Eddies can influence biogeochemical cycles through a variety of mechanisms, including the excitation of vertical velocities and the horizontal advection of nutrients and ecosystems, both around the eddy periphery by rotational currents and by the trapping of fluid and subsequent transport by the eddy. In this study, we present an analysis of the influence of mesoscale ocean eddies on near-surface chlorophyll (CHL) estimated from satellite measurements of ocean color. The influences of horizontal advection, trapping, and upwelling/downwelling on CHL are analyzed in an eddy-centric frame of reference by collocating satellite observations to eddy interiors, as defined by their sea surface height signatures. The influence of mesoscale eddies on CHL varies regionally. In most boundary current regions, cyclonic eddies exhibit positive CHL anomalies and anticyclonic eddies contain negative CHL anomalies. In the interior of the South Indian Ocean, however, the opposite occurs. The various mechanisms by which eddies can influence phytoplankton communities are summarized and regions where the observed CHL response to eddies is consistent with one or more of the mechanisms are discussed. This study does not attempt to link the observed regional variability definitively to any particular mechanism but provides a global overview of how eddies influence CHL anomalies.


Objective: The aim of this study was to describe the prevalence of main hereditary thrombophilias, Janus kinase 2 (JAK2) V617F mutation, antiphospholipid antibody syndrome (APS), and hyperhomocysteinemia in Brazilian children and adolescents diagnosed with portal vein thrombosis (PVT) without associated hepatic disease. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out with 32 children with PVT in accompaniment at Hospital das Clínicas of the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais from January 1990 to July 2011. Laboratory evaluation of thrombophilias was performed from September 2010 to July 2011. Results: Thirty-two patients were evaluated; 59% were boys. Median age at diagnosis was 2.4 years. Mean time of patients' accompaniment was between 4.7 and 5.2 years. The presence of hereditary and acquired thrombophilias occurred in 34.4% of patients, and 9 of them also showed other risk factors in the previous history evaluation. Risk factors were absent in the previous history of 18 patients (56.3%). Two patients showed persistent high titres of anticardiolipin antibodies. Hyperhomocysteinemia was not observed. One patient was heterozygous for factor V Leiden and prothrombin G20210A mutation (3.1%). Eleven patients (34.4%) showed heterozygous methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) C677T, and no patient had the JAK2V617F mutation. Conclusions: Even after investigation of main hereditary and acquired thrombophilia, PVT remains without apparent cause in most patients. Nevertheless, association of local and systemic risk factors seems to be important also in the pediatric age group. Therefore, despite the low prevalence, a complete investigation, which includes both hereditary and acquired thrombophilias, may be necessary.


The article aims to analyze the behavior of the solvency rates of companies with monetary mismatches of the industrial sector of the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV) during the exchange variations of 2007-2017. Six financial multiples were used to measure solvency, the data for its calculation were obtained from ECONOMATICA, the Mexican Stock Exchange and Banco de Mexico. Using also the foreign currency debt index, the price of the dollar and the coding of the depreciation and appreciation of the Mexican currency, a logistical regression was developed, in which two groups of companies were established: (1) with exchange rate losses and (2) without foreign exchange losses. We found that solvency levels in companies that had foreign exchange losses did not deteriorate during the depreciation episodes of the Mexican currency. The variables that statistically managed to explain why companies take foreign exchange losses were: currency volatility, the price of the dollar, and the level of foreign currency debts.


The discovery of hyper-extended domains in deep water rifted margins challenged the classical view of the evolution of rift systems leading to continental breakup. In these hyper-extended domains, rift basins occur over less than 10km thick extended continental crust or exhumed subcontinental mantle. Neither their imaged stratigraphic architecture and drilled facies nor the subsidence history can be explained by classical McKenzie-type rift models. Studies performed on off- and on-shore examples demonstrate the importance of tectonic exhumation by detachment faulting. However, despite their apparent widespread occurrence in present-day rifted margins, the overall tectono-sedimentary evolution of these systems remains poorly understood. In this study we review and compare key multi-scale observations from 3 different hyper-extended rift systems. 1) The first example, in the Western Pyrenees, corresponds to a complete sediment-rich Cretaceous hyper-extended rift system that can be investigated. 2) The second example in the Swiss Alps, gives the access to supra-detachment sedimentary evolution in a sediment-starved context. 3) The last example exposed in Baja California Sur, shows supra-detachment sedimentary evolution in sediment-rich and shallow water environment. Based on these studies in three different settings, we conclude that the basins forming in the lower and upper plate position respective to detachment fault polarity develop as two different types of basins. Lower plate basins develop over top-basement detachment systems and discontinuous pieces of pre-rift strata (extensional allochthons). In this setting, the sequential development of low-angle detachment systems implies the creation of new real estate crust (new seafloor surfaces) and a complex syn-rift stratigraphic architecture. Through this domain, the deposition of syn- and post-tectonic sediments above exhumation surfaces are diachronous along stretching direction illustrating relative migration of exhumation processes. Syn-tectonic deposits correspond to the erosion of exhumed material and mass-wasting processes along active detachment fault scarps. Once active exhumation migrates, inactive parts of detachment merge to form a lower plate sag basin under thermal subsidence. In contrast, the upper plate basin records a single isochronous sag phase over weakly extended pre-rift strata. This observation suggests that upper plate sag formation is controlled by depth-dependent crustal extension. As illustrated by the different study cases, the sag phase sedimentary record of upper and lower plate settings strongly depends on their respective connection with sediment sourcing systems. Finally, we used the Rifter software developed within the Margin Modelling Phase 3 (MM3) consortium to generate equilibrated lithospheric sections based on our observations. Through these kinematic numerical experiments, we aim to quantify the tectonic, thermal and isostatic evolution of hyper-extended rift systems.


The participation of the Russian Federation in international environmental conventions and agreements as the successor of the USSR and as a new subject of the international law of the XXth century is considered. Environmental problems arise due to the excessive anthropogenic impact on nature. Rational use of natural resources requires the development and purposeful application of environmental and legal instruments for the protection of the natural objects and systems that are not included into the jurisdiction of individual countries and are not the national heritage of a particular state. The efficiency of the norms of the international environmental law is low since they come into conflict with the economic interests of states. Nature continues to be considered as the basis of the economy, and participation in international agreements means restrictions on certain economic activities, therefore, a number of countries do not ratify international environmental conventions for economic reasons, neglecting environmental consequences. Another reason for the refusal of ratification is the desire to hide from the public information about the deterioration of the environment, which is a violation of the interests of civil society and a risk to human health.


There is a growing interest in using 18F-DPA-714 PET to study neuroinflammation and microglial activation through imaging the 18-kDa translocator protein (TSPO). Although quantification of 18F-DPA-714 binding can be achieved through kinetic modeling analysis with an arterial input function (AIF) measured with blood sampling procedures, the invasiveness of such procedures has been an obstacle for wide application. To address these challenges, we developed an image-derived input function (IDIF) that noninvasively estimates the arterial input function from the images acquired for 18F-DPA-714 quantification. Methods: The method entails three fully automatic steps to extract the IDIF, including a segmentation of voxels with highest likelihood of being the arterial blood over the carotid artery, a model-based matrix factorization to extract the arterial blood signal, and a scaling optimization procedure to scale the extracted arterial blood signal into the activity concentration unit. Two cohorts of human subjects were used to evaluate the extracted IDIF. In the first cohort of five subjects, arterial blood sampling was performed, and the calculated IDIF was validated against the measured AIF through the comparison of distribution volumes from AIF (VT,AIF) and IDIF (VT,IDIF). In the second cohort, PET studies from twenty-eight healthy controls without arterial blood sampling were used to compare VT,IDIF with VT,REF measured using a reference region-based analysis to evaluate whether it can distinguish high-affinity (HAB) and mixed-affinity (MAB) binders. Results: In the arterial blood-sampling cohort, VT derived from IDIF was found to be an accurate surrogate of the VT from AIF. The bias of VT, IDIF was −5.8 ± 7.8% when compared to VT,AIF, and the linear mixed effect model showed a high correlation between VT,AIF and VT, IDIF (p < 0.001). In the nonblood-sampling cohort, VT, IDIF showed a significance difference between the HAB and MAB healthy controls. VT, IDIF and standard uptake values (SUV) showed superior results in distinguishing HAB from MAB subjects than VT,REF. Conclusions: A novel IDIF method for 18F-DPA-714 PET quantification was developed and evaluated in this study. This IDIF provides a noninvasive alternative measurement of VT to quantify the TSPO binding of 18F-DPA-714 in the human brain through dynamic PET scans.


This article investigates the relationship between Theodor Herzl's journalistic career and his Zionist enterprise. Contrary to the received wisdom that Herzl's post in the Neue Freie Presse had little to do with his Zionist vision, it is argued that his Zionist awakening sprang essentially from his experience as an influential journalist working in the early days of mass-circulation newspapers. It is further shown that once Herzl took up the Zionist cause he made a sophisticated use of mass-circulation newspapers and of his post in the Neue Freie Presse to bring about and propagate his Zionist plan. In the final analysis, it is suggested that Herzl's position as a leading journalist working in the early days of mass-circulation played a key role in shaping his particular strand of political Zionism as well as in securing his initial leadership of the Zionist movement.


