Expression of BZI-1 Delta N, a dominant-negative form of the tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) basic leucine zipper (bZIP) transcription factor BZI-1 leads to severe defects in pollen development which coincides with reduced transcript abundance of the stamen specific invertase gene NIN88 and decreased extracellular invertase enzymatic activity. This finding suggests a function of BZI-1 in regulating carbohydrate supply of the developing pollen. BZI-1 heterodimerises with the bZIP factors BZI-2, BZI-3 and BZI-4 in vitro and in planta. Whereas BZI-1 exhibits only weak activation properties, BZI-1/BZI-2 heterodimers strongly activate transcription. Consistently, approaches leading to reduced levels of functional BZI-1 or BZI-2 both significantly interfere with pollen development, auxin responsiveness and carbohydrate partitioning. In situ hybridisation studies for BZI-1 and BZI-2 confirmed temporal and spatial overlapping expression patterns in tapetum and pollen supporting functional cooperation of these factors during pollen development. Plants over-expressing BZI-4 produce significantly reduced amounts of intact pollen and are also impaired in NIN88 transcription and enzymatic activity. BZI-4 homodimer efficiently binds to a G-box located in the NIN88 promoter but exhibits almost no transcriptional activation capacity. As BZI-4 does not actively repress transcription, we propose that its homodimer blocks G-box mediated transcription. In summary, these data support a regulatory model in which BZI-4 homodimers and BZI-1/BZI-2 heterodimers perform opposing functions as negative or positive transcriptional regulators during pollen development.


Cordierite is known as three different crystalline forms, such as metastable form (µ- cordierite), high temperature form (α–cordierite; indialite), and low temperature form (β-cordierite). In general, cordierite has a phase transition behavior from metastable form to high temperature form. In this study, we focused to synthesize the porous cordierite at low temperature using reaction method without metastable form. When we used a pure starting powders (Al2O3, MgO, and SiO2), metastable cordierite and Mg spinel phase was obtained during the heat treatment. However, fly ash based mixture used as a starting powder, we obtained a porous α–cordierite at low synthesis temperature through transition from sapphirine/spinel and mullite/spinel


Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) is undertaking an EOR project on a heavy oil field. This 3DVSP project was designed to monitor a 30-day steam injection into two reservoir sands which are separated by thin shale and top sealed by a thicker shale.

The goals of this project include creating a repeatable baseline survey for future 4DVSP purposes, acquiring high resolution data so individual thin reservoirs can be imaged, reservoir characterization analysis, and estimation of the steam chamber size after a 30-day CSS injection. Obtaining the highest possible frequencies was identified as a critical success factor for achieving these goals.

Extensive modelling and innovative customization of the acquisition design resulted in high resolution 3D seismic which provided surveillance and steam monitoring of thin vertically stacked reservoirs. The results demonstrated the steam flow direction was complex rather than a simple radial pattern. Reservoir characterization helped explain some of the complexity of the Cyclic Steam Stimulation program. Understanding the reservoirs, barriers, and effectiveness the steam floods will help determine where infill producer or injection wells need to be drilled to optimize production.


We present immunocytochemical localizations of four enzymes involved in p-menthane monoterpene biosynthesis in mint: the large and small subunits of peppermint (Mentha x piperita) geranyl diphosphate synthase, spearmint (Mentha spicata) (−)-(4S)-limonene-6-hydroxylase, peppermint (−)-trans-isopiperitenol dehydrogenase, and peppermint (+)-pulegone reductase. All were localized to the secretory cells of peltate glandular trichomes with abundant labeling corresponding to the secretory phase of gland development. Immunogold labeling of geranyl diphosphate synthase occurred within secretory cell leucoplasts, (−)-4S-limonene-6-hydroxylase labeling was associated with gland cell endoplasmic reticulum, (−)-trans-isopiperitenol dehydrogenase labeling was restricted to secretory cell mitochondria, while (+)-pulegone reductase labeling occurred only in secretory cell cytoplasm. We discuss this pathway compartmentalization in relation to possible mechanisms for the intracellular movement of monoterpene metabolites, and for monoterpene secretion into the extracellular essential oil storage cavity.


Article type: Original Article Received: Aug. 2015 Accepted: Dec. 2015 Corresponding author: Elnaz Asghari e-mail: asghari.elnaz@gmail. com Background & Aim: Studies have shown that family caregivers' attitude toward mental illness affects their caring to mental patients and may reduce the quality of caring to them. This study aimed to determine the effect of group psychoeducation on attitude toward mental illness in the family caregivers of patients with bipolar disorder. Methods & Materials: In this randomized clinical trial study conducted in 2015, 74 family caregivers of the patients with bipolar disorder who had been hospitalized in the psychiatric wards of Razi hospital in Tabriz were selected by random sampling method. Then, they were randomly assigned into the experimental and control groups. The families of experimental group participated in 8 continuous 90-minute 2 times a week psychoeducational sessions. Family caregivers' attitude toward mental illness was measured using the questionnaire of Opinion about Mental Illnesses (OMI) before and after intervention. Data analysis was conducted using descriptive statistics, Chi-square test, independent t-test, paired t-test and ANCOVA on SPSS software version 13. Results: The results revealed that there was no significant difference in mean score of attitude toward mental illness between the experimental group and the control group before intervention (92.54±8.51 vs. 90.52±9.43, P>0.05). But the mean score of family caregivers' posttest in the experimental group significantly increased compared to the control group (105.43±14.72 vs. 90.52±7.50, P<0.05). Conclusion: The study results demonstrate that psychoeducational program improves family caregivers' attitude toward mental illness. Training methods such as group psychoeducation can be effective in promoting positive attitude in the families of patients with psychiatric disorder.


CASE REPORT: OBSTRUCTIVE SLEEP APNEA WITH OBESITY HYPOVENTILATION SYNDROME HOANG HUU NGUYEN, TUNG DUY PHAN, BAO KHAC LE Respiratory Department/Phoi Viet Clinic Gia Dinh Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Respiratory Department/Gia Dinh Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and Respiratory Department/Phoi Viet Clinic Gia Dinh Hospital, Pharmacy and Medicine University in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam


A captive Cercopithecus nictitans x C. cephus male was examined at loci on the X- and Y-chromosomes as a test of previously described phylogenetic methods for identifying hybrid Cercopithecus monkeys. The results confirm the reliability of such assays, indicating that they can be of immediate utility for studies of wild populations in Gabon, where the two species have hybridised. A closer examination of the resultant sex chromosomal topologies, combined with recent mitochondrial studies, reveals two emerging patterns in the evolution of the cephus species group. First, all three genetic systems (X-DNA, Y-DNA and mtDNA) agree that the earliest divergence separates West African from Central African species, consistent with a major faunal transition zone in the vicinity of the Cross River. Second, the X-DNA and mtDNA trees reveal polyphyly of C. cephus lineages. It is unclear at present whether these polyphylies are due to ancestral hybridisation or incomplete lineage sorting, or both.


Cellulose fibers were isolated from sugarcane bagasse in three stages. Initially sugarcane bagasse was subjected to a pre-treatment process with hydrolyzed acid to eliminate hemicellulose. Whole cellulosic fibers thus obtained were then subjected to a two-stage delignification process and finally to a bleaching process. The chemical structure of the resulting cellulose fibers was studied by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to analyze the effects of hydrolysis, delignification, and bleaching on the structure of the fibers. Two different thermal analysis techniques were used to study the bleaching cellulose fibers. These techniques confirmed that cellulose fibers were isolated from sugarcane bagasse. A future goal is to use these fibers as reinforcement elements in composites, organic-inorganic hybrid, and membranes for nanofiltration.


Published in: Bulletin of Geosciences DOI: 10.3140/bull.geosci.1188 Publication date: 2010 Document version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Document license: Unspecified Citation for published version (APA): Wu, R., Stouge, S., Li, Z., & Wang, Z. (2010). Lower and Middle Ordovician conodont diversity of the Yichang Region, Hubei Province, Central China. Bulletin of Geosciences, 85(4), 631-644. https://doi.org/10.3140/bull.geosci.1188


Text summarization has been a significant challenge in the Nature Process Language (NLP) field. The approach of dealing with text summarization can be roughly divided into two main paradigms: extractive and abstractive manner. The former allows capturing the most representative snippets in a document while the latter generates a summary by understanding the latent meaning in a material with a language generation model. Recently, studies found that jointly employing the extractive and abstractive summarization models can take advantage of their complementary advantages, creating both concise and informative summaries. However, the reinforced summarization models mainly depend on the ROUGE-based reward, which only has the ability to quantify the extent of wordmatching rather than semantic-matching between document and summary. Meanwhile, documents are usually collected with redundant or noisy information due to the existence of repeated or irrelevant information in real-world applications. Therefore, only depending on ROUGE-based reward to optimize the reinforced summarization models may lead to biased summary generation. In this paper, we propose a novel deep Hybrid Summarization with semantic weighting Reward and latent structure Detector (HySRD). Specifically, HySRD introduces a new reward mechanism that simultaneously takes advantage of semantic and syntactic information among documents and summaries. To effectively model the accuracy semantics, a latent structure detector is designed to incorporate the high-level latent structures in the sentence representation for information selection. Extensive experiments have been conducted on two well-known benchmark datasets CNN/Daily Mail (short input document) and BigPatent (long input document). The automatic evaluation shows that our approach significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art of hybrid summarization models.


The paper provides an overview and analysis of the initial steps for the establishment process of a separate children's ombudsman in Turkey. It examines the legal, political and social reasons why an ombudsman for children would be needed in the country. Specifically, it analyses Turkey's legal framework and international obligations, concluding that lack of implementation of the law and monitoring of children's rights are the main challenges. Children have disproportionately high rates of poverty, and are often victims of various forms of violence, in particular girls. The political structure of the country is affected by significant tensions, especially with regard to the place of religion in the public sphere. The paper analyses the possible reasons for the stalemate and looks at the text of the law from a child rights perspective.


