The influence of double helix torsional elasticity on the compaction and structure of circular DNA compact form is studied theoretically in the case when the compact (globular) form has torus shape. For closed circular DNA the topological invariant, the linking number, yields a strict connection between conformation of the double helix considered as unifilar homopolymer and elastic energy of torsional twisting. The contribution of torsional elasticity to the free energy of the toruslike globule is calculated. This contribution is shown to be proportional to the square of superhelical density. Allowance of the torsional elasticity decreases the equilibrium radius of the toruslike globule formed by circular DNA. Closure of linear DNA into a ring widens the stability range of the relatively short DNA compact form and tightens it for long DNA.


We address the problem of distributing a confidentially shared session key to a multimedia multicast group for content protection. In two such schemes proposed by Trappe , the session key is distributed by employing a homogenized rekey message format. We show that their rekey algorithm in itself is vulnerable to specialized collision attacks, in which even a completely passive outer adversary, who never joins the system and thus never knows any secret user keys, can still reveal the session key of the multimedia multicast with an observable probability but only involving a time complexity far lower than an exhaustive search.


The diet of the Stone Age cultures is a strong indicator to the social group, thus farmers and hunters can be distinguished through their diet.There is well-preserved and well excavated Polish skeletal material available for such a study but the material has not previously been subject to stable isotopes analyses and therefore the questions of diets has not been answered.This study aims to contribute to the understanding of the cultures in the Kichary Nowe 2 area in the Lesser Poland district in southern Poland. Through analysis of the stable isotopes of Carbon, Nitrogen and Sulphur in the collagen of teeth and skeletal bones from the humans in the Kichary Nowe 2 grave-field and from bones from the fauna, coeval and from the same area, the study will establish whether there were any sharp changes of diets.The material from the grave-field comes from cultures with an established agricultural economy, where their cultural belonging has been anticipated from the burial context.The results from my study of stable isotopes from the bone material will be grouped by various parameters, culture, attribution to sex and age. The groups will then be compared to each other to investigate patterns within and between the groups.


My colleagues and I read with great interest the article by Livraghi et al., where the authors stated that radiofrequency ablation (RFA) could be considered the treatment of choice for patients with a singe hepatocellular carcinoma 2 cm, even when surgical treatment is possible.1 We agree with the main conclusion of the authors. As the authors have pointed out, RFA seems to be equivalent to surgery in terms of local disease control and survival.1 In addition, RFA is generally much less invasive than surgery and is associated with a lower complication rate.2 It is no longer unusual that RFA can be the treatment of choice for patients with a single small hepatocellular carcinoma nodule. The investigators must be congratulated for their difficult work. However, we have a question concerning the statistical analysis. In the study, multivariate analysis demonstrated that the appearance of one or more new lesions was the only statistically significant factor. However, the appearance of any new lesion is a delayed phenomenon after RFA. We think that prognosis prediction based on a delayed phenomenon would be of little value in treatment planning and survival prediction at the initial stage of interventional management. We would like to know the results of multivariate analysis after exclusion of this factor. After the exclusion, other factors such as operability might become statistically significant as determined by multivariate analysis.


Dementia is a major public health burden, and the World Health Organization has identified this disorder as a major public health priority. There are limited treatment options due to poor understanding of key mechanism of dementia pathogenesis. Dementia has been regarded as a proteinopathy in which alterations of brain protein structure and function are the key features of the disorder. Proteinopathy can be triggered by degenerative protein modifications (DPMs), misfolding, aggregation, and deposition of the malformed proteins. Despite the clinical significance of alteration in protein abundances, DPMs, protein misfolding, and aggregation, the molecular mechanism that promotes these changes remains inadequately understood, mostly due to technical challenges. Proteomic is a powerful, sensitive, and advanced tool to study the progressive brain tissue damage that critically dysregulates key enzymes, accumu‐ lates modified proteins, and causes protein misfolding and aggregation, resulting in cognitive decline and dementia. The proteomic profiling of protein abundances and correlating DPMs with protein misfolding and aggregation have potential to elucidate underlying molecular mechanism of the disease. This chapter summarizes the recent proteomic developments for studying brain proteome, DPMs, and protein aggrega‐ tion mechanism that may lead to dementia. We attempted to correlate DPMs and its impact on protein aggregation and deposition in brain tissues.


The electrosynthesis of expendable reagents including acids, bases, and oxidants from simple salts or salt mixtures has been demonstrated using a variety of electrochemical cells. A five chambered electrodialytic water splitting (EDWS) cell with bipolar membranes was utilized to efficiently convert sodium sulfate, sodium chloride, potassium nitrate, and potassium chloride to conjugate acids and bases. With the same cell, selective segregation of cations and anions from mixed salt solutions occurred, resulting in relatively pure acids and bases. These results suggest that pure acids and bases can be produced from composite spacecraft brines. Chemical oxidants such as sodium and ammonium persulfate were also synthesized with high current efficiencies by the electrooxidation of salts and acids in a two chambered electrochemical cell. This demonstration of the electrosynthesis of useful reagents from simple and mixed salts provides opportunities to eliminate expendables and bring inorganic material balances nearer to closure in future manned space missions. The current technology is capable of producing reagents suitable for the pretreatment of urine, control of pH and nutrient levels in bioreactor and hydroponics solutions, hydrolysis of biomass, and treatment of acidic or basic incinerator exhaust gases.


Using okadaic acid, a potent inhibitor of type 2A and type 1 protein phosphatases, and inhibitor 2, an intrinsic inhibitory factor of type 1 phosphatase, we characterized the phosphorylated myosin light-chain (PMLC) phosphatase activity in the smooth-muscle extracts of guinea-pig ileum. In the intact fibres the control activity was 254 +/- 13 nmol of Pi/min per g wet wt. (n = 15) against 32P-labelled PMLC (4 microM) from chicken gizzard. The following phosphatase fractions were identified: an inhibitor-2-sensitive (type 1) fraction (fractional activity = 35%), a Mg2+-dependent and okadaic acid-insensitive (type 2C) fraction (17%), and two type 2A-like fractions that had different susceptibility to okadaic acid. The type 2A-like fraction with lower affinity to okadaic acid accounted for 30% of the control activity. After the cell membrane was permeabilized by Triton X-100, more than 60% of this fraction remained and accounted for about 90% of the total activity, whereas the other fractions were nearly abolished. The type 2A-like fraction may be bound to some intracellular structure such as contractile proteins.


An Individual's ability to recognise emotional expressions from other affective displays is thought to be linked to early atypical environmental experience (Pollack, Klorman, Thatcher & Chiccetti, 2001; Pollack & Sinha, 2002), and adult close relationships (e.g Feeney, Noller and Callan, 1994; Neidenthal, Brauer, Robin & Innes-Ker, 2002). However, despite these findings, no work has previously addressed emotion recognition skill within the framework of young children's attachment status and internal working models (IWMs), nor using both dynamic facial expressions and expressive body movement to do so.

The present study recruited five and six year old children (mean age 5.62), n = 38, from two separate SES backgrounds (low-middle class and middle class), from the northeast of England to investigate links between individual differences in young children's mental representations (IWMs) of the attachment relationship and emotion recognition skill, in an attempt to provide a clearer view, of the potential impact, of variation in early caregiving on an individual's emotion recognition skill.

Children's attachment orientation was assessed using the Manchester Child Attachment Story Task (MCAST) (Green, Stanley & Goldwyn, 2001), and emotion recognition skill was tested using the Animated Full Facial Expression Test (AFFECT) (Gagliardi, Figerio, Burt, Cazzaniga, Perrett & Borgatti, 2003), and the Full-light Dynamic Body Expression Task (Atkinson, Tunstall & Dittrich, 2007).

Group comparisons demonstrated no evidence for a link between the key variables of emotion recognition, attachment and IWMs. The findings are discussed in relation to the small sample size of the insecure group, as well as age related differences generally, in children's emotion recognition skill in the preschool period. In addition, recommendations for future research are addressed.


We propose an active noise control (ANC) system for reducing periodic noise generated in a high field area such as noise generated from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) devices (MR noise). The proposed ANC system utilizes optical microphones and piezoelectric loudspeakers, because specific acoustic equipment is required to overcome the high-field problem, and consists of a head-mounted structure to control noise near the user's ears and to compensate for low output of the piezoelectric loudspeaker. Moreover, internal model control (IMC)-based feedback ANC is employed because the MR noise includes some periodic components and is predictable. Our experimental results demonstrate that the proposed ANC system (head-mounted structure) can significantly reduce MR noise by approximately 20 dB in a high field in an actual MRI room even if the imaging mode changes frequently.


Nitric oxide (NO) is increasingly being used in the medical treatments of high blood pressure, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and some illnesses related to the lung. A convenient and safe production and operation system of NO is of interest to the medical circle. In this paper, NO was produced using pulsed discharge between needle-plate electrodes made of different materials in dry air under 1 atm.The effects of varying the distance between electrodes, the pulsed discharge repetition frequency, the flow rate of clean air and the reactor operation time on the concentrations of NO and NO2, and the ratio of NO2/NO are presented. The method of removing NO2 is also introduced in detail. The results of the experiment show that on the cure of NO2/NO versus the distance between electrodes, a minimum ratio of about 7.8% has appeared at the distance of 3.5 mm. The concentrations of NO and NO2 are increased with increasing the pulsed discharge repetition frequency and decreased with an increase in the air flow rate. The small quantity of toxic NO2 could be deoxidized through catalytic process to NO which can be used in treatment. The ratio of NO2/NO decreased to a value below 3% when the gas temperature for deoxidization reached 790 K. Concurrently, the stable concentration of NO could be acquired through a pulsed arc discharge in dry air.


