Abstract This essay analyzes white settler formations in the Southern Philippines during the early decades of the twentieth century. Occupied by the United States in the wake of the Spanish-American War, the Muslim-majority regions of Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago became sites of colonial experimentation and reconfiguration. This led to a brief-but-concerted push by Euro-American fortune seekers to settle the "Muslim South." Supported by U.S. policy makers and colonial officials, white colonists were drawn to Mindanao-Sulu by visions of permanent settlement and limitless economic opportunity. This analysis contends that settler attempts to build a "white man's country" in the Southern Philippines were shaped by vernaculars and modes of conquest developed on the continental frontier. It interrogates the creation of transoceanic frontier spaces in Mindanao-Sulu and the practical attempts to exploit them, which drew inspiration from diverse sources in the American West and across the colonized globe. In its study of settler fortunes and failures, the essay blurs distinctions between national and imperial peripheries, and contributes to a growing scholarly interest in reassessing the importance of U.S. extraterritorial possessions in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.


Seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by 193 Governments at the General Assembly of the United Nations in 2015 for achievement by 2030. These SDGs present a roadmap to a sustainable future and a challenge to the science community. To guide activities and check progress, targets and indicators have been and are still being defined. The soil science community has published documents that describe the primary importance of soil for SDGs addressing hunger, water quality, climate mitigation and biodiversity preservation, and secondary relevance of soil for addressing several other SDGs. Soil scientists only marginally participated in the SDG discussions and are currently only peripherally engaged in discussions on targets or indicators. Agreement on several soil‐related indicators has still not been achieved. Involvement of soil scientists in SDG‐based studies is desirable for both developing solutions and increasing the visibility of the soil profession. Inputs into policy decisions should be improved as SDG committee members are appointed by Governments. Possible contributions of soil science in defining indicators for the SDGs are explored in this paper. We advocate the pragmatic use of soil–water–atmosphere–plant simulation models and available soil surveys and soil databases where "representative" soil profiles for mapping units (genetically defined genoforms) are functionally expressed in terms of several phenoforms reflecting effects of different types of soil use and management that strongly affect functionality.


In the diagnosis of various brain disorders by analyzing the brain magnetic resonance images (MRI), the segmentation of corpus callosum (CC) is a crucial step. In this paper, we propose a fully automated technique for CC segmentation in the T1-weighted midsagittal brain MRIs. An adaptive mean shift clustering technique is first used to cluster homogenous regions in the image. In order to distinguish the CC from other brain tissues, area analysis, template matching, in conjunction with the shape and location analysis are proposed to identify the CC area. The boundary of detected CC area is then used as the initial contour in the Geometric Active Contour (GAC) model, and evolved to get the final segmentation result. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed technique overcomes the problem of manual initialization in existing GAC technique, and provides a reliable segmentation performance.


Pharmacies in transition digitalisation measures, connection to the telematics infrastructure and the oligopoly position of leading mail-order pharmacies. Not only meeting the technical implementations in the digital transformation, but also satisfying customers are important issues for public pharmacies. While retail pharmacies have access to data on their regular customers, we know little about customers of mail-order pharmacies. As the trend to order medicines online grows, mail-order medicines will take on an increasingly important role. It is expected that the planned introduction of electronic prescriptions in Germany in mid-2021 will lead to a further increase in online sales. The research question is: What does the customer profile of a mail-order pharmacy look like? Thus, this study focuses on an economic customer profiling of a mail-order pharmacy using the example of the nationally operating mail-order pharmacy MedicineGo. Based on the assumption that younger people between 18 and 50 years of age prefer to use the internet as an ordering medium, due to a savvier use of computers, a quantitative analysis of empirical data will present essential market research data. To interpret the results of the quantitative analysis and to establish causalities, additional expert interviews with the MedicineGo administrator and other employees of the mailorder pharmacy as well as a qualitative literature analysis were conducted by means of qualitative analysis. SCENTIA International Economic Review 2 By means of quantitative analysis, it was empirically shown that regarding the customer profile of the mail-order pharmacy MedicineGo, 72% of customers use the direct web shop as a sales channel for their orders, the proportion of women is about ten percentage points higher than that of men, and the largest purchasing groups by number of orders are persons between 51 and 80 years of age. The quantitative analysis showed that older people (over 50 years) prefer to use the mail-order pharmacy, so another result of the study is that public pharmacies compete with mail-order pharmacies for the same customer group.


I take it as axiomatic that those involved in developing educational software intend that it should maximize learning. The evaluation of educational software, therefore, needs to focus mainly on this central issue. There are still, however, two ways in which 'maximization' can be measured: either in terms of the increase in the amount of learning, or in terms of the increase in the quality of learning. In either case, an important contributory factor in the evaluation of educational software is the amount of take-up in terms of purchase and use. The crude indicator of BSH (number of Bums on Seats for number of Hours) is of some value, because if software is not used it cannot have any impact at all on learning. But it is an indicator which should only be used with caution because badly designed software used frequently presumably does less to maximize learning than well designed software used infrequently. I am concerned here with the design of software which maximizes the quality of learning. I will also deal briefly with the issue of sensitivity to the context of use, but the wider problem of the take-up and use of software, although important and interesting, is beyond the scope of this paper. The paper is based on a review of key texts in the literature on learning, including some which relate directly to software development. I hope it will make some contribution to both the design and the evaluation of educational software. DOI: 10.1080/0968776960040302


The main purpose of CLT is to help EFL learners to communicate with other English language speakers. Practicing speaking and communication is limited in Syrian educational institutions. Hence, to improve the communicative skills of learners, the CLT approach of the teachinglearning process is highly recommended. The study aims to identify the challenges that negatively affect the valid application of CLT in Syrian public schools in Aleppo governance. The study employed a fully quantitative research design. A survey questionnaire was used as a data collection instrument. A number of 50 English language teachers from 25 schools were randomly selected. The collected data were analysed descriptively using SPSS (25) software. Teachers despite their awareness of the importance of CLT, faced many challenges. The results showed four types of challenges namely; teachers-related challenges: lack of training, lack of authentic materials, lack of English cultural knowledge. Students related challenges: low proficiency, passive learning style, lack of motivation. Education system-related challenges: lack of support, too large classes, unsuitable curriculum. Finally, CLT related challenges: lack of effective and efficient assessment instrument, lack of teaching materials. The study provided a comprehensive approach towards better implementation of CLT in the EFL context. Implications and recommendations were discussed in light of the findings.


Schistosomiasis, a disease usually related to poverty and poor sanitation, affects more than 200 million people worldwide. Since the 1970s, the medical sector has depended on a single drug, praziquantel, for the treatment of the disease. The emerging evidence of resistance of the Schistosoma parasite to praziquantel and the drug's inefficacy against juvenile stages of the parasite makes the need to find alternative drugs an urgent matter. In this study, we explored the inhibition potential of compounds from Cucurbita maxima using molecular docking studies on Schistosoma mansoni purine nucleoside phosphorylase (SmPNP) and Schistosoma haematobium 28-kDa glutathione S-transferase (Sh28kDaGST). Following molecular docking studies and analysis of the active sites, the primary amino acids that were observed and shown to be involved in the SmPNP-ligand interaction are CYS 33, ARG 86, HIS 88, TYR 90, ALA 118, ALA 119, PRO 200, TYR 202, GLU 203, VAL 219, MET 221, THR 244, ASN 245, PRO 257 and HIS 259. For the Sh28dKa-ligand interaction, the primary amino acids were PHE 11, ARG 16, TRP 41, LEU 53, GLU 70 and SER 71. Momordicoside I aglycone binds to SmPNP with the lowest binding affinity of -7.9 kcal/mol by pi sigma bond interactions with HIS 88. Balsaminoside B binds to Sh28kDaGST with a binding affinity of −7.6 kcal/mol by hydrogen bond interaction with TRP 41, LEU 53 and SER 71. Pharmacokinetic studies showed favourable drug-like properties for the 10 compounds that exhibited the lowest binding energies. Therefore, we propose that bioactive compounds from C. maxima be considered as potential novel drug hits in the treatment of schistosomiasis.


The effects of noise in autoregressive (AR) analysis (or linear prediction) and its compensation (NCAR) has been commonly carried out in the time domain under the least square (LS) criterion. This paper studies the adequacy of such an approach by means of a comparative analysis with selected frequency-based NCAR methods. In particular, the maximization of the spectral likelihood (ML) results in a proper optimization problem that is easy to solve and brings useful insights into the rationale of the NCAR problem. On the contrary, popular time-based NCAR methods are shown in the paper to be designed, in the ML context, around ill-conditioned criteria, requiring constraints to guarantee stable solutions. The statistical analysis on a realistic scenario as well as an experiment on speech enhancement complement this analysis.


Fundamental considerations in the choice of a continuous duty capacitor bank charging system using HVDC conversion equipment are presented. Large systems of the type used in fusion related research pose significant system related problems if they are to be supplied from a conventional power grid. Schemes for conditioning the required power in order to overcome such problems are presented and evaluated. A resonant charging system is examined in detail and shown to be superilor in a number of ways to constant current charging. Results of digital computer simulation studies are used to demonstrate the feasibility of the system. It is shown that the resonant charging system reduces rectifier capacity, simplifies control and reduces reactive power fluctuations. Sequential bank charging and use of a motor-generator set are presented as techniques for compensation of real power fluctuations and a comparison on the basis of initial cost is presented.


