© 2018 Oceania Publications In the 1970s, Aboriginal people in remote Australia took decisive steps to decentralize from government settlements and missions to live and make a living on their ancestral lands at places that have become known as homelands. Over time, this migration garnered some state support and saw the emergence of new facilitating institutions. But in the last decade homeland living has been discursively demeaned by politicians, and policies have been put in place to undermine the possibility of residing and making a livelihood in these smallest, most remote places mainly located on Indigenous-titled lands. As Indigenous territorial rights expand, the state looks to extinguish possibilities for current and future generations to utilize the land and its resources for livelihood. In this article, I draw on evidence from political discourse, policy documents and programme design and implementation to outline this state project to eliminate a contemporary lifeway. I provide ethnographic evidence from work with Kuninjku people in Arnhem Land that documents this destruction. I engage with the work of Raphael Lemkin to document and theorize the techniques being deployed in terms of the logic of cultural genocide. I end by asking what homelands people might do to push back and what role anthropologists might play in such a process.


Micronised Biomass Silica (MBS) is an agricultural waste product which comprises of high content of silica. This study was conducted on the off-white amorphous biomass silica ash derived from the rice husk with pozzolanic index 69%. Various percentages of MBS ranging from 0% to 20% by mass have been used as cement replacement material. Compressive strength and water permeability of concrete with MBS incorporation were investigated. From the results obtained, it was identified that up to 12% of MBS is able to produce concrete with higher strength and lower in water permeability compared to control concrete.


The energy demand of society increases rapidly, while the main source of today's energy, the fossil fuels, eventually will be depleted and also poses environmental and climate hazards (though the global warming). Therefore there is a need for alternative, renewable energy sources, and solar photovoltaics (solar cells) will play an important role as one of them. The photovoltaics research is very extensive today, but the relatively high cost of solar cells and their intermittent production of electricity make solar cells still loose in the energy market competition. Efficiency is also an issue.

This thesis explores novel concepts, enabled by advances in nanotechnology, in the solar cell research. In particular, it focuses on applying the phenomenon called plasmon resonance in metal nanoparticles, to study and improve thin-film solar cells. The plasmon resonance is a collective oscillation of conduction electrons in a metal nanostructure, which can be excited by light. This phenomenon leads to interesting ways through which the nanoparticle interacts with light and with its own nanorange environment; in particular, the electric field in the close vicinity of the particle is largely enhanced compared to the incident light. This thesis focuses on employing this enhanced field to (i) enhance light absorption in thin amorphous Silicon (a-Si) films and (ii) sense adsorption and diffusion of dye molecules in titania (TiO2) films, used for dye sensitized solar cells (DSC).

In the first part of the thesis, photoconductivity measurements were performed on a-Si films, with and without plasmonic Ag nanoparticles, in order to quantify the 'extra' light absorption in a-Si films caused by the enhanced near-field around the nanoparticles. The plasmon induced light absorption was studied as a function of a-Si film thickness, and was found to be maximal (15% absolute increase of absorptance, from 22% to 37%) in a 9 nm thick a-Si film. The finite-element method calculations reproduced the experimental results reasonably well. The observed plasmon-induced increase in the light absorption is substantial and it has a large potential toward realizing an ultrathin (about 20 nm) a-Si solar cell with efficiency similar to that of the standard (about 300 nm thick) a-Si cell.

In the second part of the thesis, Indirect Nanoplasmonic Sensing was used to study adsorption kinetics of dye molecules on TiO2 films. The concept was first demonstrated on thin (12-70 nm) compact TiO2 films that serve as a model system, and was extended toward thick (10 µm) mesoporous TiO2 film of the kind used in dye solar cells. The short-range sensitivity of the plasmonic nanoparticles allows monitoring processes locally in their vicinity, i.e. at the interface between the TiO2 film and the support, mimicking the electron collecting electrode. This technique has a large potential for studying combined diffusion and adsorption kinetics for DSCs, as well as for similar phenomena in a broad range of other (meso-)porous materials.


Supporting business services through Web service compositions (WSC) as part of service-oriented architectures (SOA) involves business performance monitoring requirements. Their implementation results in additional development activities. To support these activities, we already contributed a model-driven approach to the development of monitored WSC as part of our preliminary work. In this paper, we present an extension to this approach, which focuses on supporting the specification and transformation of indicators to an executable implementation. To reduce development effort for this particular task, we provide a template-based mechanism for defining performance indicators. In combination with our preliminary work, now fully monitored WSC can be generated automatically from platform-independent design models. We demonstrate the applicability of the overall approach by instantiating an integrated development process for a target platform based on IBM SOA products and showing its application for a sample business process along with monitoring requirements.


The purpose of this study is to improve indoor air quality of the barracks which have been changed from floor-type living barracks to bed-type living barracks since 2003. Therefore, the ventilation rates of newly constructed two type barracks were simulated with the various building materials including VOCs and HCHO components. And indoor air quality of two type living barracks was measured by the field experiments. With these steps, the measures for upgrading indoor air quality depending on building material types and ventilation rate are suggested.


Background Loss to follow-up can occur with many reasons, which influenced the outcomes of longitudinal cohort studies. Objectives To compare the characteristics of patients who lost to follow-up and patients who completed the 2 years of follow-up, and examine the associated factors for early loss to follow-up (ELTF). Methods The study subjects consisted of the KORONA cohort which is a multicenter longitudinal RA cohort. After excluding 1,119 patients who did not complete the 2 years of follow-up but still are actively participating, we divided the patients (n=4,257) into two groups; patients who lost to follow-up within 2 years (ELTF group), and patients who completed the 2 years of follow-up (FU group). Multivariate analysis was performed using the variables significant in univariate analyses and institutional factor. Institutions were divided in 3 groups based on the number of patients enrolled; A (largest) and C (smallest). Results ELTF group patients (n=1,674, 39%) were older (p=0.04) and less educated (p<0.01). In a multivariate analysis, higher disease activity (OR 1.09, CI 1.02-1.16) and cardiovascular disease (CVD, OR 1.66, CI 1.17-2.34) at enrollment were risk factors for ELTF, whereas longer disease duration (OR 0.98, CI 0.97-0.99) and MTX use (OR 0.59, CI 0.49-0.70) were protective. Patients recruited from institutions of smaller numbers are likely to ELTF (C: OR. 7.65, CI 5.43-10.79, B: OR 3.27, CI 2.73-3.92, for A). Conclusions RA Patient who have higher disease activity and CVD at enrollment are likely to ELTF, while longer disease duration and MTX use were protective. In addition, institutional factor should be considered as one of main factors for ELTF. References Iannaccone CK, Fossel A, Tsao H, Cui J, Weinblatt M, Shadick N. Factors associated with attrition in a longitudinal rheumatoid arthritis registry. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2013;65(7):1183-9. Disclosure of Interest None declared


In this paper we propose two dual notions of quantitative information leakage in probabilistic systems, both related to opacity for non probabilistic systems. The liberal one measures the probability for an attacker observing a random execution of the system, to be able to gain information he can be sure about. We show that a null value for this measure corresponds to a secure system, in the usual sense of opacity. On the other hand, restrictive opacity is defined as the complement of the information-theoretic notion of mutual information. It measures the level of certitude in the information acquired by an attacker observing the system: we prove that a null value for this second measure corresponds to non opacity. We also show how these measures can be computed for regular secrets and observations. We finally apply them to the dining cryptographers problem and to the crowd anonymity protocol.


RPM can be both beneficial and harmful to competition in various circumstances. RPM has been scrutinized with the subject of private litigation in the US, the EU and China regarding whether RPM is per se illegal or subject to the rule of reason. China's dual-mode regulatory scheme provokes more challenges and further complicates foreign companies' global expansion strategies. Following a review of the US and EU approaches to RPM, the article examines the landmark case of Ruibang v. J&J, which provides clarity and in-depth guidance on the unique Chinese system. It is argued that these administrative and legal uncertainties may not be addressed until a new judicial interpretation is provided by the Supreme People's Court.


OBJECTIVES
Our objectives were to determine epidemiology, clinical and laboratory characteristics of patients with haemolytic-uraemic syndrome (HUS) treated in our centre, to describe renal and extra-renal complications and the treatment required and to relate our findings with the existing bibliography.

METHODS
We performed a 33-year retrospective review. We included all patients diagnosed with HUS and monitored in our hospital from January 1974 to August 2007. Clinical histories and imaging studies were reviewed.

RESULTS
A total of 58 patients were included in our study, with a mean age of 2 years 11 months and most of them were admitted to hospital in summer. Familial hypocomplementaemia was present in one case. A total of 48 patients presented with typical HUS (with diarrhoea D+ HUS). Salmonella enteritidis and Escherichia coli O157:H7 were isolated from those patients. While 7 cases presented with atypical HUS (without diarrhoea, D- HUS), most of them associated with a respiratory tract infection due to Streptococcus. In one case platelet count was normal. Kidney biopsy was performed in 18 patients and 25 cases underwent peritoneal dialysis. As regards complications, one child with D+ HUS experienced renal cortical necrosis and required kidney transplant, while in the D-HUS group, the patient with familial hypocomplementaemia had severe hypertension.

CONCLUSIONS
a) Incidence of HUS in our environment is low. b) HUS can be present even with a normal platelet count. c) We had one case of HUS in a patient with familial hypocomplementaemia who experienced severe hypertension. d) In our group of patients, the course of the disease was not influenced by the white blood cell counts, decreased diuresis or hypocomplementaemia.


