Extracellular cAMP induces chemotaxis and cell aggregation in dictyostelium discoideum cells. cAMP added to a cell suspension is rapidly hydrolyzed (half-life of 10 s) and induces a rapid increase of intracellular cGMP levels, which reach a peak at 10 s and recover prestimulated levels at about 30 s. This recovery is not due to removal of the stimulus because the nonhydrolyzable analogue adenosine 3',5'-monophosphorothioate-Sp- stereoisomer (cAMPS) induced a comparable cGMP response, which peaked at 10 s, even at subsaturating cAMPS concentrations. When cells were stimulated twice with the same cAMP concentration at a 30-s interval, only the first stimulus produced a cGMP response. Cells did respond to the second stimulus when the concentration of the second stimulus was higher than that of the first stimulus. By increasing the interval between two identical stimuli, the response to the second stimulus gradually increased. Recovery from the first stimulus showed first-order kinetics with a half-life of 1-2 min. The stimulation period was shortened by adding phosphodieterase to the cell suspension. The cGMP response was unaltered if the half-life of cAMP was reduced to 2 S. The peak of the transient cGMP accumulation still appeared at 10 s even when the half- life of cAMP was 0.4 s; however, the height of the cGMP peak was reduced. The cGMP response at 10 s after stimulation was diminished by 50 percent when the half-life of 10(-7) M cAMP was 0.5 s or when the half-life of 10(-8) M cAMP was 3.0 s. These results show that the cAMP signal is transduced to two opposing processes: excitation and adaptation. Within 10 s after addition of cAMP to a cell suspension the level of adaptation reaches the level of excitation, which causes the extinction of the transduction of the signal. Deadaptation starts as soon as the signal is removed, and it has first-order kinetics with a half-life of 1-2 min.


Background: Our study aimed to observe the differences in assessment results between virtual patient simulation (VPS) and regular course exams in an Internal Medicine course for undergraduate medical students. Methods: Four cohorts of students (n = 216) used: a VPS or lectures for learning (terms 1 and 2); VPS and lectures or only lectures (term 3); and a paired set-up with both VPS and lectures (term 4). The assessment results, measured with both a VPS-based exam and a paper-based exam, were compared. A scoring rubric (0–6), developed and validated for the purpose of the trial, was applied to both types of assessment. Mean score differences of the results were compared for the four cohorts. Results: Both VPS and regular examination results were significantly higher in the VPS group compared to regular exam group (p < 0.001) in terms 1, 2 and 3. The paired mean difference in term 4 was 0.66 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.50, 0.83; p < 0.001) for haematology and 0.57 (95% CI 0.45, 0.69; p < 0.001) for cardiology. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that using VPS both for learning and for assessment supports learning. VPS are better than traditional assessment methods when the virtual application is used for both learning and evaluation.


Background and Aim: Medical research institute is the main basis for knowledge production through conducting research, and paying attention to the research is one of the most important things in the scientific communities. At present, there is a large gap between knowledge production in Iran compared to that in other countries. This study aimed to identify the challenge of research system in a research institute of medical sciences in Iran. Matherials and Methods: This was a descriptive and qualitative study conducted in the first 6 months of 2013. A qualitative content analysis was conducted on 16 heads of research centers in a research institute of medical sciences. The required data were gathered using semi-structured interviews. The collected data were analyzed using MAXQDA 10.0 software. Results: Six themes identified as challenges of research system. The themes included barriers related to the design and development, and approval of research projects, the implementation of research projects, the administrative and managerial issues in the field of research, the personal problems, publishing articles, and guidelines and recommendations. Conclusion: Based on the results of the present study, the following suggestions can be offered: pushing the research towards solving the problems of society, employing the strong executive and scientific reseach directors in the field of research, providing training courses for researchers on how to write proposals, implementing administrative reforms in the Deputy of Research and Technology, accelerating the approval of the projects through automating the administrative and peer-reviewing processes.


Background and Objective: There is controversy on the psychological effects of postpartum exer- cise. The study aimed to evaluate the effective- ness of a postpartum exercise program on health- related quality of life and psychological well- being. Methods: We conducted a randomized controlled trial in Tokyo, Japan. The intervention groups participated in ball-exercise classes (week- ly exercise of 90 minutes for four weeks) at three months postpartum. The exercise class included the following: 1) greeting and warm-up; 2) aero- bic exercise involving bouncing on an exercise ball 55 or 65 cm in diameter; 3) rest and self- introduction; 4) stretching and cooling down. The primary outcome measure was health-relat- ed Quality of Life (QOL) assessed using the MOS Short-Form 36-Item Health Survey (SF-36v2). The secondary outcome measures were Rosen- berg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) and Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) scores. The intervention group was compared to the control group at four months postpartum. Results: Of the 120 women screened, 110 women met the study criteria. Nine could not be included and the remaining 101 were allocated randomly into intervention and control groups (50 and 51 par- ticipants respectively). Analysis of covariance adjusting for baseline values indicated that the SF36 subscales of physical functioning (p = 0.018) and vitality (p = 0.016) significantly im- proved in the intervention group compared to the control group, although there were no signi- ficant differences between the groups in the SF36 Physical Component Summary (PCS) and Mental Component Summary (MCS) scores. The RSES increased in the intervention group (p = 0.020) compared to the control group. No signi- ficant group differences were observed in EPDS scores. Conclusions: The postpartum exercise class program provided to healthy postpartum women appears to have contributed to promo- ting health-related QOL and self-esteem.


Background: The risk of developing intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) after the administration of intravenous tissue plasminogen activator for acute ischemic stroke is well established in the general population. However, the risk associated with stroke thrombolysis in patients with a history of cerebral microbleeds (CMBs) is undetermined. Objective: The main objective of this study was to critically assess current evidence with regard to the risk of development of ICH after the administration of intravenous tissue plasminogen activator for acute ischemic stroke in patients with CMBs. Methods: The objective was addressed through the development of a critically appraised topic that included a clinical scenario, structured question, literature search strategy, critical appraisal, assessment of results, evidence summary, commentary, and bottom-line conclusions. Participants included consultant and resident neurologists, a medical librarian, clinical epidemiologists, and content experts in the field of vascular and hospital neurology. Results: A recent individual patient data meta-analysis was selected for critical appraisal. Cohorts were analyzed with pretreatment magnetic resonance imaging to determine CMB burden and were followed-up to assess subsequent symptomatic ICH, hemorrhagic transformation, parenchymal hemorrhage (PH), and remote PH (PHr) following intravenous thrombolysis. Risk of symptomatic ICH, PH, and PHr was increased in the presence of CMBs, with PHr having the strongest association with increasing CMB burden. Only patients with >10 CMBs were found to have associations with poor outcome at 3 to 6 months, whereas there was no association with 3 to 6 months' mortality. Conclusions: CMBs are associated with an increased risk of postthrombolysis ICH; however, the clinical implications have yet to be determined.


In recent years several types of soft contact lens have been introduced in clinical ophthalmology for cosmetic and therapeutic purposes. The two hydrophilic lenses that have received the most attention in this country are the Bausch & Lomb Soflens and the Griffin Bionite lens (now known as the Softcon Bandage lens and marketed by Warner-Lambert Co). Although contamination with microbiological organisms has been regarded as a potential hazard in using these lenses, we know of only one previously published clinical report demonstrating fungal invasion of a soft contact lens in a situation involving clinical use of the lens.1 Report of a Case A 62-year-old woman, in good health, was first seen here in February 1971. She requested that she be fitted with soft contact lenses for cosmetic purposes. Visual acuity was correctable with spectacles to 20/20 in each eye. She was fitted with Griffin Bionite lenses, with resultant vision


Texture gradients are present in most samples, which are due to materials processing. Standard methods to evaluate texture gradients are based on the cut of samples, such as the X-ray investigation of surface textures against the texture inside a sheet. Bulk textures itself averaging over the whole sheet thickness are analysed by thermal neutrons. Both thermal neutrons and photons with high energies allow investigations non-destructively. The beam port Stress-Spec at the Forschungs-Neutronenquelle Heinz Maier-Leibnitz (FRM II) at Garching/Germany is equipped with a robot system based on a RX160 Stäubli robot, a Laser Tracker and a heavy basement. Samples up to 30kg can be investigated. Main restrictions are the available neutron flux, the detector efficiency and the detector size. Thus, the gauge volume is restricted to 1x1x1mm for ideal scattering conditions to measure in acceptable time scale. Photons with up to 200keV are known as high brilliant and high intense beam with similar penetration power than thermal neutrons. A typical set up of a high energy beamline for texture gradient investigations works without an Eulerian cradle so that restrictions in handling large sample are of less importance. The HZG materials science beamlines at Doris III and Petra III (Harwi-II@DorisIII and HEMS@PetraIII) are equipped with massif units for sample rotation and x-, y- and z- scanning for samples and additional equipments up to 200kg. Compared to thermal neutrons, which work with wavelengths between 1Å-2.5Å, the wavelength of high energy photons is small (0.05Å – 0.20Å). That leads on one hand to low scattering angles (1° - 10°) and on the other hand to an anisotropic ellipsoidal gauge volume. The local resolution of the synchrotron beam is much better than for thermal neutrons. In both methods corrections for constant gauge volume during pole figure scanning and for anisotropic absorption are of great importance.


This article reports on the role of metacognitive skills when solving object-oriented programming problems as part of a case study. The research was constructivist-based within an interpretivist approach to explore how four students constructed their own thinking when solving programming problems. A qualitative methodology was employed. Both concept-driven coding and data-driven coding were applied. Two main issues emerged from the findings. Participating students had fragmented knowledge of the object-oriented approach and shortcomings regarding the implementation thereof, and they experienced problems with metacognitive control during all the steps of program development. Based on the findings the use of metacognitive critical control points (MCCPs) is proposed to be used as a mechanism to facilitate students in their programming efforts and to prevent loss of control during program development.


