The epithelium of the corneolimbus contains stem cells for regenerating the corneal epithelium. Diseases and injuries affecting the limbus can lead to a condition known as limbal stem cell deficiency (LSCD), which results in loss of the corneal epithelium, and subsequent chronic inflammation and scarring of the ocular surface. Advances in the treatment of LSCD have been achieved through use of cultured human limbal epithelial (HLE) grafts to restore epithelial stem cells of the ocular surface. These epithelial grafts are usually produced by the ex vivo expansion of HLE cells on human donor amniotic membrane (AM), but this is not without limitations. Although AM is the most widely accepted substratum for HLE transplantation, donor variation, risk of disease transfer, and rising costs have led to the search for alternative biomaterials to improve the surgical outcome of LSCD. Recent studies have demonstrated that Bombyx mori silk fibroin (hereafter referred to as fibroin) membranes support the growth of primary HLE cells, and thus this thesis aims to explore the possibility of using fibroin as a biomaterial for ocular surface reconstruction.

Optimistically, the grafted sheets of cultured epithelium would provide a replenishing source of epithelial progenitor cells for maintaining the corneal epithelium, however, the HLE cells lose their progenitor cell characteristics once removed from their niche. More severe ocular surface injuries, which result in stromal scarring, damage the epithelial stem cell niche, which subsequently leads to poor corneal re-epithelialisation post-grafting. An ideal solution to repairing the corneal limbus would therefore be to grow and transplant HLE cells on a biomaterial that also provides a means for replacing underlying stromal cells required to better simulate the normal stem cell niche. The recent discovery of limbal mesenchymal stromal cells (L-MSC) provides a possibility for stromal repair and regeneration, and therefore, this thesis presents the use of fibroin as a possible biomaterial to support a three dimensional tissue engineered corneolimbus with both an HLE and underlying L-MSC layer. Investigation into optimal scaffold design is necessary, including adequate separation of epithelial and stromal layers, as well as direct cell-cell contact.

Firstly, the attachment, morphology and phenotype of HLE cells grown on fibroin were directly compared to that observed on donor AM, the current clinical standard substrate for HLE transplantation. The production, transparency, and permeability of fibroin membranes were also evaluated in this part of the study. Results revealed that fibroin membranes could be routinely produced using a custom-made film casting table and were found to be transparent and permeable. Attachment of HLE cells to fibroin after 4 hours in serum-free medium was similar to that supported by tissue culture plastic but approximately 6-fold less than that observed on AM. While HLE cultured on AM displayed superior stratification, epithelia constructed from HLE on fibroin maintained evidence of corneal phenotype (cytokeratin pair 3/12 expression; CK3/12) and displayed a comparable number and distribution of ANp63+ progenitor cells to that seen in cultures grown on AM. These results confirm the suitability of membranes constructed from silk fibroin as a possible substrate for HLE cultivation.

One of the most important aspects in corneolimbal tissue engineering is to consider the reconstruction of the limbal stem cell niche to help form the natural limbus in situ. MSC with similar properties to bone marrow derived-MSC (BM-MSC) have recently been grown from the limbus of the human cornea. This thesis evaluated methods for culturing L-MSC and limbal keratocytes using various serum-free media. The phenotype of resulting cultures was examined using photography, flow cytometry for CD34 (keratocyte marker), CD45 (bone marrow-derived cell marker), CD73, CD90, CD105 (collectively MSC markers), CD141 (epithelial/vascular endothelial marker), and CD271 (neuronal marker), immunocytochemistry (alpha-smooth muscle actin; a-sma), differentiation assays (osteogenesis, adipogenesis and chrondrogenesis), and co-culture experiments with HLE cells. While all techniques supported to varying degrees establishment of keratocyte and L-MSC cultures, sustained growth and serial propagation was only achieved in serum-supplemented medium or the MesenCult-XF"¥ culture system (Stem Cell Technologies). Cultures established in MesenCult-XF"¥ grew faster than those grown in serum-supplemented medium and retained a more optimal MSC phenotype. L-MSC cultivated in MesenCult-XFR were also positive for CD141, rarely expressed £\-sma, and displayed multi-potency. L-MSC supported growth of HLE cells, with the largest epithelial islands being observed in the presence of L-MSC established in MesenCult-XF"¥ medium. All HLE cultures supported by L-MSC widely expressed the progenitor cell marker £GNp63, along with the corneal differentiation marker CK3/12. Our findings conclude that MesenCult-XFR is a superior culture system for L-MSC, but further studies are required to explore the significance of CD141 expression in these cells.

Following on from the findings of the previous two parts, silk fibroin was tested as a novel dual-layer construct containing both an epithelium and underlying stroma for corneolimbal reconstruction. In this section, the growth and phenotype of HLE cells on non-porous versus porous fibroin membranes was compared. Furthermore, the growth of L-MSC in either serum-supplemented medium or the MesenCult-XFR culture system within fibroin fibrous mats was investigated. Lastly, the co-culture of HLE and L-MSC in serum-supplemented medium on and within fibroin dual-layer constructs was also examined. HLE on porous membranes displayed a flattened and squamous monolayer; in contrast, HLE on non-porous fibroin appeared cuboidal and stratified closer in appearance to a normal corneal epithelium. Both constructs maintained CK3/12 expression and distribution of £GNp63+ progenitor cells. Dual-layer fibroin scaffolds consisting of HLE cells and L-MSC maintained a similar phenotype as on the single layers alone.

Overall, the present study proposed to create a three dimensional limbal tissue substitute of HLE cells and L-MSC together, ultimately for safe and beneficial transplantation back into the human eye. The results show that HLE and L-MSC can be cultivated separately and together whilst maintaining a clinically feasible phenotype containing a majority of progenitor cells. In addition, L-MSC were able to be cultivated routinely in the MesenCult-XF® culture system while maintaining a high purity for the MSC characteristic phenotype. However, as a serum-free culture medium was not found to sustain growth of both HLE and L-MSC, the combination scaffold was created in serum-supplemented medium, indicating that further refinement of this cultured limbal scaffold is required. This thesis has also demonstrated a potential novel marker for L-MSC, and has generated knowledge which may impact on the understanding of stromal-epithelial interactions. These results support the feasibility of a dual-layer tissue engineered corneolimbus constructed from silk fibroin, and warrant further studies into the potential benefits it offers to corneolimbal tissue regeneration.

Further refinement of this technology should explore the potential benefits of using epithelial-stromal co-cultures with MesenCult-XF® derived L-MSC. Subsequent investigations into the effects of long-term culture on the phenotype and behaviour of the cells in the dual-layer scaffolds are also required. While this project demonstrated the feasibility in vitro for the production of a dual-layer tissue engineered corneolimbus, further studies are required to test the efficacy of the limbal scaffold in vivo. Future in vivo studies are essential to fully understand the integration and degradation of silk fibroin biomaterials in the cornea over time. Subsequent experiments should also investigate the use of both AM and silk fibroin with epithelial and stromal cell co-cultures in an animal model of LSCD.

The outcomes of this project have provided a foundation for research into corneolimbal reconstruction using biomaterials and offer a stepping stone for future studies into corneolimbal tissue engineering.


The definition of asymptotic stability for a trajectory of a hybrid system with state-triggered jumps is not straightforward. Nearby solutions jump at close but noncoincident times, making the standard notion of closeness, based on vector difference, unsuitable to compare trajectories point-wise in time. With tracking control as ultimate goal, we propose a notion of stability and a constructive stability proof based on sensitivity analysis applicable to single-jump-flow trajectories. A key role in the analysis is played by a time-triggered linear system, associated with the discontinuous trajectory of interest, whose uniform asymptotic stability suffices to guarantee the asymptotic stability of the original discontinuous trajectory. As an illustrative example, the stability analysis is applied to guarantee closed-loop stable tracking for a trajectory with velocity jumps of a 2 DoF mechanical system with unilateral constraint.


We report four members of a Lebanese Druze family with the syndrome of lens dislocation, spontaneous filtering blebs, anterior segment abnormalities, and a distinctive facial appearance. The constellation of clinical abnormalities in these patients is not suggestive of the Marfan syndrome or other connective tissue disorders associated with ectopia lentis. We previously described this syndrome in another presumably unrelated and highly inbred Druze family from the mountains of Lebanon. We postulated autosomal recessive inheritance in a pseudo-dominant pedigree. A few isolated reports of similar cases are scattered in the world literature. We now confirm that this is a distinct autosomal recessive syndrome whose gene mutation is enriched in the Lebanese Druze community.


Attempts at reinvigorating mythical sensations of shared values and cultural identities happen particularly at times of dislocatory events in a community's history, when 'the national Self' is perceived to be threatened by external forces. Such a critical moment for China was the collision between a US surveillance plane and a Chinese F-8 jet fighter on April 1, 2001, and the ensuing diplomatic standoff between the US and China. As the Chinese authorities and the state media viewed this incident in a series of ambiguous incidents involving the US, it was concluded that the collision had been the inevitable outcome of US hegemonism intended to provoke China. It is this concurrence of events, triggering feelings of disempowerment of the Self that causes recurrent flurries of heated anti-Other rhetoric. Boundaries of exclusion/inclusion along cultural, historical and political lines set up the Other as the negative mirror of the Self, which as a consequence is positively reasserted. Informed by insights from Language Pragmatics and Critical Discourse Analysis, this paper sets out to examine linguistic tools of alienation and empowerment in the Chinese official press narratives about the collision, comprising the Chinese-language Renmin Ribao, its English equivalent The People's Daily and the English-language China Daily. It aims to trace processes of meaning generation, in particular discursive practices of an ideological nature, such as antagonistic portrayals of in- and outgroups, hegemonic exercise of power, as well as naturalized conceptualizations of contingent processes, structures and relations.


