Humoral and cellular immune responses to tumour antigens occur during tumourigenesis. Since 1965, there has been an ongoing search for cancer-specific antibodies as these have potential applications as specific diagnostic and therapeutic tools. Serum antibodies from cancer patients have been used to identify hundreds of tumour antigens. Owing to the biochemical heterogeneity of tumours, even of the same type, each patient has a slightly different repertoire of autoantibodies. However, there is an overall characteristic polyclonal signature for specific tumour types. Thus, multi-antigen assays to detect cancer signatures are in development as diagnostic tests. For antigen-targeted therapy, monoclonal antibodies to individual antigens have been produced and some are FDA approved for cancer treatment.

Key Concepts

Autoantibodies against aberrant or overexpressed tumour antigens are induced during tumour development.
Tumour-associated autoantibodies have potential for cancer diagnosis and prognosis.
Individual autoantibodies have a relatively low sensitivity while multiplex antigen arrays that detect multiple autoantibodies provide a higher specificity and sensitivity for tumour detection.
Serum autoantibodies have been useful in identifying tumour antigens that can be used to characterise tumours and as therapeutic targets.
Monoclonal antibodies against specific tumour antigens can be produced in the laboratory.
Multiple monoclonal antibodies produced against cancer-specific antigens have been FDA approved for cancer therapy.

Keywords:

tumour;
antigen;
antitumour antibodies;
polyclonal;
monoclonal


In this paper we describe a system that can accurately match buildings in photographs taken with mobile devices. Computer vision methods are enhanced by a novel use of the GPS (Global Positioning System) position of a user. With a query image's GPS location, an approximation of the view of each building from this position in world space can be calculated. Buildings are represented as planar surfaces and an efficient geographical database positions each building in world space. By using planar rectification of the building image, the effects of perspective change are accounted for. With such planar representations, accurate geometric analysis can then be used to help determine the correct building match. With these methods, a recognition system has been formed that has been shown to be accurate for a wide range of viewpoints and image scaling of a building.


Background: Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is revealed with the left ventricular dilatation and systolic dysfunction. Objective: This study was performed to determine the level of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) in children with DCM and controls and comparison of these two biomarkers in patients. Materials and Methods: This study was performed from April 2014 to March 2015 on patients with DCM. The levels of BNP and CGRP were measured by ELISA, and final amounts of biomarkers were compared with the echocardiographic finding. Results: In this study, the mean age was 10.567 ± 5.50 and 12.135 ± 4.626 years for controls and cases, respectively (P = 0.321). The majority of echocardiographic indices in the left and right heart had different means in cases and controls (P < 0.05). Means of BNP were 213.814 ± 309.601 and 2.76 ± 1.013 for case and control, respectively (P < 0.001). Means of CGRP were 2.278 ± 1.586 and 1.488 ± 0.501 for cases and controls, respectively, (P = 0.001). In the patients group, however, no significant relationship was observed between CGRP level and Ross classification but observed a direct relationship of Ross classification with BNP (χ2 = 15.845, P < 0.05). Conclusions: The present research was performed on DCM patients and showed that most echocardiographic parameters, mean of CGRP and mean of BNP increased in patients compared to healthy children. The severity of illness based on the Ross classification showed significant and positive correlation with BNP level but not with CGRP. Probably, it could be concluded that BNP would be a better biomarker in DCM patients.


An attraction flow can be used to increase the effectivity of a fish passage. In 2004 a fish passage with a perpendicular attraction flow was built at Oudenaarde (Belgium) on the Upper Scheldt river. The design of the passage was based on scale model tests. In order to evaluate the hydraulic effectivity of the attraction flow, field measurements and new scale model tests are done. Velocities in the attraction flow and the fish passage entrance are assessed quantitatively and data of the scale model tests (1/15) are compared with the field measurements. The measured reach of the attraction flow seems to differ from results of the original scale model tests due to design modifications of the fish passage entrance. Results of the new scale model tests compare well with the data from the field measurements. Based on the results, a re-examination of the basic design rules for the attraction flow and fish pass entrances seems imperative


The legal protection of foreign investments deposited in EU financial institutions has attracted considerable attention both in the legal as well as in the business community following European Parliament's approval on last April of the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive which includes the so called bail in clause. As the introduction of this clause reflects the intentions of EU's institutions to put an end to the use of taxpayers' funds to resolve financial crises, on the other hand it already had a remarkable impact on banks' creditors' property rights, especially in the case of foreign investors. In this view, this dissertation will survey the possible legal protection, mostly but not exclusively included in ad hoc Bilateral Investment Treaties ("BIT"), provided to foreign investors to recover the losses suffered following bail-ins' of credit institutions. In this regard, particular attention will be given to the analysis of the relevant crisis of the Cypriot's banking sector and the following laws enabling its restructuring by means of creditors' assets write off, the subsequent institutionalization of this template at the EU level and the connections of this new legal framework with international law rules and principles which safeguard property rights of expropriated foreign investors.


Vulnerability is an emerging notion that has contributed to refine judgments made
by regional human rights courts and thereby increase State accountability. Similarly, recent
developments in the vulnerability theory pose interesting challenges to the core premises
underlying liberalism and especially the notion of legal subjectivity, an arguably inaccurate
portrayal of the real-life individual. Moreover, the vulnerability theory suggests a promising
intertwining with the theoretical framework underpinning human rights. In this paper, I
advocate for a paradigm shift from the traditional legal subject to the vulnerable subject in the
liberal human rights order. To support my case, I argue that vulnerability's ethical-normative
implications for the realm of human rights are twofold. First, vulnerability consists of an
alternative conceptual underpinning for human rights theory, supplementing the so-called
capabilities approach to human rights. Second, it can be used as a conceptual device for human
rights adjudication by shedding light on how to better delineate the scope of State duties. I aim
to demonstrate how vulnerability highlights the importance of ensuring the equality of
opportunities and capabilities of individuals under the State's jurisdiction, widening State
responsibility to encompass social conditions which allow vulnerability to be mitigated and
human agency to flourish.


Most gadgets and electronics devices are commonly equipped with single microphone only. This is difficult task in source separation world which traditionally required more sensors than sources to achieve better performance. In this paper we evaluated single channel source separation to enhance target signal from interred noise. The method we used is non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) that decompose signal into its components and find the matched signal to target speaker. As objective evaluation, coherence score is used to measure the perceptual similarity from enhanced to original one. It show the extracted has 0.5 of average coherence that shows medium correlation between both signals.


Background: Many health organizations are always highlighting the importance of health promotion, and disease prevention, due to the high incidence of chronic diseases that are spread worldwide and increasing continuously. One of the most prevalent chronic diseases is diabetes mellitus (DM). Many studies conducted in developed countries proved that lifestyle changes in patients resulted in a reduction in the prevalence of diabetes, and that there's a link between DM, and behavioral, clinical, and economical outcomes. Furthermore there was an affiliation between knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP), and DM. Even though self-management of type 2 diabetes is necessary in order to improve quality of life, many patients still have a problem with being able to self-manage diabetes. Many models and interventions were tested to enhance self-management but none were successful so far. Self-management is a socio-behavioral problem, and the use of a model such as the transtheoretical model (TTM) could improve it. TTM is one of the most commonly used behavioral models. It was first introduced in the 1980s by Prochaska and DiClemente to explain how people change their behavior, but not why they change. It is a model of choice that focuses on the decision making capabilities of individuals. This model is different to alternative approaches to health promotion in that its primarily focus is not on social and biological behavioural influences. It is a psychological health promotion model about the intention of change. It is a model of choice that focuses on the decision making capabilities of individuals. It first uses the baseline information, with an aim to alter self-efficacy, cues, or other psychosocial factors using five TTM principles: Precontemplation, Contemplation, Preparation, Action, and Maintenance. Objective: The objective of this study is to collect enough evidence using a systematic review in order to assess the use of TTM in improving self-management activities in type 2 diabetic patients. Self-management activities include following a healthier diet, exercising more regularly, and an enhanced medication adherence. Methods: The systematic review was conducted between February and May 2015. PubMed (n = 83), Medline (n = 126), Science direct (n = 985), and Cochrane (n = 62) were the databases searched with predefined terms relating to TTM interventions for type 2 diabetic patients. A second extensive search was conducted using google, and google scholar (n = 2) to retrieve articles relevant to the research. The search strategy aimed to identify articles in which the Transtheoretical model had been applied and which had been published in English between 2000 and March 2015. In order to ensure that all potentially relevant articles had been identified, the search terms included "Transtheoretical model", "Sociobehavioral", "social changes", "diabetes", and "self-management". All study designs were included and no limits were set to articles comparing the behavioral model to other approaches. The methods used for this review followed the PRISMA statement (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses). The systematic search was conducted in March 2015. The initial search of the above strategy yielded 1,153 articles. These articles were reviewed by the primary author for relevance to the aims of the review. Retained articles were then assessed for relevance to the aims based on the title and the abstract using the inclusion criteria. Articles identified as potential for inclusion were then retrieved. Each step during the selection process was conducted by two researchers, and in case of disagreement, consensus would be reached with the aid of a third researcher. Results: There was consensus in the review team that the 10 papers met the inclusion criteria. The 10 studies included were published between 2003 and 2011, and were conducted in the US (n = 6), Canada (n = 1), Trinidad and Tobago (n = 1), Scotland (n = 1), and one was unspecified. In all 10 studies, the majority of participants at baseline were at the Precontemplation/Contemplation or Preparation stage, and after the TTM intervention the majority of patients were at the Action or Maintenance stage. Four studies did not specify which stage had the highest number of participants at baseline and post TTM intervention. In one study, the highest number of participants was at the preparation stage (39.1%) at baseline, and after the TTM intervention the highest number of patients was in the action phase (45.7%) indicating an advancement through the stages of change. Moreover, in 4 studies most of the patients at baseline were in the pre-action stage, but at follow-up after the TTM interventions most of the participants moved to the action or maintenance stage. In one study, the greatest number of participants was at the action/maintenance stage pre- and post- the TTM intervention. All studies demonstrated some positive outcomes self-management due to implementing TTM. Four studies reported a significant reduction in glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), 5 studies reported improvements in diet after TTM, and Participants exercised more in 2 studies. In one study there was progress towards reaching participants' goals whether it's better adherence, diet, or more exercise. However, using the TTM had no change on medication use in any of the studies included. Moreover, Different study designs were used in all studies. 2 studies were pre-test/post-test. In addition, there were 3 Randomized controlled trials (1 was an RCT, 1 was a randomized split plot design where there was a group receiving the usual care and another receiving the intervention, and another study was a cohort randomized controlled prospective trial). One study was a quasi-experimental study. Three studies were reviews; one was a preliminary study which is an economic evaluation of a theoretical cohort of patients. The other one was a study describing how resources and supports for self-management (RSSM) and strategies of the transtheoretical model intersect to produce a comprehensive approach resulting in cutting-edge diabetes Program, and the last review was determining the impact of TTM in changing the unhealthy dietary habits of type 2 diabetic patients. Moreover, one article followed a cross sectional study design which consisted of questionnaires. Conclusion: Ten articles using TTM to self-manage type 2 diabetes were identified and critically reviewed. The narrative findings from this systematic review provide evidence that TTM interventions are effective in promoting exercise, and encouraging participants to pursue a healthier diet. However, the effect of TTM on medication adherence has not been clearly identified yet, and it should be studied in future research.


