In this work we describe the microfaunal bathymetrical distribution (foraminifers and ostracods) in the benthos of the Basque continental shelf, by studying the spatial distribution of assemblages. This distribution is controlled by environmental parameters related to depth and type-sediment. A total of 114 species of benthic foraminifers and 88 species of ostracods have been taxonomically identified. Most abundant benthic foraminifer species are Lobatula lobatula, Cibicides refulgens, Gaudryina rudis, Textularia sagittula, Cassidulina laevigata and Globocassidulina subglobosa. Most abundant ostracod species are Carinocythereis carinata, Costa edwardsii, Cytheropteron nodosum, Pterygocythereis ceratoptera and Pterygocythereis jonesii. Foraminifer and ostracod assemblages are distributed accordingly with bathymetry defining three fringes: littoral-inner shelf ( 130 m). Inside these bathymetric fringes the sediment-type is the main factor of control for the relative abundance of the species, in particular the percentage of fine-grained (silt-clay) particles in the sediment. The occurrence of estuarine species in areas of the Basque shelf evidences the pattern of currents responsible of the sedimentary dynamics in this shelf.


This paper presents a scientometric review of student housing studies; exploring the key authors and the collaborations among authors and countries, as well as the research trends with the aim of identifying gaps in this area of research where more studies is required. The VOSviewer software (version 1.6.13) was used for a Scientometrics review of 65 student housing publications from 2000 to 2020. The analysis focused on bibliographic coupling of countries, co-authorship of authors, citation of documents, and co-occurrence of keywords, which were further presented as network visualization maps. Scopus database was selected as the only data source. Therefore, the representation of publications presented in this study are limited to only one data source. The findings revealed that there is a satisfactory level of international collaboration in this research area. United Kingdom had the strongest link whilst Saudi Arabia had the weakest link. Both the keywords and documents citation analysis revealed three main trend of student housing research, i.e. residential satisfaction, post occupancy evaluation, and studentification. Gaps identified where more research is required include sustainable student housing, student housing safety and prioritisation of student's requirement. This study provides invaluable information on the research trends in student housing studies. Thus, helping to identify gaps where more research is required.


Schizophrenia is a disorder characterized by multiple symptoms, with a varied course and outcome. The etiology is yet unknown, but multiple pathological processes or, equally likely, a unique pathophysiological process, may be involved. Here, we review evidence for progressive changes in schizophrenia in order to understand further the pathophysiology of this disorder. We first present evidence for clinical and psycho-social changes over time, followed by evidence from structural brain studies that suggests that schizophrenia is a brain disorder. We then review findings from the small number of longitudinal studies that have evaluated structural brain changes in schizophrenia, followed by a review of the evidence for neurophysiological changes, both cross-sectional and longitudinal. This is followed by a discussion of possible cellular mechanisms, including NMDA receptor abnormalities, that might account for structural and functional brain changes (temporal and frontal), and we discuss how these abnormalities might be related to not only the specific signs and symptoms of schizophrenia but also to the onset and course of the illness. Finally, we discuss neurodevelopment (static and perhaps non-static alterations) and neurodegenerative theories of schizophrenia. We propose that the two are not mutually exclusive, but instead likely reflect a "two-hit" model for some subtypes of schizophrenia.


During the last decade a lot of on-line platforms were developed in order to support the peer-to-peer lending (hereinafter) especially in the consumer loan sector. After the success of the new product, new market players decided to diversify their activity including also other sectors that can benefit from the P2P mechanism including the real estate market.With respect to the P2P concept, real estate offers the additional opportunity to reduce the overall risk assumed by investors through the value of the guarantee always related to the mortgage. Using data from one leading player specialized in real estate lending in UK (Landinvest) the paper will compare the characteristics of the loans offered though on-line platforms with respect to standard loans offered by the UK financial intermediaries. Results show that the peer-to-peer lending is more concentrated in some geographical areas or type of asset and also some of the contract features of P2P lending are not comparable with average of alternative financing solution available for financing comparable assets. Results support the hypothesis that the growth of the P2P lending is driven by the needs of potential debtors that are not addressed by the standard lending channel even if they can afford to pay above the average interest rates with respect to standard loans.


We present the transverse momentum (pT) spectra for identified charged pions, protons and anti-protons from p+p and d+Au collisions at √ sNN = 200 GeV. The spectra are measured around midrapidity (|y| < 0.5) over the range of 0.3 < pT < 10 GeV/c with particle identification from the ionization energy loss and its relativistic rise in the Time Projection Chamber and Time-of-Flight in STAR. The charged pion and proton+anti-proton spectra at high pT in p+p and d+Au collisions are in good agreement with a phenomenological model (EPOS) and with next-to-leading order perturbative quantum chromodynamic (NLO pQCD) calculations with a specific fragmentation scheme and factorization scale. We found that all proton, anti-proton and charged pion spectra in p+p collisions follow xT-scaling for the momentum range where particle production is dominated by hard processes (pT > ∼ 2 GeV/c). The nuclear modification factor around midrapidity is found to be greater than unity for charged pions and to be even larger for protons at 2 < pT < 5 GeV/c.


One of the major challenges in reliability evaluation of smart grid is the direct cyber-power interdependencies (DCPIs) impacts. The less effort has been devoted in the literature to investigate the DCPIs impacts, particularly in stochastic simulating space. This study proposed a novel methodology to determine the risk assessment of smart grid due to DCPIs under various distributed generation (DG) technology scenarios. The presented method is applied to a realistic distribution grid. The several sensitivity studies are performed to investigate the pattern of DCPIs impacts as DG penetration level in various scenarios. The test results show that regardless of the DG technology scenario, the DCPIs impacts gradually increase while the DG penetration increases, and it saturates when the penetration exceeds a certain level. The numerical result implies that the scenarios having more effective performance from the reliability improvement perspective such as those consist of dispatchable DG units such as microturbine are more affected due to DCPIs.


Abstract. Photooxidation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) produces condensable oxidized organics (COOs) to yield secondary organic aerosol (SOA), but the fundamental chemical mechanism for gas-to-particle conversion remains uncertain. Here we elucidate the production of COOs and their roles in SOA and brown carbon (BrC) formation from m-xylene oxidation by simultaneous monitoring the evolutions of gas-phase products and aerosol properties in an environmental chamber. Four COO types with the distinct functionalities of dicarbonyls, carboxylic acids, polyhydroxy aromatics/quinones, and nitrophenols are identified from early-generation oxidation, with the yields of 25 %, 37 %, 5 %, and 3 %, respectively. SOA formation occurs via several heterogeneous processes, including interfacial interaction, ionic dissociation/acid-base reaction, and oligomerization, with the yields of (20 ± 4) % and (32 ± 7) % at 10 % and 70 % relative humidity (RH), respectively. Chemical speciation shows the dominant presence of oligomers, nitrogen-containing organics, and carboxylates at RH and carboxylates at low RH. The identified BrC includes N-heterocycles/N-heterochains and nitrophenols, as evident from reduced single scattering albedo. The measured uptake coefficient (γ) for COOs is dependent on the functionality, ranging from 3.7 × 10−4 to 1.3 × 10−2. A kinetic framework is developed to predict SOA production from the concentrations and uptake coefficients for COOs. This functionality-based approach well reproduces SOA formation from m-xylene oxidation and is broadly applicable to VOC oxidation for other species. Our results reveal that photochemical oxidation of m-xylene represents a major source for SOA and BrC formation under urban environments, because of its large abundance, high reactivity with OH, and high yields for COOs.


The recent advances in the management of hairy cell leukemia, a chronic and indolent B-cell lymphoproliferative disorder are reviewed. The introduction of α-interferon, purine analogs and recombinant monoclonal antibodies/immunotoxins has dramatically improved the outcome in a disease that once had a dismal prognosis. The underlying genetic defect remains unknown.


We study experimentally and theoretically the microdose induced drain-source leakage current in the trench power MOSFETs under irradiation with high-LET heavy ions. We have found experimentally that cumulative increase of leakage drain current occurs by means of stochastic steps corresponding to strike of a single heavy ion into the MOSFET gate oxide. We simulate this effect with the proposed analytic model allowing to describe (including Monte Carlo methods) both the deterministic (cumulative dose) and stochastic (single event) aspects of the problem. Based on this model the survival probability assessment in space heavy ion environment with high LETs has been proposed.


Cities have long been considered as complex entities with nonlinear and dynamic properties. Pervasive urban sensing and crowd sourcing have become prevailing technologies that enhance the interplay between the cyber space and the physical world. In this paper, a spectral graph based manifold learning method is proposed to alleviate the impact of noisy, sparse and high-dimensional dataset. Correlation analysis of two physical processes is enhenced by semi-supervised machine learning. Preliminary evaluations on the correlation of traffic density and air quality reveal great potential of our method in future intelligent evironment study.


Both employer- and employee-provided data from a sample of 122 full-time library employees were used to examine a preliminary theoretical model of the antecedents of employee benefit level satisfaction. Although the variables in the model accounted for over 50% of the variance in benefit level satisfaction, the specific form of the model was not supported; the results did not support a discrepancy model in which benefit level satisfaction was based on the difference between the perceived level of benefits that should be received and the perceived level of benefits received. The variables most highly related to benefit level satisfaction were benefit administration, benefit comparisons (perceived inputs and outcomes of referent others) and employees' cost for the medical insurance premium (which was negatively related). Data concerning employees' knowledge of the benefits they receive, limitations of the study, implications for the management of benefit programs, and suggestions for future research are presented.


