In the present study, a disposable biofilm-modified amperometric microbial sensor was developed and employed as an analytical tool for evaluating the biotoxicity of pesticides and real wastewater. The proposed biotoxicity biosensor was fabricated by using a polymeric disposable biofilm, which was prepared by immobilizing the pretreated S. cerevisiae cells (as a highly active biocatalyst) on a combination of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogel and sodium alginate crosslinked by CaCl2 as a matrix at the electrode surface. It was found that the S. cerevisiae pretreated with alcohols is needed for increasing the response sensitivity of the microbial sensor; therefore, the effects of the treated reagents, concentration and treating time, etc., on the performance of the biosensor were optimized. Atomic force microscopy (AFM), flow cytometry (FCM), as well as the electrochemical response, were employed to investigate the morphology characteristics, cells viability and electrochemical characteristics, respectively. 3,5-Dichlorophenol (DCP) was taken as the reference toxicant. Pesticide solutions, including Acephate, Ametryn and Thiram were selected as model toxicants. The biotoxicity of four kinds of real wastewater was also determined by this amperometric microbial sensor. The traditional parameter of 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) was measured within 30 min and the results obtained were better than those of other toxicity bioassays reported. The microbial biosensor prepared is a sensitive, rapid, convenient and cheap alternative to toxicity screening of chemicals and real wastewater.


The purpose of this study was to examine the suicide ideation according to the types of interpersonal relation in nurses. The data were collected by questionnaires from 273 nurses in a general hospital in Seoul, Korea. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and pearson's correlation coefficients. The score of suicide ideation was significantly different according to types of interpersonal relation which were 'stable', 'denial', 'fear' in nurses. The result of study are discussed in terms of implications for suicide-prevention program and future research, particularly the importance of the interpersonal relation in nurses. (Korean J Str Res 2008;16:351∼356)


Purpose: This research paper aims to examine the global trends in publishing in the leading marketing journals between 1964 and 2008, focusing on how public policy intervention in the assessment and funding of academic research has influenced Britain's relative productivity in the world's leading marketing journals. Design/methodology/approach: The method was an audit of contributions to the leading journals based on the authors' affiliation, country of origin and country in which they obtained their doctoral training. Findings: The results show that the proportion of leading marketing publications by authors affiliated to British universities have held steady at about 2 per cent, while the productivity of several other countries has accelerated past Britain. However, to retain that share, Britain has increasingly depended upon importing people whose PhD is not British. This contrasts with some other European countries that are now more productive than Britain, but mainly recruit locals with local PhDs. The pattern of decline in the UK is related to the impact of Britain's research assessment exercise and the continuation of relatively weak social science research training. Research limitations/implications: The analysis is limited by only looking at one academic discipline and only the top few academic journals in the field. Practical implications: The findings have implications at several levels. At a national policy level it questions the value of the research assessment exercises that appear to have presided over a decline in research productivity. For institutions, it questions the value in investing in developing local talent when success has come to those who buy talent internationally. Perhaps, the major implication arises from Britain's academic productivity declining while neighbouring countries have grown in international excellence. Originality/value: At a time when the continuation of expensive university research assessments is being questioned the research findings add value to the current debate in showing how that very process has accompanied academic decline. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.


The article presents the latest trends in the electoral legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan, which has passed successive evolutionary way of formation and de-velopment since independence. It is carried out a planned systematic work on improvement of electoral legislation in view of own national experience in conducting democratic elections and a referendum. The adoption of new norms of electoral laws will contribute to the full implemen-tation of the principle freedom of choice, the further democratization of the electoral system of Uzbekistan, strengthening the principles of openness and trans-parency of the elections.


Abstract Background Previous studies investigating the beneficial effects of exercise in type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) are relatively insufficient compared to studies on type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), due to the fear of hypoglycemia. Recently, several researchers have reported that combined aerobic and resistance exercise prevents hypoglycemia during and after exercise. Furthermore, exercise has been shown to have beneficial effects on the psychological status of patients with various diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of combined aerobic and resistance exercise in adolescents with T1DM. Methods Thirty-five type 1 diabetic patients were enrolled, and subjects were divided into either an exercise group or a control group. Thirty patients (20 patients in the exercise group, 10 patients in the control group) completed the study. The exercise program was performed for 1 h at a time, once a week, for 12 weeks. Study parameters were evaluated at baseline and 3 months after baseline evaluation. Results Combined aerobic and resistance exercise better controlled the body mass index (BMI), and also improved maximum muscular strength and maximum exercise intensity. On psychological tests, subjects' attention and quality of life showed improving tendency, while their stress and behavioral problems diminished. The number of exercise events increased in the training group, while the daily total insulin dose and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) level showed no significant changes. Conclusions A 12-week structured exercise program consisting of aerobic and resistance exercises improves cardiovascular, neurocognitive and psychobehavioral functions, and positively helps lifestyle modification in patients with T1DM.


Abstract Two important trends have drawn the attention of medical practitioners and academics in recent years: the growth of health consciousness within the United States, and the proliferation in the number of health-oriented media outlets. In the face of the growing health care consumerism, accompanied by the proliferation of health-oriented media delivery systems, it is important to explore the audience profile of health magazines so these magazines may be effectively used for media planning. This paper applies a motivation-driven approach to health magazine readership, arguing that health orientation influences the readership of health magazines. Based on an analysis of the Healthstyles data gathered in 1999 and building upon selective exposure theory, the study demonstrates that health orientation positively predicts health magazine readership. The study results provide guidelines for strategic media planning.


. Sampling approaches for uncertainty quantification for real-world engineering problems are associated with large computational time and cost. This cost comes from the expensive deterministic simulation. Usage of surrogate models is a common way to overcome this issue in engineering applications. A conventional Neural Network (NN) can be used for building such surrogates. However, these neural networks are built based on input-output pairs. It is not possible to verify that the predicted output satisfies underlying physics. In this contribution, a physics-informed neural network based on a hybrid model of machine learning and classical Finite Element Method (FEM) is presented for forward propagation of uncertainty. The method uses FEM during both training and prediction stages. A surrogate model based on neural network for high dimensional problem is constructed by constraining the predictions of the neural network with the discretized partial differential equation of the system. During the training stage, the predicted solution from the FEM informed Neural Network(FEM-NN) is used to compute the residual using stiffness matrices and force vectors. This residual is used as a custom loss function from NN. This makes the whole training unsupervised as it does not require any output values. Hence, the need for expensive FEM solves is circumvented. The FEM-NN hybrid also gives an estimate of the accuracy of prediction by means of the calculated residual along with the prediction. The framework does not require mandatory expensive linear solves of the discretized equation instead substitutes the prediction from the neural network for computing the residual. This reduces the expensive training phase of the problem and can be applicable to real-world FEM simulations. The trained neural network is then sampled in a Monte Carlo (MC) manner to evaluate the statistics of the Quantities of Interest (QoI). The resulting FEM-NN hybrid is physics confirming and data-efficient. The efficacy of the framework is presented by a series of test case examples. The results are compared with classical MC results. The suitability of the method for the uncertainty quantification is studied and presented.


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the reliability measures, namely, availability, reliability, mean time to failure and expected profit. The authors also analyse the sensitivity of these reliability measures.

Design/methodology/approach

Depending upon the real industrial relevance, a generalized system which is easily repairable, extremely reliable and of high quality is expected by the rapid growth of the digital economy. Considering reliability, as one of the performance measure, the authors have designed a complex system which consists of three subsystems, namely, A, B and C in series configuration. The subsystem A consists of n numbers of units which are arranged in parallel configuration, subsystem B consists of two sub-subsystems X and Y align parallel to one another, where X is a type of 1-out-of-n:F. Failure and repair rates are assumed to be follow the general distribution.

Findings

The system is deeply studied by the usage of the supplementary variable technique, Laplace transformation and Markov's law. Various conclusive results such as availability and reliability of the system, mean time to failure, cost and sensitivity analysis have been discussed further.

Originality/value

Through the systematic view of reliability measures of the proposed system, performance of the system can be enhanced under high profit.


As scholars and journalists focus their attention on the problems of racial profiling, increased incarceration among young black men, and their effects on the larger black community,1 Professor Dorothy Roberts calls our attention to the intersections of race and gender in modern interactions with the child welfare system. In an earlier work, Killing the Black Body,2 Roberts called us to think about how black women had become ensnared in the war on drugs, and its impact on racial equality and reproductive liberty. In her latest work, Shattered Bonds: The Color of Child Welfare,3 Roberts issues a clarion call for society to take seriously the issues of race, gender, and class in the child welfare system's removal of a startling number of black children from their families and communities. In a stirring indictment of the child welfare system as a "racist institution,"4 which "disrupts, restructures, and polices Black families,"5 Roberts calls for the abolition of the system "we now call child protection and [its replacement] with a system that really promotes children's welfare."6 Roberts's central purpose is to "provide the missing voice of Black families


This paper reviews work at the University of Southampton and its spin-out company Perpetuum towards the use of vibration energy harvesting in real applications. Perpetuum have successfully demonstrated vibration-powered condition monitoring systems for rail and industrial applications. They have pursued applications were volume is not a particular constraint and therefore sufficient power can be harvested. Harvester reliability and longevity is a key requirement and this can be a challenging task in high shock environments. The University of Southampton has investigated the miniaturization of the technology. MEMS electromagnetic harvesters were found to be unsuitable although miniaturized devices fabricated using bulk components did perform well. Screen printed piezoelectric harvesters were also found to perform well and were ideally suited to a low profile application where device thickness was limited. Screen printing was not only used to deposit the active piezoelectric material but also an inertial mass ink based on tungsten. This enables the device to be printed entirely by screen printing providing a low-cost route to manufacture. Finally, details of a simulation tool that can take real world vibrations and estimate vibration energy harvester output was presented. This was used to simulate linear and nonlinear harvesters and in many applications with a characteristic resonant frequency the linear approach was found to be the optimum. Bistable nonlinear harvesters were found to work better with more random vibration sources.


