In this paper, we propose a new identification technique based on an AR model with a complexity of size O(n) times in web form, with the aim of creating a unique serial number for texts and to detect authentic or similar texts. For the implementation of this purpose, we used an Autoregressive Model (AR) 15 order, and for the identification procedure, we employed the cross-correlation algorithm. Empirical investigation showed that the proposed method may be used as an accurate method for identifying same, similar, or different conceptual texts. This unique identification method for texts in combination with SCI and DOI may be the solution to many problems that the information society faces, such as plagiarism and clone detections, copyright related issues, and tracking, and also in many facets of the education process, such as lesson planning and student evaluation. The advantages of the exported serial number are obvious, and we aim to highlight them while discussing its combination with DOI. Finally, this method may be used by the information services sector and the publishing industry for standard serial-number definition identification, as a copyright management system, or both.


In his Utilitarianism, John Stuart Mill presents his readers with two very different visions of the world--two fictions, each endowed with selectively featured pasts, presents, and futures. These are populated by a personification of Utilitarianism itself and partly shaped by conflicting analogies that are sometimes obviously contrived but more often appear to have been used unconsciously. In short, Mill's Utilitarianism is the product not only of a calculated rhetoric but also of a mind persuaded by its own partial and conflicting images of reality. ********** The phrase "fictive worlds" in my title refers to those partial and conflicting images of reality Mill presents to readers of Utilitarianism by exploiting selective details, analogies, personifications, and other such devices in ways that vary over the course of his argument. From the 1960S onward, interest in these kinds of imaginative elements in scientific and philosophic prose has been heightened by the work of such diverse analysts as Gillian Beer, Max Black, Georges Canguilhem, Paul Feyerabend, Mary Hesse, Paul Ricoeur, Donald Schon, and Hayden White to all of whom in various ways have called attention to the prevalence of fictive elements, both heuristic and rhetorical, in nonliterary discourse. In view of their conclusions, Mill's own assertions--that a philosopher can advantageously unite both reason and poetry (1:343) and that "poetry ... may exist in what is called prose" (i:364) (1) --seem remarkably prophetic adumbrations of what has become a widely accepted twentieth-century recognition of the fundamental role that fictions play in even the most scientific and philosophical of writings. It is not surprising, then, that since the 1970s a series of studies of such elements in Mill's prose have appeared, spearheaded by Eugene August's wide-ranging analyses that systematically point out some of the multifarious ways that fictive elements underlie Mill's writings. (2) Since then, although the role that such elements play in the Autobiography, On Liberty, and The Subjection of Women has continued to attract further study, in this respect Mill's Utilitarianism has been all but completely ignored. (3) No doubt this is in large measure became the relatively more philosophical cast of Utilitarianism makes it seem unlikely to exhibit anything other than the few elements August had already noted--Mill's creation of a persona that is a mixture of temperate earnestness and sunny rationality, his use of plant metaphors to illustrate that moral feelings are a natural growth, and his animal references that dramatize human appetite divorced from reason (John Smart Mill 170- 180). In fact, there is much more, and some of the observations August has made require significant revision. Consider, for example, just this brief passage from Utilitarianism in which Mill is discussing the sources of human suffering: As for vicissitudes of fortune, and other disappointments connected with worldly circumstances, these are principally the effect either of gross imprudence, of ill-regulated desires, or of bad or imperfect social institutions. All the grand sources, in short, of human suffering are in a great degree, many of them almost entirely, conquerable by human care and effort; and though their removal is grievously slow--though a long succession of generations will perish in the breach before the conquest is completed, and this world becomes all that, if will and knowledge were not wanting, it might easily be made--yet every mind sufficiently intelligent and generous to bear a part, however small and unconspicuous, in the endeavour, will draw a noble enjoyment from the contest itself, which he would not for any bribe in the form of selfish indulgence consent to be without. (4) One obvious literary dement in this passage is an extended analogy in which Mill represents certain people as battling against the "conquerable" sources of human suffering, where "many will perish in the breach before the conquest is completed"; yet, unbribable by any selfish indulgence, they "will draw a noble enjoyment from the contest. …


A method for the treatment of the evolution of the wake of aerodynamic bodies has been implemented. A vortex particle method approach has been used whereby the flow field is discretized into numerical volumes which possess a given circulation. A lifting line formulation is used to determine the circulation of the trailing and shed vortex elements. Upon their release vortex particles are allowed to freely convect under the action of the blade, the freestream and other particles. Induced velocities are calculated with a regularized form of the Biot-Savart kernel, adapted for vortex particles. Vortex trajectories are integrated in a Lagrangian sense. Provision is made in the model for the rate of change of the circulation vector and for viscous particle interaction; however these features are not exploited in this work. The validity of the model is tested by comparing results of the numerical simulation to the experimental measurements of the Mexico rotor. A range of tip speed ratios are investigated and the blade loading and induced wake velocities are compared to experiment and finite-volume numerical models.
 The computational expense of this method scales quadratically with the number of released wake particles N. This results in an unacceptable computational expense after a limited simulation time. A recently developed multilevel algorithm has been implemented to overcome this computational expense. This method approximates the Biot-Savart kernel in the far field by using polynomial interpolation onto a structured grid node system. The error of this approximation is seen to be arbitrarily controlled by the polynomial order of the interpolation. It is demonstrated that by using this method the computational expense scales linearly. The model's ability to quickly produce results of comparable accuracy to finite volume simulations is illustrated and emphasizes the opportunity for industry to move from low fidelity, less accurate blade-element-momentum methods towards higher fidelity free vortex wake models while keeping the advantage of short problem turnaround times.


Approximately 1.3 billion fish are raised in off-shore and land-based aquaculture systems in the United States each year and slaughtered for food. Numerous methods are used to stun and/or kill farmed fish, but scientific research has found most to be inhumane. Methods such as asphyxiation on ice or air, carbon-dioxide stunning, gill-cutting (exsanguination) without prior stunning, and live chilling do not cause immediate insensibility, and studies on the physiological and behavioral responses of fish show that these slaughter practices are likely to cause suffering as animals respond with highly aversive behavior. Both percussive and electrical stunning and killing systems, if applied correctly, can induce immediate and irreversible insensibility, thereby subjecting the animals to less pain, stress, and undue suffering as compared with other methods. At present, however, no slaughter technique is without welfare problems.


Modern high productivity agriculture has led to an impoverishment of nutrients and organic carbon in field soils, and as a consequence plants nutrition complements like fertilisers or wastes have to be used to keep high yield. These complex materials can also be a source of toxicants, depending on their origin, so there is a necessity to assess their environmental effects before field use. In this study, biosolids used in agriculture were tested as a mix with standard soil at different field dose through ecotoxicity test on the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, endpoints for this organism being survival, growth and reproduction. In order to run these tests we first followed the standardized protocol for sediment and soil testing with C. elegans (ISO 10872, 2010). These results showed that the mixtures could be significantly different according to the type of soil (e.g. two phases system with overlaying water). Indeed, soil moistening in the standardized protocol is based on soil dry weight which means that the same amount of water is added for every soil, regardless of the water holding capacity (WHC) of the samples. Moreover, some biosolids can have a high WHC what increase humidity's differences among soil and soil mixed with biosolids when moistened as recommended by this protocol. To prevent this, improvements of the standardized protocol were developed, in which water addition is based on soil WHC instead of soil dry weight. Moreover, food volume added to the samples was lowered in order to be able to include it in the volume for soil moistening. In this context and in order to validate this new method, comparisons between standardized and optimized protocols were carried out for endpoints responses in five soils with different textures. This optimized protocol was used to assess the effect of different biosolids (limed sludge, manure ...) mixed with standard soil at different field rates and an example for a limed sludge is given. Regarding these results, improvements of the standardized protocol are adapted to assess the effects of these materials on C. elegans.


It is shown that line coverage during verification is significantly enhanced when applying efficient methods to remove unreachable code so that time is not spent developing a set of test vectors to cover unexecutable code. Identification of unreachable code through examination of arithmetic operations and branch constraints has previously only been achieved through local examination of surrounding instructions. In this paper a method for unreachable code identification is presented. The method models software arithmetic operations and conditions as a set of Boolean constraints for which reachability is determined using a satisfiability solver, and unreachable code can identified by considering all relevant instructions preceding it.


Seafloor sediment resuspension events of different scales and magnitudes and the resulting deep (>1,000 m) benthic nepheloid layers were investigated in the northern Gulf of Mexico during Fall 2012 to Summer 2013. Time-series data of size-specific in-situ settling speeds of marine snow in the benthic nepheloid layer (moored flux cameras), particle size distributions (profiling camera), currents (various current meters) and stacked time-series flux data (sediment traps) were combined to recognize resuspension events ranging from small-scale local, to small-scale far-field to hurricane-scale. One small-scale local resuspension event caused by inertial currents was identified based on local high current speeds (>10 cm s –1 ) and trap data. Low POC content combined with high lithogenic silica flux at 30 m above bottom (mab) compared to the flux at 120 mab, suggested local resuspension reaching 30 mab, but not 120 mab. Another similar event was detected by the changes in particle size distribution and settling speeds of particles in the benthic nepheloid layer. Flux data indicated two other small-scale events, which occurred at some distance, rather than locally. Inertia-driven resuspension of material in shallower areas surrounding the traps presumably transported this material downslope leaving a resuspension signal at 120 mab, but not at 30 mab. The passage of hurricane Isaac left a larger scale resuspension event that lasted a few days and was recorded in both traps. Although hurricanes cause large-scale events readily observable in sediment trap samples, resuspension events small in temporal and spatial scale are not easily recognizable in trapped material as they tend to provide less material and become part of the background signal in the long-term averaged trap samples. We suggest that these small-scale resuspension events, mostly unnoticed in conventional time-series sampling, play an important role in the redistribution and ultimate fate of sediment distribution on the seafloor.


