The processing of observed biological motion that is the movement of biological organisms has an important role in animals' vigilance and survival. For humans, it is also implicated in the development of social cognition and communication, with infants showing preferential attention towards motion from an early age. Further, adults can extract a broad range of social information from the biological motion of human figures represented by dots of light (point-light displays), that contain kinematic, structural and dynamic information. From this information, humans can identify individual actors, their sex, emotional state (angry, happy, and sad) and walking direction even when obfuscated by additional noise. The processing of biological motion draws on different cognitive systems such as working memory, selective attention and sensorimotor processing. Humans demonstrate an attentional bias towards human forms and biological motion, compared to other non-biological stimuli, and the observation of biological movement activates sensorimotor cortical regions. Previous research has used EEG to measure mu frequency (~ 8-13 Hz) changes and to infer the activation of sensorimotor regions during biological movement observation. This sensorimotor activation is thought to be an indication of online movement simulation. It has been demonstrated that top-down attentional processes modulate the engagement of sensorimotor simulation during movement observation. What remains unknown is whether biological motion exogenously captures spatial attention and, in turn, modulates sensorimotor simulation; the current study sought to explore this question.

In the current study, I used an attentional bias paradigm where movement and control point-light displays are presented laterally and simultaneously as irrelevant cues. Relatively decreased reaction times to subsequent targets that appear in the same location as a cue reflects preferential processing of that preceding cue. I simultaneously recorded EEG and calculated mu frequency changes at both central and occipital electrode locations. I find decreased reaction times and an increase in correct responses to targets that replace the scrambled point light display (PLD), which represents non-biological motion, compared to targets that replaced the coherent PLD representing biological movement. In addition, EEG analysis revealed a left hemisphere bias, with post hoc analysis revealing this bias is driven by the central electrodes; with a larger desynchronisation in the left central electrode compared to the right central electrode, whereas, occipital alpha was desynchronised symmetrically. Together, the behavioural and EEG findings suggest an inhibition of return (IOR) effect.


So far, the semantic business process modelling is gaining in importance mainly due to the advances in the domain of semantic web technologies, which help enhancing, the modelling issues of the business process management life cycle. The linked data approach becomes interesting to apply on Business Processes to enrich them with information from diverse sources and link them to those sources. The aim of our project is to enhance the phase of process modelling of Swiss eGovernment public processes by suggesting to the modeller process fragments for auto-completion from a semantic repository. Created processes are linked and semantically enriched with ontology concepts related to the domain of public sector and eGovernment that will enhance query results in the repository as well as improve process documentation. We focus on linking the processes to the public sector standards.


Abstract The aim of this paper was to evaluate the activity and tolerability of oral vinorelbine in patients with advanced castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) who progressed after a minimum of three lines including: abiraterone acetate, docetaxel, cabazitaxel, and enzalutamide. Treatment consisted of weekly oral vinorelbine 60 mg/m2. Chemotherapy was administered until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Twenty-six patients received vinorelbine: their median age was 74 years (range 58–84 years). Twenty-four (92.3%) patients had bone metastases. A decrease in PSA levels ≥50% was observed in 2 patients (7.7%). Among the subjects who were symptomatic at baseline, pain was reduced in 3 patients (13.6%) with a significant decrease in analgesic use. Median progression-free survival was 9 weeks (95% CI: 7 to 11) and median overall survival was 17 weeks (95% CI: 12 to 22). Treatment was well tolerated, and no grade 4 toxicities were observed. Our findings do not suggest the use of oral vinorelbine on a weekly schedule, in CRPC heavily pre-treated.


Gastrointestinal parasites are frequently encountered in captive non-human primates and infestation may have severe consequences on the animal's health status. Most of these parasites are also transmissible to humans. Nevertheless, little is known about the prevalence and monitoring modalities of gastrointestinal parasitoses in non-human primates housed in zoological institutions and there are currently no guidelines available for their detection and identification. The objective of this study was to identify the main gastrointestinal parasites that may be observed in non-human primates in zoological institutions in France, as well as to develop a decision-making tree to ease their identification. Twenty-four zoological institutions were surveyed, most of which performed fecal examinations routinely on their non-human primates (91.7%). Most institutions used flotation enrichment protocols to detect gastrointestinal parasites (95.2%) and nematodes were the most frequently encountered parasites (73.0%). A total of 252 fecal samples corresponding to 68 different non-human primate species from these institutions were analyzed using sedimentation and flotation protocols. Protozoa (47.3%) were found to be more frequent than helminths (15.6%). Furthermore, old-world monkeys exhibited a higher parasite load (93.6%) than any other non-human primate species category. Compiled data from fecal examinations allowed the development of a decision-making tree and diagnostic atlas to facilitate parasite diagnosis in captive non-human primates.


THE account which follows is a precis of lectures given on this subject at the Royal Society of Medicine and the Tennent Institute. It describes the Swiss portion of an ophthalmic tour in August and September, 1946. The kindness of the heads of the various clinics during the visit, and in responding to numerous enquiries subsequently, is a matter for which I would like to express my gratitude. The writer doubts if it is possible to see so much of ophthalmic interest in so small an area in any other part of the world. Switzerland is not only a creative amalgam of three European civilisations, but is also endowed with a niost excellent transport system, has had 122 years of continuous peace, and has a firstclass precision engineering and pharmaceutical industry in addition.


Background The surgical alternatives are complicated for complex ureteral strictures or long defects such as nearly full-length ureteral avulsion and recurrent ureteral strictures after pyeloplasty or ureteroplasty with severe local adhesion. This study was performed to summarize our clinical experience in the treatment of complex ureteral strictures or defects with autologous urinary tract muscle flaps. Methods We retrospectively analyzed seven patients with complex ureteral strictures or defects. The seven patients comprised three men and four women ranging in age from 37 to 61 years (average age, 46 years). The causes of ureteral lesions were nearly full-length ureteral avulsion (n = 2), postoperative ureteral stricture after sigmoid augmentation cystoplasty (n = 1), and postoperative recurrent ureteral stricture due to local inflammation and local adhesion (n = 4). The lengths of the defects in the patients with ureteral avulsion were 22 and 24 cm, and the average length of the recurrent ureteral strictures was 5.2 cm (range, 4–8 cm). The patients underwent ureteroplasty using spiral bladder muscle flaps (n = 4), muscle flaps from the dilated ureter or pelvis segment proximal to the strictures (n = 2), or a bowel segment (sigmoid) (n = 1). Six-French double-J stents were placed in the repaired ureters. Results All operations were successful, and the ureteral double-J stents were safely removed under cystoscopy 8 weeks postoperatively. All of the patients had improvement of hydronephrosis, and none had ureteral strictures on intravenous urography or contrast CT. The patient with failed pyeloplasty was found to have enlarged kidney and dilated calyx postoperatively, but the degree was less severe than preoperatively and three-dimensional CT reconstruction showed renal pelvis reduction and a patent ureter with no stenosis at the reconstruction site. Renal function was normal in all patients. Conclusions Treatment of ureteral strictures or defects with autologous urinary tract muscle flaps can be performed in some complicated cases with good results.


We compute abnormal return variance and abnormal trading volume in the 3‐day window surrounding earnings announcements to examine the information content of earnings announcements in the New Zealand equity market over the past 16 years. We find that the information content of earnings announcements has increased significantly over time, and this finding holds true for both interim and preliminary earnings announcements. We find evidence that earnings announcements with June year‐ends exhibit a higher level of information content and experience a more pronounced rising trend as compared to earnings announcements with non‐June year‐ends. Several firm characteristics appear to relate to the level of the information content of earnings announcements as well as to compound the trend over time. We document an important finding that the information content of earnings announcements increases remarkably in the period after the adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).


Despite their many advantages and successes, molecular beacon (MB) hybridization probes have not been extensively used in microarray formats because of the complicating probe-substrate interactions that increase the background intensity. We have previously shown that tethering to surface-patterned microgels is an effective means for localizing MB probes to specific surface locations in a microarray format while simultaneously maintaining them in as water-like an environment as possible and minimizing probe-surface interactions. Here we extend this approach to include both real-time detection together with integrated NASBA amplification. We fabricate small (∼250 μm × 250 μm) simplex, duplex, and five-plex assays with microarray spots of controllable size (∼20 μm diameter), position, and shape to detect bacteria and fungi in a bloodstream-infection model. The targets, primers, and microgel-tethered probes can be combined in a single isothermal reaction chamber with no post-amplification labelling. We extract total RNA from clinical blood samples and differentiate between Gram-positive and Gram-negative bloodstream infection in a duplex assay to detect RNA- amplicons. The sensitivity based on our current protocols in a simplex assay to detect specific ribosomal RNA sequences within total RNA extracted from S. aureus and E. coli cultures corresponds to tens of bacteria per ml. We furthermore show that the platform can detect RNA- amplicons from synthetic target DNA with 1 fM sensitivity in sample volumes that contain about 12 000 DNA molecules. These experiments demonstrate an alternative approach that can enable rapid and real-time microarray-based molecular diagnostics.


Many factors play a role in the etiology of acute pancreatitis and its pathogenesis is not fully understood. Dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP-4) inhibitors are a new group of agents for the treatment of Diabetes Mellitus (DM). There are some controversies about specific adverse events such as pancreatitis and hypersensitivity reactions. A 50-year-old morbid obese woman presented with upper abdomen pain after the eating food, nausea and vomiting. She was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus 7 years ago. Vildagliptin had been added to her treatment six months ago. Abdominal examination revealed epigastric tenderness with guarding. Laboratory data revealed elevated pancreatic enzymes. Abdominal computed tomography (CT) showed features of pancreatitis. Vildagliptin was stopped and patient's symptoms had diminished in parallel with normalization of pancreatic enzymes; and at the 5th day patient was discharged with healthy condition. She was free of symptoms and all laboratory data were normal at the 30th day after discharge. It is important to keep in mind that diabetic patients have an increased risk of pancreatitis which may be related to obesity, hyperlipidemia and/or drugs.


