Glutathione (GSH) plays an important role in the biochemical defense system of the human body. Designing an exceptional probe to detect trace amounts of GSH is of great significance for studying the oxidative stress reaction and related diseases. In this study, a selective and sensitive orange-red emitting copper nanocluster(CuNC)-based fluorescent probe for the detection of GSH was devised in the matrix of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) using hydrazine hydrate (HYD) as the reducing agent and 2-mercaptobenzothiazole (MBT) as the stabilizer. A peaceable without external assistance method (room temperature reaction) was employed to synthesize fluorescent CuNCs with orange-red luminescence emission at 606 nm upon excitation at 377 nm. The fluorescence intensity of CuNCs was found to decrease or even quench by the addition of GSH, which indicated the stronger binding ability of -SH in GSH with the CuNCs losing the protection of PVP. Based on this principle, the present sensor system exhibits a good linear response towards GSH ranging from 0.10 to 40 μM, and the limit of detection was found to be 12.4 nM. Moreover, due to the excellent selectivity and high sensitivity of the GSH sensor, it might act as a potential probe for the detection of GSH in the lysosomal environment of tumor cells. Thus, this strategy has a promising application potential for the early identification and prevention of cancer with low toxicity and good stability.


Recently, Shi et al. [2008 Phys. Lett. A 372 5922] have studied the dynamical response of the kinetic Ising model in the presence of a sinusoidal oscillating field and presented the dynamic phase diagrams by using an effective-field theory (EFT) and a mean-field theory (MFT). The MFT results are in conflict with those of the earlier work of Tomé and de Oliveira, [1990 Phys. Rev. A 41 4251]. We calculate the dynamic phase diagrams and find that our results are similar to those of the earlier work of Tomé and de Oliveira; hence the dynamic phase diagrams calculated by Shi et al. are incomplete within both theories, except the low values of frequencies for the MFT calculation. We also investigate the influence of external field frequency (ω) and static external field amplitude (h0) for both MFT and EFT calculations. We find that the behaviour of the system strongly depends on the values of ω and h0.


India is the largest producer and processor of cashews (Anacardic occidental L). Cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL) is a dark brown viscous liquid present inside a soft honey comb structure of the cashew nut shell and is a byproduct obtained during the processing of cashew nuts. The present review discusses various application of CNSL as well as the applications of constituents of CNSL. Various methods of extraction of CNSL are available in the literature. They are hot-oil and roasting in which the CNSL oozes out from the shell. The traditional method of extracting CNSL is by roasting of the nuts over an open fire. This removes the CNSL by charring / degradation thereby wasting the liquid which is a valuable source of natural phenols. CNSL can properly be extracted by methods like cold extraction, hot solvent extraction using Soxlet extractior, supercritical Carbon dioxide extraction and vacuum pyrolysis. The review focuses on various methods of extraction, their merits and demerits. CNSL mainly consists of anacardic acid, cardol and cardanol in various proportions depending upon the type of extraction. This review also highlights various methods of isolation of these major constituents. The quantitative and qualitative analysis of CNSL is also presented in this review. Scope for future work is also discussed.


Using carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as reinforced phase, it was made to carbon nanotubes/Magnesium matrix composite by the foundry method in Argon gas protection. The experiment results show that CNTs can strengthen the mechanical properties of the CNTs/Magnesium matrix composite, and tensile strength and elongation ratio are greatly improved. Furthermore, the plating CNTs are better than un-plating CNTs in strengthening effects. Additionally the quantity of CNTs can not be too great, or the properties will be descended to a great extent without distraction of CNTs. Tensile strength has been higher by 150 % and the elongation ratio is higher by 30 % than matrix's at best, and the fracture of the composite sample has a character of dimples.


Bees are one of the most important groups of pollinators in the temperate zone. Although heavy metal pollution is recognised to be a problem affecting large parts of the European Union, we currently lack insights into the effects of heavy metals on wild bee survival and reproduction. We investigated the impact of heavy metal pollution on the wild bee Osmia rufa (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) by comparing their survival, reproduction and population dynamics along two independent gradients of heavy metal pollution, one in Poland and the other in the United Kingdom. We used trap nests to evaluate the response of fitness and survival parameters of O. rufa. To quantify the levels of pollution, we directly measured the heavy metal concentration in provisions collected by O. rufa. We found that with increasing heavy metal concentration, there was a steady decrease in number of brood cells constructed by females and an increase in the proportion of dead offspring. In the most polluted site, there were typically 3–4 cells per female with 50–60% dead offspring, whereas in unpolluted sites there were 8 to 10 cells per female and only 10–30% dead offspring. Moreover, the bee population growth rate (R0) decreased along the heavy metal pollution gradients. In unpolluted sites, R0 was above 1, whereas in contaminated sites, the values tended to be below 1. Our findings reveal a negative relationship between heavy metal pollution and several fitness parameters of the wild bee O. rufa, and highlight a mechanism whereby the detrimental effects of heavy metal pollution may severely impact wild bee communities.


The purpose of this study was to explore the self-perceived multicultural competence of school counselors. Forty-one school counselors out of the 510 school counselors who were current members of the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) completed both survey instruments: a demographic survey and the Multicultural Counseling Knowledge and Awareness Scale (MCKAS). The results of the study indicated that one of eight demographic variables demonstrated significance in relation to multicultural competence. Recommendations for future research included using a larger, ethnically diverse sample; including all school counselors in the state of Virginia; developing a survey instrument that included more aspects of multiculturalism than race/ethnicity; and including a third assessment tool to examine the relationship between demographic variables, multicultural competence, and additional variables.


We are reporting the case of a patient with final diagnosis of bronchopulmonar carcinoma of small cells who at first place assisted to E.N.T. Department due to a cervical node (adhered to the dermis) and hemoptysis of more than 2 months. We resected the neck mass which confirmed the presence ofa cutaneous metastases of an oat cell carcinome, being the patient after word ea sstudy by the Neumology Service, who found a righth lung tumor, of the same histological type. In spite of the treatment the patient die.


Advanced atomic force microscopy techniques such as contact resonance force microscopy, noncontact mode phase imaging, and scanning thermal microscopy techniques have been used to characterize material properties in the interphase of fiber reinforced polymer composites. With contact resonance force microscopy, the average interphase thickness was found to be (49 ± 5) nm, (64 ± 12) nm, and (139 ± 21) nm for samples containing lyocell fibers in matrix materials consisting of 100 % polypropylene (PP)/0 % maleated polypropylene (MAPP), 95 % PP/5 % MAPP, and 90 % PP/10 % MAPP, respectively. Clear distinctions in modulus values between the fiber, interphase zone, and matrix are clearly visible in modulus images. A gradient of modulus was observed across the interphase region that ranged between the modulus values of fiber and the polymer matrix. Noncontact mode images showed a clear phase difference between the fiber, interphase, and matrix owing to the difference in material properties between the components. Interphase regions were observed to possess higher thermal conductivity than the matrix polymer due to cross-linking within the interphase.


The frequency of conversion hysteria in children is impossible to estimate accurately, as the variability in the use of the diagnostic criteria is marked. It is, however, a rare condition. It is the feeling of the staff of the North Carolina Baptist Hospital Pediatric Service that the number of cases seen here is greater than that expected on the basis of the experience at other institutions. One of the possible explanations for this apparently higher incidence is the predominantly rural culture of the referral area of this hospital. This area, in spite of the rather recent increase in industry, is still one of the last truly rural cultures in the nation. Families live in isolation or semiisolation, with a strong patriarchal control. Folklore and superstition are integral and powerful parts of the culture. Modern agricultural methods are not as yet widespread. Sanitation, nutrition, education, and sophistication are still lacking, at


There is a broad and growing literature on the changing role of universities in regional development. What is still missing, however, is a precise understanding of the "third function†of universities in regions. The aim of this paper is to contribute to a nuanced view of the role of universities in regional development. Based on a literature review and a comparison of different conceptual approaches we intend to enrich our knowledge about the multifaceted activities performed by universities at the regional level. Four conceptualisations of the "third function†of universities and regions are considered. In the first, the university "third function†is conceptualised as part of the changing nature of knowledge production and innovation. In this conceptualisation, universities are seen as producers of new types of "Mode 2†knowledge which is trans-disciplinary and generated with a variety of stakeholders in a context of application. In the second, the university is conceptualised as having a changing role in regional economic development. In this view, universities are seen as central in the emergence, growth, and anchoring of local industry and in local knowledge transfer. In the third set of approaches, the university is viewed as having a social and environmental role, as societal beneficiary providing direct services for the region via, for example, training relevant to immediate communities and considering local environmental sustainability. In the fourth, the "third function†is conceptualised as an emergent evolutionary process of interactions arising from differing conditions, actors, operations and outcomes over time. In this view, the "third function†is conceptualised as an outcome of dynamically evolving "Triple Helix†interactions, where overlapping interests, organisations, and networks between academia, government and industry create conditions for new networks and dynamics with changing degrees of determinism over time. Drawing on an analysis of the theoretical and empirical literature, we will highlight that the four approaches outlined above differ strongly with respect to (i) the conceptual explanations they provide for increasing levels of universities' engagement in regional development; (ii) the specific mechanisms and activities by which universities are seen to contribute to regional growth and innovation; (iii) the identification of potential beneficiaries of such activities; and (iv) the main driving forces and barriers to "third function†activities and related policy implications. Taken together, these approaches allow for a view of universities in regions which captures a broad range of old and new functions, interactions, cumulative processes, actors, unpredictability and contextual specificities in line with an evolutionary view.


