In recent years, consumer demand studies have been used to objectively quantify the value that captive animals place on environmental resources. Considerable progress has been made in the development of effective methodologies to assess what resources are valued under controlled experimental conditions, but few of the findings from these studies have been implemented in commercial husbandry systems. A major obstacle has been the need to maintain internal validity in experimental studies at the possible expense of external validity. Experimental subjects may be poor representatives of commercially kept animals, especially where there is no replication of the animal's experience of commercial physical and social environments. This paper will discuss means of increasing the external validity of consumer demand studies. Firstly, experimental animals should be of representative genotypes, reared under commercial conditions and housed in test apparatus with free access to all of the resources that are normally available under commercial husbandry conditions. As well as providing a long-term closed economy, this allows manipulation of potentially important environmental factors such as prior experience. Secondly, naturalistic tasks should, where possible, be used in preference to abstract operant tasks since they appear to be easier to train animals to associate with rewarding resources, therefore many individuals can be investigated efficiently. Furthermore, naturalistic tasks appear to be less prone to operant bias than artificial tasks and can provide robust measures of value in terms of the maximum price paid for access to resources. Finally, for group-housed species, social costs such as enduring higher stocking densities and/or competition for resources may be an effective means of investigating cost-benefit trade-offs under commercial conditions. For example, if animals work to evenly distribute themselves over available space, this social spacing priority can be used to investigate whether they will endure higher stocking densities in order to exploit particular resources.


As robots become more commonplace within society, the need for tools that enable non-robotics-experts to develop control algorithms, or policies, will increase. Learning from Demonstration (LfD) offers one promising approach, where the robot learns a policy from teacher task executions. In this work we present an algorithm that incorporates human teacher feedback to enable policy improvement from learner experience within an LfD framework. We present two implementations of this algorithm, that differ in the sort of teacher feedback they provide. In the first implementation, called Binary Critiquing (BC), the teacher provides a binary indication that highlights poorly performing portions of the execution. In the second implementation, called Advice-Operator Policy Improvement (A-OPI), the teacher provides a correction on poorly performing portions of the student execution. Most notably, these corrections are continuous-valued and appropriate for low level motion control action spaces. The algorithms are applied to validation domains, one simulated and one a Segway RMP platform. For both, policy performance is found to improve with teacher feedback. Specifically, with BC learner execution success and efficiency come to exceed teacher performance. With A-OPI task success and accuracy are shown to be similar or superior to the typical LfD approach of correcting behavior through more teacher demonstrations.


In this work we present a new robotic system, Salto-1P, for exploring extreme jumping locomotion. Salto-1P weighs 0.098 kg, and has an active leg length of 14.4 cm. The robot is able to perform a standing vertical leap of 1.25 m, continuously hop to heights over 1 m, and jump over 2 m horizontally. Salto-1P uses aerodynamic thrusters and an inertial tail to control its attitude in the air. A linearized Raibert step controller was sufficient to enable unconstrained in-place hopping and forwards-backwards locomotion with external position feedback. We present studies of extreme jumping locomotion in which the robot spends just 7.7% of its time on the ground, experiencing accelerations of 14 times earth gravity in its stance phase. An experimentally collected dataset of 772 observed jumps was used to establish the range of achievable horizontal and vertical impulses for Salto-1P.


Abstract An extensive investigation has been made to arrive at near-optimum specifications for a thermo-kinetic warm fog dispersal system. This study included passive heat tests, subscale heat/momentum tests, and tests with a single full-scale runway combustor and an approach zone combustor. These tests were augmented with extensive analytical modeling of buoyant jets under co-flowing and counter-flowing wind conditions. The approach category and the minimum volume to be cleared within each category are the primary factors affecting the size of the thermal fog dispersal system (TFDS). Based on these studies and the clearing geometries defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization, it is shown that a Category II TFDS employs 16% fewer combustors and uses 63% less fuel than a Category I TFDS. A Category III TFDS uses 35% fewer combustors and 78% less fuel than a Category I TFDS. The combustor specifications and orientation are presented for the three approach categories.


The metabolic profiles of breast cancer cells are different from normal mammary epithelial cells. Breast cancer cells that gain resistance to therapeutic interventions can reprogram their endogenous metabolism in order to adapt and proliferate despite high oxidative stress and hypoxic conditions. Drug resistance in breast cancer, regardless of subgroups, is a major clinical setback. Although recent advances in genomics and proteomics research has given us a glimpse into the heterogeneity that exists even within subgroups, the ability to precisely predict a tumor's response to therapy remains elusive. Metabolomics as a quantitative, high through put technology offers promise towards devising new strategies to establish predictive, diagnostic and prognostic markers of breast cancer. Along with other "omics" technologies that include genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics, metabolomics fits into the puzzle of a comprehensive systems biology approach to understand drug resistance in breast cancer. In this review, we highlight the challenges facing successful therapeutic treatment of breast cancer and the innovative approaches that metabolomics offers to better understand drug resistance in cancer.


LINGLEY, BENJAMIN C. Economic Modeling of Drinking Water Costs Associated With Aquatic Biodiversity and Water Quality Clean surface water has far-reaching implications on human life as well as plant and aquatic species. Decreased water quality can diminish aquatic biodiversity as indicated by benthic macroinvertebrates which in turn affect the entire aquatic food web. Decreases in surface water quality generally result in a loss of desirable game and other aquatic species. There is a strong relationship between forest cover in a watershed and the corresponding water quality. Forests that are uphill in a watershed filter harmful contaminants as water flows through fibrous roots and significantly reduces soil erosion and sediment loading into water bodies as roots help hold soil in place. The measure of water quality in surface waters such as rivers, streams, lakes and reservoirs is often indicated by turbidity, which can be a direct result of sediments in water. This study investigates how surface water quality may affect treatment costs at drinking water treatment plants. Previous studies have indicated a positive relationship between forest cover in a watershed and treatment costs via decreased levels of turbidity and total organic carbon. The necessary data will be collected from various GIS databases including NatureServe, USGS GAP and other NLCD. A survey was developed which aims to gather data about treatment methods and chemical usage. By combining the positive relationship between a forested watershed, water quality, aquatic biodiversity and drinking water treatment costs, stakeholder interest can be maximized to achieve maximum return on conservation efforts.


The research field of nonprofits and philanthropy has grown exponentially. To what extent do nonprofit scholars share a common language? Answering this question is crucial to assessing the field's intellectual cohesiveness. We studied how coauthor networks, scholarly reputation, and the prevalence of female authors influence consensus formation. We found that the degree of consensus for all major research topics in the field has increased over time—For every 10% growth in the volume of literature, shared language increased by 1.4%. A cohesive research community on nonprofits and philanthropy has been forming since the early 2000s. Female scholars are fewer in number and less cited than males; their presence did not exceed 40% for most topics. The citation counts of scholars and small-world property of networks are positively associated with consensus, suggesting that star researchers and knowledge brokers bridging different intellectual communities are key to sharing research interests and language.


Six male patients with severe ethylene glycol poisoning were studied with respect to the origin of the metabolic acidosis. The plasma concentrations of ethylene glycol were 4-41 mmol/l and treatment included alkali, ethanol and hemodialysis. Plasma analysis by isotachophoresis and whole blood lactate determinations showed that glycolate (17.0-29.3 mmol/l), lactate (1.4-6.2 mmol/l) and beta-hydroxybutyrate (less than or equal to 1.8 mmol/l) were present in elevated concentrations contributing to the acidosis. Oxalate (less than or equal to 0.33 mmol/l), glyoxylate (less than 0.2 mmol/l) and formate (less than 0.4 mmol/l) concentrations were negligible and did not contribute to any significant degree to the acidosis. The elevated plasma glycolate concentration was highly correlated to the anion gap (r = 0.923) and the glycolate made up for 96.1% (n = 6, range 84.7-108.8) of the increased anion gap. We conclude that glycolate accumulation is the main reason for the metabolic acidosis in ethylene glycol poisoning. The mean dialysator (1.6 m2) clearances of glycolate at a blood flow of 200 ml/min in two patients were 137 ml/min (n = 9, SD +/- 8, range 125-149) and 144 ml/min (n = 11, SD +/- 8, range 133-158). By applying first order kinetics during hemodialysis a volume of distribution of glycolate of 0.55 l/kg was found, assuming that the dialysator clearance equals the total body clearance of glycolate. Thus glycolate, the probable main metabolite of ethylene glycol, is efficiently removed by hemodialysis.


We describe and evaluate the Finite-State Arabic Morphologizer (FSAM) – a concatenative (prefix-stem-suffix) and templatic (root- pattern) morphologizer that generates and analyzes undiacritized Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) words, and diacritizes them. Our bidirectional unified-architecture finite state machine (FSM) is based on morphotactic MSA grammatical rules. The FSM models the root-pattern structure related to semantics and syntax, making it readily scalable unlike stem-tabulations in prevailing systems. We evaluate the coverage and accuracy of our model, with coverage being percentage of words in Tashkeela (a large corpus) that can be analyzed. Accuracy is computed against a gold standard, comprising words and properties, created from the intersection of UD PADT treebank and Tashkeela. Coverage of analysis (extraction of root and properties from word) is 82%. Accuracy results are: root computed from a word (92%), word generation from a root (100%), non-root properties of a word (97%), and diacritization (84%). FSAM's non-root results match or surpass MADAMIRA's, and root result comparisons are not made because of the concatenative nature of publicly available morphologizers.


