Microtubule-associated serine/threonine kinase 1 (MAST1) is a central driver of cisplatin resistance in human cancers. However, the molecular mechanism regulating MAST1 levels in cisplatin-resistant tumors is unknown. Through a proteomics screen, we identified the heat shock protein 90 B (hsp90B) chaperone as a direct MAST1 binding partner essential for its stabilization. Targeting hsp90B sensitized cancer cells to cisplatin predominantly through MAST1 destabilization. Mechanistically, interaction of hsp90B with MAST1 blocked ubiquitination of MAST1 at lysines 317 and 545 by the E3 ubiquitin ligase CHIP and prevented proteasomal degradation. The hsp90B-MAST1-CHIP signaling axis and its relationship with cisplatin response were clinically validated in cancer patients. Furthermore, combined treatment with a hsp90 inhibitor and the MAST1 inhibitor lestaurtinib further abrogated MAST1 activity and consequently enhanced cisplatin-induced tumor growth arrest in a patient-derived xenograft model. Our study not only uncovers the regulatory mechanism of MAST1 in tumors but also suggests a promising combinatorial therapy to overcome cisplatin resistance in human cancers.


Satellite altimetry is the only method to monitor global changes in sea-ice thickness and volume over decades. Such missions (e.g., ERS, Envisat, ICESat, CryoSat-2) are based on the conversion of freeboard into thickness by assuming hydrostatic equilibrium. Freeboard, the height of the ice above the water level, is therefore a crucial parameter. Freeboard is a relative quantity, computed by subtracting the instantaneous sea surface height from the sea-ice surface elevations. Hence, the impact of geophysical range corrections depends on the performance of the interpolation between subsequent leads to retrieve the sea surface height, and the magnitude of the correction. In this study, we investigate this impact by considering CryoSat-2 sea-ice freeboard retrievals in autumn and spring. Our findings show that major parts of the Arctic are not noticeably affected by the corrections. However, we find areas with very low lead density like the multiyear ice north of Canada, and landfast ice zones, where the impact can be substantial. In March 2015, 7.17% and 2.69% of all valid CryoSat-2 freeboard grid cells are affected by the ocean tides and the inverse barometric correction by more than 1 cm. They represent by far the major contributions among the impacts of the individual corrections.


Vomitory effect of 16 chosen acridine derivatives was observed on pigeons. The expected effect of the preparations as well as their interaction with, causing vomiting lobeline were considered. Two groups were distinguished: 1) preparations which alone caused vomitory reaction (C-283, C-410, C-541, C-609, C-684, C-702, C-829, C-835, C-846, C-1006 and C-1020). 2) Preparations which caused this effect while combined with a subthreshold dose of lobeline (C-429, C-516, C-666, C-857 and C-1005). Dependence of the effects on chemical structure and pharmacological activity of the compounds is discussed.


Background: Aphanizomenon flos-aquae (AFA) is a unicellular cyanobacterium considered to be a "superfood" for its complete nutritional profile and beneficial properties. We investigated possible beneficial effects of an AFA extract, commercialized as AphaMax®, containing concentrated amount of phycocyanins and phytochrome, in 2,4 dinitrobenzensulfonic acid(DNBS)-induced colitis in rats. Methods: Effects of preventive oral treatment of AphaMax® (20, 50 or 100 mg/kg/day) in colitic rats were assessed and then macroscopic and microscopic analyses were performed to evaluate the inflammation degree. Myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity and NF-κB, pro-inflammatory citockines, cycloxygenase-2 (COX-2), and inducible NOS (iNOS) levels of expression were determined, as Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) and nitrite levels. Results: AphaMax® treatment attenuated the severity of colitis ameliorating clinical signs. AphaMax® reduced the histological colonic damage and decreased MPO activity, NF-κB activation, as well as iNOS and COX-2 expression. AphaMax® treatment improved the altered immune response associated with colonic inflammation reducing IL-1β, IL-6 expression. Lastly, AphaMax® reduced oxidative stress, decreasing ROS and nitrite levels. Conclusions: Preventive treatment with AphaMax® attenuates the severity of the inflammation in DNBS colitis rats involving decrease of the NF-kB activation, reduction of iNOS and COX-2 expression, and inhibition of oxidative stress. Due its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant proprieties AphaMax® could be a good candidate as a complementary drug in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) treatment.


Objective: The objective of this EBM review is to determine whether the use of intestinal helminths is safe and effective in the treatment of allergic rhinitis. Study design: Review of three English language, blinded randomized controlled trials from 2009, 2010, and 2010. Data source: Randomized, controlled, blinded trials comparing the use of intestinal helminths versus visually matched placebo as a treatment for allergic rhinitis found using PubMed and Ovid databases. Outcomes measured: Several different systems were used to evaluate the symptoms or occurrence of AR. Bager et al.2010 uses symptom scores of AR scale of 0 to 3. Feary et al.2009 used the Juniper rhinoconjunctivitis quality of life questionnaire. Flohr et al.2010 used the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC). Mean symptom score and incidence recorded in daily diaries were used for adverse events. Results: Bager et al.2010 reported a mean difference in symptom scores of AR as 0.0 a t-test produced a p-value of 0.87 with a 95% CI 0.0(-0.5, 0.4). Feary et al.2009 reported no difference between the treatment and control groups (MD 0.33, 95% CI -0.27 to 0.93). No serious adverse events were reported in Bager et al.2010 or Feary et al.2009. There were several gastrointestinal adverse events reported including indigestion, flatus, upper abdominal pain and diarrhea. Flohr et al.2010 reported a mean difference of 1.39 between experimental and control groups 95% CI (0.89-2.15) with a P-value of 0.1. The relative risk increase of AR was 37% after treatment. Absolute risk increase or AR was 1.8%. The number needed to harm (in this case cause AR after elimination of helminthic infection) was 56 patients. Conclusions: The efficacy of intestinal helminths as a treatment for Allergic rhinitis is inconclusive. The P-values comparing the effect of treatment to placebo were not statistically significant. The controlled administration of helminths can be considered safe since there have been no reports of severe adverse events. Mild Gastrointestinal adverse events have been reported. Flohr et al.2010 demonstrates possible protective actions of helminthes but more research is warranted to obtain more conclusive data.


The CERN analysis preservation portal (CAP) comprises a set of tools and services aiming to assist researchers in describing and preserving all the components of a physics analysis such as data, software and computing environment. Together with the associated documentation, all these assets are kept in one place so that the analysis can be fully or partially reused even several years after the publication of the original scientific results. An experimentspecific submission and retrieval interface has been developed for the CMS Collaboration. It integrates with the CMS internal analysis registry (CADI) to capture all analyses with basic information, complemented with a detailed submission form for full information. The CMS data aggregation system (DAS) is interfaced to the deposit form to assist in filling in exact dataset names used in the analysis to ensure searchability. Efforts are ongoing to describe physics content for an intelligent retrieval, and to interface with container solutions for full reproducibility for selected test cases.


Introduction/Purpose To report our long-term results of mechanical angioplasty using stentrievers for recurred symptomatic cerebral vasospasm in subarachnoid hemorrhage patients. Materials and Methods We retrospectively reviewed medical records and radiological images of 7 patients who developed delayed vasospasm following subarachnoid hemorrhage and showed recurrence after initial angioplasty using intra-arterial vasodilator infusion from 2014 to 2017 at our institution. For those patients, we temporarily deployed a stentriever in the spastic branches for 3 min for mechanical vasodilation under general anesthesia and full heparinization. Three available stentrievers (Solitaire, Trevo, Revive) were used. We evaluated the clinical and radiological outcomes including recurrence rates and feasibility. Results A total of 39 stentriever-angioplasties were attempted for proximal or distal vessels. Deliveries and deployments of the stentrievers to the targeted spastic segments were feasible in all of the procedures before the intra-arterial infusion of vasodilator. Instant angiographical vasodilations were acquired in 33 (85%) vessels after retrieval of stentrievers. Follow-up images showed no significant recurrence of vasospasm in the vessels dilated by the stentrievers. Neurological improvements were noted in 6 (86%) patients after the procedures which include subsequent intra-arterial vasodilator infusion. One thrombotic occlusion of branch was recanalized with intra-arterial Tirofiban infusion. Temporary aggravation of vasospasm in the supraclinoid ICA which was thought to be caused by microcatheter irritation was relieved with the same procedure. One case of wire-induced distal vessel injury was trapped with detachable coils without further neurological detriment of the patient. No angiographical abnormality was found in the stentriever-deployed spastic vessels (12/39, 31%) at long-term follow-up angiograms (3 patients, mean 18.6 months). Conclusion Mechanical angioplasty using stent-retrievers for the delayed symptomatic vasospasm in the subarachnoid hemorrhage patients can be a feasible option especially for the recurred cases after chemical only angioplasty. Disclosures H. Kwon: None. Y. Lee: None. H. Koh: None.


In this big-data era, vast amount of continuously arriving data can be found in various fields, such as sensor networks, network management, web and financial applications. To process such data, algorithms are usually challenged by its complex structure and high volume. Representation learning facilitates the data operation by providing a condensed description of patterns underlying the data. Knowledge discovery based on the new representations will then be computationally efficient, and to certain extent be more effective due to the removal of noise and irrelevant information in the step of representation learning. In this paper, we will briefly review state-of-the-art techniques for extracting representation and discovering knowledge from streaming and temporal data, and demonstrate their performance at addressing several real application problems.


Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic disabling autoimmune disease that significantly impacts the quality of life of patients, and can associate with several complications including end-stage renal disease and shortened lifespan. A central component in the pathogenesis of SLE is the B-cell production of autoantibodies to multiple self-antigens. Since, B lymphocyte stimulator (BLyS) plays a key role in the selection, differentiation and survival of most B cells, it has been studied as a therapeutic target in SLE. After a gap of more than fifty years without new drugs being approved for this disease, the human neutralizing anti-BLyS monoclonal antibody belimumab has recently been approved by the FDA for SLE therapy. This review provides an overview on the targeting of BLyS in lupus animal models, the use of belimumab in human SLE, and relevant patents.


