Our edited volume, Space of Vernacular Creativity: Rethinking the Cultural Economy (2009) critically responded to the preoccupations that had dominated writing on creative place-making. In this chapter, we focus on the book's key imperatives: to decentre instrumental and reductive conceptions about the location of creativity that were oriented around dominant notions of the 'creative economy', and interrogate how alternatively, creativity might be far more expansively conceived. We identify what remains salient in our original arguments, which areas of creative place-making we ignored and underplayed, and key contributions that have advanced thinking about creative geographies since the book's publication. In Space of Vernacular Creativity, we sought to extend understandings beyond the narrow prescriptions of culture-led regeneration and the normative framework established in economic geography to identify cultural clusters (Mommaas, 2004), and explore creativity in a broader sense, focusing on the relationship between creativity and place, and how creativity could be generative of non-economic values. We wanted to provide a more constructive riposte to the many critiques of the 'creative city' and the 'creative class' script popularised by Richard Florida (2002) and Charles Landry (2000), to uncover practices that stood in opposition to the alignment of creativity with the cool, sophisticated and metropolitan. We asked that if there is a creative class, then who might be the uncreative classes against whom they are implicitly constructed? And if there are cool places to which this creative class gravitate, then what does this mean for all those other places that fail to make the cut on creativity indices? Instead, we wanted to embrace abject, marginal, un-sexy and less-than glamorous unspectacular creative practices and reveal their role in enhancing the lives of people in everyday spaces, to offer a more powerful and inclusive analysis of creativity and place. As we entered the 21 Century, creativity occupied an elevated position in governmental policy responses to the economic and political challenges of the day. In UK, for instance, Cool Britannia captured a sense of optimism that somehow, through the proliferation of arts and cultural districts, festivals and music scenes, our cities and national economy could be reinvented. Richard Florida's contentions were conceived as providing the academic authority that supported such aims, and whatever the criticism of his key ideas and methods, we cannot ignore Florida's influence on urban policy and civic leaders around the world in embedding the notion that the creative class can drive economic regeneration. At the time we compiled the book, this seductive narrative has begun to fade from policy discourses following the 2008 financial crash. Priorities shifted under austerity. Arguments to maintain public subsidy for arts and culture have become marginalised in the face of calls to protect frontline services or tackle homelessness. Florida's (2017) recent tacit admission that the creative class were perhaps nothing more than this generation's gentrifiers further signifies that optimism about their central economic role is over. Nevertheless, the cultural life of places persists, by any means necessary. As arts professionals scrabble for ever reduced grants, volunteers and community-led action are becoming more significant agents within the local cultural landscape. At the same time, ideas such as Lydon and Garcia's Tactical Urbanism (2015) have come to the fore in the absence of both public and private investment. Through a make-do attitude and experimentation, tactical place-making interventions led by local communities have undermined the strategic thinking which underpinned the creative city script, and seem to underscore the importance of the vernacular that we highlighted. The first key emphasis in Space of Vernacular Creativity, as is explicit in its title, was to embark on a thorough decentering of geographies of creativity by moving towards the multiciplicity of creative practices that take place elsewhere, in other sites and networks through which creative ideas and skills are produced and circulated. The overwhelming focus on the city and the city centre, implicitly conceived as the domain of the creative class, the realm in which they work, play and consume, or the arts districts and cultural quarters that they fashion, has marginalized other spaces in which creative practices take place. Less glamourous parts of the city – suburbs, those areas of Victorian and Edwardian terraced housing which remain resistant to gentrification, and modernist housing schemes – were identified as less trendy or more sedate, while smaller industrial or post-industrial urban settings, market towns, villages and rural areas were largely consigned to the dominion of the irredeemably uncool and uncreative. These areas were drastically neglected while the apparently global cities of London, Berlin and New York, and smaller regional cities such as Manchester and San Francisco were regarded as founts of creativity, sites where a critical mass of creatives inspired each other and consumed each other's goods and services. While galleries, coffee shops and loft studios were celebrated as sites of creativity, living rooms, sheds, garages, gardens and community centres were not. In attempting to address these geographical distortions, chapters in the book examine creative practices that take place in mundane domestic settings located in the suburbs of Toronto, the working-class estates of Sheffield, Australian country towns, and community gardens in northern England. Since then, other work has consolidated this move away from those sites exclusively identified as urban hot spots of creativity. Waitt and Gibson (2013) have detailed how unfashionable, provincial, co-operative art spaces can reinforce place-belonging, and Michele Lobo (2017) strikingly describes how the unpromising setting of a disused underground suburban car park in Darwen, Australia, has become a convivial venue for the shared, varied creative practices of marginalised Aboriginal woman and migrants. Here, friendships have emerged through shared creative production as unexpected connections have been forged between participants within an immersive, inclusive atmosphere. More domestic spaces have been the focus of work by Louise Platt (2017) and Fiona Hackney (2013), who consider how women's quotidian, mundane creative practices of knitting and crocheting act to craft identities and contribute to placemaking. Besides reappraising the ways in which evaluations around creativity have marginalised certain highly gendered activities, their analyses emphasise how creative production extends across the familiar realms of home and community, an arena of creativity that we somewhat neglected in Spaces of Vernacular Creativity. In reinforcing the creativity that inheres such domestic spaces, Jessica Lee (2010) concentrates on the more mundane practices of bed-making, cooking, tidying up and even scrubbing floors to are sensual, memory filled and imaginative creative practices of homemaking. For Lee, the aesthetic effects of such daily tasks do not merely revolve around making judgements but by the 'the small pleasure afforded by the simple awareness and presence of mind during our everyday lives', and are particularly well exemplified by the traditional practice of laundryhanging discussed by Rautio (2009) which thoroughly entangles creative imagination, memory borne of habit and multi-sensory immersion in the job at hand. In Spaces of Vernacular Creativity, in exploring emergent forms of shared production across the photosharing Flickr network, Jean Burgess showed how cyberspace was also a neglected realm of creativity, an arena in which connections around creative making were vastly extended. These new media applications have subsequently multiplied with the increasing popularity of geocaching, game-playing, creative writing, video-making and the proliferation of memes. Burgess has continued to mine this area, showing that though they may be mimicked in developing commercial strategies, viral videos promote inventive adaptive engagement from a wide variety of participants, and subsequently a 'flurry of parodies, mash-ups and remixes' (2016: 90) that exemplify the ongoing production of vernacular network creativities. Through such social networks, the boundaries between professionals and enthusiasts can become blurred, with some non-professional participants becoming widely renowned. Similarly, Vasquez and Creel (2017) highlight the imaginative 'chats' that produce a shared conviviality amongst the online community, who use Tumblr blogs. In addition, in drawing upon the phenomenon of crowdsourced art, Literat and Glăveanu (2016) exemplify how the internet has enormous potential to foster a distributed creativity grounded in collaborative communication and interaction that is available for the participation of anybody who wishes to contribute. They contend that the sheer diversity of the knowledge, skills and cultural resources of these multiple participants generates a context in which creative possibilities proliferate. Despite the abundant evidence that creative practice is much more widely distributed, reductive, elitist notions of what constitutes creativity can have profound political effects upon cultural endeavours that take place away from metropolitan taste-makers. Abigail Gilmore (2013) further explores how participatory arts policy-makers and fundng bodies routinely ignore local forms of creative practices that do not accord with those they esteem, and as Miles and Ebrey (2017) argue, marginalization and lack of support from central and local governments, cultural institutions and the private sector for smaller, non-urban settings can entrench economic decline and stagnation. In examining the geographical focus o


An adaptive output feedback control scheme is proposed for a class of non-affine nonlinear system in which the output signal can track the reference signal. A state observer is constructed to estimate the unknown state in system. A Three-Layer Neural Network is introduced to compensate the modeling errors and a Robust control is also used to reduce the approximation error, which adds to the anti-interference ability of the system. The stability of the system is accurately proved. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness and feasibility of proposed scheme.


THE RACIAL DISPARITY OBSERVED IN PROSTATE cancer incidence and mortality rates between African American and white men in the United States is the subject of intense investigation. Various reports, including those of the American Cancer Society (ACS)1 and the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program of the National Cancer Institute,2 indicate that African American men are at the highest risk for developing prostate cancer and have overall mortality rates 2-fold higher than white men. In this issue of ARCHIVES, Gilligan et al3 examine rates of prostate cancer screening in African American men compared with men of other races in the United States. Data adjusted for socioeconomic status and comorbidities in this report show that African American men are less likely to undergo routine screening for prostate cancer as recommended by the ACS, which suggests that greater efforts must be made to advocate screening in this population to reduce prostate cancer mortality.


The general method for generating the regions of interest (ROI) mask needed for encoding ROI in the upcoming JPEG2000 still image coding standard is presented. A simple method for the generation of the ROI mask for rectangular-shaped ROI is then proposed. Finally, to simplify the decoder when dealing with arbitrary shaped ROIs, a method for ROI coding that does not require any shape information to be transmitted to the decoder is described. A small coding penalty is associated with this method, while it makes it possible to have arbitrarily shaped ROI without the need of shape information and ROI mask generation at the decoder. The proposed methods have been included in the Final Committee Draft of JPEG2000 Part 1.


