. General approach to the analysis of the structure and dynamics of aqueous solutions of electrolytes is proposed. In the first region, which includes solutions of a wide range of concentrations, changes in solutions occur on the original matrix of the solvent, which is the water itself with its unique tetrahedral structure. The configurations of the hydrate shell are considered on the basis of the model of formation of structures of substitution and introduction of ions and long-lived hydrate complexes in the initial water structure. On its basis, the volume and other properties of solutions are explained and calculated. The method of dielectric spectroscopy in the centimeter (cm) and millimeter (mm) regions of the spectrum is used to establish new orientation patterns of the original network of H-bonds of water in salt solutions. On the basis of an experimental study of about 50 water-electrolyte systems at frequencies in the region of the main maximum dispersion of water and solutions, a systematics of changes in static dielectric constants and relaxation effects in electrolyte solutions is given. The features and molecular mechanisms of hydrophobic and hydrophilic ion hydration are separated. In the latter case, both distortion and stabilization of the water structure in the solution are possible (with structural correspondences with the hydrate shell). The development of the approach allows us to characterize the parameters of the intrinsic radiation of solutions with different ions in the mm range of the spectrum. Their change in relation to clean water may even differ in sign. This is due to the presence of contributions to the complex dielectric permittivity of both dipole and ion losses. The latter still remain significant at frequencies in the mm range. A new distant laboratory method for analysis of solutions and complex water-electrolyte systems based on their radiobrightness characteristics in the mm range is proposed.


Abstract The crystal-growth behavior of structure 1 (sI), structure II (sII), and structure H (sH) clathrate hydrates has been studied using a specially designed, pressurized optical cell. Single crystals of each hydrate type, methane si, methane-propane (95%-5%) sII, and methane-methylcyclopentane sH, were grown in equilibrium with aqueous liquid + vapor ± liquid hydrocarbon. Each structure type exhibits characteristic crystal morphology, which suggests that crystal habit in natural settings, such as sea-floor outcrops, may allow visual identification of hydrate types. In addition, the relative growth rates for different Miller planes for each crystal type were determined. The relative growth-rate schemes and resulting crystal morphology of each structure can be related to the unit-cell density distribution of the small cages in each structure. Four-phase P-T equilibrium data for methane- methylcyclopentane sH data were also measured using optical methods. Evaluation of these and previously published phase-equilibrium data for all three known hydrate structures strongly suggests that hydrate assemblages of coexisting sII and sH should be common in natural settings.


The pre-modern Japanese society was made up of status groups, and among those of lowest regard was one called hinin. People who ended up as hinin were marginalized, yet in the early modern period their life was as well regulated as the rest of society. The focus of this article is on the organization of registered hinin in Osaka from 1600 to 1868. It will demonstrate how the hierarchical structuration influenced the hinin community, and it will argue that the organization of hinin gradually gave the power also over the authorities, so an observer by the middle of the nineeenth century could ask whether the organized hinin and the hinin 'living under the barns' were indeed the same sort of people, and concluded that he did not think so.


Tar is the undesired viscous black liquid produced during the gasification of biomass. Catalytic elimination of tar is feasible and is economically promising. In the present investigation, we performed first-principles calculations (i) to elucidate the decomposition mechanism of tar on the popular nickel (Ni) catalyst and (ii) to reveal the promotional effect of boron (B) in improving the activity and stability of the Ni catalyst for tar decomposition. Being the most abundant component of tar, toluene was chosen as a model compound. On the Ni(111) surface, toluene adsorbs strongly in a bridge configuration and the activation barrier for methyl C–H dissociation is 72 kJ mol−1. Toluene can further decompose on the Ni(111) surface via stepwise dehydrogenation of the methyl group. The aromatic C–H bond at the ortho position could only be activated after the complete dehydrogenation of the methyl group, which is followed by subsequent ring opening (activation barriers are 112 and 84 kJ mol−1, respectively) and C–C cleavages, to generate smaller hydrocarbons. The incorporation of subsurface B into the Ni catalyst (B–Ni) results in a corrugated Ni top surface and toluene adsorbs more strongly by 11 kJ mol−1 on the B–Ni catalyst than on pure Ni. Although the mechanism of toluene decomposition remains unchanged after doping with boron, the decomposition of toluene is significantly promoted on B–Ni. The activation barrier for the first methyl C–H dissociation on B–Ni is reduced to 51 kJ mol−1. Subsequent methyl C–H activations are also promoted on the B–Ni catalyst, but to a smaller extent. The aromatic C–H activation is also strongly promoted (89 kJ mol−1vs. 112 kJ mol−1 on pure Ni). Additional calculations on stepped surface models of Ni show that the activation barriers of toluene decomposition on the B–Ni surface are very close to those on B5 and F4 step sites of pure Ni, thus suggesting that the promotional effect of B on the catalytic activity of Ni could be mainly attributed to the creation of step-like corrugations on the Ni surface. These corrugations could also inhibit the formation of graphene-like structures on B–Ni.


This chapter summarizes the applications of stable isotope probing (SIP) technology in plant-soil systems and presents an overview of the progress achieved in the understanding of the plant-soil microbe interactions and their role in ecosystem functioning. The applications of phospholipid fatty acids-based SIP (PLFA-SIP) and then the applications of DNA- and RNA-based SIP in upland soils and flooded rice field soils, respectively, are described. Several studies have exploited PLFA-SIP technology to determine the plant-microbe interactions driven by rhizosphere carbon flow. In these studies, the living plants, either in the field or laboratory, are exposed to 13C-labeled CO2, and the microbial PLFAs are collected from rhizosphere soil. After pulse-labeling of rice plants with 13CO2 in a microcosm, soil samples were divided into rhizosphere and bulk soil, and the bulk soil samples were further partitioned vertically into upper layer and lower layer and horizontally into five layers with an increasing distance from roots. A study performed on grassland soil and on peatland soil, targeted mainly the root symbiont's arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and the bacteria possibly associated with them. RNA-SIP revealed that AM fungi were labeled with 13C immediately after plant assimilation, suggesting that AM fungi preferentially used assimilates provided by plants rather than previously fixed carbon. Combining SIP with techniques such as metatranscriptomics, pyrosequencing, and community systems biology, promises a better and deeper understanding of plant-microbe interactions.


Computer simulation of buildings and solar energy systems is being used increasingly in energy assessments and design.. Building designers often now predict the performance of buildings simulation programmes that require hourly weather data. However, not all weather stations provide hourly data. Climate prediction models such as HadCM3 also provide the daily average dry bulb temperature as well as the maximum and minimum. Hourly temperature values are available for building thermal simulations that accounts for future changes to climate. In order to make full use of these predicted future weather data in building simulation programmes, algorithms for downscaling daily values to hourly values are required. This paper describes a more accurate method for generating hourly temperature values in the South Korea that uses all three temperature parameters from climate model. All methods were evaluated for accuracy and stability in terms of coefficient of determination and cumulative error. They were compared with hourly data collected in Seoul and Ulsan, South Korea.


Variola virus, the causative agent of smallpox, is a potential bioweapon. The development of new antiviral compounds for smallpox prophylaxis and treatment is critical, especially because the virus can acquire resistance to the drugs that are currently available. We have identified novel small chemical inhibitors that target DNA synthesis of vaccinia, the prototypical poxvirus. Robotic high-throughput screening of 49663 compounds and follow-up studies identified very potent inhibitors of vaccinia DNA synthesis, with IC 50 values as low as 0.5 microM. Cell-based assays showed that 16 inhibitors effectively blocked vaccinia infection with minimal cytotoxicity. Three inhibitors had selectivity indexes that approximate that of cidofovir. These new non-nucleoside inhibitors are expected to interfere with components of the vaccinia DNA synthesis apparatus that are distinct from cidofovir. On the basis of the high sequence similarity between the proteins of vaccinia and variola viruses, these new inhibitors are anticipated to be equally effective against smallpox.


Introduction Anxiety and depression have increased dramatically 2–3-fold with the COVID-19 pandemic. There is an urgent need for safe, cost-effective, and scalable approaches to alleviate this parallel mental health pandemic. Meditation has previously been shown to reduce stress, anxiety, and depression symptoms. Furthermore, online delivery of mind-body interventions will be impactful in addressing disparities in access to mental healthcare. In this observational pilot study, we investigate the impact of a digitally delivered guided meditation followed by daily practice on symptoms of anxiety and depression. Methods Initially, 57 male and 202 female subjects enrolled in this study. Participants attended a webinar where they learned the Isha Kriya meditation practice. They were subsequently requested to perform the intervention daily for 6 weeks. Subjects were given scales to assess anxiety and depression at baseline, 2, 4, and 6 weeks following the training. The changes in the self-reported anxiety and depression scores were examined by the linear mixed effect models. Results Participants completed survey responses for the following time points: baseline (n = 82), week 2 (n = 58), week 4 (n = 37), and week 6 (n = 28). During the 6 weeks of the study over 68% of subjects were compliant with their daily practice. When comparing baseline with week 2, the mean anxiety scores decreased from 25.4 to 16.8 (p < 0.01, d = 1.31). Similarly, mean depression scores decreased from 15 to 8.81 (p < 0.01, d = 0.9). The reduced scores for both anxiety and depression were maintained at weeks 4 and 6. Conclusion This preliminary study assesses the effectiveness of online meditation training on self-reported symptoms of anxiety and depression. After 2 weeks of practice, those with baseline anxiety and depression showed significant improvement with a large effect size. The results from weeks 4 and 6 show sustained reduced anxiety and depression symptoms. These findings suggest that daily Isha Kriya practice could alleviate symptoms of these conditions. Future studies utilizing randomized control trials should be conducted to rigorously evaluate the benefits of this meditation practice on anxiety and depression. Trials registration ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier: NCT05065476.


