Abstract The population of Australia is ageing, with women being the primary beneficiaries of this increase in longevity. Increasingly older individuals are being diagnosed with different chronic illnesses such as peripheral arterial disease (PAD) which causes blockages of the blood vessels in the legs resulting in pain, non-healing ulcers, immobility and the potential amputation of the threatened limb. PAD has been traditionally thought to affect men more than women. Resultingly, women have been under-represented in clinical trials of PAD and under-diagnosed in the health-care setting. However, it has recently been acknowledged that women are indeed more likely to suffer from PAD than men due to increased presence of disease and survival advantage. As such, very little is known about women's understanding of and the meaning they create of their experiences of PAD. Therefore, how older women with PAD experience the ageing process is the focus of this qualitative research project. Interviews were conducted with 11 women from Sydney, Australia aged over 65 years who had been diagnosed with PAD. The interviews were analysed using an inductive thematic analysis. Three manifest themes were constructed: independence and control, active and involved, and the acceptance of ageing. These findings emphasised the idea that despite the presence of a chronic illness and increased age, remaining independent and engaged with life was vital to these women's wellbeing. Their subjective experiences of ageing reflect the fact that by adapting to the physical, mental and social changes that come with growing older, the focus does not need to be on loss and decline but rather can be about the continuation of life that can be both positive and meaningful.


THIS is not only an obituary; it is the saga of an era of medicine, of which one of the last great Oaks was Isaac A. Abt. The parents of Isaac A. Abt were Levi and Henrietta Hart Abt. They migrated to this country from Germany shortly after the unrestful period of 1848.
 Upon his arrival in this country at the age of 19 years, Levi Abt with his mother made his way, through the aid of friends, to Illinois and set out with a pack on his back peddling from farm house to farm house with zeal and energy. In point of time it was about 20 years after Chicago was incorporated as a municipality.


This paper reports fabrication of high temperature stable, chemically inert SiC and SiCN monolithic porous microchannels by micromolding in capillaries (MIMIC) method. These types of high surface area materials hold tremendous untapped potential in micro-total analysis systems, micro-reaction technology and clean energy systems. Owing to their excellent durability under harsh conditions, SiC and SiCN micro-components are imperative in fields like fuel cells, for hydrogen generation and as environmental sensors. The report also describes the use of template particles of different size and type with diameter of ranging from 0.5 to 1.5 µm to prepare porous, high temperature stable ceramic microchannels. In the present work, ceramic porous channels have been fabricated via polymer to ceramic conversion route by using commercially available polymer precursors.


: This article proposes a discourse on the denationalization of Private International Law (PrIL), by approaching PrIL as a law with multiple adjudicators and enforcers. Quite evidently, and as powerful as it still may be, the State is nowadays no longer what it used to be . In the realm of PrIL, the central role once played by the State has progressively been eroded. Indeed, the State coexists with other – public and private – actors. Based on that, the study emphasizes that the fabrication and the enforcement, as well as, ultimately, the effectiveness of PrIL considerably depend on different kinds of non-State actors. The proposals to approach the future evolution of PrIL as a tool to foster global governance should not ignore the fundamental role of private adjudication and private enforcement.


Appropriate selection of the implant biomaterial is a key factor for long term success of implants. The biologic environment does not accept completely any material so to optimize biologic performance, implants should be selected to reduce the negative biologic response while maintaining adequate function. Every clinician should always gain a thorough knowledge about the different biomaterials used for the dental implants. This article makes an effort to summarize various dental bio-materials which were used in the past and as well as the latest material used now.


Contact induced damage is an important source of potential failure of engineering components. The particular applications where this damage occurs are in the automotive, aerospace and computer industries, among others. Problems associated with such damage are unique in that the loading is compressive and the failures due to loading can be in shear, when the damage initiates, and tension, when large cracks develop once the initiation process has begun. This survey will look at some examples of recent studies that have been made by researchers concerned with the compressive damage associated with concentrated contacts. Most of the applications cited will be directed towards metallic applications and will concentrate on the initiation and propagation of cracks developed under contact fatigue.


BACKGROUND
Myofibrillar myopathy (MFM) of unknown aetiology has recently been identified in Warmblood (WB) horses. In humans, 16 genes have been implicated in various MFM-like disorders.

OBJECTIVES
To identify variants in 16 MFM candidate genes and compare allele frequencies of all variants between MFM WB and non-MFM WB and coding variants with moderate or severe predicted effects in MFM WB with publicly available data of other breeds. To compare differential gene expression and muscle fibre contractile force between MFM and non-MFM WB.

STUDY DESIGN
Case-control.

ANIMALS
8 MFM WB, 8 non-MFM WB; 33 other WB, 32 Thoroughbreds, 80 Quarter Horses and 77 horses of other breeds in public databases.

METHODS
Variants were called within transcripts of 16 candidate genes using gluteal muscle mRNA sequences aligned to EquCab3.0 and allele frequencies compared by Fisher's exact test among MFM WB, non-MFM WB and public sequences across breeds. Candidate gene differential expression was determined between MFM and non-MFM WB by fitting a negative binomial generalised log-linear model per gene (false discovery rate < 0.05). The maximal isometric force/cross-sectional area generated by isolated membrane-permeabilised muscle fibres was determined.

RESULTS
None of the 426 variants identified in 16 candidate genes were associated with MFM including 26 missense variants. Breed specific differences existed in allele frequencies. Candidate gene differential expression and muscle fibre specific force did not differ between MFM WB (143.1 ± 34.7 kPa) and non-MFM WB (140.2 ± 43.7 kPa) (P = 0.8).

MAIN LIMITATIONS
RNA-seq only assays transcripts expressed in skeletal muscle. Other possible candidate genes were not evaluated.

CONCLUSIONS
Evidence for association of variants with a disease is essential because coding sequence variants are common in the equine genome. Variants identified in MFM candidate genes, including two coding variants offered as commercial MFM equine genetic tests, did not associate with the WB MFM phenotype.


Learn about manuscript types, defining authorship, searching the literature, pre-registering hypotheses, registering systematic review protocol, making research transparent, and creating an open science lab.


We investigate issues of control and motion planning for a biomimetic robotic system. Previous work has shown that a successful approach to solving the motion planning problem is to decouple it into the two subproblems of trajectory generation (feedforward controls) and feedback regulation. In this paper, we investigate basic issues of momentum generation for a class of dynamic mobile robots, focusing on eel-like swimming robots. We develop theoretical justification for a forward gait that has been observed in nature, and for a turning gait, used in our control laws, that has not been extensively studied in the biological literature. We also explore theoretical predictions for novel gaits for turning and sideways swimming. Finally, we present results from experiments in motion planning for a biomimetic robotic system. We show good agreement with theory for both open and closed-loop control of our modular, five-link, underwater swimming robot using image-based position sensing in an aquatic environment.


In this paper, we empirically explore voice communication over IEEE 802.11 networks (VoWiFi). The objective is to understand the limitations of the current WiFi network for VoWiFi deployment. Our experiment finds two major problems of VoWiFi: unstable and excessively long handoffs and unpredictable occurrence of bursts. We also discuss several other minor factors that could hinder VoWiFi deployment, such as network capacity, fairness, and interference susceptibility. Finally, we describe the scenarios where VoWiFi could be used. We conclude that VoWiFi is feasible if used moderately, with low mobility and good signal strength


In 1997, 18 seismic stations were installed in the Los Angeles basin to record teleseismic, regional, and local earthquakes. The goals of the experiment were to quantify amplification of ground motion due to variations in sedimentary environments and subsurface structures, and to
examine the tectonic extensional and compressional history of the Los Angeles basin and San Gabriel Mountains by tomograhic imaging. The linear array spanned the entire basin between Seal Beach to the south and Azusa to the north. The stations consisted of three-component, short-period seismometers and timing was controlled by GPS receivers. Most locations were homeowner backyards with continuous A/C power sources and battery backup. The stations operated between March and November, 1997. The long experiment time was needed to record as many
large teleseisms as possible at the seismically and culturally noisy Los Angeles basin sites. Data
were recorded continuously at 25 sps and triggered at 50 sps. The total array length was 50 km with an average station spacing of 3-4 km. This was a much denser seismic array than any other in the region, and the close spacing of seismometers is providing high-resolution information
about the geometry of structures several kilometers below the surface. The high density of stations is making it possible to observe amplitude variations on length scales of a few kilometers and to obtain travel times in seismically and culturally noisy regions by cross-correlation with quiet stations using the highly coherent waveforms. This array location was chosen because it
spans the entire Los Angeles basin, and it covers an area known for its high seismic hazard, unique geology and active plate motion. It was also the site of one leg of the 1994 Los Angeles Region Seismic Experiment in which onshore and offshore explosions were recorded along essentially
the same line for very detailed structure in the upper 20 km of the Earth's crust.


The Philosophical study of social research is an important dimension of social science which has been placed to analyze the problems of social science description and its relationship. It describes the social phenomena within natural science as well as is concerned with the intellectual authority of various aspects of social science knowledge of the social world. Social research boils down to a struggle over the legitimate study through philosophical approaches. Philosophy of social science deals with the generalized meaning of the thing and centred on the sharing of experience about the social world in which people's perspective differs from one another. Social science has always been multi-perspective and multi cultural in nature which facilitates in providing various claims about how best to understand the social world. The study aims at unraveling the issues related to the key methodologies of philosophical science in social research and depicting a brief sketch of the relationship between philosophy and social research and finally tries to find out how philosophical approaches change its pattern and take place in social research.


