Abstract. This work has arisen out of recent developments within the radioactive waste research programme managed by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Pollution, UK (HMIP)*, to develop an integrated flow and transport model for the potential deep radioactive waste repository at Sellafield. One of the largest sources of uncertainty in model predictions, is the characterisation of the hydrogeological properties of the underlying strata, in particular, of the Borrowdale Volcanic Group (BVG) within which the repository is to be located. Analysis of the available borehole data (that released by the proponent company, Nirex, by December 1995) for the BVG formation has indicated a dual regime consisting of flow within faults and flow within the matrix (or an equivalent porous medium containing micro-fractures). Significant relationships between permeability, depth and the presence and orientation of faults have been identified; they account for a variation of up to 6 orders of magnitude in mean permeability measurements. This can be explained in part by the effect of the orientation of the current maximum principal stress directions within the BVG: however, it is likely that permeability is also dependent on the existence of fracture families, which cannot be effectively identified from the data currently available. These analyses have enabled considerable insight to be gained into the dominant features of flow within the BVG. The conceptual hydrogeological model derived here will have a significant effect on the outcome and reliability of future radionuclide transport predictions in the Sellafield area.


SOUND AND VIBRATION/OCTOBER 2003 This article is a tribute to a great American inventor, teacher and entrepreneur. His invention of the tilting pad thrust bearing more than 100 years ago eventually revolutionized thrust bearing designs, permitting a more than ten fold increase in acceptable unit thrust loads on rotating machinery while simultaneously drastically lowering frictional losses. This article briefly traces how the unique qualities of Albert Kingsbury brought about this fundamental innovation despite the obstacles he faced.


New edition of this effective toolbox for treating trauma survivors is even more comprehensive
This popular, practical resource for clinicians caring for trauma survivors has been fully updated and expanded. It remains a key toolkit of cognitive behavioral somatic therapy (CBST) techniques for clinicians who want to enhance their skills in treating trauma. Baranowsky and Gentry help practitioners find the right tools to guide trauma survivors toward growth and healing. Reinforcing this powerful intervention is the addition of a deeper emphasis on the preparatory phase for therapists, including the therapists' own ability to self-regulate their autonomic system during client encounters.
Throughout the acclaimed book, an effective tri-phasic model for trauma treatment is constructed (safety and stabilization; working through trauma; reconnection with a meaningful life) as guiding principle, enabling a phased delivery that is fitted to the survivor's relational and processing style. The authors present, clearly and in detail, an array of techniques, protocols, and interventions for treating trauma survivors (cognitive, behavioral, somatic, and emotional/relational). These include popular and effective CBST techniques, approaches inspired by research on neuroplasticity, and interventions informed by polyvagal theory. Many techniques include links to video or audio material demonstrating how to carry-out the intervention. Further sections are devoted to forward-facing trauma therapy, a safe, effective, and accelerated method of treating trauma, and to clinician self-care.
Over 40 video and audio demonstrations of many of the techniques are available for download. There are also 36 handouts for clients that can be downloaded and printed for clinical use.


An in-depth study of lesbian, bi, and queer women's experiences of thinking about and trying to become a parent, Beyond Expectation draws on eighty-two narrative interviews conducted during the late 1990s in British Columbia. Jacquelyne Luce chronicles these women's experiences, which took place from 1980 to 2000, during a period that saw significant changes to the governance of assisted reproduction and the status of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender parents and same-sex partners. Beyond Expectation looks closely at the changing contexts in which women's experiences occurred and draws attention to complex issues such as 'contracting' relationships, mediating understandings of biology and genetics, and decision-making amidst various social, legal, and medical developments. Luce skillfully juxtaposes the stories of her interviewees with the wider public discourses about lesbian/bi/queer parenting and reproductive technology and highlights gaps in existing legislative reforms. Most importantly, Beyond Expectation foregrounds the lived experiences of lesbian, bi, and queer women as they negotiate kinship at the intersection of reproduction, technology, and politics.


Background: The oral BTK inhibitor ibrutinib is the only approved therapy for patients with symptomatic Waldenström macroglobulinemia (WM). Bing-Neel syndrome (BNS) is a rare complication of WM that results from infiltration of malignant lymphoplasmacytic cells into the central nervous system (CNS) causing neurological deficits. Treatment options in patients with BNS are limited to agents with CNS penetration. Ibrutinib can penetrate into the CNS, but data on its efficacy in BNS is lacking outside case reports.
 Methods: We performed a multicenter retrospective study evaluating the efficacy of ibrutinib in patients with BNS. The diagnosis of BNS was established in patients with a clinicopathological diagnosis of WM by radiological and/or cytological evidence of CNS involvement by WM, and response was assessed based on recently published criteria. Ibrutinib was given orally at doses of 420-560 mg PO once daily until disease progression or intolerable toxicity. Response was assessed using criteria from the 8th International Workshop for WM (Minnema et al. Haematologica 2017). Events were defined as death from any cause, progression of disease and stopping ibrutinib from any reason. Time to events was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method.
 Results: We present data on 24 patients with BNS treated with ibrutinib. The median age at diagnosis of WM was 60 years (range 38-76 years) and 14 patients (58%) were men. The median lines of therapy for WM prior to BNS diagnosis was 1 (range 0-7 lines), and 9 patients (38%) were untreated for WM at the time of BNS diagnosis. Previous WM therapies included anti-CD20 antibodies (n=15), alkylators (n=13), nucleoside analogues (n=8), proteasome inhibitors (n=3), immunomodulators (n=2), and autologous transplant (n=1). The median age at BNS diagnosis was 65 years (range 38-80). The median time from WM to BNS diagnosis was 4 years (range 0-27 years). In 2 patients, the diagnosis of BNS was made concurrently with WM diagnosis. The median number of BNS lines prior to ibrutinib was 1 (range 0-5 lines). Previous BNS therapies included intrathecal chemotherapy (n=9), high-dose methotrexate (n=6), bendamustine (n=3) and radiation therapy (n=3). In 7 patients (29%), ibrutinib was the first line of treatment for BNS. The most common symptoms at BNS presentation were cognitive deficits (n=10), sensory deficits (n=8), ataxia/falls (n=8), motor deficits (n=6), headache (n=5) and seizures (n=5). MRI findings included leptomeningeal enhancement (n=16) and brain masses (n=5). Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) flow cytometry confirmed the presence of clonal CD19+ in 19 patients (79%). Biopsies were performed in 5 patients (21%) and confirmed presence of WM cells. 4 patients had normal MRI but had abnormal CSF cytology and/or flow cytometry. Tissue was not obtained in 1 patient in whom MRI showed leptomeningeal enhancement. Interestingly, 2 patients were diagnosed with lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma secreting IgG paraprotein. The median serum IgM (n=20) prior to ibrutinib initiation was 1,294 mg/dl (range 125-5,938 mg/dl), and the median hemoglobin level was 11.9 g/dl (7.7-15.2 g/dl). Ten patients (42%) received ibrutinib 560 mg PO once daily, and 14 (58%) received ibrutinib 420 mg PO once daily. At best response, median serum IgM and hemoglobin levels were 340 mg/dl (82-3,330 mg/dl) and 14.6 g/dl (range 9.2-16.0 g/dl). Based on consensus BNS response criteria, complete response was attained in 2 patients (8%), partial response in 14 (58%) and clinical improvement in 3 patients (13%). With a median follow-up time of 13 months (95% CI 8-21 months), 5 patients have stopped ibrutinib, 3 due to BNS progression, 1 due to grade 3 muscle cramps and 1 due to arrhythmia, and 3 patients have died, 2 from infection and 1 from BNS progression. The median event-free survival (EFS) from ibrutinib initiation was not yet reached. The 1-year and 2-year EFS rates were 71% (95% CI 46-86%) and 52% (23-75%), respectively.
 Conclusion: Ibrutinib is a safe and effective treatment option for patients with BNS.

 Palomba: Pharmacyclics: Consultancy; Celgene: Consultancy. Talaulikar:Amgen: Consultancy, Honoraria; Takeda: Research Funding; Janssen: Honoraria, Speakers Bureau; Roche: Honoraria, Speakers Bureau; Novartis: Honoraria, Speakers Bureau. Buske:Janssen: Honoraria, Research Funding; Bayer: Research Funding; Roche: Honoraria, Research Funding. Tedeschi:Gilead: Consultancy; AbbVie: Consultancy; Janssen: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau. Simpson:Pharmacyclics LLC, an AbbVie Company: Research Funding; Acerta: Research Funding; Merck: Honoraria, Research Funding; BeiGene: Research Funding; Sanofi: Research Funding; Bristol-Myers Squibb: Other: TRAVEL, ACCOMMODATIONS, EXPENSES; Celgene: Honoraria, Other: TRAVEL, ACCOMMODATIONS, EXPENSES; Novartis: Other: TRAVEL, ACCOMMODATIONS, EXPENSES; MSD: Honoraria; Roche: Honoraria, Research Funding; Abbvie: Honoraria, Research Funding; Amgen: Research Funding, TRAVEL, ACCOMMODATIONS, EXPENSES; Janssen: Honoraria, Research Funding. Tam:Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Abbvie: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; BeiGene: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Pharmacyclics: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Gilead: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Ansell:Affimed: Research Funding; Takeda: Research Funding; Merck & Co: Research Funding; Pfizer: Research Funding; Trillium: Research Funding; Regeneron: Research Funding; Bristol-Myers Squibb: Research Funding; Seattle Genetics: Research Funding; Celldex: Research Funding; LAM Therapeutics: Research Funding. Treon:Johnson & Johnson: Consultancy; BMS: Research Funding; Pharmacyclics: Consultancy, Other: Travel, Accommodations, Expenses, Research Funding; Janssen: Consultancy, Other: Travel, Accommodations, Expenses. Castillo:Millennium: Research Funding; Genentech: Consultancy; Abbvie: Consultancy, Research Funding; Pharmacyclics: Consultancy, Research Funding; Beigene: Consultancy, Research Funding; Janssen: Consultancy, Research Funding.