Measuring poverty is a first step to the design of effective public policies, however, it is also essential to know where the poor are located. The main objective of this research is to evaluate the spatial heterogeneity of the factors that influence monetary poverty for each district in Peru. We apply a Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) approach, which allows us to capture the non-stationarity of the hidden data and to provide coefficients for each district, unlike the OLS model. This research mainly uses the Poverty Map and the Population and Household Census of Peru, both from 2007 and 2017. The overriding findings of our results indicate that female headship, secondary education, electricity, and sanitation services are directly associated with poverty reduction at the local level. For 2007, significant effects are mainly concentrated in the districts of Pasco, Lima and Cajamarca regions. For 2017, the results show a shift towards districts of Junín, Huancavelica, and Cajamarca regions. Likewise, it is highlighted that the highest mean negative effect on poverty is generated by Secondary Education in the GWR estimates; while malnutrition represents the highest mean positive effect on poverty for the level and intercensal models. Finally, the empirical evidence found in this research can help establish better policy designs at the district level. Article History: Received: August 01 2020 / Revised: September 28 2020 / Accepted: March 16 2021


A comprehensive harmonic monitoring program has been designed and implemented on a typical medium-voltage distribution system in Australia. The monitoring program involved measurements of the three-phase harmonic currents and voltages from the residential, commercial, and industrial load sectors. Data over a three year period have been downloaded and available for analysis. The large amount of acquired data makes it difficult to identify operational events that significantly impact the harmonics generated on the system. More sophisticated analysis methods are required to automatically determine which part of the measurement data are of importance. Based on this information, a closer inspection of smaller data sets can then be carried out to determine the reasons for its detection. In this paper, we classify the measurement data using data mining based on the minimum message length technique comprising unsupervised learning to assign cluster designation and supervised learning to describe the generated clusters and to predict the occurrences of unusual clusters in future measurement data. The clusters obtained from the unsupervised learning process provide the engineers with a rapid, visually oriented method of evaluating the underlying operational information contained within the clusters.


L-arginine acetate (LAA) single crystal is an interesting nonlinear optical and dielectric material. In order to understand the effect of some impurities (both inorganic and organic) on the electrical properties of LAA, we have grown from aqueous solutions pure and impurity (NaC/KCl/glycine/urea) added single crystals and electrically characterized. DC and AC (with five different frequencies, viz. 100 Hz, 1 kHz, 10 kHz, 100 kHz and 1 MHz) electrical measurements were carried out at various temperatures ranging from 40-150oC along both aand c- directions. Results indicate an increase of the electrical parameters, viz. sac, er, tand and sdc with the increase of temperature. The results also indicate that the organic impurities decrease the er value < 4.0 for a wide temperature range, 40-150oC.


Background saliva is established to contain high counts SARS-CoV-2 virus and contact with saliva droplets, contaminated surfaces or airborne particles are sources of viral transmission. The generation of infective aerosols during clinical procedures is of particular concern. Therefore, a fuller understanding of the potential of mouthwash to reduce viral counts and modulate the risk of transmission in medical professional and public context is an important research topic. Method we determined the virucidal activity of four anti-bacterial mouthwashes against a surrogate for SARS-CoV-2, Human CoV-SARS 229E, using a standard ASTM suspension test, with dilution and contact times applicable to recommended mouthwash use. Results the mouthwash formulated with 0.07% Cetylpyridinium Chloride exhibited virucidal effects providing a ≥3.0 log reduction HCoV-229E viral count. Mouthwashes containing 15.7% ethanol, 0.2% zinc sulphate heptahydrate and a mix of enzymes and proteins did not demonstrate substantive virucidal activity in this test. Conclusion mouthwash containing 0.07% Cetylpyridinium Chloride warrants further laboratory and clinical assessment to determine their potential benefit in reducing the risk of SARS-CoV-2. Highlights SARS-CoV-2 can be transmitted through contact with infective saliva. Studies are needed to understand if mouthwash can lower SARS-CoV-2 transmission risk. 0.07% Cetylpyridinium Chloride (CPC) mouthwash exhibited virucidal effects against HCoV-SARS 229E. Further studies on potential of 0.07% CPC mouthwash against SARS-CoV-2 are warranted.


Preparing our future citizens for postsecondary education and careers that span a continuum of sophistication is not a new topic in education. However, the rapid changes in technology and increased competition from industrialized nations have changed the landscape and meaning of college and career readiness. As part of a strategy to better prepare students, since 2005, 31 states have implemented collegeand careerreadiness standards (CCRS), with 20 states also requiring that students complete high school graduation requirements that will make them college and career ready (Howard & Madison-Harris, 2011). This briefing paper provides details on the meaning of collegeand career-readiness standards, effective implementation of these standards, next steps in the implementation process, and progress being made by state departments of education (SDEs) in the southeast region toward this crucial objective.


Enacted by the U.S. Congress to more readily advance inventions to practical benefit, the 1980 Bayh?Dole Act allows U.S. institutions to take the title of federally funded inventions. Thus, it effectively removed the U.S. federal government as the gatekeeper for technology transfer.


Efficient, robust and accurate algorithms are proposed for solving the multiple scattering problem by M circular obstacles for the whole spectrum of frequency. The representation of the solution is based on an integral equation formulation next solved by using Fourier basis. Numerical examples are provided to show that the approaches are efficient.


In their article from 2006, Annan and Hargreaves present a probabilistic estimate of climate sensitivity obtained by using Bayes' theorem to combine information from different sources. In this comment article we critisize two aspects of their reasoning, namely using probability density functions and likelihood functions interchangeably and the assumed independence of evidence from the different sources. The derivation of their result rests on key assumptions, some stated explicitly and some left implicit, which could be unrealistic. Thus their study does not convincingly reduce the large uncertainty of climate sensitivity remaining in previous observationally-based studies.


An alternative for sustainable urban development is to revegetate cities with the construction of planters as well as to recover degraded sites. The objective of this work was to characterize urban waste materials produced in Mexico City and to evaluate their potential for constructing Technosols for plant growth, as an alternative to use in revegetating the city without affecting natural landscapes. Construction and demolition waste materials amended with different application rates of compost made out of gardening wastes from Mexico City green areas were tested. Nine mixtures were prepared; three based on concrete, three based on demolition waste and three based on excavation waste. Changes on physical, chemical and physicochemical properties of these mixtures, namely nutrient contents, water retention and aeration capacity, were monitored in a twelve-month experiment. The mineralogy and the risk regarding the release of heavy metals and trace elements were also evaluated in the soluble fraction. The constructed Technosols were appropriate, to a greater or lesser extent, for tomato plant growth. Soil pH and soil electrical conductivity (EC) were the main factors defining their suitability; both parameters changed over time due to the washing of salts. The particle size of the mineral materials as well as the application rates of compost used in the construction of the Technosols resulted in adequate water holding capacity and soil aeration for plant growth. The type of parental materials defined the majority of the Technosol characteristics as well as their ability to function as a plant support. The concentrations of readily available heavy and trace metals were not a limitation for plant growth. However, potential co-transport of these elements with soluble organic matter should be considered in further research.


AIM
There is an increasing need for an appropriate and readily-available material to reconstruct large bone defects, one of the most significant problems in the dental and maxillo-facial fields. The in vitro study examines the effects of OSTEOPLANT ANGIOSTAD, a product developed to increase osteoinductivity.

METHODS
The product's biological properties were assessed by examining: the viability of cultured bone-marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) through the methylthiazol tetrazolium assay; transforming growth factor (TGF)-b release by these cells through the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and the migration capacity of MSC and endothelial cells, by the in vitro wound closure test and transwell-migration assay, respectively.

RESULTS
OSTEOPLANT ANGIOSTAD preserved MSC's viability and improved their capacity to release TGF-b1. It also increased in vitro wound healing by MSC and migration of endothelial cells.

CONCLUSION
The results show that, since it increases the production by MSC of proangiogenic factors such as TGF-beta and promotes endothelial cell migration, OSTEOPLANT ANGIOSTAD may be an appropriate adjunct to accelerate the osteointegration of bone substitutes.


This article is designed to serve two purposes, one educational and one practical. First, this article explores the parameters of morals clauses in talent contracts and the relevant case law interpreting such clauses. Against this backdrop, this article will shift its focus and explore the specific information (and resulting consequences) of which talent should be aware when agreeing to a contract that includes a morals clause – that is, it will explore what talent should know about such clauses. As a general proposition, talent needs to know that a morals clause is powerful enough to impact important aspects of one's career, ranging from one's compensation and continued employment to restrictions upon his or her personal behavior. From a practical perspective, talented individuals who understand this information will be more fully informed about the parameters, effects, and potential consequences of morals clauses in their contracts.


The gastric aspartic proteinases (pepsin A, pepsin B, gastricsin and chymosin) are synthesized in the gastric mucosa as inactive precursors, known as zymogens. The gastric zymogens each contain a prosegment (i.e. additional residues at the N-terminus of the active enzyme) that serves to stabilize the inactive form and prevent entry of the substrate to the active site. Upon ingestion of food, each of the zymogens is released into the gastric lumen and undergoes conversion into active enzyme in the acidic gastric juice. This activation reaction is initiated by the disruption of electrostatic interactions between the prosegment and the active enzyme moiety at acidic pH values. The conversion of the zymogen into its active form is a complex process, involving a series of conformational changes and bond cleavage steps that lead to the unveiling of the active site and ultimately the removal and dissociation of the prosegment from the active centre of the enzyme. During this activation reaction, both the prosegment and the active enzyme undergo changes in conformation, and the proteolytic cleavage of the prosegment can occur in one or more steps by either an intra- or inter-molecular reaction. This variability in the mechanism of proteolysis appears to be attributable in part to the structure of the prosegment. Because of the differences in the activation mechanisms among the four types of gastric zymogens and between species of the same zymogen type, no single model of activation can be proposed. The mechanism of activation of the gastric aspartic proteinases and the contribution of the prosegment to this mechanism are discussed, along with future directions for research.


