An analysis of the structure and chemical composition of the deer antlers of the Altai is carried out. It is shown that the mineral substance of soft antlers is structurally x-ray amorphous with gradual crystallization of hydroxyapatite as antlers become ossified with age or when the analyzed region approaches the frontal bone. The internal structure of the antler is represented by a highly porous material with an average pore diameter of about 100 μ m in the presence of pores with a diameter less than 10 nm. According to the chemical composition, the mineral part of the young 2-3 terminal antlers as compared to the ordinary bone is substantially impoverished with calcium and phosphorus, but is enriched with such impurities as silicon, aluminum, and alkaline elements. This hampers the crystallization of hydroxyapatite and forms distinct structures. On the basis of the data obtained, a model for the formation of antlers is proposed, which includes the formation at the early stages in the mineral part of zeolite-like x-ray amorphous structures that ensure the catalytic synthesis and accumulation of biologically active substances, in particular, lipids. With the aging of the antlers and the subsequent addition of calcium, a hydroxyapatite mineral corresponding to the composition of the ordinary bone is formed.


Background: Papular urticaria is a common pediatric dermatologic condition in the tropics. It is caused by a chronic hypersensitivity reaction to insect components found in the saliva. There is no information about the allergic response to mosquito allergens in patients with this disease. Objective: To evaluate IgE sensitization to recombinant Aed a1 and Aed a2 in Colombian patients with papular urticaria. Methods: One hundred and one patients diagnosed with papular urticaria were included in the study. They belonged to two diff erent cities: Cartagena (located in the Caribbean coast, n = 62) and Bogotá (2600 m above the sea level, n = 39). Recombinant molecules were produced in Escherichia coli as His-tag fusion proteins and purifi ed by 0.2 % N-lauroyl sarcosine solubilization and Ni-NTA chromatography under native conditions. Specifi c serum IgE levels to the recombinant allergens Aed a1 and Aed a2 were detected using indirect ELISA. A positive response to the recombinant allergens were calculated as the mean optical density of three European, non-exposed healthy controls + 3 standard deviations. Results: Sensitization to rAed a 1 was similar among the two cities: 74 % in Cartagena and 81 % in Bogotá. In contrast, rAed a 2 sensitization was higher in Cartagena (82.2 %) than in Bogotá (51 %, p = 0.01); rAed a 1and rAed a 2-specifi c IgE levels were moderately correlated in Cartagena (Spearman-rho: 0.4, p < 0.001) and Bogotá (Spearman-rho: 0.4, p < 0.002). Conclusions: A geographical pattern of sensitization is detected for Aed a2 in patients with papular urticaria. A lower sensitization to this allergen in Bogotá may be due to the limitation of Aedes aegypti to live in high altitude places.


Synaptic vestibular inputs of antidromically identified motoneurons and internuclear neurons in the abducens nucleus were studied electrophysiologically and pharmacologically in the isolated brain of grass frogs (Rana temporaria). The prevailing response pattern of abducens motoneurons (AbMOT) following stimulation of the VIIIth nerve was crossed disynaptic excitation and uncrossed disynaptic inhibition. A few AbMOT (five of 46), however, exhibited uncrossed excitation instead of inhibition. Abducens internuclear neurons (AbINT), identified by antidromic activation following stimulation of the contralateral medial longitudinal fascicle, exhibited disynaptic response patterns to stimulation of the VIIIth nerve that were very similar in latency and rise time to those of AbMOT except for the absence of uncrossed disynaptic inhibition. Bath application of strychnine (50 μM), a glycine antagonist, blocked the uncrossed inhibitory vestibular input to AbMOT and AbINT completely and reversibly, whereas picrotoxin (100 μM), a GABA (γ‐aminobutyric acid) antagonist, had no detectable effect on these disynaptic potentials. These results suggest glycine as the transmitter of inhibitory vestibular projections onto AbMOT and AbINT. The pharmacology of the excitatory vestibular input of these neurons was studied by electrical stimulation of the vestibular nuclear complex. Crossed monosynaptic excitatory inputs in AbMOT and AbINT were blocked completely by CNQX (6‐cyano‐7‐nitroquinoxaline‐2,3‐dione) (10 μM), an antagonist of AMPA (α‐amino‐3‐hydroxy‐5‐methyl‐4‐isoxazolepropionic acid) receptors, indicating glutamatergic excitation. Comparison of these results with those in the cat suggests the presence of a basic horizontal vestibulo‐ocular reflex that is very similarly organized, and corroborates the hypothesis that major behavioural differences in the performance of compensatory eye movements between species result from the properties of supplementary networks and not from differences in a common'three‐neuron'vestibulo‐ocular arc.


Over the last decade, there has been an increasing attention to the role played by emotional processes in Parkinson's disease (PD). However, most of what is known in this area is based on research conducted in laboratory or clinical settings. In this article, the authors underline the need to expand our current knowledge of the psychological correlates of PD by investigating patients' everyday emotions in natural contexts. Specifically, the authors illustrate new research avenues based on the implementation of experience sampling methods. It is argued that these methods could permit future researchers to ecologically assess the frequency and intensity with which parkinsonian patients experience specific emotions (either negative or positive) during their everyday life, providing at the same time precious information on what are the most typical situations in which these emotions occur and on how patients behave in these circumstances. Potential practical implications associated with investigating these issues are discussed.


The article tells the story of the book collection created at the monastery of Pomposa -in the northeastern Italy-thanks to the abbot Girolamo and his librarian Enrico, author of the bibliographical catalogue dated 1093, today at the Estense Library of Modena.


Malnutrition is classified as one of the Giant Geriatric Syndromes. It carries serious consequences, such as sarcopenia or depression, which lead to functional disability. The main objective of this study was to identify parameters of oxidative stress and adipokines, which may be potential biomarkers of malnutrition in hospitalized older patients. During the study, selected parameters were determined in 137 senile patients, taking into account their nutritional status determined according to the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA), as well as an additional tool, namely the Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (GNRI). Leptin and resistin were determined as the parameters with statistically significant differences between the patients classified according to the MNA. This phenomenon was confirmed using the GNRI classification. However, additional parameters for which differences were observed include the oxidized low-density lipoprotein level and activity of glutathione peroxidase. In conclusion, the determination of the mentioned markers in hospitalized senile patients as an adjunct to the routine assessment of nutritional status might be suggested to identify the early risk of malnutrition so that a personalized nutritional therapy can be implemented as early as possible.


Increasingly health records are stored in cloud-based systems, and often protected by a private key. Unfortunately the loss of this key can cause large-scale data loss. This paper outlines a novel Cloud-based architecture (SECRET) which supports keyless encryption methods and which can be used for the storage of patient information, along with supporting failover and a break-glass policy.


The study aims to find out the factors of demotivation, which hinder the learning of the students in English language courses in Bangladesh. Even after learning English as a compulsory subject for twelve years in schools, students enter into university with a poor knowledge of English. Eventually, most of the students are found to be demotivated in the fundamental English language courses at the tertiary level and usually teachers are blamed for the demotivation of the learners. However, teachers might not be the sole reason for making the students unwilling to learn. This study assumes that often students are demotivated to learn because of their own barriers, which is sometimes psychological. They do not learn because of their unwilling nature towards studies. For the purpose of the research, data were obtained through structured long interviews both with the students studying at the tertiary level and the English language teachers teaching them. Afterwards, findings and necessary solutions are offered.


Approximate electronic structure calculations on the ground state of the BNB molecule are subject to artifactual symmetry breaking as well as a potential second-order Jahn–Teller distortion along its antisymmetric stretch coordinate. In addition, the bending mode is very floppy and has a large anharmonic coupling with the symmetric stretch. Hence, this molecule presents a major challenge for theoretical electronic structure methods. We present a series of calculations designed to distinguish the real from the artifactual symmetry breaking. Our results give the minimum structure as C∞v, with the D∞h transition state 161 ± 20 cm−1 higher in energy, thus lying below the first vibrational level.


Visual localization is a fundamental task for a wide range of applications in the field of robotics. Yet, it is still a complex problem with no universal solution, and the existing approaches are difficult to scale: most state-of-the-art solutions are unable to provide accurate localization without a significant amount of storage space. We propose a hierarchical, low-memory approach to localization based on keypoints with different descriptor lengths. It becomes possible with the use of the developed unsupervised neural network, which predicts a feature pyramid with different descriptor lengths for images. This structure allows applying coarse-to-fine paradigms for localization based on keypoint map, and varying the accuracy of localization by changing the type of the descriptors used in the pipeline. Our approach achieves comparable results in localization accuracy and a significant reduction in memory consumption (up to 16 times) among state-of-the-art methods.


Abstract Crystal structure analysis of bi(anthracene-9,10-dimethylene) photoisomer (1) revealed that the anomalous elongation of the central C-C bond in the previously reported X-ray structure is an artifact caused by partial cycloreversion of 1 to no-bonded isomer in crystalline state.


Collaborative vocabulary development in the context of data integration is the process of finding consensus between the experts of the different systems and domains. The complexity of this process is increased with the number of involved people, the variety of the systems to be integrated and the dynamics of their domain. In this paper we advocate that the realization of a powerful version control system is the heart of the problem. Driven by this idea and the success of Git in the context of software development, we investigate the applicability of Git for collaborative vocabulary development. Even though vocabulary development and software development have much more similarities than differences there are still important differences. These need to be considered within the development of a successful versioning and collaboration system for vocabulary development. Therefore, this paper starts by presenting the challenges we were faced with during the creation of vocabularies collaboratively and discusses its distinction to software development. Based on these insights we propose Git4Voc which comprises guidelines how Git can be adopted to vocabulary development. Finally, we demonstrate how Git hooks can be implemented to go beyond the plain functionality of Git by realizing vocabulary-specific features like syntactic validation and semantic diffs.


