Information and communication technology (ICT) has been used in language classrooms for more than two decades. Over this time, classroom use has moved from drill, text manipulation, and word processing to more interactive and communicative applications such as e-mail, chat, and web-based programs, requiring learners to acquire computer literacies. This chapter will begin by discussing both the parameters of ICT and the scope of literacies. It is then organized around discussion of the two types of literacies at the intersection of ICT and L2 learning: how new technologies facilitate acquisition of L2 literacies and what L2 literacies are needed for learners to participate in an increasingly digital world. Although research has mostly been limited to small-scale context-dependent case studies of individual classrooms, it has identified a number of issues that need to be considered as teachers (and learners) use ICT for language learning. Although ICT provides a natural context for learner autonomy, that autonomy needs to be developed systematically. In addition, ICT provides a context for learner identity formation through hybrid uses of language(s), in ways unexpected by teachers and learners. These new ways of using language may empower and motivate learners. Similarly, whereas ICT provides opportunities for collaboration and interaction, they are not automatic, and instruction needs to be skillfully scaffolded for learners to benefit from such opportunities.


Abstract Purpose: To assess the influence that hydration applied on the sclerotomy edges may have on incisional closure resistance after transconjunctival sutureless vitrectomy (TSV). Methods: Experimental, randomized and observer-masked study in which 23-gauge TSV was performed in 80 cadaveric pig eyes. Once each vitrectomy was finished, hydration with balanced salt solution (BSS) was applied on the sclerotomy edges of one of the superior incision sites; no maneuver was performed on the other superior sclerotomy. Intraocular pressure (IOP) was gradually increased by means of the vitrectomy system (Accurus; Alcon Laboratories, TX) until one of the superior sclerotomies opened, allowing internal ocular solution to escape. Results: In 45% of cases (36 of 80 eyes), sclerotomies subjected to hydration allowed intraocular fluid escape (p = 0.43). There were no differences when comparing opening pressure values of hydrated and non-hydrated sclerotomies (p = 0.19). Conclusions: Scleral hydration did not demonstrate increase in the sclerotomy closure resistance in our experimental model. Given the widespread use of sutureless TSV around the world, the results obtained in our research, in spite of being negative, may contribute to the knowledge of the behavior of sutureless sclerotomies.


It is shown that the system of a three-level atom coupled with two modes of quantized cavity fields in the V-configuration with arbitrary detunings can be exactly reduced to a two-level system with a nonsingular effective coupling which depends nonlinearly on the intensity of the two cavity fields. By performing a unitary transformation, we obtain an exact transformed Hamiltonian in which one of the three levels is decoupled for all values of the detunings including the zero-detuning. We also present the analytical expressions of energy eigenvalues and eigenvectors, evolution operator, time-varying atomic inversion operator and photon number operators of the two modes for the effective two-level model.


Abstract Background Primary cardiac tumors are rare, and many diagnosed tumors are benign with an incidence of 0.001% to 0.03%. The primary angiosarcoma is one of the malignant entities. Discussion We discuss a case report of a 76-year-old male who underwent a preoperative diagnosis for an upcoming shoulder operation when his cardiologist diagnosed a large cardiac tumor. The patient was referred to our department where he received further diagnostics. The transesophageal echocardiography and the cardiac-magnetic resonance imaging showed a massive tumor with a dimension of 8.6 × 5.6 cm with no signs of malignity. Method The operation was performed by standard median sternotomy. The tumor was adherent to the septum and the left atrium, and we were able to remove the specimen in toto. Pathological examinations showed an angiosarcoma with neovascularization and core expression of ERG+ and cytoplasmic expression of CD31+/CD34+, due to the size of the mass. The resection of primary cardiac tumors is mostly the therapy of choice, but in this case concerning an angiosarcoma the prognosis is poor, considering that the angiosarcoma responds very badly to chemotherapy and radiotherapy.


Background

The amount and type of lipids consumed greatly impact serum lipid profile and risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). A novel index named atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) is a better predictor of CVD risk factors than lipids alone. This study aimed to investigate the effect of edible oils on AIP.
Methods

This cross-sectional study was conducted on the preliminary phase of Ravansar Non-Communicable Disease (RaNCD) cohort study. The amount of consumption of edible lipids was determined based on the validated Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ). AIP was calculated as log10 (TG/HDL-C).
Results

From 9996 participantes, 4738(47.4%), were male. The mean of AIP was 0.98 ± 0.6 (range from − 1.73 to 4.15), which in females (0.97 ± 0.6) was lower than males (1.10 ± 0.6). After controlling for confounding and affecting variables, the AIP index decreased with increasing consumption of a local oil named Kermanshahi oil [β(CI 95% ): -0.006(-0.008, -0.003)], butter[β(CI 95% ): -0.008(-0.011, -0.005)] and not statistically significant decrease with Hydrogenated or partial hydrogenated oil [β(CI 95% ): -0.008(-0.001, 0.001)] but the AIP index increased with un-hydrogenated oil [β(CI 95% ): 0.001(-0.001, 0.001)]
Conclusions

Kermanshahi oil and butter have a decreasing effect on AIP, the effect of margarine was neutral, and hydrogenated vegetable oil has a decreasing effect, whereas un-hydrogenated vegetable oil has an increasing effect on it. So, consumption of Kermanshahi oil may be associated with lower cardiovascular risk.


Presents a novel approach for the modelling of typical nonlinear systems at the wet end of the paper machines. Due to the complicated nature of the process, at first a pure multilayer perceptron (MLP) neural network is applied to establish the nonlinear model for the system. Instead of using standard backpropagation (BP) algorithms, genetic algorithm-based training is applied during the weight optimization phase. This is then followed by a logical combination of the so-formed neural network with a physical modelling exercise, leading to an improved semi-physical model which combines the advantages of physical and neural network modelling. The effectiveness of the proposed modelling techniques is illustrated by their applications in the establishment of two models, paper sizing and dry strength, for the wet-end chemical processes of the UMIST pilot paper machine.


The elimination tables in the Memoir on the Resultant of a System of two Equations (Phil. Trans. 1857, pp. 703-715), relate to equations of the form (a, b . . .)(x, y)m= 0, without numerical coefficients; but it is, I think, desirable to give the corresponding tables for equations in the form (a, b, . .)(x, y)m= 0 with numerical coefficients, which is the standard form in quantics. The transformation can of course be effected without difficulty, and the results are as here given. It is easy to see à priori that the sum of the numerical coefficients in each table ought to vanish; these sums do in fact vanish, and we have thus a verification as well of the tables of the present Addition as of the tables of the original memoir, by means whereof the present tables were calculated.


Neuromedin U is a bioactive peptide first isolated from porcine spinal cord. In this paper, we demonstrate that neuromedin U is the cognate ligand for the orphan G protein-coupled receptor, FM-3, isolated originally as a homologue of neurotensin and growth hormone secretogogue receptors. Neuromedin U induced specific and evident elevation of extracellular acidification rates, arachidonic acid metabolite release, and intracellular Ca2+mobilization in Chinese hamster ovary cells expressing human FM-3. In addition, radiolabeled neuromedin U specifically bound to membrane fractions prepared from these cells with high affinity. We subsequently analyzed the tissue distribution of neuromedin U and FM-3 mRNAs in rats using quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Neuromedin U mRNA was highly expressed in the gastrointestinal tract, and the highest expression was detected in the pituitary gland. On the other hand, FM-3 mRNA was highly expressed in the small intestine and lung, suggesting that neuromedin U plays important roles in these tissues. The identification of a specific and functional receptor for neuromedin U will facilitate studies on their physiological roles and the search for receptor agonists and antagonists.


Ministry of Education, Govt of India (GOI) under the digital India initiatives encourages teachers of higher education making use of SWAYAM (online platform) effectively and efficiently for education, training and capacity building. University Grants Commission (UGC), GOI has been encouraging the teachers to submit proposals for designing and developing Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) for UG/PG levels & skill development of youth under SWAYAM. Therefore, teachers of higher education must be trained, oriented and exposed for capacity building to enable them to design and develop quality MOOC following guidelines of SWAYAM. CEMCA designed a two-week course to empower the teachers to learn about teaching with technology with a MOOC "Development of Online Courses for SWAYAM" using appropriate learning design, simple and accessible technology. The ultimate purpose was to enable the teachers to contribute effectively and efficiently promoting educational resilience through Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) for sustainable quality education and training in India. It was implemented in collaboration with State Open Universities to train, orient and guide the teachers for developing quality MOOCs with a purpose to create a pool of skilled workforce in India to address to the needs and demands of higher education. With completion of 5 cycles of implementation of this MOOC in West Bengal, Uttarakhand and Andhra Pradesh, a research study was conducted to assess various dimensions of this initiative and evaluate its effectiveness. The findings of this study would help us to i) identify the expectations of teachers and their difficulties; ii) assess the level of knowledge, skill, and competencies acquired by the teachers; iii) review various components of the MOOC; iv) recommend improvement of this MOOC and the initiative. // The present paper focuses on this collaborative initiatives of CEMCA for promoting educational resilience in India The thrust was to facilitate TEL for sustainable quality education and training in the field of higher education. The study conducted with a sample of 200. Data collected through questionnaires, focus group discussion and panel discussion, analyzed separately to find real strengths and weaknesses of this initiative. It would help to identify the gaps in various stages of design, development and implementation of the MOOC. This study will also help us to know needs, expectations and requirements of target group. Findings and implications of the study would provide a strong base to CEMCA, Govt of India and partner institutions improving the interventions meeting the emerging need in higher education.


