Background— Non–ST-segment–elevation myocardial infarction patients on home warfarin pose treatment concerns because of their potential increased risk of bleeding. Expert opinion from the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association guidelines suggest holding anticoagulants and initiating antiplatelet therapy among therapeutically anticoagulated non–ST-segment–elevation myocardial infarction patients. Yet, little is known about contemporary treatment patterns and bleeding risks in this population. Methods and Results— We stratified 5787 non–ST-segment–elevation myocardial infarction patients on home warfarin therapy using data from the National Cardiovascular Data Registry Acute Coronary Treatment and Intervention Outcomes Network Registry–Get With the Guidelines by admission international normalized ratio (INR) levels: subtherapeutic (INR <2), therapeutic (INR, 2–3), and supratherapeutic (INR >3). Multivariable logistic generalized estimating equations models were constructed to examine the associations between admission INR level, early antithrombotic treatment and invasive therapy, and risk of in-hospital major bleeding. Among these patients, 46%, 35%, and 19% had subtherapeutic, therapeutic, and supratherapeutic admission INR levels, respectively. Risk of major bleeding was higher among patients with therapeutic (15%; adjusted odds ratio, 1.25; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.03–1.50) and supratherapeutic (22%; odds ratio, 1.60; 95% CI, 1.30–1.97) anticoagulation compared with the subtherapeutic group (12%). Among patients with admission INR ≥2, 45% were treated with early (within 24 hours) heparin, 35% with early clopidogrel, 14% with early glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitor, and 36% with early invasive strategy. Early antithrombotic treatment was associated with increased bleeding risk (odds ratio, 1.40 [95% CI, 1.14–1.72] for heparin; 1.50 [95% CI, 1.22–1.84] for clopidogrel; and 1.82 [95% CI, 1.43–2.32] for glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitor); however, an early invasive strategy was not (odds ratio, 1.09; 95% CI, 0.86–1.37). No significant interactions were observed between INR level and use of each early treatment in its association with bleeding. Conclusions— National patterns of early antithrombotic treatment for non–ST-segment–elevation myocardial infarction patients on home warfarin diverge from expert opinion provided by current practice guidelines. Early antithrombotic treatment was associated with increased bleeding risk regardless of admission INR level.


A photonic nanojet (PNJ) corresponds to the specific highly localized spatial region of electromagnetic near-field distribution in the vicinity of a transparent micrometer-sized particle illuminated by a light wave. Here we consider dielectric spherical composite particles consisting of a core and several concentric shells having different refractive indices. The longitudinal and latitudinal sizes of a PNJ and its peak intensity depending on the optical contrast variation of shells are numerically investigated. We show that by properly changing the refractive indices of neighboring shells, it is possible to manipulate the PNJ shape and, in particular, extend its longitudinal size or increase its peak intensity.


Four ycars of data from a hiyh-density n~arine turtle nesting hcach at John D. MacArthur Beach Statc Park, Florida wcrc examined along with data on raccoon (Procyon lotor.) ruad-kills from adjaccnt roads, and data on park attendance (as an index of local traffic) to make infcrcnces about raccoon activity patterns relative to turtle ncsting. Raccoon road-kills were found Lo diminish subsiantially during turtle nesting, even though local traffic was constant or increasing. Opossums (Didelphis virginiana). the only other maminal consistcntly foluid as road-kills, did not show a decrease during ti~rtle nesting season, but they are not known as a primary predator of turtle nests. We concluded that duriny turtlc nestiny raccoons are drawn to the beach to prey on the abundant food resource of turtle eggs, and they do not leave the beach until the end of turtle nesting season. High nu~nbcrs of raccoon road-kills during the fall-wintcr, followed by a decrease in the spring around the start of turtle nesting season, might be ured as indicators to initiate management actions to protect turtle nests. Ker worris: End'mgeredspecies conrrrvatiun: Flori


The complex networks of life are driven by the action of microbes, simultaneously synthesizing and consuming, moving metabolites and energy with relentless, tireless efficiency. Communities of microbes are deeply interdependent, and every bacterial species depends on one or more other species for survival. The consequences of this interdependence are profound, making cooperation and collaboration at least as important as competition in the shaping of bacterial communities. The ability to synthesize a toxic protein raises some vexing challenges not only for the target cells but for the producers themselves. How, after all, can a producer strain keep from becoming the victim of its own lethal weapon? It is because that the producing cell also synthesizes an immunity protein that binds tightly to the killing domain of the bacteriocin, rendering it temporarily inactive. This safety catch will remain on until the bacteriocin is safely inside its intended target cell. The delicate balance between producer cells and target cells plays out in a surprising minuet that has been likened to the childhood game of rock-paper-scissors. A bacteriocin-producing strain emerges and acts as "paper" in our game, defeating the sensitive strain as "paper" covers "rock." Eventually, no sensitive cells survive, and only bacteriocin producers rule. But the emergence of a resistant strain from within the producer population plays the role of "scissors." Little by little, the population shifts from bacteriocin producers to resistant cells: scissors beats paper. Yet in the absence of producers, the cost of resistance is high and the benefits nonexistent.


PURPOSE
To investigate the mechanism of the neuroprotective effects of the angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT1-R) blocker against retinal ischemia-reperfusion injury in the rat.

METHODS
Retinal ischemia was induced by increasing intraocular pressure. Glutamate release from the rat retina and intravitreal PO(2) (partial pressure of oxygen) profiles were monitored during and after ischemia using a microdialysis biosensor and oxygen-sensitive microelectrodes. ELISA was used to measure changes in the expression of AT1-R. Retinal mRNA expressions of p47phox and p67phox were measured by real-time polymerase chain reaction. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) were measured using dihydroethidium.

RESULTS
Administration of candesartan, which is an AT1-R blocker (ARB), suppressed ischemia-induced increases in the extracellular glutamate. Candesartan also attenuated the increase in intravitreal PO(2) during reperfusion. AT1-R expression peaked at 12 hours after reperfusion. Although there was an increase in the retinal mRNA expression of p47phox and p64phox at 12 hours after the reperfusion, administration of candesartan suppressed these expressions. The production of ROS that was detected at 12 hours after reperfusion was also suppressed by the administration of candesartan or apocynin.

CONCLUSIONS
NADPH oxidase-mediated ROS production increased at 12 hours after reperfusion. Candesartan may protect neurons by decreasing extracellular glutamate immediately after reperfusion and by attenuating oxidative stress via a modulation of the AT1-R signaling that occurs during ischemic insult.


This paper critically analyses the law on arbitrability of claims relating to fraud in India. Specifically, it comments on the case of N. Radhakrishnan v. Maestro Engineers and Ors. (MANU/SC/1758/2009) wherein the Supreme Court was of the opinion that where a dispute concerns serious allegations pertaining to fraud, such dispute cannot be referred to arbitration because of two reasons. One, proof of fraud and criminal misappropriation involved elaborate production of evidence and such a situation can not be properly gone into by the Arbitrator. Two, the party against whom allegations of fraud are made has the right to be cleared of the allegations in public, and not before a private arbitrator.


Catalytic monolith reactors have numerous applications in industrial processes and as technical devices, so the focus is set specially on automotive catalytic converters. The present work aimed to study the experimental performance of monolith reactor on the oxidation and reducti on of exhaust gas (NO, CO, and HC ) which emitted from gasoline generator. Commercial and modified commercial ceramic monolith catalyst was used in the present work. The modified commercial catalyst was obtained by loaded Pd metal . A laboratory unit was constructed for this purpose where a versatile stainless steel monolith reactor of 0.02 m inside diameter and 0.2 m height was used.The catalytic performance of the catalysts was studied in the following operating conditions, in a bor der range of gas space velocity(17.69 – 44.23s -1) , reaction temperature(373 – 673 K), bed length( 0.075 – 0.15 m) and at atmospheric pressure and constant air/fuel ratio (14.6). The results show t hat the conversion of NO, CO and HC are slightly changed with the bed length . The conversion of exhaust gas reactant enhances in presence of water, increases with the increasing reaction temperature and decreases with increasing gas space velocity. Monolithic catalyst which loaded with 0.4% Pd gives high conversion compared with an commercial catalyst (unloaded) for the HC oxidation reaction more than CO oxidation and NO reduction.