Background and objectives: Despite the benefits of exercise for both physical and psychological health and the focus of counselling psychology on a holistic approach to wellbeing, we know little about the role of exercise within the discipline. Furthermore, no research has examined UK-based counselling psychologists? experiences of working with exercise. The objective of this study was therefore to explore UK-based counselling psychologists? experiences of incorporating exercise into their therapeutic work. The research questions were as follows: 1. How have counselling psychologists used exercise within their therapeutic work? and 2. What has been the experience of those counselling psychologists who have incorporated exercise into their work? Method and analyses: A qualitative design was used within this project. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight UK-based counselling psychologists who stated that exercise had formed part of their therapeutic work. The interview material was then analysed using thematic analysis. Analysis: The themes developed from the first research question revealed a number of ways in which exercise had formed part of counselling psychologists? work; including as an intervention that clients engaged in between sessions, within the sessions themselves, and through collaboration with other professionals. Six main themes were developed when exploring the participants? experiences of working with exercise: ?vehicle for change?, ?holism?, ?influence of self?, ?a quiet voice?, ?one of many tools? and ?collaboration?. These are introduced and outlined in depth in turn. Conclusions: The research enabled, for the first time, an insight into the role of exercise within counselling psychologists? therapeutic work. Some UK-based counselling psychologists are using exercise with their clients; in a variety of forms and from a variety of rationales. The participants described a host of ways in which they had witnessed exercise as beneficial to their clients, but ranged in their views regarding whether exercise should be introduced into the work by the therapist. Exploring exercise raised wider issues relating to the approach of counselling psychologists towards clients? physical health as well as the role of pluralism in further developing the use of exercise within therapy. Suggestions for theory, further research and practice are proposed.


Available online 29 June 2018 A facility layout can be defined as an arrangement of the equipment area in the industry or organization of the factory. The main objective of this project was to improve the existing layout in SMEs using DELMIA QUEST simulation. In this project, new layouts are proposed to reduce the waiting time in a production line and increase the productivity. This study focused on packaging production line of a coffee manufacturing company located in Tasek Gelugor Pulau Pinang. The problems identified in this production line are limited working space, some processes overlap and are stuck due to high demands of the products. This results in high lead time. The existing layout was studied and simulated to improve certain parameters such as labour, machines, and shape of the layout. The workstations were repositioned in the proposed layout before undergoing simulation process using DELMIA QUEST software. From the simulation results, the significant improvement was determined and the best layout was chosen in terms of machines utilization and total output. Based on this, a new layout is proposed to increase the productivity capacity and to meet customers' demands. Simulation data of the proposed layout showed its productivity had increased to approximately 41.5%.


This report documents the research and analysis undertaken to develop a state-of-the-art trip generation model for use by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). This work was undertaken as a part of an overall effort to improve the transportation planning techniques utilized by the TxDOT. Trip generation has been accomplished by the TxDOT since the early seventies using two computer programs, TRIPCAL3 AND TRIPCAL4. The methods and models employed by those programs were considered to be outdated and no longer state of the practice in terms of trip generation. The work documented in this report includes a review of the input data for trip generation, a review of the trip generation rates developed as a result of recent travel surveys, a review of the current trip generation practice in urban areas outside Texas, and a review of the trip generation practice in Texas. Based on those reviews and analysis, specifications and recommendations were developed for a new trip generation program for use by the TxDOT as a part of their mainframe travel demand modeling package. The new program is called TRIPCAL5. The implementation of TRIPCAL5 is anticipated to provide a quantum improvement in the trip generation capabilities of the TxDOT.


We define a method for incorporating strong prior shape information into a recently extended Markov point process model for the extraction of arbitrarily-shaped objects from images. To estimate the optimal configuration of objects, the process is sampled using a Markov chain based on a stochastic birth-and-death process defined in a space of multiple objects. The single objects considered are defined by both the image data and the prior information in a way that controls the computational complexity of the estimation problem. The method is tested via experiments on a very high resolution aerial image of a scene composed of tree crowns.


This study looked at influence of gender and school location on achievement in chemistry when the innovative teaching method of play-simulation was used. Eight intact classes of (SS 1) students were used, each class from each of the eight sampled schools. Four schools were randomly selected from each of the groups of Boys and Girls only schools from four Local Government Areas. The school types were further grouped into rural-urban dichotomies –four each with two from each school type. A sample of 177 students participated in the study (99 males and 78 females with 92 of them from urban schools and 85 from rural schools). The sampled schools comprised of two boys only schools and two girls only schools. Each of the two school types was selected from among urban and rural schools. Each intact class received chemistry lesson on organic chemistry after pre-test, each also participated in a post-test. A teacher made tested formed the research instrument. ANCOVA statistical test was used to test the two hypotheses and means were used to answer the research questions. The result showed that male students achieved significantly better than female students and also that the students from urban schools achieved significantly better than students from rural schools when playsimulation is used to teach SS1 chemistry students organic chemistry. Based on these findings, recommendations were made to the effect that school location and gender should not be a barrier in the application of innovative teaching strategies in science classes. Keywords : Play-simulations, gender, location, school type, achievement


We have used improved incoherent scatter radar measurements at the Jicamarca Radio Observatory to study the height variation of the F region vertical plasma drift velocity (driven by the zonal electric field) during moderately quiet conditions. Preliminary results indicate a nearly linear change of the vertical drift velocity with altitude between 200 and 700 km, but with considerable day-to-day variations in the value of the slope. On the average, the velocity gradients are positive in the late night and morning periods and negative during the afternoon and evening hours. Simultaneous vertical and zonal drift measurements confirm that the measured height variation of the vertical drift is consistent with the existence of a curl free electric field in the low latitude ionosphere. The time dependence of the Jicamarca vertical drifts extrapolated to higher altitudes closely resembles the diurnal variation of the drift component due to the zonal electric field observed at F region heights over Arecibo.


An algorithm has been developed and implemented to determine automatically the indices and other reciprocal-lattice information from the positions of a dozen or so arbitrary reflections on a four-circle diffractometer. Output includes the indices, reduced cell dimensions, and the reduced cell scalars for Bravais lattice determination. Illustrations of the use of the indexing procedure both with the four-circle diffractometer and with precession camera techniques are given. A comparison to some other autoindexing procedures is also given.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the regulatory effect of the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug NS398 on the expression of the RECK gene in the animal model of prostate cancer.

METHODS
Nude mouse models of prostate cancer were divided into an experimental and a control group, the former fed with NS398 at 0.1 mg/g per day for 10, 20 and 30 days, while latter left without medication. All the mice were killed at 30 days, the mRNA expressions of RECK and MMP-9 in the tumor tissues measured by RT-PCR, and the protein level of RECK evaluated by Western blot.

RESULTS
Both the mRNA and protein expressions of RECK were increased, while the level of MMP-9 decreased, in an obviously time-dependent manner in the experimental group as compared with the control.

CONCLUSION
NS398 obviously inhibits the pathogenesis and metastasis of prostate cancer, which may be attributed to its induction of the expression of the RECK gene and suppression of the expression of MMP-9.


A creativity improvement intervention was introduced in a work unit of system developers. The five month intervention consisted of three phases: Phase I was a training workshop to establish an environment to facilitate creativity and to teach a variety of creativity generation and evaluation techniques. Phase II reinforced the concepts/principles taught in the workshop, with opportunities to discuss experience in application of the techniques and test the degree to which the environment for creativity had been enhanced. Additional techniques were also introduced during this period. Phase III provided further reinforcement by reading and discussing creativity articles/papers. All personnel kept a record of their creative results, identifying 17 major improvements. In a post-test, on average participants believed their individual creativity improved 23% and that the unit's creativity improved 27%. They also indicated that the environment for creativity was well established, that "creativity was now a part of their culture."


Rectangular waveguide to circular waveguide mode converter is a critical components of a high-power microwave test system. In certain frequency band, the traditional method of round - rectangular waveguide mode converter can't satisfy the performance requirements. In order to solve this problem, this paper puts forward a kind of compact structure, and it has the characteristic of small reflection coefficient, wide bandwidth, waveform conversion efficiency high. Its center frequency is 16 GHz, the bandwidth of 8 GHz. Its relative bandwidth is 50%, and VSWR is less than 1.1 in 12G-20G, and insertion loss is greater than -0.02.


The modulation of voltage-gated Ca(2+) currents in isolated dorsal unpaired median (DUM) neurons of cockroach was investigated using whole cell patch clamp. The neuropeptide neurohormone D (NHD), a member of the adipokinetic hormone family, affected Ca(2+) currents at pico- to nanomolar concentrations. It strongly enhanced currents activating at lower depolarizations, whereas those activating at strong depolarizations were slightly attenuated. The first effect results from upregulation of a previously characterized omega-conotoxin MVIIC- and omega-agatoxin IVA-sensitive "mid/low voltage-activated" (M-LVA) Ca(2+) current. The cAMP-analogue 8-bromo-cAMP, forskolin, and the catalytic subunit of protein kinase A (PKA) mimicked the stimulating action of NHD. In addition, preincubation of neurons with the PKA inhibitor KT 5720 abolished the action of NHD. Thus NHD seems to upregulate the M-LVA current via channel phosphorylation by PKA. Activation of protein kinase C by oleoylacetylglycerol (OAG) mimicked the effect of NHD, and subsequent NHD application only enhanced the current to a moderate extent. On the other hand, inhibition of protein kinase C (PKC) by Gö 6976 abolished the NHD effect. These results indicate that also PKC, too, may play a role in the peptidergic modulation of the M-LVA Ca(2+) current. The reduction of Ca(2+) currents in the high-voltage-range is caused by the NHD-induced upregulation of a voltage-independent Ca(2+) resting current, I(Ca,R), which most probably leads to enhanced Ca(2+)-dependent inactivation of voltage-gated Ca(2+) currents. To assess the major consequences of the Ca(2+) current changes, current-clamp investigations were performed. Experiments with iberiotoxin, a specific blocker of BK-type Ca(2+)-dependent K(+) currents, and the M-LVA current-blocking omega-toxins suggested that NHD causes-via increasing Ca(2+)-dependent K(+) currents-a larger hyperpolarization of action potentials. The lowering in the action potential threshold produced by NHD, however, seems to be a direct consequence of the hyperpolarizing shift of the activation curve of total Ca(2+) current resulting from NHD-induced upregulation of the M-LVA current component.