Multiple methodologies exist for the calculation, estimation, and simulation of waste generation in the construction industry as means for planning and conducting waste management. The reliability and usability of such methods has, nonetheless, not previously been evaluated. This study, therefore, investigated the existing methodologies for waste prediction through a literature review and an analysis of the identified methods using two construction cases from Denmark. Semi-structured interviews were, additionally, utilised to explain how and why waste behaviour is the way it is in the Danish construction industry. The results showed that waste management is affected by multiple factors, which are not reflected in the current methodologies for waste estimation, and that waste behaviour as well as organisational factors are key contributors. In addition, the study concluded that existing estimation methodologies for waste generation tend to be either high in complexity or low in accuracy, limiting the benefits achievable from using them, and that projects of the same type within close proximity can be significantly different from another, highlighting a clear limitation for the development of waste estimation methodologies.


Partial volvulus of a mobile cecocolon is a definite but rarely suspected cause of intermittent pain in the right lower quadrant of the abdomen. Usually the diagnosis of this disorder is not established until an obvious attack of intestinal obstruction occurs and laparotomy demonstrates the cecal volvulus. It then becomes evident that the chronic symptoms which antedated the acute episode were occasioned by similar but partial and transitory torsion of the mobile cecocolon. The purpose of the present report is to demonstrate that by means of recently developed technics in the field of gastrointestinal investigation, the diagnosis of mobile cecum with intermittent volvulus can at times be established during the chronic preobstructive phase of the disease. The term "mobile cecum" must be clearly defined, for in some respects it is discredited by the same stigma which now appertains to the words "visceroptosis" and "intestinal putrefaction." Strictly speaking, the mobile cecum


We present an expression of the relative phase for two interacting Bose-Einstein condensates released from an isotropic trapping potential.We discuss the interference condition between condensates and the visibility of the interference pattern reflecting the interaction between the condensates.


The Dark Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) is an upcoming scientific satellite mission for high energy gamma-ray, electron and cosmic ray detection. The silicon tracker (STK) is a subdetector of the DAMPE payload. It has excellent position resolution (readout pitch of 242 mu m), and measures the incident direction of particles as well as charge. The STK consists of 12 layers of Silicon Micro-strip Detector (SMD), equivalent to a total silicon area of 6.5 m(2). The total number of readout channels of the STK is 73728, which leads to a huge amount of raw data to be processed. In this paper, we focus on the on-board data compression algorithm and procedure in the STK, and show the results of initial verification by cosmic-ray measurements.


The present information relative to hyperprolactinemia is designed to give the reader insight into the possible central abnormalities occurring in women with elevated prolactin levels. It appears that in the presence of elevated prolactin levels appropriate testing should evaluate the pituitary gland, and that this should be performed in association with thyroid function studies. The treatment of high prolactin levels is mainly based on the clinical findings, but in most of the instances, a medical approach utilizing bromocriptine appears to be advantageous. Long-term results appear to indicate that bromocriptine is effective with a wide margin of safety.


Automated planning as a satisfiability problem is a method developed in theearly nineties. It has some known disadvantages, such as its inefficient encod-ing of numbers. The field of Satisfiability Modulo Teories tries to connectalready established solvers for e.g. linear constraints into SAT-solvers in orderto make reasoning about numerical values more efficient. This thesis combines planning as satisfiability and SMT to perform efficientreasoning about actions that occupy realistic time in Temporal Action Logic,a formalism developed at Linkoping University for reasoning about action andchange.


1. 1. Mechanically isolated neuronal somata from the thoracic ganglia of the locust Locusta migratoria remain electrophysiologically viable under current- or voltage-clamp in vitro for many hours. Nicotine and muscarine evoke different responses when pressure-microapplied to these somata. The response to acetylcholine is mainly nicotinic but contains a small muscarinic component.

2. 2. The nicotinic (ACh1) response is a rapid depolarisation accompanied by a decrease in membrane resistance. In voltage-clamped somata, the current mediating the ACh1 response is inward over the membrane potential range −30 to −110 mV, decreasing with depolarisation and with a projected reversal potential of about +20 mV.

3. 3. The muscarinic (ACh2) response is a slow depolarisation accompanied by a decrease in membrane resistance. In voltage-clamped somata, the current mediating the ACh2 response is inward, decreasing to zero at potentials of −80 to −90 mV.

4. 4. The ACh1 response is evoked by nicotine, anabasine, tetramethylammonium, DMPP and relatively high concentrations of the nitromethylene heterocycle insecticide, PMNI. Suberyldicholine or decamethonium evoke the response only when acetylcholine is present in the bathing saline. Nicotinic antagonists of the ACh1 response, in descending order of potency, are PMN1 >> α-bungarotoxin ≥ lobeline≥mecamylamine>trimethaphan camsylate>chlorisondamine> d -tubocurarine≥hexamethomium≥gallamine triethiodide≥tetraethylammonium. This response is also potently blocked by strychnine and more weakly blocked by δ-philanthotoxin, bicuculline and picrotoxin.

5. 5. The ACh2 response is evoked by muscarine, oxotremorine, arecoline, pilocarpine and, very weakly, by the M1-selective agonist McN-A-343. Muscarinic antagonists of the ACh2 response, in descending order of potency, are QNB≥scopolamine>atropine>4-DAMP (M3)≥benactyzine≥HHSiD (M1/M3)≥ pirenzepine (M1). QNX (M1), AF-DX116 (M2), gallamine triethiodide (M2) and methoctramine (M2) are almost or completely inactive.


Groundwater resources (GW) account for nearly 30 percent of the world sustainable water supplies. Yet, this resource, which is fraught with externalities, has largely been left unregulated. The economic literature on GW is predominantly of a partial equilibrium type, taking the rest of the economy parametrically. We analyze GW regulation in a general equilibrium setting, focusing on the stabilization value of GW under natural (draught) and economic (rural-urban water transfer) shocks. A general equilibrium approach allows evaluating direct and indirect effects of GW regulation on agriculture and non-agriculture sectors and extends the scope for water policy. The analysis is applied to Morocco by extending an existing computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to include ground and surface water (SW) resources. We study effects of (i) an increase in GW extraction cost (e.g., as a result of prolonged extraction beyond natural recharge that lowers the aquifer's water table), (ii) a transfer of SW from rural (irrigation) to urban (domestic) use, and (iii) a reduction of water availability due to severe drought. We estimate the value of GW and assess the direct (partial equilibrium) and indirect (general equilibrium) impacts. We find that GW has a critical role in mitigating the negative effects of these types of shocks.


The TGFβ superfamily of ligands plays key functions in development and disease. In both human and mouse embryonic stem cells, a member of this family, GDF3, is specifically expressed in the pluripotent state. We show that GDF3 is an inhibitor of its own subfamily, blocks classic BMP signaling in multiple contexts, interacts with BMP proteins and is expressed specifically in the node during gastrulation in a pattern consistent with BMP inhibition. Furthermore, we use gain- and reduction-of-function to show that in a species-specific manner, GDF3 regulates both of the two major characteristics of embryonic stem cells: the ability to maintain the undifferentiated state and the ability to differentiate into the full spectrum of cell types.


Purpose: Per‐patient IMRT QA is often performed by comparing measured planar phantom dose to calculated planar phantom dose, per beam. The most common analysis metric is percent passing 3%/3mm (DTA). Similarly, TG‐119 reports utilizes a metric of 3%/3mm (Gamma) when discussing IMRT commissioning. In this work, we analyze the correlation of conventional per‐beam IMRT QA metrics to: 1) patient dose comparisons (3D %diff/DTA), and 2) important clinical dose endpoints in volumetric regions‐of‐interest. Method and Materials: For 24 Head/Neck IMRT plans, an accurate TPS beam model was error‐induced (four unique ways) to simulate IMRT calculation and/or delivery errors. The error‐free beam models were used to generate "virtual planar QA measurements" and analyzed in conventional ways against the error‐induced beams. The error‐free 3D patient doses were compared against the error‐induced 3D patient doses. This method produced a robust simulation (high precision, high data density of 3D patient dose) which is necessary given the practical inability to measure dose inside complicated patient anatomy. The 96 error‐induced plans were compared to the error‐free plans to quantify the correlation of conventional Planar QA metrics with relevant clinical endpoints such as: max cord dose, mean parotid dose, and D95 of the principal CTV. Results: No correlation was found between 3%/3mm conventional IMRT QA criteria and all clinical endpoints studied (R‐squared values of: 0.0314, 0.0272, 0.0899, and 0.0248 for predicting errors in the cord max, left parotid mean, right parotid mean, and CTV D95). There was also no correlation when considering 2%/2mm and 1%/1mm metrics. In addition, there were many examples of both false positives and false negatives using conventional IMRT QA methods/metrics to predict accurate patient dose. Conclusion: The location and magnitude of the errors was far more important than the quantity of the errors, and moving to patient ROI‐based error simulations is strongly recommended.


