increase the output power at 1550 nm and provide stable operation without parasitic lasing at 1 μm.


ABSTRACT Hepatitis A virus (HAV) is an enterically transmitted virus that replicates predominantly in hepatocytes within the liver before excretion via bile through feces. Hepatocytes are polarized epithelial cells, and it has been assumed that the virus load in bile results from direct export of HAV via the apical domain of polarized hepatocytes. We have developed a subclone of hepatocyte-derived HepG2 cells (clone N6) that maintains functional characteristics of polarized hepatocytes but displays morphology typical of columnar epithelial cells, rather than the complex morphology that is typical of hepatocytes. N6 cells form microcolonies of polarized cells when grown on glass and confluent monolayers of polarized cells on semipermeable membranes. When N6 microcolonies were exposed to HAV, infection was restricted to peripheral cells of polarized colonies, whereas all cells could be infected in colonies of nonpolarized HepG2 cells (clone C11) or following disruption of tight junctions in N6 colonies with EGTA. This suggests that viral entry occurs predominantly via the basolateral plasma membrane, consistent with uptake of virus from the bloodstream after enteric exposure, as expected. Viral export was also found to be markedly vectorial in N6 but not C11 cells. However, rather than being exported from the apical domain as expected, more than 95% of HAV was exported via the basolateral domain of N6 cells, suggesting that virus is first excreted from infected hepatocytes into the bloodstream rather than to the biliary tree. Enteric excretion of HAV may therefore rely on reuptake and transcytosis of progeny HAV across hepatocytes into the bile. These studies provide the first example of the interactions between viruses and polarized hepatocytes.


We read with great interest the article by Teixera-Clerc et al., regarding the hepatoprotective properties displayed by cannabinoid receptor 2 (CB2) agonists in a mouse model of carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced liver injury. Acute hepatitis induced by CCl4 was accelerated in CB2 knockout mice, resulting in increased serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels compared to wild-type (WT) animals. Conversely, the ALT and AST levels were reduced in CCl4-treated WT mice following the treatment with the CB2 agonist JWH-133. In apparent disagreement with these results, the same group previously demonstrated that, in the liver of obese mice which were fed a high-fat diet, CB2 stimulation potentiated insulin resistance and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), whereas CB2 inactivation reduced liver inflammation. In obese children, NAFLD ranges from simple liver steatosis to steatosis associated with inflammation and increased liver enzymes, which may eventually progress to liver cirrhosis. To highlight the role of CB2 in NAFLD progression, we took advantage of a functionally relevant CB2 polymorphism. We studied the rs35761398 variant of the CNR2 (cannabinoid receptor 2; GeneID 1269) gene, encoding for the CB2 receptor, which causes the substitution of a glutamine with a positively charged arginine at codon 63, in the first intracellular signaling loop. Receptor carrying arginine shows reduced function when activated by an endogenous cannabinoid. The variant was screened by direct sequencing in 438 Italian obese children with liver steatosis at ultrasound imaging in order to evaluate the association of the CB2 receptor Gln63Arg (Q63R) functional variant with serum AST and ALT levels. Results from this analysis (Table 1) demonstrate that the less functional R63 variant is statistically associated with higher ALT and AST levels independent of sex, age and pubertal stage. The variant is not associated with Body Mass Index, insulin resistance (assessed by Homeostasis Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance score) and size of abdominal fat (assessed by waist-to-hip ratio). To be homozygous for the R63 allele results in a significant risk factor for liver damage, with an odds ratio for ALT >40 of 2.7 (95% confidence interval 1⁄4 1.65-3.92, P 1⁄4 0.001). These data, obtained using an approach (i.e., association study in humans) completely different from that of previously published studies (i.e., analysis in murine models), showing that the partially inactive R63 CB2 variant is associated with liver damage progression in obese children with liver steatosis, corroborate the idea of a hepatoprotective role for CB2 receptors.


From the Publisher:
The state-of-the-art publication in model-based process control—by leading experts in the field.

In Techniques of Model-Based Control, two leading experts bring together powerful advances in model-based control for chemical-process engineering. Coleman Brosilow and Babu Joseph focus on practical approaches designed to solve real-world problems, and they offer extensive examples and exercises.

Coverage includes:

The nature of the process-control problem and how model-based solutions help to solve it
Continuous time modeling: time domain, Laplace domain, and FOPDT models
Feedforward, cascade, override, and single-variable inferential control approaches
One and two degree of freedom Internal Model Control
Model State Feedback and PI/PID Implementations of IMC
Tuning and synthesis of 1DF and 2DF IMC for process uncertainty
Estimation and inferential control using multiple secondary measurements
Basic and advanced techniques of model identification and model-predictive control

The appendices review the basics of Laplace transforms, feedback control, frequency response analysis, probability, random variables, and linear least-square regression.

From start to finish, Techniques of Model-Based Control offers the real-world insight that professionals need to identify and implement the best control strategies for virtually any process.


Highlight Electric Industries is a French multinational whose core business involves the design and assembly of industrial equipment. The firm's General Management has noticed that productivity reserves still exist within its purchasing management function. External growth had enhanced this potential throughout Highlight Electric's different expansion phases. The company has therefore decided to invest in an e-sourcing project. This case study describes this project witch has been inspired from a real one and shows how an electronic marketplace has been designed to reach all the objectives. This case study takes four hours to be solved by post graduate management students. They may be organized in groups of 4 and the instructor can go from one group to another to help them progress, according to their capacities, in answering the 10 questions. A PowerPoint presentation and a teaching note is provided to help in the animation of the case witch has been tested and optimized in three different accredited management schools before it's publication. It's ideal to illustrate purchasing management evolution and information systems management. It also depicts strategic, organizational, financial and human resources issues.


The use of antibiotics has been an epoch-making invention in the past few decades for the treatment of infectious diseases. However, the intravenous injection of antibiotics lacking responsiveness and targeting properties has led to low drug utilization and high cytotoxicity. More importantly, it has also caused the development and spread of drug-resistant bacteria due to repeated medication and increased dosage. The differences in the microenvironments of the bacterial infection sites and normal tissues, such as lower pH, high expression of some special enzymes, hydrogen peroxide and released toxins, etc., are usually used for targeted and controlled drug delivery. In addition, bacterial surface charges, antigens and the surface structures of bacterial cell walls are all different from normal tissue cells. Based on the special bacterial infection microenvironments and bacteria surface properties, a series of drug delivery systems has been constructed for highly efficient drug release. This review summarizes the recent progress in targeted and responsive drug delivery systems for enhanced antibacterial properties.