Solution of arithmetic word problem requires a mental model of task structure that represents variables and relations between them. In arithmetic addition, three variables (augend, addend, sum) are related by the addition operation (English & Halford, 1995). Flexible access to the components of the relation is required especially in non-canonical word problems, in which the augend or addend is missing. Relational processing allows all components of a relation to be accessed, but it is effortful, and is slow to develop during childhood. Therefore, the difference in accuracy between noncanonical problems (augend or addend missing) and canonical problem (sum missing) should be greater in younger than older children. Furthermore, relational processing capacity should predict accuracy on non-canonical problems. In the current research, 132 children aged 6-, 7- and 8- years completed arithmetic word problems in which either the augend, addend or sum was missing and two measures of relational processing ability. Mixed ANOVAs showed significant position effects. Accuracy was lower for problems where the missing sets were in augend and addend positions than in sum position. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that after controlling for accuracy on sum problems, relational processing capacity accounted for more than half of the agerelated variance in accuracy on augend/addend problems and also for significant unique age-independent variance. Findings demonstrate the importance of relational processing in development of children's arithmetic addition, and have implications for designing word problem teaching strategies.


We propose to use electrostatic drop-on-demand devices, with precise metering and accurate delivery capabilities, to manipulate single-walled carbon nanotubes suspended in solution. The conductivity of the solution increases significantly by the addition of anionic surfactants and nanotubes, generating favorable conditions for electrostatic ejection. This technique could find applications, combined with chemical functionalization, in the fabrication of carbon nanotube field emission devices as well as electronic circuits. email@example.com


The interaction between humans and mobile robots in shared areas requires a high level of safety especially at the crossings of the trajectories of humans and robots. We discuss the intersection calculation and its fuzzy version in the context of human-robot navigation with respect to noise information. Based on known parameters of the Gaussian input distributions at the orientations of human and robot the parameters of the output distributions at the intersection are to be found by analytical and fuzzy calculation. Furthermore the inverse task is discussed where the parameters of the output distributions are given and the parameters of the input distributions are searched. For larger standard deviations of the orientation signals we suggest mixed Gaussian models as approximation of nonlinear distributions.


Candida albicans is a diploid fungus that undergoes a morphological transition between budding yeast, hyphal, and pseudohyphal forms. The morphological transition is strongly correlated with virulence and is regulated in part by quorum sensing. Candida albicans produces and secretes farnesol that regulates the yeast to mycelia morphological transition. Mutants that fail to synthesize or respond to farnesol could be locked in the filamentous mode. To test this hypothesis, a collection of C. albicans mutants were isolated that have altered colony morphologies indicative of the presence of hyphal cells under environmental conditions where C. albicans normally grows only as yeasts. All mutants were characterized for their ability to respond to farnesol. Of these, 95.9% fully or partially reverted to wild-type morphology on yeast malt (YM) agar plates supplemented with farnesol. All mutants that respond to farnesol regained their hyphal morphology when restreaked on YM plates without farnesol. The observation that farnesol remedial mutants are so common (95.9%) relative to mutants that fail to respond to farnesol (4.1%) suggests that farnesol activates and (or) induces a pathway that can override many of the morphogenesis defects in these mutants. Additionally, 9 mutants chosen at random were screened for farnesol production. Two mutants failed to produce detectable levels of farnesol.


The experimental results from a thermoacoustic cryocooler project will be reported. Four different versions of the cryocooler were constructed and the coldest temperature achieved was 180 K. While this temperature result fell short of our goals, a number of interesting discoveries were made. One engine performed very much worse than the linear theory predicted, the pitfalls associated with compact and efficient acoustic resonators were discovered, and lower SWR standing waves were found to enhance engine performance. [Work supported by NRL and ONR.]


The Thermohaline Circulation (THC) distributes heat and freshwater around the global oceans, interacts with the atmosphere, and therefore is closely connected to the global climate. The deep branch of the North Atlantic THC mainly consists of deep-water formed by atmospheric cooling in the Nordic Seas, which overflows the Greenland-Scotland Ridge into the North Atlantic. The Eirik Drift south of Greenland is located closely downstream of the North Atlantic deep-water formation region and has been shaped by the Western Boundary Undercurrent (WBUC), which constitutes the main part of the deep North Atlantic THC. The sedimentary record of the Eirik Drift documents changes of the WBUC activity, which can be related to climate changes. The analysis of the sedimentary structure in combination with geological information from scientific drilling leads to a revised seismostratigraphic concept at the Eirik Drift and reveals particularly that the Eirik Drift has been influenced by the WBUC already since the early Miocene (~19 Ma). A more detailed structural analysis of the depocenter locations and their redistribution results in a temporal reconstruction of the deep paleocirculation at the Eirik Drift. The observed changes of pathways and intensity of the WBUC at the Eirik Drift were linked to the development of the Greenland-Scotland Ridge and climate changes. The onset of drift building at the Eirk Drift followed the formation of the Faroe Conduit in early Miocene, which allowed northern sourced deep-water to overflow the eastern part of the Greenland-Scotland Ridge. A separation of the WBUC at the Eirik Drift into two branches occurred contemporaneously with the onset of deep-water overflow at the Denmark Strait, the western part of the Greenland-Scotland Ridge (~7 Ma). At the Eirik Drift, strong WBUC activity is inferred to occur during warm climates and at the beginning of cooling phases, while cooling phases with enhanced ice extent are characterized by weak WBUC activity. Based on a combination of these observations with interpretations from other North Atlantic sediment drifts, a paleo flow path reconstruction for the northern North Atlantic is proposed. It is suggested that the deep-water formation regions and the main deep-water pathway shifted to the south during cold phases with enhanced ice-extent, i.e. Northern Hemisphere Glaciation. This implies that during these cool phases solely weak branches of the deep-water circulation overflowed the Eirik Drift and that the main North Atlantic deep-water route affected the Eirik Drift just during warm phases.
Moreover, by applying the seismic oceanography method the present pathway and structure of the upper WBUC core at the Eirik Drift is imaged. For the first time, this method is successfully applied in water depth > 1500 m. The study confirms not only the improvement of oceanographic research by use of the seismic oceanography method but also supports the interpretation of the analysis of the sedimentary structure at the Eirik Drift.


SnO2/SiO2 nanocomposites have been prepared by the soaking-thermal-decomposing method, tin oxide nanoparticles are uniformly dispersed in the mesopores of silica. The optical absorption edge of the obtained nanocomposite presents a redshift compared with bulk tin oxide, With the increasing annealing temperature during the procedure of the sample preparation, the optical absorption edge of the sample moves to shorter wavelength (blueshift). These optical properties can be ascribed to the amorphous structure and band defects of surface layers of the tin oxide nanoparticles.


Peter L. Berger is one of the most influential social scientists of the 20th century. A citation study of his work published in 1986 that studied the decade between the early 1970s to early 1980s demonstrated that his citation count during this time (1052) put him in the company of other thinkers such as Dewey, Whitehead and Marcuse. His contributions to the sociology of knowledge, sociology of religion, and the sociological/cultural analysis of capitalism are well-known and widely discussed. They are not without controversy however. In fact, it might be safe to say that Peter Berger marched to a beat of a different drum within his chosen field of sociology. Paul Samuelson once remarked that in economic science we compete for the only coin worth achieving, the applause of our peers. Peter Berger saw things differently and pursued a more subversive agenda in the social sciences. The pursuit of truth and the coming to an understanding of the society in which we dwell, as well as that which remains exotic, required a skeptical (and often comical) stance.


Video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) of small and non-visible pulmonary nodules is nowadays a real challenge for thoracic surgeons. Traditional approaches are no longer admissible for day a day surgery, as VATS is elective option for most cases. In this situation, preoperative planning of techniques to assure nodule finding results of paramount importance. In this issue we will discuss transthoracic procedures, electromagnetic navigation bronchoscopy and hybrid operating rooms and their role to make surgery feasible. We also discuss its pros and cons, indications and needings. According to the literature and authors opinion, different techniques are nowadays available to identify small pulmonary nodules. Whether electromagnetic navigation bronchoscopy and hybrid operating rooms are available should be the preferred techniques.


Background/Aims: Assisting clients to achieve wellbeing, even in the presence of ongoing mental illness, should be a primary goal of mental health services. However, little is known about what wellbeing means for young people living with mental illness. The aim of this study is to explore the ways in which young Australians living with mental illness conceptualise their wellbeing. Methods: Five focus groups were conducted with young people (n=20; age range: 16-25 years) living with mental illness. Results were analysed qualitatively using constant comparative analysis. Results: Analysis of the data indicated that participants were describing two different but complementary types of concepts. We conceptualised these two types of concepts as 'building blocks' and 'foundations' of wellbeing, respectively. Five building blocks were identified, which together constituted wellbeing for participants: i) sense of self; ii) relationships; iii) sense of the future; iv) feelings and experiences; v) agency. These building blocks were supported or undermined by seven foundations: i) activities; ii) having things; iii) mental illness; iv) the past; v) coping strategies; vi) environmental supports and barriers; vii) personal characteristics. Conclusions: The findings support the use of a recovery paradigm for young people with mental illness. The framework presented can be used to assist young people to consider different aspects that make up their wellbeing and plan ways to address these by attending to multiple foundational factors.


Histidyl-tRNAs from foetal and adult sheep liver were compared to their reticulocyte counterparts. The combination of various techniques revealed the existence of two histidyl-tRNA species in reticulocytes, one of which was not retained on acetylated DBAE-cellulose columns and was guanylatable. Three histidyl-tRNA isoacceptors were identified in foetal liver. Two of these species were not adsorbed on acetylated DBAE-cellulose but only one was found to be guanylatable. An identical chromatographic behaviour on RPC-5 columns was observed for guanylated histidyl-tRNAs from both origins. These results suggest the occurrence of a GUG anticodon in these guanine-accepting tRNAs. In foetal liver the amount of guanylatable histidyl-tRNA was estimated to be 7% of the total tRNA population. This observation is in agreement with the erythropoietic function of liver during the foetal life.


