Hydroclathrus clathratus is a well-known endemic alga in Korea having antiviral effects. In this study, its ability to induce cytotoxicity and apoptosis in cultured HL-60 human promyelocytic leukaemia cells was investigated. Treatment of the human promyelocytic leukaemia cell line (HL-60), cells with various concentrations of H. clathratus ethyl acetate extract (HCE) resulted in growth inhibition and induction of apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner, as determined by the cell viability, chromatin condensation, DNA fragmentation and sub-G1 phase accumulation. The HCE-induced apoptotic cell-death was associated with caspase-3 and caspase-9 activation, and poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) degradation in the HL-60 cells. This increase in the HCE-induced apoptosis was also associated with a reduction in the levels of Bcl-xL, a potent cell-death inhibitor, and an increase in the levels of the Bax protein, which heterodimerises with and thereby inhibits Bcl-2. Finally, the intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), especially hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and superoxide anion (O2 − ), were found to be elevated after HCE treatment of these cells. In addition, antioxidant N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) pretreatment almost completely inhibited the HCE-induced apoptosis, suggesting that ROS are the key mediators of HCE-induced apoptosis. In conclusion, HCE induces apoptosis of human leukaemia cells through caspase activation, upregulation of the pro-apoptotic Bax/Bcl-2 ratio and ROS generation. Therefore, it may have anticancer properties valuable for application in food and drug products.


In this paper, we proposed a generative model for feature selection under the unsupervised learning context. The model assumes that data are independently and identically sampled from a finite mixture of Student's  ${t}$  distributions, which can reduce the sensitiveness to outliers. Latent random variables that represent the features' salience are included in the model for the indication of the relevance of features. As a result, the model is expected to simultaneously realize clustering, feature selection, and outlier detection. Inference is carried out by a tree-structured variational Bayes algorithm. Full Bayesian treatment is adopted in the model to realize automatic model selection. Controlled experimental studies showed that the developed model is capable of modeling the data set with outliers accurately. Furthermore, experiment results showed that the developed algorithm compares favorably against existing unsupervised probability model-based Bayesian feature selection algorithms on artificial and real data sets. Moreover, the application of the developed algorithm on real leukemia gene expression data indicated that it is able to identify the discriminating genes successfully.


Wireless energy charging has emerged as a very promising technology for prolonging sensor lifetime in wireless rechargeable sensor networks (WRSNs). Existing studies focused mainly on the one-to-one charging scheme that a single sensor can be charged by a mobile charger at each time, this charging scheme however suffers from poor charging scalability and inefficiency. Recently, another charging scheme, the multi-node charging scheme that allows multiple sensors to be charged simultaneously by a mobile charger, becomes dominant, which can mitigate charging scalability and improve charging efficiency. However, most previous studies on this multi-node energy charging scheme focused on the use of a single mobile charger to charge multiple sensors simultaneously. For large scale WRSNs, it is insufficient to deploy only a single mobile charger to charge many lifetime-critical sensors, and consequently sensor expiration durations will increase dramatically. To charge many lifetime-critical sensors in large scale WRSNs as early as possible, it is inevitable to adopt multiple mobile chargers for sensor charging that can not only speed up sensor charging but also reduce expiration times of sensors. This however poses great challenges to fairly schedule the multiple mobile chargers such that the longest charging delay among sensors is minimized. One important constraint is that no sensor can be charged by more than one mobile charger at any time due to the fact that the sensor cannot receive any energy from either of the chargers or the overcharging will damage the recharging battery of the sensor. Thus, finding a closed charge tour for each of the multiple chargers such that the longest charging delay is minimized is crucial. In this paper we address the challenge by formulating a novel longest charging delay minimization problem. We first show that the problem is NP-hard. We then devise the very first approximation algorithm with a provable approximation ratio for the problem. We finally evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithms through experimental simulations. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm is promising, and outperforms existing algorithms in various settings.


Financial transfers from richer members to the poorer ones are a necessary tool for creating commitment to a regional integration project, especially from countries that have less potential to benefit economically from the process, as the case of EU shows. Since 2004, MERCOSUR has a mechanism for reducing asymmetries, the FOCEM, which is also a form of development aid and South-South cooperation. Brazil, the largest economy of MERCOSUR, accounts for 70% of the resources, while Paraguay, the least developed country, is entitled to 48% of annual payments. The aim of the paper is to evaluate how the fund has worked. The data collected show that FOCEM has become representative in relation to the GDP of Paraguay, its main beneficiary, and to the amount of development aid granted by Brazil, its main contributor. At the same time, the fund faces serious institutional challenges, as the MERCOSUR itself.


The Global Conference on Aquaculture 2010 brought together a wide range of experts and important stakeholders and reviewed the present status and trends in aquaculture development, evaluated the progress made in the implementation of the 2000 Bangkok Declaration and Strategy, addressed emerging issues relevant to aquaculture development, assessed opportunities and challenges for future aquaculture development and built consensus on advancing aquaculture as a global, sustainable and competitive food production sector. This volume, yet another joint effort of FAO and NACA, brings the outcome of the Global Conference on Aquaculture 2010, the much-needed clear and comprehensive technical information on how aquaculture could be mobilized to alleviate global poverty and improve food and nutrition security in the coming decades.


This study examines firm characteristics that lead to shareholder activism and analyzes the effects of activism on target firm governance structure, shareholder wealth, and operating performance for the fifty-one firms targeted by the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) over the 1987-93 period. Firm size and level of institutional holdings are found to be positively related to the probability of being targeted, and 72 percent of firms targeted after 1988 adopt proposed changes or make changes resulting in a settlement with CalPERS. Shareholder wealth increases for firms that adopt or settle and decreases for firms that resist. No statistically significant change in operating performance is found. Copyright 1996 by American Finance Association.


Supplemental Digital Content is Available in the Text. Purpose: To evaluate the surgical and 3-year clinical outcomes of modified big-bubble 9-mm deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK) in eyes with previous ALK (ALK). Methods: In this interventional case series, 21 consecutive eyes with unsatisfactory vision after ALK (superficial ALK n = 9; laser-assisted ALK n = 7; and epikeratophakia n = 5) underwent large-diameter (9-mm) DALK. The surgery involved deep trephination based on the anterior segment optical coherence tomography pachymetry measurement at 9-mm diameter, pneumatic dissection from the base of the trephination and limited stromal clearance of the optical zone (6 mm). Main outcome measures were success rates of pneumatic dissection, best spectacle-corrected visual acuity, and complication rates. Results: Pneumatic dissection with type 1 bubble formation succeeded in 19 (90%) eyes. In the 2 remaining cases, the 6-mm optical zone was cleared by manual dissection. Perforation occurred in one of the latter cases; no procedure was converted to penetrating keratoplasty. One month after complete suture removal, the preoperative mean best spectacle-corrected visual acuity (0.75 ± 0.23 logMAR) improved to 0.09 ± 0.10 logMAR (P < 0.001) and remained stable up to 3 years after surgery. At the final follow-up, refractive astigmatism was ≤4.5 and <6 D in 20 (95%) and 21 (100%) eyes, respectively. Stromal rejection was observed in 2 eyes (10%) and was treated successfully with steroids. Conclusions: Even in eyes with previous ALK, pneumatic dissection can be achieved through a modified DALK technique with a low risk of complications and excellent visual and refractive outcomes.


The deep neural network is used to establish a neural network model to solve the problems of low accuracy and poor accuracy of traditional algorithms in screening differentially expressed genes and function prediction during the walnut endocarp hardening stage. The paper walnut is used as the research object to analyze the biological information of paper walnut. The changes of lignin deposition during endocarp hardening from 50 days to 90 days are observed by microscope. Then, the Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and Long and Short-term Memory (LSTM) network model are adopted to construct an expression gene screening and function prediction model. Then, the transcriptome and proteome sequencing and biological information of walnut endocarp samples at 50, 57, 78, and 90 days after flowering are analyzed and taken as the training data set of the CNN + LSTM model. The experimental results demonstrate that the endocarp of paper walnut began to harden at 57 days, and the endocarp tissue on the hardened inner side also began to stain. This indicates that the endocarp hardened laterally from outside to inside. The screening and prediction results show that the CNN + LSTM model's highest accuracy can reach 0.9264. The Accuracy, Precision, Recall, and F1-score of the CNN + LSTM model are better than the traditional machine learning algorithm. Moreover, the Receiver Operating Curve (ROC) area enclosed by the CNN + LSTM model and coordinate axis is the largest, and the Area Under Curve (AUC) value is 0.9796. The comparison of ROC and AUC proves that the CNN + LSTM model is better than the traditional algorithm for screening differentially expressed genes and function prediction in the walnut endocarp hardening stage. Using deep learning to predict expressed genes' function accurately can reduce the breeding cost and significantly improve the yield and quality of crops. This research provides scientific guidance for the scientific breeding of paper walnut.


By studying relevant regulations, standards and good practices, this paper discusses the typical types of common cause failures (CCFs) and general countermeasures in nuclear power plants, and summarizes the methodology, process and defenses for CCFs analysis of safety ventilation and air-conditioning (VAC) system in nuclear power plants. The typical CCFs are divided into four categories, namely functional dependency, spatial dependencies, inherent dependencies and human-related dependencies, and the corresponding defences are functional isolation, physical isolation, and diversity respectively. Comprehensive CCFs risk analysis of VAC system involves plant fault study, equipment FMECA analysis, PSA analysis, hazards analysis and other fields. For the identified CCF points, The optimal solution can be determined by combining factors which include technology maturity, feasibility, engineering cost, etc., and methods such as equipment diversity, physical isolation and functional isolation can be used to reduce or eliminate CCF points, to achieve as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP) risk of CCFs. The CCFs analysis methodology, process and defences summarized in this paper can provide reference for the CCFs of other nuclear safety supporting and auxiliary systems in nuclear power plants.