Children who have undergone liver transplantation may develop chronic diarrhea for a number of reasons. Three children who underwent liver transplantation for liver failure, all of whom had had previous biliary and intestinal surgeries and whose postoperative course was marked by signs and symptoms of intestinal malabsorption including chronic diarrhea, are described. Duodenal aspirates showed a panoply of bacterial species, and duodenal histology featured villus atrophy in two: one associated with luminal gram-positive cocci and another with acute and chronic duodenitis. Oral antibiotics cleared the symptoms. Small bowel bacterial overgrowth may need to be considered in children with chronic diarrhea after liver transplantation, especially when previous intestinal surgery has taken place. Long-term antibiotic therapy may be required to effectively eradicate the offending organisms to suppress symptoms.


The Gly-Asp-Ser-Leu (GDSL)-lipase family is a large subfamily of lipolytic enzymes that plays an important role in plant growth and defense against environmental stress. However, little is known about their function in pecans (Carya illinoensis K. Koch). In this study, 87 CilGDSLs were identified and divided into 2 groups and 12 subgroups using phylogenetic analysis; members of the same sub-branch had conserved gene structure and motif composition. The majority of the genes had four introns and were composed of an α-helix and a β-strand. Subcellular localization analysis revealed that these genes were localized in the extracellular matrix, chloroplasts, cytoplasm, nucleus, vacuole, and endoplasmic reticulum, and were validated by transient expression in tobacco mesophyll cells. Furthermore, the analysis of the promoter cis-elements for the CilGDSLs revealed the presence of plant anaerobic induction regulatory, abscisic acid response, light response elements, jasmonic acid (JA) response elements, etc. The qRT-PCR analysis results in "Pawnee" with salt treatment showed that the CilGDSL42.93 (leaf) and CilGDSL39.88 (root) were highly expressed in different tissues. After salt stress treatment, isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) analysis revealed the presence of a total of ten GDSL proteins. Moreover, the weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) showed that one set of co-expressed genes (module), primarily CilGDSL41.11, CilGDSL39.49, CilGDSL34.85, and CilGDSL41.01, was significantly associated with salt stress in leaf. In short, some of them were shown to be involved in plant defense against salt stress in this study.


Abstract Hartree-Fock and Density Functional Theory (B3LYP, B3PW91) calculations for the ground state of (3-Oxo-3Hbenzo[ f]chromen-1-yl) methyl N,N-dimethylcarbamodithioate have been presented and the calculated structural parameters and energetic properties have been compared with the available X-ray diffraction data. The vibrational frequencies have been calculated using optimized geometry of the molecule. The conformational properties of the molecule have been determined by computing molecular energy properties, in which torsional angle varied from -180° to +180° in steps of 10°. Moreover, natural bond orbital analysis and atomic charge analysis have been performed. Besides, HOMO and LUMO energies have been calculated and their pictures have been presented. Finally, molecular electrostatic potential and thermodynamic properties have been calculated. It is seen that the obtained theoretical results agree well with the available experimental values. In all the calculations, except for optimization and vibrational calculations, B3LYP level of theory with 6-311++G(d,p) basis set has been used.


Mirtazapine is a new antidepressant agent that entered the United States market in April 1996. To date, the literature provides limited information about therapeutic blood concentrations and virtually no information about postmortem levels. The Los Angeles County Coroner's Toxicology Laboratory has encountered 13 cases where postmortem tissue distributions of mirtazapine were determined. The analysis of mirtazapine from postmortem specimens (2-mL sample size) consisted of an n-butylchloride basic extraction procedure with identification and quantitation on a gas chromatograph-nitrogen-phosphorus detector. Linearity was achieved from 0.025 mg/L to 3.0 mg/L with a limit of quantitation of 0.025 mg/L. Confirmation of mirtazapine was performed on a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer by comparison with a pure analytical standard. The tissue distribution of mirtazapine are in the following concentration ranges: heart blood 0.03-0.57 mg/L (13 cases), femoral blood 0.04-0.24 mg/L (9 cases), vitreous 0.06-0.10 mg/L (3 cases), liver 0.32-2.1 mg/kg (12 cases), bile 0.40-6.6 mg/L (7 cases), urine 0.12-2.5 mg/L (11 cases), kidney 0.23 mg/kg (1 case), spleen 0.17 mg/kg (1 case), and gastric 0.001-2.7 mg total (9 cases). Mirtazapine was not implicated in the cause of death in any of the 13 cases studied. These cases are being presented to aid the forensic toxicologist in the evaluation of postmortem mirtazapine levels.


Based on the steepest descent method, back-propagation neural networks (BPNNs) minimize an energy function for errors occurring between desired and actual outputs. Therefore, conventional BPNNs obtain local optimum weights. Stochastic search optimization methods, such as genetic algorithms, particle swarm optimization methods and artificial immune system (AIS) algorithms, have been extensively used to solve optimization problems. The weight optimization of a BPNN can be considered as a highly dimensional and unconstrained optimization problem. To overcome the limitation of conventional BPNN, this work presents an AIS algorithm-based BPNN (named AIS-BPNN). The weights of BPNN are optimized using an AIS algorithm. Performance of the proposed AIS-BPNN is then evaluated using a benchmark chaotic time series and compared with those of conventional BPNN and advanced simulated annealing (ASA) algorithm-based BPNN (named ASA-BPNN). Numerical results indicate that the proposed AIS-BPNN can yield acceptable training and generalization results and are superior to those of standard BPNN and ASA-BPNN for the test case. The proposed AIS-BPNN is thus considered as an alternative forecasting tool for chaotic time series.


Introduction Achalasia is an oesophageal motor disorder due to inhibitory neuron dysfunction, resulting in loss of oesophageal peristalsis and impaired lower oesophageal sphincter relaxation. POEM is emerging as a viable alternative to laparoscopic Heller's myotomy (LHM) for the treatment of achalasia. However, it is still in it's infancy in the West with no reported cases from UK. We aim to present two videos and discuss the technical details of the procedure in a simple type II achalasia and in a complex sigmoid achalasia. Methods Prior to undertaking POEM patients are investigated with barium swallow, gastroscopy and high-resolution manometry to confirm the diagnosis of achalasia and delineate the anatomy of the oesophagus. Eckhardt score is calculated pre and post POEM. Informed consent is undertaken, including alternatives to POEM: LHM, pneumatic dilatation and Botox injection. The procedure steps include (video): 1. Submucosal injection and incision 2. Creation of submucosal tunnel 3. Endoscopic myotomy 4. Closure of mucosal entry. Results Case 1: A 61 year-old lady, presenting with dysphagia, retrosternal chest pain and regurgitation (Eckhardt score 6). Barium swallow demonstrated typical appearances of achalasia (see video). Pre-POEM manometry confirmed Type II achalasia with a resting lower oesophageal sphincter (LOS) pressure of 26. She underwent an uneventful POEM procedure via the anterior approach using a combination of flush-knife and triangular tip knife to achieve a 10+4 cm myotomy. On follow-up she has no symptoms (Eckhardt score 0) and repeat manometry shows a reduction in LOS pressure to 15. Case 2: A 52 year-old lady, presenting with dysphagia, retrosternal chest pain, regurgitation and weight loss (Eckhardt score 11). Barium swallow demonstrated advanced achalasia with severe dilatation and a sigmoid appearance (see video). She was treated at her local centre with two sessions of PD and one of Botox despite which she suffered ongoing symptoms. Pre-POEM manometry revealed Type II achalasia and an LOS pressure of 25.5. She underwent an uneventful POEM procedure via the posterior approach using the O-type Erbe hybrid knife to achieve an 11 + 4 cm myotomy. Significant fibrosis was encountered due to previous intervention. On follow-up her symptoms improved significantly. Repeat manometry is awaited. Conclusion Here we describe the technique of POEM at the two ends of the disease spectrum of achalasia We demonstrate the feasibility of the technique in the hands of a UK Endoscopist. We demonstrate two different approaches to POEMS (Anterior vs Posterior) and with two different knives and will discuss the Pros and Cons of these approaches. Despite previous intervention and submucosal fibrosis, POEM is still a viable treatment for patients with ongoing symptoms. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


This paper was presented at the 17th International Conference of the International Trade and Finance Association, Miami, Florida, MAY 16-20, 2007


In this paper we present a short overview of results that have been achieved on template protecting biometric authentication systems.


Paul Kettle was born in Weston-super-Mare, where his father, Austin B Kettle, worked as a consultant physician. He studied medicine at St John's College, Cambridge, and completed his clinical training (as had his father before him) at Guy's Hospital in London. He also completed an optional integrated training and assessment programme to become a member of the Royal College of General Practitioners (MRCGP).

He met his wife to be, Sue (a midwife), while working in obstetrics at St Paul's Hospital and in paediatrics at Battledown Hospital, both in Cheltenham. They were married at Prestbury in 1977. In 1978 he joined Yorkleigh Surgery in Cheltenham, where he practised for 21 years. Doctors at the practice were also on call as police surgeons.

In 1991 Paul was diagnosed with the rare autoimmune disease myasthenia gravis. After a year off he returned to work, managing to lead a relatively normal life through sheer determination. His poor health was increasingly compounded by …


Abstract This article discusses the contribution of the European Court of Human Rights to mitigating difficulties arising from the fragmentation of international law. It argues that the Court's case law provides insights and good practices to be followed. First, the article furnishes evidence that the Court has developed an autonomous and distinct interpretative principle to construe the European Convention on Human Rights by taking other norms of international law into account. Second, it offers a blueprint of the methodology that the Court employs when engaging with external norms in the interpretation process. It analyses the Court's approach to subtle contextual differences between similar or identical international norms and its position towards the requirements of Article 31(3)(c) of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT). It concludes that international courts are developing innovative interpretative practices, which may not be strictly based on the letter of the VCLT.


