Abstract Water and iron are believed to be key constituents controlling the strength and density of the lithosphere and, therefore, play a crucial role in the long-term stability of cratons. On the other hand, metasomatism can modify the water and iron abundances in the mantle and possibly triggers thermomechanical erosion of cratonic keels. Whether local or large scale processes control water distribution in cratonic mantle remains unclear, calling for further investigation. Spinel peridotite xenoliths in alkali basalts of the Cenozoic Tok volcanic field sampled the lithospheric mantle beneath the southeastern margin of the Siberian Craton. The absence of garnet-bearing peridotite among the xenoliths, together with voluminous eruptions of basaltic magma, suggests that the craton margin, in contrast to the central part, lost its deep keel. The Tok peridotites experienced extensive and complex metasomatic reworking by evolved, Ca-Fe-rich liquids that transformed refractory harzburgite to lherzolite and wehrlite. We used polarized Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) to obtain water content in olivine, orthopyroxene (Opx), and clinopyroxene (Cpx) of 14 Tok xenoliths. Olivine, with a water content of 0–3 ppm H2O, was severely degassed, probably during emplacement and cooling of the host lava flow. Orthopyroxene (49–106 ppm H2O) and clinopyroxene (97–300 ppm H2O) are in equilibrium. The cores of the pyroxene grains, unlike olivine, experienced no water loss due to dehydration or addition attributable to interaction with the host magma. The water contents of Opx and Cpx are similar to those from the Kaapvaal, Tanzania, and North China cratons, but the Tok Opx has less water than previously studied Opx from the central Siberian craton (Udachnaya, 28–301 ppm; average 138 ppm). Melting models suggest that the water contents of Tok peridotites are higher than in melting residues, and argue for a post-melting (metasomatic) origin. Moreover, the water contents in Opx and Cpx of Tok peridotites are decoupled from iron enrichments or other indicators of melt metasomatism (e.g., CaO and P2O5). Such decoupling is not seen in the Udachnaya and Kaapvaal peridotites but is similar to observations on Tanzanian peridotites. Our data suggest that iron enrichments in the southeastern Siberian craton mantle preceded water enrichment. Pervasive and large-scale, iron enrichment in the lithospheric mantle may strongly increase its density and initiate a thermo-magmatic erosion. By contrast, the distribution of water in xenoliths is relatively "recent" and was controlled by local metasomatic processes that operate shortly before the volcanic eruption. Hence, water abundances in minerals of Tok mantle xenoliths appear to represent a snapshot of water in the vicinity of the xenolith source regions.


ABSTRACT The effect of Saccharomyces boulardii cell wall extracts on colon cancer prevention in rats treated with 1,2-dimethylhydrazine was investigated. A crude insoluble glucan (0.5 and 1.0 mg/kg/day) and a crude mannoprotein extract (0.3 and 3.0 mg/kg/day) were administered in rats by gavage for 12 weeks along with a high fat low fiber diet whereupon rats were sacrificed and aberrant crypt foci (ACF) were counted in the colon. Moreover, NAD(P)H: quinone reductase (QR) and harmful fecal enzymes (β-glucosidase and β-glucuronidase) were quantified in the liver and in the caecum, respectively. Results showed a reduction in ACF counts, a decreased β-glucuronidase activity and an increased QR activity when rats were treated only with insoluble glucan. While these enzymatic modulations may be constituted one of the mechanisms that is responsible for the reduction of ACF counts observed, the reduction of ACF counts caused by insoluble glucan should be addressed, at least, as a biomarker of their cancer-prevention properties. To our knowledge, this is the first study demonstrated that crude cell wall extract obtained from S. boulardii could have a potential role in colon cancer prevention in vivo by revealing the potential implication of QR and β-glucuronidase modulation.


The authors aim to provide a description of the beginning of neonatal transport in Portugal and remember all professionals, doctors and nurses who voluntarily dedicated themselves to this cause for more than two decades with great commitment. Neonatal transport is essential and a valid alternative to the best transport for the newborn – the mother's womb. It is part of a perinatal regionalization program to ensure that newborns are born in facilities with a care level definition that is consistent with expected pregnancy outcomes. In Portugal, it dates back to three decades ago, thanks to the institution of the Neonatal Transport System, in the context of regionalization of perinatal health care in the country, and was organized on a voluntary basis up to 2011. During this period neonatologists and nurses trained in neonatal intensive care worked extra hours in the neonatal transport. Since 2011, a team specialized in intensive pediatric care replaced the previous one. Nowadays there is no reliable evidence from randomized trials to support or refute the effects of specialist neonatal transport teams for neonatal retrieval on infant morbidity and mortality. Continuous and regular education, training and practice are essential key elements in the success and outcome of high risk newborns. Further development is required to optimize the use of available resources, to develop benchmarking to ensure a high quality sustainable service and to provide us with answers on effectiveness and clinical outcomes.


Stigma affects certain groups within society and results in the discrimination and social exclusion of an individual based on their association with a stigmatized group. This can
internally damage the individual and restrict them from basic life opportunities, severely impairing quality of life. Mental illness and offending are both attributes which are
stigmatized by the public and can be related; both have increased difficulty re-integrating into society due to stigma. This is a problem for sex offenders, a particular group which
elicit severe negative attitudes from the public. This study measured, for the first time, responses towards different types of sex offenders (child sexual abuse, rape, and a control
group of violent offender), and whether a diagnosis of schizophrenia impacted these responses. 223 participants completed an online survey measuring punitive attitudes and
social distance in response to a vignette. It was hypothesised that the child sex offender would receive the most punitive attitudes and desired social distance. Also, mental illness
would sympathise attitudes but increase social distance for the child sex offender. Results showed, as predicted, the child sex offender elicited the most negative attitudes and greatest desired social distance, followed by the rapist then the violent offender. Mental illness only effected responses to social distance, specifically for the child sex offender;
having a diagnosis of schizophrenia reduced the amount of social distance desired. This suggests that sex offenders are viewed more punitively than non-sexual offenders, that
different types of sex offence are viewed differently, and close proximity with such an offender is not desired. Mental illness neither decreased nor increased negativity for this group, and reduced the desire for social distance for child sex offenders, which has positive implications for forensic psychiatric patients. Implications and future directions for public policy and the re-integration of sex offenders are discussed.


In recent years, oxide materials have received great interest due to their potentially superior properties, e.g., high optical transparency and electrical conductivity, for next generation optoelectronics. To realize this, wide band gap semiconducting oxides are key components, not only as passive elements, but also as active components in several device architectures. Therefore, controlling the electrical conductivity, optical transparency, and band gap energy of the oxides is essential for the realization of oxide-based electronics. Moreover, the phase transition of oxides, including atomic diffusion and defect distribution can significantly alter their surface, interface, and bulk properties.

In this thesis, band gap modulation and growth features of a ZnO-based alloy, BexZn1-xO, grown on Al2O3 substrates have been systematically studied by Be composition variations in the range of 0 . x . 0.77 using a co-sputtering technique. Continuous lattice shrinkage from 5.23 to 4.80 .A and direct band gap shift from 3.24 to over 4.62 eV were achieved as the Be concentration increased. During the band gap modulation, significant particle pinning effects on the grain growth of the alloy films on highly-mismatched substrate were found together with variations in grain size, orientation, and composition. Such grain boundary decorated by Be particles cause structural fluctuations and compositional inhomogeneity in the alloy films. A correlation between the grain growth driving pressure and the particle pinning pressure was formulated by modelling the Be-induced particle pinning to elucidate the observed phase segregation. Furthermore, a comprehensive understanding of the thermodynamic characteristics of the BexZn1-xO thin films determines the optimized growth condition, e.g., growth temperature of 400◦ C, and sheds light on the effective band gap engineering with compositional homogeneity.

The thermodynamic characteristics of the phase transformation of metastable BexZn1-xO alloys have been extensively investigated. The induced phase transition initiates the formation of a highly conductive layer at the interface and secondary phase nanoparticles at the surface. The origin of the highly degenerate interface layers, which were identified by experimental data acquisition and mathematical modellings, has been addressed through a cation counter-diffusion mechanism with respect to the strain relaxation, atomic redistribution, and charge accumulation in the transformed alloy system. The highest interface conductivity, 1.4 × 103 S·cm-1 , is comparable to the highest conductivities recorded for highly-doped ZnO. The concurrence of transient diffusion and segregation of Be is responsible for the evolution of energetically favourable secondary phase nanoparticles as a result of solid-state reactions at the surface. The growth kinetics of the nanoparticles, the associated particle size-distribution, defect-mediated atomic compensations, and their environmentally-robust functionalities (thermal and chemical resistance) are taken into account based on the experimental observations and model calculations. This novel phase transformation has been highlighted as an effective passivation and functionalization of re-active oxide surfaces by the self-assembly of inert nanoparticles. Such spontaneous passivation allows the use of semiconducting oxides in a variety of electronic applications, while maintaining their inherent and intrinsic properties. This oxide phase transformation can provide new insights for the design of environmentally-robust oxide optoelectronics in many transparent device integrations.


This chapter describes a full system developed to perform the remote sensing of cellculture experiments from any access point with internet connection. The proposed system allows the real-time monitoring of cell assays thanks to bioimpedance measurement circuits developed to count the number of cell present in a culture. Cell-culture characterization is performed through the measurement of the increasing bioimpedance parameter over time. The circuit implementation is based on the oscillation-based test (OBT) methodology. Bioimpedance of cell cultures is measured in terms of the oscillation parameters (frequency, amplitude, phase, etc.) and used as empirical markers to carry out an appropriate interpretation in terms of cell size identification, cell counting, cell growth, growth rhythm, etc. The device is capable of managing the whole sensing task and performs wireless communication through a Bluetooth module. Data are interpreted and displayed on a computer or a mobile phone through a web application. The system has its practical application in drug development processes, offering a label-free, high-throughput, and high-content screening method for cellular research, avoiding the classical end-point techniques and a significant workload and cost material reduction.