Author(s): Kjall, Jonas Alexander | Advisor(s): Moore, Joel E | Abstract: Magnetism is a subject that has fascinated mankind for countless generations. With the development of quantum mechanics around a century ago a fundamental understanding of many of the underlying causes of magnetism were obtained. However, the long range interaction combined with the complex systems magnetism appears in makes it very hard to investigate it. In our days this research area is more active than ever, mainly due to future demand of the electronic industry for components engineered down to the atomic level. Quantum effects gets more important at short scales, especially in lower dimensional materials like sheets and wires. The rapidly increasing amount of computational power available makes the numerical techniques a more important part of the research effort. Many of these are especially well suited to analyze lower dimensional quantum problems. Three of the most important techniques, (classical) Monte Carlo, Exact Diagonalization (ED) and matrix product states (MPS) based techniques, like density renormalization group (DMRG) and time evolving block decimation (TEBD) will be described in some detail and put to use later in this dissertation.With the rapid development of experimental techniques for ultracold gases in optical traps a new approach to investigate magnetic properties that are hard achieve or control in the solid state has emerged. We first study the ground-state phase diagram of a spin-1 condensate trapped in an optical trap when the magnetic dipole interaction between the atoms is taken into account along with confinement and spin precession. The boundaries between the regions of ferromagnetic and polar phases move as the dipole strength is varied and the ferromagnetic phases can be modulated. The magnetization of the ferromagnetic phase perpendicular to the field becomes modulated as a helix winding around the magnetic field direction, with a wavelength inversely proportional to the dipole strength. This modulation should be observable for current experimental parameters in 87Rb. Hence the much-sought supersolid state, with broken continuous translation invariance in one direction and broken global U(1) invariance, occurs generically as a metastable state in this system as a result of dipole interaction. The ferromagnetic state parallel to the applied magnetic field becomes striped in a finite system at strong dipolar coupling.The development of artificial gauge fields, that can mimic magnetic fields, in ultracold gases suggests that atomic realization of fractional quantum Hall physics will become experimentally practical in the near future. While it is known that bosons on lattices can support quantum Hall states, the universal edge excitations that provide the most likely experimental probe of the topological order have not been obtained. We find that the edge excitations of an interacting boson lattice model are surprisingly sensitive to interedge hybridization and edge-bulk mixing for some confining potentials. With properly chosen potentials and fluxes, the edge spectrum is surprisingly clear even for small systems with strong lattice effects such as bandwidth. Various fractional quantum Hall phases for bosons can be obtained, and the phases ν=1/2 and ν=2/3 have the edge spectra predicted by the chiral Luttinger liquid theory.Also, some of the traditional experimental techniques for detecting magnetic order and dynamics in solid state materials, like neutron scattering has had somewhat of a renaissance lately. In a recent experiment on CoNb2O6, Coldea et. al. found for the first time experimental evidence of the exceptional Lie algebra E8. The emergence of this symmetry was theoretically predicted long ago for the transverse quantum Ising chain in the presence of a weak longitudinal field. We consider an accurate microscopic model of CoNb2O6 incorporating additional couplings and calculate numerically the dynamical structure function using a recently developed matrix-product-state method. The excitation spectra show bound states characteristic of the weakly broken $textrm{E}_8$ symmetry. We compare the observed bound state signatures in this model to those found in the transverse Ising chain in a longitudinal field and to experimental data.Finally, we investigate the ground state phase diagram of a related quantum spin chain, the S=2 XXZ chain with single-ion anisotropy. The interest in this system comes mainly from connecting the highly quantum mechanical spin-1 phase diagram with the classical S=∞ phase diagram. While most of these questions where believed to have been satisfactorily answered mainly with DMRG, some recent studies have questioned some of the conclusions. We use several of the recent advances within DMRG and perform a detailed analysis of the whole phase diagram. We extend the phase diagram by considering different types of single ion anisotropies which help us to answer two important questions: First we show that one can adiabatically move from the isotropic Heisenberg point to the so-called large-D phase with a continuous change of the Hamiltonian. Second, we can tune the model into a predicted intermediate phase which is equivalent to the topologically non-trivial spin-1 Haldane phase. Furthermore, we study the spin-3 XXZ chain to help explaining the development of the classical phase diagram.


This work describes design and theoretical performance of a passive star-configured multimode optical fiber local area network that employs carrier sense multiple access with collision detection (CSMA/CD). We introduce a novel collision detection method that uses collision sequences constructed from cyclic error-correcting codes and a sequence weight violation rule. Each transmitter has its own unique sequence and all sequences have identical Hamming weight. The collision detection sequence is inserted in each packet header. Our method enables detection of collisions subject to a wider dynamic range variation than competing methods proposed up to now and is extremely simple. The collision detector consists of a counter which estimates the Hamming weight of the received collision detection sequence. It works both for non-return-to-zero and Manchester coding. The collision detector is analyzed for an avalanche photodiode receiver. The general performance analysis is done both with Gaussian approximations and with method of moments. A dynamic range of 17 dB seems possible for a transmitter with an extinction ratio of 100 and a simple receiver with a fixed threshold. An explicit table of 56 collision detection sequences based on the Golay code is presented.


: The negotiations literature abounds with studies about how cognitive heuristics affect negotiation outcomes. However, the role of colors in negotiations remains unexplored. The color red is associated with male dominance and leads to superior outcomes in sporting contests (Hill and Barton, 2005a). In this study, we examined the effect of wearing the color red on outcomes in distributive negotiations. Our findings revealed that when male negotiators wore red clothing, they gained a distributive advantage over their counterpart wearing white. Abstract The negotiations literature abounds with studies about how cognitive heuristics affect negotiation outcomes. However, the role of colors in negotiations remains unexplored. The color red is associated with male dominance and leads to superior outcomes in sporting contests (Hill and Barton, 2005a). In this study, we examined the effect of wearing the color red on outcomes in distributive negotiations. Our findings revealed that when male negotiators wore red clothing, they gained a distributive advantage over their counterpart wearing white.


A clinicopathologic study of 42 mucinous gastric carcinomas (MGC) and 73 nonmucinous gastric carcinomas (NGC) was done. The tumor was defined as MGC when more than one half of tumor area had mucin pools. The 5‐year survival rate for curatively treated patients was almost the same in MGC (58%) and NGC (56%), and clinicopathologic features, except for lymphatic permeation, showed no significant difference between MGC and NGC. Findings in MGC patients who died of a recurrence within 3 years included total gastrectomy, upper location, large size, infiltrative growth, extraserosal invasion, positive lymph node metastasis, more advanced stage, and a noncurative operation. There was no significant correlation between the degree of mucin content and other data, including the prognosis. Histologically, MGC were divided into well‐differentiated and poorly differentiated types, according to the degree of glandular formation of the tumor cells. In patients with well‐differentiated MGC, the age of onset was older, tumor growth was localized, and there were metastases to the liver. In patients with poorly differentiated MGC, the age of onset was younger, tumor growth was infiltrative, and there was peritoneal dissemination. These results show that the biologic behavior of MGC is similar to that of NGC and that the lesion basically is determined by the histologic subtype, not by the mucin content. Cancer 1992; 69:866–871.


In position control system of hydraulic excavator, the uncoordinated speeds between joints make quite trajectory errors no matter how well each joint performs. In order to solve this problem, a cross-coupled pre-compensation method is introduced in and applied to hydraulic excavator servo control system to solve this problem. Furthermore, in order to compensate for the nonlinearities of excavator and friction resistance, a nonlinear controller with angle velocity error observer and acceleration feedback is designed. Experimental results show that the proposed control strategy is effective in improving tracking accuracy and response ability when subjected to external load.


The distribution of 1-O-alkyl-2-acetyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine: acetyl hydrolase acetyl hydrolase activity between different types of human plasma lipoproteins was studied. It was found that lipoprotein-depleted plasma is practically devoid of acetyl hydrolase and of almost all acetyl hydrolase activities recovered in the plasma lipoprotein fraction. Among different types of plasma lipoproteins the bulk of acetyl hydrolase is bound to low density lipoproteins; of those not more than 5-10% is associated with high density lipoproteins. Isolated plasma high density lipoproteins do not influence the activity of acetyl hydrolase associated with low density lipoproteins. It is suggested that low and high density lipoprotein acetyl hydrolase may play different functional roles in human plasma.


With the development of modern teaching methods and information society, learning opportunities have become larger, limitless and instantaneous. Nowadays, learners can learn as well as acquire new and improved skills and competencies in an array of ways in contrast to the traditional methods i.e. formal learning. In the world of learning, there is always a question: a formal or an informal learning platform is the right and best way to go? In this article, we'll help you understand the difference between formal and informal learning and make a decision that fits your goals best.
In a few words, the choice between the formal and informal learning approach comes down to the intention, objective, challenges and how any of these learning patterns facilitates the learner in developing a successful career path and to perform at their full potential. There are three major areas on which either of these learning approaches can be tested from both the learner and instructor's point of view, including; 1. Content development 2. Targeted audience 3. Tracking of performance. In addition, each of these learning patterns offers different values in the lives of the learners. Again, the choice between the two comes down to the objectives and intent of the learners. As with just about every other methodology, formal and informal learning approaches also have differences when it comes to learning basics. This paper aims to discuss these basic differences separately. Formal learning is not a life-long process but offer results in a pre-defined time frame. For instance, students taking a particular certification course for the duration of two months. This is not a learning process that would continue throughout life. The program is designed for a particular duration and with the set, guidelines to be followed to achieve the targeted objective. The informal learning is a spontaneous and lifelong learning activity. In our early age, we learn as a kid from our parents. As we grow older, we learn from peers, friends, a job or from co-workers. As you get old, the learning process continues and you continue to learn from younger, for instance, the use of new technology. It can be said that informal learning keeps individuals vibrant, interested, and mentally active in the world around.