COMPLICATED and even contradictory concepts concerning the biochemical and physiological aspects of cardiac hypertrophy are less enigmatic if we first discern whether the type of hypertrophy analyzed is physiological or pathological; i.e., whether factors secondary to the process of hypertrophy have induced the heart to augment or depress its mechanical function. In this review physiological hypertrophy is defined as hypertrophy accompanied by a normal or augmented contractile state in which the maximum rate at which myosin hydrolyzes ATP and the maximum velocity of muscle shortening are either normal or elevated. Pathological hypertrophy, on the other hand, is associated with depressed contractility without necessarily concordant heart failure, in which case the rate of myosin ATPase activity and the velocity of muscle shortening are decreased. Both types of hypertrophy may be considered compensatory in that the heart biochemically and physiologically adjusts to cellular alterations that occur according to the severity of the workload. Thus, our definition is not the same as that provided by Meerson (1976), since he did not distinguish between the two types of hypertrophy described here.


We report herein the synthesis of exo-chalcogenated methylene chroman-3-ones via palladium-catalyzed intramolecular acyl-chalcogenation of alkyne with thio- and selenoesters. Chalcogen containing tetrasubstituted alkenes are obtained stereoselectively. This protocol tolerates various functional groups and heterocycles, affording the chroman-3-one products in moderate-to-good yields.


The existence of gapless boundary states is a key attribute of any topological insulator. Topological band theory predicts that these states are robust against static perturbations that preserve the relevant symmetries. In this article, using Floquet theory, we examine how chiral symmetry-protection extends also to states subject to time-periodic perturbations $-$ in one-dimensional Floquet topological insulators as well as in ordinary one-dimensional time-independent topological insulators. It is found that, in the case of the latter, the edge modes are resistant to a much larger class of time-periodic symmetry-preserving perturbations than in Floquet topological insulators. Notably, boundary states in chiral time-independent topological insulators also exhibit an unexpected resilience against a certain type of symmetry-breaking time-periodic perturbations. We argue that this is a generic property for topological phases protected by chiral symmetry. Implications for experiments are discussed.


Despite our continuous improvement in understanding the evolution of antibiotic resistance, the changes in the carbon metabolism during the evolution of antibiotic resistance remains unclear. To investigate the evolution of antibiotic resistance and the changes in carbon metabolism under antibiotic pressure, Escherichia coli K-12 was evolved for 38 passages under a concentration gradient of doxycycline (DOX). The 0th-passage sensitive strain W0, the 20th-passage moderately resistant strain M20, and the 38th-passage highly resistant strain E38 were selected for the determination of biofilm formation, colony area, and carbon metabolism levels, as well as genome and transcriptome sequencing. The MIC of DOX with E. coli significantly increased from 4 to 96 μg/ml, and the IC50 increased from 2.18 ± 0.08 to 64.79 ± 0.75 μg/ml after 38 passages of domestication. Compared with the sensitive strain W0, the biofilm formation amount of the resistant strains M20 and E38 was significantly increased (p < 0.05). Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were distributed in antibiotic resistance-related genes such as ribosome targets, cell membranes, and multiple efflux pumps. In addition, there were no mutated genes related to carbon metabolism. However, the genes involved in the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites and carbon metabolism pathway were downregulated, showing a significant decrease in the metabolic intensity of 23 carbon sources (p < 0.05). The results presented here show that there may be a correlation between the evolution of E. coli DOX resistance and the decrease of carbon metabolism, and the mechanism was worthy of further research, providing a theoretical basis for the prevention and control of microbial resistance.


The demand for ready-mixed concrete in Japan has decreased in recent decades because various budgets for civil infrastructure have been reduced. Additionally, a large number of skilled engineers will retire in the near future. The numbers of ready-mixed concrete plants and employees have decreased gradually to almost 50 percent of the numbers 15 years ago. The lack of knowledge in mixture design should be a concern, especially to young concrete engineers in Japan. The goals of the present study are to pass on fundamental mixture design methods to young engineers and to develop an effective education program for young engineers. A competition was held between young and skilled engineers to design mixture proportions for a modern concrete and a historically produced concrete made from river aggregate. The educative competition confirmed that skilled engineers are better than young engineers in modifying a concrete design. A questionnaire survey completed after the competition showed that the education of young engineers should include the learning of skills and experiences from skilled engineers.


Objective: The aim of this study is to assess the nutritional status of general population living in Faisalabad and to determine the association between dietary intake and iron deficiency anemia. Subjects and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Faisalabad on 216 subjects (11–35 years of age) and subjects were selected using simple random sampling living in during the study. So far the methodology on the basis of the hypothesis of Z- test I have arrived at the conclusion at confidence interval 98% following results were found. Results: Nearly 38.43% of the participants had anemia, among them 21.76% of the participants had mild anemia, 15.74% of the participants had moderate anemia and 0.93% of the participants had severe anemia. The 34.25% of participants were underweight and 9.7% of participants were overweight. More than 55% of females were suffering from anemia. Conclusion: Most of the female participants had anemia. There was a significant association between the intake of meat and hemoglobin level. Hence, special measures should be taken to provide dietary education, especially to females to have healthier mothers in the future.


The effect of ethanol and methanol on growth of several ruminal bacterial strains was examined. Ethanol concentrations as low as 0.2% had a significant, but moderate, inhibitory effect on lag time or growth over time and 3.3% ethanol significantly inhibited maximum optical density obtained by both Selenomonas ruminantium and Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens. Little growth of either strain occurred at 10% ethanol concentrations. Methanol concentrations below 0.5% had little effect on either growth or maximum optical density of Selenomonas ruminantium whereas methanol concentrations below 3.3% had little effect on growth or maximum optical density of Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens. Higher methanol concentrations increasingly inhibited growth of both strains and no growth occurred at a 10% methanol concentration. Concentrations of ethanol or methanol used to add hydrophobic compounds to culture media should be kept below 1%.


Traditional approaches to cybersecurity issues usually protect users from attacks after the occurrence of specific types of attacks. Besides, patterns of recent cyberattacks tend to be changeable, which add up to unpredictability of them. On the other hand, machine learning, as a new method used to detect intrusion, is attracting more and more attention. Moreover, through the sharing of local training data, the centralized learning approach has proven to improve a model's performance. In this research, a segmented federated learning is proposed, different from a collaborative learning based on single global model in a traditional federated learning model, it keeps multiple global models which allow each segment of participants to conduct collaborative learning separately and rearranges the segmentation of participants dynamically as well. Furthermore, these multiple global models interact with each other for updating parameters, thus being adaptable to various participants' LANs. A dataset covering two months' traffic data from 20 participants' LANs in the LAN-Security Monitoring Project is used. We adopt three types of knowledge-based methods for labeling network events and train a CNN model based on the dataset. At last, we achieve validation accuracies of 0.923, 0.813 and 0.877 individually with these labeling methods.


In the present work, the applicability of the Θ projection to the life prediction for 1.25Cr-0.5Mo and 2.25Cr-1 Mo steel has been examined. The linear relationship between strain rate and strain at the tertiary creep stage is observable and its slope, which is equivalent to Θ 4 in the Θ projection technique, can be uniquely correlated with rupture life independently of chemical compositions, creep strength and testing conditions. Therefore, it can be considered that strain rate monitoring for the remnant life prediction is very effective to improve the accuracy of the life assessment, especially for parent material of a low alloy ferritic steel in which creep cavitation is rather unlikely.


Background: Approved anticancer drug combinations are classified into the following groups: broader than (broad label), the same as (same label), or smaller than (narrow label) the series of combination regimens inves tigated in clinical studies. The present research attempted to elucidate the characteristics of the broad/nar-row label to clarify what types of combination regimens are given these labels. Methods: All anticancer drugs approved in Japan between April 2006 and March 2020 and their review reports were selected from the Phar maceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA) website. The differences in the number of regimens in clini cal trials given each label were investigated using Tukey's test. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was also conducted to examine the factors influencing each category. Results and Discussion: There were significant dif ferences in the numbers of regimens among the labels. The factors that significantly contributed to labeling could not be identified. However, key features were identified. If there were multiple clinically comparable reg imens and a clinical trial was conducted to evaluate the clinical benefit of adding new anticancer agents to one of the major regimens, there was a high probability of receiving a broad label. A narrow label may be granted if a regimen considered clinically comparable despite possessing a different mechanism of action does not exhibit clinical benefits in phase III studies. Conclusion: The present study revealed the PMDA stance for reviewing the clinical data of anticancer combination therapies submitted by sponsors in their totality to allow physicians to provide patient-centric, evidence-based, optimized cancer care to patients.


Recent reversed-phase wide-pore stationary phases were evaluated for the separation of intact monoclonal antibodies and their fragments. Two types of stationary phases were tested: Phenomenex Aeris Widepore, with 3.6 μm core-shell particles and Waters Acquity BEH300 with 1.7 μm fully porous particles. A systematic investigation was carried out using model IgG1 and IgG2 antibodies, namely rituximab, panitumumab, and bevacizumab. It appeared that adsorption of these antibodies on the stationary phase was significantly higher compared to proteins of equivalent size. The adsorption was particularly important for the intact antibodies of 150 kDa and for the largest fragments of 50 to 100 kDa (i.e., heavy chain, -fraction of antigene-binding). The present study demonstrated an obvious relationship between adsorption phenomenon and the unwanted strong secondary interactions (ionic and hydrogen bond) of the stationary phase. Thus, adsorption was more pronounced on the Aeris column because of the stronger ion exchange contribution of this stationary phase. Using C4 phase instead of C18 at 50-70°C, there is a slight reduction (5-20%) in adsorption. Two solutions were proposed to decrease the strength of secondary interactions and thus resolve (or at least diminish) adsorption issue. First, increasing mobile phase temperature up to 80-90°C appeared as a promising solution. However, temperature should be used with caution as it can partially damage large biomolecules. A compromise between residence time and temperature should be found. Second, it is recommended to add a small amount of an ancillary solvent, such as n-butanol to the mobile phase. Indeed, the hydroxyl group of n-butanol probably interacts with water adsorbed on the residual silanol groups "to shield" silanols.