Over the past 20 years, fullerides have been studied as the source of high-transition-temperature (Tc) superconductivity except for copper oxides. The recent finding of the Mott insulating state right beside superconductivity in Cs3C60 has suggested that magnetism helps raise Tc even in fullerides as in heavy-fermion compounds, high-Tc copper oxides, two-dimensional organic conductors, and iron pnictides. Namely, one tends to think that the link between Mott insulator and superconductivity takes place in fullerides, which can give rise to the mechanism beyond the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer framework. However, the relationship between the Mott state and the superconductivity in Cs3C60 is still under debate. By nuclear magnetic resonance measurements under pressure, we find that the magnetism and superconductivity in Cs3C60 are competing orders. Different from previous reports, the phase separation of Cs3C60 crystals into the Mott and metallic states allows us to systematically study the evolution of the ground state under pressure. Our careful experiments have found that the prevention of a magnetic order is rather essential for the superconductivity in face-centred cubic Cs3C60, which presents a basic strategy for finding still higher Tc in this system.


We present an innovative method to couple electrophysiological measurements with fluorescence imaging of functionalized suspended bilayers. Our method combines several advantages: it is well suited to study transmembrane proteins that are difficult to incorporate in suspended bilayers, it allows single molecule resolution both in terms of electrophysiological measurements and fluorescence imaging, and it enables mechanical stimulations of the membrane. The approach comprises of two steps: first the reconstitution of membrane proteins in giant unilamellar vesicles; then the formation of a suspended bilayer spanning a 5 to 15 micron-wide aperture that can be visualized by high NA microscope objectives. We exemplified how the technique can be used to detect in real time the translocation of T5 DNA across the bilayer during its ejection from the bacteriophage capsid.


Cardiac diseases represent one of the biggest death causes in modern society. Current therapies, despite their importance, do not give an efficient solution to the problem. However, stem cells research could represent a future hope for a more efficient solution. In particular, there is currently a great interest in myocardial tissue generation from stem cells cultures in 3D bio-active scaffolds. Those polymeric structures intend to mimic the environment inside the heart where cardiac cells, cardiomyocytes, are generated. Well designed scaffolds along with chemical substances contribute to the differentiation process of the stem cell. How this happens, and how a stem cells population becomes a myocardial tissue? There are many models that describe the differentiation process, but they consider the stem cell acting alone, subjected only to the environment. However, a cell lives surrounded by other cells, some stem and some differentiating, and they will necessarily interact exchanging signals. We studied a solution using Game Theory (GT) and in particular Evolutionary Game Theory (EGT). This theory has been widely applied to biology to describe animals behaviour. We set a very simple model to describe the basic concepts of EGT and present some early results.


OBJECTIVE
To validate a protocol for HPV DNA detection using PCR (polymerase chain reaction).

METHOD
HPV was investigated in cervical exfoliative specimens from 93 women at high risk for HPV infection Blind comparisons of HPV DNA detection using two PCR protocols were carried out in our laboratory and a widely accepted reference laboratory.

RESULTS
HPV DNA prevalence varied according to the different protocols. A good agreement with the reference protocol was reached when a reduction of the cellular amount for DNA extraction was carried out. The prevalence of HPV DNA in this population was 50.5%. All cases with dysplasia were HPV DNA positive. The HPV type distribution was as follows: 29.8% HPV 16, 17% HPV 33, 12.7% HPV 11/6, 12.7%, HPV 18, 23.4% HPV 31, 3.6% HPV 39 y 4.3% HPV 51. An underestimation of the prevalence of HPV 51 was detected by our procedure in relation to the reference laboratory.

CONCLUSIONS
HPV DNA detection by PCR may increase with simple protocol modifications. Regular validation studies are important to reach good sensitivity levels.


The implementation of W bit-line enabled the integration of n+ and p+ common contact process at bit-line level. Despite the advantages of the common contact process such as chip-area reduction and elimination of the burden associated with MC dry etch, the immediate implementation of the common contact is difficult due to large increase of p+ contact resistance with high thermal budget capacitor process. The results of the present investigation indicate that the thickness of TiSi/sub 2/ layer must be minimized in order to prevent the out-diffusion of boron into silicide layer. However, simply reducing the thickness of TiSi/sub 2/ presents another problem since it leads to a discontinuous layer of TiSi/sub 2/. Heavily increasing the dosage of p+ plug implantation, which is another way of preventing the depletion of boron dopants, resulted in degradation of p+ contact resistance. Therefore, the dopant out-diffusion alone cannot explain the degradation of p+ contact resistance. In order to minimized the thickness of TiSi/sub 2/, enhanced nitridation after deposition of PECVD-Ti was tested and resulted in effective reduction of the p+ contact resistance by 25%. The TEM and SIMS analysis showed that the additional growth of TiSi/sub 2/ during high thermal budget post annealing was suppressed by the enhanced nitridation. The mechanism responsible for reducing the p+ contact resistance by the enhanced nitridation is attributed to the prevention of the dopant depletion at the interface between TiSi/sub 2/ and Si due to the suppressed formation of additional TiSi/sub 2/.


Reproduced with permission of the publisher. © 2017, Modern Greek Studies Association of Australia and New Zealand. All rights reserved.


Abstract Issue Empowerment is a concept over‐used in health promotion, yet it is an important process that can used in developing the capacity and capability of young people for creating social change to improve healthier lives. Methods The Youth Empowerment Program (YEP), a pilot study aimed at empowering 15 youth (18‐24 years) to lead healthier lives. We present secondary outcomes of the original YEP study, using focus groups and mobile‐mentary approaches to capture the impact of the YEP through the youths' understanding of the program. Thematic analyses to examine the pragmatic usefulness of the empowerment program. Results We identified three major themes: (aa) Knowledge: education and awareness of healthy living and understanding of the wider social health issues, compound the health complexities of obesity; (b) Youth as catalysts for change: the youth viewed themselves as agents of social change; and (c) Transformation: the youth recognised themselves as catalysts for change that can positively transform communities into action. Conclusion This study contributes new insights and depth of understanding about how the empowerment program can strengthen the process of individual capacity in an effort to mobilise social change for the betterment of the whole community, particularly among indigenous Pasifika population groups. So what? Developing empowerment principles will enable others to consider "how apply" empowerment more practically when working with young people and not use it flippantly with no real action‐oriented outcome.


A cavity-enhanced absorption spectrometer was used to saturate several lines of ammonia in the 1510 nm - 1560 nm region. Analysis of power broadening of the saturated absorption feature for one of the ammonia lines yielded a dipole moment value comparable to that of the lines in the nu(1)+nu(3) band in acetylene. Highly reproducible frequency measurements of four ammonia line centres were carried out using a frequency comb generated by a mode-locked Cr(4+):YAG laser. These results demonstrate the possible application of ammonia saturated absorption lines for frequency metrology and calibration in a spectral region lacking strong absorbers. To our knowledge, this is the first frequency measurement of saturated absorption lines in ammonia at near infrared frequencies and the first reported observation of saturated absorption lines in the nu(1)+2nu(4) band.


It is shown that adaptive extensions of sliding control are effective for precise control of underwater vehicles through experiments with an actual vehicle. Adaptive sliding control permits direct nonlinear control system design, including online parameter estimation. Experimental results are detailed which were obtained from a tethered underwater vehicle equipped with a precision broadband acoustic navigation system and three-degree-of-freedom attitude instrumentation controlled through a real-time network of transputers. Simulation and experimental trials show online determination of vehicle parameters such as mass and nonlinear drag.<<ETX>>


Crashes are random events and low traffic volumes therefore don't always make crash hot-spot identification possible. This project has used extensive data collection and analysis for a large sample of Oregon's low volume roads to develop a risk index that expresses the crash risk for different road geometries and roadside features as well as crash history and traffic exposure. This crash risk index can then be a proactive means of identifying potentially risky locations where safety treatments might be best targeted. The economic analysis completed as part of this effort can be used in conjunction with the risk index when determining which safety treatments may result in the highest return on investment for agency safety improvement funds. This report includes a review of literature related to features effecting crash risk and other past risk index efforts, the data collection and analysis methods used in quantifying risks, the establishment of the crash risk index, an economic feasibility analysis showing which treatments may be the best options for Oregon's low volume roads, and a few case studies highlighting the use of the crash risk index on three samples of Oregon's low volume roadways.


Processes that control climate-dependent rockfall from permafrost-affected rock slopes are still poorly understood.In this study, we present the results of a Wireless Sensor Network, integrated within the Swiss project PermaSenseand developed in 2012, to measure rock temperature and geotechnical parameters in the steep rockwalls of theAiguille du Midi (AdM, 3842 m a.s.l., Mont Blanc massif, France). Accessible year round by cable car, the AdMcomprises two main peaks: (i) the Piton Nord with the cable car arrival station, where 4 crack-meters are placed onfour major fractures, and (ii) the Piton Central with many touristic infrastructure, equipped with three 10-m-deepboreholes with 15 temperatures sensors since 2009, and where 2 crack-meters are installed along a major fracture.Three major kinematic regimes are observed: (i) opening of clefts when the rock temperature becomes positive,followed by closing during the cold period, (ii) summer opening continued by a winter opening, and (iii) closingduring the warm period followed by opening in winter.


Editing 3D geometry is a challenging task requiring specialized skills. In this work, we aim to facilitate the task of editing the geometry of 3D models through the use of natural language. For example, we may want to modify a 3D chair model to "make its legs thinner" or to "open a hole in its back". To tackle this problem in a manner that promotes open-ended language use and enables fine-grained shape edits, we introduce the most extensive existing corpus of natural language utterances describing shape differences: ShapeTalk. ShapeTalk contains over half a million discriminative utterances produced by contrasting the shapes of common 3D objects for a variety of object classes and degrees of similarity. We also introduce a generic framework, ChangeIt3D, which builds on ShapeTalk and can use an arbitrary 3D generative model of shapes to produce edits that align the output better with the edit or deformation description. Finally, we introduce metrics for the quantitative evaluation of language-assisted shape editing methods that reflect key desiderata within this editing setup. We note that ShapeTalk allows methods to be trained with explicit 3D-to-language data, bypassing the necessity of "lifting" 2D to 3D using methods like neural rendering, as required by extant 2D image-language foundation models. Our code and data are publicly available at https://changeit3d.github.io/.