Factors proposed to influence the memory functioning of mid-life women have been the subject of much investigation over the past 15 years. This has followed from reports that memory difficulties are a common complaint of women around the time of menopause. Many previous studies have focused on the physiological changes that accompany the menopausal years, particularly the decline in estrogen levels, and the resultant effects on neural functioning and cognitive performance. The possible benefits of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) on memory functioning has been one key area of research, although there has been much inconsistency in the findings to date. In recent years, the influence of the APOE F4 allele (a genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease) on cognitive functioning, and its possible interaction with HRT, has received increased interest. Psychologically-based theories of ageing and memory decline also abound, which have focused on the influence that variables such as self-efficacy and ageing stereotypes have on memory functioning. The current thesis presents a review of the literature on the impact of these physiological and psychological factors on memory performance. Three empirical investigations were conducted, with the aim of determining the effects of specific variables on the memory performance of mid-life women. In Study 1, the effect of HRT on performance of the WMS-III was assessed in a sample of 213 postmenopausal women. Many of the methodological limitations of previous studies were addressed and the test scores of the 95 HRT users were compared to the 118 nonusers. Possible confounding variables, including age, education, predicted premorbid FSIQ, socioeconomic status, climacteric symptoms, and mood were controlled through hierarchical regression analysis. The results indicated that HRT use contributed unique variance to one WMS-III subtest: Spatial Span (p < .05), with the nonusers performing better on this test than the HRT users. This finding shows some consistency with the results of previous studies indicating that lower estrogen levels afford some advantage on tasks with a strong spatial component. Using ANCOVA, no significant interaction was found between HRT use and APOE genotype, indicating that the APOE genotype did not change the association between HRT use and performance of any of the WMS-III subtests or index scores. A major criticism of previous investigations of memory functioning has been the failure of many studies to use ecologically-valid memory tests, which are arguably more relevant to memory in everyday contexts in comparison to their traditional counterparts (e.g. the WMS-III). This criticism was addressed in Study 2, through the use of the Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test – Extended Version (RBMT-E) to assess memory functioning. The effect of HRT on performance of this test was assessed in a sample of 125 postmenopausal women (77 HRT users and 49 nonusers) via a series of hierarchical regression analyses. Following control of relevant confounding variables, HRT use was found to contribute unique variance to one RBMT-E subtest: Orientation and Date (p < .05). ANCOVA analysis revealed no significant interactions between HRT use and APOE genotype. In Study 3, psychologically-based predictors of memory functioning were evaluated in a sample of 269 women (age range 42-76 years). Based on review of the literature to date, a novel model of memory performance was developed which proposed specific relationships between the variables of age, education, memory selfbeliefs, self-efficacy, affect, attitudes towards ageing, ageing stereotypes, and memory performance. Relevant questionnaires were selected to assess these variables, and the RBMT-E was used as the measure of memory performance. The adequacy of the model was assessed using structural equation modeling techniques. Following modifications of the proposed model, a final model emerged that provided a good fit of the data, highlighted the nature of the relationship between the model components, and had theoretical support. The findings of the present investigations highlight the complexity of the study of memory in mid-life women and the need for more research to further elucidate the contributions of both physiological and psychological variables to understanding variability in memory performance.


Forest fuel reduction treatments are increasingly used by managers to reduce the risk of high-severity wildfire and to manage changes in the ecological function of forests. However, comparative ecological effects of the various types of treatments are poorly understood. We examined short-term patterns in small-mammal responses to mechanical thinning, prescribed-fire, and mechanical thinning/prescribed-fire combination treatments at eight different study areas across the United States as a part of the National Fire and Fire Surrogate (FFS) Project. Research questions included: (1) do treatments differ in their effect on small mammal densities and biomass? and (2) are effects of treatments consistent across study areas? We modeled taxa-specific densities and total small-mammal biomass as functions of treatment types and study area effects and ranked models based on an information-theoretic model selection criterion. Small-mammal taxa examined, including deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus), yellow-pine chipmunks (Tamias amoenus), and golden-mantled ground squirrels (Spermophilus lateralis), as well as all Peromyscus and Tamias species, had top-ranked models with responses varying both by treatment type and study area. In each of these cases, the top-ranked model carried between 69% and 99% of the total weight in the model set, indicating strong support for the top-ranked models. However, the top-ranked model of total small-mammal biomass was a model with biomass varying only with treatment (i.e., treated vs. untreated), not by treatment type or study area; again, this model had strong support, with 75% of the total model weight. Individual species and taxa appear to have variable responses to fuel reduction treatment types in different areas; however, total small-mammal biomass appears generally to increase after any type of fuel reduction. These results suggest that there is substantial variability in taxa-specific responses to treatments and indicate that adaptive management policies may be necessary when applying fuel reduction treatments in areas where management of small-mammal populations is of interest. Adaptive management can be used by managers who are conducting fuel reduction treatments to reduce uncertainty as to which treatments are locally optimal for meeting objectives for the management of small-mammal populations.


BACKGROUND
Paroxysmal positional vertigo is a frequent and handicapping disease.

AIM
To assess the effectiveness of physical therapies using particle reposition procedures in the treatment of paroxysmal positional vertigo.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Fifty nine patients (13 male) with paroxysmal positional vertigo were studied. Clinical data was gathered, the affected channel was identified. In the same session, the corresponding canalith reposition procedure was performed (Epley maneuver for posterior channel and Lempert maneuver for lateral channel) and the immediate response was recorded.

RESULTS
Twenty seven percent of patients had recurring episodes of vertigo and 60% had more than two weeks of evolution. In 49% of patients, vertigo was considered idiopathic and in 92%, the posterior channel was affected. One patient had a combined lesion of posterior and lateral channels and two patients had isolated lateral channel lesions. Seventy percent of patients recovered after two sessions of canalith reposition procedure.

CONCLUSIONS
Canalith reposition maneuvers were highly effective for the treatment of paroxysmal positional vertigo.


OBJECT
This study was conducted for two purposes. The first was to determine whether a combination of measurements of subarachnoid clot volume, clearance rate, and density could improve prediction of which patients experience vasospasm. The second was to determine if each of these three measures could be used independently to predict vasospasm.

METHODS
Digital files of the cranial computerized tomography (CT) scans obtained in 75 consecutive patients admitted within 24 hours of subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) were analyzed in a blinded fashion by an observer who used quantitative imaging software to measure the volume of SAH and its density. Clot clearance rates were measured by quantifying SAH volume on subsequent CT scans. Vasospasm was defined as new onset of a focal neurological deficit or altered consciousness 5 to 12 days after SAH in the absence of other causes of deterioration, diagnosed with the aid of or exclusively by confirmatory transcranial Doppler ultrasonography and/or cerebral angiography. Univariate analysis showed that vasospasm was significantly associated with the SAH grade as classified on the Fisher scale, the initial clot volume, initial clot density, and percentage of clot cleared per day (p < 0.05). In multivariate analysis, initial clot volume and percentage of clot cleared per day were significant predictors of vasospasm (p < 0.05), whereas Fisher grade and initial clot density were not.

CONCLUSIONS
Quantitative analysis of subarachnoid clot shows that vasospasm is best predicted by initial subarachnoid clot volume and the percentage of clot cleared per day.


The US dollar plays a dominant role in the invoicing of international trade, albeit not an exclusive one as more than half of global trade is invoiced in other currencies. Of particular interest are the euro, with a large role, and the renminbi, with a rising role. These two currencies are well suited to contrast the roles of economic fundamentals and policies, as European policy makers have taken a neutral stance in contrast to the promotion of the international role of the renminbi by the Chinese authorities. We assess the drivers of invoicing using the most recent and comprehensive data set for 115 countries over 1999-2019. We find that standard mechanisms that foster use of a large economy's currency predicted by theory – i.e. strategic complementarities in price setting and integration in cross-border value chains – underpin use of the dollar and the euro for trade with the United States and the euro area. These mechanisms also support the role of the dollar, but not the euro, in trade between non-US and non-euro area countries, making the dollar the globally dominant invoicing currency. Fundamentals and policies have played a contrasted role for the use of the renminbi. We find that China's integration into global trade has further strengthened the dominant status of the dollar at the expense of the euro. At the same time, the establishment of currency swap lines by the People's Bank of China has been associated with increases in renminbi invoicing, with an adverse effect on dollar use that is larger than for the euro.


The non-destructive tests (NDT) of the steel wire ropes put on the crane pulley blocks comprise more than a half of our NDT services. The intensive utilization of cranes often leads to critical situations endangering health and safety at work. The operators are forced to provide safety use of the cranes due to new cranes constructions, new construction of the block pulley and put on the new steel wire rope constructions. The NDT tests of the crane steel wire ropes are coordinate by the Standard ISO 4309. We have experienced only the crane steel wire ropes with an individual wire rope core during our NDT tests so far. The visual NDT test usually used is ineffective to the steel wire ropes with this construction. Based on our previous experience it can be confirmed that surface ruptures are produced after the disintegration of wires inside of a rope; it often leads to the rope abruption during its operation. The reduction of the pulley block dimensions often leads to the problem of the multi-axis rope bending. This kind of the rope line in the pulley block causes the increase of the fretting fatigue of the wires and the rope strands. The same type of the stress is created when the dead ends of the rope are badly constructed.

http://www.astrj.com/pdf-100350-32634?filename=Experience of the Crane.pdf


This study explores levels of awareness and perception of EI within a UK law firm to establish if levels of awareness and perception differ amongst different roles within the organisation. The literature review focussed on the EI models proposed by Salovey and Mayer (1990) and Goleman (1995) which formed part of the conceptual framework in order to ascertain if awareness or perceptions linked to the existing models of EI. The research was qualitative in nature and semi-structured interviews were used as the method of data collection and participants were purposively selected to obtain data from employees in different positions within the organisation. The study findings indicated low awareness of EI overall and a limited understanding of what EI entails, but the study highlighted the use of EI skills within the client relationship. Due to the relationship the organisation has with clients and the link to profit, EI skills are implemented when communicating with clients to ensure that they remain loyal to the organisation and thus continuing to generate profit for the firm. However the use and importance of EI skills within the employment relationship and with colleagues were not recognised, the focus of EI skills was specifically concentrated within the client relationship ensuring it was protected. The implications of the study were raised in relation to the employment relationship and the damage that the lack of awareness and inaccurate perceptions of EI is having on the relationship with other colleagues. As a result, this is creating a high turnover of staff and teams that are not performing to their maximum potential and therefore not effectively contributing to the overall success of the organisation. The recommendations of the study are to implement a training programme for the organisation as a whole to raise awareness of the importance of EI and to eradicate misconstrued perceptions of the concept in order to strive towards a workforce with high EI skills.


