The non-homogeneous Poisson process provides a generalised framework for the modelling of random point data by allowing the intensity of point generation to vary across its domain of interest (time or space). The use of non-homogeneous Poisson processes have arisen in many areas of signal processing and machine learning, but application is still largely limited by its intractable likelihood function and the lack of computationally efficient inference schemes, although some methods do exist for the batch data case. In this paper, we propose for the first time a sequential framework for intensity inference which combines the non-homogeneous model of Poisson data with continuous-time state-space models for their time-varying intensity. This approach enables us to design efficient online inference schemes, for which we propose a novel sequential Markov chain Monte Carlo (SMCMC) algorithm, as is demanded by many applications where point data arrive sequentially and decisions need to be made with low latency. The proposed approach is compared with competing methods on synthetic datasets and tested with high-frequency financial order book data, showing in general improved performance and better computational efficiency than the main batch-based competitor algorithm, and better performance than a simple baseline kernel estimation scheme.


1. Our purpose was to determine why hypouricaemia is more frequently observed than hypouraemia in the syndrome of inappropriate secretion of antidiuretic hormone. We have retrospectively analysed the scores of 35 patients with a chronic form of hyponatraemia related to the syndrome of inappropriate secretion of antidiuretic hormone and studied prospectively six patients. 2. The patients with high fractional excretion of filtered urea (greater than 55%) presented lower blood urea and lower salt excretion than the patients with normal fractional excretion of filtered urea, despite similar levels of hyponatraemia and of osmotic and uric acid clearances. In six hyponatraemic patients, an increase in salt intake was accompanied by a decrease in fractional excretion of filtered urea. In the syndrome of inappropriate secretion of antidiuretic hormone, the fractional excretion of filtered urea was inversely correlated to the fractional excretion of filtered sodium (r = -0.66; P less than 0.001), whereas the fractional excretion of filtered uric acid was not dependent on sodium excretion. 3. Hypouraemia with high fractional excretion of filtered urea in patients with the syndrome of inappropriate secretion of antidiuretic hormone is related to low urinary sodium excretion and thus reflects low sodium intake.


We present here the research, development and dissemination activities on efficient wood-burning devices conducted at ASTRA, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. The fuel-efficient ASTRA stove, with a thermal efficiency of 44%, was developed and about 1.5 million stoves disseminated in Karnataka. The level of acceptance was around 60%. The technical performance of the stoves in the field as well as the research, development and dissemination challenges are presented. The analysis highlights the need for (i) more stove designs to cater to the diverse cooking practices in different regions; (ii) clean combustion with improved efficiency and no adverse impacts on global environment, and (iii) development of cost-effective and participatory dissemination modules based on pilot field experiments.


A cDNA encoding the Ca2+-regulated photoprotein of the bioluminescent marine hydroid Obelia geniculata was cloned and sequenced. The cDNA is a 774 bp fragment containing two overlapping open reading frames, one of which contained 585 bp encoding a 195 amino acid polypeptide which obviously has the primary structure of the apoprotein of a calcium-regulated photoprotein. Many of the residues are identical to those in other Ca2+-regulated photoproteins: 86% compared with that from Obelia longissima, 76% with that from Clytia (Phialidium), 64% with that from Aequorea, and 64% with that from Mitrocoma(Halistaura). The obelin from O. geniculata was overexpressed in Escherichia coli, refolded from inclusion bodies, and purified. The yield of highly purified recombinant protein was 55-80 mg/L of LB medium. O. geniculata obelin has absorption maxima at 280 and 460 nm and a shoulder at approximately 310 nm. The calcium-discharged protein loses visible absorption but exhibits a new absorption maximum at 343 nm. The bioluminescence of the obelin from O. geniculata is blue (lambda(max) = 495 nm). In contrast, the fluorescence of the calcium-discharged protein is yellow-green (lambda(max) = 520 nm; excitation at 340 nm). This is in sharp contrast to aequorin in which the bioluminescence and fluorescence emission spectra of the calcium-discharged protein are almost identical (lambda(max) = 465 nm). The Ca2+ concentration-effect curve for O. geniculata obelin is similar to those of many other photoproteins: at [Ca2+] below approximately 10(-8) M, calcium-independent luminescence is observed, and at [Ca2+] approximately 10(-3) M, the luminescence reaches a maximum. Between these extremes, the curve spans a vertical range of almost 8 log units with a maximum slope on a log-log plot of about 2.5. In the absence of Mg2+ the rate constant for the rise of bioluminescence determined by the stopped-flow technique is about 450 s(-1). The effects of Mg2+ on the kinetics of bioluminescence are complicated, but at all concentrations studied they are relatively small compared to the corresponding effects on aequorin luminescence. At least with respect to speed and sensitivity to Mg2+, the obelins from both O. longissima and O. geniculata would appear to be more suitable than aequorin for use as intracellular Ca2+ indicators.


Ridges in sea ice and the convergent forces that form them are a serious hazard to ships traveling in the Arctic, but few studies have examined ridge distribution at a basin level in the Canadian Arctic. The Hudson Strait, which connects Hudson Bay and the North Atlantic, is a site of ongoing winter shipping where vessels frequently encounter pressured ice conditions and ridging. Here, RADARSAT-1 and RADARSAT-2 ScanSAR Wide images were used to identify ridges manually in a winter shipping corridor in the Hudson Strait for the period 1997 to 2012. Ridge count peaked in the month of March. No significant linear trend in the number of ridges was identified on either a monthly or annual scale, which is the result of great variability from year to year. However, spatial patterns of ridging distribution were evident: ridging occurred primarily in the eastern and western sectors of the study area, both in the region between Charles Island and the Quebec coastline and at the eastern entrance to the Hudson Strait. Seasonal sea level pressure (SLP) patterns from years of high and low ridge density were compared, but consistent correlations between SLP and ridge density were not found. The impacts of one-time storm events on ridge densities were also investigated. More analysis is needed to understand the factors influencing ridge density in the Hudson Strait.


Loss and death deeply mark the life of a child, especially if loved one died. Death of a close friend or a family member is for a child a stressful and also a traumatic event. When a family member dies, children react differently from adults. On the other hand, we should to know the process of grieving and the factors which affect on this process. Understanding the aspects mentioned above, it is easier for the reader to comprehend the needs of a grieving child. This paper is based on theories of motivation (Maslow, Glasser and Frankl) and on a research (Child Bereavement Study), which stresses main needs of grieving children and adolescents (appropriate information, participating in families events, remembering, listening and help with heavy sensations, especially feelings of fear and guilt …) . There are many ways to help a grieving child through the grieving process. The child can be assisted by parents as well as professional staff at school and experts from other institution.
The empirical part deals with the needs of grieving children. In this research I asked 14 grieving children and adolescents, attending primary school in Slovenia. I was mainly interested in the needs of bereaved children at home, in school and in relation with their peers. I was also trying to learn how the needs established in my findings differ from the needs listed in the academic literature, and to learn, whether young people grieve in different ways with respect to their gender and age. According to my findings, bereaved children have the biggest needs in their home environment – it is the place, where their basic psychological needs should be met and where they are in need of talking openly to other persons. Also the importance of providing them with honest answers and information is to be emphasized. Grieving children especially need love from their parents as well as their closeness and are especially in need of consolation and understanding. Grieving children and adolescents often feel the need to talk about the deceased, to visit the deceased person's grave and to carry on with their daily routines and participate in fun activities.
What grieving children and adolescents require from their peers is respect, understanding and acceptance, as well as their presence without being mocked at. In classes these children have stressed the need for more frequent recesses and the possibility to have their own personal space. In school environment they mostly need understanding, compassion and the need to be treated equally. Furthermore, it is important for them to get the support and the help they need in the field of education. There are differences in terms of grieving regarding the gender – in school environment girls have more needs than boys. Grieving children and adolescents have different needs in their relationship with peers, regarding their age. The needs established in this research are not much different from the needs listed in the academic literature. In certain areas of needs of bereaved children and adolescents there are not enough data that could confirm that the needs established in my research are in accordance with those in academic literature. However, this can be confirmed for the needs in the area of including the grieving children and adolescents into happening, providing them with the appropriate information, encouraging them to take part in their daily activities, helping them through the grieving process and talking to them about the deceased.


Oxygen partial pressure (pO2) was measured in the anterior chamber of the human eye during routine cataract surgery using a polarographic oxygen electrode. We found a reproducible spatial distribution of oxygen in the aqueous humor. The pO2 (n = 8) was 44.9 +/- 9.1 mmHg in the chamber angle, 35.0 +/- 10.9 mmHg above the pupillary margin, and 13.5 +/- 8.0 mmHg in front of the center of the pupil. Pretreatment of the eye with the alpha-adrenergic agonist phenylephrine (5%) resulted in a marked reduction in pO2 to 19.8 +/- 5.8 mmHg in the chamber angle, 13.4 +/- 4.7 mmHg above the pupillary margin, and 7.4 +/- 3.3 mmHg in front of the center of the pupil (n = 8). The pO2 in the anterior lens was very low (2.5 +/- 0.6 mmHg, n = 7). We conclude that oxygen is supplied at the anterior iris surface to the aqueous humor. The lens is an extremely low oxygen compartment. Topical phenylephrine causes anterior-segment hypoxia, probably by the constriction of iris vessels.


