We report the discovery of nonstellar hydrogen Balmer and metastable helium absorption lines accompanying a transient, high-velocity (0.05c) broad absorption line (BAL) system in the optical spectra of the tidal disruption event (TDE) AT2018zr (z = 0.071). In the Hubble Space Telescope UV spectra, absorption of high- and low-ionization lines is also present at this velocity, making AT2018zr resemble a low-ionization BALQSO. We conclude that these transient absorption features are more likely to arise in fast outflows produced by the TDE than absorbed by the unbound debris. In accordance with the outflow picture, we are able to reproduce the flat-topped Hα emission in a spherically expanding medium without invoking the typical prescription of an elliptical disk. We also report the appearance of narrow (∼1000 kms−1) N iii λ4640, He ii λ4686, Hα, and Hβ emission in the late-time optical spectra of AT2018zr, which may be a result of UV continuum hardening at late times, as observed by Swift. Including AT2018zr, we find a high association rate (three out of four) of BALs in the UV spectra of TDEs. This suggests that outflows may be ubiquitous among TDEs and less sensitive to viewing angle effects compared to QSO outflows.


The absolute bioavailability of dihydroquinidine chloride (normal tablet and sustained-release capsule) was studied in 12 hospitalized patients with heart disease. A 300-mg dose of dihydroquinidine gluconate was administered to each patient by short intravenous infusion. After a single dose of two tablets of dihydroquinidine chloride (300 mg), the average peak concentration was 0.74 +/- 0.43 mg/l (+/- SD); following administration two capsules of the sustained-release form (500 mg dihydroquinidine chloride) the average peak concentration was 0.55 +/- 0.25 mg/l. Tmax was approximately 5 h with the dihydroquinidine tablet and 7 h with the dihydroquinidine capsule. The mean absolute bioavailability was 89 +/- 9% for the conventional tablet and 52 +/- 15% for the sustained-release capsule. After intravenous infusion of dihydroquinidine (2.63 +/- 0.29 mg/kg), the disposition of the drug is described by a two-compartment open model. The volume of distribution (Vd) was 4.67 l/kg. Distribution (t1/2 alpha = 18.63 +/- 15.2 h) and the apparent elimination half-life (t1/2 beta = 10.8 +/- 4.7 h) were longer than the corresponding values reported by Ueda et al. [1976]. These discrepancies are presumably due to the different sampling period that was extended to 24 h in our study, consequently evidencing a slower rate of elimination from 12 to 24 h. Mean total body clearance (Cl) was 0.28 +/- 0.057 l/h/kg. Urine sample collection for 48 h showed 21% of the dose was excreted unchanged. The renal clearance (Clr) was 0.062 +/- 0.018 l/h/kg.


ABSTRACT:Originally a living history museum celebrating Indiana's homogeneous pioneer past, Conner Prairie began in the late 1990s to tell a more complicated story, one that included the expulsion of Native Americans and the enslavement of African Americans. With the new "Promised Land as Proving Ground" exhibit, scheduled to open in 2023, Conner Prairie will even more radically enlarge its subject matter, examining the lives that free persons of color voluntarily built in a state with an antagonistic white majority. Curatorial Director Charlene Fletcher, who designed the new exhibit from the ground up, described in an interview with David A. Nichols the layout, media components, and modern community partners of "Promised Land." Dr. Fletcher also explained the exhibit's goals: to introduce visitors to antebellum Black Hoosiers, who were some of central Indiana's pioneer settlers (and the ancestors of future Black professionals), and to remind audiences of modern Hoosiers' ongoing struggle for inclusion and equity.


Since the seminal work of Richard Montague in the 1970s, mathematical and logic tools have successfully been used to model several aspects of the meaning of natural language. However, visually impaired people continue to face serious difficulties in getting full access to this important instrument. Our paper aims to present a work in progress whose main goal is to provide blind students and researchers with an adequate method to deal with the different resources that are used in formal semantics. In particular, we intend to adapt the Portuguese Braille system in order to accommodate the most common symbols and formulas used in this kind of approach and to develop pedagogical procedures to facilitate its learnability. By making this formalization compatible with the Braille coding (either traditional and electronic), we hope to help blind people to learn and use this notation, essential to acquire a better understanding of a great number of semantic properties displayed by natural language.


The liberal debate on egalitarian distributive justice was originally developed with affluent occidental countries in mind. We might ask whether the liberal egalitarian distributive question has a different answer when we consider countries with a different social justice answer should in principle better interpret a political conception of social justice for a poor society, and within this general distributive principle provide specific theoretical distributive criteria for the design of poverty alleviation programmes.

I claim, as a possible answer to this theoretical question that egalitarianism could be better served by using a mixed distributive. I maintain that in extreme scarcity situations egalitarians should rather appeal to a moral pluralist view where many factors matter when we compare various feasible distributions, not only equality. This "hybrid" distributive view, which I have called Progressive Sufficiency would not give ultimate importance to equality; it would give priority to the worse off over the better off individuals only under some circumstances and would consider that several morally relevant thresholds should be clarified.

Another problem relates to the type of goods upon we should focus when dealing with interpersonal comparisons. Three types are commonly distinguished: welfare, resources and capability. Progressive sufficiency for instance would recommend thresholds in advantage with the first one described in absolute terms and the second and third described in progressive increases of benefits, taking as the measure of benefits the average held by the proportion of the population within thresholds. Thus we could conclude that both analysis either of the distributive criterion and the currency of the distribution naturally fit together in a general prioritarian argument with graded steps of benefits.

My case study is Mexico and some of its recent poverty alleviation programmes (1992-2000). In terms of developing countries, the Mexican case is interesting because most of its institutions and policies have being inspired by liberal ideas that have succeeded in creating a moderately strong economy, but have failed in the fair distribution of scarce resources.


The mechanism(s) by which infectious material is cleared by the host is an area of intensive study. This is especially so with the realization that persistent viral infection is a cause of chronic disease in humans and presents a major health problem. We have used the murine model of infection with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus to evaluate immune clearance. Mice with a targeted disruption of the IFN-gamma gene mount effective cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses after an acute viral challenge and clear virus. CD4+ T cells are not required but CD8+ T cells are mandatory. In contrast, CTL from mice with targeted disruption of the IFN-gamma gene are unable to clear virus from persistently infected mice. In addition to the requirement for IFN-gamma, CD4+ T cells are essential for maintaining a CD8(+)-mediated cure of persistent viral infection.


Unicast protocols offer a very effective routing mechanism in wireless mobile Ad-hoc networks. But the performance deteriorates when the network is subjected to large amount of traffic. We have proposed a modification in the unicast protocols. The congestion in the network is controlled by reducing the RREQ packet retransmission by the source node, managing buffer space. The simulation has been done on the Qualnet 5.0 Simulator. The result shows the significant improvement in the throughout as well as reduction in number of packets dropped and jitter.


Titles & abstract s Titles & abstracts Include N=54 Include N=121 Include N=89 Exclude N = 0 Exclude N = 1,024 Exclude N = 21


s torage a n d refrigeration, the sailor's diet nowadays is as pa l a t ab le and nutr i t ious as tha t of the l andsman , even for long stretches a t sea. However , it has been quer ied as to whe the r it consists of too h igh a content of refined ca rbohydra t e a n d too low a con ten t of roughage . T h i r d l y , the nuclear submar ine is discussed. T h e Polaris submar ine is descr ibed—the biological aspect of life a b o a r d a n d then the medical problems which m a y be encounte red . Preventat ive medicine plays a very large p a r t in the medical p r o g r a m m e , a l though of course there a re a d e q u a t e facilities for emergency surgery a n d o the r t r ea tmen t . I . M . C a l d e r


This paper presents data from Vwanji, an under-documented Bantu language spoken by approximately 28,000 people in southwestern Tanzania. Bantu languages are well known for having multiple degrees of past time reference grammaticalized in their TAM systems, and Vwanji is a good example of such a language, but one with some interesting typological differences from certain general TAM trends in Bantu languages noted in Nurse (2008). Three past TAM forms, in particular, are the focus of the research: P1 /Anterior SM-VB-ile, P2 SM-a-VB-a, and the Near Past Habitual SM-a-VB-aɣa. The analysis of data from a corpus of narrative and non-narrative texts (both written and oral) reveals that these three TAM forms have multiple discourse functions which do not necessarily follow in expected ways from their places in the TAM system as a whole. Comparing the Vwanji findings with those of neighbouring languages suggests some possible directions in which the verb forms in Vwanji may be changing functionally or being lost. The goal of this investigation is to increase understanding of a typologically interesting language which has not been well described and for which there is very little published data. The paper also shows the importance of taking natural discourse data into account when considering TAM functions in a language. Relying on elicited data alone may hide interesting complexities and variation.


One of the most important aspects in the field of marketing is to explore the path to customer loyalty. Previous studies have presented several approaches on this issue incorporating differing central constructs. However, researchers have given little consideration to social identification antecedents to hotel customer loyalty development. This study follows an integrated approach and proposes a model with two social exchange constructs (customer trust and commitment) and one social identity variable (customer identification) as the most significant elements between the perception of a responsible corporate behavior and hotel customer loyalty. Empirical data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Findings demonstrate that corporate social responsibility positively impact on customer trust, commitment, and identification with the company. Furthermore, customer trust, along with customer commitment and customer identification with the company positively influence hotel customer loyalty. Finally, customer trust has a positive direct effect on customer commitment and identification.