Mental Health Law Canadian Mental Health Law and Policy: Second Edition John E Gray, Margaret A Shone, Peter F Liddle. Markham (ON): LexisNexis Canada Ine; 2008. 490 p. Can$ 165.00 Reviewer rating: Good This book is the second edition of a book that was highly regarded when first published in 2000. It is a comprehensive review and analysis of mental health legislation in Canada updated to reflect the many changes that have occurred in the intervening years. All the major issues in the framing of mental health legislation are discussed, and for the most part it is balanced and dispassionate, in an area that has been prone to much polarization and political wrangling. This book deals with all aspects of the law and mental disorder. It is comprehensive and scholarly, with copious references and appendices. The 3 authors are, respectively, a psychologist with experience in hospital management, a lawyer with long experience in mental health law, and a psychiatrist with forensic experience and much practical clinical knowledge. The first 4 chapters describe the current mental health legislation in Canada with its recent history and the psychiatric classification of mental disorders and their modern treatment - all primarily from a legal perspective. The next 5 chapters discuss issues that have been controversial in the past 5 decades, and that successive revisions to the legislation have tried to address. These include criteria and procedures for involuntary admission, psychiatric treatment authorization and refusal including consent and capacity, assisted community treatment, and rights and safeguards for patients, including those contained in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Chapter 1 0 discusses mandated services and attempts to develop Comprehensive Mental Health Legislation (CMHL) on a national level. Chapter 1 1 discusses mental disorder and the Criminal Code of Canada. Chapter 12 sums up the arguments made earlier and makes recommendations for a national approach to CMHL. They assert that there is at least some level of agreement about criteria for involuntary admission, rights, and safeguards for patients, and increasing recognition of the need for assertive community treatment. Areas of disagreement include the authorization of treatment in people who meet the criteria for involuntary admission but give competent refusal to all treatment. This is an issue that has remained very controversial and which different jurisdictions in Canada have handled differently. The civil libertarian view is that imposing treatment on an involuntary patient who does not or cannot give consent is an abuse of human rights. There have been several well-known court cases on this issue. Often the courts have decided in favour of authorizing treatment but sometimes they have not. In either case, the protracted process has meant that these people remain incarcerated for long periods without the treatment that would shorten their period of illness. …


This article is the first scholarly examination of Missouri's unusual juvenile court structure: Missouri law charges a "juvenile officer" with exclusive authority to determine which child welfare or delinquency cases to file and what to charge in each case. The juvenile officer is hired and supervised by juvenile court judges, and the juvenile officer litigates cases in front of those same judges. This structure differs from the typical procedures in juvenile courts around the United States, which have generally adapted their juvenile courts to reflect the norm of executive branch agencies or attorneys (not court staff) filing cases to intervene on the constitutional rights of children and families. Missouri's structure is particularly unusual in child welfare cases, in which an executive branch agency has responsibility for operating a comprehensive child welfare system and, in the vast majority of other states, has legal authority to file child abuse and neglect petitions.This article argues that the current structure violates the Missouri Constitution's separation of powers clauses by placing prosecutorial discretion within the judicial branch. This violation concentrates power in one branch of government, and individual judges are empowered to set child welfare and juvenile justice policy via their supervisory authority over juvenile officers rather than by adjudicating cases. Juvenile officers face pressure to file and litigate cases to please their boss, the judge, and judges face subtle pressure to rule in favor of the judge's own employees. At the very least, this structure creates an appearance of partiality to juvenile court litigants. And in child welfare cases, the juvenile officer's role limits the executive branch's authority to operate a comprehensive and consistent statewide child welfare system, and wastes millions of dollars by duplicating the work of that executive branch agency.This article concludes that "constitutional domestication" of the juvenile court requires abiding by separation of powers law and suggests policy reforms to achieve that result while respecting the juvenile law's commitment to rehabilitating rather than punishing children and families.


Order Diplobathrida is a major clade of camerate crinoids spanning the Ordovician–Mississippian, yet phylogenetic relationships have only been inferred for Ordovician taxa. This has hampered efforts to construct a comprehensive tree of life for crinoids and develop a classification scheme that adequately reflects diplobathrid evolutionary history. Here, I apply maximum parsimony and Bayesian phylogenetic approaches to the fossil record of diplobathrids to infer the largest tree of fossil crinoids to date, with over 100 genera included. Recovered trees provide a framework for evaluating the current classification of diplobathrids. Notably, previous suborder divisions are not supported, and superfamily divisions will require significant modification. Although numerous revisions are required for families, most can be retained through reassignment of genera. In addition, recovered trees were used to produce phylogeny‐based estimates of diplobathrid lineage diversity. By accounting for ghost lineages, phylogeny‐based richness estimates offer greater insight into diversification and extinction dynamics than traditional taxonomy‐based approaches alone and provide a detailed summary of the ~150 million‐year evolutionary history of Diplobathrida. This study constitutes a major step toward producing a phylogeny of the Crinoidea and documenting crinoid diversity dynamics. In addition, it will serve as a framework for subsequent phylogeny‐based investigations of macroevolutionary questions.


Siltation, or sediment pollution, is a cause for water pollution by fine particles of clay or silt. Accumulated fine sediments create murky water with low oxygen levels, potentially leading to aquatic life death. Thus, studying the hydrodynamic behavior of fine sediments is essential. However, the direct evaluation of fine particle suspension and deposition is costly and limiting. The intent of this research is to display a novel, direct outlook of the hydrodynamic behavior of fine sediments in the two-dimensional study of retention structures with different hydraulic features using particle image velocimetry (PIV). To attain this goal, the physical and mechanical properties of fine sediment are investigated extensively by applying rheological methods, laser diffraction particle size analysis (LDPSA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The rheological behavior of six soil samples (fine particles with D < 63 μm) from different regions of Malaysia is explored. A rotational rheometer with a parallel-plate measuring device (two sizes: 25 mm and 50 mm) is used to observe the flow and viscoelastic properties of fine particles. The samples undergo the rheological curve and amplitude sweep test methods to investigate the effect of water content ratio, and texture and structure of particles on the rheological properties. Therefore, the hydrodynamic behavior of a mix of water and fine particles is studied in a specifically designed sediment basin. The fluid is seeded with fluorescent polymer particles of two sizes (20-50 and 1-20 μm). Then the impact of different hydraulic parameters, such as water depth, flow rate, particle diameter, varying inlet distances from the water surface, and outlet placement, on fine particle movement in the middle of the designed basin is observed. Fine particle displacement is identified by recording images with a CCD (charge coupled device) camera and using Nd-YAG laser lighting. The fine sand, clay and silt content affect the stiffness, structural stability and shear behavior of soil. Moreover, the concentration of fine sediment particles in water directly influences the rheological curve. Reduced viscosity of samples with higher water concentrations is
iv
detected. Consequently, a substantial quantity of fine sediments are distributed within the water body and remain suspended over time. As a result, the sedimentation rate slows down. Apparently, the flow rate modifies the velocity and direction of fine particles, while at the bottom of the basin, approaching the outlet, the re-suspension rate increases at higher flow rates. The same inlet and outlet level reduces fine particle dispersion, while a lower flow rate assists with controlling high siltation. The gravitational force affects the fine particles more at greater depth, thus boosting the settling level more than 50%. Thus, the supreme collecting efficiency is investigated at water surface near 80%. Furthermore, there is a direct correlation between flow rate and particle size, while a higher inlet and outlet hinder the dispersion of fine particles in the water column. Smaller spherical particles have greater influence on fine particle suspension. Therefore, controlling the hydraulic parameters can ultimately reduce the siltation problem.


The objective of the study was to determine genetic diversity within South African indigenous chicken populations and the effectiveness of the current conservation flocks in capturing the available diversity in the founder populations. Two chicken populations, Venda (VD_C) and Ovambo (OV_C) conservation flocks (n = 56) from the Animal Production Institute in Irene and two founder population from which these conservation flocks were sampled; Venda (VD_F) and Ovambo (OV_F) field populations (n = 72) were genotyped for 29 autosomal microsatellite markers. All microsatellites typed were found to be polymorphic. A total of 213 alleles were observed for all four populations. The mean number of alleles per population ranged from 3.52 ± 1.09 (VD_C) to 6.62 ± 3.38 (OV_F). Mean observed (HO) and expected (HE) heterozygosity in the conservation flocks were 0.55 and 0.57 respectively. The corresponding values for the founder population were 0.62 and 0.68. The observed within population diversity measures indicated that field populations are more diverse than conservation flocks. The Reynolds genetic distance (DReynolds) between conservation flocks and field population observed was 0.22 between VD_C and VD_F and 0.09 between OV_C and OV_F. STRUCTURE was used to cluster individuals to 2 ≤ K ≤ 5. The most probable clustering was found in K = 3, in which the populations were grouped into three clusters. VD_C and OV_C conservation flocks separated as independent clusters, while VD_F and OV_F field populations formed one cluster for any K value. Clustering analysis indicated a clear subdivision of the conservation flocks and field population into genetically distinct populations. The present study suggests that conservation flocks are less diverse compared to field populations.


Context: The impact of periodontal disease during pregnancy and its effect on adverse pregnancy outcomes is seen in the literature. When it comes to the link of disease related to periodontium to that of adverse pregnancy outcomes, a need can arise if a significant cause-effect relationship does exist or not between them. Aim: The study was aimed to determine the association of periodontal health status in pregnant women with the occurrence of preterm low birth weight (LBW) infants in Vadodara, Gujarat. Settings and Design: An interventional study with 100 patients was conducted, of which 67 participants were included in the control group and 33 participants were included in the intervention group. A total of 12 participants dropped out from the study and 88 were analyzed for the outcome. Subjects and Methods: The Community periodontal Index of Treatment needs index was taken for all enrolled participants and then were divided into interventional group and control group. Participants in the interventional group underwent scaling and root planning. Data related to the time of delivery and weight of the baby was taken from the hospital records. Statistical Analysis: A comparison of baseline characteristics was made using unpaired t-test. Chi-square test was used for the analysis of intergroup comparison. The odds ratio and the relative risk calculation were also done. P ≤ 0.05 was considered for statistical significance. Results: The odds ratio for both preterm and LBW were 3.86 times and 2.96, respectively. The Chi-square statistical test analysis was statistically significant for both preterm and LBW infants on the intergroup comparison. Conclusion: Periodontal disease can be considered as one of the risk factors for preterm LBW babies as not only the presence of disease condition causes an increase in inflammatory mediator but also the elimination of the disease condition reduces the adverse pregnancy outcomes.


Many studies have looked at the factors that control the productivity of collaborative work. We claim that goal commitment and competition have a strong impact on group productivity in collaborative modelling. To substantiate this claim we first take a look at existing factor models to identify the factors that potentially mediate the effect on group productivity. We then investigate the relation between the factors with the help of controlled field experiments in five different organisations. We confirm the theoretical results with the help of structured equation modelling.


