Purpose

This paper aims to develop and apply a measurement instrument to identify a comparative metric that identifies operational sustainability maturity across sectors and countries.

Design/methodology/approach

Using structured interviews to complete the operations sustainability maturity model (OSMM) in financial services organisations, data were compared to show differences for developed and developing countries.

Findings

The preliminary findings indicate that there is no significant difference in the sustainability maturity index between countries. However, size and profitability are strong indicators of sustainability maturity.

Research limitations/implications

These findings represent preliminary findings drawn from the financial services sector in a limited number of countries. Expansion of the data set will give greater confidence of results.

Practical implications

The OSMM is an empirical tool used to collect data that allows statistical evaluation of sustainable strategies used by firms in various sectors and in different countries.

Social implications

Sustainability is of critical importance in the economic development of all countries. The OSMM embraces fiscal, operational and environmental considerations. The research gives new insights to alternative strategic imperatives.

Originality/value

With increased awareness of organisational sustainability, academics have developed a number of tools, approaches and strategies to ensure commercial viability. However, few corporations have successfully institutionalised ongoing sustainability. OSMM is unique. Its wider application to embrace additional industry sectors and countries will bring new insight to strategic intent.


Microceramic components have outstanding properties, such as high temperature resistant, biocompatible, chemically stable and high hardness properties, and could be used in a wide range of applications. However, the fabrication of precision micro-components has long been a barrier and limited their applications. This paper presents a soft lithography technique to fabricate near net-shape alumina micro-components. The process uses elastomer polydimethysiloxane (PDMS) to replace traditional solid moulds and leaves the green patterns intact after demoulding. The whole soft lithography technique involves the following steps: (i) fabricating high aspect ratio SU-8 moulds using UV photolithography, (ii) producing PDMS soft moulds from SU-8 masters, (iii) making aqueous high solids loading alumina suspension, (iv) filling patterned PDMS mould with the aqueous alumina suspension and (v) demoulding and sintering. The rheological properties (zeta potential and viscosity) of aqueous alumina suspensions have been characterized in relation to the varying pH values and concentration of dispersant (D-3005). The optimal parameters of alumina suspension for mould filling have been achieved at a pH value = 11; concentration of dispersant = 0.05 g ml−1; amount of binder = 0.75%; highest solid loading = 70 wt%. After pressurized mould filling, complete, dense and free-standing micro-components have been achieved by using a 70 wt% alumina suspension and an optimum fabrication technique, while the overall linear shrinkage is found to be about 22%.


About one hundred fifty swine were exposed to either radium-226 or californium-252 sources in the uterine cervix to determine an RBE for both acute and long-term effects. That value for early changes in the tissues at risk in the treatment of cervical cancer was between 6.2 and 6.8. The incidence of complications increased with time after exposure, especially among animals treated with /sup 252/Cf. Analysis of rectal injury showed that ulceration occurred frequently within a year postexposure at doses between 1600 and 2400 rad calculated at 2 cm lateral to the source midline. Fat necrosis and smooth muscle atrophy, resulting in a local rectal stricture, were delayed changes observed in some animals. The lower ureter was the site for a greater frequency of complications than the GI tract. Ureteral stricture often occurred at doses of 1200 rad from /sup 252/Cf and 7000 rad from /sup 226/Ra. Observation of delayed effects in the uterine-cervix in animals held up to 4 years postexposure indicate that the RBE for /sup 252/Cf may be increased to a value as high as 18, while repair may have even decreased it to about 5.6 in the rectum. Fifty swine are still being observed for long-term effectsmore » after doses above 800 rad from /sup 252/Cf and 5000 rad from /sup 226/Ra.« less


Abstract summary: Demographic change creates opportunities for social innovations promoting active and healthy ageing. Given the growing demands being placed on care systems, it is essential that healthy life years are extended. The INNOVAGE project is committed to developing, testing and cataloguing social innovations based on a high degree of user involvement and coproduction principles and contributing to older people's wellbeing and quality of life. Through this abstract, INNOVAGE wants to highlight how social innovations in the field of integrated care and healthy ageing need direct user involvement and co-production in order to successfully develop into viable solutions. It also presents for example one particular method – research circles tested in four EU countries that can be used by researchers to co-produce innovative integrated health and social care solutions. Introduction: Context: Eurostat population projections (1) estimate those aged over 60 will increase by two million people per annum in the coming decades. While the number of persons in need of care will increase, the number of persons available to provide informal and formal support and care will decrease. This means there is a need for innovation in health and wellbeing across the life course. Problem statement: Involving users in the innovation process contributes to successful design and implementation of solutions supporting ageing. There is a growing need to develop common practice allowing researchers to genuinely involve older people in the co-production of innovations in practice, especially in the care system and in social/health care services delivery. Aim: The FP7 project INNOVAGE aims to contribute to the European goal of extending healthy life years (2). Its mission builds on the expertise of researchers, older people and other stakeholders to identify major social innovation approaches to supporting improved quality of life and well-being as people age.summary: Demographic change creates opportunities for social innovations promoting active and healthy ageing. Given the growing demands being placed on care systems, it is essential that healthy life years are extended. The INNOVAGE project is committed to developing, testing and cataloguing social innovations based on a high degree of user involvement and coproduction principles and contributing to older people's wellbeing and quality of life. Through this abstract, INNOVAGE wants to highlight how social innovations in the field of integrated care and healthy ageing need direct user involvement and co-production in order to successfully develop into viable solutions. It also presents for example one particular method – research circles tested in four EU countries that can be used by researchers to co-produce innovative integrated health and social care solutions. Introduction: Context: Eurostat population projections (1) estimate those aged over 60 will increase by two million people per annum in the coming decades. While the number of persons in need of care will increase, the number of persons available to provide informal and formal support and care will decrease. This means there is a need for innovation in health and wellbeing across the life course. Problem statement: Involving users in the innovation process contributes to successful design and implementation of solutions supporting ageing. There is a growing need to develop common practice allowing researchers to genuinely involve older people in the co-production of innovations in practice, especially in the care system and in social/health care services delivery. Aim: The FP7 project INNOVAGE aims to contribute to the European goal of extending healthy life years (2). Its mission builds on the expertise of researchers, older people and other stakeholders to identify major social innovation approaches to supporting improved quality of life and well-being as people age. Short description of practice change implemented: INNOVAGE reviewed and tested methods of involving older people in innovative service design and delivery, including questionnaires, focus groups, stakeholder fora, advisory boards and pilot tests. These methods are described in the 15th International Conference on Integrated Care, Edinburgh, UK, March 25-27, 2015 1 International Journal of Integrated Care – Volume 15, 27 May – URN:NBN:NL:UI:10-1-116996 – http://www.ijic.org/ INNOVAGE guidelines on involving users in social innovation development (3). With this abstract, INNOVAGE wants to highlight one particular method – research circles – tested and implemented successfully in four EU countries. Although tested in the housing sector this has strong application in integrated care settings as it engages with practitioners and volunteers who are embedded in the relevant context. INNOVAGE research circles engaged volunteer practitioners/researchers in a joint effort to develop/collect new knowledge to inform changes in a specific situation. The aim was to nurture engagement and communication among people with different perspectives but with core interests in common, generating joint agreement for practical actions to influence and change their own situation. The research circles were led by research assistants, and involved participants with different backgrounds. Aim and theory of change used: Adopted model of social innovation: INNOVAGE adopts the Young Foundation model of social innovation (4) that underpins much of the work in this area. The model tracks the possible stages of innovation from prompts to systemic change. Adopted concept of active and healthy ageing: Building on the World Health Organisation framework (5), INNOVAGE has adopted a multi-layered approach that conceptualises active ageing as a comprehensive strategy to maximise participation and well-being as people age at individual, organisational and societal level. Targeted population and stakeholders: INNOVAGE allots significant space for discussion with and input from older people, carers, NGOs, academics/researchers, policy makers and business from the EU throughout the whole project. Timeline: INNOVAGE runs for 36 months and finishes in December 2015. Highlights: Innovation: An integral part of innovation is to: engage users in the development of innovations from the start; to continually reflect users' feedback, and; to encourage and support them. Research outcomes, evaluation and folow-up should be shared with users as well. Impact: Co-production with older people and relevant stakeholders ensures user-friendly care initiatives and environments which are more likely to be accepted and implemented. Users can help address a wide range of supplementary issues, such as acceptability, affordability, ethical issues, and implementation. Involving users in the design of integrated care services helps identify service provision's priorities, as well as challenge existing assumptions on users' needs and preferences. Outcomes: User involvement from the start of the innovation process empowers users and increases their wellbeing through better innovation. The multi-stakeholder approach adopted by INNOVAGE also influences other sectors which support active and healthy ageing and minimising care requirements. Conclusions: Key findings: User involvement requires sufficient resources in funding, staffing and compliance with ethical requirements. Effectively done, it contributes to users' quality of life, following a multi/inter -disciplinary approach. The heterogeneity of users must be reflected, especially their varying cognitive/physical abilities and education/literacy. Careful targeting of innovation in care is also needed to avoid increasing health inequalities among disadvantaged groups. It has particular value to discussions about care needs, which take place at the conjunction of health/social provision and individual/familial/medical requirement. Discussions: Sustainability issues: To ensure the sustainability of co-production methodologies to innovate care systems, it is important to provide user organisations – such as patient groups, older person's representatives with the necessary support. Transferability issues: There is not a unique model to engage users. The area of interest, the required outcomes, the available resources and other issues impact the methodology to be adopted. The research circles described here offer one possible model. For effective implementation diversity must be reflected in the research. 15th International Conference on Integrated Care, Edinburgh, UK, March 25-27, 2015 2 International Journal of Integrated Care – Volume 15, 27 May – URN:NBN:NL:UI:10-1-116996 – http://www.ijic.org/ Lessons learned: Meaningful user engagement requires planning and adequate resources and commitment from both health and social care organisations. Preparation should include identifying legal, ethical and practical risks, defining roles and responsibilities for all parties, deciding on methodologies as well as timing and budgets. Early user involvement is the best option; if left until late in the process it is perceived as tokenistic.