OBJECTIVE: To analyze rates of significant adverse events and outcomes in women having a medical abortion at Planned Parenthood health centers in 2009 and 2010 and to identify changes in the rates of adverse events and outcomes between the 2 years. METHODS: In this database review we analyzed data from Planned Parenthood affiliates that provided medical abortion in 2009 and 2010 almost exclusively using an evidence-based buccal misoprostol regimen. We evaluated the incidence of six clinically significant adverse events (hospital admission, blood transfusion, emergency department treatment, intravenous antibiotics administration, infection, and death) and two significant outcomes (ongoing pregnancy and ectopic pregnancy diagnosed after medical abortion treatment was initiated). We calculated an overall rate as well as rates for each event and identified changes between the 2 years. RESULTS: Among 233,805 medical abortions provided in 2009 and 2010, significant adverse events or outcomes were reported in 1,530 cases (0.65%). There was no statistically significant difference in overall rates between years. The most common significant outcome was ongoing intrauterine pregnancy (0.50%); significant adverse events occurred in 0.16% of cases. One patient death occurred as a result of an undiagnosed ectopic pregnancy. Only rates for emergency department treatment and blood transfusion differed by year and were slightly higher in 2010. CONCLUSION: Review of this large data set reinforces the safety of the evidence-based medical abortion regimen. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: III


OBJECTIVE
To estimate direct and indirect costs of anorexia nervosa (AN), and to identify cost determinants.

METHODS
In a subsample (n = 225) of the ANTOP trial (Anorexia Nervosa Treatment of OutPatients) health care utilization and productivity losses were assessed at baseline for the previous 3 months and monetarily valued. Included were females aged 18 years and older diagnosed with AN or subsyndromal AN, and a body mass index (BMI) between 15 and 18.5 kg/m(2) . To account for missing data multiple imputation was employed. Cost determinants were derived from generalized linear models with gamma distribution and log link function.

RESULTS
Mean 3-months costs per patient amounted to €5,866 (SE = €576). The largest share of costs (€3,374) resulted from hospitalizations. Determinants of direct costs were analyzed separately for those with hospitalizations for AN, and those without. In the group only treated as outpatients, participants with binge/purge subtype, and those diseased for more than 6 years had higher costs. Moreover, costs were increased in patients with a comorbid mental disorder. In the group with hospitalizations, direct costs increased with BMI. BMI was measured at the end of the observation period, indicating that longer duration of treatment yielded higher weight gain. Indirect costs were not significantly associated with any disease-related characteristic.

DISCUSSION
Costs resulting from health care utilization and productivity loss are substantial, although the sample studied had not received sufficient treatment. Future research should analyze the development of costs over time.


Web services have the potential to revolutionize e-commerce by enabling businesses to interact with each other on the fly. To date, however, Web processes using Web services have been created mostly at the syntactic level. Current composition standards focus on building processes based on the interface description of the participating services. This rigid approach, with its strong coupling between the process and the interface of the participating services, does not allow businesses to dynamically change partners and services. As shown in this article, Web process composition techniques can be enhanced by using semantic process templates to capture the semantic requirements of the process. The semantic process templates act as configurable modules for common industry processes maintaining the semantics of the participating activities, control flow, intermediate calculations, and conditional branches, and exposing them in an industry-accepted interface. The templates are instantiated to form executable processes according to the semantics of the activities in the templates. The use of ontologies in template definition allows much richer description of activity requirements and a more effective way of locating services to carry out activities in the executable Web process. Discovery of services considers not only functionality, but also the quality of service (QoS) of the corresponding activities. This unique approach combines the expressive power of present Web service composition standards with the advantages of Semantic Web techniques for process template definition and Web service discovery. The prototype implementation of the framework for building the templates carries out Semantic Web service discovery and generates the processes.


The various injuries of the cervical spine have been defined and their appearances described, together with treatments in some instances.


We propose a new methodology to implement unconditionally optimal dynamic mean-variance portfolios. We model portfolio allocations using an auto-regressive process in which the shock to the portfolio allocation is the gradient of the investor's realized certainty equivalent with respect to the allocation. Our methodology can accommodate transaction costs, short-selling and leverage constraints, and a large number of assets. In out-of-sample tests using equity portfolios, long-short factors, government bonds, and commodities, we find that its risk-adjusted performance, net of transaction costs, is on average more than double that of other benchmark allocations.


The Article makes two conceptual contributions. First, it tells a story about the Thirteenth Amendment forbidding one form of slavery while legitimating and preserving others. Of course, the text does not operate absent important actors: legislatures and courts. Yet, as explained by Reva Siegel, despite "repeated condemnation of slavery," such united opposition to the practice "may instead function to exonerate practices contested in the present, none of which looks so unremittingly 'evil' by contrast." In this case, uncompensated prison labor inures economic benefits to the state and the companies capable of extracting it.

The Article argues that this preservation of the practice of slavery through its transformation into prison labor means only that socially, legislatively, and judicially, we have come to reject one form of discrimination: antebellum slavery, while distinguishing it from marginally remunerated and totally unremunerated prison labor, which courts legitimate. The Article tells the story of post-slavery convict leasing; fraud and debt peonage; as well as the heinous practices imposed on children through coercive apprenticeship laws throughout the American south. The Article then addresses modern slavery's transformations, including federal and state prison labor and the rise of private prisons. It concludes by offering pathways forward.


Keenan's account of the DEFINITENESS EFFECT associated with the English there-construction based on the notion of INTERSECTIVE DETERMINER is well-known. In Part 1 of this paper, I will consider a similar kind of effect in Japanese constructions. In particular, I shall show that a very general form of Quantifier Float and the Head Internal Relative Clause, two phenomena particularly prominent in Japanese syntax, allow us to extend the idea of the Definiteness Effect to predicates with more than one argument. I will then show in Part 2 that this idea provides an empirical motivation for extending Keenan's idea of intersective determiners to 2-dimensional (transitive) spaces. Part 2 thus concerns a mathematical extension of the classical mathematical theory of determiners to 2-dimensional spaces with its empirical grounding in Japanese syntax. Part 3 generalizes the mathematical theory introduced in Part 2 to n-dimensional spaces in general, without any empirical concern. Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 can in principle be read independently. Part 1 primarily concerns Japanese and is empirical and descriptive. The reader who is not particularly interested in mathematics may wish to read only Part 1. Those who are interested in the mathematics of language but not particularly in details of Japanese syntax may wish to skim through Part 1 and start careful reading from Part 2. On the other hand, those who are only interested in mathematics and do not care about, or wish not to be bothered by, empirical facts may wish to read only Part 3. Due to the intended relative independence of the three Parts, the reader who wishes to read through the paper from Part 1 through Part 3 may encounter some redundancy through the paper. Part 1, sections 1-5, is a slightly revised version of the first five sections of Kuroda (2007). I wish to express my gratitude to the CSLI Publications for granting me a permission to reproduce this portion in this paper.


Robust environment perception is essential for decision-making on robots operating in complex domains. Intelligent task execution requires principled treatment of uncertainty sources in a robot's observation model. This is important not only for low-level observations (e.g., accelerom-eter data), but also for high-level observations such as semantic object labels. This paper formalizes the concept of macro-observations in Decentralized Partially Observable Semi-Markov Decision Processes (Dec-POSMDPs), allowing scalable semantic-level multi-robot decision making. A hierarchical Bayesian approach is used to model noise statistics of low-level classifier outputs, while simultaneously allowing sharing of domain noise characteristics between classes. Classification accuracy of the proposed macro-observation scheme, called Hierarchical Bayesian Noise Inference (HBNI), is shown to exceed existing methods. The macro-observation scheme is then integrated into a Dec-POSMDP planner, with hardware experiments running onboard a team of dynamic quadrotors in a challenging domain where noise-agnostic filtering fails. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of a real-time, convolutional neural net-based classification framework running fully onboard a team of quadrotors in a multi-robot decision-making domain.


Abstract In March 1982, news broke that the US Air Force planned to test cruise missiles in Canada. The issue brought the Euromissiles Crisis home to Canada, as Canadians took to the streets in record numbers to oppose the tests. Anti-nuclear activists linked their 'refuse the cruise' protests to anti-nuclear demonstrations taking place across the West. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau too saw testing in a transatlantic context, insisting they were part of Canada's NATO obligations. Neither European nor American, the Canadians had an unusual place in NATO. Often, this translated to being completely ignored: transatlantic issues, including the decade-long Euromissiles Crisis, tended to be seen as US–Western European issues. This article considers the ways in which the Euromissiles Crisis came home to Canada and situates Canada in a broader transatlantic landscape. The Euromissiles Crisis framed Canadian debates over cruise missile testing, encouraging activists and politicians to think about how the threat of nuclear war could be reduced.


This paper investigates the current trends in broadband networks and audiovisual contents, with specific emphasis on Italy. In particular, the paper contains an indepth analysis of the contextability and development of communications markets, with peculiar emphasis on the most relevant bottlenecks that hinder both access to infrastructures and access to contents. On the one hand, unbundling measures, although still important to allow competitors' access to networks, are increasingly seen to inhibit investments (from incumbents and newcomers) and slow down the achievement of effective network competition. On the other hand, the crucial role of contents - in particular, premium contents - is analysed with respect to different platforms and in light of the growing trend of vertical integration between network operators and content providers. Against this backdrop, the paper critically assesses the economic impact of exclusivity mechanisms, by distinguishing those solutions which may limit anticompetitive conducts and policy measures that hamper the competitive race by introducing asymmetric effects in communications markets.


A year ago HEW published guidelines regulating hospital beds and occupancy rates. Reluctant to close their doors, administrators have sought conversion alternatives, most of them impractical and economically impossible. A go-slow attitude is recommended, as population increases will dictate hospitals' proper response.