We report the discovery of weak magnetic fields in three white dwarfs within the local 20 pc volume (WD 0816−310, WD 1009−184, and WD 1532+129), and we confirm the magnetic nature of a fourth star (WD 2138−332) in which we had previously detected a field at a 3σ level. The spectra of all these white dwarfs are characterised by the presence of metal lines and lack of H and He lines, that is, they belong to the spectral class DZ. The polarisation signal of the Ca II H+K lines of WD 1009−184 is particularly spectacular, with an amplitude of 20% that is due to the presence of a magnetic field with an average line-of-sight component of 40 kG. We have thus established that at least 40% of the known DZ white dwarfs with an He-rich atmosphere contained in the 20 pc volume have a magnetic field, while further observations are needed to establish whether the remaining DZ white dwarfs in the same volume are magnetic or not. Metal lines in the spectra of DZ white dwarfs are thought to have originated by accretion from rocky debris, and it might be argued that a link exists between metal accretion and higher occurrence of magnetism. However, we are not able to distinguish whether the magnetic field and the presence of a polluted atmosphere have a common origin, or if it is the presence of metal lines that allows us to detect a higher frequency of magnetic fields in cool white dwarfs, which would otherwise have featureless spectra. We argue that the new highly sensitive longitudinal field measurements that we have made in recent years are consistent with the idea that the magnetic field appears more frequently in older than in younger white dwarfs.


It is well established that high levels of physical activity are associated with reduced health risk in children and youth. Parents and teams request a safe participation to any sport activity, recreational or competitive. Although habitual physical activity reduces coronary heart disease events, vigorous activity can also acutely and transiently increase the risk of sudden cardiac death and acute myocardial infarction in susceptible persons However, across all age groups, levels of physical activity remain low and obesity rates continue to rise; collectively threatening the persistent increase in life expectancy enjoyed over the past century and efforts to counteract the inactivity and obesity crisis. There is a large body of evidence which suggests that decreasing any type of sedentary time is associated with lower health risk in youth. Maintaining physical fitness through regular physical activity may help to reduce sudden cardiovascular damages because a disproportionate number of events occur in least physically active subjects performing unaccustomed physical activity. Obstacles to implementing obligatory government-sponsored national screening including ECGs or echocardiograms like it is done in Italy, are in some countries the particularly large population of athletes to screen, major cost-benefit considerations, and the recognition that it is impossible to absolutely eliminate the risks associated with competitive sports. Unlike other organisations in US and Canada, the European Society of Cardiology and the International Olympic Committee do recommend resting 12-lead ECG to detect cardiac abnormalities for preparticipation cardiovascular screening of competitive athletes. Children's sedentary habits vs Children's Sport Activity: screenings are necessary!


A total of 134 samples of soil were tested for the presence of aerobic actinomycetes by paraffin baiting technique. The various pathogenic aerobic actinomycetes capable of utilizing paraffin as a sole source of carbon were found to be widely prevalent in the soil of Delhi and adjoining areas. The 157 strains that were isolated could be classified into Nocardia asteroides (52), N. brasiliensis (8), N. caviae (4), Nocardia spp. (40) and Streptomyces spp. (53). The basis of identification and their pathogenicity in mice are discussed.


ABSTRACT
 The Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) process is becoming increasingly used in the shipbuilding industry due to its suitability to produce complex geometries and the machining of materials with high mechanical properties. Although, it is necessary to deepen in its study to be able to adapt it to the own characteristics of the shipbuilding sector, mainly to the high volumes of material to eliminate that causes a strong degradation in the tools. This research focuses on the experimental study of surface contamination caused on the active surface of cutting tools in EDM processes due to material adhesion of machined parts during the process, being of interest in the manufacture of parts and components that require high manufacturing times. This work presents a series of findings that allow optimising the starting parameters of the process to increase the useful life of the tool and improve the surface finish of the manufactured parts.


Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting is a promising method for the conversion and storage of solar energy. A combination of catalysts with photoelectrodes is generally required for the development of active photoanodes in PEC devices. In this work, we present two BiVO4 photoanodes modified with cobalt salophen (Co(salophen)) complexes for PEC water oxidation. The resulting photoanodes show significantly enhanced PEC performance. Under simulated sunlight illumination (AM 1.5G, 100 mW cm−2), high photocurrents of 3.89 mA cm−2 and 4.27 mA cm−2 were obtained for Co1/BiVO4 and Co2/BiVO4, respectively at 1.23 V (vs. the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE)) in a neutral solution, an almost three-fold enhancement over that of the unmodified BiVO4. Intensity-modulated photocurrent spectroscopy (IMPS) analysis shows that the Co(salophen) complexes not only accelerate the water oxidation reaction but also reduce the surface recombination. The half-cell solar energy conversion efficiencies for Co1/BiVO4 and Co2/BiVO4 were 1.09% and 1.18% at 0.7 V, respectively. Due to their hydrophobic nature, the Co(salophen) complexes can bind strongly to the surface of BiVO4. When the Co2 complex featuring four hydrophobic tert-butyl groups in a salophen ligand was anchored to BiVO4, an extremely stable photocurrent of more than 3.5 mA cm−2 at 1.23 V vs. RHE is sustained for at least 3 h without decay. Such a stable and robust photoanode based on a molecular WOC surpasses those attained by most of the state-of-the-art heterogeneous catalysts.


Aim: To assess the metabolic risk of patients presenting to transient ischaemic attack (TIA) clinic over a 5year followup period thereby supporting more rigorous screening of this subgroup. Methods: A retrospective cohort captured 207 consecutive patients presenting to TIA clinic between 1 January 2014 and 1 January 2015. Information was collected from electronic records over the subsequent 5 years including: further presentation to clinic; mortality; and HbA1c. Results: A total of 207 patients (90:117 male:female, age 63.8±16.6 years) were assessed, 41 (19.8%) had type 2 diabetes. 30.4% of the clinic population were diagnosed with TIA, 7.7% were diagnosed with stroke. 14.5% patients presented with a further TIA or stroke, indicating that presence of previous TIA or stroke was a risk factor for further presentation (p = 0.0158). Of the 80 patients (43:37 male:female, age 70.8 ± 12.4 years) with a confirmed TIA or stroke, 28.8% had type 2 diabetes, 8.8% were at risk of diabetes. 13.0% with diabetes, 28.6% at risk and 66% without diabetes did not have HbA1c recorded within 6 months of presentation. Patients with diabetes were more likely to have a subsequent TIA or stroke (p = 0.043). Mortality rate was significantly higher in those who presented initially with TIA or stroke (p = 0.0451). Conclusions: Only a minority of patients presenting to TIA clinic were screened for underlying diabetes. Patients diagnosed with TIA or stroke had higher 5year mortality. This highlights the need for universal screening for diabetes in all TIA clinic referrals to reduce subsequent risk.


Abstract Results obtained from the detailed geochemical analysis of more than 150 crude oils were used to : (1) identify a number of different petroleum systems present in the South Atlantic margins; and (2) establish geochemical criteria useful in distinguishing lacustrine-derived oils from marine-derived oils. The multiplicity and type of effective source rocks were determined by using the geochemical characteristics of the crude oils to establish the number of compositionally distinct oil families, and by inferring palaeoenvironmental conditions of source rock deposition and possible age. Using multivariate statistical techniques and bulk geochemical parameters, isotopic compositions and biomarker distributions, a number of general petroleum systems were identified, differing from each other in terms of source palaeoenvironment and age. The oils are separated into two broad groups: lacustrine and marine. Further detailed examination of each broad group, sometimes using more specific geochemical criteria, typically resulted in the establishment of sub-groups of oils according to specific source environment, such as lacustrine fresh v. saline conditions. Areas where oils of mixed provenance occur are also identified. The geochemical criteria used in discriminating between lacustrine and marine oil types were determined based on geochemical differences that exist between known marine-sourced (mainly post-salt) oils from the Kwanza and Gabon (Port Gentil area) Basins and known lacustrine-sourced (pre-salt) oils from the Congo Basin.


Dissecting the myriad regulatory mechanisms controlling eukaryotic transcripts from production to degradation requires quantitative measurements of mRNA flow across the cell. We developed subcellular TimeLapse-seq to measure the rates at which RNAs are released from chromatin, exported from the nucleus, loaded onto polysomes, and degraded within the nucleus and cytoplasm. These rates varied substantially, yet transcripts from genes with related functions or targeted by the same transcription factors and RNA binding proteins flowed across subcellular compartments with similar kinetics. Verifying these associations uncovered roles for DDX3X and PABPC4 in nuclear export. For hundreds of genes, most transcripts were degraded within the nucleus, while the remaining molecules were exported and persisted with stable lifespans. Transcripts residing on chromatin for longer had extended poly(A) tails, whereas the reverse was observed for cytoplasmic mRNAs. Finally, a machine learning model identified additional molecular features that underlie the diverse life cycles of mammalian mRNAs.


The film Dead Man Walking focuses on the transformation of death row inmate Matthew Poncelet, who is about to be executed for a rape and two murders. Poncelet initially is unrepentant and unwilling to confess. However, under the guidance of Sister Helen Prejean, Poncelet undergoes a spiritual conversion and repents for his crime. He sees that Sister Helen loves him, so he learns to love himself. His anger toward the families of his victims evolves into understanding and remorse. His genuine remorse, confession, and settling of accounts lead to his redemption. The change in Poncelet's attitude manifests director and screenwriter Tim Robbins's theme that even villainous criminals are capable of reform and thus should not be executed; furthermore, the killing of murderers – no matter how heinous their deeds – constitutes cruel and inhumane vengeance that does nothing to heal the pain and suffering of the victims' families.


BACKGROUND
The pathogenesis of aortic aneurysms remains largely unknown, despite aneurysmal rupture being an increasingly common catastrophe.

METHODS
This study was designed to elucidate the mechanism of arterial dilatation histologically and electron microscopically, utilising a new animal model. Elastase, 3.0 mg/ml, was applied to the abdominal aortae of 18 New Zealand white rabbits from the adventitia side for 3 hours. The rabbits were sacrificed at 0, 3, 14, 28, 42 and 90 days after the procedure (n=4, 3, 2, 2, 2, 3).