The purpose of this study is to investigate residential characters and consciousness about housing environment concerned with earth housing, and to suggest basic data reflectible on the planning of earth housing. Residential characters and consciousness are investigated with the people lived in forty seven earth housings located in nationwide scale through interviews and questionnaire. As a result, it is shown that a reason of health like sick house syndrome, residential environments such as ventilation and lighting, site environment such as neighbor and greenfield are very influential elements to the consciousness of inhabitants. Meanwhile, approximation of residential area, the connection with public facilities including medical service, educational and commercial conditions, additionally, preparation of disaster and crime prevention in a viewpoint of safety are pointed out as relatively weak ones. It means that earth housing is not systematically fixed as a residential site because it is personally progressed by small number of peoples having different reasons. For the improvement of systematic housing environment, development and proposition of various model are needed on earth housing and its site.


Microbial community diversity is pivotal for the functioning of our planet, but its drivers are still unclear, in particular the role of resource number and identity. To fill this gap, we studied the assembly of hundreds of soil-derived microbial communities on a wide range of well-defined resource environments, from single carbon sources to combinations of up to 16. We found a remarkable diversity in single resources but a linear one-by-one increase in the number of species with the number of additional resources. We show, both experimentally and theoretically, that both these observations could originate from generalist and specialist taxa interacting in a modular fashion within the community. Since generalists and specialists are ubiquitous in natural microbiomes, our results might apply to a variety of different ecological settings, providing a framework to predict how community diversity responds to changes in resource availability. One Sentence Summary While many species coexist in single resources, community diversity only increases one-by-one as more resources are added.


Seminal attributes and scrotal circumference was conducted on twenty five Murrah buffalo breeding bulls belonging to Central Semen Station, Bhopal. Five semen samples from each buffalo bull were collected at 7 days interval. Fresh semen was evaluated for volume, mass motility, sperm concentration, progressive motility, live sperm count and morphological abnormalities. The mean volume, mass motility, progressive motility, sperm concentration, live sperm count and total abnormal sperms were 2.71±0.112, 3.34±0.073, 68.4±1.30, 978.9±34.37, 89.52±0.38, and 8.82±0.873%. Significant (P<0.05) variation was observed between the bulls with regard to sperm abnormalities. However, non-significant difference was observed for volume, sperm concentration, mass motility, progressive motility, and live sperm count. The overall mean sperm abnormalities found for abnormal head, middle piece and tail were 1.68±0.160, 2.0±0.238, and 5.12±0.475 percent, respectively. Tail abnormalities differed significantly between bulls.


Humans can categorize an object in three ways. For example, a car can be categorized as vehicles (superordinate), ground vehicles (basic) or car (subordinate). Different semantic levels of categorization is referred to these three categorization modes. There are different speed and accuracy for a similar object in the classification of these levels. However, much research has been done in this context, the trend of these levels is still questionable as to the accuracy and reaction time and the reason for this difference. In this paper, we examine the order of these levels and the reason for their differences. Here we show the superordinate advantage is declared and after this level the base level and the subordinate level are expressed respectively. To this end, first, we design an experiment to examine the semantic levels in the human eye system. The result of this experiment is the superordinate advantage. Actually, at the superordinate level at the same time, the reaction time was lower than other levels, and the efficiency was higher than other levels. In addition, a computational model is introduced that has time and can classify semantic levels. The model is trained for ten categories in this study. These ten categories are considered as subordinate level and five levels of basic and two levels of superordinate are expressed. We found that, at higher levels, such as superordinate, more neurons participate in the clustering task, so outcome is faster and more accurate results. Moreover, the proposed model has been tested for inverted input images to verify the model.


Interpretation of diving profiles of aquatic animals would be considerably enhanced by additional behavioural information. A new sensor is presented here which records animal movements. This sensor was tested on a captive loggerhead turtle Caretta caretta which showed similar activity patterns to free-living green turtles Chelonia mydas. A computer program with user-selectable options was developed to analyse the data consistently and rapidly. Using our sensor we calculated the total resting time, which differed by less than 5% from the real resting time when the sampling interval was 2 s. The method was additionally tested for different sampling intervals to find out its applicability for field studies.


THE AIM of the investigation was to study the influence of the long term introduction of fitocomplexes of th cell culture of Rubia cordifolia on the renal function of rats in the conditions of experimental oxalate nephrolithiasis . MATERIALS AND METHODS . For the modeling of the kidney stone disease the male rats Wistar during the three weeks received as drink water 1% solution of ethilenglicol. The prophylactic effect of fitocomplexes of Rubia Cordifoliawere evaluated in conditions of simultaneous injection of the cell culture in the dose of 75 mg/kg in suspension based on starch mucus. In the urine test, collected during 24 hours, the concentration of oxalate-, phosphate-ions and calcium ions, and also the activity of lactetdehydrogenase enzime, gamma-glutaminiltransferase and N-acetyl-β-D-glucoseaminidase were evaluated. RESULTS . Under the influence of ethyleneglycol the oxalate nephrolithiasis developed in rats, with was accompanied by the increase of the oxalate excretion and the development of the fermenturia. In the conditions of prophylactic use of the fitocomplexes of the cell cultures of the Rubia Cardifoliawas noted the decrease in oxalate excretion in 2,6 times in comparison with the rats with experimental nephrolithiasis. During the use of this fito-medicine the stabilization of the activity of marker enzimes, especially lactatdehydrogenase and gamma glutamiltransferase was registered. CONCLUSION . The good influence of the prophylactic use of fitocomplexes of th cell culture of Rubia Cordifoliaon the flow of the experimental kidney stone disease was realized in lower development of oxaluria and stabilization of the activity of the urine marker ferments.


Efficient mobility management is essential for future communication networks due to the evident trend of increasingly mobile users. A number of mobility management schemes are introduced in the literature. However, there seem to be various definitions of mobility management depending on the context of the problem setting. In this paper, we give a framework that shows how the different definitions of the mobility management relate to each other. Further, we discuss how some existing mobility management solutions map into the new framework.


The aim of the study was to develop matrix tablets of Aceclofenac by wet granulation using hydrophilic polymer like Hydroxy propyl methyl cellulose K -100. Hydroxy propyl methyl cellulose K -15 Hydroxy propyl methyl cellulose K -4M The drug excipient mixtures were subjected to preformulation studies. The tablets were subjected to physicochemical studies, invitro drug release, kinetic studies and stability studies. FTIR studies shown there was no interaction between drug and polymer. The physicochemical properties of tablets were found within the limits. Aceclofenac is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agent used in treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis and spondylitis. The drug release from optimized formulations was extended for a period of 12 hrs. The kinetic treatment of selected formulation (F5) showed that the release of drug follows zero order models. The optimized formulations were subjected to stability studies for three month at 45° temperature with RH 75±5% and showed there were no significant changes in drug content, physicochemical parameters and release pattern. Results of the present study indicated the suitability of hydrophilic polymers in the preparation of matrix based sustained release formulation of Aceclofenac.


Family medicine leadership is faced with the challenge of maintaining the progressive development of a new academic discipline. Academic administration has presented a dilemma to all fields, and there has been very limited training to assist administrators in academe. A survey of department chairmen and residency directors in family medicine determined that a high percentage of leaders have moved into their positions directly from practice or from faculty responsibilities. Predominant needs were in the areas of finance, external relationships, time management, and conflict intervention. There are several implications from this study which should be considered in the selection, training, and evaluation of academic family medicine administrators.


BACKGROUND
Nasopharygeal fibroangioma (NPF) can be approached through lateral rhinotomy, the middle skull fossa approach and the transcranial-facial combined approach. It is complicated and thus results in more insults, and when adopted, the total resection rate of tumor is still low. The nasal endoscope is minimally invasive, the dead angles of a craniotomy, such as sphenoid sinus, maxillary sinus, and nasopharynx are easily approached by an endoscope. Lateral rhinotomy have to make facial incision and affects maxillary bone development. We combined the craniotomy and endoscopic approach intending to take advantages of the two approaches.

METHODS
Twelve NPF patients who underwent craniotomy with endoscopic assistance from March 2002 to July 2008 at the Beijing Tongren Hospital were selected. All patients were male. Their ages ranged from 11 to 33 years. The main symptoms were visual deterioration, exophthalmos, nasal obstruction, epistaxis and pharynx nasalis neoplasm. The diagnosis was based on CT, MRI and digital subtraction angiography (DSA). All patients had intracranial encroachment and all underwent DSA and embolism treatment were taken before surgery. Seven patients had a pterional craniotomy, five had a frontal-temporal-orbital-zygomatic craniotomy. Most of the tumor was resected piecemeal, then removed through the sphenoidal sinus. Finally, using an endoscope in the nasal cavity, tumor in nasal cavity was resected and removed through the sphenoidal sinus, observing the dead angle of the craniotomy and confirming that sinus drainage was unobstructed.

RESULTS
The tumor was removed completely in 11 patients and partially resected in one patient because of hemorrhage. One patient had an infection after the operation and one patient had cerebrospinal rhinorrhea 3 years after surgery that was remediated by endoscopic repair.

CONCLUSION
Craniotomy with endoscopic assistance in the treatment of NPF was minimally invasive, safe and efficient, and avoided facial incision.


