ABSTRACT The cathodoluminescence technique has become an important tool in sedimentary petrology. Its usefulness will be enhanced if important experimental details are included in publications based in part on cathodoluminescence observation. This is especially important when the absence of luminescence is reported since this may be a function of instrumental design or performance. Suggestions for standard reporting of parameters and observational data are presented.


Cavernous malformations are well demarcated mulberry-like lesions composed of thin-walled sinusoidal channels. Thanks to introduction of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI, vascular malformations are being diagnosed with increasing frequency. Cavernous malformations constitute about 10% of all cerebrovascular malformations and are present in about 0.5% of the population. There is no sex predominance, with the highest incidence occuring in fourth decade. The most common symptom is seizure, followed by focal neurological deficits, headache and hemorrhage. The annualized bleeding rate is 0.7%, with the significantly greater risk of overt hemorrhage in females. The lesion is asymptomatic in about 16% of patients. Cavernous malformations usually are sporadic but multiple lesions are common in the familial form (50% to 73%. Symptom presentation is strongly related to the size of lesion greater than 1 cm


Background To evaluate the performance of the Abbott RealTime CT/NG assay for detection of Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) and Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) among female sex workers (FSWs) in China. Methods Cervical swabs from 997 participants were blindly detected by the Abbott RealTime CT/NG assay on the automated m2000 molecular platform and Roche Cobas Amplicor CT/NG assay. Discrepant analysis were confirmed by the Qiagen care CT PCR assay. The sample was defined as candidate nvCT-positive if it was CT positive in the Abbott m2000 assay, but CT negative in the other two assays. Results 25 specimens that were discordant for CT and 26 specimens that were discordant for NG between the two assays were resolved by Qiagen care CT & NG PCR assays. The sensitivity and specificity, respectively, for Abbott m2000 assay were 92.59% and 100% for CT and 95.45% and 99.90% for NG. The positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of Abbott m2000 assay were100% and 98.52% for CT and 95.5% and 99.90% for NG, respectively. No candidate new-variant CT(nvCT)specimens were identified. Conclusion Abbott RealTime CT/NG assay were more specify for CT and NG detection, however, its sensitivity for CT and NG were a little bit lower than Roche Cobas Amplicor CT/NG assay. Abbott RealTime CT/NG assay had higher PPV for NG detection than Roche Cobas Amplicor CT/NG assay; it would be more suitable for screening for population with low-prevalence NG. There is currently no evidence that nvCT is present in FSWs in China.


Cities are alike living beings that are consistently in need of instauration and require restoration and reconstruction of withered tissues and replacement of new cells with the old ones. The eroded context of Shahr-e-kord city is one of the eroded and valuable fabric samples which is facing social, economic, and skeletal evolutions due to problems such as social and economic degradation, skeletal erosion, etc. Given that, the subject of this research that is the reformation of Shahr-e-kord eroded context was chosen and reviewed due to the significance of social and economic studies.Achieved findings from final evaluation through SWOT factors in of AHP model depicts that in strength points, long settlement of people's in context and integration of available potentials in context for reformation are the most important strengths, and the population mitigation in area and descending value of its functions are the most important threats.Today, the main problem of under study context is the low affordability and disproportion of expenses and incomes of families in eroded context. Based on final analyses in this research, substantial propositions to benefit from the strengths, opportunities, declination of weaknesses and threats in form of SWOT model strategies are suggested for reformation of Shahr-e-kord eroded context.


Phase-change processes, such as pool and flow boiling, are generally very effective modes of heat transfer. However, the demands of modern thermal systems have required the development of methods to enhance boiling systems. While heat fluxes above 108W/m2 have been accommodated in carefully controlled situations, the required fluid and the convective conditions usually dictate maximum heat fluxes several orders of magnitude lower. Two major contemporary areas, enhanced surfaces for pool boiling and enhanced surfaces and inserts for forced convection boiling/vaporization, are discussed, as they facilitate the attainment of high heat fluxes. In addition to these passive techniques, active techniques and compound techniques are mentioned. The taxonomy of enhanced heat transfer is covered, and recommendations are given for future work.


BACKGROUND
Epidemiological studies suggested that triclosan (TCS) exposure was ubiquitous among children and could affect their physical growth. However, most studies relied on TCS exposure at single time point, and the impacts of multiple time points TCS exposure were unclear.

OBJECTIVES
To estimate the associations between repeated TCS measurements in childhood (at ages 1, 2, 5, and 7 years) and physical growth at 7 years.

METHODS
This study included 206 children from Laizhou Wan Birth Cohort (LWBC), China. Urinary TCS concentrations were detected at age of 1, 2, 5, and 7 years, and physical growth including height, weight, waist circumference, and fat percentage was measured at 7 years. Multiple informant models were applied to examine the relationships of repeated TCS measurements in childhood with physical growth, and stratified analysis by gender was performed.

RESULTS
The detection rates of TCS at age of 1, 2, 5, and 7 years were above 60%, with median declining from 0.89 to 0.33 μg/g creatinine. We found TCS at 5 years was positively associated with waist-to-height ratio, and TCS at 7 years was positively associated with physical growth, including weight z-score, BMI z-score, waist circumference, waist-to-height ratio, and fat percentage. Moreover, the above associations for weight z-score, BMI z-score, and fat percentage significantly varied by the period of exposure (pint ˂ 0.05). After stratified by gender, positive associations were only found among boys.

CONCLUSIONS
In our study, TCS levels decreased as children's age increased. TCS exposures at age of 5 and 7 years were positively associated with physical growth at 7 years, and these associations were only significant in boys. Given the relatively small sample size, our findings should be interpreted with caution until confirmed by further investigation.


Since the early 21st century, there has been an emergence of scholarship and theorizing of Latina sexualities within the social sciences, humanities, and interdisciplinary programs, such as Chicanx studies, Latinx studies, American studies, and feminist studies. However, cultural production has long been interrogating the way that Latina sexuality has been represented, as well as pathologized and racialized. While there is a plethora of information regarding sexuality of women in Latin America, this article deals with the discursive and material construction of Latina sexuality for US Latinas and Chicanas who were born in the United States or migrated to the United States. At the foundation, sexuality and sexuality studies has been a subcategory of LGBT studies and later queer theory. Mainly used as a signifier for identity categories, sexuality is predicated on sexual preference and romantic desires; however, it is also used to refer to identities that exceed heteronormative, homosexual, bisexual, or asexual identities. However, Latina sexuality intersects with not only race but also modes of power and control that situate it within a larger context of technologies of power. Sexuality is tied to larger power structures; therefore, Latina sexuality takes sex and sexuality out of the private sphere to help us understand the intersectional relations of race, gender, and class.
 Gloria Anzaldúa and Cherrie Moraga brought together feminists of color to explore sexuality, gender, and class in their foundational collection This Bridge Called My Back: Writings By Radical Women of Color (1981) and Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza (1987) in the context of interlocking and co-constitutive systems of oppression. Inspired by this collection of women of color writing, tatiana de la tierra, a Latina lesbian born in Colombia, published the first international Latina lesbian magazine: Esto no tiene nombre. It was distributed in the United States and Latin American and explored excessive Latina sexuality by theorizing eroticism; the magazine challenged the "Latina lesbian" stereotype. The Sexuality of Latinas (1993), edited by Norma Alarcón, Ana Castillo, and Cherríe Moraga, looks at the self-examination of five hundred years of hidden sexuality and sexual violence. In "Sexuality and Discourse: Notes From a Chicana Survivor" in Chicana Lesbians: The Girls Our Mothers Warned Us About (1991), Emma Pérez takes sexuality as the marker of many of the problems Chicanas face. The racism and sexism Chicanas face is not the only problem, however: the racism Chicanos face adds layers of struggle to an already hostile situation. She utilizes a "conquest triangle" that builds off the Oedipus complex but adds that in addition to the white father (the colonizer) and the India mother who is imbricated in the violence of miscegenation, there is a castrated mestizo Chicano son who will never be able to be as superior as the white man. In 1987, Juanita Diaz-Coto edited and published one of the first edited collections through the Latina Lesbian History Project on Latina sexuality titled Compañeras: Latina Lesbians: An Anthology, which she published under her pseudonym Juanita Ramos. This collection featured oral histories, essays, poetry, short stories, and art by and about Latina lesbians in both Spanish and English, featuring the work of forty-seven women born in ten different Latin American countries that addressed Latina sexuality and lesbianism and also confronted the ways that culture and migration informed the enunciation of sexuality for Latinas.
 The foundational and early writings of Latina and Chicana feminists laid the groundwork for our ability to contemplate and discuss Latina sexuality as racialized, gendered, transnational, and diasporic sexualities. It also sets the stage to think historically about Latinas and their bodies in relations to cultural representation, borders and migration, the family, reproductive health, and transness.


The debate about currency misalignments (CMs) and trade is not new. It was already being discussed in the 1940s. What is new is that the existing mechanisms to deal with CMs at the IMF, under its Article IV, and at the WTO, under its Article XV, have proven to be ineffective. This article seeks to show the problems with these mechanisms, understand the reasons of why so, explore available options to resolve them and suggest a path to a lasting sustainable solution.