RESULTS
Two rabbits were found to have developed aortic rupture. On day 0, elastase application induced fusiform aneurysms up to 1.62+/-0.14 times the pre-elastase application aortic diameter. Dilated walls revealed medial elastolysis, degeneration of smooth muscle cells (SMCs) and damaged endothelial cells. By day 3, the smooth muscle cells had changed to the synthetic type. Aneurysms did not progress, and after 42 days, showed gradual shrinkage. By day 90, aortic diameters had nearly normalised.

CONCLUSIONS
Aortic walls also returned to the pre-elastase application thickness and some mature medial elastic lamellae showed regeneration. Medial smooth muscle cells reverted to the contractile type. Aortic dilatation induced by peri-aortic application of elastase heals spontaneously, accompanied by regeneration of smooth muscle cells. Irreversible degeneration of medial smooth muscle cells appears to be more critical to aneurysm formation than degeneration of elastic lamellae.


abstract Heterosexuality is associated with normative, 'normal' or 'natural' social and sexual relations. Concomitantly, those who do not conform to heterosexual standards are 'othered'. Conforming to normativity creates the "heterosexual imaginary" (Ingraham, 1996) and perpetuates heteronormativity. This article focuses on the dangers of institutionalised heterosexuality, particularly the objectifying of non-normative sexual and gender diversities as anti-humanist. Snowball sampling was used to select 39 fourth-year pre-service teachers from three public South African universities, and focus group discussions revealed that the responses of many of these have heterosexist and homophobic undertones. The three main themes that emerged are objectification of 'the homosexual', conflation of 'the homosexual' and accommodation of 'the homosexual'. In response to these findings, objectification and discursive discrimination highlight the way in which language reinforces a binary logic and further perpetuates heteronormativity. Possible ways of addressing discursive discrimination are suggested.


Anonymous Referee #1 This paper presents a novel and interesting dataset on oxidized organic species contributing to both gas and aerosol phase organic aerosol in a remote boreal forest. The analysis is possible by use of a FIGAERO inlet to monitor gas and aerosol phase separately but using the same Imass spectrometer, and positive matrix factorization to sift the complex spectra into 3 primary factors with unique diel behaviors. The authors interpret their results as showing a strikingly (considering the remote location and low NOx) large contribution of particulate organic nitrate to the organic aerosol mass concentrations, especially at night. This is consistent with other


The significance of serious complications after endoscopic sclerotherapy is growing alone with the increasing popularity of this method. In a consecutive prospective series of 91 patients with massive haemorrhage from oesophageal varices, treated with fiberendoscopic injection sclerotherapy, four cases of oesophageal necrosis and rupture were encountered.


In 1955 Levitt and Sons, Inc. purchased almost all of Willingboro Township, New Jersey, a sparsely settled agricultural area seventeen miles from Philadelphia. They would build 1,200 homes; three basic house types would be erected; ten or twelve neighborhoods would emerge. This suburban experiment was the basis for one of the most famous case studies in urban sociology, Herbert J. Gans' The Levittowners. This classic work examines its subject from numerous angles: the beginnings of group life, the founding of churches, the emergence of party politics, family and individual adaptation, and other dimensions of the suburban experience. In a new introduction, written especially for this edition, Gans reflects on the past twenty years and their effect on the Levittown community.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effect of leukodepleted blood transfusions on peripheral blood Th1/Th2 cell balance in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

METHODS
Fifty-seven ALL patients in our hospital from March 2016 to August 2017 were selected, 31 of them received routine blood transfusion were enrolled in group A, and 26 patients received depleted-blood leukotransfusion were enrolled in group B, 36 cases in normal physical examination at the same period were enrolled in control group. And the basic clinical characteristics of patients were recorded; the ratio of Th1/Th2 cells in peripheral blood of patients was analyzed by flow cytometry;the serum levels of IL-2, IFN-γ, IL-4, IL-10 were detected by ELISA method; the mRNA levels of T-bet and GATA-3 in lymphocytes were detected by RT-PCR;the protein levels of T-bet and GATA-3 in lymphocyte were detected by Western blot.

RESULTS
The Th1/Th2 ratio in peripheral blood of ALL patients significantly related with patient age and risk grade (P<0.05).After treatment,the change of Th1/Th2 ratio in group A showed no statistical difference from Th1/Th2 ratio before treatment (P>0.05), while the Th1/Th2 ratio in group B increased (P<0.05);the levels of IL-2, IFN-γ, IL-4 and IL-10 secreted from Th1 and Th2 cells of ALL patients in A group were not changed significantly(P>0.05), while the levels of IL-2 and IFN-γ secreted from Th1 cells of ALL patients in group B increased, the levels of IL-4 and IL-10 secreted from Th2 cells in group B decreased with statistical difference (P<0.05); the RT-PCR and Western blot showed that the expression levels of T-bet mRNA and T-bet protein in group A were lower than those in control group, while the expression levels of T-bet mRNA and T-bet protein in group B were higher than those in group A (P<0.05); the expression levels of mRNA and GATA-3 protein in group A were higher than those in control group, the expression levels of mRNA and GATA-3 protein in group B were lower than those in group A (P<0.05).

CONCLUSION
The leukoreduced blood transfusion helps to improve the balance of Th1/Th2 cells in peripheral blood and improve the immune function of patients, which may closely relate with the expression levels of T-bet and GATA-3.


It is shown that sufficiently large periodic modulations in the coefficients of a nonlinear Schr{\"o}dinger equation can drastically impact the spatial shape of the Peregrine soliton solutions: they can develop multiple compression points of the same amplitude, rather than only a single one, as in the spatially homogeneous focusing nonlinear Schr{\"o}dinger equation. The additional compression points are generated in pairs forming a comb-like structure. The number of additional pairs depends on the amplitude of the modulation but not on its wavelength, which controls their separation distance. The dynamics and characteristics of these generalized Peregrine soliton are analytically described in the case of a completely integrable modulation. A numerical investigation shows that their main properties persist in nonintegrable situations, where no exact analytical expression of the generalized Peregrine soliton is available. Our predictions are in good agreement with numerical findings for an interesting specific case of an experimentally realizable periodically dispersion modulated photonic crystal fiber. Our results therefore pave the way for the experimental control and manipulation of the formation of generalized Peregrine rogue waves in the wide class of physical systems modeled by the nonlinear Schr{\"o}dinger equation.


Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) stimulates insulin secretion in adults with type 1 diabetes and residual beta-cell function. This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, 52-week trial evaluated the efficacy of liraglutide 1.8 mg QD added to insulin treatment in adults diagnosed with type 1 diabetes within 6 weeks prior to screening. At randomization, at end-of-treatment (week 52) and at follow-up (week 58), a 240-min. liquid mixed meal test (237 kcal Nestle BOOST) was conducted to evaluate the C-peptide response. In total, 65 adults (age 18-40 years) with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes, stimulated C-peptide ≥200 pmol/L and BMI >20 kg/m2 were randomized (1:1) to liraglutide or placebo added to insulin treatment. Baseline characteristics were similar between groups (mean±SD) age 27±5 years, fasting C-peptide 359±226 pM and diabetes duration 4.4±1.2 weeks. At end-of-treatment, liraglutide sustained stimulated C-peptide secretion and reduced insulin dose compared with placebo (Table). At 6 weeks post-treatment, stimulated C-peptide levels and total insulin dose did not differ between the groups. No difference was found between groups in HbA1c or BMI (Table). No events of severe hypoglycemia or ketoacidosis were reported. In conclusion, liraglutide preserved postprandial insulin secretion one year after diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. The effects had disappeared 6 weeks post-treatment. Disclosure T.F. Dejgaard: Consultant; Self; Novo Nordisk A/S. Research Support; Self; AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk A/S. Speaker9s Bureau; Self; Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH. C.S. Frandsen: None. U. Kielgast: Advisory Panel; Self; Novo Nordisk A/S. Consultant; Self; Eli Lilly and Company, Sanofi. H.U. Andersen: Advisory Panel; Self; Abbott Laboratories, AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk A/S. Speaker9s Bureau; Self; Nordic Infucare. Stock/Shareholder; Self; Novo Nordisk Inc. B. Thorsteinsson: None. T. Krarup: None. J.J. Holst: Advisory Panel; Self; Novo Nordisk A/S. S. Madsbad: None. Funding Novo Nordisk


Preoperative anxiety can influence the intensity of postoperative pain and anesthesia and analgesia requirement. In certain types of surgery, anxiety may even increase postoperative morbidity and mortality. The goal of this narrative review is to remind anesthesiologists that anxiety measurement using specific tools can be done in clinical practice, to present the implications of preoperative anxiety on postoperative patient recovery, and to acknowledge the importance of a dedicated anesthesia plan in the management of anxious adult patients. Preoperative assessment performed several weeks before surgery in an outpatient clinic is a reasonable option to give information about surgery, anesthesia and postoperative pain. This is the time to assess patient preoperative anxiety by using VAS-A. If high anxiety level is detected early, the patient can be referred to a psychologist for preoperative preparation. This is consistent with the guidelines for enhanced recovery after surgeries, which underline the importance of patient-doctor discussion about hospitalization and perioperative care. Patients with preoperative anxiety could benefit from multimodal analgesia, including non-pharmacological methods, such as cognitive therapy and music therapy and relaxation. The authors' opinion is that greater education about preoperative anxiety consequences in the surgical community is needed. A systemized approach and guidelines about the management of preoperative anxiety should be followed.


In this paper, we introduce a partially automated method to generate qualified answers at multiple abstraction levels for database queries. We examine the issues involving data summarization by Attribute-Oriented Induction (AOI) on large databases using fuzzy concept hierarchies. Because a node may have many abstracts, the fuzzy hierarchies become more complex and vaguer than crisp ones. Therefore, we cannot use exactly the original AOI algorithm with crisp hierarchies, applied for fuzzy hierarchies, to get interesting answers. The main contribution of this paper is that we propose a new approach to refine fuzzy hierarchies and evaluate tuple-terminal conditions to reduce noisy tuples. The foundations of our approach are the generalization hierarchy and a new method to estimate tuple quality. We implemented the algorithm in our knowledge discovery system and the experimental results show that the approach is efficient and suitable for knowledge discovery in large databases.


