PURPOSE
To compare the in vitro bond strengths of two acetone-based one-bottle dentin adhesives applied to four surface moisture conditions. The tested hypothesis was that wetting a dried dentin surface with an aqueous HEMA solution would result in bond strengths similar or higher than those obtained by leaving the surface moist as per manufacturers' instructions.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Eighty flat dentin bonding sites were polished to 600-grit on middle dentin of the labial surface of bovine incisors mounted in acrylic resin. The specimens were equally and randomly divided between two acetone-based dentin adhesives (One-Step and Prime & Bond 2.1) and four different levels of surface moisture (moist dentin, dentin dried for 1 s, dentin dried for 5 s, and dentin dried for 5 s followed by re-wetting with Aqua-Prep, an aqueous HEMA solution). A composite post was then adapted to the treated area and light-cured. After thermocycling, the bond strengths were determined by testing the specimens in shear. Field Emission SEM examinations were carried out to evaluate the effects of different treatments on the dentin-resin interface.

RESULTS
Statistical analysis revealed that the application of One-Step resulted in similar mean shear bond strengths for the groups in which moisture was present on the dentin surface (12.0-14.2 MPa). The mean shear bond strengths for the group in which One-Step was applied to a dried dentin surface was significantly lower (6.0 MPa). For Prime & Bond 2.1, the application of a re-wetting solution significantly increased mean shear bond strengths (13.9 MPa). The remaining three Prime & Bond 2.1 groups yielded statistically similar mean bond strengths, regardless of the surface condition (6.6-8.1 MPa).


The negative experience of large-scale collective farms during the Soviet period, whose primary function was to benefit the state as opposed to the individual small farmer, remains in the psyche of farmers throughout Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), serving as a disincentive to collaborate. This perspective clashes with a rapidly changing global marketplace, which demands large volumes of high-quality products to meet the needs of consumers. Using the Mennonite Economic Development Associates' (MEDA) Ukraine Horticulture Development Project (UHDP) as a case study, this article demonstrates that, introduced using a culturally sensitive approach and with the right market-based incentives, informal and formal methods of collective action can result in important benefits for small farmers in terms of increased incomes, stronger market position, and strengthened community alliances.


A high-frequency, subthreshold resonance in the guinea pig medial superior olive (MSO) was recently linked to the efficient extraction of spatial cues from the fine structure of acoustic stimuli. We report here that MSO neurons in gerbil also have resonant properties and, based on our whole-cell recordings and computational modeling, that a low-voltage-gated potassium current, IKLT, underlies the resonance. We show that resonance was lost following dynamic clamp replacement of IKLT with a leak conductance and in the model when voltage-gating of IKLT was suppressed. Resonance was characterized using small amplitude sinusoidal stimuli to generate impedance curves as typically done for linear systems analysis. Extending our study into the nonlinear, voltage-dependent regime, we increased stimulus amplitude and found, experimentally and in simulations, that the subthreshold resonant frequency (242Hz for weak stimuli) increased continuously to the resonant frequency for spiking (285Hz). The spike resonance of these phasic-firing (type III excitable) MSO neurons and of the model is of particular interest also because previous studies of resonance typically involved neurons/models (type II excitable, such as the standard Hodgkin-Huxley model) that can fire tonically for steady inputs. To probe more directly how these resonances relate to MSO neurons as slope-detectors, we presented periodic trains of brief, fast-rising excitatory post-synaptic potentials (EPSCs) to the model. While weak subthreshold EPSC trains were essentially low-pass filtered, resonance emerged as EPSC amplitude increased. Interestingly, for spike-evoking EPSC trains, the threshold amplitude at spike resonant frequency (317Hz) was lower than the single ESPC threshold. Our finding of a frequency-dependent threshold for repetitive brief EPSC stimuli and preferred frequency for spiking calls for further consideration of both subthreshold and suprathreshold resonance to fast and precise temporal processing in the MSO.


Understanding the impact of losing trophic diversity has global significance for managing ecosystems as well as important theoretical implications for community and ecosystem ecology. In several tropical forest ecosystems, habitat fragmentation has resulted in declines and local extinctions of mammalian and avian terrestrial insectivores. To assess the ability of a tropical rainforest community in Ivory Coast to resist perturbation from such loss of trophic diversity, I traced feedbacks in above and below ground communities and measured changes in nutrient levels and herbivory rates in response to an experimental exclosure of avian and mammalian terrestrial insectivores. I present evidence that loss of this functional group may result in increased tree seedling herbivory and altered nutrient regimes through changes in the abundance and guild structure of invertebrates. Exclusion of top predators of the forest floor resulted in increased seedling herbivory rates and macro-invertebrate (>5 mm) densities with strongest effects on herbivorous taxa, spiders and earthworms. Densities of microbivores including Collembola, Acarina and Sciaridae showed the opposite trend as did levels of inorganic phosphorus in the soil. Results were evaluated using path analysis which supported the presence of a top down trophic cascade in the detrital web which ultimately affected turnover of phosphorus, a limiting nutrient in tropical soils. Results illustrate the potential importance of vertebrate predators in both above and belowground food webs despite the biotic diversity and structural heterogeneity of the rainforest floor.


abstract Numerous biological and archaeological studies have demonstrated the legitimacy of remote sensing in anthropology. This article focuses on detecting and documenting terrestrial clandestine graves and surface remains (CGSR) of humans using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), sensors, and automatic processing algorithms. CGSR is a problem of complex decision making under uncertainty that requires the identification and intelligent reasoning about direct evidence of human remains and their environmental fingerprints. As such, it is as much an engineering and geospatial problem as it is an anthropology problem. This article is an effort to survey existing work across disciplines and to provide insights and recommendations to assist future research. To support our claims, preliminary experiments were performed at the Forensic Anthropological Research Facility at Texas State University using UAVs, hyperspectral imaging, thermal imaging, and structure from motion. Prior work, our experience, and preliminary results indicate that both great potential and extreme challenges face remote sensing of CGSR.


There is widespread confusion both in policy circles and in the academic literature about how to measure the progressivity of a tax change. The confusion is particularly vexing because policymakers and analysts often rely on progressivity as a guidepost in constructing and analyzing policy, but do little to justify the particular progressivity measures that they employ. Progressivity measures - which can differ considerably from one another - tend to be picked haphazardly or chosen based on arguments that have rhetorical flair but lack normative substance. Thus, policy is being constructed and evaluated based on distributional measures that may not be meaningful and, in fact, may be misleading. This Note proposes a framework for analyzing measures of progressivity. In particular, if the measures are to gauge accurately changes in tax fairness, progressivity measures must be rooted in whatever theory of distributive justice motivates our concern for distribution. This Note applies this approach and draws connections between particular measures of progressivity and individual theories of distributive justice.


This paper concerns itself with an invention in the Indian constitutional law by the Indian Supreme Court during mid-70s, that of "Basic structure doctrine". This paper dissects the Kesavananda case that comprises of 11 separate judgments in all were delivered running to about 600 pages in the AIR manual. The paper uses various elements of the case like the reasons for the respective stands taken by each individual judgment, idiosyncrasies of the individual judges, their view of nature of Indian democracy and polity, their understanding of Indian constitutionalism, the relationship of various organs of the government under the Indian constitution, consciousness & potential of the judicial branch in our constitutional set-up and the possible roles that our judiciary plays as an important partner with the parliament in the process of nation-building. While studying the doctrine of basic structure this researcher proposes various models by which the doctrine may be identified and evaluated. The three models used to analyze the doctrine are Basic Structure and the theory of Originalism, Basic Structure as balancing tool, and Basic Structure as a tool of development. The tools are used to analyze some of the shortcomings of the basic structure doctrine in the context of underdeveloped societies and proposes a divergent and progressive approach in judicial application of constitutional principles.


This laboratory has often been faced with the problem of cleaning and polishing hard optical materials such as barium fluoride, calcium fluoride and lithium fluoride. The standard water techniques for polishing sodium chloride and potassium bromide (I) are not effective for the fluorides because of their low solubility in water. Other methods such as those used for polishing glass (2) are very time consuming. The increasing use of barium fluoride for water solution work in this laboratory made it particularly desirable to find a rapid, simple, manual method for polishing this material. It was found that by simply substituting concentrated HC1 for water during the polishing process, barium fluoride could be polished to a clarity and flatness comparable to that obtained by water polishing sodium chloride.


