Although the blaOXA-58 gene has been infrequently described in Brazil, contrasting with other bordering South American countries, we verified the maintenance of this resistance determinant over time among carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter species isolates, not only in nosocomial settings but also in the environment. In addition, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to have used WPS analysis to evaluate the genetic surroundings of blaOXA-58 in Brazil. Moreover, the A. seifertii and A. baumannii clinical strains evaluated in this study were recovered 17 years apart in hospitals located in distinct Brazilian geographic regions. ABSTRACT We characterize by whole-plasmid-sequence (WPS) two-plasmid-borne blaOXA-58 obtained from Acinetobacter seifertii (Asp-1069) and A. baumannii (Acb-45063) clinical strains recovered 17 years apart from distinct Brazilian regions. Multilocus sequence type (MLST) analysis showed that the Asp-1069 and Acb-45063 strains belong to ST551 and ST15/CC15, respectively. WPS analysis demonstrated that blaOXA-58 was located in two distinct plasmids named pAs1069_a (24,672 bp/44 open reading frames [ORFs]) and pAb45063_b (19,808 bp/24 ORFs), which belong to the GR8/GR23 (repAci23) and GR4 (repAci4) incompatibility groups, respectively. The genetic environments surrounding blaOXA-58 revealed that it was flanked by two intact ISAba3 copies on pAb45063_b, which differed from pAs1069_a. In the latter, the upstream ISAba3 copy was truncated by insertion of ISAba825 element. Although Re27-specific recombination sites were found adjacent to ISAba3-blaOXA-58-ISAba3 arrangement on pAb45063_b, such structures were absent on pAs1069_a. The conserved ISAba125-araC1-lysE arrangement was disrupted by TnaphA6 harboring the aminoglycosides resistance gene aphA6 on pAs1069_a, while an IS26-blaTEM-1-aac(3)-IIa-IS26 genetic structure was found upstream from ISAba3-blaOXA-58-ISAba3 on pAb45063_b. Other two plasmids, pAb45063_a (183,767 bp/209 ORFs) and pAs1069_b (13,129 bp/14 ORFs), were also found in the OXA-58-producing Acinetobacter species strains, harboring the strA and strB genes and the sul2 gene, which confer resistance to streptomycin and sulfonamides, respectively. The plasmid-mediated virulence factors corresponding to genes tonB, spl, glmM, ppa, sulP, and map were found in both strains, as well distinct toxin-antitoxin system-encoding genes stbD and relE (pAs1069_a), brnT and brnA (pAb45063_b), and xreE (pAb45063_a). Although infrequently reported in Brazil, plasmid-borne blaOXA-58 showed a complex and diverse genetic backbone that confers stability in different Acinetobacter species that have been isolated from nosocomial settings over time. IMPORTANCE Although the blaOXA-58 gene has been infrequently described in Brazil, contrasting with other bordering South American countries, we verified the maintenance of this resistance determinant over time among carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter species isolates, not only in nosocomial settings but also in the environment. In addition, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to have used WPS analysis to evaluate the genetic surroundings of blaOXA-58 in Brazil. Moreover, the A. seifertii and A. baumannii clinical strains evaluated in this study were recovered 17 years apart in hospitals located in distinct Brazilian geographic regions.


Abstract. Freeze/thaw (F/T) processes can be quite different under the various land surface types found in the complex tundra of the Arctic, such as polygonal tundra (wet center and dry rims), ponds, and thermokarst lakes. Proper simulation of these different processes is essential for accurate prediction of the release of greenhouse gases under a warming climate scenario. In this study we have incorporated the water layer into a dynamic organic soil version of the Terrestrial Ecosystem Model (DOS-TEM), having first verified and validated the model. Results showed that (1) the DOS-TEM was very efficient and its results compared well with analytical solutions for idealized cases, and (2) despite a number of limitations and uncertainties in the modeling, the simulations compared reasonably well with in situ measurements from polygon rims, polygon centers (with and without water), and lakes on Samoylov Island, Siberia, indicating the suitability of the DOS-TEM for simulating the various F/T processes. Sensitivity tests were performed on the effects of water depth and our results indicated that both water and snow cover are very important in the simulated thermal processes, for both polygon centers and lakes. We therefore concluded that the polygon rims and polygon centers (with various maximum water depths) should be considered separately, and that the dynamics of water depth in both polygons and lakes should be taken into account when simulating thermal processes for methane emission studies.


Industrial development can be seen as the process of changing the production structure by means of investment over the course of time. To control this development to the benefit of society while maintaining the profitability of the industry, decision makers must learn how socioeconomic changes and market conditions affect the static and dynamic properties of the production structure. This paper reports on the progress of collaborative research into the design of tools which could help decision makers to control development in the chemical industry.

The basic approach is to formulate a model of the equilibrium state of the industry or, in the case considered here, of a particular subsector of the industry. The development process is initially described by a static multiobjective optimization problem, from which a dynamic multiobjective optimization problem is then derived. An example illustrating the use of this method for the pesticide-producing sector is given.

The optimization problem and method for controlling industrial development put forward in this paper were worked out as part of the research program on Growth Strategy Optimization Systems (GSOS), sponsored by the Ministry of the Chemical Industry in Poland. This program is actually carried out at the Institute for Control and Systems Engineering (ICSE), part of the Academy of Mining and Metallurgy (AMM) in Cracow.

The multiobjective optimization method for generating efficient alternatives and the related software were developed by the System and Decision Sciences Area at IIASA.

This collaborative research was carried out within the framework of the agreement on scientific cooperation cosigned by IIASA and the AMM in June 1980.


Following on from its hugely successful launch in 1999, Collins Bird Guide - the ultimate reference book for bird enthusiasts - now enters its second edition. With expanded text and additional colour illustrations, the second edition of the hugely successful Collins Bird Guide is a must for every birdwatcher. The book provides all the information needed to identify any species at any time of the year, covering size, habitat, range, identification and voice. Accompanying every species entry is a distribution map and illustrations showing the species in all the major plumages (male, female, immature, in flight, at rest, feeding: whatever is important). In addition, each group of birds includes an introduction which covers the major problems involved in identifying or observing them: how to organise a sea watching trip, how to separate birds of prey in flight, which duck hybrids can be confused with which main species. These and many other common birdwatching questions are answered. The combination of definitive text, up-to-date distribution maps and superb illustrations, all in a single volume, makes this book the ultimate field guide, essential on every bookshelf and birdwatching trip.


This study had three purposes: Firstly, to develop a categorization of research areas in distance education; secondly, to identify the most important research areas in distance education; and thirdly, to identify the most neglected research areas in distance education. Based on a literature review and a Delphi study, three broad levels or perspectives with 15 research areas were derived to organize the body of knowledge in distance education. Prospective researchers can use the results to identify gaps and priority areas and to explore potential research directions.


The subject of this paper forced itself on my mind when drawing up anessay "On the Laurentian beds of Ireland;" and I had originally intended to place it as an appendix to that communication; but on further consideration I have thought it of sufficient interest to deserve separate treatment. I propose to compare the Cambrian beds of the North-west Highlands of Scotland, which I shall call those of the "Caledonian type," with their supposed representatives in South Britain and Ireland, which I shall call those of the "Hiberno-Cambrian type," as regards both their petrological characters and their fossil contents, with the view of showing that they were formed respectively on either side of a ridge (or barrier) of Archæan rocks, which a recent examination of the north of Ireland enables me to trace along its whole course in the British Isles. Before entering, however, on this special subject, I ought first to state the geological position of the beds I here call "Cambrian," as the term is unfortunately rather widely applied at present amongst British geologists.


Study Design. L4-L5 intertransverse process fusions were produced with 58 μg, 230 μg, or 920 μg of recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 in 20 dogs. Eleven had traditional decortication of posterior elements before insertion of the implant. Nine were left undecorticated. All animals were evaluated 3 months after surgery. Objectives. To determine whether decortication is a prerequisite for successful fusion in the presence of osteoinductive proteins such as bone morphogenetic protein-2. Summary of Background Data. Recombinant osteoinductive proteins can induce de novo bone in ectopic soft-tissue sites in the absence of bone marrow elements. Traditional methods for achieving spinal fusion rely on exposure of bone marrow through decortication to facilitate osteogenesis. It is hypothesized that the presence of an implanted osteoinductive protein obviates the need for exposure and release of host inductive factors. Methods. Recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2-induced intertransverse process fusions were performed with and without decortication. Fusion sites were evaluated by computed tomography imaging, high-resolution radiography, manual testing, mechanical testing, and histologic analysis. Results. One hundred percent of decorticated spines and 89% of undecorticated spines were clinically fused by 3 months. Ninety-one percent of decorticated spines and 78% of undecorticated specimens exhibited bilateral transverse process osseous bridging. The only spines that failed to achieve solid bilateral arthrodesis were in the lowest dose group. With the higher two doses, there was histologic evidence of osseous continuity between the fusion mass and undecorticated transverse processes. Conclusions. There were no statistical differences in clinical and radiographic fusion rates between decorticated and undecorticated sites. With higher doses of recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2, there was little histologic distinction between fusions in decorticated versus undecorticated spines.


