Huanglongbing (FILB) was discovered in Brazil and Florida in 2004 and 2005 respectively. Previously, very few quantitative epidemiological studies had been conducted, and thus the increase and spread of the disease remains incompletely characterized. The perennial nature of the disease necessitates a dedication to data collection over multiple years, to obtain spatio-temporal data sufficient to understand increase and spread of the disease. In most areas, removing HLB-diseased trees in the attempt to control or contain the disease is one of the main disease mitigation strategies. This makes tracking disease increase and spread very difficult or impossible. This limitation has been coupled with the inability, until recently, of detection by PCR, requiring a reliance on visual assessment for disease monitoring. Monitoring the occurrence of HLB by visual symptoms alone is problematic. The lag in time between transmission by psyllid vectors or propagation and the onset of symptoms can be quite variable and quantifying the severity of disease symptoms in individual trees is not a true indication of pathogen incidence. Additionally, due to the temporal variation in symptom expression, trees infected at the same time may express symptoms over one or more years. Considering the above caveats, epidemiological data has been collected from a few locations in Reunion Island (RI), southern China (LCF, LART), Taiwan, The Philippines and more recently in São Paulo, Brazil and southern Florida, USA. However, to date an assessment of disease progression has only been accomplished in China and Reunion Island and resulted in an estimated reduced longevity of HLB-infected sweet orange and mandarin groves. HLB epidemics are multiyear in duration, but rarely progress to an asymptote before removal of the planting occurs. Therefore, both the exponential and the logistic models adequately described disease progress over time. In the LCF plot, an asymptote was reached after 13 yrs. However, for groves that became unproductive, disease incidence never reached asymptotic levels prior to removal, but logistic model predictions calculated that HLB would reach asymptotic disease after 7 and 13 years. Spatial analysis of the incidence of HLB visual symptoms has been less problematic and was undertaken to better understand the relationships among infected trees near to and at distance from each other and thereby gain some understanding of vector spread of HLB. Combined interpretations of spatial analyses indicate two spatial mechanisms of vector spread of HLB, within local areas and over longer distances. In most cases vectors apparently spread the disease to either adjacent or nearby trees. Spatial autocorrelation also identifies a prevalence of reflected clusters or areas of aggregation that are discontinuous with the main cluster. These are interpreted as indicative of the presence of secondary foci that are quite prevalent and are at a distance of about 25-50 m from the main cluster of disease and each other. Such a pattern of widely spaced foci perhaps indicates a spatial mechanism associated with longer distance vector movement. Longer regional scale vector transmission has not


With 24 official EU and many additional languages, multilingualism in Europe and an inclusive Digital Single Market can only be enabled through Language Technologies (LTs). European LT business is dominated by hundreds of SMEs and a few large players. Many are world-class, with technologies that outperform the global players. However, European LT business is also fragmented – by nation states, languages, verticals and sectors, significantly holding back its impact. The European Language Grid (ELG) project addresses this fragmentation by establishing the ELG as the primary platform for LT in Europe. The ELG is a scalable cloud platform, providing, in an easy-to-integrate way, access to hundreds of commercial and non-commercial LTs for all European languages, including running tools and services as well as data sets and resources. Once fully operational, it will enable the commercial and non-commercial European LT community to deposit and upload their technologies and data sets into the ELG, to deploy them through the grid, and to connect with other resources. The ELG will boost the Multilingual Digital Single Market towards a thriving European LT community, creating new jobs and opportunities. Furthermore, the ELG project organises two open calls for up to 20 pilot projects. It also sets up 32 national competence centres and the European LT Council for outreach and coordination purposes.


This paper discusses three examples of rhetorical holiness from the online virtual world of Second Life. The rhetorical holiness is compared to the representation of beliefs and practices in physical settings. By examining representation of the holy in Second Life it is possible to discuss the shift from older to new media forms in established and therefore comparative contexts. How these movements reflect and affect practices and beliefs is argued as highlighting networks of power and meaning.


Background We studied the safety, effectiveness, and limitations of airway stenting using self-expanding metal stent (SEMS) in patients with malignant central airway obstruction (CAO). Methods A retrospective review of records of patients undergoing SEMS placement for malignant CAO during year 2013 - 2014 was done. Results Sixteen patients (11 males and five females) underwent SEMS placement for malignant CAO. Median (range) age was 66 (54 - 78) years. No perioperative or immediate postoperative complications were seen except acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in one patient. Three patients were transferred to intensive care unit (ICU) for closer monitoring after the procedure and were discharged the next day. All four patients with lung atelectasis on presentation experienced complete re-expansion of the lung post-stenting. The dyspnea was substantially relieved in 14 (87.5%) patients. Two of the three patients who had been intubated were weaned off from the ventilator following stent insertion. Stent patency was maintained until death in all patients except one. Median survival from the date of diagnosis and the date of stent placement in lung cancer, esophageal cancer, and thyroid cancer were 140 (21 - 564) and 85 (15 - 361), 288 (80 - 419) and 61 (60 - 171), and 129 (71 - 187) and 67 (16 - 118) days, respectively. This survival was similar to reported expected survival associated with the underlying malignancy. During follow-up, granulation tissue (n = 1), mucostasis (n = 1), and tumor ingrowth (n = 2) were the most frequently encountered complications. Conclusion SEMSs are safe and effective in reversing respiratory failure caused by malignant CAO, averting premature death, allowing application of cancer targeted therapy, and restoring impending shortened survival to expected life expectancy associated with the underlying malignancy.


The question of how organizations are produced has been an ongoing theoretical puzzle within organization studies. In order to explain this question an increasing number of organization theorists have turned to the structuration theory of Anthony Giddens. Indeed it has been widely used to examine a whole range of organization phenomena such as structure (Ranson, Hinings & Greenwood, 1980), control (Clegg, 1981), discourse (Heracleous & Barrett, 2001), technology (Orlikowski, 1992), and institutions (Barley & Tolbert, 1997). In this paper we would like to call into question this increasingly popular approach. In particular we would like to explore some of the limits of structuration theory. We would like to argue that social reproduction of organization involves the reproduction of space and time. By doing so, we would like to put issues of time and space right at the centre of debates about structuration and social reproduction.


The metallic interconnect of a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) contains chromium in order to protect the metal from the corrosive environment in the fuel cell. Unfortunately, the chromium introduces chemical instability in the cathode as it migrates from the interconnect to the pores in the cathode. A model was developed previously in Asinari et al. [1] and Kasula et al [2] to model the flow of particles in a fuel cell electrode. To learn more about the migration of the chromium, the previous code is modified in this thesis work to include the effects of the chromium. The model uses Kinetic Theory to simulate the fuel cell at a mesoscopic scale. The discretized form of the Lattice Boltzmann equation is modified for enhanced performance and for use on a parallel processing system. With the new model, the migration of the chromium in the cathode and the performance degradation of the fuel cell are predicted.


Background Glucocorticoids (GCs) are often used as early arthritis treatment and it has been suggested that they induce remission or at least delay the development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and the need to start disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs). Objective To test the effect of GCs on patients with very early arthritis (symptom duration of <16 weeks) in a randomised controlled trial. Methods Patients received a single intramuscular injection of 120 mg methylprednisolone or placebo (PL) and were followed up for 52 weeks. Primary end point was drug-free clinical remission, both at weeks 12 and 52. Among secondary outcomes were fulfilment of remission criteria at weeks 2, 12 or 52, time course of 'core set variables' and proportion of patients starting DMARDs. Results 17.0% of all analysed subjects (65/383) achieved persistent remission: 17.8% (33/185) of the PL group, 16.2% (32/198) of the patients receiving methylprednisolone (OR=1.13, 95% CI 0.66 to 1.92, p=0.6847). Analyses of secondary end points showed significant clinical benefits of the GC only at week 2. These differences subsequently disappeared. DMARDs were started in 162 patients: 50.3% methylprednisolone and 56.7% PL patients had to start DMARD treatment (OR=0.78, 95% CI 0.49 to 1.22, p=0.30). Significantly more patients with polyarthritis than with oligoarthritis received DMARDs (OR=2.84, 95% CI 1.75 to 4.60, p<0.0001). Conclusions Neither remission nor development of RA is delayed by GC treatment. Remission is rare in the first year of very early arthritis, occurring in <20% of the patients. Also, the need to start DMARDs was not influenced by GC treatment.


Background/Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of new rotary NiTi instrument XP- endo SHAPER (XPS) used with two irrigation protocols on the root canal cleaning in the apical area.Material and Methods: The research was conducted on 30 single-rooted teeth extracted for orthodontic reasons which were divided into the two groups. Instrumentation of the canals was conducted with XPS instrument and 2% solution of NaOCl was used as irrigant. Instrumentation in the first group was performed using a conventional continuous irrigation, in the second group, protocol of final irrigation was performed intermittently in 3 cycles. The SEM analysis of the apical third of the canal was performed on longitudinal root cross-section standardized photomicrography with a magnification of 2000X.Results: Results showed that a thicker smear layer was observed in the first group and with continuous irrigation protocol (2,10) in relation to the intermittent irrigation protocol in 3 cycles (1,96), but without significant differences.The walls of the root canal in the apical third of the samples of the second group were slightly cleaner (73.3%) in comparison with the teeth of the first group (64, 7%), but also without significant differences.Conclusions: The use of XPS and 2% solution of NaOCl in the root canal enables efficient cleaning of the apical third of tooth. The final irrigation protocol in three cycles improves the efficiency of the smear layer removal in the apical segment of the canal.


htmlabstractElectron tomography in the physical sciences has become a powerful tool for nanomaterial analysis. Recently, electron tomography is finding applications in more beam sensitive materials such as catalysts. For beam sensitive materials, the goal is to acquire the smallest number of images as possible but still maintain an accurate and high resolution 3-D reconstruction. Standard methods of 3D reconstruction, such as weighted back projection (WBP) and simultaneous iterative reconstruction technique (SIRT), are not equipped to handle this lack of information, and create significant blurring. This gives rise to a search for new methods of reconstruction. Two of the recent successful algorithms are the discrete algebraic reconstruction technique (DART) and total variation (TV) minimization within compressed sensing (CS).