Remote sensing has been defined as the technology and science of determining, measuring, analyzing and interpreting the characteristics of an object or phenomena without any direct contact with that object or phenomena. In this study the lake of Sefidroud dam is selected due to it's high turbidity problems. At first by using IRS satellite images and previous LISIII images and unsupervised classification method the lake was classified into 4 classes to establish an area for sampling. In the next step, in co-operation with Geographical Organization of Iran's Army and management of Sefidroud dam, 67 samples were gathered. Then turbidity concentration values of samples harvested from the lake dam was determined in the laboratory. To study the turbidity and determine the relationship between remote sensing data and terrestrial data, first by KMO test the suitability of the bands in determining regression is being identified, then regression between suspended solid's density and each of the , ratio and band combination in simple, and natural logarithm was obtained. The regression results show a high accuracy in regulations achieved from natural logarithm than the simple state.


We calculate the dephasing rate of an electron state in a pinched quantum dot, due to Coulomb interactions between the electron in the dot and electrons in a nearby voltage biased ballistic nanostructure. The dephasing is caused by nonequilibrium time fluctuations of the electron density in the nanostructure, which create random electric fields in the dot. As a result, the electron level in the dot fluctuates in time, and the coherent part of the resonant transmission through the dot is suppressed.


Simple Summary Colorectal cancer (CRC) in adolescents and young adults (AYA) is rare. Genetic causes include autosomal recessive and dominant monogenic disorders due to pathogenic variants (PVs) in genes involved in DNA repair. However, the genetic etiology of the majority of AYA-CRC remains unidentified. In two teenage siblings with CRC, we show to our knowledge for the first time that AYA-CRC cases can be caused by digenic inheritance of each a heterozygous pathogenic variant (PV) in the mismatch-repair (MMR) gene PMS2 and the proofreading polymerase (PP) Pol δ gene POLD1. With the aim to elucidate how the constitutional polymerase proofreading defect and the high propensity to MMR deficiency (MMRd) interact, we performed a comprehensive tumor analysis of the two siblings' tumors. Results indicate that tumorigenesis is initiated by MMRd and the inherited POLD1 PV contributes to fast tumor progression reflected by an ultra-high tumor mutational burden (TMB) and specific mutational signatures. Abstract Colorectal cancer (CRC) in adolescents and young adults (AYA) is very rare. Known predisposition syndromes include Lynch syndrome (LS) due to highly penetrant MLH1 and MSH2 alleles, familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP), constitutional mismatch-repair deficiency (CMMRD), and polymerase proofreading-associated polyposis (PPAP). Yet, 60% of AYA-CRC cases remain unexplained. In two teenage siblings with multiple adenomas and CRC, we identified a maternally inherited heterozygous PMS2 exon 12 deletion, NM_000535.7:c.2007-786_2174+493del1447, and a paternally inherited POLD1 variant, NP_002682.2:p.Asp316Asn. Comprehensive molecular tumor analysis revealed ultra-mutation (>100 Mut/Mb) and a large contribution of COSMIC signature SBS20 in both siblings' CRCs, confirming their predisposition to AYA-CRC results from a high propensity for somatic MMR deficiency (MMRd) compounded by a constitutional Pol δ proofreading defect. COSMIC signature SBS20 as well as SBS26 in the index patient's CRC were associated with an early mutation burst, suggesting MMRd was an early event in tumorigenesis. The somatic second hits in PMS2 were through loss of heterozygosity (LOH) in both tumors, suggesting PPd-independent acquisition of MMRd. Taken together, these patients represent the first cases of cancer predisposition due to heterozygous variants in PMS2 and POLD1. Analysis of their CRCs supports that POLD1-mutated tumors acquire hypermutation only with concurrent MMRd.


Classically, B-lymphocytes (B cells) are considered to be the mediators of humoral immunity and their role in inflammatory disease largely confined to the down-stream function of antigen-antibody complexes, e.g., in fixing complement and mediating antibody dependent cellular cytotoxicity. More recently, and with the growing acceptance of the view that the immune system operates as an interconnected web of cells and cytokines, a larger role for B cells has been proposed. In this review, with a focus on how B cells and their cytokine products may present novel therapeutic targets, we will briefly discuss B cell ontogeny and discuss the evidence supporting a larger role for B cells in a variety of inflammatory diseases. Special emphasis will be placed on autoimmune diseases. These discussions are intended to provide the reader with the basis for viewing B cells as players of a broader role in inflammatory disease and thus suggest avenues for exploiting B cell directed therapy in novel ways.


Background IgG4-related disease is a novel disease entity characterized by diffuse lymphoplasmacytic infiltration rich in IgG4-positive plasma cells and fibrosis into multiple organs. There is still controversy over whether some thyroid diseases are actually IgG4-related disease. The objective of this study was to elucidate the clinicopathological features of Graves' disease with diffuse lymphoplasmacytic infiltration in the thyroid. Patients and Methods Among 1,484 Graves' disease patients who underwent thyroidectomy, we examined their histopathological findings including the degree of lymphoplasmacytic and fibrotic infiltration and levels of IgG4-positive plasma cells in the thyroid. Their clinical pictures were defined by laboratory and ultrasonographic evaluation. Results A total of 11 patients (0.74%) showed diffuse lymphoplasmacytic infiltration in the stroma of the thyroid gland. Meanwhile, other patients showed variable lymphoid infiltration ranging from absent to focally dense but no aggregation of plasma cells in the thyroid gland. Based on the diagnostic criteria of IgG4-related disease, 5 of the 11 subjects had specifically increased levels of IgG4-positive plasma cells in the thyroid. Fibrotic infiltration was present in only 1 patient developing hypothyroidism after anti-thyroid drug treatment for 4 years, but not in the other 10 patients with persistent hyperthyroidism. Obliterative phlebitis was not identified in any of the 11 subjects. Thyroid ultrasound examination showed 1 patient developing hypothyroidism who had diffuse hypoechogenicity, but the other hyperthyroid patients had a coarse echo texture. Conclusions In our study, Graves' disease patients with persistent hyperthyroidism who had diffuse lymphoplasmacytic infiltration rich in IgG4-positive plasma cells in the thyroid showed no concomitant fibrosis or obliterative phlebitis.


Using a minimal model based on the continuum theory of a two-dimensional hard-core/square-shoulder ensemble, we reinterpret the main features of cluster mesophases formed by colloids with soft shoulder-like repulsive interactions. We rederive the lattice spacing, the binding energy, and the phase diagram. We also extend the clustering criterion [Likos, C. N. et al. Phys. Rev. E, 2001, 63, 031206; Glaser, M. A. et al. EPL2007, 78, 46004] to include the effect of the hard cores, which precludes the formation of clusters at small densities.


We discuss the development of an 1140 nm Vertical External Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VECSEL) for use with a traditional sodium laser gudiestar at 589 nm as a sodium polychormatic laser guidestar (PLGS). Such a PLGS system would allow for the correction of atmospheric induced Tip and Tilt aberrations without the use of a natural guidestar. Narrowband 1140 nm laser output power > 12W is shown and simulations are presented to show the expected return for a PLGS.


Bird migration is a recurring annual and seasonal event undertaken by more than 100 species of birds in the southeast Asian and northeast Palearctic regions that pass through or remain for short periods from April to May and September to November at Hong-do Island, Republic of Korea (ROK). A total of 212 ticks (40 Haemaphysalis flava, 12 H. longicornis, 146 Ixodes turdus, 13 I. nipponensis, and 1 I. ornithophila) were collected from 65/2,161 (3.0%) migratory birds consisting of 21 species that were captured from January, 2008, through December, 2009, as part of the Migratory Birds Center, Hong-do bird banding program for studying bird migration patterns. Adult ticks were assayed individually while larvae and nymphs were pooled (1-22 and 1-6 ticks per pool, respectively) into 31 and 65 pools, respectively. Ticks were assayed for zoonotic pathogens by PCR using 16S rRNA, heat shock protein (groEL), and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) gene primers to amplify genera specific for Anapalsma, Bartonella, and Borrelia PCR amplicons. Using the 16S rRNA-based nested PCR, A. phagocytophilum (n=1) was detected in I. nipponensis collected from Zoothera sibirica and A. bovis (n=1) was detected in I. turdus collected from Emberiza chrysophrys. Borrelia turdi 16S rRNA genes (n=3) were detected in I. turdus and I. nipponensis collected from Turdus pallidus and Zoothera aurea. Borrelia spp. 16S rRNA genes (n=4) were detected in Ixodes ticks collected from Emberiza tristrami, T. pallidus, and Z. aurea. The Bartonella grahamii ITS gene (n=1) was detected by nested PCR assay in I. turdus collected from Z. aurea. These results provide insight into the potential role of migratory birds in the dispersal of ticks and associated tick-borne pathogens throughout their ranges in Asia.


The paper presents an algorithm for water-system state estimation in presence of gross errors in measurement data. Application of a modulus norm in place of the more usual least-squares criterion for the minimisation of measurement inconsistency is shown to result in a linear programming formulation. A high computational efficiency for the algorithm is obtained by utilisation of both sparsity techniques and some special features of water distribution systems. Test results are included which demonstrate the applicability of the algorithm for online computer-based state estimation.


BACKGROUND
The aim of this study was to assess the histological structure (cross-sectional area - CSA, number of nerve bundles) of the human sural nerve at the level above the lateral malleolus, using computer-assisted image analysis.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
This study has been conducted using sural nerves dissected from cadavers during routine autopsies. The harvested tissues samples were dehydrated, embedded in paraffin, sectioned at 4 μm and stained with haematoxylin and eosin. Each cross-section was photographed (16 × magnification) and the images were analysed using Java ImageJ.