Introduction
 Low-dose CT scans and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using T2- and T1-weighted contrasted enhanced images are the standard methods of bone staging for newly diagnosed and relapsed multiple myeloma (MM) patients. Fluoro-desoxy-glucose positron emission tomography (18F-FDG PET) is also a validated procedure for the imaging of MM bone lesions and the evaluation of extramedullary plasmacytoma. Furthermore, PET CT is useful to determine the prognosis and to assess the minimal residual disease. A new hybrid technology combining PET and MRI provides metabolic and anatomic information simultaneously. We evaluated the results obtained using this new examination.
 Materials and Methods
 Thirty-nine MM patients were prospectively included in this single center observational study. Fifty-one PET-MRI scans were performed in 4 patient populations: 1/ newly diagnosed smoldering MM (NDSMM, n =10); 2/ newly diagnosed symptomatic MM (NDMM, n=18); 3/ MM patients with long term follow-up (FU, n=17); 4/ MM patients with biochemical relapse (Rel, n=6). The imaging protocol consisted of T1-weighted, DIXON and diffusion-weighted (b=50 and b=800) axial sequences from the head to the knees simultaneously acquired by PET, followed by coronal and sagittal T1-weighted and T2-weighted sequences centered on the full spine and basin. MRI was considered to be positive in the case of diffuse bone marrow infiltration (DI), diffuse patchy bone marrow infiltration (DPI), focal bone marrow lesions (FL) or extra-medullary disease (EMD). PET was considered to be positive when FDG-avid focal bone lesions, a diffuse medullary area and/or FDG-avid EMD were observed. Medullary compression was also evaluated using MRI.
 Results
 The characteristics of the patients are summarized in Table 1. They were classified according to the ISS scale (I, n=18; II, n=7; III, n=3; missing, n=11) and none had high-risk cytogenetics or extra-medullary disease. The hybrid PET-MRI technique provided good image quality in all cases with no artefacts. No medullary compression was detected by MRI. Among the overall 51 PET-MRI examinations, 38 (74%) were positive for MRI and 27 (53%) for PET. Table 2 summarizes the bone marrow results obtained using MRI and PET in the four groups of patients. EMD was not detected by either MRI or PET. In NDSMM patients, MRI was positive and PET was negative in 30%, while none were positive only for PET. In NDMM, MRI was positive and PET was negative in 22% of cases, while 5% were positive only for PET (Figure 1 shows a negative PET and a positive MRI scan in the same patient). In FU patients, 35% of MRI scans remained positive with PET negative, while 6% were PET-positive and MRI-negative. In the case of relapsed patients, MRI and PET scans were in 100% agreement.
 Conclusions
 Using PET-MRI, in addition to a search for medullary compression, MRI can provide additional bone marrow information with respect to PET in about 22 to 30% of cases, particularly in NDSMM and NDMM. In a single examination, PET-MRI can detect bone, as well as potential extra-medullary lesions and medullary compression, without irradiation. The baseline PET examination is useful to evaluate the prognosis.
 Legend to Figure 1: PET and MRI scans in an asymptomatic myeloma patient. PET is negative but MRI reveals a bone lesion in the left iliac crest (arrow).

 Leblond: Janssen: Honoraria; Lilly: Honoraria; Astra Zeneca: Honoraria; Roche: Honoraria; Amgen: Honoraria; Gilead: Honoraria; Beigene: Honoraria; Beigene: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Gilead: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; AbbVie: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Astra Zeneca: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Janssen: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; AbbVie: Honoraria.


Author(s): Moore, Tiara N | Advisor(s): Fong, Peggy M | Abstract: Humans are impacting almost every major ecological process that structures communities and ecosystems. Examples of how human activity can directly control key processes in ecosystems include destruction of habitat changing trophic structure, nutrient pollution altering competitive outcomes, overharvesting of consumers reducing top down control, and now climate change impacting virtually every global biogeochemical cycle. These human impacts may have an independent effect on the ecosystem, but they also have the potential to cause cascading effects and promote subsequent stressors. Also, these impacts are not limited to a particular system or geographic location making research on their overall effects vital for management practices. For example, tropical reefs have been transitioning from coral to mixed communities dominated by macroalgae, motivating research on how macroalgae respond to anthropogenic stressors and interact with each other during these stressful events. Further, while eutrophication of coastal estuaries due to increased anthropogenic supplies of nutrients has been of critical global concern for decades, the potential for eutrophication to drive new stressors is a growing concern. To address these knowledge gaps, I investigated how human stressors impact two different and major coastal ecosystems known to be vulnerable to anthropogenic disturbances. In chapter 1, I demonstrate that anthropogenic stressors in the form of increased nutrients in the water and sediments have strong impacts on interspecific interactions of coral reef macroalgae. Abiotic stressors such as nutrients have been linked to phase-shifts from coral to algal domination on tropical reefs. However, few studies have considered how these stressors impact changes in the biotic and abiotic constituents of dominant species of calcifying macroalgae, and how this may be mediated by species-species interactions. I conducted 4 mesocosm experiments to examine whether different nutrient sources (water column vs. terrestrial sediment) as well as species interactions (alone vs. mixed species) affected total mass (biomass + calcium carbonate (CaCO3)) of two common calcifying macroalgae (Padina boryana and Galaxaura fasciculata). P. boryana gained total mass with increased water column nutrients but declined with increased nutrients supplied by the sediment. Conversely, G. fasciculata gained total mass with increased nutrients in the sediment but declined with increased water column nutrients. In both interactions, the "winner" (i.e., G. fasciculata in the sediment experiment) also had a greater % of thallus mass comprised of CaCO3, potentially due to the subsequent decomposition of the "loser" as this result was not found in the alone treatments. These findings ultimately suggest that nutrient stressors can cause cascading effects, such as promoting calcification and biomass growth or loss in these macroalgal communities, and the potential for domination or decline is based on the nutrient source and community composition.In chapter 2, I demonstrate that decomposition of macroalgal blooms cause a sequence of biogeochemical processes that can drive acidification in shallow coastal estuaries, and that these processes are mediated by a dynamic microbial community. Eutrophication and ocean acidification are both widely acknowledged as major human-induced stressors in marine environments. While the link between eutrophication and acidification has been established for phytoplankton, it is unclear whether eutrophication in the form of macroalgal blooms can cause cascading effects like acidification in shallow eutrophic estuaries. I conducted seasonal field surveys and assessed microbial communities and functional genes to evaluate changes in biotic and abiotic characteristics between seasons that may be associated with acidification in Upper Newport Bay, CA, USA. Acidification, measured as a drop in pH of 0.7, occurred in summer at the site with the most macroalgal cover. Microbial community composition and functional gene expression provide evidence that decomposition processes contributed to acidification, and also suggest that other biogeochemical processes like nitrification and degradation of polyphosphate also contributed to acidification. To my knowledge, my findings represent the first field evidence that eutrophication of shallow coastal estuaries dominated by green macroalgal blooms can cascade to acidification.In chapter 3, I demonstrate that macroalgal blooms in shallow estuaries are strong drivers of key microbially-mediated biogeochemical processes that can cause cascading effects, such as acidification and nutrient fluxing, regardless of simulated tidal flushing. Estuaries are productive and diverse ecosystems and are vulnerable to eutrophication from increased anthropogenic nutrients. While it is known that enhanced tidal flushing can reduce adverse effects of anthropogenic disturbances in larger, deeper estuarine ecosystems, this is unexplored for eutrophication in shallow coastal estuaries where macroalgae usually dominate. I simulated eutrophication as a macroalgal bloom in a mesocosm experiment, varied tidal flushing (flushed daily vs unflushed), and assessed the effects on water column and sediment biogeochemical processes and the sediment microbial community. While flushing did not ameliorate the negative effects of the macroalgal bloom, it caused transient differences in the rate of change in biogeochemical processes and promoted increased fluxes of nutrients from the sediment. In the beginning, the macroalgal bloom induced basification and increased total alkalinity, but during decomposition, acidification and the accumulation of nutrients in the sediment and water column occurred. The findings from this chapter ultimately suggest that macroalgal blooms have the potential to be the cause of, yet may also offer a partial solution to, global ecological changes to biogeochemical processes. Overall, my results indicate that anthropogenic disturbances, particularly in the form of increased nutrients, can cause cascading effects like macroalgal blooms that in turn cause acidification, basification, increased interspecific interactions, nutrient depletion, and nutrient fluxing in multiple ecosystems. These data advance our current understanding of the ecological consequences of eutrophication in the form of macroalgal blooms in different ecosystems. It also provides mechanistic links to microbial communities and biogeochemical processes not previously identified for shallow coastal estuaries. As human population and subsequent nutrient pollution increases in watersheds globally, ecological phenomenon such as eutrophication will only be intensified, and macroalgal communities will continue to dominate. Consequently, this dominance, especially during decomposition as shown here, can drive a multitude of subsequent stressors that can impact the entire ecosystem.


Wearable sensors for healthcare and wireless health monitoring are rapidly becoming ubiquitous. They enable remote, accurate and low-cost health monitoring and can provide personal healthcare with timely detection of health issues. In this paper, we present a novel integrated system for monitoring children at day-care centers in order to facilitate proper care of health issues and overall wellbeing, including early detection of symptoms for various diseases, post-treatment monitoring as well as encouraging healthy habits and activities. The proposed "Kids Health Monitoring System", referred to as KiMS, is built around a wearable acoustic sensor with embedded digital signal processing capabilities in order to detect various audio signals of interest, such as coughs, sneezes, and cries. It is also equipped with wearable body temperature and pulse rate sensors, along with on-site processing and a Bluetooth unit for communicating alerts and activity on a timely basis. The record of a child's activities can be used by daycare specialist, parents or the healthcare provider for understanding the probable cause or time of onset of symptoms and encouraging healthy habits. This paper also presents a signal processing framework for feature detection and classification of various audio signals, under varying Signal to Noise Ratios (SNR).


