In the understory of tropical forests light is believed to be the main limiting growth factor for the newly established trees. Trees growing in shade of the understory may experience periods of slow radial growth. It is expected that gaps created by tree or branch fall will provoke tree growth releases due to improved light levels. Such growth releases can be observed in the annual tree-rings of some tropical species. This PhD study aims to provide insights into the response of juvenile tropical trees to changes in light conditions, and to propose an alternative way to evaluate changes in growth rates due to variations in the light levels. As a first step, the rings of three Bolivian rainforest tree species (two shade-tolerant: Peltogyne cf. heterophylla and Clarisisa racemosa and one long-lived pioneer: Cedrelinga catenaeformis) were characterized anatomically. Then, the annual nature of juvenile tree-rings was proved: a chronology for each species was developed of which the date was verified by 14C bomb peak dating; also, a correlation between ring width and rainfall was determined for all species. Secondly, using core and disc samples, the diameter growth responses of juvenile individuals of the three species to gap formation were assessed. These, by the analysis of change in the 7 year-median diameter growth before and after logging gaps were formed. The distance to the gap was also considered in these analyses. Finally, based on information on growth responses of juvenile individuals of Peltogyne cf. heterophylla to gap formation, criteria for release identification were established. Improved light conditions after gap formation were observed for juvenile trees of the two shade-tolerant species, P.heterophylla and C.racemosa, while no effect was observed for the long-lived pioneer C.catenaeformis. A response of significant increase in diameter growth rates after gap formation was observed for P.heterophylla and C.catenaeformis, but not for C.racemosa. For P.heterophylla this response was detected closer to logging gaps: it was strong for large juvenile trees (20-25 cm dbh) and almost absent in small juveniles. For the long-lived pioneer species, differences in growth responses were not related to tree size or distance to gaps. Based on Peltogyne cf. heterophylla growth responses I established criteria for release identification. For the first time, empirical evidence of growth response to increased light levels was used to set a threshold of growth release for a tropical tree species. This empirical threshold takes into consideration the ontogenetic growth trend and size-dependent growth variations. Alternatively, I present a method of release detection that uses a double detrending approach i.e. it removes variation due to the ontogenetic trend and size-dependent growth. The results suggest that interpretation of growth releases in tree-ring series should be cautiously done as gap formation does not always lead to increased light levels, does not always invoke growth responses, and if growth responses are found, their strength depends on species and tree size


The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of two semirigid prophylactic ankle stabilizers on vertical jump, 80-ft sprint, shuttle run, and four-point run performance. Eight male and seven female high school basketball players, who denied prior ankle injury and prophylactic ankle stabilizer experience, completed the four performance events under the conditions of Active Ankle Training Brace, Aircast SportStirrup, and nonbraced control. Data analyses consisted of four 1 × 3 ANOVAs with repeated measures on the independent variable of brace condition. Results of the analysis revealed no significant differences among the experimental conditions for any of the performance events tested. In conclusion, the Active Ankle Training Brace and Aircast SportStirrup did not facilitate or adversely affect performance involving speed, agility, and vertical jump of high school basketball players.


I huff and puff my way up the moderate slope. Even by my own abysmal standards, this is a poor run. In the past hour, I have been overtaken by both an octogenarian and a mum pushing her toddlers in a buggy. Yet I am smiling. I am a happy runner, despite my utter mediocrity at this sport. But at work, happiness had become elusive. After a relatively relaxed Ph.D. and postdoc, I had been thrilled when I landed a tenured job. But as I worked to establish myself as a group leader, I began to feel intense pressure to be more competitive and publish more. Recently, as I wondered why I felt so discontented at my job, I realized that I could apply some lessons from running to my research.

![Figure][1]

ILLUSTRATION: ROBERT NEUBECKER

> "Not being able to sprint makes me a better endurance runner."

Lesson one: In the right race, your weakness can become your strength. For more than 30 years I equated running to speed and so, lacking the fast-twitch muscles of a sprinter, I chose not to run at all. But once I finally started running, I learned that not being able to sprint makes me a better endurance runner. Similarly, I often perceived my inability to focus on a single research topic as a barrier to success as an academic scientist. But I've found that my desire to branch out to different fields helps me make connections across disciplines and see my work in new ways, which has led to unexpected and exciting insights.

Lesson two: Choose the right pace for your race. Last Christmas, a silver-haired gentleman helped me beat my (lamentable) 5K personal best by whispering, "Go at your pace, not theirs!" when I got stuck behind slower runners. I now realize that this would have been excellent advice early in my career. Some Ph.D. students push themselves too hard and burn out, but I had the opposite problem. I was happy to trundle along at the slowest pace I could get away with—but it ultimately held me back. Even though I like my slow-but-steady pace, I still needed to learn to push myself rather than drag my feet.

Lesson three: An honest race is the only race worth running. I invariably finish in the bottom quartile of the local 5K run. All I would have to do to move up a couple of hundred places is take a shortcut through the fields. Yet I don't. Nobody does. Scientists are usually like that, too—but not always. Principal investigators are pressured to keep their spot in the fast lane, postdocs are chasing the elusive permanent contract, and students are keen to make their mark. Several of my publications would have had a much easier ride through the reviewing system had I been slightly less honest about our findings. The temptation to cheat to get an advantage can be great. However, and this is something that is often overlooked, an advantage is only useful if you are, in fact, engaged in a competition. This brings me to the last lesson, which is the most important of all.

Lesson four: There really is no race. For me, running isn't about being faster than other runners. Likewise, my goal in research is not to "beat" my colleagues. Mark Rowlands, a philosopher, academic, and runner, argues that running makes us happy because it is a form of play and as such has intrinsic value. I don't run just to eat more peanut butter or to save money on psychotherapy (although these are strong motivating factors in my case). I run because doing so offers a glimpse of life's real value. I now think this is the secret to being happy in research, too. I don't do research only to get invited to conferences, see my name in print, or be promoted. Like running, research is a game with its own intrinsic value. Playing this game of discovery gives me enough joy to keep me going.

Do I recommend an academic career in the slow lane? It doesn't work for everybody. Letting go of ambition in academia is a bit like leaving your GPS watch at home when heading out for a run. Scientists are ambitious; they want to be the hares leading the race ahead. But the tortoise's secret is that there is a lot of fun to be had at the back of the pack.

 [1]: pending:yes


INTRODUCTION The gap between men's and women's labor force participation steadily narrowed for over two decades until progress slowed in the mid-1990s. (1) Before the mid-1990s, "[w]omen, especially married mothers with young children, continued to enter the labor force in ever-growing numbers. They integrated previously male occupations, especially middle-class occupations, and narrowed the earnings gap with men more in the 1980s than in any other decade...." (2) Women's labor force participation peaked at sixty percent in 1999 and has plateaued, and even declined, since then. (3) The plateau in progress that has characterized the pattern of gender workplace equality since the mid-1990s cannot be explained as "structural or broadly ideological." (4) It is most likely the result of a "specifically antifeminist backlash in the popular culture." (5) This antifeminist backlash co-opted the feminist rhetoric of choice and equality by describing career mothers who leave the workplace as "opting" for full-time motherhood, even if the "choice" was prompted "by unsupportive work environments or increased job demands." (6) By using a feminist rhetoric of "choice" to describe the pattern of women's departure from the workplace in favor of full-time caregiving, the rhetoric remains insulated from broad criticism, perpetuates an inaccurate image of women's complicated life reality as wageworker and caregiver, and maintains a status quo workplace structure that is inherently discriminatory against women. As this article highlights through statistics and anecdotes, a woman's "choice" to leave the workplace--if the option exists at all--is not as simple as popular culture would let us believe. Rather, most women, including married women, need to work to support their families. (7) But women are also society's primary caregivers of children and the elderly, whether out of necessity, (8) conformance to traditional gender roles, (9) or choice. (10) Because the American workplace structure remains rooted in the family-wage ideal, (11) in which a male breadwinner and a female homemaker comprise each household, women must fit their family caregiving responsibilities into a workplace structure defined around the ideal worker, who does not have such responsibilities. (12) The result is the marginalization and exclusion of women from work and stagnant progress towards workplace equality. (13) Although women comprise close to half of the workforce, they lag behind men in wages and leadership positions, (14) and continue to be discriminated against because of their caregiver status. (15) And, although popular culture focuses on women in higher-income jobs and households, women in low- and middle-income jobs--those with the least flexible jobs and the most need for the income--carry the heaviest burden. (16) This article argues that the stagnant progress in workplace equality results in part from the persistence of family-wage barriers. Family-wage barriers arise at the intersection of a workplace designed around a worker without family caregiving responsibilities and women's role as primary caregivers. (17) These barriers manifest as work structures that favor a worker without caregiving responsibilities, (18) and as policies and practices that penalize caregivers directly or indirectly, including strict adherences to work structures designed around the ideal worker. (19) Courts recognize mistaken gender stereotype-based assumptions about a caregiver's job performance as sex discrimination. (20) But they have had few opportunities and been reluctant to recognize that family-wage barriers implicate and infringe on women's fundamental constitutional rights, regardless of the evidence of stereotyped assumptions. (21) Focusing on mothers, (22) this article highlights the equal protection and substantive due process rights at stake for working women subjected to unfavorable treatment because of their status as caregivers, as distinguished from unfavorable treatment because of gender-stereotyped assumptions based on that status. …


A long-term frustration for teaching staff has been that while students are always hungry to access their mark for assessed work, they do not necessarily access the associated feedback that is given, which could help them improve performance in future.
Online learning environments permit the staging of feedback. I would like to report back on the process of releasing feedback before the marks. Over a two-year period, the process led to a significant improvement in the numbers of students accessing both mark and feedback; arguably helping them appreciate the care that is taken in appraising their work (and the value represented by the cost of their education). I have 'before' and 'after' data to demonstrate what took place.
Presentation
What part can pre-arrival shared-reading play in student understanding of their transition to higher education and the nature and role of assessment within uni- versities?
Although the education system up to 18 seeks to create independent learners, arrival in HE involves significant change. Henceforth responsibility for participation, involvement and delivery of assessed work falls to the student. This presentation shares the experience of working with students/staff to install pre- arrival shared- reading ('The Kingston University Big Read') within a HE environment where the majority of students are first-generation attendees. It looks at how sharing a text can help prepare students for the larger organisation and associated educational experience, demonstrating how formative activities can shape involvement and promote discussion and help them prepare for the summative assessments that contribute to their formal grading. The presentation will compare the various ways in which the project was used within assessment, revealing how close analysis of outcomes and processes has promoted best practice – and enhanced organisational collegiality.
A significant feature of the project has been broad involvement: whole institution and wider community; from reception staff and library colleagues to new neighbours and local politicians.