In this paper, we investigate the traffic characteristics of parallel and high performance computing applications. Parallel applications that utilize multiple processing cores are widespread nowadays due to the trend of multicore processors. However the design paradigm of traditional sequential execution and concurrent execution can vary significantly. Therefore the estimation and prediction approaches used in conventional software can be limited for parallel applications. The communication among different nodes in a multicore system should be analysed and categorized in order to improve the accuracy of system simulation. We study several parallel applications running on a full system simulation environment. The communication traces among different nodes are collected and analysed. We discuss the detailed characteristics of these applications. The applications are grouped into different categories depending on several parallel programming paradigms. We apply power-law model with maximum likelihood estimation, Gaussian mixture model, as well as the polynomial model for fitting the trace data. A generic synthetic traffic model is proposed based on the results. Experiments show the proposed model can be used to evaluate the performance of parallel systems more accurately than by other synthetic traffic models.


The European Union (EU) declares itself to be more than a tool for governance or an economic
organization. It states to be a mediator to build a common European culture based on a shared
history, values, and future. The European Heritage Label (EHL) is the latest cultural initiative of
the EU. The EHL gives a precise form about how the EU constructs common European identity
through heritage. The thesis researches the use of the EHL to construct a common European
cultural identity by European Union and the relation of the national heritage actors in the
Netherlands and the sites to this endeavor. The thesis aimed to reveal the material and social
experiences, practices and dialogues between people and things. Therefore qualitative research is
chosen for methodology. The thesis demonstrated that the EU established a new heritage
approach to build a common European cultural identity. In this new approach, tangible heritage
places are managed according to intangible values. In order to do that the EHL inherited and
combined former approaches from valid tangible and intangible heritage managements from
contemporary heritage field. Such approach is a significant alteration of the Eurocentric and
traditional way of perceiving heritage. The reason behind establishing a new heritage approach is
to use the EHL for stimulating discussions about the values of Europe and the significance of the
EU among several actors. Thesis showed that the EU set forth a range of activities to realize this
objective. Some activities became obstacles for raising discussion and producing heritage
actively in the present and contradict with the new heritage approach. However the thesis also
explored that some activities are compatible for debating on heritage and producing it creatively
regarding the needs of the European society.


— A seed of Chia ( Salvia hispânica L.) has been growing, assuming significant values of consumption in the current society, due to its high nutritional power. However, its seeds can be targeted by the presence of fungi. The aim of this study was to evaluate the health, pathogenicity, and transmission of fungi associated with seeds in Chia culture in the southern Tocantins. For the work, Chia seeds were collected from the UFT experimental unit, Gurupi-TO, produced from the combination of five levels of phosphate fertilization (0, 30, 60, 90 and 120 kg ha -1 ) and five levels of nitrogen fertilization, 30, 60, 90 and 120 kg ha -1 ). The filter paper method ( blotter test ) was used to perform the mycobacterial survey. The pathogenicity and transmissibility of fungi associated with seeds were also tested. The genus detected in the superficial part of the seeds were: Cladosporium sp., Phoma sp., Fusarium sp., Alternaria sp. and Curvularia sp. The Chia seeds of the municipality of Gurupi-TO presented low incidence of fungi. There was no pathogenicity and transmissibility of the fungi detected in Chia seeds in the seedlings.


Inhalation of aerosolized compounds is a popular, non-invasive route for the targeted delivery of therapeutic molecules to the lung. Various types of nanoparticles have been used as carriers to facilitate drug uptake and intracellular action in order to treat lung diseases and/or to facilitate lung repair and growth. These include polymeric nanoparticles, liposomes, and dendrimers, among many others. In addition, nanoparticles are sometimes used in combination with small molecules, cytokines, growth factors, and/or pluripotent stem cells. Here we review the rationale and state-of-the-art nanotechnology for pulmonary drug delivery, with particular attention to new technological developments and approaches as well as the challenges associated with them, the emerging advances, and opportunities for future development in this field.


The existence of abnormal connectivity patterns between resting state networks in neuropsychiatric disorders, including Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), has been well established. Traditional treatment methods in ASD are limited, and do not address the aberrant network structure. Using real-time fMRI neurofeedback, we directly trained 3 brain nodes in participants with ASD, in which the aberrant connectivity has been shown to correlate with symptom severity. 17 ASD participants and 10 control participants were scanned over multiple sessions (123 sessions in total). Desired network connectivity patterns were reinforced in real-time, without participants' awareness of the training taking place. This training regimen produced large, significant long-term changes in correlations at the network level, and whole brain analysis revealed that the greatest changes were focused on the areas being trained. These changes were not found in the control group. Moreover, changes in ASD resting state connectivity following the training were correlated to changes in behavior, suggesting that neurofeedback can be used to directly alter complex, clinically relevant network connectivity patterns. Significance Statement Many disorders are characterized by underlying abnormalities in network connectivity. These abnormalities are difficult to address with explicit training procedures (which are unlikely to target the specific abnormalities). Covert neurofeedback however, can directly target these networks, positively reinforcing the desired connections. We have developed a method for reinforcing correlations in real-time, and show that such training is effective, inducing significant, long-lasting changes in connectivity between aberrant networks in Autism Spectrum Disorder. This provides a potential mechanism for modulating aberrant correlation structures in other clinical groups as well.


Since the discovery of PTEN, this protein has been shown to be an effective suppressor of cancer and a contributor to longevity. This report will review, in depth, the associations between PTEN and other molecules, its mutations and regulations in order to present how PTEN can be used to increase longevity. This report will collect recent research of PTEN and use this to discuss PTEN's role in caloric restriction, antioxidative defense of DNA-damage and the role it plays in suppressing tumors. The report will also discuss that variety of ways that PTEN can be compromised, through mutations, complete loss of alleles and its main antagonist, the PI3K/AKT pathway.


The purpose of the work is to develop recommendations for ensuring the quality of paints and varnishes for building products and structures. Information is provided on the application of statistical methods for managing the quality of products when painting building products and structures. It is shown, that the quality of the finish depends on the method of applying the paint, the porosity of the cement substrate. The problem of safety of paint and varnish coating properties during storage and operation is significant and relevant. For coatings based on all types of paints the minimum roughness value of the coating surface and the minimum value of the risk are typical in the case of applying paints to the putty surface, regardless of the method of application. Offered to organizations, firms, engaged in the execution of finishing works, the introduction of the kaizen approach to the renewal of staining technology, based on continuous improvement of activities and providing for the use of statistical methods for managing the quality of products. Information on the effect on the longevity of coatings of the quality of their appearance is given. It is shown, that coatings with a high roughness index are characterized by low durability during exploitation. A model of the cohesive strength of coatings is presented, depending on the surface roughness.


The effects of histamine, prostaglandin (PG) E2 and substance P (SP) on functions of nonadrenergic noncholinergic inhibitory (iNANC) nerves were examined in the guinea-pig tracheal muscle in vitro. In the presence of indometacin (10 mumol/l), atropine (2 mumol/l) and propranolol (1 mumol/l), field stimulation (FS) (1-80 Hz, 1 ms, 30 V for 45 s) was applied to the muscle strip under a condition where the same degree of contraction was produced by each agonist. Magnitudes of FS-induced relaxations were significantly smaller for the case of PGE2- or SP-produced contraction than those for the case of histamine-produced contraction. The FS-induced relaxations at lower stimulus frequencies (1-5 Hz) were suppressed by N omega-nitro-L-arginine methylester (L-NAME) (100 mumol/l) during histamine, although they were not affected by L-NAME during PGE2 or SP. Susceptibility of tracheal muscle to S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine, a donor of nitric oxide (NO), was not different during PGE2 or histamine; it was significantly less during SP. FS-induced relaxation during histamine was suppressed by concomitant administration of PGE2 (10 nmol/l), however, not by concomitant administration of SP (30-100 nmol/l). These results suggest that PGE2 may inhibit release of NO from iNANC nerves in airways, whereas SP may suppress responsiveness of airway smooth muscle to the released NO. Results also indicate a possible involvement of these inflammatory mediators under conditions where airway iNANC nerves are impaired.


Background

Legionella is an aquatic bacterium that causes Legionnaires' fever.
Methods

Fifty-six samples of the hot and cold-water system were collected. Characteristics of water samples were measured. Culture was performed in BCYE agar. Molecular identification was performed by PCR.
Results

The mean residual chlorine were 0.73 to 0.88 mg / l. Culture results were positive 58.8% of George Fischer and 23.5% of Ray Ho and 60% Taleghani hospital samples. PCR results based on 16sRNA were 35.2% of the George Fischer system, 45.4%, from Ray Ho piping and 54.5% from Taleghani hospital. the results of the mip gene, 82.3% of George Fischer, 54.5% of RayHo and 20% of Taleghani hospital were positive.
Conclusion

George Fischer's Legionella stopper pipes and fittings have a good ability to control the growth Legion density in the indoor water supply system and can be considered as a suitable option for use in indoor plumbing and water supply.


In a citizen centric approach – which became increasingly popular in the last decade – e-government success begins with citizens starting to use e-government systems, solutions, services. In line with this our paper investigates the factors – presented by the technology acceptance literature – influencing e-government service usage, on a large representative Hungarian sample concerning a wide range of B2C public administration services. Our results imply that the Hungarian government can further increase the usage of e-government services by influencing effort expectancy, trust of internet, facilitating conditions, user experience or habits.