Based on the current experimental data, the Standard Model predicts that the current vacuum state of the Universe is metastable, leading to a non-zero rate of vacuum decay through nucleation of bubbles of true vacuum. Our existence implies that there cannot have been any such bubble nucleation events anywhere in our whole past lightcone. We consider a minimal scenario of the Standard Model together with Starobinsky inflation, using three-loop renormalization group improved Higgs effective potential with one-loop curvature corrections. We show that the survival of the vacuum state through inflation places a lower bound ξ ≳ 0.1 on the non-minimal Higgs curvature coupling, the last unknown parameter of the Standard Model. This bound is significantly stronger than in single field inflation models with no Higgs-inflaton coupling. It is also sensitive to the details of the dynamics at the end of inflation, and therefore it can be improved with a more detailed study of that period.


Nissen fundoplication is the procedure of choice for the management of gastroesophageal reflux disease. We report a case of acquired gastric volvulus following open fundoplication. The mechanism of formation and correction of the volvulus is discussed.


Habitat degradation and fragmentation are known to be major threats for population persistence in European amphibians. The European tree frog Hyla arborea has suffered from dramatic population declines in the last decades and has therefore been categorised as threatened in many Red Data lists. In the region of Hannover (Germany), the European tree frog has a fragmented distribution. The aim of our study was to infer the genetic consequences of habitat fragmentation in this area by examining genetic variation and population structure. DNA samples from 193 individuals from 11 sampling sites (10 sampling sites located 2 to 32 km apart from each other near Hannover and for comparison one sampling site 140 km northeast) were analysed with eight highly polymorphic microsatellite loci. Bayesian analyses indicated that the tree frog occurrences near Hannover were fragmented into four genetically distinct clusters according to their geographical distribution. Pairwise genetic distances between sampling sites varied between 0 and 0.23 (FST) and 0 and 0.48 (Dest) and indicated high to moderate gene flow within genetic clusters and nearly absent gene flow among genetic clusters. Moreover, we identified a potential source population within the region for an introduced population in the southwest of Hannover. Our data suggest that the genetic structure is influenced in part by isolation by distance and in part by lack of habitat or migration barriers. Habitat fragmentation should by counteracted by targeted conservation measures in areas where gaps in distribution and genetic fragmentation have been revealed.


The attainment of black and minority ethnic (BME) students in UK higher education has only recently achieved a strong research and policy profile, gaining the prominence that the subject has acquired in other sectors and regions (in particular the USA).

This article reviews the key findings and messages from a wide range of publications to synthesise the key research evidence relating to the participation, retention and success of BME students that has emerged in the last fifteen years. It then explores possible explanations and justifications for the persistent attainment gap between white and non-white students in UK higher education. Finally, it focusses on aspects of student and teacher expectations, and suggests potential areas for research to expand understanding of the relationship between BME attainment and teacher and student expectations.


Why was the South African state so much more successful than the Brazilian state in its attempts to collect income taxes during the twentieth century? Nationally distinctive tax policies and patterns of administration can be explained by examining the impact of contrasting definitions of National Political Community, specified in critical constitutions written around the turn of the century. The ways in which racial and spatial cleavages were addressed in the 1891 Brazilian constitution and the 1909 South Africa Act influenced the development of interclass and intraclass relations, which in turn affected the willingness of upper-income groups to accept state demands for income tax payments. Varied patterns of state development were largely predicated on contested notions of "us" and "them."


Gallbladder tuberculosis (GT) is an extremely rare disease, and very few cases have been reported in the literature. The first case of GT was described in 1870 by Gaucher. A correct preoperative diagnosis of GT is unusual, and it is frequently confused with various gallbladder diseases. We present a new case of a patient who underwent surgery with the preoperative diagnosis of gallbladder cancer after a false positive positron emission tomography scan in the diagnostic work-up.


The purpose of this study was to eveluate the effective of recomination antigen of HCV NS5 region in detection of hepatitis C infection and in developing the third generation HCV diagnostic kit in China. All the serum samples were obtained in Hebei Province. Sera of PT - HC patients were collected in pre - transfusion and at 1, 3, 6, 12, 36 and 72 months after transfusion, Sera from patients with C - HC were collected in 8th year and 11th year after folowed - up. EIA method was developed using recombination antigen of HCV NS5 region. HCV RNA was determined with RT- PCR using 5' NTR primer. The anti - NS5 was detected in different populations. The positive rates of anti - NS5 in PT - HC patients, followed - up for 3 and 6 years, were 70. 5 % and 80. 1 %, respectively; C - HC patients followed - up for 8 and 11 years were 50. 8 %and 82. 4 %, respectively. No anti - NS5 in 291 blood donors was detected, and in the normal populations the positive rate was 1. 7%.


This article addresses the issue of designing security into systems rather than trying to add it to systems after development. It is found by surveying teaching materials that security is only given brief acknowledgement as a concern in software development and that security is not well integrated into development life cycles used in schools. It is proposed that initial security requirements be addressed at the end of the requirements analysis phase and that update and refinement of security requirements continue through the design phase. This would be achieved by making the security administrator a major stakeholder in each and every system being developed. This would be implemented through a library of security scenarios that would be applied to each use case where appropriate. The management of the scenario library is discussed and the resource requirements are addressed. Background For the past thirty years, it has been understood that security concerns need to be addressed early in the system life cycle. Schell, Downey and Popek clearly speak to this issue in 1973 saying "Most contemporary shared computer systems are not secure because security was not a mandatory requirement of the initial hardware and software design" (I-1). Nearly thirty years later, Pipkin observes "It is nearly impossible to effectively add security to a system after it is designed" (71). Ghosh devotes several pages to a discussion of failure to consider security requirements early in development (189-202). His comments carry a clear implication that such failures continue today. Such an implication leads to the question "What is being taught to students about security and the design of software today?"


Replication [5] is the technique of using multiple copies of a server or a resource for better availability and performance.Each copy is called a replica. The main goal of replication is to improve availability, since a service is available even if some of its replicas are not. This helps mission critical services, such as many financial systems or reservation systems, where even a short outage can be very disruptive and expensive.A prerequisite for realizing the banefits of replication, however, is the devlopement of high performance concurrency machenism. Current applications, such as Web-based services, electronic commerce, mobile telecommunication system, etc., are distributed in nature and manipulate time-critical databases. In order to enhance the performance and the availability of such applications, one of the main techniques is to replicate data on multiple sites of the network. Therefore, the major issue is to develop efficient replica concurrency control protocols that are able to tolerate the overload of the distributed system. In fact, if the system is not designed to handle overloads, the effects can be catastrophic and some primordial transactions of the application can miss their deadlines. In this paper we present CIRS (Concurrency control In Replicated realtime Systems) a state conscious concurrency control protocol in replicated distributed environment which is specially for firm realtime database system. CIRS mechanism uses S2PL (Static Two Phase Locking) for deadlock free environment. It also includes veto power given to a cohort after receiving PREPARE message from its coordinator. Also with some more assumptions like sending an extra message in execution phase but after completion of execution at local copy which is described later in this paper the proposed mechanism has a significant increased performance over O2PL and MIRROR in decreasing execution time of the current transaction and it also decreases the waiting time of transactions in wait queue.


Every year basically sound products and services falter in the marketplace because of maturity, stiffer competition, or environmental changes. Although market declines and even product withdrawals are expected and even accepted, they are still destructive to the well‐being of a company, its employees, and society as a whole. The consequences are even more regrettable when we consider that many of these "failures" can be avoided. Any number of languishing products and services can be revitalized, and premature demise thus converted into successes, through the application of appropriate marketing strategies. The genius of marketing can reverse losing situations and allow business to win again in the marketplace.


ABSTRACT Type 2 diabetes is a growing problem among Appalachian Kentucky residents. Several issues contribute to diabetes disparities in the region, including lack of access to health care and geographic isolation. Previous studies also indicate that social stigma may be associated with type 2 diabetes. We used 28 semistructured interviews to explore how stigma is socially constructed across health status (diagnosed/undiagnosed). Perceived severity of the disease is high, yet the etiology of diabetes is not well understood. Thus, onset is perceived to occur "out of the blue," and a positive diagnosis is perceived as having life-threatening consequences. Diagnosed participants, who had learned more about the disease's etiology, prevention, and management, expressed intrapersonal stigma. In interpersonal situations, the visible indicators of a diabetes diagnosis (i.e., physical weight, insulin injection), rather than diagnosis status, tended to evoke stigmatizing interactions. These findings form the foundation for our recommendations for prevention messages in the region.


The solar spectrum and the function spectrum in chrysanthemum and tomato were determined in this paper. The research for a relation plant growth to solar spectrum showed that the efficiency of plant making use of ultraviolet light of 280-380 nm and yellow-green light of 500-600 nm and near IR spectra over 720 nm are lower, that the blue-purple light of 430-480 nm and red light of 630-690 nm are beneficial to enhancing photosynthesis and promoting plant growth. According to plant photosynthesis and solar spectrum characteristic, the author developed CaS:Cu+, Cl- blue light film, and red light film added with CaS:Eu2+, Mn2+, Cl- to convert green light into red light, and discussed the spectrum characteristic of red-blue double peak in agricultural film and rare earth organic complex which could convert ultraviolet light into red light. Just now, the study on light conversion regents in farm films is going to face new breakthrough and the technology of anti-stocks displacement to study red film which can convert near infrared light are worth to attention.


