One of the key issues of emerging mobile computing and robotics is to obtain knowledge of the position of persons, vehicles and objects in an indoor environment. In order to enable a pervasive coverage, this must be achieved at low cost. Due to the importance of this problem, numerous solutions have been proposed. In this thesis two important localization techniques are discussed and major improvements are developed to address their weaknesses. A common approach for the position estimation problem is hyperbolic localization. This method is based on time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurements of signals transmitted from the mobile unit, i.e. the unit that is to be located, to a set of fixed reference units. A key requirement of this technique is that the clocks of the reference devices are synchronized. Unfortunately, if electromagnetic signals are used that travel at the speed of light even a very small clock deviation results in a tremendous inaccuracy of the computed location. Therefore, a highly precise time measurement and synchronization is mandatory for these systems. However, clocks operating at the required resolution and precision are complex and thus expensive. In this thesis, a localization approach based on TDOA measurements that implies clock synchronization is proposed and discussed. It allows for the usage of low cost oscillators that operate at a moderate frequency in the order of 100 MHz. The impact of short and long term instabilities like jitter or clock drift are inherently delimited. The approach can be applied to radio or infrared as well as ultrasound based systems. The main advantage of this approach is that common synchronization mechanisms that require a significant amount of processing and/or hardware resources can be neglected. Hence, this method is well suited for applications where the mobile unit must be very low cost and thus, of low complexity. An alternative to hyperbolic localization is triangulation, which requires the measurement of angles among fixed reference units and the mobile target. In this work, an infrared detector array for angle of arrival measurement is presented. The array consists of multiple sensing elements that are orientated in different directions. First, the arrangement is described by a sampling system. However, it is shown that low cost integrated receivers yield various aberrations, and thus the sampling approach fails. Subsequently, a new approach named virtual filter interpolation is proposed and discussed. This approach can handle individual sensitivity characteristics of each sensor element and therefore outperforms the sampling approach. The proposed technique is qualified for extremely low cost localization, e.g. for robot navigation.


In the continuous casting production of medium carbon steel (whose mass fraction of carbon is 0.09 % to 0.16 %) and high strength low alloy steel (whose mass fraction of Mn is 0.90 % to 1.40 %), flecks occurring the most often are usually longitudinal and star cracks. In additional to the employment of a galvanized plate mould, two kinds of fluxes with special properties were studied and used to harmonize the conflicts between the function of heat transfer and lubrication. An industrial application revealed that the crystallizing temperature (Tc) and crystal ratio (R) of fluxes have a crucible effect on impeding the occurrence of above defects on a slab surface. In the case of slab section (180 to 240) mm×(1000 to 1400) mm and casting speed Vc of (0.7 to 1.2) m/min, the optimized parameters of fluxes are Tc of (1170 to 1190) ℃, R of 80 % to 95 % for medium carbon steel, and Tc of (1100 to 1150) ℃, plus R of 40 % to 60 % for high strength low alloy steel.


OBJECTIVE
This qualitative study aimed to capture the experience of living in the ambivalent space between life and death for adults with recurrent suicide attempts (RSA). It sought to expand upon an earlier study that explored the processes involved in transitioning away from RSA among adults, which revealed that occupying this ambivalent space is a crucial part of this process.

DESIGN
Interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) was used. This methodology was designed to explore the lived experiences and meaning making and enabled interpretation of the multidimensional subjective experiences of RSA participants.

METHODS
In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight adult women with a history of RSA who had participated in a therapeutic intervention at the research site (Skills for Safer Living: A Psychosocial/Psychoeducational Intervention for People with Recurrent Suicide Attempts [SfSL/PISA]). The six stages of IPA were followed to analyse the interview data.

RESULTS
Analysis revealed the superordinate theme, 'surviving moment to moment', which refers to a precarious state of making decisions about one's life and destiny on a moment-to-moment basis without clear commitment to either life or death. Two subordinate themes were identified: 'deciding not to die in the moment' when the participants were more invested in dying than living and 'deciding to live in the moment' when they were more invested in living than dying.

CONCLUSION
The study illuminated the complex process of making decisions about ones' destiny on a moment-to-moment basis. It revealed the torment experienced when occupying this state, while paradoxically, also revealing how indecision about life and death provided a lifeline opportunity for those with RSA. Clinicians who recognize the subtle distinctions associated with this in-between state can tailor their interventions accordingly.

PRACTITIONER POINTS
Surviving moment to moment is characterized by a state of emotional flux and uncertainty about one's destiny, where the person has not fully committed to either life or death. Within this state, there are two interlinked subprocesses, whereby the person is leaning more towards death or life. A critical feature in working with this client group is to recognize their ambiguity and the fragility and temporality of their decisions about their destiny. The practitioner has an opportunity to be a catalyst in the momentum towards life by demonstrating understanding of this survival struggle and tailoring intervention to fit with the nuanced processes within this state.


Propofol is a unique highly lipid-soluble anesthetic that is formulated in a fat emulsion (Diprivan) for intravenous (i.v.) use. It has the desirable properties of rapid onset and offset of effect following rapid i.v. administration and minimal accumulation on long-term administration. Based on physicochemical properties and preliminary brain solubility data, propofol should have an extended effect-site turnover and a resulting prolonged effect. However, a preliminary study in humans has reported a rapid blood-brain equilibration half-time (T1/2 kE0) of only 2.9 min. We used a chronically instrumented rat model to examine the unique disposition and electroencephalographic (EEG) pharmacodynamics of propofol. Although the pharmacokinetics were variable, there was low interindividual variability in the concentration-EEG effect relationship. The duration of EEG sleep was 26 (+/- 44% CV) min following 11-15 mg/kg doses of propofol. The T1/2 kE0 was 1.7 (+/- 32%) min. Apparent effect-site concentrations of 0.5-1 microg/mL were required to maintain sleep in rats. Like other general anesthetics, the concentration-EEG effect relationship of propofol is biphasic. At a propofol concentration of 0.6 (+/- 35%) microg/mL, the number of EEG waves/s was maximal at 175% of baseline awake state. Further increases in the concentration of propofol depressed EEG activity until complete suppression occurred at 7 (+/- 22%) microg/mL.


The objective is to test if religiosity affects environmental opinion in Europe. According to historian Lynn White, Christianity causes most of the environmental problems of today, since it has created an extreme anthropocentric belief, including the image of mankind as "master over nature." Using data from European Social Survey (ESS) 2002/2003, the study answers three questions. At societal level: Is the public opinion about environment different in political systems with separate Christian traditions? Is the environmental concern less or higher in the public opinion depending on the degree of secularization in the political systems? At individual level: Is the environmental opinion of the individual affected by the personal confession of faith, religious involvement and the dominant religious context? At societal level, the findings show stronger concern for environment in Catholic and Eastern Orthodox countries than in Protestant countries. The tendency also show a weaken concern for environment in countries with a rather secular population. At individual level, there are significant positive effects on environmental care from Catholic culture, and negative effect from Protestant culture. Yet, there is no effect on environmental opinion from religious involvement.


Abstract The complement system, composed of nearly 30 proteins, is a key regulator of immunity. The complement system is critical for protecting hosts from invading pathogens. Dysregulation of this system is associated with susceptibility to infection and various autoimmune diseases. Furthermore, complement activation due to the defective regulation of the alternative pathway will induce glomerular diseases. Anti-complement therapy has been applied in various glomerular diseases. Signaling pathways might be very important in the pathogenesis of glomerular diseases. This review will give a relatively complete signaling pathway flowchart for complement and a comprehensive understanding of the underlying role of complement in glomerular diseases.


The effective 1-s batch of 100-Hz pulse repetition rate mode of an X-band relativistic backward-wave oscillator with a resonance reflector (RBWO-RR) was realized using the "SINUS" pulse-periodic nanosecond accelerator allowing mechanically installed high voltage pulse length of 13 and 42 ns. Magnetic held about of 2 T was produced by two-section solenoid to transport the electron beam along RBWO-RR electrodynamic system. T M01 to T E11 mode converter connected to the oscillator output allowed Gaussian radiation pattern. The microwave oscillator allowed producing the microwave pulse length of 4.7 and 29 ns. The energy of the microwave pulse measured by the X-band aperture calorimeter was 1.4 or 6.3 J corresponding to the mentioned above microwave pulse length of 4.7 or 29 ns, respectively. That allowed estimations of the microwave peak power as high as 280 ± 30 MW and 210 ± 20 MW related to the pulse lengths. The efficiency of the oscillator was 23-25%. A possibility of the microwave pulse length fine tuning within 25 to 34 ns range in the "long pulse mode" by changing the solenoid magnetic held conhguration was shown.


Participatory Sensing is a new paradigm that empowers non-professional citizens to collect and share sensory data from their surrounding environments using their mobile phones. The emergence of the participatory sensing has resulted in a broad range of novel participatory sensing applications (PSA). PSA are more suitable to be developed by the people who want to launch the campaign, rather than the professional software developer. However, the development of PSA requires complex programming skill, and thus only professionals can build them. Inspired by the concept of end-user programming, this paper develops a tool, named PSAFactory, for non-professional people who do not understand the programming techniques to develop their own PSA in a quick and simple way. With this tool, non-professionals can build PSA by just doing some simple settings, while the tool will run automatically to tackle common issues in a completely transparent manner. Besides, two prototype applications are developed with the tool.