One of the biggest challenges in designing squeeze treatments is ensuring appropriate chemical placement along the completion interval. Generally, the chemical slug is bull-headed; therefore, in long horizontal wells and/or crossflow wells, exposing the chemical to all the completion intervals might be difficult. In this paper we introduce a method to evaluate placement efficiency. If placement is inadequate, some sections of the well will be unprotected, resulting in an undesirable situation: the well may appear to be protected because the inhibitor return concentrations measured at surface are above the threshold, but there is a loss of production due to scale deposition in areas of the well not contacted by chemical. In these circumstances inhibitor placement can be accurately determined by production logging, but this can be prohibitively expensive. An alternative is to use tracers to evaluate the layer flow rate distribution, and therefore quantify chemical placement. The objective of this paper is to determine if a tracer package could be deployed as part of a squeeze treatment in challenging wells, in particular in the overflush stage. If there are zones in the wellbore at different pressures, then producing the tracer back in steps at different rates will result in the tracer return concentration profile having characteristic features that can be interpreted to estimate chemical placement.
 Two three layer cases with crossflow are considered. In both cases, a tracer package was included in the overflush, and the resulting return profiles showed clearly the desired features. The main advantage of this approach is that there is no significant increase in the operational expense. The only additional expense will be the cost of the specific tracer and the subsequent analysis. It is envisaged that the cost is less than 5% of the total squeeze treatment cost. The results of this novel multi-rate post squeeze production stage following injection of tracer demonstrate the feasibility of including such a tracer package in a squeeze treatment. Data collected may then be used to optimise the design of subsequent treatments, to ensure that appropriate placement is achieved by rate control or by diversion, if necessary.


The February general election was the first that the British Labor Party has had to face after a solid period of years in office and in power. The two previous Labor governments of 1924 and 1929 were both based upon minorities in the House of Commons, and both were heavily defeated after a short and ineffectual tenure of office. This time, Labor could appeal to the country on a pretty creditable domestic record; but even so it managed to stave off defeat by the narrowest of margins. By winning 315 seats, it secured a majority of 7 seats over its combined Liberal and Tory opponents, who secured 9 and 299 seats respectively. Labor has thus been given another, but short lease of life to carry on the most essential business of government-especially to pass the annual budget-and to prepare for the next election, which cannot be long postponed and may come within three or four months.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.


The effect of competition between ovipositing females on their clutch size decisions is studied in animals that lay their eggs in discrete units of larval food (hosts). In such species the effect of competition depends on the form of the larval competition within such units. In insect parasitoids, there might either be contest (solitary parasitoids) or scramble competition (gregarious parasitoids) between larvae within a host For gregarious parasitoids, a decreasing clutch size with increasing competition between foragers is predicted. This prediction is tested in experiments using the parasitoid Aphaertta minuta. Parasitoids were either kept alone or in groups of four before the experiment, in which they were introduced singly in a patch containing unparasitized hosts. Animals kept together laid on average clutches of 0.74 eggs smaller than females kept alone (average clutch is 5.3), thereby confirming the prediction. Clutch size decreased with encounter number, which might be due to the adjustment of the female's estimate of the encounter rate with hosts. Finally, the results are compared with those reported for solitary parasitoids (that have scramble larval competition), for which it is predicted that the clutch size will increase with increasing levels of competition between females. Key uwrds: competition, clutch size, parasitoids, superparasitism. [Behav Ecol 7:109-114 (1996)]


SecB is a homotetrameric, cytosolic chaperone that forms part of the protein translocation machinery in Escherichia coli. We have investigated the bound-state conformation of a model protein substrate of SecB, bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI) as well as the conformation of SecB itself by using proximity relationships based on site-directed spin-labeling and pyrene fluorescence methods. BPTI is a 58-residue protein and contains three disulfide groups between residues 5 and 55, 14 and 38, as well as 30 and 51. Mutants of BPTI that contained only a single disulfide were reduced, and the free cysteines were labeled with either thiol-specific spin labels or pyrene maleimide. The relative proximity of the labeled residues was studied using either electron spin resonance spectroscopy or fluorescence spectroscopy. The data suggest that SecB binds a collapsed coil of reduced unfolded BPTI, which then undergoes a structural rearrangement to a more extended state upon binding to SecB. Binding occurs at multiple sites on the substrate, and the binding site on each SecB monomer accommodates less than 21 substrate residues. In addition, we have labeled four solvent-accessible cysteine residues in the SecB tetramer and have investigated their relative spatial arrangement in the presence and absence of the substrate protein. The electron spin resonance data suggest that these cysteine residues are in close proximity (15 Å) when no substrate protein is bound but move away to a distance of greater than 20 Å when SecB binds substrate. This is the first direct evidence of a conformational change in SecB upon binding of a substrate protein.


As an atomic emission measurement system in the uv and visible spectral regions, Fourier transform spectrometry (FTS) has excellent simultaneous multielement analysis capabilities. Quantitatively, however, it suffers from the "multiplex disadvantage" and from dynamic range limitations. To improve the quantitative performance of FTS, a novel instrument, a windowed slew-scan Fourier transform spectrometer (WSS-FTS) is proposed. This instrument consists of a slew-scanning monochromator with wide entrance and exit slits coupled to the Michelson interferometer. Accurate wavelength identification and resolution and simultaneous multielement measurement within a 4-nm spectral window are provided by the interferometer, while the monochromator provides a flexible method of selecting different spectral windows. It is shown that WSS-FTS reduces both dynamic range problems and the signal-to-noise limitations of conventional FTS. With WSS-FTS as the measurement system for emission from an inductively coupled plasma (ICP), detection limits are found to be comparable with those obtained from a commercially available ICP instrument.


The Raven kernel is a small, lightweight operating system for shared memory multiprocessors. Raven is characterized by its movement of several traditional kernel abstractions into user space. The kernel itself implements tasks, virtual memory management, and low level exception dispatching. All thread management, device drivers, and message passing functions are implemented completely in user space. This movement of typical kernel-level abstractions into user space can drastically reduce the overall number of user/kernel interactions for fine-grained parallel applications.


The need for security in communications is in fact not new. This need has existed in military communications for thousands of years. In this paper, we focus on network protocols that provide security services. Wireless sensor network is an emerging technology that shows applications both for public as well as military purposes. Monitoring is one of the main applications. A large amount of redundant data is generated by sensor nodes. This paper compares all the protocols which are designed for security of wireless sensor network on the basis of security services and propose an improved protocol that reduces communication overhead by removing data redundancy from the network. By using the message sequence number we can check whether it is old message or new message. If the message is old then no need to send that message thereby reducing overhead. It also integrates security by data freshness in the protocol.


Meeting Information: SPICA Science Conference from Exoplanets to Distant Galaxies: SPICA's New Window on the Cool Universe (June 18-21, 2013. Ito Hall, the University of Tokyo), Bunkyou-ku, Tokyo, Japan


Background and aims : Dust emission is one of the main health and environmental problems during the crushing, screening and conveying process in mining company. The goal of this study was designing, implementation and evaluation of industrial ventilation and combination with a water spray for control the airborne particles as well as economic analysis on crushing unit of a mining company. Methods : After ensuring the lack of destructive effect of humidity on material properties, a water spray system was designed and installed for settling some of produced dusts. Other emitted particles were also controlled by designing and implementation of local exhaust ventilation system. This system was evaluated after installation. For collection of dust, three Stairmand cyclone with high efficiency were used. Finally, the efficiency of water spray and industrial ventilation systems was investigated as single and combined in the control of fugitive particles in ambient air, occupational exposure and environmental emission. Results : The efficiency of the wet and ventilation system, alone and combined in reducing workplace dust concentration were 49%, 76% and 95%, respectively. Moreover, the efficiency of the wet, ventilation and combined system in reducing the exposure to repairable particles were 54%, 73% and 88%, respectively. Conclusion : According to the present evaluations by implementing the combination of these two systems, the occupational exposure of workers, ambient dust concentration and emitted dust to environmental was fell to less than permissible limits. According to the economic analysis, over 80% of total costs by combined procedure was reduced. Therefore, this system can be proposed as an effective and cost-effective in such conditions.


We are faced with the task of storing and communicating increasingly huge amounts of information. The development of digital storage media and communication channels have not been able to keep up with this increasing demand in an economically viable way. Data compression is fast emerging as the key technique in resolving this technological issue. Kolmogorov complexity is the central tool used in this analysis. Informally the Kolmogorov complexity of an object is the length of the shortest string from which the original can be reconstructed lossless by a general-purpose computer. Thus the Kolmogorov complexity of an object measures the maximum amount of compression that any lossless compression program can achieve in theory. The main issue in translating theory to application is the fact that Kolmogorov complexity is non-computable. This means that no computer program can compute precisely the Kolmogorov complexity of a given string. Fortunately Kolmogorov complexity can be approximated by a computer, and this has been used as the standard method of implementing classification techniques.


Light availability is a major constraint on the growth and physiological energetics of photosynthetic organisms such as reef-building corals. Despite extensive research on the mechanisms of coral photoacclimation, the extent to which the depth distributions of different species are controlled by their capacity for physiological acclimation to light availability remains unclear. This study quantified the capacity for physiological acclimation to light intensity in 4 geographically widespread and locally abundant coral species (Acropora digitifera, A. nasuta, A. millepora and A. muricata). We aimed to determine the extent of physiological plasticity of these coral species, and how variation in different physiological traits (including photosynthesis, particle feeding and symbiont density) contributed to determining their depth ranges. The results demonstrated that the capacity for short-term (9 d) physiological acclimation was generally limited for the 4 Acropora coral species. Out of the 7 physiological traits that we measured, and which are known to contribute to photoacclimation in other species, 4 did not significantly vary with light under field and laboratory conditions. Collectively, this study indicates that light availability is unlikely to set the lower depth of occurrence for branching coral species that have relatively shallow depth distributions. Furthermore the capacity for reversible plasticity in these corals appears insufficient to cover the large changes in physiology that are required to enable corals to expand their depth distributions. This study suggests that processes such as selective recruitment, depth-dependent uptake of different types of Symbiodinium and inter-specific competition are important determinants of the habitat distribution of reef corals.