Currently, a variety of solid Li+ conductors are being discussed that could potentially serve as electrolytes in all-solid-state Li-ion batteries and batteries using metallic Li as the anode. Besides oxides, sulfides and thioposphates, and also halogenides, such as Li3YBr6, belong to the group of such promising materials. Here, we report on the mechanosynthesis of ternary, nanocrystalline (defect-rich) Li[InxLiy]Br4, which crystallizes with a spinel structure. We took advantage of a soft mechanochemical synthesis route that overcomes the limitations of classical solid-state routes, which usually require high temperatures to prepare the product. X-ray powder diffraction, combined with Rietveld analysis, was used to collect initial information about the crystal structure; it turned out that the lithium indium bromide prepared adopts cubic symmetry (Fd3¯m). The overall and electronic conductivity were examined via broadband conductivity spectroscopy and electrical polarization measurements. While electric modulus spectroscopy yielded information on long-range ion transport, 7Li nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spin-lattice relaxation measurements revealed rapid, localized ionic hopping processes in the ternary bromide. Finally, we studied the influence of thermal treatment on overall conductivity, as the indium bromide might find applications in cells that are operated at high temperatures (330 K and above).


The capacity to act as a port state in international law is best described by the specific powers exercised over foreign ships, namely inspection, detention, expulsion or request of any type of information prior to the entry into the port. Many of these powers are explicitly attributed to the state in multilateral instruments, whereby the flag state consents to having its ships subject to the jurisdiction of the port state. Notwithstanding the consensus around the complementary nature of port state jurisdiction with respect to certain obligations of the flag state, the port state is not limited to fulfil a secondary role. This is especially visible in the prevention, reduction and control of ship-source pollution, where some port states have not hesitated in acting regardless of an expressed consent by the flag state to the rule or standard being applied with the support of port powers. Not only do port states use more stringent enforcement powers to ensure that international treaties are effective, but they also prescribe novel rules and standards upon any foreign ship that approaches the port, often as a means of breaking an international negotiation deadlock. This study discusses the international legal basis for such unilateral jurisdiction by analysing the principles of state jurisdiction under the dichotomy parochial/cosmopolitan. By interpreting the stated and implicit purposes of port state actions under that dichotomy, this study proposes that states are finding a legal ground to act based on certain legal functions they fulfil in the international legal order. This argument puts into perspective the assumed self-sufficiency of territoriality and shows how unilateralism may also serve to seek to set universally applicable norms


In general, the problems of robots can be divided into two sub-problems of motion planning and motion control. A motion planning problem is solved where a geometrical model is given. Furthermore, motion planning problems can be fundamentally divided into path, trajectory and task planning problems. These planning have many constraints concerning kinematics and dynamics of the robot as well its environment. This paper introduces path, trajectory and task planning methods for wheeled mobile robots. Wheeled mobile robots are becoming increasingly important in industry as a means of transport, inspection, and operation because of their efficiency and flexibility. The motion of a wheeled mobile robot, in general, be subject to non-holonomic constraints due to the rolling constraints of the wheels, which render a motion perpendicular to the wheels impossible. These non-holonomic constraints give rise to highly nonlinear mathematical models of the mobile robots, and the control problem is not trivial although the full state is measured. Feedback control of non-holonomic mobile robots is, therefore, a challenging problem which combines nonlinear control theory and differential geometry. Path planning in mobile robots must ensure optimality of the path. The optimality achieved may be in path, time, energy consumed etc. Path planning in robots also depends on the environment in which it operates like, static or dynamic, known or unknown etc. Global path planning using A* algorithm and genetic algorithm is investigated in this paper. A known dynamic environment, in which a control station will compute the shortest path and communicate to the mobile robot and the mobile robot will traverse through this path to reach the goal.


most severe degree of massive fibrosis and higher than the severe cases of non-industrial emphysema which were examined (table XIII, p. 241). These figures appear most intriguing but are not discussed at all in relation to lung pathology. The authors may have missed their possible important significance. Can these disturbances be the counterpart of focal emphysema, which, of the cases examined, would be expected to have the highest incidence in this group ? The only other case which equalled such high resting ventilation was a control case (No. 201) of lung fibrosis. This man has since died of honeycomb lungs, a condition with some similarity to severe focal emphysema, in respect of the kind of air spaces which are dilated. Another case of honeycomb lung, No. 202, had normal resting ventilation but a high exercise ventilation (the diffuse fibrosis in honeycomb lung would account for the additional feature of reduced carbon-monoxide uptake).


Abstract This study investigates what needs to be considered in our current health services to appropriately respond to abused Korean immigrant women. Using a community-based participatory approach, this qualitative interpretive description analyzed counseling documents and semi-structured interviews. Data analyses suggested that intimate partner violence (IPV) screening for ethnic minority women in health care settings can be improved by informing patients about the role of health care providers in addressing IPV, establishing rapport before IPV screening, assuring confidentiality is maintained, respecting Korean immigrant women's unique perspectives and response toward IPV, providing translation services, and collaborating with ethnic minority women's community organizations.


Taking the monitoring data of water quality, of Fenhe River in Shanxi province, as an example, based upon the comprehensive analysis of the monitoring data and standard of water quality, a kind of water quality evaluation model based on artificial neural network is proposed in this paper. This software model adopts the technology of Access to manage foundation database and takes the water quality evaluation criteria as learning samples. With the aid of the artificial neural networks and repeatedly training, as well as self-revision of the network, the BP network model for water quality evaluation with high precision has been obtained and finally realized the intelligence evaluation of water quality which to be evaluated. Practical examples indicated that this kind of evaluation method is very reliable, accurate and highly intellectualized compared with conventional evaluation methods. This new method may meet the synthetic evaluation needs of surface water quality.


and it did so. But there was no repression of the spasms as a result of its use; for twice it was given alone, and each time the spasms returned, to be reduced again by the aconite. Useful, then, in relieving a disagreeable accident, it had no power to stand against the tetanus. If I have succeeded in demonstrating the acute nature of the attack, the extremity of the symptoms, and the contraspasmodic action of the aconite, there can be little need to say anything of the chances of spontaneous recovery. He might have beaten the disease; but, from all we know of tetanus, we may be pretty sure that it would have gained the day. What, then, is the value of the case? Does it contain hope for the future, or is its successful termination merely a fortunate accident? I cannot but think that it is full of hope, more especially when taken in connexion with previously reported cases. Of course it is not conclusive; it cannot be. But it points very decidedly to a certain path, by following which there is more hope of arriving at the wished for goal than by the old well trodden tracks. Aconite has never had that thorough testing that opium, for instance, bas. So far, it seems to me most useful: further experience will determine its true value. But little persuasion should be required to induce a fair and extended trial of its powers, not by one or two, but by many; for, in such matters as this, " in a multitude of counsellors there is safety". Nor need we restrict our notice to aconite alone; it is only one of a class of medicines which has yet had little attention paid to it-all powerful, even violent, in their aetion, and many, I am convinced, containing " a soul of good" within them, which as yet we have not " observingly distilled out".


Speech overlaps, undesired collisions of utterances between systems and users, harm smooth communication and degrade the usability of systems. We propose a method to enable smooth speech interactions between a user and a robot, which enables subtle expressions by the robot in the form of a blinking LED attached to its chest. In concrete terms, we show that, by blinking an LED from the end of the user's speech until the robot's speech, the number of undesirable repetitions, which are responsible for speech overlaps, decreases, while that of desirable repetitions increases. In experiments, participants played a last-and-first game with the robot. The experimental results suggest that the blinking-light can prevent speech overlaps between a user and a robot, speed up dialogues, and improve user's impressions.


In order to understand the clinical significance of rapamycin-insensitive companion of mammalian target of rapamycin (Rictor) in colorectal cancer (CRC), 62 CRC tissue samples excised during operations were evaluated by immunohistochemistry. Analysis of the association between the expression level of Rictor protein and clinicopathological parameters demonstrated that the expression level of Rictor in CRC tissues was significantly higher than that in paracarcinoma tissues (P<0.0001). In cellular experiments, this result was further confirmed by comparing differences in Rictor expression between the CRC cell lines HCT116, SW480 and LoVo, and the human normal liver cell line HL-7702. It was also noticed that the expression of Rictor was associated with Dukes stage, lymphatic metastasis and prognosis, as determined by χ2 test, Kaplan-Meier analysis and log-rank test. These results suggest that Rictor may be a novel target for the treatment and prognostic assessment of CRC patients in the future.


The electronic structure of the paramagnetic phase of the dense Kondo, moderate heavy-fermion compound UCu5Sn was studied by x-ray photoemission and by calculations. The band structure was calculated using the tight-binding linear muffin-tin orbital method in the atomic sphere approximation. The calculated x-ray spectrum is in reasonable agreement with the experimental one. The electronic specific heat enhancement factor is γ/γ0≈11, pointing out the essential role played by the Kondo-type many-body interactions. A complex satellite structure of the core 4f spectrum from U is an indication of a possibly mixed valence state of uranium in UCu5Sn.


This article attempts to provide some keynotes in trying to understand the construction of the Spanish State and it's Basque terrorist outlaw. The Nation State's institutional discourses such as the ZEN plan (1983), Ararteko's analysis (2009) or Ertzaintza's antiterrorist website (2011) become indispensable tools for the community's construction. These texts lead to an interpretation of discipline, sovereign power and governmental management through the subjec(tifica)tion technologies that build the outlaw as Homo Sacer.


Climate change and globalization affect the suitable conditions for agricultural crops and insect pests, threatening future food security. It remains unknown whether shifts in species' climatic suitability will be linear or rather non‐linear, with crop exposure to pests suddenly increasing when a critical temperature threshold is crossed. Moreover, uncertainty of forecasts can arise because of the modelling approach based either on species distribution data or on physiological measurements. Here, we compared the predictions of two modelling approaches (physiological models and species distribution models) for forecasting the potential distribution of agricultural insect pests in Europe. Despite conceptual differences, we found good agreement overall between the two approaches. We further identified a potential regime change in pest pressure along a temperature gradient. With both modelling approaches, we found an inflection point in the number of pest species with suitable climatic conditions around a minimum temperature of the coldest month of −3°C. Our results could help decision‐makers anticipate the onset of rising pest pressure and provide support for intensifying surveillance measures, particularly in regions where temperatures are already beyond the inflection point.