A cyclic tri-nuclear α-diimine nickel(0) complex [{Ni(μ-LMe-2,4)}3] (2) was synthesized from a "pre-organized", trimerized trigonal LNiBr2-type precursor [Ni3(μ2-Br)3(μ3-Br)2(LMe-2,4)3]·Br (1; LMe-2,4 = [(2,4-Me2C6H3)NC(Me)]2). In complex 2, the α-diimine ligands not only exhibit the normal N,N'-chelating mode, but they also act as bridges between the Ni atoms through an unusual π-coordination of a C[double bond, length as m-dash]N bond to Ni. Complex 2 is able to catalyze the cyclotrimerization of alkynes to form substituted benzenes in good yield and regio-selectivity for the 1,3,5-isomers, which is found to vary with the nature of the alkyne employed. This complex represents a convenient self-supported nickel(0) catalyst with no need for additional ligands and reducing agent.


In the article the analysis of evolutionary variations formation of the human environment. Shows the author's typology of the environment, based on its tripartite division. The typology is based on the primacy of one of the areas of the environment, and includes environmental, socio-cultural and technological type of the human environment. Given the author's concept subenvironment's locus that determine it as a territory limited by any of the accepted principles of demarcation, and having a certain type of accentuation habitat. The article gives the characteristics of the three types of subenvironment's configurations are denoted forecast scenarios of their development in the context of an extrapolation of the situation influence the primary sector. As the prospects for territorial analysis the situation, a model verification subenvironment's locus, including: territorial history of the formation subenvironment's locus, state master and slave subsystems environment disposition of society, the economic situation, the group of polar factors of the territory, the territory of the strategy, foresight scenarios territory risks territory.


Introduction: Insulin like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF1R) reported to be overexpressed in some types of human carcinomas, including lung cancer, and breast cancer. However no report of the significance of IGF1R expression was available in pancreatic cancer. Most patients with pancreatic cancer die within 2 years at diagnosis even after curative resection. The objective of this study was to evaluate the significance of IGF1R expression in human pancreatic cancer. Material and Methods: A total 122 patients with pancreatic cancer was studied. Paraffin embedded species of pancreatic cancers were stained with antibodies against IGF1R. IGF1R expression was evaluated by intensity of staining. Semi-quantitative scores of zero (no staining), 1+ (weak staining), 2+ (moderate staining), or 3+ (strong staining) were assigned to each sample based on the intensity of staining. Scores of 2+ or 3+ were defined as IGF1R-positive staining. The association between IGF1R expression and clinicopathologic variables was examined. Results: IGF1R expression was positive in 50 (40.1%) of 122 cases. Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated the prognosis of IGF1R-positive patients was significantly (p=0.0076) poorer than that of IGF1R-negative, and median survival time of patients with IGF1R-positive was 37.3 months, while that of patients with IGF1R-negative samples was 60.8 months. There were no associations between IGF1R overexpression and clinicopathological factors, including tumor location, tumor size, tumor differentiation, and T/N categories according to the International Union against Cancer. Multivariate analysis showed IGF1R expression and lymph node metastasis were independent predictors of worse prognosis in pancreatic cancer. Conclusion: The expression of IGF1R might be a novel predictive prognostic marker for patients with pancreatic cancers. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 708. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-708


Penile intraepithelial neoplasias grade 3 (PIN 3) and penile carcinomas were examined for the presence of human papillomavirus (HPV) RNA transcripts by in situ hybridization using 125I-labeled RNA probes. Human papillomavirus transcripts were detected in all 10 PIN 3 lesions not associated with invasive malignant conditions but were present in only 29% of penile carcinomas (9 of 26 squamous cell carcinomas and none of 5 verrucous carcinomas). Human papillomavirus RNA-positive penile cancers were significantly more likely to exhibit adjacent PIN 3 lesions than were HPV-negative tumors, and PIN 3 lesions adjacent to tumors always contained the same HPV-RNA type as was present in the invasive tumor. The development of most penile cancers may be unrelated to HPV infection. Future epidemiologic studies of the role of sexually transmitted factors in the development of penile carcinoma should distinguish between HPV-positive and HPV-negative penile cancers.


Plasmid pRN1 from Sulfolobus islandicus REN1H1 is believed to replicate by a rolling circle mechanism but its origin and mechanism of replication are not well understood. We sought to create minimal expression vectors based on pRN1 that would be useful for heterologous gene expression in S. acidocaldarius, and in the process improve our understanding of the mechanism of replication. We constructed and transformed shuttle vectors that harbored different contiguous stretches of DNA from pRN1 into S. acidocaldarius E4-39, a uracil auxotroph. A 232-bp region 3' of orf904 was found to be critical for pRN1 replication and is therefore proposed to be the putative origin of replication. This 232-bp region contains a 100-bp stem-loop structure believed to be the double-strand origin of replication. The loop of the 100-bp structure contains a GTG tri-nucleotide motif, a feature that was previously reported to be important for the primase activity of Orf904. This putative origin and the associated orf56 and orf904 were identified as the minimal replicon of pRN1 because transformants of plasmids lacking any of these three features were not recovered. Plasmids lacking orf904 and orf56 but harboring the putative origin were transformable when orf904 and orf56 were provided in-trans; a 75-bp region 5' of the orf904 start codon was found to be essential for this complementation. Detailed knowledge of the pRN1 origin of replication will broaden the application of the plasmid as a genetic tool for Sulfolobus species.


This paper describes the evaluation of our early design ideas of an ad-hoc of workflow system. Using the teach-back technique, we have performed a hermeneutic analysis of the mockup implementation named NIWS to get corrective and creative feedback at the functional, dialogue and representation level of the new workflow system.


The authors have operated on 22 cases of chronic instability of the ankle. The anterior part of the lateral ligament was reinserted in the lateral malleolus. Only 18 patients were followed up. 15 had a good result, 2 had a recurrent sprain after trauma and one had a poor result. The authors consider that this technique, combined with proprioceptive rehabilitation of the peroneal muscles gives better results than ligamentoplasties using the peroneal tendons.


Hollow microporous organic nanospheres (H-MONs) are prepared by using polylactide-b-polystyrene diblock copolymers (PLA-b-PS) as the precursor via a hyper-cross-linking mediated self-assembly strategy, in which the hyper-cross-linking PS block forms the microporous organic shell framework, and the degradable PLA block produces the hollow mesoporous core structure. The formation mechanism, morphology, and porosity parameters of the resulting H-MONs are systematically investigated. Moreover, based on the hyper-cross-linking generated rigid microporous organic frameworks, hollow microporous carbon nanospheres (H-MCNs) can be achieved by further pyrolysis progress. The obtained H-MCNs as electrode materials of a supercapacitor exhibit excellent electrochemical performance with specific capacitances of up to 145 F g-1 at 0.2 A g-1, with almost no capacitance loss even after 5000 cycles at 10 A g-1. More especially, H-MONs can be further act as "nanoreactors" for the synthesis of Fe3O4 nanoparticles within hollow cores to construct magnetic core-shell Fe3O4@H-MONs nanocomposite materials. Our strategy represents a new avenue for the preparation of hollow morphology-controlled microporous organic polymers with various potential applications.


A major factor associated with the occupation of every individual -whether successful or notis believing in one's abilities and strengths. It can be said that self-efficacy plays an important role in the successful execution of tasks, along with the basic skills for doing so. Effective performance requires both skills and the belief in one's own ability in performing those skills. Managing the ever changing, uncertain, unpredictable and stressful situations in our lives requires multiple skills. According to Bandura, self-efficacy is a constructive power through which the cognitive, social, emotional and behavioral skills of an individual are organized efficiently to achieve various goals. Hence self-efficacy is a critical factor in one's success or failure throughout life. Belief in self-efficacy can enhance a person's job skills and trigger his progress towards occupational success. In this research, attempt was made to describe the concept of self-efficacy and job skills and the interplay between them.


Asymmetric plasmonic hierarchical nanostructures (HNs) are of great significance in optics, catalysis, and sensors, but the complex growth kinetics and lack of fine structure design limit their practical applications. Herein, a new atom absorption energy strategy is developed to achieve a series of Au-Ag HNs with the continuously tuned contact area in Janus and Ag island number/size on Au seeds. Different from the traditional passive growth mode, this strategy endows seed with a hand to capture the hetero atoms in a proactive manner, which is beyond the size, shape, and assembles of Au seed. Density functional theory reveals ththe adsorption of PDDA on Au surface leads to lower formation energy of Au-Ag bonds (-3.96 eV) than FSDNA modified Au surface (-2.44 eV). The competitive adsorption of two ligands on Au seed is the decisive factor for the formation of diverse Au-Ag HNs. In particular, the Au-Ag2 HNs exhibit outstanding photothermal conversion capability in the near-infrared window, and in vivo experiments verify them as superior photothermal therapy agents. This work highlights the importance of the atom absorption energy strategy in unlocking the diversity of HNs and may push the synthesis and application of superstructures to a higher level.


Background: Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is a serious disease with high mortality and morbidity, and effective treatment is limited. A large amount of evidence suggests that the inflammatory response contributes to secondary brain damage following ICH. TIPE2 is an essential negative regulator of both innate and adaptive immunity, and depletion of TIPE2 causes inflammatory disease. However, the possible role of TIPE2 following ICH has not been reported. Methods: In this study, we investigated TIPE2 levels and inflammation in macrophages treated with erythrocyte lysate in vitro, and we observed proinflammatory cytokine production, BBB disruption, cerebral water content and neurological damage in ICH mice in vivo. Results: We found that TIPE2 levels were significantly decreased in erythrocyte lysate-treated macrophages compared to control macrophages. Upregulation of TIPE2 decreased macrophage activation and cytokine production and accelerated brain damage in ICH mice. In addition, upregulation of TIPE2 attenuated proinflammatory cytokine production, BBB disruption, and severe brain inflammation after ICH. Conclusion: The results demonstrated that TIPE2 was negatively correlated with the pathogenesis of ICH, which prevented brain injury and attenuated deleterious inflammatory responses following ICH. TIPE2 might serve as a novel target for ICH therapy.