On the basis of field and laboratory data described herein, it is concluded that the Mormon Mesa caliche has formed primarily as the result of pedogenetic processes, probably under slowly aggrading, aeolian conditions. The reasons for postulating aggrading aeolian conditions are (1) the absence of A and B soil horizons, (2) the absence of laminated petrocalcic horizons, (3) the lack of quartz grain dissolution and brecciation, (4) the relatively high content of clay and silt in the calcrete (caprock) horizon, (5) the presence of aeolian sand drifts on the present mesa surface, and (6) the presence of fresh red sand in laminated CaCO 3 joint fillings. Also, the aeolian hypothesis may explain the fact that the calcrete horizon of the caliche contains a much greater amount of secondary CaCO 3 than can be accommodated in the original void space of the parent material; and, in addition, the hypothesis avoids the vexing problem, associated with degradational hypotheses, of explaining how water penetrates through the calcrete to form the underlying transition zone of friable caliche. The data further indicates that perhaps at least 25 percent of the secondary CaCO 3 in the caliche was derived from dissolved Ca ++ and HCO 3 − in rainwater, with the remainder probably furnished by aeolian carbonate dust. It is estimated that development of the caliche probably required at least 400,000 yrs and possibly as long as 2,500,000 yrs.


In this letter we investigate the probability density function (PdF) of the temperature field by numerical simulations of Rayleigh-Bénard convection in two spatial dimensions. The PdF of the temperature shows exponential tails, consistently with previous laboratory experiments and numerical simulations. A new theoretical explanation for the exponential tail of the PdF is offered.


This paper presents the design and validation process of a supercapacitor storage based light rail vehicle (tramway). The main design aspects of the storage system are described: storage system rating, supercapacitor bank modeling, power electronic converter design and system control and management algorithms. Based on this design procedure, two 200kW bidirectional multichannel buck-boost converter modules have been designed and connected to their respective supercapacitor banks. Comparing with a conventional rail light vehicle, the designed system is able to achieve an improved efficiency and circulate in autonomous mode (without catenary). Besides a series of simulations validating different system operation modes, experimental results obtained from a full scale tramway are also presented.


Cyclophosphamide was given intraperitoneally in doses of 40, 80 and 160 mg/kg to C57BL/6 male mice. Cytogenetic effect in spermatogonia of A and B types and in pachytene spermatocytes was studied by the frequencies of chromosomes recorded in cells at the stage of diakinesis MI meiosis. In some cells cyclophosphamide induced structural chromosomal aberrations, including translocations and the disturbances of normal bivalent formation. The dose of 80 mg/kg induced translocations in spermatocytes with frequency 0.6% and appearance of 3% of translocation carriers in F1 generation. Three males were heterozygotes by the translocation of the Robertsonian type.


Study Design. A retrospective clinical study. Objective. To find the corrective capacity of a thoracic pedicle subtraction osteotomy (PSO), determine if segmental correction is dependent on level, and to compute the impact of thoracic PSO on regional and global spinal balance. Summary of Background Data. PSO is a technique popularized in the lumbar spine primarily for the correction of fixed sagittal imbalance. Despite several studies describing the clinical and radiographic outcome of lumbar PSO, there is no study in literature reporting its application in the thoracic spine. Methods. We retrospectively analyzed patients with fixed thoracic kyphosis who underwent thoracic PSOs for sagittal realignment. Segmental pedicle screw instrumentation and intraoperative neurophysiologic monitoring was used in all patients. Data acquisition was performed by reviewing medical charts and radiographs to determine sagittal correction (segmental/regional/global) and complications. Clinical outcome using the Scoliosis Research Society-22 (SRS-22) instrument was determined by interview. Results. A total of 25 thoracic PSOs were performed (mean: 1.7 PSOs/patient, range: 1–3) in 15 patients (9 M/6 F). The study population had an average age of 56 years (range, 36–81 years) and was followed up after surgery for a mean of 3.5 years (range, 24–75 months). The osteotomies were carried out in the proximal thoracic spine (T2–T4, n = 6), midthoracic spine (T5–T8, n = 12), and distal thoracic spine (T9–T12, n = 7). Mean correction at the PSO for all 25 levels was 16.3° ± 9.6°. Stratified by region of the spine, thoracic PSO correction was as follows: T2–T4 = 10.7° ± 15.8°, T5–T8 = 14.7° ± 4.6°, and T9–T12 = 23.9° ± 4.1°. Mean thoracic kyphosis (T2–T12 Cobb angle) was improved from 75.7° ± 30.9° to 54.3° ± 21.4° resulting in a significant regional sagittal correction of 21.4° ± 13.7° (P < 0.005). Global sagittal balance was improved from 106.1 ± 56.6 to 38.8 ± 37.0 mm yielding a mean correction of 67.3 ± 54.7 mm (P < 0.005). One patient, in whom there was segmental translation during osteotomy closure, had a decline in intraoperative somatosensory-evoked potentials. No patient sustained a temporary or permanent neurologic deficit after surgery. The mean SRS-22 Questionnaire score at final follow-up was 82.4 ± 10.2. Conclusion. Thoracic PSO can be performed safely. Segmental sagittal correction appears to vary based on the region of the thoracic spine the PSO is performed. The distal thoracic segments, which more closely resemble lumbar segments in morphology, rendered the greatest sagittal correction after PSO, approximately 24°. There was no case of neurologic injury associated with thoracic PSO, and clinical outcomes according to the SRS-22 instrument were generally favorable.


This study aimed to analyze the effect of export, import, and investment to economic growth of Riau Islands Indonesia. Data were obtained from the quarterly regional economic report of Riau Islands Province Indonesia in the period of 2009-2016 or 8 years. Export and import were free on board value reported by importer/exporter to Indonesia customs. While investment was measured by investment credit reported by all banks to Bank Indonesia, and economic growth by gross regional domestic product provided by central bureau of statistic. Panel data regression analysis was implemented to analyze the influence of independent variables to the dependent variable. The most suitable panel data regression model in this study was a random effect model. The study found that partially, export had an insignificant negative effect on economic growth, while import had a significant negative impact and investment had a significant positive impact. Simultaneaously, the three variables had statistically significant effect to the economic growth of Riau Islands Province Indonesia.


Purpose

This commissioned paper reviews literature outlining reasons for a perceived gap between academics and standard setters as policy makers. The aim of this paper is to emphasise how academics and standard setters can collaborate on accounting and audit research and assist standard setters to act in the public interest.

Design/methodology/approach

The approach is primarily a literature and document review of relevant issues, summarising New Zealand's standard setting arrangements, providing examples of successful policy-changing research, and making recommendations on future research topics.

Findings

Despite the long-held views of a gap between academic researchers and standard setters, increasingly standard setters utilise research and request input from academics in their deliberations. Standard setters can increase the likelihood of relevant research by promoting critical issues for research and connecting their practitioner networks with academics. Academics can bridge the gap by selecting topics of mutual interest and by communicating their findings extensively and well.

Practical implications

Increasing collaboration should lead to better accounting and audit standards.

Originality/value

This paper highlights matters of concern in the New Zealand standard setting environment where there is a strategic objective to undertake research.


Neural control of the pelvic organs is one of the most intriguing in the body involving both autonomic and somatic components organized in the thoraco-lumbar (sympathetic), lumbosacral (somatic), and sacral (parasympathetic) spinal cord. Loss of supraspinal descending control and plasticity-mediated alterations at the level of the spinal cord, result in loss of voluntary control and in abnormal functioning of these systems including the development of dyssynergia and spasticity. Originally DSD has been used for Bladder external urethral sphincter discoordination, also known as detrusor external sphincter dyssynergia. The ICS standard terminology agreed in 1998, " DSD is a consequence of a neurological pathology such as spinal cord injury or multiple sclerosis that disrupts central nervous system regulation of the Micturition (urination) reflex, resulting in discoordination of the detrusor muscles of the bladder and the external urethral sphincter muscles [1]". Since anal external sphincter and external urethra sphincter share essentially the same innervations [2], these patients also have Ano-rectal and Pelvic floor dyssenergia (PVD) following spinal cord lesions. The terms Detrusor Sphincter Dyssenergia (DSD) and dyssenergic response indicated uncoordinated external urethral sphincter (EUS) on attempted voiding in complete and incomplete spinal cord injury lesions [1]. In normal persons attempted voiding leads to the relaxation of the external urethral sphincter; however in any supraconal spinal cord lesion below Pontine Micturition Center, there is a failure of relaxation of the urethral sphincter which leads to retention of urine. In incomplete lesions there may be some intermittent relaxation on attempted voiding which was referred as dyssenergic response [3]. This can be demonstrated on simultaneous recording of bladder pressures [Manometry] and a periurethral EMG studies.


Background An unexplained scalp swelling in under 1 year children are rare and particularly in nonmobile infants raises suspicion of non-accidental injury. We describe a case which presented with an unexplained scalp swelling in an 18 weeks baby. Case report A 4 month old boy presented to ED with a swelling on the back of head. An 8 × 11 cm swelling on the vertex crossing the suture lines was noted. A CT scan of head showed a subaponeurotic fluid collection(SAFC). As no possible explanation of mechanism of injury was given in a non-mobile infant, it was felt that a non-accidental cause needed to be investigated, so Children social services were involved and the child was removed from the family and kept in a place of safety. On further enquiry from the neighbouring hospital, it was found that fetal scalp electrodes and kielland's forceps were used before progressing to caesarian section. After reviewing literature it was felt, sub-aponeurotic fluid collection can have a delayed presentation following a birth trauma and the child protection order was retrieved. Discussion Subgaleal or sub-aponeurotic haemorrhage can occur in immediate post-delivery period due to instrumental delivery or difficult delivery. SAFC is a very rare cause of scalp swelling which can have delayed presentation. Aisling1 have reported 11 cases (7–11 weeks) and Wang2 reported 9 cases of spontaneous SAFC (5 weeks to 9 months) who all had either successful vacuum assisted delivery or attempted vacuum deliver. In a series of 4 cases reported by schoberer3 the aspirated fluid from 3 cases was serosanguinous and interestingly re-accumulated in all 3 cases. SAFC resolves spontaneously without any treatment1,2. Learning points Sub-aponeurotic fluid collection is a rare cause of scalp swelling in infants which is fluctuant, ill-defined and not limited by sutures. It can have delayed presentation and resolves spontaneously. SAFC usually associated with vacuum or instrumental delivery or use of electrodes SAFC should be considered as differential diagnosis in safeguarding and information should be added to COREINFO


The article describes the basic problems of organization of international transit transportations. A statistical analysis of wagon delays at border stations has been done. Also some conclusions on the necessity of developing a mathematical model of pushing on the transit streams of wagons on the railway system in Ukraine have been done using the method of simulative modeling.