In the present study, the expression of Beclin 1 in osteoarthritis (OA) cartilage tissue was investigated, and also its role in proliferation, apoptosis and expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) in chondrocytes obtained from patients with OA. Beclin 1 expression in cartilage tissue from OA patients, and in the age- and sex-matched controls, was detected by immunohistochemistry, semi-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blotting. Chondrocytes were divided into control and Beclin 1-overexpressed groups. After transfection for 48, 72 and 96 h, cell viability, apoptosis, the phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt)/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway and MMPs were examined. The mRNA and protein expression levels of Beclin 1 were significantly decreased in cartilage tissue from OA patients compared with the sex- and age-matched controls (P<0.05). In chondrocytes from OA patients, Beclin 1 overexpression significantly increased cell viability (P<0.05). Beclin 1 overexpression additionally decreased the degree of apoptosis, as demonstrated by Hoechst staining and flow cytometric analysis. B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) was upregulated, and Bcl-2 associated X was downregulated, following Beclin 1 overexpression (P<0.05). The PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway was mitigated following Beclin 1 overexpression (P<0.05). In addition, MMP1, MMP3 and MMP13 were downregulated after Beclin 1 overexpression (P<0.05). Taken together, low expression levels of Beclin 1 may contribute towards the degeneration of chondrocytes. Beclin 1 overexpression increased cell viability, inhibited apoptosis and MMPs, likely via the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway.


A theoretical investigation is carried out into the effect of spontaneously generated coherence on the Kerr nonlinearity of general three-level systems of Lambda, ladder, and V-shape types. It is found, with spontaneously generated coherence present, that the Kerr nonlinearity can be clearly enhanced. In the Lambda- and ladder-type systems, the maximal Kerr nonlinearity increases and at the same time enters the electromagnetically induced transparency window as the spontaneously generated coherence intensifies. As for the V-type system, the absorption property is significantly modified and therefore enhanced Kerr nonlinearity without absorption occurs for certain probe detunings. We attribute the enhancement of Kerr nonlinearity mainly to the presence of an extra atomic coherence induced by the spontaneously generated coherence.


Data on patients with cancer of the gall bladder and cancer of the extra-hepatic bile ducts were obtained from the tumour registry in La Paz, Bolivia. Incidence rates were calculated using the Bolivian census data and compared to US incidence data from the Third National Cancer Survey. The age and population standardized incidence rates for cancer of the gall bladder in Bolivia were 5.3/100,000 males/year and 10.3/100,000 females/year. Comparable US rates were 1.0/100,000 males/year and 2.1/100,000 females/year. The age and population standardized incidence rates for cancer of the extra-hepatic bile ducts in Bolivia were 1.1/100,000 males/year and 4.1/100,000 females/year. Comparable US rates were 1.6/100,000 males/year and 1.0/100,000 females/year respectively. Both diseases occurred at younger ages in Bolivia than in the US and both showed marked racial variation. Differences in disease incidence between Bolivia and the US could not be fully explained by differences in age, sex, or racial distributions. Studies designed to investigate the causes of this remarkable variation in disease incidence could provide important clues to disease aetiology.


Fire safety engineering, including knowledge of fire dynamics and fire-related hazards is crucial for securing people as well as rescue teams during interventions. One of the main critical aspects remains in determining the smoke dynamics at openings where fresh air and hot fumes mix. This particular phenomenon, encountered in many enclosures fires can reveal either well ventilated or under-ventilated fires. The response techniques of rescue teams are different depending on the ventilation status. Merci et al. (2016), Bengtsson et al. (2001) and Pretrel et al. (2012) have studied fire in enclosures that occur in oxygen-limited conditions. Generally, smoke dynamics are studied by using different devices or techniques. These include, among others, Pitot probes and bidirectional probes or McCaffrey probes, McCaffrey and Heskestad (1976). However, these probes are intrusive and potentially affecting the smoke dynamics. Moreover, only one-point data are evaluated. To overcome this difficulty, laser techniques such as PIV can be set up, see Tieszen et al. (2002) , Hou et al. (1996) or Koched et al. (2012). PIV technique has already been used in case of well-ventilated and under-ventilated fires conditions. A natural extension of this technique remains in applying the PIV technique close to the outlet of the container in order to highlight exchanges between hot exhaust fumes and fresh incoming air.
The objectives of the paper remain threefold:1. First, we propose a specific design of enclosure fire to ensure large scale PIV measurements inside the enclosure.2. Second, the transition from ventilated to under ventilated fire conditions is evaluated


: The subject matter of this application is to send data from a remote location of a distant main station or a station server from a transmitting device. The transmitting part consists of a microcontroller, the ZigBee module is implemented as a mesh, it is surrounded by a total of three nodes. Continuously every node is transferring the message to the server node, even if anyone node receives an error message will be transmitted from the node and the receiving section the message will be displayed on the LCD with the help of ZigBee and Microcontroller. Wireless sensor networks for (WSN) application due connect with the physical world to the virtual world increases its potential. In addition, progress in microelectronics manufacturing technology reduces the cost of production portable wireless sensors. It tends to distribute the large number of portable wireless sensors in WSNs to increase service quality. Service quality such WSNs is mainly influenced by the failure of sensor nodes. The possibility of sensor node failure increases with the number of increasing sensors. In order to maintain the best Service quality in fault conditions, identification and release of such failures are crucial. A faulty sensor assembly was installed to measure round trip delay (RTD) of the discrete circular back-to-back round trip paths comparison with the threshold value.


The version of the Murseit manuscripts written in 1907 is one of the main original works of Abai. As known, Abai's poems were written and prepared for publication by Murseit Bikeuly (1860-1917). The poems and words of edification that he wrote down during Abai's lifetime, he handed over to the press after the poet's death. Thanks to his patient work, these texts are now known to a wide range of readers. Murseit Bikeuly perfectly knew the written language of that time, and Abai instructed him, who was engaged in teaching in the Semipalatinsk region, to write down his poems. Abai's manuscripts, written by himself, unfortunately, has not yet been found. The article analyzes the linguistic features of the manuscript of Abai's poems written in Arabic graphics by Murseit Bikeuly. The article provides a brief analysis of the phonetic differences between the handwritten text and the phonetics of the modern Kazakh language. The issues related to phonetic patterns, namely the law of synharmonism, regressive assimilation, phonetic variations, spelling rules are considered. The linguistic analysis is confirmed by illustrations from the desired manuscript and other works of Abai.


The equations of motion of compressible viscous flow with vanishing pressure gradient past a plane are integrated in semi-convergent expressions, for the case when the physical constants depend on temperature and the Prandtl number σ is close to unity. Simple expressions are obtained for the temperature and velocity distributions in the boundary layer, the drag coefficient, and their dependence on the physical constants; they contain the well-known results and several new ones. For the case when the temperature of the boundary is either above, or not much below, the temperature of the main flow, the results obtained closely agree with Crocco's numerical computations.


Mainstream narratives suggest Black and African Caribbean children, white working class children, and boys, are 'failing' to learn to read. This book investigates intersections between race, class and gender in the picture of the 'poor reader', starting with young children's voices. What is the place of home learning in the story of children learning- or failing to learn to read? What do we learn about children's identity formation as they engage with books? Social science has not focused on reading as a social practice in the lives of children, starting with their perspectives, and this book fills a major gap. Policy and teachers' discourses are well represented in the literature; children's experiences of reading are not. This book not only shows the complex meanings children make of reading, but also that through consulting pupil voice it is possible to explore different issues around reading than those in adult-led debates.


We describe a simple method for nonparametric estimation of a distribution function based on current status data where observations of current status information are subject to misclassification. Nonparametric maximum likelihood techniques lead to use of a straightforward set of adjustments to the familiar pool-adjacent-violators estimator used when misclassification is assumed absent. The methods consider alternative misclassification models and are extended to regression models for the underlying survival time. The ideas are motivated by and applied to an example on human papilloma virus (HPV) infection status of a sample of women examined in San Francisco.


Relatively little well controlled, empirical research has examined the problems, experiences, functional limitations and coping strategies of late-deafened individuals. The present paper summarizes, integrates and evaluates the literature on adventitious deafness. Several issues are explored in detail, including: a) a comparison of congenital and acquired deafness; b) a critical review of the literature investigating the psychiatric problems experienced by late-deafened individuals; c) an examination of the effects of acquired deafness on identity and personal control; and d) a consideration of adventitious deafness among the elderly.


An overview of work on electronic rearrangement in molecular collisions and in particular on combining time-dependent many-electron theory and eikonal methods for nuclear motions is presented. Special attention is given to the time scales present in atomic interactions with kinetic energies from a fraction of an eV to 10 keV, of interest in molecular collisions, atomic collisions with surfaces and transient spectra of electronically excited atoms in a medium. The treatment uses basis sets of travelling atomic orbitals, also adapted for the study of magnetic effects in molecules as gauge origin invariant atomic orbitals. An efficient computational approach to the time evolution of the systems, the relax-and-drive propagation method, is described. Brief descriptions are given of the connection with other approaches suitable for transient phenomena in molecular interactions.


Copiousness as an idea is centrally identified with Erasmus. De copia was a milestone in establishing Erasmus as a humanist scholar after its first publication in Paris in 1512. In turn, this book was a major influence on theories of rhetoric, and of writing in general, throughout the sixteenth century. Following on from Cicero, Erasmus argues that style must be abundant in order to be effective, and that abundance consists of two primary elements: variety of expression and variety of subject matter. Copiousness is the key to writing, or to language, or even to an idea of knowledge. This article analyses the theory of copiousness in Erasmus, and then examines its practical application in the Adagia – another sixteenth‐century bestseller – which renders copiousness forth as a physical entity. That work offers the principle of an anthology of all ancient learning, and thus the summation of the bonae litterae. In the process, it provides a model for the problem of how to render the encyclopaedia in literary form.