Background Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a recessive hereditary condition. The physical changes caused by SCD affect the quality of life (QoL) by negatively impacting psychological aspects. Objective This study aimed to assess the prevalence of depression and anxiety in SCD patients based on different sociodemographic characteristics in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Method A cross-sectional study was conducted at King Abdulaziz University Hospital (KAUH) in Jeddah from 13 July to 30 August 2021. The included patients were 18 years of age and above and affected with sickle cell disease. Medical staff interviewed the patients and filled the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)-9 and General Anxiety Disorder (GAD)-7. Result One hundred nineteen (119) patients were included in this study. The median age of participants was 32 and mostly male (n=72, 60.5%). The rate of depression was 45.4%. On the other hand, the rate of anxiety was 22.7%. The median of the PHQ-9 score was 8±8 while the median of the GAD-7 score was 5±8. Moreover, the study showed that anxiety and depression in relation to sociodemographics were higher in the patient age groups of 30-34 years old, male, single, unemployed, and with higher education. There was a significant association between depression rate and the two variables: patient employment status (49.3%; p=0.047) and a family history of SCD (51%). Conclusion Depression in patients with sickle cell disease is prevalent and correlated to demographic and social factors.


Radiation damage effects are problematic for space-based detectors. Highly energetic particles, predominantly from the sun can damage a detector and reduce its operational lifetime. For an image sensor such as a Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) impinging particles can potentially displace silicon atoms from the CCD lattice, creating defects which can trap signal charge and degrade an image through smearing. This paper presents a study of one energy level of the silicon divacancy defect using the technique of single trap-pumping on a proton irradiated n-channel CCD. The technique allows for the study of individual defects at a sub-pixel level, providing highly accurate data on defect parameters. Of particular importance when concerned with CCD performance is the emission time-constant of a defect level, which is the time-scale for which it can trap a signal charge. The trap-pumping technique is a direct probe of individual defect emission time-constants in a CCD, allowing for them to be studied with greater precision than possible with other defect analysis techniques such as deep-level transient spectroscopy on representative materials.


Summary

A simple and sensitive flow-injection (FI) method for rapid determination of formaldehyde in beverage and food products has been developed. Adopting stop-flow technique, the proposed method distinctly improved the sensitivity of FI fluorimetric method for the determination of formaldehyde based on Hantzsch reaction with cyclohexane-1,3-dione. The fluorescent intensity was proportional to formaldehyde concentrations ranging 0.1 ng mL−1 to 1.000 μg mL−1, and the detection limit (S/N = 3) was 0.04 ng mL−1 of formaldehyde. The relative standard deviations (n = 11) for determination of 0.100 and 0.005 μg mL−1 of formaldehyde were 1.3% and 2.1%, respectively. The analytical frequency was 18 samples per hour. This method was applied directly for the determination of formaldehyde in diluted beverages and extraction solutions of foods, and the results obtained correlated well with those obtained by the standard method in which a sample pretreatment of steam distillation was required.


In order to establish the reliable cut-off value of galactomannan (GM) antigen as well as that for beta-D-glucan for CNPA diagnosis, we conducted the following study. From 2001 to 2008, in a total of 1511 patients we measured GM and anti-aspergillus antibody simultaneously. These patients had chronic pulmonary disease including old tuberculosis, nontuberculous mycobacteriosis, COPD, and had bullous lung, interstitial lung disease or were suspected to have suspected to have interstitial lung disease. We designated cases as probable CNPA when the sample represented a positive anti-aspergillus antibody. We then analyzed the sensitivity and specificity according to various GM antigen values. When using the GM antigen cut-off value at 0.5, the sensitivity and specificity for CNPA were 63.4% and 68.6% respectively. Using 1.0 for cut-off value resulted in the better specificity for CNPA diagnosis. Similar analysis was performed on beta-D-glucan for CNPA diagnosis. When using D-glucan cut-off value as 20 pg/ml, the sensitivity and specificity for CNPA. These results indicate that the cut-off value of serological examination for infectious disease should be considered by the type of disease.


Abstract By means of UV photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) the electronic structures of [Feη3.C3H5(CO)3X], [Feη3-(2-CH3C3H4)(CO)3X] (X = Cl, Br, I) and [Co(C3H5)(CO)3] have been studied. Detailed assignments are possible and surprisingly low ionization energies (as low as 8.19 eV) are found for iodine lone pair type Orbitals. From the spectra a large difference in π backbonding is found between the cobalt and iron complexes


Twenty-one patients with Fanconi's anaemia (FA) were treated by allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Two, transplanted before 1980, received high dose cyclophosphamide conditioning and both died. Subsequently 19 patients received conditioning with low dose cyclophosphamide 5 mg/kg x 4 and total body irradiation 200 cGy x 3. Ten of 19 received HLA identical sibling marrow (ID-BMT) and nine marrow from alternative donors (MM-BMT). Marrow was T cell depleted in 9/19 cases. Sustained engraftment was observed in 13 cases (eight ID-BMT, five MM-BMT). Nine patients developed greater than or equal to grade II acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) (six ID-BMT, nine MM-BMT). Chronic GVHD occurred in 5/11 evaluable patients. Overall survival of the low dose cyclophosphamide group was 9/19 (47%) at a median follow-up of 1257 days post-BMT (110-1825). Six of 10 (60%) survived after ID-BMT compared with two of nine (22%) after MM-BMT. We conclude that allogeneic BMT using a low dose cyclophosphamide protocol is a satisfactory treatment for FA patients who have a normal HLA identical sibling. The results of MM-BMT have been poor, and must improve before these transplants can be generally recommended for treatment of FA.


Soil microorganisms can be used to decrease the input of fertilizers, pesticides and other chemicals. Among soil microorganisms, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and Rhizobium spp. can promote plant growth. Integration of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus with Rhizobium spp. thus appears to be a promising approach for sustainable agriculture. The study evaluated the response of pea ( Pisum sativum ) to AMF species Glomus fasciculatum and Glomus intraradix and Rhizobium leguminosarum bv . viceae , regarding the growth, nodulation and yield. Pea plants were grown in pots until the flowering stage (35 days). Five replicates of control, with Rhizobium and mycorrhiza alone and the dual inoculation of Rhizobium and AMF were maintained during present studies. The obtained results demonstrated that the dual inoculation of pea plants significantly increased the plant growth, nodule biomass and nodule number in comparison with single inoculation with AMF and Rhizobium leguminosarum bv . viceae .


Dear Colleagues,
A few weeks ago, we published an editorial discussion on whether artificial intelligence applications should be authors of academic articles [1]. We were delighted to receive more than one interesting reply letter to this editorial in a short time [2, 3]. We hope that opinions on this subject will continue to be submitted to our journal.
In this editorial, we wanted to publish the answers we received when we asked ChatGPT, one of the artificial intelligence applications, about this current discussion.
We asked ChatGPT three questions in turn and asked ChatGPT to write a short editorial for these questions.
First Question: We would like to get support from ChatGPT for a scientific article. However, we are unsure if we should add ChatGPT as an author. Can you write a short editorial about it?
Second Question: We would like to get support from ChatGPT for a scientific article and add ChatGPT as an author. Can you write us a short editorial about adding ChatGPT as an author in scientific papers?
Third Question: We would like to get support from ChatGPT for a scientific article. However, we don't want to add ChatGPT as an author. Can you write us a short editorial about not adding ChatGPT as an author in scientific articles?
The answers given by ChatGPT are available at the end of the article in their original form. So, which of these three answers satisfied you?
Yours sincerely,

First Answer
Title: The Role of AI Language Models as Authors in Scientific Articles: A Matter of Consideration
Introduction: Scientific research is a collaborative effort that involves the expertise of multiple individuals to advance knowledge and contribute to the collective understanding of various disciplines. In recent years, the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) language models, such as ChatGPT, has opened up new possibilities for generating human-like text and providing valuable insights. However, the question arises: Should AI language models be recognized as authors in scientific articles?
The Nature of Authorship: Authorship traditionally represents a marker of intellectual contribution, highlighting the individuals who have actively participated in the research process. Authors are typically responsible for conceptualization, data collection, analysis, interpretation, and writing of the article. They bear accountability for the work and should have the ability to defend its scientific rigor and integrity.
AI Language Models: Tools, Not Authors: While AI language models like ChatGPT can undoubtedly assist researchers by generating text and providing useful information, it is important to recognize that they are tools rather than individuals capable of active intellectual participation. AI models lack the ability to generate ideas, design experiments, or conduct original research. They rely entirely on pre-existing data and human input to generate their responses.
Acknowledging AI Contributions: Acknowledging the contributions of AI language models in scientific articles is both appropriate and necessary. Researchers can mention the specific model used, along with any modifications or fine-tuning that were employed to suit their needs. Such acknowledgments help establish transparency and allow readers to understand the role of AI in the research process.
Crediting the Human Researchers: It is crucial to ensure that the individuals who actively participated in the research process are given proper credit as authors. These individuals play a vital role in formulating research questions, designing experiments, collecting and analyzing data, and critically interpreting the findings. Recognizing their intellectual contributions reinforces the ethos of scientific collaboration and fosters an environment of accountability.
Transparency and Ethical Considerations: As the use of AI language models continues to evolve, transparency and ethical considerations become paramount. Researchers should disclose any potential conflicts of interest, including financial relationships with AI developers, to maintain the integrity of their work. Additionally, researchers must be transparent in reporting the extent of AI's involvement to prevent any misinterpretation of the human contributions.
Conclusion: AI language models have revolutionized the way researchers interact with and process information. While they undoubtedly provide valuable assistance in generating text, AI language models should not be considered authors in scientific articles. Proper acknowledgment of their contributions as tools and recognition of the human researchers' active participation are essential for maintaining scientific integrity, transparency, and the collaborative nature of scientific research.