RESULTS
The studied group comprised 12 women and 25 men (mean age 60.1 ± 15.7 years), yielding a total of 74 sural nerves (37 right vs. 37 left). The mean ± standard deviation CSA of the sural nerve was 0.14 ± 0.07 cm2. The mean number of nerve bundles in the sural nerve was 10.5 ± 6.0. In terms of gender and side, neither the CSA (p = 0.45 and p = 0.79, respectively) nor the number of nerve bundles revealed any differences (p = 0.34 and p = 0.47, respectively). Strong negative correlations were noted between the age of the donors and the sural nerve CSA (r = -0.69,p = 0.02), as well as the number of nerve bundles (r = -0.57, p = 0.06).

CONCLUSIONS
This study shows that there are no statistical differences between the CSA and the number of nerve bundles in the sural nerve when compared by gender and side of the lower limb. This study also allows drawing the conclusion that the sural nerve degenerates with age in terms of both the CSA and the number of nerve bundles.


In the field of topology optimization problems, the Evolutionary Structural Optimization (ESO) method is one of the most popular and easy to use. When dealing with problems of reasonable difficulty, the ESO method is able to give very good results in reduced times and with a limited request of computational resources. Generally, main applications of this method are addressed to the definition of the optimal topology of a component subjected to a single load condition. In this work, a new methodology, based on the ESO approach, is introduced for the study of the optimal topology of a component subjected to multiple load conditions. The new procedure, entirely developed in the APDL programming language, has been tested with a holed plate subject to two different load conditions; the obtained results are promising in terms of mass reduction and structural performances.


Abstract : Special Operations Forces (SOF) are frequently employed to conduct missions not within the limited boundaries of unilateral special operations. These operations often involve cooperation with general purpose forces (GPF) and are often under their command. This thesis argues that these cooperative efforts are better examined as integrated operations rather than special or conventional operations. These operations require SOF to conduct specialized tasks facilitating the introduction of follow-on GPF to complete the mission. This thesis develops a theory of integrated operations by examining six operations, previously considered under conventional wisdom as either special or conventional. It rejects much of the myth which surrounds these operations and offers a revisionist interpretation of the necessary and sufficient conditions for success in these endeavors. The thesis then goes on to compare cases of these special units using organizational theory to determine the sources of integration. The cases examined indicate a causal relationship between organizational factors related to command and training and a special units ability to integrate with GPF. The thesis concludes by recommending the realignment of select SOF in the current force structure to better meet the challenges of future integrated operations.


Heptamolybdate-ion(HM)-catalyzed C(2) epimerization of D-glucose and racemization of D-glyceraldehyde proceed with comparable rates and activation parameters; HM catalyzes the isomerization of glucal and galactal triacetates as well. For all of the above transformations, a common, new mechanism is proposed that invokes stabilization of 3-oxa-allylic cation species by the central Mo(VI) atom.


Purpose The aim of this study was to describe brain metabolic changing patterns demonstrated by serial brain FDG PET/CT scans and their relationship with the clinical course in patients with anti-N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor encephalitis (ANMDARE). Patients and Methods Eighteen serial PET scans of 8 patients with ANMDARE were reviewed. All the 18 PET scans were divided into 4 groups according to studies timing in different clinical course: group A, the acute and subacute phase; group B, early recovery phase; group C, recovery phase; and group D, relapsing phase. Antibody levels of ANMDARE of all these patients were tested at the same time. The PET images of each group were analyzed visually and also compared with 10 age- and sex-matched normal controls using voxel-wise statistical parametric mapping analysis (SPM5). Results Variable brain metabolic patterns and its association with the clinical course and the levels of NMDA antibody were demonstrated by FDG PET images. First, severe hypometabolism in bilateral occipital lobes and relatively mild hypermetabolism in the partial frontal and basal ganglia in acute and subacute phase, the level of antibody was high. Second, in early recovery phase when the symptoms was partially improved, extensive cortical hypometabolism was observed, and the level of antibody was low. Third, the patients in the recovery phase have no obvious neurological and psychiatric symptoms; PET images were nearly normal, and the antibodies tests were all negative, correspondingly. Fourth, 3 scans of relapsing phase presented heterogeneous brain metabolic abnormalities. Conclusions There existed a specific serial brain metabolic changing pattern that correlated with the clinical course and antibody level in ANMDARE.


An automated unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) based multi-hazard performance assessment system was developed to respond to rapid performance evaluation and performance prediction needs for river crossing reinforced concrete (RC) bridges. In the developed system, firstly the seasonally acquired UAV measurements were used to obtain the three-dimensional (3D) digital elevation models (DEMs) of the river bed. In conjunction with the flood simulation, the hydraulic model was verified with the previous flood event which corresponded to Q50 and the scour depths after a probable flood (Q500) were predicted by HEC-RAS software. Afterward, the 3D finite element model (FEM) of the bridge was constituted automatically with the developed code considering the scoured piles. The flood loads were exerted on the modeled bridge with regard to the HEC-RAS flood inundation map and relevant water depth estimations around the bridge piers. For the seismic evaluation, nonlinear time history analyses (THA) were conducted by using several scaled earthquake acceleration records that were acting in both principal axes of the bridge simultaneously as compatible with the region seismicity. The Bogacay-II Bridge that was located in Antalya, Turkey was selected as the case study. In the analyses, as the scour depth increased, the lateral displacements and the pile internal forces were observed to increase while the pier column internal forces kept approximately constant. Thus, it was monitored that the seismic displacement and load demands migrated from pier columns to piles with increasing scour. Therefore, the applicability of the proposed system was verified using the case study bridge.


This article attempts to contribute to and advance the growing literature on social network analysis and terrorism studies, through a social network analysis of the Jemaah Islamiyah cell that was responsible for the Bali bombings in 2002. In doing so, the article endeavors to provide a potential framework for the intelligence analysis of terrorist cells. Such a framework will assist in (1) understanding the communication and structure of such cells and (2) assist in predicting the likely outcomes of terrorist cells when employed in real-time intelligence analysis.


OPTICSA spat has broken out in the normally calm world of optics over whether it is possible to make a perfect lens. Two years ago, a physicist at Imperial College in London predicted that a strange class of optical materials, known as negative index media, could make a lens that focuses all the parts of a light wave, even those that normally decay. But now, two different groups of researchers are attacking his conclusions.


Most of the fundamental processes responsible for enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) were obtained through laboratory tests under defined conditions with pure or enriched cultures. Acinetobacter sp. was identified as the most important group of bacteria responsible for bio-P removal. Full scale data showed, however, that laboratory results do not match full scale results well enough. There is a lack of data on the effects of sub-optimal process conditions such as inadequate availability of volatile fatty acids (VFA), high nitrate recycle, storm water inflow or low temperatures. In this paper the results of full scale experiments on P-release are presented and compared with theoretical values. Measurements at a full scale Phoredox-system showed a surprisingly low P-release in the anaerobic reactor. Only 4 to 10% of the phosphorus in the activated sludge was released in the bulk liquid. With laboratory batch-tests, a maximum of 20% of the P in the sludge could be released. It is assumed that under the prevailing process conditions either the fraction of Acinetobacter sp. was very small, or bacteria other than Acinetobacter sp. were responsible for the P-removal, or most of the phosphorus was bound chemically but mediated by biological processes.


This study reveals the exergoeconomic analysis of stenters by using Specific Exergy Costing (SPECO) method. The cost balances and auxiliary thermoeconomic relations were developed for direct gas heated (DGHS) and hot oil heated (HOHS) stenters by the application of the control volume models. The exergy cost of the evaporation of water was selected to be the main parameter. It was shown that the falling-rate period of drying led to the highest exergy costs, while exergy costs varied between 0.19 US$/GJ and 0.59 US$/GJ depending on the drying periods. Increasing the exhaust air humidity ratio and the residual moisture content of the fabric outlet decreased the exergy costs linearly.


Tissue from 40 oral premalignant lesions were investigated for the presence of blood group antigens A and B. The material included 18 leukoplakias, 1 erythroplakia, and 3 lichen planus, all with varying degrees of epithelial dysplasia, and 18 leukoplakias without histological evidence of impending malignancy. Thirty-eight benign keratotic oral muscosal lesions were included as a control group. The antigens were demonstrated by a double layer immunofluorescence technique, and the reactivity was compared, by titration, to the reactivity of adjacent normal epithelium from the same patient. All 22 lesions with dysplsia showed decreased reactivity for blood group antigen. Among the 18 leukoplakias without any signs of impending malignancy 4 cases demonstrated loss of antigen reactivity. None of 38 benign control lesions showed any change in antigen reactivity as compared to normal adjacent epithelium.


The next-generation spintronic device demands the gated control of spin transport across the semiconducting channel through the replacement of the external gate voltage source by the piezo potential, as experimentally demonstrated in Zhu et al. ACS Nano, 2018, 12 (2), 1811-1820. Consequently, a high level of out-of-plane piezoelectricity together with a large Rashba spin splitting is sought after in semiconducting channel materials. Inspired by this experiment, a new hexagonal buckled two-dimensional (2D) semiconductor, ZnTe, and its iso-electronic partner, CdTe, are proposed herewith. These 2D materials show a strong spin-orbit coupling (SOC), which is evidenced by a large Rashba constant of 1.06 and 1.27 eV·Å, respectively, in ZnTe and CdTe monolayers. Moreover, these Rashba semiconductors exhibit a giant out-of-plane piezoelectric coefficient (d33) = 88.68 and 172.61 pm/V, and can thereby generate a high piezo potential for gating purposes in spin field-effect transistors (spin-FETs). While the low elastic stiffness implies the mechanical flexibility or stretchability in these monolayers. The Rashba constants are found to be effectively modulated via external perturbations, such as strain and electric field. The wide band gap provides ample room for modulation in its electronic properties via external perturbations. Such scope is severely limited in previously reported narrow band gap Rashba semiconductors. The fascinating results found in this work indicate their great potential for applications in next-generation self-powered flexible-piezo-spintronic devices. Moreover, a new class of hexagonal buckled ZnX (X: S, Se, or Te) monolayers is proposed herein based on their previously synthesized bulk counterparts, while their electronic, mechanical, piezoelectric, and thermal properties have been thoroughly investigated using the state-of-art density functional theory (DFT).