The interview discusses the problematic field of non-classical epistemologies, cyberfeminism, unstable ontologies and contemporary philosophy of technology. Alla Mitrofanova — philosopher, cyber theorist, one of the creators of the cyberfeminist International. Her scientific interests are the theory of technologically mediated culture and feminist philosophy. The interview begins with questions about how the cyberfeminist movement was shaped, how cyberfeminism can be integrated in the 20th century history of thought and also what cyberfeminism offers as a philosophical concept now. The main concepts of the interview are "noise ontology", "intersectional feminism", the epistemological "glass" of Russian philosopher P. Yushkevich, neorationalism. The meaning of these concepts unfolds through an appeal to the Mach-Marxist tradition.


SummaryDynamism is a marked feature for prepositions in French: among its lexicalizations by means of prepositional expressions, inchoative de stands out as the most marked one. Yet, this is the result of a modern normative intervention. Within the more comprehensive framework of the change of perception of space from Latin to the Romance languages, the case of de- is striking. In Latin compounds, de- has a dynamic meaning; gradually, it loses its dynamic sense and becomes completely bleached in Middle French. Owing to this loss of semantic quantity, adverbial compounds drop to the prepositional level or move up to the nominal one, where dynamism is no longer possible. The opposite movement, relexicalisation, happened in the 17th century, and tends to reinforce the preposition de by preventing it from getting bleached in compounds, and from losing its sense. The current state of de in French illustrates these two successive movements: it has become a full preposition, expressing by itself the beginning of a movement, and at the same time the 'emptiest' preposition, a mere function marker.


We present an adaptive load shedding approach for windowed stream joins. In contrast to the conventional approach of dropping tuples from the input streams, we explore the concept of selective processing for load shedding. We allow stream tuples to be stored in the windows and shed excessive CPU load by performing the join operations, not on the entire set of tuples within the windows, but on a dynamically changing subset of tuples that are learned to be highly beneficial. We support such dynamic selective processing through three forms of runtime adaptations: adaptation to input stream rates, adaptation to time correlation between the streams and adaptation to join directions. Our load shedding approach enables us to integrate utility-based load shedding with time correlationbased load shedding. Indexes are used to further speed up the execution of stream joins. Experiments are conducted to evaluate our adaptive load shedding in terms of output rate and utility. The results show that our selective processing approach to load shedding is very effective and significantly outperforms the approach that drops tuples from the input streams.


Purpose: This study investigated possible molecular predictors of outcome in Korean patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer treated with erlotinib. Experimental Design: One hundred and twenty patients received erlotinib and were followed prospectively. Ninety-two tissue samples were analyzed for epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene mutations (exons 18, 19, and 21), 88 for EGFR gene amplification by real-time PCR, and 75 for EGFR protein expression by immunohistochemistry. Results: The overall tumor response rate was 24.2% (complete response, 4; partial response, 25) with 56.7% of disease control rate. With a median follow-up of 23.6 months, the median time to progression (TTP) was 2.7 months and the median overall survival was 12.9 months. EGFR gene mutations were found in 26.1% (24 of 92), EGFR gene amplification in 40.9% (36 of 88), and EGFR protein expression in 72% (54 of 75). There was a strong association between EGFR gene mutations and gene amplification (γ = 0.241). Patients with EGFR gene mutations or gene amplification showed both better response rate (58.3% versus 16.2%, P < 0.001; 41.7% versus 17.3%, P = 0.012) and TTP (8.6 versus 2.5 months, P = 0.003; 5.8 versus 1.8 months, P < 0.001) and overall survival (not reached versus 10.8 months, P = 0.023; not reached versus 10.1 months, P = 0.033). By multivariate analysis, EGFR gene mutation was the only significant molecular predictor for TTP (hazard ratio, 0.47; 95% confidence interval, 0.25-0.89). Conclusions: Our findings indicate that EGFR gene mutation is a more predictive marker for improved TTP than EGFR gene amplification in erlotinib-treated Korean non-small cell lung cancer patients. Prospective studies from diverse ethnic backgrounds are required to determine the exact role of these molecular markers.


A method was successfully developed for the measurement of the virus-infected region and distribution of virus. The system consists of a in situ PCR instrument, a light microscope, and an image processing and analysis software. Through developing a in situ RT-PCR system for location of a strawberry virus, the sections were observed on a Nikon light microscope by magnifying 400×. Alcian blue precipitate was observed in palisade tissues, and it indicated that the virus was located in the tissue. The area of the virus-infected region was measured by NIS-Elements software. At last, the distribution of virus in tissue and the area of infected region could be analyzed and accounted on the basis of the micro-measured results. The average area of forty virus-infected regions was 1.5×103 µm2, in addition, the ratio of the area of healthy region to virus-infected one was 3.4. The system achieved to measure quantitatively the virus-infected tissues dispensing with the complicated transmission electron microscope (TEM).


This contribution features a small molecule that binds TrkC (tropomyosin receptor kinase C) receptor that tends to be overexpressed in metastatic breast cancer cells but not in other breast cancer cells. A sensitizer for 1O2 production conjugated to this structure gives 1-PDT for photodynamic therapy. Isomeric 2-PDT does not bind TrkC and was used as a control throughout; similarly, TrkC– cancer cells were used to calibrate enhanced killing of TrkC+ cells. Ex vivo, 1- and 2-PDT where only cytotoxic when illuminated, and 1-PDT, gave higher cell death for TrkC+ breast cancer cells. A 1 h administration-to-illumination delay gave optimal TrkC+/TrkC–-photocytotoxicity, and distribution studies showed the same delay was appropriate in vivo. In Balb/c mice, a maximum tolerated dose of 20 mg/kg was determined for 1-PDT. 1- and 2-PDT (single, 2 or 10 mg/kg doses and one illumination, throughout) had similar effects on implanted TrkC– tumors, and like those of 2-PDT on TrkC+ tumors. In contrast, 1-PDT caused dramatic TrkC+ tumor volume reduction (96% from initial) relative to the TrkC– tumors or 2-PDT in TrkC+ models. Moreover, 71% of the mice treated with 10 mg/kg 1-PDT (n = 7) showed full tumor remission and survived until 90 days with no metastasis to key organs.


One hour of warm ischemia produced no detectable injury in canine kidneys, provided the dog was previously heparinized. Two hours of warm ischemia produced severe renal injury resulting in the death of three dogs out of four. Renal ischemic tolerance could be extended to two hours by means of a simple peraortic renal arterial flush with either cold 0.9% saline or cold hyperosmolar saline. The ischemic interval could, however, be extended to three hours when the kidney was maintained at room temperature (22 C) after a simple cold saline flush. Cold hyperosmolar saline conferred no greater benefit than simple hypothermia.


Science teacher educators in the United States are currently preparing future science teachers to effectively implement the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and, in thirteen states, to successfully pass a content-specific high stakes teacher performance assessment, the edTPA. Science education and teacher performance experts have developed a crosswalk designed to highlight specific tasks within the secondary science edTPA; in these tasks preservice science teachers are prompted to plan, teach, and assess their students as they engage in learning science explicitly aligned with the NGSS (author). The researchers in this study used qualitative methods to analyze archived actual preservice science teacher edTPA portfolio artifacts to test the efficacy of this crosswalk. Evidence of student engagement in the NGSS scientific practices was found, comfirming some components, and modifications of the NGSS and edTPA Crosswalk are suggested based on the results.


The increased knowledge regarding HPV-infections in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) has unexpectedly contributed to several uncertainties related to i) prevalence diversities depending on tumour site and geographical origin of the patients, ii) proportion of HPV-driven tumours among HPV-DNA-positive cases, and iii) identification of patients with HPV-attributed survival benefit. To investigate this heterogeneity, we analysed 307 HNSCC cases (tonsillar, n=135; non-tonsillar, n=172) from eight health care centers mostly from Northern Germany and determined HPV-DNA/mRNA and p16INK4A-status and combined results with the patient outcome. Overall HPV-DNA prevalence rate was 23.5% (72/307); attributed to: 43.7% (59/135) and 7.6% (13/172) tonsillar and non-tonsillar cases, respectively. Among these, 96.6% tonsillar and 38.5% non-tonsillar SCC were HPV-mRNA-positive. Although the study cohort was composed of patients from regions of rather close proximity, prevalence rates showed diversities of up to 40% in HNSCC subsite analysis with the lowest prevalence for tonsillar SCC in metropolitan areas (22.2%) vs. 50.9% in rural areas. Survival analysis identified p16INK4A alone as strongest predictor, followed by HPV-DNA-status alone or in combination with p16INK4A. This survival benefit was shown for tonsillar and non-tonsillar cases. Smoking significantly correlated with HPV-status, however, it does not influence survival when stratified for HPV. In conclusion, the data emphasize the urge for further data on HPV-infection in HNSCC to, e.g. clarify to what extent survival benefits of p16INK4A-positive patients are truly attributed to HPV-infections.