The present study uses a prospective longitudinal research design to examine whether previously identified risk factors for prison interpersonal violence can predict violent prison misconduct in Northern Ireland (NI). Administrative data drawn from the records of 429 adult males imprisoned on November 22, 2017 were used to predict involvement in violent prison misconduct during a 1-year follow-up period. The results revealed that only a small number of previously identified risk factors were found to be significant in the NI context. Nationality, neighborhood deprivation, history of addiction, submission of prison complaints, past involvement in prison misconduct, and number of incarcerations emerged as significant, while religion, head injury/epilepsy, property offences, and prison visits were significant at the marginal level. Given the variation in risk factors identified as significant in the NI context compared to previous research, it is argued that cultural context matters when attempting to generalize the risk factors for prison interpersonal violence from one jurisdiction to another. These results offer some support for the importation theory, although it should be noted that the inclusion of prison environmental factors was limited due to the nature of the data. It is argued that specialist services and supports should be provided to address the factors contributing to interpersonal prison violence, including interventions to improve feelings of fairness, identify and treat underlying medical issues, as well as support visitation.


In the presence of local network outages, restoration and protection switching mechanisms redirect the traffic over alternative paths to mitigate the effect of failures. However, some failure combinations still lead to loss of ingress-egress connectivity within a network or to severe congestion due to rerouted traffic. Congestion may also be caused by unexpected traffic shifts due to changed user behavior or due to changes of interdomain routing. This paper presents a framework for the analysis of ingress-egress unavailability and link congestion due to: 1) failures; 2) changes of user behavior; and 3) changed interdomain routing. It proposes algorithms to find the most probable combinations of 1)-3) according to some models, and to evaluate the connectivity and the relative link load of the network under these conditions. We have implemented this concept in a software tool and its visualization of the results leads to a comprehensive view of the network's resilience. It helps to anticipate potential ingress-egress disconnection and congestion before failures and overload occur or before planned modifications (new infrastructure, new routing, new customers) take effect. Thus, it detects weak points in a network, predicts the effectiveness of potential upgrades, and thereby supports careful bandwidth overprovisioning.


Video shot boundary detection (SBD) is necessary for further video analysis like video retrieval and annotation. Great efforts have been made to develop SBD algorithms for speed and accuracy. Most works implement frame histogram as features to measure similarity for detection. However, when changes between consecutive shot boundaries are small and backgrounds of them are highly similar, most state-of-the-art methods miss these boundaries thus cannot achieve high accuracy of detection. In this paper we propose a novel SBD framework with Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs). Firstly we adopt a candidate segment selection method to locate the positions of shot boundaries coarsely using adaptive thresholds and eliminate most non-boundary frames. Then CNN is implemented to extract representative features of frames in candidate segments. Finally cut and gradual transitions can be obtained by using a novel pattern-matching method based on a new similarity strategy. Experiments on TRECVID 2001 test data demonstrate that the proposed scheme outperforms the state-of-the-art methods and achieves high accuracy of detection.


Histological examination of 6455 oysters Ostrea chilensis from Foveaux Strait south of New Zealand over a 5 yr period showed >85% contained apicomplexan zoites, irrespective of season. Zoites occurred around the haemolymph sinuses and the digestive diverticulae at all intensities of infection; occurrence in the sub-epithelium, Leydig tissue and gills/mantle increased with increasing intensity of infection. Many (>35%) oysters were heavily infected, and most of them had severely damaged tissues. Heavy infections affected gametogenesis; 1% of lightly infected oysters had empty gonad follicles lacking germinal epithelium compared with 2% of moderately infected oysters and 9% of heavily infected oysters. Of oysters with empty gonad follicles, 75% were heavily infected with zoites. The parasite spread from the haemolymph sinuses and moved between Leydig cells, causing their dissociation and lysis. Some zoites were intracellular in Leydig cells. Lesions contained many haemocytes phagocytosing zoites, leading to haemocyte lysis and causing a haemocytosis. Fibrosis occurred to repair lesions in a few oysters. The zoites had a typical apical complex with 2 polar rings and 84 sub-pellicular microtubules. Prevalence and intensity of concurrent Bonamia exitiosus infection was related to the intensity of zoite infection, with only 3.8% of B. exitiosus infections occurring in the absence of zoites, 20.0% occurring in light zoite infections, 30.9% in moderate zoite infections, and 45.4% when oysters were heavily infected with zoites. The converse was not the case, as 75.3% of zoite infections occurred in the absence of B. exitiosus infection, including 51.1% of moderate to heavy zoite infections. There was a statistically significant association between intensities of B. exitiosus and of zoites (p < 0.0001). Zoites may increase the susceptibility of oysters to B. exitiosus by occupying and destroying haemocytes, and by destroying connective tissue cells and utilising host glycogen reserves. The parasite may be heteroxenous, with other stages in the terebellid polychaete Pseudopista rostrata.


Urinary stone disease continues to occupy an important place in everyday urological practice. The average life time risk of stone formation has been reported in the range of 5-10 %. The conventional dosage forms have a number of side effects and their prolonged use leads to toxicity. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the Alcoholic Bryophyllum pinnatum (ABP) for its effects on ethylene glycol induced urolithiasis in rats. In this study the ethanolic extracts of Bryophyllum pinnatum was used to study urolithiatic activity. Urolithiatic activity was assessed using ethylene glycol induced urolithiatic model. The data of urinary, renal and serum parameters were expressed as mean ± SEM. The results were analyzed statistically using ANOVA followed by Dunnett's t-test. The minimum level of significance was fixed at p<0.05. The results shows that ABP (Alcoholic Bryophyllum pinnatum) shows antiurolithiatic activity at significant level (p<0.05). The increase in urinary calcium, oxalate and phosphate were normalized by Alcoholic Bryophyllum pinnatum and also increase in serum creatinine and uric acid as a result of ethylene glycol treatment was normalized by Alcoholic Bryophyllum pinnatum. Thus we can conclude that Alcoholic Bryophyllum pinnatum showed promising antiurolithiatic activity.


The paper presents a new mixed-signal test engineering course geared for undergraduate seniors and master's-level graduate students. The course provides a capstone experience for our electrical and computer engineering students, integrating many undergraduate topics while providing industrial hands-on experiences. The students were enthusiastic about the real-world experiences with an industrial grade automatic tester (ATE), the knowledge gained about data converters, and felt that the course had a good integration of lectures and labs.


UNLABELLED Data about patogenesis, clinical characteristics, diagnostics, treatment and the forecast of diseases of the upper departments of respiratory ways at children in a combination with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GRD) are presented proceed on the literature and own experience data. The purpose of ours research consisted in revealing of correlation dependence between GRD and chronic diseases of a throat at children. 77 children at the age of 5-16 years with the nonheritable cicatricial stenosis of a throat and cervical department of a trachea (n = 12), with small knots of vocal folds (n = 17), with dysphonia (n = 20) and with anticipate respiratory papillomatosis (n = 28) are surveyed. Reflux disease is diagnosed by means of the developed technique of pH-monitoring at which electrodes were established in hypopharynx, average and bottom departments of a gullet. RESULTS at definitive rare frequency of clinical GRD signs at children with various variants of reflux disease in 74 cases (96,1%): GRD in a combination with pharyngolaryngeal a reflux (FR)---at 48 children (62,3 %), isolated FR---at 18 children (23,4 %), isolated GRD--in 8 cases (10,4 %). CONCLUSIONS 1) correlation between chronic diseases of a throat at children and GRD is established; 2) in case of isolated FR often works protective alkalize gullet mechanism; 3) with chronic diseases of a throat it is expedient to include carrying out of daily pH-monitoring in the plan of inspection of children; 4) prospective FR participation in pathogenesis of chronic throat diseases demands carrying out of the further researches.


: It has been demonstrated that the total content of food fibers in the daily diet of the Donbas population diets amounts to 24.0-26.3 g (cellulose 5.9-6.7 g, pectin 2.0-2.7 g, hemicellulose 16.1-16.9 g). Baked goods account for the major part of hemicellulose (about 85%) and 1/3 of cellulose. Potato and vegetables (fruit) account for half of pectin and 1/3 of cellulose. The daily requirement of cellulose and pectin was satisfied by about 1/3, which is accounted for by a high relative significance of refined products (about 60% of the diet caloric value).


Within the standard internal shock scenario, synchrotron emission would produce a spectrum with slope F(v) proportional to v^(-1/2), as immediate consequence of the cooling timescale being shorter than the integration time. This is in disagreement with the harder observed spectra, indicating that a different mechanism is responsible for the burst emission. Furthermore in this scenario pair production is expected when photons produced by inverse Compton emission are taken into account.


Grapevine leafroll disease (GLRD) presently threatens the grape and wine industry worldwide. We develop a cellular automata model of GLRD diffusion and control in two ecologically-connected, independently-managed vineyards. One vineyard produces high-value wine grapes whereas the other produces low-value wine grapes. Disease management is modeled as a two-agent bargaining game. We show that under nooncooperative disease management, it is optimal for neither vineyard manager to control the disease. We consider the case of cooperative disease management and compute the benefits accruing from cooperation. We find it optimal for the manager of the high-value vineyard to pay the low-value vineyard manager to exit production. We determine the size of a Pareto-efficient side payment that can remedy the negative spatial externality emerging from noncooperative disease control.


We present a method to improve the recognition performance under stressful talking conditions. This method is based on preprocessing the speech signals produced under stressful talking conditions when the optimum value of number of poles of the vocal tract transfer function has been determined. Our results show that the optimum value of number of poles under stressful talking conditions is equal to 14. This optimum value improves the recognition rate to a good extent.


