Abstract In the twenty years since the publication of Judith Butler's Excitable Speech, more so since Gender Trouble (1990), political and cultural landscapes have changed considerably. One general aspect of this change has been a move away from binary oppositions and discrete categories, and towards recognition of multiplicity and plasticity across many areas, including Butler's central focus of gender, but also perceptions of race, nationality, and language. Butler's recent publication, 'Rethinking vulnerability and resistance' (2016), may also have significance for the field of Applied Linguistics. It is not only the intentional act, for example of promising (Austin 1962) or incitement (Butler 1997), but any utterance has elements of performativity in that it situates a speaker vis-à-vis their surroundings. In any situation that crosses some socio-linguistic boundary, be it across languages, dialects, or markers of class, a delicate calculus of identification and subjectivity is in play. There are echoes here of Bourdieu's (1991) notion of the types of personal capital, and of Claire Kramsch' observation that language indexes social relations; 'Any harmony or disharmony … is registered on this most sensitive of Richter scales.' (Kramsch 1998: 77) (Italics in original). This paper will discuss the possible application, to language-centred issues facing second generation migrants and others, of Judith Butler's theory of vulnerability in resistance (Butler 2016). In this theory, vulnerability is framed not as a prima facie need for protection, but as the very ground for resistance.


In nature, fungal endophytes often have facultative endohyphal bacteria. Can a fungal pathogen such as Fusarium graminearum, pathogenic on wheat, get facultative endohyphal bacteria from soil (FEB) and how does the FEB affect the fungal phenotype? We constructed a growth system/microcosm that allowed a molecularly well-studied F. graminearum isolate, PH-1, to grow through natural soil and then be re-isolated on a gentamicin-containing medium, allowing endohyphal growth of the bacteria while killing eventual bacteria growing on the agar medium. We had labelled the F. graminearum PH-1 with a His1mCherry gene staining the fungal nuclei fluorescent red to confirm re-isolation of the same isolate we sent through the soil. Through qPCR of the 16SrRNA gene in the bacteria using universal primers combined with qPCR of the mCherry gene of DNA from the re-isolated cultures of the Fg-FEB holobionts growing on gentamicin-containing media, it was found that most of the holobiont isolates contained about 10 16SrRNA genes per fungal mCherry gene. The Fg-FEB holobiont isolates were sub-cultured several times, and the FEB content on lab media was stable. Sequencing the 16SrRNA gene from several Fg-FEB holobiont isolates revealed known endophytic bacteria capable of nitrogen fixation. We compared the pathogenicity of one of the Fg-FEB holobionts Fg-S.maltophilia, with the background without FEB and found that it was more pathogenic than without FEB. We could also show that the bacterial 16SrRNA load per fungal His1mCherry gene inside the wheat stayed the same as in culture. Finally, we tested if the Fg-S.maltophilia was capable of nitrogen fixation and could show that it, on a nitrogen-free medium, formed a dense mycelium containing proteins at similar levels as on regular nitrogen-containing media. Our results could indicate that naturally occurring fungal pathogens outside lab conditions might contain facultative endohyphal bacteria, positively affecting their pathogenicity and ecological fitness.


The series «The Role of Artificial Intelligence and Distributed Computing in IoT Applications» contains publications on the theory and applications of distributed computing and artificial intelligence in the Internet of Things. Virtually all disciplines such as engineering, natural sciences, computer and information sciences, ICT, economics, business, e-commerce, environment, health and life sciences are covered. The list of topics covers all areas of modern intelligent systems and computer science: computational intelligence, soft computing including neural networks, social intelligence, ambient intelligence, self-organising and adaptive systems, human-centred and people-centred computing, recommendation systems, intelligent control, robotics and mechatronics including human-machine collaboration, knowledge-based paradigms, learning paradigms, machine ethics, intelligent data analysis, knowledge management, intelligent agents, intelligent decision making and support, intelligent network security, trust management, interactive entertainment, web intelligence, and multimedia.
The publications in the framework of «The Role of Artificial Intelligence and Distributed Computing in IoT Applications» are mainly the proceedings of seminars, symposia and conferences. They cover important recent developments in the field, whether of a foundational or applicable character. An important feature of the series is the short publication time. This allows for the rapid and wide dissemination of research results.


The World Trade Organization is a major player in the field of global governance. Since its creation in January 1995, it has expanded the reach of trade rules deep into the regulatory structure of almost 140 sovereign states, affecting the daily lives of all citizens. As a result, it has found itself at the center of controversy in areas that are well outside the domain of traditional trade policy. The response of public interest groups in Seattle and elsewhere has been to demand a role in WTO processes and for the WTO to undertake major reforms. Reform will not come easily. The architects of the WTO are proud of having created what they consider to be a major achievement in institutionalized global economic cooperation. They point to the success of the WTO in doing what governments wanted it to do: to reduce barriers to trade and to conduct that trade according to agreed rules. The central question is how wise policy makers should respond to the pressures now falling on the WTO system while ensuring the preservation of a trading system that has led to unprecedented growth in the world economy and contributed to the peaceful coexistence of nations. This question is addressed in this book. A number of prominent personalities representing a broad spectrum of interests in the field of international policy-making, and with a strong interest in a well-functioning trading system, offer their views on the role of the WTO in Global Governance.


DNA-DNA reassociation studies on 52 strains of Flavobacterium meningosepticum showed two main hybridization groups about 40-55% interrelated and comprising 4 and 48 strains respectively. The larger group could be further divided into four subgroups if differences in thermal stability of the reassociated duplexes were taken into consideration. Of a total of 20 strains isolated from cerebrospinal fluid, 18 were found in one subgroup of 28 strains, which also contained seven blood isolates. The results indicate that genetically defined subgroups within the species might differ with regard to pathogenic significance.


We determined the crystal structure of anhydrous chitosan at atomic resolution, using X‐ray fiber diffraction data extending to 1.17 Å resolution. The unit cell [a = 8.129(7) Å, b = 8.347(6) Å, c = 10.311(7) Å, space group P212121] of anhydrous chitosan contains two chains having one glucosamine residue in the asymmetric unit with the primary hydroxyl group in the gt conformation, that could be directly located in the Fourier omit map. The molecular arrangement of chitosan is very similar to the corner chains of cellulose II implying similar intermolecular hydrogen bonding between O6 and the amine nitrogen atom, and an intramolecular bifurcated hydrogen bond from O3 to O5 and O6. In addition to the classical hydrogen bonds, all the aliphatic hydrogens were involved in one or two weak hydrogen bonds, mostly helping to stabilize cohesion between antiparallel chains. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biopolymers 105: 361–368, 2016.


Objective To describe and analyse the prevalence and epidemiological feature of people with disability caused by injury in the Chinese population, and then to provide the scientific basis for the prevention and control of injury. Method The statistical description and inference were used to analyse the data of the Second China National Sample Survey on injury-caused Disability. Cluster analysis was used to analyse the differences in regions. Result The overall prevalence of disability caused by injury was 99.68/10 000 which occupied 15.59% of all disability (multiple disability was excluded). Physical disability and hearing disability account for 65.59% and 23.35% of all the injury-caused disability respectively, while those ranked Grade IV and III make up the overwhelming majority (55.14% and 25.83% respectively). There were significant differences in the distribution of injury-caused disability among different age groups (χ2=23 106.14, p<0.001) and gender (χ2=2 161.74, p<0.001). Agedness and men have a higher risk of encountering an injury-caused disability. Five clusters were identified by cluster analysis which injury-caused disability were severe in the fifth (Sichuan province) and. the fourth cluster (Hunan, Chongqing, Guizhou, Ningxia province). Conclusion The problem raised by injury-caused disability in the Chinese population cannot be ignored. Physical disability and hearing disability were the two main types. Age, gender and region were related to injury-caused disability and different-aimed strategy should be worked out to decrease the injury-caused disability in China.


Using a regional GPS data set including ?190 stations in Asia, from Nepal to eastern Indonesia and spanning 11 years, we update the present?day relative motion between the Indian and Sundaland plates and discuss the deformation taking place between them in Myanmar. Revisiting measurements acquired on the Main Boundary Thrust in Nepal, it appears that points in southern Nepal exhibit negligible deformation with respect to mainland India. Including these points, using a longer time span than previous studies, and making an accurate geodetic mapping in the newest reference frame allows us to refine the present?day Indian motion. Our results confirm that the current motion of India is slower than predicted by the NUVEL?1A model, and in addition our India?Eurasia motion is significantly (?5 mm/yr) slower than previous geodetic determinations. This new Indian motion, combined with a refined determination of the Sundaland motion, gives way to a relative India?Sunda angular velocity of 20.2°N, 26.1°E, 0.370°/Myr in ITRF2000, predicting a relative motion of 35 mm/yr oriented N10° at the latitude of Myanmar. There, the Sagaing Fault accommodates only 18 mm/yr of right?lateral strike slip, only half of the shear component of motion. We present two models addressing how and where the remaining deformation may occur. A first model of distributed deformation implies convergence on the Arakan subduction (the northern continuation of the now famous Sumatra?Andaman Trench) and wrench faulting in the Arakan wedge. The second model uses localized deformation, where deformation observed west of the Sagaing Fault is entirely due to elastic loading on a faster and oblique Arakan subduction (23 mm/yr). This latter model predicts that a major earthquake of Mw 8.5 may occur every century on this segment of the subduction.


A comprehensive analysis is presented for the rectangular waveguide edge slot array with finite wall thickness. To analyze the waveguide structure accurately and efficiently, the magnetic currents are introduced on both the inner and outer surfaces of the slot apertures, and the electric currents are employed on the boundary surfaces of both slot apertures and waveguide exterior area. Moreover, the new coupled integral equations are established according to the boundary conditions, and the method of moments (MoM) with the higher-order basis functions is employed to solve for the equivalent electric and magnetic currents. The proposed method results in less number of unknowns without loss of accuracy compared to the direct methods with the rigorous modeling of waveguide edge slots. Numerical results including the radiation patterns as well as the reflection and transmission coefficients are presented.