Background Long-term use of corticosteroids is associated with considerable morbidity, including cardiovascular and metabolic adverse effects. Methods This study evaluated the long-term efficacy and safety of two steroid-free regimens compared with a triple immunosuppressive therapy in renal transplant recipients. This was a 3-year follow-up to a 6-month, open-label, randomized, multicenter study. Results Data from 3 years were available for 421 (93.3%) of 451 patients in the original intent-to-treat population (143 tacrolimus/basiliximab [Tac/Bas], 139 tacrolimus/mycophenolate mofetil [Tac/MMF], and 139 tacrolimus/MMF/steroids [triple therapy]). In the time interval from 6 months to 3 years after transplantation, the incidence of biopsy-proven acute rejection was low and similar (Tac/Bas, 2.1%; Tac/MMF, 2.2%; triple therapy, 2.2%); Most rejection episodes occurred during the first 6 months of the study. Graft survival was high (Kaplan-Meier estimates: 92.7%, 92.5%, and 92.5%), as was patient survival (93.1%, 96.4%, and 97.0%). There were 10 graft losses (n=2, 4, and 4) and 12 patient deaths (n=5, 2, and 5). Renal function was well preserved throughout the study and similar between groups. There was a trend toward improved cardiovascular risk factors in the Tac/Bas group, including reduced total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and lower new-onset insulin use. There were no between-group differences in the incidence or type of adverse events. Conclusion Higher rates of acute rejection early in treatment were seen with the steroid-free regimens, but this did not translate into poorer long-term outcomes, such as graft and patient survival and renal function. A trend for a more favorable cardiovascular risk profile was observed for steroid-free immunosuppression with Tac/Bas.


Abstract. Total OH reactivity, defined as the total loss frequency of the hydroxyl radical in the atmosphere, has proved to be an excellent tool to identify the total loading of reactive species in ambient air. High levels of unknown reactivity were found in several forests worldwide and were often higher than at urban sites. Our study presents atmospheric mixing ratios of biogenic compounds and total OH reactivity measured during late spring 2014 at the forest of downy oak trees of the Observatoire de Haute Provence (OHP), France. Air masses were sampled at two heights: 2 m, i.e., inside the canopy, and 10 m, i.e., above the canopy, where the mean canopy height is 5 m. We found that the OH reactivity at the site mainly depended on the main primary biogenic species emitted by the forest, which was isoprene and to a lesser extent by its degradation products and long-lived atmospheric compounds (up to 26 % during daytime). During daytime, no significant missing OH reactivity was reported at the site, either inside or above the canopy. However, during two nights we determined a missing fraction of OH reactivity up to 50 %, possibly due to unmeasured oxidation products. We confirmed that no significant oxidation of the primary species occurred within the canopy; primary compounds emitted by the forest were fast transported to the atmosphere. Finally, the OH reactivity at this site was maximum 69 s−1, which is a high value for a forest characterized by a temperate climate. Observations in various and diverse forests in the Mediterranean region are therefore needed to better constrain the impact of reactive gases over this area.


The association of abnormal uterine discharge with the development of intramammary infection (IMI) was studied in 62 multiparous Holstein cows during the nonlactating period and from lactation days 3 through 30. Duplicate milk samples were obtained from each mammary gland at approximately day 30 of the nonlactating period. Milk samples for bacteriologic culture also were obtained from each gland from all cows at the end of the previous lactation, at parturition, and on a minimum of 7 additional dates during the first 30 days of lactation. Beginning after parturition and continuing once weekly for 4 weeks, each cow was examined, using a vaginal speculum to visually estimate the quantity of abnormal uterine discharge in the vagina. Additionally, uterine swab specimens were obtained for aerobic bacteriologic culture. Cows were allotted to groups on the basis of the maximal amount of abnormal uterine discharge observed at any 1 of the 4 examinations. Cows in group 1 had normal discharge or < 30 ml of abnormal discharge; in group 2, > or = to 30 ml of abnormal discharge, observed only on examination by vaginal speculum; and in group 3, > or = to 30 ml of abnormal discharge visible externally. A difference was not detected in the development of new IMI in the nonlactating period between cows that subsequently developed uterine discharge and those that did not. Although significant differences were not found, a tendency for lactating cows with abnormal uterine discharge to be at increased risk for developing new IMI was observed.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


A cholinesterase deriving from the hemolymph of the mussel Mytilus edulis was partially purified by use of gel-permeation and ion-exchange chromatography; the specifity to different substrates or inhibitors indicates clearly the occurrence of a "true" acetylcholinesterase.


The aim of this study was to assess vaccination perception and the prevalence of the overall vaccination coverage (VC) and associated factors among university students. An online study was conducted among students of a university in Rouen (Normandy), France, in January 2021, with questions about the VC and perception of the vaccines. The convenience sample included 3089 students (response rate of 10.3%), with a mean age of 20.3 (SD = 1.9). The overall VC was 27.8% (39.2% for the healthcare students (HCS) and 21.3% for the non-HCS; p < 0.0001). Confidence (efficacy and security) was lower than the conviction of usefulness. The characteristics associated with VC were having the intention to be vaccinated against COVID-19, high perceptions of usefulness for their own health, having confidence in the vaccines' efficacy and security, and a high estimated level of knowledge about vaccination. Education about the general interest and mechanism of action of vaccines could improve the perception of vaccines. Then, it is relevant to improve vaccination literacy and confidence in university students, who, as future adults and parents, will vaccinate themselves and their children; as well as healthcare students who are future healthcare workers and, therefore, will vaccinate and counsel their patients.


Purpose: To evaluate patients with diabetic retinopathy using ultra–wide-field fluorescein angiography and to compare the visualized retinal pathology with that seen on an overly of conventional 7 standard field (7SF) imaging. Methods: Two hundred and eighteen eyes of 118 diabetic patients who underwent diagnostic fluorescein angiography using the Optos Optomap Panoramic 200A imaging system were included. The visualized area of the retina, retinal nonperfusion, retinal neovascularization, and panretinal photocoagulation were quantified by two independent masked graders. The respective areas identified on the ultra–wide-field fluorescein angiography image were compared with an overly of a modified 7SF image as outlined in the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study. Results: Ultra–wide-field fluorescein angiograms imaging, on average, demonstrated 3.2 times more total retinal surface area than 7SF. When compared with 7SF, ultra–wide-field fluorescein angiography showed 3.9 times more nonperfusion (P < 0.001), 1.9 times more neovascularization (P = 0.036), and 3.8 times more panretinal photocoagulation (P < 0.001). In 22 eyes (10%), ultra–wide-field fluorescein angiography demonstrated retinal pathology (including nonperfusion and neovascularization) not evident in an 7SF overly. Conclusion: Compared with conventional 7SF imaging, ultra–wide-field fluorescein angiography reveals significantly more retinal vascular pathology in patients with diabetic retinopathy. Improved retinal visualization may alter the classification of diabetic retinopathy and may therefore influence follow-up and treatment of these patients.


A novel organic–inorganic ratiometric fluorescent probe AuNCs–NBD was developed for the detection of cysteine (Cys) and homocysteine (Hcy). In our design, the AuNCs–NBD exhibited dual-emission fluorescence properties with a single excitation. Bovine serum albumin (BSA) protected gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) with carboxyl groups were employed as a reference signal unit and conjugated with the p-aminothiophenol substituted NBD (7-nitro-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole) moiety to form the ratiometric fluorescent probe. The AuNCs–NBD composite showed a single red fluorescence at 630 nm ascribed to AuNCs, and reaction of AuNCs–NBD with Cys and Hcy caused the cleavage of the thioether bond and therefore generated the fluorescent amino linked NBD with emission at 540 nm. Accordingly, the green fluorescence of released NBD at 540 nm gradually increased upon increasing the concentration of Cys or Hcy, while the red fluorescence ascribed to AuNCs at 630 nm remained constant, which resulted in the ratiometric determination of Cys and Hcy using the AuNCs–NBD probe. Due to the specific recognition of NBD with Cys and Hcy, the AuNCs–NBD probe exhibited high selectivity for Cys and Hcy over other amino acids and GSH. In addition, the AuNCs–NBD composite displayed desirable properties such as high specificity, appreciable solubility, ratiometric fluorescence response and favorable detection limit. Moreover, the AuNCs–NBD probe has been successfully applied for monitoring and imaging of intracellular Cys and Hcy in HeLa cells.


Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp) is a leguminous plant which is an important source of protein, grown in arid and semi-arid areas of Africa subject to climate changes including soil salinization. The current study aimed to test the hypothesis that screening for salt-tolerant Bradyrhizobim-cowpea combination would promise a salt tolerant symbiotic system. Four selected Bradyrhizobium were characterized for their abilities to grow freely in salt medium and for their symbiotic efficiency in improving cowpea growth in Leonard jars at 3 levels of salinity (0, 40 and 80 mM). The effectiveness of inoculated bacteria was assessed by measuring shoot and root dry matters, salt tolerance index, leaf chlorophyll content and leaf area. This study did not show a correlation between strains tolerance to high salt concentrations in free-living form and symbiotic efficiency on cowpea. Furthermore, results showed that all the strain improved root/shoot ratio (RSR) and yield of cowpea plants up to 40 mM. However at 80 mM, only LCM4767 and ORS3257 strains were efficient. Selected strains improved and/or maintained plant growth and production under salt stress. The results suggest that cowpea production can be improved by introduction of efficient legume-Bradyrhizobium symbiotic combinations in saline areas.

 Key words: Salt stress-tolerance, Bradyrhizobium, cowpea, symbiosis, Senegal.