The recent rise of privacy concerns has led researchers to devise methods for private neural inference -- where inferences are made directly on encrypted data, never seeing inputs. The primary challenge facing private inference is that computing on encrypted data levies an impractically-high latency penalty, stemming mostly from non-linear operators like ReLU. Enabling practical and private inference requires new optimization methods that minimize network ReLU counts while preserving accuracy. This paper proposes DeepReDuce: a set of optimizations for the judicious removal of ReLUs to reduce private inference latency. The key insight is that not all ReLUs contribute equally to accuracy. We leverage this insight to drop, or remove, ReLUs from classic networks to significantly reduce inference latency and maintain high accuracy. Given a target network, DeepReDuce outputs a Pareto frontier of networks that tradeoff the number of ReLUs and accuracy. Compared to the state-of-the-art for private inference DeepReDuce improves accuracy and reduces ReLU count by up to 3.5% (iso-ReLU count) and 3.5$\times$ (iso-accuracy), respectively.


During the last century orthodontic treatment philosophies changed continuously. The necessity to extract teeth in order to correct a lack of space has many times been the subject of discussion. In fact there exists several techniques which make it possible to avoid extractions in many cases. A number of criteria which influence the decision to extract or not, as well as some techniques to regain space in upper and lower arch are discussed.


Business and Mission critical communication (MCC) is a major communication paradigm that is used by public agencies, e.g., during emergency situations, or critical infrastructure companies, e.g., airports, transportation, etc. MCC has very stringent requirements in terms of reliability, coverage and should offer group communications. Coordinated Multimedia Multicast/Broadcast single frequency network (MBSFN) is considered as a potential technology for MCC as it benefits from increased coverage and inter-cell interference mitigation. In this paper, we propose multi-input-multi-output (MIMO) multimedia MBSFN system design wherein each base station (BS) of a coordinated cluster multicasts a common message to all the users in a group. We use a greedy algorithm to dynamically form the cluster of synchronized BSs for optimal utilization of resources within an MBSFN. We assume the availability of perfect channel state information (CSI) knowledge and jointly obtain the optimal precoder and receive filters by minimizing the overall sum-mean- square-error (sum-MSE) constrained over the total transmit power. We further extend the proposed design to a robust case by considering the imperfections in available channel knowledge and obtain the transceiver matrices that are resilient to channel errors. We also present both the joint and robust system design for Single-Cell point-to-multipoint (SC-PTM) which is an alternative solution to MBSFN in MCC. Numerical results show the effectiveness of the proposed network architecture for future mission critical communication. Furthermore, the comparison results show that the proposed robust design demonstrate better performance and is resilient to the presence of CSI errors.


AbstractIn routine practice, warfarin is widely used in dialysis patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) for stroke prevention though the ratio of risks to benefits remains unclear. Recent cohort studies investigating the association between warfarin use and the risks of stroke and bleeding in dialysis patients with AF present conflicting results.The objective of this study was to assess the effectiveness and safety of warfarin use in patients with AF undergoing dialysis.Three databases PubMed, EMBASE, and OVID were searched from their inception to August 2015.Observational studies which assessed the ischemic stroke or bleeding risk of warfarin use in dialysis patients with AF were included. Two reviewers independently extracted data and assessed methodological quality based on the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale score. Combined hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using the random-effects model and heterogeneity was assessed based on the Cochrane Q-statistic test and the I2 statistic. Metaregression analyses were performed to explore the source of heterogeneity.A total of 11 eligible studies with 25,407 patients were included in the analysis. Warfarin use, in comparison with no-warfarin use, was not associated with a lower risk for ischemic stroke (HR 0.95, 95% CI 0.66–1.35). Sensitivity analyses found results to be robust. Metaregression analysis showed that demographic feature, clinical characteristics, or study-level variable had no impact of warfarin use on stroke risk. In addition, warfarin use was associated with a 27% higher risk for bleeding (95% CI 1.04–1.54). Overall, warfarin use did not have a significant association with reduced mortality (95% CI 0.96–1.11).It appears that warfarin use is not beneficial in reducing stroke risk, but with a high risk for bleeding in dialysis patients with AF. Randomized trials are needed to determine the risk-benefit ratio of warfarin in dialysis patients with AF.


OBJECTIVE
We highlight the past 25 years of cognitive neuroscience and neuropsychology, focusing on the impact to the field of the introduction in 1992 of functional MRI (fMRI).

METHOD
We reviewed the past 25 years of literature in cognitive neuroscience and neuropsychology, focusing on the relation and interplay of fMRI studies and studies utilizing the "lesion method" in human participants with focal brain damage.

RESULTS
Our review highlights the state of localist/connectionist research debates in cognitive neuroscience and neuropsychology circa 1992, and details how the introduction of fMRI into the field at that time catalyzed a new wave of efforts to map complex human behavior to specific brain regions. This, in turn, eventually evolved into many studies that focused on networks and connections between brain areas, culminating in recent years with large-scale investigations such as the Human Connectome Project.

CONCLUSIONS
We argue that throughout the past 25 years, neuropsychology-and more precisely, the "lesion method" in humans-has continued to play a critical role in arbitrating conclusions and theories derived from inferred patterns of local brain activity or wide-spread connectivity from functional imaging approaches. We conclude by highlighting the future for neuropsychology in the context of an increasingly complex methodological armamentarium. (PsycINFO Database Record


Abstract. This paper describes the stages of the development of IS radars, the formation and development of the Institute of Ionosphere of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and Ministry of Education and Science, Youth and Sport of Ukraine (IION) from the first steps in the implementation of ionospheric radar equipment near Kharkiv (Kharkov) up to the current state. The paper discusses the main trends in the scientific and technical activities of the Institute, its relations with scientific communities, and demonstrates major scientific achievements.


In this thesis is described the characterisation of two morphogenesis mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana, with the aim of furthering our understanding of signalling in development. A thorough phenotypic analysis of both mutants is presented, with particular attention paid to the seedling root. The results of genetic analysis of hydra2 are also presented. The hydra mutants are characterised by a pleiotropic phenotype, with defective embryonic and seedling cell patterning, morphogenesis and root growth. The HYDRA1 gene encodes a A8-A7 sterol isomerase, while HYDRA2 encodes a sterol C14 reductase, previously identified as the FACKEL gene product. Seedlings mutant for each gene are similarly defective in the concentrations of the three major Arabidopsis sterols. Reporter gene analysis showed mis-expression of the hormonally-regulated DR5, IAA2 and ACSl promoters and of the epidermal cell file-specific GL2 promoter in the mutants. The mutants also exhibit enhanced responses to auxin. The phenotypes can be partially rescued by inhibition of auxin and ethylene signalling, but not by exogenous brassinosteroids. Evidence of abnormal activity of hormone-related membrane-bounds proteins and of altered membrane permeability to auxin is presented. A model in which correct sterol profiles are required for regulated auxin and ethylene signalling through effects on membrane function is proposed.


Adverse weather conditions such as fog, haze, snow, mist and glare create visibility problems for applications of autonomous vehicles. To ensure safe and smooth operations in frequent bad weather scenarios, image dehazing is crucial to any vehicular motion and navigation task on road or air. Moreover, the commonly deployed mobile systems are resource constrained in nature. Therefore, it is important to ensure memory, compute and run-time efficiency of dehazing algorithms. In this manuscript we propose ReViewNet, a fast, lightweight and robust dehazing system suitable for autonomous vehicles. The network uses components like spatial feature pooling, quadruple color-cue, multi-look architecture and multi-weighted loss to effectively dehaze images captured by cameras of autonomous vehicles. The effectiveness of the proposed model is analyzed by exhaustive quantitative evaluation on five benchmark datasets demonstrating its supremacy over other existing state-of-the-art methods. Further, a component-wise ablation and loss weight ratio analysis demonstrates the contribution of each and every component of the network. We also show the qualitative analysis with special use cases and visual responses on distinctive vehicular vision instances, establishing the effectiveness of the proposed method in numerous hazy weather conditions for autonomous vehicular applications.


Background: Subserous gallbladder carcinoma is difficult to diagnose and treat. There are no tissue markers with prognostic value in this type of tumor. Aim: To study the immunohistochemical expression of E-cadherin alpha and beta catenin in subserous gallbladder carcinoma. Patients and methods: One hundred seventeen subjects (103 women and 14 men aged 62 and 69 years as a mean, respectively), were studied. Thirty five gallbladder samples without evidence of cancer were used as controls. Expression of markers was studied with standard immunohistochemical techniques for formalin fixed and paraffin embedded tissue. Results: Ninety seven percent of tumors were adenocarcinoma. A lower or absent expression of E-cadherin, alpha catenin and beta catenin was observed in 26, 33 and 29% of tumors, respectively. Actuarial five years survival was 37%. No association between macroscopic features of the tumor and survival was observed. Well differentiated tumors had a 73% survival, whereas less differentiated tumors had a 30% survival. Tumors with a normal expression of the markers had a slightly better survival, although not significant (p=0.06). Conclusions: Approximately 30% of subserous gallbladder carcinoma have an abnormal expression of E-cadherin, alpha catenin and beta catenin. This abnormal expression has no relationship with prognosis and is probably secondary to the aberrant genic expression of the tumor (Rev Med Chile 2002; 130: 1349-57)


In millimeter wave (mmWave) communication systems, beamforming with large antenna arrays is critical to overcome high path losses. Separating all-digital beamforming into analog and digital stages can provide the large reduction in power consumption needed for practical implementations with a tradeoff of a small loss in spectral efficiency. Developing algorithms with this favorable tradeoff is challenging due to the additional degrees of freedom in the analog stage and its accompanying hardware constraints. In hybrid beamforming systems, for example, channel estimation algorithms do not directly observe the channels, face a high channel count, and operate at low SNR before transmit-receive beam alignment. Since mmWave channels are sparse in time and beam domains, many compressed sensing (CS) channel estimation algorithms have been developed that randomly conFigure the analog beamformers, digital beamformers, and/or pilot symbols. In this paper, we propose to design deterministic beamformers and pilot symbols for open-loop channel estimation. We use CS approaches that rely on low coherence for their recovery guarantees, and hence seek to minimize the mutual coherence of the compressed sensing matrix. We also propose a precoder column ordering to design the pilot symbols. Simulation results show that our beamformer designs reduce channel estimation error over competing methods.