The DART algorithm uses ART and pairs it with the prior knowledge that there are only a small number (two or three) of different materials in the sample, each corresponding to a different gray value in the reconstruction. An initial reconstruction is computed and rounded to the chosen fixed gray values based on some threshold, and iteratively refined using ART. The method of TV minimization stems from the mathematical theory of compressed sensing and only recently became available due to new algorithms for solving the TV minimization problem. The method considers the characterization of real images and encourages the reconstruction to take larger jumps in gray values to create clear boundaries, hence creating a similar effect to that of DART.

The advantage of DART is that an accurate selection of the gray values and the rounding procedure for the reconstruction gives extremely valuable information otherwise not available in any other
reconstruction technique. The TV minimization procedure has fewer parameter selections, giving a stable method for reconstruction. Moreover, the introduction of the TV norm has the potential for creating boundaries alternate to what a DART reconstruction would find. Both methods are extremely valuable. In this presentation we discuss the pros and cons of each method, and show examples to illustrate when to use one method over the other. One comparison is shown in Figures 1-2 to demonstrate the differences for a layered zeolite material.

This research was funded in part by the DOE BES DE-SC0005822 and the LDRD and Chemical Imaging Initiative programs at PNNL. The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is operated by Battelle under contract DE-AC05-76RL01830.


Dendritic cells (DCs) are a key cell type in the initiation of the adaptive immune response. Recently, an additional role for DCs in suppressing myeloproliferation was discovered. Myeloproliferative disorder (MPD) was observed in murine studies with constitutive depletion of DCs, as well as in patients with congenital deficiency in DCs caused by mutations in GATA2 or IRF8 The mechanistic link between DC deficiency and MPD was not predicted through the known biology and has remained an enigma. Prevailing models suggest numerical DC deficiency leads to MPD through compensatory myeloid differentiation. Here, we formally tested whether MPD can also arise through a loss of DC function without numerical deficiency. Using mice whose DCs are deficient in antigen presentation, we find spontaneous MPD that is characterized by splenomegaly, neutrophilia, and extramedullary hematopoiesis, despite normal numbers of DCs. Disease development was dependent on loss of the MHC class II (MHCII) antigen-presenting complex on DCs and was eliminated in mice deficient in total lymphocytes. Mice lacking MHCII and CD4 T cells did not develop disease. Thus, MPD was paradoxically contingent on the presence of CD4 T cells and on a failure of DCs to activate CD4 T cells, trapping the cells in a naive Flt3 ligand-expressing state. These results identify a novel requirement for intercellular collaboration between DCs and CD4 T cells to regulate myeloid differentiation. Our findings support a new conceptual framework of DC biology in preventing MPD in mice and humans.


In a grassroots effort to identify stressors influencing the health of Maui's coral reefs, samples for the pre- and post-emergent herbicide, Diuron, were taken in July–August 2013, prior to, during, and after the passage of Tropical Storm Flossie on the south central coast of Maui, Hawaii. Diuron is routinely used on sugarcane fields adjacent to Hawaiian coastal waters and is a component of the anti-fouling paint used on small boats. It inhibits photosynthesis of terrestrial plants at concentrations as low as 0.1 parts per billion and can be lethal to endosymbiotic dinoflagellates in corals at concentrations less than 3 parts per billion, a concentration measured in runoff samples taken during this study. While Diuron was not detected in samples taken beyond the coastal outfall or in an adjacent boat basin, this effort provides evidence that a detectable influx of Diuron into Maui's coastal waters can result from a single rain event. Further, this study will inform efforts to support a ban on the use of Diuron in the wet season and guide monitoring efforts to better understand the effects of Diuron in coastal areas.


Recent cosmological hydrodynamical simulations suggest that integral field spectroscopy can connect the high-order stellar kinematic moments h3 (∼skewness) and h4 (∼kurtosis) in galaxies to their cosmological assembly history. Here, we assess these results by measuring the stellar kinematics on a sample of 315 galaxies, without a morphological selection, using two-dimensional integral field data from the SAMI Galaxy Survey. Proxies for the spin parameter ( ) and ellipticity ( ) are used to separate fast and slow rotators; there exists a good correspondence to regular and non-regular rotators, respectively, as also seen in earlier studies. We confirm that regular rotators show a strong h3 versus anti-correlation, whereas quasi-regular and non-regular rotators show a more vertical relation in h3 and . Motivated by recent cosmological simulations, we develop an alternative approach to kinematically classify galaxies from their individual h3 versus signatures. Within the SAMI Galaxy Survey, we identify five classes of high-order stellar kinematic signatures using Gaussian mixture models. Class 1 corresponds to slow rotators, whereas Classes 2–5 correspond to fast rotators. We find that galaxies with similar values can show distinctly different signatures. Class 5 objects are previously unidentified fast rotators that show a weak h3 versus anti-correlation. From simulations, these objects are predicted to be disk-less galaxies formed by gas-poor mergers. From morphological examination, however, there is evidence for large stellar disks. Instead, Class 5 objects are more likely disturbed galaxies, have counter-rotating bulges, or bars in edge-on galaxies. Finally, we interpret the strong anti-correlation in h3 versus as evidence for disks in most fast rotators, suggesting a dearth of gas-poor mergers among fast rotators.


Depending on the size and geometry, laser-microfabricated structures in transparent materials have applications in telecommunications, microfluidics, micro-sensors, data storage, glass cutting and decorative marking applications. The relations of Nd:YV04 and C02 laser system parameter settings to the dimensions and morphology of microfabricated structures were examined in this work. Laser system parameters investigated included power, P, pulse repetition frequency, PRF, number of pulses, N, and scanning speed, U. Output dimensions measured included equivalent voxel diameter as well as microchannel width, depth and surface roughness.

A 3D microfabrication system was developed using the Nd:YV04 laser (2.5 W, 1.064 pm, 80 ns) to fabricate microstructures inside polycarbonate samples. Microstructure voxels ranged from 48 to 181 pm in diameter. Tight focusing was also achieved with this system using a microscope objective lens to produce smaller voxels ranging from 5 to 10 pm in soda-lime glass, fused silica and sapphire samples.

The C02 laser (1.5 kW, 10.6 pm, minimum pulse width of 26 ps) was used to fabricate microchannels in soda-lime glass samples. The cross-sectional shapes of the microchannels varied between v-shape grooves, u-shaped groves and superficial ablated regions. Microchannels dimensions also varied with widths ranging from 81 to 365 pm, depths ranging from 3 to 379 pm and surface roughness between 2 to 13 pm being produced depending on the process settings. The microchannel dimensions were studied in terms of the laser processing parameters using the response surface methodology (RSM) with the design of experiments technique (DOE). The collected results were used to study the effect of the process parameters on the volumetric and mass ablation rates. Moreover, a thermal mathematical model of the process was also developed in order to aid understanding of the process and to allow channel topology prediction a priory to actual fabrication.


Apoptosis of virus-infected cells occurs either as a direct response to viral infection or upon recognition of infection by the host immune response. Apoptosis reduces production of new virus from these cells, and therefore viruses have evolved inhibitory mechanisms. We previously showed that laboratory strains of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) protect infected cells from apoptosis induced by cytotoxic T lymphocytes or ethanol. We have now evaluated the ability of HSV-1 and HSV-2 laboratory and clinical isolates to inhibit apoptosis induced by anti-Fas antibody or UV irradiation and explored the genetic basis for this inhibition. HSV-1 isolates inhibited apoptosis induced by UV or anti-Fas antibody. In contrast, HSV-2 clinical isolates failed to inhibit apoptosis induced by either stimulus, although the HSV-2 laboratory strain 333 had a partial inhibitory effect on UV-induced apoptosis. Inhibition of apoptosis by HSV was accompanied by marked reduction of caspase-3 and caspase-8 activity. Deletion of the HSV-1 Us3 gene markedly reduced inhibition of UV-induced apoptosis and partially abrogated inhibition of Fas-mediated apoptosis. Conversely, deletion of the HSV-1 Us5 gene markedly reduced protection from Fas-mediated apoptosis and partially abrogated protection from UV. The Us11 and Us12 genes were not necessary for protection from apoptosis induced by either stimulus. The differences between HSV-1 and HSV-2 in the ability to inhibit apoptosis may be factors in the immunobiology of HSV infections.


Creating Enterprise-Quality Web 2.0 Mashups: The Complete How-To Guide Mashups give businesses powerful new ways to leverage todays massive public and private data resources for competitive advantage. In Mashups: Strategies for the Modern Enterprise, J. Jeffrey Hanson brings together all the knowledge enterprise developers need to create mashups that are reliable, secure, flexible, and effective. Using detailed sample code and third-party tools, Hanson walks readers through every step of creating a working enterprise mashup, as well as every component: presentation, process, data, and infrastructure. He surveys the styles, technologies, and standards used in mashup development, identifying key trade-offs and helping you choose the best options for your environment. Youll learn how to overcome technical and business concerns associated with mashups, apply proven mashup patterns, and much more. Coverage includes Understanding and using presentation-oriented, data-oriented, process-oriented, or hybrid mashup styles Identifying the optimal uses for mashups in your environment Up-front planning: requirements, constraints, and security considerations; stability, reliability, and performance issues Creating an enterprise mashup, step by step: design, identification of services and data sources, and more Creating effective frameworks for mashup mediation and monitoring Applying proven patterns to your enterprise mashup infrastructure Securing mashups: validation, HTML sanitization, protecting iframes, and avoiding common attacks, such as cross-site request forgery Building mashups with third-party tools for Google, Oracle, Salesforce.com, Amazon, and other environments Developing an open, agile environment that supports rapid, flexible development of new mashups Also of interest: The companion book, Mashup Patterns: Designs and Examples for the Modern Enterprise by Mike Ogrinz (Addison-Wesley), is an indispensable guide to patterns, with insights for making mashups work in production environments.