A macroscopic and histologic study has been made on the changes during a 2-year period in a free composite graft of synovium subsynovial fat and periosteum taken from the medial femoral condyle and placed on the cartilage denuded patellar groove of the knee joint in skeletally mature sheep. The results have been compared to a control group which had the same surgical management except that the graft was discarded. The study demonstrated that following "take" and revascularization, the composite graft had converted to a single layer of vascular fibroblastic tissue by 6 weeks and over the ensuing year this had been largely replaced by fibrocartilage of variable differentiation. However, over the next year much of this fibrocartilage would appear to have undergone either redifferentiation into disorganized fibrochondroid tissue or developed secondary degenerative changes. By contrast, the control specimens had profound resorption of the bone plate followed by patchy resurfacing with tissue ranging from a very loose fibrous connective tissue to well differentiated fibrocartilage. The latter had gradually increased in amount of over the 2-year period, but secondary degenerative changes had also developed as in the grafted group. Despite some of the drawbacks, particularly the magnitude of the patello-femoral compression force, the technique has now been refined into a reliable animal model for the study of different parameters either in the graft or the graft environment in the hope that a way can be found to increase the life span of the metaplastic cartilage.


Background Although Becker's nevus (BN) is a relatively common disease, the systematic studies of clinicopathological and immunohistochemical results are poorly reported. Objective To investigate the clinicopathological features and immunohistochemical alterations of keratinocyte proliferation, melanocyte density, smooth muscle hyperplasia and nerve fiber distribution in BN. Methods Clinical and pathological data were collected in 60 newly-diagnosed BN cases. Immunohistochemical stain of Ki-67, Melan-A, keratin 15, smooth muscle actin and protein gene product 9.5 was performed in 21 cases. Results The median diagnostic and onset age was 17 and 12 years, respectively. Skin lesions usually appeared on the upper trunk and upper limbs. The pathological features included the rete ridge elongation and fusion and basal hyperpigmentation. Epidermal Ki-67, Melan-A and keratin 15 expression and dermal nerve fiber length were significantly higher in lesional and perilesional skin than in normal skin (p<0.05~0.01), while smooth muscle actin expression was upregulated only in skin lesion (p<0.05). Conclusion Although the clinical diagnosis of BN is often straightforward, histopathology is helpful to differentiate from other pigmentary disorders. The hyperproliferation of keratinocytes, melanocytes, arrector pili muscle and dermal nerve fibers could be involved in the pathogenesis of BN.


Famously, James I of Scotland allegedly said that David I's extreme generosity towards the Scottish church had rendered him 'ane sair sanct for the Croune'. David was also explicitly a saint for Walter Bower, who was reliant for material on John of Fordun, who in turn borrowed heavily from a eulogy written shortly after David's death by Aelred of Rievaulx. The sanctity attributed to David in these later medieval sources does not, however, simply reiterate or reflect the image of him that is in their twelfth-century source, but rather adapts it to suit the mores and requirements of the authors in their later medieval contexts. Aelred's David is certainly virtuous and to be emulated, but he is not a saint. This makes him particularly interesting, especially as he was presented as an exemplar to Henry of Anjou, shortly before he was to become Henry II of England. What type of kingship was Aelred recommending to the king-in-waiting? What were the pitfalls of which he believed Henry needed to beware?

This paper examines this virtuous but flawed David in the context within which he was created. It is now generally accepted that saints' lives can provide valuable insights into the concerns and requirements of the cultural and political landscape from which they emanate. I argue here that subjects who could not be seen as saintly could be equally (and perhaps still more) valuable tools in attempts to shape the behaviour of others.


Previous studies have confirmed that the learning performance of school students can improve when good levels of daylight are available in classrooms. In tropical climates, it might be difficult to utilise and control natural light due to its high levels. Various activities in classrooms, such as taking notes and viewing screens and whiteboard, can also become difficult. Consequently, daylight in tropical classrooms may be less welcome and utilised less frequently. In order to deal with natural light utilisation, building facade is one of significant architectural design elements influencing energy consumption and human comfort. This study aims to investigate classroom facade designs that attempt to optimise visual and thermal comfort while reducing energy consumption. Focusing on facade appearance, daylighting systems and occupants' behaviour, there are three stages of study using occupants and classrooms in the Faculty of Architecture, Urban Design and Creative Arts, Mahasarakham University, Thailand as the case study. The research commenced the first stage with finding the actual problems of daylight utilisation in tropical classrooms in terms of room form, brightness levels, and users' behaviours and attitudes. In order to study brightness pattern and human sensation several survey methods: illumination measurements, observations, questionnaires and interviews; were applied. In the second stage, computer simulation was undertaken in order to analyse the problems and suggest solutions using DesignBuilder package. The suggestions were verified in the last stage by surveying occupants' satisfaction comparing the modified classroom to the existing classrooms. The measurements and surveys demonstrated availability of the daylight and positive attitude in using natural light of the occupants whereas facade and systems are not appropriated for applying natural light: provided insufficient daylight level and allowed occurrence of glare. Daylight environment appeared to proper for general visual tasks while more control was required for using projector. The simulation result showed the significance of window area, shading device and window orientation respectively. The use of two opposite fully glazed walls with shading depth of 50% of optimised device is recommended for all orientations. The suggested size of shading device usually allowed penetration of the sun into the classroom. The influence of direct sun which theoretically could be a serious problem was confirmed acceptable by occupants. It implies that direct sunlight can rather be a daylighting opportunity if correct shading design is applied. A limitation of this research is that, although the DesignBuilder package can facilitate study in both daylighting and thermal aspects, its daylighting analysis function has limit capacity for light reflected strategies. Results of this research are recommendations of facade characteristics and their operation systems which are suitable for the case study. The visually environmental improvement of one specific building which can be adapted for general classrooms and other types of low maintenance buildings. Moreover, research findings can be extended to be public guidelines for designers in their approach to sustainability.


Abstract. Information about distribution of pollen sources, i.e. their presence and abundance in a specific region, is important, especially when atmospheric transport models are applied to forecast pollen concentrations. The goal of this study is to evaluate three pollen source maps using an atmospheric transport model and study the effect on the model results by combining these source maps with pollen data.
Here we evaluate three maps for the birch taxon: (1) a map derived by combining a land cover data and forest inventory, (2) a map obtained from land cover data and calibrated using model simulations and pollen observations, and (3) a statistical map resulting from analysis of forest inventory and forest plot data.
The maps were introduced to the Enviro-HIRLAM (Environment – High Resolution Limited Area Model) as input data to simulate birch pollen concentrations over Europe for the birch pollen season 2006. A total of 18 model runs were performed using each of the selected maps in turn with and without calibration with observed pollen data from 2006. The model results were compared with the pollen observation data at 12 measurement sites located in Finland, Denmark, and Russia.
We show that calibration of the maps using pollen observations significantly improved the model performance for all three maps. The findings also indicate the large sensitivity of the model results to the source maps and agree well with other studies on birch showing that pollen or hybrid-based source maps provide the best model performance.
This study highlights the importance of including pollen data in the production of source maps for pollen dispersion modelling and for exposure studies.


An algorithm is formulated for the construction of hyperspherical functions with an arbitrary permutational symmetry. As proposed by Novoselsky and Katriel [Phys. Rev. A $49,$ 833 (1994)], we use a recursive procedure, introducing hyperspherical coefficients of fractional parentage (hscfps). These coefficients are the eigenvectors of the transposition class sum of the symmetric group in an appropriate basis. Utilizing a reversed-order set of the Jacobi coordinates we obtain a set of symmetrized basis functions well suited for few-body calculations as the evaluation of matrix elements of two-body and three-body forces involves the hscfps but no further rotation of the Jacobi coordinates. The results are applicable to the study of atomic, molecular and nuclear few-body problems. Numerical results for nuclear soft-core model potential are presented for 3, 4, and 5 body systems.


In this paper, using the tenets of Situation-Bound Utterances (SBUs) (Kecskes 2000, 2010) and referring to Pragmatic Act
 Theory (PAT) (Mey 2001), the verb mordan ('to die' in
 English), and its different realisations are analysed among Persian speakers. Through the analysis of authentic talk in
 interaction, this study aims to ponder nonstandard (situation-derived) meanings of the term mordan and its
 different SBUs. The primary focus of the study is on strings of linguistic events as well as the "conventions of usage" (Morgan 1978) or cultural understanding that may lead to standard and nonstandard meanings
 considering mordan and its different SBUs. The findings suggest that the SBUs regarding mordan,
 a neglected sociolinguistic context, not only is affected by its actual situational characteristics but also by prior context
 encoded in utterances used, which manifests culture-specific ways of thinking (Capone
 2018; Wong 2010). Overall, 19 SBUs and 7 generic categories were identified
 with regard to the verb mordan in Persian. This paper exhibits that mordan is a versatile verb,
 which, when combined with situational/contextual factors, conveys different nonstandard functions that fulfil social needs. This
 study will also refer to linguistic features underlying SBUs that are influential in assigning various distinct meanings to the
 verb mordan in Persian.