Abstract The role of smoke in fire-stimulated germination in the Mediterranean Basin has often been underestimated. A few records on smoke-enhanced germination are present in Mediterranean Lamiaceae species, but there is still a shortage of information to allow generalizations about this family to be made. To test the hypothesis that smoke enhances germination in Mediterranean Lamiaceae species, we performed a germination experiment, including aqueous smoke treatments in various concentrations (1:1, 1:10 and 1:100) on seven eastern Mediterranean Lamiaceae taxa. Six of the studied taxa (Lavandula stoechas, Origanum onites, Phlomis bourgaei, Stachys cretica ssp. smyrnaea, Satureja thymbra, Teucrium lamiifolium ssp. stachyophyllum) showed significant increments in germination percentage in at least one smoke treatment, as compared to the control. Moreover, L. stoechas, S. thymbra and T. lamiifolium ssp. stachyophyllum displayed faster germination in at least one smoke treatment than in the control. Of the species showing significant increments in germination percentages after aqueous smoke application, at least one single concentration of smoke solution did not stimulate germination, except in L. stoechas and S. thymbra which responded positively to all smoke treatments. Therefore, the concentration of aqueous smoke that improved germination was species-specific. Our results contribute to the current limited knowledge on smoke-enhanced germination in Mediterranean Lamiaceae, and support the idea that smoke is an important germination cue for this family.


In spite of the great economic potential of cowpea as both domestic and commercial crop, a number of constraints, which include insect pests, diseases and weeds, limits its production in West and many parts of Africa. Weeds reduced cowpea yield and value by competing for light, water and nutrients. Cowpea suffers from weeds particularly when the crop is in the early growth stages before ground cover. Yield losses cause by weeds alone in cowpea production can be as high as 76% depending on the cowpea cultivar, environment and weed management practices. A timely weed removal at the critical period, which falls within the first 40 days of cowpea growth, would help to prevent an unacceptable yield. Weed management in cowpea has been with low technology. Hand weeding is the most widely used weed control method in cowpea but they are usually expensive and labour intensive. Cultural practices such as narrow row spacing and planting of early maturing varieties are also used for weed control in cowpea. Herbicides, which are relatively easy to use and less expensive, have not been widely adopted for weed control in cowpea. There are limited number of selective herbicides with wide spectrum for weed control in cowpea. However, an integrated practices that involved pre-emergence weed control using herbicides or physical weeding, and a supplementary weed removal that would ensure weed control up to 40 days after cowpea emergence could substantially prevent yield losses associated with weed interference.


Thermal test chips are widely used to develop electronic packaging thermal solutions and to evaluate electronic package assembly processes. Temperature sensors are an integral component on thermal test chips. Unfortunately, each temperature sensor must be calibrated in order for them to be effective. Each calibration can take up to one hour to complete. In a time when increasing sample sizes and shorter development cycles are taxing current equipment and manpower resources, new calibration techniques must be established to keep development costs down. This paper discusses simplified calibration procedures, which can significantly reduce the time needed for temperature sensor calibration. The simplified calibration procedures utilize single-resistance measurements either at room temperature or at the anticipated test temperature. For four different test chip designs included in this study, calibration error variations of less than /spl plusmn/0.6/spl deg/C at a /spl plusmn/2/spl sigma/ confidence level are possible. The simplified calibration procedures can be applied to any resistor type temperature sensor which has a linear correlation between its electric resistive properties and temperature.


Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, St James's University Hospital, Leeds 159 ?TF, GBR LANCET 1990, 336/8714 (549-551) Analysis of the increasing incidence of caesarean section in an English teaching hospital over a 15-year period revealed that emergency caesaeran section for the diagnosis of fetal distress in labour made a major contribution to this increasing trend. A retrospective audit of a sample of these operations by the consultants of the hospital indicated that 30% of the operations were unnecessary. There were two other disturbing findings in our audit. First, there was significant disagreement between auditors in the decision whether to do a caesarean section or not. Second, and perhaps more importantly, when faced with identical information at a different time, the auditors were inconsistent in 25°K~ of cases. The disturbing clinical situation highlighted by this study may have implications for medical jurisprudence.


Mast cell chemotaxis is essential for cell recruitment to target tissues, where these cells play an important role in adaptive and innate immunity. Stem cell factor (SCF) is a major chemoattractant for mast cells. SCF binds to the KIT receptor, thereby triggering tyrosine phosphorylation in the cytoplasmic domain and resulting in docking sites for SH2 domain-containing molecules, such as Lyn and Fyn, and the subsequent activation of the small GTPases Rac that are responsible for cytoskeletal reorganization and mast cell migration. In previous works we have reported the role of 3BP2, an adaptor molecule, in mast cells. 3BP2 silencing reduces FcεRI-dependent degranulation, by targeting Lyn and Syk phosphorylation, as well as SCF-dependent cell survival. This study examines its role in SCF-dependent migration and reveals that 3BP2 silencing in human mast cell line (LAD2) impairs cell migration due to SCF and IgE. In that context we found that 3BP2 silencing decreases Rac-2 and Cdc42 GTPase activity. Furthermore, we identified Myo1f, an unconventional type-I myosin, as a new partner for 3BP2. This protein, whose functions have been described as critical for neutrophil migration, remained elusive in mast cells. Myo1f is expressed in mast cells and colocalizes with cortical actin ring. Interestingly, Myo1f-3BP2 interaction is modulated by KIT signaling. Moreover, SCF dependent adhesion and migration through fibronectin is decreased after Myo1f silencing. Furthermore, Myo1f silencing leads to downregulation of β1 and β7 integrins on the mast cell membrane. Overall, Myo1f is a new 3BP2 ligand that connects the adaptor to actin cytoskeleton and both molecules are involved in SCF dependent mast cell migration.


How can we engage and enable our time-pressured teachers design rich blended and online courses (modules)? Today's education system needs to design future-looking, digitally rich, flexible courses (module), mobile-ready and attuned to students' expectations for engaging, professionally related learning experiences (UK Open University "Innovating Pedagogy 2018"). ABCtoVLE planned to develop, implement and, evaluate a rapid development learning design method in the form of a downloadable 'pack' to help university and college teachers design ICT rich blended courses, investigating a range of pedagogical, technological, support, quality, cross-cultural and strategic issues. This development includes running several workshops using the ABCtoLD (ABC to Learning Design) resource pack, methodology and to apply this to specific national requirements. ABC to LD is an effective and engaging workshop, which has been tested so far successfully on a number of educational programs in over 30 universities. In just 90 minutes, using a game format, teams are able to collaborate to create a visual "storyboard" that highlights the type and sequence of learning activities (online and offline) required to meet the learning outcomes of the course or specialization. ABC is especially useful for new specialties or in the process of modification, but also for those that turn into an online format or blended learning (with technology support). The involvement of Romanian higher education professionals is done through the full translation of the program, running workshops and supporting teachers into integrating the ABC Learning Design principles in their ongoing educational programs. This paper presents the development of the Romanian workshops by integrating the ABCtoLD principles as part of the ABCtoVLE project.


Adiponectin is an adipose-derived hormone that plays an important role in regulating insulin sensitivity in rodents. However, little is known regarding the effect of adiponectin on metabolism in human skeletal muscle. Therefore, we examined whether the globular head of adiponectin, gAcrp30, acutely activates fatty acid oxidation and glucose uptake in isolated human skeletal muscle. Furthermore, we aimed to determine whether these effects would differ in muscle from lean versus obese individuals. Treatment with gAcrp30 (2.5 microg/ml) increased fatty acid oxidation in lean muscle (70%, P < 0.0001) and to a lesser extent in obese muscle (30%, P < 0.01). In the absence of insulin, gAcrp30 increased glucose uptake 37% in lean (P < 0.05) and 33% in obese muscle (P < 0.05). Combined exposure of insulin and gAcrp30 demonstrated an additive effect on glucose uptake in lean and obese individuals, but this effect was reduced by 50% in obese muscle (P < 0.05). These metabolic effects were attributable to an increase in AMP-activated protein kinase-alpha1 (AMPKalpha1) and AMPKalpha2 activity. However, in obese muscle the activation of AMPKalpha2 by gAcrp30 was blunted. This study provides evidence that gAcrp30 plays a role in regulating fatty acid and glucose metabolism in human skeletal muscle. However, the effects are blunted in obesity, indicating the possible development of adiponectin resistance.


Sememes are minimum semantic units of word meanings, and the meaning of each word sense is typically composed by several sememes. Since sememes are not explicit for each word, people manually annotate word sememes and form linguistic common-sense knowledge bases. In this paper, we present that, word sememe information can improve word representation learning (WRL), which maps words into a low-dimensional semantic space and serves as a fundamental step for many NLP tasks. The key idea is to utilize word sememes to capture exact meanings of a word within specific contexts accurately. More specifically, we follow the framework of Skip-gram and present three sememe-encoded models to learn representations of sememes, senses and words, where we apply the attention scheme to detect word senses in various contexts. We conduct experiments on two tasks including word similarity and word analogy, and our models significantly outperform baselines. The results indicate that WRL can benefit from sememes via the attention scheme, and also confirm our models being capable of correctly modeling sememe information.


A commercial silicon nitride powder with sintering additives was ground by high-energy milling to reduce particle size. Nanometer sized powder was obtained. The powder was densified for short time by spark plasma sintering to prevent grain growth. Nanometer-grained Si3N4 ceramics were obtained. Plastic deformation of the Si3N4 nano-ceramics has been studied in compression over a wide range of strain rates and temperatures. The experimental results revealed that a transition in stress exponent, n, at each temperature. The n value decreased from ~ 2 to ~ 1 with increasing applied stress. Activation energy was also different for the two regions, decreasing from 858.2 kJ/mol in the n ~ 2 region to 571.8 kJ/mol in the n ~ 1 region. Effect of sintering additives on plastic deformation was also discussed.


