Transformations in the social and educational context of higher education are happening in response to real world pressures associated with graduate employability and the rapid advances and modernisation in technologies. Networked classrooms offer an innovative solution to this situation by generating technology-enhanced, collaborative learning spaces in conjunction with new and redesigned teaching methods. In line with the advances in technologically-enhanced networked spaces in higher education, James Cook University's offshore campus in Singapore (JCU Singapore) recently remodelled and redesigned one classroom with the ProVEOS Wireless Learning Technology (WLT) system. It is this networked classroom that forms the basis of the research reported in this article.
Three hypotheses are examined in this study, they concern: communication, learner satisfaction, and student engagement. Surveys of student participants of networked classrooms demonstrate that communication is fostered, learner satisfaction is reported, and greater student engagement is evident when using the networked classroom.


In pulse CO‐oximetry of aluminium phosphide (ALP)‐poisoned patients, we discovered that carboxyhaemoglobin (CO‐Hb) level was elevated. We aimed to determine whether a higher CO level was detected in patients with severe ALP poisoning and if this could be used as a prognostic factor in these patients. In a prospective case–control study, 96 suspected cases of ALP poisoning were evaluated. In the ALP‐poisoned group, demographic characteristics, gastric and exhalation silver nitrate test results, average CO‐Hb saturation, methaemoglobin saturation, and blood pressure and blood gas analysis until death/discharge were recorded. Severely poisoned patients were defined as those with systolic blood pressure ≤80 mmHg, pH ≤7.2, or HCO3 ≤15 meq/L or those who died, while patients with minor poisoning were those without any of these signs/symptoms. A control group (37 patients) was taken from other medically ill patients to detect probable effects of hypotension and metabolic acidosis on CO‐Hb and methaemoglobin saturations. Of 96 patients, 27 died and 37 fulfilled the criteria for severe poisoning. All patients with carbon monoxide saturation >18% met the criteria to be included in the severe poisoning group and all with a SpCO >25% died. Concerning all significant variables in univariate analysis of severe ALP toxicity, the only significant variable which could independently predict death was carbon monoxide saturation. Due to high mortality rate and need for intensive care support, early prediction of outcome is vital for choosing an appropriate setting (ICU or ordinary ward). CO‐oximetry is a good diagnostic and prognostic factor in patients with ALP poisoning even before any clinical evidence of toxicity will develop.


: Retrograde atrophy of rat thalamus is marked by the appearance of profound alterations in dendrites. Concurrently, similar changes occur in parent cell somata. Electron-dense and abnormally electron-lucent dendritic profiles appear and are removed over different time courses. The morphologic features of the abnormal dendrites are detailed. Electron-dense and electron-lucent dendritic profiles are not observed in cat red nucleus after rubrospinal tractotomy. Rather, neurofilamentous hyperplasia and proliferation of smooth endoplasmic reticulum appear in affected dendrites and are identical to changes observable at the same time in the reacting parent nerve cells. The literature is reviewed and discussion is developed on the similarities of perikaryal and dendritic changes that occur in axon reaction and transneuronal degeneration.


The relationship between oil price fluctuations and external balances of Turkey is the main concern of this paper. Economic growth performance of Turkey depends on imported capital goods as well as oil. Oil price increases bring a heavy burden for Turkish economy since Turkey is an oil-importing developing economy. Therefore, it is important to analyze the effects of oil price increases on external balances as well as on economic growth rate. We aim to examine the effects of imported oil price fluctuations on Turkey's trade and current account balances using structural vector autoregression (VAR) model in this paper. Monthly data set for the period of 2000-2012 is used in this study. In order to capture the net effects of imported oil price on Turkey's external balances, output gap is used as a control variable in the model. Early results through impulse response functions (IRFs) and variance decomposition indicated that the net effect of oil price fluctuations on external balances exist in the short run. Further analysis of the results and a discussion on policy implications will be added shortly.


Gut microbial metabolism is associated with host longevity. However, because it requires direct manipulation of microbial metabolism in situ, establishing a causal link between these two processes remains challenging. We demonstrate an optogenetic method to control gene expression and metabolite production from bacteria residing in the host gut. We genetically engineer an Escherichia coli strain that synthesizes and secretes colanic acid (CA) under the quantitative control of light. Using this optogenetically-controlled strain to induce CA production directly in the Caenorhabditis elegans gut, we reveal the local effect of CA in protecting intestinal mitochondria from stress-induced hyper-fragmentation. We also exploit different intensities of light to determine that the lifespan-extending effect of CA is positively correlated with its levels produced from bacteria. Our results show that optogenetic control offers a rapid, reversible and quantitative way to fine-tune gut bacterial metabolism and uncover its local and systemic effects on host health and aging.


Megalith building constitutes not only a past, but also a recent phenomenon, which is still practised today. The documentation and interpretation of recent megalith building traditions is offering potential aid in the interpretation of prehistoric monuments. Fieldwork in Sumba and Nagaland set up a frame to answer questions such as: Who is buried in the megalithic tombs and what kind of commemoration is connected to megalithic monuments? How are socioeconomic characteristics of the associated households and societies reflected in the megaliths? Megalithic monuments and social structures includes various archaeological and ethnoarchaeological case studies on social implications of megalith building activities from a comparative perspective. The case studies presented include recent megalith building traditions in Sumba, Indonesia, Nagaland, North-East India, as well as Neolithic Funnel Beaker communities in today's Northern Germany and Southern Sweden. This book presents a rich body of new data. By taking into account recent examples of megalithic construction, knowledge on important and influential ways of acting within societal contexts was expanded, whereby above all decentralised and communally-designed mechanisms are important. The case studies presented here clearly demonstrate the importance of cooperative and competitive structures and their effect on feasting activities and megalith building. Additionally, megalithic monuments represent a way of expressing and materialising economic inequality and social prestige. These mechanism and aspects also represent interpretations regarding Funnel Baker societies, which can supplement the existing ideas of megalithic construction in Neolithic Northern Europe.


In high performance heavy-duty engines, turbine inlet temperature is considerably higher than the melting point of the metals used for turbine components e.g. nozzle guide vanes, turbine rotor blades, platforms and discs, etc. Cooling of those components is therefore essential and is achieved by diverting a few percent of the compressed air from extraction points in the compressor and passing it to the turbine through stationary ducts and over rotating shafts and discs. All those elements form the so-called secondary air system of the gas turbine, whose correct design is hence fundamental for safety, reliability and performance of the engine. Secondary air system analysis is generally performed using one dimensional calculation procedures, based correlations both for pressure losses and heat transfer coefficient evaluations. Such calculation approach, usually used in industry, takes advantages in terms of reduced computational resources. Besides, for those elements of air systems where multidimensional flow effects are not negligible and the flow field structure is highly complex, the one-dimensional–correlative modeling needs to be supported by CFD investigations. Among these elements, rotating cavities need a careful modeling in order to correctly estimate discs temperature and the minimum amount of purge air to prevent hot gas ingestion. Ansaldo Energia is facing the investigation of secondary air system of Vx4.3A gas turbine models also by using numerical tools developed by Dipartimento di Energetica "Sergio Stecco" of University of Florence. They include both a one-dimensional cavity solver and a 3D unstructured finite volume code of compressible Navier-Stokes Equation based on open source C++ Open-Foam libraries for continuum mechanics. The first numerical tool has been widely employed in simplified analysis of stator-rotor cavities and is undergoing to be integrated into a in-house lumped-parameters fluid network solver simulating the entire secondary air system. This paper is aimed at discussing some interesting results from numerical tests performed with the above discussed programs on stator-rotor cavities of a V94.3A2 gas turbine. Such numerical analysis was addressed both for better understanding the flow phenomena in the wheel space regions and for testing and verifying the experimental correlations and the calculation procedure implemented in the one-dimensional program. A detailed comparative analysis between the two different codes will be shown, both in adiabatic and heat transfer conditions.Copyright © 2008 by ASME


This paper examines the public health intervention of the Rockefeller Foundation, one of the major 'philanthropic' organisations in the world during the twentieth century, in the erstwhile princely state of Thiruvithamkoor, which currently constitutes a part of Kerala state in India. It discusses the specific historical context of the intervention, the methods of intervention and their outcomes. It is argued that the Foundation's interests in Thiruvithamkoor went beyond its avowed objective of philanthropy. Thiruvithamkoor provided a fertile ground to the Foundation to be used as a 'tropical observatory's for research on diseases on which it had already been preoccupied. It is also pointed out that the activities of the Foundation became critical in the institutionalisation of public health in Thiruvithamkoor and in helping the region in controlling and finally eradicating some of the diseases at a later date.


Objective: To determine the effects of sofosbuvir over serum lipid profile and serum uric acid level in albino rats.Study Design: Experimental interventional DesignSetting: Department of Pharmacology Isra University Hyderabad and Department of animal husbandry, Sindh Agriculture University Tandojam.Study Duration: 6 months following synopsis approval.Sampling techniques:  Non probability purposive samplingSample Size:  40 Albino Rats weighing 200-300gm on averageMethodology: Rats were selected based on inclusion and excluding criteria. Rats were divided into 4 equal groups control, A, B and C each having 10 rats. Control group was given Normal saline, powdered milk, and flour. A, B and C were treated with Sofosbuvir dose 5.7 mg/kg, 11.4 mg/kg, 17.0 mg/kg respectively. Blood samples were collected at day 1 before starting the treatment and then at the end of the study (after 6 weeks) by sacrifying the rats under international protocols. Blood samples were analysed for serum uric acid and lipid profile. Results: There were significant changes in the total cholesterol between control and experimental group C, p-value 0.05, while no significant difference was noted between control and experimental group A and B. These findings show that the high dose of sofosbuvir drug changed the total cholesterol level. LDL showed a significant elevation in the experimental groups as compared to control with uses of sofosbuvir drug, the elevated difference was noted as in experimental groups A  P value = 0.006, similarly in group B  p- value 0.008 and in group C  p- value 0.008. No significant effects were found in TG and HDL levels in all experimental groups with controls. A significant difference was noted in the reduction of uric acid level between control and experimental group B and Experimental Group C, p- values were quite significant.Conclusion: It was concluded that serum uric acid was significantly decreased; LDL and total cholesterol were elevated with use of sofosbuvir drug.