Exploiting resources in depth needs us knowing about properties of rock in depth. Triaxial environment test box with high temperature and high pressure is core device of equipment of testing properties of rock in depth. The main parameters are confirmed based on special environment of rock in 2000 meters depth in this article. Structural design and calculation of environment test box are completed according to engineering mechanics and machine design. By finite element structural analysis with Pro/E and ANSYS, we obtain contour of displacement and stress, results indicate that boot of bolt head takes place the maximum displacement and stress of upper cylinder body, and sharp angles of inside wall take place stress concentration. These will be theory references for design and manufacture of environment test box with high temperature and high pressure.


We study long-run growth in a multi-sector economy with non-renewable resource use and endogenous innovations. Unlike recent capital resource models, we find that poor input substitution need not be detrimental for sustainable growth; on the contrary, combined with resource depletion it fosters structural change, which helps to sustain research investments. We derive the properties of the transition path, show which sectors survive in the long run, and discuss whether the economy approximates a steady state with or without a scale effect. The results continue to hold when some sectors exhibit perfect competition.


We study multifiber optical networks with wavelength division multiplexing (WDM). Assuming that the lightpaths use the same wavelength from source to destination, we extend the definition of the well-known wavelength assignment problem (WAP), to the case where there are k fibers per link, and w wavelengths per fiber are available: This generalization is called the (k, /spl omega/)-WAP. We develop a new model for the (k, /spl omega/)-WAP, based on conflict hypergraphs: conflict hypergraphs more accurately capture the lightpath interdependencies, generalizing the conflict graphs used for single-fiber networks. By relating the (k, /spl omega/)-WAP with the hypergraph coloring problem, we prove that the former is NP-complete, and present further results with respect to the complexity of that problem. We consider the two natural optimization problems that arise from the (k, w)-WAP: the problem of minimizing k given w, and that of minimizing w given k. We develop and analyze the practical performances of two methodologies based on hypergraph coloring, one for each of the two optimization problems, on existing backbone networks in Europe and in the USA. The first methodology relies on two heuristics based on a randomized approximation algorithm and the second consists on an integer programming formulation.


This paper gives an overview of some new technologies which are currently being developed to manufacture miniature optical systems (MOEMS), and discuss their potential advantages for space applications.


Abstract The crystal structure of the new Er6Zn23Ge intermetallic compound was established by X-ray diffraction analysis on a twinned crystal (space group Fm3̅m, Wyckoff sequence: f2edba, cF120–Zr6Zn23Si, a=12.7726(6) Å). The crystal is composed of two nearly equal size domains, whose mutual orientation is described by a 180° rotation around the cubic [111] axis, i.e. a spinel-type twinning law, not common for intermetallics. Applying the nanocluster approach, Er6Ge octahedra and centered two-shell Zn45 clusters were found as structural building blocks, filling the crystal space in a NaCl-like arrangement. This description was adopted to interpret the twinning in terms of stacking faults in the fcc cubic close packed arrangement. Moreover, the assembly of the nanocluster units is proposed as a possible mechanism for crystal growth and twin formation, in agreement with the principle of the interface energy minimization. Experimental conditions such as supersaturation and co-formation of other phases are also considered as favorable factors for Er6Zn23Ge twin formation.


The paper was
elaborated within the research project entitled
'Foreign Trade in Special Economic Zones in
Poland', fi nanced by the National Science Center
(Poland) within the grant decision no. DEC-
2013/11/D/HS4/04007.


The distance between fluorescein mercuric acetate (FMA), attached to the HS-group of Fe- and Mo-Fe-protein, and the nearest iron-sulphur cluster (ISC) was determined. For Fe-protein the distance was 18--20 A and for Mo-Fe-protein 12--14 A. The distance between Fe-protein FMA and the nearest Mo-protein ISC determined by complementation of the labelled Fe-protein and native Mo-Fe-protein was 14--16 A. The distance between MO-OFe-protein ISC and complement Fe-protein ISC was 18--20 A. A te-protein ISC permitted to suppose that the electron was transfered from Fe-protein ISC to Mo-Fe-protein ISC by the contact of the ISC or with the help of ATP molecule.


Rural communities conquered large tracts of land in Brazil. In some regions it is preserved in others extinguished according the internal economic dinamics. Certainly, in the constitution of rudimentary technic of ceramics there is a long way of intelligent knowledge and expertise in transformation. The communities of peasants-ceramists from the Valley Jequitinhonha [Minas Gerais] are suffering with the abandonment of the traditional heritage. This is threatening the regional culture, specially the local craftswomen with their "crafts pots" and "crafts dolls". That is what we intend to discuss in this Article.


Summary More timely and accurate information on countries' economic situations – in particular on foreign reserves – is required for proper risk assessment. Capital account liberalisation can bring benefits but needs to be carefully managed. Shortcomings in national prudential regulation and supervision made Asian economies vulnerable. Private entities need to participate in burden sharing to provide incentives for adequate risk evaluation. Bail-outs should only take place to avoid systemic risks and orderly workout procedures are needed in cases of bankruptcy. The IMF and other multilateral institutions played a crucial role managing the crisis. However, they need to improve transparency and should become more involved in international prudential supervision.


Abstract α‐Synuclein aggregation is a hallmark of Parkinson's disease and a promising biomarker for early detection and assessment of disease progression. The prospect of a molecular test for Parkinson's disease is materializing with the recent developments of detection methods based on amplification of synuclein seeds (e.g. RT‐QuIC or PMCA). Here we adapted single‐molecule counting methods for the detection of α‐synuclein aggregates in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), using a simple 3D printed microscope. Single‐molecule methods enable to probe the early events in the amplification process used in RT‐QuIC and a precise counting of ThT‐positive aggregates. Importantly, the use of single‐molecule counting also allows a refined characterization of the samples and fingerprinting of the protein aggregates present in CSF of patients. The fingerprinting of size and reactivity of individual aggregate shows a unique signature for each PD patients compared to controls and may provide new insights on synucleinopathies in the future.


Hepatic elimination of femoxetine was studied in seven anaesthetized 40 kg pigs by means of constant rate infusions of 3-41 mg/min. (8.6-118 mumol/min.) into the portal vein. The elimination followed saturation kinetics (Michaëlis-Menten constants: Vmax 12 mg . min.-1 . kg-1 liver; Km 1.3 mg . 1-1 blood) and was characterised by high hepatic extraction, due to metabolism. The hepatic output of the active metabolite, nor-femoxetine, was very low, indicating that other metabolic pathways than demethylation were more important in the pig. The high hepatic elimination in the pig corresponds to the high first pass effect, earlier found in man, and it depends upon the infusion rate as well as the total dose.


Anti-nuclear antibodies (ANA) combined with anti-cytoplasmic antibodies (ACA) in 0.6% (n = 43) of 7,121 consecutive patients referred for ANA screening were observed. Homogeneous/cytoplasmic was the most frequently combined ANA/ACA pattern among 6 different indirect immunofluorescent (IF) combinations. Distribution of diseases was similar in patients with ANA/ACA and those controls with ANA alone. However, the ANA/ACA results were often transitory, especially in systemic lupus erythromatosus (SLE). The appearance of transitory ANA/ACA combinations on serial ANA testing may be useful as a serologic marker for SLE.


The absolute normalisation of the polarisation in pp elastic scattering at 24 degrees lab has been determined by means of a double-scattering experiment to an accuracy of +or-1.5% at five energies between 200 and 520 MeV.


Thymic epithelial reticular cells together with lymphocytes constitute the thymic parenchyma. Morphologically they are characterized by the stellate aspect forming a cytoreticulum, a large and vesicular nucleus, a tonofilament-rich cytoplasm, and abundance of desmosomes. Besides the role of providing a structural support for lymphocytes, epithelial reticular cells are responsible for the secretion of thymic hormones which promote lymphocyte proliferation and maturation. Clinical evidence is now appearing suggesting such thymic hormones' use as therapeutic agents against immunodeficiency diseases and cancer.


ROF extracts the voltage magnitude by specifying the rank kth from a given set of inputs. A New and simple voltage-mode analog rank order filter architecture is presented. This paper we proposed a ROF which only needs a unit voltage as an input and selects the smallest value. Meanwhile, for multiple unit voltage by k, the proposed ROF easily selects their respective kth value. The overall hardware exhibits linear increase of complexity with the number of inputs O(n). Rank is easily programmable with voltage for all rank order values from Max. to Min. Moreover, bias current for charging output capacitor is fixed, unlike the previously reported circuits, this makes the proposed structure be constant with time. It can be observed in the simulation result that the slope of voltage rising is constant. In other words, the delay of reaching kth voltage value remains the same regardless of the number of input.