Collections of Nicotiana glauca containing from 0.45-1.14 mg anabasine per gram dry weight of plant induced moderate - severe toxic signs in pregnant ewes and teratogenic effects in their offspring when the ewes were given single daily doses of the plant that provided from 1.66 - 3.42 mg anabasine per kg body weight. Toxic signs included excess salivation, irregular gait, wobbling while walking or standing, recumbency and death. Teratogenic effects occurred in offspring from animals fed those doses the 30th - 60th day of gestation. Terata expression included limb defects such as a fixed excessive carpal flexure with or without lateral or medial rotation of fore or rear limbs, lordosis, irregular shaped head or cleft palate. Language: en


INTRODUCTION
Hypertension, a cardiovascular risk factor, is likely to lead to many complications.

AIM
To describe the therapeutic adherence and to identify the factors associated with poor adherence among hypertensive patients.        Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study of 276 hypertensive patients, followed at « Riadh1 » Ksar Helal primary health center in the Monastir region over a six-month period from July 2016 to January 2017.

RESULTS
The mean age of our patients was 64.9 years ± 10.2 with a female predominance (69.9%). The subjects aged 65 and over accounted for 48.5% of the total number. The average duration of hypertension was 10.2 years (± 7.3). It was associated with diabetes in 174 (63%) patients. Compliant patients had a balanced blood pressure (p <0.001), a reduced drug intake (p = 0.001), a reduced tablet number (p = 0.02), and a good socioeconomic status (p = 0.006). Poor compliance is 2.3 times more likely to occur in women than men (<0.05). Having more than three tablets a day increases the risk of poor compliance by 4.2 (p<0.05). Patients with a low socio-economic level were 7 times more likely to be poor-compliant than those with a high socio-economic level (p<0.05).

CONCLUSION
Compliance to treatment was unsatisfactory in our hypertensive population, despite its important role in the balance of blood pressure. The family doctor should strengthen the therapeutic education of the hypertensive patient, its active involvement in the management of hypertension and the right choice of well tolerated antihypertensive molecules with the minimum daily intake.


UV-C is becoming a mainstream air sterilization technology and is marketed in the form of energy-saving and infection-reduction devices. An accurate rating of device performance is essential to ensure appropriate microbial reduction yet avoid wastage of energy due to over performance. This article demonstrates the potential benefits from using computational fluid dynamics to assess performance. A computational fluid dynamics model was developed using discrete ordinate irradiation modeling and Lagrangian particle tracking to model airborne microorganisms. The study calculates the UV dose received by airborne particles in an in-duct UV system based on published EPA experimental tests for single-, four-, and eight-lamp devices. Whereas the EPA tests back calculated UV dose from measured microorganism inactivation data, the computational fluid dynamics model directly computes UV dose, then determines inactivation of microorganisms. Microorganism inactivation values compared well between the computational fluid dynamics model and the EPA tests, but differences between UV dosages were found due to uncertainty in microorganism UV susceptibility data. The study highlighted the need for careful consideration of test microorganisms and a reliable dataset of UV susceptibility values in air to assess performance. Evaluation of the dose distribution demonstrated the importance of creating an even UV field to minimize the risk of ineffective sterilization of some particles while not delivering excessive energy to others.


Three histochemical tests, which demonstrate mucoid substances of vertebrate origin, have been applied to a variety of insect tissues. Mucoid materials seem to be absent from the contents of the insect midgut, but a positive reaction may be given by. the striated border of the epithelium. Goblet cells of the larval midgut of Lepidoptera and rectal glands of all of the insects studied give a negative reaction, but the salivary glands of the cockroach, grasshopper, larval calliphorids, and worker honeybee all contain mucoid substances. In general, these materials seem to be of less frequent occurrence in insects than they are in most other animal phyla. The significance of the observed distribution of mucoid substances in insects is discussed, particularly in relation to the functions of the peritrophic membrane and the salivary glands.


5170 Tumour necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) is a member of the TNF death ligand family. It is best known for its ability to induce apoptosis selectively in cancer cells but not in untransformed cells. TRAIL is recognized by four distinct membrane-bound receptors: DR4, DR5, DcR1 and DcR2. Of the four receptors, only DR4 and DR5 contain a death domain, which is required for induction of apoptosis. DcR1 and DcR2 do not have a functional death domain and thus they are thought to act as decoy receptors. Currently the role of the decoy receptors in TRAIL-resistance of tumour cells is controversial, but their ubiquitous expression on the surface of almost all somatic cells may limit the in vivo efficiency of TRAIL. We previously described the successful design of DR5-selective TRAIL variants using a computational design strategy. We found that double mutation at positions D269H/E195R resulted in enhanced affinity for DR5, and an 8-12 fold reduced affinity for DR4. This mutant showed no binding to recombinant DcR1 and a 2-10 fold lower binding to recombinant DcR2, compared to wild-type TRAIL. Analysis of biological functionality confirmed the DR5-specific, receptor-agonistic action of the D269H/E195R variant. Furthermore, when compared to wild-type TRAIL, D269H/E195R displayed a 3-5 fold increased cytotoxic potential in DR5-responsive cancer cells. We found that soluble recombinant DcR1 and DcR2 could completely block the pro-apoptotic activity of wild-type TRAIL. On the contrary, only high concentration of soluble recombinant DcR2, but not DcR1 could reduce the pro-apoptotic activity pf D269H/E195R. Using neutralizing antibodies to DcR1 and DcR2, we found that inhibition of TRAIL-binding to either DcR1 or DcR2 increases TRAIL-mediated cell death by up to 42%. Inhibition of both decoy receptors resulted in a cumulative effect with a up to XX% increase in TRAIL-mediated cell death. At the same time, neutralization of the decoy receptors failed to further increase cell death induced by D269H/E195R, suggesting the greater cytotoxic potential of D269H/E195R over wild type TRAIL is due to its decreased binding to the decoy receptors. Importantly, D269H/E195R induced apoptosis only in tumour cells, but not in primary human keratinocytes or endothelial cells, two cell types shown to be sensitive to certain forms of recombinant TRAIL. Overall, these results suggest that decoy receptors can greatly reduce the death-inducing potential of TRAIL. Selective activation of the DR5 receptor and elimination of the binding to the decoy receptors can thus provide higher anti-tumour potential without leading to toxicity in non-transformed cells.


Several power plants located along the east coast of Korea discharge heated water used as a coolant. To reduce its thermal pollution impact to the surrounding coastal regions near the power plants, the behavior of heated wastewater should be monitored and predicted. However, lots of difficulties exist not only in surveying the coastal regions around the power plants but also in maintaining in-situ monitoring systems there. In this study we demonstrate a novel method for estimating the thermal diffusivity of heated wastewater from the power plant using thermocolor dyes which can visualize temperature changes by color transition in the solution. The solution shows violet, green, and yellow colors when the water temperature ranges < 18°C, 18–21°C, and > 21°C, respectively. Salt water in the tank is set to 17°C and warmer solution, considered hot wastewater, is discharged through submerged tube at the bottom. Behavior of the warmer solution is recorded by digital camera, and eye-catching colors are converted to HSV-color coordinate (Hue, Saturation, Value) to determine the absolute color. Thermal diffusivity is estimated by analyzing spreading extent of warmer solution from HSV-color images and by solving the advection-diffusion equation. Our novel approach has following two advantages: 1) Any sensors (like thermometer) are unnecessary, and hence any disturbances by sensors on fluids are prevented, 2) Converting video images to HSV-color provides absolute color so that we can determine the temperature changes quantitatively using the images taken at a certain angle and brightness. The estimated thermal diffusivity shows a reasonable value compared to that from a numerical simulation. Therefore, our method using thermocolor dye solution and converting HSV color coordinate can be applied in reproducing and predicting the movement of heated wastewater. It also can be applied for conventional experimental studies of heat transfer in fluids like turbulent mixing.


Sir: We read with great interest the review article on donovanosis1. The author updated the information on all aspects of what he called a `forgotten disease'. In epidemiology, the comment about the present scenario in India was based on a personal communication with Dr Hira who suggested that the disease is declining. While this statement holds true for many parts of the country, the data available from states located on the eastern seaboard i.e. Orissa, Tamilnadu and Pondicherry (where the disease was initially highly endemic in the fourth to seventh decades) do not show a declining trend during the last two decades. A series of studies from Pondicherry on the pattern of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in STD clinic attenders during the last three decades has shown a negligible decline2± 4. The prevalence of this disease in STD clinic attenders in the studies quoted above was 5.4% in 1968± 1969, 8.2% in 1980± 1981, 4.2% in 1986, 3.6% in 1987 and 4.7% in 1993± 19982± 4. A recent study from Orissa has shown a relatively high prevalence (7.5%) of donovanosis in STD clinic attenders5. In the other adjacent state of Andhra Pradesh, the disease has been persistently endemic at low levels during the last two decades (prevalence in STD clinic attenders at KurnoolÐ 1.6% in 1979, 1.12% in 1998)6,7. However, the prevalence of the disease has been declining consistently in the northern parts. At our own centre (located in north India), the prevalence has gone down more than eight-fold since the late 70s (69 [6.3%] cases out of 1089 total cases of STDs in 1977± 1985, 34 [2.5%] cases out of 1375 total cases of STDs in 1986± 1992 and eight [0.9%] cases out of 876 total cases of STDs in 1993± 2000)8,9. At another north Indian centre (Rohtak), a ® ve-fold decline has been noted since the late 80s (4.5% in 1982± 1986, 0.84% in 1992± 1996)10,11. The author has stated that the reduction is mainly due to increased focus on sexually transmitted infection control measures as a part of an overall HIV prevention strategy. However, the data from our own centre do not support this because the major decline in our region had occurred before HIV infection entered and intervention programmes launched in the region. The rising literacy and more awareness combined with improvement in the socioeconomic status and availability of more effective antimicrobials were probably more important contributing factors in the control of donovanosis. In conclusion, though the prevalence of the disease is declining in the northern parts of the country, it remains a common STD in endemic areas on the eastern seaboard. Somesh Gupta MD DNB Bhushan Kumar MD MNAMS Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Leprology Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research Chandigarh-160 012, India E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com


Current fluctuations related to the discreteness of charge passing through small constrictions are termed shot noise. This unavoidable noise provides both advantages-being a direct measurement of the transmitted particles' charge-and disadvantages-a main noise source in nanoscale devices operating at low temperature. While better understanding of shot noise is desired, the technical difficulties in measuring it result in relatively few experimental works, especially in single-atom structures. Here, we describe a local shot-noise measurement apparatus and demonstrate successful noise measurements through single-atom junctions. Our apparatus, based on a scanning tunneling microscope, operates at liquid helium temperatures. It includes a broadband commercial amplifier mounted in close proximity to the tunnel junction, thus reducing both the thermal noise and input capacitance that limit traditional noise measurements. The full capabilities of the microscope are maintained in the modified system, and a quick transition between different measurement modes is possible.