We will measure the "size of the process (Xt)t∈T " by the quantity E supt∈T Xt. (The reader who is impatient to understand why this quantity is a good measure of the "size of the process" can peek ahead to Lemma 2.2.1 below.) A side issue (in particular when T is uncountable) is that what is meant by the quantity E supt∈T Xt is not obvious. An efficient method is to define this quantity by the following formula:


Adenosine‐to‐inosine RNA editing critically affects the response of cancer therapies. However, comprehensive identification of drug resistance‐related RNA editing events and systematic understanding of how RNA editing mediates anticancer drug resistance remain unclear. Here, 7157 differential editing sites (DESs) are identified from 98 127 informative RNA editing sites in tumor tissues, many of which are validated in cancer cell lines. Diverse editing patterns of DESs are discovered in resistant samples, which could not be fully explained by adenosine deaminase acting on RNA enzymes. Some RNA‐binding proteins are identified that potentially regulate these editing events. Notably, the DESs are significantly enriched in 3'‐untranslated regions (3'‐UTRs). The impact of DESs in 3'‐UTR on the microRNA (miRNA) regulations is explored, and some triplets (DES, miRNA, and gene) that may contribute to drug resistance are identified. In addition, it is determined that the functions of genes enriched with DESs are associated with drug resistance, such as apoptosis, drug metabolism, and DNA synthesis involved in DNA repair. An online resource (http://www.jianglab.cn/REDR/) to support convenient retrieval of DESs is also built. The findings reveal the landscape and potential regulatory mechanism of RNA editing in drug resistance, providing new therapeutic targets for reversing drug resistance.


Human indoleamine 2,3‐dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) has become an increasingly valuable target for cancer immunotherapy because it promotes immune escape by tumor cells. To date, the function of post‐translational modifications (PTMs) on IDO1 has not been fully elucidated. Among the many forms of PTMs, it has been identified that three tyrosine sites (Y15, Y345, and Y353) on IDO1 are nitrated and play important roles in catalytic function. Herein, by genetically encoding 3‐nitro‐l‐tyrosine into the tyrosine nitration sites of IDO1, the homogeneous and native nitrated IDO1 have been obtained. It is found that the nitration of different tyrosine sites has different effects on the IDO1 structure and enzyme activity. Nitration at position Y15 has a negligible effect, but nitration at Y345 or Y353 decreases the enzyme activity, especially Y353. Furthermore, these results demonstrate that the regulation of the catalytic function caused by tyrosine nitration is related to perturbation of the protein structure and heme‐binding disruption.


The feasibility of strengthening the Zrl%Nb alloy by achieving a non-uniform solid solution oxygen distribution in the α grains is considered. Technology employing Nb2O5 as an oxygen source has been developed, which permits introduction into the alloy additional oxygen up to 0.06–0.09 wt. %. Using the method of electron microscopy, the oxygen distribution of the as-produced alloy was examined. The material was found to contain Zr and Nb oxides of non-stoichiometric compositions. The regular features of plastic deformation localization were investigated. These features as revealed by the deforming material may be regarded as forerunners of necking in the course of Zr alloy tube manufacture and are indicative of probable material fracture.


To evaluate the synergistic action of starch on the antifungal activity of honey, a comparative method of adding honey with and without starch to culture media was used. Aspergillus niger was used to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of five varieties of honey. In the second step, lower concentrations of honey than the MIC were incubated with a set of concentrations of starch and then added to media to determine the minimum synergistic inhibitory concentration (MSIC). The MIC for the five varieties of honey without starch against A. niger ranged between 46% and 50% (v/v). When starch was incubated with honey and then added to media, an MIC drop was noticed with each variety and it ranged between 6% and 19.5%. Negative correlation has been established between the MIC drop and the Diastase Number.


Zinc occurs in low-iron sphalerite associated with gangue dolomite in dissolution breccias and collapse structures in dolomitized limestone and interbedded fine-grained "primary' dolomite. These breccias and collapse structures were developed as part of a karst-sinkhole complex formed at depths up to 800 feet below the top of the Knox Dolomite during widespread emergence at the end of Early Ordovician time. Mineralization was completed before the rocks were tilted, and clearly antedates the Appalachian orogeny. Source of hydrothermal solutions is not known.


Study of cerebral white matter in the brain is an important medical problem which helps in better understanding of brain disorders like autism. The goal of this research is to segment the cerebral white matter from the input Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) data. The present segmentation problem becomes extremely difficult due to i) the complex shape of the cerebral white matter and ii) the very low contrast between the white matter and the surrounding structures in the MRI data. We employ a novel probabilistic graph cut algorithm, where the edge capacity functions of the classical graph cut algorithm are modified according to the probabilities of pixels to belong to different segmentation classes. In order to separate the surrounding structures from the white matter, two appropriate geometric shape priors are introduced. Experimentation in 2D with 20 different datasets has yielded an average segmentation accuracy of 94.78%.


Coordination models and languages are meant to provide abstractions and mechanisms to harness the space of interaction as one of the foremost sources of complexity in computational systems. Nature-inspired computing aims at understanding the mechanisms and patterns of complex natural systems in order to bring their most desirable features to computational systems. Thus, the promise of nature-inspired coordination models is to prove themselves fundamental in the design of complex computational systems|such as intelligent, knowledge-intensive, pervasive, adaptive, and self-organising ones. In this paper, we survey the most relevant nature-inspired coordination models in the literature, focussing in particular on tuple-based models, and foresee the most interesting research trends in the field.


This article aims to present a new methodological protocol and a representation tool that articulates both space and time in understanding urban ambiances: temporal sections. The elaboration of this conceptual tool is based on a theoretical background dealing with the palimpsest of urban ambiances. The urban palimpsest is a metaphor underlying the dynamic of the formation process of the territory resulting from a temporal, spatial and social stratification that manifests in the lived experience. Combining urban transect, a geographical tool, and stratigraphy, a geological one, temporal sections represent the sensory experience as a palimpsest that integrates the different pasts and projects on the future. This tool provides a very specific way of immersion and opens new realm in constructing a storytelling; it proposes a rereading and writing the ambiance in depth.


Surfactant increases solubilization of n-hexadecane and reduces interfacial tension between surfactant and n-hexadecane, which are very important for the removal of residual LNAPLs in porous media. After the solubilization of n-hexadecane and interfacial tension between Triton X-100 solution and n-hexadecane were studied through experiments, the forming rule of different states of n-hexadecane were analyzed through equilibrium washing experiment and sand pillar leaching experiment. The experimental results show that: the dissolving ability was proportional to the concentration of Triton X-100 solution, and MSR = 1.680 4 and lgk(mc) = 1.715 8 calculated by solubilization of n-hexadecane when Triton X-100 solution concentration was large than CMC. The interfacial tension was inversely proportional to Triton X-100 solution concentration, and the variation was in accord with Gauss model (R2 = 0.996 4). Dissolved state and free state n-hexadecane had very good corresponding relation with solubilization and reducing interfacial tension respectively. Both solubilization and reducing interfacial tension could remove n-hexadecane from porous media. Reducing interfacial tension increased the flow ability of n-hexadecane effectively, and it removed most of residual n-hexadecane in soil and groundwater remediation.


 Abstract— One of the greatest potential of applying intelligent multi agent systems is the support of machine learning in order to reflect the whole complexity of the real and virtual world. However, a critical deficiency is a gap between two applicable streams of intelligent multi agent technology and learning models. In order to solve this problem, we developed a framework of intelligent multi agent based on the efficient feed-forward neural network clustering method. A feed-forward neural network is a software version of the brain and a popular tool for statistical decision making. The framework is applicable to different domains successfully and for the potential case study, the clinical domain and the breast cancer database from the University of Malaya Medical Center is considered to predict the survival time. (Abstract)


The serine synthesis pathway comprises three steps, and genetic defects are known in each of these: 3-phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase deficiency, phosphoserine aminotransferase deficiency and 3-phosphoserine phosphatase deficiency. The former has been reported in 24 patients. The majority of these patients have a severe infantile phenotype consisting of congenital microcephaly, intractable seizures with infantile onset and severe intellectual disability. Very recently, mutations in the phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase gene have been found in the Neu-Laxova syndrome, a severe dysmorphy syndrome with, as a rule, perinatal lethality. A mild, juvenile phenotype has been reported in siblings with intellectual disability and therapy-responsive absence seizures, and a Charcot-Marie-Tooth phenotype in a patient with a progressive, severe, axonal sensorimotor polyneuropathy besides other symptoms. Biochemical analysis shows a low CSF serine, a low to borderline fasting plasma serine and a low to normal CSF and fasting plasma glycine. The diagnosis is confirmed by finding mutations in 3-PHGDH. In patients with the severe, infantile form, the treatment is oral L-serine, supplemented with glycine in case of unsatisfactory clinical response. The other phenotypes responded well to serine only. Phosphoserine aminotransferase deficiency has been reported in only two patients (siblings). The brother presented with intractable seizures, acquired microcephaly, intellectual disability, and hypertonia. On biochemical investigation, there was a decrease of fasting plasma serine and glycine, and of CSF serine and glycine. Mutation analysis of PSAT1 showed two pathogenic mutations. He was treated with serine and glycine but died at the age of 7 months. His affected younger sister was treated from birth on, and this resulted in a normal outcome at the age of 3 years. 3-Phosphoserine phosphatase deficiency has been reported in only one patient, who had also Williams syndrome. Besides the dysmorphism of this syndrome, he showed a moderate intellectual disability. Fasting plasma serine levels were decreased to borderline low, and CSF serine levels were decreased. Glycine was normal in fasting plasma and in CSF. Two PSPH mutations were found. Oral serine treatment normalized the serine plasma and CSF levels, and was accompanied by a slight catch up of head growth.


To study in vivo the dynamics of the biosynthetic and secretory processes in a neuroendocrine cell, we use the proopiomelanocortin-producing intermediate pituitary melanotrope cells of Xenopus laevis. The activity of these cells can be simply manipulated by adapting the animal to a white or a black background, resulting in inactive and hyperactive cells respectively. Here, we applied differential display proteomics and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) to examine the changes in architecture accompanying the gradual transition of the inactive to the hyperactive melanotrope cells. The proteomic analysis showed differential expression of neuroendocrine secretory proteins, endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-resident chaperones, and housekeeping and metabolic proteins. The FESEM study revealed changes in the ultrastructure of the ER and Golgi and the number of secretory granules. We conclude that activation of neuroendocrine cells tunes their molecular machineries and organelles to become professional secretors.