We present an overview of the MultiG program, an open research program addressing issues from end-user requirements on distributed multimedia applications to medium access protocols for multi-gigabit networks based on optical fibers and wireless extensions to portable workstations, Walkstations. The program is growing into a a national Swedish effort conducted in broad cooperation between academia and industry with substantial support from public sources. The spirit of the program is similar to that of the US program for the establishment of a National Information Infrastructure. SGN, the Stockholm Gigabit Network, a gigabit testbed based on darkfibers, is being built connecting 8 nodes in the Greater Stockholm area. The testbed may be extended nationally during the next few years.<<ETX>>


The work described in the thesis is directly related to footwear technology,
and may have wider applications.
The upper and insole of a shoe are made from components cut from flat
sheet material, which must be shaped to conform to the curved surface of
a last. The pattern for the component is a map of the curved surface.
Two methods for constructing plane maps of curved surfaces are described.
One is based on a tree drawn on the surface, whose branches are each
mapped isometrically on to a plane. Some well-known map projections
used by cartographers fall into this category, as does a patented
method of constructing shoe patterns.
The second is an optimisation method: the ideal mapping is an isometry,
(only possible if the curved surface is developable) and a norm is
constructed which measures the amount by which any actual mapping
departs from an isometry. The optimal mapping is the one which minimises
the norm.
Analysis shows that the principal directions at the boundary of the map
are along and at right angles to the boundary, and that the principal
scale across the boundary is unity, but the actual construction of an
optimal map can only be performed by an iterative computer program.
Examples are given of maps of shoe components and of portions of a sphere;
the maps may include plots of the principal lines.
The limitations imposed by the presence of seams are indicated, and a
theory of the closed seam is worked out.
The whole idea of optimal maps is set in the context of a comprehensive
programme for the computer-aided design of footwear.


The corticospinal tract (CST) of the rat undergoes a prolonged period of postnatal development. Lesions of the presumptive CST pathway at birth are followed by the aberrant rerouting of the developing corticospinal axons around the lesion site through adjacent undamaged CNS tissue. This developmental plasticity becomes severely restricted by 5‐6 days of age, so the axons are no longer capable of growth around the site of injury. The aim of the current study was to determine whether altering the environment at the site of injury by filling the lesion with transplanted fetal spinal cord tissue could prolong the critical period for developmental plasticity of the corticospinal pathway. The spinal cord was damaged (overhemisection) at three stages in the development of the corticospinal (CS) pathway: 1) prior to the arrival of CS axons, 2) after the axons elongated through the cord but prior to synaptogenesis, and 3) after both axonal elongation and synaptogenesis were completed. One to 9 months later, anterograde neuronal tracing with horseradish peroxidase was used to assess the growth of the corticospinal pathway with or without a fetal transplant at the site of injury, and the pattern of labeling was compared with that observed in adult nonlesioned control animals. Our results indicate that the presence of a transplant prolongs the critical period for developmental plasticity of the CST. Transplants elicited growth of CST axons throughout the postnatal period examined. CST axons damaged prior to synaptogenesis exhibited more robust growth than those lesioned after synaptogenesis had been completed. These results suggest that both environmental and neuronal factors interact to regulate the response of immature CS neurons to injury.


Recent advances of powerful Language Models have allowed Natural Language Generation (NLG) to emerge as an important technology that can not only perform traditional tasks like summarisation or translation, but also serve as a natural language interface to a variety of applications. As such, it is crucial that NLG systems are trustworthy and reliable, for example by indicating when they are likely to be wrong; and supporting multiple views, backgrounds and writing styles -- reflecting diverse human sub-populations. In this paper, we argue that a principled treatment of uncertainty can assist in creating systems and evaluation protocols better aligned with these goals. We first present the fundamental theory, frameworks and vocabulary required to represent uncertainty. We then characterise the main sources of uncertainty in NLG from a linguistic perspective, and propose a two-dimensional taxonomy that is more informative and faithful than the popular aleatoric/epistemic dichotomy. Finally, we move from theory to applications and highlight exciting research directions that exploit uncertainty to power decoding, controllable generation, self-assessment, selective answering, active learning and more.


In crude oil refineries, fouling in heat exchangers and heat exchanger networks represents one the most complex and challenging issues. Its occurrence produces major impacts in thermal, hydraulic and economic performance on every heat transfer process. Increasing in fuel consumption, pressure drop and CO2 emissions across heat exchangers are examples of a wide series of consequences that are attributed to fouling in different petro-chemical process industries.
Predictive models for fouling deposition have become a useful tool for analysing thermal performance on heat exchanger networks. A wide range of semi-empirical models have been reported in the literature considering different types of crude oil. Most of these models present a series of parameters that need to be fitted using experimental data. However, there is an uncertain relation between field and laboratory conditions, compromising the quality of predictions and greatly affecting further simulation and optimisation of heat exchanger networks.
The proposed approach presents an alternative method for determining fouling models using reconciled operating data. Data reconciliation is included in order to account for the effect of measurement errors and presence of faulty instruments within a given set of measurements. Depending on the available redundancy, further analysis can take place regarding feasibility of the data reconciliation problem, along with process variable classification. Once the data have been reconciled, the specific set of fouling model parameters can be fitted and implemented into the framework for operational optimisation for fouling mitigation, or optimisation of cleaning schedules. Different sets of cleaning actions can be analysed and further optimised by minimising the total operating cost, once the specific fouling models are successfully determined, resulting and economic and environmental savings.


This paper contains a complete class theorem (Theorem 3.2) which applies to most statistical estimation problems having a finite sample space. This theorem also applies to many other statistical problems with finite sample spaces. The description of this complete class involves a stepwise algorithm. At each step of the process it is necessary to construct the Bayes procedures in a suitably modified version of the original problem. The complete class is a minimal complete class if the loss function is strictly convex. Some examples are given to illustrate the application of this complete class theorem. Among these is a new result concerning the estimation of the parameters of a multinomial distribution under a normalized quadratic loss function. (See Example 4.5).


Abstract Whether water sorption hysteresis exists above 75 °C and the representation of its relationship with wood softening remains unclear. In this study, sorption hysteresis at three temperature levels, namely, 75, 90 and 99.5 °C, was investigated using accurately controlled conditioning chambers using powder samples from seven wood species. The dry mass loss percentage of the samples and proper equilibrium time was evaluated by pretests to ensure reliable sorption isotherms afterwards. The dry mass loss percentage after the entire sorption isotherm running needs to be kept within 0.5% to avoid complications in determining the equilibrium time. The abrupt increase of equilibrium moisture content at high relative humidity regions and the crossover of adsorption isotherms were not observed. Hysteresis was conspicuous at 75 and 90 °C and was statistically confirmed at 99.5 °C. High sample extractives content or unnecessarily long equilibrium time would cause significant sample dry mass loss, which may suppress the desorption isotherm to an extent that leads to unjustified hysteresis disappearance. The hysteresis behavior observed in this study suggests that wood softening does not necessarily result in hysteresis disappearance, and the explanation of hysteresis progression as a function of wood softening temperature must be evaluated with care in the future.


The theologian and politician Bodil Koch was an influential player in politics regarding the Danish national church in the 20 th century. During her twenty-four years as MP for the Social Democrats she made an effort to avoid an independent constitution of the Church and a separation of church and state. During her thirteen years as Minister of Ecclesiastical Affairs she worked to adjust the church to the welfare state. This article examines one of her initiatives: A commission to modernize the structure of the church. The surveys and studies from the commission introduced methods from sociology and social science into the field of church politics in Denmark. The work focused on the activities of the church and it revealed a scarce knowledge of traditional Christianity among the members as well as low Church attendance. Thus the introduction of social science in the ecclesiastical sphere reinforced public notions of a gap between the Danish national Church and the Danish population - against all intentions.


The main objective of each reserve is the conservation requirements and at the same time ensuring sustainable use of its natural resources and increasing understanding of the value of natural ecosystems deltas. The main challenge in this activity is actually a balance between measures to be taken to conserve natural heritage and the values that make possible an intensive use of natural resources according to the ever growing local population. Tourist facilities often come into conflict with conservation goals and spoils landscapes; pressures to develop such facilities are particularly strong bloc of Eastern European countries, while in some protected areas, tourism simply does not occur . But, if planned and managed for sustainable tourism can be a very positive force, bringing benefits both protected areas and local communities. Tourism will be welcome in the area or near protected areas where these meet the special character of the area, so that damage and pollution to a minimum.


Narrowing of the discharge in wide-aperture transversely excited KrF excimer laser heads is shown as a result of the effect of the ground return at the outer boundary of the laser chamber on the electric field line distribution. It is shown theoretically and experimentally that it has a strong contribution to the electric field line distribution, while the electrode shape and separation are only of secondary importance. In order to avoid the narrowing effect, a compensated configuration is suggested.


Based on DNA sequences of fragments of the mitochondrial COI and 16S rRNA genes we provide a first assessment of genetic variability of Iberian treefrog populations that have been historically allocated to Hyla arborea, partly as subspecies H. a. molleri. Our data from 147 specimens and 33 populations confirm strong divergence between these frogs and Central European H. arborea but relatively low differentiation across their range, supporting their status as a separate species, H. molleri. Preliminary phylogeographic data indicate a possible weak genetic differentiation of populations from the northern coast of the region of Galicia. We suggest inclusion of nuclear markers and an extension of the sampling into the coastal regions of Asturias and Cantabria, as well as the identification of the contact zone between H. molleri and H. arborea in either the Spanish Basque country or in France, as priorities for future research on this species.