Background Stability of the knee is dependent on multiple factors including integrity of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). Greater knee joint laxity appears to negatively affect dynamic joint function and therefore reliable and valid measures of ACL stiffness and laxity are clinically valuable. Purpose The aim of this study was to investigate the reliability of the GENOUROB, (GNRB®) knee arthrometer device in measuring both stiffness and laxity of the ACL, and to provide information on sample size calculation for future clinical trials. Study Design Cross-sectional test-retest study Method Twelve healthy student participants (age 24-30 years; 6 females and 6 males) completed testing on two different testing dates. Anterior tibial translation and stiffness were measured using the GNRB® device at forces of 134N and 200N. Reliability analyses were performed using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC). SEM, MDC, and sample size calculations were also determined. Results Average anterior tibial displacements of 3.63mm and 5.32mm were found for 134N and 200N of force respectively. ICC values for intra-rater, inter-rater, and test-retest reliability were similar across measures of anterior tibial translation and stiffness, ranging from .72 to .83 (95% CI: .54 to .90). The standard error of measurement (SEM) for anterior tibial stiffness ranged from 3.47 mm/N to 3.76 mm/N. Minimal detectable change (MDC) for test-retest anterior tibial stiffness was 9.6 mm/N. Sample sizes for crossover and parallel design studies were determined. Conclusion ACL laxity and stiffness measures were found to be reliably obtainable using the GNRB® knee arthrometer under the strict control of the individual's alignment to the device and patellar pad forces. Reliable laxity and stiffness values may assist practitioners in clinical reasoning and the development of individualized ACL rehabilitation programs. Additionally, the sample size calculations presented may aid in future research design. Level of Evidence 3


This thesis explores the work of late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century British authors who set their Gothic literature in Britain between 1760 and 1820. It argues that many of these novels have previously been marginalised or excluded from studies of the genre because they do not conform to the recognised Gothic trope of displacing anxieties onto foreign Catholic settings. Rather, they represent Britain as a fertile terrain for Gothic events. In doing so, they interrogate its history, national identity, and politics, as well as directly engaging with the domestic and international crises of the Eighteenth and early Nineteenth Centuries. They display a keen awareness not only of the historical development of the nation, but with its refashioning during this period in response to the 1707 Act of Union, the Seven Years' War, the loss of the American colonies, the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars: all of which challenged and complicated national identity.

By analysing the work of Clara Reeve, Charlotte Smith, William Henry Ireland, T. I. Horsley Curties and Walter Scott, this thesis demonstrates their shared preoccupation with the myth-making process of national history and collective identity formation, and with interrogating systems of power and leadership. ' Gothic' developed as a historico-political term regarding the origins of British national identity, and as such the Gothic genre developed symbiotically alongside the Historical Romance and the national tale. Tracing the genesis of Gothic fiction back past Horace Walpole' s 1764, The Castle of Otranto, to Thomas Leland' s 1762 novel, Longsword, Earl of Salisbury: An Historical Romance, allows a new set of novels to be foregrounded in the genre. By refocusing critical attention on these texts, this project aims to extend the limits of this heterogeneous genre to include Gothic tales set in Britain. It also demonstrates the dialogue and dispute between Gothic texts as authors of disparate socio-political backgrounds engaged with one another through their fiction; borrowing, challenging, and redeploying generic tropes to support their political discourses.


Education is the key to achieve overall development and acquire human potential, developing an equitable and just society, and promoting development. Providing universally quality education which is a pivotal element in success, leadership on the global stage in terms of economic growth, social justice, equality, scientific advancement, cultural preservation, and national integration. Indeed, with the quickly changing employment landscape and global ecosystem, it is becoming increasingly critical that students not only learn but, more importantly, learn how to learn. Education, thus, must move towards less content and more towards critical thinking and problemsolving approach. The pedagogy of NEP-2020 must make students evolve with experiential, holistic, integrated, inquiry-driven, discovery oriented, learner-centered, discussion-based, and flexible, and of course, enjoyable. The world is undergoing rapid change in the knowledge scape. Today's education should not offer a mere degree, but should be capable of imparting skills, technical knowledge, job-oriented training and should bring employment to the degree holders. It is to wish that the new education system should bring career opportunities to the students by imparting quality education with a universal approach and learner-centric pedagogy. In this context, this paper focuses on the new education policy w.r.t. its scope towards career opportunities in the coming era in achieving full employment.


Patients with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) increasingly use online services for managing their healthcare. The objective of this study was to investigate web log data (weblogs) generated by PwMS in the process of web-based telerehabilitation and correlate them with rehabilitation progress. The weblogs from 17 patients (female: 15, male 2; mean age: 60.1±11.4 years) were tracked for an average period of 153.6±38.3 days with the total number of log events and page visit records of 1,457 and 37,030, respectively. The time and frequency of patients' web visits were investigated as well as their adherence to prescribed exercise regimen. Rehabilitation progress was gauged by changes in quality of life, mobility, and sleep ascertained by measuring MSQOL, 2MWT and PSQI respectively. The changes in these metrics were correlated with system usage patterns. On average, PwMS visited 30 pages a day for 26.5 minutes, with a single login amounting for 27 pages in duration of 22.0 minutes. The average exercise program comprised 6.9 sets and 29.1 repetitions with average set and repetition completion rates of 46.5% and 72.6% respectively. A statistically significant association has been found between time spent in the online exercise mode and clinical improvements. The results of the study demonstrate that the patients had more pronounced outcome improvements when they increased the time of using the telerehabilitation system for home-based exercise. The results of this study could contribute to the development of more efficient home-based telerehabilitation systems.


The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) has owned and operated emergency Bailey Bridges for about 60 years. These bridges are available for emergency and semi-permanent use by public users (Central Government and Local Authority) and private users. With the outsourcing of public roading services about 20 years ago, the Bailey bridge system management and operation was changed to become commercial and sustainable. NZTA manages two separate contracts, one each in the North and South Islands. These five year contracts include component storage and maintenance, design, component transportation and bridge erection/dismantling, inspection and repairs. Users of the Bailey Bridges pay for erection/dismantling, as well as hire charges. Bailey Bridges have proven to be very effective in providing the flexibility and robustness required for rapid response bridging. The Bailey Bridge system will continue to be the primary emergency bridge type for the foreseeable future in New Zealand.


This paper proposes that critical realism can provide a useful theoretical foundation to study enterprise architecture (EA) evolution. Specifically it will investigate the practically relevant and academically challenging question of how EAs integrate the Service-oriented Architecture (SOA). Archer's Morphogenetic theory is used as an analytical approach to distinguish the architectural conditions under which SOA is introduced, to study the relationships between these conditions and SOA introduction, and to reflect on EA evolution (elaborations) that then take place. The focus lies on the reasons why EA evolution takes place (or not) and what architectural changes happen. This paper uses the findings of a literature review to build an a-priori model informed by Archer's theory to understand EA evolution in a field that often lacks a solid theoretical groundwork. The findings are threefold. First, EA can evolve on different levels (different integration outcomes). Second, the integration outcomes are classified into three levels: business architecture, information systems architecture and technology architecture. Third, the analytical separation using Archer's theory is helpful in order to understand how these different integration outcomes are generated.


The fractional derivatives include nonlocal information and thus their calculation requires huge storage and computational cost for long time simulations. We present an efficient and high-order accurate numerical formula to speed up the evaluation of the Caputo fractional derivative based on the L2-1 σ formula proposed in [A. Alikhanov, J. Comput. Phys., 280 (2015), pp. 424-438], and employing the sum-of-exponentials approximation to the kernel function appeared in the Caputo fractional derivative. Both theoretically and numerically, we prove that while applied to solving time fractional diffusion equations, our scheme not only has unconditional stability and high accuracy but also reduces the storage and computational cost.


MoSi2 and SiC ceramics were prepared by traditional powder metallurgy method. A novel ceramic thermocouple (CTC) used in the high temperature and high corrosion environment was assembled by SiC as the cathode and MoSi2 as the anode. The thermo-emf of CTC was tested from 25 °C to 1600 °C in air. The results show that there is a simple relationship between the thermo-emf of CTC and the temperature. By holding temperature for 70 h at 1500 °C, the deviation of thermo-emf is ±0.37%, and better than 0.75% which is the criteria of industry thermocouple. And also the response characteristics of CTC were analyzed.