We have developed a technique to measure the fluorescence of a pH-sensitive dye (2,7-biscarboxyethyl-5(6)-carboxyfluorescein) in single glomerular mesangial cells in culture. The intracellular fluorescence excitation ratio of the dye was calibrated using the nigericin-high-K+ approach. In the absence of CO2-HCO3-, mesangial cells that are acid loaded by an NH+4 prepulse exhibit a spontaneous intracellular pH (pHi) recovery that is blocked either by ethylisopropylamiloride (EIPA) or removal of external Na+. This pHi recovery most probably reflects the activity of a Na+-H+ exchanger. When the cells are switched from a N-2-hydroxyethylpiperazine-N'-2-ethanesulfonic acid (HEPES)-buffered solution to one containing CO2-HCO3-, there is an abrupt acidification due to CO2 entry, which is followed by a spontaneous recovery of pHi to a steady-state value higher than that prevailing in HEPES. Both the rate of recovery and the higher steady-state pHi imply that the application of CO2-HCO3- introduces an increase in net acid extrusion from the cell. One third of total net acid extrusion in CO2-HCO3- is EIPA sensitive and most likely is mediated by the Na+-H+ exchanger. The remaining two thirds of acid extrusion could be caused by a decrease in the background acid-loading rate and/or the introduction of a new, HCO3- -dependent acid-extrusion mechanism. The HCO3- -induced alkalinization cannot be accounted for by a HCO3- -induced reduction in the acid-loading rate. The latter can be estimated by applying EIPA in the absence of HCO3- and observing the rate of pHi decline. We found that this acid-loading rate is only about one fifth as great as the total net acid extrusion rate in the presence of HCO3-. Indeed, two thirds of net acid extrusion in HCO3- is blocked by 4-acetamido-4'-isothiocyanostilbene-2,2'-disulfonic acid (SITS), an inhibitor of HCO3- -dependent transport. Furthermore, the effects of EIPA and SITS were additive. Thus, in the presence of CO2-HCO3-, a SITS-sensitive-HCO3- -dependent transporter is the dominant mechanism of acid extrusion. This mechanism also accounts for the increase in steady-state pHi on addition of CO2-HCO3-.


Background:
 In one-third of patients with ischemic stroke, the etiology remains unknown after diagnostic evaluation. This study examined the diagnostic value and therapeutic impact of routine TEE in patients with stroke of otherwise undetermined etiology.

 Methods:
 Between April 2005 and March 2009, 989 stroke patients > 18 years of age with documented brain ischemia on CT and/or MRI received TEE. Without the TEE results, patients were retrospectively classified according to the Trial of Org 10172 in Acute stroke Treatment (TOAST) criteria, based on the results of routine diagnostics, including ECG, Holter-ECG, brain imaging (computed tomography and/or magnetic resonance imaging) and ultrasound or magnetic resonance arteriography of the brain supplying arteries. In 602 patients (63%), stroke etiology could be determined before the TEE results were available. In the remainig 348 patients (37%), the stroke etiology could not be determined after routine diagnostics. We reviewed the TEE examinations of these 348 patients for possible cardiovascular sources of embolism (CSE).

 Results:
 All patients (mean age 76 years (range 18 - 95 years) , 53% males) received TEE within a median of 5 days after the stroke event. TEE detected at least one possible source of cardiac embolism in 293 patients (84%). In 8 patients (2%), TEE revealed a high-risk source of embolism with indication for oral anticoagulation or cardiac surgery (
 Table
 ). Seventy-seven patients in the study group were ≤ 55 years of age. In this subgroup, 61% had a positive TEE finding, compared to 91% in the older subgroup. There was no difference in the prevalence of PFO and/or ASA between patients ≤ 55 years and patients > 55 years (36% vs. 32%). In the patients with otherwise normal TEE (cryptogenic stroke patients), the prevalence of PFO and/or ASA was higher, although there was again no difference observed between patients ≤ 55 years > 55 years (45% vs. 42%) (

 Table

 ). However, when an interatrial septum anomaly was detected in a patient ≤ 55 years, it was the only CSE in 89% of cases (versus 16% in the older group, p < 0.001).

 Conclusion:
 TEE identified a potential source of cardiac embolism in most patients with stroke of otherwise undetermined etiology. In a limited number of cases, TEE influenced the management of these patients directly. The prevalence of interatrial septum anomalies was high in cryptogenic stroke patients. In stroke patients < 55 years, a PFO was in most cases the only pathologic finding, suggesting its pathogenic character in this subgroup.


Background/aims Pancreatic cancer (PC) is ranked as the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Despite recent advances in treatment options, a modest impact on the outcome of the disease is observed so far. Short-term fasting cycles have been shown to potentiate the efficacy of chemotherapy against glioma. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of fasting cycles on the efficacy of gemcitabine, a standard treatment for PC patients, in vitro and in an in vivo pancreatic cancer mouse xenograft model. Materials and Methods BxPC-3, MiaPaca-2 and Panc-1 cells were cultured in standard and fasting mimicking culturing condition to evaluate the effects of gemcitabine. Pancreatic cancer xenograft mice were subjected to 24h starvation prior to gemcitabine injection to assess the tumor volume and weight as compared to mice fed ad libitum. Results Fasted pancreatic cancer cells showed increased levels of equilibrative nucleoside transporter (hENT1), the transporter of gemcitabine across the cell membrane, and decreased ribonucleotide reductase M1 (RRM1) levels as compared to those cultured in standard medium. Gemcitabine was more effective in inducing cell death on fasted cells as compared to controls. Consistently, xenograft pancreatic cancer mice subjected to fasting cycles prior to gemcitabine injection displayed a decrease of more than 40% in tumor growth. Conclusion Fasting cycles enhance gemcitabine effect in vitro and in the in vivo PC xenograft mouse model. These results suggest that restrictive dietary interventions could enhance the efficacy of existing cancer treatments in pancreatic cancer patients.


Introduction: After abdominal surgery, the patients who are separated from mechanical ventilation and provided with oxygen therapy via a T-piece are at risk for respiratory complications. Therefore, they need additional respiratory support. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of manual hyperinflation (MHI) on pulmonary function after weaning. Methods: This randomized clinical trial included 40 patients who had undergone abdominal surgery and were receiving oxygen via a T-piece. Patients were selected from the intensive care units (ICU) of two hospitals in Mashhad, Iran. The subjects were randomly allocated to intervention (MHI) and control groups. Patients in the MHI group were provided with three 20-minute MHI rounds using the Mapleson C, while the control group received routine cares. Tidal volume (Vt), Rapid Shallow Breathing Index (RSBI), and the ratio of arterial oxygen partial pressure to fractional inspired oxygen (P/F ratio) were measured before the intervention, as well as 5 and 20 minutes after the intervention. Atelectasis prevalence was assessed before and 24 hours after the intervention. Data were analysed by SPSS software version 13. Results: At baseline, there were no significant differences between the groups regarding Vt, RSBI, P/F ratio, and atelectasis rate. No significant difference was also found between the groups regarding atelectasis rate 24 hours after the intervention. However, at both posttests, Vt, RSBI, and P/F ratio in the MHI group were significantly better than the control group. Conclusion: In patients with artificial airway and spontaneous breathing, MHI improves pulmonary function.


The performance and characteristics of a cathodic arc deposition apparatus consisting of a titanium cathode, an anode with and without a tungsten mesh, and a coil producing a focusing magnetic field between the anode and cathode are investigated. The arc voltage Va is measured with a fixed arc current. The relationship between Va and the magnetic field B with and without a mesh is obtained. In addition, the relationship between the arc current Ia and Vc, the voltage to which the artificial transmission line was charged, is measured with and without the mesh to determine the minimum ignition voltage for the arc. The arc resistance increases with the focusing magnetic strength B and decreases when using the mesh. Our results indicate that the high transparency and large area of the mesh allows a high plasma flux to penetrate the anode from the cathodic arc. The mesh also stabilizes the cathodic arc and gives better performance when used in concert with a focusing magnetic field. PACC: 5275; 5230; 5280; 2925


The work is focused on the use of metamaterial as sensors. The interaction of the electromagnetic wave with planar (meta-surface), 3D (nano-) and near-zero structures will be studied and the related (sensitivity and selectivity) enhancement effects analyzed. It will allow us to use them as advanced sensing devices for diagnostic applications. To this regard, specific geometries will be proposed for cancer detection, biological tissue characterization and chemical analysis (i.e. glucose concentration measurements and blood diseases monitoring).