Abstract. A-train Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) and Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) observations are used to investigate the development of polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) and the gas-phase nitric acid distribution in the early 2008 Antarctic winter. Observational evidence of gravity-wave activity is provided by Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) radiances and infrared spectroscopic detection of nitric acid trihydrate (NAT) in PSCs is obtained from the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS). Goddard Earth Observing System Data Assimilation System (GEOS-5 DAS) analyses are used to derive Lagrangian trajectories and to determine temperature-time histories of air parcels. We use CALIOP backscatter and depolarization measurements to classify PSCs and the MLS measurements to determine the corresponding gas-phase HNO 3 as a function of temperature. For liquid PSCs the uptake of HNO 3 follows the theoretical equilibrium curve for supercooled ternary solutions (STS), but at temperatures about 1 K lower as determined from GEOS-5. In the presence of solid phase PSCs, above the ice frost-point, the HNO 3 depletion occurs over a wider range of temperatures (+2 to −7 K) distributed about the NAT equilibrium curve. Rapid gas-phase HNO 3 depletion is first seen by MLS from from 23–25 May 2008, consisting of a decrease in the volume mixing ratio from 14 ppbv (parts per billion by volume) to 7 ppbv on the 46–32 hPa (hectopascal) pressure levels and accompanied by a 2–3 ppbv increase by renitrification at the 68 hPa pressure level. The observed region of depleted HNO 3 is substantially smaller than the region bounded by the NAT existence temperature threshold. Temperature-time histories of air parcels demonstrate that the depletion is more clearly correlated with prior exposure to temperatures a few kelvin above the frost-point. From the combined data we infer the presence of large-size NAT particles with effective radii >5–7 μm and low NAT number densities −3 cm −3 . This denitrification event is observed close to the pole in the Antarctic vortex before synoptic temperatures first fall below the ice frost point and before the widespread occurrence of large-scale NAT PSCs. An episode of mountain wave activity detected by AIRS on 28 May 2008 led to wave-ice formation in the rapid cooling phases over the Antarctic Peninsula and Ellsworth Mountains, seeding an outbreak of NAT PSCs that were detected by CALIOP and MIPAS. The NAT clouds formed at altitudes of 18–26 km in a polar freezing belt and appear to be composed of relatively small particles with estimated effective radii of around 1 μm and high NAT number densities >0.2 cm −3 . This NAT outbreak is similar to an event previously reported from MIPAS observations in mid-June 2003.


Information from many large data bases and published studies was integrated to estimate the age-specific spontaneous abortion rate in an economically-developed human population. Accuracy was tested with published data from a diverse array of studies. Spontaneous abortion was found to be: i) the predominant outcome of fertilization and ii) a natural and inevitable part of human reproduction at all ages. The decision to reproduce is inextricably coupled with the production of spontaneous abortions with high probability, and the decision to have a large family leads to many spontaneous abortions with virtual certainty. The lifetime number of spontaneous abortions was estimated for a "canonical" woman (constrained to have average age at marriage, first birth, inter-birth intervals, and family size) in two populations: one with and the other without effective birth control (including free access to elective abortions). Birth control was found to reduce lifetime abortions more than 6-fold.


English Heritage properties contain a wealth of textiles on open display, however these are ephemeral objects. Amongst the natural fibres found in historic houses, silk is reported to be the most vulnerable to damage, especially from light. The critical deterioration factors for silk deterioration have been reassessed highlighting the important role of humidity, which has previously been overlooked. Monitoring behind a number of tapestries has recorded the formation of high humidity microclimates. This is a possible reason for the similar condition of brightly coloured samples taken from the reverse of a tapestry and the same thread which had faded on the displayed side. Kinetics experiments studied the rate of silk deterioration and suggest the activation energy is approximately 50 kJ mol-1, although this may vary for other types of silk, such as weighted materials. However as elemental analysis demonstrated around 10% of the 100 samples, taken from over 1000 objects containing silk in the English Heritage collection, were from tin-weighted silks, plain silks were the study's focus. Year long accelerated ageing experiments have demonstrated that although the inclusion of UV radiation during light ageing increased the rate of deterioration, light ageing caused small changes to silk. Thermal ageing with different humidity levels demonstrated increasing the relative humidity (RH), increased the rate of silk deterioration significantly. Further degradation of silk was observed when samples had been contaminated by the saturated salt solution used to create the RH environment during ageing. During ageing increased RH and increased temperatures led to greater yellowing of silk samples. Experimental results have been used to make preventive conservation recommendations including lowering the RH below 50%, reducing the temperature and the continued exclusion of UV radiation. A theoretical silk deterioration curve for unweighted silk has been drawn, from which initial isoperms have been plotted. The analytical results have been compared with near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy using multivariate analysis (MVA). This developed a predictive model for the tensile strength of silk using the NIR spectra. The potential of this non-invasive, non-destructive technique to monitor silk condition in situ has been tested at Brodsworth Hall and shown to rank the condition of samples successfully.


This work compares user collaboration with conversational personal assistants vs. teams of expert chatbots. Two studies were performed to investigate whether each approach affects accomplishment of tasks and collaboration costs. Participants interacted with two equivalent financial advice chatbot systems, one composed of a single conversational adviser and the other based on a team of four experts chatbots. Results indicated that users had different forms of experiences but were equally able to achieve their goals. Contrary to the expected, there were evidences that in the teamwork situation that users were more able to predict agent behavior better and did not have an overhead to maintain common ground, indicating similar collaboration costs. The results point towards the feasibility of either of the two approaches for user collaboration with conversational agents.


Objective: To evaluate the effect of combination of low dose of atorvastatin plus ezetimibe and aspirin in the treatment of Atherosclerotic Vascular Disease (AVD) with special emphasis on rhabdomyolysis. Experimental Design: Thirty male rats were allocated to five groups as normal control, disease control, and test groups I, II, III. All groups except normal control group received high fat diet for 10 weeks and treatment was initiated in test groups after the completion of 4th week, after rise in lipid levels and bodyweight of the rats when compared with normal control rats was noted. Normal control and disease control group animals received vehicle and test groups were treated with ezetimibe, 0.986mg/kg (Clinical dose 10 mg) and aspirin, 7.708mg/kg (Clinical dose 75 mg) along with differential doses of atorvastatin per orally. Test groups I, II, III received atorvastatin dose of 1.027mg/kg, 0.770mg/kg, 0.513mg/kg p.o. respectively which were equal to clinical doses of 10mg, 7.5mg and 5 mg of atorvastatin respectively. Body weight, lipid profile and grip strength were evaluated biweekly and histopathology of aorta was carried out at the end of the study. Results: The results of study reveal that test group II had significantly decreased the increased body weight, lipid levels, accumulation of lipids on the walls of aorta and incidence of rhabdomyolysis. Conclusion: The study demonstrates that atorvastatin at clinical dose of 7.5 mg have shown a decrease in the incidence rhabdomyolysis without loss of hypolipidemic activity when given along with clinical doses of ezetimibe and aspirin in the management of AVD. Key words: Atherosclerotic Vascular Disease, Atorvastatin, High Fat Diet Model, Rhabdomyolysis, Statins.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate femoral cartilage thickness in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) by using ultrasonography.

METHODS
Eighty-four patients (55 M, 29 F) with a diagnosis of AS and 84 age-, gender- and body mass index-matched healthy subjects were enrolled. Demographic and clinical characteristics of the patients including disease duration, morning stiffness and medications were recorded. The femoral cartilage thicknesses of both knees were measured with a 7-12 MHz linear probe while subjects' knees were held in maximum flexion. Three mid-point measurements were taken from both knees (lateral femoral condyle (LFC), intercondylar area (ICA) and medial femoral condyle (MFC)).

RESULTS
Concerning both ICA (p < 0.001) and left MFC (p = 0.013), cartilage measurements were significantly thicker in AS patients than control subjects. In a subgroup analysis (anti-tumour necrosis factor (TNF) users vs anti-TNF naive), cartilage thickness measurements - bilateral ICA (p = 0.000) and left MFC (p = 0.017) - were found to be greater in AS patients under anti-TNF treatment (n = 65) when compared with those of healthy controls.

