Abstract. Climate projection studies of future changes in snow conditions and resulting rain-on-snow (ROS) flood events are subject to large uncertainties. Typically, emission scenario uncertainties and climate model uncertainties are included. This is the first study on this topic to also include quantification of natural climate variability, which is the dominant uncertainty for precipitation at local scales with large implications for e.g. runoff projections. To quantify natural climate variability, a weather generator was applied to simulate inherently consistent climate variables for multiple realizations of current and future climates at 100 m spatial and hourly temporal resolution over a 12 × 12 km high-altitude study area in the Swiss Alps. The output of the weather generator was used as input for subsequent simulations with an energy balance snow model. The climate change signal for snow water resources stands out as early as mid-century from the noise originating from the three sources of uncertainty investigated, namely uncertainty in emission scenarios, uncertainty in climate models, and natural climate variability. For ROS events, a climate change signal toward more frequent and intense events was found for an RCP 8.5 scenario at high elevations at the end of the century, consistently with other studies. However, for ROS events with a substantial contribution of snowmelt to runoff (>20 %), the climate change signal was largely masked by sources of uncertainty. Only those ROS events where snowmelt does not play an important role during the event will occur considerably more frequently in the future, while ROS events with substantial snowmelt contribution will mainly occur earlier in the year but not more frequently. There are two reasons for this: first, although it will rain more frequently in midwinter, the snowpack will typically still be too cold and dry and thus cannot contribute significantly to runoff; second, the very rapid decline in snowpack toward early summer, when conditions typically prevail for substantial contributions from snowmelt, will result in a large decrease in ROS events at that time of the year. Finally, natural climate variability is the primary source of uncertainty in projections of ROS metrics until the end of the century, contributing more than 70 % of the total uncertainty. These results imply that both the inclusion of natural climate variability and the use of a snow model, which includes a physically-based processes representation of water retention, are important for ROS projections at the local scale.


The success of the EU is based on the convergence of the monetary policies of the Member States, and a genuine Single Market includes the monetary union. The monetary integration represents a factor of the economic cohesion and of the solidarity among the Member States. In order to have a united Europe, this is an advantage in the relationships with other states of the world. The major objectives of the monetary union are: a) The finalization of the Single Market through the elimination of uncertainty and of the inherent costs of the exchange system, but also of the costs for the protection against the risks of the currency fluctuations, and through the insurance of the total comparability of costs and prices inside the EU. The Single Market will stimulate the intra-communitarian trade by helping the citizens and by supporting the business environment; b) Economic growth; c) Europe's monetary stability and the increase of its financial power.


This investigation examines the role of porosity in the perforation resistance of 3-D woven fiber reinforced epoxy panels under impact by rigid projectiles at velocities of 100 to 200 m/s. Incident and residual velocities are measured to determine the energy absorption by the target. To compare samples of different areal density, the energy is normalized by the target areal density. The sample responses segregate by porosity, and the more highly porous samples absorb a greater amount of specific energy. The reason for this is unclear but may be due to the deflection of matrix cracks by pores or due to the greater flexibility of the fibers to absorb energy through tensile straining. Although porosity is generally an undesirable property in textile composites, the induction of porosity may result in reduced panel weight without degradation of ballistic performance, a clear advantage for weight minimization.


Diphtheria toxin catalyzes the ADP-ribosylation of elongation factor 2 (EF-2) in eukaryotes and archae-bacteria. As the reaction is strictly EF-2 specific and introduces two negative charges into the molecule, the resulting shift in the isoelectric point (pI) by 0.2 pH units was used to establish a new purification method for EF-2 from Sulfolobus acidocaldarius. The cells were lysed with dithiothreitol at pH 9 and EF-2 was purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation, gel filtration on Sephadex G-200, and three isoelectric focusing steps. The EF-2-containing fractions from the first isoelectric focusing step at pH 4-9 were refocused in a more narrow pH-gradient (pH 5-7). The EF-2 peak from the second step was eluted, collecting only the fractions above the pH region where ADP-ribosylated EF-2 would focus. The EF-2 was then ADP-ribosylated with diphtheria toxin and NAD and subjected to further isoelectric focusing (pH 5-7). The EF-2 was almost homogeneous since ADP-ribosylation had shifted it into a region of the pH gradient free of contaminating proteins. Diphtheria toxin was immobilized on CNBr-activated Sepharose to prevent a possible contamination by proteins from the diphtheria toxin preparation which might have the same pI as ADP-ribosylated EF-2. Finally, the ADP-ribosyl group was removed by equilibrium dialysis using diphtheria toxin and nicotinamide at pH 6.3. The obtained EF-2 was active in protein synthesis.


Chemotherapy often experiences several challenges including severe systemic toxicity and adverse effects. The combination chemotherapy arose as an effective clinical practice aimed at reducing doses of drugs to achieve synergistic actions with low toxicity. Our recent efforts demonstrated a synergistic therapeutic benefit of gambogic acid (GA) and gemcitabine (Gem) against lung cancer. However, simultaneous delivery of these two drugs at the tumor site is highly challenging. Therefore, the development of an injectable formulation that can effectively deliver both hydrophobic (GA) and hydrophilic (Gem) drugs in one formulation is a clinically unmet need. Herein, this study reports an in situ human serum albumin (HSA)- and tannic acid (TA)-mediated complexed GA and Gem nanoparticles (G-G@HTA NPs). G-G@HTA NP formation was confirmed by the particle size, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and 1H NMR spectroscopy. The superior therapeutic activity of G-G@HTA NPs was demonstrated by multiple in vitro functional assays. Additionally, G-G@HTA NPs revealed an obvious and precise targeting of tumors in vivo. The promoted and more synergistic anti-tumor efficacy of G-G@HTA NPs was attained than that of combined treatments and single drug treatments. These events have resulted in no apparent systemic and organ toxicities. Together, this study suggests that in situ HSA-TA-based combinatorial treatment strategy is a suitable approach for application in lung cancer treatment.


Background Juvenile systemic lupus erythematosus (jSLE) is rare but associated with a worse prognosis than adult-onset disease. This has been attributed to higher risk of renal involvement, a tendency to have more active disease over time, receive more intensive immunosuppressive treatment and accrue more damage over a longer duration of disease. Objectives To describe the pattern of disease expression with special focus on renal outcomes in a cohort of patients with jSLE in a tertiary hospital. Methods Retrospective analysis of medical records in a group of jSLE patients. Statistical analysis was done using Excel 14.4.5 and SPSS 20.0. Results 25 patients were included, with disease onset between 6 and 17 years of age (mean 12.5), and mean disease duration of 7.8 years (1-28). 23 (92%) patients were females. Current mean age is 20.4±5.9 years (13–37). The most common disease manifestations were mucocutaneous (84%), musculoskeletal (68%) and hematological abnormalities (68%). Lupus nephritis was diagnosed in 11 (44%) patients, all confirmed with renal biopsy. 9 patients had class IV (2003 ISN/RPS), 1 class V and 1 class V + II nephritis. According to the EULAR/ERA-EDTA 2012 renal response criteria, after 6 months, 7 (64%) had complete response to treatment, 1 (9%) partial response and 3 (27%) remained active. After 12 months, 8 (73%) had complete response and 3 (27%) remained active. The 3 patients with renal refractory disease at 6 months were diagnosed before 2003, had class IV nephritis and received monthly IV cyclophosphamide (CY) and pulse methylprednisolone (MP). 3 patients (2 class IV and 1 class II+V nephritis) received mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), plus steroids, as induction and maintenance therapy and all achieved complete remission, with an average follow-up of 1.3 years. During follow-up of the 6 and/or 12-month responsive patients, 1 flared after 15 months, 1 after 10 years and 1 after 6 years (all class IV nephritis), which were treated with add-on rituximab (after failing CY and/or MMF); 2 had complete remission after 6 months and 1 had partial remission. All patients with lupus nephritis received corticosteroids, 8 (72%) pulse IV MP, 10 (90%) MMF, 8 (72%) IV CY, 7 (64%) azathioprine, 6 (54%) hydroxychloroquine and 9 (82%) angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors. Only 1 patient has chronic kidney disease (Stage II - Glomerular Filtration Rate 76 mL/min/1.73m2) who is currently 37 years old, never achieved complete renal remission and is morbidly obese. Conclusions Our results are in agreement with the literature, with a high incidence of lupus nephritis in juvenile-onset patients. Despite a limited follow-up, induction treatment followed by maintenance with MMF in our cohort achieved 100% complete response rates. Rituximab was effective as rescue add-on therapy in refractory disease. Renal and vital outcomes were good, with no patients with end-stage renal disease or deaths. However, we need long-term follow-up to properly evaluate how the degree of renal involvement affects the mortality and morbidity of patients in the cohort and how newer treatment options will fare in the years to come. Disclosure of Interest None declared


This years' Dublin Core conference in Singapore [1] has just ended, and I find myself again considering the difficulties of training people around the issues of interest in Dublin Core at the moment, some of which are percolating into the larger library community. Finding useful ways to convey the right balance of information about how the metadata world is developing, and what metadata practitioners (particularly librarians) need to know to participate fully in the discussions is a continuing issue. Part of the problem is that, in the DC world in particular, much of the conversation happens at a level of abstraction not comfortable to most librarians (particularly catalogers), and technically adept presenters hovering at their 50,000 foot comfort level find it difficult to avoid losing them along the way.