The effects of caffeine on anaerobic exercise in young boys was investigated. Twenty-four healthy 8-10 year old boys participated in a randomized double-blind, double-crossover, counter-balanced study. Each subject received the caffeinated drink (CAF--5 mg · kg(-1)) or placebo (PL) twice each on four separate visits. Sixty minutes following ingestion of either CAF or PL boys performed a static hand-grip test and then a Wingate test. Reliability was moderately high for the Wingate test (R = .70-0.95). Hand-grip reliability was higher for CAF (R = .88) than PL (R = .52). Mean power (180 ± 36 vs 173 ± 28 W) was significantly higher (p < .05) in CAF versus PL, respectively. There were no differences in peak power or static hand-grip maximal voluntary contraction with CAF. Further, peak HR (190 ± 10 vs 185 ± 10 beats · min(-1)) was significantly higher in CAF versus PL, respectively. Thus, in this study a moderately high dose of CAF significantly increased the average power during a Wingate test, yet it does not affect peak power or static hand-grip strength.


Teacher self-efficacy has predominantly been explored using quantitative instruments such as Likert scales-based questionnaires. Several researchers have questioned these methods, suggesting they offer only a limited view of the concept. This paper considers their claim by exploring the self-efficacy of UK secondary science teachers participating in a two-year professional development programme using both traditional quantitative scales and qualitative methods, including interviews and lesson observations. The findings support the suggestion that traditional quantitative scales do not fully capture teacher self-efficacy and highlight inconsistencies between self-efficacy assessments through the different research approaches. We argue that to achieve a more complete and comprehensive picture of teacher self-efficacy, it is essential that traditional quantitative approaches are better triangulated and integrated with other sources of data, in particular lesson observations. We offer an emerging approach of how qualitative data sources might be used to develop this comprehensive picture.


The interline power flow controller (IPFC) proposed is a new concept for the compensation and effective power flow management of multi-line transmission systems. In its general form, the IPFC employs a number of inverters with a common DC link, each to provide series compensation for a selected line of the transmission system. Because of the common DC link, any inverter within the IPFC is able to transfer real power to any other and thereby facilitate real power transfer among the lines of the transmission system. Since each inverter is also able to provide reactive compensation, the IPFC is able to carry out an overall real and reactive power compensation of the total transmission system. This capability makes it possible to equalize both real and reactive power flow between the lines, transfer power from overloaded to underloaded lines, compensate against reactive voltage drops and the corresponding reactive line power, and to increase the effectiveness of the compensating system against dynamic disturbances. The paper explains the basic theory and operating characteristics of the IPFC with phasor diagrams, P-Q plots and simulated waveforms.


I read with interest "Perforation of the Great Vessels During Central Venous Line Placement," by Robinson et al. 1 Their comment about central venous line placement currently being performed by physicians of all specialties, but most commonly by general and vascular surgeons, might be specific to their institution. This is in contradistinction to the practice at my institution, where the intensivists and anesthesiologists are the ones who place the central venous catheters, other than Hickman and Broviac catheters, which are placed by general surgeons. I believe that the way it is done at my institution is probably the norm nationally. Also, Robinson and colleagues never state whether they use peripherally inserted central catheters. The use of these catheters has been described in the literature, 2 as well as in a subsequent lively letter debate. 3 Nurses can place this type of catheter. I would be interested to know how Robinson


The estimation of fundamental frequency (F0) from audio is a necessary step in many speech processing tasks such as speech synthesis, that require to accurately analyze big datasets, or realtime voice transformations, that require low computation times. New approaches using neural networks have been recently proposed for F0 estimation, outperforming previous approaches in terms of accuracy. The work presented here aims at bringing some more improvements over such CNN-based state-of-theart approaches, especially when targeting speech data. More specifically, we first propose to use the recent PaN speech synthesis engine in order to generate a high-quality speech database with a reliable ground truth F0 annotation. Then, we propose 3 variants of a new fully-convolutional network (FCN) architecture that are shown to perform better than other similar datadriven methods, with a significantly reduced computational load making them more suitable for real-time purposes.


In the present study, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were obtained from HIV+ subjects as well as cardiac transplant recipients, and the presence of A- and B-type Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) was determined using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Of the HIV+ patients studied, 24% were found to be infected with A-type EBV, 27% with B-type EBV, and 39% with both A and B virus types. Analysis of PBMCs from cardiac transplant recipients revealed that 39% were infected with A-type EBV, 33% with B-type EBV, and 28% with both EBV types. These results demonstrate a higher prevalence of infection with B-type EBV in HIV+ patients, than had been found previously by an analysis of spontaneously generated lymphoblastoid cell lines. The data indicated that it is not HIV per se which is responsible for the high incidence of B-type EBV in HIV+ individuals.


As more women with young children enter psychiatry, more attention needs to be placed on issues that arise because of conflicts between work and family. Some issues are unique to women, and some are related to dual-career families as a whole. The author outlines these issues and explores how the psychiatric profession can alleviate the stress often encountered by the professional family.


Monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) to Burkholderia cepacia were produced from mice immunized with inactivated whole-cell antigen. For screening of resulting MAbs an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used. A stable hybridoma cell line (BC-2) producing specific antibodies to a 64 kDa somatic antigen from B. cepacia was established. In ELISA and immunoblotting analysis the MAb BC-2 recognized all tested strains of B. cepacia whereas no cross-reaction with 32 Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains was found. From a wide range of other bacteria only strains of the species Burkholderia mallei, Burkholderia pseudomallei, and Burkholderia gladioli showed cross-reactions. The MAb BC-2 will be used to develop a diagnostic assay for the identification of B. cepacia and B. gladioli, important agents of nosocomial infections in immunocompromised patients suffering especially from cystic fibrosis (CF).


Continental seas are facing rapid environmental shifts, but how biogenic dimethylated sulfur compounds, including dimethylsulfide (DMS), dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP), and dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), will respond to these environmental changes remains poorly understood. Here we investigated the effects of nutrient input, ocean acidification, and dust deposition on the phytoplankton community and organic sulfur cycle in the East China Sea. Nutrient input promoted phytoplankton growth and increased the concentrations of DMS, DMSP, and DMSO. With sufficient nutrients, especially nitrate, the dissolved DMSP degradation was inhibited, and the bacterial DMSP‐cleavage pathway (inferred by dddP gene abundance) was enhanced, causing increased DMS production. The sensitivity of phytoplankton biomass and DMS to ocean acidification varied with different initial nutrient levels, demonstrating insensitivity under eutrophic conditions and negative responses under nutrient‐limited conditions. The ocean acidification promoted the dissolved DMSP degradation and bacterial DMSP‐demethylation pathway (inferred by dmdA gene abundance) and weakened the DMS production, causing the decreases of DMS and DMSP. The nutrient from dust deposition (2 mg L−1) was identified as the key factor in enhancing phytoplankton biomass and the organic sulfur compounds concentrations, but trace metals input from dust deposition had no significant effect. This study has identified environmental drivers and suppressors of phytoplankton and biogenic dimethylated sulfur compounds in a changing marine environment, which will enable the effective modeling of future climate change.


I review recent progresses in heavy quarks physics on the lattice. I focus on decay constants and form factors relevant for the extraction of CKM matrix elements from experimental data. B-\bar{B} mixing is also discussed. In the last part of the paper I describe phenomenological applications of Heavy Quark Effective Theory (HQET) on the lattice, presenting in some detail the recent non-perturbative determination of the b-quark mass including O(1/m_b) corrections.


to new orders for fully-automatic crankshaft and wheel and tyre balancing systems. Schenck pioneered the first weighing and feeding machines over 115 years ago and today Schenck Process remains at the forefront of the industry. Schenck Process continues to develop innovative and improved weighing techniques and control systems for a diverse range of industries from cement, gypsum, steel/metals and plastics through to food, pharmaceuticals and chemicals. For more than a century the name of Schenck has been respected and trusted throughout the world. Our customers rely on Schenck engineering and support for the success of their own businesses and know that we will change and adapt to meet new challenges. The recent expansion, integration and joint venture activities demonstrates this commitment and puts Schenck in an ideal position to deliver the next generation of technologies and solutions." More information from Schenck Limited, Lombard Way, Banbury, Oxon, OX16 4TX.


Introduction: The authors describe a rare presentation of central nervous system cryptococcosis in an immunocompromised patient. Case description: An HIV-positive patient, with poor adherence to the treatment, presented with a seventeen days history of severe headache. On the neurological exam there was only evidence of neck stiffness, he had a CD4 count of 23 cells/μl and plasma HIV RNA viral loads of 364,000 copies/ml. Lumbar puncture revealed positive for cryptococcal antigen virus and so treatment with amphotericin B was started. During his admission the patient developed an expressive aphasia with visual hallucinations and the brain MRI revealed cerebral cryptococcomas. After 98 days of treatment general and neurological examination was normal and the patient was discharged home. Conclusion: This case highlights a rare and severe complication of Cryptococcus neoformans infection in immunocompromised patients.


Research of interactions between EM Field and biological systems is of growing interests elsewhere. In Czech Republic there are several groups working in this field, often in international co-operations. We will describe here mainly basic technical equipment developed for 3 different research projects in the discussed area of interactions of EM field and biological systems.