The current conflicts in Sudan consist of different conflict-types, here presented in a theoretical framework of conflict complementarities. The framework consist of four parallel and interlinked conflicts types: communal conflicts, local elite conflicts, center-periphery conflicts, and cross-border conflicts. The structure of conflict complementarities is used to describe the continuing crisis in Darfur, and the emerging crisis in South Kordofan. The complexities of Sudan's conflict have often been overlooked by outsiders leading to incorrect assessments of the root causes, as well as dynamics of these conflicts. Therefore, this paper makes a call for careful conflict analysis in order to understand the conflicts in Sudan. Although taken place in different areas the root causes of Sudan's conflicts are similar. Poverty and severe marginalization of the peripheries, in combination with bad governance at the center, are the main reasons for conflicts all over the country. Also other areas of Sudan, such as Eastern Sudan and the far North, suffer from these problems. Thus, there is a risk that Sudan's crisis will spread to new areas. For conflicts in Sudan to decline the root causes of the problems need to be tackled. Decentralization that would decrease the huge differences between the center and the marginalized peripheries would be a step in the right direction. Also, the government's propensity for using militias and divide-and-rule strategies has to stop for a brighter future for Sudan. Finally, a stronger commitment from, and co-ordination by, the international community is needed to deal with the continuing crisis in Sudan.


In United States v. Comstock, the Supreme Court upheld § 4248 of the Adam Walsh Act, which allows for the civil commitment of federal prisoners deemed "sexually dangerous" for an indefinite period after they've completed their sentences. The case dealt with that most basic of constitutional questions: Where does Congress find its authority to enact a particular law? Justice Breyer, writing for the majority, found warrant for § 4248 in Congress's power "to make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution" its other powers. But which of Congress's enumerated powers does § 4248 execute? And is § 4248 necessary and proper for executing that power? Unfortunately, the Court focused mainly on the second question, arguing that Congress has "broad authority" to enact laws to further its enumerated powers. Moreover, the five-factor "test" Breyer offered asked not whether § 4248 was necessary and proper for executing an enumerated power but for "a jumble of unenumerated 'authorities,'" as Justice Thomas put it in a searching dissent joined by Justice Scalia. Fortunately, Justice Breyer's opinion was joined in full by only four other justices — with Justices Kennedy and Alito writing separately to emphasize the strict requirements that federal laws invoking the Necessary and Proper Clause must meet (even if those requirements were satisfied here). These concurrences, along with an impracticable majority opinion and a logically powerful dissent, suggest that Comstock may have limited application beyond the four corners of civil commitment law. Most prominently, Comstock seems to have little effect on the ongoing Obamacare litigation.


Abstract. Ultra-spectrally resolved infrared measurements from aircraft and space-based observations contain information about tropospheric carbon monoxide (CO) and ozone (O3), as well as other trace species. A methodology for retrieving these tropospheric trace species from such remotely sensed spectral data has been developed and validated for the National Airborne Sounder Testbed-Interferometer (NAST–I). The Fire Influence on Regional to Global Environments and Air Quality (FIREX-AQ) field campaign was conducted during August 2019 to investigate the impact of wildfire and biomass smoke on air quality and weather in the continental United States. NAST–I CO and O3 measurements from the recent FIREX-AQ field campaign are presented and used to estimate wildfire plume age. Results show enhanced levels of CO in the evolving plume as it is transported away from the fire ground site, and its plume age is associated with the plume distance in both the vertical and horizontal directions from the wildfire location. These results are enabled by the moderate-vertical and high-horizontal resolution obtained from the NAST–I IR spectrometer onboard the NASA ER-2 aircraft. This study advances our knowledge of fire-induced plumes with their evolution and age characterized in three-dimensional space using information from NAST–I retrieved CO and O3 and relative changes in their concentrations.


Businesses use forecasts in order to gather information concerning phenomena that are important to them. Since electronic commerce has grown in importance for businesses, forecasts concerning this area are becoming increasingly important. The work presented in this report aims at gathering information useful when improving forecast quality. In practice the report presents a collection of forecasts, concerning business-to-consumer electronic commerce, and a collection of factors affecting electronic commerce forecast outcomes. A categorisation and evaluation of the collected forecasts is performed, this evaluation is done by comparing the forecasts in the categories to the actual outcomes. Problems that occur during the evaluation process, such as problems with forecast wording and scope, are described, and suggestions of how to avoid these problems are provided. Structured methods to categorise and evaluate the forecasts are also presented. Finally, the outcome from the evaluation is analysed using the compiled factors and indications are given of how to use the results in order to improve future forecasting.


Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the deadliest forms of cancer and is very difficult to treat with conventional chemotherapeutic regimens. Gemcitabine and 5-fluorouracil are used in the management of PDAC and act by indirectly blocking replicative forks. However, these drugs are not highly effective at suppressing disease progression, indicating a need for the development of innovative therapeutic approaches. Recent studies indicate that suppression of the MCM helicase may provide a novel means to sensitize cancer cells to chemotherapeutic agents that inhibit replicative fork progression. Mammalian cells assemble more MCM complexes on DNA than are required to start S-phase. The excess MCM complexes function as backup initiation sites under conditions of replicative stress. The current study provides definitive evidence that cosuppression of the excess/backup MCM complexes sensitizes PDAC tumor lines to both gemcitabine and 5-FU, leading to increased loss of proliferative capacity compared with drugs alone. This occurs because reduced MCM levels prevent efficient recovery of DNA replication in tumor cells exposed to drug. PDAC tumor cells are more sensitive to MCM loss in the presence of gemcitabine than are nontumor, immortalized epithelial cells. Similarly, colon tumor cells are rendered less viable when cosuppression of MCM complexes occurs during exposure to the crosslinking agent oxaliplatin or topoisomerase inhibitor etoposide. Implications: These studies demonstrate that suppressing the backup complement of MCM complexes provides an effective sensitizing approach with the potential to increase the therapeutic index of drugs used in the clinical management of PDAC and other cancers. Mol Cancer Res; 13(9); 1296–305. ©2015 AACR.


Out-of-plane deformations of a cantilever were measured using phase-shifting digital holographic interferometry (PSDHI) and the Fourier transform method (FTM). The cantilever was recorded in two different states, and holograms were stored electronically with a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera. When the holograms are superimposed and reconstructed jointly, a holographic interferogram results. The three-dimensional (3D) surface deformations were successfully visualized by applying FTM to holographic interferogram analysis. The minimum surface displacement measured was 0.317 µm. The processing time for the digital reconstruction and visualization of 3D deformation took about 1 minute. The technique was calibrated using Michelson interferometry setup.


This paper investigates the role of mass media in times of conflict and state-sponsored vio- lence. A model of collective violence is presented where mass media has the potential to increase participation in conflict by facilitating coordination, in addition to any direct effect on behav- ior due to content. Guided by the insights of the model, the paper uses a unique nation-wide village-level dataset from the Rwandan Genocide to estimate the impact of radio broadcasts that called for the extermination of the Tutsi minority, and are commonly believed to have played a significant role in fueling the violence. The results show that the broadcasts increased participation in the killings. They indicate that approximately 10 percent, or an estimated 51,000 perpetrators, of the participation in the violence during the Rwandan Genocide can be attributed to the effects of the radio. Violence that inherently requires more coordination, such as militia and army violence, was also more affected by the broadcasts. Together with a set of results presented in the paper, the evidence indicates that mass media can in part affect conflict by functioning as a coordination device


Abstract Prior studies have demonstrated positive impacts of antibiotic use on reducing mortality, rebleeding events, and length of hospitalization in adult cirrhotic patients with acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB). We aimed to investigate the use of antibiotics in cirrhotic children with acute UGIB and its impact on patient outcomes. This was a retrospective study using the Pediatric Health Information System database. Cirrhotic patients aged 0 to 18 years with acute UGIB, admitted between October 2005 and September 2015, were identified based on ICD-9 codes. Patients with no documented endoscopy during admission were excluded. Forty-four (23 females) cirrhotic children were eligible for data analysis. The median patient age was 6 years. Etiology of acute UGIB included esophageal varices (n = 37), non-variceal bleeding (n = 4), and both (n = 3). A significant proportion of cirrhotic children with acute UGIB (n = 30, 68%) were given intravenous antibiotics within 48 hours of admission. Among children who did not develop bacteremia, 68% received antibiotics vs. 32% who did not (P = .6). The rate of readmission within 30 days of discharge was 7% in patients with antibiotics vs. 21% in those without antibiotics (P = .3). This study suggested that antibiotic use within 48 hours of admission in cirrhotic children with acute UGIB might have a positive impact on the percentage of children free of bacteremia and the readmission rate. A prospective study should investigate whether prophylactic antibiotics should be targeted only to a subgroup of cirrhotic children with acute UGIB who are particularly at high risk for bacterial infection.