Canine epidermal growth factor (EGF)/urogastrone was partially purified from dog urine by fractional precipitation with (NH4)2SO4, ion-exchange chromatography with DEAE-cellulose DE-52, gel filtration with Sephadex G-50, and a second DE-52 chromatography, to yield receptor-competing activity equivalent to 13 micrograms of standard mouse EGF/litre of starting urine. The purification was monitored by a competitive radioreceptor assay using fixed monolayers of A431 cells. The partially purified canine EGF/urogastrone demonstrated a growth-stimulating activity in 3T3 mouse fibroblast cells as potent as mouse EGF. Analysis by sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis revealed one major peptide component with an Mr similar to that of mouse EGF, and two minor peptides of slightly higher Mr. The major peptide component was isolated after reduction and its amino acid composition was determined.


Tooth agenesis is the most common congenital anomaly in humans. It has variable expression and most severe forms segregate in families, which allowed for the application of strategies for gene identification. A subset of those cases is caused by mutations in PAX9, MSX1, AXIN2, EDA, EDAR, EDARADD, and WNT10A. However, the vast majority of cases of tooth agenesis is less severe and may be the result of hypomorphic genetic variations in multiple genes. Of particular interest is the association of tooth agenesis with other conditions such as cleft lip and palate and cancer. Individuals born with oral clefts have a much higher chance to have tooth agenesis outside the cleft area. Cases of tooth agenesis caused by mutations in AXIN2 can also develop colorectal cancer. These types of cases suggest the understanding of the aetiology of developmental disruptions of dental development can also impact other relevant fields of medicine.

Key Concepts:

Oligodontia (agenesis of six or more teeth excluding third molars) is not common in the population (0.3%).

Hypodontia (agenesis of less than six teeth excluding third molars) can be as common as 11% in the population.

Mutations in genes such as PAX9, MSX1, and AXIN2 explain just a small percentage of oligodontia cases segregating in an autosomal dominant fashion.

Mutations in genes such as WNT10A explain just a small percentage of hypodontia cases segregating in an autosomal dominant fashion.

X-linked inheritance of isolated oligodontia can be caused by mutations in ectodermal dysplasia genes.

Tooth agenesis is four times more common in individuals born with oral clefts, as well as in their relatives.

Individuals with oligodontia caused by mutations in AXIN2 are at higher risk for colorectal cancer.

Keywords:

hypodontia;
oligodontia;
cancer;
cleft lip and palate;
MSX1;
PAX9;
AXIN2;
EDA;
WNT10A, ectodermal dysplasia


Objective To evaluate the effect of transcutaneous electrical acupuncture point stimulation (TEAS) on endometrial HOXA10 protein expression and three-dimensional (3D) power Doppler ultrasound parameters as markers of endometrial receptivity in women undergoing frozen-thawed embryo transfer (FET). Methods A total of 68 women undergoing FET were randomised to receive TEAS or mock TEAS at acupuncture points CV3, CV4 and SP6 and Zigong bilaterally. Both groups had six sessions per cycle for three menstrual cycles prior to the scheduled FET. Each session lasted 30 min and was repeated every other day. 3D power Doppler ultrasound parameters, HOXA10 protein expression and rates of embryo implantation, clinical pregnancy and live birth were compared. Results There were no significant differences between the two groups in endometrial thickness or endometrial volume. The ultrasonographic endometrial triple-line pattern was present more often in the TEAS group (p=0.002). The TEAS group had a greater endometrial and subendometrial vascularisation index (VI) than the mock TEAS group (p=0.001 and p<0.001, respectively) on 3D ultrasound and increased endometrial HOXA10 expression (p=0.001) immediately prior to FET. Subsequently, the rates of embryo implantation, clinical pregnancy and live birth rates were all higher in the TEAS group than in the mock TEAS group (p=0.024, p=0.038 and p=0.033, respectively). Conclusions In patients undergoing FET, TEAS may have beneficial effects on endometrial HOXA10 expression and ultrasound markers of endometrial receptivity. These findings may explain the improvement in clinical outcome of FET associated with the use of TEAS. Trial Registration Number ChiCTR-TRC-14004448.


The present research project is based on the hypothesis that nutrition carries attached value labels, and that it is a way to express lifestyle and a way of living. Burnett's conclusion (1979) that modern society uses nutrition as a system of symbols was examined in the present-day Hungarian setting. Generally speaking, not only the individuals' economic and socio-cultural status determines the nutritional habits, but also the other way round: food consumption could be used to predict social and economic status as well as key values and value judgements. Value judgements as reflected in nutrition are analysed at the level of the consumers' general value systems, values influencing consumption habits, and the motives for selecting particular products.


In this work, we report on the Au-assisted MBE of various InP and related material NWs on InP(111)B substrates. The influence of growth conditions on the InAsP insertion geometry and composition in InP nanowire is evidenced. Ex-situ thermal annealing produces significant changes to the PL spectra of these heterostructures. It is shown that InP/InAsP/InP heterostructures are well suited for fabrication of emitters in the telecommunication wavelength range 1.3-1.55 mum.


In its The Journey: Sustainability into the Future , the Western Australian Local Government Association (WALGA) proposed a program of self-initiated reform for local government, with its centrepiece comprising a Regional Model of local governance based on constellations of local councils in the existing Zone groupings. The Regional Model has been designed to preserve local autonomy and local identity by retaining existing council democratic structures, but at the same time facilitate cooperation and joint service provision through the Regional Model in those service areas where scale economies and other benefits from shared provision can be reaped. This paper places the Regional Model in the context of the Australian literature on alternative models of local governance and then critically evaluates its main characteristics and its prospects for success.


The grid-connected power electronic inverters are highly sensitive to grid disturbances and it is important to emphasize the necessity to reduce the effects of voltage disturbances on their operation. Among the wide range of power quality disturbances, voltage sags severely affect the performance of voltage source converters (VSC) operation of distributed generation (DG) units. In this paper, small signal model of photovoltaic, DC-DC boost converter and inverter are simulated in Matlab simulink software. The photovoltaic system is connected to a 20kV distribution feeder via a transformer. It can be seen if the voltage sag is happened in the system, the inverter switch current will be increased significantly. In order to protect the power electronic converters' switches during a voltage sag and increase the voltage sag ride through capability, use of fault current limiter (FCL), is proposed. It is shown that if the voltage sag happened with duration of half to thirty cycles, FCL limits the current of power electronic switches. So, the photovoltaic system although is kept connecting with grid during the voltage sag condition, the power electronic switches aren't harmed and have normal current during voltage sag duration.


Astrophysical explosions are accompanied by the propagation of a shockwave through an ambient medium. Depending on the mass and energy involved in the explosion, the shock velocity V can be nonrelativistic (V ≪ c, where c is the speed of light), ultrarelativistic (V ≃ c), or moderately relativistic (V ∼ few × 0.1c). While self-similar energy-conserving solutions to the fluid equations that describe the shock propagation are known in the nonrelativistic (the Sedov–Taylor blastwave) and ultrarelativistic (the Blandford–McKee blastwave) regimes, the finite speed of light violates scale invariance and self-similarity when the flow is only mildly relativistic. By treating relativistic terms as perturbations to the fluid equations, here we derive the , energy-conserving corrections to the nonrelativistic Sedov–Taylor solution for the propagation of a strong shock. We show that relativistic terms modify the post-shock fluid velocity, density, pressure, and the shock speed itself, the latter being constrained by global energy conservation. We derive these corrections for a range of post-shock adiabatic indices γ (which we set as a fixed number for the post-shock gas) and ambient power-law indices n, where the density of the ambient medium ρa into which the shock advances declines with spherical radius r as ρa ∝ r−n. For Sedov–Taylor blastwaves that terminate in a contact discontinuity with diverging density, we find that there is no relativistic correction to the Sedov–Taylor solution that simultaneously satisfies the fluid equations and conserves energy. These solutions have implications for relativistic supernovae, the transition from ultra- to subrelativistic velocities in gamma-ray bursts, and other high-energy phenomena.


The shuttle effect of polysulfides in Li/S batteries causes the loss of active materials and capacity decay. This phenomenon has retarded the practical application of Li/S batteries. Herein, we demonstrate that the undesired shuttle mechanism owing to dissolved lithium polysulfides can be effectively suppressed by the incorporation of TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) within a solid nanocomposite polymer electrolyte of polyethylene oxide (PEO). The approach shows enhanced capacity retention, whereby a cell with a hybrid solid electrolyte of TiO2 NPs embedded in PEO has delivered more than 1450 mA h g−1 (first cycle discharge capacity) with ∼87% capacity retention after 100 cycles, compared to only 38% capacity retention in the absence of TiO2. Density Functional Theory (DFT) computational results based on bonding interactions and Raman characterization of the different components reveal that the undesired diffusion shuttle mechanism causing Li anode passivation can be effectively reduced by the use of nano-sized TiO2 and polyethylene oxide.