CONCLUSION
We imply that AS patients seem to have thicker femoral cartilage, which could be related to anti-TNF treatment.


Many natural-resource-abundant countries have established petroleum funds as part of their strategy to manage their resource wealth. This paper examines reasons that such funds may be established, discusses how these funds are organized, and draws some policy lessons. The paper then develops a theory of how petroleum funds may affect the economic and political equilibrium of an economy, and how this depends on the initial institutions. A challenge with petroleum funds is that they may produce economic and political incentives that undermine their potential benefits. An alternative to establishing petroleum funds is to use revenues to invest domestically in sectors such as infrastructure, education, and health. Such investments have the potential to produce a better economic, as well as institutional, development. This is particularly the case if the initial institutions are weak.


Objective. This article presents the results of laparoscopic choledocho-duodenostomy (CDD) applied to 25 patients with benign strictures of distal part of common bile duct (CBD) and its dilatation. Material and metods. 23 patients had combination of distal stricture of CBD and stones in gallbladder and CBD (2 patients -in CBD, 12- in gallbladder, 9- both in CBD and gallbladder), 2 patients had acalculous postcholecystectomy stricture. Laparoscopic CDD was performed by 5 trocars. 4 trocars were placed in the standard points for cholecystectomy, the 5-th trocar was placed by the right pararectal line at the umbilicus level and used for traction of duodenum and continuous aspiration. 2 sm length CDD was applied side-to-side by 4/0 vikryl or PDS interrupted sutures. 1, 3, 6 and 12 months after the surgery patients underwent USG examination and liver function tests, 6-12 months later endoscopic investigation to evaluate the anastomosis. Results. 23 patients underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy and choledochoduodenostomy, 2 patients- choledochoduodenostomy only. The mean duration of operation was 127±36 min (90-205 min). There was no conversion. The mean hospital stay was 4.5 days (3- 9 days). There was no mortality. 2 patients developed an anastomotic leak. One of them underwent relaparoscopy and T- drainage, in another patient the biliary leakage ceased spontaneously. 6 - 12 months later 19 patients were examined by endoscopy. In 4 of them anastomosis was not visualized, 15 had working anastomosis 6-10 mm diameter. Thus, after 25 laparoscopic CDD executed due to benign pathologies complications were noted in 2 patients (8%), excellent and good outcome in 21 (84%) patients, poor in 3 (12%) and very poor in 1 (4%) patient. Conclusion. Laparoscopic choledochoduodenostomy performed by experienced surgeons in selected patients provides good long-term results and could be the alternative to endoscopic sphincterotomy.


During three close flybys in late 1999 and early 2000 the Galileo spacecraft acquired new observations of the mountains that tower above Io's surface. These images have revealed surprising variety in the mountains' morphologies. They range from jagged peaks several kilometers high to lower, rounded structures. Some are very smooth, others are covered by numerous parallel ridges. Many mountains have margins that are collapsing outward in large landslides or series of slump blocks, but a few have steep, scalloped scarps. From these observations we can gain insight into the structure and material properties of Io's crust as well as into the erosional processes acting on Io. We have also investigated formation mechanisms proposed for these structures using finite-element analysis. Mountain formation might be initiated by global compression due to the high rate of global subsidence associated with Io's high resurfacing rate; however, our models demonstrate that this hypothesis lacks a mechanism for isolating the mountains. The large fraction (∼40%) of mountains that are associated with paterae suggests that in some cases these features are tectonically related. Therefore we have also simulated the stresses induced in Io's crust by a combination of a thermal upwelling in the mantle with global lithospheric compression and have shown that this can focus compressional stresses. If this mechanism is responsible for some of Io's mountains, it could also explain the common association of mountains with paterae.


The Balinese "gamelan", with its shimmering tones, breathless pace and compelling musical language, has long captivated musicians, composers, artists and travellers. Here, Michael Tenzer offers a comprehensive and durable study of this sophisticated musical tradition, focusing on the preeminent 20th-century genre, gamelan gong kebyar. Combining the tools of the anthropologist, composer, music theorist and performer, Tenzer moves fluidly between ethnography and technical discussions of musical composition and structure. In an approach as intricate as one might expect in studies of Western classical music, Tenzer's rigorous application of music theory and analysis to a non-Western orchestral genre is wholly original. Illustrated throughout, the book also includes nearly 100 pages of musical transcription (in Western notation) that correlate with 55 separate tracks compiled on two accompanying compact discs. The most ambitious work on gamelan since Colin McPhee's classic "Music in Bali", this book should interest musicians of all kinds and anyone interested in the art and culture of Southeast Asia, Indonesia and Bali.


This work begins by offering a definition of the hobo, a character found throughout sociological and literary study, and frequently gendered as male. I have provided an overview of the male hobo as he is most commonly portrayed in studies and literature, whilst characterising the nature of his movement and drawing on specific textual accounts about or by hoboes. I have aimed to rectif', in part, the critical blindness that has ensured his female counterpart has been almost entirely written out of history, by highlighting possible reasons for her invisibility. Additionally, I have performed two close textual analyses of hobo narratives that deal explicitly with female transience in order to further locate her in a genre of hobo writings. Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping and Barbara Kingsolver's The Bean Trees feature female protagonists who move beyond the domestic sphere to pursue a life of transience. This work has focused on the subtext of gender performance in both texts
by analysing the degree to which traditional gender roles and the manipulation of them can both inform and effect the female hobo's movement. Particular attention has been paid to the ways in which they deviate from the socially expected roles of
housewife and mother, and the extent to which their performance of masculinities sees them rejected from social acceptability and permitted entry into the traditionally male domain of the road space. I have also discussed the female hobo's construction of alternative spaces in which she can perform a deviant gender identity. Where appropriate, this work has drawn on wider literary and sociological examples of hobo writing and study, in order to locate the female hobo in the wider context of a typically male hobo history.


Who are you? And how can you prove it? How were individuals described and identified in the centuries before photography and fingerprinting, in a world without centralized administrations, where names and addresses were constantly changing? In Who are You?, Valentin Groebner traces the early modern European history of identification practices and identity papers. The documents, seals, stamps, and signatures were--and are--powerful tools that created the double of a person in writ and bore the indelible signs of bureaucratic authenticity. Ultimately, as Groebner lucidly explains, they revealed as much about their makers' illusory fantasies as they did about their bearers' actual identity. The bureaucratic desire to register and control the population created, from the sixteenth century onward, an intricate administrative system for tracking individual identities. Most important, the proof of one's identity was intimately linked and determined by the identification papers the authorities demanded and endlessly supplied. Ironically, these papers and practices gave birth to two uncanny doppelgangers of administrative identity procedures: the spy who craftily forged official documents and passports, and the impostor who dissimulated and mimed any individual he so desired. Through careful research and powerful narrative, Groebner recounts the complicated and bizarre stories of the many ways in which identities were stolen, created, and doubled. Groebner argues that identity papers cannot be interpreted literally as pure and simple documents. They are themselves pieces of history, histories of individuals and individuality, papers that both document and transform their owner's identity--whether carried by Renaissance vagrants and gypsies or the illegal immigrants of today who remain "sans papier," without papers.