A systematic modeling of multibody dynamics of five-axis machine tools is presented in this article. The machine is divided into major subassemblies such as spindle, column, bed, tool changer, and longitudinal and rotary drives. The inertias and mass center of each subassembly are calculated from the design model. The subassemblies are connected with elastic springs and damping elements at contact joints to form the complete multibody dynamic model of the machine that considers the rigid body kinematics and structural vibrations of the machine at any point. The unknown elastic joint parameters are estimated from the experimental modal analysis of the machine tool. The resulting position-dependent multibody dynamic model has the minimal number of degrees-of-freedom that is equivalent to the number of measured modes, as opposed to thousands used in finite element models. The frequency response functions of the machine can be predicted at any posture of the five-axis machine, which are compared against the directly measured values to assess the validity of model. The proposed model can predict the combined rigid body motion and vibrations of the machine with computational efficiency, and hence, it can be used as a digital twin to simulate its dynamic performance in machining operations and tracking control tests of the servo drives.


Since dielectric materials are highly attractive in the emerging industry due to their significant applications in energy storage, power electronics, medical devices, etc., the pursuit of novel dielectric materials with fantastic properties is one of the most active areas of research. Based on their porous structures and chemical components, herein, we report three-dimensional (3D) graphene oxide foams (GOFs) as novel lightweight compressible dielectric materials, which are considered as the simplest carbon-air prototypes for variable dielectrics. With the increasing compression, much enhanced dielectric properties along with enlarged densities were found, and the exclusive mechanisms based on the dipole alignment and isolated conductive regions in the 3D GO–air configurations were considered as the major factors contributing to their dielectric properties. For understanding this interesting dielectric variation in 3D GOFs, a general model was proposed to explain the density-dependent dielectric constant; moreover, the percolation theory and Maxwell-Garnett theory were used to explain the variations in the dielectric loss at lower and higher frequency, respectively. According to the experimental and theoretical results, implication of the decoupled dielectric properties suggests that utilization of 3D GOFs highlights an exceptional platform for the fabrication of unique dielectric materials with various properties.


This study investigates food consumption by juveniles and adults of the edible giant land snail Archachatina marginata under laboratory conditions. In one experiment, the snails were fed weekly from hatching for 13 months with weighed amounts of lettuce (Lactuca sativa), carrot (Daucus carota), potato (Solanum tuberosum), apple (Malus pumila), and calcium. Another group of 2-month-old A. marginata ovum was fed singly for 3 days on each of the test food items. The results show that, when given a choice, A. marginata can select from the 4 types of food and calcium. When given no choice, lettuce provided high digestibility and usability for the juvenile A. marginata but potato gave the best growth. The monthly consumption of calcium increased as the shell length was increasing rapidly until month 5, thereafter declining gradually, until from month 8 onwards the snails consumed very little calcium per month.


In food industry, quality assurance requires low cost methods for the rapid assessment of the parameters that affect product stability. Foodstuffs are complex in their structure, mainly composed by gaseous, liquid and solid phases which often coexist in the same product. Special attention is given to water, concerned as natural component of the major food product or as added ingredient of a production process. Particularly water is structurally present in the matrix and not completely available. In this way, water can be present in foodstuff in many different states: as water of crystallization, bound to protein or starch molecules, entrapped in biopolymer networks or adsorbed on solid surfaces of porous food particles.
The traditional technique for the assessment of food quality give reliable information but are destructive, time consuming and unsuitable for on line application. The techniques proposed answer to the limited disposition of time and could be able to characterize the main compositional parameters. Dielectric interaction response is mainly related to water and could be useful not only to provide information on the total content but also on the degree of mobility of this ubiquitous molecule in different complex food matrix. In this way the proposal of this thesis is to answer at this need. Dielectric and electric tool can be used for the scope and led us to describe the complex food matrix and predict food characteristic.
The thesis is structured in three main part, in the first one some theoretical tools are recalled to well assess the food parameter involved in the quality definition and the techniques able to reply at the problem emerged. The second part explains the research conducted and the experimental plans are illustrated in detail. Finally the last section is left for rapid method easily implementable in an industrial process.


Abstract To be effective and sustainable, HIV-prevention interventions need to be sufficiently powerful to counteract prevailing social norms and diffuse through the targeted community to provide social reinforcement for behaviour change. Social structural and environmental factors are major influences on HIV-related behaviours yet the dearth of conceptualization and operationalization of these factors impede progress in intervention development. In this paper we propose a social ecological perspective to intervention and highlight relevant theories from social psychology and organizational behaviour literatures. We examine social networks and social settings as micro-structural and environmental influences on HIV risk behaviours, social identities and norms, and as important targets for HIV-prevention intervention. Intervention approaches are proposed that target networks and behavioural settings and provide participants with socially meaningful and rewarding behavioural options that are consistent with valued prosocial identities or roles. Examples are presented on how such an approach has been utilized in prior HIV prevention interventions, including our social network-oriented intervention that trained disadvantaged former and current illicit drug users to conduct peer outreach. We describe how behavioural interventions may enhance or introduce new prosocial identities and social roles, and that network members may confer social approval to reinforce these identities and roles, leading to sustained behavioural risk reduction and changes in risk behaviour norms.


The original photogravure was produced in Boston by John Andrew & Son, c1908 and published as plate 163 in The North American Indian volume five, subtitled The Mandan. The Arikara. The Atsina [portfolio]. Original copyright Seattle : E.S. Curtis, 1908


: Historically, foreign assistance has been used to support and advance donor countries own interests upon recipient countries. Foreign assistance primary use is to influence and change the behavior of a recipient country. This is achieved by providing foreign assistance to countries in their efforts to maintain global peace, security, provide economic development and humanitarian relief. Germany is ranked as the third-largest donors within the development assistance committee (DAC). Primarily, Germany allocates its official development assistance (ODA) to recipient countries based on emphasis on good governance and human rights. Currently, Germany's ODA is at a record high and increasing every year. The country has made countless efforts to reach its own target goals and send more essential aid to the neediest countries. Recently, Germany has shifted its ODA commitments to Middle Eastern and North Africa (MENA) countries due to the Arab Spring uprising events that occurred through 2011. The Arab Spring caused massive migration displacement across the MENA region. The displaced migrants have made the conscious effort to find better lives in Europe. However, migration is discussed with security narrative across countries within the European Union (EU), such as Germany. The EU countries have increased its efforts to prevent higher of influxes of internationally displaced persons from arriving at their border and claiming asylum. Therefore, ODA is now viewed as an essential tool to support potential migrants in their country of origin and prevent from immigrating to Europe. In my study, I select eleven MENA countries and examine whether German ODA effected migration inflows of the MENA into Germany. I found insignificant and negative results regarding ODA disbursement. But I conclude that migration inflows were positive and significant. This means that ODA made Germany as an attractive destination country. This means that Germany must reassess itself and determine whether ODA is right tool to prevent migration flows.


PURPOSE
This study compared antibacterial properties of five bonding agents with that of a control, Chlorhexidine (2.5%). Products evaluated were the self-etch primers (-P) and adhesives (-A) of Clearfil SE Bond (SE-P; SE-A) [Kuraray Dental], Clearfil Protect Bond (PB-P; PB-A) [Kuraray Dental], Optibond Solo Self-etch (OS-P; OS-A) [Kerr] and the one-bottle products, self-etch Clearfil Tri-S Bond (3S) [Kuraray Dental] and total-etch Adper Scotchbond 1 XT (XT) [3M ESPE].

METHODS
Spread plates of three different bacteria (Streptococcus mutans, Lactobacillus paracasei and Actinomyces naeslundii) were prepared on Casein-peptone-Soymeal-peptone Agar (CASO-Agar). Controls, Primers, Adhesives, and Primer & Adhesive combinations were placed on standardized, sterilized filtration paper or composite disks and then placed on the inoculated agar and incubated at 37 degrees C for 48 hours. Inhibition zones were measured and data was statistically analyzed using the Student t-test. An additional test was performed by which growth inhibiting of 1/10 and 1/100 dilutions of the test suspensions were measured spectrophotometrically as turbidity at 600 nm and expressed as percentage growth (%).

RESULTS
Compared to the controls, the only cured product which produced significant inhibition was Scotchbond 1 XT (XT), and that for Actinomyces naeslundii only. The primer of Clearfil Protect Bond (PB-P) showed statistically significant growth inhibition for all three test bacteria, the primer of SE Bond (SE-P) had significant inhibitive properties against Streptoccocus mutans and Actinomyces naeslundii and the primer of Optibond Solo Self-etch (OS-P) inhibited growth of Actinomyces naeslundii significantly.

CONCLUSIONS
The primers of Clearfil Protect Bond, Clearfil SE Bond, Optibond Solo Self-etch and the product Adper Scotchbond 1 XT may be beneficial in eliminating remaining bacteria after cavity preparation, but further research on a possible long-term antibacterial benefit of these products needs to be undertaken.