People of African descent who migrated from their "homelands" constituted, and still constitute, important forces in many African cultures outside of their "homelands" as well as in many other cultures outside of the African continent. Historically, the migration of people of African descent from their "homelands" is mainly linked to the pre-20th century Muslim or Asian trade and the Atlantic trade as well as to the post 1980 globalization of the capitalist system. Even before the post 1980 globalization of the capitalist system deepened the crises in African states and resulted in the migration of skilled and unskilled Africans to places like the United States, Canada, Britain and the Middle East, some scholars had written on people of African descent in several parts of the world. Although the earliest among those who wrote on the subject before the 1980s did not employ the term "African diaspora" in their analysis, an increasing number of scholars who wrote after 1950 have used the term in question in their study of people of African descent in various parts of the world. The relevant literature written after 1950 features disagreement over the meaning of the concept "African diaspora" and point to diverse methodologies that are useful in working on the subject. This particular literature can be divided into three broad categories: works that deal with the Old African diaspora, works that deal with the New African diaspora and works that deal with both the Old and New African diasporas. The historiography shows that works situated in all of these three categories mainly offer competing view over three fundamental questions: why did Africans leave their "homelands" and settle elsewhere? What was the impact of this process on the societies they left? How did Africans who left their "homelands" integrate into their host societies or preserve their unique identities; or, more broadly, what was the impact of their arrival on the host society they entered? Despite the rapid strides that have been made since the 1960s in regard to addressing these questions or in regards to the scholarly study of the African diasporas in general, there is still no firm definition of the term "African diaspora." Moreover, there are still other gaps in the scholarly knowledge of the subject.


Standard test data for x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS-STD) have been developed for determining bias and random error in peak parameters derived from curve fitting in XPS. The XPS-STD are simulated C 1s spectra from spline polynomial models of measured C 1s polymer spectra. Some have a single peak, but most are doublet spectra. The doublets were created from a factorial design with three factors: peak separation, relative intensity of the component peaks, and fractional Poisson noise. These doublet spectra simulated XPS measurements made on different two-component polymer specimens. This, the second of a three-part study, focuses on bias and random errors in determining peak intensities. We report the errors in results from 20 analysts who used a variety of programs and curve-fitting approaches. Peak intensities were analyzed as a ratio of the intensity of the larger peak in a doublet to the total intensity, or as a ratio of intensities for singlet peaks in separate but related spectra. For spectra that were correctly identified as doublets, bias and random errors in peak intensities depended on the amount of separation between the component peaks and on their relative intensities. Median biases for doublets calculated on a relative, unitless scale from −1 to 1 ranged from −0.33 to 0.17, whereas random errors for doublets calculated on the same scale ranged from 0.016 to 0.18. In most cases the magnitude of the median bias exceeded the median random error. On this scale, errors of −0.33 and 0.18 corresponded to errors of factors of 4 and 2, respectively, in determinations of the relative intensities as a ratio of the larger peak in a doublet to the smaller peak. Analysts may evaluate uncertainties in their own analyses of the XPS-STD by visiting the web site http://www.acg.nist.gov/std/. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


In this paper, we present SILCA-Newton-Krylov, a new method for accurate, efficient and robust timedomain VLSI circuit simulation. Similar to SPICE, SILCA-Newton-Krylov uses time-difference and Newton-Raphson for solving nonlinear differential equations from circuit simulation. But different from SPICE, SILCA-Newton-Krylov explores a preconditioned flexible generalized minimal residual (FGMRES) method, instead of traditional LU factorization, to solve the system of linear equations in the inner iteration loop. Our key contribution is to introduce an effective and robust quasi-Newton preconditioning scheme to ensure both the robustness and efficiency of iterative methods. Quasi-Newton methods have been explored previously to reduce the number of LU factorization for circuit simulation, however, their converge rate and stability often deteriorate. In this paper, quasi-Newton methods are applied to construct the preconditioners instead of directly to construct and solve circuit equations. Specifically, a systematic method for adaptive time-step size control and a systematic method to generate piecewise weakly nonlinear (PWNL) definition of nonlinear devices are proposed to construct quasi-Newton preconditioners so that the total number of LU factorization for preconditioning is minimized during the entire time-domain simulation. With the PWNL definition, the preconditioner is kept constant if all nonlinear devices reside in their present operating PWNL regions. When nonlinear devices switch their operating PWNL regions, the low-rank update technique is applied to update the preconditioner efficiently rather than to perform new LU factorization. To reduce further the preconditioning cost, we test incomplete LU preconditioners derived from the factorized full L and U matrices, as well as incomplete LU preconditioners followed by an FGMRES preconditioner. All these techniques combined lead to a new time-domain circuit simulation method, named SILCA-Newton-Krylov, which has been implemented into SPICE3. Experimental results on a collection of analog and digital circuits have shown that SILCA-Newton-Krylov is as robust and accurate as SPICE. SILCA-Newton-Krylov is especially attractive for simulating circuits with a massive amount of parasitic RLC elements for post-layout verification. For example, for a nonlinear circuit with power/ground networks with tens of thousand elements, SILCA-Newton-Krylov is shown to yield the SPICE-like accuracy and over 20X overall CPU time speedup over SPICE3, and furthermore the speedup increases with the size of a circuit.


The UK leaving the European Union, a 'Brexit,' would have economic and political implications. One of the most profound economic impacts would be on trade—the EU is the UK's most important trade partner, with approximately half of UK total trade. A Brexit would imply looser economic integration between the UK and EU. In addition to the trade barriers that would arise from leaving the single market, there would also be negative trade policy effects. Previous analyses of the cost of a Brexit to the UK economy in terms of trade have probably underestimated the impact because they overlook the tradeenhancing role of migration. A Brexit would be likely to limit migration, which, in turn, would aggravate the exit's trade-disruptive effect.


A set $S$ of vertices in a graph $G$ is a $2$-dominating set if every vertex of $G$ not in $S$ is adjacent to at least two vertices in $S$, and $S$ is a $2$-independent set if every vertex in $S$ is adjacent to at most one vertex of $S$. The $2$-domination number $\gamma_2(G)$ is the minimum cardinality of a $2$-dominating set in $G$, and the $2$-independence number $\alpha_2(G)$ is the maximum cardinality of a $2$-independent set in $G$. Chellali and Meddah [{\it Trees with equal $2$-domination and $2$-independence numbers,} Discussiones Mathematicae Graph Theory 32 (2012), 263--270] provided a constructive characterization of trees with equal $2$-domination and $2$-independence numbers. Their characterization is in terms of global properties of a tree, and involves properties of minimum $2$-dominating and maximum $2$-independent sets in the tree at each stage of the construction. We provide a constructive characterization that relies only on local properties of the tree at each stage of the construction.


Abstract : This document describes a system designed to study the feasibility of augmenting tolerance to acceleration stress using external pressure pulsations synchronized to the electrocardiogram. The system, known as synchronized pulsating anti-gravity suit, consists of a modified G Suit, a controller and a pneumatic subsystem. The modified suit has individual bladders for calf, thigh, and abdomen with separate inlet/outlet ports. A microcomputer controls the synchronization, phasing and sequencing of pressure pulses in the bladders. Desired high and low pressures are obtained using feedback of pressure signals to a set of comparators. Solenoid valves and related circuitry regulate the flow of air in and out of the bladders. Results based on the centrifuge experiments suggest the feasibility of obtaining improved tolerance with a synchronized pulsating suit.


Some new relations for the Horn function and confluent Horn function are obtained including differentiation and integration formulas, series and values for specific choice of parameters and variables. Some generating functions for various special functions are given in terms of these Horn functions.


Soil carbon (C) is a critical component of Earth system models (ESMs), and its diverse representations are a major source of the large spread across models in the terrestrial C sink from the third to fifth assessment reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Improving soil C projections is of a high priority for Earth system modeling in the future IPCC and other assessments. To achieve this goal, we suggest that (1) model structures should reflect real‐world processes, (2) parameters should be calibrated to match model outputs with observations, and (3) external forcing variables should accurately prescribe the environmental conditions that soils experience. First, most soil C cycle models simulate C input from litter production and C release through decomposition. The latter process has traditionally been represented by first‐order decay functions, regulated primarily by temperature, moisture, litter quality, and soil texture. While this formulation well captures macroscopic soil organic C (SOC) dynamics, better understanding is needed of their underlying mechanisms as related to microbial processes, depth‐dependent environmental controls, and other processes that strongly affect soil C dynamics. Second, incomplete use of observations in model parameterization is a major cause of bias in soil C projections from ESMs. Optimal parameter calibration with both pool‐ and flux‐based data sets through data assimilation is among the highest priorities for near‐term research to reduce biases among ESMs. Third, external variables are represented inconsistently among ESMs, leading to differences in modeled soil C dynamics. We recommend the implementation of traceability analyses to identify how external variables and model parameterizations influence SOC dynamics in different ESMs. Overall, projections of the terrestrial C sink can be substantially improved when reliable data sets are available to select the most representative model structure, constrain parameters, and prescribe forcing fields.