Physiology![Figure][1]

CREDIT: G. RIDDIHOUGH

Sharks, like many other animals, are thought to track their prey by sensing differences in odor concentrations. Yet the diffusion of an odor in a freely moving fluid is unlikely to form a stable concentration gradient; rather, the odor dispersal field would look more like a river flowing over rocks—a series of chutes and eddies—making the odor plume intrinsically patchy and challenging the idea that animals could easily track food sources by detecting odor gradients. To resolve this conundrum, Gardiner and Atema fitted a small species of shark, Mustelus canis , with a device that delivered pulses of squid odor to the shark's nares. Simultaneous pulses of odor, which differed 100-fold in concentration, presented to both nares caused the sharks to turn to either side with equal frequency. When identical concentrations of odor were used, but the timing of the pulses to each naris was staggered, the sharks turned with greater frequency towards the side that received the pulse 0.1 to 0.5 s earlier. When a highly diluted odor was delivered to one naris 0.5 s ahead of a full-strength pulse to the other nostril, the sharks turned with greater frequency to the side of the dilute pulse, showing that odor arrival time, and not concentration differences, drives turning behavior.

Curr. Biol. 20 , 1187 (2010).

 [1]: pending:yes


To the Editor.— The diagnosis of carcinoma of the breast comes within the province of the surgeon, not the dermatologist. The following case report is an exception to this general rule. Report of a Case A 61-year-old white woman was admitted to the hospital on Jan 22, 1971, for severe peripheral vascular disease. Dermatologic consultation was requested for a skin lesion over the xiphoid area. According to the patient, the lesion had started many months ago in the form of a pimple and had gradually enlarged. It had been asymptomatic. On physical examination, there was a 2 x 3-cm, raised indurated, erythematous lesion with a nodular border. Few telangiomas could be seen. The lesion was located above the xiphoid process, extending beyond its right edge towards the right mammary crease. The lesion appeared to be fixed to the underlying soft tissue. Our initial clinical impression was basal cell epithelioma


Introduction In 1853, William Wells Brown publishes what is considered to be the first novel by an African American writer, Clotel; or, the President's Daughter where he introduces the image of the tragic mulatto--a character of mixed heritage who is consequently torn between the two races and whose life ends tragically--to African American literature. (1) Of the six mulatta characters in the novel, there is one whose life does not end tragically: the novel ends with Clotel's daughter, Mary, living in France and re-united with her former slave lover. In 1858, Brown publishes a play, The Escape, or A Leap for Freedom, which also features a mulatta who, like Mary, is not a tragic mulatta figure. Moreover, more contemporary interpretations of Clotel have rejected the protagonist's status as a tragic mulatta. Although Clotel commits suicide, her act can be read, so argues one of these critics, "less as victimization than as a powerful political statement." (2) What is evident from a close reading of Brown's work is that all of his mixed-race female characters are not tragic mulattas; however, as Barbara Christian notes, "the mulatta [is at] the center" of Brown's work. Consequently, also in Brown's work is an alternate depiction of the mulatta: a slave woman placed in a cottage in an isolated setting at the behest of a white male who is most often her owner. This pattern becomes "the trope of the mulatta in the cottage." This trope is repeated and revised, to use Henry Louis Gates' terminology, not only by Brown but also by Harriet Jacobs' in her slave narrative, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861), and by Hannah Crafts' in her fictionalized The Bondwoman's Narrative (c. 1853-61), thereby firmly establishing it in the African American literary tradition. The Mulatta in the Cottage: Clotel's Story The image of the mulatta in the cottage is presented, and then twice revised in Clotel; the basic trope occurs with the quadroon protagonist, Clotel, for whom the work is named. The daughter of a miscegenational relationship between a master and his mistress, Clotel, who is being raised by her mother to become a lady, attracts the attention of the young white Horatio Green who promises to make her the "mistress of her own dwelling." (4) When Clotel, along with her mother, Currer, and sister Althesa, is placed on the auction block at the death of their owner, she is purchased by Horatio, who keeps his promise by providing her with "a beautiful cottage," whose description and setting are essential to the trope: About three miles from Richmond is a pleasant plain, with... a beautiful cottage surrounded by trees so as scarcely to be seen. Among them was one far retired from the public roads, and almost hidden among the trees. It was a perfect model of rural beauty. The piazzas that surrounded it were covered with clematis and passion flower. The pride of China mixed its oriental looking foliage with the majestic magnolia, and the air was redolent with the fragrance of flowers. The tasteful hand of art had not learned to imitate the lavish beauty and harmonious disorder of nature, but they lived together in loving amity, and spoke in accordant tones. The gateway rose in a gothic arch, with graceful tracery in iron work, surmounted by a cross, round which fluttered and played the mountain fringe, that lightest and most fragile of vines. (5) The only descriptor of the cottage dwelling is that is "beautiful"; however, the narrator is meticulous in describing its setting. Located approximately three miles from Richmond, "almost hidden" and enclosed in the iron gate, the cottage is isolated, yet set amidst trees, flowers, and lush foliage--"a perfect model of ... beauty," it evokes the Garden of Eden. As noted by Blyden Jackson, Clotel and Horatio exist in a "small, private Elysium." (6) The basic trope, as presented in Clotel's story, is comprised of three elements: 1). …


The fasting serum concentrations of primary bile acids were determined in 30 patients with cystic fibrosis, aged 1 to 27 years, and correlated to liver disease. Cholic (fs-C) and chenodeoxycholic (fS-CDC) acids were determined by radioimmunoassays. Two patients had biopsy-proven liver cirrhosis, 13 had portal fibrosis. 8 had minor different pathological changes, and 7 had normal liver morphology. Standard liver function tests were of no help in evaluating liver disease in these patients. Eight patients had increased fS-C and 15 had increased fS-CDC, not correlated to liver morphology. Serum bile acid determination seems to be of no value in evaluating the extent of liver disease in cystic fibrosis. The more frequent and more marked increase of fS-CDC than of fS-C suggests that there is another hepatic clearance of bile acids in CF and/or that intestinal factors have a greater influence on the serum bile acid concentrations in this disease.


Background: Dietary diversity is essential for household welfare as well as for accomplishing other development activities. Households with insufficient access to food often face other challenges related to food insecurity including poor health and a decline in productivity which makes vicious cycle between under nutrition and decreased productivity. Objective: To assess house hold Dietary Diversity and associated factors in Mirab Abaya Wereda Southern Ethiopia, 2016. Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted from February to June, 2016. Out of 24 kebeles; nine kebeles were selected using simple random sampling method. The study house hold was selected using simple random sampling method by applying proportional to population size (PPS) for each selected kebele. Data was collected using pretested structured questionnaire adapted from FANTA and other related studies. Data was entered in to Epi info version 7 and exported to SPSS version 20.0 for analysis. Multivariate logistic regression model was fitted and odds ratios with 95% CI were calculated to identify factors associated with food insecurity. Result: A total of 453 households were interviewed and all were participated in the study making the response rate 100%. The overall mean age of head of the house hold was 41.9 years ± 14 (SD). Nearly Sixty percent of heads of the households were male. From 453 respondents nearly one third (34.3%) of the house holds had high dietary diversity while the rest had low dietary diversity. Sex of head of the house hold, marital status, monthly expenditure and presence of old age dependency were factors associated with dietary diversity. Being male sex for the house hold (AOR, 95% CI=3.55 (2.27, 5.58)) increases dietary diversity by nearly four times. Conclusion: In this study dietary diversity was 34.3%. Sex of head of the house hold, marital status, monthly expenditure and presence of old age dependency in the house hold were factors associated with dietary diversity.


With the increasing focus on data mining and machine learning (ML) applications in the oil and gas industry, the substantial number of well integrity logs and variety of data types represent a suitable candidate for the implementation of automated corrosion log processing. Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are used in many fields, especially for image processing and features recognition. On the other hand, genetic algorithms (GA) add a valuable benefit to data processing in terms of global search and optimization. This paper demonstrates the integration of ML techniques with legacy well integrity log data, improving the results and leading to a tangible time and cost savings.
 A downhole well integrity evaluation triangle comprises three important services for comprehensive diagnosis: 1) cement evaluation, 2) corrosion inspection, and 3) leak detection. These services produce multiple datasets from a variety of logging tools. The types and sources of these datasets include synthetic data from simulation and modeling, tool calibration and lab testing, as well as raw, processed, and interpreted data. This paper describes the use of advanced ML techniques to scrutinize and improve well integrity evaluation. The new process resolves the recurrent challenges of well integrity evaluation in complex completion and downhole environments. It also maximizes value from existing well and field data.
 Image features recognition enables major improvements in the data analysis, such as the identification of concentric casings and tubing as well as their respective collar depths and types. In addition, input parameters and well schematics promote quality control of recorded data versus the model data. The new process helps to identify casing and completion accessories and provides a reliable benchmark. Another major element is the qualitative and quantitative evaluation of corrosion using deep learning algorithms combined with the GA. This evaluation is achieved using feature extraction from the forward model (FM) data in an analogous way to collar identification in an electromagnetic decay image. The integration of big data and advanced ML enables an improved data analysis with automated data quality control (QC) and interpretation. A more pro-active well integrity management system will result.
 Testing and validation using field examples demonstrate the benefits of this new methodology. The outcome is a better-quality answer product that helps depict various aspects of the acquired and interpreted data. Savings in time and cost are complemented with an improved and automated quality control.


