In accreting neutron star binaries, matter is channelled by the magnetic fields from the accretion disc to the poles of neutron stars forming an accretion mound. We model such mounds by numerically solving the Grad-Shafranov equation for axisymmet- ric static MHD equilibria. From our solutions we infer local distortion of field lines due to the weight of accreted matter. Variation in mass loading at the accretion disc will alter the shape of the accretion mound which will also affect the local field distortion. From simulations of cyclotron resonance scattering features from HMXBs, we conclude that local field distortion will greatly affect the shape and nature of the CRSF. From phase re- solved spectral analysis one can infer the localfield structure and hence the nature of mass loading of field lines at the accretion disc. We also study the stability of such mounds by performing MHD simulations using the PLUTO MHD code. We find that pressure and gravity driven instabilities depend on the total mass accreted and the nature of mass loading of the field lines.


The WHO 2001 global recommendation is a one size fits all approach to weaning, an approach which may not take sufficient account of the special needs of some infants and fails to allow for the different problems encountered in the industrialised nations compared with economically developing countries. For the healthy normal birth weight full term infant born in an industrialised country, current research supports the benefit of exclusive breast milk feeding until 4–6 months. Evidence of harm through introducing solid food to these infants earlier than this is weak. Infants should be managed individually according to their needs.


The introduction of school governing bodies (hereinafter SGBs) changed the roles and functions of principals dramatically when this new approach to school governance and professional management (referred to as a participatory decision-making approach) was activated when the South African Schools Act 84 of 1996 (hereinafter SASA) was implemented in January 1997. Consequently, the principal is no longer the only decision-maker in the school. The principal as the protagonist in school management and governance (implementing SGB policy) is the role-player most affected by the introduction of the participatory decision-making approach. In this article, we discuss principals' perspectives regarding the shared participatory decision-making approach and the effects thereof on the relationship between the principal and the SGB. In this regard, it is important to note that the perceptions the two parties have of each other are established by the SGB's encroachment on the professional management functions of the principal and vice versa. The research findings concluded that the relationship between the principal and the SGB is often a relationship characterised by tension, no trust and irrational actions by the SGB. The relationship is further influenced by the functionality or lack of functionality of SGBs as well as prevailing socio-economic conditions and SGB members' levels of literacy. On the other hand, principals who do not adapt to participatory decision-making, and who still implement an assertive autocratic management approach, also contribute to a turbulent relationship.


Eight fermentative mycoplasmas differing in genome size, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) base composition, or sterol dependence were examined for lactic dehydrogenase composition by spectrophotometric assay and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Three completely different patterns of lactic dehydrogenase composition were found. (i) A nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD)-dependent l(+)-lactic dehydrogenase was found in Mycoplasma pneumoniae, M. gallisepticum, M. mycoides var. mycoides, mycoplasma UM 30847, M. neurolyticum, and Acholeplasma axanthum. Electrophoresis of cell-free extracts of each of these mycoplasmas produced, with the exception of M. mycoides var. mycoides and UM 30847, single, different enzyme bands. M. mycoides var. mycoides and UM 30847 were similar and formed multiple bands of enzyme activity. We were unable to establish whether these multiple bands were due to lactic dehydrogenase isoenzymes or artifacts. (ii) An NAD-dependent d(−)-lactic dehydrogenase which could not be reversed to oxidize lactate was found in M. fermentans. (iii) A. laidlawii A possessed an NAD-independent d(−)-lactic dehydrogenase capable of reducing dichlorophenol-indophenol, and an NAD-dependent l(+)-lactic dehydrogenase which is specifically activated by fructose-1,6-diphosphate. Heretofore, this enzyme regulatory mechanism was known to occur only among the Lactobacillaceae. No yeast-type lactic dehydrogenase activity was found in any of the mycoplasmas examined. The stereoisomer of lactic acid accumulated during growth correlated perfectly with the type of NAD-dependent lactic dehydrogenase found in each mycoplasma. The types of lactic dehydrogenase activity found in these mycoplasmas were not related to genome size, DNA base composition, or sterol dependence.


Background: Previous scholars have mainly focused on adjusting message content to match individual characteristics and preferences. Additional strategies, such as tailoring to individual preferences for the mode of information delivery, have been proposed to increase message effectiveness. This project investigates whether mode tailoring, allowing users to self-tailor the mode of delivery, positively influences younger (25-45) and older (65+) adults' information recall and satisfaction with health websites.

Methods: First, a 5 (tailored vs. text, text with illustrations, text with video, combination) × 2 (younger vs. older adults) experiment (N ≈ 563) tested the effects on recall and satisfaction. Second, a 2 (tailored vs. non-tailored) × 2 (younger vs. older adults) experimental study (N ≈ 515) aimed to explore possible mechanisms of mode tailoring effects. Recall was measured with seven open questions. Satisfaction with the attractiveness, comprehensibility and emotional support of the website was assessed. Potential mediators included (amongst others) attention, cognitive load, and perceived active control.

Findings: Mode tailoring positively influenced attention, and consequently recall in older adults. Younger adults recalled more from text-only and text with illustrations. Both younger and older adults were more satisfied with the attractiveness and comprehensibility of the mode-tailored website. Perceived active control mediates this effect.

Discussion: Mode tailoring could be a promising strategy that can be used in health interventions. Next to investigating 'why' mode tailoring might be effective, it is also important to investigate 'when' (which audience and outcome measures) mode tailoring is effective. Nevertheless, this study provides relevant insights for researchers and practitioners.


Based on interviews with leading researchers and researcher-clinicians in fields allied to attachment research, this paper describes participants' perceptions of contemporary attachment research in the developmental tradition. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 13 research leaders in applied disciplines cognate to attachment research. Participants perceived attachment research as having played a foundational role for developmental science, including highlighting the importance of a developmental perspective and attention to early caregiving experiences. They also identified important contemporary strengths in developmental attachment research, including the observational acuity and insightfulness of its measures, its attention to dyadic processes in contrast to much of biomedicine, the development of a number of attachment-based interventions with well-articulated mechanisms of action, and the capacity of developmental attachment concepts to resonate with clinical and popular audiences. However, participants suggested that the developmental tradition is also perceived as having a comparatively high "cost of entry," and consequently they warned that it has become somewhat separated from wider developmental science, with its growing prominence of biological research, scalability of methods, and less reliance on theory. Participants perceived both strengths and weaknesses to contemporary developmental attachment research. However they felt that the classic concerns of developmental attachment research were placing the field potentially at odds with current trends in developmental science.


PIN photodiodes were bombarded with 40- and 85-MeV protons to a fluence of 1.5 × 1011 p/cm2, and the resulting change in spectral response in the near infrared was determined. The photocurrent, dark current and pulse amplitude were measured as a function of proton fluence. Changes in these three measured properties are discussed in terms of changes in the diode's spectral response, minority carrier diffusion length and depletion width. A simple model of induced radiation effects is presented which is in good agreement with the experimental results. The model assumes that incident protons produce charged defects within the depletion region simulating donor type impurities.


The resource-based approach is a new promising theoretical framework that is applied to the internationalisation of SMEs. Derived from strategic management it provides value-added theoretical propositions about the uniqueness of certain resources that have turned out to be critical for the internationalisation process of SMEs. This paper examines the differences in resource bundles (organisational, financial, and human and social) between internationalised and non-internationalised Slovenian SMEs. The findings are also controlled for the control variables of firm size and age from which valuable propositions and implications are derived for the entrepreneur and those policy-makers who want to increase the number of internationalised SMEs.


Massive abdominal enlargement was observed at relatively high incidence in two species of fish kept in two public aquariums for several years. Three seminomas, one dysgerminoma and two fibromas were found in 14 largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides, kept in a public aquarium for over 80 months. Four seminomas and one nephroblastoma were found in 24 Japanese dace (ugui), Tribolodon hakonensis, kept for more than 57 months in two different aquariums. The seminomas in M. salmoides showed rapid growth, and the affected fish died within a few months. At necropsy, a single large tumor, measuring 10.5-12.0 cm, was found in the abdominal cavity. The seminomas in T. hakonensis were single or multiple tumors, measuring 2.0-4.5 cm in diameter. Histologically, these seminomas were composed mainly of a typical germ cells similar to those in human seminomas or embryonal carcinomas. A nephroblastoma in one T. hakonensis showed extensive metastases to various organs. The cause of these tumors is unknown, but the prolonged longevity of fish kept under artificial conditions may have enhanced their development.