MICRO-RNA PROFILING FOR DIAGNOSIS AND PROGNOSIS IN CANINE MULTICENTRIC LYMPHOMA William Robert Gow Co-advisors: University of Guelph, 2015 Dr. R. Darren Wood and Dr. Geoffrey Wood MicroRNAs (miRs) are small non-coding RNAs (18-22 nucleotides in length) that have important roles in mRNA translation and hence expression of proteins. Dysregulated miR expression has been shown in people with lymphoma (Burkitt lymphoma and diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia. More importantly, miRs have been detected in serum samples in human patients with DLBCL and have been correlated with response to rituximab-cyclophosphamide (C), doxorubicin (H), vincristine (O) and prednisone (P) (CHOP) therapy and relapse-free survival times. There have been no studies looking at miRs in serum or plasma samples in dogs with lymphoma. The aim of our studies was to profile the miR expression in plasma of healthy control dogs, and to compare to dogs with B cell and T cell lymphoma. We also compared miR expression with clinical outcomes in B cell lymphoma patients. We initially examined 277 miRs previously shown to exist in various canine tissues, which were then reduced to a smaller array of 45 miRs, assayed using a microarray plate system and quantitative real time reverse transcription PCR. Among the 277 miRs there were significant increases in expression of 20 miRs in the B cell group and of 7 miRs in the T cell group. Furthermore, 17 miRs were in common between the B cell and T cell lymphoma groups. The smaller array showed increases in expression of 12 different miRs in B cell lymphoma patients and one miR in T cell lymphoma patients when compared to controls. In addition, there were 6 miRs with significantly decreased expression when patients in non-remission (patients that never responded to therapy and those that relapsed) were compared to those patients that achieved remission. MicroRNA expression was followed over time during CHOP therapy; one miR (miR-130b) showed significantly increased expression at week 3 of chemotherapy in patients that did not respond to CHOP therapy when compared to patients in remission and relapse. When survival greater than 365 days was examined, there were no significant differences in miR expression. Kaplan-Meier survival curves with high and low expressing miRs were also not significantly different. This study highlights miRs, that with further validation, could be used as minimally invasive biomarkers with diagnostic and predictive value in canine lymphoma patients, and could be a step towards a degree of personalised patient medicine in veterinary cancer patients.


ABSTRACT The mid-Permian Opeche Shale of North Dakota consists of bedded evaporites and red-bed siliciclastics. Detailed core and petrographic study has documented sedimentary and early diagenetic features in order to develop a depositional model, and to refine paleoclimatic data and paleogeographic setting for the late Paleozoic of the U.S. midcontinent. Lithologies and sedimentary features indicate lacustrine, distal alluvial, and minor eolian deposition, subaerial exposure, and soil formation. Bedded halites consisting of chevron and cumulate crystals, dissolution surfaces and pipes, and mudcracked microcrystalline salt crusts were deposited in a saline pan dominated by flooding, evaporative concentration, and desiccation. Bedded halites containing chevron and cumulate crystals but lacking any dissolution or desiccation features formed in perennial saline lakes. Chaotic halite, composed of red mudstone and siltstone with displacive halite crystals, represents saline mudflat deposits. Red mudstone and siltstone with little or no displacive halite but with abundant cracks and root features suggest deposition in a dry mudflat. Red-bed sandstones and conglomerates, composed of poorly sorted, subrounded quartz grains cemented with halite indicate distal alluvial deposition with possible transport by ephemeral streams, sheet floods, and debris flows. Most deposition took place in halite-dominated shallow perennial and ephemeral saline lakes surrounded by saline and dry mudflats. Evaporation, desiccation, flooding, and wind played significant roles in this environment. Therefore, the Opeche evaporites and red beds are representative of an ancient saline pan system. An inland playa setting is favored as a depositional model for the Opeche Shale. The abundance of soil features and halite dominance, as well as lack of nearshore carbonates and lack of restricted marine fossils, suggest a closed-basin nonmarine setting for the mid Permian of the U.S. midcontinent.


Canada's energy industry and the agencies that regulate it are suffering a crisis of legitimacy. Both are battered by shifting public opinion, opposition from powerful NGOs, a troubled history with many communities and Indigenous groups, and the actions of political parties that consider opposition to oil and gas projects to be central to their platforms. In such an environment, the concept of social licence to operate, or simply social licence, seems more important than ever to the energy industry. This Article argues, however, that it is not the ability or inability to obtain social licence, as the term is currently used, that will allow the fossil fuel industry to maintain some measure of public good will and to lower municipal and provincial resistance to energy projects. That is because, while social licence has some value as a normative concept, it is functionally meaningless. Not only has the term itself been hollowed out by overuse and fluctuating definitions, but what it represents in popular discourse — a broad public acceptance or approval — is probably not achievable. For too long, the national debate over social licence has obscured the very real concerns over the local impacts of energy projects, and this has eroded the trust and support of communities. This Article proposes that the concept of social licence should be understood as descriptive only, and what should matter instead is what measures companies can take to earn that descriptor. This Article also argues that, in order to obtain acceptance from local and community groups and thus to obtain social licence, Canadian energy companies should follow the lead of companies in other jurisdictions and employ community agreements to demonstrate their commitment to responsible resource development and to earn local buy-in for projects.


Publisher Rights Statement: © Crown copyright 2012 You may re-use this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/opengovernment-licence/ or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or e-mail: email@example.com


Author(s): Gumperz, John; Cook-Gumperz, Jenny; Szymanski, Margaret | Abstract: It is by now well established that self-organized acts of learning can have important long-term cognitive benefits. The many programs of cooperative learning, while they vary in detail, all agree that participants must actively work together for such benefits to be realized (Cohen, 1990). Further, because cognitive change is revealed through the ways in which learners' sense of ownership and control over their intellectual products is increased over time, the changes are not easily observed as they happen. Students generally work in small, informally organized groups, relying on their own everyday communicative practices. Instances of ongoing productive collaboration often seem fleeting or hard to detect. Apart from relying on such finished products as workbooks or written texts, teachers—who spend much of their time circulating in the classroom and answering questions as they come up—may have difficulty determining whether student groups are making progress. One of the teachers in our research group commented that watching the analyzed videotapes of groups at work enabled her to gain useful insights into how the children go about solving their tasks and how easily adults' questioning can influence students' attempts to integrate what they are learning with what they already know.Our research on collaborative learning has been guided by questions such as the following: If we are looking for evidence of individual achievement in order to evaluate program success, how can we know we are looking at the right phenomena? Can we rely on evaluations that relate performance on standardized tests to incentive and reward structures? The validity of such measures has been seriously debated for several years (Duran, 1989; Gardner, 1990). Should we instead, as a means of gaining more direct insights into the potential benefits of cooperative learning, examine more closely how collaboration reveals itself in the classroom and analyze what children do in working together and how teachers meet the challenge of entering into informal interactions with student groups? That is the course we intend to take here.We use the term collaboration to mean collaborative interaction in situations where two or more individuals are demonstrably working together toward the achievement of particular tasks. Recent work on organizational design and small group functioning with adults tells us that collaboration in work settings is regarded as difficult to achieve; it does not just happen when people are put together and required to do a task in unison (Galagher, Kraut, a Egido, 1990). A supportive social milieu and a task infrastructure are required. In this paper, we focus on collaboration as a group phenomenon in which complex tasks are managed through close, step-by-step, apparently casual monitoring by participants of each other's actions, often cued through language. It can be argued that with children, the need to provide support and task infrastructure is even greater than with adults (Tharp a Gallimore, 1988).The advantages of student-guided learning are described in the recent literature on mathematics instruction, where cooperative programs have come to take an important place among the innovative methods designed to improve performance. They do this by creating a learning environment where students are able to make sense of new information by relating it to what they already know. Consider the following statement from a report by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics:"All students engage in a great deal of invention as they learn mathematics; they impose their own interpretation on what is presented, to create a theory that makes sense to them. Students do not learn simply a subset of what they have been shown. Instead, they use new information to modify their prior beliefs. As a consequence, each student's knowledge of mathematics is uniquely personal. (1991, p. 2)"Brown and Campione (1993) have developed methods of instruction through guided discovery and participation that address some of these issues directly. Their classroom procedures are designed to provide a complex organization of several types of participation frames (Goodwin, 1990). They conceive of instruction as sequences of first small, then larger participatory groups, until the whole class is involved in what is called a "community of learners." Brown and Campione state that "the essence of team-work is pooling expertise," and they point out that in their classrooms, "we also aim at increasing diversity of expertise and interests so that members of the community can benefit from the increasing richness of knowledge available to them" (1993, p.8). They describe their methods of achieving instructional change as the creation of "sub-cultures of expertise," where students can do their own work but where they can share their findings in many ways, from addressing a small group to presenting in front of a whole classroom community. Although the person in the role of expert varies, sequences of presentation, discussion, and deliberation remain central to the activities. Whole class and group discussion sequences are built on a dialogic structure that usually follows a modified Socratic method, where one student is placed in the role of expert, and there is a main speaker and multiple listeners, as well as a single responder within a question-answer format ( Brown a Campione, 1993; Brown a Palinscar, 1989). The authors go on to point out that the difficult art of teaching in such classrooms requires the teacher to judge the situations and times at which adult intervention would provide guidance and not interference. They stress that in order to bring cooperation to the traditional classroom, it is necessary to adjust the balance between teacher-led discussion and group work, so that children can exchange information for themselves.However, the Brown and Campione science education project has each group choose a single expert who directs the proceedings and so sets up a dominantly one-to-many participation frame. Moreover, much science instruction, like mathematics instruction, relies in part on certain instructional tools, such as numerical representations or geometrical models or laboratory equipment, to assist in conveying information. Students tend to work on problems where the cognitive operations are closely related to pre-established procedures or algorithms, so that the domain of expertise can more readily be delineated. Language arts programs, on the other hand, although able to emphasize different kinds of language genres, such as poems, story telling and writing, plays, play acting, and —for young children—the use of drawing to support writing, ultimately depend on words as the main tools for learning. Both instruction and evaluation of performance rely almost exclusively on talk, so that potentially everyone is an expert. For this reason, it becomes necessary to seek systematic information on how language or talk functions in such programs in actual classroom situations: that is, information about the communicative activities through which teachers teach a subject's content and through which students manage their own learning in order to understand how performance outcomes are achieved.In cooperative learning environments, small groups of students work together to accomplish specific pedagogical tasks, and teachers act as facilitators (Slavin, 1990). Many of these classrooms rely on relatively informal communicative strategies that are conversational in form but instructional in intent, as teachers scaffold the learning process by restating and expanding on students' contributions (Tharp a Gallimore, 1988). Frequently made arguments in favor of these new informal methods are that they have much in common with the parent-child and peer-group interaction processes that researchers have found to be so important for children's learning and cognitive development (Rogoff, 1990).One highly significant characteristic of cooperative learning that has received little consideration so far is the shift in participation frame that takes place when students are left alone to work on classroom tasks. In many traditional classrooms, the teacher directs the learning process, guiding the students through the various stages of a task by questioning and evaluating contributions at every stage in the process. Students' participation is usually confined to relatively brief replies that are expected to be responsive to the teacher and that are subject to close monitoring and evaluation by the teacher for their possible relevance (Mehan, 1979). In cooperative learning processes on the other hand, students are free to take their own time to work out their learning strategies, and they rely on peer group processes of the kind associated with home and play environments, both to establish collaboration and to guide their own learning. Support for cooperative learning processes comes from educational psychologists and anthropologists who, following Vygotsky's theories, see learning as an interactive process based in communities of practice in which groups of individuals collaborate in the pursuit of shared goals (Moll, 1992; Wertsch, 1985). It is in such exchanges that learning processes can be made into observable activities. Central to the case studies described here is the fact that everyday informal conversational exchanges play an essential role in group processes where one speaker is given primary rights of speaking, but where participants must compete for the floor and cooperate in achieving shared communicative tasks.