The depletion of the richer iron ore worldwide has made it necessary to process lower quality iron ore. Certain substances, such as potassium, contained within the lower quality iron ore, have a detrimental effect on the smelting process during steel manufacturing. Therefore, international steel-making companies charge penalties when purchasing iron ore concentrates containing high concentrations of potassium. To date, lower quality iron ore has been blended with high quality iron ore in an attempt to alleviate the potassium concentrations in the export iron ore; however, the ratio of low quality iron ore to high quality iron ore is increasing, thereby becoming an escalating problem within the economic functioning of the Sishen Iron Ore Mine. It has, therefore, become necessary to develop an economically viable and environmentally friendly process to reduce the high potassium concentrations contained in the iron ore concentrate of the Sishen Iron Ore Mine. In this study, we compared solid substrate and submerged fermentation using Aspergillus niger for the production of citric acid, which is used for the chemical leaching of potassium from the iron ore concentrate. It was found that submerged fermentation proved to be more economical and efficient, producing a maximum citric acid concentration of 102.3 g/L in 96 h of fermentation. 'Heap leaching' simulation experiments were found to be uneconomical, due to the required addition of fungal growth medium every 5 days as a result of growth factor depletion within this time; however, this process removed 17.65% of the potassium from the iron ore concentrate. By contrast, chemical leaching of potassium from the iron ore concentrate proved to be most efficient when using a 1 mol citric acid leaching solution at 60 oC, removing 23.53% of the potassium contained within the iron ore concentrate. Therefore, the most economical and efficient process for the removal of potassium from the iron ore concentrate of the Sishen Iron Ore Mine involved a two-stage process whereby citric acid was produced by A. niger, followed by the chemical leaching of the potassium from the iron ore concentrate using a 1 mol citric acid leaching solution at 60 oC.


Experimental embryology has long used manipulation of interacting tissues to examine questions of tissue interaction and differentiation. The potential for specific manipulation of gene expression in such tissues has made the utilization of antisense techniques desirable. However, problems with this methodology have discouraged many investigators from using this approach. Selection of target sequences for antisense oligonucleotides, delivery of oligonucleotides into cells or tissues, and the type of modification of the oligonucleotide to be used all present concerns that must be addressed. This paper describes our approach to selection of target sequence and methods of delivery and describes the synthesis of a methoxyethylamidate-modified antisense oligonucleotide that has proved useful in our studies. This approach has enabled us to explore aspects of tissue interaction in the embryonic heart that would have been difficult to explore in a genetic model.


This article analyzes the role of defense counsel in the defendant's crucial decision whether to accept or reject a plea offer. There is a vast amount of literature and there are numerous appellate decisions relating to effective assistance of counsel at trial, yet the overwhelming majority of criminal cases are resolved by plea. For too long, the defense attorney's counseling obligations have been free from constitutional regulation and scholarly examination. The unacceptable result is that some attorneys offer their clients no advice on the critical plea decision, while others, at the opposite end of the spectrum, bring considerable pressure to bear.This article criticizes the historical lack of attention to the constitutional dimensions of counseling, and analyzes salutary emerging trends in the federal courts of appeals, district courts, and state supreme courts. Specifically, the article argues against the laissez-faire approach to counseling countenanced by many scholars and courts, and concludes that defense counsel must advise clients whether to accept or reject a proffered plea, and attempt to persuade clients to accept his or her recommendation. The article also addresses the failure of most clinical legal educators and scholars to recognize the constitutional implications inherent when counseling defendants in criminal cases. Client-centered lawyering, a staple of clinical legal education, champions lawyer neutrality as an essential ingredient of client decisionmaking. The article argues that developing interpretations of the counseling requirements of constitutional effective assistance challenge the viability of traditional conceptions of client-centered counseling, and mandate that counsel, at a minimum, advise his or her client about the wisdom of accepting or rejecting a plea offer.


Environmental justice is a significant and dynamic contemporary development in environmental law. Professors Rechtschaffen, Gauna, and O'Neill provide an accessible compilation of interdisciplinary materials for studying environmental justice, interspersed with extensive notes, comments and questions designed to facilitate classroom discussion. Environmental Justice integrates excerpts from empirical studies, cases, agency decisions, informal agency guidance, law reviews and other academic literature, as well as community-generated documents. The materials include writings from the fields of environmental law and civil rights law, as well as sociology, political science, and risk assessment.After examining various conceptions of justice, studies about disparities in environmental harms and benefits, and the theories concerning the causes of such inequities, the book looks at environmental justice in a variety of regulatory contexts. Environmental Justice also explores various tools used in the effort to achieve environmental justice, including citizen suit enforcement of environmental laws, claims brought under the Equal Protection Clause and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, and various non-litigation strategies, including land use and planning tools, disclosure laws and collaborative projects.This second edition includes a new chapter addressing climate change. It also adds expanded coverage of international environmental justice issues, risk and the public health, empirical environmental justice research, and environmental justice for American Indian peoples.The Table of Contents is available to download at the link above.


The photonic crystal is investigated as a substrate material for planar antennas in the microwave and millimeter-wave bands. Experimental results are presented for a bow-tie antenna on a (111)-oriented face-centered-cubic photonic-crystal substrate with a band gap between approximately 13 and 16 GHz. When driven at 13.2 GHz, the antenna radiates predominantly into the air rather than into the substrate. This suggests that highly efficient planar antennas can be made on photonic-crystal regions fabricated in semiconductor substrates such as GaAs.


Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are one of the most commonly utilized engineered nanomaterials in consumer products due to their antimicrobial properties. AgNPs can be introduced into the environment when products containing AgNPs are disposed of in landfills, or leach out from products during washing, eventually reaching wastewater treatment plants. Hence, the usage of reclaimed water can lead to the unintentional exposure of different biological organisms to AgNPs. In addition, biosolids from wastewater treatment plants may contain AgNPs that can end up in the environment when the biosolids are land-applied to fertilize fields. In this study, the impact of citrate- and polyvinylpyrolidone-coated AgNPs on a model plant, Arabidopsis thaliana, was investigated using hydroponic cultures to quantitatively evaluate plant uptake of AgNPs, and to demonstrate the use of a metabolomics approach in assessing sub-lethal effects of AgNPs on plants. Analysis of AgNPs was performed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) to quantify total silver concentrations in plant tissues, and metabolite profiling was achieved using liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-QToF/MS). Results show silver translocation from roots of Arabidopsis thaliana to leaves and flowering shoots in all plants treated with AgNPs. Furthermore, untargeted and targeted metabolomics results show alterations in the metabolome after treatment, as well as the accumulation of specific phytosphingosines and N-acylethanolamines in silver treated Arabidopsis thaliana. Correlating the silver concentrations in Arabidopsis thaliana and the changes in metabolite profile may provide insights on the mechanism and interactions between nanomaterials and biological organisms. This study lays the groundwork and provides a proof-of-concept on the utilization of mass spectrometry-based metabolomics as a tool for determining the biochemical effects of nanoparticles at sub-lethal concentrations in Arabidopsis thaliana.