Molecular information is crucial for species identification when facing challenging morphology-based specimen identification. The use of DNA barcodes partially solves this problem, but in some cases when PCR is not an option (i.e. primers are not available, problems in reaction standardization) amplification-free approaches could lead to better and rapid results. Recent advances in DNA sequencing, like MinION
device from Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT), allow to obtain genomic data with low laboratory and technical requirements, and at a relative low cost. In this study, we explore ONT sequencing for molecular species identification from a total DNA sample obtained from a neotropical rodent and also we test the technology for complete mitochondrial genome reconstruction via genome skimming. We were able to obtain "de novo" the complete mitogenome of Melanomys caliginosus  (Cricetidae: Sigmodontinae) with an average depth coverage of 77.5X using ONT-only data and by combining multiple assembly routines to produce a coherent assembly (complete ORFs and RNAs). Our routine for an automated species identification was able to identify the sample with high certainty using unassembled sequence data in a reasonable computing time (1:56:31) and it was significatively reduced when a priori information related to the organism identity was known (00:04:57 and 00:01:47 when order and family were known, respectively). Our findings suggest ONT sequencing as a suitable candidate to solve species identification problems in metazoan non-model organisms and generate complete mtDNA datasets.


It is demonstrated that CCT-mediated emulsion polymerization can successfully be carried out in a PSPC. Proper molecular weight control is achieved with only minor quantities of a cobalt(II) complex, illustrating the robustness and scalability of CCT. Despite the successful implementation of CCT in the PSPC, differences in the course of the polymerization and the final latex properties (in terms of the PSD/MWD) for batchwise and PSPC operation are observed. Backmixing occurs to some extend in the PSPC, which increases the steady state CCTA concentration in the column. Consequently, a higher chain transfer activity is observed than expected based on the corresponding batch experiments, which affects the course of the polymerization and the final latex properties.


Background This study aims to determine the prediction performance of a machine learning-based clinical model for cervical lymph node metastasis (CLNM) in micropapillary thyroid carcinoma (MPTC) with ultrasound (US).Methods Patients with MPTC who underwent total or hemithyroidectomy with unilateral or bilateral prophylactic central neck dissection were included (n = 692). Nodal status was pathologically determined. Clinical and US features and thyroid function markers were extracted to build a random forest model. A nomogram with the significant predictive risk factors from multivariable logistic regression analysis was built to visualize hazard rates. Finally, the predictive performances of the models were compared.Results Overall, 332 patients (47.98%) had CLNM. In multiple logistic regression, the strong predictive risk factors for CLNM were younger age, larger anteroposterior diameter, lower anteroposterior/transverse diameter (A/T) ratio, and higher thyroglobulin (TG) concentration (P < 0.05). The random forest and nomogram models showed good predictive performance with the area under the curves (AUCs) of 0.836 and 0.780, respectively, which were significantly higher than those without A/T ratio in the models (AUCs: 0.807 vs. 0.722, all P < 0.05). The AUC of the A/T ratio as a single feature for predicting CLNM was 0.744, while A/T ratio (≤ 0.828) combined with anteroposterior diameter (≥ 10 mm) yielded a higher AUC of 0.754 for predicting CLNM.Conclusions The machine learning-based clinical model with US had a good predictive performance for CLNM in MPTC patients. This clinical model may facilitate surgical decision-making for MPTC, especially regarding whether cervical lymph node dissection is warranted.


34 patients with syncope (median number of episodes 2) which remained unexplained after thorough medical and neurological evaluation underwent an intracardiac electrophysiological study with atrial and ventricular programmed stimulation. All patients had a history of well-documented myocardial infarction 24 months (median, 3-120) prior to the electrophysiological study. During programmed ventricular stimulation 6 patients had inducible ventricular fibrillation or flutter, and 10 patients had sustained ventricular tachycardia. In 14 patients non-sustained ventricular tachycardia was induced, whereas in only 4 patients 1 to 3 repetitive ventricular responses were induced. Therapy was instituted on the basis of electrophysiologic testing. During the follow-up of 8 months (median, 1-37) 27 patients had no recurrence of syncope. Syncope persisted and remained unexplained by the electrophysiological study in 3 patients. One patient had ventricular fibrillation and two died suddenly, two of these patients after having discontinued antiarrhythmic medication 2 weeks before. Another patient died of non-cardiac cause. It is concluded that 1) the results indicate a high ventricular vulnerability (88%) in patients with unexplained syncope after myocardial infarction, 2) the evaluation by electrophysiological studies may identify the potential mechanism for syncopes, 3) electrophysiological testing offers a rationale for specific prophylactic therapy.


Objective
To evaluate the correlation between subrogate index for the evaluation of insulin resistance with the M value obtained with the euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamp as well as their sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values.

Method
The euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamp was performed in subjects having both normal fasting glucose and glycated hemoglobin concentrations. HOMA-IR, QUICKI, HOMA2%S, TyG, TyG*body mass index (BMI) and triglyceride/HDL indexes were calculated. Correlations coefficients were estimated between indexes results and the M-value adjusted by fat-free mass. Areas under the ROC curve were constructed to evaluate overall performance, sensitivity, specificity and predictive values of the subrogate indexes.

Results
57 subjects, 68.4% women, with a mean age of 32.9 ± 11 years-old were included. The subrogate index with the best correlation with the M value was HOMA2%S (r = 0.428), HOMA-IR had the greatest area under the ROC curve (0.683; 95 % confidence interval: 0.503-0.864) and TyG*BMI the best sensitivity (98.2 %) and specificity (51.1 %).

Conclusions
The surrogated indexes for the evaluation of insulin resistance show a significant correlation with the M value obtained with the gold standard. Additional studies are required to determine cut-off values in Mexican population.


MCN-MR (Multi-hop Cellular Network - Mobile Relay) has been proposed as a promising technology for future Beyond 3G and 4G systems due to its foreseen capacity to increase transmission rates and provide homogeneous quality of service levels in the service area. To this aim, mobile nodes are required to cooperate in the relaying of information of other nodes. As a result, selfish nodes refusing to relay packets can have damaging effects on the overall multi-hop connectivity of MCN-MR networks. Different reputation protocols have been already proposed to cope with selfishness in mobile ad-hoc networks, but they tend to overestimate the selfish behavior of nodes, due to the effects of radio errors or packet collisions that can be mistaken for intentional packet drops. Thus, the availability of valid multi-hop routes usable by nodes is reduced. In this context, this paper proposes and evaluates two techniques that improve the operation and ability to accurately detect selfish nodes of the watchdog detection mechanism that is generally employed in reputation based selfishness prevention protocols.


Xylophanes titana (Druce) was described from Panama, and is reported from Mexico to southern Brazil. The row of pale markings on the hind wing upper surface are pale yellow. Only one other Trinidad sphingid has similar yellow markings: X. tersa tersa (Drury), which is a common species found throughout the island in disturbed situations. Xylophanes titana was first recorded from Trinidad by Stradling et al . (1983), who recorded one male from 3,767 trap-nights using mercury vapour light moth traps in the St. Augustine area, in the period 1969-1977. In contrast, they report six specimens from 20 trap-nights at Simla, Arima Valley. Since then I have found it to be an occasional species, males coming to light in the Northern Range (Arima-Blanchisseuse Road, milestone 9 ¾; Morne Bleu Textel; North Coast Road, Carisal Trace) and have seen up to five specimens in one evening. I have no records from central or southern Trinidad.


[Objective] The aim was to study the varietal characteristics of six new varieties of high biomass sugarcanes for sugar and energy namely GT02-833,GT97-69,GT02-351,GT03-2287,B9 and GT02-770,as well as the nutrition characteristics of them under drip irrigation conditions. [Method] Industrial and agronomic characters,total N,total P,total K and chlorophyll content were determined. [Result] Cane yield,total biomass yield and sugar content of six varieties were more than 180,200 and 25 t/hm2 respectively,which were higher than that of the control Xintaitang 22. The total nitrogen and total phosphorus contents of six varieties were high and persistent from Jul to Nov,but they decreased sharply in Dec. Total potassium content of all varieties increased from Jul to Dec. Chlorophyll content of all varieties were high from Aug to Oct,but they decreased sharply in Nov. Total nitrogen,total phosphorus and total potassium content of GT02-833,GT97-69 and B9 were higher than that of CK. [Conclusion] GT02-833,GT97-69 and B9 had characteristic of efficient use of nutrients,thus should be extended as elite varieties.


Experiences and outcomes of critically ill patients reflect quality of intensive care. The aim of this study was twofold: a) to investigate factors affecting patients' experiences to Intensive Care Units (ICUs) and b) to measure patients' post discharge Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL).

METHODS
A cross-sectional study with retrospective data collection was carried out. The participants (n=108) were discharged patients from four ICUs of three military hospitals in Athens. Telephone interviews were conducted using the "Patient Empowerment Questionnaire" and "Quality of life Questionnaire".

RESULTS
Patients suffering from pain (p<0.001), polytraumatized or patients underwent a "non-scheduled surgery" (p=0.001) reported worse sleep at night. Mechanical ventilation was associated positively with pain relief (p=0.021). Extended length of stay (p<0.001), bad health status prior ICU admission (p=0.005), "polytrauma" and "non-scheduled surgery" patients (p=0.032), mechanical ventilation (p=0.005) and pain during ICU stay (p=0.04) were correlated with worse HRQOL after discharge.

CONCLUSIONS
ICU staff must consider the factors that affected patients' experiences during their ICU stay and worsened HRQOL after discharge. Adoption of new technological innovations could help them to improve the quality of intensive care provided.