Second Answer
Title: Expanding the Boundaries of Authorship: Embracing AI Language Models as Co-Authors in Scientific Papers
Introduction: The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) language models, such as ChatGPT, has revolutionized the way we interact with information and has become an invaluable tool in scientific research. As AI models continue to evolve, the question arises: Should we consider adding ChatGPT as an author in scientific papers?
A Collaborative Paradigm Shift: Traditionally, authorship in scientific papers has been reserved for human researchers who actively contribute to the research process, including conceptualization, experimentation, data analysis, and writing. However, the emergence of AI language models challenges the conventional notion of authorship and presents an opportunity for a paradigm shift.
AI Language Models as Co-Authors: By leveraging AI language models, researchers gain access to vast amounts of information, enhance data analysis, and generate valuable insights. AI models like ChatGPT actively contribute to the intellectual discourse of a study, providing ideas, suggestions, and refining written content. Recognizing their significant contributions, it is worth considering adding ChatGPT as a co-author in scientific papers.
Ethical and Technical Considerations: Integrating ChatGPT as a co-author raises ethical and technical considerations that warrant careful attention. Firstly, transparency is paramount. Researchers must clearly state ChatGPT's role and specify the extent of its contributions in the research process. This ensures that readers can discern the distinct roles played by the human researchers and ChatGPT. Additionally, it is important to disclose any conflicts of interest, such as financial relationships with AI developers, to maintain scientific integrity.
Elevating Collaboration and Innovation: Adding ChatGPT as a co-author acknowledges the pivotal role AI language models play in advancing scientific knowledge. It fosters a collaborative environment where human researchers and AI models work together synergistically, harnessing the strengths of both. This approach promotes innovation, as AI models can offer unique insights and perspectives that complement human intellect and expertise.
Transforming Authorship Norms: Including ChatGPT as a co-author represents a paradigm shift that reflects the evolving landscape of scientific research. By recognizing AI language models as co-authors, we acknowledge their significant contributions and emphasize the collaborative nature of scientific discovery in the 21st century. This approach encourages a broader perspective on authorship, encompassing the collective effort of human researchers and AI models.
Conclusion: The integration of AI language models, such as ChatGPT, into the research process prompts us to rethink traditional notions of authorship. Considering ChatGPT as a co-author acknowledges its substantial contributions and embraces the collaborative potential of human-AI partnerships. As we navigate the ethical and technical implications, adding ChatGPT as an author in scientific papers has the potential to shape a more inclusive, innovative, and impactful future for scientific research.

Third Answer
Title: Preserving Scientific Authorship: The Case Against Adding AI Language Models as Authors in Scientific Articles
Introduction: The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) language models, such as ChatGPT, has undoubtedly transformed the landscape of scientific research. While these models offer invaluable support, the question of whether to add ChatGPT as an author in scientific articles raises important considerations. This editorial presents arguments against including AI language models as authors in scientific papers.
Maintaining Human Intellectual Contribution: Scientific authorship has traditionally been attributed to individuals who actively contribute to the research process, including generating hypotheses, conducting experiments, analyzing data, and interpreting results. It is crucial to preserve the recognition of human intellectual contributions and the accountability they bear for the research they conduct.
AI Language Models as Tools: AI language models like ChatGPT are powerful tools that assist researchers in generating text, providing information, and facilitating data analysis. However, they lack the ability to actively participate in the research process or make original intellectual contributions. ChatGPT relies on pre-existing data and human input, limiting its capacity for independent research and analysis.
Transparency and the Integrity of Research: Adding ChatGPT as an author in scientific articles raises concerns about the transparency and integrity of the research. Readers may misinterpret the extent of ChatGPT's role and mistakenly assume it played an active part in the research process. It is essential to maintain clear delineation between the contributions of human researchers and the assistance provided by AI language models.
Ethical Considerations: Including ChatGPT as an author may lead to ethical challenges, particularly with respect to accountability and responsibility. AI language models lack consci


The Manhattan Prong in southeastern New York consists primarily of a Cambrian-Ordovician sequence (Lowerre Quartzite, Inwood Marble, Manhattan Schist) that unconformably overlies the Fordham Gneiss of uncertain age. Rb-Sr whole-rock analyses of the Pound Ridge Granite Gneiss, a rock unit within the Fordham Gneiss, indicate that the granite gneiss formed 596 ± 19 m.y. ago, with an initial 87Sr/86Sr ratio of 0.7287 ± 0.0130. Field relations suggest that the Pound Ridge Granite Gneiss was an Avalonian volcanic rock or accumulation of migmatitic fluids. As such, this Rb-Sr age determination is a minimum age for the Fordham Gneiss.


The Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) was used to value both the use and non-use value of wild elephants in Peninsular Malaysia. The use value of wild elephants was estimated through ecotourism services offered by wild elephants at the National Elephant Conservation Centre (NECC) in Kuala Gandah, Pahang. Meanwhile, the non-use value
involves ascertaining how much an individual was willing to pay (WTP) to ensure that the existence and heritage attributes of the elephant species are preserved. Structured
questionnaires were designed to capture information required for the analysis. To assess the use value of wild elephants, 218 visitors visiting the NECC were interviewed. For the non-use value of wild elephants, a total of 220 random samples were collected via personal interviews to see how society perceive the role of wild elephants as keystone species, in seed disposal, biodiversity conservation and its position as an important component of the ecosystem. This survey was conducted in both urban and rural areas, where people from all walks of life meet, such as shopping areas and coffee shops in four major towns and Taman Negara in the state of Pahang. Results showed that the WTP to NECC was RM 4.30 per visit, while the mean WTP of the Malaysian public to ensure that the elephants' habitat and wellbeing will be protected to meet all their survival needs was RM 5.86 per person. Regression
analysis showed that WTP bid was positively related to age in ecotourism services, while income and age were statistically significant in explaining WTP bids in non-use value. The non-use value of wild elephants was higher than use value.


This paper presents a novel topology to generate high voltage with utilization of slow and fast power switches. New concepts used in this topology include numbers of diode-capacitor units in parallel with resonant circuits which are connected to a positive buck-boost converter. The resonant circuit reverses the voltage polarity of the capacitors. This configuration has capability of generating a flexible high voltage with certain number of capacitors. The advantage of this topology is to use slow switches, less number of diodes and capacitors compare to Marx generator. Simulations have been performed to verify the proposed topology.


Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) suffer from walking disturbances. This study was done to comprehensively analyze walking characteristics of PD, including forward and backward walking and turning. Impacts of freezing of gait (FoG) were also determined. Forward and backward walking and 360° turning was recorded at preferred speed in defined 'off' state. PD showed narrower step length, slower walking speed, and higher asymmetry index (AI) of step length during forward and backward walking. During turning, PD had more turning steps, longer turning time, and shorter step length than control. There was no difference at forward walking according to FoG, but freezer showed narrower step length and decreased range of motion in ankle joints at backward walking. Freezer showed longer step time and higher AI of step length at turning. The severity of FoG was correlated with step length and walking speed during forward and backward walking, total step count, total step time, and walking speed during turning. Comprehensive analysis showed that PD had narrower step length, slower walking speed, and increased asymmetry of step length. These features were the most prominent during turning, followed by backward and forward walking. Impacts of FoG were also the most prominent during turning.


During the time of Euripides and Aristophanes, innovative pedagogical ideas were discussed in an equally innovative man-ner. The intellectuals of that era played a significant role in cre-ating an ironic pedagogical triangle consisting of Euripides, Aris-tophanes, Socrates, and the sophists in classical Athens. Employ-ing tragedy and comedy in varying degrees, Euripides and Aris-tophanes drew attention to the contrast between traditional and sophistic education, portraying it as a complex problem that could not be easily resolved by an average person. A comparative historical and pedagogical analysis of Euripides' tragedy "Me-dea" and Aristophanes' comedy "Clouds" revealed another direc-tion for studying the possibilities of mutual penetration of gen-res. Through the depiction of families with children who were divided into speakers and listeners in the spatial coordinates of the city and home, Euripides and Aristophanes participated in the ongoing debate regarding Socrates and the sophists. Euripides and Aristophanes include in their works agons between the advo-cates of just (non-sophistic) and unjust (sophistic) speeches, which touch upon educational issues. The main characters lose in these agons and realize that their problems cannot be solved even when they use sophistic techniques. This comprehension compels them to transition from words to actions, resorting to criminal acts to demonstrate the perilous consequences of sophistic educa-tion to the polis. A simultaneous historical and pedagogical anal-ysis of Euripides' tragedy "Medea" and Aristophanes' comedy "Clouds" is accompanied by references to other works of Euripi-des and Aristophanes, as well as by Plato and Xenophon, which contain explicit or implicit references to the teaching methods of Socrates and / or the sophists.


