The application of the Transparency Directive (2004/109/EG) was examined by the European Commission five years after its entry into force. The amendments resulting hereof were summarised in the Amendment Directive to the Transparency Directive (2013/50/EU – the "Amendment Directive"), which entered into force on 27 November 2013 and shall be implemented into national law until 27 November 2015. The implementation of the Amendment Directive into German national law requires in particular amendments to the German Securities Trading Act (Wertpapierhandelsgesetz – WpHG), the subordinated legislation based thereon, as well as the German Securities Prospectus Act (Wertpapierprospektgesetz – WpPG), the Capital Investments Act (Kapitalanlagegesetzbuch – KAGB), the German Securities Acquisition and Takeover Act (Wertpapierübernahmegesetz – WpÜG) and the German Commercial Code (Handelsgesetzbuch – HGB). In addition to this "compulsory program" the German legislator has adopted a statutory regulation of the delisting process.


The following is a progress report on the long-term coronal (T ∼ 1 MK) activity of α Centauri A (HD 128620: G2 V) and B (HD 128621: K1 V). Since 2005, Chandra X-Ray Observatory has carried out semiannual pointings on AB, mainly with the High Resolution Camera, but also on two occasions with the Low-Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer, fully resolving the close pair in all cases. During 2008–2013, Chandra captured the rise, peak, and initial decline of B's coronal luminosity. Together with previous high states documented by ROSAT and XMM-Newton, the long-term X-ray record suggests a period of 8.1 ± 0.2 yr, compared to 11 yr for the Sun, with a minimum-to-peak contrast of 4.5, about half the typical solar cycle amplitude. Meanwhile, the A component has been mired in a Maunder-Minimum-like low state since 2005, initially recognized by XMM-Newton. But now, A finally appears to be climbing out of the extended lull. If interpreted simply as an overlong cycle, the period would be 19.2 ± 0.7 yr, with a minimum-to-peak contrast of 3.4. The short X-ray cycle of B, and possibly long cycle of A, are not unusual compared with the diverse (albeit much lower amplitude) chromospheric variations recorded, for example, by the HK Project. Further, the deep low state of A also is not unusual, but instead is similar to the LX/Lbol of the Sun during recent minima of the sunspot cycle.


Hypotension is type of secondary insult and it is related to poor outcome. The ability to predict adverse hypotensive events, where a patient's arterial blood pressure drops to abnormally low levels, would be of major benefit to the fields of primary and secondary health care. The aim of the paper is to present the novel method for predicting of acute hypotensive episodes, based on ECG analysis by the complex system theory approach. 45 patients (in four neurointensive care facilities throughout Europe) data were selected for the analysis. 11 patients had EUSIG-defined hypotensive events. The method includes determining of time varying biomarkers corresponding to plurality of physiological processes in patient's organism as a non-linear dynamic complex system and generating an acute hypotension prediction classifier. The calculations of biomarkers are based on complex system approach and algebraic matrix analysis of ECG parameters. The classifier is based on the comparison of biomarkers behaviour in 3D images. It is demonstrated that the presented method allows us to predict arterial hypotension events 40-50 minutes ahead with a sensitivity of 81 %, specificity 94 %. This result was obtained from prospective real-time data collection in a live clinical intensive care environment.


The motivation for this research arises from the challenges in the trustworthy communications related operation of cyber-physical systems (CPS), especially in the energy and mobility domains. The increasing amount of distributed energy resources (DERs) of prosumers and electric vehicles requires new ways for CPS communications to enable information exchanges for smart operation in peak consumption hours and balancing power levels in the energy grids in order to lower the energy cost. The huge number of mobile appliances and the related service providers do not serve properly the privacy of the owners, owing to the vertical silo type of operating model in industries. As the results of this research, we provide a trustworthy communication hub for CPS (CPS hub) for solving the challenges related to trustworthy communications between physical resources owned by different stakeholders. The CPS hub realizes the communication spaces concept, and enables combined trust and communications processes when dynamic resources owned by different stakeholders are exchanging information. The evaluations showed that the provided CPS hub enable information exchanges between distributed energy resources of different stakeholders, so that they can join the aggregation process for more flexible and efficient resource usage in energy markets. The CPS hub enable interaction between heterogeneous physical devices of multiple stakeholders to exchange information so that, for example, authorities can see the situation in the emergency area and, simultaneously, the policies of the owners can be taken into concern. Despite limited evaluation scenarios, it is shown that consideration of the ownership issues in the trustworthy communication for information exchanges between heterogeneous physical resources (devices) is possible and feasible. Several future research items, such as, for example, scalability; real-time and streams based operation; as well as consideration of the security, privacy, trust, and safety challenges, were detected. However, the evaluations showed that the constructed CPS hub contribute a set of very essential technical enablers for future smart CPS systems and create strong a basis for such future research towards a future smart society.


Finals week is stressful for students, so the Library has invited some local therapy dogs to drop in Monday through Wednesday, December 12th-14th from noon to 2 p.m. and provide some much needed stress relief!


routine laboratories will become even greater, and compliance (which is often poor and the present main indication for requesting thyroid function tests in these patients') will have to improve considerably. Patients might also have to accept the inconvenience of taking thyroxine in divided doses to avoid peaks of circulating thyroid hormone damaging the liver, a significant negative factor when promoting compliance with a life long treatment regimen. A much larger and better designed study is required before these authors' recommendations can be widely accepted. R J MARDELL


Participatory design (PD) has become increasingly engaged in public spheres and everyday life and is no longer solely concerned with the workplace. This is not only a shift from work-oriented productive activities to leisure and pleasurable engagements, but also a new milieu for production and 'innovation'. What 'democratic innovation' entails is often currently defined by management and innovation research, which claims that innovation has been democratised through easy access to production tools and lead-users as the new experts driving innovation. We sketch an alternative 'innovation' practice more in line with the original visions of PD based on our experience of running Malmö Living Labs – an open innovation milieu where new constellations, issues and ideas evolve from bottom–up long-term collaborations among diverse stakeholders. Three cases and controversial matters of concern are discussed. The fruitfulness of the concepts 'agonistic public spaces' (as opposed to consensual decision-making), 'thinging' and 'infrastructuring' (as opposed to projects) are explored in relation to democracy, innovation and other future-making practices.


An image watermarking algorithm using Least Significant Bit is presented. Firstly, Logistic chaotic map is utilized to generate embedding bits for the watermark. Then, the discrete cosine transform is performed on the host image, and the hiding bit is embedded in the coefficient of discrete cosine transform by replacing Least Significant Bit, which causes minimal distortion of the host image.The original host image is not required when extracting the watermark . Experimental results show that the watermarked image almost has no difference from the original host image, and the quality of the extracted image is satisfying, the capacity of this algorithm is high. This algorithm is robust to many attacks, such as noise attack, JPEG Compression attack. Introduction


According to the electric charge and the elastic coefficient of the object independent of the motion of the object, and based on the similar properties of the gravitational field and the electrostatic field, it is concluded that the gravitational mass of the object is a constant independent of the motion of the object. However, experimental results show that the inertial mass of the object is related to the motion of the object. Therefore, it is considered that the principle of equivalence is not satisfied. As the object moves at a low velocity, the principle of equivalence is approximately true, so it is concluded that the general theory of relativity is applicable to all space celestial bodies. When the object is moving at high velocity, the principle of equivalence is not satisfied, so the general theory of relativity is not the truth. According to the principle of force balance, it is concluded that the velocity V of the black hole must be zero. Under the necessary conditions of V = 0, the existence of the black hole cannot be deduced according to the general theory of relativity. Therefore, it is considered that the black hole does not exist in theory. It is also estimated that the density of black hole is more than one million times the neutron density. It is believed that the black hole can never be a real material existence. The principle of black hole observation published on April 10, 2019 was considered theoretically wrong against the common sense of physics. The photos of the black hole halo taken at eight observation points in the world are judged to be untrue.


Summary Background Previous studies show that Asians have an impaired blood flow response (BFR) to occlusion after a single high fat (HF) meal. The mechanism is believed to be the presence and susceptibility to high free radicals in their blood. The free radical concentration after a HF meal has not been examined in Asians. Further the BFR to heat after a single HF meal in Koreans has not been measured. Material/Methods This study evaluated postprandial endothelial function by measuring the BFR to vascular occlusion and local heat before and after a HF meal and the interventional effects of anti-oxidant vitamins on improving endothelial function in young Korean-Asians (K) compared to Caucasians (C) with these assessments. Ten C and ten K participated in the study (mean age 25.3±3.6 years old). BFR to vascular occlusion and local heat and oxidative stress were assessed after a single low fat (LF) and HF meal at 2 hours compared to baseline. After administration of vitamins (1000 mg of vitamin C, 800 IU of vitamin E, and 300 mg of Coenzyme Q-10) for 14 days, the same measurements were made. Results This study showed that the skin BFR to vascular occlusion and local heat following a HF meal significantly decreased and free radicals significantly increased at 2 hours compared to baseline in K (p<.001), but not in C. When vitamins were given, the BFR to vascular occlusion and local heat before and after HF meal were not significantly different in K and C. Conclusions These findings suggest that even a single HF meal can reduce endothelial response to stress through an oxidative stress mechanism but can be blocked by antioxidants, probably through scavenging free radicals in K. Since endothelial function improved even before a HF meal in K, endothelial damage from an Americanized diet may be reduced in K by antioxidants.