Abstract Frequently occurring jellyfish blooms have severe impacts on the socioeconomics of coastal areas, which stress the importance of early detection and assessments of blooming jellyfish taxa. Environmental DNA (eDNA) techniques (quantitative PCR and eDNA metabarcoding) have the advantage of high sensitivity and are an emerging powerful tool for investigations of target species. However, a comprehensive analysis of the biodiversity and biomass of jellyfish taxa in the target area by combining the two eDNA techniques is still lacking. Here, we developed eDNA metabarcoding and quantitative PCR for the detection and assessment of jellyfish taxa in the temperate Yantai Sishili Bay (YSB) and estimated the spatial distribution of Aurelia coerulea. Species‐specific quantitative PCR assays targeting the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene of A. coerulea were developed. Additionally, eDNA metabarcoding based on the mitochondrial 16S rDNA sequences identified six jellyfish species in YSB. Moreover, our results indicate that A. coerulea aggregations were more likely to occur in the inner part of the bay than in the outer part, and they gathered in the bottom layer of seawater rather than in the surface layer. Our results demonstrate the potential of two eDNA techniques in jellyfish biomass investigation and jellyfish taxa detection. These eDNA techniques may contribute to the discovery of jellyfish aggregation so as to achieve early warning of large‐scale jellyfish blooms in coastal areas.


Black Africans are one of the most prominent and fastest growing minority groups in the United Kingdom. They are also represented in entrepreneurship but like most ethnic minority businesses they continue to struggle against structural and environmental obstacles. Long-term success of Black African entrepreneurship will significantly improve to UK economy, create employment, bridge inequality gap and reduce tension and crime in urban areas.
The purpose of this study is to extend the body of knowledge on Black African entrepreneurship. Employing the mixed embeddedness model, it explores the cultural inclination, unique characteristics and challenges they face and their entrepreneurial dynamics. It examines the relationship at the micro, meso and macro levels which gives insight into the opportunities enabled, obstacles encountered, and strategies employed by Black African entrepreneurs in achieving entrepreneurial success. It is useful in understanding success and its measure not just in general terms but as it specifically applies to Black African entrepreneurs and how this concept is framed through their lived experiences and history within the environment in which they are embedded.
It is an exploratory research and it employs the qualitative methodology to capture the robustness of Black African entrepreneurship. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted, and entrepreneurs were chosen across different industries. Data was collected from twenty-five Black business owners residing in London. Participants were recruited through quota and snowballing techniques and data analyzed using inductive content analysis.
Findings revealed Black business owners perceive success as the presence of personal and macro variables. For entrepreneurial success to be accurately gauged in ethnic entrepreneurship, non-financial factors must be measured. Moreover, Black African entrepreneur's needs to be studied with careful consideration of the differences in first and second generation as distinct differences were found in their perception, definition and measures of success. This has a significant implication in entrepreneurial engagement and outcomes. While, the first-generation is constrained by limited resources and ethnic embeddedness, the second-generation leverages the skills and resources acquired and develop both ethnic and non-ethnic ties. The interaction of the micro, macro and meso components are different across the two generations and diverse factors are responsible for success.
The second-generation is changing the entrepreneurial landscape by bringing their unique set of skills to bear but more needs to be done to consolidate their position as successful entrepreneurs. Finally, in order to bridge the performance gap especially with the future generation there is need to move from reactive strategy, that is driven by situation and implement long-term strategies to build capacity in entrepreneurship and business management. This study has implication for policy in providing a springboard for deliberation towards effective business support and in promoting quality entrepreneurship within the Black community. This research unpacks the concept of long-term success and how various factors contribute to the entrepreneurial outcomes of Black Africans.


Sargramostim (GM-CSF) therapy was instituted in a 49-year-old woman with hepatitis C on chronic interferon alpha-2b therapy. Within two weeks, she developed progressive confusion, lethargy, and gait disturbance. At autopsy 4 months later, diffuse perivascular nonmonoclonal lymphoid infiltrates were demonstrated throughout the central nervous system (CNS). As the use of hematopoietic growth factors in clinical practice increases, potential adverse effects, such as the fulminant CNS lymphocytic proliferation in this patient, are more likely to be encountered.


Refolding of dimeric porcine cytosolic or mitochondrial malate dehydrogenases and of tetrameric pig heart and skeletal muscle lactate dehydrogenases (containing 5-7 cysteine residues), as well as reformation of the four cystine cross-bridges of bovine pancreatic ribonuclease, were studied in the presence of reduced and oxidized glutathione (GSH and GSSG). At the intracellular GSH level (5 mM) reduced ribonuclease can be reoxidized by 0.01-0.5 mM GSSG (pH 7.4) both at 20 degrees C and 37 degrees C. In this physiological range of GSSG concentrations and pH, the dehydrogenases show at least partial reactivation. With GSSG concentrations greater than 5 mM, reactivation is found to be completely inhibited for all the enzymes given. The results show that at the intracellular level of GSH and GSSG, thiol groups in reduced, unfolded ribonuclease are oxidized to form intramolecular cystine cross-bridges, while thiol groups of typical cysteine enzymes, such as lactate and malate dehydrogenase, remain in their reduced state during refolding. The rate of reactivation of lactate dehydrogenase (porcine muscle) is not affected by GSSG. In the case of ribonuclease, increasing concentrations of GSSG increase the rate of reactivation: At 20 degrees C, the halftime of the correct disulfide bond formation varies from approximately equal to 80 h in the presence of 0.01 mM GSSG to approximately equal to 10 h in the presence of 0.25 mM GSSG. A further increase in the rate of reactivation at higher GSSG concentrations is accompanied by a decrease in yield. Reactivation of ribonuclease is also observed at the low glutathione level found in blood plasma (5-25 microM GSH).


This article describes a framework design for implementing application protocol stacks. Following protocol specifications, network applications are typically modeled through a layered software architecture built on the notion of messages, sent or received asynchronously. Due to the extensive number of application protocols, design guidelines advocate software reuse in order to promote modular design and limited development effort. Such a goal is actually achieved thanks to a software framework, promoting a clean separation between reusable protocol-generic parts and isolated protocol-specific parts. Such a framework is used to implement different application protocol stack prototypes. Those experiments showed the power of a componentized object-oriented framework and of common object-oriented design patterns.


Objectives: Nowadays in pediatric dentistry, a raise in oral-dental health studies in twins, had been observed with the increasing twin births. The aim of this study was to investigate the differences in terms of oral-dental health between twin children and singleton children. Materials and Methods: A total of 180(105girls, 75 boys) children,120 of them twins and 60 of them singleton, aged 4 to 14 years,were included to the study.All children were healthy.A questionnaire,with 30 items, including the educational level of the parents, age, gender and brushing habits of the children was applied.The df-t /df-s index for primary teeth and DMF-T / DMF-S index for permanent teeth were recorded. Streptococcus Mutans(SM) values of all children were recorded with the help of chairside kits. Results: In-vitro fertilization(IVF) birth rate was 28.3% in the whole group.Furthermore, 33.3%of the children were monozygotic twins,66.6% of them were dizygotic twins.There were no statistically significant relationship between the DMFT-dft values and daily teeth brushing of children(p>0.05).A statistically significant correlation was found between mothers' education levels and DMFT values of children(p>0.05).DMFT values of children whose mothers' were university graduates were found to be significantly lower than those of primary and high school graduates (p>0.05).In the monozygotic group; in SM positive cases,the level of dft-dfs was statistically significantly higher than those of SM negative cases(p<0.05).In dizygotic twins and singleton children;DMFT-DMFS levels were significantly higher in SM positive cases than those of SM negative cases(p<0.05). In singleton children the DMFT-DMFS values were statistically significantly higher than twins whereas there was no statistically difference between monozygotic and dizygotic twins. Conclusions: As a result of this study, despite that there was no significant difference in teeth brushing habits between twin and singleton children, the SM values and DMFT-DMFS values were found higher in singleton children. Considering the multifactorial dynamics of dental caries formation, many factors such as saliva, nutrition, immune system, as well as oral hygiene habits should be considered as a whole.


Migmatite domes are common in metamorphic core complexes. Dome migmatites deform in the partially molten or magmatic state and commonly record complex form surfaces, folds, and fabrics while units mantling the dome display a simpler geometry, typically formed by transposition during crustal extension. We use field observations and magnetic fabrics in the Naxos dome (Greece) to quantify the complex flow of anatectic crust beneath an extensional detachment system. The internal structure of the Naxos dome is characterized by second‐order domes (subdomes), pinched synforms, and curved lineation trajectories, which suggest that buoyancy‐driven flow participated in dome evolution. Subdomes broadly occur within two compartments that are separated by a steep, N‐S oriented, high‐strain zone. This pattern has been recognized in domes formed by polydiapirism and in models of isostasy‐dominated flow. The preferred model involves a combination of buoyancy‐ and isostasy‐driven processes: the Naxos dome may have been generated by regional N‐S extension that triggered convergent flow of partially molten crust at depth and the upwelling of anatectic migmatites within the dome. This pattern is complicated by gravitational instabilities and/or overturning of the high melt fraction crust leading to the growth of subdomes. As the migmatites within the Naxos dome reached a higher structural level, they were affected by regional top‐to‐the‐NNE kinematics of the detachment system. Dome formation therefore occurred by a combination of coeval and coupled processes: upper crustal extension, deep crust contraction during convergent flow of anatectic crust, diapirism and/or density‐driven crustal convection forming subdomes, and north directed detachment kinematics.