The thymus is a complex, highly specialized organ that is derived from the third and fourth pharyngeal pouches and contains elements that originate from all three germinal layers. As such, it shows certain specific and distinctive reaction patterns to injury that are frequently encountered in a variety of reactive and inflammatory conditions. These reaction patterns, however, can also often be associated with neoplastic diseases arising from this organ, and in some instances, their presence may contribute to obscure the malignant nature of the underlying process. We present a review of the main tumor entities that may be mistaken for benign conditions of the thymus, with emphasis on the three major reaction patterns to injury that may be associated with malignant neoplasms of this organ: prominent cystic changes, stromal fibrosis, and reactive and hyperplastic changes of thymic epithelium. Histologic clues helpful for diagnosis and the differential diagnosis of these lesions are discussed.


The Cosmo-SkyMed mission offers a unique opportunity to obtain radar images useful for flood mapping, being characterized by high revisit time, thanks to the four satellites that form its constellation. In the context of a study aiming at evaluating the usefulness of Earth Observation data for managing flood events, particularly focused on Cosmo-SkyMed, an algorithm to map flooded areas from synthetic aperture radar imagery has been developed. It is based on methods developed in previous studies and aims at combining an image segmentation technique based on mathematical morphology and the fuzzy logic that allows us to label the identified objects as flooded or non-flooded. The default parameters of the fuzzy classifier are derived from the outputs of well-established electromagnetic scattering models.


Somatic hypermutation (SHM) diversifies the genes that encode immunoglobulin variable regions in antigen‐activated germinal centre B lymphocytes. Available evidence strongly suggests that DNA deamination potentiates phase I SHM and subsequently triggers phase II SHM. A concise review of this evidence is followed by a detailed critique of two possible models which suggest that polymerase‐η potentiates phase II SHM via either its DNA‐dependent or its RNA‐dependent DNA synthetic activity. Quantitative analysis, in the context of extant data that define the features of SHM, favours the RNA‐dependent mechanism.


An 'electronic nose' based on mass spectrometer and discriminant function analysis (DFA) was used to evaluate the grade of coffee beans. The data obtained from the electronic nose was analyzed by DFA. The discriminant function first score (DF1) of natural coffee beans showed a greater decrease than the different processing methods. Defective coffee beans were separated well from non-defective coffee beans by DF1, which correlated with a weaker flavor than that of the others. Flavor patterns of the defective and the non-defective coffee beans were determined as complementary information. The flavor patterns obtained in this study can explain, in a simplified way, the differences between the defective and the non-defective coffee beans.


The existing literature on the rise velocities of air bubbles in aqueous surfactant solutions adsorbing at the water-air interface focuses mainly on large bubbles (D > 1.2 mm). In addition, due to the way the bubbles in rising bubble experiments are formed, their size is dependent on interfacial tension (the lower the interfacial tension the smaller the bubble). In this paper, smaller air bubbles (D < 505 ± 3 μm) are used to investigate the effect of the bubble size on the detection of two flotation frothers of different adsorption kinetics via bubble rise velocity measurements. We use an alternative method for bubble generation, allowing us to compare the rise velocity of bubbles of the same size in solutions of frothers of varying bulk concentration. The approach taken (ensuring consistent bubble size) ascertains that the buoyancy force component is kept constant when comparing the different solutions. As a consequence, any variations in the bubble rise velocity can be related to changes in the hydrodynamic drag force acting on a rising bubble. The interfacial behavior of frothers, i.e. the adsorption kinetics, interfacial activity and the maximum amount of molecules adsorbed at the interface, are determined from interfacial tension measurements and adsorption isotherms. The differences in the degree of tangential immobilisation caused by two different frothers are discussed in the context of differences in the structure of the dynamic adsorption layer, which is formed during the bubble rise.


We report a 39-year-old Chinese man presenting with approximately 200 atrophic brownish patches for 10 years, whose clinical manifestation and pathological features were consistent with the findings of idiopathic atrophoderma of Pasini and Pierini. Another described case was a 62-year-old woman who had a gradually increasing asymptomatic hyperpigmented and depressed patch on her right lumbosacral region over a period of 7 years. At the time of consultation, the size of the lesion was approximately 27 x 23 cm.


1. Managing Creativity. Cases: Leo Castelli. The Videogame Industry. The Videogame Design Process. George Lucas. Readings: On My Painting, Beckman. Creating Videogames that Score. George Lucas, Skywalking. 2. The Entrepreneur. Cases: Janet Axelrod. Ted Turner (A). Akira Kimishima. Audrey Dickason. Deborah Goldberg. Craig Knudsen. Paul Lutwak. Readings: Can You Survive an Entrepreneur? Perspectives on Entrepreneurship. 3. The Evolving Organization. Cases: Hot Rock (A). Catalyst Technologies. Managing Change at Lotus Development Corporation. Integrated Genetics (A). Infocom (A). Au Bon Pain. The Learning Company (A). The Young Astronaut Program. Readings: The Role of the Founder in Creating Organizational Culture. The Biotechnology Industry. Evolution and Revolution as Organizations Grow. How Much Land Does a Man Need? Three Myths: Midas, Daedalus, Narcissus. 4. The Established Firm. Cases: American Express Travel Related Services. Lou Gerstner. HRM at American Express Travel Related Services Company. Beth Horowitz. Teri Williams. Jerry Welsh. Scandinavian Airlines System. Readings: The Middle Manager as Innovator. Let's Get in There and Fight.


A typical quantitative approach for analyzing and forecasting equity returns is to build a model based on a set of factors and then estimate the model based on a set of data and some type of least squares procedure. However, as the data in equity markets are usually far from well behaved and some standard statistical assumptions do not hold, this procedure can miss significant relationships. This article uses the quantile regression technique to reveal effects that are missed by OLS. The empirical results using S&P 500 Index data show dramatic improvement in performance using QR forecasts.


380V DC distribution is becoming a necessary choice for new telecom and datacenter power infrastructure. As state-of-the-art computing, routing and optical hub equipments continue to require more power, classic 48V distribution quickly becomes expensive to install and operate due to I2R losses; at the same time, AC distribution utilizing AC UPS becomes too expensive and complicated. While higher DC voltage can efficiently address the power system's total cost of ownership, system integrators need to interface existing 48V equipment in a simple and effective way. Similarly, equipment manufacturers need to design and make available new hardware that can directly accept the higher DC voltage. This paper presents power system architectures that address both needs, analyzing trade-offs at component as well as system partitioning level. Examples of end-to-end topologies are discussed in relation to newly released ETSI EN 300 132-3-1 standard compliance.


During the 1920s emigration from Scotland exceeded the natural growth of population. Yet relatively little attention has been paid to the mechanisms of relocation, the regional and occupational origins and destinations of the emigrants or their demographic profile. This article draws on the recently compiled Scottish Emigration Database to provide a quantitative snapshot of the circumstances of 18,512 passengers who embarked on the lower Clyde in the first four months of 1923. The first section explains the rationale, methodology and historiographical context of the database. Then, after outlining the economic, social and political climate in inter-war Scotland, the article investigates the extent to which decay, dislocation and disillusionment – or alternatively opportunity and ambition – provoked transatlantic emigration. Reference is made to local and regional issues within Scotland, notably in the urban-industrial central belt and the crofting communities of the Hebrides. Setting the Scottish experience within the wider framework of British emigration policy between the wars, it also evaluates the effectiveness of empire settlement legislation in recruiting and retaining settlers for Canada against the competing attractions of the United States.


Generalized additive models for location, scale and shape (GAMLSS) are a popular extension to mean regression models where each parameter of an arbitrary distribution is modelled through covariates. While such models have been developed for univariate and bivariate responses, the truly multivariate case remains extremely challenging for both computational and theoretical reasons. Alternative approaches to GAMLSS may allow for higher dimensional response vectors to be modelled jointly but often assume a fixed dependence structure not depending on covariates or are limited with respect to modelling flexibility or computational aspects. We contribute to this gap in the literature and propose a truly multivariate distributional model, which allows one to benefit from the flexibility of GAMLSS even when the response has dimension larger than two or three. Building on copula regression, we model the dependence structure of the response through a Gaussian copula, while the marginal distributions can vary across components. Our model is highly parameterized but estimation becomes feasible with Bayesian inference employing shrinkage priors. We demonstrate the competitiveness of our approach in a simulation study and illustrate how it complements existing models along the examples of childhood malnutrition and a yet unexplored data set on traffic detection in Berlin.


Author's Introduction

David Hume's relatively short essay 'Of the Standard of Taste' deals with some of the most difficult issues in aesthetic theory. Apart from giving a few pregnant remarks, near the end of his discussion, on the role of morality in aesthetic evaluation, Hume tries to reconcile the idea that tastes are subjective (in the sense of not being answerable to the facts) with the idea that some objects of taste are better than others. 'Tastes', in this context, are the pleasures or displeasures that a person can take in the beauties of poems, paintings, and other artistic compositions (though Hume also wants to stress the continuities between tastes, so understood, and the bodily sense of taste). The position at which Hume arrives in the essay (despite some dialectical unclarity) is that some people – the 'true judges'– determine by their 'joint verdict' which works are meritorious. This solution continues to exercise a fascination, as does Hume's complicated route to it.

Author Recommends:

Paul Guyer, 'The Standard of Taste and the "Most Ardent Desire of Society" ', Values of Beauty (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 37–76.