The importance of the facilitator in the Value Management (VM) process has not been accorded sufficient emphasis in the literature to date, particularly in the construction management field. This paper aims to develop a deeper understanding of the conceptual construct of emotional intelligence (EI), Value Management facilitation, and group effectiveness, and to discover how these factors may influence the achievement of successful VM outcomes in the construction industry context. An exploratory review of the literature is undertaken, which suggests that the VM facilitator needs to possess attributes that include leadership qualities and competence in a variety of management skills related to human dynamics, particularly in emotional intelligence (EI). Furthermore, raising the "emotional awareness" of VM facilitators may provide the opportunity to enhance the effectiveness of the VM process, particularly in the New Zealand construction industry, where the "soft" VM approach (incorporating facets of soft systems methodology) is increasingly being adopted at the pre-design project stage. The emotional intelligence of the VM facilitator can significantly influence the socio-emotional issues encountered in the VM workshop, thereby effectively managing the group process, in order to enhance the value achieved on construction projects.


The absorption and elimination of a single 500 mg dose of methyldopa has been studied after oral administration to 10 normal volunteers, 10 patients with coeliac disease, who were on a gluten-free diet, and to five patients with Crohn's disease. In patients with Crohn's disease the percentage of the dose recovered in urine (24%) was about one-half of normal (50%). This decreased absorption was associated with reduced plasma concentrations of both free and conjugated methyldopa and a decreased pharmacological response. In patients with coeliac disease the percentage of dose recovered in urine (43%) was similar to normals, indicating a normal absorption of the drug. However, the plasma concentrations of both free and conjugated methyldopa were significantly higher than normal, although there was no increase in drug-related effects. These findings confirm the importance of using indices other than drug plasma concentrations in the assessment of bioavailability in disease states.


This article estimates factors influencing the adoption of 18 household and individual-level adaptation practices among small-scale farmers in the Morogoro Region of Tanzania. Using a unique dataset of 343 married women, logistic regression analysis is used to examine adaptation practices ranging from agricultural to coping and livelihood diversification strategies. Specifically, we investigate the role of wives' intrahousehold decision-making participation in adaptation decisions. Drawing on the literatures of intrahousehold bargaining and agricultural technology adoption, we argue that although extrahousehold factors are important determinants of households' adaptation behaviour, adaptation outcomes can also be different when decided by husbands or by wives. We find that when wives are more involved in intrahousehold adaptation decision-making, they are also more likely to choose to be engaged in non-farm income-earning activities, and their households are more likely to plant cover crops and drought-resistant crops. We argue that in general Tanzanian smallholders' adaptation options are limited and their intrahousehold bargaining sets relatively narrow, leaving little room for differing intrahousehold adaptation preferences, especially in the case of quasi-public household goods.


Autonomous vehicles that operate on public roads need to be predictable to others, including vulnerable road users. In this study, we asked participants to take the perspective of videotaped pedestrians and cyclists crossing paths with an automated shuttle bus, and to (1) judge whether the bus would stop safely in front of them and (2) report whether the bus's actual stopping behavior accorded with their expectations. The results show that participants expected the bus to brake safely in approximately two thirds of the human-vehicle interactions, more so to pedestrians than cyclists, and that they tended to underestimate rather than overestimate the bus's capability to yield in ways that they considered as safe. These findings have implications for the design and implementation of automated shuttle bus services.


AtaT-AtaR is an enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli toxin-antitoxin system that modulates cellular growth under stress conditions. AtaT and AtaR act as a toxin and its repressor, respectively. AtaT is a member of the GNAT family, and the dimeric AtaT acetylates the α-amino group of the aminoacyl moiety of methionyl initiator tRNAfMet, thereby inhibiting translation initiation. The crystallographic analysis of the AtaT-AtaR complex revealed that the AtaT-AtaR proteins form a heterohexameric [AtaT-(AtaR4)-AtaT] complex, where two V-shaped AtaR dimers bridge two AtaT molecules. The N-terminal region of AtaR is required for its dimerization, and the C-terminal region of AtaR interacts with AtaT. The two AtaT molecules are spatially separated in the AtaT-AtaR complex. AtaT alone forms a dimer in solution, which is enzymatically active. The present structure, in which AtaR prevents AtaT from forming an active dimer, reveals the molecular basis of the AtaT toxicity repression by the antitoxin AtaR.


A sliding mode controller with an integral-operation switching surface for 2- DOF parallel robot, which is derived by AC servo motors, is designed in this paper. Firstly, the variable structure controller with an integral operation switching surface is proposed to make the system of the parallel robot possess the properties of the insensitivity to the uncertainties and external disturbance. Next, the adaptive law is designed to achieve the online identify estimation of the system uncertainties of the parallel robot. Simulation results show that, by adopting the proposed control method in the parallel robot control system, the chattering of the conventional sliding mode control is alleviated, the practicability of the control system is improved through adjusting the controller's parameters timely in terms of the identified results and the control system has a perfect robust performance.


Contents: Introduction The journey to knowledge: place-openness Tourism, subjectivity and self: the North Cape Tourism and the transformation of everyday life Travel, masculinity and femininity Travel as rite de passage The North as epiphany Estrangement, fluidity and femininity Femininity and open space Travelling internal and external worlds A feminine aesthetics of travel The dawning of the midnight sun Making place, making self: choragraphy Bibliography Index.


Synthetic noise generators facilitate the generation of white noise in photo diodes. They simplify noise measurements on lightwave receivers significantly, compared to direct methods, shot noise methods, spontaneous emission methods, and laser-RIN methods. Previously reported generators required more than 1 km fiber delay length, to smooth the synthetic spectrum into a white noise spectrum. This letter proposes injection of electrical noise and triangular FM modulation to enable the use of narrow line width lasers in combination with short delay length.<<ETX>>


In response to the increasing use of discrete cardinal data with limited numbers of outcomes, Stochastic Dominance Theory is here extended to facilitate its application. Formulae, convenient for analysis, along with necessary and sufficient conditions for different orders of dominance are derived which reveal some key facts which have eluded general attention. In this paradigm, there is a loss of degrees of freedom as the dominance order increases with a concomitant upper bound to the order of dominance that can be considered, both engendered by the restrictions on finite differences between utility functions and the limited number of outcomes. Simple formulae for computing successive sums of cumulative distributions are found, and the relationship between lower and higher order dominance is proven in this discrete cardinal case. JEL Code: C14; I3


This study investigates the relationship between year-ahead net working capital accruals as a proxy of investment behavior and expected volatility during the period of 2009 to 2018 of listed non-financial firms in Thailand. I apply a real options-based investment framework to view accruals as a result of investment decision and investigate the impact of firm's expected volatility. The results show that firms with higher expected volatility have lower level of year-ahead accruals which is consistent with Grenadier and Malenko (2010). Moreover, this study also indicates that high expected volatility period induces distressed firms to invest because they have opportunity to receive a higher return which is consistent with Eisdorfer (2008). In addition, long operating cycle firms prefer to delay their investment during high expected volatility period because they have more possible investment outcomes which is consistent with Arif et al. (2016). Overall, these results suggest that expected volatility has a pervasive effect to investment decision-making of the firms which is considered as the recognition of accruals.


Common factor analysis (FA) and principal component analysis (PCA) are commonly used to obtain lower-dimensional representations of matrices of correlations among manifest variables. Whereas some experts argue that differences in results from use of FA and PCA are small and relatively unimportant in empirical studies, the fundamental rationales for the two methods are very different. Here, FA and PCA are contrasted on four key issues: the range of possible dimensional loadings, the range of potential correlations among dimensions, the structure of residual covariances and correlations, and the relation between population parameters and the correlational structures with which they are associated. For decades, experts have emphasized indeterminacies of the FA model, particularly indeterminacy of common factor scores. Determinate in most respects, a heretofore unacknowledged, pernicious indeterminacy of PCA is demonstrated: the indeterminacy between PCA structural representations and the correlational structures from which they are derived. Researchers are often advised to use either FA or PCA in exploratory rounds of data analysis to understand and refine the dimensional structure of a domain before moving to Structural Equation Modeling in later theory-testing, confirmatory, replication studies. Results from the current study suggest that PCA is an unreliable method to use for such purposes and may lead to serious misrepresentation of the structure of a domain. Hence, PCA should never be used if the goal is to understand and represent the latent structure of a domain; only FA techniques should be used for this purpose, as only FA provides reliable structural representations as the basis for confirmatory tests in future studies.


Facility managers face the challenges of managing many different types of small, geographically dispersed construction projects. Depending on the complexity and distribution of projects, the time required to prepare for production consumes a large percentage of the total time required to complete the job. Increasing crews' productive hours is a key objective when planning multiproject schedules. Existing methods, however, lack the effective means to explicitly model, analyze, and optimize resource utilization for these multiple concurrent projects. As a result, few facility managers fully exploit the potential to better manage their often limited budget and resources. This paper presents an explicit model of the mobilization requirements of multiple crews performing a variety of different activities over a geographic space. The model allows the facility manager to explicitly investigate the impact of crew composition, crew specialization, and depot locations. Using work rule decisions regarding alternative crew allocations, facility managers may dynamically allocate resources to optimize resources and to complete projects in a minimum amount of time. To verify and validate this new model, a computerized system, called FIRS (Facility/Infrastructure Resource Scheduler), was created to analyze the multiproject resource plans with data from two military organizations and a university campus. FIRS utilizes a new genetic algorithm that was developed specifically to work with multiproject scheduling. Using FIRS, facility managers can develop and test alternative crew allocations based on the qualifications of the crews available and the type of operation being performed.