Epoxide hydrolase I from Solanum tuberosum (StEH1) and isolated variants thereof has been studied for mapping structure-function relationships with the ultimate goal of being able to in silico predict modifications needed for a certain activity or selectivity. To solve this, directed evoultion using CASTing and an ISM approach was applied to improve selectivity towards either of the enantiomeric product diols from (2,3-epoxypropyl)benzene (1).A set of variants showing a range of activites and selectivities was isolated and characterized to show that both enantio- and regioselectivity was changed thus the enrichment in product purity was not solely due to kinetic resolution but also enantioconvergence. Chosen library residues do also influence selectivity and activity for other structurally similar epoxides styrene oxide (2), trans-2-methyl styrene oxide (3) and trans-stilbene oxide (5), despite these not being selected for. The isolated hits were used to study varying selectivity and activity with different epoxides. The complex kinetic behaviour observed was combined with X-ray crystallization and QM/MM studies, powerful tools in trying to explain structure-function relationships. Crystal structures were solved for all isolated variants adding accuracy to the EVB calculations and the theoretical models did successfully reproduce experimental data for activities and selectivities in most cases for 2 and 5. Major findings from calculations were that regioselectivity is not always determined in the alkylation step and for smaller and more flexible epoxides additional binding modes are possible, complicating predictions and the reaction scheme further. Involved residues for the catalytic mechanism were confirmed and a highly conserved histidine was found to have major influence on activity thus suggesting an expansion of the catalytic triad to also include H104.Docking of 1 into the active site of the solved crystal structures was performed in an attempt to rationalize regioselectivity from binding. This was indeed successful and an additional binding mode was identified, involving F33 and F189, both residues targeted for engineering.For biocatalytic purpose the enzyme were was successfully immobilized on alumina oxide membranes to function in a two-step biocatalytic reaction with immobilized alcoholdehydrogenase A from Rhodococcus ruber, producing 2-hydroxyacetophenone from racemic 2.


There is currently a notable amount of research suggesting that educators should use computer games as part of their teaching. Most of this research suggests why games should be used choosing very specific example games, or making broad sweeping statements about gaming as a whole. But very little of the research explains how these games should be used. What features should be present in the game? Do these features change depending on a given learning outcome? Do they change depending on the type of game? This thesis begins by compiling a prospective set of required features for an educational game, taken from literature on Learning Environments, as well as the requirements of different learning styles. This requirement set is cross-referenced with an overview of some typical, commercially available games, to show that such games are capable of meeting these requirements. This preliminary list is used in two investigations: the first explores how well the chosen features are offered by a series of current educational mini-games; the second shows how different requirements are offered by different commercially-available computer game genres. The results of these investigations are used to refine the list, before carrying out a user survey to identify the important features offered by different game genres, and to determine whether game quality improves as more of the features are met. The survey results show that some key requirements separate the genres significantly, while others were consistent across all genres. In addition, there is a positive correlation between each feature offered, and the overall user enjoyment of the game. The thesis concludes with a proposed framework of game genres and features, to assist in the design and selection of games for a given educational scenario, as well as some suggestions for future work.


The design of a single chip transmitter for a spread spectrum inhouse communication system working at 2.4GHz is presented. The circuit consists of a frequency doubler (1.2 to 2.4GHz), a double balanced modulator with an LO buffer amplifier, and a seven stage power amplifier for 100mW of output power. Except for the power amplifier output matching network, and a bandpass filter, no additional external components are required. Chip fabrication was performed with a commercial lmm-GaAs-MESFET enhancement/depletion foundry process. Through consequent use of an insensitive circuit design strategy, a high production yield is achieved. From 26 devices investigated, all but one were functional, providing high fundamental suppression without additional filtering. However, a certain output power and temperature sensitivity, together with a high chip-to-chip spread of the carrier suppression, has been observed. At moderate output power levels, about 90% of the devices provided sufficient carrier suppression at less than 1W of power consumption.


Widespread multiday convective bursts in the southwestern United States during the North American monsoon are often triggered by Gulf of California moisture surges (GoC surges). However, how GoC surges, and the amount and intensity of associated precipitation, will change in response to CO2-induced warming remains little known, not least because the most widely available climate models do not currently resolve the relevant mesoscale dynamics because of their coarse resolution (100 km or more). In this study, a 50-km-resolution global coupled model is used to address this question. It is found that the mean number of GoC surge events remains unchanged under CO2 doubling, but intermediate-to-high intensity surge-related precipitation tends to become less frequent, thus reducing the mean summertime rainfall. Low-level moisture fluxes associated with GoC surges as well as their convergence over land to the east of the GoC intensify, but the increases in low-level moisture are not matched by the larger increments in the near-surface saturation specific humidity because of amplified land warming. This results in a more unsaturated low-level atmospheric environment that disfavors moist convection. These thermodynamic changes are accompanied by dynamic changes that are also detrimental to convective activity, with the midlevel monsoonal ridge projected to expand and move to the west of its present-day climatological maximum. Despite the overall reduction in precipitation, the frequency of very intense, localized daily surge-related precipitation in Arizona and surrounding areas is projected to increase with increased precipitable water.


The Star Wars film-series has been an unprecedented commercial success in the history of cinema and has made a huge cultural impact. This is not least because of its creator George Lucas making wide use of religious and mythological elements, in his search for a new spiritual and moral guidance for a young audience. In this process, Lucas also adopts Buddhist symbols, values, and ideas in his concept of the order of the Jedi and their spirituality. These include sitting meditation, mindfulness, compassion, interdependence, or the overcoming of attachment. Thus, Star Wars represents and promotes Buddhist elements, but deprives them of their Buddhist origin, as Buddhism as a tradition does not exist in Lucas' 'galaxy far, far away'. Although Star Wars might serve as a vehicle to bring Buddhist ideas to Western audiences, in fact Lucas uses the distance of Asian and Buddhist culture to the Western world to also enact the Jedi as the Other, mysterious and fascinating, in an approach that can be defined as orientalistic.


Heusler alloys containing Co and Mn are amongst the most heavily studied half metallic ferromagnets for future applications in spintronics. Using state-of-the-art electronic structure calculations, we investigate the effect of doping and disorder on their electronic and magnetic properties. Small degrees of doping by substituting Fe or Cr for Mn scarcely affect the half metallicity. A similar effect is also achieved by mixing the sublattices occupied by the Mn and sp atoms. Thus the half metallicity is a robust property of these alloys.