Twenty-first Century is the era of rapid economic development and information technology, manufacturing enterprises in order to compete in the market in an invincible position, we must constantly improve the level of enterprise information management. This paper analyzes the reasons for the low production efficiency and high cost of manufacturing enterprises, and makes a research on how to improve the production efficiency of manufacturing industry, and gives the conclusion that the manufacturing enterprises must take the road of information management. The main content of this paper is design and manufacture enterprise management system, through the system of production management, procurement management, inventory management and process management, improve the level of enterprise information management, so as to reduce the production cost and improve production efficiency. In this paper, the design and implementation of the manufacturing enterprise management system, including production management, procurement management, inventory management and process management, etc.. In this paper, according to the basic idea and principle of management system design, combined with the actual production of enterprises, the system needs analysis, and design and implementation of the manufacturing enterprise management system. This paper conducts a detailed system analysis and design to achieve the system analysis of the functional demand, the realization of the system of manufacturing enterprises in the production process control and management have positive significance in the deployment and use, system stable operation, complete functions, provide to the user a better user experiences. The system has greatly improved the efficiency of enterprise production management, cost savings, and promote the enterprise to create greater value.


Besides the acute arterial occlusion and simple venous thrombosis, the clinical symptomatology may include signs of chronic arterial insufficiency, i.e. progressive blurring of vision, absolute visual field defects, cotton wool exudates, capillary occlusion and increased retinal circulation time. The poor visual prognosis is caused by progressive macular degeneration. In the case of acute arterial thrombosis, fragmentation of the blood column and absence of arterial pulsation are indicative of pronounced retinal ischemia. The ophthalmoscopic aspect of a visible embolus may be a hint for the prognosis of eventual recanalisation.


Critical thinking is often seen as the hallmark of the educated professional.The conceptualization and measurement of critical thinking have been topics of much debate for over 70 years. This study reports a small scale comparative study of critical thi nking skills in standard and non-standard entry diploma students. A significantdifference in critical thinking skills between these groups at the point of entry was observed. There were no significant differences in critical thinking skills between the start of the course and the end of the common foundation course for both groups. This finding is consistent with many other studies investigating critical thinking in nurse education. The implications of these findings and the wider issue of the measur ement of critical thinking are discussed.


The study identi es and analyses how structural factors—the social, cultural, economic, legal, organizational, or policy responses—interact to a ect everyday violence in children's homes and communities. In turn, it will identify causal pathways to better inform national strategies for violence prevention. Unpacking the drivers of violence—focusing on girls and boys at di erent stages of the life course, from the very young to older adolescents—will contribute to comparative global and national evidence bases on why and how change happens. The main outcome will be improved primary violence prevention interventions which are sensitive and responsive to variations by age and gender and that fully consider the needs of children and the adults who live with them.


Conventional antimicrobial and anti-cancer treatments, including chemotherapy, surgery, radiation therapy, etc., have all been associated with antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and side effects on healthy cell damage. Recently, bacteriocins have emerged as a promising option in antimicrobial and anticancer therapies.In this study, EntA-PynR-Lac gene sequence was obtained using bioinformatics software. The designed fusion gene was synthesized and cloned into the pET22b expression vector and transferred to the engineered E. coli BL21 bacterium for expression of the recombinant protein. The three-dimensional structures and stability of the designed recombinant protein were evaluated. Confirmation and purification of the recombinant protein was performed by Western blotting and nickel column chromatography and determination of cell lethality of different concentrations of the recombinant protein against AGS cell line by MTT technique was conducted. Treatment of cells with different concentrations of protein to evaluate the apoptosis of AGS cells was performed by flow cytometry. The results showed that the percentage of cells treated with recombinant protein at a concentration of 80µg/ml with total apoptosis was 46.91% and increased by 36.25% compared to untreated cells. Due to the anti-apoptotic properties of fusion protein, it can be used to inhibit cancer cells as a therapeutic supplement and prevention.


This study is an analysis of the influence of the use of phytopharmaca in controlling fish disease due to bacterial infection of Aeromonas hydrophila by using different types of plants and treatments. Fitorfarmaka is used as an alternative to the use of chemicals and antibiotics by farmers in dealing with fish diseases. However, many farmers who do not follow the rules of the use of chemicals and antibiotics appropriately even use these chemicals continuously, resulting in new problems in the form of increased resistance of migroorganisms to these chemicals. While fitofarrmaka is relatively safer for the environment and effective in treating fish diseases because it is natural. This study aims to determine the effect of the use of phytopharmaca in controlling fish disease due to bacterial infection Aeromonas hydrophilla. So that it can be an information material for farmers to use phytopharmaca that is appropriate and effective in dealing with Aeromonas hydrophilla bacterial infections. It can also reduce and prevent the decline in aquaculture production due to fish diseases and increase the income of fish farmers. This study conducted a revew study of 3 (three) journals, each of which used different types of phytopharmaca with the same purpose. From the first journal review, the administration of rambutan seed extract for the treatment of goldfish infected with Aeromonas hydrophilla has no significant effect because the survival rate is only between 0-13.33%. In the second journal (2) the survival rate of catfish due to Aeromonas hydrophila infection soaked with starfruit juice reached 93.33%. For the 3rd (three) journal, the survival rate of catfish given the addition of paci flour to commercial feed reaches 85%. Keywords : Fitofarmaka, use, disease, Aeromonas hydrophila


Abstract. The impact of deep convection on the water budget (water vapor and ice) from the tropical Upper Troposphere (UT, around 146 hPa) to the Tropopause Level (TL, around 100 hPa) is investigated. Ice water content (IWC) and water vapour (WV) measured in the UT and the TL by the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS, Version 4.2) are compared to the precipitation (Prec) measured by the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM, Version 007). The two datasets, gridded within 2° × 2° horizontal bins, have been analyzed during the austral convective season: December, January and February (DJF) from 2004 to 2017. MLS observations are performed at 01:30 and 13:30 Local Solar Time whilst the Prec dataset is constructed with a time resolution of 1 hour. The new contribution of this study is to provide a much more detailed picture of the diurnal variation of ice than is provided by the very limited (2 per day) MLS observations. Firstly, we show that IWC represents 70 and 50 % of the total water in the tropical UT and TL, respectively and that Prec is spatially highly correlated with IWC in the UT (Pearson linear coefficient R = 0.7). We propose a method using Prec as a proxy of deep convection bringing ice up into the TL, during the growing stage of the convection. We validate the method using ice measurements from the Superconducting Submillimeter-Wave Limb-Emission Sounder (SMILES) during the period DJF 2009–2010. Next, the diurnal amount of IWC injected into the UT and the TL by deep convection is calculated by the difference between the maximum and the minimum in the estimated diurnal cycle of IWC in these layers and over selected convective zones. Six tropical highly convective zones have been chosen: South America, South Africa, Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, and the Maritime Continent region, split into land (MariCont-L) and ocean (MariCont-O). IWC injection is found to be 2.73 and 0.41 mg m−3 over tropical land in the UT and TL, respectively, and 0.60 and 0.13 mg m−3 over tropical ocean in the UT and TL, respectively. The MariCont-L region has the greatest ice injection in both UT and TL (3.34 and 0.42–0.56 mg m−3, respectively). The MariCont-O region has less ice injection than MariCont-L (0.91 mg m−3 in the UT and 0.16–0.34 mg m−3 in TL), but has the highest diurnal minimum value of IWC in the TL (0.34–0.37 mg m−3) among all oceanic zones.


Vol.32, No.3, 1986 563 quires a 30-mm wait after reconstitution; the reagents are then pipetted, and the assay is performed in the CentrifiChem centrifugal analyzer in 8 mm. Duplicate blank assays are not required. Samples with total creatine kinase activity concentration (CK-T) >2000 U/L must be diluted. The INH procedure was less affected by AK released from erythrocytes and by reconstituted bovine adenylate kinase than were any of three CK-T assays. A 10 mL/L solution of cells that appearedhighly hemolyzedto the eye showed no interference.The typical run-to-run CV was 9,7% (n = 126). Correlation coefficients between CK-B by the INH method and CK-MB by electrophoresis expressed as absolute values (U/L) and as percent of CK-T {(CK-MB or B/CK-T) x 100] were r = 0.87, y = 0.32x + 10.76, n = 70; and r 0.45, y = 0.36x + 2.74, n = 70, respectively. We find the Seragen assay useful as a screening procedure when absolute CK-B values are obtained in conjunction with CK.T, and when the following algorithm is applied. Sera with CK-T less than #{190} the upper limit of normal (<200 UIL in our laboratory) are not tested further. Those with INH results >25 U/L from cardiac surgery, and >16 UfL for other patients are reported immediately as #{149} potential myocardial infarction unless the INH value exceeds 20% of CK-T, in which case only the electrophoretic value is reported. All sara positive by the screening procedure are confirmedby electrophoresis. Similar algorithms have been reported (4). Serawith less than the cutoffvalues are not processedfurther. The method is a simpler screen for above-normal CK-MB than are INH kit procedures that require a duplicate blank.


Distributed simulation has a long history at the Winter Simulation Conference. Although successful in the military domain it appears, however, that the idea of applying distributed simulation in other fields for modeling and analysis of large-scale, heterogeneous systems such as communication networks or supply chains has still not reached the stage of commercial use until today. This panel attempts to identify reasons for this phenomenon by debating whether distributed simulation is actually a real-world necessity or should rather be considered ivory tower fancy.


A scanning tunnelling microscope (STM) operated in air was used to investigate films deposited from solution on a chemically prepared hydrogen-passivated Si(111) surface. Our STM results show that the film deposited on the surface from solution is much rougher than the H-passivated Si(111) surface itself. Repeated scanning with the STM was shown to be capable of removing the top layers to leave stable and flat underlying layers on the surface. This indicates that the roughness of a layer deposited in air can be improved by machining with a STM tip and also confirms that the interaction between molecules themselves is weaker than that between and the H-passivated Si(111) substrate. We observe that molecules can also be swept aside by the STM tip using a high tunnelling current. The results demonstrate the feasibility of manipulating layers in air on a scale of tens of nanometres.