AIMS & OBJECTIVES : To study the frequency of various complications in newly detected type-2 diabetes mellitus and to study the associated risk factors in them. MATERIAL & METHODS : We studied total 75 subjects (52 males and 23 females) of type-2 DM attending our our hospital in the age group of 30-70yrs.The patients were subjected to detail clinical history, general and systemic examination in addition to basic laboratory evaluation for diabetes. The various complications of diabetes in them were divided as microvascular, macrovascular complications, infections and others. The other risk factors like obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia and positive family history were also studied. RESULTS : The study revealed that 53.3% subjects had complications related to diabetes at the time of diagnosis. The most common complication was found to be coronary artery disease(CAD)in 18.7% and most common associated risk factor was hypertension in 33.3%.Obesity was noted in 20% and 33.4% subjects had = 3 complications. 69.3% subjects were asymptomatic for DM. CONCLUSIONS : It is seen that the diabetic complications are common at the time of diagnosis. As prolonged asymptomatic phase precedes the development of classical manifestations of diabetes, many patients are detected to be diabetic only when they develop complications related to the disease. Hence it is necessary to screen all individuals above the age of 30 yrs. regularly, especially when they have high risk profile so that we can prevent or delay the complications by early interventions. As the morbidity and mortality associated with such complications is more if patient has uncontrolled status, by proper control of hyperglycemia we can improve their prognosis. Key Words : Diabetes, complications


The conservation of lepton number is assumed to be associated with a general Yang-Mills symmetry. New transformations involve (Lorentz) vector gauge functions and characteristic phase functions, and they form a group. General Yang-Mills fields are associated with new fourth-order equations and linear potentials. Lepton self-masses turn out to be finite and proportional to the inverse of lepton masses, which implies that neutrinos should have non-zero masses. Thus, general Yang-Mills symmetry could provide an understanding of neutrino oscillations and suggests that neutrinos with masses and very weak leptonic force may play a role in dark matter.


In accounting for the functional capabilities as well as for certain of the functional limitations of the chronically diseased kidney, it has been postulated that, as the nephron population decreases, glomerular filtration rate (GFR) increases adaptively in the surviving nephrons (1, 2). This type of functional adaptation is reminiscent of the compensatory hypertrophy that occurs in a normal kidney after removal of the opposite organ (3, 4); however, support for its occurrence in the diseased kidney is largely circumstantial. Yet it is essential to the ultimate and complete understanding of the functional organization of the chronically diseased kidney to know whether or not this phenomenon actually occurs in advancing renal disease. The basic difficulty in examining this question experimentally has been the lack of an appropriate experimental model. The detection of a change in the level of GFR per nephron requires not only the serial measurement of filtration rate, but either a direct method for counting the number of functioning nephrons, or an indirect, but meaningful, index of the functioning nephron population. To count the functioning nephrons in the diseased kidney requires the quantitative correction for nonfiltering and other nonurine forming nephrons. Although the existence of these units may be detected in vivo in the experimentally diseased kidney (5), the available methods do not permit their accurate quantification. Thus the direct approach has not yet lent itself to a defini-


Drawing on relevant literature, case studies, and in-depth interviews with humanitarian practitioners, this article presents current practices concerning the collection and use of sex and age disaggregated data (SADD) and gender and generational analyses of SADD within the humanitarian community. Academic research and humanitarian practice amply demonstrate that gender and age differentiation exist in society and that these differentiations are particularly acute in situations of crisis, but that they are often not taken into consideration in response planning. The authors present illustrative examples of the impact of SADD collection and analysis (or lack therefore) on humanitarian assistance. The authors find that SADD are not systematically collected, analysed, or used to their full potential to inform humanitarian response. For humanitarian assistance to recognise and address real needs on the ground, this must change.


The purpose of this master thesis is to evaluate technologies that could measure parameters of interest to Dover Fueling Solutions, a fuel pump company. A list of interesting measuring technologies has been compiled and compared. Spectrometry was chosen as extra interesting, as it had the potential to differentiate fuels by different octane ratings, but also measure concentrations of different contents. A simplified spectrometer circuit setup was constructed and tested on different types of fuels. However, the results did not unambiguously show that different octane rated fuels could be differentiated. This was probably due to construction flaws. The project has shown the simplicity of the technology, but needs further testing and evaluation. The technology is definitely relevant to Dover Fueling Solutions and has potential to generate positive value for the company and future costumers. (Less)


Although many attempts have been made to design a fault current-limiting circuit breaker (FCLCB) for medium voltage electric power systems, no economically attractive solution has been achieved so far. A novel concept for an F CLCB is introduced based on a hybrid arrangement of semiconductors, temperature-dependent resistors, and a newly developed fast-opening mechanical switch. The latter utilizes one part of an electrodynamic repulsion drive, which is concurrent with the moving double contact system. Laboratory tests as well as computer simulations of the complete FCLCB verify as an example the feasibility for the goal ratings 12 kV and 2/20 kA (single phase). A cost analysis shows the FCLCB to be more expensive than a conventional generator circuit breaker but to be in the price range of the Is-limiter and below the costs of superconducting FCL principles. It is concluded that the method provides the basis for further commercial product development.


We present EOS, a procedure for determining the outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) and top-of-atmosphere (TOA) albedo for a wide range of conditions expected to be present in the atmospheres of rocky planets with temperate conditions. EOS is based on HELIOS and HELIOS-K, which are novel and publicly available atmospheric radiative transfer (RT) codes optimized for fast calculations with GPU processors. These codes were originally developed for the study of giant planets. In this paper we present an adaptation for applications to terrestrial-type, habitable planets, adding specific physical recipes for the gas opacity and vertical structure of the atmosphere. To test the reliability of the procedure, we assessed the impact of changing line opacity profile, continuum opacity model, atmospheric lapse rate, and tropopause position prescriptions on the OLR and the TOA albedo. The results obtained with EOS are in line with those of other RT codes running on traditional CPU processors, while being at least one order of magnitude faster. The adoption of OLR and TOA albedo data generated with EOS in a zonal and seasonal climate model correctly reproduces the fluxes of the present-day Earth measured by the CERES spacecraft. The results of this study disclose the possibility to incorporate fast RT calculations in climate models aimed at characterizing the atmospheres of habitable exoplanets.


The striking gregarious behaviour of many conspicuously coloured unpalatable prey has puzzled evolutionary biologists ever since the kin selection hypothesis was formulated. Nevertheless, no convincing evidence has yet been provided in support of any hypothesis so far proposed to explain the gregariousness of aposematic prey. We here report experimental results with domestic chicks (Gallus gallus domesticus) demonstrating that prey aggregation may be an aposematic signalling strategy that enhances predator discriminative aversion learning. In addition, our results show that aggregation works by enhancing the effectiveness of the visual, not the chemical, defence, illustrating the crucial influence of receiver psychology in the design of an animal signalling system.


The meteorological and oceanographic conditions are crucial for the successful launch of aerospace vehicles. However, the decision-making process using environmental information is a complex problem, since it depends on a constant review of current and future weather conditions. To understand this process in the Brazilian Space Program (BSP) context, this paper aims to be the first attempt to map out the systemic view of applied meteorology for the launch missions of aerospace vehicles. Various Brazilian stakeholders were interviewed and their perspectives were analyzed by using a problem structuring method known as Strategic Options Development and Analysis (SODA). With this approach, it was possible to identify different concepts in each group of respondents regarding the current situation of Aerospace Meteorology. One particularly relevant result was identified: weather forecast is not merely a tool to be used to modify the chronology of a mission and to fully provide support in decision-making during the rocket launches in Brazil. Furthermore, the paper shows that the Aerospace Meteorology needs to improve technical processes and to develop a weather decision support system with decision- makers' preferences regarding the uncertainty in weather forecasts. SODA has shown to be a support tool to understand the real situation of meteorology for the launch of aerospace vehicles and appropriate to aid in future planning in the BSP.


Dynamical networks are important models for the behaviour of complex systems, modelling physical, biological and societal systems, including the brain, food webs, epidemic disease in populations, power grids and many other. Such dynamical networks can exhibit behaviour in which deterministic chaos, exhibiting unpredictability and disorder, coexists with synchronization, a classical paradigm of order. We survey the main theory behind complete, generalized and phase synchronization phenomena in simple as well as complex networks and discuss applications to secure communications, parameter estimation and the anticipation of chaos.


Responses to Zuckerman's Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS) and Cloninger's Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (which consists of novelty seeking, harm avoidance, and rewarddependence dimensions) have been linked to a variety of behavioral and psychiatric variables. The relationship of these two measures to one another has not been examined previously and, in the present study, is evaluated in a group of men briefly hospitalized for treatment of alcohol and chemical dependence. Total sensation seeking scale scores were significantly correlated (Pearson r) with total novelty seeking scale scores. Set correlation analysis revealed significant overall relationships between sensation seeking and both high novelty seeking and low harm avoidance. Most of these overall relationships were attributable to six subscales, although broad relationships were observed between the SSS disinhibition and novelty seeking subscales, and between a harm avoidance subscale and all SSS subscales. Neither statistical approach identified an association between reward dependence and sensation seeking.


The combination of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) and extremely massive antenna arrays is lately gaining increased attention as a new wireless networking paradigm, offering programmable radio wave propagation and holographic communications. However, the channel models used to date for the design and analysis of RIS-empowered multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) communication systems include fading in a manner that is unfaithful to the underlying wave physics. In this paper, we introduce a physics-based end-to-end model of RIS-parametrized MIMO channels of arbitrary dimensions with adjustable fading (named PhysFad), which is based on a first-principles coupled-dipole formalism. PhysFad naturally incorporates the notions of space, causality, frequency selectivity, and the intertwinement of phase and amplitude response of each RIS and antenna element, as well as any arising mutual coupling effects including long-range mesoscopic correlations. The presented channel model, whose code is shared openly, is used to implement Ricean fading conditions with various K factors in a physics-compliant manner.