Examining the numerous primary sources, including inscriptions, religions, histories, literary references, legal codes, and archaeological reports, Linda Jones Hall presents a composite history of late antique Berytus - from its founding as a Roman colony in the time of Augustus, to its development into a center of legal study under Justinian. The book examines all aspects of life in the city, including geographical setting, economic base, built environment, political structures, religious transitions from paganism to Christianity, and the self-identity of the inhabitants in terms of ethnicity and occupation. This volume provides: * the first detailed investigation of late antique Phoenicia * a look at religious affiliations are traced among pagans, Jews, and Christians * a study of the bishops and the churches. The full texts of numerous narratives are presented to reveal the aspirations of the law students, the professors, and their fellow citizens such as the artisans. The study also explores the cultural implications of the city's Greek, Roman and then Syro-Phoenician heritage.


In recent years, our understanding of motor learning, neuroplasticity and functional recovery after the occurrence of brain lesion has grown significantly. New findings in basic neuroscience have provided an impetus for research in motor rehabilitation. Several prospective studies have shown that repeated motor practice and motor activity in a real world environment have a favorable effect on motor recovery in stroke patients. Electrical stimulation can be applied in a variety of ways to the hemiparetic upper extremity following a stroke. In particular, electromyography (EMG)- triggered electrical muscle stimulation improves the motor function of the hemiparetic arm and hand. Triggered electrical stimulation is reported to be more effective than non-triggered electrical stimulation in facilitating upper extremity motor recovery after stroke. EMG-controlled functional electrical stimulation (FES) induces greater muscle contraction by electrical stimulation that is in proportion to voluntary integrated EMG signals. EMG-controlled FES and motor point block for antagonist muscles have been applied as a new hybrid FES therapy in an outpatient rehabilitation clinic for patients with stroke with good result. Daily EMG-controlled FES home-program therapy with novel equipment has been shown to effectively improve wrist, finger extension, and shoulder flexion. Combined modulation of voluntary movement, proprioceptive sensory feedback, and electrical stimulation might play an important role in improving impaired sensory-motor integration by EMG-controlled FES therapy. A multi-channel near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) studies in which the hemoglobin levels in the brain were non-invasively and dynamically measured during functional activity found that the cerebral blood flow in the injured sensory-motor cortex area is greater during a EMG-controlled FES session than during simple active movement or simple electrical stimulation. Nevertheless, evidence-based strategies for FES rehabilitation are more and more available, particularly for patients suffering from hemiparesis.


Purpose : The present study investigates progressive muscular dystrophy over a five year period. The purpose is twofold: to describe changes over time and to investigate relations between disability, coping and quality of life. Method : The study group comprised 45 adults (16 men and 29 women), with an average age of 44 years. All were assessed in 1991 and 1996, with the following instruments: the ADL staircase, the Self-report ADL, the Mental Adjustment to Cancer scale, the Sickness Impact Profile and the Psychosocial well-being questionnaire (Kaasa). Results : Increasing disability was accompanied by an increase in dependence on others and a significant deterioration of health-related quality of life and with regard to 'Satisfaction'. The predominant type of coping was 'Fighting spirit', whilst 'Fatalism' showed the greatest decline over time. 'Ambulation' and the ADL staircase correlated with 'Physical index' on the SIP. Correlations between disability, coping and quality of life were moderate. The results can serve as a basis for planning and evaluation of recurring rehabilitation for persons with MD.


In this paper, we consider the problem of machine teaching, the inverse problem of machine learning. Different from traditional machine teaching which views the learners as batch algorithms, we study a new paradigm where the learner uses an iterative algorithm and a teacher can feed examples sequentially and intelligently based on the current performance of the learner. We show that the teaching complexity in the iterative case is very different from that in the batch case. Instead of constructing a minimal training set for learners, our iterative machine teaching focuses on achieving fast convergence in the learner model. Depending on the level of information the teacher has from the learner model, we design teaching algorithms which can provably reduce the number of teaching examples and achieve faster convergence than learning without teachers. We also validate our theoretical findings with extensive experiments on different data distribution and real image datasets.


The U.S. housing boom during the first part of the past decade was marked by rapid house price appreciation and greater access to mortgage credit for lower credit-rated borrowers. The subsequent collapse of the housing market and the high default rates on residential mortgages raise the issue of whether the pace of house price appreciation and the mix of borrowers may have affected the influence of fundamentals in housing and mortgage markets. This paper examines that issue in connection with one aspect of mortgage financing, the choice among fixed-rate and adjustable-rate mortgages. This analysis is motivated in part by the increased use of adjustable-rate mortgage financing, notably among lower credit-rated borrowers, during the peak of the housing boom. Based on analysis of a large sample of loan level data, we find strong evidence that house price appreciation dampened the influence of a number of fundamentals (mortgage pricing terms and other interest rate related metrics) that previous research finds to be important determinants of mortgage financing choices. With regard to the mix of borrowers, the evidence indicates that, while low risk-rated borrowers were affected on the margin more by house price appreciation, on balance those borrowers tended be at least as responsive to fundamentals as high risk-rated borrowers. The higher propensity of low credit-rated borrowers to choose adjustable-rate financing compared with high credit-rated borrowers in the housing boom appears to have been related to borrower credit risk metrics. Given the evidence related to loan pricing terms, other interest rate metrics and fixed effects, the relation of credit risk to mortgage financing choice seems more consistent with considerations such as credit constraints, risk preferences, and mortgage tenor than just a systematic lack of financial sophistication among higher credit risk borrowers.


This paper is concerned with the study of propagation in multimode fibers having nearly step index shape with elliptical symmetry. A method based on ray tracing and modal relations, previously adopted for evaluating the dispersion characteristics in circular fibers with different refractive-index distributions, has been applied with suitable modifications. Examples of dispersion curves are shown for different ellipticities, which do not exhibit substantial differences with respect to those relative to the circular case. The existence of "whispering" and "bouncing" modes is also pointed out: the number of the latter is more relevant the higher the ellipticity of the fiber. This fact can be interesting for coupling purposes.


Within the last decade, the orthogonal frequency- division multiplexing (OFDM) transmission scheme has become part of several standards for wireless systems. Today, OFDM is even a candidate for fourth-generation wireless systems. It is well known that dynamic OFDMA systems potentially increase the spectral efficiency. They exploit diversity effects in time, space, and frequency by assigning system resources periodically to terminals. Informing the terminals about new assignments creates a signaling overhead. Up to now, this overhead has not been taken into account in studies on dynamic orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing access (OFDMA) systems. Yet this is crucial for a realistic notion of the performance achieved by dynamic approaches. In this paper, we close this gap. We introduce two forms of representing the signaling information and discuss how these affect system performance. The study of the signaling impact on the performance is conducted for an exemplary dynamic approach. We find that the throughput behavior of dynamic OFDMA systems is significantly influenced by the signaling overhead. In many situations, neglecting the overhead leads to wrong performance conclusions. Also, the performance difference between dynamic and static schemes is now much more sensible to the specific parameter set of the transmission scenario (e.g., frame length, subcarrier number, etc.). This leads to the proposal of access points which should adapt certain system parameters in order to provide optimal performance.


Human rights education in humanitarian settings provides an opportunity for adolescent refugees to understand and exercise their human rights, respect the rights of others, and gain active citizenship skills. This paper examines non-formal education programmes and the extent to which they embed education about, through and for human rights; it draws on mixed method data from two diverse contexts–Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and Syrian refugees in Jordan. We find stark differences in how human rights are reflected in non-formal education programming for refugees. In Jordan, the Makani programme integrates human rights across subjects and teacher pedagogy, and fosters skills for active citizenship. By contrast, in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, a lack of basic rights hinders the delivery of meaningful human rights education for Rohingya adolescents. We conclude that human rights education should be a core pillar of humanitarian responses, but that it requires significant adaptations to contextual realities.


Oil condition monitoring is a vital part of integrated asset health management. With an increasing impetus toward real-time decision making, delays incurred in offline laboratory oil analysis are becoming less acceptable. At present, several oil quality parameters can be monitored by commercially available sensors, and active research and development programmes are being pursued by both academic and industrial researchers to develop robust, cost effective sensors for the remaining key parameters. Published (active) ASTM methods or practices do not yet cover the sensor technologies employed or under development, although work is in progress to address this deficit. This paper presents an overview of currently available oil condition sensors and looks at some recent developments, particularly in the following three areas: contamination by metallic wear debris, measurement of total water content, and determination of in-service oil viscosity. In each case, quite different technological solutions have been adopted. Where applicable, alignment and overlap with existing ASTM methods and practices will be reviewed and future directions indicated. Recent improvements in the sensitivity of inductive particle counters have enabled the detection of individual ferrous particles down to the sub- 100 μm diameter regime and close to the 100 μm diameter mark for non-ferrous metals. Experiences of particle counters in wind turbine applications have shown the potential for enormous benefits in failure prevention. One standard practice covering the installation, operation, and requirements of such devices is published and a second is currently in draft mode. Online sensors utilising infrared transmission measurements recently have been developed by two independent companies. The systems are targeted primarily at marine diesel engine installations, although the method is not restricted solely to these applications. Maximum water content measurable depends on both the optical path length and the cleanliness of the oil. For marine applications a practical upper measurement limit of 1 % by volume has been adopted. In the system described here, a correction methodology, correlating to an accepted Deutsches Institut fu¨r Normung-Fourier transform infrared standard, has been adopted to cope with oils contaminated by soot. Soot loading increases the opacity of the oil, causing a concomitant reduction in the maximum water content measurable. The correction procedure increases the accuracy of the water content measurement and additionally provides a determination of the soot content. Commercially available viscosity sensors include both the oscillating piston type and high frequency oscillating crystal designs; however, a cost effective device employing a low amplitude, mid-frequency vibrating sensor element has been developed recently. Key features include accurate measurements over a very wide viscosity range and an operating range that covers combustion engine oil temperatures and pressures. Correlation with existing ASTM methods and practices is presently limited to calibration aspects only.