Although the construction of martyrdom has come to the forefront in recent international research on Protestantism, there are only a few Hungarian scholars who have already examined the early modern representations of different religious and national identities from this aspect. The articles collected in this volume aim at shifting the centre of Western research on early modern martyrdom towards the Carpathian Basin. We analyse the interconnections, patterns and differences of textual and visual representations of Protestant martyrdom, and explore how the various Western martyr traditions were interpreted and acculturated in early modern Hungary. This volume is based on a conference held in 2011 at the University of Debrecen, and organised by the Research Group for Reformation and Early Modern Cultural History, in cooperation with other scholars of several Hungarian universities. We participate in a collaborative research project, supported by OTKA and TÁMOP funds, in order to extend our understanding of early modern martyrdom.


Purpose

After many years working with mentors for beginning teachers, both through a formal, Ministry-sponsored program, known in Ontario as the New Teacher Induction Program (NTIP) and through a university-based Faculty of Education practicum, the authors cultivated an understanding of the value of both mentoring and the communities that foster it. The authors observed that pre-service mentors are not offered the same level of support as their induction mentor counterparts. The purpose of this paper is to explore the aforementioned gap by bringing together a small group of pre-service mentor teachers with several highly trained induction mentors from the NTIP program in two full days of professional development: one day of learning and community building among mentors, and the second day of collaboration by pre-service mentors alongside their teacher candidates (TCs). The authors learned that pre-service mentors need and desire professional learning and community mentoring support to develop foundational understandings about the role of mentors and the skills and strategies that support an effective mentoring practice. As a result, the authors advocate for sustainable professional development that leverages existing programs and the clarification of the pre-service mentoring role through continued study and collaboration over time.

Design/methodology/approach

This qualitative study was designed to explore, understand, and interpret pre-service mentor teachers' experience of professional learning about mentoring and the role of the mentor, including their responses to participating in a like community of learners. This study brought together educators serving as pre-service and induction mentors to engage them in formal professional learning about mentoring, within an environment that created the conditions for collaboration and community in the context of learning about mentoring.

Findings

This study surfaces the insights related to the types of knowledge and skills that mentors developed in this study in addition to pointing toward the knowledge and skills they perceive to be necessary to their effective participation in their roles as mentors. The study also identifies both the value that pre-service mentors perceived as a result of being invited into a learning space and the dynamics of professional learning and dialogue in collaboration with their induction mentor counterparts and their pre-service mentees.

Research limitations/implications

This research study explores a research gap in the area of mentoring as it relates to pre-service mentors or cooperating teachers. Its unique feature involves bringing together two previously segmented groups of mentors: pre-service mentors supporting developing TCs and induction mentors supporting novice teachers. It describes the value and impact of mentoring as understood by pre-service mentors, in particular identifying the reciprocal benefits they experienced. The authors also investigate and shed light on the value and impact of pre-service mentor participation in a community that is intentionally created to support their professional learning about their role. It provides recommendations for practice and indicates areas of potential research.

Practical implications

This study surfaces the potential benefits of professional learning and community for pre-service mentors who play an integral role in supporting TCs in the completion of their education degrees. It makes practical recommendations which point to uniting pre-service and in-service mentors as participants in learning communities that build leadership capacity and advance mentoring knowledge and skills to impact the mentoring relationship. This study advocates for a restructuring existing practice in the area of pre-service mentoring to encourage professional learning and interaction that connects the work of pre-service and in-service mentors, bridging two currently separate mentoring communities.

Originality/value

This study offers a re-visioning of mentoring as a community endeavor. It advances the notion that, supported by a targeted program of professional development and participation in communities of inquiry, knowledge creation and mobilization, mentors can build their mentoring and leadership capacity and extend their professional impact.


This study investigated organizational citizenship behaviours (OCBs) in a sample of 154 school teachers from Victoria, Australia, of whom 101 were in permanent employment and 53 on fixed-term contracts. Participants completed measures of OCBs, job insecurity, organizational commitment, organizational identification, job satisfaction and work values relating to influence, variety and skill utilization. Results showed that the contract teachers reported more job insecurity and more OCBs compared to the permanent teachers. OCBs were positively related to perceived job insecurity and negatively related to opportunities to satisfy influence and skillutilization work values for the contract teachers, and positively related to organizational commitment, organizational identification and to opportunities to satisfy variety and skill-utilization work values for the permanent teachers. Results were discussed in relation to the different functions that OCBs were assumed to serve for both groups of teachers and the possibility of conceptualizing OCBs using a motivational analysis that takes account of expectations and goal structures.


In this paper, we extend the answer for the question: Do the gains from massive MIMO and coded caching cumulate? in a simple setting of downlink MIMO channel with Rayleigh quasi-static fading. Under some practical assumptions, the scalability of massive MIMO and coded caching alone with the number of users does not hold. On the other hand, we show that in this setting, the combination of both provides a scalable solution in most practical scenarios. Therefore, MIMO and coded caching are indeed complementary, especially under an optimal power allocation.


This paper discusses design of an field programmable gate array (FPGA) based hardware accelerator for a standard cell placement tool. A software program was used to determine the bottlenecks in the simulated annealing (SA) algorithm with greedy perturbations and dynamic cooling schedule. A solution implementing computing platform with specialized hardware configurations inside an FPGA was investigated as having the possibility to improve the efficiency of the SA-based algorithms.


Objective Rising global temperatures might contribute to the current worldwide diabetes epidemic, as higher ambient temperature can negatively impact glucose metabolism via a reduction in brown adipose tissue activity. Therefore, we examined the association between outdoor temperature and diabetes incidence in the USA as well as the prevalence of glucose intolerance worldwide. Research design and methods Using meta-regression, we determined the association between mean annual temperature and diabetes incidence during 1996–2009 for each US state separately. Subsequently, results were pooled in a meta-analysis. On a global scale, we performed a meta-regression analysis to assess the association between mean annual temperature and the prevalence of glucose intolerance. Results We demonstrated that, on average, per 1°C increase in temperature, age-adjusted diabetes incidence increased with 0.314 (95% CI 0.194 to 0.434) per 1000. Similarly, the worldwide prevalence of glucose intolerance increased by 0.170% (95% CI 0.107% to 0.234%) per 1°C rise in temperature. These associations persisted after adjustment for obesity. Conclusions Our findings indicate that the diabetes incidence rate in the USA and prevalence of glucose intolerance worldwide increase with higher outdoor temperature.


Binary neutron star mergers are thought to be one of the dominant sites of production for rapid neutron capture elements, including platinum and gold. Since the discovery of the binary neutron star merger GW170817, and its associated kilonova AT2017gfo, numerous works have attempted to determine the composition of its outflowing material, but they have been hampered by the lack of complete atomic data. Here, we demonstrate how inclusion of new atomic data in synthetic spectra calculations can provide insights and constraints on the production of the heaviest elements. We employ theoretical atomic data (obtained using $\small {\rm GRASP}^{0}$) for neutral, singly and doubly ionized platinum and gold, to generate photospheric and simple nebular phase model spectra for kilonova-like ejecta properties. We make predictions for the locations of strong transitions, which could feasibly appear in the spectra of kilonovae that are rich in these species. We identify low-lying electric quadrupole and magnetic dipole transitions that may give rise to forbidden lines when the ejecta becomes optically thin. The strongest lines lie beyond 8000 Å, motivating high quality near-infrared spectroscopic follow-up of kilonova candidates. We compare our model spectra to the observed spectra of AT2017gfo, and conclude that no platinum or gold signatures are prominent in the ejecta. From our nebular phase modelling, we place tentative upper limits on the platinum and gold mass of ≲ a few 10−3 M⊙, and ≲ 10−2 M⊙, respectively. This work demonstrates how new atomic data of heavy elements can be included in radiative transfer calculations, and motivates future searches for elemental signatures.


Measurements by Mezyk et al. (1989,1991) have shown that the rate coefficient for Xe2++Cl-+Xe to XeCl*+2Xe is enhanced relative to that given by the universal curve that describes termolecular recombination of structureless atomic ions. This is attributed to Cl- exciting internal modes of Xe2+ during passage through the perihelion part of the orbit. The electrostatic tidal effect is simulated by the Monte Carlo technique, excellent agreement with the data of Mezyk et al. being obtained. It is reasoned that the tidal action cannot enhance the rate of termolecular recombination of small valence-bound ions like O2+ and O2- appreciably. However its influence is pervasive because complex ions are commonly present when the ambient gas density is enough for termolecular recombination to be of interest: for example, O4+ is the main positive ion if the ambient gas is pure oxygen. Enhanced mutual neutralization may obscure the experimental evidence.


Abstract Policy development is a dynamic and cyclic process characterised by successive stages of development, implementation and evaluation. Throughout this process, interaction between science and coastal management plays an important role. An illustration is given in this paper, based on an analysis of the history of coastal policy in the Netherlands over the last two decades. Evaluation in 1995 of the coastal policy of Dynamic Preservation, developed during the late 80's and implemented in 1990, led to a redefinition in 2000. Implementation in 2001, of a sustainable coastal policy in the Netherlands with both a small- and a large-scale approach, is the result. The analysis in this paper indicates that the successful development and implementation of coastal policy in the Netherlands, is related to the use of a systematic 'frame of reference'; characteristics are explicit definitions of both strategic and operational objectives applied in a 4-step decision recipe of (1) a quantitative state concept, (2) a bench marking procedure, (3) a procedure for CZM measures or intervention and (4) an evaluation procedure. Applications of this frame of reference show its high potential to better integrate coastal science and coastal policy and -management and to stimulate co-operation.