LIGNIN CONTRIBUTION TO THE GLOBAL CARBON POOL: INVESTIGATING THE ABIOTIC MODIFICATION OF LIGNIN BY REACTIVE OXYGEN SPECIES Derek Charles Waggoner Old Dominion University, 2017 Director: Dr. Patrick G. Hatcher Evidence suggests that reactive oxygen species (ROS), largely generated through photochemical processes, are important in transforming the chemical composition of the large pool of terrestrially-derived dissolved organic matter (DOM) exported from land to water annually. However, due to the challenges inherent in isolating the effects of individual ROS on DOM composition, the role of ROS in the photochemical alteration of DOM remains poorly characterized. The main focus of the studies within this dissertation aim to more thoroughly characterize the alterations to lignin, used as an analog for terrestrial DOM, resulting from reactions with ROS. To investigate the possibility that the alteration of lignin, through reactions involving ROS, could lead to the production of compounds not recognized as having terrestrial origin, ligninderived DOM was prepared from a sample of Atlantic white cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides) and used for a number of studies. Lignin-derived DOM was independently exposed to hydroxyl radical (OH) generated by Fenton reaction, singlet oxygen (O2) produced using the photosensitizer Rose Bengal, and superoxide (O2 ) via stable potassium superoxide solution, under controlled laboratory conditions to accentuate how each ROS is responsible for the alteration of lignin. Advanced analytical techniques including high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FTICR-MS), were employed to characterize alteration to lignin taking place following various ROS treatments. Results of these studies have shown distinct differences in the types of new compounds observed from exposure to each ROS as well as ROS reactivity. The alteration of lignin to compounds not typically associated with terrestrial DOM has been demonstrated upon exposure to ROS. It is also suggested that ROS could selectively react with different fractions of lignin like compounds based largely on oxygen content. Additionally, results indicate that partially oxidized lignin could react further with ROS to generate compounds resembling condensed aromatic-like compounds, previously believed to be primarily pyrogenic in origin, as well as alicyclic compounds commonly observed in marine DOM.


Glucose-stimulated insulin granule exocytosis in pancreatic beta-cells involves cortical actin remodeling that results in the transient disruption of the interaction between polymerized actin with the plasma membrane t-SNARE (target membrane soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptor) complex. To examine the mechanism underlying the initiation of cortical actin remodeling, we have used the actin nucleating/stabilizing agent jasplakinolide to show that remodeling is initiated at a step proximal to the ATP-sensitive K+ channels in the stimulus-secretion pathway. Confocal immunofluorescent microscopy revealed that cortical actin remodeling was required for glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. Furthermore, glucose was found to mediate the endogenous activation state of the Rho family GTPase Cdc42, a positive proximal effector of actin polymerization, resulting in a net decrease of Cdc42-GTP within 5 min of stimulation. Intriguingly, glucose stimulation resulted in the rapid and reversible glucosylation of Cdc42, suggesting that glucose inactivated Cdc42 by selective glucosylation to induce cortical actin rearrangement. Moreover, expression of the constitutively active form of Cdc42 (Q61L) inhibited glucose-stimulated insulin secretion, whereas the dominant negative form (T17N) was without effect, suggesting that glucose-stimulated insulin secretion requires Cdc42 cycling to the GDP-bound state. In contrast, KCl-stimulated insulin secretion was unaffected by the expression of dominant negative or constitutively active Cdc42 and ceased to modulate endogenous Cdc42 activation, consistent with glucose-dependent cortical actin remodeling. These findings reveal that glucose regulates the cortical actin network through modulation of Cdc42 cycling to induce insulin secretion in pancreatic beta-cells.


The cross bars of conveyor belt links that served to transport glass containers through a stress relief furnace fractured in many cases. They consisted of wires of 5 mm diam made of low-carbon Siemens-Martin steel, while the interwoven longitudinal bars were made of strip steel of 4 x 2 sq mm. The furnace temperature was said to be 500 deg C. In addition to the fractures they also showed many more or less advanced cracks. These occurred in the circumferential grooves that recurred at regular intervals. The fractures were abraded and oxidized. They could have been fatigue fractures. The fracture probably was induced by the pressing-in or abrading of the sharp steel band edges into the surface of the cross bars. Torsion fatigue fractures may have started from these notches. Relaxation then contributed positively through recovery and recrystallization. Such damage occurs less frequently in round wire conveyor belt links because the round wire neither impresses so sharply nor abrades against the cross bars, and it also exerts less torsion than the flat wire.


A group of nine diazotrophs were isolated from the rhizosphere of kallar grass and cultured on nitrogent-jree medium.
K
5
, Ks' K9' KlD' Kl2, K13 showed high nitrogenase activity (> 18 n mol C#4 h-I viatl) whereas in K7 and K14 it was
comparatively low « 5n mol C#4 h l viatl
). Maximum nitrogenase activity was found in young cultures (after 24
hours of incubation) except for K9 and Kl3 where it was maximum after 36 and 48 h, respectively. All strains were
Gram-negat, produced smooth colonies and pellicles on semi-solid media. Cells of K5, K7' KID' KlI, Kl2 and K14 were
pleiomorphic: Ks formed long fine rods; K9 was small, round or oval shaped; while KI4 formed beaded rods. Only Ks'
K
13
and KI4were found to be motile. All isolates were able to reduce nitrate, and were positive for oxidase an catalese.
None of them could denitrify or had urease activity except for K14 which was urease positive. Ks' Kl3 and KI4 were
fermentative and produced red pigments. The isolates K5, KIO and KI2 are assigned to the genus Azotobacter while
others remained unidentified.


Abstract : Our research over the last year has focussed on building a Java-based Linda system as a basis for the wide-area adaptive parallelism (AP) system we anticipated in our original proposal. Java allows us to attack one of the biggest problems of AP in a WAN environment, heterogeneity; AP requires that an ongoing parallel computation be able to acquire (and drop) nodes dynamically, which requires in turn that the AP application be capable of running on any node in the pool. An application written in Java can be executed on any machine with a resident Java environment. The obvious main problem is performance; the performance of interpreted Java can't be expected to compete with the performance of compiled Fortran or C or C++. It seems clear, though, that Java's performance limitations will tend to disappear as dynamic and ordinary compilers become available. We anticipate that security also will be an important issue for AP (how do we protect resource donors from a rogue AP application-and AP applications from a rogue donor?); by working with Java, we can make use of an existing, decent security infrastructure, and future work that will go into improving the structure as weaknesses are identified and new threats are encountered. We have made considerable progress designing and implementing this Java-based system.


This research project explores the production of stress placement on polysyllabic academic words of Indonesian students studying at Coventry University, United Kingdom. The research adopts qualitative approach and looks at the accuracy of the stress placement on polysyllabic academic vocabulary produced by the students. The participants of the research are seven Indonesian students studying at Coventry University where they have been studying English for approximately more than ten years. The participants are interviewed and recorded in a silent room in order to obtain a good quality recording. There are three parts of the interview in the research, which consist of free speaking, text-reading and another free speaking about students' opinion. The results are drawn from the recordings by analysing and rating the accuracy of stress placement on the polysyllabic academic words. In addition, it is also rated by a co-rater who is a native speaker and has adequate knowledge on English phonology, to verify the validity and the reliability of the results. The conclusion drawn from the findings is that most participants tend to avoid using academic vocabulary in their presentation based on the first interview and have the tendency of not stressing the words and even misplacing the stress due to ignorance of stress pattern in English. The result indicates that the student's encounter is due to the interference of their mother language as Bahasa is a syllable-timed language meanwhile English is a stress-timed one, which therefore causes significant interference in their stress placement. It is also concluded that the length of exposure of English use in their previous institution can be accountable variable for the accuracy of their stress placement production.


Containerized clusters of machines at scale that provision Cloud services are encountering substantive difficulties with stragglers -- whereby a small subset of task execution negatively degrades system performance. Stragglers are an unsolved challenge due to a wide variety of root-causes and stochastic behavior. While there have been efforts to mitigate their effects, few works have attempted to empirically ascertain how system operational scenarios precisely influence straggler occurrence and severity. This challenge is further compounded with the difficulties of conducting experiments within real-world containerized clusters. System maintenance and experiment design are often error-prone and time-consuming processes, and a large portion of tools created for workload submission and straggler injection are bespoke to specific clusters, limiting experiment reproducibility. In this paper we propose PRISM, a framework that automates containerized cluster setup, experiment design, and experiment execution. Our framework is capable of deployment, configuration, execution, performance trace transformation and aggregation of containerized application frameworks, enabling scripted execution of diverse workloads and cluster configurations. The framework reduces time required for cluster setup and experiment execution from hours to minutes. We use PRISM to conduct automated experimentation of system operational conditions and identify straggler manifestation is affected by resource contention, input data size and scheduler architecture limitations.


The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of head teachers' practices in Management of School Feeding Programme on Primary School Pupils' Retention in Mbeere South District, Kenya. Five research objectives were formulated to guide the study. The study sought to determine the strategies used by head teachers to influence pupils' retention, establish methods they use to mobilize resources to support School Feeding Programme, determine the extent to which the programme is influenced by funds from various sources, analyze the challenges faced by head teachers as they implement the programme and the strategies they use to ensure that food is kept safely in the store, free from misappropriation by support staff. The study was guided by Vroom Valence Expectancy theory of motivation where food was used as an incentive to attract children to school. The study used descriptive survey design and was conducted on 22 public primary schools in Mbeere South district. Random sampling was used to select twenty two head teachers, eighty eight teachers and three hundred and sixty pupils. Data was collected using two types of questionnaires and a Focus Group Discussion guide. The collected data was analyzed using frequencies, percentages and averages. The statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for generating tables, figures and diagrams. The findings revealed that proper management of School Feeding Programme had a big influence of 95 percent on the retention of pupils in Mbeere South district. Head teachers mobilized resources to supplement what the Government and Non-Governmental Organizations supplied, addressing the challenges that they encountered during implementation as well as employing methods to ensure that food was kept safely in the store. The researcher recommended that the Government and all the stakeholders in education fraternity should support School Feeding Programme under all cost because among many other factors, it was rated the strongest in enhancing retention in schools. In conclusion, the researcher suggested that a similar study should be done in other parts o f the country on Head teachers' practices in management of School Feeding Programme on primary school pupils' retention in order to enable generalization of findings.