Deep Cold Rolling (DCR) is a cost effective mechanical surface enhancement process where one or more rollers/ball rolls over the machined surface under high pressure, plasticizing the material's top layer. Deep rolling is extensively used in aerospace and automobile industries to enhance the fatigue life of components. In the present work, 2D explicit dynamic analysis to simulate deep cold rolling of shafts is carried out using ANSYS/LS DYNA. Effect of significant parameters (ball diameter, rolling force, surface roughness and no of passes) on compressive residual stress generated and depth of compressive residual stress state inside the work piece surface are studied. AISI 4140 STEEL is chosen for work piece material and Tungsten Carbide for tool material. From the 2D simulations compressive residual stress results data are obtained. It is concluded that rolling force and surface roughness have the most significant effect on the compressive residual stresses and depth of compressive residual stress state. The results of the 2D explicit dynamic simulations are also verified with experimental results and both are in good agreement.


Colorectal cancer is one of the global causes of cancer deaths. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) inside the tumour niche responsible for metastasis and relapses, and hence need to be targeted for cancer therapeutics. Although dietary fibre and lifestyle changes have been recommended as measures for colorectal cancer prevention, no such recommendations are available for using water soluble vitamins as prophylaxis measure for colorectal cancers. High dose of Vitamin C has been proven to selectively kill colon cancer cells having BRAF and KRAS mutations by inducing oxidative stress. In this study, we show for the first time the opposing effects of the low and high dose of Vitamin C and vitamin B3 on colon CSCs isolated from HT‐29 and HCT‐15 colorectal carcinoma cell lines. At small doses, both of these vitamins exerted a cell proliferative effect only on CSCs, while there was no change in the proliferation status of non‐stem cancer cells and wild‐type (WT) populations. On the other hand, the death effects induced by high doses of Vitamin C and B3 were of the order of 50–60% and ∼30% on CSCs from HT‐29 and HCT15, respectively. Interestingly, the control fibroblast cell line (NIH3T3) was highly refractory all the tested concentrations of Vitamin C and B3, except for the highest dose – 10,000 μg of Vitamin C that induced only 15% of cell death. Hence, these results indicate the future scope of use of therapeutic doses of Vitamin C and B3 especially in patients with advanced colorectal cancer.


Background Emotional and behavioural disorders in early childhood are related to poorer academic attainment and school engagement, and difficulties already evident at the point of starting school can affect a child's later social and academic development. Successful transfer from pre-school settings to primary education is helped by communication between pre-school staff and primary school teachers. Typically, in Scotland, pre-school establishments prepare individual profiles of children before they start school around the age of five years, highlighting their strengths and development needs, for transfer to primary schools. There is, however, no consistent approach to the identification of potential social, emotional and behavioural problems. In 2010, in one local authority area in Scotland, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) was introduced for children about to start school as a routine, structured, component of the transition process to help teachers plan support arrangements for classes and individual children. The SDQ assesses emotional, conduct, hyperactivity/ inattention and peer-relationship problems as well as pro-social behaviour. In order to be an effective means of communicating social and emotional functioning, the use of instruments such as the SDQ needs to be practicable. Finding out the views of pre-school education staff with experience of assessing children using the SDQ was, therefore, essential to establish its future utility. Aim The purpose of this study was to explore the views of pre-school education staff about assessing social and emotional wellbeing of children at school entry using the SDQ. The objectives were to examine the opinions of pre-school workers about completing the SDQ and to elicit their thoughts on the value of doing this and their perceptions of the usefulness of the information collected. Method Pre-school establishments were approached using a purposive sampling strategy in order to achieve a mix of local authority (n=14) and 'partnership' establishments (n=8) as well as different socio-economic areas. Semi-structured interviews (n=25) were conducted with pre-school head teachers (n=14) and child development officers (n=11) in order to explore the process of completing the SDQ along with perceptions of its value. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically. Results In general, staff in pre-school establishments viewed the use of the SDQ positively. It was seen as a chance to highlight the social and emotional development of children rather than just their academic or educational ability. Most felt that the SDQ had not identified anything they did not already know about a child. A minority, nevertheless, suggested that a previously unrecognised potential difficulty was brought to light, most commonly emotional problems. Completing the SDQ was felt to be relatively straightforward even though the staff felt under pressure from competing priorities. Concerns were, however, raised about the potential of labelling a child at an early stage of formal education. Conclusion The findings from this small scale study suggest that, from the point of view of pre-school education staff, it is feasible to assess children systematically for social and behavioural problems as part of the routine transition process at school entry.


Author(s): Nelson, Joan M. | Abstract: Much research has been conducted on effective schools and school reform efforts. However, many schools are failing to meet the NCLB demands and an increasing number of schools are falling under the "in needs of improvement" sanctions, especially in the corrective action phase. The schools in the corrective action phase are those that have not met Yearly Adequate Progress (AYP) for three consecutive years. Current research suggests there may be more to school reform than intellectual and human capital investment. Reform efforts may require a shift in the way that change strategies are conceptualized and enacted within schools and the districts in which they reside. This shift would involve a move from a spotlight on individualized segments of the organization to engaging the entire system in a connected network. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the processes school staff used to diagnose problems, define solutions, and access effective strategies in corrective action schools. It also investigated how these schools implemented these reforms; determined in what ways and to what extent these reform efforts were diffused through the schools using the social networks of information, innovation, trust, knowledge, and communication; and the district's role in supporting reform. The study utilized a mixed methods case study design and analyzed results through the lens of organizational learning and social network analysis theories. The study involved two secondary schools in corrective action Year 3 in a large urban district. This study was intended to extend prior research and contribute to theory, policy and practice


An isolated segment of ileum, its caliber reduced by excising a longitudinal strip from its antimesenteric border, can be used to supplement or replace the ureter in establishing flow from the kidney to the bladder or the skin. Benefits from this ileal-conduit diversion are increasingly evident when the operation is reserved for especially selected patients. In 45 of the present series of 70 patients the underlying disease was benign; 16 patients were less than 25 years old. Eight cases are presented in support of the thesis that success in the use of the ilealconduit operation must be measured in terms of symptomatic relief, general sense of well-being, ability to resume a place in society, and anticipated longevity.


The articles in this special issue of Environmental Values have a shared significance. In one way or another, all of them reflect contemporary concerns about issues of trust, risk, uncertainty, and the cultural shaping of science. These are matters of mounting significance for the politics of the environment in countries like Britain, and indeed for politics more generally, as we have seen in a succession of recent controversies. The Brent Spar oil platform farrago (1996), the hugely costly BSE-CJD upsets (1997), the continuing uproars around genetically modified (GM) plants and foods (1998/99)  central in all of these have been challenges to the political authority of official patterns of scientifically-backed reassurance, concerning the impacts of deep and open-ended trajectories of technological transformation. To understand what is likely to be at stake in such matters for the politics of industrial democracies in the 21st century, there is now an urgent need to develop richer pictures than those currently dominant, of the cultural and epistemological architecture on which our regulatory institutions have been coming to rely. The contributions to this special issue can be pictured as building blocks in such a process. The present article offers a complementary perspective  one grounded in a degree of more hands-on personal experience of related matters.


We examine the possibilities for Indigenization afforded by a visit from the girls' group, Young Indigenous Women's Utopia (YIWU), to York University. Through classroom presentations, workshops, and a book launch, the girls shared their knowledge, perspectives, culture, and art, challenged stereotypes, and inspired university community members. The visit encouraged local students and faculty to find innovative ways to disrupt prevailing colonial norms by employing strategies such as public workshops, the Alternative Campus Tour and curating exhibits so as to integrate Indigenous knowledge, histories, and epistemologies. In this article, we explore the transformative potential of such encounters and emphasize the imperative to prioritize Indigenous knowledge systems and empower Indigenous girls in educational realms.


Clegg and Spencer's (2007) model of job design synthesizes and extends recent conceptions of the job design process by incorporating variables such as knowledge, motivation, and trust into a cyclical and dynamic system. The objective of this study was to examine the sequential organization of variables that comprise the model, as a basis from which to justify further investigations of the model's dynamic properties. Data were collected via questionnaires from 432 participants in two work organizations. Results obtained from structural equation modeling are broadly supportive of the proposed relationships between the variables. Implications of this initial study for future research and practice are discussed. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


We construct a speculative scenario for rotation-induced extra helium mixing to the envelope of horizontal-branch (HB) stars. This scenario differs from previous ones in that the mixing occurs after the star has left the red giant branch (RGB). We follow the evolution of a low-metallicity star from the RGB to the HB, and examine the density profile and radius in the core-envelope boundary region. In the transition from the RGB to the HB the envelope shrinks by 2 orders of magnitude in size and the core swells, such that any nonnegligible rotation on the RGB will result in a strong rotational shear at the core-envelope boundary. For a nonnegligible rotation to exist on the RGB, the star has to be spun up by a companion spiraling inside its envelope (a common-envelope evolution). We speculate that shear instabilities on the HB might mix helium-rich core material to the envelope. The shallow density profile on the HB is less likely to prevent mixing. As previously shown, extra helium mixing can account for the overluminous blue HB stars found in some globular clusters. Although being speculative, this study supports the idea that the presence of low-mass companions, from planets to low-mass main-sequence stars, influence the evolution of stars, and can explain some properties of the color-magnitude (Hertzsprung-Russel) diagram of globular clusters. Namely, low-mass companions can be an ingredient in the so-called second parameter of globular clusters.