Pteropodine (PT) is a component of some plants with potentially useful pharmacological activities for humans. This compound has biomedical properties related to the modulation of the immune system, nervous system, and inflammatory processes. This study addresses the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant capacity of pteropodin in a murine model of arthritis and induced edema of the mouse ear. To evaluate the anti-inflammatory activity, we used the reversed passive Arthus reaction (RPAR), which includes the rat paw edema test, the rat pleurisy test, and a mouse ear edema model. The antioxidant effect of PT was evaluated by determining the myeloperoxidase enzyme activity. PT showed an anti-inflammatory effect in the different specific and non-specific tests. We found a 51, 66 and 70% inhibitory effect of 10, 20 and 40 mg/kg of PT, respectively, in the rat paw edema test. In the pleurisy assay, 40 mg/kg of PT induced a low neutrophil count (up to 36%) when compared to the negative control group, and 20 mg/kg of PT increased the content of lymphocytes by up to 28% and the pleural exudate volume decreased by 52% when compared to the negative control group, respectively. We also found an 81.4% inflammatory inhibition of the edema ear with 0.04 mg/ear of PT, and a significant myeloperoxidase enzyme inhibition by the three doses of PT tested. We conclude that PT exerted a potent anti-inflammatory effect in the acute inflammation model in rodents.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of optimized sequential screening program of colorectal cancer, and provide evidence for the further optimization of colorectal cancer screening program.

METHODS
Using cluster sampling method, 4 administrative villages were selected from Jiashan county as a census district in 2011 to 2013. Volunteers of 40 to 74 years old in the census were recruited, and tested by both optimized sequential screening (including questionnaire survey and fecal occult blood test) and colonoscopy for colorectal cancer. Sensitivity and specificity of different screening methods were calculated, respectively.

RESULTS
A total of 2 607 volunteers took both simultaneously screening and colonoscopy at the same time. 20 colorectal cancer cases, 85 advanced adenoma cases, 271 non-advanced adenomas cases, and 141 non-adenomatous polyps cases were detected. Sensitivity of optimized sequential screening for colorectal cancer, advanced adenomas, and non-advanced adenomas were 70.0% (14/20) , 57.6% (49/85) and 36.5% (99/271) , specificity was 68.7% (1 776/2 587) , 69.2% (1 746/2 522) and 68.9% (1 610/2 336) , respectively. Sensitivity of the fecal occult blood test of colorectal cancer, advanced adenomas and non-advanced adenomas were 70.0% (14/20) , 47.1% (40/85) and 26.6% (72/271), specificity was 79.4% (2 053/2 587), 79.9% (2 014/2 522) and 79.6% (1 860/2 336). The sensitivity of fecal occult blood test and those of optimized sequential screening for colorectal cancer, advanced adenomas was not significant (χ(2) = 0.00, 1.91, all P values > 0.05). Sensitivity of questionnaire survey of colorectal cancer, advanced adenomas and non-advanced adenomas were 10.0% (2/20), 14.1% (12/85), 12.9% (35/271), specificity was 87.6% (2 266/2 587), 87.7% (2 211/2 522), 87.6% (2 046/2 336). There were no significant difference between non-advanced adenomas. The sensitivity of advanced adenomas and non-advanced adenomas showed no significant decline when the following six term were removed from screening programs: chronic diarrhea, chronic constipation, mucus or bloody history, history of chronic appendicitis or appendectomy surgery, chronic cholecystitis or gallbladder surgery, adverse events in the history of life, while the sensitivity of colorectal cancer remained nearly the same 70.0% (14/20), 52.9% (45/85), 31.4% (85/271) (χ(2) = 0.38, 1.61, all P values > 0.05).

CONCLUSION
Current optimized sequential screening programs for colorectal cancer in China have a high sensitivity and specificity. However, further optimization is viable and necessary.


A hitherto unreported aminomethylation occurs at C-3 of imidazopyridines with morpholine in the presence of (diacetoxyiodo)benzene at ambient temperature in short reaction times. This methodology is also applicable to indolizine, imidazo[2,1-b]thiazole, benzo[d]imidazo[2,1-b]thiazole, and indole. Interestingly, the aminomethylation involving morpholine as a source of methylene group is a new phenomenon. This protocol is of much potential for the synthesis of aminomethylated derivatives under mild reaction conditions.


Nowadays when users navigate in internet they find lots of types of communication scattered across diverse sites. Due to the lack of users' interests in advertisements, primarily caused by not matching their preferences, today's advertisements have a low rate of success. Recently, owing to semantic web generation, some companies started to use personalized marketing in communication as a way to turn the conversions around and thus increase customer retention and loyalty. As a matter of fact, the retention and loyalty stages on the internet are, on average, the least crafted of the whole cycle. The customers' conception of one-to-one marketing is quite ambiguous as they conceive that they need to be more efficient while shopping online but at the same time they feel stalked due to privacy concerns, and oversaturated with non-valuable information.The purpose of this paper is to explore from a holistic view online personalized communication strategies and how they can be implemented in order to increase customer satisfaction thus retaining customers and, in the long-term, gaining their loyalty. The main communication areas the study treats ranges from onsite the online store, where the company wants to sell the product, to offsite advertisements in websites, social media platforms and via email. In the empirical section, the study carried out a quantitative online survey to investigate customers' perception and complete it with the literature. To answer the research questions, the study identified 19 hypotheses comprising of all primary aspects that define the exploration. The result could be gold dust for e-shop managers to help them maximize the marketing communication factor using personalization. The authors identified potential improvements to motivate customers to register in the online shop, whether communication channels are suited to implementing the strategy or not, and possible aspects to adapt in order to obtain maximal benefits. There were some limitations in terms of an analysis of the companies' point of view and the necessity to analyze every communication channel more in depth as the study is an initial step.


Thrombin plays a key role in the regulation of hemostasis and thrombosis. Inhibition of thrombin is therefore an effective therapeutic target to prevent the formation of blood clots and related thromboembolism disorders. Hence, we have developed chemical feature based pharmacophore models of thrombin inhibitors. The best hypothesis, Hypo1, is characterized with two hydrogen bond acceptors (A), one hydrophobic (H) and one ring aromatic (R) feature. Hypo1 was cross validated using several techniques to prove its validity and statistical significance. The well validated model Hypo1 was used as a 3D query to perform virtual screening. The scores obtained from virtual screening were sorted by applying drug-like filters and molecular docking studies. Finally, 4 compounds were obtained as drug-like leads based on scoring functions, binding modes and molecular interactions at the active site. These 4 molecules were further optimized by adding different substitutions in their side chains. When compared to the original database hits, optimized molecules showed high scoring function, good binding modes and molecular interactions. Hence, we suggest that, upon optimization, these four database hits can act as potential virtual leads to design novel thrombin inhibitors. Also, our model could be useful to retrieve the structurally diverse compounds from various databases.


Abstract Studying, teaching and working with Carlo Scarpa (1906–1978) provided the remarkable architect and scholar Marco Frascari (1945–2013) with a unique opportunity to later write about and reveal his insights – of which there are many – into Scarpa's world of drawing and imagining buildings. With reference to a selection of Frascari's texts, this essay reexamines two drawings Scarpa made of the bridge between the Reggia and the Mastio tower as part of his remodeling of the Castelvecchio Museum in Verona. Frascari brings to light and situates Scarpa's imaginative drawing practices in relation to the theater, particularly the memory theater of another former resident of Venice, Giulio Camillo (ca. 1480–1544).


A study of large-scale motions from a new direct numerical simulation database of the turbulent boundary layer up to Re{\theta} ~ 2500 is presented. The statistics of large-scale streamwise structures have been investigated using two-dimensional and three-dimensional extraction procedures. The large-scale structures are abstracted using a robust skeletonization method usually applied to other research domains to simplify complex 3D objects. Different structure parameters such as the length, shape or angle are investigated. The features of the detected structures are compared to their mean counterparts extracted from two-point correlations. Structures as large as 10 boundary layer thickness are observed. The streamwise length of these structures follows a -2 power law distribution, similar to the experimental findings at higher Reynolds numbers.


The U.S. NOAA Profiler Network operated by the Forecast Systems Laboratory for more than a decade represents the culmination of several decades of research and development of wind profiling Doppler radars. The NOAA Profiler Network is comprised of 35 tropospheric wind profilers (404/449 MHz) mostly located in the central United States. The infrastructure, built over the years for the NOAA Profiler Network has the flexibility and capacity to handle many other profilers in addition to the 35 NOAA Profiler Network systems. With recent advances in computers, networking and communication technologies, real-time profiler data can be acquired from almost anywhere on the globe. Data from remote sites are submitted to quality control and placed onto the Global Telecommunication System. Currently the Forecast Systems Laboratory is receiving data from about 80 sites in the continental U.S., Alaska, Canada, and along the equator west from South America. The data are routed to operational forecast centers where the data are used in a variety of numerical weather prediction models and also distributed to the local forecast offices to tailor model guidance to local conditions. The data are also placed on the Forecast Systems Laboratory web site http://www.profiler.noaa.gov. Here the data may be viewed in many graphical forms and are also available for downloading to a user's site in numeric format.


Deeply virtual Compton scattering (DVCS) allows one to probe Generalized Parton Distributions (GPDs) describing the 3D structure of the nucleon. We report the first measurement of the DVCS beam-spin asymmetry using the CLAS12 spectrometer with a 10.2 and 10.6 GeV electron beam scattering from unpolarised protons. The results greatly extend the $Q^2$ and Bjorken-$x$ phase space beyond the existing data in the valence region and provide over 2000 new data points measured with unprecedented statistical uncertainty, setting new, tight constraints for future phenomenological studies.