From 1984 to 1996 there was rapid progress in the spectroscopy of CO2 dimers and trimers, but since then little work has appeared. Here we report a number of new high-resolution infrared results. For the dimer, a combination band provides the first experimental intermolecular vibrational frequency, and 13C isotopic spectra clarify the role of resonant and non-resonant vibrational shifts. For the cyclic trimer, a new parallel combination band involving an out-of-plane intermolecular mode is observed, and various 13C isotope results are analysed. In addition to these dimer and trimer results, the spectra also contain features which must be due to larger (CO2) N clusters in the range N ≈ 5–15.


This paper reports about our investigation on action understanding in the brain. We review recent results of the neurophysiology of the mirror system in the monkey. Based on these observations we propose a model of this brain system which is responsible for action recognition. The link between object affordances and action understanding is considered. To support our hypothesis we describe two experiments where some aspects of the model have been implemented. In the first experiment an action recognition system is trained by using data recorded from human movements. In the second experiment, the model is partially implemented on a humanoid robot which learns to mimic simple actions performed by a human subject on different objects. These experiments show that motor information can have a signifi cant role in action interpretation and that a mirror-like representation can be developed autonomously as a result of the interaction between an individual and the environment.


Primary objectives: (1) To examine survivors with traumatic brain injury (TBI) for symptoms of avoidance and intrusion, two dimensions of post-traumatic stress (PTS) at 6 and 12 months post-injury. (2) To identify risk factors associated with these symptoms. Research design: Prospective follow-up study. Methods and procedures: Georgia and North Carolina Model Brain Injury Systems participants (n = 198) with mild (19%), moderate (21%) and severe (60%) TBI were interviewed by telephone at 6 and 12 months post-injury. The Impact of Event Scale (IES) was used to identify intrusion and avoidance symptoms. Results: Symptoms consistent with severe PTS increased from 11% at 6 months to 16% 12 months post-injury (p < 0.003). African-Americans (p < 0.01) and women (p < 0.05) reported greater symptomatology at 12 months compared to their counterparts. TBI severity and memory of the event were not associated with PTS-like symptoms. Symptoms increased over time when examined by race, injury intent, gender and age (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Regardless of severity, survivors with TBI are at risk for developing symptoms consistent with PTS. Amnesia for the injury event was not protective against developing these symptoms. African-Americans appear to be at greatest risk.


John Steinbeck's background as a lifelong Episcopalian and his childhood experiences at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Salinas, California, strongly influenced significant events in his later life, the language and structure of several of his greatest works, his treatment of belief in some of his most memorable characters, and the meaning of certain key passages in his fiction and nonfiction. An original interpretive examination of the pre-Episcopal religious history of his father's family, the reasons for his mother's involvement in their adopted church, errors in certain parish records, connections between passages of fiction and nonfiction and personal letters, decisions made about Thom Steinbeck's baptism and John Steinbeck's funeral and family memorial, and key passages in To a God Unknown, In Dubious Battle, Bombs Away, East of Eden, Travels with Charley, The Winter of Our Discontent, and 'America and Americans' is supported by the close reading of relevant primary sources, a critical reading of selected secondary sources, and personal interviews, e-mails, and telephone conversations to provide the data and detail required for a more balanced and complete consideration of Steinbeck's childhood religion and adult Anglican agnosticism by future biographers and critics of his work.


The levels of representative organophosphorus pesticide-methyl-parathion have been measured by different methods in 11 different samples of Achyranthes bidentata (AB). A new method by fluorimetry with calcein- Pd2+ was used to determinate organophosphorus pesticide- methyl-parathion. Although the frequency of methyl-parathion was relatively high, the levels of its residues were lower than that could be harmful to human health. To the samples collected from the same habitats, a rule could be found from the results that the levels of methyl-parathion in the samples mix-fried with wine decreased more or less, compared to the raw samples.


Forced magnetic reconnection in a sheared force-free magnetic field brings about relaxation of the system to a state of lower magnetic energy. The resulting energy release becomes strongly amplified when the field is close to the tearing instability threshold, which makes the linear theory [Vekstein and Jain, Phys. Plasmas 5, 1506 (1998)] not applicable in this case. In the present Brief Communication the reconnective energy release in the marginally stable magnetic field is derived by exploring the quasilinear theory of tearing modes.


Internationally and historically unprecedented numbers of women in the United States are under criminal justice supervision in jails, prisons, and the community. Pregnant women and mothers with minor children comprise a large proportion of this population. The rise in criminal justice oversight and incarceration rates has differentially impacted a highly vulnerable population of women and children. This article outlines an international human rights perspective on the criminal justice involvement of pregnant women and mothers with minor children, and describes common and broadly accepted U.S. criminal justice practices in the areas of pregnancy, birth, and contact with children that differ from a rights-based approach. Using the United Nations-developed Bangkok Rules and existing research as a foundation, the authors conclude by advancing recommendations for more humane approaches to pregnant and parenting women and their children that would bring the United States more closely in line with international standards. This article capitalizes on the increased attention currently being placed on the U.S. criminal justice system to highlight continued problems and provide humane solutions that draw on international approaches while also fitting a U.S. context.


This experiment was conducted to investigate the livestock breeding practice in different regions of Malaysia. The objective of this study was to find out the general information on livestock breeding prevailed across different regions of Malaysia. The study was carried out under the umbrella of Faculty of Sustainable Agriculture (FSA) Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) and covers almost every state in Malaysia except Labuan, Perlis, Putrajaya, and Kuala Lumpur. The states were divided into four regions; Northern peninsular, Southern Peninsular, Sabah, Sarawak. The data collection sheets were distributed to the second year students of the Livestock Production (HG36) program of UMS in conjunction to their Animal Breeding class. In total, there were 59 data collection sheet being distributed and collected from various regions of Malaysia. Two types of variables were Involved in this study. These variables were the independent (age, education, family size, and occupation) and dependent variables {involvement in animal rearing, type of breeding practice, and breeding facility service availability). Descriptive statistics were performed and analysis was done with the help of Microsoft Excel 2013. The distribution of respondent's location were 37%, 34%, 20%, and 9% for S. Peninsular, Sabah, N. Peninsular, and Sarawak respectively. It was also found that the pooled ration of bull to cow was 1:34, whereas the pooled ratio for buck to doe was 1:9, and lastly for ram to ewe ratio was 1:2. Study found that the number of farms practicing natural mating was 77.8% and the remaining 22.2% practiced artificial insemination (AI). In natural mating, 22% of the farm mentioned that the male for service was available at more than 3 kilometers away and for the farms that were practicing AI, 31 % of them mentioned that the service availability was difficult. These findings suggested that the number of breeding male was insufficient. This could lead to inbreeding. It was suggested that with proper systematic breeding and the utilization of Al, performance of livestock could greatly improve. The scope of extension work should also be re-evaluate in order to improve efficiency. Research institution should focus back to the basics with these farmers to help them keep up with larger scale farmers of the world. This research would be a preliminary work for execution of systematic breeding of future pragmatic research on animal breeding.


Abstract According to the Cadbury Committee (1992) classical definition, corporate governance is 'the system by which companies are directed and controlled.' In the Cadbury Report and in other mainstream corporate governance codes, 'system' refers only to the 'financial aspects of corporate governance', that is, shareholder value and emphasis on the board's and the management's accountability to providers of financial capital only. During the last few years however, sustainability has been included through 'integrated reporting' in corporate governance codes especially in Africa (South Africa) and Asia (Malaysia, Philippines). For example, the South African King reports on corporate governance connect the use of integrated reporting to report on an organisation's corporate governance practices and economic-social-environmental triple-bottom-line performance. The leading normative framework for integrated reporting, the International Integrated Reporting Council's International  Framework, is based on an idea of 'shared value creation' by providers of the 'six capitals' (financial, manufactured, intellectual, human, societal and environmental capitals). As such integrated reporting represents a stakeholder management model already integrated – at least on the text level – in many corporate governance codes, just enlarging the concept of capital providers from shareholders only to other internal stakeholders, and the goal of capital efficiency and profit maximisation from financial capital only to other five forms of internal capital provisions. It is also a new step in the development of social and environmental accounting and reporting, rooting from the 1970s and sustainability reporting from the 1990s. The concept of a 'business model' represents the way how an organisation creates value, comprising all its activities, its relationships with stakeholders and its tangible and intangible assets and liabilities, and finally the boards responsibilities, as for the board, 'corporate governance' and sustaining and developing the company's business model are essentially the same thing. In the end of the day, it is a question what kind of 'business model' integrated reporting based corporate governance really reflects, and how it possible varies from shareholder-centred business model. The purpose of this paper is to test (1) what kind of stakeholder model, if any, integrated reporting and especially International  Framework represents, (2) what is the impact, if any, of integrated reporting to material corporate governance in the codes it is included in, and (3) if yes, does an integrated view and especially the 'integrated thinking' behind International  Framework represent a genuine sustainable value creation driven business model based on the boundaries of the planet and social foundation for the humanity, or is it only a view to encourage organisations to take care of the profits of the specific capital providers.


The Fundamentals of Creative Advertising 2nd edition provides a rich introduction to the key elements of creative advertising. Burtenshaw, Mahon and Barfoot explore the role of the creative team (comprising art director and copywriter) and examine the ways in which these teams generate ideas and the techniques they utilize. This second edition reflects the changes that have taken place within the advertising industry over recent years and, in particular, the growth of digital media and integrated advertising campaigns. Interviews with leading practitioners, exercises and checklists combine to provide an up-to-date overview of the industry, and to encourage a practical application of the creative ideas explored within the book.


With present (2021) tally rules, the number of seats in the Bundestag is highly volatile. In 2017 it got 709 seats, 111 of them extra-ordinary. The rules may double the influence of a voter who splits the ballot, contrary to a goal of equal influence; increased assembly size is a concomitant. The paper explains when and how this happens.