Abstract. Detrended Cross-Correlation Analysis (DCCA) revealed an emergent transition in non-periodic (deseasonalized) atmospheric variability at time-scales ~1-year. At multi-year time-scales (i) ρSST,Tland ~ 0.6 (i.e. the correlation been global-averaged sea surface temperature, SST, and 2-meter air temperature averaged over global-land, Tland); (ii) Clausius-Clapeyron relationship becomes the dominant control of global-averaged precipitable water vapor (W), with ρW,T2m ≈ ρW,SST ~ 0.9; (iii) atmospheric radiative fluxes, specifically the surface downwelling longwave radiative flux (DLR), become a key constraint for global-mean precipitation (P) variability (ρP,Ratm ≈ ρP,DLR ~ −0.8); (iv) cloud effects are negligible in (iii), and clear-sky DLR becomes a dominant P constraint; and (v) ρP,T2m and ρP,SST displayed significant multi-year correlations, although with large spread amongst different datasets (~ 0.4 to ~ 0.7). Result (v) provides a new perspective into the well-known uncertainties climate models associated with the dynamical component of precipitation. At sub-yearly time-scales all correlations underlying these five results decrease abruptly towards negligible values. The relevance and validity of this multi-scale structure is demonstrated by three reconstructed P time-series at 2-year resolution, two relying on clear-sky DLR constraints and one based on P-SST correlation. These simple models, particularly one based on clear-sky DLR, were able to reproduce observed P anomaly time-series with similar accuracy to a (uncoupled) atmospheric model (ERA-20CM) and two climate reanalysis (ERA-20C and 20CR). The idealized models aren't applicable at sub-yearly time-scales, where the underlying correlations become negligible. However, monthly P probability density functions (PDFs) were derived by stochastic downscaling of reconstructed P, leveraging on scale-invariant properties, outperforming the statistics simulated by ERA-20C, 20CR and ERA-20CM.


The objective of this research was to understand the melting and wetting behaviour of braze alloys and mechanical properties of brazed joints for pure zirconium plates and the Zr-based bulk metallic glass (BMG), Vitreloy 105 (Zr\(_5\)\(_2\)\(_.\)\(_5\)Cu\(_1\)\(_7\).\(_9\)Ni\(_1\)\(_4\)\(_.\)\(_6\)Al\(_1\)\(_0\)Ti\(_5\)). Active brazing alloy, Cusil ABA (Ag\(_6\)\(_3\)Cu\(_3\)\(_5\)\(_.\)\(_2\)\(_3\)Ti\(_1\)\(_.\)\(_7\)\(_5\)), has been used to braze Zr plates in the Gleeble 3500 thermo- mechanical simulator under vacuum at 3 temperatures (840, 940 and 1000 \(^o\)C) and with Vitreloy105 at 780 \(^o\)C. The shear strength of the brazed Zr-plate increased at lower brazing temperatures; brazing of Vitreloy 105 plates was not successful as the brazing temperature, (Cusil ABA liquidus temperature) exceeded its crystallisation temperature Tx=440 \(^o\)C leading to crystallization and embrittlement during to brazing. As a result, three BMG compositions (Mg\(_6\)\(_5\)Cu\(_1\)\(_5\)Ag\(_1\)\(_0\)Tb\(_1\)\(_0\)\(_,\)Zn\(_4\)\(_0\)Mg\(_1\)\(_1\)Ca\(_3\)\(_1\)Yb\(_1\)\(_8\) and Ca\(_6\)\(_5\)Mg\(_1\)\(_5\)Zn\(_2\)\(_0\)) as potential brazes for Vitreloy 105 with liquidus temperatures below the crystallisation temperature and high values of fracture strength have been selected to predict (using Thermo- Calc) the equilibrium reaction between substrate and braze prior to manufacture in order to estimate likely wettability and joint strength.


AIMS
Fractional flow reserve (FFR), the reference standard for guiding coronary revascularisation, is most commonly acquired during intravenous adenosine infusion. Results may be sensitive to system- and operator-dependent variability in how pressure data are analysed and interpreted. To quantify FFR objectively, we developed a computational protocol to process the recorded pressure signals in a consistent manner. We studied the impact on lesion (re)classification and compared this with the operator-selected FFR obtained during cardiac catheterisation.

METHODS AND RESULTS
The algorithm used a moving average and Fourier transformation to identify the Pd/Pa ratio at its nadir (FFRmin) and during the stable hyperaemic period (FFRstable) in <2 s with 100% repeatability, in 163 coronary stenoses (93 patients). The mean operator-selected FFR (FFRCL) was higher than FFRmin and lower than FFRstable (0.779 vs. 0.762 vs. 0.806, p=<0.01). Compared with FFRmin, FFRstable resulted in 16.5% of all lesions being reclassified, all from significant to non-significant (p<0.01). FFRCL classified lesion significance differently from both FFRstable and FFRmin (11.7% and 6.1% lesions reclassified, respectively, p<0.01).

CONCLUSIONS
Subtle differences in how pressure data are analysed and interpreted by the operator during adenosine infusion result in significant differences in the classification of physiological lesion significance. An algorithmic analysis may be helpful in standardising FFR analysis, providing an objective and repeatable result.


We present ALMA observations of the mid-J 12CO emission from six single-dish selected 870-μm sources in the Extended Chandra Deep Field-South and UKIDSS Ultra-Deep Survey fields. These six single-dish submillimetre sources were selected based on previous ALMA continuum observations, which showed that each comprised a blend of emission from two or more individual submillimetre galaxies (SMGs), separated on 5-10 arcsec scales. The six single-dish submillimetre sources targeted correspond to a total of 14 individual SMGs, of which seven have previously measured robust optical/near-infrared spectroscopic redshifts, which were used to tune our ALMA observations. We detect CO(3-2) or CO(4-3) at z = 2.3-3.7 in 7 of the 14 SMGs, and in addition serendipitously detect line emission from three gas-rich companion galaxies, as well as identify four new 3.3 mm selected continuum sources in the six fields. Joint analysis of our CO spectroscopy and existing data suggests that 64(± 18){ per cent} of the SMGs in blended submillimetre sources are unlikely to be physically associated. However, three of the SMG fields (50 per cent) contain new, serendipitously detected CO-emitting (but submillimetre-faint) sources at similar redshifts to the 870 μm selected SMGs we targeted. These data suggest that the SMGs inhabit overdense regions, but that these are not sufficiently overdense on ˜100 kpc scales to influence the source blending given the short lifetimes of SMGs. We find that 21± 12{ per cent} of SMGs have spatially distinct and kinematically close companion galaxies (˜8-150 kpc and ≲ 300 km s-1), which may have enhanced their star formation via gravitational interactions.


We prospectively randomised 100 patients undergoing cemented total knee replacement to receive either a single deep closed-suction drain or no drain. The total blood loss was significantly greater in those with a drain (568 ml versus 119 ml, p < 0.01; 95% CI 360 to 520) although those without lost more blood into the dressings (55 ml versus 119 ml, p < 0.01; 95% CI -70 to 10). There was no statistical difference in the postoperative swelling or pain score, or in the incidence of pyrexia, ecchymosis, time at which flexion was regained or the need for manipulation, or in the incidence of infection at a minimum of five years after surgery in the two groups. We have been unable to provide evidence to support the use of a closed-suction drain in cemented knee arthroplasty. It merely interferes with mobilisation and complicates nursing. Reinfusion drains may, however, prove to be beneficial.


Water vapor sorption by metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) has gathered significant interest because of its prominent potential in many applications such as moisture harvesting, dehumidification, heat pump regulation, and hydrolysis catalysis. However, the reticular design and exploration of robust and high-performing Zr-MOFs for such purposes remains a sought-after endeavor. In this work, we present the deployment of reticular chemistry to target a series of robust Zr-MOFs based on a unique [2.2]paracyclophane (PCP) scaffold. The ease of functionalization of PCP enables the desired synthesis of three carboxylate linkers, one ditopic and two tetratopic, which further assemble into a total of five Zr-MOFs with distinct topological structures, i.e., a new 2D net (NU-700), fcu (NU-405), flu (NU-1800), she (NU-602), scu (NU-913). Notably, the water vapor sorption performances of all the Zr-MOFs are highly dependent on their framework topology and pore metric, in which NU-602 and NU-913 with uniform 1D channels exhibit S-shaped water sorption isotherms with a steep pore-filling step and high uptake capacities of 0.72 g g-1 at 70% relative humidity (RH) and 0.88 g g-1 at 60% RH, respectively. Moreover, NU-913 displays exceptionally high working capacity of 0.72 g g-1 in the range of 40-60% RH. Additionally, we demonstrate that the hydrolytic stability and water adsorption-desorption recyclability of NU-913 can be remarkably improved by capping the Zr6 nodes with the more hydrophobic agent, trifluoroacetic acid, making it a potential candidate for water sorption-based applications.


Over the past decade, the artworld has seen the emergence of various new art genres such as post-internet art, post-media art, and Internet-aware art to name a few. What these genres insinuate is an era of transition between us and digital media, between our online sphere and our offline sphere. This development affects all agents of the artworld, namely, the gallery system, the art-market and most importantly, how one measures the symbolic and economic value of the artwork. The Internet has enabled a new platform to democratize the artwork, and similarly a way for artists to take the marketing of their art and their artistic persona into their own hands, boycotting the middle man of the gallery space. As a result, the institutional gallery system has been compelled to restate - and justify its existence. Many artists and scholars have anticipated the downfall of the established gallery space and art-market in a new age, and yet, paradoxically, it seems to be thriving better than ever before.

Through qualitative semi-structured interviews with contemporary artists, this thesis rethinks the impact the Internet has had on artists' practice. It investigates how artists are coping with the terms and limitations of the established art-world whilst having access to the liberating possibilities of the Internet. Former research suggests that this development has enabled the artist to be completely autonomous and work outside of governing insitutions, yet the findings of this thesis refute those truth claims. Even though artists can publish and market their own material on the Internet, it comes with the price of the fabricated cult value surrounding the art-market.