Even though the world faces the threat of potential new epidemics like avian influenza, the effects of trade rules on public health attract little attention. Governments recently reaffirmed their commitment to meet the Millennium Development Goals which include combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other major diseases, yet little attention is given to the implications of United States Free Trade Agreements (US FTAs) with developing countries such as Thailand, for access to affordable medicines to treat those diseases. These FTAs do much more than regulate tariffs for cross-border trade in goods and services: they change the rules of intellectual property protection in ways that will undermine public health by limiting access to affordable medicines. This report seeks to draw attention to the potential effect on access to medicines of new intellectual property rights protections in US J:TAs. It is part of Oxfam's broader critique of trade rules in FTAs that have adverse effects on development and poverty. reduction. 1 Thailand is a positive example of a developing country that has created effective programs to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic, having invested in prevention and treatment early on. More than 1 million women, men, and children have contracted HIV in Thailand and more than 500,000 people have died of AIDS since the outbreak of the epidemic. Thailand's prevention efforts, which helped avoid more than 5 million new infections, are widely recognized as a success story among developing countries. Nevertheless, there are still around 20,000 new infections each year, with half of new adult infections occurring among women. By preventing a much larger epidemic, Thailand avoided much larger treatment costs. For every baht invested in prevention and treatment in the 1990s, Thailand saved 43 baht in added treatment costs. In 2000 the Ministry of Public Health created the National Access to Antiretroviral Program for People Living with HIV/AIDS (NAPHA), providing a wide range of triple-drug antiretroviral (ARV) therapy. Two years later, the Government Pharmaceutical Organization (GPO) began producing its first ARV triple drug 'cocktail' called GPO-vir for 1,200 baht ($ 31) per patient per month, compared with 18,620 baht ($ 490) for importeo, brand-name drugs. As a result of these efforts, the Thai government has been able to provide ARV drugs to increasing numbers of people who need them. The most important factor making this possible has been the government's ability to procure inexpensive generic drugs. With the introduction of GPO-vir, the HIV/AIDS treatment program was expanded more than eight-fold from 20012003 with only a 40 per cent increase in bUdget. Thanks to the availability of these generic medicines, the government is able to offer life-saving HIV/AIDS medicines to approximately 80,000 people, with plans to expand the program in coming years.


One of the major challenges for the comprehension of physiological and pathological functions regulating the cellular processes, is the elucidation of molecular mechanisms underlining protein–protein interactions.
Protein–protein interactions indeed play a key role in a variety of biological processes and are therefore important targets for the design of novel therapeutics. Unlike the design of enzyme inhibitors, the disruption of protein–protein interactions is far more challenging, due to large interfacial areas involved in protein recognition and to the relatively flat topologies of these surfaces. Nevertheless, in spite of such difficulties, there has been considerable progress in the recent years.
The purpose of this PhD thesis is the identification of small peptides acting as modulators of protein–protein interactions playing a crucial role in pathological processes, such as allergy and cancer.
Different strategies have been employed: in one case, starting from a crystallographic structure, the rational design of short polypeptides mimicking the receptor binding surface has been achieved. In a second case, potent inhibitors of a protein have been identified following an approach of screening of peptide pools generated from the protein itself.

In the first part of the study, we have dealt with de novo designed inhibitors of the IgE-FceRI interaction, one of the main target for blocking the IgE-mediated allergic reactions. We have selected several short peptides interacting with IgE with a dissociation constant in the low micromolar range but with a very high selectivity for this immunoglobulin subclass. We have evaluated their kinetic and thermodynamic properties and assessed the capacity to block the interaction of IgE with a recombinant variant of the receptor second domain. Despite the relatively low affinity, these peptides have a potential applicability as modulators of the IgE-FceRI interaction and therefore as new molecules to be developed for contrasting allergy.

In a second study, we have studied a homotypic protein-protein interaction mediated by specific α-helical domains, known as Capase Recruitment Domains (CARD). We have studied the CARD of the protein BCL10, a main regulator of the innate immune response that is a component of the CBM (CARMA1-BCL10-MALT1) protein complex, by which it promotes the activation of the NF-B transcription factor.
In this case, we have studied a very short peptide derived from the protein structure, which is able to block the protein self-interaction. The peptide has been selected by functionally ranking CARD-CARD antagonists by a binding competition assay between differently tagged recombinant domains. The antagonists have been prepared by enzymatically digesting the CARD itself and fractionating the resulting peptides. Using synthetic peptides, we have been able to identify single residues involved in CARD-CARD contacts. The peptide appears to mimic the protein binding interface and is a useful and effective inhibitor of the BCL10 activity in cellular assays.


In light of recent large revisions to the official measures of U.S. output, this update reviews the evidence in my 2010 Brookings Paper showing that the income-side estimate of output (currently called gross domestic income, or GDI) likely captures business cycle fluctuations in true output better than its better-known expenditure-side counterpart (called gross domestic product, or GDP). Most notably, over the 2007-09 downturn, the revisions moved the expenditure-side estimates closer to the income-side estimates, which showed that the downturn was considerably worse than reported initially by the expenditure-side estimates. The tendency for the expenditure-side estimates to be revised toward the income-side estimates is clearer now, as is a tendency for the smoothed income-side estimates to be revised away from the smoothed expenditure-side estimates.


An approach combining microstructural and optical modeling based on atomistic simulation results is proposed, in order to assess the performance of Nd:YAG laser ceramics resulting from luminescence and transparency changes as a function of grain size and dopant concentration. It is found that while small grain sizes enhance transparency, luminescence is reduced, resulting in a trade-off to achieve optimum laser performance. These effects are linked to ceramic production by considering different sintering routes. This improved insight into the microstructural effects of Nd:YAG ceramics on laser performance will allow a more targeted experimental optimization of this new class of laser materials.


Background: Enzyme production by solid state bioprocess (SSB) using residues as substrate for microorganisms is an alternative for costs reduction and to avoid their disposal into environment. The aim of this work was to evaluate the physiology of the fungus Lichtheimia ramosa in terms of microbial growth and production of amylases, β-glucosidases, carboxymethylcellulase (CMCase), and xylanases, via SSB, utilizing wastes of the Brazilian savannah fruits bocaiuva ( Acrocomia aculeata ), guavira ( Campomanesia pubescens ) and pequi ( Caryocar brasiliense ) as substrate at different temperatures (25, 30, and 35°C) during 168 hrs. Results: Samples were taken every 24 hrs, which resulted in 8-points kinetic experiments to determine microbiological and enzymatic contents. The best substrate for β-glucosidase activity was pequi waste after 48 hrs at 30°C (0.061 U/mL). For amylase activity, bocaiuva presented itself as the best substrate after 96 hrs at 30°C (0.925 U/mL). CMCase activity was higher in guavira waste after 96 hrs at 35°C (0.787 U/mL). However, the activity was more expressive for xylanase in substrate composed of bocaiuva residue after 144 hrs at 35°C (1.802 U/mL). Conclusions: It was concluded that best growth condition for L. ramosa is at 35°C for all substrates and that xylanase is the enzyme with more potential in SSB, considering the studied Brazilian savannah fruit wastes.


Mark Twain's unsettling imagination and passionate curiosity roamed far and wide-racing across microscopic worlds and interstellar voids, leaping ahead to fearful futures, and speculating on dazzling inventions to come. Tales of Wonder features some of the most notable but little-known science fiction available, penned by the famed American humorist and writer. With characteristic wit and acuity, Twain embarks on an epic journey into a drop of water, catches a glimpse of an invisible man, reveals a generation-starship-type world in the heart of a drifting iceberg, and imagines futuristic devices of instantaneous communication such as the "phrenophone" and "telelectroscope." Twain pioneered the use of time travel to the past in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. As for the future, he envisioned a radical utopia of absolute suffrage and future histories in which a global theocracy holds sway or a monarchy rules America. This entertaining and absorbing collection of tales reminds us that the former steamboat pilot dreamed about the stars, anticipated and dreaded the future, and above all was continually surprised and enchanted by the world around him. Mark Twain (1835-1910) was the author of such classics as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as well as many short stories, including those appearing in the recent collection, How Nancy Jackson Married Kate Wilson and Other Tales of Rebellious Girls and Daring Young Women (Nebraska 2001). David Ketterer is an emeritus professor of English at Concordia University in Montreal and an honorary research fellow in the Department of English at the University of Liverpool. He is the author of numerous books, including Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy and Imprisoned in a Tesseract: The Life and Work of James Blish.


Derived from the renowned multi-volume International Encyclopaedia of Laws, this book provides valuable practical insight into both public supervisory legislation concerning insurance and private insurance contract law in Portugal. An informative general introduction surveying the legal, political, financial, and commercial background and surroundings of insurance provides a sound foundation for the specific detail that follows. The book covers all essential aspects of the law and regulation governing insurance policies and instruments. Its detailed exposition includes examination of the form of the insurance company and its reserves and investments; the insurance contract; the legal aspects of the various branches of property and liability insurance; motor vehicle insurance schemes; life insurance, health insurance, and workmen's compensation schemes; reinsurance, co-insurance, and pooling; taxation of insurance; and risk management and prevention. Succinct yet eminently practical, the book will be a valuable resource for lawyers handling cases affecting Portugal . It will be of practical utility to those both in public service and private practice called on to develop and to apply the laws of insurance, and of special interest as a contribution to the much-needed harmonization of insurance law.


Recent research shows end-to-end ASR systems can recognize overlapped speech from multiple speakers. However, all published works have assumed no latency constraints during inference, which does not hold for most voice assistant interactions. This work focuses on multi-speaker speech recognition based on a recurrent neural network transducer (RNN-T) that has been shown to provide high recognition accuracy at a low latency online recognition regime. We investigate two approaches to multi-speaker model training of the RNN-T: deterministic output-target assignment and permutation invariant training. We show that guiding separation with speaker order labels in the former case enhances the high-level speaker tracking capability of RNN-T. Apart from that, with multi-style training on single- and multi-speaker utterances, the resulting models gain robustness against ambiguous numbers of speakers during inference. Our best model achieves a WER of 10.2% on simulated 2-speaker LibriSpeech data, which is competitive with the previously reported state-of-the-art non-streaming model (10.3%), while the proposed model could be directly applied for streaming applications.