Prayers is a worship required of Muslims. Prayers can be a meditation that can induce the relaxation response. Relaxation can affect blood pressure in hypertensive patients but is not yet known whether the prayer relaxation can lower blood pressure. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of prayer is there humility to the reduction of blood pressure in patients with hypertension. This research method using pre-experimental design (One group pretest-posttestdesign). This study uses a sampling technique Nonprobability Sampling with Purposive Sampling types. Total population of 80 respondents and the amount of sample is 10 respondents who fit the inclusion criteria. Data collection techniques by observation accuracy the presence of prayer and tensimeter. The results showed a majority of 10 respondents have hypertension stage 2 by 5 respondents (50%) before performing prayers and 5 respondents (50%) were on previously normal blood pressure blood pressure are at stage 1 stage 2 and stage 3 after prayers. The result of analysis by using paired T-tes on systolic blood preasure before and after the prayer humility' obtained p=(0,193) over α=(0,05) so that it can be concluced Ho accepted and H1 rejected, which means there is no effect of prayer humility' against the decline in systolic blood pressure in patient with hypertension. Whereas the results of analysis by using paited T-test on diastolic blood pressure before and after the prayers humility obtained p=(0,003) is less than α=(0,05) so that it can be concluced Ho rejected, which means there is the influence of prayer humility to decrease the pressure diatolic blood in patient with hypertension in Hamlet Village Jangar Ngarjo Mooanyar District of Mojokerto. Patients with high blood pressure or hypertension can perform their prayers were done in humilit as a therapy to keep blood pressure remained stable. Keywords: Prayer Humility, Blood Pressure, Hypertension


The development of production and consumption technologies for the road transport has led to large scale introduction of alternative energy in this sector. These alternatives to the conventional petroleum fuels include biofuels, electricity, natural gas and synthetic fuels produced from coal and natural gas. However, it is very important to point out, that inter-fuel competition is determined not only by the development of technologies, but also by such parameters as availability, fuel cost, consumer preferences and government legislations, all of which vary greatly across the globe. In other words, the very same technologies can be capable of radically altering the fuel mix in some countries while having little to none impact in the others. The topic of the inter-fuel competition development in the transportation sector holds much importance for Russia, as the country's fuels mix is almost totally dominated by the petroleum products. The diversification of energy sources for transport may positively influence energy security and domestic fuels market stability; reduce the strain on ecology, especially in major cities; all the while increasing Russian oil and petroleum products export potential.The article presents results of the research for prospects of the developments in Russian transport sector fuel mix. The research was carried out using the tools of economic and mathematical modeling under various scenario assumptions. The analysis has shown that natural gas and, to a lesser extent, electricity hold the best prospects as petroleum products substitutes in the long-term. Their cumulative share in the total energy consumption of the road transport sector has the potential of reaching as high as 26% by 2040. Yet, the extent of substitution largely depends on the government actions for infrastructure development and tax incentives for alternative vehicle owners.


Gas holdup and froth height in the presence of dodecylamine (DDA, pKa = 10.63) are reported at three pH values. The results revealed a strong time effect for DDA: stability was reached at pH 3; not at natural pH, for example, gas holdup declining to the water only value; and at pH 11, while stability was reached quickly gas holdup was now less than in water alone indicating coalescence. In the first two cases, the time effect is attributed to loss of amine from the system as molecular amine, observed at natural pH as precipitates on the column wall. An argument for precipitation at pH < pKa is presented. At pH 11, coalescence is attributed to the oily nature of the molecular amine present as colloidal aggregates. Noting a difference in literature steady state gas holdup data at natural pH, it is speculated that varying steady states can be reached that corresponds to different levels of amine loss.


The Malaysian listed property companies (MLPCs) are now penetrating the global market, thus playing a significant role in the country's economic growth. The property sector in Malaysia is now also able to attract foreign investors which helps to make Malaysia one of the major property investment destinations. Moreover, property investment has proved to be a hedging against inflation as well as financial crises. Consequently, it is important to analyse the significance and performance of MLPCs to identify its added value to mixed asset portfolio. The research aim is to analyse the significance and performance of MLPCs are important to provide strategic investment allocation for investors. This study used the time series data of price indices for all asset classes such as shares, bonds and property. The countries involved in this analysis vary from developed to less emerging property markets. The research methodology has employed several statistical techniques such as risk adjusted performance analysis, correlation analysis and efficient frontiers. In order to assess the level of volatility of MLPCs, advanced statistical techniques have been used; these include: Granger causality test and ARCH family model. This analysis covers a 20 year period from January 1994 to December 2014. The performance of MLPCs has been segmented into three different property markets, namely: Malaysian, Asian and developed countries mixed asset portfolio. The findings have revealed that MLPCs have low performance, less diversification and do not add value within local mixed asset portfolios. However, it shows some hedging benefits during the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) period as they were less affected by the GFC. In addition, MLPCs also have low performance and do not add value to the property portfolio of other Asian countries. However, they provide diversification benefits with several Asian countries. With regards to volatility, it was found that Japan could cause MLPCs to become a risky asset. In the context of an international market, MLPCs have inferior risk adjusted performance except during the GFC period. During the GFC, MLPCs outperformed several developed countries which indicated that they were able to show sustainable performance. With regards to volatility, several developed countries caused MLPCs to become a risky asset. Conclusively, MLPCs are seen to be less significant in mixed asset portfolios especially when compared with local, Asian and developed countries portfolio. MLPCs can bring about improvements in order to gain returns and can reduce risk in a portfolio in a certain situation. Nevertheless, MLPCs need to revolutionize in order to become more competitive compared to other assets. This study provided useful information for LPCs players for making more informed investment decision, while understand the implications.


The rise of sensor-equipped smart phones has enabled a variety of classification based applications that provide personalized services based on user data extracted from sensor readings. However, malicious applications aggressively collect sensitive information from inherent user data without permissions. Furthermore, they can mine sensitive information from user data just in the classification process. These privacy threats raise serious privacy concerns. In this paper, we introduce two new privacy concerns which are inherent-data privacy and latent-data privacy. We propose a framework that enables a data-obfuscation mechanism to be developed easily. It preserves latent-data privacy while guaranteeing satisfactory service quality. The proposed framework preserves privacy against powerful adversaries who have knowledge of users' access pattern and the data-obfuscation mechanism. We validate our framework towards a real classification-orientated dataset. The experiment results confirm that our framework is superior to the basic obfuscation mechanism.


Dynamic tactile displays represent a class of haptic devices of particular interest to the blind and visually impaired. Despite many years of research and development efforts, the low-cost, low-power, compact tactile display remains elusive. This paper describes a low-cost electromechanical actuator array based on low-force, low-displacement bistable actuators that can be realized using inexpensive, commercially available components and high-volume manufacturing processes. The array is applicable to several types of tactile displays; as an initial proof of concept, we demonstrate a 6-dot Braille cell with a 3mm pitch that requires less than 50mJ per actuator per transition.


Adoptive transfer of ex vivo engineered autologous lymphocytes encoding high-affinity MART-1/ A*0201-specific TCRα/β chains (F5 CTL), densely infiltrate into metastatic sites, mediating dramatic but partial responses in metastatic melanoma patients. We hypothesized that down-modulation of death receptors and aberrant apoptotic signaling confer resistance to F5 CTLs. To test this, we established a preclinical model of resistance from sensitive parental lines under serial F5 CTL-selective pressure. While surface peptide/MHC complex remains intact (F5 CTLs efficiently recognize and engage melanomas), R lines downregulate surface DR5 expression, exhibit constitutive NF-κB activation and overexpress resistant factors. The HDACi SAHA blocked antiapoptotic pathway, reduced expression of resistance factors, restored DR5 expression, and sensitized R lines to F5 CTL. At concentrations used, SAHA didn't affect functionality and viability of F5 CTLs. Using blocking Abs, rhTRAIL and murine CTL hybridoma line, we found that TCR-engineered F5 CTLs mainly utilize TRAIL apoptosis pathway. Further, using Drozitumab (αDR5 mAb), pivotal role of DR5 and its regulation by SAHA was confirmed. These studies identify molecular determinants of resistance to TCR engineered CTL and suggest that adjuvant therapy with SAHA in immune-resistant tumors imposes a proapoptotic milieu by regulating apoptotic machinery and inducing death-receptor expression, thus, overcoming melanoma immunotherapy resistance.


A definition of asymptotic flatness at spatial infinity is given by imposing conditions at a time-like boundary of a completed 4-manifold. The resulting framework is similar to the Penrose description of asymptotic flatness at null infinity in that physics at spatial infinity is coded in smooth tensor fields on the boundary. it reproduces the standard results of the i0-framework with the advantage that it avoids the awkward differentiability conditions imposed at i0. The universal structure made available by the definition is examined and the structure of the associated asymptotic symmetry group is analysed. The tensor fields describing the leading order behaviour of the gravitational field at spatial infinity are then introduced and the field equations that they satisfy are derived. Finally, the expressions of the 4-momentum and the angular momentum are presented. The structure of the permissible isometry groups in asymptotically flat spacetimes is discussed in an appendix.