34 cases of familial exudative vitreoretinopathy were seen during a 40-month period ending April 1981. There were 30 cases from 11 families and 4 sporadic cases. The familial cases showed the mode of inheritance compatible with the autosomal-dominant inheritance. Ophthalmoscopy and super-wide panoramic fluorescein angiography revealed characteristic retinal vascular abnormalities in all cases, embracing supernumerous vascular branchings, arteriovenous shunt formation in the extreme periphery, generalized hyperpermeability of vessels and incomplete arteriovenous interdigitating pattern. Vitreoretinal adhesion was present in the peripheral temporal retina in all cases. An avascular zone wider than 1 disc diameter was noted in the majority of cases in the extreme temporal periphery. A V-shaped retinal degeneration was seen along the temporal meridian in 18 cases (48%). Retinal detachment was present in 19 eyes of 14 cases, and it was rhegmatogenous in 11 and traction-induced in 8 eyes. Retinal exudates and total posterior vitreous detachment was seen only occasionally.


The aim of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of the Maslach Burnout Inventory—Educators Survey (MBI-ES). The presence of burnout syndrome, its relationship with personality traits, intention to change career and work abroad were assessed in a cross-sectional multi-center trial conducted among educators at three medical faculties in the Western Balkans during 2019. Translation and cultural adaptation were made based on internationally accepted principles. Personality traits were assessed by the Big Five Plus Two questionnaire. In total, 246 medical faculty members, predominantly females (61%), were enrolled. The three-factor structure of the MBI-ES questionnaire (exhaustion, cynicism, and professional efficacy) was validated. Analysis of internal consistency yielded a Cronbach's alpha of 0.785, indicating scale reliability. The majority of respondents (85.6%) reported moderate level of burnout. Aggressiveness, neuroticism, and negative valence were associated with emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, while extraversion, conscientiousness, openness, and positive valence correlated with personal accomplishment. Emotional exhaustion and depersonalization in a multivariate regression model were significantly associated with intentions to change career and work abroad (p < 0.05). The present study provided evidence for the appropriate metric properties of the Serbian version of MBI-ES. Presence of burnout syndrome, which was identified as a common problem in medical academia, and directly linked to personality traits, affected intention to career change and work abroad.


There is substantial evidence that recanalization of a chronic total occlusion is beneficial; nonetheless, it is generally underutilized in clinical practice. We consider the Aesop's fable of the "Fox and the Grapes" as analogous to the current situation in interventional cardiology. The technical challenges in achieving CTO recanalization has led interventionalists, clinical cardiologists, and sometimes even patients to believe that CTO recanalization is not effective, and, therefore, not needed. This perspective reviews available data regarding efficacy and safety of CTO percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in the current drug‐eluting stent era, discusses areas where more studies are required, and encourages the interventional community to utilize CTO PCI where appropriate based on current evidence. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


Public interest impact litigation as currently practiced raises significant legal ethics concerns. This Article excavates the historical foundations of two of these difficulties and, on the basis of original archival research, uncovers a way around them.

The Article focuses on two modern ethical dilemmas posed by impact litigation: conflicts of interest and the use of litigation for policy-making. It argues that, as a historical and doctrinal matter, these ethical problems trace back to Justice Brennan's decision to set cause lawyering on a putatively neutral First Amendment basis in NAACP v. Button. That rationale, however, was not the case's original ratio decidendi. In fact, the egalitarian neutralism Brennan embraced had initially provided a reason for finding impact litigation improper. Only a pair of dramatic, unexpected resignations transformed it into a foundation for cause lawyering. Meanwhile, an unpublished draft opinion would have grounded impact litigation in Equal Protection and Carolene Products-type considerations. This race- and power-conscious alternative, championed by Justice Black, provided a competing ethical foundation for public interest impact litigation that would have better addressed our contemporary legal ethics concerns.

This Article elucidates Justice Black's argument for the first time. It reconstructs the complicated dynamics that led to the abandonment of his dissent and its transformation into Justice Brennan's majority opinion. In telling this story, the Article denaturalizes the ethical regime that governs impact litigation today by showing how nearly it was radically different. The Article's contributions are descriptive and normative. On the descriptive level, it offers a revised account of NAACP v. Button on the basis of new archival finds. Normatively, it seeks to champion Black's race- and power-consciousness against Brennan's neutralism, showing what Black's approach might have to offer legal ethics today.


In 2 field studies (Ns = 71 and 113), we tested the prediction that in-group identification would mediate the acquisition of group norms by new group members. Study 1 demonstrated that participants surveyed after a team-development program reported greater awareness of in-group norms of teamwork and cooperation, compared to those surveyed at the start. Moreover, there was evidence that this effect was mediated by increased in-group identification. Study 2 replicated this finding, and showed that the effects were specific to the norm of teamwork. Acquisition of alternative norms of individualism and competitiveness did not increase after participation in the program, and did not correlate with identification. Practical implications and future work are discussed.


Cancer is a global public health problem that is related to different environmental and lifestyle factors. Although the combination of screening, prevention, and treatment of cancer has resulted in increased patient survival, conventional treatments sometimes have therapeutic limitations such as resistance to drugs or severe side effects. Oriental culture includes herbal medicine as a complementary therapy in combination with chemotherapy or radiotherapy. This study aimed to identify the bioactive ingredients in Kalanchoe pinnata, a succulent herb with ethnomedical applications for several diseases, including cancer, and reveal its anticancer mechanisms through a molecular approach. The herb contains gallic acid, caffeic acid, coumaric acid, quercetin, quercitrin, isorhamnetin, kaempferol, bersaldegenin, bryophyllin a, bryophyllin c, bryophynol, bryophyllol and bryophollone, stigmasterol, campesterol, and other elements. Its phytochemicals participate in the regulation of proliferation, apoptosis, cell migration, angiogenesis, metastasis, oxidative stress, and autophagy. They have the potential to act as epigenetic drugs by reverting the acquired epigenetic changes associated with tumor resistance to therapy—such as the promoter methylation of suppressor genes, inhibition of DNMT1 and DNMT3b activity, and HDAC regulation—through methylation, thereby regulating the expression of genes involved in the PI3K/Akt/mTOR, Nrf2/Keap1, MEK/ERK, and Wnt/β-catenin pathways. All of the data support the use of K. pinnata as an adjuvant in cancer treatment.


Enough time has passed, and enough key events have taken place for the contours of the administration of Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to be apparent. While it has flirted openly with reforms, and has used phrases otherwise used by the opposition, its sincerity - and its capability - is still in doubt. More that that, it is not as yet clear how convinced the government actually is about of the need for institutional reforms, especially when the institutions in need of reform include the police, the anti-corruption agency, the judiciary and the dominant party, UMNO. With a new coalition opposing him in parliament, Najib comes to power wedged between his own coalition's aged traditions and the restive spirit of the times. Whether he can squeeze his way into a comfortable spot and stay in power is the question the coming years will answer.


Non-monotonic logic is an attempt to take into account such notions as incomplete knowledge and theory evolution. However the decidable theorem-prover issue has been so far unexplored. We propose such a theorem-prover for default logic with a restriction on the first-order formulae it deals with. This theorem-prover is based on the generalisation of a resolution technique named saturation, which was initially designed to test the consistency of a set of first-order formulae. We have proved that our algorithm is complete and that it always terminates for the selected subset of first-order formulae.


We study the behavior of a magnetorheological fluid droplet confined to a Hele-Shaw cell in the presence of an applied radial magnetic field. Interfacial pattern formation is investigated by considering the competition among capillary, viscoelastic, and magnetic forces. The contribution of a magnetic field-dependent yield stress is taken into account. Linear stability analysis reveals the stabilizing role played by yield stress. On the other hand, a mode-coupling approach predicts that the resulting fingering structures should become less and less sharp as yield stress effects are increased. By employing a vortex-sheet formalism we have been able to identify a family of exact stationary solutions of the problem, unveiling the development of swollen polygonal patterns. A suggestive magnetically controlled shape transition in which the edges of the patterns change from convex to concave has been also identified.


practitioner stated that in his opinion asthma was essentially a psychological condition and be claimed to have used psychotherapy with success in status asthmaticus. There is a danger that too much attention may be paid to relief of the more dramatic episodes of wheezing and too little to the respiratory function of the asthmatic in his symptom-free intervals. I believe that an important and illuminating contribution can be provided by general practitioners using peak flow meters. -I am, etc.,


The aim of the present study was to determine the influence of gingival dimensions on the development of gingival recession following placement of artificial crowns. The study population consisted of 11 periodontally healthy patients in whom 44 maxillary anterior teeth and/or premolars had to be crowned. A total of 36 teeth (82%) had, after crown placement, a mean intracrevicular crown margin of 0.57 +/- 0.47 mm. Thirty-nine teeth without restorations served as controls. Immediately after incorporation, as well as after 3, 6, 9, and 12 months, periodontal examinations were carried out. Gingival thickness was determined sonometrically and averaged 1.25 +/- 0.40 mm. Mean periodontal probing depth was 1.80 +/- 0.54 mm. Twelve months later, crowned teeth had experienced a mean attachment loss of 0.17 +/- 0.99 mm as compared to an attachment gain of 0.18 +/- 0.46 mm at control teeth. At test teeth, the gingival margin had receded a mean of 0.43 +/- 0.74 mm. In multivariate analyses considering the correlated structure of the data employing generalized estimating equation methods, crown placement was identified as a major factor for attachment loss and development of gingival recession. In addition, a shallow probing depth and narrow band of gingiva negatively influenced the level of periodontal attachment. The present results point to the importance of a more detailed periodontal diagnosis of the dentogingival region before placement of artificial crowns.