The current study investigated the merger-in-progress between word-initial nasal and lateral consonants in Fuzhou Min, examining the linguistic and social factors that modulate the merger. First, the acoustic cues to the l-n distinction were examined in Fuzhou Min. Acoustic analyses suggested a collapse of phonemic contrast between prescriptive L and N (phonemes in the unmerged system), with none of the six acoustic cues showing any difference across L and N. Linear discriminant analysis did identify acoustically distinct [l] and [n] tokens, although the mapping onto the phonetic space of prescriptive L and N substantially overlapped. Speakers of all ages and both genders tended to produce [l], and low vowels correlated with more [n]-like classification. In perception, AX discrimination data showed Fuzhou Min listeners confused both prescriptive L and N and acoustic [l] and [n]. Greater sensitivity to the acoustic differences occurred in the context of low vowels and a nasal coda, supported by the acoustics of the stimuli, and younger listeners were more sensitive to the difference between [l] and [n] than older listeners. In two-alternative forced choice (2AFC) identification, Fuzhou Min listeners also identified the merged form as L more frequently than N, with more L responses elicited in the context of low vowels and in the absence of nasal codas. Overall, although Fuzhou Min speakers produced some acoustically distinct [l] and [n] tokens in the context of a sound merger, these productions did not map onto prescriptive L and N. In addition, younger listeners were more sensitive to the acoustic distinction than older listeners, suggesting an emerging acoustic contrast possibly arising due to contact with Mandarin.


Abstract Presence/absence data of 11 species of fish collected during 2008, 2009, and 2010 from five selected stations along the freshwater reach of the Saw Mill River, Westchester County, NY were examined using correspondence and parsimony analysis. The length of the river sampled extended from its northern source in Chappaqua (river km 36.9) south to Executive Boulevard (river km 6.4) in Yonkers, a distance of approximately 30.5 km. Correspondence analysis showed the distribution of stations in "species space" and indicated that two stations (Chappaqua and Hawthorne Cinema) aligned to the left of the origin of Axis #1 but in different quadrants, while the other three stations (Rumbrook, Lawrence Street, and Executive Boulevard) aligned to the right of the origin of Axis #1, with Rumbrook in a different quadrant than the Lawrence Street and Executive Boulevard stations. However, the analysis does not indicate specifically which fish assemblages are associated with each station. Parsimony analysis, which treats each collection site as if it were a "taxon" and the presence/absence of the fish as "character states" of those "taxa", addressed this problem and aggregated the stations into two main groups, one containing two stations (Lawrence Street and Rumbrook) united by the presence of Rhinichthys cataractae (Longnose Dace) and the other consisting of three stations (Chappaqua, Hawthorne Cinema, and Executive Boulevard) united by the presence of Micropterus salmoides (Largemouth Bass). Within this larger group is a sub-group consisting of two stations (Chappaqua and Hawthorne Cinema) united by the presence of Lepomis gibbosus (Pumpkinseed). In addition, the analysis allows one to readily visualize aspects of the fish distributions along the length of the river. For example, Catostomus commersonii (White Sucker), Lepomis auritus (Redbreast Sunfish), and Rhinichthys atratulus (Blacknose Dace) were found at all sites, while Semotilus atromaculatus (Creek Chub) was found at both Chappaqua, the northernmost station, and also at Rumbrook, the approximate mid-point station of the section of the river sampled. The Longnose Dace was only found in the southern reaches of the river from Rumbrook south to Lawrence Street, and Etheostoma olmstedi (Tessellated Darter) was found at Executive Boulevard and Lawrence Street, our two southernmost stations. The analysis also readily identifies species that are endemic to a particular section of the river: Ambloplites rupestris (Rock Bass) at the Lawrence Street station, Salmo trutta (Brown Trout) at the Hawthorne Cinema site, and Pimephales promelas (Fathead Minnow) at Chappaqua.


|Variable bit rate tra c that requires a boundeddelay network service is one of the most important types of tra c in future integrated services networks. In this paper, we introduce a new deterministic tra c model called Deterministic Bounding INterval-length Dependent (D-BIND) to capture the important multiplexing properties of bursty streams. With the D-BIND model, clients specify their trafc to the network via multiple rate-interval pairs, (R k ; I k ), where a rate R k is a bounding or worst-case rate over every interval of length I k . The model captures the intuitive property that over longer interval lengths, a source may be bounded by a rate lower than its peak rate and closer to its long-term average rate. We analyze the new model in the context of a deterministic service, and we quantify its performance bene ts using a set of experiments with traces of MPEG-compressed video. We show that D-BIND's more accurate characterization of tra c streams leads to substantial improvements in network utilization as compared to previous tra c models.


This research evaluated the effects of involvement of adolescents in community service activities on levels of alienation. It was proposed that alienation could be reduced through the implementation of a model which utilized community service activities to facilitate adolescent access to adult society, development of responsibility, collaborative and cooperative work, and control over planning and outcomes. It is suggested that adolescent involvement in service activities can produce positive benefits, among which are reduced levels of alienation, improved school behavior, improved grade point average, and acceptance by the adult community. These findings also suggest that females respond more positively to school when allowed to problem-solve collectively and collaboratively.


Entrepreneur as an agent of economic transformation in society is visible in employment and wealth generation, stimulation of indigenous entrepreneurship or promotion of entrepreneurial culture. To nurture entrepreneurial development, small and medium scale enterprise operators or entrepreneurs are being considered as main sustenance of the economy because of their capacity in enhancing the economy productivity and enhancing standard of living of the common man, as they account for over 50 percent of GDP of developing economies. However, lack of access to relative cheap and effective source of finance have been identified as the major factor hindering their contribution to economic growth in developing countries. This paper assessed the impact of SMEs financing on economic growth and development of Nigeria. The paper adopted correlational research design using secondary data for a period of 22 years (1992-2013). Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model was applied in the analysis, the study found that aggregate commercial banks financing of SMEs has significant positive impact on the economic growth and development of Nigeria. The study also found that Microfinance banks' financing in the area of transportation and commerce, manufacturing and food processing and other activities have significantly impacted on economic growth and development of Nigeria during the period. The paper concludes that SMEs financing could significantly improve entrepreneurship in Nigeria and the economic development in return. The paper recommends that governments in Nigeria should make policies towards increasing the funds for financing SMEs both in the commercial and microfinance banks. The government should also encourage more financing in the agricultural and manufacturing activities of SMEs, as this could improve the productivity of the real sector.


Background: The prognosis of pulmonary thromboembolism (PE) is related to the cardiopulmonary reserve of the patient and the magnitude of the embolus that impacts pulmonary circulation. The presence of hemodynamic instability (shock) stratifies a group of patients with high mortality, which should be treated with thrombolysis. Patients without shock but with right ventricular dysfunction can have a dismal evolution and should be managed aggressively. CAT scan, echocardiography and serum markers can be of value to define patients with a higher mortality. The available evidence to define the best diagnostic and therapeutic strategy is scanty, controversial and inconclusive. A good combination of clinical, imaging and biological markers should be defined to identify those patients without shock but with a high rate of complications and mortality, that could benefit from aggressive treatments.


The effects of aviation on climate pose unique policy challenges. A large fraction of the CO2 emissions (65%) is international and not (explicitly) included in the Paris Agreement. The interpretation of Article 4.1 on achieving a "balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases" is ambiguous in the context of aviation because of the substantial non‐CO2 effects associated with the sector. For the achievement of the temperature goal in Article 2, both CO2 and non‐CO2 effects are important. The non‐CO2 effects contribute 66% of the sectoral total climate effect (in terms of Effective Radiative Forcing; ERF) at present, with significant uncertainties. The largest of these non‐CO2 effects, contrail‐cirrus and the net‐effect of NOx, are not caused by direct greenhouse gas emissions, representing another ambiguity as to whether they should be included in the balance concept. We discuss the role of aviation in the context of the Paris Agreement, and present illustrative calculations of a hypothetical aviation "greenhouse gas balance." Several questions are addressed: Which components should be included? If an aggregate of components is adopted for the "balance," which metric should be used? How can the large differences in timescales as well as the large intrinsic underlying ERF uncertainties be handled? We demonstrate that these choices result in very different requirements for CO2‐removal from the atmosphere and different temperature outcomes over time. The article provides policymakers with an overview of issues and choices that are important regarding which approach is most appropriate for defining and achieving a greenhouse gas balance for aviation in the context of the Paris Agreement.


Super intense laser light (> 1020 W/cm2) is able to sweep preplasma over short times and compress the preplasma density gradient typically generated by the prepulse of today's high-intensity, high energy laser systems. Hot electron generation at steep plasma density gradients has been studied in a previous paper [Kemp et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. (2008)], which identified a mode of hot electron acceleration that is characterized by the formation of low-density shelf in front of the target. In this paper, we study the direct interaction mode, which appears after the shelf plasma interaction. We propose an analytical model to describe the absorption, explain electron energy spectra, and identify the parameter regime where the direct interaction mode becomes important.


The analysis of the farm level investment is a complex problem, being very useful in the planning as well as in policy making process. This paper is the first to attempt a systematic comparison of investment between small and large farms in West Bengal. There has been a growing interest in recent years in the pattern of the capital formation, and sources of farm investment between different categories of farmer. The paper identifies the pattern of investment on different farm assets viz., purchase of land and land improvement, livestock, machinery, farm building, irrigation equipments and perennial crops.   Data for the study was generated through a sample survey of 90 farm households from two districts in West Bengal. The rate of capital formation increased as the farm size increased. Purchase of irrigation appliances and land were the major item of capital formation in the farms of both small and large categories. Large farms invested highest on irrigation implements (` 66,467) and least on perennial crops (` 10,700). However, magnitude of investment was different across the different categories of farm. The per hectare investment on different farm capital assets found higher in case of small farms (` 2,77,559 per ha) than large farms (` 2,77,010 per ha). On aggregate, share of investment on different items was more than three times higher than investment made by small farmers in the last twelve month on their farms.