Effective data literacy instruction requires that learners move beyond understanding statistics to being able to humanize data through a contextual understanding of argumentation and reasoning in the real-world. In this paper, we explore the implementation of a co-designed data comic unit about adolescent friendships. The 7th grade unit involved students analyzing data graphs about adolescent friendships and crafting comic narratives to convey perspectives on that data. Findings from our analysis of 33 student comics, and interviews with two teachers and four students, show that students engaged in various forms of data reasoning and social-emotional reasoning. These findings contribute an understanding of how students make sense of data about personal, everyday experiences; and how an arts-integrated curriculum can be designed to support their mutual engagement in both data and social-emotional reasoning.


A novel online antenna array calibration method is presented in this paper. Unlike conventional calibration process, the proposed method is a blind approach that does not require prior knowledge of angles used for calibration and the method can be modified for real time calibration processing. An iterative process is used to converge to the actual bearings while the measured steering vector is estimated via Eigenvalue decomposition. The correction matrix is then estimated by use of the least squares estimator. The last step consists of pre-multiplying the measured data set by the obtained correction matrix which mitigates magnitude, phase, and mutual coupling effects on the acquired data set. The experimental study has been carried out on an 8-element uniform circular array (UCA) with an 8-channel RF receiver board at 5.8GHz. The performance of Bartlett, MUSIC, Beamspace MUSIC, and S2-MUSIC direction of arrival (DOA) estimation algorithms have been examined on CW and Harris SeaLancet RT1944/U radio signals. The lab test results have shown significant improvements on high resolution DOA estimation in terms of accuracy and resolution. The proposed method can be implemented in a direction finding system and can be run periodically to mitigate any changes in the environment and maintain high resolution performance over time. Potential applications of the calibration method include improvement of accurate passive RF signal source localization, high QoS wireless communications with beamforming antennas and sensor networking.


In comparing the angelological traditions of Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, as seen in several key passages, to those of rabbinic literature, one finds that the former draws broadly from the various periods of the latter. The angelology of Targum Pseudo-Jonathan reflects traditions seen as early as the Tosefta and as late as Pirqe de Rabbi Eliezer. Despite the fact that various passages within this targum may echo pseudepigraphic traditions, Targum Pseudo-Jonathan contains a number of angelological traditions that are exclusive to rabbinic literature.


The peat soils have high compressibility properties and low bearing capacity; therefore, the settlement in peat soils is very significant. The ground improvement, such as deep stabilization needs to be carried out to increase the bearing capacity of the peat soil. The deep stabilization or deep soil mixing (DSM) is a method of soil improvement by the soil column reagent mixed with cement and other pozzolanic materials. This study used the following ingredients: added clay + 12% calcium carbide residue (CCR) and clay + 8% rice husk ash (RHA), which are expected to increase soil carrying capacity because of the properties of silica and lime possessed by pozolan materials that can bind soil particles. The variations in diameter and the number of DSM column test piece are as follows: 4 and 16 column variations with a diameter of 3.75 cm and 1 column with a diameter of 15 cm. The soil mixing column is compacted in a pipe and the concrete cylinder formwork is then pressed for 4 days. The test results showed the increased soil bearing capacity on peat using the DSM. The DSM column (clay + CCR) with a diameter of 15 cm showed the highest bearing capacity of 32.44 kPa with a bearing capacity improvement (BCI) value of 6.151 or a percentage increase in the bearing capacity by 515.09%. On the other hand, the columns (clay + RHA) with a diameter of 3.75 (4 columns) have the lowest bearing capacity, which is equal to 18.67 kPa.


Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) is a relatively common complication in infertile patients treated with exogenous gonadotropins. Ovarian hyperstimulation in spontaneous pregnancies is a rare but possible. The pathogenesis of spontaneous OHSS is not well known. Risk factors for OHSS are young age, polycystic ovaries, low body mass index, high gonadotropin dose, increased estradiol and human chorionic gonadotropin levels, multiple pregnancy, OHSS history, molar pregnancy and hypothyroidism. In this report we present a case of severe spontaneous OHSS with a brief summary of the literature. She was hospitalized and treated in the clinic with the diagnosis of severe OHSS accompanying spontaneous pregnancy.


An increase in the plasma concentration of triglycerides is an established risk factor for cardiovascular disease (1), most likely because the cholesterol content of the triglyceride-rich lipoproteins or remnant cholesterol seems to be causally associated with ischemic heart disease (2). At the beginning of the last decade, however, there were discussions about whether increased triglycerides could be used as a predictor of cardiovascular disease at all, partly because when results were adjusted for other cardiovascular risk factors, and in particular for HDL cholesterol, the relationship between triglycerides and cardiovascular disease was attenuated. Such thinking no longer appears to be prevalent, as recent evidence has demonstrated that the causal association between triglyceride-rich lipoproteins and cardiovascular disease cannot be explained by low HDL cholesterol (1, 2). Also, there has been an assumption that triglycerides should be measured in the fasting state because the concentrations of fasting triglycerides are lower and possibly less variable from measurement to measurement compared with triglycerides measured in the nonfasting state.

The current practice of using fasting lipid profiles was challenged in 2007 by 2 large studies that in combination showed that nonfasting triglycerides could be superior to fasting triglycerides in predicting risk of cardiovascular disease (3, 4). One study from the Women's Health Study including 26 509 women found that increased concentrations of both fasting and nonfasting triglycerides were associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease (3). However, when the results were adjusted for other cardiovascular disease risk factors such as total and HDL cholesterol concentrations, the risk estimates for fasting triglycerides were attenuated. No similar attenuation was observed for nonfasting triglycerides, which remained a strong independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease after adjustment for other cardiovascular disease risk factors, with a hazard ratio of 1.98 for the highest vs the lowest tertile. Furthermore, in …


ABSTRACT We report an eye-tracking experiment that examined argument linking and the role of prominence in Spanish sentence comprehension by testing the interplay between word order and verb type. Previous evidence from a self-paced reading study (Gattei, Dickey, Wainselboim, & París, 2015). showed that comprehenders use morphosyntactic information to form predictions about the thematic structure of the upcoming verb. In this study we focussed on the time course of this process. Results showed an interaction between verb type and word order for late eye movement measures but not for early eye movement measures. Participants regressed more and for longer time when word order did not match the canonical order for each verb class. This interaction is observed from the verb region onwards, independently of word order. We interpret that these effects take place due to the misinterpretation of the prominence status of the preverbal argument, leading to differential reading strategies.


With both cost and safety taken into account in the context of the life-threatening COVID-19 pandemic globally, rural tourism is expected to be the top choice for Chinese residents for relaxation and enhancing parent-child relationships. In this paper, a structural equation (SEM) model was proposed to compare risk knowledge, risk perception, risk aversion attitudes and behavioral intentions towards rural tourism. According to the empirical results, there was a large proportion of tourists showing preference for rural tourism recently. Potential participants in rural tourism paid most attention to the performance realization and time cost of scenic spots, while the psycho-social risk posed by COVID-19 had little impact. The inherent risk nature of risk aversion attitudes made knowledge of the pneumonia risk less effective in reducing tourists' intentions, while knowledge of the pneumonia risk was more effective in alleviating the risk perception that potential tourists have towards rural tourism. With regard to travel intention and recommendation intention of rural tourism, the negative impacts of risk aversion attitude were more considerable compared to risk perception. Meanwhile, the parallel mediating effect of risk perception and risk aversion attitude in rural tourism needed to be taken into consideration together.


The choice to liberalise and privatise Italy's energy supply industry is aimed at modernising the country. However, the way its implementation has taken place might produce a further weakening of the whole national industry. The notion that in an energy market as large as Europe competition would lead to a great number of strongly competing small and medium-size companies is being refuted by facts. There is, in fact, a growing strengthening of oligopolistic structures with few dominating companies. In this context, with the final handing over of all public stakes in its two largest energy companies, the Italian State will be closing both - and yet extraordinary - experiences with ENI and Enel. The course taken in transferring these large pieces of public ownership, combined with the aftermath of liberalisation, shall crucially affect not only the perspectives of these companies, but also the future of the whole national system.


Objective To study effect of pulmonary surfactant and NCPAP on neonatal respiratory distress syndrome( NRDS).Methods Seventy-two children with NRDS were divided into observation group and control group( n = 36,each),and observation group was given PS + NCPAP,control group was given PS + mechanical ventilation( MV),treatment effects,oxygen treatment time,length of hospital stay,complications were compared. Results The total efficacy rate of observation group was 94. 44%,higher than77. 78% of control group( P 0. 05). The complication rate was 13. 89%( 5 /36),lower than 36. 11%( 13 /36) of control group( P 0. 05). Oxygen treatment time and complication rate were lower than that of control group( P 0. 01). Conclusion Pulmonary surfactant and NCPAP can effectively reduce oxygen treatment time,the incidence rate of complications and length of hospital stay.


Two new sesterterpenes analogs, namely, 12-acetoxy,16-epi-hyrtiolide (1) and 12β-acetoxy,16β-methoxy,20α-hydroxy-17-scalaren-19,20-olide (2), containing a scalarane-based framework along with seven previously reported scalarane-type sesterterpenes (3–9) have been isolated from the sponge Hyrtios erectus (order Dictyoceratida) collected from the Red Sea, Egypt. The structures of the isolated compounds were elucidated on the basis of their spectroscopic data and comparison with reported NMR data. Compounds 1–9 exhibited considerable antiproliferative activity against breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7), colorectal carcinoma (HCT-116) and hepatocellular carcinoma cells (HepG2). Compounds 3, 5 and 9 were selected for subsequent investigations regarding their mechanism of cell death induction (differential apoptosis/necrosis assessment) and their influence on cell cycle distribution.