This article, presents the results of the research on the creation, organization, administration and promotion of the Cricova wine complex. In this, representative elements ensuring the attractiveness of the town from the tourist point of view have been identified. The Cricova wine complex is a system of underground galleries created after the extraction of conchiferous limestone since ancient times. The idea ofusing these galleries as wine warehouses was agreed upon by winemakers Petru Ungureanu and Nicolae Sobolev, in response to solving the problem of the lack of specially designed rooms for storing, processing and maturing wines from the 1950s. Currently, the complex covers the area of 53 hectares, and the underground galleries transformed into streets have a total length of 120 kilometers. Throughout the year, the temperature in the underground galleries remains constant, around + 12...+ 14 °C and the relative air humidity is around 97–98%. The uniqueness of the Underground Complex provides material and spiritual heritage of the tasting rooms, a museum with exhibits from all times (prehistoric, ancient, medieval and modern), a national wine collection with over 200 wine brands from different regions of the world, organizing tourist events.


This paper studies the effects of adversarial attacks on Deep Neural Networks (DNN) constructed using memristor crossbar arrays and analog components. The presented experiments show that the analog architecture is more resilient against adversarial attacks than the software implementation. Its resiliency also compares favorably to a recently presented hybrid architecture [1] that also uses the memristor crossbar arrays. The relationships between adversarial resiliency, non-idealities in crossbars, analog implementation of activation functions, and supporting circuits in the analog architecture are evaluated.


Organizations compete in a stressful, unpredictable, complex and rapidly changing environment for more profit, maintain market, and generally, for their survival and growth, and to achieve these goals they should have the ability to rapidly react to threats and existing opportunities in such a dynamic environments. In this study, after the precise definition of information technology, productivity and Impact of Information Technology to Improve Iranian Organizational Performance (case study of Mazandaran General Governorship); at the end we have referred to the analysis of the statistics obtained from the personnel of the Mazandaran General Governorship. On the basis of the obtained results, the information technology plays a very extensive and valuable role on the productivity of the organization, and this role can be thus observed in the service-giving of the organization, potential of the organization, profitable investment in the organization, etc.


The past decade has witnessed unprecedented advances in our ability to study the pediatric nervous system by various imaging and electrophysiologic recording techniques. A profusion of imaging devices and "brain mapping" machines have been developed and aggressively marketed to neurologists. The pediatric practitioner now has a veritable "Chinese menu" of various neurodiagnostic tests from which to choose in evaluating a child who has a neurologic complaint. The quality of the images obtained from newer studies, particularly magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), is truly astounding, and it is tempting to order such a study when evaluating almost any child with a neurologic problem. Deciding which test to order as a screening procedure, which one might be most useful as a secondary examination, or which study should be performed as the most definitive diagnostic procedure can be difficult. These questions may result in a "shotgun" approach or a "full diagnostic onslaught," 1 with all available tests being done when one or two might have been sufficient. The pediatrician9s dilemma during the modern era is clear: Despite the increased quality of images now available, the newer tests are expensive (Table 1), and their overuse in the pediatric population has contributed significantly to the higher costs of evaluating children who have neurologic disorders.


The effectiveness of treatment methods on a person's ability to carry out occupational roles competently is of interest to occupational therapists. This case study demonstrated how play, as an occupational role of childhood and as a measure of competence, can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of occupational therapy that uses a sensory integrative approach. The positive changes in C.C.'s play behavior support the basic philosophy of sensory integration, which states that an increase in sensory integrative functions will improve competence (in this study, competence is defined as play), that is, that a person will have the ability to carry out occupational roles in an adaptive and competent manner. In addition, improvements in other areas, such as the organization and execution of self-care skills and improvements in gross and fine motor skills, provide further support to sensory integrative philosophy. Further exploration of these concepts would add to a growing body of knowledge aimed at the documentation of the effectiveness and efficacy of occupational therapy interventions.


We aim to improve the accuracy of path selectivity estimation in graph databases by intelligently ordering the domain of a histogram used for estimation. This problem has not, to our knowledge, received adequate attention in the research community. We present a novel framework for the systematic study of path ordering strategies in histogram construction and use. In this framework, we introduce new ordering strategies which we experimentally demonstrate lead to significant improvement of the accuracy of path selectivity estimation over current strategies. These positive results highlight the fundamental role that domain ordering plays in the design of effective histograms for efficient and scalable graph query processing.


We survey the recent literature on growth empirics in this paper. Modern growth economics has led to a rich and wide-ranging empirical literature replete with many new methodologies and many new findings. Yet in comparing the modern empirical literature to the traditional growth accounting analyses of the 1960's and 1970's, one cannot help but be struck by the relative lack of progress on substantive conclusions. The critical role of TFP found in recent work is consistent with claims as far back as Solow. Evidence of statistical notions of convergence represents a new set of stylized facts but suffers from a lack of connection to economically interesting notions of convergence. The search for empirically successful growth models has provided a range of candidate growth determinants that lie far outside the domain of the neoclassical growth model, but efforts to search for robust determinants have had mixed results, outside of the finding that physical capital accumulation affects growth, which is no surprise given the earlier literature. Evidence of nonlinearities and parameter heterogeneity is suggestive of multiple steady states and richer growth dynamics than neoclassical theories, but this evidence has yet to be integrated into a consistent whole. Together, this suggests that the next step in empirical growth research should be the unification of the vast array of statistical claims into a unified growth picture combined with efforts to link this picture more tightly with growth theories.


OBJECTIVES
To investigate the morbility rate of deep venous thrombosis (DVT) after lower extremity surgery and analyze the risk factors.

METHODS
All 136 cases of lower extremity surgeries in the period of Nov. 1999 to May. 2002 without any anti-coagulopathy agents pre-surgery were analyzed. There were 78 male and 58 female, aged from 16 to 82 years with an average age of 49.5 years. All the cases were examined by sonography before the surgery to rule out bilateral deep venous thrombosis, and were examined bilateral lower extremities with inverse phlebography postoperation, and finally the results were used to analyze the risk factors of DVT.

RESULTS
DVT was found 24 in 51 arthroplastic patients, include 10 after THA and 14 after TKA, respectively. And the morbility rate of DVT after the surgical treatment of osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, femoral head aseptic necrosis and femoral neck fracture were 9, 6, 7, 12, respectively.

CONCLUSION
Patients of aged, DVT history, cardiorespiratory compromises or diabetes mellitus, and using tourniquet or bone cement during the surgery are more likely to suffer from DVT after surgery.


Introduction: E2A (TCF3) is a multifunctional basic helix loop helix (bHLH) transcription factor. E2A promotes cell differentiation, acts as a negative regulator of cell proliferation in normal cells and cancer cell lines and is required for normal B-cell development. Previous studies from our laboratory has shown that E2A expression is highly increased in prostate cancer as compared to normal prostate and that it acts as a tumor promoter in prostate cancer. Given the diverse biological pathways regulated/ influenced by E2A little is known about its regulation in prostate cancer. Experimental design: E2A expression in androgen sensitive LNCaP and insensitive C81 prostate cancer cell lines was determined by western blot after treatments with androgen receptor (AR) agonist R1881 and antagonist casodex. Putative Androgen Response Elements (ARE) were identified in the first intronic region of the E2A gene using some of the online bioinformatics tools and confirmed by Chromatin Immunoprecipitation (ChIP) with AR antibody and Luciferase reporter assays on the above mentioned cell lines after treatments with R1881 and casodex. Results: E2A expression was found to increase with the increasing aggrasiveness of prostate cancer cell lines as compared to normal prostate epithelial cell line RWPE1. When androgen responsive cell line LNCaP was treated with R1881 there was an increased expression of E2A which decreased upon treatment with antiandrogen casodex whereas the E2A expression remained unaltered upon similar treatments in androgen insensitive cell line C81. The first intronic region of the E2A gene was predicted to contain two putative ARE sites. ChIP after treatment of LNCaP and C81 cells with R1881 and casodex showed that the intronic region was bound by AR in LNCaP cells only in the presence of R1881, whereas C81 cells showed a pulldown with AR in presence as well as absence of R1881. Similar results were observed in luciferase reporter assays indicating that E2A is transactivated by AR in LNCaP cell lines whereas it is independent of androgens in C81 cell line. Furthermore, Luciferase reporter assays also confirmed that only one of the two predicted putative AREs was functionally active and responsible for the androgen mediated regulation of E2A. Conclusion: Our results indicate that E2A is differentially regulated in Prostate cancer cell lines. The increased expression of E2A and its role as a tumor promoter in prostate cancer cell lines may be contributed to its loss of androgen dependence as is evident in its progression from androgen dependent LNCaP to independent C81 cells. Acknowledgements: This study was supported by NIH/NCI RO1 CA128914 and NIH/NCRR/RCMI G12RR03062. Citation Format: Divya Patel, Jaideep Chaudhary. Differential regulation of E2A (TCF3) by androgens in prostate cancer cells. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5455. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-5455


In this paper we propose a Coordinated Voltage Control-Enabled HV Smart Grid framework (CVC, in short) for utilizing voltage-controllable equipment in support of enhanced reliable and efficient operations. In the first part of the paper we present the basic problem formulation underlying CVC. This is followed by assessing the effects of performance objectives selected, the type of controllable equipment used and the protocols for allocating responsibilities among Independent System Operators (ISOs) and the equipment owners (both Transmission Owners (TOs) and Generation Owners (GOs)). In the second part of the paper we describe potential benefits from the proposed CVC based on the large-scale simulations for the New England (NE), New York (NY) and Pennsylvania-Jersey-Maryland (PJM) power systems. The simulations for NE and NY power systems are carried out using an AC Extended Optimal Power Flow (AC XOPF), instead of commonly used DC OPF. The use of AC XOPF is necessary in order to assess effects of voltage-controllable equipment on the system ability to meet the desired objectives and to understand their tradeoffs. The performance objectives studied are efficiency measured in terms of generation cost, reliability measured in terms of voltage deviations from the pre-specified ranges, and power delivery to large load areas, New York City (NYC) in particular. Similarly, we report up-to-date improvements measured in terms of transmission loss minimization and management of critical voltages from using Automatic Voltage Control (AVC) in the PJM system. We conclude that the proposed CVC-Enabled HV Smart Grid could bring significant benefits to all three systems and that it would be a timely implementation. However, since the CVC architectures are non-unique it is important to fully understand the implications of their design on the achievable efficiency and reliability enhancements.