Live (rose Bengal-stained) benthic foraminifera were studied from one of the largest coral reef aquaria in the world (Burgers' Ocean, Arnhem, the Netherlands). Benthic foraminifera were unintentionally transported to the aquarium with live rock (i.e., natural reef substratum) from Java and Bali (Indonesia) during initial setup in 2000. After eight years and stabilization of the water chemistry, the foraminifera were found to have successfully colonized this artificial environment. Fifty benthic foraminiferal taxa (>125 μm) were identified in samples from the various subenvironments within the aquarium. The ecological conditions in the aquarium appeared to be optimal for both symbiont-bearing foraminifera and hermatypic corals. Among the four symbiontic foraminiferal species identified, Heterostegina depressa was the most abundant and it was dominant in all samples. Overall, foraminiferal densities in the aquarium were relatively high compared to those in the natural environment emulated. Although foraminifera are not generally recognized as inhabitants of saltwater aquaria, they can play an important ecological role in this type of closed environment.


Single-operator case studies of 135 patients undergoing surgery for colon rectal carcinoma (CRC) between June 2004 and April 2008 in our Institute. Patients were divided into two groups (A: < 70 years old, n = 44, - = 27 U = 17, B: ≥ 70 years old, n = 91, - = 49 U = 42) and were compared clinical, pathological and surgical data. In particular, were analyzed age range and average age, ASA score, post-operative complications (major and minor), mortality at 30 days. Surgical procedure with radical intent (R0) was achieved in 41 (93%) and 76 (83%) patients respectively in group A and B; Given the more than double the number in group B than in group A is easy to imagine that for equal numbers in both groups might have observed an almost equal R0 resections in both groups; Despite the uneven number of groups A and B, it was noted that age is not a factor in determining the surgical therapeutic strategy in the CRC, as well as the clinical conditions of patients.


Establishment and legal development of small private businesses in the Republic of Moldova became possible only since the 90s at the initial stage of market reforms. Despite the absence of a regulatory framework for business development in this period, the rapid growth in the number of small enterprises has been noted. Although the owners of newly established, privatized and reorganized small enterprises (SE) were lacking in business knowledge, and public administration employees did not have a clear understanding of the role of small and medium enterprises (SMEs)in the economy, however, already in 1992-1994 the basics of entrepreneurship development policy have been laid. Over the last years, state policy aimed at supporting SMEs has been developed considerably in the Republic of Moldova, but the business environment is not favorable enough. The paper presents the multifaceted analysis of the state support policy of SMEs in the Republic of Moldova and the assessment of its impact on the business from different perspectives – government, international ratings and entrepreneurs. The results of the research revealed that, quite a large number of entrepreneurs over the years pointed to deterioration in the business environment conditions; however, the opinions of certain groups of entrepreneurs vary significantly. This means that the government's economic policy does not consider enough the entrepreneurs' opinion regarding the general business climate changes, as well as the specific problems faced by different groups of entrepreneurs. The research methodology is based on an analysis of statistical data; the legal framework and policy documents; the main international rankings, as well as the results of surveys of different groups of Moldovan entrepreneurs – women, young people, people with disabilities, which were implemented with the participation of the authors in the period 2016-2017.


For Florida Power and Light, Hewlett-Packard, and Texas Instruments, policy deployment has created a critical bridge between corporate goals and their company-wide deployment. Hoshin Kanri offers top and middle managers a guide to customizing a policy deployment program especially suited to their company. This book is a compilation of examples of policy deployment and demonstrates how company vision is converted into individual responsibility. It contains practical guidelines, 150 charts and diagrams, and five case studies that illustrate the procedures of Hoshin Kanri.The six steps to advanced process planning are reviewed and include: a five-year vision; one-year plan; deployment to departments; execution; monthly audit; and annual audit. The practice of Hoshin Kanri will enable you to: Align all departmental and individual project goals to corporate goals and eliminate duplication of effort; Communicate to every employee his or her role in achieving the company vision; Closely monitor performance using carefully devised measures of progress; and, Learn how Hoshin Kanri can increase your company's responsiveness to social, economic, and technical changes through flexible strategic management.


Introduction Quantification of rare earth elements (REE) in geological materials by ICP-OES is one of the most challenging analytical routines. Often containing large amounts of alumina and silica, sulfur and refractory metals, etc., the high matrix contents of digested samples require for exceptional plasma robustness, in particular when trace levels of REE ought to be detected and sample dilution has to be avoided. The vast number of emission lines arising from both matrix and rare earth elements further adds to the complexity, which can be resolved by high spectral resolution only.


We present a blind speech watermarking algorithm that embeds the watermark data in the phase of non-voiced speech by replacing the excitation signal of an autoregressive speech signal representation. The watermark signal is embedded in a frequency subband, which facilitates robustness against bandpass filtering channels. We derive several sets of pulse shapes that prevent intersymbol interference and that allow the passband watermark signal to be created by simple filtering. A marker-based synchronization scheme robustly detects the location of the embedded watermark data without the occurrence of insertions or deletions. In light of a potential application to analog aeronautical voice radio communication, we present experimental results for embedding a watermark in narrowband speech at a bit-rate of 450 bit/s. The recursive least-squares (RLS) equalization-based watermark detector not only compensates for the vocal tract filtering, but also recovers the watermark data in the presence of nonlinear phase and bandpass filtering, amplitude modulation, and additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN), making the watermarking scheme highly robust.


The data of hygienic monitoring of the Saint Petersburg environment suggest that the soil of the megapolis is greatly polluted with heavy metals among which lead is of priority. The studies performed indicate that under the environmental and hygienic conditions, the level of lead in the hair of children is a qualitative and quantitative criterion for the negative impact of chemical pollution of the environment. The threshold level at which there are higher morbidity rates in children is 5.8 micrograms/g. The findings suggest that there is a reduction in the earlier accepted critical level 8 micrograms/g. (V. Lukovenko, 1990; B.A. Revich, 1999). When its level is 8 micrograms/g, the children are found to have retarded mental and physical development. The results of examination of the nonspecific resistance system in children living under the conditions of the megapolis show that the level of nonspecific defense decreases when the hair content of lead is 5 micrograms/g.


Over the years attitudes and believes about what is the role of parents in occupational therapy intervention has been changed.  Family-centered occupational therapy is approach that is based on the believes, values and preferences of each family as a unit. Working with families is always context related and the aim is to empower the family system.
Purpose. Is to find out if there is connection between the principles of family centered occupational therapy and the competences for occupational therapist.  Method.  Analyzing the concepts connected with family centered occupational therapy and  competences in practice according to literature. Comparing the information in order to identify the possible gaps and similarities.
Results. The concept of family-centered is wildly used, but it is more connected with client's needs than to focused on the dynamic and quality of life of family as a system. Competences for occupational therapy shouldn't only be focused on needs of individuals and groups.


Abstract A new structured approach is presented to derive groundwater baseline conditions, in this case for a dolomitic limestone aquifer suffering from salinization and other anthropogenic impacts. It builds on the HydroChemical System Analysis (HCSA) to map different groundwater bodies (hydrosomes) and hydrochemical zones within them, each of which show significant differences in baseline conditions. It also comprises a rigorous elimination scheme for samples affected by bias or pollution. The method is applied to the Damour coastal aquifer system, south of Beirut (Lebanon). Concentrations of Cl, Cl/Br, 2H, 18O and Ca/Sr were used to discern five hydrosomes and to determine mixing ratios. The dominant hydrochemical facies was (sub)oxic, calcareous and salinized, indicating a very low reduction capacity of the aquifer system, strong dissolution of dolomitic limestone and clear traces of seawater encroachment. The method proposed was capable of filtering out baseline conditions for 16 main constituents, 64 trace elements and two isotopes.


Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.), corn (Zea mays L.) and sago (Arenga microcarpa Beccari) are crops containing high carbohydrate, as source of calory food, and those can be made into rice analog. This study aimed: (1) to determine the formulations by organoleptic test in manufacture analog rice from potato flour, corn flour and sago flour, and (2) to analyze the physical properties, chemical properties of rice analog from potato flour with the addition of corn flour and sago flour. The research began with the manufacture of potato flour, corn flour and sago flour, and then the manufacture of rice analog. The experiment used a completely randomized design with 4 treatments and 3 replications. Organoleptic test results and statistical analysis indicating the most preferred formula was the combination of 50% potato flour + 25% corn flour + 25% sago flour. Based on the physical and chemical analysis it obtained the best formulations of the analog rice was combination of 50% potato flour + 25% corn flour + 25% sago flour. The results of the study it concluded from the organoleptic test, physical and chemical analysis that the best analog rice was formula of 50% potato + 25% corn + 25% sago. These formulation provided good nutritional value based on the physical and chemical characteristics of rice analog that was easier to digest. Keywords: analog rice, organoleptic, physical properties, chemical properties


This paper is focused on a case study on Milan's water and sanitation service (MI-WSS) in the 2003-2013 time frame. Since 2003, MI-WSS has been provided by Metropolitana Milanese SpA (MM) which is a joint stock company fully owned by Milan's municipality. MM not only operates the water service but also civil engineering services mainly in the transport sector. A historical approach is adopted as a background, to tackle the evolution from direct municipal provision to an autonomous and corporatized WSS and give more depth to the case study. Commitment to public service mission and general interests' goals is discussed adopting a historical approach too to appreciate the switch from full direct provision to corporatized provision. Limiting the analysis to MM only would be too restrictive and we propose instead to adopt a wider perimeter which includes all the stake-holders of Milan's WSS. Such an enlarged perimeter of analysis is particularly relevant to discuss regulation and governance issues. In the water sector public service mission includes many goals which should be appreciated adopting a long run and intergenerational perspective and expressed in terms of sustainability. Applying sustainability criteria to Milan's WSS raises more than one question. Lien vers le texte integral http://www.ciriec.ulg.ac.be/fr/telechargements/WORKING_PAPERS/WP13-08.pdf


This paper considers an economy with a public good where a decision must be made both about the level of the public good and the taxation imposed on each citizen (multidimensional policy space). In this context, we derive two interesting results: i) we show that a Nash equilibrium exists under deterministic voting, ii) we show that political competition is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the elimination of political rents (efficiency). In our political game a Nash equilibrium (under deterministic voting) exists because politicians commit to the level of the public good but not to the level of taxation. However, because of the lack of commitment to the taxation level, politicians are able to overtax citizens, provide an inefficiently low level of the public good and extract rents, even under political competition. Therefore, efficiency requires appropriate political institutions (maximum taxation constraint).


This study investigates the IT workplace in Japan in the context of rapidly changing technological innovation and a long-standing collectivist culture in Japanese firms. Particularly, it examines a) the determinants of job satisfaction, such as self-efficacy and friendship networks on the positive side, and work exhaustion and work-home conflict on the negative side; and b) how these factors affect job turnover intention. Results from SEM analysis suggest that both self-efficacy and friendship networks have a positive impact on job satisfaction, while work exhaustion negatively impacts job satisfaction. Comparing workplace-derived factors (self-efficacy and work exhaustion) with collectivism-derived factors (friendship networks and work-home conflict), the former has a greater impact on job satisfaction than the latter. Additionally, this study examines the effect of organizational age on the relationships between the model constructs.


In this paper, a general framework for implementing a retail energy market (REM) based on the Nikaido-Isoda/relaxation algorithm (termed REM-NIRA herein) is proposed for the next generation of the electricity market structure with the presence of high fluctuations of DRR resources and the demands of consumers considering DSM implementation. The presented structure is developed based on connection property and the execution of plug and play a large number of renewable energy resources (considering uncertainty based on Taguchi's orthogonal array testing approach) and energy storage devices. In this proposed structure, the consumers are able to participate in the market as prosumers (producer and consumer at the same time). In other words, the RLDs can have also an important share in the change of energy/price in the energy market in the proposed structure in addition to generation resources by local performance and the management of distributed generation resources and energy storage devices. The goal of the so-called generation players is to maximize profit, while players associated with consumers try to minimize market clearing price and participate in the game structure to reach Nash equilibrium point. By considering the related uncertainties, the DGs can maximize their expected payoff or profit by undertaking strategies through the price bidding strategy based on the proposed Nash equilibrium. The numerical results show the effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed framework determining the optimal power set-points of players participated in the market in order to achieve the aforementioned objectives.


The foreword of Student Financial Literacy: Campus-Based Program Development is written by a pioneer in the development of college-based financial literacy programs, Dr. Tahira K. Hira, a well-known professor from Iowa State University. She indicates the book is written for individuals who are involved with or interested in developing a university financial literacy program; as well as ideas for those who wish to enhance their current programs. Dr. Hira indicates that this book is the first resource of its kind to provide financial education and counseling to assist college students with the problems of high debt and low financial knowledge.


1. Isolated renal tubules were prepared from vitamin D-deficient chicks. The effects of added prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and agents which modify prostaglandin metabolism on the metabolism of 25-hydroxy-vitamin D3 were studied. 2. Frusemide (0.1 mmol/l) raised the prostaglandin E (PGE) content of the tubule incubation medium; it significantly increased 1,25-dihydroxy-vitamin D3 [1,25-(OH)2D3] production from 25-hydroxy-vitamin D3 [25-(OH)D3] and significantly inhibited the net production of 24,25-dihydroxy-vitamin D3 [24,25-(OH)2D3]. 3. Acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin; 0.1 mmol/l) decreased the PGE content of the tubule incubation medium and significantly inhibited 1,25-(OH)2D3 production. 4. In the presence of 1,25-(OH)2D3, 4 h exposure of tubules from vitamin D-deficient chicks to concentrations of PGE2 between 2.8 X 10(-6) and 2.8 X 10(-8) mol/l significantly enhanced 1,25-(OH)2D3 production. 5. It is concluded that, in view of the effects of modulation of endogenous prostaglandin levels by frusemide in aspirin, and the stimulatory effect of exogenous PGE2, prostaglandins should be considered potential regulators of the renal 25-hydroxy-vitamin D-1 alpha-hydroxylase [25-(OH)D-1 alpha-hydroxylase] enzyme.


A weaned pig exhibiting clinical signs characteristic of a vestibular syndrome (abnormal head tilt and abnormal gait including a tendency to circle) was examined as a representative example of a condition which, in a 12-month period, affected approximately 400 other pigs on the farm of origin. The condition caused significant morbidity and financial loss but the directly attributable mortality was negligible. Post mortem examination revealed a severe suppurative, left-sided otitis media and interna. Mixed growths of bacteria, including Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae, were isolated from the pus from the middle ear. Otitis caused by mixed bacterial infections has been described previously in pigs and cattle but infection of the porcine middle ear cavity by A pleuropneumoniae is considered to be a new pathological role for this organism. Other findings in this case indicated that otitis media had followed from bacterial colonisation of the auditory (Eustachian) tube. The condition was effectively controlled by prophylactic antibiotic therapy. The authors consider that vestibular syndrome due to otitis media and interna, whether caused by infection with A pleuropneumoniae or not, is probably a relatively common condition in England but its significance may be underestimated and for this reason it may be underrecorded.


A method of stellar source selection for validating the quality of image is investigated for a low Earth orbit optical remote sensing satellite. Image performance of the optical payload needs to be validated after its launch into orbit. The stellar sources are ideal source points that can be used to validate the quality of optical images. For the image validation, stellar sources should be the brightest as possible in the charge-coupled device dynamic range. The time delayed and integration technique, which is used to observe the ground, is also performed to observe the selected stars. The relations between the incident radiance at aperture and V magnitude of a star are established using Gunn & Stryker`s star catalogue of spectrum. Applying this result, an appropriate image performance index is determined, and suitable stars and areas of the sky scene are selected for the optical payload on a remote sensing satellite to observe. The result of this research can be utilized to validate the quality of optical payload of a satellite in orbit.


The possibility that bronchial hyperreactivity, a consistent feature of asthma, is due to an exaggeration of activity in parasympathetic reflex pathways altering airway smooth muscle tone is suggested by the facts that virtually all asthmatic subjects have exaggerated bronchomotor sensitivity to muscarinic agonists and that muscarinic antagonists are effective bronchodilators. Studies of the effects of atropine, a postganglionic cholinergic (muscarinic) antagonist, and of hexamethonium, a drug which occupies ganglionic receptor sites, suggest that bronchial hyperreactivity is associated with an increase in postganglionic cholinergic sensitivity. This hypothesis is supported by the demonstration of dose-dependency of an antimuscarinic agent in inhibiting the bronchomotor response to eucapnic hyperpnea (at 75 l/min) with cold air. Greater doses of a muscarinic antagonist were needed to inhibit the response to cold air than were needed to alter baseline airway caliber or to inhibit the response to a muscarinic agonist given by aerosol.


We study complexity in the market for securitized products, a market at the heart of the financial crisis of 2007–9. The complexity of these products rose substantially in the years preceding the financial crisis. We find that securities in more complex deals default more and have lower realized returns. The worse performance is economically meaningful: a one standard deviation increase in complexity represents an 18% increase in default on AAA securities. However, yields of more complex securities are not higher indicating that investors did not perceive them as riskier. Our results are consistent with complexity obfuscating security quality.


This paper describes Broadband Power-Line (BPL) technology in the smart grid area. Experimental measurements have been made that meet the communication requirements of smart grid applications. The measurements were performed according to standardised methodologies (RFC). The main goal was to verify suitability and potential for enhanced BPL channel utilization. This is an unused option for possible features which work independently of data collection from smart meters and power quality data acquisition.


Phenotypic, genetics and environmental trends of birth (BW), weaning (WW) and one year weight (YW), and average daily gain were considered on data collected from Horro cattle and their crosses during the year 1980-2008. Estimated breeding value (EBV) of all animals were generated from a univariate model analysis by the general linear mixed model by residual maximum likelihood (ASREML) while least square means for annual breeding values was calculated by the General Linear Model procedure of the statistical analysis systems (SAS). Direct heritability estimates from bivariate analyses in the present study were 0.61, 0.34 and 0.42 for BW, WW, and YW, respectively. The overall mean predicted breeding value for birth, weaning and one year weight were 0.11±0.06 kg, 0.13± 0.09 kg and1.2 ±1.4 kg, respectively. The results shown that breeding value trends have been improving and there was about 0.016 kg, 0.031 kg, 0.14 kg genetic gain in BW, WW and YW per year. The negative phenotypic and environmental trends were more pronounced for weaning weight and pre-weaning average daily gains in this study.  Therefore, selection of in Horro and their crosses at one year weight would be suggested from present result due to high breeding annual value, high genetic correlation and positive environmental regression value.