Anatomy for Anesthetists . By Harold Ellis. Illustrated by Margaret McLarty. 340 pp, 174 illus. $9. F. A. Davis Co., 1914 Cherry St, Philadelphia 19103, 1963 The bindings of the two books, one American, the other British, display similar titles. The sections on the autonomic or sympathetic nervous system begin on page 222 in each book, but beyond these similarities the books are truly an ocean apart. The British book is written by a surgeon and illustrated by a medical artist. The American book is written by an anesthesiologist, and art work and lettering often appear to be amateur productions. The stereoscopic atlas idea is novel and Professor Dornette is to be complimented on his bravery for attempting its use. Unfortunately, some of the photographic reproductions in the book seem to be of poor quality and the viewing glasses too small, or perhaps the reviewer just doesn't "have the hang of


In their theory of class formation and social revolution, Karl Marx and Frederick Engels were scathing about the lumpenproletariat, condemning it as anti-revolutionary, morally bankrupt, and a bribable tool of the bourgeoisie, a view that remained influential well into the mid-twentieth century. Not until Frantz Fanon appropriated the term lumpenproletariat in The Wretched of the Earth (1961) and applied it to what he saw as a whole class of people waiting to be brought into and redeployed as the vanguard of a new revolutionary proletarian consciousness did it shed its negative connotations. The changed trajectories of the proper place and role of the lumpenproletariat can be seen in working-class literatures of the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries, which constitute an important stage upon which to refine Marxian and Fanonian understandings of the lumpenproletariat. This essay examines three novels written in the last thirty years: Herbert, by Nabarun Bhattacharya, written originally in Bengali and published in 1993; How Late It Was, How Late, by Scottish writer James Kelman (1994); and Sacred Games, by Vikram Chandra (2006). Read contrapuntally, these works provide a literary platform for the exploration of the representational shift in the role and function of the lumpenproletariat in the twenty-first century.


A total of 1500 apparently healthy children between 1-12 years of age were examined. Blood pressure (BP) readings were taken and standard deviation and percentiles worked out for different sexes and age groups. Prevalence of hypertension was found to be 2.86% in males and 2.97% in females in 5-12 years of age group. Obesity was prevalent in 24% of the hypertensive cases. A higher value of serum cholesterol as compared to controls was also seen in the hypertensive group.


NIHILISM AND VIOLENCE: MAX STIRNER'S CASE The paper presents a relation between nihilism and violence by using the theory of Max Stirner. The author's choice of the philosopher is driven by her view that nihilism has reached its maturity in his main work. Even more, a key critique raised with respect to the author of "The Ego and his Own" touched exactly on the issue of violence (among others, in deliberations of Dostoyevsky and Camus). The study represents a polemic with the opinions presented in "The Rebellious Man", that Stirner glorified aggression and justified crime. Misreading of his philosophy, the philosophy of egoism, is founded in mixing might with violence which in fact are in that theory irreconcilable. Stirner's affirmation refers to the former whereas he is ambivalent to the latter.


Entangled photon pairs are emitted from a biexciton decay cascade of single quantum dots when spectral filtering is applied. We show this by experimentally measuring the density matrix of the polarization state of the photon pair emitted from a continuously pumped quantum dot. The matrix clearly satisfies the Peres criterion for entanglement. By applying in addition a temporal window, the quantum dot becomes an entangled light source.


Vibrational frequencies of modes involving intermolecular motions in liquids are relatively small, in the Raman scattering close to the excitation frequency, and the bands may merge into a diverging uninterpretable signal. Raman optical activity (ROA) spectral shapes in this region, however, are structured more and may better reflect the nature of the studied systems. To understand the origin of the signal and its relation to the molecules, ROA spectra of six chiral neat liquids are recorded and analyzed on the basis of molecular dynamics and density functional theory computations. The theory of Raman scattering of liquids is discussed and adapted for modeling based on clusters and periodic boundary conditions. A plain cluster approach is compared to a crystal-like model. The results show that the low-frequency optical activity can be reliably modeled and related to the structure. However, momentary arrangement of molecules leads to large variations of optical activity, and a relatively large number of geometries need to be averaged for accurate simulations. The intermolecular modes are intertwined with intramolecular ones and start to dominate as the frequency goes down. The low-frequency ROA signal thus reflects the chemical composition and coupled with the modeling it provides a welcome means to study the structure and interactions of chiral liquids.


Clinical Practice Guidelines for Encephalic Death Treatment. It has been defined as the irreversible ceasing of all encephalic functions (cerebral hemispheres, of the encephalic stalk and cerebellum). This document includes the diagnostic criteria and its workflow and comments on the diagnostic tests and its legal aspects. It includes assessment guidelines focused on the most important aspects to be accomplished.


ABSTRACT The extended synaptotagmins, E-Syt1, 2 and 3, are multiple C2 domain membrane proteins that are tethered to the endoplasmic reticulum and interact in a calcium dependent manner with plasma membrane phospholipids to form endoplasmic reticulum - plasma membrane junctions. These junctions have been implicated in the exchange of phospholipids between the 2 organelles. The E-Syts have further been implicated in receptor signaling and endocytosis and can interact directly with fibroblast growth factor and other cell surface receptors. Despite these multiple functions, the search for a requirement in vivo has been elusive. Most recently, we found that the genes for E-Syt2 and 3 could be inactivated without effect on mouse development, viability, fertility or morphology. We have now created insertion and deletion mutations in the last of the mouse E-Syt genes. We show that E-Syt1 is specifically expressed throughout the embryonic skeleton during the early stages of chrondrogenesis in a pattern quite distinct from that of E-Syt2 or 3. Despite this, E-Syt1 is also not required for mouse development and propagation. We further show that even the combined inactivation of all 3 E-Syt genes has no effect on mouse viability or fertility in the laboratory. However, this inactivation induces an enhancement in the expression of the genes encoding Orp5/8, Orai1, STIM1 and TMEM110, endoplasmic reticulum - plasma membrane junction proteins that potentially could compensate for E-Syt loss. Given the multiple functions suggested for the E-Syts and their evolutionary conservation, our unexpected findings suggest that they may only provide a survival advantage under specific conditions that have as yet to be identified.


Monkeypox is a rare viral infection, endemic in many central and western African countries. The last international outbreak of monkeypox reported outside Africa occurred back in 2003. However, monkeypox has reemerged at a global scale with numerous confirmed cases across the globe in 2022. The rapid spread of cases through different countries has raised serious concerns among public health officials worldwide prompting accelerated investigations aimed to identify the origins and cause of the rapid expansion of cases. The current situation is reminiscent of the very early stages of the still ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Overlapping features between these, two seemingly alike viral entities include the possibility for airborne transmission and the currently unexplained and rapid spread across borders. Early recognition of cases and timely intervention of potential transmission chains are necessary to contain further outbreaks. Measures should include rapid and accurate diagnosis of cases meeting case definitions, active surveillance efforts, and appropriate containment of confirmed cases. Governments and health policymakers must apply lessons learned from previous outbreaks and start taking active steps toward limiting the recent global spread of monkeypox. Herein, we discuss the status of the current monkeypox outbreaks worldwide, the epidemiological and public health situation at a global scale and what can be done to keep at bay its further expansion and future global implications.


The research on utilizing lithium-ion batteries with LiNi0.8Co0.2O2-based cathode for hybrid electric vehicles is intensively underway in several national laboratories of US Department of Energy. The impedance of LiNi0.8Co0.2O2/graphite lithium-ion cells is observed to experience a substantial rise during accelerated calendar life storage, due mainly to the significant increase of the interfacial resistance on the cathode side. By means of electrochemical measurements and AC impedance spectroscopy, it is found that doping the LiNi0.8Co0.2O2 cathode with small amount of Al, Ti and Mg can effectively suppress this impedance rise. Possible mitigation of oxidizing ability of Ni4+ due to Al, Ti and Mg doping is proposed to achieve this impedance stabilization.


COVID-19 has impacted all levels of daily life for people everywhere, with particularly serious implications for pregnant women. This paper examines the COVID-19-related childbirth anxiety (CCA) of Israeli women in the first two waves of the pandemic. We first present two psychotherapeutic case studies with pregnant women in the two waves. This is followed by an empirical study that compared the contribution of background variables, psychological distress, economic concerns, and personal resources to CCA in two samples, Wave 1, March–April 2020 (n = 403) and Wave 2, September–October 2020 (n = 1401), and two subpopulations, Jewish and Arab women. Findings reveal that CCA was significantly lower in Wave 2 than in Wave 1. Furthermore, poorer health, higher education, being an Arab, later gestational week, at-risk pregnancy, wave, higher psychological distress, greater economic concerns, and lower self-compassion contributed to higher childbirth anxiety. Wave moderated the association between optimism and anxiety. The findings of the empirical study, together with insights from the case studies, provide evidence of a decrease in CCA later in the crisis, and indicate the significance of resources for coping with the psychological implications of the pandemic. Moreover, they suggest the importance of empowering self-reliance techniques, such as self-compassion, which was significantly associated with lower anxiety, above and beyond the background and psychological variables. Clinical Impact Statement: Using both psychotherapeutic cases and empirical findings, this study points to the risk and resilience factors that contributed to pregnant women's COVID-19-related childbirth anxiety (CCA) in the first two waves of the pandemic. The study suggests that CCA was higher in the first wave, as well as among women from a minority group. At the same time, the research shows that resilience resources of optimism and self-compassion contributed to the reduction of anxiety. These findings may guide interventions for the vulnerable group of pregnant women in times of crisis.