Teaching approaches in engineering undergraduate programmes develop over time, to accommodate latest industry demands and technological needs, toincorporate new technologies in teaching and learning, or it adapts to become more relevant to climatic changes in cultural and societal shifts ushered by thenext student generation.
This study presents a new developed approach towards traditional Project Based Learning (PBL) in an engineering undergraduate 1st year program. PBL (Project Based Learning) also known as Problem Based Learning is a pedagogy which organises learning around projects. The project must involve some development of new understanding or new skills within a space occupied by group of students solving the task and teacher providing feedback. The duration of a PBL project spans traditionally from a few weeks in a semester to a full teaching year.
The new approach presented in this study, was to implement a PBL project in an engineering paper which ran its full duration, start to finish in half a day. Shortened PBL projects offer an advantage of maintaining student engagement and cognitive impact throughout the entire project duration. A task often difficult to maintain by students during a normal length project.
This study presents the evaluation of a short PBL project delivered in a 1st year undergraduate engineering programme. In the project, students were provided a physical space to tackle sustainable re-design of disaster-aid relief items and were also given access to interactive 3D visualisation technology known as CAVE environment as a design development tool. This study evaluates the effectiveness of short PBL projects as a teaching approach and impact on student engagement.


Climateprediction.net aims to harness the spare CPU cycles of a million individual users' PCs to run a massive ensemble of climate simulations using an up-to-date, full resolution, three dimensional atmosphere-ocean climate model. The project has many similarities with other public-resource high-throughput activities but is distinctive in a number of ways including the complexity of the computational task, its duration and system demands, participant interaction, and data volume and analysis procedures. These distinctive aspects, together with the documented experience of other Internet-based distributed computing projects, lead to a number of design challenges. The analysis of these, and the resulting architecture, is presented here. The initial development and testing phase is complete and roll-out will begin shortly. It is expected that the issues raised will be of relevance to an increasing number of similar projects.


The desire to study and manipulate biological processes in their native environment has fueled the development of approaches to endow proteins with new chemical groups in vivo. Genetic code expansion allows the site-specific incorporation of artificial, designer amino acids into virtually any protein in living cells and animals. Together with significant developments in designing and rediscovering chemistries that are amenable to physiological conditions and applicable in living systems (in vivo chemistries), these methods have begun to have a direct impact on studies of biological processes that are difficult or impossible to address by more traditional approaches. An emerging area with enormous potential is the site-specific incorporation of unnatural amino acids with functional groups that allow subsequent covalent modification of the protein with biophysical probes and small molecules via chemoselective reactions. This provides an important approach for imaging protein location in live cells and can also be used for controlling an enzyme's activity in vivo. Likewise, the co-translational site-specific incorporation of unnatural amino acids bearing new functional groups that are inert under physiological conditions, but become reactive to form covalent linkages with biomolecules in their vicinity upon a certain trigger, has become an important approach for understanding protein–protein interactions in live cells. This chapter discusses how genetic code expansion approaches together with in vivo chemistries can be utilized to introduce artificial covalent linkages into proteins and how these methods can be used for studying and controlling protein localization and activity and also for mapping and characterizing protein–protein interactions.


Metformin, a drug widely used in the treatment of Type II diabetes, has recently received attention owing to new findings regarding its mitochondrial and cellular effects. In the present study, the effects of metformin on respiration, complex 1 activity, mitochondrial permeability transition, cytochrome c release and cell death were investigated in cultured cells from a human carcinoma-derived cell line (KB cells). Metformin significantly decreased respiration both in intact cells and after permeabilization. This was due to a mild and specific inhibition of the respiratory chain complex 1. In addition, metformin prevented to a significant extent mitochondrial permeability transition both in permeabilized cells, as induced by calcium, and in intact cells, as induced by the glutathione-oxidizing agent t-butyl hydroperoxide. This effect was equivalent to that of cyclosporin A, the reference inhibitor. Finally, metformin impaired the t-butyl hydroperoxide-induced cell death, as judged by Trypan Blue exclusion, propidium iodide staining and cytochrome c release. We propose that metformin prevents the permeability transition-related commitment to cell death in relation to its mild inhibitory effect on complex 1, which is responsible for a decreased probability of mitochondrial permeability transition.


We define and discuss the nature of Evidence-based Health Informatics (EBHI), the kind of evidence health informatics researchers must generate to make EBHI a reality, and how we should grade such evidence. We propose adding principle-based evaluation studies to the list of common evaluation study types, and outline how to carry out such studies to generate evidence that will prove useful for establishing EBHI. The main purpose of a principle-based evaluation study is to test the impact on system acceptability, usage or effectiveness of a generalizable system design principle, so we also explore when during the system design process such principles are needed, and which disciplines are most promising as sources of design principles. We conclude with some challenges for EBHI, a list of the benefits of adopting this approach, and a test to ensure that we are advancing in the direction of science, as opposed to pseudoscience.


In present investigation thirty hybrids were evaluated at three locations in Konkan region of Maharashtra. Out of that five stable hybrids viz, AVPP0711S × BC-28, AVPP0709S × BC-28, AVPP0517S × DPLC-1, AVPP0711S × Pusajwala and AVPP0709S × DPLC-1 had high net plot yield of fresh fruits and high stability for some characters viz, days to 50 per cent flowering, fresh weight per fruit, fruit length, 1000 seed weight, dry weight per fruit and net plot yield of fresh fruits. Stability of these hybrids might have resulted due to stability for various component traits. Out of these five hybrids AVPP0709S × BC-28 was found to be most adaptable while other two hybrids were responsive to favorable environments. Hence, it would be advantages to exploit high yield and stable hybrid AVPP0709S × BC-28 in practical plant breeding.


The Bay of Biscay and the Pyrenees correspond to a Lower Cretaceous rift system including both oceanic and hyperextended rift domains. The transition from preserved oceanic and rift domains in the West to their complete inversion in the East enables us to study the progressive reactivation of a hyperextended rift system. We use seismic interpretation, gravity inversion, and field mapping to identify and map former rift domains and their subsequent reactivation. We propose a new map and sections across the system illustrating the progressive integration of the rift domains into the orogen. This study aims to provide insights on the formation of hyperextended rift systems and discuss their role during reactivation. Two spatially and temporally distinct rift systems can be distinguished: the Bay of Biscay‐Parentis and the Pyrenean‐Basque‐Cantabrian rifts. While the offshore Bay of Biscay represent a former mature oceanic domain, the fossil remnants of hyperextended domains preserved onshore in the Pyrenean‐Cantabrian orogen record distributed extensional deformation partitioned between strongly segmented rift basins. Reactivation initiated in the exhumed mantle domain before it affected the hyperthinned domain. Both domains accommodated most of the shortening. The final architecture of the orogen is acquired once the conjugate necking domains became involved in collisional processes. The complex 3‐D architecture of the initial rift system may partly explain the heterogeneous reactivation of the overall system. These results have important implications for the formation and reactivation of hyperextended rift systems and for the restoration of the Bay of Biscay and Pyrenean domains.


Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is a solid-state joining process for metals, non-metals and polymers. It is carried out with the help of a specially designed, non-consumable tool. The heat required, for creating a softened region at the faying surfaces, is generated by rotation of tool against the work piece material. Being a solid-state welding process, it offers several advantages like inducing minimum effect on the mechanical properties of base material, reduced shrinkage and distortion, no spatter or Ultra Violet (UV) radiations etc. However, developing a sound weld requires an appropriate combination of several process parameters e.g. the design of tool, its rotational and traversing speeds etc. To substantiate this aspect, an approach based on Response Surface Methodology (RSM) is presented during this paper that optimizes the combination of process parameters while investigating their effect on the mechanical properties of a friction stir welded butt joint configuration of Polycarbonate. To minimize the total number of combinations a Central Composite Rotatable Design (CCRD) is used with three factors and two levels. The results have shown that the butt joints fabricated at a traverse speed of 14 mm/min, rotational speed of 1700 RPM and with simple cylindrical conical tool geometry yielded the maximum ultimate tensile strength of 51.299 MPa.


Due to the low hydration activity and poor volume stability, extensive steel slag utilization is restricted. In this paper, the hydration process and microstructure of alkali-activated materials with steel slag as a cementitious material and fine aggregate were studied. The phase composition and micro-morphology of hydration products were measured using XRD, NMR and SEM. The response relationship between microstructure and mechanical properties during hydration was revealed. The results show that the main hydration products of the alkali-activated steel slag powder-granulated blast furnace slag powder cementitious system are Ca(OH)2 and calcium aluminosilicate hydrate (C-A-S-H) gel. With the progress of hydration, the amount of calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H) gel and the average molecular chain length increase, Al[4]/Si decreases, while C/S increases first and then decreases, and the structure of cement paste becomes much more compact. The interface between steel slag sand and cement paste is denser than that of river sand, since the hydration occurs on the surface of steel slag sand, which leads to the formation of C-A-S-H gel and Ca(OH)2. As a result, the compressive strength of concrete prepared by steel slag sand is higher than that of river sand with the same mix proportion.


Northwest Africa (NWA) 2977 is a lunar basaltic meteorite that was found in 2005 and has been classified as an olivine cumulate gabbro. This meteorite contains a shock melt vein (SMV) induced by an intense shock event. We report herein on an in-situ analysis of phosphates in the host gabbro and the shock vein for the U–Pb dating of NWA 2977 using an ion microprobe, NanoSIMS. The majority of the analyzed phosphates, in both the SMV and host-rock, lie on a linear regression in 238U/206Pb–207Pb/206Pb–204Pb/206Pb three-dimensional space, indicating a total Pb/U isochron age of 3.15±0.12 Ga (95% confidence level), which is consistent ages determined in previous isotopic studies of NWA 2977 (Sm–Nd age of 3.10±0.05 Ga, Rb–Sr age of 3.29±0.11 Ga, and Pb–Pb baddeleyite age of 3.12±0.01 Ga), and identical to the age of the U–Pb phosphate in a paired meteorite NWA 773, 3.09±0.20 Ga, derived from our dataset. There was no clear difference in the formation age between the phosphates found in the SMV and host-rock, although the shape and size of the grains and the Raman spectra show the evidence of intense shock metamorphism. Based on these findings, the cooling rate of the phosphate was very rapid, constrained to be larger than 140 K/s.