The use of plants, plant extracts, and folk remedies for the treatment of human diseases has been known as traditional medicine. It is approved that the use of herbal medicine dates far back to 60,000 years ago in Iraq. This study aimed to investigate the possible effects of pomegranate and palm pollen, as two powerful herbal remedies with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-bacterial effects, on fertility in the male rabbits. A total of 15 healthy New Zealand White male adult rabbits were randomly assigned to three groups (n=5 in each group). Group A: 5 rabbits did not receive herbal treatment (control group). Group B: 5 rabbits were treated with palm pollen at a dose of 2 g by oral gavage daily. Group C: 5 rabbits were treated with pomegranate peel (2 g) treated by oral gavage daily. All animals were euthanized 90 days after the beginning of the experiment. Following the euthanasia, the testis was removed. For sperm recovery, the epididymis was dissected from the testicles and the tail of the epididymis was minced in the sperm washing medium and incubated for 15 min in an atmosphere of humidified 5% CO2, 95% The samples were evaluated by using computerized semen analyzer apparatus (CASA). After 90 days, the treated groups with palm pollen and pomegranate peel (groups B and C) demonstrated a significant increase in the sperm concentration, compared to group (A). Moreover, the recorded data revealed that the sperm concentration in group C was significantly higher than that in group B. The study indicated that the total sperm motility was increased significantly in groups B and C, as compared to that in the control group, while the total sperm motility in group C increased significantly, compared to group B. The histological evolutions signified that in the control group, the epithelial of seminiferous tubules were at different stages of spermatogenesis, the spermatocytogenesis (primary and secondary) with the spermogenesis (spermatids) were found in a cluster at the cavity of the tubule. Furthermore, the results of histological evaluations in groups B and C were distinguished by a significant augmentation of the seminiferous tubules with primary and secondary spermatocytes, as well as some degrees of spermogenesis (round spermatids), compared to group A. Moreover, increased angiogenesis was observed in groups B and C. In conclusion, the results pointed out that herbal remedies have a significant effects in the treatment of reproductive disorders.


The comparative germination biology of 28 perennial species native to the temperate grasslands of southern Victoria was tested using a single temperature regime (20/10˚C) in either constant darkness or 12 h diurnal white-light conditions. This temperature regime was chosen because it corresponds to the temperature found to produce substantial or optimal germination in other germination studies of grassland plants. Four germination attributes—time to the beginning of germination (germination lag), time taken to achieve 50% of final germination (germination speed –t50), percentage germination in diurnal light conditions and percentage germination in continuous darkness—were calculated for each species and correlated to three plant attributes: plant family, life form and seed weight. Germination lag was short for many species: 50% had a lag of less than 7 days, whilst 96% of species had begun germinating within 28 days. Germination speed was moderately fast for most species: 75% of species had a t50 of less than 28 days. Total percentage germination in diurnal light or continuous darkness was variable (0–98%), but many species (64%) germinated readily (> 50%) in at least one treatment. Twenty-four percent of species had germination substantially inhibited by darkness (i.e. Acaena echinata, Bulbine bulbosa, Eryngium ovinum, Podolepis sp. aff. jaceoides, Velleia paradoxa and Wahlenbergia luteola). No species had its germination promoted by darkness. Few correlations between plant and germination attributes were detected. Seed weight was not correlated with any of the three germination attributes, nor was life form or plant family correlated with germination speed or percentage germination in the light or dark. Germination lag, however, was significantly associated with plant family and, in a related way, with life form: species from the Liliaceae (geophytes) took longer to begin germination than species from the Asteraceae (hemicryptophytes). The ecological implications of the observed germination biology on the potential formation of persistent soil seed banks and seedling recruitment dynamics are discussed.


Aza Raskin talks about The Humane Environment, his father (inventor of the Macintosh), and challenging the status quo. This apple doesn't fall far from the tree.


Nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drug (NSAID)–photoinduced DNA damage in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells measured using the alkaline comet assay is presented. Whereas Tiaprofenic Acid–photoinduced DNA damage was promptly induced (i.e. observed at relatively low radiation doses), Ketoprofen‐photoinduced DNA damage was delayed. This prompt and delayed effect is observed with UVA (320–400 nm), UVB (290–320 nm) and solar‐simulated radiation and is attributed to the different photochemical properties of NSAID. The results from these experiments, carried out in living cells, confirm the speculations of NSAID‐photoinduced DNA damage brought up by the many experiments conducted in solution.


This study has two objectives: 1) filling the research gap of financial and non-financial
incentives on individual performance; 2) provides money orientation variable as input to
answer the gap of incentive research. Data analysis was done by performing t-test
independent sample. The sample of research was collected from Student of Faculty
Economics and Business UNSOED, data generated was done by Laboratory Experimental.
The 2x1 experimental design between subjects with total of 52 participants divided into 4
cells. The results show that participants with low money orientation have higher
performance when given non-monetary incentives than when given monetary incentives. The
variations of result on incentive research of individual performance was found has been
explained by providing money orientation as a variable. This study addresses the problems
of previous researches that have not considered the money orientation as variable that can
affect individual performance.
Keyword: Money Orientation, Individual Performance, Monetary Incentives and NonMonetary Incentives.


Increased inflammation with age (i.e., inflammaging) is a hallmark of aging conserved in human and mice, but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood, partially because a systematic comparative study of mouse and human immune system aging is lacking. We uncovered epigenomic/transcriptomic signatures of aging in spleen and peripheral blood lymphocytes from young (3 months) and old (18 months) mice in two strains: C57BL/6J (long-lived) and NZO/HILtJ (short-lived) and compared these to the aging signatures of human peripheral blood cells. The most predominant and conserved genomic signature of aging in human and mice tissues studied here was the epigenetic activation of several AP-1 complex members (Fos, Fosl2, Junb, Jund). Footprinting analyses showed that these transcription factors 'bind' more frequently with age and target pro-inflammatory and effector molecules, including the pro-inflammatory Il6. Analysis of single cell RNA-seq data from the mouse aging cell atlas (Tabula Muris Senis) revealed that AP-1 activation with age is a common feature across all immune cell types within spleens, yet macrophages express these molecules more often than other cells. Functional assays confirmed that spleen cells from older animals have increased c-JUN protein binding and increased IL6 production upon myeloid cell activation using poly(I:C) via TLR3. Western blot data revealed that c-JUN activation with age is not post-transcriptional since its phosphorylation levels were similar between young and old mice. Together, these data established that Jun and Fos families in the AP-1 complex are transcriptionally activated with age and target pro-inflammatory molecules and aging-related increases in the binding of these proteins likely modulate increased inflammation with age.


Mucuna pruriens (L) DC tempe is a food that functions as an inhibitor of the angiotensin-I-converting enzyme (ACE). The purpose of this research was to study the activity of M. pruriens tempe peptides during the digestive process in vitro with pepsin-pancreatin, and absorption of peptides in the small intestine using the inverted intestinal sac method. Our results show that M. pruriens had the highest ACE-inhibiting activity after digestion in vitro after fermentation for 72 h (F72). F72 peptide absorption (%) and ACE-inhibitory activity of the absorbed peptides did not significantly differ between the different segments of the small intestine (duodenum, jejunum, and ileum). These results demonstrate that F72 tempe maintains ACE-inhibitory activity in each segment of the small intestine after both digestion and absorption.


This paper takes data of the Chinese high-tech industry as samples, using Analytic hierarchy process (ahp), compares the technology innovation competitiveness of high technology industrial in Chinese provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government from the technology innovation competitiveness subsystems of the mechanism of flexibility, the human capital investment, science and technology, and capital allocation and management performance, and the technical innovation competitiveness system level. Through the competitive ranking points of the subsystems and big system, this paper not only reveals the gaps of the technology innovation competitiveness among the regional high-tech industry, but also provides the direction of continuous improvement of the technology innovation competition of the regional high-tech industry in China.


Two thousand five hundred college girls were assessed for their knowledge and attitudes regarding sex, pregnancy and child rearing with the help of a pretested questionnaire. The site of menstruation was known to only 35.3% of the girls. The knowledge about the time and site of conception was 25.3% and 58.2%, respectively. Only 16.3% of the respondents knew the normal route of delivery although the duration of normal pregnancy was known to majority (87.7%). The girls were aware of the ideal timing of abortion (67.5%) but the safe method and legality were poorly known facts. Only 5% of the girls believed in pre-marital sex. More than half (54.9%) of the girls knew about some form of contraceptive, Copper-T being the best known. Nearly one fifth of the girls were either undecided or wished family members to decide about antenatal check-ups. The need for better diet and injections during pregnancy was well known although few (15.2%) were aware of the injections being tetanus toxoid. Only about 10% wanted a home delivery but one fourth felt that a Dai or a relative was suitable for conducting the delivery. An overwhelming majority of the students stated that knowledge about above facts was important and they would like to learn about them preferably during college education. It is recommended that 'Family life education' be provided during pre-adolescent and adolescent years to ensure a safe motherhood and a healthy child.


This paper uses an infinite-horizon model based on individual maximizing behavior to study whether explosive price-level paths unrelated to monetary growth--speculative hyperinflations--can be equilibrium paths under rational expectations. In a pure fiat money regime, speculative hyperinflations can be excluded only through severe restrictions on individual preferences; but when the government fractionally backs the currency by guaranteeing a minimal real redemption value for money, speculative hyperinflations are impossible, even if agents are not completely certain that they can redeem their money in any given period. The analysis also confirms that implosive price-level paths and divergent paths for capital asset prices are not equilibria under either monetary regime.