Turkish President Kemal Ataturk, a consummate leader, appreciated the importance of an acute sense of timing in pursuit of larger national objectives. Encouraged by chauvinists among his Turkish compatriots before he signed the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 with France and Britain, Ataturk easily could have demanded and fought for control over the Ottoman province of Mosul--located in modern Iraq--and its oil. Turkish irredentism would have been satisfied by such claims, and Ataturk's already heightened post-World War I popularity would have soared. At that time, Ataturk's standing in the minds and hearts of Turks was not unassailable. There were strong opposition politicians, reluctant traditionalists, and envious comrades he had to fear and win over on his way to becoming an icon. But Ataturk resisted short-term political rewards in order to seek stronger ties with Europe. He knew that the larger aim of modernizing Turkey could only be achieved with Western backing; winning that support meant sacrificing some parts of what could be construed as the new Turkey's national interest. It also demonstrated an acute strategic sense of what would prove most sustainable in those tumultuous and quixotic months after the end of World War I before the conclusion of a permanent peace. In contemporary North Cyprus, Rauf Denktash, president of the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (TRNC), which is recognized only by Turkey, has for three decades pursued a set of more and more carefully refined goals for himself and his people. Over those decades, his acutely tuned tactical senses, combined with a sharp notion of timing, have greatly strengthened an originally weak bargaining hand. Resistance and delay, plus incrementally escalating demands, have buttressed Turkish Cypriot identity, altered the long-running debate over the furore of the Cypriot isle, and produced unquestioned political and economic support for Denktash and his policies within both the Turkish Cypriot enclave and Turkey. His adroit gamesmanship and deft timing have produced many gains for the Turkish-speaking section of Cyprus. But has he now missed his best opportunities? Has the master's grip on timing slipped, and has he therefore forfeited the mantle of leadership? Do massive protests in early 2003 in North Cyprus indicate that Denktash has lost his last best chance to create a recognized polity alongside Greek-speaking South Cyprus? Moreover, has he diminished his and North Cyprus's utility, to the Turkish motherland? An Island Adrift Cyprus, fought over even before Alexander the Great's era, was an outlying province of Venice from the late 15th century through the late 16th century, when Ottoman forces laid siege to Nicosia and Famagusta. The Ottoman Empire controlled the island until 1878, when it ceded Cyprus to Britain, an annexation formalized in 1914. Greek Orthodoxy, strong under Ottoman rule, flourished under the Empire. So did a local version of Islam; both Greek and Turkish languages persisted under the Crown, while English became the tongue of those of both backgrounds who sought preferment in their professions or in the British administrative service on the island. Most important of all, Turkish and Greek Cypriots shared the same land. Segregation was not the rule, although farming villages were often monolingual. Yet Turkish Cypriots lived in the Paphos region in the southwest, along the south coast in the cities such as Limassol, and throughout Nicosia when it was a single municipality. Under British rule, educated Cypriots received their secondary education in an English-medium institution, had the ability to speak Greek even if they were of Turkish-speaking descent (Greek speakers were far more numerous on the island), and sought further training in London as much as in Athens and more than in Istanbul or Ankara. The common language, the common law, an inkling of representative democracy, and perceived Europeanness were all fundamental to a 20th century Cypriot intimation of proto-nationhood. …


This guide explains how to find free images, videos, and sound files for your class projects and how to give proper attribution to the creator.


Moles are widely trapped as pests on farms and amenity land in Britain. Spring traps for killing mammals generally require welfare approval in the UK, but mole traps are exempt. Previous research demonstrated wide variation in the mechanical performance of mole traps. In this context, we aimed to produce new data on the welfare impact of kill-trapping moles in the field. We collected 50 moles trapped in southern England (November 2008–August 2009). Captures peaked during the peak in male breeding activity, when captures were almost exclusively male. Post mortem and x-ray (radiation) examinations were conducted to determine injuries and likely cause of death. No moles sustained damaged skulls or upper cervical vertebrae (which could cause unconsciousness immediately). The primary identifiable cause of death for all but one mole was acute haemorrhage; this contrasts with the findings of the only previous such study, in which only one mole showed clear evidence of haemorrhaging. Some moles may have asphyxiated although it was not possible to determine this. Moles most likely became unconscious before death, but times to unconsciousness, and death, can be determined only through killing trials and further investigation is urgently needed. This should be done through the spring traps approval process; this could improve the welfare standards of trapping for many thousands of moles each year. Mole trapping for long-term population control might be better targeted after the peak in male breeding activity, when females are more likely to be caught, but this would threaten the welfare of dependent young underground.


Funerary practices in ancient Greece were influenced by contemporary views on the afterlife and by concepts of pollution, but also by a desire to limit costs and a need to prevent the process of burial from causing inconvenience to the community or providing an opportunity for exploitation by those with ulterior political motives. Plato (Hippias Maior, 291d and e) defined the ideal of any Greek as to be rich, healthy and honoured; to live to a grand old age; to bury his parents with honour, and ultimately to be buried in turn by his own children with due respect. This study investigates the views on disposing of the dead which were prevalent from the 8thto the 4th century BC in Greece, and in Attica in particular. The sources consulted include Homer's epic poems, archaeological data and vase paintings, as well as the writings of later historians, philosophers and other prominent people.


textabstractDutch immigration and integration policies are being interpreted and implemented by local street-level bureaucrats. We carried out 28 semi-structured interviews with integration coaches, integration teachers and client managers in order to understand the dilemmas they face, and to explain their subsequent behaviour. The results show that although organizational characteristics such as the bureaucratic burden made street-level bureaucrats reluctant to enlarge their discretionary space at the expense of policy rules, their willingness to help clients often transcends these boundaries under a combination of three conditions: high client motivation, extreme personal distress of the client, and negative assessment of existing policies and policy instruments (both in terms of fairness and practicality). Furthermore, street-level bureaucrats were found to be constantly reinterpreting and revising their roles.


The general rule of federal question jurisdiction does not extend to cases in which plaintiffs challenge the lawfulness of a state or local tax. In recent years, the Supreme Court has expressed its belief that this lack of a federal forum should not concern taxpayers, as the federal and state judiciaries are equally competent in deciding questions of federal law. Many observers have disputed this parity thesis, labeling it a convenient but dangerous myth. In the field of state and local taxation specifically, lawyers have expressed their distrust of state courts' willingness to protect the federal rights of taxpayers, especially when those taxpayers are domiciled outside the taxing state. While several scholars have explored the question of parity in other contexts, the empirical question whether state courts are systematically biased against taxpayers seeking the protection of federal law has gone largely unexamined. This article offers a preliminary exploration. It presents a study of all reported state court decisions interpreting Public Law 86-272, a federal statute that provides businesses with immunity from state income taxes when they keep the extent of their contacts in the taxing state beneath a specific threshold. The study suggests that, at least as a prima facie matter, these decisions provide little support for the belief that state courts systematically disfavor taxpayers making federal claims. Instead, state courts appear to have interpreted Public Law 86-272 with a fair degree of consistency.


Neurogenesis occurs in the olfactory system of the adult brain throughout life, in both invertebrates and vertebrates, but its physiological regulation is not understood. We show that the production of neuronal progenitors is stimulated in the forebrain subventricular zone of female mice during pregnancy and that this effect is mediated by the hormone prolactin. The progenitors then migrate to produce new olfactory interneurons, a process likely to be important for maternal behavior, because olfactory discrimination is critical for recognition and rearing of offspring. Neurogenesis occurs even in females that mate with sterile males. These findings imply that forebrain olfactory neurogenesis may contribute to adaptive behaviors in mating and pregnancy.


Background Balance between flexor and extensor muscle activity is essential for optimal function. This has been demonstrated previously for the lower extremity, trunk and shoulder function, but information on the relationship in hand function is lacking. Objectives The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether there are qualitative differences in finger extension force, grip force, force duration, force balance and the muscle activities in the forearm flexor and extensor muscles in healthy men and women in different ages. Methods Healthy controls (men, n=65, women, n=40) were included. Primary outcome was muscle activity measured with S-EMG and finger flexion- and finger extension force in Newton (N). The maximal force from the first trial was used as reference value (maximal voluntary isometric contraction, MVIC). The S-EMG activity of the m. extensor digitorum communis (EDC) and the m. flexor carpi radialis (FCR) were measured on the dominant hand when performing seven clinically often used hand exercises. Hand function was also evaluated with the self-reported questioner Quick DASH and VAS pain and VAS stiffness. Results The force balance between finger extension and flexion force was statistically significant for both men (r=0.51, p=0.000) and women (r=0.78, p=0.000). The finger extension force was not influenced by age, but flexion force was significantly correlated to age. The coefficient of determination showed that age and gender can explain 45-55% of differences in the force measurements. Muscle activity from hand exercises was significant related to gender for EDC and muscle activity in FCR showed significantly relation to age. Only 3 of the 7 hand exercise were adjustable for both men and women unrelatedly to age. Concerning the muscle activation in EDC and FCR in daily activities, the age and gender explain 31% respectively 19% of the differences. Conclusions This study shows that there are differences between men and women's hand force capacity and that gender and age can explain 45-55% of the differences. Furthermore this study shows that the EDC muscle is related to gender and FCR is related to age. In a longer perspective this information is useful for designing optimal training program for adjusted for gender and age. References Greig M, Wells R. A systematic exploration of distal arm muscle activity and perceived exertion while applying external forces and moments. Ergonomics. [Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't]. 2008 Aug;51(8):1238-57. Nordenskiold U, Grimby G. Assessments of disability in women with rheumatoid arthritis in relation to grip force and pain. Disabil Rehabil. 1997 Jan;19(1):13-9. Kapandji I. The physiology of the joints - annotated diagrams of the mechanics of the human joints. Edingburgh London, Melborne and New York: Churchill Livingstone; 1982. Brorsson S, Nilsdotter A, Sollerman C, Baerveldt AJ, Hilliges M. A new force measurement device for evaluating finger extension function in the healthy and rheumatoid arthritic hand. Technol Health Care. 2008;16(4):283-92. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


Sustainable development concern has become subject of recurrent discussions over the last years due to the duet large greenhouse gases emissions and world growth, especially in developing countries. Electrical sector is one of the major segments responsible for greenhouse gases emissions, but also the one in which modern society depends the most for life standard maintenance, economic and social activities. A renewable source considered in Brazilian energy sector expansion is wind power, which has a 143 GW potential. As such, the paper aims to estimate environmental impacts (CO2 emission) involved in wind power plants construction phase and return time for compensating these emissions during operation. Ecological payback is developed through CO2 emission analysis of different energy sectors required as inputs in construction and final emission reduction due to this "clean" power plant operation in national electrical matrix. Estimation of economic and environmental impacts is based on input-output methodology, using a 2004 matrix for Brazilian economy. Results point out for a maximum payback period of 4 months in worst case scenario, and major pollution contribution of Steel and Products Manufacturing during construction.