Abstract The peat bog at Homoródszentpál Kerek-tó (Round Lake), situated in Homoród Hills of the Eastern Carpathians in Romania, provides a continuous record of paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental changes from the Early Holocene. In this study, we present a 7500-year-long high-resolution record of past climatic changes and signs of human impact recorded in a peat bog via integrating sedimentological, paleoecological and geochemical proxies. The basin of Round Lake formed around the Pleistocene–Holocene border when the permafrost thawed. Ponded water accumulated in the catchment basin from the beginning of the Holocene but ca. 7500 cal BP years ago lacustrine sedimentation was exchanged for peat accumulation. The 570-cm-long core was subsampled at 2–4 cm intervals and subjected to grain-size, loss-on-ignition (LOI), pollen, and radiocarbon (14C) analyses. Our findings were correlated with and interpreted in the light of paleobotanical records deriving from archaeological sites and the newest bioclimatological models of the nearby areas. Sedimentological analysis document erosion and accumulation events which were influenced by more complex processes like climate change. Based on environmental historical and climatic data we aimed to reconstruct the environmental changes of forested areas in the Homoródi Hills.


In absence of beta-receptor blocking agents, alpha-adrenergic inotropic effects could be demonstrated in the rat myocardium for the synthetic alpha-agonists phenylephrine and methoxamine, but not for the naturally occurring catecholamines, adrenaline and noradrenaline. Other synthetic alpha-agonists were without effects. In the presence of the beta-receptor blocking agent, propranolol or timolol, marked alpha-effects were demonstrated for adrenaline and noradrenaline in both the right and left atria and the right ventricle. The results indicate that alpha-receptors may be functionally important in the beta-blocked myocardium.


In this paper we consider the optimum detection of OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) signals with strong nonlinear distortion effects. It is shown that the optimum performance with strong nonlinear distortion effects is not as bad as one might expect and can even be better than the performance with conventional, linear transmitters. To achieve these excellent performances we should employ receivers able to take advantage of the information associated to transmitted data symbols that is inherent to the nonlinear distortion component, in opposition to traditional OFDM implementations where nonlinear distortion effects are regarded as an undesirable noise-like component. We study the achievable gains of the optimum receiver both analytically and by simulation. Since the complexity of optimum receivers is extremely high when we have nonlinear distortion effects, even for OFDM signals with a small number of subcarriers, we propose several sub-optimum receivers and evaluate their performance. Our sub-optimal receivers allow remarkable performance improvements, being able to reduce significantly the gap between the optimum performance and the performance of typical OFDM receivers.


BACKGROUND
Sexual harassment in schools is recognized as a public-health problem detrimental to girls' psychosomatic health. This study examines the magnitude of sexual harassment and types of behaviours related to sexual harassment that female students are exposed to in a school environment, and their perceptions of them as problems in school.

METHOD
A random sample of 540 female high school students, from all over Sweden, responded to an anonymous self-report mail questionnaire consisting of items related to personal experiences of different behaviours related to sexual harassment during the previous school year.

RESULTS
Sexual harassment was identified by 49% of the female students as a problem present in their schools. The most common types were verbal behaviours, such as: sexualized conversations, attractiveness rating, demeaning comments about gender, name-calling, and sexual personal comments. The most common non-verbal displays were: sexualized contact seeking and sexual looks. Behaviours in the sexual assault and teacher-to-student categories were less prevalent. In all four categories, the respondents who reported exposure to a particular behaviour were significantly more likely to identify that behaviour as a problem in their school. However, many non-exposed respondents also perceived such behaviours as problems in their school.

CONCLUSIONS
Female high-school students in Sweden are exposed to a variety of inappropriate and/or unacceptable behaviours of a sexual nature, or based on sex, that may infringe their right to a supportive, respectful and safe learning environment or their dignity. Greater efforts are needed to analyse and prevent sexual harassment in schools.


The valorization of residual biomass plays today a decisive role in the concept of "circular economy", according to which each waste material must be reused to its maximum extent. The collection and energy valorization at the local level of biomass from forest management practices and wildfire prevention cutting can be settled in protected areas to contribute to local decarbonization, by removing power generation from fossil fuels. Despite the evident advantages of bioenergy systems, several problems still hinder their diffusion, such as the need to assure their reliability by extending the operating range with materials of different origin. The Italian project "INNOVARE—Innovative plants for distributed poly-generation by residual biomass", funded by the Italian Ministry of Economic Development (MISE), has the main scope of improving micro-cogeneration technologies fueled by biomass. A micro-combined heat and power (mCHP) unit was chosen as a case study to discuss pros and cons of biomass-powered cogeneration within a national park, especially due to its flexibility of use. The availability of local biomasses (woodchips, olive milling residuals) was established by studying the agro-industrial production and by identifying forest areas to be properly managed through an approach using a satellite location system based on the microwave technology. A detailed synergic numerical and experimental characterization of the selected cogeneration system was performed in order to identify its main inefficiencies. Improvements of its operation were optimized by acting on the engine control strategy and by also adding a post-treatment system on the engine exhaust gas line. Overall, the electrical output was increased by up to 6% using the correct spark timing, and pollutant emissions were reduced well below the limits allowed by legislation by working with a lean mixture and by adopting an oxidizing catalyst. Finally, the global efficiency of the system increased from 45.8% to 63.2%. The right blending of different biomasses led to an important improvement of the reliability of the entire plant despite using an agrifood residual, such as olive pomace. It was demonstrated that the use of this biomass is feasible if its maximum mass percentage in a wood matrix mixture does not exceed 25%. The project was concluded with a real operation demonstration within a national park in Southern Italy by replacing a diesel genset with the analyzed and improved biomass-powered plant and by proving a decisive improvement of air quality in the real environment during exercise.


The author evaluates the effects of democratic worker participation on the income distribution within firms. Wage inequality in French workers' cooperatives (called SCOPs) versus traditional firms is measured using the 2001-2012 panel DADS dataset which includes all French firms. The author finds significantly lower inequality in SCOPs, in line with the previous empirical literature. Going into more detail, it appears that inequality is reduced at the top of the distribution and specifically regarding qualification-based inequalities; the gender gap and the advantage of senior workers are not lower in SCOPs. These findings contribute to the literature on Labor-Managed Firms, as well as to the broader debate on rising wage inequality in developed countries.


Abstract
 Diatom development depends on several environmental factors, including the availability in metals. When micronutrients are present of adequate amount, cells exhibit a strong fitness and develop at their maximum growth rate. In many circumstances, the optimal metal amount in the cell environment is disrupted and cells experience starvation or excess for one or more elements. The metals in excess interfere with biochemical and cellular processes triggering a dysfunctioning that reduces growth and may ultimately lead to cell death. The ability of diatoms to adapt/resist to environmental changes has ecological consequences in term of biodiversity. To survive, diatoms activate defence mechanisms, such as the production of antioxidants or/and metal chelators. In this contribution, the diatom requirements for cadmium, copper, zinc and sodium are briefly reviewed. Then the impacts of an excess or a deprivation in one of these elements on diatom physiology is discussed from the molecular and biochemical point of views. The defence mechanisms enabling diatoms to overcome the metal stress are presented. At the end of this contribution, an assay on the integration of the defence mechanisms is presented.


This thesis is divided into four distinct and self-contained parts whose unifying theme is contained in the general title "Rational Approaches to the Correlation of Chemical Structure with Biological Activity." Part I contains a physico-chemical approach to the problem, describing infrared spectroscopy studies made on several series of ortho-bromophenols with the object of determining the influence of steric compression, electronic and solvent effects, temperature, competitive intermolecular hydrogen-bonding and change of state on the intramolecular hydrogen bond normally found in these compounds. The postulate is made, based on suggestions in the literature, that the bactericidal activity of phenols could be dependent upon the ability of the phenolic hydroxyl group to bind with constituents of the living organism, and from the results obtained in the infrared studies, a prediction is made of the expected order of bactericidal potency of the compounds investigated. Part II describes a scheme for transforming the morphine ring system into the steroid ring system with a view to obtaining biologically-interesting 19-nor 9-substituted steroids bearing substituents capable of being utilised as centres for further reactions. The intermediates in the scheme would also be of considerable interest in view of the many attempts to produce analgesics devoid of addicting properties. The occurrence of an unexpected dimerisation in the first step of the projected conversions proved the original scheme to be unfeasible. Alternative procedures were not investigated owing to the lack of simplicity promised in the original. The dimerisation, which actually occurred in attempts to epimerise the hydrogen atom at c(14) in codeinone, is fully rationalised in terms of other work in the literature. Part III describes a traditional approach, that of chemically investigating a plant which has been reported to contain pharmacologically-active alkaloids and which has been used in native medical practice. The chemical examination of Bacopa monnieri (L) Pennel is reported in this instance, the alkaloidal content, however, being too small to permit of detailed investigation. The presence and characterisation of other organic components of the plant are reported. Part IV justifies the rationale of isosteric replacement in biologically-active molecules and deals with attempts to prepare 3-(2'-aminoethyl)-5-hydroxythionaphthen, the thionaphthen isostere of 5-hydroxytryptamine. Synthetic approaches to the thionaphthen isostere of 4-hydroxy-tryptamine are also descried. The first reported instance of a 16-memhered hydrogen-bonded dimer which was encountered during this work is recorded, and the formation of ortho diazo-oxides by the action of nitric acid on acetamido compounds is discussed.


This thesis describes the development and characterisation of single-mode optical fibre lasers and amplifiers. Although the fibre laser configuration was first employed over twenty years ago, its application to conventional optical fibre technology has not been demonstrated previously. The new devices are based on single-mode fibres doped with rare-earth ions, notably neodymium and erbium. The combination of strong absorption bands, long fluorescence lifetimes; low fibre losses in the infra-red and small fibre cores have made possible very low threshold and efficient fibre lasers. Experiments on the tunability, output spectra and pulsed operation of these devices are described. A number of world firsts, including the Lowest, threshold and widest tuning range of a doped glass laser, and the efficient CW operation of an erbium-doped three level laser, have been achieved. High-gain amplification at 1.54µm, the preferred wavelength for optical communication, has also been demonstrated. The results have been modelled by adapting conventional laser theory to the single-mode fibre configuration, and some simple design criteria are considered.