In this study, the whole proteins of Spirulina (Arthrospira) platensis were extracted, hydrolysis with three proteases (trypsin, alcalase and papain) was performed, and gel filtration chromatography was employed to separate hydrolysates. Totally, 15 polypeptides were isolated, which showed anti-proliferation activities on five cancer cells (HepG-2, MCF-7, SGC-7901, A549 and HT-29), with the IC50 values between <31.25 and 336.57 μg mL(-1). Moreover, a new peptide YGFVMPRSGLWFR was identified from papain-digested hydrolysates. It also exhibited inhibitory activities on cancer cells, and the best activity was observed on A549 cancer cells (IC50 values 104.05 μg mL(-1)). In other words, these polypeptides exhibited anti-proliferation activities on cancer cells, and low toxicity or stimulatory activity on normal cells, suggesting that they are promising ingredients in food and pharmaceutical applications.


The vibrational spectrum of recovered high-density amorphous (HDA) ice, obtained by pressurizing hexagonal ice Ih to 13 kbar at 77 K, has been studied by inelastic incoherent neutron scattering in the energy range from 1 to 120 meV at 80 K. The spectra of ice Ih and recovered high-pressure phase ice VI were also measured for comparison. In the translational band of the HDA ice spectrum, the first peak in the acoustic mode region is shifted by 2 meV towards high energies, but in the librational band the spectrum shows that the low-energy cut-off of this band shifts 13 meV towards low-energy transfers compared with ice Ih. Similarity of the main features of the spectra of HDA ice and ice VI have been observed and, thus, the dynamics of these ice phases should be determined by the same atomic correlations and force constants.


Marrow stimulation techniques, including microfracture, are among the most commonly performed cartilage restoration procedures for symptomatic chondral defects of the knee. For the vast majority of patients, marrow stimulation results in reduced pain and improved function, providing overall satisfactory outcomes. In some cases, however, marrow stimulation fails, resulting in symptom recurrence and often, the need for repeat surgery. This review will describe the indications and outcomes of microfracture as a primary surgical treatment for focal chondral defects of the knee, identify patient and procedure-specific factors associated with poor clinical outcomes, and will discuss treatment options and their respective outcomes for patients with a failed prior microfracture surgery.


Nucleotide sequence analyses of muscle mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from a patient with myoclonus epilepsy associated with ragged-red fibers (MERRF) revealed 33 single base substitutions, including 23 in coding regions for mitochondrial polypeptides and 10 in non-coding regions, as compared with the normal human mtDNA sequence. Three substitutions, in COI, ND4, and Cytb, would result in amino acid substitutions, which are conserved among species. Of three patients with MERRF, all had an identical A to G base substitution only at nucleotide position 8344 in the t-RNA(Lys) region. The substitution was not found in 15 controls. Various degrees of the combined enzymic defects in the oxidative phosphorylation system of mitochondria were found in the MERRF patients. The defects could be explained by altered function or processing of the mutant t-RNA(Lys). This mutation in the t-RNA(Lys) is the most probable cause of MERRF.


Autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) is a common organ-specific autoimmune disease. A strong influence of genetic and epigenetic modifications has been demonstrated to take part in the development and progression of autoimmune thyroid diseases. The linkage between the Vitamin D receptor (VDR) polymorphism and several autoimmune disorders, including the AITD. In this article, we aim to investigate the Frequency of VDR Fokl (rs2228570) genotypes (CC, CT, TT) and alleles (C,T) in autoimmune thyroiditis. The investigation of VDR Fokl (rs2228570) was conducted on 150 samples (control (75 healthy women) and diseased women (75 diseased with autoimmune thyroiditis)) patients from the Adjara (Georgia) Population. It also examined some clinical and laboratory characteristics of the study population. Autoimmune thyroiditis's disease was diagnosed by measuring blood antibodies, determining the level of thyroperoxidase, and conducting an ultrasound examination. Anti-TPO and TSH were studied using the ELISA method. The genomic DNA was extracted from the peripheral blood. The polymerase chain reaction was evaluated to examine the VDR Fokl rs2228570 SNP polymorphism. According to VDR Fokl (rs2228570) genotypes (CC; CT, TT) frequency, in the control group, the Frequency of CC-genotype is 48%, CT-heterozygous genotype is 29.33%, and TT-genotype is 22.67%; in the diseased population, the Frequency of CC-genotype is 57.33%, CT-genotype is 34.67%, and TT-genotype is 8%. According to VDR Fokl (rs2228570) alleles (C, T), the Frequency of the C-allele is high, and the Frequency of the T-allele is low in both populations. The Frequency of the CC and CT genotypes of VDR Fokl (rs2228570) is high in the population with autoimmune thyroiditis compared to the control group; the TT genotype is relatively low in the population suffering from autoimmune thyroiditis; According to VDR Fokl (rs2228570) alleles (C, T), the Frequency of C-allele is high both population.


This paper models a firm's rollover risk generated by conflict of interest between debt and equity holders. When the firm faces losses in rolling over its maturing debt, its equity holders are willing to absorb the losses only if the option value of keeping the firm alive justifies the cost of paying off the maturing debt. Our model shows that both deteriorating market liquidity and shorter debt maturity can exacerbate this externality and cause costly firm bankruptcy at higher fundamental thresholds. Our model provides implications on liquidity-spillover effects, the flight-to-quality phenomenon, and optimal debt maturity structures.


The effect of CYP2E1 upon the blood ethanol level was investigated. Blood ethanol concentrations in 2 volunteers whose ADH2, ADH3 and ALDH2 genotypes were identical, were determined after intravenous administrations of 0.15 g/kg of ethanol by gas chromatography. beta 60 (0.28 mg/ml/hr) of the blood ethanol concentration-time curve in one with the CYP2E1 C2 allele was higher than that (0.25 mg/ml/hr) in the other with no C2 allele. It is possible that the C2 allele may correspond to the higher CYP2E1 activity of ethanol metabolism.


Until now, the relative stereochemistry of the noncanonical strigolactone, heliolactone, has remained ambiguous. The total synthesis of heliolactone is described, with the key bond-forming event being a Stille cross-coupling that relied upon a reversal of the nucleophile-electrophile coupling partners. Spectroscopic analysis of synthetic heliolactone (and other stereoisomers) and comparisons with the isolated material enabled the absolute and relative stereochemistry of heliolactone to be secured.


The topic investigated in this article is a comparison, contrast, and integration effort of European strategies for sustainable development with the evolving market initiatives that are beginning to fuel the fourth industrial revolution. Several regulatory initiatives from continental bodies come into effect to radically change access to finances for business development, based on sustainability goals, and an analysis of the legislation and trends becomes essential for an effective pivot tactic in the face of adversity, as well as change management policies to pre-emptively adapt and perform. The general research question is "what the strategic tools are best employed to overcome the hurdles laid forth by the drastic changes legally required for a sustainable future?" The research methods include a quantitative analysis of norms, regulations, and legislation, including strategic initiatives circulated in the European Union governmental bodies, integrated with qualitative research of the literature. The study finds and draws synergies between national strategies that have recently been drafted or are currently evolving with sustainability-centric initiatives such as the hydrogen initiative, the nuclear initiative, the natural gas initiative, the renewables initiative, the synthetics, and biomass initiative, the ESG initiative, the digital initiative. The findings are to contribute to the business administration field by providing an appropriate image of the organizational design model in the sustainability era, and a strategy framework to build the optimum long-term vision founded on continental regulatory initiatives that have come into effect.


This article examines the main argument made by Quṭb al-Dīn al-Rāzī in his treatise al-Risāla al-ma'mūla fī al-taṣawwur wa-l-taṣdīq. To this end, after providing a summary of the content of the treatise, it will indicate some of the conclusions drawn regarding logic and epistemology based on his ideas of assent. He suggests that while the category of conception includes the subject, the predicate, the judgement made (i.e., the relation between these first two, which is set by the mind), the state of being in relation (relationality [intisāb], the subject and the predicate becoming connected to each other due to the relation set by the mind), and the proposition itself, assent consists of only idh'ān or qabūl, the conviction that the judgement made is solely its correspondence with nafs al-amr (things as they are in themselves). The article's main argument is that according to his explanation of assent, even though we divide knowledge into conception and assent, it is neither adequate nor sufficient to consider those beliefs that remain at the level of conception and are unaccompanied by the second belief, namely, correspondence as the knowledge of a true subject, despite the fact that these beliefs fit the definition of knowledge. For otherwise, the human subject turns into a mere carrier of information, and thus even though one realizes the cognitive content of what is being carried, one gains no insight into its epistemological value.


Abstract In our earlier work, a computer code based on Method of Characteristics (MOC) was developed to solve the neutron transport equation for mainly assembly-level lattice calculations with reflective and periodic boundary conditions and to some extent core-level calculation with a vacuum boundary condition. Performance of the MOC code was also demonstrated with flat and linear flux approximations. Since neutron transport calculations involve extensive computation, an attempt is made to develop an efficient numerical recipe that will reduce the computation time. First, a conventional MOC solution of the neutron transport equation is transformed into a matrix equation to apply the Krylov subspace iteration method for accelerating the solution. It is found that even in the most sophisticated and compact formats, forming the matrix equation explicitly by storing its nonzero elements requires extremely large computer memory. Hence, an alternate way to apply the Krylov iteration is demonstrated by incorporating the effect of the matrix-based approach into the solution without storing the matrix elements. This computationally viable and novel acceleration technique is used in combination with the existing formalism of flat as well as linear flux approximation to solve a number of benchmark problems. Results show significant improvement in terms of faster convergence of the solution over the conventional inner-outer iteration without compromising accuracy.


The latest class of neuroendovascular devices being evaluated is intended to treat cerebral aneurysms. In addition to inducing flow stasis-mediated thrombosis of aneurysms and thus at times being referred to as flow diverters, these devices reconstitute pathologic arterial segments to near-physiologic normalcy. The successful implementation of such an endoluminal scaffold for vascular reconstruction in the cerebral circulation requires careful consideration of various factors drawn from engineering, physics, and biological sciences. Here we review some of these factors.