Background: A robust literature demonstrates that coronary artery calcification (CAC) and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) are independent predictors of cardiovascular disease (CVD) events. Much less is known about the joint associations of CRF and CAC with CVD risk. In the setting of high CAC, high versus low CRF has been associated with decreased CVD events. The goal of this study was to assess the effect of continuous levels of CRF on CVD risk in the setting of increasing CAC burden. Methods: We studied 8425 men without clinical CVD who underwent preventive medicine examinations that included an objective measurement of CRF and CAC between 1998 and 2007. There were 383 CVD events during an average follow-up of 8.4 years. Parametric proportional hazards regression models based on a Gompertz mortality rule were used to estimate total CVD incidence rates at 70 years of age as well as hazard ratios for the included covariates. Results: CVD events increased with increasing CAC and decreased with increasing CRF. Adjusting for CAC level (scores of 0, 1–99, 100–399, and ≥400), for each additional MET of fitness, there was an 11% lower risk for CVD events (hazard ratio, 0.89; 95% confidence interval, 0.84-0.94). When CAC and CRF were considered together, there was a strong association between continuous CRF and CVD incidence rates in all CAC groups. Conclusions: In a large cohort of generally healthy men, there is an attenuation of CVD risk at all CAC levels with higher CRF.


Cobalt oxide nanoparticles (CoO NPs) were synthesized by the calcination method from the Co (II) complex which has the formula [Co(PVA)(P-ABA)(H2O)3], PVA = polyvinyl alcohol, and P-ABA = para-aminobenzoic acid. The calcination temperature was 550°C, and the products were characterized by element analysis, thermal analyses (TGA and DTA), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-Vis spectra, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. The kinetic and thermodynamic parameters (∆H ∗, ∆G ∗, and ∆S ∗) for the cobalt (II) complex are calculated. The charges been carried by the atoms cause dipole moment 10.53 and 3.84 debye and total energy 11.04 × 102 and 24.80 × 102k Cal mol−1 for the Co (II) complex and cobalt oxide, respectively. X-ray diffraction confirmed that the resulting oxide was pure single-crystalline CoO nanoparticles. Scanning electron microscopy indicating that the crystallite size of cobalt oxide nanocrystals was in the range of 36–54 nm. Finally, the antimicrobial activity of cobalt oxide nanoparticles was evaluated using four bacterial strains and one fungal strain. Two strains of Gram-positive cocci (Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecalis), two strains of Gram-negative bacilli (Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa), and one strain of yeast such as fungi (Candida albicans) were used in this study.


In games research, Go is considered the classical board game that is most resistant to current AI techniques. Large-scale knowledge engineering has been considered indispensable for building state of the art programs, even for subproblems such as Life and Death, or tsume-Go. This paper describes the technologies behind TSUMEGO EXPLORER, a high-performance tsume-Go search engine for enclosed problems. In empirical testing. this engine outperforms GoTools. which has been the undisputedly best tsume-Go program for 15 years.


When the client moved quickly, from 3G into WiMAX service coverage, then leaved the WiMAX service coverage and accessed to another 3G range of services. At this time, that handoff frequently in a short period of time, and decreased system efficiency, also decreased the QoS. In this research, we use NS-2 to simulate the situations. The final simulation results show that when client moving, should avoid handoff frequently. Because client from WiMAX handover to 3G or 3G handover to WiMAX frequently, that would decreased the QoS.


TSV is a very hot topic today. It enables higher pin-out and finer pitch. However, the thermal-mechanical reliability is a big issue. The coefficient of thermal expansion(CTE) of copper, silicon and siliconoxide is about 17.5 × 10−6/°C 2.5×10−6/°C, 0.6×10−6/°C respectively. So when the TSV is subjected to thermal cycling load, large stress and strain would be created at the interface of the materials. In this work, Finite Element(FE) method was used to investigate the thermal-mechanical reliability of TSV. It is found the critical location is the junction between the overlaying flange Cu pad and the SIO2. And as the height of overlaying flange Cu pad decreases from 6μm to 2μm, the equivalent plastic strain decreases from 0.0195 to 0.0056. So the TSV with lower overlaying flange Cu pad would be more reliable. we also investigated reliability of blind hole. The bottom of the via is another critical location due to the mismatch of CTE. But the reliability is not sensitive to the depth of the blind hole. Finally, we investigated the effect of the geometry of the solder on the reliability. When the solder is hourglass joint and its width increases, the shear plastic strain is not sensitive to the width of solder. However, when the solder is spherical joint and its width increases, the shear plastic strain at the critical location increases significantly. Therefore, the reliability of spherical solder joint is much sensitive to its shape. And when the solder is cylinder column, the shear plastic strain is minimal.


Chicken anaemia virus (CAV) is a lymphotropic virus that causes anaemia and immunosuppression in chickens. Previously, we proposed that CAV evades host antiviral responses in vivo by disrupting T-cell signalling, but the precise cellular targets and modes of action remain elusive. In this study, we examined gene expression in Marek's disease virus-transformed chicken T-cell line MSB-1 after infection with CAV using both a custom 5K immune-focused microarray and quantitative real-time PCR at 24, 48 and 72 h post-infection. The data demonstrate an intricate equilibrium between CAV and the host gene expression, displaying subtle but significant modulation of transcripts involved in the T-cell, inflammation and NF-κB signalling cascades. CAV efficiently blocked the induction of type-I interferons and interferon-stimulated genes at 72 h. The cell expression pattern implies that CAV subverts host antiviral responses and that the transformed environment of MSB-1 cells offers an opportunistic advantage for virus growth.


The purpose of our work was to study the cytogenetic effects induced by deposit mycoflora in Vicia faba (2n
= 12) beans from the collection of Suceava Genebank. Cytogenetic effects were studied by means of classical plant
chromosomes methods of study. We have observed that the values of the mitotic indexes are decreasing in accordance
with the increasing of the storage age and also with the number of mycoflora species that are infesting the beans.
Infestation with specific mycoflora produced a relatively large number, statistically significant by comparison to the
controls, of interphasic aberrations and also of chromosomal aberrations in mitosis ana-telophase in all studied probes.
Comparing our results with similar published data, we can strongly state that the cytogenetic effects induced by deposit
mycoflora in Vicia faba seeds are similar with those produced by the action of a weak mutagenic agent


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ANNOTATION The goal of this research is to elicit the list of linguistic, pragmatic and cultural parameters that characterize strong linguistic personality and on the other hand week linguistic personality along with generalized average linguistic personality and to define their verbal behavior during verbal communication. In this regard, it is necessary to define individual stylistic characteristics for a strong linguistic personality; to determine skills and knowledge for a strong linguistic personality taking into consideration unique interpersonal and intercultural communication; to review the national, cultural specifics for the strong linguistic personality who belongs to English-American speech culture; to reveal the motives leading to formation of the English-speaking strong linguistic personality; to analyze the communicative problems of the weak linguistic personality. The aspects mentioned above have determined the fact that in our study we refer to such issues as parameterization and linguistic personality behavior in the field of interpersonal and intercultural communication, the search for the people's talk exchange optimum alternatives.


OBJECTIVES
To investigate the potential association of TGF-β1 -509C/T (rs1800469), +869T/C (rs1800470), and +915G/C (rs1800471) polymorphisms with susceptibility to periodontitis.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Several electronic databases were searched for eligible articles. Odds ratios (ORs) along with their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated to assess the strength of relationship between the TGF-β1 polymorphisms and periodontitis risk.

RESULTS
Eleven studies were searched without any language restriction. Pooled estimates showed that TGF-β1 -509C/T polymorphism was associated with decreased risk of periodontitis. Subgroup analysis revealed that -509C/T T allele was associated with decreased risk of chronic periodontitis (CP) in Asians (T allele vs C allele: OR = 0.81, 95% CI = 0.69-0.97, Pheterogeneity = 0.25). Furthermore, the +915G/C CC genotype might be associated with elevated risk of CP in Caucasians (CC vs GG: OR = 9.14, 95% CI = 1.01-82.50, Pheterogeneity = 0.49). Concerning +869T/C polymorphism, no evidence of significant association was identified.

CONCLUSION
This meta-analysis suggested that TGF-β1 -509C/T T allele was associated with decreased risk of CP in Asians, while +915G/C CC genotype might contribute to increased CP risk in Caucasians. Replication studies of our results in independent large populations are necessary to validate this association in diverse populations.


This paper proposes a novel distributed technique to induce collective motions in affine formation control. Instead of the traditional leader-follower strategy, we propose modifying the original weights that build the Laplacian matrix so that a designed steady-state motion of the desired shape emerges from the agents' local interactions. The proposed technique allows a rich collection of collective motions such as rotations around the centroid, translations, scalings, and shearings of a reference shape. These motions can be applied in useful collective behaviors such as shaped consensus (the rendezvous with a particular shape), escorting one of the team agents, or area coverage. We prove the global stability and effectiveness of our proposed technique rigorously, and we provide some illustrative numerical simulations.


This paper investigates the problem of incremental detection of errors in distributed data. Given a distributed database D, a set \Sigma of conditional functional dependencies (CFDs), the set V of violations of the CFDs in D, and updates \Delta D to D, it is to find, with minimum data shipment, changes \Delta V to V in response to \Delta D. The need for the study is evident since real-life data is often dirty, distributed and is frequently updated. It is often prohibitively expensive to recompute the entire set of violations when D is updated. We show that the incremental detection problem is NP-complete for D partitioned either vertically or horizontally, even when \Sigma and D are fixed. Nevertheless, we show that it is bounded and better still, actually optimal: there exist algorithms to detect errors such that their computational cost and data shipment are both linear in the size of \Delta D and \Delta V, independent of the size of the database D. We provide such incremental algorithms for vertically partitioned data, and show that the algorithms are optimal. We further propose optimization techniques for the incremental algorithm over vertical partitions to reduce data shipment. We verify experimentally, using real-life data on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), that our algorithms substantially outperform their batch counterparts even when \Delta V is reasonably large.