A new numerical simulation approach is applied to the flow around 2-D aerofoil with tonal noise generation. Two flow conditions are considered. The first case is the flow around the NACA0015 airfoil with the transition process on the suction side. The second case is the flow around the NACA0012 airfoil with the Reynolds number of about 8,000. The acoustic fields clearly show the radiation of sound waves from just after the trailing edge region. Numerical simulations also capture a separated region at the trailing edge for both cases. For the high Reynolds number case, the linear stability analysis shows the possibility of the existence of T-S waves and the most unstable frequency up to the separation almost coincides with the peak frequency. This indicates that the generation of T-S waves on the pressure side is strongly relevant to the determination mechanism of the selection of peak frequency of the tonal edge noise and that the self-excited feedback mechanism exists between just after the stagnation point at the leading edge and the trailing edge region. For the low Reynolds number case, very small sound wave is captured and the frequency is the same as that in the wake region. No development of unstable waves inside the boundary layer is observed by the stability analysis and it is still unclear whether the flow structure before the separation region around trailing edge has some effects for the determination mechanism of the selection of peak frequency of the tonal edge noise.


5-S-cysteinyl-dopa (cysdopa) and 5-S-cysteinyl-dopamine (cysdopamine) are oxidized in vitro by soybean lipoxygenase (LOX) in the presence of hydrogen peroxide giving rise to the corresponding pheomelanins. The reaction is activated by caffeic acid and other catechols, suggesting a cofactor role for these compounds. The activating effect is proportional to the concentration of the cofactor, with a saturation profile. The activation extent of the various cofactors is directly related to LOX affinity for the same compounds. The possible implications of the peroxidative action of LOX in Parkinson's disease and in aging are discussed.


Unconstrained Image generation with high realism is now possible using recent Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs). However, it is quite challenging to generate images with a given set of attributes. Recent methods use style-based GAN models to perform image editing by leveraging the semantic hierarchy present in the layers of the generator. We present Few-shot Latent-based Attribute Manipulation and Editing (FLAME), a simple yet effective framework to perform highly controlled image editing by latent space manipulation. Specifically, we estimate linear directions in the latent space (of a pre-trained StyleGAN) that controls semantic attributes in the generated image. In contrast to previous methods that either rely on large-scale attribute labeled datasets or attribute classifiers, FLAME uses minimal supervision of a few curated image pairs to estimate disentangled edit directions. FLAME can perform both individual and sequential edits with high precision on a diverse set of images while preserving identity. Further, we propose a novel task of Attribute Style Manipulation to generate diverse styles for attributes such as eyeglass and hair. We first encode a set of synthetic images of the same identity but having different attribute styles in the latent space to estimate an attribute style manifold. Sampling a new latent from this manifold will result in a new attribute style in the generated image. We propose a novel sampling method to sample latent from the manifold, enabling us to generate a diverse set of attribute styles beyond the styles present in the training set. FLAME can generate diverse attribute styles in a disentangled manner. We illustrate the superior performance of FLAME against previous image editing methods by extensive qualitative and quantitative comparisons. FLAME generalizes well on out-of-distribution images from art domain as well as on other datasets such as cars and churches.


UNLABELLED
BACKROUND AND AIMS: It has been suggested that the rate of net photosynthesis (AN) of carnivorous plants increases in response to prey capture and nutrient uptake; however, data confirming the benefit from carnivory in terms of increased AN are scarce and unclear. The principal aim of our study was to investigate the photosynthetic benefit from prey capture in the carnivorous sundew Drosera capensis.

METHODS
Prey attraction experiments were performed, with measurements and visualization of enzyme activities, elemental analysis and pigment quantification together with simultaneous measurements of gas exchange and chlorophyll a fluorescence in D. capensis in response to feeding with fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster).

KEY RESULTS
Red coloration of tentacles did not act as a signal to attract fruit flies onto the traps. Phosphatase, phophodiesterase and protease activities were induced 24 h after prey capture. These activities are consistent with the depletion of phosphorus and nitrogen from digested prey and a significant increase in their content in leaf tissue after 10 weeks. Mechanical stimulation of tentacle glands alone was not sufficient to induce proteolytic activity. Activities of β-D-glucosidases and N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminidases in the tentacle mucilage were not detected. The uptake of phosphorus from prey was more efficient than that of nitrogen and caused the foliar N:P ratio to decrease; the contents of other elements (K, Ca, Mg) decreased slightly in fed plants. Increased foliar N and P contents resulted in a significant increase in the aboveground plant biomass, the number of leaves and chlorophyll content as well as AN, maximum quantum yield (Fv/Fm) and effective photochemical quantum yield of photosystem II (ΦPSII).

CONCLUSIONS
According to the stoichiometric relationships among different nutrients, the growth of unfed D. capensis plants was P-limited. This P-limitation was markedly alleviated by feeding on fruit flies and resulted in improved plant nutrient status and photosynthetic performance. This study supports the original cost/benefit model proposed by T. Givnish almost 30 years ago and underlines the importance of plant carnivory for increasing phosphorus, and thereby photosynthesis.


Redundancy reduction has been proposed as the main computational process in the primary sensory pathways in the mammalian brain. This idea has led to the development of sparse coding techniques, which are exploited in this article to extract salient structure from musical signals. In particular, we use a sparse coding formulation within a generative model that explicitly enforces shift-invariance. Previous work has applied these methods to relatively small problem sizes. In this paper, we present a subset selection step to reduce the computational complexity of these methods, which then enables us to use the sparse coding approach for many real world applications. We demonstrate the algorithm's potential on two tasks in music analysis: the extraction of individual notes from polyphonic piano music and single-channel blind source separation.


Diabetes Mellitus (DM) adversely affects survival in patients with Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) undergoing Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG) surgery. The influence of diabetes on events after valve operations is less defined. We analyzed the effect of diabetes on short and long term outcomes in patients undergoing valvular operations. A total of 2200 patients had cardiac surgery at a single VA Medical Center between 1991 and 2008. 355 patients had undergone valve replacement or repair. Data documenting the presence of diabetes was collected prospectively and captured into the Veterans Affairs electronic medical record. Of the 355 patients who had a valvular operation, 259 (79%) had an Aortic Valve Replacement (AVR), 69 (20%) had a Mitral Valve Repair/Replacement (MVR), and 4 (1%) had a Tricsupid Valve Repair/Replacement (TVR), and 19% (n = 69) of all patients had diabetes. 44% of patients with DM and 38% of patients without DM had a combined valve and CABG procedure. During a total follow up of 18 yrs, 42 (60%) of patients with diabetes and 186 (65%) of patients without diabetes were alive (p = 0.118). At 1, 5, 10, 15 yrs survival in patients with versus without diabetes were 91% v 87%; 71% v 74%; 40% v 56%; 23% v 48% (p = NS). The presence of diabetes does not appear to adversely effect long-term survival in patients undergoing valve operations.


The change in thermal transport across the L to H transition is studied in detail for those JET high performance H-modes which have a very fast transition. It is found that in these pulses the transport changes very rapidly (<4 msecs) over a very large radial region 0.5< rho <1, and a very large transport barrier is formed. The reasons for the formation of this barrier are discussed.


— Network survivability is the major concern to the design and design interpretation of wireless ad hoc sensor networks. This paper explores energy draining attacks at the routing protocol layer, which drains battery power. A innovative approach for routing protocols, affect from attack even those devised to be protected which is short of protection from these attacks, which we call energy draining attacks, which permanently disable networks by quickly draining battery power of nodes. These energy depletion attacks are not protocol specific but are disturbing and hard to notice, and are easy to carry out using as few as one malicious insider sending only protocol compliant messages.


Summary Oesophageal dilatations were performed 55 times in 10 children aged 2 months to 8 years presenting with acquired strictures of several origins. Classical bougienage with rubber material and newer technique with the Eder-Puestow's metallic olives system were used successively. The conjunction of the latter with systematic use of fiberendo-scopy enhances considerably the safety of the procedure and permits better functional results.


Resonant effects upon the ion current to electrical probes in a magnetic field are presented. When the ion cyclotron radius becomes equal to an even fraction of the distance between the double probes, or between the probe and the wall, a sudden decrease or increase in the ion current collection by the probes takes place as a result of resonant plasma depletion or supply between the interacting parts (ion cyclotron radius resonance).


The verification of safety-critical systems using formal techniques is not something new. Traditionally, safety-critical systems are verified using hazard analysis techniques, e.g., fault tree analysis. As safety-critical systems have become larger and more complex, several analysis techniques with compositional capabilities were developed. However, these techniques were not able to analyse stochastic systems. In this paper, we present a model-based compositional safety analysis technique (i.e., failure propagation analysis) and explore the feasibility of integrating this safety analysis technique with techniques of probabilistic model checking, more precisely the PRISM model checker. By doing so, we make it possible to rigorously verify a model while system failure behaviours are quantitatively analysed.


BACKGROUND
Use of intra-articular antibiotics for the treatment of arthroplasty infections has gained some interest over the last few years.

OBJECTIVE
Some data exists on its use with bacterial arthroplasty infections.

METHOD
We used intra-articular amphotericin B in an attempt to cure these joint infections and perform a one stage revision.

RESULTS
Two patients were treated with intra-articular amphotericin B for 6 weeks followed by suppressive fluconazole for 4 months. Intra-articular joint fluid was cultured during this process for re-growth of fungus.

CONCLUSION
Both patients were treated successfully with the method with follow up showing no evidence of recurrence. IA administration of amphotericin B may be an alternative treatment in these patients.


Interactions between protein aggregates and a cellular membrane have been strongly implicated in many protein conformational diseases. However, such interactions for the case of Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD1) protein, which is related to fatal neurodegenerative disorder amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), have not been explored yet. For the first time, we report the direct observation of defect formation and increased ion permeability of a membrane induced by SOD1 aggregates using a supported lipid bilayer and membrane patches of human embryonic kidney cells as model membranes. We observed that aggregated SOD1 significantly induced the formation of defects within lipid membranes and caused the perturbation of membrane permeability, based on surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy and electrophysiology. In the case of apo SOD1 with an unfolded structure, we found that it bound to the lipid membrane surface and slightly perturbed membrane permeability, compared to other folded proteins (holo SOD1 and bovine serum albumin). The changes in membrane integrity and permeability were found to be strongly dependent on the type of proteins and the amount of aggregates present. We expect that the findings presented herein will advance our understanding of the pathway by which structurally disordered SOD1 aggregates exert toxicity in vivo.