In each of 12 mongrel dogs, data for end-diastolic volume, end-systolic volume, and stroke volume of the left ventricle were obtained by two independent methods: the indicator dilution method and a radiographic method. While the values for stroke volume showed good agreement between the two methods, a significant and directionally constant difference was found between values for end-diastolic volume and end-systolic volume calculated by the two different methods. This was observed in dogs with fast heart rates (exceeding 150 beats/min), as well as in dogs with heart rates of about 100 beats/min. The findings strongly suggest that a fundamental error is present in estimations of volume based on the washout of an indicator dye.


Breast cancer is one of main causes of death for women. Most of the existing survival analyses focus on the features' associations with whether the patients may survive five years or not. The personalized question remains largely unresolved about how long a breast cancer patient will live. This study aims to predict the patient-specific survival time of breast cancer patients. It formulates the personalized question into two machine learning problems. The first problem is the binary classification of whether a patient will live longer than five years or not. The second one is to build a regression model to predict the patient's survival time within five years. The methylome of a breast cancer patient is used for the prediction. A new algorithm Crystall is presented to find the methylomic features for this regression model. Our models perform well in the above two problems, and achieve the mean absolute error (MAE) of about 1 month for predicting how long a breast cancer patient will live within five years. The detected biomarker genes demonstrate close connections with breast cancers.


The management of very distal finger amputations when the amputated part is saved is still difficult and controversial. Both re-attachment of the amputated portion as a composite graft and microvascular anastomosis can fail in this distal location. Replantation is, in fact, associated with certain problems, such as technical difficulty, risk of failure because of the poor venous drainage, and costs. With the exception of children, amputations at the level of the lunula poorly survive direct re-attachment. Hirase has described a new replantation model without vascular anastomosis and used ice water and aluminium foil to enhance survival of the composite graft. Cooling the entire recipient site retards cellular degeneration in the graft until neovascularisation occurs. The present authors applied this method to seven cases in which a digit had been amputated between the tip and the lunula. In four cases the method proved to be completely successful, whereas in two an area of tip necrosis was observed. The Hirase method has proven to be a simple and reliable surgical technique for fingertip re-attachment.


The IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) is envisioned as the next-generation IP-based multimedia system that integrates data, speech, and video network services over both wireless and wireline networks. In this paper, we focus on optimizing the cost of SIP server deployment in an IMS network. To reflect the traffic loads on the servers, a flow-based model is used to characterize the SIP traffic. Formulated as a linear programming problem, the cost optimization involves mapping a logical IMS core network topology into a physical network topology. Three potential mapping strategies are proposed. Each strategy's specific constraints are incorporated into the mathematical formulation of the problem. A numerical example of each strategy is presented, and the discussion on the formulations is provided.


When the "jurisdictions" of religion and science overlap, the conclusions they each reach sometimes conflict. For example, religiously conservative views towards sex or the formation of the universe may be undermined by the secular instruction students receive in public schools. With respect to normative matters, such as views towards sex, courts have resolved the conflicts by stating that public school teachers can neither directly contradict religious beliefs nor compel adherence to the secular view. However, with respect to empirical matters, such as how planets formed, courts have implicitly recognized — although never expressly stated — that a different standard must apply. So long as sufficient evidence exists to support an empirical claim, a public school may teach it. The fact that it directly contradicts a deeply held religious belief, as does evolution for example, is irrelevant. How far does this principle extend? If scientific evidence leads us to conclude that a particular aspect of God cannot be true, can this be taught in the public schools? In order to explore this issue, I first lay out a framework that isolates the tension that exists between religion and science and that introduces the concept of the memist God. Second, I examine the extent to which science has spoken to the question of God's existence and I determine that it has certainly addressed one particular aspect. Specifically, science has disconfirmed the claim that the theist God has the power to violate the laws of physics. Last, once the issues are properly identified and the framework set, I explore whether teaching the non-existence of the theist God would violate the underlying values of the religion clauses. I conclude, first, that teaching that the theist God does not exist would not violate any of the underlying values and second, that the consequences of doing so are not as far-reaching as may be initially believed.


The transboundary transportation of carbon dioxide (CO2) gives rise to international legal issues not faced in other standalone carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects or domestic projects. While the European Union CCS Directive establishes a framework for CCS, it does not address specifically the issue of transboundary transportation. This will require participating Member States to agree a statutory framework for CO2 transport, which addresses issues at the international, national and local levels of law. This paper considers several key issues for developing and resolving legal issues around ownership and risk for CO2 transportation, an area with limited research literature to date. The legal challenges are examined using a 'pilot' project to explore and highlight specific examples. The research draws from a series of CCS industry stakeholder meetings and analysis was developed through interdisciplinary perspectives. In addition, the potential partnership arrangements are explored from a law and policy perspective with an examination of the key issues for these partnerships for Member States. Finally, this research presents a timeline for a legal strategy on resolving the issues for risk and ownership for CO2 transport.


ShotSpotter technology is a rapid identification and response system used in ninety American cities that is designed to detect gunshots and dispatch police. ShotSpotter is one of many powerful surveillance tools used by local police departments to purportedly help fight crime, but they often do so at the expense of infringing upon privacy rights and civil liberties. This Article expands the conversation about ShotSpotter technology considerably by examining the adjacent Fourth Amendment issues emanating from its use. For example, law enforcement increasingly relies on ShotSpotter to create reasonable suspicion where it does not exist. In practice, the use of ShotSpotter increases the frequency of police interactions, which also increases the risk of Black Americans becoming the victims of police brutality or harassment. Such racialized policing facilitates the status quo of violence and bias against Black Americans.

This Article uses recent cases from the D.C., the Fourth, and Seventh Circuits as a foundation to argue that officers arriving on the scene to investigate a gunshot sound they were alerted of via ShotSpotter technology should not be allowed to use the gunshot sound as the basis of reasonable suspicion and subsequent search and seizure. At the heart of this Article is the argument that the use of ShotSpotter technology is unconstitutional under City of Indianapolis v. Edmond because it is not used for a specific law enforcement purpose beyond preventing crime generally. Under the reasoning and result of Edmond, law enforcement is prohibited from using ShotSpotters unless officers have reasons for individualized suspicion.

Spending more money on ineffective ShotSpotters placed in "high crime" neighborhoods across America is not the answer to reducing gun violence. As seen with Oakland's successful Ceasefire program, there are innovative ways to simultaneously build trust in communities and curb gun violence. Indeed, properly designed group violence reduction strategies will foster and maintain dignity for participants in a program tailored to saves lives and promote community healing.


By the methods of sequential soil cores and buried bags, an investigation was conducted to study the seasonal dynamics of fine roots in a 20-year-old Pinus massoniana plantation in Three Gorges Reservoir Area from March to December 2011, with the annual production and turnover rate of the fine roots calculated. In the plantation, the annual mean biomass of <2 mm fine roots was 146.98 g x m(-2) x a(-1), in which, the living root biomass (102.92 g x m(-2) x a(-1)) was far greater than that of the dead root biomass (44.06 g x m(-2) x a(-1)). Among the fine roots with different sizes, <1 mm fine roots had an obvious seasonal dynamics in their biomass, showing a unimodal curve in the sampling period. The annual production and turnover rate of <2 mm fine roots were 104. 12 g x m(-2) x 1(-1) and 1.05 a(-1), respectively, in which, the annual production of <1 mm and 1-2 mm fine roots was 58.35 and 45.77 g x m(-2) x a(-1), and the turnover rate was 1.41 and 0.69 a(-1), respectively.


The sustained growth of physical therapy as a profession depends on continual examination of its body of knowledge. Theory articles present and critique this body of knowledge. One mechanism for advancing theory in physical therapy is presented.


Through simulation analyses of vacuum counter-pressure casting fuzzy control systems based on MATLAB, fuzzy control systems designed by simulation can track technical route established well. When transmission functions of vacuum counter-pressure casting controlled objects are changed in operation, fuzzy control systems can carry on self-regulation and stabilize quickly, and embody the advantages of fleet response velocity and little adjusting quantity. The design of vacuum counter-pressure casting fuzzy control systems is accelerated and improved greatly by simulation based on MATLAB. Meanwhile, their design is accurate and reliable. Moreover, microstructure and properties of thin-wall aluminum alloy castings are improved effectively by using fuzzy control systems.


In this paper, we report on an experimental investigation of a shape-controlled percolation transition in two-dimensional (2D) amorphous packing of dimers without long-range order. In the maximally random jammed (MRJ) packing of asymmetric dimers consisting of head and body, a dramatic increase in the connectivity of heads upon increasing the head-to-body size ratio γ leads to a percolation transition of the heads at the well-defined percolation threshold. In comparison with binary disks, the existence of a bond in dimers causes the heads to be homogeneously distributed over a system by inhibiting the local segregation. Interestingly, we found, however, that the cluster structure at the percolation threshold is insensitive to the bond, even though the existence of the bonds affects the percolation threshold as well as the head distribution. The fractal dimensions at the percolation threshold obey the universal law of the 2D percolation theory independently of the existence of bonds. Our finding can provide us with a new perspective of interesting applications of randomly assembled binary composites by using the homogeneous particle distribution and the sensitively tunable connectivity under particle shape control.


The effects on renal function of an intravenous infusion of calcium gluconate at subpressor doses have been investigated in a group of seven normotensive male volunteers. In the absence of changes in blood pressure, the calcium gluconate induced a significant increase in renal plasma flow and the glomerular filtration rate (P less than 0.01) with a significant fall in the filtration fraction (P less than 0.01). Both diuresis and natriuresis increased significantly (P less than 0.01), plasma renin activity fell (P less than 0.01) and the urinary excretion of 6-keto prostaglandin F1 alpha (PGF1 alpha) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) increased (P less than 0.01). These results indicate that calcium infusion at subpressor doses has renal vasodilating, diuretic and natriuretic properties that appear to be facilitated by an increase in the renal production of vasodilatory and natriuretic prostaglandins.