Abstract Allopolyploids are believed to inherit the genetic characteristics of its progenitors and exhibit stronger adaptability and vigor. The allotetraploid Isoetes sinensis was formed by the natural hybridization and polyploidization of two diploid progenitors, Isoetes taiwanensis and Isoetes yunguiensis, and was believed to have the potential to adapt to plateau environments. To explore the expression pattern of homoeologous genes and their contributions to altitude adaptation, we transplanted natural allotetraploid I. sinensis (TnTnYnYn) along the altitude gradient for a long‐term, and harvested them in summer and winter, respectively. One year after transplanting, it still lived well, even in the extreme environment of the Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau. Then, we performed high‐throughput RNA sequencing to measure their gene expression level. A total of 7801 homoeologous genes were expressed, among which 5786 were identified as shared expression in different altitudes and seasons. We further found that altitude variations could change the subgenome bias trend of I. sinensis, but season could not. Moreover, the functions of uniquely expressed genes indicated that temperature might be an important restrictive factor during the adaptation process. Through the analysis of DEGs and uniquely expressed genes, we found that Y subgenome provided more contributions to high altitude adaptation than T subgenome. These adaptive traits to high altitude may be inherited from its plateau progenitor I. yunguiensis. Through weighted gene co‐expression network analysis, pentatricopeptide repeats gene family and glycerophospholipid metabolism pathway were considered to play important roles in high‐altitude adaptation. Totally, this study will enrich our understanding of allopolyploid in environmental adaptation.


Electrical current could be efficiently guided in 2D nanotube networks by introducing specific topological defects within the periodic framework. Using semiempirical transport calculations coupled with Landauer-Buttiker formalism of quantum transport in multiterminal nanoscale systems, we provide a detailed analysis of the processes governing the atomic-scale design of nanotube circuits. We found that when defects are introduced as patches in specific sites, they act as bouncing centers that reinject electrons along specific paths, via a wave reflection process. This type of defects can be incorporated while preserving the 3-fold connectivity of each carbon atom embedded within the graphitic lattice. Our findings open up a new way to explore bottom-up design, at the nanometer scale, of complex nanotube circuits which could be extended to 3D nanosystems and applied in the fabrication of nanoelectronic devices.


Abstract This article discusses pornography in seventeenth-century England in relation to the public/private debate. The seventeenth century is seen as bordering a shift from a communal, 'public' style of living to a private, confined, inward-looking sensibility discernible from the eighteenth century. The increasing availability and development of a market for pornography, which goes hand in hand with the expansion of print culture, is seen as part of this shift, as it seems to exemplify par excellence the private consumption of printed material for private pleasure. The pornographic literature of the seventeenth century repeatedly invokes the idea of a public/private distinction to produce an eroticised narrative in which the illusion of privacy is constantly breached by the pursuit of voyeuristic pleasure.


Abstract In the 19th and early 20th centuries spatial structure in letter writing was employed to show different degrees of respect for the addressee. Among the devices used to express deference were the following: dimensions of blank spaces, typical sequences within the sentence structure or the text, format of the paper, use of an envelope, capitalizing terms of address, and use of the so-called "Submissionsstrich" (a downward stroke before the signature). Within decades longestablished spatial devices lost their original function in showing respect and took over practical or aesthetic functions. This development is interpreted as part of the cultural history of European politeness.


The concepts of independent learning (IL), self-directed learning (SDL) and self-regulated learning (SRL) have been widely used in relation to students' learning success. Often, these terms are interrelated and used interchangeably in the literature with regards to students' learning process. The purpose of this paper is (1) to promote conceptual clarity by having clear definitions of SRL, SDL and IL and (2) to provide a review of research related to the development of students' SRL at higher education particularly in the context of Information Systems studies. The findings from the literature reveal that mastering the process self-regulation progressively leads to self-directed and independent learning. The literature review on SRL reveals that students' academic self-regulation is influenced by their personal processes such as cognitive knowledge and motivational beliefs and also external processes such as lecturers and instructions in higher education.


Total electron emission yields for impact of H+, H2+, C+, N+, O+ and Ar+ ions (impact energy 2–10 keV) on clean highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) have been measured. An enhancement in the electron yield of more than a factor of 2 is found when comparing results for differently oriented HOPG surfaces (orientation of the graphite layers with respect to the surface). By analyzing these data we elucidate the influence of electron transport on kinetic electron emission and derive direction-dependent mean escape depths for low-energy electrons.


We consider a nonrelativistic charged particle in a one-dimensional infinite square potential well. This quantum system is subjected to a control, which is a uniform (in space) time-depending electric field. It is represented by a complex probability amplitude solution of a Schrodinger equation on a one-dimensional bounded domain, with Dirichlet boundary conditions. We prove the almost global practical stabilization of the eigenstates by explicit feedback laws.


There has been debate on the best treatment regimen for CAP, whether to start treatment with β-lactams, β-lactam β-lactamase inhibitor, macrolides, a combination of the earlier or quinolones, among other less commonly used agents. In this review, an attempt to examine some data on the utilization and importance of respiratory quinolones in the treatment of CAP, and to examine whether quinolones are the same in clinical and microbiological efficacy, shall we stick to seven days of treatment versus shorter duration without compromising outcome? Are resistance patterns for respiratory quinolones the same, and are there savings associated with using some respiratory quinolones over others? Moreover, are there any differences in mortality when examined as a treatment end-point, and if there is any differences in speed of recovery for different respiratory quinolones? Do we need to incorporate pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics principles in the treatment CAP, and how to dose anti-infective agents in CAP, opposed to leaving treatment-doses for minimum inhibitory concentration alone?


THE DECEMBER 1950 issue was the last of the eightieth volume of theAmerican Journal of Diseases of Children. The first volume appeared in 1911. When the Board of Trustees of the American Medical Association met on Feb. 4, 1910, Dr. Isaac Abt and Dr. F. S. Churchill, on behalf of a number of pediatricians, presented the following communication requesting the publication by the Association of a periodical devoted to pediatrics: Appreciating the need in America of a journal of pediatrics published and entirely controlled by the medical profession; impressed, morever, by the high character and success of the Archives of Internal Medicine established by your Board two years ago, we respectfully request that you establish a journal of pediatrics on somewhat similar lines. There is at present no journal in the English language devoted to this important branch of medicine, which at all corresponds, for example, to the Jahrbuch


A number of physics groups showed strong interest in the development and use of isobarically pure astatine beams, both at the neutron-deficient and neutron-rich sides. Elemental selective ionization with the RILIS laser ion source promises strong suppression of Pb, Bi, Po and Rn isobars for the At isotope mass range of interest. For this purpose laser ion source development for astatine is proposed, implying preparatory atomic spectroscopic work distributed over several slots of proton beam time.


Abstract Collaborative international research projects represent excellent opportunities for students to obtain unique and life-altering educational experiences. Dynamic interactions with people from a variety of countries, institutions, and departments, in diverse situations, provides students with new perspectives, encourages them to operate in a multidisciplinary environment, and facilitates real-world problem solving. This article discusses important concepts and issues in geographic education that are based upon real-world experiences in the Himalaya Mountains of India and Pakistan, involving undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral research assistants. Multidisciplinary research/education activities reveal the importance of geography in problem solving and scientific inquiry. This work also highlights numerous issues and curriculum challenges required to establish a scientific foundation in geography, as traditional empirical approaches to geographic education and research frequently hide the complexities of dynamic systems and our world. Students require a multitude of perspectives that incorporate cultural and communication experiences, knowledge synthesis, field and laboratory work, and real-world problem solving. International research experiences can address some of these requirements, so that students can effectively solve problems in an increasingly international and multidisciplinary world. This personal article incorporates numerous examples from physical geography and geographic information science.


Background. Genetic aberrations and epigenetic alterations have been reported in different types of cancer. Impact of Isocitrate dehydrogenase1 (IDH1) and O6-methylguanine-DNAmethyltransferase (MGMT) in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) have been of great interest due to their implications in prediction of prognosis of several types of cancer. Authors aimed to investigate the clinical role of IDH1 mutation and MGMT methylation pattern among GBM patients versus non-neurooncological diseases (NND) patients and their impact on survival criteria. Methods. Formalin-Fixed Paraffin-Embedded (FFPE) tissue sections of 58 GBM and 20 non-onconeurological diseases patients were recruited and IDH1 mutation were detected using Cast-PCR technology and MGMT methylation was detected using Methyl II quantitative PCR approach. Their results were assessed with other clinicopathological criteria and assess its correlation with survival patterns. Results. IDH1 mutation was detected among 15 GBM cases (15/58) and it was not reported among NND (P=0.011). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve were plotted to discriminate between MGMT methylation among studied groups. Patients with MGMT methylation [≥] 66% was reported as high methylation, which was recorded significantly in 51.7% and 100% of GBM cases and NND, respectively. Both showed significant difference with performance status, while MGMT methylation was significantly related with tumor size and tumor location. IDH1 mutation and MGMT methylation reported significant increase with GBM patients revealed complete response to treatment. Survival pattern was better for IDH1 mutation and MGMT high methylation as compared to IDH1 wild type or MGMT low-moderate methylation, respectively and favorable survival was detected when both were combined than using either of them alone. Conclusion. Detection of IDH1 mutation and MGMT methylation among GBM patients could aid in prediction of their response to treatment and their survival patterns, and their combination is better than using any of them alone.