Non-adherence to treatment for hypertension increases the risk of disease complications. The factors associated with non-adherence in a resource poor settings should be determined so as to lower the impact of the disease on the health systems which are already overburdened with infectious diseases. This study was therefore carried out among a sample of 804 hypertensive patients to determine factors that are associated with non-adherence to antihypertensive treatment. A cross sectional study was carried out from April to December 2009 in District McGann hospital, a tertiary care centre and teaching hospital in Shimoga, Karnataka. The participants were chosen from the out-patients of General Medicine department using systematic sampling. They were aged 35 years and above, had been taking antihypertensive treatment for at least one month and gave informed consent to participate. Non adherence to antihypertensive therapy in the study population was 28.9%. Factors that were independently associated with non-adherence were: female sex, not understanding the drug regimen well, affordability to only some or none of prescribed drugs and longer time since last since last visit to a health care facility. Hence it is suggested that there is need to improve it through strategies helping patients understand their drug regimens, always availing drugs in the hospital so that they do not have to buy them and giving shorter time between visits to the nearest health care facility.


As part of a multiyear study to evaluate the affects of altered water inputs to an upland forest many aspects of tree growth physiology were studied. Chapter 16 of this book deals with fine root growth as studied over a 7 year period using a variety of methods. This chapter summarizes the results and conclusions from those efforts.


Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic caused the sudden suspension of face-to-face classes in many higher institutions worldwide. To leverage preparedness of higher education in similar emergencies preventing on-campus classes, we aimed to understand some of the factors that facilitated the rapid switch to remote learning. Methods: We quantitatively analyzed how rapid switch to remote learning following pandemic (Spring 2020) impacted access to lecture-recording archives by undergraduate pharmacy students. The number of views per lecture for each course were mapped to the time of the day, weeks of the term and number of weekly assessments. Data were compared between Spring 2019 and 2020 in addition to analyzing differences before and after remote learning (Spring 2020). Findings: Weekly lecture-recording views after the suspension of in-person classes in Spring 2020 were higher compared to Spring 2019 (452 versus 291 views). Driven by viewing of the previous year's archives (Spring 2019), the number of weekly views soared in weeks 11-13 (Spring 2020) compared to before coinciding with the sudden switch to online learning although all scheduled assessments in this period were postponed. This was confirmed by comparing views of Spring 2019 archives at two time points – November 2019 and September 2020. All courses studied had higher views per lecture in September 2020 compared to November 2019. Conclusion: Our study underscores the benefits of embedding lecture-capture systems to support student's learning and leverage preparedness of universities to respond to emergencies preventing face-to-face classes.


Dysfunctional family is a social problem that also caused other social problems. It is important to understand the basic character of family which has social problem in order to prevent and to solve social problems. This study aims to describe the profile of dysfunctional families which have social problems. The subject comprised 92 persons (70 men; 22 women; aged 15-79 years) who have social problems and stayed in the social centers, social rehabilitation centers, or slum areas of Semarang city. Data were collected using Dysfunctional Family Questionnaire and Risk-Parenting Scale and were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results showed that the majority (51.09%) of dysfunctional families which have social problems come from low economic status, low level of educational background (21.74% fathers and 14.13% mothers finished junior high school of higher; the remaining subject went to elementary school or were illiterate); the majority of participants (69.56%) have more than three siblings. Among parental inadequate behaviors, smoking behavior was considered to bring strongly negative impact to the family members.


In this episode we interview Vybarr Cregan-Reid, author of the fascinating new book 'Footnotes: How Running Makes Us Human'. In this conversation you will learn how humans are uniquely built for running, the wonders of the foot, how exercise makes us smarter, where running and English Literature intersect, the concept of green exercise, and the notorious history of the treadmill! Be sure to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes or Google Play so you can get all our new episodes!


Summary The influence of d-tubocurarine, two central nervous system depressants (pentobarbital and chloral hydrate) and two central nervous system stimulants (pentylene-tetrazol and 5-ethyl-5-(l,3 dimethylbutyl) barbituric acid) on the concentrations of inorganic phosphate, phosphocreatine, and ATP in the cerebrum of the rhesus monkey has been investigated. d-Tubocurarine was the only one of these compounds to produce any statistically significant effect. With this agent there was a significant decrease in phospho-creatine content without any alteration in inorganic phosphate or ATP.


Abstract. The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Petra is characterized by a spectacular geo-archaeological landscape that lead to its inscription as World Heritage Site in 1985. Petra is also a fragile site facing a wide diversity of risks, ranging from those posed by environmental factors as well as those attributed to tourism. In recent years, hazardous natural phenomena were registered as increasingly impacting the site, and most specifically the 'Siq', a 1.2 km naturally formed gorge serving as the only tourist entrance to the archaeological park, posing a major threat to cultural heritage and visitors. These recent events have prompted UNESCO Amman Office, in cooperation with the national authorities, to develop a strategy towards prevention and mitigation of instability phenomena at the 'Siq' and, thus, further contribute to the management and conservation of the site through the implementation of the multi-year Italian funded "Siq Stability" project Actions have been primarily focusing on the analysis of the stability conditions of the 'Siq' slopes, the installation of an integrated monitoring system and the definition and implementation of mitigation measures against rock instability. This paper reports a detailed description of the integrated monitoring system installed paying particular attention on the wireless monitoring devices and the EASA applications, which proved to be some of the most successful systems implemented in the framework of the project. Some preliminary results regarding the data retrieved, policies applied and actions taken to ensure long-term sustainability and capacity development of the national authorities are also reported.


During neuronal exocytosis, the vesicle-bound soluble NSF attachment protein (SNAP) receptor (SNARE) synaptobrevin 2 forms complexes with the plasma membrane–bound SNAREs syntaxin 1A and SNAP25 to initiate the fusion reaction. However, it is not known whether in the native membrane SNAREs are constitutively active or whether they are unable to enter SNARE complexes unless activated before membrane fusion. Here we used binding of labeled recombinant SNAREs to inside-out carrier supported plasma membrane sheets of PC12 cells to probe for the activity of endogenous SNAREs. Binding was specific, saturable, and depended on the presence of membrane-resident SNARE partners. Our data show that virtually all of the endogenous syntaxin 1 and SNAP-25 are highly reactive and readily form SNARE complexes with exogenously added SNAREs. Furthermore, complexes between endogenous SNAREs were not detectable when the membranes are freshly prepared, but they slowly form upon prolonged incubation in vitro. We conclude that the activity of membrane-resident SNAREs is not downregulated by control proteins but is constitutively active even if not engaged in fusion events.


Traditionally, transmission error (TE) has been used in order to asses the noise properties of gears. Measurements of gear noise for a complete truck gearbox have been used to correlate noise from a gear pair with the concept of calculated static transmission error as noise excitation. Two gear pairs with very similar macro geometry but different micro geometry was used. Both transmission error as excitation and the excitation proposed by P. Velex and M. Ajmi which is the difference between the loaded and unloaded transmission error, are compared with measured noise. The result shows that the difference between the loaded and unloaded TE correlates well with measure noise for gear pair A but no excitation correlates with the measurement result gear pair B. A big difference between gear pair A and B can be seen in the contact pattern. The contact pattern of gear pair B shows that despite a large tip relief, edge contact occurs where the tip relief starts. This can be one explanation to the lack of correlation between TE and the measurement result for gear pair B. Another explanation can be other excitations such as friction and bending moments. The results show the limitations of only considering transmission error when designing quiet gears.Copyright © 2009 by ASME


Many metal forming problems have been solved using the slip line field method but all of them have either been two-dimensional (plane strain or plain stress) or axisymmetric problems. In this paper a procedure has been proposed by which the slip line field solution to three dimensional problems of metal forming becomes possible. For this purpose the extrusion of shaped sections has been taken as a case study. For this problem the geometry of the deforming zone has been defined by streamlines and stream surfaces. Clearly for the three dimensional extrusion of shaped sections the stream surfaces are not plane surfaces, and on the other hand the slip line field formulation could only be applied to plane surfaces, therefore an approximation has been made to accommodate this difficulty. In fact the three dimensional surface has been approximated to a plane surface so that for each three dimensional stream surface there exists an approximate plane surface. Unlike the case for the axisymmetric problem where there was only one plane surface on which the formulation was defined and the revolved 360 degrees to complete the deforming zone here there are many plane stream surfaces that by summing them up together the deforming zone is defined. The slip line field formulation was then applied to each and every one of these surfaces and the extrusion pressure on each surface was calculated separately and by adding up all the components of the pressure on each surface the total extrusion pressure was obtained.
To account for the error evolved from the approximations made in the formulations, error functions were developed which showed how much error was developed due to the approximations. To verify the results comparison were made to the results obtained by upper bound and experimental methods. These comparisons showed very good agreements.


We consider a stochastic interface h(x,t), described by the 1+1 Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) equation on the half line x≥0 with the reflecting boundary at x=0. The interface is initially flat, h(x,t=0)=0. We focus on the short-time probability distribution P(H,L,t) of the height H of the interface at point x=L. Using the optimal fluctuation method, we determine the (Gaussian) body of the distribution and the strongly asymmetric non-Gaussian tails. We find that the slower-decaying tail scales as -sqrt[t]lnP≃|H|^{3/2}f_{-}(L/sqrt[|H|t]) and calculate the function f_{-} analytically. Remarkably, this tail exhibits a first-order dynamical phase transition at a critical value of L, L_{c}=0.60223⋯sqrt[|H|t]. The transition results from a competition between two different fluctuation paths of the system. The faster-decaying tail scales as -sqrt[t]lnP≃|H|^{5/2}f_{+}(L/sqrt[|H|t]). We evaluate the function f_{+} using a specially developed numerical method which involves solving a nonlinear second-order elliptic equation in Lagrangian coordinates. The faster-decaying tail also involves a sharp transition which occurs at a critical value L_{c}≃2sqrt[2|H|t]/π. This transition is similar to the one recently found for the KPZ equation on a ring, and we believe that it has the same fractional order, 5/2. It is smoothed, however, by small diffusion effects.