Within hours, any undefended structure immersed in the marine environment will become fouled: a term known as biofouling. This phenomenon causes substantial economic losses and affects not only shipping vessels but also static structures. Although metal biocides added to coatings have proved very effective against biofouling, there were increasing concerns about the detrimental effects these were having on non-target species. The problem facing manufacturers of these coatings is the lack of available testing methods for non-biocidal antifouling coatings. This thesis aims to develop a framework for a suite of behavioural bioassays to investigate the efficiency of non-biocidal coatings. The research represents methodological investigations coupled to pilot studies. Three fouling species were investigated, Spirorbis borealis, Balanus amphitrite, and Balanus improvisus. All three species showed significant differences in behaviour on nonbiocidal coatings supplied by Akzo Nobel and these behaviours could be used to discriminate between coatings. Immersion trials were carried out in Sweden, Singapore and the UK, in order to ascertain whether behavioural parameters of the larvae in the laboratory could be used to predict fouling observed in the field. All three species demonstrated that aspects of their behaviour could be used to predict fouling at least at one location, with both Spirorbis borealis and Balanus amphitrite displaying behaviour that could be used to predict fouling in all three sites. The research showed that the behavioural bioassays have the potential to be developed into an acceptable commercial screening test. From the conclusions a final protocol for filming, digitising and analysing larval behaviour, in order to predict field fouling is presented. Development of this protocol could lead to a rapid commercial screening test for non-biocidal antifouling coatings.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Rates of dialysis withdrawal are higher among the elderly and lower among Blacks, yet it is unknown whether preferences for withdrawal and engagement in advance care planning also vary by age and race or ethnicity. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: We recruited 61 participants from two dialysis clinics to complete questionnaires regarding dialysis withdrawal preferences in five different health states. Engagement in advance care planning (end-of-life discussions), completion of advance directives and 'do not resuscitate' or 'do not intubate' (DNR/DNI) orders were ascertained by a questionnaire and from dialysis unit records.

RESULTS
The mean age was 62 +/- 15 years; 38% were Black, 11% were Latino, 34% were White and 16% of participants were Asian. Blacks were less likely to prefer dialysis withdrawal as compared with Whites (odds ratio 0.16, 95% confidence interval 0.03-0.88) and other race/ethnicity groups, and this difference was not explained by age, education, comorbidity and other confounders. In contrast, older age was not associated with preferences for withdrawal. Rates of engagement in end-of-life discussions were higher than for documentation of advance care planning for all age and most race/ethnicity groups. Although younger participants and minorities were generally less likely to document treatment preferences as compared with older patients and Whites, they were not less likely to engage in end-of-life discussions.

CONCLUSIONS
Preferences for withdrawal vary by race/ ethnicity, whereas the pattern of engagement in advance care planning varies by age and race/ethnicity. Knowledge of these differences may be useful for improving communication about end-of-life preferences and in implementing effective advance care planning strategies among diverse haemodialysis patients.


In this paper, a new representation for the lightning channel base current is proposed in terms of the so-called Prony series, obtained by means of a modified time-domain variant of the well-known vector fitting technique. This method allows both to reproduce in an equivalent way previous analytical representations such as Heidler's function and, more interestingly, to obtain a smooth analytical interpolation of measured raw data, in an automatic though tunable way, without the need of filtering, and taking into account the desired behavior of the current for t = 0. Furthermore, a Prony series, i.e., a representation in terms of a sum of exponentials and/or dumped sinusoids, permits us to carry out the computation of the integrals expressing the lightning electromagnetic fields by means of a recursive convolution algorithm, thus reducing the required CPU time. This makes the proposed approach extremely useful for studies of lightning performance of distribution lines, which require the simulation of an appreciable number of cases.


The issue of identity has become increasingly important in the 21't century. Facing the dilemma of being tom between globalisation and indigenisation, our sense of identity is constantly changing and in turmoil. This dissertation engages with several questions: How does our sense of belonging come about? In what ways and to what extent can the state construct culture, regulate our behaviour, and formulate a sense of belonging through cultural policy? And, why cultural policy might fail? Because the politics of cultural policy has either been overlooked or considered only in general terms without thorough examination on a long-term basis, this thesis examinest he relationshipb etweenc ulturalp olicy and culturali dentityb y exploring the case of post-war Taiwan. The development and dramatic change of cultural identity in post-war Taiwan provides a good testing ground to examine the relationship between cultural policy and identity construction, especially during the volatile identity crisis in the 1990s. There are two parts in this dissertation. Part I focuses on textual research of a half-century of Taiwanese cultural policy, alongside the island's historical development; Part 11 records and analyses the fieldwork I carried out on Taiwanese theatre to substantiate the textual analysis in Part 1. This thesis deals with issues in two areas that no other research has explored before and tries to indicate the universal implications of the analysis of Taiwanese identity construction and cultural policy. Firstly, through the analysis of the politics of culture in Taiwan, this research demonstrates how a stable and deeply rooted China-centric identity was overturned within only two years. Furthermore, it highlights the politics of culture by displaying how an authoritarian regime was challenged, and how cultural hegemony could be won in order to grasp political power. Secondly, the case study provides evidence manifesting the changing nature of contemporary cultural policy, and its hidden politics. Under the name of 'supporting the arts', the state uses cultural policy to maintain its cultural hegemony. Although Taiwan has carried out a process of democratisation since the 1980s, the state has not loosened its control on culture, but has rather changed its strategy of how to control. A new alliance between regulation and market forces has formed, and becomes the nexus of modem cultural policy.


Fast pyrolysis of biomass is a significant technology for producing pyrolysis liquids [also known as bio-oil], which contain a number of chemicals. The pyrolysis liquid can be used as a fuel, can be produced solely as a source of chemicals or can have some of the chemicals extracted and the residue used as a fuel. There were two primary objectives of this work. The first was to determine the fast pyrolysis conditions required to maximise the pyrolysis liquid yield from a number of biomass feedstocks. The second objective was to selectively increase the yield of certain chemicals in the pyrolysis liquid by pre-treatment of the feedstock prior to pyrolysis. For a particular biomass feedstock the pyrolysis liquid yield is affected by the reactor process parameters. It has been found that, providing the other process parameters are restricted to the values shown below, reactor temperature is the controlling parameter. The maximum pyrolysis liquid yield and the temperature at which it occurs has been found by a series of pyrolysis experiments over the temperature range 400-600°C. high heating rates > 1000°C/s; pyrolysis vapour residence times 400 but <500°C; rapid quenching of the product vapours. Pre-treatment techniques have been devised to modify the chemical composition and/or structure of the biomass in such a way as to influence the chemical composition of the pyrolysis liquid product. The pre-treatments were divided into two groups, those that remove material from the biomass and those which add material to the biomass. Component removal techniques have selectively increased the yield of levoglucosan from 2.45 to 18.58 mf wt.% [dry feedstock basis]. Additive techniques have selectively increased the yield of hydroxyacetaldehyde from 7.26 to 11.63 mf w.% [dry feedstock basis]. Techno-economic assessment has been carried out on an integrated levoglucosan production process [incorporating pre-treatment, pyrolysis and chemical extraction stages] to assess which method of chemical production is the more cost effective. It has been found that it is better to pre-treat the biomass in order to increase the yield of specific chemicals in the pyrolysis liquid and hence improve subsequent chemicals extraction.


The rise of financial technology (FinTech) engenders novel business models through integrating financial services and information and communication technologies (ICT). Digital currencies and payments, data mining, and other FinTech applications threaten to radically overhaul the financial sector. This article argues that, while we are becoming aware of how technology giants such as Apple Inc. are making inroads into financial services, we need to become more sensitive to how financial incumbents mimick ICT firms while aiming to neutralize the FinTech challenge. Practices from Silicon Valley are spilling over into 'traditional' finance through a process we dub Appleization. We illustrate how incumbents aim to remain indispensable amidst rapid digitization. Mimicking tech strategies, financial incumbents resort to transforming legacy ICT systems into integrated platforms, cultivating entrepreneurial ecosystems where startups are 'free' to compete whilst effectively being locked into the incumbent's orbit. We illustrate this by comparing Apple's business features (locking-in developers, customers and state into a hybrid business model based on a synergy between hardware, software and data-driven platform components) with emerging practices in the financial industry. Our analogy suggests that the Appleization of finance might radically transform, yet not undercut the oligopolistic position of financial incumbents.


ABSTRACT A methodology to predict PM10 concentrations in urban outdoor environments is developed based on the generalized linear models (GLMs). The methodology is based on the relationship developed between atmospheric concentrations of air pollutants (i.e. CO, NO2, NOx, VOCs, SO2) and meteorological variables (i.e. ambient temperature, relative humidity (RH) and wind speed) for a city (Barreiro) of Portugal. The model uses air pollution and meteorological data from the Portuguese monitoring air quality station networks. The developed GLM considers PM10 concentrations as a dependent variable, and both the gaseous pollutants and meteorological variables as explanatory independent variables. A logarithmic link function was considered with a Poisson probability distribution. Particular attention was given to cases with air temperatures both below and above 25°C. The best performance for modelled results against the measured data was achieved for the model with values of air temperature above 25°C compared with the model considering all ranges of air temperatures and with the model considering only temperature below 25°C. The model was also tested with similar data from another Portuguese city, Oporto, and results found to behave similarly. It is concluded that this model and the methodology could be adopted for other cities to predict PM10 concentrations when these data are not available by measurements from air quality monitoring stations or other acquisition means.