This thesis questions prevailing discourse on the supposed democratizing impact the Internet has had on the art-world. Too much value has been put on the Internet as a source of autonomy, as well as a steering parameter in its relationship to contemporary art. The gallery system still works as the main consecrator of value within an artwork, and because of the easily reproduciblility of the digital image, the need to withhold symbolic value within an object due to its scarcity is more relevant than ever. The rules of art are still in power.


Abstract It is shown that, in any secant polar stereographic projection, a small circle on a sphere projects into a circle. This property provides a simple relationship between KH, the horizontal component of curvature of a horizonal curve and KH′, the curvature of its projection on a secant polar stereographic map. KH can be computed by subtracting from thc map factor times KH′ the earth's curvature multiplied by a correction factor that depends only on the latitude of the place and inclination of the curve to the latitude circle. This factor vanishes if the curve is along a meridian but takes an extreme value if it is along a latitude. For a given orientation of the curve, the value of this factor increases gradually as the location of the curve moves from the Pole to the Equator and more rapidly after it crosses the Equator. It is less than 1 in the Northern Hemisphere but can exceed unity in the Southern Hemisphere.


International student mobility programs enhance the global exposure of students, and represent a vital and increasing component in the offering of many universities worldwide. These programs often involve the travel of a group of students to an overseas location, where they, in addition to a variety of cultural activities, also register for a series of courses towards their degree completion. These courses are taken jointly with their local peers. While collaborative exchange programs among different universities often target individual student mobility, and the travelling student (or small group of students) generally represents a minority in the overseas class, in the case of branch campuses, and due to the seamless integration of the academic coursework and perhaps more systematic organization of the study abroad experience, an increasingly homogeneous and larger travelling student group can result, which may in turn imply that the visiting students can represent a large fraction of a class. This more even distribution between study abroad and local students can generate classroom dynamics that effectively split the class into two groups, and thus are not supportive of the cross-cultural interaction dimension of the international experience. This work discusses the observed barriers to cross-cultural collaboration in the classroom at the Dubai campus of Rochester Institute of Technology (RTI), where this effect has been noted in a senior/graduate level course in renewable energy systems that was composed by over 50% of study-abroad students from the main campus. Class dynamics of preferably working with peers from the same background developed, in part due to an easier out-of-class access to these peers, and in part due to a higher comfort level in the peer interaction. While the academic learning outcomes were met by both groups, this experience has shown that in order to increase cross-cultural interaction in the classroom, specific learning criteria and outcomes that stress global competencies need to be introduced. This paper presents the lessons learned in the process (including out of classroom factors that affect in classroom collaboration), and presents a work in progress of designing appropriate learning objectives, activities and assessment tools to foster development of global competencies in classes with a large and homogeneous component of study abroad students.


Background: Primates can harbor parasites that could be pathogenic or not for humans and primates themselves. It is necessary to know the parasitological situation of the primates that are under surveillance in the park. Aim: To estimate the prevalence and diversity of gastrointestinal parasites, including zoonotic potential parasites, in baboons in the Niokolo-Koba National Park located in Senegal. Method: Fecal samples (n = 50) from two groups of baboons (A and B) were collected in October 2019. The samples were processed using the flotation technique and the modified Ritchie method. Slides were examined microscopically and the parasite identification was based on morphology, color, and parasite content. Results: A total of seven nematodes (Strongyloides sp., Trichirus sp., Ancylostoma sp., Mammo monogamus, Enterobius sp., Strongyloides stercoralis, Strongyle digestif), one cestode (Bertiella sp.), and one trematode (Fasciolopsis sp.) were identified. The overall prevalence was 78%, while the prevalence of poly-infected samples was 49%. The parasite with zoonotic potential, S. stercoralis, was identified in group B samples. Trichuris sp., which is common and pathogenic to humans and primates, was present with prevalence of 52% and of 32% in groups A and B, respectively. Conclusion: These results suggest that baboons are infested with zoonotic parasites and this situation could expose people working in this park to infection. Contact between humans and these baboons or their feces could expose them to infection with zoonotic parasites.


Feminist scholars have shown that research on sex/gender differences in the brain is often used to support gender stereotypes. Scientists use a variety of methodological and interpretive strategies to make their results consistent with these stereotypes. In this paper, I analyze functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) research that examines differences between women and men in brain activity associated with emotion and show that these researchers go to great lengths to make their results consistent with the view that women are more emotional than men.


[I]meta-iodobenzylguanidine ([I]MIBG) is the most commonly used treatment for metastatic pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma. It enters the chromaffin cells via the membrane norepinephrine transporter; however, its success has been modest. We studied the ability of histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors to enhance [I]MIBG uptake by tumors in a mouse metastatic pheochromocytoma model. HDAC inhibitors are known to arrest growth, induce differentiation and apoptosis in various cancer cells, and further inhibit tumor growth. We report the in vitro and in vivo effects of two HDAC inhibitors, romidepsin and trichostatin A, on the uptake of [H]norepinephrine, [I]MIBG, and [F]fluorodopamine in a mouse model of metastatic pheochromocytoma. The effects of both inhibitors on norepinephrine transporter activity were assessed in mouse pheochromocytoma (MPC) cells by using the transporter-blocking agent desipramine and the vesicular-blocking agent reserpine. HDAC inhibitors increased [H] norepinephrine, [I]MIBG, and [F]fluorodopamine uptake through the norepinephrine transporter in MPC cells. In vivo, inhibitor treatment resulted in significantly increased uptake of [F]fluorodopamine positron emission tomography (PET) in pheochromocytoma liver metastases (19.1G3.2% injected dose per gram of tumor (%ID/g) compared to liver metastases in pretreatment scans 5.9G0.6%; P!0.001). Biodistribution analysis after inhibitors treatment confirmed the PET results. The uptake of [I]MIBG was significantly increased in liver Endocrine-Related Cancer (2011) 18 143–157 1351–0088/11/018–143 q 2011 Society for Endocrinology Printed in Great Britain DOI: 10.1677/ERC-10-0090 Online version via http://www.endocrinology-journals.org Downloaded from Bioscientifica.com at 06/15/2022 02:23:01AM via free access L Martiniova, S M Perera et al.: Histone deacetylase inhibitors and PHEO metastases 9.5G1.1% compared to 3.19G0.4% in untreated control liver metastases (P!0.05). We found that HDAC inhibitors caused an increase in the amount of norepinephrine transporter expressed in tumors. HDAC inhibitors may enhance the therapeutic efficacy of [I]MIBG treatment in patients with advanced malignant pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma. Endocrine-Related Cancer (2011) 18 143–157


Although the accumulation of advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) of the Maillard reaction in our body is reported to increase with aging and is enhanced by the pathogenesis of lifestyle-related diseases such as diabetes, routine measurement of AGEs is not applied to regular clinical diagnoses due to the lack of conventional and reliable techniques for AGEs analyses. In the present study, a non-invasive AGEs measuring device was developed and the association between skin AGEs and diabetic complications was evaluated. To clarify the association between the duration of hyperglycemia and accumulation of skin fluorophores, diabetes was induced in mice by streptozotocin. As a result, the fluorophore in the auricle of live mice was increased by the induction of diabetes. Subsequent studies revealed that the fingertip of the middle finger in the non-dominant hand is suitable for the measurement of the fluorescence intensity by the standard deviation value. Furthermore, the fluorescence intensity was increased by the presence of diabetic microvascular complications. This study provides the first evidence that the accumulation of fluorophore in the fingertip increases with an increasing number of microvascular complications, demonstrating that the presence of diabetic microvascular complications may be predicted by measuring the fluorophore concentration in the fingertip.


Electronic- cigarette (e-cigarette) is a product that divided public health community on the basis of its use and regulation. Most of the tobacco companies have acquired an electronic cigarette plant to start manufacturing. It seems as if e-cigarettes originated from China. It is hard to understand how tobacco industry with a vast capacity for research and development, failed in such a discovery. The presence of a similar device among the tobacco industry documents may lead the tobacco control advocates to a different path. Design and Methods: Basic and advanced searches were performed on "electronic cigarettes", "electrically heated devices", "non-tobacco" and "tobacco-free cigarettes" from legacy tobacco documents library web site, with regard to time. Results: The documents showed that the industry started investing into the research of electrically heated non-tobacco products about half a century ago. There were only 441 recent documents on "electronic cigarettes" but 3491 documents on "electrically heated devices", 528 being dating between 1960-1980. Among those there patent applications and drawings of the devices, as well as the list and code numbers of the tobacco industry owned patents. A document (Bates no 100335975) dated 1965, described a device that we call e-cigarette today. Conclusion: Tobacco industry documents clearly show that electronic smoking devices were known to tobacco industry much earlier than it appeared in China. The lag period between the research and marketing must be meaningful and be investigated.


New Orleans urgently needs to rebuild affordable rental housing in order to recover fully and fairly. However, neither low-income families nor the communities in which they live will be well served if affordable housing is rebuilt according to the patterns of the past. Models are emerging in other cities that integrate affordable housing into healthy, mixed-income neighborhoods. New Orleans can also look to experience from other cities for examples of how to rebuild low-income communities in ways that are respectful of the original residents but do not concentrate and isolate them yet again. Although local political, civic, and community leaders must all have a voice in decision-making, federal leadership and support is essential.