In this paper I explore the ways that the use of the pill and the ideal of the non-reproductive body intersect within the unique context of girls as subjects in contemporary Canadian society. Analysis draws on a series of twenty-seven qualitative interviews conducted in Montreal as part of my doctoral research with young Canadian women currently taking the pill. I found that women are expected to exercise choice, even though they have access to very few options. However, this disjuncture is even more marked when the subject in question is a young woman due to the intersection of youth, gender, and sexuality, which produces a more complicated practice of freedom because the boundaries of subjectivity are in flux. The pill is a manifestation of an ethic of rational preventative self-care. While we might embrace these technologies of freedom for how they provide increased control over the body, the material point is that in using technologies like the pill young women enter into complex social systems and relationships that paradoxically limit their autonomy.


Major recent electric vehicle (EV) programs in North America, Europe, and Japan are reviewed. The developments discussed include electric vehicles for fleet operation and electric passenger cars for urban transit. All major auto makers have had their own concept electric vehicle programs, targeted at commercial production in the late 1990s. It Is noted that, with different objectives for various electric vehicles, considerations such as cost, reliability, efficiency, maintenance, durability, weight, size, and noise level should be compromised for the propulsion system design. Consequently, DC motor drives, induction motor drives, and permanent magnet brushless DC motor drives will continually be used for EV propulsion systems in the future, with DC drives being gradually replaced by AC drives. The rapid advances in power semiconductor devices and microprocessors have made it possible to build reliable and cost-effective AC drive systems.<<ETX>>


Ravenna conserva un patrimonio artistico di straordinario valore che si esprime in particolar modo nei mosaici dei suoi mausolei, chiese e battisteri, dove operano mosaicisti con antiche procedure a tutt'oggi ancora invariate, che vengono utilizzate per i necessari interventi di conservazione e restauro in atto. Hammer and Hardy: instruments of an ancient art - The term mosaic indicates ancient and modern works of art made of polygonal stone, pottery and vitreous tesserae, placed close together in a cement mortar onto a rigid support: fl oor, wall or other. The same techniques have been used in the last 3000 years: work was subdivided according to specifi c manual, craftsmanship and artistic competence, from the calcis coctor (who made the mortar), to the pavimentarius (prepared fl oors underlayer). Cutting of the tesserae was carried by the lapidarius, using a simple hammer and hardy (arched and sharpened on both ends). There are two different types of hammer and hardy. One made of steel, coupled to a steel hardy, used for cutting marbles, stone and river pebbles tesserae. The other type is made of steel with a widia hardy and is used for enamels and vitreous pastes. The weight of the hammer varies between 300 to 900 grams, according to the nature of material. Tesserae vary in size: from big to very small, from 2 x 2 x 2 cm to 0,2 x 0,2 x 3 cm (as in the "opus vermicolatum" of the "Battle of Isso", from Pompei).


Neutrophil granulocytes (NGs) are among the key players in the defense against Aspergillus fumigatus (A. fumigatus). To better elucidate a pathophysiological understanding of their role and functions, we applied a human cell model using NGs from healthy participants and septic patients to evaluate their inhibitory effects on the growth of A. fumigatus ex vivo. Conidia of A. fumigatus (ATCC® 204305) were co-incubated with NGs from healthy volunteers or septic patients for 16 h. A. fumigatus growth was measured by XTT assays with a plate reader. The inhibitory effect of NGs on 18 healthy volunteers revealed great heterogeneity. Additionally, growth inhibition was significantly stronger in the afternoon than the morning, due to potentially different cortisol levels. It is particularly interesting that the inhibitory effect of NGs was reduced in patients with sepsis compared to healthy controls. In addition, the magnitude of the NG-driven defense against A. fumigatus was highly variable among healthy volunteers. Moreover, daytime and corresponding cortisol levels also seem to have a strong influence. Most interestingly, preliminary experiments with NGs from septic patients point to a strongly diminished granulocytic defense against Aspergillus spp.


The electromagnetic flowmeter, which has developed since its inception into a reliable clinical instrument that has become the standard to which all other flowmeters are compared, is described. Perivascular and intravascular transducers now available, which can easily be used to give reliable, high fidelity recordings of blood flow and velocity, are also discussed.


Stabilised earth is an alternative building material which is significantly cheaper than using conventional brick and concrete, and is also environmentally sustainable. Earth has been used as a construction material in every continent and in every age. It is one of the oldest building materials. The use of earth on site as a building material saves manufacturing cost, time, energy, environmental pollution and transportation cost. Most African countries do not have any well-structured and effective program to address the global agenda of sustainability through the use of appropriate construction materials. In order to demonstrate stabilized earth as a sustainable appropriate construction material, the experiences and practices of using earth construction can be studied and harnessed from other subcontinents to demonstrate the dynamism of this material suitable for low cost house construction in the African subcontinent. This paper aims to identify and highlight potentiality of stabilized earth construction in the solution of low cost housing crisis in Africa and justify the use of this appropriate construction material is an energy solution in the era of climate change.


Surgical robotics is experiencing an explosion of growth in both academic and clinical settings. Since the first reported robotic surgical procedure two decades ago, surgical robotics has grown into more than a half billion dollar a year industry, and robots are now being used in thousands of surgical procedures each year. One especially successful commercial robot, Intuitive Surgical's da Vinci system for laparoscopic procedures, has been installed worldwide in more than 1,000 locations. This growth is a direct result of the promise of surgical robots to improve patient care. Integration of robot hardware with computer-integrated surgical systems has the potential to enable precise, targeted, minimally invasive medical interventions. Robotic devices are enabling physicians to perform procedures with reduced trauma, less blood loss, fewer errors, and faster patient recovery than would otherwise be possible. Robotics technology can also enhance the effectiveness of clinical procedures by coupling information sources such as medical images to actions in the operating room.


Mode choice models traditionally assume that all objectively available alternatives are considered. This might not always be a reasonable assumption, even when the number of alternatives is limited. Consideration of alternatives, like many other aspects of the decision-making process, cannot be observed by the analyst, and can only be imperfectly measured. As part of a stated choice survey aimed at unveiling air passengers' preferences for access modes to Bari International Airport in Italy, we collected a wide set of indicators that either directly or indirectly measure respondents' consideration of the public transport alternatives. In our access mode choice model, consideration of public transport services was treated as a latent variable, and entered the utility function for this mode through a "discounting" factor. The proposed integrated choice and latent variable approach allows the analyst not only to overcome potential endogeneity and measurement error issues associated with the indicators, but also makes the model suitable for forecasting. As a result of accounting for consideration effects, we observed an improvement in fit that also held in a validation sample; moreover, the effects of policy changes aimed at improving the modal share of public transport were considerably reduced.


We describe a novel approach for 3-D ear biometrics using video. A series of frames is extracted from a video clip and the region of interest in each frame is independently reconstructed in 3-D using shape from shading. The resulting 3-D models are then registered using the iterative closest point algorithm. We iteratively consider each model in the series as a reference model and calculate the similarity between the reference model and every model in the series using a similarity cost function. Cross validation is performed to assess the relative fidelity of each 3-D model. The model that demonstrates the greatest overall similarity is determined to be the most stable 3-D model and is subsequently enrolled in the database. Experiments are conducted using a gallery set of 402 video clips and a probe of 60 video clips. The results (95.0% rank-1 recognition rate and 3.3% equal error rate) indicate that the proposed approach can produce recognition rates comparable to systems that use 3-D range data. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to develop a 3-D ear biometric system that obtains a 3-D ear structure from a video sequence.


A major role of the corpus luteum (CL) is to produce progesterone (P4). The CL has immature vasculature shortly after ovulation, suggesting it exists under hypoxic conditions. Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF1) induces the expression of glucose transporter 1 (GLUT1). To clarify the physiological roles of GLUT1 in bovine CL, we examined GLUT1 mRNA expression in the CL under hypoxic conditions by quantitative RT-PCR. We also measured the effects of glucose (0–25 mM) and GLUT1 inhibitors (cytochalasin B, STF-31) on P4 production in bovine luteal cells. GLUT1 mRNA expression in bovine CL was higher at the early luteal stage compared to the other later stages. Hypoxia (3% O2) increased GLUT1 mRNA expression in early luteal cells, but not in mid luteal cells. Glucose (0–25 mM) increased P4 production in early luteal cells, but not in mid luteal cells. Both GLUT1 inhibitors decreased P4 production in early and mid luteal cells. Overall, the results suggest that GLUT1 (possibly induced by hypoxic conditions in the early CL) plays a role in the establishment and development of bovine CL, especially in supporting luteal P4 synthesis at the early luteal stage.