Abstract Because of the new regulatory requirements that hazards have to be estimated in probabilistic terms, the number of probabilistic hazard studies conducted has recently been increasing. The present study aims at defining the possibilities and limits for comparing predictions from these studies and observations. Comparison tests based directly on the rate of ground-motion occurrences are favored over the rate of earthquake occurrences. Based on the properties of Poisson processes, the minimum time window ensuring reliable occurrence rate estimates at a site is computed and evaluated. For example, for ground motions with a 475-yr return period at a site, a minimal 12,000-yr observation time window is required for estimating the rate with a 20% uncertainty (coefficient of variation: standard deviation divided by the mean). These values are not dependent on the seismicity level of the regions under study. An analysis of recorded ground motions at the stations of the permanent French accelerometer network shows that at best, the occurrence rates can be estimated with an accuracy of 30% for very low acceleration levels (0.0001–0.001 g for the station STET). The same analysis, carried out at two stations with longer recording histories and located in higher seismicity regions (Greece and California), provides ground-motion levels up to 0.1 g . Therefore, the question posed is can the results of a comparison test at low acceleration levels be generalized to higher acceleration levels, even if using a ground-motion prediction equation uniformly valid for a wide range of accelerations?


We reanalyze microlensing events in the published list of anomalous events that were observed from the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE) lensing survey conducted during the 2004–2008 period. In order to check the existence of possible degenerate solutions and extract extra information, we conduct analyses based on combined data from other survey and follow-up observation and consider higher-order effects. Among the analyzed events, we present analyses of eight events for which either new solutions are identified or additional information is obtained. We find that the previous binary-source interpretations of five events are better interpreted by binary-lens models. These events include OGLE-2006-BLG-238, OGLE-2007-BLG-159, OGLE-2007-BLG-491, OGLE-2008-BLG-143, and OGLE-2008-BLG-210. With additional data covering caustic crossings, we detect finite-source effects for six events including OGLE-2006-BLG-215, OGLE-2006-BLG-238, OGLE-2006-BLG-450, OGLE-2008-BLG-143, OGLE-2008-BLG-210, and OGLE-2008-BLG-513. Among them, we are able to measure the Einstein radii of three events for which multi-band data are available. These events are OGLE-2006-BLG-238, OGLE-2008-BLG-210, and OGLE-2008-BLG-513. For OGLE-2008-BLG-143, we detect higher-order effects induced by the changes of the observer's position caused by the orbital motion of the Earth around the Sun. In addition, we present degenerate solutions resulting from the known close/wide or ecliptic degeneracy. Finally, we note that the masses of the binary companions of the lenses of OGLE-2006-BLG-450 and OGLE-2008-BLG-210 are in the brown-dwarf regime.


In India, monitoring and surveillance of health and well-being indicators have been focused primarily on the state and district levels. Analysing population data at the level of parliamentary constituencies has the potential to bring political accountability to the data-driven policy discourse that is currently based on district-level estimates. Using data from the fourth National Family Health Survey 2016, two geographic information systems methodologies have been developed and applied to provide estimates of four child malnutrition indicators (stunting, underweight, wasting, and anemia) for the 543 parliamentary constituencies in India. The results indicate that several constituencies experience a multiple burden of child malnutrition that must be addressed concurrently and as a priority.


Cognitive theories on reading propose that the characteristics of written stimuli determine how they are processed in the brain. However, whether the brain distinguishes between regular words, irregular words, and pseudowords already at an early stage of the reading process is still subject to debate. Here we used chronometric TMS to address this issue. During the first 140 msec of regular word, irregular word, and pseudoword reading, TMS was used to disrupt the function of the ventral occipitotemporal, posterior middle temporal, and supramarginal gyri, which are key areas involved in orthographic, semantic, and phonological processing, respectively. Early TMS stimulation delivered on posterior middle temporal and supramarginal gyri affected regular and irregular word, but not pseudoword, reading. In contrast, ventral occipitotemporal disruption affected both word and pseudoword reading. We thus found evidence for an early distinction between word and pseudoword processing in the semantic and phonological systems, but not in the orthographic system.


The present study aimed to investigate the individual and combined effect of mono-sodium glutamate (MSG) and aspartame (ASM) on biochemical, blood parameters and neuro-behavioral aspects of mice. The results indicated that exposure induced many changes in fear and anxiety behavior. The non-social and social behavior of the exposed mice was significantly affected, showing an increase in the former and a decrease in the later stages, respectively. The elements of social behavior including attack, numbers of fights and bites, naso-nasal and naso-genital contacts were decreased significantly. The latencies to threat and attack and first bite were increased significantly. Locomotor activity and neuromuscular coordination (grip strength) were decreased in treated animals as compared to the control group. There was a significant decrease in the red blood cell count, packed cell volume, hemoglobin concentration, white blood cell count platelets count and testosterone hormone in the treated males. The activity of acetylcholinesterase enzyme decreased as compared to the control. In conclusion, the current study indicated that exposure to food additives MSA and ASM was dangerous to mice in relation to behavior and biochemical analysis. In addition, these food additives need more scientific researches to investigate their effect on other parameters. Key words : Mono-sodium glutamate, mono-sodium aspartame, fear and anxiety, locomotory behavior, grip strength, acetylcholinesterase.


Wang, S. 2019. Probing Catalytic Reaction Mechanisms of Biomimetic Diiron Complexes through Time-resolved Absorption Spectroscopy. Digital Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Science and Technology 1787. 78 pp. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. ISBN 978-91-513-0610-0. Directed design of improved molecular catalysts for hydrogen evolution reactions relies on rational benchmarking based on a detailed understanding about the mechanism of catalysis. Specifically, investigation of multi-electron redox catalysis, with structural characterization of catalytic intermediates, combined with the kinetics of their transformations, can reveal the ratelimiting step of the overall reaction, possible degradation pathways and the function of structural motives. However, direct spectroscopic observation of catalytic intermediates is in most cases not available due to the rapid turnover of efficient catalysts. In this thesis, time-resolved absorption spectroscopy with UV-Vis and mid-IR detection was used to identify catalytic reaction intermediates and account for kinetics relevant to elementary reactions steps of H2 formation on a nanosecond to second time scale. For a class of FeFe (SR-S)(CO)6-n(PMe3)n complexes (R = propyl, benzyl or azapropyl), inspired by the active site of FeFe-hydrogenase, the key intermediates formed in different catalytic pathways have been characterized. These complexes typically feature very similar coordination geometry, but show different structural rearrangements upon reduction. This could be applied to rationalize their differences in protonation dynamics. Protonation kinetics of singly reduced species, forming a bridging hydride, indicate a direct proton transfer step in the FeFe state, in contrast to that of the neutral complex (FeFe state) with phosphine ligands (PMe3) in which the hydride formation is likely mediated by one of the CO-ligands, as had been proposed. In catalysis of FeFe-hydrogenase, the amine function of the bridgehead is known to assist enzymatic H2 formation by proton shuttling. The same role in catalysis by the synthetic diiron complex with the azapropyl bridgehead had been proposed. However, our results show that for the synthetic complex, the aza-group has no role as a proton shuttle in the hydride formation in the FeFe state. Instead, the effect of nitrogen protonation is to lower the catalyst overpotential, without substantially slowing down the hydride formation with external protons. The amine acting as a proton shuttle in the hydride formation could be expected in the FeFe level. However, slower second reduction of FeFe (S-azapropyl-S)(CO)6 complex impedes observation of the doubly reduced species under the catalytic conditions. For the benzyldithiolate complex, on the other hand, the rigid and unsaturated bridging ligand generally leads to less negative potentials and prevent the reduced forms from rapid degradation. This allows characterization of the later intermediates of the catalytic processes, and to obtain direct kinetic information on the turnover step.


A bodipy-C70 dyad was synthesized and applied in triplet-triplet annihilation (TTA) upconversion of perylene as a novel metal-free organic photosensitizer. The photophysical processes were investigated by the methods of steady-state UV-Vis absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy, nanosecond time-resolved transient absorption spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, and density functional theory calculations. The bodipy-C70 dyad showed an increased molar extinction coefficient up to 82 300 mol-1 cm-1 at 518 nm compared with the C70 monomer. With photo-excitation of the bodipy moiety at 532 nm, the intramolecular singlet-singlet energy transfer between bodipy and C70 units was efficient with a quantum yield of nearly 100%, and the lowest triplet state of the dyad was subsequently populated via ISC of the C70 moiety, with a lifetime of ca. 80 μs in toluene. Electrochemical investigation suggested that the intramolecular electron transfer of the excited dyad was thermodynamically prohibited in toluene due to the positive ΔGCS for charge-separation. With the presence of perylene in solution as the triplet energy acceptor and emitter, the TTA upconverted fluorescence was observed with a maximum quantum yield of 10.3%. The overall upconversion capability of 4417 M-1 cm-1 exceeded that of C70 approximately two-fold. Moreover, the bodipy-C70 dyad also exhibited an enhanced optical stability under intense irradiation. All data indicated that the dyad was another ideal photosensitizer for TTA upconversion of perylene in the fullerene derivative family.


The intermediate filament (nanofilament) protein nestin is a marker of neural stem cells, but its role in neurogenesis, including adult neurogenesis, remains unclear. Here, we investigated the role of nestin in neurogenesis in adult nestin-deficient (Nes-/-) mice. We found that the proliferation of Nes-/- neural stem cells was not altered, but neurogenesis in the hippocampal dentate gyrus of Nes-/- mice was increased. Surprisingly, the proneurogenic effect of nestin deficiency was mediated by its function in the astrocyte niche. Through its role in Notch signaling from astrocytes to neural stem cells, nestin negatively regulates neuronal differentiation and survival; however, its expression in neural stem cells is not required for normal neurogenesis. In behavioral studies, nestin deficiency in mice did not affect associative learning but was associated with impaired long-term memory.