Purpose: To study the different optical coherence tomographic (OCT) patterns of diabetic macular edema, seen in Pakistani diabetic population so that each case can be treated accordingly.  Study Design: Descriptive, Observational study.  Settings: Ophthalmology departments of Allied Hospital, Punjab Medical College Faisalabad andMayoHospital, King Edward Medical University Lahore from April 2011 to October 2011.  Materials And Methods: One hundred and eighty (180) eyes of ninety five (95) patients were studied. All patients had diabetic macular edema and decreased visual acuity in one or both eyes. Fifty five (57.99%) were male and forty (42.11%) were female patients from 31 to 85 years of age with an average of 52.70 years. An OCT was done of each eye to see the structural changes of macula with RTVue 100-2 machine having axial resolution of five microns.  Results: Six different optical coherence tomographic patterns were seen. Diffuse retinal thickening was seen in all 180 (100%) eyes, cystoid macular edema in 109 (60.55%), sub retinal fluid in 40 (22.22%), epiretinal membrane in 18 (10%), vitreomacular traction in 10 (5.55%) and taut posterior hyaloid membrane in 4 (2.22%) eyes.  Conclusion: OCT is an important tool for evaluation of diabetic macular edema. It provides extremely useful information about the cause of macular edema. So the appropriate intervention, whether medical or surgical, can be done.


This essay examines the French reception of the Carl Schmitt's thought, specifically its Hegelian strand. Beginning with the early readings of Schmitt's thought by Alexandre Kojève and Georges Bataille during the mid-1930s, it attends to the partial adoption of Schmitt's friend/enemy distinction and his theories of sovereignty and neutralization in Kojève and Bataille's Hegelian writings, as well as to their critical responses. The essay then turns to examine the reading of Kojève by the Jesuit Hegelian résistant Gaston Fessard during the war, a reading specifically intended to delegitimate Vichy as a "slave-prince," resistance to whom would be legitimate. The final section returns to Bataille and his 1948 book The Accursed Share in order to propose that his Maussian understanding of the Marshall Plan suggested an overcoming of the friend/enemy distinction, a suggestion that was later made explicit in a 1957 talk by Kojève at Düsseldorf before Schmitt and a group of his supporters. At stake throughout are both the thoroughly critical reception of Schmitt, the particular political inflection of Hegel carried out by and in Kojève's reading, and certain methodological links between conceptual history and the reception history.


In this paper, we use acoustic emission (AE) system to collect the AE signals and analyze the damage evolution during the monotonic compression test. Based on the experimental correlation diagram of the load and characters of the acoustic emission, the reference load of failure was found. The experimental results also revealed the characters of the source of the acoustic emission signals after the wavelet packet decomposition and frequency spectrum analysis. The frequency range of the matrix cracking is on the range of 125~187.5 kHz, while the frequency range of layer debonding is wide, it is not just on the low-frequency range but on the high-frequency range. The frequency of fiber breakage is on the high frequency range, nearly on the range of 375~437.5 kHz.


African American men consistently report poorer health and have lower participation rates in preventive screening tests than White men. This finding is generally attributed to race differences in access to care, which may be a consequence of the different health care markets in which African American and White men typically live. This proposition is tested by assessing race differences in use of preventive screenings among African American and White men residing within the same health care marketplace. Logistic regression was used to examine the association between race and physical, dental, eye and foot examinations, blood pressure and cholesterol checks, and colon and prostate cancer screenings in men in the Exploring Health Disparities in Integrated Communities in Southwest Baltimore Study. After adjusting for covariates, African American men had greater odds of having had a physical, dental, and eye examination; having had their blood pressure and cholesterol checked; and having been screened for colon and prostate cancer than White men. No race differences in having a foot examination were observed. Contrary to most findings, African American men had a higher participation rate in preventive screenings than White men. This underscores the importance of accounting for social context in public health campaigns targeting preventive screenings in men.


The aim of this project was to carry out a fundamental study to assess the potential of colour image analysis for use in investigations of fire damaged concrete. This involved:(a) Quantification (rather than purely visual assessment) of colour change as an indicator of the thermal history of concrete.(b) Quantification of the nature and intensity of crack development as an indication of the thermal history of concrete, supporting and in addition to, colour change observations.(c) Further understanding of changes in the physical and chemical properties of aggregate and mortar matrix after heating.(d) An indication of the relationship between cracking and non-destructive methods of testing e.g. UPV or Schmidt hammer. Results showed that colour image analysis could be used to quantify the colour changes found when concrete is heated. Development of red colour coincided with significant reduction in compressive strength. Such measurements may be used to determine the thermal history of concrete by providing information regarding the temperature distribution that existed at the height of a fire. The actual colours observed depended on the types of cement and aggregate that were used to make the concrete. With some aggregates it may be more appropriate to only analyse the mortar matrix. Petrographic techniques may also be used to determine the nature and density of cracks developing at elevated temperatures and values of crack density correlate well with measurements of residual compressive strength. Small differences in crack density were observed with different cements and aggregates, although good correlations were always found with the residual compressive strength. Taken together these two techniques can provide further useful information for the evaluation of fire damaged concrete. This is especially so since petrographic analysis can also provide information on the quality of the original concrete such as cement content and water / cement ratio. Concretes made with blended cements tended to produce small differences in physical and chemical properties compared to those made with unblended cements. There is some evidence to suggest that a coarsening of pore structure in blended cements may lead to onset of cracking at lower temperatures. The use of DTA/TGA was of little use in assessing the thermal history of concrete made with blended cements. Corner spalling and sloughing off, as observed in columns, was effectively reproduced in tests on small scale specimens and the crack distributions measured. Relationships between compressive strength/cracking and non-destructive methods of testing are discussed and an outline procedure for site investigations of fire damaged concrete is described.


The phenomenon of Urbanization leading to a high population density creates pressure on environmental resources. Air and water pollution levels are higher then the prescribed standards leading to severe deterioration in the health environment of the area. The high percentage of poor (as indicated by the extent of slum population) clearly delineates the population segment that suffers the most due to deteriorating environmental conditions and poor civic amenities. All residents feel the ill effects of air and water pollution and the soil run off. However the intensity of these effects, ability to cope with these conditions and access to alternatives varies with the income class of citizens and within the income class along the gender lines. It is well known that a large percentage of population in any Indian city belongs to the lowest economic strata i.e. economically weaker section. Majority of this urban poor Population belongs to people who have migrated from the nearby rural areas in search of work, employment. Due to the dwindling land resources and increased population the land holding of any family in the rural population to the nearby city. Most poor immigrants to the city can find access to shelter only by squatting on public or private land. These squatters over the time continue to come and settle on this land thus creating a neighborhood more generally called as slum. But in the format of Housing development, the above vital factors for creating harmonious symbiotic and self-sustainable communities at optimal location are generally ignored and in fact in cases no provision of habitat is made for such population in the planning of hosing development. this deficiency in the formal planning leads to development of Slums ad Squatter Settlements to assimilate such population.


A multilevel binary phase grating polarization device that uses a birefringent material as the substrate is proposed, and the design is described. Based on the effect of combining double refraction with diffraction, this type of device can act as a polarizing beam splitter and has a number of advantages for practical use.


Liver nuclei were prepared through the first cell cycle in partially hepatectomized young rats showing 30% parenchymal cell synchrony. To determine if nucleosome structure altered during this period, liver nuclei from sham-operated rats were compared with nuclei isolated at various times after partial hepatectomy. These nuclei were exposed to deoxyribonuclease I (EC 220.127.116.11), deoxyribonuclease II (EC 188.8.131.52) or micrococcal nuclease (EC 126.96.36.199) and the nucleosome-associated DNA length was ascertained. In no case was a difference in the DNA lengths associated with nucleosome structure observed. Differences were observed with regard to the histones and their relative association with nuclear material. When nuclei from normal rat livers were incubated in hypo-osmolar medium 9% of histone 1 and 4% of the other histones were released. These released histones, unlike those remaining bound to the nuclei, showed high [3H]adenosine and [3H]acetate uptakes in vivo. [32P]P1 uptake was also much greater into released than bound histones 1 and 3, but was not different for histone2A. At 3.5-4.5 h after partial hepatectomy, the release of histone 1 was trebled and that of histone 4 doubled. By 13.5 h, when phosphorylation of the bound forms of histones 2A and especially 1 was increased, no further changes in histone release in hypo-osmolar medium were found. The released histones from partially hepatectomized livers had indistinguishable [3H]adenosine uptakes from controls. The roles are discussed of phosphorylation and ADP-ribosylation in labilizing histone binding.


Background: A large number of companies works as a link between manufacturers and final users. These companies buys and stores goods to be able to deliver when a need comes up later in the chain. The storage could have a negative effect on profitability and therefore places great demands on the management control systems. ABC as a method has been used with some success in manufacturing for over ten years. In wholesale companies the method is not frequently used. Purpose: The purpose of this report is to study the design and the effects of ABC in wholesale companies. Method: The base for this study is a company for which an ABC-model was constructed. This company also worked as an object of study to create understanding for the line of business itself (wholesale). To this base interviews with three other wholesalers who already have implemented ABC were added. These interviews were used to verify the model of the first company and to study the effect of in wholesale companies. Results: The study have shown how an ABC-model can be designed for a wholesale company. The design should start with nature and size of the company and clearly show that it is for a wholesale company. The effects visible in two underlying aspects, line of products and customers, which after management of these leads to higher profits for the company.