An annotated analytical essay of possible nanofabrication and nanotechnology applications is presented with respect to: (1) some techniques and original results [1-4] concerning the regularities and micromechanisms (physics) of the hydrogen fluoride gas activator influence on the diffusion-controlled oxidation processes of titanium, zirconium and zirconium-based alloys with niobium, and also – on nitriding, boriding and carbiding a series of refractory metals (Ti, Zr, Nb, Mo, W, Ta); (2) some techniques, original results and physics of the diffusion-controlled formation processes of the compound-like nanosegregation [5-13] and the results [13-23] on the liquid-like phase at grain boundary regions in metals and alloys. In the scope of this review, a constructive analysis, the Arrhenius-type treatment, and the original data interpretation [16-21] has been carried out for the first time; (3) some techniques, original analytical results, and physics [24, 25] of the diffusion-controlled processes of the hydrogen multilayer intercalation (physisorption of a condensation or clustering type) with carbonaceous nanostructures. The main objective of the given analytical essay is to attract the researchers' attention to the expediency of such a non-conventional data analysis and interpretation.


We reexamine a 50+ yr old problem of deep central reversals predicted for strong solar spectral lines, in contrast to the smaller reversals seen in observations. We examine data and calculations for the resonance lines of H i, Mg ii, and Ca ii, the self-reversed cores of which form in the upper chromosphere. Based on 3D simulations, as well as data for the Mg ii lines from the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS), we argue that the resolution lies not in velocity fields on scales in either of the micro- or macroturbulent limits. Macroturbulence is ruled out using observations of optically thin lines formed in the upper chromosphere, and by showing that it would need to have unreasonably special properties to account for critical observations of the Mg ii resonance lines from the IRIS mission. The power in "turbulence" in the upper chromosphere may therefore be substantially lower than earlier analyses have inferred. Instead, in 3D calculations horizontal radiative transfer produces smoother source functions, smoothing out intensity gradients in wavelength and in space. These effects increase in stronger lines. Our work will have consequences for understanding the onset of the transition region, for understanding the energy in motions available for heating the corona, and for the interpretation of polarization data in terms of the Hanle effect applied to resonance line profiles.


Abstract Bacillus thuringiensis insecticidal crystalline δ-endotoxin proteins are plasmid encoded. Specific antibodies against the δ-endotoxin were obtained in mice and rabbits by injecting isolated B. thuringiensis DNA plasmids into their muscles. Antibodies could be detected by ELISA as early as two weeks after the first injection. They formed immunoprecipitin lines with the toxin in the Ouchterlony agarose plate and neutralized the toxicity of the toxin. Because no special equipment, delivery mechanism or purification of the protein is required, this technique may provide a way to raise polyclonal antibodies to proteins encoded by bacterial plasmids and recombinant products.


Pemphigus, an autoimmune blistering disease that affects the skin and mucous membranes, adversely impacts patients' quality of life (QOL). While there are various QOL measurement tools that can be used in this disease, few studies have assessed how a patient's change in disease severity can affect their QOL. This study aims to identify which disease severity index correlates best with the change in QOL. Fifty pemphigus patients completed QOL surveys with disease severity scored over two visits. QOL was assessed with the Autoimmune Bullous Disease Quality of Life (ABQOL), Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), Skindex-29, and Short Form Survey 36 (SF-36). Disease severity was scored with the Pemphigus Disease Area Index (PDAI) and Autoimmune Bullous Skin Disorder Intensity Score (ABSIS). Correlations between the change in QOL scores and change in disease severity were analyzed using Spearman's coefficient (r). The change in PDAI showed a strong correlation (r = 0.60–0.79) with changes in the ABQOL, Skindex-29 symptoms (Skindex-S), and Skindex-29 functioning (Skindex-F) subscales for all patients (n = 50). For patients with mucosal disease (n = 24), the change in PDAI showed a strong correlation with changes in the ABQOL and Skindex-S subscale. For patients without mucosal disease, the change in PDAI showed a strong correlation with the Skindex-S. The change in ABSIS showed a strong correlation with Skindex-S for all patients and patients with no mucosal involvement, but showed no strong correlations for patients with mucosal involvement. The changes in PDAI always had a stronger correlation than the changes in ABSIS scores to changes in the ABQOL, DLQI, and Skindex-29 subscales, except where the PDAI and ABSIS scores were about the same for the Skindex-S subscale in patients with no mucosal involvement (r = 0.76 and r = 0.77, respectively). PDAI is superior to ABSIS in its correlation with validated QOL tools. The QOL tools that appear to be of most use in clinical trials and patient management are the Skindex-S and ABQOL.


This article proposes an economic model of the incentive-access paradigm for copyright designed to correspond to the goal of maximizing societal welfare.The article begins with a discussion on the foundations of copyright and the objectives of the Constitutionâ¬"s Copyright Clause. The article adopts the majority view that the Constitution mandates that the copyright regime is designed to optimize the positive welfare impacts from copyright protection. Under this view, similarly as antitrust â¬Sprotects competition, not competitorsâ¬?, the copyright regime should protect creativity, not creators. The result of this underlying policy objective is that the level of copyright propertization becomes a balancing test where Congress and the courts should set the extent of the rights granted in the Copyright Act to a level that maximizes the aggregate societal benefit from copyrightable subject matter.After laying this legal foundation, the article analysis the strengths and weaknesses of some economic models presented in academic literature. The focus of this discussion is the model proposed by William M. Landes and Richard A. Posner, but also includes a scan of some of the other relevant academic models. The majority of the economic models that have been proposed for intellectual property are built around marginal unit cost analysis, and the article questions whether -- especially in a digital environment that analysis presents a valid basis for modeling. The article then proposes a microeconomic formulation of the incentive-access paradigm that captures the economic concepts needed for Congress and the courts to derive policy decisions that maximize societal welfare.The article concludes with a discussion of an implicit real-world application of the model. In its recent report on so-called â¬Sorphan worksâ¬? the Copyright Office proposes that copyright protection where the owner is unidentifiable is reduced to a liability rule. This is consistent with the modelâ¬"s conclusion that reducing access costs at the outer perimeters of copyright protection will result in a net increase in output, and thereby in a net societal gain. The article suggests that policymakers and courts should view changes to the level of copyright protection through the lens of the proposed model to ensure that the copyright regime evolves in a manner consistent with the utilitarian objectives of the Constitution.


Objective To evaluate insulin receptor binding characteristics of urbanized South African black women with normal glucose tolerance and of patients with newly diagnosed untreated non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (N1DDM). Research Design and Methods Four groups of 10 subjects each were selected by the following criteria: group A, young (20-39 yr) nonobese (body mass index [BMI] 19.0-24.9 kg/m2) nondiabetic women; group B, middleaged (40–60 yr) nonobese nondiabetic women; group C, middle-aged obese (BMI>30.0 kg/m2) nondiabetic women; and group D, middle-aged obese newly diagnosed but untreated female patients with NIDDM. Insulin binding to monocyte receptors was determined by radioreceptor assay. Fasting plasma samples were analyzed for glucose, insulin, C-pep tide, and nones terified fatty acids. Results In the four groups studied, maximum specific binding and receptor concentration were highest in group A, with a progressive and significant decrease in values through groups B and C to group D. Significant inverse correlations were obtained between maximum specific binding, 50% inhibition dose, and total receptor concentration on the one hand and glucose, insulin, and NEFA on the other. Conclusions Our study of urban South African black women showed decreasing insulin-receptor activity with obesity and glucose intolerance. In patients with NIDDM, hyperglycemia and (β-cell dysfunction were associated with a reduction in receptor concentration. In this regard, our findings in South African blacks are consistent with results of similar studies of NIDDM in other communities.


Genomc DNA was extracted from 4 strains of Carnobacterium p~scicola and 2 strains of Corynebacterium aquaticum that had previously been reported to produce a 57 kDa protein that reacted with polyclonal antiserum against Renibacterium salmoninarum. Genomic DNA was also extracted from a Gram-negative bacterium isolated from the ludney tissue of a mature female coho salmon Oncorhynchus kisutch. The bacterium, tentatively identified as Pseudomonas maltophila, cross-reacts with 2 polyclonal antisera, one of which is used in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and the other in a fluorescent antibody test to identlfy R. sal~noninarum The Isolate of P. maltophila, and the Carnobacterium piscicola and Corynebacterium aquahcum strains, were negative by a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) that was designed to amplify a segment of the gene encoding p57, a major protein of R. salmon~narum. These results suggest that although antibodies directed against R. salmoninarum crossreact with antigens of bacterial species other than R. salmoninarum, the cross-reacting antigen(s) is clearly not the same protein, as the non-R. salmoninarum bacteria lacked the gene encoding p57. These findings highlight some of the shortcomings of immunodiagnostic tests for detecting R. salmoninarum and indicate the high degree of specificity associated with a PCR-based diagnostic technique.


Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are rolled cylinders of monolayer graphene with high electron mobilities and a potentially large bandgap. Therefore, their operation speeds and current on/off ratios make them promising for next generation field-effect transistor devices. Making SWNTs a potential wafer-scale nanotechnology requires control of their chirality, density, placement, and alignment on a relevant substrate. This work investigates how mechanical alignment by meniscus action can align SWNTs suspended in solution, allowing them to be deposited on a substrate in a top-down fashion. Also, we show some early experimental results.


A new half cymbal style piezoelectric-metal composite structure (HCPCS) membrane is proposed and utilized for piezoelectric synthetic jet actuator (PSJA) to increase its output jet velocity. PSJA specimens with both plane and HCPCS membranes were manufactured. An experimental system with hot-wire anemometer was setup to test the jet velocity. The frequency responses of time-averaged jet velocity were measured for both HCPCS diaphragms and plane membranes. The time-averaged velocity distributions were collected along the exit centerline. Experiments indicate that the HCPCS structure brings a promotion of vibration displacement distortion of diaphragm and stronger driving capability, and that the mean jet velocities synthesized from the optimal HCPCS PSJAs are higher than the optimal plane membrane one. Hilbert-Huang Transform was employed to analyze the instantaneous energy distribution characteristics of the jet. The analysis was done for signals along the centerline. The results show that HHT is an effective method for fluid field analysis.