The following text is the second part of the Chapter 8 of Douglas Rogers's book The Depths of Russia: Oil, Power, and Culture after Socialism (Cornell University Press, 2015). The first part was published in the previous issue of the journal. The review of the book was published in the journal in 2017, No. 2. It is a prominent study of the 'Perm cultural project', one of the most important events in regional politics over the 2000s. We publish this text with the kind permission of the author and the publisher.


This contribution extends the procedure introduced in
J.Theor.Biol. 258(3) 437-443 (2009) combining parametric and
non-parametric estimation of hazard function for cancer
patients has been developed. The procedure utilizes kernel
smoothing of hazard function to identify parameters of
deterministic model. The poster presents methods for estimation
of roots of the first and the second derivatives of hazard
function and compares the estimates with the roots of the
identified parametric form of the hazard function. The
mentioned roots indicate time of maximal risk and that of the
most rapid risk change. The procedure is applied to the breast
cancer and to the leukemia data.


Human video instance segmentation plays an important role in computer understanding of human activities and is widely used in video processing, video surveillance, and human modeling in virtual reality. Most current VIS methods are based on Mask-RCNN framework, where the target appearance and motion information for data matching will increase computational cost and have an impact on segmentation real-time performance; on the other hand, the existing datasets for VIS focus less on all the people appearing in the video. In this paper, to solve the problems, we develop a new method for human video instance segmentation based on single-stage detector. To tracking the instance across the video, we have adopted data association strategy for matching the same instance in the video sequence, where we jointly learn target instance appearances and their affinities in a pair of video frames in an end-to-end fashion. We have also adopted the centroid sampling strategy for enhancing the embedding extraction ability of instance, which is to bias the instance position to the inside of each instance mask with heavy overlap condition. As a result, even there exists a sudden change in the character activity, the instance position will not move out of the mask, so that the problem that the same instance is represented by two different instances can be alleviated. Finally, we collect PVIS dataset by assembling several video instance segmentation datasets to fill the gap of the current lack of datasets dedicated to human video segmentation. Extensive simulations based on such dataset has been conduct. Simulation results verify the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed work.


Exposure and environmental impact during the life cycle of manufactured nanomaterials The current and foreseen applications of manufactured nanomaterials embrace a wide range of technological domains. The release of nanoparticles from these nanomaterials in natural waters remains poorly investigated. However, such an environmental contamination will directly or indirectly (through trophic transfers) exposes the organisms to nanoparticles. Today, all nano-ecotoxicological studies performed towards organisms show that it is impossible to study the impacts of nanomaterials all along their life cycle with a case-by-case approach. Consequently, it is necessary to anticipate the risk related to these new materials and to develop a new generation of safer by design nanomaterials from the earliest production stages of nanoparticles, to their formulation, their incorporation in the final product, the use of this product, and also to their end of life (recycling, disposal).


The reaction of sodium 2-bromobenzoate with aqueous ammonia in the presence of cupric acetylacetonate and bis(ethylacetoacetate) is first-order relative to the bromobenozate and catalyst. The reaction with cupric bis(ethylacetoacetate) is zero-order relative to ammonia, while a negative fractional order relative to ammonia is found for cupric acetylacetonate. A mechanism was examined which entails the formation of a substrate-catalyst complex and the reaction products and the parallel formation of a catalytically inactive catalyst-ammonia complex. The cupric acetylacetonate-ammonia was studied spectrophotometrically.


Changes of the respiratory coefficient in the early period after operation on the abdominal organs were studied in 18 children during intravenous infusion of the main energy-producing substrates glucose and fat for 60 minutes. Their doses were in proportion to the age daily requirements and constant for each child during the whole period of study. The mean respiratory coefficient before infusion of the substrates was 0.84 +/- 0.005 on the first postoperative day, 0.857 +/- 0.009 on the second, and increased further to 0.888 +/- 0.008 and 0.909 +/- 0.023 on the third and fourth days, respectively. During infusion of energy-producing substrates the mean value of the respiratory coefficient reduced significantly (p < 0.001). It was 0.702 +/- 0.005 on the 60 th minute of the first day, 0.726 +/- 0.004 on the second day, and then increased to 0.761 +/- 0.009 and 0.778 +/- 0.01 on the third and fifth days, respectively. Before infusion of the substrates, the relative amounts of energy produced due to oxidation of fast and glucose were, respectively. 54.6% and 45.4% on the first day after operation. Later the share of fat decreased and that of glucose increased to 31.1% and 68.9%, respectively by the fifth day. During infusion of the substrates the relative amount of energy obtained at the expense of fat grew to 100% on the 60th minute of the first day and was 93.5% on the second day, the amount of glucose was 6.5%. The respective figures were 81.6% and 18.4% on the third day and 75.8% and 24.2% on the fifth day.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


This study aimed to assess the combined effects of density of adults of Branchiura sowerbyi and the source of organic matter on the production of eggs and young species. The experimental units used were 250-mL beakers with 100 mL of fine sand (0.074–0.210 mm) and 150 mL of chlorine-free water with constant aeration at the temperature 25 C. The experiment was conducted based on a two-factor model with six treatments and three repetitions, applied in a completely random design. The densities 5 individuals/38.5cm2 (D5; 1298/m2) and 8 individuals/38.5cm2 (D8; 2078/m2) were assessed with commercial fish feed (FF), commercial poultry feed (PF), and turkey manure (TM) as sources of organic matter. A total of 1223 cocoons and 2138 eggs were produced, with average hatching of 40.0 ± 15.1%. The highest number of cocoons and eggs was found with the use of PF, D8 having produced the highest number of cocoons and eggs. The hatching rate was not influenced by the source of organic matter or density and no influence was registered from the density of adults on the survival. The PF provided the highest growth of adults, and generally the use of TM provided the worst performance.


Diversity-disturbance relationships have found widespread application in ecology, conservation and biodiversity management. In spite of their explanatory power, these conceptual frameworks have yet to be systematically applied to understanding succession in diverse microbial biofilms. Here we investigate community assembly in biofilms formed in replicate microbial bioelectrochemical systems using time-course sequencing of community 16S rRNA genes, corresponding to hundreds of operational taxonomic units (OTUs). For the first time we present a statistical model showing that a simple diversity-disturbance relationship can be used to explain dynamic changes in high diversity biofilm communities. This simple model reveals that succession in these systems is guided towards either a low diversity, generalist-dominated biofilm or a high diversity, cooperative-specialist biofilm, depending on the level of endogenous disturbance measured within the community. The pattern observed shows remarkable symmetry with findings from macro-scale communities such as grasslands, forests and coral reefs.


Santorini Volcano constitutes a serious hazard in the Aegean region of Greece. The recent 2011-2012 episode of caldera unrest has focussed attention on the magma plumbing system of the volcano, and notably on the depths of storage of different magma batches. We investigated the differentiation conditions of mafic-intermediate magmas, as well as the pre-eruptive storage conditions of dacitic-rhyodacitic magmas prior to the four largest Plinian eruptions of the volcano over the last 200 ka (Minoan, Cape Riva, Lower Pumice 2, Lower Pumice 1). The intensive variables (P, T, fO2, volatiles content) were determined by combining laboratory crystallization experiments with study of the natural products (including volatiles in melt inclusions). Our results show that the magma plumbing system is dominated by a large, long-lived ( 200 ka) storage region at about 8 km depth (2 kb), from which the silicic magmas are derived. This region is fed by injections from a deeper, mafic reservoir located at the boundary between the upper and lower crust ( 15 km; 4 kb). Mantle-derived basalts stall in the 15 km storage region, where they fractionate to basaltic andesite (55 to 58 wt.% SiO2) with 2-3 wt.% H2O through crystallization of about 60 wt.% of oliv, cpx, plag, mt/ilm and opx, at 1040-1000°C, 4 kbar, fO2 = FMQ-0.5. The basaltic-andesitic magmas then ascent to about 8 km where they either (1) experience a last episode of equilibration prior to eruption, or (2) fractionate to produce dacitic to rhyodacitic liquids. Prior to the major Plinian eruptions, the silicic magmas were stored at T = 850-900°C, under relatively reduced conditions ( FMQ or, NNO = -0.9 to -0.1), with melts depleted in fluorine ( 500-700 ppm) and particularly in sulphur (<100 ppm) but rich in water and chlorine (5-6 wt.%, ca. 2500-3500 ppm, respectively) probably co-existing with a hydrosaline liquid, at pressure 2 kbar. The fact that Santorini dacites-rhyodacites have high enough dissolved Cl for the melts to be saturated with hydrosaline liquid (and maybe vapor) before Plinian eruptions has significant consequences on the Cl degassing budget, which was previously estimated as insignificant.


Inflammasomes sense diverse classes of foreign molecules in the cytoplasm and induce caspase-1 activation and IL-1β maturation. Whether such a sensing mechanism exists in the nucleus is not known. Nuclear replicating herpesvirus KSHV is associated with Kaposi Sarcoma (KS) that is characterized by a microenvironment of inflammatory cytokines including IL-1β. How the caspase-1 inflammasome, which is required for IL-1β maturation is induced during KSHV infection is not known. Here we demonstrate that during de novo KSHV infection of endothelial cells, interferon gamma-inducible protein 16 (IFI16) interacts with ASC and procaspase-1 to form a functional inflammasome. This complex was initially detected in the nucleus and subsequently in the peri-nuclear area. Caspase-1 activation by KSHV was reduced by IFI16 and ASC silencing but not by AIM2 knockdown. Our studies reveal a new function of IFI16 as a nuclear danger sensor and demonstrate that the inflammasome's danger sensing functions extend into the nucleus.