The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of retinoic acid (RA) and/or dexamethasone and growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH) in the induction of somatotroph cell differentiation. Immunohistochemistry, radioimmunoassay, 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol -1,2-y1)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay, and immune electron microscopy were employed to determine the effect of incubation with these constituents on the differentiation into somatotrophs of cells isolated from the rat embryonic pituitary gland. RA administration increased the proportion of growth hormone (GH) positive somatotroph cells and GH secretion in embryonic pituitary cells (P<0.01). After 4 days of incubation with RA, additional administration of dexamethasone further increased the proportion of somatotroph cells and GH secretion (P<0.01), and increased the number of secretory granules in the somatotroph cells. Addition of GHRH alone had no such effect (P>0.05). However, addition of GHRH to treatment with RA plus dexamethasone significantly increased both the proportion of somatotroph cells and the secretion of GH compared to treatment with RA or dexamethasone alone or RA plus dexamethasone (P<0.01). RA promoted the early differentiation of somatotroph cells, dexamethasone promoted the differentiation and maturation of somatotroph cells and in addition, RA, dexamethasone and GHRH together exerted synergistic effects that markedly promoted somatotroph cell differentiation, maturation and GH secretion.


This article explains the risks and consequences for a company and its staff in the context of anti-bribery laws violations. It discusses how to mitigate such risks and shows that implementing ISO 37001, an international standard of an anti-bribery management system, offers a way forward on national and international level. Because of the global consensus and reach of ISO standards, ISO 37001 seems to be the only antibribery management system to be accepted and understood globally by public authorities, enforcement agencies and business partners. Certification by an accredited certification body offers in addition an independent qualified assurance.


This paper presents a winding design technique for three phase permanent magnet (PM) motors. The winding factor and the emf total harmonic distortion are provided. A computer-aided design (CAD) program was developed and implemented using the Visual Basic language. Finite element analysis (FEA) program was linked into the CAD program to calculate the motor performances.


We report on the demonstration of optically pumped photonic crystal lasers with InAs quantum dot active regions operating at room temperature near 1310 nm. Absorbed threshold pump powers as low as 25 /spl mu/W are observed. We also extract a characteristic temperature of 17 K, which is attributed to limitations caused by surface recombination.


ABSTRACT Successive Indian governments have attempted to tackle the formidable task of creating a clean India, with varied results. With the country's rapidly growing middle class eager to participate in a sanitised global consumer capitalism, many Indians are becoming frustrated with the 'unruly' nature of their urban landscape, its dirty streets and public spaces. This is particularly discernible amongst India's middle-class youth, who seem impatient with the state's apparent inability to manage waste and disorder, and it is clear that several civil society campaigns designed to promote a clean India explicitly target Indian youth. In this paper, I explore what the ideological premise of cleansing initiatives reveals about the aspirations, needs and anxieties of India's youth. Video abstract Read the transcript Watch the video on Vimeo


The purpose of the current study is to examine the role of mothers`` personality traits in predicting their parenting stress. The study subjects were married working woman who live at Gyeonggi-do and has their first child studying in elementary, middle, or high school. Collected data were analyzed with SPSS WIN 18.0 program. The results were as follows.: First, it has been shown through examination of the general tendency of observation subjects`` relative factor, that many have above average parenting stress. The compositing factor for parenting stress were mainly the burden and distress of the parent role. Second, the differences in parenting stress were affected by relative variables in accordance with the general features of the study object. If the younger the parent, the higher the education, the lower the age of the first child, and if there were a child assistant after school, the parenting stress became larger. Third, after controlling for demographic characteristics, employed mothers`` neuroticism significantly predicted greater parenting stress. When mothers had more conscientiousness and openness, they reported less parenting stress which implied that interpretation and perception of child rearing experiences can vary depending on personality and predict parenting stress of working mothers.


An approach based on the IDEA method (intelligence, diagnostic, expertise, administration), which permits different telecommunication management networks (TMNs) to cooperate in order to achieve a global administration policy, is presented. The architecture based on the IDEA method is described. An approach used to solve the TMNs' cooperation problem is given. It is assumed that each TMN is composed of several management centers based on the IDEA architecture. A prototype that makes such an approach operational is described.<<ETX>>


This paper presents a comparative analysis of the performance of three UWB (ultra wideband) DSSS (direct sequence spread spectrum)/Rake modems used to communicate with mobile platforms over new mobile outdoor and indoor dense multipath UWB channel models developed in a companion paper. The Rake modems analyzed differ in the techniques used to estimate the channel and are called "decision-directed" "parallel- probe" and "serial-probe" modems. The performance analysis includes the effects of time-selective distortion and noise on the estimated tap weights wherein the time constant of the tap weight measurements and the number of Rake taps are optimized. Numerical results are presented for 2 GHz bandwidth transmitted signals, a 7.5 GHz carrier frequency, and channel BPSK symbol rates of .15, 1.5, and 15 Megasymbols/sec. The well known rate 1/2, constraint length 7 convolutional code using 3 bit soft decision Viterbi decoding is assumed. One moving and one stationary platform are postulated, with a velocity of 100 ft/sec for the outdoor channel and 5 ft/sec for the indoor channel. Required values of Es/No to achieve 10-6 decoded error rate are computed as a function of multipath spread.


BACKGROUND
Tools with the potential to predict risks of insecticide resistance and aid the evaluation and design of resistance management tactics are of value to all sectors of the pest management community. Here we describe use of a versatile individual-based model of resistance evolution to simulate how strategies employing single and multiple insecticides influence resistance development in the pollen beetle, Meligethes aeneus.

RESULTS
Under repeated exposure to a single insecticide, resistance evolved faster to a pyrethroid (lambda-cyhalothrin) than to a pyridine azomethane (pymetrozine), due to difference in initial efficacy. A mixture of these compounds delayed resistance compared to use of single products. The effectiveness of rotations depended on the sequence in which compounds were applied in response to pest density thresholds. Effectiveness of a mixture strategy declined with reductions in grower compliance. At least 50% compliance was needed to cause some delay in resistance development.

CONCLUSION
No single strategy meets all requirements for managing resistance. It is important to evaluate factors that prevail under particular pest management scenarios. The model used here provides operators with a valuable means for evaluating and extending sound resistance management advice, as well as understanding needs and opportunities offered by new control techniques. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.


Sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) are thought to be actively involved in the cycling of sulfur in acidic mine tailings. However, most studies have used circumstantial evidence to assess microbial sulfate activity in such environments. In order to fully ascertain the role of sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) in sulfur cycling in acidic mine tailings, we measured sulfate reduction rates, sulfur isotopic composition of reduced sulfide fractions, porewaters and solid-phase geochemistry and SRB populations in four different Cu-Zn tailings located in Timmins, Ontario, Canada. The tailings were sampled in the summer and in the spring, shortly after snowmelt. The results first indicate that all four sites showed very high sulfate reduction rates in the summer (∼100–1000 nmol cm− 3d−1), which corresponded to the presence of sulfide in the porewaters and to high SRB populations. In some of the sites, zones of microbial sulfate reduction also corresponded to a decline of organic carbon and to an apparent pyrite (with slightly negative δ34S values) enrichment around the same depth. Microbial sulfate reduction was also important in permanently acidic (pH 2–3) mine tailings sites, suggesting that SRB can be active under very acidic conditions. Secondly, the results showed that microbial sulfate reduction was greatly reduced in the spring, suggesting that temperature might be a key factor in the activity of SRB. However, a closer look at the results indicated that temperature was not the sole factor and that acidic conditions and limited substrate availability in the spring appeared to be important as well in limiting microbial sulfate par reduction in sulfidic mine tailings. Finally, the results indicate that sulfur undergoes rapid cycling throughout the year and that microbial sulfate reduction and metal sulfide precipitation do not appear to be a permanent sink for metals.


This paper presents a methodology to select input variables for time series prediction. A main motivation is to find some proper input variables which describe the time series dynamics properly. It is shown that even when the choice of input variables is confined to the lagged values of the process to be predicted, a nonlinear analysis of the most significant factors is crucial for improving the prediction quality. The proposed method is used to select the appropriate input variables for neuro fuzzy models utilized for time series prediction benchmark in NN3 competition as well as a second benchmark to show the generality of the claims. Results depict the effectiveness of the proposed method in proper input selection for neuro fuzzy models for prediction task.


We constructed seven intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) treatment plans for prostate cancer (49 irradiation fields which contained seven randomly-sampled patients and seven fields) and evaluated the dose distributions by using a radiochromic film (EBT3 film) and a 2D detector. We superposed the calculated dose distribution of the IMRT treatment plan on EBT3 film and the 2D detector results and then compared those with the γ-analysis pass rate. The relative positions of the beam and the detector were varied; the results of the analysis of the superior-inferior (SI) direction potentially differed, depending on the detector position, under an irradiation beam with the same fluence map. The detector was moved over a range of' 8 mm in the SI direction in 1-mm step increments, measurement were made at each position, and the results were analyzed. The γ-analysis compared the dose distributions from EBT3 film and the radiation treatment planning system (RTPS) for each patient and field; the pass rate with the γ-analysis from 98 to 100% was 2.04%. When we compared the dose distributions of the 2D detector and the RTPS, the pass rate from 98 to 100% was 63.2%. The mean values for the ?-analysis pass rates for EBT3 film and the 2D detector were 94.2 and 97.6%, respectively. Volume averaging of the data indicated a mean pass rate and standard deviation of 98.6 and 0.91%, respectively, and a pass rate of more than 96% for all positions. A 2D detector can, therefore, be used as an alternative apparatus for IMRT dose verification.