Do perceptions of success in using digital learning materials (DLMs) regularly (i.e., several times a week) strengthen (or weaken) teachers' behavioural intentions to use DLMs again? And which psychological factors have a relationship with the intention to use DLMs again? These questions are important in light of stimulating teacher's use of DLMs. To answer this question, teacher "flows" were analysed using crosstabs and multinomial logistic regression. These flows visualize how teachers go from a certain degree of perceived success to a certain strength of behavioural intention. Second, Hayes (2013) process method and structured equation modeling (SEM) techniques were applied to determine the mediating role of attitude, perceived norm, and perceived behavioural control of perceived success on the behavioural intention. The results suggested that the teachers' strength in behavioural intention was in accordance with their perceived success for the case that their self-prediction was positive but that this strength became weaker when teachers' self-prediction was negative. Attitude and perceived norm mediated the effects only when self-prediction was positive whereas perceived behaviour control did this in both cases. Also, there was a direct effect between perceived success and behavioural intention. It is important that teachers get a chance to experience success with the use of DLMs, enabled either by school leaders (regarding in-service teachers) or by teacher training institutions (regarding pre-service teachers). Only then we will see teachers' willingness to use DLMs on a regular basis to grow.


Previous international research has shown that educational goals are fundamental for explaining differences in the educational attainment between individuals. For a better understanding of educational inequality, it is therefore crucial to know more about the mechanisms leading to different expectations. Our paper contributes to this field of research by empirically testing how social networks affect educational expectations of mothers for their children. Furthermore, we try to disentangle the underlying mechanisms by investigating which role resources and attitudes within social networks play in influencing educational expectations. We use quantitative data gathered in three federal states in Germany. The key results indicate that network composition not only has an effect on educational expectations but also on general attitudes towards education. Both attitudes towards education and embedded resources seem to mediate the effect of social ties on educational expectations.


Lettered words are new borrowings and native creations in Chinese written fully or partly with Roman letters. Lettered words in which the letters fit into the Chinese visual 'frame' of writing, the 'equidimensional square', are adopted "as is," bypassing traditional borrowing processes that employ Chinese morpheme-syllable-characters (zi). These include primarily initialisms, since each letter fits into one frame. Compounds containing a Roman letter as a morpheme (X in X-ray) are adapted as hybrid words that retain the letter morpheme. We hypothesize that lettered words are shorter than English words on average and use primarily upper case letters. We conducted a corpus study of lettered words in Chinese newswires to test these assumptions, finding that shorter words are most frequent, upper case is preferred, and initialisms are most common. We conclude that Roman letters are a new set of zi that can now be used to form words in Chinese.


This research work deals with the design of linear CMOS RF power amplifiers. Two important aspects are treated: efficiency enhancement and frequency-tunable capability. For this purpose, two different integrated circuits were realized in a 0.11 µm technology, each one addressing a different aspect. With respect to efficiency enhancement, a dynamic supply RF power amplifier was realized. The circuit was designed for an operating frequency of 5.2 GHz, but measurements were also performed at 2.4 GHz. The integrated circuit includes a class A amplifier and a high-efficiency, switched-mode modulator. It occupies an area of 1.35 mm2. Two-tone measurement results at 2.4 and 5.2 GHz showed that the system can deliver over 16 dBm (40 mW) linear output power with efficiencies of 22.7% and 12.6%, respectively. Compared to a constant 2.5 V supply operation, the power amplifier operating with the dynamic supply delivers higher linear output power. Moreover, a relative efficiency improvement of a factor of 2.3 at 2.4 GHz and of a factor of 1.6 at 5.2 GHz at low output power levels is achieved. OFDM measurements at 2.4 GHz demonstrated that for an EVM lower than 3% and for an equal output power of 11 dBm (12.6 mW), the absolute improvement in efficiency is over 3.2%. In this work we also propose a tunable impedance matching network for use in multiband RF power amplifiers. This novel network is based on coupled inductors. A frequency-tunable RF power amplifier using this network was designed for operation at 3.7 and 5.2 GHz. Simulation results for the complete system integrated in a CMOS technology showed good results. However, the frequency-tunable behavior could not be observed in the characterization of the integrated circuit because of the low coupling factor of the integrated coupled inductors. A hybrid implementation using the integrated CMOS power amplifier, a discrete commercial RF transformer and a discrete bipolar transistor to control the current in the secondary winding of the transformer was carried out. The circuit was designed for operation at 200 and 300 MHz. The measurements have shown that at 200 MHz a relative improvement in efficiency of a factor of 1.4 was achieved. Moreover, less distortion was generated with the proposed tunable output matching network. The hybrid implementation allowed us to demonstrate the feasibility of the frequency-tunable RF power amplifier based on coupled inductors.


This paper elaborates on the provision on tax abuse in the EU's Anti Tax Avoidance Directive ('ATAD'): the general anti-abuse rule ('GAAR'). The GAAR allows EU Member States to disregard for company tax purposes any non-genuine arrangements that have been put in place to defeat the object or purpose of applicable tax legislation with a view to reducing the effective tax burden. This EU Member States are required to transpose it into their domestic laws by 1 January 2019. Substantively, the provision has been lifted from anti-abuse doctrines found in primary EU law and anti-abuse provisions found in secondary EU law. However, the language in the legislative text seems able to be interpreted in a much more extensive way than its counterpart doctrines in primary EU law are currently interpreted. When interpreting the concept of abuse in the field of the treaty freedoms, the CJEU has so far consistently held that tax abuse is absent in the presence of economic substance, i.e., regardless of whether the legal arrangements are driven by any tax motives. The GAAR provision in the ATAD, however, suggests a weighing of tax motives and non-tax motives, thus implying that abuse may be present even in the presence of economic substance or, in other words, that a legal arrangement or series of arrangements may constitute tax avoidance if the economic substance involved – in terms of relative size or importance – does not outweigh that of the tax benefits sought. This means that the ATAD's GAAR could potentially extend to cover a much wider range of scenarios than traditional CJEU anti-abuse case law and hence could potentially add a whole new dimension to anti-tax avoidance approaches in the EU. If called upon, the CJEU could either stick to its classical primary EU law anti-abuse doctrines or perhaps – encouraged by societal developments and a widened legislative provision – choose to broaden the scope of these doctrines and, therefore, lower the bar for EU Member States wishing to counter any perceived undue use of the tax system. Did the EU Member States perhaps open a Pandora's box when they adopted the Directive provision?


Concerns about the welfare of pigs and other farm animals are growing and it is frequently suggested that modern production practices may cause physical and mental suffering to animals. Criticisms such as these are based on underlying beliefs that animals have mental capabilities that enable them not only to be aware of what is happening to them, but to also have a vested interest in how they are treated. This consequently determines whether they experience positive or negative emotional states. Presumably, then, if pigs are treated in ways that they find to be aversive, and over which they have no control, they are as likely to suffer physically as psychologically, and this in turn may reduce the level of welfare they experience [3,14].


The power of the American press to influence and even set the political agenda is commonly associated with the rise of such press barons as Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst at the turn of the century. The latter even took credit for instigating the Spanish-American War. Their power, however, had deeper roots in the journalistic culture of the nineteenth century, particularly in the social and political conflicts that climaxed with the Civil War. Until now historians have paid little attention to the role of the press in defining and disseminating the conflicting views of the North and the South in the decades leading up to the Civil War. In The Civil War and the Press historians, political scientists, and scholars of journalism measure the influence of the press, explore its diversity, and profile the prominent editors and publishers of the day. The book is divided into three sections covering the role of the press in the prewar years, throughout the conflict itself, and during the Reconstruction period. Part 1, "Setting the Agenda for Secession and War," considers the rise of the consumer society and the journalistic readership, the changing nature of editorial standards and practice, the issues of abolitionism, secession, and armed resistence as reflected in Northern and Southern newspapers, the reporting on John Brown's Harper's Ferry raid, and the influence of journalism on the 1860 election results. Part 2, "In Time of War," includes discussions of journalistic images and ideas of womanhood in the context of war, the political orientation of the Jewish press, the rise of illustrated periodicals, and issues of censorship and opposition journalism. The chapters in Part 3, "Reconstructing a Nation," detail the infiltration of the former Confederacy by hundreds of federally subsidized Republican newspapers, editorial reactions to the developing issue of voting rights for freed slaves, and the journalistic mythologization of Jesse James as a resister of Reconstruction laws and conquering Unionists. In tracing the confluence of journalism and politics from its source, this groundbreaking volume opens a wide variety of perspectives on a crucial period in American history while raising questions that remain pertainent to contemporary tensions between press power and government power. The Civil War and the Press will be essential reading for historians, media studies specialists, political scientists, and readers interested in the Civil War period.