We investigate the interactions of photoexcited carriers with lattice vibrations in thin films of the layered transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) WSe_{2}. Employing femtosecond electron diffraction with monocrystalline samples and first-principles density functional theory calculations, we obtain a momentum-resolved picture of the energy transfer from excited electrons to phonons. The measured momentum-dependent phonon population dynamics are compared to first-principles calculations of the phonon linewidth and can be rationalized in terms of electronic phase-space arguments. The relaxation of excited states in the conduction band is dominated by intervalley scattering between Σ valleys and the emission of zone boundary phonons. Transiently, the momentum-dependent electron-phonon coupling leads to a nonthermal phonon distribution, which, on longer time scales, relaxes to a thermal distribution via electron-phonon and phonon-phonon collisions. Our results constitute a basis for monitoring and predicting out of equilibrium electrical and thermal transport properties for nanoscale applications of TMDCs.


In colonial times in New Zealand the portrayal of science to the public had a sense of theatre, with nineteenth and early twentieth century grand exhibitions of a new nation's resources and its technological achievements complemented by spectacular public lectures and demonstrations by visitors from overseas and scientific 'showmen'. However, from 1926 to the mid-1990s there were few public displays of scientific research and its applications, corresponding to an inward-looking science regime presided over by the Government science agency, the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. The subsequent development of science centres with their emphasis on visitor participation has led to an increase in the audience for science and a revival of theatricality in presentation of exhibitions, demonstration lectures, café scientifiques, and science-related activities.


Sustainability considerations have become widely recognised in contaminated land management and are now accepted as an important component of remediation planning and implementation around the world. The Sustainable Remediation Forum for the UK (SuRF-UK) published guidance on sustainability criteria for consideration in drawing up (or framing) assessments, organised across 15 "headline" categories, five for the environment element of sustainability, five for the social, and five for the economic. This paper describes how the SuRF-UK indicator guidance was developed, and the rationale behind its structure and approach. It describes its use in remediation option appraisal in the UK, and reviews the international papers that have applied or reviewed it. It then reviews the lessons learned from its initial use and the opinions and findings of international commentators, and concludes with recommendations on how the indicator categories might be further refined in the future. The key findings of this review are that the SuRF-UK framework and indicator guidance is well adopted into practice in the UK. It is widely recognised as the most appropriate mechanism to support sustainability-based decision making in contaminated land decision making. It has influenced the development of other national and international guidance and standards on sustainable remediation. However, there is room for some fine tuning of approach based on the lessons learned during its application.


White lighting LEDs offer great potential for high speed communications, especially for indoor applications. However, for their widespread adoption, two important issues need to be addressed: the lack of diversity in multiple-input multiple output (MIMO) systems, and the small field of view of receivers. In this paper, we describe a design using a hemispherical lens in the receiver that solves these problems. By using classical optics, we derive exact expressions for the channel gain and the optical power density of the projected images. Simulation results of a typical indoor scenario show that the new system has a wide field of view, and provides adequate channel gain for angles of incidence as large as 70 degrees. We present the distribution of optical power on the imaging plane for various receiving positions and tilted receivers over a number of representative indoor scenarios. They show that the images of LEDs are clearly distinguishable. The results demonstrate the presence of low channel correlations between individual transmitters and receivers. Consequently, this confirms that the new technique is capable of providing significant diversity order for MIMO optical wireless applications.


The New Deal created a separate and unequal credit market—high-interest, non-bank, installment lenders in black ghettos and low-cost, securitized, and revolving credit card market in the white suburbs. Organized protest against this racialized inequality was an essential but forgotten part of the civil rights movement. After protests and riots drew attention to the reality that the poor were paying more for essential consumer products than the wealthy, the nation's policymakers began to pay attention. Congress held hearings and agencies, and academics issued reports examining the economic situation. These hearings led to new federal agencies and programs, executive actions, as well as several acts of legislation. These Congressional investigations and the theories and explanations emanating from policymakers and academics were the genesis of decades of legislation aimed at supporting minority banks and other institutions. The resulting policy framework is still in effect and includes: the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), the Community Development Financial Institution Act (CDFIA), as well as several key provisions and mandates regarding minority banks in banking legislation. In this Article, I will argue that the foundational theoretical premise of these laws and policies is flawed. Though policymakers and scholars accurately diagnosed the root causes of the disparate credit market, the solutions did not correspond with the problem and have therefore been ineffective. These laws and policies were not aimed to address the systemic causes of the disparity but only served to treat its symptoms. The misguided focus on small community banking, minority-owned banks, and mission-oriented institutions as a response to structural inequality has been the dominant framework in banking reform.

In analyzing the varied, but theoretically consistent response to lending inequality, this Article also challenges a long-standing banking myth that "small community banking" or "microfinance" is the answer to poverty, specifically for marginalized communities. This idea was the foundational theory of the minority banking industry, the CRA, the CDFIA, and almost every legislative response to credit inequality for the past fifty years. The premise of these laws is that that marginalized communities, having been left out of the dominant banking industry, will pool their resources and collectively lift themselves out of poverty. As such, these laws are rooted in neoliberal and libertarian concepts of banking market even as they have been championed by progressive reformers and community activists. For most policymakers, activists, and scholars, the buzzword is "community empowerment" and they have legislated accordingly. In doing so, they have avoided addressing the root causes of the problem and have shifted the responsibility of a solution to the disenfranchised communities themselves instead of devising comprehensive federal policy solutions. This Article will trace the genealogy of this legislation and offer solutions that will address the root causes of this inequality.


The nervous system of the bollworm moth, Heliothis zea (Boddie), a noctuid moth that is a major pest of cotton, corn, and tomatoes, is served by two pairs of acoustic sense cells. The moths use the acoustic receptors to detect the ultrasonic cries of predatory bats that feed on these moths. Bats use pulsed high frequency sounds to echolocate and capture moths for food. The moths have developed an avoidance behavioral reaction that protects them from predatory bat capture when they detect the echolocating cries of the bats. A pair of acoustic receptors are located in each tympanic organ located on the lateral wall of the metathorax on each side of the moth. A1 receptor, the most sensitive unit, can detect 20 kilohertz frequencies at sound pressure levels of 35 dB (0 dB re 20 @m Pa). The A2 receptor is about 20 dB less sensitive and is also tuned to be most sensitive to 20 kHz sounds. Pulse rates of 10/sec and pulse durations of 10 msec were most effective for eliciting evasive reactions in the bollworm moth. In field and laboratory behavior tests, we have determined that the moths can detect 85 dB pulses of ultrasound (20 kHz) at a distance of 50-80 feet from the moth and after detection the moths make evasive reactions. My recent research has focused on identification of the neural circuits from the acoustic receptors to and through the central nervous system (meso- metathoracic ganglia and prothoracic ganglion and brain) to the motor nerves responsible for executing the evasive reactions. The structure of the various parts of the circuits responsible for the behavioral reactions have been identified using histochemical techniques (cobalt chloride and lucifer yellow) that mark only the axons carrying the acoustic information (action potentials) and the motor nerve commands from these nerves to the muscles responsible for directed flight. Electrophysiological techniques were used to monitor the information flow in the acoustic axons that feed the moth coded information on the high frequency sounds in its environment. If the information is from the A1 receptor, it is processed in the brain to produce behavior commands that are transmitted by the motor nerves to generate a behavioral reactions that produce turn reactions. The information from the A2 receptor is transmitted to neurons in the mesothoracic ganglion directly and produce rapid unpredictable evasive reactions (spirals, dives, and cessation of flight) and do not require "brain" processing. The anatomical circuits, behavioral reaction times, and electrophysiological monitoring of neural activities confirm these findings. These and other studies have demonstrated that the behavior of the moth is influenced or controlled by sensory inputs that can have positive and negative effects on the moth behavior. When the flying moth is attracted to an ultraviolet light and a sound source at the light source generates a pulses of high frequency sound, the moth will make an evasive reaction to the sound stimuli in preference to the continued attraction to the visual stimuli. In other instances, another nocturnal moth species that is attracted to a sex pheromone (an olfactory attractant) can be terminated (behavior turned off) if the trap containing the pheromone is constructed of specific colors that cause an avoidance reaction to the visual stimuli that are dominant over the attractive odor. These model acoustic studies are establishing the boundaries and conditions that must be met in the neural circuits of the central nervous system of the moth for specific sensory stimuli to be functionally effective. Normal or usual behaviors can be turned on and off when the proper sensory stimuli are presented according to specific "criterion" conditions. To obtain maximum benefits from the use of non-insecticidal technologies to control insects, a full understanding of the levels of neural processing of sensory stimuli is needed, as is an understanding of the spheres and levels of dominance that specific sensory stimuli exert in the control of the behavior of the insect pest.