From 1967-1978, there were 26,688 births at St Helens Hospital, Auckland. A comparison was made between the Pacific Island stillbirths, and 65 matched European stillbirths. The stillbirth rate for the European group was only 6.6 per 1000 births, despite the increased prevalence of the following adverse factors: preterm 42 percent, toxaemia 38 percent, and lethal congenital abnormalities 20 percent. There was a significantly increased incidence of neural tube defects in the European group. In contrast the Pacific Island stillbirth rate was 11.1 per 1000 births, and the important factors were: unknown gestation 17 percent, post-term delivery 17 percent, no antenatal care 8 percent, or born before arrival in 3 percent. Intrauterine anoxia was the major cause of stillbirths, especially in the Pacific Island group where 68 percent of the infants were 37 weeks gestation or more. Community education stressing the importance of good antenatal care beginning in early pregnancy is needed for the Pacific Island mothers, with the avoidance of postmaturity and intrauterine anoxia by appropriate obstetric treatment.


Sensory information is a priori incomplete and ambiguous. Our perceptual system has to make predictions about the sources of the sensory information, based on concepts from perceptual memory in order to create stable and reliable percepts. We presented ambiguous and disambiguated lattice stimuli (variants of the Necker cube) in order to measure a hysteresis effects in visual perception. Fifteen healthy participants observed two periods of ordered sequences of lattices with increasing and decreasing ambiguity and indicated their percepts, in two experimental conditions with different starting stimuli of the ordered sequence. We compared the stimulus parameters at the perceptual reversal between conditions and periods and found significant differences between conditions and periods, indicating memory contributions to perceptual outcomes on three different time scales from milliseconds over seconds up to lifetime memory. Our results demonstrate the fruitful application of physical concepts like hysteresis and complementarity to visual perception.


Understanding research initiatives in the field of mobile learning involves dealing with complexity. It is important to gather knowledge on how to nurse these attempts. To develop ideas and reach wide deployment of novel mobile learning is of great value. In this paper there is a discussion of the factors that describe attributes of mobile learning research initiatives and an investiga- tion of whether these are sustainable or not, and what this means. Sustainability for mobile learning initiatives is essential for the wide acceptance from both public and academia. The paper also addresses scalability of mobile learning research initiatives. Scalability is a term used to describe how well something can grow to suit an increasing complexity, and is addressed as a possibility to reflect on good ideas. Scalability is important in order to reach sustainability. Finally, this paper introduces a model that illustrates the evolutionary life cycle of a mobile learning research initiative. The model presents four evolution stages and these are: Idea, Experiment, Project, and Release.


Tawfigh Al-Hakim is a contemporary Egyptian playwright who is known as the father of Arabic playwriting. He felt the need to search about the human character and its dimensions, so, this issue, has been the major them in his plays. Through benefiting from humanistic theories in some Western literary and philosophical schools, he has combined them with religious issues and Eastern mythology to introduce an accepted model of human being to his readers. The writers of this article have studied humanistic themes in the plays of Tawfigh Al-Hakim and have introduced those aspects of human dimensions, he has used in his playwritings.


PURPOSE
To further study the immunological localization of Bcl-2 protein in human corneal epithelium.

METHODS
Three anti-human Bcl-2 antibodies, generated against amino acid residues (aa) 4-21 (polyclonal), 1-205 (monoclonal), and 41-54 (monoclonal), were used to localize Bcl-2 protein immunocytochemically in fresh eye bank donor human corneas.

RESULTS
In the central corneal epithelium, two anti-Bcl-2 antibodies (aa 4-21 and aa 1-205) showed intense cytoplasmic staining of basal epithelial cells. These antibodies produced similar staining in the limbal epithelium, with gradually less intense staining of wing and superficial cells. By contrast, as previously reported, a monoclonal antibody to aa 41-54 stained nuclei of all epithelial cell layers with the exception of some surface corneal epithelial cells; this antibody also demonstrated very bright anti-Bcl-2 staining of Langerhans cells localized in the peripheral corneal epithelium.

CONCLUSION
In our previous study, Bcl-2 protein was immunocytochemically localized to the nuclear compartment of all corneal epithelial cell layers with the use of antibodies specific for the regulatory flexible loop domain of Bcl-2. However, Bcl-2 can also be uniquely localized to the cytoplasm of the corneal epithelium with the use of antibodies generated against aa 4-21 and aa 1-205. Taken together, these results using epitope specific antibodies indicate that different epitopes on the Bcl-2 protein are available for antibody binding within different cells and cellular compartments, suggesting that proliferation and differentiation may lead to changes in the Bcl-2 structure and conformation within different compartments of the epithelial cells themselves.


Unstable hybrid swarms that arise following the introduction of non‐native species can overwhelm native congeners, yet the stability of invasive hybrid swarms has not been well documented over time. Here, we examine genetic variation and clinal stability across a recently formed hybrid swarm involving native blacktail shiner (Cyprinella venusta) and non‐native red shiner (C. lutrensis) in the Upper Coosa River basin, which is widely considered to be a global hot spot of aquatic biodiversity. Examination of phenotypic, multilocus genotypic, and mitochondrial haplotype variability between 2005 and 2011 revealed that the proportion of hybrids has increased over time, with more than a third of all sampled individuals exhibiting admixture in the final year of sampling. Comparisons of clines over time indicated that the hybrid swarm has been rapidly progressing upstream, but at a declining and slower pace than rates estimated from historical collection records. Clinal comparisons also showed that the hybrid swarm has been expanding and contracting over time. Additionally, we documented the presence of red shiner and hybrids farther downstream than prior studies have detected, which suggests that congeners in the Coosa River basin, including all remaining populations of the threatened blue shiner (Cyprinella caerulea), are at greater risk than previously thought.


After nasal, oral and rectal immunization of Balb/c and CF 1 mice with influenza virus (A/PR/8/34, HON 1) specific antibodies (hemagglutination inhibition test) occur in serum and in the lung of mice, detectable in lung lavage fluids. The nasal route of immunization leads to slightly better local antibody production, but the oral route is a promising route, and should be tried in humans.


Permeabilities of N2, Ar, O2, CO2, and H2 gases in PEMA (Polyethylmethacrylate) membranes have been measured above and below glass transition in the temperature range of 25–70 °C. The permeabilities of the gases were observed increasing with temperature. Arrhenius plot of permeability versus temperature data showed that there is a slope discontinuity at near to Tg of PEMA. In addition, the effects of membrane preparation parameters by solvent casting method (percentage of polymer in solvent, annealing temperature, annealing time, evaporation temperature, and evaporation time) have been investigated by using homogenous dense membranes of PEMA. It is observed that membrane preparation parameters strongly affect the membrane performance and the reproducibility of the permeability measurements. On the other hand, the effect of polymer structure on membrane performance has been investigated. Comparison of the permeabilities of N2, Ar, O2, CO2, and H2 gases in PEMA and PMMA membranes shows that PMMA membranes have smaller permeabilities and higher selectivities than PEMA membranes because of their higher glass transition temperature, Tg. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 45: 3025–3033, 2007


Abstract This article addresses a significant gap in the literature on legitimacy in global governance, exploring whether, in what ways, and to what extent institutional qualities of international organisations (IOs) matter for popular legitimacy beliefs towards these bodies. The study assesses the causal significance of procedure and performance as sources of legitimacy, unpacks these dimensions into specific institutional qualities, and offers a comparative analysis across IOs in three issue areas of global governance. Theoretically, the article disaggregates institutional sources of legitimacy to consider democratic, technocratic, and fair qualities of procedure and performance. Empirically, it examines the effects of these institutional qualities through a population-based survey experiment in four countries in different world regions with respect to IOs in economic, security, and climate governance. The findings demonstrate that both procedure- and performance-related aspects of IO policymaking matter for popular legitimacy beliefs. This result holds across democratic, technocratic, and fair qualities of IO procedure and performance. Disaggregating the results by issue area indicates that a broader scope of institutional qualities are important for legitimacy beliefs in economic governance compared to security governance and, especially, climate governance. These findings suggest that propositions to reduce the institutional sources of IO legitimacy to single specific qualities would be misguided.


A new green method for the preparation of nitrones through the aerobic oxidation of the corresponding N,N‐disubstituted hydroxylamines has been developed upon exploring the catalytic activity of a diruthenium catalyst, that is, [Ru2(OAc)4Cl]), in aqueous or alcoholic solution under mild reaction conditions (0.1 to 1 mol % catalyst, air, 50 °C) and reasonable reaction times. Notably, the catalytic activity of the dimetallic centre is retained after its binding to the small protein lysozyme. Interestingly, this new artificial metalloenzyme conferred complete chemoselectivity to the oxidation of cyclic hydroxylamines, in contrast to the diruthenium catalyst.


