This paper introduces three spatio-temporal stationary random fields with simple correlation functions and rational spectral densities. The correlation functions have similar forms, but are defined on different space-time domains or related to different spatial norms. Positive and negative correlations are allowed, and the domain of certain model parameters may rely on the spatial dimensional parameter so that the model may be available in a limited space or in all dimensions. The distinctions are discussed among the three basic correlation models. Moreover, families of spatio-temporal stationary random fields are derived by randomizing the spatial and temporal coordinates of the base random fields. The resulting correlation functions are semiparametric, and include separable spatio-temporal models as special cases


The process of self-assembly at multiple length scales of bis-urea substituted toluene on a Au(111) surface was studied by low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy. Pattern formation is controlled by specific hydrogen bonds between these molecules but also by significantly weaker lateral coupling between the resulting supramolecular polymers and a quasiepitaxial interlocking with the substrate. The ordered assemblies exhibit a tunnel transparency. Our experiments indicate the necessity of multiple interactions of different strengths for obtaining ordered structures with hierarchical levels of organization.


Charge fluctuations along the quasi-1D frameworks of M(x)V(2)O(5) bronzes have evinced much recent interest owing to the manifestation of colossal metal-insulator transitions and superconductivity. Depending upon the nature of the intercalating cation (M), distinctive geometries of the V(2)O(5) framework are accessible. Herein, we demonstrate an unprecedented reversible transformation between double-layered (δ) and tunnel (β) quasi-1D geometries for nanowires of a divalent vanadium bronze, Ca(x)V(2)O(5) (x ≈ 0.23), upon annealing-induced dehydration and hydrothermally induced hydration. Such a facile hydration/dehydration-induced interconversion between two prominent quasi-1D structures (accompanied by a change in charge-ordering motifs) has not been observed in the bulk and is posited to result from the ease of propagation of crystallographic slip processes across the confined nanowire widths for the δ → β conversion and the facile diffusion of water molecules within the tunnel geometries for the β → δ reversion.


Discontinuity calculations, also called coherence or semblance, are some of the most commonly used seismic attributes. They measure the amount of similarity between adjacent seismic traces. However, there are several types of discontinuity estimates and a plethora of names for similar attributes. As a result, it can be difficult to understand the differences among them. Although the discontinuity algorithm that any particular software package uses might be unknown, most are based on one of a few published methods. Understanding published discontinuity attributes gives insight into the trade-offs among different proprietary implementations. Therefore, in this tutorial and the accompanying Jupyter notebook, we will explore simplified Python implementations of a few widely used discontinuity algorithms.


Speech Actions in Theory and Applied Studies, the first of the two volumes of Pragmatic Perspectives on Language and Linguistics, brings together twenty essays which critically examine linguistic action and explore ways in which it can be accounted for. The articles presented in this collection are all focused on "doing things with words", but in most cases do not subscribe to speech act theory in the tradition of John L. Austin and John R. Searle. The linking thread through the volume is not a theoretical commitment to one of the speech-act theoretical models, but the authors' perspective on language as a means of action, how linguistic expressions become effective in context and how this effectiveness can be explicated. The papers represent different pragmatic approaches and varied levels of expertise in the research area; among the authors there are eminent linguists and philosophers, well established researchers, and young beginners. The texts include purely theoretical discussions, case studies, reports on research in experimental pragmatics, contrastive and corpus studies, and considerations of the pedagogical implications of pragmatic reflection on the nature of language. Without purporting to cover all relevant topics, this variety reflects the complex character of linguistic pragmatics and integrates studies which cross-cut other research fields. The book is divided in three parts. The seven papers gathered in the first part of the volume, "Speech Action in Theory", are concentrated on theoretical issues pertaining to speech as a type of action with emphasis both on linguistic forms (e.g. fragments) and theoretical commitments and particular theories' explanatory power. Part two, "Case Studies & Experimental Pragmatics", includes reports on research into irony processing in Polish and in English as a second language, intercultural differences in interactions broadcast in the media, power relations in doctor/patient interaction, and metaphors in media discourse at the time of crisis. Part three, "Pragmatics, Grammar, and Language Pedagogy", contains five essays, which explore both more "formal" pragmatics through analyses of grammatical forms and the interface which the analysis of these forms share with context-grounded research, and the practical implications of pragmatic knowledge in language didactics. This collection is supplemented by the essays gathered in volume two, entitled Pragmatics of Semantically Restricted Domains.


A reliance on reductions in hospitals' price tariffs to drive NHS efficiency savings is offering commissioners a "cop-out" from redesigning services and will not improve the effectiveness and quality of NHS healthcare, MPs have warned.

In a report launched on 19 March, the Commons health select committee said changes in tariff payments did not constitute true "efficiency savings" and would result in efficiency gains for the NHS only if providers changed the way care was delivered as a result.

The committee's chair, Stephen Dorrell, said tariff reductions merely served to transfer responsibility away from commissioners, who should be taking centre stage in the "process of service re-imagination."

The committee's annual report into public expenditure on health and social care services highlighted that the government had achieved the …


ABSTRACT The study aimed to test the validity of the burnout subtypes hierarchic model operationalized by the 'Burnout Clinical Subtypes Questionnaire' (BCSQ-36) and its applicability in other cultures. To that aim psychometric properties, factorial and convergent validity regarding the Maslach Burnout Inventory – General Survey (MBI-GS), and correlation with demographic factors were reviewed. A voluntary internet-based approach was used on a multi-occupational sample of adult Latvians (n = 394). The results of the internal consistency of the Latvian version of the BCSQ-36 exceeded .89 for all three subtypes. The CFA was used to test a hierarchical factorial model, and the analysis revealed an acceptable fit of the model to the data. Correlation analysis showed results as expected, similarly to the original sample – Underchallenged and Worn-out subtypes correlated with all MBI-GS scales, while Frenetic subtype did not correlate with the MBI-GS Cynicism scale. Besides, demographic data showed some correlation only on the subscale level. Overall research results provide support of the validity of the burnout subtypes hierarchical model and applicability in another culture.


Objective—Histone acetylation/deacetylation plays an important role in the control of gene expression, tissue growth, and development. In particular, histone deacetylases 7 (HDAC7), a member of class IIa HDACs, is crucial in maintaining vascular integrity. However, whether HDAC7 is involved in the processes of vascular endothelial signaling and angiogenesis remains unclear. Here, we investigated the role of HDAC7 in vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signaling and angiogenesis. Methods and Results—We show for the first time that VEGF stimulated phosphorylation of HDAC7 at the sites of Ser178, Ser344, and Ser479 in a dose- and time-dependent manner, which leads to the cytoplasmic accumulation of HDAC7. Using pharmacological inhibitors, siRNA, and adenoviruses carrying dominant-negative mutants, we found that phospholipase Cγ/protein kinase C/protein kinase D1 (PKD1)-dependent signal pathway mediated HDAC7 phosphorylation and cytoplasmic accumulation by VEGF. Infection of ECs with adenoviruses encoding a mutant of HDAC7 specifically deficient in PKD1-dependent phosphorylation inhibited VEGF-induced angiogenic gene expression, including matrix metalloproteinases MT1-matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) and MMP10. Moreover, HDAC7 and its targeting genes were involved in VEGF-stimulated endothelial cell migration, tube formation, and microvessel sprouting. Conclusions—Our results demonstrate that VEGF stimulates PKD1-dependent HDAC7 phosphorylation and cytoplasmic accumulation in endothelial cells modulating gene expression and angiogenesis.


Huntington's Disease (HD) is an inherited neurodegenerative disease characterized by a combination of motor, cognitive, and behavioral disorders. The social and behavioral symptoms observed in HD patients impact their quality of life and probably explain their relational difficulties, conflicts, and social withdrawal. In this study, we described the development of the Social Relationship Self-Questionnaire (SRSQ), a self-reporting questionnaire that assesses how HD patients perceived their social relationships. The scale was proposed for 66 HD patients at an early stage of the disease, 32 PreHD patients (individuals carrying the mutant gene without motor symptoms), and 66 controls. The HD patients were included in a prospective longitudinal follow-up for an average of 1.07 years with motor, functional, cognitive, and behavioral assessments. Based on the HD patients' answers at baseline, we identified two domains in the SRSQ. The first domain was related to social motivation and correlated with cognitive performance. The second domain was related to emotional insight and correlated with behavioral symptoms such as apathy, anxiety, and irritability. We discovered that both SRSQ domain scores at baseline predicted future motor, functional, and cognitive decline in HD.


The interplay of flows and turbulence in Ohmic FT-2 tokamak plasmas is analysed via gyrokinetic simulations with the flux-driven ELMFIRE code. The simulation predictions agree qualitatively with analytical estimates for the scaling of the neoclassical radial electric field as a function of collisionality for ad hoc parameters. For the experimental parameters, the global full-f modeling agrees well with the analytical estimates in a neoclassical setting, while including kinetic electrons and impurities has a small impact. Allowing turbulence to develop modifies the flow profile through relaxation of profiles caused by turbulent transport, non-adiabatic response of passing electrons around rational surfaces, and turbulent flow drive. Geodesic acoustic mode (GAM) is the main zonal flow component in the simulations, and its frequency and amplitude agree with theoretical predictions and experimental measurements. In the simulations, the non-linear energy transfer from the turbulence to the flows through the Reynolds force is balanced by the collisional flow dissipation. Temporal relationship between the oscillating flow, Reynolds force, and turbulent particle flux is consistent with the fundamental physics picture of GAM modulating turbulent transport on the time scale of the mode. Experimental evidence also suggests anti-correlation of GAM amplitude and turbulent fluctuations.