A ballot's combination of Erststimme and Zweitstimme is information now ignored; the tally is as if they were collected in separate ballot boxes. Faithful accounting requires this information, but there is strong reason to expect it will reduce the 2017 assembly size to the ordinary 598 seats stated in the Federal Elections Act. Tallying 2017 votes with the present rules, but with CDU&CSU as a recognized coalition, reduces the size by 41 seats.


Abstract The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of Roundup® (RU, glyphosate-based formulation) on some parameters of the immune system and growth of Caiman latirostris. Seventy-two caimans (20-day-old) from Proyecto Yacaré (Gob. Santa Fe/MUPCN) were used. Two groups were exposed for 2 months to different concentrations of RU (11 or 21 mg/L; taking into account the concentration recommended for its application in the field), while one group was maintained as control. The RU concentration was progressively decreased through the exposure period to simulate glyphosate degradation in water. Animals were measured and weighed at the beginning and end of the experiment, and blood samples taken after exposure to determine total and differential white blood cell (WBC) counts as well as total protein concentration (TPC), and for performing protein electrophoresis. The results showed that, compared against control hosts, there was a decrease in WBC counts, a higher percentage of heterophils, a higher TPC (with a low percentage of F2 protein fraction), and a negative effect on growth in the young caimans exposed to RU. These results demonstrate that in vivo exposure to RU induced alterations in the selected immune parameters, plasma proteins, and growth of caimans, thereby providing relevant information about the effects of this type of pesticide in this important species in the Argentinian wetlands.


In this paper we propose a novel resilience scheme for OpenFlow-based Software-Defined Networking (SDN). To forward packets in line speed, OpenFlow switches store their flow tables in expensive, limited TCAM due to which the stored tables cannot be large. Most resilience mechanisms require additional entries thus the implementation in OpenFlow may quickly exceed the available TCAM. Loop-Free Alternates (LFAs) are a standardized mechanism for fast reroute in IP networks which do not require additional entries. However, LFAs cannot protect against all single link and node failures. Moreover, some LFAs even cause loops in case of some node failures or multiple failures, making additional links unusable. Excluding such LFAs reduces the fraction of protected destinations (protection coverage) in nodes even further. We suggest a scheme for detection of loops caused by LFAs. It maximizes the protection coverage because it allows all LFAs to be used without creating loops. We describe how LFAs and the loop detection scheme can be implemented in OpenFlow networks with only little packet overhead and a single additional entry per switch. We evaluate our proposal on real network topologies of varying size and connectivity. In particular, we quantify the benefit gained from loop detection. Amongst others, we study the percentage of failures that cannot be protected by LFAs at all, and the percentage of failures in which conventional LFAs cause extra loops.


Connected dominating sets (CDS) can be used to form virtual backbones for the hierarchical routing to save energy in the wireless sensor networks. The existing algorithms for CDS can only be used to the topologies that have larger vertex connective degrees. Besides, most of them do not consider the energy characteristics of the virtual backbones constructed by the dominating sets. In this paper, a referenced energy‐based CDS algorithm (RECA) is proposed, which can generate smaller CDS in random topologies without the limitation of vertex connective degrees. At the same time, the algorithm introduces Referenced Energy as a parameter for nodes when making the decision whether they are chosen to be the dominators or not. Therefore, as the experimental results show, the energy characteristic of the dominating set is improved and routing in the virtual backbones constructed by such CDSs will have a better performance. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


A 22-year-old pacient, without psychiatric antecedents, treated in the "Prof. Dr. Al. Obregia" Clinical Hospital, Clinical Psychiatry VIII Section, in December 2017, presented for psychomotor agitation, complex auditory hallucinations, solilocvia, mystical delusional ideation, social withdrawal, bizarre behaviour, and hypnic disorders. The symptoms started approximately one month before, and accentuated progressively. We will focus on the characteristics of the debute (psychotic episode) of a rare autoimmune disease, such as antiphospholipid syndrome, and also on the patient's prognosis.


Reactive oxygen species have emerged as important molecules in cardiovascular function. Recent work has shown that NAD(P)H oxidases are major sources of superoxide in vascular cells and myocytes. The biochemical characterization, activation paradigms, structure, and function of this enzyme are now partly understood. Vascular NAD(P)H oxidases share some, but not all, characteristics of the neutrophil enzyme. In response to growth factors and cytokines, they produce superoxide, which is metabolized to hydrogen peroxide, and both of these reactive oxygen species serve as second messengers to activate multiple intracellular signaling pathways. The vascular NAD(P)H oxidases have been found to be essential in the physiological response of vascular cells, including growth, migration, and modification of the extracellular matrix. They have also been linked to hypertension and to pathological states associated with uncontrolled growth and inflammation, such as atherosclerosis. (Circ Res. 2000;86:494-501.)


Objective: To investigate whether a low body mass index (BMI) has a significant relationship with mandibular bone porosity progression by conducting a mandibular inferior cortex (MIC) classification in elderly Japanese people. Material and Methods: A total of 266 study subjects, aged 70 at baseline, were recruited for this study, conducted from 1998 to 2007. The subjects were divided into two groups according to changes in the MIC on serial panoramic radiographs during this nine-year study period: a no change group (MIC-NC) and a change group (MIC-C). All subjects in the MIC-C showed changes trending toward greater fragility. We evaluated the BMI at baseline. Logistic regression analysis was performed to assess the relationship between the MIC condition during the nine-year period (0: MIC-NC, 1: MIC-C) and BMI (kg/m2) adjusted for gender, current health status (CHS), and smoking habit (SH) at baseline. Results: The mean and standard deviations of the BMI at baseline in the MIC-NC and MIC-C were 22.8 ± 2.1 and 21.8 ± 2.5 kg/m2 for males and 23.1 ± 2.9 and 21.9 ± 2.4 kg/m2 for females. There was a significant relationship between the MIC condition and the BMI in both males (p=0.04) and females (p=0.01). The logistic regression analysis revealed a significant association between the MIC condition over the nine-year period and the BMI (OR=0.84, p=0.003), which was adjusted depending on the gender (OR=5.18, p=0.000), CHS (OR=0.53, p=0.015), and SH (OR=4.15, p=0.002) at baseline. Conclusion: A low BMI carries a risk of developing mandibular bone porosity by measuring the MIC condition in panoramic radiographs.


De-tert-butylation of 2-tert-butylphenol was carried out over thermally-treated and acid-treated Jordanian bentonite clay samples. This reaction was found to follow first-order kinetics for all clay samples with different pretreatment procedures. The apparent rate constant, k, was also determined, and found to depend on the pretreatment. Thermal pretreatment at temperatures up to 250°C has an enhancing effect on surface acid sites. The total surface acidity (Ho <4.8) and the concentration of strong acid sites peaked at 250°C. Also, as a result, the maximum catalyst activity was obtained with samples treated at this temperature. Acid pretreatment with 0.10 M HCl, 1.0 M H2SO4 or 1.0 M H3PO4, followed by thermal treatment at 250°C produced the best enhancement effect on the surface acidity and catalytic activity.


Cancer of the mammary gland in children is an extremely rare affection. According to the data of the N.N. Petrov Research Institute of Oncology among 6500 patients with breast cancer, treated clinically, cancer of the mammary gland in children was revealed only in three cases (0.046%). The clinical course and prognosis of mammary cancer in children is more favourable than in adults. A possibility of development of regional and distant metastases in mammary cancer in childhood warrants the need to perform adequate both local-regional (radical Holstead mastectomy) and general procedures (chemotherapy).


The task of travel time estimation (TTE), which estimates the travel time for a given route and departure time, plays an important role in intelligent transportation systems such as navigation, route planning, and ride-hailing services. This task is challenging because of many essential aspects, such as traffic prediction and contextual information. First, the accuracy of traffic prediction is strongly correlated with the traffic speed of the road segments in a route. Existing work mainly adopts spatial-temporal graph neural networks to improve the accuracy of traffic prediction, where spatial and temporal information is used separately. However, one drawback is that the spatial and temporal correlations are not fully exploited to obtain better accuracy. Second, contextual information of a route, i.e., the connections of adjacent road segments in the route, is an essential factor that impacts the driving speed. Previous work mainly uses sequential encoding models to address this issue. However, it is difficult to scale up sequential models to large-scale real-world services. In this paper, we propose an end-to-end neural framework named ConSTGAT, which integrates traffic prediction and contextual information to address these two problems. Specifically, we first propose a spatial-temporal graph neural network that adopts a novel graph attention mechanism, which is designed to fully exploit the joint relations of spatial and temporal information. Then, in order to efficiently take advantage of the contextual information, we design a computationally efficient model that applies convolutions over local windows to capture a route's contextual information and further employs multi-task learning to improve the performance. In this way, the travel time of each road segment can be computed in parallel and in advance. Extensive experiments conducted on large-scale real-world datasets demonstrate the superiority of ConSTGAT. In addition, ConSTGAT has already been deployed in production at Baidu Maps, and it successfully keeps serving tens of billions of requests every day. This confirms that ConSTGAT is a practical and robust solution for large-scale real-world TTE services.


Several new penicillins and cephalosporins have provided important advances in the therapy of infections caused by gram-negative aerobic bacilli. Older agents, alone or in combination, possess equivalent or greater activity against gram-positive and anaerobic organisms and most community-acquired gram-negative enteric pathogens. Thus, newer agents are useful primarily for the treatment of highly resistant hospital-acquired gram-negative infections. Financial pressures created by the DRG era may favor their broader application, thus creating further resistance by selection or induction. However, prudent use of these agents for selected serious infections or for individuals threatened by aminoglycoside toxicity will yield the most durable cost-effective results.