Currently, biobased epoxy resins derived from plant oils and natural fibers are available on the market and are a promising substitute for fossil-based products. The purpose of this work is to investigate novel lightweight thermoset fiber-reinforced composites with extremely high biobased content. Paying attention to the biobased content, following a cascade pathway, many trials were carried out with different types of resins and hardeners to select the best ones. The most promising formulations were then used to produce flax fiber reinforced composites by vacuum bagging process. The main biocomposite properties such as tensile, bending, and impact properties as well as the individuation of their glass transition temperatures (by DSC) were assessed. Three biocomposite systems were investigated with biobased content ranging from 60 to 91%, obtaining an elastic modulus that varied from 2.7 to 6.3 GPa, a flexural strength from 23 to 108.5 MPa, and Charpy impact strength from 11.9 to 12.2 kJ/m2. The properties reached by the new biocomposites are very encouraging; in fact, their stiffness vs. lightweight (calculated by the E/ρ3 ratio) is comparable to some typical epoxy–glass composites.


To improve visualization of malignant regions in the colon epithelium during diagnostic procedures, we have recently suggested a multimodal system comprising the water-soluble cationized polyacrylamide, tagged with the near infrared dye derivative IR-783-S-Ph-COOH [fluorescent-cationized polyacrylamide (Flu-CPAA)] and conjugated to the recognition peptide VRPMPLQ to form Flu-CPAA-Pep. The fluorescent-cationized polyacrylamide-peptide conjugate (Flu-CPAA-Pep) is then incorporated into echogenic microbubbles (MBs) made of polylactic acid (PLA) to protect it from pre-mature interactions with plasma proteins upon intravenous administration. It is expected that under directed ultrasound interrogation the Flu-CPAA-Pep cargo would be released in the region of interest, as a result of the MBs rupture into submicron PLA fragments (SPF). Due to their nanoscale dimension, the SPF will escape from the vasculature and allow a specific binding of the Flu-CPAA-Pep to the suspected malignant tissue.

The complex nature of the system requires a multifaceted statistically based experimental design. Here we apply a design of experiment methodology to enable effective screening of key parameters in our experimental setup. It enables the assessment of the role of the different formulation parameters by identifying statistically significant interactions as observed in vitro (cell lines) and in vivo (colon cancer-induced rat model). Particularly important was the identification of the interaction between the fraction (mol%) of the cationic monomer in the Flu-CPAA and (a) the presence of recognition peptide as assessed in the in vitro experiments and (b) the use of a presenting platform (whether MBs or SPF) as assessed in the in vivo experiments. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Abstract. The modeling of ship emissions in port areas involves several uncertainties and approximations. In Eulerian grid models, the vertical distribution of emissions plays a decisive role for the ground-level pollutant concentration. In this study, model results of a microscale model, which takes thermal plume rise and turbulence into account, are derived for the parameterization of vertical ship exhaust plume distributions. This is done considering various meteorological and ship-technical conditions. The influence of three different approximated parameterizations (Gaussian distribution, single cell emission and exponential Gaussian distribution) on the ground-level concentration are then evaluated in a city-scale model. Choosing a Gaussian distribution is particularly suitable for high wind speeds (> 5 m s−1) and a stable atmosphere, while at low wind speeds or unstable atmospheric conditions the plume rise can be more closely approximated by an exponential Gaussian distribution. While Gaussian and exponential Gaussian distributions lead to ground-level concentration maxima close to the source, with single cell emission assumptions the maxima ground-level concentration occurs at a distance of about 1500 m from the source. Particularly high-resolution city-scale studies should therefore consider ship emissions with a suitable Gaussian or exponential Gaussian distribution. From a distance of around 4 km, the selected initial distribution no longer shows significant differences for the pollutant concentration near the ground, therefore model studies with lower resolution can reasonably approximate ship plumes with a single cell emission.


The trouble with the group is there is always someone who wants to be the leader. To prove exemplary as a communal organization, the group must withstand threats from within, produced by the contest for charismatic pre-eminence among members. So then, why do groups work fine elsewhere but not in visual art? Is the music group somehow less prone than the art group to individual megalomania, or do its pathways reward such a hierarchy? In tracking these questions below, I will describe the functioning of the group with respect to the ontological grounds of distinct artforms. These considerations will have consequences for the latent narratives of conflict and competition within the group. Later the discussion wanders into addressing group agency in relation to the internet.


Abstract.
 Encroachment of woody plants is widespread in semiarid grasslands of the southwestern United States. Wildlife responses to shrub removal techniques in the region are relatively unknown. In 2008 and 2009, we examined avian responses to prescribed burning of ungrazed shortgrass prairie within a study area (4811 ha) near Amarillo, Texas, that is heavily encroached by honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa) and cholla (Opuntia spp.). Specifically, we compared relative abundance, species richness, and species diversity of breeding birds across large, spatially replicated experimental plots burned every 2 or 4 years since 2002 and unburned controls. We found no significant differences in the mean relative abundance of most species across the treatments. However, Northern Bobwhite (Colinus virginianus), Cassin's Sparrow (Peucaea cassinii), and Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) were more abundant in less frequently burned plots and unburned controls. We found no differences in species richness or diversity across the treatments. Limited variation in avian responses across the treatments likely reflects the uniform pattern of vegetation structure we found across the plots, despite repeated application of prescribed fire at 2- and 4-year intervals over a 7-year period. Differences in bird species assemblages among the burn treatments might be more prominent in future years as prescribed burning continues.


Preharvest development of external red color of 'Irwin' and 'Keitt' mango (Mangifera indica L.) was enhanced with an application of the antitranspirant poly-l-p-menthen-8-9 diyl (Vapor Gard) prior to commercial fruit maturity. Both the percentage of fruit surface area showing red color and intensity of the red color was increased. Red color development in storage at 21°C was not affected by Vapor Gard. This effect was specific for the anthocyanin pigment(s). Colorimetric measurements in both yellow and green areas indicated that Vapor Gard did not affect disappearance of chlorophyll and development of yellow color at time of or following harvest.


The tube model of polymer melt dynamics is extended to examine multiply branched molecules. The case of the regular tree exhibits a hierarchy of relaxation times, each associated with a different tube diameter. A log-quadratic relaxation curve is predicted, and compared to relaxation of low-density polyethylene. At the longest times the polymer behaves as if it were not entangled. The geometric mean of the disentanglement timescale and the monomeric timescale is of the order of the relaxation times of the free ends.


At the center of the Milky Way lurks a unique compact nonthermal radio source, Sgr A*. It is thought to be powered by a 2.6 million solar mass black hole that is accreting the stellar winds from the numerous early-type stars that exist in the central parsec. However, until recent high resolution Chandra observations, Sgr A* had never been unequivocably detected at wavelengths shorter than the sub-millimeter. We present a spherical accretion model which is consistent with both the flux and steep spectral shape of the X-ray emission from Sgr A*.


Since 2005, coccidioidomycosis has increased among inmates at a California prison. Our initial investigation found an incidence of 3,323 cases/100,000 persons. Black race, age ≥41 years, and residence on Yard C were significantly associated with coccidioidomycosis (p < .05). Inmates at this prison have continued to be at risk for coccidioidomycosis.


The parameter design is the most emphasized measure by researchers for a new products development. It is critical for makers to achieve simultaneously in both the time‐to‐market production and the quality enhancement. However, there are difficulties in practical application, such as (1) complexity and nonlinear relationships co‐existed among the system's inputs, outputs and control parameters, (2) interactions occurred among parameters, (3) where the adjustment factors of Taguchi's two‐phase optimization procedure cannot be sure to exist in practice, and (4) for some reasons, the data became lost or were never available. For these incomplete data, the Taguchi methods cannot treat them well. Neural networks have a learning capability of fault tolerance and model free characteristics. These characteristics support the neural networks as a competitive tool in processing multivariable input‐output implementation. The successful fields include diagnostics, robotics, scheduling, decision‐making, prediction, etc. This research is a case study of spherical annealing model. In the beginning, an original model is used to pre‐fix a model of parameter design. Then neural networks are introduced to achieve another model. Study results showed both of them could perform the highest spherical level of quality.


An anaerobic fixed bed reactor, filled with small floating supports of polyethylene material (Bioflow 30) as inert media, was operated for 6 months to treat vinasse (wine residue after distillation). Bioflow 30 has a density of 0.93 and a specific area of 320 m2/m3. The experimental results showed that the efficiency of the reactor in removal of soluble COD was very good with a maximum organic loading rate of more than 30 g of COD/L x d and a COD removal efficiency of more than 80%. Bioflow 30 showed a high capability of biomass retention with 4-6 g of dried solids per support. Thus, at the end of the experiment, the fixed biomass represented 57 g of solids/L of reactor. The visual observation of the supports and the specific activity (0.54 g COD/g solids x d) of the fixed solids, which remained close to the values obtained with suspended biomass, showed that entrapment was playing an important role in the retention of the biomass inside the reactor. It was then possible to operate the reactor with a very high loading rate as the result of the increase of the solids in the reactor and the maintaining of the specific activity. Bioflow 30 is then an excellent support for use in a high rate anaerobic fixed bed.


The purposes of this study were to examine the association between self-reported environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure during pregnancy and birth weight, prematurity, and small-for-gestational age infants and to determine whether these associations differ by maternal age. Data from the Pregnancy Nutrition Surveillance System from two states that collected data on both passive and active smoking for the period 1989-1994 were analyzed. ETS exposure was defined as reported exposure to the cigarette smoke of a household member. Multiple logistic and linear regression analyses were used to evaluate the association between ETS and birth outcomes. The mean adjusted birth weight among infants of nonsmoking mothers age 30 years or older was 90 g less among infants exposed to ETS than among infants not exposed. No significant association was found among infants of younger nonsmoking mothers. Similarly, the risks for low birth weight (adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 2.42, 95% confidence interval 1.51-3.87) and preterm delivery (adjusted OR = 1.88, 95% confidence interval 1.22-2.88) were elevated among older nonsmokers exposed to ETS, but not among younger nonsmokers exposed to ETS (adjusted OR = 0.97, 95% confidence interval 0.76-1.23; adjusted OR = 0.92, 95% confidence interval 0.76-1.13, for low birth weight and preterm delivery, respectively). These findings indicate that the association between ETS exposure and adverse pregnancy outcomes appears to be modified by maternal age.