Introduction: Very high myopia is usually associated with posterior staphyloma. The pathology, management and our experience reported in the article. Methods: We studied a total of 3737 student population in schools and colleges in the year 2001 — 2002 with the help of the Principals and teachers. High myopic patients treated in our hospital (242 patients) who underwent B—Scan and surgical management in two stages, posterior scleral support operation followed by low power intraocular lens implantation, have been included in the study(14). Discussion: High myopia and keratoconus have opposite effect in the anatomy of eye ball. In high myopia, the anterior segment of the eye is usually normal or there may be slight variation in the depth of anterior chamber whereas in keratoconus the posterior segment is normal. Staphyloma, usually occurs in the posterior pole of the eye ball involving the macular region can also expand anteriorly leading to thinning of sclera to be observed as bluish bulging. As the posterior staphyloma progresses, the retina undergoes degenerative changes due to stretching in the macular region, around the ora-serrata and around the optic disc also. In the posterior pole, the thinning of sclera and retina leads to a decrease in the functional efficiency of the retina which is often misconstrued as amblyopia especially in uni-ocular high myopes. In majority of such cases, surgical compression of the posterior pole by preserved donor sclera from behind reverses the damage and restores full vision when followed by low power intra ocular lens implantation. Results and Conclusion: 242 high myopes, among which 212 patients with Bilateral and 30 patients with unilateral involvement were included in this report and final visual outcome analyzed. In the surgical management of very high myopes, it is mandatory to manage the posterior staphyloma to get good visual outcome. To arrest the myopic progression, P.S.S.O. should be performed in young age itself.


Multiple innate defense pathways exist to recognize and defend against foreign nucleic acids. Unlike innate immune receptors that recognize structures specific for pathogens that are not shared by mammalian hosts — for example, toll-like receptor (TLR)4-lipopolysaccharide, TLR5-flagellin, NOD1 and 2-peptidoglycan — all nucleic acids are made from four components that are identical from bacteria to man. Nucleoside modifications are prevalent in nature but vary greatly in their distribution and frequency, and therefore could serve as patterns for recognition of pathogenic nucleic acids. The presence of modified nucleosides in RNA reduces the activation of RNA-sensing TLRs and retinoic acid inducible gene I (RIG-I), which initiate signaling cascades following activation and result in transcription of pro-inflammatory genes. Unexpectedly, translation of in vitro transcribed mRNA is enhanced by incorporation of modified nucleosides, but the mechanism responsible for this enhanced translation has not been identified. To identify the pathways responsible for enhanced translation of modified nucleoside-containing mRNA, we studied two cytoplasmic RNA-sensing innate defense mechanisms known to influence translation, the RNA-dependent protein kinase (PKR) pathway and the 2-5A system (oligoadenylate synthetase [OAS] and RNase L). Using purified protein in vitro, cell culture, and in vivo mouse studies, we show that unmodified in vitro transcribed mRNA activates PKR and OAS and is rapidly cleaved by RNase L. However, we show that incorporation of modified nucleosides into in vitro transcribed mRNA reduces each of these pathways. Furthermore, we demonstrate that these pathways are necessary for enhanced translation of mRNA containing modified nucleosides. Additionally, we demonstrate that the presence of pseudouridine in in vitro transcripts increases mRNA halflife following delivery. From these data, we conclude that unmodified in vitro transcribed mRNA is stimulatory to the cytoplasmic RNA sensors PKR and OAS. This stimulation is reduced by the presence of modified nucleosides. The enhanced translation of mRNA containing modified nucleosides results from reduced PKR and OAS activation. These data support a larger interpretation that the absence or reduction in frequency of modified nucleosides in RNA is a common pattern for recognition of pathogenic RNA by numerous innate defense systems. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Cell & Molecular Biology First Advisor Drew Weissman This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1567


Regime analysis suggests that temperate alluvial watercourses overtop their banks on average once every 1.5 years transferring water and sediment across the valley floor to form floodplains helping maintain a strong hydrological connection between in-channel and overbank form and process. Flooding also causes erosion, sediment transfer and deposition creating a variety of floodplain morphologic units and functional connectivity with the main river. The result is a morphologically and ecologically varied wetland dominated ecotone where diversity is sustained by the action and flooding and shallow groundwater processes. Floodplains are, however, sensitive to disruption and many have been significantly degraded since the Bronze Age as a result of activities that alter flooding and groundwater processes and manage vegetation communities. The current (2015) floodplain condition and trends of change since 1990, for England are presented here using land use data for 1990, 2000, 2007 and 2015. Floodplain system degradation has been found to be both widespread and severe across the whole of the country. The 1990 data set showed that intensive agriculture occupied around 38% of floodplain zones expanding to 53% by 2000 before slowing slightly to covering 62% in 2007. Between 2007 and 2015 the coverage remained relatively static (64%) with some suggestion that arable areas were being transformed to pasture. Wetland areas in the form of fen, marsh, swamp and bog have been devastated with the data sets indicating that these fundamental floodplain units have been all but lost. Upland and lowland areas are both severely impacted with a near ubiquitous loss of natural floodplain functioning. Despite this some 31% of rivers in England are classified as good or better under the European Water Framework Directive classification system calling into question the UK WFD status classification process.


Background: Many respiratory tract infections are treated with macrolide antibiotics. Regulatory agencies warn that these antibiotics increase the risk of ventricular arrhythmia. We examined the 30-day risk of ventricular arrhythmia and all-cause mortality associated with macrolide antibiotics relative to nonmacrolide antibiotics. Methods: We conducted a population-based retrospective cohort study involving older adults (age > 65 yr) with a new prescription for an oral macrolide antibiotic (azithromycin, clarithromycin or erythromycin) in Ontario from 2002 to 2013. Our primary outcome was a hospital encounter with ventricular arrhythmia within 30 days after a new prescription. Our secondary outcome was 30-day all-cause mortality. We matched patients 1:1 using propensity scores to patients prescribed nonmacrolide antibiotics (amoxicillin, cefuroxime or levofloxacin). We used conditional logistic regression to measure the association between macrolide exposure and outcomes, and repeated the analysis in 4 subgroups defined by the presence or absence of chronic kidney disease, congestive heart failure, coronary artery disease and concurrent use of a drug known to prolong the QT interval. Results: Compared with nonmacrolide antibiotics, macrolide antibiotics were not associated with a higher risk of ventricular arrhythmia (0.03% v. 0.03%; relative risk [RR] 1.06, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.83–1.36) and were associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality (0.62% v. 0.76%; RR 0.82, 95% CI 0.78–0.86). These associations were similar in all subgroups. Interpretation: Among older adults, macrolide antibiotics were not associated with a higher 30-day risk of ventricular arrhythmia than nonmacrolide antibiotics. These findings suggest that current warnings from the US Food and Drug Administration may be overstated.


Mere exposure (i.e., stimulus repetition) and blending (i.e., stimulus averaging) are classic ways to increase social preferences, including facial attractiveness. In both effects, increases in preference involve enhanced familiarity. Prominent memory theories assume that familiarity depends on a match between the target and similar items in memory. These theories predict that when individual items are weakly learned, their blends (morphs) should be relatively familiar, and thus liked—a beauty-in-averageness effect (BiA). However, when individual items are strongly learned, they are also more distinguishable. This "differentiation" hypothesis predicts that with strongly encoded items, familiarity (and thus, preference) for the blend will be relatively lower than individual items—an ugliness-in-averageness effect (UiA). We tested this novel theoretical prediction in 5 experiments. Experiment 1 showed that with weak learning, facial morphs were more attractive than contributing individuals (BiA effect). Experiments 2A and 2B demonstrated that when participants first strongly learned a subset of individual faces (either in a face-name memory task or perceptual-tracking task), morphs of trained individuals were less attractive than the trained individuals (UiA effect). Experiment 3 showed that changes in familiarity for the trained morph (rather than interstimulus conflict) drove the UiA effect. Using a within-subjects design, Experiment 4 mapped out the transition from BiA to UiA solely as a function of memory training. Finally, computational modeling using a well-known memory framework (REM) illustrated the familiarity transition observed in Experiment 4. Overall, these results highlight how memory processes illuminate classic and modern social preference phenomena.