Since parathyroid hormone has dual properties on bone, both
catabolic and anabolic, it is interesting to review how the bone
mineral density and structure change in patients with chronic
hypoparathyroidism. Others and we have demonstrated consistently
that the state of chronic hypoparathyroidism is associated
with increased BMD, most notably at the spine. Those with idiopathic
hypoparathyroidism have a similar degree of increase in
BMD as those with postthyroidectomy hypoparathyroidism.
Both groups also have significantly lower level of biochemical
markers such as osteocalcin, bone-specific alkaline phosphatase
activity and urinary resorption markers as compared
with controls. This reflects the low rate of bone remodeling and
implies a significant reduction in "birth rate" of bone modeling
units and prolongs the "life span" of the basic structural unit. It
therefore allows for more complete secondary mineralization.
The reduction in bone remodeling is further confirmed by bone
histomorphometry. The observed effect on BMD is likely a result
of the combined effects of decreased bone resorption due to hypoparathyroidism
and the improvement in bone mineralization
as a result of continuous treatment with calcitriol and calcium


In this thesis, output voltage, current and power of solar module were classified by irradiation from data of overall operating characteristics collected for one year in order to manage efficient photovoltaic generation system and deliver maximum power. In addition, from these data, correlations between irradiation of photovoltaic cell and amount of power given by photovoltaic cell was quantitatively examined to deduce optimization of the design and construction of photovoltaic generation system. As I-V characteristics according to a temperature range of 10~50[℃], the area of I-V characteristics were increased with an increase in temperature. Since this area corresponds to the power, output power is thought to have increased with temperature. As output power characteristics according to a temperature range of 10~50[℃], output power was increased with an increase in temperature. Since output power increases with temperature increase, the result corresponds well to the related equation on temperature and output power. As I-V characteristics according to a irradiation range of 100~900 [W/㎡], voltage and current were increased with an increase in irradiation. The result is thought of as an increase in output power with increasing irradiation. As output power characteristics according to a irradiation range of 100~900[W/㎡], output power was increased with increasing irradiation. This result corresponds well to the related equation on irradiation and output power.


In order to decrease the production cost of poplar cuttings, CRA-ING developed, in collaboration with the company Agrimat of Tortona (AL) and Franco Alasia Vivai in Savigliano (AL), under Enama support, a prototype able to select mechanically the cuttings in relation to their diameter classes and to count the number of pieces for each class. Nesting cuttings of the same diameter is the first step to develop a totally automated transplanter (this activity is under developing). The prototype derives from a calibration machine normally used for the asparagus selection. The basic components of the machine are: a V-shaped conveyor belt of 500 cm, taking poplar cuttings from the cutter equipment; a V conveyor belt of 200 cm (variable speed) for aligning and distancing cuttings of about 4-5 cm; an optical electronic device to read the diameter and a pneumatic system to convey cuttings in the proper diameter class vessels. The system is managed by a dedicated software, and the not recognized or too thin cuttings are collected in a specific vessel. In order to evaluate the actual prototype performance, CRA-ING tested it surveying the operation performances. The equipment actually fails around the 3,5% of measurements. After the adjustment of the single components, the prototype will get lower error rates, improving the performances of the cuttings planting operation.


Background: The prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection increases with advancing age, but elderly hepatitis C virus patients remain an understudied population. Aim: To define the virological, epidemiological and clinical profiles of Italian outpatients aged 65 years and over infected by hepatitis C virus. Methods: We evaluated 1544 anti-hepatitis C virus positive patients aged ≥65 years referred to 34 Italian outpatient specialty clinics over a two-year period. Results: The study population included 1134 (73%) early elderly (65–74 years) and 410 (27%) late elderly patients (≥75 years). Late elderly subjects were less likely to have their virus genotyped, their viral load assessed or a histological evaluation of liver disease. Overall, 30% of patients had advanced liver disease whose prevalence increased with increasing age. In both age groups, about 40% of patients had normal transaminase levels. Excluding patients with past infection, 51% had not received any antiviral treatment CV infection iver diseases and only 25% were treated after the age of 65. Late elderly patients, women and patients with advanced liver diseases had been less frequently treated. The main reason for exclusion from treatment was age followed by the presence of comorbid conditions. Conclusions: Elderly hepatitis C virus patients referred to Italian specialty clinics have advanced and underestimated liver disease. Nevertheless, they are progressively understudied in parallel with increasing age. Gast © 2012 Editrice


The objective of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of brain-based learning (BBL) and animated cartoons on video compact discs (VCDs) in enhancing the healthy habits of school children. A representative sample of 1085 school children in the first through the third grades at 16 schools was selected by multistage random sampling. Knowledge of healthy habits and self-reported adoption of practices were assessed by a questionnaire. BBL and VCD, either combined or as single-intervention techniques, led to improved knowledge and practice of healthy behavior, whereas conventional teaching did not. As a single-intervention technique, BBL on its own led to a greater improvement in healthy practices than VCD, but the addition of BBL to VCD made no difference, and there was no difference between BBL and VCD in terms of improvements in knowledge. In conclusion, both BBL and VCD are effective, but VCD requires fewer resources. Recommendations are made for further research


Cover crop residues and animal waste products can be important sources of N in cropping systems. The objectives of this research were to determine, under field conditions, the effects of hairy vetch (legume; Vicia villosa Roth)/cereal rye (grass; Secale cereale L.) proportion and pelletized poultry litter (PPL) management (no PPL, subsurface banded, broadcast, or incorporated with tillage) on the extent and rate of cover crop residue mass loss and N release during a subsequent growing season. Measuring cover crop residues placed in mesh litter bags, or residues+PPL in litter bags for the broadcast treatment, we found that increasing hairy vetch proportion led to greater proportional mass loss and N release (cumulative mass loss ranged from 40 to 80% and N release ranged from 0–90% of initial), as well as greater rates of mass loss in all PPL treatments. Nitrogen release rates were generally unaffected by species proportions; however, N release rates for pure cereal rye residue in all PPL treatments except broadcast could not be estimated due to minimal N release. Incorporation of residues and PPL increased the rates of mass loss and N release for pure hairy vetch and hairy vetch–cereal rye mixtures. Although broadcast PPL application and incorporation affected decomposition patterns, subsurface banded PPL application did not. Results suggest that cereal rye provides the greatest mulch persistence, hairy vetch provides the greatest N release, and mixtures provide moderate delivery of these two services. Subsurface banding is the recommended PPL application method to conserve surface residues.


Brachytherapy is the clinical use of small encapsulated radioactive sources at a short distance from the target volume for irradiation of malignant/benign tumours. In the past few decades high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy has been developed as an alternative to low dose rate (LDR) brachytherapy. AAPM TG 43 has recommended a new protocol for dosimetry of brachytherapy sources. As per the recommended formalism, the dose to a point can be calculated from the numerical values of measurable parameters, dose rate constant, A, radial dose function, g(r), and anisotropy function, F(r,0). It has also been recommended that for the specification of the dose rate constant as well as relative dose distribution parameters liquid water be accepted as reference medium. So far, measurements of recommended dosimetry parameters of HDR192Ir sources have been reported in solid phantom materials only. We have carried out the experimental measurements of dose rate constant and radial dose function for microselectron HDR 192Ir source (dia. 1.1 mm and length 5.0 mm) in a specially designed and locally fabricated water phantom using single sensitive layer radiochromic film (Gafchromic HS). The relative depth dose (RDD) for the microselectron HDR 192Ir source was also measured using radiochromic film in water phantom to verify the RDD calculated using the brachytherapy treatment planning system (TPS). The experimentally measured values of A and g(r) for microselectron HDR192ir source are found to be in good agreement to the experimental and Monte Carlo calculated values reported in the literature for the same source within the uncertainty of measurement. The measured and TPS calculated values of RDD are also in excellent agreement to each other. This experimental study, therefore, demonstrates the suitability of radiochromic film for dosimetry of HDR 1921r source is in liquid water.


We numerically study complex dual-interface grating systems to enhance absorption efficiency in thin-film silicon solar cells. We combine a plasmonic grating at the back side of the solar cell with a dielectric grating at the front side of the cell. We show a proof of principle, with one-dimensional gratings, that the distinctly different nature of the gratings can provide complementary enhancement mechanisms, which we further exploit by tailoring the specific periodicities, and by introducing blazing. Having different periods at specific interfaces allows for more efficient diffraction into both plasmonic and dielectric guided modes. In addition, grating specific blazing exposes extra modes to normal incident light through symmetry breaking. Multiple optimization routes are possible depending on the choice of photonic phenomena.


In this paper, we describe a technique for hierarchical fault isolation in analog and mixed-signal circuit boards. The technique is based on verifying the fault-free behavior of partitions of the circuit, and can be applied hierarchically to large systems. The technique is shown to be independent of the availability/completeness of fault models for the circuit-under-test (CUT). Also, it has minimal on-line computational requirements and can be easily programmed on an automatic tester. Experimental results to show the effectiveness of the technique are presented.


ABSTRACT Gontz, A.M.; Maio, C.V., and Rueda, L., 2013. The Duxbury sunken forest—constraints for local, late Holocene environmental changes resulting from marine transgression, Duxbury Bay, Eastern Massachusetts, U.S.A. The present marine transgression has forced geological and ecological zones vertically higher and landward since the late Pleistocene. A recent investigation in Duxbury Bay, Massachusetts, identified 18 Juniperus virginiana tree stumps emergent on an intertidal flat immediately seaward of a small marsh and pond situated between two eroding drumlins. The position of each stump was mapped with global positioning system (GPS), and its elevation with respect to mean lower low water was surveyed. Samples were selected from four stumps with elevations ranging from 2.03 and 0.75 m above mean lower low water for radiocarbon dating. The samples returned calibrated ages between 2219 ± 94 and 2867 ± 79 cal YBP, with the topographically highest sample returning the youngest date. Stump positions suggest a landscape gradient of 1.4 mm/yr between 2000 and 3000 cal YBP. The results are comparable with high-resolution studies of sea level in eastern Massachusetts for the same time period. Comparison of the youngest paleostumps with modern living trees suggests a dramatic change in the landscape gradient, an increase to 1.8 mm/yr. While this is contrary to sea-level studies nearby, it may represent an increase in the energetics of Duxbury Bay and resultant coastal erosion as the bay floods. The site can be used to put the impacts of changing sea-level rates into a landscape evolution framework.