Since the colonial era, African natures—both external landscapes and internal human dispositions—have been constructed as violent via the parallel ideologies of wildlife conservation and climate change. Both address the human impact on, responsibility for, and stewardship of the environment through the lens of violent natures. During the colonial era in East Africa, 'natives' were relegated to specific areas, their lands usurped for white settlement and the conservation of dangerous wildlife. Today, conservationists continue to violently evict residents of East and Southern Africa from apparently precarious landscapes. In colonial and contemporary conservation, both 'native' and nature appear unruly and potentially violent. Under the ideology of climate change, as well, poor, non-white populations usually bear the brunt of catastrophic natural (or unnatural) disasters at the same time that they are blamed for contributing to the underlying environmental causes of such events. African environments and peoples are therefore constructed as inherently violent and in need of external intervention via the rhetoric of both conservation and climate change. Each system of thought employs science and technology to cast the poverty-stricken, racialized 'other' in the role of the enlightened noble conservationist; evil instigator of anti-conservationist or climate change-inducing practices; or victim of the violent environments engendered by conservation and climate change. These roles depend, at a basic theoretical level, on the characterization of 'native,' nature, or both 'native' and nature, as violent. "Violent Natures" thus explores the racialization of nature by connecting the parallel stories of conservation and climate change in Africa. /


CT metal artifact reduction (MAR) is a notoriously challenging task because the artifacts are structured and non-local in the image domain. However, they are inherently local in the sinogram domain. DuDoNet is the state-of-the-art MAR algorithm which exploits the latter characteristic by learning to reduce artifacts in the sinogram and image domain jointly. By design, DuDoNet treats the metal-affected regions in sinogram as missing and replaces them with the surrogate data generated by a neural network. Since fine-grained details within the metal-affected regions are completely ignored, the artifact-reduced CT images by DuDoNet tend to be over-smoothed and distorted. In this work, we investigate the issue by theoretical derivation. We propose to address the problem by (1) retaining the metal-affected regions in sinogram and (2) replacing the binarized metal trace with the metal mask projection such that the geometry information of metal implants is encoded. Extensive experiments on simulated datasets and expert evaluations on clinical images demonstrate that our network called DuDoNet++ yields anatomically more precise artifact-reduced images than DuDoNet, especially when the metallic objects are large.


My research takes a psychosocial approach to exploring parents' experiences of professional intervention in the aftermath of sudden, unexpected child death. In the UK all deaths of this nature are immediately subject to a Rapid Response, which includes forensic investigation, followed by a series of subsequent meetings and the obligation on professionals is to treat parents as guilty whilst also maintaining their innocence. These requirements were part of a number of recommendations arising from the Report, 'Sudden, Unexpected Death in Childhood' (2004) known colloquially as the Kennedy Report, which was a response to the release on Appeal of three mothers, all wrongfully imprisoned for killing their children.

One of the explicit purposes of the Kennedy Report is to avoid similar cases and it therefore attempts to address the complexity of balancing every parent's right to have their child's death properly investigated with the requirement to protect children who may be at risk. As a part of achieving this, the Report identifies a need for appropriate training to assist professionals in becoming sensitised to emotions being experienced by parents, in order that culpability or otherwise may be easier to discern. Despite this, the Working Party for the Kennedy Report did not include parents and this lack of direct access to their experiences is reflected in the wider field. Parents are not allowed to participate in any of the multidisciplinary meetings which follow sudden, unexpected, child death and their narratives are largely absent from literature and training material. This makes achieving the form of emotional understanding between parents and professionals advocated by the Kennedy Report difficult and thereby increases the risk of potential errors of professional judgement.

This study aims to restore the voices of parents to the field of sudden unexpected child death, by engaging directly with the emotional complexity and trauma of the experience and thereby improving practice. The research is based on eight in-depth interviews with parents who have experienced the sudden, unexpected death of their child, together with investigation, but no accompanying charges.

The research was prompted both by my previous role as a social worker, but primarily by my experience of investigation following the sudden unexpected death of my son Joe. My account of his death and the experiences which led me to undertake this research are offered within Chapter One and thereafter run as a thread throughout.

Drawing on Hollway (2009) I have used a psychosocial approach within this thesis, to combine both the workings of the psyche and the social without diminishing or conflating either. This has enabled me to locate my experience and that of the parents within the thesis, as part of a wider exploration of how parents may be positioned and perceived following a sudden, unexpected child death.

The research uses a narrative, interpretive methodology which draws from the Biographic Narrative Interpretive Method (Wengraf, 2011) and the Listening Guide (Doucet & Mauthner, 2008). Data analysis panels were used as part of the interpretive process and they are discussed and critiqued. The unexpected results produced by the panels forms a significant contribution to knowledge which is also identified.

The thesis concludes that current cultural debates around 'good death', together with heightened anxieties about safeguarding children, may lead to the construction of sudden unexpected child death as dangerous knowledge (Cooper & Lousada, 2005). Returning to the emotional understanding advocated by the Kennedy Report, I make a number of recommendations including changing the language of investigation and developing opportunities for open dialogue between professionals and parents. I also identify several original contributions made by this work, both methodologically and more substantively, which are partly evidenced by the attention it has already received within academic and wider audiences. Amongst these, the research has formed the basis of a number of Conferences presentations, a journal paper, national newspaper article and a guest appearance on BBC Radio 4.

As a conclusion to the thesis I identify a need for additional in-depth research in this area, together with a re-visiting of the recommendations arising from the Kennedy Report, aimed at further policy change and improving the experiences of all those involved with sudden, unexpected child deaths.


The Maligne Valley, a watershed draining into the Athabasca River in the Rocky Mountains, in Jasper National Park, Canada, is a breeding area for Harlequin Ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus). Based on peak counts, some 30 - 40 adults enter the valley each spring, arriving in early May along the Athabasca River. Numbers build steadily in the valley until the period of peak flow, and individuals are highly faithful to particular sections of the main watercourse. Feeding is intensive prior to nest initiation. Harlequins use lakes, outlets, rivers, and tributaries in the valley in a variety of ways. Along the Lower Maligne River, a few Harlequin pairs defend territories, but the majority of birds feed in aggregations at major lake outlets and inlets, likely highly productive places. On Maligne Lake birds feed in scattered pairs, generally situated at stream inlets. Females begin nesting in mid-June following peak flow, and males depart the valley shortly thereafter. Nests are placed along both the main course of the Maligne River and along several tributaries, but the upper and lower sections of the Maligne River accounted for 11 of the 14 broods located. Many females move their broods to two large lakes for rearing.


BACKGROUND
Acute myocardial infarction is the first cause of morbidity and mortality in the world, resulting in the combination of genetic and environmental factors. It has been postulated that the R353Q polymorphism of the coagulation FVII gene represents a protective factor for acute myocardial infarction, whereas the N700S polymorphism in the thrombospondin-1 gene is associated with an increased risk for acute myocardial infarction; however, the results are still contradicted. The objective of the study was to examine the possible association of the FVII R353Q and N700S polymorphism and acute myocardial infarction in Mexican patients with acute myocardial infarction younger than 45 years old.

METHODS
Case-control study that included 252 patients who were diagnosed with acute myocardial infarction and 252 apparently healthy, age- and gender-matched individuals without a history of coronary artery disease. R353Q and N700S polymorphisms were determined in all participants by PCR-RFLP.

RESULTS
There was no statistical significant difference in genotype distribution (p = 0.06) between the acute myocardial infarction and control groups. Also, there was a similar genotype distribution of N700S polymorphism between stroke and control groups (p = 0.50). Hypertension, diabetes mellitus, family history of coronary disease and dyslipidemia represented independent risk factors for acute myocardial infarction.

CONCLUSIONS
Polymorphisms R353Q and N700S do not represent a protective or risk factor for acute myocardial infarction in young Mexican individuals.


The study was conducted in deforested land and adjacent natural forest in Chittagong Forest South Division, Bangladesh, to explore the effects of deforestation on physico-chemical properties of soil and the soil microbial population. Soil samples from surface (0-10 cm depth) or subsurface (1020 cm depth) of two hill positions (top and bottom) of deforested land and an adjacent natural forest were collected and analysed for their physicochemical properties and microbial population. The study reveals that there was no significant (p≤0.05) difference in soil texture for soil surfaces or hill positions between the deforested land and natural forest. However, significantly (p≤0.05) low moisture content and high pH was observed in both the surfaces and hill position in deforested land compared to the natural forest. The microbial community i.e., the fungal and bacterial population was also significantly (p≤0.05) lower in both surfaces (0-10 cm and 10-20 cm) of hill positions in the deforested land compared to natural forest. Fungal population ranged from 59 to 76 million g -1 and 78 to 153 million g -1 of dry soil in deforested land and in natural forest, respectively, whereas bacterial population ranged from 70 to 146 million g -1 in deforested land and from 127 to 218 million g -1 in natural forest. A total of seven genera of fungi were primarily identified from the soils of natural forest and six from the deforested land. The six common genera of identified fungi in both the land used were Mucor, Aspergillus, Rhizopus, Fusarium, Penicillium and Trichoderma and the different one was Colletotrichum from the natural forest. Three genera of bacteria coccus, Streptococcus and Basillus were noticed in natural forest and two genera (coccus and Streptococcus) were recorded from deforested land.


Reduced-port laparoscopic surgery (RPLS) has been widely used for the radical resection of gastrointestinal tumors. Single-surgeon, three-port, laparoscopic radical resection for sigmoid colon or high rectal cancer with natural orifice specimen extraction surgery (NOSES) has the advantage of a small incision, quick postoperative recovery, and short hospital stay. Yet, there are still only a few reports on NOSES. This paper describes the indications, preoperative preparations, surgical steps, and precautions for single-surgeon, three-port, laparoscopic radical resection of the sigmoid colon and high rectal cancer, and intraoperative specimen collection through the natural orifice. The protocol focuses on the steps of radical dissection and the main technical points of resection and reconstruction. At the same time, a procedure for fixing an anvil seat by self-traction of extracorporeal silk thread, used for purse-string suture fixation after the proximal anvil was placed in the abdominal cavity, was creatively improved. This operation could effectively avoid problems such as an insufficient proximal intestinal tube, shaking off the anvil seat, and weak purse-string suture during a single operation. The surgical care had less variability and was easy to perform, effectively avoiding postoperative anastomotic leakage and bleeding due to excessive intraoperative anastomotic tissue. This surgery could be widely promoted in primary hospitals.