This study investigated the effects of simultaneous written text on the comprehension of spoken English as a foreign language, when the text is presented with the aid of a personal digital assistant (PDA) as a learning tool. Eighty-seven university students majoring in applied foreign languages were randomly assigned to either listening with auditory materials only, or listening with identical and concurrent written text. Performance efficiency was used to provide a better indicator of the quality of learning. The results revealed that for learners with lower English levels, the presence of concurrent written text elicited higher performance efficiency in the immediate recall task of the English listening comprehension. However, the beneficial effect of the written text did not extend to the subsequent auditory-only passage. The study suggested that when using mobile devices as training tools, the provision of written text facilitates the acquisition of information but not the schema construction of the English listening comprehension skill.


Selecting appropriate metabolic engineering targets to build efficient cell factories maximizing the bioconversion of industrial by-products to valuable compounds taking into account time restrictions is a significant challenge in industrial biotechnology. Microbial metabolism engineering following a rational design has been widely studied. However, it is a cost-, time-, and laborious-intensive process because of the cell network complexity; thus, it is important to use tools that allow predicting gene deletions. An in silico experiment was performed to model and understand the metabolic engineering effects on the cell factory considering a second complexity level by transcriptomics data integration. In this study, a systems-based metabolic engineering target prediction was used to increase glycerol bioconversion to succinic acid based on Escherichia coli. Transcriptomics analysis suggests insights on how to increase cell glycerol utilization to further design efficient cell factories. Three E. coli models were used: a core model, a second model based on the integration of transcriptomics data obtained from growth in an optimized culture media, and a third one obtained after integration of transcriptomics data from adaptive laboratory evolution (ALE) experiments. A total of 2,402 strains were obtained with fumarase and pyruvate dehydrogenase being frequently predicted for all the models, suggesting these reactions as essential to increase succinic acid production. Finally, based on using flux balance analysis (FBA) results for all the mutants predicted, a machine learning method was developed to predict new mutants as well as to propose optimal metabolic engineering targets and mutants based on the measurement of the importance of each knockout's (feature's) contribution. Glycerol has become an interesting carbon source for industrial processes due to biodiesel business growth since it has shown promising results in terms of biomass/substrate yields. The combination of transcriptome, systems metabolic modeling, and machine learning analyses revealed the versatility of computational models to predict key metabolic engineering targets in a less cost-, time-, and laborious-intensive process. These data provide a platform to improve the prediction of metabolic engineering targets to design efficient cell factories. Our results may also work as a guide and platform for the selection/engineering of microorganisms for the production of interesting chemical compounds.


at Time of Award All animal and plant populations can weather change. However, the amount of environmental change a population can absorb is likely to depend upon other, past and ongoing stresses that the population experiences. This project will test whether the ability of populations of native plants and animals in coastal marshes to withstand the recent, extreme storm Hurricane Sandy was greater or less in marshes more subject to past stresses. Researchers will compare the abundances of marsh plants and animals before and after the storm and test whether vulnerability was greater in more specialized species or in marshes surrounded by development, invaded by introduced plants, or challenged by high rates of sealevel rise, and whether previous protection of areas from different kinds of development or use helped reduce vulnerability. By addressing these questions using current theories of ecosystem disturbance, the research will provide general insights on the effects of disturbance and stress on native species and habitats. This research also will provide a specific assessment of Hurricane Sandy?s impact on tidal marshes, a vital buffer against storm damage. This will help managers target specific marshes for conservation and restoration and improve the efficiency of planned federal restoration efforts. The work will also inform future coastal management planning by identifying which types of marshes are most vulnerable to future disturbances. Findings will be disseminated to local, state, and federal partners through the Saltmarsh Habitat and Avian Research Program, a cooperative consortium of universities, nongovernmental organizations, and state and Federal agency partners working together to conserve tidal marsh habitats and the species they support (www.tidalmarshbirds.org). The project will also help train 20 field technicians. Project Outcomes Report


Introduction - Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer in the UK and the second most common cause of cancer mortality. There is increasing evidence that the presence of a systemic inflammatory response plays an important role in predicting survival in patients with colorectal cancer. The Glasgow Prognostic Score includes a measure of systemic inflammatory response and has been used successfully as a predictor of survival rate in cancer patients.

Butyric acid is one of the short chain fatty acids (SCFA) produced by colonic bacteria through fermentation of dietary non-digestible carbohydrate (NDC). This simple organic acid is known to have anti-inflammatory and possibly direct anti-neoplastic effects. The inaccessibility of the human colon means that little is known of the in vivo rate of butyrate production, its metabolic fate or the foodstuffs that may maximise its production. Butyrate may be produced in greater quantities from other SCFA such as acetate and lactate rather than by direct production by saccharolytic bacteria. Specialist organisms may be responsible for producing butyrate through conversion of other SCFA which are produced by fermentation in the colon. The distal site of butyrate production may be a very important feature and the implication that slowly fermentable NDC, such as resistant starch, may be significant.

Previous Work - The European Union project EUROSTARCH (www.eurostarch.org) investigated the way in which different starchy foods are digested and metabolised within the body. The results of this project have informed the development of low GI foods. Results have also increased our knowledge of NDC fermentation and promise to lead to improvements in human bowel health. We pioneered the measurement of starch digestion and fermentation during this project.

What are Metaprobes? The term metaprobe is used to describe stable isotope labelled tracers. Complex metaprobes are produced by biological synthesis e.g. the introduction of 13C enriched CO2 gas during the production of crops. Simple metaprobes are produced by chemical synthesis e.g. urea. We can produce complex metaprobes by labelling staple foods such as cereals using the stable isotope 13C incorporated from enriched 13CO2 during anthesis of the crops. Complex metaprobes are unique tools with which to study human metabolism in health and disease and they can be used in several ways. The labelled cereals allow in vivo measurement of butyrate production from dietary NDC and to permit its production to be monitored.

Hypothesis - 30% of cancer deaths in the UK are bowel related. Butyric acid produced naturally through fermentation of dietary carbohydrates, is a potent and natural anti-inflammatory agent which can protect against cancer. We urgently need to develop methods to quantify butyrate production in vivo.

Aims - Three aims are recognised: optimising the preparation of complex metaprobes of barley and wheat grain; optimising yield and 13C-enrichment of whole grain and its starch and protein fractions; using complex metaprobes to compare SCFA production in vivo.
Plan of Work - This project will include a review of complex metaprobe production for human nutrition and health studies in relation to bowel health. The practical work will include production and characterisation of complex metaprobes (13C-labelled cereals) and their application to study butyrate production in a pilot study on volunteer human subjects.

I have successfully grown cereal crops with different varieties of barley and wheat in glasshouse conditions. During the anthesis phase, the plants were placed in growth cabinets at 18oC with 18 hours of light in every 24 hours. The plants were labelled using 13C enriched CO2 gas and are incubated for a further 24 hours and returned to the glasshouse. Examples of the harvest are Wheat var Paragon produced 1.7 Kg labelled grain at 0.278 ape 13C enrichment and Barley var Cellar produced 3.4 Kg labelled grain at 0.198 ape 13C enrichment. Some of the 13C labelled grain has already been used for human nutrition studies. The 13C-enrichment of starch glucose has been measured by liquid chromatography isotope ratio mass spectrometry (LC-IRMS) analysis.

These cereal grains can be incorporated into common foodstuffs for in vivo studies of the production of butyrate and other SCFA. Volunteers were fed two meals made from 13C-enriched barley grain: porridge and whole grain barley. Whole grains being rich in resistant starch. Samples of urine will be used to measure butyrate production. Breath samples will be used to measure oxidation of the 13C-enriched barley, which is a global measure of digestion and fermentation. Laboratory procedures such as ultrafiltration and solid phase extraction will be applied to urine samples. These sample preparation procedures will be followed by SCFA analysis by GC-IRMS.
Future Direction - Future clinical trials will be considered with Prof Donald C McMillan, University Dept of Surgery, Glasgow Royal Infirmary as a means of identifying the role of butyrate in colonic cancer. The current screening process recognises three phases: early stage diagnosis; polyp development; diagnosis and treatment of advance stage colonic cancer. We wish to study the role of butyrate and its production using our newly developed complex metaprobe tools.


Water-soluble organic compounds have recently received much attention because of their ability to absorb water and alter the hygroscopic properties of inorganic aerosols. The effects of glycerol, succinic acid, malonic acid, citric acid, and glutaric acid on the water cycles (water activities during particle evaporation and growth), crystallization relative humidities (CRH), and deliquescence relative humidities (DRH) of sodium chloride (NaCl) and ammonium sulfate (AS) were studied using an electrodynamic balance (EDB). The growth factors of these inorganic and organic mixtures were lower than those of the pure inorganic species. The presence of all these organics in the mixed particle reduce the water absorption of NaCl but enhance that of AS relative to that of the pure inorganic salts. Glycerol and succinic acid did not affect the deliquescence properties of NaCl and AS, although succinic acid increased the CRH of NaCl and AS. Malonic acid and citric acid, behaving as nondeliquescent species in single particle studies, caused NaCl and AS particles to absorb a significant amount of water before deliquescence. Glutaric acid caused NaCl and AS to deliquesce gradually, spanning a wide range of relative humidity. The ZSR model was found to be useful in predicting the water activity of the mixtures and the growth ratios. However, the detailed crystallization and deliquescence behaviors of the organic/inorganic mixtures cannot be easily predicted from the hygroscopic properties of the individual components.