Purpose This study aimed to evaluate the radiosensitizing potential of Au@DTDTPA(Gd) nanoparticles when combined with conventional external X-ray irradiation (RT) to treat GBM. Methods Complementary biological models based on U87 spheroids including conventional 3D invasion assay, organotypic brain slice cultures, chronic cranial window model were implemented to investigate the impact of RT treatments (10 Gy single dose; 5×2 Gy or 2×5 Gy) combined with Au@DTDTPA(Gd) nanoparticles on tumor progression. The main tumor mass and its infiltrative area were analyzed. This work focused on the invading cancer cells after irradiation and their viability, aggressiveness, and recurrence potential were assessed using mitotic catastrophe quantification, MMP secretion analysis and neurosphere assays, respectively. Results In vitro clonogenic assays showed that Au@DTDTPA(Gd) nanoparticles exerted a radiosensitizing effect on U87 cells, and in vivo experiments suggested a benefit of the combined treatment "RT 2×5 Gy + Au@DTDTPA(Gd)" compared to RT alone. Invasion assays revealed that invasion distance tended to increase after irradiation alone, while the combined treatments were able to significantly reduce tumor invasion. Monitoring of U87-GFP tumor progression using organotypic cultures or intracerebral grafts confirmed the anti-invasive effect of Au@DTDTPA(Gd) on irradiated spheroids. Most importantly, the combination of Au@DTDTPA(Gd) with irradiation drastically reduced the number, the viability and the aggressiveness of tumor cells able to escape from U87 spheroids. Notably, the combined treatments significantly reduced the proportion of escaped cells with stem-like features that could cause recurrence. Conclusion Combining Au@DTDTPA(Gd) nanoparticles and X-ray radiotherapy appears as an attractive therapeutic strategy to decrease number, viability and aggressiveness of tumor cells that escape and can invade the surrounding brain parenchyma. Hence, Au@DTDTPA(Gd)-enhanced radiotherapy opens up interesting perspectives for glioblastoma treatment.


Sphingosine-1-phosphate-1 (S1P1) receptor agonists are well-known drugs for treating multiple sclerosis (MS) caused by autoreactive lymphocytes that attack the myelin sheath. Therefore, an effective therapeutic strategy is to reduce the lymphocytes in the blood by inducing S1P1 receptor internalization. We synthesized serinolamide A, a natural product of the sea, and performed S1P1 receptor internalization assay to evaluate functionally antagonistic S1P1 receptor agonist activity. In order to synthesize derivatives with better efficacy than serinolamide A and B, new derivatives were synthesized by introducing the phenyl ring moiety of fingolimod. Among them, compounds 19 and 21 had superior S1P1 agonistic effects to serinolamide. We also confirmed that compound 19 effectively inhibited lymphocyte outflow in peripheral lymphocyte count (PLC) assay.


Abstract A study of the benthic algal macroflora of Linosa Island (Straits of Sicily, Mediterranean Sea) is presented, aiming to verify possible floristic changes that have occurred in the area, last studied in 1973. We found noticeable changes in the benthic flora, which is now poorer in species than that recorded in the literature (233 species against 305), with a minor decrease in Phaeophyceae and Chlorophyta, and a more significant decrease in the number of Rhodophyta. Only 178 species in the present flora were reported previously, while 127 previously reported were not found during the present study. Conversely, 55 species were newly found. Several species of Fucales, like Cystoseira brachycarpa, C. sauvageauana, C. spinosa, C. zosteroides, Sargassum acinarium and S. trichocarpum, which are characteristic of the Mediterranean Sea photophilic communities on hard substrata and sensitive to any environmental changes, have disappeared.


A prevalence survey of coronary heart disease (CHD) was carried out in a north Indian town involving a house-to-house clinical and electrocardiographic examination of all the 2,030 persons above the age of 30 years residing in the area. The sample is considered adequate and representative of urban population of northern India. The diagnosis of CHD was based on history of myocardial infarction or angina pectoris and electrocardiographic abnormalities according to criteria used by Epstein and associates.1The prevalence rates of CHD for men and women were similar to those found in Tecumseh.1 The prevalence of CHD increased with age, with socio-economic status, with the sedentary nature of occupation, and in hypertensives. Those with CHD were more obese than others, and the prevalence showed a positive correlation with subscapular skinfold thickness in men. Sixty-two per cent of the men and 88% of the women had clinically silent CHD. No comparable published data on prevalence of CHD in the general population in India is available.


We have used sequence-based markers from an integrated YAC STS-content/somatic cell hybrid breakpoint physical map and radiation hybrid maps of human chromosome 16 to construct a new sequence-ready BAC map of the long arm of this chromosome. The integrated physical map was generated previously in our laboratory and contains 1150 STSs, providing a marker on average every 78 kb on the euchromatic arms of chromosome 16. The other two maps used for this effort were the radiation hybrid maps of chromosome 16 from Whitehead Institute and Stanford University. To create large sequenceable targets of this chromosome, we used a systematic approach to screen high-density BAC filters with probes generated from overlapping oligonucleotides (overgos). We first identified all available sequences in the three maps. These include sequences from genes, ESTs, STSs, and cosmid end sequences. We then used BLASTto identify 36-bp unique fragments of DNA for overgo probes. A total of 906 overgos were selected from the long arm of chromosome 16. Hybridizations occurred in three stages: (1) superpool hybridizations against the 12x coverage human BAC library (RPCI-11); (2) two-dimensional hybridizations against rearrayed positive BACs identified in the superpool hybridizations; and (3) pooled tertiary hybridizations for those overgos that had ambiguous positives remaining after the two-dimensional hybridization. For the superpool hybridizations, up to 236 overgos have been pooled in a single hybridization against the 12x BAC library. A total of 5187 positive BACs from chromosome 16q were identified as a result of five superpool hybridizations. These positive clones were rearrayed on membranes and hybridized with 161 two-dimensional subpools of overgos to determine which BAC clones were positive for individual overgos. An additional 46 tertiary hybridizations were required to resolve ambiguous overgo-BAC relationships. Thus, after a total of 212 hybridizations, we have constructed an initial probe-content BAC map of chromosome 16q consisting of 828 overgo markers and 3363 BACs providing >85% coverage of the long arm of this chromosome. The map has been confirmed by the fingerprinting data and BAC end PCR screening.


The construction sector is an indispensable element in the labour mobility mechanism. This promotes not only faster growth but also better distribution. In Colombia there is still a great imbalance in the allocation of labour, notably between low-paying agriculture and high-paying urban activities. And in cities like Bogota there is urgent need for better balance between where people live and where they work, and for an improvement in the quality of the housing needed and/or demanded by all income groups. All this was covered by Currie in his work on 'taming the megalopolis' through the 'cities-within-cities' approach to urban planning, and in answering the question: 'For whom should houses be built?'


Abstract:This article examines the trade in fugitive serfs in eighteenth-century Russia. This trade emerged from two interrelated phenomena—the sale of individual serfs and peasant flight—and was practiced by nobles, merchants, factory owners, and government officials. The acquisition of absent peasants, although seemingly absurd, represented a risky investment from which the new owners could profit upon discovery and reclamation of the fugitives. According to several eighteenth-century decrees, individuals found guilty of accepting fugitives were required to pay monetary compensation to the peasants' legal owners for each year of harboring. In some instances, the sum of compensation reached staggering amounts of several thousand rubles. Exploiting this legal opportunity, eighteenth-century nobles or "Chichikovs"—named after the protagonist of Nikolai Gogol's novel Dead Souls—purchased serfs on the run for the specific purpose of making a significant profit by collecting compensation. This article argues that the trade in runaways and "Chichikov schemes" reveals a yet unexplored dimension of Russian serfdom and its influence, both beneficial and ruinous, on the interactions between nobles, and between nobles and other members of imperial society. The article additionally advances the understanding of serfdom as a social framework based on practices and customs rather than on legislation alone.


We study the lepton flavour-violating (LFV) Bs → μτ decays in the general two Higgs doublet model. Those LFV interactions could accommodate the present deviation of the muon anomalous magnetic moment and constrained by the recent measurements of the h → μτ decays at the LHC and the LFV τ decay processes such as τ → μμμ and τ → μγ. We find that the Bs → μτ decay rates could be sizable under the above experimental conditions in the framework of our model. These processes are expected to be observed at the colliders such as LHCb and Belle-II in the future.


TMP (4,5',8-trimethylpsoralen) usually employed in PUVA therapy and TMA (4,6,4'-trimethylangelicin), phototherapeutic agent under clinical and biological investigation, show an inhibitory effect of competitive type on the low Km cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase present in rat liver. The two drugs exhibit Ki values of 135 and 320 microM, respectively.


In recent years, hydrogels developed to promising tools for biomedical and industrial applications. For biomedical approaches hydrogels, possess the capacity to immobilize and release cells, they offer the desired 3D environment to induce cell specific behaviour or serves as a drug delivery system. Moreover, they can be used for tissue engineering approaches by mimicking the ECM.
In this thesis, a novel hybrid double cross-linked hydrogel is presented and designed based on the bottom-up approach of synthetic biology. It consists of simultaneously formed chemical and physical cross-links and made out of two components: (1) thiol functionalized HA (74 kDa) (HA-DTPH) and (2) ionic crosslinker (Cl+). HA-DTPH provides the chemical cross-link by forming disulphide bonds and the ionic cross-linker forms physical cross-links, such as hydrogen bonds and salt bridges. Three different ionic cross-linker were used: (1) deacetylated disaccharide unit of HA (dHA+) (2) charged glucosamine (GluA+) and (3) ammonium chloride (NH4+). These ionic cross-linker were chosen due to their biocompatibility and ability to form physical cross-links, such as hydrogen bonds and salt bridges. The increasing capacity to form hydrogen bonds from NH4+ to dHA+ enabled us to study the influence of the physical cross-link on the hydrogel properties. I could show that the disulphide bond formation was enhanced, by adding an ionic cross-linker and led to the formation of stable hydrogels. Under the same reaction conditions, HA-DTPH without an ionic cross-linker, needed further oxidation with hydrogen peroxide to result in a stable hydrogel (HA-DTPH-Ox.). By varying the degree of thiolation on HA and additionally by varying the type and concentrations of the used ionic cross-linker, the mechanical stiffness, swelling properties and response to external stimuli were tuneable. Varying the degree of modification and used ionic cross-linker enables a specific adjustment of the hydrogels specifically the hydrogel suitable for cell studies with mechanical range of 0.1 Pa to 8 kPa. Furthermore, swelling ratios of HA-DTPH-Cl+ hydrogels are highly influenced by the ionic strength and pH. Remarkably HA- DTPH- dHA+ hydrogels upon incubation in a solution of pH 7 showed a feedback loop swelling behaviour. At the swollen state of the hydrogel, the ionic cross-linker dHA+, leaked out of the hydrogel network, acidified the solution, which resulted in shrinking of the hydrogel. Biological properties like enzymatic degradability showed that the half-live of HA-DTPH-Cl+ hydrogels are increasing with increasing capacity of the ionic cross-linker to form hydrogen bonds. Moreover, due to the absence of any toxic agent during the hydrogel formation the hydrogel system was used for live cell applications such as cell encapsulation or cell adhesion studies. To conclude, a hybrid double cross-linked hydrogel system could be presented, mimicking the ECM, in a minimal model and a critical influence of physical cross-links is observed from results obtained by characterizing the physical and biochemical properties by investigating the gels' swelling capability, response to environmental changes and sensitivity to hyaluronidases. Depending on the desired biomedical application, these hydrogel systems can be tuned in regards to their stiffness, swelling behavior and degradability enabling applications in 3D tissue engineering, drug delivery and regenerative medicine.