The basis pursuit technique is used to find a minimum one-norm solution of an underdetermined least-squares problem. Basis pursuit denoise fits the least-squares problem only approximately, and a single parameter determines a curve that traces the trade-off between the least-squares fit and the one-norm of the solution. We show that the function that describes this curve is convex and continuously differentiable over all points of interest. The dual solution of a least-squares problem with an explicit one-norm constraint gives function and derivative information needed for a root-finding method. As a result, we can compute arbitrary points on this curve. Numerical experiments demonstrate that our method, which relies on only matrix-vector operations, scales well to large problems.


We are interested in proving an equilibrium existence result in a general equilibrium model with incomplete nominal asset markets. When we relax the assumption of strict positivity of initial endowments, then, as it is the case for every general equilibrium existence problem, we need to introduce survival and irreducibility assumptions, whose formulation is the object of this paper. The financial economy that we consider is a two period exchange economy where agents' preferences on their consumption sets may be non-ordered and do not satisfy monotonicity.


Words and Notes encourages a new wave of scholarship inspired by the ways writers and musicians of the long nineteenth century themselves approached the relationship between music and words. Contributors to the volume engage in two dialogues: with nineteenth-century conceptions of word-music relations, and with each other. Criss-crossing disciplinary boundaries, the authors of the book's eleven essays address new questions relating to listening, imagining and performing music, the act of critique, and music's links with philosophy and aesthetics. The many points of intersection are elucidated in an editorial introduction and via a reflective afterword. Fiction and poetry, musicography, philosophy, music theory, science and music analysis all feature, as do traditions within English, French and German studies. Wide-ranging material foregrounds musical memory, soundscape and evocation; performer dilemmas over the words in Satie's piano music; the musicality of fictional and non-fictional prose; text-setting and the rights of poet vs. composer; the rich novelistic and critical testimony of audience inattention at the opera; German philosophy's potential contribution to musical listening; and Hoffmann's send-ups of the serious music-lover. Throughout, music - its composition, performance and consumption - emerges as a profoundly physical and social force, even when it is presented as the opposite. PHYLLIS WELIVER is Associate Professor of English, Saint Louis University. KATHARINE ELLIS is Stanley Hugh Badock Professor of Music at the University of Bristol. Contributors: Helen Abbott, Noelle Chao, Delia da Sousa Correa, Peter Dayan, Katharine Ellis, David Evans, Annegret Fauser, Jon-Tomas Godin, Cormac Newark, Matthew Riley, Emma Sutton, Shafquat Towheed, Susan Youens, Phyllis Weliver


Expressions are derived for speed and attenuation of compressional waves travelling normal to the boundaries of a laminated medium which consists of alternating layers of two fluid‐saturated porous solids. Fluid flow across boundaries is taken into account through approximate expressions, applicable at low frequencies, derived through extension of the approach used by Gassmann. Calculations show that when one of the saturating fluids is gas, substantial dispersion and extreme attenuation may result.


History subject is often considered to be a complex subject and there is no room for creative practice in teaching to create a sense of interest in the subject within the secondary school students. There is a literature review that shows an increase in students' interest through the use of teaching aids (ICT) in a lesson. While at the same time there is also a literature review that shows a decline of students' interest in History subject learning due to classroom teaching practices. Therefore, the creative practice in teaching by History teachers should be taken into account in an effort to foster a culture of creativity among secondary school students. Thus, this concept paper was developed to discuss the history teacher's competence and its contribution to the practice of the values empathy and historical thinking skills among secondary school students. Among the competencies studied are related to the knowledge and application of historical curriculum, historical goals and historical pedagogy that focus on aspects of empathy and historical thinking. Overall, this study will be helpful to all parties in an effort to increase competency among history teachers in Malaysia which will eventually lead to the formation of human capital among secondary school students.


Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting into hydrogen and oxygen is a promising strategy to absorb solar energy and directly convert it into a dense storage medium in the form of chemical bonds. The continual development and improvement of individual components of PEC systems is critical toward increasing the solar to fuel efficiency of prototype devices. Within this context, we describe a study on the growth of wurtzite indium phosphide (InP) nanowire (NW) arrays on silicon substrates and their subsequent implementation as light-absorbing photocathodes in PEC cells. The high onset potential (0.6 V vs the reversible hydrogen electrode) and photocurrent (18 mA/cm(2)) of the InP photocathodes render them as promising building blocks for high performance PEC cells. As a proof of concept for overall system integration, InP photocathodes were combined with a nanoporous bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) photoanode to generate an unassisted solar water splitting efficiency of 0.5%.


The performance of optical wireless systems deteriorates to a large extent from the presence of turbulence and pointing error effects. To meet the typical bit error rate (BER) targets for reliable communications within the practical ranges of signal-to-noise ratio, error control coding schemes are often proposed. This paper investigates the error performance for convolutional coded on-off keying free-space optical systems through symbol by symbol interleaved channels characterized by strong turbulence and/or pointing error effects. We consider several channel types and derive exact analytical expressions for the pairwise error probability. These expressions are applied to obtain upper bounds on the BER performance using the transfer function technique.


The International Workshop of Smart Environments and Analytics on Video-Based Learning (SE@VBL) aims to connect research efforts on Video-Based Learning with Smart Environments and Analytics to create synergies between these fields. The main objective is to build a research community around the intersection of these topical areas. In particular, SE@VBL aims to develop a critical discussion about the next generation of video-based learning environments and their analytics, the form of these analytics and the way they can be analyzed in order to help us to better understand and improve the value of educational videos to support teaching and learning. SE@VBL is based on the rationale that combining and analyzing learners' interactions with other available data obtained from learners, new avenues for research on video-based learning have emerged. This can have a significant impact in current educational trends such as Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and Flipped Classroom.


Ionizing radiation at very low doses frequently has a stimulating or hormetic effect on the growth of organisms. Irradiation of seed before planting can stimulate early plant growth, leading to advanced maturity and increased yield. The unreliability of this response has limited its application. However, the technique has been extensively studied and now is practiced on a large scale on some farms in certain countries. Our research has addressed various factors that may determine the stimulation response with the goal of developing an ability to predict the occurrence of increased economic yield. In this paper, we discuss several of these factors in light of our data and data from other field studies in Canada. A hormesis response was observed for most species studied, but varied among cultivars and among seed lots within a cultivar. Seed condition may be the underlying factor in these effects. The response was most frequently evident at very early stages of growth and was often masked in subsequent growth. This suggests that the hormesis phenomenon in seeds may be quite common and is not reliably manifest in advanced maturity or yield increases because of environmental effects. Storage time after irradiation must be minimized to gain the greatest response. There is little evidence to suggest that the photon energy or dose rate of the radiation source is an important factor.


Heavy metal concentrations in sediment collected from Dumai coastal waters have been studied
by using sequential extraction technique to determine the distribution and geochemical speciation
(EFLE, acid reducible, oxidisable organic and resistant) of Cd, Cu and Ni. The results showed that the
highest concentrations of total Cd was in Cargo Port area and the lowest in Penyembal, whilst for Cu
and Ni the highest concentrations were in Ferry Port and the lowest in Batu Panjang. The total
concentrations of Cd, Cu and Ni ranged from 0.65 – 1.82, 1.84 – 13.16 and 7.68 – 17.98 μg/g dry
weight, respectively. Higher metal concentrations were detected in the eastern and central parts of
Dumai city center where most of anthropogenic activities are concentrated. However, most of the
concentrations of Cd, Cu and Ni were still below the ERL and ERM values. Only at few stations,
especially in the eastern and central parts of Dumai, showed Cd concentrations exceed the ERL but still
well below the ERM values. Metal concentrations in 78.26% (Cd) and 91.30% (Cu and Ni) of the
sampling stations were dominated by resistant fraction indicating natural origin of these metals. Non
resistant fractions, however, were found higher than resistant fractions at Pelintung, Pertamina, Cargo
Port, Penyembal and Batu Panjang for Cd; Penyembal and Batu Panjang for Cu and Pelintung and
Guntung for Ni. These findings indicated that anthropogenic inputs of Cd, Cu and Ni occurred in these
stations. For all sampling site groups, Cd, Cu and Ni were mostly accumulated in the resistant fraction
(55.28 – 58.31%; 65.02 – 91.84% and 50.08 – 66.88% of the total concentrations respectively) which
indicated that the mobility and anthropogenic inputs of these metals in Dumai coastal waters were quite
low.


Coal- and lignite-fired power plants produce significant amounts of fly ash,
 which in many cases contains high concentrations of naturally occurring
 radionuclides such as 238U. This is of importance from the
 radio-environmental point of view since a small portion of the fly ash
 escapes from the power plant filtering system and disperses in the
 surrounding atmosphere. In addition, coal- and lignite-fired plants related
 activities such as fuel mining and ash deposition contribute to the suspended
 matter in the air with particles containing naturally occurring
 radionuclides. In this study, rainwater samples were collected in the
 Megalopolis lignite field basin of the Arcadia prefecture in Greece, where
 lignite-fired power plants are in operation and related activities are fully
 developed. The samples were preconcentrated and analyzed with alpha
 spectrometry and kinetic phosphorescence analysis in order to determine the
 levels of uranium isotope concentrations in precipitation in the Megalopolis
 basin. A control rainwater sample was also collected in the Athens area to
 account for reference purposes. Concentrations determined via the two
 techniques were found to be in statistical agreement. The concentration of
 238U in the samples collected at the Megalopolis basin varies from 2.2 ± 0.6
 to 90 ± 14 mBq/L, and is 5-40 times higher than the concentration of 238U in
 the sample collected in Athens. This could be attributed to the operation of
 the lignite-fired power plants, the fossil fuel mines, and the ash
 depositories.