While populism is a hotly debated topic around the world, most scholarship suffers from conceptual confusion and regional singularity. This paper compares European and Latin American populism, on the basis of a clear minimum definition, along three dimensions that dominate the scholarly literature on the topic: 1) economy vs. identity; 2) left-wing vs. rightwing; and 3) inclusion vs. exclusion. Empirically, our particular focus is on four prototypical cases of the predominant type of populism in these regions in the 1990–2010 period: Jorg Haider and the Freitheitliche Partei Osterreichs (Austrian Freedom Party, FPO) and Jean-Marie Le Pen of the French Front National (National Front, FN) in Europe, and Bolivian President Evo Morales and his Movimiento al Socialismo (Movement for Socialism, MAS) and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his Movimiento V [Quinta] Republica (Fifth Republic Movement, MVR) in Latin America. While our findings confirm some generally held beliefs, they also challenge and clarify some others. Among the more notable conclusions are: 1) populism in Latin America is more ethnic than populism in Europe; 2) the difference between "right-wing" populists in Europe and "left-wing" populists in Latin American is mainly a consequence of their affiliated ideologies, not their populism; 3) in material, political, and symbolic terms European populism is primarily exclusionary, while Latin American populism is predominantly inclusionary; and 4) populism is more important in Latin America than in Europe in electoral, political, and ideological terms.


WE ANALYZED THE DEGREE OF ASSOCIATION OF THE BIRDS SPECIES RICHNESS AND DIVERSITY AND THE VEGETATION STRUCTURE (RICHNESS AND DIVERSITY OF SPECIES AND HEIGHT); THESE ATTRIBUTES WERE QUANTIFIED RESPECTIVELY WITH 12 POINTS OF COUNT (4/AREA) AND WITH POINT CENTRED QUARTER METHOD (40/AREA) IN 3 AREAS WITH DIFFERENT DEGREES OF SUCCESSION. THE SPECIES DIVERSITY WAS ESTIMATED (SHANNON-WIENER) AND THE RICHNESS, ABUNDANCE AND DIVERSITY OF BOTH COMMUNITIES WERE STATISTICALLY COMPARED; THE TEST OF THE RELATION BETWEEN SETS OF VARIABLES WAS EVALUATED WITH CORRELATION ANALYSIS. THERE WAS NO CORRELATION BETWEEN THE BIRD COMMUNITY AND THE VEGETATION HEIGHT DIVERSITY BUT THE QUANTITATIVE EVIDENCE SHOW RELATION BETWEEN THE RICHNESS AND SPECIES DIVERSITY OF VEGETATION AND BIRD COMMUNITY. THIS SUGGESTS ONLY FLORISTIC COMPOSITION IS IMPORTANT FOR THE STRUCTURE OF THE BIRD COMMUNITY IN THIS HABITAT AND ON THIS SCALE OF ANALYSIS. WE SUGGESTED THE CONSERVATION OF PATCHES OF VEGETATION WITH DIFFERENT PHASES OF NATURAL REGENERATION SINCE THESE WOULD BE TAKEN BY DIFFERENT FEEDING GUILDS AS WELL AS BY SPECIES WITH SPECIFIC HABITATS AND COULD BE NECESSARY FOR THE SURVIVAL AND REPRODUCTION OF MANY BIRDS SPECIES IN SANTA GERTRUDIS.


We discuss a register bank assignment problem for a popular network processor-Intel's IXP. Due to limited data paths, the network processor has a restriction that the source operands of most ALU instructions must be resident in two different banks. This results in higher register pressure and puts additional burden on the register allocator. The current vendor-provided register allocator leaves the problem to users, leading to poor compilation interface and low quality code. We present three different approaches for performing register allocation and bank assignment. Bank assignment can be performed before register allocation, can be performed after register allocation or it could be combined with the register allocation. We propose a structure called register conflict graph (RCG) to capture the dual-bank constraints. To further improve the effectiveness of the algorithm, we also propose some enabling transformations. Our results show the phase ordering of first doing register allocation and then assigning banks can reduce the number of spills with affordable costs of additional instructions.


A novel merwinite/ Poly(lactic-co-glycolic) nanocomposite was synthesized by a solvent casting/salt leaching technique with varying merwinite contents from 10 to 30% (w/w). Poly(lactic-co-glycolic) /merwinite foams with a co-continuous structure of interconnected pores were formed. The microstructure of the pores and the walls was controlled by varying the merwinite content. The pore structure becomes more and more irregular with increasing merwinite content. Pore sizes ranging from several microns to a few hundred microns were obtained. The degradation assessment of the scaffolds is performed in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) solution at 37°C. Weight loss during storage at 37°C in PBS (pH 7.4) was determined for the scaffolds. Weight loss increased from pure to high content during incubation time. The prepared merwinite/ (Polylactic-co-glycolic) nanocomposite with uniform microstructure may be used in bone tissue engineering applications.


Abstract In this paper, the sinc-Galerkin method is used for numerically solving a class of nonlinear differential equations with boundary conditions. The importance of this study is that sinc approximation of the nonlinear term is stated as a new theorem. The method introduced here is tested on some nonlinear problems and is shown to be a very efficient and powerful tool for obtaining approximate solutions of nonlinear ordinary differential equations.


Given terminal constraints of unity power factor in ac drive applications, two ac drives are possible: one with a pulse-width modulation voltage source rectifier (PWM-VSR) and the other using a diode rectifier and an active power filter. Despite numerous publications for the two drives, the features and advantages between them have not been clearly explained. This paper presents a theoretical analysis and systematic comparison between the two drive topologies. Converter kVA ratings, dc-link voltage requirements, switch ratings, semiconductor losses, and reactive component designs are considered for the evaluations.


The inhibitory effect of methanol extract of Korean soybean paste on the mold growth and aflatoxin production of a toxigenic strain of Aspergillus parasiticus ATCC 15517 was studied using different concentrations of the extract in yeast-extract sucrose broth. While inhibition in mold growth due to increasing the concentration of the extract was observed, the more remarkable effect was the inhibition of aflatoxin production. Reduction of mycelial weight as a result of addition of the extract was observed to range between 1.5 to 12.9% while reduction of aflatoxin production quantified by high-performance liquid chromatography ranged from 14.3 to 41.7%. Five percent of the extract significantly reduced aflatoxin production at the end of the incubation period (P < 0.05), although the effect on mycelial growth was less pronounced. This study indicates that soybean paste could also be an effective inhibitor of aflatoxin production even though mycelial growth may be permitted. The main active component identified by gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy was linoleic acid.


A massive monument of Chinggis Khaan (Chinggis Khaan's name is spelt differently depending on the language in which it was written and on conventions of transliteration. Among the most common are Chinggis, Genghis, Genghiz, or Jengiz. For the purpose of the paper, the Mongolian transliteration is used.) imposingly gazes down from the government palace in Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of Mongolia. The monument was erected in 2006 in commemoration of the 800-year anniversary of the establishment of "the Great Mongolian State." Occupying arguably the most prominent national space, the monument serves as an arresting emblem of the state. With its silent yet triumphant symbolization, the monument articulates the state's new ideology in the post-Soviet era. The monument is one of countless symbolic and material grand-scale state expressions appropriating Chinggis Khaan. In this article, I examine the state's appropriation of Chinggis Khaan as the marker of Mongolian post-socialist national identity. In doing so, I critically examine how the state appropriates history, remembering and forgetting certain parts, to cultivate a shared sense of belonging and pride. Unifying the public in shared glorification and celebration of Chinggis Khaan ultimately serves to instill devotion to the national political and ideological project.


Formation of titanium dioxide nanotubes (TNTs) on a titanium surface holds great potential for promoting desirable cellular response. However, prolongation of drug release from these nano-reservoirs remains to be a challenge. In our previous work TNTs were successfully loaded with a drug. In this study the effect of TNTs dimensions on prolongation of drug release is quantified aiming at the introduction of a simple novel technique which overcomes complications of previously introduced methods. Different groups of TNTs with different lengths and diameters are fabricated. Samples are loaded with a model drug and rate of drug release over time is monitored. The relation of the drug release rate to the TNT dimensions (diameter, length, aspect ratio and volume) is established. The results show that an increase in any of these parameters increases the duration of the release process. However, the strongest parameter affecting the drug release is the aspect ratio. In fact, TNTs with higher aspect ratios release drug slower. It is revealed that drug release from TNT is a diffusion-limited process. Assuming that diffusion of drug in (Phosphate-Buffered Saline) PBS follows one-dimensional Fick's law, the theoretical predictions for drug release profile is compatible with our experimental data for release from a single TNT.


Automatic modulation classification is concerned with identifying the modulation present on a radio wave. This can be any type of radar or communication signal. It is employed in fields such as cognitive radio for communications, radar analysis for electronic warfare.
This thesis is dedicated to classifying a variety of modulations used in modern radar. These include unmodulated, various types of frequency modulation, and phase shift keyed waveforms. This task is accomplished through feature extraction and machine learning techniques. The objective is to determine a suitable method applicable for real-time implementation in a complex electronic warfare environment.
Three techniques are proposed: a decision tree combined with Multilayer Perceptron Neural Network, a Multilayer Perceptron Neural Network, and a Convolutional Neural Network. The simulation results show that the decision tree achieves a low classification performance, the Multilayer Perceptron achieves good results in a controlled environment, while the Convolutional Neural Network achieves generalizable results.