Numerical simulation of mass transfer in cathode diffusion layer will be helpful for understanding the mass transfer characteristics and predicting the output characteristics of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell. In this paper, Lattice Boltzmann method was adopted to simulate mass transfer in cathode diffusion layer of PEM fuel cell, analyze the effect of porous diffusion layer microstructure. The effects of porosity, the pore size and gradual porosity on mass transfer were discussed, and the relationship between liquid saturation and diffusion coefficient was correlated under the existence of liquid water. The results can be used to diffusion layer design and performance analysis of PEM fuel cell.


In the central nervous system, glutamate is a major excitable neurotransmitter responsible for many cellular functions. However, excessive levels of glutamate induce neuronal cell death via oxidative stress during acute brain injuries as well as chronic neurodegenerative diseases. The present study was conducted to examine the effect of tetrahydrocurcumin (THC), a major secondary metabolite of curcumin, and its possible mechanism against glutamate-induced cell death. We prepared THC using curcumin isolated from Curcuma longa (turmeric) and demonstrated the protective effect of THC against glutamate-induced oxidative stress in HT22 cells. THC abrogated glutamate-induced HT22 cell death and showed a strong antioxidant effect. THC also significantly reduced intracellular calcium ion increased by glutamate. Additionally, THC significantly reduced the accumulation of intracellular oxidative stress induced by glutamate. Furthermore, THC significantly diminished apoptotic cell death indicated by annexin V-positive in HT22 cells. Western blot analysis indicated that the phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinases including c-Jun N-terminal kinase, extracellular signal-related kinases 1/2, and p38 by glutamate was significantly diminished by treatment with THC. In conclusion, THC is a potent neuroprotectant against glutamate-induced neuronal cell death by inhibiting the accumulation of oxidative stress and phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinases.


Intrusion detection system has become the research hotspot because it can provide dynamic protection for computer system. Aiming at the problems existed in actual methods or models of intrusion detection, an effective method for intrusion detection based on hidden markov model and rough sets theory was presented in this paper. The circular sequences of system call sequences generated during the normal execution of a process is replaced by circular body, then, a little data is extracted from normal system call sequences, and is transformed to decisive table, afterward, the decisive table is reduced and the simplest rules that present normal behavior mode is extracted by rough sets theory. These rules can be used to detect anomalous behavior. In order to realize the quick detection of known intrusion, an engine of quick detection inspired by hidden markov model was presented in this paper. Compared with other methods in the literature, the method presented in this paper is not only able to extract a set of effective detection rules with the minimum size from part of records of system call sequences, but also can detect the known intrusion quickly. Experiments show that this method in this paper is better than other methods.


Due to the inherent nature of their heterogeneity, resource scarcity and dynamism, the provision of middleware for future networked embedded environments is a challenging task. In this paper we present a middleware approach that addresses these key challenges; we also discuss its application in a realistic networked embedded environment. Our application scenario involves fire management in a road tunnel that is instrumented with networked sensor and actuator devices. These devices are able to reconfigure their behaviour and their information dissemination strategies as they become damaged under emergency conditions, and firefighters are able to coordinate their operations and manage sensors and actuators through dynamic reprogramming. Our supporting middleware is based on a two-level architecture: the foundation is a language-independent, component-based programming model that is sufficiently minimal to run on any of the devices typically found in networked embedded environments. Above this is a layer of software components that offer the necessary middleware functionality. Rather than providing a monolithic middleware 'layer', we separate orthogonal areas of middleware functionality into self-contained components that can be selectively and individually deployed according to current resource constraints and application needs. Crucially, the set of such components can be updated at runtime to provide the basis of a highly dynamic and reconfigurable system


This paper proposes a methodology to improve the time-performance of distributed simulation based on the HLA architecture using commercial simulators. In the context of industrial production, for instance, the timing of information transfer among federate simulators becomes an important issue whenever production control and scheduling are very closely linked. In such a context the re-scheduling of an existing production plan, as determined for instance by a rush order, is usually decided upon at the control level in the hierarchy of federates; however it cannot be communicated to the different federate plants until a status/parameter update is instantiated and established. The study presented in this paper specifically focuses on the impact of machine failures at the federate plant level. The random nature of the failure processes associated to the machines of the federate production plants makes it difficult to establish when such occurrences may take place: therefore the events driving the exchange of state variables among federates cannot be set with certainty ahead of time. This research proposes a one-off methodology to statistically determine when critical events, such as machine failures, are likely to occur. Based on such information it is possible to intersperse additional events among those associated to the usual production/process milestones and thus significantly reduce delays in the transfer of critical status parameters among federates and waste of simulated time.


The current drastic shortage of donor organs has led to acceptance of extended‐criteria donors for transplantation, despite higher risk of primary nonfunction. Here, we report the impact of subnormothermic machine perfusion (SMP) preservation on the protection of >50% macrosteatotic livers. Dietary hepatic steatosis was induced in Wistar rats via 2‐day fasting and subsequent 3‐day re‐feeding with a fat‐free, carbohydrate‐rich diet. This protocol induces 50–60% macrovesicular steatosis, which should be discarded when preserved via cold storage (CS). The fatty livers were retrieved and preserved for 4 h using either CS in histidine‐tryptophan‐ketoglutarate or SMP in polysol solution. Graft functional integrity was evaluated via oxygenated ex vivo reperfusion for 2 h at 37°C. SMP resulted in significant reductions in not only parenchymal alanine aminotransferase (p < 0.001), but also mitochondrial glutamate dehydrogenase (p < 0.001) enzyme release. Moreover, portal venous pressure (p = 0.047), tissue adenosine triphosphate (p = 0.001), bile production (p < 0.001), high‐mobility group box protein‐1 (p < 0.001), lipid peroxidation, and tissue glutathione were all significantly improved by SMP. Electron microscopy revealed that SMP alleviated deleterious alterations of sinusoidal microvasculature and hepatocellular mitochondria, both of which are characteristic disadvantages associated with steatosis. SMP could protect 50–60% macrosteatotic livers from preservation/reperfusion injury, and may thus represent a new means for expanding available donor pools.


A set of experiments that precisely identify the power and limitations of the method of back-propagation is reported. The experiment on learning to compute the exclusive-OR function suggests that the computational efficiency of learning by the method of back-propagation depends on the initial weights in the network. The experiment on learning to play tic-tac-toe suggests that the information content of what is learned by the back-propagation method is dependent on the initial abstractions in the network. It also suggests that these abstractions are a major source of power for learning in parallel distributed processing networks. In addition, it is shown that the learning task addressed by connectionist methods, including the back-propagation method, is computationally intractable. These experimental and theoretical results strongly indicate that current connectionist methods may be too limited for the complex task of learning they seek to solve. It is proposed that the power of neural networks may be enhanced by developing task-specific connectionist methods. >


Homicide is the second leading cause of death for teens in the United States. Individual alcohol and drug use are important influences on teens' risk of homicide. Yet, risk created by others around adolescents, in their families and neighbourhoods is unclear. The purpose of this study was to determine whether individual, family, or neighbourhood exposures to alcohol and other drugs each increase the risk of homicide. We conducted a population based case-control study including 162 homicide victims ages 13 to 20 years old and 176 matched controls living in Philadelphia over a 3 year period. Case data were collected from multiple sources: police, medical examiner and child death review team and others. Control data were collected using a random digit dial assessing alcohol and drug exposures. After adjusting, adolescents who were under the influence of an illegal substance at the time of the incident were 4.82 (p < 0.05) times more likely to be victims of homicide than those not under the influence. This was not the case for adolescents under the influence of alcohol. Both history of drug use (4.73, p < 0.05) and history of alcohol abuse (3.98, p < 0.05) significantly increased risk of homicide. Adolescents with caregivers who used drugs were much more likely to be victims of homicide (13.87, p < 0.01). Neighbourhood alcohol and drug exposures did not have a significant effect on risk of homicide in this study. Results from our study indicate that family and individual exposures are key risk factors for adolescent homicide, where associations between neighbourhood exposures and risk of homicide were not significant. Addressing individual and family exposure to drugs and alcohol is important to adolescent homicide prevention. While efforts may focus on individual drug and alcohol abuse, familial influences may pose a much greater risk, suggesting that the family environment should be a priority.


Selective IgG subclass (IgGSc) deficiencies are frequently found in association with recurrent infections in childhood. IgG1 deficiency is the most severe and is associated with features typical of panhypogammaglobulinaemia. Immunoglobulin replacement therapy is usually required. IgG2 deficiency is associated with recurrent infections with encapsulated bacteria such as Haemophilus influenzae and Streptococcus pneumoniae. IgG2 deficiency may be transient in children under five years of age and patients improve with antibiotics and immunisation. IgG3 and IgG4 deficiency are commonly found in children with recurrent infections and may indicate a disordered immune system since absence of these antibodies alone appears insufficient to cause symptoms. Children may also have selective IgGSc deficiencies in the absence of recurrent infections. This is explained by compensatory factors in other parts of the immune system. Measurement of IgGSc levels should be based on highly specific polyclonal antisera which show no IgGSc cross-reactivity. Most monoclonal antibodies are unsatisfactory since allotypes are detected variably, leading to excess reporting of IgGSc deficiencies and Mabs cannot be used for nephelometric or turbidimetric methods.


The Hannay angles arise in classical mechanics as an anholonomy effect for adiabatically time-dependent Hamiltonian systems. It is proven that for a class of systems with several degrees of freedom the Hannay angles can be experimentally investigated. The authors' method consists in averaging over the torus of initial angles of the motion.