Using a series of multiheme cytochromes, the metal-reducing bacterium Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 can perform extracellular electron transfer (EET) to respire redox-active surfaces, including minerals and electrodes outside the cell. While the role of multiheme cytochromes in transporting electrons across the cell wall is well established, these cytochromes were also recently found to facilitate long-distance (micrometer-scale) redox conduction along outer membranes and across multiple cells bridging electrodes. Recent studies proposed that long-distance conduction arises from the interplay of electron hopping and cytochrome diffusion, which allows collisions and electron exchange between cytochromes along membranes. However, the diffusive dynamics of the multiheme cytochromes have never been observed or quantified in vivo, making it difficult to assess their hypothesized contribution to the collision-exchange mechanism. Here we use quantum dot labeling, total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy, and single-particle tracking to quantify the lateral diffusive dynamics of the outer membrane-associated decaheme cytochromes MtrC and OmcA, two key components of EET in S. oneidensis. We observe confined diffusion behavior for both quantum dot-labeled MtrC and OmcA along cell surfaces (diffusion coefficients DMtrC = 0.0192 ± 0.0018 μm2/s, DOmcA = 0.0125 ± 0.0024 μm2/s) and the membrane extensions thought to function as bacterial nanowires. We find that these dynamics can trace a path for electron transport via overlap of cytochrome trajectories, consistent with the long-distance conduction mechanism. The measured dynamics inform kinetic Monte Carlo simulations that combine direct electron hopping and redox molecule diffusion, revealing significant electron transport rates along cells and membrane nanowires. Significance Multiheme cytochromes in Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 transport electrons across the cell wall, in a process called extracellular electron transfer. These electron conduits can also enable electron transport along and between cells. While the underlying mechanism is thought to involve a combination of electron hopping and lateral diffusion of cytochromes along membranes, these diffusive dynamics have never been observed in vivo. Here, we observe the mobility of quantum dot-labeled cytochromes on living cell surfaces and membrane nanowires, quantify their diffusion with single-particle tracking techniques, and simulate the contribution of these dynamics to electron transport. This work reveals the impact of redox molecule dynamics on bacterial electron transport, with implications for understanding and harnessing this process in the environment and bioelectronics.


This letter proposes a new algorithm for efficiently finding an unbiased RLS estimate of FIR models with noisy inputs. The unbiased estimate is obtained without knowing any a priori information via a new cost. Furthermore, to reduce computational complexity, the estimate is updated along the current input-vector direction and the corresponding gain is efficiently computed. In addition, to increase the convergence rate, the algorithm is extended to update the estimate along not only current but also past input-vector directions. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm exhibits a fast convergence rate and an enhanced tracking performance with noisy correlated inputs.


Several authors have suggested that virtual worlds provide the potential for an altered reality for their users, who may seek to experiment with different personalities, appearances and personal needs. This paper empirically tests this assertion using Maslow's three higher order needs as the base. A survey delivered in the virtual world Second Life examines needs in real-life and the virtual world and personal characteristics. Using ANOVA the paper tests for differences in needs between the two environments and according to personal characteristics. The study finds that real-life needs significantly dominate virtual world needs. However, the pattern of needs in Second Life is different to real-life needs and emphasizes higher order needs, particularly self-actualization. This is particularly the case for the most innovative users of technology. Needs in real-life are still the key motivator for consumers, but the results also demonstrate the notion of an 'altered reality' for some respondents.


This paper examines the phenomenon of profit-increasing consumer exit and the related phenomenon of profit-decreasing consumer entry. We demonstrate that firms can be better off in shrinking markets and worse off in growing markets, even in the absence of competitive entry or exit. Specifically, firms may benefit if a segment of consumers who are relatively indifferent about consuming any product in the category leave the market. Profits can increase for all firms even if the exiting consumers have strong preferences for only one of the products in the market. In shrinking markets, it is reasonable to assume that the people who are likely to exit the market first are people who are "least committed" to the category. In particular, people who are the least satisfied with the existing offers are the most likely to change their behavior by finding an alternative or adopting a new technology. Similarly, in growing markets, consumers who enter the market late are generally the least committed to the category. Such exiting can relax the competitive pressure between firms and lead to increased profitability. Our findings provide an explanation for profit growth that has been observed in product industries exhibiting slow and predictable declines over time, including vacuum tubes, cigarettes, and soft drinks.


The purpose of this study is to predict the determination of head's leadership communication and empowerment staff on work motivation among public sector workers. Three construct leadership communications have been made into determining factor which is hacked out structure, communication consideration and orientation communication and the study will cover relationship between empowerment and work motivation. Sample only involve from state agency. They comprise of state agency and statutory body staff state. A sum of 108 samples employee from state agency department have been select by using random sampling technique and have been analyses with descriptive method, pearson colerasion, factor analysis and study shows the communication forecaster model that have been built are suitable with the collected study data. Furthermore leadership communication aspect and empowerment should have been given an emphasizing is one organization management to increase motivation among staff.


It is a matter of common knowledge that it may be extremely difficult to cure a leukorrheal condition. In attempting to do so, the first requisite is to determine the cause. This in itself may be no easy task, and success need not necessarily lead to cure. Bacterial infection, the invasion of parasites, and anatomic and even physiologic conditions all have to be considered. Often several factors from different sources act together in what may be a distressing condition for the patient. So-called remedies are numerous and too often are useless. The case reported here seems to be worth putting on record for two reasons. The first is that it resisted all efforts at treatment for five and one-half years. The second is that cure finally was promptly, and apparently permanently, brought about through the use of douches of phenylmercuric nitrate. In the fall of 1928 an unmarried woman in her late thirties


Having functional expected emotions regarding one's future life as a teacher is important for student teachers to maintain their motivation to choose a career as a teacher. However, humans show several biases when judging their emotional experiences. One famous bias is the so-called peak-end effect which describes the phenomenon that overall affective judgments do not reflect the average of the involved emotional experiences but the most intense and the most recent of the involved emotional experiences. Regarding student teachers' expected positive emotions, such a bias would be functional since their motivation to become a teacher is enhanced. However, regarding student teachers' expected negative emotions, such a bias would be dysfunctional since their motivation to become a teacher would be decreased. The aim of the present preregistered study was to examine whether student teachers' expected future teaching-related emotions show a peak-end effect. Student teachers viewed 14 common events that could part of a typical everyday routine of a teacher and rated their expected emotional pleasure and discomfort for each of the events. Afterward, they were asked to rate their overall expected emotional pleasure and discomfort when looking at their future professional life as a whole. Results showed that expected pleasure was much larger than expected discomfort regarding both overall, peak, and average ratings. No peak-end effect was observed for overall expected discomfort which reflected the average expected discomfort across events. By contrast, overall expected pleasure was biased toward expected peak pleasure experiences. These findings indicate that student teachers judge their expected overall affect in a functional way: realistically when dealing with negative emotions but through rose-colored glasses when dealing with positive emotions.


In brief Shin splints, or more precisely, medial tibial stress syndrome (MTSS), are painful and troublesome. Despite treatment or activity modification, they often recur. Distinguishing MTSS, the most common running overuse injury, from other overuse injuries can help focus treatment, which starts conservatively. Recommending activity modification, ice massage, NSAIDs, and stretching is a good first step. Patients who don't respond to treatment may need additional diagnostic workup and more restrictive activity guidelines.


A continuous-time Markov model is used to analyze electrocardiogram data obtained from a preclinical study in rabbits of five antiarrhythmic compounds. The preclinical protocol and data are introduced briefly. Some theoretical background for finite-state continuous-time Markov chain models is presented. The electrocardiogram data are then modeled as a continuous-time Markov process with the states being five categories of arrhythmias. The Markov model used assumes that the dwell times in the states are independent and exponentially distributed according to a parameter which depends on the antiarrhythmic compound and the arrhythmia state. For the five antiarrhythmic compounds the transition probabilities from state-to-state and the limiting distributions of the process are calculated and compared.


The main purpose of this paper is to study the existence of single-peaked solutions of the
Neumann problem
$$
\cases
-\varepsilon^2 \text{\rm div} \left(J(x)\nabla u\right)+V(x)u=u^p
& \text{in }\Omega,
\\
\displaystyle \dfrac{\partial u}{\partial \nu}=0
& \text{on }\partial\Omega,
\endcases
$$
where $\Omega$ is a smooth bounded domain of $\{\mathbb R}^N$, $N\ge 3$, $1< p< (N+2)/(N-2)$ and
$J$ and $V$ are positive bounded scalar value potentials.
We will show that, for the existence of concentrating solutions, one has to check if at least one
between $J$ and $V$ is not constant on $\partial \Omega$. In this case the concentration
point is determined by $J$ and $V$ only. In the other case the concentration
point is determined by an interplay among the derivatives of $J$ and $V$ calculated on $\partial \Omega$
and the mean curvature $H$ of $\partial \Omega$.


said to contain a small particle of faecal matter. There was no pain nor tenesmus, nor tenderness of the abdomen. The child was playful all the afternoon, and now fast asleep; having had a powder of hydrargyrum cum creta and Dover's powder, of each a grain, and a linseed-meal poultice. Dec. 14th. He had had a good night, and had passed two evacuations; the first faecal, but loose, with a patch of mucus tinged with blood; the second devoid of blood, and with abundant bile, but still relaxed. He was ordered to have a grain of extract of logwood, and five minims of ipecacuanha wine, with some syrup, in half an ounce of aniseed water, every four hours, and to repeat the powder. 8l P.M. He was comfortably asleep; he had been full of play all day, and hungry. He had had one semisolid evacuation.


This dissertation endeavors at evolving portentous novel secure steganographic bit embedding schemes for digital ASCII text document besides suggesting enhancement in some existing text-centric steganographic methods. Further, a cover generation algorithm for the said purpose is also conferred. Our proposed algorithms uses substitution technique for embedding / hiding secret message bits inside the text-cover whereas our cover generation algorithm exploits statistical characteristics of randomly generated data for data hiding purpose.To contrast our proposed schemes with prevalent schemes we have quantified the test results using Hamming distance, Levenshtein metric (also called edit distance) and Jaro-Winkler distance, where to elaborate on the quality of quantified results we have plotted probability distribution of Cover and Stego (Text) Object for visual analysis. Security of prevailing and newly proposed Steganographic schemes is gauged using "Known Cover and Known Message Attacks� where "Chosen Message Attack� instantly reveals the logic behind prevalent Steganographic schemes. Our experimental results are in confirmation with generally accepted evaluation metrics for gauging Steganographic Systems. Moreover, our suggested bit embedding methods does not increase or decrease the size of original Cover file but yet increases its bit embedding capacity. Also, saving the Stego Object in Portable Document Format (.pdf), and / or MS Word (.doc) file (including Notepad) and its retrieval thereafter does not suffer from any information loss. The advantage of our proposed Cover (as fake cryptogram groups) generation method is that the Stego Object can be transmitted in printed form without requiring a code book for bit extraction at receiving end.