This chapter analyses select national policy fields, demonstrating increased market liberalism in the Danish agricultural sector and in the fisheries sector. Policies aimed at reducing nitrogen leaching from farmland are shifting from reliance on universal measures to more emphasis on site-specific regulation. An important aim of this more differentiated approach is to reduce compliance costs for farmers. The family farm has traditionally been the bedrock of the Danish farm sector. To maintain its viability, restrictions on farm ownership were in place for decades. Most of these have now been dismantled and opened for new ownership models and injection of capital. Danish organic farming and food policy is distinct as it is actively pursuing a market-driven development by facilitating farm conversion, and importantly, supporting various types of initiatives aimed at increasing the demand for organic food. Danish fisheries policy has evolved into a property rights-based and market-based management system for fisheries. The drivers for introducing more market liberalism have been to maintain the international competitiveness of the two industries, and in the farm sector, a realization that incomes must increasingly be derived from the market in the future.


Tumor-specific immune tolerance limits the effectiveness of cancer vaccines. In addition, tumor vaccines alone have a limited potential for the treatment of measurable tumor burdens. This highlights the importance of identifying more potent cancer vaccine strategies for clinical testing. We tested immune-modulating doses of chemotherapy in combination with a granulocyte/macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF)-secreting, HER-2/neu (neu)-expressing whole-cell vaccine as a means to treat existing mammary tumors in antigen-specific tolerized neu transgenic mice. Earlier studies have shown that neu transgenic mice exhibit immune tolerance to the neu-expressing tumors similar to what is observed in patients with cancer. We found that cyclophosphamide, paclitaxel, and doxorubicin, when given in a defined sequence with a GM-CSF-secreting, neu-expressing whole-cell vaccine, enhanced the vaccine's potential to delay tumor growth in neu transgenic mice. In addition, we showed that these drugs mediate their effects by enhancing the efficacy of the vaccine rather than via a direct cytolytic effect on cancer cells. Furthermore, paclitaxel and cyclophosphamide appear to amplify the T helper 1 neu-specific T-cell response. These findings suggest that the combined treatment with immune-modulating doses of chemotherapy and the GM-CSF-secreting neu vaccine can overcome immune tolerance and induce an antigen-specific antitumor immune response. These data provide the immunological rationale for testing immune-modulating doses of chemotherapy in combination with tumor vaccines in patients with cancer.


Dear Editor,
The homeopathic scientific model suffers constant criticism due to employ different assumptions and antagonistic to conventional scientific model, despite constantly develop studies confirming their premises [1-3]. The preferred target of the critics and skeptics rests on the principle of similitude curative ('like cures like') and the use of ultra-high dilutions (dynamized medicines).
While the principle of similitude is scientifically grounded in the rebound effect (paradoxical reaction) of conventional drugs [4,5], being recently proposed its therapeutic application by modern pharmacology ('paradoxical pharmacology') [6-8], several studies show clinical, biological and physical-chemistry activities of ultra-high dilutions in experimental models [9].
Despite these evidences, many skeptics questioning the 'plausibility' of the homeopathic model. Disregarding the biological effect of the homeopathic medicines, they gathered in public squares from different countries with the purpose of ingesting large doses of these 'implausible' ultra-high diluted drugs and show that nothing will happen, because they would not have the power to cause adverse events as the conventional drugs. Although they have not notified any disorder after this massive ingestion of dynamized homeopathic medicines, a recent systematic review suggests that they must have suffered serious consequences, as we have suggested in the past. [10]
In order to counteract the widespread idea that homeopathy 'is safe to use', Posadzki et al. [11] conducted a systematic review to critically evaluate the evidence regarding the adverse effects (AEs) of homeopathy described in published case reports and case series. In a total of 38 reports analyzed, 30 pertained to direct AEs of homeopathic medicines encompassing 1142 patients submitted to various medicines and forms of treatment (mostly, complex homeopathic medicines in low potencies). Reporting that "in 94.7% of cases the potencies were described as below of the 12ª Centesimal, the point beyond which the likelihood of a single molecule being present in the remedy approaches zero", the authors claim that "in the majority of cases, the possible mechanism of action involved allergic reactions or ingestion of toxic substances". With this approach, the authors seek to dismiss the biological effects of ultra-high dilutions, because if they cause AEs would be confirming the plausibility of its possible therapeutic effects. However, toxicological tests are required to affirm that AEs are a consequence of toxic (allergic) effects of the substances or of 'imponderable' effects of ultra-high dilutions.
In view of the recent report cited in the review [12] in which a complex homeopathic medicine indicated for treating infant colic (Gali-col Baby, GCB) caused apparent life-threatening events (ALTEs were described by the National Institutes of Health consensus group in 1986 as "an episode that is frightening to the observer and that is characterized by some combination of apnea (central or occasionally obstructive), color change (usually cyanotic or pallid but occasionally erythematous or plethoric), a marked change in muscle tone (usually marked limpness), choking or gagging" [13]) in consequence of the 'toxicity of active ingredients' (Citrullus colocynthis, Matricaria chamomilla, Bryonia alba, Nux vomica, Veratrum album, Magnesia phosphorica and Cuprum metallicum at potencies between 4C and 5C), Oberbaum et al. [14] performed a toxicological study of these components showing that "doses ingested in the GCB series were 10-13 orders of magnitude smaller than those reported to cause toxic reactions in humans" and that "there was poor correlation between symptoms with GCB and toxic profiles of the components". As alternative explanation, they suggest that "four components (Veratrum album, Cuprum metallicum, Bryonia alba and Matricaria chamomilla) have an intermediate to high propensity to produce at least one of the five symptoms that define ALTE, when given in homeopathic dilutions. Two of these (Veratrum album and Cuprum metallicum) have an intermediate-to-high propensity to produce three of the four possible ALTE symptoms". The authors conclude that "it is unlikely that the ALTE following ingestion of GCB was a toxic reaction to any of the drug's component", proposing the 'homeopathic theory' (pathogenetic manifestations) [15] as explanation for this linkage.
In view of these results, it can be inferred that AEs caused by homeopathic medicines at potencies ≥ 6C 'are more closely related to the imponderable effects of ultra-high dilutions than the toxic (allergic) effects of substances'. Accordingly, other case reports cited in that review described serious AEs with potencies of this magnitude, including the occurrence of 'drug rash with eosinophilia and severe pulmonary involvement' after using Sedativ PC (complex homeopathic medicine with 6 ingredients in 6CH) [16], and the occurrence of 'heart disease and bladder cancer' with a complex homeopathic medicine in very high potencies (Aconitum napellus, Barytacarbonica, Cantharis vesicatoria, Gambogia, Pulsatilla nigricans and Rhus toxicodendron at 1000c, M or 10M potencies) [17], discarding any influence of 'toxicity of substances'.
Similarly, in a systematic review on information regarding adverse effects of homeopathic medicines including 19 reports of clinical trials, 19 case (or case series) reports and 15 homeopathic pathogenetic trials, Dantas and Rampes [18] concluded that "the mean incidence of AEs of homeopathic medicines (ultra-high dilutions) was greater than placebo (9.4/6.1) in controlled clinical trials", including mostly headaches, tiredness, skin eruptions, dizziness, bowel dysfunction such as diarrhea or loose stools and, more frequently, aggravations of symptoms following the administration of homeopathic medicines.
Countering the false adage that "if homeopathic medicines do not do well, evil also do not do", the evidence of the manifestations of serious AEs with the inappropriate use of complex homeopathic medicines and/or very low potencies are an alert to the need to achieve a 'good homeopathic clinical practice', in conformity with the fundamentals of 'therapeutic similitude' according to the 'pathogenetic experimentation' and the 'individualized medicines'. On the other hand, allows observation of biological effect of ultra-high diluted substances, reiterating the scientific validity of the use of the 'dynamized medicines'.


This case pertains to one of the most important topics in financial accounting and reporting: revenue recognition. It is intended for use in a required MBA financial accounting course or in an MBA elective course in Financial Reporting and Analysis. The company, Better Buy, Inc., is an electronics retailer selling TVs and other electronic products. The company is a bit unique, however, in that it not only sells major brand TVs, but it also sells TVs under its own brand that carry a one-year warranty for which the retailer—not the manufacturer—is responsible. The company also offers an additional two-year warranty on its TVs that also is the sole responsibility of the retailer. The case asks students to address a number of revenue recognition situations along with the associated expenses. These situations include a product sale where the sales price also includes a warranty provision, a "bundle" of a product sale and an extended warranty sale, and a bundle of a product sale and an extended warranty sale where the company has an agreement to outsource the servicing of its extended warranty service


I read the recent article by Pan and colleagues1 with great interest. Their findings using the Short-Form 36 Health Status Survey suggest that even mood disturbances that do not require clinical intervention are predictive of diabetes. This interpretation, combined with the counterintuitive finding that nonsevere depression was similarly, and potentially more strongly, associated with diabetes risk than severe depression reported in another recent article,2 begs the question(s): What is it about depressed mood, regardless of severity, that predicts diabetes? Is there some omitted confounder that could explain this finding? The "Patient Perspective" that accompanied the recent article by Campayo and colleagues2 hints at a potential candidate: stress. The woman described in this vignette experienced both a major life event—widowhood—and complicated bereavement prior to onset of diabetes. Stressful life events are a well-documented cause of depression.3 Recent work on the physiologic consequences of stress (canonized in concepts such as allostatic load) suggests stress can also increase the risk of physical health conditions in later life.4 If stress, rather than depression, is the true causal factor, this would explain the consistent finding from epidemiologic research that antidepressant use is not associated with lower risk of developing diabetes (and may, as reported by Pan et al1 and others, be associated with an elevated risk of diabetes). Other depression treatment trials in the context of medical conditions have also failed to demonstrate reduced risk of medical conditions or complications, despite achieving psychopathologic improvements.5 If stress promotes development of both depression and diabetes,6 this suggests that treating depression without addressing the underlying sources of adversity and stress will not influence the risk of medical conditions subsequent to depression.