Field poppy, Papaver rhoeas L., is a very common weed in winter cereals in North-Eastern Spain. Its control is becoming difficult due to expanding herbicide resistance. To control field poppies there are alternative strategies such as non-chemical control that take into account the weed emergence period. However, there is a lack of knowledge of P. rhoeas emergence patterns in semi-arid conditions. Thus, here we conducted pot experiments on the emergence of P. rhoeas. We aimed to describe the emergence period and to quantify the emergence of a susceptible and of a herbicide-resistant P. rhoeas population at two locations in Catalonia, Spain, from 1998 to 2001 and until 2004 at one of them. Therefore, pots containing seeds of both populations were established at the two locations and emergence was recorded monthly. We studied the origin of the population, the sowing location, the effect of cultivation and the sowing year. First, we found that the main emergence peaks in our experiments occurred in autumn, accounting for between 65.7 and 98.5% of the annual emergence from October to December, and only little emergence was recorded in spring. This emergence pattern is different from those found in the literature corresponding to Northern European countries, where in some cases main flushes occur only in autumn, in spring and winter or only in spring. The emergence was mainly affected by cultivation, but the effect of light stimulus was observed several months later. As a consequence, cultivation should be done in early autumn, promoting emergence during the whole autumn and winter so that emerged seedlings can be controlled before sowing a spring crop. Second, most experiments showed that the emergence was significantly higher in the first autumn than in the following seasons, e.g. 4.1% emergence in the first year and only 2.1, 2.3, 0.5 and 0.6% new emergence at one of the locations for the second, third, fourth and fifth years. Thus, after having a severe P. rhoeas infestation causing a big seed rain, emergence should be stimulated by autumn cultivation in the following season and seedlings controlled by trying to deplete the soil seed bank as much as possible. Despite the fact that emergence will be staggered throughout several years and that there was a significant relationship between rainfall and emergence, so that dry years will cause a smaller emergence rate of the weed, these findings define a cultural management strategy to reduce P. rhoeas infestations and to contribute to integrated weed management strategies combining it with other tools.


Companies adopt varying takeover defenses prior to IPOs, contrary to simple agency-cost models. Variation in defenses is explained in large part by the quality of legal services provided to entrepreneurs and pre-IPO managers. Data from 320 IPOs in 1991-92 and 1998 show that companies advised by larger law firms with more takeover experience adopt more defenses. In 1991-92, companies with Silicon Valley lawyers adopted almost no defenses; by 1998, Silicon Valley lawyer clients were as likely to use defenses as other lawyers. Companies with high-quality underwriters and venture capital backing are more likely to adopt defenses, and the overall rate of defense adoption increased in the 1990s. Dual class capital structures appear to be distinct, and motivated by non-pecuniary private benefits of control. Together, these findings suggest that, except for dual class structures, defenses are generally optimal at the IPO stage, but not all clients receive that advice from their lawyers.


Background: Despite aggressive treatment including surgery, radiotherapy, and adjuvant chemotherapy, the outcome of pediatric high-risk embryonal brain tumors remains poor; especially in young children, in whom early radiotherapy inevitably brings significant long-term morbidities. Single or tandem autologous stem cell transplant has been reported to improve outcomes; but optimal use is not well defined. Methods: Pediatric patients with high-risk embryonal brain tumors who underwent tandem transplant as consolidation from August 2011 to December 2017 were included. We performed a retrospective chart review and analyzed the outcomes to identify possible prognostic factors. Results: Eleven pediatric patients with high-risk embryonal brain tumors were enrolled. They received double or triple autologous transplant at complete response in 5 patients and at partial response in 6 for a total of 24 transplants. There were five atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumors, four medulloblastoma, one primitive neuroectodermal tumors, and one pineoblastoma. Median age at diagnosis was 1.8 years (range, 0.6-11.2 years) and at transplant was 2.2 years (range, 1.2-11.9 years). Thiotepa-based regimens were used in 13 cycles of conditioning. All patients achieved successful engraftment. No transplant-related mortality was identified. With a median follow-up of 21.2 months (range, 6.9-51.8 months), seven patients had disease progression. Disease entity and the use of one or more cycles of thiotepa-based regimen during tandem transplant had statistically significant impact on both progression-free survival and overall survival. Conclusion: With successful engraftment and manageable toxicity, tandem transplant in pediatric patients with high-risk embryonal brain tumor is feasible and safe. Patients receiving tandem transplant with one or more cycles of thiotepa-based regimen might have better outcome than those without. In combination with salvage radiotherapy, a favorable 2-year overall survival could be achieved in the majority of patients.


In order to examine how socio-economic status might undermine cultural happiness shared among East Asian cultural members, the concept of interdependent happiness - harmony with others, quiescence, and ordinariness - was measured using representative adults from Thailand living in both rural and urban areas. This study draws on the previous studies which show culturally shared understandings of the self as being relational and contextual among East Asians. I argue here that among Thai people, who live by traditional Buddhist practices and are experiencing rapid economic development, those with a high socio-economic status - who earn more money, are educated for a longer period of time, and hold administrative positions - would prove to have lowered interdependent happiness. The results of the study support this claim and while objective socio-economic status showed negative correlation with the interdependent happiness, it showed a negligible correlation with general happiness. These results provide the basis for the argument that within East Asian countries increased objective socio-economic status might undermine East Asian cultural well-being.


Summary
1.
An in vitro method is described for measuring the anaerobic metabolism of E. histolytica in terms of acid and CO2 formation, utilizing manometric technics.
2.
The effects of several agents on the metabolic activity of amebas have been studied. Synergism was observed when drug combinations were tested in vitro, notably with fumagillin and terramycin and with fumagillin and thiocarbarsone (C.C. 914).
3.
Four of five naturally infected macaques were cleared over a 12 week period when ¼ the smallest effective oral dose of fumagillin and terramycin (each 12.5 mgm./Kg.) were given together daily over ten days.


In early 2000 the Ministry of Education in New Zealand introduced the Early Numeracy Project in primary schools. This is part of the Numeracy Development Project (NDP), the focus of which is 'improving student performance in mathematics through improving the professional capability of teachers' (Ministry of Education, 2006, p. ii). This co-operative action research mathematics intervention study evaluated the mathematics programme offered to the lowest achievers in mathematics at one primary school and related it to children's mathematics concept development as assessed by the Numeracy Project Assessment (NumPA). Comparison is made between the reading intervention programme offered and provision for mathematics intervention at that school. Children in the lowest 17% of the Year 1 and Year 2 students at the school showed gains on the NumPA after completing the intervention programme compared with peers across the whole of New Zealand who were involved in only the Numeracy Project.


The absorption and emission spectra of the 3P1-1S0 transition of a Hg atom embedded in solid Ar were simulated using the mol. dynamics with quantum transitions algorithm to consider the nonadiabatic transitions between the three adiabatic states. The simulations also take into account the zero-point fluctuations at the exptl. temp. of 4 K using a temp. correction that mimics them. The simulated spectra show fair agreement with the exptl. data for the abs. energies and very good agreement for the absorption-emission Stokes shift. The absorption band consists of the contribution due to absorption of the three degenerate at. states. The simulations of the emission spectrum, with inclusion of nonadiabatic couplings, lead to a single emission band stemming from the lowest adiabatic surface. When running the simulations without consideration of the nonadiabatic coupling, the simulated absorption and emission spectra exhibit three bands sepd. by hundreds of cm-1, in total disagreement with the expt. Photoexcitation of Hg(3P1) in Ar matrixes was characterized by the medium-induced nonadiabatic couplings among its adiabatic states. [on SciFinder (R)]


Purpose: In this paper, we test the influence on foreign trade and FDI by using the gravity model within the EU. The influence of IFRS is also tested, although we might expect that its influence will be smaller than that of other factors. Design/Methodology/Approach: According to the gravity model, countries are trading according to their proximity and also according to the size of their GDP. Negative influence is played by trade barriers and positive by common traditions and a common political background. Big countries trade a lot between each other, e.g., the USA and Canada on the same continent or the USA and Germany in different continents. Smaller countries, like the Czech Republic, do not have such an impact on the scale of world trade. The size of exports /imports is influenced by the fact of whether or not they are part of some trading bloc, e.g., the EU in Europe or NAFTA in America. Accounting rules, namely IFRS, are expected to be perceived as a positive influence on the world trade of a particular country and a country´s FDI (Foreign Direct Investment). Findings: Contrary to our expectations, we have found that the influence of IFRS is not insignificant and is more pronounced after the year 2010 which coincides with the change of local regulations. Practical Implications: The findings establish an interesting signal relating to perceiving the increasing quality of the Czech economic environment including accounting regulations. Originality/Value: Based on our methodology accounting rules, namely IFRS, are expected to be perceived as a positive influence on the world trade of a particular country and a country´s FDI (Foreign Direct Investment).


Methanol is the prototypical intermediate C3V barrier to the internal rotation molecule. It is also one of the primary sources of line confusion in the interstellar medium where it is observed in a variety of regions with temperatures approaching room temperature in the more extreme cases. Recently, a fairly comprehensive rotational study of methanol was performed that analyzed the available data to J=30 in the first three torsional states with a rho axis method (RAM) Hamiltonian. The availability of a new frequency source covering 2.48 to 2.77 THz offered a unique opportunity to rigorously test the ability of the RAM Hamiltonian model in extrapolation in both J and K quantum numbers and an opportunity to confirm a number of newly assigned methanol levels. It also facilitated a unique opportunity for a direct comparison of results obtained with a frequency multiplier, Fourier transform infrared, laser sideband, tunable far infrared, and quantum cascade lasers at terahertz frequencies. The spectrum of methanol is presented and assigned for the 2.48-2.77 THz band. Lines in the first four torsional states are identified and compared to predictions of the RAM model for the first three torsional states and available energy levels for the vt=3 state. A number of previously unidentified subbands are assigned for the first time, providing some unique insight into the difficulties of extrapolating with a rho axis C3V internal rotation Hamiltonian.