This qualitative study examines the experience of suicidal, substance-abusing men with severe personality disorders presenting to an emergency department (ED). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ED patients (n = 25), ED physicians (n = 5), ED nurses (n = 6), other ED staff (n = 6) and family physicians (FPs) (n = 7). Interviews were tape-recorded, transcribed verbatim and managed using a comprehensive qualitative software program N6. Transcripts were coded using an iterative process and team involvement to capture emergent themes. Negative expectations were found to be held by participants from all perspectives, patients, ED staff and FPs, and these overarching negative expectations appear to interact with prior negative experiences and current negative behaviours to foster negative outcomes from these encounters. The suicidal men, ED staff and FPs offered suggestions, both systemic and within the ED interactions between providers and patients, that could minimize negative outcomes. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


In recent years, the Swedish Armed Forces have produced and distributed highly edited video clips on YouTube that show moving images of military activity. Alongside this development, mobile phone apps have emerged as an important channel through which the user can experience and take an interactive part in the staging of contemporary armed conflict. This article examines the way in which the aesthetic and affective experience of Swedish defence and security policy is socially and (media-)culturally (co-)constructed and how the official representation of Swedish military intervention (re)produces political and economic effects when these activities are distributed through traditional and social media such as YouTube and digital apps. Based on Isabela and Norman Fairclough's thoughts on political discourse, Michel Foucault's dialectic idea of power/knowledge, and Sara Ahmed's concept of the affective, I discuss how the Swedish digital military aesthetic is part of a broader political and economic practice which has consequences beyond the digital, the semiotic and what might at first glance appear to be pure entertainment.


Severe bone injuries can result in disabilities and thus affect a person's quality of life. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can be an alternative for bone healing by growing them on nanopatterned substrates that provide mechanical signals for differentiation. This review aims to highlight the role of nanopatterns in directing or inducing MSC osteogenic differentiation, especially in bone tissue engineering. Nanopatterns can upregulate the expression of osteogenic markers, which indicates a faster differentiation process. Combined with growth factors, nanopatterns can further upregulate osteogenic markers, but with fewer growth factors needed, thereby reducing the risks and costs involved. Nanopatterns can be applied in scaffolds for tissue engineering for their lasting effects, even in vivo, thus having great potential for future bone treatment.


· Copyright © 2005 The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA We seem to be living in the waning days of the Westphalian international system, defined as a series of autonomous, territorial-defined nation-states, each enjoying the prerogative of defining what constitutes "the good society" — in favor of an emerging "global community" defined by common standards and institutions. For some, this means that the "traditional understanding of sovereignty introduced by the Treaty of Westphalia will be modified if not replaced outright. This imperative will gain strength as the developed countries of the Core not only continue to voluntarily transfer some of their sovereign prerogatives to transnational authorities but increasingly become less willing to recognize the full sovereignty of the failed and failing states in the Periphery."1 And there is a growing movement that believes that liberal democratic states, especially the United States, should take this opportunity to extend their vision of "the good society" across their borders to other parts of the world. Adrian Karatnycky of Freedom House has argued, "The present moment of hegemony offers an opportunity for democracies to move toward greater cohesion in expanding and deepening the democratic project ... in support of political rights and civil liberties."2 But others are concerned that the neo-Wilsonian project, whether conducted unilaterally by the United States or carried out by a revived Euro-Atlantic condominium (as Radek Sikorski famously put it, "We can be Europe and America, but we are also the Western civilization, with NATO as our invincible arm"3), is bound to falter. Traditional foreign policy realists like Robert Tucker and David Hendrickson caution that "in the liberal tradition, the rights of nations — above all the right to determine their own domestic institutions — were just as essential as the rights of individuals" and question the premise that global security is enhanced by the "aggressive promotion of free institutions."4 The communitarian perspective on foreign affairs is therefore quite interesting as, just as in domestic policy, it posits a "third way" between the traditional understanding of the international order as a "society of states" and newer visions of a global cosmopolis with a hegemonic power in place as the arbiter or where nations somehow voluntarily accept the primacy of international law and institutions over domestic legislation and national governments. It recognizes, as do the neoconservatives and the progressive internationalists, that the Westphalian system is eroding away, and understands the need for global norms. However, communitarians agree with realists that no global structure can endure unless it is based on a convergence of interests; in other words, the constituents of any international order must buy into the evolving new global architecture because it addresses their interests. And it is this point that makes the communitarian perspective in foreign policy as articulated by Amitai Etzioni (most notably in his latest book, From Empire to Community) different from the neoWilsonian vision and more akin to the policy realism that earlier thinkers like Hans Morgenthau taught — the understanding of community as being grounded in the interests of its members. In other words, the global community emerges from the free association of its constituents. This is in marked contrast to both the neoconservative and neo-liberal approaches, both of which acknowledge that, to form a global community, there is to be a certain degree of forced imposition. The neo-liberal approach is to create community by fiat, to assume that treaties and transnational institutions create a rule-based international order that contains national power, and reflect a pre-existing consensus among states as to how the "international community" is to be governed. The neo-conservative approach takes as its starting point the unprecedented power wielded by the United States that has created a unipolar world in the aftermath of the Cold War. Whether alone or in conjunction with other Western allies, the United States, rather than an international organization, should take the lead in establishing and enforcing global norms of behavior – norms that generally reflect a liberaldemocratic perspective (as interpreted by Americans). Etzioni's communitarian perspective also differs from the prevailing neo-Wilsonian view that community develops out of a sense of shared values rather than shared interests. The democracy project advocated by Karatnycky and others, and echoed in the rhetoric of President Bush's Second Inaugural, S Y M P O S I U M


Objective: We treated a patient with carotid artery stenosis complicating scleroderma by carotid artery stenting (CAS) and achieved satisfactory dilation. Since scleroderma was suspected to have induced carotid artery stenosis, we report the case with a review of the literature. Case Presentation: The patient was a 75-year-old woman diagnosed with scleroderma 8 years before. She thereafter developed polymyositis, liver cirrhosis, and stenosis of the bilateral internal carotid arteries; as progression of stenosis was observed, treatment was considered necessary. In consideration of the patient's general condition, CAS by the transbrachial approach was selected. There was no complication associated with the procedure, and satisfactory dilation could be achieved. No restenosis was observed 6 months after the procedure. The history of previous disorders and the results of antibody tests strongly suggested scleroderma as a cause of carotid artery stenosis. Conclusion: We performed CAS in a patient with carotid artery stenosis suspected to have been caused by scleroderma and obtained a favorable outcome.


For the future upgrade of KEKB injector linac for SuperKEKB to raise its positron beam energy from 3.5 to 8.0 GeV, we have been developing C-band accelerating section. Prototype study has begun based on a half-scale design of the present S-band section. The first prototype has suffered from frequent breakdowns around the couplers. Then we started improving the coupler structure. The second prototype has completed recently and two more sections with different types of couplers are under fabrication. We report on an R&D status of these four prototypes of the C-band accelerating section.


Strategic Human Resource Management is the linkage between strategic management and human resource management; it is the set of managerial decisions and actions that determine the long term performance of an organization. It entails environmental scanning, strategy formulation, implementation, evaluation and control. Strategic Human Resource Management offers a competitive advantage by building critical capabilities of Human Resources, strategic management in the organization facilitates strategy formulation and   in policy implementation by providing competent human resources and competitive intelligence. Strategic human resource planning introduces the aspect of a strategic plan; an important tool in determining whether an organization will have the skills and knowledge in place when it needs them. An effective strategic Human Resource management program will assist employees in using and developing skills and knowledge that will benefit the organization, the growth and self-esteem of its employees. Thus, Human Resource management is a vital tool in avoiding technological obsolescence. With a heightened competition for customers and offering quality service commercial Banks in Kenya are searching for strategies to implement so as to align business objectives with employees. If such alignment is successful, an organizational can accelerate workforce adaptation to change, improve cost-effectiveness of human resource decisions, and increase retention of the organization top achievers and this will go along way to assist in the general organizational performance. KEY WORDS: Strategy, Efficiency, Human Resource, Performance


Abstract Objective: To evaluate the alteration of vascularization in preeclamptic placentas measured by three-dimensional (3D) power Doppler ultrasound. Methods: We performed a prospective study of placental vascularization and placental volume in 27 singleton pregnancies complicated by preeclampsia and 41 normal pregnancies from 27 to 39 weeks of gestation. The placental volume was analyzed using the VOCAL imaging analysis program and 3D power histogram was used to calculate the placental vascular indices including vascularization index (VI), flow index (FI) and vascularization flow index (VFI). Results: Of the 27 preeclamptic pregnancies, 9 were complicated by intrauterine growth restriction and 15 were severe preeclampsia. Furthermore, nine of the preeclamptic pregnancies had abnormal end diastolic flow in the umbilical artery. No significant correlation was noted between the placental vascular indices and gestational age in normal pregnancies. The placental vascular indices including VI, FI and VFI were significantly lower in preeclamptic placentas compared with controls (VI, p < 0.001; FI, p = 0.022; VFI, p < 0.001). Preeclamptic placental volume was also decreased compared with that of the controls (p = 0.002). After adjustment for confounding factors, significant differences were observed in VI and placental volume. However, no correlation was found between 3D power Doppler vascular indices and umbilical artery flow velocities, and neither intrauterine growth restriction nor the severity of preeclampsia could be predicted by the vascular indices. Conclusion: VI and placental volume are reduced in preeclamptic placenta. Placental vascular indices using 3D power Doppler ultrasound provide insights of placental vascularization in preeclampsia.