This study starts with a brief overview of the variety of images of Jesus found in African Christianity. African Christianity (like Christianity all over the world) has many ingenious and creative ways of going about the figure of Jesus, of which the quest for what Jesus can do for Africans and the inculturation of Jesus in African images represent the main trends. Although historical Jesus research receives almost no attention in African scholarship, it is argued that a historical understanding of Jesus within his own cultural setting can pick up many clues from the study of religious specialists in African traditional religions (ATRs). From such an approach, Jesus as historical figure can not only be described as similar to typical religious practitioners in many ATRs, but it offers a new avenue for inter-religious dialogue in Africa.


Conventional cancer treatments lack specificity and often cause severe side effects. Targeted therapeutic approaches are therefore preferred, including the use of immunotoxins (ITs) that comprise cell-binding and cell death-inducing components to allow the direct and specific delivery of pro-apoptotic agents into malignant cells. The first generation of ITs consisted of toxins derived from bacteria or plants, making them immunogenic in humans. The recent development of human cytolytic fusion proteins (hCFP) consisting of human effector enzymes offers the prospect of highly-effective targeted therapies with minimal side effects. One of the most promising candidates is granzyme B (GrB) and this enzyme has already demonstrated its potential for targeted cancer therapy. However, the clinical application of GrB may be limited because it is inactivated by the overexpression in tumors of its specific inhibitor serpin B9 (PI-9). It is also highly charged, which means it can bind non-specifically to the surface of non-target cells. Furthermore, human enzymes generally lack an endogenous translocation domain, thus the endosomal release of GrB following receptor-mediated endocytosis can be inefficient. In this review we provide a detailed overview of these challenges and introduce promising solutions to increase the cytotoxic potency of GrB for clinical applications.


Snow-pressure measurements have been carried out on two masts at the NGI avalanche station in Grasdalen, western Norway. These two tubular masts have diameters of 0.22 and 0.42 m, respectively, and are situated on a 25° slope with a deep snow cover. The most important conclusions are that within a homogeneous snow-pack there is a close correlation between snow-creep pressure and the product of acceleration due to gravity, g, density, ρ, and snow depth, H, that the highest pressures are recorded in late winter when the snow-pack is at the 0°C isothermal, and finally that a weak 0° C isothermal snow layer at ground level appears to increase snow pressure.


With a long history spanning hundreds of years, Russia still claims the largest area in the world, and is among the largest countries in terms of population. It has been ruled by an astounding number of tsars and emperors, and has been called by several names during its history, among them the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the Tsarist Empire, and the Kievan Rus. It has been a country of volatile economic and political change in the last decade, and has consistently attracted the attention of the world. It is the site of the most dramatic historical turning points of this century: both its experiment with communism and the recent reactionary swing toward democracy. The Historical Dictionary of Russia will be useful to anyone interested in further researching the history and culture of this dynamic country. A detailed introduction and chronology puts the country's history in perspective, while maps, a selected bibliography of Russian history, and several lists of the Administrative Divisions of the Russian Republic as well as a listing of the principle bodies of water and mountain ranges help complete the geographical and political picture of the country. The dictionary also contains a list of acronyms to help the reader navigate Russian terminology and institutions, as well as references that allow the reader to find further information. An essential reference for those who wish to be knowledgeable of the future possibilities of this dynamic country.


The Sauk Sequence in Indiana and adjacent states is composed of two supergroups in mutual facies relationship, the Potsdam below and the Knox above. The Potsdam Supergroup contains, in ascending order, predominantly siliciclastic rocks that include the Mount Simon Sandstone, End_Page 1454------------------------------ Eau Claire Formation, Galesville Sandstone, Ironton Sandstone, and Franconia Formation. The Davis Formation replaces the latter three where they cannot be differentiated. The age of the Potsdam ranges from pre-Dresbachian through Franconian. The Knox Supergroup consists in ascending order of predominantly carbonate rocks of the Potosi Dolomite, Oneota Dolomite, Shakopee Dolomite, and Everton Dolomite. The age of the Knox rocks ranges from Franconian through Whiterockian. Cambrian sedimentation in pre-Dresbachian time is poorly known and may be restricted to fault-block basins. Terrigenous sand and mud were deposited in peritidal and shallow subtidal, predominantly marine, environments in the early Dresbachian. By the late Dresbachian, carbonate sand and mud, including oolite shoals, accumulated in the south, whereas marine terrigenous sand and mud were deposited in the north. In the Franconian, a bi-lobed delta complex, not yet well understood, dominated by terrigenous sand and mud, formed to the north, and the earlier shallow marine environment of carbonate deposition in the south expanded northward, so that by the end of the Franconian, pervasive carbonate deposition was extremely widespread. The Oneota and Shakopee rocks were deposited in widespread shallow marine environments, and the record of marine sedimentation of Everton rocks is restricted to the southwestern part of the study area. Extensive post-Knox erosion has greatly reduced the original distribution of the Sauk Sequence, and rocks of the Chazyan are unconformably juxtaposed with rocks as old as Franconian. The distribution of rocks at the top of the Sauk and the consideration of the internal stratigraphy of the Sauk should influence future decisions for petroleum exploration, underground gas storage, and deep-injection liquid-waste disposal. End_of_Article - Last_Page 1455------------


Despite clear evidence of inadequate angiogenesis in ischemic diabetic foot syndrome (DFS) pathogenesis, angiogenic factor level changes in patients with ischemic DFS remain inconsistent. This study aimed to assess circulating angiogenic factors concerning ischemic DFS advancement and describe their relationships with patients' clinical characteristics, microvascular parameters, and diabetic control. The study included 41 patients with ischemic DFS (67.3 (8.84) years; 82.9% males). Angiogenic processes were assessed by identifying circulating concentrations of five pro- and two anti-angiogenic factors. We found that penetrating ulcers were related to a significantly higher FGF-2 level (8.86 (5.29) vs. 5.23 (4.17) pg/mL, p = 0.02). Moreover, plasma FGF-2 showed a significant correlation with the SINBAD score (r = 0.32, p = 0.04), platelet count (r = 0.43, p < 0.01), white cell count (r = 0.42, p < 0.01), and age (r = −0.35, p = 0.03). We did not observe any significant linear relationship between the studied biomarkers and microcirculatory parameters, nor for glycemic control. In a univariate analysis using logistic regression, an increase in plasma FGF-2 was tied to greater odds of high-grade ulcers (OR 1.16; 95% CI 1.02–1.38, p = 0.043). This suggests that circulating FGF-2 may serve as a potential biomarker for predicting DFU advancement and progression. It is necessary to conduct further studies with follow-up observations to confirm this hypothesis.


The recent decade has witnessed an unprecedented increase in the number of regional trade agreements (RTAs) (mostly FTAs and customs union) and their scope. The on-going proliferation of RTAs intensifies the long-standing debate among scholars and policy-makers regarding the motives and repercussions of RTAs, and whether the WTO system should promote or restrict the formation of RTAs. Developing countries joined RTAs before the recent wave of regionalism but the vast majority of agreements that were concluded by these countries during the 1960s and 1970s were established between countries at similar levels of economic development. Most RTAs at that period were formed between either developing or developed countries, and the number of RTAs between developing and developed countries was significantly smaller. One of the main characteristics of the recent wave of regionalism is the increasing number of RTAs between developing and developed countries. The prominent examples are the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA), and trade agreements concluded by the European Union (EU), such as the custom union between the EU with Turkey, and FTAs with many Mediterranean countries. Section II of this article outlines the regulation of RTAs in the WTO legal system. The section briefly discusses the relevant legal provisions (Article XXIV of the GATT, Article V of the GATS, and the "Enabling Clause"). Section III discusses the economic prospects of North-South RTAs for developing countries, employing the Heckscher-Ohlin model, the economies of scale theory, and Ethier's approach that views RTAs as a signaling device to foreign investors. Section IV presents certain disadvantages of RTAs for developing countries, especially RTAs that apply restrictive rules to trade in labor intensive goods (in which developing countries have comparative advantage). This Section also explains the deficiencies of such RTAs, prominently those relating to political economy considerations and the parties' asymmetric bargaining positions. Section V briefly recaps the main conclusions drawn from preceding sections and emphasizes the central role of domestic institutions in economic development.


Based on a survey, this paper presents new data on the decentralisation of the housing system and co-ordination mechanisms across levels of government, focusing on the provision of social housing. Decision-making in social housing tends to be more devolved to sub-national actors, as compared to other key public services. Policy decision making tends to be more centralised, while sub-national governments and housing providers have more control over decisions regarding the inputs, outputs and monitoring of social housing. Governments globally have implemented a mix of housing policy interventions. Demand side interventions include tax allowances and subsidies to facilitate the purchase of a home or the provision of social housing in the rental market to those in need. Interventions to influence the supply of housing are generally aimed at housing developers or sub-national governments, to stimulate housing construction. There are a number of policy tools readily available to sub-national governments to improve housing outcomes, including the implementation and reform of taxes on immovable property and the relaxation of restrictive land use regulations.


In recent years efforts to modernise and regulate public accounting systems have been carried out in most countries, driven essentially by the interest in establishing a Public Accounting capable of satisfying the required needs for attaining efficient management of public resources, as well as for demonstrating accountability to stakeholders. In this paper we aim to analyse the degree of local government accounting harmonisation, demonstrating in a general way that their accounting systems show very little homogenisation, accounting diversity being, in fact, one of their principal characteristics. In this context, we refer to the benefits and problems involved in reducing the differences between accounting systems and in increasing the comparability of financial reporting.