ABSTRACT Glycol methacrylate resin is a very convenient medium used for inclusions of various types of tissue for histological and cytological studies. It provides excellent mechanical support in the sectioning of samples, even the ones with big differences in hardness. Additionally, it allows a large range of stain techniques and histochemical tests. During the infiltration stage, especially if it lasts for several days, the resin may be accidentally polymerized, which may give the impression that the sample has been lost. The present work aims to provide a technique for correcting the position of plant tissues samples embedded in accidentally polymerized glycol methacrylate resin. For this purpose, blocks of resin accidentally polymerized containing plant samples were trimmed and reshaped appropriately. The results were satisfactory and it was possible to obtain good sections of three micrometers thick.


BACKGROUND
The effect of transurethral resection of prostate (TURP) for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) on sexual function continues to be a controversial issue. The aim of this study was to evaluate sexual functions in Saudi patients suffering from BPH before and after TURP.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
The influence of TURP on libido, erection and ejaculation was prospectively studied in 179 patients undergoing TURP for BPH. The risk factors studied for erectile dysfunction (ED) were old age, polygamy, comorbidities, late presentation, intraoperative bleeding, intraoperative capsular perforation and bacteriuria. Patients reporting ED underwent intracavernosal injection (ICI) of 20-40 AA(1/4)g of prostaglandin E1 (PGE1) before and/or after surgery.

RESULTS
Before surgery, ED was present in 33/179 patients (18%) and was significantly associated with old age and comorbidities but not with polygamy or late presentation. In the patients with normal erection before surgery, dry ejaculation, ED and diminished libido developed after TURP in 71/134 (53%), 20/137 (15%), and 22/137 (16%), respectively. Postoperative ED was significantly associated with diminished libido (P=0.001), but not with postoperative dry ejaculation. The only significant risk factor associated with ED following TURP was capsular perforation. The response to ICI before and after TURP was comparable.

CONCLUSION
ED associated with TURP is most likely of neurogenic origin due to capsular perforation, or of psychogenic nature as suggested by the significant association with diminished libido.


Respiratory virus infections are the main causes of pediatric diseases. Human metapneumovirus (hMPV) is an enveloped RNA virus similar to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2, both of which have emerged as important new respiratory viruses. Recent studies have found that interleukin-4 (IL-4) is involved in the replication of a variety of viruses, and its role differs in different viruses. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of IL-4 on hMPV and to elucidate its mechanism of action. We found that hMPV infection promoted the expression of IL-4 in human bronchial epithelial cells. The replication of the virus was reduced using small interfering RNA knockdown of IL-4 expression, while the addition of exogenous recombinant human IL-4 to IL-4 knockdown cells restored viral replication ability. These results demonstrate that the expression of IL-4 is closely related to the replication of hMPV; moreover, further experiments revealed that IL-4 promotes the replication of hMPV through a mechanism dependent on the Janus kinase/signal transductor and transcription activator 6 signaling pathway. Therefore, anti-IL-4 strategies may be a promising avenue for the treatment of hMPV infection, representing an important breakthrough for children at risk from hMPV infection.


Office applications are becoming a major pillar of today's organizations since they are used to edit a vast amount of digital documents. Finding these office documents from disparate data sources that fit users' need is an essential task in conducting organization activities. Traditional search tools that employ keyword and phrase matching between the query and search index alone tend to offer high recall and low precision. As the result, search users are faced with too many irrelevant results. In order to solve this problem, we propose a novel search system that effectively searches documents of some office applications by the search query whose definition is based on document type, search terms and semantic relationship between the search terms and the documents. We present a technique that collects search terms and their semantic relationship from the documents to generate the XML-based search indices. Furthermore, our query optimization algorithm is also presented.


The aim of this work was to document the variability in the quality and nutrient content of broiler meat in the retail market of Jeddah city (Saudi Arabia) come from two types of broiler carcasses: frozen and fresh. There are also three sources within each type (A, B, C) and (D, E and F), respectively. These were evaluated using 45 carcasses from each type, i.e. 15 carcasses from each source, collected over three months. The meat types (frozen/fresh) and the sources within each type had a significant influence (P<0.05) on carcasses appearances and defects, including skin weight, and breast and leg parameters. In addition, physical qualities (pH, drip loss, lightness and yellowness) and chemical composition (dry matter, crude protein, Ca, P, Na and K content) were significantly affected by each type of meat and sources within the types. The quality of broiler meat in the retail market was shown to be significantly different in terms of customer selection to fulfil their recommended daily allowance. This difference in meat quality showed potential for the nutritious quality to be boosted. This suggests that consumers of meat can enhance their nutrient intake through being careful about their shopping. Furthermore, such variation shows the necessity of constant practice within husbandry and production, in terms of the implementation of regulations and aspects of new quality-controls. Based on the nutritional contents as stated by the market authorities, this may impact on consumers' wellbeing.


Linear assemblies of carbon nanotubes (LACNTs) were fabricated and controlled in polysiloxane-based nanocomposite films and the effects of the LACNTs on the thermal and electrical properties of the films were investigated. CNTs were dispersed by mechanical stirring and sonication in a prepolymer of polysiloxane. Homogeneous suspensions were cast on polyamide spacers and oriented by linear-assembly by applying DC and switching DC electric fields before the mixture became cross-linked. Densely packed LACNTs that fixed the composite film surfaces were fabricated with various structures and thicknesses that depended on the DC and switching DC conditions. Polymer nanocomposites with different LACNT densities exhibited enhanced thermal and electrical conductivities and high optical transmittances. They are considered promising structural materials for electronic sectors in automotive and aerospace applications.


Background: Jaw cyst is the most common disease of the oral and maxillofacial region. In addition to the pathogenic tooth, the roots of some teeth are often located in the cavity of the cystic capsule. Whether these involved teeth require root canal therapy and apicoectomy is still inconclusive. In the present study, we aimed to preserve the pulp activity of involved teeth in jaw cyst by improved operation.Methods: In our improved surgical method, the root canal therapy was not performed on the involved teeth, and no apical excision was performed during the operation. 63 involved teeth in 20 cases of jaw cyst treated by our department were selected between September 2015 and October 2017. The involved teeth were diagnosed by X-ray, CBCT, and a pulp vitality test before surgery. We observed the pulps' activity in the involved teeth and the efficacy of surgery for 12-36 months.Results: Electrical activity test of 63 involved teeth pulp in 20 patients with jaw cyst was normal or insensitively before operation. The involved teeth were preserved by improved surgical method. After 12-36 months' follow-up, the pulp activity of 53 involved teeth (84.1%) were preserved, whereas 10 teeth (15.9%) showed adverse symptoms such as redness and swelling in the apical area, fistula, and pain. These symptoms resolved after postoperative root canal therapy. Chewing function was restored well. There was no recurrence and the bone cavity gradually reduced and finally disappeared, and bone density returned to normal after long term follow-up.Conclusion: Our results showed that to preserve the activity of the involved teeth for the treatment of jaw cyst by performing an improved operation method was effective.


Work on remote collaboration has often focused on the person space created by a conventional videoconference where the participants see each other's faces, but we argue that a task space containing shared visual information is more important for most tasks. Trends in display technology mean that large visual task spaces can be created to maximize the shared context between collaborators. We have created a system called the Escritoire that presents users with a desk-sized projected display with bimanual input that allows documents and images to be arranged and modified by multiple remote collaborators. We describe the software architecture, the protocol that is used between the client and server programs, and the pen traces we have added to allow participants to gesture to each other in the large visual space to enrich their communication. Our user trials have shown that participants were able to use the system with a minimum of training, and found the traces useful in the collaborative setting. In future we will be connecting three or more sites together to explore the issues that arise with multi-party interaction on large shared desks. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Nonketotic hyperglycinemia is a life-threatening disorder in neonates characterized by a deficiency of the glycine cleavage system. We report on four cases of the neonatal form of the disease, which were investigated by in vitro1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy of blood and cerebrospinal fluid, and in vivo1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy of brain. The existence of glycine disposal pathways leading to an increase in lactate in fluids and creatine in fluids and brain was demonstrated. This is the first observation of elevated creatine in brain in nonketotic hyperglycinemia. A recurrent decrease of glutamine and citrate was observed in cerebrospinal fluid, which might be related to abnormal glutamine metabolism in brain. Finally, the cerebral N-acetylaspartate to myo-inositol-glycine ratio was identified as a prognostic indicator of the disease.