Highly Resonant Power Transfer (HRPT) technology is currently receiving very significant attention from the industry and the smart power grid distribution community in particular. This technology ensures electrical power transmission between two points while controlling the level of transmitted power and ensures the immediate shutdown of the transmitted power in the event of a problem. This paper reviews the inductive power transfer method and describes the design of an ultra-compact PLA core electromagnetic coupler. The proposed architecture confines the magnetic field in a toroidal PLA core transformer, and by avoiding the use of heavy and bulky shielding plates, reduces magnetic losses and avoids the Curie point. As a result, the overall unit has a weight of 5 kg and a volume of only 0.013 m3. The electromagnetic coupler is capable of transferring a peak power of 150 kW with an operating frequency of 193 kHz, giving a satisfactory efficiency of 95%. The proposed novel system was first investigated through CST 3D numerical modelling to determine the electrical parameters of the coupler's equivalent circuit and its efficiency, to verify its compatibility with the ICNIRP 2010 standard and to evaluate its temperature rise with an air-cooling system. Afterwards, the designed coupler was built with a 3D printing device and finally tested experimentally. Simulation and experimental results are compared and show a good agreement.


Introduction Minimally invasive surgery has become the standard for the early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The appropriateness of the kind of lung resection for the elderly patients is still debated. Methods We retrospectively reviewed patients with older than 75 years who underwent robotic lobectomy between May 2016 to June 2022. We selected 103 patients who met the inclusion criteria of the study. The preoperative cardiorespiratory functional evaluations were collected, and the risk of postoperative complications was calculated according to the Charlson Comorbidity Index, the American College of Surgery surgical risk calculator (ACS-NSQIP), EVAD score, and American Society of Anesthesiology (ASA) score. The patients were divided in two groups according to the presence of postoperative complications. Results Forty-three patients were female, and 72.8% of the total population were former or active smokers. Thirty-five patients reported postoperative complications. The analysis of the two groups showed that the predicted postoperative forced expiratory volumes in the first second (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC) were significantly lower in patients presenting postoperative complications (p=0.04). Moreover, the upstaging rate and the unexpected nodal metastases were higher in the postoperative complication groups. Conclusion Robotic-assisted lobectomy for early-stage lung cancer is a safe and feasible approach in selected elderly patients. The factors that could predict the complication rate was the predicted postoperative FEV1 and the nodal disease.


ABSTRACT About 500 million cases of malaria occur annually. However, a substantial number of patients who actually have relapsing fever (RF) Borrelia infection can be misdiagnosed with malaria due to similar manifestations and geographic distributions of the two diseases. More alarmingly, a high prevalence of concomitant infections with malaria and RF Borrelia has been reported. Therefore, we used a mouse model to study the effects of such mixed infection. We observed a 21-fold increase in spirochete titers, whereas the numbers of parasitized erythrocytes were reduced 15-fold. This may be explained by polarization of the host immune response toward the intracellular malaria parasite, resulting in unaffected extracellular spirochetes and hosts that succumb to sepsis. Mixed infection also resulted in severe malaria anemia with low hemoglobin levels, even though the parasite counts were low. Overall, coinfected animals had a higher fatality rate and shorter time to death than those with either malaria or RF single infection. Furthermore, secondary malaria infection reactivated a quiescent RF brain infection, which is the first evidence of a clinically and biologically relevant cue for reactivation of RF Borrelia infection. Our study highlights the importance of investigating concomitant infections in vivo to elucidate the immune responses that are involved in the clinical outcome.


This paper studies metaphor use in British Public Bill Committee debates. It focuses on the way in which
 legislators frame their arguments in metaphorical terms under the form of figurative analogies. Because these figurative analogies
 can be misleading by oversimplifying the issue under discussion, resisting them by putting forward counter-argumentation is a
 crucial and necessary skill. The purpose of this paper is to explore the phenomenon of countering figurative analogies in
 legislative debates, and to show that resistance to figurative analogies is a complex phenomenon comprising various types of
 criticisms to different types of metaphor. To this end, we present qualitative analyses of a number of case studies of resistance
 to figurative analogies found in the British Public Bill Committee debates on the Education Bill 2010–11 by employing the
 three-dimensional model of metaphor (Steen, 2011) and the pragma-dialectical theory of
 argumentation (Van Eemeren, 2010).


The study was conducted in an attempt to investigate teachers' treatment of students' oral errors in EFL classes at Shambu Preparatory School. Descriptive survey design was used to investigate the major identified students' oral errors, to find out the types of oral error treatments EFL teachers provide and to investigate the techniques they use to treat students' oral errors. Interview and observation were used as instruments of data collection. The participants of the study were two English language teachers of grade 11 who were comprehensively selected to participate in interview and get their classes observed as well. The results indicated that there were 66 oral errors made by students which were categorized into 10 as pronunciation, tense, verb group, agreement, noun group, preposition, word order, article, wrong numbers and adjectives. The findings also showed 13 types of oral error treatments were made by the targeted teachers as provide, transfer, praise, explanation, question, interruption, acceptance, repetition, use of blackboard, ignore, negation and clues, prompt and criticism. Furthermore, it revealed that teachers used three techniques of oral error treatments as Teacher correction, Self correction and peer correction giving more room to teacher correction which is not pedagogically sound. Therefore, to alleviate the students' linguistic problems, the targeted teachers are required to give appropriate oral error treatments. Besides, it would be better if the teachers give students the chance of self correction instead of playing the lion's role by themselves Keywords : Oral Error Mistake Utterance Shambu EFL teachers


The effect of anisotropy caused by a confining potential on the properties of fermionic cold atoms in a triangular optical lattice is systematically investigated by using the dynamical cluster approximation combined with the continuous time quantum Monte—Carlo algorithm. The quantum phase diagrams which reflect the temperature—interaction relation and the competition between the anisotropic parameter and the interaction are presented with full consideration of the anisotropy of the system. Our results show that the system undergoes a transition from Fermi liquid to Mott insulator when the repulsive interaction reaches a critical value. The Kondo effect also can be observed in this system and the pseudogap is suppressed at low temperatures due to the Kondo effect. A feasible experiment protocol to observe these phenomena in an anisotropic triangular optical lattice with cold atoms is proposed, in which the hopping terms are closely related to the lattice confining potential and the atomic interaction can be adjusted via the Feshbach resonance.


Absolute cross sections of the associative ionization in the collision of with or have been measured in a merged beam experiment over a relative velocity interval ranging from 0.4 to . At a given relative velocity, the two cross sections significantly differ at low velocities where the cross section for formation exceeds that of by as much as 35%. The difference, however, decreases with the velocity and falls in the experimental error above . In both cases the energy dependence becomes compatible at low energy with an law.


High night temperature (HNT) can induce ethylene-triggered reactive oxygen species production, which can cause premature leaf senescence and membrane damage, thereby affecting production, consumption and transfer of photosynthates, and yield. The 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) can competitively bind with ethylene receptors and decrease ethylene effects. The objective was to determine the effects of HNT and 1-MCP on leaf photosynthetic rate (PN), chlorophyll fluorescence, total chlorophyll (TC), respiration, membrane damage, pollen germination, spikelet fertility (SF) and yield of rice hybrid 'XL723'. Plants were grown under ambient night temperature (ANT) (25 °C) or HNT (30 °C) with or without 1-MCP treatment. Application of 1-MCP was at the boot stage. The decrease in yield (11 %) under HNT was associated with decreased PN (4 %), stomatal conductance (8 %), quantum yield (11 %) TC (23 %) and SF (5 %) and increased respiration (74 %), Fo/Fm (increase in thylakoid membrane damage; 11 %) and membrane damage (leaf electrolytic leakage; 57 %). The 1-MCP-treated plants grown under HNT showed increased yield (17 %), which was associated with increased PN (10 %), stomatal conductance (30 %), quantum yield (9 %), TC (37 %) and SF (11 %) and decreased respiration (39 %), Fo/Fm (5 %) and membrane damage (18 %). Plants grown under HNT showed increased grain chalkiness (154 %) compared with plants grown under ANT.


A new coronavirus emerged in December 2019 in Wuhan city of China, named as the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus‐2 (SARS‐CoV‐2), and the disease was called coronavirus disease‐2019 (COVID‐19). The infection due to this virus spread exponentially throughout China and then spread across >205 nations, including the United States (US). Gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopies are routinely performed in the US and globally. Previous reports of isolated infection outbreaks were reported with endoscopes acting as potential vectors. While multidrug‐resistant organisms have been reported to be spread by endoscopes, few cases of viruses such as hepatitis B and C are noted in the literature. COVID‐19 is predominately spread by droplet transmission, although recent evidence has showed that shedding in feces and feco‐oral transmission could also be possible. It is unclear if COVID‐19 could be transmitted by endoscopes, but it could theoretically happen due to contact with mucous membranes and body fluids. GI endoscopies involve close contact with oral and colonic contents exposing endoscopy staff to respiratory and oropharyngeal secretions. This can increase the risk of contamination and contribute to virus transmission. Given these risks, all major GI societies have called for rescheduling elective non‐urgent procedures and perform only emergent or urgent procedures based on the clinical need. Furthermore, pre‐screening of all individuals prior to endoscopy is recommended. This article focuses on the risk of COVID‐19 transmission by GI shedding, the potential role of endoscopes as a vector of this novel virus, including transmission during endoscopies, and prevention strategies including deferral of elective non‐urgent endoscopy procedures.