The cross-phase modulation (XPM) effect in intensity modulation-direct-detection (IM)-(DD) optical fiber links with multiple fiber segments with different characteristics and optical amplifiers is investigated theoretically and numerically. A generalized model of the IM induced by an arbitrary number of channels through XPM is derived, compared to simulation results and its validity range is presented. Results show that the XPM-induced IM can be modeled as an intensity modulator driven by the intensity of copropagating waves. The frequency response of the intensity modulator corresponding to each copropagating wave is mainly affected by the walk-off parameter and fiber dispersion. When the walk-off effect is weak the XPM-induced IM is approximately proportional to the square frequency. In single-segment fiber links when the walk-off effect is strong the XPM-induced IM is approximately linearly proportional to the frequency and inversely proportional to the wavelength separation. Both theory and simulation show that the XPM-induced IM in fiber links with multiple optical amplifiers can be enhanced or reduced by properly arranging the dispersion characteristics in each fiber segment. In a nondispersion compensated amplified link and for weak walk-off effect, the total XPM-induced IM increases approximately with the square of the number of fiber segments and of modulation frequency. However, if the dispersion is compensated for within each fiber segment the total XPM-induced IM increases proportionally to the number of fiber segments and to the square frequency. Furthermore, it is shown that in fiber links with a large number of segments placing a single dispersion compensator in the last segment of the link leads to almost the same performance as for non dispersion compensated fiber link and is significantly worse than placing one dispersion compensator in each fiber segment as far as the XPM-induced IM reduction is concerned.


Sodium Nitrite has been widely use as preser vative for meats and fish Products, but in recent years there has been considerable interest for searching about natural Food preservatives like Nisin p eptide. The aim of this study was to compare the inhibitory effect of two preservatives were Sodium Nitri te and Nisin peptide separately against Staphylococcus Aureu s (Staph. A), Escherichia coli (E. coli), and Candida Albicans (C. Albicans) in Mueller Hinton Broth (MHB) at three different pH (7.0- 6.0- 5.5). After that the combination effect between Sodium Nitrite and Nisin was studied in MHB at optimum pH tha t was concluded from the previous stage. Minimal Inhi bitory Concentrations (MIC) and Minimal Bacter icidal Concentrations (MBC) of both preservatives wer e evaluated. FIC values (Fractional Inhibitory Concentration) were calculated after combinati on between them. The results showed that MIC values of Sodium Nitrite against S. Aureus, E. coli and C. albicans at pH 5.5 were (500- 200- 500) pp m respectively and MIC values of Nisin were (100- 350- 500) ppm respectively, while MIC values of the com bination (Sodium Nitrite+ Nisin) against S. A, E. coli a nd C. albicans were (50- 25- 100) ppm respectiv ely and FIC values of them were (0.39- 0.15- 0.30). On the other hand The results showed that simultan eous use of Nisin with sodium nitrite reduced MIC and MB C of this compound against bacteria and fungi Significantly consequently, this synergistic effect of Nisin could promote in the Future to reduce of the using of Sodium Nitrite in food industry.


Abstract 'Resilience' has quickly risen to prominence in international security and development circles. In recent years it has found its way into political discourse on state building and state fragility, triggering a vast but often conceptually indistinct examination of the subject. Given its meaning in policy publications and guidelines, 'resilience' tends to eschew a static conceptualisation of statehood, turning instead to a more dynamic, complex and process-oriented rendering of state–society relations. This illustrates a conceptual shift from 'failed states' to 'fragile states and situations'. It also transforms the concept of 'failed state' as a mere threat perception – with 'stability' as its logical other – into 'fragility' as a particular form of social and political risk. This paper analyses the concepts in 43 policy papers, focusing on the nexus of 'resilience' and 'fragility' in international state building, and assesses potential consequences. What does 'resilience' – as the opposite vision to 'fragility' – in fact mean? What is the practice derived from this chimerical state of states?


The national focus in higher education in shifting from the instructional to the learning paradigm where the emphasis on student-centered learning is of paramount importance. Instructional paradigms focus on "providing instruction" with distinct emphasis on the role of the teacher. Under this structure, students are typically passive listeners and the instructor is the center of teaching and instruction. The learning paradigm, on the other hand, focuses on the outcomes of the educational process thereby "facilitating learning". The role of the student is one of an active participant who is encouraged to become engaged in the learning process through various interactive activities facilitated by the instructor. The learning paradigm strives to produce an empowered, informed, and responsible student by putting the student at the center of the classroom. This learner-centered process theoretically embraces continued improvement in the quality of learning. The learner-centered syllabus is a productive tool that can facilitate this transformation from teaching to learner-cente red classrooms. The purpose of this manuscript is to integrate theory into practice as faculty shift towards more learner-centered practices. Deeply rooted in the literature, this manuscript provides suggestions for the implementation of a learner-centered syllabus from a specialized allied health care perspective – athletic training. A brief overview of student-cente red learning theory coupled with a framework for constructing a syllabus that fosters an environment which focuses on learning is presented. Particular emphasis is placed upon successful implementation and integration of the syllabus throughout the entire semester to promote student success.


The exportation doctrine permits national and state banks to export interest rates that are legal in one state where they operate to any other state, thereby shielding the banks from liability resulting from state usury claims. The doctrine has expanded over the last forty years to permit state and national banks to preempt a variety of state consumer-financial-protection laws. The doctrine's high-water mark is the emergence of the "rent-a-charter" arrangement, a scheme in which a nonbank lender uses a bank as a mere conduit to originate loans that are not subject to state usury laws. This Note argues that, at minimum, nonbank entities should not be allowed the benefit of the doctrine by temporarily occupying banks for the sole purpose of originating loans that are immune from state financial consumer protection laws. A series of courts have recently begun applying a more exacting standard to these arrangements. Under the "true lender" doctrine, courts disregard the form of the lending configuration in favor of a searching examination of its substance, considering a variety of factors designed to determine which entity is the actual, rather than nominal, lender. This Note argues that the true lender doctrine's singular focus on substance over form, combined with judicial agility to examine each factual constellation and detect any obfuscating formalities implemented by rent-a-charter parties, is presently the most effective way to sensibly limit the reach of the exportation doctrine. And, to the degree that banks assume more substantive duties in the lending process and retain some measure of risk in seeking to comply with the doctrine, the results are broadly consistent with regulatory approaches that have been deployed in the wake of the financial crisis.


We present the experimental results of efficient and alignment-free injection locking of a 0.8-μm diode laser with a mutually pumped phase conjugator. After the slave laser is injection locked, the reflectivity of the double conjugate mirror decreases considerably. The injection-locked state continued for more than 20 min in spite of a decrease in reflectivity. When the frequency of the injecting beam is resonant to one of the slave laser's modes that does not oscillate in the free-running state, mode switching is observed; i.e., the oscillating mode jumps to a new mode that matches the injecting beam.


This paper explores the impact that SCORM conformance has had on workplace e-learning. The author describes a project in which she was requested to "repurpose" some materials that had originally been designed for the face-to-face teaching of English as a Foreign Language, into SCORM conformant e-learning materials. The rationale for this request was that the training centre management wanted to track learners' progress via a Learning Management System (LMS). However, in order to integrate SCORM-conformant tracking functionality into the programmes, the learning materials would have to have been stripped of all the collaborative, productive and communicative aspects of their pedagogy. The learning designers and training centre management had to engage in a steep learning curve to find an alternative solution that was both pedagogically sound and administratively efficient. This anecdote highlights some of the challenges facing the corporate sector in terms of the management of e-learning content. To put the issues into context, the paper gives an overview of SCORM, and defines some related terminology - Sharable Content Objects (SCOs), LMS and Learning Content Management System (LCMS). SCORM conformance has two main aims: the ability to deliver content on any Learning Management System, and the ability to track learners' actions and scores when they use the materials. It is argued that, while the higher education sector has chosen to emphasise the first aim, focusing more on the development of stimulating learning content that can be shared across disciplines and across institutions, the corporate sector has emphasised the second aim, focusing more on tracking learners' progress through learning programmes. It is suggested that this is one of the explanations for the continued proliferation of relatively rigid, behaviourist style teaching materials for workplace e-learning. This instructivist style pedagogical model is considered in relation to the military and programming origins of SCORM, and a number of more innovative approaches to workplace e-learning from the recent literature are discussed. The paper concludes by arguing that, for corporate e-learning programmes to be successful, all stakeholders need to be included in the strategic decisions, and all stakeholders need to engage in a learning process to understand each others' points of view and explore the available options and their consequences. This study will be of value to anyone who needs to develop SCORM conformant courses, as well as managers who are charged with overseeing such projects, or developing an organisational training strategy involving an LMS/LCMS.