Evolution and clinical manifestations of Ebola virus (EBOV) infection overlap with the pathologic processes that occur in sepsis1. Some viruses certainly compromise the immune system, leading to a breach in the integrity of the mucosal epithelial barrier, thus allowing bacterial translocation2, 3. Guided by these facts, we wondered if bacteria could be involved in the pathogenesis of some of the septic shock-like symptoms typical of EBOV infected patients, something that could have a dramatic impact on the design of new treatment approaches. We decided to search for bacteria in available EBOV patient sequence datasets. Given that EBOV is an RNA virus and that, hence, some NGS sequencing experiments carried out to sequence the EBOV genomes were RNA-Seq experiments, we thought that, if there were any bacteria in patient serum, at least some bacterial RNA might probably be detected in the sequenced material from Ebola patients. Thus, we searched for bacteria in a RNA-Seq public dataset from 99 Ebola samples from the last outbreak4, and surprisingly, in spite of the certainly suboptimal experimental conditions for bacterial RNA sequencing, we found bacteria in all of the 99 samples.


For the first time, we have used phase-contrast x-ray tomography to characterize the three-dimensional (3d) structure of cardiac tissue from patients who succumbed to Covid-19. By extending conventional histopatholocigal examination by a third dimension, the delicate pathological changes of the vascular system of severe Covid-19 progressions can be analyzed, fully quantified and compared to other types of viral myocarditis and controls. To this end, cardiac samples with a cross section of 3.5mm were scanned at the synchrotron in a parallel beam configuration. The vascular network was segmented by a deep learning architecture suitable for 3d datasets (V-net), trained by sparse manual annotations. Pathological alterations of vessels, concerning the variation of diameters and the amount of small holes, were observed, indicative of elevated occurrence of intussusceptive angiogenesis, also confirmed by scanning electron microscopy. Further, we implemented a fully automated analysis of the tissue structure in form of shape measures based on the structure tensor. The corresponding distributions show that the histopathology of Covid-19 differs from both influenza and typical coxsackie virus myocarditis.


Private motorized transport poses a major challenge for traffic and the environment. Shared mobility might increase traffic efficiency and reduce traffic-related environmental pollution. The use of autonomous shuttles is conceivable for the future, opening further opportunities, e.g., road safety. From the user's point of view, not having their own vehicle can mean a loss of flexibility. Skepticism may arise, e.g., regarding the reliability of a service provider. Research is needed on the general willingness to share a ride, considering individual motivations for or against shared mobility. Regarding autonomous shuttles, there are gaps in knowledge about the extent to which the lack of a human driver on board affects trust and the willingness to use them compared to conventional driving services.MethodWe designed a two-step empirical research approach. Our aims were to investigate 1.perceptions of autonomous shuttles compared to conventional cabs in terms of safety and reliability,2.trust towards and intention to use autonomous shuttles,3.decisions to use an autonomous shuttle or a conventional cab, considering human factors (e.g., personality traits, mobility behavior).In a preliminary qualitative study, guided interviews (language: German) were conducted to explore reasons behind people' s choice to share a ride and to identify factors that influence their well-being and trust. To evaluate how differences in the level of automation might affect attitudes, conventional cabs and autonomous shuttles (both on-demand mobility services) were compared. In sum, 17 adults of different age groups (19 to 58 years) participated. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using content analysis. Results were operationalized and measured in an online questionnaire survey (N=182). ResultsIn general, passengers' feeling of safety is relevant for their decision to share a ride. However, safety is perceived and evaluated differently regarding different means of transport. In a conventional cab, safety perception is enhanced by a human driver, especially in emergencies. In the case of autonomous shuttles, road safety is the key in achieving a high sense of security, since it is assumed that the autonomous shuttle, unlike cab drivers, always adheres to the applicable traffic regulations. Participants would prefer a ride in the autonomous shuttle to a cab ride and indicate a high willingness to use it for people other than themselves. For children or care-dependent people, special booking options, e.g., on board-monitoring, are requested. The general willingness to share a ride seems to depend on the perceived importance of car ownership.OutlookOur results contribute to a deeper understanding of attitudes towards novel mobility services. Results clarify which factors determine the general willingness to use shared mobility and which are specific to new and autonomous driving services. They also strengthen the knowledge of predictors for technology trust and acceptance in this context. The practical relevance of our study lies in the possibility to derive design and action recommendations for the user-centred development of autonomous shuttles considering individual needs and demands of different target groups.


Curcumin, a polyphenolic derivative of Curcuma longa rhizome, has numerous beneficial effects, including antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antioxidant, antifungal, anti-ischemic, anti-cancer, hypoglycemic, nephroprotective, antirheumatic, hepato-protective, and antimutagenic. Curcumin has indicated the capability to exert anti-cancer activity by multifunctional mechanisms, such as induction of apoptosis, inhibition of cancer cell proliferation, cell cycle regulation, chemotherapeutic intestinal absorption, and modification of several cancer cell types signaling pathways. Several studies have shown that curcumin may have protective effects against tumors of the reproductive system. Reproductive system cancers may cause many undesirable physical and, especially, mental disorders. Infertility and its mental consequences, sexual problems, chemotherapy and surgery-related adverse effects, substantial economic burden, and death are the most common complications regarding the cancers of the reproductive system. By modulating several reproductive cancer hallmarks such as signaling pathways, multiple drug resistance, cancer cell growth and proliferation, tumor angiogenesis, and transcription factors, curcumin could be used as a safe, non-toxic, cheap, and easily accessible drug for treating different types of reproductive cancers.


The self is conceptualized in a multitude of ways in different scholarly fields; at the same time moral agency appears to presuppose a unitary conception of the self. This paper explores this tension by introducing 'moral senses' which inform the normative evaluations of a person. The moral senses are featured as innate dispositions, but they inevitably recruit discursive categorizations in order to function. These senses forward both an 'individual self', by experiencing a unitary body, mind and character, and a 'social self', that is similarly experienced as a body, a mind, and a character. This social self is enabled by the capacity to internalize other people's feelings and intentions and the need to have otherworldly explanations for observable reality. This integrative framework of moral senses provides an understanding that helps to address the challenge of moral heterogeneity and plurality.


ABSTRACT We present the results of a study aimed at developing a vegetation map of Sicily (Italy) including the smaller circum-Sicilian islands, for an area of approximately 25,703 km2. The work is a synthesis of studies carried out in accordance with the survey methodology of phytosociology in the last 40 years over the whole study area. The vegetation map of Sicily was compiled in a Geographical Information Systems (GIS) environment, in order to produce a cartographic representation at a scale of 1:10,000 (reduced to a scale of 1:250,000). The physiognomic-structural characteristics of the plant landscape of Sicily are analyzed, providing a general and, at the same time, detailed overview of the phytocoenotic aspects represented on the territory, as well as of the relative bibliographic references. At the reference scale, 36 types are represented, 16 of which are related to zonal vegetation (Mediterranean maquis, Quercus ilex woods, Quercus suber woods, Castanea sativa woods, Quercus pubescens deciduous woods, mesophilous deciduous woods, Fagus sylvatica woods, Betula aetnensis woods, woods dominated by woody gymnosperms, forest edge shrubs, orophilous pulvinate shrubs, shrublands and garrigues, Ampelodesmos mauritanicus grasslands, mesophilous and sub-hygrophilous grasslands and pastures), 11 are related to azonal vegetation (riparian, psammophilous herbaceous, chasmo-halophitic, etc.) and 9 are related to anthropogenic vegetation (arable lands and extensive herbaceous crops, vineyards, olive groves and dry cultivation mosaics, hazelnut groves, irrigated citrus groves and orchards, greenhouses, built-up areas).


This paper explores the ways in which innovative information systems projects take on a life of their own. The paper begins by reviewing some of the more traditional ways of making sense of this phenomenon--resistance to change, escalation, and unintended results--before introducing the sociology of translation. This provides a theoretical framework for viewing the transformations that an information systems project undergoes. The framework is then applied to the case of the NHSnet project in the United Kingdom. Using the language of sociology of translation, we consider the underlying stakeholder relations in the case study and draw more general conclusions for the responsibilities of stakeholders involved in an information systems life cycle.


Three broad categories of benefits resulting from use of and access to personal computers (PCs) and workstations (WSs) in teaching electric machines and drives, including all the electromagnetic field aspects associated with such electromechanical energy conversion devices are described. The first category concerns benefits from using computer graphics in computational electromagnetics. The second category involves quantification of electric machinery parameters and performance characteristics from computational electromagnetics. The third category concerns benefits from using computer simulation to study power-electronically-controlled electric drives, using time-domain models in which all significant effects of both time and space harmonics are retained. The material discussed is taught at Clarkson University at the senior undergraduate and first-year graduate levels. >


Rapid changes associated with new technological revolution and globalization, which are based on digitalization to a great deal, are changing the competences that business is looking for when searching for new employees and leaders. Their development urges constant changes in general and business education. The previous model of "industrial education" with its standards, practices, approaches, formats, skills, and competences will not fit the new reality. More than half of the present jobs will not exist over the next 10-15 years, the face of industry will be different, and the paradigm of management is changing. There is a lot of evidence that business community is searching for new and different approaches to solve contemporary problems and to deal with these new challenges. For educational institutions, it is also important to adapt their study programs to the changing needs of the labor market and to restructure their curricula to ensure that graduates are able and willing to use the knowledge gained in the practice. This article addressed several challenges facing business educators - own knowledge, experience and competences of educators, the essence and the ways of teaching, and future demands of business community. The answers to these challenges will allow them to teach competitive and demanded graduates and thus increase their own competitiveness.