Many fish species of Lake Balaton (Hungary) serve as paratenic hosts for the 3rd stage larvae of the eel parasite Anguillicola crassus. The incidence oi different phases of the host reaction varies with paratenic fish host but its nature is basically the same. The appearance of mononuclear cells around the larvae migrating in the tissues or in the abdominal cavity is regarded as a sign of cellular host reaction. The cells adhering to the surface of the larvae gradually assume an epithelioid shape and form a granuloma. With the advancement of the process the larvae and the epithelioid cells surrounding them undergo necrosis, and the granuloma becomes surrounded by a connective tissue capsule. In more chronic cases, the inside of the parasitic nodule surrounded by several layers of connective tissue is filled out by amorphous tissue and parasite debris. In the 'suitable paratenic hosts' Anguillicola sp. larvae not affected by the host's cellular reaction outnumber those affected by it, whereas in the 'less suitable paratenic hosts' the cellular reaction very rapidly forces the larvae into foci and destroys them.


Acne vulgaris, the most common type of acne, is a chronic inflammatory skin disease affecting hair follicles, and sebaceous glands and ducts. It occurs on the face in 99% of those affected and, less often, on the back and chest.(Layton 2010) Characteristic features include overproduction of sebum (seborrhoea); thickening of the follicle stratum corneum, which can lead to blockage and accumulation of sebum to form non-inflamed lesions called comedones; colonisation of the pilosebaceous ducts by Propionibacterium acnes; and inflamed lesions (e.g. papules, pustules, inflamed nodules, pus-filled cysts) that may be superficial or deep.(Layton 2010; Garner 2003) Scarring can result from abnormal wound healing following inflammatory damage.(Layton 2010) Acne conglobata is an uncommon and unusually severe form of acne characterised by burrowing and interconnecting abscesses and irregular scars.


Does enhancing banks' information sets and understanding of credit risks improve loan loss recognition? We study this question using a global dataset of staggered initiations and coverage increases of public credit registries (PCRs). Mandated by national regulators, PCRs collect borrower and loan information from lenders and share it with the banks in the financial system. This setting represents a significant improvement in banks' assessment of loss events. We find that PCR initiations and coverage reforms enhance the timeliness of banks' loan loss recognition—the extent to which loan loss provisions capture subsequent nonperforming loans. The effects are greater when PCRs distribute more information and are not driven by changes in borrower quality or supervisory stringency. Overall, these inferences are consistent with improvements in banks' information sets leading to better provisioning decisions


The objective of this research article is to analyze the existence of Indonesian Patent Law and policy on providing a compulsory license to use pharmaceutical patents without consent for patent holders to enhance public health in Indonesia. The focus of this research is to examine whether such law and policy adequate to support access to affordable medicines in Indonesia. The type of this research is normative legal research by using statute and conceptual approaches, while legal resources used in this research is primary and secondary legal resources. The statute approach was used in this research to examine all Indonesia legislation, regulations, and policies dealing with this compulsory license on pharmaceutical patents. This research found that normatively, Indonesian Patent Law and Policy dealing with compulsory license is adequate to secure people's access to affordable medicines. Unfortunately, this compulsory license has not been utilized by the Indonesian Government. The Ministry of Human Rights Regulation No. 39 of 2018 concerning Procedures for Granting of Compulsory License to implement the Patent Act of 2016 has issued to apply for such License. This research advises the Government should ensure that procedure and technical guideline to implement this compulsory license is transparent so that it can be understandable by the third party; thus, accessibility and affordability of medicines can be achieved.


We present a novel approach to plan recognition in which graph construction and analysis is used as a paradigm. We use a graph structure called a Goal Graph for the plan recognition problem. The Goal Graph is first constructed to represent the observed actions, the state of the world, and the achieved goals at consecutive time steps. It also represents various connections between nodes in the Goal Graph. The Goal Graph can then be analysed at each time step to recognise those achieved goals that are consistent with the actions observed so far. The Goal Graph analysis can also reveal valid plans for the recognised goals or part of the recognised goals. We describe two algorithms, GoalGraphConstructor and GoalGraphAnalyser, based on this paradigm. These algorithms are sound, polynomialtime and polynomial-space. The algorithms have been tested in two domains with up to 245 goal schemata and 100000 possible goals. They perform well in these domains in terms of efficiency, accuracy and scalab ility.


The hypothesis was proposed that shore fishes and crabs, predators other than gastropods, may be primarily responsible for depletion of barnacle populations in the vicinity of crevices through thigmotactic behaviour during foraging. To test this hypothesis, movements of mobile predators on barnacle-dominated rock in the lower intertidal zone were observed using a fixed underwater television camera. An area of 0.2 m 2 was monitored continuously for 14 d on a vertically oriented but relatively protected shore on the west coast of Scotland. Infrared lights during nighttime high tides lit the area. Stereo photography was used to determine the topography of the area. The principal species seen by day was the blenny Lipophrys pholis (L.) while the shore crab Carcinus maenas (L.) was the most frequent species at night. Scorpion fish Taurulus bubalis (Euphrasen), dogwhelks Nucella lapillus (L.) and a single North American mink Mustela vison Schreber were also seen. Movements of crabs, and especially blennies, were concentrated around small-scale concavities in the rock surface of less than 10 cm dimensions, supporting the primary hypothesis, Times spent by Lipophrys pholis and Carcinus maenas in 0.001 m 2 (10 cm 2 ) areas within the video frame varied by 3 and 2 orders of magnitude respectively. These 2 species are known to be active predators of barnacles Semibalanus balanoides and showed behaviour consistent with attacks on barnacles as prey. Observed movements and apparent spatial concentration of attacks, especially around crevices, may be a cause of patchiness in barnacle populations at this scale.


The purpose of this study is to illustrate how teachers, in a private school in Thailand, organize and plan their mathematic teaching, what material they use and how the teachers challenge the students. In the background, we report briefly about Thailand and the school's history. Then a presentation follows of previous research that has been made within our chosen subject. The theories are linked to our research questions, such as mathematic teaching, mathematic material and gifted students, according to Western literature. You can also find a short summary of the curriculum for mathematics, from the government in Thailand.Trough a qualitative method five interviews with mathematic teachers and observations in their classes have been conducted and this result have been analyzed and discussed. Interview and observation guides were used with the purpose to give the respondents room to develop their reasoning with the help of our follow- up questions.Trough our interviews and observations we have come to a result that shows that the teachers organized their teaching according to a Brain based learning pattern and after the governments curriculum. The mathematic material consisted of mathematic books, laminated sticks, bars, number cards and also of computer programs. The mathematic books were not individualized but played a significant part of the teaching. The plastic material was used to concretize the mathematics. The school had the idea that separating the gifted students from the others in the group was positive for their development. The gifted students were challenged by more difficult mathematics meant for older students and had to work at a higher pace than their peers.The results can not be generalized for all schools in Thailand. When the study is relatively small, it only shows how a part of the mathematics teaching is implemented at the school where the study was conducted.


Increasing urbanization and industrialization along the coastal areas of False Bay in South Africa can endanger coastal ecosystems because of increasing metal pollution. To obtain base-line data on contamination levels in the intertidal zone, cadmium (Cd) body loads of four invertebrate species were measured seasonally over a period of 15 months from different sites within the bay. Specimens of Tetraclita serrata (barnacle), Oxystele sinenses (periwinkle), Cymbula oculus (limpet) and Choromytilus meridionalis (mussel) were collected and analysed to determine temporal changes in Cd body burdens. Cd concentrations were also measured in water and sediments. Cd concentrations in the intertidal animals varied considerably between sampling sites and between seasons and also occasionally between species. All four species accumulated Cd in their bodies to levels several times higher than environmental concentrations. No significant difference could be shown between the Cd concentrations in the gastropod grazers and the filter-feeders. The highest mean body load of Cd (70.67 µg/g dry weight) for a single sampling occasion was measured in the sessile barnacles (T. serrata) collected at Rooi-Els. The highest mean Cd concentration (11.95 µg/g) for the bay as a whole was measured in the limpet C. oculus. Two-way analysis of variance indicated that spatial (location) rather than temporal (seasonal) factors affected Cd concentrations in the invertebrates. Cd concentrations in False Bay sometimes exceeded the norms or water quality standards.


The widespread effects of student failure and dropout have social, judicial, and economic implications. This study addressed factors that can affect students' academic identification, an element that can influence dropout among U.S. high school students identified as at-risk. Research indicates that student motivation and academic identification may be linked to improvements in students' academic achievement and reductions in dropout rates. The purpose of this quantitative investigation was to address high dropout rates among at-risk, high school students by exploring the extent to which students' motivational beliefs in school predicted their academic identification and achievement. Specifically, I explored the extent to which the MUSIC Model of Academic Motivation Inventory (MUSIC Inventory) produced valid scores among at-risk high school students, and the extent to which students' motivational beliefs about school predicted their academic identification and achievement. This quantitative study utilized structural equation modeling (SEM) and involved a sample of 100 at-risk students from an alternative high school in the Mid-Atlantic United States. Data were collected via paper surveys, which I administered to students during October, 2015. All survey data were entered into SPSS 23 for analysis. Results indicated that Cronbach's alpha coefficients were low for all MUSIC Model components except for care, which demonstrated modest reliability. Data analysis also indicated that three of the five components of the MUSIC Model – usefulness, success, and caring – were positively associated with academic identification. Thus, there is preliminary evidence to suggest that teachers may be able to have a positive effect on the academic success of at-risk high school students by finding ways to improve students' perceptions of usefulness, success, and care. Educational stakeholders can utilize findings from the present study to prompt an exploration of ways to improve these motivational components to promote greater academic success among this student population.