Hybrid passive optical networks (PONs) with a centralized light source (CLS) could be a promising solution for the next-generation PON. However, the network with a loop-back architecture will give rise to interferometric noise caused by Rayleigh backscattering (RB). Here, we propose and demonstrate a colorless optical networking unit (ONU) using a dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulator (DP-MZM) to mitigate RB noise in a hybrid wavelength-division-multiplexing-time-division-multiplexing PON with CLS. Both dominant contributions of RB, carrier RB and signal RB, are experimentally characterized, for the first time, when using a DP-MZM as a reflective ONU. In addition, the split-ratio of a long-reach PON using the DP-MZM-based ONU is also investigated and analyzed, showing RB noise can be efficiently reduced.


This paper studies substorm influences in the polar magnetosphere using data from the POLAR magnetic field experiment (MFE). The POLAR spacecraft remains in the high altitude polar magnetosphere for extended periods around apogee. There it can stay at nearly constant altitude through all phases of a substorm, which was not possible on previous missions. We report such an event on March 28, 1996. Ground magnetometers monitored substorm activity, while the POLAR spacecraft, directly over the pole at (−0.8, −0.6, 8.5) RE in GSM coordinates, observed a corresponding perturbation in the total magnetic field strength. The total magnetic field first increased, then recovered toward quiet levels, consistent with erosion of magnetic flux from the dayside magnetosphere, followed by transport of that flux to the magnetotail, and eventual onset of tail reconnection and the return of that magnetic flux to the dayside magnetosphere.


A self-templating surface-initiated technique that combines surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP) and oxidative polymerization for the fabrication of conjugated polythiophene-based brushes in a ladder-like architecture was developed here. The selective cleaving of polymer chains by using a tetrabutylammonium fluoride agent enabled the formation of brushes with various grafting densities but with the same polymerization degrees in order to elucidate the effect of the brush thickness and grafting density on the stability and optical properties of the conjugated brushes. Poly(3-methylthienyl methacrylate) (PMTM) brushes with a higher grafting density subjected to the oxidative polymerization with FeCl3 resulted in polythiophene chains with a longer effective conjugation and higher (photo)stability than the less densely grafted brushes. The effective conjugation length was also found to increase with the brush thickness reaching ca. 90–100 mers (as determined using UV-VIS spectroscopy; λmax = 528 nm) for 80 nm thick brushes. These observations supported by grazing angle FTIR measurements indicated stretched conformation of the ladder-like structures in relation to the perpendicular orientation with respect to the surface due to the supporting role of the surface-grafted chains. Importantly, such brushes exhibited remarkable (photo)stability during storage under ambient conditions as opposed to classical polymer films. The ladder-like architecture of polythiophene-based brushes was found to ensure the extended conjugation length at a high grafting density of the conjugated polymer chains that is necessary for the fabrication of highly oriented and stable platforms of molecular wires.


Refinement is used as a way to verify an implementation with respect to a specification. States of related systems are linked through a so called gluing invariant which remains always true during the synchronous execution of both systems. Refinement is a sufficient condition for this property. Retrenchment is a generalization of refinement which relax the constraints between both systems. This paper proposes a temporal logic counterpart for some specific forms of retrenchment.


Advancements in computing, communication, and sensing technologies are making it possible to embed, control, and gather vital information from tiny devices that are being deployed and utilized in practically every aspect of our modernized society. From smart home appliances to municipal water and electric industrial facilities to our everyday work environments, the next Internet frontier, dubbed IoT, is promising to revolutionize our lives and tackle some of our nations' most pressing challenges. While the seamless interconnection of IoT devices with the physical realm is envisioned to bring a plethora of critical improvements in many aspects and diverse domains, it will undoubtedly pave the way for attackers that will target and exploit such devices, threatening the integrity of their data and the reliability of critical infrastructure. Further, such compromised devices will undeniably be leveraged as the next generation of botnets, given their increased processing capabilities and abundant bandwidth. While several demonstrations exist in the literature describing the exploitation procedures of a number of IoT devices, the up-to-date inference, characterization, and analysis of unsolicited IoT devices that are currently deployed "in the wild" is still in its infancy. In this article, we address this imperative task by leveraging active and passive measurements to report on unsolicited Internet-scale IoT devices. This work describes a first step toward exploring the utilization of passive measurements in combination with the results of active measurements to shed light on the Internet-scale insecurities of the IoT paradigm. By correlating results of Internet-wide scanning with Internet background radiation traffic, we disclose close to 14,000 compromised IoT devices in diverse sectors, including critical infrastructure and smart home appliances. To this end, we also analyze their generated traffic to create effective mitigation signatures that could be deployed in local IoT realms. To support largescale empirical data analytics in the context of IoT, we make available the inferred and extracted IoT malicious raw data through an authenticated front-end service. The outcomes of this work confirm the existence of such compromised devices on an Internet scale, while the generated inferences and insights are postulated to be employed for inferring other similarly compromised IoT devices, in addition to contributing to IoT cyber security situational awareness.


The Rojiroti approach to microfinance involves creation of women's self-help groups (SHGs), rotated loans from savings, and subsequent credit from CPSL, a Bihar-based NGO. Rojiroti serves customers who are significantly poorer and more marginalized than those typically served by microfinance (MF) in India. In the data analysed, more than 90 per cent of members are from scheduled caste and tribes (62 per cent) or other disadvantaged castes. This paper analyses the impact of Rojiroti MF using panel data on 740 new SHG members and 340 women in matched control sites at baseline and after 18 months. We consider changes in assets, children's education, empowerment, and domestic violence among other indicators. These results show significant gains for Rojiroti borrowers relative to control sites for important, but not all, variables. Comparison with more long-standing SHGs (at least 36 months) helps to explain how the borrowing patterns of poor and marginalized SHG members evolves.


Purpose: To evaluate the performance characteristics of a first‐of‐its‐kind dual layer micro multi‐leaf collimator (DmMLC) and compare it dosimetrically with standard, single layer MLCs for use in intensity modulated radiation therapy(IMRT).Method and Materials: The DmMLC performance was studied using a cross shaped field generated by both a single layer MLC and the DmMLC. The DmMLC by Initia Medical Technologies was mounted on a Varian 600C linac unit. Film measurements were obtained using a 6 MV x‐ray beam and EDR2 film at a depth of 5 cm in solid water at 100 cm source to film distance. Film analysis was performed using the RIT V5 software. The leaf‐end transmission of the single bank and dual bank of mMLC was measured. The maximum and average leaf‐end transmissions for the cross pattern were compared for both modes of operation of the mMLC and for the standard Varian MLC.Results: The leaf‐end transmission for the single layer of the DmMLC was at its maximum 22.4% with an average value of 15.4% The transmission was reduced to a maximum of 2.4% and an average of 2.1% when both layers of the DmMLC leaves were used. Dual layer MLC provided more conformal field edge as compared to the standard single layer MLC with approximately ten fold less transmission at the leaf end. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that the DmMLC provides more precise field shaping at field edges than the standard MLC. The DmMLC reduces the leaf‐end transmission to about 2.1%. The dual layer MLC offers more accurate IMRTdelivery to the planned target volume and spares the underlined surrounding health tissue from increased transmission and leakage dose.Conflict of Interest: The work was partially supported by a research grant from Initia RT.


If you keep up with health or science news, you've probably been whipsawed between conflicting reports. Just days apart you may hear that "science says" coffee's good for you, no actually it's bad for you, actually red wine holds the secret to long life. As comedian John Oliver put it: "After a certain point, all that ridiculous information can make you wonder: is science bullshit? To which the answer is clearly no. But there is a lot of bullshit currently masquerading as science." A big part of this problem has to do with what's been called a "reproducibility crisis" in science many studies if run a second time don't come up with the same results. Scientists are worried about this situation, and highprofile international research journals have raised the alarm, too, calling on researchers to put more effort into ensuring their results can be reproduced, rather than only striving for splashy, one-off outcomes. Disciplines Medicine and Health Sciences | Social and Behavioral Sciences Publication Details Marwick, B. & Jacobs, Z. (2017). Here's the three-pronged approach we're using in our own research to tackle the reproducibility issue. The Conversation, 20 July 1-5. This journal article is available at Research Online: http://ro.uow.edu.au/smhpapers/4802


An instrumental set up including on-line solid-phase extraction, nano-liquid chromatography, and nanospray mass spectrometry is constructed to improve the sensitivity for quantitation of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) in surface water. Sample volumes of 1000 microL are loaded onto a microbore 1.0-mm i.d. x 5 mm, 5 microm Kromasil C(18) enrichment column by a carrier solution consisting of 10mM ammonium acetate in acetonitrile-water (10:90, v/v) at a flow rate of 250 microL/min, providing on-line analyte enrichment and sample clean-up. Backflushed elution onto a 0.1-mm i.d. x 150 mm, 3.5 microm Kromasil C(18) analytical column is conducted using an acetonitrile-10mM ammonium acetate solvent gradient from 30% to 70% acetonitrile. Water samples are added with internal standard (perfluoroheptanoic acid) and filtrated prior to injection. The mass limits of detection of PFOA and PFOS are 0.5 and 1 pg, respectively, corresponding to concentration limits of detection of 500 pg/L and 1 ng/L, respectively. The total time spent on sample preparation, chromatography, and detection is approximately 12 min per sample. The method was employed for the determination of PFOS and PFOA in urban river water.