Two degree-of-freedom (DOF) manipulators have been widely applied in pointing devices. Besides the commonly used gimbal platforms, two different kinds of parallel platforms base on parallel manipulators are presented as real applications in this paper. In a situation, a pointing device acquires and tracks a remote target via optical sensors amounted on the device. As the authors' recent research, there are image distortions caused by deflected camera axis while the pointing device changing its attitudes. The paper refers the phenomena to the self-motion characteristics as the 2-DOF platforms rotate around the fixed platform axis. Basic image distortion principles of the three platforms are illustrated and discussed. Relationship between the self-motion and revolution are analyzed via the graphic approach and simulated on the software. Results indicate that these different phenomena are due to the different inherent characters of the platform's freedom lines and freedom disks. Conclusions revealed in this paper would help the engineers with the type selections and applications, especially for the remote virtual reality devices which can provide realistic images for the human eyes. This work will facilitate the image processing and improve the measuring accuracy for the pointing devices.© 2014 ASME


Pre-trained multilingual models, such as mBERT, XLM-R and mT5, are used to improve the performance on various tasks in low-resource languages via cross-lingual transfer. In this framework, English is usually seen as the most natural choice for a transfer language (for fine-tuning or continued training of a multilingual pre-trained model), but it has been revealed recently that this is often not the best choice. The success of cross-lingual transfer seems to depend on some properties of languages, which are currently hard to explain. Successful transfer often happens between unrelated languages and it often cannot be explained by data-dependent factors.In this study, we show that languages written in non-Latin and non-alphabetic scripts (mostly Asian languages) are the best choices for improving performance on the task of Masked Language Modelling (MLM) in a diverse set of 30 low-resource languages and that the success of the transfer is well predicted by our novel measure of Subword Evenness (SuE). Transferring language models over the languages that score low on our measure results in the lowest average perplexity over target low-resource languages. Our correlation coefficients obtained with three different pre-trained multilingual models are consistently higher than all the other predictors, including text-based measures (type-token ratio, entropy) and linguistically motivated choice (genealogical and typological proximity).


We identified the main changes in serum metabolites associated with severe (n=46) and mild (n=19) COVID-19 patients by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. The modified metabolic profiles were associated to an altered amino acid catabolism in hypoxic conditions. Noteworthy, three 𝛼-hydroxyl acids of amino acid origin increased with disease severity and correlated with altered oxygen saturation levels and clinical markers of lung damage. We hypothesize that the enzymatic conversion of 𝛼-keto-acids to 𝛼- hydroxyl-acids helps to maintain NAD recycling in patients with altered oxygen levels, highlighting the potential relevance of amino acid supplementation during SARS-CoV-2 infection.


Energy efficiency has become one of the key challenges for a large class of electronic systems. Longer time between battery recharges is highly desirable for battery-powered devices such as mobile phones, digital cameras, Internet tablets, and electronic organizers. Energy efficiency is also important for electronic systems powered from the electric grid since it may reduce power consumption and the cooling requirements. Power savings are possible because electronic systems generally have an idle state, when, for example, the processor can run in a low-power state. Thus, the correct estimation of the workload model plays an essential role in the decision of which and when a power state transition should be performed by the electronic system. This paper introduces a multisize sliding window workload estimation technique for dynamic power management (DPM) in nonstationary environments. This technique reduces both the effects of identification delay and sampling error present in the previous fixed-size sliding window approach. The system is modeled by discrete-time Markov chains and the model offers a rigorous mathematical formulation of the problem and allows one to obtain an excellent trade-off between performance and power consumption.


Modeling physiological time-series in ICU is of high clinical importance. However, data collected within ICU are irregular in time and often contain missing measurements. Since absence of a measure would signify its lack of importance, the missingness is indeed informative and might reflect the decision making by the clinician. Here we propose a deep learning architecture that can effectively handle these challenges for predicting ICU mortality outcomes. The model is based on Long Short-Term Memory, and has layered attention mechanisms. At the sensing layer, the model decides whether to observe and incorporate parts of the current measurements. At the reasoning layer, evidences across time steps are weighted and combined. The model is evaluated on the PhysioNet 2012 dataset showing competitive and interpretable results.


When seeking alternative therapies for treatment-experienced patients, several issues must be addressed. Considerations for various therapies include determining what is an acceptable level of viral load to be achieved, and how many drugs should be used in combination regimens. Clinical data supporting these approaches are detailed. To provide effective treatments for experienced patients, pharmaceutical companies should design drugs that differ considerably from current drugs, which are achieving positive results mainly in treatment-naive populations. A glossary of terms used in the article is provided.


Breast cancer is the most common cancer in females all over the world with approximately one million new cases each year as well as one of second leading causes of death among females. In Pakistan, the most frequently diagnosed cancer among females is also breast cancer, accounting for nearly one in nine female patients. Its incidence in Pakistan is 2.5 times higher than that in neighboring countries like Iran and India. The risk factors associated with breast cancer are age, family history, early menarche, intake of combined estrogen and progestin menopausal hormones, alcohol consumption, physical inactivity, low socioeconomic status and lack of awareness regarding the disease. This mini-review article aims to provide awareness about breast cancer as well as an updated knowledge about the prevalence, risk factors and disease knowledge of breast cancer in Pakistan.


In this work, powders of La2O3 and SiO2 were mechanically alloyed in a planetary ball mill with different rotation speeds (150-350 rpm) for maximum periods of time of 50 h and subsequently compacted at room temperature by cold isostatic pressure (CIP). Finally, the samples were sintering at temperatures up to 1300 °C in air. The results showed that a higher rotation speed decreases the time required to the formation of the La9.33(SiO4)6O2 phase. Single phase powders of La9.33(SiO4)6O2 were obtained with 350 and 250 rpm after 15 and 50 h milling, respectively. No reaction between the La2O3 and SiO2 powders occurred with 150 rpm milling even during 50 h processing. For the milled samples with incomplete reaction the single La9.33(SiO4)6O2 phase is obtained at temperatures between 900 °C and 1300 °C, depending on the mechanical alloying parameters.


Ciliopathies are a class of human diseases marked by dysfunction of the cellular organelle, cilia. While many of the molecular components that make up cilia have been identified and studied, comparatively little is understood about the transcriptional regulation of genes encoding these components. The conserved transcription factor Regulatory Factor X (RFX)/DAF-19, which acts through binding to the cis-regulatory motif known as X-box, has been shown to regulate ciliary genes in many animals from Caenorhabditis elegans to humans. However, accumulating evidence suggests that RFX is unable to initiate transcription on its own. Therefore, other factors and cis-regulatory elements are likely required. One such element, a DNA motif called the C-box, has recently been identified in C. elegans. It is still unclear if the X-box and C-boxes are the only regulatory elements involved and how they interact. To this end, I analyzed the transcriptional regulation of dyf-5, the C. elegans ortholog of the human ciliopathy gene Male-Associated Kinase (MAK). Using computational methods, I was able to confirm the presence of the previously reported X-box and C-boxes as well as identifying an additional C-box. By sequentially mutating each of the identified motifs, I identified the role each potential motif plays in transcriptional regulation of dyf-5. My results showed that only the X-box and the three C-boxes are necessary and are sufficient to drive transcription, with the X-box and the centre C-box being the major contributors and the other two C-boxes enhancing expression. This study advances the knowledge of gene regulation in general and will further our understanding of ciliopathies and the mutations that cause them.


This paper addresses the origin and development of the oldest prehistoric pasture in the timberline ecotone known so far in the Alps and its relation to anthropogenic pressure and natural climate change. Palaeoecological and geochemical techniques were applied on the Crotte Basse mire stratigraphy (2365 m a.s.l, northwestern Italy) to describe changes in vegetation composition, forest biomass, land use and fertilization between c. 6400–1800 cal years bp. Subalpine forests dominated by Pinus cembra occurred at very high‐altitude up to c. 5600 cal years bp, when a sharp contraction of woody vegetation took place. This major vegetation shift is matched by increasing charcoal input and markers of pastoral/grazing activities (pollen, dung spores and forms of phosphorus) in the sediment sequence in this small basin. Major phases of landscape change detected in our multiproxy record chronologically match intervals of cumulative probability density of 14C ages from nearby archaeological sites, suggesting that human activity was the factor leading to massive landscape change from the onset of the Copper Age (c. 5600 cal years bp). The change may have been reinforced by climate variability in the period 5700–5300 cal years bp. Sensitivity of woody species to fires was statistically explored (Appendix S1, Supporting Information), revealing negative reactions of P. cembra and Betula to frequent fire episodes and positive reactions of Alnus viridis and Juniperus. Fire episodes do not affect Larix dynamics. Synthesis. Mt. Fallère provides some of the oldest and consistent evidence so far available in the Alps for major anthropogenic pressure at the upper forest limit. As far back as 5600 cal years bp, high‐elevation forest ecosystems were permanently disrupted and the alpine pastures were created. Palaeoecological data enable a clear distinction between a random and sporadic use of the alpine space, typical for Mesolithic and Neolithic societies, and an organized seasonal exploitation of natural resources, starting from the Copper Age onwards. The chronological comparison of independent climate proxies, palaeoecological information and pollen‐based temperature reconstructions sheds light on the relationships between climate and humans since prehistoric times.


The aim of the present work was to study oral trigeminal mechanisms which might induce apnoeic reflexes in adult cats and kittens at different postnatal ages. Various oral stimulations and electrical stimulations of the lingual nerve produced apnoeas whose duration decreased with age until three weeks of life. In addition, swallowing was only rarely observed before 5 days and then occurred with apnoea until the third week. Responses became similar to those observed in adults between weeks 3 and 4. Thus, in kittens, the nervous control which regulates coordination between breathing and swallowing appears to be immature at birth.


