OBJECTIVE
To observe the efficacy of indocyanine green-assisted vitrectomy combined with internal limiting membrane peeling for treatment of idiopathic macular epiretinal membranes(IMEM).

METHODS
Retrospectively studied 60 patients with IMEM who all underwent the surgery of vitrectomy combined with internal limiting membrane peeling from 2011 to 2013. Best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), intraocular pressure(NCT), slit-lamp examination, fundus photography, optical coherence tomography (OCT) were committed. Patients were followed for 6 months. They were divided into two groups according to whether indocyanine green(ICG) was used or not with 32 members in ICG group and 28 members in none ICG group. They were divided into two groups according to the intergrity or disruption of the ellipsoid zone (EZ band) with 26 members in EZ band intergrity group and 34 members in EZ band disruption group.

RESULTS
Age ranged from 28 to 79 years and the average age was 60.3 ± 10.9. Twenty-five males and 35 females were included. Twenty-five left eyes and 35 right eyes were incorporate. Among the 60 patients, 38 cases (63.33%) underwent visual acuity improvement after operation(BCVA improved at least 2 rows) and 21 (35%)patients' vision remained the same(BCVA changes less than 2 rows), while only one patient(1.67%) experienced decreased visual acuity(BCVA decline at least 2 rows). Average best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) (LogMar)and central retina thickness(CRT) (μm)of all patients preoperationwere 0.85 ± 0.44 and 578.45±144.61 respectively, which were 0.57±0.40 , 466.31±87.80 for one month and 0.54±0.42, 442.33± 98.92 three and six months postoperation(P<0.05). Compared to group of disruption EZ band, the BCVA of group of integral EZ band was better(P<0.05). 15 of 26 members in group of integral EZ band came up with EZ band cells loss in one month after operation and recovered by three or six months later. There was no statistical significance in BCVA and CRT between ICG group and none ICG group(P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS
Indocyanine green-assisted vitrectomy combined with internal limiting membrane peeling in the treatment of IMEM is safe and effective. The symptoms of decreased vision, metamorphopsia were greatly ameliorated. Besides, retinal organization structures showed a certain extent of improvement. The transient occurrence of EZ band disruption postoperation could recovery 3 to 6 months later. And internal limiting membrane peeling assisted with ICG is a promising approach to the accomplishment of surgery without obvious toxicity. (Chin J Ophthalmol, 2016, 52:366-372).


During 1994–2005, we isolated Mycobacterium microti from 5 animals and 4 humans. Only 1 person was immunocompromised. Spoligotyping showed 3 patterns: vole type, llama type, and a new variant llama type.


Corporate reputation is the general estimation in which an association is held by its partners based on its past activities and likelihood of its future conduct. This study aimed to determine the empirical evidence of the corporate reputation influence towards financial performance of the firm in Indonesia. In this study, the authors expect that higher corporate reputation generate higher financial performance. This study used quantitative approach. This study analyzed secondary data from audited financial report in Indonesia Stock Exchange (ISE) and Indonesia Capital Market Directory (ICMD). The data was analyzed using statistic method using 930 firms listed in Indonesia Stock Exchange for year 2013 to 2016. The key result of this work has shown that corporate reputation had positive and significant effect toward financial performance. On the other hand, the result of this work showed that there is no differences of financial performance among the companies listed in INV100 and FORB50. © 2019, Institute of Advanced Scientific Research, Inc.. All rights reserved.


BACKGROUND
Staged keratotomy surgery, or "enhancement surgery," may allow a more predictable outcome, but also subjects the patient to additional surgical risks.

METHODS
A 39-year-old man underwent astigmatic keratotomy for myopic astigmatism, followed by 12 enhancement procedures for residual astigmatism.

RESULTS
These procedures effectively resulted in a double hexagonal keratotomy. The patient's best spectacle-corrected acuity deteriorated to counting fingers. Clinically, a conically-shaped protrusion of the central cornea, Munson's sign, diffuse subepithelial scarring, and central corneal thinning were noted. Penetrating keratoplasty was performed. Histopathologic examination showed central thinning, epithelial edema, disruption of Bowman's layer, marked stromal scarring, and focal areas of endothelial attenuation--findings consistent with keratoconus.

CONCLUSION
This case illustrates that multiple keratotomy procedures may result in corneal ectasia in apparently normal eyes and suggests that hexagonal keratotomy may be more likely to cause iatrogenic keratoconus.


There is a growing demand for wild caught juvenile fish to supply the market for aquaculture. However, little is known about the genetic effects of juvenile collection from wild populations. There ...


Innovation is an integral part of every firm's ongoing operations. While new product and service creation is an essential task to ensure a firm's immediate success in the marketplace, process and supply chain innovations can also create a unique source of competitive advantage for the future. Encouraging innovative thinking, developing new innovations, and managing the processes by which those innovations are developed are critical aspects of today's firm. Consequently, research which aids in the creation and maintenance of innovative firms is an important topic of inquiry for research communities on innovation management, including the operations management and information systems communities. We review the literature in this important area and offer suggestions for future research on the following topics: innovation within a firm and across the supply chain, technology management, and new product and service development.


The major interest in the immobilization of enzymes is obtaining a biocatalyst with activity and stability that are not affected during the process when compared to the free enzyme. The application of lipases in industries requires the study of techniques suitable for reuse and stability increase such as immobilization strategies. This work studied the immobilization of lipases produced by solid state fermentation from Penicillium verrucosum using two hydrophobic supports: Accurel EP 1000 and activated carbon. For the lipase immobilization, 1 g of support was added to 50 mL of an enzyme solution and kept for 2 hour in an ice bath. The solution was then filtered and the immobilized enzyme was stored in a dissecator for 48 hour before the assays for lipase activity, protein, and specific lipase activity. The results showed that the lipase immobilized in activated carbon presented higher specific activity than the lipase immobilized in Accurel EP 1000. The use of activated carbon as support led to a specific activity of 1.5 × 106 U/mg of protein, yield of 30.42%, and retention of 382.516%.


The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has been working toward space Internet and Interplanetary Internet (IPN) using appropriate network architecture and protocols [1]. As the widely deployed network protocol suite, the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) has been very successful in today's Internet operations. But TCP experiences severe performance degradation in space communications mainly because of the vast differences between terrestrial and space operating environments [2]. Although the feasibility of operating space communications using the Internet type of protocols has been a source of contention within NASA [1], a large number of alternative transmission control protocols and algorithms have been developed for space and other environments with similar communication conditions [2]-[8]. In [9], Wang et al. provides a comprehensive and comparative discussion for some of these protocols.


Northern peatlands hold large amounts of organic carbon (C) in their soils and are as such important in a climate change context. Blanket bogs, i.e. nutrient-poor peatlands restricted to maritime climates, may be extra vulnerable to global warming since they require a positive water balance to sustain their moss dominated vegetation and C sink functioning. This study presents a 4.5 year record of land–atmosphere carbon dioxide (CO2) exchange from the Andøya blanket bog in northern Norway. Compared with other peatlands, the Andøya peatland exhibited low flux rates, related to the low productivity of the dominating moss and lichen communities and the maritime settings that attenuated seasonal temperature variations. It was observed that under periods of high vapour pressure deficit, net ecosystem exchange was reduced, which was mainly caused by a decrease in gross primary production. However, no persistent effects of dry conditions on the CO2 exchange dynamics were observed, indicating that under present conditions and within the range of observed meteorological conditions the Andøya blanket bog retained its C uptake function. Continued monitoring of these ecosystem types is essential in order to detect possible effects of a changing climate.


The objective of this study is to compare different methods of assessing environmental impacts in order to highlight their complementarities. Bouman et al. (1999) have used SFA (Substance Flow Analysis), LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) and Partial Equilibrium (which is an economic approach) methods by applying them on a highly simplified comparison of small all-lead batteries and hypothetical all-plastic ones. Following this idea, the objective of this study is to perform and compare SFA, LCA and an economic analysis on the more realistic cases of lead-acid batteries (PbA) and nickel-metal hydride batteries (Ni-MH) for electric vehicles. The SFA allowed us to identify low lead emissions into the environment at production and recycling stages of PbA batteries, whereas relatively large nickel emissions at the manufacturing step of Ni-MH batteries are observed. According to LCA, Ni-MH primary batteries (without recycled materials) have more impacts on the environment than primary PbA batteries, but this result is reversed when the batteries are made from recycled lead or nickel. The economic analysis showed that Ni-MH batteries are much more expensive than PbA batteries but if the decrease in price due to the scale effect is considered, the difference will decrease when the market will grow up. A multiobjective optimization finally proved that the best solution is to keep both battery technologies: it is therefore interesting to use not merely one method, but to compare several strategies.


The existence of cell free fetal DNA, derived from apoptotic syncytiotrophoblasts, in the maternal circulation during pregnancy has opened new possibilities of non-invasive prenatal diagnosis, such as fetal RhD genotyping, prenatal diagnosis of hemoglobinopathies and fetal sexing in X-linked disorders like hemophilia. These diagnostic applications are however hampered by the lack of a generic control marker for circulating fetal DNA, which is especially cumbersome early in pregnancy. Fetal DNA concentration is extremely low and can be less then 5 genome equivalents (geq)/mL in the first trimester. It gradually increases during pregnancy, but greatly varies between women, from 15 to 150 geq/ml at 30th week of pregnancy. A negative test result can therefore be due to lack of fetal DNA in the PCR tube or to absence of the mutation/polymorphism in the fetus. Fetal DNA control assays based on Y-chromosome sequences can be used in only 50% of the pregnancies. We have previously developed a set of RQ-PCRs based on del-ins polymorphisms as fetal identifier, which has been introduced in routine diagnostics. However, in up to 5–10% of cases no suitable paternal marker can be identified and also the workload is considerable. Recently, it has been demonstrated that the promoter of RASSF1A gene is hyper-methylated in the placenta and hypo-methylated in maternal blood cells (Chiu et al., Am J Pathol. 2007;170:941). This methylation pattern allows the use of methylation-sensitive restriction enzyme digestion with BSTU1, for detecting the placental, hence fetal-derived hyper-methylated RASSF1A sequences in maternal plasma. We wanted to implement this potential fetal DNA identifier, RASSF1A , in our diagnostic tests. Initial results however showed weak positive results in virtually all male plasmas. This could be due to incomplete digestion of hypo-methylated leukocyte derived DNA or to the presence in plasma of hypermethylated DNA from other sources.