The U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced its intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) on the disposition of the nations weapon-usable surplus plutonium.This EIS is tiered from the Storage and Disposition of Weapons-Usable Fissile Material Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement issued in December 1996,and the associated Record of Decision issued on January, 1997. The EIS will examine reasonable alternatives and potential environmental impacts for the proposed siting, construction, and operation of three types of facilities for plutonium disposition. The three types of facilities are: a pit disassembly and conversion facility, a facility to immobilize surplus plutonium in a glass or ceramic form for disposition, and a facility to fabricate plutonium oxide into mixed oxide (MOX) fuel.As an integral part of the surplus plutonium program, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) was tasked by the DOE Office of Fissile Material Disposition(MD) as the technical lead to organize and evaluate existing facilities in the DOE complex which may meet MD`s need for a domestic MOX fuel fabrication demonstration facility. The Lead Assembly (LA) facility is to produce 1 MT of usable test fuel per year for three years. The Savannah River Site (SRS) as the only operating plutonium processing site in the DOE complex, proposes two options to carry out the fabrication of MOX fuel lead test assemblies: an all Category I facility option and a combined Category I and non-Category I facilities option.


Background: Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) is at present suggested to be essential for implantation in mammals. In parallel, the possibility that it may also be involved in the pathogenesis of stress-induced early embryonic death seems to emerge from studies, which addressed the embryotoxic potential of another cytokine, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). In this brief review, we discuss this possibility based on these studies as well as on those addressing TNF-α and LIF signaling. Methods: Existing data were reviewed critically. Results: Data summarized in this review suggest that: (1) TNF-α may act as a mediator of stress-induced early embryonic death, (2) TNF-α-mediated early embryonic death induced by some detrimental stimuli may be attributed to a dysfunction of mechanisms, which are critical for the ability of the uterus to become receptive to blastocysts, allowing implantation, (3) one such mechanism was shown to be associated with LIF signaling in uterine cells, and (4) TNF-α seems to have the potential to affect LIF signaling. Conclusion: Data presented in the this review suggest LIF as a good candidate for further studies addressing molecular mechanisms underlying stress-induced early embryonic death.


Vision transformers (ViTs) that model an image as a sequence of partitioned patches have shown notable performance in diverse vision tasks. Because partitioning patches eliminates the image structure, to reflect the order of patches, ViTs utilize an explicit component called positional embedding. However, we claim that the use of positional embedding does not simply guarantee the order-awareness of ViT. To support this claim, we analyze the actual behavior of ViTs using an effective receptive field. We demonstrate that during training, ViT acquires an understanding of patch order from the positional embedding that is trained to be a specific pattern. Based on this observation, we propose explicitly adding a Gaussian attention bias that guides the positional embedding to have the corresponding pattern from the beginning of training. We evaluated the influence of Gaussian attention bias on the performance of ViTs in several image classification, object detection, and semantic segmentation experiments. The results showed that proposed method not only facilitates ViTs to understand images but also boosts their performance on various datasets, including ImageNet, COCO 2017, and ADE20K.


Fungal azaphilones have attracted considerable interest as they exhibit great potential in food and pharmacological industries. However, there is a severe bottleneck in the low production in wild strains and the ability to genetically engineer azaphilone-producing fungi. Using Monascus azaphilones (MAs) as an example, we demonstrate a systematic metabolic engineering strategy for improving the production of MAs. In this study, Monascus purpureus HJ11 was systematically engineered through a combination of promoter engineering, gene knockout, rate-limiting enzyme overexpression, repression of the competing pathway, enzyme engineering, and metabolic rebalance. The maximum yield and titer of MAs successfully increased to 906 mg/g dry cell weight (DCW) and 14.6 g/L, respectively, 2.6 and 3.7 times higher than those reported in the literature. Our successful model not only offers a practical and efficient way to improve the azaphilone production but also sheds light on the potential of systematic metabolic engineering in nonmodel fungi as a chassis for the production of high-value chemicals.


It is difficult to describe clinically the conditions that these children present after self-poisoning, and I doubt whether our conventional diagnostic termi nology is appropriate. In the Bradford group few children were seriously ill. Many were quite Cheerful and anxious to return home, as if the experience in itself had had a cathartic effect. Many had no wish to die, either before or after the event, and did not appear to appreciate the irreversibility of death. Complaints of being †̃¿ fed up' and an attitude of petulance and resentment were also common in this group. Some of the children were miserable, un happy and desperate. As in Dr. White's group, their life history revealed vicissitudes which made me wonder if I was listening to fiction and not fact. These children, mainly girls, had to be admitted to an adult female ward and obviously found great comfort from the nursing staff and sympathetic patients. They genuinely appreciated my efforts to understand their problem and eagerly accepted the help I offered, even though in many cases there was precious little I could do. Self-poisoning in older Children and adolescents is probably increasing, and I do not believe we under stand the reason for this. I sometimes wonder if it is a desperate attempt to find a happier environment and therefore paradoxically represents a will to live rather than a wish to die. H. P. Buitaowzs. Stansfield View Hospital, Todmorden, Lanes.


This paper focuses attention on how managers can put in place a framework for reducing organizational vulnerability through counteracting cyber threats. Attention is focused on how senior managers can devise a resilience strategy that incorporates counter intelligence and places risk in a manageable context. Reference is made to placing cyber security in context, and a Cyber Security SLEPT analysis and a Cyber Security SWOT analysis are highlighted. Reference is also made to developing a security culture, which is underpinned by a strategic intelligence focus. A case is made for adopting the organizational learning approach and a way forward vis-à-vis a strategic approach to security is outlined. It is evident from the paper that in order for senior managers to reduce the potential threat from cyber security, they need to work closely with partner organizations and government representatives.


I was intrigued 2 years ago to read in theArchives of Neurologyan abstract of Dr. Fritz Cramer's presidential address. His remarks were given only a half column in the summaries of meetings at the back of the journal. But the brief summary contained the most thoughtful and most forceful criticism of present neurological methods I have seen. I kept an eye open should the address be published in full, but it was not. So I wrote to Dr. Cramer, and he sent me a copy of his paper. Twenty years ago, he wrote, the discipline of clinical neurology had been based on a painstaking inquiry into the development of the symptoms, combined with a careful examination. Today it is not fashionable to rely on the pursuit of pure neurology, despite the elegance of the human body and its relatively predictable manner of functioning, and despite the simplicity of


Hydrogen peroxide is a widely used antimicrobial chemical. It is used in both liquid and gas form for preservative, disinfection and sterilization applications. Its advantages include its potent and broad spectrum antimicrobial activity, flexibility in use, and safety profile in comparison to other microbiocides. Hydrogen peroxide has been shown to be effective against all forms of microorganisms, including dormant forms with known high resistance such as bacterial spores and protozoal cysts, and also infectious proteins such as prions depending on the specific use of the chemical. It also has advantages with regard to its toxicity and environmental profile. However, overall, the effective and safe use of hydrogen peroxide depends on the way it is used, in particular the concentration. In aqueous form it is used in solution with water directly as a preservative, in products as a preservative or on the skin, including in wounds, and on inanimate surfaces. Recent technology advances have been made in the formulation of peroxide with other chemicals to enhance the antimicrobial activity at lower target concentrations of the active agent. Hydrogen peroxide gas is also widely used for disinfection and sterilization. The gas form is particularly effective in comparison liquid forms and at lower concentrations. Hydrogen peroxide gas processes have become popular alternatives to other chemical and physical based antimicrobial methods due to its rapid efficacy, low temperature, compatibility with surface materials and limited toxicity concerns. The mechanism of action of hydrogen peroxide is not fully understood and is associated with its oxidation activity. The oxidation of the various molecules that constitute microorganisms will lead to significant disruptions in structure/function and the loss of viability or infectivity. Despite this generalization, liquid preparations, formulations and the gas form of hydrogen peroxide can show remarkable differences in their antimicrobial effects, such as their attack on proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids. The general mechanisms of action of hydrogen peroxide significantly reduce any risk of the development of resistance to the biocide over time, unlike many other types of anti-infective drugs or biocides. Microbial resistance to peroxide is primarily due to the various natural differences observed in the growth and survival of microorganisms but can be overcome by the right process and application with hydrogen peroxide-containing products. The many benefits in the use of liquid and gas hydrogen peroxide for antimicrobial applications make it attractive for future and optimal developments with this microbiocide.

Keywords:

hydrogen peroxide;
biocide;
antisepsis;
disinfection;
sterilization;
mode of action;
liquid;
gas;
resistance


In two regions of Tanzania, school teachers and health workers developed an education program on HIV called Ngao, which means shield, symbolizing the fact that youth must be prepared to protect themselves against HIV infection. The program targets 14-year-old students. School health workers and teachers underwent 3 days of training on AIDS. After the training, the teachers organized about 20 training meetings where they used flipcharts, black boards, posters, brochures, and manuals for students. They learned about using participative teaching methods and how to organize students to direct class discussions. Students made their own posters; enlivened discussions with 6-7 peers; directed and performed skits in which they together tried to conquer HIV risks or acquire negotiation skills; and wrote songs, plays, and poems about ways youth can protect themselves or ways to address AIDS in their community. The plays, skits, poems, and songs were performed in front of younger children to also inform them about AIDS. Students wore special T-shirts with the logo of the Ngao program, which stimulated discussion on the program. Information on condom use was introduced as an option. Dignitaries, religious leaders, and parents participated in discussions on the program and on AIDS control strategies for the community to adopt. Initially, the program was implemented in 6 schools in urban and rural areas. The students had more knowledge and more positive attitudes towards persons with AIDS than those in comparison schools. They were also less likely to become sexually active in the near future. Teachers and health workers enjoyed teaching the program's curriculum. They felt that the program better equipped and prepared the students to protect themselves against HIV infection. After the pilot project, the program was revised to make it a permanent part of the curriculum in primary schools. An expanded version will be integrated into the health program of secondary schools.