Any proposed particle to working fluid heat exchanger as part of a CSP Particle Heating Receiver system is challenging. A principal challenge is achieving adequate heat exchange (HX) from the high temperature particles to the working fluid such as sCO2 or air flowing in tubes or other passages. To reduce the required HX area, a high particle side heat transfer coefficient is needed, and counterflow is always the best overall arrangement. Consequently, a promising approach is implementing an open channel flow of fluidized particles actually flowing in a general counterflow with respect to the working fluid, which is contained in tubes or passages immersed in the channel. This arrangement provides (1) excellent particle side heat transfer, (2) convenient particle re-circulation, and (3) almost ideal counterflow with the working fluid. To advance the understanding and support the design and applications of such exchangers, this investigation has been conducted to study the possibility of local effects of the particle flow path on the fluidized heat transfer.
 To this end, a series of smaller fluidized bed heat exchangers were built utilizing an axially flowing open channel for the moving bed of fluidized particles. These designs featured a serpentine flow path representative the full scale HX design proposed by others. The proposed serpentine flow design is based on an existing particle cooling system; however, questions were raised about this design that had not yet been conclusively answered and promoted this investigation. The test bath supporting this investigation contains one bend around which the particulate flows prior to exiting the heat exchanger. The intent of this larger scale apparatus is to observe the variables affecting the stability or uniformity of the particle flow and provide insight into potential problems with the operational unit.
 The test rig consists of two stacked sections. The lower container is the fluidizing air plenum, which provides a uniformly distributed airflow through the bottom plane of the upper container. The interface comprises a structural perforated plate, stacked layers of filter paper to balance the pressure drop, and a fine stainless steel wire mesh to ensure that the particulate remains in the upper container. This upper container represents the particulate flow area. Clear conductive PETG polymer walls were used for the fluidized bath to reduce electrostatic buildup while still providing a transparent material through which the flow can be observed. The current design uses an air conveyor to recirculate the particulate from one end of the test bath back to the other closing the particle loop. The tests described investigate the effectiveness of fluidization in specific regions of the serpentine path. Measurements have been taken in these regions to determine the local heat transfer coefficient. This is accomplished by inserting a cartridge heater with a known power input and heated area, instrumented with a fine bead surface thermocouple to measure the heater surface temperature. In addition, two probes are immersed in the fluidized bed surrounding the cartridge heater to measure the free stream temperature in the bed. The air input for fluidization and air conveyor lift are also measured and recorded as test parameters along with approximate bed height in each region.
 In addition to the quantitative measurements of the flow, the test unit is used to observe the effect of fluidization, bed height, and outlet locations on the axial mass flow rate of the particulate. These results will be presented in the proposed paper. Going forward, this setup will allow for testing of various mass flow control schemes for the system. Currently this design, with the instrumented heater and free stream temperature probes, allows measurement of the local heat transfer properties anywhere in the particle flow path. The present tests provide a localized map of heat transfer coefficients in the fluidized bath design and a description of the flow behavior which will be reported and presented to support future open channel particle to sCO2 heat exchanger designs.


A pedagogical activity with Master's Degree and Postgraduate students in Maternal Health and Obstetrics Nursing is described, applying principles of simulated practice in perineal suturing after delivery. This procedure causes a lot of insecurity and generates great anxiety in the students, when they start the internship in a delivery room.

OBJECTIVES
to develop the psychomotor skills in students for perineal surgical reconstruction; increase students' self-confidence to perform the procedure.

METHODOLOGY
qualitative, with 2 moments of data collection applied to two courses. Questionnaire with open questions, focus group session and filming. Content analysis of the answers to the questions and verbatim of the focus group.

RESULTS
a close relationship was observed between simulation and skills development.

CONCLUSION
the students emphasized the importance of the pedagogical activity in the acquisition of suturing skills, improving their self-confidence and reducing the initial anxiety. The use of the qualitative research allowed identifying the impact of the simulated practice on the development of the students' skills and to identify aspects to be improved, contributing to the progress of pedagogical practices.


To become an autonomous learner it is necessary to owe self-regulatory strategies that help for a correct understanding of the task: establish goals, perform the task maintaining the attention and solving any difficulty that may arise in the process, and assess and judge the final results. One of the key processes for being able to self-regulate is to self-assess to correct mistakes along the task. The use of assessment rubrics, a tool usually given by the teacher to the students, help the pupils to self-assess their learning using the assessment criteria included in the rubric. Through these assessment criteria the rubric has a direct impact in the strategies that the students activate for the task.


S AND PAPERS An abstract of presentation of about 500 words or of half-page length with title, name, address, phone/fax number and e-mail address should be submitted to the Secretariat of TS 2016. Decision on the presentation will be sent to the authors. And detailed instructions on preparations of 4-page papers and poster presentations will be given on the Congress' website (under construction). The 4-page papers (not more and not less) will be published in the Proceedings. Authors will be encouraged to submit the full papers for publication in the Mechanics journals, in particular, in the Journal of Thermal Stresses. IMPORTANT DEADLINES Submission of an abstract: November 30, 2015 Notification of acceptance: January 15, 2016 Submission of the 4-page paper: February 29, 2016 CHAIRS General Chair Prof. Michele Ciarletta Department of Industrial Engineering University of Salerno, via Giovanni Paolo II 132, 84084 Fisciano, Italy, phone: +39-089-964251 Emails: firstname.lastname@example.com email@example.com Co-Chairs Prof. Richard B Hetnarski Rochester Institute of Technology, USA Prof. Naotake Noda Shizuoka University, Japan FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT AND CALL FOR PAPERS iii SOCIAL PROGRAMS Rich program is scheduled, including sightseeing. PREVIOUS CONGRESSES ON THERMAL STRESSES 10th Nanjing, China 2013 Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics 9th Budapest, Hungary 2011 Budapest University of Technology and Economics and Hungarian Academy of Sciences 8th Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, USA 2009 University of Illinois 7th Taipei, Taiwan 2007 National Taiwan University of Science and Technology 6th Vienna, Austria 2005 Vienna University of Technology 5th Blacksburg, USA 2003 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University 4th Osaka, Japan 2001 Osaka Prefecture University, Osaka Institute of Technology 3rd Cracow, Poland 1999 Cracow University of Technology 2nd Rochester, USA 1997 Rochester Institute of Technology 1st Hamamatsu, Japan 1995 Shizuoka University CORRESPONDENCE Secretariat of TS 2016 Dr. Vincenzo Tibullo Department of Industrial Engineering University of Salerno, Italy Tel: +39-089-964271 E-mail: email@example.com email@example.com Website: http://ts2016.tumblr.com/home/


Objectives : The present study was undertaken to determine whether the ethanol extact of Citri Pericarpium (CP, Pericarp of Citrus unshiu Markovich, Rutaceae) is effective against atopic dermatitis according to it`s storage period. Methods : To evaluate antiallergic effect of CP and OCP (Old Citri Pericarpium) evaluated in vivo their inhibitory effects against passive cutaenous anaphylaxis (PCA) reaction induced by IgE-antigen complex and scratching behaviors by compound 48/80. The Anti-atopic effects were measured by contact dermatitis, prurient animal model and PCA reaction. Contact dermatitis in mice as a model of the Type IV reaction caused by Oxazolone. Results : The results showed that anti-pruritus effects, analgesic effects of CP was depends on its hesperetin contents. And It also showed that keep longer in storage appeared to be higher in hesperetin contents. Both CP and OCP(Old CP) have a dose-dependent analgesic action in acetic acid induced writhing syndrome. OCP Potently inhibited PCA reaction in mice, although OCP weakly inhibited in long term contact dermatitis model in mice. Conclusions : These results suggest that the Proportional to the storage period, Citri Pericarpium possesses analgesic effects and anti-allergic effects.


This paper investigates standard <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$H_\infty$</tex-math></inline-formula> control of switched systems via dwell-time switchings without posing any internal stability requirements on subsystems of the switched systems. First, a sufficient condition is formed by specifying lower and upper bounds of the dwell time, constraining upper bound of derivative of a Lyapunov function of the active subsystem, and forcing the Lyapunov function values of the overall switched system to decrease at switching times to achieve standard <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$H_\infty$</tex-math></inline-formula> control of unforced switched linear systems. Then, in the same framework of the dwell time, sufficient conditions are given for that of the corresponding forced switched linear systems by further designing state feedback controllers. Finally, numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed results.


BACKGROUND Results of many randomized trials on COVID-19 convalescent plasma (CCP) have been reported, but information on long-term outcome after CCP treatment is limited. The objectives of this extended observation of the randomized CAPSID trial are to assess long-term outcome and disease burden in patients initially treated with or without CCP. METHODS Of 105 randomized patients, 50 participated in the extended observation. Quality of life (QoL) was assessed by questionnaires and a structured interview. CCP donors (n = 113) with asymptomatic to moderate COVID-19 were included as a reference group. RESULTS The median follow-up of patients was 396 days, and the estimated 1-year survival was 78.7% in the CCP group and 60.2% in the control (P = 0.08). The subgroup treated with a higher cumulative amount of neutralizing antibodies showed a better 1-year survival compared with the control group (91.5% versus 60.2%, P = 0.01). Medical events and QoL assessments showed a consistent trend for better results in the CCP group without reaching statistical significance. There was no difference in the increase in neutralizing antibodies after vaccination between the CCP and control groups. CONCLUSION The trial demonstrated a trend toward better outcome in the CCP group without reaching statistical significance. A predefined subgroup analysis showed a significantly better outcome (long-term survival, time to discharge from ICU, and time to hospital discharge) among those who received a higher amount of neutralizing antibodies compared with the control group. A substantial long-term disease burden remains after severe COVID-19. Trial registration EudraCT 2020-001310-38 and ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04433910. Funding Bundesministerium für Gesundheit (German Federal Ministry of Health).