In all pattern recognition systems, increasing the recognition speed and improvement of the recognition accuracy are two important goals. However, these items usually perform against each other, when the former is improved, the latter is decreased, and vice versa. In this thesis, the focus is on both items; decreasing the overall processing time and increasing the system accuracy. To such an aim, the number of training samples is decreased by proposing a technique for dataset size reduction that leads to decrease of the training/testing time. Also, the number of features is decreased by proposing a new technique for dimensionality reduction. It decreases the training and testing time, and by deleting less important features, it increases the system accuracy, too.
The existing dataset size reduction algorithms, usually remove samples near to the centers of classes, or support vector samples between different classes. However, the former samples include valuable information about the class characteristics, and are important to make system model. The latter samples are important for evaluating system efficiency and adjustment of system parameters. The proposed dataset size reduction method employs Modified Frequency Diagram technique to create a template for each class. Then, a similarity value is calculated for each pattern. Thereafter, the samples in each class are rearranged based on their similarity values. Consequently, the number of training samples is reduced by Sieving technique. As a result, the training/testing time is decreased. In other part of this study, the number of extracted features is decreased by proposing a new method, which is, analyzing the one-dimensional and two-dimensional spectrum diagrams of standard deviation and minimum to maximum distributions for initial feature vector elements.
In recent years, the attractive nature of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) has caused the researchers to develop various algorithms for recognizing different alphabets. Target performance for an OCR system is to recognize at least five characters per second with 99.9% accuracy. However, the performance of available handwritten Farsi OCR systems is still lacking, both in terms of accuracy and speed. The proposed techniques in this thesis have been validated in handwritten OCR domain via the use of two big standard benchmark datasets; the Hoda for Farsi digits and letters and the MNIST for Latin digits. The proposed dataset size reduction technique has been successful in decreasing the training time to less than half, while the accuracy has only decreased by 0.68%. Both datasets (Hoda and MNIST) were also used for dimensionality reduction purpose. Here, the dimension of feature vector was reduced to 59.40% for the MNIST dataset, 43.61% for digits part of the Hoda dataset, and 69.92% for the characters part of the Hoda dataset. Meanwhile the accuracies are enhanced 2.95%, 4.71%, and 1.92%, respectively. The achieved results showed the superiority of the proposed method compared to the rival dimension reduction methods.
The proposed size reduction technique can be used for other pictorial datasets. Also, the proposed dimensionality reduction technique can be employed in any other pattern recognition systems with numerical feature vectors.


A seamless convergence between the connected TV and Virtual Reality (VR) ecosystems can open to the door to new fascinating scenarios. This paper initially introduces three EU H2020 projects (ImmersiaTV, ImAc and VRTogether) addressing relevant and complementary aspects towards achieving this integration. Next, an overview of the VRTogether project is provided. This project aims at enabling truly social VR experiences between remote users in domestic scenarios, based on photorealistic immersive content and on TV-related scenarios. Although the project is still in an early stage, its key objectives and requirements derived via user-centric activities are briefly introduced. Finally, the envisioned use cases and planned evaluations, together with the infrastructure and component architecture being deployed to support these scenarios, are also presented. Author


OBJECTIVES
To assess the impact of facility case mix on cross-sectional variations and short-term stability of the "Nursing Home Compare" incontinence quality measure (QM) and to determine whether multivariate risk adjustment can minimize such impacts.

STUDY DESIGN
Retrospective analyses of the 2005 national minimum data set (MDS) that included approximately 600,000 long-term care residents in over 10,000 facilities in each quarterly sample. Mixed logistic regression was used to construct the risk-adjusted QM (nonshrinkage estimator). Facility-level ordinary least-squares models and adjusted R(2) were used to estimate the impact of case mix on cross-sectional and short-term longitudinal variations of currently published and risk-adjusted QMs.

PRINCIPAL FINDINGS
At least 50 percent of the cross-sectional variation and 25 percent of the short-term longitudinal variation of the published QM are explained by facility case mix. In contrast, the cross-sectional and short-term longitudinal variations of the risk-adjusted QM are much less susceptible to case-mix variations (adjusted R(2)<0.10), even for facilities with more extreme or more unstable outcome.

CONCLUSIONS
Current "Nursing Home Compare" incontinence QM reflects considerable case-mix variations across facilities and over time, and therefore it may be biased. This issue can be largely addressed by multivariate risk adjustment using risk factors available in the MDS.


In this study, ferritic stainless steel (AISI 430)/medium-carbon steel (AISI 1030) couples, having two different properties of 10 mm thick, were welded by using the synergic controlled pulsed (GMAW-P) and manual gas metal arc welding (GMAW) techniques. Constant wire feed speed, voltage, welding speed, and gas flow rates (3.2 m/min, 22.5 V, 4 mm/s, 16 L/min) were used in these techniques. The interface appearances of the welded samples were examined by optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS), and X-Ray diffraction (XRD). In order to determine mechanical properties of samples, the tensile and microhardness tests were conducted. The GMAW-P joints of AISI 430/AISI 1030 steel couples showed superior tensile strength, less grain growth, and narrower heat affected zone (HAZ) when compared with GMAW joints, and this was mainly due to lower heat input, finer fusion zone grain, and higher fusion hardness.


AutoGami is a toolkit for designing automated movable paper craft using the technology of selective inductive power transmission. AutoGami has hardware and software components that allow users to design and implement automated movable paper craft without any prerequisite knowledge of electronics; it also supports rapid prototyping. Apart from developing the toolkit, we have analyzed the design space of movable paper craft and developed a taxonomy to facilitate the design of automated paper craft. AutoGami made consistently strong showings in design workshops, confirming its viability in supporting engagement and creativity as well as its usability in storytelling through paper craft. Additional highlights include rapid prototyping of product design as well as interaction design such as human-robot interactions.


Remember the story of Cinderella? Cinderella was too poor and unworthy to ever become a princess. Similarly, when first introduced into the North American pipe market in the 1950s, PVC pipe was admonished by competitors and skeptics as having little chance to succeed. As a substitute for the well-established pipe mainstays of that era—iron, steel reinforced concrete, asbestos cement, and vitrified clay; PVC pipe was initially viewed as having insufficient strength and stiffness to be a viable contender. All of these early views had to be changed. This paper summarily chronicles how the questions and doubts surrounding PVC pipe's performance capabilities were overcome, including the resolution of subsequently raised concerns. Through the consistent treatment of every issue with rational, technical, research based approaches; combined with an extensive in-service record of admirable performance; the use of PVC pipe has grown steadily through more than five decades. As a direct consequence, PVC pipes now account for the majority of all new water and sanitary sewer installations, exceeding the market shares of all the aforementioned established pipe materials combined. PVC pipe's fairy godmother is proud, indeed!


SVD pre/post-rake structure, a promising technique for TDD CDMA systems, achieves optimal capacity over frequency selective fading channels when the water-filling solution is applied for power allocation. In this paper, we propose an SVD pre/post-rake structure with adaptive trellis coded modulation technique for practical implementation. The simulation results show that the SVD pre/post-rake outperforms other rake structures in high data rate communication. It is because the multiplexed transmission is utilized by the SVD pre/post-rake and an appropriate modulation is chosen based on the channel state.


Multi‐year climate oscillations such as the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) affect precipitation and stream discharge rates in the western hemisphere. While inferences may be drawn between these hydroclimatological relationships and groundwater conditions, few studies explicitly link groundwater conditions to these cycles. Here we investigate relationships between winter ENSO, PDO, and lagging baseflow rates in the southeastern United States. We find strong correlation between winter ENSO and lagged baseflow in coastal North Carolina which, coupled with anomalies in mean baseflow, decrease with distance inland from the coast. Our results demonstrate that interannual and interdecadal climate oscillations in the Pacific Ocean have a strong effect on hydrological processes in eastern North America despite filtering by the groundwater flow process. These results have implications for water resource availability in regions where water management is complicated by population growth and climatic uncertainty.


This paper presents a genetic-based approach to mobile robot motion planning with a distance-safety criterion. A wave front method is used to build the numerical potential fields for both the goal points and the obstacles by representing the workspace as a grid. A computationally efficient genetic algorithm is proposed to search for near optimal paths, where a combined global and local optimisation approach is employed to speed up the search process while considering the imposed requirements. Various simulation results show the effectiveness of the presented algorithm, including a comparison with the A* method.


To improve the robustness and reliability of wireless transmissions, two complementary link adaptation techniques are employed: adaptive modulation and coding AMC at the physical layer and hybrid automatic retransmission request HARQ at the medium access control layer. Because of their effectiveness in combating errors induced by the wireless channel, AMC and HARQ are now integral components of most emerging broadband wireless system standards, for example, LTE and WiMAX. Spectral efficiency SE as measured in bit per second per Hertz is one important parameter used to characterize a wireless system for comparison between different systems or between different configurations of the same system. This work provides a holistic approach of cross-layer optimizations with the intent of maximizing SE by combining AMC and HARQ. It formulates closed-form equations for calculating the average SE for wireless systems with the Rayleigh fading channel model. A new online algorithm is developed to optimize SE for both Rayleigh and non-Rayleigh fading channel. Simulations using proven LTE model are performed to compare SE obtained from closed-form equations and the developed algorithm for different system configurations. With the developed algorithm to determine how many retransmissions required in addition to the initial transmission in advance depending on the current wireless channel condition, the latency can be reduced up to 24ms when sending the initial transmission and all of its retransmissions sooner than waiting for retransmission requests as is done previously. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Arsenic contamination in groundwater has caused severe health problems throughout the world. Developing cost - effective processes for arsenic removal is an emerging issue. Because As(III) is predominant in groundwater and is more difficult to remove than As(V) is, oxidation of As(III) to As(V) is necessary to improve overall arsenic removal. This study was undertaken to enrich arsenite oxidizing bacteria under autotrophic conditions and to isolate and characterize facultative chemolithoautotrophic arsenite oxidizing bacteria (CAOs) that can oxidize As(III) effectively to As(V). An enrichment culture which adapted wide As(III) concentrations and completely oxidized 12 mM As(III) within 4 days under autotrophic conditions was established and maintained. Among 10 isolated strains, 6 strains, B1, B2, C, D, E1 and E2 belonging to β-Proteobacteria , were facultative CAOs and contained aoxB genes encoding the arsenite oxidase large subunit. Furthermore, they displayed various As(III) oxidation capabilities: B1, B2, E1 and E2 efficiently oxidized 1–10 mM As(III). The others showed efficient oxidation at 1–5 mM As(III), suggesting the coexistence of facultative CAOs with various As(III) oxidation capabilities in the enrichment. These results suggest that constructed enrichment and strains B1, B2, E1 and E2 can be useful for the bioremediation of arsenic-contaminated groundwater.