Entry of the Czech Republic into the European Union (EU) means an expressive expansion of space for European integrated logistics development and application. Basically logistics changes are necessary if the companies and also state in the Czech Republic do not want to be an outsider on the European market. Logistics is one of the important points of enterprise within a cluster. Cooperation of cluster members on the field of logistics for involved companies means a substantial advantage which companies will gain against their competitors not only on the native but also on the foreign markets. Conclusions of the research of mathematical model for logistic control in an industrial cluster are the critical points of this paper. This mathematical model shows the main logistic advantages for cluster members.


ECNIS is a Network of Excellence within the European Union's Sixth Framework Programme, Priority 5: Food Quality and Safety. It brings together some of the best European research groups in a concerted effort to achieve improved understanding of the environmental causes of cancer, of the potential of diet to prevent cancer and of the ways in which heredity can affect individual susceptibility to carcinogens, with the ultimate aim of reducing the cancer burden in Europe. ECNIS is coordinated by Prof. Konrad Rydzyƒski, Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine,ul. Sw. Teresy 8, 91-348 Lodz, Poland. This review has been prepared as part of ECNIS Work Package 9: Mechanisms of modulation of cancer by dietary factors.


We explore a range of chemical evolution models for the Local Group dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxy, Carina. A novel aspect of our work is the removal of the star formation history (SFH) as a `free parameter' in the modeling, making use, instead, of its colour-magnitude diagram (CMD)-constrained SFH. By varying the relative roles of galactic winds, re-accretion, and ram-pressure stripping within the modeling, we converge on a favoured scenario which emphasises the respective roles of winds and re-accretion. While our model is successful in recovering most elemental abundance patterns, comparable success is not found for all the neutron capture elements. Neglecting the effects of stripping results in predicted gas fractions approximately two orders of magnitude too high, relative to that observed.


Obesity, characterized by augmented inflammation and tumorigenesis, is linked to genetic predispositions, such as FOXO3 polymorphisms. As obesity is associated with aberrant macrophages infiltrating different tissues, including the colon, we aimed to identify FOXO3-dependent transcriptomic changes in macrophages that drive obesity-mediated colonic inflammation and tumorigenesis. We found that in mouse colon, high-fat-diet-(HFD)-related obesity led to diminished FOXO3 levels and increased macrophages. Transcriptomic analysis of mouse peritoneal FOXO3-deficient macrophages showed significant differentially expressed genes (DEGs; FDR < 0.05) similar to HFD obese colons. These DEG-related pathways, linked to mouse colonic inflammation and tumorigenesis, were similar to those in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and human colon cancer. Additionally, we identified a specific transcriptional signature for the macrophage-FOXO3 axis (MAC-FOXO382), which separated the transcriptome of affected tissue from control in both IBD (p = 5.2 × 10−8 and colon cancer (p = 1.9 × 10−11), revealing its significance in human colonic pathobiologies. Further, we identified (heatmap) and validated (qPCR) DEGs specific to FOXO3-deficient macrophages with established roles both in IBD and colon cancer (IL-1B, CXCR2, S100A8, S100A9, and TREM1) and those with unexamined roles in these colonic pathobiologies (STRA6, SERPINH1, LAMB1, NFE2L3, OLR1, DNAJC28 and VSIG10). These findings establish an important understanding of how HFD obesity and related metabolites promote colonic pathobiologies.


The Antillean subspecies of the West Indian manatee is classified as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. In Brazil, the manatee population is listed as endangered with an estimated population size of 500–1,000. Historic hunting, recent habitat degradation, and fisheries bycatch have decreased the population size. The Amazonian manatee is listed as vulnerable by the IUCN with unknown population sizes within Brazil. The Antillean manatee occurs in sympatry with the Amazonian manatee in Brazil and hybridization has been previously indicated. To provide information on the genetic structure, diversity, and degree of hybridization in the sympatric zone near the Amazon River mouth, the mitochondrial DNA control region and 13 nuclear microsatellite markers were assessed on the two species. Samples were analyzed from the Antillean subspecies across its distribution in Brazil (n = 78) and from the Amazonian species (n = 17) at the Amazon River mouth and inland mainstem river. To assess the previously defined evolutionary significant units of Antillean manatees in the area, an additional 11 samples from Venezuela and Guyana were included. The Antillean manatee was found to be a single population in Brazil and had lower than average number of alleles (3.00), expected heterozygosity (0.34), and haplotype diversity (0.15) when compared to many other manatee populations. The low values may be influenced by the small population size and extended pressures from anthropogenic threats. Gene flow was identified with Venezuela/Guyana in admixed Antillean Brazil samples, although the two populations were found to be moderately divergent. The nuclear loci in Venezuela/Guyana Antillean manatee samples indicated high differentiation from the samples collected in the Amazon River (FST = 0.35 and RST = 0.18, p = 0.0001). No indication of nuclear hybridization was found except for a single sample, "Poque" that had been identified previously. The distribution of Antillean manatees in Brazil is extensive and the areas with unique habitat and threats would benefit from independent management and conservation actions. Gene flow, resulting in genetic diversity and long-term population stability, could be improved in the southern range through habitat restoration, and the establishments of travel corridors and protected areas, which are particularly important for successful parturition and neonatal calf survival.


Prior to the work of Woehler, who synthesized urea more than a century ago, vital processes and products were considered inseparable from the living body, and the doctrine of vitalism proclaimed them forever beyond the poor power of mankind to understand or reproduce. The tiny crack produced by Woehler in the structure was enlarged by many others, and vitalism is long since defunct. Among the ruins, however, there remains hidden certain knowledge which still awaits excavation. It is with such a fragment, namely the enigma of immunity, that this report is concerned. THEORY It has long been recognized that antibodies are carried in close association with the globulin fraction of the blood plasma. While certain workers, notably Huntoon1and Olitzki and Frankel,2attempted to separate them from all protein substances, others considered that this is impossible and accepted the belief that they are themselves globulins of a specialized


A modified Rosenthal's radioimmunoassay method was used in the study of anti-rotavirus antibodies in human milk. A total of 20 colostrums and 50 milk samples from Japanese nursing mothers in, 1-6 month postpartum were studied. Anti-rotavirus SIgA was found in all 20 colostrum samples studies and 27 (54%) of the 50 milk samples. The antibody levels were high in the colostrums, and low in samples from the women in 1-3 month postpartum: they became almost undetectable in the samples more than 3 month postpartum. Anti-rotavirus IgM was found in all of the ten colostrum samples studied, while it was undetectable in the milk samples in 1-6 month postpartum. Anti-rotavirus IgG was detected in neither colostrum nor milk samples studied. It was assumed that the anti-rotavirus SIgA and IgM in human milk were produced in the mammary glands in the nursing women. (Acta Paediatr Sep. 24(3):398 1982)


Background and Aim: Unsafe injection is like a plague for the health system, which is a constant threat to patient safety. Therefore, the present study was conducted to determine the effect of educational program using the WhatsApp social network on knowledge and performance of nursing students in regard with safe injection in Shushtar University of Medical Sciences in 2020. Methods: In this quasi-experimental study, 60 nursing students of 5 semester (or higher) were enrolled using census. Demographic questionnaire, researcher-made questionnaire on knowledge and performance checklist were used for data collection. The knowledge questionnaire was completed by nursing students before intervention and their performance (before, during, and after injection) was assessed using inventory checklist. Then, a one-month course on safe injections using the WhatsApp social network was launched for students. Three months after intervention, students' knowledge and performance were assessed again. Results: The results showed that before the intervention, the average levels of knowledge and performance were 25.66±4.01 and 12.66±1.11, respectively. After intervention about safe injection, the levels of knowledge and performance increased to 28.65±5.05 and 13.50±1.25, respectively. The greatest effect of education on performance was observed after the injection. In addition, the knowledge and performance respectively in 76% and 66% of students were at an excellent level. There was no statistically significant relationship between knowledge and performance before intervention (P>0.05), but this relationship was significant after the educational intervention (P<0.05). Conclusion: The findings of this study showed that education using WhatsApp social network can be associated with the promotion of knowledge and performance of nursing students.