Fully implicit Runge-Kutta (IRK) methods have many desirable accuracy and stability properties as time integration schemes, but are rarely used in practice with large-scale numerical PDEs because of the difficulty of solving the stage equations. This paper introduces a theoretical and algorithmic framework for the fast, parallel solution of the nonlinear equations that arise from IRK methods applied to nonlinear numerical PDEs, including PDEs with algebraic constraints. This framework also naturally applies to discontinuous Galerkin discretizations in time. Moreover, the new method is built using the same preconditioners needed for backward Euler-type time stepping schemes. Several new linearizations of the nonlinear IRK equations are developed, offering faster and more robust convergence than the often-considered simplified Newton, as well as an effective preconditioner for the true Jacobian if exact Newton iterations are desired. Inverting these linearizations requires solving a set of block 2 × 2 systems. Under quite general assumptions on the spatial discretization, it is proven that the preconditioned operator has a condition number of ∼ O(1), with only weak dependence on the number of stages or integration accuracy. The new methods are applied to several challenging fluid flow problems, including the compressible Euler and Navier Stokes equations, and the vorticity-streamfunction formulation of the incompressible Euler and Navier Stokes equations. Up to 10th-order accuracy is demonstrated using Gauss integration, while in all cases 4th-order Gauss integration requires roughly half the number of preconditioner applications as required by standard SDIRK methods.


The majority of papers analyzing the employment effects of unemployment insurance (UI) benefit durations focuses on the duration of the first unemployment spell. In this paper, we make two contributions. First, we use a regression discontinuity design to analyze the long-term effects of extensions in UI durations. These estimates differ from standard estimates that they incorporate differences in UI benefit receipt and employment due to recurrent unemployment spells. Second, we derive a welfare formula of UI extensions that incorporates recurrent nonemployment spells. We find that accounting for nonemployment beyond the initial spell leads to a significant reduction in estimates of the nonemployment effect of UI extensions by about 25 percent. We show this effect is only partly explained by a mechanical effect due to finite follow-up durations, and mainly arises from a lower probability of days in nonemployment in months after end of the initial nonemployment spell.


This thesis deals with the synthesis and characterization of a series of dithiocarbamate
based novel fluorescent probes for selective detection of metal ions such as Cu2+, Zn2+, Hg2+ ,
Ag+ and Pb2+. Chapter 1 deals with the general introduction on this area of research based on
recent literatures. Chapter 2 comprises of the synthesis of a chemosensor having a bipodal
thiocarbamate scaffold attached to histidine moieties that senses Hg2+ ions with a 50 nm blue
shift in the fluorescence spectra and a 19-fold enhancement of the fluorescence quantum. In
addition to the detection of Hg2+ visually in solution under the UV light, the chemosensor
was used for fabrication of paper-strips that detected Hg2+ in aqueous samples. The sensor
was also used for imaging Hg2+ in adult zebrafish and in human epithelial carcinoma HeLa
S3 cells. Chapter 3 deals with the synthesis of a chemosensor containing naphthyl
fluorophore and ethylenediamine as a spacer that detects and differentiates among Zn2+ Hg2+,
and Pb2+ with fluorescence enhancement at different wavelengths under different solvent
conditions. In methanol, Hg2+ and Pb2+ displace Zn2+ from the [Zn2+-sensor] complex
displaying a ratiometric behavior. In water, the chemosensor recognizes only Hg2+ with a
fluorescence enhancement, and offers intracellular detection of Hg2+. In chapter 4, we
demonstrate that contrary to the popular use of 2, 2-dipicoylamine as a highly selective
receptor for Zn2+ ion, conjugation with a thiocarbamate linker turns it into a receptor for Ag+
ions. The behaviour of the probe was dependent on the amount of the Ag+. With various
techniques such as the DLS, NMR, AFM, SEM and fluorescence lifetime experiments, it was
found that aggregation played an important role in the fluorescence behavior of the
chemosensor. At high concentrations of Ag+, the aggregates disintegrated. Chapter 5 includes
the preparation of a simple chemosensor that contains a dansyl unit as the fluorophore, and a
geminal N,N-(ethoxy carbonyl methyl)-ethylenediamine unit as a metal binding site that
displays a high selectivity for Cu2+ ions. On complexation with Cu2+, the fluorescence is
quenched. Inorganic phosphate ions decomplex the Cu2+ from the ligand-metal ensemble
displaying a fluorescence enhancement that can be seen with naked eyes. The method was
successfully used in quantitative determination of inorganic phosphates in serum, urine and
saliva samples.


In modern greenhouse industry the grower besides being a good grower also has to be a good manager. In fact the annual cost of labor, energy and capital investments is such that proper decision making is of primary importance. It is in this context that the problem of energy saving should be considered. The complexity and the range of many of these decisions make it highly desirable to provide the grower with suitable tools for making optimal choices. Depending on the time scale three levels can be distinguished where decisions are made: strategical decisions: one - many years tactical decisions: months - year operational decisions: days - weeks - minutes - 24 h At each of these levels prediction of production may play an important role. Crop growth models therefore are a tool that may assist the grower in decision making. The present state of the art in crop growth models for horticultural applications will be discussed briefly. Depending on the decision- level and the type of decisions different models can be used. Examples of decisions and the involvement of models will be given. Ultimately the grower aims at certain goals. It is the task of future decision support systems to take these goals into account at each decision level, but integrated within an overall decision structure. Speculations on how modern information technology may be involved in future greenhouse management will be made with an emphasis on the role of crop growth models.


A novel quality prognostics scheme (QPS) for plasma sputtering in TFT-LCD manufacturing processes is proposed. The QPS consists of a conjecture model and a prediction model. The conjecture model can use processing parameters and sensor data to estimate the processing quality (sputtering thickness) in real time. This conjecture function is also called virtual metrology. On the other hand, the prediction model is capable of predicting the processing quality of the next-lot glasses. Neural networks and weighted moving average algorithms are applied to construct the QPS. In particular, a reliance index is developed such that online evaluation of whether the conjecture results of the QPS are trustworthy or not is possible. For increasing the accuracy of the QPS, a self-searching mechanism is designed to automatically search the best set of parameters and functions used by the conjecture and prediction algorithms for cases that the processing properties vary or the recipe changes. Also, an auto-adjusting mechanism is developed for tuning the system parameters of the QPS and bringing the conjecture accuracy within an acceptable bound. Thorough tests using normal and abnormal processing data on one set of plasma sputtering equipment in a TFT-LCD plant show that the values of the mean absolute percentage error of both the conjecture and the prediction results are less than 2%, which validates the effectiveness of the proposed QPS.


Nervous necrosis virus (NNV), also called viral encephalopathy and retinopathy (VER), is a serious disease of some cultured marine fish species. The number of fish species affected by this virus has rapidly increased. It has been observed in barramundi (Lates calcarifer), sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax), turbot (Scophthulmus maximus), groupers (Epinephelus spp.) and other fishes. This disease is characterised by a variety of neurological abnormalities such as erratic swimming behaviour and vacuolation in central nervous tissues and nuclear layers of retina. Some diagnostic measures such as histopathology, fluorescent antibody test, enzyme-labeled antibody test, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, electron microscopy, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) detection, cell culture and in situ hybridization have been described to detect the nervous necrosis virus in the OIE Diagnostic Manual for Aquatic Animals, but no diagnosis and treatment report of NNV were found in China. Grouper is becoming a major fish species of mariculture in China and other Southeast Asian countries, as it had a higher economical value than the other commercial farmed fishes. With the rapidly developing grouper aquaculture, mass mortality associated with viral diseases of the fish has been frequently occurred. Among the infectious diseases, viral diseases often caused significant economic losses to the production, and viral nervous necrosis happened most frequently in these countries. In recent years, some cultured groupers in southern China suffered an epidemical disease that caused heavy mortality. The sick or died fishes did not show any pathological signs other than neurological abnormalities. No significant external or internal lesions or parasites were observed. We used two primers, a reverse primer (5'-CGA-GTC-AAC-ACG-GGT-GAA-GA-3') and a forward primer (5'-CGT-GTC-AGT-CAT-GTG-TCG-CT-3') to amplify a target sequence which had a fragment of about 421 bases in five isolates of the grouper nervous necrosis viruses isolated from the cultured groupers, E. lanceolatus, E. malabaricus, E. awoara, E. akaara and E. moara cultivated in southern Fujian, China, by the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction method from March to August, 2003. A total of 76 fishes were examined and the average infection rate of these groupers infected by NNV was about 90%. The nucleic acid sequences of the five amplicons had been sequenced. They were 99% identical in each other and showed more than 97% homologue with those of NNV strains from other grouper in GenBank. It was proved that the amplified sequence is the conservative area of NNV in grouper. The infected organs of the grouper by the pathogen had also been detected. It was found that the virus could find in most of the brain and eyes of the fishes, and also detected in kidney, spleen and liver in some sick groupers. These results according with the epidemiologic observation indicate that NNV is the major causative agent of the observed mortality occurred in the cultured groupers. The test of RT-PCR was demonstrated a useful method to detect the pathogen of NNV in diagnosis practice because of its quick, simple and accurate properties. The mode of transmission had been discussed, the influent water, sick or died fish and carriage utensils, vehicles, etc might be the most possible factor in this disease.


In this paper, which is a continuation of a former note laid before the Society (see Q. J. G. S. xxvii. p. 109) the author commenced by stating that his former opinion as to the Jurassic age of the rocks of Antequera is fully borne out by later researches upon their fossils. They apparently belong to the Portlandian series. The author made considerable additions to his description of the Torcal, near the foot of which he has found a sandstone containing abundance of Gryphœa virgula and Ostrea deltoidea. This he regards as equivalent to the Kimmeridge Clay. In the Torcal he has also found a soft, white, calcareous deposit, overlying the limestones of supposed Portlandian age, and containing a fossil which he identifies with the Tithonian Terebratula diphya. The author discussed the peculiar forms assumed by the rocks of the Torcal under denudation, which he supposed to be due originally to the upheaval caused by the rising of a great mass of greenstone, portions of which are visible at the surface on both sides of the range.