Abstract Both the viability of hen prehierarchal follicles and subsequent differentiation associated with the selection of a single follicle per day into the preovulatory hierarchy depend on circulating FSH and the expression of FSH receptor (FSH-R) in granulosa cells. The present study addresses mechanisms that mediate both basal expression plus selective up-regulation of FSH-R mRNA in granulosa cells from prehierarchal follicles. Results demonstrate that FSH-R mRNA is both expressed and functional in granulosa cells collected from growing prehierarchal follicles as small as those of 1–2 mm in diameter, as indicated by rapid induction of steroidogenic acute regulatory (StAR) protein expression by FSH in vitro. Real-time polymerase chain reaction determined that relative FSH-R expression within the granulosa layer from individual prehierarchal follicles of 6–8 mm in diameter was similar among the 8–13 follicles within this cohort, with the notable exception that the granulosa layer from a single follicle (presumably the selected follicle) showed elevated expression. Levels of FSH-R mRNA expression were enhanced by both recombinant human (rh) transforming growth factor (TGF) β1 and, to a lesser extent, rh-activin A after 20 h of culture. This stimulatory effect was effectively blocked by mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase signaling induced by TGFα treatment. Finally, inhibition of MAP kinase signaling, using the selective inhibitor U0126, promoted FSH-R expression and further enhanced TGFβ1-induced FSH-R expression in vitro. Collectively, results suggest that premature granulosa cell differentiation normally is suppressed by tonic MAP kinase signaling. At the time of follicle selection, a release from inhibitory MAP kinase signaling is proposed to occur, which enables the full potentiation of FSH-R expression mediated by intrafollicular factors.


Developments in urban sector require to follow proper planning in every aspect to rescue causing severe environmental issues such as urban heat island thus global warming, losing the native appearance etc. Both Surface and Atmospheric urban heat island make high impacts on thermal comfort in tropical hot climates. Therefore, the selection of materials, especially focusing on outdoor paving plays a vital role with respect to the urban heat island mitigation and achieving human thermal comfort thus sustainability. Popular materials found for outdoor paving are asphalts, concrete, burnt clay bricks etc. However, there are many drawbacks of using paving blocks in outdoors as a whole, with respect to the user's thermal comfort as well as sustainability. Thereby, there is a gap of knowledge in identifying and developing thermal properties of materials used for outdoors. Accordingly, this research suggests evaluating and comparing the thermal performance of newly invented soil based material that is mud concrete paving block with selected popular paving materials used for outdoor development in Sri Lanka. Cement concrete, burnt brick, Asphalt and Mud concrete paving blocks are selected as sample materials and equal areas of each specimen were paved in an unshaded open space where direct solar radiation reaches. Secondly, the same colour was applied on the surfaces of the specimens to avoid the albedo effect. The results obtained were analyzed in terms of thermal performance. The results indicated that the material properties and their surface colour have an influence on its thermal performance. Further, results have proven that the mud concrete paving block has high potential on its thermal performance as a sustainable solution to be used in outdoor development. 


––Quasi-linear sequences of the epicenters of strong earthquakes, identified in many seismically active regions, are phenomenologically viewed as "migrations" of earthquake sources. Following this analogy, an earthquake chain is understood in this paper as a set of seismic events of different energies, leading to a quasi-linear one-way change in the position ("migration") of the successive epicenters of shocks on the surface of the lithosphere zone under study. Based on this statement, a formalized method for an azimuthal analysis of seismicity is developed, which allows one to identify and isolate earthquake chains from arrays of seismological data presented in the standard format of a catalog of earthquakes. As this method is tested on a catalog of earthquakes and a catalog of simulation events, all model chains of events and a large number of earthquake chains and simulation events are identified. It is indicated by isolating chains in a random field of simulation events that some of these earthquake chains can be formed by a random spatiotemporal combination of shocks. Migrating seismicity in the lithosphere of the Baikal rift zone (BRZ) is studied by applying the method of identification and isolation of earthquake chains to materials from the "Catalog of Earthquakes of the Baikal region". According to data on 52,700 earthquakes with a representative energy class KP ≥ 8, occurring in the Baikal region from 1964 to 2013, there are 2143 earthquake chains identified and isolated within an angular sector of azimuthal analysis q = 10° (±5° from azimuth α to the epicenter). As the angular sector of azimuthal analysis increases to q = 20° (±10°), there is an approximately twofold increase in the number of chains (M = 4245). As shown by the analysis and comparison of spatiotemporal distribution of earthquakes and earthquake chains, the spatiotemporal and energy distribution of chains of seismic events is formed by earthquake distribution in the BRZ. Beyond this zone, the chains are small in number. The established relationship between the distributions of earthquakes and earthquake chains in space, in time, and by energy indicates that in the epicentral field of seismicity of the BRZ, both "seismicity migration" chains and randomly formed chains ("pseudomigration" chains) are identified. The migrating seismicity of the BRZ is studied according to the seismicity statistics by using the criteria developed within the framework of the simulation base model of migrating seismicity to the results obtained. An index of seismicity migration activity (ISMA) that reflects a seismicity migration/pseudomigration ratio at the set level of significance is used to obtain distribution maps over the territory and graphs of changes over the years for this index. The maps show that small areas ISMA > 1 are seen in close proximity to rifting attractor structures (RASs), while seismicity migration in the rest of the BRZ is not statistically obvious. The graphs show that periods ISMA > 1 at three levels of significance are observed three to four years after the activation of RASs, which makes it possible to estimate the phase propagation velocity of a slow deformation perturbation of about 250–300 km/year. It is indicated by the results obtained that the migrating seismicity of the BRZ is directly related to the location and activations of RASs and that the RASs are the sources of local deformation perturbations in the BRZ lithosphere, which, among other things, manifest themselves in the implementation of seismicity migration chains.


ABSTRACT This article analyzes the use of the online environment within the context of the Polish parliamentary election of 2011. Using traditional methods of content analysis, we find that parties tend to adhere to a professionalized model of campaigning, and adapting online tools to suit the objectives of the campaign. There also appears to be a recognition that their most likely visitors to these online presences would be converts, and so they attempt to mobilize supporters rather than convert browsers. New parties and candidates are more likely to target browsers, with the latter offering a more personalized experience to online visitors. Importantly, when analyzing the outcome of the contest, we find that being online matters for candidates when controlling for all other variables. Equally, the reach the candidate has, which may well influence their vote share, is dependent on offering a more personalized, representational image and having a frequently updated online presence that should encourage repeat visits. Cumulatively, we suggest the future of online campaigning must not only focus on having a presence, but on using it in a way that appeals to a range of visitors, encouraging repeat visits, and that this strategy could have a positive impact on election outcomes.


Contrary to common views of innovations as being profoundly disruptive, the innovations that succeed are those that are evolutionary, not revolutionary. This chapter examines the way in which design domesticates innovation by nudging users incrementally into adopting new practices. In fact, most successful innovations introduce only moderate amounts of novelty, even drawing off features of older, now-obsolete technologies to frame our understandings of new products in terms of the products we are about to abandon. Even as the 1984 Apple Macintosh desktop made inroads toward rendering our paper files and desktops obsolete, its innovative operating system invoked files, file folders, a desktop, and a trash can. Good design domesticates novelty. However, once an innovation has gained acceptance, the purpose of design shifts toward differentiating between competing versions of the same underlying offerings. The best designs are robust enough to withstand the continuing cycle of domestication and differentiation, changing as technologies advance and users' sophistication follows.


Tariana, a North Arawak language from northwest Amazonia, has a complex system of serial verbs and a certain amount of verb compounding. Serial verbs in Tariana provide important evidence in favour of the existence of cross-linguistically valid defining properties of serial verbs. Verb serialisation and verb compounding are independent grammatical processes, each with a grammaticalisation path of its own, and with distinct functions. Their coexistence in one language is consistent with the principle of iconic motivation: the closer the elements are in surface structure, the more they are grammaticalised or lexicalised.


Streptococcus agalactiae, also known as group B Streptococcus (GBS), is a pathogen of humans and cattle, in which it is responsible for carriage or invasive disease and subclinical mastitis, respectively. From the 1950s to 1970s, thanks to successful mastitis control programs, the prevalence of GBS fell in the Swedish cattle population, but it re-emerged in the late 1990s. GBS was thought to consist of host-specific subpopulations but recent studies have shown that human and cattle subpopulations overlap, with different accessory genome elements providing survival advantages in each host species. We hypothesized that cattle-adapted GBS was eradicated and replaced by new GBS strains of human origin.
 Our aim was to explore the differences in GBS cattle population over six decades (pre-post non-detection), with a focus on the possible role of MGE in the evolution of these strains.

Historical (n = 44, 1953 to 1978) and contemporary (n = 76, 1997 to 2012) GBS isolates from bovine milk samples were sequenced and analysed for WGS-MLST. Phylogenetic network analysis revealed the presence of six major clades: two of these were detected only up to 1970, two were only detected after 2004, and two were detected in both periods. Historical isolates were all tetracycline sensitive, whereas 51% of recent isolates harboured tet(M), which is considered a marker of human adaptation. Our data support the elimination of a bovine specific clade (CC61/67) and the emergence of new clades (CC1, CC103/314) that are likely of human of origin.


The reAct project described in this paper is an innovative learning approach developed and used to re- motivate the disengaged from education and learning to connect to lifelong learning practices. These youngsters constitute a considerable social problem in Europe and the aim of the project is to find ways to recover the intrinsic motivation to learn and thereby improve the opportunities for participation. Key in this innovative strategy is self- organized learning, the learner in control of the learning process. The paper starts with an introduction on the challenge these dropouts pose to the society at large and the learning strategy developed to cope with this matter. The usage of media in the methodology is crucial and links to the concept of a user-configurable Personal Learning Environment (PLE). The main research issues are: can reAct change the attitude, what are the benefits and drawbacks of this self-organized learning approach and do the ICT tools support these processes. This paper covers the first half of the project and reflects on the first rather positive experiences.


Kimura's disease is a chronic inflammatory condition of unknown etiology. Kimura et al. in 1948 first reported this disease usually presents in Asian males in their 2nd to 4th decade as a mass in the head and neck region. Coexisting lymphadenopathy, eosinophilia and raised serum IgE levels, also renal involvement in some cases. Our patient is a 49 years old male with swelling on his nose following trauma, with elevated AEC and IgE levels. Excision biopsy revealed it to be kimura's disease. Kimura's presenting as a soft tissue swelling in nose without any nodal involvement is not common in the Indian subcontinent. We present this case for its rarity.