Article history: Received 16 September 2019 Received in revised form 5 November 2019 Accepted 17 November 2019 Available online 4 February 2020 Prediction of flow conditions at which slugs are formed and characterisation of slugging are critical technological problems that are not fully resolved yet. This study experimentally and numerically investigated the characteristics of air/water slug flow by documenting the effect of different air and water superficial velocities on water slug length and frequency. The investigations focused on slug frequency, slug length, slug initiation in the pipe and liquid holdup. Experiments were conducted using a 0.074-mdiameter horizontal acrylic pipe with an 8.0-m length. A high-speed video camera was used to obtain the image sequence of the slug flow covering ranges of 0.7–3.5 and 0.65–1.23 m/s air and water superficial velocities, respectively. Numerical simulations were performed using a 3D implicit unsteady volume of fluid model with STAR-CCM+ code. The comparison of simulation experiments exhibited a reasonable agreement within a 10.4% relative error. The time traces of water holdup indicated that slugs are formed as a result of local instability at the wave crest rather than due to the instability of the entire wave. Mean water slug lengths ranged within 3.5–15 Dpipe. By increasing the air superficial velocity by 50% and fixing the water superficial velocity, the slug frequency decreased by 0.25 Hz. When the air superficial velocity was fixed and the water superficial velocity increased by 50%, the frequency rate was increased by 1.88 Hz.


Introduction Sepsis is currently a common condition in emergency and intensive care units, and is defined as life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated host response to infection. Cardiac dysfunction caused by septic myocardial injury (SMI) is associated with adverse prognosis and has significant economic and human costs. The pathophysiological mechanisms underlying SMI have long been a subject of interest. Recent studies have identified ferroptosis, a form of programmed cell death associated with iron accumulation and lipid peroxidation, as a pathological factor in the development of SMI. However, the current understanding of how ferroptosis functions and regulates in SMI remains limited, particularly in the absence of direct evidence from human heart. Methods We performed a sequential comprehensive bioinformatics analysis of human sepsis cardiac transcriptome data obtained through the GEO database. The lipopolysaccharide-induced mouse SMI model was used to validate the ferroptosis features and transcriptional expression of key genes. Results We identified widespread dysregulation of ferroptosis-related genes (FRGs) in SMI based on the human septic heart transcriptomes, deeply explored the underlying biological mechanisms and crosstalks, followed by the identification of key functional modules and hub genes through the construction of protein-protein interaction network. Eight key FRGs that regulate ferroptosis in SMI, including HIF1A, MAPK3, NOX4, PPARA, PTEN, RELA, STAT3 and TP53, were identified, as well as the ferroptosis features. All the key FRGs showed excellent diagnostic capability for SMI, part of them was associated with the prognosis of sepsis patients and the immune infiltration in the septic hearts, and potential ferroptosis-modulating drugs for SMI were predicted based on key FRGs. Conclusion This study provides human septic heart transcriptome-based evidence and brings new insights into the role of ferroptosis in SMI, which is significant for expanding the understanding of the pathobiological mechanisms of SMI and exploring promising diagnostic and therapeutic targets for SMI.


Use of plants as a source of medicine has been inherited and is an important component of the health care system in India. Among these plants Asparagus racemosus is an important medicinal plant which has been used worldwide. A lot of medicinally importance attributes have been assigned to this herb. It has been used by tribes located in distinct area of India from primeval time. Key component of this herb is saponins. Recent developments in transgenic research have opened up the possibility of the metabolic engineering of biosynthetic pathways to produce these high-value secondary metabolites. The present review is a pragmatic approach to accrue the findings on this very important herb.


A polyurethane designed to be biodegradable via hydrolysis and enzyme-mediated chain cleavage, has been investigated for its use as a temporary scaffold in tissue-engineering applications. The phase-segregated nature of the polyurethane imparts elastomeric properties that are attractive for soft tissue engineering. This polyurethane has been electrospun in order to create scaffolds that incorporate several biomimetic features including small fiber diameter, large void volume, and an interconnected porous network. Material properties were evaluated via gel-permeation chromatography, differential scanning calorimetry and Raman spectroscopy before and after processing. Analysis by gel-permeation chromatography showed that the molecular weights were similar, indicating that the bulk of the polymer chains were not degraded during processing. Thermal analysis revealed that the glass transition temperature did not shift and Raman spectra of the bulk polyurethane film compared to the electrospun mat were identical, confirming that the conformation of the polymer was unaffected by the shear and electric field used in the electrospinning process. In addition, field emission scanning electron microscopy revealed that the morphology of the electrospun mats had a broad fiber diameter distribution, and mechanical analysis showed that the mats had an ultimate tensile stress of 1.33 MPa and ultimate tensile strain of 78.6%. The degradation profile was investigated in the presence of chymotrypsin. These results were compared to a previous study of thin films of this polyurethane, and it was found that the increase of surface area aided the surface-mediated erosion of the material. It is believed that an electrospun matrix of this biodegradable polyurethane shows promise for use in soft tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications.


Analysis of an outcome-based, self-paced high scliool in Western Canada demonstrates the difficulty of changing the grammar of schooling even through extensive reform. Aiming to be a school for everyone, the institution studied lias ended up as an alternative high school for students who possess middle-class cultural capital: the very people wlio tend to succeed in conventional schools. Discussion shows how the frames of pedagogy at the school are interrelated, so that cluinging one produces a compensatory effect in the otfiers; and how tlie need to be seen as a successfid school ultimately undermines the motivation for reform.


Ancient Lake Ohrid an oligotrophic lake is probably the oldest existing lake in Europe. It is located on the Balkan Peninsula within the Dinaride-Albanide-Hellenide mountain belt, and is often referred to as a hotspot of endemic biodiversity. This study sheds light on the tectonic and sedimentary evolution of Lake Ohrid based on newly-acquired hydro-acoustic and seismic data sets. It testifies the importance of Lake Ohrid as a valuable archive susceptible to provide a continuous sediment record within the scope of the International Continental Drilling Program (ICDP) campaign scheduled for September/October 2012. Interpretation of multichannel seismic cross sections and bathymetric data reveals that Lake Ohrid formed in two main deformation phases: (1) a transtensional phase resulted in an opening of a pull-apart basin probably in Late Miocene; and (2) an extensional phase since the Pliocene to recent that led to the present geometry of Lake Ohrid. After initial opening during phase 1 a symmetrical graben formed, bounded by the Central Basin faults that acted as master faults The early stage geometry of the basin has a typical rhomboidal shape restricted by two sets of major normal faults, namely Lini and Kaneo (NE-SW), Piskupat and Pescani (NW-SE) Faults. The location of the basin initiation coincides with the greatest depth of the acoustic basement; nowadays a thick succession yof undisturbed sediments is found in this area. Neotectonic activity since the Pliocene takes place along the roughly N-S directed Eastern and Western Major Boundary Normal faults that are partly exposed at the floor of the lake. Numerous faults are present in the northern area offsetting syn-tectonic sediments, thus confirming the hypothesis that Lake Ohrid Basin is still experiencing extension. Furthermore, the active Gorenci sinistral strike slip Fault is most likely responsible for the opening of the Struga Graben detectable at the lake floor as a NE-SW directed elongated graben structure. Seismic stratigraphic interpretation revealed a regular depositional pattern of fluvial deposits overlying the pre-rift basement, the uppermost unit shows deep lacustrine sediments, which form the majority of the entire sedimentary infill; such a sedimentary succession is comparable to a tripartite sediment succession described for rift lakes indicating the different stages of basin evolution. A major outcome of this study is the establishment of a chrono-stratigraphic scheme developed for undisturbed lacustrine sediments back to an age of 430 kyr indicating that these sediments document glacial and interglacial cycles back to Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 12. A refined calculation on the basis of our new geological data set revealed a limnological age of at least 2 Myr for Lake Ohrid. Stacked clinoforms indentified on seismic lines in the southern area indicate significantly lower lake levels prior to MIS 6. This period is also characterized by a progressive rise of water level with intermittent stillstands since its existence as water-filled body, which might have favored expansion of endemic species within Lake Ohrid. Significant lake level fluctuations with prominent lowstands of ca. 60 and 35 m below the present water level occurred during MIS 6 and 5, respectively. The effect of these lowstands on the biodiversity along most of the coasts of the lake is probably negligible, due to only small changes in lake surface area, coastline, and habitat. In contrast, the biodiversity in shallow-lacustrine areas was more severely affected due to disconnection of sublacustrine springs from the main water body. Other interesting features in Lake Ohrid are mass movement deposits that are widespread within the basin and have been mapped at different stratigraphic levels of the basin. A cluster of slide deposits around Magic Mountain (a prominent basement high in the central basin) indicates a relationship between mass movement events and the activation of faults that bound the intrabasinal high. In general slides are present adjacent to major fault structures such as the Lini fault, the Eastern and Western Major Boundary faults, and the Udenisht fault in the south suggesting that they are seismically triggered. The Udenisht slide complex in the southwestern part of the lake is by far the largest mass failure event within the basin. The slide deposits cover an area of ~27 km², are up to 50 m thick, and sum up to a volume of ~0.11 km³. First age estimations suggest that the Udenisht Slide is less than 1,500 years old. Although the volume of the Udenisht slide is well within the range of landslide volumes capable to trigger tsunamis, detailed analysis of our data suggests that no major tsunami was triggered. In contrast, subsurface and morphological indications for lake floor instabilities along the western margin outline potential rotational slumping with a high risk of tsunami generation in the future.


Nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), and potassium (K) are critical nutrient elements necessary for crop plant growth and development. However, excessive inputs will lead to inefficient usage and cause excessive nutrient losses in the field environment, and also adversely affect the soil, water and air quality, human health, and biodiversity. Field experiments were conducted to study the effects of controlled-release fertilizer (CRF) on seed yield, plant growth, nutrient uptake, and fertilizer usage efficiency for early ripening rapeseed (Xiangzayou 1613) in the red-yellow soil of southern China during 2011–2013. It was grown using a soluble fertilizer (SF) and the same amounts of CRF, such as SF1/CRF1 (3750 kg/hm2), SF2/CRF2 (3000 kg/hm2), SF3/CRF3 (2250 kg/hm2), SF4/CRF4 (1500 kg/hm2), SF5/CRF5 (750 kg/hm2), and also using no fertilizer (CK). CRF gave higher seed yields than SF in both seasons by 14.51%. CRF4 and SF3 in each group achieved maximum seed yield (2066.97 and 1844.50 kg/hm2, respectively), followed by CRF3 (1929.97 kg/hm2) and SF4 (1839.40 kg/hm2). There were no significant differences in seed yield among CK, SF1, and CRF1 (P>0.05). CRF4 had the highest profit (7126.4 CNY/hm2) and showed an increase of 12.37% in seed yield, and it decreased by 11.01% in unit fertilizer rate compared with SF4. The branch number, pod number, and dry matter weight compared with SF increased significantly under the fertilization of CRF (P<0.05). The pod number per plant was the major contributor to seed yield. On the other hand, the N, P, and K uptakes increased at first and then decreased with increasing the fertilizer rate at maturity, and the N, P, and K usage efficiency decreased with increasing the fertilizer rate. The N, P, and K uptakes and usage efficiencies of the CRF were significantly higher than those of SF (P<0.05). The N accumulation and N usage efficiency of CRF increased by an average of 13.66% and 9.74 percentage points, respectively, compared to SF. In conclusion, CRF significantly promoted the growth of rapeseed with using total N as the base fertilizer, by providing sufficient N in the later growth stages, and last by reducing the residual N in the soil and increasing the N accumulation and N usage efficiency.


ABSTRACT Background: Alcohol use disorders adversely affect individual and societal health. These disorders are a chronic brain disease, and protective factors against relapse should be studied. Prefrontal cortex (PFC) dysfunction is evident in alcohol use disorders, and research that explores recovery of the PFC in alcohol use disorders is needed, specifically in regard to how psychological and behavioral factors can augment medicalized treatments and protect against relapse. For example, hope or a belief that recovery is possible is an important cognitive construct—thought to precede behavioral action—that has been associated with relapse. Objectives: In this study, associations between healthy coping skills and hope (psychological/behavioral factors) and PFC regional activation in response to alcohol cue exposure were examined. It was also examined whether such associations were unique to alcohol cues. Methods: Forty-two participants, 32 males and nine females in recovery from an alcohol use disorder (AUD), were administered a subjective hope and coping in recovery measure. They also viewed alcohol, positive, negative, and neutral cues during functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIR) PFC assessment. Results: Levels of healthy coping skills positively correlated with activation in the right dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC) in response to alcohol cues. This finding was unique to alcohol cues. Conclusion: The association between coping skills and activation of the right DMPFC in response to alcohol cues may reflect greater action restraint and top-down PFC control processing that may protect against relapse.


The problem of Kalman filtering for systems involving unmodeled persistent disturbances is studied. A proportional-integral (PI) Kalman filter for accommodation of such disturbances is proposed. A theoretical analysis is included in the paper. The robustness properties of the PI Kalman filter are demonstrated both analytically and through simulations.


Plasma erythropoietin titers (Ep) were compared in rats subjected to different kinds of systemic hypoxia. Ep increased exponentially, when hypoxia was induced by exposure to simulated altitude (from less than 0.025 IU Ep/ml plasma at sea-level up to 3.65 IU Ep/ml at 7000 m). An acute increase in the O2 affinity of blood augmented Ep production in normal rats but not in rats exposed to hypobaria. Ep also rose exponentially when isovolemic anemia was induced (e.g., 0.5 IU Ep/ml plasma were found at 7 g Hb/dl blood). When the same reduction in blood O2 carrying capacity was produced by CO-inhalation (0.1% CO in air), Ep increased to 5.57 IU/ml plasma. This very high value was considered to be partly due to the very high O2 affinity of carboxyhemoglobin. These results indicate that a left shift in the hemoglobin-O2 dissociation curve produces a stimulation of Ep production, particularly, when the O2-carrying capacity of blood is lowered.


This study is a section of the GP-FOREESP - Formation of Human Resources and Learning in Special Education Group's agenda. This Group is engaged in the development of researches with
the intent to contribute on the process to universalize the access to school as well as on the improvement of education system that is currently available to the target population of Special
Education. Nowadays, the inclusion process subject has been prioritized by that research group, as they consider that, along with other reasons, the efforts to establish an inclusive education system would be the unique alternative to solve the problem regarding the access to school, which is currently limited, and also to improve the quality on special education, since the level presented in the country is low. Guided by such premise, the present work is a supplementary project developed within the group extent to generate knowledge on school inclusion matter


Home stay tourism is popular, specially, in the ASEAN region, and Sri Lanka is also benefiting a lot from this industry. In the literature, the importance given to homestay tourism is skeletal within the study context of Sri Lanka. On this premise, the researchers intended to: explore the nature of homestay entrepreneurs, factors affecting the homestay entrepreneurs' success, and the current challenges, faced by the homestay entrepreneurs that are affecting the continuation of homestay businesses in the southern coastal area in Sri Lanka. Researchers designed this study as a qualitative grounded theory study, valuing constructionist research paradigm. Researchers defined homestay entrepreneurs after identifying their nature and a set of personal and impersonal factor that have been critical in determining homestay entrepreneurs' success. The researchers further identified a set of challenges in the areas of government involvement, financial challenges, human resource development, destination development and competition. The researchers concluded the study by defining homestay entrepreneurs and developing a conceptual framework that explain the phenomenon of home stay tourism entrepreneurs' success that can be used for educational and policy making purposes. Researchers identified a set of implications and recommendations in the development of entrepreneurs, homestay business process and its context, and collaborations.


The forced industrialisation of cities resulted in the construction of giant sites in outlying areas. December 1989 triggered the decline of industrial activities, wich could not be sustained any longer. Gradually, industrial halls have been abandoned, turning into ghosts of past glory, "black spots" that visually pollute the city's image. The article highlitghts the tendency of these abandoned spaces to become true functional barriers. Occupying large spaces, the former industrial units are a barrier to communication (moving obstacle) and for the development of certain areas. Perceveid as dangerous places, with a low security level, the problem of abandoned areas would be a subject for the terriorial marketing strategies. in this regard, putting into value the results of a field survey, the article studies the perception of the urban brownfields, applied for Iași as a case study.


Web API specifications are machine-readable descriptions of APIs. These specifications, in combination with related tooling, simplify and support the consumption of APIs. However, despite the increased distribution of web APIs, specifications are rare and their creation and maintenance heavily relies on manual efforts by third parties. In this paper, we propose an automatic approach and an associated tool called D2Spec for extracting specifications from web API documentation pages. Given a seed online documentation page on an API, D2Spec first crawls all documentation pages on the API, and then uses a set of machine learning techniques to extract the base URL, path templates, and HTTP methods, which collectively describe the endpoints of an API. We evaluated whether D2Spec can accurately extract endpoints from documentation on 120 web APIs. The results showed that D2Spec achieved a precision of 87.5% in identifying base URLs, a precision of 81.3% and a recall of 80.6% in generating path templates, and a precision of 84.4% and a recall of 76.2% in extracting HTTP methods. In addition, we found that D2Spec was useful when applied to APIs with pre-existing API specifications: D2Spec revealed many inconsistencies between web API documentation and their corresponding publicly available specifications. Thus, D2Spec can be used by web API providers to keep documentation and specifications in synchronization.


In geriatric patients with exudative ascites, malignant ascites is a common etiology. Tuberculous peritonitis is rarely seen and usually overlooked. We describe a 67-year-old man who suffered from exudative ascites for 1 month before admission. None of the noninvasive diagnostic methods utilized enabled us to make a correct diagnosis. Peritoneoscopic examination demonstrated multiple whitish miliary nodules and some larger nodules in the parietal and visceral peritoneum. Excisional biopsy confirmed the diagnosis of tuberculous peritonitis. This case reminds us that although malignant ascites is more prevalent in geriatric patients with exudative ascites, peritoneoscopy is indicated when noninvasive diagnostic methods allow no definite diagnosis.


The shallow excited states associated with some deep impurities in silicon are studied in absorption and photoconductivity measurements. From these sharp line spectra one may infer novel information on the electronic structure and local symmetry of deep defects. In combination with Photo-EPR measurements, these studies may further reveal the chemical identity of the center. For a detailed understanding of the spectra, finally, many-electron effects and electron-phonon coupling have to be considered.


A key component of automated algorithm selection and configuration, which in most cases are performed using supervised machine learning (ML) methods is a good-performing predictive model. The predictive model uses the feature representation of a set of problem instances as input data and predicts the algorithm performance achieved on them. Common machine learning models struggle to make predictions for instances with feature representations not covered by the training data, resulting in poor generalization to unseen problems. In this study, we propose a workflow to estimate the generalizability of a predictive model for algorithm performance, trained on one benchmark suite to another. The workflow has been tested by training predictive models across benchmark suites and the results show that generalizability patterns in the landscape feature space are reflected in the performance space.


EXPLOITATION AND REGULATION OF APOPTOTIC CASPASES FEBRUARY 2017 SCOTT J. ERON, B.S. SUNY GENESEO Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Jeanne A. Hardy Caspases are the cysteine proteases that govern apoptotic cell death. The regulation of these enzymes is critical in order to restrain their death-inducing capabilities until the appropriate moment. Infidelity of caspase regulation and activation underlies a plethora of human diseases ranging from cancer to neurodegeneration. This establishes a pressing need for comprehensive studies of the apoptotic caspases in order to understand all aspects of their regulation, activation, substrate preferences, structure, and function. A detailed structural view of caspase regulation would have lasting implications for future therapeutic avenues targeting caspase function or apoptosis. This dissertation chronicles caspase regulation by phosphorylation as well as zinc. A mechanistic approach uncovering the precise means by which caspases and kinases co-regulate one another offers multiple avenues for therapeutic intervention. In addition, the influence of zinc on caspase activity at biologically relevant concentrations alters the perspective on zinc regulation of apoptosis. Lastly, this work utilizes the knowledge derived from these mechanistic studies for an application in which the cell death inducing potential of an executioner caspase is harnessed by delivering the caspase to a population of cancer cells.