Abstract. Three years ago, Greenwald, McGhee, and Schwartz (1998) presented a new method to measure differential evaluative association of two target concepts: the Implicit Association Test (IAT). It has been asserted that the IAT allows for the assessment of implicit attitudes by comparing response times in two combined discrimination tasks. Although the distribution and employment of this method has been quite successful, the processes underlying IAT-effects, as well as the psychometric properties of specific IAT-variants, have received relatively little attention up to now. The articles included in the present special issue especially focus on these aspects.


In recent years, the interest and use of small diameter implants have increased considerably. The probable reasons are the clinical credibility in long term use and its minimally invasive placement protocol. Victor Sendax, a conceptualist and developer of small diameter implants, had identified three patients groups in the 1980's on which the mini implants offered invaluable performances: for medically, financially, and anatomically compromised patients. This paper outlines the clinical experience conducted among 28 patients during a follow-up period of four years. This group is heterogeneous in age, concurrent in systemic conditions and represents the type of a private practice patient whose treatments selected have followed the proposed guidelines for the rational use of small diameter implants.


AIM To examine the relationship between the single nucleotide polymorphism CXCL10 rs1439490 and seronegative occult hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection (OCI). METHODS One hundred and three cases of seronegative OCI and 155 cases of seropositive chronic HCV infection (CHC) were diagnosed at five Liver Centers in Northeastern China, from 2012 to 2016. CXCL10 rs1439490, rs1440802, and IL-28B rs12979860 were analyzed by sequencing. Serum CXCL10 was measured by ELISA. Intrahepatic CXCL10 was determined by quantitative PCR and immunohistochemical semi-quantitative scoring. Liver necroinflammation and fibrosis were scored according to the METAVIR system. RESULTS CXCL10 rs1439490 G/G was more prevalent in OCI patients (n = 93/103; 90.3%) than in CHC patients (n = 116/155; 74.8%; P = 0.008). OCI patients had lower serum CXCL10 levels than CHC patients (192.91 ± 46.50 pg/mL vs 354.78 ± 102.91 pg/mL, P < 0.0001). Of IL-28B rs12979860 C/C patients, OCI patients with rs1439490 G/G had lower serum and liver levels of CXCL10 and lower levels of liver necroinflammation and fibrosis than non-G/G patients. OCI patients had higher alanine aminotransferase normalization rates after Peg-interferon treatment than CHC patients (P < 0.05) and serum CXCL10 decreased significantly (P < 0.0001). Liver necroinflammation and fibrosis were alleviated in 8 OCI patients after treatment. Multivariate analysis indicated that rs1439490 G/G significantly influenced the occurrence of OCI in HCV infection (OR = 0.31, 95%CI: 0.15-0.66, P = 0.002). CONCLUSION CXCL10 rs1439490 G/G is positively associated with OCI in HCV infection and antiviral outcome.


We document that the undifferentiated chaotic Ligurian Units of the Monferrato–Torino Hill sector (MO-TH) at the Alps–Apennines junction consist of three different units that are comparable with the Cassio, Caio and Sporno Units of the External Ligurian Units of the Northern Apennines. Their internal stratigraphy reflects the character of units deposited in an ocean–continent transition (OCT) zone between the northwestern termination of the Ligurian–Piedmont oceanic basin and the thinned passive margin of Adria microcontinent. The inherited wedge-shaped architecture of this OCT, which gradually closed toward the north in the present-day Canavese Zone, controlled the Late Cretaceous–early Eocene flysch deposition at the trench of the External Ligurian accretionary wedge during the oblique subduction. This favoured the formation of an accretionary wedge increasing in thickness and elevation toward the SE, from the MO-TH to the Emilia Northern Apennines. Our results therefore provide significant information on both the palaeogeographical reconstruction of the northwestern termination of the Ligurian–Piedmont oceanic basin and the role played by inherited along-strike variations (stratigraphy, structural architecture and morphology) of OCT zones in controlling subduction–accretionary processes. Supplementary material: A spreadsheet with X-ray fluorescence spectrometry and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry whole-rock major and trace element composition of mantle peridotites, and photomicrographs of mantle peridotites are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4519643


There is worldwide interest in deriving increasing amounts of energy from bio-based agricultural materials including not only lignocellulosic residues but also a significant quantity of available livestock manure. This manure can be used as a feedstock for various thermochemical conversion processes such as pyrolysis and gasification. In order to apply these processes, the manure must be properly characterized for volatile matter (VM) and ash contents. The determination of these components is not mentioned specifically in current ASTM standards for livestock manure. In this study, we employed the use of thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) for the rapid assessment of VM and ash content in swine, dairy, rabbit, and poultry manures using references from the ASTM coal and coke standards. The TGA assessment of VM in the manures were the same as those values found by non-automated means (ASTM D3175-07) ranging from 47 to 78 wt%db. The TGA assessment of the ash was also the same when compared to ash results via non-instrumental means following ASTM D3174-04. Ash values ranged from 4 to 47 wt%db. There was one exception when testing a high ash containing swine lagoon sludge. Under the TGA method, this sludge underwent more complete devolatilization and oxidation. This was primarily attributed to the small sample size leading to uniform internal heating. The modification of the TGA ash method aimed at shortening the run time generated similar results as both the original TGA method and non-automated method. Thus, TGA ash determination in manure should occur above 600°C with preferences for the following method: Zero-grade air at 2–4 furnace volumes/min, heating rate of 11°C⋅min−1, temperature range of 110–950°C, and isothermal hold at 950°C for 10 min. VM determination via TGA should follow ASTM D3175-07.


MicroRNAs (miRNAs) regulate a large proportion of mammalian genes by hybridizing to targeted messenger RNAs (mRNAs) and down-regulating their translation into protein. Although much work has been done in the genome-wide computational prediction of miRNA genes and their target mRNAs, an open question is how to efficiently obtain functional miRNA targets from a large number of candidate miRNA targets predicted by existing computational algorithms. In this paper, we propose a novel Bayesian model and learning algorithm, GenMiR++ (Generative model for miRNA regulation), that accounts for patterns of gene expression using miRNA expression data and a set of candidate miRNA targets. A set of high-confidence functional miRNA targets are then obtained from the data using a Bayesian learning algorithm. Our model scores 467 high-confidence miRNA targets out of 1,770 targets obtained from TargetScanS in mouse at a false detection rate of 2.5%: several confirmed miRNA targets appear in our high-confidence set, such as the interactions between miR-92 and the signal transduction gene MAP2K4, as well as the relationship between miR-16 and BCL2, an anti-apoptotic gene which has been implicated in chronic lymphocytic leukemia. We present results on the robustness of our model showing that our learning algorithm is not sensitive to various perturbations of the data. Our high-confidence targets represent a significant increase in the number of miRNA targets and represent a starting point for a global understanding of gene regulation.


Effects of citric acid on crystalline habit and crystal morphology of gypsum dihydrate were analyzed in great detail. The retarding mechanism of citric acid was also discussed from the standpoint of crystal growth by use of Scanning Electric Microscope and X-ray Photo Technology. The results shows that due to the complexion between citric acid and Ca2+, the initial supersaturation degree in liquid phase is greatly decreased, correspondingly the number of nuclei newly formed reduces and the growth rate of dihydrate slows down, so the crystal has enough time and space to grow, as a result, the crystal size becomes much larger in presence of citric acid. Citric acid is preferably adsorbed on c-axis which has the fastest growth rate and hinders its growth. Therefore the relative growth rate and crystal habit of various crystal faces are changed, consequently leading to the transformation of dihydrate crystal from need-like to short prismatic. Furthermore, the transformation is gradual as a function of citric acid addition, the higher the dosage, the larger the dihydrate crystal formed. After the addition of citric acid, the retarding effect produced and the reduction in strength of hardened gypsum paste are closely related with the variation of crystallization habit and crystal structure of hydration products.


The processing stability of machine tool system is studied in this work. In terms of the mass distribution and the need of sufficient energy to keep chatter, it is most possible that the chatter will occur on the final executive component of a machine tool. Based on it, the machine system may be simplified as a regenerative chatter model with double elastic bodies. This new model can adapt to improvement of component structure well. When there is a big difference between the receptances of two elastic bodies, the one with bigger receptance should become the active body of chatter, namely it is the weak one of the system. When the receptances of two elastic bodies are close, then the structure of two bodies should be optimized.


Coseismic stress changes have been the primary physical principle used to explain aftershocks and triggered earthquakes. However, this method does not adequately forecast earthquake rates and diverse rupture populations when subjected to formal testing. We show that earthquake forecasts can be impaired by assumptions made in physics-based models such as the existence of hypothetical optimal faults and regional scale invariability of the stress field. We compare calculations made under these assumptions along with different realizations of a new conceptual triggering model that features a complete assay of all possible ruptures. In this concept, there always exists a set of theoretical planes that has positive failure stress conditions under a combination of background and coseismic static stress change. In the Earth, all of these theoretical planes may not exist, and if they do, they may not be ready to fail. Thus, the actual aftershock plane may not correspond to the plane with the maximum stress change value. This is consistent with observations that mainshocks commonly activate faults with exotic orientations and rakes. Our testing ground is the M 7.2, 2010 El Mayor–Cucapah earthquake sequence that activated multiple diverse fault populations across the United States–Mexico border in California and Baja California. We carry out a retrospective test involving 748 M≥3.0 triggered earthquakes that occurred during a 3 yr period after the mainshock. We find that a probabilistic expression of possible aftershock planes constrained by premainshock rupture patterns is strongly favored (89% of aftershocks consistent with static stress triggering) versus an optimal fault implementation (35% consistent). Results show that coseismic stress change magnitudes do not necessarily control earthquake triggering, instead we find that the summed background stress and coseismic stress change promotes diverse ruptures. Our model can thus explain earthquake triggering in regions where optimal plane mapping shows coseismic stress reduction.