A cohort of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients experience acute exacerbations (AECOPD) presenting with worsening sputum production, cough and breathlessness. The recommended treatment for AECOPD involves using a 28% Venturi mask to achieve an arterial oxygen saturation of 88–92%. These guidelines have been poorly adhered to with many health professionals still administering high flow oxygen. An AECOPD model, created on the human patient simulator, was administered with 28% or 100% oxygen. 28% oxygen relieved hypoxia (PaO2 = 84.9 mmHg), caused mild hypercapnia (PaCO2 = 49.6 mmHg) and the blood pH was normal (pH = 7.37). 100% oxygen enabled better arterial oxygenation (PaO2 = 129.3 mmHg) but caused severe hypercapnia (PaCO2 = 100.9 mmHg) and acidosis (pH = 6.98). Preclinical medical students were randomly allocated to simulation or lecture-based learning (the study has a crossover design) and were taught the correct use of oxygen administration. A greater proportion of students rated they had an excellent understanding of the key learning points after simulation (100%) compared to the lecture- based learning (33%) and it was sufficient to significantly improve test scores (p = 0.0135). Simulation could be used to educate future health professionals in using 28% oxygen to reduce the risk of hypercapnic respiratory acidosis in AECOPD.Abstract M25 Figure 1


A critical question in preventive medicine is at what age screening for cancer should stop.1,2 Mandelblatt et al. investigated this important issue for the case of mammography screening, using a Monte Carlo simulation model that included life expectancy as marker of physiologic age.3 They evaluated the cost-effectiveness of screening until age 70, until age 79, and with no upper age limit. Their simulations suggested that, at a threshold of $60,000 per life-year saved, screening to age 79 is cost-effective only if it is limited to women with life expectancies in the top quartile. At a threshold of $80,000, biennial mammography screening until age 79 has reasonable costs, with the researchers suggesting that "it is cost-effective to screen women with a life expectancy of 9.5 years. This value can be expected for 75% of 79-year-olds, about 50% of 80-year-olds, and 25% of 85-year-olds."3 As is common with this type of stochastic modeling exercise, the results were somewhat sensitive to different assumptions and parameters in the model. Nonetheless, across a series of sensitivity analyses, Mandelblatt et al.3 found that life expectancy rather than chronologic age is important in assessments of optimal screening strategies. That is, the benefits of screening depend more on how long a woman has left to live than on her actual age.

The type of research conducted by Mandelblatt et al. is critically important in helping to identify ways to control health care costs through evidence-based medicine. Nonetheless, we need to be cautious in how we translate this kind of "evidence" from a policy simulation into "evidence-based" clinical guidelines, because guidelines that hinge on life expectancy raise important practical and ethical concerns.

First, it is currently impractical to ask clinicians to base screening decisions on life expectancy. Mandelblatt et al. acknowledge this issue, stating that "one practical implication of our analysis is that simple methods to determine life expectancy in clinical settings could aid screening decisions for older women."3 However, how close are we to having such methods? While clinicians are relatively good at predicting survival among terminally ill cancer patients, they tend to overestimate length of life, even in the face of extensive data regarding outcomes for these patients.4 In predicting life expectancy for healthier patients, the current tools available are quite crude and are of questionable validity. For example, Roizen has used the popular press to promote his test for determining "real age," yet there is no scientific foundation for his approach.5 Welch et al.6 described a method for transforming chronologic age into physiologic age, but their approach is quite simplistic, relying on a single question regarding self-reported health status. Significant investments have been made in gathering and analyzing data from longitudinal population-based studies of older cohorts (such as the Health and Retirement Study) to better understand life expectancy among the elderly and the predictors of successful aging.7,8 Such research, however, has yet to be translated into validated tools that can be used in clinical practice and public discourse. Thus, how do clinicians know a woman in the top quartile of the life expectancy distribution when they see one? Similarly, there is a 50-50 chance that the 80-year-old woman in the office has 10 more years of life ahead of her. How can a woman and her clinician know for sure?

Second, mammography guidelines based on life expectancy could further complicate physician-patient communication and reduce screening rates. Clinician recommendation is a key predictor of women's use of mammography.9,10 If breast cancer screening guidelines were revised based on Mandelblatt et al.'s results, clinicians would need to engage patients in relatively lengthy and difficult discussions regarding projected life expectancy before making a recommendation. It seems likely, however, that many physicians would simply refrain from discussing mammography and the unwieldy guidelines with a significant portion of their patients. Because clinician recommendation is so important in mammography use, forgoing these discussions would likely result in decreased screening rates among older women in general. This could have negative consequences, as the incidence of breast cancer rises with age, with risk peaking between the ages 65 to 74 for white women and 75 to 79 for African-American women.11 Mortality risk also rises steeply with age, with risk highest in the oldest age group. In fact, the age-adjusted breast cancer mortality rate for those 85 and older is 197.1 per 100,000 for white women and 209.6 for African-American women, more than double the rate for women ages 60 to 64 years.11 A clear guideline that is easy for physicians to interpret, discuss, and implement with women is essential for optimal screening rates in older age groups.

Third, prognosis-based screening guidelines for older adults also raise ethical concerns about how such policies might reinforce social disparities in health. Publicly available life tables provide information for the general population by gender and major racial groups. It is clear, however, that there is great heterogeneity within these groups, and that life expectancy also varies by education, income, ethnicity, and other markers of socioeconomic status (SES) and life experience.8,12,13 Life expectancy is also affected by comorbidities and health risk behaviors, many of which are more prevalent in lower SES and ethnic minority subpopulations.14 For example, the projected life expectancy of an African-American woman over age 75 with less than a high school education and diabetes is not in the upper 25% of the distribution. As such, social inequalities in health across the life course will be reflected and reinforced in any screening guideline or policy that uses life expectancy in its criteria. This can be considered as a type of "statistical discrimination."15

In summary, a number of practical and ethical issues collide when considering Mandelblatt et al.'s results in the context of clinical guidelines for mammography screening. Although these researchers were not issuing screening guidelines or recommendations themselves, their work could be interpreted by some as providing an empiric basis for revised mammography guidelines, especially in regard to the thorny yet important question of when to stop screening. This is not a far-fetched concern, as screening guidelines that include assessments of life expectancy already exist. For example, both the American Cancer Society and the American Urological Association recommend prostate specific antigen screening for those men who have "at least 10 years of life expectancy."16,17

Christakis18 claims that "prognostication is an essential part of medicine." He has also emphasized that predicting life expectancy is a challenging endeavor, fraught with difficulty and discomfort for patients and physicians alike.18,19 Christakis' work primarily focuses on end-of-life care, but his clarion call for the development of better prognostic tools and aides can be echoed here in the context of screening guidelines. Of course, it is frustrating that most organizations issuing mammography guidelines have not included explicit recommendations for women older than 70 years of age.20 As such, the guidelines are murky at ages at which women are at very high risk for being diagnosed with and dying from breast cancer. Nonetheless, until we have better tools for understanding and predicting life expectancy in different social groups, it would be better to remain uncertain about when to stop screening among older women than to open a Pandora's box of practical and ethical challenges. We therefore recommend that the recent work by Mandelblatt et al. be used, not as "evidence" for revising clinical guidelines for mammography screening, but as a springboard for further discourse and debate about cancer screening in older age groups and as fuel for the development of practical and valid prognostic tools for life expectancy.


The effect of discretization on homoclinic orbits.- Bifurcation in elliptic systems.- Transition to asymmetric convection rolls.- Wave patterns in coupled stationary bifurcations with 0(2)-symmetry.- Determination of bifurcation points and catastrophes for the Brusselator model with two parameters.- Numerical studies of bifurcation in reactiondiffusion models using pseudo-spectral and path-following methods.- A quick multiparameter test for periodic solutions.- Codimension two bifurcations near an invariant n-torus.- Hopf bifurcation in the drilling process under regenerative cutting conditions.- Critical points of mixed fluids and their numerical treatment.- Bifurcation theory in physics: Recent trends and problems.- An application of complex bifurcation to a problem in computer graphics.- Continuation of periodic solutions in parabolic partial differential equations.- Bifurcation in degenerate directions.- On Cornu spirals. Disorder, selfsimilarity, and Jacobi's ?3(?, ?).- Optimization in bifurcation problems using a continuation method.- On the numerical study of bifurcation problems.- External forcing in a glycolytic model.- Some remarks on the morphology of non-unique solutions in nonlinear elastostatics.- Lusternik-SGhnirelmann critical values and bifurcation problems.- Adaptive numerical Lyapunov-Schmidt-reduction.- Formation of periodic and aperiodic waves in reaction-diffusion systems.- Steady axisymmetric Taylor vortex flows with free stagnation points of the poloidal flow.- Some remarks on the deflated block elimination method.- Nonlinear dynamic behavior and buckling of shells of revolution.- The curious link chain.- On a moving-frame algorithm and the triangulation of equilibrium manifolds.- Numerical computation of origins for Hopf bifurcation in a two-parameter problem.- Bifurcations of the equilibrium of a spherical double pendulum at a multiple eigenvalue.- Multiple solutions of the semiconductor equations.- Delay as bifurcation parameter.- Bifurcation from the continuous spectrum in LP(?).- Bifurcation problems in railway vehicle dynamics.- Bifurcation and post-bifurcation behaviour for elastic-plastic solids.- Symmetry-breaking at positive solutions of elliptic equations.- Averaging over angles with an application to rotor dynamics.


Summary
A 2-D full wavefield inversion method is presented for the processing of wide-aperture data. The diversity of information contained within such datasets may be handled in a complete manner by first matching the traveltimes of the main events and then progressing to waveform fitting of the data through explicit full wavefield modelling. Our wavefield inversion scheme is based upon a finite difference solution of the 2-D elastic wave equation in the time distance domain. The strength of adopting such an approach is the ability to generate all possible wave types within a given 2-D model (multiples, converted waves, etc.) and thus to simulate and accurately model complex seismic wavefields. The aim of the inversion is to find the 2-D P-wave velocity model that minimizes the least squared difference between the observed and synthetic data across the full range of offsets. Following extensive testing on synthetic data, the wavefield inversion scheme has been applied to wide-aperture real marine seismic streamer datasets. We present results from the synthetic testing and the wavefield inversion of wide-aperture real data out to 12 km offset that was recorded on a single streamer. Even though current computational restrictions allow only a small subsection of the data to be analysed, these examples demonstrate the potential value of wide-aperture 2-D full wavefield inversion.


In 1996 the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) undertook two complementary studies and a literature review of research from 1988 to 1997 [available in VOCEDplus at TD/INT 60.146], to examine factors influencing the decisions of young people in relation to post-16 education in the United Kingdom (UK). This first study focused on Year 12 students who intended to continue in full-time education at the age of 16 and the second study [available in VOCEDplus at TD/INT 60.148] focused on Year 11 and Year 8 students who intended to leave full-time education at the age of 16.