[1] A new class of models is developed to represent the latitudinal correlation patterns of satellite-based measurements of ozone and temperature. We employ the monthly average series for each 5-degree latitudinal zone of the TOMS data from the Nimbus 7 satellite over 14 years from November 1978 to November 1992. For each latitudinal zone a temporal regression model that includes systematic seasonal variations, possible long-term trends, solar radio flux effect, and time dependency is fitted separately by maximum likelihood. From the residuals at all latitudinal zones, we observe strong contemporaneous latitudinal correlations, which decay at different rates depending on latitudes and become negative at moderate distances. A three-component model with two associated weight functions is developed that can represent the main features of the concurrent spatial correlations of the residuals. We use low-order ARMA models as components. A similar analysis is done on the latitudinal correlations of the residuals from the monthly average series of Climate Prediction Center temperature data at 30 mbar from January 1979 to December 1993. The new class of models can be applied to other remotely sensed geophysical data sets whose covariance structures exhibit similar patterns.


Session I - Analytical Methodologies.- The use of low cost mass spectrometers for the analysis of organic micropollutants in water.- Coupling micro-LC capillary GC as a tool in environmental analysis.- Standardized analytical methods for EC priority pollutants.- The application of bonded silica extraction columns in sample preparation prior to the analysis of organic micropollutants in water.- Poster Session I - Analytical Methodologies.- Evaluation of steam distillation-extraction procedure for the recovery of phenols in water.- Isomer-specific determination of PCDD/PCDF in water leachate of a waste landfill.- Pesticide micropollutants in Lake Albufera (Spain).- Techniques for the improvement of gasoline analysis.- An improved extraction method for the quantitative analysis of pesticides in water.- Hyphenated methods (TSP LC-MS, DLI LC-MS, LC-TID) for analyzing organophosphorus priority pollutants.- PCB's and organochlorine pesticides in eel and flounder in the Tagus estuary.- HPLC/Fluorescence spectrometry in analyses of pulp mill wastes in recipients.- Chlorophenol compounds in snow.- The analysis of odorous sulphur compounds by gas chromatography after thermal desorption from tenax.- Determination of organic chemicals in sediments taken from three unpolluted estuaries in South West England.- Organic phosphates in surface, ground and drinking water.- Evaluation of degree of pollution of Tiber and Aniene rivers by nitrilotriacetic acid.- Hydrocarbons in East Mediterranean sea: determination and occurrence in the sediment of considered polluted and unpolluted areas of coastal environment.- Session II - Transport of Organic Micropollutants in the Aquatic Environment.- The Sandoz accident.- Monitoring of the River Rhein - Experience gathered from accidental events in 1986.- Predicting transport behaviour of organic pollutants using simple mathematical models.- Fate and transport of organic compounds in rivers.- Poster Session II - Transport.- Sediment-water partition coefficients of hydrophobic chemicals in the presence of third phase material.- Environmental fate of organosilicon chemicals.- Pollution of Saronicos Gulf (Athens, Greece) by fossil fuel hydrocarbons.- The Sandoz/Rhine accident: The environmental fate and transport of twenty-one pesticides introduced to the Rhine River.- Occurrence and leaching of pesticides in waters draining from agricultural land.- Polychlorinated biphenyls in the Kupa river, Croatia, Yugoslavia.- Session III - Transformation of Organic Micropollutants in Water.- Biodegradation of chlorinated aromatic chemicals in continuous cultures.- Anaerobic degradation, processes and test methods.- The fate of organic compounds in the environment.- Poster Session III - Transformation.- Levels of chlorophenols in the river, ground and drinking water in the Zagreb area.- Session IV - Water Treatment.- Biological-chemical characterization of effluents for the evaluation of the potential impact on the aquatic environment.- Test methods and strategies for environmental management purposes - environmental fate testing of chemicals and effluents.- Mass fluxes of linear alkylbenzenesulphonates, nonylphenol, nonylphenol mono- and diethoxylate through a sewage treatment plant.- Mutagenic compounds in chlorinated waters.- The formation and removal of chemical mutagens during drinking water treatment.- Application of the ozone-hydrogen peroxide combination for the removal of toxic compounds from a groundwater.- Poster Session IV - Water Treatment.- Possibilities and limitations of the combined use of ozone and hydrogen peroxide in drinking water preparation from surface water.- Presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in surface waters used for the production of drinking water.- Research and behaviour of organic micropollutants from waste distillery wine in anaerobic treatment.- Mass spectrometric identification of halogenated surfactants in Barcelona's water treatment plant.- Effects of chlorine dioxide preoxidation on organic halide formation potentials.- NMR study of kraft pulp mill waste and natural humic substances.- Identification of bioaccumulable compounds in kraft bleaching effluents.- Influence of humic water substances on the degradation of PAH during water chlorination.- Influence of waste water disinfection treatments on some genotoxic chemical micropollutants.- Session V - Mathematical Modelling.- Evaluation of some chemical fate and transport models - A case study on the pollution of the Norrsundet Bay (Sweden).- Modelling of groundwater transport of microorganic pollutants: State-of-the-art.- Poster Session V - Modelling.- Modelling of surfactants in the Comunidad de Madrid as subbasin of Tagus River.- Modelling of anthropogenic substances in aquatic systems: MASAS - A personel computer approach.- Session VI - Laboratory Data Treatment.- Chemometrics in environmental analytical chemistry.- Session VII - Environmental Scenario.- Future environmental problems.- List of Participants.- Index of Authors.


Abstract It can be argued that young people's socialisation into sport follows a general pattern of sampling, specialising and investing (Côté & Hay, 2002a). In the sampling phase children participate in a range of sports for fun and enjoyment. The specialising phase involves more sport‐specific skill development and a reduction in the range of sport activities. The investment phase signals a focus on one activity and a commitment to intensive training and competitive success. This paper develops research where we previously examined the key features of the sampling phase in the junior section of Forest Athletic Club (FAC) (MacPhail et al., 2003). Continuing our involvement in an ethnography of FAC we are now able to report and discuss key characteristics of the specialising phase that were evident through young people's involvement at the club. These include a reduction in the number of sporting activities being pursued, enjoyment and success, the notion of deliberate practice and the influence of family, school and club support on those moving into the specialising phase. We note that while some of the key features of the sampling phase carried over to the specialising phase there were subtle differences in how they were practised. We report characteristics of the specialising phase that were not evident when observing and interviewing the same athletes when they were experiencing the sampling phase. In concluding we suggest how the quality of the sporting experience in the specialising years can increase the likelihood that young people will remain involved in sport.


Isaak Babel' seemed to put into practice in his everyday routine the method he used in his literary works, as facts and fiction constantly overlapped – just as it happened in his short stories and in his autobiography. In real life Babel' was discreet and prone to hoaxes, however he always dated his letters carefully and wrote down each time the place where the letter was sent from. The work on the biography of Babel' suffers from the absence of his archive, confiscated during the writer's arrest in 1939 and not yet found. Therefore, one of the main tasks of the biographer of Babel' is to separate what occurs in his tales from real biographical events. At the same time, it is interesting to see how real events were portrayed in his prose works. The biographer has no right to fill in the gaps of the writer's biography using imagination instead of concrete facts and documents, but the biographer should not treat such gaps with silence. Moreover, the biographer should not ignore all the blank spots or open questions, but rather use them.


It is worth mentioning that the high output of different physiological responses under the expression of vgb, may have a considerable effect on the enzyme productivity, dairy industry, heavy metal uptake, biodegradation of different organic pollutants and other applications. The expression of bacterial haemoglobin is useful in lessening the load of perceived toxic conditions such as high oxygen levels. This in turn probably has the same impact on some peripheral toxic materials. This, hemoglobin biotechnology can be extended to enhance production of pollutants degrading enzymes or production of some valuable manufacturing materials on the case-by-case bases. It is likely that the mechanism of bacterial hemoglobin (VHb) effects is intermediated via an oxygen trapping action. This may drive the enrichment of ATP production, which is mostly required for higher productivity of needed substances for that activity.


Systematic reviews are important tools in animal research, but the ever-increasing number of studies makes retrieval of all relevant publications challenging. Search filters aid in retrieving as many animal studies as possible. In this paper we provide updated and expanded versions of the SYRCLE animal filters for PubMed and Embase. We provide the Embase filter for both Embase.com and via Ovid. Furthermore, we provide new animal search filters for Web of Science (WoS) and APA PsycINFO via psycnet.apa.org and via Ovid. Compared with previous versions, the new filters retrieved 0.5–47.1% (19 references for PubMed, 837 for WoS) more references in a real-life example. All filters retrieved additional references, comprising multiple relevant reviews. A random sample from WoS found at least one potentially relevant primary study. These animal search filters facilitate identifying as many animal studies as possible while minimising the number of non-animal studies.


As stated in the foreward of this book, the morphology of ventricular complexes has been well studied through the years, but information concerning the atrial signal has been rather limited. The authors have served a useful purpose by summarizing the literature and presenting their own experience in this short book. The nine chapters of the book deal with atrial activation and repolarization, the normal P wave and P-wave changes in dextrocardia, pulmonary disease, atrial infarction, atrial overloading, and other conditions as well as atrial arrhythmias. The reproduction of the illustrations is excellent and the bibliography is adequate. It is rather disappointing, however, that the discussion of atrial arrhythmias is quite superficial. The subject of the intra-atrial electrogram has not been mentioned. Some of the illustrations (for example, figs. 37, 45, 56B, 56C, and 90) fail to demonstrate clearly the specific points the authors intend to emphasize. This volume should be of value to all physicians interested in electrocardiography, but they may find that in some areas it is lacking in depth for such a specialized topic.


Scalar inferences are ubiquitous in human reasoning. Correspondingly, language has many means of expressing and encoding them. One of these means is the focus particle even, which utilizes scalar inferences to signal the pragmatic status of asserted content as noteworthy. The vehicles that even employs to signal noteworthiness are scalar likelihood inferences. A peculiarity of these inferences is that they are presuppositional in nature (not-at-issue) and yet, they are responsive to the polarity of the sentence expressing the proposition whose likelihood is signaled. This property raises intricate questions about what learners might expect scalar operators of this sort to look like (initial hypothesis space) as well as what type of evidence and learning strategies they have access to as they figure out the specific properties of even in adult English. This paper presents a detailed study of this development, combining data from a series of comprehension experiments and corpus studies. We find that children are sensitive to the basic scalar nature of even much earlier than previous literature has claimed. We additionally find, however, that children sometimes exhibit non-adult-like responses to even sentences, which we argue provide insight into their developing grammar. On this view, the child grammar offers a larger option space for even than the adult grammar. Becoming adult-like, in turn, involves eliminating some of these options, namely those that are underutilized in production due to their limited conversational value.