Tomography is widely used in geophysics as a technique for imaging geological structures by means of data that are line integrals of physical characteristics. In some transmission measurements, due to various kinds of normalization, the measured data are related to two (the current and the reference) raypaths and can be expressed as a function of differences between line integrals. This is the case, for example, in seismo-acoustic emission measurements, when (since the exact start time is unknown) only the differences between traveltimes (differences between line integrals of the slowness) can be determined. Similarly the use of normalized Fourier amplitudes results in data dependent upon the difference between line integrals of the absorption coefficient (computed along the actual and the reference raypaths).

In order to invert these data the ordinary tomography algorithms should be modified. Some generalizations are presented for series expansion tomography methods in order to make them applicable to reconstruction problems in which the input data are differences between two line integrals. The conjugate gradient and the simultaneous iterative reconstruction technique (SIRT) methods were adapted and tested. It is shown that the modified tomography algorithms are stable and sufficiently accurate for practical use. In the reconstruction of noise-free difference data, the conjugate gradient algorithm is found to be faster and more accurate while, in the case of noisy difference data, the modified SIRT algorithm is more stable and insensitive to noise.


The rat L-type pyruvate kinase gene possesses two promoters located 500 bp apart. The L' promoter is specific to erythroid cells. The L promoter is specific to liver and is regulated by diet and hormones; positively by glucose and insulin and negatively by glucagon via cAMP. The DNA elements involved in this tissue-specific and hormone-regulated gene expression are located within 3.2 kbp of 5' flanking region as previously demonstrated by transgenic mice analysis [Tremp, G. L., Boquet, D., Ripoche, M. A., Cognet, M., Yu-Chun, L., Jami, J., Kahn, A. and Daegelen, D. (1989) J. Biol. Chem. 264, 19,904-19,910]. Moreover, we have observed in these mice that gene expression was dependent on the transgene copy number and independent of the integration site. We present here DNase-I-hypersensitivity analysis of the endogenous rat L-type pyruvate kinase gene and of two transgene constructs in relation to development, tissue differentiation, nutritional and hormonal status. In rats, two groups of proximal sites were detected on the endogenous gene; hypersensitive site (HSS) HSS-1 in adult liver and HSS-A in fetal liver (a major erythropoietic tissue). Both groups are probably related to the transcriptional initiation complexes at either the L or L' promoter. Two other distal groups were detected; HSS-2 at -3 kbp (with respect to the liver-specific cap site) in adult liver and HSS-B around -4 kbp in fetal liver. These sites are thought to correspond to activating sequences; in adult liver, deletion of a fragment encompassing HSS-2 provokes a dramatic reduction of transcription starting at the L promoter of the transgene. In adult liver, HSS-1 appears to be a transcription-associated site, being greatly weakened in fasted rats, while HSS-2 is transcription independent. The pattern of DNase-I hypersensitivity is similar for the rat endogenous gene and for the complete rat transgene; the liver-specific HSS-1 and HSS-2 are present and the intensity of the sites is correlated to the number of integrated copies. Interestingly, HSS-1 is still detectable and its intensity remains proportional to the number of integrated copies in a truncated transgene with HSS-2 deletion, while this transgene is very weakly (but nevertheless tissue-specifically) expressed. These results strongly suggest that each transgene copy possesses a complete set of specific nucleoprotein complexes and that, with or without HSS-2, the DNA is in a potentially active configuration.


The legal right to be heard by a judge is an important human right. However, what happens if a claimant does not meet the requirements of legal communication when given the opportunity to be heard in court? In this article, I address this question by exploring how temporal, spatial, and relational conditions encourage or silence vulnerable claimants' voices in asylum hearings and compulsory psychiatric care hearings in Swedish administrative courts. In addition, I analyze the multiple functions orality has when judges make decisions in these case types. The results provide nuance to claims in previous studies about the importance of enough time, spaces that signal solemnity, and flexibility in judges' approaches to vulnerable claimants' voices by demonstrating how these conditions interact with each other and generate different communicative atmospheres. Moreover, this study challenges the idea that oral hearings are necessarily beneficial for claimants as it demonstrates that under certain conditions orality can place claimants at a disadvantage and amplify their defenselessness. However, orality brings legitimacy to court proceedings even in these cases as it communicates justice to the public evaluating these procedures from a distance.


Distribution systems can form islands when faults occur. Each island represents a subsection with variable boundaries subject to the location of a fault(s) in the system. A subsection with variable boundaries is referred to as island in this paper. For operation in autonomous mode, it is imperative to detect the island configurations and stabilize these subsections. This paper presents a novel scheme for the detection of islanding boundaries and stabilizing the system during autonomous operation. In the first stage, a boundary detection method is proposed to detect the configuration of the island. In the second stage a dynamic voltage sensitivity factor (DVSF) is proposed to assess the dynamic performance of the system. In the third stage, a wide area load shedding program is adopted based on DVSF to shed the load in weak busbars and stabilize the system. The proposed scheme is validated and tested on a generic 18-bus system using a combination of EMTDC/PSCAD and MATLAB softwares.


Senile plaques and cerebrovascular amyloidosis (CA) are two of the major neuropathological lesions in brains of patients with dementia of the Alzheimer type. We studied the expression of a number of amyloid beta (A beta)-associated proteins in CA, which have previously been identified in senile plaques and which were suggested to play an important role in the pathogenesis of these lesions. Our findings show that involvement of inflammatory components in CA is restricted to activation of the complement system, resulting in deposition of the complement factors C1q, C3c, C4d and the membrane attack complex C5b-9 as well as of the complement inhibitor clusterin. Furthermore, we observed expression of apolipoprotein E, amyloid P component and heparan sulfate proteoglycans in CA, whereas expression of lactoferrin was almost absent. Other inflammatory proteins, known to be present in senile plaques, such as alpha1-antichymotrypsin, alpha2-macroglobulin and intercellular adhesion molecule-1, were absent or detectable only in small amounts. These data suggest that an incomplete inflammatory response occurs in CA as compared to senile plaques. This was confirmed by the finding that the number of cells of the monocyte/macrophage lineage around CA was not increased compared to unaffected vessels. Based on their expression patterns, complement factors, apolipoprotein E and heparan sulfate proteoglycans may be produced early in the process of CA formation and may play an important role in the formation of A beta fibrils in CA. The absence of a number of A beta-associated proteins in CA in comparison to senile plaques is in support of a different pathogenesis for these two lesions.


It is shown that the results of organ-salvage treatment of bladder cancer depend on epidemiological, clinical and morphological characteristics of the tumor. A correlation-regression analysis revealed a complex of the most significant independent prognostic factors which were used for design of a mathematic model of urinary bladder cancer prognosis and computer program for assessment of survival of patients with bladder cancer. This method can be applied for development of measures of tertiary prophylaxis of cancer of the bladder.


Adaptive sliding mode control is considered, together with an iterative learning control scheme for tracking control of robot manipulators in Cartesian space coordinates. It is shown that the algorithm is globally convergent in the presence of external disturbances and modelling uncertainties. Owing to the robustness of the algorithm, a large gain for learning control can be used to achieve fast convergence of tracking errors. Moreover, the control scheme is rather simple and the inverse of the Jacobian matrix is not required.


Managing surface water and groundwater as a unified system is important for water resource exploitation and aquatic ecosystem conservation. The unified approach to water management needs accurate characterization of surface water and groundwater interactions. Temperature is a natural tracer for identifying surface water and groundwater interactions, and the use of remote sensing techniques facilitates basin-scale temperature measurement. This study focuses on the Heihe River basin, the second largest inland river basin in the arid and semi-arid northwest of China where surface water and groundwater undergoes dynamic exchanges. The spatially continuous river-surface temperature of the midstream section of the Heihe River was obtained by using an airborne pushbroom hyperspectral thermal sensor system. By using the hot spot analysis toolkit in the ArcGIS software, abnormally cold water zones were identified as indicators of the spatial pattern of groundwater discharge to the river.


India has a huge potential for sericulture development unlike other agro industries since sericulture is a unique agro-based industry comprising of several components such as mulberry cultivation, silkworm rearing, silk reeling and other connected activities. Each of these components appear to be independent but closely linked with one another having intricacies of their own. The major activities of these components comprises of mulberry food-plant cultivation to feed the silkworms which spin silk cocoons and reeling the cocoons for unwinding the silk filament for manufacturing silk goods, subjecting them to the process of degumming, bleaching, dyeing, weaving and printing. Thus sericulture industry provides employment to approximately 7.85 million in rural and semi urban areas in India. Of these, a sizeable number belongs to the economically weaker sections of the society, including women. In addition to this, India has the unique credibility of producing all the five known commercial silk viz., mulberry, tropical tasar, oak tasar, eri and muga of which muga with its golden yellow glitter is unique and prerogative of India. Though silk is a luxury item, it is produced by the rural populace and purchased by urban rich, causing money to flow from urban to rural. It also prevents rural people to migrate to urban areas. The United Nation's recent endeavor "Millennium Development Goals" has an eight point programme to make our earth more healthy wealthy and free from inequalities by 2015. Sericulture being a rural and women friendly business aligns well with many of these ideas which are explained in detail in the chapter. Sericulture Industry: A Bonanza to Strengthen Rural Population in India


The wavelet packet transform is used for the damage detection of offshore platforms. When some damage occurs, the dynamic response parameters of the structure will shift subtly. However, in some cases, the dynamic parameters, such as dynamic response, are not sensitive, and it is very difficult to predict the existence of damage. The present paper aims to describe how to find small damage by the use of wavelet packet transform. As the wavelet packet transform can be used to quickly find the singularity of the response signal on different scales, the acceleration signal of a damaged offshore platform in the time domain is transformed through the wavelet packet. Experimental results show that the Daubechies 4 wavelet transform can be used to detect damage.