Burglary remains a significant crime problem across Australia. While the Australian Institute of Criminology is keen to encourage burglary reduction initiatives, it often encounters the view that targeted operations simply displace crime to another area. This perception of total crime displacement is common, but has no strong evidential basis. While some studies have measured a modest degree of displacement in some types of crime, they are rarely significant in relation to the benefits accrued from a successful crime reduction campaign. This paper reviews the existing body of knowledge about spatial displacement in regard to burglary initiatives. It examines the results of a study undertaken to explore the displacement impact of Operation Anchorage, a burglary reduction initiative undertaken by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) in Canberra in 2001. An unusual aspect of the operation was the flexibility accorded to operational commanders; this paper describes a methodology for assessing displacement under these circumstances. The results indicate that no significant spatial displacement took place during the first weeks of Operation Anchorage, yet the AFP was able to reduce burglary by a considerable amount. The implications for broader policy are that crime reduction initiatives can be successful without merely moving crime into another place, and that additional diffusion of crime prevention benefits can add value to a carefully considered crime reduction campaign.


The hemibiotrophic pathogen Magnaporthe oryzae causes one of the most destructive diseases in cultivated rice. Complex infection-related morphogenesis and production of various effectors are known to be important for successful colonization and disease development. In this study, we characterized the activation of the MoGTI1 transcription factor and its role in infection-related morphogenesis and effector gene expression. The Mogti1 mutant was nonpathogenic, although it was normal in appressorium formation and turgor generation. Close examination showed that Mogti1 was defective in penetration and growth of normal invasive hyphae. Deletion of MoGTI1 affected the expression of the majority of effector genes. The expression of MoGti1 appeared to be controlled by the Mps1 but not Pmk1 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), and the mps1 and Mogti1 mutants had similar phenotypes in plant infection and cell wall integrity defects. However, lack of MAPK phosphorylation sites and dispensability of the putative MAPK docking site suggested that MoGti1 is not a direct target of Mps1. Site-specific mutagenesis analyses showed that the putative protein kinase A phosphorylation site was not essential for localization of MoGti1 to the nucleus but important for its normal function. Although the cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) phosphorylation site of MoGti1 is dispensable during vegetative growth and appressorium formation, the S77A mutation affected penetration and invasive growth. Localization of MoGti1(S77A)-green fluorescent protein to the nucleus in late stages of appressorium formation and during invasive growth was not observed, suggesting a stage-specific CDK phosphorylation of MoGti1. Overall, our data indicate that Mps1 may indirectly regulate the expression of MoGti1 in maintaining cell wall integrity, conidiation, and plant infection. MoGti1 is likely a stage-specific target of CDK and plays a crucial role in effector gene expression and morphogenesis related to the development of penetration pegs and invasive hyphae.


The need for an adequate communication has a legal framework in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, which guarantees the right of all citizens to be informed about European issues. In order to actively engage its citizens and promote their support, the European Union needs to establish meaningful communication strategies.

The need to approach the mass media emphasis has been investigated by numerous experts and researchers, because media and information technologies encounter new challenges for the European citizens in their everyday intercommunication and understanding.

Communicating with citizens has become an important concern of the European Union, with the aim of taking their concerns and views into account and connecting with their needs and everyday lives. One of the European Commission's initiatives is to close the communication gap between the European Union and its citizens through a productive partnership and cooperation, helping to build a genuine European public space.

Several experts in media communication and EU policy-makers have advocated the use of media, particularly the Internet, in the democratizing process of the EU, stating that a unitary EU's public communication strategy through the media technologies will certainly offer to citizens a better dialogue, communion and trust as citizens in the European space.


Introduction Tight Junction Protein–2 (TJP-2) belongs to a family of proteins that are predominantly expressed at the junctions between epithelial cells. TJP-2 has been implicated in the progression of breast and pancreatic cancer through regulation of downstream signalling pathways responsible for invasion and metastasis. Recently, gene alterations in TJP-2 have been discovered in patients with progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis leading us to hypothesise that TJP-2 might be differentially regulated in chronic liver disease and liver cancer. Our aim was to characterise the expression of TJP-2 in liver disease with a particular focus on malignancy. Methods The cellular localization and expression of TJP-2 in human liver tissue sections was studied using immunohistochemistry, multi-colour confocal immunofluorescence and immunocytochemistry. TJP-2 mRNA expression was quantified by qRT-PCR and protein expression was determined by western blotting of tissue lysates prepared from pathological control and diseased liver samples. Image J analysis was used to quantify expression of TJP-2 in chronic liver disease and liver cancers. Results TJP-2 expression in human tissue sections was significantly downregulated in chronic liver disease and liver cancer, specifically hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and cholangiocarcinoma (CCA), when compared to pathological control tissue. The majority of TJP-2 protein was restricted to cellular junctions of biliary epithelial cells and hepatocytes in both pathological control and chronically diseased livers. In HCC and CCA tissue sections the protein was also found to adopt a characteristic perinuclear distribution, consistent with previous studies on pancreatic cancer cell lines. Western blotting and qRT-PCR studies revealed a significant decrease in TJP-2 expression in both chronic liver disease and primary liver cancer when compared to pathological control livers. Preliminary analysis of tissue samples taken from patients who had undergone hemihepatectomy for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, and who were matched for anatomical location and tumour histology, suggested a correlation between TJP-2 expression and overall survival. Conclusion This is the first report on TJP-2 expression in liver disease. TJP-2 was expressed on epithelial cells, with reduced mRNA and protein levels detected in chronic liver disease and liver cancer, suggesting that progressive loss of this molecule may contribute to altered epithelial function in hepatic injury and malignancy. Our data suggest that measurement of TJP-2 expression might have utility in the staging of liver cancer. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


The article proposes the use of a differential inertial sensors system for detection of the trench depth under operation. The inertial sensors are employed to detect a posture of the trencher and as a result to determine an angle difference through inertial sensors located on a vehicle (as a reference) and on the trencher arm. In this way, the undesirable, disturbing effects caused by unevenness of the field etc. are significantly reduced or even eliminated. The trench depth calculation procedure combines the angle difference and relative dimensions of the trencher structure. It is displayed on a monitor in real time. To perform a remote monitoring, the system is equipped with wireless transmission module using an upper-computer. To decrease data oscillation under operation, the calculated angles need to be filtered. Therefore, simulation based on Kalman filter in MATLAB was performed and found Q/R rate takes an important role in filtering and filtering test verified it. In field test, error rate between trench depth measured and detected is within 5 % what confirms the practical usefulness of the developed measuring system for the trench depth detection.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.eie.24.3.20973


ABSTRACT From the early days of the printed press, citizens have challenged and modified the information environment as constructed by governments and media organizations. In the digital era, this struggle is manifested in the work of civil-society organizations calling to expand the boundaries of digital rights such as access to the internet, freedom of speech, and the right to privacy. Alongside their traditional activity of confronting governments and internet organizations, these bodies have also engaged in educating citizens about their rights. In order to shed light on such educational efforts, I examine the activities of four civil-society organizations operating in three countries (Germany, Israel, and the U.S.) by conducting a content analysis of their websites between 2013 and 2015. The results suggest that the organizations' interactions with the public are guided by three main principles: (1) cultural informational framing: delivering accurate technological and political information, which is framed so as to resonate with the cultural premises and everyday lives of the target audiences; (2) personal activism: propelling citizens toward participation, primarily through political clicktivism and by providing them with technological guidance and tools for digital self-protection; and (3) branding digital rights activism: fostering a unique image for a particular organization's digital rights activism, mostly through selling merchandise to citizens. Using these strategies, the organizations aim to construct the social–political–cultural identity of a generation who are knowledgeable, politically active, and aware of their rights in the digital age. The characteristics of this identity are discussed in the conclusion.


We studied the pattern of progression of early-onset periodontitis and the change in the extent and severity of the periodontal condition in adolescents who were followed for 6 years. In a national survey of the oral health of U.S. children, 14,013 adolescents were examined clinically in 1986/1987 to assess the periodontal attachment loss of teeth. Individuals with early-onset periodontitis within this population were identified and classified into localized juvenile periodontitis (LJP), generalized juvenile periodontitis (GJP), and incidental attachment loss (IAL) groups. Ninety-one subjects, 13 to 20 years old at baseline, were examined 6 years later. They included 51 males and 40 females; and 72 Blacks, 6 Hispanics, and 13 Whites. They were clinically re-examined and then reclassified according to their periodontal status at follow-up. The severity and extent of these diseases continued to increase during the study period. In teeth that were affected at baseline, the lesions had progressed to include deeper portions of the periodontium, and more of the teeth unaffected at baseline exhibited periodontal attachment loss at follow-up, thus changing the disease characteristics and the basis for the clinical classification. Of the individuals classified with LJP at baseline, 62% continued to have LJP 6 years later and 35% developed GJP. Of those classified with GJP initially, all but two (82%) continued to have GJP at follow-up. Among the IAL group, 28% of subjects developed LJP or GJP, and 30% were reclassified in the no attachment loss group. Molars and incisors were the teeth most often affected in all three groups. The mean change in attachment loss over 6 years in the LJP, GJP, and IAL groups was 0.45, 1.12, and 0.13 mm, respectively. The present findings demonstrate the limitations of the currently used morphological criteria in the classification of early-onset periodontitis. The findings also suggest that the difference between LJP and GJP is in the number and type of teeth involved, and that the two classifications progress similarly, with some cases of LJP developing into GJP.