The unsaponifiable fraction of oils and fats constitutes a very small fraction but it is an essential part of the healthy properties of some specific oils. It is a complex fraction formed by a large number of minor compounds and it is a source of information to characterize and authenticate the oil sample. Specially, the composition of sterols of any oil or fat is a distinctive feature of itself and, therefore, it has become a useful tool for detecting contaminants and adulterants in oils. A new supported liquid extraction (SLE) technique for the analysis and characterization of the unsaponifiable fraction of fats and oils is proposed. The SLE system includes, as a stationary phase, a combination of adsorbent materials which allow a highly purified unsaponifiable matter ready to be isolated by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and quantified by gas chromatography (GC). This method ensures the removal of fatty acids, avoiding possible interferences and making the analysis of sterols and triterpenic dialcohols easier. The procedure uses a small sample size (0.2 g), reduces the volume of solvents and reagents, and reduces the handling of samples subjected to analytical control. All this is achieved without losing either precision—a relative standard deviation of each compound lower than the reference value (≤16.4%)—or recovery, being for all compounds higher than 88.00%. Therefore, this new technique represents a significant economic and time saving in business control laboratories, a larger productivity and enhancement of working safety.


Phosphorylation of exon1 of the Huntingtin protein (Httex1) has been shown to play important roles in regulating the structure, toxicity and cellular properties of N-terminal fragments and the full-length Huntingtin protein. Here, we investigated and compared the effect of bona fide phosphorylation at S13 and/or S16 on the structure, aggregation, membrane binding, and subcellular properties of mutant Httex1-Q18A. We show that serine phosphorylation at either S13 or S16 strongly disrupts the amphipathic α-helix of the N-terminus, inhibits the aggregation of mutant Httex1 and prompts the internalization and nuclear targeting of Httex1 preformed aggregates. In synthetic peptides phosphorylation at S13 and/or S16 strongly disrupted the amphipathic α-helix of the N-terminal 17 residues (Nt17) of Httex1 and Nt17 membrane binding. Our studies on peptides bearing a different combination of phosphorylation sites within Nt17 revealed a novel phosphorylation-dependent switch for regulating the structure of Httex1 involving crosstalk between phosphorylation at T3 and S13 or S16. Together, our results provide novel insights into the role of phosphorylation in regulating Httex1 structure and function in health and disease and underscore the critical importance of identifying enzymes responsible for regulating Htt phosphorylation and their potential as therapeutic targets for the treatment of Huntington's disease.


ABSTRACT Reefs and beds formed by oysters such as the Eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica and the Olympia oyster, Ostrea lurida Carpenter 1864† were dominant features in many estuaries throughout their native ranges. Many of these estuaries no longer have healthy, productive reefs because of impacts from destructive fishing, sediment accumulation, pollution, and parasites. Once valued primarily as a fishery resource, increasing attention is being focused today on the array of other ecosystem services that oysters and the reefs they form provide in United States coastal bays and estuaries. Since the early 1990s efforts to restore subtidal and intertidal oyster reefs have increased significantly, with particular interest in small-scale community-based projects initiated most often by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). To date, such projects have been undertaken in at least 15 US states, for both species of dominant native oysters along the United States coast. Community-based restoration practitioners have used a broad range of nonmutually exclusive approaches, including: (1) oyster gardening of hatchery-produced oysters; (2) deployment of juvenile to adult shellfish ("broodstock") within designated areas for stock enhancement; and (3) substrate enhancement using natural or recycled man-made materials loose or in "bags" designed to enhance local settlement success. Many of these approaches are inspired by fishery-enhancement efforts of the past, though are implemented with different outcomes in mind (ecological services vs. fishery outcomes). This paper was originally presented at the first West Coast Restoration Workshop in 2006 in San Rafael, California and is intended to summarize potential approaches for small-scale restoration projects, including some emerging methods, and highlight the logistical benefits and limitations of these approaches. Because the majority of the past efforts have been with C. viriginica, we use those examples initially to highlight efforts with the intent of enlightening current west coast United States efforts with Ostrea lurida. We also discuss site-specific characteristics including "recruitment bottlenecks" and "substrate limitation" as criteria for identifying the most appropriate approaches to use for small-scale restoration projects. Many of the included "lessons-learned" from the smaller-scale restoration projects being implemented today can be used to inform not only large-scale estuary wide efforts to restore C. virginica, but also the relatively nascent efforts directed at restoring the United States west coast's native Olympia oyster, Ostrea lurida.


Author(s): Bellik, Jennifer Ann | Advisor(s): Ito, Junko | Abstract: Turkish vowel harmony is very systematic, but in a little-studied class of words, appears to break down. I propose that this apparent harmony failure is actually covert harmony, or exceptional transparency. Background: The backness of vowels in Turkish suffixes is determined by the backness of the nearest vowel in the word they attach to (1).(1) Nom. Dative Gloss a. kadran → kadran-a, *kadran-e 'clockface' b. beden → beden-e, *beden-a 'body'Harmony within roots is often violated, but harmony between suffixes and the nearest root vowel is extremely robust (2). Nonetheless, in certain roots, /a/ exceptionally behaves as transparent and suffixes must surface with front vowels (3).(2) Singular Plural Gloss a. kitap → kitap-lar, *kitap-ler 'book' b. kahve → kahve-ler, *kahve-lar 'coffee'(3) a. harf → harf-ler, *harf-lar 'letters' b. dikkat → dikkat-ler, *dikkat-lar 'attentions'To account for this exceptional transparency, I extend Smolensky's (2006) headed feature domains theory, and propose that the input to phonology contains headless feature domains. Proposal: Existing theories of vowel harmony require a segmental harmony trigger. But harf contains no [-back] segment to head a front feature domain and select front suffixes, so harf-ler remains unexplainable. Extending Smolensky (2006), I propose that all features are feature domains, which replace traditional segmental feature specifications. In Turkish, backness domains normally coincide with roots. Alternating suffixes lack their own backness domains and merge into the stem's domain. Exceptional transparency is driven by faithfulness considerations: the root as a whole is a front domain, but it contains /a/ in an embedded back domain. Suffixes are incorporated into the outermost backness domain as usual, resulting in transparency. (4) (dik(ka)bt)f) + lEr → (dik(ka)btler)f) Since vowels must realize the backness of their containing domains, high- and mid- vowels cannot occur in conflicting embedded domains. However, as a low vowel, /a/ is more central than the other back vowels, and unlike the other Turkish back vowels, it lacks an exactly height-matched front counterpart phoneme. Perceptual reasons, then, lead the Turkish constraint-ranking to allow only /a/ as an exceptionally transparent vowel. The feature-as-domain analysis of vowel harmony models the selection of front suffixes by harf and dikkat without the need to posit phonetically unrealized front features on consonants, or any other additional apparatus.


The development of chemically recyclable polymers with desirable properties is a long-standing but challenging goal in polymer science. Central to this challenge is the need for reversible chemical reactions that can equilibrate at rapid rates and provide efficient polymerization and depolymerization cycles. Based on the dynamic chemistry of nucleophilic aromatic substitution (SNAr), we report a chemically recyclable polythioether system derived from readily accessible benzothiocane (BT) monomers. This system represents the first example of a well-defined monomer platform capable of chain-growth ring-opening polymerization through an SNAr manifold. The polymerizations reach completion in minutes, and the pendant functionalities are easily customized to tune material properties or render the polymers amenable to further functionalization. The resulting polythioether materials exhibit comparable performance to commercial thermoplastics and can be depolymerized to the original monomers in high yields.


A ten‐year climatology has been prepared of dust days for central eastern Australia, from January 1995 to February 2004, using reports from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology's observational network. It was found that there had been a total of 55 dust days during this ten‐year period. Of these, 43 dust days were associated with cold fronts: 24 were classified as embedded in the zonal westerlies in the Great Australian Bight (GAB) or in westerlies derived from low pressure systems in the GAB, whereas the remaining 19 were associated with cold fronts over eastern Australia where high pressure systems in the GAB generated strong post‐frontal south to southeast winds. Three detailed case studies of dust storm generation and transport were modelled using a sophisticated coupled wind erosion prediction system. The model predictions in all three cases were found to be broadly consistent both with satellite images highlighting dust and the synoptic observations that reported dust. Antecedent land surface conditions are found to be critically important in generating dust, and their representation in the integrated prediction system is subsequently important in providing skilful model predictions of dust transport. Copyright © 2006 Royal Meteorological Society.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the relationship between left ventricular mass (LVM) and brachial office systolic blood pressure (bOSBP), brachial 24 hours ambulatory SBP (bASBP) and central 24 hours ambulatory SBP (cASBP).

DESIGN AND METHOD
In 7 European centers, bASBP was measured with a validated automated oscillometric device (mobilograph, i.e.m., Stolberg, Germany). cASBP was determined, using a transfer function, and mean/diastolic BP calibration. M-mode images were obtained by echocardiography, and LVM was determined by one single reader according to standard guidelines and normalized to body surface area. Statistics were Pearson[Combining Acute Accent]s correlation coefficients and receiver-operating-curve analysis.

RESULTS
We included 289 participants not taking antihypertensive drugs (mean age 50 years, range 17-85; 137 females; mean body mass index 26.3 kg/m). Mean office BP was 146/88 mmHg (SD 23.2/14.2). Mean bASBP was 127 mmHg (SD 12.6), mean cASBP 128 mmHg (SD 12.5). Mean LVM/BSA was 95.6 kg/m, and 23.9% of participants had left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). The correlation coefficients between LVM and bOSBP, bASBP, and cASBP were 0.29, 0.41, and 0.47, respectively, with a significantly closer correlation between cASBP and LVM than between bOSBP and LVM. The results were consistent for men and women, young and old participants, and those with lower and higher BMI (Figure). ROC-analysis revealed areas under the curve for prediction of LVH of 0.618, 0.635, and 0.666 for bOSBP, bASBP, and cASBP, respectively, with a significant difference between bASBP and cASBP. The results were consistent for men and women, and participants with lower and higher BMI. In younger participants, cASBP was superior to both other measurements.

