textabstractOsteoporosis is defined, by consensus, as a systemic skeletal disease. characterized by low
bone mass and microarchitectural deterioration of bone tissue with a consequent increase
in bone fragility and susceptibility to fracture,' It is well known that there is an important
age-related decrease in bone mass and bone strength as witnessed by the exponential
increase of hip fractures with age.2 Osteoporosis is primarily described in postmenopausal
women but men arc not free from it. and a quarter of the hip fractures
occurs in men.3
Osteoporosis and its direct consequences, fractures, are major concerns for public health
since they arc associated with increased death rates and with substantial disability.
:Moreover, they represent an important cost for the public health budget. 'TIle European
Commission estimated in a recent report the cost of osteoporosis in the countries of the
European Union at € 3.5 billion annually for hospital health care alone,4 and an American
study estimated the total health care expenditure attributable to osteoporotic fractures in
the United States at USS 13.8 billion (€ 12.4 billion) in 1995.' Without intervention, the
improved life expectancy and the demographic evolution will cause the number of hip
fractures worldwide to increase from around 1.7 million in 1990 to over 6 million in
2050.6 Therefore, it can be expected that medical expenditure will also increase in the
coming decades.
Osteoporosis, defined as a reduction in bone mass below a specified threshold, has been
shown to be a major determinant of fracture risk.7 Bone mass can be measured with
sufficient accuracy and precision and it is currently the best available indicator of fracture
risk, other than age and gender. There is, however, a considerable overlap of bone
density values between people who develop fractures and people who do not.2
The central goal of this thesis is to study the cost of osteoporosis and fractures in the
Netherlands and to develop mathematical models for estimating fracture risk based on
Dutch epidemiological data. These models are then used in simulations to analyze the
effects of potential preventive measures against osteoporotic fractures. 'The most
disabling of these is the hip fracture, but also wrist fractures and fractures of the
vertebrae are considered as osteoporotic fractures.8 Also from a cost perspective the
importance of hip fractures appears to be overwhelming, and therefore the models focus
is on hip fractures.


Previous studies have suggested that market failures are household-specific and not commodity-specific (de Janvry et al, 1991); transaction costs determine whether a household is a buyer, seller or self-sufficient for a given good and how much it is going to produce (Key et al, 2000). Focusing on fuelwood production in northern Uganda, this paper extends previous studies by introducing fixed transaction costs associated with reaching the market and the forest. We predict that households sort in space, with autarkic households being located closest to the forest and farthest from the market, buyer households located closest to the market and farthest from the forest and seller households located at intermediate distances from the market and forest. We show that the spatial predictions hold in partial and general equilibrium settings. We test the predictions of our model using data from northern Uganda and find evidence that supports the predictions from our theoretical model. The ensuing spatial-dynamic simulations based on the static allow us to make forecasts of where forest degradation is likely to occur as well as to model spillover effects resulting from the introduction of a conservation intervention like a protected area.


Nine asthmatic children were sensitive to a variety of antigens by skin testing and bronchial inhalation challenges. On two separate occasions they received the antigens sublingually at 2.5 to 50 times the dose received by bronchial challenge. There were no subjective symptoms or objective changes in pulmonary function measurements following the oral challenges.


Introduction: Recently, increasing trend in popularity of online gaming has been seen worldwide. Online games such as PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) and first-person shooter (FPS) games top the popularity chart among young population. Problematic Internet gaming is also being increasingly reported. The aim of this study was to evaluate the inter-relationship between gaming addiction, emotional intelligence (EI), and psychological well-being in players of PUBG and non-PUBG online shooter mobile games. Materials and Methods: Sixty-four male students (18–22 years) who had played either PUBG or non-PUBG FPS games for ≥3 h/week during the previous 6 months were included. Addictive potential of PUBG (played by n = 33) was compared with that of non-PUBG games (played by n = 31) using Gaming Addiction Scale (GAS). Psychological health and EI were assessed using Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale 21 (DASS-21) and Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form, respectively. Results: The prevalence of gaming addiction and psychological morbidity was significantly higher in PUBG compared to non-PUBG players. EI was comparable in both the groups. Correlational analysis in PUBG players showed a positive association between GAS and anxiety subscale and a negative association between EI and the depression and anxiety subscales. In non-PUBG players, a positive association between GAS and depression subscale and a negative association between EI and the depression, stress, and total DASS-21 scores was observed. Conclusion: These results suggest that addictive online gaming behavior has detrimental effect on the psychological well-being of players. Furthermore, EI has a potential protective impact against psychological morbidity in these subjects. Future studies may be planned to explore the influence of interventional EI training on psychological health and addictive gaming behavior of online gamers.


ABSTRACT Héquette, A.; Ruz, M.H.; Zemmour, A.; Marin, D.; Cartier, A., and Sipka, V., 2019. Alongshore Variability in Coastal Dune Erosion and Post-Storm Recovery, Northern Coast of France. In: Castelle, B. and Chaumillon, E. (eds.), Coastal Evolution under Climate Change along the Tropical Overseas and Temperate Metropolitan France. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 88, pp. 25–45. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. As along many parts of the world's shoreline, the coastal dunes extending along the macrotidal coast of northern France represent important defenses against marine flooding. The impacts of storms on the upper beach and foredunes and their post-storm recovery were analyzed using nearly 10 years of offshore wave measurements, water level records, wind measurements, and in situ and airborne LiDAR topographic surveys of the beach and foredunes. Our results show that coastal dunes located at a relatively short distance apart along a coastal stretch with the same wave exposure can have significantly different responses to storms. Not only the impacts of storm events were greater on some dunes, but post-storm recovery also varied from one foredune to another. A strong alongshore variability in dune erosion and recovery was observed with a positive eastward gradient in dune volume change, probably related to longshore and onshore-directed sediment supply. Our measurements revealed that even where the foredune underwent significant erosion during the first years of the survey period, progressive full dune recovery took place through the development of a sand ramp at the dune toe that favored landward sediment transport from the upper beach to the foredune. This period was followed by an unusual series of closely spaced storms during fall-winter 2013-2014 that had major impacts on the coasts of Western Europe. Several of these storms were responsible for extreme water levels, which resulted in significant retreat of the dune front and massive volume loss in places. Our analyses show that the maximum water levels reached during storms represent a major factor explaining dune erosion compared to wave energy that is of secondary importance along this macrotidal coast. Our results also suggest that dune volume change during storms and subsequent recovery were largely controlled by the initial dune and upper beach morphology. A strong correspondence was found between dune front volume change and initial upper beach width and with dune toe elevation, but a somewhat weaker relationship was observed between dune volume change and initial dune height.


After labelling of mouse liver nuclei with [gamma-32P]ATP in vitro, 10-20% of the radioactivity incorporated into the saline-soluble nuclear and HAP2 chromatin fractions was located in a low-molecular-weight component (component 10) with pI near 4.5 in urea. By using combinations of ion-exchange chromatography, preparative thin-layer isoelectric focusing and gel filtration, this component was isolated from both nuclear fractions. Recovery from the saline-soluble fraction was poor under conditions that allow endogenous phosphatases to be active. Component 10 was shown to be a phosphoprotein on the basis of enzyme-digestion experiments and the detection of phosphoserine and phosphothreonine. The 32P radioactivity did not appear to be associated with phosphorylated basic amino acids. Its molecular weight was determined by gel chromatography and electrophoresis in sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide gels as approx. 10000, and tryptic digestion of the reduced carboxymethylated protein in urea yielded two 32P-labelled peptides. It has not been possible as yet to assign a function to component 10, though its similarity to other low-molecular-weight acidic proteins is discussed.


Coherent control of quantum computation can be used to improve some quantum protocols and algorithms. For instance, the complexity of implementing the permutation of some given unitary transformations can be strictly decreased by allowing coherent control, rather than using the standard quantum circuit model. In this paper, we address the problem of optimising the resources of coherently controlled quantum computations. We extend the PBS-calculus, a graphical language for coherent control which is inspired by quantum optics. To obtain a more resource-sensitive language, it ma-nipulates abstract gates – that can be interpreted as queries to an oracle – and more importantly, it avoids the representation of useless wires by allowing unsaturated polarising beam splitters. Technically, the language forms a coloured prop. The language is equipped with an equational theory that we show to be sound, complete, and minimal. Regarding resource optimisation, we introduce an efficient procedure to minimise the number of oracle queries of a given diagram. We also consider the problem of minimising both the number of oracle queries and the number of polarising beam splitters. We show that this optimisation problem is NP-hard in general, but introduce an efficient heuristic that produces optimal diagrams when at most one query to each oracle is required.


With the deepening reform of college English teaching in China, many self-access centers(SAC) have been established in universities to promote students' antonomy and cultivate their leanring ability. Based on the theories of constructivism, humanistic psychology and cognitive psychology, the self-access language learning ( SALL), with its new emphasis on speaking and llistening , is a very good supplement to traditional classroom teaching ,whose focus is only on reading and writing. This paper intends to probe into the effectiveness of students' SALL in SAC of Wuhan Polytechnic Universtiy through an empirical study. After analyzing the findings qualitatively and quantitatively, the results show that that learners' autonomy, by and large, can be achieved. SAC and SALL is sure to be very helpful to arouse learners' learning interest, foster their independence, improve their problem–solvling ability and facilitate their four-skilled abilities.


This paper critically examines the constraints of the current global governance of HIV/AIDS to reach the target set by governments and the leading development institutions to halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015 as part of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The HIV/AIDS crisis can only be resolved effectively when its nexus with poverty and neo-liberal globalization is acknowledged and addressed by comprehensive and long-term policy responses. Three dimensions of the current global governance of HIV/AIDS are identified as strategically relevant for a reform agenda: first, the democratic deficit of decision making processes and institutions; second, the limited access of sufficient and reliable sources of financial resources and the burden of foreign debt in developing countries; thirdly, the intellectual property rights regime and its effects on the access of anti-retroviral drugs for AIDS treatment.