The health promotion/wellness movement is a relatively recent phenomenon. Health professionals continue to struggle with definitions of these constructs, implementation protocol, and evaluative strategies. As a means to address these issues, Wellness Perspectives: Research, Theory and Practice offers a three-part series. Part I will discuss the brief history of the health promotion and wellness field including some philosophical tenets and emerging trends. Part 2 of the series will outline a protocol to plan and to implement effective health promotion/wellness programs. Part 3 will discuss some current issues related to the evaluation of health pro- motion/wellness programs and discuss guidelines for effective evaluation.


Regenerative medicine and cell therapies hold great potential to treat a variety of medical conditions. Product characterisation of these therapies is particularly difficult as they pose regulatory challenges due to donor heterogeneity and the lack of standardised lot release tests that can reliably predict in vivo function. Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs), also called multipotent stem cells or mesenchymal stromal cells, are a viable option in cell therapies due to their immunosuppressive and pro-angiogenic functions. Currently there are no standardised methods or potency assays to quantify these properties.

To address this, five individual hMSCs lines from different donors were created and characterised based upon growth rate, differentiation capability and extracellular surface protein expression. A novel multiparameter flow cytometry method to characterise the cells based upon extracellular surface markers was developed that supports high-throughput and high-content analyses.

Three candidate lines were taken forward and assessed in multiple in vitro bioassays that examined the hMSC immunosuppressive response to a defined inflammatory environment, effect on T-cell proliferation, and effect on a mixed lymphocyte population.

Next, the angiogenic properties were assessed using human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) tube formation as a model for cardiac regeneration. This involved utilising automated time lapse microscopy techniques coupled with image analysis software to quantify endothelial to tube formation. Further analysis of the hMSC secretome revealed differences in the levels of pro-angiogenic cytokines such as vascular endothelial growth factor, hepatocyte growth factor and IL-8. Significant differences in angiogenic potency were found between the hMSC lines.

This thesis highlights the need to develop specific assays that reflect the intended clinical action. Taken together, these quantitative approaches provide valuable tools to measure hMSC quality and potency, and supports continued efforts to improve characterisation strategies for cellular therapies.


Glutamate is present in the plasma under tightly regulated concentrations. However, under conditions of immune deficiency, such as AIDS and malignancy, its plasma levels are highly elevated. In vitro, glutamate interacts with T lymphocytes, affecting mitogen-induced calcium responses, whereas at high doses, it impairs T lymphocyte proliferation, a process strongly dependent on the activity of voltage-gated potassium channels. In this study, we demonstrate novel dose-related effects of the endogenous ligand glutamate and its metabotropic and non-N-methyl-D-aspartic acid receptor agonists on the electrophysiological properties of native Kv1.3 channels of human T lymphocytes. Glutamate, at concentrations within normal plasma levels, positively modulates Kv1.3 channel gating, causing currents to activate faster and at significantly more hyperpolarized potentials, hence rendering the T lymphocyte readily responsive to immune stimuli. This effect is maximal at 1 microM Glu and is fully mimicked by a 100 microM concentration of the metabotropic receptor agonist trans-(1S,3R)-1-aminocyclopentane-1,3-dicarboxylic acid. Most importantly, Glu, at concentrations > or =100 microM, which in vitro produce suppression of mitogen-induced proliferation, significantly decreases whole-cell potassium currents by increasing current and steady-state inactivation. This effect saturates at 1000 microM and seems to result from the subsequent activation of low-affinity metabotropic Glu receptors, as suggested by specific agonist data. Therefore, the antiproliferative effects of high glutamate may, at least in part, result from its inhibitory effect on the potassium current, suggesting an in vivo immunosuppressive role of elevated plasma glutamate.


Clinical intolerance occurs when the toxicity of a medication outweighs its clinical benefit. Early recognition of clinical intolerance to BCR-ABL inhibitors used for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is important for maximizing patient benefit. In CML, most side effects associated with BCR-ABL inhibitor therapy are mild and easily managed, so recognizing, monitoring, and addressing serious side effects may ensure optimal outcome. However, a subset of patients will be intolerant to first-line imatinib. Patients who experience unresponsive grade 3 or any grade 4 nonhematologic side effects to imatinib may require discontinuation and switching to second-line therapies, such as dasatinib or nilotinib, after identification of intolerance. The most common side effects associated with dasatinib and nilotinib are hematologic and generally are reversible with dose adjustment. Pleural effusions are more common with dasatinib use and may be managed by dose interruption and reduction. Both drugs possess warnings regarding QT prolongation, but nilotinib carries a black box warning for QT prolongation and sudden death.


Before the outbreak of the war with Japan the author had the intention to publish an extensive account on the occurrence of an aestuarine fishfauna in and in front of the large aestuarines and river-mouths so often found in India, Burma, Malaya, Thailand and Indo China and in the Greater Sunda Islands, Sumatra and Borneo, the rivers of the latter two islands being the special field of investigation. However as a consequence of the war all, thus far, unpublished notes and the greater part of the collections were lost as is the case with a most interesting sample of an aestuarine fishfauna from South New Guinea, where biologically the same conditions exist as in Sumatran and Bornean rivermouths. This last collection remained partly unpacked when war broke out and its still unassorted part disappeared. Only about 20 % of the total was found back in a more or less good condition.


Most unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) are, at present, designed for military purposes and very few civil applications have been developed mainly because the lack of a regulation basis concerning their certification, airworthiness and operations. UAS operations have always been solutions highly dependent on the mission to be accomplished and on the scenario of flight. The generalized development of UAS applications is still limited by the absence of systems that support the development of the actual operations. Most current UAS solutions, if not remotely piloted, rely on waypoint based flight control system for their navigation and are unable to coordinate the aircraft flight with payload and mission operation. In this paper, an architecture for providing automation in UAS application is presented. This architecture is part of a UAS-specific distributed service-oriented architecture designed to enable easy reconfiguration and deployment of UAS in a wide range of scenarios without (or very little) additional system development. Flight, payload and mission service coordination, service interfaces and message interactions between services are discussed in this paper. Finally, a preliminary prototype of these services has been implemented to validate the purpose architecture specification. Additionally, a helicopter-based UAS is being developed to test in real scenarios the automation capabilities provided by the USAL architecture.


Petrographic and mineralogical studies of clasts and matrix in the Milano and Napoli mud volcanoes drilled during Ocean Drilling Program Leg 160 provide important clues about depositional processes, provenance, and the tectonic setting of deep-sea sediments that accumulated before genesis of the Mediterranean Ridge mud volcanoes. The clasts recovered from both mud volcanoes are mainly mudstone and claystone, calcareous siltstone, quartzose sandstone and siltstone, shallow-water-derived limestone, and pelagic carbonate. Biostratigraphic evidence indicates mainly early and middle Miocene ages for fossiliferous clasts, with the older microfossils being reworked. Textural evidence (grading) suggests that the clastic lithologies are turbidites. Sources of the sandstones were mainly plutonic igneous and subordinate metamorphic rocks. Sporadic, exceptionally well-rounded, quartz grains may be of eolian origin and were probably derived from the Precambrian basement of North Africa. Shallow-water-derived carbonates were also redeposited as calciturbidites, with variable admixing with siliciclastic and pelagic carbonate, which indicates shared depositional pathways. Pelagic carbonates (packstones) were redeposited basinward as calciturbidites from a deep-sea carbonate slope that formed part of the North African continental margin. During the middle Miocene, the background sedimentation was in situ pelagic carbonate. In addition, relatively rare, texturally immature, lithic sandstones include serpentinite, basalt, and radiolarian chert, of ophiolite-related origin. This material was derived from the orogenic areas to the north, possibly originally from the higher thrust sheets of Crete, before late Miocene and subsequent erosion and extensional downfaulting. The texture and composition of the mud and clay matrix provide clues about the mode of the mud volcanism. The matrix of the mud debris flows includes numerous, small, angular clasts of unfossiliferous claystone and shardlike fragments, which show pseudolamination, microshearing, and crosscutting veinlets, features that are taken as evidence for the involvement of high fluid pressure in clast and matrix formation (hyrofracturing).


Context. The transport of Ly alpha photons in galaxies is a complex process and the conditions under which Ly alpha photons manage to escape from certain galaxies is still under investigation. The Lyman alpha reference sample (LARS) is a sample of 14 local star-forming galaxies, designed to study Ly alpha in detail and relate it to rest-frame UV and optical emission. Aims. With the aim of identifying rest-frame UV and optical properties, which are typical of Ly alpha emitters (LAEs, galaxies with EW(Ly alpha) > 20 angstrom) at both low and high redshift, we investigated the morphological properties of the LARS galaxies, in particular the ones that exhibit intense Ly alpha radiation. Methods. We measured sizes and morphological parameters in the continuum, Ly alpha, and Ha images. We studied morphology by using the Gini coefficient vs. M20 and asymmetry vs. concentration diagrams. We then simulated LARS galaxies at z similar to 2 and 5.7, performing the same morphological measurements. We also investigated the detectability of LARS galaxies in current deep field observations. The subsample of LAEs within LARS (LARS-LAEs) was stacked to provide a comparison to stacking studies performed at high redshift. Results. LARS galaxies have continuum size, stellar mass, and rest-frame absolute magnitude typical of Lyman break analogues in the local Universe and also similar to 2 < z < 3 star-forming galaxies and massive LAEs. LARS optical morphology is consistent with the one of merging systems, and irregular or starburst galaxies. For the first time we quantify the morphology in Ly alpha images: even if a variety of intrinsic conditions of the interstellar medium can favour the escape of Ly alpha photons, LARS-LAEs appear small in the continuum, and their Ly alpha is compact. LARS galaxies tend to be more extended in Ly alpha than in the rest-frame UV. It means that Ly alpha photons escape by forming haloes around HII regions of LARS galaxies. Conclusions. The stack of LARS-LAE Ly alpha images is peaked in the centre, indicating that the conditions, which make a galaxy an LAE, tend to produce a concentrated surface brightness profile. On the other hand, the stack of all LARS galaxies is shallower and more extended. This can be caused by the variety of dust and HI amount and distribution, which produces a more complex, patchy, and extended profile, like the one observed for Lyman break galaxies that can contribute to the stack. We cannot identify a single morphological property that controls whether a galaxy emits a net positive Ly alpha flux. However, the LARS-LAEs have continuum properties consistent with merging systems.