Recent studies have indicated significant differences among immune and other tissues in in vivo adrenal steroid receptor activation after a given hormone exposure. Nevertheless, the relationship between in vivo receptor activation and functional measures of the immune response has not been determined. Type I and type II adrenal steroid receptor binding in conjunction with mitogen-induced T-cell proliferative responses were measured in the spleens of Sprague-Dawley rats that were administered various concentrations of dexamethasone (DEX). A linear relationship between type II receptor binding and splenocyte proliferation was found, with decreases in measurable type II receptors (indicating in vivo receptor activation) being highly correlated with decreases in immune function. There was no evidence of spare type II receptors. In vitro studies using the type II receptor antagonist RU 486 confirmed that the inhibitory effect of DEX on splenocyte proliferation was mediated via the type II receptor. These findings provide a foundation for future studies evaluating glucocorticoid effects on immune system function and suggest that evidence of in vivo receptor activation may be critical for predicting when and in which tissues adrenal steroid hormones may be capable of modulating the immune response.


This dissertation is about compressing networked graphics for transmission across low bandwidth networks like phone lines and wireless networks. It concentrates on the X Window System Version 11 (X) because X is the most widely available networked window system today. The dissertation is divided into three main sections.
The first section describes a system for tracing the X protocol, the traces gathered, and an analysis of the results. The traces were analyzed by breaking the protocol down into discrete instructions or messages, and analyzing the frequency and network resource requirements of these messages. This analysis has resulted in preliminary results in 4 areas: the relative importance of X messages, how X usage changes during different application stages, differing application idioms for accomplishing similar tasks, and the size distributions of X messages and groups of X messages. Some of these results have architectural implications for network protocols and implementations.
The second section examines the performance of the Xremote protocol, which was designed as part of a product by Network Communications Devices Inc. (NCD). The Xremote protocol is a compressed transformation of the X Window System protocol, designed to efficiently implement X connections across relatively slow serial lines. Using an Xremote simulator and 11 traces of X sessions, I found that Xremote's overall compression ratio is 2.4:1.
Text based applications commonly see about 2.5:1 compression, geometric applications achieve about 1.7:1 compression and image based document previewers achieve about 2.5:1.
The third section introduces a new technique for compressing structured data. Embodied in the Higher Bandwidth X (HBX) protocol, this technique results in 7.5:1 compression across the trace suite, for about 3 times the performance of Xremote. HBX works by parsing X messages into individual fields and applying statistical modeling and arithmetic coding to individual fields of X messages. HBX typically achieves 5:1 compression on geometric data, between 10:1 and 20:1 compression on image based document previewing, and over 5:1 compression on text based applications.
It seems likely that the techniques used in HBX will prove applicable to compressing network headers, object code, RPC traffic and other structured data.


OBJECT
Radiosurgery for functional neurosurgery performed using a linear accelerator (LINAC) has not been extensively characterized in preclinical studies. In the present study, the properties of a newly designed 3-mm-diameter collimator were evaluated in a dedicated LINAC, which produced lesions in the basal ganglia of vervet monkeys. Lesion formation was determined in vivo in three animals by examining magnetic resonance (MR) images to show the dose-delivery precision of targeting and the geometry and extent of the lesions. Postmortem immunohistochemical studies were conducted to determine the extent of lesion-induced radiobiological effects.

METHODS
In three male vervet monkeys, the subthalamic nucleus (STN; one animal) and the pars compacta of the lateral substantia nigra (SN; two animals) were targeted by a Novalis Shaped Beam Surgery System that included a 3-mm collimator and delivered a maximum dose of 150 Gy. Magnetic resonance images obtained 4, 5, and 9 months posttreatment were reviewed, and the animals were killed so that immunohistological characterizations could be made.

CONCLUSIONS
The generation of precise radiosurgical lesions by a 3-mm collimator was validated in studies that targeted the basal ganglia of the vervet monkey. The extent of the lesions created in all animals remained restricted in diameter (< 3 mm) throughout the duration of the studies, as assessed by reviewing MR images. Histological studies showed that the lesions were contained within the STN and SN target areas and that there were persistent increases in glial fibrillary acidic protein immunoreactivity. Increases in immunoreactivity for tyrosine hydroxylase, the serotonin transporter, and the GluR1 subunit of the alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionate glutamate receptor in penumbral regions of the lesion were suggestive of compensatory neuronal adaptations. This radiosurgical approach may be of particular interest for the induction of lesions of the STN and SN in studies of experimental parkinsonism, as well as for the development of potential radiosurgical treatments for Parkinson disease.


The doping of semiconductor materials is a fundamental part of modern technology.
Transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) are a group of semiconductors, which holds the
features of being transparent and electrically conductive. The high electrical conductivity
is usually obtained by typical doping with heterovalent substitutional impurities like in
Sn-doped In2O3 (ITO), fluorine-doped SnO2 (FTO) and Al-doped ZnO (AZO). However,
these classical approaches have in many cases reached their limits both in regard to
achievable charge carrier density, as well as mobility. Modulation doping, a mechanism
that exploits the energy band alignment at an interface between two materials to induce
free charge carriers in one of them, has been shown to avoid the mobility limitation.
However, the carrier density limit cannot be lifted by this approach, as the alignment of
doping limits by intrinsic defects. The goal of this work was to implement the novel
doping strategy for TCO materials. The strategy relies on using of defective wide band
gap materials to dope the surface of the TCO layers, which results Fermi level pinning
at the dopant phase and Fermi level positions outside the doping limit in the TCOs.
The approach is tested by using undoped In2O3, Sn-doped In2O3 and SnO2 as TCO
host phase and Al2O3 and SiO2−x as wide band gap dopant phase.

The study was divided into two parts by the approaches followed experimentally. The
first part deals with a physical approach, in which sputtered TCOs are used as a host
materials and covered with dopant layers. To test the versatility of the approach the
second part deals with a chemical approach, in which SnO2 based nanocomposite films
produced in spray pyrolysis deposition.

In the physical approach, ITO/ALD-Al2O3, In2O3/ALD-Al2O3, and In2O3/sputtered
SiO2−x thin film systems were exploited. The study was conducted mostly by photoelectron
spectroscopy and Hall effect measurements. ITO films prepared in different
conditions showed an increase of conductivity after ALD-Al2O3 deposition at 200 °C.
This was mostly due to an increase in carrier concentrations. However, Al2O3 deposition
also resulted in a chemical reduction of ITO. The diffusivity of compensating oxygen interstitial (Oi) defects at 200 °C is sufficiently screen the high Fermi level induced by Al2O3, which disable the use of defect modulation doping at this temperature. The
results indicate that achieving higher carrier concentration in ITO thin films requires
a control of the oxygen pressure in combination with low-temperature ALD process.
Undoped In2O3 films also showed an increase of conductivity upon deposition of upto
10-cycles of ALD-Al2O3. These increases indicate the occurrence of defect modulation
doping. However, in order to improve the interface properties and firmly prove the
modulation doping effect, more detailed studies required on the doped interfaces. The
approach was further examined by depositing reactively sputtered SiO2−x dopant phase
from Si target on the top of In2O3 films. The resulting conductivity of In2O3/sputtered
SiO2−x do not show enhancement of electrical properties. This is due to the implantation
of oxygen species during SiO2 deposition on the surface of In2O3, which counteract the
defect modulation doping by reducing concentration of oxygen vacancies (VO) in In2O3.
Therefore, further studies on the deposition conditions of the dopant phase is still vital
to see enhanced electrical properties.

In the chemical approach two different routes were followed: embedding nanoparticles
in TCO host matrix and formation of demixed composite films. In the first route,
Al2O3 and TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) were chosen as dopant phases and were deposited
together with SnO2 TCO precursors. Different characterization of the produced films
do not confirm the presence nanoparticles into tin oxide films. Therefore to realise
modulation effect further optimization deposition conditions and sample preparation
techniques are needed. For the second route, mixture of SnCl4 ·5(H2O) and Al(acac)3
precursor solutions in different composition are used to produce SnO2/Al2O3 demixed
composite films. Different physicochemical studies shows that under the deposition
conditions followed during this study Al3+ preferably substitute Sn4+ than forming
another Al2O3 separated phase. Al was acting as an acceptor doping on SnO2 films.
Therefore, enhanced conductivity was not observed on the probed samples. For this
route further optimization of deposition condition is clearly required.

The results of this dissertation are relevant for the usage of TCOs in the emerging field
of oxide thin film electronics in particular in field where the surface to bulk ratio is much
higher than in conventional films, as the approach is near surface phenomena. However,
further utilization of both the processing conditions and material selection are vital.


The Mississippian–Pennsylvanian Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) are hosted within a shallow-water, dominantly carbonate succession in the lower part of the Bird Spring Formation at Arrow Canyon, Nevada, USA. The boundary is marked by the first appearance datum (FAD) of the conodont Declinognathodus noduliferus sensu lato. It is shown that the boundary interval is punctuated by numerous subaerial hiatuses represented by palaeokarstic surfaces and palaeosols, which divide strata at this location into fourth-order glacio-eustatic cycles. A well-developed palaeosol horizon occurs <1 m above the FAD of D. noduliferus. It also coincides with a very marked facies change and a second-order shift in cycle-stacking patterns. These characteristics violate International Commission on Stratigraphy guidelines, which state that GSSPs should be chosen in sections showing continuous sedimentation and lacking vertical facies changes at or near the boundary. Because the Mid-Carboniferous is an icehouse interval, cyclostratigraphy is a powerful tool for high-resolution correlation. A comparison of the cyclostratigraphy of Mid-Carboniferous strata at Arrow Canyon and in northern England indicates that a large number of glacio-eustatic sea-level oscillations are not recorded at Arrow Canyon and that this section contains over 25 missed beats of Milankovitch band duration equating to a hiatus of ≥1 Ma.