OBJECTIVE
This study associated Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection and other clinical parameters with five-year survival of oral squamous cell carcinoma patients at a tertiary care hospital in Karachi, Pakistan.

METHODS
A total of 140 patients diagnosed with oral squamous cell carcinoma were enlisted. HPV status and subtypes were established through polymerase chain reaction performed in a previously published study. Clinical data including five-year survival were obtained through institutional medical records.

RESULTS
Ninety-five patients (67.9 per cent) were positive for HPV. Of these, 85 patients were HPV 16 positive while 2 patients were HPV 18 positive. The mean survival time for HPV positive patients was 44.3 months, whereas survival time for HPV negative patients was 46.9 months. Univariate analysis showed that HPV status in oral squamous cell carcinoma was not a statistically significant factor in determining five-year survival rate (p = 0.386).

CONCLUSION
There is a high prevalence of HPV positive oral squamous cell carcinoma in Pakistan; however, there is no difference in the five-year survival rate when compared to HPV negative oral squamous cell carcinoma.


We propose a novel variational method for solving the sub-graph isomorphism problem on a gate-based quantum computer. The method relies (1) on a new representation of the adjacency matrices of the underlying graphs, which requires a number of qubits that scales logarithmically with the number of vertices of the graphs; and (2) on a new ansatz that can efficiently probe the permutation space. Simulations are then presented to showcase the approach on graphs up to 16 vertices, whereas, given the logarithmic scaling, the approach could be applied to realistic sub-graph isomorphism problem instances in the medium term.


Discovered by Stock and Pohland in 1926, borazine is the isoelectronic and isostructural inorganic analogue of benzene, where the C[double bond, length as m-dash]C bonds are substituted by B-N bonds. The strong polarity of such heteroatomic bonds widens the HOMO-LUMO gap of the molecule, imparting strong UV-emitting/absorption and electrical insulating properties. These properties make borazine and its derivatives valuable molecular scaffolds to be inserted as doping units in graphitic-based carbon materials to tailor their optoelectronic characteristics, and specifically their semiconducting properties. By guiding the reader through the most significant examples in the field, in this feature paper we describe the past and recent developments in the organic synthesis and functionalisation of borazine and its derivatives. These boosted the production of a large variety of tailored derivatives, broadening their use in optoelectronics, H2 storage and supramolecular functional architectures, to name a few.


Wearable force feedback robotic devices, haptic exoskeletons, are becoming increasingly common as they find widespread use in medical and virtual reality (VR) applications. Allowing users to mechanically interact with computationally mediated environments, haptic exoskeletons provide users with better "immersion" to VR environments. Design of haptic exoskeletons is a challenging task, since in addition to being ergonomic and light weight, such devices are also required to satisfy the demands of any ideal force-feedback device: ability withstand human applied forces with very high stiffness and capacity to display a full range of impedances down to the minimum value human can perceive. If not properly designed by taking these conflicting requirements into account, the interface can significantly deteriorate the transparency of displayed forces; therefore, the choice of the kinematic structure and determination of the dimensions of this kinematic structure have significant impacts on the overall performance of any haptic display independent of the control algorithm employed. In this thesis, we first propose a general framework for optimal dimensional synthesis of haptic interfaces, in particular for haptic interfaces with closed kinematic chains, with respect to multiple design objectives. We identify and categorize the relevant performance criteria for the force feedback exoskeletons and address the trade-offs between them, by applying a Pareto-front based multi-objective design optimization procedure. Utilizing a fast converging gradient-based method, the proposed framework is computational efficient. Moreover, the approach is applicable to any set of performance indices and extendable to include any number of design criteria. Subsequently, we extend this framework to assist the selection of the most appropriate kinematic structure among multiple mechanisms. Specifically, we perform a rigorous comparison between two spherical parallel mechanisms (SPMs) that satisfy the ergonomic necessities of a human forearm and wrist and select the kinematic structure that results in superior performance for force-feedback applications. Utilizing the Pareto optimal set of solutions, we also assign dimensions to this mechanism to ensure an optimal trade-off between global kinematic and dynamic performance. Following the design optimization phase, we perform kinematic and dynamic analyses of the SPM-based exoskeleton in independent coordinates to facilitate efficient simulation and real-time implementation of model based controllers. We decide on the hardware components considering human wrist torque and force limits, safety and ergonomy constraints, and present the CAD model of a prototype of the exoskeleton. Finally, we implement model based task-space position and impedance controllers in simulation and present the results of them.


Hypophosphatasia (HPP) is a rare inherited disorder affecting bone and dental mineralisation. The disease is due to loss-of-function mutations in the ALPL gene that encodes the tissue-nonspecific alkaline phosphatase (TNSALP). Genetic aspects of HPP, and their molecular bases, are particularly exciting, due to the inheritance that may be recessive or dominant, the extremely variable clinical and allelic heterogeneity, and the puzzling and inconstant prenatal evolution. During the past 15 years, a great effort has been conducted by various groups to evaluate the effect of alkaline phosphatase liver type gene (ALPL) mutations and to decipher genotype–phenotype relationships. A very large part of the clinical heterogeneity is due to the great variety of missense mutations that allow variable enzymatic activity of TNSALP, as shown by site-directed mutagenesis experiments. A residual part, that remains to be studied, could be due to modifier genes, epigenetic and environmental factors.

Key Concepts:

The high clinical variability observed in HPP for a large part result from the very high allelic variability of the ALPL gene.

Missense mutations allow possible residual alkaline phosphatase activity, explaining moderate alleles responsible for mild phenotypes.

Alkaline phosphatase is an allosteric enzyme active in a dimeric form, and the formation of mutant/wild-type dimers explains the dominant inheritance often observed in moderate hypophosphatasia.

Site-directed mutagenesis experiments and 3D-modelling show a good correlation of genotype and phenotype.

However, recent deciphering of bone mineralisation suggests that other genes, and perhaps environmental and/or epigenetic factors, could play a role in modulating the hypophosphatasia phenotype.

Keywords:

hypophosphatasia;
mutations;
ALPL;
genotype–phenotype correlation;
tissue-nonspecific alkaline phosphatase


It has often been claimed that methodologies integrating the study of a foreign language with that of another non-linguistic subject (i.e. CLIL or CBI) lead to considerable advantages in both language and content learning. In order to investigate this claim in relation to postsecondary education, this paper reports an experiment in which the progress made by a group of university students who attended a CLIL-type English course was compared to that of a control group attending a traditional EFL course. The results obtained mostly confirmed the initial hypothesis that the CLIL group would outperform the control group, at least as far as more communicative skills were concerned. Summary


Low-resistance and thermally stable Ohmic contacts are essential for radio frequency switches based on the unique phase change properties of GeTe. Herein, Mo-based Ohmic contacts to p-type GeTe are reported, including the effect of pre-metallization surface preparation and annealing on Mo/Ti/Pt/Au contacts. In-situ Ar+ plasma treatment resulted in a very low contact resistance of 0.004 ± 0.002 Ω mm (5 ± 3 × 10−9 Ω cm2), which could not be achieved using ex-situ surface treatments, highlighting the need for oxide-free interfaces to obtain very low contact resistance using Mo-based contacts. Experiments aimed at creating a more Ge- or Te-rich interface yielded higher contact resistances in both cases. The contact resistance increased for short-term annealing (30 min) above 200 °C and for long-term annealing (1 week) at 200 °C. No solid-state reaction between Mo and GeTe was observed using transmission electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy. However, Te migrated from GeTe after annealing at ...


Background Premenopausal women have fewer cardiovascular disease (CVD) events than postmenopausal women and age-matched men, but the reasons are not fully understood. Coronary endothelial function (CEF), a barometer of coronary vascular health, promises important insights into age and sex differences in atherosclerotic CVD risk, but has not been well characterized in healthy individuals because of the invasive nature of conventional CEF measurements. Recently developed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods were used to quantify CEF (coronary area and flow changes in response to isometric handgrip exercise (IHE), an endothelial-dependent stressor) to test the hypothesis that healthy women have better CEF compared to men particularly at a younger age. Methods The study participants were 50 healthy women and men with no history of coronary artery disease (CAD) or traditional CV risk factors and Agatston coronary calcium score (on prior CT) <10 for those ≥ 50 years. Coronary cross-sectional area (CSA) measurements and flow-velocity encoded images (CBF) were obtained at baseline and during continuous IHE using 3T breath-hold cine MRI-IHE. CEF (%change in CSA and CBF with IHE) comparisons were made according to age and sex, and all women ≥50 years were post-menopausal. Results In the overall population, there were no differences in CEF between men and women. However, when stratified by age and sex the mean changes in CSA and CBF during IHE were higher in younger premenopausal women than older postmenopausal women (%CSA: 15.2±10.6% vs. 7.0±6.8%, p = 0.03 and %CBF: 59.0±37.0% vs. 30.5±24.5% p = 0.02). CBF change was also nearly two-fold better in premenopausal women than age-matched men (59.0±37.0% vs. 33.6±12.3%, p = 0.03). Conclusions Premenopausal women have nearly two-fold better mean CEF compared to postmenopausal women. CEF, measured by CBF change is also better in premenopausal women than age-matched men but there are no sex differences in CEF after menopause. Fundamental age and sex differences in CEF exist and may contribute to differences in the development and clinical manifestations of atherosclerotic CVD, and guide future trials targeting sex-specific mechanisms of atherogenesis.