Electrospinning or electrostatic fibre spinning employs electrostatic force to draw fibres from a liquid, either a polymeric solution or a polymer melt in the form of a charged jet. The jet solidifies and is deposited on a collector in the form of a non-woven fibrous mat. Electrospun fibres have diameters between several nanometres to a few microns, which is one of the main advantages of the process, as materials at the nanoscale have shown great potential in a wide range of healthcare and energy applications. The initial selection of solvents to dissolve the polymer for production of electrospun defect-free nanofibres has generally been based on experience from similar polymer-solvent systems. The selection of a solvent is important to control the fibre surface morphology that would eventually determine the field of application for the electrospun nanofibrous structures. However, little attempt has been made to study the correlation between the solubility behaviour of the polymer in different solvents and the electrospinnability of the polymer solutions. From this perspective, the first part of this thesis focused on the selection of different solvents for the production of poly (lactic acid) (PLA) nanofibres. Solution properties were measured and the electrospun nanofibrous structures were analysed in terms of morphology and nanofibre diameter. Understanding the molecular interactions between polymer and solvents enables the correct solvent selection to ensure the desired nanofibrous structure.
Solubility is not the only criterion for nanofibre formation from a polymer solution. Polymer concentration is one of the main factors affecting electrospinning. For this reason, a relationship between PLA concentration and nanofibre morphology was determined by solution property measurements. A three step systematic methodology has been proposed in this thesis in order to select appropriate solvent and polymer concentration for the production of homogeneous electrospun mats made of defect-free nanofibres. This methodology was validated for PLA nanofibres, but it can be used for a wide range of polymers. It simplifies the solvent selection process and can significantly improve the trial and error approaches used at present.
Despite several models for electrospinning having been proposed to predict the behaviour of the electrospun jet, there are no simple methods for a priori prediction of the final morphology of the electrospun mat from the knowledge of solution properties and electrospinning process parameters. Moreover the prediction of nanofibre diameter is still a difficulty and little research has been done on this. For these reasons, the second part of this thesis is dedicated to understanding the effect of some process parameters on the jet electric current and hence on the morphology of PLA nanofibres. The values of current measured were used to verify an equation proposed in the literature for the prediction of the final diameter. The experimental diameter of the PLA nanofibres was compared with the predicted value.
In the last chapter coaxial electrospinning was employed to produce PLA nanofibres with a core shell structure for the incorporation of a model hydrophilic drug in the nanofibre core. The large surface area to volume ratio of nanofibres offers the great advantage of higher efficiency of encapsulation and better control of the release profile compared with other drug delivery systems. Even though successful encapsulation of drug and proteins have been reported, it is not clear how to verify the continuous drug distribution in the core throughout the whole length of the fibre. The solution properties of both core and shell strongly affect the outcome of the electrospinning process. For this reason, several techniques have been used to verify the formation of a core shell structure and proper encapsulation of the drug. In addition, the efficiency of drug encapsulation was evaluated and drug release studies were performed.


The spin-orbit interaction lies at the heart of quantum computation with spin qubits, research on topologically non-trivial states, and various applications in spintronics. Hole spins in Ge/Si core/shell nanowires experience a spin-orbit interaction that has been predicted to be both strong and electrically tunable, making them a particularly promising platform for research in these fields. We experimentally determine the strength of spin-orbit interaction of hole spins confined to a double quantum dot in a Ge/Si nanowire by measuring spin-mixing transitions inside a regime of spin-blockaded transport. We find a remarkably short spin-orbit length of $\sim$65 nm, comparable to the quantum dot length and the interdot distance. We additionally observe a large orbital effect of the applied magnetic field on the hole states, resulting in a large magnetic field dependence of the spin-mixing transition energies. Strikingly, together with these orbital effects, the strong spin-orbit interaction causes a significant enhancement of the $g$-factor with magnetic field.The large spin-orbit interaction strength demonstrated is consistent with the predicted direct Rashba spin-orbit interaction in this material system and is expected to enable ultrafast Rabi oscillations of spin qubits and efficient qubit-qubit interactions, as well as provide a platform suitable for studying Majorana zero modes.


Arthritis carries significant morbidity in populations across the world and also in India. The arthritis of the inflammatory variety can be managed with medications and synovectomy if severe. Intraarticular radioisotope colloid also known as radiation synovectomy have shown good results in management of inflammatory arthritis in majority of literature. This modality remains underutilised in the Himalayan State of Indiamainly due to lack of awareness and availability issues, hence we bring forth the practical aspects of radiation synovectomy and discuss literature in this brief review.

Keywords: Inflammatory arthritis, Radiation synovectomy, Himalayan State, India


The goddesses of ancient Syro-Palestine have recently received detailed attention. This study attempts to make a contribution to the iconography of Anat, Astarte, Asherah and Qedeshet in the period 1500-1000 BCE. Because Anat and Astarte were closely related, and it is sometimes argued that Qedeshet was a mere epithet of the goddess Asherah, these goddesses need to be studied together. It is argued that it is possible to differentiate between these goddesses and that Qedeshet was an independent goddess with her own iconography.
The main iconographic types (armed, seated, standing, equestrian, naked woman with objects) are discussed, attributes compared, items identified with a specific goddess, and an iconographic typology established. Like Astarte, Anat was depicted armed and Astarte is also shown on horseback. The woman holding objects is identified as Qedeshet.
This book presents a detailed catalogue of items related to these goddesses, with photographs and comparative drawings. The catalogue has been updated for this second, slightly revised edition.


Knowledge of how surface roughness influences the reflectance of sunlight from cultivated soils is useful in various applications, such as estimating albedo values used as inputs to soil temperature models and erosion models. The albedos of two soils were studied for dry and wet surfaces with four different roughness conditions, changed from a reference smooth soil surface. The soils were the Gila fine sandy loam [coarse-loamy, mixed (calcareous), thermic Typic Torrifluvent] (Ap horizon), 10YR 6.0/3.2 dry and 10YR 4.1/3.3 wet, and the Pima clay loam [fine-silty, mixed (calcareous), thermic Typic Torrifluvent] (Ap horizon), 10YR 5.2/2.3 dry and 10YR 3.3/2.3 wet. Albedo measurements were made during selected mornings with clear skies in 1995 and 1996. The mean albedos of reference smooth surfaces (<2 mm sieved soil) were 0.279 and 0.155 for dry and wet Gila soil and 0.221 and 0.114 for dry and wet Pima soil. Four tillage conditions were studied: rough plow, disk, disk–disk, and seedbed. Tillage direction was north–south in 1995 and east–west in 1996. The goodness of fit of linear relationships determined between mean albedo and surface roughness, measured with a roughness meter and reported as the root mean square deviation, were relatively high; however, the slopes for the regression equations were different for the two soils and the two moisture conditions. The different slopes indicate that the sensitivity of albedo to surface roughness was highest for the most reflective surface (dry Gila soil) and lowest for the least reflective surface (wet Pima soil). The albedos were on average 27, 18, 10, and 8% lower for dry and wet rough-plow, disk, disk–disk, and seedbed treatments, respectively, as compared with the albedo of the reference smooth soil. These reduction percentages can be used as a general guide to estimate the albedos of tilled soils similar to the Gila and Pima soils studied here.


The main objective in constructing the rainwater harvesting structures is to collect and retain the maximum possible amount of runoff generated from its catchment area. If suitable small surface water harvesting structures are taken up systematically on a micro-watershed basis, it is possible to avoid the drought like conditions that prevail in semi-arid regions. The present paper based on the primary data collected by conducting intensive fieldwork and personal interviews. It is found that three main surface water harvesting structures have been constructed. These are - i) Cascade of tanks and contour bunds ii) Networking of farm ponds iii) percolation tank. It is suggested that such surface rainwater harvesting structures should be constructed in a micro-watershed particularly in the drought-prone areas to bring prosperity and development. Key Words : Water harvesting, Potentiality, Micro-watershed, Impact, Sustainable development.


An assessment of the global distribution of nitrogen oxides (NOx) is required for a satisfactory description of tropospheric chemistry and in the evaluation of the global impact of increasing anthropogenic emissions of NOx. In the mathematical models utilized for this purpose, it is necessary to have the natural as well as man-made sources of NOx in the atmosphere as inputs. Thunderstorms are a main natural source of NOx in the atmosphere and it may be the dominant source of NOx in the troposphere in equatorial and tropical South Pacific.


In this study, superplastic tensile tests were carried out for Ti-6Al-4V alloy using different initial grain sizes (2.6 μm, 6.5μm and 16.2 μm) at a temperature of 920°C with an initial strain rate of 1×10-3 s-1. To get an insight into the effect of grain size on the superplastic deformation mechanisms, the microstructures of deformed alloy were investigated by using an optical microscope and transmission electron microscope (TEM). The results indicate that there is dramatic difference in the superplastic deformation mode of fine and coarse grained Ti-6Al-4V alloy. Meanwhile, grain growth induced by superplastic deformation has also been clearly observed during deformation process, and the grain growth model including the static and strain induced part during superplastic deformation was utilized to analyze the data of Ti-6Al-4V alloy.


We study how provincial-level enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPRs) affects Chinese firms' decisions regarding exit, export, and the channels through which to receive technology transfer. Our findings provide insights into how variations in IPRs enforcement alter productivity. Our model combines the standard theory of heterogeneous firms with the endogenous choices of those firms concerning how they absorb international technologies through imitation or licensing. We show that, in this setting, the exit and export cutoff productivities differ from those in the standard environment, leading to a different sorting mechanism. We also predict that stronger IPRs change the decisions firms make concerning their mode of technology transfer, further altering their productivity and export possibilities. Empirical tests based on a comprehensive dataset of Chinese firms from 2000 to 2006 support the model predictions.


The Internet services generate huge amount of data, which require large space for storage. Determining device purchase plan turns out to be very important for the service providers. Under-purchasing might lead to data loss, while over-purchasing would result in waste. In this paper, we propose a linear regression based approach to predict the storage demand according to the time series of the storage consumption. We partitioned the storage con-sumption time series into several linear segments, and perform prediction on the last segment using linear regression. Since the position of turning points between adjacent segments and the total number of the segments are both unknown, how to achieve the online segmentation becomes a big challenge. Aiming to solve this problem, we carried out the Kalman-Anova segmentation method. Experiment results show that our method has good accuracy in precision, recall and F-measure values. Moreover, the method is able to segment nonlinear time series as well, suggesting a potential wider application. The proposed method has been deployed in Baidu Inc. and saves about 45 thousand dollars in one of its device purchase program.