Background and Objectives. We evaluated bacterial infections (BIs) in patients with multiple myeloma (MM) treated with two different schedules of vincristine-adriamycin-dexamethasone (VAD). Design and Methods. Ninety-seven patients were studied during 340 VAD cycles. VAD was given by either continuous intravenous infusion (CII) to hospitalized patients or rapid intravenous infusion (RII) to outpatients. The characteristics of patients and VAD schedules were retrospectively analyzed to detect correlations with the incidence of BI. Results. By analyzing each VAD cycle, we found that profound hypogammaglobulinemia (p=0.06) and posttreatment neutropenia (p=0.08) were associated with a trend for a higher risk of infection, while renal function impairment was significantly correlated with BI risk at both univariate (p<0.02) and multivariate (p<0.002) analyses. Evaluating only the first 4 months of therapy, characterized by a significantly higher incidence of BI than the later period (p<0.0001), previously untreated disease was significantly correlated with BI risk (p<0.04), while male sex (p=0.06), CII schedule (p=0.07), and profound hypogammaglobulinemia (p=0.1) were associated with a tendency to a higher risk of infection; however, at multivariate analysis the latter two parameters independently predicted BI probability (p<0.015 and p<0.03, respectively) as did previously untreated disease (p<0.025). The high probability of CII-related infection was demonstrated to depend on the frequent development of nosocomial infections. Interpretation and Conclusions. Patients with profound hypogammaglobulinemia who receive VAD as first line treatment are at a major risk of BI up to the completion of the fourth month of therapy. In this setting hospitalization should be avoided and, if patients require admission, antibacterial prophylaxis with intravenous immunoglobulins could be appropriate and effective.


Universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS) is a third-generation mobile communications system that supports wireless wideband multimedia applications. The primary aim of this study is to present learning models based on neural networks for objective, non-intrusive prediction of video quality over wireless local area network (WLAN) and UMTS networks for video applications. The contributions of this study are two-fold: first, an investigation of the impact of parameters both in the application and physical layer on end-to-end video quality is presented. The parameters considered in the application layer are content type (CT), sender bitrate (SBR) and frame rate (FR), whereas in the physical layer block error rate (BLER) and link bandwidth (LBW) are considered. Secondly, learning models based on adaptive neural fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) are developed to predict the visual quality in terms of the mean opinion score for all contents over access networks of UMTS and WLAN. ANFIS is well suited for video quality prediction over error-prone and bandwidth restricted UMTS as it combines the advantages of neural networks and fuzzy systems. The ANFIS-based artificial neural network is trained using a combination of physical layer parameters such as BLER and LBW and application layer parameters of CT, SBR and FR. The proposed models are validated using unseen data set. The preliminary results show that good prediction accuracy was obtained from the models. This study should help in the development of a reference-free video prediction model and quality of service control methods for video over UMTS/WLAN networks.


Propionibacterium acnes (Corynebacterium parvum) is being implicated more frequently as a cause of intraocular inflammation following cataract surgery. In addition to its role as an infectious agent, P. acnes also may possess adjuvant-like or adjuvant-enhancing properties. The presence of this organism in an eye with residual lens material after extracapsular cataract surgery could augment inflammation resulting from a phacoantigenic (phacoanaphylactic) response. We have modified an established rat model of lens-induced granulomatous uveitis (LIGU) to examine the adjuvant properties of P. acnes. Our results suggest that P. acnes effectively potentiates LIGU. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 33:17661770, 1992


Labeling of ferrocenecarboaldehyde (Fc-CHO) to immunoglobulin G (IgG) via formation of Schiff-base and its reduction was investigated for construction of an electrochemical probe for miniaturized amperometric flow immunoassay. Approximately eight molecules of Fc-CHO were labeled to IgG and the reversible redox property of ferrocene was observed. Labeling efficiency improved by over three times as compared to the conventional method using ferrocenemonocarboxylic acid (Fc-COOH). Also, binding affinity of IgG labeled with Fc-CHO to its antigen, IgE, was investigated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and surface plasmon resonance assay. IgG labeled with Fc-CHO that retained eight ferrocene moiety showed sufficient binding affinity to its antigen and the current response obtained in the flow electrochemical detection system increased by 14-fold as compared with IgG labeled with Fc-COOH when applying the potential of 390 mV vs. Ag/AgCl. The minimum detectable concentration of IgG labeled with Fc-CHO was 0.06 microM. IgG labeled with Fc-CHO demonstrate biochemical and electrochemical properties that are useful for electrochemical immunosensors.


This paper offers a conceptual business model of a Malaysian-based University of the Future, called MyUni, with one of its value proposition in engaging and transforming local and global communities. Globally, labor productivity and unemployment has increased to crisis levels. However, the global economy is growing at a slower rate. Increasing employment opportunities is a must, particularly for young people. This is because, fresh graduates are facing difficulties in finding jobs if they do not have the required skill and competency. The United Nations SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) is a guideline to provide a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for the people and the planet. This paper uses the design and system thinking methodology to understand the main problems and propose a business model of University of the Future (UotF) for MyUni in providing humanizing entrepreneurship education to the youth in Bandung, Indonesia. The contribution of this paper is a conceptual and validated business model in BMC and VPC format. The UotF business model for MyUni proposed in this paper will help youth in Bandung, Indonesia to gain the basic knowledge, skills and human values in contributing to the wellbeing and development of the community.


Since the advent of political devolution in the UK, it has been widely reported that markedly different health policies have emerged. However, most of these analyses are based on a comparison of health care policies and, as such, only tell part of a complex and evolving story. This paper considers official responses to a shared public health policy aim, the reduction of health inequalities, through an examination of national policy statements produced in England, Scotland and Wales respectively since 1997. The analysis suggests that the relatively consistent manner in which the `policy problem' of health inequalities has been framed combined with the dominance of a medical model of health have constrained policy responses. Our findings differ from existing analyses, raising some important questions about the actuality of, and scope for, policy divergence since devolution.


For a laser that fires a short pulse at time 0 into a homogeneous cloud with specified scattering and absorption parameters, this paper addresses the problem of theoretically calculating Jn(t), the nth-order backscattered power measured at any time t > 0. The backscattered power is assumed to be measured by a small receiver, which is colocated with the laser and which is fitted with a forward-looking conical baffle of adjustable opening angle. The approach taken here to calculate Jn(t) is somewhat unusual in that it is not based on the radiation-transfer equation but rather on the premise that the laser pulse consists of propagating photons, which are scattered and absorbed in a probabilistic manner by the cloud particles. Polarization effects have not been considered. By using straightforward physical arguments together with rigorous analytical techniques from the theory of random variables, an exact formula is derived for Jn(t). For n ≥ 2 this formula is a well-behaved (3n − 4)-dimensional integral. The computational feasibility of this integral formula is demonstrated by using it to evaluate Jn(t)/J1(t) for a model cloud of isotropically scattering particles; for that case an analytical formula is obtained for n = 2, and a Monte Carlo integration program is employed to obtain numerical results for n = 3, …, 6.


This paper presents a data hiding scheme that hides the data in the compression domain of a digital image. A quadtree decomposition algorithm decomposes the host image into blocks of variable sizes according to histogram analysis of the block residuals. Variable block sizes are then encoded at different rates based on their visual activity levels. The majority of secrete data are embedded into the smooth area of the image, while a small portion of the secret data are hidden in the compression codes of the high detailed blocks. Experimental results confirm that the proposed scheme can embed a large amount of data in the compressed file while maintaining satisfactory image quality.


Provisions for the establishment and implementation of national ambient air quality standards are a central feature of the Clean Air Act. These provisions reflect an implicit and often incorrect assumption that it is possible, for each pollutant of concern, to determine a threshold level of air pollution above which the pollutant is a threat to public health and below which it is not. This assumption forces the Environmental Protection Agency to make arbitrary decisions that do not rationally take into account the available scientific evidence concerning the effects of air pollution on health. In this article, Professor Feller demonstrates the arbitrariness and irrationality in the setting of the ambient air quality standards for two pollutants: particulate matter and lead. He also discusses additional problems created by the implementation of fixed air quality standards and considers possible alternative approaches to the setting of air quality standards.


A major challenge for autonomous vehicles is interacting with other traffic participants safely and smoothly. A promising approach to handle such traffic interactions is equipping autonomous vehicles with interaction-aware controllers (IACs). These controllers predict how surrounding human drivers will respond to the autonomous vehicle's actions, based on a driver model. However, the predictive validity of driver models used in IACs is rarely validated, which can limit the interactive capabilities of IACs outside the simple simulated environments in which they are demonstrated. In this paper, we argue that besides evaluating the interactive capabilities of IACs, their underlying driver models should be validated on natural human driving behavior. We propose a workflow for this validation that includes scenario-based data extraction and a two-stage (tactical/operational) evaluation procedure based on human factors literature. We demonstrate this workflow in a case study on an inverse-reinforcement-learningbased driver model replicated from an existing IAC. This model only showed the correct tactical behavior in 40% of the predictions. The model's operational behavior was inconsistent with observed human behavior. The case study illustrates that a principled evaluation workflow is useful and needed. We believe that our workflow will support the development of appropriate driver models for future automated vehicles.


: Drug and alcohol abuse is one of the United States' most expensive and damaging health risk. The financial and social costs of addiction have led to a significant investment in prevention and treatment in an effort to reduce the incidence and prevalence of drug abuse. One important area of research is the chemistry of craving. It is assumed that if the neurological process of craving can be interrupted, then addiction can be successfully treated. The active ingredients found in kava, known as kavapyrones, have been found to bind to many sites in the brain that are associated with addiction and craving. In an effort to determine if kava can decrease the craving associated with substances of abuse, a craving survey and pilot study were completed where cravings of alcohol, tobacco, cocaine, and heroin were examined. The preliminary findings suggest that kava may reduce the craving associated with addiction. In one investigation, the participants reported a reduction in their desire for their drug of choice. In another investigation, a standardized amount of kavapyrones led to an apparent difference in abstinence between the experimental and placebo groups for alcohol. The studies presented are considered preliminary and exploratory, and intended only as a precursor to future, more systematic and large-scale investigations. If the findings are confirmed, kava may be a useful component to the treatment of addictions, especially for Native Hawaiian and Pacific peoples.