Coarse-grained models have increasingly been used in large-scale particle-based simulations. However, due to their lack of degrees of freedom, it is a priori unlikely that they straightforwardly represent thermal properties with the same accuracy as their atomistic counterparts. We take a first step in addressing the impact of liquid coarse-graining on interfacial heat conduction by showing that an atomistic and a coarse-grained model of water may yield similar values of the Kapitza conductance on few-layer graphene with interactions ranging from hydrophobic to mildly hydrophilic. By design the water models employed yield similar liquid layer structures on the graphene surfaces. Moreover, they share common vibration properties close to the surfaces and thus couple with the vibrations of graphene in a similar way. These common properties explain why they yield similar Kapitza conductance values despite their bulk thermal conductivity differing by more than a factor of two.


BACKGROUND
Chromogenic anti-factor Xa activity (AXA) assay is reported to be the most appropriate method to measure the pharmacodynamics of apixaban, but the distribution of AXA in non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) patients on apixaban therapy has not been fully elucidated.

METHODSANDRESULTS
Steady-state trough and peak AXA were measured in 124 NVAF patients taking apixaban. In 25 patients, baseline, first peak, and trough AXA were also examined, and were 0.01±0.02 IU/ml, 0.83±0.43 IU/ml, and 0.34±0.17 IU/ml, respectively. First trough AXA was significantly lower than steady-state trough AXA, although it was significantly higher than baseline (P<0.0001). Similarly, first peak AXA was significantly lower than steady-state peak AXA (P<0.0001). In 124 patients, steady-state peak AXA was significantly higher in the 5-mg b.i.d. group than in the 2.5-mg b.i.d. group (2.05±0.73 IU/ml vs. 1.51±0.65 IU/ml, respectively; P<0.001), although there was no significant difference in trough AXA. Other than dose, age and serum creatinine were significantly related to both trough and peak AXA.

CONCLUSIONS
The distribution of AXA in Japanese NVAF patients on apixaban therapy in daily clinical practice both in the acute and steady-state phase was measured. In patients taking apixaban, measurement of AXA clearly showed the pharmacodynamic profile of this drug.


In this paper, we present multiple access with lag time (MALT) for medium access control (MAC) with strong quality-of-service (QoS) supports and throughput-efficient power control in mobile ad hoc networks. On lop of conventional priority-based techniques such as different interframe spaces and backoff algorithms, MAPS supports effective differentiated service employing the distributed differentiated scheduling (DDS) to allow packets with higher priority or urgent deadline to schedule for a packet slot that is farther into the future. In this way, these higher-priority packets can schedule for their transmissions without competition from lower priority packets since the latter are not allowed to make reservation during slots with conflicting schedules yet. We demonstrate through simulations that MALT is considerably stronger than IEEE 802.11e and a power-controlled dual-channel variant of IEEE 802.11e in terms of its differentiation capability for delays, discarding/blocking ratios, and throughput. Our simulation results also show that MAPS can achieve higher throughput as compared to EDCF of IEEE 802.11e due to its supports for power-controlled variable-radius transmissions.


Title of dissertation: LOW FREQUENCY NOISE IN CMOS TRANSISTORS Anshu Sarje, Doctor of Philosophy, 2013 Dissertation directed by: Professor Martin Peckerar Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering The minimum measurable signal strength of an electronic system is limited by noise. With the advent of very large scale integrated (VLSI) systems, low power designs are achieved by reducing the supply voltage and the drive current. This reduces the dynamic range of the system. As the signal in an amplifier system is usually set to be a significant fraction of the dynamic range, all other factors being equal, reduction in dynamic range leads to a degradation of the signal to noise ratio (SNR). This thesis addresses this issue in low power design. Focus is given to low frequency (≤ 1 kHz) noise. This frequency range is dominated by flicker noise, also referred to as pink or 1 f noise. Most biomedical and audio signals lie in this low frequency domain. For example, electrocardiograms (ECGs) record signals which are < 50 Hz. Audio signals have a large portion of signals that lie in the low frequency bandwidth <100 Hz. The focus here is on low-frequency performance of CMOS transistors. This represents a significant challenge in detection as noise in solid state devices tends to increase with decreases in frequency. That is, it becomes "pink," weighted to the low frequency spectral range. Usually, we find that noise power changes reciprocally with frequency as we reach the kilohertz frequency range. While there has been no single, definitive theory of of pink noise, system design principles can be formulated to minimize the impact of this noise. There are two factors to consider here. First, the pink noise process appears to be related to interaction with the defect structure of the solid through which charge is transported. As the number of defects is finite, there is a limit to the number of charges that can interact with this defect population. Thus, there is a limit on the amount of fluctuation in this interaction "current." This limit depends on the number of defects present in the solid through which transport occurs. It also depends on the number of charges transported. Thus, the trivial and often cited optimization principle demanding a reduced solid defect density presents itself. This leads to a second, less obvious principle of optimization. If the number of transported charges is large, and the trap defect parameters (number density, cross-section, trap lifetime, etc.) does not depend on total current passed, it is possible to "overcome" the defect-related noise. This is done by increasing the bias current. For fixed defect density, increased bias current will "saturate" the 1/f-noise fluctuation at some level resulting in an increase in SNR. Large current leads to large power dissipation, an undesirable side-effect of saturating the 1/f-noise current. This problem of SNR and power optimization has been addressed in this work. The main contribution of the work is development of an analog design methodology utilizing saturation effect to improve system SNR through bias optimization. Flicker noise measurement was carried out for the low frequency region in 0.5μ and 130 nm CMOS process and SNR studied under different gate bias voltages. We further investigated the impact of size variation, radiation stress and low temperature on the optimal bias point of the device. In addition, low temperature noise spectroscopy was conducted to study the noise behavior. Double channel method was used which enabled measurement of pink noise at very low gate biases for 130 nm process. The work investigates signal, noise and power in deep subthreshold region for the first time. Low Frequency Noise in CMOS transistors


Identifying biomarkers which can be used as a diagnostic tool is a major objective of pharmacogenetic studies. Most mental and many neurological disorders have a compiled multifaceted nature, which may be the reason why this endeavor has hitherto not been very successful. This is also true for tardive dyskinesia (TD), an involuntary movement complication of long-term treatment with antipsychotic drugs. The observed associations of specific gene variants with the prevalence and severity of a disorder can also be applied to try to elucidate the pathogenesis of the condition. In this paper, this strategy is used by combining pharmacogenetic knowledge with theories on the possible role of a dysfunction of specific cellular elements of neostriatal parts of the (dorsal) extrapyramidal circuits: various glutamatergic terminals, medium spiny neurons, striatal interneurons and ascending monoaminergic fibers. A peculiar finding is that genetic variants which would be expected to increase the neostriatal dopamine concentration are not associated with the prevalence and severity of TD. Moreover, modifying the sensitivity to glutamatergic long-term potentiation (and excitotoxicity) shows a relationship with levodopa-induced dyskinesia, but not with TD. Contrasting this, TD is associated with genetic variants that modify vulnerability to oxidative stress. Reducing the oxidative stress burden of medium spiny neurons may also be the mechanism behind the protective influence of 5-HT2 receptor antagonists. It is probably worthwhile to discriminate between neostriatal matrix and striosomal compartments when studying the mechanism of TD and between orofacial and limb-truncal components in epidemiological studies.


This paper presents an initiative for integrating leading edge remote experimentation and synchronous collaboration solutions as a proof of concept to pave the way towards comprehensive learning environments for live interaction, not only between people themselves, but also between people and time-critical online equipments. In this context, a pilot test has been conducted with students from the EPFL enrolled in the automatic control course during the 2007 spring semester to investigate modality, utility, usability and acceptability issues. In such comprehensive environments, awareness plays a very important role to ease interaction and to support learning. This initiative also focuses on investigating advance real- time and embedded awareness features in learning environments.


Negative energy density and the quantum inequality are examined for the Dirac field. A proof is given of the quantum inequality for negative energy densities in the massive Dirac field produced by the superposition of two single particle electron states.


Background: Clinical methods of assessing adequacy of the circulation are poor predictors of volume of blood flow in the newborn preterm. Doppler echocardiography can be used to assess perfusion at various sites in the circulation. Objective: To assess repeatability of measurement of volume of superior vena caval (SVC) and descending aortic (DAo) flow. Design: SVC and DAo flow volume were assessed four times in the first 48 h of postnatal life in a cohort of preterm (<31 weeks) infants. Within-observer and between-observer repeatability was assessed in a subgroup of preterm infants. Normative values were derived from 14 preterm infants who required <48 h respiratory support and 13 healthy term infants. Results: Within-observer repeatability coefficient was 30 ml/kg/min for quantification of SVC flow, and 2.2 cm for DAo stroke distance. Measurement of DAo diameter had poor repeatability. Between-observer repeatability appeared poorer than within-observer repeatability. The fifth centile for volume of SVC flow in healthy preterm infants was 55 ml/kg/min and 4.5 cm for DAo stroke distance. Conclusions: Echocardiographic assessments of volume of SVC flow and velocity of DAo flow have similar within-observer repeatability to other neonatal haemodynamic measurements. Between-observer repeatability for both measurements was poor, reflecting the difficulty of standardising these novel techniques. In this small cohort of preterm infants, SVC flow volume <55 ml/kg/min and DAo stroke distance <4.5 cm represented low or borderline systemic perfusion in the first 48 h of postnatal life.