The aim of the study is to evaluate the directors, teachers, and servants in the pre, pri- mary, and secondary schools of the Near East University on their views about the functions of symbols, values, and rituals in developing school culture. This study was carried out in fall 2016–2017 academic year with 15 directors, 170 teachers, and 15 servants from the pre, primary, and secondary schools of the Near East University. In this research, a qualitative study was conducted, in which a case study design with a semi-structured interview technique was used to collect data through sampling, one of the objective sampling methods. A qualitative analysis technique based on the research questions for content analysis of the collected data was used. The majority of the participants empha- sized that the common values of the individuals at school, symbols, rituals, and traditions formed the bases of school culture. Although, in general, perceptions and views related to school culture are positive, there are arguments that school culture should be inte-grated deeper into education. It is commonly believed that, if worked in collaboration, symbols, values, and ritual functions will contribute a great deal to social—organiza-tional—and individual development.


ing to remedy the serious difficulties in the hospital service, because the maldistribution which needs correction is: (1) The disproportion between the excessive number of temporary posts in the training scheme and the restricted number of permanent posts in the consultant establishment; (2) The disproportion between the ages of the existing consultants, most of whom are squashed into an age group which is far too narrow. It is nothing to do with the geographical distribution of registrars.


Purpose To investigate repeatability and reproducibility of thickness of eight individual retinal layers at axial and lateral foveal locations, as well as foveal width, measured from Spectralis spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) scans using newly available retinal layer segmentation software. Methods High-resolution SD-OCT scans were acquired for 40 eyes of 40 young healthy volunteers. Two scans were obtained in a single visit for each participant. Using new Spectralis segmentation software, two investigators independently obtained thickness of each of eight individual retinal layers at 0°, 2° and 5° eccentricities nasal and temporal to foveal centre, as well as foveal width measurements. Bland-Altman Coefficient of Repeatability (CoR) was calculated for inter-investigator and inter-scan agreement of all retinal measurements. Spearman's ρ indicated correlation of manually located central retinal thickness (RT0) with automated minimum foveal thickness (MFT) measurements. In addition, we investigated nasal-temporal symmetry of individual retinal layer thickness within the foveal pit. Results Inter-scan CoR values ranged from 3.1μm for axial retinal nerve fibre layer thickness to 15.0μm for the ganglion cell layer at 5° eccentricity. Mean foveal width was 2550μm ± 322μm with a CoR of 13μm for inter-investigator and 40μm for inter-scan agreement. Correlation of RT0 and MFT was very good (ρ = 0.97, P < 0.0005). There were no significant differences in thickness of any individual retinal layers at 2° nasal compared to temporal to fovea (P > 0.05); however this symmetry could not be found at 5° eccentricity. Conclusions We demonstrate excellent repeatability and reproducibility of each of eight individual retinal layer thickness measurements within the fovea as well as foveal width using Spectralis SD-OCT segmentation software in a young, healthy cohort. Thickness of all individual retinal layers were symmetrical at 2°, but not at 5° eccentricity away from the fovea.


This paper analyzes economic fluctuations in an overlapping generations economy with productive capital in which random shocks in aggregate productivity are present. Under specific assumptions we obtain an explicit solution of the model. Applying random dynamical systems theory, we can prove that the long-run behavior of the economy is uniquely described by an asymptotically stable random fixed point. The statistical properties of the aggregates output, consumption, capital stock, and real wage are investigated numerically. We find that our artificial economy displays several real world business cycle phenomena.


Clinical research regarding the therapeutic benefits of cannabis ("marijuana") has been almost non-existent in the United States since cannabis was given Schedule I status in the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. In order to discover the benefits and adverse effects perceived by medical cannabis patients, especially with regards to chronic pain, we hand-delivered surveys to one hundred consecutive patients who were returning for yearly re-certification for medical cannabis use in Hawai'i. The response rate was 94%. Mean and median ages were 49.3 and 51 years respectively. Ninety-seven per cent of respondents used cannabis primarily for chronic pain. Average pain improvement on a 0-10 pain scale was 5.0 (from 7.8 to 2.8), which translates to a 64% relative decrease in average pain. Half of all respondents also noted relief from stress/anxiety, and nearly half (45%) reported relief from insomnia. Most patients (71%) reported no adverse effects, while 6% reported a cough or throat irritation and 5% feared arrest even though medical cannabis is legal in Hawai'i. No serious adverse effects were reported. These results suggest that Cannabis is an extremely safe and effective medication for many chronic pain patients. Cannabis appears to alleviate pain, insomnia, and may be helpful in relieving anxiety. Cannabis has shown extreme promise in the treatment of numerous medical problems and deserves to be released from the current Schedule I federal prohibition against research and prescription.


The Gongylomorphus skinks are an endemic genus of Mauritius and comprise two described species. Following the recent discovery of a third putative species, endemic to Flat Island, 11 km off the coast of Mauritius, this study was conducted to examine morphometrics and the pattern of microhabitat use by the species in an effort to provide effective conservation recommendations. There was a clear sexual size dimorphism with males significantly larger than females in terms of; snout-vent length, head length, head width, snout-mouth length, snout-ear length, upper and lower fore- and hind-limb lengths and fourth toe length. There was no sexual dimorphism in other measures including pelvic width, width at the base of the tail, head depth or body weight. Microhabitat use was found to be non-random with lizards occurring in areas with high humidity, high numbers of natural refugia, increased leaf litter coverage and plant species diversity, and low grass cover. We found no evidence that microhabitat use varied in relation to sex or age of lizards. The implications of these results for the conservation management of Flat Island for the orange-tail skink are discussed.


Concrete is the second-most used substance on Earth after water, and the production of cement accounts for at least 5% of the planet's carbon emissions. Concrete has all sorts of excellent properties, which should not be overlooked, but it seems clear that we should be exploiting these fine properties against a backdrop of needing to look carefully at how we manage our concrete infrastructure sustainably. We need to use realistic approaches to understand structural integrity of our existing concrete infrastructure if we are not to needlessly condemn adequate structures. We need to understand how to prolong the life of existing concrete structures in a robust, proven and cost-effective manner, again so that additional carbon- and energy-related costs associated with rebuild are avoided. And we need to design our future concrete structures with the most important property of concrete at the forefront, namely its moudability, something which is seldom exploited, such that efficient use of concrete is ensured. This paper outlines research conducted in the BRE Centre for Innovative Construction Materials at the University of Bath in these areas of structural strengthening and future innovative design of concrete structures. The paper focuses on the role that structural fabric can play in contributing to these aims.


A highly efficient ytterbium-free erbium-doped silicate glass fiber has been developed for high-power fiber laser applications at an eye-safe wavelength near 1.55 μm. Our preliminary experiments show that high laser efficiency can be obtained from a relatively short length of the gain fiber when resonantly pumped at 1535 nm in both core- and cladding-pumping configurations. With a core-pumping configuration as high as 75%, optical-to-optical efficiency and 4 W output power were obtained at 1560 nm from a 1 m long gain fiber. When using a cladding-pumping configuration, approximately 13 W output power with 67.7% slope efficiency was demonstrated from a piece of 2 m long fiber. The lengths of silicate-based gain fiber are much shorter than their silica-based counterparts used in other experiments, which is significantly important for high-power narrow-band and/or pulsed laser applications.


