Countries have seen since ancient times the emergence of leaders in various forms (political and religious) that directly affected the process of their renaissance, Every leader has worked to inspire his followers to work according to his national vision, through which he aspires to change the political status quo. This is accomplished by laying the foundations of social security through which he can chart the general policy of the country smoothly. The process of providing security for members of society is reflected in the political process proceeding directly, through the citizens' sense of responsibility towards their homeland, and their sense that participation in the political process is a national duty that must be done.


In diploid random mating populations with constant viability selection, genetic modifiers of recombination, introduced near equilibria that exhibit genetic association, invade if they reduce recombination. In this study we combine ecological and standard populations genetics in a haploid multilocus model that includes density-dependent regulation of population size and weak density-dependent differential selection among the multilocus genotypes. An allele that affects recombination among the genes contributing to the ecological selection, introduced near a stable equilibrium of the ecological-genetic system, invades if it reduces a weighted average of the recombination rates among pairs of loci under selection. This generalizes the Reduction Principle for the evolution of recombination (M. W. Feldman and U. Liberman, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 83, 4824-4827, 1986; L. A. Zhivotovsky, W. M. Feldman, and F. B. Christiansen, Theor. Popul. Biol. 44, 225-245, 1993). It is also shown that the stronger the extent of density-dependence, the weaker the selection for reduced recombination.


This dissertation is devoted to the study of long-time asymptotics for solutions of the Toda lattice and its Hamiltonian perturbations.
First, we present the results of an analytical and numerical study of the long-time behavior for certain Fermi-Pasta-Ulam lattices viewed as perturbations of the completely integrable Toda lattice. Our main tools are the direct and inverse scattering transforms for doubly-infinite Jacobi matrices, which are well-known to linearize the Toda flow. We focus in particular on the evolution of the associated scattering data under the perturbed dynamics in comparison to the evolution under the Toda dynamics.
Second, we solve the initial value problem for the completely integrable Toda lattice equations numerically by implementing the inverse scattering transform. Our method is based on the nonlinear steepest descent techniques for the Riemann-Hilbert formulation of the inverse scattering transform for Jacobi matrices; and it captures the solutions accurately for arbitrary spatial and temporal parameters without using time-stepping methods. As part of this effort, we introduce contour deformations for the collisionless shock region by constructing the so-called g-function.


We present the results of numerically solving the rate equations for the first 31 rotational states of CS in the ground vibrational state to determine the conditions under which the J = 1 − 0, J = 2 − 1, and J = 3 − 2 transitions are inverted to produce maser emission. The essence of our results is that the CS( (cid:2) = 0) masers are collisionally pumped and that, depending on the spectral energy distribution, dust emission can suppress the masers. Apart from the J = 1 − 0 and J = 2 − 1 masers, the calculations also show that the J = 3 − 2 transition can be inverted to produce maser emission. It is found that beaming is necessary to explain the observed brightness temperatures of the recently discovered CS masers in W51 e2e. The model calculations suggest that a CS abundance of a few times 10 − 5 and CS( (cid:2) = 0) column densities of the order of 10 16 cm − 2 are required for these masers. The rarity of the CS masers in high-mass star-forming regions might be the result of a required high CS abundance as well as due to attenuation of the maser emission inside as well as outside of the hot core.


Direct CO2 conversion from flue gas into high-value products is of great significance not only in relieving environmental burden but alleviating the energy crisis by a low-cost and energy-saving avenue, yet few studies in this aspect have been reported. Herein, we report metal-node-dependent catalytic performance for solar-energy-powered CO2 reduction to formate in simulated flue gas by bimetallic Ni/Mg-MOF-74. The yield of HCOO− with Ni0.75Mg0.25-MOF-74 as a catalyst in pure CO2 is 0.64 mmol h−1 gMOF−1 which is higher than that of Ni-MOF-74 (0.29 mmol h−1 gMOF−1) and Ni0.87Mg0.13-MOF-74 (0.54 mmol h−1 gMOF−1), whereas monometallic Mg-MOF-74 is almost inactive, indicating that reactivity relies on metal nodes. In simulated flue gas without water vapor at 20 °C, ∼80% of the reactivity in pure CO2 is retained, with HCOO− generation reaching 0.52 mmol h−1 gMOF−1. This activity is comparable to that of the best MOF catalysts in pure CO2, demonstrating that Ni/Mg-MOF-74 not only overcomes the limitation from CO2 concentration, but also has good resistance to other gas components in flue gas at 20 °C. DFT calculations reveal the high output for HCOO− from two crucial factors: strong CO2 binding affinity of Mg sites, and the synergistic effect of Mg and Ni leading to the stabilization of the key *OCOH intermediate with an appropriate energy barrier. This work paves a new route for double-metal MOFs to enhance the CO2 photoreduction reactivity in flue gas.


Published reports about polyps of larynx at the ventricular bands are extremely rare. The first symptom of this case presents recurrent hemoptysis. The video laryngoscope demonstrated that a smooth-faced and hyperemic polypoid lesion was found in the anterior part of the right false vocal cord, close to laryngeal surface of epiglottis. Postoperative pathological report revealed that the mass was a vascular polyp.


This research report intends to investigate the potential of pre-fabricated timber frame construction to help satisfy these improvements and provide more energy efficient housing for the future. In an attempt to evaluate public and industry opinions of timber frame, primary research has been collected in the form of two surveys. Analysis of said research had concluded that the historically poor public perceptions of pre-fabricated timber frame are beginning to change as the advantages are growingly being recognised. Likewise the construction industry are showing positive support of timber frame construction methods, and this technique looks set to grow with an increasing government demand for higher energy efficiency and ultimately zero carbon homes.


Automobile (car) windshield glass fragments serve as important forensic evidentiary materials and their chemical characterization mainly at minor and trace concentration levels is a key step in forensic investigations. For such glass analysis as well as for forensics, direct solid sample analysis by suitable analytical technique(s) is very important. In view of this, instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) using high flux neutrons from research reactor was utilized for chemical characterization of car windshield glass samples. Energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (ED-XRF) and direct current arc carrier distillation atomic emission spectroscopy (DC Arc AES) methods were also utilized for the analysis of all glass samples for evaluating their analytical capabilities with respect to INAA. A comparative evaluation was carried out with respect to accuracy, precision, and detection limits under quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC). The methods were validated by analyzing certified reference materials (CRMs) G-2 and RGM-1 from USGS and NIST standard reference material (SRM) of sodalime glass (SRM 610). Concentrations of seventeen elements (Na, Ca, Sc, Cr, Fe, Co, Zn, Rb, Zr, Ba, La, Hf, Ce, Eu, Yb, Sm, and Th) were determined in all analyzed glass samples by INAA at major, minor, and trace concentration levels, indicating its capability for potential applications to forensic studies. Grouping study of these automobile glasses was carried out utilizing concentrations of transition elements and rare earth elements (REEs) in conjunction with statistical cluster analysis. In addition, it has been highlighted that some of the transition elements as well as REEs are important markers/discriminating elements for same brand automobile glasses obtained from two different sources/origins.


As Congress considers introducing a drug benefit for Medicare, it will more than likely adopt a program that uses a formulary. We examined data from the Community Tracking Study Physicians Survey, a large, nationally representative study of physicians, to learn about physicians' views of formularies. Our results suggest that several aspects of formularies are associated with physicians' positive views about them. Policymakers should consider imposing limits on the number of competing Medicare formularies operating in a particular area, promoting the adoption and use of information technology, and incorporating financial incentives for physicians to adhere to formularies.


This work demonstrates the feasibility of binary liquid crystal (LC) alignments, in which two forms of LC alignment are in a single pixel or a specific area using a surface-treated alignment layer and a photoalignment film of the adsorption of azo dyes onto the polymer surface in azo dye-doped liquid crystals. Binary LC alignments that involve two of common LC alignments, which are homogeneous, homeotropic, hybrid, and twisted nematic alignments, are initially demonstrated. Then, a binary LC alignment that comprises hybrid and homeotropic alignments is adopted to fabricate a viewing-angle-dependent liquid crystal display, which displays two images by changing viewing angles.


This study examined the effect of physical exercise on the life satisfaction among college students. On the basis of the Basic Psychological Need Theory, the mediating roles of competence and relatedness needs satisfaction and their differences among college students in physical education (PE) majors and non-PE majors were explored. The sample included 1,012 college students who were selected to participate in an online survey. Major findings were as follows: (1) The total effect of physical exercise commitment on college students' life satisfaction was marginally significant while that of physical exercise adherence was not significant; (2) The effect of physical exercise commitment was observed exclusively through the mediating role of relatedness need satisfaction, while that of physical exercise adherence was through both competence and relatedness needs satisfaction; (3) In terms of differences caused by major, only one mediation path, that was, physical exercise → competence need satisfaction → college students's life satisfaction was significant among PE majors. This study thus enriched the empirical research on the benefits of physical exercise to individual mental health, highlighted the particularity of college students majoring in PE, and provided targeted and sensible suggestions for the design of physical exercise intervention programs.


This study aims to determine the value of coconut flour at PT. Tropica Cocoprima. This research has been conducted at PT. Tropica Cocoprima and actors in its supply chain located at Jalan Trans Sulawesi Lelema Village Tumpaan Subdistrict of South Minahasa Regency. The type of data used is primary data and secondary data. Sources of data were obtained through interviews using questionnaires containing questions related to this study. The sampling method is Purvosive Sampling and the sample is PT. Tropica Cocoprima as focal firm and suppliers of raw materials as many as 5 suppliers as well as coconut farmers as much as 2 farmers taken from each supplier. The method of analysis used in this research is value chain analysis with cost and margin approach. Based on the research results can be concluded that the value chain of coconut flour at PT. Tropica Cocoprima There are several actors involved in the process of value creation. The actors involved are coconut farmers and suppliers who bring raw materials to PT. Tropica Cocoprima. The actors involved in the value chain of coconut flour each earn a margin that corresponds to the effort that has been done. Coconut flour value chain at PT. Tropica Cocoprima from one, two and three actors experienced value increase is Rp.195.000.000. Margin received by PT. Tropica Cocoprima amounting to Rp.12.277.822 then the supplier obtained a margin of Rp.6,675,000 and the farmer earned a margin of Rp.100.102.700.