Grid technology enables large scale aggregation of computational and other resources for sharing across organizational boundaries. Resource broker, the gateway to a managed set of computing elements, handles the job submission on behalf of the user. In this paper we present the design and development of computational resource broker for grid using semantic resource description and matching technique. We evaluate the computational resource broker with different job profile using Gridsim, Grid simulation toolkit and conclude with the discussion results.


Background We reported strong independent and joint effects of family asthma and second-hand smoke exposure (SHS) on the risk of adult-onset asthma (AJRCCM 2013). For interleukin 6 (IL6), an inflammatory cytokine, up-regulation of gene expression by tobacco smoke, and higher serum levels for smokers and for asthmatics were reported. IL6 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were associated with changes in lung function parameters and asthma. Objective To assess interactions of IL6 SNPs and SHS on the risk of adult-onset asthma. Methods A population-based incident case-control study of clinically defined adult-onset asthma and random controls, among adults 21 to 63 years old in Finland. Six tagging SNPs were genotyped. Among non-smokers, genotyping was available for 217 cases and 316 disease-free controls. Results Rs2069827 genotype AA, rs1800797 genotype GA, and rs2069861 genotype AG had synergistic effect with recent SHS exposure. Carriage of any one of them had synergistic effect with SHS, so that the relative excess risk due to interaction (RERI) was 2.22, 95% confidence interval 0.67-5.27, and carriage of any two had even higher synergism (RERI 7.83, -0.02-79.68). In a haplotype analysis of the same SNPs, carriage of haplotype H4 (CAA) or H6 (AAG) (except for a protective haplotype pair H3/H6) was found to show synergism with SHS, RERI 3.05 (-0.66-15.46) and 2.19 (-0.20-8.70), respectively. For of H4 and H6 carriers combined, a synergistic effect was again seen (RERI 3.43, 0.76-10.03). Conclusions IL6 SNPs and SHS have synergistic effect on the risk of adult-onset asthma, carriage of several risk genotypes or a risk haplotype is associated with higher synergistic effect.


Dysembryonal tumors of the lung occur 50 times as rarely as malignant ones, and their differential diagnosis is rather difficult. Enucleation of a tumor with subsequent suturing of the bed is felt to be the rational tactics in treatment of such neoplasms. A rapid survey biopsy intraoperatively seems to be absolutely necessary.


Changing economic conditions, concerns for historic preservation, emphasis on fully utilizing conveniently located structures, space shortages, and increasing cost of materials and products used in the construction of new buildings have resulted in a need to evaluate and more fully utilize the existing building inventory. To this end, the standard Guideline for Structural Condition Assessment of Existing Buildings (ASCE 11-90) was developed to provide the design community with guidelines for asessing the structural conditions of existing buildings constructed of combinations of materials including concrete, masonry, metals, and wood. It consists of an overview of preliminary and detailed assessment procedures, of material properties and test methods, and of evaluation procedures for various physical conditions of the structure. The standard is not intended to be inclusive or prescriptive but is expected to serve as a resource document for engineers, owners, and regulatory officials.


This guide is for anyone needing to use primary sources for research, primarily in US history - what they are, what to expect, and how to find them


118 K. pneumoniae cultures isolated from the pulmonary tissue samples, taken during autopsy from 33 patients who had died of pneumonia, and from the sputum of 19 living patients with chronic pneumonia, as well as 2 strains, K1 and K2, from the International Reference Klebsiella collection, formerly known as Friedlander's bacilli A and B, were studied. Besides K. pneumoniae K1 and K2, 10 other serovars of these bacteria, viz. K9, K11, K13, K16, K18, K19, K20, K62, K64, K82, were isolated, both as pure cultures and in association with other organisms, from the foci of inflammation in the pulmonary tissue in acute pneumonia. The K. pneumoniae serovars isolated from the sputum samples were essentially the same as those isolated from the autopsy material. The disease was found to have similar clinical and pathological manifestations irrespective of a K. pneumoniae serovar isolated in each particular case, which was indicative of the similar pattern of pulmonary tissue lesions characteristic of Friedlander's pneumonia. A new name for the nosological form of this disease is proposed: Klebsiella pneumonia instead of Friedlander's pneumonia. K. pneumoniae should be considered as pathogenic microorganisms, which was formerly known in respect of Friedlander's bacilli.


The amount of resources available during development often affects body size, causing phenotypic variation in life-history traits and reproductive behaviours. However, past studies have seldom examined the reaction norms of both life-history and behavioural traits versus body size. We measured the phenotypic plasticity of several life-history (age-specific egg load, egg size, longevity) and behavioural (oviposition rate, host marking rate, walking speed) traits of the egg parasitoid Telenomus podisi Ashmead (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae) in response to body size variation. We predicted that life-history traits would show more evidence of size compensation than behavioural traits, resulting in fewer positively-sloped size versus trait reaction norms among the former. As predicted by life-history models, smaller wasps appear to shift resource allocation towards early-life reproduction, having a similar egg load to large individuals 9 days after emergence. Surprisingly, longevity was unaffected by body size. However, egg size, the number of offspring produced during oviposition bouts, and the rate of subsequent egg synthesis were greater for larger individuals. In addition, as predicted, the reaction norms of behavioural traits versus body size were all positively sloped. Thus, despite possible adaptive compensatory plasticity of life-history traits by small individuals, behavioural constraints directly related to body size would contribute to maintaining a positive size–fitness relationship.


This thesis examines the interplay between country level governance and accounting systems considering the role of the World Bank and other donors in the development of both governance and accounting in Africa. The purpose of the research is threefold. The first is to assess the state of accounting systems on the continent using Ghana and Benin as illustrative cases. The second purpose is to examine the link between accounting and governance, and the current donors' approach to the development of governance and accounting in Africa. The third purpose relates to the examination, through the lens of political economy, of the factors hampering the development of sound governance and accounting systems in Africa. The research is conducted through a case-study and cross-national design with four data collection methods: interview, observation, survey and documents. The study finds that accounting systems in Benin and Ghana are very weak despite the reform initiatives undertaken in the area, and that the main difference between the two systems relates to the relatively higher level of accounting information available to the public in Ghana compared with Benin. Further, the findings suggest that there is a potential causal relationship between accounting and governance. With regard to the World Bank and other donors' approach, it is found that the approach to governance and accounting reforms in Africa suffers from a lack of contextual and cultural fit. The study also identifies and explains the various political and economic forces and interests that shape the development of governance and accounting in Africa. These findings complement, extend and challenge existing studies in the field.


High glycemic variability has been associated with increased oxidative stress and β-cell dysfunction. To test whether changes in glycemic variability impact β-cell function and oxidative stress markers in adults with prediabetes, we conducted an RCT where we provided study subjects controlled diets varying in glycemic index (GI) to experimentally manipulate post-prandial glucose excursions. After 2 weeks on a control diet (mean GI= 55-58), subjects were randomized to 1 of 3 groups for 4 weeks: low (LGI 70) GI diet plus the anti-oxidant N-acetylcysteine (HGI/NAC) 600 mg BID or HGI diet plus placebo (HGI/PLAC). Subjects underwent CGMS (iPro), fasting markers of oxidative stress (GSH/GSSG and TBARS) and an IVGTT at the end of each diet. Independent t-test was used to test the intervention effect on the change in disposition index (DI), a marker of β-cell function. Fifty-two subjects (26M/26F, age 53±10 y, BMI 32.1±6.2 kg/m2) with IFG and/or IGT completed the study (18 LGI, 17 HGI/NAC, 17 HGI/PLAC). The 3 groups did not differ by sex, age, BMI, A1c, fasting or 2 h glucose (ANOVA). On the control diet, DI was inversely correlated with CGMS mean daily glucose (r=-0.33, p=0.02) and daily SD glucose (r=-0.31, p=0.03) and the GSH/GSSG ratio (r=-0.35, p=0.01), but not TBARS (r=0.13, p=0.4). Compared to LGI, HGI/PLAC increased mean CGMS glucose (change -1.4±1.9 LGI vs. 4.6±2.4 HGI/PLAC mg/dl, p=0.05) and SD (change -2.6±1.3 vs. 5.0±2.2, p=0.005). Results did not differ between HGI/PLAC and HGI/NAC. There were no significant intervention effects on DI, TBARS or GSH/GSSG ratio. Changes in CGMS mean glucose and SD and oxidative stress markers did not correlate with changes in DI. In conclusion, GI diet-induced changes in glucose concentrations and variability did not impact β-cell function or oxidative stress markers. These results suggest that glucose variability may be a consequence of β-cell dysfunction rather than a cause. Disclosure K. Utzschneider: Consultant; Self; Novo Nordisk Inc.. T.N. Johnson: None. K. Breymeyer: None. M.L. Neuhouser: None.


Hemodynamic forces generated by the flow of blood are crucial in maintaining homeostasis within the blood vessel wall. These forces, namely cyclic strain and shear stress are intricately involved in vascular remodeling, a process which underlies the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases such as atherosclerosis and restenosis. Since degradation of the extracellular matrix scaffold enables reshaping of
tissue, the role matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) has become the object of intense recent interest in
relation to physiological and pathological vascular remodeling. The culminating data indicates that
hemodynamic forces are important regulators of MMP expression and activity. A more complete understanding of the hemodynamic regulation of MMPs may advance the understanding of pathological vascular remodeling.