CONCLUSIONS
CASBP, measured with an oscillometric cuff and dedicated ARCSolver software, but not bASBP, is closer related to LVM than office SBP.


Best-fit is the best known algorithm for on-line bin-packing, in the sense that no algorithm is known to behave better both in the worst case (when Best-fit has performance ratio 1.7) and in the average uniform case, with items drawn uniformly in the interval [0, l] (then Best-fit has expected wasted space O(n'/2(log n) " / ")). In practical applications, Best-fit appears to perform within a few percent of optimal. In this paper, in the spirit of previous work in computational geometry, we study the expected performance ratio, taking the worst-case multiset of items L, and assuming that the elements of L are inserted in random order, with all permutations equally likely. We show a lower bound of 1.08. .. and an upper bound of 1.5 on the random order performance ratio of Best-fit. The upper bound contrasts with the result that in the worst case, any (deterministic or randomized) on-line bin-packing algorithm has performance ratio at least 1.54.. . .


Studies of the effect of norethandrolone on the transport and peripheral metabolism of thyroxine were carried out in four patients lacking thyroxine-binding globulin. Before norethandrolone administration, values for serum protein-bound iodine (PBI) were decreased (1.8 +/-0.5 mug/100 ml) and the proportion of free thyroxine increased (0.036 +/-0.008%). As a result, values for the absolute concentration of free thyroxine iodine were at the lower end of the normal range (0.63 +/-0.12 mmug/100 ml). During the control thyroxine-turnover study, the thyroxine distribution space was strikingly increased (18.2 +/-7.9 liters) and the fractional rate of thyroxine turnover moderately increased (17.1 +/-11.3%/day), as compared to the expected mean values for normal subjects. Therefore, calculated values for the daily rate of thyroxine clearance were increased even more, ranging between 255 and 500% of normal values. However, owing to the low PBI in these patients, the daily disposal of thyroxine iodine was similar to that expected in normals on the basis of age and weight. During the administration of norethandrolone, the thyroxine-binding capacity of the thyroxine-binding prealbumin increased strikingly in all patients, values averaging 162% of those found during the control period. This increase was associated with a highly significant increase in PBI (133% of control values) and a small but significant decrease in the proportion of free thyroxine, resulting in no significant change in the absolute concentration of free thyroxine iodine. In all four patients, administration of norethandrolone was associated with a pronounced decrease in the thyroxine distribution space to values which averaged 69% of those found during the control period. Values for the fractional rate of thyroxine turnover increased slightly. As a result, thyroxine-clearance rate decreased in all patients. Owing to the reciprocal changes in clearance rate and PBI, no significant change in total daily thyroxine disposal was observed. The present studies reveal that when the thyroxine-binding prealbumin is increased in patients lacking thyroxine-binding globulin, several indices of peripheral thyroxine transport and metabolism are altered. However, these changes were small, even in the absence of thyroxine-binding globulin. It is suggested, therefore, that the effect of changes in thyroxine-binding prealbumin would be even smaller in individuals in whom thyroxine-binding globulin is present.


A diallel cross was produced using diverse maize (Zea mays L.) germplasm of saline tolerant and saline susceptible maize lines as parents. Agronomic performance of the offspring of the diallel cross was examined. Eight germplasm lines bearing diversified agronomic traits of five known tolerant and susceptible lines were involved as parents of the diallel cross that was evaluated at three different ecological areas viz. Gazipur, Benerpota, and Kaliganj. CZ-29 and CZ-26 had positive and significant general combining ability (GCA) effects for yield in both the saline environments, where CZ-12 possessed negative and significant GCA effects for yield in the same areas but none of the parents exhibited either significantly positive or negative GCA in Gazipur location. Of the saline tolerant lines evaluated, CZ-29 was a good source for increased yield with significant and positive GCA values in both the saline environments that was also responsible for dwarfness and earliness in all locations. CZ-26×CZ-24 yielded well except at Benerpota with an additional benefit of shorter plant type across all environments. Hybrid CZ-29×BIL-65, however, was consistent and promising over the environments for bold seed and higher yield that ranked 2nd at Benerpota (4.81 t ha-1) and Kaliganj (6.73 t ha-1) and 3rd at Gazipur (7.40 t ha-1) location for yield having significant positive specific combining ability (SCA) effects at Gazipur and Kaliganj. Moreover, six hybrids either significantly or not consistently decreased yield over the locations with negative SCA. However, considering the overall performance of the hybrids, the involvement of saline susceptible or tolerant parents was not consistent in the present study. Crosses between saline tolerant lines did not produce any tolerant hybrids or dwarf parents did not produce dwarf hybrids except CZ-29×CZ-36 that was able to produce shorter hybrid for all the locations. Therefore, among the lines evaluated in this diallel cross having a distinct different genetic background, CZ-28 and CZ-29 contributed to earliness; CZ-29 and BIL-65 reduced plant height; CZ-12 increased seed size; CZ-26 and CZ-29 improved yield. Thus, these lines should be useful sources of alleles for pyramiding, earlier maturity, shorter plant heights, increased seed size and improved yield into desired breeding lines.

 Key words: Diallel, maize, saline, environments, general combining ability, specific combining ability.


Background: Emission of dust represents the main hazard associated with cement production and may cause adverse respiratory health effects to the population living nearby. Aim: To evaluate the association between daily levels of PM 10 and a morbidity indicator (school absenteeism) in children aged 7-14 years attending a school within 2km from a cement plant in Fumane (Northern Italy). Methods: Data on absences of students (average: 461 students/year) and daily concentrations of PM 10 from a fixed monitoring station placed in the schoolyard were collected for 3 school years (541 school days from November 2007 to June 2010). The association between pollution in the same day (Lag 0) and in the previous 4 days (Lag 1 to 4) and school absenteeism was studied using generalized additive Poisson regression models, adjusting for short-term trend, day of the week, flu epidemics and daily temperature. Results: During the considered period, the daily average concentration of PM 10 was 34.8 µg/m³. An increase of 10 µg/m³ of PM 10 was associated with a significant increase of 2.2% in school absences (RR:1.022; 95%CI: 1.007-1.037) two days after (lag2). The association between average level of pollutants from Lag 0 to Lag 4 and school absences confirmed the presence of a statically significant association with PM 10 levels (RR:1.016; 95%CI:1.003-1.029 for each + µg/m³ of PM 10 ). Conclusions: Daily PM 10 levels are associated with school absences, a proxy indicator of short-term morbidity, in children who attend schools in proximity to a cement plant. Primary prevention interventions aimed at reducing air pollution in the area are recommended.


S2-, MoO42-, and Mo6O228- were successfully employed as templates in the formation of six high-symmetry polynuclear silver clusters as exemplified in the single-crystal X-ray structures of [S@Ag18(tBuC6H4S)16(dppp)4]·DMF·5CH3CN·3CH3OH (1), [MoO4@Ag24(MeC6H4S)12(dppm)6(MoO4)4]·2BF4·C2H5NO (2), [MoO4@Ag24(MeC6H4S)12(dppm)6(MoO4)4]·2CF3SO3 (3), [MoO4@Ag24(MeC6H4S)12(dppf)6(MoO4)4]·2CF3SO3 (4), [MoO4@Ag24(MeC6H4S)12(dppb)6(MoO4)4]·2CF3SO3 (5) and [Mo6O22@Ag46(tBuC6H4S)32(dppm)4(CH3CN)8]·6CF3SO3 (6) (dppp = 1,3-bis(diphenylphosphino)propane, dppm = bis(diphenylphosphino)methane, dppf = 1,1'-bis(diphenylphosphino)ferrocene and dppb = 1,4-bis(diphenylphosphino)butane). Cluster 1 is a S2--centered octadecanuclear banana-shaped molecule. Clusters 2-5 have similar structures consisting of a tetrahedron of a MoO42- core and four MoO42- where three silver atoms cap each face and a pair sits on each edge, giving tetraicosanuclear ball-shaped molecules. Although different diphosphine ligands and silver salts were used in the syntheses, 2-5 contain a common building cluster unit with similar geometry and nuclearity. With (Bu4N)2Mo6O19 as a template, a giant 46-silver-atom cluster encapsulates an in situ modified Mo6O228- unit. The nuclearity and geometry depend on the size and shape of the templates. High-resolution electrospray mass spectrometry (HR-ESI-MS) analyses of 4 indicate its exceptionally high stability in acetonitrile. The solid-state luminescence of 1 as a function of the temperature exhibits thermochromism from red to yellow due to the different intensities of the two bands. This work established a new strategy for the construction of polynuclear silver clusters using an anionic template and mixed S- and P-donor ligands where a promising approach for building novel dual emissive materials is unraveled.


This study focuses on Adam Borzič, one of the most distinctive contemporary Czech poets. The study contextualises his work within current Czech poetry but also examines his other work that is not strictly classified as art as though it were cultural work with avant-garde features. It investigates four volumes of Borzič's work in terms of the changes in the author's creative gesture, which expands from his conviction that the world is at a turning point and the avant-garde longing to change the world by poetry. In the four volumes of Borzič's poetry (written so far), this gesture is embodied through delicately intimate, acutely physical, or even gigantically all-embracing positions, where he employs motives of the heart, head, hand and mouth. The study attempts to evaluate the change in Borzič's work in the lightof T. S. Eliot's understanding of the social role of poetry and avant-garde longing to change reality through art. The Czech poet, Adam Borzič, is one of the most distinctive figures of the current Czech literary scene. His poetry is distinct because of its unique gesture andalso represents a strong current in the poetry production of the past decade with its emphasis on the social function of poetry7 and the poet's role as somebody who should nurture the world through his/her work or even change it. This study attempts to portray Borzič's work as focused on the mentioned topics and related issues of the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century and renew interest in them, contextualise his work within current Czech poetry but also investigate his other work, which is not strictly artistic but which possesses some avant-garde features.