Klaming and Vedder (2010) have argued that enhancement technologies that improve the epistemic efficiency of the legal system ("epistemic enhancements") would benefit the common good. But there are two flaws to Klaming and Vedder's argument. First, they rely on an under-theorised and under-specified conception of the common good. When theory and specification are supplied, their CGJ for enhancing eyewitness memory and recall becomes significantly less persuasive. And second, although aware of such problems, they fail to give due weight and consideration to the tensions between the individual and common good. Taking these criticisms onboard, this article proposes an alternative, and stronger, CGJ for epistemic enhancements. The argument has two prongs. Drawing from the literature on social epistemology and democratic legitimacy, it is first argued that there are strong grounds for thinking that epistemic enhancements are a desirable way to improve the democratic legitimacy of the legal system. This gives prima facie but not decisive weight to the CGJ. It is then argued that due to the ongoing desire to improve the way in which scientific evidence is managed by the legal system, epistemic enhancement is not merely desirable but perhaps morally necessary. Although this may seem to sustain tensions between individual and common interests, I argue that in reality it reveals a deep constitutive harmony between the individual good and the common good, one that is both significant in its own right and one that should be exploited by proponents of enhancement.


A growing literature suggests that generalized distrust mindsets encourage carefully considering alternatives—yet it remains unclear whether this pertains to moral decisionmaking. We propose that distrust simultaneously increases opposing moral response inclinations when moral decisions pit two moral responses against one another, such as classic moral dilemmas where causing harm maximizes outcomes. Such a pattern may be invisible to conventional analytic techniques that treat dilemma response inclinations as diametric opposites. Therefore, we employed process dissociation to independently assess response inclinations underlying moral dilemma responses. Three studies demonstrated that activating generalized distrust (vs. trust and control) mindsets increased both harm avoidance and outcome-maximization response tendencies. These effects canceled out for conventional relative dilemma judgments. Moreover, perceptions of feeling torn between available response options mediated the impact of distrust on both response inclinations. These findings clarify how distrust impacts decision-making processes in the moral domain.


Background Iron deficiency is a frequent problem in general practice. Oral supplementation may in some cases not be well tolerated or not be efficient. Intravenous ferric carboxymaltose may be an alternative for iron supplementation in general practice. The aim of the present study was to analyze the indications for and the efficacy of intravenous ferric carboxymaltose in a primary care center. Methods We retropectively analyzed electronic data from 173 patients given intravenous ferric carboxymaltose between 2011 and 2013 in primary care center with 18 GPs in Bern, Switzerland. Results Of all patients, 34% were treated intravenously due to an inappropriate increase in ferritin levels after oral therapy, 24% had side effects from oral treatment, 10% were treated intravenously due to the patients explicit wish, and in 39% of all cases, no obvious reason of intravenous instead of oral treatment could be found. Intravenous ferric carboxymaltose led to a significant increase in hemoglobin and serum ferritin levels. Side effects of intravenous treatment were found in 2% of all cases. Conclusion We conclude that treatment with intravenous ferric carboxymaltose is an efficient alternative for patients with iron deficiency in general practice, when oral products are not well tolarated or effective. As treatment with iron carboxymaltose is more expensive and potentially dangerous due to side effects, the indication should be placed with (more) care.


Abstract In the present work PCR technology was used as a tool to detect the early stages of wood decay and was compared with microscopic evaluation. The wood decay fungi Postia placenta and Coniophora puteana were detectable in interior wood samples by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) after 2weeks of incubation with monocultures, while microscopic detection of hyphae was not possible until after 7 weeks. A potential problem when fungal communities are studied with T-RFLPs of rDNA is that intra-specific variation complicates data analysis. In this work, we show that intra-specific sequence variation in the internal transcribed spacer of the rDNA in Coniophora puteana allows T-RFLP identification of this species. This is due to intra-specific variations in fragment length, in combination with the absence of point mutations in the selected restriction sites.


The contractile properties of adult myofibers are shaped by their Myosin heavy chain (MYH) isoform content. We identify by snATAC-seq a 42kb super-enhancer (SE) at the locus regrouping the fast Myh (fMyh) genes. By 4C-seq we show that active fMyh promoters interact with the SE by DNA looping, leading to the activation of a single promoter per nucleus. A rainbow mouse transgenic model of the locus including the SE recapitulates the endogenous spatio-temporal expression of adult fMyh genes. In situ deletion of the SE by CRISPR/Cas9 editing demonstrates its major role in the control of associated fMyh genes, and deletion of two fMyh genes at the locus reveals an active competition of the promoters for the shared SE. Last, by disrupting the organization of fMyh, we uncover positional heterogeneity within limb skeletal muscles that may underlie selective muscle susceptibility to damage in certain myopathies.


We propose a new linear multiuser receiver for synchronous code-division multiple-access (CDMA) systems, referred to as the orthogonal multiuser (OMU) receiver. Unlike the linear minimum mean-squared error (MMSE) receiver, the OMU receiver depends only on the signature vectors and does not require knowledge of the received amplitudes or the channel signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Several equivalent representations of the receiver are developed with different implications in terms of implementation. In the first, the receiver consists of a decorrelator demodulator followed by an optimal whitening transformation on a space formed by the signatures. In the second, the receiver consists of a bank of correlators with correlating vectors that are projections of a set of orthogonal vectors, and are closest in a least squares sense to the decorrelator vectors and also closest in a least squares sense to the signature vectors. In the third, the receiver consists of a single-user matched filter (MF) followed by an optimal whitening transformation on a space formed by the signatures. We derive exact and approximate expressions for the probability of bit error, as well as the asymptotic signal-to-interference+noise ratio (SINR) in the large system limit. The analysis suggests that over a wide range of channel parameters the OMU receiver can outperform both the decorrelator and the single-user MF and perform similarly to the linear MMSE receiver, despite not knowing the channel parameters.


Microglial cell activation, myelin alteration, and abundant tumor necrosis factor (TNF)‐α message have been observed in the brains of some human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV ‐ 1)vinfected and demented patients. We therefore used cultures of purified human microglia and oligodendrocytes derived from adult human brain to examine the role of TNF‐α in HIV‐1 encephalopathy. Human microglia synthesize TNF‐α message and protein in vitro. When these cells were infected with HIV‐1 JrFL and maintained in the presence of TNF‐α antibodies, soluble TNF‐α receptors, or the TNF‐α inhibitor pentoxifylline, viral replication was delayed or strongly inhibited. Both human microglia and oligodendrocytes express the two TNF receptors, TNF‐Rl, which has been implicated in cytotoxicity, and TNF‐R2. While TNF‐α may enhance HIV‐1 replication in an autocrine manner, it is not toxic for microglia. In contrast, recombinant human TNF‐α causes oligodendrocyte death in a dose‐dependent manner. In situ detection of DNA fragmentation in some cells indicated that oligodendrocyte death may occur by apoptosis. Addition of live microglia or medium conditioned by these cells also resulted in 30 to 40% oligodendrocyte death, which was largely prevented by TNF‐α inhibitors. We propose that TNF‐α plays a dual role in HIV‐1 encephalopathy, enhancing viral replication by activated microglia and damaging oligodendrocytes. Thus, TNF‐α inhibitors may alleviate some ofthe neurological manifestations of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.


Wheelchair ergometers aim to simulate the propulsion of a wheelchair in a controlled laboratory setup. One drawback of current ergometers is that the simulated wheelchair is always modeled as a simple unidimensional mass and friction, which do not allow a correct simulation of turning maneuvers. In this paper, we present a new design for a wheelchair ergometer based on haptic robotics. This ergometer allows us to simulate any linear or nonlinear model of the wheelchair-user system in real time, including models that implement turning maneuvers. The presented prototype was validated experimentally. The rear wheels of the ergometer match the rear wheels' velocities of the simulated wheelchair with a root-mean-square error of 0.9 %. Therefore, the ergometer's accuracy is mainly bounded by the accuracy of the wheelchair-user model, which means that future improvements of the wheelchair-user model will be directly reflected by the ergometer. The conditions for stability were also evaluated. A minimal simulated mass of 18 kg and a minimal simulated moment of inertia of 1 kg ·m2 are needed. These requirements are encountered by any wheelchair-user combination.


Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text Abstract Introduction: Gastrointestinal (GI) cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection coexisting with or followed by a diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is infrequently reported. Not recognizing this condition may delay IBD diagnosis in patients with GI-CMV disease who do not or partially respond to antiviral agents, which could consequently result in unsatisfied treatment outcomes. Patient concerns: Two immunocompetent patients with no known underlying GI conditions presented with acute bloody diarrhea. The first patient developed diarrhea and hematochezia after admission to intensive care unit (ICU) because of severe alcoholic pancreatitis for 10 days duration. Computed tomography abdomen showed segmental jejunal thickening. The other patient presented with a 1-week history of severe bloody diarrhea which required ICU admission. Colonoscopy showed multiple ulcers along terminal ileum and colon. Diagnosis: These 2 patients were initially diagnosed with CMV jejunitis and ileocolitis, respectively, based on endoscopic and histopathologic findings. Both had partial response to treatment with 3 weeks of intravenous ganciclovir. Crohn disease was suspected because of persistent ulcerations on the follow-up endoscopy with the presence of pathological features of chronic inflammation and disappearance of previously detected CMV-infected cells. Intervention: Both patients were treated with systemic corticosteroids and azathioprine. Outcomes: Both patients had complete clinical improvement. Prednisolone could be tapered off in 6 months. Follow-up video capsule endoscopy (VCE) at 6 months showed improvement of mucosal inflammation and ulcers, but neither were completely healed in the first patient. Follow-up colonoscopy at 6 months showed complete resolution of ulcers and inflammation in the second patient. Lessons: IBD should be suspected in patients with a diagnosis of GI-CMV disease who are immunocompetent and have a partial response to antiviral agents. This clinical scenario could be caused by either CMV infection activating immune response resulting in IBD onset, or CMV infection superimposed on pre-existing latent IBD.