Minocycline is one of the major drugs for acne and is effective in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We describe the first case of drug induced lupus secondary to the use of minocycline in a patient with RA. The dificulties of making this diagnosis as well as the implications for its pathogenesis are discussed.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The American Academy of Pediatrics stresses that NICUs should endorse and model the sudden infant deaths syndrome risk-reduction recommendations significantly before anticipated discharge of the infant. Medical personnel are critical role models for parents, and the way they position infants in the hospital strongly influences parental practices at home. The aims of this project were to increase the percentage of infants following safe sleep practices in the NICU before discharge and to determine if improving compliance with these practices would influence parent behavior at home. METHODS: An algorithm detailing when to start safe sleep practices, a "Back to Sleep" crib card, educational programs for nurses and parents, a crib audit tool, and postdischarge telephone reminders were developed as quality improvement intervention strategies. RESULTS: NICU compliance with supine positioning increased from 39% to 83% (P < .001), provision of a firm sleeping surface increased from 5% to 96% (P < .001), and the removal of soft objects from the bed improved from 45% to 75% (P = .001). Through the use of a postdischarge telephone survey, parental compliance with safe sleep practices was noted to improve from 23% to 82% (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Multifactorial interventions improved compliance with safe sleep practices in the NICU and at home.


Biodiesel is one of promising renewable energy source and used as an alternative of conventional hydrocarbon fuels. Jatropha curcas plant oil (JCPO) is the most cost effective sources of biodiesel. The plant can be cultivated in wastelands and grows on almost any type of territory, even on sandy and saline soils. Judicious agricultural practices and effective crop management of Jatropha curcas is preliminary requisite to get maximum yield of oil. Production of biodiesel by transesterification of Jatropha oil significantly depends on four reaction parameters viz., reaction time, temperature, oil to alcohol molar ratio and stirrer speed. In this work, we have formulated a mathematical model of Jatropha curcas plant, which is affected by many type of pest with the aim to control the pest through Nuclear Polyhedrosis Virus (NPV). Here we have also concentrated on insecticide spraying as controlling measure to reduce the pest, to get maximum yield of Jatropha seeds, which gives Jatropha oil. We have also shown the effect of different variants on mass transfer in biodiesel production from JC oil and how the control theoretic approach flags the maximum production of biodiesel under the mathematical paradigm. Our analytical results provide an idea of the cost effective faster rate of biodiesel production, which satisfies our numerical conclusions. Mathematics Subject Classification (2010). 34A08, 34K37, 37N25, 49J15.


Four-ruminally fistulated, multiparous, pregnant Holstein cows were used to delineate changes in ruminal fermentation in dairy cows as they experienced the transition from one lactation to the next. Diets consisted of typical far-off and close-up diets, a late lactation diet containing wet corn gluten feed (20% DM) and an alfalfa hay-corn silage based early lactation diet. Calculated NEL (Mcal/lb), measured crude protein (%), and diet digestibilities (%; based on steers fed at 2% of BW) were: 0.78, 18.7, 74.1; 0.70, 11.5, 66.2; 0.74, 15.6, 71.0; 0.73, 18.4, 70.7 for late lactation, far-off dry, close-up dry, and early lactation diets, respectively. Ruminal measurements were taken on days 72 (late lactation), 51 (faroff), 23, and 9 (close-up dry) before calving and on days 6, 20, 34, 48, 62, 76, and 90 days after calving. Ruminal samples were collected at hours 0, 3, 6, 9, and 12 after feeding on each sampling date. Major shifts in ruminal fermentations occurred when the close-up diet was consumed before calving and in concert with an increase in DM intake during the first 48 days of lactation. Dry matter digestibility increased after cows were switched to the close-up diet and continued this trend through day 6 postpartum. Ruminal pH decreased and total volatile fatty acids, peptides, and free amino acids increased after cows were switched to the early lactation diet. These data support the concept that alterations in ruminal fermentation reflect changes in both diet and intake.


The performance of a direct-sequence quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) spread spectrum receiver using adaptive filtering to reject a frequency-hopping multiple access (FHMA) signal is analyzed. Two types of filters are considered: the adaptive prediction error filter and the adaptive transversal filter with two-sided taps. Time-frequency hopping signals in a FHMA system are based on the theory on linear or quadratic congruences or on modified Reed-Solomon codes. The basic parameters used for the evaluation are the filter processing gain, bit error probability, and the adaptation rate.<<ETX>>


Differences in brain activities between motor imagery (MI) and motor execution (ME) were investigated by using the late Contingent Negative Variation (late CNV) in groups with different performance levels. The frequency of use and vividness of MI were assessed using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). The late CNV enables examining the onset of preparation activities of the brain, prior to movement. Participants in the study were baton twirlers in the Japan Baton Twirling Association (N=6; the expert group) and students in the baton twirling club of a physical education university (N=5; the intermediate group). The CNV paradigm was used as the experimental task with an auditory stimulus as the first stimulus (S1) and a visual stimulus as the second stimulus (S2). The experimental conditions consisted of the ME condition, in which a button was pressed upon the presentation of S2, and the MI condition, in which the button press was imagined upon presenting S2. The VAS results indicated that frequency of MI usage and vividness scores were higher for the expert than for the intermediate group. The amplitudes of the late CNV were not significantly different between the groups. However, there was a trend in both groups for a larger increase in late CNV amplitude in the MI condition compared to the control condition. These results suggest that neural activity in the preparation phase might not be different between experts and intermediates when engaging in MI of a sport irrelevant simple task, such as a button press. However, between group differences were observed in the vividness of MI, although the amplitude of the late CNV was similar. These results suggest that the expert group might recall a more vivid MI than the intermediate group, without increasing neural activity of the preparation phase.


The negative effects of petrochemical-derived plastics on the global environment and depletion of global fossil fuel supplies have paved the way for exploring new technologies for the production of bioplastics. Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are considered an alternative for synthetic polymers because of their biodegradability, biocompatibility, and non-toxicity. Many bacteria have been reported to have the ability to synthesize PHAs. Among them, the Aeromonas species seem to be ideal hosts for the industrial production of these biopolyesters due to their robust growth, simple growth requirements, their ability for the synthesis of homopolymers, co-polymers, and terpolymers with unique material properties. Some Aeromonas strains were able to produce PHAs in satisfactory amounts from simple carbon sources. Efforts have been made to use genetically modified Aeromonas strains for enhanced PHAs and to obtain bacteria with modified compositions and improved properties. This review discusses the current state of knowledge of polyhydroxyalkanoates synthesized by Aeromonas species, with a special focus on their potential, challenges, and progress in PHA synthesis.


An appropriate choice for a suitable diet during liver regeneration still remains an enigma. To investigate the effect of isocaloric enteral feeding with medium-chain triacylglycerols (MCT) and long-chain triacylglycerols (LCT) supplement (MCT+LCT, 40%:60% w:w) (178 kJ/kg b.w./24 h), rat liver regeneration was studied 24 and 72 h after partial hepatectomy. The liver DNA synthesis 24 h after partial hepatectomy was significantly higher in the MCT+LCT-supplemented rats (30.2+/-8.2 x 10(3) dpm/mg liver DNA) compared to MCT-treated animals (18.1+/-5.7 x 10(3) dpm/mg liver DNA). Liver protein synthesis was non-significantly elevated both 24 and 72 h after surgery in MCT+LCT-supplemented rats (13.7+/-1.1 and 10.9+/-3.1 x 10(3) dpm/mg liver protein). Seventy-two hours after partial hepatectomy, the hepatocyte mitotic activity was significantly increased in MCT+LCT- supplemented group vs. LCT- or MCT-fed rats (3.3+/-0.7 vs. 1.9+/-0.7 or 1.0+/-0.6 mitoses per 1000 hepatocytes), thus exhibiting an increased proliferative potential. The results showed a qualitative difference according to the proportion of MCT to LCT in the enteral supplements. Overfeeding with MCT decreased body weight, increased liver weight by its fatty infiltration, increased rat mortality rate and reduced spontaneous caloric intake. We conclude that the balanced supplement of MCT+LCT (40%:60% w:w) preserves liver regeneration, whereas overfeeding with MCT seems to be deleterious.


Strain on calcium-dependent mechanisms in essential hypertension (EH) is in activation of the calcium pump, structural-and-functional changes in Ca2+ ATPase and activation of proteinase C. In EH patients presenting with a high sensitivity to angiotensin II, there comes to be frequently seen an insufficient effectiveness of antagonists of receptors to angiotensin II.


Abstract Mild traumatic brain injury can cause different degrees of cognitive impairment and abnormal brain structure and functional connectivity, but there is still a lack of research on the functional connectivity and topological organization of cerebral blood flow fluctuations. This study explored the cerebral blood flow, functional connectivity and topological organization of the cerebral blood flow network in acute mild traumatic brain injury patients. In total, 48 mild traumatic brain injury patients and 46 well-matched healthy controls underwent resting-state arterial spin labelling perfusion MRI and neuropsychological assessments. The functional connectivity and topological organization of the cerebral blood flow network were analysed. Then, the correlation between the changes in cerebral blood flow network characteristics and cognitive function was explored. Acute mild traumatic brain injury patients showed decreased cerebral blood flow in the right insula and increased cerebral blood flow in the right inferior temporal gyrus and left superior temporal gyrus. Abnormal cerebral blood flow network connection patterns mainly occur in sensorimotor network, default mode network, cingulo-opercular network and occipital network-related regions. Furthermore, mild traumatic brain injury disrupted the topological organization of the whole brain, which manifested as (i) reduced global efficiency; (ii) abnormal degree centrality, betweenness centrality, nodal clustering coefficient and nodal efficiency; and (iii) decreased intermodular connectivity between the occipital network and sensorimotor network. Finally, the change in network topology was correlated with the cognitive score of the mild traumatic brain injury. This study provided evidence of abnormal functional connectivity and network topology based on cerebral blood flow in acute mild traumatic brain injury patients, revealing their potential use as early markers for mild traumatic brain injury, which may contribute to both disease diagnosis and assessment.