Abstract Metallurgical production sites are often difficult to identify in the archaeological record because ore beneficiation and slag processing in the past involved the use of ground stone tools that were similar to those used in other contexts to prepare cereals and foods. Analysis of the ground stone assemblage from a Middle Bronze Age copper mining and production site at Ambelikou Aletri in Cyprus provided an opportunity to distinguish industrial and domestic ground stone tools and to identify the types of tools used in different stages of metal production. A comparison of tool morphologies, raw materials, and wear and breakage patterns from Ambelikou Aletri with those from contemporary domestic contexts, suggests that distinctions in the nature and structure of industrial and domestic tool kits do exist and those distinctions have an important role to play in identifying mining, smelting, and casting sites in the future.


Background: Maternal subclinical hypothyroidism is a cause of poor neurodevelopment outcome in the offspring. Although iodine deficiency is the most common cause of hypothyroidism world wide, there are no screening programmes for it in the United Kingdom where the population is assumed to be iodine replete. Objective: To determine the prevalence of reduced iodine intake by measuring urinary iodide concentrations in pregnant and non-pregnant women from the north east of England. Methods: Urinary iodide excretion (UIE) rate was estimated using inductively coupled mass spectrometry in 227 women at 15 weeks gestation and in 227 non-pregnant age matched controls. A reduced intake of iodine is indicated by a concentration in urine of less than 50 μg/l or less than 0.05 μg iodine/mmol creatinine. Results: Eight (3.5%) pregnant women and 13 (5.7%) controls had a reduced iodine/creatinine ratio. These values were higher when UIE was expressed as iodine concentration: 16 (7%) and 20 (8.8%) respectively. Ninety (40%) of the pregnant women had a UIE of 0.05–0.10, which is consistent with borderline deficiency. Conclusion: In this study, 3.5% of pregnant women had evidence of iodine deficiency, and 40% may be borderline deficient. Larger scale studies are required to estimate the true prevalence of iodine deficiency in the United Kingdom.


The target of this work was the process development of demonstration plant to produce the high quality alternative fuel oil by the pyrolysis of mixed plastic waste. In the first step of research, the bench-scale units of 70 t/y and the pilot plant of 360 t/y had been developed. Main research contents in this step were the process performance test of pilot plant of 360 ton/year and the development of demonstration plant of 3,000 t/y, which was constructed at Korea R & D Company in Kimjae City. The process performance of pilot plant of 360 t/y showed about 80% yield of liquid product, which was obtained by both light gas oil(LGO) and heavy gas oil(HGO), The boiling point range distribution of LO product that was mainly consisting of olefin components in PONA group appeared at between that of commercial gasoline and kerosene. On the other hand, HO product was mainly paraffin and olefin components and also appeared at upper temperature distribution range than commercial diesel. Gas product showed a high fraction of product like LPG composition, but also a high fraction of and CO by probably a little leak of process.


We demonstrate that much of the morphological and metrical data Lehtonen et al. (Journal of Biogeography, 2011, 38, 805–808) present in support of a closer relationship between humans and chimpanzees than between humans and orangutans are faulty. When the numerous invalid features and suggested character states are excluded, as they should be, the most robust theory of relationship that can be generated is between humans and orangutans. With regard to the direct optimization method (DOM) resolving problems in analysing molecular (sequence) data, the method, if valid, requires that demonstration of sequence similarity is per force a demonstration of synapomorphy. In brief, DOM fails both to test theories of relatedness and to take into account the fact that identification of shared similarity does not translate into demonstration of synapomorphy.


Objective: To determine factors associated with different symptom domains among postmenopausal Saudi women in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Methods: In a cross-sectional study, interviews were conducted with 542 postmenopausal Saudi women, comprising sociodemographic history, social support, and the Menopause-specific Quality of Life questionnaire. Results: The mean age of participants was 58 (±7.0) years, and the mean age at menopause was 49 (±4.7) years. We found that 41% (n = 224), 14.4% (n = 78), 57% (n = 307), and 12.7% (n = 69) of women reported severe/moderate impact of vasomotor, psychosocial, physical, and sexual symptoms, respectively. Multivariate logistic regression revealed that lacking emotional support was associated with severe/moderate vasomotor (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.5, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.1, 2.3), psychosocial (aOR 2.0, 95% CI 1.2, 3.4), and physical (aOR 1.7, 95% CI 1.2, 2.6) symptoms. Lack of tangible social support was associated with severe/moderate sexual symptoms (aOR 1.9, 95% CI 1.0, 3.4). In addition, women who worked (aOR 1.8, 95% CI 1.1, 3.2), were obese (aOR 2.0, 95% CI 1.0, 4.1), lived in rented accommodations (aOR 3.9, 95% CI 1.2, 13.1), or had a retired spouse (aOR 1.6, 95% CI 1.0, 2.4) had higher odds for moderate/severe menopausal symptoms. Conclusions: Establishing educational and counseling programs for postmenopausal women, their spouses, and other family members could improve social support and hence quality of life of postmenopausal women. Effective preventive strategies to deal with modifiable risk factors, such as obesity and work stress, should also be implemented.


The sheath of the optic nerve was studied in rhesus monkeys, humans, and rabbits. The sheath (i.e., dura mater and arachnoid mater) was normally found to be loose near the eyeball, with a much bigger space between the optic nerve and the sheath than anywhere else in its course, consequently presenting bulbous appearance just behind the eyeball. The space was narrowest in the region of the optic canal, with thick fibrous bands stretching from the dura mater to the pia mater of the optic nerve-so that the space assumed the character of a trabecular meshwork of closely knit fibers in the canal, with the subarachnoid and subdural spaces reduced to almost a capillary size in this region. Communication between the subarachnoid spaces of the cranial cavity and of the sheath was almost always seen; however, the extent of communication in the optic canal showed wide variation from one specimen to another. The significance of our findings in the interpretation of some clinical and pathological findings and processes is discussed.


This paper develops a robust H controller for a pitching and plunging airfoil using the state space representation of Theodorsen's lift model employing the linear matrix inequalities (LMI) method. Both parameter uncertainty and the input disturbances are considered in the model. The existence condition for the robust H state-feedback controller is obtained using the Lyapunov functional approach. In practical systems, it is difficult to obtain all the states of the model needed for the controller. Thus the observer existence condition is proposed to provide the states' information for the model. Several examples are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the designed controller and the designed observer.


Introduction: Avascular necrosis (AVN) of the femoral head is an increasingly common cause of musculoskeletal disability with unknown etiology. Traumatic and non-traumatic factors can be effective in its occurrence. About 50% of cases are bilateral. The underlying treatment is prosthetic replacement surgical procedure. Case Presentation: We report a case of bilateral AVN of femoral heads who was a candidate for prosthetic replacement surgery but improved significantly, using laser acupuncture. The patient was a 55-year-old woman with a diagnosis of bilateral osteonecrosis of the femoral head for five years. As the patient declined the surgical option, laser acupuncture was started for pain control. Regarding the signs of bilateral femoral head recovery (according to the MRI scan criteria), a total of 3 courses of laser acupuncture (each course was 20 sessions) with 2 months intervals was performed. Ten acupuncture points: Li4, Li11, St36, SP6, LIV3, GB4, GB5, GB6, GB13, GB14, GB20, GB30, GB31, GB34, were irradiated bilaterally using red 650 nm laser, 100 mW, 1505 Hz frequency, duty cycle 50 3 J/point and near infrared 810 nm laser, 100 mW, 1705 Hz frequency, duty cycle 50 3 J/point, for 2 minutes. The patient received 3 laser therapy courses. During the first-course, laser therapy was done every other day to reduce pain. For the second and third courses, according to pain decrease, therapy was done every week. Results: The results of the MRI scans and x-ray studies show progressive regeneration of the right femoral head from VI to B II and of the left from V to C II (based on the standard table of Pennsylvania). Conclusion: It seems that this procedure may be mentioned in future research projects, especially in cases with high risks of surgery.


There was studied in spleen organotypic tissue culture the effect of vilon on the development of of proliferative activity in central and peripheral fields of explants of rats of various age: 3 days, 3 weeks and 2 years old. Vilon stimulated cell proliferation both in young and old rats, in spite of all there are reciprocal relations of this process in central and peripheral fields in the spleen organotypic culture of rats of various age.


Static and dynamic experiments were carried out to study the antiscale performance of salicylic acid (SA) to calcium sulfate dihydrate (CSD) scale. The CSD scale formed in the reuse of processing of wastewater of phosphorite flotation. The scale surface physicochemical properties have been investigated by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), ζ potential, and contact angle measurements. The antiscale mechanisms of SA to CSD were studied from surface properties and crystal growth. The results showed that the scale inhibition efficiency of SA to CSD reached 98.9% (6 mg/L) under static conditions. Under dynamic conditions, the faster the fluid velocity, the less CSD formed. The order of scaling capability on different material surfaces was 20#CS > 304SS > PC > PE. The growth of CSD was inhibited by SA resulting in the surface becoming porous. The deprotonated SA could easily interact with the Ca2+ to make the CSD surface potential negative. The wettability properties of the CSD are greatly improved when the contact angle is reduced. The surface tension values of CSD without and with 6 mg/L SA are 19.06 and 240.69 mN/m2, respectively. SA as a scale inhibitor can significantly inhibit crystallization of CSD.