There is a long-standing debate in academic and policymaking circles about the normative merits and economic effects of a universal basic income (UBI). However, existing literature does not sufficiently address the question of which factors are associated with individual support for a UBI. While a large literature in political economy has focused on individual preferences for existing welfare state benefits, it has not analysed the case of a UBI. Using the eighth wave of the European Social Survey (ESS), this article seeks to remedy this gap by analysing individual support for a UBI in 21 European countries. The findings from logistic regression analyses with country fixed effects are partly consistent with the expectations of previous social policy and political economy literatures. Younger, low-income, left-leaning individuals and the unemployed are more likely to support a UBI. Individuals with positive views of benefit recipients and/or high trust in political institutions are also more supportive, while anti-immigration attitudes are associated with lower support. By contrast, the patterns across occupations are mixed and male respondents appear slightly more supportive. Trade union membership is not statistically significant, perhaps because of contradictory effects: unions typically support new welfare state policies but they also have a key role in many existing welfare state schemes and may worry about individuals' attachment to the labour market. At the cross-national level, support tends to be higher where benefit activation is more pronounced and unemployment benefits less generous. These results suggest one possible reason why countries with high support for a UBI have not introduced it: the mixed support among the left means a pro-UBI coalition has to draw on right-wing voters who may support it only with lower taxes and/or extensive replacement of welfare state benefits, which in turn may further alienate parts of the left.


Tuberculosis is common in developing countries but hepatic tuberculosis is rare, especially in the form of hepatic tuberculomas or macronodular tuberculoma. Most of the cases have been misdiagnosed as hepatic tumours on medical imaging. 1 - 3 Many reports have described its magnetic resonance image (MRI) and differential diagnosis. 4 - 1 1 This paper is a summary of MRI findings and analysis of 10 cases with hepatic tuberculoma.


Modification of steel surface by hardening process is traditionally done either by
oxy-fuel, induction, laser or electron beam hardening. The technique using plasma arc
which needed low initial cost is a new alternative for surface hardening. In this work,
single and multiple pass of plasma arc was used to improve the hardness of ASSAB 705
steel surface. The variable parameters investigated were scanning velocity, operating
current, gas pressure and stand off distance. After single pass scanning treatment, four
types of surfaces were observed. They were fully-melted, partially-melted, non-melted
and inconstant-affected where each type of surface indicated different type of
roughness. This work has showed that scanning speed and operating current was
significantly influence the type of surface and roughness values. Analysis on nonmelted
surface after treatment gives maximum depth of hardened layer of about 186.7
um as well as hardness values of about 1100 HV50. It was also observed that the depth
of harden layer and hardness value was significantly decreases with increase in scanning
speed or with decreasing operating current. Microstructure analysis on hardened layer
also revealed the formation of martensite structure. Single pass scanning treatment
produced approximately 2 mm width of hardened surface. Larger area of hardened
surface could be produced by multiple pass scanning treatment. However the treatment
produced uneven hardness due to reheating effect on prior hardened layer. The results
from this work indicate that plasma arc is viable tool for surface hardening.


The Arab uprisings have brought about a new wave of Middle East political science research that seeks to comparatively account for the different political trajectories in the region. In order to situate these diverse post-2011 scholarly studies, this paper introduces Comparative Area Studies (CAS) as an analytical perspective which combines the context sensitivity of area studies with the explicit and systematic use of comparisons. It finds that while intra-regional comparisons are the mainstay of political science studies of the Arab uprisings, there is also an emerging, very promising strand of cross-regional comparisons that draws on insights from, for example, the post-Soviet space or from European history. The paper concludes by evaluating the promises, risks and prospects of following a CAS perspective in the study of Middle East politics.


AIM
To investigate the major steps of thrombogenesis and to identify the differences in these steps between idiopathic patient group and control group.

METHODS
Fibrinogenesis was studied by measuring the activated factor VII, total and free levels of tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI). The fibrinolysis step was investigated by determining the global fibrinolytic capacity. The endothelial function was assessed by measuring the levels of soluble adhesion molecules, namely soluble intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (sICAM-1), soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (sVCAM-1) and soluble E-selectin molecule. The exclusion criteria from "idiopathic" patient group were abdominal surgery, pregnancy, use of oral contraceptives, anti-phospholipid syndrome, Behçet's disease, cancer, myeloproliferative diseases. The congenital factors like mutations of factor-V Leiden and prothrombin, deficiencies of proteins C and S, antithrombin, hyperhomocysteinemia and hyperfibrinogenemia were ruled out. The total number of patients was reduced from 96 to 9 (7 with portal vein thrombosis, 2 Budd Chiari syndrome) by exclusion criteria.

RESULTS
The levels of adhesion molecules sICAM-1, sVCAM-1, free TFPI levels and global fibrinolytic capacity were significantly different (P<0.05) in the patient group indicating an endothelial dysfunction and a lower fibrinolytic activity.

CONCLUSION
These results show that this patient group should be tested by means of endothelial dysfunction and managed differently.


Stream microorganisms can drive ecosystem processes, such as carbon cycling; however, changes in water chemistry can slow down or speed up the rate that carbon moves through the ecosystem. When microorganisms respire, inorganic carbon is released back into the system. In this study, we investigated the influence of water chemistry on microbial respiration and the breakdown of organic matter using two types of standardized substrates: labile cellulose sponge and recalcitrant red oak wood veneer. The rate of breakdown of these substrates correlated positively with increasing microbial respiration rates. Water chemistry data was used to assess for correlation with the microbial respiration rates. Specific conductance (SPC) was found to be a significant predictor model of microbial respiration rates; as SPC increased, microbial respiration rates increased.  These correlations could provide us with new ways to predict the effects of stressors on multiple aspects of aquatic ecosystems, such as carbon cycling.


Objective: To analyze the goals set through an informative display at the bedside, from the perspective of the patient's experience and discuss the daily goals described in the light of patient-centered care. Methods: Qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and documentary research. Held from May to July 2019, in a cardiac intensive care unit of a public university hospital in the city of Rio de Janeiro. The data were collected through an informative display. Results: 30 displays were analyzed. The goal most mentioned by patients was related to hospital discharge, health and well-being, reported 22 (78.8%) times on the bedside information display. Conclusion: The study concluded that the informative display at the bedside can contribute as a facilitating tool for communicating patient goals and establishing strategies for offering patient-centered care. DESCRIPTORS: Nursing Care. Patient-Centered Care. Health Communication. Patient Safety. Intensive Care Units.


their motion increasing the yield strength of the alloy. A phenomenological model based on The effects of precipitation hardening occurring in a Co-Ni-Cr alloy after annealing treatments have been studied by using mechanical spectroscopy. The amplitude-dependent internal friction (ADIF) due to the dissipative motion of dislocations reveals the presence of a threshold strain for weakly pinned dislocations. The change of ADIF curves and the increase of the elastic modulus after thermal cycles producing precipitates suggest that dislocations motion is hindered leading to increasing strength of the material. Precipitation is confirmed by the changes of thermoelectric power (TEP) and by hardness measurements showing a hardness increase at the same temperature as the maximum in TEP curve. The ADIF spectra as well as the interaction between dislocations and precipitates are interpreted by proposing a phenomenological model based on the Granato-Lücke theory.


Although cirrhosis is a key risk factor for the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), mounting evidence indicates that in a subset of patients presenting with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) HCC manifests in the absence of cirrhosis. Given the sheer size of the ongoing non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) epidemic and the dismal prognosis associated with late-stage primary liver cancer there is an urgent need for HCC surveillance in the NASH population. Using serum levels of HCC biomarkers as vectors and biopsy-proven HCC or no HCC as outputs / binary classifier, a supervised learning campaign was undertaken to develop a minimally invasive technique for making a diagnosis of HCC in a clinically relevant model of NASH. Adult mice randomized to control diet or a fast food diet (FFD) were followed for up to 14 mo and serum level of a panel of HCC-relevant biomarkers was compared with liver biopsies at 3 and 14 mo. Both NAFLD Activity Score (NAS) and hepatic hydroxyproline content were elevated at 3 and 14 mo on FFD. Picrosirius red staining of liver sections revealed a filigree pattern of fibrillar collagen deposition with no cirrhosis at 14 mo on FFD. Nevertheless, 46% of animals bore one or more tumors on their livers confirmed as HCC in hematoxylin-eosin-stained liver sections. In this training set, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves analysis for serum levels of the HCC biomarkers osteopontin (OPN), alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and Dickkopf-1 (DKK1) returned concordance-statistic/area under ROC curve of ≥ 0.89. Serum levels of OPN (threshold, 218 ng/mL; sensitivity, 82%; specificity, 86%), AFP (136 ng/mL; 91%; 97%) and DKK1 (2.4 ng/mL; 82%; 81%) diagnostic for HCC were confirmed in a test set comprising mice on control diet or FFD and mice subjected to hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury. These data suggest that levels of circulating OPN, AFP and DKK1 can be used to make a diagnosis of HCC in a clinically relevant model of NASH.