Introduction. Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a progressive, occlusive and atherosclerotic vascular disease and patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) are at increased risk of developing this disease. The aim of the study was to determine the frequency of PAD in patients with type 2 DM by measuring the ankle-brachial index (ABI) in the family medicine clinic. Methods. The cross-sectional study included the patients with type 2 DM, registered at the Family Medicine Department of Primary Healthcare Center Laktaši. ABI measurement was carried out by means of the "Boso ABI Mess 100 Oscillometer" apparatus while patients were diagnosed with PAD if the ABI value was <0.9 or >1.3. Results. The study included 178 respondents with type 2 DM, aged ≥50 years, whereby 90 of them (50.6%) were men. PAD was found in 26 (14.6%) respondents. There was a statistically significant difference in ABI (left/ right leg) between the patients with PAD and the ones without it (0.82/0.84 vs. 1.04/1.05; p<0.01). The average duration of DM was longer in patients with PAD compared to those without PAD (12 vs. 8 years; p = 0.097) and the mean values of HbA1c were the same in both groups (7.7% vs. 7.9%; p = 0.634). There was no statistically significant difference in the frequency of hypertension, dyslipidaemia and obesity between the patients with and without PAD, respectively. Furthermore, the number of smokers among the patients with PAD was significantly higher (p <0.01). Conclusion. In patients with type 2 DM, PAD prevalence was 14.6%. Diabetes lasted a bit longer in patients with PAD, and among them there were significantly more smokers compared to the group without PAD. The Edinburgh Claudication Questionnaire showed positive results in only a third of patients with PAD. Early PAD diagnosis could be established in considerably larger number of patients with type 2 DM by ABI measurement than by the use of the above-mentioned questionnaire.


Background Aspergillus nidulans is an important model organism for studies on fundamental eukaryotic cell biology and on industrial processes due to its close relation to A. niger and A. oryzae. Here we identified the gene coding for a novel metabolic pathway in A. nidulans, namely the phosphoketolase pathway, and investigated the role of an increased phosphoketolase activity. Methodology/Principal Findings Over-expression of the phosphoketolase gene (phk) improved the specific growth rate on xylose, glycerol and ethanol. Transcriptome analysis showed that a total of 1,222 genes were significantly affected by over-expression of the phk, while more than half of the affected genes were carbon source specific. During growth on glucose medium, the transcriptome analysis showed that the response to phk over-expression is targeted to neutralize the effect of the over-expression by regulating the acetate metabolism and initiate a growth dampening response. Conclusions/Significance Metabolic flux analysis using 13C-labelled glucose, showed that over-expression of phosphoketolase added flexibility to the central metabolism. Our findings further suggests that A. nidulans is not optimized for growth on xylose, glycerol or ethanol as the sole carbon sources.


This paper extends the axiomatic theory of revealed preference to choices that are generated by the maximization of a strictly concave and strictly monotone function subject to nonlinear constraint sets. I characterize finite sets of observations on choice behavior that are consistent with the maximization of a strictly concave and strictly monotone objective function. Both nonconvex and convex choice sets are considered. The analysis applies, for example, to consumers who face either regressive or progressive taxes and to households that produce commodities according to either a convex or a concave production function. For choice sets that possess convex and monotone complements, my characterization provides a nonparametric test for the maximization hypothesis. For choice sets that can be supported by unique hyperplanes at the chosen elements, the result provides a nonparametric test for the strict concavity and strict monotonicity of the maximized function.


Carbonaceous compositions, water-soluble ionic species and trace gaseous species were identified and quantified in Hat-Yai city, Thailand. All samples were collected every three hours consecutively from 21:00 h December 17 th to 21:00 h December 20 th at Site 1 (30 m agl), Site 2 (60 m agl) and Site 3 (125 m agl). The averaged concentration of OC was significantly higher at Site 1 than those detected at Site 2 and Site 3 suggesting that anthropogenic activities at ground level might play a major role in governing air quality at ground level. The main objective of this study is to investigate the vertical distribution of carbonaceous aerosols in Hat-Yai's atmosphere for the first time by using IMPROVE TOC (Interagency Monitoring to Protect Visual Environments Total Organic Carbon) protocol. The morning peak of carbonaceous compositions observed during the sampling period of 06:00–09:00 emphasized the main contribution of traffic emissions on OC/EC contents in Hat-Yai city. In this study, we found that aged maritime aerosols from long-range transportation and/or biomass burning particles overwhelmed carbonaceous aerosols at the top of building. Whilst hierarchical cluster analysis and Pearson correlation analysis show some considerable influences of night-time tourism activities on carbonaceous contents at ground level, principal component analysis highlights


This study explores the Gaussian and the Lorentzian distributed spherically symmetric wormhole solutions in the f(τ,T) gravity. The basic idea of the Gaussian and Lorentzian noncommutative geometries emerges as the physically acceptable and substantial notion in quantum physics. This idea of the noncommutative geometries with both the Gaussian and Lorentzian distributions becomes more striking when wormhole geometries in the modified theories of gravity are discussed. Here we consider a linear model within f(τ,T) gravity to investigate traversable wormholes. In particular, we discuss the possible cases for the wormhole geometries using the Gaussian and the Lorentzian noncommutative distributions to obtain the exact shape function for them. By incorporating the particular values of the unknown parameters involved, we discuss different properties of the new wormhole geometries explored here. It is noted that the involved matter violates the weak energy condition for both the cases of the noncommutative geometries, whereas there is a possibility for a physically viable wormhole solution. By analyzing the equilibrium condition, it is found that the acquired solutions are stable. Furthermore, we provide the embedded diagrams for wormhole structures under Gaussian and Lorentzian noncommutative frameworks. Moreover, we present the critical analysis on an anisotropic pressure under the Gaussian and the Lorentzian distributions.


It is obvious that there remains a difference in punishments for the same crime in our criminal justice system. However, it is less obvious as to why there lies such a difference. Is it racism? Or is there a difference in opinion based on social dominance and authoritarian ideologies? The participants in the current study are 252 Psychology students attending Eastern Michigan University in the 2017/2018 school year. It is hypothesized that those who rank higher in SDO and RWA will endorse harsher punishments for alleged criminals. It is also hypothesized that participants will endorse harsher punishments for African American defendants than for Caucasian defendants. Various Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) tests were run to test the hypotheses, analyzing the effects of race of the defendant as well as the effects of SDO and RWA measure averages among participants. The findings of this study do not indicate a statistical significance for the first hypothesis, meaning that those who rank higher in RWA and SDO do not endorse harsher punishments for alleged criminals. However, there are statistically significant results supporting a racial divide that is contrary to the hypothesis, meaning that participants did not endorse harsher punishments for African American defendants than Caucasian defendants. This project aims to inform further studies involving jury decision making and possible reform of the criminal justice system. Degree Type Open Access Senior Honors Thesis Department Psychology First Advisor Natalie Dove Second Advisor Carol Freedman-Doan


Computable general equilibri um (CGE) models of world trade, often presented as demonstrating the benefits of trade liberaliza tion, now make much more modest forecasts than they did just a few years ago. The es timated benefits are not only small in the aggregate, but also skewed toward devel oped countries; the expected contribution of trade liberalization to economic development and poverty alleviation is extremely limited. Related calculations, for the expected benefits of services liberalization, trade facilitation measures, and long-term productivity gains from trade liberalization, remain problematical and/or speculative. The empirical limitations of CGE forecasts rest on broader theoretical weaknesses: the models are largely locked within a static framework, and remarkably assume that trade policy causes no changes in total employment, up or down. Models built on more adequate theories, which have only begun to appear, would paint a very different picture of the effects of trade liberalization.


The results of 150 examinations by computed tomography in emergency situations are described (about 5% of all CT examinations). There were 80 examinations of the skull, 65 of the abdomen and five of the mediastinum. The results are shown in two tables and include the diagnosis of bleeding, infarcts and inflammatory lesions (abscesses, encephalitis, acute pancreatitis). The morphologic and densitometric findings are compared with the literature and with other imaging procedures. Computer tomography has assumed the most important place in the emergency diagnosis of the skull; as regards the abdomen, it reaches its limitations in the presence of acute vascular occlusion and diseases of the gastro-intestinal tract. In this situation other procedures (contrast studies, angiography) and endoscopy are to be preferred since these demonstrate the tubular organs longitudinally, unlike the transverse image produced by the CT scan. Acute diseases of the lungs can be demonstrated more quickly and simply by conventional radiography. CT is a non-invasive and rapid procedure, which can demonstrate haemorrhages, abscesses and exudates in the mediastinum and abdomen directly and also show their topography. The method is therefore essential for emergency diagnosis of conditions involving the trunk.


At the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in 1931, the writer submitted a brief paper on the earliest use of the word, "Geology," in the sense, or approximately in the sense, in which it is now employed. After citing a number of very early works in which the word is found it was stated that the earliest use of the term, so far as had been ascertained, was in Lovell's "Pammineralogicon or an Universal History of Minerals etc.," which appeared in 1661. Since that meeting further information on the subject has been obtained, and this is presented in the present communication. Robert Plot in his "Natural History of Stafford-Shire," published at Oxford in 1686, in writing of the phenomena attendant upon earthquakes, says (p. 145) "as we find it in the Geologia Norwegica, it makes a terrible rumbleing like loud thunder." Search for a copy of this. . . .


The species of Kokeshia Miyamoto, 1960 from China are reviewed, K. hsiaoi Ren & Zheng, 1992 is redescribed, and ten new species from China are described. Among these new species, K. baii sp. nov., was collected from Hong Kong, and the other nine, K. acutiformis sp. nov., K. bui sp. nov., K. caii sp. nov., K. drepanoides sp. nov., K. hilli sp. nov., K. pengae sp. nov., K. redeii sp. nov., K. renae sp. nov. and K. weirauchae sp. nov., from Yunnan. Thus, the number of known species of this genus is increased from eight to eighteen. Photographs of the habitus, forewing, abdomen and genitalic structures; drawings and scanning electron micrographs of male abdomen and genitalic structures are provided. A key to all the species currently recognized in the genus Kokeshia is presented, a distribution map and checklist for all known species is provided.