One of the important aspects in the design of social protection is coverage. In Peru, as in most Latin American countries, social security participation is compulsory only for workers in the formal sector. There is a large sector of the population for which participation is voluntary. This paper investigates the determinants of enrolment to the pension system in Peru. In particular, we found that a selected group of people i.e. married males with at least secondary education, high income and with other family members already participating in the pension system, have a higher likelihood of participation. Moreover, the results also suggest that family based safety nets have a negative effect on the probability of pension participation.


Increasing competition in cost efficiency, lead-times, product quality, quotation accuracy, and abilities to provide customization drives companies toward development and adoption of new methods. To re-use knowledge gained from previous projects in order to avoid producing the same knowledge again and to circumvent previously encountered obstacles is an approach which is more or less used by most companies. Utilization of Design Automation (DA) systems in the engineering design process have proven to increase process efficiency and to enable new ways of working by systematic re-use of engineering knowledge. In order to ensure system longevity, industrial practitioners and researchers have pointed at implementation and long term management as important aspects to consider during development. The systems are often built on top of commercial software and legacy systems integrated by different types of scripts and system descriptions which becomes dependent of each other in different ways. Changes made during maintenance in one of these artifacts propagates through the dependency structure making traceability and transparency key factors for keeping the system valid over time. This paper presents a description of the problem in a real industrial setting together with a suggestion of an approach, based on set-up and management of dependencies between sections inside and across different types of system components, which is aimed to aid implementation and management of DA tools. A prototype system which informs the user, of functional sections related to a functional section to be updated, have been developed. The prototype is applied on a multidisciplinary heterogeneous system environment used for simulation based knowledge build up and concept evaluations of jet engine components.


This paper discusses the potential role of Internet communication technologies, including social media, in the integrated reporting process. A media richness framework provides a conceptual basis to examine the features of Internet technologies, which can facilitate the important external communication aspect of integrated reporting. We find that Internet technologies possess rich features and capabilities that have potentially significant application in enhancing external communications with integrated reporting stakeholders. We also identify risks and challenges associated with utilising Internet technologies to enable the external communication aspect of integrated reporting. Through its focus on the potential role of Internet communication technologies in integrated reporting, the paper extends the nascent integrated reporting literature and accounting communications research. The paper also offers practical guidance and insights for business and accounting's integrated reporting communication practices. To our knowledge, this is the first conceptual paper to comprehensively examine the role of Internet communication technologies in integrated reporting.


Hmox1 protein holds great promise as a biomarker of organismal health as it is highly expressed in stressed or damaged cells. However, documenting Hmox1 expression patterns has thus far only been feasible in simple model organisms with limited relevance to humans. We now report a new Hmox1 reporter line that makes it possible to access this information in mice, the premiere model system for studying human disease and toxicology. Using a state-of-the-art strategy, we express multiple complementary reporter molecules from the murine Hmox1 locus, including firefly luciferase to allow long-term, non-invasive imaging of Hmox1 expression, and β-galactosidase for high-resolution mapping of expression patterns post-mortem. We validate the model by confirming the absence of haplo-insufficiency effects, the fidelity of reporter expression, and its responsiveness to oxidative and inflammatory stimuli. In addition to providing blueprints for Hmox1 expression in mice that provide novel biological insights for follow-up, this work paves the way for the broad application of this model to regulatory toxicology studies and, also, pre-clinical investigations into human degenerative diseases.


We present a service-oriented personalization system, set in an educational framework, based on a semantic annotation of courses, given at a knowledge level (what the course teaches, what is requested to know for attending it in a profitable way). The system supports users in building personalized curricula, formalized by means of an action theory. It is also possible to verify the compliance of curricula w.r.t. a model, expressing constraints at a knowledge level. For what concerns the first task, classical planning techniques are adopted, which take into account both the student's initial knowledge and her learning goal. Instead, curricula validation is done against a model, formalized as a set of temporal constraints. We have developed a prototype of the planning and validation services, by using -as reasoning enginesSWI-Prolog and the SPIN model checker. Such services will be supplied and combined as plug-andplay personalization services in the Personal Reader framework.


A major adverse effect of levodopa therapy is the development of dyskinesia, which affects 30–40% of chronically treated Parkinsonian patients. We hypothesized that our rehabilitation protocol might allow a reduction in levodopa dosage without worsening motor performances, thus reducing frequency and severity of dyskinesias. Ten Parkinsonian patients underwent a 4-week intensive rehabilitation treatment (IRT). Patients were evaluated at baseline, at the end of the rehabilitation treatment and at 6-month followup. Outcome measures were the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale Sections II, III, and IV (UPDRS II, III, IV) and the Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale (AIMS). At the end of the IRT, levodopa dosage was significantly reduced (P = 0.0035), passing from 1016 ± 327 to 777 ± 333 mg/day. All outcome variables improved significantly (P < 0.0005 all) by the end of IRT. At followup, all variables still maintained better values with respect to admission (P < 0.02 all). In particular AIMS score improved passing from 11.90 ± 6.5 at admission to 3.10 ± 2.3 at discharge and to 4.20 ± 2.7 at followup. Our results suggest that it is possible to act on dyskinesias in Parkinsonian patients with properly designed rehabilitation protocols. Intensive rehabilitation treatment, whose acute beneficial effects are maintained over time, might be considered a valid noninvasive therapeutic support for Parkinsonian patients suffering from diskinesia, allowing a reduction in drugs dosage and related adverse effects.


The multi-linear variable separation approach method is very useful to solve (2+1)-dimensional integrable systems. In this letter, we extend this method to solve (1+1)-dimensional Boiti system, (2+1)-dimensional Burgers system, (2+1)-dimensional breaking soliton system, and (2+1)-dimensional Maccari system. Some new exact solutions are obtained and the universal formula obtained from many (2+1)-dimensional systems is extended or modified.


ABSTRACT Very small eukaryotic organisms (picoeukaryotes) are fundamental components of marine planktonic systems, often accounting for a significant fraction of the biomass and activity in a system. Their identity, however, has remained elusive, since the small cells lack morphological features for identification. We determined the diversity of marine picoeukaryotes by sequencing cloned 18S rRNA genes in five genetic libraries from North Atlantic, Southern Ocean, and Mediterranean Sea surface waters. Picoplankton were obtained by filter size fractionation, a step that excluded most large eukaryotes and recovered most picoeukaryotes. Genetic libraries of eukaryotic ribosomal DNA were screened by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis, and at least one clone of each operational taxonomic unit (OTU) was partially sequenced. In general, the phylogenetic diversity in each library was rather great, and each library included many different OTUs and members of very distantly related phylogenetic groups. Of 225 eukaryotic clones, 126 were affiliated with algal classes, especially the Prasinophyceae, the Prymnesiophyceae, the Bacillariophyceae, and the Dinophyceae. A minor fraction (27 clones) was affiliated with clearly heterotrophic organisms, such as ciliates, the chrysomonad Paraphysomonas, cercomonads, and fungi. There were two relatively abundant novel lineages, novel stramenopiles (53 clones) and novel alveolates (19 clones). These lineages are very different from any organism that has been isolated, suggesting that there are previously unknown picoeukaryotes. Prasinophytes and novel stramenopile clones were very abundant in all of the libraries analyzed. These findings underscore the importance of attempts to grow the small eukaryotic plankton in pure culture.


The effect of tempering temperature, within the range of 400 to 700°C, on the microstructure and hardness of two super-bainitic steels, one as the control parent sample and the other with added Co & Al was investigated. Post-tempering examinations of the super-bainitic samples showed that low temperature tempering cycles (400–500°C) resulted in carbides formation, and some increases in the hardness possibly due to precipitation strengthening in the Co & Al contained steel. Once the tempering temperature increased to 600°C, the hardness plummeted in both steels due to the concurrent coarsening of the bainitic ferrite plates and more precipitation of carbides. At the higher tempering temperature of 700°C, further reduction in the hardness occurred because of the accelerated recovery of ferrite and spheroidization of carbides. This work clearly showed that the super-bainitic steel containing Co & Al had a superior tempering resistance particularly at low tempering temperatures (<500°C) due to reduced carbide precipitation in the presence of Co & Al.


Remote sensing studies suggest that savannahs are transforming into more tree-dominated states; however, progressive nitrogen limitation could potentially retard this putatively CO2-driven invasion. We analysed controls on nitrogen mineralization rates in savannah by manipulating rainfall and the cover of grass and tree elements against the backdrop of the seasonal temperature and rainfall variation. We found that the seasonal pattern of nitrogen mineralization was strongly influenced by rainfall, and that manipulative increases in rainfall could boost mineralization rates. Additionally, mineralization rates were considerably higher on plots with grasses and lower on plots with trees. Our findings suggest that shifting a savannah from a grass to a tree-dominated state can substantially reduce nitrogen mineralization rates, thereby potentially creating a negative feedback on the CO2-induced invasion of savannahs by trees.


Our purpose of this paper is to discuss who should take Precalculus Algebra, not the content of the course. Precalculus Algebra was originally intended for students who would progress to Calculus. However, many non-technical degree programs now require their majors to take it, even though it may be a terminal math course for these students. A review of the mathematics curriculum at various universities was conducted in order to identify similarities and differences regarding this particular course. In addition, a student survey was conducted at Alabama A&M University (AAMU) to determine students' majors, their motivation for taking Precalculus Algebra, their attitude toward it, and the number of times they had taken it, reflecting their long-term success or failure with the course and its concepts. The curriculum reviews and the student surveys led us to question whether we, in the education community, are providing math skills that are relevant to the future careers of the students who are taking this as a terminal course. We propose alternative solutions and content for the different tracks of students taking Precalculus Algebra.