Transcription factors of the basic helix–loop–helix (bHLH) class are involved in the determination of precursor cells towards neural (proneural) and other cell fates. The proneural members of this class constitute a particular subset of bHLH proteins that are arranged in a cascade that affects different stages of neuronal commitment and differentiation, and act in a combinatorial code along with other transcription factors to specify neuronal identity. Proneural proteins themselves are a target of regulation by ID and HES proteins among others, and are involved in setting up a negative feedback pathway of lateral inhibition involving NOTCH and DELTA signalling. In addition, the activities of bHLHs are also subject to control by posttranslational modification and degradation. Finally, recent analyses have begun to identify the direct downstream targets of bHLH genes in the nervous system, and this is shedding light on the mechanisms ensuring specificity of the individual bHLH proteins.

Key concepts:

bHLH proneural transcription factors have multiple direct downstream transcriptional targets including other transcription factors, signal transducers and cytoskeletal modifiers.

bHLH proneural transcription factors act in a combinatorial code to confer neuronal subtype identity.

bHLH transcription factors are regulated posttranslationally by mechanisms including phosphorylation and ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis.

bHLH proneural transcription factors have multiple downstream targets that orchestrate neural differentiation.

Negative regulators of bHLH proneural proteins such as HES and ID proteins act by dimerizing with and sequestering E protein partners.

Lateral inhibition mediated by the NOTCH–DELTA pathway limits the number of neurons that differentiate from the pool of neuronal precursors.

Keywords:

proneural;
neurogenesis;
transcription factor;
lateral inhibition;
differentiation;
determination


In June 2011 the Supreme Court published its first major decisions on due process limits on personal jurisdiction in decades. Though the cases provided an opportunity to remove longstanding confusion, the decisions expose new divisions on the Court that give rise to new uncertainties.This Article focuses on the less controversial case. Seeming to express an emerging consensus with respect to general jurisdiction, the unanimous opinion in Goodyear Dunlop Tires Operations S.A. v. Brown announces a new, restrictive formula for general jurisdiction: for a state to exercise general personal jurisdiction over a corporation, the corporation must be incorporated in the state, maintain its principal place of business in the state or have such continuous and systematic ties in a forum state that is "at home."Exploring the decision and its early reception by lower courts, this Article contends that the opinion is ambiguous. On the one hand, it can be read to support contacts-based general jurisdiction over foreign corporations that are sufficiently active in the state. On the other hand, it can be read to restrict general jurisdiction to those corporations that maintain a legal home in the state by incorporating under the laws of the state or by engaging in such a level of activity that the state becomes the equivalent of their principal place of business.The different readings produce different results in many routine situations. In fact, the Article shows they produce different answers to the question posed during oral argument as to whether Goodyear USA (which operates a factory in North Carolina) would be subject to general jurisdiction in that state without its consent.In addition to explaining divergent positions on the Court, the Article proposes a middle path, a fair reading of the opinion that avoids the most tendentious interpretations and that implements the Court's shared commitment to eliminating general jurisdiction over a broad category of cases.Finally, the Article identifies specific problem areas that the decision leaves for future judicial elaboration and examines early decisions by lower courts that have begun to grapple with these problems. The Article offers courts and litigants a useful resource for understanding and applying the new doctrine.


The goal of acquisition planning is to create a roadmap that a program can follow to maximize its chances of successfully fielding a system that meets users' needs within cost and on schedule. Developing an acquisition strategy is a key component of acquisition planning that provides a means of addressing risks through the program structure. Programs need structured ways to reason about software risks, formulate acquisition strategies to mitigate software risk, and evaluate their current acquisition strategy in an ongoing, systematic manner. This report introduces a taxonomy of strategy drivers and strategy elements and provides a method for performing a comparative analysis of the strategy drivers and the resulting strategic choices for the elements. The primary audience for this technical report and the accompanying Excel-based tool is program managers of government acquisition programs. The main prerequisite for successfully using this information is working knowledge of government acquisition practices. Request the Acquisition Strategy Development Tool (ASDT) excel file


The glucosinolate-myrosinase system is present in a large number of plants, mainly of the order Brassicales, including several common vegetables like broccoli, cabbage, kale, radish and rocket consumed worldwide. The knowledge about this fascinating biochemical system is still evolving and attracting the combined efforts of scientists of several disciplines. The research focused on the multigram-scale isolation of selected glucosinolates, the setting-up of their enzymatic transformation, and the in-vivo investigation of their activity in the protection of the central nervous system from neurodegenerative disorders. One of the main task was the screening of different Brassicaceae to identify the most convenient source to isolate glucoraphanin, which pointed towards Tuscan black kale seeds that resulted to be a multifunctional source to achieve several purposes. The procedure for extraction and purification was set-up by combining preparative anion exchange chromatography and gel filtration chromatography. Further, a set of other four glucosinolates, namely thiofunctionalized glucoerucin, glucoraphasatin, glucoraphenin and the atypical glycosylated glucomoringin were isolated and purified using similar experimental approach starting from suitable plant sources. An efficient protocol for the enzymatic transformation of the selected glucosinolates and isolation of the corresponding isothiocyanates and dithiocarbamates was set up and optimized using a biphasic system. The pharmacological studies focused on glucoraphanin and glucomoringin that are the precursors of dietary isothiocyanates R-sulforaphane and moringin, respectively, recognized for their chemopreventive and medicinal properties. In contrast to the well-known R-sulforaphane, little is known about the molecular pathways targeted by moringin. The neuroprotective effects of R-sulforaphane and moringin freshly prepared by the action of myrosinase on highly pure glucoraphanin and glucomoringin, was tested in in vivo pharmacological investigations. Overall, results could contribute to a better understanding of the potential neuroprotection of R-sulforaphane and moringin in several pathologies of the central nervous system.


This book presents an introduction to the geometric group theory associated with nonpositively curved cube complexes. It advocates the use of cube complexes to understand the fundamental groups of hyperbolic 3-manifolds as well as many other infinite groups studied within geometric group theory. The main goal is to outline the proof that a hyperbolic group $G$ with a quasiconvex hierarchy has a finite index subgroup that embeds in a right-angled Artin group. The supporting ingredients of the proof are sketched: the basics of nonpositively curved cube complexes, wallspaces and dual CAT(0) cube complexes, special cube complexes, the combination theorem for special cube complexes, the combination theorem for cubulated groups, cubical small-cancellation theory, and the malnormal special quotient theorem. Generalizations to relatively hyperbolic groups are discussed. Finally, applications are described towards resolving Baumslag's conjecture on the residual finiteness of one-relator groups with torsion, and to the virtual specialness and virtual fibering of certain hyperbolic 3-manifolds, including those with at least one cusp. The text contains many figures illustrating the ideas.


Various industrial processes involve materials consisting of grains. The spectrum ranges from coarse grained matter and fine powders to nano-powders. As grain size decreases, the influence of cohesion increases leading to an enormous pore volume, which sometimes can exceed 90%.
One main goal of this thesis is to understand this macroscopic behavior on a microscopic level and to quantify it. By using the contact dynamics method we simulate the evolution of an ensemble of grains in two dimensions. An extension dealing with cohesion and rolling friction turns out to be crucial for explaning the pore stabilization mechanism. Furthermore, our model shows that strong cohesion can stabilize even low coordinated packings such as particle chains.
After compaction the porosity depends on the ratio of applied pressure to the cohesive force (scaled by the particle radius). For high pressures this dependence can be described by a power law.
Consolidation experiments by the group of Prof. Schwedes at the Technical University of Braunschweig confirm this behavior for different sized powders.
The influence of this scaling function on the stress driven compaction process can be explained by a simple model. Extending this model to strain driven processes, we predict density inhomogeneities inside the powders, which diminish with decreasing deforming rate and vanish in the limit of a quasistatic process. Experiments, usually performed at low strain rates, validate this homogeneous deformation in this case.

Furthermore, we investigate the influence of the initial configuration. Fractal structures which include high differences in local density turn out to better stabilize pores against applied pressure. This is in accordance with experiments on silica gels which show increasing mechanical strength with growing local density inhomogeneities.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effects of twice-daily oral administration of hydrocortisone on the bile acids composition of gallbladder bile in dogs.

ANIMALS
6 placebo-treated control dogs and 6 hydrocortisone-treated dogs.

PROCEDURES
Dogs received hydrocortisone (median dose, 8.5 mg/kg) or a gelatin capsule (control group) orally every 12 hours for 84 days. Gallbladder bile samples were obtained via percutaneous ultrasound-guided cholecystocentesis from each dog before (day 0 [baseline]), during (days 28, 56, and 84), and after (days 28p, 56p, and 84p) treatment for differentiated quantification of unconjugated bile acids and taurine-conjugated and glycine-conjugated bile acids via high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

RESULTS
Treatment with hydrocortisone for 84 days resulted in significant and reversible increases in the concentrations of unconjugated bile acids (ie, cholic, chenodeoxycholic, and deoxycholic acids) and a significant and reversible decrease in the concentration of total taurine-conjugated bile acids, compared with baseline or control group values. Treatment with hydrocortisone had no effect on bile concentrations of glycine-conjugated bile acids.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
In dogs, hydrocortisone administration caused reversible shifts toward higher concentrations of the more hydrophobic unconjugated bile acids (chenodeoxycholic acid and deoxycholic acid) and toward lower concentrations of the amphipathic taurine-conjugated bile acids in gallbladder bile. These data suggest that similar bile acids changes could cause major alterations in gallbladder structure or function over time in hypercortisolemic dogs.