The rumen is an integrated dynamic microbial ecosystem composed of enormous populations of bacteria, protozoa, fungi, archaea, and bacteriophages. These microbes ferment feed organic matter consumed by ruminants to produce beneficial products such as microbial biomass and short-chain fatty acids, which form the major metabolic fuels for ruminants. The fermentation process also involves inefficient end product formation for both host animals and the environment, such as ammonia, methane, and carbon dioxide production. In typical conditions of ruminal fermentation, microbiota does not produce an optimal mixture of enzymes to maximize plant cell wall degradation or synthesize maximum microbial protein. Well-functioning rumen can be achieved through microbial manipulation by alteration of rumen microbiome composition to enhance specific beneficial fermentation pathways while minimizing or altering inefficient fermentation pathways. Therefore, manipulating ruminal fermentation is useful to improve feed conversion efficiency, animal productivity, and product quality. Understanding rumen microbial diversity and dynamics is crucial to maximize animal production efficiency and mitigate the emission of greenhouse gases from ruminants. This chapter discusses genetic and nongenetic rumen manipulation methods to achieve better rumen microbial fermentation including improvement of fibrolytic activity, inhibition of methanogenesis, prevention of acidosis, and balancing rumen ammonia concentration for optimal microbial protein synthesis.


Magnetic Resonance (MR) Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) is a specific case for thewell known inductive coupling principle where energy is transmitted from a transmittingcoil to a receiving one without the need of any wires. This technology brings enhancedcapabilities and offers the possibility to create cutting edge wireless charging systems. Theobjective of this thesis is to understand and develop the elements needed to build a MR WPT system capable of charging multiple wearable devices placed over a large surface.The focus is put in current and voltage sensing at high frequency for system monitor-ing; power amplifier topology design to maintain good performance across a range of loadvalues; and the beamforming and energy hopping applications validation to deal withcharging area coverage and transmission distance issues. The results show how the pres-ence of a receiver can be detected from the current change measured at the transmitter, aswell as voltage measurements are used as redundant information for system failure detec-tion; a class E power amplifier has been successfully designed to operate with loads thatdiffer 1 order of magnitude from each other; beamforming and energy hopping simulationenvironments have been set, and experiments have shown a 50% improve in the receivedsignal strength with the use of beamforming, while the enrgy hopping phenomena hasbeen empirically demonstrated for up to four hops along a planar array of coils. A solidbasis has been set to allow further development of the aimed wireless charging surface.


The authors present a comprehensive investigation of the effect of feedback delays on the nonlinear vibrations of piezoelectrically-actuated cantilever beams. More specifically, in the first part of this work, we examine the free response of a cantilever beam subjected to delayed-acceleration feedback. We characterize the stability of the trivial solutions and determine the normal form of the bifurcation at the stability boundary. We show that the trivial solutions lose stability via a Hopf bifurcation leading to limit-cycle oscillations (LCO). We assess the stability of the resulting LCO close to the stability boundary by determining the nature of the Hopf bifurcation (sub-or supercritical). We show that the bifurcation type depends only on the frequency of the delayed-response at the bifurcation point and the coefficients of the beam geometric and inertia nonlinearities. To analyze the stability of the LCO in the postbifurcation region, we utilize the Method of Harmonic Balance and the Floquet Theory. We observe that, increasing the gain magnitude for certain feedback delays may culminate in a chaotic response. In the second part of this study, we analyze the effect of feedback delays on a cantilever beam subjected to primary base excitations. We find that the nature of the forced response is largely determined by the stability of the trivial solutions of the unforced response. For stable trivial solutions (i.e., inside the stability boundaries of the linear system), the free response emanating from delayed feedback diminishes leaving only the particular solution resulting from the external excitation. In that case, delayed feedback acts as a vibration absorber. On the other hand, for unstable trivial solutions, the response contains two coexisting frequencies. Therefore, depending on the excitation amplitude and the closeness of the frequency of the delayed response to the excitation frequency, the response is either periodic or quasiperiodic. Finally, we study the effect of higher vibration modes on the beam response. We show that the validity of a single-mode analysis is dependent on the gain-delay combination utilized for feedback as well as the position and size of the piezoelectric patch.Copyright © 2007 by ASME


A second design loop in the development of the computer controlled oscillating motion apparatus was completed as a part of this research. Specifically, work was concentrated in two areas: first, modifications to the existing motion control software with the aim to produce a continuous sinusoidal motion, and second, design of a dynamometer to measure more accurately the thrust developed by the oscillating foil. -- Bench tests conducted with the changes in the motion control indicated that the limitations to produce true sinusoidal oscillatory motion were due to the oscillating apparatus drive system. A single degree of freedom dynamometer consisted of two flexible vertical sheets to which a rigid plate was connected forming a U frame. This design allowed for sensitivity in the fore and aft direction, but was very rigid in the transverse direction. The oscillating apparatus was supported by the frame, and thrust or drag forces developed by the oscillating foil were transmitted through this frame to the load cell. -- An experimental study to measure developed thrust from a series of rigid foils subjected to unsteady, oscillatory motion has been conducted in the towing tank at Memorial University of Newfoundland. The foils tested consisted of a rectangular planform, a straight tapered and swept back planform, as well as the planform with curved leading edge, similar to the flukes of a fin whale. The foils had the same aspect ratio of 6. Two foils were fabricated out of brass, and another was made out of wood. The brass foils had a span of 200 mm, while the wooden foil had a span of 400 mm. In the experiment the heave amplitude to chord ratio was large (of order 1) and the pitch amplitudes tested were :6, 13, 17.5 and 21 deg. The pitching axis position was fixed at chord/2, and pitch led heave by 90 deg. -- Results of developed thrust from different planforms are presented and examined with respect to four areas of interest: large amplitude motion, effects of different planforms on developed thrust, foil performance at large angles of attack, and a comparison of an existing 3D unsteady flow panel code to predict developed thrust with the experimental results. -- Comparison of experimental results with the panel method showed that for small reduced frequencies and angles of attack, agreement in the magnitude of the thrust coefficient was good. At large reduced frequencies and angles of attack results from the panel method underpredicted the developed thrust. This discrepancy in results was due to separation and dynamic stall which occurred in the range of 33 to 40 deg. angle of attack. The combination of a leading edge sweep and taper of the foil's planform has a marked difference in developed thrust compared to the foil with a straight leading edge. This was due to different stall behaviour over foils with leading edge sweep compared to the stall of foils with a straight leading edge.


§ 1. AT the bottom of all the Drift-beds there is in our northern latitudes a phenomenon which, if rightly understood, would dispel much of the obscurity that still envelopes the history of that period; I mean that curious scoring and polishing of the rocky bed on which the Drift is found so frequently reposing. Saussure, in his Alpine journeys, had often remarked those rounded masses which he called roches moutonn~es, and also did not omit to note the polishing of the rocky surface ; curiously enough, however, although so familiar with glaciers, he did not refer these appearances to their true cause, but attributed this scoring of the rocks to the passage over them of boulders hurried along by a rush of water. Colonel Imrie, also, and Sir James Hall, who in 1812 both described the same appearances in Scotland, sought to explain them in a similar manner. As this theory of their origin has found favour with several geologists, I am induced to describe here a ease of some interest which came under my notice, and was peculiarly fitted to test the sufficiency of a powerful torrent, carrying with it great boulders and stony debris, to affect the rocks in the manner under consideration. § 2. In the county of Argyle an artificial channel was cut, a good many years ago, between the Sound of Jura and Loch Fyne, called the Crinan Canal ; it is about 9 miles long, and lies in an E. and W. direction


We investigated the in vitro radiobiological survival parameters of 53 human tumor cell lines studied in exponential growth. Epithelial cell lines derived from 24 patients with head and neck carcinoma, 15 patients with ovarian carcinoma, and mesenchymal tumor cell lines derived from 14 patients with bone and soft tissue sarcomas were studied. Survival data are analyzed using the multi-target and linear quadratic models. The head and neck and ovarian carcinoma tumor cell lines were more radioresistant as measured by D0, D, and alpha parameters, compared with the bone and soft-tissue sarcoma lines. The radiobiological parameters of tumor cell lines reported herein are similar to parameters of tumor cell lines derived from head and neck and soft tissue sarcoma patients presently being followed for clinical outcome following radiotherapy in our clinic.


Studying temporal dynamics of topics in social media is very useful to understand online user behaviors. Most of the existing work on this subject usually monitors the global trends, ignoring variation among communities. Since users from different communities tend to have varying tastes and interests, capturing communitylevel temporal change can improve the understanding and management of social content. Additionally, it can further facilitate the applications such as community discovery, temporal prediction and online marketing. However, this kind of extraction becomes challenging due to the intricate interactions between community and topic, and intractable computational complexity. In this paper, we take a unified solution towards the communitylevel topic dynamic extraction. A probabilistic model, CosTot (Community Specific Topics-over-Time) is proposed to uncover the hidden topics and communities, as well as capture community-specific temporal dynamics. Specifically, CosTot considers text, time, and network information simultaneously, and well discovers the interactions between community and topic over time. We then discuss the approximate inference implementation to enable scalable computation of model parameters, especially for large social data. Based on this, the application layer support for multi-scale temporal analysis and community exploration is also investigated. We conduct extensive experimental studies on a large real microblog dataset, and demonstrate the superiority of proposed model on tasks of time stamp prediction, link prediction and topic perplexity.