Audit and Feedback (A&F) involves measuring data about practice, comparing it with clinical guidelines, professional standards or peer performance, and then feeding back the data to individuals/groups of health professionals to encourage change in practice (if required). A 2012 Cochrane review (1) found A&F was effective in changing health professionals' behaviour and suggested that the person who delivers the A&F intervention influences its effect. Increasingly, pharmacists work in general practice and often have responsibility for medication review and repeat prescriptions. The effectiveness of pharmacist-led A&F in influencing prescribing behaviour is uncertain.

 This secondary analysis from an ongoing update of the original Cochrane review aims to identify and describe pharmacist-led A&F interventions and evaluate their impact on prescribing behaviour in general practice compared with no intervention.

 This sub-review is registered with PROSPERO: CRD42020194355 and complies with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines (2). For the updated Cochrane review, the Cochrane Effective Practice and Organization of Care Group searched MEDLINE (1946 to present), EMBASE, CINAHL and Cochrane Library (March 2019) to identify randomised trials featuring A&F interventions. For this sub-review, authors screened titles and abstracts (May 2020) to identify trials involving pharmacist-led A&F interventions in primary care, extracted data, and assessed risk of bias (RoB) in eligible studies. Review results are summarised descriptively. Heterogeneity will be assessed and a random-effects meta-analysis is planned. Publication bias for selected outcomes and the certainty of the body of evidence will be evaluated and presented. Sub-group analyses will be conducted.

 Titles and abstracts of 295 studies identified for inclusion in the Cochrane A&F review update were screened. Eleven studies (all cluster-randomised trials) conducted in 9 countries (Denmark, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Republic of Ireland, UK, Australia, Malaysia, USA) were identified for inclusion (Figure 1). Six studies had low RoB, two had high risk due to dissimilarities between trial arms at baseline and/or insufficient detail about randomisation, and three studies had unclear RoB. Studies examined the effect of A&F on prescribing for specific conditions (e.g. hypertension), medications (e.g. antibiotics), populations (e.g. patients >70), and prescribing errors (e.g. inappropriate dose). The pharmacist delivering A&F was a colleague of intervention participants in five studies. Pharmacists' levels of skill and experience varied; seven studies reported details of pharmacist training undertaken for trial purposes. A&F interventions in nine studies demonstrated changes in prescribing, including reductions in errors or inappropriate prescribing according to the study aims and smaller increases in unwanted prescribing compared with the control group. Data analyses are ongoing (results will be available for the conference).

 The preliminary results demonstrate the effectiveness of pharmacist-led A&F interventions in different countries and health systems with influencing prescribing practice to align more closely with guidance. Studies measured different prescribing behaviours; meta-analysis is unlikely to include all 11 studies. Further detailed analysis including feedback format/content/frequency and pharmacist skill level/experience, work-base (external/internal to recipients), will examine the impact of specific features on intervention effectiveness.

 1. Ivers N, Jamtvedt G, Flottorp S, Young JM, Odgaard-Jensen J, French SD, et al. Audit and feedback: effects on professional practice and healthcare outcomes. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2012(6):CD000259.
 2. Moher D, Liberati A, Tetzlaff J, Altman DG, Group P. Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: the PRISMA statement. PLoS Med. 2009;6(7):e1000097.


This thesis entitled "Studies in Natural Product Chemistry" can be divided into three distinct sections. Section 1 deals with the structural elucidation of two glycosides, isolated iron the acetylated Ononis spinosa L. root extract. These compounds wore identifien as one tetraacetates of inermin 7-beta-D-glucoside (1) and homoinermin 7-beta-D-glucoside, on the basis of spectroscopic evidence and by enzymatic hydrolysis of their corresponding free glucosides. The discussion of these glucoside acetates is prefaced by a brief review of the naturally occurring pterocarpans, and a discussion of their probable biogenesis. Section 11 is concerned with the structural elucidation of the diterpenoids, erythroxytriol P (3) and erythroxytriol Q acetate (4), which occur in the heartwood of Erythroxylon monogynum Roxb. Their structures are suggested on the basis of spectroscopic and chemical evidence. During this study, ozonolysis of diol X acetonide (5) was shown to lead to the formation of an alpha-cyclopropyl ketone and unexpectedly to an alpha-ketol. The discussion is preceded by a review of relevant diterpene biogenesis. The third section commences with a review of epoxide isomerisation, with special reference to acid-induced ( baron trifluoride) and base-induced isomerisations. The subsequent discussion describes the acid-induced isomerisations of erythroxydiol acetonides X and Y (5 and 6), and preparation and characterisation of the epoxides from the derived olefins. The final part of this section deals with the effect of boron trifluoride and alkaline grade 1 alumina on these and other epoxides. Under acid catalysis, diterpenoid epoxides with and without the supposedly ideal sterical requirements for concerted "backbone" rearrangement were compared, with a view to elucidating further the factors involved in such rearrangements. These results were contrasted with those obtained from alkaline alumina treatment. The acid-base catalytic action of alumina did not effect "backbone" rearrangement in the steroidal system, but where beta-elimination was inhibited carbene insertion products could be obtained. The alpha-epoxide (7) derived from erythroxydiol Y acetonide showed an unusual J coupling involving an epoxide proton. The other interacting proton involved was shown to be the axial C-3 proton by deuteration experiments on the nor-ketone (8) followed by reaction of these deuterated ketones with the Corey methylide reagent to afford specifically deuterated alpha-epoxides.


While macroalgae provide habitat and trophic support in many marine ecosystems, excessive proliferation is often considered an indicator of an impacted system, particularly in tropical reef ecosystems. How the processes structuring these macroalgal communities are affected by anthropogenic impacts, particularly within the context of spatial and temporal environmental heterogeneity, remains unclear. I conducted a series of short-term and long-term experiments in both tropical and intertidal temperate ecosystems examining the role of nutrient enrichment and its interactions with other anthropogenic stressors (reduction of herbivores, sediments) in regulating macroalgal populations and structuring macroalgal communities.On an impacted tropical reef, I manipulated nutrient availability on the dominant reef flat macroalgal species at various times after rainfall. Nutrient limitation rapidly switched from nitrogen to phosphorous to no limitation over very short time scales, highlighting the dynamic relationship with environmental context. Additionally, field and lab experiments examined how terrestrial sediment loads on these algal thalli disturbed nutrient and herbivory control. I found that environmental conditions created by sediment loads had variable effects on algal biomass accumulation of different species, suggesting effects by different mechanisms. On an intertidal temperate reef, I manipulated nutrient availability and herbivory on macroalgal communities for two years, encompassing the heterogeneous nature of rocky reefs. Grazers had more dramatic and immediate effects, increasing cover by >10x in the first year. However, nutrients influenced the community in nearly all metrics in the second year.Overall, my results indicated that nutrient control of tropical reef macroalgae is more complex than previously recognized and depends on both the species and context under consideration. Moreover, sediment loads may strongly modulate controls on macroalgal dynamics by altering, among other things, nutrient availability and herbivory. Finally, on intertidal temperate reefs, where nutrient control remains a matter of debate, my results showed that nutrient addition and herbivore reduction have complex effects on algal diversity and structure that changed over time and depended on habitat complexity. Together, these results indicate the importance of considering timescales and environmental context when determining the consequences of anthropogenic alteration to controls of macroalgal dynamics on both tropical and temperate reefs.


An adhesive material is used for connecting a protuberant electrode of an electronic component to a terminal electrode of a circuit board for carrying said electronic component through the adhesive material containing at least one curable resin and inorganic particles. The adhesive material is characterized in that as to the inorganic particles, their specific surface area S (m /g) satisfies Equation (1) below, their mean particle size D1 ( mu m) and maximum particle size D2 ( mu m) respectively satisfy Equations (2) and (3) below, 3 D1 D2 (wherein h1 represents the height of the protuberant electrode in the electronic component, and h2 represents the height of the terminal electrode in the circuit board), and the content of said inorganic particles is 10 to 60 vol %.


This paper investigates novel reconfigurable parallel mechanisms with bifurcation between planar subgroup SE(2) and rotation subgroup SO(3) based on a transformation configuration space. Having recollected necessary theoretical fundamentals with regard to compositional submanifolds and kinematic bonds, the motion representation of the platform of reconfigurable parallel mechanisms are investigated. The transformation configuration space of a reconfigurable parallel mechanism with motion branches is proposed with respect to the fact that the intersection of Lie subgroups or submanifolds is the identity element or a non-identity element. The switch conditions of the transformation configuration space are discussed, leading to establishment of a theoretical foundation for realizing a switch of motion branches. The switch principle of reconfigurable parallel mechanisms is further investigated with respect to the common motion between SE(2) parallel-mechanism motion generators and SO(3) parallel-mechanism motion generators. Under this principle, the subchains with common motion generators are synthesized and divided into two types of generators. The first type of generators generates kinematic chains with a common intersection of three joint axes, and the second type of generators generates a common intersection of two joint axes. Following this, two types of reconfigurable parallel mechanisms with three identical subchains are synthesized, resulting in 11 varieties in which platforms can be switched between SE(2) and SO(3) after passing through the singularity configuration space.


The effect of branch content on chain folding behavior was studied by molecular dynamics simulation. The study was carried out using a single linear chain composed of 300 CH2 units with short branches. The number of branches varied from 0 to 29. The short branches were located homogeneously along the backbone chain. The model polymer was assumed to be ethylene/α-hexene copolymer produced with metallocene polymerization. There was a critical number of branches required to form the ideal folded structure. Most branches in the folded structures were excluded from the crystal region and were located at the folding surfaces. The chain with homogeneous branching could form a stable folded structure with shorter folding length than that with no branches. When the chain without branches folded, the sliding movement promoted thickening. When the chain with branches folded, thickening ceased on the way because branches inhibited the sliding movement of the chain.