To increase the efficiency of digestion we performed a double digestion by adding another enzyme Hha1, which adds two extra restriction sites within the PCR target DNA sequence. Pilot experiments on DNA derived from male plasma showed decreased amplification signals, suggesting that the previously observed weak signals were derived from incompletely digested hypo-methylated DNA. We selected enzymes working in the same buffer. The optimal reaction time and temperature were established (1 hour at 37 °C with 10U of each enzyme). Applying this protocol, no amplification or only spurious amplification with high Ct values (mean Ct value of the positive wells: 43.3) were observed with DNA isolated from 2 ml of plasma obtained from non-pregnant women or male (n=20). In contrast, all samples obtained from pregnant women (n= 20) showed positive amplification signals in all wells tested (n=87, 3 or 5 replicates), with clearly lower Ct values (mean 41.04 ± 1.54) The beta-actin data showed in all samples complete digestion.

In conclusion : Our results indicate that a real time PCR assay on RASSF1a sequence can be used as universal fetal identifier for non-invasive fetal genotyping assays, if it is tested after double digestion with BSTU1 and Hha1. It is to be expected that the availability of this control assay will lead to wider implementation of prenatal genotyping assays based on cell-free fetal DNA.


The thesis presents the possibilities offered by the implementation of Public Private Partnerships (PPP) and the institutional framework for projects of this type and specifies in the area of the Port Industry by recording and evaluating the current situation in European ports. Ports, as parts of maritime transport, play a crucial role in the modern economic mainstream. The constant need for new services, the extended technological progress and the development of combined transport in recent decades, increase the need for providing modern and high-quality port services at competitive prices and simultaneously make the development of adequate port infrastructure urgent while the major economic and financial crisis pushes the public sector of countries in inexorable decline and highlights business opportunities through PPP programs. A wide divergence in national and port PPP approaches can be noticed and so does as results of their implementation are concerned. It is concluded that only through recording and analysis of the external and internal environment of a port, microeconomically and - combined with - the national and supranational systems of ports macroeconomically, can a port or port system develop the best strategic port planning, which will indicate whether PPPs should be selected as a model of organization and management of a port or a port service provided or rejected and which methodology to apply.


The current work aims to describe a methodology to test brake friction materials through a braking tribometer, which is integrated by an electromagnetic induction heater. This technology allows to characterize the isolated effect of load and temperature on friction. Characteristics of the main machines and procedures for testing friction materials are evaluated, paying particular attention with regard to the effect of load and temperature on friction. Experimental methodology consisted of performing brakings under 3 levels of load and 4 levels of temperature. Results from the experiments show that coefficient of friction decreases considerably when temperature is higher than 300°C. It was also observed that the effect of load on friction varies according to the friction material evaluated. About the number of braking applications at each temperature level, it has been verified that at temperatures of 200°C, 300°C and 350°C, three braking are able to characterize the friction behavior. However, when temperature is 100°C, at least 10 brakings are required in order to obtain satisfactory results. The reason for that is due to the bedding-in and also recovery effect of friction, which occurs immediately after to the brake friction material to be subjected to high temperatures (300°C or higher).


We start thinking about the theoretical and empirical difficulties that entail trying to specify what is understood by «middle sectors». We consider the distinction that Chilean social sciences habitually do between traditional and emergent middle sectors, and all the connotations this issue has. We analyze the empirical data obtained in a District of the Great Santiago by specially investigating the work-related experiences and the political and/or the State representation through the «structure of feeling» category. Our «cases» are placed in a context of cultural and political environment which arouse from the implementation of neoliberal policies, as being initiated by the Pinochet's dictatorship and later maintained by the Concertacion governments.


This paper describes the preparation and biological activity of an insulin analogue in which the B1-3 sequence (Phe-Val-Asn) of insulin is substituted by Ala-Ala-Lys. [B(1)Ala, B(2)Ala, B(3)Lys]-Insulin retains full in vivo activity and receptor binding activity as insulin, but its lipogenesis activity and immunoactivity are 70 % and 0.88 % of those of insulin respectively. The possible contribution of the N-terminus of B-chain of insulin to the structure and function of insulin is discussed.


Conservation of the species in their native landscapes required understanding patterns of spatial distribution of species and their ecological connectivity through Species Distribution Models (SDM) by generation and integration of spatial data from different sources using Geographical Information System (GIS) tools. SDM is an ecological/spatial model which combines datasets and maps of occurrence of target species and their geographical and environmental variables by linking various algorithms together, that has been applied to either identify or predict the regions fulfilling the set conditions. This article is focused on comprehensive review of spatial data requirements, statistical algorithms and softwares used to generate the SDMs. This chapter also includes a case study predicting the suitable habitat distribution of Gnetum ula, an endemic and vulnerable plant species using maximum entropy (MaxEnt) species distribution model for species occurrences with inputs from environmental variables such as bioclimate and elevation. Species Distribution Models (SDM) – A Strategic Tool for Predicting Suitable Habitats for Conserving the Target Species: GIS and Special Distribution Modelling (SDM)


This chapter examines the previously neglected role of the sonnet in the Black Arts movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Leading theorists of the movement denounced the sonnet as a paradigmatic "white" form that constrained black self-expression and had to be excluded from the black nation. The demand for an oral, authentic, collective poetry led poets to dismantle the traditional sonnet structure and adapt the form to cultural nationalist demands. The chapter reviews the role of traditional poetic forms in the black aesthetic and discusses strategies of camouflaging or demarcating the sonnet in the work of June Jordan, Joe Mitchell, Conrad Kent Rivers, Quincy Troupe, and Margaret Walker. These strategies confirm the view in recent scholarship that the Black Arts movement exerted both a confining and a creative influence on poets of the time.


This paper focuses on the potentialities of mapping urban spaces through a 'consciously uncontrolled' action of walking, observing, recording an unknown place. In particular, the paper is a reflective narrative of a particular technique developed by some postgraduate students at Sheffield School of Architecture to interpret Debord's theory of drifting as a qualitative tool for mapping the "unexpected" within the post-industrial neighbourhood of Holbeck, in Leeds. Located south to the river Aire, Holbeck, is known for being the centre of industrial revolution in Leeds. In the late 18th century, Holbeck developed from a small village into an important industrial site with a large number of mills and foundries manufacturing flax-based textiles. The prosperity however, did not last for long and from the late 19th century Holbeck saw a decline in heavy industries and consequently experienced a huge decrease in its population, becoming a 'wasteland'. Within a range of investigative spatial tools developed within the MA in Architectural Design, it seems particularly consistent with the aim of this workshop the method elaborated by Haddadian and Zhang who used a double-view recorded walk to discover simultaneously the place from multiple observation points, using their bodies as a recording device (Fig.1). At first, the idea was to use multiple cameras installed on different parts of the body at different heights and directions. The idea was to give a multidimensional image of Holbeck and come to a new understanding of the place by putting all these movies together and comparing them. However, during the design of the recording technique, the number of cameras was reduced to two: the front and the back camera. While the front camera was recording images and scenes consciuolsy selected by the holder, the rear camera was not focusing on anything deliberately. This status of 'not being consciously controlled' lead the walkers to see things that they rarely pay attention to or – actually - never do. While the movie recorded with the front camera was showing the glorious facade of an historical building, the one from the rear was an unxepcted close-up of brick texture. In other words, using the rear camera was an invitation to see differently (from another perspective) or an attempt to remember scenes that are replaced every second by the rush of new ones. The paper will finally introduce a reflection on the possibilities and challenges to use the data collected through this method to shape the design process.


Atmospheric water is one of the main water resources for plants in arid ecosystems. However, whether deep-rooted, tomentum-less desert trees can absorb atmospheric water via aerial organs and transport the water into their bodies remains poorly understood. In the present study, a woody, deep-rooted, tomentum-less plant, Haloxylon ammodendron (C.A. Mey.) Bunge, was selected as the experimental object to investigate the preconditions for and consequences of foliar water uptake. Plant water status, gas exchange, and 18O isotopic signatures of the plant were investigated following a typical rainfall pulse and a high-humidity exposure experiment. The results showed that a high content of atmospheric water was the prerequisite for foliar water uptake by H. ammodendron in the arid desert region. After atmospheric water was absorbed via the assimilating branches, which perform the function of leaves due to leaf degeneration, the plant transported the water to the secondary branches and trunk stems, but not to the taproot xylem or the soil, based on the 18O isotopic signatures of the specimen. Foliar water uptake altered the plant water status and gas exchange-related traits, i.e., water potential, stomatal conductance, transpiration rate, and instantaneous water use efficiency. Our results suggest that atmospheric water might be a subsidiary water resource for sustaining the survival and growth of deep-rooted plants in arid desert regions. These findings contribute to the knowledge of plant water physiology and restoration of desert plants in the arid regions of the planet.