BACKGROUND: The evolution of technologies and mobility, new digital resources have emerged transforming human behavior. These include the abusive use of digital devices, leading to various dependences regarding the way people use technology. Collective environments also begin to exhibit symptoms of such dependences. OBJECTIVE: Validate a Digital Dependence of Employees Scale (DDES), applied to personnel not holding leadership positions in organizations. METHOD: Data were collected via Internet. The sample totaled 301 volunteers from a state-owned company, of which 294 were statistically validated. Participants were asked to answer 20 questions prepared by experts. After the collection procedure, a database was created for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Statistical analysis procedure including factorial analysis was conducted, which confirmed data adequacy. Three statistical criteria were used: Bartlett Sphericity test, Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Criterion and Factorial analysis, including Screeplot; the latter determined adequate commonalities, indicating the cancellation of only 1 out of the 20 original scale questions. The internal consistency of the scale measured through the Cronbach Alpha Coefficient showed a positive result of 0.764. Thus, scale validation objectives were achieved. CONCLUSION: The DDES scale was considered validated to be applied to employees in organizational environments. The limitations found to apply the scale did not compromise its results.


Introduction The original distinction between military and civil engineering has gradually lost its force, in no small measure because of the practical interchange of military and civil engineers on governmental works that are wholly civil in nature. The record of the graduates of West Point in river and harbor improvement, culminating perhaps in the construction of the Panama Canal, is evidence of this tendency. In recent months, however, any line of separation between civil and military engineers has been wholly lost sight of by reason of the military contribution of civilian engineers to the military program, which has been so largely an engineering program. How great and varied that contribution has been will doubtless be set forth in some presidential address before one of the great engineering societies, yet this meeting of the Geological Society of America is an opportune time for mention of one phase of this progress of engineering. . . .


More than 82% of the 140,614 animal poison exposures reported in 1993 and 1994 occurred in dogs and almost 14% occurred in cats. Almost all reported were acute exposures to a single product. Tables of detailed data are provided.


Bed roughness is an important parameter for the prediction of sediment transport as well as calculating flow conditions near the bed. Numerical models are extensively used to make these predictions. In these models it is fundamental to have proper values for bed roughness. The bed roughness is being estimated using a dataset from an ongoing pilot project in the Dutch western Wadden Sea. This dataset consists of 40 days of velocity measurements using ADV (8 Hz) and ADCP (1 Hz) instruments and concentration of SPM measurements using OBS instruments. To estimate the bed roughness, the dataset is analyzed using four methods for calculating the bed shear stress. The logarithmic profile, turbulent kinetic energy, vertical turbulent kinetic energy and the Reynolds stress method. The data has been processed and averaged per tidal phase, so statistical analysis can be applied to it. From this analysis, it is found that the concentration of SPM increases at 6 cm with increasing wind speed. As a result of this increasing of SPM the bed roughness also increases. This leads to the hypothesis that suspended sediment makes the bed rougher, and is not primarily governed by horizontal advection but also local resuspension. A 1DV numerical model is used in which horizontal advection is excluded to test this hypothesis. Simulations are performed with stationary boundary conditions, using combinations of water depth (0.2 to 2.8 m) and velocities (5 cm/s to 70 cm/s). These simulations are imposed with an initial homogeneous concentration. For every combination, the concentration is increased gradually until the concentration profile becomes L-shaped. Besides simulations with stationary conditions, timeseries of water depth and velocity are used to simulate one tidal cycle. All simulations performed with this numerical model do not take wind and waves into account and water-bed exchange is excluded. From the simulations with stationary boundary conditions the roughness is calculated using the LP method. It is found that bed roughness increases with increasing initial homogeneous concentration. From the simulation of one tidal cycle, it is found that the roughness increases towards the turn of the tide. After the turning of the tide, the concentration profile becomes L-shaped, and the roughness is decreased. The concentration profile becomes homegeneous again after a certain threshold of velocity and waterdepth and at the same time the roughness increases again. During a tidal cycle, it is possible to have a collapsed concentration profile, which indicates a lower bed roughness and thus a smoother bed.


Little information is available on the relationship between serum resistin levels and other adipokines with serum lipid levels and insulin resistance in uremic patients under different dialysis modalities. Methods. This study investigated the effects of dialysis modality on serum leptin, adiponectin, resistin, interleukin 6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) α levels in age, sex, and total adipose tissue mass (TATM); matched 30 hemodialysis (HD) patients, 30 continuous peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) patients, and 30 healthy controls; and evaluated the relationship between these adipokines and dyslipidemia and insulin resistance. Results. Serum resistin, adiponectin, IL-6, TNF-α, and high sensitive C reactive protein (hsCRP) levels were significantly increased in dialysis patients compared to controls (p < 0.05). In CAPD patients, serum leptin, resistin, triglycerides, and total cholesterol levels were higher than those in HD patients (p < 0.05). Leptin levels were positively correlated with TATM, serum triglycerides, total cholesterol, and low density lipoprotein (LDLc) levels in both dialysis groups. Resistin levels were found to positively correlate with TATM and triglycerides in CAPD patients. No relationship was found between the homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR) and adipokines studied. Conclusion. Serum leptin, resistin, triglycerides, and total cholesterol levels were higher in CAPD patients. Leptin levels were positively correlated with TATM, serum triglycerides, total cholesterol, and LDLc levels in dialysis patients. Resistin levels were positively correlated with TATM and triglycerides in CAPD patients. Glucose load during CAPD may be an important factor in increased in leptin, resistin, triglycerides, and total cholesterol levels in CAPD patients. These results highlight the importance of leptin and resistin as determinants of dyslipidemia, especially in CAPD patients.


OBJECTIVES
To determine the patterns of use, knowledge, and attitudes toward complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) among pharmacists.

DESIGN
Anonymous self-administered survey.

SETTINGS
61st International Congress of International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP), Singapore Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Research Symposium, and retail and hospital pharmacies in Singapore.

SUBJECTS
Pharmacists attending the FIP Congress, TCM Symposium, and pharmacists working in retail and hospital pharmacies.

OUTCOME MEASURES
Frequency of use of different types of CAM by demographic attributes, knowledge scores, and attitudinal scores.

RESULTS
Of the 430 surveys received, 420 fit the criteria for inclusion. Of the pharmacists, 84.3% reported use of some form of CAM in their lifetime. CAM was used for chronic and acute conditions. There was no difference in use of CAM based on gender and income. The mean score on the knowledge test was 7.23 of 10. Of the pharmacists, 72.6% were moderately satisfied with CAM and 79.4% indicated they would recommend CAM to family and friends. They received information on CAM from books/magazines (64%), friends/family (35.7%), and the Internet (31.4%). Eighty-one percent (81%) of pharmacists felt they had inadequate skills and knowledge to counsel patients on herbal medicine and 90.5% felt the professional curricula should have more components on CAM.

CONCLUSIONS
The use of CAM among pharmacists is widespread and prevalent. The increased use of CAM necessitates the need for more education. Pharmacists acknowledge that CAM may have a place in health care and accept their role as information providers. There is also a need for reliable sources of information on CAM.


The 3D simulators are nowadays essential in semiconductor device modelling in order to study fluctuation effects when devices are scaled to gate lengths approaching nanometre dimensions. To take into account these effects it is necessary to perform statistical studies, which have a high computational cost. The resolution of the linear systems generated by the discretization of partial differential equations is the most time‐consuming part of the simulation process. In this paper we propose an optimization of the linear system solution procedure based on domain decomposition methods implemented in a 3D parallel drift–diffusion device simulator. We have also carried out an analysis of the parallel performance of the device simulator. Numerical results show superlinear efficiency values up to 62 processors in the solution of the Poisson equation. The results were obtained on a Cluster HP Integrity Superdome. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


To determine who fathers the offspring in wild mountain gorilla groups containing more than one adult male silverback, we genotyped nearly one-fourth (n = 92) of the mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) living in the Virunga Volcanoes region of Africa. Paternity analysis of 48 offspring born into four groups between 1985 and 1999 revealed that, although all infants were sired by within-group males, the socially dominant silverback did not always monopolize reproduction within his group. Instead, the second-ranking male sired an average of 15% of group offspring. This result, in combination with previous findings that second-ranking males fare best by not leaving the group but by staying and waiting to assume dominance even if no reproduction is possible while waiting, is not consistent with expectations from a reproductive skew model in which the silverback concedes controllable reproduction to the second-ranking male. Instead, the data suggest a "tug-of-war" scenario in which neither the dominant nor the second-ranking male has full control over his relative reproductive share. The two top-ranked males were typically unrelated and this, in combination with the mixed paternity of group offspring, means that multimale gorilla groups do not approximate family groups. Instead, as long-term assemblages of related and unrelated individuals, gorilla groups are similar to chimpanzee groups and so offer interesting possibilities for kin-biased interactions among individuals.


Oxygen-containing defects are very important for altering the nonlinear optical (NLO) properties of graphene. To investigate the correlation between oxygen-containing defects and the synergistic NLO response in graphene-based nanocomposites, we attached CdS nanocrystals on the surface of graphene (G) and prepared G/CdS nanohybrids (NHs) consisting of various oxygen-containing functional groups via a chemical method. The NLO absorption and refraction of G/CdS NHs under single pulse laser irradiation are enhanced by 10.8 times with the concentration decrease of surface oxygen-containing groups, which might be attributed to the local field effects and synergetic effects stemming from charge transfer between the two components. However, the optical nonlinearity is decreased with further concentration decrease, which might arise from sp2 fragment interconnection and surface defects in the NHs. The NLO absorption transformation from two-photon absorption to saturable absorption with oxygen decrease is observed, and intensity-related NLO absorption and refraction in NHs are also discussed. Meanwhile, the G/CdS NHs exhibit superior NLO properties, implying potential applications of NH material in NLO devices.