While there is a progress in different sciences, researchers in machine learning working to make the people life more comfortable by interpreting this progress in various life sphere, they introduced new field called Ambient Intelligence (AmI). The main idea behind AmI is to enroll technology in every aspect of our lives to interact with societies in a smooth manner and improves the quality of our lives. During the last two decades, Ambient Intelligence evolved fast toward suitable developing real-life solutions, causing mass evolutions in every aspect of life as learning, transportation, manufacturing, healthcare, etc. The paper constrained on the healthcare domain due to its exciting paradigm. In this paradigm, the digital environments will not only interact with human events through sensing and interpreting, but it will also learn and adapt actions to the inhabitant needs, gestures, habits, and emotions. This paper summarizes the requirements to achieve the vision of Ambient Intelligence in healthcare. The paper will analyze and compare some previous case studies and scenarios in the Ambient Intelligence area. Finally, the paper proposes a scenario that focuses on the slice of elderly and disabled people those who are physically disabled and have neurological problems to help them to enhance the facilities of using Ambient Intelligence technologies in healthcare and an associated architecture and support them to interact with the community. The paper proposes an architecture that converts the user's home to look like smart-homes because of the scattered sensors and devices in it and connecting them all together with some sensors on the user's body besides providing the user with giraff-robot with a screen with different tasks. Some of the giraff-robot responsibilities are to do some actions according to the sensed data, and to work as an online trainer by displaying videos or displaying an avatar tells the user how to do it. The paper tries to present the benefit of using the AmI and the advantage of E-learning -by providing the online training- to ease the life of this slice of people. The architecture tries to respond to the requirements needed by the user those identified during our work.


The effects of nicotine on the tail-flick and hot-plate tests were determined to identify nicotinic receptor subtypes responsible for spinally and supraspinally mediated nicotine analgesia in knockin mice expressing hypersensitive alpha(4) nicotinic receptors (L9'S), in seven inbred mouse strains (C57BL/6, DBA/2, A/2, CBA/2, BALB/cByJ, C3H/HeJ, and 129/SvEv), and in two F1 hybrids (B6CBAF1 and B6D2F1). L9'S heterozygotes were approximately 6-fold more sensitive to the antinociceptive effects of nicotine than the wild-type controls in the hot-plate test but not in the tail-flick assay. Large differences in the effects of nicotine were also observed with both tests for the seven mouse strains. A/J and 129 mice were 6- to 8-fold more sensitive than CBA and BALB mice. In addition, B6CBAF1 hybrid mice were even less sensitive than CBA mice. Nicotinic binding sites were measured in three spinal cord regions and the hindbrain of the inbred strains. Significant differences in cytisine-sensitive, high affinity [(125)I]epibatidine binding site levels (alpha(4)beta(2)(*) subtypes), but not in (125)I-alpha-bungarotoxin binding (alpha(7)(*) subtypes), were observed. Significant negative correlations between cytisine-sensitive [(125)I]epibatidine binding and nicotine ED(50) for both tests were noted. Our results indicate that alpha(4)beta(2)(*) acetylcholine nicotinic receptors (nAChR) are important in mediating nicotine analgesia in supraspinal responses, while also showing that alpha(4)beta(2)(*)-nAChR and at least one other nAChR subtype appear to modulate spinal actions.


Nutrient digestibility in distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) is limited by physical constraints such as particle size and by biochemical limitations such as phytate and fiber or nonstarch polysaccharides (NSP). To determine the separate effects of these limitations on nutrient digestibility, ground DDGS (383 µm) supplemented with phytase (0 or 250 units/kg of feed) and xylanase (0 or 4,000 units/kg of feed) was evaluated in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments together with unground DDGS (517 µm) and an N-free diet in a 6 × 6 Latin square. Cofermented wheat and corn DDGS contained 8.6% moisture, 31.0% CP, 1.04% Lys, 8.0% ether extract, 2.0% starch, 40% NDF, and 0.85% P (as-is basis). Diets contained 43.7% DDGS as the sole source of AA; the digesta from pigs fed the N-free diet served to subtract basal endogenous AA losses and as control for energy digestibility. Six ileal-cannulated barrows (37.1 ± 0.8 kg of BW) were fed 6 diets at 2.8 × maintenance for DE in six 9-d periods. Feces and ileal digesta were collected for 2 d each. The apparent ileal digestibility (AID) of GE and apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of GE and NDF were 2.3, 0.5, and 5.1%-units greater (P < 0.05) for the ground than unground DDGS diet, respectively. Consequently, the ATTD of GE was 1.3%-units greater (P < 0.05) and the DE content was 0.06 Mcal/kg greater (P < 0.05) for ground than unground DDGS, respectively. Grinding of DDGS did not affect (P > 0.05) the ATTD of crude fiber, ADF, P, and Ca in diets. Grinding of DDGS increased (P < 0.05) the AID of most AA in diets including Lys, Met, and Thr by 6.9, 1.1, and 1.7%-units, respectively. Grinding of DDGS increased (P < 0.05) the SID of Lys by 6.2%-units and SID content of Lys and Thr by 0.06 and 0.02%-units, respectively. Phytase and xylanase did not interact (P > 0.05) to affect nutrient digestibility. Phytase increased (P < 0.001) the ATTD of P by 10.5%-units, but did not affect (P > 0.05) AA digestibility. Xylanase did not affect nutrient digestibility. In conclusion, particle size is an important physical characteristic affecting digestibility of energy and AA, but not P in DDGS. Phytate in DDGS limits digestibility of P, but not energy and AA. The substrate for xylanase in DDGS did not hinder energy and AA digestibility.


The Phytoseiidae have diverse habits. Some are apparently obligate predators, preying on other mites or on insects, others are facultative predators feeding on fungus hyphae, pollen, or plant sap when no prey is at hand (CHANT 1959a), and one species, Anthoseius hebetis DE LEON (1959b), is found only in the flowers of Heliotropium parviflorum where it probably feeds exclusively on pollen. Although phytoseiids are common in British Guyana there are no records of the occurrence of any species in that country.
Through the kind invitation of Dr J. M. CHERRETT, a member of the University College of North Wales Guiana Expedition 1963 (OGDEN, 1964), I spent 13 days (22 Oct.—3 Nov. 1963) collecting mites in the Nature Reserve, near the Expedition's Headquarters about 24 miles south of Bartica. The phytoseiids collected while with the Expedition and while in the Georgetown area are recorded below. The names of the plants from which mites were collected were provided, while with the Expedition, by Mr RUFUS BOYAN and Mr CHARLES SANDY, and while in the Georgetown area, by Mr R. PERSAUD and Mr DONALD DRAYTON.


We report for the first time on the anticorrelated emission of high-order harmonics and energetic electron beams from a solid-density plasma with a sharp vacuum interface-plasma mirror-driven by an intense ultrashort laser pulse. We highlight the key role played by the nanoscale structure of the plasma surface during the interaction by measuring the spatial and spectral properties of harmonics and electron beams emitted by a plasma mirror. We show that the nanoscale behavior of the plasma mirror can be controlled by tuning the scale length of the electron density gradient, which is measured in situ using spatial-domain interferometry.


This paper presents an algorithm of adaptation for a case-based reasoning system with cases and domain knowledge represented in the expressive description logic ALC. The principle is to first pretend that the source case to be adapted solves the current target case. This may raise some contradictions with the specification of the target case and with the domain knowledge. The adaptation consists then in repairing these contradictions. This adaptation algorithm is based on an extension of the classical tableau method used for deductive inferences in ALC.


: Cases from the ongoing outbreak of atypical pneumonia caused by the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) exported from mainland China can lead to self-sustained outbreaks in other populations. Internationally imported cases are currently being reported in several different locations. Early detection of imported cases is critical for containment of the virus. Based on air travel volume estimates from Wuhan to international destinations and using a generalized linear regression model we identify locations which may potentially have undetected internationally imported cases.


ABSTRACT Vegetation Analysis of Lowland Forest in Batanta Island, Raja Ampat, Papua. A vegetation analysis of Batanta lowland forest has been made by setting up 17 plots of each 30-m x 30-m distributed in 3 study sites were Yenanas (5 plots), Yensawai (7 plots) and Wailebet (5 plots). All trees (dbh. e"10 cm) within all of 17 plots were measured, and determined their positions, and identify their species. In total there were 171 tree species recorded within plots and belonging to 108 genera and 40 families. Pometia pinnata was the most common species followed by Anthocephalus macrophyllus, Pangium edule, Toxotrophis illicifolius, and Koordersiodendron pinnatum. Almost all of common species such as Pometia pinnata, Anthocephalus macrophyllus, Celtis hidebrandii and Intsia bijuga were observed as the emergent and/or canopy trees. According to ordination analysis there were five community types, Aporusa–Pometia, Antocephalus-Toxotrophis, Sterculia-Grewia, Ficus-Antocephalus, and Duabanga-Pterocymbium communities. However floristic compositions varied among plot sites, which might be a characteristic of vegetation of Papua and the nearby small islands. Keywords: Vegetation, lowland forest, Raja Ampat, Papua Kata kunci: Vegetasi, hutan dataran rendah, Raja ampat, Papua


In 2001 Italy, France, and Principality of Monaco instituted a protected area for marine mammals in northwestern Mediterranean Sea, named the Pelagos Sanctuary. The agreement foresees the commitment by signing parties to manage human activities in the area, with a special mention to whale watching. Whale watching is a form of wildlife tourism which has considerably grown in the last decades. Understanding the profile of whale watchers and their satisfaction toward the activity, is the first step toward a sustainable and effective management of this touristic activity. In this work we provide the first analysis of the whale watching activity in the Pelagos Sanctuary, focusing on commercial whale watching tours departing from Italian harbors in Liguria. We provide a census of the activity and the results of close-ended questionnaires filled by whale watchers during trips in summer 2016 and 2017. The aim of the questionnaires was to understand the level of awareness of experienced and new whale watchers regarding the Pelagos Sanctuary and some conservation initiative going on in the area. Finally, we analyzed the satisfaction level, with the aim of evidencing weakness and strengths of the service offered. Our results evidence a growth in the activity in the last 15 years, with a wider differentiation of offers and impacting a larger area than previously found. Whale watchers in the area come from a variety of countries, demonstrating the importance of the Pelagos as a hot spot for this activity. A high level of satisfaction has been evidenced, with no difference among new and experienced whale watchers. At the same time, more effort is needed to increase awareness of Pelagos and its conservation initiative both at a national and international level. This study provides useful information for the start of an effective management of whale watching in this protected area.