Drug resistant infectious diseases are a part of emerging infectious diseases worldwide. They have steadily increased in incidence over time and are still increasing presently all over the world. This is a huge public health problem and therefore reduction in these diseases is of great public health relevance. A literature review was done to examine the extent of drug – resistant infectious disease and the potential contribution to this problem by the rampant use of antibiotics, improper use of prescribed antibiotics and the healthcare system in Nigeria. Rampant use of antibiotics is a health issue in Nigeria because pharmacists and chemists act as physicians and prescribe unnecessary antibiotics for the requesting public. Education about the consequences of inappropriate use of antibiotics seems to have gone without notice. The use of antibiotics not recommended by physicians is astounding. Even worse is the over the counter availability of a large amount of the existing antibiotics in the country. Poor drug quality is also a major contributing factor. The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) is a Nigerian government agency under the Federal Ministry of Health that is responsible for regulating and controlling the manufacture, importation, exportation, advertisement, distribution, sale and use of food, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices, chemicals and packaged water. Counterfeit medications are dangerous and should not be sold in any country. Ineffective enforcement of existing laws by NAFDAC allows for several unregistered pharmacies all over the country. Ever since the discovery of Penicillin and its successful use as an antibiotic, there have been a wide range of antibiotics produced that have helped greatly in the reduction of infectious diseases. The effectiveness of antibiotics cannot be disputed. Over the years however, micro-organisms have found ways to avoid being killed by adapting and mutating. These microbes have become resistant to previously effective medication, resulting in increased costs to treat an otherwise simple infection. These drug resistance infectious diseases are also a great cause of morbidity and mortality in Nigeria hence the public health significance.


Documentation, analysis, and explanation of culture change have long been goals of archaeology. The earliest archaeological spindle graphs appeared in the 1880s and 1890s, but had no influence on subsequent archaeologists. Line graphs showing change in frequencies of specimens in each of several artifact types were used in the 1910s and 1920s. Seriograms or straight-sided spindles diagraming interpretations of culture change were published in the 1930s, but were seldom subsequently mimicked. Spindle graphs of centered and stacked columns of bars, each column representing a distinct artifact type, each bar the empirically documented relative frequency of specimens in an assemblage, were developed in the 1940s, became popular in the 1950s and 1960s, and are often used to illustrate culture change in textbooks published during the twentieth century. Graphs facilitate visual thinking, different graph types suggest different ontologies and theories of change, and particular techniques of parsing temporally continuous morphological variation of artifacts into types influence graph form. Line graphs, bar graphs, spindle diagrams, and phylogenetic trees of artifacts and cultures indicate archaeologists often mixed elements of Darwinian variational evolutionary change with elements of Midas-touch-like transformational change. Today there is minimal discussion of graph theory or graph grammar in both introductory archaeology textbooks and advanced texts, and elements of the two theories of evolution are often mixed. Culture has changed, and despite archaeology's unique access to the totality of humankind's cultural past, there is minimal discussion on graph theory, construction, and decipherment in the archaeological literature.


Humans are very effective at evaluating information visually. Scientific visualization is concerned with the process of presenting complex data in visual form to exploit this capability. A large array of tools is currently available for visual presentation. This research attempts to evaluate the effectiveness of three different presentation models that could be used for scientific visualization. The presentation models studied were, two-dimensional perspective rendering, field sequential stereoscopic three dimensional rendering and immersive virtual reality rendering. A large section of a three dimensional sub surface seismic survey was modeled as four-dimensional data by including a value for seismic reflectivity at each point in the survey. An artificial structure was randomly inserted into this data model and subjects were asked to locate and identify the structures. A group of seventeen volunteers from the University of Houston student body served as subjects for the study. Detection time, discrimination time and discrimination accuracy were recorded. The results showed large inter subject variation in presentation model preference. In addition the data suggest a possible gender effect. Female subjects had better overall performance on the task as well as better task acquisition.


A study was conducted to characterize the common Pythium spp. in greenhouses in Oman and their level of resistance to hymexazol, a widely used fungicide in the country. Pythium isolates were obtained from soil samples, cocopeat bags, and cucumber roots collected from seven regions in the country. Identification of 80 Pythium isolates to the species level using sequences of the internal transcribed spacer region of the ribosomal RNA showed that they belong to four species: Pythium aphanidermatum (77 isolates), P. spinosum (1 isolate), P. myriotylum (1 isolate), and P. catenulatum (1 isolate). Investigating the aggressiveness of three Pythium spp. on cucumber showed that P. aphanidermatum, P. myriotylum, and P. spinosum are pathogenic. Phylogenetic analysis of P. aphanidermatum isolates showed that most of the isolates obtained from cocopeat clustered separately from isolates obtained from soil and roots. This may indicate a difference in the origin of the cocopeat isolates. Evaluating the resistance of 27 P. aphanidermatum isolates to hymexazol showed that most isolates were sensitive (0.9 to 31.2 mg liter-1) whereas one isolate was resistant (142.9 mg liter-1). This study is the first to report P. myriotylum and P. catenulatum in Oman. It is also the first to report the development of resistance to hymexazol among P. aphanidermatum populations from greenhouses. Growers should use integrated disease management strategies to avoid further development of resistance to hymexazol.


The early modern era witnessed the formation across Europe of centralized states that captured increasing shares of resources as taxes. These states not only enjoyed greater capacity to deal with domestic and external challenges, they were also able to shield their economies better against wars. This article examines the Ottoman experience with fiscal centralization using recently compiled evidence from budgets. It shows that due to high shares of intermediaries, Ottoman revenues lagged behind those of other states in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Ottomans responded to military defeats, however, and achieved significant increases in central revenues during the nineteenth century.


Much recent academic and public discourse has centred on the fate of non-metropolitan Australia under successive federal neoliberal reform agendas. This paper discusses creative networks in non-metropolitan areas in light of this, with a focus on issues of youth unemployment and out-migration. First, it draws on research on creative industry development on the New South Wales Far North Coast to assess the efficacy of creative networks as a source of new job growth in rural areas. Second, and more broadly, the paper discusses the North Coast Entertainment Industry Association (NCEIA), a nascent creative network in the region. Several observations are drawn from its experiences. Creative networks in non-metropolitan areas face problems of informal and itinerant membership, and anti-socialisation attitudes, Yet they appear to have a substantial role in improving the conditions of viability for vulnerable cultural producers. When conceived as part of interventionist strategies to promote youth employment and to stem the youth exodus from rural areas, they may also have sociodemographic implications beyond the scope of their original intent.


The emitter ballasting resistor is used to equalize the current distribution between the emitter stripes in power transistor, but it will degrade the output power, power gain, and power added efficiency. Experimental results indicate that the current gain of uniform-base SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) decreases with the increase of the temperature above 160 K, so the current distribution is equalized by itself to some extent. Therefore, the microwave power SiGe HBTs without emitter ballasting resistor were fabricated for the first time, and the continuous output power of 5 W and power added efficiency of 63% were obtained under Class C operation at a frequency of 900 MHz. Hence, the emitter current density of the SiGe HBT's with emitter width of 6 /spl mu/m is 0.79 A/cm.


The parallel computing on loosely coupled architecture has been evolved now days because of the availability of fast, inexpensive processors and advancements in communication technologies. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the performance of parallel merge sort algorithm on loosely coupled architecture and compare it with theoretical analysis [1].The parallel computational time complexity is O (p) [3] using p processes and one element in each process. It has been found that there is no major difference between theoretical performance analysis and the actual result.


Laboratory experiments that simulate the photo- and thermo-chemistry of extraterrestrial ices always lead to the formation of semi-refractory organic residues. These residues can be considered as laboratory analogs for the primitive organic matter incorporated into comets and asteroids. Many specific organic molecules have been detected in them. Here we focus on amino acids because of their possible relevance to further prebiotic chemistry on Earth as well as in other solar system bodies. We compare the amino acid content and distribution measured in organic residues produced in our photochemical experiments to those observed in various CM chondrites presenting an increasing degree of aqueous alteration, a process that is thought to impact amino acid chemistry. We find that the amino acid profile of our residues shows similarities with that of the least aqueously altered CM chondrites. In particular, the β-alanine to glycine ratio is comparable to the one measured in the Paris meteorite, a minimally altered CM chondrite, and matches the trend followed by other CM chondrites with different degrees of aqueous alteration. Additionally, the relative abundances of α-, β-, and γ-amino acids in one of our residues are similar to those of the least altered CM chondrites. These results support the idea of a general formation process for amino acids from photo- and thermo-processing of icy grains as an important source for the inventory of amino acids in the early solar system.


ndia has been getting increasingly connected to the East Asia in recent years. It began with the adaptation of Look East Policy by India in the early 1990s, which has both broadened as well as deepened with its new version of 'Act East'. A vibrant India, with a confident agenda for domestic economic growth and development along with vision for a stable regional architecture, has been reckoned positively by the countries of the region. These countries are thus looking forward eagerly to connect India also with their own plans and vision for the future.

India is now seen as land opportunities because of its liberal pluralistic values, democratic political order, open market economy, big market, and huge source of natural and human resources. The economic and military capacities of India is based on its spectacular performance in the field of science and technology and thus Japan, South Korea and even China have been looking forward to forge cooperative partnership with India for the future.

