The 5 km debris-covered tongue of Miage Glacier has been studied to explore the effect of the debris cover on patterns of thickness change over an 86-year period (1913-1999). Changes in surface elevation and volume for four intervals of eight to 44 years' duration have been calculated from comparisons of digital terrain models (DTMs) derived from cartographic and topographic surveys. Thickness changes over successive periods show that parts of the ablation zone have thickened while other parts have thinned or maintained stable elevations. Zones of thickening migrated downstream to cause small advances of the terminus on two occasions. In contrast to nearby uncovered glaciers, Miage Glacier increased in volume over the entire period. Our results indicate that decadal-scale thickness changes are forced primarily by mass flux perturbations in synchrony with uncovered glaciers, and not by debris-mantle insulation. Century-scale volume and thickness changes differ from uncovered glaciers, due to the conservation of ice beneath the debris cover during prolonged periods of thinning.


In recommender systems, the cold-start problem is a critical issue. To alleviate this problem, an emerging direction adopts meta-learning frameworks and achieves success. Most existing works aim to learn globally shared prior knowledge across all users so that it can be quickly adapted to a new user with sparse interactions. However, globally shared prior knowledge may be inadequate to discern users' complicated behaviors and causes poor generalization. Therefore, we argue that prior knowledge should be locally shared by users with similar preferences who can be recognized by social relations. To this end, in this paper, we propose a Preference-Adaptive Meta-Learning approach (PAML) to improve existing meta-learning frameworks with better generalization capacity. Specifically, to address two challenges imposed by social relations, we first identify reliable implicit friends to strengthen a user's social relations based on our defined palindrome paths. Then, a coarse-fine preference modeling method is proposed to leverage social relations and capture the preference. Afterwards, a novel preference-specific adapter is designed to adapt the globally shared prior knowledge to the preference-specific knowledge so that users who have similar tastes share similar knowledge. We conduct extensive experiments on two publicly available datasets. Experimental results validate the power of social relations and the effectiveness of PAML.


Direct lineage reprogramming of abundant and accessible cells into therapeutically useful cell types holds tremendous potential in regenerative medicine. To date, a number of different cell types have been generated by lineage reprogramming methods, including cells from the neural, cardiac, hepatic, and pancreatic lineages. The success of this strategy relies on developmental biology and the knowledge of cell-fate-defining transcriptional networks. Hepatocytes represent a prime target for β cell conversion for numerous reasons, including close developmental origin, accessibility, and regenerative potential. We present here an overview of pancreatic and hepatic development, with a particular focus on the mechanisms underlying the divergence between the two cell lineages. Additionally, we discuss to what extent this lineage relationship can be exploited in efforts to reprogram one cell type into the other and whether such an approach may provide a suitable strategy for regenerative therapies of diabetes.


Two new double tungstates, Li2Co(WO4)2 and Li2Ni(WO4)2, have been prepared by solidstate reaction and characterized. The structures of these isostructural compounds (triclinic, space group P1 h) have been determined from X-ray and neutron diffraction data and found to be built up of alternating layers of zigzag rows of edge-sharing WO6 octahedra and MO6 octahedra (M ) Co 2+ or Ni 2+ ) as in wolframite-like phases. However, the MO6 octahedra are arranged in columns but not connected to each other; perpendicular to these columns there are rows of edge-sharing LiO6 octahedra which also connect the different MO6 octahedra. The structure of a previously reported lithium-copper(II) double tungstate with the same stoichiometry, Li2Cu(WO4)2, has also been determined and found to be similar to that proposed for these new double tungstates. The three compounds melt incongruently at temperatures between 750 and 770 °C. Conductivity measurements revealed that these compounds are not good ionic conductors probably because of the full occupancy of lithium positions which hinders the motion of the ions along the (LiO6)∞ columns.


Coordinate systems associated to a finite set of sample points have been extensively studied, especially in the context of interpolation of multivariate scattered data. Notably, Sibson proposed the so-called natural neighbor coordinates that are defined from the Voronoi diagram of the sample points. A drawback of those coordinate systems is that their definition domain is restricted to the convex hull of the sample points. This make them difficult to use when the sample points belong to a surface. To overcome this difficulty, we propose a new system of coordinates. Given a closed surface, i.e. a manifold of, the coordinate system is defined everywhere on the surface, is continuous, and is local even if the sampling density is finite. Moreover, it is inherently 1-dimensional while the previous systems are dimensional. No assumption is made about the ordering, the connectivity or topology of the sample points nor of the surface. We illustrate our results with an application to interpolation over a surface.


Over the past fifteen years, scholars from Saidiya Hartman to Catherine Toal have addressed the hegemonic tendencies of sentimental identification in white abolitionist politics and literature in the US. They have argued that such identification elides, revises, and appropriates the subjectivities and experiences of African Americans to serve white and often female agendas (Hartman 20; Toal 40). Since Nell Irvin Painter's biography Sojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol (1996), she and other scholars have examined at length appropriations of Sojourner Truth's work, in particular by her sentimental amanuenses and by later white feminists. Painter, Carleton Mabee, and Margaret Washington discuss Harriet Beecher Stowe's self-interested portrayal of Truth and the extent of Frances Gage's reworking of Truth's speech at the 1851 Akron Women's Rights Convention. (1) Roseann M. Mandziuk and Suzanne Pullon Fitch demonstrate that white women's movements and white feminist scholars have deployed Truth as an icon that reduces her to nothing more than a symbol of their own causes (133). According to Xiomara Santamarina, however, "Truth's simultaneously vexed popularity and iconic incongruity do not simply emerge from her amanuenses' and auditors' appropriations of the reformer's words and actions" (37). Santamarina finds that Truth's iconicity arises at least as much out of the difference between Truth's working-class persona and middle-class models for ex-slaves in a growing abolitionist movement that favored literacy (39). I invoke Santamarina's intervention in order to inflect it toward the consideration of a different problem entwined with appropriation: how at once to tease out, to contextualize, and to explore Truth's practice of humor. Truth's iconicity does not emerge simply "from her amanuenses' and auditors' appropriations." Because Truth has no choice but to grapple with the discourse that casts her as an incongruous iconic figure, some of the most striking features of her artistic and political practice (re)deploy features of the icon, particularly its pictorial quality and its solicitation of identifications. In certain ways, Truth's rhetorical practice of humor must be seen as the inverse side of its appropriation, as it intervenes in the discourse within which it must work. Hence, it is important also to recognize that Truth's practice cannot emerge simply from its appropriation. (2) In this essay, I sort the subordinations of Truth by those who recount her humor in print from her valued and coveted rhetorical practice. This essay probes the tension between the qualities of Truth's humor that overlap with the icon--its almost visual imagery, its indexical relation to an abstract value, and its memorability (Tomaselli and Scott 18-21)and the fluid relationships of the audience to Truth herself that her humor is meant to intercept. The much-discussed problem of the appropriation of Truth's work arises when hegemonic interests shift qualities of iconicity away from oratorical devices honed by Truth to self-serving and decontextualized variations of them and often to Truth herself. In the latter case, those who appropriate Truth's words treat her as a site of memory for their cause (Grever 370). I situate Truth's pictorial metaphors within a cultural context that differentiates them from icons and invites a critical approach that illuminates their density, complexity, and contingency, and hence the ways they exceed both iconicity and appropriation. That context is the burgeoning popularity of political cartoons and racial caricatures in New York City, where Truth lived for sixteen years before her speaking career. The medium of the political cartoon and its conventions of visual metaphor can be employed to illuminate Truth's practice of humor. As Bernard Reilly notes, common tropes circulated in stump speeches and cartoons during the antebellum period (148). It is useful to consider briefly the fluctuating social and political field in which Truth's rhetoric and the rhetoric of cartoons perform. …


Antitrust and intellectual property law increasing fall within the common rubric of innovation policy. Yet in fundamental respects, patent law fits more comfortably under that umbrella than copyright. A primary reason is that copyright does not merely spur innovation. It also regulates speech. In building upon that observation, this Chapter addresses a number of points at the intersection of antitrust, media concentration, copyright, and free speech. First, it surveys the conflict between copyright and free speech, as recognized in both United States and European jurisprudence. Second, it focuses on media industry incumbents' repeated use of copyright to bar entry to new speakers and speech distributors, and the very limited efficacy of current U.S. antitrust doctrine in constraining that practice. Third, it considers a number of ways in which the marketplace of ideas differs from markets for goods and services, including (1) the contrast between expressive diversity and media product differentiation, (2) the tendency of demand for expression to follow a winner-take-all power law curve, and (3) the context-dependent nature of market power. Fourth, the Chapter asks whether copyright ever confers market power, relying on an average cost, normal profits metric rather than the commonly used marginal cost baseline. The Chapter concludes by demonstrating that what begins as economic analysis of copyright's optimal scope must, by its very terms, ultimately turn on broad social policies regarding the desired shape and contours of our system of freedom of expression. Accordingly, to determine copyright's scope and limitations, we must look to free speech law and policy, not just the law and policy that underlie antitrust.