This paper focuses on the analysis of organizational flexibility as one of the most important prerequisites to implement business strategies, particularly at international level. Turbulent and endless changes into international environments, high competition, innovation technology development, and consumer shifting towards new needs and behaviors lead companies in finding appropriate strategies to remain competitive. This implies to look continuously for better solutions to structure organizations, manage people, and improve knowledge. Flexible structures allow not only to faster adapt to ever-changing business needs, but also to facilitate information exchange and – when required – modify working procedures and people behaviors. However, any process of organizational change is onerous and finds obstacles to be implemented. Change requires top managers and subordinates involvement, in terms of their comprehension and acceptance of business choices; in this way, they can concretely support innovation. The role of infra-firm communication is here crucial since it represents the vehicle through which change can occur and people can acquire, create and diffuse knowledge. This is the base for developing new strategies and making the firm grows. However, the effort for modifying organizational assets is an endless process. Market forces as well as economic, political and social variations obligate companies to change and readjust their internal resources in order to remain competitive or even to survive.


. - The time evolution of the density matrix generated by a quantum map which corresponds to the classical dissipative standard map is studied numerically. The system approaches a steady state which is the quantum analogue of a classical ensemble on an attractor. The quantum-statistical steady state is represented both as Wigner quasi-probability density and as the diagonal elements of the density matrix in coherent states. It is compared with the corresponding results for a stochastic classical map that is equivalent to the semi-classical limit of the quantum map.


A longstanding problem of estimation is extraction of the signal image from a given noisy image. Here, prior knowledge in the form of a second, template image is also assumed to be present. Examples of templates are a blurred version of the signal image, the reference image used in cross-entropy minimization, or the signal power spectrum. We propose and test a method of optimally combining the data and template images to form an improved output. The output is biased, respectively, toward the template or the data image by trading off two goals: (a) minimum output probability of being successfully distinguished from the template as predicted by standard maximum likelihood theory, and (b) maximum output probability of having formed the image data. For additive Gaussian noise the estimation approach is least-squares; for Poisson noise the approach is a compromise between maximum Shannon cross entropy and maximum Burg-type entropy; and for exponential noise the approach includes maximum Burg entropy.


Self-financing of non-government organizations is a highly discussed topic in the theory and
practice of non-government organizations (NGOs). In the presented paper we respond to the
current theoretical and practical questions associated with self-financing in the context of an effort
to achieve financial independence and thus a long-term stability of NGOs. Our intention is to
present and interpret the results of the analysis of primary research of funding the NGOs in the
Slovak Republic and Austria and preliminary results of a pilot pre-research in the Czech Republic.
Based on the historical development of these countries, especially the development of the non-
profit sector within the conditions of every country and on the relevant empirical findings we assess
and compare the current extent and potential of self-financing in the selected countries (including
the extent of other sources of funding). We point out the benefits and risks connected to the
examined issue and try to show that self-financing of NGOs must be understood in a broader
context than just a "business" or a commercial activity and that it can be in compliance with the
core work. Furthermore we explore the effect of self-financing on the principle of non-distribution-
constraint of NGOs and we try to point out that self-financing can be in compliance also with this
principle. By presenting these conclusions we fulfil the scientific goal of the paper, which is to
identify particular benefits and risks of self-financing of NGOs based on relevant empirical findings
from the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic and Austria.


The chronic myeloid leukemia-derived cell line K562 expresses, in its uninduced state, notable erythroid features. However, in addition to the presence of well-characterized "erythroid-specific" molecules, such as hemoglobin and glycophorin A, there is increasing evidence of both granulopoietic and megakaryocytic differentiation in this cell line. In this chapter we have further characterized erythroid and nonerythroid features in order to investigate the range of differentiation programs expressed by uninduced K562 cells. Also we have extended these observations by attempting to manipulate the expression of the different lineage-specific components of the phenotype of the K562 cell line in induction experiments. The aim of these studies was to attempt to determine the extent and significance of multipotentiality in K562. The relationship of our findings on the phenotype of K562 to the nature of multipotent hemopoietic stem cells and their differentiated progeny in normal and malignant hemopoiesis is discussed.


Background and Aim: Clinical outcomes of refractive surgeries are variable due to individual wound healing responses, but might be improved by effective delivery of anti-inflammatory agents. Knockdown of connexin proteins, using an antisense oligonucleotide (AsON) approach, has been shown to significantly reduce the inflammatory response and increase the rate of wound closure after corneal laser surgery. The challenge remains to find delivery systems that are easy to apply, but can still effectively deliver the AsONs to the target site. This thesis aimed to evaluate the efficacy of several in-situ gelling formulations to deliver Cx43 AsONs to the wounded tissues of a rat corneal scrape wound model. Methods: Formulations were characterised in terms of their rheological behaviour, microstructure and spreading ability. They were then evaluated for their irritation potential, precorneal retention and ability to control the release of the model hydrophilic drug pilocarpine hydrochloride both in vitro and in vivo. The stability of the AsONs in these formulations was assessed using Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer. Finally, formulations containing the stable AsONs were applied to a rat corneal scrape wound model and penetration depth, wound size after 12 hours and cellular dynamics underlying the wound healing response were analysed. Results and Discussion: Systems based on gellan gum, xanthan gum, carrageenan and alginate underwent sol-to-gel phase transition upon addition of the cations present in tear fluid. All tested systems exhibited favourable contact angles and were found to be non-irritant. Systems based on gellan gum, xanthan gum and carrageenan showed the longest ocular retention and exhibited the slowest release characteristics both in vitro and in vivo. AsONs were found to be stable in all formulations apart from the chitosan system, where precipitation occurred. This formulation also exhibited the slowest wound healing rate due to induction of a pro-inflammatory response. Conversely, delivery of the AsONs by gellan gum and carrageenan formulations resulted in significant reduction in wound size, inflammatory response and Cx43 levels. Conclusion: In-situ gelling systems based on gellan gum and carrageenan are able to successfully deliver Cx43 AsONs to the wounded tissues and therefore improve the healing response after corneal surgery.


The atmospheric particulate matter is considered one of the most dangerous pollutants because of its effects on the climate and human health. Particulate concentration changes largely with spatial position and time, and thus, a distributed real-time monitoring would be mandatory, especially in densely populated areas. The proposed optical sampling system has a negligible cost with respect to the already available instruments and can be used for deploying a capillary particulate monitoring network thanks to its wireless capability based on the LoRa protocol. The proposed solution employs an optical method for the atmospheric particulate detection and the estimation of its concentration and size distribution. The air is sampled by a small pump which forces a known flux through a commercial glass-fiber filter, where the particulate is captured. A low-cost digital camera coupled with a multi-wavelength lighting system takes periodical photographs of the filter surface, and a small PC-on-single-board processes the acquired images in order to identify the particles and to estimate their size. The system can work unattended for a long time and transmit remotely measurement data with a typical range of few kilometers.


The dimensionality of a problem that is addressed by neural networks is related to the number of hidden neuron in the network. Pruning neural networks to reduce the number of hidden neurons reduces the dimensionality of the system, produces a more efficient computation and yields a network with better ability to generalize beyond the training data. This work introduces a novel penalty function that is shown to reduce the number of active neurons. The performance of this function is superior to other known penalty functions. To best implement this function, we use bi-level optimization, which enables us to reduce dimensionality while maintaining good classification performance


Fundamental processes in solar energy conversion involve photon–matter interactions through light harvesting, excited state formation and subsequent transformation to convert light energy to electricity, heat and fuels. Intense pulsed X-ray sources from synchrotrons and X-ray free electrons lasers coupled with ultrafast lasers open up a new opportunity to reveal direct structural information about transient species in solar energy conversion processes, such as photocatalysts, photosensitizers and photovoltaic materials. In particular, transient oxidation states of metal centers in electron donors and catalysts can be unambiguously identified by the accompanying nuclear geometric transformations. X-ray transient absorption spectroscopy (XTA) enables molecular snapshots after the photoexcitation, which will enable molecular movies to be made and have a tremendous impact on our understanding of the coupling between the electron transfer events and structural control parameters of participating partners in solar fuel and solar electricity generation. This chapter describes XTA method developments, examples of its applications in solar energy research and the challenges and perspectives.


The hull of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) is one of the main factors that determine its overall compressibility and drag. The hull as well, acting as a pressure vessel, is the most essential part that will allow the vehicle to accomplish deep diving. In order to minimize the total weight and volume of the vehicle, many modern vehicles benefit from composite materials rather than conventional materials. Moisture absorption, known as the hygral effect, has a significant impact on the mechanical properties of the material. Not to mention it also has an effect on the buoyancy of the vehicle, since the overall weight changes. This paper characterizes the seawater absorption and diffusivity of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Epoxy (CFRE) pressure hull samples in ambient conditions at sea level and at 1000m depth. The tests were performed using seawater taken from Oslo fjord in Norway and using a pressure vessel. Twelve specimens, all manufactured from CFRE using filament winding technique, were tested in both conditions, and the moisture absorption curve is compared. Periodic gravimetric measurements were taken, where the equilibrium state was reached after approximately 65 days at sea level and after 35 days at 1000m depth. The results showed that moisture diffusivity for composites used in underwater applications should be defined by both pressure and temperature since it changes with respect to submersion depth.


We develop a novel approach to store and query realtime (contextual) information from/to a population of wireless/wired devices generating a stream of spatio-temporal events corresponding to sensors/applications and/or humans. The approach is based on a novel peer-to-peer overlay network architecture which exploits the spatial relevance of events and the locality of queries to store and query events close to where they are likely to be consumed. This paper focuses on the development of the basic protocols necessary to operate such a system. We propose a simple model for such systems and explore the sensitivity of performance (query delay) to node density and overlay connectivity.