In existing poly(3-alkylthiophenes) atomistic models, an extended conformation of the side chain is usually assumed. We report a first principle study of the side-chain energetics of 3-hexylthiophene, with the constraint of compatibility with crystal packing requirements. The first two torsion angles of the side chain closest to the ring were considered. Electron correlation is shown to be of great relevance in the assessment of the relative stability of folded conformers against extended ones. The roles of local charge-transfer, rehybridization, steric repulsion, and basis set superposition error, were all considered in the rationalization of our results. We extend our analysis to the thiophene/methane complex in order to elucidate the main differences between intermolecular and intramolecular CH/π phenomena. While in the noncovalent complex a single C—H bond mediates the interaction, folded arrangements of 3-alkylthiophenes require the collective effort of several aliphatic bonds. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


PURPOSE
Reports of lymphatics in the anterior human uvea are contradictory. This might be caused due to a certain topography, which has not been considered yet. Therefore, here we systematically analyze iris and adjacent ciliary body with immunohistochemistry by combining various lymphatic markers.

METHODS
Human iris and ciliary body were obtained from cornea donors and prepared for cryosectioning. Cross sections of tissue blocks at 12/3/6/9 o'clock position and at corresponding intersections (1:30/4:30/7:30/10:30) were processed for immunohistochemistry of LYVE-1, PDPN, PROX1, FOXC2, VEGFR3, and CCL21, and when necessary, these lymphatic markers were combined with CD31, α-smooth muscle-actin, CD68, and 4',6-diamidino-2 phenylindole dihydrochloride (DAPI). Double, triple, and quadruple marker combinations were documented using confocal microscopy.

RESULTS
Numerous podoplanin+ cells were mainly located at the anterior border of the iris while LYVE-1+ cells were distributed throughout the nonpigmented part. Both cell populations were PROX1/FOXC2/CCL21/VEGFR3-. Blood vessels, iris smooth muscles, and individual cells were VEGFR3+. While PDPN+ cells were rarely detected posteriorly of the iris root, many LYVE-1+ cells were present within the ciliary body muscle and villi. Within the muscle, occasionally PDPN+ vessel-like structures were detectable, but these were never colocalized with LYVE-1. Similar vessel-like structures were VEGFR3+/PROX1-/CCL21-, but CD31+. Further, ciliary muscle fibers and ciliary epithelium were immunoreactive for VEGFR3/CCL21, but were LYVE-1/PDPN-. A certain topography of structures at the various uvea-positions investigated was not obvious. The majority of LYVE-1+ cells displayed immunoreactivity for CD68.

CONCLUSIONS
Lymphatic vessels colocalizing for at least two lymphatic markers were not detectable. Therefore, if present, putative lymphatic channels of the anterior uvea might display a different marker panel than generally presumed.


The author both reviews some existing stability robustness measures for linear-quadratic (LQ)-optimal systems in the presence of unstructured additive perturbations in the closed-loop system and also derives some new measures. Bounds on the perturbation matrix which preserve the stability of the closed-loop system are presented. Both time and frequency domain results are presented. A numerical example is given.<<ETX>>


Power capacitors are widely used for power factor correction in power systems. System harmonic currents and voltages have caused violent capacitor failures in recent years resulting in power interruptions. This paper proposes a new capacitor protection for resonant harmonic loads by applying a low capacity power converter to act as a virtual harmonic resistor to damp the resonance effect at the harmonic frequency and regenerates the real power back to the utility system at the fundamental frequency with minimum power loss. A three-phase prototype was developed and tested to verify the performance of the proposed method. The test results show the performance was as expected.


Collection and processing of cord blood (CB) is associated with significant risk of contamination; hence standards mandate microbial screening of the final product. The sensitivity of current methods to evaluate the microbial content of CB is unknown, given the small volume tested and reduced sensitivity of pediatric bottles. Hence, this study was undertaken to evaluate an optimal microbial screening method.


The concept of medical audit is an extension of consumer philosophy, writes Ron McKay, but if you are paying for someone else's treatment how do you ensure your money has been spent correctly? In the United States the answer was auditing treatment and medical competence. In the light of the Royal Commission's recommendation for a greater degree of urgency in implementing medical audit here he asks how much can be learned from the US?


This paper addresses the probable levels of investment needed in new technologies for energy conversion and storage that are essential to address climate change, drawing on past evidence on the rate of cost improvements in energy technologies. A range of energy materials and technologies with lower carbon emissions over their life cycle are being developed, including fuel cells (FCs), hydrogen storage, batteries, supercapacitors, solar energy and nuclear power, and it is probable that most, if not all, of these technologies will be needed to mitigate climate change. High rates of innovation and deployment will be needed to meet targets such as the UK's goal of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent by 2050, which will require significant levels of investment. Learning curves observed for reductions in unit costs of energy technologies, such as photovoltaics and FCs, can provide evidence on the probable future levels of investment needed. The paper concludes by making recommendations for policy measures to promote such investment from both the public and private sectors.


Background and objectives: Iron deficiency is an emerging problem in patients with chronic heart failure and could be a potential therapeutic target. This study aimed to determine the prevalence, severity, and type of iron deficiency among patients with chronic heart failure.
Methods: This study was conducted in Rizgary and Hawler teaching hospitals in Erbil from April 2015 to January 2016. A total of 60 patients with heart failure for more than six months with an ejection fraction less than 55% were enrolled. These patients were evaluated for iron status and hematological indices.
Results: The prevalence of iron deficiency was 76.7% with 52 %of them having severe iron deficiency. Absolute iron deficiency was detected in 41% of patients. The prevalence of anemia was 41.7%. There was a significant difference between those with chronic heart failure with iron deficiency and those with no iron deficiency in the hemoglobin (P = 0.001), mean cell volume (P = 0.001), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (P = 0.002), serum iron (P <0.001) and transferrin saturation (P <0.001).
Conclusion: Iron deficiency is common in chronic heart failure. It is the most common cause of anemia in such patients. Serum ferritin alone was not a reliable marker of iron deficiency in such patients.


Essential oils from seven populations of Dalmatian sage from the North of Albania were extracted and analyzed according European Pharmacopeia 7.0. The yield differed from 1.95 to 2.75% v/w. The GC-FID-MS analysis of the sage oil revealed 42 constituents. Camphor (20.50-29.74%), followed by α-thujone (19.87-24.29%), 1,8-cineole (6.88-12.64%) and β-thujone (4.00-9.14%) were predominant constituents in all analyzed populations, representing 55.70-68.00% of the total components. All of the analyzed sage populations from northern Albania comply with ISO 6571/2008 standard and European Pharmacopeia 7.0. for Dalmatian sage essential oil content, while only four populations met the requirements of the ISO 9909/1997 standard for Dalmatian sage essential oil's composition.


Here we present a high-resolution, continuous seismostratigraphic framework that for the first time, connects the over 1,000 km long western Svalbard-Barents Sea margin and covers the last ∼2.7 million years (Ma). By exploiting recent improvements in chronology, we establish a set of reliable age fix-points from available boreholes along the margin. We then use a large 2-D seismic database to extend this consistent chronology from the Yermak Plateau and offshore western Svalbard, southwards to the Bear Island Trough-Mouth Fan. Based on this new stratigraphic framework we divide the seismic stratigraphy along the continental margin into three seismic units, and 12 regionally correlated seismic reflections, each with an estimated age assignment. We demonstrate one potential application of this framework by reconstructing the Svalbard-Barents Sea Ice Sheet evolution from the intensification of the northern hemisphere glaciation at ∼2.7 Ma to the Weichselian glaciations. Through seismic facies distribution and sedimentation rate fluctuations along the margin we distinguish three phases of glacial development. The higher temporal resolution provided by this new framework, allows us to document a clear two-step onset to glacial intensification in the region during phase 1, between ∼2.7 and 1.5 Ma. The initial step, between ∼2.7 and 2.58 Ma shows glacial expansion across Svalbard. The first indication of shelf-edge glaciation is on the Sjubrebanken Trough-Mouth Fan, northwestern Barents Sea after ∼2.58 Ma; whilst the second step, between ∼1.95 and 1.78 Ma shows glacial advances beyond Svalbard to the northwestern Barents Sea. Phase 2 is characterized by variations in sedimentation rates and the seismic facies are indicative for a regional glacial intensification for the whole Barents Sea-Svalbard region with widespread shelf-edge glaciations recorded at around ∼1.5 Ma. During Phase 3, the western Barents Sea margin is characterized by a dramatic increase in sedimentation rates, inferring once again a regional glacial intensification. Our new stratigraphic framework allows for the first time differentiation of the sediments deposited on the slope during Early Saalian (∼0.4 and 0.2 Ma), Late Saalian (∼0.2 and 0.13 Ma), and Weichselian (<∼0.123 Ma) periods, providing new insights into the Barents Sea glaciations over the last ∼0.42 Ma.


Introduction: Themes and Objectives Water Emergencies: Opening remarks Water is life: a view of organisational resilience in the Australian water industry Online toxicity monitors and their use in distribution system and watershed early warning systems Water supply security issues and trends Consequence management within the Environmental Protection Agency's water security initiative Application of a risk based approach to security and integrity of assets - a regulators view Let's get real: Real world experiences with real-time on-line monitoring for security and quality. Detecting and responding to events The organisational culture of managing incidents and risks in the water sector A simulation tool for contaminant warning system design and evaluation CBRN modelling: application to water contamination Planning, preparedness and security of the alternative water supply Procedures for the decontamination of building plumbing systems Lessons learned from summer floods 2007. Phase 1 report - Emergency response prepared by Water UK's Review Group on flooding Risk assessment methodology for water utilities - RAM-WTM - lessons learned Risk-based approaches to water quality management: integrating public health metrics in water safety planning How standards can assist the assessment of, recovery and prevention of future emergencies The XX edition of the Torino Olympic Games experience: planning for and responding to drinking water contamination threats Sensitive, selective and simple UV-spectrometry for contaminant alarm systems Fully automated instrumentation for nucleic acid testing in the field Optimisation of NMR methodology for non-targeted detection of water contaminants Preventing water contamination - a co-ordinated response Potential sources of man-made radiochemical contamination of water resources with special emphasis on the nuclear fuel cycle Rapid methods Processing and databasing spectroscopic analyses and its use in the elucidation of unkowns Handbooks to assist in the management of a radiological incident involving the contamination of drinking water supplies Robust on-line total organic carbon (TOC) analyser for security monitoring Water UK emergency planning The Scottish Waterborne Hazard Plan Research related to water security Early warning and reports OK, we've got a problem, so who do we tell? Inter-agency communication - a water company view Review and evaluation of water concentration technologies for analysis by real-time PCR Scientific and Technical Advisory Cell (STAC) - getting timely public health advice to multi-agency frontline responders Communicating with the public during water contamination events: addressing vulnerable populations Medical preparedness for water contamination events Keeping the public on-side and maintaining reputation Sociological and psychological constraints to learning from failure Lessons learned from major contamination incidents - a discussion Review of conference List of posters Subject Index.