This article aims to show a benchmarking experience developed by a Business Network for Experience Sharing in Quality (Benchmarking Network) made up of Spanish companies of different sizes and from different sectors. Co‐ordinated by a monitor, the participants were mainly managers from small companies with varying degrees of development in their quality assurance systems. The team learned to work in a team and discovered that, despite the different sectors, sizes, organization cultures and the like, their problems were similar and they were able to share experiences in quality management in an environment of co‐operation, where they could resolve a great deal of problems through an innovative system. After a brief summary of the problems involved in implementing quality assurance systems, the article puts forward the features of the initiative developed and the work methodology employed in the network. Details are given of what was experienced throughout the meetings held, and of the actions undertaken. Finally, the results achieved are presented.


MOTIVATION
Knowing the localization of a protein within the cell helps elucidate its role in biological processes, its function and its potential as a drug target. Thus, subcellular localization prediction is an active research area. Numerous localization prediction systems are described in the literature; some focus on specific localizations or organisms, while others attempt to cover a wide range of localizations.

RESULTS
We introduce SherLoc, a new comprehensive system for predicting the localization of eukaryotic proteins. It integrates several types of sequence and text-based features. While applying the widely used support vector machines (SVMs), SherLoc's main novelty lies in the way in which it selects its text sources and features, and integrates those with sequence-based features. We test SherLoc on previously used datasets, as well as on a new set devised specifically to test its predictive power, and show that SherLoc consistently improves on previous reported results. We also report the results of applying SherLoc to a large set of yet-unlocalized proteins.

AVAILABILITY
SherLoc, along with Supplementary Information, is available at: http://www-bs.informatik.uni-tuebingen.de/Services/SherLoc/


The ability to configure physical design tools is often dependent on the experience and knowledge of the physical designer (PD). Technology node sizes are ever decreasing, digital design sizes vary drastically, and design constraints change based on the needs of the application. As these changes occur frequently and physical design times can be extensive, the need for accurate quality of design results early in the design process is crucial. Collecting these metrics is computationally expensive, creating a need to determine how to best create and extract information as design flows change. This paper describes the use of estimated Pareto optimal trade-off sets to provide designers with the capability of visualizing the results of Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tool configuration settings, or "knobs", that will offer an optimal post detail route design based on two design metrics, critical path length and core area. We will show that when given a set of design constraints by creating a point that occurs along the Pareto front, the knob settings used are optimal. With only 38 samples per design, we were able to produce estimated detail routed design metrics with a worst case error (WCE) of less than 10%.


We analyzed the profile of malt proteins in boiled wort preparations using liquid chromatography coupled to high resolution mass spectrometry. Proteins detected in 9 different malt barley cultivars were identified. We probed proteins for post-translational modifications, namely glycation. Differential analysis of the wort proteomes provided insight into the effect of malting barley cultivar as well as location of cultivation. The results suggest that proteome analysis of wort samples could allow for identification/classification of malting barley cultivars used in wort production.


In our growing desire to implement multicultural studies, much is made of the differences in ethnic groups and not enough about their similarities. Although the cultural details change-the food, the old heroes and legends, the religious observances and special holidays-each story tells of balancing two cultures in the process of becoming American. Descriptive citations cover forty-one immigrant groups (from Armenian to Vietnamese), six combined groups (Asian, Hispanic, Jewish, Scandinavian, Slavic, and West Indian), and a category called "The General Experience." There is comprehensive coverage from the late nineteenth century through the first half of 1994 of adult and young adult novels, collections of stories, anthologies, and secondary sources. In addition to author and title indexes, the book has two special indexes-"Theme and Genre" and "Publication Dates"-to assist the reader in making transcultural connections.


An accurate and timely estimate of the reproduction ratio R of an infectious disease epidemic is crucial to make projections on its evolution and set up the appropriate public health response. Estimates of R routinely come from statistical inference on timelines of cases or their proxies like symptomatic cases, hospitalizatons, deaths. Here, however, we prove that these estimates of R may not be accurate if the population is made up of spatially distinct communities, as the interplay between space and mobility may hide the true epidemic evolution from surveillance data. This means that surveillance may underestimate R over long periods, to the point of mistaking a growing epidemic for a subsiding one, misinforming public health response. To overcome this, we propose a correction to be applied to surveillance data that removes this bias and ensures an accurate estimate of R across all epidemic phases. We use COVID-19 as case study; our results, however, apply to any epidemic where mobility is a driver of circulation, including major challenges of the next decades: respiratory infections (influenza, SARS-CoV-2, emerging pathogens), vector-borne diseases (arboviruses). Our findings will help set up public health response to these threats, by improving epidemic monitoring and surveillance.


It is ironic that at a time when we have more quantitative data about consumers than ever before – so-called "big data," scanner data, loyalty program purchase histories, trails of Internet searches and social media activity, and much more – that businesses nevertheless increasingly desire qualitative information. The two sets of methods also differ in their underlying assumptions about the nature of reality, the nature of evidence, causality, and factors that shape behavior. Unfortunately these differences often evoke an "either/or" approach on the part of researchers and audiences for their research. In both academic and applied research it is usually far more beneficial to adopt a "both/and" perspective and to select the best tool for the problem at hand. Otherwise, with a tool kit comprised of only a single tool, the "law of the hammer" tends to apply. If you only have a hammer in your tool kit, everything starts to look like a nail and we keep pounding away, regardless of the nature of the problem at hand.


The reader will be immediately impressed by the researched blending of medical and legal thought, and the problems interfaced by both professions in the pursuit of understanding how to handle a catastrophic disease. He can dwell on the anecdotal possibilities when conceptualizing doctrines such as "informed consent" needed before an advanced major breakthrough would be attempted. Visualize a curious, questioning, and verbal patient and a compassionate, talkative physician describing risks, discomforts, and benefits of a proposed procedure and of all alternative procedures available in a heart or kidney transplant. Questions and answers increase in depth and complexity, until finally the patient or the patient's next of kin is fully informed. By then it is too late. The medical possibilities are no longer available. In scope, the book explains catastrophic disease and the problems faced by the patient, the patient's family, the physician, the hospital and research facility, and the lawyer working in the background. The state is also concerned, as laws and courts' decisions try to classify but often confuse both the doctor and the lawyer in determining such questions as when death occurs or when a carefully researched treatment has reached the stage where it can be safely performed on human beings. Is medical malpractice lurking behind the door of every operating room where an operation on the frontier of medical science commences? In eminently readable language, the history of catastrophic disease is traced in specific relation to the heart and kidneys. The issues are ponderous: Who will live and who die? Who will make that decision? Who will be asked to donate a healthy organ, and under what circumstances? And who will perform the first operation of a given kind, which, if successful, will insure immediate fame and ultimate immortality? Many of the questions are not answerable, but the options are discussed, researched, and presented. One need not be either a doctor or a lawyer to consider and understand the language and considerations involved in a most complex decision-making process.


In this paper the Kalman-Filter algorithm is applied to the Arrhenius life model, normally used for thermal endurance characterization of insulating materials. It is shown how this algorithm can be used to derive estimates of Temperature Index and Halving Intervals, i. e. the indices recommended by IEC 216, using thermal endurance data relevant to three insulating materials or systems. Depending on scattering of the experimental points from the assumed linear model, especially of the points at the lowest temperatures, estimates performed by Kalman filter and according to IEC 216 may considerably differ. Tests of the validity of the model, which are available in the Kalman procedure, show that there is a high probability that the linear model is not valid at the lowest test temperatures.


Background and Aims Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use by children is predicated upon CAM-use by their parents. Of the various practitioner-based CAM therapies for children, chiropractic is the most popular. This study was undertaken to characterize the chiropractic care of children in Europe in a practice-based research network (PBRN). Methods This study was approved by the IRB of Life University (Marrieta, GA, USA). European chiropractors and their patients participated in a PBRN observational study to characterize the chiropractic care of children. Results A convenience sample of 14 chiropractors (10 females; 4 males; average age = 39.36 years; average practice experience = 11.00 years) participated in this study and recruited a convenience sample of 64 parents whose child was receiving chiropractic care. Referrals patterns indicated 3 "often" received referrals from MDs while 13 indicated "often" referring patients to MDs. Of the 64 children (34 females; 30 males; median age = 7.38 years; complaint duration average of 1.42 years), 47% had previously or were currently attending medical care while 53% did not. Motivation for care ran the spectrum of pediatric clinical presentations from musculoskeletal (i.e., scoliosis) to non-musculoskeletal (i.e., colic, enuresis) in addition to health promotion and disease prevention. Perceived effectiveness by 72% of parents was high as monitored using a Likert Scale. Conclusion European children attend the care of chiropractors for chronic recurrent conditions with high parental perceived effectiveness. We support further research to examine the factors for integrative pediatric care.