Herbaceous competition and herbivory have been identified as critical barriers to restoration of native tree species in degraded landscapes around the world; however, the combined effects of competition and herbivory are poorly understood. We experimentally manipulated levels of herbivory and herbaceous competition and analyzed the response of tree seedling performance over three growing seasons as a function of species and habitat in north‐central West Virginia. Four native tree species were planted in old field and forest experimental plots: Castanea dentata (American chestnut), Quercus rubra (red oak), Acer saccharum (sugar maple), and Picea rubens (red spruce). Red spruce demonstrated the highest growth increment and greatest survival (64%) and most consistent results among treatments and habitats. Red spruce survival was not reduced in the presence of Odocoileus virginianus (white‐tailed deer) browse and herbaceous competition; however, growth was improved by suppression of herbaceous competition. We suspect that this deciduous forest landscape would regenerate to a red spruce dominated forest if seed source was available. In contrast, the other three species tested had very low survival when exposed to deer and were more responsive to competing vegetation and habitat type. American chestnut had low survival and growth across all treatments, suggesting basic climate limitations. Vigorous natural regeneration of Prunus serotina (black cherry) occurred in forest plots where both competing herbs and deer were excluded. Our results demonstrated the importance of testing multiple potential recruitment barriers and species at once and the need for species and habitat‐specific restoration treatments.


The present study aimed to evaluate the GSH and MDA levels in dog's serum and vital organs of aborted fetuses, after application of two abortifacient. Animals of group I (n = 6) were treated twice with subcutaneous injection of 10 mg/kg aglepristone and group II (n = 3) received prostaglandin F2α at a dose of 125 μg/kg every 12 hours until abortion process completed. Hematologic examinations and sedimentation rates were performed of bitches. The duration between first occurrence of vaginal discharge to first expulsion of fetuses ranged between 14-29 hours (mean: 22.6±5.5 h) and 24-33 hours in group I and II, respectively. Both treatments significantly increased the serum MDA levels (P<0.01); however aglepristone increased the MDA levels throughout the study, prostaglandin enhanced plasma MDA levels only on day 1. GSH levels were significantly lower in aglepristone-treated bitches than prostaglandin-treated animals (P<0.05). The treatments resulted similar MDA levels in liver and heart tissues (P>0.05). GSH levels in kidney, muscle and heart tissues did not differ between groups (P>0.05), aglepristone resulted reduced GSH levels in liver tissue (P<0.05). High MDA levels could be evaluated as a useful marker for fetal suffering in pregnancy controls. The MDA and GSH levels, measured in vital organs of fetuses, could suggest possible toxic effects of abortifacients in newborns, as both medical agents are being used in parturition induction.


Abstract We investigated the utility of a fishery-independent trawl survey for assessing a potential multispecies shark nursery in Georgia's nearshore and inshore waters. A total of 234 subadult sharks from six species were captured during 85 of 216 trawls. Catch rates and size distributions for subadult sharks and the ratio of neonates to juveniles were consistent among areas. The highest concentrations of subadult sharks occurred in creeks and sounds. Species composition varied among areas. The Atlantic sharpnose shark Rhizoprionodon terraenovae was the most abundant species in sound and nearshore stations, whereas the bonnethead Sphyrna tiburo was the most abundant species in creeks. The aggregate of other species occurred with higher frequency in the sounds and nearshore. Sampling characteristics of the trawl survey were compared with those from a fishery-independent longline survey of subadult sharks to assess the similarity of the two gears. A total of 193 subadult sharks from seven species were captured during 57 of 96 longline sets, whereas 52 subadults from four species were captured during 20 of 48 trawls. Selectivity and efficiency differed between the two gears. The trawl had lower catch rates, caught smaller sharks, and encountered a different suite of species than the longline. General seasonal trends in relative abundance also differed between the two gears; the longline showed an increasing trend in abundance, whereas the trawl showed a stable trend. Although trawls were not found to be efficient for sampling subadult sharks from most species, they can be a useful source of supplemental data.


Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), which is one of the most cultivated plants among the forage crops in our country and other developed countries, and known as the queen of forage crops, has attracted attention in recent years on organic agricultural production and sustainability of agricultural lands. Many factors cause pathogenic effects in alfalfa. These are non-parasitic agents, parasitic disease agents fungi, bacteria, viruses, mycoplasma-like organisms, nematodes, and parasitic plants. Among them, fungi constitute an important group (Graham et al. 1979).

The importance of disease factors that can occur in such a beneficial plant, the diagnosis of these factors, and the necessary management of them on time are of great value for obtaining quality products and for the country's economy.


Glucagon-like peptide-2 (GLP-2) increases small intestinal mass and blood flow in nonruminants but its effect in ruminants is unknown. Eight Holstein calves with an ultrasonic flow probe around the superior mesenteric artery and catheters in the carotid artery and mesenteric vein were paired by age and randomly assigned to treatment of a control (0.5% of BSA in saline; n=4) or GLP-2 (50 μg/kg of body weight of bovine GLP-2 in BSA; n=4) given subcutaneously every 12h for 10 d. Blood flow was measured on d 0 (acute) and d 10 (chronic) and included 3 periods: baseline (saline infusion), treatment (infusion of BSA or 1,000 pmol of GLP-2/kg of body weight per h), and recovery (saline infusion). On d 11, calves were killed 2h after injection of 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU). Gastrointestinal tissues were weighed and epithelial samples were obtained to determine villus height, crypt depth, and BrdU staining. Infusion of GLP-2 increased superior mesenteric artery blood flow to 175% of baseline on d 0 but to only 137% of baseline after chronic treatment. Compared with that of the control, GLP-2 increased small intestinal mass by 24% by increasing epithelial mass in the jejunum and ileum. Additionally, GLP-2 increased villus height, crypt depth, and BrdU-labeling in small intestinal segments. These results demonstrate that GLP-2 induces similar increases in small intestinal blood flow and growth in ruminants to those observed in nonruminants. Furthermore, GLP-2 increases small intestinal blood flow in ruminants but this response is attenuated after 10 d of GLP-2 administration. In cattle, GLP-2 may be an important hormone in the regulation of intestinal blood flow and epithelial growth.


This report presents the results of a 6-year project, conducted by the US Geological Survey in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), to develop an accurate, efficient, easy-to-use finite-element surface-water flow model (FESWMS-2DH) for use in analyzing backwater and flow distribution at highway crossings of rivers and flood plains. When lateral variations in water-surface elevation and flow distribution are significant, a two-dimensional approach has advantages over a one-dimensional approach. The finite-element method is ideally suited to modeling two-dimensional flow over complex topography with spatially variable roughness and allows the user great flexibility in defining flow boundaries, channels, and embankments. A large number of alternative flow-equation formulations, interpolation and weighting functions, and schemes for solving the large systems of algebraic equations that arise in applying the finite-element method were tested during the project. Features added to FESWMS-2DH include weir flow (roadway overtopping), culvert flow, linear variation of Manning's n with depth, simple and accurate handling of lateral boundaries, automatic network generation and refinement, and extensive error checking. Sections of the report are devoted to the application of FESWMS-2DH to data from the Geological Survey's Flood Plain Simulation Facility, the use and calibration of FESWMS-2DH, and the use of the model by the highway industry (A).


An ultra fast current amplifier with a novel active feedback loop has been designed. A prototype has been manufactured in 1.2 /spl mu/m CMOS technology. The peaking time measured is 7 ns with a gain of 2.5 mV/fC. The circuit recovers to baseline within 20 ns. With a silicon area of 0.05 mm/sup 2/ and a power consumption of 3 mW at a power supply of /spl plusmn/2 V, it is an attractive solution for multichannel IC's used in readout systems. Typical applications include imaging systems, particle detection and solid state detector interfacing where very high counting rate is encountered.


The Thermo Scientific™ Talos™ is a 200kV scanning/transmission electron microscope (S/TEM) that delivers fast, precise, quantitative characterization of nanomaterials in multiple dimensions. With innovative features designed to increase throughput, precision, and ease of use, Talos is ideal for advanced research and analysis across academic, government, and industrial research environments.


The Netherlands is again facing a sharp increase in Q fever notifications, after the unprecedented outbreaks of 2007 and 2008. The most affected province of Noord Brabant has a high density of large dairy goat farms, and farms with abortion waves have been incriminated. Mandatory vaccination of small ruminants has started and should have an effect in 2010. A large multidisciplinary research portfolio is expected to generate better knowledge about transmission and additional control measures.