Cross-species amplification of twenty-five SSR loci from the DNA of five rhesus macaques of diverse regional origins was conducted using human primers for the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Seven of these primer pairs, which consistently and unambiguously amplified polymorphic fragments from these five samples, were also used to amplify SSR loci for 111 Sichuan wild rhesus macaques of five different populations. The analysed microsatellite markers produced 109 alleles, varied from 4 to 16 alleles each locus. The number of alleles per population ranged from 6.79 to 11.38. Polymorphic information content showed that all seven loci were highly informative (mean = 0.9017±0.0166, >0.5). The average observed heterozygosity was less than the expected (mean = 0.6795 and mean = 0.8559, respectively). Genetic differentiation among the populations was considerably low with the overall and pairwise FST values (mean = 0.0375), and showed fairly low level of inbreeding (indicated by a mean FIS value of 0. 0.1991). Maintaining genetic diversity is a major issue in conservation biology. In comparison to other captive Macaca mulatta studies, these wild rhesus macaque populations showed a relatively high level of genetic diversity, and there was low gene flow among these populations. Careful genetic management is important for maintaining genetic variability levels. None of the seven informative loci are linked which screened in this study can be applied in future studies on population and conservation genetics of natural primate populations.


Meandering pulmonary vein (MPV) is a rarely seen pulmonary vascular anomaly and confused with the scimitar syndrome which is more commonly seen. In this paper, we presented a case of left MPV which mimes arteriovenous malformation. A 30-year-old man was referred to our clinic for pulmonary nodule detected in routine evaluation before employment examination. Diagnosis of MPV was made by Pulmonary CT angiography. It showed abnormal drainage of upper lob pulmonary vein to the inferior pulmonary vein and form abnormal common pulmonary vein which shouldn't be exist. Because of any symptoms no further examination was recommended. According to our best knowledge to date only 17 cases reported in the literature. MPV diagnosis has been significantly changed by the means of advances in CT technology. Non-invasive diagnosis is possible with modern multisectional CT that clearly shows the anatomy of veins and enables the detailed MPV examination. Hereby, unnecessary radiological examination or surgery can be prevented.f veins and enables the detailed MPV examination.


A technique is developed for predicting the closed-loop steady state output voltage regulation of a multiple-output current-mode controlled converter. The proposed model accounts for the current loop, the voltage loop, and the integrator in the compensation scheme. This method allows tradeoffs with respect to regulation between different components or feedback configurations to be evaluated during the design of a converter. Experimental verification on a three-output current-mode controlled push-pull converter with single output voltage feedback is provided. >


ABSTRACT In eukaryotes, ribosomes are made from precursor rRNA (pre-rRNA) and ribosomal proteins in a maturation process that requires a large number of snoRNPs and processing factors. A fundamental problem is how the coordinated and productive folding of the pre-rRNA and assembly of successive pre-rRNA-protein complexes is achieved cotranscriptionally. The conserved protein Mrd1p, which contains five RNA binding domains (RBDs), is essential for processing events leading to small ribosomal subunit synthesis. We show that full function of Mrd1p requires all five RBDs and that the RBDs are functionally distinct and needed during different steps in processing. Mrd1p mutations trap U3 snoRNA in pre-rRNP complexes both in base-paired and non-base-paired interactions. A single essential RBD, RBD5, is involved in both types of interactions, but its conserved RNP1 motif is not needed for releasing the base-paired interactions. RBD5 is also required for the late pre-rRNP compaction preceding A2 cleavage. Our results suggest that Mrd1p modulates successive conformational rearrangements within the pre-rRNP that influence snoRNA-pre-rRNA contacts and couple U3 snoRNA-pre-rRNA remodeling and late steps in pre-rRNP compaction that are essential for cleavage at A0 to A2. Mrd1p therefore coordinates key events in biosynthesis of small ribosome subunits.


The platelet‐derived growth factor (PDGF) signaling pathway plays important roles in development and progression of human cancers. In our study, we aimed to identify genetic variants of the PDGF pathway genes associated with pancreatic cancer (PC) risk in European populations using three published genome‐wide association study datasets, which consisted of 9,381 cases and 7,719 controls. The expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) analysis was also performed using data from the 1000 Genomes, TCGA and GTEx projects. As a result, we identified two potential susceptibility loci (rs5757573 and rs6001516) of PDGFB associated with PC risk [odds ratio (OR) = 1.10, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.05–1.16, and p = 4.70 × 10−5 for the rs5757573 C allele and 1.21, 1.11–1.32, and 2.01 × 10−5 for the rs6001516 T allele]. Haplotype analysis revealed that the C‐T haplotype carriers had a significantly increased risk of PC than those carrying the T‐C haplotype (OR = 1.23, 95% CI = 1.12–1.34, p =5.00 × 10−6). The multivariate regression model incorporating the number of unfavorable genotypes (NUGs) with age and sex showed that carriers with 1–2 NUGs, particularly among 60–70 age group or males, had an increased risk of PC, compared to those without NUG. Furthermore, the eQTL analysis revealed that both loci were correlated with a decreased mRNA expression level of PDGFB in lymphoblastoid cell lines and pancreatic tumor tissues (p = 0.015 and 0.071, respectively). Our results suggest that genetic variants in PDGFB may play a role in susceptibility to PC. Further population and functional validations of our findings are warranted.


Kernel-based data mining algorithms, such as Support Vector Machines, project data into high-dimensional feature spaces, wherein linear decision surfaces correspond to non-linear decision surfaces in the original feature space. Choosing a kernel amounts to choosing a high-dimensional feature space, and is thus a crucial step in the data mining process. Despite this fact, and as a result of the difficulty of establishing that a function is a positive definite kernel, only a few standard kernels (e.g. polynomial and Gaussian) are typically used. We propose a method for searching over a space of kernels for composite kernels that are guaranteed to be positive definite, and that are tuned to produce a feature space appropriate for a given dataset. Composite kernel functions are easily interpreted by humans, in contrast to the output of other work on kernel tuning. Empirical results demonstrate that our method often finds composite kernels that yield higher classification accuracy than the standard kernels.


We present a method for solving the coverage problem with the objective of autonomously exploring an unknown environment under mission time constraints. Here, the robot is tasked with planning a path over a horizon such that the accumulated area swept out by its sensor footprint is maximized. Because this problem exhibits a diminishing returns property known as submodularity, we choose to formulate it as a tree-based sequential decision making process. This formulation allows us to evaluate the effects of the robot's actions on future world coverage states, while simultaneously accounting for traversability risk and the dynamic constraints of the robot. To quickly find near-optimal solutions, we propose an effective approximation to the coverage sensor model which adapts to the local environment. Our method was extensively tested across various complex environments and served as the local exploration algorithm for a competing entry in the DARPA Subterranean Challenge.


Continual measurement is key to understanding sudden and gradual changes in chemical and biological quality of water, and for taking reactive remedial action in the case of contamination. Monitoring of water bodies will increase in future within Europe to comply with legislative requirements such as the Water Framework Directive and globally owing to pressure from climate change. Establishing high quality long-term monitoring programs is regarded as essential if the implementation of pertinent legislation is to be successful. However, conventional discrete sampling programs and laboratory-based analysis techniques can be costly, and are unlikely to provide timely and reliable estimates of true ranges of deterministic physicochemical variability in a water body with marked temporal or spatial variability.
Only continual or near continual measurements have the capacity to detect ephemeral or sporadic events, thus providing the potential for on-line event detection and classification. The aim of this work is to demonstrate the potential role of continuous data acquisition in decision support as part of a smart city project. In this work, a multi-modal smart sensor network system framework for large scale estuarine and marine water quality monitoring is proposed. The application of a number of evolving techniques that allow automated detection and clustering of events from data generated by in situ sensors within environmental time series datasets is described. We provide examples of how change in the range of variables such as turbidity and salinity might be detected and clustered to provide the end user with greater ability to detect the onset of environmentally significant events. Finally, we discuss the acquisition of data from in situ water quality sensors and its utility within the framework a smart city-smart bay integrated project.


Power generating units do not contribute equally to system reliability. The contribution or reliability importance of units can be determined by the sensitivity of system indices to input uncertainties. Units with high sensitivities are the primary candidates for system upgrades or improvements. This paper extends the infinitesimal perturbation analysis (IPA) to complex Monte Carlo based generating system reliability programs and computes system and unit sensitivity measures. Generating units are represented by 3- and 6-state models and various important system operating rules and policies are recognized. Results from a case study are presented and discussed.


This paper analyses the influence of environmental management in the managerial perception in small and medium-sized enterprises as a competitive opportunity, and the effect of this managerial perception in the adoption of a higher proactive environmental management. It also shows that the link between environmental management and financial performance is neither necessary direct nor single, but it may depends on a mediating variable, the competitive advantage. A matrix inspired by Boiral's research works is used to visualize the different types of environmental involvement of these organizations. The aim of this paper is to present a snapshot of the reality of environmental management in small and medium-sized enterprises.


New academic staff are generally offered structured career development opportunities particularly to develop their teaching practice, often in the form of a credit-bearing programme. Less purposeful development is typically offered beyond this stage, despite staff often moving in to key leadership roles to enhance learning and teaching practice, such as programme leadership, project management and mentoring of new staff.  This article presents data from a world cafe event run for graduates of a post-graduate certificate who were up to 10 years into their career, where they engaged in conversations about the affordances and obstacles to their career development.  Three key themes emerged from the findings.  Firstly, purposeful networking and engaging in communities of practice were significant vehicles for examining career options, developing leadership capacity and becoming more visible in the university.  Secondly, taking the time to make decisive and purposeful choices in career development opportunities was noted by participants.  Thirdly, finding strategies to manage conflict and change were often voiced; whilst staff were prepared for teaching roles, managing conflicting demands was often challenging, and development in leadership in changing times was less purposeful.  Suggestions are presented for universities to consider to more purposefully develop early to mid-career staff, particularly in a time of rapid change.