We recently reported the discovery of a recombinant chimera, denoted DAVEI (dual-acting virucidal entry inhibitor), which is able to selectively cause specific and potent lytic inactivation of both pseudotyped and fully infectious human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) virions. The chimera is composed of the lectin cyanovirin-N (CVN) fused to the 20-residue membrane-proximal external region (MPER) of HIV-1 gp41. Because the Env gp120-binding CVN domain on its own is not lytic, we sought here to determine how the MPER(DAVEI) domain is able to endow the chimera with virolytic activity. We used a protein engineering strategy to identify molecular determinants of MPER(DAVEI) that are important for function. Recombinant mutagenesis and truncation demonstrated that the MPER(DAVEI) domain could be significantly minimized without loss of function. The dependence of lysis on specific MPER sequences of DAVEI, determination of minimal linker length, and competition by a simplified MPER surrogate peptide suggested that the MPER domain of DAVEI interacts with the Env spike trimer, likely with the gp41 region. This conclusion was further supported by observations from binding of the biotinylated MPER surrogate peptide to Env protein expressed on cells, monoclonal antibody competition, a direct binding enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay on viruses with varying numbers of trimeric spikes on their surfaces, and comparison of maximal interdomain spacing in DAVEI to that in high-resolution structures of Env. The finding that MPER(DAVEI) in CVN-MPER linker sequences can be minimized without loss of virolytic function provides an improved experimental path for constructing size-minimized DAVEI chimeras and molecular tools for determining how simultaneous engagement of gp120 and gp41 by these chimeras can disrupt the metastable virus Env spike.


The current Eurocode 8 belongs to one of the most advanced international seismic design codes. This leading edge should be maintained in future revisions of the code while the code should become as user friendly as possible. This article makes several proposals in which way the reinforced concrete wall sections in future versions of the Eurocode can be extended in its scope but simplified in its application. The topics raised concern: (i) Capacity design rules including shear amplification factors, (ii) the reduction of the number of ductility classes, (iii) the out-of-plane failure of reinforced concrete walls, (iv) engineering demand parameters for displacement-based approaches, (v) displacement-capacity estimates for new and existing reinforced concrete members, (vi) the design of mixed structural system, (vii) the design of new structural solutions with reinforced concrete members such as rocking walls.


Given the inextricable roles of the coach learner and coach educator in learner-centered (LC) coach education, research into their perceptions and experiences in these programs appears to be a priority. As such, building on Paquette and Trudel's examination of Canada's golf coach education program relative to its alignment with learner-centered approaches, the present study examined coaches' and coach educators' perspectives of their experiences participating in the abovementioned program that was found to have a LC design. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 participants (6 coach educators and 10 coaches), and data were analyzed using a thematic analysis. The finalized themes were used as a narrative skeleton for the creation of the four composite vignettes. The vignettes represented the experiences of four composite characters relative to their learning orientations to learner-centered teaching (LCT) and instructor-centred teaching (ICT): LCT Coach Educator, LCT Coach, ICT Coach Educator, ICT Coach. As influenced by their cognitive structures, the vignettes depict the composite coaches' varied engagement and perceptions of the program, as well as the coach educators' varied delivery of the program and adherence to the program's LC design. These diverse experiences are discussed in relation to the impact of LC coach education.


BACKGROUND: Erectile dysfunction (ED) medications are therapeutically effective and associated with satisfaction. Medicare Part D included ED medications on the formulary during 2006 and inadvertently in 2007-2008. OBJECTIVE: To characterize phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitor (PDE-5) medication use among veterans who were dually eligible for Veterans Affairs (VA) and Medicare Part D benefits. METHODS: Veterans aged > 66 years who received PDE-5 inhibitors between 2005 and 2009 were included. Veterans were categorized by PDE-5 inhibitor claims: VA-only, Part D-only, or dual users of VA and Part D-reimbursed pharmacies. T-tests and chi-square tests were applied as appropriate. RESULTS: From 2005 to 2009, the majority (85.2%) of veterans used VA benefits exclusively for their PDE-5 inhibitors; 11.4% used Medicare Part D exclusively; and 3.4% were dual users. The Part D-only group was older, more frequently not black, had a VA copay, and had a higher income (P < 0.03). The VA group was more likely to have comorbidities, smoke, and have a history of substance abuse (P < 0.001). With the inception of Medicare Part D in 2006, the number of patients filling prescriptions for PDE-5 inhibitors (-68%) and total number of PDE-5 inhibitor 30-day equivalents dispensed (-86.7%) from the VA decreased. Part D prescriptions increased through 2006 (full coverage period) and 2007 (accidental partial coverage) and decreased in 2008. While Part D accounted for only 10% of PDE-5 inhibitor 30-day equivalents, it equaled 29.2% of dispensed tablets. In October 2007, VA PDE-5 inhibitor use returned to 2005 levels. CONCLUSIONS: Implementation of Medicare Part D reduced VA PDE-5 inhibitor acquisition. However, after removal of PDE-5 inhibitors from the Part D formulary, use of VA pharmacies for PDE-5 inhibitors resumed. Medication policies outside the VA can affect medication use. Veterans with access to non-VA health care may obtain medications from the private sector because of VA restrictions. This may be especially true for nonformulary and lifestyle medications.


"Enhanced publications" are commonly intended as digital publications that consist of a mandatory narrative part (the description of the research conducted) plus related "parts", such as datasets, other publications, images, tables, workflows, devices. The state-of-the-art on information systems for enhanced publications has today reached the point where some kind of common understanding is required, in order to provide the methodology and language for scientists to compare, analyse, or simply discuss the multitude of solutions in the field. In this paper, we thoroughly examined the literature with a two-fold aim: firstly, introducing the terminology required to describe and compare structural and semantic features of existing enhanced publication data models; secondly, proposing a classification of enhanced publication information systems based on their main functional goals.


Background Non-pharmaceutical intervention (NPI) remains the most reliable COVID-19 containment tool for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) given the inequality of vaccine distribution and their vulnerable healthcare systems. We aimed to develop mathematical models that capture LMIC demographic characteristics such as young population and large household size and assess NPI effectiveness in rural and urban communities. Methods We constructed synthetic populations for rural, non-slum urban and slum settings to capture LMIC demographic characteristics that vary across communities. We integrated age mixing and household structure into contact networks for each community setting and simulated COVID-19 outbreaks within the networks. Using this agent-based model, we evaluate NPIs including testing and isolation, tracing and quarantine, and physical distancing. We explored the optimal containment strategies for rural and urban communities by designing and simulating setting-specific strategies that deploy rapid diagnostic test, symptom screening, contact tracing and physical distancing. We performed extensive simulations to capture the uncertainty of outbreak trajectories and the impact of varying model parameters. Findings We found the impact of testing, tracing and distancing varies with rural-urban settings. In rural communities, we found implementing either high quality (sensitivity > 50%) antigen rapid diagnostic tests or moderate physical distancing could contain the transmission. Additionally, antibody rapid diagnostic tests and symptom-based diagnosis could be useful for mitigating the transmission. In non-slum urban communities, we demonstrated that both physical distancing and case finding are essential for containing COVID-19 (average infection rate < 10%). In slum communities, we found physical distancing is less effective compared to rural and non-slum urban communities. Lastly, for all communities considered, we demonstrated contact quarantine is essential for effective containment and is effective at a low compliance rate (30%). Interpretation Our findings could guide setting-specific strategy design for different communities in LMICs. Our assessments also have implications on applying rapid diagnostic tests and symptom-based diagnosis for case finding, tracing and distancing in lower-income communities.


ABSTRACT The description of a new large caseid, Ruthenosaurus russelbrum n. gen., n. sp. from the Early Permian (upper Cisuralian to lower Lopingian) of the Rodez Basin, France, is based on a partial postcranial skeleton that was initially collected at the same time as the holotype of "Cásea" rutena Sigogneau-Russell & Russell, 1974. Despite its distinctly larger size than "C." rutena, the holotype of Ruthenosaurus n. gen. clearly represents an immature individual, as shown most clearly by the lack of fusion of the neural arches to their respective vertebral centra and incomplete ossification of the ends of the limb elements, including the absence of an ossified olecranon on the ulna. Nonetheless, Ruthenosaurus n. gen. is diagnosed by several autapomorphic characters, including dorsal vertebrae with anteriorly tilting neural spines and a diamond-shaped outline in transverse section, a first sacral rib with a dorsoventrally expanded distal head, and a low iliac blade with a poorly developed anterior process. The new taxon is further distinguishable from the only other known French caseid, "Casea" rutena, by the shape of the distal part of the humerus, including an ectepicondylar notch rather than a fully enclosed foramen, the specific shape of the ulna, and the overall robustness of the specimen. The taxonomic status of "Cased" rutena is discussed and it is concluded that this species should be moved into a new genus named Euromycter n. gen. The occurrence of the large-sized Ruthenosaurus n. gen. in France increases our knowledge about the early diversity of this clade in Europe.


Non-canonical amino acids provide a new set of building blocks and a potential route to new chemistries that extend beyond those achieved through the 20 common amino acids. Among various methods developed for this purpose, residue-specific incorporation in vivo has the potential to economically engineer proteins of various sizes with altered physical and chemical behavior. The work presented in this thesis explored the incorporation of fluorinated aliphatic residues and their effect on protein structure, stability, and function.