There are several political contests among the countries of the region, which could be source of instability and frictions. India, therefore, has to carefully avoid them because they may possibly derail the process of economic and social development in the region and also adversely affect India. India must have to bring economic cooperation and exchanges with these countries at the centre-stage and bring in 'new agenda' items, which would make cooperation possible among these countries and also with India.

The new agenda could consist of issues like green growth, use of space technology for agriculture and other safe navigation purposes, joint research on agricultural technology to enhance yield and nutrition, join research to make IT and related technologies more widespread and enhancing human development. India and East Asia may connect to each other by further enhancing their cooperation in disaster management, eradication of diseases, working on climate change, and several such agenda items, which are common concerns of all these countries. It would be most viable strategy to shift the focus in these countries from political rivalries to cooperation in the field of science and technology.

India has been engaged with the East Asian countries, especially Japan and South Korea in these future-oriented areas for some time bilaterally. The process must be further strengthened and hastened along with bringing multilateralism also in the process. A positive, constructive and inclusive agenda shared by these countries and India would be able to subside the political animosities among these countries and India along with these countries needs to work for it.


Background Autoimmune diseases are chronic conditions initiated by the loss of immunological tolerance to self-antigens; they represent a heterogeneous group of disorders that afflict specific target organs or multiple organ systems. Autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) is a common organ-specific autoimmune disorder affecting mostly middle-aged women. AITD is a term that includes various clinical forms of autoimmune thyroiditis; among these diseases, Hashimoto′s thyroiditis and Graves′ disease are the two most common types and share many features immunologically. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease that leads to severe disability and premature mortality. Given the same pathogenic mechanisms, autoimmune diseases tend to cluster together, and hence this study was designed to investigate the relationship between AITD and RA, particularly seropositive versus seronegative subtypes. Patients and methods The study included 70 patients with evidence of RA. Their diagnosis was based on the 2010 American College of Rheumatology (ACR)-EULAR classification criteria, and they were subclassified into two groups: group I, comprising 35 patients with seropositive RA (positive to one or both seromarkers), and group II, comprising 35 patients with seronegative RA (negative to both seromarkers). Twenty healthy age-matched and sex-matched controls constituted group III. All of the studied participants underwent detailed history-taking and physical examination, focusing on RA duration of illness, clinical features suggestive of thyroid dysfunction, and disease activity score (DAS28). We determined the complete blood count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, urea, creatinine, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), serum total T3 (TT3), serum total T4 (TT4), rheumatoid factor (RF), anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP), anti-thyroid peroxidase (anti-TPO), thyroglobulin Ab, and TSH receptor antibody (TRAb) levels, and also performed a neck ultrasound. Results It was found that erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, RF, and anti-CCP were significantly higher in RA patients versus controls, particularly in seropositive versus seronegative patients. No significant difference was found between the studied groups as regards TSH, T3, and T4 levels; however, hypothyroidism was found to be more common than hyperthyroidism in RA patients (29 vs. 3% in group I and 9% in group II). Anti-TPO and antithyroglobulin were significantly higher in RA patients versus controls (P < 0.001) and specifically in seropositive (1301.9 ± 1716.0 and 1750.0 ± 1866.2, respectively) versus seronegative patients (799.4 ± 1597.7 and 898.1± 988.11, respectively). TRAbs were detectable in a small subset of RA patients (6% regardless of the serostatus) with significant difference between patients and controls (P = 0.006). Ultrasonographic features of thyroiditis were significantly evident in RA patients versus controls (P = 0.001). A positive correlation was found between RA autoantibodies (RF and anti-CCP) and thyroid autoantibodies (mainly anti-TPO and TRAbs) (P = 0.007, 0.012, 0.004, and 0.035, respectively). Conclusion Thyroid dysfunction and AITD are common in RA patients, with hypothyroidism being the most common disorder, which is prevalent in 29% of patients regardless of their serostatus. This association was independent of disease activity assessed by DAS28. Increased incidence of thyroid autoimmunity was seen in seropositive RA versus seronegative RA patients, as evidenced by higher levels of thyroid autoimmune markers in the former. TRAbs were detectable in a small subset of patients with RA.


This article explores the issue of preparing trainee teachers for the challenges of how to face their students' 'disruptive behaviour' which sometimes marks the beginning and sets the tone for the remainder of sessions. In this paper I explore my work mentoring two trainee teachers, looking at the options available to them on entering classrooms where students displayed disruptive behaviour. There is a context of Ofsted criteria, whereby disruptive behaviour is no longer acceptable and 'failure' is allocated as an observation grade where 'disruptive behaviour' occurs. This piece offers an exploration of classroom management strategies for preparing trainee teachers who face challenging situations in Further Education (FE) environments and suggests strategies for dealing with the difficulties of disruptive classes. The reason why this is vitally important is because trainee teachers in Cert Ed classes wish to discuss this issue more than any other topic. It affects their self-esteem, confidence and class interaction in delivering the curriculum.


The finished human genome-assemblies comprise several hundred un-sequenced euchromatic gaps, which may be rich in long polypurine/polypyrimidine stretches. Human chromosome 20 (chr 20) currently has three unfinished gaps remaining on its q-arm. All three gaps are within gene-dense regions and/or overlap disease-associated loci, including the DLGAP4 locus. In this study, we sequenced ∼99% of all three unfinished gaps on human chr 20, determined their complete genomic sizes and assessed epigenetic profiles using a combination of Sanger sequencing, mate pair paired-end high-throughput sequencing and chromatin, methylation and expression analyses. We found histone 3 trimethylated at Lysine 27 to be distributed across all three gaps in immortalized B-lymphocytes. In one gap, five novel CpG islands were predominantly hypermethylated in genomic DNA from peripheral blood lymphocytes and human cerebellum. One of these CpG islands was differentially methylated and paternally hypermethylated. We found all chr 20 gaps to comprise structured non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) and to be conserved in primates. We verified expression for 13 candidate ncRNAs, some of which showed tissue specificity. Four ncRNAs expressed within the gap at DLGAP4 show elevated expression in the human brain. Our data suggest that unfinished human genome gaps are likely to comprise numerous functional elements.


Microglia, the resident macrophage precursors of the brain, are necessary for the maintenance of tissue homeostasis and activated by a wide range of pathological stimuli. They have a key role in immune and inflammatory responses. Early microglia stem from primitive macrophages, however the transition from early motile forms to the ramified mature resident microglia has not been assayed in real time. In order to provide such an assay, we used zebrafish transgenic lines in which fluorescent reporter expression is driven by the promoter of macrophage expressed gene 1 (mpeg1; Ellet et al. [2011]: Blood 117(4): e49–e56,). This enabled the investigation of the development of these cells in live, intact larvae. We show that microglia develop from highly motile amoeboid cells that are engaged in phagocytosis of apoptotic cell bodies into a microglial cell type that rapidly morphs back and forth between amoeboid and ramified morphologies. These morphing microglia eventually settle into a typical mature ramified morphology. Developing microglia frequently come into contact with blood capillaries in the brain, and also frequently contact each other. Up to 10 days postfertilization, microglia were observed to undergo symmetric division. In the adult optic tectum, the microglia are highly branched, resembling mammalian microglia. In addition, the mpeg1 transgene also labeled highly branched cells in the skin overlying the optic tectum from 8–9 days postfertilization, which likely represent Langerhans cells. Thus, the development of zebrafish microglia and their cellular interactions was studied in the intact developing brain in real time and at cellular resolution. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Develop Neurobiol, 2013


Hyperspectral reflectance factor image estimations were performed in the 400-700 nm wavelength range using a portable consumer-level laptop display as an adjustable light source for a trichromatic camera. Targets of interest were ColorChecker Classic samples, Munsell Matte samples, geometrically challenging tempera icon paintings from the turn of the 20th century, and human hands. Measurements and simulations were performed using Nikon D80 RGB camera and Dell Vostro 2520 laptop screen as a light source. Estimations were performed without spectral characteristics of the devices and by emphasizing simplicity for training sets and estimation model optimization. Spectral and color error images are shown for the estimations using line-scanned hyperspectral images as the ground truth. Estimations were performed using kernel-based regression models via a first-degree inhomogeneous polynomial kernel and a Matérn kernel, where in the latter case the median heuristic approach for model optimization and link function for bounded estimation were evaluated. Results suggest modest requirements for a training set and show that all estimation models have markedly improved accuracy with respect to the DE00 color distance (up to 99% for paintings and hands) and the Pearson distance (up to 98% for paintings and 99% for hands) from a weak training set (Digital ColorChecker SG) case when small representative training data were used in the estimation.