Monthly variation of magnesium (Mg) concentration in milk serum was investigated in industrial and semi-industrial dairy herds of Urmia, northeastern Iran, in 2002–3. Total number of 1, 112 milk samples from 96 herds including 615 samples from 53 industrial herds and 497 samples from 43 semi-industrial dairy herds were examined. 10-ml milk samples were collected monthly up to 12 months from each herd in the milk factory. Milk fat was separated by centrifugation. Milk serum was then separated after casein was precipitated by 0.1 N HCl. Spectrophotometery was used to measure the milk Mg concentration, using Mg kit (Ziest Chimi, Iran). The overall mean ± SD of Mg concentration in milk serum in industrial and semiindustrial herds was 5.47 ± 1.15 and 5.35 ± 1.21 mmol/l, respectively. The differences in Mg concentration between breeding systems were significant (P<0.05). The highest monthly mean Mg concentration in industrial and semi-industrial dairy herds was 6.39 and 6.05 and the lowest mean was 4.29 and 4.02 mmol/l, respectively. The lowest monthly mean Mg concentration in industrial and semi-industrial dairy milk herds was observed in August; the highest in November. The concentration decreased from March to August and then increased gradually up to November. The mean Mg concentration in milk serum within industrial, semiindustrial herds and between two breeds had a significant (P<0.001) monthly variation—mainly in August and November (P<0.05). The lowest and highest mean seasonal milk Mg concentration in industrial (4.61, 5.83 mmol/l) and semi-industrial herds (4.53, 5.72 mmol/l) were observed in summer and winter. The mean Mg concentration in milk serum had a significant (P<0.05) seasonal variation—between summer and other seasons. Thus, it could be concluded that milk Mg concentration in industrial herds was higher than semiindustrial dairy herds. The lowest milk Mg concentration was observed in August that could be important to supplement magnesium in food of dairy herds in Urmia.


Using monkeys, a quantitative study was carried out to measure the effect of a tourniquet on the lower limb on peak flow, the amount of acute swelling and the time for it to recover. The disappearance of acute swelling is related to the duration of the period of ischaemia. No significant change in peak flow was demonstrated as the duration of the tourniquet was increased.


There is a general lack of information on inland commercial fisheries in South Africa. The primary objective of this study was to provide a retrospective assessment of commercial fisheries in the Free State Province based on the assessment of catch data from fisheries operating for the period 1979–2014. Permits were issued for commercial operators on 11 dams but catch data were only available for Bloemhof, Kalkfontein, Gariep, Vaal, Erfenis, Rustfontein and Koppies Dams. A total of 9 036 t of fish were harvested over the 35-year period, equating to an average (± SE) of 282 ± 185 t·yr -1 . Catch composition differed between dams but comprised mainly of common carp Cyprinus carpio and the Labeos, Labeo capensis and Labeo umbratus . Based on an assessment of the available catch data, the only successful fisheries that were sustained for more than 10 years were on Bloemhof Dam (mean ± S.E.: 201 ± 25 t·yr -1 since 1981) and Kalkfontein Dam, where 127 ± 30 t·yr -1 was harvested (by an operator from Bloemhof Dam). All other fisheries appear to have failed with individual enterprises lasting between 1 and 10 years and generally yielding less than 25 t·yr -1 when operational. Success at Bloemhof Dam appears to have been dependent on the ability to harvest > 100 t·yr -1 and the long-term fisheries experience of the operators. Keywords: commercial, fisheries, catch, rates, composition, qualitative, quantitative, analysis


In order to test the canonical quantization programme for general relativity we introduce a reduced model for a real sector of complexified Ashtekar gravity which captures important properties of the full theory. While it does not correspond to a subset of Einstein's gravity, it has the advantage that the programme of canonical quantization can be carried out completely and explicitly, both via the reduced phase space approach and along the lines of the algebraic quantization programme. This model stands in close correspondence with the frequently treated cylindrically symmetric waves. In contrast to other models that have been looked at up to now, in terms of the new variables the reduced phase space is infinite dimensional, while the scalar constraint is genuinely bilinear in the momenta. The infinite number of Dirac observables can be expressed in compact and explicit form in terms of the original phase space variables. They turn out, as expected, to be non-local and form naturally a set of countable cardinality.


In this paper we focus on the creation of general-purpose (as opposed to domain-specific) polarity lexicons in five languages: French, Italian, Dutch, English and Spanish using WordNet propagation. WordNet propagation is a commonly used method to generate these lexicons as it gives high coverage of general purpose language and the semantically rich WordNets where concepts are organised in synonym , antonym and hyperonym/hyponym structures seem to be well suited to the identification of positive and negative words. However, WordNets of different languages may vary in many ways such as the way they are compiled, the number of synsets, number of synonyms and number of semantic relations they include. In this study we investigate whether this variability translates into differences of performance when these WordNets are used for polarity propagation. Although many variants of the propagation method are developed for English, little is known about how they perform with WordNets of other languages. We implemented a propagation algorithm and designed a method to obtain seed lists similar with respect to quality and size, for each of the five languages. We evaluated the results against gold standards also developed according to a common method in order to achieve as less variance as possible between the different languages.


Recently, total-field scattered-field (TFSF) boundaries have been developed for the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method which are essentially perfect. The implementation requires an analytic description of the incident field and hence is termed the analytic field propagation (AFP) TFSF method. Previous papers described the implementation for problems involving homogeneous as well as layered media. In this work we provide the details for problems involving lossy media. Additionally, the case of fields incident beyond the critical angle are considered (i.e., when, for lossless material, there is total reflection of the incoming wave and the fields in the second medium are evanescent)


PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to model the sustainable food security system using various technologies driving internet of things (IoT). The right to food is a fundamental right of humans. With increasing population and urbanization, less land is being used for agricultural purposes. In addition, the climate change due to global warming often leads to frequent disasters such as droughts and floods, adversely affecting the food production. This leads to increased levels of poverty and hunger. Ensuring food security has become the prime agenda for all the policymakers and government bodies across the world. With changing global dynamics, traditional ways of ensuring food security will not be sufficient alone.Design/methodology/approachThere is a need to develop a sustainable food security system that not only focusses on food production but also equally emphasizes on the efficacy of food distribution and reducing food wastage. In this digital age, the emerging disruptive technologies like Block chain, robotics, big data analytics, and cloud computations, etc., are increasingly changing the functioning of various sectors, giving rise to IoT-based working environment. The policymakers are also exploring these technologies to maximize their outreach so as to benefit the larger set of population and to gain visualization and control over policy implementation using IoT. This paper attempts to model the sustainable food security system using various technologies driving IoT. It also studies the interrelationship among various technologies and their application in various levels of policy implementation. The methodology used in the paper is fuzzy-TISM, which not only provides the causal relationship among two technologies but also provides the magnitude of the cause–effect relationship and the hierarchical framework for the complex problem.FindingsThe paper is addressed to the design of sustainable food security system in the Indian context wherein government ensures food security for all, using public distribution system (PDS).Social implicationsThe paper is addressed to the design of sustainable food security system in Indian context wherein government ensures food security for all, using PDS.Originality/valueThis study is a novel attempt to integrate the IoT into the design of the PDS to ensure food security. The enabling factors for IOT are modelled using Fuzzy-TISM.


The results of structural refinements on high-resolution powder neutron diffraction data for copper(II)- and copper(I)-exchanged zeolite Y and for the parent sodium zeolite Y, with composition Na62Si128Al64O384, are presented. Rietveld refinement of ambient-temperature data shows that the Cu(I) and Cu(II) cations are located on different sites in the two materials and that the structures differ considerably from that adopted by NaY. In CuIIY, with composition Cu33Na12Si130Al62O384, the copper cations are located on the IA', IB', and II' sites with occupancies of 0.552(4), 0.145(7), and 0.162(8), respectively, while some sodium, 0.36(2), remains on site II. For CuIY, there is a redistribution of the cations on sites IA', IB', II', and II to 0.39(2), 0.21(1), 0.24(1), and 0.18(2), respectively. In both zeolites, site I is vacant. The high-quality diffraction data provide direct evidence of structural changes associated with the redox behavior of the zeolite, including distortion of the framework and the loc...


This article describes how a culturally sensitive masculinity scale was developed for Black men using qualitative data. Data came from in-depth interviews (N = 13) and focus groups (n = 4) with 46 undergraduate Black males at two universities (Historically Black College and University and Predominately White Institution) in the Southeastern United States. The resulting Masculinity Inventory Scale (MIS) items were developed using direct quotes from the data. The scale was completed by 164 participants as one part of a self-administered survey. Factor analysis showed that five subscales of masculinity exist for Black men: Mainstream society, Black masculinity, Primary group, Mainstream society/Black masculinity, and Primary/peer group. Implications for future research in the area of masculinity and Black men are discussed.


BACKGROUND
The human body louse (Pediculus humanus humanus) is a host-specific hematophagous ectoparasite that frequently infests populations experiencing a breakdown of hygienic conditions. Body lice are also vectors for several bacterial human pathogens, including Bartonella quintana, the agent of trench fever. However, the factors that influence immunity and infection in body lice are poorly understood. Human infection with B. quintana is associated with alcoholism and homelessness and can coincide with elevated circulating levels of the cytokine IL-10 and the inflammatory marker neopterin. Hematophagous arthropods are capable of responding physiologically and immunologically to a variety of biomolecules present in the blood of their hosts. Therefore, we sought to investigate whether ingestion of alcohol, its metabolic product acetaldehyde, IL-10 or neopterin could affect innate immunity and infection in the body louse.

METHODS
Groups of lice were provisioned multiple blood meals containing physiological concentrations of alcohol, acetaldehyde, IL-10 or neopterin, and expression of six previously identified immunity-related genes (Defensin 1, Defensin 2, Prophenoloxidase, Hemocytin, Noduler and Dual Oxidase) was examined by qRT-PCR.

RESULTS
Alcohol, acetaldehyde and IL-10 had no significant effects on gene expression relative to blood-fed controls while ingestion of neopterin significantly downregulated expression of Defensin 1 and Defensin 2. Nonetheless, ingestion of neopterin concurrent with B. quintana had no significant effect on the load of infection, indicating that neopterin-induced repression of Defensin expression is insufficient to reduce resistance to the pathogen.