Emotion recognition is a increasingly popular topic because of its potential applications in the field of affective learning. It allows the development of systems able to adapt themselves to the users' emotional state to improve the learner's experience and learning. In this paper, we introduce a new biomedical multi-sensor platform for realtime acquisition of physiological data comprising Temperature, Electroencephalography (EEG), Electroocculography (EOG), Galvanic Skin Response (GSR), Heart Rate and Blood Oxygen Saturation. We describe experimental scenarios for the induction of emotions relevant in a context of affective learning (happiness, frustration, boredom) to build a set of emotionrelated data. We carry out a basic classification study by computing hand-crafted features on the time and frequency domains of signals, and training a Support-Vector-Machine (SVM) classifier to demonstrate the feasibility of our approach.


Transformer-based models, specifically BERT, have propelled research in various NLP tasks. However, these models are limited to a maximum token limit of 512 tokens. Consequently, this makes it non-trivial to apply it in a practical setting with long input. Various complex methods have claimed to overcome this limit, but recent research questions the efficacy of these models across different classification tasks. These complex architectures evaluated on carefully curated long datasets perform at par or worse than simple baselines. In this work, we propose a relatively simple extension to vanilla BERT architecture called ChunkBERT that allows finetuning of any pretrained models to perform inference on arbitrarily long text. The proposed method is based on chunking token representations and CNN layers, making it compatible with any pre-trained BERT. We evaluate chunkBERT exclusively on a benchmark for comparing long-text classification models across a variety of tasks (including binary classification, multi-class classification, and multi-label classification). A BERT model finetuned using the ChunkBERT method performs consistently across long samples in the benchmark while utilizing only a fraction (6.25\%) of the original memory footprint. These findings suggest that efficient finetuning and inference can be achieved through simple modifications to pre-trained BERT models.


This article describes the theoretical basis, design and implementation of X-ray microdetectors based on scintillating materials and CMOS technology. The working principle of such microdetectors consists in the absorption of X-rays by scintillators, which produce visible light. The visible light is then detected and converted into electric signals by means of photodetectors. In order to understand such detectors, several issues related to its implementation are presented in this article, namely: Production of X-rays and interaction between them and matter - the first step necessary to the detection of X-rays is that they must be absorbed by some material, in this case by a scintillator; Radiation detectors - there are several types of detectors, namely: pn junctions, photoconductors, based on thermal effects and scintillators; Fabrication of scintillator arrays - after the X-ray radiation is absorbed by a scintillator, this material emits visible light whose intensity is proportional to the total energy of the absorbed X-rays; Optical interfaces between scintillators and photodetectors - the visible light generated by scintillators must arrive to the photodetectors, so, it is necessary to have an interface between the scintillators and the photodetectors that ideally does not introduce losses; Photodetectors and interface electronics - the visible light is absorbed by the photodetectors and converted into electrical signals, which are finally converted into digital images by means of interface electronics. The article presents some promising patents on X-ray detectors based on scintillators and CMOS technology.


Seemingly symmetric nanoscale cylinders have hidden asymmetry of charge distribution. The symmetry of metallic nanocolloids, typically envisaged as simple geometrical shapes, is rarely questioned. However, the symmetry considerations are so essential for understanding their electronic structure, optical properties, and biological effects that it is important to reexamine these foundational assumptions for nanocolloids. Gold nanorods (AuNRs) are generally presumed to have nearly perfect geometry of a cylinder and therefore are centrosymmetric. We show that AuNRs, in fact, have a built-in electrostatic potential gradient on their surface and behave as noncentrosymmetric particles. The electrostatic potential gradient of 0.11 to 0.07 V/nm along the long axes of nanorods is observed by off-axis electron holography. Kelvin probe microscopy, secondary electron imaging, energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy, and plasmon mapping reveal that the axial asymmetry is associated with a consistently unequal number of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide moieties capping the two ends of the AuNRs. Electrostatic field maps simulated for the AuNR surface reproduce the holography images. The dipole-like surface potential gradient explains previously puzzling discrepancies in nonlinear optical effects originating from the noncentrosymmetric nature of AuNRs. Similar considerations of symmetry breaking are applicable to other nanoscale structures for which the property-governing symmetry of the organic shell may differ from the apparent symmetry of inorganic core observed in standard electron microscopy images.


As multicast applications are deployed for mainstream use, the need to secure multicast communications will become critical. Multicast, however, does not fit the point-to-point model of most network security protocols which were designed with unicast communications in mind. As we will show, securing multicast (or group) communications is fundamentally different from securing unicast (or paired) communications. In turn, these differences can result in scalability problems for many typical applications.In this paper, we examine and model the differences between unicast and multicast security and then propose Iolus: a novel framework for scalable secure multicasting. Protocols based on Iolus can be used to achieve a variety of security objectives and may be used either to directly secure multicast communications or to provide a separate group key management service to other "security-aware" applications. We describe the architecture and operation of Iolus in detail and also describe our experience with a protocol based on the Iolus framework.


Telerehabilitation (TR) is a new model to provide rehabilitation services to stroke survivors. It is a promising approach to deliver mainstream interventions for movement, cognitive, speech and language, and other disorders. TR has two major components: information and communication technologies (ICTs) and stroke interventions. ICTs provide a platform on which interventions are delivered and subsequently result in stroke recovery. In this mini-review, we went over features of ICTs that facilitate TR, as well as stroke interventions that can be delivered via TR platforms. Then, we reviewed the effects of TR on various stroke disorders. In most studies, TR is a feasible and effective solution in delivering interventions to patients. It is not inferior to usual care and in-clinic therapy with matching dose and intensity. With new technologies, TR may result in better outcomes than usual care for some disorders. One the other hand, TR also have many limitations that could lead to worse outcomes than traditional rehabilitation. In the end, we discussed major concerns and possible solutions related to TR, and also discussed potential directions for TR development.


The analysis of the main approaches to front-end architecture of web interfaces has been done (OOCSS, SMACSS,and BEM). SMACSS is the category system, formed in consequence of summarizing practical experience, that works well for typical tasks . In OOCSSprinciples of object oriented programming are distributed to CSS; the benefi ts of this approach are an increased scalability and reuse of CSS code. BEM methodology introduces its own subject domain thus forming an extra abstraction layer over the interface. Interface components should be described in terms of BEM method by means of a strict naming rules and according the principle of blocks independence. BEM is the most complete and promising approach to the development of web interfaces at the present time. However, the need to improve methodological basis of BEM approach, for eliminate shortcomings. New method to control relations between BEM entities has been proposed. The present study provides a starting-point for further research in the front-end architecture.


We provide a list of bird species from our primary surveys and secondary data for an island (Ilha Grande) in southeastern Brazil. The information derives mainly from primary data collected since 1995, particularly in the oceanic side of the island. The methodologies included capture-mark-recapture studies using mist nets, transects (visual and vocal records) and supplementary observations. Our total species list from primary data is 175 species (127 captured) and 47 species were added from secondary data. This represents 222 species from 58 families. Of this total, 44 are endemic to Atlantic forest and nine are threatened with extinction. Our results are discussed comparing our study area with another large island included in the Serra do Mar corridor (Ilha de Sao Sebastiao), and also a nearby continental area (Paraty). The results indicate the importance of Ilha Grande as a reservoir of bird species of Atlantic forest.


This work presents a novel strategy for detecting and localizing intra- or inter-laminar damages in composite structures using surface-instrumented strain sensors. It is based on the real-time reconstruction of structural displacements using the inverse Finite Element Method (iFEM). The iFEM reconstructed displacements or strains are post-processed or 'smoothed' to establish a real-time healthy structural baseline. As damage diagnosis is based on comparing damaged and healthy data obtained using the iFEM, no prior data or information regarding the healthy state of the structure is required. The approach is applied numerically on two carbon fiber-reinforced epoxy composite structures: for delamination detection in a thin plate, and skin-spar debond detection in a wing box. The influence of measurement noise and sensor locations on damage detection is also investigated. The results demonstrate that the proposed approach is reliable and robust but requires strain sensors proximal to the damage site to ensure accurate predictions.


This research aims to: (1) explore the role of public in preservation of Air Manis Beach tourism environment, (2) map and describe public awareness in preservation of the tourism environment, and (3) produce draft guidelines that can be used by public, local government, the environment agents and the tourism officers to collect and preserve the beach tourism environment. Public participation in preservation of the tourism environment is expected to keep the beach tourism object from being damaged and preserved for the sustainability of tourism. This research was conducted at Air Manis Beach Padang City. This type of research is Research and Development (R&D). In this first year, there are some procedures carried out in this research: (1) Formulation of the problem of the research, (2) Needs analysis, (3) Data collection and analysis of empirical findings, and (4) design draft guidelines for public participation in tourist areas, (5) doing a Focus Group Discussion (FGD), (6) revise the proposed guidelines, (7) validate the guidelines by experts, and (8) revise the guidelines by researchers. The technique of data collection was implemented by in-depth interviews with the subjects and informants of the research. To complete the data, the observation was conducted to the local community. To construct a guide to public participation, a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) was conducted. The data is tested by means of triangulation extension of the involvement of researchers in the field, if the data found is still lacking. Triangulation of sources was conducted to the parties that understand the public participation for the sustainable environment in Air Manis Beach. Subjects and informants who participated in this research were determined in purposive sampling, involving tourism officers, and environment agents. Article visualizations:


OBJECTIVE
Depressive episodes can have a very fast onset (< 1 hour) or start very slowly (> 1 month). This interesting aspect, pointing to different neurophysiological pathomechanisms, has not been systematically evaluated so far. The aim of this study was to describe speed of onset of depressive episodes in a consecutive sample of patients with at least 1 depressive episode and to investigate potential differences between patients with major depression versus bipolar affective disorders concerning this variable.