Acclaimed translator Dick Davis breathes new life into the timeless works of three masters of fourteenth-century Persian literature. Together, Hafez, a giant of world literature; Jahan Malek Khatun, an eloquent princess; and Obayd-e Zakani, a dissolute satirist, represent one of the most remarkable literary flowerings of any era. All three lived in the famed city of Shiraz, a provincial capital of south-central Iran, and all three drew support from arts-loving rulers during a time better known for its violence than its creative brilliance. Here Dick Davis, an award-winning poet widely considered 'our finest translator of Persian poetry' (The Times Literary Supplement), presents a diverse selection of some of the best poems by these world-renowned authors and shows us the spiritual and secular aspects of love, in varieties embracing every aspect of the human heart. A Choice Magazine Outstanding Academic Title for 2013 Dick Davis is a translator, a poet, and a scholar of Persian literature who has published more than twenty books. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and has taught at the University of California at Santa Barbara and Ohio State University. He lives in Columbus, Ohio.


Research shows that examples play an important role for cognitive skill acquisition. Students as well as teachers rank examples as important resources for learning to program. Therefore examples must be consistent with the principles and rules of the topics we are teaching.
 However, educators often struggle to find or develop objectoriented example programs of high quality. Common examples are often perceived as not fully faithful to all principles and guidelines of the object-oriented paradigm, or as not following general pedagogical principles and practices. Unless students are able to engage with good examples, they will not be able to tell desirable from undesirable properties in their own and others' programs.
 In this paper we report on a study in which experienced educators reviewed a wide range of object-oriented examples for novices from popular textbooks. This review was accomplished using an on-line checklist that elicited responses on 10 quality factors. Results show that the evaluation instrument provides a sufficiently consistent set of responses to distinguish examples.
 The paper then goes on to examine some of the characteristics of good and bad examples and how this study will influence the evolution of the evaluating instrument.


An ERS 1 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image of the island Hopen shows a distinct 7.6-km wavelength wave phenomenon near the island. This wave phenomenon is interpreted as the surface imprint on open water of atmospheric lee waves. The pattern is visible in the SAR image, since the lee waves modulate the horizontal wind speed near the ocean surface which, in turn, modulates the surface roughness and the radar cross section. The physical setting for the observation is presented and discussed. The lower bound on horizontal wind speed modulation is estimated to range from 3±2 ms−1 (for the wind speed minima) to 12±2 ms−1 (for the wind speed maxima) based upon the observed radar cross-section modulation and the ERS 1 scatterometer wind retrieval model CMOD4. The wavelength and wind speed modulation are consistent with linear lee wave model predications. The model uses an atmosphere with an exponential profile of the Scorer parameter (ratio of buoyancy frequency to wind speed) to represent a shallow, ground-based inversion layer observed at Bear Island and a bell-shaped barrier to represent the forcing effects of Hopen.


Being able to create and sustain robust, spatial-temporal inhomogeneity is an important concept in developmental biology. Generally, the mathematical treatments of these biological systems have used continuum hypotheses of the reacting populations, which ignores any sources of intrinsic stochastic effects. We address this concern by developing analytical Fourier methods which allow us to probe the probabilistic framework. Further, a novel description of domain growth is produced, which is able to rigorously link the mean-field and stochastic descriptions. Finally, through combining all of these ideas, it is shown that the description of diffusion on a growing domain is non-unique and, due to these distinct descriptions, diffusion is able to support patterning without the addition of further kinetics.


This article seeks to explain how EIR programs help Israeli VC firms maintain high levels of investment in startup firms in the information and communication technology (ICT) industry, effectively overcoming the equity gap that favors established entrepreneurial ventures. The equity gap arises from the perception among VCs that the higher transaction and monitoring costs associated with startup/seed ventures makes investment in them uneconomic. The research investigated how participants view the value of EIR programs and how trust and control influence the VC decision to invest. Data were collected from qualitative research interviews conducted with VC entrepreneurs and executives who participate in EIR programs in the ICT industry, primarily in the Dan Area in central Israel (considered to be that country's equivalent of Silicon Valley). The findings indicated that EIR programs promote the likelihood of VC investment because they raise what we call the "confidence coefficient" the VC's confidence in the entrepreneur's intention and ability to deliver the deal's return on investment?by increasing various types of trust (goodwill trust and competence trust) and control (most importantly social control), thereby mitigating the perceived risks that comprise the equity gap.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the usefulness of circumflex artery motion (CAM) for assessment of left ventricular (LV) function.

DESIGN
Seventy-three consecutive patients referred for coronary angiography and LV angiography were included. Ejection fraction (EF) was calculated from LV angiography and CAM was measured from coronary angiography.

RESULTS
The ratio between CAM and the end-diastolic length of the ventricle, which can be denominated long-axis fractional shortening (FS(L)), was found to be a better index of LV function than CAM per se. There was a significant linear correlation between EF and FS(L) (r = 0.81, SEE = 8.2, p < 0.001). When values of FS(L) > or =10% were selected to define a normal EF (> or =50%) there was a sensitivity of 95% and a specificity of 93%. Visual estimation of EF from CAM was not as good as the use of calculated FS(L) but may me useful as a fast screening method.

CONCLUSION
LV systolic function can be assessed by studying CAM recorded by coronary angiography.


We report the observation of the X(3823) state in the process e(+)e(-) -> pi(+)pi(-) X(3823) pi(+)pi(-)gamma chi(c1) with a statistical significance of 6.2 sigma, in data samples at center-of-mass energies root s = 4.230, 4.260, 4.360, 4.420, and 4.600 GeV collected with the BESIII detector at the BEPCII electron positron collider. The measured mass of the X(3823) state is (3821.7 +/- 1.3 +/- 0.7) MeV/c(2), where the first error is statistical and the second systematic, and the width is less than 16 MeV at the 90% confidence level. The products of the Born cross sections for e(+)e(-) -> pi(+)pi(-) X(3823) and the branching ratio B [X(3823) -> gamma X-c1c2] are also measured. These measurements are in good agreement with the assignment of the X(3823) state as the Psi(1(3)D(2)) charmonium state.


Telecommunication networks in all their various shapes are indispensable to bring information quickly anywhere and anytime, which is a vital need of our modern global society. Since the invention of the electrical telegraph by Samuel Morse in 1837, the variety of telecommunication services has grown at an increasing pace, as illustrated in Figure 2.1. In addition, the services are becoming ever more individualized, and along with the penetration of video-based services ("a picture says more than a thousand words") the request for information transport capacity has exploded and is continuing to do so. Since the early 1990s, the introduction of the worldwide Internet has drastically promoted this information transport explosion. The number of Internet hosts is still increasing exponentially; from January 1992 to January 1997 to January 2002, it grew from 727 thousand to 19.5 million to 147 million worldwide. This is causing data traffic to take an ever-larger share of the telecommunication network capacity; since a few years, it has surpassed the volume of the traditional voice traffic (but not yet its revenues). Wireless mobile telecommunication is attracting ever more users, and enables a fast roll-out of services to the end users without the need to install extensive first-mile customer access networks. The telecommunication market liberalization has provided ample opportunities to the entry of more operators and service providers, and the resulting national and international competition is pressing for very efficient high-capacity telecommunication networks.


We report results of muon-spin-rotation measurements performed on the ferromagnetic semiconductor EuO, which is one of the best approximations to a localized ferromagnet. We argue that implanted muons are sensitive to the internal field primarily through a combination of hyperfine and Lorentz fields. The temperature dependences of the internal field and the relaxation rate have been measured and are compared with previous theoretical predictions.


The irradiation and annealing responses of 4H-SiC MOS devices with nitrided oxides are investigated at varying biases. Radiation-induced hole trapping dominates the radiation response of these devices. Switching the bias between irradiation and annealing can lead to significant enhancement of the degradation in some cases. Positive irradiation bias followed by negative annealing bias is found to be the worst-case for the combined degradation. After irradiation, significant reversibility of charge trapping is observed in switched-bias annealing of n-substrate capacitors, while enhanced charge trapping is found in p-substrate capacitors. These results show the potential importance of evaluating the combined radiation and reliability responses of SiC MOS devices for long-term use in high total-ionizing-dose space applications.


The force of the internet and the power of online consumers have dramatically altered the face of todays worldand its essential for every business person to understand and use this resource to its best advantage. Digital Marketing clarifies the complex subject of e-commerce, presenting a simple eight-step strategy for success. Godfrey Parkin presents fascinating facts about both the history and potential of the Internet, and outlines some key tactics for effective Web marketing, including: - Suggestions for designing a Web site that works as a successful business tool- Guidelines for maximizing the effectiveness of search engines, e-mail marketing, and online advertising- Advice on using Web 2.0 and social media to expand brand awareness and increase salesThis book is indispensable to anyone who wants their company to remain relevant in todays digital environment


Following a search of critical literature on the geology and geophysics of the Arctic, we have constructed a model for the post-Permian evolution of the Arctic Ocean that follows the tenets of plate tectonics. We consider the history of the Arctic as the study of two separate basins, the Cenozoic Eurasian Basin and the Mesozoic-Cenozoic Amerasian Basin, and we have utilized the detailed pattern of opening of the North Atlantic worked out by Pitman and Talwani (1972) to determine the relative positions of Eurasia and North America during the past 81 m.y. We propose that the Amerasian Basin as we now know it opened by sea-floor spreading during the Jurassic magnetic quiet period, 180 to 150 m.y. ago. We reject the interpretation of the Alpha-Mendeleyev Ridge complex as an early Cenozoic spreading center and show that this feature is better interpreted as a fossil subduction zone-incipient island arc. The Eurasian Basin is an extension of the North Atlantic, which has opened by sea-floor spreading during the past 63 m.y. Prior to 63 m.y., the Lomonosov Ridge formed the seaward edge of the Eurasian continental margin.