Autism is one delay in child development. It is the result of complex and varied brain development disorders, one of them is disturbance in sensory system (sensory integration) in children. The disturbance causes the children to be unable to adapt optimally, thus, it affects behavioral and psychological responses of children with autism in their environment. The number of children with autism increases from year to year, including in Surakarta. A rehabilitation centre is therefore needed in this city. This rehabilitation centre for children with autism is uses a functional recovery for behavior, occupation, and nervous system (neurons), and sensory systems of children who experienced the disorder to regenerate its form or function. This rehabilitation centre will accommodate medical, therapeutic, and educational activities by using special environmental designs planned according to the sensory needs and specific stimuli needs for each different autistic child. The design concept of this rehabilitation centre focuses on the sensory needs of children with aurism. It will be applied through building physical elements in the form of inside and outside spatial elements. Both elements will be designed with various considerations of the choice of attributes or architectural elements, such as: design principles, shapes, scales, colors, building materials. These considerations will create specific effects for each individual with different levels of sensory perception disorder. This rehabilitation favility will provide 5 special zones for autistic children which are categorized based on the level of disturbance and condition of the children. The categorization is expected to play a major role in accelerating the process of healing and development of children physically, psychologically, intellectually, and socially. Consequently, it can establish a child with autism into an independent, creative, exist, and skilled human as other normal children.


An axisymmetric analytical model of an FW glow discharge was developed. This model allowed exploration of various effects: radial losses at the side wall, mismatch of sec- ondary electron emission coefficients on the surface of a powered electrode, the aspect ratio and dimension of the plasma chamber, and operational parameters such as gas pressure and bias voltage. The plasma density decreased in most cases by a factor of two to three from the axis to the periphery as a consequence of the radial losses. A maximum in the radial plasma density distribution appeared when the substrate had a different secondary electron emission coefficient than the platen. A maximum in plasma density at the axis also appeared when the electrode separation was varied at constant electrode radius because the plasma diffusion loss between electrodes dominates when the electrode separation is small and plasma radial diffusion loss dominates when the electrode separation is large.


The present article aims to question the dominant paradigm of Wallachian state making in Romanian scholarship on a specifi c point: the claim that the state was the result of an exclusively internal evolution that stands out as a distinctive case of state formation in late medieval Central and Eastern Europe. This exceptionality thesis was founded more on historians' preconceptions than on a close analysis of the primary sources. The fi rst section of the article comprises an analysis of the analogies proposed by previous scholars, while the second part is a brief epilogue, where I suggest some new approaches on the topic. The analogies that scholars have proposed for the Wallachian case are extremely few, implicitly reinforcing the thesis of medieval Wallachia as the outcome of local political development. In addition, the comparisons were generally used to close arguments, not to initiate debates and any external infl uence was minimized, as early Wallachia was viewed as an original, articulate polity, able to absorb such infl uences without modifying its core identity. In the second part of the article I suggest some new approaches on the topic, from a more meaningful comparative viewpoint. In this regard, I consider the next three premises worth reconsidering: 1) state building loses ground during periods of confl ict; 2) the evolution of state power is linear, although it alternates periods of ascends, with phases of descends or stagnation; 3) late medieval and early modern success of the sovereign state over competing polities was inevitable. Wallachian state formation was not a 13th early 14th century process, but a phenomenon that began in the 14th century and continued until the mid-sixteenth century, when it entered a different phase.


Lipoprotein (a) has become of great interest as a biochemical marker for predicting the risk of developing cardiovascular alterations, with increased levels suggesting patients at a higher risk. We have realized a study of the plasma concentrations of lipoprotein (a) and other constituents of lipoprotein metabolism in children diagnosed with diabetes mellitus type I in relationship to the levels of metabolic control, the time of evolution of the disease and the presence or not of microalbuminuria (albumin in the urine greater than 30 micrograms/min). The study population was comprised of 211 children, between the ages of 3 and 18 years of age, divided into three groups according to the time of evolution of the disease: beginners (n = 15), time of evolution less than or equal to 5 years (n = 99) and more than 5 years (n = 92). All determinations were performed on specimens collected after 10 hours of fasting and before the morning dose of insulin. The following determinations were made: total cholesterol, triglycerides, cHDL, cLDL, cVLDL, Apo AI, Apo B, lipoprotein (a), albumin excretion rate (AER), glucose, fructose, glycosylated hemoglobin and creatinine clearance. We found significant differences between the groups in function of the existence of microalbuminuria and if the time of evolution of the disease exceeded 5 years. In conclusion, it appears that metabolic control does not influence the concentrations of lipoprotein (a), with an increased risk of cardiovascular alterations in those patients with a long disease evolution an those that have microalbuminuria.


Extensional accretionary orogens form by creation and destruction of large arc/back arc basin systems, generated by extension and sediment infilling during prolonged slab retreat, but episodically thickened by basin inversion during short‐lived (∼10 Ma), orogenic contraction events. They are characterised by widespread, syntectonic, silicic, and minor basaltic magmatism, regional low‐P, variable‐T metamorphism, and by the enigmatic development of rift basins throughout the peak orogenic history. These orogens have features associated with retreating subduction boundaries and contrast markedly with those formed by terrane accretion, such as the Canadian Cordillera. The Paleozoic Lachlan orogen example from eastern Australia shows that Silurian‐Devonian synorogenic basalts and gabbros were intimately associated with rifting and granite emplacement, but they formed during a period of repeated orogenic contraction. Moreover, primitive basaltic compositions have oceanic affinities, indicating generation under lithosphere that was <30 km thick. Only in the final stages of orogeny (Middle Devonian), after at least three major crustal contraction events, did the lithosphere thicken to ∼80 km or more, leading to stabilization of the orogen. Extensional accretionary orogens grow by magmatic and sedimentary additions during extension, caused mainly by asthenospheric melting and rift basin formation/sedimentation, augmented by localized and repeated crustal thickening events. Orogenic contraction leaves an indelible structural imprint which may obliterate the prior‐formed extensional structures. The orogen remains hot, despite repeated thickening events, because of ongoing extension, which promotes advective heat transfer into the crust by basalt injection and crustal melting. Rapid switching to contraction, possibly during intermittent arrival of buoyant oceanic plateaus, inverts the thermally softened basins and forms localized fold‐thrust belts in which the penetrative foliations record the peak metamorphism. Their most diagnostic features are the presence of basaltic rocks and rift basins throughout the orogenic contraction history.


The objective of several techniques including fluid limits and mean field approximations is to analyze a stochastic complex system (e.g. Markovian) studying a simplified model (deterministic, represented by ordinary differential equations (ODEs)). In this paper, we explore models proposed for the analysis of BitTorrent P2P systems and we provide the arguments to justify the passage from the stochastic process, under adequate scaling, to a fluid approximation driven by an ODE. We also make the link between the stationary regime of the stochastic models and the fixed points of the associated ODEs. Finally, we analyze the asymptotic distribution of the scaled process.


The central nervous system contains two major glial cell types, astrocytes and microglia, which function as immune effector cells within the central nervous system. We have been studying the ability of glial cells to express gene products involved in immune responsiveness, with an emphasis on expression of ICAM-1. We demonstrated previously that three proinflammatory cytokines, TNF-alpha, IL-1 beta, and IFN-gamma, as well as IFN-gamma plus LPS, can enhance ICAM-1 expression by primary rat astrocytes. In this study, we examined ICAM-1 expression by primary rat microglia and found that only IFN-gamma and IFN-gamma/LPS enhance ICAM-1 gene expression. These data indicate that ICAM-1 expression by astrocytes and microglia is enhanced differentially by various proinflammatory cytokines. We next examined the effect of two cytokines, IL-10 and IL-6, on ICAM-1 expression. IL-10 alone has no effect on ICAM-1 expression, but it inhibits the enhancement of ICAM-1 intracellular and membrane protein expression in both cell types, although it has no influence on ICAM-1 steady-state mRNA levels. These results suggest that IL-10 affects ICAM-1 expression at the translational and/or post-translational level. IL-6 alone also had no effect on ICAM-1 expression in either astrocytes or microglia, but it inhibited induction of both ICAM-1 mRNA and protein expression in these cells. Inhibition of ICAM-1 mRNA steady-state levels by IL-6 was not the result of degradation of the ICAM-1 message, suggesting an effect at the transcriptional level. Thus, both IL-10 and IL-6 can inhibit ICAM-1 expression by glial cells, although they do so by contrasting mechanisms.


Objectives. Whole blood viscosity (WBV) may promote endothelial shear
stress, endothelial inflammation, and vascular remodeling, and can
accelerate the atherosclerotic process. We aimed to evaluate the
relationship between WBV and Aortic Stenosis (AS). Methods. The study
population included 209 participants of which 49 patients with severe
AS, 98 patients with mild-to-moderate AS and 62 patients as control. The
WBV calculated with a formula from Hct and total plasma protein (TP) for
wall shear stress. WBV was cal-culated for both low shear rate (LSR)
(0.5 s–1) and high shear rate (HSR) (208 s–1) from Hct and TP protein
concentration using a validated formula. Results. WBV values were
significantly higher for HSR (p = 0.001) and for LSR (p=0.002) in severe
aortic stenosis group than mild-to-moderate aortic stenosis group. HSR
and LSR were correlated with mean systolic transaortic gradient
(p<0.001 and p<0.001, respectively). WBV for both
LSR and HSR were found to be independent predictors for the aortic
stenosis severity (β=0.265;p=0.034 and β=0.237;p=0.049, respectively).
Hypertension independently associated with the aortic stenosis severity
(p<0.05). Conclusion. We found a significant relationship
between WBV and AS


The exponential growth of media streaming traffic will have a strong impact on the bandwidth consumption of the future wireless infrastructure. One key challenge is to deliver services taking into account the stringent requirements of mobile video streaming, e.g., the users' expected Quality-of-Service. Admission control and resource allocation can strongly benefit from the use of anticipatory information such as the prediction of future user's demand and expected channel gain. In this paper, we use this information to formulate an optimal admission control scheme that maximizes the number of accepted users into the system with the constraint that not only the current but also the expected demand of all users must be satisfied. Together with the optimal set of accepted users, the optimal resource scheduling is derived. In order to have a solution that can be computed in a reasonable time, we propose a low complexity heuristic. Numerical results show the performance of the proposed scheme with respect to the state of the art.