Allocation of resource access and use rights is one of the most controversial issues in marine fisheries. Historically, various principles of allocation have evolved along with the objectives of public policies (such as concerns for sustainability and poverty alleviation), and recognition of different stakeholders in fishing industry. The recognition of exclusive economic zones (EEZ), development of technologies, and emergence of markets for different products, services and uses of fisheries and the marine environment provided an overall economic dimension to the allocation issues. Recognition of tourism, recreational fishing, conservation and bio-diversity values of fisheries have a recent and important influence on the allocation principles in fisheries. As a result, allocation issues in tropical fisheries have become elevated from concerns for improving and maintaining the welfare and living standards of small isolated fishing communities to a higher level cross-sectoral, national, and international development and conservation concerns. This paper examines the conflicts and competition among artisanal, commercial, and tourism with regard to allocation of marine resources. The effectiveness and limitations of market-based allocation principles as well as common property and co-management arrangements to manage resource conflicts are discussed. The implications of replacing conventional hierarchical and command-and-control policies by moving towards greater decentralization, whether through markets, common property, or co-management, on existing resource allocation are also discussed. Both vertical and horizontal approaches to the management of the industry have been recommended to manage the allocation issues in socially, economically and environmentally sustainable ways.


Diagnostic systems are software and hardware-based equipment that interoperate with an external monitored system. Traditionally, they have been expensive equipment running test algorithms to monitor physical properties of, e.g., vehicles, or civil infrastructure equipment, among others. As computer hardware is increasingly powerful (whereas its cost and size is decreasing) and communication software becomes easier to program and more run-time efficient, new scenarios are enabled that yield to lower cost monitoring solutions. This paper presents a low cost approach towards the development of a diagnostic systems relying on a modular component-based approach and running on a resource limited embedded computer. Results on a prototype implementation are shown that validate the presented design, its flexibility, performance, and communication latency.


With the recent growth of multimedia traffic over the Internet and emerging multimedia streaming service providers, improving Quality of Experience (QoE) for HTTP Adaptive Streaming (HAS) becomes more important. Alongside other factors, such as the media quality, HAS relies on the performance of the media player's Adaptive Bitrate (ABR) algorithm to optimize QoE in multimedia streaming sessions. QoE in HAS suffers from weak or unstable internet connections and suboptimal ABR decisions. As a result of imperfect adaptiveness to the characteristics and conditions of the internet connection, stall events and quality level switches could occur and with different durations that negatively affect the QoE. In this paper, we address various identified open issues related to the QoE for HAS, notably (i) the minimum noticeable duration for stall events in HAS; (ii) the correlation between the media quality and the impact of stall events on QoE; (iii) the end-user preference regarding multiple shorter stall events versus a single longer stall event; and (iv) the end-user preference of media quality switches over stall events. Therefore, we have studied these open issues from both objective and subjective evaluation perspectives and presented the correlation between the two types of evaluations. The findings documented in this paper can be used as a baseline for improving ABR algorithms and policies in HAS.


PT. Candi Jaya Amerta is a company engaged in the food industry located in Sidoarjo precisely on Highway No. 34-36, Tanggulangin. The company produces several types of products, namely crackers prawn crackers, vegetable crackers, casava (cassava crackers or samiler). Production in this industry requires raw materials that are largely not as durable as tapioca flour, wheat flour, shrimp, vegetables, and others. Company engaged in food, uncertain demand for its products, causing some raw materials undergo even outstock overstock.In carrying out the process of production companies often experience problems with the supply of basic raw material, which is experiencing excessive conditions (overstock) on raw starch. Companies in the procurement of raw materials by means of ordering raw materials in amounts greater than the amount required in production resulting in cost savings.By using the method q-model by contrast with methods used the company currently, then the result analysis during the period 2009-2011 known that the storage charges and a total cost of the supply of raw materials flour tapioca by using the method q-model less than the reckoning according to the method that used the company at this time. While the cost of reserving slightly larger compared with a method of the company because of the frequency of a purchase with q-model done more.


Echinodermal fragments are commonly overgrown in ancient limestones, with large single crystals growing in optical continuity over their skeletal hosts (i.e., syntaxial overgrowths). Such syntaxial cements are usually considered to have precipitated from meteoric pore waters associated with a later stage of subaerial exposure. Although several examples have been reported from ancient carbonates where petrographic relationships may indicate an early submarine formation of syntaxial cement, no occurrences have been noted in Holocene submarine-cemented rocks. Syntaxial cements of submarine origin have been found in Bermuda beachrock where isopachous high-magnesian calcite cements merge with large optically continuous crystals growing on echinodermal debris. Examination of other Holocene sediments cemented by magnesian calcite indicates that echinodermal fragments are not always overgrown syntaxially, but may be rimmed by microcrystalline calcite. The reason for this difference is not clear, although it may be a function of the spacing of nucleation sites and rates of crystal growth. A review of syntaxial cements from several localities in ancient carbonate sequences reveals that many are best interpreted as having formed in the submarine setting, whereas it is more clear that others formed from meteoric precipitation. These occurrences suggest that care should be exercised in inferring meteoric diagenesis from syntaxialmore » overgrowths and that the possibility of submarine formation should be considered.« less


This paper proposes an algorithm for the recognition and separation of speech signals in non-stationary noise, such as another speaker. We present a method to combine hidden Markov models (HMMs) trained for the speech and noise into a factorial HMM to model the mixture signal. Robustness is obtained by separating the speech and noise signals in a feature domain, which discards unnecessary information. We use mel-cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) as features, and estimate the distribution of mixture MFCCs from the distributions of the target speech and noise. A decoding algorithm is proposed for finding the state transition paths and estimating gains for the speech and noise from a mixture signal. Simulations were carried out using speech material where two speakers were mixed at various levels, and even for high noise level (9 dB above the speech level), the method produced relatively good (60% word recognition accuracy) results. Audio demonstrations are available at www.cs.tut.fi/˜tuomasv. IndexTerms: speech recognition, speech separation, factorial hidden Markov model.


Independent navigation through unfamiliar indoor spaces is beset with barriers for the visually impaired. Hence, this issue impairs their independence, self-respect and self-reliance. In this thesis I will introduce a new indoor navigation system for the blind and visually impaired that is affordable for both the user and the building owners. Outdoor vehicle navigation technical challenges have been solved using location information provided by Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and maps using Geographical Information Systems (GIS). However, GPS and GIS information is not available for indoor environments making indoor navigation, a challenging technical problem. Moreover, the indoor navigation system needs to be developed with the blind user in mind, i.e., special care needs to be given to vision free user interface. In this project, I design and implement an indoor navigation application for the blind and visually impaired that uses RFID technology and Computer Vision for localization and a navigation map generated automatically based on environmental landmarks by simulating a iv user's behavior. The focus of the indoor navigation system is no longer only on the indoor environment itself, but the way the blind users can experience it. This project will try this new idea in solving indoor navigation problems for blind and visually impaired users.


The authors report extraction of cupric intraocular foreign bodies in 108 cases with a success rate of 99.07%. The methods utilized and improvements made in localizing the foreign bodies and the procedures of operation were described. Suggestions were also made concerning the timing of operation and the treatment of preoperative and postoperative complications.


In shotgun proteomics, peptides are typically identified using database searching, which involves scoring acquired tandem mass spectra against peptides derived from standard protein sequence databases such as Uniprot, Refseq, or Ensembl. In this strategy, the sensitivity of peptide identification is known to be affected by the size of the search space. Therefore, creating a targeted sequence database containing only peptides likely to be present in the analyzed sample can be a useful technique for improving the sensitivity of peptide identification. In this study, we describe how targeted peptide databases can be created based on the frequency of identification in the global proteome machine database (GPMDB), the largest publicly available repository of peptide and protein identification data. We demonstrate that targeted peptide databases can be easily integrated into existing proteome analysis workflows and describe a computational strategy for minimizing any loss of peptide identifications arising from potential search space incompleteness in the targeted search spaces. We demonstrate the performance of our workflow using several data sets of varying size and sample complexity.


A 55-year-old female was admitted to the Juntendo Izunagaoka Hospital, because of sudden onset of motor aphasia and right hemiparesis. Neurological examination on admission revealed drowsy state, bilateral papilledema, motor aphasia, and right hemiparesis. Computed tomography showed a subcortical hematoma in the left frontoparietal region associated with perifocal edema. Left carotid angiography revealed a fusiform aneurysm at a peripheral branch of the central artery. There was no tumor stain on cerebral angiograms. A combination procedure was carried out during emergency surgery, including evacuation of the intracerebral hematoma and removal of the throm bus-like material from the aneurysmal cavity followed by wrapping the aneurysm with fascia. Histological examination of the thrombus-like material demonstrated that it was a neoplastic em bolus of choriocarcinoma. Serum (2600 mIU⁄ml) and urinary (7200 mIU⁄ml) human chorionic gonadotropin levels were elevated. The features of neoplastic aneurysm due to choriocarcinoma are reviewed and discussed.


Proliferation parameters such as mitotic index, tumor growth rate and cell loss were identified in 1,048 squamous cervical carcinoma patients treated at the Center's Clinic (1951-1996). Mitotic indices ranged 0.2-5.1% (average 1.13 +/- 0.03%), Ki-67--4.1-97.8% (average 49.97 +/- 3.02%). A direct and significant correlation between the two latter parameters was established. Cell loss levels ranged 59-99.9% (average 97.2 +/- 0.002%). Our results suggest that the correlation between tumor growth rate and cell loss might be of the utmost importance among the other prognostic factors.


INTRODUCTION
The simultaneous occurrence of diabetes and cancer may complicate the management of both conditions resulting in poor prognosis and more deterioration of patient-related outcomes.

OBJECTIVE
To assess the effective provision of clinical pharmacy services and pharmacist-led counselling program on improving patient-related outcomes among patients with diabetes and newly diagnosed with cancer during chemotherapy administration.