Public Participation (PP) has gained widespread recognition as a key water management principle. Despite this, the practical application of PP remains problematic. This article presents the current state of developments in PP theory and practice. It discusses the benefits of PP and gives many suggestions for making PP more effective. It pays special attention to the place of PP in democratic theory, to the cultural context of PP, and to its application in international river basins. This article concludes that PP should not be regarded simply as an accessory in aiding water management. Effective PP is, in fact, an entirely different mode of governance.


Viruses present dangers (and therefore challenges) to biopharmaceutical manufacturing processes. The virus inactivation method chosen depends on the virus and its surrounding medium. This survey article, organized by sample type, lists viral inactivation methods published during the past decade. Part 1 presents data for skin and bone and for cells that are not platelets or blood cells.


Task-agnostic forms of data augmentation have proven widely effective in computer vision, even on pretrained models. In NLP similar results are reported most commonly for low data regimes, non-pretrained models, or situationally for pretrained models. In this paper we ask how effective these techniques really are when applied to pretrained transformers. Using two popular varieties of task-agnostic data augmentation (not tailored to any particular task), Easy Data Augmentation (Wei andZou, 2019) and Back-Translation (Sennrichet al., 2015), we conduct a systematic examination of their effects across 5 classification tasks, 6 datasets, and 3 variants of modern pretrained transformers, including BERT, XLNet, and RoBERTa. We observe a negative result, finding that techniques which previously reported strong improvements for non-pretrained models fail to consistently improve performance for pretrained transformers, even when training data is limited. We hope this empirical analysis helps inform practitioners where data augmentation techniques may confer improvements.


Powdery mildew (PM) in apples is a critical fungal disease that adversely affects yield and fruit quality. Conventional PM identification techniques are laborious. This study evaluated the suitability of non-destructive low altitude imaging in the visible (RGB) and multispectral domain for PM detection in apple orchards. Imagery snapshots were acquired at known locations of PM infestation in apple trees using two small unmanned aerial systems (UAS). One UAS employed a consumer grade RGB camera while other UAS had a five-band multispectral imaging sensor. Custom image processing algorithms were developed for RGB and multispectral imagery analysis. The RGB images were classified using k-means and resulted in PM detection accuracy of 76.4%. A strong agreement was also observed between the number of actual PM clusters and clusters that were classified (R2 = 0.94). Seven vegetation indices (VIs) were extracted from the multispectral imagery as the potential chlorophyll variation indicators. Such indices showed significant difference (p < 0.05) for PM infected leaves and the healthy leaves. Modified Simple Ratio-Red, Modified Simple Ratio-Blue and Optimized Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index were the key differentiators showing low values for PM (Mean: 0.01–0.05) and high values for healthy leaves (Mean: 0.51–0.84). Overall, results showed the potential to detect and quantify PM infestation in apple orchards at high spatial resolution. Additional efforts are needed to translate these results to map PM infestation at the orchard block level that could aid in site-specific remedial measures.


Research on meaning-making has recently enriched our understanding of sustainable entrepreneurship by providing a window into the moral space and the complex reality of entrepreneurs who engage with sustainability issues. This article focuses on meaning-making of one such entrepreneur to explore the role of nature as enabler of sustainable entrepreneurship nexus. It is based on the ethnographic study of the entrepreneur who makes a living out of his pioneering work with forest gardening in Sweden. The transition in meanings that guide the relationship of the entrepreneur with nature, which comes out of the intimate, recursive, and informative exchanges with the ecosystem, makes it possible for nature to come in as a partner and progressively enable the creation of the regenerative venture over time. The emerging regenerative narrative of entrepreneurship stretches beyond the current theories and sets the agenda for ecocentric theorizing about this creative human activity.


This article constructs flat-sky approximations in a controlled way in the context of the cosmic microwave background observations for the computation of both spectra and bispectra. For angular spectra, it is explicitly shown that there exists a whole family of flat-sky approximations of similar accuracy for which the expression and amplitude of next to leading order terms can be explicitly computed. It is noted that in this context two limiting cases can be encountered for which the expressions can be further simplified. They correspond to cases where either the sources are localized in a narrow region (thin-shell approximation) or are slowly varying over a large distance (which leads to the so-called Limber approximation). Applying this to the calculation of the spectra it is shown that, as long as the late integrated Sachs-Wolfe contribution is neglected, the flat-sky approximation at leading order is accurate at 1% level for any multipole. Generalization of this construction scheme to the bispectra led to the introduction of an alternative description of the bispectra for which the flat-sky approximation is well controlled. This is not the case for the usual description of the bispectrum in terms of reduced bispectrum for which a flat-sky approximation is proposed but the next-to-leading order terms of which remain obscure.


Unhealthy dietary habits (such as eating disorders, eating too fast, excessive energy intake, and chewing side preference) are major causes of some chronic diseases, including obesity, heart disease, digestive system disease, and diabetes. Dietary monitoring is necessary and important for patients to change their unhealthy diet and eating habits. However, the existing monitoring methods are either intrusive or not accurate enough. In this dissertation, we present our efforts to use wearable motion sensors to sense mastication dynamics for continuous dietary monitoring. First, we study how to detect a subject's eating activity and count the number of chews. We observe that during eating the mastication muscles contract and hence bulge to some degree. This bulge of the mastication muscles has the same frequency as chewing. These observations motivate us to detect eating activity and count chews through attaching a triaxial accelerometer on the temporalis. The proposed method does not record any private personal information (audio, video, etc.). Because the accelerometer is embedded into a headband, this method is comparatively less intrusive for the user's daily living than previously-used methods. Experiments are conducted and the results are promising. For eating activity detection, the average accuracy and F-score of five classifiers are 94.4% and 87.2%, respectively, in 10-fold cross-validation test using only 5 seconds of acceleration data. For chew counts, the average error rate of four users is 12.2%. Second, we study how to recognize different food types. We observe that each type of food has its own intrinsic properties, such as hardness, elasticity, fracturability, adhesiveness, and size, which result in different mastication dynamics. Accordingly, we propose to use wearable motion sensors to sense mastication dynamics and infer food types. We specifically define six mastication dynamics parameters to represent these food properties. They are chewing speed, the number of chews, chewing time, chewing force, chewing cycle duration, and skull vibration. We embed motion sensors in a headband worn over the temporalis muscles to sense mastication dynamics accurately and less intrusively than other methods. In addition, we extract 37 hand-crafted features from each chewing sequence to explicitly characterize the mastication dynamics using motion sensor data. A real-world evaluation dataset of 11 food categories (20 types of food in total) is collected from 15 human subjects. The average recognition accuracy reaches 74.3%. The highest recognition accuracy for a single subject is up to 86.7%. Third, we study how to detect chewing sides. We observe that the temporalis muscle bulge and skull vibration of the chewing side are different from those of the non-chewing side. This observation motivates us to deploy motion sensors on the left and right temporalis muscles to detect chewing sides. We utilize a heuristic-rules based method to exclude non-chewing data and segment each chew accurately. Then, the relative difference series of the left and right sensors are calculated to characterize the difference of muscle bulge and skull vibration between the chewing side and the non-chewing side. To accurately detect chewing sides, we train a two-class classifier using long short-term memory (LSTM), an artificial recurrent neural network that is especially suitable for temporal data with unequal input lengths. A real-world evaluation dataset of eight food types is collected from eight human subjects. The average detection accuracy reaches 84.8%. The highest detection accuracy for a single subject is up to 97.4%.


The key theoretical idea in this paper is that activist groups contribute resources to their favored parties in response to policy concessions from the parties. These resources are then used by a party to enhance the leader's valence — the electoral perception of the quality of the party leader. The equilibrium result is that parties, in order to maximize vote share, will balance a centripetal electoral force against a centrifugal activist effect. Under proportional electoral rule, there need be no pressure for activist groups to coalesce, leading to multiple political parties. Under plurality rule, however, small parties face the possibility of extinction. An activist group linked to a small party in such a polity has little expectation of influencing government policy. The paper illustrates these ideas by considering recent elections in Turkey, Britain and the United States, as well as a number of European polities.


The objective of this thesis is to develop new statistical models for the analysis of censored survival data, particularly for the study of recidivism data, such as the reoffence data used in the analysis here. This has been an area of great interest in criminology in recent years. There is a growing literature on survival analysis in criminology, where interest centres on the time from an offender's conviction, or release from prison, to the first reconviction or reimprisonment. In deciding whether to release a prisoner on parole, the Parole Board is provided with a statistical score which estimates the chance that the prisoner will reoffend within the period of time that he or she would otherwise be in prison. This score is based on a survival analysis of data on a sample of releases from long-term prison sentences. To capture most reoffences which occur within 2 years of release, follow-up must continue for at least 3 years to allow for the delay between offence and conviction. We reanalyse the data by using a model which explicitly allows for this delay. We refer to this as 'delayed censoring model'. The new analysis can be applied to data with a substantially shorter length of follow-up. This means that risk scores can be constructed from more up-to-date data and at less cost.