This volume started life as the proceedings of the first colloquium of the Archaeomusicology Interest Group (AMIG) within the 119th Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) held in Boston, Massachusetts, January 4-7, 2018. Contributors to the colloquium were asked to systematically address how each instrument is not an isolated unit, but a component of musical performance in cult considered as an offering to the divinity within the framework of the ritual ceremony. The aim of the conference and its proceedings was not only to enhance our knowledge of instruments as votive gifts by exploring and discussing the many different motives and often more than one explanation for the dedication of musical instruments to the gods, but also to study musical performances in ancient cultures as an essential component of worship and ritual. The practice of dedicating instruments to the gods in the ancient world – along with figurines of instruments, soundtools, and texts of song – is well attested by a variety of sources, temple-accounts, and the discovery of the instruments themselves during excavations, which often bear votive inscriptions. Worshippers or musicians tried to give a more lasting effect to the musical performance by dedicating instruments in honour of a god or a goddess in the framework of the ritual ceremony.
The editors would like to thank the authors for their contributions, for deeply engaging with the critical issues at the core of this volume, and, not least, for their patience in the revising and publishing stages of the volume. We are also very grateful to the anonymous readers for their perceptive comments on the various essays. Finally, we would like to express our deepest gratitude to Clemente Marconi, discussant of the colloquium, for his valuable suggestions.
In addition, we would like to thank Fabrizio Serra, the publisher of this volume. Publication was made possible by the project TELESTES, Music, Cults and Rites of a Greek City in the West, funded by the Marie Curie Actions Programme of the European Commission International Outgoing Fellowships for Career Development.


Research into the origins of music and language can shed new light on musical representation, including program music and more recent incarnations such as data sonification. Although sonification and program music have different aims—one scientific explication, the other artistic expression—similar techniques, relying on human and animal biology, cognition, and culture, underlie both. Examples include Western composers such as Beethoven and Berlioz, to more recent figures like Messiaen, Stockhausen and Tom Johnson, as well as music theory, semiotics, biology, and data sonifications by myself and others. The common thread connecting these diverse examples is the use of human musicality, in the biomusicological sense, for representation. Links between musicality and representation—dimensions like high/low, long/short, near/far, etc., bridging the real and abstract—can prove useful for researchers, sound designers, and composers.


Several "grandes ecoles" develop programs targeting inner city high schools in order to diversify their recruitment and, more generally, incentivize some students to reevaluate positively their educational ambitions. The impact of these programs cannot be reduced to their mere efficiency in terms of affirmative action. Indeed, the active presence of a grande ecole in stigmatized urban and educational environments transforms the way students relate to schools by redefining their perception of meritocracy inequalities and discriminations. By analyzing Sciences Po programs in four high schools of the Seine-Saint-Denis, this article intends to shed some light on the way an unprecedented educational offer is perceived, and on the tensions generated by the emergence of educational and social aspirations associated with an acute perception of inequalities.


The tracer-aided hydrological model was recognized to have value on improving the rationality of model structure and parameter, which was especially important for mountainous catchments. However, the application of tracer-aided model was limited to small and middle scale because of the low availability of isotope data in large scale. The authors developed a procedure to correct the iGCM data and force tracer-aided model in a large basin on the Tibetan Plateau, and had good effect on improving the model behavior. The results open a new window to expand the application of tracer-aided model to larger scales. Meanwhile, the paper is well structured and the language is well written. I recommend its publication on HESS after a moderate revision properly addressing some specific comments.


Open awareness and communication in death and dying have become important aspects in caring for people who are terminally ill. This change began in the 1960s and has been driven by social and ideological factors, especially in highly individualistic societies such as the US and the UK. While this is the preferred interaction within palliative care, open awareness and communication about death and dying can be resisted in some societies where families seek to protect their relative from the truth of a terminal illness. This article considers some attitudes to open awareness and communication in Ireland from recent research and a popular radio talk programme. This suggests that while there is openness about issues of mortality in Ireland, there can be resistance when terminal illness becomes a reality within a family. Elias's figurational approach is utilised to understand these differing responses.


All mRNA molecules are subject to some degree of post‐transcriptional gene regulation (PTGR) involving sequence‐dependent modulation of splicing, cleavage and polyadenylation, editing, transport, stability, and translation. The recent introduction of deep‐sequencing technologies enabled the development of new methods for broadly mapping interaction sites between RNA‐binding proteins (RBPs) and their RNA target sites. In this article, we review crosslinking and immunoprecipitation (CLIP) methods adapted for large‐scale identification of target RNA‐binding sites and the respective RNA recognition elements. CLIP methods have the potential to detect hundreds of thousands of binding sites in single experiments although the separation of signal from noise can be challenging. As a consequence, each CLIP method has developed different strategies to distinguish true targets from background. We focus on photoactivatable ribonucleoside‐enhanced CLIP, which relies on the intracellular incorporation of photoactivatable ribonucleoside analogs into nascent transcripts, and yields characteristic sequence changes upon crosslinking that facilitate the separation of signal from noise. The precise knowledge of the position and distribution of binding sites across mature and primary mRNA transcripts allows critical insights into cellular localization and regulatory function of the examined RBP. When coupled with other systems‐wide approaches measuring transcript and protein abundance, the generation of high‐resolution RBP‐binding site maps across the transcriptome will broaden our understanding of PTGR and thereby lead to new strategies for therapeutic treatment of genetic diseases perturbing these processes. WIREs RNA 2012, 3:159–177. doi: 10.1002/wrna.1103


This article examines the repercussions of the process of securitisation in the Arab region, focusing on its impact on the 'everyday'. It demonstrates how this process negatively impacted on human rights and infringed on freedoms, failing to serve national security and human security. The logic the article follows is based on an assumption that securitisation is organically connected to neoliberal transformations, which tend to deform the role of the state in protecting its citizens, and the autonomy of individuals by obliging them with new duties, and conditioning their lives upon a sophisticated regulatory system under various pretexts, not the least of which is security. This conditioning poses a threat to the nature of the everyday, which is the ultimate goal of all political organisations, and is perceived to need protection, as the everyday is the scene where the principles of equality of humans and their dignity are realised.


Recent advances in single-cell technologies, particularly single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq), have permitted high throughput transcriptional profiling of a wide variety of biological systems. As scRNA-seq supports inference of cell-cell communication, this technology has and continues to anchor groundbreaking studies into the efficacy and mechanism of novel immunotherapies for cancer treatment. In this review, we will highlight methods developed to infer inter- and intracellular signaling from scRNA-seq and discuss how they have contributed to studies of immunotherapeutic intervention in the tumor microenvironment (TME). However, a central challenge remains in validating the hypothesized cell-cell interactions. Therefore, this review will also cover strategies for integration of these scRNA-seq-derived interaction networks with existing experimental and computational approaches. Integration of these networks with imaging, protein secretion measurements, and network analysis and mathematical modeling tools addresses challenges that remain with scRNA-seq to enhance studies of immunosuppressive and immunotherapy-altered signaling in the TME.


BACKGROUND/AIM
Malignant mesothelioma is a rare malignancy with limited therapeutic options. Exome-based next-generation sequencing (NGS) techniques may direct the future of molecular targeting and improve systemic therapies for patients with mesothelioma.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Eleven patients with NGS testing were selected, with a total of 236 somatic cancer-related mutations analyzed. Descriptive and Kaplan-Meier statistics were applied.

RESULTS
The median age was 65 years (range=27-73 years); 4 (36%) patients were females. Seven (64%) and four patients (36%) had pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma, respectively. Detectable mutations were found in 86% of the pleural and 50% of the peritoneal mesothelioma patients (overall, 73% of patients). The families of BAP1 (36%), CDKNA2A/B (27%) and NF2 (27%) represented the most frequently mutated genes. The median overall survival for all patients was 20.8 months, with 1- and 2-year survival rates of 91% and 40%, respectively.

CONCLUSION
Genomic alterations as potential therapeutic targets were found by NGS. These findings will help in the development of new screening tools and targeting therapies, and in turn impact the standard-of-care and potentially lengthen disease control and survival periods in the future.


In setting out the first findings of the Australian Digital Inclusion Index (ADII), this report provides our most comprehensive picture yet of Australians' online participation. The ADII has been created to measure the level of digital inclusion across the Australian population, and to monitor this level over time. Based on data from Roy Morgan Research, the ADII measures three key dimensions of digital inclusion - Access, Affordability and Digital Ability - and shows how they change over time, according to people's social and economic circumstances, and across geographic locations within Australia. This first report presents findings for the years 2014-2016.


We report the first spatially resolved measurements of gas-phase metallicity radial gradients in star-forming galaxies in overdense environments at z ≳ 2. The spectroscopic data are acquired by the MAMMOTH-Grism survey, a Hubble Space Telescope (HST) cycle 28 medium program. This program is obtaining 45 orbits of WFC3/IR grism spectroscopy in the density peak regions of three massive galaxy protoclusters (BOSS 1244, BOSS 1542, and BOSS 1441) at z = 2–3. Our sample in the BOSS 1244 field consists of 20 galaxies with stellar mass ranging from 109.0 to 1010.3 M ⊙, star formation rate (SFR) from 10 to 240 M ⊙ yr−1, and global gas-phase metallicity ( 12+log(O/H) ) from 8.2 to 8.6. At 1σ confidence level, 2/20 galaxies in our sample show positive (inverted) gradients—the relative abundance of oxygen increasing with galactocentric radius, opposite the usual trend. Furthermore, 1/20 shows negative gradients, and 17/20 are consistent with flat gradients. This high fraction of flat/inverted gradients is uncommon in simulations and previous observations conducted in blank fields at similar redshifts. To understand this, we investigate the correlations among various observed properties of our sample galaxies. We find an anticorrelation between metallicity gradient and global metallicity of our galaxies residing in extreme overdensities, and a marked deficiency of metallicity in our massive galaxies as compared to their coeval field counterparts. We conclude that the cold-mode gas accretion plays an active role in shaping the chemical evolution of galaxies in the protocluster environments, diluting their central chemical abundance, and flattening/inverting their metallicity gradients.