—The adoption of external connectivity on modern vehicles and the increasing integration of complex automotive software paved the way for novel attack scenarios exploiting the vulnerabilities of in-vehicle protocols. The Controller Area Network (CAN) bus, a widely used communication network in ve- hicles between electronic control units (ECUs), therefore requires urgent monitoring. Predicting sophisticated intrusions that affect interdependencies between several CAN signals transmitted by distinct IDs requires modeling two key dimensions: 1) time dimen- sion , where we model the temporal relationships between signals carried by each ID separately 2) interaction dimension where we model the interaction between IDs, i.e., how the state of each CAN ID affects the others. In this work, we propose a novel deep learning-based multi-agent intrusion detection system, AMICA, that uses an attention-based self-supervised learning technique to detect stealthy in-vehicle intrusions, i.e., those that that not only disturb normal timing or ID distributions but also carried data values by multiple IDs, along with others. The proposed model is evaluated on the benchmark dataset SynCAN . Our source code is available at: https://github.com/linaashaji/AMICA


Abstract This essay offers a genealogy of the phrase "compulsory Zionism" in order to illuminate its vexed and contradictory intellectual foundations, the ethical and political stakes of the discourse surrounding the phrase, and its accompanying racial project. Scholars of late have taken up the use of this phrase to signal how "common-sense" knowledge about Palestine and Israel is naturalized in ways that privilege Israel and subjugate Palestinian existence. However, I argue that the phrase is also useful for understanding how Palestine solidarity politics are micromanaged within transnational leftist social justice movements and academia.


The tumors of the small bowel are uncommon. About one-third are jejunal, for the most part adenocarcinomata. From 1976 to 1994 we operated on 8 patients affected by jejunal adenocarcinoma, mean age 59 years (+/- 15.2), range 37-78, which are 0.33% of all the malignant epithelial neoplasms of the digestive tract, treated in the same period. In six cases the diagnosis was preoperative, by x-ray or instrumental investigations. In the other two patients the neoplasm was found intraoperatively. Only five operations were curative. In six cases the neoplasm invaded the serosa and, in three, also the mesenterium. A chemotherapy was carried out in the last five patients. One of these underwent right hepatectomy for single metastasis, 26 months after the primary operation. Until now we registered three deaths, one of which for causes unrelated to the cancer. After discussing epidemiology and diagnostics, the authors evaluate the therapeutical possibilities, mainly consisting of surgery, and dwell upon technical aspects and results.


Background Insecticide resistance monitoring of the malaria vectors to different classes of insecticides is necessary for resistance management. Malaria vector control management approaches are essentially based on IRS and LLINs. However, insecticide resistance is caused by several sources of selection and in case the selection pressure is from agricultural practices, then measures need to be taken to avoid a failure of the control methods put in place. The current study was undertaken to monitor the susceptibility of vectors to different classes of insecticides in areas of varying agrochemical use patterns. Methods A survey to determine the agricultural chemical use pattern was undertaken in ten localities across Côte d'Ivoire. In addition, WHO susceptibility tests were carried out on adults Anopheles gambiae s.l. mosquitoes emerging from collected larvae from the sites surveyed. Four insecticides from each class of the four classes of insecticides were evaluated using the standard susceptibility test methods. Furthermore, the target site mutations involved in resistance mechanisms were identified following the Taqman assay protocols and mosquito species were identified using SINE-PCR. Results The mortalities of all the An. gambiae s.l populations were similar regardless of the pesticide use pattern. The vectors were resistant to DDT, deltamethrin, and bendiocarb in all localities. In contrast, mosquitoes showed high susceptibility to malathion. High frequency of the Kdr-West gene allele was observed (70-100%). A single Kdr-East mutation was identified in a mosquito that harboured both Ace-1 and Kdr-West genes. Conclusion Cultivated marshlands representing good habitats for mosquito development may deeply contribute to the selection of resistance genes given the intensive use of agrochemical for crop protection. In view of these, special attention must be given to them to mitigate mosquito resistance to insecticides.


Tree-ring widths from 880 living, dry dead, and subfossil northern Swedish pines (Pinus syl vestris L.) have been assembled into a continuous and precisely dated chronology (the Torneträsk chronology) covering the period 5407 BC to ad 1997. Biological trends in the data were removed with autoregressive standardization (ARS) to emphasize year-to-year variability, and with regional curve stan dardization (RCS) to emphasize variability on timescales from decades to centuries. The strong association with summer mean temperature (June–August) has enabled the production of a temperature reconstruction for the last 7400 years, providing information on natural summer-temperature variability on timescales from years to centuries. Numerous cold episodes, comparable in severity and duration to the severe summers of the seventeenth century, are shown throughout the last seven millennia. Particularly severe conditions suggested between 600 and 1 BC correspond to a known period of glacier expansion. The relatively warm conditions of the late twentieth century do not exceed those reconstructed for several earlier time intervals, although replication is relatively poor and confidence in the reconstructions is correspondingly reduced in the pre-Christian period, particularly around 3000, 1600 and 330 bc. Despite the use of the RCS approach in chronology construction, the 7400-year chronology does not express the full range of millennial-timescale temperature change in northern Sweden.


To explore mechanisms underlying triglyceride (TG) accumulation in livers of chow-fed apo E-deficient mice (Kuipers, F., J.M. van Ree, M.H. Hofker, H. Wolters, G. In't Veld, R.J. Vonk, H.M.G. Princen, and L.M. Havekes. 1996. Hepatology. 24:241-247), we investigated the effects of apo E deficiency on secretion of VLDL-associated TG (a) in vivo in mice, (b) in isolated perfused mouse livers, and (c) in cultured mouse hepatocytes. (a) Hepatic VLDL-TG production rate in vivo, determined after Triton WR1339 injection, was reduced by 46% in apo E-deficient mice compared with controls. To eliminate the possibility that impaired VLDL secretion is caused by aspecific changes in hepatic function due to hypercholesterolemia, VLDL-TG production rates were also measured in apo E-deficient mice after transplantation of wild-type mouse bone marrow. Bone marrow- transplanted apo E-deficient mice, which do not express apo E in hepatocytes, showed normalized plasma cholesterol levels, but VLDL-TG production was reduced by 59%. (b) VLDL-TG production by isolated perfused livers from apo E-deficient mice was 50% lower than production by livers from control mice. Lipid composition of nascent VLDL particles isolated from the perfusate was similar for both groups. (c) Mass VLDL-TG secretion by cultured apo E-deficient hepatocytes was reduced by 23% compared with control values in serum-free medium, and by 61% in the presence of oleate in medium (0. 75 mM) to stimulate lipogenesis. Electron microscopic evaluation revealed a smaller average size for VLDL particles produced by apo E-deficient cells compared with control cells in the presence of oleate (38 and 49 nm, respectively). In short-term labeling studies, apo E-deficient and control cells showed a similar time-dependent accumulation of [3H]TG formed from [3H]glycerol, yet secretion of newly synthesized VLDL-associated [3H]TG by apo E-deficient cells was reduced by 60 and 73% in the absence and presence of oleate, respectively. We conclude that apo E, in addition to its role in lipoprotein clearance, has a physiological function in the VLDL assembly-secretion cascade.


To evaluate the clinical significance of monoclonal antibody against human pulmonary surfactant apoprotein (S-AP), surgically resected lung cancer from 122 patients was studied. Paraffin embedded tissues were used for the immunohistochemical study by the avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex method. The results were as follows. 1. Adenocarcinoma showed highest immunoreactivity for S-AP compared to the other histologic types. Among subtypes of adenocarcinoma, type II alveolar epithelial type, clara cell type and mixed type of these two types were strongly positive (100%, 77.8% and 66.7% respectively). These results indicate that this antibody may be a good marker for the subtyping of adenocarcinoma. 2. There were some positive cases in other histologic types especially in peripheral type of squamous cell carcinoma. These findings suggest that this antibody was useful for the histological differentiation of lung cancer. 3. As to the immunohistochemical reactivity there was a good correlation between tissue and cytological specimens, which indicate cytological studies may be adequate for this kind of histopathological studies. 4. In our study, there were no patients with S-AP positive carcinomas other than patients with lung cancer. These results indicate that this antibody could be used for the differential diagnosis between primary and secondary lung cancer.


Catastrophic forgetting describes the fact that machine learning models will likely forget the knowledge of previously learned tasks after the learning process of a new one. It is a vital problem in the continual learning scenario and recently has attracted tremendous concern across different communities. We explore the catastrophic forgetting phenomena in the context of quantum machine learning. It is found that, similar to those classical learning models based on neural networks, quantum learning systems likewise suffer from such forgetting problem in classification tasks emerging from various application scenes. We show that based on the local geometrical information in the loss function landscape of the trained model, a uniform strategy can be adapted to overcome the forgetting problem in the incremental learning setting. Our results uncover the catastrophic forgetting phenomena in quantum machine learning and offer a practical method to overcome this problem, which opens a new avenue for exploring potential quantum advantages towards continual learning.


Although the efficacy of cyclosporine therapy in rheumatoid arthritis has been established, there have been no long term studies of the risk/benefit ratio of cyclosporine A in severe rheumatoid arthritis. A prospective, open-label one-year study included 106 patients (83 women and 23 men; mean age 53 years; mean disease duration, 11 years) with rheumatoid arthritis. Mean number of previous second-line treatments was four and 69% of patients had failed methotrexate therapy. The initial dosage of cyclosporine was 3 mg/kg/d and was increased if needed up to 5 mg/kg/d. The dosage was reduced in the event of serum creatinine elevation (by more than 30% versus baseline) or diastolic blood pressure elevation (above 95 mmHg). The statistical analysis was performed on an intention-to-treat basis. In the 45 patients who completed the one-year study period, the mean dosage was 3.6 +/- 1 mg after six months and 3.3 +/- 1 mg/kg/d after one year. Significant improvements were seen in all the clinical efficacy parameters. The mean reduction in corticosteroid dosage was 0.5 mg/d. The study drug was discontinued prematurely in 61 patients (36 because of adverse events and 21 because of inefficacy). Twelve of the 56 patients with serum creatinine level elevation on at least one occasion and seven of the 35 patients with diastolic blood pressure elevation were taken off the study drug.