We present HST/NICMOS observations with ∼ 0. ′′ 1 ≈ 15 AU resolution of six young stellar objects in the Taurus star-formation region. The targets of our survey are three Class I IRAS sources (IRAS 04016+2610, IRAS 04248+2612, and IRAS 04302+2247) and three low-luminosity stars (DG Tau B, Haro 6-5B, and CoKu Tau/1) associated with Herbig Haro jets. The broad-band images show that the near-infrared radiation from these sources is dominated by light scattered from dusty circumstellar material distributed in a region 10-15 times the size of our solar system. Although the detailed morphologies of the individual objects are unique, the observed young stellar objects share common features. All of the circumstellar reflection nebulae are crossed by dark lanes from 500-900 AU in extent and from less than 50 to 350 AU in apparent thickness. The absorption lanes extend perpendicular to known optical and millimeter outflows in these sources. We interpret the dark lanes as optically thick circumstellar disks seen in silhouette against bright reflection nebulosity. The bipolar reflection nebulae extending perpendicular to the dust lanes appear to be produced by scattering from the upper and lower surfaces of the disks and from dusty material within or on the walls of the outflow cavities. Out of five objects in which the central source is directly detected, two are found to be subarcsecond binaries. This mini-survey is the highest resolution near-infrared study to date of circumstellar environments around solar-type stars with age ≤ 1 Myr.


Objective: Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid 19) started in China in December 2019 and spread all over the world, is more progressive in patients who are elderly and with chronic diseases. Especially kidney involvement affects the survival of patients. In this study, we analyzed Covid 19 patients who developed acute kidney injury treated in our unit, retrospectively. Matherials: The clinical and laboratory data of 610 patients who hospitalized due to Covid 19 pandemic between 01.06.2020 and 30.06.2021 in the intensive care and other clinics of our hospital evaluated from the records, retrospectively. One hundred-fourty patients diagnosed with AKI according to the criteria of KDIGO (Kidney Disease Global Outcomes). The patients divided into two groups as KDIGO stage 1 and 2, 3. Results: The median age in both groups was 70 (35-92) and 73 (35-90) years. Approximately seventy percent of them were over 65 years old. Almost all of the patients had hypertension. Most of the patients were using angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE inh) or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB) (84%). AKI was present at the time of admission (61.9%) in the KDIGO 1 group and at the time of hospitalization (64.3%) in the KDIGO 2, 3 group. The mortality rate was higher in stage 2-3 AKI patients (35.7%). Ferritin and fibrinogen levels were high in the KDIGO 2, 3 group, while lymphocyte levels were low. Conclusion: AKI can be seen at the time of admission and during treatment in patients who are hospitalized and treated due to Covid 19. Covid 19 is more mortal in patients with advanced AKI.


In this review authors describe the mechanisms and possibilities of attenuation of ischaemia reperfusion injury in the myocardium. They describe modified reperfusion (postconditioning) and discuss its use in basic and clinical research. The pro- posed effects of modified reperfusion on the reperfusion injury were also depicted and compared to the mechanisms and action of ischemic preconditioning.


This study examined the marketing of yam in Obubra Local Government Area of Cross River State. Characteristics of the sellers, marketing channels, marketing margin and efficiency were also examined. One hundred and twenty (120) randomly selected respondents were interviewed at three different markets, namely, Apiapum, Ovonum and Ofodua. Data obtained from the study were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The descriptive statistics include tables, means,  frequencies and budgetary analysis. Theinferential statistic was the regression analysis. The socio-economic profiles of the sellers revealed that the marketing of yam in Obubra is completely dominated by women. The main sources of yams were found to be from interior areas like Iyamitet, Ofumbongha II, Ogada, Ahaha, Ijutum, Akpatre, Okumuruktet, Onyadama, Iyamoyong and Ogurude. The profitmargin of traders in Apiapum, Ovonum and Ofodua markets were N5,229.50 , N 6,289.40 and N 4,939.80 respectively. This suggests that yam marketing is a profitable business. The concentration of sellers is high and entry is free. The markets are thus perfectly competitive. The regression analysis, however, revealed that of all the marketing costs, transportation hadthe most significant impact on the returns of sellers in all the studied markets. Identifiable problems affecting yam marketing in the study area include:  insufficient capital, lack of goodroads, high transportation cost and lack of good storage facilities. It was thereforerecommended that serious attention be paid to maintain the markets for optimal efficiency.


By including the recently introduced thermal shear term that contributes to the spin polarization vector at local equilibrium, we determine longitudinal polarization of Λ hyperons emitted from a hot and rotating hadronic medium using the thermal model with single freeze-out. In our analysis, we consider the RHIC top energies and use the model parameters which were determined in the earlier analyses of particle spectra and elliptic flow. We confirm that, unlike the previous calculations done by using only the thermal vorticity, the thermal shear term alone leads to the correct sign of the quadrupole structure of the longitudinal component of the polarization three-vector measured in experiments. However, we find almost complete cancellation between thermal shear and vorticity terms, which eventually leads to disagreement with the data. To clarify the role played by velocity and temperature gradient terms, we present a systematic analysis of different contributions to the longitudinal polarization.


Abstract We answer a question raised in [9], that is whether the infinite weight of the generic type of the free group is witnessed in Fω. We also prove that the set of primitive elements in finite rank free groups is not uniformly definable. As a corollary, we observe that the generic type over the empty set is not isolated. Finally, we show that uncountable free groups are not ℵ1-homogeneous.


In the Western tradition, at least since the 14th century, the philosophy of knowledge has been built around the idea of knowledge as a representation [BOU 99]. The question of the evaluation of knowledge refers at the same time (1) to the object represented (which one does one represent?), (2) to the process of knowledge formation, in particular with the role of the knowing subject (which one does one represent and how does one represent it?), and finally (3) to the relationship between the representation and the represented object. Criteria of evaluation such as "validity", "adequacy" or "truth", as mentioned in [AMB 07], make sense only with respect to these three dimensions. An evaluation can thus (1) depend on the ontological nature of the object of knowledge, (2) relate to the relationship between subject and object—including the structures (cognitive, social) which organize this relationship, or (3) relate to the relation of similarity between the object and its representation as well. The relevant criteria of evaluation thus depend on the points of view adopted on these questions. As there are indeed a plurality of points of view in this field, the goal of this appendix is to summarize, as briefly as possible, the various positions adopted by the philosophers and to refer to the relevant texts of reference for more information (for a first outline [CHA 76, SCH 01]). The first section introduces useful discussions about the philosophy of theoretical knowledge and general epistemology, from a quasi-historical perspective. Section two discusses the intermediary but central notion of models. Section three, more exploratory, introduces an approach to simulation as "concrete experiment". It suggests that such a frequent claim in the literature, when precisely evaluated, can, to some extent, renew both the representational and the linguistic views on simulation.


Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) has matured into a technology which is becoming more common in our everyday lives, and is emerging as a necessity to minimise driver distraction when operating in-car systems such as navigation and infotainment. In "noise-free" environments, word recognition performance of these systems has been shown to approach 100%, however this performance degrades rapidly as the level of background noise is increased. Speech enhancement is a popular method for making ASR systems more ro- bust. Single-channel spectral subtraction was originally designed to improve hu- man speech intelligibility and many attempts have been made to optimise this algorithm in terms of signal-based metrics such as maximised Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) or minimised speech distortion. Such metrics are used to assess en- hancement performance for intelligibility not speech recognition, therefore mak- ing them sub-optimal ASR applications. This research investigates two methods for closely coupling subtractive-type enhancement algorithms with ASR: (a) a computationally-efficient Mel-filterbank noise subtraction technique based on likelihood-maximisation (LIMA), and (b) in- troducing phase spectrum information to enable spectral subtraction in the com- plex frequency domain. Likelihood-maximisation uses gradient-descent to optimise parameters of the enhancement algorithm to best fit the acoustic speech model given a word se- quence known a priori. Whilst this technique is shown to improve the ASR word accuracy performance, it is also identified to be particularly sensitive to non-noise mismatches between the training and testing data. Phase information has long been ignored in spectral subtraction as it is deemed to have little effect on human intelligibility. In this work it is shown that phase information is important in obtaining highly accurate estimates of clean speech magnitudes which are typically used in ASR feature extraction. Phase Estimation via Delay Projection is proposed based on the stationarity of sinusoidal signals, and demonstrates the potential to produce improvements in ASR word accuracy in a wide range of SNR. Throughout the dissertation, consideration is given to practical implemen- tation in vehicular environments which resulted in two novel contributions – a LIMA framework which takes advantage of the grounding procedure common to speech dialogue systems, and a resource-saving formulation of frequency-domain spectral subtraction for realisation in field-programmable gate array hardware. The techniques proposed in this dissertation were evaluated using the Aus- tralian English In-Car Speech Corpus which was collected as part of this work. This database is the first of its kind within Australia and captures real in-car speech of 50 native Australian speakers in seven driving conditions common to Australian environments.


There are so many strategies implemented to reduce the power consumption in CMOS digital design. Many of them are based on complement form and clock signals. In CMOS digital design power consumption can be reduced by reducing the supply voltage, decreasing capacitance and reducing the switching activities. These techniques are not suitable in today's CMOS design scenario. So many researchers are working on new design techniques which will help in reducing the dynamic power consumption. Most of the research is focused on Adiabatic logic which is proved to be the excellent technique to design the low power digital circuits. In this paper we focus on the adiabatic logic with complementary energy path dual pass transistor logic (DPL-CEPAL). Conventional NAND, NOR and EX-OR/NOR gates are compared with the DPL-CEPAL NAND, NOR and EX-OR/NOR gates. It is proved that DPL-CEPAL technique is superior to conventional technology as far as power consumption is concerned. This DPL-CEPAL technology can be used to design the full adder cell and multiplier cell which are the core part of any ALU processor.


BACKGROUND
Central sleep apnea (CSA) is frequent among patients with heart failure (HF) and associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Elevated cardiac filling pressures promote CSA and atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) secretion. We hypothesized that circulating natriuretic peptide concentrations predict CSA.

METHODS
Consecutive patients with HF (n = 44) with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) ≤ 35% underwent polysomnography for detection of CSA. CSA was defined as an apnea-hypopnea index ≥ 15 with ≥ 50% central apneic events. The relation of natriuretic peptide concentrations to CSA was evaluated by estimation of ORs and receiver operator characteristics (ROCs).