This project had the goal(s) of understanding the mechanism(s) of extracellular electron transport (EET) in the microbe Shewanella oneidensis MR-1, and a number of other strains and species in the genus Shewanella. The major accomplishments included sequencing, annotation, and analysis of more than 20 Shewanella genomes. The comparative genomics enabled the beginning of a systems biology approach to this genus. Another major contribution involved the study of gene regulation, primarily in the model organism, MR-1. As part of this work, we took advantage of special facilities at the DOE: e.g., the synchrotron radiation facility at ANL, where we successfully used this system for elemental characterization of single cells in different metabolic states (1). We began work with purified enzymes, and identification of partially purified enzymes, leading to initial characterization of several of the 42 c-type cytochromes from MR-1 (2). As the genome became annotated, we began experiments on transcriptome analysis under different conditions of growth, the first step towards systems biology (3,4). Conductive appendages of Shewanella, called bacterial nanowires were identified and characterized during this work (5, 11, 20,21). For the first time, it was possible to measure the electron transfer rate between single cells and a solid substrate (20),more » a rate that has been confirmed by several other laboratories. We also showed that MR-1 cells preferentially attach to cells at a given charge, and are not attracted, or even repelled by other charges. The interaction with the charged surfaces begins with a stimulation of motility (called electrokinesis), and eventually leads to attachment and growth. One of the things that genomics allows is the comparative analysis of the various Shewanella strains, which led to several important insights. First, while the genomes predicted that none of the strains looked like they should be able to degrade N-acetyl glucosamine (NAG), the monomer that makes up chitin, virtually all of the strains were in fact capable. This led to the discovery of a great many new genes involved with chitin and NAG metabolism (7). In a similar vein, a detailed study of the sugar utilization pathway revealed a major new insight into the regulation of sugar metabolism in this genus (19). Systems Biology and Comparative Genomics of the shewanellae: Several publications were put together describing the use of comparative genomics for analyses of the group Shewanella, and these were a logical culmination of our genomic-driven research (10,15,18). Eight graduate students received their Ph.D. degrees doing part of the work described here, and four postdoctoral fellows were supported. In addition, approximately 20 undergraduates took part in projects during the grant period.« less


Comparative investigations were carried out on the absorption, antianemic action, and growth effect with newborn pigs with FB-82 and dextrofer-100 (an iron dextran complex with 100 mg Fe3+ per cm3) injected i/m. The FB-82 is a combined preparation of 3500000 IU Tylosine tartrate, 0.008 g cyanocobalamin, 0.5 g pyridoxine hydrochloride, 0.1 g tartaric acid, and iron dextran up to 100 cm3 (= 100 mg Fe3+/cm3). Dextrofer-100 enriched with 50 mg Zn, 0.5 mg Co, 200 micrograms cyanocobalamin, and 100 mg pyridoxine hydrochloride for 100 cm3 under the compound name of fericin was also used to compare the anti-anemic effect of FB-82 and dextrofer-100. It was found that FB-82 applied to newborn pigs in a single dose of 2 cm3, i/m, was well absorbed; it developed high concentrations of tylosine in the plasma, and its sideremia and antianemic action were similar to those induced by an equivalent (with regard to iron) amount of dextrofer-100, whereas the result concerning the hematocrit value was better. Compared to dextrofer-100 the FB-82 preparation have better protection to pigs (lowered the mortality rate) and induced better development of the animals. Fericin did not differ essentially from FB-82 in terms of its effect on the red blood picture, however, the percent of protected pigs was lower.


Period maps connected with a versal deformation of a critical point of a function, and the discriminant by A. N. Varchenko Characteristic classes of singularities by V. A. Vassiliev Lacunas of hyperbolic partial differential operators and singularity theory by V. A. Vassiliev Reflection groups in singularity theory by A. B. Givental Qualitative analysis of singularly perturbed systems of chemical kinetics by V. M. Goldshtein and V. A. Sobolev Bifurcations with symmetries by V. V. Goryunov Stratifications of function space and algebraic $K$-theory by S. M. Gusein-Zade Singularities in optimization problems by A. A. Davydov Nice dimensions and their generalizations in singularity theory by V. M. Zakalyukin On an inverse problem of measure theory by V. M. Klimkin Classes of coefficients of convergent random series in spaces $L_p,q$ by S. Ya. Novikov Corner singularities and multidimensional folds in nonlinear analysis by Yu. I. Sapronov Newton polyhedra (algebra and geometry) by A. G. Khovanskii.


In the standard kernel partial least squares (KPLS), the mapped data in the feature space need to be centralized before extraction of new score vectors. However, each vector of the centralized variables is often uniformly distributed, and some original features that can reflect the contribution of each variable to fault diagnosis might be lost. As a result, it might lead to misleading interpretations of the principal components and to increasing the false alarm rate for fault detection. To cope with these difficulties, a novel data-driven framework using KPLS based on an optimal preference matrix (OPM) is presented in this paper. In fault monitoring, an OPM is proposed to change the distribution of the variable and to readjust the eigenvalues of the covariance matrix. To obtain the OPM, the objective function can be determined in terms of the squared prediction error and Hotelling's T-squared ( ${T^2}$) statistics. Two optimization algorithms, genetic algorithm and particle swarm optimization algorithm, are extended to maximize effectiveness of the OPM. Compared with traditional methods, the proposed method can overcome the drawback of original features loss of the centralized mapped data in the feature subspace and improve the accuracy of fault diagnosis. Also, few extra computation costs are needed in fault detection. Extensive experimental results on both the Tennessee Eastman benchmark process and the case study of the aluminum electrolytic production process give credible fault diagnosis.


Introduction Shot peening can enhance the fatigue life of metals as a result of strain hardening and induced compressive residual stresses (CRS) which either delay the initiation of short fatigue cracks or cause an arrest of the already existing short cracks within the CRS layer. Some studies show that shot peening does not delay the initiation but the propagation of micro cracks and that strain hardening contributes very little in arresting cracks, as compared to crack closure by CRS[1][2]. Short crack growth (including crack initiation) has been found to account for more than 70% of the fatigue life of a component [3] and therefore could better reflect the effect of peening on fatigue life. These short cracks are usually of the order of a few micrometres to a millimetre in length and have been found to exhibit crack growth rates which are much higher than conventional long Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics (LEFM) cracks mainly due to the absence of small scale yielding and closure observed in long cracks [4]. Short cracks can be classified into two broad types based on their size and the applied stress namely: microstructurally short cracks (MSC) or Stage I cracks and physically short cracks (PSC) or Stage II cracks as schematized in Fig.1. The MSC are usually of the order of microstructural features such as the grain diameter. They exhibit an initial accelerating–decelerating growth pattern as they advance and the crack tip plastic zone encounters microstructural barriers. Gradually, the plastic zone size increases, thus increasing the crack's resistance to the barriers. After traversing 2-3 grains [4], the effect of microstructure diminishes and crack transitions to Stage II. Its growth is then governed by Elastic-plastic Fracture Mechanics (EPFM); provided the crack is still smaller than 25 times the plastic zone size. As the crack grows further, its size exceeds this value, and after covering approximately 10 grains [4], the crack behaviour merges with that of a long LEFM crack. Shot peening has been found to primarily affect Stage I and Stage II EPFM cracks [5].


Consider the important special case of the K-user distributed source coding problem where the decoder only wishes to recover one or more linear combinations of the sources. The work of Körner and Marton demonstrated that, in some cases, the optimal rate region is attained by random linear codes, and strictly improves upon the best-known achievable rate region established via random i.i.d. codes. Recent efforts have sought to develop a framework for characterizing the achievable rate region for nested linear codes via joint typicality encoding and decoding. Here, we make further progress along this direction by proposing an achievable rate region for simultaneous joint typicality decoding of nested linear codes. Our approach generalizes the results of Körner and Marton to computing an arbitrary number of linear combinations and to the lossy computation setting.


Abstract Managing large-scale, geographically distributed, and long-term risks arising from diverse underlying causes – ranging from poverty to underinvestment in protecting against natural hazards or failures of sociotechnical, economic, and financial systems – poses formidable challenges for any theory of effective social decision-making. Participants may have different and rapidly evolving local information and goals, perceive different opportunities and urgencies for actions, and be differently aware of how their actions affect each other through side effects and externalities. Six decades ago, political economist Charles Lindblom viewed "rational-comprehensive decision-making" as utterly impracticable for such realistically complex situations. Instead, he advocated incremental learning and improvement, or "muddling through," as both a positive and a normative theory of bureaucratic decision-making when costs and benefits are highly uncertain. But sparse, delayed, uncertain, and incomplete feedback undermines the effectiveness of collective learning while muddling through, even if all participant incentives are aligned; it is no panacea. We consider how recent insights from machine learning – especially, deep multiagent reinforcement learning – formalize aspects of muddling through and suggest principles for improving human organizational decision-making. Deep learning principles adapted for human use can not only help participants in different levels of government or control hierarchies manage some large-scale distributed risks, but also show how rational-comprehensive decision analysis and incremental learning and improvement can be reconciled and synthesized.


An efficient solution method for harmonic balance techniques with Fourier transform is presented for periodic unsteady flow problems. The present partially-implicit harmonic balance treats the flux terms implicitly and the harmonic source term is solved explicitly. The convergence of the partially Implicit method is much faster than the explicit Runge-Kutta harmonic balance method. The method does not need to compute the additional flux Jacobian matrix from the implicit harmonic source term. Compared with fully implicit harmonic balance method, this partial approach turns out to have good convergence property. Oscillating flows over NACA0012 airfoil are considered to verify the method and to compare with results of explicit R-K(Runge-Kutta) and dual time stepping methods.