As an emerging charity model, critical illness network crowdfunding provides a source of funds for some critically ill patients in China who have difficulty paying their high treatment costs by themselves. This study aims to investigate the influencing factors of the public's willingness to donate to critical illness crowdfunding projects on Internet platforms. From a perspective combining the technology acceptance model and the theory of planned behavior, a complex and comprehensive structural equation model is proposed. We randomly selected 1,000 members of the public in China and empirically verified the study framework through structural equation modeling (SEM) based on 710 valid questionnaires. The results show that the public's donation willingness and the social distance to a critical illness crowdfunding project on an online platform positively affect the public's donation behavior, and donation attitude positively affect donation willingness; perceived usefulness and empathic concern positively affect the public's donation attitude, which in turn affects its donation willingness. This study confirms that members of the public are more likely to help people who have similar demographic factors or people who are similar to themselves and have the same values, i.e., people who have a close social distance. It innovatively proposes and verifies the hypothesis that empathic concern can significantly positively affect users' perceived usefulness and donation attitude. Strong empathic concern triggers donation willingness and behavior.


OBJECTIVE
Data remain sparse to guide the use of targeted sonography for suspicious breast lesions found with MRI. The purpose of our study was to determine the usefulness of sonography in this setting.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Retrospective review of our breast MRI database was performed to identify all nonpalpable, mammographically occult MRI-detected suspicious lesions from January 1, 2003, to December 30, 2004, that underwent targeted sonography followed by imaging-guided biopsy. Frequency of sonography detection was determined, and MRI features (BI-RADS lesion type and size), histopathology outcomes, and positive biopsy rates of sonographically detected and occult findings were compared using chi-square analysis.

RESULTS
Targeted sonography was performed for 167 of 201 MRI lesions. Outcomes were benign in 120 (72%) and malignant in 47 (28%) findings. Lesions assessed on sonography were 84 (50%) masses, 53 (32%) nonmasslike enhancements, and 30 (18%) foci, with mean size of 16 mm. Overall, 76 of 167 (46%) lesions were detected with sonography. Depiction was significantly more frequent for masses (58%) than for nonmasslike enhancement (30%) or foci (37%) (p = 0.003). Lesion size did not affect the frequency of detection. Sonographically depicted findings had a significantly higher positive biopsy rate (36%) than sonographically occult lesions (22%) (p = 0.05).

CONCLUSION
Targeted sonography detected nearly half (46%) of MRI lesions evaluated, with depiction being most frequent for masses. Sonographically occult lesions had a probability of malignancy (22%), which warrants biopsy despite lack of sonographic detection.


During the last three decades, timely myocardial reperfusion using either thrombolytic therapy or primary percutaneous intervention (pPCI) has allowed amazing improvements in outcomes with a more than halving in 1-year ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) mortality. However, mortality and left ventricle (LV) remodeling remain substantial in these patients. As such, novel therapeutic interventions are required to reduce myocardial infarction size, preserve LV systolic function, and improve survival in reperfused-STEMI patients. Myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury (MIRI) prevention represents the main goal to reach in order to reduce STEMI mortality. There is currently no effective therapy for MIRI prevention in STEMI patients. A significant reason for the weak and inconsistent results obtained in this field may be the presence of multiple, partially redundant, mechanisms of cell death during ischemia-reperfusion, whose relative importance may depend on the conditions. Therefore, it is always more recognized that it is important to consider a "multi-targeted cardioprotective therapy", defined as an additive or synergistic cardioprotective agents or interventions directed to distinct targets with different timing of application (before, during, or after pPCI). Given that some neprilysin (NEP) substrates (natriuretic peptides, angiotensin II, bradykinin, apelins, substance P, and adrenomedullin) exert a cardioprotective effect against ischemia-reperfusion injury, it is conceivable that antagonism of proteolytic activity by this enzyme may be considered in a multi-targeted strategy for MIRI prevention. In this review, by starting from main pathophysiological mechanisms promoting MIRI, we discuss cardioprotective effects of NEP substrates and the potential benefit of NEP pharmacological inhibition in MIRI prevention.


Objective Signaling through Prostaglandin E3 Receptor (EP3), a G protein-coupled receptor for E series prostaglandins such as prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), has been linked to the beta-cell dysfunction and loss of beta-cell mass in type 2 diabetes (T2D). In the beta-cell, EP3 is specifically coupled to the unique cAMP-inhibitory G protein, Gz. Divergent effects of EP3 agonists and antagonists or Gαz loss on beta-cell function, replication, and survival depending on whether islets are isolated from mice or humans in the lean and healthy, type 1 diabetic, or T2D state suggest a divergence in biological effects downstream of EP3/Gαz dependent on the physiological milieu in which the islets reside. Methods We determined the expression of a number of genes in the EP3/Gαz signaling pathway; PGE2 production pathway; and the beta-cell metabolic, proliferative, and survival responses to insulin resistance and its corresponding metabolic and inflammatory derangements in a panel of 80 islet preparations from non-diabetic human organ donors spanning a BMI range of approximately 20-45. In a subset of islet preparations, we also performed glucose-stimulated insulin secretion assays with and without the addition of an EP3 agonist, L798,106, and a glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonist, exendin-4, allowing us to compare the gene expression profile of each islet preparation with its (1) total islet insulin content (2), functional responses to glucose and incretin hormones, and (3) intrinsic influence of endogenous EP3 signaling in regulating these functional responses. We also transduced two independent islet preparations from three human organ donors with adenoviruses encoding human Gαz or a GFP control in order to determine the impact of Gαz hyperactivity (a mimic of the T2D state) on human islet insulin content and functional response to glucose. Results In contrast to results from islets isolated from T2D mice and human organ donors, where PGE2-mediated EP3 signaling actively contributes to beta-cell dysfunction, PGE2 production and EP3 expression appeared positively associated with various measurements of functional beta-cell compensation. While Gαz mRNA expression was negatively associated with islet insulin content, that of each of the Gαz-sensitive adenylate cyclase (AC) isoforms were positively associated with BMI and cyclin A1 mRNA expression, suggesting increased expression of AC1, AC5, and AC6 is a compensatory mechanism to augment beta-cell mass. Human islets over-expressing Gαz via adenoviral transduction had reduced islet insulin content and secretion of insulin in response to stimulatory glucose as a percent of content, consistent with the effects of hyperactivation of Gαz by PGE2/EP3 signaling observed in islets exposed to the T2D physiological milieu. Conclusions Our work sheds light on critical mechanisms in the human beta-cell compensatory response, before the progression to frank T2D.


Historically, the electrophysiology laboratory has relied heavily on the use of ionizing radiation in the form of fluoroscopy for a broad range of interventions and diagnostics. As the harmful effects of radiation have become increasingly recognized and procedural technologies have advanced, electrophysiologists have adopted new workflows. The purpose of this article is to review the available literature and experience in minimizing radiation in the modern electrophysiology laboratory. This review first covers general approaches to reducing fluoroscopy radiation in the electrophysiology suite, with concepts that apply across all procedure types. These include the reduction of infrared emission through fastidious fluoroscopy settings, new and proven solutions for radiation shielding, and methods of creating distance between the radiation source and the operator to reduce exposure. Following this discussion, we review specific task-based techniques for reducing radiation during special electrophysiologic procedures and workflows such as vascular access, coronary sinus lead placement, catheter manipulation, and periprocedural planning studies.


Development of novel approaches for quantitative analysis of gene expression in intact tumor cells should provide new means for cancer detection and for studying the response of cancer cells to biological and therapeutic reagents. We developed procedures for detecting the levels of expression of multiple genes in fixed as well as viable cells using molecular beacon imaging technology. We found that simultaneous delivery of molecular beacons targeting survivin and cyclin D1 mRNAs produced strong fluorescence in breast cancer but not in normal breast cells. Importantly, fluorescence intensity correlated well with the level of gene expression in the cells detected by real-time reverse transcription-PCR or Western blot analysis. We further show that molecular beacons can detect changes of survivin gene expression in viable cancer cells following epidermal growth factor stimulation, docetaxel treatment, and overexpression of p53 gene. Thus, molecular beacon imaging is a simple and specific method for detecting gene expression in cancer cells. It has great potential for cancer detection and drug development.


abstract:In this article I extend Gilles Deleuze's understanding of sense, as developed in Logic of Sense, by developing a metaphysics of problems. In doing this, we can appreciate the role Hume's philosophy plays in Deleuze's thought, and most importantly how we can understand sense in the context of making sense of life. With this perspective in place, we compare Deleuze's project with Pierre Bourdieu's and, finally, apply the notion of making sense to the history of the emergence of capitalism. With this discussion of the history of capitalism, we see how Deleuze draws from both Hume and Marx, or, in short, we sketch a Deleuzo-Humean political theory.


This paper describes a digital rear-view mirror that helps the driver to analyze situations on the road behind him. A single camera is mounted on the back of the car. From its observations the optical motion in the image plane can be estimated. Provided with this information we have to derive the real-world motion of the vehicles behind our car. We present a method to interpret the projected motion of object points on the image plane. A method is described how to retrieve the real-world motion parameters of interest: the Time-to-Contact and Lane-shifts. The estimations of these parameters are largely innuenced by (small) vibrations of the camera. Our technique estimates these vibrations on the y. The complete method will be illustrated by means of simulation experiments. Results based on practical data are presented to indicate its practical validity. The experiments show how the Time-to-Contact and Lane-shifts can be detected with our method in a robust way.