Abstract: This study assessed the effects of spacing and genotype on the growth and physiology of improved loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) seedlings from three distinct genotypes planted in Drew County, Arkansas (USA). Genotype had a significant effect on survival and height. Clone CF Var 1 showed greater height and survival compared to other seedlings. Genotype had significant effects on uniformity in height both years and ground line diameter (GLD) first year. However, genotype had no significant effects on leaf water potential and coefficient variation of leaf water potential. These growth and physiology should be further studied to assess potential genetic differences among seedlings and to determine if they can be identified early for improved growth at later ages.


Code revision of a leading telecom product was performed, combining manual audit and static analysis tools. On average, one exploitable vulnerability was found for every 4000 lines of code. Half of the located threats in the product were buffer overflows followed by race condition, misplaced trust, and poor random generators. Static analysis tools were used to speed up the revision process and to integrate security tests into the overall project process. The discussion analyses the effectiveness of automatic tools for auditing software. Furthermore, the incorporation of the software security analysis into the development process, and the results and costs of the security analysis is discussed. From the initial 42 workdays used for finding all vulnerabilities, approximately 16 days were needed for finding and correcting 91.5 % of the vulnerabilities. So, proportionally small investments improve the program code security by integrating an automatic auditing tool into the ordinary execution of source code revision.


This is the fourth edition of this highly regarded work on the law of international commercial litigation as practised in the English courts. As such it is primarily concerned with how commercial disputes which have connections with more than one country are dealt with by the English courts. Much of the law which provides the framework for the resolution of such disputes is derived from international instruments, including recent Conventions and Regulations which have significantly re-shaped the law in the European Union. The scope and impact of these European instruments is fully explained and assessed in this new edition.
 The work is organised in four parts. The first part considers the jurisdiction of the English courts and the recognition and enforcement in England of judgments granted by the courts of other countries. This part of the work, which involves analysis of both the Brussels I Regulation and the so-called traditional rules, includes chapters dealing with jurisdiction in personam and in rem, anti-suit injunctions and provisional measures. The work's second part focuses on the rules which determine whether English law or the law of another country is applicable to a given situation. The part includes a discussion of choice of law in contract and tort, with particular attention being devoted to the recent Rome I and Rome II Regulations. The third part of the work includes three new chapters on international aspects of insolvency (in particular, under the EC Insolvency Regulation) and the final part focuses on an analysis of legal aspects of international commercial arbitration. In particular, this part examines: the powers of the English courts to support or supervise an arbitration; the effect of an arbitration agreement on the jurisdiction of the English courts; the law which governs an arbitration agreement and the parties' dispute; and the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitration awards.


The purpose of this study was to see if vastus medialis oblique/vastus lateralis (VMO:VL) ratios could be increased by widening the squat stance and if the VMO activity increases with deeper ranges of knee flexion. Fifteen healthy subjects performed unloaded narrow and wide stance squats through three ranges of knee flexion: 30°, 60°, and 90°. The two squat stances were compared using a 2 × 3 ANOVA to see if the wide-stance squat had any significant difference in EMG activity for VMO: VL ratios compared to the narrow-stance squat. The difference in EMG activity of the VMO between the various angles for both squat stances was also compared. The ANOVA revealed no significant differences between the squat stances for VMO:VL ratios but did show the VMO:VL ratios to be significantly higher with increasing knee flexion angles. These findings suggest that the VMO is active throughout the 90° range and that increasing knee flexion angles can elicit greater activity of the VMO relative to the VL.


Summary An experimental situation was created in which watermelon and sunflower were blooming simultaneously and competing for pollinators. Measures of watermelon flowering and bee visitation were made for three consecutive weeks of bloom and followed by measures of fruit at harvest. The honey bee attractant Fruit Boost™ was tested for its efficacy in focusing honey bees onto the target crop (watermelon) and improving pollination. Fruit Boost did not significantly affect total number of honey bees visiting watermelon flowers, the proportion of honey bee visits that occurred on female flowers, fruit-set, or fruit weight. The onset of sunflower bloom on week 2 was associated with a sequential drop in honey bee numbers on watermelon between weeks 1–3, a near absence of fruit set after week 1, and significant decrease in melon size between weeks 1 and 3. More broadly, this study suggests that pollination is compromised in agro-ecosystems where crops or feral plants are competing for limited pollinators.


In this study, computational methods were employed in efforts to elucidate physical mechanisms underlying the ligand selectivity of polymeric sorbents produced through the molecular imprinting of 17-β-estradiol. Previous computational and experimental studies had identified candidate systems applicable to the development of synthetic polymeric receptors for the detection and possible removal of pollutants with endocrine-disrupting properties. Here we present a series of comprehensive molecular dynamics studies of candidate molecular imprinting prepolymerization systems. The results from the studies highlight the role of the cross-linker and the importance of the interplay between functionalities of the various monomers employed in template complexation. The significance of these results for future studies is discussed.


Art, museums and touch examines conceptions and uses of touch within arts museums and art history. Candlin deftly weaves archival material and contemporary museology together with government policy and art practice to question the foundations of modern art history, museums as sites of visual learning, and the association of touch with female identity and sexuality. She investigates the rise and fall of connoisseurship, the modernist valorisation of the artist's hand, touch-based education, the regulation of audiences at participatory art events, and ideas of sensory deprivation.

This remarkable study presents a challenging riposte to museology and art history that privileges visual experience. Candlin demonstrates that touch was, and still is, crucially important to museums and art history. At the same time she contests the recent characterisation of touch as an accessible and inclusive way of engaging with museum collections, and argues against prevalent ideas of touch as an unmediated and uncomplicated mode of learning. Taken as a whole Art, Museums and Touch redraws the sensory map of modern public museums and art history.

An original and wide-ranging enquiry, Art Museums and Touch is essential reading for scholars and students of museum studies, art history, visual culture, disability, and for anyone interested in the cultural construction of the senses.


The MHC (Major Histocompatibility Complex) plays an important role in the immune system of vertebrates. MHC genes are extremely polymorphic and this variation is considered to be maintained by selection from pathogens. We investigate whether MHC diversity (number of different alleles per individual) affects the survival and recruitment of nestling house sparrows. We hypothesize that individuals with higher MHC diversity can recognize and combat a wider range of pathogens, and therefore are more likely to survive and recruit into the breeding population. Additionally, we hypothesize that specific MHC class I alleles (MHC-I) could be associated with survival and recruitment. We screened MHC-I genotypes in 518 house sparrow chicks hatched on Lundy Island but we found no evidence for a relationship between nestling survival, post-fledging survival or recruitment success with MHC diversity. Then we investigated effects of specific MHC-I alleles in 195 individuals from a single cohort. Twenty-one MHC-I alleles were tested for relationships with nestling survival, post-fledging survival and recruitment, and we detected associations with survival for three different alleles. This pattern was, however, not different to what would be expected from random, so we could not conclude that particular MHC-I alleles are associated with survival in house sparrows on Lundy Island. Nonetheless, one of these alleles (1105) showed both a tendency for a higher probability of surviving in nestlings, and a significant association with survival in fledglings. We envision that allele 1105 could be an interesting candidate gene for testing associations with survival in house sparrows in the future.


Expression of epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFR) has prognostic and predictive value in many kinds of tumors. Imaging of expression of EGFR in vivo may give valuable diagnostic information. The epidermal growth factor (EGF), a natural ligand, is a possible candidate for the targeting of EGFR. The present study describes a method for preparation of (99m)Tc-EGF via the hydrazinopyridine-3-carboxylic acid (HYNIC) conjugation using tricine and ethylenediamine-N,N'-diacetic acid (EDDA) as co-ligands. Both conjugates bound EGFR expressing cells with nanomolar affinity, and demonstrated good intracellular retention. The complex with EDDA demonstrated much higher stability in blood serum and during cysteine challenge. Biodistribution of (99m)Tc-EDDA-HYNIC-EGF in normal mice demonstrated fast blood clearance of conjugate, and its ability to bind EGFR in vivo. (99m)Tc-EDDA-HYNIC-EGF is a promising candidate for visualization of EGFR expression in vivo.


Radar provides a useful and powerful tool to wildlife biologists and ornithologists. However, radar also has the potential for errors on a scale not previously possible. In this paper, we focus on the strengths and limitations of avian surveillance radars that use marine radar front-ends integrated with digital radar processors to provide 360° of coverage. Modern digital radar processors automatically extract target information, including such various target attributes as location, speed, heading, intensity, and radar cross-section (size) as functions of time. Such data can be stored indefinitely, providing a rich resource for ornithologists and wildlife managers. Interpreting these attributes in view of the sensor's characteristics from which they are generated is the key to correctly deriving and exploiting application-specific information about birds and bats. We also discuss (1) weather radars and air-traffic control surveillance radars that could be used to monitor birds on larger, coarser spatial scales; (2) other nonsurveillance radar configurations, such as vertically scanning radars used for vertical profiling of birds along a particular corridor; and (3) Doppler, single-target tracking radars used for extracting radial velocity and wing-beat frequency information from individual birds for species identification purposes.