METHODS
A single-centre, prospective, randomised, controlled study was carried out on patients with diabetes newly diagnosed with cancer during chemotherapy administration at the outpatient oncology setting. Patients were assigned as a normal care group receiving only normal care by the oncology care providers and an intervention group receiving both normal and clinical pharmacy care through an extensive oral and written patient education, pharmacotherapy optimisation and regular recommendations for diabetic self-care activities with three-month follow-up.

RESULTS
Patients within the intervention group showed a better glycaemic control (p = .049), a significant increase in medication adherence (p = .0049), a significant increase in diabetes self-care activities, including diet (p = .037), self-monitoring of blood glucose (p = .027) and foot care (p = .0085) and reported a lower deterioration in quality of life.

CONCLUSION
Patients with diabetes and cancer receiving chemotherapy experienced improved patient-related outcomes after clinical pharmacy intervention and counselling program compared to the normal care group.


Phosphorylation of the unique N-terminal extension of cardiac troponin I (TnI) by PKA modulates Ca(2+) release from the troponin complex. The mechanism by which phosphorylation affects Ca(2+) binding, however, remains unresolved. To investigate this question, we have studied the interaction of a fragment of TnI consisting of residues 1-64 (I1-64) with troponin C (TnC) by isothermal titration microcalorimetry and cross-linking. I1-64 binds extremely tightly to the C-terminal domain of TnC and weakly to the N-terminal domain. Binding to the N-domain is weakened further by phosphorylation. Using the heterobifunctional cross-linker benzophenone-4-maleimide and four separate cysteine mutants of I1-64 (S5C, E10C, I18C, R26C), we have probed the protein-protein interactions of the N-terminal extension. All four I1-64 mutants cross-link to the N-terminal domain of TnC. The cross-linking is enhanced by Ca(2+) and reduced by phosphorylation. By introducing the same monocysteine mutations into full-length TnI, we were able to probe the environment of the N-terminal extension in intact troponin. We find that the full length of the extension lies in close proximity to both TnC and troponin T (TnT). Ca(2+) enhances the cross-linking to TnC. Cross-linking to both TnC and TnT is reduced by prior phosphorylation of the TnI. In binary complexes the mutant TnIs cross-link to both the isolated TnC N-domain and whole TnC. Cyanogen bromide digestion of the covalent TnI-TnC complex formed from intact troponin demonstrates that cross-linking is predominantly to the N-terminal domain of TnC.


Li-Chun Hsiao, in his article "The Black Body and Representations of the (In)human," takes cues from the theoretical insights of Agamben's "bare life" as well as Laclau's and Mouffe's "social antagonism" and explores how the slave can be considered a constitutive element which is nevertheless foreclosed from Western democracies. Hsiao also analyzes the various ways the term "slave" functions as trope in the founding discourses of Western democracy. "Bare life" remains included in politics "in the form of the exception," as "something that is included solely through an exclusion." Such an "inclusive exclusion" is represented not in its differential relationship to the existing social order, but foregrounds an internal limit penetrating everything in society -an impossibility of representation that lapses into a series of tropological substitutions. Slave labor, often if not always associated with the black body, inevitably poses uneasy and thought-provoking questions about the human/inhuman as evidenced by a long line of social, political, and literary Western discourses. Hsiao's focal point in this analysis is the discourse of post-Bastille France which he examines through his readings of George Sand's novel Indiana and in light of Frantz Fanon's Black Skin, White Masks. Li-Chun Hsiao, "The Black Body and Representations of the (In)human" page 2 of 12 CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 9.1 (2007): <http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb/vol9/iss1/9> Thematic Issue, Representing Humanity in an Age of Terror. Ed. Sophia A. McClennen and Henry James Morello


We present measurements of radioactive contamination in the high-resistivity silicon charge-coupled devices (CCDs) used by the DAMIC experiment to search for dark matter particles. Novel analysis methods, which exploit the unique spatial resolution of CCDs, were developed to identify α and β particles. Uranium and thorium contamination in the CCD bulk was measured through α spectroscopy, with an upper limit on the 238U (232Th) decay rate of 5 (15) kg−1 d−1 at 95% CL. We also searched for pairs of spatially correlated electron tracks separated in time by up to tens of days, as expected from 32Si –32P or 210Pb –210Bi sequences of β decays. The decay rate of 32Si was found to be 80+110−65 kg−1 d−1 (95% CI). An upper limit of ∼35 kg−1 d−1 (95% CL) on the 210Pb decay rate was obtained independently by α spectroscopy and the β decay sequence search. These levels of radioactive contamination are sufficiently low for the successful operation of CCDs in the forthcoming 100 g DAMIC detector.


This paper uses a simple general equilibrium model in which agents use money holdings to self insure to address the classic question: What is the optimal rate of change of the money supply? The standard answer to this question, provided by Friedman, Bewley, Townsend, and others, is that this rate is negative. Because any revenues from seignorage in our model are redistributed in lump-sum form to agents and this redistribution improves insurance possibilities, we find that the optimal rate is sometimes positive. We also discuss the measurement of welfare gains or losses from inflation and their quantitative significance.


Two infants had orbital cavernous hemangioma that showed impressive regression documented by ultrasound follow-up. In a 15-week-old infant the hemangioma regressed from a size of 11.49 mm to 5.36 mm in prominence during a six-month period. In a 9-month-old infant the mass regressed from 8.53 mm to 4.6 mm during a six-month period. These cases demonstrate that orbital cavernous hemangioma in infancy occasionally shows impressive regression. Furthermore, they illustrate the value of orbital ultrasonography in defining the natural history of orbital hemangioma. Similar follow-up studies in large numbers of infants with orbital hemangioma are needed to further our understanding of the natural history of this tumor.


We propose a theory of inefficient renegotiation that is based on loss aversion. When two parties write a long-term contract that has to be renegotiated after the realization of the state of the world, they take the initial contract as a reference point to which they compare gains and losses of the renegotiated transaction. We show that loss aversion makes the renegotiated outcome sticky and materially inefficient. The theory has important implications for the optimal design of long-term contracts. First, it explains why parties often abstain from writing a beneficial long-term contract or why some contracts specify transactions that are never ex post efficient. Secondly, it shows under what conditions parties should rely on the allocation of ownership rights to protect relationship-specific investments rather than writing a specific performance contract. Thirdly, it shows that employment contracts can be strictly optimal even if parties are free to renegotiate.


Planning collision-free paths for multiple agents operating in close proximity has a myriad of applications ranging from smart warehouses to route planning for airport taxiways. This problem, known as the Multi-Agent Path-Finding (MAPF) problem, is highly relevant to real-world applications in automation and robotics, and has attracted significant research in recent years. While in many applications, the robots are tasked with transporting objects and thus have the means to move obstacles, common formulations of the problem prohibit agents from moving obstacles en-route to a task. This often causes agents to take long detours to avoid obstacles instead of simply moving them to clear a path. In this work we present multi-agent terraforming, a novel extension of the MAPF problem that can exploit the fact that the system contains movable obstacles. We build upon leading MAPF solvers and propose an efficient method to solve the multi-agent terraforming problem in a manner that is both complete and optimal. We evaluate our method on scenarios inspired by smart warehouses (such as those of Amazon) and demonstrate that, compared to the classical MAPF formulation, the extra flexibility provided by terraforming facilitates a notable improvement of solution quality.


A hierarchical model for approximating 2-1/2-dimensional surfaces is described. This model, called a Delaunay pyramid, is a method for compression of spatial data and representation of a surface at successively finer levels of detail. A Delaunay pyramid is based on a sequence of Delaunay triangulations of suitably defined subsets of the set of data points. A triangle-oriented encoding structure for a Delaunay pyramid is presented, and its storage complexity is evaluated. An algorithm for constructing a Delaunay pyramid is described, and a method for solving the point location and evaluation on such a model is discussed.<<ETX>>


This paper considers a fleet of identical units where each unit consists of the same critical components. The degradation state of each critical component is assumed to be monitored by an on-board sensor. The paper presents a methodology for identifying the top-k (the k most reliable) units in a fleet using sensor-based prognostic information. Specifically, we develop a prognostics-based ranking (PBR) algorithm that combines stochastic degradation models with computer science database ranking algorithms. The stochastic degradation modeling framework is used to compute and update, in real-time, residual life distributions (RLDs) of the critical components of each unit. Using a base case exponential degradation model, we identify conditions necessary to establish stochastic ordering among the RLDs of similar components. A preference relationship, consistent with the stochastic ordering results, is then used to sort the units of the fleet based on the RLDs of their respective components. A database ranking algorithm, known as the threshold algorithm (TA), is then used to identify the top-k units without necessarily computing all the RLDs. The paper concludes with an illustrative example.


Red Blood Cells (RBCs) need to deform and squeeze through narrow capillaries. Decreased deformability of RBCs is, therefore, one of the factors that can contribute to the elimination of aged or damaged RBCs from the circulation. This process can also cause impaired oxygen delivery, which contributes to the pathology of a number of diseases. Studies from our laboratory have shown that oxidative stress plays a significant role in damaging the RBC membrane and impairing its deformability. RBCs are continuously exposed to both endogenous and exogenous sources of reactive oxygen species (ROS) like superoxide and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). The bulk of the ROS are neutralized by the RBC antioxidant system consisting of both non-enzymatic and enzymatic antioxidants including catalase, glutathione peroxidase and peroxiredoxin-2. However, the autoxidation of hemoglobin (Hb) bound to the membrane is relatively inaccessible to the predominantly cytosolic RBC antioxidant system. This inaccessibility becomes more pronounced under hypoxic conditions when Hb is partially oxygenated, resulting in an increased rate of autoxidation and increased affinity for the RBC membrane. We have shown that a fraction of peroxyredoxin-2 present on the RBC membrane may play a major role in neutralizing these ROS. H2O2 that is not neutralized by the RBC antioxidant system can react with the heme producing fluorescent heme degradation products (HDPs). We have used the level of these HDP as a measure of RBC oxidative Stress. Increased levels of HDP are detected during cellular aging and various diseases. The negative correlation (p < 0.0001) between the level of HDP and RBC deformability establishes a contribution of RBC oxidative stress to impaired deformability and cellular stiffness. While decreased deformability contributes to the removal of RBCs from the circulation, oxidative stress also contributes to the uptake of RBCs by macrophages, which plays a major role in the removal of RBCs from circulation. The contribution of oxidative stress to the removal of RBCs by macrophages involves caspase-3 activation, which requires oxidative stress. RBC oxidative stress, therefore, plays a significant role in inducing RBC aging.