The Levallois reduction strategy was selected from among a number of different lithic strategies available in the Middle Palaeolithic and was employed over a wide geographic area of the Old World for well over 200,000 years. This research attempts to examine the potential advantages of this reduction strategy that led to this long history of use. This requires the development of a model of Middle Palaeolithic lifeways from which can be identified those factors that would have influenced and constrained the design of Middle Palaeolithic stone technology and tool kits. From an understanding of these constraints on stone tool production and use, several hypotheses are developed which would explain the advantages that Levallois reduction would present and under what conditions we would expect it to be employed. These hypotheses are then tested through the analysis of both the morphology of the products of different reduction strategies and of tool blank selection patterns at four Middle Palaeolithic sites in SW and SE France. This analysis indicates that Levallois reduction would present notable advantages under conditions of restricted access to raw material, which may be due to circumstances of increased group mobility or distance from raw material sources. Some functional advantages may also rest in the morphology of certain Levallois products and in the products of similar reduction approaches. It is also apparent that classic Levallois reduction cannot be defined in isolation from other single-surface core strategies, and that much of the advantage of classic Levallois reduction is inherent in all such strategies.


Equipment designed for delivering phototherapy in the home has become available in several parts of the United States in the past few years. Home phototherapy for neonatal hyperbilirubinemia has been suggested as an alternative means of providing care for selected infants while saving much of the cost of continued or added hospitalization. Not enough information is available presently, however, on the safety or efficacy of home phototherapy as compared with alternatives to warrant an endorsement of this form of therapy.
 This statement provides preliminary guidelines for physicians who might choose home phototherapy for their patients. No attempt is made here to address the pros and cons of phototherapy per se or to define types of equipment.
 A physician who considers the use of home phototherapy should limit its use to infants with the following characteristics: (1) term infants, older than 48 hours, otherwise healthy; (2) serum bilirubin concentration greater than 14 mg/dL but less than 18 mg/dL; (3) no elevation in direct-reacting bilirubin concentration; and (4) diagnostic evaluation (described below) negative.
 Prior to therapy, a diagnostic evaluation should include: (1) history and physical examination; (2) hemoglobin concentration or hematocrit; (3) WBC count and differential count; (4) blood smear for red cell morphology platelets; (5) reticulocyte count; (6) total and direct-reacting bilirubin concentration; (7) maternal and infant blood typing and Coombs test; and (8) urinalysis including a test for reducing substances.
 The physician should estimate the rate of rise of the serum bilirubin concentration with laboratory determinations at least four hours apart before home phototherapy is initiated.


For many years flow-rate, temperature, ions and gases content data have been collected from a natural spring located in the Koryakskiy volcano area (Kamchatka, Russia). We have investigated the correlations between the hydrogeochemical data and the areal seismicity represented by the k s values ( k s  is a function of magnitude and hypocentral distance) of the earthquakes. At first we smoothed the raw hydrogeochemical data using a semi-triangle weight function. Then we compared the trends of each smoothed hydrogeochemical parameter with the k s  trend using a running cross-correlation function with a maximum lag of ± 30 days and the main result was that, sometimes, we found 0.7–0.4 cross-correlation coefficients with no lag for flow rate and with + (10 – 15) days lags for some ion and gas contents. The correlation is positive, i.e. flow rate and ion and gas contents increase when k s  increases. This phenomenology could be explained by an underground water pumping produced by some earthquake. We advance the hypothesis that this pumping could be the response of the viscoelastic underground medium of the Koryakskiy volcano to seismic waves. So, sometimes, the supply of elastic energy of the earthquakes may provide the trigger to a catastrophic nucleation of bubbles of this material producing a new melt with a lower density which will tend to expand and cause a pressure increase. This pressure produces a more intensive circulation of underground water and an anomalous increase of the flow rate and subsequently anomalous increases in groundwater ions and gases content.


Throughout the operation of the Camisea Pipeline Transport System ["En el Sistema de Transporte por Ductos"], sites have been identified that are sensitive to landslide phenomena that might jeopardize the integrity of the pipelines. In the rainforest section, during the rainy season (which runs from November to March), the Continuous Monitoring Groups ["Grupos de Vigilancia Continua"] (GVC) for the right-of-way (ROW) program was launched, whose mission is to identify, in the field, the geotechnical conditions for each point, and to define possible maintenance or remediation solutions. The year-to-year reports of the GVCs are used to perform an analysis of the geotechnical condition of each site, which analysis is rated according to the Geointegrity Matrix, so that in this way the Master Plan, which is the program of work activities for a given year, can be established.In October of 2012, several incidents of public disorder occurred in the rainforest section, which led to the departure of the maintenance staff and ultimately the suspension of all activities, including the construction of the remediation and maintenance structures. The activities of the GVCs for the 2012, 2013, and 2014 rainy seasons were also canceled. The situation precluded the acquisition of ROW evaluation information, which is the primary input for the preparation of the Master Plan for the Execution of the Work Activities for each year.In view of this situation, it was necessary to use alternative methods in place of the customary monitoring processes, through overflight surveillance programs, a review of the historical information, and a follow-up based on the existing information.This paper describes the rating methodology that was used to determine the susceptibility of the risk of failure. This methodology allowed us to prioritize the intervention operations at specific points along the ROW that were the subject of stabilization work done on a standby basis, work performed during previous seasons, and locations rated as "High" and "Very High" in the geointegrity matrix.The application of this methodology makes it possible to identify, with a high degree of accuracy, the conditions at a point that is susceptible to an incident, and to compare it for the purposes of prioritization in connection with an intervention operation or the monitoring activities.This methodology provides a rating of the situational status of the point within the Pipeline Transport System (STD), with the incorporation of both recent and historical data.The goal of the Failure Susceptibility Index ["Indice de Susceptibilidad de Falla"] (ISF) evaluation procedure is to determine, in accordance with a set of analytical criteria defined through the preparation of a conceptual model, the conditions of the status of the sites that are susceptible to landslide phenomena, and also to determine a rating that makes it possible, within a cloud of points with similar characteristics, to apply a consistent and reliable method for prioritizing intervention operations (either through structures or through monitoring), and the latent risk condition in relation to the potential risk of a future failure.Copyright © 2015 by ASME


Iterative multiuser decoding based on the sum-product algorithm can give excellent performance. To reduce complexity, inherent maximum a posteriori detection is often replaced by linear MMSE detection combined with parallel successive cancellation. The powers of the users are often unbalanced, either by design to improve performance or due to independent fading in the reverse link. During iterations, the power distribution of the residual interference evolves. This can lead to a severely mismatched MMSE detector after few iterations unless it is re-calculated for every iteration. Here, a computationally less costly approach is presented.


Identity construction is an integral task during late adolescence. In this study, I argue that hip hop music contributes to the process of identity construction among female late adolescents. The contexts that the female late adolescent is exposed to affect her process of identity construction. These contexts include family, friends, peers, religion, and popular culture, among other things. Hip hop music forms part of present-day popular culture. Adolescents have access to this genre of music via the mass media and social networks. The aim of this study is to explore the nature of hip hop's contribution to the identity construction of female late adolescents in South Africa. To this end, I engaged seven female late adolescents in several research activities, which enabled them to make sense of their perceived identities in the context of hip hop music. I then interpreted the participants' stories, in order to understand the process by which hip hop had contributed to their sense of personal identity. The participants in this study were first-year students in the Faculty of Education, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, who were all in the developmental phase of late adolescence. Narrative inquiry and participatory research (PR) approaches were the preferred strategies of data generation. The data-generation techniques included the use of drawings and lyric inquiry. These techniques served to stimulate the generation of narrative data. They also provided frameworks within which the participants could engage with their sense of identity in the context of hip hop music. The research revealed that hip hop music does indeed contribute to the process of personal identity construction of the female late adolescents who participated in the study. It does so by compelling the adolescent to think about herself in relation to her continual self, which draws from her past, present, and future, her interactional self, both at the personal and social levels, and her situational self. The appeal of hip hop to her cognitive capabilities is enhanced through the strong link that hip hop has with her emotions. The significance of this study can be summarised in three points. Firstly, this study provides empirical evidence of hip hop as a meaningful resource for the female adolescent as she constructs her identity. As such, the findings of this study negate the public notion of hip hop as being a bad influence on young people, and provides proof of its significant role in the lives of South African female adolescents. Secondly, this study is important for education in South Africa. The significance of hip hop music in education settings lies in its fundamental communicative capabilities, which can be effectively utilised in the classroom situation. Thirdly, this study strengthens educational research in South Africa, especially research aimed at the liberation and emancipation of female adolescents in South Africa. In this regard, this study provides alternative methodologies of inquiry to conventional research strategies, such as questionnaires and surveys.


BACKGROUND
In Antofagasta, Chile, lead is gathered in bulk in urban zones, contaminating surrounding schools and houses.

AIM
To verify if the environmental lead exposure results in high blood lead levels in children living near lead storage sites.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Four hundred eighty-six children under 7 years old, living near lead storage sites and 75 children living far away form these sites, were studied. An inquiry was applied and venous blood was drawn. Air, soil and water lead concentrations were also measured.

RESULTS
Lead geometric mean concentrations in exposed children were 8.7 micrograms/dL and 4.22 micrograms/dL in unexposed children. Forty seven percent of exposed children and no unexposed children had lead levels over 10 micrograms/dL. The distance of dwellings from lead storage sites, their geographic location and their antiquity were significantly associated with high blood lead levels. Multivariate models disclosed that people living in contaminated sites have an odds ratio of 24.9 for high blood lead levels.

CONCLUSIONS
Environmental lead contamination is significantly associated with high blood lead levels.