The purpose of large-scale software architecture is to capture and describe practical representations to make development teams more effective. In this book the authors show how to utilise software architecture as a tool to guide the development instead of capturing the architectural details after all the design decisions have been made. * Offers a concise description of UML usage for large-scale architecture * Discusses software architecture and design principles * Technology and vendor independent


Citing a break in the statistical association between the broader money aggregates and reserve money in the the post-reforms period of the 1990s vis-a-vis the 1980s, this paper argues that an endogenous money multiplier framework is best suited for analyzing the money supply process in India and questions the simplifying assumptions tending to justify stability and predictability of the money multiplier especially in the context of a deregulated financial system with market determined interest rates. An empirical analysis conducted using monthly data for the period April 1980 through March 2000 establishes this and traces the source of the endogeneity of these multipliers to a range of macroeconomic variables.


The paper describes our recently developed system which captures both whiteboard content and audio signals of a meeting using a digital still camera and a microphone. Our system can be retrofitted to any existing whiteboard. It computes the time stamps of pen strokes on the whiteboard by analyzing the sequence of captured snapshots. It also automatically produces a set of key frames representing all the written content on the whiteboard before each erasure. Therefore, the whiteboard content serves as a visual index to browse the audio meeting efficiently. It is a complete system which not only captures the whiteboard content, but also helps users to view and manage the captured meeting content efficiently and securely.


The Trindade Island is located near to the parallel of Vitoria (ES), 1167 km from the Brazilian coast. It is considered as the most recent manifestation of alkaline volcanism of Brazil (<3.6 Ma). It represents the eastern end of an EW chain of guyots (Vitoria-Trindade) generated along a fracture zone associated to mantle plume activity beneath the South American plate. The island is composed by alkaline olivine-nephelinitic and phonolitic volcanic cycles, which evolves through fractional crystallization process. The lithostratigraphic units of the island (Trindade Complex, Desejado Sequence, Morro Vermelho Formation, Valado Formation and Vulcao do Paredao) show important volcanic structures, easily recognizable through the geomorphology of great landscape value. Structures like necks and radial dikes (eroded volcanic systems), vast plateaus formed by lava flows and/or pyroclastic deposits and even part of a large cinder cone, are among the structures observed in the island. Trindade justify its importance of geoconservation and maintenance its geosites beyond the use of its heritage in a sustainable manner due to the values: geological (petrological/petrogenetic and volcanological), geomorphological and historic (which refers to the time of the voyages of discovery). However, Trindade does not have potential for the development of geotourism or any activity comprising large numbers of people because it is distant and inaccessible. Its great value is scientific and didactic value, being an important field school for teaching, not only geology, but how different areas of the natural sciences.


Zno nanocrystals with different morphologies have been synthesized by hydrothermal method employing zinc acetate dihydrate [zn(ch3coo) 22h2o] and sodium hydroxide (naoh) as the starting reactants and characterized by means of x-ray diffraction (xrd) and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (fesem). the results show that the as-synthesized products are hexagonal wurtzite structure of zno and exhibit flake-like, flower-like and rod-like structure, respectively. their growth mechanisms are also tentatively elucidated.


dedukti is a logical framework that implements the λΠ− modulo theory, an extension of the simply typed lambda calculus with dependent types and rewriting rules. It aims to be a back-end for other proof checkers by compiling proofs from these proof checkers to dedukti. This may also increase re-usability of proofs between proof checkers. However if a logic is more powerful than an other, a theorem in the first logic may not be a theorem in the second. During this internship, we consider arithmetic theorems since many proof checker are able to check arithmetic proofs. One problem that we study in this master thesis is to translate arithmetic proofs coming from a powerful proof checker, -- in our case
matita -- to a less powerful proof checker -- HOL-- . This translation needs to modify the logic used in proofs and that is why dedukti is handy here. But a lot of arithmetic theorems are proved also by automatic provers. Indeed, today a lot of easy arithmetic theorems are proved by this kind of tool. But most of them do not give a proof if it claims to prove a theorem. Since for these kind of tool, constructing a full proof may be tiresome, they prefer to give a certificate , a sketch of a proof. However, any automatic prover can implement its own certificate format. To answer this problem, Zakaria Chihani & Dale Miller proposed a certificate framework: Foundational Proof Certificate (FPC) [CMR13]. This framework aims to provide a certificate format shared by many automatic provers so that from the latter, a full proof might be reconstructed.
However, for now, no certificate format is given for arithmetic proofs. A second problem addressed in this internship is to answer what kind of certificate is needed for arithmetic proofs (arithmetic without multiplication).


Brucellosis is an endemic disease often observed in the Mediterranean and Middle East regions. Systemic brucellosis is the most frequent clinical form of this infection; however, hematogenic spread may result in the focal form of the disease. Neurobrucellosis is a rare disease seen in 0, 5-25 % of the adults with systemic brucellosis. 0,8 % of the children affected by systemic brucellosis are reported to have neurological complications. A 16 year old female applied with the complaints of headache, vomiting, bilateral hip and knee pain, and inability to walk. Physical and laboratory examination, brain computed tomography (CT) brain and cervical spinal MRI were carried out as well as the magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) of the lesion areas in the brain. On MRI hydrocephaly in 3rd, 4th and lateral ventricles, atrophic dilatation in bilateral hemispheric cortical sulcuses were seen. On T2W and FLAIR images, hyperintense focal nodular lesions not accompanied by pathological contrast enhancement were detected on parietal subcortical white matter and the periventricular deep white matter. Dural thickening and contrast enhancement on the bilateral parietal region were observed. On cervical spinal MRI, leptomeningeal enhancing was at the level of C1-C7. On MRS applied to lesions in brain (TE 136 and 31 ms), lactate peak at 1.3 ppm was observed. In the differential diagnosis of central nervous system diseases in children living in endemic regions, neurobrucellosis should be kept in mind, though observed rarely. In these cases, the neurological system involvement that cannot be demonstrated via CT, can be shown with MRI effectively.


The goal of the present paper is to develop and validate a questionnaire to assess AI literacy. In particular, the questionnaire should be deeply grounded in the existing literature on AI literacy, should be modular (i.e., including different facets that can be used independently of each other) to be flexibly applicable in professional life depending on the goals and use cases, and should meet psychological requirements and thus includes further psychological competencies in addition to the typical facets of AIL. We derived 60 items to represent different facets of AI Literacy according to Ng and colleagues conceptualisation of AI literacy and additional 12 items to represent psychological competencies such as problem solving, learning, and emotion regulation in regard to AI. For this purpose, data were collected online from 300 German-speaking adults. The items were tested for factorial structure in confirmatory factor analyses. The result is a measurement instrument that measures AI literacy with the facets Use&apply AI, Understand AI, Detect AI, and AI Ethics and the ability to Create AI as a separate construct, and AI Self-efficacy in learning and problem solving and AI Self-management. This study contributes to the research on AI literacy by providing a measurement instrument relying on profound competency models. In addition, higher-order psychological competencies are included that are particularly important in the context of pervasive change through AI systems.


Abstract Fitting theoretical models to experimental data for dose–response screenings of nanoparticles yields values of several hazard metrics that can support risk management. In this paper, we describe a Bayesian approach to the analysis of dose–response data for nanoparticles that takes into account multiple sources of uncertainty. Specifically, we develop a Bayesian model for the analysis of data for the cytotoxicity of ZnO nanoparticles that follow the log-logistic equation. This model reproduces the unequal variance across doses observed in the experimental data, incorporates information about the sensitivity of the cytotoxicity assay used (i.e. resazurin), and complements experimental data with historical information about the system. The model determines probability distributions for multiple values of toxicity potency (EC50), and exponential decay (the slope s); these distributions provide a direct measure of uncertainty in terms of probabilistic credibility intervals. By substituting these distributions in the log-logistic equation, we determine upper and lower limits of the benchmark dose (BMD), corresponding to upper and lower limits of credibility intervals with 95% probability given the experimental data, multiple sources of uncertainty, and historical information. In view of a reduction of costs and time of dose–response screenings, we use the Bayesian model for the cytotoxicity of ZnO nanoparticles to identify the experimental design that uses the minimum number of data while reducing uncertainty in the estimation of both fitting parameters and BMD.