This paper places 'Of the Standard of Taste' in an especially rich context, and asks why Hume concentrates on true judges instead of the improvement of one's own taste.

Mary Mothersill, 'Hume: "Of the Standard of Taste" ', Beauty Restored (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1984), 177–208.

This chapter, embedded in an exposition of Mothersill's 'First Thesis' (the denial that there are principles of taste) and 'Second Thesis' (the affirmation that some judgments of taste are genuine judgments), gives a detailed running commentary on Hume's essay. A shorter self-contained version of the chapter appeared as 'Hume and the Paradox of Taste' in Aesthetics: A Critical Anthology, 2nd ed., eds. George Dickie, Richard Sclafani, and Ronald Roblin (New York, NY: St. Martin's Press, 1989, 269–86).

Jerrold Levinson, 'Hume's Standard of Taste: The Real Problem', Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism (2002): 227–38.

An importance recent article, Levinson's piece argues that the 'real' difficulty with Hume's essay has gone unnoticed: why should I care about what Hume's true judges think?

Christopher Williams, 'Some Questions in Hume's Aesthetics', Philosophy Compass 2/2 (2007).

This article provides a brief overview of the topics discussed under weeks 3–5 in the sample syllabus below. It is intended to provide a roadmap for the particular set of readings listed there.

David Wiggins, 'A Sensible Subjectivism?', Needs, Values, and Truth, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998), 185–214.

This is a stimulating paper in moral philosophy that treats Hume's essay on taste as a model for a serious subjectivism. Wiggins then presents his own brand of subjectivism as an alternative to Hume's.

Online Materials:

Hume's Aesthetics (Ted Gracyk):

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hume-aesthetics/

Sample Syllabus:

Recommended background reading on Hume's historical context:

Peter Kivy, The Seventh Sense: Francis Hutcheson and Eighteenth-Century British Aesthetics, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), especially Part III.

Recommended background reading on the general topic of taste:

David A. Whewell, 'Taste', Blackwell Companion to Aesthetics (Oxford: Blackwell, 1992), 415–18.

Dabney Townsend and Carolyn Korsmeyer, 'Taste', Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, ed. Michael Kelly (New York, NY and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), 4:355–62.

Ted Cohen, 'The Philosophy of Taste: Thoughts on the Idea', Blackwell Guide to Aesthetics, ed. Peter Kivy (Oxford: Blackwell, 2004), 167–73.

Week 1: Hume on beauty, art, and aesthetic judgment in the Treatise of Human Nature and the Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals

The following references are usable for any complete edition of the Treatise or Enquiry

Treatise, 2.1.8 ('Of Beauty and Deformity')

Treatise, 2.2.5 ('Of Our Esteem for the Rich and Powerful')

Treatise, 2.2.8 ('Of Malice and Envy'), final three paragraphs

Treatise, 2.2.11 ('Of the Amorous Passion, or Love Betwixt the Sexes')

Treatise, 3.1.2 ('Moral Distinctions Deriv'd from a Moral Sense')

Treatise, 3.3.1 ('Of the Origin of the Natural Virtues')

Treatise, 3.3.5 ('Some Farther Reflexions Concerning the Natural Virtues')

Enquiry, Appendix 1 ('Of moral sentiment')

Week 2: Hume's essays

Essays Moral, Political, and Literary, ed. Eugene Miller (Indianapolis, IN: LibertyClassics, 1985) is the most commonly used edition today.

'Of the Delicacy of Taste and Passion'

'Of Eloquence'

'Of the Rise and Progress of the Arts and Sciences'

'Of Simplicity and Refinement in Writing'

'Of Tragedy'

'Of the Standard of Taste'

Week 3: Circularity–Virtuous or Vicious?

Peter Kivy, 'Hume's Standard of Taste: Breaking the Circle', British Journal of Aesthetics (1967): 57–66.

David Wiggins, 'A Sensible Subjectivism?', Needs, Values, and Truth, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998), 185–214.

Week 4: Rules of Art

Mary Mothersill, 'Hume: "Of the Standard of Taste" ', Beauty Restored (Oxford: Clarendon, 1984), 177–208.

James Shelley, 'Hume's Double Standard of Taste', Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism (1994): 437–45.

Nick Zangwill, 'Hume, Taste, and Teleology', The Metaphysics of Beauty (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2001), 149–65.

Week 5: The True Judge

Malcolm Budd, 'Hume and Kant', 'Hume's Standard of Taste', 'Hume and Human Nature', Values of Art (London: Allen Lane, 1995), 16–24 .

Paul Guyer, 'The Standard of Taste and the "Most Ardent Desire of Society" ', Values of Beauty (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 37–76.

Jerrold Levinson, 'Hume's Standard of Taste: The Real Problem', Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism (2002): 227–38.

Week 6: Moralism in Aesthetic Judgment: Hume and Beyond

Kendall Walton, 'Morals in Fiction and Fictional Morality', Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society (1994): 27–50.

Richard Moran, 'The Expression of Feeling in Imagination', Philosophical Review (1994): 75–106.

Tamar Szabo-Gendler, 'The Puzzle of Imaginative Resistance', Journal of Philosophy (2000): 55–81.

Focus Questions

1
How does Hume distinguish between matters of 'fact' and 'sentiment'?

2
What is a 'rule of art', and are there any rules?

3
Can a bad critic be 'silenced'?

4
What are the characteristics of good critics?

5
Should we expect good critics to agree on the merits of a work, and should I care about becoming a good critic myself?

6
Is it possible to distinguish variations in taste for which we should expect a standard and variations for which it is 'vain' to have such an expectation?

7
How is the excellence of a work related to the exercise of taste?

8
If a work of literature has a moral outlook that differs from our own, should we consider the work defective on literary grounds?


Objective: This study investigates the health and work-environment factors that are associated with presenteeism. Method: A self-report survey that measured presenteeism, 13 health conditions (eg, stress and allergies), and nine work-environment factors (eg, job strain and leadership) was completed by 229 workers. Results: The most common health condition was stress, while the most common work-environment factor was job strain. Allergies, asthma, and high blood pressure along with work-life imbalance, poor leadership, and a lack of development opportunities were associated with presenteeism. Finally, several inter-relationships between the health and work-environment factors were also reported. Conclusion: Interventions targeted at the points of intersection among the health conditions and work-environment factors could be a cost-effective way to improve employees' overall well-being at work, and thus reduce presenteeism.


Simple Summary Malignant melanoma is more dangerous than most other skin cancers due to its ability to spread early and aggressively. Until the development of new therapeutic strategies, the median survival of patients with metastatic melanoma was just a few months. Immunotherapy, the first regimen, leading to significant improvement, blocks immune checkpoints, which normally dampen immune responses, enabling our defense cells to recognize and destroy cancer cells again. Immunotherapy achieves long-term survival in about 50% of metastatic melanoma patients. Besides, targeted therapy has also significantly improved the survival of melanoma patients, blocking cell-signaling proteins, which are altered in about 50% of melanomas and lead to uncontrolled tumor cell growth. In addition to the approved regimens, there are numerous new treatment strategies, ranging from modified viruses to personalized immune cells that attack and destroy tumor cells. This review shall give an insight into both already approved regimens and upcoming developments. Abstract This decade has brought significant survival improvement in patients with metastatic melanoma with targeted therapies and immunotherapies. As our understanding of the mechanisms of action of these therapeutics evolves, even more impressive therapeutic success is being achieved through various combination strategies, including combinations of different immunotherapies as well as with other modalities. This review summarizes prospectively and retrospectively generated clinical evidence on modern melanoma therapy, focusing on immunotherapy and targeted therapy with BRAF kinase inhibitors and MEK kinase inhibitors (BRAF/MEK inhibitors), including recent data presented at major conference meetings. The combination of the anti-PD-1 directed monoclonal antibody nivolumab and of the CTLA-4 antagonist ipilimumab achieves unprecedented 5-year overall survival (OS) rates above 50%; however, toxicity is high. For PD-1 monotherapy (nivolumab or pembrolizumab), toxicities are in general well manageable. Today, novel combinations of such immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are under investigation, for example with cytokines and oncolytic viruses (i.e., pegylated interleukin-2, talimogene laherparepvec). Furthermore, current studies investigate the combined or sequential use of ICIs plus BRAF/MEK inhibitors. Several studies focus particularly on poor prognosis patients, as e.g., on anti-PD-1 refractory melanoma, patients with brain metastases, or uveal melanoma. It is hoped, on the road to cure, that these new approaches further improve long term survival in patients with advanced or metastatic melanoma.