It is models of this kind that we shall be concerned with in this thesis, and this is the principal motivation of the work done. The statistical models that this thesis provides bring in a number of new ideas which are undoubtedly useful both at a theoretical level and in applications.
Other major divisions of the work include:
(i) Assessing the possibility of an association between the delay and reoffence times by studying truncated distributions fitted to these data, by parametric, semi-parametric and nonparametric models. With the nonparametric approach we have developed a 'backward regression model' which is similar to the Cox model.
(ii) We have also discussed delayed censoring modification to the Cox model, and developed a more general semi-parametric model for all the data including both observed and censored cases. In this model the delay and reoffence times are allowed to be correlated. We refer to this as the 'generalized weighted hazards model'.
(iii) Finally, we have compared the results by applying all these models to the data. Although the parametric models give a good fit to the data, the semi-parametric and nonparametric models give a slightly better fit, as expected


Assessing effects of diagenesis on oxygen isotope composition of bone is essential to its use in reconstructing habitats and lifestyles of ancient vertebrates. These effects are a matter of controversy, particularly in the case of extinct animals such as dinosaurs. To investigate the effects of diagenesis on isotopic composition of fossil bone, bone samples from both marine and terrestrial Campanian sediments from Alberta, Canada, have been analysed. The isotopic compositions of oxygen (δ18OSMOW) were determined in bones sampled from articulated skeletons of exclusively terrestrial animals recovered from the terrestrial Dinosaur Park Formation, and compared with bones from the marine Bearpaw Formation. The articulated skeleton of an exclusively terrestrial dinosaur (hadrosaur) found in marine sediments yielded similar δ18O values for both structural carbonate and phosphate fractions (mean δ18OSMOW values 22.6‰ and 16.9‰, respectively) in bone to marine reptiles (mosasaurs) recovered from the same locality (mean δ18OSMOW values 24.2‰ and 17.3‰, respectively). The isotopic composition of both skeletons recovered from marine sediments was significantly more positive than that of articulated hadrosaur skeletons recovered from contemporaneous terrestrial sediments (mean phosphate δ18OSMOW value 12.9‰), and outside the range of phosphate δ18OSMOW values previously reported for terrestrial dinosaur skeletons (c. 9–14‰). These data suggest that the isotopic composition of oxygen in the phosphate and structural carbonate ions in the bone apatite was altered during diagenesis and can be used for neither palaeoclimate nor physiological reconstruction.


From time to time crabs have been found in localities at great distances from their normal area of distribution, owing to their being transported by ships in ballast water tanks or on the hulls. Much attention has been paid to a report by Catta (1876), who examined the Crustacea taken from the hull of a ship that had made the voyage from India to Marseilles. Among these, four species of crabs of the family Grapsidae were represented, one of which, named by him Plagusia squamosa, being present in hundreds of specimens. Catta saw here the possibility of an extension of the area of distribution of the crab, but apparently the conditions of life were not favourable in the new locality, and the crab did not become established here. Stebbing (1893: 99) remarks that the correct name of the crab referred to above is Plagusia depressa (Fabricius) and adds that "The point of special interest, however, lies, as Catta explains, in showing the effects on distribution that may be produced by unconscious human agency." The data mentioned above were recorded again by Chilton (1911). According to Bennett (1964: 87) lists as given by Stebbing and Chilton of species transported on the hulls of ships are not lists of accidental acclimatisations, for it does not follow that the crabs could establish themselves in their new homes. Another case of unsuccessful transport of a crab to a new locality is the record of great numbers of Pilumnus spinifer H. Milne Edwards at Uddevalla harbour on the west coast of Sweden in 1826 (Christiansen, 1969: 77). Here undoubtedly the crab disappeared because it could not stand the cold in its new locality. A diligent search in the literature certainly would reveal numerous other


We develop and estimate a discrete-choice model of differentiated products for the corn and soybean seed industry in the United States to assess the welfare impact of genetically engineered (GE) crop varieties. We use a unique dataset, spanning the period 1996-2011, that contains rich information on the adoption of GE traits. Using a two-level nested logit model, we estimate that U.S. farmers are willing to pay a significant premium for GE traits, and this value has increased over time. Over the last five years of the sample, our results imply that farmers' average willingness to pay for glyphosate tolerance in soybeans was $24/acre/year. During the same period, farmers' willingness to pay for a common triple-stack in corn that includes two insect resistance traits and glyphosate tolerance was $35/acre/year. To compute overall welfare estimates, we evaluate counterfactual scenarios in which GE varieties are not available, with counterfactual non-GE seed prices predicted by a hedonic price equation. Counterfactual scenarios are adjusted to account for the fact that GE crop varieties crowded out non-GE varieties by the end of our sample. We estimate that GE innovations increased farmers' welfare by more than $14 billion over the period of study. We also find that the development and diffusion of GE traits increased U.S. corn and soybean seed industry revenues by nearly $23 billion over this period. Thus, seed firms have been able to appropriate the larger share of the ex post value of innovation created by GE technologies. Key Words: Discrete choice, Innovation, Nested logit, Product characteristics, Seed demand, Transgenic crops, Welfare JEL Codes


Breast cancer is the most common kind of cancer suffered by women. Mammography has been a common method
for early detection of breast cancer. Recently mammograms are examined manually, so it demands good knowledge,
intuition, and experience in this particular field. In many cases the breast normal tissue can hide malignant so that it
can't b seen on the mammogram.
With image processing tissue into mammogram image can be effored to know location. Much methode are used
in digital image processing. Methode is used in this final task is texture analysis. Based on that methode, this simulation
program is made for identification tissue into mammogram image using wavelet Haar methode. Data about
mammogram image any 42 image are get from Telogorejo Hospital Semarang. This program simulation is started with
reading image processing and then continued to ROI process, in image from ROI used image enhancement quality
with median filter to strech the contrast, after that texture analysis is used to get coefficient from that image. The
classification is started with the decomposition process to obtain the wavelet coefficients which then counted the
energy and entropy values of each images and then incorporated to database. The next process is comparing the energy
and entropy between images which will be classified with the images on the database. The final step is to find Euclidean
distance to show that the tested images is one of the class on the database.
From the 42 sample observed, the testing result image after ROI and enhancement show that it has
recognition rate 86% and testing result without image enhancement show recognition rate at 50%. The observed with
using image enhancement ang wavelet Haar from 14 normally image, 13 image can identified, from 20 masses image,
15 can identified, from 8 microclasification image, 7 can identified. The observed without image enhancement and
wavelet Haar is using 10 image analyzed by doctor. from 2 normally image, 1 image can identified, from 6 masses
image, 2 can identified, from 2 microclasification image, 2 can be identified as microclassification.
Keywords: breast cancer, wavelet Haar, decomposition, energy, Euclidean.


Food security remains a challenge in Burkina Faso due to climate-related hazards that have led to decreasing food availability in areas already plagued with low food consumption and malnutrition. The purpose of this study is to describe the prevalence of food insecurity among women in savings groups in northern and central west Burkina Faso and to identify associated factors. Interviews were conducted with 429 women. Logistic regression models were constructed to describe potential associations between key variables of interest and food security. Various factors influenced food insecurity status including income resilience, women's influences on finances and agricultural activities, the use of multiple agricultural techniques, and dietary diversity. In Burkina Faso, women's roles are evolving to take on greater responsibility over food security. Knowledge of evolving cultural roles combined with study findings may aid national officials and non-government organizations in the development of programs that aim to improve food security and associated health outcomes.


London Underground is facing the challenge of increasing timetables against spending cuts across renewals and maintenance in all assets. In order to meet this challenge, it is reviewing all maintenance practices to make sure that they are appropriate for the current asset conditions. Management of the wheel–rail interface is critical to maximising the life of wheels and rails through preventative maintenance regimes that ensure all activities offer value for money and safe operation. Detailed monitoring of the asset condition using novel non-destructive techniques has allowed the identification of the problems which currently occur at the wheel–rail interface on the London Underground network. These problems are discussed in this paper along with some of the solutions proposed to manage them. Site observations from a range of rail rolling contact fatigue monitoring sites have also been compared to the outputs from vehicle dynamic simulations. These outputs were post-processed using a circle plotting technique, which illustrates the location, direction and severity of the forces, and the Whole Life Rail Model to predict the susceptibility to rail damage for two rail steel grades. The outputs from these comparisons have helped to illustrate the wheel–rail contact conditions and forces which are driving the observed damage and potential future enhancements to improve the accuracy of the models for predicting the observed rolling contact fatigue damage.