This study sought to determine the suitability and viability of introducing the IELTS test to private secondary schools in Malaysia and to determine the most appropriate module for this cohort. The study was conducted with 151 randomly selected students from private colleges in the Klang Valley, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The results from the comparative study of the statistical data showed that secondary school students were able to perform when given either the Academic or General Training module, although it appeared that the candidates with high English proficiency had a tendency to do better in the Academic test. Analysis of the data also strongly suggested that the preparation for the national English language test, SPM 1119 English prepared and equipped the candidates with a good foundation in language skills to do either IELTS module.


An understanding of plant immune systems is important for crop breeding with enhanced disease resistance against pathogen infection. Previous studies reveal that plant has evolved two types of defense mechanisms, which are called "basal resistance" and "R‒gene mediated resistance", for protecting thewrselves from pathogen attack. Recent studies suggest that both defense systems use a common pathway to activate defense responses, however, the downstream components in both pathways are still obscure.
 OsPto-interacting protein 1a (OsPti1a), which is a functional ortholog of tomato Pti1, negatively regulates both basal resistance and R‒gene mediated resistance in rice. ospti1a mutant shows lesion formation and accompanying defense responses without pathogen infection. OsPti1a is phosphorylated by upstream kinase oxidative signal inducible1 (OsOxi1) and the phosphorylation of OsPti1a has an important role in activating basal resistance against pathogen infection. Additionally, OsOxi1 is phosphorylated by upstream kinase 3‒phosphoinotiside-dependent protein kinase 1 (OsPdk1). OsPdk1 has an important role for activating basal resistance against compatible pathogen infection. Therefore, OsPdk1-OsOxi1-OsPti1a phosphorylation cascade regulates proper activation of basal resistance in rice.
 Interestingly, OsPti1a localizes at plasma membrane, and cellular localization of OsPti1a has an important function in suppvessing lesion formation. Especially, N‒terminal amino acid sequences of OsPti1a have a post-translational modification for binding to plasma membrane. Further, OsPti1a forms complexes with potentially plant immune related proteins at plasma membrane, suggesting that plasma membrane localized OsPti1a probably regulates plant immune complex through its phosphorylation during pathogen infection.


Multinational enterprises from developing economies have been reshaping the global investment landscape since the early 2000s. In particular, companies from China have become increasingly significant outward investors. In fact China is currently the third largest outward investor in the world (UNCTAD 2013). As a relatively new phenomenon the outward investment of Chinese multinationals has not been researched comprehensively. This is especially true of Chinese multinationals undertaking investment activities in advanced economies. Therefore the aim of this research is to extend our knowledge of the investment behaviour of Chinese multinationals in advanced economies. This is achieved through the examination of their reasons for investment, selected entry modes and effects on British business partners. This research takes a multiple case study approach consisting of nine Chinese multinationals from the automotive, manufacturing, IT, telecommunications and medical device sectors. As a qualitative study it is principally based on interview data but also draws on quantitative evidence where appropriate. The findings of this research suggest that the examined firms had diverse competitive advantages and investment motives. The effects of their investments were also varied because they were determined by the MNEs' investment motives and modes of entry. The strategic asset-seeking investors significantly improved the companies they acquired. They also intensified research and development activities in external partner organisations. Meanwhile the asset-exploiting investors improved consumer welfare, intensified competition in their sectors and generated high value-added business opportunities for British partners at home and abroad. The generally positive effects of Chinese FDI imply that UK policy-makers may wish to step up their efforts to attract further investment from China. The diverse nature of Chinese companies indicates that investment promotion agencies could develop a differentiated strategy to encourage Chinese investors. In addition the benefits derived from collaborating with Chinese multinationals suggest that British firms could be more proactive in forging relationships with them.


World of Warcraft is one of the most popular and most successful MMORPGs of all times played by millions of players from all over the world. The game offers its players a huge fantasy universe with extensive and compelling storylines, in which players have the freedom to be and to do whatever they want to. This comes at a price, as players are required to pay a monthly subscription fee in order to play the game. The game also requires a lot of time and commitment of its players. People who invest their time, money and effort in a game like World of Warcraft are often the victim of negative stereotypes regarding gaming and its consequences on players and society. Yet, what has often been neglected is that gaming can bring a lot of joy as well as positive consequences to its players, because players are driven by a motivation and consciously select and play this game in order to fulfill certain individual needs. Players have to create a character in order to play World of Warcraft, which mainly consists of choosing a race and a class. The game's latest expansion has offered many new options for this character creation on which recent research has not been done yet. To contribute to the gap in the academic field and to emphasize the positivity of gaming, this thesis aimed to analyze players' motivations behind the creation of their character's race and class in World of Warcraft. It also explores players' persistence in playing the game and how this relates back to players' motivations and characters. This research was done through participant observations and semi-structured online chat interviews. The data was then analyzed using thematic analysis to identify themes. The results have shown that players create their characters in ways that match their motivations to play the game as well as a certain need for identification with the character. Players with strong social interaction, escapism and immersion motivations have expressed strong identifications with their characters and selected a race and class that was either very similar to the player or that reflected an identity the player wanted to experiment with, which helped to conform to their motivations to play. Players with strong challenge and competition motivations have expressed weak to no identifications with their characters and generally selected a race and class based on strategical reasons in order to conform to their challenge and competition motivations. Persistence has shown that players continue to play the game because of the satisfaction of the needs for relatedness, competence, autonomy and meaningful context, as well as the joy that derived from their gratified motivations. This has shown that, in contrast to the negative assumptions around gaming, players actively choose to play WoW and create their character in a way to fulfill certain individual needs, which is beneficial to the players and shows that gaming also has positive consequences on its players.


This study aimed to the characterization of PSB isolates related to the potential of each isolate in solubilizing phosphate qualitatively (Politkovskaya solid media) and quantitative (Politkovskaya liquid media). The research used the method descriptive experimental in the laboratory by using bacterial isolates that was identified from dryland namely Pseudomonas azotoformans, Acinetobacter baumannii, Bacillus paramycoides. This study consisted of two stages, namely I) solubilizing phosphate measurements qualitatively based on clear zones formed on the media and calculated by phosphate solubilizing index (SI) on days 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10. II) solubilizing phosphate measurements quantitatively with calculating absorbance values using a spectrophotometer, λ = 693 nm on the media that has been inoculated bacteria and incubated at day 0, 2, 6, 4, 8. 10. Media was not inoculated with bacteria used as a control. Measuring pH of the media on each day of incubation was done by using a pH meter. The results of the study showed that the characteristic of each isolate PSB to solubilize phosphate quantitatively and qualitatively differred. The qualitative of all three isolates produced SI values were: P. azotoformans of 1,777, B. paramycoides of 2,061, and A. baumannii of 2,124. The quantitative level of P (%) solubilize until the end of incubation were amounting of 0.07%, 0.09%, and 0.44%. Measurement of pH media in all three isolates tended to decrease during incubation. The pH of Isolates P. azotoformans from 6.24 to 4.87, A. baumannii from 6.24 to 4.32 and B. paramycoides from 6.24 to 4.3.


The mean fibre areas of samples from m. semitendinosus, m. diaphragma and m. pectoralis transversus of thoroughbred horses and greyhounds have been compared with those in similar samples from other members of their species. Athletes (greyhounds and thoroughbreds) have larger fibres in the semitendinosus and diaphragm than their fellows. However, the mean area of pectoralis transversus is similar in the two types of animal within each species. During growth the mean fibre areas increase to a greater extent in athletes than in non-athletes. Detraining adult greyhounds for a period of one year did not signficantly alter the fibre area; nor were any sex differences detected. Although the mean fibre area of corresponding muscles is significantly larger in horses than in dogs, the difference is proportionately less than that of their live weights.


Research into the adoption and use of new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) pays increasing attention to social context; however, the social fabric of contexts of use is often poorly theorized. This paper presents an investigation into the formation and operation of informal local networks of collaboration and knowledge exchange. It highlights the role of local experts in sustaining these informal networks and helping individuals and groups adopt and cope with new ICTs. The paper draws on a range of analytic traditions, including domestication and consumer research, to assess how local experts transfer knowledge, ideas of use and even new technologies across social networks and across the boundaries between home, work and education and other domains of life. The methodology deployed attempts to overcome the limitations of many studies of the adoption and diffusion of innovations in sample selection, especially the inclusion of non-adopters. It addresses the social dynamics of engagement with new technologies and proposes a move beyond a simple individualistic adopter/non-adopter model, with consequent implications for understanding digital inclusion and exclusion.


To address health disparities of adults with intellectual disability (ID), the Kansas Disability and Health Program developed the Stoplight Healthy Living program to promote good nutrition and increased physical activity. The program is based in part on the Stoplight Diet, which uses a color-coded system to teach healthy food choices. The Stoplight Healthy Living program was tested with two groups recruited through a local disability service provider in Kansas. Evaluation results suggested increases in daily fruit and vegetable consumption after participation in the program as well as increased purchases of healthy foods, reduction in soda consumption, and increased knowledge of healthier fast food meal choices. The program was well-received by participants, and shows promise in supporting good nutrition and health of adults with ID.


Land is an essential resource that serves as a means of subsistence for millions of people in the world and indigenous communities and women in particular. Most indigenous societies' survival is closely tied to land. In Cameroon, indigenous women are the backbone of food production in their communities. That makes access to land important, as it is a significant source of wealth and power for indigenous peoples in general and indigenous women in particular. While women all over the world encounter gender-based discrimination in relation to the control and ownership of land, indigenous women face triple discrimination on the basis of their gender (as women), their ethnicity (as indigenous peoples) and their economic class (economically poor). They are often dehumanised, degraded and subjected to treatment as second-class human beings despite the existence of national legislation that discourages such practices. This paper interrogates the possibility of including indigenous women in government and decision-making processes in Cameroon in the hope that they may be involved in key decision-making processes that affect them, thereby reducing their economic and social vulnerability. It concludes with some thoughtful recommendations on policy reform aimed at ensuring access to land for indigenous women as well as socio-economic justice in its broadest sense.