PURPOSE
Previous investigation showed the very significant effects of chronic gamma-radiation on plaice testes at mean absorbed dose rates as low as 1.3 mGy h(-1) given over a period of 168 days (accumulated dose 4.7 Gy). The present paper examines the effects on the testes of exposure to even lower dose rates of gamma-radiation given over periods of 73 days or 197 days. In addition, the use of micronucleus counts and flow-cytometric measurement of nuclear DNA content in samples of peripheral blood for monitoring genotoxic effects has been assessed.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
In Experiment 1, adult male plaice were exposed at mean absorbed dose rates of 0.25, 0.5 or 1.2 mGy h(-1) for 73 days (mean accumulated doses of 0.43, 0.85 and 2.03 Gy, respectively) and in Experiment 2 to 0.24, 0.5 or 1.0 mGy h(-1) for 197 days (mean accumulated doses of 1.07, 2.24 and 4.57 Gy, respectively). At termination the testes were removed, weighed and sections were prepared and examined histometrically. In addition, in Experiment 2, blood samples were taken during exposure and at termination. Blood smears were scored for micronuclei and samples processed and examined for nuclear DNA content by flow cytometry.

RESULTS
Significant reductions in testis weight were seen in all radiation groups after 197 days of exposure, which were predominantly due to decreased amounts of sperm. In plaice killed after 73 days (at an earlier stage of spermatogenesis), there were no significant differences in weight compared with controls but amounts of spermatogonia were significantly reduced in irradiated fish.

CONCLUSIONS
Exposure to dose rates as low as 0.24 mGy h(-1) of gamma-radiation given over a period of 197 days significantly reduced the weights of plaice testes, this being consequent on reductions in the amounts of sperm. Although there was some evidence of radiation affecting the numbers of spermatogonia it was not possible to determine the primary target for radiation damage which eventually caused the sperm reductions. Along with the related work described by Greenwood and Knowles (1996) this is the first investigation of a marine fish and it indicates that plaice testes are probably more radiosensitive than those previously described in tropical fish and of a similar radiosensitivity to mammalian testes. Although significant effects were observed after the lowest dose rate used of 0.24 mGy h(-1), this is still a factor of about 400 times greater than the estimated absorbed dose rate to plaice testes in the north-east Irish Sea off Sellafield at the present time. Micronucleus counts and flow-cytometric analysis of blood DNA both failed to show any evidence of genotoxic damage.


C43 Signalling kinases have major implications in oncogenesis and in cancer therapy. Targeted therapy based on receptor-directed monoclonal antibodies as well as kinase inhibitors are designed to block phosphorylation of receptors and signalling phosphoproteins and consequently control proliferation, invasion, angiogenesis and induce apoptosis. In previous work, we demonstrated that expression of phosphoproteins from PI3 kinase and MAP kinase signalling pathways and correlated with cellular response to anti-EGFR targeted therapy in cell lines.
 In this study, we validated the relationship between MAP kinase and PI3 kinase/AKT signalling functionality, explored through phosphoprotein array analyses in 125 human tumor frozen biopsies taken at diagnosis from patients bearing breast and head and neck cancer. The expression of signalling phosphoproteins of the MAP kinase and PI3 kinase/AKT pathways (including AKT, p70S6 kinase, ERK1/2, GSK3beta) was measured using Bioplex phosphoprotein array.
 In tumor models bearing signalling abnormalities such as pten mutations, we demonstrated that the functionality of signalling pathways, investigated through the quantitative determination of the expression of multiple signalling phosphoproteins was significantly related to cell sensitivity to EGFR targeted therapy. In such models, the data collected clearly showed that restoring the signalling functionality by gene transfer sensitized the cells to EGFR targeted therapy.
 In human tumor biopsies, standard operating procedures were optimized regarding sample size, homogeneity, tumor content, freezing and protein extraction. Great variations in phosphoprotein expression levels were observed, are did not correlated with EGFR and HER2 expression levels as determined using immunohistochemistry.
 These results showed that before any treatment initiation, MAP kinase and PI3 kinase/AKT signalling pathway functionality can dramatically differ from patient to patient and could probably explain discrepancies in clinical response to signalling kinase targeted therapy even when based on individual immunohistochemistry target determination.
 This study demonstrates the great interest of phosphoprotein array for single-step analysis of MAP kinase and PI3 kinase/AKT signalling pathway functionality in clinical biopsies. From these data, phosphoprotein array could be proposed for evaluation of predictive and/or surrogate markers for clinical response to kinase inhibitors.
 Supported by the French Ligue contre le Cancer and Alexis Vautrin Cancer Center Research Funds.


. We characterize lower semicontinuity of integral functionals with respect to weak (cid:2) convergence in BV, including integrands whose negative part has linear growth. In addition, we allow for sequences without a fixed trace at the boundary. In this case, both the integrand and the shape of the boundary play a key role. This is made precise in our newly found condition – quasi-sublinear growth from below at points of the boundary – which compensates for possible concentration effects generated by the sequence. Our work extends some recent results by Kristensen and Rindler [J. Kristensen and F. Rindler, Arch. Rat. Mech. Anal. 197 (2010) 539–598; J. Kristensen and F. Rindler, Calc. Var. 37 (2010) 29–62].


Identification of microorganisms is central to the study of microbiology at all levels of research. The methods employed are also important. It is however very pertinent that scientists the world over continuously improve on the method of microbial identification for greater efficiency. A study was conducted to isolate and identify Bacillus species from some ready-to-eat (RTE)/convenience food samples. The Bacillus species isolated were identified by using the classical method. The same isolates were further identified via use of the 16S rDNA sequencing method. The classical method identified all bacilli isolates as members of a precise species in the genus Bacillus, but with discrepancies observed in 3 out of 9 identified cases (33.3%) when comparison was made with PCR/sequencing method. PCR/sequencing method provided results which were in accordance with both classical and genotypical identification in more than 70% of cases. This study emphasized the presumptive nature of classical methods in identifying Bacillus species/strains, without additional sensitive and molecular methods. Identities from the PCR method hold greatest sway and are regarded as most reliable as it involves the analysis of genetic sequences of this group of microorganisms.


Analog circuit designs that use inverting opamp configuration can be converted into low-voltage designs by biasing the opamp input common-mode voltage to near one of the supply rails. This is achieved by introducing a current source or a resistor between the opamp negative input terminal and one of the supply rails. Hence, in this technique, opamps with limited input common-mode range can be used. In addition, switches can be incorporated in these circuits to allow a wide range of applications. This technique also allows large input and output signal swings (close to rail-to-rail), even at a very low-voltage supply. To demonstrate the proposed technique, four track-and-hold amplifiers (THA's) and a 10 bit digital-to-analog converter (DAC) have been designed in a conventional 1.2 /spl mu/m CMOS process and tested at a 1 V supply. The DAC consumes less than 0.45 mW and has a maximum throughput of 1 MS/s, with close to rail-to-rail output (0.1-0.9 V). The maximum differential nonlinearity error and integral nonlinearity error were measured to be 1.7 least significant bits (LSB's) and 3.0 LSB's, respectively. Each THA dissipates less than 0.35 mW and achieves a hold mode total harmonic distortion of less than -61 dB for a 100 kHz, 1.4 V/sub p-p/ differential input signal, sampled at a rate of 1 MS/s.


The Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT) Imager on-board AstroSat, consists of pixelated CZT detectors, which are triggered by individual photons bombarding them, and records each such trigger separately as an individual 'event' with information about its time, detector co-ordinates, and channel, which scales with the energy of the photon. This makes it prone to detect not only photons from astrophysical sources of interest, but also to a number of other events. Preliminary analysis of the CZTI data already revealed the presence of cosmic rays. In this work, it is shown that in addition, it is also bombarded with higher energy cosmic rays, which produce signatures previously seen in the PICsIT detector on-board INTEGRAL. An algorithm to automatically detect them is presented. It is optimized to not eliminate known 'double-events', which are astrophysical produced photons and their Compton-scattered counterparts used for measuring polarization of astrophysical sources. The robustness of the algorithm is highlighted by using examples of Gamma Ray Bursts as target sources. The importance of using such an algorithm is highlighted for the detection of short Gamma Ray Bursts.


The pH‐dependent chemical shift behavior in 31P NMR spectroscopy of inorganic phosphate (P1) and methylphosphonic acid (MeP) in solutions of various composition at 37°C are presented. An ionic strength dependent lowering of the pKa. values of both P1 and MeP is observed. 3 mmol/liter Mg2+ did not affect the pH‐dependent chemical shift behavior of P1 and MeP in solutions containing 135 mmol/liter KCl and 5 mmol/liter NaCl. This finding: was reinforced by adding 5 mmol/liter 2,3‐diphosphoglycerate (2,3‐DPG) and 1.5 mmol/liter ATP to solutions with 3 mmol/liter Mg2+. The presence of these Mg+‐binding substances had no detectable effect on the chemical shift of P1 and MeP at various pH values The pH dependence of the chemical shift of MeP, P1 and 2,3‐DPG in oxygenated erythrolysates was compared to protein free model solutions. No significant differences could be detected for MeP and P1 whereas there was a change in the chemical shift of about 0.1–0.2 ppm for both phosphates in 2,3‐DPG. Finally intracellular pH estimated by 31P NMR were compared to pH measured by electrode in freeze‐thawed hemolysates. At an extracellular pH of 7.341 ± 0.045 (SD) (n = 6) the intracellular pH was 7.160 ± 0.014 (SD) by the freeze‐thaw procedure and 7.213 ± 0.027 (SD), 7.172 ± 0.029 (SD), and 7.152 ± 0.033 (SD) estimated by the chemical shift of MeP, and 3‐phosphorus and 2‐phosphorus of 2,3‐DPG, respectively. © 1987 Academic Press, Inc.