This thesis is comprised of three essays on international macroeconomics. The first chapter examines empirically both the long-run and short-run impacts of the exchange rate volatility on manufacturing sector and bilateral exports during the sample period of 1999-2010 in five major ASEAN countries. A set of autoregressive distributed lag bounds tests are applied to examine the long-run level relationships among the variables, and long-run impacts of exchange rate volatility on exports. Seemingly unrelated regressions models with error corrections are estimated to capture shortrun dynamics. Significant and negative impacts of exchange rate volatility on exports are widely observed, which suggests risk averse exporters shift resources away from exporting to reduce exposure to higher exchange rate risk. The second chapter employs the economic policy uncertainty index (EPU) developed by Baker et al. (2013) to empirically examine its effect on economic growth across both advanced and emerging countries over 1985-2006. In addition, this study aims to identify the channels through which the EPU affects economic growth. A series of Kiviet's estimators are utilized for this dynamic panel data analysis. The results confirm that higher economic policy uncertainty reduces economic growth and the three channels of economic growth, physical capital accumulation, human capital accumulation, and total factor productivity (TFP) for both country groups. The third chapter develops a set of two-country open economy dynamic stochastic general equilibrium models to explore cross-country correlations among real variables. The third chapter develops a set of two-country open economy dynamic stochastic general equilibrium models to explore cross-country correlations among real variables. One contribution to the literature is to differentiate skilled and unskilled labour and to allow capital-skill complementarity in a cross-country setup. The other contribution is to seek features of modeling that affect international comovements among real variables. I find that these models are capable of resolving the existing international comovement puzzles even without the additive habit formations and retaining the key statistical characteristics of real variables in accordance to the data. Quantitative results indicate that spillovers between monetary policies and TFPs, and price stickiness are the three major factors that drive the international comovements among real variables. This finding overturns the conclusion by Dmitriev and Krznar (2012) that internal habit formation is the main driver for international comovements.


In Part I of this thesis we employ novel econometric techniques to explore elicitation anomalies in contingent valuation (CV). According to standard assumptions regarding preferences, changes in the way values are elicited in CV questions should be decision irrelevant. That responses are observed to systematically differ according to elicitation
format has, therefore, called the CV method into question. One possible explanation lies in the proposition that respondents are uncertain about their preferences and that their uncertainty precipitates systematically different responses to different question formats. We test this hypothesis using data from a split-sample CV survey. We analyse
our data using an innovative application of a semi-parametric estimator more commonly used for duration modelling in the medical sciences but find that uncertainty alone cannot explain away common elicitation anomalies.
In Part II we employ simulation modelling and experimental techniques to investigate payment for ecosystem services (PES) schemes that involve multiple buyers. In Chapter 2, we explore opportunities for buyers in PES scheme to realise Paretoimproving outcomes through spatial coordination in their independent purchases of changes to land-management practices. We develop a simulation environment
imitating a heterogeneous agricultural landscape and using techniques of integer-linear programming solve for outcomes under different institutional arrangements. Our simulations allow us to explore how gains from negotiated or fully-cooperative purchasing differ across different configurations of landscape and buyer objectives. In
Chapter 3, we investigate negotiation as a multiple-purchaser ecosystem service procurement mechanism. We design and conduct novel three-person bargaining experiments in which two potential buyers can negotiate not only between each other but also with a seller of ecosystem services. We find that negotiated deals can be reached that are mutually advantageous to all parties. In all treatment scenarios
presented, the vast majority of groups are able to reach agreements; in addition, these agreements are reached relatively quickly.


It was a dream to make computers intelligent. Like humans who are capable of understanding information of multiple modalities such as video, text, audio, etc., teaching computers to jointly understand multi-modal information is a necessary and essential step towards artificial intelligence. And how to jointly represent multi-modal information is critical to such step. Although a lot of efforts have been devoted to exploring the representation of each modality individually, it is an open and challenging problem to learn joint multi-modal representation.In this dissertation, we explore joint image-text representation models based on Visual-Semantic Embedding (VSE). VSE has been recently proposed and shown to be effective for joint representation. The key idea is that by learning a mapping from images into a semantic space, the algorithm is able to learn a compact and effective joint representation. However, existing approaches simply map each text concept and each whole image to single points in the semantic space. We propose several novel visual-semantic embedding models that use (1) text concept modeling, (2) image-level modeling, and (3) object-level modeling. In particular, we first introduce a novel Gaussian Visual-Semantic Embedding (GVSE) model that leverages the visual information to model text concepts as density distributions rather than single points in semantic space. Then, we propose Multiple Instance Visual-Semantic Embedding (MIVSE) via image-level modeling, which discovers and maps the semantically meaningful image sub-regions to their corresponding text labels. Next, we present a fine-grained object-level representation in images, Scene-Domain Active Part Models (SDAPM), that reconstructs and characterizes 3D geometric statistics between object's parts in 3D scene-domain. Finally, we explore advanced joint representations for other visual and textual modalities, including joint image-sentence representation and joint video-sentence representation.Extensive experiments have demonstrated that the proposed joint representation models are superior to existing methods on various tasks involving image, video and text modalities, including image annotation, zero-shot learning, object and parts detection, pose and viewpoint estimation, image classification, text-based image retrieval, image captioning, video annotation, and text-based video retrieval.


Many invertebrate species use the microhabitats generated by barnacles to settle and to avoid predation and desiccation. In Argentina, the acorn barnacle Balanus glandula not only colonizes rocky shores but has also successfully invaded soft bottom salt marshes, where it form large three-dimensional structures that facilitate the presence of other invertebrates, thus affecting the whole species assemblage. Artificial barnacles were deployed on a Patagonian salt marsh to reproduce the physical structure of natural aggregates. The experiment included natural and material controls and two levels of structural complexity that represent the variety of aggregates found in nature: a) aggregates with internal empty spaces and galleries among barnacles and b) aggregates without spaces and galleries. After nine months, the macroinvertebrate assemblages were compared between treatments. The results showed that the composition of the assemblage differed significantly between artificial treatments and control plots. However, there was no effect of the mimic barnacles on macroinvertebrate richness and diversity. In this way, our results suggest that the physical structure of B. glandula could modify the composition of macroinvertebrate assemblages. Besides, B. glandula recruits were registered on the mimics highlighting the importance that the physical structure supplied by this species could have on its own persistence within invaded soft bottom salt marshes.https://doi.org/10.25260/EA.18.104.22.168.407


[1] Earthquakes in seismically active regions of the world are known to be associated with a variety of spatial and temporal patterns. Examples include precursory quiescence or activation, seismic clustering, and Mogi donuts. Although the characteristics of these patterns can be qualitatively described, a systematic quantitative analysis has proved elusive. In this paper we employ a new method, developed using numerical simulations, that allows a systematic quantification of the spatial and temporal characteristics of the patterns in historic seismicity in southern California. This method decomposes a set of boolean activity functions, representing historic seismicity, into their orthonormal eigenvalues and eigenfunctions. Here we show the results of this analysis which strongly support the hypothesis that seismic activity is highly correlated across many space scales and timescales within large volumes of the Earth's crust.


Lake Malawi in eastern Africa harbors >500 endemic species of cichlid fishes, all of which are believed to have emerged from a single founding population in the past 2 Myr. Molecular characterization of differences among the species could provide important information about the nature of speciation in the period of adaptive radiation. Because of the close relationship, however, molecular variation among the species has been difficult to ascertain. In this communication, we provide evidence for extensive differences, in major-histocompatibility-complex (Mhc) class II genes, between two related species, Pseudotropheus zebra and Melanochromis auratus. We used specific primers to amplify and sequence intron 1 and exon 2 of the class II genes from 18 individuals. Although we found 20 different sequences among the 42 that we produced, there was not a single sequence shared by the two species. Thus the study suggests that different cichlid species of Lake Malawi have different profiles of class II alleles, presumably because the polymorphism present in the ancestral founding population segregated differentially into the various species. These results make Mhc genes an important tool for elucidating speciation.


Self-tuning aircraft engine models can be applied for control and health management applications. The self-tuning feature of these models minimizes the mismatch between any given engine and the underlying engineering model describing an engine family. This paper provides details of the construction of a self-tuning engine model centered on a piecewise linear Kalman filter design. Starting from a nonlinear transient aerothermal model, a piecewise linear representation is first extracted. The linearization procedure creates a database of trim vectors and state-space matrices that are subsequently scheduled for interpolation based on engine operating point. A series of steady-state Kalman gains can next be constructed from a reduced-order form of the piecewise linear model. Reduction of the piecewise linear model to an observable dimension with respect to available sensed engine measurements can be achieved using either a subset or an optimal linear combination of "health" parameters, which describe engine performance. The resulting piecewise linear Kalman filter is then implemented for faster-than-real-time processing of sensed engine measurements, generating outputs appropriate for trending engine performance, estimating both measured and unmeasured parameters for control purposes, and performing on-board gas-path fault diagnostics. Computational efficiency is achieved by designing multidimensional interpolation algorithms that exploit the shared scheduling of multiple trim vectors and system matrices. An example application illustrates the accuracy of a self-tuning piecewise linear Kalman filter model when applied to a nonlinear turbofan engine simulation. Additional discussions focus on the issue of transient response accuracy and the advantages of a piecewise linear Kalman filter in the context of validation and verification. The techniques described provide a framework for constructing efficient self-tuning aircraft engine models from complex nonlinear simulations.Self-tuning aircraft engine models can be applied for control and health management applications. The self-tuning feature of these models minimizes the mismatch between any given engine and the underlying engineering model describing an engine family. This paper provides details of the construction of a self-tuning engine model centered on a piecewise linear Kalman filter design. Starting from a nonlinear transient aerothermal model, a piecewise linear representation is first extracted. The linearization procedure creates a database of trim vectors and state-space matrices that are subsequently scheduled for interpolation based on engine operating point. A series of steady-state Kalman gains can next be constructed from a reduced-order form of the piecewise linear model. Reduction of the piecewise linear model to an observable dimension with respect to available sensed engine measurements can be achieved using either a subset or an optimal linear combination of "health" parameters, which describe engine performance. The resulting piecewise linear Kalman filter is then implemented for faster-than-real-time processing of sensed engine measurements, generating outputs appropriate for trending engine performance, estimating both measured and unmeasured parameters for control purposes, and performing on-board gas-path fault diagnostics. Computational efficiency is achieved by designing multidimensional interpolation algorithms that exploit the shared scheduling of multiple trim vectors and system matrices. An example application illustrates the accuracy of a self-tuning piecewise linear Kalman filter model when applied to a nonlinear turbofan engine simulation. Additional discussions focus on the issue of transient response accuracy and the advantages of a piecewise linear Kalman filter in the context of validation and verification. The techniques described provide a framework for constructing efficient self-tuning aircraft engine models from complex nonlinear simulatns.