A straightforward, in situ calibration procedure for a vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) double-reflection polarization analyser is introduced which does not require knowledge of the optical properties of the reflecting materials or previously measured benchmark polarizations. The linear and circular polarization sensitivities of the analyser are determined from VUV light intensity measurements obtained for various mutual orientations of the two reflecting surfaces. As an example of the reliability of the calibration procedure, measurements of integrated Stokes parameters are presented and compared with the results of measurements carried out previously by other groups using different polarization analysers.


AIM
In Aotearoa, New Zealand, cardiovascular disease (CVD) burden is greatest among Indigenous Māori, Pacific and Indian people. The aim of this study was to describe CVD risk profiles by ethnicity.

METHODS
We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of a cohort of people aged 35-74 years who had a CVD risk assessment in primary care between 2004 and 2016. Primary care data were supplemented with linked data from regional/national databases. Comparisons between ethnic groups were made using age-adjusted summaries of continuous or categorical data.

RESULTS
475,241 people (43% women) were included. Fourteen percent were Māori, 13% Pacific, 8% Indian, 10% Other Asian and 55% European. Māori and Pacific people had a much higher prevalence of smoking, obesity, heart failure, atrial fibrillation and prior CVD compared with other ethnic groups. Pacific and Indian peoples, and to a lesser extent Māori and Other Asian people, had markedly elevated diabetes prevalence compared with Europeans. Indian men had the highest prevalence of prior coronary heart disease.

CONCLUSIONS
Māori and Pacific people experience the most significant inequities in exposure to CVD risk factors compared with other ethnic groups. Indians have a high prevalence of diabetes and coronary heart disease. Strong political commitment and cross-sectoral action to implement effective interventions are urgently needed.


Digital camera pipelines employ color constancy methods to estimate an unknown scene illuminant, enabling the generation of canonical images under an achromatic light source. By taking advantage of large amounts of labelled images, learning-based color constancy methods provide state-of-the-art estimation accuracy. However, for a new sensor, data collection is typically arduous, as it requires both imaging physical calibration objects across different settings (such as indoor and outdoor scenes), as well as manual image annotation to produce ground truth labels. In this work, we address sensor generalisation by framing color constancy as a meta-learning problem. Using an unsupervised strategy driven by color temperature grouping, we define many related, yet distinct, illuminant estimation tasks, aggregating data from four public datasets with different camera sensors and diverse scene content. Experimental results demonstrate it is possible to produce a few-shot color constancy method competitive with the fully-supervised, camera-specific state-of-the-art.


The maximum-entropy and likelihood method for solving zeolite crystal structures from electron diffraction data is modified to use potential-map-density histograms as an additional figure of merit. The experimental histogram is compared to an idealized one (based on known zeolite structures) using Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients. These supplement the use of log-likelihood estimates as figures of merit to select the optimal solution from a collection of phase sets. The method has been applied with success to seven zeolite and one inorganic crystal structures that have varying associated data quality. The technique works easily even with two-dimensional data sets of less than 50 unique diffraction data and a resolution of less than 2 A. The method is very fast, and the computer time needed on a modest PC was never more than a few minutes.


Running relay: Incorporating an energy-relay dye (ERD) into the hole transporter of a dye-sensitized solar cell increased power-conversion efficiency by 29 % by extending light harvesting into the blue region. In the operating mechanism (see picture), absorption of red photons by the sensitizer transfers an electron into TiO2 and a hole into the electrolyte. Blue photons absorbed by the ERD are transferred by FRET to the sensitizer.


Nontraumatic surgical emergencies constitute a major bulk of general surgical practice. Most of the cases seen fall under routine, but now and then, a surgeon or emergency physician is faced with an unusual diagnosis or a rarer presentation of a usual diagnosis. Sharing among peers their experiences with these outliers of practice helps spread knowledge and increases the experience pool. We share our experience of a 66-year-old female who presented to our emergency with upper abdominal pain of one-day duration.


This paper presents a study on the use of virtual reality (VR) technologies for the purpose of teaching concentrating solar power (CSP) to high school and university students. The main goal is to develop an interactive and immersive VR application to explain the main components and processes used in a CSP plant. The secondary goal is to test the effectiveness of this application by performing case studies. The studies are assessed with pre-test, post-test, and questionnaires. In the initial desktop version, there is a substantial improvement on the post-tests that demonstrates that this type of application can be used as an educational tool. The immersive application achieved testing results in the final study that were similar to other methods assessed and scored 88% positive results on the experience questionnaire.


The electronic readout architecture for the silicon pixel detector of the PANDA Micro Vertex Detector is presented. The pixels will provide occurrence time, position and energy information; moreover, no trigger signal is foreseen, thus leading to a huge amount of data to be transmitted. The foreseen readout system is based on a custom ASIC development, named ToPix, which provides time information via a time stamp synchronous with the 155.5MHz global clock signal and energy information via the Time Over Threshold technique. High speed serial links and early electrical to optical conversion are adopted to reduce the amount of cables and material.


This review aims to clarify the need of decreasing the environmental effects caused by human and draw attention to the increasing environmental effects of plastics wastes. Plastics consist of organic molecules with high density molecules or polymers. Main resources of plastics are the residue of oil rafineries. Several advantages of plastics, have increased the usage continuously. Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) is the most commonly used plastics. PET is used to protect food, drinking water, fruit juice, alcoholic beverage, and food packing films. By the increasing interest on the environmental effects of plastic wastes, concerns on the recyclable packing materials also grew up. Also the daily use of recyclable containers consisting PET have increased. There are five steps for recycling of plastics. These steps are; using large amounts of plastics, collecting them in a big center, classifying and sorting the plastics, reproducing the polymers and obtaining new products with melted plastics. Providing a healthy recycling of plastics, the consumers should have knowledge and responsibility. The consumer should know what he/she has to do before putting the plastics in the recycling containers. Recycling containers and bags should be placed near the sources of plastic wastes. Consequently, the plastic wastes and environmental problems they cause will be on the agenda in future.


45 steel was quenched with zero time holding at different temperatures, followed by a high temperature tempering. The influence of quenching temperature on hardness, yield strength, tensile strength and microstructure of the steels was investigated by Rockwell tester, universal testing machines and metallographic microscopy, respectively. The results show that under quenching condition of zero time holding, hardness and strength of the 45 steel increase with increasing quenching temperature and reach the maximum at 860 °C, where the content of martensite is maximum while that of ferrite is minimum in the specimen. At higher temperatures, the grains become obviously coarse, resulting in decrease of mechanical properties.


We report a case of granular‐cell tumor (GCT) in the esophagus. This is a rare location for this tumor and only 80 cases have been described. The tumor was diagnosed in a 24‐yr‐old woman with epigastralgia. Endoscopic examination revealed a submucosal ulcerated lesion. The smears derived from esophageal brushings contained clusters of granular cells. Histologic examination of the endoscopic biopsy provided diagnostic confirmation of GCT. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of esophageal GCT in which the characteristic tumor cells were seen in the endoscopic brushing material. This case demonstrates that a cytologic diagnosis of GCT is possible if the lesion is ulcerated and/or brushing is subsequent to taking the biopsy. Although rare in the esophagus, GCT should be considered in the differential diagnosis of esophageal neoplasms. Diagn. Cytopathol. 1998;19:455–457. © 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Discusses research into provisions for education and training in health and safety offered by trade unions in a number of European countries. Uses material gathered in the survey to consider the role of trade union training in health and safety and its contribution to the operation of participative management of health and safety at the workplace level. Discusses the significance of employee representation in health and safety regulation and examines the support provided by trade union training in the context of factors that influence its effectiveness. Several specific aspects of trade union training are identified as characteristic. Other aspects of trade union health and safety education that contribute to the overall support and proactive role of trade unions in preventative health and safety are identified and discussed. Trade unions make extensive provision for education and training in occupational health and safety. This is a significant factor in raising awareness of health and safety issues and the development of a preventive health and safety ethos in all of the countries included in the study. Argues that it is possible to identify a common pedagogy in trade union education and training in occupational health and safety. This pedagogy is rooted in the educational methods of labour education, emphasizing the value of participants' own experience and developing a collective approach to the definition and solution of problems, while encouraging listening and communication skills in this process. Shows that although trade unions have suffered a loss of influence and power across Europe during the past decade ‐ and in some countries their losses have been severe ‐ in the case of education and training in health and safety, generally trade unions have maintained a significant provision as well as continuing to develop an innovative and dynamic approach to its content and delivery.


This article highlights the need to provide interventions to those with mental health problems who also use alcohol or illicit substances. It identifies a group‐work package that aims to increase individuals' awareness of their use of substances, the impact this use may have upon their mental health and encourages a change in their behaviour to reduce the risk of alcohol or illicit drug related harm.