Aims The exact risk to patients undergoing surgery who develop COVID-19 is not yet fully known. This study aims to provide the current data to allow adequate consent regarding the risks of post-surgery COVID-19 infection and subsequent COVID-19-related mortality. Methods All orthopaedic trauma cases at the Wrightington Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust from 'lockdown' (23 March 2020) to date (15 June 2020) were collated and split into three groups. Adult ambulatory trauma surgeries (upper limb trauma, ankle fracture, tibial plateau fracture) and regional-specific referrals (periprosthetic hip fracture) were performed at a stand-alone elective site that accepted COVID-19-negative patients. Neck of femur fractures (NOFF) and all remaining non-NOFF (paediatric trauma, long bone injury) surgeries were performed at an acute site hospital (mixed green/blue site). Patients were swabbed for COVID-19 before surgery on both sites. Age, sex, nature of surgery, American Society of Anaesthesiologists (ASA) grade, associated comorbidity, length of stay, development of post-surgical COVID-19 infection, and post-surgical COVID-19-related deaths were collected. Results At the elective site, 225 patients underwent orthopaedic trauma surgery; two became COVID-19-positive (0.9%) in the immediate perioperative period, neither of which was fatal. At the acute site, 93 patients underwent non-NOFF trauma surgery, of whom six became COVID-19-positive (6.5%) and three died. A further 84 patients underwent NOFF surgery, seven becoming COVID-19 positive (8.3%) and five died. Conclusion At the elective site, the rate of COVID-19 infection following orthopaedic trauma surgery was low, at 0.9%. At the acute mixed site (typical district general hospital), for non-NOFF surgery there was a 6.5% incidence of post-surgical COVID-19 infection (seven-fold higher risk) with 50% COVID-19 mortality; for NOFF surgery, there was an 8.3% incidence of post-surgical COVID-19 infection, with 71% COVID-19 mortality. This is likely to have significance when planning a resumption of elective orthopaedic surgery and for consent to the patient. Cite this article: Bone Joint Open 2020;1-9:556–561.


This paper presents a structured approach to grounded theory-building. It is aimed at 'mode 2' (Gibbons et al., 1994) management researchers, in particular those who analyse recollections of past events, often recorded in interview data, to develop explanations of management action. Two characteristics of mode 2 enquiry - transdisciplinarity and an emphasis on tacit knowledge - make grounded theory potentially attractive to mode 2 researchers. However, the approach offered here differs in two important ways from the much-cited universal grounded theory model originated by Glaser and Strauss (1967) and later proceduralized by Strauss and Corbin (1990). First, it acknowledges that the form of theories of management action which will satisfy the contemporary demands of mode 2 research is different from the form of integrated sociological theory for which the original grounded theory approach was developed. Second, it takes account of differences between the ontological assumptions underlying the use of retrospective data for analysing management action, and those associated with participant observation, the pivotal strategy of grounded theory's symbolic interactionist roots. The result is a simplified, more direct approach which works for the specific purpose of generating useful, consensually valid theory.


The ability of the 1-n-1 complex-valued neural network to learn 2D affine transformations has been applied to the estimation of optical flows and the generation of fractal images. The complex-valued neural network has the adaptability and the generalization ability as inherent nature. This is the most different point between the ability of the 1-n-1 complex-valued neural network to learn 2D affine transformations and the standard techniques for 2D affine transformations such as the Fourier descriptor. It is important to clarify the properties of complex-valued neural networks in order to accelerate its practical applications more and more. In this paper, first, the generalization ability of the 1-n-1 complex-valued neural network which has learned complicated rotations on a 2D plane is examined experimentally and analytically. Next, the behavior of the 1-n-1 complex-valued neural network that has learned a transformation on the Steiner circles is demonstrated, and the relationship the values of the complex-valued weights after training and a linear transformation related to the Steiner circles is clarified via computer simulations. Furthermore, the relationship the weight values of the 1-n-1 complex-valued neural network learned 2D affine transformations and the learning patterns used is elucidated. These research results make it possible to solve complicated problems more simply and efficiently with 1-n-1 complex-valued neural networks. As a matter of fact, an application of the 1-n-1 type complex-valued neural network to an associative memory is presented.


On the way to parenthood - (re)productions of gender, ethnicity, race and class in midwife consultations.The premise of this article is that subject positions, which parents-to-be hold during pregnancy, influence their future parenthood. The article examines how such subject positions are produced in midwife consultations. It shows how the man in a heterosexual couple is positioned as peripheral while the woman is assigned the responsibility for the construction of the family by means of documents, architecture and midwife practices. At the same time, the article illustrates how midwife practices reproduce hierarchies of a superior white, majority ethnic, middle class norm which equals respectability, opposed to inferior non-white, minority ethnic, working class deviations. (Less)


Monocytes are circulating short-lived macrophage precursors that are recruited on demand from the blood to sites of inflammation and challenge. In steady state, classical monocytes give rise to vasculature-resident cells that patrol the luminal side of the endothelium. In addition, classical monocytes feed macrophage compartments of selected organs, including barrier tissues, such as the skin and intestine, as well as the heart. Monocyte differentiation under conditions of inflammation has been studied in considerable detail. In contrast, monocyte differentiation under non-inflammatory conditions remains less well understood. Here we took advantage of a combination of cell ablation and precursor engraftment to investigate the generation of gut macrophages from monocytes. Collectively, we identify factors associated with the gradual adaptation of monocytes to tissue residency. Moreover, comparison of monocyte differentiation into the colon and ileum-resident macrophages revealed the graduated acquisition of gut segment-specific gene expression signatures.


ABSTRACT Rabbits are commonly kept in a variety of settings, including homes, laboratories, and veterinary clinics. Despite the popularity of keeping this prey species, little research has investigated current methods of handling. The aim of this study was to examine the experience of caregivers (owners and keepers) in using five handling methods commonly referred to in books written for companion animal (pet) owners and veterinary and/or laboratory personnel. An online survey was completed by 2644 respondents, representing all three of these groups, and breeders. Data were acquired to determine sources that participants used to gain knowledge of different handling methods, the methods they used and for what purposes they used them, and their perceptions of any associated difficulties or welfare concerns. Results indicated that participants most frequently used the method of supporting a rabbit's body against a person's chest, which was considered the easiest and most welfare-friendly method of the handling methods explored. "Scruffing with rear support" was the least used method and was considered to be distressing and painful for the rabbit. As rabbits are a terrestrial prey species, being picked up is likely an innately stressful experience. Additional research is encouraged to explore the experience of rabbits during handling to identify methods that can be easily used with the fewest welfare compromises.


The need for universities to commercialize academic knowledge, in addition to their two traditional core missions of research and teaching, has made industry–university collaborations (IUCs) more relevant. Although research on IUCs has produced a significant body of knowledge explaining different factors which enable or inhibit the success of IUCs, the nature of IUCs in emerging economies remains poorly understood. The primary purpose of this article is to extend our cumulative understanding of IUCs and of how universities in emerging economies can successfully transition to become entrepreneurial universities. We drew upon insights from two streams of literature—legitimacy and IUCs—to develop an informed understanding of the phenomenon of IUCs and entrepreneurial university emergence in developing economies of Africa. We apply to IUCs and entrepreneurial university emergence the four typologies of the moral legitimacy perspective—personal, consequential, structural, and procedural. We propose how they can yield insights into the antecedents for successful IUCs in emerging African economies, as well as the processes that lead to the emergence of legitimate entrepreneurial universities. We highlight the paper's contributions to theory and practice and suggest that, just as research on IUCs benefits from an organizational legitimacy perspective, organizational legitimacy is also informed by research into IUCs.


Aquaporins are tetrameric membrane-bound channels that facilitate transport of water and other small solutes across cell membranes. In eukaryotes, they are frequently regulated by gating or trafficking, allowing for the cell to control membrane permeability in a specific manner. Protein–protein interactions play crucial roles in both regulatory processes and also mediate alternative functions such as cell adhesion. In this review, we summarize recent knowledge about aquaporin protein–protein interactions; dividing the interactions into three types: (1) interactions between aquaporin tetramers; (2) interactions between aquaporin monomers within a tetramer (hetero-tetramerization); and (3) transient interactions with regulatory proteins. We particularly focus on the structural aspects of the interactions, discussing the small differences within a conserved overall fold that allow for aquaporins to be differentially regulated in an organism-, tissue- and trigger-specific manner. A deep knowledge about these differences is needed to fully understand aquaporin function and regulation in many physiological processes, and may enable design of compounds targeting specific aquaporins for treatment of human disease.