Flexibility and low cost make genotyping‐by‐sequencing (GBS) an ideal tool for population genomic studies of nonmodel species. However, to utilize the potential of the method fully, many parameters affecting library quality and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) discovery require optimization, especially for conifer genomes with a high repetitive DNA content. In this study, we explored strategies for effective GBS analysis in pine species. We constructed GBS libraries using HpaII, PstI and EcoRI‐MseI digestions with different multiplexing levels and examined the effect of restriction enzymes on library complexity and the impact of sequencing depth and size selection of restriction fragments on sequence coverage bias. We tested and compared UNEAK, Stacks and GATK pipelines for the GBS data, and then developed a reference‐free SNP calling strategy for haploid pine genomes. Our GBS procedure proved to be effective in SNP discovery, producing 7000–11 000 and 14 751 SNPs within and among three pine species, respectively, from a PstI library. This investigation provides guidance for the design and analysis of GBS experiments, particularly for organisms for which genomic information is lacking.


Between the romanticized version of a Greek Agora and the intense contemporary shopping centers there isn't probably a disparity as considerable as we can imagine, since both can be easily mistaken with the ancient markets and the public squares of today. Before, as now, there is a clear separation between the production of discourse and the experience of the symbolic spaces of the city. It is a fact that shopping centers are, in general, seen and used by people as effective "public spaces" of the contemporary city. As evidence of this, is the way we see emerge today phenomena that were hardly visible but in public spaces, such as urban tribes, sport celebrations, political demonstrations and strikes, or even deviant events: suicides committed within their areas. Traces that, taken together, make us consider on the true nature of these heterotopic places. Therefore, if today the urban daily life of Europe's inhabitants is undoubtedly both linked to the use of public spaces and shopping centers, it's not surprising that political demonstrations are nowadays equally visible in city squares and shopping center plazas, where these are also increasingly common. For example, in Portugal, we have observed since 2007, a systematic use of shopping centers as an arena of political protests, generally against precarious labor conditions; under this thread, this paper will try precisely to map these and other "public" practices that take place at a wide range of privately owned collective spaces in Europe. Unquestionably, this "quasi"-public condition of contemporary shopping centers will enhance the doubt on what role these retail typologies may yet take part in the construction of the European city, giving a completely new meaning to the well-known Jordi Borja and Zaida Muxi's assertion that "public space (...) is [the place] where society makes itself visible" (Borja, Muxi; 2003:15). By the fact that if we still don't know what are they turning into; we have, however, a strong suspicion: that, in a near future, these will be more "public" than "shopping" places.


Using 28 male undergraduate university students pro vided with continuous oscilloscope display of basal skin resistance, this study investigated voluntary control of the GSR and concurrent changes in respiration. It was found, given feedback, subjects could voluntarily raise or lower their GSR. Subjects instructed to increase their GSR (N-14) could do so within the first trial session. However, subjects instructed to decrease their GSR (N-14) required additional practice. With less than 20 minutes of practice all subjects were able to reach a criterion of 2,500 ohms change from their basal level. Subjects in creasing their GSR were found to have a significant in crease in respiration. However, subjects lowering GSR also had a moderate increase in respiration and regardless of this increase were able to obtain criterion. There is evidence from this study that respiration was not a mediator of reaching criterion in both groups. Digital pulse was found to change as a function of group but it was not sig nificant.


Abstract Gonzalez Gutierrez P. A.: A revision of Cuban Bunchosia (Malpighiaceae), with description of a new subspecies from Hispaniola. — Willdenowia 40: 55–61. — Online ISSN 1868-6397; © 2010 BGBM Berlin-Dahlem. doi:10.3372/wi.40.40104 (available via http://dx.doi.org/) The Cuban representatives of Bunchosia are revised, based on the study of herbarium specimens and observations in the field. Instead of the eight species reported for Cuba in the literature, only four native species of Bunchosia grow on Cuba. Two are endemic, one consists of an endemic subspecies and a second one, newly described, replacing it on Hispaniola. For the Cuban taxa, descriptions, synonymies with type citations and a key for identification are provided.


The variability and rotation of ultra cool dwarfs (UCDs) provide important information on the atmospheres and evolution of these very low mass stars and brown dwarfs. As part of an ongoing program to investigate this, the projected rotation velocities, v sini, derived from high resolution VLT/UVES spectroscopy via cross correlation are presented for 16 field UCDs (M9V-L7.5V). This doubles the number of L dwarfs for which v sini has been measured. All targets are found to have v sini between 10 and 40 km s −1 confirming that L dwarfs are rapid rotators. Radial velocities have also been measured to a precision of 1-2 km s −1 . From the random distribution of the rotation axes, i, and theoretically predicted radii, one-sided confidence intervals are placed on the rotation periods of individual objects. These are compared with published period data obtained from photometric monitoring programs. From this, the period of 31 h for the L0.5 dwarf 2M0746+2000 published by Gelino et al. (2002) may be ruled out as the rotation period. The period of 11.2 ± 0.8 h for the L1.5 dwarf 2M1145+2317 obtained by Bailer-Jones & Mundt (2001) is consistent with the present v sini results so is plausibly the true rotation period. The inclination of the rotation axis is constrained to be i = 62 ◦ -90 ◦ with an expectation value of 76 ◦ . Alternatively the data set a lower limit on the radius of 0.1R� , which is within the range of radii predicted by models for brown dwarfs older than 0.5 Gyr. Similarly, the period of 2.7 ± 0.1 h detected by the same authors for 2M1334+1940 is also confirmed as the likely rotation period; the inclination is i = 27 ◦ -44 ◦ (� i� = 34 ◦ ). Where no variability or period was detected by the monitoring programs the likely reason is low contrast modulating surface features. However, in three cases variability but no period was detected, even though the likely rotation period range inferred from v sini lies within the timescale to which the monitoring was sensitive. This reinforces the "masking hypothesis" of Bailer-Jones & Mundt (2001), the idea that the evolution of photospheric features on timescales shorter than the rotation period obscure the regular modulation of the light curve. As has been previously discussed, a likely candidate for such features is inhomogeneous dust clouds.


The physician -patient relationship is fundamental to medical and healthcare practice. It is value laden. The practice of medicine and healthcare in the traditional sense accentuates a fecund doctor-patient communication. This is considered a necessary step for a proper diagnosis towards an attendant fruitful prognosis. Such a practise eventuates in the recognition of core values within the ambience of a standard medical practise. The values in question refer to issues of commitment and trust, obligations to standard care giving and reception, confidentiality, autonomy, beneficence, non maleficence, justice as well as responsibility. However, the practise of medicine today is criss-crossed by an amazing cast of transformations with the advent of the internet in the medical arena. Medical encounters take place online between doctors and patients even in the absence of pre-existing medical relationships in the hospitals.There is today treatments and medical care mediated by the internet, a case of diagnosis and prognosis across distance, and indeed super highway medicine. This instance of hospitals without consulting rooms is morally problematic.By the characterization of physician-patient relationship ( especially in the absence of pre-existing relationship) on the internet as virtual, unique, new and problematic, this work assesses the risks associated with such encounters in the light of ethical principles and their implications for moral responsibility.


Applications of image compression is important in terms of time and resource management considering factors such as require more time to send according to the size of image over the network and large amount of space is high dimensional data for storing images. In this study, a new approach can be using at image compression process will be introduced. Firstly, image subjected to discrete wavelet transform for extracting feature. Then multi-level threshold values will be find with Shanon entropy in the obtained image. The maximum value of objective function will be obtained with the help of cricket algorithm at the threshold values finding step. This algorithm is a meta-heuristic algorithm that based on population. The threshold values that obtained through algorithm using to compressing the images will be provided. At the end of the study, the image compression ratio, the proposed approach running on a standard test image will be given.


This essay examines the intersection of environmental justice activism and state-sponsored sustainable urban development—how is environmental justice activism enabled or disabled in the context of rapid urban development, consensual politics and the seemingly a-political language of sustainability? Drawing on ethnographic research conducted in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, I define a process I refer to as "environmental gentrification," which builds on the material and discursive successes of the environmental justice movement and appropriates them to serve high-end development. While it appears as politically-neutral, consensus-based planning that is both ecologically and socially sensitive, in practice, environmental gentrification subordinates equity to profit-minded development. I propose that this process offers a new way of exploring the paradoxes and conundrums facing contemporary urban residents as they fight to challenge the vast economic and ecological disparities that increasingly divide today's cities.


The authors study the conflict mediation problem, sometimes called "shuttle diplomacy," when the mediator acts as a go-between and must gather information from the disputants. In the context of a general model of information mediation, they show that the incentive that disputants have to lie to the mediator undoes any advantage that might be gained by adding communication with a third party. In fact, the main result shows that any equilibrium outcome that is achievable through mediation is also achievable as an equilibrium outcome of a game with unmediated preplay communication. This is true even when the mediator is allowed to have arbitrary preferences or biases. The authors then test their empirical prediction on dispute management efforts between 1937 and 1985. The analysis supports the hypothesis that information mediation has no effect in environments where the mediator has no independent source of information.