In recent history, the countries along the Western Balkan route faced several refugee crises. In the 1990s refugee crises were the result of the conflicts after the disintegration of the former Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY). Between the summer of 2015 and early 2016, the European continent faced another refugee crisis due to the ongoing civil war in Syria. During the 2015/16 refugee crisis, different political leaders, especially in the post-Yugoslav space, claimed that their humanitarian approach towards refugees was based on their previous experience with refugee crises from the 1990s. This paper explores and compares legal and political responses to different refugee crises in the in-between countries along the Western Balkan route: three European Union (EU) Member States (Austria, Slovenia and Croatia) and two EU candidate countries (Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia). In the first part, the paper looks at the impact of the refugee crisis on EU law. It shows how EU law was developed due to the post-Yugoslav refugee crisis (Temporary Protection Directive), but then faced ambivalent application during the 2015/16 refugee crisis. Second, it studies the transformation of national legislation during both refugee crises in the chosen countries. On the basis of the socio-legal analysis of these transformations, the main argument is that there has been a major shift in the 'management' of the refugee crises in the countries along the Western Balkan route: while the main approach adopted during the post-Yugoslav refugee crisis was temporary protection, this approach was replaced with a 'transit migration' approach during the 2015/16 refugee crisis.


In the UK, over 61% of adults and 30% of children are obese; sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are acknowledged to be a contributor to this obesity epidemic due to their high sugar content and lack of nutritional value. This study focussed on a secondary school in the North West of England, with the aim of evaluating pupil's exposure to, and opportunities to buy SSBs on their journeys to and from school and during the school day, along with their purchasing behaviours. Data were collected using mapping exercises and focus group interviews. Results showed that SSBs could be purchased very cheaply within the school fringe. All participants in the focus groups claimed to consume SSBs, although the frequency of consumption varied. Taste was the most important factor when purchasing drinks. Although the selection of beverages for sale varied, the majority were found to contain high levels of sugar, with very few low or non-sugar options available. Participants were largely unaware of the sugar content in SSBs. The study highlights the need for a multi-factorial approach in order to decrease the consumption of SSBs in children and young people. Recommendations include health promotion in schools around the detrimental health consequences of excess sugar intake, working with local authorities to restrict SSB retailing close to schools and homes, working with retailers to improve the provision of healthy beverages in their stores and addressing the issue of price, potentially by the implementation of a sugar tax.


The field of transitional justice is rapidly emerging within international human rights law. Organizations such as the New York-based International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), deploy dozens of transitional justice consultants to post-conflict states, and academic Ruti Teitel notes that the international system has lately seen a pervasive normalization of transitional justice in human rights law. An essential component to this spread of transitional justice is the concept of a victim's "right to truth." Though this right to truth has become increasingly visible in international human rights legal discourse, it has not emerged in a traditional, straightforward manner, built upon landmark legal cases and documents. Rather, it has arisen in a diffuse manner in which non-legal academics and activists have served as essential contributors. This extralegal component of the right's development, however, does not undermine its legitimacy as the traditional legal community might expect. In fact, it ultimately bolsters its applicability to local, culturally-specific contexts and promotes a broader definition of transitional justice beyond merely prosecutorial justice to encompass conceptions of victim rehabilitation and societal reconciliation. Founding Arguments for the Right to Truth One of the earliest works that explicitly argued for the right to truth is Juan Mendez's 1997 "Accountability for Past Abuses," frequently cited as one of the first arguments to recognize the global emergence of this right. Mendez, President Emiritus of the ICTJ, defined the right to truth as a placement of "obligation [on the state] to disclose to the victims and to society all that can reliably be known about the circumstances of the crime, including the identity of the perpetrators and instigators." In his article, Mendez recognized that the victim's "right to know the truth" was not yet a binding legal obligation, but he nonetheless predicted that the international legal community would increasingly recognize this right, as it was founded in "norms of universal applicability." As a primary example of the growing recognition of the right to truth in the global community, Mendez observed that the eighth annual report presented by Special Rapporteur Leonardo Despouy before the 1995 UN Economic and Social Council indicated that "the right to know the truth has achieved the status of a customary international law norm." Similarly, other advocates for the right to truth have interpreted various "right to information" clauses in international documents as providing a foundation for the right to truth. Priscilla Hayner, the author of Unspeakable Truths (2000), cites a former researcher and writer for Human Rights Watch/Africa who argues that the right to truth is contained within the right to "seek, receive, and impart information" guaranteed by Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Further, the "right to receive information" in the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights guarantees a similar foundational right. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Formal Institutional Recognition Since the publication of his 1997 article, Mendez has drawn upon cases heard by various regional courts and commissions to establish an expanded and more rigorous legal foundation of the right to truth. In particular, the Chilean experience with the transition from dictator Augusto Pinochet to President Patricio Aylwin illustrates the conception and spread of the right in international human rights law. Pinochet's 1968 self-amnesty law precluded criminal investigations or trials of human rights violators and military leaders under his regime. Without the option of criminal prosecution, Aylwin's administration focused on the truth-telling component of transitional justice by establishing the Chilean Truth and Reconciliation Commission, headed by Jorge Rettig. Mendez asserts that the individual hearings and the Commission's detailed reports on each case brought to its attention helped establish the norm that "the state owes each victim not only a general truth about the patterns and practices of repression but also an individualized truth about what happened to each and every victim. …


Prior research has found the ratio of fronto‐central theta (4–7 Hz) and beta oscillations (13–30 Hz), known as the theta-beta ratio, to be negatively correlated with attentional control, reinforcement learning, executive function, and age. While theta-beta ratios have been found to decrease with age in adolescents and undergraduate samples, theta has been found to increase with age in older adults. Moreover, age‐related decreases in individual peak alpha frequency may be artifactually inflating theta with age. Collectively, these factors lead to an incomplete understanding of how theta-beta ratio varies across the lifespan, particularly in older adults. We conducted a preregistered analysis of data from the Midlife in the US (MIDUS) study examining the cross‐sectional associations between resting theta-beta ratio, age, and individual peak alpha frequency (n = 264; age 36–84, M = 55.7, SD = 11.0). Age was negatively correlated with theta-beta ratios and individual peak alpha frequencies. Although we also observed a significant negative correlation between theta and individual peak alpha frequencies, the relationship between theta and age was only apparent in exploratory analyses controlling for individual peak alpha frequency and beta. Notably, the correlation between theta-beta ratios and age remained after controlling for individual peak alpha frequencies. Our results replicate previous observations that theta-beta ratios and individual peak alpha frequencies are cross‐sectionally associated with age, and show that age‐related decreases in theta-beta ratios are not due to age‐related decreases in individual peak alpha frequencies.