Axillary osmidrosis is an annoying, although not life-threatening, problem that includes unpleasant odor and the occasional staining of clothing. Suction-assisted lipectomy has been tested as a treatment for axillary osmidrosis with variable success. The authors retrospectively reviewed 134 patients who underwent superficial liposuction for bilateral axillary osmidrosis in their division between June of 1998 and June of 2002. The surgical complications and results were compared with those reported in their previous report of 343 patients (102 available for postoperative result evaluation) who received open surgical treatment with partial excision of axillary skin and subcutaneous tissue. The overall complication rate was 3.73 percent, significantly lower than the 11.08 percent complication rate seen with open surgical treatment. Of their 134 patients, 114 were available for long-term follow-up. Thirteen patients (11.40 percent) had very good results, 79 patients (69.30 percent) had good results, and 22 patients (19.30 percent) had poor results. Significant differences were found between those who underwent superficial liposuction and those who underwent open surgery. The number of patients with very good and good results decreased significantly from 91.18 percent (open surgery) to 80.70 percent (liposuction), and those with little or no improvement increased from 8.82 percent (open surgery) to 19.29 percent (liposuction). Compared with open surgery for the treatment of osmidrosis, liposuction produces significantly fewer complications but is less effective. Of the patients who underwent liposuction for osmidrosis, 80 percent were satisfied with the result. Further study is needed to determine whether liposuction for osmidrosis can be improved.


We investigate the moderating effect of the business cycle on the positive relationship between CEO overconfidence and firm performance. We propose that the expansion years of the business cycle enhance the positive impact of overconfident CEOs on firms' performance. However, this effect is reduced during recession periods. We analyze the effect of CEO overconfidence on the Return on Equity of publicly listed US firms from 1992 to 2015, a period that includes the bursting of the dot-com bubble in 2001 and the Great Recession of 2008–2009. The empirical findings support the hypotheses that expansion periods increase the positive relationship between overconfident CEOs and firms' performance, but this positive effect weakens during recessions.


Quantum sensors based on coherent matter-waves are precise measurement devices whose ultimate accuracy is achieved with Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs) in extended free fall. This is ideally realized in microgravity environments such as drop towers, ballistic rockets and space platforms. However, the transition from lab-based BEC machines to robust and mobile sources with comparable performance is a challenging endeavor. Here we report on the realization of a miniaturized setup, generating a flux of 4 × 10 5 ?> quantum degenerate 87Rb atoms every 1.6 s. Ensembles of 1 × 10 5 ?> atoms can be produced at a 1 Hz rate. This is achieved by loading a cold atomic beam directly into a multi-layer atom chip that is designed for efficient transfer from laser-cooled to magnetically trapped clouds. The attained flux of degenerate atoms is on par with current lab-based BEC experiments while offering significantly higher repetition rates. Additionally, the flux is approaching those of current interferometers employing Raman-type velocity selection of laser-cooled atoms. The compact and robust design allows for mobile operation in a variety of demanding environments and paves the way for transportable high-precision quantum sensors.


The virtual reality technology (VRT) is a multi-disciplinary comprehensive technology, which appears following the computer technology, computer graphics, computer network technology, image processing and pattern recognition, intelligent connection technology, multi-sensor technologies, pronunciation processing and acoustic technology's fast developments and so on. In recent years, VRT has been used widely in the field of sport such as diving, gymnastics, trampoline, basketball and skiing, especially at diving and trampoline. The virtual reality technology, virtual reality modeling language theories, especially the application of the virtual reality technology, and the three-dimensional visualization emulation technique in field of sport were discussed.


Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez fended off a spirited challenge by Governor Henrique Capriles this fall. But continuing questions about Chavez's health and the country's dismal governance suggest that change may be coming soon. Looking ahead, the opposition will need to address concerns by the very poor that social spending will dry up if Chávez is no longer in office. Meanwhile, political differences and power struggles, and a sense of demoralization, risk undermining Capriles' diverse coalition. The regional scenario would look very different without Chávez. External players should restrain from meddling during this period of uncertainty. Instead, support should focus on trying to ensure that Venezuelans continue to rely on the ballot box in determining the course of a country facing so many daunting problems.


Root crops are major food crops and export commodities in the South Pacific. However, the presence of mites and nematodes results in rejection or treatment of these crops exported to New Zealand. Current disinfestation methods relying on fumigation result in shorter produce shelf life. This paper summarises the organisms intercepted on root crops from the Pacific Islands and sent for identification in New Zealand, with particular reference to mites and nematodes. Results of a laboratory experiment examining the response of representative mite and nematode species to hot water treatment indicated times of less than 4 min at 48°C or 2 min at 49°C resulted in 99% mortality. The implications of these heat treatments for root crops are discussed. Additionally rearing methods are presented for two mite species: a mould mite and a bulb mite. These species will be relevant for use in future New Zealand and Pacific Island disinfestation studies.


This study was undertaken to determine whether the proximal tubule of the mud puppy Necturus maculosus possesses a basolateral Na/HCO3 cotransporter. We examined the effects on basolateral membrane potential (Vbl) and intracellular pH (pHi) of 1) lowering basolateral [HCO3-] at constant PCO2, and 2) replacing Na+ with N-methyl-D-glucamine. Vbl and pHi were measured with Ling-Gerard and liquid-membrane pH microelectrodes, respectively, in isolated tubules perfused in vitro. We found that decreasing basolateral [HCO3-] from 10 mM (pH 7.5) to 2 mM (pH 6.8) resulted in an immediate depolarization of 14.9 mV, and a pHi decrease of 0.35. SITS (4-acetamido-4'-isothiocyanostibene-2,2'-disulfonic acid, 0.5 mM) inhibited the HCO3-induced depolarization by 87% and inhibited the initial rate of the pHi decrease by 79%. Replacement of basolateral Na+ with N-methyl-D-glucamine resulted in an immediate depolarization of 11.3 mV, and a pHi decrease of 0.36. SITS inhibited the zero Na-induced depolarization by 86% and the initial rate of the pHi decrease by 81%. Nominal removal of basolateral HCO3- (replaced with N-2-hydroxyethylpiperazine-N'-2-ethanesulfonic acid) inhibited the zero Na-induced depolarization by 64%, whereas nominal removal of Na+ inhibited the 2 mM HCO3-induced depolarization by 67%. Replacement of all basolateral Cl- with glucuronate did not inhibit the changes in Vbl induced by changing [HCO3-] or [Na+]. Observations similar to those described above have been made previously on Ambystoma proximal tubules, and attributed to an electrogenic Na/HCO3 cotransport mechanism that carries HCO3-, Na+, and net negative charge in the same direction. We conclude that Necturus proximal tubules possess a similar, if not identical, electrogenic Na/HCO3 cotransport mechanism.


Objectives: To measure the tooth whitening and the surface and intra-pulpal temperature increase in vitro on extracted upper human incisors after chemical, zoom light and diode laser activated bleaching. Materials and Methods: Thirty caries-free upper human incisors were selected. Teeth were divided into three equal groups according to the methods of activation of the bleaching agent (n=10). A whitening gel containing hydrogen peroxide was applied to the buccal surface of all teeth. Group I was bleached using chemically activated hydrogen peroxide gel. Group II was bleached with high intensity advanced power zoom activation light, for three applications of 15 min each. Group III was bleached with diode laser activation technique, where the teeth were irradiated with 2 watt diode laser for three applications of 30 sec each. Degree of whitening was assessed using an image analysis system, while temperature rise was recorded using a thermocouple on the external tooth surface and intrapulpal. Results: The degree of whitening increased significantly in all groups. However, the percentage of whitening was not statistically significantly different between the three groups. In addition, group II showed statistically significant higher mean rise in both surface and pulp temperatures than group I and group III. Conclusions: Chemical bleaching produces the same whitening effect as zoom AP light and laser, with no surface or pulpal temperature rise. Laser application is faster and produces less surface and pulp temperature increase than zoom AP light. Diode lasers used to activate bleaching gels are not considered dangerous to the vitality of dental pulps using power settings of 2W.


The Greek peninsula is located at the crossroads of several major atmospheric circulation patterns and is consequently characterized by high variability in climatic conditions, making it an important location to examine past climate variability. Over the last decades, the focus of many studies in the region has been to unravel Holocene paleoclimatic oscillations and their impact on the development of ancient civilizations using terrestrial archives and especially speleothem records. In this study we contribute to the regional climate record over the Quaternary using a speleothem from the Hermes Cave located at the southern flanks of the Corinth Rift in central Greece. Our stalagmite grew over two distinct periods, from ~127 to 105 ka and from 18 to 8 ka B.P. separated by a distinct hiatus. We have examined its growth history, stable isotope geochemistry and elemental composition. Higher growth rates are observed during the Eemian and the early Holocene and are attributed to high water recharge implying humid conditions. A gradual isotopic enrichment before the growth hiatus of the stalagmite suggests a gradual drying that can be related to glacier advance. Our record correlates with other paleoclimate records from the broader area confirming and extending a pattern of coherent changes in paleoclimate across the Eastern Mediterranean basin.