Although the global positioning system (GPS) has been suggested as an alternative way to determine time-location patterns, its use has been limited. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a new analytical method of classifying time-location data obtained by GPS. A field technician carried a GPS device while simulating various scripted activities and recorded all movements by the second in an activity diary. The GPS device recorded geological data once every 15 s. The daily monitoring was repeated 18 times. The time-location data obtained by the GPS were compared with the activity diary to determine selection criteria for the classification of the GPS data. The GPS data were classified into four microenvironments (residential indoors, other indoors, transit, and walking outdoors); the selection criteria used were used number of satellites (used-NSAT), speed, and distance from residence. The GPS data were classified as indoors when the used-NSAT was below 9. Data classified as indoors were further classified as residential indoors when the distance from the residence was less than 40 m; otherwise, they were classified as other indoors. Data classified as outdoors were further classified as being in transit when the speed exceeded 2.5 m s(-1); otherwise, they were classified as walking outdoors. The average simple percentage agreement between the time-location classifications and the activity diary was 84.3 ± 12.4%, and the kappa coefficient was 0.71. The average differences between the time diary and the GPS results were 1.6 ± 2.3 h for the time spent in residential indoors, 0.9 ± 1.7 h for the time spent in other indoors, 0.4 ± 0.4 h for the time spent in transit, and 0.8 ± 0.5 h for the time spent walking outdoors. This method can be used to determine time-activity patterns in exposure-science studies.


Do you: • Supervise students who learn in the workplace? • Deliver courses to prepare people for supervising students in the workplace? • Learn in the workplace? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then there is a Web site for you. The Making Practice-Based Learning Work project has developed a Web site that aims to enhance the quality of student experiences whilst on practice, i.e. work-based placements. Key parts are the learning materials and resource sections containing materials that can be used by anyone involved in many aspects of practice-based student supervision, including supervisor preparation and support. These resources were either commissioned by the project or externally sourced Web materials have been peer reviewed. The materials are freely available for anyone to use in enhancing the nature of practice education.


Summary: Sulphate-limited continuous cultures of Klebsiella pneumoniae showed a proportional repression of nitrogenase activity with increasing concentrations of ammonium ion in the influent medium. A fully repressed population had a 50 % greater bacterial density than a fully derepressed one. On derepression, synthesis of nitrogenase lagged for 90 min after exhaustion of NH4+ from the medium but was complete within one doubling time. Casamino acids did not decrease the pre-fixation lag obtained under sulphate-limited conditions in the chemostat. Longer lags were obtained when NH4+ was exhausted under N-limited conditions. Such lags were decreased by Casamino acids, yeast extract, or L-aspartate. Aspartate-N completely repressed nitrogenase under sulphate- or carbon-limited conditions but not under nitrogen limitation. In the initial stages of repression of nitrogenase synthesis by NH4+, apparent production of active enzyme continued for a short time in the absence of protein synthesis de novo; nitrogenase was then diluted out as the organisms multiplied. Repression by NH4+ was at the level of mRNA transcription according to studies with rifampicin and chloramphenicol. 'Coding capacity' for nitrogenase synthesis declined with a half-life of about 4.5 min following inhibition of RNA synthesis with rifampicin. NH4+ did not influence the decay rate but stimulated translation of such nitrogenase-specifying mRNA as had been initiated.


Why do different plant species thrive where they do? This is a difficult question to answer because plants have invaded new niches and subsequently evolved to become better adapted within those niches. Distinguishing the traits that allow successful invasion and those that are evolved adaptations to current environments is not usually possible. We attempt to identify life history components that allow successful invasion by analysing the life history variables and ecological requirements of plant species that have successfully invaded the U.K. in recent years. The British flora is uniquely suited for this analysis because we have precise information on the dates of arrival, rates of spread and final spatial distribution of all our alien vascular plant species. Data on alien plants controls for evolution after invasion because there has been relatively little time for evolution to occur. We use modern phylogenetically-based comparative methods in an attempt to tease apart those components of life histories that have allowed successful invasion (large seeds, tall stature, protracted seed dormancy) from those that are irrelevant (dispersal syndrome, mating system, leaf shape).


The First World War was a true caesura for mankind, also including the world of art. In its beginning, most German artists supported it, similar to many other intellectuals. The realities of the first global war turned artists such as Ernst Barlach into pacifists. Especially in Germany, expressionism was often chosen to address the horrors of war. Today, only a few artists are still well-known, such as Otto Dix, while the majority and their powerful works need to be rediscovered. German pacifism is deeply rooted in the dreadful experiences of both World Wars, and not the least of bearing the responsibility of those wars, the European division of the Cold War, and the Holocaust. 70 years after the end of the Second World War, pacifism is still strong in Germany - even to the extent that people shun away from securitypolitical realities. But while you might not be interested in war, war may be interested in you. Thus, how do German artists cope with war and peace today, which conflicts are addressed and which approaches are used? To what an extent is the Great War still a subject of German art - now, in its centenary that is such a massive issue in countries like Australia, Belgium, France and the UK? How has global terror influenced German art? As perpetual chameleon, war always adapts itself to changing realities. Artists will continue to transform these societal conditions into moving works.


Assessment of macrophyte abundance and water quality of three impacted inlet streams along Ikpa River Basin were investigated. A 5m x 5m quadrat through systematic sampling was used to sample the vegetation for density and frequency of species. Sediment and water samples were collected and analyzed using standard methods. From the results obtained, a total of 23 macrophyte species from 17 families were encountered. Stream 1 (Ntak Inyang 1) had 7 species, stream 2 (Ntak Inyang 2) had 13 species while stream 3 (Afaha Oku) had 14 species. Streams 3 and 1 were the most diverse and least diverse in terms of species composition, respectively. Sediment characteristics of the streams revealed that the textural class followed this order; sand>clay>silt while cation contents followed this order; Ca>Mg>Na. Soil pH was slightly acidic with low organic carbon, total nitrogen and phosphorus contents. Water quality assessment revealed a good water quality for streams 1 and 2 and poor water quality for stream 3. These results are discussed in line with anthropogeneity, species adaptation and other factors impacting the streams and will serve as baseline information for future management of these and other lotic ecosystems.Keywords: Macrophyte abundance, density, frequency, water quality, anthropogenic perturbations, inlet streams, Ikpa River Basin, diversity indices


Watershed management is the study of the relevant characteristics of a watershed aimed at the use and sustainable management of forests, land, and water. Watersheds can be threatened by deforestation, uncontrolled logging, changes in farming systems, overgrazing, road and track construction, pollution, and invasion of exotic plants. This article describes a procedure to automatically monitor the river basins of Galicia, Spain, using five-band multispectral images taken by an unmanned aerial vehicle and several image processing algorithms. The objective is to determine the state of the vegetation, especially the identification of areas occupied by invasive species, as well as the detection of man-made structures that occupy the river basin using multispectral images. Since the territory to be studied occupies extensive areas and the resulting images are large, techniques and algorithms have been selected for fast execution and efficient use of computational resources. These techniques include superpixel segmentation and the use of advanced texture methods. For each one of the stages of the method (segmentation, texture codebook generation, feature extraction, and classification), different algorithms have been evaluated in terms of speed and accuracy for the identification of vegetation and natural and artificial structures in the Galician riversides. The experimental results show that the proposed approach can achieve this goal with speed and precision.


Environmental Health (EH) is an essential profession for protecting human health and yet as a discipline it is under-recognised, overlooked and misunderstood. Too few students undertake EH studies, culminating in a dearth of qualified Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) in Australia. A major deterrent to students enrolling in EH courses is a lack of appreciation of the relevance to their own lives. This is symptomatic of a wider problem of scientific literacy: the relevance gap and how to bridge it. Employing a cultural hook offers a means to connect students to science and the fundamental elements of EH. Zombies feature prominently in the contemporary cultural landscape – movies, TV, gaming, music, cosplay, 'Zombie Marches'. A Zombie Apocalypse provides an engaging platform to convey key EH concepts such as microbes and toxins, whilst improving the scientific literacy skills of both science and non-science students. Engaging students through this cultural hook bridged the relevance gap, connected students to science, and inspired an increased interest in EH.


The application of DC-DC converters is widely approached in several studies to ensure its performance and robustness. This paper proposes the voltage control of a three-state switching cell (3SSC) boost converter in the continuous time. On this occasion, the output voltage is controlled by a Tagaki-Sugeno-Kang (TSK) Fuzzy with integral action, which the gains are obtained using Parallel Distributed Compensation via Linear Matrix Inequalities (PDC-LMI) combined through linear membership functions and activated by the duty cycle and inductor current. This approach aims to reject problems originated by load and input voltage variations and improve the stability response of the converter output voltage. The obtained results of this paper evidences the effectiveness of the proposed controller in the continuous time, reducing the effects of external disturbances and maintaining the stability of the output voltage conforming to the control design characteristics.


The paper presents an overview of the solutions used in modern machines for the production of haylage such as round balers and balers. Discussed elements of systems enabling monitoring the process of bales formation and influencing its course, to improve the quality of obtained silage and increase the efficiency and ergonomics of the machine's operation. Trends of development and reasons for increasing functional integration into single machines were determined. The paper was created as a result of cooperation between ŁUKASIEWICZ Research Network – Industrial Institute of Agricultural Engineering and METAL-FACH sp. z o.o. company located in Sokółka, Poland.