A total of 627 cattle representing seven breeds from south central Nebraska, USA were tested for 37 BoLA antigens which behave as products of 37 distinct alleles of the class I BoLA-A locus. Four antigens were absent from all breeds tested. The other antigens showed marked and statistically significant differences in breed distribution. There was no evidence for blank (null) alleles. The number of alleles in each breed ranged from 10 to 20. The Hereford and Simmental populations tested were less polymorphic than the Angus, Brown Swiss, Charolais, Gelbvieh and Limousin populations.


This paper presents the design and the experimental validation of model predictive control (MPC) of a hybrid dynamical process based on measurements collected by a wireless sensor network. The proposed setup is the prototype of an industrial application in which a remote station controls the process via wireless network links. The experimental platform is a laboratory process consisting of four infrared lamps, controlled in pairs by two on/off switches, and of a transport belt, where moving parts equipped with wireless sensors are heated by the lamps. By approximating the stationary heat spatial distribution as a piecewise affine function of the position along the belt, the resulting plant model is a hybrid dynamical system. The control architecture is based on the reference governor approach: the process is actuated by a local controller, while a hybrid MPC algorithm running on a remote base station sends optimal belt velocity set-points and lamp on/off commands over a network link exploiting the information received through the wireless network. A discrete-time hybrid model of the process is used for the hybrid MPC algorithm and for the state estimator.


This paper quantifies the effect of speed cameras on road traffic collisions using an approximate Bayesian doubly-robust (DR) causal inference estimation method. Previous empirical work on this topic, which shows a diverse range of estimated effects, is based largely on outcome regression (OR) models using the Empirical Bayes approach or on simple before and after comparisons. Issues of causality and confounding have received little formal attention. A causal DR approach combines propensity score (PS) and OR models to give an average treatment effect (ATE) estimator that is consistent and asymptotically normal under correct specification of either of the two component models. We develop this approach within a novel approximate Bayesian framework to derive posterior predictive distributions for the ATE of speed cameras on road traffic collisions. Our results for England indicate significant reductions in the number of collisions at speed cameras sites (mean ATE = -30%). Our proposed method offers a promising approach for evaluation of transport safety interventions.


Ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM) has been identified by managers, scholars and policy-makers as an approach that can help reverse the trend in declining fish stocks globally. EBFM is an integrated approach that requires managers to look beyond the immediate impacts of fishing on target stocks to examine their impacts on by-catch and non-target species and on the marine environment. EBFM also explicitly recognises that people must be seen as integral to marine ecosystems. In EBFM, the social and economic impacts of fishing are included in the evaluation of the fishery.

This study seeks to investigate how the principles of EBFM may be incorporated into management arrangements for Tasmania's wild capture fisheries. Tasmania is an island sub-national jurisdiction of Australia with a rich commercial fishing heritage dating to the time of first European settlement in the early 1800s. The wild capture fisheries make a significant contribution to the State's economy, and secure substantial revenue from exports while providing employment in regional areas. The fisheries are managed by the Tasmanian State Government under provisions contained in the Tasmanian Living Marine Resources Management Act 1995 with the objective of achieving the sustainable development of living marine resources and taking into account community needs and interests. Nevertheless, management of those fisheries appears to be based on a fragmented and prescriptive command-and-control approach, with each fishery managed as a discrete entity and integration difficult to achieve.

To advance the research agenda, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 scholars and fisheries managers to elicit their views on the efficacy of current fisheries management arrangements; on the principles underlying EBFM, including its strengths and weaknesses; on how the principles can be incorporated into the management arrangements for Tasmania's wild capture fisheries; and on ways to identify possible barriers to the implementation of EBFM The interview participants have expertise in state, Tasmania, national, Australia and international fisheries research and management. A review of the literature, 613 journal articles, reports, conference proceedings and grey literature on the management of Tasmania's fisheries and on the theory underpinning EBFM provides the context and background against which the validity and generalisability of the research may be evaluated.

Analysis of the data revealed that knowledge and understanding of the principles of EBFM, as outlined in the literature, was evident among interview participants. However, particularly amongst Tasmanian researchers and fisheries managers, there was some ambivalence regarding whether those principles could be formally integrated into management arrangements for Tasmania's wild capture fisheries. Five participants indicated that the principles of EBFM remain unclear. Twelve participants considered that a more holistic integrated approach to fisheries management was desirable and achievable, though limited confidence was shown about the specific steps that would be required for its practical implementation.

Such findings lead to the conclusion that it is imperative that those involved in fisheries research and management take the most integrated approach possible to the resource, the marine environment, and the social and economic contexts in which these others are managed. At present, the current structure of fisheries management arrangements make it difficult to formally adopt EBFM in practice in Tasmania. The top down "command and control" management approach whereby Tasmania's fisheries are managed as discrete entities create a barrier to EBFM. Like wise the structure of the research agenda still predominately utilises a single species approach. Both research and management strategies which advance better integration of wild capture fisheries are warranted. A first step would be to critically review the utility of the current management and research frameworks to evaluate whether they provide the robustness required to meet future challenges.


ID: 9551 Title: Comparing IGRT shifts with MVision and CT on rails systems using anthropomorphic phantom Purpose: To evaluate the IGRT repositioning shifts determined by MV Cone Beam CT and by CT on rails using an anthropomorphic phantom. Material and Methods: Two IGRT systems installed in the same Linac room were studied. The CT based IGRT has been used in our Siemens Primus since 2004. Recently, a MV conebeam CT (Siemens MVision) was implemented with the objective to reduce the therapist time to obtain the IGRT shifts. The shifts and the corresponding total time were evaluated using an anthropomorphic PIXY® phantom. CTs of the phantom were obtained for head-andneck, pelvis and lung and treatment planning was generated in XIO-CMS for each site. The set of images, structures and plans was sent to both IGRT stations. Bbs were placed on the phantom surface at the isocenter axis, as a reference for the daily CT images. For each plan the MVCBCT was obtained three times to determine its reproducibility for 5 and 8 MU protocols. The registration for MVCBCT was done automatically and verified with manual registration. The table was then flipped to the CT position and the images acquired. In this case the registration is done manually and the isocenter shift is obtained through the bbs position. The procedures ware repeated for all sites. The total time to obtain the shifts and the image quality were also registered. Results and Di scussio n: The reproducibility of the MVCBCT for different protocols was within 2 mm. The maximum difference for MVCBCT and CT was 4 mm. The MVCBCT has poor image for soft tissue, and the fusion registration is based on mutual information. The total time to obtain the shifts is about 3 min for the new system and 7 to 8 min for the CT based system. This study excludes any deviation due to patient rotation and internal changes.


Grey-box fuzzing is an evolutionary process, which maintains and evolves a population of test cases with the help of a fitness function. Fitness functions used by current grey-box fuzzers are not informative in that they cannot distinguish different program executions as long as those executions achieve the same coverage. The problem is that current fitness functions only consider a union of data, but not their combination. As such, fuzzers often get stuck in a local optimum during their search. In this paper, we introduce Ankou, the first grey-box fuzzer that recognizes different combinations of execution information, and present several scalability challenges encountered while designing and implementing Ankou. Our experimental results show that Ankou is 1.94× and 8.0× more effective in finding bugs than AFL and Angora, respectively.


AbstractCirculations in and around cumulus clouds are inferred by using a passive tracer (radar chaff) and an airborne cloud radar during the Barbados Aerosol Cloud Experiment (BACEX). The radar chaff elements used for this experiment are fibers that are cut to a length of about ½ of the radar wavelength to maximize radar returns by serving as dipole antennas. The fibers are packed in fiber tubes and are mounted in a dispenser beneath the wing of the aircraft. The chaff was released near the tops and edges of a growing small cumulus cloud. The aircraft then made penetrations of the cloud at lower levels to observe the chaff signals above the aircraft with the zenith-pointing cloud radar. This study shows that the environmental air above the cloud top descends along the downshear side of the cloud edge and is subsequently entrained back into the same cloud near the observation level. The in-cloud flow follows an inverted letter P pattern. The merits and limitations of the chaff method for tracking circulat...


Aricultural activity in California's Central Valley may be an important source of pesticides that are transported in the air to the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range, USA. Pesticides applied to this intensive crop production area may volatilize under warm temperatures typical of the valley and be transported through the atmosphere to be deposited in the cooler, higher elevation regions of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. To determine the extent of summertime atmospheric transport of pesticides to this region, high‐volume air, dry deposition, and surface water samples were collected in the Central Valley and at different elevations in California's Sequoia National Park. Results revealed that the highest residue concentrations were those of compounds with heavy summertime agricultural use. A significant drop in pesticide concentrations in both air and water samples was observed within a few 100‐m elevation from the valley; however, levels remained relatively constant between ∼500 and 2,000 m. Water concentrations from two areas above 3,000 m contained levels less than a tenth as high as those at lower elevations. Possible effects of the pesticides were estimated using measured water concentrations to calculate total exposure of three aquatic species to organophosphate insecticides. Aggregate exposure calculations showed concentrations were well below 96‐h LC50 values for rainbow trout and stonefly but concentrations may be harmful to amphipods.