The two forms of natural monopoly regulation that are typically discussed in intermediate microeconomics textbooks are marginal cost pricing and average cost pricing (rate-of-return regulation). However, within the last 20 years, price-cap regulation has largely replaced rate-of-return regulation because of the former's potential to generate more efficient pricing structures and strong incentives for cost reduction. However, price-cap regulation has received little attention in microeconomics textbooks. The authors provide a simple discussion of price-cap regulation that demonstrates its superiority over conventional rate-of-return regulation, which forms the basis for a lecture on contemporary natural monopoly regulation.


The article presents the results of the conducted analysis of research works about the effect of size of flag leaves and awns on winter wheat productivity. The genetic potential of the variety, which can be realized on the basis of its biologic characteristics largely influences on its productivity. Productivity is a complex trait that is controlled by a complex genetic system closely connected with many factors of environment. The size and duration of assimilation surface are the most important components of biologic and agricultural yield of wheat. Many researchers showed that the amount and duration of photosynthesis by leaf surface are the main factors limiting productivity in the definite conditions of growing, and the size of leaf surface correlates with grain productivity. Photosynthetic parts of winter wheat include not only leaves, but also stems, heads, awns, etc. The conducted analysis of the literature showed that there is no consensus on the effect of flag leaves on wheat yield formation. Therefore it's necessary to fulfill the study and evaluation of the part of flag leaves and awns in the formation of winter soft wheat productivity in the Rostov region.


A highly interactive computer program is described that enables the student to examine the dynamic performance of a synchronous generator described by a fourth-order model. The facilities provided in this program are intended to improve student understanding of physical system behavior. The program is written in FORTRAN with calls to the ZABLIB library and is implemented on a TI microcomputer that uses the MS-DOS operating system. The algorithms described in this program include eigenvalue tracking and time-response plotting. The different facilities and the associated menus and screens are presented and discussed. >


Abstract. Estimating representative surface fluxes using eddy covariance leads invariably to questions concerning inclusion or exclusion of low-frequency flux contributions. For studies where fluxes are linked to local physical parameters and up-scaled through numerical modelling efforts, low-frequency contributions interfere with our ability to isolate local biogeochemical processes of interest, as represented by turbulent fluxes. No method currently exists to disentangle low-frequency contributions on flux estimates. Here, we present a novel comprehensive numerical scheme to identify and separate out low-frequency contributions to vertical turbulent surface fluxes. For high flux rates (|Sensible heat flux| > 40 Wm−2, |latent heat flux|> 20 Wm−2 and |CO2 flux|> 100 mmol m−2 d−1 we found that the average relative difference between fluxes estimated by ogive optimization and the conventional method was low (5–20%) suggesting negligible low-frequency influence and that both methods capture the turbulent fluxes equally well. For flux rates below these thresholds, however, the average relative difference between flux estimates was found to be very high (23–98%) suggesting non-negligible low-frequency influence and that the conventional method fails in separating low-frequency influences from the turbulent fluxes. Hence, the ogive optimization method is an appropriate method of flux analysis, particularly in low-flux environments.


The optimal management of a hot water geothermal reservoir was considered. The physical system investigated includes a three-dimensional aquifer from which hot water is pumped and circulated through a heat exchanger. Heat removed from the geothermal fluid is transferred to a building complex or other facility for space heating. After passing through the heat exchanger, the (now cooled) geothermal fluid is reinjected into the aquifer. This cools the reservoir at a rate predicted by an expression relating pumping rate, time, and production hole temperature. The economic model proposed in the study maximizes discounted value of energy transferred across the heat exchanger minus the discounted cost of wells, equipment, and pumping energy. The real value of energy is assumed to increase at r percent per year. A major decision variable is the production or pumping rate (which is constant over the project life). Other decision variables in this optimization are production timing, reinjection temperature, and the economic life of the reservoir at the selected pumping rate. Results show that waiting time to production and production life increases as r increases and decreases as the discount rate increases. Production rate decreases as r increases and increases as the discount rate increases. Themore » optimal injection temperature is very close to the temperature of the steam produced on the other side of the heat exchanger, and is virtually independent of r and the discount rate. Sensitivity of the decision variables to geohydrological parameters was also investigated. Initial aquifer temperature and permeability have a major influence on these variables, although aquifer porosity is of less importance. A penalty was considered for production delay after the lease is granted.« less


To the Editor: Pradhan et al.1 report five cases of Japanese encephalitis (JE) with typical parkinsonian features. Of 52 patients with JE, five were selected based on isolated lesions in the substantia nigra on MRI. We also reported a rat model of PD2 induced by the JE virus, which revealed bradykinesia and predominant involvement of substantia nigra as the major pathologic changes. This parkinsonism model is made in rats infected with JE virus at 13 days after birth. We demonstrated that the susceptibility of the rat brain to JE virus infection was dependent on the age of animals at the time of infection, and this appeared to be related to the level of neuronal maturity in our other in vivo3 and in vitro4 study. The age at the JE infection of five cases with parkinsonian features reported by Pradhan et al., is between 7 and 16 years, and the average age is 12 years. The report that only patients infected with JE virus at the limited younger age manifest typical parkinsonism correlates with our parkinsonian model feature. These clinical findings are compatible with those of experimental models. We hope Pradhan et al. will examine whether the patients with parkinsonism at such young ages in India are infected with JE virus. Currently, we are investigating new antiparkinsonian treatments using this model.5


required for the rapid diagnosis of TPE. Aim: To compare the sensitivity and specificity of two commercially available nucleic acid amplification test Xpert MTB/RIF and Geno type MTBDRplus line probe assay (MTBDRplus) for the rapid diagnosis of TPE. Methods: A prospective cross-sectional study was performed at Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan from August 2014 to January 2016. Patients with suspected TPE were recruited on the basis of history, exudative lymphocytic nature of effusion and raised adenosine daminase level. Pleural fluid samples were tested for AFB smear, culture, Xpert MTB/RIF and MTBDRplus. Results: We enrolled 99 patients with mean age of 50.4 20.3 years. Effusion size was mild in 18 (18.2%), moderate in 77 (77.8%) and massive in 04 (4.0%). Pleural fluid AFB smear was positive in 1 (1.01%), Xpert MTB/RIF was positive in 10 (10.1%) and MTBDRplus was positive in 6 (6.06%) cases. AFB culture was positive in 14 (14.14%) cases. Considering AFB culture as Gold standard, the sensitivity of Xpert MTB/RIF was found to be 57.14% (95% CI: 28.86 – 82.34%) and specificity was 97.65% (95% CI: 91.76 99.71%) and the sensitivity of MTBDRplus was 35.71% (95% CI: 12.76 – 64.86%) and specificity was 98.82% (95% CI: 93.62 99.90%). The sensitivity of Xpert MTB/RIF in TPE was significantly higher than MTBDRplus while the specificity was comparable among the two tests. Conclusion: Xpert MTB/RIF has a significantly higher sensitivity for the rapid diagnosis of TPE as compared to MTBDRplus and AFB smear microscopy. Multicentre study with large sample size is needed to further evaluate the effectiveness of this method for the early diagnosis of TPE.


Although several routing protocols have been proposed that can be used in mobile ad hoc networks, there is very little formal analysis that considers the communication overhead or in other word routing overhead for these procedures. This paper provides a new mathematical framework for quantifying the overhead of reactive routing protocols such as dynamic source routing (DSR) and ad hoc on-demand distance vector routing (AODV) in wireless ad hoc networks with random location of the nodes. The analysis is compared with the simulations and found to match with the simulation results . The result of this study can be used to predict scalability properties of routing protocols.


Over 200 cases of undifferentiated embryonal sarcoma of the liver (UESL) have been reported since 1978 when this disease was first described. In the present study, we describe a case of UESL in a 7-year-old female, whose initial symptoms included swelling in the upper abdomen and a palpable enormous irregular tumor. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examination revealed a massive focal lesion in the right lobe of the liver. Hepatic malignant tumor with a high possibility of hepatoblastoma was diagnosed. The tumor was surgically removed and confirmed to be UESL by postoperative pathology and immunohistochemical staining analysis. The patient then received chemotherapy consisting of three cycles of epirubicin (20 mg, days 1–2) and cisplatin (15 mg, days 1–3). To date, the patient has survived for 22 months, and is currently in a good general condition without evidence of local metastasis or recurrence. Although UESL has a high malignancy and a poor prognosis, cases of long-term survival with improved diagnosis and therapy have recently been reported. Therefore, it has been proposed that UESL should not be considered as an hepatic tumor with a poor prognosis. Total resection with preoperative or postoperative radio-chemotherapy is currently considered to be the key approach to improving the survival rate.


Inorganic analogues of hydrocarbons or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are of current interest in chemistry. Based upon global structural searches and B3LYP and CCSD(T) calculations, we present herein the perfectly planar dicyclic boron sulfide clusters: D2h B6S6 (1, (1)Ag), D2h B6S6(-) (2, (2)B3u), and D2h B6S6(2-) (3, (1)Ag). These are the global minima of the systems, being at least 0.73, 0.81, and 0.53 eV lower in energy, respectively, than their alternative isomers at the CCSD(T) level. The D2h structures feature twin B3S2 five-membered rings, which are fused together via a B2 unit and terminated by two BS groups. Bonding analyses show that the closed-shell B6S6(2-) (3) cluster possesses 10 delocalized π electrons, closely analogous to the bonding pattern of the aromatic naphthalene C10H8. The B6S6(-) (2) and B6S6 (1) species are readily obtained upon removal of one or two π electrons from B6S6(2-) (3). The results build a new analogous relationship between boron sulfide clusters and their PAH counterparts. The B6S6(-) (2) monoanion and B6S6(2-) (3) dianion can be effectively stabilized in neutral LiB6S6 and Li2B6S6 salts, respectively.