Noise in thin film media is concentrated at the transition center and must be characterized by a nonstationary autocorrelation function. The noise voltage spectrum is determined by the frequency response of this correlation function beyond the standard head field terms. In this work, the use of spectral measurement to determine the nonstationary noise is illustrated. Noise spectra of thin film media are experimentally studied in detail for various thin film disks using both inductive and MR heads. The results compare extremely well to the analytical expression of the spectrum derived utilizing a good approximation for the correlation function of the magnetization fluctuations. Both transition length and medium noise cross-track correlation width were determined from the measured spectra. The measured transition lengths agree with signal analysis, and the noise cross-track correlation widths range from 15 to 71 nm. Lowering the flying height reduces the transition widths, and the cross-track correlation width remains unchanged. >


The present context of community based natural resource management is characterized by multiple stakeholder involvement, a situation that presents challenges in aligning vision for common action. A 'systemic intervention' involved the staff and stakeholders of the Farmer Support Group, a non-profit rural development organization based in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The 'creative design of methods' guided inquiry in aligning vision of a Landcare ethos amongst the organization and their stakeholders, and in directing action toward the vision. Critical Systems Thinking is outlined as the framework in which the intervention methodology is encompassed. The importance of applying a broad range of environmental education methods to Landcare is established through drawing from present debates and contexts in environmental education and community based natural resource management. The 'organization as community' approach to organizational learning and development is highlighted as a means of creating synergy of purpose across staff and stakeholder boundaries. The intervention's methodology consisted of three phases: drawing out perspectives, forming a common vision in a mission statement, and developing action plans based on the mission statement. Outcomes included: identification of three schools of thought that drove perspectives on the role of environmental education in natural resource management strategies, formation of the FSG Landcare Ethos Mission Statement, which was inclusive of all stakeholder perspectives, and integration of the mission statement into FSG projects through action plans. The intervention found that aligning staff members and stakeholders in common vision and action towards developing a Landcare ethos could be accomplished through a blend of environmental education approaches that facilitate sustainable decision making by building capacity in individuals and communities in a participatory and locally relevant manner that is attentive to predominant perspectives and adaptive to change.


One of the most energetic artistic debates of the 20th century took place in the Soviet Union in the years between 1917 and 1939, as different movements in the art world vied with each other in claiming to represent the true art of the people in the period of the dictatorship of the proletariat. The Party followed the debate closely, seeking to guide its progress and strengthen central control over the formulation of artistic policy, as advocates of social realism and symbolism took issue with exponents of modernism. Until now, Western interest in these debates has focused exclusively on the activities and theories of the modernists. Brandon Taylor aims to provide a full picture of Soviet culture in its early period - one that is fundamental to an understanding of the arts in the Soviet Union today.


We establish a precise correspondence between the ABC Conjecture and N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory.
This is achieved by combining three ingredients: (i) Elkies' method of mapping ABC-triples to elliptic curves in his demonstration that ABC implies Mordell/Faltings; (ii) an explicit pair of elliptic curve and associated Belyi map given by Khadjavi-Scharaschkin; and (iii) the fact that the bipartite brane-tiling/dimer model for a gauge theory with toric moduli space is a particular dessin d'enfant in the sense of Grothendieck.
We explore this correspondence for the highest quality ABC-triples as well as large samples of random triples. The Conjecture itself is mapped to a statement about the fundamental domain of the toroidal compactification of the string realization of N=4 SYM.


The dynamic hysteresis features in mixed spins- (1/2,3/2,5/2) ternary alloy system with formula ABpC(1−p) was examined through Glauber-type stochastic dynamic and mean-field theory. The system includes two interpenetrating lattices, one has spin- 1/2 components, while the other includes a random distribution of spin- 3/2 and spin- 5/2 compounds. The effect of Hamiltonian parameters on the dynamic hysteresis behavior was investigated in detail and observed that the physical characteristics have a significant impact on the shape and quantity of hysteresis loops. We compared our findings with other theoretical and experimental investigations; a high level of agreement is obtained.


The immobilization and electrocatalytical activity of phenylalanine-dehydrogenase onto the n-propylamine functionalized mobile crystalline material 41 (MCM-41- nPrNH2) was studied using cyclic voltametry (CV), differential pulse voltammetry (DPV), linear sweep voltametry (LSV) and square wave voltammetry (SQWV). For the first time, the electrode was evaluated as an electrochemical biosensor for electrooxidation and determination of phenylalanine in phosphate buffer solution, pH 7.00. CV study indicated that the oxidation process is irreversible and diffusion controlled. The experimental conditions influencing the determination of phenylalanine (Pha) were optimized and under optimal conditions, the oxidation peak current was proportional to Pha concentration in the range of 0.01-0.15 μM, while the detection limit (LOD) was 0.006 μM(S/N=3). The proposed method was successfully applied to determine Pha in human serum, yielding satisfactory results. The spiked recoveries were in the range of (95.1%-104.2%).


The political and military atmosphere has heated in the South China Sea over the past few years, both bilaterally and multilaterally. However, not every country in the South China Sea has aligned interests. While the Mischief Reef incident of 1994-1995 saw ASEAN united against Chinese assertiveness, each country has grown more focused on isolated issues less relevant to the nations as a group.


Comparison is made of the response of a number of earphones measured on several types of earphone couplers. Points of difference are noted and the attempt made to explain them through the use of some specially designed couplers. Certain characteristics were observed which might influence the design and use of couplers for purposes of determining earphone response.


The African colonization movement plays a peculiar role in the study of racial equality in the United States. For white colonizationists, the movement was positioned as a compromise between slavery and abolition. For free blacks, colonization offered the hope of freedom, but not within America's borders. Bjørn F. Stillion Southard shows how politics and identity were negotiated in middle of the public discourse on race, slavery, and freedom in America.
Operating from a position of relative power, white advocates argued that colonization was worthy of support from the federal government. Stillion Southard analyzes the speeches of Henry Clay, Elias B. Caldwell, and Abraham Lincoln as efforts to engage with colonization at the level of deliberation.
Between Clay and Caldwell's speeches at the founding of the American Colonization Society in 1816 and Lincoln's final public effort to encourage colonization in 1862, Stillion Southard explores the speeches and writings of free blacks who grappled with colonization's conditional promises of freedom. The book examines an array of discourses to explore the complex issues of identity facing free blacks who attempted to meaningfully engage in colonization efforts. From a peculiarly voiced Counter Memorial against the ACS, to the letters of wealthy black merchant Louis Sheridan negotiating for his passage to Liberia, to the civically-minded orations of Hilary Teage in Liberia, Peculiar Rhetoric brings into light the intricacies of blacks who attempted to meaningfully engage in colonization.


In this paper we present techno-typological and raw material analysis of the Mousterian lithic assemblage from Vinica cave (Hrvatsko zagorje, Croatia) excavated during late 1990s and early 2000s. Lithic artefacts are found in two Mouste- rian layers, c and d, whose age is determined by 14C AMS dating. Sample from layer d brought indefinite age older than 50,300 years BP while calibrated age for the sample from layer c is 36–34.5 ka BP. Quartz is predominant raw material in both layers followed by different cherts. Quartz cobbles were knapped on-site while at least some chert artefacts were not flaked in the cave but brought from elsewhere as blanks and tools. Among small number of tools, scrapers are the most frequent. Small lithic assemblages from both layers suggest that cave was used as short term Neandertal camp during Middle Paleolithic.


6-Hydroxydopamine(6-OHDA) and Merocyanine-540(MC-540) have been used clinically for purging of neuroblastoma cells prior to autologous bone marrow transplantation. Both substances were found to be more toxic against neuroblastoma cells than against hematopoietic stem cells. The more pronounced cytotoxic effects of 6-OHDA against neuroblastoma cells were not caused by its selective uptake; the rapid autooxidation at physiological pH leads to the formation of H2O2 already in the incubation medium. Cytotoxic effects were not detected in short-time test systems (4 hour chromium-51 release assay) but only after longer incubation periods. In contrast, MC-540 proved to be toxic almost equally in short- and long-time test systems. 4-Hydroxynonenal(4-HNE) that may be formed in the plasma membrane subsequently to photoactivation of MC-540 was only slightly more toxic to neuroblastoma cells than to hematopoietic cells. Although the use of 6-OHDA and MC-540 in bone marrow purging has some limitations, the sensitivity of neuroblastoma cells against reactive oxygen compounds may be exploited more generally for therapy of this tumor.


Developmental robustness (canalization) is a common attribute of traits in multi-cellular organisms. High robustness ensures the reproducibility of phenotypes in the face of environmental and developmental noise, but it also dampens the expression of genetic mutation, the fuel for adaptive evolution. A reduction in robustness may therefore be adaptive under certain evolutionary scenarios. To better understand how robustness influences phenotypic evolution, and to decipher conditions under which canalization itself evolves, a genetic model was constructed in which phenotype is explicitly represented as a collection of traits, calculated from genotype, and the degree of robustness can be explicitly controlled. The genes were subjected to mutation, altering phenotype and fitness. We then simulated the dynamics of a population evolving under two classes of initial conditions, one in which the population is at a fitness optimum and one in which it is far away. The model is formulated with two robustness parameters in the genotype to phenotype map, controlling robustness over a tight (γ) or a broad (α) range of values. Within the robustness range determined by γ, high robustness results in an equilibrium population fitness closer to the optimal fitness value than low robustness. High robustness should be favored, therefore, under a constant optimal environment. This situation reverses when populations are challenged to evolve to a new phenotype optimum. In this situation, low robustness populations adapt faster than high robustness populations and reach higher equilibrium mean fitness. A larger set of phenotypes are accessible by mutation when robustness is low, in part explaining why low robustness is favored under this condition. A larger range of robustness could be sampled by varying α, revealing a complex relationship between robustness and both the initial rate of phenotypic adaptation as well as the final equilibrium population mean fitness. Intermediate values of α produced a bifurcation in
evolutionary trajectories, wit some populations remaining at low population mean fitness, and others escaping to achieve high population mean fitness. We then allowed robustness itself to be encoded by a mutable genetic locus that could co-evolve along with the phenotype under selection. Low robustness genotypes are initially favored when adapting to a new optimal phenotype. A high robustness genotype then replaces it, well before maximum fitness is achieved, and moreover appears to prevent further invasion into the population of a low-robustness genotype. This phenomenon was dependent on having tight linkage (and sufficiently low mutation rate) between the robustness locus and the loci encoding phenotype.