The ratio, product, chain ratio, chain product, chain regression and ratio-cum product estimators have been considered by Chand (1975), Kiregyera (1980, 1984), Upadhyaya et. al. (1990, 1992), Srivastava et. al. (1990), Prasad et. al. (1992), Sahoo and Sahoo (1993), Singh (1993). Most of them discussed these estimators along with their first order bias and mean square error. In this paper, we have tried to fond out the second order biases and mean square errors of these estimators based on simple random sampling. Finally, we have compared the performance of these estimators with some numerical illustration.


Introduction and Aim: Uncontrolled incremental trend of population growth is the basic problem in developing countries. Establishing family planning programs at an extensive level in these countries increases economical, social, and cultural advantages and decreases maternal and fetal mortality. One of the methods of implementing these programs is community-based distribution. CBD can effectively deliver family planning services at home. CBD facilitates family access to family planning methods that culminate in appropriate choices and continuity of using contraception methods. The aim of this study is to examine the effect of community based distribution on appropriate choices and continuity of using contraception methods among Hamedan households. Materials & Methods: This study is part of a larger study conducted by controlled field trial design. Using a multi-staged method, the researchers chose 297 subjects and divided them into two groups, control (n=100) and experimental (n=197). The setting of the study was Hamedan households covered by field workers. Data collection tools were two questionnaires, three checklists, and one referral card. To determine the scientific validity of the tools, the researchers used the content validity method. The scientific reliability of the tools was determined through conducting the retrial method in a random sample of ten subjects. Results: The findings revealed that through delivering family planning services at home, appropriate choices and continuity of using contraception methods were increased (p=0/001). Conclusion: According to the findings of the present study, CBD led to appropriate choices and continuity of using contraception methods. Therefore, application of this kind of services is recommended. Also, the study of the effect of delivering this kind of services at villages, deserted places, different tribes, and its economic aspects are recommended.


BACKGROUND: Drug interactions may reveal mechanisms of drug action: additive interactions suggest a common site of action, and synergistic interactions suggest different sites of action. We applied this reasoning in a review of published data on anesthetic drug interactions for the end-points of hypnosis and immobility. METHODS: We searched Medline for all manuscripts listing propofol, etomidate, methohexital, thiopental, midazolam, diazepam, ketamine, dexmedetomidine, clonidine, morphine, fentanyl, sufentanil, alfentanil, remifentanil, droperidol, metoclopramide, lidocaine, halothane, enflurane, isoflurane, sevoflurane, desflurane, N2O, and Xe that contained terms suggesting interaction: interaction, additive, additivity, synergy, synergism, synergistic, antagonism, antagonistic, isobologram, or isobolographic. When available, data were reanalyzed using fraction analysis or response surface analysis. RESULTS: Between drug classes, most interactions were synergistic. The major exception was ketamine, which typically interacted in either an additive or infra-additive (antagonistic) manner. Inhaled anesthetics typically showed synergy with IV anesthetics, but were additive or, in the case of nitrous oxide and isoflurane, possibly infra-additive, with each other. CONCLUSIONS: Except for ketamine, IV anesthetics acting at different sites usually demonstrated synergy. Inhaled anesthetics usually demonstrated synergy with IV anesthetics, but no pair of inhaled anesthetics interacted synergistically.


During its encounter with Uranus the plasma wave receiver on Voyager 2 observed electrostatic waves similar in many respects to those observed in other planetary magnetospheres. The most prominent type observed was the Bernstein mode emissions between harmonics of the electron cyclotron frequency. As is the case at other planets, the most intense Bernstein waves were observed near the magnetic equator of the planet, even though the tilt of the Uranian magnetic moment with respect to the rotational axis is very large. A small offset in the location of these electrostatic waves from the equator predicted by the offset, tilted dipole magnetic field model suggests some warping of the magnetic equator due to ring currents or external currents flowing on the magnetopause. Other examples of electrostatic Bernstein waves were observed closer to the planet and at higher magnetic latitudes. The energy of resonant electrons is calculated to be a few hundred electron volts, and measurements of electrons with this energy indicate the critical flux required to drive the Bernstein mode is available. The existence of the Bernstein modes near the upper hybrid resonance frequency leads to estimates of the electron density at several locations within the Uranian magnetosphere, and these compare well with densities measured by the plasma science investigation. In addition to the Bernstein modes, a number of highly sporadic emissions were observed in the vicinity of the Miranda L shell. While the absolute determination of the mode of these waves is uncertain, it is likely that some are electrostatic modes. Since this region of the Uranian magnetosphere is very perturbed and interesting, we shall attempt to identify possible modes associated with the waves.


Research (Evans & Saint-Aubin, 2005) suggests systematic patterns in how young children visually attend to storybooks. However, these studies have not addressed whether visual attention is predictive of children's storybook comprehension. In the current study, we used eye-tracking methodology to examine two-year-olds' visual attention while being read an unfamiliar storybook. Immediately following reading, they completed a comprehension assessment. Children who visually attended to illustrations depicting key narrative events during the initial reading demonstrated stronger comprehension than children who focused on other areas. Importantly, visual attention to pertinent illustrations was also positively related to parental reports of vocabulary knowledge. Collectively, this supports a reciprocal model of early knowledge development: vocabulary knowledge facilitates visual attention, and visual attention to storybook illustrations facilitates subsequent learning.

Highlights
The current study examines two-year-olds comprehension of storybooks and whether this comprehension is impacted by their visual attention to illustrations and extant vocabulary.
This study uses eye-tracking methodology to examine the relationship between extant vocabulary, visual attention to illustration and comprehension in two-year-olds.
This study found that two-year-olds visual attention to relevant illustration is predicted by their extant vocabulary and predicts comprehension.


Correct neck support is required during sleep to align the spine and maintain neutral posture, and to immobilise the joints in the neck which would allow the cervical paraspinal muscles to relax (De Laittre, 1974; Ambrogio et al., 1998; Erfanian et al., 1998). Poor spinal posture during sleep however, has been hypothesized to result in lateral bending and uneven loading on the intervertebral discs and cervical facet joints, and compression of pain-sensitive structures in the neck (Leilnahari et al., 2011). The pillow is a significant contributing factor to sleep quality and the development of symptoms on waking (Gordon et al., 2011). This should theoretically reduce pressure on the pain-sensitive structures and allow the intervertebral discs to be unloaded and rehydrated (Leilnahari et al., 2011). Aim: To determine and compare the effect of the Simmons' Beautyrest pillow, a polyester foam pillow, a latex pillow, and no pillow, on cervico-thoracic and forward head posture in the supine and recumbent supine positions in asymptomatic individuals. Methods: Forty asymptomatic subjects between the ages of 20 and 30 years were recruited using convenience sampling. The study was a double-blinded comparative investigation where all participants underwent a case history, physical examination and an orthopaedic examination of the cervical spine. Thereafter, digital photographic images of the participants lying without a pillow and on three different pillows (Simmons Beautyrest® pillow, a polyester foam pillow and a latex pillow) in the supine and recumbent positions were captured. These images were then uploaded onto a computer, and using the linear co-ordinates of each anatomical landmark (which was determined by the researcher using CorelDraw Graphics Suite 12), the cervico-thoracic and craniocervical postures were determined. The cervico-thoracic posture was determined by calculating the gradients of the intersegmental slopes, relative to the horizontal plane, using the formula (y2 − y1)/(x2 − x1). The craniocervical posture was determined by calculating the craniocervical angle. This angle was determined by constructing lines between the anatomical landmarks and measuring the angle produced at C7. At the end of the objective data collection, participants were asked verbally which pillow they found most comfortable. All data was collected by the researcher. Statistical analysis was done using IBM SPSS version 21.0. Repeated measures ANOVA test was used to compare the mean slope measurements in the four conditions. Inferential techniques included Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test and t-tests. A p-value of < 0.05 indicated statistical significance. iv Results: The mean (± SD) age of the participants was 24.3 (± 2.57) years. In terms of pillow preference, 15 participants preferred the latex pillow, 8 preferred the polyester pillow and 17 preferred the Simmons Beautyrest® pillow. In the recumbent position for the C2-EOP slope the latex and Simmons Beautyrest® pillows supported the neck in a similar manner (p= 0.480) and closer to neutral than no pillow and the latex pillow. For the C4-C2 and the C7-C4 slopes, the latex pillow produced the least extreme slope. For the T3-C7 slope, the polyester pillow produced the slope closest to neutral. Overall, for the entire cervical spine, the latex pillow produced the least extreme slopes, but at the cervico-thoracic junction, the polyester pillow produced the most neutral slope. In all segments, the condition without a pillow produced the most extreme slopes. When comparing the slopes themselves, it can be seen that the most extreme deviations from neutral occurred at the C2-EOP segment. The midcervical spine deviated least from neutral. In the supine position, there were no significant differences (p> 0.05) in the sagittal angular displacement between the pillows. Conclusion: The results of this study support the view that there is no one particular pillow that is better than the others for providing optimal support to the head and neck. Furthermore, practitioners should be aware that it is the craniocervical and cervico-thoracic slopes, which are determined with the patient in the recumbent position, that provide significant information regarding support provided by the pillow rather than the sagittal angular displacement assessed in the supine position.