DUING the past two years in my out-patient room at the Shadwell Children's Hospital I have had three cases which presented the lesions denoted under the above title. As the condition is evidently a rare one, and I am not aware of any previous reference to such a lesion, I have thought them worthv of being embodied in a short paper. One of the cases, S. C., I exhibited at the Clinical Society in April, 1894, when the diagnosis was confirmed by many present, and short notes of this case appear in vol. xxvii of the Transactions. Before detailing the cases I would lay stress upon the following facts as being common to all, and as giving an indication as to the causes at work to bring about this condition. All three cases were in young female children close on twelve months old, who had all been previously healthy and just getting on to their feet. All suddenly, from some altered condition of health, perhaps associated with teething trouble, got flaccidity of the muscles of the lower extremities and probably laxity of ligaments, and, with the advent of this loss of support, the altered movements in the knee-joints were no,ticed. In none of the cases was there any evidence of rickets, nor was there any reason to consider the wasting associated with any infantile paralysis. As will be noticed from the accounts of the cases, a favour;able prognosis may be given. With simple internal reme-dies to restore the general health, and rubbing the leg muscles to increase their bulk and tone, the looseness of the joints soon disappears, leaving apparently no evidence behind. CASE i.-E. M., aged 9 months, came to my out-patient room on May 12th, 1893. She had always been healthy, and was the youngest of eleven children. The birth was normal. For the past few days the child had been out of sorts and peevish, apparently in relation with dentition. The mother noticed that she had developed some looseness of knee-joints and general flabbiness of muscles, particularly of the lower extremities. On examining the knees, there appeared no deformity. The joint surfaces and patella were normal, and the relation of the tibia and fibula on either side to each other was quite natural. The range of movement in the knee-joint in the antero-posterior direction was not altered, but laterally displacement could be easily effected. On watching the knees, the child is noticed to shoot the tibia and fibula outwards laterally, at the same time rotating the bones outwards, so that the inner tuberosity of the tibia is directed almost forwards, while it occupies the intercondylar notch. The bones are actively returned to the normal position with a loud snap. The child was given vinum ferri, and -the knees and muscles were ordered to be rubbed by the mother with Un. saponis. On June 27th, the condition was very much improved. The muscles had recovered some of -their tone, and the displacement could not so readily be brought about. The child also was beginning to get down on its feet again. The improvement was maintained, and the child soon got all right. The child was brought up to me for inspection on April 20th, 1894, when her knees were absolutely right, except perhaps for a slight excess of lateral movement. The muscles were bulky and firm, and she could stand and walk well. CASE II.-S. C., 1 year old, came under my care on February 20th, 1894. She had bronchitis at Christmas. The child before that had been in good health and very strong. Since that time she had not been able to stand down on her feet, and her leg muscles were not as firm as before. There was no evidence of rickets. She was the first child. With the onset of the inability to stand, the mother noticed that the bones of the knee were displaced, returning to their normal position with a loud snap. On watching the child the tibia and fibula on each side were seen to be displaced outwards and forwards, so that the inner tuberosity of the tibia came into the intercondylar notch and looked directly forwards. On manipulation there was some lateral movement but not as much as in the other two cases. The legs were ordered to be well rabbed with lin. saponis, and iron and strychnine given internally. Up to March 6th the child very much improved but she then developed measles. When next seen towards the end of the month the legs muscles were very flabby, and the looseness of the knee-joints was much more marked. She was shown at the Clinical Society on April 27th, when the condition was easily demonstrated. From this time, as she improved in health, the displacement became less and less noticeable, and when last seen, towards the end of the year, her muscles were firm and strong; there was no displacement to be detected, and she could stand and walk fairly well. CASE iii.-E. D., aged 9 months, first came under my care, October 2nd, 1894. She had always been a very healthy child, and could just stand on her feet but not walk. Three weeks before the first visit she had a fall, and it was after this that anything abnormal was first detected in the legs. When the child moved her knees it was noticed that they now clicked. The only other features worth noting are that the child appeared " out of sorts " after the fall, and her muscles seemed weak so that she could not now stand. The legs, especially the right one, could be easily rotated at the knee joints, so that the inner tuberosity of the tibia came into the notch. This same position could be effected by crossing one leg over the other. Voluntarily the normal position was reassumed with a loud snap. There was also in this case some freedom of movement in ankle joints. A week later the muscles were more flabby, and in consequence the looseness of the joints was more marked. Under treatment the muscles rapidly regained their proper tension, and with this the abnormal movement of the joint surfaces was less and less able to be demonstrated.


In this work, the cationic surfactant hexacetyl pridinium chloride ( HCPC) was blended with anionic surfactant Sodium Dodecyl benzene  Sulfate (SDBS) by using different concentrations (0.0025 - 0.1M) of phenol and at temperature ranges (20-35 C o ). It was found that the viscosity values for the mixture of SDBS / HCPC at a certain mixing ratios (12/3, 10.5/4.5 and 9/6), were increased in the presence of phenol, due to formation of self-assembled supramolecular. Moreover, the thermodynamic functions as well as the activation energy for the process of self-assembled were calculated. Conductivity measurements were also performed for further support. The results revealed a physical interaction insight intermolecular forces


Keywords clustering, as the basic method of domain knowledge analysis, has some problems such as difficult to understand the clustered tree diagram, scarce of further analysis methods, etc. The paper proposed a new approach to analyze domain knowledge based on keywords clustering. The proposed weighted knowledge model (WKN) is composed of two types of nodes (nodes of high-frequency keywords and nodes of clusters which come from keywords clustering and named as keywords nodes). Based on WKN, some new methods are suggested to analyze domain knowledge, such as main sub-fields analysis and representation, important sub-fields and hot spots of domain knowledge identification, research fronts analysis, etc., and all the analysis results can be illustrated as a sub-network of WKN. In the end, a case study was conducted to verify the feasibility and validity of the methods. Compared with the existing methods, the proposed methods seem more clearly, deeply and conveniently, and present new tools for researchers to study and utilize domain knowledge.


Tear film quality depends on fine regulatory mechanisms affected by neuronal and hormonal influences. Indeed, receptors for androgens, estrogens, progesterone and prolactin have been identified in several ocular tissues in the rat, rabbit and in humans. The eye is thus a target organ for sex hormones, particularly the androgens. These hormones regulate the immune system, the morphology and secretory functions of lacrimal glands and the functioning of Meibomian glands. The influence of hormone replacement therapy in menopausal women remains unclear, as some authors support the idea that they improve the quality and the volume of tear film, whereas others have shown that they increase the risk of dry eye. Finally, knowledge of the interactions between the hormones that influence the lacrimal glands is essential for the understanding of the regulation of lacrimal gland function. However, the data presently available strongly suggest that optimal bioavailable androgen levels are essential for normal lacrimal gland function and that prolactin and estrogens also play important roles in providing a hormonal milieu that contributes to normal lacrimal gland function.


There are 4 families of viruses that cause viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF), including Filoviridae. Ebola virus is one virus within the family Filoviridae and the cause of the current outbreak of VHF in West Africa. VHF-endemic areas are found throughout the world, yet traditional diagnosis of VHF has been performed in large reference laboratories centered in Europe and the United States. The large amount of capital needed, as well as highly trained and skilled personnel, has limited the availability of diagnostics in endemic areas except in conjunction with governmental and nongovernmental entities. However, rapid diagnosis of VHF is essential to efforts that will limit outbreaks. In addition, increased global travel suggests VHF diagnoses may be made outside of the endemic areas. Thus, understanding how to diagnose VHF is imperative for laboratories worldwide. This article reviews traditional and current diagnostic modalities for VHF.


Time-dependent behavior and factors affecting preload relaxation in a carbon/epoxy composite bolted joint under resonance were studied. The effect of viscoelasticity of composite material on bolt relaxation was studied quantitatively through modal analysis from the perspective of energy dissipation and stiffness degradation. Damping ratio and resonance frequency were utilized to characterize the effects of preload relaxation on structural dynamic response. The loss of preload was found to decrease with increasing initial preloads over a 10 h vibration fatigue. However, an increase in preload loss occurred as exciting frequency increases. Vibration fatigue damage was found to result in decaying stiffness and amplitude responses of the bolted joints, along with an increase in damping ratio. As a proof-of-concept study, a beam-like specimens with and without bolted joints were comparatively excited to ascertain their respective dynamic responses; results revealed that relaxation in bolted joints could be attributed to the conjunct mechanisms between viscoelastic behavior of polymer matrix composites and interface friction for different contact surfaces, where such relaxation behavior was mainly due to viscoelasticity of the joint materials.


As a joint effort in the JLC/NLC research program, the authors have developed a new type of damped detuned accelerator structure with optimized round-shaped cavities (RDDS). This paper discusses some important R and D aspects of the first structure in this series (RDDS1). The design aspects covered are the cell design with sub-MHz precision, HOM detuning, coupling and damping technique and wakefield simulation. The fabrication issues covered are ultra-precision cell machining with micron accuracy, assembly and diffusion bonding technologies to satisfactorily meet bookshelf, straightness and cell rotational alignment requirements. The measurements described are the RF properties of single cavities and complete accelerator section, as well as wakefields from the ASSET tests at SLAC. Finally, future improvements are also discussed.


Neural radiance field (NeRF) is an emerging view synthesis method that samples points in a three-dimensional (3D) space and estimates their existence and color probabilities. The disadvantage of NeRF is that it requires a long training time since it samples many 3D points. In addition, if one samples points from occluded regions or in the space where an object is unlikely to exist, the rendering quality of NeRF can be degraded. These issues can be solved by estimating the geometry of 3D scene. This paper proposes a near-surface sampling framework to improve the rendering quality of NeRF. To this end, the proposed method estimates the surface of a 3D object using depth images of the training set and sampling is performed around there only. To obtain depth information on a novel view, the paper proposes a 3D point cloud generation method and a simple refining method for projected depth from a point cloud. Experimental results show that the proposed near-surface sampling NeRF framework can significantly improve the rendering quality, compared to the original NeRF and a state-of-the-art depth-based NeRF method. In addition, one can significantly accelerate the training time of a NeRF model with the proposed near-surface sampling framework.


Using data on firms listed on Chinese A‐share markets from 2009 to 2017, this paper applies the difference‐in‐difference model to test the effect of trade facilitation on preventing the formation of zombie firms. We find that the China Railway Express (CRE) significantly prevented the formation of such firms. Mechanism tests show: (i) the CRE has accelerated the speed of sales, which increased the overseas sales revenue of firms; (ii) the economies of scale and the capital accumulation effect caused by the CRE can help increase firms' solvency and development ability. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that the effect of the CRE on preventing the formation of zombie firms is mainly reflected in non‐state‐owned firms, firms in highly competitive industries, and firms in the eastern region of China. We suggest that China should continue to promote trade facilitation by expanding the CRE and strengthening the market's dominant role in preventing the formation of zombie firms. Disadvantaged firms should seize the development opportunities brought by the CRE.