The early life history (ELH) traits of fish relate directly to critical aspects of survival, development and growth that are reflected in aquaculture recruitment and the quality of progeny. The ELH traits of the eggs and larvae of yellowtail flounder, Pleuronectes ferrugineus (Storer), were investigated to determine which ELH traits relate to commonly used egg and larval quality criteria and how these traits could be used to predict recruitment in mass rearing aquaculture. -- Chapter 1 shows that inducing females to spawn with GnRHa produces higher mortality during embryogenesis compared with spontaneously ovulating females. However, the variability in mortality remains relatively constant. In addition, temperature affects time to hatch, but not egg mortality, which was determined through comparing the dry mass of filtrate to the dry mass of known volumes of eggs. -- Chapter 2 shows that egg size was more variable than carbon and nitrogen content and therefore, less effective as an egg quality criterion. It is hypothesised that variation in egg size is greatly affected by hydration processes that are under environmental influence. -- Chapter 3 shows that abnormal cleavage patterns during the 4-8 cell stage of embryogenesis significantly decreased hatching success, but did not produce any curved larvae. This suggests that hatching success may be underestimated and that visual egg quality determinations based on viability criteria may be less effective than previously thought. -- Chapter 4 shows that multivariate analyses of five larval and three egg ELH traits had significantly higher predictive capabilities than any single trait. However, because of its relationship to other ELH traits, larval standard length was found to be the best single, quantitative metric of egg batch quality. Nonetheless, a trained assessment of larval quality, based on visual observations, is nearly as effective. Males were typically found to contribute less than 5% to the variability in ELH traits (range 0 - 15%) while females generally contributed over 30% (range 6% - 83%). However, relative contributions varied according to whether the analysis was performed on individual or mean levels of data and (or) at what time larval measurements were made. This result suggests that, with regard to ultimate larval success, the maternal contribution decreases and the paternal contribution may increase through ontogeny. -- Comparative statistical analyses shows that multivariate treatment is superior to univariate treatment of data at the same level. Furthermore, the method of aggregating data. e.g. mean-level or population-level groupings, may significantly change results. This scale result is due in part to significant changes in sample sizes as data are aggregated. Model I and Model II (reduced major axis) regressions are compared and were found to be different when ordinate data are highly variable at a given abscissa value. -- Keywords: egg quality; larval quality; scale; early life history; Pleuronectes ferrugineus; yellowtail flounder; flatfish; Pleuronectidae; maternal effects; paternal effects; ontogeny; abnormal cleavage


Review(s) of: Selling sex: A hidden history of prostitution, by Raelene Frances, University of New South Wales Press, Sydney, 2007, pp. 342.


Accurately predicting the performance of different optimization algorithms for previously unseen problem instances is crucial for high-performing algorithm selection and configuration techniques. In the context of numerical optimization, supervised regression approaches built on top of exploratory landscape analysis are becoming very popular. From the point of view of Machine Learning (ML), however, the approaches are often rather naïve, using default regression or classification techniques without proper investigation of the suitability of the ML tools. With this work, we bring to the attention of our community the possibility to personalize regression models to specific types of optimization problems. Instead of aiming for a single model that works well across a whole set of possibly diverse problems, our personalized regression approach acknowledges that different models may suite different types of problems. Going one step further, we also investigate the impact of selecting not a single regression model per problem, but personalized ensembles. We test our approach on predicting the performance of numerical optimization heuristics on the BBOB benchmark collection.


Termaat, T. & V. J. Kalkman, 2012. Odonata Red List Report 2011 using Dutch and IUCN criteria. Brachytron 14(2): 75-187. In this report a proposal is published for a revised Red List for Dragonflies. When the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation (EL&I) publishes this list in the government gazette, the Red List of 1997 will be replaced. In addition, this report presents a regional Red List following the internationally used criteria of IUCN, so that the situation in The Netherlands can be compared with that in other countries. All 65 species regularly reproducing in The Netherlands were assessed in order to decide whether they should be red-listed according to the criteria of the Dutch government. Red List species are species that became extinct after 1900 and species that are threatened. The threatened species are subdivided in four categories. The results are shown in figure 57. The 2011 Red List includes the following numbers of species per category: -5 Extinct in The Netherlands -4 Critically endangered -6 Endangered -6 Vulnerable -2 Susceptible Thus, the Red List comprises 23 species (35% of the assessed species). The other 42 species are Not threatened at present. In order to make a clean comparison between the new Red List and the 1997 Red List, the latter has been reconstructed using the current improved method and partly with additional data. The reconstructed 1997 Red List comprises 27 species (44% of the assessed species). These are categorised as follows: 8 species Extinct in the Netherlands, 4 Critically endangered, 8 Endangered, 6 Vulnerable en 1 Susceptible. The other 34 species were Not threatened at present. A comparison between both Red Lists shows a fairly positive picture. The 2011 Red List includes three species less than the 1997 list, despite the fact that four species appear on the Red List for the first time (two of which after becoming recently established). Three species previously extinct in The Netherlands have reappeared. And most species of running waters and fens show a positive trend. Species of softwater lakes are increasing too, but alarming exceptions exist. According to the IUCN criteria, which chiefly assess the situation over the past ten years, 19 species feature on the Red List. These are categorized as follows: – 3 Regionally Extinct – 2 Critically Endangered – 4 Endangered – 3 Vulnerable – 7 Near Threatened By IUCN criteria, the other 46 species are assessed as not threatened and belong to Least Concern. The most important causes of decline of dragonflies are habitat destruction due to intensified use of land and environmental problems such as acidification, eutrophication, and desiccation. These threats were strongest in the period 1950-1980. Most habitatspecialised species had their strongest decline during those years. From the 1990s onward many species have reversed their negative trend, due to improvement of the environment and nature restoration measures. The higher number of warm summers has also had a positive influence on some species. Potential negative effects of climate change on northern and northeastern dragonfly species are still insufficiently known. To enable Red List updating, the data collected by volunteers within the framework of distribution research and the Dutch Dragonfly Monitoring Scheme are indispensable.


The ratification process for international treaties has become increasingly politicized in many democratic states. While scholars have devoted attention to the negotiation of international agreements, few have studied ratification struggles that define the ultimate success or failure of international commitments. Fewer still have examined the dynamics of this process in comparative perspective. In this article, I address this gap in the literature by exploring the politics of contemporary international treaty ratification processes in Canada and the United States. Drawing on two-level game theory, I posit that the likelihood of ratification success in these two different systems is often a function of similar dynamics in elite strategies for treaty ratification. Democratic leaders who sign international agreements must consider a range of factors, from the characteristics of the treaty itself to legislative pressures, interest groups, and public opinion in both parliamentary democracies and presidential systems. A structured, focused comparison of Canadian and U.S. case studies shows that the likelihood of successful treaty ratification depends primarily upon executive strategies within certain scope conditions. Given the challenges of minority government in Canada and deep political divisions in the U.S., this study also directs attention to the importance of coalition-building to ratify international agreements. Recent political developments in Canada and the United States suggest a trend toward politicization of international treaty ratification processes. In the United States alone, there have been more than five hundred instances of presidential endorsement that did not lead to congressional ratification. (2) Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney was nearly defeated in a federal election in 1988 when he linked his political fate to the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (CUFTA), and President Bill Clinton won a narrow victory for North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) ratification in 1993. The Kyoto Protocol prompted serious resistance from provincial leaders in Canada, and President Bush actually withdrew U.S. support for the treaty soon after taking office. Recent struggles over treaties offer important lessons about the relationship between executive leadership and international cooperation in many democratic systems. The outcomes of contested national elections in both countries in 2004 also raised the stakes in building political coalitions for controversial treaties. Minority government in Canada and deep political divisions in the United States mean that executives bear an even heavier share of responsibility in debates about treaties, international commitments, and sovereignty. Scholars have devoted a great deal of attention to the negotiation of international agreements, but few have focused on ratification struggles that truly define the success or failure of international commitments. (3) Fewer still have studied the dynamics of ratification struggles in comparative perspective. Yet breakdowns, and near-breakdowns, of international cooperation are surprisingly common in the ratification phase. This study investigates the role that executive strategies play in four case studies of U.S. and Canadian struggles over international cooperation. Research questions include: What are the legal and political requirements for ratification of an international agreement across democratic systems? How similar or different are ratification processes? What conditions influence the likelihood of ratification success? What conditions lead to failure? And, why would treaty ratification processes ever fail if the chief negotiators are fully aware of domestic political constraints? This study employs the comparative case study method for the purpose of exploring four episodes of treaty ratification struggles: 1. United States' ratification of NAFTA (1991-1993); 2. Canadian ratification of CUFTA and NAFTA (1988-1993); 3. …


Recent studies have implicated the activity of the organic anion transporter 1 (OAT1) protein in the basolateral uptake of inorganic mercuric species in renal proximal tubular epithelial cells. However, very little is known about the potential role of OAT1 (and other OATs) in the renal epithelial transport of organic forms of mercury such as methylmercury (CH3Hg+). The present investigation was designed to study the transport of N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) S-conjugates of both methylmercury (CH3Hg-NAC) and inorganic mercury (NAC-Hg-NAC) in renal epithelial cells [Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells] stably transfected with the human isoform of OAT1 (hOAT1). These mercuric species were studied because numerous mercapturates have been shown to be substrates of OATs. Data on saturation kinetics, time dependence, substrate specificity, and temperature dependence for the transport of CH3Hg-NAC and NAC-Hg-NAC indicate that both of these two mercuric species are indeed transportable substrates of hOAT1. Substrate specificity data also show that CH3Hg-NAC is a substrate of a transporter in MDCK cells that is not hOAT1. These data indicate that an amino acid carrier system is a likely candidate responsible for this transport. Furthermore, the rates of survival of the hOAT1-transfected MDCK cells were significantly lower than those of corresponding control MDCK cells when they were exposed to cytotoxic concentrations of CH3Hg-NAC or NAC-Hg-NAC. Collectively, the present data support the hypothesis that CH3Hg-NAC and NAC-Hg-NAC are transportable substrates of OAT1 and thus potentially transportable mercuric species taken up in vivo at the basolateral membrane of proximal tubular epithelial cells.