CONCLUSIONS
Our findings demonstrate that the immune system of body lice can be affected by factors present in the blood of their human hosts and suggest potential conservation of the function of some immune molecules from human host to ectoparasite. Further, the discord between the effects of neopterin on immunity-related gene expression and B. quintana load highlights the complexity of the regulation of pathogen infection in the louse vector.


This paper describes the research activity carried out by the Istituto Italiano di Idrobiologia of the CNR, on behalf of the Ministero dell'Ambiente, Servizio Inquinamento Atmosferico e Acustico, in the context of the Italian participation in the International Cooperative Programme on Assessment and Monitoring of Acidification of Rivers and Lakes (ICP Waters). Atmospheric deposition chemistry shows that nitrate increased and sulphate decreased in the 70's and 80's, while acidity started to decrease in the early 90's. The studied rivers and lakes show variations in sulphate and nitrate in agreement with those of atmospheric deposition. Alkalinity is mainly determined by watershed geo-lithology and is always present in the studied lakes and streams; the lowest values of 0-10 μeq l-1 are measured in the high altitude Lake Paione Superiore, which however shows an increasing trend of alkalinity and pH.


Hemophilia A is a rare inherited bleeding disorder characterized by a deficiency in factor VIII. The evolution of currently approved prophylaxis therapy in hemophilia A will be reviewed, including the clinical value of prophylaxis, real-world experience with prophylaxis, and patient quality-of-life factors that must be considered when choosing treatment options for these patients.


Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is propelled by pathogenic autoantibody (AutoAb) and immune pathway dysregulation. Identifying populations at risk of reaching classified SLE is essential to curtail inflammatory damage. Lupus blood relatives (Rel) have an increased risk of developing SLE. We tested factors to identify Rel at risk of developing incomplete lupus (ILE) or classified SLE vs. clinically unaffected Rel and healthy controls (HC), drawing from two unique, well characterized lupus cohorts, the lupus autoimmunity in relatives (LAUREL) follow-up cohort, consisting of Rel meeting <4 ACR criteria at baseline, and the Lupus Family Registry and Repository (LFRR), made up of SLE patients, lupus Rel, and HC. Medical record review determined ACR SLE classification criteria; study participants completed the SLE portion of the connective tissue disease questionnaire (SLE-CSQ), type 2 symptom questions, and provided samples for assessment of serum SLE-associated AutoAb specificities and 52 plasma immune mediators. Elevated SLE-CSQ scores were associated with type 2 symptoms, ACR scores, and serology in both cohorts. Fatigue at BL was associated with transition to classified SLE in the LAUREL cohort (p≤0.01). Increased levels of BLyS and decreased levels of IL-10 were associated with type 2 symptoms (p<0.05). SLE-CSQ scores, ACR scores, and accumulated AutoAb specificities correlated with levels of multiple inflammatory immune mediators (p<0.05), including BLyS, IL-2Rα, stem cell factor (SCF), soluble TNF receptors, and Th-1 type mediators and chemokines. Transition to SLE was associated with increased levels of SCF (p<0.05). ILE Rel also had increased levels of TNF-α and IFN-γ, offset by increased levels of regulatory IL-10 and TGF-β (p<0.05). Clinically unaffected Rel (vs. HC) had higher SLE-CSQ scores (p<0.001), increased serology (p<0.05), and increased inflammatory mediator levels, offset by increased IL-10 and TGF-β (p<0.01). These findings suggest that Rel at highest risk of transitioning to classified SLE have increased inflammation coupled with decreased regulatory mediators. In contrast, clinically unaffected Rel and Rel with ILE demonstrate increased inflammation offset with increased immune regulation, intimating a window of opportunity for early intervention and enrollment in prevention trials.


The isotope record of sedimentary sulfides can help resolve the history of oxygen accumulation into the atmosphere. We measured sulfur isotopic fractionation during microbial sulfate reduction up to 88 degrees C and show how sulfate reduction rate influences the preservation of biological fractionations in sediments. The sedimentary sulfur isotope record suggests low concentrations of seawater sulfate and atmospheric oxygen in the early Archean (3.4 to 2.8 billion years ago). The accumulation of oxygen and sulfate began later, in the early Proterozoic (2.5 to 0.54 billion years ago).


BACKGROUND
We analyzed a database from our hospital comprised of 31 cases of primary breast lymphoma (PBL) that included treatment and follow-up information during the past 30 years, and investigated the correlation between microvessel density (MVD) and survival in patients with PBL.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
We reviewed all patients diagnosed with primary breast lymphoma from June 1977 to March 2007. Patient demographics such as survival, recurrence, and time to follow-up were recorded, in addition to surgical, radiation, and/or chemotherapy treatment(s). We also assessed microvessel density (MVD) in the pretreatment breast lump of 31 previously untreated patients using α-CD34 immunohistochemical staining.

RESULTS
All 31 patients were female ranging in age from 37 years to 75 years. Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma was the most common histologic diagnosis. According to the staging of Wiseman and Liao, 17 patients (55%) were stage IE, and 14 patients (45%) were stage IIE. Treatment that included radiation therapy in stage I patients (node negative) improve the survival rate and lowered the recurrence rates. Treatment that included chemotherapy in stage II patients (node positive) showed benefits in terms of higher survival rate and lower recurrence rate. Increasing microvessel density is a weak but statistically significant predictor of lower survival overall.

CONCLUSION
Nodal status predicts the outcome and guides the use of radiation and chemotherapy. There is no statistical difference between the different types of operative methods. Patients with high MVD measured in the microenvironment had worse survival overall than PBL patients with low expression.


Sustainability of food systems and diets is not simply related to health concerns as it also involves environmental impacts. In fact, diets are major players in biodiversity erosion, natural resources degradation, climate change, etc.. The paper aims at analysing the main environmental impacts of the Mediterranean food consumption patterns on land and water resources and biodiversity. It provides a review on water and land resources and biodiversity in the Mediterranean and an analysis of the livestock sector impacts on ecosystem services. The most recent FAO food consumption statistics and standard impact data from different sources (e.g., Water Footprint Network; Mekonnen & Hoekstra, 2010; Ewing et al., 2010) were used to calculate and discuss environmental impacts, i.e., water, carbon and ecological footprints. Mediterranean diets promote biodiversity use, conservation and sustainable natural resources management. They are more respectful of ecosystems and have lower environmental impacts than Northern Europe and American diets.


Proterozoic rocks in the Needle Mountains include ∼1,755-m.y. old amphibolite-grade gneisses and ∼1,690-m.y.-old granites that comprise basement to the siliciclastic Uncompahgre Group. The mafic and felsic gneisses, which contain primary structures indicative of volcanic and plutonic protoliths, under-went two phases of isoclinal folding and foliation development prior to emplacement of the ∼1,690-m.y.-old plutons. Synkinematic garnet porphyroblast textures suggest that these fabrics developed during a progressive deformation event, D B . Subsequent D BC deformation caused folding of D B fabrics in the gneisses; development of a subvertical, east-striking foliation in the granites; and generation of a macroscopic sigmoidal foliation pattern throughout the area. D BC structures in the basement are correlated with structures in the Uncompahgre Group and formed prior to pluton emplacement at ca. 1440 Ma. Gently east-plunging mineral lineations in the granites and quartz c -axis fabrics of both the gneisses and granites indicate subhorizontal extension on steeply dipping foliation surfaces during D BC . Asymmetric c -axis fabrics and rare mesoscopic shear sense indicators in the gneisses record a component of dextral shear in domains of east-striking foliation and sinistral shear in areas of northeast-striking foliation. In contrast, symmetric c -axis fabrics in the granites suggest nearly coaxial extension. A model for D BC involving the development of conjugate strike-slip shear zones in response to north-northwest shortening is most consistent with the kinematic and fabric-orientation data. Partitioning of deformation into subparallel zones of noncoaxial and coaxial deformation was controlled by the presence of a strong pre-existing anisotropy in the gneiss complex. The shortening direction during D BC is consistent with that related to north-northwest-directed thrusting in rocks of similar age in central Arizona and northern New Mexico. Therefore, D BC structures are tentatively interpreted to have accommodated transverse shortening and orogen-parallel extension within a foreland during regional crustal shortening between ca. 1690 and 1400 Ma.


This essay considers schooling as planning to change the conditions of people that changed people. The production of schooling and its sciences were not produced through an evolutionary process. They were assembled through an uneven flow of events, ideas, institutions and narratives. Further and to play with a fashionable of globalization, schooling and its sciences were embodied in a field of practices that transverse and were differentiated across Europe and North America into the early 20th century. The cultural theses in pedagogy embodied values and norms about the hope of the future of the nation through making of the child; and with that hope was the recognition and production of differences.


Having in view the concept about a close relationship between morphofunctional changes and clinical picture of the disease, 35 patients of different sex, age and various duration of the disease were examined, in order to clarify certain modifications of chronic rhinitis and mechanisms of its pathogenesis. It was found that the forms of the disease were characterized by structural changes of the mucosa, whose microrhinoscopic picture was very different in the case of hyperplastic rhinitis. Changes in hydrolytic enzymes were dissimilar in the case of various clinical forms of the disease. Most demonstrative were the changes in alkaline phosphatase and ATPase in the glandular epithelium and walls of blood vessels in the mucosa. This can be used as an indirect sign of the functional state of the mucosa. Significant enzymatic changes reflect metabolic shifts in mucous structural components and can serve as the basis for the development of hypertrophic and hyperplastic processes.


A system of Multiple Neural Networks has been proposed to solve the face recognition problem. Our idea is that a set of expert networks specialized to recognize specific parts of face are better than a single network. This is because a single network could no longer be able to correctly recognize the subject when some characteristics partially change. For this purpose we assume that each network has a reliability factor defined as the probability that the network is giving the desired output. In case of conflicts between the outputs of the networks the reliability factor can be dynamically re-evaluated on the base of the Bayes Rule. The new reliabilities will be used to establish who is the subject. Moreover the network disagreed with the group and specialized to recognize the changed characteristic of the subject will be retrained and then forced to correctly recognize the subject. Then the system is subjected to continuous learning.