Within a Medecins Sans Frontieres's nutrition programme in Kamrangirchar slum, Dhaka, Bangladesh this study was conducted to assess the acceptability of a peanut-based ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) - Plumpy'nut(®) (PPN) among malnourished pregnant and lactating women (PLW). This was a cross-sectional survey using semi-structure questionnaire that included all PLW admitted in the nutrition programme, who were either malnourished or at risk of malnutrition and who had received PPN for at least 4 weeks. A total of 248 women were interviewed of whom 99.6% were at risk of malnutrition. Overall, 212 (85%) perceived a therapeutic benefit. Despite this finding, 193 (78%) women found PPN unacceptable, of whom 12 (5%) completely rejected it after 4 weeks of intake. Reasons for unacceptability included undesirable taste (60%) and unwelcome smell (43%) - more than half of the latter was due to the peanut-based smell. Overall, 39% attributed side effects to PPN intake including nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal distension and pain. Nearly 80% of women felt a need to improve PPN - 82% desiring a change in taste and 48% desiring a change in smell. Overall, only 146 (59%) understood the illustrated instructions on the package. Despite a perceived beneficial therapeutic effect, only two in 10 women found PPN acceptable for nutritional rehabilitation. We urge nutritional agencies and manufacturers to intensify their efforts towards developing more RUTF alternatives that have improved palatability and smell for adults and that have adequate therapeutic contents for treating malnourished PLW in Bangladesh.


When an intense but task-irrelevant accessory stimulus accompanies the imperative stimulus in a choice reaction task, reaction times (RTs) are facilitated. In a similar previous study (Hackley & Valle-Incln, 1998), we showed that this effect is not due to a reduction of the interval from onset of the lateralized readiness potential (LRP) until movement onset. In the present study, the RT task was modified to move a portion of the response selection stage into this time interval. The interval remained invariant, indicating that this late phase of the response selection process is not speeded by accessory stimulation. However, we observed amplitude modulation of the LRP on no-go trials in a condition with three alternative responses. This finding suggests that an earlier phase of response selection is influenced by accessory stimulation. In addition, a novel dependent measure was introduced to event-related potential researchthe latency of spontaneous, posttrial blinking.


This paper presents an annotated bibliography and a literature review of relevant scholarship concerning intrahousehold access to and control of assets, and their effects on the intergenerational transmission of poverty. The paper is structured in two sections: 1) the literature review, which provides a critical overview of current research and addresses key theoretical and methodological questions, and 2) the annotated bibliography, which lists and summarises relevant works on the subject. The paper opens up by examining the links between intrahousehold resource allocation and IGT poverty. Section two identifies relevant scholarship addressing the study of IGT poverty. The main factors contributing to the intergenerational transmission of poverty are outlined, and recent literature making the case for an asset-based approach to the study of poverty is presented. Chapters 3 and 4 examine relevant theoretical and empirical scholarship on household dynamics. In chapter 3, the main factors shaping access to resources are profiled. While gender inequality, age and status are critical determinants of intrahousehold hierarchies, social relations which transcend the boundaries of the household are also considered. Chapter 4 explores in greater detail how key assets such as land, healthcare, nutrition and education are distributed amongst household members, and the effects of unequal distribution on IGT poverty. Finally, the last two chapters review recent scholarship concerning the importance of socio-cultural norms and practices in shaping asset dynamics, and highlight the potential contributions of anthropology to poverty research. The literature review is followed by a select annotated bibliography of relevant scholarship, including summaries and keywords for all references.The main findings of the paper indicate that further research is needed in order to determine how and when asset dynamics constitute critical drivers of IGT poverty. The focus on the household as a unit of analysis is found to be problematic, as it neglects extra-household factors of crucial importance in the allocation of resources and may obscure the role of longterm structural relations of economic inequality in reproducing chronic poverty. In this sense, it is suggested that anthropological approaches may prove a useful tool, both theoretically and methodologically, for the advancement of poverty research.


The rapid developments in nanoscience, and its applications on biomedical areas have a large impact on drug delivery, tissue engineering, sensing, and diagnosis. Gold is widely investigated nanomaterial for the last couple of decades, since it has unique surface properties and very low toxicity to biological environment. In this work, we present a novel synthesis of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) exhibiting both visible and near-IR absorbance without agglomeration. The surface of GNPs were analyzed by routine methods and the binding kinetics were investigated by Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) Spectroscopy. The unique optical properties of near-IR asorbing GNP colloids hold promise for biological applications.


A large class of computational problems involve the determination of properties of graphs, digraphs, integers, arrays of integers, finite families of finite sets, boolean formulas and elements of other countable domains. Through simple 354 • 17 Karp's 21 problems encodings from such domains into the set of words over a finite alphabet these problems can be converted into language recognition problems, and we can inquire into their computational complexity. It is reasonable to consider such a problem satisfactorily solved when an algorithm for its solution is found which terminates within a number of steps bounded by a polynomial in the length of the input. We show that a large number of classic unsolved problems of covering, matching, packing, routing, assignment and sequencing are equivalent, in the sense that either each of them possesses a polynomial-bound algorithm or none of them does. †This research was partially supported by the National Science Foundation Grant GJ-474.


Sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (SAHS) is a chronic and highly prevalent disease con- sidered a major health problem in industrialized countries. The gold standard diagnostic methodology is in-laboratory nocturnal polysomnography (PSG), which is complex, costly, and time consuming. In order to overcome these limitations, novel and simplified diagnostic alternatives are demanded. Sleep scientists carried out an exhaustive research during the last decades focused on the design of automated expert systems derived from artificial intelligence able to help sleep specialists in their daily practice. Among auto mated pattern recognition techniques, artificial neural networks (ANNs) have demon - strated to be efficient and accurate algorithms in order to implement computer-aided diagnosis systems aimed at assisting physicians in the management of SAHS. In this regard, several applications of ANNs have been developed, such as classification of patients suspected of suffering from SAHS, apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) prediction, detection and quantification of respiratory events, apneic events classification, auto - mated sleep staging and arousal detection, alertness monitoring systems, and airflow pressure optimization in positive airway pressure (PAP) devices to fit patients' needs. In the present research, current applications of ANNs in the framework of SAHS manage ment are thoroughly reviewed.


Several studies have looked at sexual behavior of Hispanics (Dantzker & Eisenman, in press; Erkut, Szalacha, Coll, & Alarcon, 2000; Espin, 2003; Fierros & Brown, 2002; Flores, 1992; Pesa & Mathews, 2000; Selik, Castro & Pappaioanou, 1988). Two recent studies of Hispanic college students involved the researchers inventing their own attitude scales to measure sexual attitudes (Dantzker & Eisenman, in press) or high risk behaviors, including sexual behaviors (Fierros & Brown, 2002). In the present study, we report a factor analysis of the Dantzker & Eisenman (in press) 42 item sexual attitudes scale. "Hispanic" is the term most often used here, in deep south Texas, near the Mexican border, where the data were gathered. In other parts of the nation, people often prefer the word "Latino." Factor analysis lets you know what you are really measuring. Dantzker and Eisenman (in press) found many sex differences on the items, including that the Hispanic males were mostly more permissive about sex than the Hispanic females. This is a typical sex differences found in most studies that contrast males and females (Hendrick & Hendrick, 1999). But, what about other differences, gender or otherwise? Males and females often have different attitudes about sex. Much of it can be explained by evolutionary psychology, which has shown that males and females have different reproductive strategies (Buss, 1999, Pamer & Palmer, 2002, Simpson & Kendrick, 1997). Males would like to impregnate as many partners as possible, to spread their genes into future generations. This is an unconscious desire for most (Eisemnan, 2001). Also, to get partners with good genes, men seek females who ere young, attractive, and in good health. However, since women get pregnant, the male strategy would not work for them. Women are found to seek men who have high status and power, good financial resources, and who will invest in the woman and her offspring. Thus, evolutionary psychology leads to predictions of differences between men and women in sex attitudes and behaviors. But, what about testing any specific instrument? Dantzker and Eisenman (in press) covered a great deal of territory in the items they made up for their sexual attitudes scale. A factor analysis should give us insights into what is really being measured, and also help us better to understand differences between men and women. Do men and women have different attitudes that prevent or make it very difficult for them to get along with one another?. Is there, thus, a battle of the sexes? Or, do they understand each other and have empathy for the opposite sex? The factor analysis should help us better understand sexual attitudes of college students, and also better understand any differences between the sexes. Because we only had a fairly small number of subjects for this current factor analysis study, this is considered a preliminary study. We plan to use a larger sample in subsequent research. For those not familiar with factor analysis, the study can be read without reference to the two tables, which appear after the Reference section. For those who know factor analysis, the two tables present a wealth of data that can be examined. METHOD A 42-item questionnaire was developed, to reflect a wide range of attitudes about human sexuality. The statements were reviewed by both researchers, as well as by a psychology colleague who specializes in attitudinal research and who had recently completed a study on college students' use of the Internet as it pertains to sex. It was agreed that, on its face, the statements would measure what was being sought, the students' perceptions regarding a variety of sexual activities and behaviors. The statements were set up for response on a Likert scale of one to five (one representing strongly disagree and five strongly agree). A variety of demographic questions were also included. The university's Institutional Review Board (IRB)--Human Subjects in Research, approved our research of sexual attitudes. …


Experiments have been carried out on TCV using Electron Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ECRH) actuators to control the plasma current and elongation in real time. In fully non-inductive plasmas, the plasma current may be driven entirely by ECCD on TCV. By replacing the Ohmic coils with the gyrotron power supplies, we were able to control the plasma current in real time. In tokamak plasmas, the elongation is usually controlled by the quadrupole magnetic field from the poloidal field coils. Applying off-axis ECRH, the current profile is flattened reducing the plasma internal inductance, and at constant quadrupole field, the plasma elongates (κ 2.4) [1]. This paper reports on experiments to control the plasma elongation using a real time elongation observer and the ECRH power actuator to control the current profile. As the plasma elongates, the ECRH deposition becomes more central. Therefore a deposition tracking control was developed which tracked the ECRH deposition at constant ρ by controlling the ECRH launcher mirror position.