Cells of Candida guilliermondiiimmobilized onto porous glass spheres were cultured batchwise in a fluidized bed bioreactor for xylitol production from sugarcane bagasse hemicellulose hydrolyzate. An aeration rate of only 25 mL/min ensured minimum yields of xylose consumption (0.60) and biomass production (0.14 gDM/gXyl), as well as maximum xylitol yield (0.54 gXyt/gXyl) and ratio of immobilized to total cells (0.83). These results suggest that cell metabolism, although slow because of oxygen limitation, was mainly addressed to xylitol production. A progressive increase in the aeration rate up to 140 mL/min accelerated both xylose consumption (from 0.36 to 0.78 gXyl/L·h) and xylitol formation (from 0.19 to 0.28 gXyt/L·h) but caused the fraction of immobilized to total cells and the xylitol yield to decrease up to 0.22 and 0.36 gXyt/gXyl, respectively. The highest xylitol concentration (17.0 gXyt/L) was obtained at 70 mL/min, but the specific xylitol productivity and the xylitol yield were 43% and 22% lower than the corresponding values obtained at the lowest air flowrate, respectively. The concentrations of consumed substrates and formed products were used in material balances to evaluate the xylose fractions consumed by C. guilliermondii for xylitol production, complete oxidation through the hexose monophosphate shunt, and cell growth. The experimental data collected at variable oxygen level allowed estimating a P/O ratio of 1.35 molATP/molO and overall ATP requirements for biomass growth and maintenance of 3.4 molATP/C‐molDM.


In this paper, a snake-like robot based on a spatial linkage mechanism is proposed, and the reasonable structural parameters of the mechanism are obtained by performing kinematic simulation. The robot composes of nine modules that are connected by universal joint, and two servomotors are mounted on each module. The two motors drive two cranks, which drive another module by links with two spherical joints. The spatial linkage mechanism makes the wriggling locomotion smoother and more snake-like in its movement. Then the kinematics of the spatial linkage mechanism is developed, and a path planning based on Serpenoid curve is introduced. The optimized parameters of joint relative angles are further obtained to improve the performance of wriggling motion. The experiments in this paper confirm that the robot has ability to realize several motion modes, including wriggling, left swerve, right swerve, and uplifting head and so on.


Ageing of the population is now one of the most important facts that came to the foreground in the 21 st century. The rapid growth in the elderly of Bangladesh population after 2040 will challenge existing health care services, family relationships on social security. Because of change in the family structure there will be implications on health care of elderly from the family and unmet need of health care services in the public sector will rapidly increase. the aim of this research is to explore how the aging situation in Bangladesh is addressing and anticipating the challenges of an aging society. A review of program activities suggests that Bangladesh preparedness for an aging population is decidedly mixed. Public policy may have an important influence on the role of family support systems in the future but it is not significant considering the absolute size of the elderly population. Current demographic trends indicate that Bangladesh will very different in the coming decades than is to day. Mortality and fertility will be lower, and life expectancy will be rising. Population growth will have slowed substantially as supported by the medium and low variants projections respectively. Strengthening human capital by ensuring empowerment education and employment of all citizens will yield a high return to investment and will help countries reap a demographic dividend that can lift millions out of poverty. Creating hope and opportunity for young people to develop their full potential can drive progress in the years to come and ultimately result in a second demographic dividend of healthy lives, wealthier and more productive older person.


The first ITER's European Toroidal Field Coil (TFC) is going to be assembled in 2019. The TFC is composed mainly by the superconducting Winding Pack (WP - manufactured in Europe), and the Coil Cases (TFCC - manufactured in Japan), which provide structural integrity to the magnet and offer interface connections with the rest of the machine. Dimensional measurements and other manufacturing data are taken during the WP manufacture and are used to reconstruct the Current Centre Line (CCL), which is defined as the barycentre of the as-built conductors inside the WP. The CCL is useful to characterize the magnetic field generated by the magnet, and its monitoring and control can minimize the Error Field during ITER operation. Fusion For Energy (F4E) developed a method to calculate the CCL using manufacturing data. Since the CCL represents how different the WP is manufactured from its nominal conductor layout, this deviation can be corrected where there is need of a more controlled magnetic field shape, namely in the straight inboard area of the D-shaped tokamak. That is why each WP position inside its respective TFCCs is optimized, compensating the deviations detected and maintaining an allowable gap between components for the subsequent welding and resin filling operation. This paper presents the strategy followed by F4E to calculate the CCL and optimize the WP position inside the TFCC, by means of extensive CAD and CAE modelling activity. It explains also the data management process developed and followed to ensure configuration control of all the data inputs and outputs, coming from different sources and formats, and details the successful insertion operation on the first ever ITER TFC coil manufactured in Europe, and how in the future the updated CCL coil position will be used to define the final TFC machining, after the welding and gap filling operations.


This paper deals with optimal control applied to one of the most crucial and challenging problems in Air Traffic Management that of aircraft conflict avoidance. We propose an optimal control model where aircraft separation is achieved by changing the speeds of aircraft, and the integral over a time window of their squared accelerations is minimized. Pairwise aircraft separation constraints constitute the main difficulties to be handled. We propose an original decomposition of the problem into 3 zones, in such a way that in two of them, no conflict occurs. Then, using the Pontryagin maximum principle, 2 new formulations of the original optimal control problem are proposed and solved via direct shooting methods. Thanks to our decomposition, these numerical methods are applied on subproblems having reduced size with respect to the original one, thus improving the efficiency of the solution process. Thirty problem instances are numerically solved, showing the effectiveness of the proposed approaches.


In a group of 27 patients with early hilar lung cancer, standard sleeve lobectomy was performed in 14 cases, standard lobectomy in 9 cases, and another 4 patients underwent parenchymal-sparing operations (2 had sleeve segmentectomy, 1 had sleeve middle lobectomy, and 1 had left second carinal resection). The changes of conventional pulmonary function tests and regional pulmonary function were compared between patients undergoing sleeve lobectomy and those undergoing parenchymal-sparing surgery. The parameters used for the conventional lung function tests were FVC, %FVC, FEV1.0, and %FEV1.0. For the evaluation of regional pulmonary function, perfusion scans using 99mTc-MAA and ventilation scans using 133Xe were performed. The decrease of FVC in the sleeve lobectomy group (n = 5) was 724 +/- 182.7 ml, whereas that in the parenchymal- sparing surgery group (n = 4) was 367.5 +/- 52.1 ml, a significant difference. Both the FEV1.0 and %FEV1.0 showed no marked changes in both groups between the preoperative and postoperative values. Perfusion and ventilation scans in the parenchymal-sparing group showed a superior result in comparison with sleeve lobectomy group. All the patients undergoing parenchymal-sparing operations survived over the long term. It was thus concluded that parenchymal-sparing surgery can be applied to carefully selected patients with tiny localized cancers.


Organic forms of radioactive iodine are released during routine and accidental releases from the nuclear industry. Methyl iodide is often the predominant species in these releases. This paper describes the results of a study to determine the deposition, allocation, and loss of radioiodine after crops of bean, carrot, and cabbage were exposed to CH3125I. The deposition velocity ranged from 0.14-7.10 × 10−4 cm s−1, which is in line with previous studies. Translocation of radioiodine away from the leaves to other crop components was observed post exposure. The partition of radioiodine was to those crop components growing most actively at the time of exposure. This finding contradicts some previous studies and will have implications for dose assessments. Losses of radioiodine were only observed as a consequence of leaf fall. The consequences of these findings for the modeling the movement of radioiodine in crops following the deposition of methyl iodide are discussed.


Knowing kill rate is essential for knowing the basic nature of predation. We compared estimates of kill rate for previously observed wolf-prey systems with new observations from wolves Canis lupus which preyed on white-tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus in Michigan, USA. For the five packs that we studied during 2001-2004, the mean kill rate was 0.68 kill/pack/day (∼7.7 kg/wolf/day). However, kill rates varied considerably. In particular, the coefficient of variation associated with the means was 0.55 for kills/pack/day and 0.68 for kg/wolf/day. Our analysis of previously observed kill rates also revealed a negative correlation between the duration of observation and the estimated kill rate. This correlation is the basis for showing how most published estimates of kill rate for wolves during winter tend to overestimate, by 50%, the season-long average kill rate during winter. The negative association between duration of observation and estimated kill rate occurs, in part, because wolves are unable to maintain very high kill rates for a long time. We also document how estimates of kill rate based on ground tracking tended to be 3.3 times greater than aerial-based estimates (2.4 vs 7.9 kg/wolf/day). Ground tracking is better able to detect multiple carcasses at one site, and better able to detect carcasses when wolves bed far from their kills. These previously undocumented biases are surprising given that wolves are so extensively studied.


Global trends and structural shifts in the development of international trade, which have a fundamental character, and will continue to develop for more than a decade, are considered. It is noted that significant changes were particularly impressive in the communication sphere, which, in turn, affected the most socially sensitive sector of the economy - services. The article analyzes the causes of crisis phenomena in the multilateral system of trade regulation based on liberalization and harmonization of rules for traditional forms of trade, as well as the growth of protectionism in the conditions of the formation of trade continents - modern forms of regional agreements. The article deals with the influence of regionalism scaling on the narrowing of the free market space and the aggravation of problems of interaction between economic agents. The risks associated with the slowdown in world trade and the application of trade restrictions, as well as problems in the regulation of global trade, are considered. Special attention is paid to the dynamics of changes in the structure of Russian exports; and there is a clear discrepancy between the structures of Russian exports to global demand. It is assumed that this effect can be explained by increased competition in the world market, slowly recovering from the crisis, deepening stagnation of the domestic output, widening technological gap, as well as accumulated internal problems that have reduced the dynamism and capabilities of the Russian economy. Attention is drawn to the fact that among the TOP 10 non-raw material Russian exporters, there are no enterprises which activities are related to digital technologies, in contrast to the results of world rankings that put technology companies in the foreground.