To solve the problem of low weak signal enhancement performance in the quad-stable system, a new Quad-stable potential Stochastic Resonance (QSR) is proposed. Firstly, under the condition of adiabatic approximation theory, the Stationary Probability Distribution (SPD), the Mean First Passage Time (MFPT), the Work (W) and the power Spectrum Amplification Factor (SAF) are derived, and the impacts of system parameters on them are also deeply analyzed. Secondly, numerical simulations are performed to compare QSR with the Classical Tri-stable Stochastic Resonance (CTSR) by using the Genetic Algorithm (GA) and the fourth-order Runge-Kutta algorithm. It shows that the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) and Mean Signal-to-Noise Increase (MSNRI) of QSR are higher than CTSR, which indicates that QSR has superior noise immunity than CTSR. Finally, the two systems are applied in the detection on real bearing faults. The experimental results show that QSR is superior to CTSR, which provides a better theoretical significance and reference value for practical engineering application.


Detailed observations of turbulence just above and below the crown of the Amazon rain forest during the wet season are presented. The forest canopy is shown to remove high frequency turbulent fluctuations while passing lower frequencies. Filter characteristics of turbulent transfer into the Amazon rain forest canopy are quantified. Simple empirical relations that relate observed turbulent heat fluxes to horizontal wind variance are presented. Changes in the amount of turbulent coupling between the forest and the boundary layer associated with deep convective clouds are presented both as statistical averages and as a series of case studies. These convective processes during the rainy season are shown to alter the diurnal course of turbulent fluxes. In wake of giant coastal systems, no significant heat or moisture fluxes occur for up to a day after the event. Radar data is used to demonstrate that even small raining clouds are capable of evacuating the canopy of substances normally trapped by persistent static stability near the forest floor. Recovery from these events can take more than an hour, even during mid-day. In spite of the ubiquitous presence of clouds and frequent rain during this season, the average horizontal wind speed spectrum is well described by dry CBL similarity hypotheses originally found to apply in flat terrain. Diurnal changes in the sign of the vertical velocity skewness observed above and inside the canopy are shown to be plausibly explained by considering the skewness budget. U i P * Amazon hest turbuknce 3 May 19, 1989 l2:23 PM' b


Tissue-equivalent ion chambers and thermoluminescent dosemeters were used to measure fast neutron dose in large tissue-equivalent phantoms. Gamma-rays were present in addition to fast neutrons, and since the ion chambers responded to the combined dose from these radiations, the gamma -ray dose component was measured separately with thermoluminescent dosemeters. The fast neutron doses were also measured with silicon diodes by utilizing the decrease in electrical conductance of the diode, caused by damage to the silicon crystal lattice. Gamma-rays did not affect the diode conductance significantly. The diodes underestimated the neutron dose by amounts which depended on depth in the phantoms, and correction factors are given.


Airborne pollutants are increasingly impacting on urban populations,
contributing to acute and chronic human health issues, e.g. cardiovascular and lung
diseases, leading to approximately 40,000 premature deaths within the UK.
Within the City of Manchester, two automated monitoring stations record
atmospheric pollutants (i.e. CO, SO2, NOx and PM), but do not record airborne metal
and PAH concentrations and are restricted in number, thus only recording localised
air quality. This necessitates the application of additional monitoring methods to
assess spatial variability of air quality, i.e. using biomonitors and passive monitoring
devices.
Lichens are proven biomonitors for atmospheric pollution, due to their
morphology, lacking roots, cuticle and stomata, and thus absorbing, adsorbing and
accumulating nutrients and atmospheric pollutants within their biological tissue. The
aim of the study was to document and assess spatial variability of air quality in the
City of Manchester, by applying a high spatial resolution lichen biomonitoring
approach. Xanthoria parietina and Physcia spp. lichens (N=94) were analysed for
carbon, nitrogen and sulphur contents and their stable-isotope-ratio signatures
(δ13C, δ15N and δ34S). Furthermore, a new method was developed to extract nitrate
and ammonium from lichen material, to investigate relative importance of both
compounds on bulk nitrogen and δ15N values. Airborne metal and polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbon concentrations were further analysed to investigate
potential sources (i.e. vehicular emissions) and potential human health risks.
Lichen chemical data, was in part, ground-truthed by NOx diffusion tube analysis
for NO2 concentrations.
Findings indicated the beneficial use of lichens to biomonitor air quality at
a high spatial resolution. Elevated pollutant loadings in lichens illustrated
deteriorated air quality in Manchester. However, a complex mixture of
pollutants affecting air quality in Manchester were indicated, with regard to its
urban layout (i.e. road network, traffic counts and building heights) and
subsequent dispersion and distribution of pollutants. This work contributed to a
better insight into the variability of urban air quality, which could then be
applied to (comparable) urban environments. Moreover, a high spatial lichen
biomonitoring approach can be used to investigate and identify areas of concern
regarding human health risks.


BACKGROUND
Endothelial injury is the key to the occurrence and development of bacterial infections. The aim of this study was to discuss the relationship between the molecular marker of endothelial damage, thrombomodulin (TM), and infectious disease severity, and prognosis.

METHODS
From January 2017 to April 2018, 296 patients with bacterial infections and 163 controls were recruited from our hospital. The concentrations of thrombomodulin and other routine coagulation and inflammatory factors were quantified.

RESULTS
Plasma levels of thrombomodulin were obviously increased in infection group compared with control group (8.30 (7.23 - 9.68) vs. 15.83 (10.60 - 22.20) TU/mL, p < 0.001) and logistic regression analysis showed that the thrombomodulin was an independent risk factor for bacterial infection (OR, 1.189 (1.079 - 1.311)). In the infection group, patients with elevated thrombomodulin levels (> 75th percentile of its distribution, n = 71) experienced a higher level of coagulation factors (p < 0.05) and inflammatory factors (p < 0.05) than patients with levels below this cutoff. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that there was a positive correlation among the plasma thrombomodulin and D-dimer, white blood cells, and procalcitonin (β coefficient = 0.590, 0.220, and 0.208, p = 0.004, 0.027, and 0.025, respectively). With the increase of severity of disease, thrombomodulin levels gradually rose (13.58 ± 0.47 TU/mL vs. 25.07 ± 2.01 TU/mL vs. 31.34 ± 2.56 TU/mL, respectively, p < 0.001). Furthermore, there was an abnormal increase of plasma thrombomodulin in patients with bacterial infections and poor prognosis (p < 0.05). The area under curve of thrombomodulin as diagnosis for organ failure and non-survivor was 0.867 and 0.778, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
Plasmatic level of thrombomodulin could be considered as a diagnostic tool for bacterial infections. An increase in thrombomodulin plasmatic level was associated with poor outcome.


The aim was to identify factors, which may affect the relationship between physical activity and pain severity among patients with low back pain (LBP). It was a cross-sectional survey-based study among 1332 consecutive patients with LBP. Linear regression models were employed. Patients were 47.6 years old and 64% were women. For the entire sample, pain severity and the intensity of physical activity were negatively associated. Higher physical activity was associated with younger age, higher educational level, normal weight and optimal perceived general health. Sex, smoking, marital status and occupation did not demonstrate significant interactions on the association. The severity of disability showed paradoxical effect on the relationship between pain and physical activity – severe disability was associated with increase in physical activity.


In this paper, the effects of inner core radius, shell thickness, the dielectric function of middle nanoshell and surrounding medium on localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of gold-dielectric-silver nanotube are studied based on the quasi-static approximation. Theoretical calculation results show that LSPR of gold-dielectric-silver nanotube and LSPR numbers can be well optimized by tuning the geometrical parameters. The longer wavelength of |ω−⟩ mode takes place a distinct red-shift with an increase in the inner core radius and the thickness of middle dielectric layer, while a blue-shift with increasing outer shell thickness. The physical mechanisms are investigated based on induced charges, plasmon hybridization theory and phase retardation. In addition, the effect of middle dielectric function and surrounding medium on LSPR , the local electric field distribution are also reported. Our study provides a way to analyze and broaden the applications of gold-dielectric-silver nanotube.


A row over how Canadian company Research in Motion (RIM) handles its customers' data is threatening half a million BlackBerrγ accounts in the United Arab Emirates. Will other countries follow suit in demanding access to unencrypted data to maintain a basic rule of law? Kris Sangani reports.


Neocortical circuit computations underlying active vision are performed by a distributed network of reciprocally connected, functionally specialized areas. Mouse visual cortex is a dense, hierarchically organized network, comprising subnetworks that form preferentially interconnected processing streams. To determine the detailed layout of the mouse visual hierarchy, laminar patterns formed by interareal axonal projections, originating in each of ten visual areas were analyzed. Reciprocally connected pairs of areas, and shared targets of pairs of source areas, exhibited structural features consistent with a hierarchical organization. Beta regression analyses, which estimated a continuous measure of hierarchical distance, indicated that the network comprises multiple hierarchies embedded within overlapping processing levels. Single unit recordings showed that within each processing stream, receptive field sizes typically increased with increasing hierarchical level; however, ventral stream areas showed overall larger receptive field diameters. Together, the results reveal canonical and noncanonical hierarchical network motifs in mouse visual cortex.


An optical measurement of the 2S hyperfine interval in atomic hydrogen using two-photon spectroscopy of the 1S-2S transition gives a value of 177 556 834.3(6.7) Hz. The uncertainty is 2.4 times smaller than achieved by our group in 2003 and more than 4 times smaller than for any independent radio-frequency measurement. The specific combination of the 2S and 1S hyperfine intervals predicted by QED theory 8fHFS(2S)-fHFS(1S)=48 953(3) Hz is in good agreement with the value of 48 923(54) Hz obtained from this experiment.