This communication is based on a clinical and anatomic survey of 171 verified supratentorial tumors of the brain studied in the neurologic service and in the neuropathologic laboratory of the Mount Sinai Hospital. The investigation was undertaken in an attempt to answer the following questions: Of what assistance are studies of the visual fields and observations on other ocular disturbances, such as diminished acuity of vision, papilledema, optic atrophy, alterations of the pupillary reflex and ocular palsies, in the localization of brain tumor? How frequently do the observations at operation or on postmortem examination corroborate the clinical diagnosis, particularly when the latter is based on defects in the visual fields? What factors aside from the location of the tumor are responsible for the presence or absence of the commonly characteristic ocular disturbances? For the needs of this study the topographic grouping of tumors


Thiophene is known experimentally to be desulfurized by Fe3(CO)12 under mild conditions to give the tricarbonyl ferrole (η4,η2-C4H4)Fe2(CO)6. A similar reaction of benzothiophene (thianaphthene) with Fe3(CO)12 gives a (C8H6S)Fe2(CO)6 complex in which an iron carbonyl moiety has inserted into the thiophene ring to give a thiaferranaphthalene ligand. Density functional theory shows this experimental structure to be the lowest energy structure. Furthermore, the lowest energy structures of the diiron pentacarbonyl (C8H6S)Fe2(CO)5 are simply derived from this (C8H6S)Fe2(CO)6 by loss of a CO group retaining the thiaferranaphthalene ligand. However, a higher energy isomeric (η6,η2-C8H6S)Fe2(CO)5 structure retains the original benzothiophene ligand with the C6 ring bonded to an Fe(CO)2 moiety as a hexahapto ligand and the CC double bond of the C4S ring bonded to an Fe(CO)3 moiety as a dihapto ligand with an Fe→Fe dative bond between the iron atoms. Similar insertion of an iron atom into a thiophene ring to give a thiaferrabenzene ring is predicted to occur in the lowest energy (C6H4S2)Fe2(CO)6 structure derived from either the anti or syn isomers of thienothiophene. However, the bonding of the exocyclic iron atom to the resulting thiaferrabenzothiophene ligand involves atoms in both rings in contrast to the (C8H6S)Fe2(CO)6 complex where the benzene ring is not involved in the ligand–iron bonding.


Adenolipoma of the thyroid gland is a rare benign neoplasm composed of normal thyroid and mature adipose tissue. Ordinarily, only a small amount of fat exists in a normal thyroid gland. CT and MRI may differentiate between benign and malignant lesions, and fine-needle aspirate often assists diagnosis. Surgical excision for adenolipoma is considered curative. We report the case of a 67-year-old man presenting with a large neck lump and evidence of airway obstruction. Imaging revealed a 97×70 mm left thyroid mass with retropharyngeal extension and laryngotracheal compression. Hemithyroidectomy was performed with subsequent histology confirming a large thyroid adenolipoma. The patient's symptoms resolved and he remains asymptomatic with no sign of recurrence 2 years postsurgery.


Despite more than a century of research on the hydration of biomolecules, the hydration of carbohydrates is insufficiently studied. An approach to studying dynamic hydration shells of carbohydrates in aqueous solutions based on terahertz time-domain spectroscopy assay is developed in the current work. Monosaccharides (glucose, galactose, galacturonic acid) and polysaccharides (dextran, amylopectin, polygalacturonic acid) solutions were studied. The contribution of the dissolved carbohydrates was subtracted from the measured dielectric permittivities of aqueous solutions based on the corresponding effective medium models. The obtained dielectric permittivities of the water phase were used to calculate the parameters describing intermolecular relaxation and oscillatory processes in water. It is established that all of the analyzed carbohydrates lead to the increase of the binding degree of water. Hydration shells of monosaccharides are characterized by elevated numbers of hydrogen bonds and their mean energies compared to undisturbed water, as well as by elevated numbers and the lifetime of free water molecules. The axial orientation of the OH(4) group of sugar facilitates a wider distribution of hydrogen bond energies in hydration shells compared to equatorial orientation. The presence of the carboxylic group affects water structure significantly. The hydration of polysaccharides is less apparent than that of monosaccharides, and it depends on the type of glycosidic bonds.


The present survey aims at presenting the current machine learning techniques employed in security games domains. Specifically, we focused on papers and works developed by the Teamcore of University of Southern California, which deepened different directions in this field. After a brief introduction on Stackelberg Security Games (SSGs) and the poaching setting, the rest of the work presents how to model a boundedly rational attacker taking into account her human behavior, then describes how to face the problem of having attacker's payoffs not defined and how to estimate them and, finally, presents how online learning techniques have been exploited to learn a model of the attacker.


Background: Tumor response assessment to therapy is crucial in oncology, both in daily practice and research.We analyzed the morphology of liver metastases (LM) in gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST). Aims were to 1) determine whether uni-dimensional measurements of tumor lesions (according to RECIST 1.1) are accurate reflections of their volumes and 2) estimate eventual bias in volume change calculations, as introduced by using only the longest diameter. Methods: 78 GIST patients with LM were evaluated at baseline (n=139 lesions), 3 (n=129), 6 (n=128), and 12 months (n=108) after imatinib therapy. LM were segmented semi-automatically on standard CT scans. All measurements at baseline were obtained by 2 independent investigators and agreement between observers was assessed with Bland-Altman plots. Values for segmented volume (Vs; mL), maximum transaxial diameter (MTD; mm), and elongation value (EV, defined as 1 - [width/length], where EV of 1 = fully ellipsoidal and 0 = fully spherical) were reported for each lesion at several time-points. A calculated volume (Vc) of each LM was also generated using the MTD, with the hypothesis that metastases were fully spherical. Results: At baseline, 44% (61/139) of the LM was spherical and 56% (78/139) was ellipsoidal. Their EV ranged from 0.08 to 0.94 (mean, 0.53±0.17). During treatment, overall 42% of the lesions kept their morphology (spherical or ellipsoidal) and the other half changed from spherical to ellipsoidal or vice versa. At baseline, there was strong inter-observer agreement in the determination of Vs, with mean inter-observer variability of 1.5% (95% CI, -14.5% to 17.5%). The difference between Vs and Vc was highly significant (P<0.0001). Vc overestimates the actual volume of 35% (95% CI, -26% to 95%). Conclusions: LM are not always spherical and can change their morphology during imatinib therapy. Therefore, a lesion's single largest trans-axial dimension, as used in RECIST 1.1, is not an accurate surrogate of its actual volume. Further studies are warranted to fully understand the clinical impact of these findings and to assess whether we should apply different criteria for response assessment to therapies in solid tumors.


The Navy uses electrohydraulic servomechanisms throughout the fleet in the control of vehicles, weapons, and platforms. Better understanding of how these systems work will lead to ways of improving their performance, safety, and reliability. Microprocessor control allows the combining of various inputs and responses into the feedback control action of these systems in order to increase their performance. An attempt has been made to develop a "user friendly" microprocessor control system to be used to study the effects of frequency, load, pressure and flow on a typical hydraulic control system. Discussed in this thesis will be the effect of microprocessor control of electrohydraulic servomechanisms using a Macintosh computer.


Abstract Context. Reviews of climate change in Australia have identified that it is imposing additional stresses on biodiversity, which is already under threat from multiple human impacts. Aims. The present study aimed to determine the contributions of several factors to the demise of the koala in the Eden region in south-eastern New South Wales and, in particular, to establish to what extent climate change may have exacerbated the decline. Methods. The study built on several community-based koala surveys in the Eden region since 1986, verified through interviews with survey respondents. Historical records as far back as the late 19th century, wildlife databases and field-based surveys were used to independently validate the community survey data and form a reliable picture of changes in the Eden koala population. Analysis of the community survey data used a logistic model to assess the contribution of known threats to koalas, including habitat loss measured as changes in foliage projective cover, fire, increases in the human population and climate change in the form of changes in temperature and rainfall, to the regional decline of this species. Key results. We found a marked, long-term shrinkage in the distribution of the koala across the Eden region. Our modelling demonstrated that a succession of multiple threats to koalas from land use (human population growth and habitat loss) and environmental change (temperature increase and drought) were significant contributors to this decline. Conclusions. Climate change, particularly drought and rising temperatures, has been a hitherto hidden factor that has been a major driver of the decline of the koala in the Eden region. Implications. Development of strategies to help fauna adapt to the changing climate is of paramount importance, particularly at a local scale.