Objectives Atherosclerosis (AS) is the major contributing factor that results in acute cardiovascular events, which leading to the high mortality of cardiovascular diseases, which. The pathophysiological mechanism of atherosclerosis remains unknown. Recently, many researchers implicated that infiltration of inflammatory cell involving macrophage played a critical role in vulnerable plaque. Sonodynamic therapy (SDT) that targets at the inflammatory mechanism of atherosclerosis is a new promising treatment. Berberine, extracted from traditional herbs copies, has been used as an anti-inflammatory agent in clinical practice. Whether it could be applied as a novel sonosensitizer for sonodynamic therapy (SDT) to treat atherosclerosis deserves further exploration. So, in this study, we investigated the effect of berberine-mediated sonodynamic therapy on macrophage within atherosclerotic plaque. Methods Absorption spectrum and fluorescent emission spectrum of Berberine were measured. (2) Effect of Berberine at different concentration on the cell viability of THP-1 derived macrophages was examined. (3) The intracellular uptake of Berberine by macrophages was detected by a fluorescence microscope. (4) THP-1 derived macrophages were cultured with Berberine at a concentration of 15 g/ml for 2 h and then exposed to pulse ultrasound irradiation (2 W/cm2 with 0.86 MHz) for 5–15 min. Six-hours later, Cell viability analysis was performed by MTT assay. (5) Six-hours after Berberine-SDT for 15 min, the nuclei were stained with Hoechst 33342 to determine apoptosis and with PI to determine necrosis. (6) Two-hours after Berberine-SDT for 15 min, morphological changes of the cytoskeleton were examined through immune fluorescence. Data were expressed as means±SD and analysis of ANOVA was performed for individual comparisons. Results The absorption wavelength of Berberine was less than 500 nm. (2) Berberine was distributed in cytoplasm. (3) Six-hours after treatment with Berberine-SDT for 5–15 min, unlike the cells treated with Berberine-SDT for 5 and 10 min, the viability of cells treated with Berberine-SDT for 15 min decreased significantly. And cell viability in SDT group was lower than that in ultrasound group (48.4%±5.0% vs 72.5%±6.9%, p<0.01).4. Six-hours after treatment with Berberine-SDT for 15 min the cells showed a typical apoptotic chromatin fragmentation. In addition, the percentage of apoptotic and necrotic cells in SDT group was higher than that in ultrasound alone group (apoptosis: 31.7%±5.7% vs 25.9%±6.2%, p<0.05; necrosis: 16.5%±5.3% vs 4.5%±1.8%, p<0.01). (6) Two-hours after treatment with Berberine-SDT for 15 min, the cytoskeleton lost its original features as the filaments dispersed and the cytoskeletal proteins aggregated. Some cells even suffered deformations as blebs. The percentage of cells with disturbed cytoskeletal filaments in SDT group was higher than that in ultrasound group (α-actin: 49.3%±4.2% vs 32.1%±4.5%, p<0.01; β-tubulin: 43.1%±6.8% vs 27.3±6.4%, p<0.01; vimentin: 40.8%±5.0% vs 29.6%±7.1%, p<0.01). Conclusions The results suggested that Berberine was a novel sonosensitizer. Berberine-SDT could inhibit cell viability of macrophages, induce apoptosis and necrosis of macrophages, and lead to cleavage of cytoskeleton. Berberine-SDT could be used as a novel treatment to atherosclerosis.


As the class size grows, maintaining a balanced dataset across many classes is challenging because the data are long-tailed in nature; it is even impossible when the sample-of-interest co-exists with each other in one collectable unit, e.g., multiple visual instances in one image. Therefore, long-tailed classification is the key to deep learning at scale. However, existing methods are mainly based on re-weighting/re-sampling heuristics that lack a fundamental theory. In this paper, we establish a causal inference framework, which not only unravels the whys of previous methods, but also derives a new principled solution. Specifically, our theory shows that the SGD momentum is essentially a confounder in long-tailed classification. On one hand, it has a harmful causal effect that misleads the tail prediction biased towards the head. On the other hand, its induced mediation also benefits the representation learning and head prediction. Our framework elegantly disentangles the paradoxical effects of the momentum, by pursuing the direct causal effect caused by an input sample. In particular, we use causal intervention in training, and counterfactual reasoning in inference, to remove the "bad" while keep the "good". We achieve new state-of-the-arts on three long-tailed visual recognition benchmarks: Long-tailed CIFAR-10/-100, ImageNet-LT for image classification and LVIS for instance segmentation.


BACKGROUND:Safe and effective alternatives are required in labor when epidural analgesia is not appropriate. We hypothesized that patient-controlled IV remifentanil labor analgesia would not be inferior to patient-controlled epidural labor analgesia. METHODS:This randomized nonblinded controlled noninferiority study in healthy women with a singleton fetus and vertex presentation was performed at 1 site. Women were randomized to receive patient-controlled IV analgesia titrated from 20 mcg up to a maximum bolus dose of 60 mcg with a lockout interval of 1 to 2 minutes, or patient-controlled epidural analgesia 0.1% bupivacaine with 2 mcg/mL fentanyl (initiation bolus 15 mL; maintenance bolus 10 mL, lockout interval 20 minutes, basal infusion 5 mL/h). Crossover was permitted after 30 minutes. The primary study outcome was efficacy (assessed as hourly numerical rating scale [NRS] pain score [11-point NRS] and maternal satisfaction [11-point NRS]); the secondary outcome was safety (maternal apnea). Supplementary oxygen was administered continuously during the respiratory monitoring period. During the first hour of analgesia, the heart rate, respiratory rate, pulse oximetry (SpO2), and end-tidal CO2, as an indication of apnea, were compared. Apnea lasting >40 seconds was managed by light stimulation by the attending anesthesiologist. RESULTS:Forty women were recruited to the following groups: remifentanil n = 19 (1 exclusion), epidural n = 20. Four crossed over: 3 from the remifentanil to epidural group and 1 from the epidural to remifentanil group. Mean (± SD) baseline NRS pain scores were similar, 8.4 ± 1.5 for remifentanil and 8.7 ± 1.2 for epidural analgesia, P = 0.52. Baseline adjusted mean NRS reduction at 30 minutes for remifentanil was −4.5 (± 0.6) vs −7.1(± 0.6) for epidural analgesia, P < 0.0001 for both. Pain score at 30 minutes was 3.7 ± 2.8 for remifentanil and 1.5 ± 2.2 for epidural analgesia, P = 0.009. Remifentanil was inferior to epidural analgesia with respect to the NRS at all time points, because the observed difference in NRS was greater than the expected −1.5 units. Maternal satisfaction was 8.6 ± 1.4 for the remifentanil group and 9.1 ± 1.5 for epidural group, P = 0.26. Mean respiratory rate was lower in the remifentanil group, 18 ± 4 vs 21 ± 4 breaths/min in the epidural group, P = 0.03. Mean SpO2 was lower in the remifentanil group 96.8% ± 1.4 vs 98.4 ± 1.2 for epidural group, P < 0.0001. There were 9 apnea events; all occurred in 5 women receiving remifentanil (5/19 [26.3%], P = 0.046). Apgar scores and neonatal respiratory outcomes were similar. CONCLUSION:IV remifentanil is inferior to epidural analgesia for provision of labor analgesia; however, remifentanil does provide a satisfactory level of labor analgesia. Laboring women receiving remifentanil require suitable monitoring to detect and alert for apnea.


New results are given for the relationship between a previously-defined paramagnetic salt temperature scale and the NBS-Acoustic scale, IPTS-68 and recent gas thermometric determinations of the boiling points of hydrogen and helium.


The resulting pH of fresh frozen plasma for clinical use, collected by plasmapheresis from blood donors is influenced by the type of anticoagulant solution and its ratio with the donor's blood. The authors describe the use of three anticoagulant solutions with a different sodium citrate concentration and different ratios of donor blood. As compared with the physiological range of pH of the blood, the resulting pH value of the collected plasma, when using ACD-A and AB-16 solutions, varies within the range classified as acidosis, i.e. less than 7.36. When using a 4% sodium citrate solution the plasma pH value is in the area evaluated as alkalosis. The authors discuss indications for administration of fresh frozen plasma in clinically serious diseases and the influence of administration of this transfusion preparation on the acid-base balance as the transfusion recipients are threatened by the development of metabolic acidosis. Maintaining the pH value of fresh frozen plasma slightly above the physiological range of blood pH prevents in particular during massive plasma transfusions the possibility of deterioration of acidosis or its development.


Vitrimers, as intriguing polymers, possess exchangeable links in the crosslinking networks, endowing them with the abilities of recycling and reprocessing. However, most of vitrimers are generally fabricated via complex synthesis and polymerization processes. Toxic and unstable exogenous catalysts are inevitably applied to activate the exchange reaction to rearrange the crosslinking networks. These drawbacks limit the widespread applications of vitrimers. Moreover, most reported vitrimers could only partially maintain or severely deteriorate their mechanical properties after recycling. Herein, to solve the above-mentioned problems, for the first time, a catalyst-free and recycle-reinforcing elastomer vitrimer is revealed. By the reactive blending of commercially available epoxidized natural rubber and carboxylated nitrile rubber, the elastomer vitrimer associated with exchangeable β-hydroxyl ester bonds was obtained. Strikingly, the vitrimer exhibits an exceptional recycle-reinforcing property. This work provides a feasible method to fabricate elastomer vitrimers, which promotes the recycling of crosslinking commercial available elastomers.


The phases of the x-ray form factors are derived for the ripple (Pbeta') thermodynamic phase in the lecithin bilayer system. By combining these phases with experimental intensity data, the electron density map of the ripple phase of dimyristoyl-phosphatidylcholine is constructed. The phases are derived by fitting the intensity data to two-dimensional electron density models, which are created by convolving an asymmetric triangular ripple profile with a transbilayer electron density profile. The robustness of the model method is indicated by the result that many different models of the transbilayer profile yield essentially the same phases, except for the weaker, purely ripple (0,k) peaks. Even with this residual ambiguity, the ripple profile is well determined, resulting in 19 angstroms for the ripple amplitude and 10 degrees and 26 degrees for the slopes of the major and the minor sides, respectively. Estimates for the bilayer head-head spacings show that the major side of the ripple is consistent with gel-like structure, and the minor side appears to be thinner with lower electron density.


The blood counts of 187 non-anaemic children who attended hospital with minor illnesses and who were between the ages of 12 months and 6 years were studied retrospectively. As many as 76-8% of these children were found to have MCVs below the normal adult range. A prospective study of a further 28 non-anaemic children in the same age group showed that the majority of children with low MCVs have normal haemoglobin A2 and F levels and have serum ferritin levels within the normal adult range. These findings indicate that microcytosis is an intrinsic feature of erythropoiesis in early childhood and that in most instances this feature cannot be attributed to iron deficiency or beta-thalassaemia syndromes.