In a previous paper (Popov D 2001 J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 34 5283) we have constructed the coherent states (CSs) of the pseudoharmonic oscillator (PHO). These states are of the Barut–Girardello type. In the present paper, we have constructed and investigated some properties of the photon-added Barut–Girardello coherent states (PA-BGCSs) of the PHO. These states are not orthogonal but are normalized and satisfy a unity resolution relation (the completeness relation). We have found the analytical form for the positive weight function in the resolution of unity. By using these states, we have calculated some expectation values (the first two powers of the number operator N), which have evinced some non-classical properties. In order to examine the statistical properties of a PHO gas, which obeys the quantum canonical distribution, the diagonal P-representation of the density operator ρ(m) is constructed and the thermal expectation values are calculated. All these quantities are expressed in terms of Meijer G-functions, and so the PA-BGCSs are a new field of application for these functions. Also, the time dependence of the PA-BGCSs is examined. If in the obtained results we put m = 0, we recover all the results from our previous paper.


Polyribosomes, ribosomes, and ribosomal subunits were prepared from rat liver using sodium deoxycholate and a variety of ionic media. They were examined in the electron microscope, mainly as negatively or positively stained preparations, and in the analytical ultracentrifuge. The polyribosomes consist of up to twelve or more ribosomes linked by a fine strand, 10 to 15 A in diameter, probably of RNA. The ribosomes are approximately spherical with diameters of 250 to 300 A, and are estimated to be about 50 per cent porous. Possibly because of their high protein content, whole ribosomes show no cleavage furrows. Ribosomes were dissociated in phosphate buffer and the subunits separated on sucrose density gradients containing 10 per cent formalin. Three classes of subunit were obtained with sedimentation coefficients of 71S, 50S, and 31S respectively. The smallest, 31S subunit is about 250 A long by 100 A wide. The largest subunits appear to be clusters of smaller particles. It is estimated from their linear dimensions in electron micrographs that the whole 83S ribosome could contain up to six 31S subunits, or their equivalent.


More and more industries are aspiring to achieve a successful production using the known artificial intelligence. Machine learning (ML) stands as a powerful tool for making very accurate predictions, concept classification, intelligent control, maintenance predictions, and even fault and anomaly detection in real time. The use of machine learning models in industry means an increase in efficiency: energy savings, human resources efficiency, increase in product quality, decrease in environmental pollution, and many other advantages. In this chapter, we will present two industrial applications of machine learning. In all cases we achieve interesting results that in practice can be translated as an increase in production efficiency. The solutions described cover areas such as prediction of production quality in an oil and gas refinery and predictive maintenance for micro gas turbines. The results of the experiments carried out show the viability of the solutions.


The United States' commitment to adversarial justice is a defining feature of its legal system. Standing doctrine, for example, is supposed to ensure that courts can rely on adverse parties to present the facts courts need to resolve disputes. Although the U.S. legal system generally lives up to this adversarial ideal, it sometimes does not. Appellate courts often look outside the record the parties developed before the trial court, turning instead to their own independent research and to factual claims in amicus briefs. This deviation from the adversarial process is an important respect in which the nation's adversarial commitment is more myth than reality. This myth is problematic for many reasons, including the fact that it obscures the extent to which some of the most significant cases the Supreme Court decides, such as Citizens United v. FEC, rely upon "facts" that have not been subjected to rigorous adversarial testing. The adversarial myth exists because the U.S. legal system's current procedures were designed to address adjudicative facts — facts particularly within the knowledge of the parties — but many cases turn instead on legislative facts — more general facts about the state of the world. Recognizing this distinction between adjudicative and legislative facts helps identify those cases in which existing practices undermine, rather than promote, adversarial justice. This Article concludes with suggestions for reform, including liberalizing standing doctrine when legislative facts are at issue. If courts are going to turn to nonparties for help in resolving disputes of legislative fact, it is better that they be brought into the process earlier so the factual claims they offer can be rigorously tested.


Polarization of an immune response toward tolerance or immunity is dictated by the interactions between T cells and dendritic cells (DC), which in turn are modulated by the expression of distinct cell surface molecules, and the cytokine milieu in which these interactions are taking place. Genetic modification of DC with genes coding for specific immunoregulatory cell surface molecules and cytokines offers the potential of inhibiting immune responses by selectively targeting Ag-specific T cells. In this study, the immunomodulatory effects of transfecting murine bone marrow-derived DC with Fas ligand (FasL) were investigated. In this study, we show that FasL transfection of DC markedly augmented their capacity to induce apoptosis of Fas+ cells. FasL-transfected DC inhibited allogeneic MLR in vitro, and induced hyporesponsiveness to alloantigen in vivo. The induction of hyporesponsiveness was Ag specific and was dependent on the interaction between FasL on DC and Fas on T cells. Finally, we show that transfusion of FasL-DC significantly prolonged the survival of fully MHC-mismatched vascularized cardiac allografts. Our findings suggest that DC transduced with FasL may facilitate the development of Ag-specific unresponsiveness for the prevention of organ rejection. Moreover, they highlight the potential of genetically engineering DC to express other genes that affect immune responses.


In this paper, a new welding experiment is studied by applying an additional longitudinal electromagnetic field to CO2 welding process (abbr. LEM-CO2 welding).The characteristics of droplet transfer, macrostructure and microstructure are compared between LEM- CO2 welding and general CO2 welding on Q235 low carbon steel thick plate joint. The research results shows that, an additional longitudinal magnetic field can have a significant effect on properties of the droplet transfer in CO2 welding, the frequency and stability of the droplet transfer in LEM-CO2 welding are improved. The grains of welding seam are refined and welding joints has a higher quality. So the additional longitudinal magnetic field is a very simple and effective method to improve the properties of CO2 welding thick plate joint.


Objective: To compare characteristics and clinical outcomes of adolescent athletes with immediate and delayed onset of symptoms following sport-related concussion (SRC). A secondary objective was to describe the symptoms that are delayed and the timing of symptom onset. Design: Prospective, repeated measures study. Setting: Concussion Specialty Clinic. Participants: One hundred fifty-two participants (63.3% men) aged 11 to 24 (15.78 ± 3.47) evaluated within 7 days (3.47 ± 1.66) of sustaining an SRC. Independent Variable: Group classification of immediate (IMMEDIATE) or delayed onset of symptoms (DELAYED; >60 seconds following mechanism of injury) through structured clinical interview. Main Outcome Measures: Group comparisons on demographic and medical history factors, concussion and clinical profile symptom scores, computerized neurocognitive test scores, vestibular/oculomotor screening scores, and days to medical clearance. Results: 24.3% of athletes in the sample were DELAYED. The groups did not differ on demographics and medical history. The DELAYED group had increased likelihood of posttraumatic migraine (PTM) as a primary/secondary clinical profile (P = 0.03). Groups did not differ on any other clinical profiles (P > 0.05). Groups did not differ on recovery time (P = 0.47), the IMMEDIATE group higher dizziness on vestibular/ocular motor screening (P = 0.016) and increased likelihood of dizziness being the initial symptom experienced (P < 0 .001). Conclusions: The results indicated that delayed onset of symptoms in athletes were relatively common following SRC, supporting continued evaluation of athletes for several days following suspected injuries. Delayed onset of symptoms was associated with PTM, whereas immediate onset was associated with more pronounced vestibular dysfunction, suggesting that clinicians should consider the timing of symptom onset when assessing and treating athletes following SRC.


The purpose of this case report was to describe the effects of an aquatic exercise program with an individual with fibromyalgia. A 59 year old female school teacher with fibromyalgia participated in an aquatic therapy program for a period of four and one-half months in a community-based therapeutic recreation setting. Shortly after participation was initiated, she reported relief from acute pain. Later, improvement in the degree to which pain interfered with functional activities was noted. In particular, she reported returning to work on a half-time basis and regained the stamina to participate in her favorite recreation and social activities. Findings from this case are consistent with those obtained from larger clinical trials using exercise interventions with persons diagnosed with fibromyalgia. Implications for community-based therapeutic recreation are discussed.