The rationale of this thesis stems from the argument that intercultural skills and knowledge are indispensable to the process of internationalizing Higher Education in Taiwan, which is a primary goal set by the Taiwanese government. This thesis seeks to investigate how the integration of cultural studies with English as a Foreign Language syllabus can provide Taiwanese university students with opportunities to enter an 'inter' space where they cross linguistic and cultural boundaries, and where they are able to engage in cross cultural dialogue. It presents both theoretical and practical components of a potential culturally based university English course. The theoretical concept of the "third space", as described by Bhabha and Kramsch and others, is a crucial dimension in the intercultural classroom in which students can reinterpret Otherness and their own culture. This thesis also explores how a cultural syllabus that includes essential elements of cultural studies and that utilizes generally available materials and topics, with appropriate instructional approaches, can be interwoven into the English language classroom and provide students with opportunities to critically voice their own opinions.

Data were collected during a five-month study among first year university students in a medical university in Taiwan. Quantitative and qualitative data together provide evidence to determine a necessity for intercultural competence in the language classroom, and possible ways it can be developed or enhanced. The evidence indicates that given appropriate opportunities, students are willing to deepen their sociocultural knowledge of Self and Other and at the same time improve their language skills.

This thesis offers a perspective that differs from the traditional four skills English education that presently dominates education in Taiwan. It concludes by recommending including an intercultural syllabus in EFL classrooms at the tertiary level and with implications for university and national educational policies and practices, and includes recommendations for future research.


Introduced in the early 1990s, translation memory (TM) tools have since become widely used as an aid to human translation based on commonly‐held assumptions that they save time, reduce cost, and maximise consistency. The purpose of this research is twofold: it aims to develop a method for measuring consistency in TMs; and it aims to use this method to interrogate selected TMs from the localisation industry in order to find out whether the use of TM tools does, in fact, promote consistency in translation. The research uses an explanatory, sequential mixed‐methods approach. Following a pilot study, the first phase of the research involved a quantitative study of two English‐to‐German and two English‐to‐Japanese TMs. Inconsistencies found in these TMs were categorised and counted. The research found inconsistencies of letter case, spacing, and punctuation in source texts, and inconsistent terminology, formatting, and punctuation in target texts despite the restrictive nature of TM tools.

In a follow‐on qualitative phase, thirteen interviews were conducted with translators and others from the localisation industry with experience of TMs. Interviewees believed inconsistency to be a problem in translations completed using TM tools and confirmed that the findings from the quantitative phase corresponded with their experiences. Furthermore, they expressed their frustration with recent developments in TM tool functionality that, they say, do not address their needs and concerns. The thesis collates interviewees' procedures for minimising inconsistency in TMs and suggests changes to the functionality of TM tools that may improve consistency and prove beneficial to translation professionals.


The study aimed at establishing the professional qualifications of teachers educating learners with learning disabilities. It also intended to investigate whether teachers in regular public schools are able to identify and assess learners with learning disabilities. Another aim was to establish the teaching, learning strategies and materials used by teachers when educating learners with LD. Finally, the study intended to find out whether there were collaborative structures and support that have been put in place in schools to help learners with LD. The study adopted both qualitative and quantitative research approaches where mixed methods design was used to collect and analyze data from headteachers, teachers and learners. The study embarked on interviews for headteachers by use of structured interview schedule, semi-structured questionnaires for teachers and finally a lesson observation schedule for learners with LD and materials utilized in classroom. The study was conducted in Thika West District, Juja zone. Purposive sampling was used to select the district, schools, classes 1-4, headteachers and teachers. Learners with learning disabilities were randomly selected after being identified through the use of an identification tool containing characteristics of LD. Identification was done four weeks prior to the study. The sample size comprised 4 headteachers, 32 teachers and 64 learners making a total of 100 respondents. Data collected were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Quantitative data from the questionnaires for teachers and observation schedule for the learners and materials were analyzed using statistical package of social sciences (SPSS). Data collected using an interview schedule and open-ended questions from questionnaires were analyzed qualitatively. The results were obtained and presented based on the objectives and questions formulated for the study. The study found that all teachers had professional qualifications to teach classes 1-4 but majority had not specialized in the area of LD. However, though headteachers had special education training, there was no evidence of support of LD. None of the headteachers had started an LD programme in their respective schools. The study also found that though teachers claimed to have knowledge of identifying learners with LD, they did not have any identification tool in class. The study also found out that the teachers used a variety of teaching methods but they experienced difficulties helping the learners. In collaboration, the study found out that teachers worked together in identification, instructing and assessing learners with LD among other areas but needed more training to enhance their skills in collaboration. The study concluded that inadequate knowledge for identification of LD and failure to use an identification tool in class could be the possible reason why teaching and learning strategies used by teachers could not work. This is because individual learners with LD were not identified and the skills deficit were also not identified hence appropriate intervention not done. The study recommended that the Ministry of Education facilitate workshops and in-service training for teachers to enable them acquire modern teaching and learning methods. KIE to ensure that standardized identification and assessment tools and modified teaching materials are developed. Finally, pullout programms initiated in schools so that learners with specific learning difficulties can be assisted by the resource teacher and joins the rest in class.


Present study demonstrated the isolation of most promising β-galactosidase producing bacterial strain SB from soil. Morphological, biochemical, and 16s rRNA sequence analysis identifi ed the bacterial strain as Arthrobacter oxydans. Several chemicals, including SDS, Triton X-100, Tween 20, isoamyl alcohol, and toluene-acetone mixture, were applied for extraction of intracellular β-galactosidase from the bacterial strain Arthrobacter oxydans. Among these, Tween 20 was recorded to be most effective. Role of pH, temperature, and shaker speed on production of β-galactosidase was evaluated using Box-Behnken design of response surface methodology. According to BoxBehnken analysis, optimum production of β-galactosidase (21.38 U (mg–1 protein)) is predicted at pH 6.76, temperature 36.1 °C, and shaker speed 121.37 r.p.m. The parameters are validated with the nearest value.


This article proposes the concept of digital heuristics to model and explain political communication strategies in the complex environment of hybrid media systems. Insights from recent psychological and political research on heuristic decision-making are combined with literature on the current structural context and features of online communication in order to make the case for a heuristics-oriented approach to political communication strategies. I argue that despite the growing importance of data analytics, in increasingly dynamic and uncertain communication environments, political actors mainly design their strategies according to simple rules (heuristics) that rely on selective information (as well as trial and error) rather than to complex models. Analyzing interviews with communication managers from major political parties in Germany and the United Kingdom, I identify and conceptualize two types of digital heuristics in use: hybridity-based and algorithm-based. The article concludes with considerations for a future research agenda using the concept of digital heuristics.


The ubiquitous nature of e-commerce in developing countries demands an innovative conceptualisation of its adoption and post-adoption that responds to various contextual circumstances. Despite efforts made to investigate e-commerce adoption in developing countries, the literature suggests that the focus is mostly on a single perspective of a single adoption stage and concentrates on specific locations. To extend our understanding of the phenomenon, an exploratory phase is undertaken through a literature review as well as an exploratory investigation. Consequently, a holistic framework is integrated that includes organisational and environmental factors, in addition to innovation attributes.
The framework is empirically validated using a statistically representative sample size of 384 enterprises of various sizes and industries in a high-income developing country from a poorly investigated region. The empirical analysis shows that perceived benefits as well as mimetic pressure are more influential for the adoption of e-commerce and scope of use than the utilisation amongst adopter organisations. In addition to coercive pressure, the readiness of financial institutions, IT industry and the government affect the scope of e-commerce use. For adopter firms, the extent of e-commerce adoption is influenced by business process readiness, government readiness and security. Commitment, especially from top managers, is a key determinant that links e-commerce adoption to the extent of adoption and the scope of e-commerce use. The findings indicate that the proposed models are sufficiently reliable in discriminating not only adopters from non-adopters, but also the extent of adoption and use across the value chain.
Together, this research offers a multi-perspective framework of e-commerce adoption and post-adoption in high-income developing countries and identifies the factors that affect e-commerce adoption, and how these effects vary across adoption stages. It presents insight into various issues that influence e-commerce adoption and post-adoption in this little-explored region, which will be of interest to researchers, practitioners and policy makers.


Abstract The essentials of the Relevant Issue Gravity (RIG) theoretical framework for explaining the Comparison Question Test (CQT) (Ginton, 2009), is presented here in a detailed outline format. It is based on the notion that examinees who lie on the test in the relevant questions are attached psychologically to the relevant issue in a different way than the truth-tellers. An essential difference is the strength by which the suspect's attention is directed, focused, and bound to the relevant issue. These aspects of attention in the context of polygraph examinations are coined, Relevant Issue Gravity (RIG) Strength. The RIG strength is assumed to distribute differently between the liars and the truth-tellers. There is reason to believe that liars hold a stronger RIG compared to the truthful subjects, and eventually, that affects the differential reactivity to the relevant vs. comparison questions. The following describes the rationale behind the RIG concept, some supporting data, and the theoretical as well as practical implications.


Abstract Objective: To test the assumptions concerning the compensation of middle ear pressure (MEP) in using peak Ytm and the tympanogram asymmetry phenomenon, and to address the variability and reliability of 226 Hz tympanometry under negative MEP. Design: (1) Repeated measures in normal ears with experimentally-induced negative MEP; (2) Retrospective analysis of clinical data from ears with negative MEP. Study sample: Experimental data: 57 adult ears. Clinical data: 200 adult ears. Results: Mean peak Ytm significantly increased (˜ 0.10 mmhos) under negative MEPs (> − 190 daPa). TW increased, up to ˜50 daPa, for MEP ≤ − 130 daPa. Vea decreased when MEP ≤ − 190 daPa. With increasing negative MEP, peak Ytm and tympanogram gradient tended to decrease. The within-subject variation of all measures and difference between normal and negative MEP were small. Conclusions: The tympanometry procedure increases peak Ytm in ears with low to moderate negative MEP, and decreases gradient and Vea with high negative MEP. This is referred to as hypercorrection of the admittance and should be accounted for in clinical norms. Results imply that tympanogram asymmetry is due to divergent effects of air pressure on the middle ear. The variability of tympanometry does not increase and reliability not decrease under negative MEP.