Chronic morphine administration in adult rats results in neurogenic secretion of adrenal catecholamines and compensatory increases in basal catecholamine levels, in activities of catecholamine biosynthetic enzymes and in the number of storage vesicles in the tissue. Perinatally addicted developing rats demonstrated changes completely different from those seen in adults; catecholamine levels and dopamine beta-hydroxylase activity were reduced compared to controlscsnnofinduction of tyrosine hydroxylase was observed. The time course of adrenomedullary maturation was delayed throuth the first 10-20 days of age, with reduced numbers of storage vesicles and larger proportions of partially filled vesicles. On exposure to morphine, continued until weaning, perinatally addicted rats did not display any of the changes in catecholamine synthesis or uptake seen in adult rats. The differences between adults and developing rats can be partly explained by the absence of functional innervation of the neonatal adrenal medulla.


We present a novel approach for joint inversion of heat flow, elevation and geoid anomalies which allows simultaneous determination of the deep thermal field as well as crustal and lithospheric structures. The technique is based on computationally stable iteration schemes and provide simultaneous checks for compatibility of the inversion results with the observational data on surface heat flow, radiogenic heat production, elevation and geoid anomalies. The results are found to be far more robust and realistic than those obtained in conventional thermal models. Unlike the previous attempts, the new approach incorporates surface heat flow variation as an independent constraining parameter and at the same time allow for the non-linear effects of thermal conductivity variation with temperature and in the crustal layers. The method was used in determining deep thermal structures of crustal blocks composing the Sao Francisco craton. The results obtained point to substantial variations in the crustal thickness; with mean values falling in the interval of 32 to 47 km. Such variations in crustal thickness are accompanied also by substantial intra-cratonic variations in the lithospheric thickness; with mean values extending over the the range of 90 – 210 km. These results are in reasonable agreement with values obtained in studies of seismic tomography.


We characterize satellite knots of free genus one, and know that the set of satellite knots of free genus one coincides with that of satellite knots of tunnel number one.


Is teaching just words sufficient to ensure reading more complex texts? Wouldn't it be also necessary to have a basic repertoire of sentence reading? Taking these questions as a starting point, it has been chosen as an aim to teach students to read and write words, to identify numerals and color names, and in test circumstances to read "sentences" made out of such elements. After teaching words, numerals, and color names separately, these elements have been grouped in order to make sentences which, in test circumstances, have been presented to the participants to read. At this stage, called grouping, no experimental consequence has been presented to the participant. By means of this procedure, one aimed to check if teaching classes of stimuli separately would generate, once grouped, the emergence of a broader repertoire, namely sentence reading. Seventeen first grade children of both sexes, aged from six and seven years, took part in that research. Such students belonged to a public, state school, situated in a city in south Brazil. The participants have been selected for the experimental group based on the scores obtained by means of the application of a preliminary test that evaluated the relations AB, AC, AE, CE, CD, BC, and CB of words, numerals, and color names; the students who presented the lowest scores of correct answers have been chosen. The other participants of the preliminary test took part in the control group; they have been evaluated also in an intermediary test and in a final test of reading. At the inter–test periods, only children in the experimental group took part in the teaching procedure. The research took place at the school library, on a reading desk. Two notebooks have been used, along with multimedia devices, and the educational software Mestre@. The classes of responses of reading and writing nouns as well as the classes of identifications of numerals and color names have been taught by means of a procedure of conditional discrimination through the exclusion of already known stimuli. Model and comparison stimuli as well as experimental contingencies have been presented also through the computer programs. In the reading test words, numerals and color names have all been jointly tested, forming sentences, whose performance didn't result in any consequences. One grouping equivalence test has been performed to check if reading was being done meaningfully. Out of 11 children, six have read the presented sentences with 100 percent of accuracy. One child has read with 100 percent of accuracy the first and second sets, and two children have read the first set with 100% accuracy, too. Two children dropped out about halfway the research. This research showed that it is possible, after teaching isolated words, to provoke the emergence of sentence reading with comprehension.


In this article we argue that 'the media situation' of the digital age brings new possibilities of Bildung (i.e. emancipation and edification). Through comparing the situation 'before' and 'after' the internet, we detect a change in the communicative infrastructure of teaching. Before the internet we see teaching taking place in closed classrooms almost without interactional contact with the surrounding world. In this setting Bildung is mainly made possible through 'internal interaction' and representation of knowledge about the world. After computers, wireless networks and smartphones has entered the scene we see teaching taking place in communicatively open classrooms with possibilities of interactional contact with "outsiders." In this setting Bildung is not only made possible through knowledge about the world, but also through internet-mediated interaction with others. Through an uncovering of these new possibilities we conclude that social media like Twitter can be used to support 'interactional Bildung.' Empirically, we base our argument on an action research project called 'Socio Media Education.' We carried out this project in a Danish upper secondary school class. An important element was that the class and its teachers had to use Twitter for written interaction in all subjects. Theoretically we base our argument on educational theory (Kant, Klafki, Biesta), medium theory (Eisenstein and others) and sociology (Luhmann and Goffman).


Today the laser technologies are widely used in the processing of materials, including also the precise micro shaping. Deep UV lasers have very good prospects in the lithography, used for fabrication of chips, while the femtosecond pused lasers open the new horizons for the micro- and submicroprofiling. But these are the field of the future prospects. As for today state-of-the-art, contribution to the application of lasers for these purposes are the numerous advantages of the laser techniques over the traditional methods, such as: - wide variety of materials to be treated, - possibility of achieving narrow cuts and practically waste-fee separation, - small heat-affected zone, - minimal mechanical effect and minimum thermal deformations, - possibility of micro shaping along a complex profile in two, or even three, dimensions, - possibility of fast and precise process switch-on and off and to include in the processing feedback on the treated parameters.


The flip-chip package is introduced for modern integrated circuit (IC) designs with higher integration density and larger I/O counts. In this paper, we consider the pre-assignment flip-chip routing problem with predefined connections between driver pads and bump pads. This problem has been shown to be much more difficult than the free-assignment one, but is more popular in real-world designs because the connections between driver pads and bump pads are typically predetermined by IC or packaging designers. Based on the concept of routing sequence exchange, we propose a very efficient approach to guide the global routing by computing the longest common subsequence and the maximum planar subset of chords for pre-assignment flip-chips. We observe that the existing work over-constrains the capacity of a routing tile, which might miss some critical solution space with a better routing solution (e.g., smaller wirelength), and provide a remedy for this insufficiency to identify a better solution in a more complete solution space. We also develop a constant-time routability analyzer to check if a given set of wires can pass through a tile. Experimental results show that our router can achieve a 125× speedup with even better solution quality (same routability with slightly smaller wirelength), compared with a state-of-the-art flip-chip router based on integer linear programming.


Paraoxonase-1 (PON-1) is a calcium-dependent enzyme that is synthesized in the liver and then secreted in blood where it is bound to high density lipoprotein (HDL). PON-1 is a hydrolase with a wide range of substrates, including lipid peroxides. It is considered responsible for many of the antiatherogenic properties of HDL. PON-1 prevents low density lipoprotein (LDL) oxidation, a process that is considered to contribute to the initiation and development of atherosclerosis. PON-1 activity and levels are influenced by gene polymorphisms; of the 2 common variants, one is in position 192 (Q192R) and one in position 55 (M55L). Also, many drugs affect PON-1 activity. The role of PON-1 in carotid atherosclerosis is inconsistent. Some studies show an association of PON-1 polymorphisms with carotid plaque formation, whereas others do not. The aim of this review is to summarize the characteristics of PON-1, its interactions with drugs and its role in atherosclerosis and especially its relationship with carotid artery disease.


The aim of the article was to point out and characterize different problems connected with cooperation between secondary schools and employers and benefits for local and national economy. The work discusses examples of cooperation among secondary schools, employers and higher education institutions. It also talks about introduction of practical entrepreneurship to schools in form of startups. The article discusses forms of academic entrepreneurship i.e. entrepreneurship incubator, spin off and spin out as continuation of secondary schools startups. It also characterizes startup in Great Britain. STARTUP IN SECONDARY EDUCATION AS A STIMULUS FOR THE LABOUR MARKET


This developmental project outlines reflections regarding the therapeutic potentials of the dimension of friendship in extended nurse-client relationships. Four nurses were interviewed about the milieu on a psychiatric centre; the patients were later interviewed about their experiences of the same milieu. All the nurses emphasized the importance of making the centre a safe place to be in. This included meeting the clients with respect and accepting them as they were. This was later confirmed in the interviews of the patient. The nurses also described themselves as «being a professional friend». They described the dimensions of friendships as involvement and devotion, but were aware of the limitations and the risk of over-involvement. The way in which this may help the patient to go on living, and be able to form friendships, will be discussed in this article.


Duane retraction syndrome (DRS) represents a spectrum of motility disorders in which the common feature is retraction of the affected eye on attempted adduction. Electrophysiologic and neuropathologic studies have shown that the underlying cause is anomalous innervation of the lateral rectus with the medial rectus and, at times, with vertical muscles in the affected eye. Clinical abnormalities observed in DRS can include any or all of the following: a deviation in the primary position; abnormal head position; severe retraction causing a pseudoptosis; and upshoots and/or downshoots associated with A, V, or X patterns. A surgical approach based on the analysis of these four features is presented, allowing the surgeon to devise an appropriate, individualized plan for a given case which can yield optimal results in one operation.


Previously, it has been shown that thermal stresses may have a significant role to play in optical‐storage media. Calculations have shown that thermal stresses are produced in single‐layer optical‐storage thin films sufficient to cause interlayer failure and blister formation. In this paper, more realistic multilayer thin films are modeled and it is shown that considerably higher stresses can be produced depending on the layer geometry and material properties. These effects are important both in the initial writing process and in subsequent reading or writing processes, and may result in long‐term‐accumulated, stress‐induced damage.