Caring the current profits and "political football" are the main reasons for the bogging of Chinese football. What's more, the Chinese Football Association is short of cultivation for football men and has the idea of power first which cause Chinese football from bad to worse. If we want to develop Chinese football and make it play its own role in China's economy, it is necessary to change the current ideas such as the strategy of Olympic Games and assess ourselves actually. For Chinese Football Association, changing duties, creating healthy development environments and cultivating Chinese football culture are indispensable for the healthy development of Chinese football.


The Runx (runt‐related) family of transcription factors are important regulators of cell fate decisions in early embryonic development, and in differentiation of tissues including blood, neurons, and bone. During skeletal development in mammals, while only Runx2 is essential for osteoblast differentiation, all family members seem to be involved in chondrogenesis. Runx2 and Runx3 control chondrocyte maturation. Both Runx1 and Runx2 are expressed early in mesenchymal condensations, but how they contribute to the initial stages of chondrocyte differentiation is unclear. Here we show that a hierarchy of Runx transcriptional regulation promotes the early program of chondrocyte differentiation from pre‐cartilage mesenchyme in the zebrafish head skeleton. We have previously characterized the zebrafish orthologs for all Runx genes. Zebrafish runx2 is duplicated, but not runx1 or runx3. In the work presented here, we determined the early expression pattern of the runx genes in the craniofacial region. The earliest expression detected was that of runx3 in the pharyngeal endoderm, then runx2a and b in mesenchymal condensations, and later runx1 in the epithelium. Using antisense morpholino knockdown analysis, we examined their respective activities in early chondrogenesis. Depletion of runx2b (but not runx2a) and runx3 severely compromised craniofacial cartilage formation. Because runx2b expression was abolished in Runx3 morphants, we propose that endodermal Runx3 has a role in influencing signaling activities from the endoderm to promote chondrocyte differentiation. We also show that, in contrast to data from mouse studies, zebrafish Runx1 is not required in the initial steps of chondrogenesis leading to endochondral bone formation. Developmental Dynamics 235:3166–3176, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


The authors report on a large-scale study examining the effects of self-reported psychosocial factors on 1st-year college outcomes. Using a sample of 14,464 students from 48 institutions, the authors constructed hierarchical regression models to measure the predictive validity of the Student Readiness Inventory, a measure of psychosocial factors. Controlling for institutional effects and traditional predictors, the authors tested the effects of motivational and skill, social, and self-management measures on academic performance and retention. Academic Discipline was incrementally predictive of academic performance (grade-point average) and retention. Social Activity and Emotional Control also helped predict academic performance and retention, whereas Commitment to College and Social Connection offered incremental prediction of retention. This study elaborates recent meta-analytic findings (S. Robbins et al., 2004), demonstrating the salience of a subset of motivational, social, and self-management factors. Future research questions include how measures of psychosocial factors can be used to aid students, the salience of these measures over the entire college experience and for predicting job performance, and the need for testing theoretical models for explaining postsecondary educational outcomes incorporating traditional, motivational, self-management, and social engagement factors.


Neurons die during the development of nervous systems. The death of specific, identified motoneurons during metamorphosis of the tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta, provides an accessible model system in which to study the regulation of postembryonic neuronal death. Hormones and descending neural inputs have been shown to influence the survival of abdominal motoneurons during the first few days of adult life in this insect. Motoneurons prevented from undergoing the normal process of developmental degeneration by removal of neural inputs were examined at the physiological and structural levels using several cell imaging techniques. Although these neurons lost their muscle targets and experienced the endocrine cue that normally triggers death, they showed no overt electrophysiological or morphological signs of degeneration. Thus, by appropriate intervention, the MN-12 motoneuron can be spared from developmental neuronal death and remain as a functioning supernumerary element in the mature nervous system.


"The Apportionment of Human Diversity" (1972) is the most highly cited research article published by geneticist Richard Lewontin in his career. This study's primary result—that most genetic diversity in humans can be accounted for by within-population differences, not between-population differences—along with Lewontin's outspoken, politically-charged interpretations thereof, has become foundational to the scientific and cultural discourse pertaining to human genetic variation. The article has an unusual bibliometric trajectory in that it is much more salient in the bibliographic record today compared to the first 20 years after its publication. Here, we show how the paper's fame was shaped by four factors: 1) citations in influential publications across several disciplines; 2) Lewontin's own popular books and media appearances; 3) the renaissance of population genetics research of the early 1990s; and 4) the serendipitous collision of scientific progress, influential books/papers, and heated controversies in the year 1994. We conclude with an analysis of Twitter data to characterize the communities and conversations that continue to keep this study at the epicenter of discussions about race and genetics, prompting new challenges for scientists who have inherited Lewontin's legacy.


Camping use and soil deterioration were monitored on 12 campsites in northern Michigan during their third and fourth camping seasons. Sites were on previously undisturbed Gogebic fine sandy loam (Typic Fragiorthod), under mature northern forest cover. Percentage of litter cover, soil macropore space and depth to A2 horizon decreased, and soil bulk density increased with time during both use seasons. Deterioration increased greatly on all campsites with intensity of use. Except for depth to A2 horizon, measured parameters recovered partially over winter, but recovery was less than deterioration during the previous summer.


To contribute to the sparse information on dimensional variations of umbilical cords in Ghana, 124 placentae with attached umbilical cords were studied. The placentae were obtained from the University of Science and Technology Hospital between 2000 and 2002. Average cord length was 47.04cm (SD 12.8cm) with the shortest cord being 5.5cm and the longest 75.50cm. By empirical definition, 21.56% of the cords were Short whereas, 78.44% were long. Most of the umbilical cords (63%) had empirically eccentric attachments to their placentae; 20.48% had central and 16.52% had marginal attachments respectively. Occurrence of furcate insertion of umbilical cord vessels into the placenta was 28% and non-furcate insertion was 72%. These quantitative data provide baseline values for further investigation. Keywords : umbilical cords, morphology, length, attachments, looping, insertion Journal of Science and Technology Vol. 28 (2) 2008: pp. 1-9


Microsomes prepared from the livers of 4-week-old rats were, after extraction with 0.1 M potassium phosphate buffer, pH 7.4, unable to catalyse either the delta6 desaturation of alpha-linolenic acid (9c.12c.15c., 18 : 3) into 6c.9c.12c.15c., 18 : 4 or the delta5 desaturation of eicosatrienoic acid (8c.11c.14c., 20 : 3) into arachidonic acid (5c.8c.11c.14c., 20 : 4). Both these enzymes only showed full activity after incubation of the microsomes with either the 100 000 X g supernatant fraction or with purified bovine catalase. Bovine serum albumin, while capable of restoring 50% of the delta5 desaturase activity has no effect on the delta6 desaturase. In contrast the delta9 desaturase activity of microsomes was never completely lost after extraction with buffer but could be stimulated by optimum concentrations of both bovine serum albumin and catalase. The significance of the different responses of the three desaturases to the cytoplasmic components is discussed.


The fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) method for estimating regional cerebral glucose metabolic rate (LCMRglc) requires that a fixed relationship (the "lumped constant") exists between net FDG and glucose (GLC) extraction throughout the brain. In addition to the relative rate of metabolism between FDG and GLC, this assumed constant is affected by the relative rate of blood-to-brain FDG transport compared to that of glucose. However, little data is available regarding the regional stability of the FDG versus GLC transport-rate relationship. We therefore used high resolution, quantitative dual-tracer digital autoradiography to directly compare the blood-to-brain transport rate constants (K1) of radiolabeled GLC and FDG in normal and pharmacologically-stimulated rats. The rats were given 45 sec terminal intravenous infusions of a mixture of 18F-FDG and 14C-GLC. Autoradiograms of the brain representing the FDG and GLC tracer concentrations were produced, digitized, and converted into digital images of K1. We found that the global K1 values of FDG and GLC were not significantly different from each other. However, detailed analysis revealed that some structures in the normal animals, such as the hippocampus and cerebellum, had different quantitative patterns of FDG transport compared to GLC transport. Thus, our results indicate that the relationship between GLC and FDG transport is not uniform throughout the brain as has previously been assumed. This observation suggests that regional variations in the type and distribution of glucose transporters may exist and that the fluorodeoxyglucose "lumped constant" may vary somewhat among different brain regions.


This chapter explores the place of language teaching methods within ELT education programmes. It asks what, if anything, a focus on methods brings to ELTE, and how methods might be explored in practice on teacher education programmes and courses, if, as is claimed, methods are 'dead' and ELT has entered a 'Postmethod' era.

The discussion first outlines 'traditional' understandings of 'method' and methods, and the substantial criticisms of these conceptualisations that have emerged since the early 1990s. It subsequently examines how thinking about language teacher education has developed in similar ways over the same period, with a move away from top-down prescriptions for practice to an appreciation of the importance of teachers' own contextually-based reflections and understandings for their professional development. The chapter then draws on a range of ELT educators' own perspectives to examine why and how language teaching methods are (still) focused upon in ELTE, given these moves towards complexity and diversity in the field. It finds that methods retain a place within ELTE programmes as they are seen to provide a prompt for teachers to attend to and reflect upon the links between practice and theory. Consequently, a focus on methods acts as a springboard for more general reflection about language teaching and learning. Central to this perspective, however, is the key acknowledgement of the importance of teachers' own contextually-informed understandings, beliefs and sense of plausibility in implementing or adapting methodological ideas and shaping their classroom practices.