The fate of Chlamydia trachomatis (L2/434/Bu) in human peripheral blood monocytes and human monocyte-derived macrophages was studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and by measuring the yield of infectious C. trachomatis in one-step growth experiments. Two main types of phagosome were seen by TEM in the cytoplasm of C. trachomatis-infected human monocytes (1 h postinfection [p.i.]): one in which the elementary body (EB) was tightly surrounded by the membrane of the phagosome and another in which the EB appeared in an enlarged phagosome. Later, 24 to 48 h p.i., each phagosome contained a single EB-like particle, an atypical reticulate body, or a damaged particle. One-step growth experiments showed that infection of human monocytes with C. trachomatis results in a decrease of infectious particles between 24 and 96 h p.i., whereas infection of the monocytes by C. psittaci (6BC strain) results in productive infection with, however, a 3.5-log lower yield than in control MA-104 cells. In contrast to the abortive replication of C. trachomatis in monocytes, monocyte-derived macrophages permitted replication as indicated by one-step growth experiments and TEM. in C. trachomatis-infected, monocyte-derived macrophages 72 h p.i., inclusions of two kinds were observed by TEM. One was very similar to the typical inclusions appearing in infected MA-104 (control) cells; the other was atypical, pleomorphic, often contained "channels," and held relatively few EB and reticulate bodies, some of which appeared damaged or abnormal. The significance of the responses to infection with C. trachomatis in monocytes compared with monocyte-derived macrophages and the role of these cells in sustaining chronic or latent infection and in dissemination of the infection to various parts of the body is discussed.


The International Centre for Reproductive Health (ICRH) was established by Prof. dr. Marleen Temmerman in the aftermath of the UN Conference on Population and Development in Cairo in 1994. This conference called for world-wide action to improve the sexual and reproductive health situation of the global population in general and for vulnerable groups in particular, and this is exactly what ICRH is striving for and has been working on for the last 15 years. ICRH is a multidisciplinary centre of excellence, in research, capacity building and fieldwork in sexual and reproductive health and HIV prevention, and an advocate for sexual and reproductive health and rights. Right from the start, ICRH has opted for a global approach, which has resulted in a broad geographical spread of activities, with projects in Africa, Latin America, Asia and Europe. Since its inception, ICRH has participated in more than 120 projects, often as the coordinator, and through this work it has contributed considerably not only to scientific knowledge, improvement of health systems and increased accessibility of health services for vulnerable groups, but also to the quality of live of numerous individuals. Since 2004, ICRH has been recognized as a WHO Collaborating Centre for Research on Sexual and Reproductive Health.


We determine the optimal entanglement rate of quantum state merging when assuming that the state is unknown except for its membership in a certain set of states. We find that merging is possible at the lowest rate allowed by the individual states. Additionally, we establish a lower bound for the classical cost of state merging under state uncertainty. To this end we give an elementary proof for the cost in case of a perfectly known state which makes no use of the "resource framework". As applications of our main result, we determine the capacity for one-way entanglement distillation if the source is not perfectly known. Moreover, we give another achievability proof for the entanglement generation capacity over compound quantum channels.


Uterine leiomyoma (UL), the most common benign tumour found in females, is associated with many recurrent genetic aberrations, such as translocations, interstitial deletions and specific germline mutations. Among these, mutations affecting exon 2 of the mediator complex subunit 12 (MED12) gene are commonly detected in the majority of ULs. Mutational analysis of the MED12 gene, performed on 36 UL samples, revealed that 12 leiomyomas (33.4%) exhibited heterozygous missense mutations in codon 44 of exon 2 of the MED12 gene, four leiomyomas (11.1%) showed internal in-frame deletions, and two leiomyomas (5.5%) exhibited deletions involving intron 1-exon 2 junction, which caused a predicted loss of the splice acceptor. No mutations were detected in uterine myometrium (UM) and pseudocapsule (PC) samples, including those from women with a MED12 mutation in UL. These data showed that the PC is a healthy tissue that surrounds the UL to maintain UM integrity. Analysis of insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF-2) and collagen type IV alpha 2 (COL4A2) mRNA expression levels in the same set of ULs revealed that only those with MED12 missense mutations expressed significantly higher levels of IGF-2 mRNA. In contrast, MED12 gene status does not appear to affect mRNA expression levels of the COL4A2 gene. On the basis of this finding, we suggest that the MED12 status stratifies the ULs into two mutually exclusive pathways of leiomyoma genesis, one with IGF-2 overexpression and the other with no IGF-2 activation. The occurrence of IGF-2 overexpression could be therapeutically targeted for the non-surgical treatment of leiomyomas.


Background: Application of zirconia in dentistry has increased due to its good properties. Since zirconia is not possible to be etched, evaluation of the other methods of surface treatment is important. Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate zirconia surfaces treated by different output powers of Er: YAG laser and sandblasting technique by scanning electron microscope (SEM). Materials andMethods: 15 specimens were prepared of 3Y-TZP ceramic material. After polishing of all the samples, divided into 5 groups; control group, 1.5 W Er: YAG laser irradiated group, 2.5W Er: YAG laser irradiated group, 3.5 W Er: YAG laser irradiated and sandblasted group. Then SEM image of each group were prepared and analyzed. Results: The SEM images of study groups showed there is no significant difference between control group and laser groups at × 3000, but at the more magnifications (× 15000 and × 60000), with increasing laser power, surface roughness and deformation of crystals increases. SEM of Sandblasted group showed a change in surface texture with the formation of microretentive grooves and deformation of zirconia crystals shape. Conclusions: By increasing the Er: YAG laser power on zirconia ceramics, the surface roughness increases but not impressive. Application of sandblasting technique on zirconia provides greater surface roughness than Er: YAG laser treatment. 1.5 W (150 mJ) Er: YAG laser radiation has no significant effect on surface morphology of zirconia but 2.5 W (250 mJ) and 3.5 W (350 mJ) outputs, change the surface morphology.


We propose an innovative machine learning paradigm enabling precision medicine for prioritizing cognitive assessments according to their relevance to Alzheimer's disease at the individual patient level. The paradigm tailors the cognitive biomarker discovery and cognitive assessment selection process to the brain morphometric characteristics of each individual patient. We implement this paradigm using a newly developed learning-to-rank method PLTR. Our empirical study on the ADNI data yields promising results to identify and prioritize individual-specific cognitive biomarkers as well as cognitive assessment tasks based on the individual's structural MRI data. The resulting top ranked cognitive biomarkers and assessment tasks have the potential to aid personalized diagnosis and disease subtyping.


Background Although attempts had been made to consider foods consumed by ethnic minority groups to ensure transcultural application when developing the National Food Guide –'The Balance of Good Health', an Afro-Caribbean version has now been prepared and it was felt that both the format of the display and the context of the food guide were not applicable to the Chinese community in UK. To ensure everyone benefits from the National Health Care Service, health professionals and health education agencies must be sensitive to linguistic, socio-economic and lifestyle diversity within the ethnic minorities.

Aims The aim of the project was to develop a food guide using Chinese foods and with appropriate written Chinese form to address the members of the Chinese community with consistent messages of healthy eating, and translate the nutrient recommendations into food guidance to them.

Methods The research involved 54 Chinese members and they were recruited from various areas in London. Different shapes (in the form of a bowl, a triangle or a tilted plate) of the guide were developed and were used to assess subjects' performance (how well the information was understood and recalled) in a meal ranking and a food sorting task. Subjects' preferences for a particular shape of the guide were asked after undertaking the tasks. Comp-eat was used in designing the meals and statistical tests such as Mann–Whitney, Kruskal–Wallis and Chi-square were used to assess the significance of the results.

Results The key findings were that exposure to a guide could have a significant effect on consumer's understanding and recall of guide concepts (P < 0.01). Secondly. guides that were in the shape of a triangle were better at conveying messages of nutritional equivalence and proportionality than those in the shape of a bowl or tilted place (P < 0.05). However, the preference studies showed that the Chinese consumers preferred a tilted plate to a triangle or a bowl because of some Chinese traditional beliefs.

Conclusions It was concluded that a guide in the form of a tilted plate should be used since consumers' preferences should be respected, and alternative ways to reinforce nutritional messages through a tilted plate model should be sought.


This paper examines the relationships between the journal impact factor and the h-type indices in virology journals. The virology journals and their 2010 journal impact factors were retrieved from Journal Citation Reports. The h-index and the g-index values of the journals for 2007-2011 were obtained from Web of Science and Google Scholar. The journals were ranked by their journal impact factor and h-indices. The correlation analysis of the measures found a strong relationship between the journal impact factor and the h-type indices, and a stronger tie between the h-indices themselves. Despite the strong correlations between the measures, differences in rankings of the journals with the journal impact factor and the h-type indices were found, and possible explanations for the differences were provided.


Clustering combination has recently become a hotspot in machine learning, while its critical problem lies on how to combine multiple clusterings to yield a final superior result. In this paper, a low dimensional embedding method is proposed. It first obtains the low dimensional embeddings of hyperedges by performing spectral clustering algorithms and then obtains the low dimensional embeddings of objects indirectly by composition of mappings and finally performs K-means algorithm to cluster the objects according to their coordinates in the low dimensional space. Experimentally the proposed method is shown to perform well.