When matching in-situ concrete, such as for repairing or rehabilitating a structure, consideration must be given to its color. Matching the color can often be difficult and subjective. The aim of this study was to focus on the cement paste color component of concrete by performing laboratory experiments on hydrated paste samples to determine how various parameters affect the color. The two main categories investigated were: (1) materials and proportions, and (2) curing conditions. The lightness, hue, and saturation color values were measured using a colorimeter that gave L*a*b* numerical values. Cement powder color had the greatest effect on cement paste color. Other parameters that greatly affected the paste color were water-cement ratio, mineral admixtures, and hydration age for young pastes (less than 14 days). Parameters that showed very little effect were chemical admixtures and entrained air.


Background:Recent evidence suggests that natural killer (NK) cells play a crucial role in the HIV pathogenesis. Long-term nonprogressor (LTNP) and HIV controllers are rare HIV-infected patients who control viral replication and show delayed disease progression. They represent fascinating models of natural protection against disease progression and for studying the immunological response to the virus. Methods:We have conducted an extensive analysis of the phenotypic and functional properties of CD56dim, CD56bright and CD56−/CD16+ NK cell subsets from LTNP and HIV-controllers, and compared them with HIV progressors and healthy donors. Results:Hierarchical clustering analysis of NK phenotypic markers revealed that LTNP and HIV controllers, exhibit peculiar phenotypic features, associated with high levels of interferon-g, activation markers, and cytolytic activity in CD3−CD56+ NK cells against K562 target cells. More importantly, cytolytic activity against autologous CD4+ T cells is abrogated after treatment with anti-NKp44L mAb, in LTNP and HIV progressors, suggesting a key role of NKp44L. In contrast, in HIV controllers and healthy donors, NKp44L expression on CD4+ T cells and autologous NK lysis were both poorly detected. Conclusions:These results show that NK cells from LTNP and HIV controllers display phenotypic and functional features and suggest a consistent continuous involvement of the innate immune response in the failure to control viral replication. Collectively, these data may have important implication in the design of new anti-HIV therapeutical strategies based on the particular functional activity of NK cells.


Exercise can improve clinical outcomes in people with severe mental illness (SMI). However, this population typically engages in low levels of physical activity with poor adherence to exercise interventions. Understanding the motivating factors and barriers towards exercise for people with SMI would help to maximize exercise participation. A search of major electronic databases was conducted from inception until May 2016. Quantitative studies providing proportional data on the motivating factors and/or barriers towards exercise among patients with SMI were eligible. Random-effects meta-analyses were undertaken to calculate proportional data and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for motivating factors and barriers toward exercise. From 1468 studies, 12 independent studies of 6431 psychiatric patients were eligible for inclusion. Meta-analyses showed that 91% of people with SMI endorsed 'improving health' as a reason for exercise (N = 6, n = 790, 95% CI 80–94). Among specific aspects of health and well-being, the most common motivations were 'losing weight' (83% of patients), 'improving mood' (81%) and 'reducing stress' (78%). However, low mood and stress were also identified as the most prevalent barriers towards exercise (61% of patients), followed by 'lack of support' (50%). Many of the desirable outcomes of exercise for people with SMI, such as mood improvement, stress reduction and increased energy, are inversely related to the barriers of depression, stress and fatigue which frequently restrict their participation in exercise. Providing patients with professional support to identify and achieve their exercise goals may enable them to overcome psychological barriers, and maintain motivation towards regular physical activity.


To estimate the energetic requirements of 5-m shuttle running based on kinematic data, we devised a modified version of existing models for the estimation of the energy cost of gait. In our approach, negative/eccentric work during deceleration phases was added to positive/concentric work in propulsive phases. Ten subjects performed two 5-rnin trials at 50% and 75% of their maximal aerobic speed. The metabolic cost estimated from 30 kinematics was compared to that measured by a portable metabolimeter. The estimation error was 1.2 J/kg/s (7.3%): results encourage to apply this method for the estimation of the workload in sports involving frequent turns and changes of direction.


Business training programs are popular policy tools to foster growth among small entrepreneurs, yet their causal impacts are often weak, and the mechanisms by which such trainings can succeed to improve outcomes are poorly understood. The authors address these shortcomings by studying a comprehensive business training program that spanned 10 weeks of client engagement, and distinguishing between two separate types of business trainings - finance and marketing - in order to identify mechanisms of impact. The authors distinguish between a growth focus in marketing training which emphasizes sales and revenue expansion, and an efficiency focus in the finance training which emphasizes cost savings. The study utilizes a sample of 852 small businesses in the Cape Town area of South Africa through a randomized controlled trial. The study design comprises two treatment arms, with 266 businesses randomly assigned to finance training and 270 businesses to marketing training. The results show that businesses in either training program increased their profits significantly when compared to the control group at end line. The study results show that the hypotheses on heterogeneous treatment effects hold: marketing training was significantly more effective for businesses with lower prior business exposure, whereas finance training was significantly more effective for larger, more established businesses.


The present invention relates generally to the field of treatment and prophylaxis of retinal degenerative diseases. More particularly, the present invention contemplates a method for preventing, reducing the risk of development of, or otherwise treating or ameliorating the symptoms of, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) or related retinal conditions in mammals and in particular humans. The present invention further provides therapeutic compositions enabling dose-dependent or dose-specific administration of agents useful in the treatment and prophylaxis of age-related macular degeneration or related retinal degenerative conditions. ® KIPO & WIPO 2009


Purpose: To report the clinical outcomes of intravitreal aflibercept therapy in eyes with refractory and recurrent neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD) switched from intravitreal bevacizumab or ranibizumab. Methods: This is a retrospective review of eyes with neovascular AMD switched to intravitreal aflibercept with at least 1 year of follow-up after the switch. All patients had had a minimum of 3 injections of bevacizumab or ranibizumab before the switch. Aflibercept was used in patients considered refractory to bevacizumab (group 1) and in recurrent patients on therapy with ranibizumab due to an institutional policy decision (group 2). Changes in best-corrected visual acuity, fluid on optical coherence tomography (OCT), central retinal thickness (CRT) and the frequency of injections were compared. Results: Eighty-five eyes of 69 patients were analyzed, 39 eyes in group 1 and 46 in group 2. The mean follow-up time was 31.6 months prior to the switch and 14.7 months on treatment with aflibercept. One year after the switch, there was a nonsignificant mean decrease of 2 letters in visual acuity in both groups (group 1: from 58.2 to 55.8 letters, p = 0.086; group 2: from 56.4 to 54.5 letters, p = 0.168), but the mean number of injections per month was significantly lower (from 0.76 to 0.57, p < 0.001). With the switch, 90.6% of the patients showed anatomic improvement with a reduction of fluid on OCT, and both groups presented significant improvement in CRT (group 1: 65.3 µm, p = 0.051; group 2: 91.0 µm, p < 0.001). Conclusion: Aflibercept appears to be a valuable tool for the management of patients with poor responses to other anti-vascular endothelial growth factor drugs. These patients could have anatomic improvement, and the injection intervals could be extended.


The paper proposes the model of a control system based on the controlled object state. The model includes a state observer and a state controller. The reference signal for this control system is the required values of the controlled object state variables. As a state observer of a controlled object in the control system model, the system "extended Kalman filter - adaptive digital filter" (the EKF-ADF system) is used. The structure and operation principle of the control system state controller are described. The adaptive algorithm of the control system state controller is presented.
The control system state controller with the adaptive algorithm uses the output data of the EKF-ADF system to form the controller output (error) vector. The output data consist of the state estimation vector performed by the EKF of the EKF-ADF system and the vector of the corrected state estimation performed by the ADF of the EKF-ADF system. The adaptive algorithm of the control system state controller takes into account the output data of the EKF-ADF system in such a way as to form the most reliable state controller output vector.
To confirm the effectiveness of the considered control system, the control process numerical simulation results of a mobile robot with a caterpillar mover are presented: the proposed control system simulation results are compared with the simulation results of the control system that uses the EKF as a state observer.
The combination of the state observer and the state regulator as part of the proposed control system makes it possible to control dynamic objects with state variables which are inaccessible to direct measurement and have non-periodic external disturbances.


This paper reports the results of a research designed to assess the impact of Barcelonais airport extension in terms of noise increase. A contingent valuation (CV) approach was carried out in order to extract the stated preference for noise reduction for a representative sample of neighbor residential areas; using this technique the participants revealed their willingness to pay (WTP) for a proposed noise reduction. One of the main problems of CV is the protest answers, it is to say, the people that do not reveal their WTP, although they do value positively the good offered. For this reason two approaches were tested: the first is the conventional one where people state directly their WTP for a specific noise reduction; the second one the interviewed people state their hypothesis of real estate revalorization in case that such noise reduction would occur. The results reveals that direct WTP has a protest rate of 37.19%, meanwhile the second indirec t WTP has only a protest rate of 7.8%. Furthermore, the data analysis based on logistic models suggest two conclusions: 1) as higher is the knowledge of the problem related with noise source higher is the WTP, controlling the rest of variables, and 2) also higher is the level of protest rate. It is to say, people aware of the airport problems are more skeptical about the valuation process (e.g.: the solution proposed to reduce the noise, the payment vehicle, or the noise reduction offered), this skepticism drive to boycott the experiment and consequently it masks the WTP. Both effects produce a reduction on the aggregated mean WTP. For this reason the opinion and valuation of an environmental good (as silence) is not only influenced by the individual perception, but also is influence by the knowledge about it, and the social perception; for this latter reason the predictive capacity of models is improved when the socio-spatial correlation interactions are solved. Finally the results also suggest that the impact of airport noise is! also in fluenced by the existence of other environmental noises and the configuration of urban fabrics.