Tomorrow's marine electrical systems will be profoundly different from today's systems. Power electronics is making major impacts on virtually every marine system including propulsion, power distribution, auxiliaries, sonar, and radar. Newly emerging materials, components, and system concepts (such as wide band-gap materials, silicon-carbide-based power semiconductor devices, power electronics building blocks (PEBBs), and integrated power systems) are, and will continue, enabling future marine systems as different from today's systems as steam ships were to sailing ships. However, these enabling technologies and concepts are not well known and have been difficult to understand. This paper will introduce these new concepts and technologies, identify potential impacts, and explore new design methods to simplify marine electrical system development.


Summary.  An instrument or instrumental variable manipulates a treatment and affects the outcome only indirectly through its manipulation of the treatment. For instance, encouragement to exercise might increase cardiovascular fitness, but only indirectly to the extent that it increases exercise. If instrument levels are randomly assigned to individuals, then the instrument may permit consistent estimation of the effects caused by the treatment, even though the treatment assignment itself is far from random. For instance, one can conduct a randomized experiment assigning some subjects to 'encouragement to exercise' and others to 'no encouragement' but, for reasons of habit or taste, some subjects will not exercise when encouraged and others will exercise without encouragement; none‐the‐less, such an instrument aids in estimating the effect of exercise. Instruments that are weak, i.e. instruments that have only a slight effect on the treatment, present inferential problems. We evaluate a recent proposal for permutation inference with an instrumental variable in four ways: using Angrist and Krueger's data on the effects of education on earnings using quarter of birth as an instrument, following Bound, Jaeger and Baker in using simulated independent observations in place of the instrument in Angrist and Krueger's data, using entirely simulated data in which correct answers are known and finally using statistical theory to show that only permutation inferences maintain correct coverage rates. The permutation inferences perform well in both easy and hard cases, with weak instruments, as well as with long‐tailed responses.


Objectives: To assess whether cancer screening in elderly patients with deep venous thrombosis (DVT) could modify their outcome. Design: Prospective, case-control study. Setting: Department of internal medicine and gerontology at Angers University Hospital, from february 1999 to january 2000. The 5.8-year-follow-up was realized by means of postal questionnaires sent to patients' family doctors. Participants: One hundred and eighteen DVT patients hospitalized for DVT were recruited and stratified into two groups (A and B) according to the age of 75 years and matched for 118 controls (groups C and D). Measurements: DVT was confirmed by a venous ultrasonography and cancer was screened by routine investigations. Outcome measures over 5.8 years: mortality rate and cancer diagnosis.Results: Cancer diagnosis during hospitalization was comparable between groups (A: 10.2% vs C: 5.1%, p = 0.488; B: 8% vs D: 0%, p = 0.06). After discharge, it was similar (A and C: 5.1%; B and D: 3.4%). Cancer related deaths were not "statistically" different (A: 6/21 vs C: 5/23, p = 0.85; B: 6/8 vs D: 1/5, p = 0.103). Mortality ratios were comparable (A: 35.6% vs C: 39%, p = 0.849; B: 13.5% vs D: 8.5%, p = 0.555), but a high mortality was noted in the group B as compared with group C (57% vs 8%; p = 0.0006) in the first year following DVT. Conclusion: Cancer diagnosis at the time of DVT does not modify outcomes of patients aged 75 years and older. Hence, a systematic screening for cancer among older patients could be unjustified. Other case-control studies are necessary to validate these results.


How can hard determinism deal with the need to punish, when coupled with the obligation to be just? I argue that even though hard determinists might find it morally permissible to incarcerate wrongdoers apart from lawful society, they are committed to the punishment's taking a very different form from common practice in contemporary Western societies. Hard determinists are in fact committed to what I will call funishment, instead of punishment. But, by its nature funishment is a practical reductio of hard determinism: it makes implementing hard determinism impossible to contemplate. Indeed, the social practices that hard determinism requires turn out to be morally bad even according to hard deter- minism itself. I conclude by briefly reflecting upon the implications.


This chapter examines the role that the concept of political culture plays in comparative politics. In particular, it considers how the political culture field increases our understanding of the social roots of democracy and how these roots are transforming through cultural change. In analysing the inspirational forces of democracy, key propositions of the political culture approach are compared with those of the political economy approach. The chapter first provides an overview of cultural differences around the world, before tracing the historical roots of the political culture concept. It then tackles the question of citizens' democratic maturity and describes the allegiance model of the democratic citizen. It also explores party–voter dealignment, the assertive model of the democratic citizen, and political culture in non-democracies. It concludes with an assessment of how trust, confidence, and social capital increase a society's capacity for collective action.


Text mining works widely in the field of research techniques, which allows an individual to store text and its important terms in form of electronic document (.doc, .txt). It is difficult to remember such huge amount of text; moreover the manual approach is more time taking, unreliable and accessible to that person only. Text mining techniques optimize this approach by extracting and storing this data. Computational comparison, file read, file write are done more efficiently. With the help of Bio-Cloud, we generated more semantically similar, related and significant patterns. The give, generate and get sequence modeling is adopted. Over the other available web applications, we present our application with improved stemming, relation and average case consideration. This approach do not limit the displayed number of words as all the generated sets can be traversed with the GUI, with opted size of patterns. This method is highly applicable in bioinformatics, related information retrieval from document, sentimental analysis using social websites (Twitter and Facebook), query expansion (Google) and many more.


In this work, we demonstrate a novel In0.52Al0.48As based top-illuminated avalanche photodiode (APD), designed to circumvent the problem of serious bandwidth degradation under high gain (>100) and high power operation and significantly enhance the dynamic range in the established frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) lidar system. In our APD design, the carriers transiting through the dual multiplication (M-)layers are subjected to a stepped-up electric field profile, so they can be energized by the first step and propagate to the second step to trigger the avalanche processes. Such a cascade avalanche process leads to an ultra-high gain bandwidth product (460 GHz) with a 1 A/W responsivity at unit gain. Compared to the high-performance and commercial p-i-n PD and photo-receiver (PD + trans-impedance amplifier (TIA)) installed in the same lidar test bed, our demonstrated APD receiver (without TIA) has a larger S/N ratio under high operation gain (33 A/W) with less optical local-oscillator (LO) power required (0.25 vs. 0.5 mW), while exhibiting a wider dynamic range in each pixel. These advantages in turn lead to the construction of a better quality of 3-D lidar image by using the demonstrated APD.


Nocturnal sleep patterns may be a contributing factor for the epidemic of obesity. Epidemiologic ana experimental studies have reported that sleep restriction is an independent risk factor for weight gain and obesity. Moreover, sleep restriction is significantly associated with incidence and prevalence of obesity and several non-transmissible chronic diseases. Experimental sleep restriction is related to altered plasma leptin and ghrelin concentrations. Both hormones are directly related to appetite and satiety mechanisms. Also, a higher activity of the orexin/hypocretin system has been reported, as well as changes in glucose metabolism and autonomic nervous system. Some studies indicate that these endocrine changes could be associated with a higher diurnal food intake and preference for energy- dense foods. All these changes could result in a positive energy balance, leading to weight gain and a higher obesity risk in the long-term. The present article summarizes the epidemiologic and experimental evidence related to sleep deprivation and higher obesity risk. The possible mechanisms are highlighted.


ABSTRACT Listeria monocytogenes contamination of ready-to-eat foods has been implicated in numerous outbreaks of food-borne listeriosis. However, the health hazards posed by L. monocytogenes detected in foods may vary, and speculations exist that strains actually implicated in illness may constitute only a fraction of those that contaminate foods. In this study, examination of 34 serogroup 4 (putative or confirmed serotype 4b) isolates of L. monocytogenes obtained from various foods and food-processing environments, without known implication in illness, revealed that many of these strains had methylation of cytosines at GATC sites in the genome, rendering their DNA resistant to digestion by the restriction endonuclease Sau3AI. These strains also harbored a gene cassette with putative restriction-modification system genes as well as other, genomically unlinked genetic markers characteristic of the major epidemic-associated lineage of L. monocytogenes (epidemic clone I), implicated in numerous outbreaks in Europe and North America. This may reflect a relatively high fitness of strains with these genetic markers in foods and food-related environments relative to other serotype 4b strains and may partially account for the repeated involvement of such strains in human food-borne listeriosis.


University students are a vulnerable group for poor dietary intake, insufficient physical activity and sedentary behaviour. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of COVID-19 on university students' dietary intake, physical activity and sedentary behaviour. Participants were students (n=125) from the Universities of Saskatchewan and Regina. An online questionnaire was administered retrospectively (for pre-pandemic) and prospectively (during the pandemic) to examine students' dietary intake, physical activity and sedentary behaviour. Overall, nutrient and caloric intakes were significantly reduced (p<0.05) during the pandemic, and alcohol intake increased (p=0.03). Before the pandemic, 16% and 54% of the participants were meeting the Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Adults (18-64 years) of 150 minutes of moderate-vigorous physical activity and 8 hours or less of sedentary activity respectively. Only 10% met the guidelines for physical activity while 30% met the guidelines for sedentary behaviour during the pandemic. The minutes per week spent engaging in moderate to vigorous physical activity during the pandemic decreased by approximately 20% (p<0.001). The hours spent in sedentary activities increased by 3 hours per day (p<0.001). Our findings confirm that during the pandemic, students' inadequate dietary intake, high alcohol consumption, low physical activity and high sedentary behaviour were significantly compounded. Novelty During COVID-19, the nutrient and caloric intakes of university students decreased, and alcohol intake increased significantly. University students' physical activity levels decreased, and sedentary activity increased significantly during COVID-19. During COVID-19 students did not engage in sufficient physical activity to offset the increased sedentary behaviour.