Coping is a process that is concerned with what a person actually thinks and does in reaction to the specific stressful event. HIV / AIDs patients primarily cope with the threat of AIDs by adopting fighting spirit. They face the initial stages with excitement followed by the phase of psychological changes to plan future. In the present study an attempt is made to identify the coping mechanisms used by HIV / AIDs patients to over come their stressful conditions and whether coping to stress depends up on their gender. Sample of the study consisted of forty four HIV / AIDs patients who live in and around Tirupati. Results revealed that HIV / AIDs male patients were using more of emotion focus strategies followed by appraisal focused, problem focused and defence strategies. Where as HIV positive female patients were also using more of emotion focused strategies followed by problem focused ,appraisal focused, and defence mechanisms.


People have to make important decisions within a time frame. Hence, it is imperative to employ means or strategy to aid effective decision making. Consequently, Economic Intelligence (EI) has emerged as a field to aid strategic and timely decision making in an organization. In the course of attaining this goal: it is indispensable to be more optimistic towards provision for conservation of intellectual resource invested into the process of decision making. This intellectual resource is nothing else but the knowledge of the actors as well as that of the various processes for effecting decision making. Knowledge has been recognized as a strategic economic resource for enhancing productivity and a key for innovation in any organization or community. Thus, its adequate management with cognizance of its temporal properties is highly indispensable. Temporal properties of knowledge refer to the date and time (known as timestamp) such knowledge is created as well as the duration or interval between related knowledge. This paper focuses on the needs for a user-centered knowledge management approach as well as exploitation of associated temporal properties. Our perspective of knowledge is with respect to decision-problems projects in EI. Our hypothesis is that the possibility of reasoning about temporal properties in exploitation of knowledge in EI projects should foster timely decision making through generation of useful inferences from available and reusable knowledge for a new project.


It is paradoxical that recently the number of operations for gastro-oesophageal reflux and hiatus hernia has increased dramatically even though extremely eVective medication for these conditions is now available in many, if not all, Western countries. The traditional indications for antireflux surgery still exist but they have been impacted upon by cultural factors, cost, and associated serious disease; so why do more people require surgery? The most common indication for surgery used to be the failure of medical treatment in severely symptomatic disease; however, so eVective are proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) at controlling the major symptom of reflux— namely, heartburn, that this is a less common reason for performing surgery today. Indeed, the failure of a patient to get some degree of symptomatic relief from an adequate dosage of PPIs should alert the surgeon to other problems—for example, bile reflux, irritable colon, functional dyspepsia, or gallstones. Yet, successful medical treatment is often indefinite in duration and many patients do not wish to be on medication for the rest of their lives; such patients are often considered for surgery. Lifelong medication is also costly, and surgery may be the cheaper option in the long term. Stricture formation used to be another common indication for surgery, but PPI treatment has proved so successful that this is now rarely seen. Many patients are elderly and their predominant problem is dysphagia, which is usually eVectively treated with PPIs and dilatation. A further indication for surgery—that is, regurgitation or high volume reflux, is now seen more often. It is possible that the successful treatment of heartburn through the use of PPIs has decreased awareness of reflux and the patient has thus allowed more fluid to regurgitate; as a consequence more patients are presenting with volume regurgitation as their main problem. Surgery as a result of patient and/or physician directed choice has also become more common since the introduction of laparoscopic surgery because patients no longer face long and painful incisions with prolonged hospital stays and time oV work. There are reports of antireflux surgery performed as a day case procedure, with most patients out of hospital in two or three days and back at work within a few weeks of the operation. 3 A new, more controversial indication is the relation between reflux, columnar lined oesophagus, and adenocarcinoma. There is an argument that fundoplication should be considered at an earlier stage in the management of patients with reflux, so that the complications of Barrett's oesophagus and its evolution into an adenocarcinoma of the distal oesophagus can be prevented. This hypothesis is based on evidence that the development of Barrett's oesophagus is caused by the influence of duodenooesophageal reflux, which is not eVectively controlled by antisecretory medication. Although earlier fundoplication has obvious appeal to surgeons, this hypothesis is, as yet, unsupported; in our opinion, the possible prevention of Barrett's oesophagus and adenocarcinoma of the oesophagus is not yet an acceptable indication for surgery. The reduction in morbidity resulting from laparoscopic antireflux surgery has been most noticeable in the treatment of giant hiatus hernias (intrathoracic stomach). These hernias can strangulate, cause anaemia or overt bleeding, and other symptoms such as chest pain or breathlessness after meals. Previously, surgery for giant hiatus hernias has been controversial because many patients with this condition are very old. However, because the majority of such hernias can be treated with a relatively straightforward laparoscopic procedure, 5 a greater number of patients with this condition are now being referred for surgery before the hernia grows too large. Laparoscopy for antireflux surgery was first reported in 1991. The development phase allowed instrumentation and techniques to be refined, operating times to be shortened, and learning curve problems to be recognised and overcome; laparoscopic surgery for reflux has since become commonplace. In some centres, follow up extends for up to five years, and prospectively evaluated single centre experiences of more than 300 procedures have been reported. 8 The published results of laparoscopic antireflux surgery, irrespective of the type of fundoplication, confirm the eYciency of the laparoscopic approach. 7 8 Furthermore, in comparison with an open approach, laparoscopy controls reflux symptoms well, and medium term outcomes have not been compromised. 10 Moreover, the overall incidence of perioperative complications has been reduced, and the length of hospital stay shortened to two or three days. These outcomes have also been confirmed in randomised trials of open versus laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication. 12 Nevertheless, complications can occur following laparoscopic antireflux surgery. Mostly minor, such complications resolve rapidly and do not impact on the long term outcome of surgery. The risk of acute postoperative para-oesophageal hiatus herniation and acute dysphagia has been highlighted, 14 but standardisation of surgical technique with routine hiatal repair, improved surgeon


Homing missiles have gained wide popularity in the field of guidance and control regarding the short and medium range purposes in recent years. In this study, the three-dimensional formulation of the Proportional Navigation Guidance (PNG) law is done. Another contribution of this study is the derivation of the Linear Homing Guidance (LHG) and the Parabolic Homing Guidance (PHG) laws. Then, all these three methods are implemented on both the considered missile model for the uncanted and canted tail wing configurations, and a generic single-body missile model. Also, the acceleration, rate and angular autopilots are designed in order to realize the guidance commands generated by these guidance laws on the considered missile models. Finally, the overall guidance and control models are constructed by integrating the obtained models and then numerous computer simulations are carried out to test the performance of the system in different scenarios.


This thesis provides a comparative analysis of the problems of fraud and the abuse of the corporate form under UK and Nigerian company laws. The twin doctrines of separate legal personality and limited liability for members shield shareholders and directors from personal liability for the debts of the company with far reaching
implications for creditors and wider society. Although this position is not immutable as demonstrated in Salomon v Salomon, an analysis of case law and statute within the general rubric of 'lifting the veil' or 'piercing the veil' in the two jurisdictions reveals that veil piercing approaches have for several reasons remained fundamentally flawed. There is no coherent principle upon which the courts may
find exceptional circumstances to impose liability on shareholders and directors. Veil piercing approaches have been premised on loss allocation analysis and used only as a means to discard limited liability. No effort has been made to deny controlling shareholders and directors the benefits derived from fraud, an omission that is
detrimental to the interest of creditors and thus demonstrates the need for a new approach.
This thesis therefore argues that gains made by fraudulent shareholders or directors constitute an unjustified enrichment which must be disgorged for distribution to creditors. To this end, the thesis proposes a 'responsible corporate personality model' which gives the creditors wider rights of action to initiate claims against corporate controllers to deny or prevent wrongful benefits or proceeds of unjust enrichment when the company is insolvent or approaching insolvency. The model addresses questions such as the role of constructive trust in combating fraud, tracing, fraudulent transfer of company's assets to third parties and obstacles imposed by the requirement of fiduciary relationship. It supports the approach to unjust enrichment, suggesting lessons for both the UK and Nigeria in order to preserve equity and prevent improper conduct of corporate controllers. A key argument is that the
responsible corporate model can address certain socio-economic peculiarities of Nigeria and similar developing countries.


In this study, we attempted to contribute to previous discussions of the importance of emerging novel data sources in shaping new forms of inequalities and trust culture related to perceived privacy concerns. Our study was based on a representative survey data collected in Estonia in 2014 (n=1503). Two underlying dimensions of privacy were revealed in the analysis: (1) perceived dangers to personal privacy and, (2) perceived dangers to institutional privacy. The analysis of associations only partially confirms the assumption of structural differences in privacy concerns, social groups being somewhat more divided regarding their concerns about institutional rather than personal privacy. Groups more concerned about regarding privacy issues had more frequent social media use as well as higher social activity. The analysis also showed that trust in institutions was related to privacy concerns of different groups and may be one of the key variables explaining the adoption of new technology in Estonia. Thus, besides new structural inequalities related to data practices online, new forms of data activisms are about to emerge, based on perceptions of personal and institutional privacy.


Communities are natural structures observed in social networks and are usually characterized as "relatively dense" subsets of nodes. Social networks change over time and so do the underlying community structures. Thus, to truly uncover this structure we must take the temporal aspect of networks into consideration. Previously, we have represented framework for finding dynamic communities using the social cost model and formulated the corresponding optimization problem [33], assuming that partitions of individuals into groups are given in each time step. We have also presented heuristics and approximation algorithms for the problem, with the same assumption [32]. In general, however, dynamic social networks are represented as a sequence of graphs of snapshots of the social network and the assumption that we have partitions of individuals into groups does not hold. In this paper, we extend the social cost model and formulate an optimization problem of finding community structure from the sequence of arbitrary graphs. We propose a semi definite programming formulation and a heuristic rounding scheme. We show, using synthetic data sets, that this method is quite accurate on synthetic data sets and present its results on a real social network.