We examine the relative timing of numerous brain regions involved in human decisions that are based on external criteria, learned information, personal preferences, or unconstrained internal considerations. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG) and advanced signal analysis techniques, we were able to non-invasively reconstruct oscillations of distributed neural networks in the high-gamma frequency band (60–150 Hz). The time course of the observed neural activity suggested that two-alternative forced choice tasks are processed in four overlapping stages: processing of sensory input, option evaluation, intention formation, and action execution. Visual areas are activated first, and show recurring activations throughout the entire decision process. The temporo-occipital junction and the intraparietal sulcus are active during evaluation of external values of the options, 250–500 ms after stimulus presentation. Simultaneously, personal preference is mediated by cortical midline structures. Subsequently, the posterior parietal and superior occipital cortices appear to encode intention, with different subregions being responsible for different types of choice. The cerebellum and inferior parietal cortex are recruited for internal generation of decisions and actions, when all options have the same value. Action execution was accompanied by activation peaks in the contralateral motor cortex. These results suggest that high-gamma oscillations as recorded by MEG allow a reliable reconstruction of decision processes with excellent spatiotemporal resolution.


This paper presents a theory of workplace planning and a steering model to support the management of the facility planning process. The theory links workplace planning to production, not only to construction production, but also to the organization's general strategy. A spatial investment in an operation competes for the same resources as the other investments in the operations. Spaces are the scene of a temporal flow of operations and nonuse time. If waste of space for unneeded operations and waste of non-use-time can be reduced, more resources will be available for the other investments in operations, spatial or non-spatial. In the TFV theory of production value generation is viewed as a process where value for the customer is created through fulfillment of his requirements. This research suggests that also requirement identification should be included in production. Workplace planning is a process where valuable requirements for workplace production are determined through evaluating the values of stakeholders against the organization's strategy. The product of workplace planning for the rest of construction is the stakeholders commitment. The customer workplace is linked to a complex social system. The proposed steering model is based on dialogue between strategic and operational management. It is an application of closed loop control which operates on rapid feedback between stakeholders. The process encourages learning, group working and transparency. The steering model includes a procedure that models the customer's need for space based on the temporal and geometric factors. It gives the room schedule, functional possibilities and utilization degrees. It underlines accountability between decisions and outcomes. Achieving a final commitment of an organization is an iterative process of commitments, withdrawals and new approaches. The commitment drivers have been studied for steering model purposes.


In the January 1994 issue of theArchives, Rauch et al 1 report the relationship between regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) and obsessive-compulsive symptoms measured by the Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder [OCD] Analogue Scale (OCDAS). In a provoked OCD state, OCDAS scores were positively correlated with left orbitofrontal rCBF and negatively correlated with right orbitofrontal rCBF. Rauch et al conclude that "... these two regions may play opposing roles in mediating and suppressing OCD symptoms respectively." These OCD findings strongly resonate with our own findings in patients with lateralized focal frontal lesions. 2 We have designed an inherently ambiguous cognitive activation procedure, the Cognitive Bias Task (CBT). A high CBT score indicates a context-dependent, internally driven behavior; and a low score, contextindependent, externally driven behavior. The CBT scores of healthy controls are in the middle of the scale, suggesting a balanced response selection strategy. Lateralized frontal lesions produced extreme deviations of CBT scores


To provide information on the wake characteristics of Dynamic Positioning (DP) thrusters when operating with and without a nozzle under varied operating conditions, experiments were done on a ducted propeller model in a cavitation tunnel. The propeller flow field was measured with a two-component Laser Doppler Velocimetry (LDV) system, up to 1.5 diameters downstream. These experiments were carried out with and without the nozzle, and the results are presented here for a pitch/diameter ratio of 1.2 and an advance coefficient of 0.4. This paper shows and compares the results of the DP thruster near wake hydrodynamic characteristics obtained by the LDV system when operating with and without a nozzle.Copyright © 2004 by ASME


The construction of carbon-carbon bonds through cross-coupling between two electrophiles in the absence of excess metallic reducing agents is a desirable objective in chemistry. Here, we show that N-alkylpyridinium salts can be efficiently merged with aryl or alkyl halides in an intermolecular fashion, affording products in up to 90%yield at ambient temperature. These reactions harness the ability of N-alkylpyridinium salts to form electron donor-acceptor complexes with Hantzsch esters, enabling photoinduced single-electron transfer and fragmentation to afford alkyl radicals that are subsequently trapped by a Ni-based catalytic species to promote C(sp2)-C(sp3) andC(sp3)-C(sp3) bond formation. The operationally simple protocol is applicable to site-selective cross-coupling and tolerates diverse functional groups, including those that are sensitive towards metal reductants.


Humanities scholars increasingly use mobile devices such as laptops, iPhones, and iPads in their professional lives. We are exploring the opportunities for employing such devices for supporting scholarly activities in archive reading rooms. As a first step in this process, we are studying how reading room policies related to the use of technological devices impact scholars' interaction with the source materials in terms of capturing, organizing, note taking, and record keeping for future use of found materials. We studied the policy documents made available by thirty archives and complemented the results by soliciting the perspectives of administrators who craft these policies and scholars who use these archives. We present our analysis and an early prototype of a policy awareness mobile application called AMTracker.


In recent years, with the continuous development of information technology and the advent of the Internet + era, the sharing economy has not only changed people's life and consumption patterns but also reconstructed the value cocreation process between enterprises and customers. Unlike the traditional economic model in which the enterprise is the dominant player, in the sharing economy, the enterprise withdraws from the dominant position in the value creation process and becomes a platform to support and serve the value creation of users (customers in the traditional economic model), and users become the dominant player in value creation. Users are not only the core subject of value cocreation in the sharing economy model but also the key factor determining the profitability of enterprises and the image of the platform. Bilateral users create rich value for individual users, platform enterprises, and society through value creation behaviors such as trading of the right to use idle resources and online and offline communication and interaction. Therefore, it is necessary to study the value cocreation behaviors of bilateral users of shared service platforms. This paper studies the value cocreation of bilateral users of shared service platforms, hoping to help platform enterprises further understand user behavior and needs, better fulfill the role of support and service in the process of value cocreation, provide a good value cocreation environment for bilateral users, enhance the reputation and influence of platform enterprises through user value cocreation behaviors, expand market share, and form competitive advantages. This paper stands in the perspective of intellectual enterprises and studies the problem of knowledge sharing. From the perspective of individuals, it mainly analyzes the willingness and ability of individual knowledge sharing, focusing on the "prisoner's dilemma" in game theory to study the willingness of individuals to share. From the perspective of knowledge, we mainly analyze the interference brought by the implicit and exclusive nature of knowledge to knowledge sharing, focusing on the implicit nature of knowledge. In addition, this paper only studies the influence of value cocreation of consumer users on value cocreation of resource users and does not deeply explore whether the value cocreation of resource users influences the value cocreation of consumer users.


Health and Medicine Treatment in Islamic Tradition: a Study on Sahih al-Bukhâri. The main objective of medical treatment in Islam is to maintain health rather than curing the disease. This article specifically discusses the views of Imam Bukhari on health coverage and medicine treatment in Islam as stated in his book, Sahih al- Bukhari. Sahih al-Bukhari is one of the most important and authentic collection books of Hadith. The description of health and medicine in Saheeh al-Bukhari discussed in the chapter of al-Tibb. The Hadiths collected in the book are more associated with the prevention treatment (preventive medicine) rather than the healing treatment (therapeutic medicine). DOI:  10.15408/ajis.v16i2.4452


In the human genome, the G-rich sequences that form quadruplexes are present along with their C-rich complementary strands; this suggests the existence of equilibrium between a quadruplex and a Watson-Crick duplex which allows the execution of their respective biological functions. We have investigated the sensitivity of this equilibrium to pharmacological agents by employing locked nucleic acid (LNA) modified complementary strands, and demonstrated successful invasion of the stable telomeric quadruplex d[(G(3)TTA)(3)G(3)]. Fluorescence, UV, ITC, and SPR studies were performed to understand the binding process involving the preformed quadruplex and LNA-modified complementary strands compared with that involving the unmodified complementary strand. Our data indicate that LNA modifications in the complementary strand shift the equilibrium toward the duplex state. These modifications confer increased thermodynamic stability to the duplex and increase the magnitude of relative free energy (DeltaDeltaG degrees) difference between duplex and quadruplex, thus favoring the predominance of duplex population over quadruplex. This superior ability of LNA-modified complementary strand can be exploited to pave an exploratory approach in which it hybridizes to a telomeric quadruplex and drives duplex formation, and inhibits the recognition of 3' G-rich overhang by RNA template of telomerase which guides telomere extension.


Humans have attempted to disrupt the progression of pregnancy for a very long time. This dates back to the realization that it was a sexual activity which started the reproductive cycle. Folk methods for preventing pregnancy after unprotected sexual activity are physiologically unable to be effective and we now have chemical, mainly hormonal methods, and a mechanical method the intrauterine device which do work in the very early stages before conception can be diagnosed with certainty. These methods are impeded by those who worry that fertilisation of the ovum may have occurred, and that the method may then be abortifacient. Considering that it is possible to easily disrupt an established pregnancy by medical or surgical means depending on the duration, this would be no different than any other means of abortion induction. This evaluation takes the approach of viewing pregnancy as a 40 week continuum and that the approach to halting it after it has begun should simply be chemical or mechanical depending on duration and subject preference and clinical suitability as appropriate. There is no clinical reason to not be able to act in the early stages before the diagnosis of pregnancy is determinable. Clinicians may want to use the duality of conceived and non-conceived simultaneously if it helps to take action to interrupt the pregnancy continuum so that they may view their client as pregnant or is not pregnant enabling them to act accordingly. This could be viewed as the 'uncertainty principle' of emergency contraception. The methods available and their historical context and limitations are presented and examined.