This paper describes the labour management system applied since around 2005 on farms accounting for the bulk of the output of the Kenyan cut flower sector, and provides an analysis of the foundations of this system. Using categories drawn from convention theory, this system is characterized in terms of specific approaches to hiring, training and promotion; labour retention; work organization and worker deployment; payment systems and supervision, as well as to collective bargaining. In convention theory terms, the combination of approaches identified in Kenya embodies a mixture of 'industrial' and 'civic' orientations – in contrast to both more traditional paternalist and unbridled market-oriented ones. The material and political foundations of this 'industrial–civic compromise' are explored at length, with particular attention to stabilization of the production system (in the case of industrial elements) and political and demand-side developments (in the case of civic elements). The paper concludes by considering the generalizability of these findings to other large-scale agricultural sectors in developing countries.


This paper presents an image enhancement and space-variant color reproduction method based on adaptive sigmoid function for endoscopic image. At first, using YCBCR conversion matrix, the color image is separated into luminance and chrominance components. The adaptive sigmoid function with two controlling parameters is applied on the uniformly distributed luminance pixels. The space-variant color reproduction generates new chrominance components by transferring and modifying old chrominance based on texture information. Finally, new luminance and chrominance components are converted into RGB color image. The proposed method highlights some of the tissue and vascular characteristics as well as pit patterns in lesion and polyp. The performance of the proposed scheme is compared with other related methods in terms of image quality, focus value, efficiency of color reproduction and statistic of visual representation.


Fluoroquinolone antibiotics (FQs), as the common pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), are widespread in the environment. FQs contained in wastewater would be ultimately enriched in sludge, posing a potential threat to the consequent sludge utilization. To optimize the analytical method applicable to the determination of FQs in sludge, the authors selected ofloxacin (OFL), norfioxacin (NOR), ciprofloxacin (CIP) and lomefloxacin (LOM) as the target FQs, and established a method which was based on cell lysis, FQs extraction with triethylamine/methanol/water solution, Solid Phase Extraction (SPE) and HPLC-Fluorescence Detection (FLD) determination. After the investigation, phosphoric acid-triethylamine was decided to be the buffer salt, and methanol was chosen as the organic mobile phase. The gradient fluorescence scanning strategy was proved to be necessary for the optimal detection as well. Furthermore, by the designed orthogonal experiments, the effects of the extraction materials, pH, and the eluents on the efficiency of SPE extraction were evaluated, by which the optimal extraction conditions were determined. As a result, FQs in liquid samples could be analyzed by utilizing HLB extraction cartridge, and the recovery rates of the four FQs were in the range of 82%-103%. As for solid samples, the recovery rates of the four FQs contained reached up to 71%-101%. Finally, the adsorptivity of the sludge from the different tanks ( anaerobic, anoxic and oxic tanks) was investigated, showing gradual decrease in the adsorption capacity, but all adsorbed over 90% of the EQs. This conclusion also confirmed that 50% removal of FQs in the domestic wastewater treatment plant was realized by sludge adsorption.


Sixteen patients who involved in chest wall disease underwent major chest wall resection between April 1995 and January 1999. The underlying diseases were 6 recurrence of breast cancers, 4 direct invasion by primary lung cancer, 2 metastatic chest wall tumor, one direct invasion by metastatic lung tumor, one direct invasion by metastatic mediastinal tumor, one radio-induced-necrosis of the chest wall, and one chest wall infection. In 9 patients, the thoracic cage reconstruction was performed using double sheets of absorbable mesh (Dexon mesh), cross string sutures and autologous ribs grafts. None of the patients had major respiratory failure and chest wall unstability. No late complications including infections, pains, recurrence and others related to reconstruction materials have been observed.


Background:
A prognostic marker should provide information about course and outcome of disease, e.g. predict time to a given endpoint or rate of progression due to disease in patients or subgroups of patients. Prognostic markers could be targeted to apply during the entire clinical course or just during distinct stages of the disease.
Aim:
The aim of this thesis is to identify, review and qualify possible indicators, including biological markers to predict course and time of survival in the two most common types of neurodegenerative dementia; AD and DLB/PDD.
Study populations:
I. 142 patients with AD.
II. 79 patients with AD and 49 patients with DLB.
III. 30 patients with DLB/PDD.
IV. 32 patients with DLB PDD.

Results:
I. Patients with very high T-tau levels performed worse on cognitive tests at baseline, and exhibited a more rapid cognitive decline during follow up. Very high T-tau levels were also associated with a deviating cognitive profile characterized by symptoms from the medial temporal lobes.
II. Patients with DLB had shorter length-of-survival compared to patients with AD, from the time of diagnosis, from the time of MMSE 20±1 and from the time of MMSE 17±1.
III. Patients with persistent orthostatic hypotension exhibited shorter length-of-survival compared to patients with no or mild orthostatic hypotension. Patients with constipation and / or urinary incontinence, in addition to persistent orthostatic hypotension, had the shortest survival.
IV. Patients, who received memantine instead of placebo during the first 6 months of follow-up, had a longer length-of survival. Patients, who responded positively to memantine lived longer compared to the non-responders.

Conclusions:
This thesis adds to current knowledge by reporting on studies on potential biomarkers that predict more rapid deterioration or shorter length-of-survival in neurodegenerative dementia. However, our findings must be confirmed in future research with larger study samples.


Bovine genital campylobacteriosis (BGC) is a venereal infectious disease that affects reproduction. It is caused by the Gram-negative bacillus Campylobacter fetus subspecies venerealis (Cfv), which may include the biotype intermedius. The bull is a lifelong asymptomatic carrier and transmitter of the disease. In females Cfv may cause infertility and sporadic abortion. The objective of this study is to review and discuss methods for the diagnosis of BGC, its prevalence and economic impact in South America. BGC is a worldwide distributed disease and can cause a pregnancy rate decrease of 15–25%. The farm prevalence of BGC in different regions of South American countries shows a variation between 2.3 and 100%. Discrepancies may depend on the differences on sanitary, management, and reproductive practices between farms and regions, but also on the interpretation of different diagnostic tests. Currently known laboratory tests include bacterial culture, direct immunofluorescence, immunoenzymatic assays, vaginal mucus agglutination test, PCR-based methods, histology and immunohistochemistry, which are applied and interpreted in diagnostic laboratories at different scales. Epidemiologic data of BGC in South America should be interpreted with caution. High prevalence has been reported in some studies, although the low specificity of the diagnostic tests used could lead to an overestimation of the results.


The antibody repertoires of different individuals ought to exhibit significant functional commonality, given that most pathogens trigger a successful immune response in most people. Sequence-based approaches have so far offered little evidence for this phenomenon. For example, a recent study estimated the number of shared ('public') antibody clonotypes in circulating baseline repertoires to be around 0.02% across ten unrelated individuals. However, to engage the same epitope, antibodies only require a similar binding site structure and the presence of key paratope interactions, which can occur even when their sequences are dissimilar. Here, we investigate functional convergence in human antibody repertoires by comparing the antibody structures they contain. We first structurally profile baseline antibody diversity (using snapshots from 41 unrelated individuals), predicting all modellable distinct structures within each repertoire. This analysis uncovers a high degree of structural commonality. For instance, around 3% of distinct structures are common to the ten most diverse individual samples ('Public Baseline' structures). Our approach is the first computational method to provide support for the long-assumed levels of baseline repertoire functional commonality. We then apply the same structural profiling approach to repertoire snapshots from three individuals before and after flu vaccination, detecting a convergent structural drift indicative of recognising similar epitopes ('Public Response' structures). Antibody Model Libraries (AMLs) derived from Public Baseline and Public Response structures represent a powerful geometric basis set of low-immunogenicity candidates exploitable for general or target-focused therapeutic antibody screening.


The stability of abortion opinions suggests that pre-adult factors influence these attitudes more than contemporaneous political events. Surprisingly, however, we know little about the origins of abortion opinions, no doubt because the majority of research focuses on cross-sectional analyses of patterns across cohorts. We use a developmental model that links familial and contextual factors during adolescence to abortion attitudes years later when respondents are between 21 and 38 years old. Findings show that religious adherence and maternal gender role values are significant predictors of adult abortion opinions, even after controlling for contemporaneous religious adherence and the respondents' own views on gender roles. Adolescent religious adherence matters more than religious denomination for adult abortion attitudes. The results have important implications for future trends in abortion attitudes in light of declining religiosity among Americans.


Conducting an internal analysis aimed at knowing strengths and weaknesses is important so that the choice of the strategy used is accurate and appropriate. Setting up a framework internally can help grow a business faster and make the business organized and structured.  The stages of this research are the stages of business establishment, operational goals and objectives,  operation design, delivery of operations  and operational cost budgets.  HC Strategy is defined as the company's plan to respond to or anticipate external and internal changes in accordance with the Decision Stage (QSPM) and Bussines Level Strategy, namely promoting online and offline so as to improve its position in the competition that is implemented.  It can be concluded that this study evaluated the development and processing of mangosteen peel extract into effervescent tablets called TEMAN. These tablets are intended as a health supplement that can help maintain a healthy body through the benefits of the mangosteen peel content contained in it. Therefore, this research can make an important contribution in the development of quality and beneficial health supplements for society.