The authors present a timely well-written article applying Donabedian's science of quality of care to patient satisfaction. The use of longitudinal health-related quality of life (HRQoL) data and a validated satisfaction questionnaire separate this manuscript from previous cross-sectional studies. Resnick et al. [1] found that both general HRQoL and disease-specific HRQoL were associated with long-term patient satisfaction across all the domains measured (overall, amount of contact, communication, humanness and competence). It is important to note that baseline HRQoL and fear of recurrence both influenced post-treatment satisfaction, such that more anxiety or worse baseline health were associated with less satisfaction.


The effectiveness of pest and disease management in crops relies on knowledge about their presence and distribution in crop-producing areas. Aphids and whiteflies are among the main threats to vegetable crops since these hemipterans feed on plants, causing severe damage, and are also able to transmit a large number of devastating plant viral diseases. In particular, the widespread occurrence of aphid-transmitted viruses in cucurbit crops, along with the lack of effective control measures, makes surveillance programs and virus epidemiology necessary for providing sound advice and further integration into the management strategies that can ensure sustainable food production. This review describes the current presence and distribution of aphid-transmitted viruses in cucurbits in Spain, providing valuable epidemiological information, including symptom expressions of virus-infected plants for further surveillance and viral detection. We also provide an overview of the current measures for virus infection prevention and control strategies in cucurbits and indicate the need for further research and innovative strategies against aphid pests and their associated viral diseases.


Oritavancin (LY-333328) is a semisynthetic lipoglycopeptide for the treatment of serious infections with Gram-positive pathogens, especially methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and complicated skin and soft tissue infections. A New Drug Application for oritavancin administered intravenously once daily for 3 to 7 days for complicated skin and soft tissue infections was filed with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in April 2008. This article provides an overview of the publicly available data and includes data presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Disease in April 2008. Although several agents are currently or soon to be available for resistant Gram-positive infections, oritavancin has several key features: (i) multiple mechanisms of antibacterial action; (ii) broad spectrum and high potency against Gram-positive pathogens; (iii) bactericidal activity and long duration of the postantibiotic effect with excellent activity against stationary-phase bacteria and biofilms; (iv) long half-life, allowing infrequent dosing and potentially allowing the entire course of therapy to be a single dose; and (v) documented clinical efficacy and safety.


The study presents investigation of chemical composition, microhardness and electrical conductivity of Cu/Al laminated metal composite after heat treatment at temperatures higher than Cu–Al eutectic melting point. The Cu/Al bimetal was obtained via explosion welding. Chemical composition of the material after heat treatments was identified using EDS analysis. Eddy current testing was applied to investigate electrical conductivity of the composite's components. Strain-hardened zones were identified in the explosion welded composite. The experimental value of electrical conductivity of explosion welded composite was in good coherence with calculated by additivity rule results. Heat treatments resulted in the formation of multiple interlayers which had high microhardness value and had intermetallics in composition. The electrical conductivity of the identified interlayers was significantly lower than of Cu and Al.


Interventions that tackle 'last mile' behaviors in the form of improved choice architecture are fundamental to Behavioral Public Policy (BPP), yet far less attention is typically paid to the nature and design of underlying system conditions and infrastructures that support these interventions. However, inattention to broader conditions that impact participant engagement and intervention functionality, such as barriers to access that deter participation or perverse structural disincentives that reward undesirable behaviors, may not only limit the effectiveness of behavioral solutions but also miss opportunities to deliberately design underlying 'plumbing' – the choice infrastructure – in a way that improves overall system efficacy and equity. Using the illustrative case of civic policy in food licensure, this article describes how using a 'SPACE' model to address Standards, Process mechanics and policies, Accountability, Culture within systems, and Evaluative and iterative feedback can support the development of improved choice infrastructure, contributing to BPP problem-solving efforts by helping practitioners create system conditions that are more conducive to the success of behavioral solutions.


: Based on the chronology of 62 large volcanic eruption events ( Volcanic Explosivity Index ≥ 4) since 1901 and gridded CRU TS v.3.22 monthly dataset from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, we examined the effects of large volcanic eruptions by different eruptive latitude bands and seasons on regional difference of temperature in China, using superposed epoch analysis (SEA). The results show that temperature decreased in most regions in 1~2 years after large volcanic eruptions at all latitude bands, but there were clear differences in cooling intensity of different regions and seasons. After volcanic eruptions in high latitude areas, temperature decreased in Northeast and Southeast China by 1.2°C in the winter half-year and 2.0° C in the summer half- year. After middle- and lower- latitudes volcanic eruptions, the cooling regions of the winter half-year were Tibet, Southeast, and Central East China, where the temperature decreased by 1.3~2.2°C; the cooling effects in the summer half- year were less intense than in the winter half- year. After equatorial volcanic eruptions, the winter half-year temperature significantly decreased in Northeast, Southeast, and Tibet, and the cooling magnitudes were greater than 1.2°C; the post-volcanic summer half-year temperature decreased slightly in Northwest and Central East. In some regions secondary cooling occurred in the third year after large volcanic eruptions, and the cooling intensity was even stronger than the initial temperature drop. However, we did not find significant relationship between the cooling magnitude and region and the eruptive seasons of large volcanos of the same latitude bands.


An early tectono-stratigraphic and late plutonic assemblage are distinguished in the central part of the Archean Slave Province (Contwoyto Lake area) on the basis of their relationship to deformation and metamorphic episodes, and by geochemical characteristics. The older assemblage, which predates the onset of intense deformation and the thermal peak of metamorphism, comprises 2.68–2.65 Ga calc-alkaline volcanic and plutonic rocks, as well as extensive turbidites. The younger assemblage comprises ca. 2.61–2.58 Ga plutonic units that were emplaced during and after deformation (D,–D3) and the thermal peak of metamorphism. Compositions of the late plutonic units vary systematically with time of intrusion from an early, calc-alkaline, diorite – tonalite suite to late peraluminous granites. The early assemblage is interpreted to represent remnants of an island arc (or arcs) overlain by turbidites and accreted during D1 and D2. The later assemblage is interpreted as a product of late- to post-accretion, suprasu...


A polyhedral subdivision of a d-dimensional point configuration A is k-regular if it is projected from the boundary complex of a polytope with dimension at most d+k. Call γk(A) the subgraph induced by k-regular triangulations in the flip-graph of A. Gel'fand, Kapranov, and Zelevinsky have shown that γ1(A) is connected. It is established here that γ2(A) is connected as well.


Hardware for performing matrix operations at high speeds is in great demand in signal and image processing and in many real-time and scientific applications. VLSI technology has made it possible to perform fast large-scale vector and matrix computations by using multiple copies of low-cost processors. Since any functional error in a high performance system may seriously jeopardize the operation of the system and its data integrity, some level of fault-tolerance must be obtained to ensure that the results of long computations are valid. A low-cost checksum scheme had been proposed to obtain fault-tolerant matrix operations on multiple processor systems. However, this scheme can only correct errors in matrix multiplication; it can detect, but not correct errors in matrix-vector multiplication, LU-decomposition, and matrix inversion. In order to solve these problems with the checksum scheme, a very general matrix encoding scheme is proposed in this paper to achieve fault-tolerant matrix operations with multiple processor systems. Since many signal and image processing algorithms involving a "multiply-and-accumulate" type of expression can be transformed into matrix-vector multiplication operations and executed in a linear array, this scheme is extremely useful for cost-effective and fault-tolerant signal and image processing.


Filled microcapsules made from double emulsion templates in microfluidic devices are attractive delivery systems for a variety of applications. The microfluidic approach allows facile tailoring of the microcapsules through a large number of variables, which in turn makes these systems more challenging to predict. To elucidate these dependencies, we start from earlier theoretical predictions for the size of double emulsions and present quantitative design maps that correlate parameters such as fluid flow rates and device geometry with the size and shell thickness of monodisperse polymer-based capsules produced in microcapillary devices. The microcapsules are obtained through in situ photopolymerization of the middle oil phase of water-in-oil-in-water double emulsions. Using polymers with selected glass transition temperatures as the shell material, we show through single capsule compression testing that hollow capsules can be prepared with tunable mechanical properties ranging from elastomeric to brittle. A quantitative statistical analysis of the load at rupture of brittle capsules is also provided to evaluate the variability of the microfluidic route and assist the design of capsules in applications involving mechanically triggered release. Finally, we demonstrate that the permeability and microstructure of the capsule shell can also be tailored through the addition of cross-linkers and silica nanoparticles in the middle phase of the double emulsion templates.


An evaluation of 23 models, participating in the Coupled Model Inter‐comparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5), in representing extreme precipitation indices (EPI), over the Eastern Mediterranean (EM) and the Fertile Crescent (FC), was performed. The models ensemble was then used to predict the EPIs evolution in the 21st century under (Representative Concentration Pathway, RCP) RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios. Models' performance was determined with respect to gridded precipitation observations from the APHRODITE project. The ensemble mean was found to perform relatively well in capturing the EM steep precipitation gradient, the FC structure and the EPI trends in the observations period (1970–2000). Over the EM, CMIP5 models agree on a future decrease in the following three EPIs; total precipitation (TP), consecutive wet days, and number of wet days by the values of 20–35%, 10–20%, and 20–35%, respectively. In the FC, extremely wet days (P95) are expected to increase by approximately 25%, except for the south eastern coasts of the Mediterranean Sea, which show significant decreases in P95, particularly for RCP8.5 and at the end of the 21st century. Hence, while TP is expected to decrease, extreme precipitation is expected to increase, at least for the north‐eastern part of the FC. This will significantly influence agriculture and floods' potential in a region already suffering from political unrest. The changes in EPIs are related to changes in the synoptic patterns over the EM, especially the predicted changes in cyclones frequency and intensity in the 21st century, due to changes in storm tracks governed by the phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation and the expected expansion of the Hadley Cell towards the poles in a warmer climate.