RESULTS
Twenty-seven subjects (61%) had CSA, with men more frequently affected than women (73% vs 27%; OR, 7.1; P = .01); given that only three women had CSA, further analysis was restricted to men. Subjects with CSA had higher mean ANP (4,336 pg/mL vs 2,510 pg/mL, P = .03) and BNP concentrations (746 pg/mL vs 379 pg/mL, P = .05). ANP and BNP concentrations were significantly related to CSA (OR, 3.7 per 3,000 pg/mL, P = .03 and OR, 1.5 per 200 pg/mL, P = .04, respectively), whereas age, LVEF, and New York Heart Association functional class were not. Concentrations of ANP and BNP were predictive of CSA as ROC demonstrated areas under the curve of 0.75 and 0.73, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
Risk of CSA is related to severity of HF. ANP and BNP concentrations performed similarly for detection of CSA; low concentrations appear associated with low risk for CSA in men.


In the last years, the combination of (2)H solid-state NMR techniques with quantum-chemical calculations has evolved into a powerful spectroscopic tool for the characterization of the state of hydrogen on the surfaces of heterogeneous catalysts. In the present minireview, a brief summary of this development is given, in which investigations of the structure and dynamics of hydrogen in molecular complexes, clusters and nanoparticle systems are presented, aimed to understand the reaction mechanisms on the surface of hydrogenation catalysts. The surface state of deuterium/hydrogen is analyzed employing a combination of variable-temperature (2)H static and magic-angle spinning (MAS) solid-state NMR techniques, in which the dominant quadrupolar interactions of deuterium give information on the binding situation and local symmetry of deuterium/hydrogen on molecular species. Using a correlation database from molecular complexes and clusters, the possibility to distinguish between terminal Ru-D, bridged Ru2-D, three-fold Ru3-D, and interstitial Ru6-D is demonstrated. Combining these results with quantum-chemical density functional theory (DFT) calculations allows the interpretation of (2)H solid-state data of complex "real world" nanostructures, which yielded new insights into reaction pathways at the molecular level.


PURPOSE
To detect and isolate cells with stem cell (SC) characteristics in the limbus of the mouse.

METHODS
Limbal tissues from BALB/c mice were trypsin-dissociated and separated on the gradient Percoll (Fluka, Buchs, Switzerland). Several fractions were isolated and characterized by real-time PCR for the presence of limbal SC markers and differentiation markers of corneal epithelial cells by flow cytometry for the determination of the side-population (SP) phenotype and growth properties in vitro.

RESULTS
Cells retained in the lightest fraction (40% Percoll) and in the densest fraction (80% Percoll) of the gradient were both enriched for populations with a high expression of the SC markers ABCG2 and Lgr5 and also expressing the SP phenotype. However, the lightest fraction (representing approximately 12% of total limbal cells) contained cells with the strongest spontaneous proliferative capacity and expressed the corneal epithelial differentiation marker K12. In contrast the densest fraction (<7% of original cells) was K12 negative and contained small nonspontaneously proliferating cells, which instead were positive for p63. Unexpectedly, cells from this fraction had the highest proliferative activity when cultured on a 3T3 feeder cell monolayer.

CONCLUSIONS
These findings demonstrate the presence of two distinct populations of corneal epithelial cells with limbal SC characteristics, based on differential expression of the keratin-specific marker K12 and transcription factor p63, and suggest a difference in developmental stage of the two populations, with the K12(-)p63(+) population being closer to the primitive limbal SC.


Emergence of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] seedlings in the field is frequently less than predicted by standard germination, but the causes of this emergence failure are not well understood. This study explored the influence of soil pathogens and seed vigor on soybean seedling preemergent growth and emergence. Seed from six seedlots, representing a range in seed vigor, were planted as pregerminated and as dry seed into sterile and pathogen-infested soil maintained at a constant soil water potential (-0.005 MPa). Final emergence (FE) and emergence rates from two planting depths (25 and 60 mm) were recorded under ambient greenhouse conditions. Once the FE stage had been reached, nonemerged seedlings were exhumed, and classified as stunted, abnormal, or dead. The FE of the high- and medium-vigor seedlots was always higher than the low-vigor seedlots, and the advantage was greatest under stressful conditions (deep planting, nonsterile soil). The FE was always lower in nonsterile than sterile soil. Seedlings emerged more slowly from deep plantings and when pathogens were present, and FE decreased as emergence was delayed in nonsterile soil. This relationship became more pronounced with low vigor seed. Planting pregerminated seeds always resulted in higher FE than dry seeds, but it did not eliminate emergence failure. Abnormal seedlings accounted for most of the emergence failure in sterile soil, but the lack of germination or of growth immediately after germination was also important in nonsterile soil. Lack of germination alone therefore does not account for lack of emergence; postgerminative, preemergent growth may be more important.


The Civil War is considered the most devastating war in the history of the United States in terms of the number of Americans killed and wounded. In addition to the tremendous loss of life, a young nation and its residents were left to rebuild and reconsider the problems that led them to war in the first place. Through the period of Reconstruction that followed the Civil War, the United States emerged from a loose and fragile confederation of sovereign states to a single nation with greatly enhanced federal powers. The Civil War was a central turning point in the history of our country, as it helped bring the institution of slavery to an end and set the stage for the battle for civil rights."Civil War and Reconstruction", a brand-new volume in Facts On File's acclaimed "Eyewitness History" series, focuses on the American experience of the Civil War, with hundreds of firsthand accounts of this period - from diary entries and letters to speeches and newspaper articles - illustrating how historical events appeared to those who lived through them. Among the eyewitness testimonies included are those of such prominent individuals as Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, and Clara Barton, as well as numerous men and women on both sides of the conflict who left records of their experiences during this time.Each chapter contains a narrative section and a chronology of events. Appendixes provide concise biographies of 50 influential individuals such as John Brown, Harriet Tubman, and Jefferson Davis; primary documents - either full text or excerpts - including the Fugitive Slave Act, the Emancipation Proclamation, the Gettysburg Address, and the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Constitutional Amendments; maps; notes; a thorough bibliography; and an index. More than 110 black-and-white images enhance the text, portraying military battles, political and military leaders, important locations, and scenes from everyday life.


This chapter explores the ethics of research as one of the requirements in daily work, considering the protection of the dignity of subjects and the publication of information. It identifies which are the most vulnerable populations as well as the conflicting ones and the ambiguity in the decision making, which in many occasions recurrently appear in the review of the literature on human research. Also, it described strategies to overcome the ethical difficulties encountered in the call and follow-up, with a cultural sensitivity.


The thick (≤8 km), regionally extensive section of Neoproterozoic siliciclastic strata (terrigenous detrital succession, TDS) in the central and eastern Great Basin contains sedimentary pyrite characterized by mostly high δ 34 S values (−11.6 to 40.8‰, >70% exceed 10‰; 51 analyses) derived from reduction of seawater sulfate, and by markedly radiogenic Pb isotopes ( 207 Pb/ 204 Pb >19.2; 15 analyses) acquired from clastic detritus eroded from Precambrian cratonal rocks to the east-southeast. In the overlying Paleozoic section, Pb-Zn-Cu-Ag-Au deposits associated with Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Tertiary granitic intrusions (intrusion-related metal deposits) contain galena and other sulfide minerals with S and Pb isotope compositions similar to those of TDS sedimentary pyrite, consistent with derivation of deposit S and Pb from TDS pyrite. Minor element abundances in TDS pyrite (e.g., Pb, Zn, Cu, Ag, and Au) compared to sedimentary and hydrothermal pyrite elsewhere are not noticeably elevated, implying that enrichment in source minerals is not a precondition for intrusion-related metal deposits. Three mechanisms for transferring components of TDS sedimentary pyrite to intrusion-related metal deposits are qualitatively evaluated. One mechanism involves (1) decomposition of TDS pyrite in thermal aureoles of intruding magmas, and (2) aqueous transport and precipitation in thermal or fluid mixing gradients of isotopically heavy S, radiogenic Pb, and possibly other sedimentary pyrite and detrital mineral components, as sulfide minerals in intrusion-related metal deposits. A second mechanism invokes mixing and S isotope exchange in thermal aureoles of Pb and S exsolved from magma and derived from decomposition of sedimentary pyrite. A third mechanism entails melting of TDS strata or assimilation of TDS strata by crustal or mantle magmas. TDS-derived or assimilated magmas ascend, decompress, and exsolve a mixture of TDS volatiles, including isotopically heavy S and radiogenic Pb from sedimentary pyrite, and volatiles acquired from deeper crustal or mantle sources. In the central and eastern Great Basin, the wide distribution and high density of small to mid-sized vein, replacement, and skarn intrusion-related metal deposits in lower Paleozoic rocks that contain TDS sedimentary pyrite S and Pb reflect (1) prolific Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Tertiary magmatism, (2) a regional, substrate reservoir of S and Pb in permeable and homogeneous siliciclastic strata, and (3) relatively small scale concentration of substrate and magmatic components. Large intrusion-related metal deposits in the central and eastern Great Basin acquired S and most Pb from thicker lithospheric sections.


Gasification is one of the most effective methods for upgrading different wastes, such as plastics and biomass, because the gas produced can be used directly as a fuel or as a renewable raw material for the production of chemicals and fuels. The conical spouted bed reactor (CSBR) has demonstrated to perform well in gasification process due to its specific features, such as (i) the cyclic and vigorous particle movement that avoids bed defluidization (a limitation in fluidized beds), (ii) capability for handling irregular or sticky solids, (iii) high heat transfer rates between phases, and (iv) bed stability in a wide range of gas flow rates. However, the conventional CSBR is characterized by its short residence time, which involves serious problems for minimizing tar formation. The incorporation of a fountain confiner in the CSBR is key to increasing the gas residence time and improving the contact between the gas and heat carrier particles, thereby promoting tar cracking reactions and so enhancing carbon conversion efficiency from 81.5% (without confiner) to 86.1% under fountain enhanced regime. The quality of the syngas is clearly improved as the H 2 concentration increases from 36 to 42% with and without the fountain confiner, whereas that of CO decreases from 34 to 29%, respectively.