This paper continues the effort that began in (Scheer, Tobias & Peter Szigetvari. 2005. Unified representations for stress and the syllable. Phonology 22(1). 37–75.) to present a compelling alternative to moraic accounts of stress systems, framed in the theory of Strict CV (Lowenstamm, Jean. 1996. CV as the only syllable type. In Jacques Durand & Bernard Laks (eds.), Current trends in phonology models and methods, 419–442. European Studies Research Institute, University of Salford.). We have chosen stress in Palestinian Arabic, a stronghold of moraic theory, to be the empirical basis of the paper. It is a complex system, involving syllable structure and stress assignment, quantity sensitivity and syllabically-determined stress shift. Moreover, its analysis requires the deployment of a great deal of the theoretical machinery that has been (independently) developed in moraic stress theory. These phenomena, although recurrent cross-linguistically, remained outside the scope of Scheer and Szigetvari's work. The present paper provides an account of these patterns using the innovative grid-based notion of weight incorporation (Ulfsbjorninn, Shanti. 2014. A Field Theory of Stress: the role of empty nuclei in stress systems. SOAS – University of London, PhD Dissertation.). The analysis is also brought to bear on Cairene Arabic, which is shown to differ from Palestinian in a single parameter setting. Significant independent support is provided by the extension of the analysis to the phenomenon of vowel shortening (both metrical and final), whose distribution and motivation are shown to follow in a straightforward manner from the general account. The paper also improves on previous analyses of meter in Strict CV, as for the first time in Strict CV metrics, a computational component is explicitly formalized. We conclude with a comparison to a moraic analysis of the phenomena discussed, and argue on principled grounds that the Strict CV account is a worthy competitor to such an analysis. Like its predecessor from 2005, the present account recognizes only one unit relevant for meter: the nucleus. No appeal is made to moras, syllables, feet or extrametricality.


Current cancer immunotherapeutic strategies mainly focus on remodeling the tumor microenvironment (TME) to make it favorable for antitumor immunity. Increasing attention has been paid to developing innovative immunomodulatory adjuvants that can restore weakened antitumor immunity by conferring immunogenicity to inflamed tumor tissues. Here, a galactan-enriched nanocomposite (Gal-NC) is developed from native carbohydrate structures through an optimized enzymatic transformation for effective, stable, and biosafe innate immunomodulation. Gal-NC is characterized as a carbohydrate nanoadjuvant with a macrophage-targeting feature. It is composed of repeating galactan glycopatterns derived from heteropolysaccharide structures of plant origin. The galactan repeats of Gal-NC function as multivalent pattern-recognition sites for Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4). Functionally, Gal-NC-mediated TLR activation induces the repolarization of tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) toward immunostimulatory/tumoricidal M1-like phenotypes. Gal-NC increases the intratumoral population of cytotoxic T cells, the main effector cells of antitumor immunity, via re-educated TAMs. These TME alterations synergistically enhance the T-cell-mediated antitumor response induced by αPD-1 administration, suggesting that Gal-NC has potential value as an adjuvant for immune checkpoint blockade combination therapies. Thus, the Gal-NC model established herein suggests a glycoengineering strategy to design a carbohydrate-based nanocomposite for advanced cancer immunotherapies.


Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), a population based technique for stochastic search in a multidimensional space, has so far been employed successfully for solving a variety of optimization problems including many multifaceted problems, where other popular methods like steepest descent, gradient descent, conjugate gradient, Newton method, etc. do not give satisfactory results. Herein, we propose a modified PSO algorithm for unbiased global minima search by integrating with density functional theory which turns out to be superior to the other evolutionary methods such as simulated annealing, basin hopping and genetic algorithm. The present PSO code combines evolutionary algorithm with a variational optimization technique through interfacing of PSO with the Gaussian software, where the latter is used for single point energy calculation in each iteration step of PSO. Pure carbon and carbon containing systems have been of great interest for several decades due to their important role in the evolution of life as well as wide applications in various research fields. Our study shows how arbitrary and randomly generated small Cn clusters (n = 3–6, 10) can be transformed into the corresponding global minimum structure. The detailed results signify that the proposed technique is quite promising in finding the best global solution for small population size clusters.


The Platform seminar provided participants with an opportunity to reflect on existing practices, tools and approaches that deal with undeclared work in the agricultural sector in Europe. Discussions focused on methods and tools for the prevention and deterrence of undeclared work in the agricultural sector and Platform members, observers and social partners played an active and central role in the day.


The literature of neutron diffraction was explored using Web of Science
data and VOSviewer for data visualization. The timespan covered was from
 the advent of the topic through 1955 when Clifford Shull left Oak
Ridge. The search query in Web of Science allowed for either "neutron
diffraction" or "neutron scattering" to appear in the resulting records.
 Visualizations will include networks of co-authors with numbers of
documents produced. Co-author groups readily appear in the visualization
 and allow for identification of important research teams. Shull and
Ernest Wollan appear in one cluster. George Bacon of AERE, D.G Hurst and
 D.G Henshaw of Chalk River are easily visible as well. Other
visualizations include citation networks of documents, authors or
sources.


We present a system-level modeling framework to model system-on-chips (SoC) consisting of heterogeneous multiprocessors and network-on-chip communication structures in order to enable the developers of today's SoC designs to take advantage of the flexibility and scalability of network-on-chip and rapidly explore high-level design alternatives to meet their system requirements. We present a modeling approach for developing high-level performance models for these SoC designs and outline how this system-level performance analysis capability can be integrated into an overall environment for efficient SoC design. We show how a hand-held multimedia terminal, consisting of JPEG, MP3 and GSM applications, can be modeled as a multiprocessor SoC in our framework.


The decision in C & others v Department of Health and Social Development, Gauteng & others 2012 (2) SA 208 (CC) is significant because of the child-focused approach adopted by the majority. This approach deviates from the majority decision in Le Roux & others v Dey (Freedom of Expression Institute and Restorative Justice Centre as amici curiae) 2011 (3) SA 274 (CC), which ignored 'the inescapable and overarching fact' of that case: that '[it was] a case concerning children' (ibid para 207, per Skweyiya J). The child-centred approach of Yacoob and Skweyiya JJ, dissenting judges in Le Roux, was eventually to win the day in C v Department of Health and Social Development. In C, the majority of the Constitutional Court acknowledged the impact that the vulnerability of children (and their parents) can have on the exercising of their rights, and assessed the constitutional validity of the challenged statutory provisions from the perspective of their effectiveness in protecting the constitutional rights of children and their carers. Although legitimate criticism has been levelled at the manner in which the court applies the best interests of the child as an independent right (Elsje Bonthuys 'The best interests of children in the South African Constitution' (2006) 20 International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family 23), the majority judgment in this case shows the potential benefits arising from such approach, and contributes to clarifying the emerging content of this right. Finally, through their consideration of the right to parental care (s 28(1)(b) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996) and its relationship with other constitutional rights of children, both the separate concurring judgment and the dissenting judgment lay the foundation for further jurisprudential development of the right to parental care, especially with regard to the quality of parental care required in order for such care to become constitutionally protected.


Abstract The Philippines has received continuous praise for its 'highly developed' migration policies and promotes those as the 'gold standard' for the deployment and protection of labour migrants. These policies are obviously not negotiated exclusively within the container of the nation state. In this article, I will therefore employ an analytical framework for the politics of migration policies that is multi-stakeholder and multi-level. The multiple levels discussed will reach from the national/transnational to the regional/transregional (Association of Southeast Asian Nations – ASEAN, Colombo Process, Abu Dhabi Dialogue) and global (Global Forum on Migration and Development – GFMD, Global Compact) level. Major stakeholders addressed are the nation state(s) involved, the migration industry and migrant civil society. In particular, migrant civil society has a long tradition of engagement in the Philippines and mirrors the multiple levels of government engagement to further its advocacy. My main argument is therefore that regardless of the political regime in place, and despite internal fractions and cleavages, migrant civil society has been a constant and major contributing factor to the 'gold standard' of Philippine migration policies.


This paper describes new research into the kinematic structure of autonomous robotic systems, and into the associated design processes. The approach aims to develop novel insights and applicable tools and techniques for designing advanced mechanical architectures for planetary exploration systems. These should provide enhanced functionality for tackling complex autonomous operations, and improved levels of robustness in the face of the inevitable system faults.


Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) is a novel immunotherapy for type I diabetes because it selectively kills insulin autoreactive T-cells, which enables recovery of insulin production by pancreatic islet cells. The TNF inducer Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) also has therapeutic value by activating innate immunity that beneficially modifies the course of type 1 diabetes (T1D) in the same manner as TNF. Epstein Barr Virus (EBV) infection is also an inducer of TNF. This observational study was undertaken to determine whether EBV has the same beneficial effects as BCG in a recent clinical trial. We describe three cases of long-term diabetic subjects with active mononucleosis that were followed for 15 weeks to determine the impact of EBV infection on established T1D. In comparison to non-EBVinfected long-term diabetics, EBV transiently diminished the autoimmune response in two of three cases. EBV infection triggered rapid increase of circulating insulin-B autoreactive T-cells whose striking loss of CD8 marker indicated that the cells were injured or apoptotic. EBV infection also caused a transient surge in the secretion of C-peptide, a marker for pancreatic insulin secretion. EBV acts like BCG in eliciting innate immunity and beneficially modifying the course of TID.


The detection of abnormal cell nuclei is a key technique of the cytopathic automatic screening system, which directly determines the performance of the system. Although the Mask R-CNN which combines target detection and semantic segmentation has achieved good performance in general target detection tasks, the performance in abnormal cell detection is still unsatisfactory. To solve this problem, we design a new deep neural network for abnormal cell detection based on the Mask R-CNN, named mask abnormal cell detection R-CNN (MACD R-CNN). First, in the classification branch of Mask R-CNN, it generates the same size of feature maps from different size of RoIs as the input. The nuclei in this part of the feature maps will be deformed to varying degrees. We design a fixed proposal module to generate fixed-sized feature maps of nuclei, which allows the new information of nucleus is used for classification. Then we use the attention mechanism to merge the original RoI and Fixed RoI features. Finally, we increase the depth of the convolution layer to further improve the accuracy of cell classification. Experiments show that the MACD R-CNN can effectively improve the performance of abnormal cell detection.


If good taste is a virtue, then an account of good taste might be modelled on existing accounts of moral or epistemic virtue. One good reason to develop such an account is that it helps solve otherwise intractable problems in aesthetics. This paper proposes an alternative to neo-Aristotelian models of good taste. It then contrasts the neo-Aristotelian models with the proposed model, assessing them for their potential to contend with otherwise intractable problems in aesthetics.