The development of the Coupled Colorado State Model (CCoSM) is ultimately motivated by the need to predict and study climate change. All components of CCoSM innovatively blend unique design ideas and advanced computational techniques. The atmospheric model combines a geodesic horizontal grid with a quasi-Lagrangian vertical coordinate to improve the quality of simulations, particularly that of moisture and cloud distributions. Here we briefly describe the dynamical core, physical parameterizations and computational aspects of the atmospheric model, and present our preliminary numerical results. We also briefly discuss the rational behind our design choices and selection of computational techniques.


The aim of this article is to propose a methodology to help anyone tostart the development of their own parapsychic abilities, in a lucid, homeostatic way, focusing on retrieving the ideas from the paraphenomena. Themethodology was developed from self-experiments and techniques performed by the author. There are also literature references for those techniquesto help the reader understand how some of them were developed. From theresults, it seems that the techniques described in this article can be used byanyone, regardless of previous parapsychic experience, or environment variables, working for either healthy or harsh locations. The study case presented shows how these techniques can be applied inside the daily activities of the self-researcher.


corrective applied. This is in stark contrast to the facts of AIDS that are being disseminated with such vigour by government health authorities. I am appalled when I see an advertisement in a national newspaper by a prominent traditional healer claiming that he can cure AIDS, knowing that he will happily extract from the concerned family as much remuneration as possible. In our counselling sessions with our AIDS patients we try always to include a warning against the false claims of such traditional healers, who have made a lucrative profession out of preying on these vulnerable people. Those of us who believethat truth is important and deception is wrong would find it impossible to join hands with village practitioners who behave in this way. The Churches Medical Association of Zambia are responsible for most of the health care in the rural areas of the country. When the Ministry of Health asked the Association to consider taking the traditional doctors into their health care system there was almost total resistance to the proposal. We felt that, as yet, too many traditional healers work within a system that is irreconcilable with our own. Each month we see enough examples of the traditional healers' work to keep this fact fresh in our minds. I am afraid I found quite unconvincing the author's claim that the traditional health workers are legitimate 'change agents' and that their 'traditional (placebo) treatment has many advantages'. This may be true in some areas, but it is not true everywhere. To develop a collaboration with traditional healers requires a realistic appraisal of the beliefs and motives of practitioners in your own locality. J R FOULKES PO Box 120092 Kasempa, Zambia


This study was done on a population of 877 mothers over a five month period. Interviews were held on the first day after delivery and on the day of discharge. Mothers were questioned on their infant feeding practice and on the influences which led them to their choice of feed types. Follow up studies were done in subsequent months on randomly selected populations of breast feeders (103) and bottle feeders (170) to determine duration of breast feeding after discharge from hospital; the factors contributing to cessation of breast feeding; the measure of satisfaction with the brand initially chosen and the factors which caused mothers to change from one brand to another. The salient finding is that 36% breast feed initially and that up to 10% of the total are still doing so five months later. The other findings are discussed and their significance stated.


Two experiments investigated memory bias for panic-related material in 40 patients with panic disorder and 40 healthy control subjects. No memory bias was found on a memory task that tested intentional encoding and explicit recall of panic-related versus non-panic-related sentences. In contrast, a significant memory bias was apparent on a memory task requiring classification of panic-related and non-panic-related words to test conceptual information processing in implicit memory. Panic patients learned panic-related material better than controls.


The end-state comfort effect (ESC) has been reliably observed in numerous studies conducted under vastly different conditions (e.g. Rosenbaum & Jorgenson, 1992; Hughes & Franz, 2008; Cohen & Rosenbaum, 2011). Explanations for the effect typically involve easing precision demands (e.g., Short & Cauraugh, 1996) or maximizing movement stability, control and speed (e.g., Rosenbaum, Heughten & Caldwell, 1996). However, all of these studies have confounded the "end-state" of the movement with the "goal-state" in that the locus of the task goal typically coincides with the terminal action requirement of the task. If the proposed explanations for ESC are correct, it would be expected that adoption of the most comfortable and/or stable posture would occur at any point throughout the movement wherever the most precision, control and stability is required. To test this hypothesis, we created a task in which the movement's goal-state and end-state were distinct. Participants were required to pick up and then squeeze a bottle in order to activate a laser to be aimed at either circular targets (discrete task) or through two sine waves (continuous task). Three different normalized force requirements and three indices of difficulty presented in the middle of the movement were tested. We hypothesized that participants would demonstrate typical ESC grip selection at easier indices of difficulty and lower force conditions, but adopt GSC grip selection at higher indices and force conditions. Results suggest strong support for GSC, as opposed to ESC, as participants (n = 14) selected a comfortable grip posture during the aiming of the bottle 96.0% of the time even though this required participants to select uncomfortable grips when both initiating and ending the movement. Surprisingly, GSC grip selection was observed to occur independently of accuracy and force requirements. Results are discussed in the context of hierarchical models of motor control. Acknowledgments: National Sciences and Engineering Research Council (U.S.R.A.)


Abstract Anacardium occidentale leaves are used in folk medicine due its therapeutic properties attributed to phenolic compounds. Therefore, this study was undertaken on its hydroethanolic leaf extract (AoHE) to evaluate cytotoxicity and apoptosis induction on acute lymphoblastic leukaemia cells. Results indicated that AoHE interfered in the cell cycle progression, inducing apoptosis by activation of casp3 at lower concentrations, thence, a promising candidate for the development of new cancer drugs.


Writing as the recognizable modern idea of the state was being framed, Hugo Grotius (1583-1645), Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) and Samuel Pufendorf (1632-1694) each took distinctive approaches to the problems of whether and how there could be any legal or moral norms between these states in their emerging forms. They differed in their views of obligation in the state of nature (where ex hypothesi there was no state), in the extent to which they regarded these sovereign states as analogous to individuals in the state of nature, and in the effects they attributed to commerce as a driver of sociability and of norm-structured interactions not dependent on an overarching state. This paper explores the differences between their views on these issues, differences which contributed to the development of the thought of later writers such as Emer de Vattel (1714-1767), David Hume (1711-1776), and Adam Smith (1723-1790), and eventually in more attenuated ways to the different empirical legal methodologies of Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) and Georg Friedrich von Martens (1756-1821).


Objective— We investigated the hypothesis that HDL (high-density lipoprotein) dysfunction in Scarb1−/− mice negatively affects cardiac function both in the absence and in the presence of pressure overload. Second, we evaluated whether normalization of HDL metabolism in Scarb1−/− mice by hepatocyte-specific SR-BI (scavenger receptor class B, type I) expression after E1E3E4-deleted adenoviral AdSR-BI (E1E3E4-deleted adenoviral vector expressing SR-BI protein in hepatocytes) transfer abrogates the effects of total body SR-BI deficiency on cardiac structure and function. Approach and Results— Transverse aortic constriction (TAC) or sham operation was performed at the age of 14 weeks, 2 weeks after saline injection or after gene transfer with AdSR-BI or with the control vector Adnull. Mortality rate in Scarb1−/− TAC mice was significantly increased compared with wild-type TAC mice during 8 weeks of follow-up (hazard ratio, 2.02; 95% CI, 1.14–3.61). Hepatocyte-specific SR-BI gene transfer performed 2 weeks before induction of pressure overload by TAC potently reduced mortality in Scarb1−/− mice (hazard ratio, 0.329; 95% CI, 0.180–0.600). Hepatocyte-specific SR-BI expression abrogated increased cardiac hypertrophy and lung congestion and counteracted increased myocardial apoptosis and interstitial and perivascular fibrosis in Scarb1−/− TAC mice. Scarb1−/− sham mice were, notwithstanding the absence of detectable structural heart disease, characterized by systolic and diastolic dysfunction and hypotension, which were completely counteracted by AdSR-BI transfer. Furthermore, AdSR-BI transfer abrogated increased end-diastolic pressure and diastolic dysfunction in Scarb1−/− TAC mice. Increased oxidative stress and reduced antioxidant defense systems in Scarb1−/− mice were rescued by AdSR-BI transfer. Conclusions— The detrimental effects of SR-BI deficiency on cardiac structure and function are nullified by hepatocyte-specific SR-BI transfer, which restores HDL metabolism.


Fan-out Wafer Level Packaging (FOWLP) is one of the latest packaging trends in microelectronics. The technology offers not only solutions for single chip packaging but also approaches for 3D system integration or RF suitable packaging. Mold embedding for this technology is currently done on wafer level up to 12"/300 mm size. For higher productivity and therewith lower costs larger mold embedding form factors are forecasted for the near future. Besides increasing wafer sizes up to 450 mm an alternative option would be moving to panel sizes leading to Fan-out Panel Level Packaging (FOPLP). Sizes for the panel could range up to 18"×24" or even larger. Increasing the embedding size does not only mean an upscaling of the existing technologies but may lead to a change from using wafer processing infrastructure to the ones used for panels. This is especially true when moving from round wafer sizes to larger rectangular panel formats. Here also new materials and processes have to be taken into account. Materials for reconfigured mold embedding as well as dielectric materials for electrical wiring redistribution are key factors for reliable packaging and proven functionality as required e.g. for RF packaging. For reconfigured mold embedding, compression mold processes are used in combination with liquid, granular or sheet compound. Within this paper the evaluation of panel level compression molding with a target form factor of 24"×18"/610×457 mm2 is described for different materials. As basis for the redistribution on top of the mold embedded wafer typically a liquid photo-patternable dielectric polymer material is used and applied by spin coating. For large panel sizes photo-patternable materials are still of interest, these will most likely be used as dry films. These are expected to have advantages concerning processing and cost compared to liquid dielectric materials. Hence, a dry film dielectric material has been selected and evaluated for Fan-out Wafer/Panel Level Packaging. The main criterion for the selection of the thin film polymers is the curing temperature due to the fact that the final polymerization has to be done after the deposition on the molded wafer. Standard PIs and PBOs can therefore not be used because temperatures above 250 °C would damage the molding material. BCB-type materials are below this temperature limit, with cure temperatures as low as 200°C, making them ideal candidates for FOWLP. In addition the electrical properties are paving the way to RF applications. However, regarding the RF performance the inhomogeneous material mix of the package can be a critical issue, because of complex wave propagation phenomena. In order to obtain a proper design an assessment of the RF properties is therefore essential. For material and process evaluation a test vehicle has been designed with focus on material and process evaluation as well as reliability testing. In addition test structures for basic RF characterization have been designed and integrated. The test structures comprise interconnect elements such as transmission lines (TML) and vias to assess the electrical performance of FOWLP packaged ICs. Single ended coplanar and differential ended transmission lines embedded into the BCB-based dry film dielectric are connected by vias with a specifically designed silicon IC. The design was done using 3D full-wave simulations. An analysis of the RF characteristics shows low insertion loss and good return loss characteristics up to frequencies of 40 GHz. In summary this paper describes material and process trends for Fan-out packaging when moving from wafer sizes to large panel formats.