Ocean acidification induces strong behavioural alterations in marine fish as a conse- quence of acid−base regulatory processes in response to increasing environmental CO2 partial pressure. While these changes have been investigated in tropical and temperate fish species, nothing is known about behavioural effects on polar species. In particular, fishes of the Arctic Ocean will experience much greater acidification and warming than temperate or tropical species. Also, possible interactions of ocean warming and acidification are still understudied. Here we analysed the combined effects of warming and acidification on behavioural patterns of 2 fish species co-occurring around Svalbard, viz. polar cod Boreogadus saida and Atlantic cod Gadus morhua. We found a significant temperature effect on the spontaneous activity of B. saida, but not of G. morhua. Environmental CO2 did not significantly influence activity of either species. In con- trast, behavioural laterality of B. saida was affected by CO2 but not by temperature. Behavioural laterality of G. morhua was not affected by temperature or CO2; however, in this species, a possi- ble temperature dependency of CO2 effects on relative laterality may have been missed due to sample size restrictions. This study indicates that fish in polar ecosystems may undergo some, albeit less intense, behavioural disturbances under ocean acidification and in combination with ocean warming than observed in tropical species. It further accentuates species-specific differ- ences in vulnerability.


The Shadow Open Market Committee was formed in 1973 in response to rising inflation and the apparent unwillingness of U.S. policymakers to implement policies necessary to maintain price stability. This paper describes how the Committee's policy views differed from those of most Federal Reserve officials and many academic economists at the time. The Shadow argued that price stability should be the primary goal of monetary policy and favored gradual adjustment of monetary growth to a rate consistent with price stability. This paper evaluates the Shadow's policy rule in the context of the New Keynesian macroeconomic model of Clarida, Gali, and Gertler (1999). Simulations of the model suggest that the gradual stabilization of monetary growth favored by the Shadow would have lowered inflation with less impact on output growth and less variability in inflation or output than a one-time reduction in monetary growth. We conclude that the Shadow articulated a policy that would have outperformed the policies actually implemented by the Federal Reserve during the Great Inflation era.


Adequate early child developmental screenings are often not available in many child care centers despite considerable research that points toward the importance and necessity of such screenings in assuring quality educational and social outcomes for children. A wealth of influences can affect how a child develops, with both negative risk and positive resilience factors playing a key role in determining outcomes. The present study was conducted through chart review of 55 children attending Winter Park Day Nursery (WPDN). We explored the relationships between risk factors, resilience, and outcomes by using measures currently collected by the center, and combining them in new ways. Predicting child outcomes was measured by taking a set of literature-derived risk and resilience factors and exploring how they predicted results of popular developmental screening assessments: the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) and the Devereux Early Child Assessment (DECA). In addition, the study provided the community agency (WPDN) with a comprehensive profile of their constituents. Both ASQ and DECA scores were found to improve as the child developed. Regression analyses revealed that increasing household number and food eligibility, and having a single parent correlated with lower screening test scores. While a larger sample size and a more diverse population are needed to build upon this study, these results yield a preliminary glance at the family populations of WPDN in relationship to developmental outcomes. ASSESSING RISK AND RESILIENCE 3


In the present paper auto-regressive and time-frequency based techniques have been investigated to predict and monitor the damage in implantable biological electronics such as pacemakers and defibrillators. The approach focuses is on the pre-failure space and methodologies for quantification of failure in electronic equipment subjected to shock and vibration loads using the dynamic response of the electronic equipment. Presented methodologies are applicable at the system-level for identification of impending failures to trigger repair or replacement significantly prior to failure. Leading indicators of shock-damage have been developed to correlate with the damage initiation and progression in under variety of stresses in electronic systems. The approach is based on monitoring critical solder interconnects, and sensing the change in test-signal characteristics prior to failure, in addition to monitoring the transient strain characteristics optically using digital image correlation and strain gages. Previously, SPR based on wavelet packet energy decomposition and the Mahalanobis distance approach have been studied by the authors for quantification of shock damage in electronic assemblies [Lall 2006]. In this paper, Auto-regressive (AR), wavelet packet energy decomposition, and time-frequency (TFA) techniques have been investigated for system identification, condition monitoring, and fault detection and diagnosis in implantable biological electronic systems. One of the main advantages of the AR technique is that it is primarily a signal based technique. Reduced reliance on system analysis helps avoid errors which otherwise may render the process of fault detection and diagnosis quite complex and dependent on the skills of the analyst. Results of the present study show that the AR and TFA based health monitoring techniques are feasible for fault detection and damage-assessment in electronic units. Explicit finite element models have been developed and various kinds of failure modes have been simulated such as solder ball cracking, package falloff and solder ball failure.Copyright © 2008 by ASME


Researchers have established that partners of veterans who isolate socially because of posttraumatic stress disorder are also socially impacted. It is not known how partners cope with their own social isolation and the influence of social media on the isolation while maintaining commitment to their veteran partners. Weiss' theory of the syndrome of loneliness was used as the basis for this phenomenological study investigating social experiences in 10 female participants drawn from social media groups. Although the study was open to male or female partners, only female partners of male veterans chose to participate. Qualitative email interviews established how the participants socialized as well as the professional and supportive services they might consider beneficial. Data were coded and analyzed to identify patterns that emerged from the experiences of the participants. The primary themes that emerged included that the women had established deep commitments to their veterans and experienced social isolation. Participants' perception of the social stigma of posttraumatic stress disorder resulted in social withdrawal and a dependency on social media for their social interaction and support.


We investigated the role of large conductance, calcium‐activated potassium channels (BK channels) in regulation of the excitability of cerebellar Purkinje neurons. Block of BK channels by iberiotoxin reduced the afterhyperpolarization of spontaneous action potentials in Purkinje neurons in acutely prepared cerebellar slices. To establish the conditions required for activation of BK channels in Purkinje neurons, the dependence of BK channel open probability on calcium concentration and membrane voltage were investigated in excised patches from soma of acutely prepared Purkinje cells. Single channel currents were studied under conditions designed to select for potassium currents and in which voltage‐activated currents were largely inactivated. Micromolar calcium concentrations activated channels with a mean single channel conductance of 266 pS. BK channels were activated by both calcium and membrane depolarization, and showed no sign of inactivation. At a given calcium concentration, depolarization over a 60‐mV range increased the mean open probability (PO) from < 0.1 to > 0.8. Increasing the calcium concentration shifted the voltage required for half maximal activation to more hyperpolarized potentials. The apparent affinity of the channels for calcium increased with depolarization. At −60 mV the apparent affinity was ≈35 µm decreasing to ≈3 µM at +40 mV. These results suggest that BK channels are unlikely to be activated at resting membrane potentials and calcium concentrations. We tested the hypothesis that Purkinje cell BK channels may be activated by calcium entry during individual action potentials. Significant BK channel activation could be detected when brief action potential‐like depolarizations were applied to patches under conditions in which the sole source of calcium was flux across the plasma membrane via the endogenous voltage‐gated calcium channels. It is proposed that BK channels regulate the excitability of Purkinje cells by contributing to afterhyperpolarizations and perhaps by shaping individual action potentials.


Summary Efforts to define standards for representing AEC/FM data have been fairly successful. However defining a standard reference process model has not met with the same success. Yet almost every conceptual modelling or software development project starts by defining the business processes to be supported and the related requirements to be satisfied. This paper describes a new process-centred methodology for user requirements capture developed in the ICCI project (IST-2001-33022). Its essence is in recognising user requirements and use cases in the context of the real construction process, identifying the actors and roles for each individual activity and associating these activities with information, communication and standardisation requirements on the basis of a formalised specification, named the Process Matrix. In the paper we outline the history of process matrix development, introduce the basic structure of the matrix and show how it can be further extended and refined. We present also a web-based software implementation of the developed approach, describe how it has been used in ICCI and outline further perspectives.


Part of a new series of beautiful gift art books, 100 Pre-Raphaelite Masterpieces brings together the best of Rossetti, Burne-Jones, Hughes and other superlative artists from the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. With a fresh and thoughtful introduction to the movement, discussing the life, art and times of this group of artists, the book goes on to showcase key works in all their glory. This is a sumptuous treat for the eyes.


Objectives of tradable permit programs are often broader than internalizing an externality and improving economic efficiency. Many programs are designed to accommodate community, cultural, and other nonefficiency goals through restrictions on trading. However, restrictions can decrease economic efficiency gains. We use a policy experiment from the Alaska halibut and sablefish tradable permit program, which includes both restricted and unrestricted permits, to develop one of the few empirical measurements of the costs of meeting nonefficiency goals. We estimate that restrictions are reducing resource rent in the halibut and sablefish fisheries by 25% and 9%, respectively.