The article proposes looking at the problem of state border security through the eyes of Russian border-town residents. Based on field research, the article examines what residents perceive to be threats and how they understand protections against those threats. The conceptual framework of the analysis is securitization theory, proposed in the late 1990s by members of the Copenhagen school of international studies and critically reconsidered in the last two decades. The article aims to identify the similarities and differences between everyday understandings of security in different border zones of Russia and between residents' perception of their roles in maintaining security. The study suggests possible explanations for the observed variability, proceeding from the specifics of local sociocultural, political, and spatial contexts. The comparative analysis involves the towns of Armiansk, Dzhankoi, Troitsk, and Zabaikal'sk, all of which are situated in immediate proximity to the state border. The selection of these four towns was determined by fundamentally different conditions at the corresponding parts of the Russian border: (a) the nonrecognized conflict border between Russia and Ukraine in Crimea; (b) the open border with Kazakhstan in Chelyabinsk Oblast; and (c) the state border with China in Zabaikal'skii Krai. The first section of the article analyzes residents' attitudes to the problem of open/closed borders in the context of security for local communities. The second section considers the factors influencing people's opinions, such as ethnic and cultural stereotypes, life context (urban area), and perceptions of the home state and of the neighboring country. The conclusion discusses discrepancies between state priorities and the interests of local residents caused by differing interpretations of security in the border zone.
Article in Russian
DOI: 10.25285/2078-1938-2019-11-2-30-69


This report describes the progress made on the design of the liquid hydrogen absorber for the international Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment (MICE). The absorber consists of a 21-liter vessel that contains liquid hydrogen (1.5 kg) or liquid helium (2.63 kg). The cryogen vessel is within the warm bore of the superconducting focusing magnet for MICE. The purpose of the magnet is to provide a low beam beta region within the absorber. For safety reasons, the vacuum vessel for the hydrogen absorber is separated from the vacuum vessel for the superconducting magnet and the vacuum that surrounds the RF cavities or the detector. The absorber has two 300 mm-diameter thin aluminum windows. The vacuum vessel around the absorber has a pair of thin aluminum windows that separate the absorber vacuum space from adjacent vacuum spaces. The absorber will be cooled using a heat exchanger that is built into the absorber walls. Liquid nitrogen is used to cool the absorber to 80 K. Liquid helium completes the absorber cool down and condenses hydrogen in the absorber. The absorber may also be filled with liquid helium to measure muon cooling in helium.


Author(s): Barbose, GL; Darghouth, NR; Hoen, B; Wiser, RH | Abstract: The residential photovoltaic (PV) market has expanded rapidly over the past decade, but questions exist about how equitably that growth has occurred across income groups. Prior studies have investigated this question but are often limited by narrow geographic study regions, now-dated analysis timeframes, or coarse estimates of PV-adopter incomes. At the same time, a spate of new programs and initiatives, as well as innovations in business models and product design, have emerged in recent years with the aim of making solar more accessible and affordable to broader segments of the population. Yet, many of those efforts are proceeding without robust underlying information about the income characteristics of recent residential PV adopters. This work aims to establish basic factual information about income trends among U.S. residential solar adopters, with some emphasis on low- and moderate-income (LMI) households. The analysis is unique in its relatively extensive coverage of the U.S. solar market, relying on Berkeley Lab's Tracking the Sun dataset, which contains project-level data for the vast majority of all residential PV systems in the country (a subset of which are ultimately included in the analysis sample). This analysis is also unique in its use of household-level income estimates that provide a more-precise characterization of PV-adopter incomes than in most prior studies.


Neutrophils detect bacterial constituents, including bacterial DNA (CpG DNA), which elicits innate immunity and prolongs the functional life span of neutrophils through suppression of apoptosis. Both the anti-apoptotic protein Mcl-1 and activation of NF-κB have been implicated in neutrophil survival, but there is no evidence that these are linked in neutrophils. We hypothesized that CpG DNA could simultaneously activate these pathways. High purity CpG DNA (0.4–3.2 µg/ml) extended the life span of human neutrophils in vitro by delaying apoptosis through altering the rate of Mcl-1 turnover. CpG DNA slightly decreased Mcl-1 protein level in the presence of cyclohexmide and the proteasome inhibitor MG132 had little effect on Mcl-1 expression in CpG DNA-treated neutrophils. In contrast, CpG DNA evoked rapid increases in DNA binding by NF-κB/p65 and Mcl-1 mRNA. NF-κB inhibitors and the telomere-derived TLR9 inhibitory oligonucleotide 5′-TTT AGG GTT AGG GTT AGG G-3′ markedly reduced Mcl-1 protein levels and subsequently abrogated suppression of apoptosis by CpG DNA. Furthermore, CpG DNA attenuated the decreases in Mcl-1 in both cell lysate and nucleus of neutrophils undergoing spontaneous apoptosis and increased Mcl-1 translocation to the mitochondria, leading to preservation of mitochondrial transmembrane potential. These results demonstrate that CpG DNA through toll-like receptor 9 links two survival signaling pathways by delaying apoptosis through induction of NF-κB-mediated Mcl-1 gene transcription and promoting Mcl-1 translocation to the mitochondria.


This paper examines the impact of diagnostic efficiency on the COVID-19 pandemic. Using an exogenous policy on diagnostic confirmation, we show that a one- day decrease in the time taken to confirm the first case in a city publicly led to 9.4% and 12.7% reductions in COVID-19 prevalence and mortality over the subsequent six months, respectively. The impact is larger for cities that are farther from the COVID-19 epicenter, are exposed to less migration, and have more responsive public health systems. Social distancing and a less burdened health system are likely the underlying mechanisms, while the latter also explains the more profound impact on reducing deaths than reducing infections.


The inscription of customized fiber Bragg structures under acoustic excitation is proposed and demonstrated. By setting the proper acoustic excitation function, the desired spectrum of the grating can be achieved. In this paper, the effect of applying a burst acoustic wave during the process of Bragg grating inscription using the direct writing method through a phase mask is investigated. Among all the characteristics that can be changed due to a periodic defect insertion in the uniform Bragg structure, the control of phase is used to demonstrate this assertion. The results of numerical simulations are shown to be in excellent agreement with experiments. It can be further extended to generate multiple phase shifts in optical fiber and/or waveguides, if the defects are inserted at different positions, as is shown.


| In the field of pedestrian-orientation, the notion of shared space has been proposed as a human-centered approach to the designing of contemporary urban streets with the aim of integration of vehicles and people. The woonerf phenomenon, which can literally be translated as 'living yard', is equivalent to traffic-calming or home zones aimed at realizing shared space on the scale of residential neighborhoods. Aiming to create safe and vital neighborhoods and set a speed limit for passing vehicles in the region, woonerf increases the symbiotic potential of personal vehicles and pedestrians; it gives pedestrians the right of way, allows for their free movement, especially in the case of the elderly and those with physical disabilities, and provides a safe playing area for children in the neighborhood. As part of the urban landscape on the neighborhood scale, woonerf consists of physical-functional, aesthetic and semanticspatial aspects of landscape. It is achieved through the combination of natural and humanmade environments based on human activities and it can provide delightful emotional, perceptual and cognitive experiences for local residents by adjusting the ergonomic, personal, social and cultural needs of people in a special neighborhood by recourse to "form, function and meaning" simultaneously. The sum total of perceptual, formal and symbolic levels in an aesthetic experience centered on humans and pedestrians leads to aesthetic pleasure. Finally, the woonerf urban landscape as an objective-subjective phenomenon will metaphorically remind inhabitants of the living street by enhancing vitality, increasing social interaction and inducing a sense of place in integrated spaces for pedestrians, bicycles and motor vehicles as pedestrian-oriented shared space for a democratic and livable neighborhood.


Building on previous reflections on the utility of systematic reviews in international development research, this paper describes an approach to carrying out a literature review that adheres to some of the core principles of 'full' systematic reviews, but that also contains space within the process for innovation and reflexivity. We discuss all stages of the review process, but pay particular attention to the retrieval phase, which, we argue, should consist of three interrelated tracks – important for navigating difficult 'information architecture'. We end by clarifying what it is in particular that sets this approach apart from fuller systematic reviews, as well as with some broader thoughts on the nature of 'the literature review' within international development and the social sciences more generally. The paper should thus be seen as sitting somewhere between a practical toolkit for those wishing to undertake a rigorous, evidence-focused review and a series of reflections on the role, purpose and application of literature reviews in policy research.


Numerical geological time-scales rest firmly on the analysis of radiometric data. Since the discovery of oceanic magnetic stripes and their signification, alternative time-scales have been constructed whose numerical predictions are based on the hypothesis of a constant rate of sea-floor spreading. The most recent such scale uses only five tie-points, plus present day, to subdivide a span of over 80 million years. The present paper demonstrates that the rate of ocean-floor spreading has varied markedly, and without obvious pattern both in time and in space. Thus, magnetostratigraphic scales based on large interpolations are fundamentally flawed. An alternative scale, based on a consideration of all radiometric data and using magnetostratigraphic data only for small interpolations is commended.