Laser peen forming has been carried out on 0.075mm thick steel samples, using relatively low power Nd:YAG lasers at 1064nm, 532nm and 355nm wavelengths. The process was found to produce a bend angle up to approximately 20 degrees, depending upon the amount of passes and laser parameters used. The results from these experiments have been compared to samples formed using continuous wave thermal forming. The results showed that laser peen forming could take place with a pulsed Nd:YAG laser, which uses less energy than a laser used for thermal forming, and that the laser peen formed samples do not have evidence of heat affected zones or changes to the bulk material, both seen with laser thermal forming. This indicates that the laser peen forming process is largely athermal or non-thermal, as there is very little heat input into the samples except for decolorisation of the surface due to the plasma generated in the process. A parameter window has been established for laser peen forming on 0.075mm thick steel using a 1064nm wavelength. The effect that the process has on the surface of the material is also being analysed using optical interferomety and scanning probe microscopy.Laser peen forming has been carried out on 0.075mm thick steel samples, using relatively low power Nd:YAG lasers at 1064nm, 532nm and 355nm wavelengths. The process was found to produce a bend angle up to approximately 20 degrees, depending upon the amount of passes and laser parameters used. The results from these experiments have been compared to samples formed using continuous wave thermal forming. The results showed that laser peen forming could take place with a pulsed Nd:YAG laser, which uses less energy than a laser used for thermal forming, and that the laser peen formed samples do not have evidence of heat affected zones or changes to the bulk material, both seen with laser thermal forming. This indicates that the laser peen forming process is largely athermal or non-thermal, as there is very little heat input into the samples except for decolorisation of the surface due to the plasma generated in the process. A parameter window has been established for laser peen forming on 0.075mm thick steel u...


This paper describes a pilot project effort under the auspices of the Namibian Ministry of Agriculture Water and Forestry (MAWF)/Department of Water Affairs, the Committee on Earth Observing Satellites (CEOS) /Working Group on Information Systems and Services (WGISS) and originally moderated by the United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response (UN-SPIDER). The effort began by identifying and prototyping technologies which enabled the rapid gathering and dissemination of both space-based and ground sensor data and data products for the purpose of flood disaster management. This was followed by an international collaboration to build small portions of the identified system which was prototyped during the past few years during the flood seasons which occurred in the February through May timeframe of 2010 and 2011 with further prototyping to ongoing in 2012. The pilot effort has been fostered by CEOS to facilitate international efforts to promote satellite sensor data interoperability. In particular, the group has been making use of a technology effort call SensorWeb being developed at NASA which leverages Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) standards to facilitate various satellite and ground sensor interoperability. The group has made use of such satellites such as Earth Observing 1, Terra/Aqua MODIS and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) Radarsat together with various ground sensors such as river gauges in Namibia and models such as Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System (GDACS) from Joint Research Center (JRC) from the European Commission. Finally, the group has been experimenting with integrating a large Cloud Computing service provided by the Open Cloud Consortium (OCC) with the SensorWeb to provide management and distribution of the large data sets for emergency workers.


In this paper I argue that there is currently an orthodoxy in RT-PE that is unable, through its present epistemologies and methods, to make a major impact on curriculum practice. Three particular issues are highlighted as problematic: strategies for change adopted within the orthodoxy, who has the power to define and legitimate the research agenda, and an apolitical view of change. In presenting an alternative view of how we might close the research/practice gap in RT-PE, I suggest that researchers must develop more democratic approaches to working with teachers, for example along the lines of the teacher-as-researcher movement rather than on them. I also argue that in order to do this, we must develop more appropriate research epistemologies and methodologies. Finally, these two developments must be framed within a more sophisticated and systematically developed understanding of the social change process, and of the political nature of our attempts as educators to bring about change.


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The CERN SPS receives beam from the CPS by the continuous transfer process. An outline is given of the role of a modulated fast bump in this process, and the magnets and pulse generators which produce it are described. Particular attention is given to the high voltage staircase pulse generator which determines the degree of modulation of the bump. Operating experience since the start of SPS commissioning is reported.


A method for obtaining a highly-sensitive in-plane strain contour as a two-beam interferogram is devised. Using an optical setup in which an object is illuminated from two directions, deformation of the object is recorded in a form of a holographic modulated diffraction grating (MDG) modulated by the in-plane (x) and out-of-plane (z) components of displacement. Two identical MDGs are introduced into a system which connects two coherent double diffraction systems in series. Two spatial filtering processes are incorporated so that the z-component of displacement is cancelled and the difference between the two x-components inherent in the two MDGs, slightly shifted, forms an interferogram. Then the derivative of the in-plane displacement, i.e. the strain, is contoured in the image plane. In a simple experiment with a bent rectangular beam, the resultant interference pattern agreed well with the theoretical pattern and the amount of strain per fringe space was 3.6×10-5.


Results of surgical treatment of 55 patients with pharmacologically resistant temporal epilepsy (age 16-43 years) admitted to Polenov Neurosurgical Institute (Saint-Petersburg, Russia) were assessed. EEG-monitoring as the part of examination protocol discovered stable focus of paroxysmal activity in frontotemporal area in 30 patients (54.5%). It is shown that the evaluated multifocal type is characterized by specific clinical, neurophysiological and neuroradiological features. Results of complex examination substantiated appropriateness of distinguishing of this type and possibility of its relevant and timely evaluation for optimization of surgical treatment. Semeiology of paroxysmal clinical symptoms, being in direct correlation with data obtained by EEG-monitoring which indicated frontotemporal localization of epileptogenic focus, shows the dynamics of pathological process in the late stages of temporal epileptogenesis. Discovered clinical and neurophysiological features determined optimal tactics of surgical management of frontotemporal type of partial epilepsy - open surgical resection of the anterior 2/3 of temporal lobe combined with subpial resection of frontal cortex with addition subpial cortical transsections with continuous intraoperative electrophysiological monitoring.


Several classical plane-wave theories have been proposed recently to explain the observations of stimulated Brillouin scattering in solids and liquids. While previous experiments have been successful in demonstrating the effect, the use of focused excitation has prevented a critical test of theory. In the present work, the collimated beam of a giant pulse laser source excites a liquid, $n$-hexane, external to a cavity, and allows the Brillouin scattering intensity to be measured as a function of optical path length. The type of transient solution considered by Kroll comes closest to describing the observed gain curve, which includes a large spatial amplification and no apparent threshold condition. The results lead to values for the Pockel's photoelastic constant and the hypersonic acoustic lifetime. With collimated excitation, a striking "acoustic burst" whose intensity parallels the path-length dependence of the Brillouin scattering is noticed. This suggests that the acoustic wave generated in the Brillouin process initiates a shock wave which could lead to material fracture or cavitation. With focused excitation, an additional mechanism involving plasma formation appears to operate.


So far huge studies have been reported on antioxidant effects of Camellia sinensis L. in animal/human cells, however little is known about its impacts in plant cells/tissue culture. In this investigation, we evaluated the biological effects of C. sinensis extract and cysteine on production of paclitaxel using tissue cultures of Taxus brevifolia L. Various calli and its subcultures were cultivated using B5 media in presence or absence of designated amount of C. sinensis extract and cysteine. Activities of polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and peroxidase (PO), browning rate, callus growth and paclitaxel production were examined in the treated cultures of T. brevifolia. PPO and PO enzymes were found to be activated in the calli subcultures upon treatment with the C. sinensis extract. Subcultured callus of T. brevifolia treated with cysteine (100 mg/L) showed lower activity of PPO, while those treated with high amounts of cysteine (>200 mg/L) displayed higher activities of these enzymes. Use of C. sinensis extract and cysteine failed to suppress the browning phenomenon, however tissues treated with these compounds showed significant increase in paclitaxel production (794 mg/kg dry weight of calli). Based on our findings, the production of paclitaxel can be improved in subculture or suspension cell culture of T. brevifolia upon treatment with C. sinensis extract, which may be considered as a cost-beneficial elicitor.


Many schools rely on non-professionals for instructional services in non-academic areas. This may put some students at a disadvantage. This study examined the impact of a computerized, social-emotional intervention, implemented by non-professionals, with 120 low-income, gender-segregated, predominantly Latino sixth graders, in an urban public charter school. School staff randomly assigned students to treatment or control conditions. Treatment group (TG) students were assigned self-regulated completion of 42 multimedia tutorials, four times a week for seven weeks, monitored by non-professionals. Control group students had live instruction from teacher-advisors. Eighty percent of the TG complied with the intervention. T-tests indicated significantly higher grade point average (GPA) for personal and social responsibility for TG, and meaningfully higher scores for academic GPA, absenteeism, and discipline referrals, which were not significant. There was no significant impact on attitudes about marijuana or alcohol, or locus of control. The study confirmed that non-professionals could be effective implementers. In the absence of baseline data indicating otherwise, it is possible that the differences in outcomes can be attributable to starting differences between groups.


The goal of this paper is to employ amultiobjective genetic algorithm (MOGA) to optimize the shape of a well-known wind turbine airfoil S809 to improve its lift and drag characteristics, in particular to achieve two objectives, that is, to increase its lift and its lift to drag ratio. The commercially available software FLUENT is employed to calculate the flow field on an adaptive structured mesh using the Reynolds-AveragedNavier-Stokes (RANS) equations in conjunctionwith a two-equation k−ω SST turbulencemodel.The results show significant improvement in both lift coefficient and lift to drag ratio of the optimized airfoil compared to the original S809 airfoil. In addition, MOGA results are in close agreement with those obtained by the adjoint-based optimization technique.


Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is an age-related disease of the urinary system that affects elderly men. Current treatments for BPH are associated with several adverse effects, thus highlighting the need for alternative agents. Alginate oligosaccharide (AOS), a water-soluble functional oligomer derived from brown algae, inhibits prostate cancer cell proliferation. However, the effects of AOS on BPH and the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear. Therefore, here, we aimed to investigate the therapeutic potential of AOS in BPH by using human benign prostatic epithelial cells (BPH-1) and a rat model of testosterone-induced BPH. Treatment with AOS inhibited in vitro and in vivo proliferation of prostatic epithelial cells and the testosterone-induced expression of androgen receptor (AR) and androgen-associated genes, such as those encoding 5α-reductase type 2 and prostate-specific antigen. Oral administration of AOS remarkably reduced the serum levels of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) and testosterone as well as the expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen, inflammatory cytokines, and enzymes, which showed increased levels in prostatic tissues of rats with testosterone-induced BPH. Taken together, these data demonstrate that AOS suppresses testosterone-induced BPH in rats by downregulating AR and the expression of androgen-associated genes, supporting the hypothesis that AOS might be of potential use for the treatment of BPH.


The equivalence problem for second order ODEs given modulo point transformations is solved in full analogy with the equivalence problem of nondegenerate 3-dimensional CR structures. This approach enables an analog of the Feffereman metrics to be defined. The conformal class of these (split signature) metrics is well defined by each point equivalence class of second order ODEs. Its conformal curvature is interpreted in terms of the basic point invariants of the corresponding class of ODEs.


A description of multispectral image capture is presented from a signal processing point of view. Indeed, this article is based on an equation that models the multispectral acquisition of images. The main components of this equation are described. They correspond to the lighting conditions, the filters, the sensor sensitivity, and associated noise sources. Moreover, the optimization problems involved in the design of multispectral cameras, their calibration, and the processing of the obtained data are introduced within the same mathematical framework.


A simple and selective LC method is described for the determination of Ambroxol, Montelukast and Levocetirizine in tablet dosage forms. Chromatographic separation was achieved on a c18 column using mobile phase consisting of a mixture of Triethylamine Buffer:ACN:Methanol (20:30:50) with detection of 280 nm. Linearity was observed in the range 7.7-22.5 μg/ml for Ambroxol (r=0.999) and 1.25-3.75 μg/ml for Montelukast (r=0.998) and 5-15 μg/ml for Levocetirizine (r=0.997) for the amount of drugs estimated by the proposed methods was in good agreement with the label claim. The proposed methods were validated. The accuracy of the methods was assessed by recovery studies at three different levels. Recovery experiments indicated the absence of interference from commonly encountered pharmaceutical additives. The method was found to be precise as indicated by the repeatability analysis, showing %RSD less than 2. All statistical data proves validity of the methods and can be used for routine analysis of pharmaceutical dosage form.


The dynamic state of adipose tissue lipid has once again become the focus of intense investigative interest. In the past decade, the relationship of lipid metabolism to disease, particularly in disorders of the blood vessels and the heart, has received emphasis. As the primary area of lipid deposition and concentration, adipose tissue itself has become the subject of study. As a result of these studies, the widely held notion that adipose tissue is a relatively inert storehouse is no longer tenable. In 1948 Wertheimer and Shapiro 1 clearly summarized the evidence that indicated the dynamic qualities of adipose tissue. The salient features of that review included the abundant vascular and neural supply to the tissue, the importance of carbohydrate metabolism within adipose tissue, and the marked mobility of adipose tissue in response to various stimuli. This property of mobility—affording the opportunity for lipid to be rapidly available to all tissues—


OBJECTIVE
To explore associations between family structure, children's body mass index (BMI), and eating behaviors of children and their mothers.

METHOD
Fifty-seven mothers and their children took part in an experimental study. BMI of children was measured. Mothers were asked to provide self-report data on sociodemographic background, mental health, and eating behaviors about themselves and their children. Parent-child-dyads represented their family structure using the Family System Test.

RESULTS
We found negative associations in typical family situations between family hierarchy and children's BMI, mothers' emotional eating and mothers' restrained eating. Family cohesion and restrained eating of the children were also negatively correlated. We obtained positive associations in typical and conflict family situations between family cohesion and external eating of the children.

DISCUSSION
We found indications that family structure is associated with overweight and with eating behavior in children and their mothers.


There is an error in the second paragraph in the "Limits to the concept of beta cell specificity: many shared traits with other cell types" section in the Discussion. The correct text is: "Among the conserved beta cell marker genes only 15% show a near absolute beta cell-selectivity. This gene cluster contains known beta cell markers (e.g. IAPP, INS1/2, PCSK1, INSM1, HADH), as well as novel ones, such as (i) ST18, a nuclear protein with tumor suppressor activity [22]; (ii) Protein phosphatase 1, regulatory (inhibitor) subunit 1A (PPP1R1A), was previously studied as regulator of muscle activity [30]. Ppp1r1a, also known as Inhibitor1 (I-1) protein was previously found to be abundantly expressed in mouse MIN6 beta cell line and mouse primary islets, where it forms a complex with translation factor eIF-alpha and protein phosphatase-1 [Reference added post-publication, Vander Mierde et al]. Our LC-MS analysis of purified beta and alpha cells, and in situ immunohistochemical analysis now further substantiate its specific and abundant expression in the beta cell lineage, and calls fur further exploration of how its association to protein phosphatase 1 mediates the latter proven action in glucose-regulation of insulin synthesis [Reference added post-publication, Vander Mierde et al]; (iii) FOSB gene products regulate neuronal plasticity [31] but are 20-times more abundant in beta cells than in brain and (iv) WNT4 , which was recently linked to the repressed state of canonical Wnt signaling in beta cells [32]."


OBJECTIVE To compare the effect of short-term metformin and fenofibrate treatment, administered alone or in sequence, on glucose and lipid metabolism, cardiovascular risk factors, and monocyte cytokine release in type 2 diabetic patients with mixed dyslipidemia. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We studied 128 type 2 diabetic patients with mixed dyslipidemia complying throughout the study with lifestyle intervention who were randomized twice, initially to either metformin or placebo, and then to micronized fenofibrate or placebo. RESULTS Fenofibrate alleviated diabetic dyslipidemia–induced changes in plasma high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, fibrinogen, and plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI)-1 and in monocyte cytokine release, whereas metformin or lifestyle intervention improved mainly glucose and lipid metabolism. The strongest pleiotropic effect was observed when fenofibrate was added to metformin. CONCLUSIONS Fenofibrate, particularly administered together with metformin, is superior to metformin and lifestyle intervention in exhibiting beneficial effects on systemic inflammation, hemostasis, and monocyte secretory function in type 2 diabetic patients with mixed dyslipidemia.


The present research examined athlete perceptions of the usefulness and impacts of producing individual performance profiles within a group setting. In study 1, eight randomly chosen rugby union players who had participated in a performance profiling session were interviewed to gain their perceptions of the strategy. The interview content analysis findings were then combined with a review of the profiling literature to produce a closed questionnaire for study 2. In this study, 10 sport teams each participated in a single performance profiling session. At the end of their session, athletes (n = 191) completed the questionnaire to determine their perceptions of performance profiling. Athletes believed profiling could be useful in: (1) raising their self-awareness; (2) helping them decide what they need to work on; (3) motivating them to improve; (4) setting goals for themselves; (5) monitoring and evaluating their performance; and (6) taking more responsibility for their development.


Globally, the oil and gas industry, directly and indirectly, accounts for 42% of global emissions, according to a Mckinsey study. In Canada, the oil and gas industry is the single biggest source of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, contributing 10% to the country's total gas emissions. At the same time, the sector is crucial for Canada's growth, accounting for 5% of its GDP and generating employment for several thousands. It is then no surprise that the industry is under tremendous pressure to produce energy with reduced emissions.
 AI plays a pivotal role in helping the oil and gas industry to reduce their emissions. In fact, the WEF estimates that with AI the oil and gas industry can reduce 350 million tonnes of CO2 emissions and 800 million gallons of water consumed by 2025. When it comes to process and asset optimization, oil and gas companies can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% with minimal capital investment.
 However, deploying AI is not without challenges. If not implemented properly, it can prevent the company from realizing the benefits of the deployment. In fact, Gartner says that 85% of the AI projects will continue to fail by 2022. World Economic Forum states that 36% of oil and gas companies have already invested in big data and analytics. However, only 13% use the insights from this technology to drive their approach towards the market and their competitors. Both of these point to companies applying the technology in a piecemeal manner and how a lack of lack of effective strategy can make it challenging to accomplish the desired goals.
 In this presentation, Humera Malik and Forogh Askari will outline the three-step plan for oil and gas companies to effectively deploy AI across their operations that augments their workforce with AI insights to accelerate their sustainability efforts in the race to net zero.


Iridescence is the change in hue of a surface with varying angles of illumination and/or observation; it is generated by optical diffraction resulting from subwavelength features on the specimen's surface.This form of structural coloration enhances various biological processes (e.g., mate selection, species recognition, defense, and photosynthesis) for a wide variety of animal and plant species. The invention of the electron microscope is responsible for many of the major breakthroughs in the ultrastructural characterization of iridescence, and electron microscopy is among the most commonly cited methods used.2 The goal of this project is to present a simple method for characterizing iridescence that overcomes cost and portability limitations associated with commonly used methods.