The paper presents the progress in the development of a novel unified method for solving coupled fluid-structure interaction problems as well as the associated major challenges. The new approach is based on the fact that there are four fundamental equations in continuum mechanics: the continuity equation and the three momentum equations that describe Newton's second law in three directions. These equations are valid for fluids and solids, the difference being in the constitutive relations that provide the internal stresses in the momentum equations: in solids the stress tensor is a function of the strain tensor while in fluids the viscous stress tensor depends on the rate of strain tensor. The equations are written in such a way that both media have the same unknown variables, namely the three velocity components and pressure. The same discretisation method (finite volume) is used to discretise the four partial differential equations and the same methodology to handle the pressurevelocity coupling. A common set of variables as well as a unified discretisation and solution method leads to a strong coupling between the two media and is very beneficial for the robustness of the algorithm. Significant challenges include the derivation of consistent boundary conditions for the pressure equation in boundaries with prescribed traction as well as the handling of discontinuity of pressure at the fluid-structure interface.


Although the mixed linear model (MLM) such as efficient mixed model association (EMMA), has been widely used in genome-wide association studies (GWAS), relatively little is known about fast and efficient algorithms to implement multi-locus GWAS. To address this issue, we report a fast multi-locus random-SNP-effect EMMA (FASTmrEMMA). In this method, a new matrix transformation was constructed to obtain a new genetic model that includes only quantitative trait nucleotide (QTN) variation and normal residual error; letting the number of nonzero eigenvalues be one and fixing the polygenic-to-residual variance ratio was used to increase computing speed. All the putative QTNs with the ≤0.005 P-values in the first step of the new method were included in one multi-locus model for true QTN detection. Owing to the multi-locus feature, the Bonferroni correction is replaced by a less stringent selection criterion. Results from analyses of both simulated and real data showed that FASTmrEMMA is more powerful in QTN detection, model fit and robustness, has less bias in QTN effect estimation, and requires less running time than the current single- and multi-locus methodologies for GWAS, such as E-BAYES, SUPER, EMMA, CMLM and ECMLM. Therefore, FASTmrEMMA provides an alternative for multi-locus GWAS.


We present a novel technique based on deep learning and set theory which yields exceptional classification and prediction results. Having access to a sufficiently large amount of labelled training data, our methodology is capable of predicting the labels of the test data almost always even if the training data is entirely unrelated to the test data. In other words, we prove in a specific setting that as long as one has access to enough data points, the quality of the data is irrelevant.


The past decade has seen a gradual convergence between the modernizing, top-down development agendas associated with "new donors" to Africa and the human development agenda more commonly linked to traditional donors. But while instruments such as the Sustainable Development Goals now demand both industrialization and empowerment, donors still struggle to reconcile these competing expectations. This article uses a variety of qualitative data to examine one such project: the attempted transfer of Japanese management techniques (or kaizen) to workplaces across Ethiopia as part of Japanese official development assistance. Asking why and how the Japanese and Ethiopian governments pursue these aims, the article finds an intervention that is low modernist in design: its goals and logics are modernist but tempered by a respect for local knowledge and a preference for evolutionary over revolutionary change. The fact that Japan is the donor to promulgate such a paradigm is no coincidence, I find, given the historical origins of kaizen and Japan's long-standing hybrid role in international development debates. Low modernist interventions such as Ethiopian kaizen demonstrate the utility of moving beyond dichotomies (China/West, growth/equity, efficiency/empowerment). But in both Ethiopia and the Japanese aid apparatus, powerful centrifugal forces still make low modernism a difficult balancing act to achieve.


Inflammatory bowel diseases are associated with increased risk for thrombotic complications, In patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) cerebral sinus venous thrombosis (CSVT) is an extremely rare complication. We report a patient with active UC and CSVT. The patient was heterozygous for Factor V Leiden and G20210A prothrombin gene mutations without other identifiable precipitating factors. This patient highlights the need for investigating the patients with UC with thrombotic complications for other thrombophilic states.


In conventional digital radiography (DR) using a dual energy subtraction technique, a significant fraction of the detected photons are scattered within the body, making up the scatter component. Scattered radiation can significantly deteriorate image quality in diagnostic X-ray imaging systems. Various methods of scatter correction, including both measurement- and non-measurement-based methods, have been proposed in the past. Both methods can reduce scatter artifacts in images. However, non-measurement-based methods require a homogeneous object and have insufficient scatter component correction. Therefore, we employed a measurement-based method to correct for the scatter component of inhomogeneous objects from dual energy DR (DEDR) images. We performed a simulation study using a Monte Carlo simulation with a primary modulator, which is a measurement-based method for the DEDR system. The primary modulator, which has a checkerboard pattern, was used to modulate the primary radiation. Cylindrical phantoms of variable size were used to quantify the imaging performance. For scatter estimates, we used discrete Fourier transform filtering, e.g., a Gaussian low-high pass filter with a cut-off frequency. The primary modulation method was evaluated using a cylindrical phantom in the DEDR system. The scatter components were accurately removed using a primary modulator. When the results acquired with scatter correction and without scatter correction were compared, the average contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) with the correction was 1.35 times higher than that obtained without the correction, and the average root mean square error (RMSE) with the correction was 38.00% better than that without the correction. In the subtraction study, the average CNR with the correction was 2.04 (aluminum subtraction) and 1.38 (polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) subtraction) times higher than that obtained without the correction. The analysis demonstrated the accuracy of the scatter correction and the improvement of image quality that could be obtained by using a primary modulator and showed the feasibility of introducing the primary modulation technique into dual energy subtraction. Therefore, we suggest that the scatter correction method with a primary modulator will be useful for use with the DEDR system.


Data mining has a lot of e-commerce applications. The key problem is how to find useful hidden patterns for better business applications. For these problems, granular fuzzy Web intelligence techniques are used to implement the granular fuzzy Web data mining system for available historical data of the credit company customers. Fuzzy computing and granular computing are used to design the Web fuzzy-interval data mining system that can do fuzzy-interval data clustering under uncertainty.


Kombucha tea beverage obtained by fermenting sweetened green tea for 12 days with Acetobacter xylinum and Saccharomyces which produce various kinds of organic acids, vitamins, and acts as a probiotic. Kombucha tea role as growth promoter is to enhance the metabolic processes in the digestive system of broiler, so that the nutrients can be absorbed and fulfilled properly for optimal growth and development. The research was conducted from September to October 2014 in the Laboratory of Biological Structure and Function, Diponegoro University. Posterior limb (femur-tibiotarsus) meat-bone ratio analysis was used to investigate the effects of kombucha tea on the productivity of broiler chicken. A total of 20 broiler chickens were randomly divided into 4 treatment concentrations ( 0%, 10%, 20%, and 40% of kombucha tea in drinking water) for 32 days. Statistical analysis using ANOVA at 0,05 significance level and Duncan's Multiple Range Test showed significantly different results on body weight and water intake, while feed intake, meat weight, bone weight and meat-bone ratio showed no significant results. It can be concluded from this study that the decrease of broiler chicken body weight due to consumption of 40% kombucha tea concentration in drinking water, do not cause a decrease in posterior limb meat and bone weight so that the posterior limb meat-bone ratio were not significantly different. Key words: Kombucha tea, broiler chicken, posterior limb, meat-bone ratio .


This paper seeks to understand why Asian foreign investment is concentrated in financial markets outside of the region instead of in Asian markets. We analyze empirically the geographical composition of the cross-border portfolio holdings of more than 40 source countries. We compare these benchmark results with those of four subgroups: advanced industrial economies, emerging market economies, European economies, and Asia-Pacific economies. The lack of liquidity in Asian financial markets turns out to be one reason why Asian capital is invested predominantly outside the region, notwithstanding the short distances and large trade flows between Asian economies. Initiatives to improve the liquidity of Asian financial markets, therefore, may be a useful way to stimulate financial integration within the region.


Rural residents are exposed to sophisticated tobacco advertising and tobacco growing represents an economic mainstay in many rural communities. There is a need for effective health messages to counter the pro-tobacco culture in these communities. To determine relevant cultural themes and key message features that affect receptivity to pro-health advertisements among rural residents, 11 exploratory focus groups and surveys with community advocates (N = 82) in three rural Kentucky counties were conducted. Participants reviewed and rated a collection of print media advertisements and branding materials used by rural communities to promote smoke-free policies. Findings reveal that negative emotional tone, loss framing, appeals to religiosity, and shifting focus away from smokers are effective strategies with rural audiences. Potential pitfalls were identified. Attacks on smokers may not be a useful strategy. Health risk messages reinforced beliefs of secondhand smoke harm but some argued that the messages needed to appeal to smokers and emphasize health hazards to smokers, rather than to non-smokers only. Messages describing ineffectiveness of smoking sections were understood but participants felt they were only relevant for restaurants and not all public spaces. Emphasis on religiosity and social norms shows promise as a culturally sensitive approach to promoting smoke-free environments in rural communities.