In many problem settings, parameter vectors are not merely sparse, but dependent in such a way that non-zero coefficients tend to cluster together. We refer to this form of dependency as "region sparsity". Classical sparse regression methods, such as the lasso and automatic relevance determination (ARD), model parameters as independent a priori, and therefore do not exploit such dependencies. Here we introduce a hierarchical model for smooth, region-sparse weight vectors and tensors in a linear regression setting. Our approach represents a hierarchical extension of the relevance determination framework, where we add a transformed Gaussian process to model the dependencies between the prior variances of regression weights. We combine this with a structured model of the prior variances of Fourier coefficients, which eliminates unnecessary high frequencies. The resulting prior encourages weights to be region-sparse in two different bases simultaneously. We develop efficient approximate inference methods and show substantial improvements over comparable methods (e.g., group lasso and smooth RVM) for both simulated and real datasets from brain imaging.


True or false: "when the legislature has spoken, the public interest has been declared in terms well-nigh conclusive." Still true, technically speaking: legislative determinations about whether a taking is in the public interest are entitled to a high degree of judicial deference if challenged. But after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Kelo v. City of New London, that phrase no longer means that if the government wants to take property, the courts will simply rubber stamp it. Kelo reinvigorated judicial and public interest in the Public Use requirement of the Fifth Amendment and its counterparts in state constitutions and courts nationwide are more willing to examine the reasons for a taking than ever before. This article summarizes recent developments in litigation challenging the ability of condemning authorities to take property. There were couple of blockbuster cases from New York state courts, and these cases are summarized in Part I, but overall, the developments in the law were incremental. Consequently, this article will focus not only on cases where public use was challenged, but will include in Part II cases where other limitations on the eminent domain power such as delegation and choice of forum were analyzed. Finally, Part III summarizes recent cases involving recovery of attorneys fees for unsuccessful condemnations, an issue which is sure to grow should courts continue to be more willing to invalidate takings.


ABSTRACT Pollen and seed dispersal patterns greatly influence the spatial distribution of plant genetic diversity. Microsatellite-based parentage analysis provides accurate estimates of contemporary gene dispersal. Although most tropical trees have been shown to exhibit widespread pollen dispersal, few studies have estimated contemporary gene dispersal after seedling establishment. Bertholletia excelsa (Lecythidaceae) is pollinated by large-bodied bees, while previous seed-tracking experiments suggest their seeds are mainly dispersed across very short distances by scatter-hoarding rodents, who primarily act as seed predators. Here we used parentage analysis to provide contemporary estimates of pollen and seed dispersal in B. excelsa recruits. We examined six 25-ha plots located in two natural stands in the Acre River valley, in the southwestern Brazilian Amazon. We used 11 microsatellite markers to estimate genetic diversity and fixation index parameters in adults, seedlings and saplings. Genetic diversity was moderate and did not differ across size classes or sampling locations. We assigned pollen and seed parents for < 20% of the recruits, indicating that most events of realized gene flow occurred beyond our 25-ha plots. Only 10 parentage assignments were confirmed with 80% confidence. Pollen distance ranged from 33 to 372 m and seed dispersal from 58 to 655 m. Actual seed-dispersal distances were far greater than the estimates obtained in previous seed-tracking experiments. Thus, studies encompassing larger sampling areas are necessary to determine a more representative spatial scale of B. excelsa's pollen and seed dispersal capacity in natural stands.


The heavy metals extent and anthropogenic pollution sources in the Anzali Wetland in the southern coast of the Caspian Sea were the main focus of this research. The area of this study is 193 km 2 . This wetland has ecological importance as it hosts migratory birds in the southwest Caspian Sea. The heavy metal pollution study as well as some major element determination studies were carried out on the collected core sediment samples from the wetland and the its related major river sediments. Concentrations of Al, Ca, Fe, K, Mg, Na, Mn, P, and Ti, and trace elements such as Li, Ba, Sr, As, Cd, Cr, Co, Cu, Mo, Ni, Pb, V, Zn, Bi, and S were measured and analyzed using ICP-MS. Statistical analyses of cluster and principal component were carried out on these geochemical data. The results showed that the Hendekhale and Shijan sections of the Wetland were the most polluted, whereas the Siakishom section was the least polluted. The results also revealed As, Cd, Cu, Co, Ni, and Mo elements in the Siakishom section and As, V, Pb, Cd, Co, Ni, Mo, Bi, Cr, and Zn in the HendeKhaleh section and As, Cd, Bi, Cu, Mo, Ni, Pb, and Zn in the Shijan section have anthropogenic pollution sources. However, V, Cr, and other selected elements had natural sources. Agricultural activities in the related watersheds were hypothesized as significant contributors of the pollution in the sediments of main parts of the wetland. For future studies, it is recommended to partition the collected sediment samples into coarse, medium and fine particle sizes so that the sources of pollution would be more precisely determined.


Parasitic infections lead to significant morbidity and mortality, especially in tropical regions. The renal damage caused by these infections occurs via various mechanisms. Two forms of parasitic echinococcus infection widely responsible for infection in humans are Echinococcus granulosus and Echinococcus multilocularis. E. multilocularis causes Alveolar echinococcus infection in humans. Alveolar echinococcus has high mortality, and the possible limits of surgery are generally exceeded by the time of diagnosis. The literature contains no case reports of comorbidity of alveolar echinococcus and glomerulonephritis. Here we discuss the treatment of a patient with comorbid mesangioproliferative glomerulonephritis and alveolar echinococcus, behaving like a tumor, using albendazole since there was no possibility of surgery. This is the first ever such case report.


Abstract This paper examines the possibility of using the principle of conservation of canonical momentum applied to heavy ion beam orbits to obtain an estimate of the local poloidal flux at the position of ionization in a tokamak plasma. The presence of a nonaxisymmetrical ripple field, induced by the discreteness of the toroidal field coils, precludes a strict application of the principle. However, the results suggest that toroidal ripple in regions outside the plasma can be accounted for using knowledge of the particle beam's initial position and angular momentum together with measurements of the secondary beam's position and angular momentum to obtain an accurate estimate of the local poloidal flux in the plasma. A way of measuring the toroidal momentum of the secondaries is proposed, using two position measurements along the trajectory. The proposed method potentially provides powerful constraints if combined with an equilibrium code for solving the Grad-Shafranov equation.


This study explores the discursive construction of corporate identity in disclosure statements about non-financial performance. The corpus for analysis consists of the Sustainability Reports published by Vodafone, the British telecommunications company, over twelve fiscal years, from 2000/2001 to 2011/2012. After retrieving instances of self-references in subject position and quantifying them, the collocational profile of the two most frequent forms, i.e. Vodafone and we, will be described paying attention to the textual meanings most often associated with them through the analysis of concordance lines and their classification in functional groups (Mahlberg 2007). Due to its relatively long and consistent tradition of social and environmental reporting, Vodafone is eligible for a case study of whether and how its corporate identity has changed over time. Therefore, self-presentation patterns will be examined not only in the corpus as a whole, but also in individual subcorpora to gather evidence of possible rhetorical shifts in the way Vodafone has shaped and reshaped its corporate identity.


We have carried out the first general submillimeter analysis of the field toward GRSMC 45.46+0.05, a massive star-forming region in Aquila. The deconvolved 6 deg2 (3° × 2°) maps provided by BLAST in 2005 at 250, 350, and 500 μm were used to perform a preliminary characterization of the clump population previously investigated in the infrared, radio, and molecular maps. Interferometric CORNISH data at 4.8 GHz have also been used to characterize the Ultracompact H ii regions (UCHiiRs) within the main clumps. By means of the BLAST maps, we have produced an initial census of the submillimeter structures that will be observed by Herschel, several of which are known Infrared Dark Clouds. Our spectral energy distributions of the main clumps in the field, located at ∼7 kpc, reveal an active population with temperatures of T∼ 35–40 K and masses of ∼103 M☉ for a dust emissivity index β = 1.5. The clump evolutionary stages range from evolved sources, with extended H ii regions and prominent IR stellar population, to massive young stellar objects, prior to the formation of an UCHiiR. The CORNISH data have revealed the details of the stellar content and structure of the UCHiiRs. In most cases, the ionizing stars corresponding to the brightest radio detections are capable of accounting for the clump bolometric luminosity, in most cases powered by embedded OB stellar clusters.


Introduction: Autophagy is an evolutionary conserved intracellular catabolic process which involves the degradation of a cell's own components. The degradation happens in two (2)main pathways: the ubiquitin-proteasome system that degrades short-lived proteins, and the autophagy system that degrades long-lived proteins and damaged organelles. There are three known different pathways of autophagy being; (1) macroautophagy (2) microautophagy and (3) chaperone-mediated autophagy The ubiquitin-binding protein p62 (SQSTM1) is the scaffold protein that binds to proteins that are to undergo macroautophagy, while BAG3 is known for its involvement in chaperonemediated
autophagy (CMA). Any possible interaction between Bag3 and p62 of which would indicate convergence of CMA and macroautophagy where p62 is a major factor.
Aims: To investigate any interaction between BAG3 and p62 or their co-localization in HeLa cells.
Methods: Protein-protein interaction using GST pulldown and visualization of interaction with Coomassie blue staining and western blot. The investigation of co-localization was done through fluorescence confocal microscopy
Results: BAG3 does not co-localize with p62wt or p62 (R7A/D69A)/ p62 (R21A/D69A), but has some interaction and co-localization with p62 (d123-339) and p62 (124-440). This suggests that BAG3 interact with p62 in the region amino acids 339-440. This is the region
containing LIR, KIR and UBA domains of p62. Surprisingly, we found interaction between
the p62 deletions constructs p62 (d123-339) and p62 (124-440) but not with the wild type p62. This may lie in the fact that p62 forms polymers making the reaction sites unavailable, or that the small constructs of p62 do not fold properly and get bound to BAG3 for destination to CMA.
A further investigation is required using in vitro translation and radioactive analysis of BAG3 and p62 interaction, and also in vivo co-immunoprecipitation could be performed.