Background: Significant changes in medical education have occurred in recent decades because of new challenges in the health sector and new learning theories and practices. This might have contributed to the decision of medical schools throughout the world to adopt community-based learning activities. The community-based learning approach has been promoted and supported by the World Health Organization and has emerged as an efficient learning strategy. The aim of the present paper is to describe the characteristics of a community immersion clerkship for third-year undergraduate medical students, its evolution over 15 years, and an evaluation of its outcomes. Methods: A review of the literature and consensus meetings with a multidisciplinary group of health professionals were used to define learning objectives and an educational approach when developing the program. Evaluation of the program addressed students' perception, achievement of learning objectives, interactions between students and the community, and educational innovations over the years. Results: The program and the main learning objectives were defined by consensus meetings among teaching staff and community health workers, which strengthened the community immersion clerkship. Satisfaction, as monitored by a self-administered questionnaire in successive cohorts of students, showed a mean of 4.4 on a five-point scale. Students also mentioned community immersion clerkship as a unique community experience. The learning objectives were reached by a vast majority of students. Behavior evaluation was not assessed per se, but specific testimonies show that students have been marked by their community experience. The evaluation also assessed outcomes such as educational innovations (eg, students teaching other students), new developments in the curriculum (eg, partnership with the University of Applied Health Sciences), and interaction between students and the community (eg, student development of a website for a community health institution). Conclusion: The community immersion clerkship trains future doctors to respond to the health problems of individuals in their complexity, and strengthens their ability to work with the community.


Background Medical abortion provided via telemedicine is becoming more widely available, potentially decreasing travel time for in-person abortion evaluation. Methods We conducted a retrospective chart review of all outpatient medical abortions from October 2016 through December 2019 at our academic medical centre in Portland, Oregon, USA. Using mifepristone administration logs, we identified patients who underwent abortion via direct-to-patient telemedicine or in clinic. Both groups had pre-abortion ultrasound examination. We extracted patient characteristics and geographic data to compare travel distance to clinic, ultrasound facility, and nearest advertised abortion clinic. We compared time from first contact until mifepristone ingestion and gestational age at mifepristone ingestion. Results Median distance from mailing address to clinic for 80 telemedicine and 124 clinic medical abortions was 95 (range 4–377) and 12 (range 0–184) miles (p<0.01). Distance travelled to ultrasound facility was shorter for telemedicine patients (median 7 miles, range 0–150 vs 12 miles, range 0–184; p<0.01) excluding outliers >200 miles. Distance to nearest advertised abortion clinic was equal between groups (median 7 miles, p=0.4). Time to mifepristone administration (ingestion) was longer (11 vs 6 days; p<0.01) and median gestational age was higher (49 vs 44 days; p=0.01) for telemedicine. Conclusions Telemedicine increases the reach of abortion providers and provides care to more geographically distant patients. Patients chose telemedicine abortion even when they had an equidistant option, suggesting that patients value telemedicine for reasons other than geographic convenience. This telemedicine delivery model that included ultrasound testing prior to abortion resulted in up to a 5-day delay in abortion initiation, which was not clinically significant.


UNSTRUCTURED
 In the modern age, digital games are widely used as informal media for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education and medical therapy for game-based learning. Digital games provide learners with a graphical system of interaction that enhances scientific concepts within an enjoyable environment. The vastly increasing number of digital games produced in the market affects the quality of STEM digital games while requiring multidisciplinary expertise. This paper proposes a framework for STEM digital game-based learning encompassing input-process-output stages. Several studies from the early 2000s onward were reviewed to discuss and present a new perspective on a framework for the design and development of digital games, particularly for STEM. This proposed framework consists of digital game development as input, experience as a process, and constructs as output. This simple and precise framework will generate a universal product for various types of learners. It can thus be used as a guideline for game designers, developers, and experts to develop STEM digital games and achieve better learning outcomes.


The downscaling of technology features has brought the system developers an important design criteria, reliability, into prime consideration. Due to effects like external radiation and temperature gradients, the CMOS device is not guaranteed anymore to function flawlessly. Admission for errors to occur is also helpful as that increases the power budget. The power-reliability trade-off compounds the system design challenge by adding another metric, for which efficient design exploration framework is needed. In this work, we present a high-level design framework extended with the capability of fault injection, an important ingredient of reliability-driven design. Compared to the traditional HDL-based fault injection, the proposed fault injection during instruction-set simulation is significantly faster without any notable loss of accuracy. The fault injection framework also allows quick exploration of fault prevention measure both by the aid of software and hardware techniques. We demonstrate the efficacy of our approach by a case study with a RISC processor customized for cryptographic application, where fault protection plays a major role. We also benchmark our framework with a state-of-the-art HDL-based fault injection framework.


Over the years, platinum modified aluminide (PtAl) bond coats have been used in high temperature protection systems for commercial aircraft engines to protect turbine blades from high temperature oxidation and corrosion. In the process of operation, the oxidation and rumpling behaviours of the bond coats are the key factors in determining the lifetime of the thermal barrier coating. The latest development in aircraft engines has given rise to the need for bond coats with better oxidation and rumpling resistance at high temperature.
This investigation aims to improve the oxidation and rumpling resistances of general PtAl bond coats by introducing ZrO2 nanoparticles, Ir and Pd additions: ZrO2 nanoparticles were incorporated into PtAl bond coats by co electrodeposition in an attempt to enhance their performance by exploiting the effect of reactive element (Hf, Zr, etc.) oxides. PtAl coatings with and without ZrO2 nanoparticles were deposited onto three commercially available Ni-based superalloys, namely, Mar-M-247, Mar-M-246 and Inconel 718. Thermal cycling oxidation tests were performed to evaluate the influence of ZrO2 addition and substrate composition. The addition of ZrO2 particles to PtAl coatings on Mar M 246 and Inconel 718 appeared to accelerate the growth of thermally grown oxide and reduced the rumpling of thermally grown oxide. However, when depositing PtAl coatings with ZrO2 nanoparticles on Mar-M-247, there was no changes, as mentioned above, in thermally grown oxide. Through the analysis of the coatings on different substrates, the interactions among Hf, Al and ZrO2 have been revealed and clarified, which offers a better understanding of the reactions of ZrO2 and the influence of substrate composition on bond coats.
Ir and Pd coatings were deposited by means of electroplating and electroless plating respectively to explore the effects of other platinum group metals. Ir-modified PtAl coatings were investigated on Mar-M-246 with different vacuum annealing durations before the cyclic thermal test, which presented a significant reduction in growth rate of TGO and inward diffusion of Al in the oxidation test. Instead of oxygen diffusion barrier, Ir exhibited a diffusion barrier to Al possibly by forming a high temperature solid solution with Al, which has a higher melting point than general β-NiAl phase. As a result, it restrained the inward diffusion of Al and slowed down the outward diffusion of Al, thus improving the oxidation resistance. In addition, Ir concentration produced an effect on the diffusion barrier of Ir. When it is reduced lower than 15 wt.%, the barrier effect of Ir begins to degrade, which provides a better comprehension of the diffusion barrier effect of Ir. However, Pd-modified PtAl coating did not strengthen oxidation resistance, which may be caused by the phosphorus precipitates generated from the electroless plating process.
ZrO2 and Pd-modified PtAl bond coats were further investigated with 8 wt.% yttria stabilised zirconia top coat. Comparison between conventional PtAl and high velocity oxygen fuel sprayed NiCoCrAlY bond coats was made as well. Isothermal and cyclic thermal oxidation tests were carried out to evaluate the prepared bond coats. ZrO2 modified PtAl coating showed the best oxidation and rumpling resistance in cyclic thermal oxidation, while Pd-modified PtAl coating was worse than conventional PtAl coating and better than the NiCoCrAlY coating. It has been observed that ZrO2- and Pd-modified PtAl bond coats are affected by different methods of oxidation test. Isothermal oxidation has a greater impact on ZrO2- and Pd-modified PtAl bond coats. The difference is considered to be a consequence of long term annealing in isothermal oxidation, which leads to a fast grain boundary diffusion of Al.


This report updates the assessment of the health effects of high-frequency radiation based on newly published studies on human beings in the period from October 2006 to December 2012. It takes account of experimental field studies, epidemiological studies of population groups in their everyday environment and experimental studies with short-term exposure under controlled conditions in the laboratory, in which the influence of high-frequency radiation from fixed facilities such as broadcasting transmitters and mobile telephone base stations was studied. In the past six years, approximately 50 studies on this topic were published. Generally speaking, exposure to high-frequency radiation from fixed transmitters is pleasingly low, and at this exposure level no harmful effects on health have been scientifically established to date. In view of this, there is no call for a modification of the ambient limit values specified in the Ordinance relating to Protection from Non-Ionising Radiation (ONIR). With respect to the nonthermal effects of high-frequency radiation, there are still many gaps in scientific knowledge. In particular, there are almost no methodologically sound long-term observations. It is therefore not possible to make a reliable assessment of any potential longterm risks at this time, and consequently caution is called for, especially with regard to long-term exposure to high-frequency radiation.


Gene therapy offers new and promising treatment for patients with hematological malignancies. Tumor cells--lymphoma cells, for example--are possible targets for gene therapy. In general, gene therapeutic approaches require efficient gene transfer into host cells and sufficient transgene expression. Although many methods of gene transfer into mammalian cells exist, most do not allow efficient DNA transfer into primary lymphocytes. In contrast to gene transfer into tumor cells and many other cell types, which can be successfully performed using a variety of methods, the efficient expression of foreign DNA in lymphoma cells presents unique problems and challenges, requiring a careful selection of the mode of gene transfer. In this review, we discuss the current strategies for gene therapy in the treatment of lymphoma. We also summarize the current gene transfer methods for lymphoma cells and efficiency of transgene expression.