Thermoresponsive hydrogel microspheres (microgels) are smart materials that quickly respond to external stimuli, and their thermoresponsiveness can be tuned by varying the constituent chemical species. Although uniformly sized microgels can be prepared via aqueous free radical precipitation polymerization, the nanostructure of the obtained microgels is complex and remains unclear so far. In the present study, the nanostructure and thermoresponsiveness of poly(N-isopropyl methacrylamide) (pNIPMAm)-based microgels, which have a volume-transition temperature of ∼43 °C, were evaluated mainly using temperature-controllable high-speed atomic force microscopy. These observations, which are characterized by high spatio-temporal resolution, revealed that the pNIPMAm microgels have a peculiar heterogeneous structure, for example a core–shell and non-thermoresponsive nanostructure in the core region, that originates from the precipitation polymerization process. Furthermore, it was found that the adsorption concentration of the microgels on the substrate is one of the keys for controlling their thermoresponsiveness. These findings can be expected to advance the design of new materials such as thermoresponsive nanosheets and stimuli-responsive coatings.


ABSTRACT How are extensive internet control, surveillance and restricted online anonymity reconceptualized into virtues of effective state governance, rather than violations of civic rights? The Russian government has instrumentalized ostensibly sound legitimations – countering terrorist and extremist propaganda, combatting child pornography – to bring about a dramatic decline in internet freedom. While these policies have been widely studied, scholarship examining how the Russian government legitimates and cultivates popular support for restricting online freedoms remains scarce. This article therefore studies how restrictions of internet freedom are framed in political and media discourses. It focuses on the case of Telegram, a popular messaging application that was banned in Russia in April 2018 for its refusal to provide the FSB with access to encrypted messages in compliance with anti-terrorism legislation. It finds that media framing of the ban was more diverse than the official governmental line. While national security framing was important, the 'rule of law' frame occurred most frequently, and conspiracy framing was markedly infrequent.


In this article, we compare representations of the pilgrimage to Mecca posted on Facebook and Youtube by 'ordinary' pilgrims from Morocco and (semi)professional bloggers of Moroccan parentage in the Netherlands. We discuss how such posts challenge representations that circulate in the mainstream media in both countries about Islam in general and the hajj in particular. For Morocco we demonstrate that this kind of digital mediation of pilgrimage contests the ways in which the state-organized hajj is framed in Morocco's national media. For the Netherlands, we argue that bloggers deconstruct dominant images of the Muslim 'other' in their self-presentations as specifically Dutch Muslim pilgrims by connecting the meanings they attribute to the pilgrimage to Mecca to universal issues.


The recent success of neural networks in pattern recognition and classification problems suggests that neural networks possess qualities distinct from other more classical classifiers such as SVMs or boosting classifiers. This paper studies the performance of plug-in classifiers based on neural networks in a binary classification setting as measured by their excess risks. Compared to the typical settings imposed in the literature, we consider a more general scenario that resembles actual practice in two respects: first, the function class to be approximated includes the Barron functions as a proper subset, and second, the neural network classifier constructed is the minimizer of a surrogate loss instead of the $0$-$1$ loss so that gradient descent-based numerical optimizations can be easily applied. While the class of functions we consider is quite large that optimal rates cannot be faster than $n^{-\frac{1}{3}}$, it is a regime in which dimension-free rates are possible and approximation power of neural networks can be taken advantage of. In particular, we analyze the estimation and approximation properties of neural networks to obtain a dimension-free, uniform rate of convergence for the excess risk. Finally, we show that the rate obtained is in fact minimax optimal up to a logarithmic factor, and the minimax lower bound shows the effect of the margin assumption in this regime.


Objective We investigated how mental health awareness among North Korean refugees transformed depending on temporal-spatial context changes. Methods In 2013, we conducted interviews with 10 refugees (eight women) who had been in South Korea for over a year and performed a qualitative analysis of the change in mental health awareness in the differences between living in North Korea, escape (a related period of forced sojourn in a third country), and settlement in South Korea. Results We classified 39 concepts into five main categories. The first two categories (while living in North Korea) were "a mindset for the system, but not for individual mental health" and "being confined in a social environment that was indifferent to mental health." A third category appeared during escape: "focusing on survival amid continuity of intense suffering." The final two categories appeared when settling in South Korea: "recognition of mental health amid cultural shock" and "introspection and sorting oneself out." Conclusion This qualitative study enabled a better multi-dimensional understanding of the social and cultural aspects involved in improving mental health awareness among North Korean refugees in South Korea. It is desirable to integrate mental health as a part of daily life and to expand training for North Korean settlers.


Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is more sensitive than conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for the identification of axonal degeneration. However, no study to date has used DTI to evaluate the severity of axonal degeneration in canine spinal cord injury (SCI). Therefore, the aim of this study was to characterize multi-grade axonal degeneration (mild, moderate, and severe) in a canine model of spinal cord compression injury using DTI. MRI data were obtained from 6 normal dogs and 5 dogs with lumbar SCI 78 days after SCI (L1-L3) using a 3 Tesla MRI scanner. For DTI, transverse multi-shot echo planar imaging sequences (b-value = 0; 800 s/mm2; 12 directions) were used. Regions of interest on DTI maps were selected based on areas of normal white matter (NWM) and mild, moderate, and severe axonal degeneration (AxD) on histopathological images. Statistically significant differences were observed between NWM and AxD, and among different severities of AxD. The severity of AxD demonstrated a negative linear correlation with fractional anisotropy and positive linear correlations with spherical index and radial diffusivity; additionally, positive U-shaped correlations were identified between the severity of AxD and mean diffusivity and axial diffusity (AD). These results demonstrate a potential clinical application for DTI in the noninvasive monitoring of histological changes post-SCI. DTI could be utilized for the early diagnosis and assessment of SCI and, ultimately, used to optimize the treatment and rehabilitation of SCI patients.


Foreword. Preface and Overview. Acronyms. Contributors List. 1 Broadband Optical Access Technologies and FTTH Deployment in NTT. 1.1 Introduction. 1.2 History of Optical Technology in Japan. 1.3 Trends in Broadband Services. 1.4 Optical Access Technology Behind Broadband Services. 1.5 Conclusion. References. 2 Today's Broadband Fiber Access Technologies and Deployment.Considerations at SBC. 2.1 Introduction. 2.2 Fiber-to-the-Neighborhood (FTTX) Architecture. 2.3 ITU-T PON Standards. 2.4 PON Technology Background. 2.5 The SBC FTTH Network. 2.6 SBC Fiber to the Node (FTTN) NETWORK. 2.7 The Home Network. 2.8 Motivating the New Network - IPTV. Summary. General References. 3 FTTH: The Swedish Perspective. 3.1 Introduction. 3.2 Contents. 3.3 Definitions. 3.4 Background for the Swedish FTTH Boom. 3.5 The Swedish Broadband Market Today. 3.6 Open Networks Versus Vertical Integration. 3.7 Access Network Technologies. 3.8 Drivers, Services and Trends for the Future Broadband Networks. 3.9 Description of Key Swedish FTTH Players. 3.10 Summary. Acknowledgements. References. 4 Broadband Access Networks and Services in Korea. 4.1 Changing Environments and FITL Plan. 4.2 FLC-A as the First Member of the FITL. 4.3 FLC-C. 4.4 Broadband Access-XDSL. 4.5 Ethernet to the Home and WLAN. 4.6 B-PON (Broadband Passive Optical Networks). 4.7 WDM-PON. 5 Broadband Fiber-to-the-Home Technologies, Strategies, and Deployment Plan in Open Service Provider Networks: Project UTOPIA. 5.1 Introduction. 5.2 Municipal Perspective. 5.3 Operational Model: Open Service Provider NetworkTM. 5.4 Guiding Principles. 5.5 Technology Position: Physical Media. 5.6 Architecture Template: Outside Plant. 5.7 Architecture Template: Standards. 5.8 Architecture Template: Transport Layer Topology. 5.9 Network Technology: Technology and Vendor Selection. 5.10 Network Interfaces. 5.11 Network Operations: Capacity Management. 5.12 Conclusions. References. 6 High-Speed FTTH Technologies in an Open Access Platform - the European MUSE Project. 6.1 Introduction. 6.2 Fiber Access Networks. 6.3 FTTX Technologies. 6.4 Conclusions. References. 7 Residential Broadband PON (B-PON) Systems. 7.1 Introduction. 7.2 Brief History of ATM-Based PONS. 7.3 Triple Play B-PON System Architecture. 7.4 Evolution of Broadband Services. 7.5 FTTP Economics. 7.6 FTTP Deployment Practical Considerations. 7.7 Summary. References. 8 Optical Networks for the Broadband Future. 8.1 Introduction. 8.2 Brief History of Fibre in Access. 8.3 Standard PON Systems. 8.4 Emerging Drivers for FTTH. 8.5 Lower Cost Architectures. 8.6 An End-to-End Vision. 8.7 Summary/Conclusions. 8.A1 Appendix. 8.A1.1 B-PON General Characteristics. 8.A1.2 G-PON General Characteristics. References. 9 An Evolutionary Fibre-to-the-Home Network and System Technologies: Migration from HFC to FTTH Networks. 9.1 Introduction. 9.2 Elements of Compatibility. 9.3 The State of HFC Networks. 9.4 Comparing the Technologies. 9.5 Introduction to the Architectures of HFC and FTTH Networks. 9.6 Elements of Compatibility. 9.7 Video Issues. 9.8 Conclusion. References. 10 FTTH Systems, Strategies, and Deployment Plans in China. 10.1 Current Status of Broadband Access. 10.2 Driving Forces of FTTH 10.3 Latest FTTH Initiatives. 10.4 FTTH Technology Considerations. 10.5 Major FTTH Players and Products. 10.6 Market Barriers. 10.7 Market Opportunities and Deployment Strategies. References. 11 Integrated Broadband Optical Fibre/Wireless LAN Access Networks. 11.1 Introduction. 11.2 Directly Modulated Radio-Over-Fibre Systems. 11.3 Radio-Over-Fibre Systems Deploying Optical Frequency Conversion. 11.4 Optical Frequency Multiplying System. 11.5 Bi-Directional Multiple-Access System. 11.6 Installation Aspects of In-Building Radio-Over-Fibre Systems. 11.7 Dynamically Allocating Radio Capacity. 11.8 Concluding Remarks. Acknowledgement. References. 12 Broadband Optical Access, FTTH, and Home Networks - the Broadband Future. 12.1 Introduction - A Historical Perspective. 12.2 The Broadband Access Technology Options - xDSL Versus Cable Modem, HFC Versus FTTH, PON Versus P2P Ethernet. 12.3 Broadband FTTH Drivers, Triple-Play, Competition and IPTV. 12.4 Broadband Competitions Worldwide: A Few Examples. 12.5 Broadband Competition in Hong Kong. 12.6 Broadband Optical Home Networks: The Potential of Broadband Home Networking or 'Giga-Homes'. 12.7 Research on Technologies for Next Generation Broadband Optical Access: WDM PON Access Networks and Fiber/Wireless Integration. 12.8 The Broadband Future, with IP HDTV/VOD and HD Video Communications. Acknowledgements. References. Index.