The photometric flux of chromospherically active, spotted stars generally becomes redder and fainter when large starspots rotate into view on the stellar disc. However, some of the most active RS CVn systems show a bluer flux as they get fainter. Modelling of one such system (UX Ari) has shown that hot, bright, photospheric facular regions accompanying the cool, dark spots on the cooler, more active component are a possible explanation. The bluer flux of the hotter, less active component does not appear to be sufficient to explain the observed behaviour. We have begun a search for additional chromospherically active stars with a similar relation between colour and brightness, to investigate whether these relations can be explained in the same way. Our results for V711 Tau and RS CVn are presented here, and we conclude that the photospheric faculae remain the most probable explanation for the observed behaviour. (© 2005 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


The response of the human gut microbiome to disruptions is often difficult to discern without model systems that remove the complexity of the host environment. Fluctuations in iron availability provide a case in point: the responses of pathogenic bacteria to iron in vitro are much better understood than those of the indigenous human gut commensal microbiota. In a clinical study of iron supplementation in healthy humans, we identified gradual, participant-specific microbiota shifts correlated with bacterial iron internalization. To identify direct effects due to taxon-specific iron sensitivity, we used stool samples from these participants as inocula to derive in vitro communities. Iron supplementation of these communities caused small shifts in structure, similar to in vivo, whereas iron deprivation dramatically inhibited growth with irreversible and cumulative reduction in diversity and replacement of some dominant species. Sensitivity of individual species to iron deprivation during growth in axenic culture generally predicted iron dependency in a community context. Finally, exogenous heme acted as a source of inorganic iron to prevent depletion of some community members. Our results highlight the complementarity of in vivo and in vitro studies in deconstructing how environmental factors affect gut microbiome structure.


Photostimulation (PS) of turkeys increases the number of hypothalamic vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP)-immunoreactive neurons, the number of anterior pituitary VIP binding sites, and prolactin (PRL) secretion. Serotonin (5-HT) was recently shown to stimulate PRL secretion through VIP. This study tested the hypothesis that 5-HT's ability to induce PRL secretion is mediated by reproductive status and/or photoperiod in normally cycling turkey hens. Initially, saline or 5-HT was infused into the third ventricle of nest-deprived, previously incubating (ND) hens for 60 min at rates of 0.1, 1.0, or 10 nmol/min. The results led to use of the 10 nmol/min infusion rate for the remaining 5-HT infusions. Next, 5-HT was infused into short-day (SD;6), laying (6), ND (5), and photorefractory (P/R;6) hens. Plasma PRL was elevated in all groups except for the SD hens (P < 0.05). In Experiment 3, VIP was infused into the median eminence of SD (6), laying (5), and P/R (5) hens, increasing circulating PRL levels in all three groups (P < 0.05). Finally, SD hens were photostimulated for 0, 3, or 10 days and then infused with 5-HT. Only the birds which were photostimulated for 10 days exhibited elevated plasma PRL (P < 0.05). In conclusion, PS regulates PRL secretion at the hypothalamic level and more than 3 days of PS are required for 5-HT-ergic stimulation of PRL secretion.


In this paper, we study the performance of solid-state drives that employ flash technology as storage medium. Our prime objective is to understand how the scheduling of the user-generated read and write commands and the read, write, and erase operations induced by the garbage-collection process affect the basic performance measures throughput and latency. We demonstrate that the most straightforward scheduling that prioritizes the processing of garbage-collection-related commands over user-related commands suffers from severe latency deficiencies. These problems can be overcome by using a more sophisticated priority scheme that minimizes the user-perceived latency without throughput penalty or deadlock exposure. Using both analysis and simulation, we investigate how these schemes perform under a variety of system design parameters and workloads. Our results can be directly applied to the engineering of a performance-optimized solid-state-drive system.


In 1948 Longmire and Sanford1proposed a method of treating biliary obstruction by intrahepatic cholangiojejunostomy following partial resection of the left lobe of the liver. In 1956 Longmire and Lippman2reviewed their own experiences and those of others reported in the literature. This survey included a total of 28 patients, 19 of whom were treated for benign biliary obstruction and 9 for malignant obstruction. Since the development of this procedure, nearly 10 years ago, few long-term follow-up studies have been recorded in the literature. Most of the patients so treated had been followed for only a few months after operation at the time of the report. The longest follow-up was for a period of 5 years 11 months. This patient ultimately died of recurrent episodes of cholangitis. The present report concerns a patient treated for benign postoperative biliary obstruction approximately six and a half years ago. This case


This paper describes the design and implementation of a prototyping, analysis, simulation, and synthesis environment called PASS for real-time application systems. The design of the PASS environment is based on an event-driven model, whereas certain timing constraints such as period are described implicitly. The PASS environment supports not only detection of possible violations of end-to-end delay requirements but also a way to verify important system properties such as the bound for the error propagation problem. The strengths of this work were demonstrated by a case study on a common chalkboard example over Ethernet.


Introduction Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) and laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (LRYGB) are bariatric procedures with acceptable risk of postoperative morbidities and mortalities, but identification of high-risk patients is an ongoing issue. DeMaria et al. introduced the Obesity Surgery Mortality Risk Score (OS-MRS), which was designed for mortality risk assessment but not perioperative morbidity risk. Aim To assess the possibility to use the OS-MRS to predict the risk of perioperative complications related to LSG and LRYGB. Material and methods Retrospective analysis of patients operated on for morbid obesity was performed. Patients were evaluated before and after surgery. We included 408 patients (233 LSG, 175 LRYGB). Perioperative complications were defined as adverse effects in the 30-day period. The Clavien-Dindo scale was used for description of complications. Patients were assigned to five grades and three classes according to the OS-MRS results, then risk of morbidity was analyzed. Results Complications were observed in 30 (7.35%) patients. Similar morbidity was related to both procedures (OR = 1.14, 95% CI: 0.53–2.44, p = 0.744). The reoperation and mortality rates were 1.23% and 0.49% respectively. There were no significant differences in median OS-MRS value between the group without and the group with perioperative complications. There were no significant differences in OS-MRS between groups (p = 0.091). Obesity Surgery Mortality Risk Score was not related to Clavien-Dindo grades (p = 0.800). Conclusions It appears that OS-MRS is not useful in predicting risk of perioperative morbidity after bariatric procedures.


Abstract : Pain is one of the most frequent reasons for seeking dental treatment and clinical observations confirm that patients complain of dentinal sensitivity under different conditions and degrees of intensity. This is a very frequent problem after dental restorations with resin composite, even when there is no visible failure in the restoration. The aim of this bibliographic review was to identify the causes of post-operative sensitivity in resin composite restorations and how it can be avoided so that professionals can use this information to reduce the occurrence of this inconvenience in their daily practice. Complete texts of relevant articles on the subject were analysed. There are various causes of post-operative sensitivity in direct resin composite restorations related to failures in diagnosis and indications for treatment and/or cavity preparation, the stages of hybridization of hard dental tissues, insertion of the material, and finishing and polishing the restoration. To avoid or minimize the occurrence of post-operative sensitivity, it is imperative to make a good diagnosis and use the correct technique at all stages of the restorative procedure.


This study aims to analyze the effects of Intellectual Capital to Profitability and Market Performance. Intellectual capital which consists of human capital efficiency (HCE), structural capital efficiency (SCE), and the capital employed efficiency (CEE) which uses a model Pulic - Value Added Intellectual Coefficients (VAIC TM ). Profitability is proxied by Return on Assets (ROA) and market performance is proxied by the Market to Book Value (MtBV). The research samples are the trade and services in the Indonesia Stock Exchange in 2009-2012. Based on purposive sampling method, samples obtained 51 companies . This study used multiple linear regression to analyze the data.   The results of this study indicate that intellectual capital (IC), structural capital efficiency (SCE), and capital employed efficiency (CEE) is significant positive effect on return on assets (ROA), but in human capital efficiency (HCE) is not significant and negative effect the return on assets (ROA). Furthermore , the results of research on the performance of the market is proxied by market to book (MtBV) indicates that intellectual capital (IC) , structural capital efficiency (SCE) , and the capital employed efficiency (CEE) is not positive and not significant effect on the market to book (MtBV). In contrast , human capital efficiency (HCE) a positive significant effect on the market to book value (MtBV).


Open Science is a dynamic system of knowledge production that depends on the disclosure of knowledge by researchers as an input into knowledge production by future researchers. This paper develops an overlapping generations model of cumulative research to analyze the conditions supporting Open Science as an economic institution. The model focuses on the trade-off faced by researchers between disclosure and secrecy. While secrecy yields private returns that are independent of the actions of future generations, the benefits to disclosure depend in part on the use of disclosed knowledge by subsequent researchers. Each research generation therefore chooses between maximizing the private exploitation of knowledge and earning benefits arising from participation in Open Science. The optimal choice depends on a dynamic equilibrium process, since the returns to disclosure and research investment by one generation depends on the investment and disclosure choices of prior generations, and the attribution behavior of future generations. Potential equilibria include 'Open Science,' 'Secrecy,' and a cyclic structure in which periods of Open Science are followed by Secrecy. The feasibility of Open Science as an equilibrium depends on parameters such as the costs of accessing prior knowledge, and the relative benefits to private exploitation under secrecy versus disclosure. Finally, in parameter regions where both Open Science and Secrecy can be supported, Open Science is associated with a higher level of social welfare.


The polyurethane industry presents a whole range of flexible polyurethane foams which, when selected properly for its application, offer an adequate fire behaviour. Different PU foams exist which resist a whole range of ignition sources, from lighted cigarettes to sources up to 7 kg of wood. In order to appreciate the costs involved, a risk analysis is required, taking into account the composite behaviour and the influences of the environment.