This article was developed from the researcher's thesis 'Bunniyom' Discourse: A Case Study of Ratchathani Asoke Community, Ubon Ratchathani Province'. More documentary research; in depthinterview with the community leader and members and male and female Buddhist monks; and participant observation in the community was required to complete the article. The study found that Samana Bodhirak, the Buddhist monk who founded Asoke community, launched the word called 'Bunniyom'system (Meritism) to challenge the traditional concept of merit-making and also the capitalism adopted by the current mainstream of development in Thailand. 'Bunniyom' system is the way of practical living according to Buddhist principles to diminish excessive desires. All Asoke lay communities throughout Thailand abide by communal consumption Satharana Pokee and the values of down-to-earth living, hard work and perseverance, self-reliance, and sacrifice. According to 'Bunniyom' system giving to others and regaining less than giving or regaining nothing means merit-making which is opposite to Thai traditional belief concerning merit-making in Buddhism. The concept of 'Bunniyom' system is not only in the religious area but is included in every single aspect of living in Asoke community: economy, education, agriculture, communication, and politics. Although the principles are deeply rooted in Buddhism, Samana Bodhirak stressed that 'Bunniyom' system is applicable to any religion that * This topic was presented at the 5th International Conference of the South and Southeast Asian Association for the Study of Culture and Religion (SSEASR), May 2013 The Holistic Principles of Buddhist Communities under 'Bunniyom' System 2 Boonthiwa Paunglad concerns itself with modelling a way of life which promotes both equality and harmony.


An efficient lossless video codec based on H.264/AVC that uses the Hadamard transform and adaptive truncation (HTAT) method is proposed. Most lossless video coding algorithms avoid transforms in their coding procedures. However, without this transformation, those lossless video coding algorithms cannot take advantage of data compaction. The HTAT method adopts the Hadamard transform to compact data, where the transformed coefficients are adaptively separated into the quotient parts and remainder parts. The quotient parts can be better encoded by entropy coders due to the energy compaction provided by the Hadamard transform. To ensure lossless coding, the remainders are encoded into compact form after exploring the redundancies caused by the Hadamard transform. Simulation results show that the proposed HTAT method has better coding performance than that of the original H.264/AVC lossless coding, with 6.2% and 3.7% reductions in bit rate for all I frame sequences and IPPP sequences, respectively.


Rapid advances in genetics, genomics, and imaging have given insight into the molecular and cellular basis of behaviour in a variety of model organisms with unprecedented detail and scope. It is increasingly routine to isolate behavioural mutants, clone and characterise mutant genes, and discern the molecular and neural basis for a behavioural phenotype. Conversely, reverse genetic approaches have made it possible to straightforwardly identify genes of interest in whole-genome sequences and generate mutants that can be subjected to phenotypic analysis. In this latter approach, it is the phenotyping that presents the major bottleneck; when it comes to connecting phenotype to genotype in freely behaving animals, analysis of behaviour itself remains superficial and time consuming. However, many proof-of-principle studies of automated behavioural analysis over the last decade have poised the field on the verge of exciting developments that promise to begin closing this gap.
In the broadest sense, our goal in this chapter is to explore what we can learn about the genes involved in neural function by carefully observing behaviour. This approach is rooted in model organism genetics but shares ideas with ethology and neuroscience, as well as computer vision and bioinformatics. After introducing C. elegans as a model, we will survey the research that has led to the current state of the art in worm behavioural phenotyping and present current research that is transforming our approach to behavioural genetics.


In the mucosa and gastric contents of young rats proteolytic activity was investigated. The pepsinogen content in the mucosa and proteolytic activity of the gastric contents does not change over a period from the 1st till the 11th day and then abruptly increase. A change-over from milk to mixed nourishment in the period from 12 to 20 days of life is attended by a growing pepsinogen content and a drastically reduced prorennin content in the gastric mucosa. The change-over from mixed to a definitely fixed nutrition after 20 days of life is accompanied by an intensive discharge into the gastric content of HCl and pepsin.


We propose a single-electron "slime mold" circuit that can find the shortest path of a maze based on the behaviors of slime molds. The circuit consists of a single-electron reaction-diffusion (SE-RD) circuit and logic gate circuits. An SE-RD circuit can be used to represent the dilatation behaviors of slime molds. In this study, a slime mold model that was originally developed for cellular automata is used for the logic gate circuit. We used a Monte Carlo simulation to confirm that the proposed circuit can operate like slime molds. Moreover, it was able to find the optimal path of any maze.


The underlying way to reduce accidents is reducing the number of workers on the coal face. Automatic mining can realize this object. The key for unmanned automatic mining is the application of electro-hydraulic control technology used on workface support. The electro-hydraulic control system applied in Wannian colliery has following function: Automatic moving , lowering and rising of support, monitoring and display of roof pressure; Shearer locating, controlling of cutting height and shearer speed, remote operation and procedure running; Automatic tension of conveyor chain, conveyor operation with constant power and monitoring and fault diagnosis of conveyor speed reducer.


Background: Domestic violence may occur at any stage of women's life including during pregnancy. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of knowledge on domestic violence and to identify factors associated with high knowledge on domestic violence among pregnant women attending district health clinics. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed among registered pregnant women attending Sepang District Health Clinics. A stratified proportionate to size sampling was used to determine sample size from each clinic, and simple random sampling was used to select respondents from the antenatal registry. Information on knowledge on domestic violence were collected using a pre-tested, self-administered questionnaire. Data was analysed using SPSS Version 23, and p-value of <0.05 is considered significant. Result: A total of 300 eligible women were identified and 291 respondents consented and completed the questionnaire which yielded a response rate of 97%. Majority of the respondents were Malay (85.6%) between 20 to 40 years of age (97.9%). More than three quarters of respondents possessed high knowledge on domestic violence. Factors associated with high level of knowledge were age group of 30 years and above, Malay, having tertiary education and monthly household income of above RM3000. Predictors for high level of knowledge on domestic violence were monthly household income (MHI) between RM3000 to RM5999 (AOR 2.792, 95% CI 1.426, 5.467); and MHI RM6000 and above (AOR 2.675, 95% CI 1.080, 6.626). Conclusion: Majority of respondents have high level of knowledge on domestic violence. High monthly household income (above RM3000) is the predictor for high knowledge on domestic violence. Keywords: Domestic violence, knowledge, pregnant women, Sepang district, Health clinics.


Data derived over four years from 434 dairy herds in 1998/99 to 244 in 2001/02 revealed average disposal rates of 22.6 per cent per year, half of which were for poor fertility, mastitis and lameness. The quartile of herds with the lowest disposal rates sold an average of 11.5 per cent annually and the quartile with the highest rates sold 35.5 per cent. Average annual disease rates over the four years were as follows: for assisted calving 7.8 per cent, for digestive disease 1.2 per cent, for ketosis 0.5 per cent, for hypomagnesaemia 0.5 per cent, for hypocalcaemia 5.0 per cent and for injuries 0.8 per cent. The incidence of mastitis increased from 36.0 to 43.3 per cent of cows per year. The incidence of lameness decreased from 23.3 per cent in 1998/99 to 20.7 per cent in 2000/01 but increased to 21.9 per cent in 2001/02. Data received from the same 219 farms during the first three years showed no effective differences from the full set of data for each of the three years. The lowest annual incidences of mastitis and lameness on individual farms were below 7 per cent and 2.5 per cent, respectively. In general, housing cows in cubicles was associated with a greater risk of lameness, and housing them in straw yards with a greater risk of mastitis. However, some of the lowest rates of lameness were recorded in cubicle.housed cows and some of the lowest rates of mastitis were recorded in cows housed in yards. Larger herds were not associated, in general, with higher rates of mastitis.


Spp vibriosis is a gram-negative battery which causes human and animal vibriosis. In public health, vibriosis is classified as an essential zoonotic disease. In humans, vibriosis is broken down into two groups of cholera and non-cholera infections. Cholera is a gippy tummy complaint that causes substantial mortality and dying in all the world. Vibrio spp noncholera. Occupy moderate to big salinity environments and can be seen in sea water and fish. These germs are the very vital pathogens in humans from the environment that come from aquatic and marine habitats. Efforts to control vibriosis in fish farming activities still rely on the use of drugs or antibiotics. Some of the antibiotics commonly used in aquaculture in Indonesia are oxytetracycline, chloramphenicol, erytromycin, streptomycin, neomycin, and enrofloxacin. These types of germicidal are generally used to treat germs illness in fish and shrimp through oral or immersion. However, the use of antibiotics for a certain period of time can cause the fish's body to develop resistance to pathogenic bacteria, polluting the environment and eventually killing the non-target organisms. High antibiotic use can lead to increased germicidal resistance. Awareness raising is critical to limiting inappropriate germicidal use. The goal of this analysis is to reduce the rising and emergence of antibiotic hospitality in V. cholerae, the ecology of germicidal hospitality genes, the antibiotic resistance mechanisms and the genomic parts involved in the spread of antibiotic hospitality.


This review describes the basic and application aspects of the optical properties of nanoparticles (NPs), which determine the dynamics and results of optical (laser) radiation interaction with NPs and their surroundings through NP light absorption and heat generation. In addition to the importance of primary optical processes, the thermal application of the light–NP interaction has attracted significant interest from various areas ranging from photochemistry to laser material processing and nanobiomedicine. First of all, the information provided is intended for laser specialists, photochemists and nanobiologists who are not so familiar with various optical data for understanding of the influence of NP optical properties on the results of optical or laser action on NPs and medium. Secondly, our review will be useful for researchers who conduct high-temperature investigations of the intense optical action on NPs that needs to take into account the dependence of NP optical properties on its temperature under NP heating.
Our attention is focused on two variants of the applications of NP optical properties. Firstly, we shortly reviewed the optical properties of NPs at their initial or slightly higher temperatures reached under the influence of moderate radiation intensity. They are presented in numerous publications and are used as basic data. On the other side, the development of modern high-temperature laser and optical technologies needs to use the NPs optical properties at temperatures of about 1x103 K and more. For high power laser and optical technologies, it is necessary to take into account the temperature dependences of the optical parameters of various metals, dielectrics and other materials. Among these technologies, one should list laser processing of NPs, thermal laser biomedicine, solar and photo nanocatalysis, solar nanostructured absorbers. The selection and use of suitable optical properties of NPs are crucial to successful achievements and results in high-temperature experiments and applications.
Novel information on optical property dependence on temperature obtained from currently available literature has been presented for possible applications in optical and laser high-temperature processes interactions with NPs. However, unfortunately, the essential information on the effect of temperature on the optical properties of NPs is currently limited. In addition to the latest information, this review also includes the figures obtained by our own calculations to provide readers with a better understanding of the NP optical properties.
From the side of the application, the use of NP optical properties is considered, which provide multiple varieties of moderate and high-temperature technology opportunities, many of which are ongoing and some of them are promising bright results in the near future. The beneficial outcome and the results of further activities in the research of intense laser and optical interactions with NPs can influence various fields of science and technology: nano and photochemistry, biomedicine, nanophysics, material science, etc.