In order to solve the interlayer channeling in the process of oil and gas production, the forming agent of agglomerated cake and mud cake modifier based on Mud Cake to Agglomerated Cake (MTA) method are developed. The evaluation results in laboratory show that the bond strength of cement-formation interface (BSCFI) with the new materials increases significantly with curing time by comparison with those without new materials. The analysis shows that the mechanism of new materials includes three steps. Firstly, the forming agent of agglomerated cake modifies and treats the surface of mud cake and it reacts primarily with the mud cake modifier. Secondly, the cement generates in agglomerated cake. Lastly, the compact agglomerated cake forms. Field applications show that the high quality rate and qualified rate of well cementing with the new materials increased by 13.01 percent points and 1.15 percent points respectively, and the proportion of isolation section length whose Bond Index is greater or equal to 0.8 with the new materials increased by 15.92 percent points compared with other wells in the same block.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effect of phophorylated c-Jun (p-c-Jun) expression on the expression of COX-2 in the substantia nigra (SN) of the MPTP mouse model of subacute Parkinson disease (PD) and explore the possible mechanism of the dopaminergic (DA) neuron death in PD.

METHODS
C57BL/6N mice were treated with MPTP to establish subacute PD model. The changes of TH-, COX-2- and p-c-Jun-positive cells, and the expression levels of TH, COX-2 and p-c-Jun in the SN in the midbrain were observed with inmmunohistochemistry and Western blotting before and after administration of SP600125, a specific JNK inhibitor.

RESULTS
Compared with the mice in control group, the PD mice exhibited typical symptoms of PD. The number of TH-positive neurons and expression level of TH in the model group were significantly reduced in the substantia nigra by about 65% and 75% (P<0.001) 7 days after the fifth injection of MPTP. The number of COX-2-immunoreactive cells and the expression level of COX-2 were significantly increased. P-c-Jun was specifically expressed in the nuclei of neurons and p-c-Jun expression level was significantly increased in the SN 6 h after the third injection of MPTP. Double-labeling immunofluorescence assay showed coexpression of COX-2 and p-c-Jun in TH-positive neurons in the SN. In mice treated with JNK inhibitor, the number of TH-positive neurons and TH expression level in the SN was only decreased by 15% and 20% as compared with the control group (P<0.001) 7 days after the fifth injection of MPTP, COX-2-positive cell number and COX-2 expression level were obviously reduced as compared with the model group (P<0.001), and p-c-Jun was expressed mainly in the cytoplasm of the neurons whose expression level in SN were significantly decreased 6 h after the third injection of MPTP. The PD mice treated with SP600125 showed slight behavioral symptoms.

CONCLUSION
P-c-Jun expression may play an important role in mediating COX-2 expression in the SN in the MPTP model of subacute PD, and inhibiting p-c-Jun activity may provide neuroprotection to the mouse model.


The overall objective of the PhD is the investigation of the GNSS Signal-in-Space (SiS) deformations due to the satellite payload and its effect on a civil aviation GNSS user. Although detailed worked has been performed on this topic for GPS L1 C/A, this presentation comes in the context of the modernization or development of new GNSS and augmentation systems for which legacy considerations might have to be revised. This presentation will discuss two main points. In a first part, the definition of threat models (TM) due to payload failures for new GPS and Galileo signals will be proposed. These models represent expected GNSS signal deformations generated at payload level which might occur in faulty conditions. In the second part of the presentation, new signal quality monitors (SQM), meant at detecting signal distortions that could create large errors on SBAS users, will be proposed and compared in the light of the defined threat models.


TRIZ was invented in the former USSR in 1946 by Genrich Altshuller with his colleagues, and its main purpose at that time was to assist engineers to invent new products in a more efficient manner as oppose to the normal trial and error methodology. TRIZ is a Russian words and it means "Theory of Inventive Problem Solving" or TIPS. It was introduced based on the belief that there are universal principles of invention that are the foundation for creative innovations that help in creating and advancing technology. Even though TRIZ was initially developed to solve inventive problems in engineering-related problem domains, nowadays it has gained popularity in other fields such as in education, business, and other non-technology or non-scientific fields and domains. Several studies have been carried out in the past to investigate and analyze the benefits of teaching TRIZ to students at tertiary or higher level of education, and the results were very encouraging. In this paper, a review of several applications of TRIZ in higher education is performed, and based on the results of the review; a short summary of the findings is presented.


Abstract. After the avalanche winter of 1999 in Switzerland, which caused 17 deaths and damage of over CHF 600 mill. in buildings and on roads, the project IFKIS, aimed at improving the basics of organizational measures (closure of roads, evacuation etc.) in avalanche risk management, was initiated. The three main parts of the project were the development of a compulsory checklist for avalanche safety services, a modular education and training course program and an information system for safety services. The information system was developed in order to improve both the information flux between the national centre for avalanche forecasting, the Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, and the local safety services on the one hand and the communication between avalanche safety services in the communities on the other hand. The results of this project make a valuable contribution to strengthening organizational measures in avalanche risk management and to closing the gaps, which became apparent during the avalanche winter of 1999. They are not restricted to snow avalanches but can also be adapted for dealing with other natural hazard processes and catastrophes.


Regulatory agencies worldwide have adopted programs to facilitate drug development for diseases where the traditional approach of a randomized trial with a clinical endpoint is expected to be prohibitively lengthy or difficult. Here we provide quantitative evidence that this criterion is met for the prevention of genetic prion disease. We assemble age of onset or death data from N=1,094 individuals with high penetrance mutations in the prion protein gene (PRNP), generate survival and hazard curves, and estimate statistical power for clinical trials. We show that, due to dramatic and unexplained variability in age of onset, randomized preventive trials would require hundreds or thousands of at-risk individuals in order to be statistically powered for an endpoint of clinical onset, posing prohibitive cost and delay and likely exceeding the number of individuals available for such trials. Instead, the characterization of biomarkers suitable to serve as surrogate endpoints will be essential for the prevention of genetic prion disease. Biomarker-based trials may require post-marketing studies to confirm clinical benefit. Parameters such as longer trial duration, increased enrollment, and the use of historical controls in a post-marketing study could provide opportunities for subsequent determination of clinical benefit.


There are many pairs of related western and eastern avian taxa in North America, and for many of these, little is known about their interactions in sympatry. One example is provided by MacGillivray's warblers Oporornis tolmiei and mourning warblers Oporornis philadelphia. There have been occasional reports of range contact and hybridization between these forms, but recent authors have doubted these reports. We show that these two species do in fact come into extensive range contact in the southern Peace Region of British Columbia, just east of the Rocky Mountains. We analyze whether patterns of variation in morphometric traits, eye-arcs, a mitochondrial DNA marker (COI), and a Zchromosome marker (CHD1Z) are consistent with reproductive isolation or hybridization in this contact zone. Each trait shows strong differences between allopatric MacGillivray's warblers and allopatric mourning warblers, yet in the contact zone there are many birds with a combination of traits typical of both species. This is clearly seen in the molecular markers, for which 18 of 50 birds genotyped in the contact zone have both western and eastern alleles. These patterns strongly indicate the presence of an extensive hybrid zone between MacGillivray's and mourning warblers. Variation in each of the four traits is explained well by a single sigmoidal cline, with a width of roughly 150 km (or 130 km based only on the molecular markers). This is only the fourth hybrid zone known among North American wood-warblers (Parulidae).


Industry
4.0 holds many promises for manufacturers; however, a shortage of qualified
employees has prevented a swift adoption of the revolution's new technologies.
Engineer and Economist Klaus Schwab argues Education 4.0 is the key to addressing
the employee shortage and preparing future generations for the shifting labor
market. To support Education 4.0, classes must allow students to engage emerging
technologies that help bridge Operational Technology (OT) and Informational
Technology (IT). The thesis detailed an educational laboratory that
demonstrates the application of data analytics (an IT tool) and optimize the
performance of a cyber-physical system composed of industrial (OT) components. The
lab experience focuses on a disc's controlled positioning (levitating) using a
PLC-based PID controller and a VFD. The activity requires students to capture
data of a moving discs, create a machine learning function representing the
disc's movement, and use the machine learning function for classification and
PID optimization problems. A comparative analysis of a PID cycle ensures a regressions
model accurately represents the physical model using measurements including
peak-overshoot, rise time, settling time, and the flight plots' Means of their
Squared Error. Further, the study examines multiple ML models each built using various
features to identify the systems relevant and redundant data.


The N-terminal domain of the Aurora-A Phe-31 variant encodes an E3 ubiquitin ligase and mediates ubiquitination of I kappa B alpha Aurora-A is an important regulator of mitosis and is frequently amplified in human cancer. Ectopic expression of Aurora-A in mammalian cells induces centrosome amplification, genomic instability and transformation. A common genetic variant in Aurora-A (F31I) is preferentially amplified and is associated with the occurrence and the status of colon, oesophageal and breast cancers. Here we demonstrate that the N-terminal domain of Aurora-A Phe-31 variant exhibits an intrinsic ubiquitin ligase activity. Mutation of cysteines 8, 33 and 49 of Aurora-A abolishes the ubiquitin ligase activity of the protein. Aurora-A in a complex with UBE2N/MMS2 catalyses polyubiquitination of I kappa B alpha in vitro and in vivo.