Degradation of tetrachloroethene (PCE) and trichloroethene (TCE) by combining an anaerobic consortium with an aerobic bacterium was investigated. The anaerobic enrichment culture that dechlorinated high concentration of PCE to cis-1, 2-dichloroethene (cDCE) without methane production and sulfate reduction, was obtained from TCE contaminated soil. The aerobic phenol-oxidizing bacterium that degraded TCE and cDCE was isolated from leachate of a waste landfill site. Each culture retained chloroethene degrading activities after immobilization in κ-carrageenan gel beads. In a batch bioreactor containing the immobilized cells, PCE and TCE were converted to cDCE and chloride ion under anaerobic condition. After addition of phenol and oxygen (or hydrogen peroxide) to the reactor, cDCE was degraded. PCE and TCE (40-50mg·l-1) were degraded in 3 days with the bioreactor. The immobilized cells retained the degrading activities in repeated use.


In this paper, an energy-efficient heat coupled distillation column (HCDC) which is industrially viable is constructed for propylene–propane mixture separation and the sensitivity analysis was performed. Some comparative studies are made with conventional distillation column (CC) and a column with a vapor recompression system (VRC). The results show that the thermal efficiency of the HCDC appears to be strongly sensitive to the compression ratio between rectification section and stripping section.


: Recovery of cognitive functioning in male alcoholic patients during 3 months abstinence was assessed using a shortened version of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). Twenty-four alcoholic patients were tested after 2 to 3 weeks of sobriety and at 11 to 12 weeks post-drinking, while a second group of 24 alcoholic patients was tested only after 11 to 12 weeks of sobriety. A control group of 24 healthy males also received the WCST. After 3 weeks of sobriety, alcoholic patients completed significantly fewer categories and made more errors than control subjects. Alcoholic patients also made more perseverative response than did controls. At 12 weeks post-drinking, the performance of alcoholic subjects was intermediate to that of controls and to alcoholic patients tested following 3 weeks of abstinence and did not differ significantly from either group. The results suggest that following the acute withdrawal period alcoholic patients experience difficulties in conceptual abilities and in the capacity to shift cognitive sets when appropriate. After nearly 3 months of abstinence, partial but not complete recovery of these abilities is evident.


Polymethoxyflavones (PMFs) are found almost exclusively in citrus peel and have attracted much attention due to their potential health benefits. Dried citrus peel is an important ingredient for applications in food and traditional Chinese medicine. However, the structural changes of PMFs during drying processes of citrus peel remain unknown. In this study, for the first time we discovered that four major permethoxylated PMFs, i.e. sinensetin, nobiletin, heptamethoxyflavone and tangeretin, underwent demethylation at the 5-position on the A ring of their flavonoid structures to yield corresponding 5-demethylated PMFs during the drying process of citrus peel. Our results further demonstrated that the aforementioned PMF demethylation was through two mechanisms: acid hydrolysis and enzyme-mediated catalysis. PMF demethylation in citrus peels was systematically characterized during hot-air drying (HAD), vacuum-freeze drying (VFD) and sun drying (SD). The highest PMF demethylation was obtained in SD followed by HAD and VFD. This study provided a solid scientific basis for rational control of PMF demethylation in citrus peels, which could facilitate the production of high-quality citrus peel and related products.


The pH-dependence of enzyme fold stability and catalytic activity is a fundamentally dynamic, structural property which is difficult to study. The challenges and expense of investigating dynamic, atomic scale behavior experimentally means that computational methods, particularly constant pH molecular dynamics (CpHMD), are well situated tools for this. However, these methods often struggle with affordable sampling of sufficiently long time scales while also obtaining accurate pKa prediction and verifying the structures they generate. We introduce Titr-DMD, an affordable CpHMD method that combines the quasi-all-atom coarse-grained discrete molecular dynamics (DMD) method for conformational sampling with Propka for pKa prediction, to circumvent these issues. The combination enables rapid sampling on limited computational resources, while simulations are still performed on the atomic scale. We benchmark the method on a set of proteins with experimentally attested pKa and on the pH triggered conformational change in a staphylococcal nuclease mutant, a rare experimental study of such behavior. Our results show Titr-DMD to be an effective and inexpensive method to study pH-coupled protein dynamics.


Nickel base superalloys experience significant changes of the microstructure during processing as well as in service. The mechanical properties are predominantly determined by microstructure parameters like grain size, γ′ -precipitate diameter and volume fraction, etc. Thus, knowledge about the microstructure evolution during processing is a necessary prerequisite to employ novel alloys as Allvac®718Plus™ in service. In the present study, microstructure evolution during heat treatment in particular has been investigated. Electron microscopy and especially transmission electron microscopy (TEM) have been used to characterise the microstructure changes in Allvac®718Plus™. The two major phases were found to be γ′ - and δ -phase. By analysing selected area diffraction patterns from a large number of particles, it could be shown that nearly no γ′′ -phase is present in Allvac®718Plus™. Emphasis was put on the development of γ′ - and δ - phase during typical heat treatment steps performed during processing. Here particle growth, the volume fractions of the phases as well as their crystallographic relationship and chemical composition were monitored using imaging, diffraction and energy dispersive spectroscopy in TEM. The interfaces between the δ - and surrounding γ / γ′ -phase were investigated using high resolution TEM. They are flat and parallel to the {111} plane of γ / γ′ -phase and the (010) plane of δ -phase.


Objective. To define and explore the sociocultural factors that could enhance (facilitators) or interfere with (barriers) the adequate consumption of a nutritional supplement (NS) by children from 6 to 59 months of age, provided as part of the national program Oportunidades. Material and Methods. Qualitative study in rural communities of Chiapas and Veracruz. Forty-four semi-structured interviews and 25 focus groups were conducted with mothers and other key informants. The framework analysis approach was used. Results. Facilitators. The NS is free, is highly accessible, is positively accepted and mothers believe the physicians' recommendations. Barriers. Lack of adequate storage and distribution, poverty conditions, intrahousehold dilution (within the family members), beliefs regarding child feeding and the purpose of the NS. Conclusion. Results shows the incongruence between the Program's recommendations and the preferences and practices of the target population and provides important elements to be considered in the promotion of the NS .


Colloidal metal nanoparticles in an electrolyte environment are not only electrically charged but also electrochemically active objects. They have the typical character of metal electrodes with ongoing charge transfer processes on the metal/liquid interface. This picture is valid for the equilibrium state and also during the formation, growth, aggregation or dissolution of nanoparticles. This behavior can be understood in analogy to macroscopic mixed-electrode systems with a free-floating potential, which is determined by the competition between anodic and cathodic partial processes. In contrast to macroscopic electrodes, the small size of nanoparticles is responsible for significant effects of low numbers of elementary charges and for self-polarization effects as they are known from molecular systems, for example. The electrical properties of nanoparticles can be estimated by basic electrochemical equations. Reconsidering these fundamentals, the assembly behavior, the formation of nonspherical assemblies of nanoparticles and the growth and the corrosion behavior of metal nanoparticles, as well as the formation of core/shell particles, branched structures and particle networks, can be understood. The consequences of electrochemical behavior, charging and self-polarization for particle growth, shape formation and particle/particle interaction are discussed.


Root fungal endophyte were isolated from seedling of Meranti Tembaga (Shorea leprosula Miq.) taken from Dramaga experimental Forest, Bogor with five difference surface sterilization methods. Recommended surface sterilization to isolate root fungal endophyte was performed by following immersion process : 96% ethanol for 1 min, 20% H2O2 for 3 min, 96% ethanol for 0.5 min, and rinse with sterile water for 5 min. Endophyte frequency was low (6-11%) and four morphological types of fungi were found during this research.


AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
To examine the incidence of prescribing errors in a main public hospital in Pakistan and to assess the impact of introducing electronic prescribing system on the reduction of their incidence.

BACKGROUND
Medication errors are persistent in today's healthcare system. The impact of electronic prescribing on reducing errors has not been tested in developing world.

DESIGN
Prospective review of medication and discharge medication charts before and after the introduction of an electronic inpatient record and prescribing system.

METHODS
Inpatient records (n = 3300) and 1100 discharge medication sheets were reviewed for prescribing errors before and after the installation of electronic prescribing system in 11 wards.

RESULTS
Medications (13,328 and 14,064) were prescribed for inpatients, among which 3008 and 1147 prescribing errors were identified, giving an overall error rate of 22·6% and 8·2% throughout paper-based and electronic prescribing, respectively. Medications (2480 and 2790) were prescribed for discharge patients, among which 418 and 123 errors were detected, giving an overall error rate of 16·9% and 4·4% during paper-based and electronic prescribing, respectively.

CONCLUSION
Electronic prescribing has a significant effect on the reduction of prescribing errors.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE
Prescribing errors are commonplace in Pakistan public hospitals. The study evaluated the impact of introducing electronic inpatient records and electronic prescribing in the reduction of prescribing errors in a public hospital in Pakistan.


A 3/sup rd/-order Chebyshev bandpass filter, that employs on-chip passive elements with Q-enhancement technique, achieves an insertion loss of 0 dB and a passband of 60 MHz around a center frequency of 2140 MHz. Fabricated in a 0.25-/spl mu/m CMOS, the filter operates with 2.5-V supply and 7 mA. The filter occupies an area of 1.3 mm /spl times/2.7 mm.