In light of the proton radius puzzle, the discrepancy betwee n measurements of the proton charge radius from muonic hydrogen and those from electronic hydrogen and electron-proton scattering measurements, we reexamine the charge radius extractions from electron scat tering measurements. We provide a recommended value for the proton RMS charge radius, rE = 0.879 ± 0.011 fm, based on a global examination of elastic e-p scattering data. The uncertainties include contributions t account for tension between different data sets and inconsistencies between radii using different extraction procedures.


The latencies of SEP N20, P40, N60, P100, and N140 components were measured after stimulation of two different sites, and the differences in relation to conduction velocity and their central functions are discussed. Subjects were 8 healthy right-handed males (age 22–31 years, height 164–184 cm). An electrical pulse of 200μ sec duration with an intensity of 2 times the motor threshold was delivered to the wrist and to the elbow alternately at a random rate of 0.1 to 0.3 Hz. Recording electrodes were Cz', C3′, and C4′ referenced to linked ears. Analysis time was 50 msec before and 450 msec after the stimulus. The band pass was 0.5 Hz to 2 kHz. Subjects were asked to mentally count the number of stimuli. The averaging was interrupted after every 16 to 24 stimuli and checked to determine whether the subject was attentive to the stimuli by verifying the number of stimuli counted. A total of 100 responses each from elbow and wrist stimuli were averaged. Differences in peak latency between elbow and wrist stimuli for N20, P40, N60, P100, and N140 were 3.7 ± 0.7 msec, 5.0 ± 1.8, 4.3 ± 1.2, 8.1 ± 6.3, and 7.4 ± 2.6 msec, respectively. According to the latency differences, SEP components can be divided into 3 groups: the shortest difference for N20, medium difference for P40 and N60 and longest difference for P100 and N140. Similar latency differences and similar potential distribution for P40 and N60, and for P100 and N140, and their differences from N20 confirmed that each of N20, P40/N60, and P100/N140 has a different function centrally. In addition, central processing time was longer with the more distal site stimulation.


The excess female mortality in India and other South Asian countries is no longer contentious. Less known are the reasons for such excess female mortality in the country. In this study, we argue that intra-household gender-discrimination in receipt of medical attention can be one of the most important factors for the unbalanced sex ratio in the country. The 52nd Indian National Sample Survey, which collected for the first time detailed verbal autopsies of deceased persons, is used in the analysis. Place of death, which indicates whether a person get medical help immediately before her/his death, is used as a health indicator variable. The multinomial logit results show that keeping all other factors constant, girls are 1.7 percent less likely to die in hospital than their brothers. The coefficients of different interaction variables also reveal that the probability of infant and very young girls with live female siblings to die in hospital is extremely low. The robustness of the results is also checked using different indicators. The results confirm that girls are highly discriminated in access to hospital treatment and in the number of times being hospitalized before their death compared to boys. Therefore, in addition to the current effort of the government to control sex-selective abortions, efforts should be made to reduce the current intra-household gender-disparities in getting medical care at least for life threatening illnesses.


Colin Starnes radical interpretation of the long-recognized affinity of Thomas More's Utopia and Plato's Republic confirms the intrinsic links between the two works. Through commentary on More's own introduction to Book I, the author shows the Republic is everywhere present as the model of the "best commonwealth," which More must first discredit as the root cause of the dreadful evils in the collapsing political situation of sixteenth-century Europe. Starnes demonstrates how More, once having shorn the Republic of what was applicable to a society that had for a thousand years accepted and been moved by the Christian revelation, then "Christianized" it to arrive at one of the earliest and most coherent accounts of the ideal modern state: the description of Utopia in Book II. Knowing this radically new view of a long-recognized position may be questioned, the author has included a criticism and appreciation of the other major lines of interpretation concerning More's Utopia.


As a promising energy-storage system, lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs) with a high energy density suffer from the polysulfide shuttle effect and sluggish reaction kinetics, which have been studied for a few decades. Incorporation of polar metal oxides is an efficient addition for LSBs to suppress the dissolution of soluble polysulfides, increase the utilization of sulfur, and improve cycling stability. Herein, a model (MoO2/C-NCs) based on a porous octahedral carbon framework decorated with MoO2 nanoparticles (MoO2 NPs) as a sulfur host is proposed. Adsorption experiments of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) to MoO2/C-NCs and cyclic voltammetry analysis showed that the MoO2 NPs facilitate interfacial charge transfer and provide numerous active sites for the electrochemical redox reactions of LiPSs. Density functional theory calculations further reveal that LiPSs are diffused and strongly adsorbed on the surface of MoO2 NPs because of the powerful van der Waals forces via Mo-S and Li-O bonds, which helps achieve a stable long-term cycling performance. As a result, the fabricated LSBs display a high initial specific capacity of 1317 mA h g-1 at 0.2C and a promising capacity of 602 mA h g-1 and a capacity retention of 65.6% at 1C when proceeding to 500 cycles.


The introductory chapter provides an overview of the volume ' European e-Democracy in Practice ' . The focus of the volume is on the exploration of the conditions needed to realise the democratic potential of the broad scope of tools, instruments and procedures to strengthen the ties between established processes of representative democratic decision-making and its constituencies, with a particular view to political communication and decision-making at the European level. Part I of the book provides the outcome of a broad literature review covering the scholarly debate on the achievements and potentials of e-democracy and its relevance for policymaking on the EU level. Part II of the book presents 22 case studies on the use of e-participation tools at the local, national and European levels which were carried out to learn about best practices and major challenges and problems of e-participation in practice. Finally, Part III provides a systematic comparative analysis of the case studies, and based on this analysis and the fi ndings of the literature review, options for improving e-participation at the EU-level are discussed.


This article reviews the decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court for the 2007-2008 Term that are of particular relevance to state and local governments including those involving voting and elections, speech, class-of-one equal protection claims, immunity, taxation, preemption, and the Fourth and Sixth Amendments. Against the backdrop of the 2008 presidential election between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain, and an economy plagued by recession and federal bailouts of the finance and mortgage industries, the Court continued in a largely conservative vein, reflecting the policies and predilections of the majority of justices. The Court reasserted its distaste for unfettered punitive damage awards, and facial constitutional challenges, but continued to enforce the habeas rights, as it did last Term, of those caught up in the Bush administration's far-reaching war on terrorism. For state and local government lawyers and officials, the Court gave with one hand and took away with the other, sometimes enforcing the decisions of states and local governments as the Court did when it upheld the Indiana voter identification law in Crawford, but other times leaving them adrift as the Court did in Heller when it struck down the District of Columbia's attempted solution to the problem of urban gun violence.


Wireless broadband networking imposes significant challenges for frequency reuse. This paper introduces methods for improving link adaptation, which is essential for achieving high throughput in TDMA wireless packet communications. We present simulation results based on the EDGE (Enhanced Data-rate for GSM Evolution) system with low reuse factor (1/3) but the techniques are applicable for any packet-based frequency-reuse wireless systems. Our proposed enhancement, termed "mode 0," is a non-transmission mode in addition to the regular transmission modes available in link adaptation. Further enhancement is achieved by using multi-slot assignment with mode 0 as the back off mechanism to control system loading with an acceptable interference level. Simulation results indicate that this simple enhancement, which requires no standard modifications, results in improved throughput even for the disadvantaged users.


The purpose of this study was to examine the construct and predictive validity of a dynamic assessment (DA) of decoding learning. Students (N = 318) were assessed in the fall of first grade on an array of instruments that were given in hopes of forecasting responsiveness to reading instruction. These instruments included DA as well as one-point-in-time (static) measures of early alphabetic knowledge, rapid automatized naming (RAN), phonemic awareness, oral vocabulary, listening comprehension, attentive behavior, and hyperactive or impulsive behavior. An IQ test was administered in spring of second grade. Measures of reading outcomes administered in spring of first grade were accuracy and fluency of word identification skills and reading comprehension. Factor analysis using principal axis factor extraction indicated that DA loaded on a first factor that also included language abilities and IQ, which the authors refer to as the "language, IQ, and DA" factor. It was relatively distinct from two additional factors: (a) "speeded alphabetic knowledge and RAN" and (b) "task-oriented behavior." A three-level (children nested within classroom; classrooms nested within school) random intercept model with fixed effects predictors suggested that DA differed from word attack in predicting future reading skill and that DA was a significant predictor of responsiveness to instruction, contributing unique variance to end-of-first-grade word identification and reading comprehension beyond that explained by other well-established predictors of reading development.


Polycystic kidney disease is the most prevalent hereditary renal disorder, accounting for over 5 percent of patients on chronic hemodialysis. Early diagnosis can aid in family planning, and "preventive therapy" may prolong useful life and defer dialysis. Intravenous pyelography with nephrotomography has been the standard procedure for definitive diagnosis, but ultrasonography, radionuclide scanning and computerized tomography have become increasingly useful. Ultrasonography is particularly valuable because it is free of radiation hazards. Impaired urinary concentrating ability is a frequent early sign of the disorder.


This paper mainly focuses on the adoption of a bundle of technologies as a group that works well together and is considered complementary to each other. We generated a correlation matrix and then performed a factor analysis on this correlation matrix. This correlation will be an indicator of complementary and substitute technologies. Besides, as these technologies mature, we want to determine how the relationship among technologies changes. In this manner, we can establish which unobservable factors that we are not measuring explain why some farmers are more likely to adopt certain bundles of technologies. The results of this study imply that producers with a higher level of education and high ages are more likely to adopt several bundles of technologies. Large production size is positively correlated with adopting the technologies as bundles. Human capital is a strong factor on the adoption of the technologies as bundles. Because the technologies are complementary, the productivity of one technology is enhanced by the adoption of the other technologies. We find that large farms run by younger and more educated operators are the most likely to adopt multiple technologies.