Understanding the mixing capability of mixing devices based on their geometric shape is an important issue both for predicting mixing processes and for designing new mixers. The flow patterns in mixers are directly connected with the modes of the local strain rate, which is generally a combination of elongational flow and planar shear flow. We develop a measure to characterize the modes of the strain rate for general flow occurring in mixers. The spatial distribution of the volumetric strain rate (or non-planar strain rate) in connection with the flow pattern plays an essential role in understanding distributive mixing. With our measure, flows with different types of screw elements in a twin-screw extruder are numerically analyzed. The difference in flow pattern structure between conveying screws and kneading disks is successfully characterized by the distribution of the volumetric strain rate. The results suggest that the distribution of the strain rate mode offers an essential and convenient way for characterization of the relation between flow pattern structure and the mixer geometry. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 62: 2563–2569, 2016


Objective: Determination of biomarker and neuropathogenesis of postoperative cognitive change (POCC) or postoperative cognitive dysfunction. Background: POCC is one of the most common postoperative complications in elderly patients. Whether preoperative cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) &bgr;-amyloid protein (A&bgr;) to tau ratio, an Alzheimer disease biomarker, is a biomarker for risk of POCC remains unknown. We therefore set out to assess the association between preoperative CSF A&bgr;42 or A&bgr;40 to tau ratio and POCC. Methods: Patients who had total hip/knee replacement were enrolled. The CSF was obtained during the administration of spinal anesthesia. Cognitive tests were performed with these participants at 1 week before and at 1 week and 3 to 6 months after the surgery. Z scores of the changes from preoperative to postoperative on several key domains of the cognitive battery were determined. We then examined the association between preoperative CSF A&bgr;42/tau or A&bgr;40/tau ratio and the outcome measures described earlier, adjusting for age and sex. Results: Among the 136 participants (mean age = 71 ± 5 years; 55% men), preoperative CSF A&bgr;42/tau ratio was associated with postoperative Hopkins Verbal Learning Test Retention [Z score = 8.351; age, sex-adjusted (adj.) P = 0.003], and the Benton Judgment of Line Orientation (Z score = 1.242; adj. P = 0.007). A&bgr;40/tau ratio was associated with Brief Visuospatial Memory Test Total Recall (Z score = 1.045; adj. P = 0.044). Conclusions: Preoperative CSF A&bgr;/tau ratio is associated with postoperative changes in specific cognitive domains. The presence of the Alzheimer's disease biomarker, specifically the A&bgr;/tau ratio, may identify patients at higher risk for cognitive changes after surgery.


In the manufacturing of modern solar cells, the early-phase quality inspection is crucial to detect harmful impurities and to reduce production waste. Thus, the charge-carrier lifetime measurement is beneficial before slicing the silicon ingot into wafers. Optimization of the widely used eddy-current detected photoconductance decay (e-PCD) technique for lifetime measurements is necessary to keep the pace with the new challenges appearing in photovoltaics. We investigated the dependence of the accuracy of the measurable carrier lifetime on the excitation laser parameters in the entire relevant carrier lifetime range. The complex behaviour of surface-recombination phenomena and its time evolution is studied by computer simulation. We optimized the components and parameters of the measurement setup and found that a 1064 nm laser is rather optimal compared to the 980 nm laser used previously. Using a longer wavelength laser source with elevated photon flux results in an improved accuracy of carrier lifetime recorded at Δn = 1015 cm−3 excess carrier concentration. A convincing similarity is found by comparing results from as-sliced and passivated surfaces. The optimized laser e-PCD method was compared to the flash-lamp based PCD method (known as QSSPC). Results agree very well for longer carrier lifetimes for which both systems evaluates the PCD curves in transient mode. However, for lower carrier lifetimes the universal transient mode operation of the e-PCD method is advantageous in terms of consistency.


Rate of penetration (ROP) is an essential factor in drilling optimization and reducing the drilling cycle. Most of the traditional ROP prediction methods are based on building physical model and single intelligent algorithms, and the efficiency and accuracy of these prediction methods are very low. With the development of artificial intelligence, high-performance algorithms make reliable prediction possible from the data perspective. To improve ROP prediction efficiency and accuracy, this paper presents a method based on particle swarm algorithm for optimization of long short-term memory (LSTM) neural networks. In this paper, we consider the Tuha Shengbei block oilfield as an example. First, the Pearson correlation coefficient is used to measure the correlation between the characteristics and eight parameters are screened out, namely, the depth of the well, gamma, formation density, pore pressure, well diameter, drilling time, displacement, and drilling fluid density. Second, the PSO algorithm is employed to optimize the super-parameters in the construction of the LSTM model to the predict ROP. Third, we assessed model performance using the determination coefficient (R2), root mean square error (RMSE), and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE). The evaluation results show that the optimized LSTM model achieves an R2 of 0.978 and RMSE and MAPE are 0.287 and 12.862, respectively, hence overperforming the existing methods. The average accuracy of the optimized LSTM model is also improved by 44.2%, indicating that the prediction accuracy of the optimized model is higher. This proposed method can help to drill engineers and decision makers to better plan the drilling operation scheme and reduce the drilling cycle.


This paper deals with the problem of delay-dependent stability criterion of arbitrary switched linear systems with time-varying delay. Based on switched quadratic Lyapunov functional approach and free-weighting matrix approach, some linear matrix inequality criterions are found to guarantee delay-dependent asymptotically stability of these systems. Simultaneously, arbitrary switched linear system can be expressed as a problem of uncertain liner system, so some delaydependent stability criterions are obtained with the result of uncertain liner system. Two examples illustrate the exactness of the proposed criterions.


The authors report a case of cardiac malignant non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The initial clinical presentation suggested recurrent angina in a patient who had undergone angioplasty of the left anterior descending artery two years previously. Echocardiography showed severe left ventricular dysfunction with apical and septal akinesia and also allowed visualisation of two oval masses in the right ventricle without dilatation of the right heart chambers. Transoesophageal echocardiography confirmed these abnormal echos which corresponded to tumour invasion of not only the right heart chambers but also the interatrial septum, the left atrial appendage and the descending thoracic aorta. Histological diagnosis of lymphoma was made from an excision biopsy of a mass in the calf muscle. The post-mortem examination confirmed the presence of a highly malignant T-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The patient rapidly deteriorated and died during the first session of chemotherapy.


Callose is an important biopolymer of β-1,3-linked glucose units involved in different phases of plant development, reproduction and response to external stimuli. It is synthesized by glycosyltransferases (GTs) known as callose synthases (CalS) belonging to family 48 in the Carbohydrate-Active enZymes (CAZymes) database. These GTs are anchored to the plasma membrane via transmembrane domains. Several genes encoding CalS have been characterized in higher plants with 12 reported in the model organism Arabidopsis thaliana. Recently, the de novo transcriptome of a fibre-producing clone of stinging nettle (Urtica dioica L.) was published and here it is mined for CalS genes with the aim of identifying members differentially expressed in the core and cortical tissues of the stem. The goal is to understand whether specific CalS genes are associated with distinct developmental stages of the stem internodes (elongation, thickening). Nine genes, eight of which encoding full-length CalS, are identified in stinging nettle. The phylogenetic analysis with CalS proteins from other fibre crops, namely textile hemp and flax, reveals grouping into 6 clades. The expression profiles in nettle tissues (roots, leaves, stem internodes sampled at different heights) reveal differences that are most noteworthy in roots vs. leaves. Two CalS are differentially expressed in the internodes sampled at the top and middle of the stem. Implications of their role in nettle stem tissue development are discussed.


Isolated canine islets transplanted to hyperglycemic rats fail to restore euglycemia in almost all cases, although the grafted islet tissue appears to be morphologically intact for up to 48 h following transplantation. Cytokines typically produced in the xenograft environment (e.g., IL-1 and TNF) inhibit insulin biosynthesis and secretion from isolated pancreatic islets, and are associated with the production of nitric oxide (NO). To further define the relationship between NO production and islet xenotransplantation, the inhibition of NO in a splenocyte/islet coculture system, and the in vivo effect of this inhibition on canine islet xenotransplantation, was investigated. Splenocytes (SPLC) from Lewis rats were cocultured with canine islets (freshly isolated or cultured 7 days), supernatant removed, and NO concentration (NO2) determined by optical density (Griess reaction, 550 nm, expressed as nmol nitrite/106 cells/18 h). Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was used as a positive control of SPLC production of NO. Stimulation by LPS resulted in maximal NO production (2.20 ± 0.16 nmol/106 cells/18 h, p < 0.001 compared to baseline values of 0.73 ± 0.04 nmol/106 cells/18 h). In the presence of NO inhibitors (NMA, polymyxin B, hydrocortisone, aminoguanidine, DMSO), nitrite levels did not significantly rise above unstimulated values. Freshly isolated canine islets did stimulate NO production (1.26 ± 0.12 nmol/106 cells/18 h, p < 0.001). In contrast, cultured canine islets did not stimulate NO production (0.84 ± 0.09 nmol/106 cells/18 h). Transplantation of freshly isolated canine islets to STZ-diabetic recipient Lewis rats resulted in amelioration of hyperglycemia in only 50% (n = 6) of recipients 12 h posttransplant, with a return to hyperglycemia at all subsequent time points. Transplantation of 7-day cultured canine islets resulted in amelioration of hyperglycemia in 88% of recipients 12 h posttransplant and 63% of recipients 24 h posttransplant [p = 0.028, mean survival time (MST) = 1.0 days, n = 8]. Transplantation of canine islet xenografts with aminoguanidine therapy (BID, n = 11) resulted in amelioration of hyperglycemia in 100% of recipients at 12 h posttransplant, decreasing to 82% by 24 h following transplantation (p = 0.002, MST = 0.9 days). These results demonstrate that freshly isolated canine islets are potent stimulators of NO production by rat SPLC in vitro, and that culture of canine islets, or addition of NO inhibitors, abrogates stimulated NO production. These results also demonstrate a statistically significant improvement (p < 0.001) in early function of canine islet xenografts following 7 days of islet culture prior to transplant, and following recipient treatment with aminoguanidine. These studies suggest that the production of NO in the microenvironment of the graft site may adversely affect engraftment and function of canine islets, and suggest that the abrogation of islet-stimulated NO production may improve engraftment following islet xenotransplantation.


The University of Twente has developed the DesignLab initiative to feed the "high tech, human touch" mission of the organisation. The combination of high tech and human touch was made one of the spearheads of the future, in order to bank on the universities unique position as a 'dual-core university' with both a strong science and engineering faculty on the one hand and a social sciences faculty at the other. This DesignLab has the mission to integrate the expertise of both academic kernels in "science2design4society", which means that design knowledge is used to make new technologies available for users and that, together with the latest insights in humanities and business, these are used to tackle problems in contemporary society. To make this happen, the DesignLab needed a dedicated space for doing design in multidisciplinary teams. Because a lot of the prospective users of the lab would not be trained as a designer, it was decided that the actual space of the lab should support the design process. The space that was developed and implemented was therefore not only furnished for the desired design activities, but also structured according the desired design process. It is not yet evidenced that the space actually contributes to a more designerly way of working, the users are however very positive and the design process metaphor proved to be very helpful to build a shared vision within all the stakeholders involved in the DesignLab project.