Abstract Various methods have been devised to classify plants into functional groups, yet little work has investigated how these groups differentially impact succession with spatially explicit mechanisms. In a sand dune plant community on Galveston Island, Texas, we categorized plants by their functional traits, mapped the topographical contours of the sand dunes as a first-order effect to describe the spatial distribution of environmental stress, and quantified the second-order within- and between-group associations of the plants within specific bands of these contours using Ripley's K analysis. We then quantified the influence of spatially explicit functional traits on the direction of succession over time. We found evidence that the spatial pattern of the plants at one time exerted an influence on the pattern of the plants at a later time, based on their functional traits, thereby influencing the direction of sand dune succession. This study describes the spatiotemporal mechanics that lie behind sand dune plant succession: a process that has been a classical example of facilitation for ecologists, a plant community that is at risk from global sea-level rise and hurricanes, and an important rangeland resource that is being restored around the world for its ecological, range production, and coastal protection value.


Recent research has derived preference scores from the SF-36. We compare the practicality and construct validity of SF-36 derived preference scores with directly elicited time trade off (TTO) and visual analogue scale (VAS) scores. In this observational study, low back pain (LBP), patients were asked to complete disease specific, generic (SF-36), and health state preference (VAS and TTO) instruments. Baseline SF-36 responses were converted to preference scores using six published algorithms. Response rates for the SF-36 derived and TTO preference values were 354 of 379 (93%) and 303 of 379 (80%), respectively. Thirty patients were excluded from the TTO exercise because of difficulties comprehending the scaling task. Choice based methods (standard gamble, TTO) yielded higher and more uniform estimates of preference (0.77-0.79) than non-choice based methods (VAS) (0.42-0.70). Directly elicited TTO values were variable and had less power to distinguish among patients with differing severity of LBP. All SF-36 derived preferences exhibited a minimum threshold implying a potential floor effect for severely ill patients. SF-36 derived preferences demonstrated good practicality and construct validity in this setting, however different methods will yield disparate estimates of marginal benefit. This emphasises the need for a standardised algorithm for deriving SF-36 preference scores.


New "Sunshine Act" requirements for disclosure by pharmaceutical and medical device companies of payments to faculty have led to increased conversation about conflict of interest (COI).1 Conflict of interest is defined as "circumstances that create a risk that professional judgments or actions regarding a primary interest will be unduly influenced by a secondary interest."2 Conflict of interest is particularly relevant for those in the upper echelons of academic health system leadership—presidents, vice presidents, provosts, deans, chief executive officers, and the senior administrators who report to them.


SIR,-Minerva asks (22 September, p 743) "Just how effective are the Samaritans in preventing suicide ?"-a question impossible to answer owing to lack of controls. Many of us have personal experience of individual cases where suicide has definitely been averted by our intervention; but these cases cannot be enumerated. The following data, however, were extracted from the records of a random sample of 57 224 of the 250 740 individuals who sought our help during 1978. A total of 13 421 callers admitted suicidal thoughts or intentions, and 15 763 callers admitted no such thoughts or intentions; in 28 040 cases for various reasons this information was not available. Thus 45-9", of the 29 184 cases in which the topic of suicide was broached (either by the caller or by the Samaritan volunteer) admitted to suicidal ideas; or, to put it another way, 23°% of the whole sample were found to be harbouring them. This gives the population a "potential" suicide rate of 23 453 per 100 000, whereas the official figure is only about eight per 100 000. Evidently we do attract those with a suicidal bent, but quite a lot of them think better of it. Minerva also states that the suicide rate is showing no further decrease despite our increased activity. True. It is levelling out at about eight per 100 000, having dropped steadily from 12 per 100 000 in 1963 (coincidentally the year when Samaritans Incorporated came into action). One of the possible reasons for its not falling further may be that the number of our new callers each year has increased since 1973 by 60",, whereas the number of our volunteers has risen only 17",'0. Many of our 170 branches are overstretched; to achieve some sort of parity with this increasing work load we need at least 6000 more volunteers-urgently.


IntroductionLiving in a cold and/or damp house can damage health. To reduce fuel poverty in Wales, the Welsh Government developed domestic energy efficiency schemes - an individual-level scheme, Warm Homes Nest and an area-based scheme, Warm Homes Arbed. Both schemes provide improvements to those most likely affected by fuel poverty.
Objectives and ApproachOverall aim: to evaluate the health impacts of Welsh Government funded schemes designed to reduce fuel poverty. Presented objective: to investigate the relative impact of the individual-level and area-based schemes on the health of recipients.
A longitudinal dataset was created using the anonymised residence that received improvements linked to residents' health measures (hospital admissions, GP prescriptions and clinical diagnoses) using routine health records held in the SAIL Databank at Swansea University.
We used difference-in-difference (DID) estimations to compare any changes in recipient health before and after intervention with any concurrent change in health in those yet to receive the intervention.
ResultsAn analysis of the Warm Homes Nest Scheme, published in 2017 and presented at the IPDLN 2017 conference found a positive impact of the scheme on the health of recipients.
This presentation will describe the further analysis (concluding shortly) comparing the area-based Arbed scheme with both the recipients of the individual-level Nest scheme and groups in comparable need that had not yet received the intervention. We will present results focussing on the relative impacts of the two schemes on cardiovascular, respiratory and general health.
Conclusion/ImplicationsProviding home energy efficiency interventions has the potential to benefit population health; however, there is a scarcity of evidence comparing different methods of implementing schemes. Our findings will inform more effectively-focussed home energy efficiency schemes and potentially thus improve the health of people living in Wales.


OBJECTIVE
To Compare the clinical outcomes of patellofemoral arthroplasty and Fulkerson osteotomy.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
32 patients with the diagnosis of isolated patellofemoral arthrosis were treated, 16 patients with patellofemoral Arthroplasty and 16 patients with Fulkerson type osteotomy. Being a non-probabilistic sample of convenience and quota with random allocation. The indications for surgery were osteoarthritis patellofemoral grade III-IV of the classification Kellgren-Lawrence, treated with pharmacological therapy and physical rehabilitation without improvement of the symptomatology. Clinical evaluations were performed prior to surgical procedure at six months, one year and two years. With the questionnaires of Japanese Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score, Lysholm Knee Score and analogue visual scale.

RESULTS
Significant improvement was found in both groups The pain component improved significantly in both groups at six months, one year and at two years (p 0.001 for both), daily activities (p = 0.001), sports (p = 0.001). The quality of life improved (p = 0.001). correlation between one-year follow-up score in the group of patients treated with patellofemoral arthroplasty on the Lysholm scale and the KOOS pain subscale (R2 = 0.8508). A moderate correlation in pain and sport dimensions on the KOOS scale (R2 = 0.783).

DISCUSSION
In our study group, patellofemoral arthroplasty exhibits better function as well as a decrease in pain compared to arthroscopy and Fulkersons osteotomy at all stages of follow-up.


There are increasing evidences to show that central nervous system is involved in the regulation of energy homeostasis. Energy intake is usually matched to energy expenditure over a period of time. Obesity occurs when the amount of energy intake (or food intake) is more than the energy expenditure. Because of the enormous tolls on human health taken by obesity and related disorders, an improved understanding of the control of food intake is an important priority. The aim of this article is to briefly review the advances in recent years on long-term maintenance of energy homeostasis and the role of central nervous system. In the present review, the following contents are included: (1) satiety and its production, (2) adiposity signals and the regulation of food intake, (3) nuclei in central nervous system involved in food intake, (4) the first- and the second-order neuronal signaling in hypothalamus on control of food intake and (5) clinic implications.


Coinfection with HIV has an important impact on immunity against hepatitis C virus (HCV). In the present dissertation, phenotypes of lymphocytes derived from the peripheral blood of HCV-infected patients were studied into detail, with special attention to changes in phenotype of lymphocytes associated with HIV-coinfection and liver fibrosis. HCV-infection was associated with increased apoptosis of T lymphocytes in comparison to healthy controls. HCV-infection was also associated with increased cell activation and exhaustion of T lymphocytes and this was correlated to the level of HCV-viraemia, suggesting that HCV directly causes non-specific T cell activation and exhaustion in the periphery. T lymphocyte apoptosis, activation and exhaustion were independent of liver fibrosis. Together these findings suggest that, if left untreated, HCV might on long term contribute to dysfunction of T lymphocytes through non-specific immune activation, even in the absence of liver fibrosis. Coinfection with HIV was associated with even higher levels of peripheral T lymphocyte activation than HCV monoinfection. Natural killer (NK) cells are a type of lymphocytes belonging to the innate immune system. Of the NK cell subsets, the CD56dim NK cells have generally been considered as the primarily cytotoxic subset, whereas CD56bright NK cells are thought to merely exert cytokine-producing activity. Surprisingly, Feuth et al demonstrate that CD56bright NK cells typically display high levels of the cytotoxic molecule FasL on their surface. Furthermore, chronic infection with HCV is associated with upregulation of FasL as well as with the cytotoxic molecules granzyme B and perforin. Liver fibrosis has traditionally been diagnosed by liver biopsy, an invasive method with rare but severe complications. Transient elastography has recently been implemented as an non-invasive measurement for liver fibrosis. A retrospective analysis, presented in this dissertation, demonstrated that transient elastography has major clinical impact on clinical decision-making concerning treatment and follow-up of patients with viral hepatitis. Lastly, the CD4/CD8 T cell ratio was identified as an alternative non-invasive marker for liver fibrosis in HCV monoinfection. If this finding is to be confirmed in larger studies, the marker might be of value especially in settings where transient elastography is not available. Altogether, the studies presented in this dissertation shed new light on regulation of innate and adaptive immunity in HCV monoinfection and HIV-HCV coinfection and identify CD4/CD8 T cell ratio as a promising non-invasive marker of liver fibrosis in HCV monoinfection.