The structure has been put forward of P2P systems are strictly based on the keyword matching to find the way of routing resources, so the routing mechanism will not be able to reflect the massive, distributed resources, and semantic information, thus reducing the precision of service discovery and search prospective rate. Semantic Web as the next generation of the embryonic form of the World Wide Web, which supports the semantic search query and increase the efficiency of the realization of intelligent search. Based on the Pastry system, a typical P2P system, advanced a new type of ontology semantic Web Service discovery model, and made in-depth discussions in how to make semantics and peer-to-peer networks integration.


This paper investigates experimental design (DoE) for the calibration of the triaxial accelerometers embedded in a wearable micro Inertial Measurement Unit (μ-IMU). Firstly, a new linearization strategy is proposed for the accelerometer model associated with the so-called autocalibration scheme. Then, an effective Icosahedron design is developed, which can achieve both D-optimality and G-optimality for linearized accelerometer model in ideal experimental settings. However, due to various technical limitations, it is often infeasible for the users of wearable sensors to fully implement the proposed experimental scheme. To assess the efficiency of each individual experiment, an index is given in terms of desired experimental characteristic. The proposed experimental scheme has been applied for the autocalibration of a newly developed μ-IMU.


Analytic function, also called window function, is to query the aggregation of data over a sliding window. For example, a simple query over the online stock platform is to return the average price of a stock of the last three days. These functions are commonly used features in SQL databases. They are supported in most of the commercial databases. With the increasing usage of cloud data infra and machine learning technology, the frequency of queries with analytic window functions rises. Some analytic functions only require const space in memory to store the state, such as SUM, AVG, while others require linear space, such as MIN, MAX. When the window is extremely large, the memory space to store the state may be too large. In this case, we need to spill the state to disk, which is a heavy operation. In this paper, we proposed an algorithm to manipulate the state data in the disk to reduce the disk I/O to make spill available and efficiency. We analyze the complexity of the algorithm with different data distribution.


We introduce a supervised learning algorithm for photonic spiking neural network (SNN) based on back propagation. For the supervised learning algorithm, the information is encoded into spike trains with different strength, and the SNN is trained according to different patterns composed of different spike numbers of the output neurons. Furthermore, the classification task is performed numerically and experimentally based on the supervised learning algorithm in the SNN. The SNN is composed of photonic spiking neuron based on vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser which is functionally similar to leaky-integrate and fire neuron. The results prove the demonstration of the algorithm implementation on hardware. To seek ultra-low power consumption and ultra-low delay, it is great significance to design and implement a hardware-friendly learning algorithm of photonic neural networks and realize hardware-algorithm collaborative computing.


Abstract
 Agriculture has both economic value and non-economic value. The calculation of the non-economic value of agriculture has become a research hotspot in academic circles. This paper divides the value of agriculture into products production value and ecological value, and adopts an authoritative ecological value calculation idea, i.e. the method proposed by Costanza et al. in 1997 as the basis to calculate the ecological value of agriculture. However, the study has come under heavy criticism: for example, some data have major deviation, underestimating the ecological value of cultivated land while overestimating the wetland. XIE Gaodi et al. in 2003 came up with more reliable results to make up for the deficiency of the methods from Costanza et al. Referring to some of the results and on the basis of a questionnaire survey to 200 Chinese ecologists, this paper presented an equivalent factor table for evaluating the ecological service value (ESV) of China's ecosystem. Based on this table and the practical situation of Tianjin, the paper formulates an applicable calculation method for ecological value and actually calculates the ecological value of agriculture in Tianjin with official statistics. The results show that the actual value of the ecological value of agriculture in Tianjin in 2012 was 111.20 billion CNY, about triple of the economic value of agriculture (37.56 billion CNY) in the same year.


Abstract Over the last decade, much new research has appeared on the subject of the Great Irish Famine but, remarkably, a major political event during the famine – the 1847 general election – has received virtually no mention. Recent work on politics in this period has tended to concentrate on political reaction in Britain rather than Ireland. The aim of this article is to examine the response of Irish politicians to the famine during the general election of 1847. The main source has been the political addresses and nomination speeches of most of the 140 candidates. The evidence from this material shows that, although the famine was an important matter in many constituencies, it was not the dominant issue countrywide. Various proposals to deal with the famine emerged, but there was an absence of agreed, practical measures to deal with immediate problems. The parties in Ireland failed to create a common platform to challenge the government over its efforts. Ideological constraints played an important part in these failures. The general election of 1847 represents a lost opportunity to tackle some of the effects of the famine.


Heifetz, Meier, and Schipper (2013) introduced dynamic game with unawareness consisting of a partially ordered set of games in extensive form. Here, we study the normal form of dynamic games with unawareness. The generalized normal form associated with a dynamic game with unawareness consists of a partially ordered set of games in norm form. We use the generalized normal form to characterize extensive-form rationalizability (resp., prudent rationalizability) in dynamic games with unawareness by iterated conditional strict (resp., weak) dominance in the associated generalized normal form. We also show that the analogue to iterated admissibility for dynamic games with unawareness depends on extensive-form structure. This is because under unawareness, a player's information set not only determines which nodes she considers possible but also of which game tree(s) she is aware of.


We are generally concerned with the possible lists of multiplicities for the eigenvalues of a real symmetric matrix with a given graph. Many restrictions are known, but it is often problematic to construct a matrix with desired multiplicities, even if a matrix with such multiplicities exists. Here, we develop a technique for construction using the implicit function theorem in a certain way. We show that the technique works for a large variety of trees, give examples and determine all possible multiplicities for a large class of trees for which this was not previously known.


A detailed microscopic model is worked out that explains the Fermi level behaviour for the low-temperature formation of Schottky barriers. It is based on a renormalized molecule description of the chemisorption at low coverage. The Fermi level drop after saturation and its final pinning position are shown to be determined by electrostatic screening effects. The situation near monolayer coverage is analysed and the onset of metallization is discussed.


River mouths along sandy coastlines are influenced by alongshore transport of littoral sands. Here, we study the mechanisms of alongshore sediment bypassing at two river mouths along the French Mediterranean coast. Both river mouths are exposed to the same wave energy, and have similar hydraulic behaviors. We find that bypassing rates are strongly dependent on river discharge and wave energy. When the river mouths are closed, longshore transport occurs as on an open beach for both sites excepted when the shoals are located upstream inducing a discontinuity with adjacent shorelines. The main difference is observed during the most important floods. At the natural Tet river mouth, bypass is mainly associated with spit platform breaching, while at the Agly river, the presence of jetties induced an export of sediment in the nearshore, then transport by waves to the downdrift coast.


Conventional web interfaces respond to and consider only mouse clicks when defining a user model. We have extended this and take into account all mouse movements on a page as an additional layer of information for inferring user interest. We have developed a straightforward way to record all mouse movements on a page, and conducted a user study to analyze and investigate mouse behavior trends. We found certain mouse behaviors, common across many users, which are useful for content providers in increasing the effectiveness of their interface design.


This paper studies evaluation system of restricting factors in training students' qualities by modern mathematical method of analysis hierarchy process and principal factor analysis, and to build up a mathematical model of evaluation system.


Abstract The aim of this paper was to report on an examination of the digestive organs in the deep-water fish Phycis blennoides (Brünnich) from Algerian coastal waters. A total of 1,019 specimens (5.7–62.7 cm in total length) obtained from commercial fisheries were examined between December 2013 and May 2017. The anatomical study was conducted using morphometric measurements of different sections of the digestive tract of P. blennoides. The histological features of the digestive tract were examined in the esophagus, stomach, intestine, and pyloric cecum. They were compatible with carnivorous feeding behavior and confirmed by a low intestinal quotient (IQ = 0.72 ± 0.13). The histopathological assessment highlighted the hepatic steatosis and parasitic infestation in its intestine from Anisakis simplex, which also occurs in Algerian coastal waters. According to our knowledge, this paper reports for the first time the morphohistological analysis of the digestive tract of a Phycidae species in Africa and provides the first histopathological assessment of the digestive organs of the greater forkbeard in the southwestern Mediterranean Sea.