In order to perform successful diagnosis and treatment of cancer, discovering, and classifying cancer types correctly is essential. One of the challenging properties of class discovery from cancer data sets is that cancer gene expression profiles not only include a large number of genes, but also contains a lot of noisy genes. In order to reduce the effect of noisy genes in cancer gene expression profiles, we propose two new consensus clustering frameworks, named as triple spectral clustering-based consensus clustering (SC3) and double spectral clustering-based consensus clustering (SC2Ncut) in this paper, for cancer discovery from gene expression profiles. SC3 integrates the spectral clustering (SC) algorithm multiple times into the ensemble framework to process gene expression profiles. Specifically, spectral clustering is applied to perform clustering on the gene dimension and the cancer sample dimension, and also used as the consensus function to partition the consensus matrix constructed from multiple clustering solutions.Compared with SC3, SC2Ncut adopts the normalized cut algorithm, instead of spectral clustering, as the consensus function.Experiments on both synthetic data sets and real cancer gene expression profiles illustrate that the proposed approaches not only achieve good performance on gene expression profiles, but also outperforms most of the existing approaches in the process of class discovery from these profiles.


In order to elucidate the emission properties of ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) during their power-law (PL) state, we examined long-term X-ray spectral data of IC 342 X-1 during its PL state by using our own Suzaku data and archival data by XMM-Newton, Chandra, and Swift observations. The PL state of this source seems to be classified into two sub-states in terms of the X-ray luminosities in the 0.5–10 keV band: the low-luminosity PL state with (4–6) � 10 39 erg s � 1 and the high-luminosity one with (1.1–1.4) � 10 40 erg s � 1 . During Suzaku observations, which were made in 2010 August and 2011 March, X-1 stayed in the low-luminosity PL state. The observed X-ray luminosity (4.9–5.6 � 10 39 erg s � 1 ) and the spectral shape (photon index = 1.67–1.83) slightly changed between the two observations. Using the Suzaku PIN detector, we for the first time confirmed a PL tail extending up to at least 20 keV with no signatures of a high-energy turnover in both of the Suzaku observations. In contrast, a turnover at about 6 keV was observed during the high-luminosity PL state in 2004 and 2005 with XMM-Newton. Importantly, the photon indices are similar between the two PL states, and so are the Compton y-parameters of y � 1, which indicates a similar energy balance (between the corona and the accretion disk) holding in the two PL states despite different electron temperatures. From spectral similarities with recent studies about other ULXs, and the Galactic black-hole binary GRS 1915+105, IC 342 X-1 is also likely to be in a state with a supercritical accretion rate, although more sensitive higher energy observations would be necessary to make any conclusion.


The origins of variability in positive single-stranded RNA Flaviviruses is poorly understood. Is the origin of the high rate of spontaneous mutations arising early in Flavivirus infections due solely to error-prone viral replication? Alternatively, are these mutations due to viral replicase incorporation of high frequency RNA deamination editing events? The data analyzed here strongly supports the second explanation. The viral genomes analysed include: a) acute phase Zika virus (ZIKV) genomes associated with microcephaly; b) hepatitis C virus (HCV) genomes from both acute and chronic infected hepatitis patients; and c) hepatitis B virus (HBV) genomes of patients infected from the early/acute phase of a large nosocomial outbreak. RNA mutations at motifs for APOBEC and ADAR deaminases were analyzed within the codon context structure, used previously for targeted somatic mutation (TSM) analyses of cancer exomes. The results show that transition mutations targeting MC3 nucleotide sites (ie. the third nucleotide position within the structure of the Mutated Codon read 5' to 3'), and within known RNA editing motifs for APOBEC1, APOBEC3A and ADAR1/2 account for the majority of the mutations for ZIKV, HCV, as well as for HBV. The results also imply that drug therapy strategies might profitably focus on the RNA-based secondary structure of potential "druggable pockets" within apparently conserved regions of amino acid sequence within variant viral strains.  Such sites could encode subtle changes in RNA secondary structures as potential vulnerable target regions in pathogenic variants. For ZIKV, such sites could include the hypermutable MC3-deaminase targeted sites.


Many urban foresters have recognized the need to incorporate climate change considerations into urban forest management, but often lack the specialized training or knowledge to explicitly address this in their planning and practices. This document describes a framework we developed and piloted in the Chicago region to assess the vulnerability of urban forests and incorporate that information into on-the-ground actions. We describe the three steps used to implement this project and the lessons learned from this process.


This study investigated the relationship between teaching L2 semantic tasks (collocation vs. definition) in vocabulary achievement of Iranian intermediate English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. To this end, 60 students at intermediate level studying in the Simin Institute were selected from a total number of 100 participants based on their performance on Oxford Placement Test (OPT). After ensuring the criterion of homogeneity, they were randomly assigned to two experimental and one control group each comprising 20 participants. Before starting the treatment, a pretest was administered to find out learners' vocabulary knowledge. Then the experimental groups were instructed to use collocation and definition in vocabulary learning for 5 sessions while the control group received no treatment. After the end of the treatment, the same pre-test was administered to all groups as a post-test. Analysis of the results of three paired sample T-test and a one way ANOVA showed that the experimental group that received collocation task outperformed the other two groups (control group and second experimental group) in the post-test. It was concluded that teaching collocation task had a positive effect on learners' vocabulary knowledge.


During the second half of 2008, the United States financial markets, and eventually all major world markets, were devastated by the aftermath of unethical lending practices by major lending institutions. These bad loans were made at the height of a real estate bubble in the United States. Aggressive lenders engaged in loans called "sub-prime mortgages." These mortgages were extremely high risk and most of them violated traditional underwriting standards for the industry. Prudence and ethics were pushed aside as greed overcame good judgment among mortgage lenders nationwide. The problem was exacerbated by the packaging, and leveraging, of these loans by Wall Street financial companies. These companies leveraged these bad loans, and sold them to unsuspecting buyers as bundled investments in the secondary markets. When the overheated United States real estate market finally began a severe and protracted correction of fair market values due to these bad sub-prime loans made to questionable borrowers, not only did the real estate markets collapse but it resulted in a domino effect causing the collapse of major banks and a precipitous and protracted market drop in stock values, financial companies, insurers, and eventually the biggest financial crisis since the great depression. This paper will review the 2008 collapse, and evaluate the questionable practices among the various corporate and financial participants that caused a worldwide collapse of shareholder values. This paper will also explore and review the United States government's various attempts to solve this great crisis including what proper ethical and legal safeguards are being considered to prevent a repeat of this disaster in the future.


Recommender systems are software applications that help users to find items of interest in situations of information overload. Current research often assumes a one-shot interaction paradigm, where the users' preferences are estimated based on past observed behavior and where the presentation of a ranked list of suggestions is the main, one-directional form of user interaction. Conversational recommender systems (CRS) take a different approach and support a richer set of interactions. These interactions can, for example, help to improve the preference elicitation process or allow the user to ask questions about the recommendations and to give feedback. The interest in CRS has significantly increased in the past few years. This development is mainly due to the significant progress in the area of natural language processing, the emergence of new voice-controlled home assistants, and the increased use of chatbot technology. With this article, we provide a detailed survey of existing approaches to conversational recommendation. We categorize these approaches in various dimensions, e.g., in terms of the supported user intents or the knowledge they use in the background. Moreover, we discuss technological approaches, review how CRS are evaluated, and finally identify a number of gaps that deserve more research in the future.


Human brain is two hemispheres filled with secrets. What happens in the brain has always a research source and mystery for human. Some researchers associating human behaviors with the subconscious reported that if they reached to subconscious they could make the human demonstrate the desired behaviors. Researchers thinking like that have become the essential advisors for the advertisement sector trying to direct people to consumption especially. While the advertisement sector tries to make people buy things that don't need it also brought new concepts in the science world. The most known and emphasized one are subliminal messages. The purpose of this study is to examine use of subliminal messages for education from the point of view of students Computer and Instructional Technologies Education (CEIT). Since subliminal messages are dealt in terms of information technologies generally, opinions of CEIT senior class students dominating this field were referred. Interview technique one of the qualitative research methods was used in the study. In this study 42 students participated in the research. According to findings of the study, CEIT students expressed an opinion that subliminal messages could be beneficial for the education. It was found out that the most preferred method for education materials to be prepared is cartoon for students. It was expressed that 25. square technique was the most proper method as the subliminal method.


Background: Cell proliferation occurs not only in normal but also in cancer cells. Most of cell proliferation inhibition can be done by inhibiting the DNA synthesis, notably by intervening the formation of purine or pyrimidine. In purine de novo synthesis, it was assumed that biotin plays a role as a coenzyme in carboxylation reaction, one of the pivotal steps in the purine de novo pathways. The aim of this study was to see the avidin potency to bind biotin and inhibit mitosis. Methods: Peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) was cultured in RPMI-1640 medium and stimulated by phytohemagglutinin (PHA) in the presence or absence of interleukin-2 (IL-2), with or without avidin. The effect of avidin addition was observed at 24, 48, and 72 hours for cell proliferation, viability, and cell cycle. Statistical analysis was done by one-way ANOVA. Results: Avidin inhibited cell proliferation and viability in culture under stimulation by PHA with and without IL-2. Cell cycle analysis showed that avidin arrested the progression of PBMC after 72 hours of culture. Most cells were found in G0/G1 phase. Conclusion: Inhibition of biotin utilization by avidin binding can halt cell proliferation.