White fluorescence of the eggs of Pediculus capitis was coincidentally observed during examination of a patient with Wood's light for tinea capitis. Examination of the scalp hairs with Wood's light has since been found an aid in locating nits on patients on whom the nits are few and therefore difficult to find. This method is useful in examination of patients after treatment. Dandruff, ointments and other extraneous materials which fluoresce white can usually be easily differentiated from the nits on close examination. Nits of Phthirus pubis are also easy to see with Wood's light examination. The nits of Pediculus corporis also fluoresce white, but, because the background is often a white shirt or white underwear, the nits are not much easier to see with Wood's light than with ordinary light. Wood's light examination is recommended as an aid in locating nits in those cases of pediculosis pubis and pediculosis capitis


In pursuit of their animal subjects, artists Olly & Suzi start by situating themselves in the subject's natural habitat - the wild. They approach as closely as possible and, working in tandem, quickly capture their prey on paper, using the day's particular combination of paints, brushes, burnt sticks, natural pigments, even blood, and then offer up the finished portrait to be paw-printed, tooth-bitten, or otherwise marked by the animal for authentication. Their collaborators have included anacondas, crocodiles, polar bears and great white sharks. Of course, occasionally a leopard decides to rip apart its own image, or a rhino devours the canvas whole. While their art yields paintings of beauty and power, Olly & Suzi consider it performance-based and site-specific. Sometimes the only thing they come away with from an expedition is their lives. Olly & Suzi's 15 years of adventures in such remote locales as Siberia, the North Pole and the Galapagos Islands fill the pages of this book, accompanied by photographs that document the pair's process.


Both professionalism and interpersonal communication are core competencies for emergency medicine residents as well as residents from other specialties. The authors describe a weekly, small-group seminar lasting one year for emergency medicine residents that incorporates didactic materials, case studies, narrative expression (stories and poems), and small-group discussion. Examples of cases and narrative expressions are provided and a rationale for utilizing the format is explained. A theoretical model for evaluation measures is also included.


Aim: This study aimed at investigating the survival impact of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) recurrence as pulmonary metastasis. Methods: We performed a retrospective case-control study of 142 patients who underwent curative resection for PDAC at our institution between 2003 and 2012. Clinicopathological features were compared among patients stratified according to the recurrence pattern and pulmonary metastasis treatment strategy. Results: Patients underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy (n = 96), distal (n = 42), or total pancreatectomy (n = 4). At the last follow-up, 99 patients had developed recurrent post-resection PDAC, including 14 cases of isolated pulmonary recurrence. The median overall survival was significantly longer for patients with isolated pulmonary recurrence (40.3 months) than with other metastases (20.9 months; HR 5.85; p = 0.0156). Two patients underwent resection for isolated pulmonary recurrence, and both survived for ∼70 months after primary resection. Conclusion: Patients with first recurrence of PDAC as pulmonary metastasis had a better prognosis than patients with other types of metastases. Moreover, when isolated pulmonary metastasis is controlled for a certain period, pulmonary resection is likely to improve patient survival.


The ecological characteristics of ostracods in Lake Sunnet were monitored monthly between May 2005 and September 2007; 9 living and 5 subfossil ostracod taxa were recorded. Among the species, Ilyocypris getica was reported in Turkey for the first time, while Stenocypria fischeri was found for the second time in the country in 55 years. The most abundant species, Limnocythere inopinata, was collected in dry and wet months, while I. bradyi was the only species found in only the wet months. The 9 species clustered into 3 groups based on their ecological preference. Species composition and occurrences were closely related to the lake water level fluctuation, from 7 to 13 m within a year. These fluctuations played a significant role in changes in the physicochemical characteristics of the lake, along with ostracod species composition (P < 0.01). A strong negative correlation (P < 0.05) between precipitation and both ambient temperature and SO4 was also interpreted as the outcome of such fluctuations. The number of species corresponded with salinity changes. Most of the ostracod species appearing in Lake Sunnet were tolerant to the large water level fluctuation. These results correspond with the idea of 'pseudorichness,' when species composition is dominated by cosmopolitans over noncosmopolitans, an indication of low water quality in a lake. Changes in the lake have been accelerated by anthropogenic activities such as water diversions for chicken farms and agricultural fields during dry climatic conditions. The occurrence of these activities appears to have produced seasonal differences in the lake's water quality and species composition.


How do small low-wage firms continue to survive on the margins of a modern economy? Continuous restructuring provides a set of spaces but what sorts of firm occupy them and how far do these firms exercise active choice? Four research projects, embracing data on 123 firms, have offered empirical analysis. The present paper draws together these projects and derives an analytical framework linking the product and labour market contexts of small firms with their family context. Survival reflects the continued supply of labour through kinship networks and the ability of firms to respond actively to product market opportunities. The value of the framework for small-firm research generally is illustrated through discussion of further lines of inquiry.


Background:As antiretroviral regimens for the treatment of HIV infection improve, trials providing data on long-term follow-up are increasingly important. Methods:A regimen of tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF), emtricitabine (FTC), and efavirenz (EFV) demonstrated superior virologic, immunologic and morphologic effects compared with a regimen of fixed-dose zidovudine/lamivudine (ZDV/3TC) and EFV through 96 weeks in a randomized open-label trial. After 96 weeks, patients on TDF + FTC transitioned to fixed-dose combination TDF/FTC. Results:Through 144 weeks, significantly more patients in the TDF/FTC arm reached and maintained an HIV RNA level <400 copies/mL (71% receiving TDF/FTC and EFV vs. 58% receiving ZDV/3TC and EFV; P = 0.004), with a trend toward greater CD4 cell increase in the TDF/FTC arm (312 vs. 271 cells/mm3; P = 0.09). Over 144 weeks of follow-up, more patients in the ZDV/3TC arm discontinued therapy because of adverse events (11% vs. 5%; P = 0.01) and no patients discontinued because of renal events. Patients in the ZDV/3TC arm had significantly less limb fat than patients in the TDF/FTC arm (5.4 vs. 7.9 kg; P < 0.001) at 144 weeks. Conclusions:Cumulative results from 3 years of follow-up suggest that a regimen of TDF/FTC and EFV demonstrates superior durability of viral load suppression and an improved safety and morphologic profile compared with ZDV/3TC and EFV.


The acoustics test facility at NUWC Newport, RI is one of the US Navy's primary facilities for acoustic evaluation of underwater vehicles. The ATF can measure the acoustic characteristics of complete underwater weapon systems as well as individual system components. Typical tests are transducer and structure transfer functions, target strength measurements, self‐noise evaluations, and acoustic evaluation versus pressure and temperature. Principal features of the ATF are; a 700 000 gal test tank with nonparallel walls, multiple test setup flexibility, 3‐ton weight handling with two X–Y traveling cranes, an automated state‐of‐the‐art test system for data acquisition and reduction, large X–Y–Z and tilt probe positioner, an acoustically transparent pressure vessel, an underwater TV camera, mechanical laser alignment, and exceptional rotation equipment.


The concern about vegetable safety, together with a booming population and the rise of the middle class has made Vietnam become a potential market for organic vegetables. This paper investigates the determinants of willingness to pay (WTP) for organic vegetables in Hanoi, Vietnam with a particular attention to regional differences and the effect of risk perception. Using Contingent Valuation Method to analyze the data from a sample of 498 consumers in Hanoi, the paper shows that the perceived use values of organic vegetables, trust in organic labels, and disposable family income increased WTP for organic vegetables in both urban and rural regions. Though risk perception of conventional vegetables was high in both regions, such heightened risk perception just translated into the WTP in the rural region. In addition, the percentage of home-grown vegetables in the total vegetable consumption of the family influenced the WTP in the rural region only. Moreover, being an organic purchaser was positively related to the WTP in the urban region but not in the rural region. The paper also discusses three policy implications for Vietnam to boost the demand for organic food.


The stable hyaline cells (thrombocytoids precursors) are prevailing haemocytes type in young larvae of Calliphora vicina. Their concentration decreased significantly during the crop emptying and became completely absent in wandering larvae. However, the injection of foreign particles into the haemocoel induced evident increase in the number of stable hyaline cells by means of transformation from prohaemocytes within 24 h after the treatment. Maximum of hyaline cells concentration is achieved on the 2-3 day when the part of them starts to transform into prothrombocytoids. Injection of both abiotic (charcoal) and biotic (human erythrocytes) foreign particles exerts an identical effect. Puncture of the body wall, bacterial immunization and injection of saline did not induce hyaline cells appearance. In crop emptying larvae, the stable hyaline cells originate within the clusters of undifferentiated steam cells, i. e. prohaemocytes. After the completion of crop emptying in wandering and diapausing larvae, preliminary dedifferentiation of very young plasmatocytes may be also observed. It is suggested that specification of the stable hyaline cells is induced by thrombocytoids after engulfing of the injected foreign particles and forming of their agglutinates.


Arterial spin labeling (ASL) perfusion MRI provides a non-invasive way to quantify cerebral blood flow (CBF) but it still suffers from a low signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR). Using deep machine learning (DL), several groups have shown encouraging denoising results. Interestingly, the improvement was obtained when the deep neural network was trained using noise-contaminated surrogate reference because of the lack of golden standard high quality ASL CBF images. More strikingly, the output of these DL ASL networks (ASLDN) showed even higher SNR than the surrogate reference. This phenomenon indicates a learning-from-noise capability of deep networks for ASL CBF image denoising, which can be further enhanced by network optimization. In this study, we proposed a new ASLDN to test whether similar or even better ASL CBF image quality can be achieved in the case of highly noisy training reference. Different experiments were performed to validate the learning-from-noise hypothesis. The results showed that the learning-from-noise strategy produced better output quality than ASLDN trained with relatively high SNR reference.


ABSTRACT Angiokeratomas have been described as tumors of vascular origin, similar to hemangioma but with participation of adjacent epithelium and less frequent in dogs. In this case we have reported an adult, male, Border Collie dog presenting a localized and hyperemic mass with protrusion surface and well vascularized region of temporal bulbar conjunctiva of the right eye (OD). Complete ocular examination and ocular ultrasound have revealed no involvement of other ocular structures beyond the conjunctiva. A partial conjuntivectomy was surgically performed, tissue material sent for histological analysis and angiokeratoma diagnosis was accurately made. Surgical procedure with a safety tissue margin has shown adequate treatment efficiency, with no neoplasia recurrence to date.