During Ca2+ transport by sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase, the conformation change of ADP-sensitive phosphoenzyme (E1PCa2) to ADP-insensitive phosphoenzyme (E2PCa2) is followed by rapid Ca2+ release into the lumen. Here, we find that in the absence of K+, Ca2+ release occurs considerably faster than E1PCa2 to E2PCa2 conformation change. Therefore, the lumenal Ca2+ release pathway is open to some extent in the K+-free E1PCa2 structure. The Ca2+ affinity of this E1P is as high as that of the unphosphorylated ATPase (E1), indicating the Ca2+ binding sites are not disrupted. Thus, bound K+ stabilizes the E1PCa2 structure with occluded Ca2+, keeping the Ca2+ pathway to the lumen closed. We found previously (Yamasaki, K., Wang, G., Daiho, T., Danko, S., and Suzuki, H. (2008) J. Biol. Chem. 283, 29144–29155) that the K+ bound in E2P reduces the Ca2+ affinity essential for achieving the high physiological Ca2+ gradient and to fully open the lumenal Ca2+ gate for rapid Ca2+ release (E2PCa2 → E2P + 2Ca2+). These findings show that bound K+ is critical for stabilizing both E1PCa2 and E2P structures, thereby contributing to the structural changes that efficiently couple phosphoenzyme processing and Ca2+ handling.


Summary: Orthopaedic trauma is an unanticipated life-altering experience for patients. Additionally, the prevalence of psychiatric disorders has been found to be higher in patients with trauma than in the general adult population. Symptoms of depression, anxiety, or posttraumatic stress disorder have been reported in up to 56% of patients throughout their postoperative course. Furthermore, symptoms of any one of these illnesses have been consistently associated with worse patient outcomes after treatment of traumatic orthopaedic injuries. This includes increased levels of pain and disability, postoperative complications, and, in some cases, higher rates of hospital readmission. For most patients with trauma, focus is placed on physical therapy and rehabilitation in the acute postoperative setting to help patients regain function and strength; however, more recent studies have demonstrated equal importance of the social and psychological factors involved with trauma and their impact on outcomes. Therefore, it is essential for orthopaedic surgeons and other members of the care team to be adept in the screening and treatment of psychiatric disorders. For patients struggling with these conditions, several treatment resources exist, which can be used both during their admission and after discharge. Thus, earlier recognition and intervention with appropriate treatment and referrals should be emphasized to improve outcomes. This review discusses the social and psychological impacts of orthopaedic trauma on patients' mental health and well-being and outlines numerous resources available to patients as they recover from their injuries.


The phagocytic bactericidal activity of homologous polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN), obtained from patients with severe, moderate and mild oral infections with Streptococci, was investigated. The drop in viable bacterial cell counts in PMNs from 3 patients with a severe infection, after 4 hours of incubation, was much greater than in PMNs from moderate or mild infections. We conclude that the phagocytic bactericidal activity of PMNs is stronger in patients suffering from severe oral infections with Streptococci.


Now most Internet map services are provided on the Web, but most of those approaches depend on images in graphic format. These types of image format require relatively large-sized files, and have some problems with data transport and storage on the Web. In addition, as the meaning of the data is not captured as parts of the data itself, data translation, when it happens, must then be accompanied by painstaking manual process to restore the meaning. To overcome these problems, GML (Geographic Markup Language) has developed as the Web standard format of geographic information. Although GML focus on describing the geographic information as the type of XML (eXtensible Markup Language), there are few cases applied to digital geologic maps till now. In this study, Internet mapping of a Korean digital geologic map was accomplished using GML as a case study. Digital geologic map sets consist of geologic boundary, geo-text, fault, cross section, lithology and other complex items to represent geo-based attributes. Each layer was described to both spatial and non-spatial information using GML profile proposed by OGC (open GIS Consortium, Inc.). Spatial and non-spatial information were described as geometry of GML and properties of geographic features, respectively. The geographic information described by GML was transformed into SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics), one of the XML standards for graphic format. Vector maps can be visualized via the Internet without proprietary software on the Web browsers. SVG-enabled browsers allow users to control their view with zoom and pan as they do so in GIS software. As the content and the representation of the geographic information were separated in the Internet mapping process of digital map, it is possible to produce multiple representation about the same geographic information and the dynamic customization on user's need, and the spatial analysis on the Web. Conclusively, GML-base geologic map produced in this study can be transfer rapidly without loss of the meaning and degrading on the Web. So it can be effectively utilized to not only Internet map services but also LBS (Location Based Services) such as PDA or a mobile platform.


The indigenous knowledge on stingless bees was assessed using questionnaires and semi-directive methods from five farming communities around the Kakum National Park in the Central Region of Ghana. Stingless bees are very good pollinators of both wild and cultivated crops and also produce honey and propolis that are medicinal. Even though these bees are of African origin, unlike South and Central America as well as Australia where the bees have been studied extensively for pollination services and hive products, studies on these bees are almost non existent in Africa. Strangely however, the local people showed great wealth of knowledge about the different species of stingless bees, their nesting behaviour, their forage resources and the uses of their honey especially as medicine. They are aware that the bees collect nectar and pollen and also know that the presence of the bees on their crops improve the quality and quantity of their crop yields. They however do not know the role of stingless bees in the pollination of their crops. Even though the indigenous people recognize stingless bee honey as highly medicinal, no attempt has been made to manage the bees for their benefits. Harvesting of honey has been mainly destructive and this research is opening up an opportunity for meliponiculture in Ghana


Air side-stream ammonia stripping is an underexplored alternative to control ammonia levels in anaerobic digestion (AD) processes when treating nitrogen-rich substrates. Moreover, if sufficient levels of alkalinity are present in the wastes (such as in animal manures), the use of chemicals is avoided, resulting in lower operational costs. However, some key questions still remain to be answered. Among them, the lack of knowledge about the stripping effects on the thermophilic AD microbiome, because during it anaerobic microorganisms are subjected to high temperature (>65oC), high pH (>9) and oxygen at saturation levels (>4 mg/L). In this work, the microbiomes of two thermophilic (55°C) digesters treating pig manure in co-digestion with food waste and maize silage were studied under increasing ammonia and organic loads (1.5-6 g N-TKN L -1 and 1-5 g COD L -1 d -1 ) with and without air side-stream ammonia stripping. 16S rRNA gene massive sequencing data showed that the AD microbiome was shaped by the ammonia and organic loads. On the contrary, the oxygen exposure did not affect the AD microbiome. The microbiome adapted to the increasing organic and ammonia loads by shifting its composition while maintaining reactor efficiencies. For example, Proteiniphilum sp. was replaced by Defluviitoga sp. when the organic load was higher than 2 g COD/L·d. While the digesters maintained a good methane production and the free-ammonia was controlled by stripping, the microbiome was mainly composed by a Firmicutes (70% of Bacteria) and Methanosarcina (90% of Archaea) and included a large fraction of thermophilic microorganisms, such as Defluviitoga, Coprothermobacter or Methanothermobacter, and syntrophic acetate-oxydizing bacteria (i.e.: Syntrophomonas, Tepidanaerobacter). However, when the stripping process was disconnected and free-ammonia accumulated in the digester, Methanosarcina become replaced by the strict hydrogenotroph Metanoculleus. This study demonstrates that air side-stream ammonia stripping shaped the thermophilic microbiome without compromising digestion performance.


This study aimed to investigate what conditions can lead to a bias for communicating stereotype inconsistent (SI) information, relative to stereotype consistent (SC) information. Sixty-three undergraduate university students (22 males, 41 females; Mage = 21.25) read a story about an Arab man who exhibited characteristics consistent and inconsistent with the stereotype of Arab men. The story was transmitted through 21 three-person communication chains; each participant rewrote the story from memory for the next person in the chain to read, with only the first participant in each chain reading the original story. As hypothesized, when a surprising category conjunction was formed by pairing the primary stereotype (Arab men) with a secondary stereotype of a contradictory nature (kindergarten teachers), SC information was circulated less than SI information. This was also the case when a causal explanation was provided that accounted for the unexpected SI information. Findings indicate the potential of techniques that elicit cognitive elaboration of SI information to encourage an SI bias in communication, and show promise for exploring ways to reduce the impact of negative stereotypical information in the long term.


Chiral conducting polyaniline, which was prepared electrochemically from (+) and (−) camphorsulfonic acid, was utilized for the enantiomeric detection of phenylalanine in neutral phosphate buffer solution. Following electropolymerization the polymer films were dedoped in aqueous ammonia and subsequently shown to maintain their chiral character. The electrochemical window for this polymer was determined to be between 0.2 V and 0.8 V (vs. SCE) and enantiomeric discrimination between L- and D-phenylalanine was seen with the application of differential pulse voltammetry. The (+) chiral polymer is shown to behave as an enantiomeric detector for the D enantiomer producing a peak in the voltammogram at ca. 0.7 V (vs. SCE) while the inverse is true for the (−) polymer, which detects the L enantiomer.