The paper argues and shows, like many other scholars, that translation is a branch of linguistics but is multidisciplinary, as a translator must have not only pure linguistic competence in the source language (SL) and the target language (TL), but also adequate competence in other fields, depending on what is to be translated. While translation is a branch of linguistics, it falls under macrolinguistics as it goes beyond pure linguistics. To capture the multidisciplinary nature of translation, the paper divides a translator's competence into, what the author calls (a) linguistic competence and (b) non-linguistic competence, which are dealt with in turn in Section 3 and Section 4, respectively. In dealing with former, the paper shows the scope the scope of a translator's linguistic competence: a translator's linguistic competence is not only in terms the grammatical and lexical competence in the source language (SL) and the target language (TL) includes the knowledge of other things such conventions adopted by organizations and institutions involved in the SL and the TL. After a detailed discussion of non-linguistic competence, the paper concludes that 'A comprehensive translation teaching programme should, of necessity offer not only courses in pure linguistics but also in other disciplines.


Abstract Understanding the relationship of law and violence is one of the most important tasks for a postmodern critical legal theory. In his recent book Recht und Gewalt Christoph Menke explores the thesis that violence is not something external to law but an essential part of its constitution. While his concise analysis reveals the fundamental conflict of autonomy and societal responsivity of law, I suggest that we have to radicalize his concept in three ways. First, I propose to reconsider the belief that law requires a polity (I). Second, I will argue that reflexivity of law needs to be conceived of as a process of fundamental democratization of law (II). Third, I propose that we not only need to depotentiate and displace the law, but that we have to transcend the law (III). For only transcending the law enables us to appeal to the utopian notion of a justice to come.


It is shown that the ventilatory capacity of normal subjects increases on ascent to altitude. The increase is related to the decrease in lung-gas density and is compatible with the hypothesis that the work of maximum breathing remains constant at altitude (using the formula for the work of breathing developed by Otis, Fenn and Rahn). An oxygen mask designed for climbers using their full ventilatory capacity is described and its flow resistance compared with that of a low resistance apparatus for measuring a subject's maximum voluntary ventilation.


The paper studies properties of a continuum with structure. The characteristic size of the structure governs the fact that difference relations do not automatically transform into differential ones. It is impossible to distinguish an infinitesimal volume of a body, to which we could apply the major conservation laws, because the minimum representative volume of the body should contain at least a few elementary microstructures. This leads to motion equations of infinite order. Solutions for such equations include, along with sound waves, perturbations propagating with abnormally low velocities not bounded below. It is shown that in such media weak perturbations can increase or decrease without limit. Weak dispersion of structure sizes reduces the intensity of such increase and therefore stabilizes the medium, whereas unlimited growth of dispersion destabilizes it. The nonlinearity of the stress-strain curve is shown to cause a reduction of the specific surface of a cracked medium, i.e. the medium undergoes fracture with the formation of a system of a small number of large cracks as though it ignores a large number of small cracks.


Hume and contemporary Humeans contend that moral sentiments form the sole and sufficient basis of moral judgments. This thesis is criticized by appeal to Hume's theory of justice, which shows that basic principles of justice are required to form and to maintain society, which is indispensable to human life, and that acting according to, or violating, these principles is right, or wrong, regardless of anyone's sentiments, motives or character. Furthermore, Hume's theory of justice shows how the principles of justice are artificial without being arbitrary. In this regard, Hume's theory belongs to the unjustly neglected modern natural law tradition. Some key merits of this strand in Hume's theory are explicated by linking it to Kant's constructivist method of identifying and justifying practical principles (a la O'Neill), and by showing how and why Hegel adopted and further developed Kant's constructivism by re-integrating it with Hume's central natural law concern with our actual social practices.


Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA

The STK11 gene encodes the tumor suppressor serine/threonine protein kinase 11 also known as liver kinase β1 (LKB1). The STK11 gene product regulates cellular energy metabolism and cell polarity by activating AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and other members of the AMPK family. Although rare in most human cancers, mutations in the STK11 gene are third most frequent in lung adenocarcinoma after KRAS and TP53.

Mutational status for STK11, EGFR, and KRAS was determined in tumor DNA from 468 lung adenocarcinoma patients and STK11 gene expression measured on an Affymetrix GeneChip microarray. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was performed on a subset of the patients (N = 140). Survival analyses were performed using Kaplan-Meier survival curves and Cox proportional hazard regression. Three recurring mutations (D194Y, P281fs*6, F354L) were evaluated via Western Blot for AMPK phosphorylation. These mutants were also evaluated via immunoprecipitation and Western Blot for binding to two accessory subunits (MO25 and STRAD) that, along with STK11, make up the active trimeric complex.

STK11 was mutated in 17.5% of all tumors evaluated with 66 different STK11 mutations noted, only 8 of which occurred more than once. STK11 mutant samples had lower levels of STK11 protein as measured by IHC (< 2+: 50.0% mutant vs. 17.9% WT, P < 0.001). Among three STK11 mutants that were characterized, D194Y and F354L were both able to bind MO25 and STRAD, but these interactions were lost in P281fs*6. The P281fs*6 mutant lacks kinase activity while the D194Y mutant has dominant negative activity, suppressing AMPK activation by WT protein. P281fs*6 mutant tumors had lower gene expression compared to other mutants while WT tumors had the highest expression. D194Y mutant tumors had expression levels similar to WT tumors, higher than the average mutant expression. STK11 gene expression for F354L tumors was higher than the mutant tumor average, but lower than WT. The F354L variant is able to phosphorylate AMPK indicating a potential single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) supported by its appearance in the 1000 Genomes Project. The F354L variant is more prevalent in lung adenocarcinoma patients compared to the general population which may suggest that it is a genetic susceptibility factor. Interestingly, when all STK11 mutant samples were combined and compared to WT tumors, STK11 mutant tumors were significantly associated with a reduced risk of death (HR = 0.28; 95% CI 0.10 - 0.78) among stage I and II patients adjusted for prognostic factors.

This study revealed that STK11 mutant tumors as a whole had lower levels of STK11 protein as measured by IHC, and were associated with a significantly reduced risk of death among early stage patients with lung adenocarcinoma. Mutation status and protein levels alone cannot be used to make treatment decisions, however, as the three recurring mutants characterized caused three disparate effects on the STK11 pathway.

Citation Format: Brienne E. Engel, Matthew B. Schabath, Zachary J. Thompson, Steven A. Eschrich, Stephen G. Brantley, Anastasia R. Belock, Anders Berglund, Jhanelle E. Gray, Amer A. Beg, Eric B. Haura, W. Douglas Cress. Characterization of three recurring STK11/LKB1 mutants in lung adenocarcinoma. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 4159. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-4159


Gaining a better understanding of carbon (C) dynamics across the terrestrial and aquatic landscapes has become a major research initiative in ecosystem ecology. Wetlands store a large portion of the global soil C, but are also highly dynamic ecosystems in terms of hydrology and N cycling, and are one of the most invaded habitats worldwide. The interactions between these factors are likely to determine wetland C cycling, and specifically C accretion rates. We investigated these interactions using Mondrian, an individual-based model simulating plant growth and competition and linking these processes to N and C cycling. We simulated the effects of different levels of (1) N loading, (2) hydroperiod, and (3) plant community (natives only vs. invasion scenarios) and their interactions on C accretion outcomes in freshwater coastal wetlands of the Great Lakes region of North America. Results showed that N loading contributed to substantial rates of C accretion by increasing NPP (net primary productivity). By mediating anaerobic conditions and slowing decomposition, hydroperiod also exerted considerable control on C accretion. Invasion success occurred with higher N loading and contributed to higher NPP, while also interacting with hydroperiod via ecosystem-internal N cycling. Invasion success by both Typha × glauca and Phragmites australis showed a strong nonlinear relationship with N loading in which an invasion threshold occurred at moderate N inputs. This threshold was in turn influenced by duration of flooding, which reduced invasion success for P. australis but not for T. × glauca. The greatest simulated C accretion rates occurred in wetlands invaded by P. australis at the highest N loading in constant anaerobic conditions. These model results suggest that while plant invasion may increase C storage in freshwater coastal wetlands, increased plant productivity (both native and invasive) due to increased N loading is the main driver of increased C accretion.


Automatic target recognition (ATR) is an important capability for defense applications. Many aspects of image understanding (IU) research are traditionally used to solve ATR problems. The authors discuss ATR applications and problems in developing real-world ATR systems and present the status of technology for these systems. They identify several IU problems that need to be resolved in order to enhance the effectiveness of ATR-based weapon systems. They conclude that technological gains in developing robust ATR systems will lead to significant advances in many other areas of applications of image understanding.<<ETX>>


ABSTRACT Introduction Triple therapy in COPD is becoming increasingly important with the cumulative documentation of its ability to reduce the risk of AECOPD. However, it must be established which patients benefit most from it compared to other treatments. Areas covered We critically review the literature to determine, if possible, the real role of triple therapy in the treatment of COPD. We have identified studies from several databases and selected the information thought to be more significant. Expert opinion It is still unclear whether and when addition of an ICS to the LAMA/LABA combination provides real additional clinical value, regardless of a preventive effect on exacerbations. There are many doubts about the value of the blood eosinophil count as a valid biomarker to predict AECOPD risk and the clinical response to ICS, also because no association was found in observational studies. In any case, before starting a therapy involving ICS, the risk factors for the development of pneumonia must always be evaluated. Adding a LAMA to an ICS/LABA combination seems to be less problematic. However, each LABA/LAMA combination has a specific efficacy/safety profile that needs to be considered for personalized therapy in COPD even in the context of triple therapy.


SUMMARY A complete cDNA copy of the viroid-like satellite RNA of the Canadian strain of lucerne transient streak virus (LTSV) has been cloned and the nucleotide sequence of the RNA has been determined using this and other clones. The sequence comprises 322 residues and shares 80~ homology with satellite RNAs (stRNAs) of the Australasian isolates of LTSV. A proposed secondary structure for the RNA is highly base-paired and thermodynamicall y stable, and consists of a rod-like structure interspersed with single-stranded loops, an arrangement similar to that proposed for circular stRNA of other strains of LTSV and other sobemoviruses as well as for viroids. Whereas certain regions of the sequence are very similar or identical to those of stRNA from Australasian LTSV, including the putative self-cleavage sites on both the positive and negative sense forms of the RNA, other regions of the sequence are quite dissimilar between the Canadian and Australasian strains.