Purpose : To evaluate the broad-spectrum antiviral activity of peptide H9 (H9) in vitro in order to gain insight into its underlying molecular mechanisms. Method: Antiviral activity against Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) was determined using thiazolyl blue (MTT) assay. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) was employed to assay H9 antiviral activity against human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). The inhibitory effect of H9 on the replication of these viral genes including early genes was assayed by real time-Ppolymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blot. Results: H9 possessed significant inhibitory effect on the four different herpesviruses with 50 % inhibitory concentration (IC 50 ) of 1.21 ng/mL (HSV-1). AD169 infection was strongly inhibited with an EC 50 value of 0.46 ng/ml. The anti-herpesviral activity of H9 was dose-dependent. The peptide acted primarily during the early stage of infection by detection of the early genes. Conclusion: The results demonstrate that H9 can inhibit the infection of HSV-1, EBV and HCMV. Furthermore, H9 has a broad-spectrum anti-herpesviral effect in vitro based on targeted killing of infected cells expressing genes. Keywords: Antagonist, Trapping receptor/ligand, Broad-spectrum, Anti-herpesvirus, H9 peptide, Gene expression


This research explores the mental and biophysical terrains of family forest owners' relationships with biodiversity. We used concept mapping, in-depth unstructured interviews, property mapping, and field observation to explore owners' knowledge, beliefs and management approaches. We conducted our research in one watershed in the Oregon white oak (Quercus garryana) ecotype of western Oregon, an ecotype that is considered at risk. The owners in our sample are knowledgeable about the concept of biodiversity and believe they should steward the biodiversity of their forests through management. However, their notion of biodiversity appears to be quite generic, rather than specific to the oak ecotype in which they own land. Moreover, external economic and social forces encourage them to manage for Douglas fir rather than oak. Extending Schneider and Ingram's (1990) theoretical policy framework to conservation, we propose ways for policy to address these limitations and build on owners' motivations.


Both women's development and environmental conservation are important topics in the process of development in Western China. In the process of protecting the environment in Western China, two things are often ignored. One is the unique connection between women and the natural environment. The other is the impact that the environment has on women's development. To accept and apply the concept of gender and gender and development (GAD) in China, a process of acceptance is needed. Compared to the concept of gender, equality between men and women is actually more understandable and acceptable in the course of furthering women's development in China. From a human perspective, the environment means the natural environment where people live and develop. In other words, the natural environment provides rural women with the bases of living and development, and rural women are the main users of such resources. Keywords:environmental conservation; gender and development (GAD); Western China; women's development


In this study, block copolymer synthesis was evaluated by combining the redox polymerization technique and different polymerization techniques. By combining such different polymerization techniques, block copolymer synthesis has recently become an important part of polymer synthesis and polymer technology. The block/ graft copolymers synthesized by combining such different techniques contribute greatly to macromolecular engineering. In today's polymer synthesis, copolymer synthesis is of great interest in polymer technologies especially by using controlled radical polymerization and different polymerization techniques together. The suc-cess achieved in copolymer synthesis by using different polymerization techniques such as ATRP-ROP, RAFT-ROP, and ATRP-RAFT on the same step or different steps was achieved by combining redox polymerization with moderate polymerization conditions and controlled radical polymerization techniques as well.


Temporal difference algorithms are useful when attempting to predict outcome based on some pattern, such as a vector of evaluation parameters applied to the leaf nodes of a state space search. As time progresses, the vector begins to converge towards an optimal state, in which program performance peaks. Temporal difference algorithms continually modify the weights of a differentiable, continuous evaluation function. As pointed out by De Jong and Schultz, expert systems that rely on experience-based learning mechanisms are more useful in the field than systems that rely on growing knowledge bases (De Jong and Schultz 1988). This research focuses on the application of the TDLeaf algorithm to the domain of computer chess. In this poster I present empirical data showing the evolution of a vector of evaluation weights and the associated performance ratings under a variety of conditions.


This article is a comparative analysis of the British and U.S. differential analyzers from 1930 to 1945. The author examines the development of the Vannevar Bush and D.R. Hartree analyzers in the context of the U.S. Engineering community and British scientific community, respectively. He argues that this practical machine was more readily and enthusiastically adopted by U.S. Engineers, while British scientists remained skeptical of the differential analyzer due to their theoretical professional style. As a result, Hartree was a "voice in the wilderness" in Britain, while Bush received extensive funding and had the support of an enthusiastic engineering environment.


A five-year old girl, diagnosed with fever of unknown origin (FUO), was transferred to our hospital due to a deterioration in her general condition. Pseudomonas cepacia (P. cepacia) was detected in her blood culture and she soon recovered after imipenem cilastatin (IPM/CS) administration. When the former hospital was informed of the results of her blood cultures, we learned that five other cases of FUO had occurred there within the previous two weeks in noncompromised children. Except for one case, Pseudomonas species was detected in their blood cultures. P. cepacia was found in one case, Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) was detected in two other cases, and both P. cepacia and P. aeruginosa were demonstrated in the other patient. Although the origin of the bacteria is unknown, it may have spread to the children through a contaminated liquid reservoir or medical devices.


Although centralisation has shown benefit for uncommon cancers and high-risk surgeries, there is controversy regarding its benefit for common malignancies. Minor improvements in colorectal surgical morbidity and mortality have the potential to save lives and conserve limited hospital resources.

 To investigate the relationship between number of major resection cases per hospital and patient outcome measures. The proposed hypothesis was that number of major cases per hospital is inversely proportional to 90-day mortality, 30-day unplanned readmission, and 2-year mortality rates.

 A correlative study using National Bowel Cancer Audit data from 2016-18 in England was performed. The target population was colorectal cancer patients requiring major resection surgery in England. Bivariate analysis was used to investigate the relationship between number of major resections per hospital, and: 90-day mortality, 30-day unplanned readmission, and 2-year mortality rates.

 Combined patient outcome measures from 56,347 cases across 145 hospitals over 2016-18 were assessed. Correlation coefficients demonstrated no significant correlation between the three studied outcome measures (90-Day mortality [r = 0.100, -0.067-0.257, p = 0.240]; 30-day unplanned readmission rate [r = 0.093,-0.073-0.270, p = 0.284]; 2-year mortality [r = -0.069, -0.236-0.097, p = 0.411]). There is insufficient evidence to conclude a statistically significant relationship between number of major resections per hospital and the patient outcomes studied.

 Centralising care by increasing hospital volume is unlikely a solution to improving colorectal patient outcomes in England. This may reflect the UK's dedicated colorectal surgical training and minimum resection numbers for accreditation. Further studies will need to assess variables such as surgeon volume and case-mix, particularly with regard to rectal surgery.


The surface microstructures of monolayers of polyamic acid alkylamine salts having long alkyl chains were analyzed by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and friction force microscopy (FFM). Two different aromatic structures of polyamic acids and four different single chain alkylamine structures were used for the preparation of polyamic acid alkylamine salt monolayers. Although single chain alkylamines tend to form an island-like domain structure, the homogeneous island-free surface structure of monolayers were observed for the long alkyl chain dimethylamine derivative. The island-like structure was formed by the coagulation of alkylamine during the film preparation process. It was found that the coagulation of alkylamine chains could be eliminated by the selection of the starting single chain alkylamine structure and by the conditions of monolayer deposition, such as surface pressure.


What explains the emergence of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State as parties in civil wars? This study provides the first large-N analysis of this question, studying a sample of states in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, 2003–2020, contributing to ongoing debates among peace and conflict scholars about jihadist rebels in civil war. Theoretically, it is argued that higher levels of state repression and states' military capabilities should impact the preferences of local groups and increase the likelihood of a 'transnationalization'. On the other hand, it is hypothesized that increases in bureaucratic state capacity should reduce the risk of such transnationalization. A series of penalized logistic regressions yield support for the hypotheses regarding state repression and bureaucratic capacity, but not military state capacity. The findings point towards the importance of bureaucratic capacity building as well as the potentially adverse consequences of excessively repressive counterterrorism strategies.


The effect of boiler furnace ventilation on combustion,safety,energy saving and pollutant emission is analyzed.Side effect and harmfulness of mal-ventilation are emphasized.Ways to control ventilation are proposed.


1. Assistant Professor, School of Business Management and Administrative Sciences, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur-Pakistan 2. PhD student in Finance, School of Business Management and Administrative Sciences, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur-Pakistan 3. Institute of Business and health Management, Dow University, Karachi -Pakistan PAPER INFO ABSTRACT Received: September 18, 2019 Accepted: December 25, 2019 Online: December 31, 2019 This study aims to investigate the well-established governanceperformance relationship for a sample of 201Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) listed firms over the period of 2010-2018 in the context of an important firm characteristics i.e. firm size. Sample firms categorized into small and large size based on total assets. Firm performance measures through ROA, ROE, and Tobin's Q. Panel econometrics techniques namely fixed effect model and random effect model applied to bridge the relationship between CG and firm performance after confounding effects of firm size, leverage, and firm age. Large firms have higher profit which endorses the size effects benefits enjoying by big firms than smaller firms. Furthermore, large firms better implemented the governance code than small firms. Overall CG remains significant towards accounting return (ROA) and market measures (Tobin's Q) but remains valueless in terms of return on equity (ROE). In the perspective of firm size, larger firms got enriched with higher profit through better implementation of governance mechanism than smaller firms which remains deprived from this values enhancing effect of corporate governance. Results suggest to strengthen the governance mechanism in smaller firms too, to reap the benefits of CG in terms of higher profitability


This paper represents an attempt to test the relationship between the exports and productivity of Chinese firms using the data set of nearly 3 million industrial firms in 20 industrial sectors over the period 1998-2007. Our test finds that non-export firms were more productive than export firms and exports were negatively related to productivity - namely that the lower the productivity of a firm, the higher its exports. This finding is in contradiction with the hypothesis of new-new trade theory. The contradiction is referred to as the "productivity paradox" in this paper. Further tests find that firm size is a key factor affecting firm exports, but the impact of exports on firm productivity is insignificant. This paper reckons that the "productivity paradox" of Chinese export firms may be attributed to the disproportionate share of processing trade in export trade.