The University of Kentucky (UK) Extended Campus Programs in Paducah along with Murray State University (MuSU) have developed the first experiment in what is expected to become a sequence of projects involving students in mechanical engineering technology enrolled at MuSU and mechanical and chemical engineering students at UK. This collaborative effort involves utilizing the design skills of the UK students to develop transfer functions required to model and design a control system for an Electrohydraulic Actuation (EHA) position control apparatus located in the Motion Control Laboratory on the MuSU campus. MuSU students use their hands-on skills to develop the hardware system and implement the control scheme. Students at UK and MuSU then jointly (via the Internet) operate the equipment, conduct experiments, report observations, troubleshoot problems, and evaluate both success and failure. In addition to the practical experience in controls education, students at both campuses learn about the sort of interaction engineers and technologists typically have in the workplace and develop an appreciation for their symbiotic professional relationship. Future work will involve students from both institutions working together in close contact, further developing the understanding and appreciation of the roles each will fill in the future; extending the projects to include systems of interest to chemical engineers; and involving students located at the main campus of the University of Kentucky in the projects.


Formulating effective national forest policy in lesser developed countries is complex and needs to take into account the social as well as the biophysical dimensions which impact on forest resources. Deforestation continues to be a serious concern in many of these countries and most national forest policy seeks to curb the devastationof forest resources. Due to different social groups competing for use of the forest resources, however, designing effective policy is challenging. The needs of these different social groups must be considered.Unless this is done, the forest policy itself can be an impetus for deforestation.In the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, deforestation in the Atlantic forest (Mata Atlantica) is occurring at a rapid rate, threatening the richness of biodiversity. There are a number of causes for deforestation in Santa Catarina, one being Brazil's national Atlantic forest policy. Unintentionally, the structure of this conservation-focusedpolicy has declared all of Santa Catarina's native forests off-limits to any type of exploitation, the only state in Brazil where this has occurred, and has actually precipitated deforestation. Challenges for state-level planning include addressing the national forest policy as well as the state-levelimpacts resulting from the policy. The history of the policy, the social groups affected and challenges for planning are discussed, as are proposed solutions.


There is a raging debate in literature about the effectiveness of 3D environments and virtual realities. The debate seems an unending one with both the advocates and critiques striving to justify their various positions. A survey of literature, however, revealed the absence of sufficient data to justify taking a position. This led the authors to hypothesize that most of the evaluation carried out in this area did go beyond perception referents. Over one thousand articles in reputable journals and proceedings were consulted including a few others without affiliation. Twenty four that covered the amorphous subjects of evaluation, assessment, effectiveness, potentials and benefits were painstakingly analyzed for their coverage particularly over the three leaning outcomes of cognitive, skills and attitudes. The findings revealed that while there were evidences of learning improvement and performance enhancement, over eighty five percent of the data revolved around affective dispositions of satisfaction, interest, enjoyment and fun. With this, the authors concluded that there was no sufficient evidence yet to back up the pedagogical effectiveness of this state-of-art technology. The authors, however, appreciates the newness of this field of human endeavour, and is of the opinion that sufficient time, spread and focus are required to make valid evaluation possible.

 Key words: 3D environments, virtual realities, pedagogical effectiveness, learning outcomes.


: This paper proposes that patterns of reading fundamental to the Eusebian apparatus also structure aspects of figural illumination in early medieval gospel books. Beginning with in-depth discussion of the St Augustine Gospels (Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 286) and extending into several Carolingian and Anglo-Saxon examples, the essay explores the idea that Eusebian principles of textual segmentation, cross-refer-ence, harmony, and diversity define a number of elaborate visual programmes—both within and beyond illuminated canon tables themselves. The resonance between Eusebian attitudes to text and the selected artists' approach to the visual setting of the gospels suggests a complex interplay in the manuscripts' programmes between transmit-ting the four evangelists' texts and representing the distinct entity of the gospel book itself.


Data on fluency and literacy in Athapaskan (Dene) languages in the Northwest Territories of Canada are reviewed here, with discussion of recent policy decisions regarding implied or explicit roles of Dene literacy and the forms they might take. Emphasis is placed on evidence of trends in Dene literacy development; special attention is given to the extent to which new roles for literacy are created, and to the extent to which literacy conforms to patterns consistent with oral language use. The context is the legitimacy of Dene cultures, languages, social practices, and economic and political power in the face of Euro-Canadian pressures.


Shear stress modulates endothelial physiology, yet the effect(s) of flow cessation is poorly understood. The initial metabolic responses of flow-adapted bovine pulmonary artery endothelial cells to the abrupt cessation of flow (simulated ischemia) was evaluated using a perfusion chamber designed for continuous spectroscopy. Plasma membrane potential, production of reactive O2 species (ROS), and intracellular Ca(2+) and nitric oxide (NO) levels were measured with fluorescent probes. Within 15 s after flow cessation, flow-adapted cells, but not cells cultured under static conditions, showed plasma membrane depolarization and an oxidative burst with generation of ROS that was inhibited by diphenyleneiodonium. EGTA-inhibitable elevation of intracellular Ca(2+) and NO were observed at approximately 30 and 60 s after flow cessation, respectively. NO generation was decreased in the presence of inhibitors of NO synthase and calmodulin. Thus flow-adapted endothelial cells sense the altered hemodynamics associated with flow cessation and respond by plasma membrane depolarization, activation of NADPH oxidase, Ca(2+) influx, and activation of Ca(2+)/calmodulin-dependent NO synthase. This signaling response is unrelated to cellular anoxia.


In the "Observations on the Flora of the Oolite," by Baron de Zigno, published in the Quarterly Journal of the Society, No. 62, there is a paragraph respecting the supposed non-verification of certain genera of plants in the Australian coal-fields, which were reported by me in 1847. It is only right that I should offer a few words of comment on. that paragraph. By reference to the same number of the Quarterly Journal (p. 147), it will be seen that Mr. Selwyn has already recognized in Eastern Victoria "true Carboniferous plants;" and he further states that "in Tasmania the coal-bearing beds rest quite conformably on and pass downwards into calcareous beds, the fossils from which are, I believe, nearly all Carboniferous or Devonian forms." Now this is precisely the case in New South Wales, in which colony the plants said to be Jurassic occur (coal-cliffs, Mulubimba, near Newcastle, mouth of Hunter River) in the same beds and blocks with heterocercal Fishes, one of which is figured by Dana as Urosthenes australis, and was acknowledged by Agassiz to be a palæozoic fish. In other portions of New South "Wales, and in the new colony of Queensland, in close connexion with calcareous beds holding abundance of "Carboniferous and Devonian" zoological forms, occur shales and fine calcareous grits charged with the plants which I reported in 1847, and which Baron de Zigno does not find verified by Messrs. Morris and McCoy.


A numerical method based on the flux flow creep model is introduced to simulate the properties of the high-Tc superconductor (HTS) levitated above the NdFeB permanent magnetic guideway. Compared with the former method based on the critical state model, this method is more effective because the flux flow creep model considers the time factor and the thermal activation of the electromagnetic phenomenon of the HTS. Both dynamic magnetic forces and motions of the levitating HTS bulk can be solved by this numerical method


Natural product and herbal remedies used in traditional folklore medicine have been the source of many medically beneficial drugs because they elicit fewer side effect. Lupeol is anatural products have been used as remedies to treat human diseases. It is a found in white cabbage, green pepper, strawberry, olive, mangoes and grapes. It is exhibits an array of biological activities like anticancer, antiprotozoal and cancer chemo preventive in vitro system. Last 15 years have seen tremendous efforts by researchers worldwide to develop this wonderful molecule for its clinical use for the treatment variety of disorder. It have been found to be pharmacological interaver this review highlight. In detail the therapeutic effect of Lupeol for various ailments.


Challenger branding is a phenomenon that is gaining significant exposure in academia. However, most research on this branding approach relates to a practical or technical knowledge interest, ignoring the counter-hegemonic critique that exemplifies challenger branding. The critique that these brands base their identity on often shifts after they have been acquired into a hegemonic context, by joining a large corporation or becoming hegemonic brands themselves. This thesis aims to extend critical knowledge by connecting theories of ideology, hegemony, and brand communication to the identity construction of two challenger brands, The Body Shop and Innocent Drinks, and further explores the identity shift of the brands after their acquisition by L'Oreal and Coca-Cola. Counter-hegemony was found to be a pervasive tool activated through a number of signs for challenger identity construction. Further, challenger brand identity differed substantially before and after the challenger brands joined L'Oreal and Coca-Cola.


Hydrocephalous is a rare manifestation of systemic lupus erythematosus. Cerebral venous thrombosis, immune complex deposition within the arachnoid villi or direct post-inflammatory lesions of the central nervous system are possible causes of developing acute hydrochephalus. We report a case of acute non-communicating hydrocephalus secondary to stenosis of the aqueduct of Sylvius. The condition developed rapidly in a 22-year-old woman with previously diagnosed SLE.
Bangladesh J Medicine Jan 2020; 31(1) : 33-36