In Chapter 2, two fluorinated amino acids, 5,5,5-trifluoroisoleucine (5TFI) and 4,4,4-trifluorovaline (4TFV), were incorporated in vivo into mutant GCN4 proteins. Both 5TFI and 4TFV showed replacement levels higher than 88%, as indicated by quantitative amino acid and MALDI-MS analysis. The incorporation of 5TFI into a-positions of the coiled-coil protein raised the thermal denaturation temperature (T[subscript m]) by 27°C from that of its isoleucine counterpart. However, when valines were replaced by 4TFV in the same positions, T[subscript m] only increased by 4°C. Similar trends were observed in response to chemical denaturation by guanidine hydrochloride; ΔΔG[subscript folding] upon incorporation of 5TFI and 4TFV was -2.1 and -0.3 kcal/mol, respectively. Secondary and higher order structures as well as biological activity were retained in the presence of both 5TFI and 4TFV. These results indicate that, even when introduced into the same positions within the protein, the effect of fluorination differs depending on which amino acid is fluorinated.

In Chapter 3, the stereochemical effects of 5,5,5-trifluoroleucine (5TFL) were studied using (2S, 4R)-5',5',5'-trifluoroleucine and (2S, 4S)-5',5',5'-trifluoroleucine. The results from in vitro activation assays correlated well with efficiency of their incorporation in vivo. The (2S, 4S) isomer, whose k[subscript cat]/K[subscript m] was 100-fold lower than that of leucine, was incorporated at high levels, with 91% replacement of the encoded leucine residues in a de novo engineered coiled-coil protein A1. The (2S, 4R) isomer exhibited 9- fold lower k[subscript cat]/K[subscript m] than the (2S, 45) isomer, resulting in a slightly lower level of incorporation, 80%. The secondary structure of A1 was undisturbed upon the incorporation of either isomer and their impact on thermostability was similar, with an increase of 11°C in T[subscript m] as compared to that of A1 containing leucine. However, the equimolar mixture of A1 containing (2S, 45)-TFL and A1 containing (2S, 4R)-TFL displayed a further increase in T[subscript m] of 3°C. Although this further enhancement in thermostability was modest, it may be attributed to the ability of the coils to pack more compactly into dimers due to the stereochemical differences.

In Chapter 4, laboratory evolution was utilized to recover the catalytic activity of chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) after replacement of isoleucine by 5TFI. Upon global incorporation of 5TFI into CAT, the catalytic efficiency, k[subscript cat]/K[subscript m], was reduced by more than 2-fold, from 10.2 ± 0.8 μM[superscript -1] to 3.9 ± 0.5 μM[superscript -1] min[superscript -1]. Four rounds of random mutagenesis, enrichment, and screening were performed, yielding a 7-fold fluorinated mutant, tfi-G4, whose activity in fluorinated form was 2.8-fold higher than that of the fluorinated parent enzyme, tfi-WT. The total number of isoleucines decreased only by one in the 7-fold mutant, and the gap in activity between the hydrogenated (ile-G4) and fluorinated (tfi-G4) forms narrowed. Despite similar secondary structure, the incorporation of fluorinated amino acids decreased the stability of CAT for both the wild- type and G4 pairs based on both functional and structural analysis. Fluorinated forms were more sensitive towards thermal and chemical denaturation. However, both forms of G4 enzymes had increased stabilities as compared to their wild-type counterparts. This resulted in tfi-G4 exhibiting similar thermostability as that of ile-WT. Although structural changes were noted at both high and low pH, the pK[subscript a] of the catalytically essential histidine (His-193) was not affected by the incorporation of 5TFI. Based on these results, the incorporation of 5TFI appears to be adversely affecting protein folding, which resulted in decreased activity and stability. However, laboratory evolution effectively recovered these losses and yielded a fluorinated enzyme that performed similarly to the wild-type.

Finally, in Chapter 5, the effect of fluorination on sensitivity to proteolytic degradation was explored. GCN4 proteins containing either 5TFI (tfi-INL) or 4TFV (tfv-VNL) as well as CAT proteins containing either 5TFI (tfi-G2) or 5TFL (tfl-L2A1) were treated with two proteases, trypsin and elastase. As evidenced by gel electrophoresis and densitometry analysis, the half life of tfi-INL in the presence of elastase was 4 times that of its hydrogenated counterpart INL. The increased resistance was less significant upon incorporation of 4TFV as well as in response to trypsin. The opposite trend was observed in the analysis of CAT mutants. Both of the fluorinated CAT mutants were more susceptible to elastase and trypsin as compared to their hydrogenated counterparts. Upon incorporation of fluorinated amino acids, two factors that affect proteolytic degradation are altered, the stability of the protein as well as substrate recognition and hydrolysis by the protease. It appears that changes in both of these factors contributed to the observed rates of proteolysis.

The work explored in this thesis has expanded our understanding of fluorinated amino acids and their effects on proteins. Based on these insights, we are continuing to expand the use of fluorinated amino acids (and other non-canonical amino acids) to control protein structure, function, and stability.


Transfer path analysis (TPA) is an established and valuable tool in the automotive industry, to
determine the contributions of structure-borne sound sources to receiver responses at target positions.
The classical TPA approach is based on contact forces at the interface between source
and receiver to characterise the dynamic loads induced by the source and frequency response
functions (FRFs) to quantify the transfer paths of the sound from the interface locations to the
target positions. With knowledge of the determined contributions it is then possible to decide
whether source loads or FRFs must be improved to optimise the target quantities. Recently a timesaving improvement to classical TPA has been proposed, where the loads are
characterised using the in-situ blocked force method, so that dismantling of source and receiver
is not necessary. This method is therefore called in-situ TPA. However, if the contributions of
internal structure-borne sound sources to the overall vibro-acoustic behaviour of a product are
desired it is of benefit if the target quantities are blocked forces. Thus it would be possible to
virtually couple the product with the properties of an overall receiver. Therefore this thesis presents
a TPA approach called "blocked force transmissibility transfer path analysis" (bfTPA). In
this context, the proposed internal-source-path-receiver-model (ISPRM) poses the theoretical
basis of bfTPA. The aim of the presented novel TPA is to determine the contribution of internal
structure-borne sound sources to an overall target quantity of a product. The presented approach
uses the vector of in-situ blocked forces measured externally at the contact interface of the
overall product and a corresponding set of "blocked force transmissibility" (BFT) functions
relating the external coupling degrees of freedom (DOFs) to the internal source DOFs in order to propagate the external in-situ blocked forces back to multiple internal in-situ blocked forces.
To prove the methodology of the presented approach three case studies, which increase in complexity,
were carried out experimentally. The case studies concern a beam and an electric power
steering system with paraxial servo unit (EPSapa), respectively. EPSapa systems consist of multiple embedded vibrational components which are defined as
"internal sources". The electric motor, the ball nut assembly and the toothed belt are identified
as the main internal sources of an EPSapa system. Hence they are characterised by means of
experimentally determined blocked forces. For the determination, micro electro mechanical
systems (MEMS) accelerometers are embedded at the so called "internal interfaces". This poses
a novel application of the in-situ method in combination with the dealing of continuous and
revolving internal interfaces. Concluding a further application of the bfTPA methodology is presented. It allows the external
in-situ blocked forces of EPS systems or other products to be predicted based on internal insitu
blocked forces and the BFT functions within internal receivers such as housings, for instance.
Hence, the proposed approach is called "virtual component assembly". It offers the advantage
to synthesize a virtual EPS system based on the in-situ blocked forces of its components
which are determined on test benches.


Abstract: Researchers have studied sources of socialization and satisfaction levels regarding first sexual intercourse experiences. Carpenter (2002) developed three cognitive frameworks of virginity loss: gift, stigma, and process . However, researchers have yet to correlate these areas. Purpose: This quantitative study examined if socialization about sex and sexuality influenced undergraduate females' cognitive frameworks and subsequent decisions about and interpretations of first sexual intercourse. Methods: One hundred fifty eight female participants, recruited from a mid-sized Midwestern university, completed a 20-item online survey. Multiple linear regression and Chi Square Test of Independence were conducted to determine where females were socialized regarding sex and sexuality, if socialization helped create females' virginity cognitive frameworks, if females' cognitive framework and decision making scores impacted the age at which they engaged in first sexual intercourse, and if there was a difference in overall satisfaction of first sexual intercourse. Results: The data provided evidence that school was the primary source of socialization and participants with a gift cognitive framework were significantly older at the time of first sexual intercourse than those with a stigma or process framework. Regardless of cognitive framework, participants all reported very low emotional, mental, and physical satisfaction levels regarding their first sexual intercourse experience. Conclusions: The data supports the importance of female socialization about sexuality related topics, and suggests the need for improved parental communication about sexual topics.


Aerobic, anoxic, and anaerobic selectors have become popular for controlling filamentous bulking in activated sludge systems; however, selectors are not always successful. Regression analyses of data collected from 48 full‐scale wastewater treatment plants, with operating selectors, provided a method for ranking the importance of selector operating and design parameters (with respect to their influence on activated sludge settleability) and suggests optimum numerical ranges for these parameters for best selector performance. Selectors do not appear to control filamentous bulking in long mean cell residence time (MCRT) plants. Further, the elimination of all selector zones may help to control bulking in these plants. However, other design/operating parameters were shown to influence activated sludge settleability in long‐MCRT plants. Aerobic selectors in short‐MCRT plants can control filamentous bulking, if they are small enough to produce a biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) concentration gradient. Anoxic and anaerobic selectors can control filamentous bulking in short‐MCRT plants, if the selector volume is large enough and/or the selector mixed‐liquor suspended solids concentration is high enough. These unaerated selector systems do not appear to benefit from a BOD concentration gradient as the aerobic selectors in short‐MCRT plants do. Although anaerobic/anoxic selector compartmentalization in these plants appears to improve settleability, this presumably is because of reduced selector short‐circuiting.