Nowadays, urban structure is decisively influenced by the global spread of strategies for transforming urban environments into smart cities. The continuous growth of urban population and the digital transformation aim to leverage the changes and opportunities of digital technologies and their impact across society as well as the more empowered and demanding citizens are essential factors in this approach. All activities in smart city are focused on new and smart technologies that address the urban management and governance issues. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)-based solutions enhance the interconnectivity provided by the Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities and embrace the new evolution of citizen empowered in handling information and in resolving complex problems. Accelerated by the innovation process in the public service sector, the digital public services must meet the expectations of the new wave of users that can't anymore dissociate their daily activities from the large-scale use of smart technologies. IoT has already proven to better sustain the sensing and connectivity, becoming thus an efficient tool to address a broader range of qualitative public services and to proactively involve the more demanding citizen. A smart citizen expects new types of digital public services able to support his/her engagement in the streamlining of the decision-making processes at the community, regional or national level. He/she is connected at an enhanced level with the appropriate public authority in order to deliver particular data and information or to demonstrate a personal point of view. In the same time, the public authorities are enabled to process the gathered data and the multi-dimensional insights derived from it, generating afterwards urban improvements, efficiency, or patterns to evolve. This paper highlights the main features of the new emerging smart citizen in the context of the already existing digital citizen and how the IoT has the capability to transform the interaction between the citizen and the public authorities, and the digital public services themselves. A proposed reference architecture of a digital public service based on IoT aims to demonstrate how the capabilities of this expandable technology can meet the new requirements in the specific context of a smart city and citizen.


A new class of systems characterized by admitting impulsive control action within their singular motion phases, such as dimension changes, state discontinuities, and other irregularities, is introduced. This class, termed dynamical systems with active, or controlled, singularities, encompasses various applications with sensing and/or actuation ultra-fast in comparison with the natural system time scale, including mechanisms with impact-induced motion, power and sensor networks under faults, fast positioning devices, smart skins, and switching electronic circuits. The present work focuses on systems with impact-type singularities induced through system interaction with controlled, or active, state constraints. The latter are assumed to be characterized by parameter-dependent elastic-type constraint violation that vanishes in the limit as the parameter value tends to infinity. A physically well justified representation of this class of systems is proposed, but found to be not well suited for controller synthesis in the singular phase. To address this problem, two equations are derived - one describing controlled rigid impacts in auxiliary stretched time and compatible with the regular control design techniques, termed controlled infinitesimal dynamics equation, and another incorporating controlled impact dynamics in the infinitesimal form in terms of the shift operator along the trajectories of the first equation, termed the limit model. The latter is demonstrated to generate a unique isolated discontinuous system motion, i.e., to provide a tight and well-behaved description of the collision with rigid constraint. It is then shown that the corresponding paths generated by the original physically-based and the limit representations can be made arbitrarily close to each other uniformly except, possibly, in the vicinities of the jump points, by the appropriate choice of the value of the constraint violation parameter. This is shown to permit enforcing, for sufficiently large values of the parameter, the desired limit system behavior onto the original system by simply taking the control signals found through the limit representation, time-rescaling them, and inserting the resulting signals directly into the original system. These features show that the procedure developed, in fact, provides a well-posed controller synthesis framework for the class of systems considered. Using this framework, a ball/racket rotationally controlled impact representation is developed, and on its basis, a singular phase control signal in the form of racket rotation velocity is designed, demonstrating that the soft racket provides the specified bounce-off angle increment under a noticeably lower racket rotation velocity and a longer rotation phase than the hard racket


The rise of the 'precariat' under neoliberalism has garnered the attention of development studies scholars. Drawing on and contributing to this literature, in this thesis I explore the lived experiences of solo mothers in Aotearoa New Zealand and their own precarity in relation to a neoliberal State. Through interviewing seven self-identified solo mothers in the Greater Wellington region, in this thesis I explore solo mothers negotiations with the State through the following areas: state welfare, child support, employment, and housing. I outline how the State often exacerbates the precarity of the research participants, but also highlight the different tactics the participants employ to enact their agency and push back against the State. Shifting the discursive focus of Development Studies from the 'Global South' to the 'Global North', the experiences of the participants highlight the very real issues of inequality manifesting in the 'developed' setting. Informed by the visions of the participants and the wider literature, this research contributes to scholarship in gender post-development studies, illustrating the need for a comprehensive, socialistic welfare state, and to methodologically see value in localising development research in a way that accounts for local complexities. In opposition to neoliberal discourse, this thesis calls for the valorisation of care work, to better account for the competing responsibilities of solo mothers and to lessen the precarity they experience in their everyday lives.


ABSTRACT How do regimes based on limited access orders respond to socially driven discontent? What are the drivers of contentious politics in a state where the authorities assert control over society? This article analyses patterns of protest, repertories, and organization of the "rubbish protests" (musornye protesty) – a phrase coined by the Internet news outlet Zona Media during the Moscow region protests of 2018–2019. The article draws on social movement theories to explain mobilization, framing, and regime repression, and engages with the model of limited access orders to flesh out the specifics of interaction between social protest forces and the Putin regime. Finally, the case is used to tentatively classify the Russian regime as a "dysfunctional" order – where grievance communication and petitioning to the head of state evolves from being an opportunity to being curtailed by bureaucratic red tape and political repression.


Coarctation of aorta (CoA) is a localized narrowing of descending thoracic aorta most commonly between left subclavian artery and ductus arteriosus causing proximal hypertension and distal hypoperfusion. The clinical presentation of CoA in neonates and infants varies from acute hemodynamic collapse to weak or absent arterial femoral pulsation. Keeping the patency of ductus arteriosus with prostaglandin E1 infusion is lifesaving, once the diagnosis of severe CoA is established. Transthoracic echocardiography is the cornerstone for the diagnosis and follow-up of CoA. Inotropic drugs such as dobutamine, dopamine and epinephrine are indicated to maintain and stabilize the hemodynamics in neonates and infants with acute heart failure. Resection of the constricted segment with end to end anastomosis is the standard surgical approach. Preductal invasive arterial pressure monitoring via an arterial catheter placed in the right arm is essential. During surgery, passive cooling of the patients to a temperature of 35°C is recommended in to reduce the risk of neurological injury. Clamping the aorta aggravates the proximal hypertension and cause distal body hypoperfusion with increased risk of spinal cord injury. The aim of this review is to declare the anesthetic management of neonates and infants undergoing surgical correction of CoA and how to reduce the risk of aortic cross clamping.


Mefluidide, a synthetic plant growth regulator, has been reported to protect chilling-sensitive plants from chilling damage and enhance the freezing tolerance of certain winter-hardy herbaceous plants. The potential of mefluidide to enhance the freezing tolerance of nonhardened and dehardening cabbage (Brassica oleracea L. Capitata Group) leaf tissue was investigated. Mefluidide at 0 to 60 mg.L -1 was tested on 'Brunswick' and 'Golden Acre' cabbage in five experiments. Leaf tissue freezing tolerance was measured 3 to 9 days postapplication by electrolyte leakage assay. The interval between application and freeze testing had no effect on leaf freeze tolerance. The effect of mefluidide at low rates on leaf freeze tolerance was small and inconsistent. At 30 and 60 mg.L -1 , leaf freeze tolerance was decreased consistently. Chemical name used : N-{2,4-dimethyl-5-[[trifluromethyl)sulfonyl]amino]phenyl}acetamide (mefluidide).


Computer-aided skin disease diagnosis has recently attracted much attention in the scientific and medical research community due to advances in computer vision and machine learning algorithms. These methodologies essentially rely on large datasets collected from hospitals and medical professionals. Data scarcity is a vital problem in the medical domain, especially facial skin conditions, due to privacy concerns. For instance, some facial skin conditions, e.g. Rosacea, require observation of the entire face, which reveals the patient's identity. Rosacea is a lamentably neglected skin condition in the computer-aided diagnosis research community, due to the limited availability of Rosacea datasets. Hence, there is a need for exploring alternative ways to deal with the limited available data for Rosacea. A common approach to expanding small datasets is to utilise augmentation techniques. One of the most powerful augmentation methods in machine learning is Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs). Recently, GANs, principally the variants of StyleGAN, have successfully generated synthetic facial images. In this paper, a small dataset of a particular skin disease, Rosacea, with 300 images is used to examine the potential of a variant of StyleGAN known as StyleGAN2-ADA. The preliminary experiments and evaluations show promising signs towards addressing the data scarcity for computer-aided Rosacea diagnosis.


Background Multirooted teeth offer unique and challenging problems due to the furcation area, creates situations in which routine periodontal procedures are somewhat limited and special procedures are generally required. Case Detail The present case was showing the management of grade II furcation defect by platelet rich fibrin (PRF) and β-Tricalcium phosphate with coronally advanced flap. Conclusion Platelet rich fibrin and β-Tricalcium phosphate with coronally advanced flap have been shown to be a promising and successful approach for the treatment of furcation defect. Its gaining clinical attachment significantly manages both the gingival recession and furcation involvement simultaneously.