Direct fired heaters are used considerably in the energy related industries and petroleum industries for heating crude oil in the petroleum refining and petrochemical sectors. The aim of the current study is to formulate simple-to-use correlations to design the radiant and convective sections of direct fired heaters. The developed tools are easier than currently available models and involves a fewer number of parameters, requiring less complicated and shorter computations. Firstly, a simple correlation is developed to provide an accurate and rapid prediction of the absorbed heat in the radiant section of a fired heater, expressed as a fraction of the total net heat liberation, in terms of the average heat flux to the tubes, the arrangement of the tubes (circumferential), and the air to fuel mass ratio. Secondly, another simple correlation is developed to approximate external heat transfer coefficients for 75, 100, and 150 mm nominal pipe size (NPS) steel pipes arranged in staggered rows and surrounded by combustion gases. Finally, a simple correlation is presented to predict the gross thermal efficiency as a function of percent excess air and stack gas temperature. This study shows that the proposed method has a good agreement with the available reliable data in the literature. The average absolute deviations between reported data and the proposed correlations are found to be around 1.5% demonstrating the excellent performance of proposed predictive tool. The proposed simple-to-use method can be of significant practical value for the engineers and scientists to have a quick check on the design of radiant and convective sections of direct fired heater. In particular, mechanical and process engineers would find the proposed approach to be user-friendly involving no complex expressions with transparent and easy to understand calculations. 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.


Current computational chemistry tools were used to solve the problem of screening for the best conformation of potential protein-ligand-metal complex in designing a novel semisynthetic metalloenzyme. The computational tools used were Computational Atlas Topography of Protein (CASTp), a sophisticated molecular modeling environment InsightII, a conventional drug-docking algorithm Autodock 3.05 and a schematic diagram for protein-ligand interactions for a given PDB file LIGPLOT. Overall 48 protein pockets on the thermolysin structure were measured using CASTp and the four biggest pockets based on their number of residues and surface area were identified to be suitables site for the modification. Ten different sizes and multifunctional groups of chemical ligands were studied for their thermodynamic valuation using the AutoDock 3.05 program. For further modification, phosphoethanolamaine (PSE), phenylalanine (PHE), phenylacetic acid (PAC) and phenanthroline (PHN) were chosen as they possessed the lowest docking energy of -8.49, -8.34, -7.33 and -7.06 kcal/mol, respectively. Non-covalent interactions included hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interaction between the ligands and the thermolysin were determined using CASTp. The result showed that larger ligands with multifunctional groups such as PSE and PHE showed higher number interactions compared to the smaller ligands. In terms of specific pockets for the modification, different protein-ligand complexes showed different suitable pockets; complex of thermolysin and PSE ligand at pocket 45, complex of thermolysin and PAC ligand at pocket 48 and both complexes of thermolysin with PHE and PHN ligands at pocket 45, respectively. To verify the final metal ion orientation, three procedures were conducted to narrow down the number of possible conformations for the modification. From four tested metal ions (Ca2+, Mg2+, Fe2+ and Zn2+ ), Ca2+ was identified to be the most favorable metal ion for the modification. It had orientated within an allowed geometry in all tested protein ligand complexes. Meanwhile, both Mg2+ and Fe2+ were identified as favorable metal ions in KEI-PSE and KEI-PAC complexes, respectively. Zn2+ however, showed non favorable docking in all tested complexes due to improper parameterized file for zinc ion in AutoDock.


Satyam scam has been the greatest scam in the history of corporate world of the India. Satyam is the fourth largest IT Company in India. The CEO of the company Ramlinga Raju has made a scam of around $2 billion. There has been a lot of controversy regarding the misuse of the post by the CEO of the company. The fake number of jobs which was shown by the CEO was an abuse of power and it was a clear violation of the prevailing laws in India. This gives the impression that in India the power and position is what matters and the people in the top position make a clear violation of the rights provided to them. This scam has seriously affected the corporate bodies in India. The role of an incorporated company is to satisfy desires of investors, and to channelize their investment. But most of the time entrepreneur's play with money of the investors. There are laws to safeguards investors' interest but the Satyam scam has raised the question on the fundamental role of the government and corporate governance. On 16th December, 2008 Satyam board got the approval for acquisition of Mayta's Infrastructure and Mayta's Properties (companies owned by his relatives). However the company couldnot go on with the investment plan due to resistance by the investors. Between 25th and 28th December, 2008, 3 independent directors of Satyam board resigned and later on Mr. Raju confessed to fraud in the form of misappropriation in the balance sheet of the company. The main objective of the paper is to analyze relevance of corporate law in contemporary world and whether it is a time to revisit corporate governance. Further our research will throw light on liabilities of Mr. Raju as a promoter and a director, whether Memorandum of Association and Article of Association authorized the Satyam to purchase an infrastructure company. The liabilities of Auditor and Bankers for facilitating Mr. Raju. Whether the role of independent directors of Satyam was justified. An effort will also be made to analyse the Satyam case in the context of other developed countries law. We will impress upon that to help independent directors and to improve corporate governance, an independent body could be set up, which would be engaged in continuous training and certification and upgrading and disseminating corporate governance best practices. More powers should be vested in Securities Exchange Board of India and it may be converted into commission like U.S.A.


Despite the interest in the neuroimaging of working memory, little is still known about the neurobiology of complex working memory in tasks that require simultaneous manipulation and storage of information. In addition to the central executive network, we assumed that the recently described salience network [involving the anterior insular cortex (AIC) and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)] might be of particular importance to working memory tasks that require complex, effortful processing. Method: Healthy participants (n = 26) and participants suffering from working memory problems related to the Kleine–Levin syndrome (KLS) (a specific form of periodic idiopathic hypersomnia; n = 18) participated in the study. Participants were further divided into a high- and low-capacity group, according to performance on a working memory task (listening span). In a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, participants were administered the reading span complex working memory task tapping cognitive effort. Principal findings: The fMRI-derived blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal was modulated by (1) effort in both the central executive and the salience network and (2) capacity in the salience network in that high performers evidenced a weaker BOLD signal than low performers. In the salience network there was a dichotomy between the left and the right hemisphere; the right hemisphere elicited a steeper increase of the BOLD signal as a function of increasing effort. There was also a stronger functional connectivity within the central executive network because of increased task difficulty. Conclusion: The ability to allocate cognitive effort in complex working memory is contingent upon focused resources in the executive and in particular the salience network. Individual capacity during the complex working memory task is related to activity in the salience (but not the executive) network so that high-capacity participants evidence a lower signal and possibly hence a larger dynamic response.


Evidence suggests that incidental national flag exposure activates nationalistic feelings and that incidental exposure to the EU flag can affect citizen attachments to Europe. However, we know little about what inferences citizens make based on the EU flag when they see it displayed by parties in an electoral context. To test the expectation that this display affects citizens' evaluations of party elites' EU attachment, we conducted a large-scale experiment embedded in a Swedish survey in which respondents were exposed to communications from one of the two main Swedish parties, containing or not containing the image of the flag. We find that simple visual display does little to move perceptions. However, if citizens perceive that a particular party displayed the flag, then they are more likely to evaluate its party elites as more attached to Europe.


Falling is a serious problem among older patients: it is the combination of a high fall incidence together with a high susceptibility to injuries that makes a relatively mild fall potentially dangerous to these old persons. Falling is a multifactorial problem, but postural instability during daily activities, such as walking, is suggested to be the most consistent predictor of falls. Age-related neurophysiological changes and a high prevalence of clinical diseases result in a slower and less coordinated gait in older patients. These changes in the gait pattern can be quantified by a wide variety of gait parameters, each characterizing different aspects of the gait pattern. Several studies among relatively young and healthy older adults have shown that gait characteristics, such as gait speed, stride-to-stride variability, gait asymmetry, harmonic ratios, and sample entropy, can differentiate fallers from non-fallers. However, these results of these studies cannot be extrapolated to older patients, since in these old patients there are, besides the normal age-related neurophysiological changes, additional comorbid factors present that might affect the walking pattern, and consequently increase fall risk. Therefore, in the present thesis, it was aimed to examine the association between several phenomena that occur common in geriatric patients, including osteoporosis-related factors (e.g., vertebral fractures, increased thoracic kyphosis, and a flexed posture; part I of this thesis), medication-use (e.g., fall-risk-increasing drugs, such as antidepressants, benzodiazepines and antiepileptics; part II), and frailty-related factors (e.g., muscle strength and weight loss; part III) with postural control during walking in older patients visiting a geriatric outpatient clinic. Based on the studies described in the first part of this thesis, it was concluded that patients with a flexed posture, an increased thoracic kyphosis, and/or prevalent vertebral fractures have an impaired postural control. This might be the underlying mechanism for the increased fall incidence that was found in patients with an increased thoracic kyphosis. The second part of this thesis described that postural control was impaired in healthy young and older adults when they used psychotropic drugs. These effects were not so clearly manifested in older patients, since frailty-related parameters in this population were stronger associated with impaired gait performance than the use of psychotropic medications. Since impairments in gait and balance are the main risk factors for falls, this emphasizes the need for a multifactorial approach in fall risk assessment, as described in the third part of this thesis, including gait analysis, medication review, and screening for frailty- and osteoporosis-related factors, in order to protect patients at risk for falling in an early stage and offer them an individualized intervention tailed to the identified fall risk factors.