Heterogeneity of buyers' preferences has played a significant role in the earlier economic analyses of bundling and continues to be important in the recent investigations initiated by marketing and consumer researchers. Guided by a decision-framing conceptualization, this study suggests that in a market characterized by heterogeneous preferences for items included in a bundle offer, buyers' bundle evaluations may vary significantly depending on which item is featured as the price leader (i.e., the discounted item). When two unequally preferred items were evaluated for purchase as a set, bundle evaluation was more enhanced when the price leader was also the more preferred item. Thus, under such preference conditions, bundle evaluation may be quite sensitive to the choice of the price leader. Besides highlighting the importance of incorporating psychological considerations in bundling research, the results of this study also raise questions about the validity of a key assumption made in the extant analyses of bundling strategies. Specifically, perceived savings on one item may not always transfer readily to other items included in a bundle offer.


This paper presents the report of an investigation to explore the effect of CCTV monitoring on cheating behaviours among 100 college students at Smt. Parvatibai Chowgule College in Goa. The study adopted the completely randomized experimental design with 4 experimental conditions - CCTV Monitoring Condition, CCTV and Human Monitoring Condition, Partial CCTV Monitoring Condition and No CCTV Monitoring Condition and observed the cheating behaviours of college students under an opportunistic situation. The study also determines the sex-wise and discipline-wise differences in cheating behaviours among college students. One-way ANOVA and t tests were used in the statistical analysis. The findings indicated that there was a statistically significant difference in the cheating behaviour scores in the four experimental conditions. The results also revealed that cheating behaviours among college students did not differ with regard to sex and discipline. Implications of the research findings are also discussed.


The paper deals with a theoretical investigation of the peristaltic transport of a physiological fluid in a porous asymmetric channel under the action of a magnetic field. The stream function, pressure gradient and axial velocity are studied by using appropriate analytical and numerical techniques. Effects of different physical parameters such as permeability, phase difference, wave amplitude and magnetic parameter on the velocity, pumping characteristics, streamline pattern and trapping are investigated with particular emphasis. The computational results are presented in graphical form. The results are found to be in perfect agreement with those of a previous study carried out for a non-porous channel in the absence of a magnetic field.


The purpose of this research is to study prenatal genetic testing and the advancements that have been made since the human genome project has made the testing process simpler and less invasive. Prenatal genetic testing is a screen or a test that is performed in order to determine if an embryo or fetus has a certain disease or condition before its birth. A variety of different prenatal tests and screens have been studied to evaluate what genetic conditions are screened for and when. The scope of this paper focuses on the historical overview, advancements, patients, tests, and impacts related to prenatal genetic testing. Some questions are presented in the beginning of this paper in order to fully describe and understand prenatal genetic testing and the benefits and issues relating to it. Conclusion: Prenatal genetic testing and screening is available for many diseases, but the typical test screens for only a select number of diseases and conditions.


We calculate the conductance of a chaotic electron billiard as a function of magnetic flux, channel number and transmission coefficients (TC). The latter describe the strength of the coupling between leads and billiard. Gating of either lead may reduce this strength. We find that outside the Coulomb blockade regime, the weak-localization curve (WLC) for the average conductance is always Lorentzian. Height and width of the Lorentzian depend sensitively upon the TC, especially in the case of asymmetric gating of the two leads. These predictions can be tested experimentally.


With most of the world's largest and easiest-to-exploit deepwater reservoirs already under development or producing, the industry is now facing new challenges. The tie-back of new smaller fields, often with complex fluids, to existing production facilities; or the transportation of multiphase production over long distances using large pipe diameters can appear as a viable route to unlocking reserves, which are often too small to be developed economically as a stand-alone facility. If the use of subsea technologies and innovative field architectures is a step change in the industry for the development of such complex fields; operators have nevertheless to face inherent challenges. The most demanding are the flow assurance issues arising from the different operating regimes, deeper water, remote locations, harsher environment, etc. which may also be combined with more viscous fluids and/or reservoirs at low pressure and/or low temperature. Flow assurance engineers use commercially available multiphase flow software for the design of field development facilities. Optimized design recommendations are heavily reliant on the accuracy of these multiphase flow simulators, but usually extensive sensitivity studies are needed to refine the concept in order to ensure compliance with operating constraints. With increasing demand on flow assurance tools, development works are performed by the code suppliers to improve the simulation accuracy and operators have to undertake systematic internal validation tests and to apply a methodology before qualifying released versions. This paper examines the accuracy of available commercial multiphase flow simulators against field data (oil dominated and gas dominated fields are considered) and laboratory tests. A methodology is also presented to address operational considerations such as degraded mode, turndown, pigging strategy and restart management as well as to handle uncertainty of multiphase flow simulation in the case of gas field development over long distance via a large diameter pipeline.


Graft versus leukemia (GVL) effect after allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT) is mediated by the cytotoxic factors on cytotoxic T-cells and NK cells. Recent analysis demonstrates that TNF-related apoptosis inducing ligand, TRAIL, plays an important role in the GVL effect. TRAIL induces apoptosis of leukemia cells by the binding to the death receptors, DR4 and DR5. Thus, although the precise mechanism remains unclarified, the regulation of DR4/DR5 expression could be one of critical factors for susceptibility of leukemia cells to the GVL effect. t(17;19)-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) has an extremely poor prognosis, but long-term disease-free survival was exceptionally observed in the case who underwent allo-SCT early in the first complete remission, suggesting that t(17;19)-ALL cells might be susceptible to TRAIL and eventually vulnerable to GVL effect. Accordingly, we examined the sensitivity of t(17;19)-ALL to recombinant human soluble (rhs) TRAIL using 4 cell lines. All 4 cell lines immediately underwent apoptosis by the treatment with rhsTRAIL, and the activation of Caspases 3 and 8, Bid, and PARP was confirmed with Western blotting. Of note, 4 t(17;19)-ALL cell lines showed a significantly higher TRAIL-sensitivity than did other 25 B-precursor ALL cell lines including Ph1, t(1;19), and MLL -rearrangement-positive ALLs. Cell surface expression of DR4/DR5, but not decoy receptors, was confirmed on all 4 cell lines by flow cytometry. Of importance, the levels of cell surface DR4/DR5 expression in 4 t(17;19)-ALL cell lines were significantly higher than those in other 25 B-precursor ALL cell lines. Real time RT-PCR analysis also demonstrated a significantly higher DR4/DR5 gene expression in t(17;19)-ALL cell lines. Since E2A-HLF chimeric transcription factor derived from t(17;19) plays an essential role in the leukemogenesis, we introduced E2A-HLF into the B-precursor ALL cell line 697, whose DR4/DR5 expression level is low, using Zn-inducible vector. When E2A-HLF expression was induced by Zn, the levels of DR4 and DR5 transcripts were immediately upregulated by 10-fold and 40-fold of baseline, respectively. The induction of DR4/DR5 expression was dependent on the DNA-binding and transactivation activity of E2A-HLF, since the mutants lacking either the DNA-binding or transactivation domains failed to induce DR4/DR5 expression. Further, binding of E2A-HLF to the consensus sites separated from the promoters of DR4/DR5 genes was demonstrated in EMSA. These observations indicate that E2A-HLF directly induces expression of DR4/DR5 and sensitizes leukemia cells to TRAIL and eventually GVL effect. This is the first presentation that oncogenic fusion product of translocation regulates the expression of death receptors.


Background: Rosa damascena and Poria cocos are ingredients commonly used in Traditional Chinese Medicine. R. damascena is used to promote blood circulation as well as liver and stomach function, while P. cocos is used to eliminate dampness and enhance spleen function. Objective: The objective of the study is to investigate possible mechanisms by which R. damascena and P. cocos may promote immune function. Materials and Methods: Phagocytosis and dendritic cell (DC) surface marker expression assays were used to evaluate the effect of R. damascena and P. cocos extracts on human THP-1 monocytic leukemia cell biology. Results: R. damascena and P. cocos extracts both enhanced phagocytosis of latex beads by THP-1 cells, and when combined, phagocytosis was enhanced to a level greater than what might be expected by adding the individual phagocytosis responses together. In addition, both extracts enhanced maturation of THP-1 cells into a DC phenotype as measured by increased surface expression of the costimulatory molecules CD14, CD40, CD80, and CD86. Conclusion: These results suggest that Rosa damascena and P. cocos may promote monocyte phagocytosis and then stimulate differentiation of the cells into DCs thereby bridging innate and adaptive immune responses. Abbreviations used: AKT: Protein kinase B; AP-1: Activator protein-1; Bcl2: B cell lymphoma-2; CD: Cluster of differentiation; COX-2: Cyclooxygenase-2; DC: Dendritic cell; EGFR: Epidermal growth factor receptor; FOXO1: Forkhead box protein-1; GM-CSF: Granulocyte/macrophage colony stimulating factor; HLA: Human leukocyte antigen; HPLC: High-performance liquid chromatography; IL-1β: Interleukin-1β; IL-4: Interleukin-4; M1: Classically activated macrophage; M2: Alternatively activated macrophage; MAPK: Mitogen-activated protein kinase; NFκB: Nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells; NLRP3: NLR Family Pyrin Domain Containing 3; ϕ: Phagocytic index; p53: Tumor protein p53; PARP: Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase; PMA: Phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate; PRR: Pattern recognition receptor; STAT: Signal transducer and activator of transcription SD: Standard deviation; Syk: Spleen tyrosine kinase; TCM: Traditional Chinese Medicine.