A field study was undertaken during winter (rabi) season of 2013-2014 to explore the effect of graded levels of fertilizers and bio-fertilizers on yield of chickpea, protein content in chickpea seeds and nutrient uptake by the crop. Significantly higher seed and stover yields (1854, 2722 kg ha-1, respectively) were recorded with application of fertilizer @ 100% RDF (25:50:00, kg N:P:K ha-1). Remarkable improvements in protein content, nutrient content as well as their uptake were also observed with the treatment of 100% RDF. Various treatments of bio-fertilizers also produced significant variation on yield, protein content and nutrient content and uptake by crop. The crop sown with Rhizobium and PSB both as seed treatment (B4) showed significant improvement in seed yield (1824 kg ha-1) and stover yields (2709 kg ha-1) but remained at par with Rhizobium as seed treatment + PSB as soil application (B2) and Rhizobium as seed treatment + VAM as soil application (B3). Considerable improvement in nutrient content and uptake was also noticed under Rhizobium and PSB both as seed treatment (B4). Significantly higher protein content in chickpea seeds was recorded with Rhizobium and PSB both as seed treatment (B4), but it remained at par with Rhizobium as seed treatment + PSB as soil application (B2) and Rhizobium as seed treatment + VAM as soil application (B3).


Transition economies compete for FDI since it is expected to have net benefits for the host economy in terms of employment by creating jobs, paying higher wages, offering more training compared to the local firms, as well as benefits for the balance of payments, technology, growth and the alleviation of poverty. This paper examines if foreign-owned firms are more likely to provide formal training to their employees after controlling for other firm characteristics. This empirical analysis uses firm level data from the Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey (BEEPS) 2002-2009. To investigate the impact of foreign ownership on the provision of training this paper is using the Probit, Tobit and Craggit models. The empirical evidence presented in this paper indicates that foreign ownership has a positive and significant impact upon the incidence and intensity of training for both non-production and production workers using pooled cross-section data.   Keywords: FDI, provision of training, firm level data, Probit, Tobit, Craggit model


The inducible enzyme catalysing the conversion of cis,cis-muconate to (+)-muconolactone was purified 300-fold from the yeast Trichosporon cutaneum, grown on phenol. The enzyme has a sharp pH optimum at pH 6.6. It reacts also with several monohalogen derivatives and with one monomethyl derivative of cis,cis-muconate, but not with cis,trans- or trans,trans-muconate or 3-carboxy-cis,cis-muconate. In contrast with the corresponding enzymes in bacteria, the yeast enzyme does not require added divalent metal ions for activity and is not inhibited by EDTA. The purified enzyme can be resolved into two peaks by isoelectric focusing. The two forms have pI 4.58 (cis,cis-muconate cyclase I) and pI 4.74 (cis, cis-muconate cyclase II), respectively. Each of these is homogenous on polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis in the absence or presence of sodium dodecyl sulphate. The two enzyme forms have the same molecular weight (50000) as determined by gel filtration and by sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis. They have the same Km value (25 microM) for cis,cis-muconate. They differ with respect to their content of free thiol groups. cis, cis-Muconate cyclase I contains one thiol group, essential for activity, but relatively stable upon storage. cis, cis-Muconate cyclase II contains two thiol groups that are readily oxidized during storage with concomitant loss of activity.


We discuss how heterogeneously integrated membrane laser diodes can be designed to give very high direct modulation bandwidths. Their membrane structure allows high optical confinement as well as low parasitic capacitance. Moreover, one can make use of the very low loss of SOI waveguides and of very efficient tapers to couple the membrane lasers to well-defined, low-loss external cavities and one can thus exploit the external cavity resonance in the modulation response.


The authors describe the way of operating the selective galactophorectomy and discuss the indications. Each pathological nipple discharge may reveal a carcinoma. The clinical characteristics of the discharge, the results of the cytology, of the mammography and the galactography help to come to a diagnosis. This can only be confirmed after a thorough histological examination of the involved duct. Selective galactophorectomy is a simple operation that hardly leaves any scars. According to the authors, this method has a real advantage to find the diagnosis and to treat pathological nipple discharge.


We investigate equilibrium and transport properties of a copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) molecule adsorbed on Au(111) and Ag(111) surfaces. The CuPc molecule has essentially three localized orbitals close to the Fermi energy resulting in strong local Coulomb repulsion not accounted for properly in density functional calculations. Hence, they require a proper many-body treatment within, e.g., the Anderson impurity model (AIM). The occupancy of these orbitals varies with the substrate on which CuPc is adsorbed. Starting from density functional theory calculations, we determine the parameters for the AIM embedded in a noninteracting environment that describes the residual orbitals of the entire system. While correlation effects in CuPc on Au(111) are already properly described by a single orbital AIM, for CuPc on Ag(111) the three orbital AIM problem can be simplified into a two orbital problem coupled to the localized spin of the third orbital. This results in a Kondo effect with a mixed character, displaying a symmetry between SU(2) and SU(4). The computed Kondo temperature is in good agreement with experimental values. To solve the impurity problem we use the recently developed fork tensor product state solver. To obtain transport properties, a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) tip is added to the CuPc molecule absorbed on the surface. We find that the transmission depends on the detailed position of the STM tip above the CuPc molecule in good agreement with differential conductance measurements.


Twitter has largely become a central online social network for arguments on various global controversial topics. Detecting and analysing such topics could prove to be beneficial in understanding the sentiments of trending topics in developing regions. In this paper, we perform a systematic sentiment study of trending controversial topics on Pakistan's Twitter user-base. From the data collected we build retweet graphs, partition graphs into communities, measure community influence, and label the communities as 'for' or 'against' per topic. To the best of our knowledge this is the first work to categorise and study sentiments attached to controversial topics in a developing region.


The GeoChip is a glass slide containing oligonucleotide probes targeting genes that confer specific function to micro-organism. The GeoChip has been used to dissect the microbial community functional structure of environmental samples. The PhyloChip is a glass slide containing oligonucleotide probes of the 16S rRNA genes and it offers tremendous potential to monitor microbial population. Below ground microbial community can be linked to the above ground plant community by the use of these Chips in a high throughput manner. This review seeks to determine the various roles of the GeoChip and the PhyloChip in soil microbial ecology studies. During biostimulation of uranium in groundwater, microbial community dynamics was linked to functional processes and in global warming studies, microbial response to functional gene structure has been possible by the use of the GeoChip. The PhyloChip, on the other hand, provides more comprehensive survey of the microbial diversity, composition and structure and are less susceptible to the influence of dominance in microbial community. Some of the concerns regarding the use of compost in agricultural soils i.e. the spread of human, animal and plant pathogens were reduced when the PhyloChip was used to monitor composting.


ABSTRACT Angiogenesis is essential for the development of a normal vasculature, tissue repair and reproduction, and also has roles in the progression of diseases such as cancer and rheumatoid arthritis. The heparan sulphate proteoglycan syndecan-2 is expressed on mesenchymal cells in the vasculature and, like the other members of its family, can be shed from the cell surface resulting in the release of its extracellular core protein. The purpose of this study was to establish whether shed syndecan-2 affects angiogenesis. We demonstrate that shed syndecan-2 regulates angiogenesis by inhibiting endothelial cell migration in human and rodent models and, as a result, reduces tumour growth. Furthermore, our findings show that these effects are mediated by the protein tyrosine phosphatase receptor CD148 (also known as PTPRJ) and this interaction corresponds with a decrease in active &bgr;1 integrin. Collectively, these data demonstrate an unexplored pathway for the regulation of new blood vessel formation and identify syndecan-2 as a therapeutic target in pathologies characterised by angiogenesis.


Ensembles of magnetic particles are known to align and aggregate into multi-particle clusters in an applied magnetic field, and the physical laws governing these processes are well described in literature. However, it has been elusive how to achieve the opposite process, i.e. the disaggregation of particle clusters in a magnetic field. We report a novel method to disaggregate clusters of superparamagnetic microparticles using time-dependent magnetic fields. The disaggregating field is designed to generate repulsive dipole-dipole forces between the particles and to stabilize the disaggregated particles on a physical surface. We demonstrate the disaggregation of large clusters of several tens of particles, within about one minute, using fields generated by a multipole electromagnet. After the disaggregation process the particles are uniformly distributed over the surface and ready for further lab-on-chip processing. Our results represent a novel methodology to disaggregate magnetic particle clusters and thereby improve the effectiveness and reproducibility of biological assays based on magnetic microparticles.


This paper presents a new methodology for constructing a skin deformation model using MRI and generating accurate skin deformations based on the model. Many methods to generate skin deformations have been proposed and they are classified into three main types. The first type is anatomically based modeling. Anatomically accurate deformations can be reconstructed but computation time is long and controlling generated motion is difficult. In addition, modeling whole body is very difficult. The second is skeleton-subspace deformation (SSD). SSD is easy to implement and fast to compute so it is the most common technique today. However, accurate skin deformations can't be easily realized with SSD. The last type consists of data-driven approaches including example-based methods. In order to construct our model from MRI images, we employ an example-based method. Using examples obtained from medical images, skin deformations can be modeled related to skeleton motions. Retargeting generated motions to other characters is generally difficult with this kind of methods. Kurihara and Miyata realize accurate skin deformations from CT images [Kurihara et al. 2004], but it doesn't mention the possibility of retargeting. With our model, however, generated deformations can be retargeted. Once the model is constructed, accurate skin deformations are easily generated applying our model to a skin mesh. In our experiment, we construct a skin deformation model which reconstructs pronosupination, rotational movement of forearm, and we use range scan data as a skin mesh to apply our model and generate accurate skin deformations.