The entry of baby boomers into the labor market in the 1970s slowed growth for physical and human capital per worker because young workers have little of both. Thus, the baby boom could have contributed to the 1970s productivity slowdown. I build and calibrate a model a la Huggett et al. (2011) with exogenous population and TFP to evaluate this theory. The baby boom accounts for 75% of the slowdown in the period 1964-69, 25% in 1970-74 and 2% in 1975-79. The retiring of baby boomers may cause a 2.8pp decline in productivity growth between 2020 and 2040, ceteris paribus.


In this report we present a reflection on the Collaborative Poetics Network's first "Carnival of Invention" which was held on 15 th June 2018 at the University of Brighton, England. Collaborative poetics is an arts-based research method that brings together expertise from artists, academics, and community participants, to share knowledge and promote social change through engaging and accessible ways. On the day of the Carnival over 40 contributors from around the world came to participate in a series of workshops, presentations, installations and displays. In this article we outline the themes addressed on the day and the media utilized in these interactive and experiential sessions. We argue that this event supported the benefits of arts-based research in developing, analyzing, and communicating rich data sets. Finally, we provide evaluation and reflections from the event (including in haiku , a traditional Japanese form of poetry), in an attempt to creatively capture the events of the day.


A large-scale materials database including literature and factual data, which is under construction at the Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University is introduced featuring the collections of ternary amorphous formation phase diagrams. The database is arranged as a multimedia type, including both text and images, which is especially important in materials research. The object-oriented method is also applied to construct the database so it can predict new compositions to form an amorphous phase from existing data.


Candida species were detected and identified in samples from the buccal mucosa, dorsal surface of the tongue and supragingival plaque of subjects with oral lichen planus (OLP). The Candida in the samples were cultured on selection agars, and identified by sequence analyses of 18S, 5.8S and 25/28S rRNA. The isolation frequency of Candida was higher in subjects with OLP than in those with healthy oral mucosa. Non‐C. albicans were only isolated from people with OLP. These results support the notion that subjects with OLP are more likely to have oral colonization with Candida, and that non‐C. albicans are specifically present in subjects with this condition.


Lateral disk herniation into the intervertebral foramen if not recognized may result in a negative surgical exploration. The condition is readily recognized by computed tomography (CT), which demonstrates a soft-tissue mass in the intervertebral foramen, focal protrusion of the posterolateral margin of the disk into the foramen, absence of dural sac deformity, and occasionally the presence of calcium or gas in the intervertebral foramen. The differential diagnosis includes metastatic neoplasm, primary neoplasm, and conjoined root sheath anomaly. Features that enable CT differentiation of these conditions from lateral disk herniation are described. Myelography is useful in the identification of a conjoined root sheath.


Authors predicted that adult alcoholics with relatively higher scores on obsessive-compulsive drinking subscale of Alcohol Use Inventory (AUI-4) and psychasthenia scale of Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-7) would be better candidates for successful completion of traditional outpatient treatment. Both tests were administered to 89 successively admitted outpatients who were tracked through treatment and later classified as dropouts (premature unilateral termination of treatment, N = 57), mutuals (patient-therapist agreement on appropriate termination, N = 22), or open cases (patients still in treatment at end of 6 months, N = 10). AUI-4, but not MMPI-7, successfully identified dropouts, mutuals, and open cases, and significantly differentiated between dropouts and all other patients. AUI-4 and MMPI-7 were significantly and positively correlated, and AUI-4, but not MMPI-7, was significantly and positively related to number of therapy sessions.


Current fire policy to restore ecosystem function and resiliency and reduce buildup of hazardous fuels implies a larger future role for fire (both natural and human ignitions) (USDA and USDOI 2000). Yet some fire management (such as building fire line, spike camps, or heli-spots) potentially causes both shortand long-term impacts to forest health. In the short run, these practices may increase soil disturbance, thereby promoting post-fire weed establishment (e.g., Keeley 2005; Merriam and others 2006). Fire management practices also may initiate long-term changes to aspects of landscape structure (such as patch connectivity, size, and shape) that may exacerbate future fire, insect or disease risk, or jeopardize wildlife habitat (e.g., Backer and others 2004). Quantification of these effects can provide important information to guide fire strategy, tactics and restoration decision-making (Sugihara and others 2006).


We present kernel regularization information criterion (KRIC), which is a new criterion for tuning regularization parameters in kernel logistic regression (KLR) and support vector machines (SVMs). The main idea of the KRIC is based on the regularization information criterion (RIC). Although the RIC is a useful criterion for tuning regularization parameters in statistical regularization models, it cannot be directly applied to parameter tuning for the kernel machines because kernel functions define only inner products in feature spaces. We derive an eigenvalue equation to calculate the KRIC and solve the problem. The computational cost for parameter tuning by the KRIC is reduced drastically by using the Nyström approximation. The test error rate of SVMs or KLR with the regularization parameter tuned by the KRIC is comparable with the one by the cross validation or evaluation of the evidence. The computational cost of the KRIC is significantly lower than the one of the other criteria.


The stability study of drugs of forensic interest in human post-mortem
blood is an important forensic study, because in some cases, a requirement for
the laboratory to undertake a full drug screening is after a few months of
storage due to a need for new evidence. Therefore, it is necessary and
important to know if drugs are stable over a period of time under different
conditions to enable a solid interpretation to be made from any results.
Some studies have been published on the stability of drugs at different
temperatures but none had covered the whole set of drugs that has been studied
in this thesis. The periods of study that have been covered by other studies
varied from a few days to a maximum of 70 weeks, but again not all drugs have
been covered.
The drugs studies in this thesis are two sets of drugs, benzodiazepines
and tricyclic antidepressants, their stability being determined over twelve
months and at three different temperatures 25,5 and -20°C.
In this thesis, blood was 'spiked' with eight drugs, Diazepam,
Temazepam, Triazolam, Desmethyldiazepam, Amitriptyline, Nortriptyline,
Imipramine and Chlorpromazine. The samples were stored with blanks at
different temperatures for different storage times. Each month a number of
samples were removed from storage and analysed to test the effect of storage
time and temperature on drug concentration.
Different solid phase and liquid-liquid extraction methods were tested
for the determination of benzodiazepines. Liquid-liquid extraction methods for
- 2 -
the determination of Diazepam, Temazepam, desmethyldiazepam and
Triazolam proved after study to be tedious and time-consuming. A method
based on solid phase extraction was used to determine the four benzodiazepine
drugs. The extraction method gave good recoveries and was highly efficient.
The method of analysis used for the determination of stability of
benzodiazepine drugs was the high performance liquid chromatography
(HPLC) method.
Tricyclic antidepressant drugs are the other drugs studied for their
stability in blood. Different solid phase extraction methods were used for the
determination of drugs in post-mortem blood but gave poor recoveries. The
best method of extraction used was a liquid-liquid extraction method which
yielded high recoveries and proved to be quick. The method of analysis used
for the determination of tricyclic antidepressants for the purpose of stability of
the study was gas chromatography (GC).
At a recognised toxic level for each drug under study a reasonable
amount of the drug was found to be detectable after one year at storage
regardless of the storage temperature or media. The decrease rate of each drug
concentration with time at the three storage conditions (25, 5 and -200e) was
obtained.


Dendritic cells (DCs) are the main antigen presenting cells and play a pivotal role in the stimulation of T-cell immune responses. DCs cultured in the presence of a single tumor antigen can elicit an immune response against tumor cells expressing that antigen. However, simultaneous use of several tumor antigens may be advantageous since polyclonal activation of T cells against different tumor antigens may be a better approach to eradicate tumor cells. In this sense, fusions of dendritic and tumor cells (FCs) show a broad spectrum of tumor antigens, both known and unidentified, to be presented by class I and II MHC. Although prophylactic vaccines were successful in murine models, the results in the therapeutic setting have been unsatisfactory. We hypothesised that enhancing costimulation of FCs would help to break tumor tolerance once the tumor is established. To this purpose, we transduced FCs with a recombinant adenovirus encoding CD40L (AdvCD40L or AdvGFP as control) and we studied the therapeutic antitumoral effect of the administration of FC-CD40L in a murine model of myeloma. DCs obtained from day 7-bone marrow cultures of Balb/c mice were fused with tumor cells, a syngeneic murine myeloma cell line (4TOO). FCs hybrids were generated with PEG and selected after culturing in HAT medium plus GM-CSF for 7 days. FC were quantified by determining the percentage of cells that coexpress specific DC (CD11c) and tumor markers (CD138). Mean fusion efficiency was 30% (20–40%) and FCs expressed moderate levels of CD80, CD83, CD86, CD54, CD40 and MHC II and did not express CD40L. FC-CD40L showed a significant increase of expression of costimulatory molecules (CD80, CD86, CD54, and MHC II) compared to FC-GFP (p=0.011). Moreover, in a syngeneic mixed lymphocyte reaction, FC-CD40L induced a two-fold higher T-cell proliferation than FC-GFP or FC alone. In addition, FC-CD40L had improved migration to lymphoid tissues, preferentially to spleen, in comparison with FC-GFP (2.8% versus 1.6%). The antitumor effect of FC-CD40L was analyzed in vivo. Mice (n=10 per group) were injected i.v. with 2.5×10 5 tumor cells and treated with irradiated FC, FC-GFP or FC-CD40L (1×10 6 cells each) on days 2, 6 and 10 after tumor challenge. 40% of mice treated with FC-CD40L had long-term survival (>120 days). In contrast, all of mice treated with FC or FC-GFP died between days 25 and 35 (p=0.012). In parallel, treatment with mixed cells (not fused DC+ tumor cells), mix transduced with AdvGFP, or mix transduced with AdvCD40L did not provide any significant antitumor effect. We conclude that FCs transduced with AdvCD40L better stimulate in vitro and in vivo immune responses than FC alone and may provide a new strategy for treating patients with multiple myeloma or lymphoma.