Previous studies on vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) maturation in infected cells have utilized in vitro cell cultures. The present study is, to our knowledge, the first in vivo analysis of VSV-cell interaction in the central nervous system of weaning outbred Swiss mice. Intracerebral inoculation of wild-type VSV resulted in rapid viral replication in brain and spinal cord. By immunoflourescence, viral antigens were first seen in ependymal cells of brain and spinal cord and soon thereafter in surrounding neurons. The large anterior horn neurons of spinal cord appeared to be in the most heavily infected. Ultrastructurally, VSV-neuron interaction evolved in three phases. The first phase consisted of viral entry into the cell by fusion and viropexis. The second phase was characterized by nucleocapsid accumulation and resulted in the appearance of large cytoplasmic inclusions. The third phase was maturation and release from the infected cell and was accomplished by viral budding from plasma membranes. Degenerative changes in infected neurons were generally absent. Cells in the area of the central canal seemed to present a different pattern of virus-cell interaction especially at the level of maturation and release. Some of these cells in advanced stages of degeneration showed viral particles free in nucleocapsid material with no virus-membrane association. Viral budding was not observed and, because these cells do eventually die, it is possible that virus was released in the intercellular space at the moment of cellular disruption. These results suggest that VSV-cell interactions may vary depending upon the nature of the infected cells.


Understanding what creativity is is not enough just to understand it in theory, but rather on how to form a creative mindset. Considering the importance of creativity for students studying at Vocational Schools majoring in Arts and Creative Industries, quality learning is needed about The Basic of Creativity which is more than just a lecture method so that students are able to become creative figures in creating art both in the learning process at school, and in time will be applied in the Business World / Industrial World. Quality teaching is the most important impact that an education system can have on student achievement. On April 29-May 17, 2019, the authors participated in the Professional Teacher Development Program on Vocational Arts & Creative Industries, held in Aucland, New Zealand and the authors gained new knowledge in the pedagogical field, one of which was the Ako Learning Concept. Ako is the Māori language term for teaching and learning, Ako describes a reciprocal relationship in which students learn from the teacher and the teacher also learns from students. This best practice research aims to describe the steps of the implementation of Ako to improve the quality of learning The Basic of Creativity that is sustainable for teachers and students. The expected benefit of preparing this paper is to improve the quality of learning of The Basic of Creativity which is ongoing for teachers and students. After undergoing a series of work steps guided by the teacher, it is hoped that they can instill a mindset of students on how to be creative and innovative, and the teacher gets feedback to plan for better feedforward.


The use of merit pay is increasing in public institutions. The prevalence of merit pay has extended to public universities to evaluate faculty performance. A general perception is that faculty scholarship is disproportionably used relative to instructional and service activities in assessing whether merit pay is warranted. Yet, little actual empirical research has been conducted to predict what components of faculty performance lead to merit pay awards. A survey concerning perceptions of faculty performance and subsequent merit pay was distributed to the entire faculty of a large public eastern research university. Logistic regression analysis found faculty research activities were significantly more predictive of merit pay receipt compared to instructional and service performance. Female faculty members were less supportive of merit pay compared to their male colleagues and perceived less improvement in their overall performance post merit pay awards.


Available evidence suggests the involvement of microRNAs (miRNAs) in the pathological process of several diseases. Nonetheless, molecular mechanism underlying biological effects of miRNAs such as pacemaker exosome-derived miR-127-5p in embryonic-like stem cells (ESCs) differentiation into pacemaker cell is yet to be clarified. Through real time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) or western blotting (WB) techniques, levels of miRNAs, miR-127-5p, and NKx2.5 expressions were quantitatively measured. Cellular differentiation (CD) was probed with flow cytometric (FC) and WB techniques. Prediction of miR-127-5p association with NKx2.5 was studied through bioinformatics tools before verification with luciferase assays. Promotion of ESCs differentiation to pacemaker through miR-127-5p was measured with qPCR and WB techniques. Through the same assaying methods, up-regulation of pace-making genes (Shox2, HCN4, Cx45, Tbx3 and Tbx18) expression was observed in Nkx2.5 knockdown group. However, Nkx2.5 expression was down-regulated during differentiation of pacemaker-like cells into ESCs. Furthermore, techniques (such as qPCR, WB, immunofluorescent staining and FC) were employed to demonstrate that overexpressed miR-127-5p could suppress NKx2.5 expression. Through NKx2.5 targeting, ESCs could be differentiated into pacemaker-like cells with miR-127-5p possibly serving as a crucial positive regulator. On the account of our findings, further researches are needed to unearth the possible underlying mechanism and role of exosome-derived miRNAs in cell signaling.


We investigated an outbreak of Serratia marcescens in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of the University Hospital of Zurich. S. marcescens infection was detected in 4 children transferred from the NICU to the University Children's Hospital (Zurich). All isolates showed identical banding patterns by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). In a prevalence survey, 11 of 20 neonates were found to be colonized. S. marcescens was isolated from bottles of liquid theophylline. Despite replacement of these bottles, S. marcescens colonization was detected in additional patients. Prospective collection of stool and gastric aspirate specimens revealed that colonization occurred in some babies within 24 hours after delivery. These isolates showed a different genotype. Cultures of milk from used milk bottles yielded S. marcescens. These isolates showed a third genotype. The method of reprocessing bottles was changed to thermal disinfection. In follow-up prevalence studies, 0 of 29 neonates were found to be colonized by S. marcescens. In summary, 3 consecutive outbreaks caused by 3 genetically unrelated clones of S. marcescens could be documented. Contaminated milk could be identified as the source of at least the third outbreak.


We propose a simple architecture for a scalable quantum network, in which the quantum nodes consist of qubit systems confined in cavities. The nodes are deterministically coupled by transmission and reflection of photons, which are disentangled from the qubits at the end of each operation. A single photon can generate an entangling controlled phase (C-PHASE) gate between any selected number of qubits in the network and forms the basis for universal quantum computing, distributed over multiple processor units. We analyze this network and we show that the gate fidelity is high, also when more qubits are involved, as requested, e.g., in an efficient Grover search. In our derivation we consider qubit transition energies in the optical regime, however, we stress that it can be readily generalized to other architectures where the nodes may be coupled, e.g., by microwave photons.


Current real-time volumetric scanners use a 2-D array to scan a pyramidal volume consisting of many sector scans stacked in the elevation direction. This scan format is primarily useful for cardiac imaging to avoid interference from the ribs. However, a real-time rectilinear volumetric scan with a wider field of view close to the transducer could prove more useful for abdominal, breast, or vascular imaging. In previous work, computer simulations of very sparse array transducer designs in a rectilinear volumetric scanner demonstrated that a Mills cross array showed the best overall performance given current system constraints. Consequently, a 94/spl times/94 Mills cross array including 372 active channels operating at 5 MHz has been developed on a flexible circuit interconnect. In addition, the beam former delay software and scan converter display software of the Duke volumetric scanner were modified to achieve real-time rectilinear volumetric scanning consisting of a 30-mm/spl times/8-mm/spl times/60-mm scan at a rate of 47 volumes/s. Real-time rectilinear volumetric images were obtained of tissue-mimicking phantoms, showing a spatial resolution of 1 to 2 mm. Images of carotid arteries in normal subjects demonstrated tissue penetration to 6 cm.


This paper presents a new efficient optimised state assignment method for solving complete state coding (CSC) problem that operates purely at the state graph level and is applicable to a broad class of behaviors. This method has been automated and applied to a large set of asynchronous benchmarks and industrial circuits. Compared to existing techniques, this new method achieves significant improvements in terms of both circuit area and computation time.


This project, a thesis incorporating a 41,357 word textual commentary and related documentation of artwork, demonstrates and critically reflects upon a collaborative method of artmaking that addresses the following questions:
Is it possible to reclaim communal space using trans-disciplinary art intervention and provide access for alternative contributors?
How can temporary participatory art be used as an intervention into urban space and offer new forms of interactivity, engagement and critical awareness?
These questions were addressed by critical reflection upon the development and outcomes of two projects that took place in Durban, South Africa and Turku, Finland. These cities were sites of global events, namely the FIFA World Cup in Durban, 2010, and the European Capital of Culture in 2011. These events and their branding facilitate unique forms of capital accumulation. I suggest that intervention at the site of these events is important in order to reclaim a temporary communal space for creative and critical inquiry.
The artworks that I produced were temporary, site-specific urban interventions in public space using the insides and outsides of key buildings. The Durban projects were Street Child World Cup and Body Politic and, in Turku, Pallomeri and Meri Valvoo. The projects offered representation in public space in Durban for street children and, in Turku, experimental forms of engagement for the wider public.
I argue that my method of participatory practice has wide-ranging potential for use by creative/scientific collaborations as an ethical/aesthetic model of temporary collaborative working. It effectively addresses problems around critical and creative access to urban public spaces outside of marketing/consumer discourses.


During the sixty-year period of its existence, Grand-Guignol, the French theatre of horror, gained a status of a legendary theatre which dealt with horrors and terrors of human mind, successfully connecting faits divers (common, everyday facts) with the erotic and titillating scenes of violence on stage. The performance style, the writing, the special effects, and the directorship over the course of years, made this theatre a legendary place where blood flowed in streams and people fainted during performances, in this way making its indelible mark in horror genre today. In this paper, the author is trying to focus the attention on the theatre of Grand-Guignol as a form of violent entertainment and the way the representations of violence and horror enacted on its stage affected the audience, through Goldstein's theory of the importance of visual imagery in different media today. Furthermore, through comparison of violent acts presented on the stage of the GrandGuignol and the atmosphere they create in the viewer's mind with some of the aspects of Artaud's vision of his theatre of cruelty, the author attempts to show how this form of violent entertainment in the theatrical media influences the vision of that same violence within the audience, with the sense of security as the main idea in which the viewers feel safe to enjoy, envision and in a way become the participants in the performances enacted on the small stage of the Grand-Guignol.