A combined approach for discrete-time fuzzy model identification is proposed. By this approach, the identification is performed in two stages. First, the linguistic approach is utilized to obtain an approximate fuzzy relation from the sampled nonfuzzy input-output data. This approximate fuzzy relation is then used as the initial estimate for the second stage in which a more accurate fuzzy relation is determined by the approach of numerical resolution of fuzzy relational equation. A recursive identification algorithm based on the prediction-error method is derived for optimally resolving the numerical fuzzy relational equation by minimizing a quadratic performance index. This algorithm makes the proposed approach particularly attractive to online applications. Two numerical examples are provided to show the superiority of the combined approach over other methods. >


International organizations (IOs) have become increasingly pervasive features of the global landscape. While the implications of this development have been studied extensively, relatively little research has examined the factors that prompt states to enter IOs. We argue that democratization is an especially potent impetus to IO membership. Democratizing countries are likely to enter IOs because leaders have difficulty credibly committing to sustain liberal reforms and the consolidation of democracy. Chief executives often have an incentive to solidify their position during democratic transitions by rolling back political liberalization. Entering an IO can help leaders in transitional states credibly commit to carry out democratic reforms, especially if the organization is composed primarily of democratic members. Tests of this hypothesis, based on a new data set of IOs covering the period from 1965 to 2000, confirm that democratization spurs states to join IOs.Earlier versions of this article were presented at the 2004 annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Chicago; the 2004 annual convention of the International Studies Association, Montreal; and seminars at the State University of New York at Albany and Yale University. For helpful comments and suggestions, we are grateful to participants in these seminars and to Marc Busch, Benjamin Fordham, Yoram Haftel, Lisa Martin, Timothy McKeown, Helen Milner, Ronald Mitchell, Andrew Moravcsik, B. Peter Rosendorff, Bruce Russett, and two anonymous referees.


A prospective, multi-centre study was carried out in 572 patients undergoing colorectal surgery to investigate the effectiveness of a standardized antibiotic regimen as prophylaxis against post-operative infectious problems. Surgical departments used a single intravenous dose of 400 mg doxycycline plus 1600 mg tinidazole given 1-hour pre-operatively or at induction of anaesthesia. Patients were evaluated clinically 3, 7 and 15 days after surgery. Analysis of the results showed that 18 (3.1%) developed surgical infectious complications. Only 3 (0.5%) of the 21 patients who died during the hospital stay or observation period did so because of septic complications. No serious side-effects were seen. Overall compliance rate with the regimen was 96.9%. There were no signs of declining antibiotic efficacy in hospitals which had been using this regimen for up to 10 years.


The Requirement of information security on topology network has become more important. Cryptography is a method to provide information confidentiality, authenticity and integrity. There are so many challenges to implement a public key cryptography algorithm such as execution time, time consuming, time cost, integrated methods, memory Requirement in public key cryptography. In parallel computation to solve the formal algorithm in parallel by partitioning method can scale over different number of cores given .A parallel computation can be stable perform analysis of public key cryptography using concurrent java core communication such as available time, request time, allowance time . In this paper, public key cryptography algorithm can be implemented a parallel RSA with threads and to improve the performance of the algorithm by execution time. Various public key cryptography algorithms can be implemented using execution time.


Oligo(thienylfuran)s with thiophene rings at both ends (SOSOSOS, DE-SOSOS, DH-SOSOS, DE-SOSOSOS, and DH-SOSOSOS; S and O denote thiophene and furan rings, respectively, DE and DH denote diethyl- and dihexyl-substituted, respectively) were newly synthesized by repetitive Stille coupling reactions. The UV/Vis maximum absorptions of the oligomers, SO, SOSO, SOSOS, SOSOSO, and SOSOSOS, exhibited a clear bathochromic shift with increasing number of heterocycles. The value of the oxidation peak potential (E(pa)1) determined by cyclic voltammetry decreased with an increase in the number of heterocycles by 0.06-0.08 V per heterocycle. The crystal-packing structures of DE-SOSOS and DH-SOSOS determined by X-ray crystallography have a herringbone motif and are denser than the reported structures of pentacene and alpha-sexithiophene. The morphologies of thin films prepared by vacuum deposition and spin coating were investigated by atomic force microscopy and X-ray diffraction. Among these films, those of DE-SOSOS and DH-SOSOS exhibited highly ordered arrangements. The devices based on vacuum-deposited and spin-coated films of DE-SOSOS and DH-SOSOS displayed the highest FET mobilities of 10(-2)-10(-3) cm2 V(-1) s(-1) among the oligomers reported in this study.


Sosemanuk is word oriented synchronous stream cipher capable to produce 32 bit ciphertext. It uses variable key from 128 bit to 256 bit and publically known Initialization Vector (IV) of 128 bit. Sosemanuk is one of the finalists in Profile 1 of the eSTREAM Portfolio. This cipher targets to avoid structural properties of SNOW2.0 to improve its efficiency by reducing the internal state size. It also uses reduced round Serpent24 block cipher to provide secure and efficient key loading process. This paper presents compact architecture for Sosemanuk stream cipher. The proposed architecture uses compact S-box architecture and compact modulo adders designed using CLA. The proposed compact S-box minimizes resources utilized without affecting performance. Proposed modulo adder architecture minimizes resources used as compared to conventional CLA implementation. The algorithm was designed by using VHDL language with CAD tool Xilinx ISE design suite 13.2 and implemented on Xilinx Virtex XC5VFX100E FPGA device. The proposed architecture achieved throughput of 4.281 Gbps at clock frequency of 133.788 MHz


The design, fabrication and characteristics of a 1.5 to 2.8 GHz tunable ring oscillator with two quadrature outputs are described. Tuning range is 1.3 GHz or 60.5% bandwidth. The phase difference between the two outputs is proved to be 90/spl deg/. The oscillator phase noise is -81.27 dBc/Hz at 100 kHz offset from the carrier at 2.736 GHz.


In a hospital‐based case‐control study of common malignant epithelial tumors of the ovary, conducted in Athens (1989‐1991), 189 cases were compared with 200 hospital visitor controls. Personal interviews were conducted in all cases and diet was ascertained through a semi‐quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Nutrient intakes for individuals were estimated by multiplying the nutrient content of a typical portion size for each specified food item by the frequency at which the food was consumed per month and summing these estimates for all food items. Data were analyzed using logistic regression, controlling for non‐dietary confounding factors, total energy intake and, among nutrients, mutual confounding influences. Adjusted odds ratios (rate ratios) for ovarian cancer, associated with particular nutritional variables, were expressed in terms of increments approximately equal to the standard deviations of (the residual of) the respective nutrients, on a daily basis. The adjusted odds ratios (and 95% confidence intervals) were 0.80 (0.65–0.99) for mono‐unsaturated fat and 0.73 (0.61 – 0.87) for crude fiber. No substantial, statistically significant or consistent independent associations were noted for total energy, total protein, saturated fat, polyunsaturated fat, dietary cholesterol, total carbohydrates, sucrose, vitamin C, vitamin A, riboflavin or calcium. These associations, if causal, could explain to some extent the relatively low incidence of ovarian cancer in Greece and other Mediterranean countries as well as the increasing incidence trends noted in these countries during the last few decades.


Heart rate is an important physiological indicator of the human body. It can evaluate the activity of the heart and the degree of fatigue. It can be further used to assess emotions by monitoring heart-rate changes and voice recording or breathing. Single-lead or multilead equipment is often used to monitor electrocardiogram (ECG) in medical treatment. However, it brings inconvenience to daily life to record the heart rate from a free-living natural environment. Due to the subject's voluntary or involuntary movement, it is difficult to collect ideal photoplethysmography (PPG) signal by using wearable device (WD) as it is continually interfered by the motion artifacts (MAs). These MAs seriously affect the calculation and online monitoring of the heart rate. This article proposes a WD with real-time online fusion learning for heart PPG tracking. In particular, it proposes a recursive least-squares algorithm to fuse three-axis acceleration signals to remove MAs from PPG signals. In order to further determine the heart-rate frequency range and select the appropriate spectrum peak, a decision tree spectrum interval estimation method is proposed to provide prior information for PPG signal spectrum tracking, so as to optimize the spectrum peak estimation. The performance of the proposed device, which is an integrated Internet of Things with wearable platform, has been shown to be robust to natural and unpredictable situations. The experimental results have confirmed that the proposed method can adaptively track the PPG signal with high accuracy.