Humanitarian organizations have a crucial role in response and relief efforts after floods. The effectiveness of disaster response is contingent on accurate and timely information regarding the location, timing and impacts of the event. Here we show how two near-real-time data sources, satellite observations of water coverage and flood-related social media activity from Twitter, can be used to support rapid disaster response, using case-studies in the Philippines and Pakistan. For these countries we analyze information from disaster response organizations, the Global Flood Detection System (GFDS) satellite flood signal, and flood-related Twitter activity analysis. The results demonstrate that these sources of near-real-time information can be used to gain a quicker understanding of the location, the timing, as well as the causes and impacts of floods. In terms of location, we produce daily impact maps based on both satellite information and social media, which can dynamically and rapidly outline the affected area during a disaster. In terms of timing, the results show that GFDS and/or Twitter signals flagging ongoing or upcoming flooding are regularly available one to several days before the event was reported to humanitarian organizations. In terms of event understanding, we show that both GFDS and social media can be used to detect and understand unexpected or controversial flood events, for example due to the sudden opening of hydropower dams or the breaching of flood protection. The performance of the GFDS and Twitter data for early detection and location mapping is mixed, depending on specific hydrological circumstances (GFDS) and social media penetration (Twitter). Further research is needed to improve the interpretation of the GFDS signal in different situations, and to improve the pre-processing of social media data for operational use.


The emerging subdiscipline of hydrogeophysics is underdeveloped in undergraduate curricula relative to its importance in professional engineering/environmental practice. In 2001, the Bucknell Department of Geology initiated efforts to refocus an undergraduate geophysics course on near-surface geophysical methods for hydrologic, environmental, and engineering problems. In addition to offering students practical experience, treatment of hydrogeophysics provides important pedagogical opportunities. Field-based hydrogeophysics labs challenge students to integrate concepts from other geology courses, as well as from physics, math, and chemistry. We faced two challenges in revising our geophysics course: (1) access to wells for field exercises on borehole geophysics; and (2) the costs of acquiring and maintaining equipment. We pursued two strategies to solve these problems. First, we established an on-campus well field, which serves as a field laboratory for downhole and cross-hole experiments. Second, we incorporated field demonstrations and lectures by professional geoscientists, including alumni, into our courses. By adding field exercises to our syllabi and promoting undergraduate research, we are building a cutting-edge dataset that includes televiewer and standard wellbore logging, cross-hole tomography, and hydraulic-test data. Student-led analysis of these data has already provided valuable insights into the control of fractures on aquifer properties, and these observations are being combined with outcrop studies to place our results in a more regional context.


Respiratory viral infections are the most frequent cause for morbidity in humans. Among the different etiological agents, influenza virus causes a disproportionate fraction of morbidity and mortality among the elderly and patients with chronic conditions, who have been traditionally the target of the bulk of preventive measures. Recent epidemiological studies though have demonstrated an important role for influenza viruses to cause morbidity among infants. Conversely, Respiratory Syncytial Virus appears also capable to cause substantial morbidity in adults. Influenza prevention and treatment requires the integrated use of vaccines and of antivirals, including the new neuraminidase inhibitors, either as chemoprophylactic or as chemotherapeutic agents. The implementation of current guidelines is a challenge for all the health care workers involved, even though their cost effectiveness is well demonstrated. In addition, considering the recent epidemiological data, should these guidelines be amended to include young children in groups to be vaccinated?


In this paper, a novel method of multi-strategy object tracking for video surveillance is proposed. Under this framework, the moving and stationary objects are tracked separately, so that different reliable features for different types of objects can be exploited efficiently. For a moving object, the global color features called dominant color histogram (DCH) are reliable for object tracking. An efficient sequential approach is employed, which first estimates the depth order of the objects using DCH, then tracks each individual one-by-one with mean- shift and exclusion operations. For a stationary object, the image template is accurate for object representation and matching. A layer model is employed for stationary object tracking. Stationary objects are classified as "visible", "occluded", and "removed". For people stop moving in scene, they seldom stay completely motionless. Therefore, two more states, "changing pose", and "start moving" are added. Once the stationary person is detected as "start moving", he will be switched to moving object tracking seamlessly. The proposed method has been successfully applied in a real-time intelligent CCTV surveillance system for unusual event detection and tested in both real-world public sites and public datasets from PETS2006. Very encouraging results have been obtained.


When forecasting time series variables, it is usual to use only the information provided by past observations to foresee potential future developments. However, if available, additional information should be taken into account to get the forecast. For example, let us consider a case where the Government announces an economic target for next year. Since the Government has the empowerment to implement the economic or social policies to approach the target, an analyst that does not consider this information to get the forecast and makes use only of the historical record of the variables, will not anticipate the change on the economic system. In fact, if predictions based on historical data would be invalid when a policy change affects the economy, the economic agents are forward rather than backward-looking and adapt their expectations and behavior to the new policy stance. Thus, given some targets for the variables under study it is important to know the simultaneous future path that will lead to achieving those targets. Here it is considered the case in which a system of variables are to be forecasted with the aid of a VAR model with a cointegration relationship. The paths projected forward into the future as a combination of the model-based forecasts and the additional information provides what is known as a restricted forecast.
This work is an attempt to contribute to the literature on Restricted Forecasting Theory for Multiple Time Series within the VAR framework. Specifically, Chapter 2 decomposes the JCT into single tests by a variance-covariance matrix associated with the restrictions and derives the formulas of a feasible JCT that accounts for estimated parameters. Chapter 3 develops, by Lagrangian optimization, the restricted forecasts of the multiple time series process with structural change, as well as its mean squared error. In addition, the univariate time series types of changes are considered here in a multivariate setting. Finally, Chapter 4 derives a methodology for forecasting multivariate time series that satisfy a contemporaneous binding constraint for which there exists a future target. A Monte Carlo study of a VEC model with one unit root shows that, for a forecast horizon large enough, the forecasts obtained with the proposed methodology are more efficient. A more detailed account of these contributions is provided below.


The aim of this study was to prepare and characterize nanosuspensions of a poorly soluble drug (Atorvastatin calcium) in order to enhance its solubility and dissolution characteristics. Nanosuspensions were prepared by high pressure homogenization technique.They were characterized by thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), solubility, and in vitro drug release studies. The absence of atorvastatin peaks in PXRD profiles of nanosuspensions suggests the transformation of crystalline drug into an amorphous form.TGA examination suggested that the drug was converted into anhydrous form from the original trihydrate form. DSC curves also compliment the result obtained by TGA and PXRD. The effect of particle size was found to be significant on the saturation solubility of the drug.The in vitro drug release studies showed a significant increase in the dissolution rate of nanosuspensions as compared with pure drug. This study has shown that initial crystalline state is reduced following particle size reduction and that the dissolution characteristics of atorvastatin nanosuspensions were significantly increased in regards to the pure drug.The method being simple and easily scaled up, this approach should have a general applicability to many poorly water-soluble drug entities.


Refractive scintillation effects in pulsars are powerful techniques for discriminating between different models proposed for the electron density fluctuation spectrum in the interstellar medium. Data from our long-term scintillation study of 18 pulsars in the dispersion measure range 3-35 pc cm-3 (Paper I) are used to investigate two important observable effects of refractive scintillation, viz., (1) modulations of diffractive scintillation observables and flux density, and (2) drifting bands in dynamic scintillation spectra. Our data provide simultaneous measurements of decorrelation bandwidth, scintillation timescale, flux density, and drift rate of patterns. The observed modulations of the first three are compared with the available theoretical predictions, and constraints are placed on the power spectrum of plasma density fluctuations. The measured modulation indices are found to be larger than predicted by a Kolmogorov form of density spectrum. The properties of the drift rate of patterns along with the diffractive scintillation parameters have been used to estimate independently the slope of the density power spectrum, which is found to be consistent with a Kolmogorov form for several pulsars. The contradictory results from these two independent methods of constraining the electron density spectrum are not reconcilable with the simple theoretical models based on power-law forms of density spectrum. Our observations show anomalous scintillation behavior such as persistent drifting bands for some pulsars. This can be interpreted as an excess power in the low wavenumber range (~10-12 to 10-13 m-1) compared to the Kolmogorov expectations, or the existence of localized density structures. The results from our observations are discussed in combination with those from earlier studies in an attempt to understand the overall nature of the density spectrum. The emerging picture is a Kolmogorov-like spectrum (α≈11/3) in the wavenumber range ~10-6 m-1 to ~10-11 m-1, which either steepens or has a bump near ~10-12 to 10-13 m-1. The accumulated data also suggest the existence of discrete density structures along some lines of sight. We also discuss the possible implications of our results for the theoretical models.


We have built a guarded resistive divider with 10:1 and 100:1 ratios for voltages under 1 kV. This divider performs self-calibrations by an automated guarded Wheatstone bridge method. The ratios different from those of a series-parallel divider are sub ppm and 1 ppm at 10:1 and 100:1 ratios respectively.


We examine the impact of Chinese import competition on broad measures of technical change—patenting, IT, and TFP—using new panel data across twelve European countries from 1996 to 2007. In particular, we establish that the absolute volume of innovation increases within the firms most affected by Chinese imports in their output markets. We correct for endogeneity using the removal of product-specific quotas following China's entry into the World Trade Organization in 2001. Chinese import competition led to increased technical change within firms and reallocated employment between firms towards more technologically advanced firms. These within and between effects were about equal in magnitude, and account for 14% of European technology upgrading over 2000–7 (and even more when we allow for offshoring to China). Rising Chinese import competition also led to falls in employment and the share of unskilled workers. In contrast to low-wage nations like China, developed countries had no significant effect on innovation.