The present study was conducted to evaluate the potential use of bile fluorescence patterns of feral Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) as biomarkers of exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) contaminations in tropical waters. Bile fluorescence profiles of the fish inhabiting two water bodies with different levels of PAH pollution (Weras Ganga and Bathalagoda reservoir) were investigated at regular intervals over two years (September 2007 to July 2009) using fixed wavelength fluorescence and synchronous fluorescence spectrometry. Despite temporal variability of the bile fluorescence patterns, the fluorescence signals corresponding to naphthalene-, phenanthrene-, pyrene- and benzo(a)pyrenetype metabolites were consistently higher in the fish from Weras Ganga compared to the fish from Bathalagoda reservoir and the laboratory maintained control fish indicating that the fish inhabiting Weras Ganga had been continuously exposed to higher levels of PAHs. Summated fluorescence for the four types of PAH metabolites and fluorescence signals corresponding to naphthalene- and pyrene- type metabolites in the fish from Weras Ganga were positively correlated (P < 0.05) with the rainfall pattern indicating more PAH inputs associated with the rainfall. Despite slight temporal variations, no significant associations were found between the biliary fluorescence signals in the fish from Bathalagoda reservoir and the rainfall pattern. This field study supports the use of bile fluorescence patterns in feral Nile tilapia as a simple and rapid method for screening contamination and bioavailability of PAH in tropical freshwater bodies.


We propose a new hash function Reinforced Concrete, which is the first generic purpose hash that is fast both for a zero-knowledge prover and in native x86 computations. It is suitable for a various range of zero-knowledge proofs and protocols, from set membership to generic purpose verifiable computation. Being up to 15x faster than its predecessor Poseidon hash, Reinforced Concrete inherits security from traditional time-tested schemes such as AES, whereas taking the zero-knowledge performance from a novel and efficient decomposition of a prime field into compact buckets. The new hash function is suitable for a wide range of applications like privacy-preserving cryptocurrencies, verifiable encryption, protocols with state membership proofs, or verifiable computation. It may serve as a drop-in replacement for various prime-field hashes such as variants of MiMC, Poseidon, Pedersen hash, and others.


Both theory and data suggest that malaria parasites divert resources from within–host replication to the production of transmission stages (gametocytes) when conditions deteriorate. Increased investment into transmission stages should therefore follow subcurative treatment with antimalarial drugs, but relevant clinical studies necessarily lack adequate control groups. We therefore carried out controlled experiments to test this hypothesis, using a rodent malaria (Plasmodium chabaudi) model. Infections treated with a subcurative dose of the antimalarial chloroquine showed an earlier peak and a greater rate of gametocyte production relative to untreated controls. These alterations led to correlated changes in infectivity to mosquitoes, with the consequence that chloroquine treatment had no effect on that proportion of Mosquitoes infected. Treatment of human malaria commonly does not result in complete parasite clearance. If surviving parasites produce compensatory increases in their rate of gametocyte production similar to those reported here, such treatment may have minimal effect on decreasing, and may actually increase, transmission. Importantly, if increased investment in transmission is a generalized stress response, the effect might be observed following a variety of antimalarial treatments, including other drugs and potential vaccines. Similar parasite life history counter–adaptations to intervention strategies are likely to occur in many disease–causing organisms.


In a previous study from 2014 it was found that US Holstein cows that gave birth to heifer calves produced more milk than cows having bull calves. We wanted to assess whether this is also true for Danish cattle. Data from 578 Danish Holstein herds were analysed with a mixed effect model and contrary to the findings in the US, we found that cows produced higher volumes of milk if they had a bull calf compared to a heifer calf. We found a significantly higher milk production of 0.28% in the first lactation period for cows giving birth to a bull calf, compared to a heifer calf. This difference was even higher when cows gave birth to another bull calf, so having two bull calves resulted in a difference of 0.52% in milk production compared to any other combination of sex of the offspring. Furthermore, we found that farmer assisted calvings were associated with a higher milk yield. Cows with no farmer assistance or with veterinary assistance during the most recent calving produced less milk. There were also indications that dams would favor a bull fetus by decreasing milk production during the second pregnancy if the calf born in the first parity was a heifer. We hypothesize that size of calves is a confounding factor for milk production. However, calving weight was not available in the present data set to test this hypothesis.


Dysmenorrhea itself is not life activities and may result in missing work or school; inability to participate in sports or other activities and it may accentuate the emotional has mentioned that Yoniroga can't occur without vitiation of Vata the main feature of Kashtartava, so it has strong relation with Vata. In classical text it i due to Vega Dharana of Vata, Mutra and Purisha the Apana Vata gets vitiated and it gets Udhravagami i.e. normal Anulomaka Gati of Apana Vayu changes to Pratiloma Gati and this vitiated Vata lifts the Yoni upward and causes obstruction to f difficulty with severe Shoola Ayurvedic literature for management of kashtartav. There is a need to solve this emerging problem. Panchakarma thera management which is proved beyond doubt in solving theproblem successfully. The aim of the posture is to focus the management of this problem in present scenario. Ayurveda recomm rutucharya on a regular basis so as to alleviate dysmenorrhoea effectively. Similarly, balyaaushadhi, anuvasan ABSTRACT Dysmenorrhea itself is not life threatening, but is found to have a profound impact on the daily activities and may result in missing work or school; inability to participate in sports or other activities and it may accentuate the emotional distress brought on by the pain has mentioned that Yoniroga can't occur without vitiation of Vata the main feature of Kashtartava, so it has strong relation with Vata. In classical text it i due to Vega Dharana of Vata, Mutra and Purisha the Apana Vata gets vitiated and it gets Udhravagami i.e. normal Anulomaka Gati of Apana Vayu changes to Pratiloma Gati and this vitiated Vata lifts the Yoni upward and causes obstruction to flow of Raja and Raja comes out with great difficulty with severe Shoola (Charakasamhita of agnivesha, 2007) Ayurvedic literature for management of kashtartav. There is a need to solve this emerging problem. Panchakarma therapy offers a rayof hope for udavartini. Also ayurvedic herbals offer potential management which is proved beyond doubt in solving theproblem successfully. The aim of the posture is to focus the management of this problem in present scenario. Ayurveda recomm rutucharya and dinacharya , diet modulation and yoga in the form of asanas, pranayam and meditation on a regular basis so as to alleviate dysmenorrhoea effectively. Similarly, balyaaushadhi, anuvasan or matrabasti can also be administered if necessary.


: The recent data are generalized concerning a series of synthetic oligopeptides which are competitive inhibitors of aminopeptidases of animal, plant and microbic origin. A method for biospecific chromatography of these enzymes is developed, using as ligands such inhibitors as diazo derivatives of p-aminophenyl-, chloromethyl- and methylketones of L-amino acids and peptides, amino acids, aliphatic acid amides. It is established that the most effective inhibitors of aminopeptidases contain L-amino group in the uncharged form in the N-end position, hydrophobic lateral chain of L-configuration and a carbonyl group analogous to position of these groups in the substrate. Methods for synthesis of certain peptides are developed with respect to the above requirements. It is shown that peptides with a space-inaccessible peptide link and antibiotics are often used as ligands for affinity chromatography of aminopeptidases. At present a nonspecific (ion-exchange, hydrophobic) interaction of sorbent and aminopeptidases is observed, which necessitates to increase the specificity at the stage of the enzyme desorption in the further studies.


A new member of the carboxypeptidase gene family, carboxypeptidase A2 (CPA2), has been identified from the predicted amino acid sequence of a rat pancreatic cDNA clone. In vivo recombination and in situ hybridization techniques employing the CPA2 cDNA resulted in the isolation of two genomic clones spanning the 25-kilobase pair rat CPA2 gene. Evolutionary trees built from the amino acid sequences of the known pancreatic carboxypeptidases show that CPA2 and carboxypeptidase A1 (CPA1) are the products of genes which duplicated before the mammalian radiation, and that bovine CPA is of the A1 type. The substrate specificities of CPA1 and CPA2 isolated from rat pancreas are similar to bovine CPA in that carboxyl-terminal amino acids with aromatic or branched aliphatic side chains are preferred. However, the substrate preference of rat CPA1 is skewed toward smaller amino acids, while that of rat CPA2 is skewed toward bulkier amino acids as compared to bovine CPA. The differences in the substrate specificities of these three carboxypeptidases are compatible with the nature of the amino acid replacements in their binding pockets for the carboxylterminal amino acid of the substrate.


The Asian Development Outlook (ADO) provides growth and inflation forecasts for more than 40 economies in the region. This paper assesses the accuracy of those forecasts against actual outcomes for the years from 2008 to 2011. The World Economic Outlook (WEO) forecasts by the International Monetary Fund are used as a benchmark against which to derive a comparative measure of the accuracy of ADO forecasts, or skill. ADO is found to be 'more skillful' than WEO in estimating both current-year gross domestic product (GDP) growth and consumer price index (CPI) inflation of Asian economies. WEO may have an edge over ADO when it comes to year-ahead GDP forecasts, while ADO's inflation forecasts tend to be more accurate. By and large, and notwithstanding much heterogeneity across economies and years, both sets of forecasts display a high degree of inaccuracy during the crisis years.