This book examines the political and economic relations between Turkey and Iran since the Iranian Revolution in 1979. It shows that contrary to the expectation that the revolution would usher in an era of ideological hostility between the two neighbors, relations were primarily framed in an imbalanced manner irrespective of ideology. On the one hand, Iran largely continued the Shah's foreign policy of benign neglect vis-a-vis Turkey, focusing on overcoming isolation and expanding Iranian influence in the Gulf and the wider Middle East. On the other hand, Turkey was acutely attentive to Iran's potential – intentionally as well as inadvertently - to generate security threats or economic opportunities. As such, there was an asymmetry of interest between the Turkish and Iranian elites in the affairs of their neighbor. This asymmetry ended in the first decade of the 21st century due to changes in domestic Turkish politics, the US invasion of Iraq, complementary economic developments and Iran's nuclear dispute. Yet, this underlying dynamic continues to explain why these two regional powers continue to engage in contradictory relations, vacillating between rivalry and partnership.


The Internet is a major source of online news content. Current efforts to evaluate online news content including text, storyline, and sources is limited by the use of small-scale manual techniques that are time consuming and dependent on human judgments. This article explores the use of machine learning algorithms and mathematical techniques for Internet-scale data mining and semantic discovery of news content that will enable researchers to mine, analyze, and visualize large-scale datasets. This research has the potential to inform the integration and application of data mining to address real-world socio-environmental issues, including water insecurity in the Southwestern United States. This paper establishes a formal definition of framing and proposes an approach for the discovery of distinct patterns that characterize prominent frames. The authors' experimental evaluation shows the proposed process is an effective approach for advancing semi-supervised machine learning and may assist in advancing tools for making sense of unstructured text.


Objective: Evidence suggests an interarm difference (IAD) of >=10mmHg in blood pressure (BP) is associated with a greater incidence of cardiovascular disease. Effect of ethnicity on the prevalence of this difference has not been reported. Design and method: The Blood Pressure in Ethnic Groups Study (BP-Eth), based in primary care, investigated the relationship between ethnicity and different methods of BP measurement. Using these data the prevalence of a significant IAD was investigated in 770 people (300 White British, 229 South Asian, 241 African-Caribbean). Repeated BP measurements were obtained simultaneously in the right and left arm using two BP-Tru machines and comparisons made between the first reading, mean of 2nd/3rd readings and mean of 2nd-6th readings for patients with and without known hypertension. Results: No significant difference was seen in the prevalence of a systolic IAD between ethnicities whichever combinations of BP measurement were used and whether or not an individual was hypertensive. Overall the prevalence of IAD fell as more measurements were used in the comparison: first measurement (n = 161, 22%), mean 2nd/3rd (113, 16%) and mean 2–6th (78, 11%) (first vs clinic and research mean p < 0.001). To investigate whether this change in IAD prevalence with repeated measurement was due to a white coat effect (WCE), the three types of measurement were compared with participants' mean daytime ambulatory readings (ABPM). WCE was defined as Clinic BP >=10mmHg higher than ABPM. Unadjusted results show patients with a WCE were twice as likely to have an IAD on their first BP measurement (OR 2.1, 95% CI 1.4 - 3.1), mean 2nd/3rd (2.1, 95% CI 1.3 - 3.4) and mean 2–6th (2.1, 95% CI 1.2 - 3.9) compared to those without a WCE. Conclusions: Ethnicity did not affect the prevalence of IAD in people with or without hypertension. However the prevalence of IAD was affected by the number of readings suggesting an element of white coat effect and this was confirmed by comparison with ambulatory monitoring. Therefore ABPM may play an important role in the investigation of those with >=10mmHg interarm blood pressure difference.


Osteoclasts are unique in their capacity to degrade bone tissue. To achieve this process, osteoclasts form a specific structure called the sealing zone, which creates a close contact with bone and confines the release of protons and hydrolases for bone degradation. The sealing zone is composed of actin structures called podosomes nested in a dense actin network. The organization of these actin structures inside the sealing zone at the nano scale is still unknown. Here, we combine cutting-edge microscopy methods to reveal the nanoscale architecture and dynamics of the sealing zone formed by human osteoclasts on bone surface. Random illumination microscopy allowed the identification and live imaging of densely packed actin cores within the sealing zone. A cross-correlation analysis of the fluctuations of actin content at these cores indicates that they are locally synchronized. Further examination shows that the sealing zone is composed of groups of synchronized cores linked by α-actinin1 positive filaments, and encircled by adhesion complexes. Thus, we propose that the confinement of bone degradation mediators is achieved through the coordination of islets of actin cores and not by the global coordination of all podosomal subunits forming the sealing zone.


INTERSECTING INEQUALITIES Preface. Making Sense of Intersecting Inequalities. Chapter One. Is Inequality Inevitable? Chapter Introduction. Richard Sennett, "The Seductions of Inequality," in Respect in a World of Inequality, New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2003: pp. 89-94. Kingsley David and Wilbert E. Moore, "Some Principles of Stratification," American Sociological Review, Vol. 10, No. 2, 1944:242-249. Melvin M. Tumin, "Some Principles of Stratification: A Critical Analysis," American Sociological Review, Vol. 18, No. 4, 1953: 387-394. E. Franklin Frazier, "Biracial Organizations," in Race and Culture Contacts in the Modern World, Boston: Beacon Press (get date) : 269-287. Juliet Mitchell, "The Position of Women," in Woman's Estate, Pantheon Books, 1971: 99-122. Iris Marion Young, "Structural Difference and Inequality," in Inclusion and Democracy, Oxford University Press, 2000: 92-99. Charles Tilly, "Of Essences and Bonds," in Durable Inequality, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998: 10-15. Chapter Two. Class. Chapter Introduction. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, "Bourgeois and Proletarians," in The Marx-Engels Reader, Robert Tucker, ed., New York: W.W. Norton, 1972: 335-345. Max Weber, "Class, Status, Party," in From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, H. H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills (translators and editors), New York: Oxford University Press, 1946: 180-195. Thorsten Veblen, "Pecuniary Emulation," in The Theory of the Leisure Class," Prometheus Books, 1998:22-34. Erik Olin Wright, "Foundations of Class Analysis: A Marxist Perspective," in Reconfigurations of Class and Gender, Janeen Baxter and Mark Western (eds.), Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001: 14-27. W. Lloyd Warner with Marchia Meeker and Kenneth Eells, "What Social Class Is in America," in Social Class in America, Harper & Row Publishers, 1960: 3-32. Peter M. Blau and Otis Dudley Duncan with Andrea Tyree, "Occupational Structure and Historical Trends," in The American Occupational Structure, New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc. 1967: 418-431. Robert Perrucci and Earl Wysong, The New Class Society: Goodbye American Dream?, 2nd ed., Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2003: 10-30. Lisa A. Keister, "Who Owns What? The Changing Distribution of Wealth," in Wealth in American: Trends in Wealth Inequality, Cambridge University Press, 2000: 55-66. Alan Wolfe, "The Middle Class and its Discontents," in One Nation, After All, New York: Viking, 1998: 5-17. Teresa A. Sullivan, Elizabeth Warren, Jay Lawrence Westbrook, "The Middle Class in Debt," in The Fragile Middle Class: Americans in Debt, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000: 238-261. Edna Bonacich and Richard P. Appelbaum, "The Return of the Sweatshop," in Behind the Label: Inequality in the Los AngelesApparel Industry, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000: 1-8. Rebecca M. Blank, "The Changing Face of Poverty," in It Takes a Nation: A New Agenda for Fighting Poverty, Sage Publications, 1997: 13-27. Barbara Reskin, "The Proximate Causes of Employment Discrimination," Contemporary Sociology, Vol. 29, No. 2, March, 2000: 319-328. Chapter 3. Race, Ethnicity, and Class Chapter Introduction. Melvin L. Oliver and Thomas M. Shapiro, "Wealth and Racial Stratification," in Smelser et. Al., AmericaBecoming: Racial Trends and their Consequences, Vol. II, Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 2001: 222-251. Douglas S. Massey and Nancy A. Denton, "The Perpetuation of the Underclass," in American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass, Harvard University Press, 1993: 148-160. William Julius Wilson, When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1996: 137-146. Roger Waldinger and Michael I. Lichter, "A New Ethnic Order," in How the Other Half Works: Immigration and the Social Organization of Labor, University of California Press, 2003: 160-170. Katherine S. Newman, "No Shame in (This) Game," in No Shame in My Game: The Working Poor in the Inner City, Alfred A. Knopf and Russell Sage, 2000: 86-95. Michele Lamont, "Whites on Blacks," "Blacks on Whites," in The Dignity of Working Men: Morality and the Boundaries of Race, Class and Immigration, Russell Sage and Harvard University Press, 2000: 60-83. Jill Quadagno, "Another Face of Inequality: Racial and Ethnic Exclusion in the Welfare State, Social Politics, Vol. 7, No. 2, Summer, 2000: 229-237. Derek Bok and Charles Bowen, "Informing the Debate" in The shape of the river, Princeton University Press, 1998: 256-274. Nicholas Lemann, "Meritocracy," in The Big Test: The secret history of the American meritocracy, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000: 115-122. Chapter 4. Sex, Sexual Identity, and Class Chapter Introduction. Cecilia Ridgeway, "Interaction and the Conservation of Gender Inequality: Considering Employment," in American Sociological Review, 1997, Vol. 62, April: 218-235. Eleanor Maccoby, "Gender-based Hierarchy," in The Two Sexes: Growing Up Apart, Coming Together, Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1999: 229-251. Paula England, "Gender and Access to Money: What do Trends in Earnings and Household Poverty Tell Us?" in Reconfigurations of Class and Gender, Janeen Baxtger and Mark Western (eds.), Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001: 131-153. Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo, "Maid in L.A.," in Domestica: Immigrant Workers Cleaning and Caring in the Shadows of Affluence, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2001: 30-37. Barbara Ehrenreich, "Selling in Minnesota," in Nickel and Dimed, New York: Metropolitan Books, 2001: 143-169. Diana Kendall, "Members Only: Organizational Structure and Patterns of Exclusion," in The Power of Good Deeds, Rowman and Littlefield, 2002: 143-164. M.V. Lee Badgett and Mary C. King, "Lesbian and Gay Occupational Strategies," in Homo Economics: Capitalism, Community, and Lesbian and Gay Life, Amy Gluckman and Betsy Reed (eds). New York: Routledge, 1997: 73-86. Julie Matthaei, "The Sexual Division of Labor, Sexuality, and Lesbian/Gay Liberation," in Homo Economics, 136-164. Chapter 5. Citizenship, Capitalism, Globalization, and Class Chapter Introduction. Howard Winant, "Racism: From Domination to Hegemony," in The World is a Ghetto: Race and Democracy Since World War II, Basic Books, 2001: 305-376. Glenn Firebaugh, Chapter 2 in The New Geography of Global Income Inequality, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003: 15-29. David S. Landes, "Losers," in The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some so Poor, New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1998: 491-507. Loic Wacquant, "Urban Marginality in the Coming Millennium," Urban Studies, Vol 36, No. 10, 1999: 1639-1647. Evelyn Nakano Glenn, "Patterns of Domination," in Unequal Freedom: How Race and Gender Shaped American Citizensship and Labor, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002: 240-264. Leslie Sklair, "Globalizing Class Theory," in The Transnational Capitalist Class, Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2001: 10-23. Pippa Norris, "Digital Divide," in Digital Divide: Civic Engagement, Information Poverty, and the Internet Worldwide, Cambridge University Press, 2001: 77-92. Kevin Bales, "New Slavery in the Global Economy," in Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1999: 12-22. Chapter 6. What is to be done? Chapter Introduction. Herbert J. Gans, "Joblessness and Antipoverty Policy in the Twenty-first Century," in The War Against the Poor, BasicBooks, 1995: 135-147. Jeff Faux, "Public Investment for a Twenty-First Century Economy," in Back to Shared Prosperity, Ray Marshall (ed.), M.E. Sharpe, 2000: 211-218. Amartya Sen, "Democracy as a Universal Value," Journal of Democracy, Vol 10, 1999: 3-17. Philip Green, "Equality and Democracy," in Equality and Democracy, New York: The New Press, 1998: 171-184. Immanuel Wallerstein, " A Substantially Rational World, Or can Paradise be Regained?" in Utopistics, New York: The New Press, 1998: 65-90. Conclusion. Sonia Hanson, Peter Kivisto and Beth Hartung, "Confronting Intersecting Inequalities."