When the Guyanese novelist Janice Shinebourne affirms that "[t]hose terrible times in Guyana are the times in which I grew up, and I am committed of necessity to write them about" (Cudjoe 144), she refers to the traumatic history of her country and alludes to a Caribbean That Isn 't?, from a historical and psychological standpoint. Like numerous Guyanese female writers, she displays a deep preoccupation with the political history of her country as well as its impact on gender relations. This paper approaches Shinebourne's fictionalization of history through the concept of Coolitude, pointing to the destructive as well as creative elements inherent in the post-colonial context and the essential need to reconnect with a past that has been consciously or unconsciously erased. It examines how Shinebourne's autobiographical fiction/autobiofiction attempts to understand but is also paralyzed by the violent political climate that ruined her country's aspirations in the 1960s. The problem of historical fiction within the post-colonial context must clearly be distinguished from other situations as "[t]he struggle against colonial oppression not only changes the direction of Western history, but challenges its historicist idea of time as a progressive, ordered whole" (Bhabha 41). The last decades have observed a series of doubts in relation to the historical discourse that has ended in a crisis of history and authority within the Western world. It has become evident that, rather than memory shaping history, it is history itself that forms a society's memories conditioned by cultural, social, ideological, and gender-related influences and therefore "requires an act of reading before it can have meaning" (Slemon 160). One nevertheless wonders to what extent the crisis of hi(s) story affects the way history is constructed and especially how it has more recently been appropriated by the media. The discussion has never really distanced itself from the very Western concept of history, a discourse that is still very much centered around glorious male deeds, monuments, peace and war, political and economic conflicts, written records and linear progress. Janice Shinebourne's fiction challenges this conceptualization of history in many ways by focusing on women, ordinary and poor people, "unhistoric acts" (Timepiece 3) and daily life. She indirectly alludes to the fact that, in the colonial situation, the actual construction of history has been made almost impossible


Biodiesel as a renewable alternative fuel for petroleum based diesel fuel produces lower emissions of all types (CO, HC ...) except Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) when compared to the petroleum diesel fuel. Reducing Nitrogen Oxides produced from engines running on biodiesel is a challenging task to be able to meet the emission requirements. Knowledge of fuel blend could be very helpful for control and adaptation purposes to tune the engine control system parameters leading to lower NOx emission and improved engine performance. Biodiesel can be used in different blends with conventional diesel and estimating the percentage of the biodiesel fuel has become a new area of research in the past few years. Biomass content estimation based on fuel injection rate per engine cycle and the produced power from the engine is presented in this paper to fulfill this goal. The proposed method employs information about the produced power from a brake torque estimation algorithm and injected fuel from engine control unit (ECU). The designed estimator is tuned using the data collected from a developed engine model. Orthogonal Least Squares and Neural Network are the two system identification techniques used in this paper. The estimation results from the two identification methods are compared and illustrate that the designed estimator is accurate in both cases.


Micromagnetic simulations of coercivity as a function of external magnetic field direction were performed for a hexagonal array of hemispherical Permalloy nanocaps. The analysis was based on hysteresis loops for arrangements of nanocaps of variable thickness (5 nm and 10 nm). The angular dependence of coercivity had a maximum at about 80° with respect to the arrangement plane. An increase in coercivity with nanocap thickness is related to the magnetization reversal mechanism, where the dipole energy of individual caps generates an effective intermediate axis, locking the magnetic moments. The coercivity has maximum values of 109 Oe for 5 nm and 156 Oe for 10 nm thickness. The remanence decreases monotonically with angle. This is associated with the influence of shape anisotropy, where the demagnetizing field in the plane of the array is much smaller than the demagnetizing field perpendicular to the plane.


Proteolytic enzymes have wide applications in various industries. Microorganisms represent an excellent source of proteolytic enzymes owing to their broad biochemical diversity, rapid growth, and low cost for their cultivation. However, the information of extracellular protease of Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) is limited.
Therefore, an attempt was conducted to study the extracellular protease produced by LAB isolated from local fermented foods, Budu and Bambangan. The extracellular
protease activity was determined by qualitative assay using skim milk agar plate and quantitative assay by spectrophotometric method. Out of 41 LAB isolates, 21 LAB
exhibited extracellular protease activity over a broad pH range by quantitative spectrophotometric assay. Isolate B12m9 was the highest extracellular protease producer under acidic condition and hence it was selected for further study. The isolate B12m9 was identified as Pediococcus pentosaceus B12m9 by phenotypic and genotypic analyses. Nucleotide sequence of 16S rDNA showed 97% homology to P. pentosaceus. Thus, this isolate was designated as P. pentosaceus B12m9 and its proteolytic enzyme was designated as extracellular protease B12m9. The experiments of cultivation conditions such as initial pH, temperature and incubation time showed that maximum protease production by P. pentosaceus B12m9 occurred at pH 7.0 and 30°C over 20 h of incubation time. The extracellular protease B12m9 was further purified by using Fast Protein Liquid Chromatograph. Four protease isozymes were produced by P. pentosaceus B12m9 as different protease activity of the ammonium precipitated proteases were detected. Peak G extracellular protease was purified to apparent homogeneity by ammonium sulphate precipitation, Resource Q anion-exchange chromatography and Superose-12 gel filtration chromatography with a recovery yield of 19% and purification fold of 62.53. The molecular mass of the purified protease was estimated to be 14.4 and 14.5
kDa by Glycine sodium dodecyl sulphate – polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and Superose-12 gel filtration chromatography, respectively. The isoelectric point of the
purified protease as revealed by isoelectric focusing electrophoresis was approximately 8.0. In conclusion, different LAB produced different types of extracellular protease and the purified extracellular protease B12m9 was an alkaline protease, where the potential of the purified extracellular protease has to be explored further.


Behind every government there is an impressive team of hard-working lawyers. In Australia, the Solicitor-General leads that team. A former Attorney-General once said, 'The Solicitor-General is next to the High Court and God.' And yet the role of government lawyers in Australia, and specifically the Solicitor-General as the most senior of government lawyers, is under-theorised and under-studied.The Role of the Solicitor-General: Negotiating Law, Politics and the Public Interest goes behind the scenes of government – drawing from interviews with over 45 government and judicial officials – to uncover the history, theory and practice of the Australian Solicitor-General. The analysis reveals a role that is of fundamental constitutional importance to ensuring both the legality and the integrity of government action, thus contributing to the achievement of rule-of-law ideals. The Solicitor-General also works to defend government action and prosecute government policies in the court, and thus performs an important role as messenger between the political and judicial branches of government.But the Solicitor-General's position, as both an internal integrity check on government and an external warrior for government, gives rise to competing pressures: between the law, politics and the public interest. The office of the Solicitor-General in Australia has evolved many characteristics across the almost two centuries of its history in an attempt to navigate these tensions. These pressures are not unique to the Australian context. The understanding of the Australian position provided by this book is informed by, and will inform, comparative analysis of the role of government lawyers across the world.


Basic informations for direct somatic embryo formation in Rehmannja glutinosa Lib. were obtained in 500ml erlenmyer flask. The ratio of ammonium to nitrate nitrogen of 825(mg/l) : 1900(mg/l) was proper condition for somatic embryo formation from stem and petiole explants and 3% sucrose was the most effective carbon source. Full strength MS medium with 2mg/l BA was better than LS medium for somatic embryogenesis. The initial pH 5.7 of medium(full strength MS with 2.0mg/l BA and 0.1mg/l NAA) was good for embryo production. Potassium ion was taken up rapidly within 2 weeks. while and ion contents were almost constant during culture period. Sucrose hydrolysis occurred throughout the culture, while glucose and fructose were absorbed simultaneously from the third week of culture.


Forty couples and their 5-month-old infants participated in a study investigating the relationships between parental attitudes and fathers' behavioral and affective involvement with their children during a brief home-based observation. Attitudinal measures included fathers' and mothers' views on the role of the father, fathers' sex role orientation, empathic tendencies, and social desirability scores. The fathers' sex role orientation and both parents' views concerning the role of the father were found to be significantly correlated with observed levels of paternal activity. Implications for paternal support programs are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)


The purpose of the current study is to investigate parents" understanding and needs for character education in early childhood and during elementary education and to suggest policy implications effective character education for young children. Using focus group interviews, we collected qualitative data from 14 mothers in Seoul, Korea. The mothers were unclear about the definition of character education for their children and about their role in teaching proper values during the early years of their children"s development. Most mothers with preschoolers were satisfied with the character education their children were receiving whereas mothers with children in elementary school were not satisfied with the character education provided by school. The mothers expressed their concerns about the reliability of the teachers and schools of their children. As policy implications, providing regular parent education, activating parent-teacher associations, and strengthening the partnership through support from the community are suggested.


Haploidentical stem cell transplantation (HAPLO) is being increasingly used, and significant progress has been made both with ex vivo T-cell depleted grafts as well as with unmanipulated marrow or peripheral blood grafts. We here review the current status of HAPLO grafts in patients with acquired severe aplastic anemia. Several transplant platforms have been tested, to overcome graft severe rejection and graft vs host disease (GvHD): these include differences in the conditioning regimen, in graft source and graft manipulation, and in GvHD prophylaxis. The latter include ex vivo T-cell depletion and/or antithymocyte globulin and/or high dose post-transplant cyclophosphamide. Some programs also include the use of marrow or cord blood mesenchymal stem cells, infused at the time of transplantation. Extremely encouraging results are being reported especially in the pediatric population, but also in young adults: we will review reports on 375 patients, with an average rejection rate of 6%, grade II-IV GvHD of 23% and 1-year survival of 80%. Finally we will discuss the place of HAPLO transplants in the context of alternative donor grafts for acquired aplastic anemia.


The concept of characteristic sets developed initially by Ritt and Wu has turned into a standard tool for the study of sets or systems of polynomial and algebraic differential equations. With the help of constructing characteristic sets, an arbitrary set or system of polynomials or differential polynomials can be triangularised. It means that it can be decomposed into a particular set or system of triangular forms. In this paper, a comparison of Ritt–Wu's characteristic sets by Wang for the ordinary differential polynomial sets with the generalised characteristic sets of the ordinary differential polynomial sets by the authors has been presented.