Summary form only given. The author describes NVAX, a high-performance, single-chip implementation of the VAX architecture, which is fully compatible with previous VAX implementations. The chip is used in the VAX 6000 model 600 and VAX 4000 model 500 systems. In its highest performance version NVAX runs at 83.3 MHz, and delivers 40.4 SPECmarks and 83.6 transactions per second on the TPC-A benchmark. NVAX is implemented in Digital's 0.75- mu m CMOS 3.3-V technology, contains 1.3 M transistors, and is packaged in a 339-pin PGA. The NVAX design uses RISC (reduced instruction set computer) principles to improve performance. Included on the chip are a 96-entry, fully associative translation buffer, a 2-KB direct-mapped virtual instruction cache, an 8-KB, 2-set associative instruction and data cache and a writeback backup cache controller that interfaces to tag and data RAMs on the module.<<ETX>>


Optimal kinds of surgical treatment were developed for perforated gastroduodeal ulcers and associated complications (stenosis, bleeding), with large perforated openings in patients with high risk of radical operative treatment. The method was used in operations on 30 patients. The second group consisted of 30 patients after suturing perforated gastroduodenal ulcers. Healing of ulcer defects after plasty of the perforated gastroduodenal ulcers by tunneling was noted 9 days earlier on average as compared with suturing.


The ''Savannah River Site Environmental Report for 2006'' (WSRC-TR-2007-00008) is prepared for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) according to requirements of DOE Order 231.1A, ''Environment, Safety and Health Reporting'', and DOE Order 5400.5, ''Radiation Protection of the Public and Environment''. The report's purpose is to: present summary environmental data that characterize site environmental management performance; confirm compliance with environmental standards and requirements; highlight significant programs and efforts; and assess the impact of SRS operations on the public and the environment.


Summary form only given. The authors report on the electrical and reliability characteristics of submicrometer nMOSFETs with oxynitride gate dielectric grown in N/sub 2/O. Compared with conventional rapid thermally grown oxide, oxynitride samples show significantly less degradation under hot-electron stress. According to lifetime calculation, oxynitride devices exhibit lifetimes approximately one order of magnitude longer than that of the control oxide. >


High intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU)-triggered shape memory has distinct features due to the unique heating mechanism based on polymer chain shearing and friction activated by ultrasonic energy. In this study we chose crosslinked poly(methyl methacrylate-co-butyl acrylate) P(MMA-BA) as a model polymer and studied in detail the HIFU induced thermal effect and shape recovery characteristics. It was found that HIFU heating for polymers is quick and spatially localized, and can be controlled by the ultrasound power, which allows for a spatiotemporally controllable shape memory process. The effects of various parameters including sample thickness, copolymer composition and crosslinker content on the HIFU-induced thermal effect and shape recovery were investigated. Under HIFU irradiation, there exists an optimum sample thickness for a maximum thermal effect and thus better shape recovery, which is different from conventional heating. Moreover, both the copolymer composition and the crosslinker content have a profound effect on the HIFU-induced temperature rise and thus the shape recovery. These effects can be related to changes in the viscoelastic parameter loss tangent (tan δ) of the copolymer around the glass transition temperature Tg that is the transition temperature for the shape recovery process.


It is widely known that GPUs have more computational power and expose a far greater level of parallelism than conventional CPUs. Despite their high potential, GPUs are not yet a popular choice in practice, mainly because of their high programming complexity. The complexity derives from two factors. First, the existing programming models are tied to the underlying GPU architectures. Because of this, GPU programming methodology is different from conventional CPU programming, and forces developers to think in different terms. Second, a lot of architectural details that heavily influence program performance are not exposed to the programmer. The consequence is that in order to get fast programs developers must have a deep understanding of the targeted GPU platform. Moreover, mapping existing sequential programs to GPU is even more difficult. The reason is that not every part of a given program is suitable to be mapped to the GPU. Identifying those suitable parts implies looking for dependencies and recognizing data parallel patterns. This is not an easy task if the program code base is very large. The aim of this thesis is to ease the problem of mapping existing sequential programs to a GPU. To this end, we explore automatic program analyses that enable automatic and guided transformation of sequential programs to data parallel GPU kernels. Our main contributions consist of identification and implementation of key program analyses that enable such transformations. The result is a system that can identify kernel regions in a sequential program, detect GPU specific optimisations and provide additional kernel information that can be used to estimate performance. The work serves as a foundation for an automatic GPU parallelization system.


Recently, concerning failure of structures due to earthquakes, special investigations of near fault ground motions have been noticed. Hence, in this paper, characteristics of near field ground motions have been considered in horizontal and vertical directions. In this consideration, the record averages have been compared with Uniform Building Code and Eurocode8 spectra in two levels. In addition, the ratio of vertical to horizontal spectra has been computed and compared with the assumed value of two thirds in some code provisions. Finally, the response of near field records on five artificial bridges that have covered all 0.5-2.5 seconds periods, have been investigated for comparing the ratio of responses in near field to far field, and forward to backward directivity effects. In addition, the results of the response spectrum analyses of six different bridges subjected to vertical excitations are presented.


The present study investigates transport and electrochemical phenomena in electrochemical capacitors (ECs) for electrical energy storage applications. Modeling of such systems is made difficult by the complex multidimensional and multiscale porous electrode structures along with the coupled physical phenomena and redox reactions. This study is unique in that it presents rigorous development of physical models for electric double layers and redox reactions in ECs. These models were used to gain insights into the coupled transport and electrochemical phenomena involved. Finally, the results were used to identify the dominant design parameters.First, this study identified the important physical phenomena that must be accounted for when simulating electric double layer capacitors (EDLCs). It established that the Stern and diffuse layers, the finite ion sizes, and the field-dependent electrolyte permittivity must all be accounted for. To account for the Stern layer for 3D electrode structures along with all the other phenomena, a new set of boundary conditions was derived. In fact, this study presents the first simulations of EDLCs with 3D electrode structures including (i) ordered mesoporous carbon sphere arrays and (ii) ordered bimodal mesoporous carbons, respectively. The model and numerical tools were validated successfully against experimental data.Second, this study derives a scaling law for the integral areal capacitance of carbon-based EDLCs supported by rigorous analysis and experimental data for various mesoporous carbon electrodes with different electrolytes. It establishes that the integral areal capacitance of porous electrodes can be expressed as the product of the capacitance of planar electrodes and a semi-empirical function to correct for the porous electrode morphology. To maximize the integral areal capacitance, the electrolyte should have small ion effective diameter and large dielectric constant. The electrode pore diameter should be tailored as monodispersed as possible to match the ion diameter.Third, this study presents dynamic modeling of EDLCs accounting for charge transport in both the electrode and electrolyte. It provides rigorous physical interpretations of experimental observations from electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry (CV) experiments based on physics-based numerical simulations. Moreover, a generalized modified Poisson-Nernst-Planck (GMPNP) model was derived from first principles to simulate electric double layer dynamics valid for asymmetric electrolytes and/or in the presence of multiple ion species. For the first time, a self-similar behavior was identified for the electric double layer integral capacitance estimated from CV measurement simulations.Finally, this study presents dynamic modeling of asymmetric supercapacitors in CV measurements by rigorously and simultaneously accounting for electric double layers and redox reactions as well as ion insertion in the electrode. It establishes that in CV measurements of pseudocapacitive materials: (i) the capacitive current varies linearly with scan rate $v$ and (ii) the Faradaic current is proportional to $v^{1/2}$.The models and results could help develop the optimum electrode architecture to achieve maximum energy and power densities. Moreover, these models will also be useful for simulating and designing various practical electrochemical, colloidal, and biological systems for a wide range of applications.


On the basis of the experience with the treatment of 69 patients with lung gangrene the authors recommend to use a combination of active aspiration from the pleural cavity, occlusion of the segment bronchus and pneumoperitoneum for the efficient expansion of the lung after its resection in the early postoperative period.


High-throughput techniques have uncovered hundreds and thousands of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs). Among them, only a small fraction has experimentally validated functions (EVlncRNAs) by low-throughput methods. What fraction of lncRNAs from high-throughput experiments (HTlncRNAs) is truly functional is an active subject of debate. Here, we developed the first method to distinguish EVlncRNAs from HTlncRNAs and mRNAs by using Support Vector Machines and found that EVlncRNAs can be well separated from HTlncRNAs and mRNAs with 0.6 for Matthews correlation coefficient, 64% for sensitivity, and 81% for precision for the independent human test set. The most discriminative features are related to sequence conservations at RNA (for separating from HTlncRNAs) and protein (for separating from mRNA) levels. The method is found to be robust as the human-RNA-trained model is applicable to independent mouse RNAs with similar accuracy and to a lesser extent to plant RNAs. The method can recover newly discovered EVlncRNAs with high sensitivity. Its application to randomly selected 2000 human HTlncRNAs indicates that a large number of functional lncRNAs are waiting to be validated. The method is expected to speed up and reduce the cost of the discovery by prioritizing potentially functional lncRNAs prior to experimental validation. EVlncRNA-pred is available as a web server at http://biophy.dzu.edu.cn/lncrnapred/index.html. All datasets used in this study can be obtained from the same website.