Lymphangioma is a hamartoma resulting from the proliferation of common lymphatic vessels in the head and neck area, rarely appearing in the lower lips. Its clinical presentation is a nodular mass with a pebbly surface and no defined borders formed by a cluster of slow-growing coalescing vesicles. The purpose of this paper is to present two children with a lesion in the lower lip whose clinical characteristics (single papillary lesion with a pediculated base, same color and consistency of the surrounding mucosa, and negative result for diascopy test) suggested an initial diagnosis of mucocele but were later confirmed as cavernous lymphangiomas. The clinical and microscopic characteristics of the lesions are discussed as well as the differential diagnosis and the treatment approach. These cases reinforce the importance of always performing a confirmatory histopathological analysis, even for lesions with typical clinical features.


A short-term precision error of the individual subject and the DEXA technique, such as the effect of the repositioning of the cat on the examination table, were established. Four neutered adult cats (BW=4342g) and three females (BW=3459g) were submitted to five repeated scans with and without repositioning between them. Precision was estimated from the mean of the five measurements and expressed by the individual coefficient of variation (CV). The precision error of the technique was estimated by the variance of scan pool (n=35) and expressed in CV for the technique (CVt). The degrees of freedom and confidence intervals were determined to avoid underestimation of precision errors. Bone mineral content (BMC), lean mass (LM), and fat mass (FM) averages were higher (P<0.05) when animals were repositioned. The CVt was significantly higher (P<0.05) for bone mineral density (BMD), LM, and FM when the animals were repositioned. For short-term precision measurements, the repositioning of the animal was important to establish the precision of the technique. The dual energy x-ray absorptiometry method provided precision for body composition measurements in adult cats.


Obstruction to the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) outflow caused by the herniation of cerebellar tonsils as a result of Chiari malformation type I leads to altered CSF hydrodynamics. This contribution explores the minutest characteristics of the CSF hydrodynamics in cervical subarachnoid space (SAS) of a healthy subject and 2 Chiari patients by performing highly resolved direct numerical simulation. The lattice Boltzmann method is used for the simulations because of its scalability on modern supercomputers that allow us to simulate up to approximately 109 cells while resolving the Kolmogorov microscales. The results depict that whereas the complex CSF flow remains largely laminar in the SAS of a healthy subject, constriction of the cranio‐vertebral junction in Chiari I patients causes manifold fluctuations in the hydrodynamics of the CSF. These fluctuations resemble a flow that is in a transitional regime rather than laminar or fully developed turbulence. The fluctuations confine near the cranio‐vertebral junction and are triggered due to the tonsillar herniation, which perturbs the flow as a result of altered anatomy of the SAS.


To use vibration energy to generate electricity, a resonance vertical linear electric generator was applied to the suspension of a vehicle in a previous paper. However, the working conditions, including mass change in the vehicle body related to the cargo on board, number of passengers and the temperature difference caused by the operating environment, can influence the permanent magnet, which is the main component of the electric generator. Therefore, a robust optimum design is required to minimize the influences from the diverse operation conditions and maximize the electromotive force of the electric generator. In this paper, a resonance linear electric generator is introduced. Vibration response analysis to find the input velocity of the electric generator and an electromagnetic transient analysis to apply changes in the performance of the permanent magnet are performed. Finally, the optimum value of each design variable is derived using a Taguchi method.


The thesis is concerned with an interdisciplinary investigation of the regional food preferences of the British population. The existence, nature and prevalence of current food preferences within geographical regions of Britain, in terms of food groups, food commodities, dishes and nutrients, are examined in the domestic situation and within school, hospital, industrial and commercial sectors of the catering industry. Definitions of 'food' and 'food preferences' are derived, the factors governing preferences are considered and the historical development of each type of catering is briefly reviewed. Food consumption is used as the main indicator of preference but an insufficiency of available raw data and very few pertinent secondary sources of information, necessitate the use of personal communication as a research technique. Regional household food preferences are identified primarily by use of published data, while preferences of schoolchildren and hospital patients are investigated by collection of dish 'uptake' statistics acquired from local education and health authorities. Indications of regional preferences of employees are derived from published data, some dish 'uptake' statistics and also personal interviews with industrial caterers. The nature of the commercial catering sector is found to restrict the acquisition of raw data and so preferences are researched mainly by personal interviews and postal questionnaires. The findings indicate that regional preferences are most pronounced in the household situation, but slightly less so in school and hospital catering. Although some regional preferences do emerge from within employee catering, differences in food consumption also seem to relate significantly to the type of occupation. Regional preferences are least apparent in the commercial sector and especially the popular market, although more expensive establishments appear to be increasingly featuring traditional regional fare, particularly in tourist areas. Consideration is also given in the thesis to the development of regional food preferences, their modification within the catering industry, future influences upon them and the possible uses to be derived from their identification.


It is well known that, sustainable agriculture is an important part of sustainable development. This sustainable agriculture should lead to achieve food security and maintain the biodiversity of natural ecosystems. Sustainable agriculture also should have definitely a global perspective. The conservation of both soil and water resources, therefore, is considered an essential prerequisite as well as the efficient use of mineral and organic fertilizers. This could be achieved by improving agro-technology and better understanding of the essential processes in soils. Foliar application of agrochemicals including fertilizers should be improved seeking for the sustainability of agriculture. The present review will focus on the effects of foliar application of nutrients for plant nutrition and its biofortification. Proper timing of foliar application, endo-, exogenous and environmental factors affecting foliar nutrition, influence of mineral fertilizer nutritional quality of staple food crops and finally nano-foliar nutrition as well as postharvest quality of crops will be also highlighted.


Abstract Oreocharis flavovirens is a new species of Gesneriaceae from Gansu, China and is described and illustrated here. It is morphologically similar to O. glandulosa, O. humilis and O. farreri, but those congeners of this new taxon can be distinguished by several salient characters. A description of O. flavovirens, together with illustrations and photos, are presented.


Haplostachys haplostachya was at one time a prevalent species in the mid‐elevation (1650–1800 m) xerophytic shrubland between Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea on Hawaii. Grazing pressure by feral ungulates, destruction of habitat from military activity, and conversion of forest to pastures have fragmented its range to small subpopulations restricted to several cinder cones and portions of the remaining shrubland. Some subpopulations are still extensive, while others are reduced to 20 or fewer individuals. Genetic analyses using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers demonstrate that plants in subpopulations with a large number of individuals maintain levels of genetic variation similar to the entire population, whereas plants in a small subpopulation at Pu'u Leilani (14 individuals remaining) have reduced levels of variation. Of the 122 loci identified, 54 (44%) were polymorphic. Two large populations showed variation at 45 and 49 loci, but the Pu'u Leilani plants showed variation at only 37 loci. The mean expected heterozygosity (H) in this subpopulation was also lower (0.137 vs. 0.163 and 0.154) and genetic differentiation (GST) was higher (0.167 vs. 0.018 and 0.052) than in other subpopulations. An examination of variation indicates that although plants of the three subpopulations are genetically similar, there is evidence of genetic restructuring among the subpopulations. The impact of these results towards conservation efforts of this and other endangered species is discussed.


ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic has presented unique challenges in the treatment of patients with psychotic symptoms. Clinicians have expressed concern in treating patients exhibiting psychotic symptoms who may be infected with COVID-19, fearing that patients may not adhere with practices intended to mitigate viral spread. In our experience with treating adolescents and adults with psychotic symptoms during this pandemic, the vast majority of patients have demonstrated acceptance of and adherence to preventative measures. We would urge our colleagues to continue practices aimed at mitigating the spread of COVID-19 in spite of concerns that might exist when treating patients with psychotic symptoms.


Multiscale methods are powerful tools to describe large and complex systems. They are based on a hierarchical partitioning of the degrees of freedom (d.o.f.) of the system, allowing one to treat each set of d.o.f. in the most computationally efficient way. In the context of coupled nuclear and electronic dynamics, a multiscale approach would offer the opportunity to overcome the computational limits that, at present, do not allow one to treat a complex system (such as a biological macromolecule in explicit solvent) fully at the quantum mechanical level. Based on the pioneering work of Kapral and Ciccotti [R. Kapral and G. Ciccotti, J. Chem. Phys.110, 8919 (1999)], this work is intended to present a nonadiabatic theory that describes the evolution of electronic populations coupled with the dynamics of the nuclei of a molecule in a dissipative environment (condensed phases). The two elements of novelty that are here introduced are (i) the casting of the theory in the natural, internal coordinates, that are bond lengths, bond angles, and dihedral angles; (ii) the projection of those nuclear d.o.f. that can be considered at the level of a thermal bath, therefore leading to a quantum-stochastic Liouville equation. Using natural coordinates allows the description of structure and dynamics in the way chemists are used to describe molecular geometry and its changes. The projection of bath coordinates provides an important reduction of complexity and allows us to formulate the approach that can be used directly in the statistical thermodynamics description of chemical systems.


DESCRIPTION
Understanding the factors that control the dynamics of interacting species is a fundamental problem in ecology. The nature of the interactions among different species is usually not completely understood, but it is assumed that the species interaction plays an important role in the ecosystem properties as predicted by the niches models for an ecosystem. However, recent studies point out as the neutral hypothesis proposed by Hubbell of non-interacting species with an external source from the surrounding environment, allows to explain the relative species abundance distribution when the ecosystem has reached a stationary situation. In this paper we use the concept of fitness landscape to introduce a random dynamical model that describes the evolution of different communities near a stationary situation. The average dynamics can be associated to a system of Lotka-Volterra equations with mutualistic interactions. Then we derive a Master equation that satisfies the detailed balance condition of thermodynamical equilibria and allows to analytically compute the relative species abundance distribution near the stationary state as a multinomial negative distribution. These results suggest a possible approach to a synthetic theory that joins the niche theories and the Hubbell's neutral theory for RSA distribution.


The purpose of this study was to examine the use of remote sensing aerosol data as an estimator of ground level fine particulate matter concentration (PM 2.5).