The Semantic Web is an emerging framework for data reuse and sharing. By giving data clear semantics it allows for machine processing of this information. The Semantic Web technologies range from simple meta data to domain models using the Web Ontology Languge (OWL). Much of the semantics of OWL stems from the Knowledge Representation field of Description Logics. Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) uses specific knowledge in the form of cases to solve problems. The Creek system is a Knowledge-Intensive approach to CBR that combines specific knowledge with general domain knowledge. Part of this work is to define a OWL vocabulary for Creek. This will be concepts used to describe case-bases and domain models, and how these concepts are related to each other. Using this vocabulary, a knowledge model from a Creek system can be described in OWL and shared with others on the Semantic Web. We also examines how domain ontologies can be reused and imported into a Creek knowledge model. We propose a design for Creek to operate in the context of the Semantic Web and its distributed knowledge. Part of the design will be tested by implementation.


As an important tumor suppressor gene, the p53 gene is considered to be a typical biomarker for the early diagnosis and prognosis evaluation of severe cancer. Herein, an electrochemical biosensor was proposed for the ultrasensitive detection of the p53 gene based on molecular beacon-mediated circular strand displacement polymerization combined with terminal deoxynucleotide transferase-mediated template-free DNA extension. Firstly, the p53 gene opened the hairpin structure of the molecular beacon, thereby exposing the binding sequence region of the primer DNA. The circular strand displacement polymerization occurred in the presence of the primer DNA and phi29 DNA polymerase, subsequently resulting in the circulation of the p53 gene. With the catalysis of the terminal deoxynucleotide transferase, the 3'-OH terminal sequence of the molecular beacon elongated to produce long single-stranded DNA under the template-free DNA extension. Methylene blue bound with such DNA strands generated a strong differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) signal with a peak potential of -0.28 V. Under the optimal detection conditions, the DPV signal of methylene blue showed good linear relationships with the logarithm value of the p53 gene in two concentration ranges of 0.05 fM to 3 pM and 5 fM to 100 fM, and the detection limit of the p53 gene was as low as 0.018 fM. This electrochemical biosensor possessed high recognition ability for the p53 gene in its analogues and was successfully applied for p53 gene analysis in human serum samples.


STUDY OBJECTIVES
To contribute to the anthropometric and metabolic phenotyping of orexin-A-deficient narcoleptic patients, and to explore a possible risk of their developing a metabolic syndrome.

DESIGN
We performed a cross-sectional study comparing metabolic alterations in patients with narcolepsy with cataplexy (NC) and patients with idiopathic hypersomnia without long sleep time.

SETTING
University hospital.

PATIENTS
Fourteen patients with narcolepsy with cataplexy and 14 sex and age-matched patients with idiopathic hypersomnia without long sleep time.

INTERVENTIONS
N/A.

MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS
Metabolic parameters were evaluated by measuring body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (also with abdominal computed tomography), blood pressure, and daily calorie intake (3-day diary). Chronotypes were assessed through the morningness-eveningness questionnaire. Lumbar puncture for cerebrospinal fluid orexin-A determination and HLA typing were performed. Patients with narcolepsy with cataplexy (all HLA DQB1*0602 positive and with cerebrospinal fluid orexin-A levels < 110 pg/mL) had a higher BMI and BMI-independent metabolic alterations, namely waist circumference, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and glucose/insulin ratio (an insulin resistance index), with respect to patients with idiopathic hypersomnia without long sleep time (cerebrospinal fluid orexin-A levels > 300 pg/mL). Despite lower daily food intake, patients with narcolepsy with cataplexy displayed significant alterations in metabolic parameters resulting in a diagnosis of metabolic syndrome in more than half the cases.

CONCLUSIONS
BMI-independent metabolic alterations and the relative hypophagia of patients with narcolepsy with cataplexy, as compared with patients with idiopathic hypersomnia without long sleep time, suggest that orexin-A influences the etiology of this phenotype. Moreover, considering that these dysmetabolic alterations are present from a young age, a careful metabolic follow-up of patients diagnosed with narcolepsy with cataplexy is mandatory.


Online user feedback, collected by means of internet survey tools, is a promising approach to obtain early user feedback on concepts and early prototypes. In this study, the collection and utilization of online user feedback was investigated in four design cases: all master student projects for industry clients involving seven student designers. A total of 272 user participants provided quantitative feedback. Half of these also provided qualitative feedback. One third of the qualitative feedback was perceived as useful by the student designers. The main usefulness of the feedback was related to strategic concept decisions rather than the interaction design of the early prototype. Lessons learnt are provided.


This study addresses the issue of robust H∞ control for a class of uncertain Takagi–Sugeno fuzzy systems with distributed time delay and non-linear perturbations. By employing a new Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional together with linear matrix inequality (LMI) technique, a new set of delay-dependent conditions are derived to achieve the robust stabilisation of uncertain fuzzy systems for a prescribed disturbance attenuation level γ>0. The state feedback H∞ control law can be obtained by solving the corresponding LMIs. Further, some numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the obtained results. The results reveal that the proposed theory significantly improve the allowable upper bounds of the delays over some existing results.


We report intense dopant-matrix afterglow systems with an afterglow efficiency (ΦAG) of 47% and an afterglow lifetime (τAG) of 1.3 s. Luminescent difluoroboron β-diketonate (BF2bdk) dopants and their deuterated counterparts are designed with naphthalene and carboxylic acid groups. After doping into benzoic acid (BA) matrices, room-temperature afterglow brightness and afterglow duration of the BF2bdk-BA materials have unexpectedly been found to reach the levels of those at 77 K, which indicates that hydrogen bonding between BF2bdk and BA, as well as the deuteration technique, can reduce knr + kq of BF2bdk triplets to very small values even at room temperature. Detailed studies reveal that the BF2bdk possesses typical 1ICT characters in the S1 state and distinct 3LE composition in the T1 state, and thus shows a high ΦISC and a small kP to obtain a high ΦAG and a long τAG. Besides, triplet-triplet annihilation has been found in the dopant-matrix system at high doping concentrations to further increase ΦAG.


MOTIVATION
The analysis of protein-protein interactions allows for detailed exploration of the cellular machinery. The biochemical purification of protein complexes followed by identification of components by mass spectrometry is currently the method, which delivers the most reliable information--albeit that the data sets are still difficult to interpret. Consolidating individual experiments into protein complexes, especially for high-throughput screens, is complicated by many contaminants, the occurrence of proteins in otherwise dissimilar purifications due to functional re-use and technical limitations in the detection. A non-redundant collection of protein complexes from experimental data would be useful for biological interpretation, but manual assembly is tedious and often inconsistent.

RESULTS
Here, we introduce a measure to define similarity within collections of purifications and generate a set of minimally redundant, comprehensive complexes using unsupervised clustering.

AVAILABILITY
Programs and results are freely available from http://www.bork.embl-heidelberg.de/Docu/purclust/


BACKGROUND
When evaluated in terms of taste, smell or active ingredients, pumpkin in itself is not very attractive as a raw material. Hence, it is recommended to blend pumpkin with other fruits, which are aromatic, have a defined taste, and contain a large quantity of active ingredients and organic acids to improve its palatibility.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
The pumpkin chosen for the experiments was of the variety Karowita, of species Cucurbita maxima. Ten different of compositions were prepared for the purpose of the study: 10, 20 and 30% (w/w) of Japanese quince and cornelian cherry each, or 20 and 30% (w/w) of strawberry and apple each. The puree was then analysed for dry matter, extract, viscosity, colour, vitamin C, total polyphenols, carotenoids and DPPH.

RESULTS
The highest content of vitamin C, which was in direct proportion to the quantity of the supplement added (17.88 to 23.43 mg·100 g(-1)), was detected in the quince-enriched puree. The lowest vitamin C content was determined in apple-enriched samples (1.36 to 1.6 mg·100 g(-1)). A similar pattern was observed with total polyphenols: the highest values were measured in quince-enriched puree, and the lowest in the puree supplemented with apple.

CONCLUSION
Taking into account antioxidant properties of the samples, quince-enriched pumpkin puree was found to be the most attractive, and apple-enriched pumpkin puree the least attractive one. The results suggest a wide range of application for pumpkin puree enriched with various additives.


The genus Agapornis consists of nine small African parrot species that are globally well known as pets, but are also found in their native habitat. Illegal trapping, poaching and habitat destruction are the main threats these birds face in the wild. In aviculture, Agapornis breeding is highly popular all across the globe. Birds are mainly selected based on their plumage colour variations but very little molecular research has been conducted on this topic. There are 30 known colour variations amongst the nine species and most of these are inherited as Mendelian traits. However, to date none of the genes or polymorphisms linked to these variations have been identified or verified. Due to unethical breeding practices, the need for the development of molecular tests such as identification verification tests or species identity tests is growing. Future research is paramount to ensure the conservation of wild populations as well as aiding breeders in improving breeding strategies.


Abstract:The Western history discipline has recently experienced a growing appreciation of animals as subjects of historical concern, part of what has been described as the "animal turn" in the humanities. While briefly examining some historiographical points related to this burgeoning trend, this article looks to the question of whether animals have history itself as a device to reframe the relationship humans have with both animals and history. Through this process, this article highlights how respecting the unknown possibility and the possibility of the unknown history from the animal perspective recasts the inquiry into "history" as a parochial human endeavor, entangled in the limits of human knowledge, perception, and frailty. It is this same human frailty that explains why humans must understand animal history if only from a human perspective—because humans have fundamentally depended on animals for their survival and development in their own history. Taking these points together, this article asserts that appreciating the existence (and weakness) of the human lens gives new meaning and a sense of humility to the inquiry into animal history, such as how animal history may be better understood in the plural ("histories"), how humans might be freed from universal history and human exceptionalism, and how this humility encourages more ethical treatment of animals.