In a study of pancreases from 75 patients who died at presentation of Type I diabetes there was selective destruction of beta cells associated with islet inflammation (insulitis). According to a recent hypothesis, aberrant expression of Class II major histocompatibility complex (MHC) products on a target cell may allow presentation of organ specific surface antigen(s) to potentially autoreactive T helper lymphocytes and thus lead to autoimmunity. Aberrant expression of Class II MHC was demonstrated immunohistochemically on beta cells in 21 out of 23 patients with recent onset diabetes. No such expression was seen on the other pancreatic endocrine cells. Ninety‐four per cent of insulin‐containing islets in these patients had marked hyperexpressions of Class I MHC affecting all endocrine cells in these islets. Insulin deficient islets were not thus affected. Both these abnormalities of MHC expression appeared to precede insulitis within a given islet and appeared to be unique to Type I diabetes, being absent in pancreases of patients with Type II diabetes, chronic pancreatitis, cystic fibrosis, graft‐versus‐host disease and Coxackie B viral pancreatitis. The development of autoimmunity to beta cells in Type I diabetes may be a 'multistep' process in which abnormalities of MHC expression are crucial events.


In the context robotic ecologies, the Configuration Planning Problem (CPP) is concerned with ways to create a flow of information and a flow of causality between the members of an ecology and their environment, in such a way that a goal is satisfied. Ways to solve this type of CPP have been devised and we discuss some in this paper. However, most consider only the causal or information aspects of the members of an ecology, or rely on abstract actions and task hierarchies. A problem with considering only causal or information aspects, is that it complicates modelling situations when both occur and relate to each other. A problem with abstract actions and task hierarchies is that it can lead to incompleteness, and require effort and skill to write down. The goal of this paper is to discuss a way to interleave configuration planning with action planning, in which direct interconnections of either causal or information links, are used to solve the problem of building configurations of networked robotic systems. We show with examples how this approach works, discuss some future directions on where we want this work to get and more specifically in the context of the Giraff+ system.


Fingermarks represent an extremely valuable evidential element as they can link an individual with an item, a location, or an activity. To be used for identification purposes, fingermarks have first to be located and recorded, which generally requires the application of detection techniques. For more than a century, research efforts in the field have aimed at optimizing the existing techniques or developing new detection mechanisms characterized by an increased efficiency, sensitivity, and selectivity towards secretion components. For a long time, the primary (and sole) purpose of fingermark detection techniques has remained the same: to establish a visual contrast between the (invisible) secretions and the items they are laying on. Research objectives were mostly driven by investigative outcomes and requirements, with techniques that would detect as many marks as possible (especially faint and/or aged ones) and would be compatible with the largest range of substrates (especially the problematic ones). Recently, the fingerprint community has witnessed a shift in research efforts, with a number of publications dealing with new high-end technologies. Besides the promise of capabilities going beyond the sole purpose of establishing a visible contrast, analytical prospects may unfortunately prevail over forensic and/or health and safety considerations. This review aims consequently at proposing a critical glance at three emerging technological trends: use of nanoparticles, chemical imaging, and immunodetection for fingermark detection. For each of these topics, the forensic perspective is opposed to biological/chemical considerations. The covered period extends from 2000 to 2015, which represents more than 200 articles.


Accessibility estimation is significant to the offshore wind farm operation and maintenance (O&M) due to the extremely limited weather window and its sensitive effects on O&M tasks. Wave forecasting can be one solution to help maintenance decision-making. However, the uncertain and dynamic properties of wave forecasts are seldom considered in the accessibility estimation process. This paper presents an uncertain accessibility estimation method based on a multi-step probabilistic wave height forecasting (MPWHF) model and Monte Carlo simulation. Firstly, an MPWHF model is proposed using the wavelet decomposition and the sequence to sequence(Seq2Seq) network with quantile outputs. Secondly, the O&M missions are randomly given a start time and simulated in the O&M flow chart by the Monte Carlo method. Finally, several access indexes, including accessibility probability, delay time, and delay probability, are evaluated based on the simulation results. Verification of the proposed MPWHF model and uncertain accessibility estimation is based on 7-year observation data of a buoy station. The results show that the MPWHF model outperforms other counterparts and the probability of offshore accessibility is nonlinearly dependent on the weather limits and the O&M required time.


This paper presents a new approach based on morphological operators for application of biometric identification of individuals by segmentation and analysis of the iris. Algorithms based on morphological operators are developed to segment the iris region from the eye image and also to highlight chosen iris patterns. The extracted features are used to represent and characterize the iris. In order to properly extract the desired patterns, an algorithm is proposed to produce skeletons with unique paths among end-points and nodes. The representation obtained by the morphological processing is stored for identification purposes. To illustrate the efficiency of the morphological approach some results are presented. The proposed system was derived to present low complexity implementation and low storage requirements.


This research is a legal analysis concerning four scenarios for cross-border carbon dioxide (CO2) transport that could increase the deployment of carbon-capture and storage (CCS) deployment in Europe. The legal analysis categorizes the law into three levels-international, national and local-and considers the four scenarios in light of these three levels of energy law. Upon reviewing the four scenarios, it is clear that the Rotterdam Nucleus (referred to as the 'Pilot Case') is the leading scenario and as a result it is explored in more detail. The potential Pilot Case is based on the development of Rotterdam (in the Netherlands) as a southern North Sea hub. Under this Rotterdam Nucleus scenario, captured CO2 will be transported through the Port of Rotterdam to depleted gas fields offshore the Netherlands. CO2 will also be transported through further links using CCS infrastructure to facilitate the processing of undeveloped gas fields offshore UK. The Pilot case contemplates further expansion opportunities, increasing the capture clusters through additional pipelines, expanding to further gas fields and using the port of Rotterdam for CO2 shipping-hence the analysis of the other scenarios may be invaluable in the future development of CO2 networks in the EU. Finally, and an original contribution of this article is that it employs the three lawyers of energy law theoretical framework to an energy problem that was examined by an interdisciplinary research team. Furthermore, this research was developed further through two key industry stakeholder meetings with CCS experts in the EU. © The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the AIPN. All rights reserved.


The architectural profession is at a pivotal point in redefining its relationship with the public. This thesis seeks to develop a 'toolkit' of alternative tools and techniques intended for the use of architects to engage community stakeholders in co-creation. Relying on contribution from participants, the toolkit acts as a vessel for envisioning the future of a contested site in Ottawa, the Chaudiere Islands. The widely divergent visions this site has inspired – from that of the private developer, Windmill, to that of the late Algonquin Elder, William Commanda – make clear the need for new tools for the architect. While applied here to a particular case study and Indigenous working group, the thesis aims to provide a model of public engagement for other projects of complexity in the future.


The objective of this study was to explore the significance of texture in creating ceramic form. In order to make texture an important part of the ceramic form, it is necessary to allow the form to suggest the kind of texture to be applied. The intent was to explore the effect of texture upon ceramic form, though it must be understood that throughout the study this exploration of surface accompanied a continuing search for significant, personal form. It was this desire to expand the realm of ceramic ideas which resulted in an intensive search for new ceramic surfaces.


The World History of Animation Stephen Cavalier. University of California Press, 2011, 416 pages.The World History of Animation is a survey of a hundred years of animation history not only from the East and the West but also from former socialist countries. Using nationality as its point of departure, the book summarizes significant works of animation, influential animators, and the animation industry in the context of volatile social changes, including the rise of fascism, the development of technology, and the two world wars. At 415 pages, The World History of Animation provides a phonebook sized compendium of animated media, including film, puppet, television, avant-garde art, claymation, lo-fi animation, sand animation, computer generated imagery (CGI), and 3D animation. Cavalier does not miss small but powerful pieces of animation in the world. The World History of Animation focuses on individual works, yet also explores the history of animation, questioning how animation is related to various societies. Cavalier's approach is chronological and makes animation credible as cultural and social texts that reveal animators' agendas and the periods they lived through. Thus, the book offers a general picture of how social and historical events effect and are reflected in the contents and styles of animation.Following a forward by French animation director Sylvain Chomet, the book details the relationship between old and new animation. It opens with a brief history of legendary French cartoonist Emile Cohl's animation work in the early 20th century. Cohl belongs to the Incoherents, a group of artists that contributed to a rudimentary phase of surrealism, and his passion for criticizing Modernism appears in his work Fantasmagorie (1908), featuring imaginative and deformed absurdist drawings. Cavalier contends that Cohl's style has influenced some contemporary animation programs such as South Park (8). Similarly, Cavalier suggests that the invention of zoetrope was an incipient phase of animation, noting that the Japanese studio's Ghibli Museum exhibits a 3D zoetrope (10). In short, Cavalier traces the historical antecedents of contemporary animation around the globe in order to display the continuity and world history of animation.The chapter "Brief Histories of World Animation" concerns animation productions from selected countries in North America, Eastern and Western Europe, and Asia. It begins with a North American animation history, which includes a useful chart about must-see animation films produced from 1914 to 2010 (14). In Western Europe, Cavalier focuses on the history of animation in the United Kingdom and discusses the animation studio Halas & Batchelor, established in 1940 in London, as one of the Europe's biggest animation studios (19). The section on Russian and Eastern European animation history reviews historically significant animators such as Ladislaw Starewicz, who is recognized as Russia's first animator, and Czech stop-motion animator Jiri Trnka, whose puppets have also been internationally acclaimed. Cavalier's history of Asian animation succinctly touches upon Korean, Chinese, Indian, and Japanese traditions. Each section contains astute analysis of the intricate relationships between the animation industry and contemporary politics and art movements.The rest of the book is divided into chronological eras. In the 1920s, Dadaism and Cubism, which produced nonsensical, incongruous work by abandoning traditional art forms and aesthetics, influenced European animation. French artist Fernand Leger and Swedish artist Vinking Eggeling incorporated Dada aesthetics of travesty in their work (82-84). European animators also kept a keen eye on the rise of fascism. Far from being indifferent to social upheavals, animators often embraced social chaos and disarray by drawing illustrations inspired by it (20). For instance, German animator Hans Richter's film Studie (1926) is a classic, enigmatic work in which multiple images of eyeballs suggest a surveillance society that he clearly repudiates (92). …