High-Level music descriptors are key ingredients for music information retrieval systems. Although there is a long tradition in extracting information from acoustic signals, the field of music information extraction is largely heuristic in nature. We present here a heuristicbased generic approach for extracting automatically high-level music descriptors from acoustic signals. This approach is based on Genetic Programming, used to build relevant features as functions of mathematical and signal processing operators. The search of relevant features is guided by specialized heuristics that embody knowledge about the signal processing functions built by the system. Signal processing patterns are used in order to control the general processing methods. In addition, rewriting rules are introduced to simplify overly complex expressions, and a caching system further reduces the computing cost of each cycle. Finally, the features build by the system are combined into an optimized machine learning descriptor model, and an executable program is generated to compute the model on any audio signal. In this paper, we describe the overall system and compare its results against traditional approaches in musical feature extraction a la Mpeg7.


In this paper, a new Energy-Balanced, Cooperative Routing approach (EBCR) for radio standard spanning mobile Ad Hoc networks (MANETs) will be introduced and evaluated. Past research approaches are limited to the usage in homogeneous topologies on basis of a unique radio standard. The proposed reactive EBCR provides an efficient routing of data in heterogeneous multi-standard network topologies. In addition to an improved reachability, a primary objective is to balance the overall power consumption in each operating node to prolong the lifetime of the whole topology. Instead of using static cost factors for the route path calculation, EBCR integrates a dynamic cost vector for the handling and processing of a data packet. This includes parameters like the required field strength for the data transmission and the node's current energy level to calculate the cooperative, optimal route path. Thereby, EBCR operates only on the basis of local network information. For evaluating the conceptual advantages of this approach, multiple scenarios with static and high-dynamic network topologies have been analysed in a dedicated simulation environment. The simulation results verify the significant improvements in the topology lifetime and the reachability up to 15%.


Current standards for video compression achieve good performances in terms of data compaction and signal-to-noise ratio of the decoded signal. Nevertheless, there are some known problems concerning the visual quality of reconstructed images, which can be partially solved using appropriate post-processing algorithms. The paper proposes a new adaptive anisotropic filter (AAF) that aims to unify the treatment of different sources of perceptive distortion in MPEG sequences. The process is driven by a local classification of blocks and single pixels of decoded frames, taking into account several parameters (distribution of DCT coefficient energy, presence of sharp variations, spatial position of DCT block boundaries). Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms existing enhancement approaches, in particular when constraints on complexity and real-time processing are compelling.


This paper describes the systems developed by the University of Birmingham for the 2019 Spoken CALL Shared Task (ST) challenge. The task is automatic assessment of grammatical and semantic aspects of English spoken by German-speaking Swiss teenagers. Our system has two main components: automatic speech recognition (ASR) and text processing (TP). We use the ASR system that we developed for 2018 ST challenge. This is a DNN-HMM system based on sequence training with the state-level minimal Bayes risk criteria. It achieved word-error-rates (WER) of 8.89% for the ST2 test set and 10.94% for the ST3 test set. This paper focuses on development of the TP component. In particular, we explore machine learning (ML) approaches which preserve different degrees of word order. The ST responses are represented as vectors using Word2Vec and Doc2Vec models and the similarities between ASR transcriptions and reference responses are calculated using Word Mover's Distance (WMD) and Dynamic Programming (DP). A baseline rule-based TP system obtained a D full score of 5.639 and 5.476 for the ST2 and ST3 test set, respectively. The best ML-based TP, consisting of a Word2Vec model trained on the ST data, DP-based similarity calculation and a neural network, achieved D full score of 7.379 and 5.740 for ST2 and ST3 test sets, respectively.


Although ectatic coronary arteries with high thrombus burden, leading to acute coronary events, can be difficult to manage, intracoronary thrombolytics and glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors can act as potential successful treatment options.


This paper describes the line heating experiment performed. Operating instructions are presented to a worker interactively through a monocular video see-through head mounted display (HMD). We are advancing research of interactive work support technology that unskilled person can perform a task that needs advanced skill by presenting the operating instructions through a wearable device. In order to present operating instructions, a monocular video see-through HMD was developed as a human interface. Thereby, operating instructions are superimposed on a work object and a processing point and a tool position posture, etc. are presented. Although this technology is applicable to various applications, here it is applied to the plate bending by line heating. The plate bending by line heating is a task that makes an iron plate transformation into a target shape by heating and cooling. It is well used for ship shell fabrication. In the experiment, a worker performs a line heating task according to the operating instructions presented by monocular video see-through HMD. As a comparison experiment, the torch fixed to the motorized linear slide was moved at fixed speed, and the iron plate was heated. In this paper, the comparison results of these experiments are reported.


Juvenile hypertension is a new field of study, and a definitive approach to diagnosis and treatment has not yet been developed. This article outlines the approach at the hypertension clinic of Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, where experience has confirmed the value of routine blood pressure measurement from an early age. Early identification and treatment may reverse target organ damage in youngsters with moderately severe or severe hypertension and may prevent sustained hypertension in those with borderline pressure elevations.


Abstract. 2D image matching problem is often stated as an image-to-shape or shape-to-shape matching problem. Such shape-based matching techniques should provide the matching of scene image fragments registered in various lighting, weather and season conditions or in different spectral bands. Most popular shape-to-shape matching technique is based on mutual information approach. Another wellknown approach is a morphological image-to-shape matching proposed by Pytiev. In this paper we propose the new image-to-shape matching technique based on heat kernels and diffusion maps. The corresponding Diffusion Morphology is proposed as a new generalization of Pytiev morphological scheme. The fast implementation of morphological diffusion filtering is described. Experimental comparison of new and aforementioned shape-based matching techniques is reported applying to the TV and IR image matching problem.


SIGNIFICANCE
Alzheimer disease (AD) is an age-related neurodegenerative disease. AD is characterized by progressive cognitive impairment. One of the main histopathological hallmarks of AD brain is the presence of senile plaques (SPs) and another is elevated oxidative stress. The main component of SPs is amyloid beta-peptide (Aβ) that is derived from the proteolytic cleavage of amyloid precursor protein.

RECENT ADVANCES
Recent studies are consistent with the notion that methionine present at 35 position of Aβ is critical to Aβ-induced oxidative stress and neurotoxicity. Further, we also discuss the signatures of oxidatively modified brain proteins, identified using redox proteomics approaches, during the progression of AD.

CRITICAL ISSUES
The exact relationships of the specifically oxidatively modified proteins in AD pathogenesis require additional investigation.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS
Further studies are needed to address whether the therapies directed toward brain oxidative stress and oxidatively modified key brain proteins might help delay or prevent the progression of AD.


Inconsistencies between remotely sensed (thermal infrared), in situ, and modeled values of soil water content are examined. First, an important hydraulic parameter in a soil water profile model is varied by one standard deviation to simulate a reasonable degree of spatial variability within a given soil texture class. This results in a large range of drying rates at the soil surface and the formation of a sharp vertical soil water gradient at the surface. The formation of this gradient is dependent upon the soil properties. Thermal infrared remote sensing, which detects soil moisture at the soil surface, is then discussed in this context. Because of the "decoupling" of the soil water profile, we conclude that soil moisture derived from surface radiant temperatures is probably not useful in knowing the column‐average soil water content but may provide some insight into the spatial variations in soil texture and hydraulic properties at the surface.


Background: The National Health Insurance Scheme was established under Act 35 of 1999 by the Federal Government of Nigeria and is aimed at providing easy access to health care for all Nigerians at an affordable cost through various prepayment systems. It is totally committed to achieving universal coverage and access to adequate and affordable health care aimed at improving the health status of Nigerians. Assessment of the programme after four years of operation, revealed less than three percent coverage of the Nigerian population. Therefore this study aimed at determining the level of its participation among nurses in a teaching hospital. Methodology : This was a descriptive cross sectional, facility-based study involving four hundred nurses selected using multistage sampling technique. Structured, self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data that was analysed using Epi info version 3.5.1 statistical software. Results : Majority: 268 (67%) of the respondents had good knowledge of the scheme, reflected by all of them acknowledging to having heard of the scheme with 312 (78%) actively participating in the scheme. One hundred and eighty eight (37.8%) of them had been participating for a duration of 0-2 years. A larger proportion; 216 (54%) respondents were not satisfied with the scheme with 80 (37.0%) of them noting that the process was cumbersome. There were statistically significant associations between sex (p<0.0001), cadre (p<0.0001) and participation in the scheme. Conclusion: Though all the nurses had heard about the scheme, with a greater percentage having a good knowledge of what it entails, there were negative findings regarding practice in terms of payments made and the cumbersome nature of the scheme by respondents. There is therefore a need to address these observed gaps so as to improve acceptability and accessibility of the scheme among them. Keywords: Participation, National Health Insurance Scheme, Nurses,Tertiary Teaching Hospital, North central Nigeria.