Talaromyolides A-D (1-4) and talaromytin (5) were isolated from a marine fungus Talaromyces sp. CX11. Their structures were unambiguously determined by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), mass spectrometry, X-ray crystallography experiments, and time-dependent density functional theory electronic circular dichroism calculations. Talaromyolides A and D represent two novel carbon skeletons. Talaromytin exhibits two slowly interconverting conformers in DMSO-d6 and CH3OH-d4 that were studied by temperature-dependent NMR experiments. Talaromyolide D exhibits potent antiviral activity against pseudorabies virus (PRV) with a CC50 value of 3.35 μM.


While the benefits of innovation seem to be clear intuitively, Research and Development (R&D) organisations are struggling to show the value they add. Especially in times of crisis, the result is that they get the first budget cuts to reduce costs in the short term. This causes companies, industries, or even whole economies, to lose competitive advantage in the long run. The field of business modelling deals with the creation and capturing of value. However, it has not yet provided a method tailored to R&D previously. Building upon earlier work on business modelling, we adapt the Business Modelling Method (BMM) to the field of R&D.


Detection of a brain tumor due to their intricacy, the irregularity of their tumor formations, and the variety of their tissue textures and forms, gliomas provide a difficult problem for medical image interpretation. Machine learning-based approaches to semantic segmentation have consistently surpassed earlier techniques in this difficult challenge. However some of the Machine learning techniques are unable to deliver the necessary local information associated to changes in tissue texture brought on by tumor development. In this study, we used Hybrid technique that combines supervised learning features and hand-crafted features. The texture features based on the grey level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) are used to build the hand-crafted features. The recommended technique also lowers the intensity of nearby unimportant areas and only the region of interest (ROI) method is used, which precisely represents the input size of the entire tumor structure. ROI MRI scan pixels are divided into several tumor components using a decision tree (DT).


Forty late-lactation Girgentana goats were used to study the effect of diets fed ad libitum and αS1-casein (CSN1S1) genotype on redox balance. The goats genotyped at CSN1S1 locus (A/A, A/F) were subjected to four feeding treatments different for percentage inclusion of dry and fresh forage: DAF100 (98% of Dry Alfalfa Forage), DAF65 (65% of Dry Alfalfa Forage), FSF100 (100% of Fresh Sulla Forage) and FSF65 (65% of Fresh Sulla Forage). Blood samples were analyzed for superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPX) activity, reactive oxygen metabolites (ROMs), biological antioxidant potential (BAP) and non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA), beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHBA), albumin, glucose and cholesterol contents. The oxidative stress index (OSI) was calculated as percentage ratio of ROMs to BAP. Redox balance was improved by Sulla inclusion, as reflected in the lower OSI values found in FSF100 and FSF65 groups. DAF100 group displayed the highest GPX activity, while other groups exhibited the highest SOD activity. Fresh forage diets increased albumin concentration while no effect of tested factors was noted on glucose, NEFA, BHBA and cholesterol contents. The interaction diet × genotype was significant only for GPX activity. GPX and albumin were negatively correlated and were correlated positively and negatively with ROMs, respectively. Diet rather than genotype affects redox balance in dairy goats and a possible role of forage polyphenol compounds on oxidative status needs to be tested in future studies.


Background: Membrane technology for water purification has gained much attention in many industries and for healthier human life. Also, improving the elimination of toxic heavy metals is a much needed strategy for the filtration of public water supplies. This study investigated the removal of toxic heavy metals from wastewater, using a novel thin-film membrane. Methods: We investigated the structural, physico-chemical, and antifouling properties of the membrane, and its ability to remove toxic elements from water. Seven parameters were examined: Contact angle, water ionic contents, Fourier's transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), 3D-surface imaging, water flux, and antifouling effects. Results: The results indicated that a thin-film layer formed on the membrane. The 3D-images demonstrated that the surface roughness decreased when the polyaniline ratio to nanoparticles increased. The surface hydrophilicity increased by incorporating polyaniline into the surface. The water flux increased from 8.04 (L/m2.h) to 14.74 (L/m2.h) in the virgin membrane. The sodium sulfate rejection was 61% for the virgin membrane whereas it was >67% in the thin-film coated membrane. The data demonstrated excellent anti-fouling properties for the novel membrane, with a flux recovery ratio of >94.65% while it was about 79% for the virgin one. The rejection rates of chromium and copper ions for the novel membrane were >86% and >84%, respectively. These values were significantly higher than those of the virgin membrane (>53% and >51%). Conclusion: The thin-film composite membrane significantly improved the removal rate of toxic heavy metals from the wastewater samples compared to the virgin membrane.


As the number of state and regional climate change agreements grows, so does the need to assess the carbon implications of planned forest management actions. At the operational level, producing detailed stock estimates for the primary carbon pools becomes time-consuming and cumbersome. Carbon reporting functionality has been fully integrated within the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS), allowing users to produce carbon reports along with traditional FVS output. This added capability can be easily used by managers familiar with FVS and requires just a few additional keywords. All methodologies and computations are consistent with Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and U.S. standards. In this paper we present a current carbon inventory for the Kane Experimental Forest, an Allegheny hardwood forest located in northwestern Pennsylvania. Future carbon stocks are also projected using the new carbon budgeting capabilities of FVS.


The present investigation is an attempt to contribute towards the improved understanding of the buckling, vibration and dynamic stability of sandwich beams with viscoelastic core and functionally graded material (FGM) constraining layer under parametric excitation. The equations of motion have been derived using finite element method in conjunction with Hamilton's principle. The governing equations are a set of linear system of Mathieu-Hill type equations from which the boundaries of stable and unstable regions are determined by using Hsu's criteria in the parameter space. FGMs are microscopically inhomogeneous spatial combination of constituents, usually made up of ceramic-metal constituents. The properties of the functionally graded material constraining layer are assumed to vary along the thickness direction according to a power law distribution in terms of the volume fractions of the constituents.
The effect of power law index on the critical buckling loads, natural frequencies and dynamic stability of the sandwich beam is investigated. An increase of power law index value decreases the natural frequencies. It is also observed that increase of power law index value decreases critical buckling load. With the increase of the power index there is deterioration effect on the dynamic stability. Increase in core thickness, increases both the resonant frequencies and buckling loads and also improves the stability of the beam.
The influence of temperature rise on the buckling loads, frequencies and dynamic instability regions of the beam in high thermal environment is investigated. The resonant frequencies, buckling loads and dynamic stability behavior are found to be highly sensitive to the temperature change between the bottom and top surfaces of the constraining layer. The presence of a temperature rise degrades the structural stiffness, and hence lowers the vibration frequencies and buckling loads. Also the dynamic stability of the beam deteriorates.
Parametric investigation is carried out thoroughly to study the effect of the hub radius ratio and rotational speed on buckling, vibration and the dynamic stability of rotating sandwich beam. Increase in the rotational speed and hub radius results in the increase of natural frequencies and buckling loads. Increase in the rotational speed and hub radius enhances the dynamic stability of the beam.
The effects of foundation stiffness coefficients on the dynamic stability of sandwich beam are examined in detail through parametric studies. The frequencies of the beam resting on Pasternak foundation increase with the increase of Winkler foundation constant and shear layer constant. The Winkler and shear foundation constants have a noticeable effect on the critical buckling load of the beam resting on Pasternak foundation and under axial loading. An increase in each of these constants increases the critical buckling load of the beam. With an increase of Winker foundation constant and shear layer constant improves the dynamic stability of the beam. Shear layer constant has got more dominating effect compared with the Winkler foundation constant on the dynamic stability of the sandwich beam resting on Pasternak foundation.


Viruses and their hosts are locked in an evolutionary race where resistance to infection is acquired by the hosts while viruses develop strategies to circumvent these host defenses. Forming one arm of the host defense armory are cell autonomous restriction factors like Fv1. Originally described as protecting laboratory mice from infection by murine leukemia virus (MLV), Fv1s from some wild mice have also been found to restrict non-MLV retroviruses, suggesting an important role in the protection against viruses in nature. To begin to understand how restriction factors evolve, we surveyed the Fv1 genes of wild mice trapped in Thailand and characterized their restriction activities against a panel of retroviruses. An extra copy of the Fv1 gene, named Fv7, was found on chromosome 6 of three closely related Asian species of mice (Mus caroli, M. cervicolor and M. cookii). The presence of flanking repeats suggested it arose by LINE-mediated retrotransposition. A high degree of natural variation was observed in both Fv1 and Fv7, including numerous single nucleotide polymorphisms resulting in altered amino acids, as well as insertions and deletions that changed the length of the reading frames. These genes exhibited a range of restriction phenotypes with activities directed against feline foamy virus (FFV), equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) and MLV. It seems likely, at least in the case of M. caroli, that the observed gene duplication confers protection against multiple viruses not possible with a single restriction factor. We suggest that EIAV-, FFV- and MLV-like viruses are endemic within these populations, driving the evolution of the Fv1 and Fv7 genes. Author Summary During the passage of time all vertebrates will be exposed to infection by a variety of different kinds of virus. To meet this threat, a variety of genes for natural resistance to viral infection have evolved. The prototype of such so-called restriction factors is encoded by the mouse Fv1 gene, which acts to block the life cycle of retroviruses at a stage between virus entry into the cell and integration of the viral genetic material into the nuclear DNA. We have studied the evolution of this gene in certain species of wild mice from South East Asia and describe an example where a duplication of the Fv1 gene has taken place. The two copies of the gene, initially identical, have evolved separately allowing the development of resistance to two rather different kinds of retroviruses, lentiviruses and spumaviruses. Independent selection for resistance to these two kinds of retrovirus suggests that such mice are repeatedly exposed to never-before-reported pathogenic retroviruses of these genera.