Proceedings: AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011‐‐ Apr 2‐6, 2011; Orlando, FL

It has been known that cytoplasmic p53 regulates cell cycle arrest, apoptosis, autophage, and metabolism of human and animal cells in a transactivation-dependent manner. Wild type p53 induces senescence of EJ human bladder cancer cells, which carries oncogenic H-ras and mutant p53. Tumor supporessor, TIS21/BTG2/PC3, is one of the target genes regulated by wild type p53. Employing adenoviral vectors carrying p53(Ad-p53) and TIS21(Ad-TIS21) genes, we investigated effect of TIS21 on cancer cell senescence induced by p53 supplementation; Infection of EJ cells with p53 rapidly induced senescence phenotypes, such as cellular enlargement, inhibition of its growth, expressions of SA-[[Unsupported Character – Symbol Font ]]-galactosidase and SA-pErk1/2, and generation of reactive oxygen species, in addition to down-regulation of PARP and pRb expressions. A mechanism of the senescence was likely to be upregulations of H-ras and paxillin expressions by p53, evidenced by employing si-p53 RNA construct. On the contrary, the combined effect of p53 plus TIS21 significantly induced apoptosis of EJ cells rather than senescence, when evaluated by Annexin V expression, Calcein-AM and EhtD-1 double staining, increased expressions of proapoptotic genes and caspase 3 activity, whereas TIS21 alone failed to induce any changes, as compared with those of the control. p53 plus TIS21 significantly increased Bax and Apaf-1 expressions, whereas paxillin expression was clearly reduced as compared with those of p53 alone. When its mechanism was investigated, acetylation of p53 on K120 and K373 residues were found to be increased in addition to the significant translocation of p53 after coexpression of TIS21. We strongly suggest here that TIS21 is an endogenous cell death promoting gene at the downstream of p53 even in the expressions of oncogenic H-Ras and mutant p53.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 211. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-211


Using LES method,this paper aims to investigate the impact that the changes in the top gate area of single-run stairwell have on the volumes of entrained air and exhaust smoke,the average oxygen concentration in the stairwell and pressure difference between inside and outside of the stairwell in the fire process,and analyze the characteristics of smoke flow in stairwell fire in accordance with the fire process in the single-run stairwell.The study findings indicate that with the top gate area of single-run stairwell increasing,the volumes of entrained air and exhaust smoke volumes and the average oxygen concentration in the stairwell increase respectively while the pressure difference between the outside and inside of the stairwell gradually decreases.The calculation results show that in a fire scene the above physical quantities are more sensitive to the changes of the gate height.


The current development of higher education has been continuously deepened and upgraded. With the continuous implementation of the concept of "people-oriented", it has increasingly played a positive role in the deepening reform of higher education management. In order to grasp the scientific connotation of "people-oriented" in higher education, we should deeply understand the necessity and internal requirements of "people-oriented" in higher education, which will help to further explore the value orientation of higher education under the concept of "people-oriented" and build a "higher education" for universities. The implementation path of the people-oriented concept provides some feasible countermeasures.


Both the males and females of Speleomantes flavus, S. genei, S. imperialis and S. supramontis possess gland clusters in the dorsal skin of the tail base, consisting of large, closely contiguous, serous or mixed units. Structural and ultrastructural investigations revealed consistent homogeneous features in the glands from the four species and obvious homologies between these and the serous and mixed cutaneous glands of the back skin. Seasonal changes were not observed in the secretory activity of the tail base glands. It is suggested on the basis of these findings that tail base glands play a role possibly involving defensive strategies or, alternatively, the production of pheromone-like substances which may help the animals to recognize each other. The occurrence of tail base glands in both plethodontid subfamilies and respective tribes, found in the present study and bibliographical data, is regarded as a symplesiomorphy. Further suggestions on the phylo. genetic significance of this anatomical character may, however, be derived from its distinctive occurrence and functional role in the various plethodontid groups. Present findings suggest that tail base glands represent a plesiomorphous character in the Speleomantes species observed, whereas the condition of these gland clusters, described in some New World Plethodontidae, is assumed as a synaphomorphy.


Stimulated Raman forward scattering in a high‐temperature, magnetized plasma is investigated with relativistic Vlasov–Maxwell simulations and with envelope and test particle calculations. The parameters correspond to Raman current drive by free‐electron lasers in reactor grade tokamak plasmas. The phase velocity of the Raman excited plasma wave is large, and therefore the Landau damping is initially weak. The electron plasma wave grows to a large amplitude and accelerates electrons to high energies. Simultaneous pump depletion weakens the driving ponderomotive force, which leads to a collapse of the plasma wave if the number of the interacting electrons is large enough. Spatially the wave–particle interaction takes place in a distance of a few wavelengths of the plasma wave. The electron energies can largely exceed the kinetic energy at the phase velocity of the electron plasma wave. Short‐wavelength amplitude modulations of the plasma wave appear at high amplitudes. Efficient generation of the nonresonant anti‐Stokes wave and of the second Stokes wave are also observed. Analytical growth rates and envelope calculations explain well the early evolution of the Raman process. Later on, nonlinear wave–particle interactions and relativistic effects start to dominate, and the system is not satisfactorily described by simple envelope equations.


Mesoporous magnetic colloidal nanocrystal clusters (MCNCs) are featured with high magnetization, adequate surface area, excellent colloidal stability, good biocompatibility, and acid degradability. It is thus highly anticipated that MCNCs can serve as vehicles for target drug delivery. Herein, the mesoporous MCNCs stabilized by poly(gamma-glutamic acid) (PGA) were fabricated by the modified solvothermal route, showing a high specific surface area (126.4 m2/g), strong magnetic response (63 emu/g) and appropriate mesoporosity including a large pore volume (0.27 cm3/g) and accessible pore size (8.1 nm). Docetaxel (DOC) was then loaded in the resultant MCNCs using the nanoprecipitation method, and a high drug loading capacity was achieved up to 24 wt%. The chemotherapeutic effect and mechanism of DOC-MCNC conjugates in bladder cancer was evaluated in vitro. A series of analyses for cell uptake, cell viability, cell cycle, cell apoptosis and some cell proteins were performed by transmission electron microscopy, MTT assay, flow cytometry, cell nuclei staining, Annexin V staining assay, western blot assay and caspase-3 activity assay, respectively. The results demonstrated that DOC-MCNC conjugates enhanced the inhibitory effect by hampering mitoschisis and increased the apoptotic effect by changing the expression of apoptosis-related proteins in T24 cells, substantially proving their remarkable efficiency in treatment of bladder cancer.


Sulfonated PolyEtherEtherKetone (SPEEK) was thermally treated at 180 and 140 °C to study the effects of polymer cross-linking and annealing on the water uptake and proton conductivity. The kinetics of the cross-linking reaction can be quantitatively described with an activation energy of (100 ± 2) kJ mol –1 . The proton mobility u(H + ) depends on the proton concentration c(H + ) in excellent agreement with the power law u(H + ) ∝ c(H + ) –3 observed above the percolation threshold of hydrated nanometric channels. The proton mobility can be described by porosity and tortuosity as phenomenological parameters. Polymer annealing reduces the free volume and porosity of membranes. The proton conductivity can be modulated by changing the hydration number.


Migration is a human phenomenon that has intensified during the past several decades, reflecting the dynamics of societies and upholding the fact of its being an eternal human phenomenon. Remittances are a form of showing the attachment the migrant has with the country of origin, and one of the most visible and beneficial aspects of how international migration is reshaping the countries of origin. The hypothesis investigated by this study is that diaspora remittances to Francophone Africa south of the Sahara contribute to finance basic social services and infrastructures. A descriptive approach, based on literature review and secondary data shows how the contribution of diaspora remittances is filling the gap in the provision of social services that official sources cannot fill.


Whereas research into the effects of the gonadal hormones on learning and memory has primarily focused on estrogen in females, recent evidence suggests that testosterone can also modulate learning in males through an interaction with the cholinergic system. In the present study, the interactive effects of testosterone and scopolamine (0.1- 0.32 mg/kg), a muscarinic receptor antagonist, on complex behavioral processes were investigated in male rats trained to respond under a multiple schedule of repeated acquisition and performance. In the acquisition component, subjects acquired a different 3-response sequence each session, whereas in the performance component, they responded on the same 3-response sequence each session. Although gonadectomy did not disrupt responding in either component, gonadectomized rats were less sensitive to the disruptive effects of scopolamine on both response rate and accuracy. In contrast, after receiving exogenous testosterone replacement, these gonadectomized males were more sensitive to the behavioral disruptions produced by scopolamine (i.e., the effects of scopolamine were similar to those obtained in gonadally intact males). These results suggest that testosterone replacement can enhance scopolamine-induced behavioral effects in gonadectomized male rats responding under a multiple schedule of repeated acquisition and performance, a finding that is in contrast to those previously found for certain spatial tasks. Furthermore, the present findings suggest that testosterone may decrease the activity of the cholinergic system during nonspatial tasks and thereby work in concert with the antagonism produced by scopolamine.