In this work we present the results of quantitative and qualitative analyses of oil obtained from crude oil tank bottom sludge (COTBS) generated from Azzawiya oil refinery in Libya. The aim of the study was to recover and evaluate oil from waste oily sludge and to compare it with parent oil (Hamada crude oil) in order to assess the commercial potential of recycling the oil. The benefits would be two-fold, firstly to improve oil utilisation efficiency and secondly in reducing the environmental contamination associated with the petrogenic hydrocarbon industry. Oily COTBS and extracted oil were characterised and key properties were measured including water and oil content, light and heavy hydrocarbon content, solid content and organic matter content for COTBS and water content, density, specific gravity, API (American Petroleum Institute) gravity, viscosity, salt and ash content for the extracted oil. Solvent (hexane) extraction confirmed that the oily sludge contained 42.08% (± 1.1%) oil composed of light hydrocarbons (30.7 ± 0.07%) and heavy hydrocarbon (69.3 ± 0.4%) fractions. The water and solid contents were 2.9% (± 0.2%) and 55.02% (± 0.6%) respectively. The properties of the recovered oil were assessed; gas chromatograph spectrophotometer (GC-MS) results indicated that the oil contained 139 different hydrocarbon fractions with a total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) concentration of 29,367 mgkg-1 and a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) concentration of 11,752 mgkg-1. Several parameters of the oil were measured and compared to the parent oil (Hamada crude oil) including density, specific gravity, viscosity, salt and ash content. The API of the extracted oil (33.03) was lower than the parent oil (38.8) due to a reduced light hydrocarbon (LHC) content. TGAFTIR hyphenation shows both mass loss of hydrocarbons— low, medium and high molecular mass over a range of temperatures between 60°C and 450°C. crude oil extract exhibited a non-Newtonian behaviour (shear thinning) for the shear rate sweep between 10 and 500/s. dynamic shear rheology data showed that the extracted oil exhibit more like a solid than liquid. Overall the findings of the study confirmed that COTBD has a significant amount of oil similar in properties to Hamada crude oil. This large amount can be reclaimed and recycles. Depending on this essay, a commercial process could be performed which in parallel will reduce the environmental contamination with hydrocarbons.


In this paper, we propose a new mechanism called calculation carrying programs that can relax the tension between e ciency and clarity in programming. The idea is to accompany clear programs with some calculation specifying our intention of how to manipulate programs to be e cient. And this calculation speci cation can be executed automatically by our compiler to derive e cient programs. As a result, each calculation carrying program makes itself be a complete document including a concise speci cation of given problem as well as an e ective way to derive both e cient and correct code.


Several file retention policy methods propose that a file retention policy should be based on file value. Though such a retention policy might increase the value of accessible files, the method to arrive at such a policy is underresearched. This article discusses how one can arrive at a method for developing file retention policies based on the use values of files. The method's applicability is initially assessed through a case study at Capgemini, Netherlands. In the case study, we hypothesize that one can develop a file retention policy by testing causal relations between file attributes (as used by file retention methods) and the use value of files. Unfortunately, most file attributes used by file retention methods have a weak correlation with file value, resulting in the conclusion that these methods do not well select out high- and low-value files. This would imply the ineffectiveness of the used attributes in our study or errors in our conceptualization of file value. We continue with the last possibility and develop indicators for file utility (with low utility being waste). With this approach we were able to detect waste files, in a sample of files, with an accuracy of 80%. We therefore not only suggest further research in information waste detection as part of a file retention policy, but also to further explore other file attributes that could better predict file value and file utility.


This paper presents the measurements of a 4th-harmonic Schottky diode mixer working at sub-millimeter frequencies, in particular at an RF frequency of 440 GHz. Measured DSB noise temperature of 7900 K and conversion loss of 14 dB have been obtained. This configuration offers an alternative solution which simplifies the LO signal generation. It can find an application in imaging systems, where arrays of detectors need to be simultaneously fed by the same LO.


Our existing knowledge of the links between urban growth and commuting patterns are dominated by cases from developed countries. This paper examines the impact of urban growth on workers' commutes using the case of Beijing, which is undergoing rapid economic and spatial restructuring. The results of an analysis of household survey data show that clustered and compact urban development in planned sub-centres is likely to reduce suburban workers' need for a long-distance commute to the city centre when the workers' socio-economic characteristics, the level of transport accessibility and household preferences for residential location are taken into account. Workers employed in the manufacturing sector tend to have shorter commutes and travel within the planned suburban sub-centres. This reveals that the decentralization of employment in the manufacturing sector provides more opportunities to enhance the spatial matches between household residential and job location choices. Household preferences for residential location have an effect on commuting patterns, and high-income workers are likely to accept longer commutes in order to fulfil their residential preferences. Dramatic urban restructuring, in conjunction with changes in lifestyle, is creating new commuting patterns in the rapidly growing cities of China.


A fluid theory and two self-consistent particle-tracing simulation codes are described for designing low voltage, s/sup th/-harmonic slotted gyroklystron amplifiers, in which axis-encircling electron beams are in resonance with the s/sup th/-order azimuthal modes of a series of magnetron-type cavities, allowing the gyrotron amplifier's required magnetic field to be reduced by a factor of s. The linear fluid theory yields a convenient closed-form expression for gain and the nonlinear simulation code determines the large-signal device performance, while the much faster linear simulation code allows thorough, multi-dimensional parameter searches to be performed quickly. The simulation codes self-consistently account for shifts of the cavity's resonant frequency and quality factor due to beam loading. The three theoretical approaches, which agree in the small-signal regime for weak beam loading, were used to design a 95 GHz, three-cavity, slotted twelve-vane, sixth-harmonic gyroklystron amplifier utilizing a 70 kV, 10 A, v/sub /spl perp///v/sub z/=2, axis-encircling beam and a 6.1 kG magnet. The nonlinear self-consistent simulation code predicts that the sixth-harmonic gyrotron amplifier with an ideal beam will yield an electronic efficiency of 20% and a saturated gain of 37 dB, while the more realistic device with a 10% axial velocity spread will generate a peak output power of 84 kW with 12% efficiency, a saturated gain of 27 dB and a 0.2% constant-drive bandwidth. >


The Ottoman state that established magnificence for centuries, has been insufficient to follow developments in Europe. Many solutions for the withdrawal of the ottoman state were presented. One of them is Kochia Bey Tractate. Kochia Bey Tractate are in the two copies. One of them in writed to 4. Murad, the other to Padishah İbrahim. İn our work, the tractate of Koçi Bey's to Sultan Ibrahim will be done in terms of style and purpose. It will present what kind of perspective the Ottoman state brought about, how it was beneficial and what kind of impression it gave to future generations.


— In wireless sensor networks, data aggregation plays an important role in energy conservation of sensors. However, these networks are typically deployed in hostile environments and in which privacy and data integrity are widely desired. Because of their design, wireless sensors can be easily captured. Also, nodes that perform the aggregation function are most attractive to attackers. Therefore, in order to deal with these security threats, the research on data aggregation security is essential. In this context, several solutions have been proposed to secure data aggregation in sensor networks, based on several encryption techniques. Among these, there is the Homographic encryption. Compared to other techniques, in Homographic encryption all the sensor nodes participate in the aggregation, without seeing any intermediate or final result, while still maintaining an effective and efficient aggregation process. We present a survey of some secure data aggregation schemes that use Homographic encryption properties, and then we compared them based on some criteria. Finally, we present and discuss some open issues that need to be looked in future studies in order to improve the security of data aggregation in wireless sensor networks.


ABSTRACT This think piece discusses the continuing influence of Japanese American and Japanese Canadian internment, which commenced 75 years ago in 1942 and also affected Nikkei from 13 Latin American countries. Contextualizing the Canadian case, the essay explores the lives of Raymond Moriyama, a Nikkei architect interned despite his Canadian birth and citizenship, and William Allister, a White Canadian Prisoner of War (POW) of Japan, and their mutual attempts to overcome bitterness through their architecture and art. The article explores the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo designed by Moriyama as a tree house, reflecting Moriyama's belief that a tree house is a special place where the human spirit can dwell and soar. The Canadian Embassy in Japan as a tree house proclaims possibilities of addressing historic wrongs and embracing diversity. North American Nikkei attempts to prevent further injustices against others are related to the contemporary context in which some North American voices advocate a registry of Arab Americans. The essay asserts that the official Redress acknowledgements by the United States and Canada in 1988 that the internment of people of Japanese descent was wrong stand as a precedent against such targeting of specific groups.


[1] Two processing centers providing radio occultation (RO) data from the same RO instrument CHAMP have been analyzed in order to estimate the magnitude of structural uncertainty and to test whether different RO data streams or different RO instruments can be combined easily to generate a long term climate monitoring data set. 10,000 CHAMP occultations processed at the centers were selected. The agreement in mean tangent point positions is about 15 km; it is mainly biased at low and mid-latitudes. Agreement in bending angle, refractivity, and dry temperature profiles is generally not sufficient for climate monitoring and requires further coordination among processing centers. Temperature biases of almost 5 K were found at 35 km altitudes, at lower altitudes biases are smaller but can still be around 1 K. The best bias agreement is found for the product closest to the raw data, bending angle.


This study aims to determine whether the spatial and regional policies in the regions are in sync with the national spatial planning arrangements. The method used in this research is using a normative juridical research method, with the main data being secondary data in the form of documents related to regional spatial planning policies in the region, then the data is analyzed by qualitative analysis by providing an interpretation of the data that has been collected. The results show that the regional policy of Demak Regency in spatial planning as outlined in the form of a regional regulation with the aim of realizing regional space based on superior agricultural and industrial sectors, supported by the service trade and tourism sectors that are environmentally sustainable, refers to the Act. Number 6 of 2007, and Act No. 11 of 2020 concerning Job Goals, Government Regulation number 26 of 2008.The Regional Regulation on RT/RW regulates, among others: a) spatial planning policy, b) spatial planning strategy, c) spatial structure plan, d) spatial pattern plan, e) determination of strategic areas, f) spatial utilization direction, g) spatial utilization control direction, h ) rights, obligations and roles of the community, i) institutions, thus the policy for structuring spatial planning in the sub-region is in sync with the structuring of national spatial plans�


Cancer is generally seen as an ominous life-threatening disease which creates, for its victims, highly problematic, foreboding futures. However, when I interviewed 24 patients receiving radiation therapy at two urban medical centers, I found that most did not define their futures as threatening. Rather, they tended to vacillate between hope and doubt, with hopefulness the more common response. These patients were from other communities, 17 were over 50 years old, and 10 were coming for initial treatment of their diseases.