The perception of verticality is critical for balance control and interaction with the world. But this complex process fails badly under certain circumstances—usually as the result of an illusion. Here, we report on a real-world example of how the brain fails to disregard body position on a moving mountain tram and adopts an inappropriate frame of reference, which prompts passengers to perceive skyscrapers leaning by as much as 30°. To elucidate the sensory origin of this misperception, we conducted field experiments on the moving tram to systematically disentangle the contributions of four sensory systems known to affect verticality perception, namely, vestibular, tactile, proprioceptive, and visual cues. Our results refute the intuitive assumption that the perceived tilt of the buildings is based on visual error signals and demonstrate instead that a unified percept of verticality is a product of the synergistic interaction among multiple sensory systems and the contextual information available in the real world.


Objectives Primary aneurysms of superficial venous system are rare and frequently misdiagnosed as varicose veins. Clinical presentation is variable depending on the presence of compression to surrounding structures. We report a rare case of primary cephalic vein aneurysm presented with wrist pain due to radial nerve compression. Method/case A 61-year-old woman was admitted with right wrist pain and localized mass. Physical and imaging examinations showed a localized cephalic vein aneurysm compressing radial nerve. Simple excision was performed successfully. Results Cosmetic and clinical results at the first month follow-up were successful. Discussion Although primary superficial venous aneurysms of upper extremities are very rare, the treatment of choice is most commonly same as the ones in lower limbs. Simple excision is the best approach in the most of the cases, while sclerotherapy could be preferred in order to obtain better cosmesis or to avoid injuries to surrounding structures.


Social networks, personal blog pages, on-line transaction web-sites, expertise web pages and location based social networks provide an attractive platform for millions of users to share opinions, comments, ratings, etc. Having this kind of diverse and comprehensive information leads to difficulties for users to reach the most appropriate and reliable conclusions. Recommendation systems form one of the solutions to deal with the information overload problem by providing personalized services. Using spatial, temporal and social information on recommender systems is a recent trend that increases the performance. Also, taking into account more than one criterion can improve the performance of the recommender systems. In this paper, a location and social network aware recommender system enhanced with multi objective filtering is proposed and described. The results show that the proposed method reaches high coverage while preserving precision. Besides, the proposed method is not affected by the range of ratings and provides persistent results in different settings.


Entomopathogenic fungi (EF) are important biocontrol agents due to their wide host range, easy application, and compatibility with phytosanitary products. Stink bugs (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) are the most important rice pests in Argentina. Although there is information on the pathogenicity of EF against stink bug pests in rice fields, the natural incidence of EF, and especially their association with stink bug species and plant characteristics, is largely unexplored. The aims of this study were: (1) to monitor the natural incidence of EF on Pentatomidae pests in Argentinian rice paddies; (2) to assess the relationship between the incidence of EF, stink bug feeding guild, and rice cultivar; and (3) to perform a phylogenetic analysis of the EF recorded. Sampling was conducted in target rice fields throughout the rice‐growing season (2017–2018), during which adult individuals of Tibraca limbativentris Stål and Oebalus spp. were manually collected and visually examined for evidence of mycelial development. Of the 780 individuals examined, 182 infected individuals were recorded, from which 12 strains of EF were isolated and identified based on molecular characterization: three strains of Beauveria bassiana sensu lato (Bals.‐Criv.) Vuill., five of Metarhizium anisopliae s.l. (Metschn.) Sorokin, and four of Purpureocillium lilacinum (Thom) Luangsa‐ard et al. (Hypocreales). The occurrence of the three EF species was significantly higher in stem‐feeding T. limbativentris than in seed‐feeding Oebalus spp., thus, differed between feeding guilds. For T. limbativentris, the occurrence of EF was higher when feeding on a short than on a tall rice variety, thus, differed between plant varieties. The results illustrate the potential of using native strains of EF in integrated management of stink bugs in rice.


Emotional support is often conveyed to people with cancer; however, not all support messages are effective, leading some potential supporters to fear appearing incompetent when communicating support. Additionally, nonverbal behaviors, such as vocal fluency, pitch variety, eye contact, and conveying concern, have previously been associated with support recipients' outcomes and perceptions of speaker competence. This experiment determines whether these nonverbal behaviors can be increased through message planning. Participants were randomly assigned to either a planning condition or a distraction task condition before recording emotional support messages for a friend hypothetically diagnosed with cancer. Results showed that planners spoke with significantly more vocal fluency and conveyed significantly more nonverbal concern than nonplanners. Planners also used more eye contact and pitch variety than nonplanners, but these differences were not statistically significant. Results suggest that planning may improve some nonverbal aspects of communicating support, which may in turn improve perceptions of supporters' competence.


We investigate first and second order moment interactions among import prices (IPs), local currency prices (LCPs) and producer currency prices (PCPs) for 20 (mostly) developed economies and a time period of 3 decades. We test various hypotheses on both linear and non-linear effects put forth in the literature on the endogeneity of exchange rate pass through to monetary policy. It turns out that PCP shocks give rise to IP uncertainty in a sizeable manner, while the further propagation of IP uncertainty to LCP inflation uncertainty is moderate. Moreover, LCP inflation uncertainty increases the uncertainty of IP inflation (measured in local currency). In general, both inflation and its uncertainty are diagnosed as core determinants of pass through variation. Thus, a lack of monetary credibility could serve as a catalyst for the import of foreign price pressures and uncertainty to local prices.


: The introduction of rural domestic wastewater treatment (WWT) installations is part of a grand scheme to realise China's 'ecological civilisation' on Chongming in the Yangtze Delta region. Taking a cultural approach to hydrosocial territoriality, this article examines why this seemingly well-intended welfare intervention is rejected by rural islanders. The introduction of WWT does not only imply an upgrading of rural services, but is also seen as a top-down attempt at reshuffling the hydrosocial territories in which Chongming villages are embedded. Villagers perceive the WWT project as a forerunner of the greater threat of urbanisation and displacement of rural livelihoods, and also express a cultural reaction rooted in alternative rural understandings of landownership and engrained traditions related to water, waste, and soils. Village resistance forces local village cadres to intervene as cultural mediators between the villagers and the state. This moves the village cadres, against their own will, into a prominent position in the hydrosocial network. The article reveals how hydrosocial territories emerge from confrontations between top-down governance reshuffling and bottom-up manoeuvring.


In the first paper of this series, the effect of experimental errors in the Fourier coefficients, upon the derived atomic co-ordinates was investigated. The assumption was made that the probable errors were independent of the magnitudes of their parent Bragg reflexions. It has been suggested that a more accurate assumption would be to take the probable error of any coefficient as being proportional to the magnitude of that coefficient. The present paper develops the theory on this basis, and a solution in closed form is obtained. The question of how the experimental error in the co-ordinates varies with the position of the atom in relation to its neighbours is also investigated, and it is shown that the variation is much smaller than that previously derived for finite summation errors.


Web services can be composed to build domain-specific application and solution. The standards of several Web services composition (WSC) are proposed, for example, WS-BPEL and WS-CDL. Moreover, there is a great demand for the performance optimization of WSC recently. However, WS-BPEL lacks formal semantics, so it is very difficult to verify WSC and evaluate the performance of WSC. Therefore, considering such situation and long-running transaction (LRT) in WS-BPEL, in this paper, we adopt general stochastic high-level Petri net (GSHLPN) as basic formal description tool of WSC based on WS-BPEL and model the context of LRT. Our approach can provide a more real environment for evaluating and optimizing the performance of WSC based on WS-BPEL.


When countries face balance-of-payments crises, their policy responses vary widely. This paper argues that the choice between the two main options of internal adjustment (i.e. austerity and structural reforms) and external adjustment (i.e. exchange-rate devaluation) depends on how costly each of these strategies is for a country overall. While the choice of adjustment strategy is thus structurally determined, the level of political conflict associated with crisis management depends on both the national vulnerability profile and partisan interests. Moreover, irrespective of the adjustment strategy, all governments design the specific reforms in ways that shelter their own voters. Empirically, this paper uses qualitative case studies and survey data to examine the significant variation in crisis responses, crisis politics, and distributive outcomes of the 2008-10 global financial crisis in eight Eastern European countries. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the Eastern European experience for crisis politics in the Eurozone crisis.


As incarceration rates continue to rise in New Zealand (The Department of Corrections, 2019b), the number of people being released from prison will also rise. Life sentences are rare and therefore, the majority of people who are sent to prison will, at some point, be released to reside in the community again. Despite this, individuals are leaving prison unprepared for life on the outside, and they face a range of barriers as they try to establish new lives for themselves in the community. Employment is often cited as a stabilising factor after prison, a factor which can help a person to rebuild their life and become a contributing member of society. However, having a criminal history can negatively impact employment prospects, making employment difficult to obtain, especially in an increasingly competitive employment market. Thus far, research looking at employment after prison, and at prison and the post-release period in general, has been largely centred around men. Women and their specific needs are often overlooked in the research and in the criminal justice system due to their lower incarceration rates, and solutions, policies and practices are often created with men in mind, then adapted slightly to 'fit' women, without much real recognition of women's different needs (Baldry, 2010; Mills, Kendall, Lathlean, & Steel, 2013). Therefore, the research undertaken for this project explores the role of employment in the lives of women who have recently been released from prison, looking at the benefits of and barriers to employment through the lived experiences of those who are in the post-release period, with a goal of adding to women-focused literature, which is desperately needed. Through semi-structured interviews, and guided by a feminist methodological framework, I drew on this lived experience of the participants and put their voices at the forefront of the research findings. The key finding was that while employment is vital for long-term success after release, the benefits of employment extend far beyond financial security, and employment is one piece of a post-release puzzle, which without the other pieces, is relatively useless on its own. A more holistic approach is needed in the post-release period to promote success.