METHOD
We examined 158 consecutive adult patients with major depression (N = 108) and bipolar disorder (N = 50) diagnosed according to criteria of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases, 10th revision, by applying the structured Onset-of-Depression Inventory. Patients with acute critical life events preceding the onset were excluded from final analyses. Data were collected between December 2001 and January 2007.

RESULTS
There was a significant positive association between speed of onset of the present depressive episode and that of the preceding depressive episode (rho = 0.66, p < .001). Patients with bipolar disorder developed full-blown depressive episodes significantly faster than patients with major depression (p < .001): Whereas depressive episodes began within 1 week in 58% of patients with bipolar disorder, this was the case in only 7.4% of patients with major depression.

CONCLUSION
Intraindividually, the speed of onset of depression is similar across different episodes. In the absence of acute critical life events, fast onset of depressive episodes (within 1 week) is common in bipolar disorder but rare in major depression. This aspect might be useful to identify depressive episodes occurring within a bipolar affective illness and might characterize a subgroup of patients with a distinct neurobiology.


This Essay tackles a pervasive misperception on the part of regulators that director independence significantly increases the efficacy of corporate boards. In this Essay, I assert that such "cosmetic independence" is not enough to remedy the corporate failures of recent years. Cosmetic independence is independence that takes into account only a corporate director's relationship with the corporation and not the tools a director needs to achieve substantive independence. These tools include time, information, and knowledge, all of which have been recognized as critical to effective decision-making processes in organizational behavior literature. This Essay is critical of regulatory reforms intended to improve board monitoring. Regulators have consistently responded to each new wave of corporate failure by requiring greater board independence without much regard to the organizational process necessary for boards to function effectively. These regulations are designed to enhance board performance by changing the composition and structure of the board through increasing the number of directors that meet a superficial definition of independence and creating a more detailed and independent committee structure. The changes assume that stricter definitions of director independence necessarily lead to boards more effectively monitoring corporate management. These reforms have implemented little more than a cosmetic independence, which is both static and decontextualized. I challenge the conventional wisdom that increasing director independence, by itself, can meaningfully reduce agency costs or the likelihood of repeated corporate failure when a substantive approach to selecting directors is needed. The aim of the Essay is two-fold. First, like other critics of independent directors, it highlights the inadequacies inherent in the current definition of independence in corporate governance reforms. By identifying better criteria for board membership and better processes for board decision-making, the Essay suggests that these attributes are more accurate indicators of an effective board than cosmetic independence. Second, the Essay goes beyond the frequently discussed flaws of independence and suggests that the attention paid to the independent director/inside director distinction is misplaced. Instead, the Essay encourages scholars to turn to the organizational behavior literature on group decision-making to identify the attributes of effective teams, which include time, information, and knowledge. These attributes go beyond cosmetic independence and help fill in the gaps left by the conventional regulatory approach. In this regard, an organizational behavior approach is consistent with the tenets of agency theory but, as compared to conventional prescriptions for board reform, it takes a deeper look at the factors that enable corporate boards to make sound decisions. Using these factors to identify strong candidates for board membership does not require that we eliminate independence as a criterion for board membership; it means that we must recognize that independence without the underlying attributes of time, information, and knowledge is not enough. The Essay argues that these three attributes should be the driving force behind director selection, not cosmetic independence.


Background: Childhood and adolescence are crucial periods for laying the foundations for healthy development and good mental health. An individual's mental health status and wellbeing crucially affect their path through life, and they are vitally important for the healthy functioning of families and society as a whole, together they affect the social cohesion, and prosperity of the Nation. Children and adolescents are one of the precious resources in every country, if they can be given the necessary life skills need to thrive, that may be able to meet the challenges of everyday life. Hence, World Health Organization has been promoted life skills education since 90s (WHO 1996). Early intervention and life skills training programs would be beneficial for reducing crime in children and young people, improving productivity, increase coping skills and resilience to stress and preserving mental health and well-being in older age (Cooper et al., 2009). To study the effectiveness of life skills training to enhance mental health status and wellbeing of Children and Adolescents. To study the mental health status and wellbeing, effectiveness of intervention and the status of respondents after intervention. Methods: A classical experimental research design with control group and random sampling method was used. The population consists of 720 adolescents (16–19 yrs of age group) both boys and girls from six higher secondary schools (3 Govt. and 3 Private schools: Girls, Boys and Coeducation) in Kerala, India. The population is divided into intervention group and control group with 360 respondents each. The standardized tools administered for the study were GHQ-28 and WEMWS-14. Sociodemographic details, family function assessment and general health condition were assessed using an interview schedule. Independent sample t-test was performed to compare the equality of baseline scores of various components of the mental health status and well-being of the two groups. RMANOVA was performed to test whether there is any significant effect due to interventions in the scores. Results: The effect of intervention tested by RMANOVA procedure over three timelines show that there was highly significant intervention effect between the scores of mental health status and wellbeing. The P value is less than 0.05, leading to the conclusion that there is significant effect in Mental Health Status and wellbeing due to intervention. i.e., intervention is effective. Conclusions: Hundred percent of respondents in mental health status group and 99.1% of respondents in mental wellbeing group were benefitted from the intervention program. The scores of two questionnaires are negatively correlated at 0.01 level of significance, giving the desired result.


The coordination bonding between inhibitor ligands and heme iron plays a critical role in disrupting the essential catalytic functions of cytochrome P450 enzymes (P450s). Despite its intrinsic importance and consequential implications for human health, our current understanding of coordination bonding in P450 inhibition remains limited. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted a systematic theoretical analysis of the complexes between a ferric or a ferrous heme model and representative inhibitor ligands. Specifically, we evaluated the charge-transfer (CT) effect within these complexes by employing a series of theoretical methods based on density functional theory (DFT). Through a comprehensive analysis, we unveiled the relative significance of ligand-to-heme forward CT in the ferric and ferrous complexes of reversible inhibitors. In contrast, backward CT dominates over forward CT in the ferrous heme complexes of quasi-irreversible inhibitors. Further analysis using the compact frontier orbital method underscores the elevated electron-accepting abilities of quasi-irreversible inhibitors for π backdonation, which greatly amplifies their binding affinity for the ferrous heme. This study sheds light on the intricate mechanisms underlying P450 inhibition and provides valuable insights for future inhibitor design and development.


The transceiver optimization problem for MIMO channels has been considered in the past with linear receivers as well as with decision feedback (DFE) receivers. Joint optimization of bit allocation, precoder, and equalizer has in the past been considered only for the linear transceiver (transceiver with linear precoder and linear equalizer). It has also been observed that the use of DFE even without bit allocation in general results in better performance that linear transceivers with bit allocation. This paper provides a general study of this for transceivers with the zero-forcing constraint. It is formally shown that when the bit allocation, precoder, and equalizer are jointly optimized, linear transceivers and transceivers with DFE have identical performance in the sense that transmitted power is identical for a given bit rate and error probability. The developments of this paper are based on the generalized triangular decomposition (GTD) recently introduced by Jiang, Li, and Hager. It will be shown that a broad class of GTD-based systems solve the optimal DFE problem with bit allocation. The special case of a linear transceiver with optimum bit allocation will emerge as one of the many solutions.


Western diet and its food components have been suggested to influence inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) clinical course. However, the association of dietary processing factors and disease activity is uncertain. We aimed to evaluate whether intake of foods with varying processing levels is associated with disease activity in IBD patients.

 A cross-sectional study of adult patients with IBD was performed at a tertiary center between August 2019 to June 2022, by collecting clinical and dietary data from consecutive patients who signed an informed consent form. Clinical activity was defined using HBI (Crohn's disease) and SCCAI (ulcerative colitis). Dietary intake was assessed using a dedicated validated processed food questionnaire (PFQ) that categorizes dietary intake into three groups of processed food levels: unprocessed or minimally processed, processed, and ultra-processed. Adjusted odds ratios for disease activity were determined using a multivariate logistic regression.

 A total of 242 IBD patients (62.8% Crohn's disease patients) were enrolled, of whom 73.1% were in clinical remission. Comparing the higher tertile to the lowest tertile of foods consumption - unprocessed foods (OR 0.29, 95% CI 0.13-0.65) and processed foods (OR 0.40, 95% CI 0.19-0.82) were negatively associated with disease activity, while high consumption of ultra-processed foods was positively associated with active disease (OR 2.24, 95% CI 1.05-4.77). All ultra-processed food subgroups were positively associated with higher odds of active disease.

 Higher intake of unprocessed or minimally processed foods was associated with lower odds of clinically active IBD, while higher ultra-processed foods intake was associated with higher odds of active disease. Further studies are needed to evaluate the impact of different levels of food processing on disease activity.


Description We develop a novel matrix factorization tool named 'scINSIGHT' to jointly analyze multiple single-cell gene expression samples from biologically heterogeneous sources, such as different disease phases, treatment groups, or developmental stages. Given multiple gene expression samples from different biological conditions, 'scINSIGHT' simultaneously identifies common and condition-specific gene modules and quantify their expression levels in each sample in a lower-dimensional space. With the factorized results, the inferred expression levels and memberships of common gene modules can be used to cluster cells and detect cell identi-ties, and the condition-specific gene modules can help compare functional differences in tran-scriptomes from distinct condi-tions.