In the last decade the mountains of Cuneo have met difficulties in attracting young tourists. Despite the large literature on drivers considered in the choice of a destination, a few contributions focus on the motivations that account for the choice on the part of young people. This paper, based on the identification of drivers of attractiveness of a tourist destination, investigates how the level of satisfaction of young people influences the quality of the offered services . This objective is achieved by means of a literature review on young-tourist destination and on the measurement of tourist satisfaction, the creation of an adapted SERVQUAL model able to measure the gap between Cuneo's youth priorities and satisfaction. This is possible throughout an explorative study performed by means of a questionnaire submitted to 200 young tourists. Finally, paths of action have been suggested to provincial Bodies throughout a focus group. Results show how young tourists consider very important: safety, hygiene and intact nature. This is only an exploratory study applied to a single case study but could be applied at other levels (urban, national…) and implemented in comparison with benchmarks.


The routine test for diagnosing malaria is still the thick blood smear, despite its known decreased sensitivity and specificity in situations of low parasite density and mixed infections. The polymerase chain reaction is increasingly being used for molecular detection and identification of Plasmodium species, due to its higher sensitivity and specificity. Nested PCR was performed on whole-blood samples from 344 patients with acute febrile syndrome who came to a tertiary healthcare center in Manaus (State of Amazonas) for diagnostic confirmation of malaria. No malaria cases caused by Plasmodium malariae were detected through the blood smear or PCR. Co-positivity of 96.7%, co-negativity of 62.2% and kappa coefficient of 0.44 were observed between PCR and thick blood smear for Plasmodium falciparum. For Plasmodium vivax, co-positivity of 100%, co-negativity of 78.1% and kappa coefficient of 0.56 were observed. For mixed infection, co-positivity of 100%, co-negativity of 84.9% and kappa coefficient of 0.26 were observed. Polymerase chain reaction detected a high number of mixed infections in the samples analyzed, but its routine use for diagnosing malaria still deserves further discussion.


Introduction: Environmental exposures during early- life increase the risk of developing a psychotic disorder, but it remains unclear how early life events can have such persistent later life consequences. DNA methylation is the addition of a methyl group to a DNA base and is part of a group of epigenetic mechanisms that together can influence gene expression. Since DNA methylation can reflect environmental influences over time, it is a potential mediator of the early life environmental influence on psychotic disorders. Therefore, this thesis examined the interplay between environmental exposures relevant for psychotic disorders and DNA methylation. Results: Early-life stress is hypothesized to alter the stress response system and consequently increase the risk for a psychotic disorder. Thus, we first examined if stress reactivity could be a marker for disease vulnerability in bipolar patients. Indeed compared to healthy controls bipolar patients exhibited altered stress reactivity, specifically increased release of the autonomic nervous system marker alpha amylase and blunted levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Upon further examination the blunted cortisol stress reactivity in bipolar patients was primarily related to antipsychotic use, suggesting medication is a more important modifier of cortisol stress reactivity than other factors such as disease status. In a subsequent study we show medication use by bipolar patients also influenced blood DNA methylation levels and should be considered a confounder in methylation studies. Together these two studies demonstrate the importance of thorough phenotyping in observational DNA methylation and stress studies. Next, we describe a DNA methylation locus on the Kit ligand (KITLG) gene that partly mediated the relationship between childhood trauma and cortisol stress reactivity in healthy controls. This extends preclinical findings that DNA methylation regulates stress reactivity to humans. Finally, we report on a hypermethylated promoter region that is not only associated with famine exposure in schizophrenia patients, but also with schizophrenia in general. This highlights that DNA methylation is a valuable biological mechanism to examine for environmental exposures and provides tentative evidence of DNA methylation marks as an indicator for disease risk. Conclusion: Overall, the results described in this thesis are consistent with the concept that DNA methylation is an underlying mechanism conferring environmental impact on disease risk for psychotic disorders. More knowledge of how DNA methylation is related to disease can provide essential new leads for treatment and prevention and, ultimately yield new drug targets.


Objectives The Teeth Tales trial aimed to establish a model for child oral health promotion for culturally diverse communities in Australia. Design An exploratory trial implementing a community-based child oral health promotion intervention for Australian families from migrant backgrounds. Mixed method, longitudinal evaluation. Setting The intervention was based in Moreland, a culturally diverse locality in Melbourne, Australia. Participants Families with 1–4-year-old children, self-identified as being from Iraqi, Lebanese or Pakistani backgrounds residing in Melbourne. Participants residing close to the intervention site were allocated to intervention. Intervention The intervention was conducted over 5 months and comprised community oral health education sessions led by peer educators and follow-up health messages. Outcome measures This paper reports on the intervention impacts, process evaluation and descriptive analysis of health, knowledge and behavioural changes 18 months after baseline data collection. Results Significant differences in the Debris Index (OR=0.44 (0.22 to 0.88)) and the Modified Gingival Index (OR=0.34 (0.19 to 0.61)) indicated increased tooth brushing and/or improved toothbrushing technique in the intervention group. An increased proportion of intervention parents, compared to those in the comparison group reported that they had been shown how to brush their child's teeth (OR=2.65 (1.49 to 4.69)). Process evaluation results highlighted the problems with recruitment and retention of the study sample (275 complete case families). The child dental screening encouraged involvement in the study, as did linking attendance with other community/cultural activities. Conclusions The Teeth Tales intervention was promising in terms of improving oral hygiene and parent knowledge of tooth brushing technique. Adaptations to delivery of the intervention are required to increase uptake and likely impact. A future cluster randomised controlled trial would provide strongest evidence of effectiveness if appropriate to the community, cultural and economic context. Trial registration number Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12611000532909).


Studies on familial clustering of cancer have usually followed transmission of a trait or mutant gene from one parental line. However, an access to families with two affected parents may additionally contribute to the models of carcinogenesis. The combined effect of parental cancer on the cancer risk of the offspring was tested in a large population-based data set. A family-cancer data base was constructed from the nationwide Swedish registries to include over 21,000 cancers in offspring diagnosed at ages 15-51 and their parents. Cancer risk in the offspring was assessed when the parents had different combinations of site-specific cancers. The risk in the offspring was increased only moderately, at most 1.1 times when the father or the mother had cancer. If both parents had cancer the risks were higher and reached statistical significance for the following paternal/maternal site-specific combinations: colorectum/colorectum, prostate/colorectum, colorectum/breast, prostate/breast, melanoma/breast and skin (squamous cell carcinoma)/breast. These results on young and middle-aged adults indicate that cancer in both parents increase cancer risk in the offspring at many sites. A likely molecular explanation is that both parents contribute with different mutant genes to the set of genes constituting the multistage pathway to carcinogenesis.


The study was undertaken in Tanzania to assess the effect of some macro-economic policies on livelihood strategies for households within or in close proximity in miombo woodlands. The focus was on how their responses are impacting on the management and use of the woodlands. Data were collected at macro level from three sites categories as remote, intermediate and peri-urban. Also data on important macroeconomic trends were collected. The results indicate that reductions government spending have decreased agricultural support in terms of extension services and subsidies on farm inputs. The increase in prices of input factors relative to output has raised costs of farm inputs, cost of living in general and decreased disposable incomes for most rural dwellers, forcing some of them into extensive forest product exploitation and trade for each incomes. in the study sites, some forest products contribute between 50-70% of annual household incomes. However not many households have the capacity to take the advantage of promising forest-based income generating activities. Economic hardships also led to changes in gender roles particularly in per-urban and intermediate sites. Women are increasingly expanding their roles, away from traditional domestic activities to income generating activities such as forest product exploitation and sale, casual labour and petty business. Men are gradually talking up activities which have traditionally been in the domain of women. The role of local institutions and traditional values in management of woodlands has declined. Village governments have replaced village and clan elders in land allocation. Local beliefs of value for forest protection and traditional property rights which influence utilization of communal resources have gradually been eroded. Some macro-economic policies have created conditions for broadening the cash income base of rural communities and have put value on some otherwise non-tradable forest products. Local communicates advocate for the full involvement in the management and use of these resources. .


Agaricus bisporus, the common button mushroom, is a major contributor to the global carbon-nitrogen cycle through its role as a secondary decomposer of plant and leaf litter. It is also an economically significant mushroom with a domestic farm gate value in excess of €120 million. This research aims to elucidate the molecular mechanisms involved in compost and plant matter degradation by A. bisporus. An examination of the entire genome using microarray analysis was carried out on A. bisporusat 48 h intervals over the course of its commercial lifecycle. This data revealed several genes that appear to be involved in the genetic regulation of mushroom production. From this data, genes with potentially critical roles in compost utilisation and plant matter degradation were identified. Five genes of significant interest were selected for further study. These include three carbohydrate degrading genes and an unknown gene which appears to be unique to A. bisporus, all of which had an expression profile that matched the commercial growth pattern. The fifth gene was selected based on its significant down-regulation during peak mushroom growth. To further compliment this data a bioinformatic analysis of known transcription factor binding sites present within each promoter of A. bisporus is also being carried out. The data generated from this study will provide crucial insight into the mechanisms behind the regulation of A. bisporus growth and its ability to degrade plant matter and compost degradation.