The mechanism(s) of neuromuscular fatigue depends on the approach or model used to study fatigue. We evaluate the physiological and functional relevance of the fatigue quantification system, the fatigue protocols, the preparations, and muscle environmental conditions used in various models involving either artificial stimulation or voluntary exercise to induce fatigue.


Vulvovaginal atrophy (VVA) is the result of thinning of mucus and tissues in the vulva and vagina caused by estrogen deprivation that occurs in menopausal women. Estrogen stimulation in the female body is responsible for maintaining the normal anatomy and physiology of the urogenital system. As the production and amount of total body estrogen decreases, secretions decrease and the genitourinary tissues become atrophic. This situation causes many symptoms. The main symptoms of VVA are vaginal dryness, irritation, itching and burning sensation. Decreased lubricity in the vagina along with these symptoms causes dyspareunia and coidal bleeding in women. Associated with all these changes, problems such as sexual dysfunction and decreased sexual activity may occur. For these reasons, VVA is a serious problem that significantly affects women's lives and reduces their quality of life. It is seen that different applications for the management of VVA have come to the fore in recent years and experimental studies are actively carried out, especially in the international arena. The aim of this review article is to examine current practices used in the management of vulvovaginal atrophy, which is frequently seen in the postmenopausal period.


Caterpillar fungus ( Ophiocordyceps = Cordyceps sinensis ) is an entomophagous fungus endemic to the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas. It has become the most important source of cash income in wide areas of the Tibetan Plateau, where it is known as yartsa gunbu , 'summer grass winter worm'. The market is driven by Chinese consumers, who refer to it as dongchong xiacao . The value of this myco-medicinal has increased by 900% between 1997 and 2008, creating a globally-unique rural fungal economy. However, actual annual production data is still not available for many areas of the Tibetan Plateau in China as well as the Himalayan production areas of India, Nepal and Bhutan. This paper analyses available production data and estimates the total annual production in the range of 85 to 185 tons for all production areas. Current availability of multi-annual production figures is limited and allows only for provisional estimates regarding the sustainability of current harvesting quantities. Centuries of collection indicate that caterpillar fungus is a resilient resource. Still, unprecedented collection intensity, climate change and the recent economic dependence of local economies on caterpillar fungus calls for sustainable resource management. Absence of long-term field studies indicating best management practices—at best in their infancy in some production areas—necessitate a degree of improvisation in designing resource management strategies. The development of easily implementable approaches that can rely on community support will be crucial for successful management. Most promising from a socio-economic, administrative and also mycological perspective is the establishment of an end date of the collection season, which might allow for sufficient spore dispersal to guarantee sustainability.


The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued the long awaited Oakwood Healthcare, Inc. decision, holding that registered nurses who nominally coordinate and guide the work of other nurses or health care workers are supervisory personnel who fall outside the coverage of the National Labor Relations Act. Oakwood Healthcare is a seminal NLRB decision, articulating a remarkably expansive rule for determining whether or not an employee is a supervisor. By radically redefining who is a worker and who is a boss, Oakwood Healthcare has the potential to do what no other single case in the history of the NLRB has ever done -- deprive more than eight million professionals and skilled workers of their right to join a labor union. If Oakwood Healthcare is not reversed by the federal courts or undermined by statutory labor law reform, as many as eight million professional employees and skilled workers will join the 32 million members of the U.S. workforce -- one out of four workers -- who, according to the General Accounting Office, do not have the legal right to join unions. As dissenting Board member Wilma Liebman ominously noted, Oakwood Healthcare creates a class of workers existing in a legal limbo "hav(ing) neither the genuine prerogatives of management, nor the statutory rights of ordinary employees."


In this article I will discuss the continuing discursive support for idealised motherhood, describe some ways mother blaming is practiced within therapeutic intervention and discuss the implications of this for social work practice. The article is based on a qualitative study of professionals who provide therapeutic intervention for sexually violent children and their families. The case examples discussed come from this study and describe the roles attributed to mothers in causing and maintaining their children's sexual violence.


We have first attempted to develop high performance and safe fuel cells using ammonium formate as solid (powder) fuel. This solid fuel has potential to realize safe portability compared with liquid fuel such as methanol from the viewpoint of toxicity and flammability. In order to make use of some advantages of ammonium formate, we have investigated oxidation characteristics of ammonium formate toward Pt electrode. From cyclic voltammograms, ammonium formate has high activity to be oxidized with a Pt electrode. We have found that oxidation of ammonium formate can be improved by additional Ir catalysts with Pt catalysts. There is a high potentiality that ammonium formate is useful as solid (powder) fuel for polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells. This new fuel will be driving force to develop safe fuel cells for PEM.


We present a kinematic study of the outer regions (R25 < R < 2R25) of 17 edge-on disk galaxies. Using deep long-slit spectroscopy (flux sensitivity ~few 10−19 erg s−1 cm−2 arcsec−2), we search for Hα emission, which must be emitted at these flux levels by any accumulation of hydrogen due to the presence of the extragalactic UV background and any other local source of UV flux. We present results from the individual galaxy spectra and a stacked composite. We detect Hα in many cases well beyond R25 and sometimes as far as 2R25. The combination of sensitivity, spatial resolution, and kinematic resolution of this technique thus provides a powerful complement to 21 cm observations. Kinematics in the outer disk are generally disklike (flat rotation curves, small velocity dispersions) at all radii, and there is no evidence for a change in the velocity dispersion with radius. We place strong limits, a few percent, on the existence of counterrotating gas out to 1.5R25. These results suggest that thin disks extend well beyond R25; however, we also find a few puzzling anomalies. In ESO 323-G033 we find two emission regions that have velocities close to the systemic velocity rather than the expected rotation velocity. These low relative velocities are unlikely to be simply due to projection effects and so suggest that these regions are not on disk-plane, circular orbits. In MCG –01-31-002 we find emission from gas with a large velocity dispersion that is corotating with the inner disk.


In this present study the antioxidant activity of two edible seaweeds Eucheuma cottonii and Padina sp. were determined. The two extraction methods such as conventional and soxhlet were used to extract secondary metabolites by using methanol as a solvent medium. Total phenolic content of crude seaweed extracts were analysed by standard method. The different antioxidant assays 2,2-Diphenyl-1-Picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP) and β-carotene bleaching assays were studied. The DPPH and FRAP assays showed positive correlation with expressed higher total phenolic content of methanolic seaweed extracts. Also, β-carotene bleaching assay lower activity compare with BHT as reference control. IR spectra showed the phenolic related functional groups are present the seaweed extract. It mainly responsible for higher rate of antioxidant activity. The methanolic extracts of Padina sp. showed better radical scavenging and higher phenolic content than Eucheuma cottonii. Also, the soxhlet extraction showed higher yield and better radical scavenging activity compared to conventional method. Moreover, the studies confirmed both seaweeds are an effective candidate for the control the free radical scavenging activity.


In rat kidney high-affinity binding sites for [3H]Ro-5-4864 and [3H]PK-11195 with the properties of the peripheral-type acceptor were found enriched in mitochondrial (M) and light-mitochondrial-lysosomal (L) fractions on differential centrifugation. When the combined M and L fractions were subjected to sucrose density gradient centrifugation, these binding sites were found enriched at a density of 1.155 g/ml coincident with a population of light mitochondria, whereas a population of heavier mitochondria (rho = 1.175 g/ml) had few or no binding sites. Transmission electron microscopy showed that whereas the heavier mitochondria appeared highly pure and intact, the lighter mitochondria appeared less intact and to be contaminated with vesicular structures. After fractionation of the light mitochondria and vesicles by centrifugation, both fractions showed the same ratio of [3H]Ro-4864 binding sites to monoamine oxidase activity consistent with the vesicles being of mitochondrial outer-membrane origin. Digitonin pre-treatment had no effect on the density of acceptor-rich fractions on sucrose density gradient centrifugation. However, pretreatment with succinate/iodophenylnitrophenylphenyltetrazolium (INT) perturbed equally the density of acceptor-rich fractions and mitochondrial marker enzymes. When mitochondrial fractions were subjected to sonication prior to density gradient centrifugation the binding sites were now found highly enriched in a much lighter fraction coincident with the monoamine oxidase activity and thus consistent with being outer-membrane vesicles. When a mitochondrial fraction was subjected to hypotonic treatment before assay no evidence for activation/unmasking of binding sites was found. The hypotonic treatment did not release any inhibitor of the binding sites. These results are consistent with the peripheral benzodiazepine acceptor having an outer-membrane location on a sub-population of rat kidney mitochondria. Those mitochondria showing high levels of the acceptor are either light mitochondria or appear more susceptible to osmotic damage than those mitochondria in which the acceptor is absent or at low levels.


The vacuum seed metering device absorbs seeds by using the negative pressure generated by vacuum air flow. Therefore, it is of great significance to study the variation law of pyrolysis gas flow field to improve its seed metering performance. In this paper, the common disc and composite disc were selected as the research objects and tested on the indoor test-bed. The negative pressure was measured by U-type barometer, and the effects of fan speed, suction hole size, seed hole structure and air chamber thickness on the air flow field were studied. Firstly, the influence of fan rotation frequency on vacuum chamber negative pressure is studied, and the variation law of negative pressure in vacuum chamber and fan port of common disc and composite disc under the same frequency is compared. Secondly, the suction holes in the vacuum chamber were numbered, the negative pressure distribution of the suction holes was measured, and the influence of the number and diameter of the suction holes on the negative pressure of the vacuum chamber was studied. Finally, the negative pressure was measured at the distance of 0 to 10 mm from the suction hole to study the effect of seed hole structure on the air flow field. Moreover, increase the additional thickness of the vacuum chamber from 0 to 40 mm to study the influence of the chamber thickness on the distribution of the gas flow field. This paper makes a comprehensive experimental analysis on the influencing factors of air flow field of air suction seed metering device, necessary for future design of air suction seed metering device.