The goal of this work is to reconstruct highly undersampled frames from dynamic Non-Cartesian acquisitions using deep learning. In this setting, supervised data is difficult to obtain due to organ motion necessitating self-supervision. The challenge is that acquisitions are often so data-starved that self-supervised reconstructions that use only spatial correlations fail to recover fine details. Here, we leverage correlations across time frames, and show that even when data is misaligned, it is possible to reconstruct highly accelerated frames using self-supervised methods. We demonstrate the feasibility of this technique by reconstructing end-inspiratory phase images from respiratory binned Pulmonary UTE acquisitions.


This paper discusses as study of mentoring and its relationship to nursing academics' scholarly productivity. A hermeneutic phenomenological approach was used to explore participants' experiences of mentoring and scholarship. Although all participants were well aware of the need to increase levels of scholarship, few had experienced the role modelling, guidance and leadership to assist them in meeting the expectations of the tertiary environment. While quality mentoring was viewed as a productive facilitator to improving levels of scholarly productivity, a supportive work environment with strong academic leadership was also considered an essential element in developing scholarship. Mentoring alone was considered unlikely to ameliorate any institutional issues, but rather, comprised one of a number of strategies. The picture that emerged from the study illustrates a discipline in transition in which a culture of mentoring is not well established, one that requires change not only within the discipline, but within tertiary institutions.


Author(s): BAMISHIGBIN, TOLU ABIMBOLA | Advisor(s): Franke, Megan L | Abstract: Within the past few years, the topic of school boundaries (district boundaries and school attendance boundaries) has become more and more prevalent in both public and scholarly discourses around education inequality. While a number of education scholars have examined the role school boundaries play in education inequality, many of these scholars have focused primarily on geospatial and/or quantitative analyses of school districts or school district data. Guided by a theoretical framework that combines Critical Race Theory, social constructionism (meaning-making), and minority culture of mobility, this case study uses a qualitative approach to understand how middle-class, African American parents socially construct school boundaries. Hence, this study focuses on parents' perceptions of school boundaries, how these perceptions shape their decision to cross school boundaries, and how their decision to cross school boundaries can either disrupt or reproduce school boundaries. I conducted 23 in-depth interviews with 24 parents and key informants from one socioeconomically diverse, predominantly African American community in an urban school district located in California. Major findings revealed that while most parent-participants believed that race and racial bias play a significant role in how school boundaries are drawn and enforced, they personally were not deterred by school boundaries. However, in their quest for what they perceived to be better schools, parents' perceptions of and decisions to cross school boundaries contributed to the reproduction of school boundaries, leading to the further isolation of already marginalized students in disadvantaged schools. Findings also exposed both intra- and inter-racial divisions regarding school choice, suggesting that middle-class and/or upwardly mobile, African American parents use boundary-crossing as a tool to assert their class identity and distinguish themselves from less advantaged African American families. Policy implications are explored.


Firefighters are frequently exposed to highly stressful, potentially traumatic events (PTEs). More than 50%, however, show no significant elevation in trauma-related symptomatology (e.g., depression). In the past, self-compassion has been discussed to promote psychological and behavioral flexibility that is vital to a successful adaptation to PTEs. The goal of this study was to understand whether and how self-compassion may alleviate personal suffering in the face of PTEs. We hypothesized that individuals who encounter their profession-related affective experiences with greater self-compassion, show lower levels of depressive symptoms because self-compassion buffers processes that perpetuate negative affectivity in response to PTEs (i.e., self-critical tendencies). Male firefighters (N = 123) completed self-report questionnaires about the severity of current depressive symptoms; prior traumatic, duty-related events; and the self-compassion scale that assesses two distinct factors: self-criticism and self-compassion. A stepwise regression model was employed to examine differential and interactive contributions of self-criticism and self-compassion to symptoms of depression across the cumulative range of exposure to PTEs. Our results indicate that the positive association between self-criticism and depression is buffered by enhanced levels of self-compassion. This moderation, however, only emerged for firefighters with substantial amounts of PTEs experience in the past. The present work provides insight into protective effects of self-compassion in the face of cumulative PTEs. It suggests that, particularly for severely trauma-exposed firefighters, self-compassion may confer resilience, that is, act as a protective factor from the development of depressive symptoms. Findings are discussed in light of counseling implications.


Ten years of systematic treatment of pressure sores in a general psychiatric hospital (1983-1992) are reported on. Most of the patients were aged 65 years or older. The prevalence of pressure sores among them varied between 1.4 and 3.8%, whilst among younger patients the prevalence varied between 0 and 0.8%. Over the reported ten years the seriousness of the wounds decreased and prognoses improved. The percentage of healed patients increased from 56 in 1983 to round about 80 in the last few years. Over the years the number of patients with new pressure sores showed a varying course.


Lake sediments constitute natural archives of past environmental changes. Historically, research has focused mainly on generating regional climate records, but records of human impacts caused by land use and exploitation of freshwater resources are now attracting scientific and management interests. Long-term environmental records are useful to establish ecosystem reference conditions, enabling comparisons with current environments and potentially allowing future trajectories to be more tightly constrained. Here we review the timing and onset of human disturbance in and around inland water ecosystems as revealed through sedimentary archives from around the world. Palaeolimnology provides access to a wealth of information reflecting early human activities and their corresponding aquatic ecological shifts. First human impacts on aquatic systems and their watersheds are highly variable in time and space. Landscape disturbance often constitutes the first anthropogenic signal in palaeolimnological records. While the effects of humans at the landscape level are relatively easily demonstrated, the earliest signals of human-induced changes in the structure and functioning of aquatic ecosystems need very careful investigation using multiple proxies. Additional studies will improve our understanding of linkages between human settlements, their exploitation of land and water resources, and the downstream effects on continental waters.


Prediction of building performance is inherently a multi-domain problem. This is particularly true of many modern buildings where the aim is to provide energy efficient operation and high levels of comfort (thermal, visual, acoustic) and indoor air quality. Such buildings may employ sophisticated environmental control systems, and/or energy efficient design features such as natural daylighting, natural ventilation and building-integrated renewables. The ESP-r system allows the analysis of coupled, inter-domain processes, e.g, detailed air flow and dynamic building temperature variation. The program has the capability to model, in an integrated manner, the following domains to variable levels of resolution: thermal, lighting, ventilation (network air flow and CFD), moisture, HVAC, electrical power flow (including renewable energy sources). All of these domains can be subjected to user-defined control action. The modeller can select, based on the particular design, which domains to include in the analysis. This paper discusses the importance of multi-domain modelling and illustrates this with an example of an application where it is important to model interactions between different domains: the detailed modelling of an HVAC system, coupled with the building it serves. The model highlighted is one developed in support of HOT3000 developments at Natural Resources, Canada (NRCan).


The internal hydraulics of the multiport diffuser section in long sea outfalls has been studied by laboratory experiments and numerical modelling. The study has run for five years as a coordinated effort at both the University of Liverpool and the University of Aalborg. The investigations have covered such phenomena as saline intrusion, wave influence and unsteady flow caused by pump operation. Results show that numerous flow regimes exist depending on the boundary conditions. Numerical models have been developed to simulate the flow field in the diffuser section and some of the most interesting phenomena, in particular the wave induced saline intrusion, can now be modelled satisfactorily. Some aspects of the behaviour relating to very low fresh water discharges, e.g. unsteady flow when saline wedges are present, are still not very well described.


The passion fruit demands water for its growth and production. Water management is relevant in regions characterized by low rainfall indices, such as semi-arid regions. In this direction, the use of hydrogel in the soil allows the water that is supplied through irrigation to be better utilized by the plants, reducing leach losses. The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the influence of hydrogel in soil cultivated with passion fruit and irrigated to various water depths on the thermal time of the phenological stages, phyllochron and plastochron of the plants. Treatments were distributed in randomized blocks in a 2 × 5 factorial arrangement, referring to the soil without and with hydrogel and raising the irrigation depth from 60% to 70%, 80%, 90% and 100% of crop evapotranspiration in four replications. The thermal requirements of the phenological phases and of the whole plant cycle, phyllochron of the main stem and the productive branches, and plastochron were evaluated. Increasing the irrigation depth from 60% to 100% reduced the total thermal time values from 3,811.8 to 2,401.3 °C day and from 3,707.8 to 2,628.7 °C day in the soil without and with hydrogel, respectively. The thermal time of the phenological phases and the phyllochron of the main stem and productive branches of the passion fruit were stimulated by an increase in irrigation depth.


ABSTRACT By virtue of their licenses, local television stations in the United States must serve in the public interest of their communities. Because many stations' ownership is by corporate conglomerates, however, that public interest is often considered secondary to revenue maximization. Labor is exploited to meet this goal, with technology deployed in newsrooms to consolidate job descriptions, replace human labor with computers, and add sales-ready content platforms, while drawing as much surplus value from workers as possible. This study sought out newsroom employees, including rarely-studied behind the scenes personnel, in the 25 largest metropolitan areas of the country to find out how this utilization of technology affected their journalistic work routines and output. Their responses via online surveys and semi-structured interviews highlight the challenges of juggling ever-increasing tech-enabled job responsibilities while still providing quality reports for their audiences in a corporate ownership environment focused on profits.