Information Seeking gives users a wider range of access methods when retrieving business items (e.g. projects, products, skills, people, deliverables …) using (intra-) Web applications. The Information Seeking approach we propose is based on the concept of the "Item", as defined in the Hypertopic model that we propose for mediating various "socio-semantic Web" applications. We show on an example, in the case of a sustainable development projects cooperative e-catalogue, how items can be viewed "semiotically", depending on various tags, topics and points of view.


Soil conservation in the highlands of South-East Asia is essential for sustainable
agro-environmental development. The effectiveness of soil conservation treatments developed
in runoff plots was investigated in farmer-managed plots on a natural catchment. This was
achieved by the development and scientific evaluation of modified and novel cropping
practices in a representative highland catchment in Yunnan Province, China. Wang Jia
Catchment covers 40.1 hectares near Kedu, in Xundian County, north-east Yunnan (25o28'N,
102o53'E). The initial project consisted of an evaluation of the effects of modified cropping
practices on maize productivity and soil properties. This programme was extended to
investigate ways of increasing the productivity of maize, wheat and soybean on fragile slopes
in a sustainable and environmentally-friendly way. The approach incorporates modified and
novel agronomic and soil conservation measures, with the evaluation of their agricultural,
environmental and socio-economic impacts using multidisciplinary approaches. This European
Union funded project involved an international research team from Belgium, China, Ireland,
Thailand and the U.K. Five co-ordinated work packages were implemented. Involving: (1)
Background agricultural and environmental assessment of Wang Jia Catchment. (2)
Implementation and evaluation of modified and novel cropping systems for wheat, maize and
soybean in the catchment. (3) Cost-benefit analyses of the socio-economic impacts of the
changed cropping practices. (4) Comparative scientific evaluation of the cropping techniques
in the highlands of northern Thailand. (5) Dissemination of project outcomes and
establishment of training programmes for best practice in highland rural development. The
lessons of the Project for promoting sustainable agro-environmental development in tropical
and subtropical highlands include: (1) Recognizing the importance of both 'north-south' and
'south-south' co-operation in development projects, (2) Integrating local people as full partners
in the research programme, (3) Matching the different 'time horizons' of the different
stakeholders and (4) Developing multidisciplinary teams, including biophysical scientists and socio-economists.


Osseointegration is the biological basis for bone anchorage of oral implants, and revolutionized the replacement of lost teeth. It is also applied in bone anchored hearing aids and limb replacement in amputees. In biomaterial science, the in vivo mechanisms involved in host-biomaterial interaction the foreign body reaction (FBR) – have been studied in soft tissues but not in bone. The present thesis aims to explore these important mechanisms in bone. A literature review of current knowledge in FBR identified the immune system as central for host tissue response to biomaterials: materials modulate the immune system, which in turn directly regulates the local tissue reaction (Paper I). A hypothesis was developed that titanium, rather than inert, is immunomodulatory in bone and osseointegration the result of a specific immune-inflammatory reaction triggered by titanium, in an attempt to isolate the foreign material from the rest of the body. In vivo animal pilot studies were performed (rabbit model, in femur and tibia bone), to explore the aforementioned immune mechanisms. The methods used were gene expression analysis to explore the cell and molecular mechanisms, and histology to study the bone tissue response. The first experimental study (Paper II) compared bone healing around titanium versus normal bone healing without a biomaterial (sham), demonstrating that titanium is not inert, rather induces an immune reaction in bone up to at least 28 days. A second experimental study (Paper III) compared materials titanium (osseointegrating material), copper and PEEK (non osseointegrating) versus sham (natural bone healing) at 10 days, demonstrating that titanium suppresses pro-inflammatory (M1-macrophage) and promotes a reparative reaction (M2-macrophage), whereas the other materials maintain a mixed M1/M2 reaction, i.e. still a pro-inflammatory environment at an early healing stage. These results suggest that osseointegration is defined at an early stage in biomaterial healing; also, that PEEK is not inert. A final experimental study (Paper IV) compared the 10 days results in Paper III with 28 days (post-inflammatory period) on a copper and PEEK with titanium as a control study; the results showed a continued activation of M1 and M2 around copper and PEEK at 28 days, and also that PEEK may have a specific mechanism that induces adipose tissue formation instead of bone. In conclusion, bone reaction is specific to the type of implanted material, titanium is immunogenic and osseointegration the result of a specific immune-inflammatory balance triggered by titanium in bone.


Urban planning and development is a field which unconsciously recognises the role of nonhuman actors in transforming the market environment – a process which often starts with exploring the constraints of sites or the cost implications of altered development forms. This paper explores some of those non-human actors central to planning and development at a fringe development site in Sydney, Australia. This paper draws upon actor-network theory to position non-human actors as vital to the construction and maintenance of any networked reality, not least residential development. In this reading non-humans represent central actors and intermediaries which circulate through planning and development networks. An actor-network theory framework provides an in-depth analysis of residential development and planning policy which facilitates the identification and tracing of actors/intermediaries which may otherwise be neglected, ignored or forgotten. Special attention is paid to the multiple ways in which non-human actors interact to facilitate the development of residential property and associated policy arrangements – focusing on endangered species and topography.


Introduction Cognitive impairment is common in Parkinson's disease (PD), even in the early stages, and appropriate screening tools which are suitable for use in the general neurology clinic are needed. Methods We investigated the utility of the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination-Revised (ACE-R) as a tool for detecting mild cognitive impairment in PD (PD-MCI), defined using a detailed neuropsychological battery in an incident PD cohort. ACE-R was also validated against the Parkinson's Disease Cognitive Rating Scale (PD-CRS). We investigated the relationship between ACE-R score and behaviour and day-to-day function using the Cambridge Behavioural Inventory—Revised (CBI-R) and Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire-39 (PDQ-39). The ACE-R cognitive profile in non-demented PD was compared with profiles in of early cognitive impairment in Huntington's disease (HD), Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP), amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Results 27% of the incident PD cohort were defined as PD-MCI. ROC analysis revealed an AUC for the ACE-R of 0.89 (95% CI 0.81 to 0.96). An ACE-R cut-off of <89 gave specificity 91%, sensitivity 65%, whereas a cut-off of <94 gave a sensitivity of 92% and specificity 64%. ACE-R correlated well with PD-CRS (r=0.801, p<0.0001). Significant correlations were seen between the ACE-R and CBI-R (cc=−0.249, p=<0.0001), and PDQ-39 (cc=−0.246, p=<0.0001) following adjustment for age, disease duration, Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) motor score and Beck Depression Inventory score (BDI). Across disease groups there was a significant difference between ACE-R profiles. Conclusion The ACE-R is a valid screening tool for mild cognitive impairment in PD and correlates with behavioural deficits and quality of life. Furthermore it is capable of distinguishing between the cognitive profile in non-demented PD and a range of other neurological conditions.


Program Genesis: Since the 1970s, African economies have under-performed and incomes have declined. Similarly, the agricultural sectors have malfunctioned and agricultural production shrunk despite over two-thirds of the population being dependent on agriculture for survival subjecting them to food insecurity, reduced incomes, massive poverty, unemployment and unsustainable resource utilisation. The decline in agricultural performance was brought about by numerous factors, including markets dynamics that tended to protect the agricultural products of developed nations at the expense of developing economies; persistent institutional weakness and market failures in Africa; poor linkage of policy results to policy making and implementation; poor understanding of environmental impact assessment and management skills for sustainable agricultural development; poor understanding of smallholder agriculture; and inadequate appreciation or understanding of the role of Science, Technology and Information in promoting rapid agricultural and rural development as well as overall economic growth and development. In response to the above situation and the realisation of the changing trends in markets, there arose the need to re-examine ways and means of managing and promoting agricultural development, which forms the backbone of many African economies. It was visualised that one way of tackling the problem was through enhancing capacity for policy analysis in agriculture in order to allow effective generation and supply of relevant information on agricultural production and marketing to policymakers. IFPRI and its 2020 Vision for Food, Agriculture and Environment established a network of researchers in agricultural economics in Eastern Africa in an effort of enhancing the capacity in policy analysis and research. The Regional Advisory Committee (RAC) was established to guide the network in undertaking competitive research grants among other critical activities. After one year in operation, the RAC realised there was a great shortage of skilled manpower to undertake policy analysis research in the region and established a Steering Committee to examine the problem. With financial support from the Rockefeller Foundation, an inquiry by Norman and Obwona was conducted, which revealed there was inadequate capacity for agricultural policy analysis, formulation and implementation. This was blamed on inadequate Agricultural Economics postgraduate training scholarships to overseas universities in particular and limited Governments support for postgraduate training locally due to budgetary constraints. The Steering Committee suggested that a sustainable cost effective capacity building mechanism was seriously needed to help resolve problems that were being experienced in institutions of higher learning. To put the mechanism in place, a conference involving Heads of Departments of Agricultural Economics in Eastern and Southern Africa, and other participants from the private and public sectors was convened in November 2002 to examine the future challenges to agricultural economics. The conference adopted that the heads of agricultural economics departments should formulate plans for strengthening agricultural economics training in the region through a Collaborative program. After the conference, heads of departments formed the umbrella body AEEB and started working on the collaborative masters program. The vision of this collaborative program is to train graduates with a solid foundation in economic concepts and methods for applied analysis in the public, civil society and private sectors, as well as offer opportunity for advanced academic pursuits. The main objectives of the program are to: advance Agricultural Economics as a core disciplinary course at MSc level in Eastern & Southern Africa; produce graduates who are conversant with problems facing the agricultural sector in Africa and with the capability to provide practical solutions; set up a system for upgrading the teaching and research capacity of faculties in the participating departments; as well as enhance a collaborative network amongst the many players in agricultural economics.