 Key words: Breeds genetics, environment, trends.


Librarians and information specialists have been finding ways to manage electronic resources for over a decade now. However, much of this work has been an ad hoc and learn-as-you-go process. The literature on electronic resource management shows this work as being segmented into many different areas of traditional librarian roles within the library. In addition, the literature show how management of these resources has driven the development of various management tools in the market as well as serve as the greatest need in the development of next generation library systems. TERMS is an attempt to create a series of on-going and continually developing set of management best practices for electronic resource management in libraries.


MNB has received daily, transaction-level data on key Hungarian interest rate derivatives markets since the beginning of 2009 with the launching of the K14 report. The dataset that has accumulated since early 2009 provides an opportunity to better comprehend the structure and functioning of these markets. The goal of the current paper is two-fold: to study the data from a monetary policy perspective and to present a descriptive type of analysis of these markets for those interested; from active market participants to analysts, researchers. An important finding from a central banking viewpoint is that interest rate expectations are the main motives for trading in the FRA market, hence price quotes are not biased by structural, risk management factors. However, the speculative and hedging motives are both present in the IRS market; the latter may alter pricing relative to expectations. The 3x6s in the FRA and the 2-year rates in the IRS market are respectively the most liquid and, hence, informationally the most reliable products. In the past years domestic banks positioned toward lower interest rates relative to foreign counterparties, though the extent of such open positions has changed over time. The empirical relationship between bank analyst rate expectations and FRA-positioning has been weak. However, in times of greater variation in analyst forecasts FRA-positions have varied more as well. In the CIRS market domestic banks' activities of hedging the balance sheet currency mismatch and of foreign exchange liquidity management have led to a structural extra demand of foreign currency receiving swaps, which also resulted in large (negative) CIRS spreads. The commonly used CIRS transactions in the Hungarian market are floating-floating type basis swaps, and thus they are basically not used for interest rate risk management.


The matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are a family of zinc-dependent proteinases involved in the degradation of the extracellular matrix. The MMPs have been implicated in the processes of tumor growth, invasion, and metastasis; are frequently overexpressed in malignant tumors; and have been associated with an aggressive malignant phenotype and adverse prognosis in patients with cancer. A number of MMP inhibitors are being developed for the treatment of cancer. The most extensively studied class of MMP inhibitors includes collagen peptidomimetics and nonpeptidomimetic inhibitors of the MMP active site, tetracycline derivatives, and bisphosphonates. The hydroxamate peptidomimetic inhibitor batimastat and its orally bioavailable analogue marimastat, which bind covalently to the zinc atom at the MMP-active site, were the first MMP inhibitors to be studied in detail. Marimastat is currently being studied in randomized clinical trials. The nonpeptidic MMP inhibitors were synthesized in an attempt to improve the oral bioavailability and pharmaceutical properties of the peptidic inhibitors. Several members of this class of compounds are undergoing evaluation in phase III clinical trials. The tetracyclines and, particularly, the nonantibiotic chemically modified tetracyclines, interfere with several aspects of MMP expression and activation and inhibit tumor growth and metastases in preclinical models. A representative agent of this class, Col-3, is currently undergoing phase I clinical trials. The development of the MMP inhibitors, like that of other targeted and predominantly antiproliferative compounds, poses a challenge because the paradigms that have governed the design of clinical oncology trials may not be relevant to this new class of agents. The anticipated need for long-term administration of these drugs, together with their cytostatic mechanism of action, will require novel clinical trial design strategies.


The turn towards transculturalism engenders a focus on modes of remembrance that conceptualise memory as dialogic and diverse rather than hierarchical and linear. However, this paper expresses concern that this apparent openness will lead to the presumption that all manifestations of 'multidirectional' or 'cosmopolitan' memory are ethically-oriented, according commemorative practice a transparency that is not always merited. Particularly disquieting are overly analogical memorial endeavours that suggest unproblematic equivalence between historical events, as exemplified by the reliance upon tropes inherited from Holocaust discourse in the public memorial culture of 9/11. This paper analyses the convergence of two pre-existing cultural discourses in the American public sphere after 9/11. The first relates to the 'Americanization' of the Holocaust in memorial culture from the early 1990s, which critics have suggested involves a transition from viewing the Holocaust as a historical event to reading it as an affirmative national parable. The second concerns the mobilisation of the Holocaust in support of U.S. military intervention in foreign policy rhetoric in the post-Cold War period. Analysing the intersection of these discourses with the narrative of American exceptionalism, I question whether the prevalence of Holocaust tropes in 9/11's memorial culture suggests a deliberate appropriation of its master narrative of loss. I argue that, in the decade since 9/11, other memorial constellations have been ignored in favour of less problematic acts of historical analogy. Ultimately, I call for greater attention to the potential consequences of applying analogical templates of remembrance without adequate self-reflexivity. I suggest that it is not always the most visible points of connection that offer the potential for ethical modes of remembrance, but the hidden histories, the forgotten memories, whose relationship to 9/11 opens the most important claims to attention.


The i.r. and 1H n.m.r. spectra of the product of condensation of acetaldehyde with methylamine are more complex than those expected for the simple azomethine N-ethylidenemethylamine. They are explained in terms of an equilibrium between the monomeric azomethine and two conformers of its cyclic trimer, 1,2,3,4,5,6-hexamethylhexahydro-1,3,5-triazine.


Somatosensory evoked potential (SEP) usually contains a set of detailed temporal components measured and identified in time domain, providing meaningful information on physiological mechanisms of the nervous system. The purpose of this study is to reveal complex and fine time-frequency features of SEP in time-frequency domain using advanced time-frequency analysis (TFA) and pattern classification methods. A high-resolution TFA algorithm, matching pursuit (MP), was proposed to decompose a SEP signal into a string of elementary waves and to provide a time-frequency feature description of the waves. After a dimension reduction by principle component analysis (PCA), a density-guided K-means clustering was followed to identify typical waves existed in SEP. Experimental results on posterior tibial nerve SEP signals of 50 normal adults showed that a series of typical waves were discovered in SEP using the proposed MP decomposition and clustering methods. The statistical properties of these SEP waves were examined and their representative waveforms were synthesized. The identified SEP waves provided a comprehensive and detailed description of time-frequency features of SEP.


The study was concerned with the effects of brown seaweeds on hemostasis and sarcoma M-1 growth in rats. Laminaria japonica and focus were shown to exert anticoagulant action to inhibit carcinogenesis. They may be used for adjuvant therapy of tumors.


There is growing evidence of neurotrophin alterations in neuropsychiatric illnesses such as schizophrenia and further, neurotransmitters known to be adversely affected in schizophrenia (e.g. dopamine) can activate neurotrophin signalling pathways via G protein-coupled receptors. However, it is unclear how the primary therapeutic agents used in schizophrenia affect neurotrophin signalling. This is important given that all currently prescribed antipsychotic drugs serve as ligands at dopamine receptors. In this study, chronic effects of representative conventional and second-generation antipsychotics on nerve growth factor (NGF) receptor levels were assessed in the rat. The results indicated no significant drug effects on TrkA levels in any brain region analysed; however, three of the five antipsychotics analysed significantly decreased phospho-TrkA (i.e. the activated form of the receptor) in the hippocampus. These data indicate that chronic antipsychotic treatment may result in deleterious effects on neurotrophin signalling in an important brain region for information processing and cognition.


Diffusions or transitions are typically seen as unstable because they are thought to be periods of large, obvious and coordinated change that shifts the system from one equilibrium to the other.

However, Prigogine (a Nobel prize winner) suggests that diffusions are actually stabilizing forces. While the dynamic equilibria appear stable, they contain constant, low level, change that is hard to see because it is uncoordinated.

The difference between the dynamic equilibria and diffusions/transitions may not be the amount of change, but the uniformity of change. This would suggest that neither is inherently more or less stable, which runs counter to the way people usually think about the various states.

The model represents a complex, communicating network in which agents represent vehicle owners. Each owner purchases new vehicles when the current vehicle expires on the basis of their adopter characteristics, their past history of vehicle purchases, the vehicles they observe among their neighbours, and the available vehicle options. The model output includes the number of agents that own each vehicle type at each time step. This output can be sorted by vehicle type, chopped into strings, and then compressed into ZIP files. The ZIP file sizes can be used to approximate the stability of the system as captured by that vehicle type at that time, so comparing ZIP file sizes provides some insight onto system stability.


Value-based methods for reinforcement learning lack generally applicable ways to derive behavior from a value function. Many approaches involve approximate value iteration (e.g., $Q$-learning), and acting greedily with respect to the estimates with an arbitrary degree of entropy to ensure that the state-space is sufficiently explored. Behavior based on explicit greedification assumes that the values reflect those of \textit{some} policy, over which the greedy policy will be an improvement. However, value-iteration can produce value functions that do not correspond to \textit{any} policy. This is especially relevant in the function-approximation regime, when the true value function can't be perfectly represented. In this work, we explore the use of \textit{inverse policy evaluation}, the process of solving for a likely policy given a value function, for deriving behavior from a value function. We provide theoretical and empirical results to show that inverse policy evaluation, combined with an approximate value iteration algorithm, is a feasible method for value-based control.