Over a 6-year-period (January 1, 1985 to December 31, 1990) 86 women with cancer of genital organs were detected in the region of Baranya. According to the census of the year 1981, 27416 women have lived in Baranya, and in the above mentioned period 23533 examinations were done at the Women Welfare Clinic of the Health Centre Beli Manastir. In the period from 1985 to 1989, the average frequency of cervical cancer was 63.1%, uterine corpus cancer followed with 19.7%, ovarian and tubal with 13.1%, vulvar with 2.6% and vaginal with 1.3%. In the period from January 1 to December 31, 1990, cervical cancer accounted for 45.4% of all cancer cases, corpus cancer for 27.2%, ovarian and tubal cancer for 18.1%, without detection of any vulvar or vaginal cancer cases. In the observed period mean annual incidence of genital cancer was 52.9 per 100,000. According to organ sites mean annual incidence of cervical cancer was 32.1, corpus cancer 10.9, ovarian and tubal cancer 7.3, vulvar 1.2 and vaginal cancer 0.7 per 100,000. During the six year period cervical cancer incidence was reduced from 43.8 in 1985 to 18.2 per 100,000 in 1990. Corpus cancer incidence in 1985 was 14.6 as compared to 10.9 in 1990. Ovarian and tubal cancer incidence in 1985 and 1990 was 10.9 and 7.3, respectively. In the observed period preinvasive lesions of genital organs were discovered in 208 women, 201 (96.6%) of whom had cervical lesions--mean incidence here is 122.2 per 100,000. The overall proportion of preinvasive to invasive cervical lesions in the observed period was 79.1% to 20.9%.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


The world's fishery resources are becoming depleted threatening some commercial species with extinction. The Magnuson-Stevens Conservation and Management Act has been controversial with fishermen because of disagreements over stock assessments of fish. Fishermen argue that some fish stocks are still plentiful and that the fishing regulations are too inflexible. Through interviews and surveys I assess the perceptions of stock assessments of fishermen in North Carolina and compare their Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) with the Scientific Ecological Knowledge (SEK) of biologists. The knowledge gained from this study could help resolve this conflict between fishermen and biologists.


The development of the nematode Procamallanus (Spirocamallanus) neocaballeroi (Caballero-Deloya, 1977), an intestinal parasite of the characid fish, Astyanax fasciatus (Cuvier) in Mexico, was studied in the experimental copepod intermediate host, Mesocyclops sp. After the copepod's ingestion of free first-stage larvae of the nematode, these penetrate into the haemocoel of the intermediate host; they moult twice (on the 3rd and 4-5th day p.i. at 21-22 degrees C) before they attain the third, infective stage. The third-stage larva already possesses the large buccal capsule subdivided into an anterior broad portion with eight spiral thickenings (as observed in lateral view) and a narrow posterior portion, and its tail tip bears three conical processes. The definitive host acquires infection by feeding on infected copepods; in the intestine of this fish, the nematode larvae undergo two more moults (on the 10th and 14-15th day p.i. at 25-32 degrees C) before attaining their maturity. The prepatent period is approximately two months.


The windows and doors structures and their performance characteristics prescribed by European directives and determined by the new product standards play an important role in the energy balance of buildings. Between the performance features we find the air tightness of windows, which limit value required by a certain usage must be assured in the moment of installation. This research intends to investigate the influence of structural elements on windows and doors performance. The present article describes the role and effect of the sealings on windows air tightness. A series of laboratory experiments were performed examining the influence of primary and secondary weather-strips as well as the effect of the sealing's weathering on elasticity. By removing the primary weather-strip the air tightness declined significantly at each pressure level. Opposite to this the secondary weather-strip elimination doesn't affected considerably the air tightness at certain pressure levels. The impact of primary sealing weathering varied among the examined window types.


Allylic C-H cyclopropanation of α-methylstyrene and its derivatives was realized through a one-pot two-step sequence, formally converting two aliphatic C-H bonds to C-C bonds with a good yield and high diastereoselectivity, thus providing a quick entry to the synthetically useful vinyl cyclopropane structures.


In 2004, Ralph Lemon presented "Come home Charley Patton," the last of his three-part project entitled The Geography Trilogy. The performance marked the end of a ten-year research journey for Lemon during which he struggled to define his relationship tocontemporary modes of dance. Lemon's entire "Come home Charley Patton" project is an attempt to mourn and access the remains of a legacy of racialized violence. His travels throughout the South highlight the absence and complicated nature of memorializingefforts in regard to events associated with racialized violence. However, his project also exposes the difficulties in developing a sense of relation to this past as he navigates between collective and personal memories. The structural and thematic arrangement ofthe performance reflects Lemon's efforts to negotiate the limits of representing a history of loss associated with racialized violence. In positioning the body as key in accessing the past, he employs the buck dance as the conceptual and physical framework to ask if andshow how embodied memory can transcend the spatial and temporal boundaries enforced by the stage. By examining Lemon's own efforts to find an affective and aesthetic language as he maps loss across a number of sites, I read these interactions through atheoretical framework of mourning and melancholia to show that Lemon's research provides him with a social and aesthetic understanding of loss that he then uses to construct the movements on the stage.


Aortic root pathology has been described in patients with Tetralogy of Fallot, although the most common reason for repeat surgery in the adult after TOF repair relates to problems in the right ventricular outflow tract, the aortic root is often forgotten. Objective: We sought to determine those patients with known Fallot tetrallogy at risk for progressive dilatation of the thoracic aorta and explore the common predictors present in this patient group. Methods and Results: A multicenter observational study which enrolled 100 patients (50 surgically repaired and 50 before surgical repair of TOF) with standardized reassessment of echocardiographic parameters and multislice CT angiography of the heart and great vessels data. The data were reviewed and analyzed according to the demographic, morphological, surgical and clinical details. We used standard nomograms and Z score for aortic root dimensions at the level of aortic annulus, sino-tubular junction and sinus of Valsalva based on body surface area. For surgically repaired patients, all the measured diameters across aortic annulus, STJ & sinus of Valsalva were larger in the dilated unrepaired group with mean & median of 24.63 (3.99) & 25 (15 - 35), 27.2 (4.26) & 27 (17 - 40), 35.97 (4.59) & 36 (24 - 45) mm respectively compared to a mean & median of 13.2 (2.62) & 13 (9 - 17), 14.53 (2.90) & 14 (10 - 19), 20.53 (3.40) & 21 (14 - 25) mm respectively in the not dilated unrepaired group with significant statistical difference (p value < 0.0001). Also Z score among unrepaired dilated TOF patients was larger in comparison to the non dilated unrepaired group with significant statistical difference (p value < 0.0001). For unrepaired patients, all the measured diameters across aortic annulus, STJ & sinus of Valsalva were larger in the dilated unrepaired group with mean & median of 24.63 (3.99) & 25 (15 - 35), 27.2 (4.26) & 27 (17 - 40), 35.97 (4.59) & 36 (24 - 45) mm respectively compared to a mean & median of 13.2 (2.62) & 13 (9 - 17), 14.53 (2.90) & 14 (10 - 19), 20.53 (3.40) & 21 (14 - 25) mm respectively in the not dilated unrepaired group with significant statistical difference (p value < 0.0001). Also Z score among unrepaired dilated TOF patients at the level of annulus, STJ & sinus of Valsalva was larger in comparison to the non dilated unrepaired group with significant statistical difference (p value < 0.0001). Conclusions: The first important finding of this study is the occurrence of significant aortic root dilatation in 22% of patients after intra-cardiac repair of TOF. Older age at repair, long shunt to repair interval and residual ventricular septal defect are the most common variables associated with aortopathy and aortic regurgitation in such group of patients. The second important finding is the occurrence of aortic root dilatation in 70% of patients before surgical repair of TOF; whereas male sex and TOF with pulmonary atresia appeared to be the most common variables associated with aortopathy and aortic regurgitation in this group of patients.


Production systems-in France are variable with many localised and adapted breeds, spread among small flocks lambing at different times of the year. In these ways, specialised selection schemes of varying importance and complexity including those designed for improvement of milk production and for out-of-season breeding have been developed. Selection objectives for dairy production concentrate upon milk production with recent attention to total solids content. For meat sheep, lamb production per ewe is important for competitive efficiency. Number of lambs and maternal contribution to lamb survival and lamb growth during suckling are important for the suckling breeds in the South and the improved breeds in easier conditions in the North, the latter also receiving emphasis on later lamb growth and carcass quality. Selection programmes are highly organised nationally under the data-processing control of INRA and the national coordination of ITOVlC. Twenty Breed Promotion Committees (UPRA's), 77 Professional Advisory Organisations (EDE's) and I I Data Processing Associations (CRIS) are involved with a well-structured relationship among them. Selection schemes use different tools to give emphasis to dissemination of genetic merit in addition to ranking animals for breeding worth. The National Recording Scheme provides the common essential ingredient for all schemes. Animal information embraces natural oestrus or induced oestrus, litter size and live weight of lambs. Maternal pedigree is always recorded at birth while paternal pedigree is known if single-sire natural mating or Al is used. Electronic development is being introduced to assist automated collection of live weights and early provision of on-farm flock summaries. AI is used to assist genetic improvement over about 200 000 ewes, mainly dairy breeds. It allows superior ewes to remain on farms-it is estimated that in this way AI can increase genetic progress by up to 30%. AI also avoids the need for centralised progeny testing and assists the gene dissemination from superior rams. Nucleus flocks are promoted as centres of gene dissemination only for scarce breeds and for those with very small flock size. Rearing of rams in a central location gives breeding schemes greater control over gene dissemination and organisation ofelite matings,especially through AI. Considerableemphasisisgiven to thisaspect ofthe French breeding programme to ensure effective gene flow for production of the next generation of sires. Central testing stations are also used, mainly to evaluate young meat breed rams which are the progeny of elite matings forgrowthand carcass merit ina standard environment and asa baseline for liveanimal performance assessment. Not all the schemes use the same tools in the same way. Breeder commitment and cooperation is nevertheless an important ingredient of the effectiveness in each case.


Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is the most common adult onset motor neuron (MN) disorder, characterised by muscle wasting due to MN death. Astrocytes play an important role in disease progression in the SOD1G93A transgenic mouse model and patients of ALS. Although astrocytes display a selective toxicity to MN, the toxic factor(s) have not been identified. We hypothesise that differential gene expression in SOD1-ALS astrocytes will reveal targets for therapeutic intervention. Microarray analysis was performed upon Laser Capture Microdissected astrocytes isolated from spinal cord of symptomatic (90 day) and late-stage (120 day) SOD1G93A mice and non-transgenic (NTg) littermates, and from post-mortem human SOD1-ALS and control spinal cord. Functional studies were performed using enzymatic activity assays and immunohistochemistry upon spinal cord and in vitro validation studies were performed using murine neonatal cultures of astrocytes, microglia and embryonic MNs and "i-astrocytes" directly converted from human ALS fibroblasts. In murine astrocytes annotation clustering analysis showed increased expression of lysosomal transcripts which were validated by qPCR . Using functional experiments, we have found significantly higher activity of the lysosomal enzyme β hexosamindase in the spinal cord of SOD1G93A mice. Immune response and phagocytic pathways are also enriched within both datasets, and phagocytosis assays using fluorescently labelled NSC34 cell debris show that SOD1G93A astrocytes engulf significantly higher amounts of neuronal debris compared to NTg controls, highlighting an increased reactivity of astrocytes at symptom onset. Human SOD1-astrocytes show down-regulation of transcripts involved in tight junction formation such as ZO-2, Claudin-5 and Occludin, and we hypothesise that ALS-astrocytes contribute to the breakdown in blood-brain-barrier (BBB) integrity seen in ALS. qPCR confirmed differential expression of BBB-influencing genes such as claudin-5, junctional adhesion molecule 2 and transforming growth factor beta-2. Model BBBs made with i-astrocytes from human patients co-cultured with endothelia show significantly lower transendothelial electrical resistance and dextran-permeability values pointing to an astrocyte role in increased BBB permeability during disease. These studies show the breadth of behaviours displayed by astrocytes during ALS disease progression and will provide an important guide for future therapeutic intervention.


Abstract : Military satellite communications (milsatcom) systems require precise timekeeping in order to take advantage of spread-spectrum communication techniques. Though the level of precise timekeeping in milsatcom is typically not as stringent as that in satellite navigation, milsatcom nevertheless poses its own unique timekeeping problems. Specifically, milsatcom timekeeping must be robust, with the ability to autonomously detect and correct timekeeping problems during protracted periods when the ground control station is either not available or burdened with other pressing tasks. Here, we consider the ability of three different space-segment timekeeping subsystems to autonomously detect the failure of a single satellite clock and to then take appropriate action to remedy the situation. These systems include a Master/Slave system, an Ensembling system, and a Kalman-Filter system. Employing Monte Carlo simulation, we consider four types of 'soft' clock failure: a time-jump failure, a frequency-jump failure, a failure arising from a sudden change in the clock's frequency aging rate, and a failure arising from an abrupt increase in the clock's random-walk frequency noise. Our results demonstrate that the performance of the three space-segment timekeeping subsystems can be enhanced by adding general 'clock failure rules' to the basic algorithms that are associated with each system. Once in place, these rules provide for robust, autonomous space-segment timekeeping,even in the presence of satellite clock failures.


The need for a reliable and efficient way of storing and mining data about people living with HIV/AIDs with the intent to monitor the health status for effective therapy is on the increase. Thispaper presents a model of a web-based system for knowledge warehousing and mining ofdiagnosis and therapy of HIV/AIDs using Fuzzy Logicand data mining approach. A model was developed, using the predictive modeling technique, for predicting HIV/AIDs and monitoring of patient health status. The fuzzy inference rule and a decision support system based on cognitive filtering was employed to determine the possible course of action to be taken. A case study of some data of PLWH was usedand the result obtained shows that the developed system is efficient. The system uses XAMPon Windows OS platform. The system was tested and evaluated with satisfactory results.


This thesis is a critical feminist analysis of the discourse of the Swedish populist radical right party the Sweden Democrats, focusing axes of social differences, power relations and emotions. Through a theoretical framework consisting of intersectional feminist theory and a methodological framework consisting of intersectionality and critical discourse analysis, selected empirical material from the Sweden Democrats is analysed. A central conclusion is that the discourse of the Sweden Democrats can be seen as a defence of essentialism and resistance to change in the social realm. Categories such as nation, ethnicity, 'race', gender, sexuality and class are manifested in intersecting and different ways within the analysed material. Some of their central functions are as creators of boundaries of exclusion and inclusion and while others are as parameters for correct and incorrect reproduction of the nation. All in all, the discursive interplay between these social categories places the figure of the 'Swede', in particular the heterosexual 'Swedish' man, in a central position of power. The role of emotions is the most apparent in texts that are focused on national threats and defence. It is suggested that emotions provide legitimacy for the Sweden Democrats' nationalist discourse. The role of emotions may also be an important cue to the appeal of a populist radical right party such as the Sweden Democrats.


Synthetic biologists and molecular programmers design novel nucleic acid reactions, with many potential applications. Good visualization tools are needed to help domain experts make sense of the complex outputs of folding pathway simulations of such reactions. Here we present ViDa, a new approach for visualizing DNA reaction folding trajectories over the energy landscape of secondary structures. We integrate a deep graph embedding model with common dimensionality reduction approaches, to map high-dimensional data onto 2D Euclidean space. We assess ViDa on two well-studied and contrasting DNA hybridization reactions. Our preliminary results suggest that ViDa's visualization successfully separates trajectories with different folding mechanisms, thereby providing useful insight to users, and is a big improvement over the current state-of-the-art in DNA kinetics visualization.


Details of the animals represented in art in northern Spain during the Middle Ages conveyed significant ideas in much the same way as attributes of saints and depictions of clothing. An examination of sculpted canines in Castilla y Leon reveals not only that these apparently portraitlike images represented the recognizable dog breeds that originated in Spain but also that the carvers expressed notions of the stature and rank of the persons associated with these dogs: small companion dogs accompanied the ruling elite; canine guardians replaced lions in supporting monumental sarcophagi; coursing or hunting hounds indicated the special role played by bishops who served in the stead of absent monarchs during times of need. Making use of detailed photographs of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century sculptures and modern photos of descendants of ancient Spanish breeds and the historical context for these painted sculptures, this essay deciphers the lexicon of a sophisticated language of images in gothic Castilla y Leon.


Over 65 years ago, Waddington demonstrated ancestrally phenotypically plastic traits can evolve to become constitutive, a process he termed genetic assimilation. Genetic assimilation evolves rapidly, assumed to be in large part due to segregating genetic variation only expressed in rare/novel environments, but otherwise phenotypically cryptic. Despite previous work suggesting a substantial role of cryptic genetic variation contributing to the evolution of genetic assimilation, some have argued for a prominent role for new mutations of large effect concurrent with selection. Interestingly, Waddington was less concerned by the relative contribution of CGV or new variants, but aimed to test the role of canalization, an evolved form of robustness. While canalization has been extensively studied, its role in the evolution of genetic assimilation is disputed, in part because explicit tests of evolved robustness are lacking. To address these questions, we recreated Waddington's selection experiments on an environmentally sensitive change in Drosophila wing morphology (crossvein development), using many independently evolved replicate lineages. Using these, we show that 1) a polygenic CGV, but not new variants of large effect are largely responsible for the evolved response demonstrated using both genomic and genetic approaches. 2) Using both environmental manipulations and mutagenesis of the evolved lineages that there is no evidence for evolved changes in canalization contributing to genetic assimilation. Finally, we demonstrate that 3) CGV has potentially pleiotropic and fitness consequences in natural populations and may not be entirely "cryptic".


The predictions of question answering (QA) systems are typically evaluated against manually annotated finite sets of one or more answers. This leads to a coverage limitation that results in underestimating the true performance of systems, and is typically addressed by extending over exact match (EM) with predefined rules or with the token-level F1 measure.In this paper, we present the first systematic conceptual and data-driven analysis to examine the shortcomings of token-level equivalence measures.To this end, we define the asymmetric notion of answer equivalence (AE), accepting answers that are equivalent to or improve over the reference, and publish over 23k human judgements for candidates produced by multiple QA systems on SQuAD.Through a careful analysis of this data, we reveal and quantify several concrete limitations of the F1 measure, such as a false impression of graduality, or missing dependence on the question.Since collecting AE annotations for each evaluated model is expensive, we learn a BERT matching (BEM) measure to approximate this task. Being a simpler task than QA, we find BEM to provide significantly better AE approximations than F1, and to more accurately reflect the performance of systems.Finally, we demonstrate the practical utility of AE and BEM on the concrete application of minimal accurate prediction sets, reducing the number of required answers by up to X2.6.


We investigate the cover problem and a certain compensator problem, which turn out to be equivalent. It is first shown that the (minimal) solutions of the cover problem are in bijective correspondence with the (minimal) partial realizations of an appropriately defined sequence. By elaborating on this result, we obtain a direct, polynomial solution of the compensator problem, which is given in terms of closed formulae.


Algebraic competence is a major determinant of college access and career prospects, and equal sign knowledge is taken to be foundational to algebra knowledge. However, few studies have documented a causal effect of early equal sign knowledge on later algebra skill. This study assessed whether second-grade students' equal sign knowledge prospectively predicts their fourth-grade algebra knowledge, when controlling for demographic and individual difference factors. Children (N = 177; Mage = 7.61) were assessed on a battery of tests in Grade 2 and on algebraic knowledge in Grade 4. Second-grade equal sign knowledge was a powerful predictor of these algebraic skills. Findings are discussed in terms of the importance of foregrounding equal sign knowledge to promote effective pedagogy and educational equity.


- The most tiring and severe time, and most pregnant women feel pain or pain during labor is the first phase of the latent phase and active phase. One method in reducing labor pain is a warm compress. The use of compresses is Easier and more practical through procedures without having to undergo training. Warm compresses are roomates can vasodilating increase of the local temperature of the skin thereby increasing circulation to the tissues to reduce muscle spasms and reduce pain. This case study was Carried out with the aim of giving Midwifery care to women by giving warm compresses and to Determine the effect of warm compresses on pain. Case study method for women with childbirth pain, to Overcome this problem, a warm compress is done. The final report is done at BPM Hj. Zurahmi York City, Midwifery care for women with back pain was done 8 times of care for 1 day on July 5, 2019. After Midwifery care of 8 times for Patients, the results Obtained in the last study were back pain experienced by mothers can be reduced and resolved. It is hoped that it can Become an entry for BPM in the management of labor pain in the first stage of the latent and active phases the which can be applied at the BPM by using a warm compress.