The endoplasmic reticulum type I signal peptidase complex (ER SPC) is a conserved enzyme that cleaves the signal peptides of secretory or membrane preproteins. The deletion of this enzyme leads to the accumulation of uncleaved proteins in biomembranes and cell death. However, the physiological functions of ER SPC in insects are not fully understood. Here, a catalytic subunit gene of ER SPC, LmSPC1, was cloned from Locusta migratoria manilensis and its physiological functions were analysed by RNA interference (RNAi). The LmSPC1 open reading frame encoded a protein of 178 amino acids with all five conserved regions of signal peptidases. RNAi‐mediated knockdown of LmSPC1 resulted in high mortality. Sixty‐nine per cent of dead nymphs died of abnormal moulting, corresponding to decreased activity of moulting fluid protease. Moreover, insects in the RNAi group experienced a decline in food intake, and a decrease in the secretion of total protein and digestive enzymes from midgut tissues to the midgut lumen. Furthermore, the females produced fewer eggs and eggs with disrupted embryogenesis. These results indicate that LmSPC1 is required for the secretion of secretory proteins, affects physiological functions, including moulting, feeding, reproduction and embryonic development, and is essential for survival. Therefore, LmSPC1 may be a potential target for locust control.


The Human Development Index (HDI) is often employed to capture some of the more social concerns in sustainable development at the scale of the nation-state. The HDI is founded on three components; life expectancy, education and income per capita. To avoid a dominance of the income component, proxied by Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita per annum, it has been capped at a maximum level and transformed. Two methods for transforming the GDP/capita have been employed; the Atkinson transformation (1991 to 1998) and the Logarithmic transformation (all other years). The paper explores the impact that these transformations have had on the HDI rankings of 167 countries, by comparing the rank across two periods; 1991 to 1998 and 1999 to 2009. Results suggest that for the 167 countries in the dataset, the majority (65%) showed a high resilience to the transformations. For these countries, the use of the two alternatives does not alter the difference seen in the original ranking between the two periods. A significant proportion of countries had a medium (18%) and low (17%) resilience to the methodology for handling GDP/capita. For those countries the choice of methodology does matter in terms of their ranking, with some doing better and others worse relative to the original ranking. Consistency in methodology is desirable in order to avoid such misrepresentations but so is some flexibility to allow for new knowledge and experience. One can also question the value of the league table style of presentation so often employed with sustainable development indices given that change in rank for at least some countries is so vulnerable to shifts in methodology.


Detailed properties of the classical electromagnetic Weibel instability in a relativistic unmagnetized plasma are investigated for a fully relativistic bi‐Maxwellian distribution. In particular, exact analytical expressions for the range of unstable wavenumbers, conditions for the instability, and the growth rate of the unstable mode for weak anisotropy are derived. The analysis shows that relativistic effects tend to stabilize the Weibel instability.


A WMO sponsored workshop was held in Boulder, Colorado, in December, 1991, to address the direct and indirect effects of aerosols upon climate. The workshop addressed the question of which types of measurements are most important, as well as the complexities involved in acquiring those measurements. It was agreed that aerosol optical depth, condensation nuclei and chemical measurements of size fractionated aerosol should receive the highest priority as core measurements in the Global Atmospheric Watch (GAW) program. Additional recommended measurements included: 1) aerosol light scattering coefficient, 2) backwards-hemispheric scattering coefficient, 3) aerosol absorption coefficient, 4) cloud condensation nuclei; 5) vertical profile lidar, 6) aerosol mass and size distribution, and 7) diffuse and total sky radiation measurements. The present study represents a first attempt to assess the relationships between the optical acid aerosol characteristics which are to be measured, the unobserved (modeled) parameters which are necessary to assume, the resultant parameters retrieved, their accuracy, and the complexity (and expense) associated with these measurements programs. These relationships are presented in tabular form, with the first being actinometric measurements of aerosol optical thickness in the 0.3-3.0 /spl mu/m shortwave spectral interval. Then progressively more refined measurement programs are outlined.<<ETX>>


Hyperexcitable reflex blinks are a cardinal sign of Parkinson's disease. We investigated the neural circuit through which a loss of dopamine in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) leads to increased reflex blink excitability. Through its inhibitory inputs to the thalamus, the basal ganglia could modulate the brainstem reflex blink circuits via descending cortical projections. Alternatively, with its inhibitory input to the superior colliculus, the basal ganglia could regulate brainstem reflex blink circuits via tecto-reticular projections. Our study demonstrated that the basal ganglia utilizes its GABAergic input to the superior colliculus to modulate reflex blinks. In rats with previous unilateral 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) lesions of the dopamine neurons of the SNc, we found that microinjections of bicuculline, a GABA antagonist, into the superior colliculus of both alert and anesthetized rats eliminated the reflex blink hyperexcitability associated with dopamine depletion. In normal, alert rats, decreasing the basal ganglia output to the superior colliculus by injecting muscimol, a GABA agonist, into the substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNr) markedly reduced blink amplitude. Finally, brief trains of microstimulation to the superior colliculusreduced blink amplitude. Histological analysis revealed that effective muscimol microinjection and microstimulation sites in the superior colliculus overlapped the nigro-tectal projection from the basal ganglia. These data support models of Parkinsonian symtomatology that rely on changes in the inhibitory drive from basal ganglia output structures. Moreover, they support a model of Parkinsonian reflex blink hyperexcitability in which the SNr–SC target projection is critical.


Background Despite robust evidence of the huge burden of caregiving amongst caregivers of patients with schizophrenia, there is a paucity of data in Africa on the interventions to address this enormous burden of caregiving. Aim This study aimed to determine the effect of structured psychoeducation intervention on the burden of caregiving in comparison with 'care as usual' in a Nigerian Psychiatric Hospital. Setting This study was done at the out-patient and in-patient units of the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Enugu, Nigeria. Methods Caregivers of inpatients who fulfilled the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) criteria for diagnosis of schizophrenia were recruited for the study. The caregivers were then allocated into two groups (Group A received structured psychoeducation intervention in addition to 'care as usual' whilst group B received only 'care as usual'). After the baseline assessment, the caregivers were followed up every 4 weeks for a period of 12 weeks. At each interval of follow-up, caregivers were assessed for caregivers' burden using the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI). Repeated measures analysis of variance (mixed type) was used to determine the effects of the interventions on caregivers' burden in the two arms of the study across the intervals of follow-up. Results The attrition rate at week 12 was 10.7%; leaving 130 for the assessment of outcome variable at the end of follow-up. Structured psychoeducation intervention was significantly better than 'care as usual' in ameliorating caregivers' burden [F (1, 123) = 21.75, p < 0.001, Partial Eta Squared = 0.39]. Conclusion These findings seem to suggest that caregivers who received structured psychoeducation intervention experienced a greater reduction in caregiver burden than those who received 'care as usual'. Whilst the study addressed short-term effect, the findings of this study are in accord with other studies that have supported the impression that psychoeducational family-based intervention is useful with regard to caregiver burden.


In a seminal contribution, Hansson has demonstrated that the family of decisive coalitions associated with an Arrovian social welfare function forms an ultrafilter. If the population under consideration is infinite, his result implies the existence of nondictatorial social welfare functions. He goes on to show that if transitivity is weakened to quasi-transitivity as the coherence property imposed on a social relation, the set of decisive coalitions is a filter. We examine the structure of decisive coalitions and analogous concepts with alternative coherence properties, namely, acyclicity and Suzumura consistency, and without assuming that the social relation is complete. Journal of Economic Literature Classification No.: D71.


pelling contribution that is destined to be a mandatory addition to the bookshelves of the beginner and the advanced scholar and a testament to the vigor and reach of the ecological program of research. But Carroll and Hannan also succeed in whetting the appetite of readers. Thus, I found the discussion of organizational forms as identities to be a tantalizing overture to institutional theory and social movement theory and wished that the authors had provided a more detailed accounting of how organizations influence evaluators and how there is endogeneity in the enforcement of identities. Similarly, they provocatively suggest that a demographic approach to public policy would assess stakeholder issues at the industry or community level, and I found myself seeking to learn more about when and how a community-wide distribution of social costs and benefits was more consequential than a company-wide distribution of social costs and benefits. Finally, they outline intriguing connections between demography and inequality, and I found myself asking for an elaboration of how vital rates influence sorting and ranking in personnel markets. But then a hallmark of a superb accomplishment is making the reader want and wait for more.


Both "chuanwu", the main root of Aconitum carmichaeli, and "caowu", the root of A kusnezoffii, are believed to possess anti-inflammatory, analgesic and cardiotonic effects and have been used in Chinese materia medica mainly for the treatment of musculoskeletal disorders. They contain the highly toxic C19 diterpenoid alkaloids of aconitine, mesaconitine and hypaconitine. After ingestion, patients may present with signs and symptoms that are typical of aconitine poisoning. Death may occur from ventricular arrhythmias, which are most likely to occur within the first 24 h. Management of aconitine poisoning is essentially supportive. There are no adequate studies in humans to indicate the most effective treatment of the ventricular arrhythmias. All clinicians should be alerted to the potential toxicity of "chuanwu" and "caowu".


We describe a case of renal-cell carcinoma insulated and entrapped in the renal capsule by a calcified and ossified rim. To our knowledge, this is the first time a renal-cell carcinoma of the renal capsule is reported. The fact that the tumor cells originated from the distal/medullary tubules was supported by immunohistochemical studies. The pertinent literature is reviewed.


Abstract This paper revisits the statistical specification of near-multicollinearity in the logistic regression model. We argue that the ceteris paribus clause, which assumes that the maximum likelihood estimator of β remains constant as the correlation (ρ) between the regressors increases, invoked under the traditional account of near-multicollinearity is rather misleading. We derive the parameters of the logistic regression model and show that they are functions of ρ, indicating that the ceteris paribus clause is unattainable. Monte Carlo simulations confirm these findings and further show that: coefficient estimates and related statistics fluctuate in a non-symmetric, non-monotonic way as |ρ|→1; that the impact of near-multicollinearity is centered on the estimates of β; and that the impact on substantive inferences does not necessarily follow what the traditional account implies.