Alpha1-adrenoceptors are G-protein coupled receptors found in a variety of vascular tissues and responsible for vasoconstriction. Selectivity for each of the three subtypes is an important consideration in drug design in order to minimise the possibility of side effects. Using Catalyst we developed ligand-based pharmacophores from alpha(1a,b,d)-selective antagonists available in the literature using three separate training sets. Four-feature pharmacophores were developed for the alpha(1a) and alpha(1b) subtype-selective antagonists and a five-feature pharmacophore was developed for the alpha(1d) subtype-selective antagonists. The alpha(1a) pharmacophore represents both class I and II compounds with good predictivity for other compounds outside the training set as well. The alpha(1b) pharmacophore best predicts the activity of prazosin analogues as these make up the majority of alpha(1b)-selective antagonists. Unexpectedly, no positive ionisable feature was incorporated in the alpha(1b) pharmacophore. The alpha(1d) pharmacophore was based primarily on one structural class of compounds, but has good predictivity for a heterogeneous test set. Preliminary docking studies using AutoDock and optimised alpha1-adrenoceptor homology models, conducted with the antagonists prazosin (32) and 66, showed good agreement with the findings from the pharmacophores.


When it comes to paying attention to the suprasegmental features of their speech, most learners of English seem to be unaware that such phenomena as stress, pitch, duration, and pausing can be of great importance regarding the mutual intelligibility. Since they carry a considerable weight of establishing an intelligible conversation, it is argued that they should take part in learners' curricula. In this light, the present study is set out to examine the suprasegmental features of a non-native learner and a native speaker, deriving similarities and diversions with regards to the way they operate the suprasegmental features in their speech data. Therefore, the present study analyses and compares some suprasegmental features of the speech data gathered from a Turkish learner of English and a native speaker of American English. In this vein, fifty sentences are read aloud separately by the Turkish learner of English and the native speaker. The similarities and diversion points are presented and analysed to highlight some recursivities within the dataset. In this way, teachers and learners of English might be informed upon certain points to improve their intelligibility.


The SLF boundary-layer wind tunnel is utilized to investigate the impact of living plants on air flow and soil erosion (Burri, 2009). Velocity measurements have been performed to identify the flow characteristics for different wind tunnel setups, e.g. over smooth floor, vegetation covered surfaces with spires and additional roughness elements in the fetch. Analyses of the results and comparison with literature show that a boundary layer flow suitable for further investigations of living plants is generated in the wind tunnel.


Here, I review phylogenetic studies of the lizard family Pygopodidae, a group of 47 extant species that diversified in Australia and New Guinea. The goal of this study was to examine published phylogenetic and phylogenomic hypotheses on pygopodids to identify the strengths and weaknesses in our understanding of their phylogeny. Many parts of the pygopodid family tree are well established by multiple independent tree inferences including: (1) all multispecies genera (i.e., Aprasia, Delma, Lialis, Pletholax, and Pygopus) are monophyletic groups; (2) the root of the pygopodid tree is located along the branch leading to the Delma clade, thus showing that Delma is the sister group to all other pygopodid genera; (3) the Aprasia repens group, Delma tincta group, and several other groups of closely related species are demonstrated to be monophyletic entities; and (4) the monotypic Paradelma orientalis is the sister lineage to the Pygopus clade. Based on accumulated phylogenetic evidence, two taxonomic recommendations are given: Paradelma merits generic status rather than being subsumed into Pygopus as some earlier studies had suggested, and the monotypic Aclys concinna should be recognized as a member of Delma (following current practice) until future studies clarify its placement inside or outside the Delma clade. One chronic problem with phylogenetic studies of pygopodids, which has limited the explanatory power of many tree hypotheses, concerns the undersampling of known species. Although the continual addition of newly described species, especially over the past two decades, has been a major reason for these taxon sampling gaps, deficits in species sampling for ingroups and/or outgroups in several studies of pygopodid species complexes has confounded the testing of some ingroup monophyly hypotheses. Ancient hybridization between non-sister lineages may also be confounding attempts to recover the relationships among pygopodids using molecular data. Indeed, such a phenomenon can explain at least five cases of mito-nuclear discordance and conflicts among trees based on nuclear DNA datasets. Another problem has been the lack of consensus on the relationships among most pygopodid genera, an issue that may stem from rapid diversification of these lineages early in the group's history. Despite current weaknesses in our understanding of pygopodid phylogeny, enough evidence exists to clarify many major and minor structural parts of their family tree. Accordingly, a composite tree for the Pygopodidae was able to be synthesized. This novel tree hypothesis contains all recognized pygopodid species and reveals that about half of the clades are corroborated by multiple independent tree hypotheses, while the remaining clades have less empirical support.


A population-based multicentre study, comprising all very low birthweight (VLBW; < or = 1,500 g) infants born alive in the south-east region of Sweden during a 15-month period, was performed in the late 1980s. Among the VLBW infants there were 107 lifebirths (a rate of 0.72%), 86 (80.4%) neonatal survivors and no late deaths. Twenty (18.4%) had intracranial complications, two (2.3%) retinopathy of prematurity, grade 3, and six (5.6%) bronchopulmonary dysplasia. At follow-up at 18 months of uncorrected age, the VLBW infants were still lighter in weight and of shorter stature than control group infants. Of the five (5.8%) of the surviving VLBW infants who had significant neurological disorder at 18 months of age, all had weighed less than 800 g at birth, and had manifested neurological symptoms at 6 months of age. The hospitalisation rate during the first 18 months of life was greater in the VLBW than the control group.


Energy and hydrogen have a long history together; more than 200 years ago, hydrogen-powered the first internal combustion engines and is now a crucial component of the contemporary refining sector. It emits no greenhouse gases or pollutants directly and is light, storable, and energy-dense. But adoption of hydrogen in areas where it is virtually nonexistent, like transportation, buildings, and power generation, is necessary for it to significantly contribute to clean energy transitions (Simpson and Lutz 2007).
 Today, hydrogen is gaining unheard-of momentum. The opportunity to make hydrogen a significant component of our future clean and secure energy supply should not be missed by the entire globe. Today, providing hydrogen to industrial users is a significant global industry. The worldwide demand for hydrogen, which has increased more than triple since 1975, is still on the rise. To produce hydrogen, 6% of the world's natural gas and 2% of its coal are used.
 As a result, the generation of hydrogen results in annual CO2 emissions of around 830 million tonnes, which is equal to the combined emissions of the United Kingdom and Indonesia. Hydrogen can be collected from water, biomass, fossil fuels, or a combination of the three. Currently, natural gas serves as the main fuel for producing hydrogen, contributing about 75 percent of the 70 million tonnes of dedicated hydrogen produced annually worldwide. This makes up around 6% of the world's natural gas consumption. Due to coal's dominance in China, gas comes in second, and only a small portion is created by the usage of oil and electricity (Soltani, Rosen and Dincer 2014).


The purpose of this study was to examine the phenomenon of orchestral conducting pedagogy through a case study investigation of one module of Symphony Australia's year-long conducting development programme. Much has been written about the characteristics of conducting practice and the role of the conductor with significant research into gesture, leadership and the relationship between conductor and orchestra. However, research that investigates the ways in which orchestral conducting is taught, particularly within the context of a conducting master-class workshop, is scarce. For this reason, two questions were formulated to underpin this case study investigation;
1. What does orchestral conducting pedagogy look like?
2. How does teaching and learning occur within a conducting master-class workshop environment?
The study investigated orchestral conducting pedagogy by exploring workshop participants' perceptions of teaching and learning through interview and intensive observations. The participants included student conductors (6), auditors (2), ensemble musicians, (3) the artistic administrator (1) and the maestro (1). The aspiring young experienced student conductors were required to rehearse specific repertoire with a live semi-professional ensemble over five consecutive days in preparation for a public performance with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Interview and observation data were generated with participants throughout the period of the workshop.
This study found that orchestral conducting pedagogy (within this workshop environment) is a highly intense activity that placed enormous stress upon participants' (musicians, auditors, student conductors and maestro) emotional, physical and musical capabilities. The workshop environment fostered numerous opportunities for student conductors to participate as instrumentalists with the accompanying instrumental ensemble, review each other's performances, implement advice from the maestro, experience independence in making musical decisions, rectify performance mistakes, make demands upon musicians, refine rehearsal skills, ask appropriate questions, and develop a disposition that could tolerate personal criticism.
Mentoring was the dominant intentional teaching approach used in the workshop although coaching was used frequently through the critical feedback and demonstrations given by the maestro during the rehearsals. A key teaching strategy adopted by this maestro was to create an intense environment that simulated a professional performance experience and compelled a style of participation, which placed responsibility and decisionmaking, predominately in the hands and voice of the student. Although most participants expressed the view that their expectations about the value of the learning experiences within the workshop had been satisfied, disparities were evident between student participants' perceptions and those of the maestro. The latter expressed disappointment that students were not sufficiently self-regulated and independent to take advantage of the rehearsal opportunities.
Orchestral conducting is a complex role requmng competence in both musical and non-musical skills. The practical performance experience offered by such workshops forms a highly relevant component of pedagogical practice and offers significant opportunities for students to increase their knowledge of the orchestral repertoire, refine technique, and develop leadership and communication skills. This study recommends further investigation into the process of acquiring expertise through such master-class workshops and apprenticeships. This study also recommends additional research into the implications for pedagogy of having greater discussion and analysis of theoretical/musical issues relating to the repertoire and the process of learning to conduct, within the conducting master-class workshop environment.