With the aim of sharing information about the technical aspects of immunohistochemistry (IHC) and facilitating the selection of suitable antibodies for histopathological examination, this technical report describes the results of a questionnaire distributed during the period of 2018 to 2019 among members of the Conference on Experimental Animal Histopathology. Additionally, it describes the immunological properties and supplier details (clone, supplier, catalog number, species reactivity, etc.) as well as the IHC staining conditions (fixing solution, fixing time, embedding, antigen retrieval method, antibody dilution, incubation time, incubation temperature, positive control tissue, blocking condition, secondary antibody information, etc.) for a total of 509 primary antibodies (comprising 220 different types). These survey results were an update on the contents reported by CEAH in 2017.


In this paper, a road detection method based on an image segmentation algorithm is presented. Road detection process is a key issue for an autonomous driving system in urban environment. Image-based road detection algorithm is applied on sources of visual information recorded by cameras when our car is running on road. Our method combines a posteriori probability and visual information for image segmentation. The method is composed of two steps. Firstly, a road identifier is trained with supervised learning algorithm. Secondly, road regions are detected by combining a posteriori probability and visual information using image segmentation algorithm. Experimental results are presented for road images in actual driving video acquired in urban areas.


This study examines the factors that contribute to effective contract design within the context of buyer-seller relationship. Research streams on contract factors, supply chain factors, environmental factors, and competitive factors were reviewed to arrive at 18 contract factors. A hybrid model of Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) and Analytic Hierarchy Process (ANP) analysed empirical data collected from 17 experts to weight the importance of contract factors. It was found that most important factors are, in order of significance: policies, supplier technology, force majeure, formality, relationship learning, buyer power, legal actions, liquidated damages, supplier power and partnership.


A number of hydrazide derivatives of the non-protein amino acid L-canavanine (Cav) and its structural analogue Lnorcanavanine (NCav), have been synthesized and their growth-inhibitory effects evaluated in cultured non-tumor 3T3 cells and tumor cell line HepG2 by the MTT assay. The Cav derivatives (Cav-CONHNC6H5, Cav- CONHN(CH2CH2Cl)2, and Cav-CONHNH2) and NCav derivatives (NCav-CONHNHC6H5 and NCav- CONHN(CH2CH2Cl)2 exhibited higher cell growth inhibitory effects on both cell lines compared to their parent compound. These effects were considerably higher on the tumor cells HepG2 in comparison to the non-tumor 3T3 cells. Introduction of the hydrazide group constitutes an effective structural modification, which significantly amplifies the growth inhibitory properties of the parent compound against tumor cells HepG2. These results confirm our previous conclusion that a proper hydrazide modification of the carboxylic group of Cav and its analogues may lead to a significant increase in the inhibitory effect of the compounds on the growth of tumor cells. On the other hand, NCav derivatives showed higher cytotoxicity on the HepG2 cells in comparison with the respective canavanine analogues. Evidently the length of the carbon side chain influences the cytotoxicity of the compounds also.


The African continent like all other parts of the world with high infection/low vaccination rates can, and will, be a source of novel SARS-CoV-2 variants. The A.23 viral lineage, characterized by three spike mutations F157L, V367F and Q613H, was first identified in COVID-19 cases from a Ugandan prison in July 2020, and then was identified in the general population with additional spike mutations (R102I, L141F, E484K and P681R) to comprise lineage A.23.1 by September 2020--with this virus being designated a variant of interest (VOI) in Africa and with subsequent spread to 26 other countries. The P681R spike substitution of the A.23.1 VOI is of note as it increases the number of basic residues in the sub-optimal SARS-CoV-2 spike protein furin cleavage site; as such, this substitution may affect viral replication, transmissibility or pathogenic properties. The same P681R substitution has also appeared in B.1.617 variants, including B.1.617.2 (Delta). Here, we performed assays using fluorogenic peptides mimicking the S1/S2 sequence from A.23.1 and B.1.617.2 and observed significantly increased cleavability with furin, compared to sequences derived from the original Wuhan-Hu1 S1/S2. We performed functional infectivity assays using pseudotyped MLV particles harboring SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins and observed an increase in transduction for A.23.1-pseudotyped particles compared to Wuhan-Hu-1 in Vero-TMPRSS2 and Calu-3 cells (with a presumed "early" entry pathway), although lowered infection in Vero E6 cells (with a presumed "late" entry pathway). However, these changes in infectivity were not reproduced in the original Wuhan-Hu-1 spike bearing only the P681R substitution. Our findings suggest that while A.23.1 has increased furin-mediated cleavage linked to the P681R substitution--which may affect viral infection and transmissibility--this substitution alone is not sufficient and needs to occur on the background of other spike protein changes to enable its full functional consequences.


Purpose Using network pharmacology and molecular docking to explore the mechanism of Yishen Capsule in the treatment of diabetic nephropathy. Materials and Methods Active components of Yishen Capsule were obtained using database such as TCMSP and TCMID. UniProt protein database was used to screen and standardize the human-derived targets of the active chemical components. Diabetic nephropathy (DN) targets were obtained from databases such as GeneCards, OMIM, TTD, DisGeNET and DrugBank. A network of "Yishen Capsule Components-diabetic nephropathy Targets-Pathways" was constructed by analyzing data above to screening out core targets for molecular docking verification. DN is induced by streptozocin in rats after left nephrectomy. Renal tubular epithelial cells (RTECs) was isolated and cultured under high glucose conditions. Based on these experimental models, key pathway target genes screened by network pharmacology were verified both in vitro and in vivo. Results The main active components of Yishen Capsule in the treatment of DN include quercetin, kaempferol, gallic acid, astragaloside IV, etc. Some key targets (such as AR, AKT1, TP53, ESR1, JUN) and important signal pathways (such as AGE-RAGE, HIF-1 and JAK-STAT signal pathway) were included in the treatment of DN with Yishen Capsule. Molecular docking assay showed that most of the targets have good binding activity with the components of Yishen Capsule. Based on the results of network pharmacology, key target proteins in HIF-1α and JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathways were selected for experimental verification. Results presented that HIF-1α, JAK2, STAT3, TGF-β and MCP-1 were increased under high glucose environment. With the treatment of Yishen Capsule, the expression of HIF-1α further increased, while the expression of JAK2, STAT3, MCP-1 and TGF-β was decreased. Conclusion This study revealed the mechanism of Yishen Capsule in the treatment of DN, which possesses the characteristics of multi-component, multi-target, and multi-pathway. Further experiments confirmed that Yishen Capsule interfered with HIF-1α and JAK/STAT signaling pathways to reduce inflammation and fibrosis damage in the kidney tissue of rats with diabetic nephropathy.


Low seawater pH can be harmful to many calcifying marine organisms, but the calcifying macroalgae Padina spp. flourish at natural submarine carbon dioxide seeps where seawater pH is low. We show that the microenvironment created by the rolled thallus margin of Padina australis facilitates supersaturation of CaCO3 and calcifi‐cation via photosynthesis‐induced elevated pH. Using microsensors to investigate oxygen and pH dynamics in the microenvironment of P. australis at a shallow CO2 seep, we found that, under saturating light, the pH inside the microenvironment (pHME) was higher than the external seawater (pHSW) at all pHSW levels investigated, and the difference (i.e., pHME − pHSW) increased with decreasing pHSW (0.9 units at pHSW 7.0). Gross photosynthesis (Pg) inside the microenvironment increased with decreasing pHSW, but algae from the control site reached a threshold at pH 6.5. Seep algae showed no pH threshold with respect to Pg within the pHSW range investigated. The external carbonic anhydrase (CA) inhibitor, acetazolamide, strongly inhibited Pg of P. australis at pHSW 8.2, but the effect was diminished under low pHSW (6.4–7.5), suggesting a greater dependence on membrane‐bound CA for the dehydration of HCO3− ions during dissolved inorganic carbon uptake at the higher pHSW. In comparison, a calcifying green alga, Halimeda cuneata f. digitata, was not inhibited by AZ, suggesting efficient bicarbonate transport. The ability of P. australis to elevate pHME at the site of calcification and its strong dependence on CA may explain why it can thrive at low pHSW.


This paper presents two studies illustrating the possibilities of Small-Angle X-ray Scattering for characterising quantitatively the state of precipitation in aluminium alloys. In the first example, maps are presented, of precipitate size and volume fraction in the cross-section of friction stir welds of AA7449 alloy. It is shown that the influence of welding speed on the distribution of mechanical properties can be understood using this microstructural data. In the second example, the precipitation kinetics in an Al-Zr-Sc alloy is evaluated by in-situ small angle X-ray scattering. Evidence is given for the heterogeneous chemical structure of the Al3(Zr,Sc) precipitates, consisting of a Zr-rich shell surrounding a Sc-rich core. It is shown that this particular distribution results in a very good resistance to coarsening of the precipitate microstructure.


For researchers and decision makers in any technical domain, understanding the state of their area of interest is of critical importance. This "landscape" of emerging technologies is constantly evolving, and the sheer scale of research publication output in the modern era makes qualitative review increasingly difficult. Scientometric analysis is a valuable tool for the quantitative analysis of research output, and is employed by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) Knowledge and Information Services in support of our research activities, for applications including identifying opportunities for academic collaboration, and technology watching/forecasting to identify emerging technologies and opportunities that may have implications for UK Defence.This paper provides an overview of our approach to conducting scientometric analysis of research papers and patent submissions. The methods for extracting and disambiguating publications are described, and the qualitative inferences we seek to make, along with some of the associated limitations and potential pitfalls are also discussed.