On March 8, 2010, one year into the Obama Administration, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan gave a passionate speech in which he asserted (correctly) that African-American students are the subjects of school discipline at higher rates than white students. Although he did not mention it, it is also true that white students are the subjects of school discipline at higher rates than Asian American students and that male students are disciplined at higher rates than female students.
In response to the racial disparity he identified, Duncan promised that the Department of Education would be stepping up its enforcement of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In the years that followed, the Department of Education made good on that promise by opening numerous investigations based on statistical disparities. On January 18, 2014, the Department of Education and the Department of Justice jointly issued a "Dear Colleague Letter" on school discipline in which they asserted that the law prohibits not only actual discrimination in discipline on the basis of race, but also what they called "unjustified" disparate impact.
In Part I of this article, we point out that there are two sides to the "disparate impact" coin. The Department of Education has focused only upon the fact that, as a group, African-American students are suspended and expelled more often than other students. By failing to consider the other side of the coin — that African-American students may be disproportionately victimized by disorderly classrooms — its policy threatens to do more harm than good even for the group Secretary Duncan was trying to help. In Part II, we discuss the Department of Education's enforcement policy toward school discipline in greater detail, its over-reliance on racial disparate impact, and how that over-reliance pushes some schools to violate Title VI's ban on race discrimination rather than honor it. In Part III, we elaborate on why school discipline is important and present evidence that the Department of Education's policy has contributed to the problem of disorderly classrooms, especially in schools with high minority student enrollment. In Part IV, we discuss how aggregate racial disparities in discipline do not in themselves show the discrimination against African Americans, Hispanics, and American Indians that some proponents of the Department of Education's policy claim. Rather, the evidence shows that they are the result of differences in behavior. In Part V, we explain why the Department of Education's disparate impact policy is not just wrong-headed, but also unauthorized by law.


Within the last decade governments of donors and developing countries have committed themselves to achieving a number of International Development Targets (IDTs) to be reached by 2015. These include halving the proportion of people living in extreme poverty and ensuring universal primary education. While the bulk of the resources for this task will come from the national budgets of developing countries, without additional official development assistance (ODA) the task is daunting for most of the low-income countries. This paper examines the extent to which poverty alleviation through support for basic social services has become part of the official development assistance strategy of donors. It finds an alarming gap between the rethoric of poverty reduction on the one hand, and the feature of ODA, especially to basic services, on the other.


Objective: Genome-wide association studies have identified 1q22 as a susceptibility locus for cerebral small vessel diseases (CSVDs), including non-lobar intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) and lacunar stroke. In the present study we performed targeted high-depth sequencing of 1q22 in ICH cases and controls to further characterize this locus and prioritize potential causal mechanisms, which remain unknown. Methods: 95,000 base pairs spanning 1q22, including SEMA4A, SLC25A44 and PMF1/PMF1-BGLAP were sequenced in 1,055 spontaneous ICH cases (534 lobar and 521 non-lobar) and 1,078 controls. Firth regression and RIFT analysis were used to analyze common and rare variants, respectively. Chromatin interaction analyses were performed using Hi-C, ChIP-Seq and ChIA-PET databases. Multivariable Mendelian randomization (MVMR) assessed whether alterations in gene-specific expression relative to regionally co-expressed genes at 1q22 could be causally related to ICH risk. Results: Common and rare variant analyses prioritized variants in SEMA4A 5'-UTR and PMF1 intronic regions, overlapping with active promoter and enhancer regions based on ENCODE annotation. Hi-C data analysis determined that 1q22 is spatially organized in a single chromatin loop and that the genes therein belong to the same Topologically Associating Domain. ChIP-Seq and ChIA-PET data analysis highlighted the presence of long-range interactions between the SEMA4A-promoter and PMF1-enhancer regions prioritized by association testing. MVMR analyses demonstrated that PMF1 overexpression could be causally related to non-lobar ICH risk. Interpretation: Altered promoter-enhancer interactions leading to PMF1 overexpression, potentially dysregulating polyamine catabolism, could explain demonstrated associations with non-lobar ICH risk at 1q22, offering a potential new target for prevention of ICH and CSVD.


Three simulation models with different areas of application are developed in this report to predict the risk posed by the rapid return to their homes of people around terminal stations immediately after earthquake warnings issued in daytime. These are also useful tools to evaluate the effectiveness of measures to mitigate the risk. The applications of these models to several terminal stations and train lines with many passengers were carried out, and the results indicate the following. (1) Around 30-40 percent of the people around terminal stations should walk home. (2) Those who intend to take trains should go to terminal stations three or four hours ahead of the time they might otherwise need. (3) Strong traffic control at passages and wicket gates should be undertaken by police officers and station staff as soon as possible. (4) It is very important to make an "earthquake diagram" and to keep it as available as possible. (5) Public officers involved in the planning for the prevention of disasters should build "information bases" at terminal stations to announce various types of information to waiting passengers after earthquake warnings have been issued. (6) Finally, public officers and managers of businesses around terminal stations should inform people for whom they are responsible about the circumstances anticipated and the measures mentioned above.


In this paper, we offer a preliminary investigation into the task of in-image machine translation: transforming an image containing text in one language into an image containing the same text in another language. We propose an end-to-end neural model for this task inspired by recent approaches to neural machine translation, and demonstrate promising initial results based purely on pixel-level supervision. We then offer a quantitative and qualitative evaluation of our system outputs and discuss some common failure modes. Finally, we conclude with directions for future work.


Introduction: Natural extract dyes are eco-friendly and nonhazardous when compared with synthetic stains. Routinely, hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stain is used to stain tissues. Eosin is a synthetic stain and attempts have been made to substitute eosin with a natural dye, one among them being rose extract. Staining using rose extract is economical, easily available and has not been explored before. Aims and objectives: The study aims to compare between two different extraction methods for rose, namely maceration and soxhlet, to compare the staining efficacy of rose with (REM) and without mordant, to compare the efficacy of rose extracts with synthetic eosin, in both normal and pathological oral tissues [e.g., oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC)]. Materials and methods: Rose was dried, powdered, and extracted by maceration and soxhlet techniques. Tissue sections were stained with and without the mordant potassium alum. Hematoxylin and rose (H&R) and H&E stained normal and pathologic tissues were compared. Statistical analysis was done using Chi-square test. Results: Statistically significant results were observed in sections stained by soxhlet method than that of maceration, sections stained by REM was comparatively better than those stained with rose extract alone, the normal and pathologic tissues stained with H&R gave comparable result with H&E. Conclusion: The REM can be used as a substitute to eosin for the staining of tissues. Clinical significance: Natural substitute for synthetic eosin.


ABSTRACT Arena, F. and Barbaro, G., 2013. The Natural Ocean Engineering Laboratory, NOEL, in Reggio Calabria, Italy: A commentary and announcement. The Natural Ocean Engineering Laboratory (NOEL) of the Mediterranea University of Reggio Calabria, Italy, is the first ocean engineering laboratory working in the field. A peculiarity of the lab is that a local wind from NNW often generates sea states consisting of pure wind waves that represent a small scale model, in Froude similarity, of ocean storms. Significant wave height ranges between 0.20 m and 0.80 m, with peak periods between 2.0 s and 3.6 s. This local wind is very stable and sometimes stays steady from morning to evening. The tidal amplitude is very small (typically within 0.10 m). The physical structure was built after the successful experience of some initial small-scale field experiments directed by Professor Paolo Boccotti since 1989.


In this paper we propose a new method of error control, suitable for interactive applications, through the organization of parallel connections and the modification of decision making device at receiver end. We developed an algorithm to control error in the information stream of interactive services and derived the procedure of the optimal decision making device at the receiver end, which realize error control of user information at the network layer. We used the simulation program MatLab and obtained the result curves which clearly show the advantageous benefits by sufficiently decrease the probability of error with increase the number of parallel connections.


&NA; Computer graphics using a personal computer were introduced to demonstrate the three‐dimensional architecture of cutaneous arteries of the back in humans: the direct cutaneous artery of the circumflex scapular artery and the perforating cutaneous branches and musculocutaneous perforators of the superficial cervical, posterior intercostal, and thoracodorsal arteries. The entire thickness of the skin and underlying subcutaneous tissue over the deep fascia was obtained from five fresh cadavers injected systemically with lead oxide‐gelatin mixture, and the integument was divided into the three layers: the skin, superficial adipofascial layer with the superficial fascia, and the deep adipofascial layer. Computer graphic reconstruction of the cutaneous arteries was performed using data based on angiograms of the three layers. The computer graphic depictions demonstrated in which layer cutaneous arteries branched and how the vessels were running in each layer by displaying each layer in different colors: red, yellow, and blue. Knowledge of the threedimensional structure and architecture of the cutaneous arteries will aid in the development of flaps that use a portion of the skin and subcutaneous adipofascial tissue. (Plast. Reconstr. Surg. 100: 381, 1997.)


BACKGROUND
Latin America's public healthcare model has traditionally offered health services on demand including provision for the most deprived inhabitants. However, this care model has not provided the expected improvement in health conditions or equity for the indigent population.

AIM
To compare maternal health indicators between previous services and a new healthcare model based on personalised care and a named healthcare worker.

METHODS
Pregnant women in La Plata, Argentina were observed during two periods: a control period using a historical model and an intervention period where a new healthcare model was provided, each period lasting 12 months. Indicators of the quality of antenatal care services were measured, including mortality rate, number of pregnancy related consultations, vaccination coverage, gestational age at delivery, newborn weight, laboratory and scan monitoring, early pregnancy detection and type of delivery.

RESULTS
The number of patients undergoing antenatal surveillance increased almost five-fold during the period of the new healthcare model. Also the rate of early detection of pregnancy, average number of health consultations and vaccination coverage were significantly higher with the new model compared with previous care. Maternal gestation at delivery increased from 37.4±3.8% to 39.3±2.5% weeks (P<0.001) and neonatal weight increased from 3048 AE 612 g to 3301 AE 580 g (P=0.003). There were no maternal deaths in the intervention group compared with seven deaths in the control group. Child mortality rate was 13.7 and 11.8 per 1000 for control and intervention groups respectively (P=0.039).