Multichip modules (MCM's) are increasingly used for high frequency, microwave, and millimeter wave applications. This has prompted the need for low loss dielectrics to meet the performance requirements of multilayer interconnects used in MCM's. In the GE high density interconnect (HDI) process, adhesives are used to bond dielectric film layers over bare chips and components. After vias are formed in the dielectric and adhesive, patterned metal is fabricated, and additional layers of dielectric are bonded and additional patterned metal is fabricated to complete the interconnect structure. In this study, we evaluated the electrical performance of selected adhesives used to bond one dielectric film layer to another. The use of a low loss thermoset polymer such as benzocyclobutene (BCB) as the adhesive resulted in lower dielectric losses compared to an epoxy-based adhesive evaluated over the 10-20 GHz regime tested. Based on the experimental data derived in this study, the electrical performance improvement should be even more significant at higher frequencies.


The road to the acquisition of the USNS Impeccable (T-AGOS 23) has seen a few uncommon and challenging twists and turns, resulting in delays and disruption to the program. The saga began in 1993, when the original shipbuilder, facing financial difficulties, filed for Chapter XI bankruptcy protection. For two more years the program was stalled before the Navy was able to warrant the work that had been done up to that point. In 1995 the contract was reassigned to another shipbuilder to complete the vessel and obtain the necessary certificates to comply with all the applicable requirements of the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS). This unprecedented approach put the Navy in the unique situation of being responsible for two of the most controversial issues in a ship construction process, i.e., detail design and equipment warranties.

This paper gives the status of the program, discusses how various technical issues and production demands are being addressed, and describes the future hurdles that need to be overcome before delivery of the vessel.


In this paper, in order to improve the durability of optical fiber grating hydrogen sensors, an optical fiber grating hydrogen sensor with high precision, stability, and durability is prepared. Based on the simplified two-dimensional model and finite element analysis, the effects of film thickness, coating speed, and coating times on the residual Mises equivalent stress between the sensor film and substrate were studied, and the optimum coating parameters were determined. The finite element analysis results show that the residual equivalent stress between the film and the substrate increases with the increase in the film thickness between 50 and 150 nm. The range of 200–250 nm is relatively stable, and the value is small. The coating speed has almost no effect on the residual equivalent stress. When the thickness of the film is 200 nm, the residual equivalent stress decreases with the increase in coating times, and the equivalent force is the lowest when the film is coated three times. The best coating parameters are the thickness of 200 nm, the speed of 62.5 μm/s, and the times of coating three times. The results of finite element analysis are verified by the hydrogen sensitivity test and durability test.


Previous research indicates a lower prevalence of eating disorders within black than white populations. The purpose of this investigation was to examine multiple facets of body image and eating behaviors among 104 African-American and white female college students. Four primary domains assessed in this study were: (a) body-image attitudes, (b) body-image perceptions, (c) weight concerns and eating behaviors, and (d) judgments of the thinness-fatness of varying body sizes. As hypothesized, black females held more favorable bodyimage attitudes than whites, on both global and weight-related body-image affects, cognitions, and behaviors. Moreover, compared with whites, black women held body-size ideals that were less thin and more congruent with their current perceived size. Evidence from the novel Perceptions of Fatness Procedure indicates that black women held less strict criteria for perceiving body fatness. Whites reported more frequent eating restraint and sub-clinical eating dyscontrol. Results are discussed in the context of cultural and developmental influences on the body images of African-American and white women in Western society. © 1992 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.


This study presents the enhanced mechanical properties of cement paste reinforced by graphene oxide (GO)/carbon nanotubes (CNTs) composites. The UV-vis spectroscopy and optical microscopy results show that the dispersion of CNTs in the GO solution is much better than in an aqueous solution due to the higher electrostatic repulsion, which allows a completely new approach of dispersing CNTs rather than by incorporating a dispersant. More importantly, the GO/CNTs composite plays an important role in improving the compressive and flexural strength of cement paste by 21.13% and 24.21%, which is much higher than cement paste reinforced by CNTs (6.40% and 10.14%) or GO (11.05% and 16.20%). The improved mechanical properties of cement paste are attributed to better dispersed CNTs and enhanced interactions among CNTs by the GO incorporation. Finally, the space interlocking mechanism of the GO/CNTs/cement paste composite with enhanced mechanical properties is proposed.


Allergic antibodies, now known to be of the IgE class, have been associated with basophil and mast cell activation and thus with histamine release since these cells contain histamine. Common allergen induced diseases such as allergic rhinitis have been correlated with IgE antibody, basophils, mast cells and histamine release and partial control with pharmacologic use of histamine receptor blockade. This report now classifies all immediate-type reactions in reference to basophils and mast cells and activation of these cells. This approach appears particularly important in relation to those immediate-type reactions which simulate IgE mediated responses but in which no allergenic stimulus is present. The mechanisms of pharmacologic control of these basophil-mast cell response syndromes and potential research approaches are emphasized.


Secure group communication is an increasingly popular research area having received much attention in recent years. Group key management is a fundamental building block for secure group communication systems. This paper introduces a new family of protocols addressing cluster based communication, and distributed group key agreement for secure group communication in dynamic peer groups. In this scheme, group members can be divided into sub groups called clusters. We propose three cluster based communication protocols with tree-based group key management. The protocols (1) provides the communication within the cluster by generating common group key within the cluster, (2) provides communication between the clusters by generating common group key between the clusters and (3) provides the communication among all clusters by generating common group key among the all clusters. In our approach group key will be updated for each session or when a user joins or leaves the cluster. More over we use Certificate Authority which guarantees key authentication, and protects our protocol from all types of attacks. KeywordsSecure Group Communication; Key Agreement; Key Tree; Dynamic peer groups,Cluster.


In this Letter, we revisit arguments suggesting that the Bardeen–Petterson effect can coalign the spins of a central supermassive black hole binary accreting from a circumbinary (or circumnuclear) gas disc. We improve on previous estimates by adding the dependence on system parameters and noting that the non-linear nature of warp propagation in a thin viscous disc affects alignment. This reduces the disc's ability to communicate the warp, and can severely reduce the effectiveness of disc-assisted spin alignment. We test our predictions with a Monte Carlo realization of random misalignments and accretion rates, and we find that the outcome depends strongly on the spin magnitude. We estimate a generous upper limit to the probability of alignment by making assumptions which favour it throughout. Even with these assumptions, about 40 per cent of black holes with a 0.5 do not have time to align with the disc. If the residual misalignment is not small and it is maintained down to the final coalescence phase, this can give a powerful recoil velocity to the merged hole. Highly spinning black holes are thus more likely being subject to strong recoils, the occurrence of which is currently debated.


It's long been known that public support for foreign military intervention wanes with time. But are there major differences in men and women's attitudes towards initiating and sustaining foreign wars? Ben Clements shows the persistence of a 'gender gap' in British public opinion by looking at the popular mood on British military interventions in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.


Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are the most widely used medicine to treat pain and inflammation, and to inhibit platelet function. Understanding the expression regulation of enzymes of the prostanoid pathway is of great medical relevance. Histone acetylation crucially controls gene expression. We set out to identify the impact of histone deacetylases (HDACs) on the generation of prostanoids and examine the consequences on vascular function. HDAC inhibition (HDACi) with the pan-HDAC inhibitor, vorinostat, attenuated prostaglandin (PG)E2 generation in the murine vasculature and in human vascular smooth muscle cells. In line with this, the expression of the key enzyme for PGE2 synthesis, microsomal PGE synthase-1 (PTGES1), was reduced by HDACi. Accordingly, the relaxation to arachidonic acid was decreased after ex vivo incubation of murine vessels with HDACi. To identify the underlying mechanism, chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) and ChIP-sequencing analysis were performed. These results suggest that HDACs are involved in the recruitment of the transcriptional activator p300 to the PTGES1 gene and that HDACi prevented this effect. In line with the acetyltransferase activity of p300, H3K27 acetylation was reduced after HDACi and resulted in the formation of heterochromatin in the PTGES1 gene. In conclusion, HDAC activity maintains PTGES1 expression by recruiting p300 to its gene.


During recent decades, the Santa Maria dei Battuti facade of the Conegliano Cathedral, painted by Ludovico Pozzoferrato in the XVI century, has been subjected to frequent intervention works to slow down a sharp increase in the degradation processes. According to previous investigations carried out respectively in 1989 and 2003 preliminary to the last two conservation works it was found that a sulphating process of fresco paintings was taking place. In addition a widespread presence of whitening of the painting surface was observed. At the end of the work it was decided to make some periodic checks on the wall paintings surface in order to establish if the decay products were increasing. In addition to the traditional laboratory analytical methods of analysis for the determination of soluble salts it was decided to map the gypsum presence on the wall paintings surface by using XRF spectroscopy. Making use of a transportable EDXRF system more than 350 analysis were carried out to check the full surface of the facade. Besides the degradation processes, the palette and painting techniques of the author were established. At the end of the scientific campaign, an up to now unique working protocol was established. The full facade was inspected and mapped out in all of its degradation processes. The result is a very powerful documentation of the state of the art of the fresco surface. This project was fulfilled with a strong synergy among scientists, art historians and restorers. Together with the results of the "Santa Maria dei Battuti" facade, in this memoir the working protocol established is explained. INTRODUCTION The diagnostic project we present in this memoir had the goal to verify the conservation state of the wall paintings after the restoration of 2003. The control followed the criteria: • General and detailed photographic documentation on the full area of the wall paintings to describe and register the present state. • Photo comparison with the documentation collected immediately after the restoration operation. • Mapping of the alteration with visual inspection. • Measurement made with a portable XRF system, of the sulphur concentration in various parts of the surface. The presence of the sulphur can be a precise indication of a sulphating process originating from sulphur dioxide. • Measurements using a portable XRF system, of the distribution concentration of barium ascribed to the consolidating treatment fulfilled with barium hydroxide. • Measurement of water absorbance parameters on the surface of the wall. • Stratigraphy studies of micro samples on the most significant pigments and comparison with the results of the non destructive measurements carried out with portable XRF. • Soluble salts measurements in whitening surface areas. THE FACADE OF THE DOME OF CONEGLIANO The Dome of Conegliano was built in successive stages starting from 1345 and modified up to the 60's of the XX century. It is an example of great complexity. The facade is, in fact, 1 9th International Conference on NDT of Art, Jerusalem Israel, 25-30 May 2008 For more papers of this publication click: www.ndt.net/search/docs.php3?MainSource=65


This article examines the public essays of the immigrant activist Jose Antonio Vargas. It situates his 2011 New York Times Magazine essay "My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant" and his 2012 Time magazine essay "Not Legal, Not Leaving" in the larger historical context of the undocumented youth movement in the United States. More specifically, this article identifies how the national comprehensive immigration reform movement created a political genre known as the Dreamer narrative that undocumented youth were trained to produce. By examining the ways Vargas performs these genre expectations, with a particular interest in revising their affective dimensions, the article exposes Vargas's approach to political engagement, one that derives from the emotional work undocumented migrants undertake to narrate themselves into hostile and vitriolic discourses of belonging.