Lampung province is one of production center for food commodities such as cassava, maize and sweet potato. The development of these commodities into processed products has been done one of which is a composite flour. The purpose of this study was to determine the physicochemical characteristics of composite flour consisting of a mixture of cassava flour (CF), sweet potato flour (SPF) and corn flour (NF). The study was conducted in the Laboratory of Lampung Assessment Institute for  Agriculture  Technology (AIAT) and Laboratory of Food Chemistry and Technology, Indonesian Legumes and Tuber Crops Research Institute (ILETRI) on May – July 2014. The design used was completely randomized by four treatments such as F1 (60% CF, 0% SPF, 35% NF, 5% Rice Bran/RB ), F2 (50% CF, 10% SPF, 35% NF, 5% RB), F3 (40% CF, 20% SPF, 35% NF, 5% RB) and F4 (30% CF, 30% SPF, 35% NF, 5% RB), and the activities was repeated 4 times. The data were statistically analyzed and followed by Duncan Multiple range test. Physical characteristics observed were whiteness, water content, water absorption value (NPA) and the water solubility value (NKA). While the chemical characteristics of proximate analysis consist of moisture content, protein, carbohydrates, fat, fiber and ash content by AOAC Methods. The results showed that the whiteness value of four composite flours were not different in the ranged between 57.97% (F4) and 60.37% (F1). While the carbohydrates content ranged from 81.17 to 83.3% (the highest in the F4), protein was from 3.70 to 4.47% (the highest in the F4), fat was from 1.41 to 1.50%, ash content was from 01.47 - 1.66%, 1.81 - 2.17% for crude fiber, 11.64 to 18.80% for amylose, while amylopectin content ranged from 36.68 to 43.98%.


Why some Toxoplasma gondii-infected southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis) develop fatal toxoplasmosis while others have incidental or mild chronic infections has long puzzled the scientific community. We assessed robust datasets on T. gondii molecular characterization in relation to detailed necropsy and histopathology results to evaluate whether parasite genotype influences pathological outcomes in sea otters that stranded along the central California coast. Genotypes isolated from sea otters were also compared with T. gondii strains circulating in felids from nearby coastal regions to assess land-to-sea parasite transmission. The predominant T. gondii genotypes isolated from 135 necropsied sea otters were atypical Type X and Type X variants (79%), with the remainder (21%) belonging to Type II or Type II/X recombinants. All sea otters that died due to T. gondii as a primary cause of death were infected with Type X or X-variant T. gondii strains. The same atypical T. gondii strains were detected in sea otters with fatal toxoplasmosis and terrestrial felids from watersheds bordering the sea otter range. Our results confirm a land–sea connection for virulent T. gondii genotypes and highlight how faecal contamination can deliver lethal pathogens to coastal waters, leading to detrimental impacts on marine wildlife.


Spin-split superconductors exhibit an electron-hole asymmetric spin-resolved density of states, but the symmetry is restored upon averaging over spin. On the other hand, asymmetry appears again in tunneling junctions of spin-split superconductors with a spin-polarized barrier. As demonstrated recently in both theory and experiment, this fact leads to a particularly strong thermoelectric effect in superconductor-ferromagnet structures. In this work we show another important effect stemming from the electron-hole asymmetry current rectification. We calculate the charge current in spin-polarized tunnel junctions of normal metal and a spin-split superconductor with AC and DC voltage bias. In the DC case, the I-V curve is not fully antisymmetric and has a voltage-symmetric component due to spin polarization. This translates to the existence of a rectified current in the AC case, which is proportional to the spin polarization of the junction and strongly depends on the frequency of the applied bias. We discuss possible applications of the rectification effect, including a diode for superconducting electronics and radiation detectors. The analysis of the rectified charge current is supplemented by the discussion of heat current and relevant noise correlators, where electron-hole asymmetry also plays an important role, and which are useful for applications in detectors.


We measure rotational broadening in spectra taken by the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) survey to characterise the relationship between stellar multiplicity and rotation. We create a sample of 2786 giants and 24 496 dwarfs with stellar parameters and multiple radial velocities from the APOGEE pipeline, projected rotation speeds vsin i determined from our own pipeline, and distances, masses, and ages measured by Sanders & Das. We use the statistical distribution of the maximum shift in the radial velocities, ΔRVmax, as a proxy for the close binary fraction to explore the interplay between stellar evolution, rotation, and multiplicity. Assuming that the minimum orbital period allowed is the critical period for Roche Lobe overflow and rotational synchronization, we calculate theoretical upper limits on expected vsin i and ΔRVmax values. These expectations agree with the positive correlation between the maximum ΔRVmax and vsin i values observed in our sample as a function of log (g). We find that the fast rotators in our sample have a high occurrence of short-period (log (P/d) ≲ 4) companions. We also find that old, rapidly-rotating main sequence stars have larger completeness-corrected close binary fractions than their younger peers. Furthermore, rapidly-rotating stars with large ΔRVmax consistently show differences of 1-10 Gyr between the predicted gyrochronological and measured isochronal ages. These results point towards a link between rapid rotation and close binarity through tidal interactions. We conclude that stellar rotation is strongly correlated with stellar multiplicity in the field, and caution should be taken in the application of gyrochronology relations to cool stars.


Recently, some social plans have been made with a particular method in which the "output level" of the plan is determined regardless of the "input level. " The significance of this planning method can be clarified by comparing it with the logic of "difference between benefits and costs" or "cost-effectiveness ratios" we ordinarily use. How should we decide which method will be used for each plan? Based on the hypothesis that our society has pluralistic values, and that the "commensurability" and the "replaceability" of utilities do not always exsist, we can argue that it would depend on whether or not the utilities of the output and the input of a particular plan are assumed to have these properties.


The purpose of this study is to analyze and formulate strategies to enhance the accountability of local budget policy by determining the supporting and inhibiting factors. This is a qualitative research carried out in South Tangerang City, Banten Province. Data were analyzed by coding and elaborating on the policies, in accordance with the objectives of local government in Indonesia. The research focuses on achieving accountability from the aspects of legitimacy, moral conduct, responsiveness, openness, optimal resource utilization, with an increase in efficiency and effectiveness to optimize regional budget policy. The result showed that performance-based budgeting has not supported the achievement of accountability of local budget policies in Indonesia because it tends to measure agency performance more than the impact on society. Therefore, the optimization in the implementation of local budget policy accountability can be carried out by balancing the orientation of local budget policy from pro-bureaucracy to procitizens, local government leaders committed to government ethics and local budgets prioritize openness and public participation. The implication of this research is the importance associated with evaluating the performance-based budgeting policy for citizens' welfare.


STATE OF THE ART
According to the available previous studies, France is considered a zone of medium to high risk of multiple sclerosis (MS) with an estimated overall prevalence of at least 50/100,000 inhabitants, incidence rates were stable in some areas but increased over time in others and a strong ethnic effect on the incidence, clinical presentation, and course of MS is reported.

RESULTS
Based on two health insurance survey the prevalence has been deduced. At January 1, 2003 from the data of agricultural health insurance the prevalence is evaluated at 65.5/100,000 inhabitants (95p.cent CI=62.5-67.5) with a gradient of North East towards South-West. The data from the national health insurance were very near. During the period 2000-2004, recent studies in Auvergne and Brittany demonstrated an annual incidence comprising between 4.2 and 5.1 per 100,000 inhabitants. In Lorraine, in a large population-based study, in December 31, 2004 the prevalence rate was 120/100,000 (95p.cent CI: 119 to 121). During the period 1990-2002, the average age- and sex-adjusted annual incidence rate was 5.5/100,000 (95p.cent CI: 4.4-6.6). In Lorraine, we found that the age-adjusted incidence rate increased during the period 1990-2002. The incidence of MS in women increased, whereas that in men did not change significantly during this period. Similarly, in Norway, North Ireland and Denmark, the incidence among women increased the most. The clinical features of MS were compared in 211 North Africans patients and 2 945 Europeans patients in two French MS centres (Lorraine and Nice) with definite MS according to McDonald's criteria. The course of MS appears more aggressive in North Africans than in Europeans patients. For example, we demonstrated a shorter time to reach the Expanded Disability Status Scale score of 4.0 (p=0.001) or 6.0 (p<0.0001) in North Africans patients.

PERSPECTIVES AND CONCLUSIONS
The incidence rates found in these studies were comparable to those reported in several European populations. This undoubtedly places France in the category of regions with a high risk zone of MS. The incidence of MS in women increased; thus, exogenous (or epigenetic) factors vary over time and may affect men and women differently. The course of MS appears more aggressive in North Africans than in Europeans patients.


Time-lapse resistivity surveys are used to monitor changes in the subsurface. In some situations, it is expected the resistivity will only decrease (or vice versa) with time. The 4-D ERT inversion technique includes a temporal smoothness constraint to ensure that the resistivity changes in a smooth manner with time. However, it does not directly constrain the direction of the temporal changes in the resistivity. In some cases, the time-lapse models might show an increase in the resistivity with time in parts of the inverse model where it is expected to only decrease based on other information. We modify the 4-D ERT inversion method to remove this artefact. We first use the standard 4-D ERT inversion algorithm to generate an initial model. If the resistivity is expected to decrease with time, for the model cells that show a resistivity increase a truncation procedure is used where the resistivities of the different time models are reset to the mean value. The method of transformations is then used to ensure that the resistivities of the later time models are always less than the first model. The constraints can be applied to selected regions in the model in cases where additional information is available.


We consider a dynamic offloading problem arising in the context of mobile cloud computing (MCC). In MCC, three types of tasks can be identified: (i) those which can be processed only locally in a mobile device, (ii) those which are processed in the cloud, and (iii) those which can be processed either in the mobile or in the cloud. For type (iii) tasks, it is of interest to consider when they should be processed locally and when in the cloud. Furthermore, for both type (ii) and (iii) tasks, there may be several ways to access the cloud (e.g., via a costly cellular connection, or via intermittently available WLAN hotspots). The optimal strategy involves multi-dimensional considerations such as the availability of WLAN hotspots, energy consumption, communication costs and the expected delays. We approach this challenging problem in the framework of Markov decision processes and derive a near-optimal offloading policy.