Acknowledgements Foreword Michelle Fine Introduction Anita Harris Part 1: Constructing Girlhoods in the Twenty-First Century 1. Notes on Post Feminism and Popular Culture: Bridget Jones and the new gender regime Angela McRobbie 2. Women, Girls, and the Unfinished Work of Connection: A critical review of American girls' studies Janie Victoria Ward and Beth Cooper Benjamin 3. Good Girls, Bad girls: Anglo-centrism and diversity in the constitution of contemporary girlhood Christine Griffin 4. From Badness to Meanness: Popular constructions of contemporary girlhood Meda Chesney-Lind and Katherine Irwin Part 2: Feminism for Girls 5. Feminism and Femininity: Or how we learned to stop worrying and love the thong Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards 6. Girl Power Politics: Pop-culture barriers and organizational resistance Jessica Taft 7. Mythic Figures and Lived Identities: Locating the 'girl' in feminist discourse Jennifer Eisenhauer 8. 'I Don't See Feminists as You See Feminists': Young women negotiating feminism in contemporary Britain Madeleine Jowett Part 3: Sexualities 9. Pretty in Pink: Young women presenting mature sexual identities Kate Gleeson and Hannah Frith 10. Talking Sexuality Through an Insider's Lens: The Samoan experience Anne Marie Tupuola 11. Shifting Desires: Discourses of accountability in abstinence-only education in the US April Burns and Maria Elena Torre Part 4: Popular and Virtual Cultures 12. Where My Girls At? Black girls and the construction of the sexual Debbie Weekes 13. Spicy Strategies: Pop feminist and other empowerments in girl culture Bettina Fritzsche 14. Jamming Girl Culture: Young women and consumer citizenship Anita Harris 15. Girls' Web Sites: A virtual 'room of one's own?' Jacqueline Reid-Walsh and Claudia Mitchell Part 5: Schooling 16. Pleasures Within Reason: Teaching feminism and education Nancy Lesko and Antoinette Quarshie 17. Girls, Schooling and the Discourse of Self-Change: Negotiating meanings of the high school prom Amy L. Best 18. Gender and Sexuality: Continuities and change for girls in school Mary Jane Kehily Part 6: Research With and By Young Women 19. Colluding in 'Compulsory Heterosexuality?' Doing research with young women at school Kathryn Morris-Roberts 20. Speaking Back: Voices of young urban women of color using participatory action research to challenge and complicate representations of young women Caitlin Cahill and the 'Fed Up Honeys': Erica Arenas, Jennifer Contreras, Jiang Na, Indra Rios-Moore, and Tiffany Threatts 21. Beneath the Surface of Voice and Silence: Researching the home front Adreanne Ormond 22. Possible Selves and Pasteles: How a group of mothers and daughters took a London conference by storm Lori Lobenstine, Yasmin Pereira, Jenny Whitley, Jessica


This essay makes a conceptual distinction between societal categories, such as social networks, norms, and social status differentiation, on the one hand, and social capital, on the other. The former are institutional phenomena arising as outcomes of social-exchange games in which individual agents invest strategically in social capital. Recent development of neuroscience suggests the future possibility of measuring social payoffs in terms of trade-off relationships with hedonic payoffs. This possibility may suggest that a linked-game approach to social capital and its implications for economic performance are more promising. This approach might make feasible an analysis of socioeconomic networks that is not possible using an economic or sociological approach in isolation. Particularly, this essay suggests a way to apply the linked-game approach to the problem of the tragedy of the commons, which is becoming one of the most acute public issues of our time.


OBJECTIVE
To describe a novel endotracheal intubation technique, magnetically guided intubation (MGI), and its rate of success in inexperienced medical students and interns using an airway mannequin model.

METHODS
This was a prospective, descriptive study of 25 medical students and interns participating in an introductory course on emergency medicine without prior experience in human orotracheal intubation. Magnetically guided intubation consists of a strong external magnet placed over the cricothyroid membrane to guide the introduction of a standard endotracheal tube containing a stylet with a magnetized tip. An airway mannequin was placed in a rigid cervical spinal collar to increase the difficulty of the intubation, and each student performed two sequential intubation attempts using MGI. The proportions of successful intubations and the time to complete intubation were determined. Descriptive statistics were used to describe point estimates and 95% confidence intervals for means and proportions of continuous and categorical data, respectively.

RESULTS
Of 25 participants, 19 were students and six were interns. Their mean age was 27 years, and 76% were male. The overall proportion of successful intubations using MGI was 80% (95% CI = 69% to 91%). Of 24 intubations, 48% were attempted without visualization of the vocal cords; 67% were successful (95% CI = 46% to 87%). The mean time required to complete intubation was 17.0 seconds (95% CI = 14.5 to 19.5 seconds).

CONCLUSIONS
A novel method of orotracheal intubation using magnetic guidance is described as achieving a high rate of successful intubations when performed by inexperienced intubators.


We classify programming languages according to evaluation order: each language fixes one evaluation order as the default, making it transparent to program in that evaluation order, and troublesome to program in the other. This paper develops a type system that is impartial with respect to evaluation order. Evaluation order is implicit in terms, and explicit in types, with by-value and by-name versions of type connectives. A form of intersection type quantifies over evaluation orders, describing code that is agnostic over (that is, polymorphic in) evaluation order. By allowing such generic code, programs can express the by-value and by-name versions of a computation without code duplication. We also formulate a type system that only has by-value connectives, plus a type that generalizes the difference between by-value and by-name connectives: it is either a suspension (by name) or a "no-op" (by value). We show a straightforward encoding of the impartial type system into the more economical one. Then we define an elaboration from the economical language to a call-by-value semantics, and prove that elaborating a well-typed source program, where evaluation order is implicit, produces a well-typed target program where evaluation order is explicit. We also prove a simulation between evaluation of the target program and reductions (either by-value or by-name) in the source program. Finally, we prove that typing, elaboration, and evaluation are faithful to the type annotations given in the source program: if the programmer only writes by-value types, no by-name reductions can occur at run time.


S18327 displayed modest affinity for human (h)D(2) and hD(3) receptors and high affinity for hD(4) receptors. At each, S18327 antagonized stimulation of [(35)S]guanosine-5'-O-(3-thio)triphosphate binding by dopamine (DA). It also blocked activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase at hD(3) receptors. The affinity of S18327 at hD(1) and hD(5) sites was modest. S18327 showed pronounced affinity for human serotonin (h5-HT)(2A) receptors and human alpha(1A)-adrenergic receptors (hARs), at which it antagonized increases in intracellular Ca(2+) concentration levels elicited by 5-HT and norepinephrine (NE), respectively. S18327 presented significant affinity for halpha(2A)-ARs and antagonized NE-induced[(35)S]guanosine-5'-O-(3-thio)triphosphate binding both at these sites and at alpha(2)-ARs in rat amygdala. Reflecting blockade of alpha(2)-autoreceptors, S18327 enhanced firing of adrenergic neurons in locus ceruleus, accelerated hippocampal synthesis of NE, and increased dialysate levels of NE in hippocampus, accumbens, and frontal cortex. S18327 abolished inhibition of ventrotegmental area-localized dopaminergic neurons by apomorphine. However, S18327 alone did not affect their activity and only modestly enhanced cerebral turnover of DA and dialysate levels of DA in striatum and accumbens. In contrast, S18327 markedly increased dialysate levels of DA in frontal cortex, an action abolished by the selective alpha(2)-AR agonist, S18616. Finally, S18327 reduced synthesis and dialysate levels of 5-HT in striatum and suppressed firing of dorsal raphe-localized serotonergic neurons, an action attenuated by the alpha(1)-AR agonist cirazoline. In conclusion, S18327 possesses marked antagonist activity at alpha(1)-ARs and D(4) and 5-HT(2A) receptors and less potent antagonist activity at alpha(2)-ARs and D(1) and D(2) receptors. Antagonism by S18327 of alpha(2)-ARs enhances adrenergic transmission and reinforces frontocortical dopaminergic transmission, whereas blockade of alpha(1)-ARs inhibits dorsal raphe-derived serotonergic pathways. As further described in the accompanying paper, this profile of activity may contribute to the potential antipsychotic properties of S18327.


All the recent protocols for high-energy X-ray dosimetry, introduced by the AAPM (1983), NACP (1980) and the HPA (1983), result in absorbed dose conversion factors significantly different from those that have been in use since 1969 when ICRU Report 14 was published. Clearly for all protocols, general or specific, it is necessary to select appropriate stopping power and mass absorption coefficient ratios for a range of X-ray beam qualities. Cunningham and Shultz (1984) have recently described a method of selecting these ratios, taking into account differences in spectral properties of radiation beams rather than the peak accelerating voltage which is not an adequate index of radiation quality. A table is given showing quality of X-ray or gamma -ray radiation versus narrow beam attenuation coefficient in water.


The secrets to creating stunning landscapes are at your fingertips with Digital Mayhem 3D Landscapes Techniques. Compiled by Duncan Evans, launch Editor of 3D Artist Magazine, Digital Mayhem features a variety of beautiful art from some of the finest digital artists working today. Inspiration and technique meet here as you learn how to create every type of landscape from harsh desert savannahs to icy tundra. Using a blend of showcase images, step-by-step and long-form tutorials, you will be guided through the featured artists process so you can incorporate their techniques and workflow into your own projects. Not just another button-pushing manual or coffee table book, Digital Mayhem will help develop your critical eye for composition, choice of camera lens, lighting, rendering, and post production, allowing you to work more intuitively. With insight from some of the best digital artists in the world, Digital Mayhem will have you creating your own masterpiece in no time! Unique coverage on a variety of software allows you to hone your skills across different platforms. Illustrious and colorful artwork coupled with artist insight will both inspire and inform your creative decisions. Comprehensive companion website offers additional resources for you to further expand your skillset.


This research intends to find the concept of eco-village in suburban area which various people can experience. For this, we established general ideas through theoretical reflections, and found an objective of suburban eco-village through functional practices. According to the research, a composition of eco-village to reduce the environmental load consists of three major functions. First, by forming traditional meanings of eco-village community, it creates eco-friendly life through energy saving and resource recycling. Second, it functions as relieving the stress of the urbanites and healing their mind and body in the nature of formed eco-village community. Finally, the implementation of eco-village is an idea of group of people who tends to live with nature. Thus, by recovering the nature and by preserving the nature with eco-friendly concept, it will be developed by a place where people can experience the importance of nature. However, these three functions should reflect regional characteristics sufficiently, and through saving and utilizing the history, culture and ecological resources of the regions, it gives positive support to local natives' sustainable life. Consequently, it will show the right direction of development of suburban eco-village through each case analysis of these three functions.