Washington, D.C., implemented a speed camera enforcement program in 2001. Vehicle speeds were measured before and after the program. Seven sites in Washington were selected randomly from a total of 60 targeted enforcement zones. Speed data were collected 1 year before enforcement and approximately 6 months after enforcement began. Results indicated that mean traffic speeds and the proportion of drivers traveling more than 10 mph above the speed limit—fast enough to warrant a speeding ticket—were reduced at each of the Washington study sites. At eight comparison sites in nearby Baltimore, Maryland, where speed camera enforcement was not in place, no decline in traffic speeds was observed. Overall, mean speeds at Washington sites declined by a statistically significant 14% compared with Baltimore sites, and the proportion of vehicles exceeding the speed limit by more than 10 mph declined 82%. These findings indicate that speed camera enforcement reduced speeding on surface streets throughout Washington. On the basis of prior research, such speed reductions can be expected to reduce the frequency and severity of motor vehicle crashes.


Given the increasing global demand for pulp, there is a need to look into the prospects of increasing fiber production and shortening the harvesting cycle of abaca without sacrificing the quality of fibers for pulp production. This study investigated the chemical and pulp properties of abaca cv. Inosa fibers harvested at different stages of stalk maturity to determine their suitability for pulp and paper production. Fibers obtained from 8-10-month-old (immature) abaca cv. Inosa possessed the desirable chemical properties for pulping, namely; low lignin and ash content, high alpha-cellulose, holocellulose and hemicellulose contents; which are comparable with those obtained from intermediate and mature stalks. The average pulp yield, Kappa number, viscosity, tear index and breaking length of pulps from immature stalks were already comparable with those of mature fibers and were even higher than the mature fibers of Linawaan and Laylay cultivars. Fibers of abaca cv. Inosa obtained from immature stalks were thus, found suitable for pulp and paper production.


We present a method by which the phase and the amplitude of a wave front are obtained by processing a sequence of intensity patterns recorded at different planes. We do not use any reference wave, as one does for holography. Simulations and experimental results are presented.


This paper treats the recently emerging self-coherent multisymbol decision-feedback-aided detection techniques for optical differential phase-shift keyed (DPSK) transmission based on both an optical preprocessing approach and an electronic postprocessing approach. We present in detail i) the generation of a synthetic low phase-noise effective local oscillator out of the modulated optical data itself, and its estimation theory interpretation; ii) the role of polyphase (interleaved) DPSK in the optical preprocessing approach in easing the decision feedback realization requirements; iii) detection of M-ary DPSK modulation formats for general M, and differential quadrature phase-shift keying in particular; iv) three alternative integrated-optoelectronic receiver implementations for the optical preprocessing approach detailing the structures of the interferometric front-end and the high-speed electronic analog and digital building blocks; and v) the principle, and alternative implementations, of the digital postprocessing approach to self-coherent detection. We finally compare the capabilities of the emerging self-coherent detection and digital coherent detection techniques.


This article examines the dynamics of the maintenance of illegitimate children in London during the protracted 'crisis' of the old poor law between the 1790s and the 1830s. This was a period of rapidly rising illegitimacy as well as national, and metropolitan, poor law expenditure. The affiliation system offered parish officials a parallel system by which poor rates could be deflated, but analysis of the 1834 Town Queries reveals that metropolitan parishes could be particularly poor at recovering the costs of chargeable bastards from putative fathers. The article interrogates in detail the workings of the affiliation system in Southwark and Lambeth in terms of the proportion of fathers (and mothers) who paid maintenance for their children, either in lump sums or in weekly allowances, plus the associated costs of childbirth and legal fees, the range of weekly sums, which could be higher than previously thought, and the duration for which they were paid, which could be surprisingly long. The article reveals a complex system, variable at the parochial and regional level, as was the wider old poor law.


We present RemixIT, a simple yet effective self-supervised method for training speech enhancement without the need of a single isolated in-domain speech nor a noise waveform. Our approach overcomes limitations of previous methods which make them dependent on clean in-domain target signals and thus, sensitive to any domain mismatch between train and test samples. RemixIT is based on a continuous self-training scheme in which a pre-trained teacher model on out-of-domain data infers estimated pseudo-target signals for in-domain mixtures. Then, by permuting the estimated clean and noise signals and remixing them together, we generate a new set of bootstrapped mixtures and corresponding pseudo-targets which are used to train the student network. Vice-versa, the teacher periodically refines its estimates using the updated parameters of the latest student models. Experimental results on multiple speech enhancement datasets and tasks not only show the superiority of our method over prior approaches but also showcase that RemixIT can be combined with any separation model as well as be applied towards any semi-supervised and unsupervised domain adaptation task. Our analysis, paired with empirical evidence, sheds light on the inside functioning of our self-training scheme wherein the student model keeps obtaining better performance while observing severely degraded pseudo-targets.


We investigate the relevance of beta (β, absolute and conditional) and sigma (σ) convergence in the economies of the Common Monetary Area of Southern Africa and in the provinces of the Republic of South Africa using panel data, allowing an understanding of growth and inequality in the region. The region has experienced β- and σ-convergence; however, growth rates of per capita gross domestic product are low at aggregate and sectoral levels. At sectoral level, the performance of the tertiary sector is better than that of the primary and secondary sectors. The relatively poor performance of the primary and secondary sectors needs policy attention. For the provinces of South Africa, capital expenditure on key sectors such as education and health can enhance growth rate, whereas the overall revenue expenditure retards growth. Therefore, provinces' capital budgets need to be managed well within the limitation of revenue expenditure to avoid fiscal imbalances.


This article reconsiders Gian Lorenzo Bernini's "Triton Fountain" and "Fountain of the Bees", both commissioned by Pope Urban VIII Barberini. Modern scholarship, citing a Renaissance emblem in which Triton represents "immortality acquired by literary study", has asserted that the "Triton Fountain" is a statement on the literary achievements of Urban, who was a poet of some note. In classical literature, however, Triton often appears as a combatant in divinely sanctioned warfare. It was this image of Triton that was used in the "Triton Fountain" in an attempt to justify the Barberini's prosecution of the disastrous War of Castro. The "Fountain of the Bees", built just months after the end of the war, complements the earlier fountain, while also marking a hoped-for return to the peaceful antebellum days of Urban's earlier reign. Through an examination of these fountains, the historical context in which they were built, and the political motivations for Barberini artistic patronage, this article explains the wartime political rhetoric of Bernini's fountains in Piazza Barberini.


The DEAD-box RNA helicases are enzymes involved in many critical aspects of RNA metabolism within both eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms. Several studies have shown that these proteins may have important functions in mediating microbial pathogenesis. A new study in this issue of the JCI identifies the first DEAD-box RNA helicase in the pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus neoformans and proposes novel roles for this family of proteins in the development and progression of cryptococcosis.


One of the most gratifying aspects of Spore is the way it creates a ripple effect, putting readers in touch with one another and acting as a catalyst. One clear example came when Samuel Harry Abiye, Principal Agricultural Officer at the River State Development Programme in Nigeria, wrote to us to tell us how he followed up an article in Spore 88 about the work of Dr Howard Bradbury of the Australian National University (ANU), who had developed a kit to determine potentially fatal levels of cyanide in cassava root and products. This equipment formed part of the material and method of my post-graduate thesis work on relating total cyanogens to cyanide diseases, wrote Mr Abiye.
That was back in February 2002. Mr Abiye is still in touch with Dr Bradbury and has in fact now become a member of the Cassava Cyanide Diseases Network (CCDN), an organisation launched by Dr Bradbury in 2000 under the banner of Working together to eliminate cyanide poisoning, konzo and tropical ataxic neuropathy (TAN).
Cyanide poisoning is a serious cause of death and disability, especially in Africa where many cassava varieties are bitter and high in cyanide levels. Konzo, a permanent paralytic condition of the legs, mainly affects children and young women in central and eastern Africa, especially in periods of drought, when cyanide levels in cassava are higher than usual. In West Africa, TAN is more common. It is a sensory disease, leading to difficulties in walking, numbness, deafness and blindness.
Dr Bradbury developed his simple kit to measure cyanide levels in cassava plants and products and has so far distributed 400 of them. I was able to use Spore very effectively to advertise the cyanide in cassava kits, he said when Spore caught up with him recently. Since then we have
sent out about 400 kits, each with 100 analyses, to health workers and agriculturalists. There are many who have said that they read about them first in Spore, including Mr Abiye, who is still in touch with me.
Dr Bradbury has also developed a simple wetting method which greatly reduces the cyanide content of cassava flour. The flour is mixed with water and spread in a thin layer on a tray in the shade for 5 h. The flour s cyanide content is reduced to between 1/6 and 1/3 of the original level. The damp flour is used for cooking within 24 h. Trials with users in Mozambique, where there is currently an outbreak of konzo due to drought, have proved successful. Further details of the wetting method can be found on the CCDN website, and the cyanide kits are still available, free of charge, for readers in developing countries, from the address below.

Dr J H Bradbury
School of Botany and Zoology
ANU, Canberra, ACT 0020
Australia
Fax: +61 2 61 25 55 73
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Website: www.anu.edu.au/BoZo/CCDN