Acacia Mangium Willd. is one of the most important tree species grown in commercial plantation in Monsoon Asia. Recently, the need for accurate information in the biomass in plantations has become more urgent, especially since the amount of carbon sequestered in afforestation/reforestation Clean Development Mechanism (AR-CDM) projects in developing countries can be included under the Kyoto Protocol. We present here a general allometric equation for estimating aboveground biomass (AGB) of A. mangium plantations from the diameter of the trees recorded at the respectives sites. Destructive samplings were conducted in Papua New Guinea, Vietnam, and Indonesia. At each site, 4-12 trees were felled, their trunks, branches and leaves were separately weighed, and allometric models for estimating AGB was determined. A general allometric equation (A log-log model) was developed from an overall total of 26 sample trees from sampled sites. No significant differences were found between the biomass estimations derived from the site-specific and the general allometric equations. The general allometric equation may allow us to estimate AGB of A. mangium plantations in Monsoon Asia without destructive sampling.


The study analyzed erosion effects on arable crop farmers' productivity in Egbeda Local Government Area of Oyo State. Erosion has become prevalent in the area to the extent that their effect on farmland is in terms of nutrients loss which eventually results in low output. Cross sectional data were collected through the use of structured questionnaire and interview guide in accessing and interviewing 150 arable crop farmers in ten spatially located communities. Analytical tools employed were Descriptive Statistics and Stochastic Frontier Production Function (SFPF). Results for the categories of farmers with erosion, without erosion and pooled data showed that farmers were of the average age of 48 years, males were about 70% and married farmers were the majority, while the erosion control method popularly adopted was ridging across the slope. The efficiency scores were 0.86 (farmers having farms without erosion effect), 0.72(farmers having farms with erosion effect) and 0.68 (the pooled data). Return to scale (RTS) showed that farmers without erosion and those with erosion on their farms were 0.83 and 0.62 respectively while the pooled data result was 0.68 indicating that all farmers operated at the stage II of the production surface which is rational. Efficiency distributions for arable crop farmers for the three categories clustered within 0.61-0.90(farmers without erosion), 0.41-0.90(farmers with erosion) while the pooled data showed that technical efficiency spread across the range uniformly. Hypothesis test showed that there was a significant difference between the technical efficiency of farmers without and with erosion experience on the farm (t=12.347, P<0.01). It was concluded that farmers without erosion on their farms were more technically efficient than their counterpart. Based on the result obtained, it was recommended that farmers should be given more training on erosion control methods in order to ensure availability of nutrients for crops on the farmland, in turn; lesser cost would be incurred on nutrient replenishment and land reclamation.


We report the high-pressure behavior of plasmon in polycrystalline Li up to 15 GPa at room temperature studied by inelastic x-ray scattering and ab initio calculation. The plasmon energy () increases with decreasing atomic volume (), and the slope exhibits a discontinuity at bcc  →  fcc structural phase boundary reflecting the electronic band structure change. The plasmon peak width () versus momentum transfer (q) curve of bcc-Li below 6.5 GPa keeps similar parabola-like shape. Above 8.4 GPa, where Li is in fcc, it changes from that of bcc-Li and has a convex shape.


Propulsor design methods utilize Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to develop initial propulsor configurations and predict the full-scale in-water performance of these optimal designs. However, like all numerical models, these CFD models need experimental validation to provide a sufficient level of confidence in the design. The actual data needed to validate CFD models include propulsor inflow velocities and thrust and are impractical to collect for full-scale vehicles. As a result, the in-water propulsor performance can be significantly different than CFD predictions. Another approach in the propulsor design process is to experimentally test a subscale version of the vehicle and appropriately scale results. This scaling is often unreliable due to differences between open water conditions and the flow in the laboratory facility. This paper presents a method to combine CFD modeling with subscale experiments to improve full-scale propulsor performance prediction. Laboratory experiments were conducted on subscale generic torpedo models in the 12″ × 12″ water tunnel located at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport, Rhode Island. This model included an operational ducted post-swirl propulsor. Laser Doppler Velocimetry was used to measure several velocity profiles along the torpedo hull. The experimental data were used in this project to validate the CFD models constructed using the commercial CFD software, Fluent®. Initially, axisymmetric two-dimensional simulations investigated the bare body, hull only case, and a shrouded body without the propulsor. These models were selected to understand the axisymmetric flow development and investigate methods to best match the propulsor inflow. A variety of turbulence models including the realizable k-epsilon model and the Spallart-Almaras model were investigated and ultimately the numerical and experimental velocity profiles were found to match within 3%. Based on these water tunnel simulations, differences between the flow in the facility and open water could then be characterized. These differences quantified both the effect of Reynolds number as well as local flow acceleration due to tunnel blockage effects. Full 3-D flow simulations were then conducted with an operating propulsor and compared with the corresponding subscale experimental data. Finally, simulations were conducted for full-scale tests and compared with actual in-water data. While the in-water data was limited to propulsor rpm and vehicle velocity, the operating advance ratio could be determined as well as the estimated vehicle thrust. This provided a method to utilize CFD/experiments to bridge the gap between subscale and full-scale tests. The predicted in-water advance ratio of 1.87 was very close to the measured value of 1.75.


Mathematics word-problem test was evaluated for differential item functioning (DIF) using Item Response Theory One-Parameter Logistic model. The test measured skills in application of one to two steps basic math operations, computation skills involving fraction, percentage, ratio, proportion, and complex analysis involving two or more steps in complicated problem solving. It was administered to 1925 Grade Six pupils in six mixed-gender private schools and three all-girl schools in the Philippines. Results revealed that the focal group (girls in gender-based DIF, girls in mixed-gender schools in school-type-based DIF) was disadvantaged in most of the items. The item characteristic curves showed remarkable differences between the test performances of the comparison groups. Focus group discussions and interviews with the participants confirmed DIF items and revealed the causes of gender-based and school-type-based DIF. DIF in favor of each gender showed agreement with the sex-role stereotypes; DIF in favor of each school type conformed to the findings of earlier studies about differences in the experiences of the girls in the all-girl schools and their counterparts in the mixed-gender schools. Recommendations include reviewing test item writing procedures in mathematics wordproblems, and creating better test evaluation practices to ensure fair tests and assessments. Key Concepts: Differential Item Functioning, Item Response Theory, Focal Group, Reference Group


The nucleotide sequence of the slpA gene, which is responsible for the synthesis of the S-layer protein of Thermus thermophilus HB8, is described. This gene is transcribed as a unit in which the coding region is preceded by a 127-base-long leader mRNA sequence. The promoter region is also recognized by the RNA polymerase of Escherichia coli because of the presence of homologous -35 and -10 boxes. Homologies with other promoters from Thermus spp. are also presented.


Trading commercial real estate involves a process of exchange that is costly and which occurs over an extended and uncertain period of time. This has consequences for the performance and risk of real estate investments as well as the strategies that investors can adopt. Despite this, the vast majority of research on transaction times has occurred for residential rather than commercial real estate. We conduct a study into the time taken to transact commercial real estate investments in the UK, using a sample of 578 transactions over the period 2004 to 2013. We measure average times to transact from both a buyer and seller perspective and we conduct econometric analysis to explain variation in transaction times between assets. The median time for purchase of real estate from introduction through to completion was 104 days and the median time for sale from marketing to completion was 135 days. However, there is considerable variability around these medians and the results from Cox Proportional Hazard models suggest that this is related to market state, type and quality of asset and the type of participants involved in the transaction. Our findings shed light on the drivers of liquidity at an individual asset level and can be used in models that try and quantify the impact of uncertain time on market on real estate investment risk.


Optical burst switching is a novel switching concept which is a hybrid of optical packet switching and optical wavelength routing. In order to provide an efficient bandwidth utilization, various burst assembly and scheduling schemes for optical bursts are introduced. In this work, the effects of burst assembly techniques on the performance of the optical burst switching (OBS) technique and the characteristics of the network traffic are studied. In order to assemble IP packets to form optical bursts, a time threshold based technique and a hybrid technique, which is based on both time and size threshold, are employed. Self-similar IP traffic is applied to the ingress nodes of the optical network. The effects of the burst assembly algorithms, just after the bursts are formed, are studied in detail considering self-similarity, burst size, and burst formation delay. The performance of the horizon scheduling technique is studied under both burst assembly methods. Moreover, the characteristics of the traffic obtained at the egress nodes are studied in terms of burst size, and self-similarity.


BW (broad-waveguide) SCH-QW lasers utilizing a thick undoped waveguide region (0.8-1.3 /spl mu/m) exhibit very low internal loss. The devices have very high differential efficiencies and record-high output power levels. The overall effectiveness of BW-SCH-QW approach has been demonstrated in five different material systems (AlGaAs-GaAs, AlInGaAsP-GaAs, InGaAsP-GaAs, InGaAsP-InP, and AlInGaAsSb-GaSb), thereby providing a method for achieving high output power within a wavelength range suitable for most medical and industrial applications.


The Chinese Government has increased its focus on expanding farm scale to promote agricultural development since 2010. A series of favorable polices has been adopted to support large‐scale farming. Using a multivariate probit model and 2015 and 2016 rural household survey data, the present paper examines the factors that influence small farmers' decision to become large‐scale farmers. The empirical regression results suggest that the decision to become a large‐scale farmer is significantly influenced by household human capital, cooperative membership, marketing channels, land‐transfer contracts and government policies. However, the influence of these factors differs with respect to becoming large‐scale grain and non‐grain farmers. These results imply that policy tools should target these factors and the appropriate group of small‐scale farmers. Generally, both central and local governments should promote large‐scale farming by enhancing rural households' human capital, improving marketing channels and providing agricultural social services, as well as encouraging returning migrant workers to engage in large‐scale farming.