It has been shown that it is possible to to generate very small lenses by melting 'islands' of photoresist on a glass substrate. The authors have made lenses with diameters ranging from 5 mu m to 750 mu m in the form of spheres, cylinders and crossed cylinders and have studied their optical properties. Lenses with numerical apertures between 0.5 and 0.2 may be made close to diffraction limited but those of lower numerical aperture can only be achieved using more complex techniques.


Migraine is a common episodic neurological disorder with a multifaceted pathophysiology that displays as recurrent attacks of headache that are typically throbbing and unilateral/bilateral and often severe with concomitant symptoms such as photophobia, phonophobia stimuli. Similar disease condition with its cardinal feature is well describe as Shirah Shoola in Ayurveda caused by vitiated Tridosha. About 15% of the population suffers migraine. Prevalence of migraine is approximately 5.7% in men and 17.0% in women and accounts 2% years of life lost due to a disability in women of all ages. Modern science enforced several medications to manage migraine but fails to deroot it, additionally these drugs have adverse effects like GI upset, hypotension, lack of concentration etc. In contrast Ayurveda approach rather safe in use could be promising strategies that can pacify the characteristics of various Shirah Shoola as well as its associated disability. Laghu Sutasekhara Rasa orally and Brihat Dashmoola Taila Nasya is mentioned in Rasatantrasara and Siddhayogasangraha book with special indication to Shiarh Shoola. So an attempt has been made to assess the efficacy of these two drugs in the management of migraine in this single case study. Considerable improvement was seen in the clinical features of Migraine.


The Occupational Therapy Scope of Practice is an updated position statement from the American Occupational Therapy Association that defines the scope of practice in occupational therapy and provides a model definition of occupational therapy to promote uniform standards and professional mobility across state occupational therapy statutes and regulations. It is intended to serve as a resource for consumers, health care providers, educators, the community, funding agencies, payers, referral sources, and policymakers.


About 10% of the world's workforce is directly dependent on agriculture for income and about 99% of food consumed by humans comes from farming. Agriculture is highly climate dependent and with global warming and rapidly changing weather it has become necessary to closely monitor the environment of growing crops for maximizing output as well as increasing food security while minimizing resource usage. In this study, we developed a low cost system which will monitor the temperature, humidity, light intensity and soil moisture of crops and send it to an online server for storage and analysis, based on this data the system can control actuators to control the growth parameters. The three tier system architecture consists of sensors and actuators on the lower level followed by an 8-bit AVR microcontroller which is used for data acquisition and processing topped by an ESP8266 Wi-Fi module which communicates with the internet server. The system uses relay to control actuators such as pumps to irrigate the fields; online weather data is used to optimize the irrigation cycles. The prototyped system was subject to several tests, the experimental results express the systems reliability and accuracy which accentuate its feasibility in real-world applications.


Hypertension and diabetes are the basic risk factors of atherosclerosis and its complications. At present new associations are sought which will enable us to describe more satisfactorily the mutual relationship of hypertension, metabolic disorders and cardiovascular disease. One of the systems involved in all substantial physiological processes is the autonomic nervous system. Stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system by chronic stress causes in addition to an elevated pulse rate and cardiac minute output also activation of another important pressor mechanism--the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. Increased activity of the sympathetic nervous system plays a part also in the development of impaired glucose and lipid metabolism, which are very frequent in hypertonic subjects. Hyperinsulinaemia, hypertriglyceridaemia and reduced HDL-cholesterol concentration are associated with a decline of the insulin capacity to take up glucose and deposit glycogen and together with a raised blood pressure create the so-called metabolic syndrome of insulin resistance (syndrome X, Reaven's syndrome).


The majority of industrial catalysts are high-surface-area solids, onto which an active component is dispersed in the form of nanoparticles that have sizes of between 1 and 20 nm. In an industrial environment, the crystal size distributions of such particles are conventionally measured by using either bright-field transmission electron microscope (TEM) images or X-ray diffraction. However, the analysis of particle sizes and shapes from two-dimensional bright-field TEM images is affected by variations in image contrast between adjacent particles, by the difficulty of distinguishing the particles from their matrix, and by overlap between particles when they are imaged in projection. High-angle annular dark-field (HAADF) electron tomography provides a convenient technique for overcoming many of these problems, by allowing the three-dimensional shapes and sizes of high atomic number nanoparticles that are supported on a low atomic number support to be recorded. Here, we discuss the three-dimensional analysis of particle sizes and shapes from such tomographic data, and we assess whether such measurements provide different information from that obtained using two-dimensional TEM images and X-ray diffraction measurements.


Decision-making among adolescents and young adults with cancer (AYA) is often complex, ongoing, and multifaceted, involving caregiver and oncology provider perspectives. Engagement in decision-making against the backdrop of normative developmental processes of acquiring autonomy and gaining independence contributes to the complexity of decision-making. Semi-structured qualitative interviews from 11 AYA and caregiver dyads and eight oncology providers examined decision-making processes with specific attention to the role of shared decision-making, cognitive and emotional processes, and coping with the decision-making experience. Five decision-making patterns were identified, with collaborative decision-making and AYA-driven decisions most commonly described. Utilizing hypothesis coding, AYA and caregivers explained how cognitive (i.e., pros/cons) and emotional (i.e., shock and fear of missing out) processes influenced cancer-related decisions. Coping strategies provided clarity and respite when engaged in decision-making. Our findings illuminate important implications for how to best support decision-making among AYA and caregivers, including the role oncology providers can play during decision-making.


A strong relationship exists between autoimmunity and B-cell oncogenesis. Recent evidence indicates that CD5-positive B-cells are involved in both the production of (germ-line encoded) autoantibodies and the clonal B-cell expansions. Thus, this special B-cell subset represents a strong link between autoimmune state and B-cell malignancies. Immunotherapy of both autoimmune diseases and B-cell malignancies. Immunotherapy of both autoimmune diseases and B-cell cancers should consider the relationship between both processes.


This paper deals with the numerical approximation problem of the optimal control problem governed by the Euler-Bernoulli beam equation with local Kelvin-Voigt damping, which is a nonlinear coefficient control problem with control constraints. The goal of this problem is to design a control input numerically, which is the damping and distributes locally on a subinterval of the region occupied by the beam, such that the total energy of the beam and the control on a given time period is minimal. We firstly use the finite element method (FEM) to obtain a finite-dimensional model based on the original PDE system. Then, using the control parameterization method, we approximate the finite-dimensional problem by a standard optimal parameter selection problem, which is a suboptimal problem and can be solved numerically by nonlinear mathematical programming algorithm. At last, some simulation studies will be presented by the proposed numerical approximation method in this paper, where the damping controls act on different locations of the Euler-Bernoulli beam.


Two new complexes of nickel (II) with 4-amino-3, 5-bis(pyridyl)-1, 2, 4-triazole (abpt) and iron (II) with 2-(3-phenyl-1H-pyrazole-5-yl) pyridine (phpzpy) have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis and IR spectroscopy. The crystal structures of the complexes have been determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction techniques. In the nickel and iron complexes, the ligands are coordinated through nitrogen atoms in bidentate manner. The ligands and their respective complexes have been tested for their antifungal activity against Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, and Candida albicans. From the study, the complexes showed enhanced activities against the tested organisms compared to the ligands.


Classical simulation of quantum computation plays a critical role in numerical studies of quantum algorithms and the validation of quantum devices. Here, we introduce SW_Qsim, a tensor-network-based quantum simulator, which is designed with a two-level parallel structure for efficient implementation on the many-core New Sunway Supercomputer. We propose a minimize-memory contraction path algorithm for rectangular quantum grids to reduce the memory overhead, and provide the memory-limited simulation capacity of SW26010pro. Moreover, tensor operations are carefully optimized on the SW processor to achieve high performance. We design a fault tolerance mechanism to improve the extreme-scale parallel stability. We benchmark SW_Qsim's simulation of RQCs up to 400-qubits, achieving near-linear strong and weak scaling with up to 28.75 million cores, far beyond the previous state of the art. Our work sheds light on the development of efficient quantum algorithms for use in the physical, chemical, and engineering science fields.


Cytoplasmic Ca2+ actively engages in diverse intracellular processes from protein synthesis, folding and trafficking to cell survival and death. Dysregulation of intracellular Ca2+ levels is observed in various neuropathological states including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. Ryanodine receptors (RyRs) and inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate receptors (IP3Rs), the main Ca2+ release channels located in endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membranes, are known to direct various cellular events such as autophagy and apoptosis. Here we investigated the intracellular Ca2+-mediated regulation of survival and death of adult hippocampal neural stem (HCN) cells utilizing an insulin withdrawal model of autophagic cell death (ACD). Despite comparable expression levels of RyR and IP3R transcripts in HCN cells at normal state, the expression levels of RyRs—especially RyR3—were markedly upregulated upon insulin withdrawal. While treatment with the RyR agonist caffeine significantly promoted the autophagic death of insulin-deficient HCN cells, treatment with its inhibitor dantrolene prevented the induction of autophagy following insulin withdrawal. Furthermore, CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knockout of the RyR3 gene abolished ACD of HCN cells. This study delineates a distinct, RyR3-mediated ER Ca2+ regulation of autophagy and programmed cell death in neural stem cells. Our findings provide novel insights into the critical, yet understudied mechanisms underlying the regulatory function of ER Ca2+ in neural stem cell biology.