We have investigated the effect of cyclic strain on the endothelial cell migration and angiogenic activity and the role of gelatinases in mediating these responses We have shown that exposure of bovine aortic endothelial cells (BAEC) to cyclic strain promoted migration and tubule formation with concurrent increases in MMP-2 and MMP-9 activity. Additionally, we have revealed that cyclic strain-induced increases in migration and tube formation are dependent on Gi-protein and integrin signaling However, cyclic strain stimulated increases in MMP-2 expression involve different signaling mechanisms, which in part, stimulate both p38- and ERK-dependent pathways through activation of Gpy and tyrosine kinase in BAEC.

The participation of gelatinases in strain-induced increases in BAEC migration and tube formation was determined by inhibition of MMP activity using either a broad spectrum MMP inhibitor (GM6001) or siRNA targeted specifically to MMP-2 or MMP-9 We have shown that cyclic straininduced increases in BAEC migration are independent of MMP activity. In addition, we have demonstrated that MMP-9 but not MMP-2 is the key angiogenic switch involved in evoking cyclic straininduced angiogenesis.

In conclusion, we examined the role of BAEC derived factors in regulating bovine aortic smooth muscle cell (BASMC) migration. Our data has shown that exposure of BASMC to conditioned media from cyclically strained BAEC inhibits SMC migration compared to controls and that MMP-2 is an important factor in mediating this inhibition. These findings clearly demonstrate that increases in MMP expression and activity associated with cyclic strain are important in modulating both BAEC and BASMC phenotype.


Abstract In a previous article, we have shown that adequate subgraphs can be used to decompose multiple breakpoint graphs, achieving a dramatic speedup in solving the median problem. In this article, focusing on the median of three problem, we prove more important properties about adequate subgraphs with rank 3 and discuss the algorithms inventorying simple adequate subgraphs. After finding simple adequate subgraphs of small sizes, we incorporate them into ASMedian, an algorithm to solve the median of three problem. Results on simulated data show dramatic speedup so that many instances can be solved very quickly, even ones containing hundreds or thousands of genes.


An Intersection of Oral Pathology and Forensic Odontology Forensic odontology is the branch of dentistry that deals with the application of dental evidence to the realm of law. The specialty has elicited immense interest and has steadily grown over the past half-century in the industrialised world. In India, the subject is slowly but surely beginning to catch up, with the setting up of an association—the Indian Association of Forensic Odontology—to further the interest of the subject, as well as establishment of exclusive departments in dental institutes. The subject, however, is not yet recognised by the Dental Council of India as a separate specialty, rather its teaching to BDS students has been included under Oral Pathology and Oral Medicine and Radiology. What draws it close to oral pathology is the use of pathological findings in post-mortem identification, for example, rare occurrences such as dens in dente may assist in confirming identity of the deceased individual with little ambiguity through comparison with dental records. The use of dental morphological and histological changes is also intimately woven to forensic dental investigation. For example, tooth attrition, secondary dentinal deposition, cementum incremental lines, and sclerotic dentine are widely used in assessing age at death and in the living; tooth size has use in ascertaining the sex of skeletal remains, while numerous dental anatomical features such as Carabelli's cusp, shovelling and molar cusp number can point towards the geographic origin or ethnicity of skeletal specimens. Also, dental anatomy and the dynamics of jaw movements are integral to investigating human bite marks. It is, therefore, unsurprising that Oral Pathologists and Biologists have shown keen interest in research and development of this field and made contributions towards its evolution. Forensic odontology associations, both within and outside India, have wide representation of Maxillofacial Pathologists all keen to contribute any which way they can. And that is vital—the endeavour to apply one's knowledge and expertise to a parallel or related field and be part of inter-specialty collaboration and cooperation would ensure the continued progress of such new specialties.


This paper describes the design of an electronic Tabla controller (ETabla). Tabla are a pair of hand drums traditionally used to accompany North Indian vocal and instrumental music. The ETabla controls both sound and graphics simultaneously. It allows for a variety of traditional Tabla strokes and new performance techniques. Graphical feedback allows for artistic display and has potential pedagogical applications. This paper describes the evolution of the technology of the Tabla from its origins until the present day; the traditional playing style of the Tabla, on which the controller is modeled; the creation of a real-time Tabla controller, using forcesensors; the physical modeling of the sound of the Tabla using banded waveguide synthesis; the creation of a real-time graphics feedback system that reacts to the Tabla controller; experiments on measuring the response time of the ETabla sensors; and the description of the ETabla used in a live performance.


The effective removal of heavy metal ions from water is among the most important issues for many industrialized countries. The present work has been carried out to study the adsorption of cobalt (II) ion using activated carbon. The removal of cobalt ions was investigated in batc h conditions. The influence of initial cobalt ion concentration, pH, adsorbent dos e, adsorbent practical size; contact time and shaking rate were studied at room temperature. The analysis of residual Co (II) ions was determined using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer GBC 933 plus. The results showed that the percentage adsorption of activated carbon increases with time and that maximum adsorption was obtained within the first 60 minutes of the process, and 300 rpm shakin g rate. The experiments showed that the maximum % adsorption of 100% was obtained at adsorbent dose=0.4 gm, pH=13, particle size= (0- 75) µm and 10 mg/L of initial concentration of cobalt. These results indicate tha t activated carbon has potential for removing cobalt ions from water.


Nearly every nation in the world enacts laws that explicitly govern domestic copyright, dictating rights reserved for authors and specifying other important legal terms. Both geographical borders and the less well-defined borders of the internet affect determinations of copyright. On a global scale, nations enact international copyright treaties to achieve harmonization of certain aspects of copyright law that would otherwise create challenges or conflicts in enforcement of policies between individual nations. However, member nations may need to adjust domestic laws to bring them into alignment with the terms of the international treaties. International law expert Dr. Kenneth Crews discussed the evolution of copyright law and described how precedents set by some nations historically influenced geographic and sociopolitical peers. He also discussed how existing international copyright treaties address issues that continue to reveal weaknesses or compelling needs that cannot easily be served through existing copyright law. Lastly, Dr. Crews provided an update on the landmark 2013 Marrakesh VIP Treaty, which establishes special copyright provisions to accommodate individuals with print disabilities, and reported on his work commissioned by WIPO to study the status of copyright law exceptions in nations around the world.


This paper investigates the cost control problem of congestion management model in the real-time power systems. An improved optimal congestion cost model is built by introducing the congestion factor in dealing with the cases: opening the generator side and load side simultaneously. The problem of real-time congestion management is transformed to a nonlinear programming problem. While the transmission congestion is maximum, the adjustment cost is minimum based on the ant colony algorithm, and the global optimal solu-tion is obtained. Simulation results show that the improved optimal model can obviously reduce the adjust-ment cost and the designed algorithm is safe and easy to implement.


In the water window (2.2 – 4.4 nm) the attenuation of radiation in water is significantly smaller than in organic material. Therefore, intact biological specimen (e.g. cells) can be investigated in their natural environment. In order to make this technique accessible to users in a laboratory environment a Full-Field Laboratory Transmission X-ray Microscope (L-TXM) has been developed. The L-TXM is operated with a nitrogen laser plasma source employing an InnoSlab high power laser system for plasma generation. For microscopy the Lyα emission of highly ionized nitrogen at 2.48 nm is used. A laser plasma brightness of 5 × 1011 photons/(s × sr × μm2 in line at 2.48 nm) at a laser power of 70 W is demonstrated. In combination with a state-of-the-art Cr/V multilayer condenser mirror the sample is illuminated with 106 photons/(μm2 × s). Using objective zone plates 35 – 40 nm lines can be resolved with exposure times < 60 s. The exposure time can be further reduced to 20 s by the use of new multilayer condenser optics and operating the laser at its full power of 130 W. These exposure times enable cryo tomography in a laboratory environment.


The undergoing spread of broadband Internet shows that high-speed services are now perceived as a commodity worldwide. Several research programmes have proposed low-cost mobility enhancements to the DVB-RCS standard to intercept the market segment represented by the increasing number of airlines, land-mobile, and maritime passengers. This thesis investigates link and network-layer mobility issues related to a multi-beam network topology with a particular emphasis on backward-compatible protocol modifications minimising the impact over the signalling mechanisms of the original DVB-RCS normative. The availability of GPS equipment onboard collective vehicles and their pattern predictability suggest using position and route information as driving parameters for mobility protocols. Estimations of the terminal residence time within spot-beams are used to prioritise ongoing communications over fresh traffic. Their superiority over distance- based schemes is demonstrated in congested airborne-railroad scenarios, whilst specific solutions are proposed to counteract the sensitivity of the signalling exchange to error modelling. Admission control in wireless networks determines the trade-off between QoS guarantee and resource utilisation. A novel scheme for inbound and outbound traffic estimation is proposed and compared with several existing static and probabilistic approaches. This is proved effective at reducing blocking probabilities without sacrificing much bandwidth in resource reservation. The mathematical characterisation of a threshold-based queuing mechanism for handover traffic is also presented and its accuracy confirmed via simulation results in airborne-railway scenarios. The integration with terrestrial cellular systems is investigated to ensure connectivity in urban centres. A hybrid satellite-terrestrial architecture is envisaged where gap-fillers provide service continuity when intra-satellite mobility cannot be guaranteed. It is proven that the temporary terrestrial diversion of active connections contributes to decrease blocking probabilities and to increase the network utilisation. Because such an approach incurs in roaming costs, an optimisation tool is developed that identifies the conditions under which vertical handover is preferable.