Rats of the Donryu, Wistar, Fischer, and Sprague-Dawley strains were examined for the effects of choline deficiency on liver lipids, serum lipids, and serum ornithine carbamoyltransferase. The liver total lipid, triacylglycerol, cholesterol and phospholipid contents in the choline-deficient rats were significantly higher than those in choline-sufficient rats. The contents of total lipids and phospholipids in the liver of the Wistar and Fischer rats fed on a choline-deficient diet were significantly higher than those of the Donryu and Sprague-Dawley rats. The levels of triacylglycerol, cholesterol and phospholipids in the serum were significantly decreased by feeding with the choline-deficient diet. The serum ornithine carbamoyltransferase activity was increased in the Wistar and Fischer strains by feeding with the choline-deficient diet. The Wistar and Fischer strains were consequently the most sensitive to both lipid accumulation and liver lesions induced by the choline deficiency.


The only allowed source of the gravitational field in the unimodular theory, invariant under area-preserving (transverse) diffeomorphisms as well as Weyl transformations, is just the traceless piece of the energy-momentum tensor. This fact notwithstanding, the free energy produced by arbitrary sources (not only static ones) is identical to the one predicted by general relativity. This encompasses all weak field tests of gravitation.


In order to design algorithms for affect recognition from facial expressions and speech, audio-visual databases are needed. The affective databases used by researchers today are generally recorded in laboratory environments and contain acted expressions. In this work, we present a method for extraction of audio-visual facial clips from movies. The database collected using the proposed method contains English and Turkish clips and can easily be extended for other languages. We also provide facial expresssion recognition results, which utilize local phase quantization based feature extraction and a support vector machine. Due to larger number of features compared to the number of examples, the affect recognition accuracy improves significantly when feature selection is also performed.


Signals reflected from buildings and other large objects introduce distortion in the received signal because of their relative time delay and phase relations. This distortion is especially evident in the form of blurred and multiple images in television reception. Data on the relative merits in this respect, of vertically and horizontally polarized waves transmitted from the Empire State Building in New York City, were obtained at the two frequency ranges of 81 to 86 megacycles and 140 to 145 megacycles. Some data using circular polarization at the lower frequency range were also obtained. The effects of indirect-path signals were indicated on recorded curves showing field strength versus frequency. The methods and equipment used to record these data at a number of representative receiving locations are briefly described. A minimum of indirect-path signal interference was found to be generally had with horizontal polarization at both signal-frequency ranges. In this respect, circular polarization was found to be slightly preferable to vertical polarization. Horizontal polarization also gave somewhat greater average field strength. Miscellaneous data and observations are described, including sample propagation-characteristic curves. In conclusion, some relations between direct- and indirect-path signals and propagation paths are discussed.


We study flow optimization in Delay Tolerant Networks (DTNs), which we model using Capacity Region Evolving Graphs (CREGs). CREGs consist of different instances (called replicas) of the network graph in cascade; each replica is associated with a distinct time period (called epoch) and its own Capacity Region. Although CREGs can model any DTN, they are particularly well suited for the study of wireless ones. We define a single-commodity utility maximization problem in a CREG of T replicas that contains as special cases various interesting flow maximization problems. Using dual decomposition, we cast the maximization as a dual problem that can be solved iteratively and where in each iteration a set of T problems, T times smaller than the original, are solved, potentially (if multiple processors are available) in parallel. In addition, we propose two suboptimal utility maximization heuristics that operate on an epoch-by-epoch basis and we discuss a multi-commodity extension to the problem.


This paper is concerned with the application of a spacetime structure to a three-dimensional quantum system. There are three components. First, the main part of this paper presents the constraint conditions which build the relation of a spacetime structure and a form invariance solution to the covariant Dirac equation. The second is to devise a spacetime cage for fermions with chosen constraints. The third part discusses the feasibility of the cage with an experiment.


The effects of norepinephrine (NE) injection (300 microgram . kg-1 of body weight) on oxygen consumption (VO2), carbon dioxide production (VCO2) and respiratory exchange ratio (R) were investigated in female rats after 1 h of running on a treadmill (21.5 m . min-1) at 10% inclination. Six groups of animals were injected respectively at various times after the exercise (1, 3, 6, 9, 21, and 47 h), and were compared to six non-exercised groups injected at corresponding times. VO2 and VCO2 were monitored continuously during the 20 min preceding injection and for the 60 min following it. The increases in VO2 and VCO2, and the decrease in R were of similar magnitude in both exercised and non-exercised rats (about 30% and 20% for VO2 and VCO2, respectively, and -12% for R). Peak VO2 and R values attained after NE injection varied however with time of injection, specially in exercised animals 1 and 9 h after the run. Exercise significantly delayed time of response to NE for VO2 and VCO2 particularly 1 and 9 h after the running bout. It is concluded that time of day, exercise, and time elapsed after exercise are important factors to consider when studying metabolic responses to catecholamines. Furthermore, it is suggested that such experimental controls might be meaningful in human studies as well.


The importance of intracellular pH (pH(i)) in the regulation of diverse cellular activities ranging from cell proliferation and differentiation to cell cycle, migration and apoptosis has long been recognised. More recently, extracellular pH (pH₀), in particular that of relatively inaccessible compartments or domains that occur between cells in tissues, has begun to be acknowledged as a relevant signal in cell regulation. This should not be surprising given the abundant reports highlighting the pH₀-dependence of the activity of membrane proteins facing the extracellular space such as receptors, transporters, ion channels and enzymes. Changes in pH affect the ionisation state of proteins through the effect on their titratable groups. There are proteins, however, which respond to pH shifts with conformational changes that are crucial for catalysis or transport activity. In such cases protons act as signalling molecules capable of eliciting fast and localised responses. We provide examples of ion channels that appear fastidiously designed to respond to extracellular pH in a manner that suggests specific functions in transporting epithelia. We shall also present ideas as to how these channels participate in complex transepithelial transport processes and provide preliminary experiments illustrating a new way to gauge pH₀ in confined spaces of native epithelial tissue.


Complex coacervation of two oppositely charged polysaccharides, namely a lactose-modified chitosan (CTL) and hyaluronan (HA), was investigated in this study. Coacervates of the two polysaccharides were prepared by drop-by-drop injection of HA into CTL. Transmittance and dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurements in combination with TEM analyses demonstrated the formation of spheroidal colloids in the nano-/microsize range showing good homogeneity. Strikingly, the presence of 150 mM supporting NaCl did not hamper the colloid formation. Stability studies on selected formulations demonstrated that HA/CTL coacervates were stable up to 3 weeks at 37 °C and behaved as pH-responsive colloids since transition from entangled to disentangled chains was attained for a proper pH range. The possibility of freeze-drying the coacervates for storage purposes and the ability of encapsulating selected payloads were investigated as well, for two values of the fraction of the lactitol side-chain substitution (FL). Finally, biological tests using human neutrophils were undertaken at acidic pH value (pH = 6.0): under such experimental conditions, akin to those frequently occurring in the inflammatory microenvironment, coacervates scavenged reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated by these cells in basal conditions. Given the well documented bioactivity of CTL with respect to chitosan toward cartilage regeneration, these findings point to a possible application of HA/CTL-based colloids as scavenging and bioactive carriers for the delivery of therapeutic molecules at confined inflamed sites such as knee joints.


This study examines the tourism practices and evaluates the possible enhancements towards a sustainable tourism growth in the Garhwal Region. The modes of tourism are discussed broadly and suggestions are given appropriately for sustainable development of tourism. It reveals that the pilgrimage tourism has been practicing here for centuries. Presently, mass tourism as mountaineering, trekking, skiing and river rafting is being common. The practices of tourism have a significant impact on the economy as many of the small towns emerged as the major service provider centers and the economy of the region grew tremendously. But, at the same time, its impact fell badly on the environment and the tourist places and pilgrimages have received severe environmental implications. Data were taken from the secondary sources and references cited in text were well taken from the published materials. Recently there is sudden increase in number of tourist visiting Uttarakhand. It is imperative to revise the standards of service provided by tourism industry.


Dahlia tubers ( Dahlia variabilis Willd.) contain inulin which can be hydrolyzed by the inulinase enzyme (E.C.22.214.171.124) into fructose monomer units. Application of  inulinase enzyme is used in the production of HFS ( High   Fructose  Syrup )  dan  FOS  ( Fructo-oligosaccharides ).  Inulinase  can  be  produced  by  several microorganisms  including  inulinolytic  yeast Pichia  manshurica DUCC  Y-015.  One  of  the  factors  that influence the production of enzyme inulinase is macro minerals and incubation time on production medium. This study aims to determine the concentration of magnesium sulphate (MgSO4.7H2O) and the most optimal incubation time in producing the inulinase  enzyme. The research was carried out experimentally using a Randomized Block Design factorial. The first factor is the concentration MgSO4.7H2O those are 0,5 g/L; 1 g/L; and 1,5 g/L. The second factor is the variation of the incubation time, those are 12 hours; 18 hours; and 24 hours, repetition was performed three times. Data were analyzed using ANOVA with 5% significant level (α = 0,05) and Duncan Test for further analysis. The results showed that the variation of the concentration of MgSO4.7H2O has not been able to increase the production of inulinase enzyme, while the incubation time of 18 hours produced the inulinase enzyme activity of 0,9605 IU/mL. K e ywords :  Inulinase, Dahlia  variabilis Willd., Pichia  manshurica DUCC  Y-015,  MgSO4, Incubation Time