Mechanoreceptive hair cells are extremely sensitive to aminoglycoside antibiotics, including neomycin. Hair cell survival was assessed in larval wild-type zebrafish lateral line neuromasts 4 h after initial exposure to a range of neomycin concentrations for 1 h. Each of the lateral line neuromasts was scored in live fish for the presence or absence of hair cells using the fluorescent vital dye DASPEI to selectively label hair cells. All neuromasts were devoid of DASPEI-labeled hair cells 4 h after 500 lM neomycin exposure. Vital DASPEI staining was proportional to the number of hair cells per neuromast identified in fixed larvae using immunocytochemistry for acetylated tubulin and phalloidin labeling. The time course of hair cell regeneration in the lateral line neuromasts was also analyzed following neomycin-induced damage. Regenerated hair cells were first observed using live DASPEI staining 12 and 24 h following neomycin treatment. The potential role of proliferation in regenerating hair cells was analyzed. A 1 h pulse-fix protocol using bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) incorporation was used to identify S-phase cells in neuro-masts. BrdU incorporation in neomycin-damaged neuromasts did not differ from control neuromasts 4 h after drug exposure but was dramatically upregu-lated after 12 h. The proliferative cells identified during a 1 h period at 12 h after neomycin treatment were able to give rise to new hair cells by 24–48 h after drug treatment. The results presented here provide a standardized preparation for studying and identifying genes that influence vertebrate hair cell death, survival , and regeneration following ototoxic insults.


The theory of diffraction limit proposed by H.A Bethe limits the total power transfer through a subwavelength hole. Researchers all over the world have gone through different techniques for boosting the transmission through subwavelength holes resulting in the Extraordinary Transmission (EOT) behavior. We examine computationally and experimentally the concept of EOT nature in the microwave range for enhancing radiation performance of a stacked dipole antenna working in the S band. It is shown that the front to back ratio of the antenna is considerably enhanced without affecting the impedance matching performance of the design. The computational analysis based on Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) method reveals that the excitation of Fabry-Perot resonant modes on the slots is responsible for performance enhancement.


Abstract This paper presents investigation on removal of low molecular organic acids (acetic, lactic, succinic and fumaric) from aqueous solutions with reactive extraction. The results specifically show that the extraction efficiency of acids depends on the type of extractant, diluents of the organic phase and the initial pH of the aqueous phase. It is possible to separate succinic or fumaric from lactic and acetic acids with high selectivity with the use of TOA and Aliquat 336, respectively. Increasing the pH of the aqueous phase results in a reduction of fumaric acid extraction efficiency with solvating extractants. This can be explained by the decreasing share of acidic form, whose extraction is favored by these extractants. Efficient extraction of both fumaric acid and fumarate using Aliquat 336 can be explained by the ionic structure of the quaternary ammonium salt, capable of transporting both forms of the acid.


Krüppel-like factor 6 (KLF6) is a tumor suppressor gene and play a role in the regulation of cell proliferation and apoptosis. After the peripheral nerve injury (PNI), the microenvironment created by surrounding Schwann cells (SCs) is a critical determinant of its regenerative potential. In this study, we examined the effects of KLF6 on SCs responses during PNI. Both KLF6 mRNA and protein expression levels were upregulated in the injured sciatic nerve, and immunofluorescence results showed that many KLF6-positive cells simultaneously expressed the SC markers S-100 and p75NTR. The apoptosis inducers TNFα and cisplatin upregulated KLF6 expression in primary cultured SCs and the SC line RSC96. Although KLF6 overexpression exacerbated cisplatin- and TNFα-induced apoptosis, expression levels of the apoptosis regulators Bcl2 and Bax were not significantly affected in either KLF6-overexpressing or KLF6-depleted RSC96 cells. Realtime PCR arrays and qRT-PCR demonstrated that KLF6 overexpression upregulated four pro-apoptotic genes, FAS, TNF, TNFSF12, and PYCARD, and inhibited expression of the anti-apoptotic IL10 gene expression. Further analysis revealed that FAS protein expression was positively correlated with KLF6 expression in SCs. These data suggest that KLF6 upregulation may render SCs more vulnerable to apoptosis after injury via upregulating FAS expression.


ABSTRACT In this paper we estimate the economic impact of cruise tourism with an application to the Port of Cartagena, Spain. As a novelty, we build on a newly available regional input–output (IO) framework. This allows us to compute the indirect and induced effects of cruise ship visits, which adds to the direct effects obtained from survey data. Results identify the total impact in terms of employment, wages, gross operating surplus and value added. Methodologically, the use of regional IO tables improves the accuracy of previous methodologies building on country IO Tables. Results of the investigation provide important policy recommendations to the public and private stakeholders in order to manage this rising activity.


By means of phenomenological arguments generalized Ginzburg-Landau equations for a certain secondary convective instability are proposed. These equations allow to simulate a system where stationary convection can interact with supercritical oscillatory modes. The results are very similar to that obtained in recent experiments on forced bimodal convection.


The Affective Misattribution Procedure (AMP) is one of the leading examples of a class of tasks used to measure attitudes implicitly. Based on the idea that AMP effects occur because participants misattribute affective responses, we hypothesized that asking participants to focus on their affective, gut-level responses would increase the magnitude of AMP effects. In line with this prediction, results showed that participants who completed the AMP while "going with their gut" revealed AMP effects that were much larger than for participants who completed the AMP with standard instructions. This result supports the prevailing model of the AMP as being related to affective misattribution, and reveals a straightforward way to increase effect sizes in the AMP.


For a general finite-element model of an LFSS, a strictly passive compensator results in an exponentially stable feedback system, when actuators and sensors are colocated. In the general case (no colocation) we state necessary and sufficient conditions on the parameter Q for stabilizing a certain number of modes. We give conditions for robust stability and show that feedback does not destabilize the unmodeled modes under certain conditions.


The Florida School Violence Policies and Programs Study (FSVPPS) assessed characteristics of violence prevention and control policies and education programs in Florida's 67 public school districts. Data were collected using the Florida School Violence Policies and Programs Questionnaire (FSVPPQ). Instruments used in the national School Health Policies and Programs Study (SHPPS) served as the framework for item development. A questionnaire designed to solicit information about violence policies and education programs was mailed to all 67 school districts in Florida during spring 1996. Sixty-seven key informants were selected by asking district office personnel to identify the person with primary responsibility for violence prevention activities in their district. Fifty-five school districts returned completed questionnaires, yielding a usable response rate of 82%. Respondents included personnel of superintendent rank, district administrators and directors, instructional specialists, principals, and "Safe & Drug Free Schools" coordinators. Participating school districts were evenly distributed geographically across Florida. The FSVPPS data reported in this paper include administrative and programmatic information about violence prevention education.


Author(s): Nemati, Zahra | Advisor(s): Burke, Peter J | Abstract: Mitochondrial bioenergetics and its relationship to apoptosis, otherwise known as programmed cell death, has been the focus of numerous studies in the past, including cancer biology, neurodegenerative disorders, etc. Historically, mitochondrial functions, dysfunctions and their properties have been studied using millions of cells, via a series of molecular assays, and with high variability and heterogeneity within the mitochondrial populations under study. The rationale behind the methods used and developed in this thesis is to study these intricate organelles on micro and nano-scales, and on a single isolated vital mitochondrion capacity. Given the currently available nano technologies, it is now possible to design, optimize and develop platforms that would allow for such nano scale explorations of sub-cellular dynamics. Furthermore, we have attempted to optimize the design and deposition process of more pristine nanotube based biosensors. This process involved the testing and characterization of various types of filter papers, substrates and functionalization schemes, which were studied and will be the topic of research in future investigations.


Communication and interaction among agents have been the subject of extensive investigation since many years. Commitment-based communication, where communicating agents are seen as a debtor agent who is committed to a creditor agent to bring about something (possibly under some conditions) is now very well-established. The approach of DACMAS (Data-Aware Commitment-based MAS) lifts commitment-related approaches proposed in the literature from a propositional to a first-order setting via the adoption the DRL-Lite Description Logic. Notably, DACMASs provide, beyond commitments, simple forms of inter-agent event-based communication. Yet, the aspect is missing of making a MAS able to acquire knowledge from contexts which are not agents and which are external to the MAS. This topic is coped with in Managed MCSs (Managed Multi-Context Systems), where however exchanges are among knowledge bases and not agents. In this paper, we propose the new approach of DACmMCMASs (Data-Aware Commitment-based managed Multi- Context MAS), so as to obtain a commitment-based first-order agent system which is able to interact with heterogeneous external information sources. We show that DACmMCMASs retain the nice formal properties of the original approaches.


This article deals with an action research project in which a group of academics from different disciplines reflect on and gradually extend their knowledge on how to support students' academic literacy development. The aim of this research is to understand how the collaborative work becomes a resource in challenging participants' initial perceptions. The results show that participants' experience-based stories play a significant role alongside research-based knowledge. The participants' conversations change character from focusing on approaches to remedy students' failings to focusing on participants' individual teaching practices and institutional responsibilities. Accordingly, a basis for change and development is created.


Recent advances in ultra-thin silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology have made partially depleted (PD)-SOI-CMOS a promising candidate for use in high-speed circuits. However, some breakthroughs must still be made, the most important of which would be understanding and control of hysteretic behavior. Some hysteretic characteristics have been analyzed, and some methods to suppress this behavior have been proposed (Assaderaghi et al., 1994; Houston et al., 1998; Maeda et al., 1998; Wei et al., 1998; Pelella et al., 1999). However, the operation-period dependent circuit-delay is not sufficiently understood. In this paper, closed form analysis was used to analyze the operation-period-dependent circuit delay, and the results were confirmed with circuit simulators.


After the First World War, the Allies redrew the boundaries of Europe, giving particular consideration to the distribution of ethnic groups. They believed that peace and stability could be fostered if each people could control its own territory and hence destiny. Therefore, the Allies created nation-states. The Hungarians, however, were particularly dissatisfied with the boundaries of their new nation-state and they became belligerent towards their neighboring states. While providing the Hungarians with a nation-state, the Allies failed to recognize the need to include territories that were particularly important to maintaining the Hungarians' sense of ethnic identity. Until the Hungarians are able to control the territory that they have used to define their ethnic identity, they will continue to have disputes with neighboring states.