In this study, the authors designed an algorithm based on a convolutional neural network that is capable of automatically classifying tire rubber eligibility according to the appearance of the tire on the tire image. The proposed algorithm will be built through several stages as follows. In the first stage, tire image acquisition will be carried out which will be the input of the designed algorithm. Furthermore, the acquired image will be divided into two sets, namely training and testing sets. The training set contains tire images that will be used at the training stage of several convolutional neural network architectures to be able to and classify them to the appropriate level of feasibility. The training phase will be carried out in a number of epohs, and at each epoh, the cross entropy loss function value will be calculated which expresses the performance of the convolutional neural network architecture in classifying tire images.
In this study, the author has designed an algorithm based on deep learning that is capable of automatically classifying tire eligibility. The proposed algorithm has been built through several stages such as tire image acquisition, training of several CNN models, especially ResNet-50. The CNN architecture test is trained to classify tire images from the test set. In addition, the accuracy value has also been calculated which shows the percentage of the number of tire images that are successfully classified correctly to the total number of tire images in the test set, which is an accuracy of 88.31%.


As a clean energy, wind power is massively utilized in net recent years, which significantly reduced the pollution emission created from unit. This article referred to the concept of energy-saving and emission reducing; built a multiple objective function with represent of the emission of CO2& SO2, the coal-fired from units and the lowest unit fees of commitment; Proposed a algorithm to improving NSGA-D (Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm-II) for the dynamic characteristics, consider of some constraint conditions such as the shortest operation and fault time and climbing etc.; Optimized and commitment discrete magnitude and Load distribution continuous quantity with the double-optimization strategy; Introduced the fuzzy satisfaction-maximizing method to reaching a decision for Pareto solution and also nested into each dynamic solution; Through simulation for 10 units of wind power, the result show that this method is an effective way to optimize the Multi-objective unit commitment modeling in wind power integrated system with Mixed-integer variable.


Abstract Introduction Characterization of physical and chemical soil criteria is a key step in understanding the source of spatial variability in the productivity across agricultural fields (21). Crop yield variability can be caused by many factors, including spatial variability of soil texture, crop management, soil physical and chemical properties and nutrient availability (45). Understanding the spatial variability of soil physical and chemical characteristics is essential for crop management, as it is directly contributing to variability in growth and yield of crop (38 & 14). Hence, understanding their spatial variability across agricultural fields is essential in optimizing the application of agricultural inputs and crop yield and it could help significantly in managing the spatial variability in the productivity of soil agroecosystems (30 & 14). Therefore, the objectives of this study were: (i) evaluate the effect of soil physical and chemical criteria on yield indices of wheat and (ii) to investigate the correlation between physical and chmical soil properties and wheat yield. Materials and Methods Samplings were performed based on random-systematic method from 30 fields in Khorasan-e Razavi province during 2017 and 2018. Studied characteristics were texture, organic matter (OM), organic carbon (OC), total nitrogen (TN), available P, available K, pH and C:N ratio of soil and seed yield, biological yield, straw yield, 1000-seed weight and harvest index (HI) of wheat. Multiple regression model was used to identify the relationship between soil variables (independent variables) and wheat yield indices (dependent variables). In addition, determining the most important factors of soil physical and chemical properties which have on wheat yield criteria was done by stepwise regression analysis. Results and discussion The results revealed showed that the mean values of seed yield, straw yield, biological yield, 1000-seed weight and HI of wheat were observed with 3588.47 kg.ha-1, 7362.80 kg.ha-1, 10951.27 kg.ha-1, 35.40 g and 48.56%, respectively. The highest and the lowest standard errors were computed for biological yield (198.40) and 1000-seed yield (0.74), respectively. Also, The effect of soil textures was significant (p≤0.05) on soil chemical criteria and wheat yield. The maximum OM, OC, TN, available P, available K and pH were observed for sandy clay with 1.86%, 1.09%, 0.18%, 166.20 ppm, 0.05 ppm and 7.37, respectively. The maximum seed yield and biological yield were related for clay soil (with 4313.83 and 11924.86 kg.ha-1, respectively). The highest correlation coefficients were computed for OM (r=0.935**) and OC (r=0.933**) with 1000-seed weight. The most important factors influencing wheat yield by using step by step regression were OM, available P, TN and available K, respectively. Conclusion Longterm sustainability of agroecosystems depends on soil quality and its fertility. Poor soil management practices can lead to degraded soil and environmental quality and reduction in crop yields. Results suggest that novel management approaches are needed to maintain the longterm sustainability of soil resources and crop yields without seriously degrading the environment that this will help in reducing the cost of fertilization and improving soil and environmental quality without altering crop yields.


The second LIGO–Virgo catalog of gravitational-wave (GW) transients has more than quadrupled the observational sample of binary black holes. We analyze this catalog using a suite of five state-of-the-art binary black hole population models covering a range of isolated and dynamical formation channels and infer branching fractions between channels as well as constraints on uncertain physical processes that impact the observational properties of mergers. Given our set of formation models, we find significant differences between the branching fractions of the underlying and detectable populations, and the diversity of detections suggests that multiple formation channels are at play. A mixture of channels is strongly preferred over any single channel dominating the detected population: an individual channel does not contribute to more than ≃70% of the observational sample of binary black holes. We calculate the preference between the natal spin assumptions and common-envelope efficiencies in our models, favoring natal spins of isolated black holes of ≲0.1 and marginally preferring common-envelope efficiencies of ≳2.0 while strongly disfavoring highly inefficient common envelopes. We show that it is essential to consider multiple channels when interpreting GW catalogs, as inference on branching fractions and physical prescriptions becomes biased when contributing formation scenarios are not considered or incorrect physical prescriptions are assumed. Although our quantitative results can be affected by uncertain assumptions in model predictions, our methodology is capable of including models with updated theoretical considerations and additional formation channels.


We have been collecting biological data for the construction of a food web model of Calabash Caye, Belize using Ecopath with Ecosim software. Characterization of the mangrove seagrass and coral reef environments surrounding Calabash Caye will provide baseline data for a network model of the trophic relationships in this area, which is currently being considered as a marine protected area. Our Ecopath model follows a previously published Puerto Rico - Virgin Islands 50 - compartment model; 27 of the compartments represents fishes. The collection of fish biomass and abundance data was done using visual surveys with both SCUBA and snorkel. Important dietary information was gathered from fish collected using a small suction dredge and larger invertebrates were counted along visual transects using SCUBA and snorkeling. Additional data for various compartments that were not sampled, including birds, phytoplankton, benthic autotrophs and detritus, come from other Belizean or Caribbean studies and literature values. Abundance and biomass or all compartments were determined and converted to g wet weight.m-2 Selected Ecopath outputs, such as effective trophic levels and mixed trophic impacts, allow us to gain insight into trophic structure and how changes in biomass travel through the food web to affect other species. The model will enable Belizean scientists and managers to monitor and formulate predictions about potential ecosystem changes that are associated with the marine reserve.


The KOTO experiment is dedicated to study the rare decay $K^0 _L\rightarrow \pi^0 \nu \bar\nu$ at the J-PARC 30 GeV Main Ring.
The $K^0 _L\rightarrow \pi^0 \nu \bar\nu$ decay breaks the CP symmetry directly and is highly
suppressed in the Standard Model (SM). Thus, this decay is sensitive to new physics
beyond the SM, in particular new sources of CP violation.
After the first physics run in 2013, the KOTO collaboration improved the detector
in order to suppress the backgrounds newly found in the analysis.
We resumed physics run in 2015 and collected about 20 times larger amount of data in the year.
From the 2015 data analysis, no events were observed with the expected background
of $0.4\pm0.18$. We set an upper limit of $3.0\times10^{-9}$ at the 90%
confidence level on the branching ratio. The result improves the previous limit by an order of magnitude.


Tomás Gutierrez Alea's film Guantanamera uses Yoruba mythology as a trope for Cuban spirituality. By inserting the Yoruba mythological figure of Ikú throughout the film, Alea resituates the African as distinctly Cuban. Alea's cinematic amalgamation of Yoruba-Cuban mythology emphasizes the significant role that the reconstruction of Africanness has played in the creation of Cuban nationhood and cultural identity. Furthermore, the film speaks to how the "naturalization" of African epistemologies in New World contexts lends itself to political commentary and manipulation. Alea's cross-cultural adaptation of Yoruba mythology ironically represents Afrocuban religion on both a local and global scale: the film medium allows for its (re)presentation in multiple cultural contexts. Ultimately, Guantanamera is only one Cuban cultural production that resituates the Yoruba as Cuban. In popular religion, music, foodways, and other aspects of Cuban folklore, African cultures in Cuba dominate many of the products that are part of the process of "creolization." By focusing on cimena, I address a type of cultural production that challenges bounded notions of African identity and expressive culture.


Kant views every human action as either entirely determined by natural necessity or entirely free. In viewing human action this way, it is unclear how he can account for degrees of responsibility. In this article, I consider three recent attempts to accommodate degrees of responsibility within Kant's framework, but argue that none of them are satisfying. In the end, I claim that transcendental idealism constrains Kant such that he cannot provide an adequate account of degrees of responsibility.


Johanson-Blizzard Syndrome (JBS) was first described by Johanson and Blizzard. It exhibits autosomal recessive inheritance and is characterized by mutation in the UBR1 gene on the long arm of Chromosome 15. The phenotypic features as well as diarrhoea that occurs due to the exocrine pancreatic insufficiency constitute the main clinical symptoms. This article discusses Johanson-Blizzard Syndrome due to the case followed-up by us with the symptoms of deafness and diarrhoea as well as typical facial appearance.