Background— Data are limited regarding whether the presence of diabetes mellitus (DM) influences the benefit of cardiac resynchronization with defibrillator therapy (CRT-D) in heart failure (HF) patients. Methods and Results— The effect of CRT-D was evaluated in 1817 patients who were enrolled in the Multicenter Automatic Defibrillator Implantation Trial with Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (MADIT-CRT). Patients were minimally symptomatic (New York Heart Association class I or II), with ejection fraction ⩽0.30 and QRS ≥130 ms. We used Cox regression to determine hazard ratio (HR) of CRT-D versus implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) therapy for the risk of HF event or death, whichever came first (MADIT-CRT primary end point), in DM (n=552) and non-DM (n=1265) patients. Compared with the non-DM patients, those with DM had more coronary risk factors. During an average follow-up of 2.4 years, DM patients had significantly more primary end point events than non-DM patients (26.6% versus 18%, P<0.001). CRT-D was associated with a significant reduction in risk of primary end point in both DM (HR=0.56, P<0.001) and non-DM patients (HR=0.67, P=0.003). Compared with non-DM patients, CRT-D:ICD HRs in DM patients were lower in the total population, and in subgroups with ischemic cardiomyopathy (0.63 versus 0.64), nonischemic cardiomyopathy (0.39 versus 0.73), and left bundle-branch block (0.36 versus 0.50). There were no significant differences in ventricular remodeling, arrhythmia events, or device-related complications between DM and non-DM patients. Conclusions— Patients with diabetes, left ventricular dysfunction, mildly symptomatic HF, and wide QRS complex derive similar benefit from CRT-D compared with patients without diabetes. Clinical Trial Registration— URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT00180271.


The novel enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technique combining the reduction of oil/water (o/w) interfacial tensions (IFT) to ultralow values and generation of a foam drive for mobility control is known as foam-assisted chemical flooding (FACF). We present a well-controlled laboratory study on the feasibility of FACF at reservoir conditions. Two specially selected chemical surfactants were screened on their stability in sea water at 90 °C. The ability of both surfactants to generate stable foam in bulk was studied in the presence and absence of crude oil. It led to the composition of the foam drive formulation for drive mobility control. Phase behavior scan studies, for the two crude oil/surfactant/brine systems, yielded the design of the chemical slug capable of mobilizing residual oil by drastically lowering the o/w IFT. Core-flood experiments were performed in Bentheimer sandstones previously brought to a residual oil to waterflood of 0.33 ± 0.02. A surfactant slug at under-optimum (o/w IFT of 10-2 mN/m) or optimum (o/w IFT of 10-3 mN/m) salinity was injected for mobilizing residual oil. It resulted in the formation of an unstable oil bank because of dominant gravitational forces at both salinities. Next, a foam drive was generated either in situ, by co-injecting nitrogen gas and surfactant solution, or pregenerated ex situ and then injected to displace the oil bank. We found that (i) the presence of the crude oil used in this work has a detrimental effect on foam stability in bulk and foam strength in Bentheimer sandstones, (ii) optimum salinity FACF was able to increase the ultimate oil recovery with 5% of the oil in place (OIP) after water flooding compared with under-optimum FACF, and (iii) injection of pregenerated drive foam increased its ultimate oil recovery by 13% of the OIP after water flooding compared to in situ drive foam generation at optimum salinity.


FPGAs are currently being deployed at a large scale across data-centres for various applications because of their performance and power benefits. In particular, cloud service operators are now offering FPGAs as a Service. However, to completely integrate FPGAs in a data-centre environment like standard software systems, support for fault tolerance and task migration is essential. In this paper, we propose a live migration technique for FPGA accelerators to provide support for fault tolerance, system maintenance, and resource management. Our technique allows migration of OpenCL accelerators not only within a single FPGA but also across FPGAs with zero downtime. It achieves this by overlapping the computation with datamovements transparently from the user for OpenCL kernels. Moreover, distributed check-pointing mechanisms can be employed to recover from unknown faults with minimal loss of completed work. Altogether it enables system updates such as changing the static FPGA configuration or upgrading the OS without an interruption of service.


The reasons for the success of certain, alien avian introductions into Japan, and the possible impact of the presence of exotic bird species on Japan's native birds are discussed, with reference to historical reviews of introductions to the New Zealand, Hawaiian, and the Mascarene islands. Among the major taxa commonly introduced are the Galliformes as game, and the Psittacif ormes and Passerif ormes (particularly Estrildidae and Ploceidae) for aesthetic purposes.The majority of exotic species occurring in natural habitats in Japan have either escaped accidentally from captivity, or they are pets that have been intentionally released.The exceptions are Phasianus colchicus karpowi and Bambusicola thoracica that were intentionally and systematically released as game for shooting. P.c.karpowi, B.thoracica, Columba livia, Psittacula krameri manillensis, Garrulax perspicillatus, G.canorus, Leiothrix lutea, Amandava amandava, Acridotheres tristis, and Pica pica have all established long-term self-sustaining populations.The majority of successful introduced species are generalists in terms of their food requirements and they prefer open habitats, although L. lutea and G.canorus are notable exceptions that have increased rapidly in native broad-leaved forests in recent years.So far, there appears not have been any serious declines in the populations of native birds as a result of the presence of these exotic species, however, some native species remain at risk from hybridisation, from competition for food or nest sites, and from the transfer of epidemic diseases, as a result of the introduction of exotic species.Information on the importation, the ecology, and the population dynamics of exotic species is badly needed.


Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) account for the majority of deaths worldwide. Radiation-induced heart diseases (RIHD) is one of the side effects following exposure to ionizing radiation (IR). Exposure could be from various forms such as diagnostic imaging, radiotherapy for cancer treatment, as well as nuclear disasters and nuclear accidents. RIHD is mostly observed after radiotherapy for thoracic malignancies, especially left breast cancer. RIHD may affect the supply of blood to heart muscles, leading to an increase in the risk of heart attacks to irradiated persons. Due to its dose-limiting consequence, RIHD has a negative effect on the therapeutic efficacy of radiotherapy. Several methods have been proposed for protection against RIHD. In this paper, we review the use of natural products, which have shown promising results for protection against RIHD.


The primary and secondary relaxation timescales of aging colloidal suspensions of Laponite are estimated from intensity autocorrelation functions obtained in dynamic light scattering (DLS) experiments. The dynamical slowing down of these relaxation processes are compared with observations in fragile supercooled liquids by establishing a one-to-one mapping between the waiting time since filtration of a Laponite suspension and the inverse of the temperature of a supercooled liquid that is rapidly quenched towards its glass transition temperature. New timescales associated with primary and secondary relaxation processes, such as the characteristic timescale associated with the slowdown of the secondary relaxation process and the glass transition time, are extracted to describe the phenomenon of dynamical arrest in Laponite suspensions. In results that are strongly reminiscent of those extracted from supercooled liquids approaching their glass transitions, it is demonstrated that a strong coupling exists between the primary and secondary relaxation processes of aging Laponite suspensions in the cage-forming regime. Furthermore, the experimental data presented here clearly demonstrate the self-similar nature of the aging dynamics of Laponite suspensions within a range of sample concentrations.


The development industry is increasingly recognising that institutional constraints in developing countries are fast becoming a primary limiting factor for growth. Institutional decay and breakdown is also placing the stability of democratic political systems at risk. If this decay and breakdown is not reversed, ultimately democracy and free markets in developing countries will also face increasing risks thereby creating further negative impacts on institutions. Reversing this vicious cycle must be the subject of international development pre-eminence as all "sectors" rely on primary institutions to function.1 The framework for institutional assistance interventions to developing countries is missing or has remained marginally addressed. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) do not directly address the governance aspect of the post colonial societies and its role in achieving poverty reduction or millennium development goals.2 If "institution matter" what should the international assistance approach to designing interventions that promote governance and institutional revival be? What is the knowledge base required to design governance interventions? What is the new governance research that can produce that knowledge base?


Past work on distribution circuit state estimation has focused on the adoption of a transmission state estimator approach, without necessarily accounting for the specific requirement of a distribution circuit-based analysis. On distribution circuits, typically, there are very few available real-time measurements, and thus, researchers have treated customer load demand estimates as pseudo-measurements in a weighted-least-squares formulation. This can lead to convergence problems and also, the approach effectively assumes that all bus load demands are normally distributed (Gaussian) which may not be valid on distribution circuits. This paper presents an alternative approach to distribution circuit state estimation using a probabilistic extension of the radial load flow algorithm while accounting for real-time measurements as solution constraint. The algorithm which takes advantage of the radial nature of distribution circuits also accounts for other issues specific to distribution circuits. Namely, the algorithm accounts for nonnormally distributed loads, incorporates the concept of load diversity (load correlation) and can interact with a load allocation routine. The effectiveness of the algorithm is illustrated through comparisons made with Monte Carlo simulations.


Consider an urban scenario in whichN aerial UAVs, each with limited radius of observation R, must patrol M > N targets moving on the surface. The movement of the UAVs is free while the movement of targets is restricted to certain paths, such as urban roads. Targets are friends who can, for example, be attacked by enemies. In this scenario, it can be assumed that the positions of the targets and the observers, obtained from GPS, are transmitted to a central command, and that the targets are collaborative, not avoiding the presence of the observers. This scenario is a new instance of the Cooperative Target Observation (CTO) problem. This work investigates a centralized algorithm, modified hill climbing, to command the UAVs with a view to maximize the average number of targets observed by at least one observer. The average performance of the proposed algorithm is superior to that of similar algorithms in this new problem setting.