Objective Patients with congenital unilateral conductive hearing loss (UCHL) can either be watchful monitored or treated surgically through the fitting of a percutaneous bone conduction device (BCD) or, in some cases, atresia repair. The current study evaluated the long-term compliance and satisfaction with a percutaneous BCD in this specific population. Study Design Fifty-three consecutive patients with congenital UCHL treated with a percutaneous BCD in our tertiary referral center between 1998 and 2011 were identified. Clinical and audiological data were retrospectively gathered from the patients' files. The patients were interviewed by telephone about their current device usage status and were asked to complete the Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing Scale (SSQ). Results Compliance with the BCD was 56.6% after a mean follow-up of 7 years. The mean age at implantation of the users (22 years) was significantly higher than that of the nonusers (10 years). The mean time of device usage before the patients stopped using the BCD was 5 years. The primary reasons mentioned for quitting the BCD were experiencing excess background noise and/or subjectively not receiving enough benefit. Objectively measured features of binaural processing affected by the BCD were found to correlate with long-term BCD usage. The SSQ revealed significant improvement in the aided condition compared with the nonaided condition in the users, in contrast to the nonusers. Conclusion The current disappointing long-term compliance figures indicate the need for an even more careful and individualized approach with life-long follow-up when fitting BCDs in this specific population, especially in children.


Nowadays energy-saving represents a mandatory requirement for building. Several efforts have been done both to reduce energy consumption and to promote alternative generation sources. By the way, in most of the existing systems these two faces of energy-conservation are managed in isolation. In this paper, we propose a novel holistic vision for a smart home environment, in which energy administration embraces both energy production and consumption and it's handled in conjunction with services management. The proposed system uses an IP-based network as main communication channel and a semantic extension of the UPnP protocol for devices auto-configuration and control. An ontology framework is used to encode all the relevant information about devices, services and context, including energy status and user preferences, into a global knowledge base. Using the inference capabilities provided by the used rich semantic descriptions, such gKB can be used to support efficient control logics and intelligent decision making, that can be exploited also for a more effective energy management.


Phase-sensitive detection is the essential projective measurement for measurement-based continuous-variable quantum information processing. The bandwidth of conventional electrical phase-sensitive detectors is up to several gigahertz, which would limit the speed of quantum computation. It is theoretically proposed to realize terahertz-order detection bandwidth by using all-optical phase-sensitive detection with an optical parametric amplifier (OPA). However, there have been experimental obstacles to achieve large parametric gain for continuous waves, which is required for use in quantum computation. Here, we adopt a fiber-coupled χ(2) OPA made of a periodically poled LiNbO3 waveguide with high durability for intense continuous-wave pump light. Thanks to that, we manage to detect quadrature amplitudes of broadband continuous-wave squeezed light. 3 dB of squeezing is measured up to 3 THz of sideband frequency with an optical spectrum analyzer. Furthermore, we demonstrate the phase-locking and dispersion compensation of the broadband continuous-wave squeezed light, so that the phase of the squeezed light is maintained over 1 THz. The ultra-broadband continuous-wave detection method and dispersion compensation would help to realize all-optical quantum computation with over-THz clock frequency.


Primitive erythroid cells (EryP) are the earliest differentiated cell type of the mammalian embryo, arising in the yolk sac by the end of gastrulation. They begin to enter the embryonic circulation two days later and continue to mature in a stepwise and synchronous fashion. Around the time the embryonic circulatory system is forming, EryP comprise 25–40% of all cells in the embryo, indicating that huge resources have been set aside specifically for their development. Although, like their adult counterparts, EryP enucleate, they circulate throughout the embryo for several days before the first enucleated forms can be identified in the blood. We have used novel transgenic mouse lines to investigate this seemingly long lag and have identified a previously unappreciated developmental niche for EryP maturation. As they circulate in the peripheral blood (PB), EryP begin to express selected cell adhesion proteins, including α4 and β1 integrins, on their surface and migrate into the fetal liver (FL). They are found in the FL parenchyma as early as E10.5, in contact with macrophages within erythroblastic islands, and continue to accummulate there through E14.5. One day later (E15.5), nearly all EryP have enucleated and re-entered the circulation. Integrins α4, β5 and β1 (but not αV, β2, or β3) are dramatically upregulated on the surface of EryP that have entered the FL, to levels that are much higher than those found on PB EryP at the same stage. The high level cell adhesion molecule expression is reflected in greatly enhanced binding to fetal liver macrophages in vitro. Blocking of VCAM-1, a counter-receptor for α4β1 integrin that is expressed on macrophages, abrogates this adhesion. To examine EryP enucleation at higher resolution, we generated a transgenic mouse line in which the nuclei of EryP are marked by a histone H2B-EGFP fusion protein. Extruded EryP nuclei could be detected in very low numbers in the circulation and in much larger numbers within the FL at E12.5. Enucleated EryP are first detected within the blood at E12.5. These observations, along with the green fluorescence detected in E10.5 FL, may indicate that EryP enucleation begins earlier than previously believed and, therefore, that the resulting reticulocytes may not be released into the circulation immediately. Moreover, the large number of extruded nuclei in FL compared with peripheral blood argues that most enucleation events occur within the FL. The H2B-EGFP reporter allowed us to use flow cytometry (FACS) to isolate and characterize surface protein expression on the extruded nuclei. Adhesion molecules (α4, α5, and β1 integrins) were greatly enriched on the surface of the extruded nuclei, demonstrating that these proteins are selectively partitioned away from the body of the developing reticulocyte. The redistribution of surface proteins to the extruding nucleus may facilitate phagocytosis by macrophages and/or the release of integrin-poor reticulocytes into the circulation. Extruded EryP nuclei can be identified within FL macrophages both in vitro and in vivo. We conclude that EryP home to and enucleate within the fetal liver, a tissue that is just developing as EryP begin to circulate. We are currently using a number of molecular and cellular approaches to determine whether similar mechanisms are involved in the maturation of definitive erythroid cells in the adult bone marrow.


Today, software errors are the leading cause of outages in fault tolerant systems. System availability can be improved despite software errors by fast error detection and recovery techniques that minimize total downtime following an outage. This dissertation analyzes software errors in three commercial systems and describes the implementation and evaluation of several techniques for error detection and fast recovery in a database management system (DBMS). The software error study examines errors reported by customers in three IBM systems programs: the MVS operating system, the IMS DBMS, and the DB2 DBMS. The study classifies errors by the type of coding mistake and the circumstances in the customer''s environment that caused the error to arise. It observes a higher availability im pact from addressing errors, such as uninitialized pointers, than software errors as a whole It also details the frequencies and types of addressing errors and characterizes the damage they do. The error detection work evaluates the use of hardware write protection both to detect addressing-related errors quickly and to limit the damage that can occur after a software error. System calls added to the operating system allow the DBMS to guard (write-protect) some of its internal data structures. Guarding DBMS data provides quick detection of corrupted pointers and similar software errors. Data structures can be guarded a s long as correct software is given a means to temporarily unprotect the data structures before updates. The dissertation analyzes the effects of three different update models on performance, software complexity, and error protection. To improve DBMS recovery time, previous work on the POSTGRES DBMS has suggested using a storage system based on no-overwrite techniques instead of write- ahead log processing. The dissertation describes modifications to the storage system that improve its performance in environments with high update rates. Analysis shows that, with these modifications and some non-volatile RAM, the I/O requirements of POSTGRES running a TPI benchmark will be the same as those of a conventional system, despite the POSTGRES force-at-commit buffer management policy. The dissertation also presents an extension to POSTGRES to support the fast recovery of communication links between the DBMS and its clients. Finally, the dissertation adds to the fast recovery capabilities of POSTGRES with two techniques for maintaining B-tree index consistency without log processing. One technique is similar to shadow paging, but improves performance by integrating shadow meta-data with index meta-data. The other technique uses a two-phase page reorganization scheme to reduce the space overhead caused by shadow paging. Measurements of a prototype implementation and estimates of the effect of the algorithms on large trees show that they will have limited impact on data manager performance.


This FrontEnd Toolkit is about applying Design Thinking to transform new ideas into innovative products, services andbusinesses with an impact. The front end development of new user and customer-oriented solutions is a key opportunity aswell as a significant challenge for organizations and success is built on collaborative approaches. The overall objective is to help policy- makers, project owners, and managers as well as their stakeholders to design and implement projects with real impact. The Toolkit helps to establish an idea's key value to stakeholders, and supports planning for the creation of high impact projects. It assists in defining complexity, cost, delivery, functionality,and future upgrade potential of a concept and creates new opportunities for partnerships. The Front End innovation is all about purposefully combining different skills, disciplines, and resources with knowledge related to the local innovation ecosystem to gain insights that inspire and help shape a new, valuable offering. The process of creating this constellation of elements involves understanding emerging opportunities,client and user mindsets, needs and expectations. It also involves making sense of the competitive environment, the social and individual constraints and enablers that drive the acceptance and up take of new products, services and business models.


A new concept called configuration distribution analysis is introduced to extract quantitative information on adsorbate-adsorbate interactions from high-resolution scanning tunneling microscopy data. From atom-resolved nitrogen island configurations on an Fe(100) surface we show that the propensity to form small, compact c(2 X 2) nitrogen islands is due to a nearest neighbor repulsion and next-nearest neighbor attraction. We demonstrate the importance of including many-body terms and elastic interactions to account for the detailed description of the island distribution.