V391 Peg (alias HS2201+2610) is a subdwarf B (sdB) pulsating star that shows both p- and g-modes. By studying the arrival times of the p-mode maxima and minima through the O-C method, in a previous article the presence of a planet was inferred with an orbital period of 3.2 yr and a minimum mass of 3.2 M_Jup. Here we present an updated O-C analysis using a larger data set of 1066 hours of photometric time series (~2.5x larger in terms of the number of data points), which covers the period between 1999 and 2012 (compared with 1999-2006 of the previous analysis). Up to the end of 2008, the new O-C diagram of the main pulsation frequency (f1) is compatible with (and improves) the previous two-component solution representing the long-term variation of the pulsation period (parabolic component) and the giant planet (sine wave component). Since 2009, the O-C trend of f1 changes, and the time derivative of the pulsation period (p_dot) passes from positive to negative; the reason of this change of regime is not clear and could be related to nonlinear interactions between different pulsation modes. With the new data, the O-C diagram of the secondary pulsation frequency (f2) continues to show two components (parabola and sine wave), like in the previous analysis. Various solutions are proposed to fit the O-C diagrams of f1 and f2, but in all of them, the sinusoidal components of f1 and f2 differ or at least agree less well than before. The nice agreement found previously was a coincidence due to various small effects that are carefully analysed. Now, with a larger dataset, the presence of a planet is more uncertain and would require confirmation with an independent method. The new data allow us to improve the measurement of p_dot for f1 and f2: using only the data up to the end of 2008, we obtain p_dot_1=(1.34+-0.04)x10**-12 and p_dot_2=(1.62+-0.22)x10**-12 ...


This paper addresses the problem of the forward kinematics of cable-driven parallel robots (CDPR) having elastic or non elastic cables under the assumption that the cables are submitted to small changes in their lengths compared to an initial situation at which the pose is known, a situation that is typical of a real-time forward kinematics used for control purposes. We show that at the initial point it is necessary to have not only the pose but also the cable configuration, i.e. having the knowledge of which cables are under tension and that the result of the forward kinematics should be both the pose and the cable configuration after the change in cable lengths. We exhibit a first algorithm that allows one to determine all possible final poses and cable configurations. Then a second algorithm is proposed to determine all possible cable configurations also during the coiling process which is an important point as the CDPR state, including the cable tensions, may drastically change at this point. The last algorithm assumes a model of the coiling process and is able to determine the unique final pose and cable configuration. These algorithms provide safer real-time forward kinematics which will improve the CDPR control


The Europe 2020 Strategy considers the micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) the backbone of European member states to achieve a smart, sustainable and inclusive economic growth. The present study has as purpose to investigate the relationship between a set of variables that characterises the small knowledge intensive firms (SKIFs) and gross domestic product (GDP) and the importance of their business expenditure on research and development (BERD). To achieve this purpose, 24 European member states were analysed during the period between 2008 and 2012 using the econometric analysis of panel data and cluster analysis. The obtained results allow to conclude that countries with high growth values on SKIFs also have growth in GDP and BERD, emphasising a direct relationship of SKIF with country macroeconomic variables.


Iraqi refugees in the US experience a high prevalence of non-communicable diseases. In this article, we explore how cultural and structural realities intersect to influence utilisation of preventative healthcare and cancer screening with the aim of understanding health disparities in this population. We conducted three focus group discussions with a total of 14 Iraqi refugee women living in a northeastern US city in 2016 and analysed the qualitative data using a thematic analysis. Eight themes emerged from our data: (a) 'prevention is better than cure:' Iraqi refugee women maintain wellness; (b) physical and mental health are interrelated in causing and curing ill-health; (c) Iraqi refugee women embrace both biomedical and other healing practices; (d) God contributes to healing; (e) cancer is caused by dangerous environments. Three of the eight themes related to barriers to care; (f) multi-level problems within hospitals and clinics prevent the delivery of care; (g) financial barriers prevent access to care and good health; (h) competing priorities are a barrier to good health. We argue that understanding refugee health requires critical analysis of both culturally informed understandings of health and illness as well as the structural aspects of health disparities that result in limited access to life opportunities, racism and inequality for refugees and their communities.


To detect the distribution of hepatitis C virus and investigate the pathogenesis mechanisms of the viral infection in the liver tissues of the patients with acute or chronic hepatitis C, we examined HCV antigen expression by using the murine monoclonal antibody against HCV C33c peptide in the paraffin-embedded liver tissues from 28 patients with acute or chronic hepatitis C. The NS3 antigen was detected in 85.7% (24/28) of all the biopsy specimens. The distribution and staining density of the antigen immunoreactive signal varied according to different types of patients and the regions in the liver sections, but they obviously had a topographical relationship with the inflammatory-necrosis areas such as fatty and ballooning degeneration and focal necrosis in the liver tissues of nearly all the patients. In addition, the localization of HCV RNA investigated by in situ hybridization assay in 20 liver tissues the above 28 biopsy HD in the Chinese. They also provide valuable data for HD molecular diagnosis, genetic counselling and genetic health.


Phytophthora – Greek for "the plant-destroyer" – is a genus of eukaryotic microorganisms that cause devastating plant diseases worldwide. Collectively, Phytophthora species cause billions of dollars in damages to crops and native ecosystems annually. Despite these extensive impacts, Phytophthora research is challenging due to a lack of molecular biology tools. Widely used techniques such as transformation and gene deletion remain challenging to establish in Phytophthora species. However, CRISPR-Cas genome editing was recently achieved in a small number of model Phytophthora species – but these breakthroughs have yet to reach most members of the genus. The pathogen Phytophthora agathidicida is one example. P. agathidicida causes kauri dieback, a disease that threatens kauri, one of our most important tree species in New Zealand. P. agathidicida was formally named in 2015 and is therefore an emergent threat. Consequently, key molecular methods such as transformation and CRISPR-Cas genome editing have yet to be established for this pathogen.
The overarching goal of this thesis was to establish molecular biology methods for the study of P. agathidicida. The first aim was to identify a suitable target for genome editing with CRISPR-Cas and design guide RNAs for the target. A putative thymidine kinase gene from the P. agathidicida isolate 3770 genome was selected as a target, and eight guide RNA sequences were designed. All of the guide RNAs successfully directed the digestion of the target gene in vitro. The second aim was to establish a method to produce and transform P. agathidicida protoplasts. An optimised recovery medium was identified using a mock transformation method, which increased protoplast germination rates from 2.4% in a previously used medium to 15% in the new medium. Using the optimised conditions, P. agathidicida was transformed with plasmids encoding Cas nuclease-GFP fusion proteins. Transformants were both fluorescent and antibiotic resistant. The third aim was to express, purify, and characterise the putative thymidine kinase enzyme. Yeast species Pichia pastoris was used as a protein expression host, but neither protein expression nor kinase activity were consistently observed.
In this thesis, P. agathidicida was successfully transformed for the first time. Transformation is a huge advancement and will greatly accelerate molecular biology research in P. agathidicida for years to come. In particular, transformation is a key step towards CRISPR-Cas genome editing in P. agathidicida. CRISPR-Cas will not only provide insights into its fundamental biology, but may guide the development of new control strategies for this devastating pathogen.


Conflict and conflict resolution is an integral part of every society. The level of management of conflicts determines the degree of civilization. Conflicts if not well resolved, have grave tendency of breaking down the entire praxis of peacemaking at the urban level. The most disturbing effect of violence is the attack on buildings and the general state of housing after every violence. The constancy of violent attacks on housing has un-quantifiable level of urban degradation with its associated hazards have made the struggle for peace urgent. Under the African set-up, houses are sacred and no one is encouraged to dispose their houses. It is seen as a generational asset that must be passed from generations to generations.
This paper established that the volume of violence determine to a large extent, the volume of reduction in housing supply. Several violence on buildings are recorded in Nigeria. This includes the Zaki-biam, Jos-Plateau State that destroyed the beautiful ultra-modern market edifice, the Ife-Modakeke crisis in Osun State, Kano and Kaduna crisis, Odi village as well as the Delta region. Adopting the concept of housing needs and supply, the paper appraised the overall housing quality of Nigeria's physical environment, the processes of housing development and delivery and the housing density ratio. It appraised ways of ensuring the continual existence of the relics of our valued villages and cities amidst the intractable destruction of houses in the environment. It identified two major effects of violence on the housing market of the economy. The major focus of the study is ensuring housing equilibrium in the process of reconstructing these houses under the prevailing harsh economic reality. The paper concluded that conflict resolution strategies is most required for a sustainable urban housing growth.


In a multicenter, open, randomized, prospective, comparative study, 28 patients with primary (n = 9) or secondary (n = 19) syphilis were treated with either ceftriaxone or penicillin G. 14 patients received ceftriaxone 4 x 1 g i.m. every 2 days. 14 other patients were treated with penicillin G 1 million IU i.m. daily for 15 days (standard therapy of primary and secondary syphilis). To avoid Herxheimer reaction we applied prednisolone 50-100 mg i.m. before specific treatment. Diagnosis was confirmed by clinical symptoms, dark-field microscopy and serological tests (VDRL titer, TPHA test and 19s-IgM-FTA-abs test or SPHA test). Follow-up examinations during therapy were repeated on days 2, 4, 6 (dark-field microscopy, physical examination) and day 14 (VDRL titer). To evaluate therapeutic efficacy, serological controls were repeated 1, 2, 3, 6 and 12 months after therapy (VDRL, SPHA). In all patients, a marked decline (minimum 2-dilution decrease) in VDRL titer and resolution of clinical symptoms were noted. An adverse reaction was seen in 1 patient of the clemizol-penicillin G group (allergic penicillin exanthema). There were no adverse reactions to ceftriaxone. Summing up, there was no detectable difference in clinical and serological response to syphilis treatment either with ceftriaxone or penicillin G. Ceftriaxone, thus can be regarded as an equivalent alternative to penicillin G in the treatment of primary and secondary syphilis.