In this work, we develop a non-conforming reinterpreted discrete fracture model for the compressible miscible displacement and multicomponent gas flow in porous media containing high-permeability fractures and/or low-permeability barriers based on the hybrid-dimensional Darcy's law established in our previous work.
 The key idea of the model is to describe the permeability of codimension-one fractures and barriers by the Dirac-delta functions. When there are only fractures, delta functions are added to the permeability tensor on the right-hand side of the Darcy's law. In contrast, when there are only barriers, delta functions are added to the inverse of the permeability tensor, which represents the resistance to fluids, on the left-hand side of the Darcy's law. When both appear, delta functions are contained on both sides by the principle of superposition. Thereby, we establish partial differential equations (PDEs) to model fluid flow in fractured porous media, which exempts any requirements on meshes.
 We adopt the discontinuous Galerkin (DG) method to discretize the model in space and the second order implicit pressure explicit concentration (SIMPEC) method to march in time. The resulting non-conforming discrete fracture model is local mass conservative, flexible for complex geometry and easy to implement. The good performance of the method is demonstrated by several numerical examples.


ABSTRACT This paper explores how the various pressures of finance, employability and part-time work are experienced by undergraduates studying in an English Red Brick University. Drawing on the results of a 3-year qualitative study that followed 40 students throughout their 3 years of studies (n₁ = 40, n₂ = 40, n₃ = 38, ntotal = 118), the paper details three dimensions by which students understood their part-time employment experiences: the characteristics of employment types; motivations for employment and the challenges of shaping their employment experiences around their studies. It is argued that the current shortfalls in the student budget and the pressures of the employability agenda may actually serve to further disadvantage the lower income groups in the form of a 'double deficit'. Not only are discrepancies between income and expenditure likely to mean that additional monies are necessary to study for a degree, the resulting need for part-time employment is also likely to constrain both degree outcome and capacity to enhance skills necessary for 'employability'.


Between March 1991 and August 1991, six consecutive patients underwent the replacement of the both ascending aorta and total aortic arch using a prosthetic graft with three branches for acute type A aortic dissection involving the aortic arch. Preoperative complications included cardiac tamponade in 5 cases, aortic regurgitation in 2, and shock state in 3. All operations were performed with the aid of extracorporeal circulation, selective cerebral perfusion, and open aortic anastomosis within 3 days after the onset. One patient died of rupture of the aortic anastomosis secondary to mediastinitis two weeks after the operation. All patients gained their own consciousness after the operation without any serious cerebral complications. The present data suggest that acute type A aortic dissection involving the aortic arch could be treated by replacing both the ascending aorta and aortic arch using a prosthetic graft with three branches with an aid of the extracorporeal circulation, selective cerebral perfusion and open distal anastomosis.


In New Zealand diltiazem has been approved since 1984 for the treatment of angina pectoris and was available only as short acting tablets. This study was a trial of a slow release formulation in the treatment of hypertension. A single blind placebo controlled study was undertaken on 24 patients in general practice using a once daily dose with a maximum of 360 mg. The mean fall in resting supine diastolic blood pressure was 17.3 mmHg, 95% CI 14.4 to 20.2; t = 12.2, df = 23, p = 0.0001. Twelve patients (50%) achieved a fall in diastolic pressure to 90 mmHg or less with the minimum dose (120 mg) while 19 patients (79%) achieved this level with up to 360 mg daily and 22 patients (92%) had a fall of diastolic pressure of 10 mmHg or more. One patient was withdrawn because of a rash. Other adverse reactions were mild and usually tolerable.


Abstract Ball pythons (Python regius) are one of the most popular pet snakes, with >1 million animals currently kept in captivity and zoos. Designer ball pythons with unique "morphs" are highly desirable, leading to a niche market for privately owned captive-bred animals. A survey of ball python breeders across the United States was conducted to quantitatively assess ball python ownership, including husbandry and breeding practices. Survey distribution occurred through a breeder conference and over hobbyist and online marketplaces. Results indicate that, despite this growing market, most snake breeders make no substantial income from the snakes they breed and instead rear snakes as a hobby. Respondents manage a median of 45 animals (range: 7–700), buy and sell 4 and 20 animals per year, respectively, and generate a median of 0% in personal income. The majority use commercial rack systems (62%) with enclosure temperature gradients (83.7%) and humidity management (50%). Females and males are first bred at mean weights of 1,500 and 600 g, respectively, and they are paired for an average of 3.3 days (range: 2–7 days). Eggs are primarily managed in custom incubators (70%), most commonly on vermiculite (42.9%), and at a temperature of 31.7°C (89°F) and humidity of 95%. Assistance during hatching is provided in a majority (55.1%) of cases, and sex determination is primarily (74%) done by hemipenal eversion. Notably, 62% of responding breeders will feed live prey, 59.2% do not regularly screen their collections for parasites, and 71.4% have visited a veterinarian for a snake.


The pandemia of COVID-19 is considered as "ventilator dependent" disease. In a short study there are presented data from Switzerland showing that there was only short period of time when most of ventilators were needed, and moreover, their lack is highly probably not associated with increased frequency of deaths. COVID-19 showed us, that others parameters such as number of hospitalizations, patients on ICUs and ventilated patients may be important epidemiological markers.


In this paper we aim to explore the realm of impairment in terms of its politicization under transnational claims for justice. The realm of disability rights and justice has been a central theme in disability analytical inquiry and by disability movement actors engaged in struggles of disability affirmative politics. Within this frame, there has been an increasing amount of disability scholarship and activism at the transnational sphere. In fact, since the ratification of the UNCRPD (2006) greater transnational alliances have become a central feature to advancing disability affirmative claims for rights and justice.  While welcomed, we argue that within the transnational realm, the focus on disability alone critically marginalizes those groups engaging in repertories of action within the logos of impairment as transnational claims for disability justice tend to naturalise impairment and negate the production of impairment under global structural processes of violence. To address this issue, we suggest that the growing scholarship on transnational theorizing and activism within disability needs to respond to these claims for justice and rights. To conclude we argue that transnational theorizing and praxis is in fact, a double move – an affirmative politics of disability rights and justice and a transformative politics of impairment. Keywords: impairment, justice, rights, disability politics, majority world, justice, North–South power relations, Southern epistemologies


A formula is obtained for the standard error of cosmic ray data which have been corrected for atmospheric effects. It is used to estimate standard errors of the nucleonic and meson components corrected by different methods. The relative standard error is found to decrease with increasing counting rate up to an approximate value of 10 6 counts per time interval if simultaneous meteorological measurements are available for each recording interval. Above that counting rate the relative standard error is essentially constant. DOI: 10.1111/j.2153-3490.1962.tb00135.x


Significance Viroids are the only known autonomously replicating pathogenic agents that do not encode proteins. As viroids are known only to naturally infect plants, their infectivity and pathogenicity in other eukaryotes are largely unexplored. Herein, we demonstrate the stable infection of three viroid species in different plant pathogenic filamentous fungi and show that viroid infection can reduce the growth and virulence of fungi. In addition to successful viroid RNA inoculation of fungal spheroplasts, viroid infection of fungus could occur through viroid transmission from the plant and when viroid RNAs are directly applied to fungal mycelia. These findings are relevant to our understanding of viroid replication, transmission, and pathogenicity. Viroids are pathogenic agents that have a small, circular noncoding RNA genome. They have been found only in plant species; therefore, their infectivity and pathogenicity in other organisms remain largely unexplored. In this study, we investigate whether plant viroids can replicate and induce symptoms in filamentous fungi. Seven plant viroids representing viroid groups that replicate in either the nucleus or chloroplast of plant cells were inoculated to three plant pathogenic fungi, Cryphonectria parasitica, Valsa mali, and Fusarium graminearum. By transfection of fungal spheroplasts with viroid RNA transcripts, each of the three, hop stunt viroid (HSVd), iresine 1 viroid, and avocado sunblotch viroid, can stably replicate in at least one of those fungi. The viroids are horizontally transmitted through hyphal anastomosis and vertically through conidia. HSVd infection severely debilitates the growth of V. mali but not that of the other two fungi, while in F. graminearum and C. parasitica, with deletion of dicer-like genes, the primary components of the RNA-silencing pathway, HSVd accumulation increases. We further demonstrate that HSVd can be bidirectionally transferred between F. graminearum and plants during infection. The viroids also efficiently infect fungi and induce disease symptoms when the viroid RNAs are exogenously applied to the fungal mycelia. These findings enhance our understanding of viroid replication, host range, and pathogenicity, and of their potential spread to other organisms in nature.


In an extensive series of genetic experiments, Murray and Little (11–14) demonstrated that the incidence of mammary tumors among hybrids between strains of mice with a high and a low incidence of such tumors was greatly influenced by an extra-chromosomal factor. The tumor incidence in these hybrids resembled that of the mothers, regardless of the type of cross used. Since only females were considered, the new extra-chromosomal factor appeared to have been due to a maternal influence. Confirmation of these results has been furnished by Korteweg (9) and Bittner (2). In spite of the efficacy of selection in developing strains of mice with a known and predictable incidence of mammary tumors, the extra-chromosomal influence appeared to be much stronger than any possible chromosomal factors. Bittner9s investigations (2–7) indicated that the maternal influence was exerted on the young during the suckling period. He found that the incidence of mammary tumors among hybrids was high if they were foster-nursed by females of a high-mammary-tumor strain and low if suckled by females of a low-tumor strain. These experiments furnished a possible mechanism for the extra-chromosomal maternal influence previously described, since some factor affecting the development of tumors of the mammary gland was obviously transmitted through the milk from the foster parent to the suckling young.