The optimum design of FIR (finite impulse response) filters is formulated as a quadratic program. An algorithm is described for the efficient use of computer memory and for guaranteed convergence to the solution of the original problem. Examples illustrating the design of decimation filters for sigma-delta A/D converters using the new technique are also presented. The quadratic programming approach is more flexible and often yields better results than the previously reported least-squares design approaches.<<ETX>>


Biogas is a renewable, alternative and sustainable form of energy from the action of bacteria when waste vegetable matter, organic waste and some industrial waste are fermented in the absence of oxygen. This study was conducted to find the effect of cow dung variety on biogas generation. Some samples of fresh cow dung (2 Kg for each breed of cow) of cows which were not exposed to treatment with anti-biotics for some weeks, were collected from Sobere Farms and mixed with water in ratio of 1:1 volume and the mixture was loaded into a bio-reactor to ferment. The Hydraulic Retention Time (HRT) was 9 to 14 days. The reduction in retention time was achieved by adding human excreta and urine into the digester to increase micro-organism and pathogenic activities. The biogas obtained after 11 days was gathered and analyzed in a 250-Gas Chromatograph and Integrator. The results showed the percentages and calculated energies (calorific values) of biogas from the cow dung of four (4) selected varieties of cows, namely, Holstein Friesian, Simmental, White Fulani and Jersey, which were fed with concentrates in equal proportions and at the same time for some weeks. The Holstein cow has methane (CH4),(84.916%) and 196.199 cal/m3 of energy, Jersey cow (69.233%) and 159.963 cal/m3 of energy, (60.459%) and 149.235 cal/m3 of energy for Simmental cow and White Fulani cow has (85.331%) with 197.157 cal/m3 of energy respectively. The results indicate that the White Fulani cow has the higher quantity of combustion energy than the other breeds of cows.

 Key words: Effect, White Fulani, Holstein, Jersey, Simmental, biogas, percentages, cow dung.


Strong and/or multi-factor entity authentication protocols are of crucial importancein building successful identity management architectures. Popular mechanisms to achieve these types of entity authentication are biometrics, and, in particular, voice, for which there are especially interesting business cases in the telecommunication and financial industries, among others. Despite several studies on the suitability of voice within entity authentication protocols, there has been little or no formal analysis of any such methods.
 In this paper we embark into formal modeling of seemingly cryptographic properties of voice. The goal is to define a formal abstraction for voice, in terms of algorithms with certain properties, that are of both combinatorial and cryptographic type. While we certainly do not expect to achieve the perfect mathematical model for a human phenomenon, we do hope that capturing some properties of voice in a formal model would help towards the design and analysis of voice-based cryptographic protocols, as for entity authentication. In particular, in this model we design and formally analyze two voice-based entity authentication schemes, the first being a voice-based analogue of the conventional password-transmission entity authentication scheme. We also design and analyze, in the recently introduced bounded-retrieval model [4], one voice-and-password-based entity authentication scheme that is additionally secure against intrusions and brute-force attacks, including dictionary attacks.


An audit of the use of antibiotics restricted by the hospital formulary was undertaken by retrospective analysis of 73 written justifications for prescriptions provided to the pharmacy and the case notes. Half of the prescriptions were for therapeutic indications with the remainder divided almost equally between prophylactic and empirical use. The cost of therapy was $34,500. Antibiotic use was classified as appropriate or inappropriate. Inappropriate use was seen in 22 cases at an excess cost of $3828. Prophylactic use accounted for 13 of the inappropriate prescriptions, most frequently due to excessive duration of prescription. The use of amikacin where gentamicin was not contraindicated was seen in 4 of 9 inappropriate prescriptions. The infrequent use of the more expensive antibiotics and the potentially remediable inappropriate use seen with prophylaxis were gratifying aspects of this audit.


Objective: To assess the knowledge and use of herbal medicines among pregnant women attending the antenatal clinic at Kiryandongo general hospital. Design: A descriptive cross-sectional study Setting: Kiryandongo general hospital in Masindi District, mid-western Uganda. Subjects: Four hundred (400) pregnant women attending antenatal care (ANC) were interviewed about their knowledge and use of herbal medicines during pregnancy using self-administered questionnaires, during the months of July and August 2013. Results: Of the 400 women who participated in the study, majority 246 (61.5%)was in the age range of 18 to 24 years old, married 379 (94.8%), stayed in a rural setting 293 (73.3%),had attained primary education 239(59.8%),peasant farmers 209 (52.3%), in monogamous marriage 247 (64.2%), of prime gravidae 117 (29.2%), and Banyoro by tribe 89 (22.3%). Three hundred and fifty (87.5%)of the respondents reported to have ever heard about the use of herbal medicines during pregnancy, with 169 (48.3%) reported having used herbal medicines during previous pregnancies or in the months prior to the study. One hundred and thirty two (37.7%) where found to be using herbal medicines at the time of the study, with the majority of them one hundred and eleven (84.1%) admitting that they will be using herbal medicines again in subsequent pregnancies. One hundred and fifty three (43.7%)considered herbal medicines to be safe during pregnancy and preferred them to conventional medicines because they have low side effects, are cheap and easy to access, and it is part of their tradition to use them during pregnancy.One hundred and ten (31.4%) believed that these herbs are neither dangerous to the mother nor the foetus. Conclusion: More efficient ways are required to educate the general population about the dangers of self-medication during pregnancy especially to advise pregnant mothers not to expose their unborn child to the risks of herbal medicines. Pharmacological and case control studies will be vital in assessing the efficacy and risks associated with herbal medicine use during pregnancy. Midwives, obstetricians and General Practitioners should facilitate women's wishes without condemnation, but this must be tempered with accurate information.


Can the turn caused by the Protestant Reformation, which started 500 years ago, be understood in all its complexity without considering its hermeneutical aspects? Does the "actuality" of the Reformation, which addresses our present-day world, not manifest itself primarily as a hermeneutical actuality, or rather the actuality of hermeneutics? These are the questions motivating my investigation on the relationship between the hermeneutical turn of Martin Luther's Reformation and the Schleiermacherian-Gadamerian turn of modern hermeneutics, respectively on the horizontal and the vertical orientation of transcendence, with special attention to the ontological status of the sacred Word and to modernity's experience of finitude in establishing the horizontal transcendence, which will prevail again with the Reformation. In the second part of my essay, I focus on the analysis of three modernization processes:  methodological awareness, practical worldly rationality, and technological functionality , in which the verticalization tendencies opposed to the prevalence of the horizontal transcendence, based on the mutual interconnectedness of finitude and completeness, keep on recurring and attempt to disrupt their togetherness, counteracting the hermeneutical attitude.


Background: Laser iridotomy is the established treatment for angle-closure glaucoma. Nd:YAG (neodymium: yttrium–aluminium–garnet) laser iridotomy is challenging in the heavily pigmented irides of African and Asian patients, Aim: To present a modified laser iridotomy technique for use in dark irides. Methods: The argon laser was applied in two stages: firstly, low-power argon was applied, which created a circular area of pitted iris stroma in the superior iris. High-power argon was then applied in the same area to form a punched-out crater at the level of the radial muscle fibres. The iridotomy was then completed with low-energy YAG laser. Results: 15 eyes of 8 consecutive patients who underwent successful combined argon–YAG laser iridotomy using low levels of YAG energy in dark irides is presented. The combined technique avoids common issues associated with the use of pure YAG laser, including high energy levels and a high risk of iris haemorrhage. Conclusions: Combined two-stage argon and YAG laser is an effective technique in the treatment of angle-closure glaucoma of dark irides of African and Asian patients. The technique is more effective and has reduced complications in comparison to pure argon or YAG laser techniques.


Background :. To  determine the frequency of different types of malignancies in different gender and age groups, presenting at a surgical unit.
Methods:  In this observational study  cancer patients of both genders were included to determine frequencies of different malignancies that presented to a surgical unit.  All the patients with age greater than 12 years and being admitted in surgical unit 1 with the diagnosis of malignancy, were included. The variables recorded included age, sex, address, diagnosis, biopsy, date of biopsy, treatment timeline, stage at presentation, final outcome and referral to other care units. Data was entered and analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) software, version 22.
Results: A total of 150 malignant tumours were analyzed. There were 50 (33.3%) male patients and 100 (66.7%) females. Malignant tumours of breast 67 (44.7%) and esophagus 16 (10.7%), were found to be the most common whereas malignant melanoma  (0.7%), submandibular tumours (0.7%), and parotid tumours (0.7%), were least common. The most common malignancy in males were of stomach (16.0%) and rectum (16.0%), whereas in females it was the breast malignancies (67.0%). Dividing the age distribution of the patients into 15-year bands, the peak age-category was 41-60 years (46.0%), while only 3 (2.0%) patients were above 80 years.
Conclusion: Cancer trends were found to be similar as that of other studies in Pakistan with a few differences. Data management is sub optimal. There is a dire need of integrated system of Cancer Registry.


A Hamiltonian Monte Carlo algorithm is a Markov Chain Monte Carlo method that is considered more effective than the conventional Gibbs sampling method. Hamiltonian Monte Carlo is based on Hamiltonian dynamics, and it follows Hamilton's equations, which are expressed as two differential equations. In the sampling process of Hamiltonian Monte Carlo, a numerical integration method called leapfrog integration is used to approximately solve Hamilton's equations, and the integration is required to set the number of discrete time steps and the integration stepsize. These two parameters require some amount of tuning and calibration for effective sampling. In this study, we applied the Hamiltonian Monte Carlo method to animal breeding data and identified the optimal tunings of leapfrog integration for normal and inverse chi-square distributions. Then, using real pig data, we revealed the properties of the Hamiltonian Monte Carlo method with the optimal tuning by applying models including variance explained by pedigree information or genomic information. Compared with the Gibbs sampling method, the Hamiltonian Monte Carlo method had superior performance in both models. We have provided the source codes of this method written in the R language.