In this paper we focused our studies on functionalization of DNA and of collagen with active molecules and thin film processing, their photostability in view of their further application in electronics and photonics as all optical switching elements, bioleds, optical memories, light amplifies, electro-optic modulators, etc. We have also addressed very important point for the practical application of these materials, not studied previously, which is the photo stability of these materials. If they have to work in photonic systems they have to exhibit an excellent stability in time and at the operation temperature range. The main interest for biopolymers arises from the fact that they are renewable, derived from waste of meat industry and they are biodegradable materials.


The purpose of this study was to examine the validity and reliability of Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire–Short Form (TEIQue-SF) developed by Petrides and Furnham (2000, 2001). Participants were 464 university students. Language equivalency was supported by positive correlations between translated forms (English-Turkish) and backtranslated forms (TurkishEnglish). Explanatory Factor Analysis performed for construct validity revealed that the scale is a four-factor measure with 20 items. This four-factor solution was tested with Confirmatory Factor Analysis and the results provided a good fit to the data. The internal consistency score of the TEIQue-SF was .81 and test-retest reliabilty of the total score was .86. These results revealed that this scale is a valid and reliable instrument to use with Turkish university students.


Objective: Using radioactive iodine (RAI) as the first line therapy for Graves' hyperthyroidism and as the treatment of choice for relapsed Graves' disease is increasing in recent times. However, there has been little consensus on the most appropriate dose to use. So this study is to determine the response of hyperthyroidism to fixed doses of 370 MBq and 555 MBq RAI therapies and determine the incidence of hypothyroidism at 6 months post therapy. Methods: Hyperthyroid patients' case records treated with radioiodine was retrospectively reviewed to determine the response rate of hyperthyroidism to the two fixed dose regimens. Statistical analysis was done with SPSS version 15.0 and the level of statistical significance was taken as p<0.05. Forty subjects, 6 males (15%) and 34 females (85%) received RAI therapy for Graves' hyperthyroidism, mean age was 49.4 years (range, 25-75years). The thyroid function status at 6 months post therapy was available for all subjects. 24 patients (60%) received 370 MBq while 16 patients (40%) received 555 MBq. Results: The response for fixed doses of 370 MBq and 555 MBq were similar (100%). Also, the incidence of hypothyroidism in these subjects which was 66.6% with fixed dose of 370 MBq and 62.5% with fixed dose of 555 MBq within 6 months post RAI therapy were similar. Conclusion: SRAI is highly effective for the treatment of hyperthyroidism, with a cure rate of 100%. However, it has proved impossible to determine a fixed dose regimen for individual patients accurately to guarantee an euthyroid state. This is because hypothyroidism is a natural predictable sequel of RAI therapy. Conflict of interest:None declared.


The rural cultural landscape in Malaysia is relatively under-researched. The current heritage practices focus on built heritage as national heritage, which implies the everyday landscapes of the rural areas have been neglected as potential heritage and have received little attention from politicians and policy makers. The goals of the study were two-fold: [1] To identify and select rural cultural landscapes in Peninsular Malaysia that have heritage value, which may also considered worthwhile for protection; [2] To analyze the level of awareness and readiness of Malaysian policy makers and planning practitioners from relevant fields with regard to cultural landscape conservation. A mixed-methods approach was employed, which include author's personal selection, survey questionnaire and in-depth interviews, content analysis and expert workshops. The first goal was achieved through the author's personal selection of cultural landscapes with heritage values on the basis of internationally accepted criteria, which was subsequently validated by expert panels in workshop sessions. The author's selection includes six rural cultural landscapes with heritage value: the rice paddy landscapes in Kedah; the first FELDA settlement of Lurah Bilut; three traditional villages of the east coast (Terengganu); the Kuala Sepetang and Kuala Sangga fishing villages on the west coast, the Minangkabau settlements in Rembau and Kuala Pilah; and the hill resorts and mixed farming in Cameron Highlands. The expert panels were not informed about the author's personal selection. Through the workshops, with small minor differences, the expert panels validated the author's personal selection and nominated similar types of landscape. The experts panels agreed with the author that cultural landscapes in Peninsular Malaysia have significant heritage values and potential for national listing, yet to date these landscapes are not legally protected and at risk. The survey questionnaire and in-depth interviews among experts and the content analysis of three Malaysian government documents [(the National Physical Plan-2 (NPP-2), the National Landscape Policy (NLP) and the National Heritage Act 2005 (NHA)] served to answer the second goal. Four significant results derived from this part of the study. [1] The term and concept of "cultural landscape" is not commonly used in Malaysian daily landscape policy and practices. [2] The senior policy makers confirmed that the cultural landscape is peripheral on the landscape planning and heritage conservation agenda. [3] Landscape characteristics that represent assets such as scenery, architectural styles, and cultural activities are more cherished than those that refer to history. [4] The experts expressed their concern on threats to cultural landscapes caused by rapid urban, infrastructural, and industrial development. The content analysis of policy documents revealed that the idea of cultural landscape as heritage in Malaysia has not yet been incorporated in government policy and heritage practices. Sustainable development, which is part of the climate mitigation and biodiversity conservation agenda, is central in the planning and landscape policies. Landscape as resource and as project ("landscaping") is widely adopted in NPP-2 and NLP. The instruments of the NHA are more suitable for conservation of buildings and monuments than for the protection of valuable landscapes as a whole. In conclusion, the idea of cultural landscapes as heritage needs more collaboration between professionals and agencies in Malaysia.


Conditional Density Estimation (CDE) has wide-reaching applicability to various real-world problems, such as spatial density estimation and environmental modelling. CDE estimates the probability density of a random variable rather than a single value and can thus model uncertainty and inverse problems. This task is inherently more complex than regression, and many algorithms suffer from overfitting, particularly when modelled with few labelled data points. For applications where unlabelled data is abundant but labelled data is scarce, we propose Wasserstein Laplacian Regularisation, a semi-supervised learning framework that allows CDE algorithms to leverage these unlabelled data. The framework minimises an objective function which ensures that the learned model is smooth along the manifold of the underlying data, as measured by Wasserstein distance. When applying our framework to Mixture Density Networks, the resulting semi-supervised algorithm can achieve similar performance to a supervised model with up to three times as many labelled data points on baseline datasets. We additionally apply our technique to the problem of remote sensing for chlorophyll-a estimation in inland waters.


We give examples to show that not even c-edNCE , the most general known notion of context-free graph grammar, is suited for the specification of some common data structures. To overcome this problem, we use monadic second-order logic and introduce edge constraints as a new means of specifying a large class of graph families. Our notion stems from a natural dichotomy found in programming practice between ordinary pointers forming spanning trees and auxiliary pointers cutting across. Our main result is that for certain transformations of graphs definable in monadic second-order logic, the question of whether a graph family given by a specification A is mapped to a family given by a specification B is decidable. Thus a decidable Hoare logic arises.