The aim of this study was to examine whether poor attendance at routine antenatal and postnatal 'well child' health services was associated with a higher risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS, or cot death). A nationwide case‐control study of SIDS in New Zealand enrolled 485 postneonatal deaths due to SIDS and 1800 control infants who were selected randomly. The risk for SIDS was found to be higher for infants whose mothers attended their first antenatal check later than 3 months into the pregnancy, made fewer antenatal visits, and did not go to antenatal education classes. However, this increased risk was largely explained by high parity, maternal smoking, the mother not being married, mother being <20 years old at the birth of her first child, and delivery during the winter months. Infants not attending a 6 week postnatal check had an almost three‐fold increased risk of SIDS compared with those who did attend (odds ratio [OR] 2.86; 95% confidence interval [Cl] 1.93, 4.24). Similarly, infants not attending well child clinics were at increased risk of SIDS (OR 2.75; 95% Cl 2.09, 3.62). These differences persisted when adjusted for likely confounders. This study demonstrates that infants who miss child health nurse clinics are those most at risk for SIDS and are those who warrant increased surveillance.


Communication signals are key regulators of social networks and are thought to be under selective pressure to honestly reflect social status, including dominance status. The odours of dominants and nondominants differentially influence behaviour, and identification of the specific pheromones associated with, and predictive of, dominance status is essential for understanding the mechanisms of network formation and maintenance. In mice, major urinary proteins (MUPs) are excreted in extraordinary large quantities and expression level has been hypothesized to provide an honest signal of dominance status. Here, we evaluate whether MUPs are associated with dominance in wild‐derived mice by analysing expression levels before, during and after competition for reproductive resources over 3 days. During competition, dominant males have 24% greater urinary MUP expression than nondominants. The MUP darcin, a pheromone that stimulates female attraction, is predictive of dominance status: dominant males have higher darcin expression before competition. Dominants also have a higher ratio of darcin to other MUPs before and during competition. These differences appear transient, because there are no differences in MUPs or darcin after competition. We also find MUP expression is affected by sire dominance status: socially naive sons of dominant males have lower MUP expression, but this apparent repression is released during competition. A requisite condition for the evolution of communication signals is honesty, and we provide novel insight into pheromones and social networks by showing that MUP and darcin expression is a reliable signal of dominance status, a primary determinant of male fitness in many species.


This thesis is in two parts. First, the short story collection, Alligator and Other Stories, which features Arab American characters, and explores, in part, their varied identities. This is followed by a critical thesis that brings Arab American literary studies into direct conversation with race and racialisation theories. As a whole, this creative-critical work interrogates how racialisation informs contemporary Arab American fiction, focusing on how authors strategically employ racial discourses to forge literary identities. Interwoven discussion of my short story collection contextualises my interest and investment in this topic and critically reflects on my creative practice. The central argument of this thesis is that Arab American contemporary fiction is undergoing a shift in how it engages with issues of race and racialisation in the U.S. By focusing on the work of two authors, Randa Jarrar and Rabih Alameddine, as well as on my own creative practice, this thesis argues that Arab American fiction is renegotiating a historical ambivalence towards 'whiteness'. In the process, this literature is explicitly articulating racialised Arab American literary identities that question and reject the label of 'honorary whiteness' historically assumed or unchallenged by most Arab American fictional texts. This thesis explores how Arab American writers are (re)drawing what it means to be Arab American in a racial context, and, in the process, (re)defining American belonging.


What is rock and roll and where does it come from? In this new study of music, literature, and culture, Perry Meisel shows how rock and roll joins both Romanticism and the blues tradition by testing the boundaries they share: boundaries between freedom and irony, between country and city, between the iconic figures of cowboy (e.g. John Wayne) and dandy (e.g. Oscar Wilde). In a series of startling juxtapositions, Meisel looks at rhythm and blues, Emerson and the cowboy, urban blues, the dandy and 60's psychedelia, Willa Cather, Miles Davis, and Virginia Woolf. In the process, Meisel shows how "popular" and "high" culture are hardly fixed categories, and in fact share deep roots each vainly affects to disdain.


The house fly, Musca domestica, has been implicated as a vector of Campylobacter spp., a major cause of human disease. Little is known whether house flies serve as biological amplifying hosts or mechanical vectors for Campylobacter jejuni. We investigated the period after C. jejuni had been ingested by house flies in which viable C. jejuni colonies could be isolated from whole bodies, the vomitus and the excreta of adult M. domestica and evaluated the activation of innate immune responses of house flies to ingested C. jejuni over time. C. jejuni could be cultured from infected houseflies soon after ingestion but no countable C. jejuni colonies were observed > 24 h postingestion. We detected viable C. jejuni in house fly vomitus and excreta up to 4 h after ingestion, but no viable bacteria were detected ≥ 8 h. Suppression subtractive hybridization identified pathogen‐induced gene expression in the intestinal tracts of adult house flies 4–24 h after ingesting C. jejuni. We measured the expression of immune regulatory (thor, JNK, and spheroide) and effector (cecropin, diptericin, attacin, defensing, and lysozyme) genes in C. jejuni‐infected and ‐uninfected house flies using quantitative real time PCR. Some house fly factor, or combination of factors, eliminates C. jejuni within 24 h postingestion. Because C. jejuni is not amplified within the body of the housefly, this insect likely serves as a mechanical vector rather than as a true biological, amplifying vector for C. jejuni, and adds to our understanding of insect–pathogen interactions.


We constrain the stellar population properties of a sample of 52 massive galaxies – with stellar mass log (Ms/M⊙) ≳ 10.5 – over the redshift range 0.5 < z < 2 by use of observer-frame optical and near-infrared slitless spectra from Hubble Space Telescope's ACS and WFC3 grisms. The deep exposures (∼100 ks) allow us to target individual spectra of massive galaxies to F160W = 22.5 AB. Our spectral fitting approach uses a set of six base models adapted to the redshift and spectral resolution of each observation, and fits the weights of the base models, including potential dust attenuation, via a Markov Chain Monte Carlo method. Our sample comprises a mixed distribution of quiescent (19) and star-forming galaxies (33). We quantify the width of the age distribution (Δt) that is found to dominate the variance of the retrieved parameters according to principal component analysis. The population parameters follow the expected trend towards older ages with increasing mass, and Δt appears to weakly anticorrelate with stellar mass, suggesting a more efficient star formation at the massive end. As expected, the redshift dependence of the relative stellar age (measured in units of the age of the Universe at the source) in the quiescent sample rejects the hypothesis of a single burst (aka monolithic collapse). Radial colour gradients within each galaxy are also explored, finding a wider scatter in the star-forming subsample, but no conclusive trend with respect to the population parameters.


Human Computer Interaction is the study of relationships among people and computers. As the digital world is getting multi-modal, the information space is getting more and more complex. In order to navigate this information space and to capture and apply this information to appropriate use, an effective interaction between human and computer is required. Such interactions are only possible if computers can understand and respond to important modalities of human interaction. Speech, Image, and Language Processing for Human Computer Interaction aims to indentify the emerging research areas in Human Computer Interaction and discusses the current state of the arts in these areas. This collection of knowledge includes the basic concepts and technologies in language, as well as future developments in this area. This volume will serve as a reference for researchers and students alike to broaden their knowledge of state-of-the-art HCI.


Tea is one of the most important non-alcoholic beverage drinks worldwide and has been gaining further popularity as an important "health drink" in view of its purported medicinal value. Pakistan has the potential of producing quality tea. National Tea Research Institute NTRI plays a very important role in the production and promotion of tea cultivation in Pakistan. The study was conducted to identify the opportunities and constraints in Shinkiari Mansehra. Primary data was collected from NTRI and different farmers of Shinkiari and evaluate the farmer"s perceptions production processing and marketing of tea. Results revealed that NTRI processing unit was working at below its full capacity and 226.59 Rs/Kg extra costs bearing due to below capacity. Tea is a high value crop of gross margin of 21340 Rs/ Acre and annually earned gross margin from other Crops wheat and maize was 6675Rs/Acre and Tea Cultivation Advantage was 14665 Rs/Acre but farmers was not interested to cultivate due to its high initial investment. Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and Net Present Value (NPV) were calculated for investment appraisal of the tea. Hence, there is need to promote tea cultivation on grass land area which will increase their income and livelihood and create more employment opportunities for local people.


The tricarboxylic acid cycle enzyme fumarase catalyzes the interconversion of fumarate to L-malate. Escherichia coli contains three biochemically distinct fumarases. While the fumA and fumB genes encode heat-labile, iron-containing fumarases, the fumC gene product is a heat-stable fumarase which does not require iron for activity. To study how the fumA and fumC genes are regulated, we constructed lacZ operon fusions to the fumA and/or fumC upstream regions. Expression of the fumA and fumC genes was lowest during anaerobic cell growth, in support of the proposed roles of FumA and FumC as aerobic fumarases. Transcription of the fumC gene was shown to be complex: it was dependent on both the fumA and fumC promoters. Anaerobic expression from the fumA promoter was derepressed in both an arcA and a fnr mutant, while expression from the fumC promoter was derepressed in only the arcA strain. The fumA promoter was also shown to be catabolite controlled, whereas the fumC promoter was relatively unaffected by the type of carbon used for cell growth. Cellular iron limitation stimulated fumC but not fumA expression. Superoxide radicals also caused increased fumC gene expression; fumA expression was unaffected. Both the superoxide control and the iron control of fumC expression required the SoxR regulatory protein. These studies suggest different physiological roles for the FumA and FumC fumarases. The iron-containing FumA fumarase is the more abundant enzyme under most conditions of aerobic cell growth except when iron is limiting; FumC, which lacks iron, appears to be a backup enzyme that is synthesized optimally only when iron is low or when superoxide radicals accumulate.