Herz–Schur multipliers of a locally compact group have a well developed theory coming from a large literature; they have proved very useful in the study of the reduced C∗algebra of a locally compact group. There is also a rich connection to Schur multipliers, which have been studied since the early twentieth century, and have a large number of applications. We develop a theory of Herz–Schur multipliers of a C∗-dynamical system, extending the classical Herz–Schur multipliers, making Herz–Schur multiplier techniques available to study a much larger class of C∗-algebras. Furthermore, we will also introduce and study generalised Schur multipliers, and derive links between these two notions which extend the classical results describing Herz–Schur multipliers in terms of Schur multipliers. This theory will be developed in as much generality as possible, with reference to the classical motivation. After introducing all the necessary concepts we begin the investigation by defining generalised Schur multipliers. The main result is a dilation type characterisation of these multipliers; we also show how such multipliers can be represented using Hilbert C∗-modules. Next we introduce and study generalised Herz–Schur multipliers, first extending a classical result involving the representation theory of SU(2), before studying how such functions are related to our generalised Schur multipliers. We give a characterisation of generalised Herz–Schur multipliers as a certain class of the generalised Schur multipliers, and obtain a description of precisely which Schur multipliers belong to this class. Finally, we consider some ways in which the generalised multipliers can arise; firstly, from the classical multipliers which provide our motivation, secondly, from the Haagerup tensor product of a C∗-algebra with itself, and finally from positivity considerations. We show that our theory behaves well with respect to positivity and give conditions under which our multipliers are automatically positive in a natural sense.


The number of colorectal cancer (CRC) cases have increased gradually year by year. In fact, CRC is one of the most widely diagnosed cancer in men and women today. This disease is usually diagnosed at a later stage of the development, and by then, the chance of survival has declined significantly. Even though substantial progress has been made in understanding the basic molecular mechanism of CRC, there is still a lack of understanding in using the available information for diagnosing CRC effectively. Liquid biopsies are minimally invasive and have become the epitome of a good screening source for stage-specific diagnosis, measuring drug response and severity of the disease. There are various circulating entities that can be found in biological fluids, and among them, exosomes, have been gaining considerable attention. Exosomes can be found in almost all biological fluids including serum, urine, saliva, and breast milk. Furthermore, exosomes carry valuable molecular information such as proteins and nucleic acids that directly reflects the source of the cells. Nevertheless, the inconsistent yield and isolation process and the difficulty in obtaining pure exosomes have become major obstacles that need to be addressed. The potential usage of exosomes as biomarkers have not been fully validated and explored yet. This review attempts to uncover the potential molecules that can be derived from CRC-exosomes as promising biomarkers or molecular targets for effective diagnosing of CRC.


This dissertation studies the first Great Migration of African Americans from the rural South to Urban areas in the northern United States. While most existing research has focused on the experiences of the migrants themselves, I am focused on how this influx of rural black migrants impacted outcomes for African Americans who were already living in the north and had already attained a modicum of economic success. Common themes throughout this dissertation involve the use of the complete-count U.S. population census to link records across years. In the first chapter, I linked northern-born blacks from 1910 to 1930 to study how the arrival of new black residents affected the employment outcomes of existing northern-born black residents. I find that southern black migrants served as both competitors and consumers to northern-born blacks in the labor market. In the second chapter, my co-authors and I study the role of segregated housing markets in eroding black wealth during the Great Migration. Building a new sample of matched census addresses from 1930 to 1940, we find that racial transition on a block was associated with both soaring rental prices and declines in the sales value of homes. In other words, black families paid more to rent housing and faced falling values of homes they were able to purchase. Finally, the third chapter compares the rates of intergenerational occupational mobility by both race and region. I find that racial mobility difference in the North was more substantial than it was in the South. However, regional mobility difference for blacks is greater than any gap in intergenerational mobility by race in prewar American. Therefore, the first Great Migration helped blacks successfully translate their geographic mobility into economic mobility.


This study examines OpenStreetMap data quality at different stages of a participatory mapping process developed for understanding inequalities in healthcare access of informal urban residents in Africa and Asia. Recent studies have examined quality intrinsically and extrinsically. However, in both cases, the data production processes are often not completely transparent to researchers, therefore limiting possibilities for systematic data quality analysis of the processes leading to OpenStreetMap update.


Marriage migration to mainland China has only recently attracted attention in public and academic discourse. Driven by a complex combination of structural and personal factors, many of these marriages remain unregistered, and understanding them requires a different approach than that used to study other international marriages in the region. To date, most discussions have addressed the phenomenon from a legal, demographic, or economic perspective. Considered as illegal migrants, many of the foreign women involved in these marriages are reduced to silence. Based on the specific case of Vietnamese women engaged in de facto marriages with Chinese men in China's southern borderlands, this article describes several factors affecting this social group: the condition of "nonexistence" that the couples experience in their daily lives; the local response to their presence in Chinese communities; and the ambivalent position of governmental bodies regarding their residence and life in China. This ground-level perspective demonstrates how the apparent tolerance of this complex phenomenon may, in the long term, actually create more disturbance in local communities than would be expected. This article reveals how significant gaps between official migration policies and actual practices of governance at the local level limit the social integration of marginalized individuals by sustaining the conditions for their long-term invisibility.


Aim: Bone healing becomes problematic during certain states, such as trauma. This study verifies whether the application of c-myb with gelatin promotes bone healing during bone injuries. Materials & methods: A biodegradable membrane was modified with adenoviral vector c-myb (Ad/c-myb) and gelatin and applied in the bone injury site of rat tibia. Results: c-myb enhanced osteogenic differentiation and mineralization in bone marrow stromal cells after induction with osteogenic media. In vivo examination of rat tibia after application of the biodegradable membrane with Ad/c-myb and a gelatin layer demonstrated increased bone volume, bone mineral density, new bone formation and osteogenic molecules, compared with Ad/LacZ. Conclusion: c-myb has the potential to assist bone healing and may be applicable to the treatment of bone during injury.


Background: New graduate registered nurses (NGRNs) are confronted with a complex, demanding and resource-constrained environment where gaining acceptance into the workplace culture may be difficult. Existing evidence suggests that preparing undergraduate nursing students for this reality can assist with adjustment. Objectives: To identify the strategies that NGRNs require to care and advocate for themselves during their first year of practice. Methods: A search of the literature published between 2001 and 2016 was undertaken. Individual articles were synthesized narratively and the results entered to a summary table. Results: A total of 274 articles were considered relevant to this narrative review. This paper synthesized the narrative of 80 articles. Synthesis revealed 22 resilience factors and 33 issues. Eight strategies with potential to assist NGRNs to care and advocate for themselves were identified. All of them are socioemotional in nature. Conclusions: This review of the literature provides a valuable resource that can be used to prepare nursing students for the workplace culture during their first year as a registered nurse. Scenarios can be developed for educational activities such as simulation, role play, discussion and self-reflection. Further development through research is recommended.


This contribution compares modelling and simulation of the ARGESIM Benchmark C9 'Fuzzy Control of a Two-Tank System' with three approaches: (1) programming directly in MATLAB (2) using SIMULINK and the MATLAB Fuzzy Toolbox, and (3) using AnyLogic, a Javabased grapic simulation environment. The MATLAB implementation required direct programming, whereby the nonlinear ODE model for the twotank system was simulated by MATLABs ODE solvers, and fuzzification, inference, and defuzzification was programmed by 'pure' vector handling feature. The Simulink implementation is straightforward: graphical blocks for the ODE model, and use of the Fuzzy Toolbox, wich supports graphical design of the fuzzy controller. Anylogic offers various graphical modelling methods, also classic block diagrams. But for tis comparison the System Dynamics modelling capability was used, which allows a genuine mapping of 'tanks' as reservooir variables; the fuzzy controller was programmed directly in Java embedded into the simulation environment. The contribution discusses advantages and disadvantages of the modelling approaches – in modelling, in implementation and in simulation and efficiency. 1 Model Description u v1 v2 Figure 1: Two tank system with source u, liquid levels x1, x2 and valves v1, v2. v1=0.4 v2=0.3.


ABSTRACT Objectives. To estimate the prevalence of missed opportunities for vaccination (MOV) in Latin America and the effect of interventions targeting health systems, health workers, patients, and communities on MOV. Methods. Searches were conducted in MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, and LILACS electronic databases and relevant organizations were contacted, including the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), to identify studies meeting eligibility criteria. A pair of reviewers identified 27 randomized and non-randomized studies quantifying the effectiveness of any intervention for reducing MOV and 5 studies assessing the rate of MOV in Latin America. Results are reported narratively when criteria to pool results were not met, and the certainty of this evidence was assessed using the GRADE approach. Results. Evidence suggests the rate of MOV in Latin America ranged from 5% to 37% with a pooled estimate of 17% (95% CI [9, 32]) (low certainty) and that monetary incentives to healthcare teams, training for healthcare teams on how to communicate with patients, and educational interventions for caregivers probably reduce MOV (moderate to very low certainty). Conclusions. There is insufficient evidence supporting the implementation of any intervention as policy based only on the potential reduction of MOV without considering several factors, including costs, feasibility, acceptability, and equity.


In a previous paper (1) the function of some of the side chains of the porphin compounds was studied by utilizing the fact that certain strains of Heraophilus organisms required heine for growth. The present paper deals with the quantitative aspects of the growth of this group of organisms as affected by several iron porphins. Several substances have been found to potentiate the activity of the iron porphins and the mode of action of these substances has been discussed. The porphin requirement of one of these organisms during anaerobic growth has also been investigated.