CONCLUSIONS
A named responsible health worker and personalised care helped contribute to improvements in quality of antenatal care in the health system.


ABSTRACT Variola major virus remains a potent weapon of bioterror. There is currently an investigational-new-drug application for cidofovir for the therapy of variola major virus infections. Stittelaar and colleagues compared the levels of effectiveness of postexposure smallpox vaccination (Elstree-RIVM) and antiviral treatment with cidofovir or an acyclic nucleoside phosphonate analogue {6-[2-(phosphonomethoxy)alkoxy]-2,4-diaminopyrimidine (HPMPO-DAPy)} after lethal intratracheal infection of cynomolgus monkeys with monkeypox virus, a variola virus surrogate. Their results demonstrated that either compound was more effective than vaccination with the Ellstree vaccine (K. J. Stittelaar et al., Nature 439:745-748, 2006). An unanswered question is how to translate this information into therapy for poxvirus infections in people. In a proof-of-principle study, we used a novel in vitro hollow-fiber infection model system to determine the pharmacodynamics of vaccinia virus infection of HeLa-S3 cells treated with cidofovir. Our results demonstrate that the currently licensed dose of cidofovir of 5 mg/kg of body weight weekly with probenecid (which ameliorates nephrotoxicity) is unlikely to provide protection for patients intentionally exposed to Variola major virus. We further demonstrate that the antiviral effect is independent of the schedule of drug administration. Exposures (area under the concentration-time curve) to cidofovir that will have a robust protective effect will require doses that are 5 to 10 times that currently administered to humans. Such doses may cause nephrotoxicity, and therefore, approaches that include probenecid administration as well as schedules of administration that will help ameliorate the uptake of cidofovir into renal tubular epithelial cells need to be considered when addressing such treatment for people.


In the present situation, the evolution of growing in computers, laptops, uninterrupted power supplies, telecom and biomedical equipment has become overpowering. Hence, the utilization of such equipment results high power consumption and small power density which provided a large market to Distributed Power System (DPS). Power conditioning; typically rectification is essential usually for electronics equipment. Rectifier behaves as nonlinear load producing non-sinusoidal line current due to the nonlinear input characteristic. There are numbers of international standards to limit the harmonic content, caused due to the line currents of equipment coupled to electricity distribution networks. Accordingly, a reduction in line current harmonics, or Power Factor Correction – PFC is vital. This idea is the inspiration to this research effort. The objective is to improve the power factor nearly unity with minimum Total Harmonic Distortion (THD).For this thesis work small EMI (LC) passive PFC and Boost Converter active PFC are presented with suitable switching control.There are some major conventional control techniques that are implemented for the thesis work, which are; 1) Peak Current Control 2) Average Current Control 3) PI Control. Also for improved dynamic response and large stability range at high frequency the nonlinear controllers; 1) Dynamic Evolution Controller and 2) Sliding Mode Controller are applied. For each cases the input power factor is closed to unity and the line current waveform is observed as sinusoidal with THD percentage is in the tolerate limit.


In this paper an efficient method for detection of ferroresonance in distribution transformer based on wavelet transform is presented. Using this method ferroresonance can be discriminate from other transients such as capacitor switching, load switching, transformer switching. Wavelet transform is used for decomposition of signals and Multi Layer Perceptron (MLP) neural network used for classification. Ferroresonance data and other transients are obtained by simulation using EMTP program. Results show that the proposed procedure is efficient in identifying ferroresonance from other transients.


INFECTIOUS DISEASEFor decades, people have blamed a parasitic nematode for a disease that has blinded at least 250,000 people now living in Africa and South America. But the real culprit--or at least an accomplice--may be the ubiquitous Wolbachia , bacteria that colonize many hundreds of species, including the nematode indicted in river blindness. On page [1892][1], researchers report that Wolbachia stimulate the severe immune system response that slowly robs people of their vision in areas where the disease is endemic.

 [1]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/295/5561/1892


Several amino acids have effects on mental function, including sedative, antidepressant-like and anxiolytic-like effects. However, the influence of integrated amino acid nutrition as protein constituents on mental function remains unclear. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to compare the influence of chicken, pork and beef protein extracts on brain monoamine metabolism in mice. Changes in monoamine levels and their turnover rates in the brain were induced by different protein sources. In particular, chicken protein group showed the highest norepinephrine levels in the hippocampus and hypothalamus, and beef protein extract caused an activation of the serotonergic system in the hypothalamus, although there were no significant differences in amino acid compositions of these protein extracts. Therefore, it was revealed that amino acid compositions in dietary protein did not induce alteration in monoamine metabolism. However, there were differences in small molecular peptides, such as creatine, carnosine and anserine levels in animal protein extracts. In conclusion, monoamine metabolism was altered by dietary protein sources. However, it was indicated that the alteration in monoamine metabolism may be independent from amino acid compositions in dietary protein. In addition, alteration in monoamine metabolism depending on the dietary protein sources may be induced by small molecular peptides.


Fibre reinforced plastic (FRP) composite materials are being increasingly used in a variety of marine structural applications. Safe design of ships and boats made from these materials depends on accurately predicting their response and failure characteristics. The structural response and failure modes are influenced by the lamination sequence of the plates and stiffeners making up the structural topology. Furthermore, distinction needs to be made between local failure of the material in a part of the structure and the ultimate load at which a structure has arguably failed. This paper addresses the subject of progressive damage modelling of layered, stiffened monolithic FRP structures. The structural response is evaluated using non-linear finite element analysis with a special routine to define the failure modes and the progressive degradation of elastic properties with increasing damage levels. Examples covered include a plate, a bulkhead-hull connection and a tophat stiffener to plate connection.


Drug-induced hepatotoxicity is a major cause of hepatocellular injury in patients admitting to emergency services with acute liver failure. Hepatic necrosis may be at varying degrees from mild elevations in transaminases to fulminant hepatitis, and even death. The case of a 53-year-old female patient with toxic hepatitis due to levofloxacin and multiple organ failure secondary to toxic hepatitis is presented. Patient suffered itching, redness, and rash after receiving a single dose of 750 mg of levofloxacin tablets for pulmonary infection 10 days ago. Skin lesions had regressed within 3 days, but desquamation formed all over the body. After the fifth day of drug intake, complaints of abdominal pain, vomiting, and yellowing in skin color had started. The patient was referred to our emergency department with these complaints 10 days after drug intake. Patient was thought as a candidate for liver transplant, but cardiopulmonary arrest occurred, and the patient died before she could be referred to a transplant center. This case is important because hepatotoxicity and death due to levofloxacin is uncommon in the literature.


Objective: We aimed to investigate the natural outcome of nonhypervascular lesions detected in the hepatobiliary phase of gadolinium ethoxybenzyl diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA)-enhanced MRI by performing a longitudinal study retrospectively enrolled in a nationwide manner. Methods: Between February 2008 and March 2011, 224 patients with 504 nodules that were diagnosed as nonhypervascular by imaging were recruited from institutions that participated in the present study. We examined the natural outcome of nonhypervascular lesions and evaluated the risk factors. Results: Of the 504 nodules, 173 (34.3%) showed hypervascular transformation. The overall cumulative incidence of hypervascular transformation was 14.9% at 12 months and 45.8% at 24 months. Multivariate analysis using the Cox regression model revealed previous treatment history for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC; relative risk = 1.498; p = 0.036, 95% CI 1.03-2.19) and hyperintensity on T2-weighted images (relative risk = 1.724; p = 0.015, 95% CI 1.11-2.67) were identified as independent factors for hypervascular transformation. Conclusions: Patients who have a previous treatment history for HCC and with hypointense nodules showing hyperintensity on T2-weighted images need careful follow-up because of the high incidence of hypervascular transformation.


A foundational requirement in the security world is the capability to robustly parse and analyze Windows Portable Executable files. Coping with the full spectrum of PEs found in the wild is, in fact, quite challenging. While white files are typically well structured, malicious files can be quite difficult to analyze, often due to deliberate malformations intended to stymie static analysis. In this paper we will survey and attempt to classify some common and interesting malformations we have studied in our work at Sunbelt Software. We will analyze PE structural information, discuss the PE specification, and highlight specific hurdles we have overcome in the course of developing a parsing facility capable of dealing reliably with the full range of images found in the wild, especially malware. We will also cover specific problems we faced along the way, examine structural heuristics we've developed in the course of classifying common malformations, and include a discussion of some interesting tools and techniques we've developed.


Variance components methods have been used in various aspects of genetic analysis for many decades. This article discusses their application to data on quantitative traits for the estimation of polygenic and environmental variances as well as, for the detection of quantitative trait loci using methods of linkage and association. Multivariate approaches are discussed, along with regression-based related methods. Additionally, examples of the application of these methods from the literature are presented.


Abstract
International law in the world involves most international treaties as a step to limit the violations that occur. Where recently emerged new autonomous weapons. Where this weapon can choose and aim at targets without human intervention. The weapon is the Lethal Autonomous Weapon System, which, once activated, cannot isolate any of it to be attacked, whether combatants or non-combatants will even attack wherever they are regardless of the situation.
This research is legal research that aims to examine how the legality of the Lethal Autonomous Weapon System is seen from International Humanitarian Law. This paper uses a normative legal research method with a qualitative approach to descriptive data analysis. The weapon's mechanism is to defend when war is not to become an arena of unnecessary destruction and even cause casualties to civilians. There is a need for legal rules that limit or prohibit these weapons from operating. The Lethal Autonomous Weapon System is still very far away to fulfill the principles of International Humanitarian Law. It is unlikely that this weapon would be legal if there were no human intervention in its operation.