Nerve growth factor (NGF) is, a prototype neurotrophic factor, well documented for its biochemical character, distribution and functions in embryonic and neonatal animals. However, only very tentative evidence exists for its effects on mature neurons, and results are controversial. Studying NGF by using mature neurons should be a significant and attractive field, not only for its clinical value in nerve regeneration by adults, but also for understanding the mechanisms of aging. Studies in vitro present a comparatively simple environment for analysis of the effective factors. Dorsal root ganglia (DRGs), containing an enormous heterogeneity of sensory neuronal types, are a useful model in understanding the nervous system. Hence, in the present study, mouse DRG neurons were maintained in vitro supplemented with NGF V5 cultures without NGF or with anti-NGF present, to examine any NGF effects on survival, morphological phenotype, neuropeptide expressions and neurite outgrowth (equivalent to regeneration in vitro). Comparison of adult (6 months) and aged (2 years) animals was made throughout the present study. In the survival study, a range of NGF (25-200ng/ml) was added to adult neurons in co-cultures, and neuronal survival monitored for 14 days in vitro (div). 100ng/ml NGF effectively maintained survival, compared with cultures without exogenous NGF. Aged as well as adult neurons were cultured [with non-neuronal cells (NNCs) present] without exogenous NGF or with 100ng/ml NGF added for up to 29div. NGF enhanced the survival of both adult and aged neurons (P<0.005 by ANOVA). To exclude possible endogenous NGF from NNCs, or any mediation of an NGF effect in co-culture by NNCs , a neuron- enriched culture system was also used. In these neuronal loss was avoided during cell preparation and well dispersed neurons were obtained. 100ng/ml NGF and/or 1:100 anti-NGF were re-examined in the modified neuron-enriched cultures for 9div and an enhanced survival of both adult and aged neuron persisted, although this effect was lower than in co-cultures. In general, about 20% of DRG neurons were NGF-dependent for their survival in adult and aged cultures. By size analysis of over 6500 neurons, intermediate-sized neurons (24-33mum in diameter) were predominant for both adult and aged in co-culture in the presence of NGF. The immunocytochemistiy (ICC) study using the avidin-biotin- peroxidase complex (ABC) method revealed that higher proportions of SP- immunoreactive (ir), CGRP-ir and NPY-ir aged, as well as adult, neurons were present in enriched cultures supplemented with 10 or 100ng/ml NGF than in cultures without NGF added (P<0.05-0.01 by ANOVA and t-tests), whereas SOM-ir adult and aged neurons showed little difference in cultures without or with NGF added. By counting at the peak day (9div) of SP expression, enhancement of the SP-ir subset in the presence of vs absence of NGF was similar for adult or aged neurons; the proportion of the SP-ir subset was not reduced following aging. Hence the SP-ir subset, together with the subsets of CGRP-ir and NPY-ir, were considered as NGF-dependent survival neurons in adult, and even aged mouse DRGs. Enhancement of the SP-ir proportion was more rapid in aged neuronal cultures supplemented with NGF than in cultures without exogenous NGF. Also, the staining intensities for CGRP and NPY were greater in both adult and aged cultures with NGF added than those in cultures without NGF. In addition to maintaining survival, NGF affected the mature neuronal phenotypes. Scanning election microscopy demonstrated that in the presence of NGF, abundant microvilli projections were distributed on the neuronal surface; in contrast, neurons were deformed and lost their smooth appearance, if 1:100 anti-NGF was present in enriched cultures. In the study of neurite geometry in enriched culture, major neurite length (maximal extension of a neurite), entire neurite length (lengths of major neurite plus all its branches), total neurite length (lengths of all neurite outgrowth from each neuron), soma size, neurite number (for each neuron) and branch number (per neurite) were selected as parameters. Tracing was carried out blindly at 1, 3, 6 and 9div by computer image analysis and a digitizing tablet. Neurites and neurons from at least 5 mice for each adult or aged cultures were measured directly from culture or from photomicrograph montages and data were statistically tested by ANOVA. The results demonstrated that NGF enhanced neurite outgrowth (P<0.0005) at 6 and 9div for both adult and aged neurons Total neurite lengths of adult and aged neurons were distinct in the presence of NGF; neurite length was predominantly enhanced by adult neurons, whereas increased branch lengths were evident for aged neurons. Neurites predominantly extended from intermediate- and large-sized neurons. In summary, aged neurons showed comparatively lower abilities for survival and functional peptide expression compared to adult neurons in vitro, but continued to be responsive to exogenous NGF. In addition, reconstruction of neurites by aged and adult neurons in vitro was demonstrated in the present study.


An increasing number of patients and their families have Internet access and use it to make sense of their cancer experience. Search engines and subject guides take Internet users to cancer-related Web sites that contain information of varying quality and accuracy. Several organizations have attempted to create evaluation tools for cancer information on the Internet. They are, for the most part, untested, but they can serve as a practical guide for coaching patients and family members on the use of the Internet. Evaluating Internet information with guidelines, dealing with Internet-savvy patients and families, and the use of e-mail in clinical practice are discussed.


The higher pace of development of technology has had momentous effects on all aspects of the business sector. Electronic ways of conducting business activities have taken the industry to a new era and construction organizations are moving away from traditional processes to modern ways of working through the use of electronic media. The impact of the current economic crisis has also made the use of e-business activities vital and essential to achieve better performance, productivity improvements and efficiency savings for construction businesses. Even though the possibilities afforded by e-business are evident, the level of implementation is not elevated as expected within the construction industry compared to other industries. While traditionally being backward in adopting new technologies, construction organisations have considerable e-business usage gaps from large scale to small, medium and micro level businesses. This difference reveals that there is a plausible opportunity for advancement and it needs to be captured and managed. Hence for construction organisations currently using e-business tools and for those who have yet to use and seek to adopt e-business tools, there is a need to undertake an analysis of their business processes and working methods to ensure efficient and effective use of these tools. This doctoral study will bridge this gap and need of the industry by aiming to develop an "e-business Capability Maturity Model (CMM)" as a tool for step-wise improvement of capability to carry out construction e-business activities. The benefit of such tool is to help construction organisations to know how to move from one level to the other by improving their e-business capabilities and thereby improving organisational processes. This paper presents the concept of CMM for construction e-business and the indicative research methodology.


Large coupling of the oxygen content and lattice dilation, known as chemical expansion, deleteriously impacts the durability of non-stoichiometric active oxides in energy conversion and storage devices. In this work, the role of charge localization on multivalent cations during reduction was experimentally probed using La0.9Sr0.1Ga1−xNixO3−δ (LSGN; x = 0.05, 0.1, and 0.5) to test prior theoretical predictions of decreased chemical expansion upon decreasing charge localization. Increasing the Ni content in LSGN resulted in a decrease in the coefficient of chemical expansion, consistent with expected charge de-localization as LSGN transitions from polaron hopping to metallic conduction, as demonstrated in prior electrical studies. Dilatometry and thermogravimetry showed that samples with more Ni underwent larger changes in the oxygen content and consequently expanded more, though the normalized expansion for a given stoichiometry change (the coefficient of chemical expansion) was less. In situ X-ray diffraction revealed an increase of crystal symmetry with a decreasing oxygen partial pressure and/or increasing temperature, consistent with expected changes in Ni and anion radii and demonstrating the interplay between chemical expansion and the crystal structure. The smaller-than-expected magnitude of the change in the chemical expansion coefficient with charge delocalization, compared to prior theoretical predictions, suggests that other factors, such as structural changes and the nature of the multivalent cation, likely also contribute. Finally, the effective radius of an oxygen vacancy (smaller than an oxide ion) as well as the change in size of Ni with charge de-localization was estimated.


God and history: a Christological dilemma – The reconfiguration of the image of God and Jesus Christ by seven twentieth century Dutch theologians This dissertation will make a contribution to the research on the history of theological ideas in the Netherlands in the twentieth century. The works of seven important Dutch theologians have been examined from the perspective of the reconfiguration of the classical Christological dogmas. It concerns the oeuvre of the Protestants O. Noordmans, A.A. van Ruler, H. Berkhof, A. van de Beek and of the Roman Catholic theologians G.P. Kreling, P. Schoonenberg and E. Schillebeeckx. The introduction (1.0) specifies the field of research, describes the state of scholarship with regard to the history of theology in the twentieth century in the Netherlands and explains the method and the structure of the study. Chapter two elaborates on the problem of the role of God in human history as a Christological dilemma. 2.1 sketches the controversy between a 'Logos-sarx-christology' and a 'Logos-antropos-christology' within the Early Church. The Council of Chalcedon (451) finally defines the person of Jesus Christ as 'Vere Deus et vere homo'. In the seventh century however, the relation between the divine and human nature of Jesus Christ is interpreted in such a way that the human nature does not have a hypostasis in itself. From the perspective of the doctrine of the anhypostasia, it seems difficult to safeguard Jesus' true and full humanity. Since the Enlightenment these teachings have been challenged. The three pillars of church authority – the authority of Scripture, creeds and ecclesiastical magisterium, based on apostolic succession – began to stagger. 2.2 outlines the first quest of the historical Jesus in the nineteenth century. An antithesis arose between the 'historical Jesus of biblical scholarship' and the 'Christ of Christian faith'. The Dutch Reformed Church did not know how to deal with the huge scientific and cultural developments of the century and suffered from inner divisions on the question of the substance of Christian faith. Likewise, the Roman Catholic Church, after its regained institutional autonomy in the Netherlands halfway this century, started a fight against modernity (2.3). After the First World War the Dutch and European view of life changed dramatically. Many feared the end of Western civilisation. The Second World War even deepened the consciousness of the ambiguity of history. However, a sense of responsibility to rebuild Western society awoke a new hope for a better future (2.4). Against this background the chapters 3-9 draw the theological portraits of the seven theologians mentioned above. They all make a reconstruction of Christian tradition and they try to express the original message and meaning of Jesus Christ for their own time. Chapter 10 argues that in fact all of them are seeking for the 'catholicity' of Christian faith. They have to admit that Western Europe becomes more and more a secularized continent and that it no longer seems possible to speak of 'a universal truth'. Even the presence of God in history can be easily disputed. Nevertheless, all these theologians confess, each of them in his own way, that the person and life of Jesus in all their historical particularity have a decisive and universal meaning for the salvation of humankind. Only when the full and true humanity of Jesus is recognized, he may be confessed as the Christ of God, born from the Spirit of God, crucified and risen for doing the will of The Father and so bringing near the kingdom of God through justice, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14,17) as a promise and challenge "for our salvation".