A simple trypan blue-neutral red-Giemsa staining procedure for simultaneous evaluation of acrosome, sperm head, and tail membrane integrity and morphology has been used to evaluate equine spermatozoa. Some special characteristics and problems have arisen in evaluating stallion semen. One problem was the differentiation of intact vs. damaged sperm tails primarily in frozen and thawed samples. After freezing and thawing, a high percentage of spermatozoa with an unstained head and stained tail were observed. These cells are considered immotile. Therefore, unambiguous differentiation of intact vs. damaged sperm tail membrane is very important for evaluating semen quality. The aim of our study was to develop a method especially for stallion sperm to distinguish more accurately the different cell types. We compared Chicago sky blue 6B (CSB) to trypan blue (TB) for viability staining. CSB/Giemsa staining showed good repeatability and agreement with TB/Giemsa measurements. For densitometry analysis, individual digital images were taken from smears stained by CSB/Giemsa and by TB/Giemsa. A red-green-blue (RGB) histogram for each area of spermatozoa was drawn. Differences of means of RGB values of live vs. dead tails and separate live vs. dead heads from each photo were used to compare the two staining procedures. CSB produced similar live/dead sperm head differentiation and better tail differentiation. TB can be replaced by CSB and this results in more reliable evaluation. After staining with 0.16% CSB and 4 min fixation, 2–4 h Giemsa staining at 25–40° C is recommended for stallion semen.


Deposition of bioactive coatings composed of zinc oxide, cyclodextrin and cefepime (ZnO/CD/Cfp) was performed by the Matrix Assisted Pulsed Laser Evaporation (MAPLE) technique. The obtained nanostructures were characterized by X-ray diffraction, IR microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The efficient release of cefepime was correlated with an increased anti-biofilm activity of ZnO/CD/Cfp composites. In vitro and in vivo tests have revealed a good biocompatibility of ZnO/CD/Cfp coatings, which recommend them as competitive candidates for the development of antimicrobial surfaces with biomedical applications. The release of the fourth generation cephalosporin Cfp in a biologically active form from the ZnO matrix could help preventing the bacterial adhesion and the subsequent colonization and biofilm development on various surfaces, and thus decreasing the risk of biofilm-related infections.


The capabilities of a set of finite-difference codes, based on the finite-integration technique (FIT), for solving Maxwell's equations have been examined. Each of the Maxwell equations is separately discretized to produce an equivalent matrix equation. In this way, problems from a very broad area of physics and engineering can be solved by a method which not only produces unique, physical solutions, but in which the divergence equations are also satisfied. With only 60-204 bytes per mesh cell and six unknowns per cell, it is possible to calculate very large problems with up to 12 million unknowns on a modern workstation with a 128-MB memory. To indicate the range and complexity of the problems which can be solved using this method, a series of large (approaching a million unknowns) problems is presented-in particular, in the frequency domain for both resonant and eddy current problems and in the time domain for the broadband calculation of filter structures. >


Medicinal and wild food plants have always played an important role in people's lives especially in rural areas. Similar situation can be said for islands due to the reason of them being isolated from mainland. This paper reports an ethnobotanical investigations performed in 2009 and 2014 to determine medicinal and wild food plants of Marmara Island. A total of 30 individuals were interviewed (19 men, 11 women). Totally, 22 plants are recorded as used as traditional folk medicine for the region, and nine of these are also used as a source of wild food. Furthermore, 18 taxa are wild sources of nutrition for the area. The plants most commonly used in the region as medicinal remedies were Salvia fruticosa , Hypericum perforatum , Ficus carica , and Mentha spicata . Plants are mostly used for the treatment of abdominal pain, the common cold, and haemorrhoids. The species most commonly used for food are: Salvia fruticosa , Arbutus unedo , Rhus coriaria , and Rubus sanctus . This ethnobotanical study conducted in this island will enable the traditional use of wild plants both as food sources and herbal remedies to be passed on to future generations.


The transplantation of personalized organs or tissues will benefit patients with various diseases and disorders. Decellularization is a method to generate an acellular, non-immunogenic natural scaffold. The personalized tissue can be generated after recellularization with recipient stem cells and it can be transplanted to recipient without the need for immune suppression. The current thesis focuses on developing decellularization and recellularization strategies for simple tissue (human saphenous veins), complex tissue (porcine skin) and organs (porcine pancreas and kidneys). In Paper I, decellularization of human saphenous veins is demonstrated followed by recellularization with peripheral blood and endothelial media perfusion in a bioreactor to show cell attachment at the lumen of the vein. In Paper II, the application of acellular porcine skin as a gel mixed with peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) in mice with skin wounds revealed a faster healing rate, complete wound closure, increased collagen deposition and improved angiogenesis. Papers III and IV demonstrate that porcine pancreas and kidneys decellularized in 4°C and room temperatures respectively resulted in loss of nuclei and the preservation of extracellular matrix proteins. The recellularization of pieces of acellular pancreas and kidney with human fetal pancreatic or kidney progenitor cells showed the attachment, infiltration and proliferation of human cells. The recellularized pancreas pieces expressed the characteristic exocrine (α-amylase) and endocrine (c-peptide, glucagon) markers. The recellularized kidney pieces also showed cell growth over the acellular matrix and the increased expression of important transcription factors involved in kidney development. Taken together, protocols for the decellularization of saphenous veins, skin, pancreas and kidneys were established. The recellularization of veins with peripheral blood and the application of porcine skin gel with PBMC may benefit patients with vascular diseases and burns respectively. The recellularization of the acellular pancreas and kidney with human fetal stem cells demonstrates the potential of fetal cells in further functional studies and may be in whole-organ recellularization experiments. The technique of decellularization and recellularization to bioengineer tissues and organs may thus have important implications in the field of regenerative medicine and ultimately organ transplantation.


The genome is a stable repository of vastly intricate genetic information developed over eons of evolution; this information is replicated at the highest fidelity and expressed within each cell at the highest selectivity. Non‐leukemia cancers break this standard; the intricate genetic information qualitatively and progressively deteriorates, resulting in a somatic Darwinian free‐for‐all. In a process lasting several years, a genomically heterogeneous population replicates from a single cell that originally lost the ability to preserve its genomic integrity. Cells selected for their abilities to proliferate and spread, while evading host defenses, inexorably expand their numbers. The clinical consequences of this become severe, as the genomically diverse cell population that evolves contains members that can evade most therapeutic approaches aimed at "the tumor cell". BioEssays 23:1037–1046, 2001. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.


This paper describes the results of an experimental investigation carried out to determine the fracture properties of geopolymer concrete. Geopolymer concrete of grade M30 was developed and the results were compared with that of conventional concrete of the same grade. A total number of 18 notched prisms of size 150mmx150mmx500mm with varying notch depth were prepared and subjected to bending test. Load deflection and load CMOD (crack mouth opening displacement) characteristics of each prism were observed. Based on this, the fracture parameters such as fracture energy and stress intensity factor were determined. The test results showed that geopolymer concrete exhibited enhanced performance compared to conventional concrete of the same grade. The results of experimental investigation have also been compared with those obtained by FEM analysis, and the comparison was found to be satisfactory.


Cloud computing offers the potential to help scientists to process massive number of computing resources often required in machine learning application such as computer vision problems. This proposal would like to show that which benefits can be obtained from cloud in order to help medical image analysis users (including scientists, clinicians, and research institutes). As security and privacy of algorithms are important for most of algorithms inventors, these algorithms can be hidden in a cloud to allow the users to use the algorithms as a package without any access to see/change their inside. In another word, in the user part, users send their images to the cloud and configure the algorithm via an interface. In the cloud part, the algorithms are applied to this image and the results are returned back to the user. My proposal has two parts: (1) investigate the potential of cloud computing for computer vision problems and (2) study the components of a proposed cloud-based framework for medical image analysis application and develop them (depending on the length of the internship). The investigation part will involve a study on several aspects of the problem including security, usability (for medical end users of the service), appropriate programming abstractions for vision problems, scalability and resource requirements. In the second part of this proposal I am going to thoroughly study of the proposed framework components and their relations and develop them. The proposed cloud-based framework includes an integrated environment to enable scientists and clinicians to access to the previous and current medical image analysis algorithms using a handful user interface without any access to the algorithm codes and procedures.


Evolutionary adaptation increases the fitness of a species in its environment. It can occur through rewiring of gene regulatory networks, such that an organism responds appropriately to environmental changes. We investigated whether sirtuin deacetylases, which repress transcription and require NAD+ for activity, serve as transcriptional rewiring points that facilitate the evolution of potentially adaptive traits. If so, bringing genes under the control of sirtuins could enable organisms to mount appropriate responses to stresses that decrease NAD+ levels. To explore how the genomic targets of sirtuins shift over evolutionary time, we compared two yeast species, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Kluyveromyces lactis, that display differences in cellular metabolism and life cycle timing in response to nutrient availability. We identified sirtuin-regulated genes through a combination of chromatin immunoprecipitation and RNA expression. In both species, regulated genes were associated with NAD+ homeostasis, mating, and sporulation, but the specific genes differed. In addition, regulated genes in K. lactis were associated with other processes, including utilization of nonglucose carbon sources, detoxification of arsenic, and production of the siderophore pulcherrimin. Consistent with the species-restricted regulation of these genes, sirtuin deletion affected relevant phenotypes in K. lactis but not S. cerevisiae. Finally, sirtuin-regulated gene sets were depleted for broadly conserved genes, consistent with sirtuins regulating processes restricted to a few species. Taken together, these results are consistent with the notion that sirtuins serve as rewiring points that allow species to evolve distinct responses to low NAD+ stress.