Abstract In proton therapy, accurate verification of in vivo dose distribution is necessary to ensure not only the safety of the patient but also the success of the treatment itself. It has been shown, both by Monte Carlo simulations and by limited experiments, that the proton beam range in a patient can be accurately determined by measuring the distribution of the prompt gammas generated from proton-induced nuclear interactions. In the present study, a two-dimensional (2-D) prompt gamma detection system incorporating a 51 (longitudinal) × 21 (lateral) detector array was designed and tested by Monte Carlo simulations using the MCNPX code. Additionally, the detection probability of the prompt gammas per primary proton was calculated for different proton energies. Despite the increase of the beam dispersion effect and background gammas with the increase of the proton energy, our simulation results clearly showed that it is possible to measure the 2-D distribution of prompt gammas up to 150 MeV using the 2-D prompt gamma detection system.


This paper seeks to investigate the position of gotong royong (mutual cooperation) in Pancasila and its relevance as peace education in social studies learning. This paper is an effort as well as an offer to build an inclusive culture in order to solve the problems of bullying and intolerance in education. This paper used qualitative method with literature study approach by analyzing literatures related to the research corpus, i.e. Pancasila, mutual cooperation, peace education, and social studies learning. The results showed that mutual cooperation as the core principle of Pancasila is a treasure of Indonesian culture which is closely related to the substance of divine values, deliberation and consensus, kinship, justice and tolerance (humanitarianism). These values have strategic values to be conveyed in the social studies learning process in the classroom in order to foster a culture of peace for students.


An investigation searching for a possible coupling between the lower ionosphere and the middle atmosphere in Antarctica is here performed on the basis of stratospheric vertical temperature profiles and ionospheric absorption data observed at the Antarctic Italian Base of Terra Nova Bay (74.69°S, 164.12°E) during local summer time. The result obtained by applying a multi-regression analysis and a Superimposed Epoch Analysis (SEA) shows a statistically significant ionosphere-stratosphere interaction. In particular, by selecting stratospheric temperature maxima occurring at different heights as the referring epoch («zero day») for the SEA approach, the ionospheric absorption is found to show a positive and/or negative trend (several days) around it. The tendency for an increasing/decreasing absorption is obtained for temperature maxima occurring below/above the stratospheric level of about 17-19 km, respectively.


The green fluorescent protein (GFP) of the jellyfish Aequorea victoria offers certain advantages over other bioluminescence systems because no exogenously added substrate or co‐factors are necessary, and fluorescence can be elicited by irradiation with blue light without exposing the cells producing GFP to invasive treatments. A mycobacterial shuttle‐plasmid vector carrying gfp cDNA was constructed and used to generate transcriptional fusions with promoters of interest and to examine their expression in Mycobacterium smegmatis and Mycobacterium bovis BCG grown in macrophages or on laboratory media. The promoters studied were: (i) ahpC from Mycoosis and Mycobacterium leprae, a gene encoding alkyl hydroperoxide reductase which, along with the divergently transcribed regulator oxyR, are homologues of corresponding stress‐response systems in enteric bacteria and play a role in isoniazid sensitivity; (ii) mtrA, an M. tuberculosis response regulator belonging to the superfamily of bacterial two‐component signal‐transduction systems; (iii) hsp60, a previously characterized heat‐shock gene from M. bovis; and (iv) tbprc3, a newly isolated promoter from M. tuberculosis. Expression of these promoters in mycobacteria was analysed using epifluorescence microscopy, laser scanning confocal microscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, and flow cytometry. These approaches permitted assessment of fluorescence prior to and after macrophage infection, and analyses of promoter expression in individual mycobacteria and its distribution within populations of bacterial cells. Bacteria expressing GFP from a strong promoter could be separated by fluorescence‐activated cell sorting from cells harbouring the vector used to construct the fusion. In addition, the stable expression of mtrA‐gfp fusion in M. bovis BCG facilitated localization and isolation of phagocytic vesicles containing mycobacteria. The experiments presented here suggest that GFP will be a useful tool for analysis of mycobacterial gene expression and a convenient cell biology marker to study mycobacterial interactions with macrophages.


OpenMP is a shared memory programming model which supports the offloading of target regions to accelerators such as NVIDIA GPUs. The implementation in Clang/LLVM aims to deliver a generic GPU compilation toolchain that supports both the native CUDA C/C++ and the OpenMP device offloading models. There are situations where the semantics of OpenMP and those of CUDA diverge. One such example is the policy for implicitly handling local variables. In CUDA, local variables are implicitly mapped to thread local memory and thus become private to a CUDA thread. In OpenMP, due to semantics that allow the nesting of regions executed by different numbers of threads, variables need to be implicitly shared among the threads of a contention group. In this paper we introduce a re-design of the OpenMP device data sharing infrastructure that is responsible for the implicit sharing of local variables in the Clang/LLVM toolchain. We introduce a new data sharing infrastructure that lowers implicitly shared variables to the shared memory of the GPU. We measure the amount of shared memory used by our scheme in cases that involve scalar variables and statically allocated arrays. The evaluation is carried out by offloading to K40 and P100 NVIDIA GPUs. For scalar variables the pressure on shared memory is relatively low, under 26% of shared memory utilization for the K40, and does not negatively impact occupancy. The limiting occupancy factor in that case is register pressure. The data sharing scheme offers the users a simple memory model for controlling the implicit allocation of device shared memory.


In How to Be a Marxist in Philosophy one of the most famous Marxist philosophers of the 20th century shares his concept of what it means to function fruitfully as a political thinker within the discipline and environs of philosophy. This is the first English translation to Althusser's provocative and, often, controversial guide to being a true Marxist philosopher.
 Althusser argues that philosophy needs Marxism. It can't exist fully without it. Similarly, Marxism requires the rigour and structures of philosophy to give it form and focus. He calls all thinking people to, 'Remember: a philosopher is a man who fights in theory, and when he understands the reasons for this fight, he joined the ranks of the struggle of workers and popular classes.' In short, this book comprises Althusser's elucidation of what praxis means and why it continues to matter.
 With a superb introduction from translator and Althusser archivist G.M. Goshgarian, this is a book that will re-inspire contemporary Marxist thought and reinvigorate our notions of what political activism can be.


Purpose: To assess the effects of external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) on adenoviral-mediated transgene expression in vitro and in vivo and to define an optimal strategy for combining sodium iodide symporter (NIS)–mediated 131I therapy with EBRT. Experimental Design: Expression of reporter genes [NIS, green fluorescent protein (GFP), β-galactosidase (lacZ), and luciferase (Luc)] from replication-deficient adenoviruses was assessed in tumor cell lines under basal conditions and following irradiation. The effects of viral multiplicity of infection (MOI) and EBRT dose on the magnitude and duration of gene expression were determined. In vivo studies were done with Ad-CMV-GFP and Ad-RSV-Luc. Results: EBRT increased NIS, GFP, and β-galactosidase expression in colorectal, head and neck, and lung cancer cells. Radiation dose and MOI were important determinants of response to EBRT, with greatest effects at higher EBRT doses and lower MOIs. Radiation exerted both transductional (through increased coxsackie-adenoviral receptor and integrin αv) and nontransductional effects, irrespective of promoter sequence (CMV, RSV, hTR, or hTERT). Analysis of the schedule of EBRT followed by viral infection revealed maximal transduction at 24 hours. Radiation maintained increasing radioiodide uptake from Ad-hTR-NIS over 6 days, in direct contrast to reducing levels in unirradiated cells. The effects of EBRT in increasing and maintaining adenovirus-mediated transgene expression were also seen in vivo using GFP- and luciferase-expressing adenoviral vectors. Conclusions: Radiation increased the magnitude and duration of NIS gene expression from replication-deficient adenoviruses. The transductional effect is maximal at 24 hours, but radioiodide uptake is maintained at an elevated level over 6 days after infection.


Accurate modeling of light scattering from nanometer scale defects on Silicon wafersiscritical for enabling increasingly shrinking semiconductor technology nodes of the future. Yet, such modeling of defect scattering remains unsolved since existing modeling techniques fail to account for complex defect and wafer geometries. Here, we present results of laser beam scattering from spherical and ellipsoidal particles located on the surface of a silicon wafer. A commercially available electromagnetic field solver (HFSS) was deployed on a multiprocessor cluster to obtain results with previously unknown accuracy down to light scattering intensity of -170 dB. We compute three dimensional scattering patterns of silicon nanospheres located on a semiconductor wafer for both perpendicular and parallel polarization and show the effect of sphere size on scattering. We further computer scattering patterns of nanometer scale ellipsoidal particles having different orientation angles and unveil the effects of ellipsoidal orientation on scattering.


The state-of-the-art machine learning approaches are based on classical von Neumann computing architectures and have been widely used in many industrial and academic domains. With the recent development of quantum computing, researchers and tech-giants have attempted new quantum circuits for machine learning tasks. However, the existing quantum computing platforms are hard to simulate classical deep learning models or problems because of the intractability of deep quantum circuits. Thus, it is necessary to design feasible quantum algorithms for quantum machine learning for noisy intermediate scale quantum (NISQ) devices. This work explores variational quantum circuits for deep reinforcement learning. Specifically, we reshape classical deep reinforcement learning algorithms like experience replay and target network into a representation of variational quantum circuits. Moreover, we use a quantum information encoding scheme to reduce the number of model parameters compared to classical neural networks. To the best of our knowledge, this work is the first proof-of-principle demonstration of variational quantum circuits to approximate the deep $Q$ -value function for decision-making and policy-selection reinforcement learning with experience replay and target network. Besides, our variational quantum circuits can be deployed in many near-term NISQ machines.


Unequal access to electricity has negatively impacted rural households in Zimbabwe. Energy poverty and its impact cannot be understood only at rural household level, but involve the local community, the government, the nature of the state and international relations. The state, non-state and political actors operate across scales and have relational interactions that help to explain inequality in access to energy. Through a qualitative study of Buhera District, Ward 24 and its scalar political ecology, I explain inequalities of access through actor roles and differential power, also finding that patriarchal gender relations play a critical role in socially producing scale in the household. Scalar relations determine policy decisions that are felt by households denied access to electricity.