Filling the need for a ready reference that reflects the vast developments in this field, this book presents everything from fundamentals, applications, various reaction types, and technical applications. Edited by rising stars in the scientific community, the text focuses solely on visible light photocatalysis in the context of organic chemistry. This primarily entails photoinduced electron transfer and energy transfer chemistry sensitized by polypyridyl complexes, yet also includes the use of organic dyes and heterogeneous catalysts. A valuable resource to the synthetic organic community, polymer and medicinal chemists, as well as industry professionals.


The government of India is promoting local vegetable production in Andaman and Nicobar Islands in a policy of sustainable development on tropical bay islands. There has been an increase in area and productivity of vegetables and reduced import of vegetables from the mainland. Improved technologies have been transferred to vegetable farms. However, the majority of farmers rely on private agencies for inputs and marketing activities that limit profits. Lack of cold transport, storage facilities, modern collection centers, and processing industry are still challenges to vegetable growers on islands. Use of good agricultural practices for vegetables includes limited use of synthetic chemicals in the island ecosystem. The pace of adoption of improved practices in vegetables needs to be enhanced to ensure off-season availability. Many island cultures employ organic methods by default and a small amount of effort can establish them as organic hubs for vegetable production. Rising tourism and increasing import cost of vegetables increased the necessity of structural changes in production to make islands self-sufficient in vegetable production.


In recent years, cryogenic minimum quantity lubrication (CMQL) has been established in comparison to pure cryogenic cooling. The used oil has a crucial influence on the success of the technology. The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of oils from renewable resources with regard to their miscibility with carbon dioxide (CO2) and their spraying behavior. Ten different bio-based oils (synthetic ester, natural ester and fatty alcohol) have been examined regarding their suitability for CMQL compared to a conventional mineral hydrocrack oil. A validation based on sprayability and solubility properties with liquid CO2 has been performed. The sprayability and the resulting oil droplet size have an impact on the amount of oil entering the process zone and thus on the lubrication performance of the coolant concept. For this reason, a high-speed camera has been used to capture shadow images of the jet from an external cooling nozzle. In addition the width, intensity and uniformity of the oil application were evaluated. The solubility of the bio-based oils in CO2 is investigated in a static mixing chamber with varied mixing ratio. The miscibility of the bio-based oils in a single channel supply system was investigated with high-speed recordings of a dynamic mixing chamber. The results of the various experimental setups have been compared.


A main aim of this paper is to show how Gestalt approaches can contribute to climate change transformation. A fictional case loosely based on experiences from the Dadaab refugee camps serves as a basis for theoretical speculation. For many people climate change, natural hazard-related disasters and displacement entail major life changes. This paper discusses certain cross-cutting and overarching concepts that may be of value in the process of transformation in general and transformational adaptation in a refugee camp particular. The Gestalt concepts explored are field theory, existential phenomenology, relationships and contact, and conflict and change. Field theory, which posits that everything is in mutual interaction, can be the basis of an ecologically oriented worldview. Phenomenology helps people stand aside from their usual way of thinking, and have a more immediate and naive perception of what is in the present situation. It is important to consider interpersonal relationships as well as relationships between people and trees, animals and the wider natural environment. Several modes of contact may be particularly relevant in a climate change context, including collective "chewing" of certain norms. Sometimes modes of contact, such as projection, are related to intrapersonal and interpersonal conflict. An essential task is to think about how a safe space can be provided for conflicts to be explored. The Gestalt theory of conflict sees the person as a conglomerate of polar forces. Change happens when one becomes what one is rather than trying to become what one is not. The paper concludes that Gestalt approaches have much to offer and points out future research possibilities, including carrying out actual case studies based on Gestalt-inspired transformation.


Neural networks have demonstrated their great performance in a wide range of tasks. Especially in timeseries analysis, recurrent architectures based on long-short term memory (LSTM) cells have manifested excellent capability to model time dependencies in real-world data. However, standard recurrent architectures cannot estimate their uncertainty which is essential for safety-critical applications such as in medicine. In contrast, Bayesian recurrent neural networks (RNNs) are able to provide uncertainty estimation with improved accuracy. Nonetheless, Bayesian RNNs are computationally and memory demanding, which limits their practicality despite their advantages. To address this issue, we propose an FPGA-based hardware design to accelerate Bayesian LSTM-based RNNs. To further improve the overall algorithmic-hardware performance, a codesign framework is proposed to explore the most optimal algorithmic-hardware configurations for Bayesian RNNs. We conduct extensive experiments on health-related tasks to demonstrate the improvement of our design and the effectiveness of our framework. Compared with GPU implementation, our FPGAbased design can achieve up to 10 times speedup with nearly 106 times higher energy efficiency. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work targeting acceleration of Bayesian RNNs on FPGAs.


Among methods of measurement of bubble size distributions, a successful acoustic method has advantages in that bubbles are very responsive to sound, large volumes may be sampled, and the method can be inexpensive. However, inversion of the data to recover the bubble density is difficult. In the present work a model for sound propagation in bubbly liquids is used to develop two Fredholm integral equations of the first kind relating the attenuation and phase velocity to the bubble density. These equations are ill‐posed, and require special solution. New solution algorithms based on a constrained minimization method were developed. These were first tested on analytical data with added noise, and were successful in recovering the bubble density. Bubble populations were then generated using electrolysis and air injection. Short bursts of sound at different frequencies were generated at a source, and received at a hydrophone after passage through the medium. The attenuation and phase velocity were obtained, along with other information, that are used to develop constraints on the solution. Results obtained for the bubble population are compared with microphotography and show that the method is accurate. In ongoing work an integrated PC‐based instrument is being developed. [Work supported by NSF.]


The effect of high levels of microbial phytase supplementation in diets for growing pigs was studied in a 2-week performance and nutrient digestibility trial involving 28 growing pigs weighing 16.4 +/- 1.06 (mean +/- SD) kg. Seven corn-barley-soybean meal-based diets consisting of a positive control (PC) formulated to meet or exceed NRC nutrient requirements; a negative control (NC) with non-phytate P reduced by 0.1% unit from NRC requirement and fed without or with 500 or 1000 U/kg; a doubled negative control (DNC) with no added inorganic P and fed without or with 2000 or 4000 U/kg. Chromic oxide was added as an indigestible marker and all diets were fed as mash. Pigs fed the PC diet had a higher P digestibility compared with those fed the NC (P < 0.02) and the DNC (P < 0.001) diets. Supplementing the NC diet with pyhtase tended to improve P digestibility (P < 0.10). However, addition of phytase to the DNC diet resulted in linear (P < 0.001) and quadratic (P < 0.03) increases in P digestibility with an overall improvement of 8% and 121% at 4000 phytase U/kg of diet, respectively, compared with the PC and DNC diets. Apparent total tract digestibility of N, OM and DM were higher (P < 0.05) in the PC diet compared with the DNC diet, but not the NC diet (P < 0.10). No effect of phytase addition to NC was observed on Ca, N, DM and OM digestibility. Phytase addition to the DNC diet resulted in a linear increase (P < 0.05) in N, DM and OM digestibility but not Ca. Increasing the levels of phytase supplementation in the NC and the DNC diets linearly decreased fecal P (P < 0.05) content by 45 and 42%, respectively. Adding phytase at 1000 or 4000 U/kg increased P retention (P < 0.05) by 14.3 or 15.6% units, respectively, compared with the PC diet. Urinary P excretion was higher in the group fed the PC diet compared with those fed the NC and DNC diets (P < 0.05). The results of this study show that complete removal of inorganic P from growing pig diets coupled with phytase supplementation improves digestibility and retention of P and N, thus reducing manure P excretion without any negative effect on pig performance.


Halophilic archaebacteria (Haloarchaea) can survive extreme desiccation, starvation and radiation, sometimes apparently for millions of years. Several of the strategies that are involved appear specific for Haloarchaea (for example, the formation of halomucin, survival in fluid inclusions of halite), and some are known from other prokaryotes (dwarfing of cells, reduction of ATP). Several newly-discovered haloarchaeal strategies that were inferred to possibly promote long-term survival—halomucin, polyploidy, usage of DNA as a phosphate storage polymer, production of spherical dormant stages—remain to be characterized in detail. More information on potential strategies is desirable, since evidence for the presence of halite on Mars and on several moons in the solar system increased interest in halophiles with respect to the search for extraterrestrial life. This review deals in particular with novel findings and hypotheses on haloarchaeal long-term survival.