The purpose of this study was to explore whether a previous gymnastic or tumbling injury influences gymnasts' and tumblers' self-efficacy, motivation, competition anxiety, and fears of pain and injury. Participants (N = 105) completed survey packets during practice which contained demographic questions and questionnaires that measure self-efficacy for physical abilities and exercise, self-motivation, risk of injury, pain catastrophizing, and sport anxiety. Results of a one-way ANOVA indicated that gymnasts and tumblers who experienced a previous injury were significantly different than those who had not experienced an injury on their self-efficacy for physical abilities (p = .007), self-motivation (p = .007), and perceived risk of reinjury (p = .018). Specifically, these findings indicate that gymnasts and tumblers with previous injuries experience higher levels of self-efficacy for physical abilities, self-motivation, and perceived risk of reinjury. Implications for coaches, gymnasts, and tumblers include: creating an open and comfortable environment to discuss pain and injury, developing strategies to break the negative cycle of fear of injury, and fostering a positive rehabilitation process. In the future, researchers should examine the influence that gender and type of competition has on self-efficacy, self-motivation, perceived risk of reinjury, pain perceptions, and competition anxiety of those who have experienced sport-related injuries, as compared to those who have not experienced these types of injuries. Researchers should also examine how the type of injury, whether it is a first time injury versus a reinjury, influences perceptions of pain and fears directly following the injury.


In this paper we examine how a network processor can be modeled using object-oriented techniques. We examine the Intel IXP 1200 network processor and discuss how the object-oriented language POOSL was utilized to allow an evaluation of a system before implementing it with hardware and software components. With the case study of the IXP 1200, we illustrate the suitability of object-oriented languages for system level modeling and design exploration.


In order to conduct rational management of watering lettuce, the model of detecting lettuce leaves' moisture was built. First of all, the hyperspectral images of lettuce leaves were acquired and simultaneously the moisture proportions of leaves were measured. Meanwhile, hyperspectral images were analyzed and the characteristic bands of lettuce leaves' moisture were found. Then the images in characteristic bands were processed and the image features of lettuce leaves' moisture were computed. The image features highly relevant to moisture were obtained through correlation analysis. Furthermore, due to the possible correlation among image features, the principal components of the images were extracted by principal components analysis and were used as BP neural network's inputs to establish PCA-ANN model. At the same time, other models were constructed by using BP neural network and traditional MLR (multiple liner regression) method respectively. Prediction examinations of the three models were made based on the same sample data. The experimental results show that the average prediction error of PCA-ANN prediction model of tillering stage reaches 9.323% which is improved compared with BP-ANN and MLR prediction models.


Pharmacogenetics and pharmacogenomics are two major emerging trends in medical sciences, which influence the success of drug development and therapeutics. In current times, though pharmacogenetic studies are being done extensively for research, its application for drug development needs to get started on a large scale. Pharmacogenetic studies can be used at various stages of drug development. The effect of drug target polymorphisms on drug response can be assessed and identified. In clinical studies, pharmacogenetic tests can be used for stratification of patients based on their genotype, which corresponds to their metabolizing capacity. This prevents the occurrence of severe adverse drug reactions and helps in better outcome of clinical trials. This can also reduce attrition of drug compounds. Recognition of inter-individual differences in drug response is an essential step towards optimizing therapy. Over the past decades, much evidence has emerged indicating that a substantial portion of variability in drug response is genetically determined, with age, nutrition, health status, environmental exposure, and concurrent therapy playing important contributory roles. To achieve individual drug therapy with a reasonably predictive outcome, one must further account for different patterns of drug response among geographically and ethnically distinct populations.


Vaginal vault prolapse is mostly a preventable complication of hysterectomy. Adequate suspension of the vaginal apex after hysterectomy with use of shortened cardinal and uterosacral ligaments will draw the proximal vagina over the levator plate. This results in support for the distal vagina. The essence of surgical repair of vaginal vault prolapse is to create a new suspension with the same vaginal support. Transvaginal sacrospinous fixation and transabdominal sacrocolpo-suspension accomplish this.


Present study is related with Chopra Bari area of Bikaner city, which uses fabric dye effluent for irrigation practices. Generally, aluminium (Al) is used as a mordant in dye to increase the fastness of finished product. In this area, dyers used to dye silk in first quarter of the year, while cotton, wool and fast colour fabrics in second, third and fourth quarters, respectively. Study revealed that aluminium concentration remains toxic in each and every quarter. High concentrations of aluminium limits plant growth and development especially of roots. Root apex seems to be the major target of aluminium toxicity.


Economic theory predicts that expectations on future house price growth are related to the current price of a house. We test this relationship for the supply side of the secondary housing market using micro data that links individual expectations to a subjective owner estimated value (OEV). We find a strong causal relationship that optimistic expectations indeed imply higher OEVs as compared to neutral or pessimistic expectations. We find qualitatively and quantitatively consistent results for Italy and the US as well as for booming and gloomy years. Our results survive ample robustness checks. Since we use subjective data on house prices, we first show that OEVs are indeed a valid source to study house price dynamics by performing three types of convergent validity tests. We find that price dynamics derived by either combining OEVs and dwelling characteristics, or making use of repeatedly provided OEVs by the same owner over time reproduce objectively measured market trends strikingly well – even over decades. In contrast, OEVs and objective data tend to differ in levels – potentially due to psychological bias. These results hold for a large set of countries. We hence conclude that the "wisdom of the home-owner crowd" is sufficient to study house price dynamics but OEVs are less suited for measuring the level of market prices.


We used cladistic analysis of chloroplast gene sequences (ndhF and rpl16) to test biogeographic hypotheses in the woody genus Gleditsia. Previous morphological comparisons suggested the presence of two eastern Asian-eastern North American species pairs among the 13 known species, as well as other intra- and inter-continental disjunctions. Results from phylogenetic analyses, interpreted in light of the amount of sequence divergence observed, led to the following conclusions. First, there is a fundamental division of the genus into three clades, only one of which contains both Asian and North American species. Second, the widespread and polymorphic Asian species, G. japonica, is sister to the two North American species, G. triacanthos and G. aquatica, which themselves are closely related inter se, but are both polymorphic and paraphyletic. Third, the lone South American Gleditsia species, G. amorphoides, forms a clade with two eastern Asian species. Gleditsia thus appears to have only one Asian-North American disjunction and no intercontinental species pairs. Low sequence divergence between G. amorphoides and its closest Asian relatives implicates long-distance dispersal in the origin of this unusual disjunction. Sequence divergence between Asian and North American Gleditsia is much lower than between Asian and North American species of its closest relative, Gymnocladus. Estimates of Asian-North American divergence times for Gymnocladus are in general accordance with fossil data, but estimates for Gleditsia suggest recent divergences that conflict with ages of known North American Gleditsia fossils.


Between 2016 and 2020, Facebook allowed advertisers in the United
 States to target their advertisements using three broad "ethnic affinity" categories:
 "African American," "U.S.-Hispanic," and "Asian American." This paper uses the life and
 death of these "ethnic affinity" categories to argue that they exemplify a novel mode of
 racialisation made possible by machine learning techniques. These categories worked by
 analysing users' preferences and behaviour: they were supposed to capture an "affinity" for
 a broad demographic group, rather than registering membership of that group. That is, they
 were supposed to allow advertisers to "personalise" content for users depending on
 behaviourally determined affinities. We argue that, in effect, Facebook's ethnic affinity
 categories were supposed to operationalise a "post-racial" mode of categorising users. But
 the paradox of personalisation is that in order to apprehend users as individuals, platforms
 must first assemble them into groups based on their likenesses with other individuals. This
 article uses an analysis of these categories to argue that even in the absence of data on a
 user's race—even after the demise of the categories themselves—users can still be subject to
 techniques of inclusion or exclusion for discriminatory ends. The inductive machine learning
 techniques that platforms like Facebook employ to classify users generate "proxies," like
 racialised preferences or language use, as racialising substitutes. This article concludes
 by arguing that Facebook's ethnic affinity categories in fact typify novel modes of
 racialisation today.


New experiments for water at the surface of proteins at very low temperature display intriguing dynamic behaviors. The extreme conditions of these experiments make it difficult to explore the wide range of thermodynamic state points needed to offer a suitable interpretation. Detailed simulations suffer the same problem, where equilibration times at low temperature become unreasonably long. We show how Monte Carlo simulations and mean field calculations of a tractable model of water help interpret the experimental results. Here we summarize the results for bulk water and investigate the thermodynamic and dynamic properties of supercooled water at an interface.


Food production and consumption present major sustainability challenges, and finding ways to reduce the environmental impact of food, for example through behavioural changes by consumers, is becoming increasingly important. In recent years, digital interventions have become important tools to change behaviours in many areas. In this review, we evaluate the status of current scientific knowledge of digital behaviour change interventions for sustainable food consumption practices. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) checklist for how to conduct systematic reviews, we searched multiple databases for papers containing terms related to food, sustainability and digital behaviour change interventions. Only studies where the digital interventions were actually implemented and evaluated from a behaviour change perspective were included, resulting in 15 primary studies in the final review. The quality of the studies was evaluated from a behaviour change perspective, and the approaches used were categorised using two intervention frameworks, the Behaviour Change Wheel and the Behaviour Change Technique Taxonomy v1. The results show that all of the included studies had major quality issues when evaluated from a behaviour change perspective. This means that we could not find any evidence regarding whether the digital behaviour change interventions examined worked or not. Most studies further lacked theoretical grounding or a clear approach to how or why they should be effective for behaviour change for more sustainable food consumption practices. Our main recommendation for future research in the field is to expand from the current exploratory phase to conducting scientifically rigorous studies of higher quality, more thoroughly grounded in behaviour change theory and methods. Furthermore, based on our study, we suggest changes to the Behaviour Change Technique Taxonomy v1.