With the rapid progress in developing hybrid perovskite solar cells, the allure of current density–voltage (  J–V) hysteresis has attracted quite a lot of interest in the research community. It requires feasible approaches that further deepen the fundamental understanding of device physics in specific device architecture in order to solve this problem eventually. Here, perovskite solar cells configured with different counter electrodes are systematically investigated with the focus on charge accumulation within the devices responsible for J–V hysteresis. The results indicate that J–V hysteresis is affected by charge accumulation which can be modulated by carrier extraction efficiency of the electrodes. Through a rationally induced interfacial dipole, the devices have shown improvement in carrier extraction, which thus reduces J–V hysteresis significantly. It provides solid evidence for the proposition that interface charge plays an important role in J–V hysteresis, and demonstrates an applicable strategy that effectively alleviates J–V hysteresis in perovskite solar cells.


Puberty period is a transition time to look for the identity. This period is really sensitive that also determines the children's personality in the future. One that develops during this transitional time is Juvenile deliquency which is one of many serious social problems for many parents nowadays. This problem arises due to the lack of attention and knowledge of parents, teachers, and surrounding society to guide those problematic children. An effective solution to overcome this problem is by implementing Islam ic education which is taken from some values of Al-Quran and Hadits. The aim of this research is to know the vision of Islam in education to guide teenagers during their puberty period. This is a library research that analyzes some references from books, magazines, newspaper and articles related to the topic of this research. The result showed that puberty period is really a decisive period to determine the children's future education. In Islam ic education the children are trained to be qualified students and have a wider point of view. To reach this goal, Islam ic education has done some developments in the aspects of faith, moral, physic, and psychology.


Cormorants and humans are purported to compete for fish resources. Recent increases in cormorant populations in western Europe have led to new conflicts between fishermen and nature conservationists, a situation which has stimulated research into the food requirements of these seabirds. However, most dietary studies are based on stomach content or pellet analysis. Both these methods are biased. We used a time-budget model to calculate the energy requirements of great cormorants Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis breeding in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The time budgets of the birds were recorded for different breeding phases and the energetic costs of the different activities determined through respirometrlc measurements or by using values derived from the literature. The food requirements of great cormorants during incubation were calculated to be 238 g adult-' d-' These requirements rise to 316 g d-' during the rearing of young chicks and to 588 g d-' during rearing of downy chicks. Human disturbance causing great cormorants to f l y off their nests entails an additional consumption of 23 g fish per bird or ca 23 kg per disturbance event for a typical colony.


— Let K be a totally imaginary number field. Denote by Gur K (2) the Galois group of the maximal unramified pro-2 extension of K. By comparing cup-products in étale cohomology of SpecOK and cohomology of uniform pro-2 groups, we obtain situations where Gur K (2) has no non-trivial uniform analytic quotient, proving some new special cases of the unramified Fontaine-Mazur conjecture. For example, in the family of imaginary quadratic fields K for which the 2-rank of the class group is equal to 5, we obtain that for at least 33.12% of such K, the group Gur K (2) has no non-trivial uniform analytic quotient.


In de biologische veehouderij worden geitenhouders beperkt in hun maatregelen om vet- en eiwitgehalten te verhogen, door de biologische regelgeving. Door deze maatregelen ligt het vetgehalte in de biologische geitenmelk significant lager dan in de gangbare geitenhouderij. Aangezien 80 % van de biologische geitenmelk wordt verwerkt tot kaas, is verhoging van het vet- en eiwitgehalte tevens gewenst. Biologische geitenhouders willen graag meer mogelijkheden hebben om de vet- en eiwitgehalten in de geitenmelk te verhogen. In dit onderzoek is vooral aandacht besteed aan de voeding en de genetica. In het eerste deel een probleeminventarisatie, in het tweede deel is er aandacht voor voeding, met daarin speciale aandacht voor eiwit en vet en in het laatste deel is er vooral aandacht voor de genetica van geiten en bokkenThe fat content in organic dairy goat's milk is significantly lower than milk of regular dairy goats. The difference in protein content between organic and regular goat farms is minimal. Statistical analysis shows that the fat content in the organic goat milk fluctuates more in relation to protein. To increase the level of fat and protein content in goat's milk, this report will show aspects regarding nutrition and genetics. Looking at the nutritional aspects of different fat and protein supplements and their effect on fat and protein content in goat's milk, a literature study into different supplements that are tested for their ability to increase the levels was executed. In addition, practical experiences of dairy goat farmers were collected and if possible supported by literature. The dietary ingredients that are dealt with are oils, seeds and beans and fats that bypass the rumen. One of the main conclusions is that almost all plant based dietary fats which are fed to the goats have an effect on the fat content in the milk, while the protein level remains mostly unchanged. These dietary fats seem promising. However, it is important that these fats are not used extensively. A level of fat that is too high will have a negative effect on the intake and digestibility in the rumen. Dietary fats with hay as basic feed will give better results than maize silage. An interaction between the species and the dietary fat seems obvious. It is interesting to think about possible effects of dietary fats in combination with various basic feeds. Experiments with seeds, beans and cakes have various results. Literature has shown that research is executed regarding whole seeds or oils. A recommendation is to investigate the influence of supplementation of 'intermediate forms' on fat and protein levels in goat milk, such as crushed and ground seeds. Most studies regarding rumen protected feeds lead to very positive results, because the nutrients are resistant against microbial degradation in the rumen. Because chemically protected feeds are not permitted in organic farming, one has to look for possibilities to make those feeds resistant in an organic manner. The solution seems to lie within the toasting of foods such as soybean, lupine and barley. Most experiments in this field have been done in dairy cattle and the results were promising. The effect of toasted feed in order to increase the milk composition of dairy goats needs attention. The literature shows that supplementation of crude protein has little or no effect on increasing protein levels in goat milk. Genetic progress can be achieved in organic goat when one breeds on fat and protein content. Looking at the different influences that genetics may have on the fat and protein contents of goat milk, it becomes clear that protein content in milk is determined by the casein genes. Through DNA research, the genetic potential of an animal can be proven. A high protein content has positive effects on fat content, but may have a negative impact on milk production. Also, the taste of goat cheese is influenced by a high protein content. The environmental factors of regular dairy goat farms differ from organic dairy goat farms. It is uncertain whether breeding bucks from the regular production system will have the same performance when used in organic dairy farms. Further research into genotype by environment interaction, in particular food and medication, may give more insight into the use of breeding goats from regular dairy goat farms in organic goat farming. Artificial insemination (AI) offers an opportunity for fresh and better genetic material to enter into the current herd. For AI, oestrus .......


Molycorp, the western hemisphere's only producer of rare earth minerals, was in the middle of a $1 billion capital expenditure project in its effort to become a vertically integrated supplier of rare earth minerals, oxides, and metals. Yet it had just reported lower than expected revenues and earnings for the second quarter of 2012. In response to the announcement, its stock price fell 29% (its stock price had fallen from $77 to $11 in the past 18 months). The weakening financial performance was due in large part to falling prices for rare earth minerals. With less internally-generated cash flow available to fund the project, management had to decide: how much capital to raise, what kind to raise, and when to raise it. These decisions would determine its capital structure, at least in the short term, as well as its ability to implement its business strategy.This case can be used as a comprehensive review for both introductory and advanced corporate finance courses. It covers a variety of topics including capital structure, DCF valuation, security issuance, debt pricing, option pricing, payoff diagrams, and sources & uses of cash, and does so in a very interesting setting. The demand for rare earth minerals is rising dramatically due to their unique electrical, mechanical, and magnetic properties while supply is influenced by a variety of economic and political factors (e.g., global trade, Chinese export quotas, new mines, conservation, and speculation). The case also highlights the relationship between the firm's business and its financing strategies, and challenges students to design a financing strategy that enables the firm to implement its business strategy while not exposing it to excessive financial risk.This case is part of a 3-case series. The A case analyzes the firm's financing options. The B case explores the firm's chosen financing strategy which involved lending shares to potential short sellers as a way to fasciliate raising capital. The C case analyzes a structured product known as a "reverse convertible note" (RCN) that used Molycorp as the reference asset for an equity-linked note.


A complex and poorly understood interplay between 3D genome organisation, transcription factors and chromatin state underpins cell identity. To gain a systems-level understanding of this interplay, we generated a high-resolution atlas of annotated chromatin interactions in naïve and primed human pluripotent stem cells and developed a network-graph approach to examine the atlas at multiple spatial scales. Investigating chromatin interactions as a network uncovered highly connected hubs that changed substantially in interaction frequency and in transcriptional co-regulation between pluripotent states. Small hubs frequently merged to form larger networks in primed cells, often linked by newly-formed Polycomb-associated interactions. Importantly, we identified state-specific differences in enhancer activity and interactivity that corresponded with widespread reconfiguration of transcription factor binding and target gene expression. These findings provide multilayered insights into the gene regulatory control of human pluripotency and our systems-based network approach could be applied broadly to uncover new principles of 3D genome organisation.