We have developed an in vivo 3H-d-LSD-binding method in the rat brain to measure the 3H-d-LSD concentration in specific brain regions and nuclei. In the cortex, d-LSD binding sites increase from the occipital to the frontal part without a change in their affinity. Compared to the hippocampus, striatum, cortex and raphe nuclei, the substantia nigra contains a d-LSD binding site of lower affinity.


Describes an approach for automatic detection and extraction of spherical virus particle projection images from electron cryomicroscopy images. High resolution virus structural studies require combination of thousands of low contrast projection images to generate the resulting three-dimensional reconstruction. Thus, effective and efficient automatic methods are needed for the detection of the numerous low contrast particles. The authors' detection approach combines a Fuzzy C-Mean classification preprocessing step to identify and correct spatial image variation with multiresolution image decomposition to increase image contrast. Following preprocessing, particles are detected using template matching.


P2Y12 inhibitor discontinuation is essential before most surgical interventions to limit bleeding complications. Based on pharmacodynamic data, fixed discontinuation durations have been recommended. However, as platelet function recovery is highly variable among patients, a more individualized approach based on platelet function testing (PFT) has been proposed. The aim of this retrospective single-centre study was to determine whether PFT using whole blood adenosine diphosphate–multiple electrode aggregometry (ADP–MEA) was associated with a safe reduction of preoperative waiting time. Preoperative ADP–MEA was performed for 29 patients on P2Y12 inhibitors. Among those, 17 patients underwent a coronary artery bypass graft. Twenty one were operated with an ADP–MEA ≥ 19 U (quantification of the area under the aggregation curve), and the waiting time was shorter by 1.6 days (median 1.8 days, IQR 0.5–2.9), by comparison with the current recommendations (five days for clopidogrel and ticagrelor, seven days for prasugrel). Platelet function recovery was indeed highly variable among individuals. With the 19 U threshold, high residual platelet inhibition was associated with perioperative platelet transfusion. These results suggest that preoperative PFT with ADP–MEA could help reduce waiting time before urgent surgery for patients on P2Y12 inhibitors.


The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic revealed a myriad of postinfectious severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequelae, many of which remain poorly understood. We describe a rare presentation of a patient developing 2 simultaneous COVID-19 sequelae: transverse myelitis and acquired von Willebrand syndrome (AVWS). There have been numerous published case reports of patients developing transverse myelitis after a diagnosis of COVID-19. However, none have described AVWS as an observed complication from SARS-CoV-2 infection. To our knowledge, this case report is the first to describe AVWS as a result of COVID-19 infection, suggesting that patients with a prior diagnosis of COVID-19 are susceptible to developing this rare bleeding disorder.


This work is focused on the design optimization of electrical machines that are used in small-scale direct-drive aerogenerators. A ducted wind turbine, equipped with a diffuser, is considered due to its enhanced power capability with respect to bare turbines. An annular type Permanent Magnet brushless generator is integrated in the turbine structure: the stator coils are placed in the internal part of the diffuser, whereas the permanent magnets are on an external ring connected to the turbine blade tips. Moreover, as regards the stator windings, the Printed Circuit Board (PCB) technology is investigated in order to exploit its advantages with respect to conventional wire coils, such as the increased current density capacity, the reduction of costs, and the enhanced precision and repeatability of the PCBs. An original design procedure is presented together with some scalability rules. An automated tool has been developed in order to aid the electrical machine designer in the first design stages: the tool performs multi-objective optimizations (using the Matlab Genetic Algorithm Toolbox), coupled to fast Finite Element analysis (through the open-source software FEMM) for the evaluation of the electromagnetic torque and field distribution. The proposed procedure is applied to the design of an annular PM generator directly coupled to a small-scale turbine for an urban application.


Clustering of molecules on biological membranes is a widely observed phenomenon. A key example is the clustering of the oncoprotein Ras, which is known to be important for signal transduction in mammalian cells. Yet, the mechanism by which Ras clusters form and are maintained remains unclear. Recently, it has been discovered that activated Ras promotes further Ras activation. Here we show using particle-based simulation that this positive feedback is sufficient to produce persistent clusters of active Ras molecules at the nanometer scale via a dynamic nucleation mechanism. Furthermore, we find that our cluster statistics are consistent with experimental observations of the Ras system. Interestingly, we show that our model does not support a Turing regime of macroscopic reaction-diffusion patterning, and therefore that the clustering we observe is a purely stochastic effect, arising from the coupling of positive feedback with the discrete nature of individual molecules. These results underscore the importance of stochastic and dynamic properties of reaction diffusion systems for biological behavior.


The galvanostatic polarization method was used to determine the pitting potentials of candidate wrought aluminum alloys in inhibited ethylene glycol engine coolants. It was shown that the relative value of the pitting potential is an excellent measure of the long-term effectiveness of the coolants in preventing spontaneous pitting and crevice attack in the aluminum heat exchangers. The long-term effectiveness was determined by metallographic examination of aluminum heat exchangers subjected to a four-month, 50,000 mile simulated service circulation test.


A commutative diagram that connects the basic objects of commutative algebra with the main objects of commutative analysis is constructed. Namely, with the help of five types of canonical embeddings we constructed a diagram between two sets of objects: Abelian semigroups — Abelian regular (cancellative) semigroups — Abelian groups, on the first hand, and convex cones — regular convex cones — linear spaces, on the other hand. Thus, some extension of the Grothendieck algebraic K-theory arises, that includes the basic objects not only of linear (smooth) analysis but of sublinear (nonsmooth) analysis also.


This study of the administration of real estate property taxation was made to point out the inequalities and to suggest improvements to modernize the tax system. Methods and Procedures Employed: All real estate property sales for the year 1959 in the three counties were obtained and examined. The General Statutes of Kansas were also read and examined in regard to assessment and taxation. The writer also obtained interviews with the personnel in all three counties, and also information from the state Property Valuation Department of Topeka, Kansas. Records of the real estate valuations in each of the separate counties were read and examined. Summary and Findings: Much of the real property that is being assessed is undervalued. There are not only inequalities between the counties but also between the townships. Rural property is being assessed at a higher percentage in two counties than is urban property. It is recommended that new state laws be passed so as to set a standard of value below true value and have all counties assess at this one level. It is also recommended that the deputy assessor be done away with thus, having one full-time assessor for the entire tax district. This full-time assessor should be appointed and meet certain qualifications with regard to training and experience. A competitive examination should be given to all who hold this office.


The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a revolutionary new means of amplifying, ie, replicating, selected DNA sequences in vitro. This procedure is rapid, requiring approximately 5 hours for completion, and exquisitely sensitive. Studies have shown that as few as one microorganism can be detected. Thus, it has the potential for revolutionizing the diagnosis of infections. Because of its expense, its immediate role will probably be restricted to infections where the causative organism cannot be cultured or is difficult to detect by conventional means. As further progress occurs, however, this technique may well become a major new tool for diagnosing infections.


DFT calculations are used to address the mechanism of Ni-catalyzed esterification of aryl and alkyl amides. The insight of the tailor-made catalysts in the chemo-selectivity is addressed in this work. The reaction steps for esterification of aryl and alkyl amides catalyzed by both Ni(SIPr)2 and Ni(terpyridine)2 include: oxidative addition, metathesis, and reductive elimination processes. Ni(SIPr)2 can catalyze the esterification of aryl amides rather than Ni(terpyridine)2 due to high reaction barrier in oxidative addition process, while Ni(terpyridine)2 can catalyze the esterification of alkyl amides rather than Ni(SIPr)2 due to high reaction barrier in metathesis process. It is found that the charge distribution on Ni is different in these two complexes. An amino-substituted terpyridine Ni complex is designed to catalyze both aryl and alkyl amides through low transition-state energies because of the electron-donating ability of three amino substitutes. The results reveal that the chemo-selectivity is mainly controlled by the electron-donating ability of ligands.


We sought to determine whether the motor dysfunctions and neuroleptic sensitivity that can occur in patients with AIDS relates to a deficit of striatal dopamine innervation similar to that of Parkinson's disease. For this purpose we measured concentrations of dopamine and its major metabolite homovanillic acid (HVA) in caudate nucleus tissue taken post-mortem from patients with AIDS and from appropriate age-matched control subjects. Dopamine and HVA concentrations were both significantly reduced in the AIDS group, with 20 of 34 patients exhibiting dopamine concentrations below the control range. This finding is consistent with a loss of nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurones, and may underlie the motor dysfunction and neuroleptic sensitivity that can occur in AIDS patients, indicating the potential value of antiparkinsonian therapy in such patients.


Microorganisms degrade food components in order to access nutrient available in such food and in return produce organic compounds from the breakdown of the food components. These organic compounds hold potential to be exploited as biomarkers to detect the presence of such microorganisms. This study was conducted to evaluate fungi associated with volatile organic compounds production in spoilt onion cultivars. A total of 54 onion bulbs which include 45 healthy and 9 spoilt onion bulbs belonging to three cultivars were used for this study. All laboratory investigations were carried out by standard methods. Four fungal genera were identified and these include Aspergillus , Fusarium , Mucor and Candida . The GC-MS analysis revealed the presence of twenty six (26) volatile compounds in spoilt white onion bulb, (9) in yellowish-brown and (8) in the purple variety, respectively. White onion bulb had the following dominant compound; nonane (11.97%), decane (11.96%), octane (9.3%) of which ten was unknown. The compounds sulphurous acid, 2-ethylhexylisohexyl ester (18.60%), phenol 2,6-bis(1,1-dimethylethyl)-4-methyl (7.90%) were dominant in yellowish-brown cultivar including five (5) unknown, while the predominant compounds in the spoilt purple onion variety were, phthalic acid, di-(1-hexen-5-yl)ester (69.64%) and phenol-2,6-bis (1,1-dimethylethyl)-4-methyl, of which five were unknown. This study suggests that these unique volatile organic compounds could provide the bedrock for restraining postharvest losses and the volatile organic compounds could also form baseline knowledge for discriminating diseases associated with onion.