Application of metals will be expanded to new medical devices, scaffold for tissue engineering, artificial organs, etc. with the addition of biofunction. Therefore, immobilization or combination of functional polymers to metals is significant subject for the application of metals to biofunctional materials and sensors. Metal-polymer hybrid materials are promising biomaterials future, especially for artificial organs. To form metal-polymer hybrid for biomedical devices, two techniques are predominant according to the purpose: Immobilization of biofunctional polymers to metals and bonding of biopolymers with metals. In the first case, poly(ethylene glycol: PEG) is a biofuctional molecule on which adsorption of proteins is inhibited. Control of immobilization mode of PEG modified with NH2 to titanium surface by electrodeposition is feasible and the adsorption of proteins is inhibited by the deposited PEG. This technique could be applied to all metallic materials. In the other case, we attempted to form a composite of titanium with segmentated polyurethane (SPU) thorough silane-coupling agent (γ-MPS). This composite material is applied to texture of titanium covered by SPU as artificial organs.


Living cells exhibit both growth and regeneration of body tissues. Epigenetic Tracking (ET), models this growth and regenerative qualities of living cells and has been used to generate complex 2D and 3D shapes. In this paper, we present an ET based algorithm that aids a swarm of identically-programmed robots to form arbitrary shapes and regenerate them when cut. The algorithm works in a distributed manner using only local interactions and computations without any central control and aids the robots to form the shape in a triangular lattice structure. In case of damage or splitting of the shape, it helps each set of the remaining robots to regenerate and position themselves to build scaled down versions of the original shape. The paper presents the shapes formed and regenerated by the algorithm using the Kilombo simulator.


This list is a selection only of the books, journal articles, and reprints catalogued in the library of the Scott Polar Research Institute in recent months. Its main field is the polar regions, but it also includes other related subjects such as "applied" glaciology, (eg snow ploughs and ice engineering). For the literature on the scientific study of snow and ice and of their effects on the earth, readers should consult the bibliographies in each issue of the Journal of Glaciology. For Russian material, the system of translation used is that agreed by the US Board on Geographic Names and the Permanent Committee on Geographical Names for British Official Use in 1947 (see Polar Record, Vol 6, No 44, 1952, p 546).


The discovery of a direct ancestor, Ipomoea trifida (6x), of the sweet potato (6x) in 1961-1962 has been followed by a further finding of its diploid (I, leucantha) and tetraploid (I. littoralis) predecessors. On the basis of cytogenetical study it was reasonably assumed that I. littoralis (4x), I. trifida-(3x)-6x, I. trifida (6x) and I. batatas (6x), sweet potato, are autoploids derived rather from the doubling of a set of 15 chromosome pairs (genome B) of I. leucantha (2x) than from segmental alloploidy. On the other hand an artificial hexaploid, I. littocantha, synthesized from I. leucantha (2x) and I. littoralis (4x) was proved to have the same genome constitution as I. trifida-(3x)-6x and sweet potato, their Fl hybrids having 45 bivalents or modified configurations. The hybrids were fertile. Another artificial hexaploid, I, lacunocilis, derived from I. lacunosa (2x) and I. gracilis (4x) was self-fertile, but usually did not hybridize either with I. trifida or sweet potato. The phylogenetic relationship was fairly well supported by the pattern of the mating system in interspecific crosses.


The indoor climate system, which serves a building with a proper indoor air quality and thermal comfort, has been predominantly designed based on the initial investment costs. A life cycle approach could improve both the economic and environmental performance since the energy use would decrease. Currently, there is a lack of knowledge, models and tools for determining the life cycle cost (LCC) for an indoor climate system. The objective of the ongoing research project is to develop a model and tool for choosing indoor climate systems based on the lowest LCC. The objectives of this licentiate dissertation are to report on the-state-of-the-art, discuss and determine the methods to use in the research project, give some examples of LCC analyses on indoor climate systems, discuss different control strategies for indoor climate systems, analyse optimal supply air temperature as a control strategy to lower the energy use and to define and discuss what will be included and excluded in the LCC model. Life cycle costing is a technique where future costs are discounted to the net present value for the entire life span. Problems are to define the life span, the boundary to determine whether to include a cost or not and find interest and price change rates. Even though a number of parameters are not known, it should be better to perform analyses than use investment cost only. The most common indoor climate systems in Sweden will primarily be included. Results show that proper controlling can decrease the energy use, influence on work performance from the indoor climate can be highly decisive and residential buildings may not be forgotten in the LCC model, since a lot of energy can be saved. Risks will be handled by sensitivity analyses on deliberately changeable parameters and Monte Carlo calculations for the parameters with known statistical distributions. The tool must be easy to use for clients and manufacturer of indoor climate systems and as much input data as possible must be generated automatically. The future work will fill the model with calculation methods for a number of costs and create the tool and use it on practical examples to obtain guidelines for good indoor climate systems with regard to low LCC. (Less)


Background: Holter monitoring is routinely used in patients referred for the evaluation of syncope,
but its diagnostic value in different patient groups is unclear, as is its impact on device
implantation(pacemaker or cardioverter-defibrillator).
Aim: To determine the diagnostic yield of Holter monitoring in the routine evaluation of syncope, and
its impact on subsequent device implantation.
Methods: We reviewed all Holter studies in patients referred with syncope between JAN. 2013 to
DEC. 2013. Strict criteria were applied to determine whether a study was diagnostic. The diagnostic
value ofHolter monitoring (overall and in five subgroups: age, gender, structural heart disease, ejection
fraction, medication) and its impact on the implantation of devices, were determined.
Results: Of the 104 Holter studies, 86 (82.6%) were classified as completely normal. Eleven (10.5%)
were classified as abnormal, but unlikely to explain syncope due to non-sustained ventricular
tachycardia.Inpatients with syncope,7(6.7%) were considered to explain the syncope. Structural heart
disease, ejection fraction and age and sex were significant predictors of a diagnostic study(all p <
0.01). A device was implanted in 3 patients (2.8%) whose initial Holter explain their Syncope.
Conclusion: The overall diagnostic yield of Holter monitoring in the evaluation of syncope was 6.7%,
with dramatic differences between subgroups. Our data suggest that the impact of Holter monitoring
on device implantation is generally overestimated.


The plasma cell labeling index (PCLI) and serum beta 2-microglobulin (beta 2M) are independent prognostic factors in multiple myeloma (MM). Recently, levels of thymidine kinase (TK) and C-reactive protein (CRP) have been shown to have prognostic value. We studied 107 patients with newly diagnosed myeloma to determine whether TK and CRP values added prognostic information not already available using the PCLI and beta 2M. Univariate survival analysis showed prognostic significance for the PCLI, TK, beta 2M, age, serum albumin, and CRP. Multivariate analysis showed that only PCLI and beta 2M have independent prognostic significance. The survival curves were better separated using the PCLI and beta 2M than with other combinations of variables. Among nine patients under age 65 with low PCLI and low beta 2M, eight were alive almost 6 years after starting chemotherapy. These good-risk patients could not be identified by standard clinical features. Although creatinine and calcium were normal, other features such as bone lesions, osteoporosis, fracture, and anemia were present and stage distribution was similar to other patients in the study. In conclusion, PCLI and beta 2M measured at diagnosis are independent prognostic factors. They must be considered when interpreting the results of clinical trials and should be helpful in counseling patients and in designing new trials. When the PCLI and beta 2M values are known, the TK and CRP values do not add useful additional prognostic information.


This article traces the development of the French bande dessinee artist Marcel Gotlib (b.1934). In the following pages, we shall discuss Gotlib's strips Gai-Luron and Rubrique a brac, plus some of his work with Fluide glacial; we shall also draw upon an interview which Gotlib gave me in Paris, November 2001.1 As we shall see, Gotlib makes fun of the whole process of growing up in a French-speaking country; moreover, his jokes often hinge upon references to French history and culture which most French readers can recognise, but which most English-speakers cannot. The influence of a distinctively French-speaking historical and cultural heritage over Gotlib will become particularly apparent when we compare him to the American comic strip humorists of his day: Mad magazine and the Underground.


In plants, internal signaling is essential for the regulation of growth, reproduction and defense responses. The coordination of these functions is indispensable for normal growth as well as for adaptation to a changing environment. The coordination of these signalling cascades is achieved in part through plant hormones, which are generally derived from lipids or sterols. Recently, however, plant peptides with hormone-like signaling functions were described. Systemin, an 18-aa oligopeptide in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), attracted interest as a signal that possibly transmits information from an herbivore-attacked site to distal parts of the plant. When applied to tomato plants, systemin induced the accumulation of proteinase inhibitors (PIs) even in plant parts distant from the application site. However, the idea that systemin itself acts as a mobile signal in antiherbivore defense was later discarded. In the current model, systemin is instead supposed to amplify a jasmonate-derived mobile signal at the site of wounding. Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) does not possess a systemin homologue, but responds to wounding or herbivory with the elicitation of PIs. In this genus, hydroxyproline-rich glycopeptides (HypSys) are hypothesized to mediate the induction of PIs. Both systemin in tomato and HypSys in cultivated tobacco are, despite their lack of phylogenetic similarity, reported to fulfil similar functions in defense signaling. Similarities in defense signaling activities of systemin and HypSys have led to the inclusion of both in a functionally defined systemin family.