A novel voltage-controlled variable optical attenuator based on a polymeric planar lightwave circuit (PLC) is demonstrated. The fabricated variable attenuator shows 30 dB attenuation with only 80 mW electrical input power at 1.5 /spl mu/m. The polarisation dependences at 0 and 10 dB attenuations are 0.2 and 1 dB, respectively. The rise and fall times are less than 5 ms.


In this paper, the design of a Microstrip Test Fixture for TRL calibration is described. Experimental results for S-parameters measurement of a GaAs FET chip in the 3-22 GHz frequency range are presented. Repeatability of connections and measurements is discussed and experimental results are also presented .


The North American oil and gas industry has experienced a market pull for dual fuel (DF) engines that can run on any ratio of fuels ranging from 100% diesel to a high proportion of field gas relative to diesel, while also meeting the U.S. Tier 4 Nonroad emissions standards. A DF engine must meet complex and at times competing requirements in terms of performance, fuel tolerance, and emissions. The challenges faced in designing a DF engine to meet all of the performance and emissions requirements require a detailed understanding of the trade-offs for each pollutant. This paper will focus on the details of NOx formation for high substitution DF engines. Experimental results have demonstrated that NOx emission trends (as a function of lambda) for DF engines differ from both traditional diesel engines and lean burn natural gas (NG) engines. For high energy substitution (>70%) conditions, NOx emissions are a function of the premixed gas lambda (λng) and contain a local minimum, with NOx increasing as lambda is either leaned or richened beyond the local minimum which occurs from approximately λng = 1.7 – 1.85. It is hypothesized that at richer conditions (λng < 1.7), NOx formed in the burning of gaseous fuel results in increased total NOx emissions. At leaner conditions (λng > 1.85), the NOx formed in the diesel post flame regions, as a result of increased oxygen availability, results in increased total NOx emissions. Between these two regions there are competing effects which result in relatively constant NOx.


Background Clinical trials have shown that tocilizumab (TCZ) is efficacious as monotherapy and in combination with methotrexate (MTX) or other DMARDs. However, longitudinal TCZ retention data from large registry populations have been missing. Objectives To examine retention of TCZ administered alone or in combination with DMARDs in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients included in the TOcilizumab Collaboration of European Registries in RA (TOCERRA). Methods RA patients treated with TCZ who had baseline (BL) data and not immediately lost to follow-up were included. Patients were considered as taking TCZ in monotherapy (mono) or combination with DMARDs (combo) based on their BL DMARD co-therapy. Time on TCZ was defined by the time between TCZ start and discontinuation with censoring occurring at date of last visit on TCZ. Crude median TCZ retention with 95% CIs were estimated for mono and combo therapy. The hazard for TCZ discontinuation was modeled using a country-stratified, covariate-adjusted Cox proportional hazards model applied to patients with complete BL covariate information for sex, age, disease duration, number of prior biologics, corticosteroid use, seropositivity (rheumatoid factor or anti-CCP), DAS28, HAQ, and therapy. Results A total of 1271 eligible treatment courses (TCs) were retrieved from 8 registries by April 2013. Of these, 328 (26%) were started as mono and 943 as combo therapy. For 83% of TCs, DMARD co-therapy was stable over time. In 471 TCs (37%) (of which 124 mono) TCZ was discontinued. Main causes of discontinuation were lack of effectiveness (52% for both therapies) or safety issues (34% and 26% for mono and combo). Crude median TCZ retention was 2.2 years (95% CI: 1.7-3) for mono and 3.5 years (95% CI: 2.7-NA) for combo, (P=0.08). Of the 1271 TCs 856 were included in the country-stratified, covariate-adjusted analysis. Significant results were obtained for seropositivity (HR: 0.64 (pos vs neg), 95% CI: (0.49, 0.84), P=0.001) and HAQ (HR: 1.25 (per unit increase), 95% CI: (1.04, 1.49), P=0.014) at BL. Therapy was not significant (HR: 1.16 (mono vs combo), 95% CI: (0.89, 1.52), P=0.27). Conclusions In routine care, TCZ retention is better in patients who are seropositive and have lower HAQ at BL, but comparable for mono and combo therapy. Disclosure of Interest C. Gabay Grant/research support: Roche, M. Riek: None declared, M. Hetland Grant/research support: Roche, E. Hauge Grant/research support: Roche, K. Pavelka Grant/research support: Roche, M. Tomsic Grant/research support: Roche, H. Canhao Grant/research support: Roche, K. Chatzidionysiou Grant/research support: Roche, R. van Vollenhoven Grant/research support: Roche, G. Lukina Grant/research support: Roche, D. Nordström Grant/research support: Roche, E. Lie Grant/research support: Roche, I. Ancuta Grant/research support: Roche, E. Loza Santamaria Grant/research support: Roche, P. van Riel Grant/research support: Roche, T. Kvien Grant/research support: Roche DOI 10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-eular.2806


Financial markets are becoming increasingly complex, volatile and uncertain in light of the recent financial crisis. Markets are characterised by a variety of anomalies and stylised facts that pose challenges to the traditional asset pricing theory, where market is represented by a single agent and investor is always perfectly aware of his (her) own preference forming rational expectation by maximising his (her) expected utility. However, empirical evidence suggests that instead, markets are populated with boundedly rational investors that are heterogeneous in beliefs and can often follow some heuristic trading rules. Further, the famous thought experiment known as the Ellsberg's Paradox reveals evidence that contradicts utility maximisation theory. In fact, it implies that investors are ambiguity-averse and prefer taking on risk in situations where they know specific odds rather than an alternate risk scenario in which the odds are completely ambiguous. This thesis contributes to the development of the ambiguity literature by modelling uncertainty and incorporating boundedly rational behaviours to examine their joint impact on asset price dynamics as well as the various market anomalies. First, we provide a multi-asset setup to understand implication of ambiguity on correlated assets, and therefore market liquidity in time of uncertainty. Second, we propose two new dynamic ambiguity models and examine their impact on various market behaviours such as price deviations from the fundamental values, excess volatility, and long memories in return volatility. The main contributions are described below. (i) Different from a single risky asset market, Chapter 2 adds to the ambiguity literature by exploring a multi-asset setup under ambiguity and heterogeneity, and studies the consequent implication on market illiquidity during a market downturn. We firstly explore how market illiquidity is impacted by ambiguity when risky assets are correlated. Second, we add on heterogeneity and study the implication of heterogeneous beliefs on the first and second moments of a risky asset, and consequently the spillover effect among the correlated assets on equilibrium price, risk-free rate and market liquidity. (ii) Although some researchers have discussed the relationship between ambiguity and volatility, most of these models remained in static setups and have not explicitly demonstrated models' capabilities to generate market anomalies and stylised facts in price and return series. Chapters 3 and 4 contribute to the literature by filling this gap. We develop dynamic ambiguity models that incorporate heuristic behaviours that investors exhibit in markets. By assuming that fundamental value of the risky assets are becoming increasingly ambiguous in times of market turmoils, we introduce models that incorporate three types of investors whose beliefs are updated through some heuristic strategies, namely fundamentalists, trend followers and noise investors. In particular, fundamentalists are assumed to be ambiguity-averse due to ambiguity about the fundamental value. The core difference between Chapters 3 and 4 lies in how we incorporate ambiguity in the fundamentalists' beliefs. In Chapter 3, we consider a simple and exogenous approach in structuring ambiguity, whereas Chapter 4 allows ambiguity to be endogenously embedded through an ambiguous signal received by fundamentalists and a Bayesian updating mechanism. Overall, this thesis shows that asset pricing models under ambiguity and boundedly rational behaviour can help to characterise markets in time of turmoil and demonstrate models' capability to generate various financial market anomalies and stylised facts.


Renewable resource-based polyesters, poly(trimethylene malonate) (PTM) and poly(trimethylene itaconate) (PTI), were synthesized from 1,3-propanediol, malonic acid, and itaconic acid via melt polycondensation using green chemistry principles. Aluminum chloride, a Lewis acid, was used as the catalyst at different reaction temperatures. Chemical structure of PTM and PTI with low dispersities showed the presence of ester and ether bonds. A bimodal molecular weight distribution exists, with the high molecular weight fraction ranging from 22 to 38 kDa while the low molecular weight fraction did not exceed 2.5 kDa. Thermal analysis of PTM showed a Tg ranging between –66 and –41 °C. PTM could be used as a plasticizer for other degradable bioplastics, sensor applications, and drug delivery. PTI, a semi-crystalline thermoset polymer, may be used for production of packaging material, disposable utensils, tableware, indoor furnishings, and more importantly, as a degradable biomaterial for biomedical applications. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016, 133, 43917.


Dynamic security assessment (DSA) is an important issue in modern power system security analysis. This paper proposes a novel pattern discovery (PD)-based fuzzy classification scheme for the DSA. First, the PD algorithm is improved by integrating the proposed centroid deviation analysis technique and the prior knowledge of the training data set. This improvement can enhance the performance when it is applied to extract the patterns of data from a training data set. Secondly, based on the results of the improved PD algorithm, a fuzzy logic-based classification method is developed to predict the security index of a given power system operating point. In addition, the proposed scheme is tested on the IEEE 50-machine system and is compared with other state-of-the-art classification techniques. The comparison demonstrates that the proposed model is more effective in the DSA of a power system.