Recent improvements in imaging techniques and more frequent use of cross-sectional imaging have led to an increase in the identification of benign and low-grade lesions of the pancreas. Patients with resectable cancers are commonly treated by either a Whipple procedure or distal pancreatectomy (DP) based on the location of the tumor. Central pancreatectomy (CP) is a less commonly performed operation that has recently been utilized for resection of these now more frequently diagnosed low-grade and benign lesions located in the mid pancreas. Lesions that may have a relatively more indolent nature include branch-type intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMNs), mucinous cystic neoplasms, neuroendocrine tumors, and solid pseudopapillary tumors. The goal of a CP is complete extirpation of the lesion, while preserving pancreatic parenchyma to reduce the risks of developing diabetes and exocrine insufficiency (EI). Although open CP has been shown to be safe and efficacious, the outcomes of a minimally invasive approach are still relatively underreported and therefore unknown. In this paper, we describe our surgical approach to performing a CP with an accompanying video demonstration of the key portions of the operation.


This paper investigates the complications of designing effective governance for IT risk management (IT-RM). Literature on formal governance suggests that either a coercive (i.e., to force employees' effort and compliance) or an enabling (i.e., to help employees better to master their tasks) design of procedures help to avoid what literature calls 'mock bureaucracy' (i.e., rules are promulgated for their symbolic value but ignored in practice). Our analysis of two organizations, however, implies that both coercive and enabling governance for IT-RM may lead to mock bureaucracy. We categorize antecedents of 'mock' IT-RM procedures and identify important design challenges for IT-RM research and practice. Our study contributes to the IT governance body of knowledge by linking types of bureaucracy to IT governance tasks and providing anti-patterns associated with IT-RM procedures.


Inspired by the development of digital communication, listed companies are constantly developing new ways to serve and attract interested audiences on their Investor Relations websites. This paper focuses on the types and variety of multimodal semiotic resources employed on Investor Relations websites of Finnish listed companies with specific focus on the use of videos. The aim of the paper is to explore how videos are used, what form they take and which affordances they offer as a presentation form from the perspective of financial communication. The data is derived from the IR websites of three Finnish industrial companies. The results of the study show that the three companies have somewhat different numbers of videos on their IR websites, but the most common type of video, a webcast announcing periodic results of the companies is the same for all companies. The webcasts seem to have an established format combining audio, still pictures or video with PowerPoint slides embedded on the websites, indicating that a hybrid genre is developing. Video is used as part of the webcasts because it allows a rhetorical use of nonverbal cues, such as tone of voice, gestures and facial expressions, targeted focus and clarity of language. These are features of a rich communication medium generating affect, delivering an image of openness and creating trust and thus potentially influencing decisions. However, two central features of rich media, the degree of interaction and possibility of feedback are limited because they cannot easily be controlled by the company.


The evolution of metastases is responsible for 90% of cancer-related deaths. Genome wide sequencing and phylogenomic methods enable the reconstruction of the evolutionary history of a patient9s cancer at unprecedented depth. However, due to a lack of samples from multiple spatially-distinct metastases from untreated patients and a lack of phylogenomic tools applicable to noisy and impure sequencing samples, the evolutionary rules governing metastatic spread have remained poorly understood. We performed whole-genome sequencing (coverage: median 51x) as well as deep targeted sequencing (coverage: median 347x) on 21 samples from multiple regions of the primary tumor and many distinct liver and lung metastases of two treatment-naive pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma patients. We developed a tool, called Treeomics, that leverages computational and statistical advances to reconstruct the phylogeny of a cancer with commonly available sequencing technologies. Treeomics employs a uniquely-designed Bayesian inference model to account for error-prone sequencing and varying low neoplastic cell content (estimated purities 16-44%) to calculate the probability that a specific variant is present or absent in each sequenced lesion. Based on Mixed Integer Linear Programming, a mathematically guaranteed optimal evolutionary tree is produced. We obtained robust phylogenies consistent with the biological processes underlying cancer evolution. The reconstructed phylogenies show that advanced cancer cells of related subclones were equally capable of seeding lung and liver metastases. Treeomics identified sequencing and biological artifacts such as those resulting from insufficient coverage or loss of heterozygosity; almost 7% of the variants were misclassified by conventional methods. Among the identified false-negatives was the common clonal driver mutation in KRAS within a region that has low sequencing read alignability and a significantly reduced coverage. Such artifacts can skew phylogenies by creating illusory tumor heterogeneity among distinct samples. Additionally, we reanalyzed publicly available data from ovarian, prostate and skin cancers. We further illuminated evolutionary relationships among some samples in a conclusive fashion and show that classical distance-based phylogenetic methods can produce evolutionarily implausible results. Treeomics avoids these common pitfalls and infers robust phylogenies confirmed by high bootstrapping values. The new approach described here efficiently reconstructs the evolutionary history of metastases, detects potential artifacts in noisy high-throughput sequencing data, and finds subclones of distinct origin. These phylogenies shed new light on seeding patterns and metastatic progression, which has significant implications for clinical decision making and may provide predictive value for a patient9s prognosis. Citation Format: Johannes G. Reiter, Alvin P. Makohon-Moore, Jeffrey M. Gerold, Ivana Bozic, Krishnendu Chatterjee, Christine A. Iacobuzio-Donahue, Bert Vogelstein, Martin A. Nowak. Reconstructing the evolutionary history of metastatic cancers. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 2374.


Abstract The relational and psychological functions of attunement, representation, and mentalization are essential components of a secure attachment experience. Psychotherapeutic approaches informed by attachment theory have gained significant empirical and clinical support, particularly in the area of complex trauma. Despite these advances, attachment-informed trauma treatment could benefit greatly from the experiential wealth that clinical hypnosis has to offer. In its utilization of shared attention, tone of voice, pacing, representational imagery, and hypnotic language, clinical hypnosis as a state, relationship, and technique offers psychotherapists a way of introducing a healthy attachment experience and renewing appropriate developmental functioning in patients who are survivors of complex trauma. In this article, attunement, representation, and mentalization are reviewed from a hypnotherapeutic perspective.


An all-inclusive, self-study guide for the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification exam, this kit provides all the information project managers need to thoroughly prepare for the test. The kit contains The PMP Exam: How to Pass on Your First Try; hundreds of flash cards to help with memorization of key points; a quick reference guide; a six-month subscription to InSite, a top PMP e-learning site; and five audio CDs. The CDs feature experts Andy Crowe, Bill Yates, and Louis Alderman discussing the main points behind the content of the exam. The included learning materials cover all the processes, inputs, tools, and outputs that will be tested, along withinsider secrets, test tricks and tips, hundreds of sample questions, and exercises designed to strengthen mastery of key concepts and help candidates pass the exam.


A Theory of Contestation is an ambitious and rather challenging book that brings ideas from public philosophy to international relations analysis, but reaches far beyond existing debates on global governance. Wiener offers a theory of contestation and engages with the question of legitimacy in global governance from a new perspective. One helpful way Wiener suggests to think about the overall project she undertakes is to consider it in the context of a broadly critical constructivist approach to normativity. For critical constructivists, the meaning of norms is both constituted by and constitutive of specific uses by actors. In other words, norms are both structuring and constructed by actors through social practice. They do not merely function as "causal factors" that uniformly create some behavioral responses in the social world. To turn this conception of norms into an account of addressing actual governance challenges that are faced by political actors in inter-national relations, contends Wiener, one needs to embrace contestation as the basis of democratic legitimacy in global governance rather than as an obstacle to social order. The central task Wiener undertakes is to provide an account of how norm contestation works as a practice and how it can fill—not close—the legitimacy gap in international relations. Using three thinking tools—the normativity premise, the diversity premise, and the concept of cultural cosmopolitanism—Wiener outlines a theory of contestation based on contestedness as a meta-organizing principle of legitimate governance in the global realm. One of the book's original contributions is its claim that in order for the legitimacy gap between fundamental norms and standardized procedures to be filled, one needs to recognize the importance of organizing principles at the intermediate level as a stabilizing force for global governance and to provide access to regular contestation at this level for all involved stakeholders.


This paper seeks to establish whether public agro-food interventions like food quality labels contribute or not to the promotion of rural employment. To this end, the paper uses original longitudinal firm and plant level datasets on the French cheese industry to assess the impact of the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) label on rural employment. The data is used to test the impact of the PDO label on equilibrium market structure in the downstream cheese processing segment, and to establish backward linkages this segment has on upstream plant-level employment and the number of dairy farmers. Our results show that the PDO label has increased the equilibrium number of firms at the national level, because the introduction of this label has created market segmentation which reduced barriers to entry. In turn, this higher number of cheese firms resulted in more employment in dairy farms and processing plants at the district level. However, the PDO label exerts pressure on farmers to abide by strict production techniques, which may cause exit due to cost increases. Yet our estimates show that the employment benefits of this label outweigh the potential losses it might create due to its product specification stringency.