Hay is an important field crop in the U.S., with over 54 million harvested acres in 2015. In many southern states, hay is an important input for cattle production, and reducing forage costs is crucial for improving the profitability of livestock operations. It is well known that crop yields and quality are significantly influenced by weather variations, which can have different impacts across geographical regions and over years. This study quantifies possible heterogeneous impacts in hay yield responses to weather variations in Oklahoma hay yields. The paper uses panel data on hay yields for Oklahoma's 77 counties from 1977 to 2007. The weather variables include temperature and precipitation. A geographically weighted regression (GWR) approach is used to estimate the local effects of weather variations on hay yields in geographic regions. The GWR allows the relationships between hay yields and weather variations to vary across geographic regions. Results suggest that geographic variation does exist in hay's response to weather. Accordingly, it is important to model hay production within a framework that allows weather response parameters to vary. Hay producers can reduce their production risk by incorporating models that permit geographical variation in how the local climate impacts yields.


The science and practice of environmental flows have advanced significantly over the last several decades. Most environmental flow approaches require quantifying the relationships between hydrologic change and biologic response, but this can be challenging to determine and implement due to high data requirements, limited transferability, and the abundance of hydrologic metrics available for evaluation. We suggest that a functional flows approach, focusing on elements of the natural flow regime known to sustain important ecosystem processes, offers a pathway for linking understanding of ecosystem processes with discrete, quantifiable measures of the flow regime for a broad range of native taxa and assemblages. Functional flow components can be identified as distinct aspects of the annual hydrograph that support key biophysical processes, such as wet season flood flows or spring recession flows, and then quantified by flow metrics, such as 5% exceedance flow or daily percent decrease in flow, respectively. By selecting a discrete set of flow metrics that measure key functional flow components, the spatial and temporal complexity of flow regimes can be managed in a holistic manner supportive of multiple ecological processes and native aquatic species requirements. We provide an overview of the functional flows approach to selecting a defined set of flow metrics and illustrate its application in two seasonally variable stream systems. We further discuss how a functional flows approach can be utilized as a conceptual model both within and outside of existing environmental flow frameworks to guide consideration of ecological processes when designing prescribed flow regimes.


We define the clinical importance of cytomegalovirus (CMV) in the natural history of patients with concomitant candida and CMV infection of the esophagus. Prospective evaluation was made of patients with Candida and CMV esophagitis enrolled in a trial of antifungal therapy for Candida esophagitis. Retrospective review was also made of the course of patients who had been found to have both Candida and CMV infection during a previous prospective endoscopic study investigating the etiology of esophageal symptoms in HIV infection. Ten (21%) of 48 patients with Candida esophagitis in the prospective study had evidence of esophageal CMV (nine by culture, one by histology). One died after 4 weeks of therapy, with minimal retrosternal pain. None of the remaining nine had any symptoms or gross CMV esophagitis after antifungal therapy. Thirteen other patients with CMV and Candida were included in the retrospective review (mean follow-up of 8 months). Eight patients received antifungal therapy alone: six (CMV determined by histology in three and by culture in three) had symptomatic resolution; one (CMV by culture) had ongoing symptoms, and a second endoscopy showed an esophageal ulcer due to CMV (histology and culture); and one had ongoing symptoms but a negative repeat endoscopy. Two died without receiving treatment, and three were treated with antifungal and anti-CMV therapy together because of concurrent CMV retinitis (esophageal symptoms resolved in all three). Thus, CMV was of clinical importance in the esophagus in only one of 18 patients with CMV and Candida who received antifungal therapy alone.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Injection of double‐stranded RNA (dsRNA) corresponding to the silkworm white gene (Bmwh3) into preblastoderm eggs of the wild‐type silkworm induced phenotypes similar to those observed with mutants of the white egg 3 locus (10–19.6). The induced phenotypes were characterized by the presence of white eggs and translucent larval skin. Northern analysis showed that the expression of the endogenous Bmwh3 gene in the injected embryos was distinctly depressed. Furthermore, the injection of the GFP dsRNA inhibited the expression of the GFP gene from a plasmid co‐injected with the dsRNA but did not depress the expression of the Bmwh3 gene. These findings demonstrate that sequence‐specific RNA interference occurred in the silkworm. We conclude from the results that the RNA interference can be applied as a tool for the analysis of the gene function in the lepidopteran insects.


The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy and side effects of morphine sulfate controlled-release (MSCR) in patients with cancer pain who had previously required narcotic analgesia. The study design included an attempt at conversion of 30 patients from the previously required narcotic analgesic to around the clock (ATC) 4-h dosing of morphine sulfate immediate-release (MSIR) that would provide satisfactory analgesia. All patients controlled on MSIR at 4-h ATC were then successfully converted to MSCR and had an appropriate dosage regimen established. The patients were subsequently maintained for 4 weeks on MSCR, with the majority of patients adhering to a 12-h schedule at two-thirds the total daily morphine dose of the q 4 h regimen. Twenty-four patients completed this dosage range study. Five dropouts were not related to use of MSCR, while one patient was discontinued because of nausea following administration of both MSIR and MSCR. Patients preferred the analgesic relief of MSCR over their previous narcotic regimen. Half the patients manifested fewer side-effects compared with their prestudy narcotics. No patients had greater side-effects with MSCR. These findings support the efficacy and safety of MSCR at appropriate dosage for the prolonged relief of cancer pain.


This work reviews experimental data and models for the thermal conductivity of nanoparticle suspensions and examines the effect of the properties of the two phases on the effective thermal conductivity of the heterogeneous system. A model is presented for the effective thermal conductivity of nanofluids that takes into account the temperature dependence of the thermal conductivities of the individual phases, as well as the size dependence of the thermal conductivity of the dispersed phase. We demonstrate that this model can be used to calculate the thermal conductivity of nanofluids over a wide range of particle sizes, particle volume fractions, and temperatures. The model can also be used to validate experimental thermal conductivity data for nanofluids containing semiconductor or insulator particles and confirm the size dependence of the thermal conductivity of nanoparticles. © 2010 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2010


[1] A satellite-based study was conducted to document daily changes in net primary production (NPP) by phytoplankton in the Arctic Ocean from 1998 to 2009 using fields of sea ice extent, sea surface temperature, and chlorophyll a concentrations. Total annual NPP over the Arctic Ocean exhibited a statistically significant 20% increase between 1998 and 2009 (range = 441–585 Tg C yr−1), due mainly to secular increases in both the extent of open water (+27%) and the duration of the open water season (+45 days). Increases in NPP over the 12 year study period were largest in the eastern Arctic Ocean, most notably in the Kara (+70%) and Siberian (+135%) sectors. NPP per unit area for the Arctic Ocean averaged 101 g C m−2 yr−1 with no significant change over the study period. In the western sectors, NPP ranged from 71.3 ± 11.0 g C m−2 yr−1 in the Beaufort to 96.9 ± 7.4 g C m−2 yr−1 in the Chukchi, while in the more productive eastern Arctic, annual NPP between 1998 and 2009 ranged from 101 ± 15.8 in the Siberian sector to 121 ± 20.2 in the Laptev. Results of a statistical analysis suggest that between 1979 and 1998 (prior to the launch of SeaWiFS and MODIS), total Arctic NPP likely averaged 438 ± 21.5 Tg C yr−1. Moreover, when summer minimum ice cover drops to zero sometime during the first half of this century, annual NPP in the Arctic Ocean could reach ∼730 Tg C yr−1. Nutrient fluxes into Arctic surface waters need to be better understood to determine if these projected increases are sustainable.


We present a new two-level composition model for crowdsourced Sensor-Cloud services based on dynamic features such as spatio-temporal aspects. The proposed approach is defined based on a formal Sensor-Cloud service model that abstracts the functionality and non-functional aspects of sensor data on the cloud in terms of spatio-temporal features. A spatio-temporal indexing technique based on the 3D R-tree to enable fast identification of appropriate Sensor-Cloud services is proposed. A novel quality model is introduced that considers dynamic features of sensors to select and compose Sensor-Cloud services. The quality model defines Coverage as a Service which is formulated as a composition of crowdsourced Sensor-Cloud services. We present two new QoS-aware spatio-temporal composition algorithms to select the optimal composition plan. Experimental results validate the performance of the proposed algorithms.


PURPOSE
The role of the Wnt[b]/beta-catenin-dependent pathway (canonical Wnt pathway) in the context of retinal development and homeostasis is largely unknown. This study was undertaken to characterize activation of the Wnt canonical pathway and its relevance to cell type populations in the developing and adult retina.

METHODS
Tissue from TCF/Lef-LacZ (T-cell-specific transcription factor/lymphoid enhancer-binding factor) transgenic mice was used for monitoring the activation of the canonical Wnt pathway. Lithium (Li(+)) treatment was applied to induce ectopic activation of the TCF/Lef-LacZ reporter gene in retinal explants. Gene expression and retinal cell types were examined by in situ hybridization (ISH) or by immunohistochemistry (IHC).

RESULTS
On Li(+) treatment, ectopic expression of the TCF/Lef-LacZ reporter gene was rapidly and dramatically induced in retinal explants. The pattern of TCF/Lef-LacZ reporter gene expression was dynamic throughout retinal development and in the adult retina. There was a distinctive expression pattern in each cellular layer, in the developing ciliary margin (CM), and the prospective ciliary epithelium. In the mature retina, the TCF/Lef-LacZ reporter gene was expressed in subsets of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and amacrine cells. The expression of the four TCF/Lef transcription factors overlapped with activation of the TCF/Lef-LacZ reporter.

CONCLUSIONS
The TCF/Lef-LacZ transgene is a faithful reporter of canonical Wnt signaling in the retina. The pattern of TCF/Lef-LacZ reporter gene activation and of TCF/Lef transcription factor expression suggests that activation of the canonical Wnt pathway is developmental-stage dependent and is spatially modulated. Our findings also imply the involvement of this pathway in the specification and/or generation of ciliary epithelium, cellular differentiation, axon guidance, and connectivity to targets in the central nervous system and in the maintenance or function of specific retinal neurons in the adult.