In order to examine this possible relation, daily MODIS Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) data were used, collected for an entire year. The analysis involved manipulation of pollution and meteorological data, such as the PM 2.5 concentration which resulted from a regional photochemical model and meteorological parameters like wind speed (WS), planetary boundary layer height (PBL) and relative humidity (RH), which in turn resulted from the application of a prognostic meteorological model for the whole of Europe. Statistical regression analysis was performed for the aforementioned data in several locations of big urban agglomerations all over Europe, where the problem of particulate matter air pollution is higher, as well as its impact on man and the environment. Furthermore, the relation of AOD with PM 2.5 and meteorological parameters was also examined using PM 2.5 measurements of two operational air pollution stations located in Attica, Greece.

The study confirmed a conclusion reached by other relevant studies, that the relationship between AOD and PM 2.5 is highly variable for different regions and for different time scales (Engel-Cox, 2004; Hu et al, 2013). A strong correlation of AOD – PM 2.5 was established for winter and autumn in most locations. During spring and especially summer the regression models did not produce good results for most of the places that were applied.

The study also confirmed that the use of meteorological data can improve the PM 2.5 to AOD correlation. AOD or AOD/PBL was the most dominant factor in the regression analysis only in 40 % of the cases with good results. In 60 % of cases, one of the meteorological factors (RH, WS or PBL) was the most important factor in the regression equation.


The Care Quality Commission's (CQC) model of inspection changed in 2014 using a framework encompassing five key questions; is the service safe, effective, responsive, caring and well-led? The hospice planned for the inspection over many months, working with staff, volunteers and trustees to highlight areas of good practice and identify areas that required improving. The whole organisation engaged in workshops and interactive sessions together, fostering recognition that everyone has a responsibility to improve the quality of the services provided and the experiences of people who use our services. Over 150 staff, trustees and volunteers came together periodically over the course of 18 months and informed us of their perceptions of the organisation's strengths and weaknesses. Through a process of engagement, listening and information gathering we formed a detailed picture of the hospice's position against the CQC's five domains. A detailed action plan was created together with files of 'evidence' for the CQC. The hospice received a rating of 'Outstanding'. It is without question that this achievement was wholly as a result of working together, collective leadership, trust and pride. A number of key themes emerged through this process which may be useful for other providers to replicate: • What is the best that we can be? – developing a culture where people really believe in the values; these appeared essential to greater levels of engagement • Leadership is about yourself – every person from 'ward to board' took personal responsibility and were supported to take the initiative and innovate • Celebration and stories – the promotion of stories was seen as vital to emphasise the impact of what hospices do; one volunteer carried a photograph of an owl 'visiting' a patient to show the CQC should she be working when CQC visited! • Our challenge is to be 'outstanding' across our entire organisation, every day and always.


Reported is a safe, rapid method for the synthesis of α-nitro esters via the trapping of nitronium ions. The two-stage nitration and subsequent deacetylation of readily available 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds was achieved using a biphasic semicontinuous approach. α-Nitro esters and amides were obtained in good overall yields (53-84%). Some of the α-nitro-1,3-dicarbonyl intermediates exhibit enhanced reactivity and undergo an acid-catalyzed Nef-type reaction to α-oxo-carbonyls.


OBJECTIVE
To analyze the changes and clinical significance of IL-6 and sICAM-1, and to explore their pathologic mechanism in the brain ischemia.

METHODS
Thirty-two patients at Xiangya Hospital who experienced infarcts that occurred within the first 3 days were consecutively selected into the study, and 30 healthy subjects were selected as controls. The serum level of IL-6 and sICAM-1 was measured by radioimmunoassy and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Eleven out of the 32 patients that experienced stroke within 24 hours were observed on the 1st, 3rd, and 6th day. The subsequent volume of brain lesion as a consequence of stroke was measured by CT within 48 - 72 hours after the onset.

RESULTS
Both the serum levels of IL-6 and sICAM-1 were significantly higher in patients within the first 3 days after the onset than those of the controls [(352. 1 +/- 31.7) pg/ml vs. (135.4 +/- 18.3) pg/ml, and (363.6 +/- 48.4) ng/ml vs. (227.2 +/- 30.1) ng/ml, P < 0.01]. The levels of IL-6 at the 6th day [(308.3 +/- 26.8) pg/ml] was significantly lower than that both on the 1st day [(364.5 +/- 29.7) pg/ml] and on the 3rd day [(345 +/- 28.9) pg/ml] (P <0.01). There was no significant difference between the 1st day and the 3rd day (P > 0.05). Statistical significance existed in each two concentrations of sICAM-1 on the 1st day [(383.9 +/- 56.1) ng/ml], the 3rd day [(354.6 +/- 40.8) ng/ml], and the 6th day [(316.7 +/- 32.3) ng/ml] (P < 0.05). Both the levels of IL-6 and sICAM-1 were higher in patients within the 6th day after the onset than those of sICAM-1 on the controls (P < 0.01). There was a positive correlation between both the levels of IL-6 and sICAM-1 at the first 3 days after the onset and the infarct volume (r = 0. 368, P < 0. 05 and r = 0. 594, P < 0. 01) , and the sICAM-1 positively correlated with IL-6 (r = 0. 453, P < 0. 05).

CONCLUSION
The serum levels of IL-6 and sICAM-1 were upregulated, which might play a role in inflammatory lesion, and the upregulation of sICAM-1 may be related to the IL-6. The levels of IL-6 and sICAM-1 may reflect both the degree of pathologic lesion after the brain ischemia and the infarct volume.


We studied non-esterified fatty acid-induced uncoupling of heterologously expressed rat UCP1 (uncoupling protein 1) in yeast mitochondria, as well as UCP1 in rat BAT (brown adipose tissue) mitochondria. The proton-conductance curves and the relationship between the ubiquinone reduction level and membrane potential were determined in non-phosphorylating BAT and yeast mitochondria. The ADP/O method was applied to determine the ADP phosphorylation rate and the relationship between the ubiquinone reduction level and respiration rate in yeast mitochondria. Our studies of the membranous ubiquinone reduction level in mitochondria demonstrate that activation of UCP1 leads to a purine nucleotide-sensitive decrease in the ubiquinone redox state. Results obtained for non-phosphorylating and phosphorylating mitochondria, as the endogenous ubiquinone redox state was gradually varied by a lowering rate of the ubiquinone-reducing or ubiquinol-oxidizing pathways, indicate that the endogenous ubiquinone redox state has no effect on non-esterified fatty acid-induced UCP1 activity in the absence of GTP, and can only regulate this activity through sensitivity to inhibition by the purine nucleotide. At a given oleic acid concentration, inhibition by GTP diminishes when ubiquinone is reduced sufficiently. The ubiquinone redox state-dependent alleviation of UCP1 inhibition by the purine nucleotide was observed at a high ubiquinone reduction level, when it exceeded 85-88%.


Here, a method based on viscosity-type regularization is proposed for magnetic resonance electrical property tomography (MREPT) to mitigate persistent artifacts when it is used to reconstruct a map of electrical properties based on data from a magnetic resonance imaging scanner. The challenges for solving the corresponding partial differential equation (PDE) are discussed in detail. The existing artifacts in the numerical results are pointed out and classified. The methods in the literature for MREPT are mainly based on an assumption of local homogeneity, which makes the approach simple but leads to artifacts in the transition region where electrical properties vary rapidly. Recent work has focused on eliminating the assumption of local homogeneity, and one of the solutions is convection–reaction MREPT that is based on a first-order PDE. Numerical solutions of the PDE have persistent artifacts in certain regions and global spurious oscillations. Here, a method based on viscosity-type regularization is proposed to effectively mitigate the aforementioned problems. Finite difference method is used for discretizing the governing PDE. Numerical experiments are presented to analyze the problem in detail. Electrical properties of different phantoms are successfully retrieved. The efficiency, accuracy, and noise tolerance of the proposed method are illustrated with numerical results.


Duplex stainless steel (DSS) is a family of steels characterized by two-phase microstructure with similar percentages of ferrite (α) and austenite (γ).Their attractive combination of mechanical properties and corrosion resistance has increased its use in last decades in the marine and petrochemical industries. Nevertheless, an inappropriate heat treatment can induce the precipitation of secondary phases which affect directly their mechanical properties and corrosion resistance. There are few works dealing with the influence of heat treatments on wear behaviour of these steels in the literature. For instances, this paper aims to determine wear kinetic and sliding wear volume developed as a function of heat treatment conditions. Therefore, the samples were heat treated from 850 °C to 975 °C before sliding wear tests. These wear tests were carried out using ball on disk technique at constant sliding velocity and different sliding distances. Two methodologies were used to calculate the wear volume: weight loss and area measurement using a simplified contact model. Microstructural observations showed the presence of sigma phase for all studied conditions. The formation kinetics of this phase is faster at 875 °C and decrease at higher temperatures. Results related to wear showed that the hardness introduced due to the presence of sigma phase plays an important role on wear behaviour for this steel. It was observed also that wear rates decreased when increasing the percentage of sigma phase on the microstructure.