The aim of this research was to find out the effect of Aspergillus niger-fermented soybean residue in ration on the histomorphometry of the small intestine villi of local chickens (Gallus domesticus).This study used a completely randomized design. Nine female chicken aged 15-16 months were divided into three groups. Each group consisted of three chikens. All chicken were given 324-2 ration and water ad libitum. Group P1 (control group) was given 100 g ration each day, group P2 was given a combination of 85 g ration and 10 g unfermented soybean residue everyday whereas group P3 was given 85 g ration and 10 g Aspergillus niger-fermented soybean residue everyday. Treatment was performed for 30 days. On day 31, chickens were slaughtered and subsequently three parts of the small intestine that consists of duodenum, jejunum, and ileum were collected and fixed in 10% neutral buffered formaline (NBF) solution for histological preparation. To measure the surface area of three regions of intestine, all histological sections were stained with Masson's trichrome Goldner's modification. Based on the statistical analysis, there was no difference in height of villi among three parts of small intestine (P>0.05), but there were statistical different (P<0,05) in ileum basal and duodenum apical width of three groups after supplementation with fermented soybean residue and non-fermented. Based on the results of this experiment, it could be conluded that supplementation non-fermentation and the fermentation of soybean residue with A. niger has no impact on the height of vili ileum, but it increase the width of vili ileum and apical vili duedenum intestin of local chickens. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


BACKGROUND AND AIMS
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is an important health problem worldwide. The aim of the study is to describe the baseline characteristics and possible epidemiological changes of the patients with chronic HCV infection included in a nationwide Greek study.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
two thousand eight hundred seventeen (2817) patients, followed-up at 20 hepatology centres throughout Greece between the years 1997 and 2006 were enrolled in the study.

RESULTS
Intravenous drug use (IDU) and history of blood transfusion prior to 1992 was reported in 30.7% and 22.6% of our patients, respectively. In 1865 (66.2%) patients with known genotypes, the distribution for genotype 1, 2, 3 and 4 was 45.1%, 7%, 34% and 13.9% respectively. Genotype 1 was more common in older people, in women (55.9% p<0.001) and patients with transfusion-related hepatitis (61.6% p<0.001). Genotype 3 was more common in younger patients, in men (43% p<0.001) and in IDUs (63.3% p<0.001). A significant reduction of transfusion-related hepatitis C incidence (p<0.001) in conjunction with the proportion of genotype 1 (p<0.001) was observed during the last three decades while an increase in IDU infected patients and genotype 3 was detected.

CONCLUSIONS
Our study showed a significant change in HCV genotype distribution and source of HCV infection during the last three decades and under that scope, urgent actions are needed in order to control the spread of HCV infection.


Antifriction bearings often fail from inclusion initiated surface and/or subsurface cracks that propagate in a hard tempered-martensite matrix that contains a certain amount of retained austenite, especially for case carburized surfaces. The primary inclusions present are carbides, sulfides, nitrides, and oxides that are characterized by distinct morphology, frequency, and constitutive behavior. Consequently, the fracture toughness of the inclusion-matrix system depends on the interactions between the inclusions themselves and their surrounding matrix. This paper presents a numerical framework for investigating the fracture response of the inclusions and the multiphase tempered martensite matrix. In this multibody approach, the inclusions are modeled as discrete bodies embedded in a plastic matrix with their distinct constitutive behavior. The plastic response of the polycrystalline matrix is modeled using a micromechanics approach for heterogeneous materials based on the original works of Eshelby and Hill. Finally, the mechanics of inclusion-matrix interface is included in the sliding surface description for the contacting bodies. This fracture model used in this study is based on the energy adsorption in the initiation of cracks and their subsequent propagation during tensile loading. The multibody model is calibrated and validated by comparison to experimental results reported in literature. Subsequently, the effect of phases surrounding the inclusion and the composition of the matrix are evaluated using the model. The constitutive behavior of the transition layer surrounding the inclusion is found to have a profound impact on the fracture toughness properties. The volume fraction of retained austenite in the matrix is also found to influence the fracture toughness of the material and cracking instability. Key results of this investigation are included in this paper.


This paper addresses the important yet unresolved problem of estimating forest properties from polarimetric-interferometric radar images affected by temporal decorrelation. We approach the problem by formulating a physical model of the polarimetric-interferometric coherence that incorporates both volumetric and temporal decorrelation effects. The model is termed random-motion-over-ground (RMoG) model, as it combines the random-volume-over-ground (RVoG) model with a Gaussian-statistic motion model of the canopy elements. Key features of the RMoG model are: 1) temporal decorrelation depends on the vertical structure of forests; 2) volumetric and temporal coherences are not separable as simple multiplicative factors; and 3) temporal decorrelation is complex-valued and changes with wave polarization. This third feature is particularly important as it allows compensating for unknown levels of temporal decorrelation using multiple polarimetric channels. To estimate model parameters such as tree height and canopy motion, we propose an algorithm that minimizes the least square distance between model predictions and complex coherence observations. The algorithm was applied to L-band NASA's Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar data acquired over the Harvard Forest (Massachussetts, USA). We found that the RMS difference at stand level between estimated RMoG-model tree height and NASA's lidar Laser Vegetation and Ice Sensor tree height was within 12% of the lidar-derived height, which improved significantly the RMS difference of 37% obtained using the RVoG model and ignoring temporal decorrelation. This result contributes to our ability of estimating forest biomass using in-orbit and forthcoming polarimetric-interferometric radar missions.


In spite of the impressive pace of cancer research, translating basic discoveries into new and more effective prevention tools, treatments and diagnostics remains complex and difficult to manage. Knowledge breakthroughs take years, if not decades, to be translated into improved outcomes for patients and this requires organization, communication and cooperation among scientists, clinicians, healthcare professionals, science policy makers, industry, patients and society at large. Today, priorities and funding for cancer research are frequently set at the national or local level in the European Union's 27 Member States and as a result there is tremendous heterogeneity between approaches and financial resources. Moreover, organisations that provide funding for research, including national medical research councils, charities, European institutions, and private sources, add to this confusion with their differing requirements, goals, and restrictions. Lack of coordination translates into duplication of research efforts, which leads to waste of time and resources, and severely limits Europe overall progress in the fight against cancer. Thus, it is urgent to improve collaboration in cancer research across Europe and to identify gaps within the cancer research continuum where coordination is essential. Previous work conducted by the Eurocan+Plus project recommended that Europe should aim at building bridges between research domains to achieve significant impact and encourage innovation. Following these recommendations, this WP will addresses existing limitations by bringing together MS/AC, NGOs including patient organisations and healthcare professionals, industry and other stakeholders in the cancer research continuum, with the aim of developing a concerted approach to achieve coordination of one third of research from all funding sources by 2013 within selected areas of cancer research.


Along with Cryptographic protocols and digital signatures, Intrusion Detection Systems(IDS) are considered to be the last line of defense to secure a network. But the main problem with todays most popular commercial IDSs(Intrusion Detection System) is the generation of huge amount of false positive alerts along with the true positive alerts, which is a cumbersome task for the operator to investigate in order to initiate proper responses. So, there is a great demand to explore this area of research and to find out a feasible solution.

In this thesis, we have chosen this problem as our main area of research. We have tested the effectiveness of using the Incremental Stream Clustering Algorithm in order to reduce the number of false alerts from an IDS output. This algorithm was tested with output of one of the most popular network based open source IDS, named Snort, which was configured to playback mood to look for DARPA 1999 network traffic dataset. Our approach was evaluated and compared with K-Nearest Neighbor Algorithm. The result shows that the Incremental Stream Clustering Algorithm reduces (more than 99%) the number of false alarms more than that of K-Nearest Neighbor Algorithm (93%).


6179 A substantial body of in vitro and in vivo data has implicated the urokinase plasminogen activator system, comprised of the serine protease urokinase (uPA), its cell surface receptor uPAR and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), in the neo-vascularization, invasion and metastasis of many solid tumors. More recent work has suggested that the interaction of uPAR with other cell surface receptors, particularly integrins, may play a significant role in these processes - independent of uPA catalytic activity. The important role of uPA-uPAR in tumor growth combined with its abundant expression within tumor, but not normal tissue makes it an attractive diagnostic and therapeutic target. We previously described the production and characterization of monoclonal antibodies specific for the D2D3 domain of uPAR. We have extensively characterized one of these antibodies, ATN-658, both in vitro and in vivo. ATN-658 bound immobilized recombinant uPAR and uPAR expressed on the surface of HeLa cells with a KD of ∼ 1 nM. Importantly, ATN-658 bound recombinant suPAR in which all non-essential glycosylation sites were mutated with a similar affinity - indicating that the antibody is specific for the protein portion of uPAR. Interestingly, although [I-125]-labeled ATN-658 bound to HeLa cells with high affinity, its binding was not competed by uPA. Similarly, binding of [I-125]-labeled scuPA to HeLa cells was unaffected by pre-incubation with unlabeled ATN-658. Unlike other antibodies we have tested, ATN-658 was not internalized upon binding to HeLa cells or MDA MB231 cells. To characterize the functional activity of the antibody, migration assays were performed. Although ATN-658 does not disrupt uPA binding to its receptor, ATN-658 inhibited uPA-induced migration of CHO cells expressing uPAR. Similarly, using a modified Boyden chamber model, ATN-658 inhibited the growth factor (HGF and IGF) induced migration of tumor cells. This data suggests that ATN-658 disrupts the interaction of uPAR with other cell surface receptors. The ability of ATN-658 to inhibit primary tumor growth was investigated in a number of in vivo models. To identify an appropriate dose and schedule for antibody treatment the circulating levels of ATN-658 were measured using a modified ELISA assay. Twice weekly treatment IP at 10 mg/kg resulted in a steady state plasma concentration of antibody of ∼0.4 μM, or 100-fold higher than the KD measured by in vitro binding assays. Using this dose and treatment schedule, ATN-658 significantly inhibited tumor growth in an A549 NSCLC early treatment model. Similarly, ATN-658 inhibited tumor growth in a staged A2780 ovarian carcinoma model. Taken together these data suggest that ATN-658, a monoclonal antibody specific for the D2D3 domain of uPAR, significantly inhibits tumor growth by a mechanism independent of uPA binding to its receptor.