Abstract. The Iberian Central System, formed after the Alpine
reactivation of the Variscan Iberian Massif, features maximum altitudes of
2500 m. It is surrounded by two foreland basins with contrasting elevation: the Duero Basin to the north, located at 750–800 m, and the Tajo Basin to the south,
lying at 450–500 m. The deep crustal structure of this mountain range seems
to be characterized by the existence of a moderate crustal root that
provides isostatic support for its topography. New seismic data are able to
constrain the geometry of this crustal root, which appears to be defined by
a northward lower-crustal imbrication of the southern Central Iberian crust
underneath this range. Contrarily to what was expected, this imbrication
also affects the upper crust, as the existing orogen-scale mid-crustal
Variscan detachment was probably assimilated during the Carboniferous
crustal melting that gave rise to the Central System batholith. In addition,
the lower crust might have thinned, allowing coupled deformation at both
crustal levels. This implies that the reactivated upper-crustal fractures
can reach lower-crustal depths, thus allowing the entire crust to sink. This
new model can explain the differences in topography between the Central
System foreland basins. Also, it provides further constraints on the crustal
geometry of this mountain range, as it seems to be that of an asymmetric
Alpine-type orogen, thus hindering the existence of buckling processes as
the sole origin of the deformation. The results presented here have been
achieved after autocorrelation of seismic noise along the CIMDEF (Central Iberian Massif DEFormation Mechanisms) profile.
Although the resolution of the dataset features limited resolution (0.5–4 Hz, stations placed at ∼ 5 km), this methodology has allowed
us to pinpoint some key structures that helped to constraint the deformation
mechanisms that affected Central Iberia during the Alpine orogeny.


After the transition from fetal to neonatal life, the cardio-respiratory system needs to adapt to the extrauterine condition. Both the cardiac and respiratory systems display complex dynamics. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between cardiorespiratory coupling, heart rate variability (HRV), and respiration of neonatal with gestational age (GA). Several complexity measures have been developed to quantify the complexity of physiological signals. In this study, we applied sample entropy (SampEn) and the bzip2 compressor to the time series. The mutual information (MI) and the normalized compression distance (NCD) were used to quantify the complexity of the cardiorespiratory coupling.
We analyzed a dataset composed of 30-minutes traces of RR intervals and respiration signals, acquired in the first two days of life, for 33 neonates with GA between 27 and 41 weeks. Of these 33 neonates, 22 babies were premature (<37 weeks), and 4 babies were considered extremely premature (<28 weeks). The Pearson correlation was computed to assess the association between complexity measures and GA.
Results obtained show that for the respiratory signals, SampEn increases as GA increases (r=0.46, p=0.008). However, the SampEn for RR intervals and MI gave non-significant correlations. When we applied the bzip2 compressor to the RR signals, we obtained a positive correlation with GA (r=0.69, p<0.001), but there is no significant correlation between bzip2 of respiratory signals and GA. For the complexity of cardiorespiratory coupling with NCD, we obtained a negative correlation with GA (r=-0.74, p<0.001).
We infer that SampEn presents better results for respiratory signals. However, bzip2 is better when using RR signals. While the complexity of the time series increases with GA, the complexity of the coupling decreases. This finding might emerge from the fact that the heart rate is highly modulated by respiration in premature babies. Future studies should investigate the complementary of these complexity measures.


Abstract: Seeking to understand the influence of culture on the expression of emotions in online social networks, we analyzed four Facebook groups – two from Quebec, Canada and two from Colombia – created following unexpected deaths. Comparison of the messages posted in these groups reveals a stronger tendency to maintain a virtual relationship with the deceased by Canadians than by Columbians. Among the former, the deceased is more often asked to and thanked for watching over the living, and testimonies of love addressed to the deceased are more numerous than among the latter. Among the latter, the strength of the links maintained with the deceased justifying the present pain and evocation of the mourners' Catholic beliefs are relatively more frequent. Finally, while the Canadian Quebecers' messages would presumably be written in French and those of Colombians in Spanish, it is interesting to observe a certain presence of English to express feelings of loss and love in the four groups, as well as a certain affinity between North American virtual bereavement practices and those seemingly more characteristic of women, the main contributors in all four groups. Keywords: bereavement, culture, death, emotion, emoticon, online social network *** Resume : Cherchant a saisir l'influence de la culture sur l'expression de ses emotions dans les reseaux sociaux numeriques, nous avons analyse quatre groupes Facebook – deux canadiens-quebecois et deux colombiens- crees au lendemain de deces inattendus. La comparaison des messages postes dans ces groupes met en relief une plus forte tendance au maintien d'une relation virtuelle avec le defunt de la part des canadiens que des colombiens. En effet, dans les premiers, le defunt est davantage sollicite et remercie pour veiller sur les vivants, et les temoignages d'amour qui lui sont adresses sont plus nombreux que dans les seconds, ou la force des liens entretenus avec le defunt justifiant la douleur actuelle, et l'evocation de ses croyances catholiques sont relativement plus frequentes. Finalement, alors que les messages canadiens-quebecois seraient supposes etre ecrits en francais et ceux colombiens en Anglais, il est interessant d'observer une certaine presence de l'anglais pour l'expression des sentiments de manque et d'amour dans les quatre groupes, ainsi qu'une sorte d'affinite entre les pratiques virtuelles de deuil nord-americaine et celles semblant plus caracteristiques des femmes, principales contributrices dans les differents groupes. Mots-cles : culture, deuil, emotion, emoticone, mort, reseau socionumerique


Soil salinity negatively affects the growth, development and yield of plants. Acidification of the cytosol in cells of glycophytes was reported under salinity, while various types of plant cells can have a specific reaction under the same conditions. Transgenic Arabidopsis plants expressing the pH sensor Pt-GFP in the cytosol were used in this work for determination of morphometric changes and cytosolic pH changes in the superficial cells of Arabidopsis roots under chronic salinity in vitro. We did not find changes in the length of the root cap cells, while there was a decrease in the length of the differentiation zone under 50, 75 mM NaCl and the size of the epidermal cells of the differentiation zone under 75 mM NaCl. The most significant changes of cytosolic pH to chronic salinity was noted in columella (decrease by 1 pH unit at 75 mM NaCl) and epidermal cells of the differentiation zone (decrease by 0.6 and 0.4 pH units at 50 and 75 mM NaCl, respectively). In developed lateral root cap cells, acidification of cytosol by 0.4 units occurred only under 75 mM NaCl in the medium. In poorly differentiated lateral cells of the root cap, there were no changes in pH under chronic salinity.


The paper illustrates the use of an analog computer to aid in the design of a feedback control system by building a working model on which performance measurements can be made. The model is made to duplicate more closely the physical control system by use of the computer in combination with actual production hardware. The particular system described is a digital speed regulated dc motor drive using a 3-phase full wave control silicon controlled rectifier armature supply.


The dynamics of migratory insertion and beta-hydrogen elimination in the cationic complex [CpRh(PH3)H(C2H4)]+ is studied from a quantal point of view. On the basis of DFT results for the relevant stationary points of the potential energy surface, three coordinates are identified that vary strongly during the reaction. A suitable three-dimensional grid, along with an appropriate kinetic energy operator, are constructed that are employed in the subsequent wave packet propagations. The latter are performed in the spirit of transition state spectroscopy and start from the various saddle points of the potential energy surface. Vibrational periods and lifetimes for these elementary processes, relevant to homogeneous catalysis, are obtained in this way for the first time. This work is considered to provide the basis for a subsequent treatment of equilibrium rate constants and to shed new light on the electronic factors governing these prototypical reaction steps.


Purpose Investigating the roles of phosphorylated epidermal growth factor receptor (pEGFR) in the recovery of neural function after decompression of CSCI, therefore provide experimental basis for the development of therapeutic strategies and medicines for treating CSCI. Methods A CSCI model was established with a customized device, and was then subjected to spinal decompression. The motor functions were monitored by the Basso, Beattie & Bresnahan(BBB) locomotor rating scale; the number of axonal myelinated fibers was estimated by staining with luxol fast blue (LFB); pEGFR and phosphorylated Akt1 (pAkt1) were detected by Western blot; pEGFR+-NG2+(NG2+ cells are precursor to oligodendrocytes and pAkt1+-NG2+ cells were detected by double-labeling immunefluorescence assay. Results After decompression of CSCI, the BBB scores and the number of myelinated nerve fibers gradually increased with time. Meanwhile, the expression of pEGFR and pAkt1 were up-regulated and the number of pEGFR+-NG2+ and pAkt1+-NG2+ cells increased consistent with the changes of motor functions and the number of myelinated nerve fibers. Whereas, significant decreases in BBB scores, expression level of pAkt1, as well as numbers of myelinated nerve fibers, and pAkt1+-NG2+ cells were observed after inhibition of expression. Conclusions Up-regulated expression of pEGFR can promote recovery of neurological functions in rats with CSCI. This effect is achieved by activation of pAkt1(a downstream signal molecule of pEGFR), which subsequently promotes the proliferation of oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs).


The use of data analysis techniques in electronic health records (EHRs) offers great promise in improving predictive risk modeling. Although useful, these analysis techniques often suffer from a lack of interpretability and transparency, especially when the data is high-dimensional. The emergence of a type of computational system known as visual analytics has the potential to address these issues by integrating data analysis techniques with interactive visualizations. This paper introduces a visual analytics system called VERONICA that utilizes the natural classification of features in EHRs to identify the group of features with the strongest predictive power. VERONICA incorporates a representative set of supervised machine learning techniques—namely, classification and regression tree, C5.0, random forest, support vector machines, and naive Bayes to support users in developing predictive models using EHRs. It then makes the analytics results accessible through an interactive visual interface. By integrating different sampling strategies, analytics algorithms, visualization techniques, and human-data interaction, VERONICA assists users in comparing prediction models in a systematic way. To demonstrate the usefulness and utility of our proposed system, we use the clinical dataset stored at ICES to identify the best representative feature groups in detecting patients who are at high risk of developing acute kidney injury.


Diffuse optical imaging is an effective technique for noninvasive functional brain imaging. However these measurements also respond to systemic hemodynamic fluctuations which may obscure or overwhelm the desired stimulus-evoked response. In this paper, we use the spatial behavior of measured baseline signals to identify interference subspaces and project out components of the data which lie in this subspace. We assume that systemic components will be more global spatially, with higher energy than the signals of interest. Through this spatial filtering, we can obtain a more localized response, and improved correlation coefficient (CC) maps. We report tests in data from 2 human subjects.