The search for a reliable source of energy has been a challanging task to manking while conventional energy resorces are diminishing nuclear fusion, especially laser fusion, promises to be the source of the future. Experimental costs in laser fusion are astronomical and computer modeling drastically minimizes such costs and gives a chance for less fortunate Gauntries to gain insight into the scientific and technical aspects of the subject since a large portion of information involved is classified. This work deals with the spatial and temporal evolution of the laser fusion produced by different laser pulses It is based on a computer code called MEDUSA which takes into account the variation in the wavelength, power density pulse duration, target geometry and material. It assumes a target which is divided into 20 cells each of 24 urn width. Inverse-Bremsstrahlung and resonance absorption are the two main mechanisms responsible for absorption of energy from the incident laser pulse. Fusion takes place in the plasma as a result of ablation of the plasma corona where the formed shock waves compress the plasma cells and heat them. The rate of energy deposited into and radiated from the plasma ,which causes variation of the plasma internal energy, is expressed by the energy equation. This equation is transformed into a finite difference form and solved by Gauss Elimination Method to calculate the plasma parameters such as electron(T e) and ion ternperatures(Ti), pressure(P) and density(p) and the different processes of energy absorption and losses. The temporal evolution of these parameters is studied through the divisions of the pulse into chosen time steps at which the evolution is clear. The results have shown that by increasing laser power the energy deposited into and radiated from the plasma increases. The electron and ion temperatures the plasma pressure and density also increase. This is because of the geadual propagation of the shock wave from the surface of the pellet towards its center causing compression of the plasma cells. The optimum value of such parameters are obtained close to the end of the pulse where the incident laser power is maximum and so as the energy deposited into the plasma center where heating and compression causes the consumption of the whole target After the end of the pulse duration, the plasma cells coordinates expand and the plasma parameters decrease, a process known as diminishing of the plasma The effect of the laser parameters of four diffterent lasers namely CO2, KrF, Nd-glass and Ruby of 5ns, 15ns and 45ns pulse duration was studied. It was found that: (1) the maximum value of the plasma parameters decrease by increasing the pulse duration of a certain power and wavelength, (2) the maximum value of the plasma parameters increase by increasing the wavelength because of increasing the energy deposited into the plasma by resonance absorption process. At the optimum implosion time, the plasma parameters show a strong spatial variation. However, a strong temporal variation of the plasma parameters was observed at the pellet center.


Title Corrosion Protection of Copper by Conductive Polypyrrole Films Incorporated with Inhibitors [an abstract of dissertation and a summary of dissertation review] Author(s) 類, 延華 Issue Date 2014-03-25 Doc URL http://hdl.handle.net/2115/55616 Rights(URL) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.1/jp/ Type theses (doctoral abstract and summary of review) Additional Information There are other files related to this item in HUSCAP. Check the above URL. File Information Yanhua_Lei_abstract.pdf (論文内容の要旨)


A plaque technique was found useful for the differentiation and titration of two vaccine strains and a local highly virulent field isolate of Newcastle disease virus.


Mathematical modeling for throughput of MANETs considering the impact of different layers in the protocol stack in addition to that of different network parameters remains unexplored till now even though such modeling is considered as the fastest and the most cost-effective tool for evaluating the performance of a network. Therefore, in this paper, we attempt to develop a mathematical model for throughput of MANETs considering both of the aspects. In addition, we also focus on developing mathematical models for delivery ratio and drop ratio, these metrics limit the maximum throughput of a network. In our analysis, we perform rigorous simulation utilizing ns-2 to capture the performance of MANETs under diversified settings. Our rigorous empirical study reveals that we need to develop cross-layer mathematical models for throughput, delivery ratio, and drop ratio to represent the performance of MANETs and such mathematical models need to resolve higher-order polynomial equations. Consequently, our study uncovers a key finding that mathematical modeling of MANETs considering variation in all parameters is not feasible.


This work presents the first results on the development and characterization of novel nanobiocomposite fibers prepared by electrospinning of zein/clay mixtures (from 99/1 to 75/25 wt/wt) from ethanol-based solutions. To do so, commercial ceramic materials of different nature, such as organomodified and unmodified mica, kaolinite, montmorillonite, and zeolite were employed and compared. A significant decrease in fiber diameter was observed as the clay fraction increased in the hybrid material. The highest clay contents also produced fibers but with extended beaded regions. All fillers nanodispersed well in the fibers at low loadings but unmodified mica particles were also seen excluded from the fibers, most likely due to excessive size. Surprisingly, the ceramic laminar structures, i.e. the phyllosilicates, were all seen to embed within the ultrathin fibers in what appears as an unreported rolled morphology due to the extensional forces generated by the electrospinning process. Electrospun nanobiocomposite fibers with optimal ceramic nanoparticle contents are currently investigated as an adequate procedure to prepare naturally occurring composite additives, coatings, and interlayers with enhanced performance in terms of mechanical, thermal, barrier, and control release properties for packaging, active packaging, biomedical, and pharmaceutical applications. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010


MOTIVATION
A major focus of current cancer research is to identify genes that can be used as markers for prognosis and diagnosis, and as targets for therapy. Microarray technology has been applied extensively for this purpose, even though it has been reported that the agreement between microarray platforms is poor. A critical question is: how can we best combine the measurements of matched genes across microarray platforms to develop diagnostic and prognostic tools related to the underlying biology?

RESULTS
We introduce a statistical approach within a Bayesian framework to combine the microarray data on matched genes from three investigations of gene expression profiling of B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and normal B cells (NBC) using three different microarray platforms, oligonucleotide arrays, cDNA arrays printed on glass slides and cDNA arrays printed on nylon membranes. Using this approach, we identified a number of genes that were consistently differentially expressed between CLL and NBC samples.


We aimed to explore the effects of different concentrations, in particular, high concentrations, of exogenously applied ethephon and methyl jasmonate on gum duct formation in three broad-leaved tree species, Cerasus × yedoensis, Prunus mume and Liquidambar styraciflua. Intact shoots were treated with ethephon and methyl jasmonate in lanolin paste at concentrations of 0.1%, 1%, 2%, 5%, and 10% (w/w). The ethephon treatments induced gum duct formation in the xylem adjacent to the cambium in all three species, whereas the methyl jasmonate treatments did not. The highest induction of gum duct formation was observed after 1–2% ethephon treatments in C. × yedoensis and P. mume, and after 5–10% ethephon treatments in L. styraciflua. Meanwhile, the treatments with higher ethephon concentrations resulted in a lower induction of gum duct formation in C. × yedoensis and P. mume. In addition, we examined gum duct formation at sites distant from the treatment sites in C. × yedoensis and P. mume shoots treated with 10% ethephon. Gum duct formation was found to be the highest at sites 2 cm away from the treatment site (in the acropetal direction). We show that at least in C. × yedoensis and P. mume, trees have an optimal concentration of ethephon to induce gum duct formation, and that concentrations higher than the optimum suppress the induction.


How organisms control organ size is not fully understood. We found that Syd/JIP3 is required for proper wing size in Drosophila. JIP3 mutations are associated with organ size defects in mammals. The underlying mechanisms are not well understood. We discovered that Syd/JIP3 inhibition results in a downregulation of the inhibitor of apoptosis protein1 (Diap1) in the Drosophila wing. Correspondingly, Syd/JIP3 deficient tissues exhibit ectopic cell death and yield smaller wings. Syd/JIP3 inhibition generated similar effects in mammalian cells, indicating a conserved mechanism. We found that Yorkie/YAP stimulates Syd/JIP3 in Drosophila and mammalian cells. Notably, Syd/JIP3 is required for the full effect of Yorkie-mediated tissue growth. Thus Syd/JIP3 regulation of Diap1 functions downstream of Yorkie/YAP to control growth. This study provides mechanistic insights into the recent and perplexing link between JIP3 mutations and organ size defects in mammals, including in humans where de novo JIP3 variants are associated with microcephaly. Highlights Syd/JIP3 is required for proper Drosophila wing size Syd/JIP3 stabilizes Diap1 to inhibit cell death in Drosophila and in mammalian cells Activation of Yorkie/YAP stimulates Syd/JIP3 Yorkie-mediated tissue growth is highly sensitive to Syd/JIP3 dosage


Context: The term reactivity is popular in two areas of research: programming languages and distributed systems. On one hand, reactive programming is a paradigm which provides programmers with the means to declaratively write event-driven applications. On the other hand, reactive distributed systems handle client requests in a timely fashion regardless of load or failures. Inquiry: Reactive programming languages and frameworks tailored to the implementation of distributed systems have previously been proposed. However, we argue that these approaches are ill fit to implement reactive distributed systems. Approach: We analyse state of the art runtimes for distributed reactive programming and identify two key issues with regards to reactive distributed systems. They rely on single, central points of coordination and/or assume a lack of partial failures in the systems they support. Knowledge: Based on our analysis we propose a novel runtime for distributed reactive programming languages and frameworks. This runtime supports reactive distributed systems by design. Grounding: We implement a proof of concept framework for reactive distributed systems in JavaScript which builds atop our runtime. Using this framework we implement a case study application which highlights the applicability of our approach. Moreover, we benchmark our runtime against a similar approach in order to showcase its runtime properties and we prove its correctness. Importance: This work aims to bridge the gap between two kinds of reactivity: reactive distributed systems and distributed reactive programming. Current distributed reactive programming approaches do not support reactive distributed systems. Our runtime is the first to bridge this reactivity gap: it allows for reactive distributed systems to be implemented using distributed reactive programming.


Samples of the system (x = 0, 0.1,..., 0.7) were prepared by the usual ceramic technique. IR absorption spectra were used for analysing the compositions. The AC conductivity and dielectric properties (loss tangent tan , dielectric constant and dielectric loss ) have been measured at various frequencies and temperatures. Three bands were observed in the IR spectra. The band at around and another one at around were assigned to the tetrahedral and octahedral complexes, respectively. A small band at around indicated the octahedral divalent metal-oxygen bond in these complexes. The threshold frequency for the electronic transition seems to increase with increasing content, namely with decreasing concentration. At room temperature (RT), the AC conductivity exhibits dispersion in the frequency range from Hz to Hz. The variation of tan with frequency at RT shows a peak in the range Hz. The electrical conduction mechanism was explained in terms of the electron hopping model. Both effects (temperature and frequency) tend to increase and . The composition dependence of the dielectric properties is divided into two regions. The first one is for x<0.5 (for which long-range order is predominant) and the second one is for (for which short-range order is predominant).