The purpose of this research is to identify, prioritize the barriers to commercialization of research findings and academic innovations in the eastern province. This research is in terms of survey method and in terms of purpose. Sample size with Cochran formula, 177 out of 330 university staff were selected. Subsequently, the main and secondary criteria were identified. Finally, the main obstacles (individual, structural, cultural, process) and 18 sub-obstacles were identified. Data was analyzed using Hierarchical Analyzer Software (AHP) software, prioritization. The results showed that cultural barriers with the weight of 436 / is the most important barrier and the international exchange of knowledge with the final weight of 191 / barrier is ranked first. Therefore, organizational culture is a major factor and should be strengthened. International exchange of knowledge is possible through easy access to scientific articles and the recruitment of international professors. Key Words: Barriers to Commercialization, Research Findings, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP)


Background Despite aggressive treatments and care, the median survival for GBM patients is 14.6 months, which has only modestly improved over the past several decades, highlighting the need for new therapeutic approaches. NK cells, innate cytotoxic effectors, are showing potential for cancer immunotherapy for GBM.1–3 However, tumor antigen heterogeneity and a severely immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME) have rendered GBM highly resistant to most single antigen-based NK monotherapies.4–6 Methods To overcome these challenges, our solution has been to develop a first multifunctional immunotherapy for GBM based on genetically-engineered NK cells bearing multiple simultaneous anti-tumor functions, including local tumor responsiveness and the ability to avoid antigen escape. The activity of these lentivirally-transduced multi-functional NK (E-pNK) cells were evaluated against patient-derived GBM cells both in vitro and in vivo. Results We have designed and synthesized a multifunctional CAR construct that expresses an anti-CD73 scFv which is cleavable by GBM-associated proteases, and a dual CAR redirected against ligands for NKG2D and GBM-associated GD2 receptors (figure 1A-B). We have isolated primary NK cells (figure 1C) and genetically manipulated them to express NKG2D, anti-GD2 scFv and anti-CD73 scFv (figure 1D-E). E-pNK cells showed a significantly higher in vitro antitumor activity towards GBM43 targets, patient-derived GBM cells, including increased percentage of tumor killing, degranulation and IFN-γ production (figure 1F-G). E-pNK cells lacking the anti-CD73 scFv following uPA treatment displayed significantly decreased killing ability of target GBM43 cells after co-culture at E/T ratios of 2.5 and 5 for 4 h (figure 1H). In addition, after treatment with cleaved anti-CD73 scFv, GBM43 cells showed a significantly reduced ability to produce adenosine due to the inhibition of CD73 enzyme activity (figure 1I). Furthermore, E-pNK cells showed potent anti-GBM activity in subcutaneously GBM43 xenografts (figure 1J-L). In vivo-adoptively transferred E-pNK cells also showed superior intratumoral infiltration into GBM43 tumors when analyzed by IHC (data not shown). Conclusions We have generated E-pNK cells showing improved antitumor activity against GBM through increased resistance to the immunosuppressive TME via adenosinergic CD73 blockade and the simultaneous ability to specifically target GBM cells via dual CARs. Based on these results, we are currently building the orthotopic GBM mouse model to further evaluate their in vivo therapeutic effects. Acknowledgements This work is supported, in part, by a Ralph W. and Grace M. Showalter Research Trust award and a Walther Cancer Foundation Embedding Grant. Ethics Approval Primary human NK (pNK) cells used in this study were obtained using Purdue University's Institutional Review Board (IRB)-approved consent forms (IRB-approved protocol #1804020540). References Sedgwick AJ, Ghazanfari N, Constantinescu P, Mantamadiotis T, Barrow AD. The role of NK cells and innate lymphoid cells in brain cancer. Front Immunol 2020;11:01549. Burger MC, Zhang CC, Harter PN, Romanski A, Strassheimer F, Senft C, et al. CAR-engineered NK cells for the treatment of glioblastoma: turning innate effectors into precision tools for cancer immunotherapy. Front Immunol 2019;10:2683. Wang J, Lupo KB, Chambers AM, Matosevic S. Purinergic targeting enhances immunotherapy of CD73+ solid tumors with piggyBac-engineered chimeric antigen receptor natural killer cells. J Immunother Cancer 2018;6:136. Lim M, Xia YX, Bettegowda C, Weller M. Current state of immunotherapy for glioblastoma. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 2018;15:422-442. Lynes JP, Nwankwo AK, Sur HP, Sanchez VE, Sarpong KA, Ariyo OI, et al. Biomarkers for immunotherapy for treatment of glioblastoma. J Immunother Cancer 2020;8:e000348. Wang J, Matosevic S. NT5E/CD73 as Correlative factor of patient survival and natural killer cell infiltration in glioblastoma. J Clin Med 2019;8:1526.


Abstract : The Navy has seen a significant increase in the presence of mobile and smart devices on its units due to advancements in technology and younger sailors desire to be connected at all times. These devices create security threats due to their easily concealable size and their host of connectivity and image related features. The insider threat(intentional or not) now includes the ability to take photos, record conversations, share data wirelessly, and communicate official use and classified information, all more easily than ever before. Current enterprise solutions and associated policy does not address managing personal devices. In fact, management of personal devices is currently outside the Department of Defense (DOD) effort to control Personal Electronic Devices (PED) since the organization does not own the device and therefore has no way to mandate what must or must not be installed on them. The current path to a bring your own device (BYOD) policy is unclear. Security vulnerabilities with these devices have not been addressed in a uniform matter in policy or in practice. It is with these statements in mind that we address how to take the first steps in developing feasible management of personal devices on naval units and potentially throughout the DOD. In this thesis, we provide a thorough evaluation of National Institute for Standards and Technology, Defense Information Systems Agency, and DOD publications to provide a starting point for adapting current policy and to guide the development of our application. We then examine the feasibility of implementable software application solutions to hardware features that pose a threat to security. Specific research addresses why each hardware feature on a mobile device is a security concern, how it is controlled inside the Android Studio API, and how we utilize these controls to lockdown and then unlock said hardware features through a simple proof of concept Android application.


Harnessing reliable and relevant information on ecosystems requires focusing and prioritising information acquisition on dimensions of interest. As a boundary object between ecosystem monitoring, research and public decision-making, ecosystem accounting can serve this purpose. We develop an argument in favour of a set of accounts, consistent with the statistical standard part of the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA-EA), that explicitly links monetary accounts to ecosystem extent and condition accounts. The ecosystem condition account is structured in three categories reflecting the main values motivating integrated ecosystem management targets and notions of «good ecological status». These categories are: (i) the maintenance of their heritage dimensions, (ii) their capacity to sustainably provide ecosystem services and (iii) the maintenance of their overall functionality. We discuss how such ecosystem accounts and associated monitoring can form the basis both for assessing an ecological debt by using a cost-based approach and for designing an action-orientated information system suitable to support the transition towards sustainable societies.


As learning-based models become predominant in image processing field, especially in image classification and object detection, image quality assessment (IQA) has been a hot issue since the quality of train images is of great importance fro model performance. This paper proposes a novel blind IQA model evolved from VGG-16 [1], a state-of-the-art classification deep convolutional neural network(CNN). It modifies the classification network to apply it to regression task by keeping only one neuron in the last fully-connected layer, the output of which is considered as the quality assessment metric after being normalized to a score between 0 and 1 via Sigmoid function. And experimental results demonstrate that this model achieves a superb assessment performance on TID-2013 dataset [2].


Various issues arise in performing regression and classification when one uses images as predictors, chief among them high dimensionality. Considering a naïve approach in which each pixel is entered into the model as a separate predictor, the analysis quickly becomes unwieldy, since modern cameras can output pictures with pixels numbering on the order of millions. However, images are highly constrained; the intrinsic dimension of an image is often far less than its ambient dimension. Moreover, various techniques to obtain new predictors (e.g., via feature extraction or by considering sets of predefined salient points in each image as variables in a regression model) can further reduce the dimension of the predictors, giving rise to an inherent lower‐dimensional, manifold structure. We show that, for some regression problems in computer vision, using a data‐dependent regularization that implicitly considers this manifold structure yields improvements over numerous alternatives. We extend this method to cases in which the structure is known a priori, in which it outperforms alternative methods, including those which explicitly take the known structure into account. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Statistical Analysis and Data Mining, 2013


The identification of the essential bacterial second messenger cyclic-di-AMP synthesized by the DNA-integrity scanning protein DisA opened up a new and emerging field in bacterial signaling. To further analyze the di-adenylate cyclase reaction catalyzed by the DAC domains of DisA, we crystallized Thermotoga maritima DisA in presence of different ATP analogs and metal ions to identify the metal binding site and trap the enzyme in preand post-reaction states. Through structural and biochemical assays we identified important residues essential for the reaction in the active site of the DAC domains. Our structures resolve the metal binding site and thus explain the activation of ATP for the DAC reaction. Moreover, we were able to identify a potent inhibitor of the DAC domain. Based on the available structures and homology to annotated DAC domains we propose a common mechanism for c-di-AMP synthesis by DAC domains in c-di-AMP producing species and a possible approach for its effective inhibition.


Population biology, growth and reproductive aspects of the amphidromous shrimp Palaemon pandaliformis (Stimpson, 1871) were investigated in a Neotropical river of northeastern Brazil. The specimens were collected every month from September 2009 to August 2010. Total and monthly sex ratios deviated in favour of males. Von Bertalanffy growth parameters indicated that the females grew more rapidly, reached larger sizes, and had a longer life span than males. We also observed continuous reproductive activity and juvenile recruitment throughout the year. Relations between the number of eggs (fecundity) and body size indicated that fecundity in females increase with size. Compared with previous results, some population biology parameters of the freshwater population of P. pandaliformis differ from estuarine populations. The reproductive aspects analyzed here and their comparison with other marine species were consistent with the hypothesis that Palaemonidae species are undergoing an adaptation process and colonizing fresh water environments.


"This article presents results from a longitudinal study using data from the Norwegian population register, combined with data from the 1970 and 1980 censuses. For two generations, those born in 1948 and 1958, successive migrations are considered and the effects of various sociodemographic characteristics on migratory behaviour are explored....Event-history analysis is used to examine the duration of stay at the place reached at age 22, and the effects of individual characteristics on this duration. Since a distinction is made between intra- and inter-regional migration, it has been possible to show that these effects vary significantly depending on whether we are dealing with short- or long-distance migration."