In the past, state courts, social agencies, and religious organizations were free to remove American Indian children from their homes at will. Now, under the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (ICWA) (P.L. 95-6087), state systems are designated supportive and cooperative roles with restricted decision-making power (Bureau of Indian Affairs [BIA], 1979). However, because most people who work within the system are not acquainted with the federal law or Indian history, they often remain under the impression that their local or institutional authority gives them autonomy in decisions regarding Indian families. This article describes the history and provisions of the ICWA and uses a composite case study to illustrate the issues involved. Case Study A case involving the removal of three American Indian children from their family is being reviewed by a panel of 15 professionals with expertise in child and family matters, child abuse and neglect, child protection laws, and effective treatment for dysfunctional families. Only two members of the group are American Indian; one is a social worker, and the other is a member of the Local Indian Child Welfare Committee (LICWAC), a group of American Indians who advise social workers in state and private agencies in cases involving the removal of Indian children from their families. The primary caseworker, who has not notified the tribe that the children are at risk for removal from their home, observes that the parents have not followed through with substance abuse treatment and anger management plans, although the father reported that he has been sober for six months following completion of an alcohol treatment program and that he regularly attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. The caseworker adds that a non-Indian family is willing to take all three children and may even consider adopting them. Two of the three children have already been placed in a non-Indian home. The third child, an infant, is with an Indian family. The therapist who initially tested the children found them mute, unable to relate, and unable to complete simple tasks. One child is hyperactive and has symptoms of fetal alcohol syndrome. The therapist affirms that the children are thriving in their placement and appear to be bonding with the foster parents. Because the biological parents came to therapy only once, she suggests that the parents are not really interested in having their children returned to them. This impression could lay the groundwork for permanent separation. Several people at the meeting concur with the American Indian representatives, who state that Indian children may respond as described when they feel threatened. Few understand, however, when the possibility is raised that neither the testing nor the treatment included cultural considerations. Rather, they become defensive and attempt to discredit the concept of cultural congruence. As the discussion becomes more hostile, several people complain of the constraints imposed by the ICWA and the political aspects in Indian cases. They declare that their "only interest is in the welfare of the children." One participant even suggests that the act should be ignored in this case, and another questions if Indians value their culture more than their children. The conflicts that permeate this meeting stem from the fact that with the exception of the attorney, the non-Indian participants have virtually no understanding of the ICWA. Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 History The Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 became a federal law after 15 years of political struggle by American Indian leaders throughout the nation. By passing the law Congress hoped to prevent the continuing abuses of power by state agencies, the courts, and various church groups in the disruption of Indian families by enacting procedures for the removal and foster placement of Indian children and defining the roles and responsibilities of authority. …


Black-and-white snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus bieti) distribute in a restricted area of the Trans-Himalayas between the Mekong and Yangtze River, at 26 Po P14'N?29 Po P20'N and 99 Po P15'E?99 Po P37'E. There are about 1 700 individuals in 15 groups remained in the habitat between 4 200 (north) ?2 600 m (south) asl. The Milaka group is the northernmost range of the species with about 50 individuals in Mangkang county of Tibet. Based on our field survey and previous reports, we identified the fir forest and the mixed conifer forest as suitable habitat for the monkeys. Summer grazing lands and farmlands, which were made by local people's cutting and burning in the fir forest at the high and low altitude belt, are replacing fir forest. To evaluate the status of the monkeys' habitat, we employed GIS and RS to identify the habitat types with Landsat TM satellite imagery in winter of 1986 and 2006 respectively. The work resulted in: 1) the size of summer grazing lands, farmlands, and fir forest was 4 900 hm P2 P, 3 300 hm P2 P and 13 600 hm P2 P in 2006 respectively; 2) during the past 20 years (1986?2006), the size of fir forest decreased by 15.5% (2 500 hm P2 P), summer grazing lands and farmlands increased by 58.1% (1 800 hm P2 P) and 17.8% (500 hm P2 P) respectively; 3) the habitat of the species was more fragmented, the number of habitat patches increased by 75.6%, the mean size of forest patches decreased by 51.8% (from 15.3 to 7.4 hm P2 P), the largest patch index decreased by 54.7%; the patch richness remained the same, but the Shannon's diversity index and the Shannon's evenness index increased by 4.0%, respectively; and 4) the size of fir forest negatively correlated with villager population (r =?1.000), but the size of summer grazing lands and farmlands positively correlated with villager population (r = 1.000). These indicate the habitat lost and fragmentation for the Milaka group increased sharply during the past 20 years and it is the result of population growth and the most employment of traditional modes.


With rapid economic growth and increased urbanization, South Africa faces the problem of municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal and pressing the need for waste to energy recovery. Nowadays, renewable energy is the key consideration in the discussion of the sustainable worldwide energy system that reduces global climate change, human health problems, and environmental degradation. Sustainable development requires the sustainable supply of clean and affordable renewable energy. The renewable energy source such as bioenergy, solar energy, wind energy, hydropower, geothermal is usually viewed as sustainable energy sources that drive economic development. Wastes are convertible to useful energy through waste to energy (WtE) technologies. In this study, renewable energy technologies from the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) and their relation to sustainable development are discussed. Via the application of the simple multi-attribute rating (SMART) technique of multiple-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) and analytical hierarchy process (AHP) as a decision support tool, the most preferred model option for WtE technology was selected from a list of potential alternatives available in the market base on environmental, sociocultural, technical and economical consideration. From our investigation into the City of Johannesburg Landfill, the OFMSW had the highest fraction that comprises of 34% in portion. From MCDA-AHP results, anaerobic digestion was the most preferred technology of choice, taking into consideration environmental preservation as the ultimate goal. Keywords— Anaerobic, Co-digestion, Digesters, Mesophilic


Global models are generally capable of reproducing the observed trends in the globally averaged sea surface temperature (SST). However, the global models do not perform as well on regional scales. Here, we present an ocean forecast system based on the Regional Ocean Modelling System (ROMS), the boundary conditions come from the MERCATOR ocean system for the North Atlantic (1/6° horizontal resolution). The system covers the region of the northwestern Iberian Peninsula with a horizontal resolution of 1/36°, forced with the Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF) and the Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). The ocean model results from the regional ocean model are validated using real-time SST and observations from the MeteoGalicia, INTECMAR and Puertos Del Estado real-time observational networks. The validation results reveal that over a one-year period the mean absolute error of the SST is less than 1°C, and several sources of measured data reveal that the errors decrease near the coast. This improvement is related to the inclusion of local forcing not present in the boundary condition model.


The secretion of exopolysaccharide in an axenic culture of the marine benthic diatom Cylindrotheca closterium was investigated. The central question of the experiments was if polysaccharide secretion was dependent on light and photosynthesis. Cells were incubated in the Light, in the dark, or in the light with addition of the inhibitor of Photosystem II, 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethyl urea (DCMU). These treatments were also applied to a population of benthic diatoms on an intertidal mudflat in the Westerschelde (Scheldt estuary, The Netherlands). In the light (60 mu mol photons m(-2) s(-1)) C, closterium showed high rates of polysaccharide secretion, while no secretion was observed in the dark or in the presence of DCMU. No intracellular carbohydrate was converted to exopolysaccharide in the dark or in the Light with DCMU added. This indicated that secretion of exopolysaccharide was dependent on oxygenic photosynthesis. Similarly, high rates of exopolysaccharide accumulation were observed during daytime emersion on the mudflat, but not in darkened or DCMU-treated sediment. This demonstrated that the pattern observed in cultures of C, closterium was reproducible in situ. It was observed that during daytime emersion patterns of vertical migration in the dark and DCMU-treated plots did not differ from those in the light. This implies that motility was not the steering factor for the observed accumulation of exopolysaccharide in the Light. When an axenic culture of C. closterium was incubated under an alternating 12 h Light:12 h dark cycle, exopolysaccharide concentrations decreased in the dark. Degradation of exopolysaccharide was also observed in the natural population on the mudflat during emersion at night. Because no bacteria were present in the C, closterium cultures, it was conceived that the degradation of exopolysaccharide observed in cultures was due to secretion of hydrolytic enzymes by C, closterium. [KEYWORDS: Cylindrotheca closterium; diatoms; exopolysaccharide; extracellular polymeric substances; intertidal sediments; microphytobenthos; photosynthesis; polysaccharide Intertidal cohesive sediments; epipelic diatoms; chlorophyll-a; erodibility; adhesion]


Diversion from court has become a popular solution to perceived weaknesses in the traditional justice system, particularly in recent years with the advent of family group conferences. But evidence for the detrimental effect of court is weak. Previous research into this question shows a number of deficiencies. In particular, the range of controls used to isolate treatment from selection effects are, in most cases, inadequate for this purpose, and the measurement of the dependent variable (recidivism) is typically insensitive. There is also a failure to test for subjective reactions to either court or diversion. Because the theoretical justification for diversion is derived from labelling theory, which predicts that psychological reactions to court such as feelings of stigmatization will influence future behaviour, this is a major deficiency in the literature.


A method is presented that determines the coverage of shorts (bridging failures) in digital logic circuits by internal access test techniques. These are test techniques that provide observability of circuit nodes, such as CMOS power supply current monitoring (including IDDQ), CrossCheck, and voltage contrast. Only fault-free circuit simulation is used to obtain node states. Two versions of the algorithm are presented: a simple algorithm that is suitable for use with two-state logic (0 and 1), and a more general algorithm for four-state logic (0, 1, X, and Z). The result is a set of sets of nodes, where a list of all potential shorts that could exist in the circuit yet be undetected after testing is obtained easily from the power sets of these sets; unlike other approaches the full universe of potential shorts is not generated. Experiments show that short, randomly generated sequences of test vectors detect essentially all detectable shorts of multiplicity 2 for both combinational and sequential circuits.


Common indicators used to examine the potential for utilising natural radiation of urban forms include the sky view factor (Vs), the height to width ratio and the urban horizon angle. These indicators are conveniently related to one another. In comparing simulations of sky view factor with those of simulated solar irradiation, which itself relates well to illumination, this paper tests the effectiveness of all three – based on analysis of three existing Swiss districts. From this, it is concluded that the absence of treatment of direct solar radiation, sky anisotropy or reflected radiation seriously impairs the ability of the Vs-related indicators to offer meaningful insights regarding natural radiation potential in the localised case. Predictions of annual irradiation from aggregations of Vs also perform badly, but the aggregate Vs does correlate reasonably well with irradiation so that judgements of overall radiation availability may be made with some confidence. � 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.