Locally advanced colorectal cancers (CRC) pose several management challenges, including local recurrence and the development of peritoneal metastases (PM). These recurrences are associated with a poor prognosis and onerous complications. In selected patients with PM, cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (CRS-HIPEC) have shown to confer survival benefit. However, its effectiveness depends on the disease extent and this combined treatment is associated with significant morbidity. Additionally, early detection of PM is difficult even with state-of-the-art imaging techniques. Due to the high-risk of developing PM, locally advanced CRC are currently being investigated in several trials, including adjuvant HIPEC in an attempt to reduce the risk of PM. This review article sets out to examine the current data available on this topic, in an attempt to determine the suitability and effectiveness of HIPEC in the management of locally advanced CRC.


A general method is introduced to frequency domain analysis of arbitrary lossy inhomogeneous planar layers. In this method, all electric and magnetic parameters and also all components of the electric and magnetic fields are expanded in a Taylor's series. The field solutions are obtained after finding unknown coefficients of the series. The validity of the method is verified using analysis of some special types of planar layers.


Objective Mercury (Hg), as one of the priority pollutants and also a hot topic of frontier environmental research in many countries, has been paid higher attention in the world since the middle of the last century. Guizhou Province (at N24°30′-29°13′, E103°1′-109°30′, 1 100 m above the sea level, with subtropical humid climate) in southwest China is an important mercury production center. It has been found that the mercury content in most media of aquatics, soil, atmosphere and in biomass of corns, plants and animals, is higher than the national standard.The present study aims to explore the influence of mercury pollution on the health of local citizens. Methods The effect of rice from two mercury polluted experimental plots of Guizhou Province on the expression of c-jun mRNA in rat brain and c-jun protein in cortex, hippocampus and ependyma was observed using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunocytochemical methods. Results The results showed that the mercury polluted rice induced expression of c-jun mRNA and its protein significantly. Selenium can reduce Hg uptake, an antagonism between selenium and mercury on the expression of c-jun mRNA and c-jun protein. Conclusion c-jun participates in the toxicity process of brain injury by mercury polluted rice, the expression of c- jun mRNA in brain, and c-jun protein in rat cortex and hippocampus can predict neurotoxicity of mercury polluted rice. People should be advised to be cautious in eating any kind of Hg-polluted foods. To reveal the relationship between c-jun induction and apoptosis, further examinations are required.


Guinea pig thyroid tissue was incubated in a tissue culture system in the presence of various TSH concentrations and for various time periods. The morphokinetic response was examined with the electron microscope. The qualitatively finer aspects of the TSH-caused sequence of events are described and compared with in vivo results. After in vitro stimulation the general changes of cell membranes and of the cytocavitary network are very similar to those in vivo. On the other hand, there are differences with regard to intensity and duration of the structural response to TSH and additionally degenerative changes of organelles are found which might be explained by incubational factors. The role of the mitochondria as a source of energy is demonstrated by typical qualitative and quantitative alterations. An interesting finding is the degradation of mitochondria within colloid droplets, a mechanism which is suggested to represent a modified autophagy. Intracellular follicles are occasionally found during in vitro experiments. The formal genesis of this structure and its possible role is discussed. The present study indicates that this incubation model provides a useful tool for further analyses of thyroid disorders.


ABSTRACT Polymer matrix composite materials have been increasingly used in aerospace, defense, automotive and marine industries. In these fields, nontraditional machining method of abrasive water jet (AWJ) has been used significantly in order to form polymer matrix components. In this study, glass fiber reinforced vinyl ester composite plates have been investigated under various AWJ cutting parameters by using the Taguchi experimental design in detail. For Taguchi experimental design, experimental parameters of standoff distance, abrasive mass flow rate, traverse speed, pressure and material thickness were determined at three levels. Top kerf width and the surface roughness were investigated in order to understand the cutting performance. Finally, linear regression models were conducted and all performance parameters were examined using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and main effects plots. According to the overall test results, standoff distance was determined as the most effective one. The optimal parameter levels were obtained by the 'main effects plots', and finally, the predictive modeling was validated by performing the optimal combination of parameter levels.


Neuromorphic computing is an emerging technology that describes the biological neural systems and implementation of its electrical model in complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) VLSI systems. As the neural networks are wire dominated complicated system with myriad interconnected elements, it requires massively parallel processing for the computational task. However, the hardware implementation experiences some critical challenges and unsurmountable obstacles by using 2D planar circuits. Therefore, the potential three dimensional integration technology can be applied in hardware implementation of neuromorphic computing that provides a sustainable and promising alternative to the existing conventional integrated circuit (IC) technology by allowing vertical stacking of dies. 3D hardware interconnection between the neural layers not only offer high device interconnection density with greater reduction in parasitic, it also provides improved channel bandwidth using fast and energy efficient links with excellent distribution and communication among the neuron layers. Beyond these opportunities, it needs a thorough investigation to explore all the design issues and critical challenges for successful implementation of 3D neuromorphic computation for high performance application. In this work, we studied the design challenges of the 3D integration technology for neuromorphic computing systems, and possible ways to overcome the limitation of well-connected synaptic system.


During the 1970's Cobb County began asimple stream monitoring program to locate and correct overflowing manholes and to evaluate the performance of small treatment plants ·operated by the cities and industries located inside of it's borders. This initial program consisted of laboratory technicians sampling the various stream stations through out the county and reporting on fecal coliform populations and the biochemical oxygen demand. Since its inception, the stream monitoring program has progressed to include seventy-one monitoring stations ·on twenty streams. Improvements include amore in-depth analytical evaluation and the analysis of data including measurement of stream flow and the use of chemical and biotic indices. The background and developments of Cobb's local program are offered to provide information to other local governments wishing to establish stream monitoring Rrograms of their own.


In the Northeast Japan Arc, uplift ranges and subsided sedimentary basins form topographic rows parallel to the north-trending arc and trench, and their arrangement reflects the neotectonic movement of the arc-trench system due to the horizontal shortening stress field in the east-west direction. To reconstruct the detailed tectonic processes of the Dewa Hills, one of the remarkable uplift belts in the inner zone of the Northeast Japan Arc, this paper aims at elucidating the Latest Cenozoic succession of the Pliocene-Pleistocene Nishime Sedimentary Basin in the hills. In the Nishime Basin accompanying the Nishime Syncline, the Pliocene Tentokuji and Sasaoka Formations of marine origin, the Nishime Formation of latest Early to early Middle Pleistocene age, deposited under neritic to fluvial environments, and the Yurihara Debris Avalanche Deposits flowing down the Chokai Volcano in middle to late Middle Pleistocene time, are well-exposed in ascending order. The Last Interglacial thalassostatic terrace surface, namely Hj-M1 Surface, is fragmentarily present in the north of the basin. The Nishime Sedimentary Basin continued to exist as a relative subsided area accompanying the movement of the Nishime Syncline from the earliest Pliocene, and filling by a sequence of basin-fills was completed before the deposition of the Yurihara Debris Avalanche in the middle to late period of Middle Pleistocene age, caused by the extinction of the syncline. Since then, the regional uplift has predominated in the whole of the Nishime Basin up to present, and the basin is no longer an active sedimentary basin. The Nikaho Thrust Faults situated on the western fringe of the basin, partly promoted the growth of the Nishime Syncline, but are inferred to have also moved since Late Pleistocene time. From these and some data on the other sedimentary basins in the Dewa Hills, it is concluded that both the uplifted and subsided areas were concurrent during the time from the early Pliocene to the Middle Pleistocene in the Dewa Hills. In contrast, the hills are considered to have grown since Middle Pleistocene time until present as a single uplift zone restricted at its western margin by the Kitayuri Thrust Fault System. * Institute of Geography , Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8578, Japan Science Reports of Tohoku University, 7th Series (Geography) Vol. 50, No. 1, June, 2000, 35-57


By using an incomplete factorial mating design between twenty Pinus strobus L. female and seven P. wallichiana Jack. male trees, a number of 34 full-sib families were obtained. The objective of this experiment was to combine the fast growing of the former species with moderately to high resistance to blister rust ( Cronartium ribicola Fich. in Rabenh.) of the latter one. The hybrid families were artificially inoculated at age two, and field planted at age four. The plantation took place within an old black current ( Ribes nigrum L.) heavy infected by blister rust. In order to provoke new infections, this time naturally, the pine rows were planted in between the black currant ones. Diameters at breast height, tree height, tree growth rate volume, stem straightness and tree survivals were the traits measured at age 32 from seed. The first trial thinning was simultaneously applied with the present measurements. The average tree survival was 74.8% in hybrids, 8.3% in Pinus strobus and 27.8% in P. wallichiana . Highly significant ( p < 0.01) differences were found between hybrid families for all traits except stem straightness. Genetic coefficient of variation at family level was 13.7% for tree volume growth rate and 15.9% for tree survival, but only 2.1% for tree straightness. Broad-sense family heritability estimates were 0.530 for diameter at breast height, 0.596 for stem height, and 0.564 for stem volume growth rate, 0.166 for stem straightness, and 0.539 for tree survivals. Similarly, the individual tree narrow-sense heritability estimates were 0.138 for diameter at breast height, 0.209 for stem height, 0.149 for stem volume growth rate, and 0.022 for stem straightness. If the best 5, 10 and 15 of 34 families were selected, a genetic gain of 17.7%, 13.4% and 10.2%, respectively, may be achieved in tree survival or blister rust resistance. Similarly, if the best 5%, 10% and 15% individuals within the best hybrid families were selected, a genetic gain of 4.7%, 4.0% and 3.6% in diameter at breast height and 10.7%, 9.1% and 8.1% in tree volume growth rate could be made. The estimated genetic gains indicated that a program aimed at improving growth traits and survival through interspecific hybridization could be successfully achieved.