CANDIDA RIFKIND Comrades and Critics: Women, Literature, & the Left in 1930s Canada Toronto, Buffalo, London; University of Toronto Press, 2009. viii + 268 pp. Recipient of the Ann Saddlemyer scholarly book award at the 2010 conference of the CATR/ACRT, Candida Rifkind's Comrades and Critics expands the vital field of scholarship that is rewriting our knowledge and our analyses of left-wing Canadian modernism. In the 1930s, Canadian women writers and cultural workers including Dorothy Livesay, Ruby Ronan, Anne Marriott, Irene Baird, Toby Gordon Ryan, Mildred Goldberg, Elsie Park Gowan, Minnie Evans Bicknell, Mary Reynolds, and Jim (Jean) Watts made crucial contributions to English-Canadian communist and social democratic journalism, poetry, fiction, and theatre. Rifkind surveys this work in historical context and addresses its place in national cultural memory and its reception in English-Canadian literary history. An introductory chapter on the "Socialist-Modernist Encounter" points to the "double duty of the English-Canadian literary left, to give creative expression to socialism and overturn the dominant literary tradition" (4), and goes on to frame the book's most original insights, which have to do with the gendered terms of the Socialist-Modernist encounter and its impact on the period's women artists and on their work. I would say, in my second-wave sort of way, that this book exposes the pervasive sexism of the most progressive discourses of English Canada in the 1930s. As Rifkind explains, the problem was not only that gender issues were explicitly subordinated to class and other struggles during the Comintern period, and then subordinated again in relation to the fight against fascism during the period of the Popular Front, although this did happen and it needs to be remembered. (My own view, and I know that I am not alone in this, is that one of the most important lessons of the twentieth-century revolutions is that we humans must not ever again leave our humanity behind in order to "storm the barricades" and expect to be able to pick it up again on the other side. But I digress.) The problem is more acute because the explicit sidelining of gender issues in the 1930s was exacerbated by the discursive and symbolic linkages between rugged masculinity, socialist progress, and modernist aesthetics, on one hand; and femininity, a decadent and despised bourgeoisie, and bad art, on the other: Women on the political left often had to subordinate questions of gender to those of class and ethnicity, and by the 1930s the gains made by pre-war socialist feminists and the suffrage movement of an earlier generation faltered (Newton 171). Across the Canadian left by the end of the 1920s, women's issues were being subordinated to class struggle and then, with the rise of European fascism in the early 1930s, fighting racisms and anti-Semitism at home and overseas. Women who were both socialists and modernists in 1930s Canada had to consequently find ways to accommodate themselves to the downplaying of women's issues in leftist politics and the contempt for any aesthetic perceived as feminine in modernist literature. Each of the women I foreground in this book struggled to do this in a different way; what unites them is an attempt to disassociate their female identities from the feminine metaphors and images typically used to criticize conservative artistic tradition as well as liberal bourgeois politics. (11) Add to this the fact that real economic and political power was concentrated in the hands of men, and the discouragements and detours performed by these women artists seem merely inevitable. …


Glutamate, the most abundant excitatory transmitter in the brain can lead to neurotoxicity when not properly regulated. Excitotoxicity is a direct result of abnormal regulation of glutamate concentrations in the synapse, and is a common neurotoxic mediator associated with neurodegenerative disorders. It is well accepted that methamphetamine (METH), a potent central nervous stimulant with high abuse potential, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 are implicated in the progression of neurocognitive malfunction. Both have been shown to induce common neurodegenerative effects such as astrogliosis, compromised blood brain barrier integrity, and excitotoxicity in the brain. Reduced glutamate uptake from neuronal synapses likely leads to the accumulation of glutamate in the extracellular spaces. Astrocytes express the glutamate transporters responsible for majority of the glutamate uptake from the synapse, as well as for vesicular glutamate release. However, the cellular and molecular mechanisms of astrocyte-mediated excitotoxicity in the context of METH and HIV-1 are undefined. Topics reviewed include dysregulation of the glutamate transporters, specifically excitatory amino acid transporter-2, metabotropic glutamate receptor(s) expression and the release of glutamate by vesicular exocytosis. We also discuss glutamate concentration dysregulation through astrocytic expression of enzymes for glutamate synthesis and metabolism. Lastly, we discuss recent evidence of various astrocyte and neuron crosstalk mechanisms implicated in glutamate regulation. Astrocytes play an essential role in the neuropathologies associated with METH/HIV-1-induced excitotoxicity. We hope to shed light on common cellular and molecular pathways astrocytes share in glutamate regulation during drug abuse and HIV-1 infection.


The Orange Order remains the largest organization in Northern Irish civil society, with a membership exceeding the combined total of all the political parties in the region. This book provides the first comprehensive membership survey of the Orange Order. Loyal to the Core? draws upon a detailed study of the Orange Order and on a wealth of individual interviews with Orange leaders and the Order's grassroots base. It begins with a historical outline of the Order's development, before turning to a detailed assessment of its contemporary struggle for relevance amid political marginalization, secularism, and diminished benefits to its membership. The book charts the views of members on how to adapt to external changes, explores the sense of belonging provided by membership, analyzes the repositories of loyalty that fuel their sense of Britishness, and assesses how the century-old relationship with the Ulster Unionist Party was replaced by a shift in allegiances. The book also examines the calls for Unionist unity made by the leadership and analyzes the membership's desire for a broad Unionist front.


Communication between people may not often run smoothly as expected. It happens because the hearer does not know exactly what the speaker means. The research is interested in analyzing speech acts, which takes an important rule in communication, especially in illocutionary acts. For the data, the writer chooses legal English TV Series ?The Telltale Nations ? season seven episode six. Because there are many illocutionary acts that can be found in conversations between the participants in the courtroom. The scope of her study is pragmatics and she uses Searle (1969) is theory. The writer also uses World Wide Web to search the transcript for the data. For collecting the data, the writer transcribed the film and to classify the utterances she used types of illocutionary acts like in the theory. In addition, to analyze the data the writer identified several different courtroom scenes. After that she analyzed the utterances based on the context, and illocutionary acts such as representatives, directives, commissives, expressives and declaratives types are found in every scene. As a conclusion, the writer concludes that the language used in the courtroom which may contain stating utterance is the dominant type because a defendant in the legal court must make a good argument for supporting his or her claim of not being guilty and, try to avoid accusation by rejecting it of being guilty by making alibi.


Established firms find it difficult to innovate their business models. However, research suggests different approaches to overcome this. One of those is learning network. Research has also shown that learning networks can be used as an arena to coproduce knowledge between academia and industry. In this article, the authors provide an understanding of how learning networks can be used to improve the quality of knowledge coproduction on business model innovation and suggest a framework that can be used to facilitate knowledge coproduction related to business model innovation in the context of maintenance services for wind energy industry. The article suggests that learning networks are an appropriate approach not only to address practical problems but also to develop theoretical understanding of how organizational inertia related to business model innovation could be overcome and what are the benefits for the involved participants.


Objective Adeno-associated virus (AAV) is a defective mono-stranded DNA virus, endemic in human population (35%–80%). Recurrent clonal AAV2 insertions are associated with the pathogenesis of rare human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) developed on normal liver. This study aimed to characterise the natural history of AAV infection in the liver and its consequence in tumour development. Design Viral DNA was quantified in tumour and non-tumour liver tissues of 1461 patients. Presence of episomal form and viral mRNA expression were analysed using a DNAse/TaqMan-based assay and quantitative RT-PCR. In silico analyses using viral capture data explored viral variants and new clonal insertions. Results AAV DNA was detected in 21% of the patients, including 8% of the tumour tissues, equally distributed in two major viral subtypes: one similar to AAV2, the other hybrid between AAV2 and AAV13 sequences. Episomal viral forms were found in 4% of the non-tumour tissues, frequently associated with viral RNA expression and human herpesvirus type 6, the candidate natural AAV helper virus. In 30 HCC, clonal AAV insertions were recurrently identified in CCNA2, CCNE1, TERT, TNFSF10, KMT2B and GLI1/INHBE. AAV insertion triggered oncogenic overexpression through multiple mechanisms that differ according to the localisation of the integration site. Conclusion We provided an integrated analysis of the wild-type AAV infection in the liver with the identification of viral genotypes, molecular forms, helper virus relationship and viral integrations. Clonal AAV insertions were positive selected during HCC development on non-cirrhotic liver challenging the notion of AAV as a non-pathogenic virus.


Electron-donating sacrificial reagents are highly important for certain photo-redox reactions. However, the use of excessive amounts of sacrificial reagents, mostly amines, often leads to undesired side products and is especially troublesome for product purification. Herein, we take the light-induced electron transfer cascade process of natural photosystems as a role model and assemble organic photocatalysts into cooperative photocatalyst couples. The cooperative photocatalyst couples could undergo intermolecular electron transfer to facilitate the charge separation process and overcome the need for an extra electron donor. Time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy was conducted to precisely characterize the photo-excited dynamics within the cooperative photocatalyst couples. As a model photoredox reaction, the carbon–carbon formation reaction between heteroarenes and malonates, which usually requires electron-donating sacrificial reagents such as amines, was conducted to demonstrate the feasibility of the cooperative photocatalyst couples under visible light irradiation. A significant reaction conversion improvement from trace conversion for a single photocatalyst system to over 90% by cooperative photocatalyst couples was achieved.