Abstract To date, the feasibility of computer-aided psychotherapy as an intervention has only been recognised in primary care practice. The present study sought to evaluate the impact of 'Beating the Blues' (BtB), an established computerised cognitive behaviour therapy (CCBT) self-help programme for the management of anxiety and depression, within an NHS CBT specialist healthcare centre. Of the 555 service users who used BtB as part of routine care, with follow-up assessment at six to eight weeks, 71% completed all eight sessions. Statistically significant differences on the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) were found in completer and intention-to-treat analyses; 50% of completers achieved reliable change on the BDI-II and approximately 25% of completers achieved reliable and clinically significant change on both measures. Outcomes were benchmarked against outcomes in studies of routine face-to-face CBT. These findings provide evidence that BtB may be of value to serv...


Dr Frank E Lawrence has spent a lifetime helping rural people in his native Jamaica to understand more about sustainable community development. And Spore has been his constant companion, he says, as he goes about his task of helping communities with agroforestry, small animal rearing, value added food processing, bee-keeping, rain water harvesting and alternative energy projects. Spore is one of the most useful sources for providing information in helping and motivating small-scale producers, says Dr Lawrence, who is a minister of religion, an organic farmer and President of the Northern Jamaica Conservation Association (NJCA), an NGO which focuses on designing environmentally sustainable projects with income generating potential. Due to information and ideas received from Spore, our community won the coveted 2005 Michael Manley Award for Community Self-Reliance and Sustainable Development. In recognition of Dr Lawrence s work, the Jamaican government also singled him out for a personal award the Badge of Honour Award for Meritorius Service in the field of Sustainable Community Development.
Sturge Town, the community which won the award, is one of Jamaica s oldest villages, set in a hilly, remote area. Its small-scale farmers rely on livestock rearing and the cultivation of vegetables, root crops, fruit, lumber and spices for a living. Lack of water and good roads hamper development, says Dr Lawrence, who believes local farmers need to be more involved in planning and decision-making. But all these problems can be helped by continuous motivation and creating greater awareness regarding self-reliance and sustainable development.
Once he has finished reading Spore, Dr Lawrence passes on copies and articles to other people. He particularly enjoyed the In Brief item on Turning back to Traditional Trees in Spore 117, and the feature on Covering the Soil to Make it More Fertile in Spore 112. We found that very useful in reviving the practice of mulching in our organic farming approach, he comments.


A prospective, 4-year cohort study of children born in an urban slum in northeastern Brazil was undertaken to elucidate the epidemiology of Cryptosporidium infection in an endemic setting, describe factors associated with Cryptosporidium-associated persistent diarrhea, and clarify the importance of copathogens in symptomatic cryptosporidiosis. A total of 1476 episodes of diarrhea, accounting for 7581 days of illness (5.25 episodes/child-year), were recorded: of these, 102 episodes (6.9%) were persistent. Cryptosporidium oocysts were identified in 7.4% of all stools, and they were found more frequently in children with persistent diarrhea (16.5%) than in those with acute (8.4%) or no (4.0%) diarrhea (P<.001). Low-birth-weight children and those living in densely crowded subdivisions were at greater risk for symptomatic infection. Disease course was highly variable and was not associated with the presence of copathogens. Recurrent Cryptosporidium infection and relapsing diarrhea associated with it were moderately common. In light of these data, the applicability of the current World Health Organization diarrheal definitions to Cryptosporidium-associated diarrheal episodes may need to be reconsidered.


Abstract. Iron availability and temperature are important limiting factors for the biota in many areas of the world ocean, and both have been predicted to change in future climate scenarios. However, the impacts of combined changes in these two key factors on microbial trophic dynamics and nutrient cycling are unknown. We examined the relative effects of iron addition (+1 nM) and increased temperature (+4°C) on plankton assemblages of the Ross Sea, Antarctica, a region characterized by annual algal blooms and an active microbial community. Increased iron and temperature individually had consistently significant but relatively minor positive effects on total phytoplankton abundance, phytoplankton and microzooplankton community composition, as well as photosynthetic parameters and nutrient drawdown. Unexpectedly, increased iron had a consistently negative impact on microzooplankton abundance, most likely a secondary response to changes in phytoplankton community composition. When iron and temperature were increased in concert, the resulting interactive effects were greatly magnified. This synergy between iron and temperature increases would not have been predictable by examining the effects of each variable individually. Our results suggest the possibility that if iron availability increases under future climate regimes, the impacts of predicted temperature increases on plankton assemblages in polar regions could be significantly enhanced. Such synergistic and antagonistic interactions between individual climate change variables highlight the importance of multivariate studies for marine global change experiments.


Sweet potato [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam] is a valuable source of food and its tubers provide high levels of starch, lysine, vitamin A and ascorbic acid. Globally, sweet potato is one of the highest yielding crops with a yield potential of 30 tons/ha. However in Africa sweet potato yields are very low. The area under sweet potato in Africa is approximately 1,714,000 hectares with an annual production of about 5.5 million tons. Drought stress is one of the most significant abiotic constraints to sweet potato production in sub Saharan Africa. The application of biotechnology tools like genetic engineering for the improvement of important crop plants has been shown to have great potential. The objective of the study described herein was to genetically transform selected sweet potato cultivars with a tobacco Nicotiana Protein Kinase I gene which has been shown to confer drought stress tolerance in transgenic maize, yeast and Arabidopsis thaliana. Four orange-fleshed sweet potato cultivars namely KSP36, Ukerewe, Mayai and Carrot were used in this study. It was possible to regenerate plants from KSP36 and Ukerewe cultivars on three concentrations (0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 mg/L) of Indole-3 acetic acid (IAA) with average regeneration efficiencies of 8.3% and 6.2%, respectively. The concentration of 1.0 mg/L lAA was found to be the best (P<0.002) for regeneration of Ukerewe and KSP36 sweet potato cultivars. The study also established that the use of leaf or stem as explant had no significant (P<0.219) effect on regeneration efficiency of the tested cultivars. However it was confirmed (P<O.OOI) that regeneration efficiency is genotype-dependent in sweet potato since plant regeneration was only achieved in two of the four tested cultivars. The Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain EHAI0l harbouring the binary vector plasmid pSHX004 with the NPKI transgene and bar selectable marker gene was used for genetic transformation of Ukerewe and KSP36 sweet potato cultivars. Putatively transformed callus and plantlets were screened by including 0.5 mg/L bialaphos in sweet potato culture media. Putative transformation efficiencies of 1.04% and 1.59% were achieved for KSP36 and Ukerewe, respectively. The putatively transformed sweet potato produced in this study need to undergo drought stress tolerance assays and RT-PCR to assess expression of NPKI gene and actual drought stress tolerance. The regeneration efficiency was a very important factor influencing transformation efficiency. The findings of this study could provide new opportunities for producing drought stress tolerant sweet potato for sub Saharan Africa using genetic engineering.


It is obvious to most that the ties between people and businesses in different countries have increased dramatically in recent years. One of the effects of this globalization of the world's economies and societies is an increase in international or transnational litigation. As traveling and conducting business across international borders becomes easier and cheaper, and the number of international business transactions increases, so too have the number of lawsuits involving parties and transactions or occurrences from different countries. This development has led to a corresponding increase in the number of lawsuits before United States courts which are similar, or indeed sometimes exactly parallel, to lawsuits pending before foreign courts. This comment argues that federal courts need a single framework for analyzing how to determine whether they should stay or dismiss a proceeding in favor of a concurrent, parallel proceeding in a foreign court.