Background & objectives: The emergence of multidrug-resistant Salmonella over the last two decades poses a major health risk. In this context, antimicrobial peptides have found a strategic place in the therapeutic armamentarium. Previously, we found that cryptdin-2 has the potential to augment the activity of conventional second- and third-generation anti-Salmonella antibiotics as evident by in vitro assays. In continuation to this, the present study was designed to evaluate the in vivo synergistic effects, if any, of cryptdin-2 in combination with ciprofloxacin and ceftriaxone against murine salmonellosis. Methods: Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) studies along with in vivo synergistic studies were performed using cryptdin- 2 and antibiotic combinations. In addition, peroxidative liver damage, levels of nitric oxide (NO) and antioxidant enzymes along with tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) levels were also measured. Results: The SEM results revealed marked changes on the outer membrane of the bacterial cells treated with various combinations. Both the tested combinations demonstrated synergistic in vivo potency against S. Typhimurium as evident by reduction in the number of Salmonellae in the liver, spleen and intestine. Analysis of peroxidative liver damage, levels of NO and antioxidant enzymes along with TNF-α and nuclear factor-kappa B levels revealed that the tested combinations restored their levels to near normal. The most potent combination was found to be that of cryptdin-2 and ciprofloxacin in terms of direct killing and immunomodulatory potential. Interpretation & conclusions: These findings suggest that cryptdin-2 may act in conjunction with conventional antibiotics indicating the possibility of developing these combinations as additional therapeutic agents to combat Salmonella infections.


considers acceptable for use in im plem enting specific parts of the agency's regulations, techniques that the staff uses in evaluating specific problem s or postulated accidents, and data that the staff need in reviewing applications for perm its and licenses. Regulatory guides are not substitutes for regulations, and compliance with them is not required. Methods and solutions that differ from those set forth in regulatory guides will be deemed acceptable if they provide a basis for the findings required for the issuance or continuance of a perm it or license by the Commission.


Puerarin is an isoflavonoid isolated from the root of Pueraria lobata (Gegen in Chinese) that has been widely used to treat cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases in China. Here, we investigated the hypotensive effects and mechanisms of puerarin in spontaneously hypertensive rats. The qPCR array technique was used to determine the expression of hypertension-related genes. Then, the differentially expressed genes were analyzed using the STRING database. The systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure of rats decreased after the administration of puerarin for nine weeks. Puerarin, but not losartan, also slowed the heart rate of rats. NO and cGMP levels were improved by puerarin. Eighteen differentially expressed hypertension-related genes were identified by comparing the model group with the control group and the high-dose puerarin group with the model group. NO and cGMP levels were increased by high-dose puerarin. High-dose puerarin increased the levels of the phosphorylated eNOS protein and decreased AT1 and Cav1 levels. Based on our results, eNOS was a key target in the mechanism by which puerarin reduced blood pressure, and puerarin represents a potential antihypertensive agent.


This paper studies a model for communications in wireless networks supported by designated cooperation links. In particular, a 2-user Gaussian one-sided interference channel with two rate-limited and orthogonal communication links between the receivers is considered. A communication protocol for the channel is proposed, which combines rate-splitting and superposition encoding techniques with the conventional decode-forward and compress-forward strategies. It is shown that a careful design of codebooks and coding scheme, which is obtained from intuition based on superposition coding, can greatly reduce the complexity of the strategy. Analytical and numerical results show that the proposed scheme, although not universally optimal, can achieve the capacity region or sum capacity exactly or asymptotically in certain scenarios. Various limits of sum capacity gain due to cooperation are also discussed.


The change in relative splenic volume following epinephrine administration was used to determine splenic abnormality noninvasively. Selective splenic imaging was accomplished with 99mTc-labeled heat-treated red blood cells, an LFOV gamma camera, a 30 degrees bilateral rotating slant hole collimator, and bilateral slant hole tomographic software. Relative splenic volumes were plotted over time, and correlated with clinical and histologic data. Eight patients with Hodgkin disease and other lymphomas were examined. Volume response to epinephrine appears to be significantly less in abnormal spleens, and may serve to identify patients with unequivocally normal spleens prior to treatment.


People with disabilities in Canada experience and inhabit a system of deep structural, economic, social, political, legal, and cultural inequality - a regime of dis-citizenship. Despite the widespread belief that Canada is a country of liberty, equality, and inclusion, many persons with disabilities experience social exclusion and marginalization. They are socially constructed as second-class citizens. "Critical Disability Theory" enquires into the possibilities and parameters of a critical theory of disability. Its essays argue that accommodating equality for the disabled is not fundamentally a question of medicine or health, nor is it just an issue of sensitivity or compassion. Rather, it is a question of politics, of power and powerlessness. Conventional understandings of disability are dependent upon assumptions that characterize disability as misfortune and by implication privilege the "normal" over the "abnormal." Consequently, it is presumed that societal organization based upon able-bodied and -minded norms is inevitable and the best we can do is show sympathy or pity. This book argues that we need new ways to think about the nature of disability, a new understanding of participatory citizenship that encompasses the disabled, new policies to respond to their needs, and a new vision of their entitlements. Twenty-four scholars from a variety of disciplines come together here to identify the problems with traditional approaches to disability and to provide new directions. The essays range from focused empirical and experiential studies of different disabilities, to policy analyses, legal interrogations, and philosophical reconsiderations. The result will be of interest to policy makers, professionals, academics, non-governmental organizations, and grass-roots activists.


With the convergence of multimedia applications and wireless communications, there is a need to support real-time traffic in wireless networks. In general, real-time packets must be delivered before a certain delay upper bound. In the literature, feasible earliest due date (FEDD) is one of the scheduling algorithms proposed to provide packet delay upper bound guarantees over a time-varying wireless channel. However, FEDD is reactive with respect to changes in the wireless channel. In view of this, we propose a novel deadline-based scheduling algorithm called proactive earliest due date (PEDD), which dynamically adjusts a packet's deadline in anticipation of an upcoming change in the channel condition. Similar to FEDD, PEDD is idealistic, as they both assume the availability of the exact channel knowledge. This is not implementable and, thus, this paper further proposes a realistic version of PEDD, called R-PEDD. R-PEDD uses a probing mechanism to acquire the channel knowledge, which in turn is used for the packet deadline adjustment. Since probe packets consume bandwidth, a modified version of R-PEDD, called R-PEDD+ is proposed to derive the required channel information from recent packet transmissions. We have performed extensive simulations using OPNET to evaluate the performance of these proposed algorithms. In short, PEDD always outperforms a couple of existing algorithms in the literature. R-PEDD and R-PEDD+ are both capable of approximating the performance of the idealistic PEDD in a realistic wireless channel. However, their performance deteriorates with more rapid changes in the channel condition.


It's an important problem for power industry; energy industry, aviation and shipping to real-time measure the rotating blades' tip clearance of engine. The conventional measurement techniques have different limitations. To achieve applied level for tip clearance measurement technique, according to the use request and application environment of tip clearance sensor, a new fiber-optic sensor was put forward to measure the blade tip radial clearance of engine in non-contact mode. The sensor was consist of single-bundle transmitting fiber in the center for laser beam delivery and three groups receiving fibers located in all around for collecting the scattered light. The sensor can not only eliminate the effect to measurement results of light source fluctuation and reflectivity variety of tip surface, but also reduce the effect of angle between the tip surface and sensor end face to measurement results. From the measurement results obtained from sensor on different clearance points, it proves that the sensor measuring system has well feasibility and reliability in blades tip clearance detection.


More than 70% of patients at the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics are assigned a designated discharge date and time, and the average patient leaves within 28 minutes of the set time. A multidisciplinary discharge collaborative including Patient and Family Advisors (PFAs) developed the initiative after getting feedback from people throughout the hospital, as well as from patients and family members. The anticipated date of discharge is documented in the medical record and written on the communication board in the patient's room. Ideally, the time is added the day before the discharge.


Over the last few decades, the epidemiology of diseases of the proximal gastrointestinal tract has been changing. The incidence of gastric adenocarcinoma in the United Kingdom has decreased, with squamous carcinoma of the oesophagus remaining relatively static. Adenocarcinoma of both the oesophagus and gastro-oesophageal junction (including the cardia) have increased greatly. The risk of oesophageal adenocarcinoma has been linked with gastro- oesophageal reflux disease. Short-segment reflux at the cardia has also been postulated as a risk factor for cancers at this site. The factors that predispose a particular person to more severe reflux or put them at an increased risk of mucosal damage are poorly understood. Inherent physiological and anatomical parameters will play their roles, with the role of environmental factors often being overlooked. The increase in dietary nitrate consumption, following the post-war intensive farming practices with nitrogenous fertilizers, has been proposed as a risk factor for the increase in several human cancers. The entero-salivary recirculation of dietary nitrate has been examined by several groups. It has demonstrated the generation of high quantities of nitrite in swallowed human saliva. The subsequent luminal chemistry will cause nitrous acid (NA) to be formed in a healthy acid secreting stomach. In the additional presence of ascorbic acid, instantaneous formation of luminal nitric oxide (NO) at the gastric cardia takes place. Nitrous acid is also capable of forming long acting NO-donor compounds, by reacting with ingested dietary thiols. Nitric oxide is a ubiquitous smooth muscle relaxant. It is involved in oesophageal peristalsis, lower oesophageal sphincter (LOS) and gastric relaxation and also the co-ordination of transient lower oesophageal sphincter relaxations (TLOSRs). A series of pilot studies, in healthy volunteers, were designed to investigate the physiological effects on gastro oesophageal motility. A standard water perfused manometry system was adapted, and validated, to deliver a test solution containing NO, whilst also recording pressure data from the proximal gastro-intestinal tract. The profile of distribution of the delivered NO solutions was characterised by a series of silastic tube experiments. A segmented silastic tube was taped to the manometry catheters used for each experiment. The NO was delivered as it would be in each experiment. The segments trapped NO as nitrite, which were then analysed. They showed a pattern of NO distribution similar to the fasting data seen with a luminal NO probe. The post-prandial model showed evidence of NO reflux into the oesophagus and also NO concentrations comparable to those following ingestion of oral nitrate. Smaller amounts of nitrite are present in saliva in the fasting state. In our model of the subsequent formation of NO at the gastric cardia, there was no effect on the resting pressure of the LOS. There was also no effect on the length of the LOS. At high concentrations (>4mM), NO can come out of solution to form gaseous NO. In vitro experiments demonstrated that at the experimental concentrations used, and also at 37°C, no significant quantities of NO gas were formed, excluding the possibility of intra- gastric gaseous distension as a confounding factor in our studies. Post-prandial studies were performed in 15 healthy volunteers. Initially, the manometric effects of a meal on the LOS were observed. Subsequently, double-blinded solutions were perfused into the lumen at the gastro-oesophageal junction. Hydrochloric acid, NA and NO solutions, all at the upper physiological limit, were perfused and recordings made. The effect of a meal on the LOS, was to cause a reduction in the total sphincter length with a preferential loss of the abdominal portion. There also appeared to be a slight elevation of the diaphragm, but no shortening of the oesophagus. Nitric oxide caused an increase in TLOSRs and reflux at the distal oesophagus. Nitrous acid caused a reduction in intra-gastric pressure during the infusion. It caused no alteration to the acid reflux profile. No solutions caused any major alterations to oesophageal peristaltic parameters following 'dry' swallows. These findings support the need for further research into this area. The threshold for effects caused by nitrite chemistry must be addressed. Also, these studies were performed in healthy volunteers. It would be reasonable to examine the effects of this luminal chemistry on those with pre-existing upper gastrointestinal diseases such as hiatus hernias, reflux oesophagitis and Barrett's oesophagus. Repeat studies looking more simply at the effects of swallowed nitrite on oesophageal acid exposure would be enlightening.