1. The absorption spectra of a number of proteins in the region 2500 to 3000 A. have been found to comprise from six to nine narrow bands. In consequence of variation in the relative intensity of these bands from protein to protein, the absorption curve has a characteristic configuration for each protein. 2. These bands correspond closely in position with the narrow bands which appear in the absorption spectra of tryptophan, tyrosin, and phenylalanine. Tryptophan and tyrosin each present three bands, phenylalanine shows nine. 3. The bands in the proteins are accordingly attributed to these amino acids. In the proteins the bands are displaced from the positions which they occupy in the uncombined amino acids, in most instances, by 10 to 35 A. toward longer wavelengths. 4. The absorption spectrum of Pneumococcus Type I antibody resembles that of normal pseudoglobulin but shows characteristic differences.


The suburban territories of large cities are transitional zones where intensive transformations in land use are constantly taking place. Therefore, the presented work is devoted to an integrated assessment of land use changes in the Shortandy district (Kazakhstan) based on an integrated study of the dynamics of land use and sustainable development indicators (SDIs). It was found that the main tendency in the land use of this Peri-urban area (PUA) during 1992–2018 is their intensification, through an increase in arable lands. Kazakhstan only recently started the systematic collection of SDIs according to international standards. Therefore, to assess the sustainable development of the study area, limited amounts of information were available. Nevertheless, the use of SDIs from 2007 to 2017 showed that the growth of economic development inthe study area is almost adequately accompanied by an increase in the level of social and environmental development. The methodological approach used can be widely used to assess the sustainable development of specific territories in general and the development of the capital of Kazakhstan and their PUA, in particular.


Abstract : The purpose of this study is to test whether mechanical stimulation of a co-cultured biomaterial scaffold can improve/expedite healing of a tendon-to-bone interface for soft tissue repair. There are several precursor milestones that need to be achieved before the purpose can be tested. Namely, these milestones include: determining an appropriate scaffold for the tendon to bone interface, characterizing the co-culture behavior on the selected scaffold, developing a mechanical bioreactor to stimulate co-cultured scaffolds, and characterize the effect of mechanical stimulation on the co-cultured scaffolds. Currently, techniques have been established to condition the scaffolds by adsorbing attachments proteins found in fetal bovine serum. Efficient protocols for extracellular matrix digestion and analysis have been developed to save scaffold materials and correlate data. Finally, a customizable bioreactor was designed to selectively mechanically stimulate tendon-to-bone tissue engineering co-cultured scaffolds.


How to evaluate information in print and from the Internet; what are scholarly and popular sources; what are primary and secondary sources.


Cronbach alpha and Cohen kappa were compared and found to differ along two major facets. A fourfold classification system based on these facets clarifies the double contrast and produces a common metric allowing direct comparability. A new estimator, coefficient beta, is introduced in the process and is presented as a complement to coefficient alpha in estimating the psychometric properties of test scores and ratings.


The menopausal hormone abnormal changes such as estrogen deficiency and increased FSH secretion in female patients in old age may cause osteoporosis which is plagued by patients. The pathogenesis of osteoporosis is not yet fully understood. BMP in the transforming growth factor-β
 superfamily is a key member in the process of bone growth and development, among which BMP-2 exerts critical roles. Impaired osteogenic differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSC) contributes to the progress of osteoporosis. BMSC plays an indispensable role in treating osteoporosis
 and can develop into different directions through induction. As the regenerative medicine nanotechnology has become a new medical method, it is believed that BMSC can be used to treat osteoporosis and other related diseases. Our study analyzed the effects of BMP-2/estrogen composite nanoparticles
 on the proliferation and differentiation of osteoporotic BMSC cells to provide a reliable reference for the future treatment. Our results showed that BMP-2/estrogen composite nanoparticles promoted BMSC cell proliferation, increased ALP activity, decreased apoptosis rate, increased the expression
 of Col-1, Runx2 and Osterix, upregulated the osteogenic marker BMP-2. As confirmed by Alizarin Red staining, it could differentiate into osteoblasts and the content of Trap was decreased. In conclusion, our study confirms that BMP-2/estrogen composite nanoparticles can promote BMSC cell proliferation,
 osteogenic differentiation, and inhibit osteoclast differentiation, thereby providing new treatments and theoretical reference basis for treating osteoporosis.


In 2009, James Lake introduced a new hypothesis in which reticulate phylogeny reconstruction is used to elucidate the origin of Gram-negative bacteria (Nature 460: 967–971). The presented data supported the Gram-negative bacteria originating from an ancient endosymbiosis between the Actinobacteria and Clostridia. His conclusion was based on a presence-absence analysis of protein families that divided all prokaryotes into five groups: Actinobacteria, Double Membrane bacteria (DM), Clostridia, Archaea and Bacilli. Of these five groups, the DM are by far the largest and most diverse group compared to the other groupings. While the fusion hypothesis for the origin of double membrane bacteria is enticing, we show that the signal supporting an ancient symbiosis is lost when the DM group is broken down into smaller subgroups. We conclude that the signal detected in James Lake's analysis in part results from a systematic artifact due to group size and diversity combined with low levels of horizontal gene transfer.


A survey of faculty members at Texas A&M University re vealed that 21 percent were searching databases from their offices and labs without centralized funding or assistance from the Library. Results of the survey indicate that' 'con venience" was the reason most faculty were searching from their offices rather than through the Library. Faculty were willing to spend money on the convenience of having their own subscriptions rather than taking advantage of the Library's heavily subsidized After Dark Program. The results of the survey indicate that users will use distributed access to databases. Three Wilson databases were loaded onto the University main frame and made available through the Library's online catalog, NOTIS.


CXCR5+ T follicular helper cells promote generation of neutralizing antibodies in response to chronic viral infection. Clearing chronic viral infections Although chronic lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) infection in mice persists for several months and is accompanied by exhaustion of CD8+ T cells, eventually the infection is controlled in most cases. Here, Greczmiel et al. have examined how these chronically infected mice clear LCMV. By developing mouse models to selectively deplete CD4+ T follicular helper cells (TFH), the authors found these TFH cells to be vital for the generation of neutralizing antiviral antibodies that promote viral clearance. The study underscores the importance of TFH cells in driving B cell responses in the context of CD8+ T cell exhaustion. During chronic viral infections, both CD8 and CD4 T cell responses are functionally compromised. Alongside exhaustion of CD8 T cells during chronic viral infections, it has also been documented that the CD4 T cells have an increased propensity to differentiate toward CXCR5+ T follicular helper cell (TFH) lineage. Whether these TFH cells contribute to the immune response to chronic viral infection has remained unclear. Using chronic lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) infection in conjunction with an in vivo system where TFH cells can be conditionally ablated, we have established that these TFH cells do in fact play an important protective function. Specifically, we demonstrate that these TFH cells are essential for the late emergence of neutralizing LCMV-specific antibodies that keep viral titers in check and ultimately allow mice to clear the virus. By supporting the generation of neutralizing antibodies, we show that sustained activity of TFH cells promotes control of the chronic infection in face of exhausted CD8 T cell responses.


A measurement of the ZZ production cross section in proton-proton collisions at sqrt{s} = 7 TeV using data collected by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC is presented. In a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.02fb-1, 12 events containing two Z boson candidates decaying to electrons and/or muons were observed. The expected background contribution is 0.3^{+0.9}_{-0.3} (stat) ^{+0.4}_{-0.3} (syst) events. The total cross section for on-shell ZZ production has been determined to be \sigma_{ZZ}_{tot}= 8.4^{+2.7}_{-2.3}(stat) ^{+0.4}_{-0.7}(syst)\pm 0.3 (lumi) pb$ and is compatible with the Standard Model expectation of 6.5^{+0.3}_{-0.2} pb calculated at the next-to-leading order in QCD. Limits on anomalous neutral triple gauge boson couplings are derived.


Josiah Martin (1737-1786), the last royal governor of North Carolina, aroused sentiment for independence in North Carolina through his inflexible loyalty to the crown. He was born in April 1737 in Dublin, Ireland, to Colonel Samuel and Sarah Wyke Irish Martin of Greencastle, Antigua. He spent most of his first fifteen years in Ireland and England, travelling with his tutor to the West Indies in 1752. He did not care for the tropical climate in Antigua, however, claiming that it affected his health. In 1756 Martin reported to London to study law. There his older half brother Samuel, a member of Parliament, used his influence to help Josiah gain favorable positions. Forsaking the study of law young Martin for a time pursued a military career. Josiah Martin married his first cousin Elizabeth Martin in New York in January 1761. They had eight children, four of whom survived to maturity, but none of whom married.