Technological education is a general culture discipline, which we consider a component of the basic culture and an action coordinate for lifelong learning. By introducing the technological education discipline into the super-technological society, it leads to the cultivation of technological humanism and the formation of an attitude of responsibility and high morality. From a qualitative point of view, technological education contributes to the formation of a generation with real inclinations towards initiative, creativity, cooperation that lead to learning to do well.


This paper revisits the institutional determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) using a comprehensive new data set on the regulations that govern FDI in more than 80 countries. It exploits the presence of confirmed zero investment flows between countries to estimate productivity cut-offs of firms that invest abroad profitably. This approach corrects likely biases arising from firm heterogeneity and country selection in a theoretically derived gravity-type model. The analysis finds inward FDI to be highly responsive to cross-country variation in specific institutional provisions, such as arbitration of disputes and legal procedures to establish foreign subsidiaries. The importance of FDI-specific provisions stands out even after controlling for the general quality of institutions. Statutory openness to FDI, however, has no association with actual inflow of investment. These results are found to be robust to different specifications.


Seawater, with its 3.5% salt content, freezes into hexagonal ice (Ih) that encloses concentrated brine within its matrix. When unsubmerged sea ice reaches a certain height and temperature, the brine drains downward through narrow channels. This mechanism was now modeled by frozen 2-3.5% saline as investigated by cryo-etch high-resolution secondary electron microscopy. Thus, saline was either plunge-frozen in liquid ethane at -183 degrees C or else high-pressure frozen to -105 degrees C in 5-6 ms. Ice from a freshly exposed surface was then subjected to a high-vacuum sublimation ("etching"), a procedure that removes pure bulk ice in preference to ice from frozen hydrated salt. After chromium-coating the etched surface with a 2-nm film, the sample was examined by cryo-HRSEM. Granular icy "fences" were seen surrounding empty areas where amorphous ice had originally resided. Since the fences, about 1-2 mum high, survived the etching, it is likely that they consist of frozen brine. The presence of such fences suggests that, during freezing, saline can purge itself of salt with remarkable speed (5-6 ms). Alternatively, channels (perhaps routed around submicroscopic crystallites of cubic ice (Ic) embedded in the amorphous ice at -105 degrees C) can guide the migration of salt to the periphery of ice patches. Macromolecules fail to form fences because they diffuse too slowly or because they are too large to pass through the channels.


Quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) measurements of nanotribological properties of statistically diverse materials combinations of nanoparticles and substrate electrodes in aqueous suspensions are reported and compared to macroscale measurements of the same materials combinations for a subset of the nanoparticle combinations. Four ceramic nanoparticles, TiO2, SiO2, Al2O3, and maghemite (γ-Fe2O3) and ten substrate materials (Au, Al, Cr, Cu, Mo, Ni, Pt, SiO2, Al2O3, and SS304) were studied. The QCM technique was employed to measure frequency and motional resistance changes upon introduction of nanoparticles into the water surrounding its liquid-facing electrode. This series of experiments expanded prior studies that were often limited to a single nanoparticle - solid liquid combination. The variations in QCM response from one nanoparticle to another are observed to be far greater than the variation from one substrate to another, indicating that the nanoparticles play a larger role than the substrates in determining the frictional drag force levels. The results were categorized according to the direction of the frequency and motional resistance changes and candidate statistical performance factors for the datasets were generated. The performance factors were employed to identify associations between the QCM atomic scale results and the macroscale friction coefficient measurements. Macroscale measurements of friction coefficients for selected systems document that reductions (increases) in motional resistance to shear, as measured by the QCM, are linked to decreases (increases) in macroscale friction coefficients. The performance factors identified in the initial study therefore appear applicable to a broader set of statistically diverse samples. The results facilitate full statistical analyses of the data for identification of candidate materials properties or materials genomes that underlie the performance of nanoparticle systems as lubricants.


Computer programmers require various instructive information during coding and development. Such information is dispersed in different sources like language documentation, wikis, and forums. As an information exchange platform, programmers broadly utilize Stack Overflow, a Web-based Question Answering site. In this paper, we propose a recommender system which uses a supervised machine learning approach to investigate Stack Overflow posts to present instructive information for the programmers. This might be helpful for the programmers to solve programming problems that they confront with in their daily life. We analyzed posts related to two most popular programming languages—Python and PHP. We performed a few trials and found that the supervised approach could effectively manifold valuable information from our corpus. We validated the performance of our system from human perception which showed an accuracy of 71%. We also presented an interactive interface for the users that satisfied the users' query with the matching sentences with most instructive information.


Inspired by its success in financial sectors, the blockchain technique is emerging as an enabling technology for secure distributed control and management of wireless networks. In order to fully benefit from this distributed ledger technology, its limitations, cost, complexity and empowerment also have to be critically appraised. Depending on the specific context of the problem to be solved, these limitations have been handled to some extent through a clear dichotomy in the blockchain architectures, namely by conceiving both permissioned and permissionless blockchains. Permissionless blockchain requires massive computing power to achieve consensus, while its permissioned counterpart is energy efficient but would require trusted participants. To combine these benefits by gaining trust at a high energy efficiency, a novel mechanism is proposed for automatically learning the trust level of users in a public blockchain network and granting them access to a private blockchain network. In this context, machine learning is a very powerful tool capable of automatically learning the trust level. We have proposed reinforcement learning for bridging the dichotomy of blockchains in terms of striking a trust vs complexity trade-off in an unknown environment. Benefits and limitations of various forms of blockchain techniques are analyzed, followed by their reinforcement-aided evolution. We demonstrate that the proposed reinforcement learning aided blockchain is capable of supporting high-integrity autonomous operation and decision making in wireless networks. The win-win amalgamation of these techniques has been demonstrated for striking a compelling balance between the benefits of permissioned and permissionless blockchain networks through the case-study of the proposed blockchain based unmanned aerial vehicle aided wireless networks.


Organizational and occupational psychiatry represents the extension of psychiatric knowledge and skill to the day-to-day functioning of individuals in the workplace and their organizations, with the goal of helping both to function better. To this end, psychiatrists have played an important role both in the treatment of workers and consultation to organizations since the early part of the 20th century.


The biostratigraphical subdivision of the Quaternary in central Europe has followed various approaches, and its terminology is correspondingly large. At first, stages in the development of mammal fauna were named after the sites of typical finds and arranged chronologically (e.g. KRETZOI 1962, 1969, JANOSSY 1969). Repeated efforts to correlate them with glacial and interglacials were difficult, however, because most fauna came from unglaciated regions, and no correlations based on well-defined superpositions were possible. The faunal succession had already shown that the number of interglacials in the classic system was not enough to explain the different warm-stage faunas. Deep-sea boreholes soon showed that the number of oscillations was much higher than PENCK & BRUCKNER (1909) had assumed. The biostratigraphical subdivision of the Late Tertiary was refined by defining the boundaries of the individual stages by first and last appearances of characteristic species of mammals (FAD = First Appearance Date, LAD = Last Appearance Date).


Main-chain-functionalized poly(L-lactide) (PLLA) with pendant unsaturations was synthesized through a one-pot postpolymerization procedure with the PLLA homopolymer as the starting material. The material was functionalized through a-hydrogen abstraction by a sterically hindered strong base, lithium diisopropylamide, followed by the addition of an acid chloride. Two different acid chlorides were examined, lauroyl chloride as a concept electrophile and oleoyl chloride to provide the pendant unsaturations. The semisolvated system, together with branching reactions from the alpha position of the acid chloride, yielded a high molar amount of the incorporated reactant in the material. The unsaturations were preserved under the chosen conditions and the material exhibited surfactant-like properties in blends with oleic acid and PLLA.


Using picosecond time-resolved shadowgrams, we measured the development of an expanding air plasma during double picosecond pulse laser ablation of solids. Prior to the formation of the air plasma, a shock wave was established by the first laser pulse interaction with the solid target. The second picosecond laser pulse interacted with the shock wave and induced the air plasma at the interface between the shock wave front and the ambient air. After the end of the second picosecond ablation laser pulse, the temporal expansion of the air plasma was found to follow the relation r∼t2/5. Results from this air plasma suggest that the shock wave induced by the first laser pulse only absorbs approximately 5% of the energy of the second picosecond laser pulse. Nevertheless, the expansion of the air plasma towards the target results in an enlarged heat-affected zone at the target surface.


The aim of this paper is to present a methodology that defines the most suitable places for installing power quality meters in power system networks, in order to guarantee that all state variables may be directly or indirectly monitored. Initially, the methodology established connectivity rules based on Kirchhoff's Current and Voltage Laws that allows one to verify if all the state variables will be monitored by a possible monitoring system configuration. Then, a branch-and-bound searching algorithm was developed, in order to determine the optimal monitoring system configuration for the IEEE 14-bus system. The effectiveness towards the harmonic state estimation of the achieved monitoring systems configurations are checked with a time domain reference case.


The case explores how Tata Motors, India's largest automobile company, developed the Nano, the world's cheapest car. The case focuses on the translation of Ratan Tata's (Chairman of Tata Motors) vision of a safe affordable car for the masses by Ravi Kant, Managing Director of Tata Motors into the Nano Project. The case raises questions around breaking the price - quality barrier and changing existing internal processes to accommodate revolutionary new ideas. The dilemma of success - Tata Nano was a runaway bestseller - left Tata Motors debating how large a bet they should make on the Nano and what kind of capacity commitment this requires. Learning Objective: The case illustrates how to build a global company that can successfully compete with companies from developed economies and how large companies innovate in a breakthrough way in the marketplace.