Stainless steel is widely used all over the world due to its excellent corrosion resistance.
 It is well known that stainless steel achieves this resistance by the formation of a thin layer of chromium oxide on the surface forming a barrier so that the iron
 avoids contact with oxygen. Austenitic stainless steel, typically AISI 316 and 304, is ductile and easily processed into tubes, sheets, etcetera. The ductility is a consequence
 of the face centered cubic unit cell. However the hardness of stainless steel is relatively low and because of the chromium oxide layer a simple hardening by infusion of either carbon or nitrogen could until 1985 only be done at temperatures above 500◦C with precipitation of CrN and with a significant loss of corrosion resistance [1]. The chromium is withdrawn from the solid solution and when it reaches below 11 wt. %, the steel loses its self repairing ability of rebuilding the passive film at the surface [2].
 In 1985 the possibility of low temperatures surface engineering of stainless steel by use of plasma or implantation techniques was recognized. It was discovered that a hard and wear resistant surface layer could be obtained without experiencing a loss of corrosion resistance when nitriding at temperature below 450-500◦C [3, 4].
 The new phase responsible for the favorable properties associated with low temperature nitriding was by Ichii et al. [4] designated the S-phase. The term S-phase
 relates to the unidentified peaks in the X-ray diffraction patterns arbitrarily named S1-S5. The S phase is also called expanded austenite because of the interstitial
 diffusion of nitrogen in the austenite. It is a metastable phase and its stability is highly dependent on the applied process conditions. The S phase decomposes when thermally exposed to critical temperatures. The decomposing of stainless steel like AISI 316 used in this projects happens within minutes at 600◦C and within years at 300◦C [5].
 Plasma and implantation technologies circumvent the problem of passive layer impenetrability either by sputtering the surface in a vacuum chamber or with a chemical removal of the passive layer. The problem with a chemical removal of the passive layer is that the surface starts rebuilding the moment it gets in contact with oxygen and thereby recreates the problem of passive layer impenetrability. However
 Somers et al. [6] have developed a patterned process where nickel is applied to the surface directly after the oxide removal, making the surface thermodynamically stable. The depassivation of the surface is carried out in a solution of 80 ml 15% w/w hydrochloric acid + 1 ml 35% hydrogen peroxide for 20-30 seconds thereby removing the chromium oxid layer. Then the specimen, while still wet, is
 directly placed in a Wood's nickel bath, which is an acidic halogenide containing electrolyte, where a nickel layer is grown in 90-120 seconds. Afterwards several articles have been published by the same group [7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13] and more are being prepared for publication [14, 15, 16].
 The topic of this master thesis is low temperature surface hardening of stainless steel in micro scale patterns using photoresist to create the desired patterns. Thereby
 creating functional surfaces for different uses. The method of surface hardening is developed by Somers et al. [6] and the idea of creating a functional surface is suggested
 by A. Horsewell. The basic idea is that before case hardening of the surface a micro scale pattern of nickel is applied to the surface instead of applying it to the
 whole surface. This can either be done by protecting a pattern of the surface from getting in contact with the nickel bath or by protecting a pattern of nickel already
 applied to the whole surface.
 The technological advantages of only case hardening parts of a surface could be:
 a) The part to be welded can be left non case-hardened. b) The hardened contact surface area can be reduced, thereby allowing non-hardened surface area to be removed during sliding wear. c) Patterned surfaces of hardened and non-hardened areas respectively can be tailored to allow local reservoirs of oil or other lubricants. d) Stresses which could lead to surface cracking might be relaxed in untreated
 areas. Furthermore, basic understanding and fundamental research studies on interfaces hardened and non-hardened regions - stressed and non-stressed regions - are needed.
 Each of the chapters contains its own introduction, experimental, discussion and conclusion. The Chapters 2 and 4 deal with the two different types of micro scale
 pattern creation. Chapter 2 deals with the process of protecting a pattern of the surface from getting into contact with the nickel bath i.e. applying nickel in patterns and chapter 4 deals with the process of creating a pattern of nickel by protecting parts of nickel already applied to the whole surface i.e. removing nickel in patterns.
 The discussions and conclusions in Chapter 4 are based on preliminary observations as the sample preparation used is not final. Chapter 3 deals with a thickness
 determination of the nickel layer by use of energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS) and Monte Carlo electron simulations. Conclusions are presented in chapter5 along with an outlook.


Smears of peripheral blood and bone marrow from 17 patients with acute myeloid leukaemia in relapse were compared with smears made at presentation. We found a change of more than 10 in Maturation Index (MI) in the bone marrow smears of 14 out of 17 patients (82%). Decreases and increases were equally represented. In 5 cases the changes caused assignment to another FAB-group.


The current study was carried to investigate the effect of green tea extract in improvement of male rats reproductive efficiency after exposed to oxidative stress by streptozotocin.40 male rats at 60 days old with 135±11gm in weight were randomly divided into four equal groups, the first drenched with distilled water for 60 days as control group(C).the second (T1)was given aqueous extract of green tea (100mg/kg/bw) for 60 days, while the third group (T2 injected (i.p) single dose of streptozotocin (60mg/km/bw) for induction of oxidative stress, the forth group injected with single dose of streptozotocin (60mg/km/bw) and after 30 days drenched with green tea extract(100mg/km/bw) for 30 days.at day60 of experiment all animals were sacrificed , blood samples were collected from ventral vein and serum samples were isolated for measurement of male reproductive hormones (LH,FSH, and Testosterone) by ELISA test. the testes samples were taken for histological study and dimensions of seminiferous tubules, samples of epididymis for study of seminiferous tubules dimensions. The results of study was revealed significant increase (P≥0.05)in testosterone and FSH in (T1) group compared with other groups while there is non-significant changes in LH concentration compared with other groups.


The activation of C–C σ-bonds within strained three- and four-membered hydrocarbons at electrophilic Mg and Zn centres is reported. This was achieved in a two-step process involving (i) hydrometallation of a methylidene cycloalkane followed by (ii) intramolecular C–C bond activation. While hydrometallation of methylidene cyclopropane, cyclobutane, cyclopentane and cyclohexane occurs for both Mg and Zn reagents, the C–C bond activation step is sensitive to ring size. For Mg, both cyclopropane and cyclobutane rings participate in C–C bond activation. For Zn, only the smallest cyclopropane ring reacts. These findings were used to expand the scope of catalytic hydrosilylation of C–C σ-bonds to include cyclobutane rings. The mechanism of C–C σ-bond activation was investigated through kinetic analysis (Eyring), spectroscopic observation of intermediates, and a comprehensive series of DFT calculations, including activation strain analysis. Based on our current understanding, C–C bond activation is proposed to occur by a β-alkyl migration step. β-Alkyl migration is more facile for more strained rings and occurs with lower barriers for Mg compared to Zn. Relief of ring strain is a key factor in determining the thermodynamics of C–C bond activation, but not in stabilising the transition state for β-alkyl migration. Rather, we ascribe the differences in reactivity to the stabilising interaction between the metal centre and the hydrocarbon ring-system, with the smaller rings and more electropositive metal (Mg) leading to a smaller destabilisation interaction energy as the transition state is approached. Our findings represent the first example of C–C bond activation at Zn and provide detailed new insight into the factors at play in β-alkyl migration at main group centres.


In this paper I argue that aim-oriented empiricism (AOE), a conception of natural science that I have defended at some length elsewhere, is a kind of synthesis of the views of Popper, Kuhn and Lakatos, but is also an improvement over the views of all three. Whereas Popper's falsificationism protects metaphysical assumptions implicitly made by science from criticism, AOE exposes all such assumptions to sustained criticism, and furthermore focuses criticism on those assumptions most likely to need revision if science is to make progress. Even though AOE is, in this way, more Popperian than Popper, it is also, in some respects, more like the views of Kuhn and Lakatos than falsificationism is. AOE is able, however, to solve problems which Kuhn's and Lakatos's views cannot solve.